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[beautwin-blog]

Darius found Paris quite annoying, once upon a time, but had come to tolerate the boy’s presence, accepting it as an eventuality against which he should not resist. The two of them didn’t care much for fighting, although Darius was considerably better than the Iris boy, who was possibly one of the worst in camp. It wasn’t unexpected, Paris having arrived somewhat recently. Still, he showed no signs of improvement over the months, and it was obviously due to his resistance to battle. Paris was a pacifist if there ever was one, and Darius found it slightly amusing. It was a refreshing contrast to the battle-ready attitude of everyone else around. He liked that the boy could slow down and appreciate some of the finer things in life, including fine art and language arts. 

“I think that’s enough for one day.” How Paris had gotten to the age he was now without having read any of Shakespeare’s sonnets was beyond Darius. He closed the book and placed it carefully in the dark leather satchel he carried with him. Despite his tolerance for the other’s presence, he wasn’t keen on spending more time than necessary together. Still, there was something flattering about how intensely the boy was listening to the sonnets, as if he could lose himself in the words, just as much as Darius could. 

“I do,” he replied, taken aback by the other’s knowledge of his private writings. One of his siblings must have talked to Paris about him. The thought made him uncomfortable. “But that is neither here nor there. We will be remaining with Shakespeare.”

@beautwin​

“Read me another one,” Paris mumbled in awe. Lying flat on his back staring at the sky, he lifted his hands and framed a cloud with his fingers, capturing the image in his mind. He did this a lot, when he found something beautiful. The sky was a particular love of his.

He and Darius weren’t friends, exactly. Darius didn’t even get along with Paris most of the time, and Paris found the other boy’s negativity absolutely draining at times. But when the both of them were skiving off their training sessions, they were able to tolerate each other, if nothing but for a reciprocal alibi. 

Paris was by no means an intellectual, but there was something about the poems that Darius was reading that stirred visual images of absolute beauty. He couldn’t recall the author of said poems, but the other was reading a collection of them from a thin book with an aqua blue cover, and the sound of the Aphrodite boy’s voice was like liquid silver. They were halfway through the book, and after every poem the two of them paused to absorb the words.

“Don’t you write poetry?”

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* halfgodisms

Alex suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. As if Darius was never frustrated. “See I’ve noticed that yelling at things works best, if I hasn’t yelled, you wouldn’t have noticed that I needed help. Silent prayer only gets you so far.” He was angry at his brain for not remembering where he’d left the instrument and almost took that out on the other. Almost. “My violin.” He gestured around with his bow. “I’ve looked practically everywhere yet it’s nowhere to be found and I really want to try out these notes I’ve written down.” He occasionally got music stuck in his head, he wouldn’t call it proper composing since he’d never actually finished a piece but he had a notebook with a variety of scribbled bars.

Darius liked classical music as much, if not more, than the next guy. A search for a violin seemed a noble cause, and if anything could have mobilized him to show altruistic behavior, it was the sake of a violin being played. One of the reasons that the Apollo kids were tolerable was the music that they would play, and that Darius enjoyed hearing. “I see,” he nodded, squinting at the lone bow without its companion. “So, I’m assuming you play the violin in a variety of settings? I mean, you don’t only stay cooped up in your cabin to play?”

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There wasn’t much that could embarrass him, but his writing was one of the topics that could turn his face pink instantaneously. It was much too personal for the public eye, or any eye for that matter, aside from himself and his twin sister. Of course, he did want to be a professional writer at some point, and that entailed publishing his work. But, the work that he wrote for publishing was nowhere near the gritty material he wrote to express his own art, and perhaps that’s why he had yet to be successful in the world of literature.

He turned and placed a leather portfolio over the mess of papers and ink, obscuring Angela’s view. “It’s just some writing I have been doing,” he answered honestly. Most everyone knew that he was an aspiring writer, that was no secret. The secret was the content. “It’s no major project. I expect it won’t be finished any time soon, either.”

“Right.” Angela replied, now a little embarassed for making him repeat himself. “Well, thank you. For talking with me. It actually helped me, more than I thought it would.” Even if he was still a little harsh, Angela found there was a sibling that midly cared for her in Darius. If not, he wouldn’t have worried enough to answer her, right? Maybe she shouldn’t have been that quickly in judging him before having an actual conversation with him.

Instead of taking his stare to the desk as a sign to leave him alone, she looked at the desk as well. “What are you working on?” She asked, curious. He had helped her, and she didn’t want to make Darius feel like she only talked with him when she needed something from him. Besides, she was actually intrigued about what was he doing. 

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“Do you mind?”

