Quick Practice(Open)

Jake jumped back from the swipe of the claws, not bothering to attempt to catch it on his shield this early in the fight. 
"Well, the project's done now-- all ready to set up and everything," he mused, talking to Agamemnon about coming back to see the work on the Network was all complete, including preliminary tests and building it into easy-to-install parts. 
The automation clicked, acknowledging it heard him, and roared fire at the demigod. 
Now Jake used his shield, ducking down to protect his full body. It was a rather routine fight against the chimera form, and a moment after the fire stopped, Jake didn't look over the shield, but instead raised it over his head as he dropped lower. As he did, the huge form sailed over him, clacking against his shield as it tried to get at him with the hooves and claws as it jumped. Jake flicked his sword upward as it finished its leap, taking the small window of opportunity to bang the blade against the snake tail, and bobbing backwards to stand upright again. 
The automation turned to face him, now unable to use the snake head. 

"I know I should be glad it's done," Jake continued, as if it wasn't any more strenuous than a jog. "But it feels weird. Almost unsatisfying." 
Agamemnon gave a snort.
Jake grinned and tilted his chin. "Is that bad for me to say?" 
Agamemnon rumbled. 
Jake gave the automation a broader grin. "Or are you just upset because I'm not focusing?" 
Two clicks, and an impatient thump of a hoof.

((I'm currently staring at this girl in the cafe with silver-white hair and it looks awesome and I want it. Er, the hair. Just so you all know.))

  Daquiri pulled her hair up into a messy bun and stabbed a few bobby pins into it as she made her way to the Arena. Despite the fact that most schools had just gotten out for Christmas break today and many of the campers had returned to camp for the duration of it, it was fairly quiet and activity was minimal around camp. It was evening, so a lot of people were winding down anyway, but Daquiri figured a lot of the kids were just tired from their trips or something. She wasn't complaining--she had much preferred the camp with only the year-rounder kids as opposed to the crowds that came in with the summer. It left her a lot more room for being alone--aside from the fact that she had been spending more and more time with a certain daughter of Apollo as of late.

  Unsheathing her dagger as she walked through one of the entrances to the Arena, she rubbed Blood Beauty's blade against her black leggings to make sure it shined properly before she used it. Not that it particularly mattered, but smudges or fingerprints on the blade's surface always bugged her. Mild OCD, and whatnot. At the sounds of metal clanging on metal, the redhead looked up. The first thing that caught her eye was a giant bronze chimera. Her instincts told her to tense, but her mind clicked in half a second later to remind her it was just Agamemnon. Or in other words, the hulking dragon contraption that the insufferable leader of Cabin 9 was always obsessing over.

  Surely enough, the camper battling the camp guardian was Jake Arin himself. She watched him with an observant eye for a moment, noting how casual he seemed to be fighting the dragon-chimera. Although she wasn't close enough, nor could she hear much over the sounds of battle, she could see that Jake's mouth was moving like he was in the midst of a conversation. ...With a metal dragon that didn't speak. Her talking to horses was one thing; at least they were living. Agamemnon was a souped-up robot without emotions.

  Despite the oddity of it, Daquiri would have preferred to ignore the two and go off to the dummy-filled corner to practice by herself. But unfortunately for her, Jake and Agamemnon were smack in the middle of her path to said corner, and the only option was going around them. And as she did so and began to pick up on some of the words the blond boy was exchanging with his "foe," she couldn't hold back her impending snark.

  "You might not believe this, but heaps of metal have this uncanny habit of not knowing English." The scathing tone of her voice was made all that more apparent by the slight lull in the combatants' fight.

Agamemnon snorted and laid back its metal ears, though Jake couldn't tell whether it was protesting to the comment or just irritated that the sparring was interrupted again. 

Jake glanced over his shoulder to see who had walked up. It was Daquiri, the Aphrodite kid he had met a couple times. She had a temper to rival the actual chimera's. He felt an odd thrill seeing her again, which was ridiculous, because she had hit him at least as many times as the actual chimera. 

He gave her a wry grin, "That's why they're the best to have conversations with-- you can say whatever you want and they won't care." 

Agamemnon gave an annoyed rumble. Despite not having any capability to speak, the automation was pretty good at making its opinion known. Jake grinned back at it, and Agamemnon stomped its hind hoof again. Daquiri was too near now for it to resume the fight on its own initiative, and Jake wasn't in any particular hurry to start up again. 

"Up to anything interesting?" 

(There. Conversational line is terrible, but we can pretend it was great.)

