Ugh, you again? ((Thomas))

Artemis was bored. Truthfully, what was there to do that couldn't wait for a bit? She was immortal, so time didn't really matter to her. Still, she had to fill her days with something, right? She couldn't just sit around, sleeping, even if she wanted to. She couldn't lie around in bed, and she couldn't watch paint dry. Not that she wanted to. She wanted some excitement, she wanted something she could do, worry about, a challenge. An excitement! A quest. Ah, yes, she had one of those going at the moment. Still, Arty needed something exciting to do. Something excited to watch. The best she could do right now was the arena at camp.

She walked there, hoping for a few demigods she could watch. Sure, some demigods were more interesting than others, and some were just plain annoying. Certain demigods even thought that dating the daughter of Artemis, and proclaiming their love for her was smart. Those kinds of demigods were the worst, and they just happened to be in the arena as Artemis walked in. She noticed him as soon as she walked in, and scrunched up her nose. Ugh. Him again? Shouldn't he be on the quest?

What he was doing was... intriguing. Was that an Ares kid? Being beaten by a... paddle? Oh yeah, Thomas used it as a weapon. Arty now saw why. The Ares kid was very confused, as to why he was being hit by some plastic. Artemis was surprised, he could actually use the paddle in battle? Huh, that was not to be expected. Even an Ares kid had to bow down to it. She shook her head, trying to look at other campers, but her eyes kept going back to him. Ugh, why did he have to be here? There were plenty of other interesting people in the arena.

Eventually she just gave in, and watched him. He must have used that paddle a lot, to master it as he had. Still, it was stupid. He could have a shield in that hand, if he so desired. Artemis would want a shield much rather than a ping-pong paddle, if she were a swordswoman. It would be much more effective than a paddle, which couldn't defend, nor offend.

Thomas was having fun with this guy. Thomas was fighting sword on sword and spear against a member of the Ares cabin, and he was WINNING! That was unheard of, to put it mildly. To be facing someone from cabin 5, and to be victorious? It wasn’t so much that he was better with a sword. The Ares kid was slightly better on that count. It was the fact that the guy never paid attention to what his hand was doing when it left his sword hilt, and went to his back pocket. Every time he did, it was obvious, his paddle would come out! Five times already, the kid had been taken down in Thomas’ own way.

The first time, Thomas dodged a jab with the sword, and when the dude tried to jab with the spear, Pinger came out, and batted the point aside, and then his hilt slammed the dude with the sword to the forehead. Second time: blocked an overhead swing with the sword, and slapped Pinger in the dude’s face! A kick to the chest soon followed. Third? The boy deflected the spear jab with Pinger, holstered it in a flash, and then spun the sword out the guy’s hand, flicking the tip of his OWN sword to his throat. Fourth time was just too cool. Thomas rolled behind him, tossing his sword into the air, and drew Pinger just in time for the guy to turn around, and get a series of 7 slaps to the face, stunning him long enough to let Thomas catch the sword, and holster Pinger, then bring the sword edge to the side of his neck. “Dead.” The last time Pinger was more for added effect than for real combat. After a long fight, Thomas kicked the guy’s knee, and disarmed him of both sword and spear, then drew Pinger, and socked the guy in the nose with the paddle facing downward, as though Thomas was just holding it in his hand as he punched the dude in the jaw. The Ares kid fell backward, and lay on his back. Thomas looked at the face of the paddle. Carved into the plastic, on the side of the face that was facing the Ares kid was the word “Ping!”

Laughing mildly, Thomas holstered is paddle again. Thomas was not a nice fighter with the paddle. He propped his sword on his shoulder as he turned and saw….

