a day at the beach (open)

Leilani arrived at the beach surf board in hand. The waves here weren't as good as back home, but not many places could stand up to the Hawaiian islands when it came to the surf. Time sun felt good on Leilani's skin. She put her board down and enjoyed it for a few minutes. She looked around, happy she didn't seem to have an audience. Even though she had surfed all her life, she didn't like people to assume it was because she was Hawaiian, like most people did. Her love of the ocean rivaled that of a poseiden kid's. She had grown up around the ocean. She decided to lie down and enjoy the peace before she went out into the water with her board

When you were a mixture of Irish and Norwegian blood, forget what being a daughter of the most beautiful goddess was worth--Daquiri had to get her skin glowing just like anyone else did. Sun tanning. And she sure as heck had to do it enough to get it right.

Now that it was the end of summer, the red-head had to soak up as much sun as she could get. She was fine with her face being porcelain white as always, but if she wasn't going to look like a vampire over the winter, she needed to get her arms and legs to the right golden tan. And with the help of her smuggled deep-sea-blue bikini--thank you Zeus for charmspeak-weakened Hermes boys--she'd get an even tan just about everywhere else as well.

Sliding down the sand dunes like she was on an invisible snow-board, Daquiri landed on the beach in style with her towel and SPF 10 sunscreen. Girls like here didn't come to tan with no protection. That would mean no moving her body for about three days--and not very many clothes. And, to face the facts, she didn't need to show any more of her skin. Especially if it was beat red.

Laying out her towel not too far away from the coastline, Daquiri started to sit down to put on sunscreen when she noticed another girl not too far away on the beach. She was wearing a much more modest one-piece and had a surf board with her. Hmm. Well, if that meant she wasn't going to bother Daquiri, it worked for her.

Leilani saw a lighter skinned girl in a bikini had walked onto the beach. The girl was beautiful,which made Leilani feel even more self. The girl was most likely an Aphrodite kid. Which meant that if Leilani messed up the whole camp could hear about it quickly.

Regardless the waves were perfect for surfing. Leilani moved to the water, she enjoyed herself well on the first wave. Until some bored Nereid decided to mess with her a little. One moment Leilani was riding the wave, the next she was knocked off her board. Water splashing everywhere. Including on the Aphrodite girl.

Stretched out on her towel with sunglasses on, a slight breeze in her hair, and the sound of water lapping at the shore, Daquiri was completely in sun-tanning mode. Well, that was, until whoever was the spirit of really-big-waves-that-practically-drown-people decided to butt in. The red-head let out a yelp of surprise when cold salt water drenched her.

The 14-year-old sat up abruptly, spitting out a wad of seaweed. Pushing aside a strand of now-wet strawberry-blonde hair, Daquiri stood up and scanned the ocean. The waves were normal now, lapping gently against the shore. Okay, that wave had definitely not been natural. And when a head popped up from the water, Daquiri figured out why.

Ugh. Must be a stupid Poseidon kid. Seriously, just because they happen to be kids of a Big Three god, they think they can just shove their powers in everyone's faces and people will love them. Yeah. So-o-o not how she ticked.

"Hey, *insert clever insult here*, go learn to surf on a different island!" she yelled. "And out of my tanning range," she muttered to herself.

Leilani surfaced, the wave had knocked her under the water. Of course that Aphrodite kid had to yell at her too. She heard an insult then when she heard the girl say "go learn to surf on a different island!" There weren't a lot of things that could make Leilani mad. But a racial comment was definitely on the top of the list. She got back on her surfboard and started moving toward shore.Ready to give this Aphrodite girl a piece of her mind. After all just because your mother is goddess of beauty doesn't mean you could be cruel to anyone you want. She put her surfboard into the sand. Then she started walking towards the red headed beauty queen.

Only as soon as she got up close Leilani got up close to the girl, her confidence left her. She began to notice the beauty of the girl and think about how it made her own flaws stick out more. But the biggest difference was the confidence and fierceness the girl radiated with. Something that even though Leilani was slightly taller than the red head, made her feel small, like a mouse trying to stand up against a lion. Leilani's fierce determination crumbled to dust. "um...that wasn't very nice" she said quietly trying to look anywhere but at the daughter of love.

Daquiri raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms under her chest when she saw the surfer girl paddling to shore. The closer the girl got, the better she could see the pissed-off expression she wore. And when the red-head got a better look at her, she got a slightly better idea why.

  It wasn't too extremely hard to figure out from the girl's dark wavy hair, dark eyes, tan skin and toned surfer body that she was of Hawaiian descent. And, as stereotypical as it sounded, the whole surfing-thing only added to the image. And so, to say the least, Daquiri realized that her whole 'learn to surf on another island' comment could've been taken slightly farther than she had thought it would.

