A site to behold

Hayley sat on what appeared to be a beach. She had never seen one before, only in pictures and movies. The sky was a lonely gray overcast, and she leaned back. "I have no clue why I'm here," she thought to herself. She layed down, and then rolled over onto her stomach. Next to her was a small little twig. She picked it up and started doodling in the soft, cool sand.
Suddenly, she started feeling tired. It had been a long day, and she still had loads of things to do, like figure out where she was, and what she was doing here. Hayley folded up her arms, and layed her head down. "30 minutes," she thought, "I'll only sleep for 30 minutes. Then I'll wake up, and get moving again." She closed her eyes, but just couldn't fall asleep. Her mind was to busy with thoughts of her step-mom, her dad, and this weird place.
She got up and stared at the dark sky, forgetting that she still had sand all over the front of her clothes. She could have stayed like that for hours, if it wasn't for the sound of footsteps behind her.
"H-hello?" Hayley asked and turned around.

Isaac walked down towards the Beach Path. It was his 3rd day and he felt lucky to be alive. There were several Celtic so-called Demigods practicing Archery and making him hit the dirt each time he decided to go somewhere and he simply had to travel past them. He was fine with the floor, but he didn't like it when they just needed to fire arrows at his face. He wandered down to the Sandy Beach and saw that it was not empty, but taken by a girl of around his age. She had sand all over her clothes. Th same sand which was inside Isaac's toes. H greeted her by sitting down by her and saying, "Hey. I'm Isaac Garner. Nice to meet you. What's your name?" He added onto the end, hoping to sound nice. First impressions stood for alot.

Hayley twitched a little. She really wasn't completely expecting to hear a voice coming from right next to her. "Hey. I'm Isaac Garner. Nice to meet you. What's your name?" The voice said. Hayley snapped back into reality, and brushed off all the sand on her clothes. "I-I'm Hayley. H-hayley Ash," she mummbled. She wasn't used to someone being nice to her lilke this.
She sat back down in the sand, and kicked off her shoes. She wiggled her toes in the sand and said, "It's nice to meet you too."
She turned toward Isaac. "Where am I?" She added, cocking her head toward the side.

Sloan wasn't much for words. To him, they were like a bad cup of tea. And others seemed to take that in stride. His eyes were cold enough to induce silence from them, his scar spoke vaguely of a past he'd rather not remember in full. He had been walking around what seemed to be a beach, his black converse filling up with pesky sand. Carrying his black bag on his shoulder, His dark eyes spotted a couple of kids sitting on the beach. Immediately he noticed the bright orange hair contrasting against the grey overcast, like it was battling the elements itself. Sloan really didn't want to go and talk to them, but he did need to know where he could go to sleep, or get registered in this camp. Sighing, Sloan decided to introduce himself, ask his questions, and get the heck out of there. He valued his solitude greatly. Besides, others need not know what his past had kept hidden, but his dreams scream every night at him.

Walking up with eyes cold and hard, not much different than usual, Sloan towered above the other strangers. Speaking in a quiet low voice, he introduced himself. "Hey." He started lamely. "I'm Sloan, Sloan Hawthorne. Can someone tell me where this 'camp' is located. I'd rather like to get settled in and train." He pointed out, not moving his 'stump' arm at all. The scar and missing arm were the result of a mysterious attack on his life in night back on the Island. Though it wasn't a human that attacked him, Sloan had taken his frustration and hurt on humans, or anyone who couldn't fathom the depth of what had happened to him. So Sloan stood there Awkwardly, waiting on an answer.

Hayley twitch again. Another voice arose from next to her. She looked up and noticed a guy. He was older than her, and missing an arm. "Hey." He started lamely. "I'm Sloan, Sloan Hawthorne. Can someone tell me where this 'camp' is located. I'd rather like to get settled in and train."
She was wondering something similar. "I-I'm Hayley. Hayley Ash." She mumbled. "I was wondering the same thing."
She flipped back her bright hair, looked back up at the sky. The sky was still gray and depressing. She thought about asking about his arm, but thought against it.

