Arrows Don't Always Fly True

Son of Eros ✯ { - Twenty One | Demisexual | Male - } ✯ " You can't blame gravity for falling in love. " - Albert Einstein ✯ ۪S۫۰۪o۫۰۪n۫۰ ۪o۫۰۪f۫۰ ۪E۫۰۪r۫۰۪o۫۰۪s۫۰

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

rememberwilliams

“Yeah…” Ari trailed off, “I don’t really drink. Not legal here and also never ends well for me. Does brand count or does it just have to be the item? I’d say googling might be our best guess, or I can pick my brain to see If I remember any good ones. I think my stepdad was fond of scotch…” They could feel their mind wandering and pulled themself back to the moment.

Ari laughed and waved her hands, “No, its fine. I’m just an awkward person in general. Trust me, I still get awkward around Ches and she’s my partner!”

Suddenly they were hit with an idea, “Wait… What if we break into Alan’s room and see what he has? I could totally shadow travel us in there… But if Alan is in there that might be bad…” They snapped their fingers, a name falling easily into place, “Glenlivet is the ‘really fancy’ kind, so probably not what he was going for but knowing Alan he’d take anything.”

The child of Hades shrugged and ran a hand through their hair, “They and them is preferred, but I’m not gonna get into a huff if you mess up.” They smiled, “I appreciate you asking though!” 

Adam chuckled, pulling out his phone and turning it on. “Well thankfully we have smartphones to do most of the work for us.” With a few taps he pulled up the google app and began searching. “If you have suggestions I don’t mind looking them up to see if they match, either. I’ve talked to Alan once, so I do know scotch in general is his favorite. I think you’re right, he just wants any old bottle. Though if we could we should probably get him something a little nicer. Might help our chances of winning...”

He trailed off as he found a couple fancier brands, scribbling them down in his notepad, and pointing them out to Ari. Glenlivet (as they’d said), Aberfeldy 21, Tomintoul, Glenfiddich, Duncan Taylor 1969 and Talisker to name a few. “These are real expensive though,” the demi-god said with a frown. “Breaking bank on the first item would kind of suck.”

So of course, when Ari suggested breaking into Alan’s room, Adam’s thought process went something like, YES! Do it! Save money, which immediately turned into, Do you want to get disqualified?! No! Plus he’d likely know you stole it from him!!

He pulled a face as he shut down the search engine and put away his phone. “Honestly, I wouldn’t mind a bit of adventure but don’t you think he’d notice if we gave him one of his own bottles for the hunt? Not sure if he’d disqualify us or think we’re clever and praise us for our ingenuity.”

Thinking quickly, Adam flipped his notepad shut and put it away. “We could always try sneaking out, find a nearby liquor store? If we pool our resources we could probably get something halfway decent for him.” Then, laughing, he motioned back toward the dorms. “Of course if that plan fails, I’m all for breaking in so long as we’re careful. Deal?”

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

rememberwilliams

Ari felt their stomach drop and half lunged to shake Adams hand, “Oh my god I’m so sorry!” They ran a hand through their hair, “I can shadow travel, so I was up there looking for you and then I kinda… used your shadow as a gateway for my physical form to appear?” Their voice trailed off and they grinned awkwardly.

All their nervous habits were cropping up, the unfortunate side effect of meeting new people. Wringing their hands they took a deep breath, “I think I know what the clue means. Knowing Alan its Scotch, single malt. Now its just a question of what brand…I doubt its a sign to throw us off, Alan wouldn’t turn down a bunch of people bringing him alcohol.”

Sometimes their heritage helped them out in the long run. 

The man chuckled, waving away the apologies. “Nah no need to apologize,” he assured. Seems he’d guessed right about what had happened. “No harm done after all. It’s kind of awesome actually.”

He was impressed with Ari’s reasoning as well. To be honest, even though he drank liquor, Adam didn’t really know the difference between Scotch or Whiskey or anything like that. “Good point. We could try googling brands in order to come up with some options, if you like, then go out and try them? Or we could skip right to the taste testing. Though uh, you’re not old enough to drink are you? So I guess I’d be doing most of the tasting...”

