Swords and sorcery

[Bruce Miller]

O nce again, Bruce found himself standing alone in the middle of the arena at 8:30pm. He wore a pair of black jeans and a plain black t-shirt with combat boots. As usual Bruce was always armed. His broadsword was in its sheath, which was strapped to his left hip so his right hand could access it easily. Bruce  stood in the middle of the arena silently, while fond memories of the fights he had had here began to flood his memory again. He vividly remembered the loud roars he got from the crowd as he fought, and a peaceful smile made its way onto his face in response to the fond memories. This was the one place where he felt comfortable, where he felt as though his dream of becoming a UFC fighter was close to coming true. Usually, Bruce would come here to perfect his skills with his sword. But tonight he was here to try and improve his control over his magical abilities. Bruce was one of the best fighters in the Ares cabin without a doubt, but he had noticed that some of his younger half siblings were much better than him at using their magical abilities. Bruce just didn't understand magic for some reason, despite having the inherent ability to use it. So he decided that he would start working toward improving his control over his magical abilities. The most obvious fix to his predicament would have been to ask the other Ares kids to help him, since most of them had similar abilities. But as the Ares cabin leader, Bruce didn't want to shake the trust his half siblings had in him by messing up a few magic tricks in public. So he snuck out here at night to practice a bit of magic. The most impressive thing he could do so far was telekinetically controlling his sword. It just came naturally to him, it almost felt like his sword could read his mind. So he figured that tonight he would learn how to transfigure his sword from one form to another. Bruce unsheathed his broadsword and held it in front of him, he had no idea what he was doing, but he had often seen some spell casting kids using words to trigger their magic. So he tried it out "change! .... Sword transform! .....Activate? " he called out to his sword several times while holding it out in front of him. Hoping it would change form.Bruce was so focused on the task at hand that he barely noticed someone else approach the arena. WORDS ZELENA LOPEZ

credit to nat of adoxography.

[ZELENA LOPEZ]

Zelena knew she had to work on her sword-person-ship. She wasn't horrid, but she wasn't on the level with a good many of the other campers either and the instructors were beginning to notice. Zelena didn't get it. She was a Daughter of Hecate, someone meant to be skilled in the ways of magic. She was getting very good at that. it was her comfort zone. If a monster attacked, couldn't she just cast a spell instead of trying to stab it? She supposed not, so it was time to go play with her blade.

Zelena stepped into the arena and heard a guy talking to someone... no... something at a distance. It appeared the guy was talking to his sword. That told Zelena one thing... he was a son of Ares. Zelena hadn't had the best history with the Ares kids there. Being an offspring of a dark goddess, she was an oddball and the Ares kids often tended to target oddballs... and the Aphrodite kids for that matter. So much for the love thing. As Zelena listened closer, she heard him telling his sword to transform. Zelena almost said she could help, but she didn't want to open up that potential can of worms. Instead she stepped over and began shadow-fighting with her sword.

Bruce Miller

[Bruce Miller]

W hen Bruce became aware of someone else's presence behind him in the arena, his body instinctively reacted before his mind knew what was happening. His body quickly turned around to face the woman and his hands threw his broadsword at her. His body usually reacted without him even having to think about it. But once he realized that he had just thrown his sword at a fellow camper out of instinct, Bruce telekineticaly made the sword stop and hover in mid air a few inches in front of her sword. He was glad that he managed to stop the sword in time. That was the problem with startling an Ares kid, their fight or flight response wasn't normal. They always just instinctively attacked anything that surprised them, and Bruce was no different. That's why surprise parties and jump scares weren't allowed in his cabin.  While his sword hovered in mid air a few inches away from her sword, Bruce walked up and grabbed his sword out of the air. Then he began using it to spar with her. Bruce's attacks were mostly aimed at gaging her speed and technique instead of having intent to kill.  As he sparred with her he began calmly speaking "I'm kind of glad you crept up on me like that... I wasn't doing that well at playing merlin. " he spoke nonchalantly to refer to his recent failure at transforming his sword. Bruce wasn't used to seeing a lot of other demigods here at night, mostly his half siblings and children of Athena came here at night to get a bit of fighting done. So he just assumed that this woman was a daughter of Athena. WORDS ZELENA LOPEZ

credit to nat of adoxography.