Daquiri eyed the giant metal chimera as it seemed to respond to Jake's words. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought the automaton was actually irritated at the practice session coming to a halt, rather than just signaling that the fight couldn't go on with another sentient being that it wasn't programmed to fight so close. As much as she rather disliked the dragon, that didn't mean she hadn't kept tabs on how the thing worked. After all, she was still convinced it was going to go haywire on the camp one day, and she would like to have found a weakness of its by then.

So far, no such luck.

She returned her attention to Jake when he spoke up again. She arched a brow at his question. Raising her blade to look at her reflection, she pretended to take her time with the answer, slowly flipping her hair over her shoulder. She had no idea why, but some magical manual of manhoodness that she supposed boys read when they were young told them that "slow" meant the same thing as "sexy." It was a trick even the youngest of Aphrodite girls knew, and while Aphrodite's sons knew of it, every other man in history seemed to be completely oblivious to the ploy. The results tended to be rather entertaining.

"Well, I just thought the dusty old Arena would make the most splendid place for a cup of evening tea," she said dryly, giving the blond a sidelong glance with a You've got to be kidding me look.

Jake waited impatiently as Daquiri apparently deemed checking her appearance in her knife important enough to pause dead in the middle of the conversation. (Who keeps their knife shiny enough to use it as a mirror, anyway?) Seriously, Aphrodite kids. Jake raised his brows to show he was waiting for her answer, and decided to hold off on the 'are you pretty enough to hold a conversation now' question. For some reason they got offended when you called them out like that. Jake hadn't figure out why yet.

When she finally answered after an eternity of flipping her hair to make it look pretty much exactly like it did originally, she gave a sharp reply. Which really, wasn't a quip worth holding your breath for. 

"Of course. I hear the sound of metal-on-metal is quite soothing," Jake said dryly. 

Agamemnon snorted and thumped its hoof again, indicated it really wanted to get back to making the metal-on-metal sound itself. 

"And I meant in general." 

Agamemnon rumbled lowering its head and practically glaring at Jake. Jake ignored it, because it was rude to start a sword fight in the middle of a conversation.

Jake didn't quite have the response she'd expected, but her display had seemed to irritate him, which she figured was just as worthy of a reaction. In fact, his lack of typical guy responses in any of the past meetings they'd had, minus her claiming, seemed to be a running theme with this guy. The redhead wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that.

She narrowed her eyes at the son of Hephaestus. "Are you really all that interested in the life of the girl that kicked you in the balls last time she saw you?" She didn't even glance at the restless automaton. She really wasn't sure what was wrong with this kid. One would think he could take a hint.

Jake frowned as she narrowed her eyes at him. He gave a broad shrug, his shield shifting as he did so. [Because I had forgotten that he's still got a shield and sword out. XP]
"Is there any particular reason I shouldn't ask?" Jake asked, raising a brow. It was just a question. 'Not much' or 'Just training' were short, conversation ending phrases, but perfectly acceptable. No need to get hostile about it. He didn't ask for her life story or anything. 

Agamemnon sat down with a huff, its metal parts clacking together as it plopped down. It laid back its ears and gave Jake a hard stare. They had been in the middle of a sparring match. The match was still going. They should be fighting. Not talking. The automaton rumbled. And Jake ignored it.

Daquiri frowned right back, sheathing her dagger and then crossing her arms over her chest. "Maybe because kicking you was a not-so subtle hint that I'm not interested," she retorted, a steely edge to her voice. Again. Couldn't. Take. A hint. Then she finally looked back over a the bronze automaton, who appeared to be throwing a pouty tantrum that could rival that of a 5-year-old. The thing was seriously huffing and puffing up a storm. "Besides," she deadpanned, "I think your metal friend is jealous by your misdirected attentions." The thing looked like it was about to have a conniption.

"Not interested in what? A basic conversation?" Jake asked, a fierce frustration starting to show. Seriously, what did he do? All he said was a simple, 'hi, how are you?' and she was tearing into him over nothing. What was wrong with her?

He might have said more, but then she brought up Agamemnon, who was clearly unhappy with him. Jake waved it off, shaking the shield strapped to his arm a bit. "He's just mad that he can't continue sparring, with you standing so close and all," he said off-handedly, still bothered that she was being so hostile to him. How this was supposed to work was first he did something stupid, and then people got mad at him for it.

Both of Daquiri's eyebrows went up this time, but more in disbelief. Did he seriously not get it? Had he not taken into context that way she'd treated him pretty much ever time they'd ever had "basic conversation."? Because if he wasn't getting the message she'd always sent to everybody, he had to be the densest case she'd ever had the displeasure of meeting.

She started to open her mouth to reply with something similar to her thoughts, but then the conniving part of her brain went on high alert at his comment on Agamemnon. An idea skipped into her mind and she practically had to force herself not to perk up like a kid being given a present. "Oh, I'm too close?" she repeated with mock concern. She smiled. "Let me fix that for you." And with that, she took several large steps back.