Wehn the Girl introduced herself as Halyely Ash and asked where she was, another guy walked over and said, "I'm Sloan, Sloan Hawthorne. Can someone tell me where this 'camp' is located. I'd rather like to get settled in and train." Hayley mentioned that she was thinking the same, but before Isaac could answer he was interrupted once more. He felt like yelling, "Oh, for crying out loud!" He decided to listen instead, and what a good job that was. A bloke appeared, going closer to Isaac, and he said loudly, "You are a child of Cernunnos, Isaac Garner." A double-edged black sword appeared at Isaac's feet and some armour accompanied it. The armour held fire, surrounded by two wolves which were calling to the Moon. Isaac grinned when the guy disappeared, realising slowly what had just happened. He knew who his Father was. He put on the leather armour and it fitted perfectly. It felt kind of cool too. "Oh yeah, this is good!" He laughed, wondering what he'd be able to do as a Child of the Underworld.

Hayley heard a voice. "You are a child of Cernunnos, Isaac Garner." it said. Hayley didn't know what to think of it, and then a sword appeared. Now, she was really confused. "T-that sword...where did it come from....and who was that just now?" She asked as Issac put on the leather armor that also, to Hayley seemed to appear from no where.
Hayley quickly turned around to see if she could find the source of the mysterious voice, so quickly that she almost smacked Sloan with her arm. But when she did turn around, no one was there.
Hayley felt so confused, and now kind of frightened, so she turned back to the water, and curled up with her knees to her chest, arms folded over, and head resting on her arms.

Isaac smiled as Hayley asked about the sword. "The Gods. You want to know what all this is about? Okay, so, this is the Celtic Camp. You know all those stories about Celtic Gods and Goddesses? Real. So are the Greek Gods. As far as I can tell, they're gearing up for a war that'll turn Earth into a battleground. People like me an you guys are the children of the Celtic Gods, The Greek Gods have kids to. We're kind of like... tools for our parents. So, a summary; Celtic Gods," He signalled them with one hand, "Greek Gods," He indicated them with his other hand, "Clash." He brought his hands together, the noise of skin on skin echoing around the Mountains. "I was just told by my Father that I'm Son of Cernunnos, God of life, Wealth and the Underworld. Welcome to Santa Cruz!" He ended with a kind smile on his face. "What do you think?"

((Sorry for taking forever to post))

Sloan watched in silent curiosity as Isaac and Hayley conversed about mythology and celtic gods. He absent-mindedly wondered how long it would take him to get chosen. He resented Isaac's words, not really accepting the harsh truth that Sloan was no more than a tool to his real godly parent, that he was going to be used and tossed aside. It had happened before. Sloan would screw up, and someone would send him away, to a new family. Only now he was at camp, a fresh scar on his face and a bandage on his stump the only indicators he gave towards his past.

Sloan blinked, his dark eyes opening slowly as Isaac finished his monolouge about the gods. He eyed the leather armor that Isaac had recieved, reminding him of his desire to go and train sometime. He needed to elt go of his stress, as James had told Sloan before he got shipped away, like a package. Sloan brought his eyes to Hayley and Isaac. "So this war your talking about," he started skeptically, "We'll have to fight Greek half-bloods, won't we?" He asked, no emotion in his voice. Sloan loathed the idea of ever hurting someone badly. Killing them would tear him apart, like the burgular. Sloan would rather commit suicide than to take another life.

Hayley was shocked at the fact that she belonged to a god, that she was the child of an immortal. She wondered who she belonged to. "So...we have to...kill others...?" Hayley twiddled her fingers. "But...what...what if they're nice? What if they didn't do anything...wrong?" She put her head down, feeling depressed.
Hayley then thought about her step-mom. "Then again...they could be...horrible....right?" She thought about her step-mom some more. "They could become horrible adults...couldn't they? Do bad things...to others!" Her rage was starting to get to her. "They could...." She started to calm down. She thought about all the poor innocent people that she may have to kill.
"Soo...." she started obviously trying to change the topic. "When..when do you think Sloan and I will be claimed...?"

Isaac was immediately pelted with questions. The usual stuff, such as, "So this war your talking about, we'll have to fight Greek half-bloods, won't we?" From Sloan, and a whole load from Hayley. "So...we have to...kill others...?", "But...what...what if they're nice? What if they didn't do anything...wrong?", "Then again...they could be...horrible....right?" Isaac nodded to this one, his first response. "They could become horrible adults...couldn't they? Do bad things...to others!" She seemed to be getting kind of amgry now, but then it flared down. "They could...." She seeminlgy forgot to finish her sentence. Isaac nodded. "I'm afraid that Greek Demigods must be killed. Howeer, this is a War. Lives will be taken, but the dead will die a heroes death and be sent to Elysium or Tir na n-Og. It's not so bad, right? Some of them might een reach the Isle of the Blest! If they go down fighting for their parents, just llike we could, then we're doing them a favour really. It's a game of chance, and our parents are holding the dice." He stopped and listened to the silence.