Darius wasn’t a fan of disruption and loud noises, not anything of the sort. He himself was quiet the introvert, and if he wouldn’t do something, it seemed simple logic that neither should anyone else. And, Darius definitely wouldn’t have stood at the front of his own cabin and screamed to the heavens for a lost object. He’d create a flow chart based on the linear events of his day, and how each affected one another, paying careful mind to tangible objects.

He wasn’t hanging around the Apollo cabin, nor did he plan to. He was heading home from the Arena, intending to shower the sweat off of him, when he passed by and was accosted by the loud proclamation. “If you’re really that convinced that the Gods will help you, a silent prayer might do just as well. What exactly are you looking for?

Alexander hated losing things, and after spending a good half hour retracing his steps, that is the conclusion he unfortunately had to draw. He’d lost his violin. He still had his bow, but it was rather hard to play violin without, you know, the actual instrument. So, here he was, bow in his hand, having combed through the entirety of cabin 7 but still not having located his instrument. He stepped outside, checking the porch area and let out an exasperated scream. “Where in the name of the Gods is it?!" 

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Darius found it interesting that she felt the need to quickly rule out Charmspeak as one of her abilities. He wasn’t sure why she said it with a nuance of clearing her name. He thought it was quite the useful power, and he wasn’t as caught up with morality as she appeared to be. Charmspeak was already someone like his ability, but it was, for the most part, an active and purposeful power, not to mention much more powerful and effective, nearly stripping away the free will of the subject. Darius found, on more than one occasion, that campers retained the ability to say no when he asked them to do something, which he found quite inconvenient.

Because he didn’t have the same moral objections as she, he found their conversation ebbing to a close. “For I think the third time, there’s no use to fret over something you can’t change, and that includes to which god or goddess you were born. The advice left to give is withering, because I have now reverted to repetition.” He glanced over at the desk he was working at, fairly abandoned by the rest of his siblings who didn’t find any use in work desks and much preferred vanities. “It’s good, I guess, that you feel shame for your powers, because it will make you that much more aware, when you use them, about how they might affect others.

“You are like, a talking book.” She meant it as a compliment. Jesus, Darius made Angela feel a little dumb. The way he talked and the words he used definitely threw her off a little, specially considering they had never shared more than two or three short sentences before, but Angela wanted to keep up with him. After all, he was doing her a favor talking with her. However, when he looked at her to ask what was her power (or rather, to implicity ask that) she couldn’t avoid getting defensive. “I don’t have charmspeak.” She quickly assured him, as if he was accusing her of something. He didn’t seem like the kind of person that would care, but Angela had spent so much time convincing everyone around her she didn’t have those powers, it was hard to get out of that mentality. 

After a pause, Angela spoke again, looking away. “My powers make me feel ashamed.” She finally revealed the real reason of the conversation. “And it makes me mad, because other cabins get cool powers, like control over water or the ability to talk to animals, and we are stuck with ‘evil’ powers. Even if powers are only as bad as the person who uses them.” Angela was frustrated, angry and sad, all at the same time.  But she agreed with Darius, at least a little. It was something that she had never thought before, but a good way of referring to it; Bad luck. Not her fault, nor the fault of any of the campers in the Aphrodite cabin.

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“That’s a different matter,” Darius said, surprised by the change in circumstance. Suddenly, they were talking about her, not him, because she wasn’t discussing his actual powers but rather a hypothetical. “If it was an active display, but an accident, there is some blame to be had on the perpetrator. Not a lot of blame, mind, but it calls for the user to make amends and work further to prevent accidents. It’s a matter, then, of controlling usable powers, which is completely irrelevant to my condition. Yet, I suspect it has something to do with yours.” He eyed her, a not-so-subtle way of requesting she drop the hypothetical and just divulge the details of whatever situation she actually wanted to know about.

Darius shook his head darkly. He mildly agreed with her last statement, but he felt that they likely had different sentiments about the results. “That might be true, but why should I care if I ruin someone’s life for something out of my control? My life is mine, and I’m not going to stop existing merely because someone else is ruined. They have just, then, suffered from bad luck.”

“Yes, I guess you are right. I’m not saying you should feel guilty, but, I just sensed that most people would.” Angela paused, debating if keep bothering him was worth it or not. Usually, she would have left him alone, but once she had actually started talking to him she realized Darius wasn’t as scary as he seemed. “But what if you didn’t do it on propose, but you did actively do it? Even if it was by mistake?” She knew what he would answer, or at least felt like she did. If she hadn’t done it on propose, then there was no reason to feel bad. “Just because we don’t actively do it doesn’t mean we can’t ruin someone’s life with the powers.” She thought out loud, not looking at him.

