Messing around

(Text walls. Urg. I've established my character enough. He's an oblivious idiot. XD)

Jake laughed at the second girl's response. "Yah, this is relatively normal." He agreed, with a nod. Then Cat mentioned the campfire.

"Oh yah!" Jake said, straightening up very quickly. "It's awesome! Just take a look!" He jumped down from the stage and gave a snap. Immediately the fire lit up again. The snap wasn't really necessary, but it looked better than it just lighting up on its own, he thought.
Right now the fire was burning at a rather normal height, since there was only a few people there, and a nice orange color. It seemed everyone around was in a rather good mood, more or less. It wasn't the happy-cheery gold color, though... and it frankly looked more like a normal fire.

Jake ran a hand through his hair, frowning at the fire.
"Okay, well it isn't very impressive now." He admitted. He paused for a while longer. "I don't suppose anyone's going to shift moods dramatically in the next thirty seconds, are they?"

[Lawl sorry I was going to make it look less wall-like but I was automatically getting logged out of the computer in 5 seconds and just left it. ^_^" I shall fixeth it after I post this post.]

Cat blinked in surprise when the fire sprung to life at the snap of his fingers. How...?
The boy frowned, noting that it wasn't very impressive-looking. It was true; it was a flickering orange fire, like any other.
"Shift moods? What does that have to do with anything?" Cat asked, slightly puzzled. She knit her eyebrows, realizing what he meant. "Are you trying to tell me it changes color based on our moods?"

((This topic is finally hot xD))

Daquiri was trying to ignore the two campers conversing at the bottom of the stone bleachers as she cleaned under her nails with the tip of her dagger. However, when Jake made the motion of snapping his fingers and the huge bonfire in the middle immediately sprung to life, Daquiri couldn't help but look down at them in surprise...and maybe a little bit of disbelief.

Her unfortunate curiosity getting the better of her, the red-head made her way down the steps and was close enough to the bottom in time to hear Jake say, "...I don't suppose anyone's going to shift moods dramatically in the next thirty seconds, are they?"

So it depends on someone's mood, does it? Daquiri thought, piecing together the conversation in her head. Hearing Cat's query only confirmed her suspicions. Tossing her hair behind her, Daquiri gave a sharp, humorless laugh through her nose--partly to get their attention, partly because it was just a natural reaction to the absurdity of a campfire having a built-in mood ring. When they turned around to face her, she addressed Jake's comment.
"A change in the mood? That can be arranged." And without any further preamble, the fiery red-head let loose a smart slap across the blond's rather surprised face.
It was rather extreme, she knew, even for her--but even so, it put her in a lot better of a mood. Raising an eyebrow, she turned to the brunette. "Do you think that'll work?"

((....yeah, I didn't plan that. *points at Ri* Blame her. It's her fault. *goes and hides*))

Cat nearly burst out laughing. She covered her mouth with her left hand for a moment, eyes dancing with humor, before she got her emotions under control. It was probably somewhat rude of her to find it funny, but she couldn't help it. It definitely hadn't been what she was expecting.
 "Um... yeah," she said, a bit of laughter still hiding in her voice as she raised her bright gaze to Daquiri's. "Probably."
 And it was true; the fire had taken on a somewhat golden tinge when she had begun grinning. But there was also other colors present, mingling with the golden flames - representing Daquiri's and the blond boy's moods. How interesting.

 [Lawl. It's always Daquiri's fault, isn't it. (To Daquiri: Don't hurt me! *scurries off after Ceru*)]

Jake stiffened in surprise as he was unceremoniously slapped across the face.
He blinked at the red-head, trying to puzzle out why she just slapped him.

However he heard the barely contained laugh from the second girl. He forced out a smile.
"Yah, that did the trick." He said with a nod, still a bit bewildered. He glanced down at the fire. It was sparking up different colors now. He rubbed his cheek. "I don't think I've ever seen the color for that before." He said, trying to put it out as a joke.

Yah. These new girls were crazy.

Cat glanced at the boy, who was rubbing his cheek and forcing a smile. "You okay?" she asked, sobering up completely. She felt a little bad now, having laughed.