"Soo...." Hayley started obviously trying to change the topic. "When..when do you think Sloan and I will be claimed...?"
Isaac shook his head and said, "Not a clue. It should happen soon though, because otherwise we won't be able to play with our srengths, will we? So I think you guys will probably get claimed soon. I wonder who you'll get claimed by though..." He wondered out loud, but then snapped back. "Anyways, there you go. That's live at the Celtic Camp."

Sloan listened to the obvious distress in HAyley's voice, the same twinge of subtle fear relating to a past memory that he held in his own thoughts. Sloan just didn't show his 'fear' almost at all. THere were tiem however, the few, when he was alone that Sloan sat and thought about that night, when two lives were ended, one the cause of another. Sloan pushed the sickening thought away and listened to Isaac's words. But they didn't seem to help much.

"I'm afraid that Greek Demigods must be killed. Howeer, this is a War. Lives will be taken, but the dead will die a heroes death and be sent to Elysium or Tir na n-Og. It's not so bad, right? Some of them might een reach the Isle of the Blest! If they go down fighting for their parents, just llike we could, then we're doing them a favour really. It's a game of chance, and our parents are holding the dice." And Sloan shook his head inwardly.

This Isaac kid apparently didn't think much of ending someone else's life, as if it were a service he was doing to their great parents. Where were their parent when Sloan or the others were in foster care, or when the burgular came and shot his only family that night? Or when Sloan took matters into his own hands and grasped the gun? Their own comrades will be killed. Sloan was getting angrier, but his face held no emotion except for a sidelong glance at Hayley. Calm yourself, Sloan chided mentally, He hasn't had your past, he is only uninformed of the guilt and horridness of taking someone's life. You can't be mad simply because he is ignorant. THat would be unjust and rude on your part. Sloan thought, before managing to tune in on the conversation once more, to hear talk about claiming.

ISloan idly wondered iwhat would be the circumstances under which he would be claimed. It almost mystifyed him, had it not been for the fact that Sloan was tempted to be angry at his parent for not helping him or at least preventing the loss of his arm. At least they could do him that much, for what he has mentally and emotionally had to go through these last months. But over all of that, was this dormant yearning, a curiosity as to who really was his parent, That he finally gets to meet a parent of his, even if it is a god. Sloan jsut wanted the comforting knowledge of knowing who his parent was, a sense of reality that could be given to him.

"And I suppose that it isn't all fun and games, but obstacle courses, training and protein meals eh?" Sloan asked, a slight smile on his failed attempt at a joke. But it wasn't really as much as a joke as it was Sloan wanting to here an answer, perhaps a cleu as to what really went on here. After, Sloan was new here, and information of any kind would be good, if it were true.

Hayley relaxed a little. For some reason, hearing both Sloan and Isaac, it made her feel better. As if they were her brothers, or something.
Hayley thought some more. What if she was claimed right now? She relished the thought and smiled. Being claimed by a god and/or goddess? Then she thought some more. Does that mean that her dad wasn't her real dad...or what about her mom...Hayley teared up. Thoughts of her mom brought her back to that one birthday, and then eventually to her step-mom.
Hayley felt like she needed comfort of some kind. Whether it be from Isaac or Sloan, or even her parent, she didn't care. She just wanted answers, and to go home. Thoughts overwhelmed her again. She felt like running off in one direction, and never turning back. Running so far that she would forget who she is, and why she's here.
The only thing that broke her from these thoughts was Sloan's failed attempt at a joke. His smile, even though it was pathecticly small, made her feel a little better on the inside. It was as though she had some friends.
"And I suppose that it isn't all fun and games, but obstacle courses, training and protein meals eh?" Hayley giggled at his lame joke, and even attepmted a smile, even though she didn't feel like it.

"And I suppose that it isn't all fun and games, but obstacle courses, training and protein meals, eh?" Sloan asked. Hayley giggled and Isaac grinned. "The food's quite good here. Mostly meat, but you know. You shouldn't really come here if you're a vegetarian." Hayley look sad, so Isaac shuffled a little closer to her. She was kind of cute, and he wanted to hug her, but decided that it would be too awkward. They barely knew each other after all, and he wished to make new friends before anything else.