Artemis. Staring at him. Lovely. He considered doing the whole bow before her presence, but after her lack of empathy in the strawberry fields, and the fact that he was going to go on a quest soon that she would rather see him fail and die at, he didn’t feel much like sucking up. He turned to the Ares kid, and mouthed the word leave. The Ares kid glared, and reached for his spear, throwing it. Thomas’ mind went into overdrive. If he merely ducked, the spear would sail straight to Artemis. If he didn’t, he would get impaled, and where would that leave him? Thomas moved to the side, and pulled Pinger out, slamming the spear-tip as it sailed past, embedding the spear into the dirt. Thomas glared at the Ares punk; his eyes almost glowing with a light that said get lost or get hurt further. The Ares kid got lost. He had enough bruised, like seven parts of his face, his body, and his pride.

Thomas turned to Artemis, and gave a small salute as he bent over, starting to breathe heavily, restoring his tired body. “Pardon me, ma’am. One disadvantage of being half human is you still get tired. I doubt you would know about that.” Thomas honestly was just to exhausted to give a care about being courteous.

Artemis raised an eyebrow when the Ares kid threw a spear at Thomas. Was he really that hated? Artemis didn't want that in a guy for her daughter. Then she would be hated, too, and that would be unfair. Popularity shouldn't matter on who was dating who, it should be separate, but it wasn't. Besides, who really cared what Artemis thought anymore? She was just a Greek god, who could smite anyone if she wanted. Yes, who would want to listen to her?

No matter, she wouldn't have to kill the Ares boy. Thomas hit the spear with his paddle, of all things. It was now in the dirt, not causing harm to anyone. Except, of course, the dirt, but that didn't really have feelings. Did it? It was nearly impossible to tell, because it couldn't really talk. Anyways, Thomas had to walk over to her, talking about getting tired. Oh, so because she was a goddess, she couldn't get tired? Who had ever said that? Artemis could get tired, just not as easily or often as mortals or demigods. It helped she was the goddess of the moon, but still. It didn't help that her hunters and her were always out, running after something, or in battle. The fact that he thought she couldn't get tired offended her a bit. She was unsure why exactly, but it did.

Where had gone the Thomas that was all courteous, and suck-up-ish? Well, she liked this Thomas better anyway. This one, she could tell, would stick up for himself, not just bend under the will of someone. Still, she was hesitant to let him date her daughter. People had many faces, and not all were good... in fact, a lot of them were bad.

"Gods and goddesses get tired too, from time to time." Well, now she had to talk to him. Ugh. Why did he even have to be here?

((Shortness and horribleness >.<))

Thomas was taken aback by the fact that even deities could be able to get tired. Seriously, he thought that gods were tireless because… well… they were gods. Simple logic, really. Flawed, admittedly, but only due to the lack of information. Thomas sat on a bench, and poured a bottle of water over his head. After drenching his hair, he shook his head left and right, and then stood up, legs spread apart. “Excuse me, ma’am.” He then banged his head back and forth like he was listening to some Heavy Metal, shaking off a large amount of the excess water. Once he was finished, he turned back to Artemis, hoping he didn’t get any on her. Thankfully, he didn’t. Thomas then pulled his paddle out of his pocket, and tossed it on the bench.

“All right, since we’re together anyway, we may as well sit down, and have a good, serious talk about Milly.” Thomas sat down, and waited a few seconds for her to sit. If she decided to keep standing, however, that was her choice. And stay standing she did. Oh well, he wasn’t going to press her. Thomas was tired of playing the polite Suck-Up card, and he was sure she was sick of getting it too, but Thomas wasn’t going to bend to her will like some trained lapdog. He was tired of trying to get on her good side. If he got blasted, he got blasted. Milly was hardly around for him to talk to anyway. That fact hurt, but he couldn’t do anything about it. He already tried looking for her, Iris-Messaging her, sending E-mails and Olympus messages through Hermes… Nothing came from it except a drain on his drachmas and mortal cash. In all reality, he was tired.

