Claiming:Camp/Shay Torres

note: this bean identifies as agender and does not use she/her as pronouns

Name: Shay Sofia Torres

Age: 16

Mortal Parent: Isabel Torres

God/Titan: Hephaestus

Appearance (optional): Xer model is Julija Steponaviciute.

Personality (at least a sentence or two): There's no better way to describe Shay than simply stubborn. Yes, stubborn. Shay's that one person who would happily stay up late with you if you need to get something done. To be fair, xe rarely sleeps; and if xe does sleep, it's probably in xer little corner of Bunker 9, versus in an actual bed.

When some learn of Shay's struggles in life, they'd be surprised that xe's still alive. Born with the rare inability to feel pain, Shay is functionally worse off than most people, and to top it off, xe uses a prosthetic that extends up to xer right arm's elbow. But xe's living life, and enjoying it. Sure, xe's theoretically hurt xerself a lot, but xe's lived through worse. Even then, xe's learned to live without xer pains, for xe can recognize a hazard without much effort. Truthfully speaking, xe's made much effort in the way of learning different hazards of xer surroundings.

But even if xe admits nothing of it... xe values xer family and friends dearly, except for xer mother, xe hates her. Xe's also the kind of person who'd love to do a random act of kindness, even if for no other reason than just to be nice. They don't say "do unto others as you would want done unto you" for nothing, or at least that's what Shay believes.

History (more than a paragraph): By society's standards, Isabel Torres was a perfectly average woman. Sure she had a respectable family and a decent career and everything, she was missing something in her life. At first, there was much uncertainty about her, since she felt incomplete for an unknown reason. But it'll soon come to light; she had no one to love, or to have kids with for that same matter. How on earth she met Hephaestus is complicated; what's more complicated is how she'll come to bear a child with him that will end up being far more... unique that anyone would think.

Isabel met Hephaestus, who was posing as just another firefighter in Puerto Rico, during her shift at a local fast food place. It just so happened that she was his waitress that day. He ordered some arroz con pollo with nothing else. Curious, Isabel asked if he was certain that was all he wanted, to which he replied in the positive. A few minutes later, and the two managed to get a tiny moment to chat, before Isabel had to get back to it. She slipped him her number, and he made mental note of it. The two got in touch later on that week, and managed to work out a time for them to have a more proper chat.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, Isabel slowly but surely found herself falling in love, and it really wasn't long until the first date happened. That gave Isabel a lot of hope; that perhaps she is complete now. Of course, her love occasionally blinded her; her boss essentially had to ask the other waiters and waitresses to make sure that Isabel stays away from Hephaestus (his mortal pose anyway), because it was distracting her from work. She didn't lose her job, oh no; rather she spent more time with him outside of work. It took about 10 dates or so, until Isabel and Hephaestus got into a one night stand. Isabel woke up with no memory of it, and Heph... oh, he knew, and he was gone faster than the fire he can spread. That is, he stuck around, as a different mortal, for obvious reasons; Isabel was quite dismayed by everything and thought her "beloved" had done it.

It wasn't too long afterward, that Shay Sofia Torres entered the world, on December 10th, 2001. Something about Shay however... wasn't right. No, really. Shay had an upper limb difference, resulting in a lack of a full right arm. While it'll prove to be a struggle to live with early on in life, later on, Shay'll receive a little something to ease her life; a prosthetic limb. But that wasn't the worst of it really.

True, Shay struggled to do some normal things for a time as she was growing up, but the one thing that came to show when she was about four years old... was xer inability to feel pain. It was a rare occurrence, and it started to build something of a paranoia for Isabel. Isabel slowly began to question if Shay was a normal child at all, but her worries were mostly put to rest at the early stages of Shay's life. Granted, the real happenings were due to come not very long after.

Surviving to that point, was nothing short of a challenge for Shay, as in pre-school, xe used to get lots of weird looks for her rather unusual disability. But xe proved xerself time and again, xe didn't need to be normal to do the things the other kids did. Xe managed on xer own, and that's what mattered really. And the other kids did take note, because they were all wondering how Shay manages to do what they do, without a complete right arm.

Come 10 years of age for Shay and well... a very welcoming birthday gift arrives in the form of a prosthetic limb, which surprisingly fit Shay extremely well. Along with it was a coin strung along something of a necklace, and a note that read nothing more than "Happy birthday, Shay. You'll need every little thing you get, and you'll learn why soon enough.". The note wasn't signed, but it had something of a story behind it; Hephaestus found out about Shay's limb difference a long time after xe was born. He had passed along a commission to his kids; a prosthetic limb as well as a very special, yet perfectly ordinary coin with a certain property that Shay'll discover soon enough.

And it was fortunate timing as well, or unfortunate timing, depending on how one decides to view this. Shay found xerself in the company of a few rather scary creatures; hellhounds no less. Shay was by her lonesome in her school's playground when she was jumped by the hellhounds. It looked like they were about to make short work of xer; Shay had several slashes across xer body and xer clothes were torn. Until a firm grasp of her necklace resulted in one of the three hellhounds getting speared completely through the head. Shay opened xer eyes, to see not a coin, but a Celestial Bronze lance in xer hands. The lance seemed confusing, yet Shay felt like xe knew exactly how to use it. That innate knowledge, which came with being a child of Hephaestus, saw Shay kill the hellhounds... with xer fainting at the end, more so out of complete exhaustion and a huge sense of "what just happened?". Xe was treated in a nearby hospital at the end of the day, and quite frankly, it was a surprise Shay was still alive and kicking.

The monsters won't stop coming for the next 5 years, but Shay got progressively better each and every time. Xe was learning from the encounters, which helped xer get better over time. It was around the age of 13, that Shay learned about the different gender identities and sexual orientations. It took a while for xer to put xer thoughts together, but in the end... Shay accepted that perhaps xe just couldn't identify as a cis female. Xe came out as agender, and asexual, and that was effectively the last drop for Isabel. Isabel, having a sort of fear from her daughter not being normal, basically gave up after that, and functionally disowned Shay, because she couldn't accept an abnormal child. Shay would fall in the hands of xer aunt's, Carolina Torres, care, who seemed far more accepting of Shay's unusual nature.

Some time after xer 15th birthday, and in the wake of xer fifth monster attack, Shay found xerself at Camp Half-Blood, during xer summer break at the time. Xe spent all of xer summer there, getting claimed by xer father, Hephaestus, and making acquaintance of some of the children of Hephaestus. Xe also got acquainted with Bunker 9, a place xe came to love, and it was a shame when Shay had to go back to the regular life, because Camp seemed fun. Give or take a few months later, and Shay was back at Camp, but this time, xe was there to stay. And it was good timing; Shay had just turned 16 two days ago, and now, xe's back at Camp, and in good company really.

Weapon(s) (optional): A special coin which is suspended from a necklace she wears; it transforms into a custom-made CB lance.

 I knew it when I met him, I loved him when I left him ~Sophie