He trailed off awkwardly, noticing that Ari seemed a bit nervous, wringing their hands together and having practically lunged to shake his hand. “Um, sorry if I’m making you nervous,” the demi-god muttered. “I get that it’s a bit awkward working with someone that you’ve never really met, but I promise I’ll do my best to be a good partner. I’m sure we’ll do great.”

As he pulled a small notepad from his pocket to jot down their ideas, wanting something to do with his hands, something else occurred to him and he looked back up.

“Oh uh, also, I wanted to ask before I messed anything up. Do you have any preferred pronouns? Someone told me a while back that you prefer ‘they’ and ‘them’ instead of ‘her’ so I just want to make sure.” Adam would be certain to call them the proper ones in his head too from now on.

[rememberwilliams-blog-deactivat]

@impossiblysteadyaim

Ari had to admit, this wasn’t their finest moment. They hadn’t been paying attention while Alan was talking and they had no idea what they were doing. The piece of paper in their hands wasn’t helping much either since they didn’t really remember what Adam looked like. The demigod had seen him from afar but never really spoken to him. 

They knew he was tall and had dark hair at least. 

Shadow traveling to a highish place, Ari looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of their partner. Nerves were chewing at their stomach. They’d never met Adam which meant Adam didn’t know about their memory issue. Everything in their head was already wound up from seeing Oscar partnered with James, so they were desperately clinging to every scrap of information in their head. Especially the fact that they were fairly sure they knew what Alan’s first item was. Being Irish helped in this regard. 

There. They saw a figure moving that matched the description in their head. Immediately they warped to the ground next to him and offered a smile, “I don’t suppose you happen to be Adam?” 

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

If he were being perfectly honest, Adam nearly jumped out of his skin when a  rather tall girl warped into being in front of him. Had he still been in possession of his bow, the demi-god likely would have had an arrow knocked and ready, pointed directly at her head. One didn’t normally expect to see people just appear out of thin air while on the hunt for their scavenging partner.

As it were he still muttered a small expletive and stumbled back a step, only just stopping his hands from reaching for the absent weapon.

“B-by the gods!”

As his heart-rate returned to normal, Adam’s brow furrowed as he took in her appearance, glancing from her to the ground to the sky as if wondering where she’d come from. Had she just appeared from his shadow?!

Once that thought crossed his mind his eyes widened and he returned her smile, his grin lopsided but quite genuine. “A-ah! Sorry, you startled me. Yeah, I’m Adam, and you must be Ari?” He held out his hand for a shake, not wanting to overstep his bounds. “I tried to find you earlier but uh...kinda hard to do that without knowing what you look like. Probably would have walked right by you if you hadn’t seen me.”

He tilt his head. “Um, if I may ask...where did you come from, exactly...?” Adam had always been rather curious of other demi-gods’ powers. Everyone’s abilities seemed to manifest in unique ways. No one was ever quite the same as their half-siblings.

His hazel eyes sparkled as he quickly motioned to the water fountain behind them. “Anyway. Would you like to sit out here to dissect Alan’s clue or go inside? I have a copy of it but no real ideas yet...I’d say it’s something alcohol related but that might just be to throw us off the scent.”

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

 spearofintelligence

Stavros knew that Adam would worry about him. He was a nice guy who seemed to care for others and it was a good quality to have. He could tell that his protective instincts took over and he didn’t mind it at all. It wasn’t that bad of a cut, he’d certainly survive but knew that he should just listen to the man.

“I’d completely agree with you. No better than getting an injury right?” It was always a wonder to himself at how he could take his injuries lightly and still crack jokes. Keeping still so his partner would be able to focus on cleaning up the wound, it was true that he couldn’t clean it himself. Amethyst would be furious that he didn’t ask her to help clean it up but all would be fine.

