Archived Roleplay:Main Forum/General/Casey & Allison RP

Continued from Casey Maier

RP:
Casey: The blush that flashed across his face turned his ice-pale complexion a burning scarlet hue. He made it a point not to do so often. "It's uh...unisex," he responded with his eyes seeming to look at something deep beneath the grass.

Allison: Allison nodded. "If you're looking for dirt, by the way, there's plenty around." She decided not to mention that Casey looked like a tomato. "So, am I just going to start all the conversation here?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips. "That seems fair. I like deciding what other people do, or say, for once." Allison wondered, ''Am I awkward? ''She hadn't talked much before, even before Camp.

Casey: Casey's eyebrows rose slightly as he eyed the figure before him. The girl had an air of assertiveness about her, though Casey was not intimidated in the slightest. He simply wasn't used to this 'friendly conversation'. Rarely had he ever approached anyone simply just to talk and never had it been the other way around, unless it was to knock his textbooks out of his hands and call him "Stiff". This however, was a relatively new concept for him. The girl's comment regarding the abundance of dirt only worsened the reddening of his usually pale face. "Sorry, uh...I'm not very good at this," he said biting his lip. "So uh, have you been here long?"

Allison: "Long? Um, I think I've been here for about three weeks. So, no, I guess not. Still, I haven't made any, you know...friends," Allison replied uncomfortably. She hated to remember her former mortal best friend, Destiny. Sure, she'd moved before Allison went to camp, but they still kept in touch using this wonderful tool called the Internet. Now? Apparently electronics attracted monsters. "What about you?" It was the first time that Casey had asked her a question, she realized, or so she remembered. She didn't have the best memory.

Casey: Casey listened intently as he always did, noting not only the words that she said but the expressions she made as she did so. Something caught him...'friends'. Something about the way she said it sounded a bit...reminiscent. He thought back to Lukas, the only true friend he'd ever had. The picture of the Chimera's jaws snapping the satyr's neck ran through his head once more. He blinked and suddenly he was staring into the frightened eyes of his old friend who lay sprawled about in the mud of Half-blood Hill. His vision suddenly returned to the present moment after he tasted the sanguine fluid that was dripping from his lip. He subtly ran his tongue across his lower lip, wiping away the evidence of his habit. Recalling her question he answered in his whisper of a voice. "Few days." He thought for a moment more before continuing, his voice as chilling as the piercing December breeze. "Never had many friends." He thought back to Half-blood Hill once more, replaying the fight over and over as he did every night as he struggled to attain the sleep that he so desired. His thoughts stopped at Petra, the girl who had left him and Lukas for dead. He replaced the image with the memory of his sword piercing her body, the Stygian iron blade bringing about her swift death. "Attachment always weighed me down," he sneered.

Allison: "I'm confused," Allison replied. "Um, just wondering...if it's, you know, weighing you down, it's like they say. Friends aren't supposed to make you feel bad. Ugh, I'm being hypocritical right now." She didn't explain why, and hurried on. She'd noticed that Casey's tone seemed different at those words. "And it sounds like you had experience with that, didn't you." It wasn't a question.

Casey: Casey, realizing what was happening, returned his face to its usual placid expression. He'd already allowed his emotions to seep into his verbal and bodily language. Perhaps he wasn't as stable as he'd thought. Well, shit. He wasn't quite sure whether that was such a bad thing. "You could say that," he responded. He had noticed her explanation, or rather lack therefore, regarding how she was being hypocritical and the immediate follow up question to deter him from pursuing the topic. He'd used the same social tactic more times than he'd care to admit. Nevertheless, he dropped it, deciding to let it be what it was. Instead, he elected to change the topic entirely. It seemed neither would take anything positive from this. "What do you do around here? I mean, for leisure?" He subtly substituted the word 'fun'. It just wasn't appropriate in his case.

