ICONS OF SELF-INDULGENCE , OPEN

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

- - empty eyes accuse ,
[ A_ F A C E_ S O_ E V I L ]
( I ' M_ C O M I N G_ U N D O N E )

It was morning, a rare time for him to be fully awake. But he'd crashed earlier last night, and gotten the best sleep he had in what felt like ages. Grinning to himself, yet another rare occurrence, the young demigod stretched, yawned, and sat up in bed, wondering what he could possibly occupy himself with at such a time. He debated going to the stables and taking a morning ride on one of the Pegasi, but shook his head to deny the possibility, even to himself. The morning air was always chill and kind of damp, and he hated the cold and wet with a passion. A rumbling in his stomach told him that he was hungry, however, which surprised him slightly. He hadn't noticed until his stomach decided to so blatantly point it out. Considering he usually just ate when he wanted to eat and begged for his fast metabolism combined with his rigorous training at Camp Half-Blood to keep him slimmed, it was an unusual sound. He chuckled slightly under his breath, amused, and decided that a good mood like this could hardly go to waste, which it would if he just chose to sit around in the cabin and bore himself to death.

Can someone even bore themselves to death? There went his inquisitive mind again, already badgering him before he was so much as ten steps out of the door. But he considered his thoughts, wondering if it was humanely possible to get so tired of having nothing to do that you just... snuffed it. Died. Ceased to exist. Well I'm sure you could get so bored that you'd off yourself, he mused, glancing around at the grass which was wet with dew, the sun that was still fighting it's way into it's peak in the sky. Well, technically the sun didn't do all the work on it's own, as most mortals believed. Another soft laugh was coaxed from him at the idea of the clueless mortals. For a time, he had been counted as one of them. Until those stupid monsters made their way into his life. His mother was dead because of them, and he'd never forget that. His eyes narrowed momentarily in anger, but he pushed the thought from his mind. No use dragging his mood down when it had been so good upon waking. You probably can't die of boredom in itself, but suicide is always possible. This is what his mind had concluded, and of course as it came from his own reasoning, he was in complete agreement.

Another yawn. He wasn't tired at all, he just tended to yawn in large amounts until around the middle of the day. After bringing himself out of his jumble of thoughts about boredom and death, he was mildly surprised to find that he'd crossed the entire distance to the strawberry fields without really taking any notice. He shrugged lightly, sitting down in the damp grass and using his powers to mess with a few of the vines, grinning in mild amusement. Then his expression melted back to it's usual cold neutrality as he picked a few strawberries and popped one into his mouth, glad to have something to satiate his hunger before breakfast. Strawberries had always been his favorite fruit, so having an entire field of them at camp was a huge bonus. But relaxed as he may have seemed, his bow was at his back and he was ready as always in case of a confrontation, even with other campers.

- - so terribly memory returns ,
[ O F_ H E R_ S T R U G G L E_ O F_ H E R_ S C R E A M S ]
( L O R D_ F O R G I V E_ M E , I ' M_ A_ M O N S T E R )

HEY THERE. THIS THREAD IS COMPLETE AND TAGGED FOR NO ONE IN PARTICULAR. THE TIME IS AROUND EARLY MORNING AND IT IS LOCATED IN THE STRAWBERRY FIELDS. THE POST WAS FIVE-HUNDRED EIGHTY-EIGHT WORDS LONG, SO YOU CAN PROBABLY TELL MY MUSE WAS MEH, OKAY I GUESS. MY CHARACTERS ATTIRE LOOKS SOMETHING LIKE ( THE USUAL CAMP ATTIRE )! THE SONG WHOSE LYRICS ARE FEATURED IS CALLED CURSE OF THE VIRGIN CANVAS, AND IT'S BY ALESANA. OH, BY THE WAY, ACADIA?! MADE THIS AWESOME TEMPLATE. BLEH JUST NEEDED A THREAD.