“I dunno, I probably put one in there since I was sure who I’d run into. Maybe someone would get cut or something.” He didn’t really expect out of all people that he’d be the one to get hit. But he didn’t blame Adam, if he hurt the man he would feel terrible for doing so. 

“I guess you could say that. What about you Shepard?”

Adam laughed at Stavros’ carefree response. If the guy felt well enough to crack jokes, the staff likely hadn’t done any permanent damage. Athena would probably skin him alive if he’d injured her son’s brain.

“Usually my fighting is done at range. Bow and arrow, after all.” Shrugging, Adam went to pick up his staff and replace it on the weapon’s rack. They probably shouldn’t continue sparring for today. That could wait until Stavros healed a little. “Most enemies never get close enough to hurt me. Honestly, I’m not the best at hand to hand combat if they ever do, but I can hold my own.”

Motioning for Stavros to put away his axe, Adam continued. “Once when I was younger, I got cornered by a Minotaur who’d somehow figured out where I’d been going to high school. That thing was huge, real ugly looking bastard, and smelled worse than my gym teacher had at the time. I’d been working on my archery on the soccer field but damn he was faster than I’d expected and closed the distance between us real quick.”

He suppressed a shudder at the memory of curved horns and bellows that shook the ground and rattled in his chest and ears for hours later. “I’d only scored a few hits with my arrows before he came at me and up close they’d do no real good. So I basically ended up trying to pummel him with my bow and not get killed while running around the field.”

Adam laughed. “We destroyed the entire stadium, and I ended up with three busted ribs and a ton of bruises by the time we were done. The only reason I managed to kill it was because I got him to run into the supports for the stadium seats and they collapsed on top of him. Pinned him quite nicely. Made it real easy to put a bulls-eye in his head after that...”

Frowning, the demi-god played back his sentence in his head. “Uh, no pun intended.” That had been his worst set of injuries to date. His mom had been frantic and they’d moved right after that incident. “What about you? Any horror stories?”

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

the-funnest-rebel

Alan was not a morning person. Definitely not. He had a personal rule of never waking up before noon. At least unless Zelda woke him up sooner. Today wasn’t one of those days. But today, was a rarity. Alan hadn’t drank enough last night to properly pass out until noon. So here he was, fussing over his dark hair well before noon. Positive side though, he was awake early enough for breakfast. And that meant mimosas. Well, more like Irish coffee. Alan wasn’t a fruity drink kind of guy.

Grabbing his small bottle of Irish cream liqueur, Alan made his way to the cafeteria. He hadn’t eaten breakfast in years. What did people eat these days? Hopefully cereal was still a thing. Seemed simple, but seemed delicious enough. Cereal and coffee, with a splash of the liqueur. Now, Alan was usually against morning drinking. He preferred to save the booze until after 3. But this was a special occasion. It’s been years since Alan naturally woke up before noon. That called for a celebration.

Getting a bowl of Fruit Loops and a cup of coffee, Alan scanned the cafeteria quickly. He frowned, setting his stuff down across from an unfamiliar face. “You seem way to down in the dumps for being before noon,” Alan said, smiling at the dark-haired man. “And you look like you need this a lot more than I do.” Alan pulled the small bottle from his pocket, setting it on the table between the two of them. “Brendan’s Irish Cream Liqueur, personal favourite of mine. Great in coffee.”

Alan took a few bites of his cereal, before adding a splash of the liqueur to his coffee. Zelda would skin him if she knew he was morning drinking. “I’m Alan, by the way,” he said, taking a drink of his Irish coffee. “Alan Cooke, son of Dionysus, so you know sharing my liqueur is a huge thing. You look stressed, just trying to help.”

Startled out of his funk, Adam blinked and felt his brow furrow as he examined both the liquor bottle now on the table and the man behind it. Who was apparently pouring some of it into his coffee..honestly Adam wasn’t sure if that was disgusting or genius. Couldn’t really tell without trying it, could he? At least he wasn’t pouring wine into it.