“Ok, I’m completely aware that you don’t approve of my falling in love for Milly. I understand that. Hell, I’m even okay with that. For some reason, I Like to find that you’re a lot more like the myths say you are like when you go all badass-yet-paranoid-mother on me like when I just decided to go ahead and kiss her, as opposed to the understanding mother you would expect to get from Aphrodite. I like that about you, seriously. The whole ‘I don’t take no for an answer, say no again I’ll smite a yes out of you’ thing is pretty cool. I like a bit of backbone. Which reminds me: sorry for being a fawning idiot earlier this month, acting all courteous. I was a bit scared. You’re the first immortal I’ve ever met, and I was afraid my speak-my-mind attitude will get me killed, and then where would I be?” Thomas chuckled. “Probably dead.” Thomas looked at Pinger before he picked it up, and rested the tip of the blade on his leg, hands resting on the handle as he gazed in the distance, almost searching with his mind. He was searching for the right thing to say concerning Milly, then decided to just open his heart, and say what he felt.

“Okay, it’s probably obvious that I love Milly, and nothing is going to change that. It’s just not going to happen. Really, Milly’s gone away, and in spite of this, and several advances from Cabin Ten’s daughters, I haven’t been able to think of anyone else besides her. If this upsets you, I ‘m sorry, but that’s just how I feel.” Thomas’ heart sped at the mere thought of Milly nowadays. She had disappeared for such a long period of time, Thomas could barely hear her laugh, having not heard it that often to begin with. His love for her grew with every day he couldn’t see her, and he wanted to express that to her, but Milly was absent. Thomas would almost hug Cerberus if it meant he could see Milly again. As it was, he was probably going to end up alone and brokenhearted if Milly didn’t return. After all, most of the girls that tried pulling moves on him he alienated by saying he was in love with Artemis’ daughter. They either didn’t know he was serious, and acted insulted, as though he said he would rather wait on the child of a virgin to be born before considering them, while the rest of them that actually knew Milly actually gave an “aww” before they left him alone. Since then, he ended up being a Loner once again.

Story of his life, really. He makes a friend, and then ends up alone. It always happened. He didn’t even get to keep his family, they got freaking killed! Then Thomas spent an entire month on the road. You don’t really get time to make friends while dodging police and an extremely death resistant demon. Thomas looked up at Artemis, his dark green eyes looking into her silvery blue ones. “Artemis…” Thomas stopped, as though afraid to admit something. “I’m scared.” There. He said it. Now to elucidate. “I’m scared, Artemis. Scared that Milly left for good, that I’ll fail the quest, that no matter what I do, I’ll never be good enough in your eyes… I’m terrified, really.” Thomas managed a grin. “It’s funny. All those monsters I faced, the hardships of the road, and the only thing I’m really afraid of is not being accepted. Is that weird? It probably is. I wouldn’t really know what ‘normal’ is anyway.” Thomas decided then that he should live Artemis a chance to speak. “So… How badly do you want me to die for all that?”

((fair size, but the content... I'm fairly certain this post sucks.))

What was he, a big, shaggy dog, after taking a bath? Oh, if some of that water had gotten on her she would've-- count to ten. Count to ten, calm down. A little water didn't matter. Unless he did that often, at least. If she saw it a few more times, then she may get a little annoyed. Still, it made him seem dog-like. Well, at least he said excuse me, and had some manners, no matter how small. Still, as he invited her to sit, she stood. When standing, he was taller than her, so she wanted the extra height.

Yes, she didn't approve. That wasn't obvious at all. Arty raised an eyebrow, wondering where this was going. He'd wanted 'a serious talk about Milly,' and a serious talk about Milly he would get. Him talking about her motherhood wasn't really talking about Milly. He approved of her disapproval? Interesting. You bet she was a different mother from Aphrodite. The goddess of love, versus the sexist goddess of women? Yeah, you could say that. You could bet it was stupid, playing the courteous card with her. She didn't take that. And he thought she was scary? Oh, wait until the third task she and Aphrodite had worked on. It would be... interesting. To say the least.