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My Kink is being right and that’s why I’m turned on all the time

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Despite his undeniable bond to the other Aphrodite campers through a shared parent, he never himself to be much of a brother to anyone except his twin. So, when Angela brought it up, it took Darius by surprise. He was determined not to show it, though, and continued to converse with her, his expression as unreadable as ever.

“No,” he declared with a firm shake of his head. His response was a little unnerving in its resolute nature. Anyone, no matter if they had control of their power or not, likely would have felt at least the smallest ember of guilt at unduly influencing the actions of others. Darius, however, in his complete self-centered attitude, didn’t have any such sentiment. “No, I don’t. Again, I don’t think there’s any need to be guilty over something I can’t control. ‘Using’ my powers implies I can control them, so I am not ‘using’ them. It’s just a condition of my existence. Why should I apologize for that?”

Darius sounded just like older brothers were supposed to sound like; with wisdom acquired through experience. Walking closer to the bed and sitting down, Angela stared at him, paying close attention to what he had to say. She never told him, mainly because the opportunity had never arisen, but there was a part of Angela that considered Darius to be extremely smart, one of the smartest of the cabin, in fact. “That’s a good question.” Angela admitted, really thinking about his words. 

“I think you just big-brothered me, if that’s even a thing.” The way he talked made it a little hard for Angela to follow everything he said, but she tried. Pausing for a second, taking everything in, Angela sat straight and looked again at Darius again, now with her thoughts more clear and with new questions waiting to be answered. “Do you ever feel guilty? About using your powers, I mean.” 

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* joshuapcrrish

the last thing joshua had expected was to be taken this seriously, especially while sneaking around camp in the dark. he was sure that whoever roamed around at this hour would rather just be left alone. himself included. he bit his lower lip while looking at the other camper with pure confusion painted on his face. “so.. if you take a dictionary, and you go to the letter ‘j’ and then you look a little further for the word ‘joke’.. i think you might, maybe, learn something.” joshua said. there was no malice in his voice or intentions, he really just didn’t know how else to point out that his words were to be taken with a grain of salt. “but yeah i was not really planning on waking chiron up in the middle of the night to rat both me and you out, that seems a bit too kamikaze to me.”

Darius’s face became steely as the other assumed a sarcastic role. He didn’t like to be mocked, and that’s exactly what he perceived this to be. It wasn’t in his nature to joke around, which explained why he didn’t register that Joshua wasn’t serious. He straightened his shoulders as if his dignity demanded he remain poised. “Joking is such an insincere form of communication,” Darius chided. “And, I don’t see how effective humor would be when trying to negotiate your position, when you could be subject to punishment.” 

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* holydov-e

“Um.” Angela felt that no matter what she said, it would be a bother to Darius. But then again, she always felt like she was bothering him while talking to her older sibling, so perhaps it was just her imagination. Or maybe he just disliked her, either way, it would only take a few minutes of his attention, not much more. “I mean, it’s only a question.” She replied, moving a lock of hair behind her ear, before continuing. “How do you deal with the fact that you can’t really control who your power influences?”

Realizing that she was perhaps a little too blunt, she cleared her throat. “I didn’t mean to sound rude. I’m just curious.“ There were bad demigods with abilities far too scary to not be afraid of them. Darius wasn’t one of them, at least not to her; that didn’t mean his powers were harmless.

Whatever the son of Aphrodite thought that his sister was going to say, this certainly was not it. He had never been asked about his powers before. Few really knew of them, save for his siblings and a few campers who had fallen a little too far into his spider’s web, and to those he had no choice but to explain their odd behavior by exposing his own uncontrollable condition of being. The question, then, was completely unexpected, and he didn’t have a thoroughly prepared answer for her. Forced to think on his feet, Darius took a moment of quiet consideration. 

“I should begin by a simple rhetorical question: why worry about what cannot be helped?” He turned his chair so that he was facing her and sat, intertwining his fingers and motioning for her to sit on the bed. “It’s as silly as a rabbit wishing to be a fox.” He didn’t want to reduce her question into something too simplistic, but he felt that complication was unnecessary. “That isn’t to say, of course, that nothing can be done. One can always prepare for their eventuality. Knowing that the power exists is important, just for that reason. I can avoid certain people. I can divulge and enlighten to others what being in my presence might entail.” 

He tapped a finger on his knee and dropped into silence for a moment. It was an eerie silence; he had been gaining momentum in his explanation, but was now staring quite obtrusively into the face of his sibling. He had begun to describe his own actions, not realizing that there must be a particular reason why Angela was asking. Thinking of this, he opened up to more generalities. “In that capacity, one is altering their own behavior to prevent outcomes of dire consequence. Alternatively, one can choose to do nothing. This is as wise, though, as the rabbit doing nothing, who will surely be eaten. Although he cannot possibly become the fox, he should take care to arrange his life in such a way as to not be bullied by him. I don’t let my powers bully me, and indeed I find them extremely useful at times.”