As the man’s words finally percolated into his brain, the demi-god shrugged and reached out to take the offered bottle. “Family will do that to you,” he replied as he poured some of the Irish Cream into his empty juice glass. “And thanks, I appreciate it. Though I don’t usually drink before noon…if at all.” Taking a tentative sip, Adam was surprised to taste not only whiskey but also a marshmallow-like sweetness behind it.

It was actually rather pleasant.

Smiling, he took a larger sip and chuckled. “I can see why this is a personal favorite. And you can call me Adam, Adam Shepard. Most people do. Comes with having a ridiculous first name, really.” He tilt his head, smile growing wider. “And I promise not to waste a drop of this gift. Honestly, I appreciate it.”

Perhaps some company would help get his mind off his mother.

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

Adam nudged his oatmeal around the bowl, listlessly rolling a blueberry between his spoon and the clumpy oats. He didn’t feel much like eating today but knew he had to keep his strength up. Calls with his mom usually left him irritated and listless, especially when she refused to acknowledge the fact that she needed a stable job.

Frowning, he took a quick bite, swallowing it down even though the oatmeal tried to stick in his throat. I mean he understood the need to do something you loved...but sometimes a person had to be practical. You couldn’t pay the bills with one or two massage clients a month. It just wasn’t feasible.

Sighing, Adam took another bite, trying to pretend that he could still taste something on his tongue.

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

“Right with you.” He said hoping it would go well, and that they’d be okay.

Once they began, and Adam had dodged his attack Stavros gave him a small grin. Evading the strike towards his arms barely, he knew Adam was very good at fighting and expected no less.

Mid-fight he thought of something important, a hazard. Why had he not put guards on his weapon? He figure he could ask but not in the heat of the fight.

Breathing very quickly between every move. He kept trying to dodge the incoming attack but something didn’t go right.

Boom

Adam’s staff had connected with his head. Not in any pain he felt the side of his face, there was a cut but it wasn’t bleeding too much. Making sure Adam wouldn’t worry too much he said “I’m okay. It just surprised me a bit when it hit me.”

Pausing for a bit, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a gauze pad and put it on his cheek. “I mean, it may leave a scar but we know a scar means that you survived right? Or something along those lines.”  

Thud!

“Ah, shit.” Adam pulled his staff back, brows crinkling in worry. “Crap, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.” He ignored his partner when they said  they were alright. Obviously, they weren’t if the grunt of pain had been anything to go by.

When the other man started bleeding Adam dropped the staff and stepped forward, taking the gauze pad from Stavros’ hand and tilting the man’s head up. “Aaaand now you’re bleeding. Wonderful start to a partnership if I do say so myself...”

Adam tilted Stavros’ head to the side using his chin, frowning in concentration as he applied the pad carefully to the wound. “Hold still dammit, you’re not going to be able to do this yourself.” Smoothing the bandage over the wound, he released Stavros’ chin and stepped back, nodding once in satisfaction. “You should probably sanitize that later and change the gauze but thankfully it doesn’t look too deep. So hopefully it won't scar. Why did you have gauze on you anyway?”

He smirked, chucking the plastic wrapped into a trash bin. “Get hurt often, Wikstrom?”

[letoshepard]

Adam’s turn next! This was hard.

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

spearofintelligence

Stavros laughed and walked towards the weapon rack. Scanning the weapons, his hand hovering over the spear. “Well, yea it usually is a spear but I feel like I should use something else.” He glanced at the ax and picked it up. It wasn’t very sharp so it wouldn’t hurt if Adam was hit with it.

“I’ll use this,” he told Adam “and let’s try not to break anything.”

Stavros took a deep breath and readied his weapon looking around the room. “Ready? Lets do this.”

He quickly lunged forward and struck towards his legs. Jumping back a bit into a defensive stance and then attacking again towards his arms.

“I’ll do my best not to shatter any bones,” Adam agreed with a laugh.

Quick as a flash, he leaped up out of the way of the axe, stepping forward as Stavros retreated and flipping his staff to deflect the next strike against his arms. Athena’s child was fast...impressive.