"You guys are going to love it here, even though it'll mean taking lives. After all, you might not even want to. I heard that Hades and my Father, Cernunnos, are making friends. The two agriculture Gods are wanting to join together and make a Garden Club. For all we know, nothing could happen and the two Camps could join together in harmony. That would definitely be the best idea, right?" Isaac sighed. "I want to go back to my boarding School, it's better then having to hit the dirt because of Arrows each day. Mark my words." A single Crow flew onto his shoulder, pecked him lightly and then flew off. "At least there's still good in the World."

Sloan was tempted to become a vegetarian, just to off Isaac. It would've been pretty fun, except that he would never really do it. Sloan was a dreamer, the one that never did anything but when he was alone. He would never act on them though. That was for another life, another person who wasn't as scarred as he. He sighed, and tuned into the conversation, one, he found, that he strayed from often. Odd, he pondered.


"You guys are going to love it here, even though it'll mean taking lives. After all, you might not even want to. I heard that Hades and my Father, Cernunnos, are making friends. The two agriculture Gods are wanting to join together and make a Garden Club. For all we know, nothing could happen and the two Camps could join together in harmony. That would definitely be the best idea, right?" Sloan had listened tentatively, taking anything Isaac said with a grain of salt. After all, Sloan couldn't be fully trusting of someone whom he just met.

Sloan was extremely skeptical of the idea of the gods coming together, after the boy just explained about a huge war that he was excited to fight in. After what Sloan had learned before, Isaac seemed to be contradicting himself regularly. A War? Camps in Harmony? Sloan sighed, nothing seemed to be making sense, and after Sloan had just gone through, he was conflicted inside of well.

"I'm a vegetarian." Sloan blurted out, unsure of himself. Sloan had surprised himself, actually following through on his sarcastic notions was a first. Or at least, a first since he was attacked.

Isaac moved closer to Hayley, and though she noticed it, she didn't say anything about it. She was just happy to have some friends, how weird they may be or the circumstance in which they were becoming friends. She thought about moving closer to him, but for some reason, she felt like Sloan would be jealous, and she didn't want him to be that way. She wanted both of her friends to get along.
"The food's quite good here. Mostly meat, but you know. You shouldn't really come here if you're a vegetarian." Hayley laughed until the last part. She was a vegetarian and she always thought about the poor little calf who wouldn't get to see his mommy that night because she wanted a taco every time she tried to eat meat.

"You guys are going to love it here, even though it'll mean taking lives. After all, you might not even want to. I heard that Hades and my Father, Cernunnos, are making friends. The two agriculture Gods are wanting to join together and make a Garden Club. For all we know, nothing could happen and the two Camps could join together in harmony. That would definitely be the best idea, right?" Hayley wished that was true. She didn't want to have to fight people. She didn't want to have to kill anyone.


"I'm a vegetarian." Sloan randomly blurted out, just as Hayley was about to tell everyone that she was a vegetarian. She couldn't help but be excited that someone else here was a vegetarian too.

"You are? Really? Oh my gosh! Me too! This is so cool! I never thought that I'd find someone else like me!" Hayley jumped up and gave him a hug, but then realizing that it was fairly awkward, let go and backed away. She held her hands behind her back, and blushed a bright red.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hug you like that. I'm sorry." Hayley was about ready to go climb in a whole and whither away in it.

"But...back to the food...what kind of vegetable stuff do they have here?" Hayley obviously changed the subject. She didn't want Sloan and Isaac to think that she liked one of them more than the other. Even if she did like one slightly more than the other.

Hayley was shocked. She had just "met" her true mother. And below at her feet, her mother had graced her with gitfs. A set of white leather armor, and a silver bow/spear whip. Hayley picked up the armor and traced the engravings that were on it. For some reason, it felt so natural being in her hands. She then felt bad for Sloan. He yet had been claimed, and yet she and Isaac had been. With-in the same day.
Hayley thought about the woman that she had known as her mom for all of her life. The woman who died in the car crash. If that wasn't her real mom, then...Hayley was just confused. She didn't want to think about it anymore. She loved that woman, no matter who she was. Although now, Hayley just wanted to go confront her dad.
"I-I'm sorry that you're not claimed yet..." Hayley choked out to Sloan, tossing her moist eyes up toward him. Her tears were a mixture of joy and sadness, and she just couldn't control them.

Hayley felt like getting up, and running. Running and finding her mom. Rhiannon, her true mother. She wanted to get to know her, for she had never gotten to truely have a real mom in her life, and maybe, this war, this 'camp' could be her only chance. But, she just sat there. Wanting at the same time to curl up and sleep, and wait until night to really move.