[Gabriel Zack Lastings]

Gabe sighed to himself as the sweat rolled down his brow and stung his eyes. He had been training all morning, well, trying to train. Gabe couldn't use a weapon to save his life, literally, but on this particular morning he had a surge of inspiration. The capture the flag game was starting up very soon, Gabe was going to try and surprise the camp with his ability to actually use a weapon decently. He set down the axe among the assortment of weapons he had already tried using, try being the key word. Among the equipment was the sword, dagger, club as well as mace. He had been at it for a little over an hour and a half, but it felt like an eternity. Gabe walked towards the weapon cabinet in the Arena. There was still the bow and arrow and a weapon that kinda looked like two mini tridents, he thought they were Katana's but he wasn't sure. Gabe glanced at both of them once, twice, and then frowned as his gaze swept the both again. With a grunt, he slammed the cabinet door closed and marched towards his cabin. He was surprised he hadn't given up earlier... He also was wondering how many bruises he was going to have for no real reason.

He ranted to himself the whole way, going on about anything and everything. He bitched about the "stupid weapons" and he wined about the weather recently, it hadn't rained in a while and he could hear any plant giving off vibes of starvation which wasn't helping. Gabe looked up from his shoes to see he was on the edge of the Strawberry fields. Gabe looked at one of the plants and wrinkled his forehead as he crouched down to the poor plant. It didn't take a genius or a Demeter kid to see that the plant was desperately craving water. Gabe could hear the plant complaining about starvation, and possibly sun stroke. He had no idea how the plant had learned about sun stroke, but he also knew that he should water them before they drove him crazy.

Gabe stood up slowly, the last thing he needed was to pass out from standing up, let alone the intensive training he just sweat through that most campers would humiliate him in comparison. Gabe didn't know what he would have done if he didn't have his powers, they were the only thing he had. He remembered when he first started developing his powers... He thought he was going crazy. He could sense vibes off plants back then, not understand what they were saying exactly like he could now. He hadn't told anyone that he was hearing voices in fear that he would have to get medical help. He was relieved when the guardian Satyr came and ushered him to camp where he was told that it was normal. Well, that is the simplified version of it.

Gabe glanced around in search of a source of water. He didn't really feel like he had enough energy to walk over to the lake and collect some the old fashioned way. His other option was to go to the mess hall and get some from the taps or the hose. Gab put a hand on his hip. He didn't usually stand this way, partly because he didn't like to and the other reason was that guys at camp got ridiculed really easily. Gay comments flew to every guy, even the ones that are clearly not into other guys. Gabe slowly lowered his hand from his hip when he saw a small form somewhere in the field. Gabe raised an eye brow as he ran acouple steps. After those couple running steps he slowed to a walk. He normally would run, he liked running, but after an hour and a half of weapon training that he never did, so Gabe decided it was best not to kill himself. Gabe strolled between the rows of strawberries, making sure to be careful of the plants. He couldn't even imagine the lectures he would get if he ever stepped on a plant. Heck, Gabe got some lip from grass sometimes.

When the shape became clear to Gabe he smiled a little. He didn't really expect Josh to be in the middle of a strawberry field at the crack of dawn. Gabe took of in a jog and was about to start to yell at him since his back was turned to Gabe. He crushed that idea really quickly when he noticed the bow strapped to his back. Gabe stopped jogging and slowly crept up to Josh. "Is there a code word or something so you don't kill me with your bow of destruction?" Gabe asked as he stood looking at Josh. He didn't want to get any closer just in case Gabe had startled him. He cringed as he expected the worse... He was kinda glad they were in the middle of a straw berry field, if worse got to worse, Gabe could just beat the shit out of Josh aswell.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Word Count: 849
Status: DONE!!!
Muse: it is there
Notes: I have no idea why it is so retarded, so don't ask me
Tag: Josh, Open

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

- - empty eyes accuse ,
[ A_ F A C E_ S O_ E V I L ]
( I ' M_ C O M I N G_ U N D O N E )

Rule of thumb?

Don't startle Joshua Donovan Dale when he's thinking.