To be honest that axe seemed dull...but even dull weapons could cause quite a bit of bodily harm. Perhaps he should have suggested putting rubber guards on the end of such weapons?

Ah well, too late now.

Between one breath and the next Adam spun his staff around, hoping to connect it with Stavros’ head. Depending on whether it was deflected or not, he’d go for the legs next. He refused to put all his strength behind the swings however, as he didn’t actually want to hurt the man.

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

spearofintelligence

“Sure, why not?” Stavros replied. He knew that their training should begin sooner or later so why not start it today? Knowing that both of them have different fighting styles he though it would be best to go hand-to-hand, though Adam was better at ranged combat.

“Yea, I’ve been here for a while and came here at a young age as well,” Stavros replied, “I haven’t visited him for about five years and all I know is that he moved somewhere and never told me why.”

As they began walking towards the training yard, Adam was telling his story. Stavros kept thinking about how Adam would be able to tell about his parents to someone he barely knew.

When he finished Stavros kept quiet for a few seconds and then replied with, “Thank you for telling me. I know it isn’t easy telling someone especially if you just met.”

Finally reaching the training yard Stavros turned to Adam and said,

“Well what are we waiting for?”

Adam nodded once in understanding. Not knowing much about your family could hurt, and for all the gripe his mother gave him Adam would hate to have never known her either. “Sounds rough,” he replied simply.

When Stavros thanked him for telling his own story, the demi-god shrugged and ran an embarrassed hand through his hair. At least the guy hadn’t run screaming after hearing that whole thing. That probably bode well for their partnership.

“...what are we waiting for?”

With a grin, Adam walked over to the weapon’s rack and perused the available utensils. Though his hands itched to pick up his bow, he instead grabbed a staff and threw a wink over his shoulder at Stavros.

“Waiting for you to choose your weapon,” he teased. “I’ll use this for now and you can choose whatever you like. Is your usual choice a spear or no?”

As he waiting Adam padded to the center of the training floor and gripped his staff, automatically dropping into a defensive position and keeping his eyes on his opponent.

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

insomniac4sleep

“Well technically no,” Zelda smiled softly. “I share with my partner like all partners. And our mini fridge is in our office, it was a bit loud for the room.” It was Alan’s idea to move the mini fridge to the break room aka their office. It was loud and kept her up, but a lot of things could keep her awake so it didn’t really matter.

Zelda giggled softly, “Marimbas are similar to pianos the same keys except they are made of wood and you hit them with mallets they are a part of the pit in a marching band. They are a percussion instrument. But if you would like to learn piano I can teach you, that’s my specialty. Being ADHD and Dyslexia you learn how to play differently. It’s better that way.”

Zelda nodded slowly she was similar. She had to know someone before she felt anything for them and even then it was horrible wanting to love someone and not being able to. “Is that similar to your father? I ask because I’m different than well, technically all my parents.” Her stepfather and mother were small town bible thumpers. And she was an insomniac while her real father was the god of sleep, if that didn’t say different she didn’t know the meaning.

She smiled softly putting a hand on his arm. “Don’t feel obligated to conform to your parents beliefs. Just be who you want to be. Good night Adam. I’m sure everything will work out.” Zelda said and then dropped her hand adjusting her blanket. Now she could sleep, Havi, bed, blankets, and her earbuds, hopefully she’d get more than three hours that would be amazing.

“Still pretty neat,” Adam rebutted with a smile. “Having to fight for food every morning in the cafeteria is kind of a bummer. Though if you get there early enough no one’s around.”

He listened as she detailed the difference between marimbas and pianos, impressed that she knew so much about such a variety of instruments. He replied that he definitely would love to learn sometime,

But when she asked about his father, Adam found himself turning away, fiddling with the zipper of his jacket. “I don’t really know how similar we are. I never really met him. Maybe once, when I was a baby, but...well, Psyche doesn’t like the idea of me existing at all, but she and my mother have an understanding.” He thought back to all he had learned about Eros, god of love, as he’d grown up and sighed.