"Well, obviously if you are killed, you'd be dead. Trust me, I'm not the scariest Olympian out there. You know, unless you get on my bad side." As he confessed his love for Milly yet again, her eye twitched a bit in annoyance. Would he please stop saying that? One thing did grab Artemis' attention, though. Milly had gone away? Good for her! Had she finally realized that this boy, and nearly all others, was an idiot?

Artemis stood through the rest of his speech, in silence, and only talked at the end. He should be scared. He was going against a goddess, something you didn't want to do. Look at the man who had spied on her changing. He was dead now, turned into a deer and hunted by her hunters. She still had some of those hunters with her, actually. She gave a small smile at the boy. "You should be scared. Sometimes not knowing is scary, but trust me, the last task is much worse than not knowing. If you do pass the test, though, I will accept you. Remember, friends are important in your quest. Very important." Arty paused for a moment, then finished. "About the same as before."

"Well, obviously if you are killed, you'd be dead. Trust me, I'm not the scariest Olympian out there. You know, unless you get on my bad side." Thomas listened, nodding his head. "I see. Well, I'm kinda already there. I can pray, but so far you're the closest thing to an answer I've gotten to anything, which is a bit of a downer, no offense." Thomas managed a grin. It was odd how she managed to not notice his note about Cabin Ten's girls trying to pull a move on him. That was just... rich. he knew she she noticed it, and just chose not to acknowledge it. probably to give him a tirade.



"You should be scared. Sometimes not knowing is scary, but trust me, the last task is much worse than not knowing. If you do pass the test, though, I will accept you. Remember, friends are important in your quest. Very important." Thomas nodded once again. "Of course. as the Beatles sang, I get by with a little help from my friends." Thomas thought about it. "About the same as before." Thomas nodded once more. in fact, he'd been nodding slowly throughout the entire conversation, as though he was listening, but at the same time, couldn't get this song out of his head.



Thomas's brow furrowed. "So, would it be at all possible for us to be at least, I dunno, civil with one another? I mean, if you don't want to, I'll understand. I won't particularly like it, but I'll understand." Thomas was one to talk awhile. his last bit was proof of this. all he really did was say stuff she already knew.



((Guh, short, sucky, smoo.))

Arty took a bit of offence, but understood. She wasn't really the best answer to... really anything. Truly, though, what was there to be an answer to? No one really cared about her opinion on anything, no one important, at least. Not most of the Olympians, not even some of the minor gods. Usually it was only her and her huntresses.

Artemis gave a small laugh as he quoted some bugs. How could he possibly be able to speak to some beetles? What did what some tiny insects say to him matter to him at all? Beetles probably weren't the best to give advice on friendship, unless they were some kind of insect where everyone was friendly. Arty really doubted that. Moreover, he didn't understand what she had meant. she'd been hinting at the last leg of the quest. "Ha! You quote some puny little bugs, and don't even understand what I said." For some reason, she found this quite amusing.

Civil? The demigod wanted to be civil with her? She laughed again, this time sounding a bit more taunting. Had she tried to do that? She would never tell a soul. Still, a demigod wanting to be civil? A male demigod wanting to be civil with the goddess Artemis, to make it even more funny! "You want to be civil? Fine. As you wish. Civilize away."

((This was so short... and so horrible D: Sorry!))

Thomas had had a laugh coming up ever since Artemis' comment about the Beatles. Seriously? she hadn't heard of them? That was rich, to say the least. he managed to supress it, however, as Artemis resumed talking. she had dropped a hint about the last part of his quest... he knew that much. But what? It was beggining to get annoying. He hated surprises like that. They could get him killed, and as a rule, he tried to avoid that. Thomas looked Artemis in the eye as she pretty much scorned him asking for a bit of civility toward each other. So much for thinking a goddess could use some common freaking courtesy. either way, he was going to be polite if it killed him. On second thought, it probably would...