Hayley went back to looking at her gifts. She was filled with exitment just looking at them. Hayley picked up the weapon that she was given. She wondered to herself what it was called. She just knew that she wouldn't ever use it, unless times got hard, and she was yanked into the battle.


"Are...are there any others who were claimed by Rhiannon?" Hayley wondered aloud, tracing once again the engravings.

Hayley asked Isaac abou the food, if there was anything but meat. "I'm sure there'll be something other than meat. If they haven't cooked it, maybe a few people could go around growing and picking vegetables. Dagda's children, maybe, they're really good with plants. Well, I only know of one, who's immortal, but she's at Camp all the same. But it's likely that you can be served vegetables and such if you want. I can't see a reason why not, seeing as it's better for the body than meat. They definitely have dairy and carbohydrates, though. Maybe not much but it's definitely here." He knew this from a cheese sandwich he'd had the day before. Now he had proof. Perhaps they could bring in some cows, for beef as wells as dairy products.

Then, all of a sudden, and blaze of silver fire engulfed Hayley. Isaac lifted his sword ready to fight of whatever monster had created this, but saw that no pain was caused. Then a feminine voice claimed that Hayley was, in fact, being claimed. When the flames died down, he saw that Hayley had accosted a silver bow/spear whip and some lightweight white armour. The armour had engraved symbols of the night, which led Cernunnos' Son to believe that the deity was Rhiannon. Sure enough, Hayley mentioned that in her question of if she had any siblings.

Isaac shook his head at Hayley's question. "Not that I know of there aren't... not really many claimed people actually." He frowned. If this type of war was on the way, why wouldn't there be? Surely they would want to claim the children so they could train more to their needs? Well, hopefully there would be many quick claimings soon enough. Only for the good of the Celts, surely. If not just so the children could feel more wanted and have the awesome gifts. Either way... He wondered who Sloan really was.

Taryn jogged through the woods, happy to have some sort of direction. "Heh, you know what, I'm glad to be away from that family !" She smiled up at the birds flitting about in the trees. "I wonder who that was...?" Taryn thought back to the mysterious figure in the woods who had pointed her in this direction. "Oh well!" She began to sprint, enjoying feeling the breeze in her hair and against her face.
And then she hit the sand. With her face. "Oof!"
Taryn got up and brushed off the sand, looking around. "A beach? What am I doing on a beach?" she thought before stripping off her newly-aquired tennis shoes and jogging down the beach with her feet in the water.
After a few minutes of running, she came accross a group of kids, all a little younger than her, just in time to hear one of the guys say, "Not that I know of there aren't... not really many claimed people actually." Claimed? Taryn was confused--not that that was new for her life lately.... She looked at the kids in the group--two guys and a girl. One of the boys were missing an arm and the girl looked like she was going to get up and start running at any time. And the second guy was looking cocky standing there holding a sword. Hmm, she thought, I'll keep an eye out for those two--but this guy... I wonder if I can take him? If he's bullying them I'll need to keep away from that blade..."
"Hey there!" she called. "Can any of you tell me where I am?"

"Hey there!" A girl called from behind Hayley. "Can any of you tell me where I am?"

Hayley jumped a little, and landed almost directly in front of Isaac's feet. Ever since she was little, she had been jumpy, especially of people or sounds from behind her. It was even worse after she had been day-dreaming and completely unfoccused.

She swiftly turned her head to the girl, with a wild, almost deer-caught-in-head-lights look in her eyes.

"I'm not really sure myself," Hayley stated, sitting back up and once again stroking the engravings on the armor given to her by her true mother. "All I've gathered is that this is some camp for demigods and that I'm the Daughter of Rhiannon." Hayley giggled, with slight tears coming out of her eyes. Then she looked up at Sloan and Isaac, switching her gaze back and forth between the two boys. She then grabbed her arms and stood up. She was quite wobbly after all that had happened, and almost stumbled forward, but then caught her guard again, and stood her ground, facing the girl.

"Do you think that you could explain any better?" She said, with a pleading sound accenting her words and a pathetic look in her eyes.

Jumped. That girl actually jumped.
"All I've gathered is that this is some camp for demigods and that I'm the Daughter of Rhiannon," the girl said. Wait, Demigods?!? What, did that stranger send me to a camp of LARPers? Or is this girl insane? Taryn thought.
As she finish running up to the group, Taryn asked the girl, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, are you alright? What's your name? These two aren't bugging you are they?" and then glared at the two boys. Then, hesitantly, "What's this about "demigods"?