“I’d like to think we’re a little similar. He never really felt love himself before or after Psyche, right? And it took him a while to really get to know her and fall for her...a love like that...I envy them. Don’t know if I’ll ever feel that way about someone...”

Realizing that his words were leading towards a depressing horizon, Adam quickly backpedaled. “Um, but I appreciate it. Your confidence in the future, I mean. And hey, Zelda?” He smiled softly, if a little sleepily, at her from his doorway. “I hope everything works out for you too. Goodnight. And goodnight to Havi, too.”

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

spearofintelligence

“Well at least I know where you would be if I ever tried to find you again.” Stavros smiled. “If you ever tried to find me I’d either be in my dorm or training, just to let you know.”

Stavros felt like he should answer his question.“I’ve been here since I was eighteen, so about six years. It took me a while to persuade my father into letting me stay here but it worked out for me.” He had realized that it had been a while since he visited his father but wasn’t too sure where he would be now.

Stavros rubbed his shoulder “Are you on good terms with your parents? I’d understand if you don’t feel comfortable answering this knowing that we have only just met.”

Adam laughed at the comment. “Yeah, that’s true. We could head there now, if you like? We have to start training together sometime anyway.”

The idea of working with someone while at the training grounds was both enticing and daunting. He had no doubt of his own abilities, and had had sparring partners in the past. But he knew that archery was his strongest fighting style and that while he could hold his own at hand-to-hand combat, Stavros would likely be better at that.

And with three more years of experience, Adam had to admit he felt a little nervous. They may be partners but they knew nothing of each other.

“Six years? ...wow.” Standing up, he began heading back towards the campus and the training yard. “That’s...a long time. And the way you talk about him I guess you don’t talk to your dad much either?” He huffed, glancing down at his feet as he walked. “I never knew mine so...”

Ah, family. Those thoughts always led to frustration, anger, sadness...but Stavros had asked so Adam felt a obligated to answer.

“Uh, my dad, Eros...he loves his wife Psyche. Like, completely, irrevocably loves her. The only reason I’m here is because, for a half century before I was born, the two got into a terrible fight. I don’t know what it’s about, only my mom does, and truthfully she only knows a little of the story.“

Sighing, Adam stopped walking outside the training grounds and turned towards Stavros. He never liked talking about what had led to his birth. But something told him that if he didn’t tell his partner, who would he tell? So he continued.

“They essentially separated. For a long, long time. And Eros was heartbroken. He drifted through life, finding no joy anywhere in it. Then he met my mother...she was free-spirited and kind, and apparently reminded him so much of Psyche. She listened to his story, offered a shoulder when he was at his lowest, and in the end my mom told him that it was alright if he truly loved Psyche, that they could have just the one night together. She asked for nothing in return and understood that he was grieving. That in reality he still loved his wife and while he considered my mom a friend, what they had was more comfort and understanding than love...”

He frowned. “So they had their one night. And, with my mom’s encouragement, Eros went to speak to Psyche a little while afterwards and they patched things up. Of course by then I was already conceived, so it was hard on the two gods, but my mom insisted she had never wanted anything from Eros...no strings or commitments...so I was born regardless.”

When his booted feet reached the door to the training yard, Adam stopped and turned toward his partner with a self-depreciating smile. “So yeah, I guess you could say that I don’t really get along with my parents. I don’t know my father and I don’t approve of half the things my mother does. But if you don’t mind that I essentially just dumped my entire history on you, we’re here and I’d love to take out some of my frustration on the practice dummies.”

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

insomniac4sleep

“Four years without leave. I kind of took coming here as an opportunity to separate myself from my parents. Not that they aren’t good people, they just are, not the type of people I want to be.” Zelda came from a very conservative town and did not want to be associated with religion. She wasn’t going to promote gun violence or preach the sins or eating pig or homosexuality or even premarital sex.

“Alan a college student? No, he crashed the party I was at. He told me he was a college student. I’d end up seeing him in between classes before his cover was kind of blown.” The story of how exactly Alan was dragged into being a trainer at HBI was a funny one. But it also wasn’t something to be advertised.