Jake mentally brushed off the slight irritation on his cheek. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. I mean, he's been through several much worse incidents in the years at camp, he had more been taken back by the simple fact that he had been slapped for absolutely no reason. He made sure to drop his hand.

He looked over at the other girl and gave his usual crooked grin.
"It's nothing, really." He said, giving an easy going shrug. He cracked a larger grin. "You've never been slapped by Medusa before." He joked.

While he never actually fought Medusa herself (or any other gorgon) he'd been training for a while, and he's had a large tolerance for pain even before then. And compared to some other heavy-hitters, he can tolerate a simple slap.
...that didn't mean that being slapped was called for at all. What was her problem, anyway?

Cat raised an eyebrow, and smirked. "Of course. I forgot how demigods go through things like that. Being slapped by... gorgons. This is no biggie, right?"

 She could see that he was still a little miffed for getting slapped out of the blue, but he brushed it off pretty easily, both the insult and the pain of the blow. She could respect that.
 She wondered if this guy was serious about the slapped-by-Medusa thing, though. Had he actually ever met Medusa, or any other of those infamous Greek monsters, much less get slapped by one? Demigods... What crazy lives they led. Cat half-wished she wasn't supposedly one of them. Yet... it felt right that she was.

 She paused, realizing she still didn't have any idea who this boy was. "Er, what's your name?"

Daquiri's bettered mood instantly soured at Jake's comment. Scowling at the blond, she took a barely noticeable step closer to Jake. "Did you just call me Medusa?" Oh, this boy had it in for himself.

...Her hair didn't actually look that bad, did it? She resisted the urge to run a hand through the strawberry blonde locks. No, she wasn't about to let this kid know that he was getting to her. After all, when one played with fire--that meant throwing the gun powder right back at them.

Jake's smile disappeared rather quickly.
"Uhh..." He said, not turning away from the fire yet. "Did I?" He said, with a bit of a uncertain smile. He quickly started reviewing what he had just said in his head while having an angry girl on his hands. He didn't think so... or he at least didn't mean to. He just cracked a joke that it wasn't as hard of a slap as a monster could.... which apparently had sounded like he meant... oh.

"It was a metaphor." Jake said immediately. Then it occurred to him that that wouldn't make things better. "I mean, I'm not saying you're Medusa, I'm just saying you're very similar." Another beat past and he winced as he realized that that was even worse.
"Before she was a monster." He said, "She was beautiful then. That's good, right?" He asked with a larger crooked grin, this one a bit more uncertain and wary. He could have saved a lot of trouble if he would just think a bit before he spoke. Yah. He was probably going to get kicked in the balls again.

Daquiri's lips got tighter and tighter the more Jake stumbled over his words. By the time he had finished rambling, her heart-shaped mouth had turned into a thin line and her eyes were probably indigo with fury. She was silent for several seconds that seemed to stretch into an eternity.

Yeah, that calm before the storm $***.

This time, when Daquiri slapped Jake, she slapped him hard. If he had thought the last one was her doling out pain, he was going to be in for a surprise when this one left him with a nice purple bruise. Spewing out several rather uncomplimentary phrases in French concerning something about his mother and a house fly, the red-head unceremoniously flipped Jake the bird before stepping on his foot with the heel of her combat boot and storming back up the Amphitheatre steps.

At this point, the fire's flames had deepened to the color of blood.

((Chai, you can come in at this point if you like xD))

(im gonna wait and see what Jake's post is first...of course with her storming off... I dont think Malachai will be able to do that uncomfortable silence thing anymore)

((Yeaaah, that's why I thought posting next would give you the best opportunity...But yeah, sorry. Daquiri was just like, "That's it, I'm outta here."))

Jake stiffened as he was slapped across the face significantly harder than the first time. He quietly bore the several insults (partially because he couldn't understand most of them) and the clearly understandable one-fingered salute, then took in a sharp breath as she stomped on his foot, then stomped off.

He worked his jaw, getting his thoughts back into order. He then rubbed his cheek.
"Okay. That one I probably deserved." He said, shaking his head and plopping down to sit at the edge of the stage.