  Hmm. She was good without even trying.

  Daquiri was all prepared to put on her bored face when the girl came up to chew her out, but to her slight surprise, once the girl was within spitting distance she seemed to forget her anger. Daquiri slowly cocked a hip and brought a hand up to rest on it when the brunette spoke softly: "Um... that wasn't very nice."

  The red-head almost laughed out loud. Instead, she went for her usual scoff-slash-snort. This girl wasn't serious, was she? "Neither is you dumping the contents of the ocean on me, Shellfish."

Well then, almost hitting someone with a rocket probably wasn't either.

"Heads up!" Jake shouted at the two people on the beach. It was funny how 'heads up' usually means 'heads down'. In this case, hitting the deck was strongly recommended. He and a few other (random) Hephaestus kids were testing some fireworks for Christmas when one sprung a very unsafe leak, sending it careening down the beach. He managed to put out the fire with his powers before it got too explody, but there still was the matter of a rather heavy rocket spinning through the air uncontrollably. He was running after it to grab it once it stopped its little joyride.

Fortunately, it didn't seem to hit either girl on the beach. In fact, it tumbled a few more yards past the two and finally bounced to a stop. Jake slowed down as he passed the girls and bent down to pick up the now very sandy fireworks rocket.

"I don't know what your-"Leilani was cut off when she heard a boy yell "heads up" she recognized him as a Hephaestus kid. she hit the deck instantly. A child of the forge yelling heads up, could mean anything from a simple Greek fire mishap to a heavily armed robot on the loose. both she had seen happen in her time at camp. Leilani was not going to risk her life simply to maintain her composure in front of this girl. when she saw a small rocket land in the sand several yards past her and the red head. the Hephaestus boy walked down to the sand to pickup the rocket.

Instead of ducking down like she was told, Daquiri whipped around to see who was ordering her around. She recognized Jake Arin at almost the same time as what looked like a careening rocket zipped by not two inches from her face. Daquiri made some kind of unintelligible noise of surprise and stepped back at the feeling of intense heat on her face. She gingerly touched her face to make sure it hadn't actually been burned as Jake ran between her and the surfer girl to pick up his little toy. By the time he turned around, she'd gotten her bearings back and was even more pissed than when she'd gotten water splashed all over her.

"Are you trying to kill people, moron?" she snapped.

Jake picked up the firework, examining the hot and sandy hole in the side that made it veer dramatically off course. It looked like some of the glue on the bottom had made a bubble, so the lit gunpowder burst open a new hole to fly out of, dramatically shortening its range and changing courses. It was still hot, despite the fire being put out, but none of the main capsule had lit yet. Small blessings.

Jake heard an angry voice behind him, so he slowly turned around, giving a broad shrug and keeping both hands on the rocket.
"Sorry, sorry." He said, giving an apologetic smile. He hadn't looked up from the rocket yet, "Just a small malfunction, and it wouldn't have done any real harm. Fire's out and..."
Now Jake had looked up, and was immediately distracted by... well, all of that. For a moment, he forgot how to talk. That was a rare, but increasingly common occurrence. Daquiri looked amazing in her bikini. And that was all he could register for the moment. Though, the explosive in his hand should probably take a bit more priority.
Jake seemed to realize this, and he glanced back down at it. He quickly cleared his throat.
"Just a slight malfunction. It's all under control." He said, glancing at Daquiri again, before turning his head to tell the other girl as well.

Leilani stood up, now that the rocket was no longer flying around, she was happy to see that she was not be the target of the redhead's rage anymore. She recognized the Hephaestus kid, whom she had seen around but never really talked to. it was Jake Arin, a camper who had been here even longer than her. Normally she would have been nervous about a boy seeing her in a swimsuit, even if it was just a modest one-piece. Except she was more nervous over the fact he was practically drooling over the Aphrodite girl while he was carrying something that for all she knew would explode at any moment. when Jake seemed to finally come to his senses, he assured the redhead that it had been a small malfunction. Leilanii still kept what she hoped was a safe distance. "that thing isn't gonna explode is it?" she said nervously, as if just her asking could make the rocket explode.

Behold, heroic and strong Wonder Boy--reduced to a state of shameless, drooling idiot. Ugh. Boys. Apes was more like it. There was a reason she came here to tan--there were normally plenty of places to be alone from other people. But of course, the one time she was finally able to get away with wearing a bikini, a boy had to come find her.

  Combing her half-wet hair over to one side of her shoulder and crossing her arms, Daquiri slowly paced up to Jake, glaring him down with every step. She stopped in front of him, not so close that she was nose-to-chest with him, but enough to to get into his personal bubble of space. "Yes Jake," she agreed tightly, "are you sure everything is under control?" She pierced his eyes with her own gaze, daring him to look any lower.