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* joshuapcrrish

clearly, josh had nothing to worry about, judging by the dismissive attitude of the other camper. “hey i’m just covering my ass, just in case i need to.” he lifted up his arms in some kind of defeated gesture. despite having been at camp for roughly nine years now, he could never shake the instinct to make sure he had some kind of.. escape. some kind of excuse that would keep him out of trouble. but now that he knew he could let his guard down, at least a little, a teasing smirk appeared on his face, “besides, there are no witnesses to show that you weren’t also outside of camp seconds ago. or to prove that i ever left.” 

Darius didn’t care enough to ask what the other camper had been doing during his outing, but he was intrigued by his rationale. It was true that Darius was the only witness, and also that he would be helpless against accusations that he had been out of bounds, even if he himself knew that he’d been inside camp the whole time. He glanced back toward the cabins which were so deeply embedded in the shadows that he couldn’t even make out their outlines. “So you take me down, and I take you down, because neither of us can explain how we saw the other except that we were out of the cabins ourselves. Or, of course, we both keep quiet.” Darius rubbed the back of his neck, not feeling fantastic about the idea of having dish duty. “Call it an underestimation, but I don’t think you’re gonna rat the both of us out.”

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@holydov-e

“No-” Darius pushed his chair back with irritation, the wooden heels scraping against the floor of the cabin. He tossed his old fountain pen onto the desk blotter and stood, looking toward the door. In it stood Angela, his half-sister. He didn’t have any particularly strong feelings about her, positive or negative. She merely was, but when she attempted to rope him into conversation was when he found his patience thinnest. He didn’t like to disrupt his own activities, not for anyone, but his eyes were getting sore anyway, and so he used this as an excuse for a brief break. “I am not too busy. Is there something you need from me, specifically?” he asked, a small indication that perhaps she could take up her small-talk with someone else.

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Darius had been oblivious to the interaction. His arm worked repetitively back and forth, a brush strapped to his hand. The sleek shine on the horse’s coat was nearing perfection, enough to stop any show. When he heard the female camper’s voice, it tore him dramatically from his mindset, and he was forced to look up and blink once or twice to remember where he was. He had been brushing the same Pegasus for at least half an hour and had forgotten himself. Realizing the morning was slipping away, he set the brush down and turned to watch the young camper still scampering away. 

“Yes, I think it probably was,” Darius affirmed, and scooped a few treats into his hand to reward the beast for being good. “What did you say?”

“ you sure you want to do that? “  venetia raised an eyebrow at a younger camper, leaning lasiez-faire against the stables as she observed a camp-typical bad decision being made.  “ I certainly wouldn’t be caught dead doing that. seeing as I might end up dead doing that …  “  she trailed off with a slight smile and watched the annoyed kid tear off to some other location for their shenanigans. venetia then turned to the person behind her, smile still there, and said,  “ gosh. do you think it was something I said? that sent them running away? “

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One of Darius’s secrets to remaining relatively undetected around Camp Halfblood was to travel by night. He had developed such a sleeping habit that could have qualified him to be nocturnal, so it wasn’t unusual that he was wandering across the grass, bathed in darkness. And, although it wasn’t often, it also wasn’t unheard of to encounter another camper or two, or a whole gang of them sneaking around the shadows. He wasn’t shocked, then, when he felt a force run into his shoulder. Whipping around in case it was a monster, he found himself looking into another boy’s eyes and relaxed.

“Oh, you won’t?” Darius responded. Having been at the camp for as long as he had, he quite forgot some of the rules he had been so casually breaking. “Considerate,” he mused shortly, his tone dismissive. “Though, I should point out that you were caught, by me, sneaking back into camp, whereas I was merely within it."

ever since he’d set foot inside the camp borders, joshua had never really left again. the few times he had, he could count on one hand. there wasn’t anything outside of the borders for him. the only thing remaining of his old life was his little sister, and he’d only just started to get to know her again. she was the only reason why he had decided to make a quick last minute trip to the nearest town just now. he hadn’t meant to come back after dark, but yet here he was. picking out birthday presents had never been his strong suit, especially not for a soon to be thirteen year old girl he hadn’t really seen in years

of course he bumped into someone right when he returned to camp. maybe a camper on border patrol, maybe someone else who had snuck out past curfew. pulling the hood of his hoodie back, he greeted them with a nod. “i won’t tell if you won’t.”