Jake saw Daquiri's brows go up and mouth open, and he braced himself for another round of verbal abuse and started prepping comebacks. 
And then instead she smiled, and took several steps back. 
Jake blinked. 
She was definitely still being hostile, if the heavy sarcasm was anything to go by, so why was she stepping.....

Uh oh. 

Jake immediately dropped down to a squat and ducked his head, just in time to get clipped across the shoulders by Agamemnon as the automation leapt at him. Which was better than taking that tackle full force. Still, it was more than enough to almost knock him off balance, but he quickly braced himself against his shield. He quickly rose as Agamemnon turned around and recovered itself. 

Well, he supposed that meant she really didn't want to talk. All the same, he shot he an immensely annoyed look before he had to fend off the bronze monster again. Seriously. A simple 'go away' would have worked. Or a sharp 'fine'. All in all, sicking a fighting machine on him was a bit extreme. (Even if it was his machine, and even if it couldn't kill him.) 

Jake retreated several steps as he caught several slashes on his shield. 
"Geeze, you're mad," he grunted, not bothering to specify if he was referring to the girl or the automation. Because frankly, it could pretty well apply to either.

Daquiri had to bring a hand up to her face to keep from letting out a laugh at the sudden look of 'Oh, s***' on Jake's face as he realized what she had done. Even when she brought it back down to resume her crossed arms position with one hip cocked to the side, her mouth twitched a bit in constraint. But she managed to hold onto her pokerface as she nonchalantly observed the son of Hephaestus come severely close to being pummeled by a bronze machine that probably weighed about 1,000 times his weight. If not more.

She smirked at Jake's comment. This was turning out to be a much more enjoyable night than she had expected. She actually rather did wish she had a good cup of tea right now. And a lawn chair. However, she had to wonder... how would one more comment go?

"If I were you, I'd spend less time flattering me and more time avoiding life as a pancake," she called airily, thoroughly enjoying this entire scene. Perhaps she should consider messing with Jake Arin on more often of a basis.

...Alright, it wasn't quite that enjoyable.

"Flattering you?" Jake exclaimed, giving the girl an odd look that was marred with frustration. He was about to say more, but when he gave Daquiri a look, that meant he wasn't looking at Agamemnon anymore. 
The automation headbutted him, throwing a good deal of its weight into it. 
It slammed into his shield, with more than enough force to knock him flat on his back. Agamemnon did let him get of relatively easy. Part of its programming was to make sure any finishing was non-fatal and with minimal long-term damage.  Of course, that didn't mean that that didn't hurt. 

Jake hit the ground with an 'oof', and Agamemnon planted its forepaws on each side of his head, flicking its tail proudly. It wasn't often the automation won against Jake in light sparring; it usually only won after several forms in a long, hard practice session. 
It clicked twice.
Jake now gave it an immensely irritated look. "No, I don't want to go again!" He snapped, he gave its belly a swift kick. "Get off." 
The automation lightly leapt aside, easing down to a seated position a few steps away. It rumbled. Jake ignored it, taking off his shield and taking a moment to check his arm. He was a bit paranoid when it came to taking hard hits to his shield, but it was a bit warranted. The shield blocked sharp things, not force and blunt trauma. He put away his shield and gave the automation a surly look. It flicked its tail, unbothered. His mind was now off the unfair hostility against him. 

(Well, Jake's fatal flaw comes into play, and he loses. XP)

Once Jake got up, Daquiri started up a slow clap, Joker-Dark-Knight style. She was fairly sure she'd enjoyed watching that whole spectacle far too much. Which was saying a lot for her, since she didn't get a kick out of the majority of things life liked to offer her. She hated the son of Hephaestus as much as ever, but that made this entire thing a little bit sweeter.

"And to think I was starting to wonder why everyone here thinks you're Wonder Boy," she said wryly. She cocked her head towards Agamemnon. "You're robot may actually get a good spot in my book now."

Jake scowled at Daquiri, then picked up his sword from where it had fallen and sheathed it with a bit more force than was strictly necessary. Jake wasn't sure what to think of the 'Wonder Boy' comment, he didn't hear too many variants of that, unless it directly had something to do with making something. In that case, just the sheer amount of people asking him to make things spoke enough in that regard. In general, though? At any rate, his overall annoyance with the situation stopped him from contemplating it. 

Jake grunted when she mentioned Agamemnon might 'actually get a good spot in her book'. He was beginning to doubt anyone getting a good spot was possible, and couldn't come up with reasons why you'd want to be. "You want to have a go?" He asked, jerking a thumb at the patiently waiting automation.