Jake had been about to reassure the other girl when Daiquiri gave her sharp assault. That was enough to knock Jake back on track. Obviously, his attraction to her was completely unfounded, because this princess should come with a warning label.

Jake narrowed his eyes and met her glare with one of his own.
"Yes. I'm sure." He said stiffly. He turned his head to address the other girl. "It won't explode; none of the main powder lit, and I stopped the burning shortly after it went haywire." He made his voice a bit less gruff towards her. It wouldn't be fair of him to be short with her when she hadn't done anything. He shrugged. "It's black powder, so it's not particularly volatile."

Leilani relaxed a little about that only to be embaressed by how she was acting. she never liked being seen as a scared little girl, also the fact that three other hephaestus boys, obviously who had been following the rocket as well showed up. she felt their eyes boring into her, comparing her to the beauty queen next to her. Leilani felt embarressed by that. No girl wanted to be compared to a child of Aphrodite when it came to beauty. but to have a group of boys compare them side by side. Leilani wanted to run off. Leilani felt vulnerable and afraid. she turned away from the boys, wanting to clear up whatever problems she and the Aphrodite girl had and then run off to escape all this attention. Leilani looked at this terrifying confident Aphrodite kid, "I-I dont know what you meant by that, i didn't do anything to you."

Daquiri was all ready to push Mister Bob the Builder into the ocean when he went and decided to ignore her. The freaking jerk. The red-head was used to people--especially boys--fawning over her and paying her attention while she in turn ignored them. But to have it the other way around... well, she just wasn't quite sure how to respond.

And so she did the only thing she knew how. She ignored the son of Hephaestus right back. But of course, when she turned away to look at the surfer girl again, she found herself facing three more Forge Apes. When they all failed miserably at trying to hide the fact that they were giving her the elevator, some with slightly wide eyes, she glared at them openly. Casually flicking them her middle C, she arched an eyebrow at them. "Looking at something, boys?" That's when the surfer girl addressed her.

Rolling her eyes at the dark-haired foreign-looking girl, Daquiri gave an irritated sigh. She really didn't feel like dealing with this anymore. "You know what, seashell?" she huffed. "Forget it. Just stay away from me." And then she turned her back to bend down and get her towel to wrap around her waist.

Jake stomped up to his half-brothers, and shoved the broken rocket into one's chest. "I said I'd get it." He growled. Maybe it was a bit rougher than strictly necessary, but he felt an odd surge of jealousy as they stared. Jake just chalked it up to chivalry. "Glue busted, made it spiral out. It's inactive." He said, briefly giving them the details. "Head back."

The guys turned around and started back, though one started eyeing Daquiri again. Jake smacked him in the back of the head. Yeah. Totally chivalry.

Jake turned back to the girls, only technically talking to both of them. He was mostly facing the one he didn't recognize, and was mostly ignoring Daquiri like the mature guy he was.
"Uh.. sorry about the fireworks. It shouldn't happen again."

\seashell? what does she mean by that? then Leilani realized the problem, the girl thought she was an aquatic demigod, which would make sense with why she was angry, after all getting hit by a wave like that would put anyone in a foul mood. "You think I did that? I couldn't have if i wanted to" then Jake spoke to her, "Uh.. sorry about the fireworks. It shouldn't happen again." he said. she looked at him, Jake was a Cabin Leader like her. except he had been on major quests. while she had only gotten it because she had worked hard for it. thinking that it would probably impress her father. though based on his letters, the only way she could ever make him proud was to become her younger sister Nalani. "I-Its ok, nobody got hurt at least...and your cabin has caused more damage in the past with some of the more dangerous projects." Leilani was still nervous, but with the boys who had been looking over both her and the daughter of Love gone, she wasnt as nervous as before.

Daquiri was only half-listening to what the dark-haired girl was saying. Something about not being a water demigod with wave-controlling powers. Yeah, whatever. What most of her attention was concentrated on was noticing Jake out of the corner of her eye. He was being his pouty-gruff self with his half-siblings, the way she'd seen him act several times when she'd actually managed to piss him off. It was a tad bit amusing the way he ordered them around when most of them were taller and bulkier than he was.

Then the red-head crinkled her brow at the way the blond-haired boy whacked his cabin mate. She'd caught that kid still looking at her. Jake hadn't been... defending her--had he? Blinking to clear her face of her confusion, she turned her head back before Jake turned back around. Whatever. Boys.