When he heard Gabe, he spun around and was on his feet with an arrow notched in the bow so fast you would have thought he had known the whole time. His expression had hardened into one of pure, cold determination, and there was no doubt that he would have fired the arrow point blank... if he hadn't registered what had been said to him and realized who he was staring down. He exhaled slowly and calmly lowered the bow back to his side, released pressure on the string slowly so that it didn't snap when he took his arrow back, replacing the weapon as well. "How about 'let's not sneak up and try and scare the crap out of Josh', hmm?" he responded, by way of informing Gabriel one of the ways you avoided having him shoot an arrow at you. His heart was still quickened in it's pace, as it always did when he got ready for a fight, but as he calmed down, so did the heart rate, until it was thumping once again at an even pace. "Good gods, Gabe, were you trying to give me a heart attack? You'd think you belonged in the Hermes cabin!' His tone was light, teasing, to let Gabriel know that there was no harm done, that he'd only startled him, not ticked him off. Then again, if Gabe had managed to piss Joshua off, he probably would have let go of the string no matter how quickly he realized who he was aiming at. That was just his style.

But hell, the two guys were friends, even if he didn't like being snuck up on like that. And the whole 'bow of destruction' thing had kind of amused Josh, after he'd relaxed a little. There was nothing to boost one's ego more than knowing you were good at something you enjoyed. He trained with the Apollo kids, constantly trying to match his skill to their own, because he loved archery with a passion. No doubt most of his siblings thought he was odd, Dionysus hadn't been an archer after all, but it was the weapon he'd chosen to learn, and he was sticking by it. And well, if all else failed, he could just drive everyone insane and laugh at their madness to make himself feel better. The suffering of others always cheered him up, and sadistic as that was, he really didn't give a shit what was thought of him. "So, besides nearly causing a scene," he chuckled, his gray eyes amused, "what are you doing out in the fields this early?" It wasn't like it was odd to see either children of Dionysus or Demeter in the strawberry fields. It was just... morning.

Not everyone hates mornings, like you do, he reminded himself. That was true. A lot of people enjoyed the butter-yellow color of the sunshine when it was this early in the day, the soft blue of the skies and the dew still clinging to blades of grass like a lifeline. And he would admit, it was peaceful, but he still preferred the comforting shadow of dusk to it's earlier counterpart. He bent down and picked a couple of the juicier strawberries (he had watered them daily, hell, he liked eating them but they died if you didn't) and popped one in his mouth as he continued to gaze at Gabriel with a mingled expression of bemusement and curiosity. "So, Capture the Flag starts really soon," he mused, by way of making conversation. "Think we've got a good chance of winning this time?" After all, the other side had Zeus, Poseidon, and all of the children of the minor gods and goddesses. This ticked him off a little, he found it unfair, but he figured that he would live. Hades was cooler than the other two big three, anyways. At least, in his opinion.

He popped another strawberry, thinking. Whenever he played Capture the Flag, he generally split off from his siblings and did his own thing. Because he was skilled with a bow, he preferred to hide out in higher or at least more concealed ground and snipe the others off while at the same time trying to cover for all those on his side. Too bad Apollo's on Team North this time, he thought dryly to himself, cause I'm going to have someone sniping back at me. One thing he hated was when people fired arrows at him. In some strange, demented way, it almost felt like they were trying to use his own weaponry against him, and he didn't like that one bit. So he tended to get irritable and fire back. And that caused problems. Archers battling it out was hardly a good thing. Someone could get a little too pissed and aim at your skull, and then... well, then there would be problems.

- - so terribly memory returns ,
[ O F_ H E R_ S T R U G G L E_ O F_ H E R_ S C R E A M S ]
( L O R D_ F O R G I V E_ M E , I ' M_ A_ M O N S T E R )

HEY THERE. THIS THREAD IS COMPLETE AND TAGGED FOR NO ONE IN PARTICULAR. THE TIME IS AROUND EARLY MORNING AND IT IS LOCATED IN THE STRAWBERRY FIELDS. THE POST WAS 825 WORDS LONG, SO YOU CAN PROBABLY TELL MY MUSE WAS MEH, OKAY I GUESS. MY CHARACTERS ATTIRE LOOKS SOMETHING LIKE ( THE USUAL CAMP ATTIRE )! THE SONG WHOSE LYRICS ARE FEATURED IS CALLED CURSE OF THE VIRGIN CANVAS, AND IT'S BY ALESANA. OH, BY THE WAY, ACADIA?! MADE THIS AWESOME TEMPLATE. BLEH JUST NEEDED A THREAD.