“Not just the sleeping thing, there are a few things that make me a bit unbearable to live with.” Being a germaphobe was not the best trait. She tended to be stressed if something wasn’t clean, but it also meant that their room was always spotless.

Zelda smiled and nodded. “My music theory professor but more often than not I was the one falling asleep. I did however almost fail another student who really was influenced by me and would fall asleep when they sat next to me.” Zelda tried to actually learn and not put her professors to sleep but every once in a while it did happen.

“I play a few things, piano more intensely, but I’ve played ukulele, marimba, guitar, bells, and for a while I played the french horn. My professor suggested I learn flute and violin, I hate the violin though, at Camp Clovis loved it and constantly played violin,” Zelda smiled. “There’s a piano in the common room I could teach you if you’d like.”

Zelda looked down the hallway and shook her head. “Alan and I have a private dorm on another floor. We’re trainers, special perks. But thank you. It was nice to meet you Adam.”

Adam laughed. “A whole private dorm to yourself? Do you get a mini fridge too? Because that would be awesome. I’d definitely have to switch careers then!” With a smile he gestured towards the other end of the hall. “I’m down this way if you want to visit for a bit. I don’t have too much stuff so it’s not much to look at but at least it’s clean.”

He began walking in that direction slowly, the urge to sleep stronger the closer he got to his room.

Talking, talking would help.

Zelda was surprisingly pleasant company.

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind some lessons. And you can really play all those? That must take some dedication. I don’t even know what marimbas are...”

When she mentioned her family Adam nodded.

“Yeah, I kind of understand what you mean about wanting to distance yourself from your parents.” He frowned, staring at the ground as he walked. “I can’t speak for your mom or dad or anything, but with my mom and me...we’re two fundamentally different personalities. She’s free spirited and dispenses her love and affection with abandon. I have to get to known someone before I even start to feel anything for them...”

Sighing, Adam stopped in front of his door and unlocked it, shoving it open to reveal a cozy but sparsely furnished room with a bed, a writing desk, and a small dresser and bookshelf. “It’s because of her personality and beliefs that I was even born so...I guess I can’t be too annoyed with her.”

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

spearofintelligence 

Stavros shook his hand and smiled. “Yes I am Stavros and it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ll admit I was sort of excited to meet you” He looked at Adam and noticed that he was around his height which was a surprise to him, not many people were as tall as him.

“My original plan was for me to look around for you but I wasn’t sure where you’d be so I turned to my second plan, to send a good old letter.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, he wasn’t the best at keeping up a conversation with someone new.

“How long have you been here? I don’t recall seeing you but that might just be me not remembering.” Stavros smiled and leaned back, making sure not to touch the water.

He hoped that things would go well between them.

Adam shrugged. “I’m usually at the archery range. Helps keep me busy when there’s not some kind of crisis to be averted. Plus I like getting in the practice.” He was glad Stavros had sought him out first; the demi-god didn’t really socialize too much.

Which probably explained why his partner had a difficult time figuring out where he was. Winkling his nose, Adam figured answering the other question would be a good start towards mingling more. “Uhm, I was actually away for a few weeks visiting my mom. So that’s probably why you haven’t seen me recently.” He shrugged.

“I’ve been at Half-Blood Inc. for about three years now. Even since I turned eighteen and convinced my mom to let me stay. What about you?”

[spearofintelligence-blog]

@impossiblysteadyaim

Stavros waited for a long time until assignment day, the anticipation was killing him. He wanted to know if he would get paired up with someone or not.

When the day finally came he was happy with the results; Rhadamanthus Shepard, son of Eros. He didn’t know many people who had Eros as a father so he wanted to make a good first impression. Stavros wasn’t very sure how to pronounce his name but he planned to ask him once they met up.

“Now, how do we find him?” Stavros whispered to himself. He looked around and decided to send him a note saying where they should meet up and what time.