[ZELENA LOPEZ]

The next thing Zelena knew, the guy was coming at her with his sword and sparring? He accused her of trying to creep up on him. Really, was that what other campers thought Hecate kids loved to do all the time... creep? It wasn't her intent to sneak up on him, and definitely not to fight out of nowhere with a child of Ares. She quickly muttered an incantation which caused a small, invisible barrier to rise between him and her. She stepped back a few feet just in case the incantation wasn't as strong as she hoped it would be.

"I... wasn't creeping up on you. I just came out to practice while there weren't as many people around. Makes it... less stressful for me. So... could you not just go all crazy War God kid and not try to cut me in half? I'm not exactly on your level yet." Zelena then just threw her arms in the air and gave the sigh of a lost cause before stepping over and sitting down in the spectator area. "You know, I get we Hecate kids are a bunch of weirdos, but that doesn't make us walking bullseyes every time you Ares kids feel froggy."

Bruce Miller

[Bruce Miller]

W hen Bruce tried to take another swing at her, he heard her mutter something he didn't understand, then he heard a loud metallic cling sound as his sword hit something he couldn't see. " interesting". Bruce spoke calmly then he stopped attacking. He stretched out his hand in order to feel the invisible barrier between her and himself. This was an impressive ability. One that Athena's children did not possess, So clearly Bruce had made an inaccurate guess about her Godly parent. It was cool how some kids could simply utter a few words and change reality. Bruce had tried it a few moments ago and it hadn't really worked out as well as when this woman did it. When she began talking, Bruce calmly slid his sword back into it's sheath, then He listened to what she was saying. When she spoke about how it was less stressful to practice here when there weren't a lot of people watching, Bruce found it easy to relate. Usually Bruce enjoyed practicing in front of a large crowd because he could dominate when it came to using weapons or his bare hands. But When it came to working on his magical abilities on the other hand, he preferred doing it alone so he could mess up in peace. However, it seemed that this woman had the opposite problem. From what he had seen, it seemed like her magic was excellent but her sword play definitely needed some work. "I get what you mean... I'm bad at using my magical abilities, so I came here to try and fix it in private. Just like how I assume you came here to fix that sad display you call sword play in private....Right?"Bruce spoke with a bit of a smirk on his face to indicate that he was kind of joking,His humor often came off as blunt and a bit offensive to sensitive people. When she revealed that she was a Hecate kid and spoke about how Ares kids had a habit of messing with her kind, Bruce calmly chuckled. "if it makes you feel better. Ares kids are Assholes to everyone equally. Not just Hecate kids. I didn't even know who's kid you were when I attacked you." he paused a bit to lean on her invisible barrier as if it were a real wall. "Although it makes a lot of sense that you come from Hecate. Not a lot of Demigods have magic as impressive as yours.......Hey, do you think you could teach me a thing or two about magic? " WORDS ZELENA LOPEZ

credit to nat of adoxography.

[ZELENA LOPEZ]

The thing about Zelena's magic was that it wasn't totally perfected. She was just sixteen after all. The magical barrier would soon fade. Zelena just hoped the Ares kid didn't get any ideas when it did. She was a still a bit shaken about him coming at her with his weapon without her permission, regardless of whether or not he assumed she was creeping up on him.

"Well, next time I'd rather you not assume that I want you to just have a go at me with your weapon," she said. "I wasn't trying to fight you. Believe it or not, not everyone is out to get you and your siblings." If the guy was joking about any of this, Zelena wasn't laughing. Then again, she didn't really laugh at anything.

The line about Ares kids picking on everyone didn't make her feel better. And regardless of whose kid she was, what camper deserved someone just launching themselves at them? Well okay, there were a few.

"I doubt I could teach you. Magic... or Mystiokinesis is an inherited ability by the offspring of Hecate. Much like you couldn't really teach me how to fully control and weapons or cause wars to start or whatever. And I wouldn't lean on that for too longs. It'll fade soon. Temporary spell and all." She wondered if it was wise to tell him that.

Bruce Miller