Thomas gazed levelly at Artemis. "Well, I realize now that there are better things I could have done than fall in love with Milly, survivalistically speaking, but frankly, I just don't care about that, just so long as Milly's happy, I'm happy. if she suddenly decided to join your ranks as a Hunter, and is quite happy to completely forget about me, I'm..." thomas stopped. the very thought of the possibility of what he said happening just crossed his mind, and his epression looked shattered as he continued. "then I'm happy for her. Admittedly, not happy enough to want to continueing enduring my ardourous existence, but I'll be happy that she's happy, nonetheless." He remained silent, completely oblivious to anything outside of a few thoughts. did she join? what did I do? When? why did she..? he eventually managed to get his thiking changed. If she joined, and is satisfied with that choice in life, then I should be happy for her. she gets to be with her mother, she gets to hunt, be free to travel... all in all, it's a much better deal than sticking with some dude who's going to die sooner rather than later.



Thomas,ooked up, and actually smiled. "Then I'm happy for her. if she did join your ranks, I hope she enjoys immortality."

hello im new

((First Warning, you need an accepted character before you can RP, also first warning, there's a five word rule when in OOC, and fifty in RP That post there is rather Spam. I'll let you off with a warning. PM me for more info to keep the thread Clean.))

Survivalistically speaking? Survivalistically speaking, if Thomas hadn't met Milly, then Thomas wouldn't be going on a quest, Artemis would be perfectly happy, and everyone would be better off. Death wouldn't lay imminent for certain people, and Artemis wouldn't be preparing for the quest to begin, and to watch them fail. Still, though, he was correct. Even if he had just ignored Milly, Artemis would have reacted better. Milly didn't need a man's attention.

Arty raised an eyebrow as Thomas paused. Could he not say it? Sure, he may have beaten up that Ares kid, but he was also a weakling. He couldn't even say he would be happy for her. He looked like he was going to die if Milly had decided, and his next words proved this. She had half a mind to roll her eyes, but she agreed to be civil, and she wasn't one to break promises, even to weak demigods.

Artemis nearly told him she had joined the hunters, but nah. Heck, the guy had been through a heart attack, the girl he liked had been ignoring him, and her mother was frikking Artemis. He deserved some slack. Right? Eh, Artemis thought so, so she may as well give him this one thing. He shouldn't expect more than this, though, so he may as well enjoy the bit of mercy now while he had it.

Still, she didn't have enough to actually tell him she didn't join. All she did was shrug, and raise an eyebrow, intoning for him to say what he thought.

Thomas was about to make a remark concerning how he was about ready to move on, but was stopped by a glowing symbol. An owl suddenly appeared over his head. “Am I….?” Thomas began, not daring to breathe the very idea of it. I’m being claimed! A sword, almost an exact replica of the one he wielded, appeared on the ground while an owl appeared on top of it. Thomas looked at the sword, reading the inscription. Wisdom is Power, said the engraving on the blade. He noticed it came with a complimentary sheath, something his old sword never had. He reluctantly sat the old blade down, then slung the sheath for the sword on his back, the point of the sheath pointed to his left so he could still get to the paddle in his right pocket, just because he was good with the thing in combat. Thomas looked at Artemis, a grin on his face for the first time in a couple weeks. “Well, I hope this improves things between us, though I doubt it would. After all, aren’t I and Milly both born by Maiden goddesses?” Thomas laughed, drawing the sword, twirling it in his hand. It was just like his old one, save for the sheath and engraving. Mother knew he was used to the one he already had, and was sure to accommodate him. He felt the owl land on his shoulder, and smiled. He actually had something to take care of. He hadn’t had an owl before. His dad said they made him sad. Now he knew why: they reminded him of Athena, and Thomas’ dad knew he couldn’t be with her forever. Thomas looked to the skies. “Thank you, mom. I’ll try and make you proud.” Thomas walked off, many questions he had about himself answering themselves.