He was excited to meet him and hoped that they’d be able to be good friends.

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

Turns out Zelda had been right all along; Adam did finally receive his first partner during the very next assignment day at Half-Blood Inc. He’d been more focused on his breakfast, not expecting to be called, when all of a sudden Dionysus had butchered his name and waved at another young man in the crowd.

“And Adamantium Shepherd will be paired with Stavros Wickson, enjoy!”

He’d been so surprised he’d paused mid-bite, eyes wide. It was worth the headmaster messing up his name (probably on purpose...) to finally be acknowledged and given someone to work with. Perhaps he didn’t have to train alone anymore!

Excitement coursed through his veins when he received Stavros’ note a few days later, and Adam headed out to the courtyard fountain to meet his new partner. It seemed that he was already there, and the demi-god smiled as he walked up and took a seat on the edge, careful not to let his hands go near the piranhas.

“Hey, I take it you’re Stavros?” Holding out his hand, he continued, “I’m Adam. It’s nice to meet you.”

[impossiblysteadyaim-blog]

insomniac4sleep

“I don’t think that was Alan’s intentions but that’s true.” Zelda giggled brushing her hair back. Walking with Adam to the dormitories, it would be nice to finally get some sleep.

“I didn’t learn how to fight till I was 18. At least you were doing something productive, my parent’s thought it best I learn piano.” That wasn’t exactly true, she learned to play piano when she was much younger as a past time. Continuing to play was her parents decision but she wasn’t mad. And it was her choice to go to NYU for Piano Performance, but she did get accepted on a full ride.

Zelda didn’t know how to connect to money issues, her step father was a mechanic in Montana and did rescues in the winter. Her mother was a stay at home mom and while they weren’t poor they weren’t rich. Considering most child upbringings Zelda had a very privileged childhood. “HBI is a blessing for a lot of people.” That was a true statement even though it wasn’t necessarily true for her.

She had a normal job if she wanted it, the convince of being at HBI was that she had more money. She didn’t really enjoy being still attached to Montana. It wasn’t a very accepting place. Zelda didn’t fit in with all of the other people there.

“Alan and I actually didn’t meet at HBI, we met at a college party where he lied to me. Which would lead into a bunch of other things that I don’t need to get into.” Zelda laughed a little bit remembering all the stupid things that followed their one meeting. “But, he’s a good guy, we get along really well. I probably have more habits that annoy him. I only really have the one, and even then it’s tolerable.”

Zelda watched him paused and grabbed his jacket on his arm tugging slightly. “Left, not right. Right is courtyard.” She smiled softly and then dropped her hand bring it back to her blanket. “You get used to the campus once you’ve been here for a week.”

impossiblysteadyaim

“It is,” Adam stated simply when she mentioned the school being a blessing.

He blinked, grateful, as Zelda gave him the proper directions. “Thanks. I guess being gone for a couple weeks really threw off my sense of direction.” He patted her hand in thanks before she removed it, heading down the hallway she’d indicated and trying to keep his eyes from falling shut. “How long have you been at Half-Blood Inc.? You seem to know the ins and outs of this place pretty well.”

The demi-god couldn’t help the yawn that contorted his face, raising a hand to cover his open mouth out of politeness. Perhaps if he kept talking he wouldn’t fall asleep until they got to their rooms.

“You met your partner at a college party?” That seemed different than most first meetings around campus. “Was he there recruiting or was he also enrolled as a student?” He frowned, thinking over her other statement about bad habits.

“Do you mean the making people sleepy habit or something else? Because that’s not so bad. I’ll bet it was fun making your boring college professors fall asleep in their own class rather than them boring you to death.”

If only he could have done that!

“And piano’s are awesome. Don’t ever feel bad for learning something that creates rather than destroys. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play something but never really had the time. Besides, archery will probably always be number one in my book.”

They had arrived at the first stretch of dormitories at last, and Adam sighed in relief. Bed was only a few more feet away. “Which one’s your door? I’ll walk you there before heading off.”

[dailymalec]