He set his jaw and gave a grunt, forcing his thoughts away from focusing on that moment. Between his clear lack of social skills and her apparent insanity, he decided to count it well enough that he didn't get kicked again. He dropped his hand from his face and leaned back to grab the stick he had been playing with again.
He then remembered there was still another person in the theater.

Jake pulled over the stick and got into a more comfortable position.
"Well. My name is Jake, and as you can see I have absolutely no social skills."

Boy, was she glad she didn't know French.
 Cat could only stare in shock as a furious Daquiri slapped Jake again, hard. She spouted what Cat could only assume were French profanities, made a rude gesture, and brought her boot down on his foot for good measure before spinning around and storming off.

 She had considered Daquiri intimidating and fierce from their first meeting. Now, she could be quite sure to add the word scary to the list. Clearly, the strawberry blonde was someone to stay away from.

 The boy rubbed his cheek, admitting, "Okay. That one I probably deserved," before going to sit at the edge of the stage.
 Cat pressed her lips together before following him and plopping down a few feet away.
 The boy seemed to notice her then. "Well. My name is Jake, and as you can see I have absolutely no social skills."
 "I'm Cat," she offered. "Cat Greyling. And, uh, yeah, I can tell." She paused. "To be fair, though, Daquiri is pretty..." She searched for a word. "...daunting," she finished. Or intimidating, unnerving, quick-to-anger... "Hey, at least I understood what you were trying to say," she said encouragingly. "Sort of."

 She suddenly realized he hadn't mentioned his godly parent's identity. How refreshing. She had yet to find a legitimate reason for demigods' tendency to inform people of who their all-powerful, immortal daddy or mommy was.

((Jake!! Forge Face finally knows Ri's name now! xD))

"That's one way to put it." Jake said dryly, as Cat mentioned the first girl. He'd use something like 'rabid' or 'legally insane'. Darquri was it? Well, he should probably make a note of that... at least to know who he should avoid, if nothing else.

He leaned back as Cat continued.
"Well that's good." He said with a laugh. "I don't know what I'm saying half the time." He joked, shaking his head. He leaned backwards, resting with his elbows on the stage behind him.
"I just sort of keep talking and hope for the best."

Cat half-smiled, and before she could stop herself, she joked, "That's pretty much the exact opposite of my strategy: stop talking and hope they move to China."

Jake laughed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Heh, maybe I should use that one sometime." He tended to dig himself into a hole when he spoke. And he spoke a lot. "It would probably save me a lot of trouble." He said with a crooked grin.

((Yaaaaay the beginning of Jake and Cat's friendship! xD))

[Yeah! Now all we gotta do is convince Cat that Ri's not quite that scary and start their friendship. x3]

 Cat shrugged casually, returning the grin. "Probably."
It was strange how easy it was to talk to this guy. Why hadn't she met anyone like that in the real world? Of course she had to go to a Greek demigod camp with winged horses, lava-covered climbing walls and magic rainbow fires to finally fit in. Everywhere else, people would be like, LOL, nope. Not talking to you.
 She could feel it, feel herself dropping her guard a little more every day she spent in this bizarre place. She felt a little scared about that, but it felt good to relax a little. She leaned back, stretching out her legs, and glanced at the stick Jake was holding.
 "What's with the stick?" she asked.

It took Jake a moment to realize what she was talking about. He laughed aloud.
Jake swung it gently as he finished laughing.
"Well, you see. Earlier I was ambushed zombie ninja pirates." He said, still laughing at how ridiculous it sounded. "So of course I had to defend myself."

Cat raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Of course," she said.
She looked around the amphitheater. "You seemed to have scared them off," she noted. "I guess sticks are some pretty effective yet underrated weapons."

Jake laughed. "Oh yah." He said. "They're usually rather sturdy, and they're everywhere." He swung his stick around. "Very good improved weapons."

He leaned back. "So, are you new to camp?" He asked. That usually was a bad question, since it had the chance of backfiring embarrassingly if they weren't. Oh well.

Cat nodded. "Yeah, this is my third day," she told Jake, letting out a short, disbelieving laugh. After a slight hesitation, she asked, "How long have you been here?" She hoped it didn't seem like she was trying to pry.