At that point, Daquiri had started to turn away to continue to her solo training session. At Jake's question, however, she paused to look over her shoulder. She drew her eyebrows together for a moment, tightening her mouth into a thin line as she considered the situation. She had to wonder if Jake would try to pull something against her, Agamemnon after all being his creation. She slowly turned around and crossed her arms, tilting her head slightly to the side. "Which form session did you have in mind?" She kept the suspicion out of her voice, but it didn't make her any less so in general. She couldn't see Jake having completely favorable intentions after all the grief she'd been giving him.

Jake shrugged. "Normally you'd decide that," he said simply. 
Now that he was actually present, he figured the training sessions would run a bit more normally. For some reason, most everyone was hesitant to let a giant automation of doom whaling on people when he was away. At any rate, people usually put in requests, and then he just supervised the session to make sure nothing went horribly wrong. (Which was highly unlikely, not to mention hasn't happened once yet.)

Agamemnon looked between the two. Jake was pretty sure it liked to mix up all the patrolling with sparring sessions.

Daquiri pressed her lips together, half in thought and half because she was trying to figure out if Jake could still rig the machine to purposefully make her lose somehow. Since she couldn't figure out a clear way for him to, she figured she would just have to be wary and be alert of him as well as Agamemnon during the fight.

Thoughtfully sticking more pins in her hair to hold it better for the fight, she tilted her head the side a bit and pursed her lips. Then her face twisted into a slight scowl. "If that thing can turn into a horde of empousa, I'd love to chop up a few of those b****es," she said wryly. "I've got a bone to pick with the lot of them. Otherwise, I don't care what I fight," she said, shrugging.

Jake scoffed. "Those have features that can't be mimicked well by an automation," he said. In fact, he wasn't quite sure how to mimic the mind-fog effect they could do, and he wasn't sure he wanted to be able to. "Besides, he can't duplicate itself to make a hoard." 
"So I guess you can just--" Jake looked back over his shoulder, only to see Agamemnon had chosen a new form on its own. He blinked. It had chosen the minotaur, with its heavy poleaxe. Agamemnon apparently liked that form. Jake was just going to suggest running the chimera, since it had been already in that form. "Fight this one, I guess," he finished a bit lamely. 

"So you up for it?" He asked, throwing a thumb at the automation behind him.

"D*** shame," she muttered, more to herself. Glancing at Agamemnon's changed form, she shrugged. Minotaur was as good as any monster, she supposed. This one matched her bull-headedness, at least.

Yes. She was hilarious, she knew.

Giving Jake a look, she responded in a louder, slightly challenging voice: "I came here to fight, didn't I?" She glanced down at her clothes. Leggings and a loose-fitting He Is We t-shirt probably weren't the best protection against a giant bronze bull with an axe, but then, kids on quests usually fought in regular clothes. She figured it was good for practice. As was fighting with her dagger, despite its obvious size disadvantage compared to the bull as well as its own weapon. Her fighting style wasn't all about her weapon. Besides, she'd read of several Greek heroes who had defeated the Minotaur with their bare hands. If they could kill it because of their muscle and brute strength, she could do so with her small size and quicker movements.

Unsheathing her dagger again, she jerked her head at the bronze Minotaur while looking at Jake. "Ready when the Thing is."

"I thought you came for tea," Jake said with mock seriousness. He shrugged. "Though, I suppose you'd spill it all over yourself if you tried to have tea at the same time."
He didn't wait for a response, but instead turned to the automation and said: "992. 3. Begin." With that, he moved out of range of the automation. 

Agamemnon gave a snort and a bellow, slashing its ax through the air. It readied its ax, dropped its head and charged at the girl.

((Oh look, you DID add action. 5 days ago. Heh. Didn't notice that...))

Once the bull had come close enough to be just out of ax-range, Daquiri neatly sidestepped the automaton to send it careening past her. Chiron's Minotaur-fighting class had actually been one of the easier ones. She hadn't participated in it much, since it had in fact been a class, but she had listened and observed. The logistics of it were fairly simple to follow: the Minotaur liked to simply charge in one direction at you, and had a hard time of turning if you suddenly switched your position. It was also supposed to have terrible eyesight and smell, but what it lacked in those facilities, it made up for in its hearing.

The only question was, had Agamemnon been programmed to mimic those qualities? If not, this would end up being a whole lot harder. As it were, she tensed and watched the bronze bull, trying to assess how it would react to her move so she could make a better judgement on how to defeat it.

((Yay. Words. Hopefully I got the information about Minny right, I was just trying to remember what it said from the book and up-chuck it...))