"Whatever," she told the girl distractedly. "Just don't get on a surf board when I'm around." She finished her sentence just as Jake acknowledged them again. She refused to look at him just like he did her and instead opted to braid her hair and act like she didn't give a hot d*** what the son of Hephaestus had to say. Which, in all honesty, she didn't. However, when the not-water-demigod-girl made a comment about the havoc-wreaking projects of Cabin 9, she had to give a snort. She hadn't even been here an entire summer, but she could still attest to the truth of the statement.

Jake gave the girl a wry grin. "Come on, that hasn't happened for at least a year." He said. Which was mostly true. Then again, he ended up being present for the majority of the past year with Agamemnon in construction. Dang. Maybe camp really did fall apart in his absence. He hardly ever caused catastrophic failures that Hepheastus kids were known for. He always made several fail-safes in his larger, more dangerous projects; which he guessed was a foreign concept for most of his cabinmates. And any smaller accidents like the fireworks mishap he already did years ago, some even before he got to camp.

He glanced backwards, to make sure his half-brothers were actually leaving. And they were. They were also joking about tossing around the inactive rocket, by the looks of it. Jake's eyes went to the sky for a moment. Being cabin leader was a pain.

He gave a nod to each girl in turn. He still didn't quite look at Ri.
"Well. Later then." He said, with his usual eloquence.

With that he turned around and started off after his brothers.
He also made sure to shout at them, reminding them they were playing with a cardboard cylinder full of black powder.

Leilani turned to the girl...she seemed to be in a bad mood, or perhaps she always acted like this. "listen it wasnt my fault, it was some pesky water spirit that has too much time on his hands...im sorry ok." she didnt like the idea of people disliking her, it made her feel worse about herself than she did normally even. "lets just start over ok, my name is Leilani Daughter of Demeter"

Daquiri made sure to study her jeweled manicure when Jake bid them goodbye. Yes, Jake Arin, she could play that game, too. She was fairly sure she had much more practice at it than he did. However, when the Hephaestus boy had completely turned his back and was a good way up to dune hills after his half-siblings, Daquiri gave a quick glare in his direction before turning back to make sure she had the rest of her things before packing up and moving elsewhere.

Unfortunately, she'd kind of forgotten about the other girl standing there. Daquiri rubbed her eyes when the girl babbled on an apology, making sure not to smudge her makeup. Ugh. People. "If I tell you my name, will you stop talking?" she all but growled.

the girl seemed even more irritable than before. "If I tell you my name, will you stop talking?" she had said. Leilani figured it was the best deal she would get. that and this aphrodite girl still intimidated her. she wanted to get away before more campers came along. she figured the best thing to do would be to acceept this offer. after all it would give her the chance to creep away. she looked at the child of Aphrodite, "i guess that is the best deal I'm going to get." Leilani said quietly, amazed she had still managed to keep herself from running off she didnt want to stand next to a Daughter of Aphrodite in a bikini, there wasnt much that could get boys attention like that and the thought of that, of being compared to a daughter of Aphrodite was a rather humiliating experience.

Daquiri squinted her eyes at Leilani. She was rather shy compared to every other demigod she'd met here. One would think that anyone born with ADHD and a destiny to kill monsters wouldn't come out timid, but apparently that wasn't always the case.

  After another moment's hesitation, the red-head cocked her head a little and said briefly, "It's Daquiri. A b*****d kid of Aphrodite, if you must know." Yeah, she knew she sounded real proud of her all-powerful god heritage. A big whoop-de-doo. The only thing it supposedly told people was that she was going to gossip about them and talk of nothing but fashion and boys--all things she didn't do. So, needless to say, she didn't bother mentioning it much.

Leilani was almost shocked at how this girl, Daquiri introduced herself. the way she seemed to resent her godly parent, it reminded her of some of the kids who had gone over too the Titan army. it scared her, but then maybe it was that she just didnt live up to the stereotypical aphrodite girl. Leilani couldnt blame her for that. being thought to be a gossip who was obsessed with their looks couldt be an easy label to live with. she almost asked Daquiri this, but as soon as Leilani opened her mouth to speak she remembered she had made a promise, so she remained silent. the last thing she wanted to do was make this girl angry. Leilani was already terrified of her, she didnt need more of a reason to be intimidated.

The red-headed 14-year-old raised an eyebrow as Leilani open and closed her mouth like a fish out of water, but she dismissed it with a shake of her head. "Well, if we're done here," Daquiri said curtly and then promptly spun on her heel in the sand the walk the opposite direction. Gah. Another eventful day of meeting clueless campers and biting the head off of none other than Jake Arin. A girl could seriously not get a tan in peace at this place.

((Yeaaaah, don't really know what else to post. >.< Dunno if you actually want to reply or not, Kona, lol.))