Allison: Allison tapped her chin thoughtfully. She'd never put much thought into what she liked to do; she just did it. "Well, for starters, I like visiting Starbucks in town," she replied. "And shopping at the mall. Sometimes visiting the beach. Exploring camp. Talking to the counselors of my cabin. A lot of stuff, really. Maybe even painting my nails - that stuff isn't reserved for Aphrodite's kids, you know. At least, most of that stuff was when I was having a normal life." She didn't know what she liked to do now. "I take it you don't have as many hobbies? Well, not a lot of people do, actually." She liked laughing. She liked gardening. But she doubted anyone would understand that, so she kept quiet.

Casey: As the girl spoke he checked off each option. Starbucks: not really his thing. Shopping: definitely not his thing. The beach: not since the Chimera chose to leave him with a gruesome reminder of what fire does to human flesh. He wasn't entirely comfortable with removing his shirt. Then, he'd have to explain to everyone why his torso looked like a topographical map of Freddy Kruger's face. Furthermore, he wasn't much of a people person so conversing with the counselors wasn't all that appealing either. However, she hadn't mentioned anything of interest to him yet. When he finally responded his voice was brusque. "You haven't answered my question. What do you like to do?" His face remained as stark as ever, though his stormy grey eyes noticeably softened. "I mean passion. Something you do zealously." It was true he hadn't quite asked the question, but it was the underlying question which he had implied.

Allison: She blinked. "Um...." What did she like to do, in that way? "Nothing?" She really didn't mean that, but she just had no way to put it. Going against the stereotype system of godly parents? Not all children of Demeter liked gardening (even though she did). Not all children of Hebe were juvenile and naive. "What about you?" Maybe if she asked him, he would see how hard it was to answer. "You know, zealously." She subconsciously folded her arms, a habit she had taken to doing ever since her Sarcasm Phase.

Casey: He was quiet for a moment. Well, he was always quiet but he paused before answering. He wasn't quite sure whether his abruptness had actually offended her in some way. It wouldn't be a first. He was simply tired of the usual answers people gave him. Yeah, the climbing wall and the beach were fun and all but he didn't want to know what everybody else did. He was interested in what she did. Everybody was unique and he was curious of her intersts. However, he found that putting the sentiment into words was oddly...difficult. With her last statement dripping with sarcasm Casey forced himself to bite his tongue. Reminding himself that not everybody was out to belittle him, he quelled his anger and bit his lip thoughtfully. He pondered over his own question a moment longer before blurting out, "fighting." Realizing how silly that may sound he hastily explained. "I've always had to fight for what's mine," he continued more solemnly. "I went from fighting kids at school to fighting mythological monsters. I guess in the end it's not actually about who or why you're fighting. It's about overcoming an obstacle... I suppose." His eyes drifted to the darkening sky, distant, but no less acute. "Books. They offer much to learn. Faces offer more. With enough practice you can read those like books too." His eyes continued to search the horizon for something that seemingly wasn't there. "You get a sense of perceptiveness when looking at society from outside of the cage."

Allison: The daughter of Demeter frowned. Fighting didn't seem like her type. She only did that when it was needed, and she certainly never fought with kids at school - at least, not physically. Then again, everyone had arguments sometimes. Books? Um...as much as she loved them, there was a wistfulness to them that she hated. What was there was never going to be real, or true. And personally, Allison appreciated her life inside the cage very much. "Cage?" she wondered aloud. It was a very organized cage, to say the least. "Well, I haven't read, you know, nonfiction since a long time. Was that the type you were referring to? Fiction's never going to happen, and I just don't like wishing it was real. Until you read something like Five Kingdoms by Brandon Mull, which I read in fourth grade. You really learn to appreciate your life, then." She never mentioned that she never actually finished the first book.

Casey: Discerning the scowl on her face, Casey decided she didn't truly relate to either of his answers. He hadn't meant to portray himself as a scrapper, so to speak. He was simply well-attuned with the underbelly of society. He was more accustomed to the darker sides of people and as a result fighting had never been a choice. Now he spent his time honing his skills. Unless he somehow established unbreakable ties here, he wasn't planning on sticking around. He'd heard talk of a Broken Covenant- perhaps that was his next destination. He thought on her answer rather scornfully. "No. I hadn't really had a specific genre in mind." Nonfiction wasn't the only way to learn. There was always something left to take away from literature; hell, everything was a test, the lesson was finding the silver lining. His thoughts drifted to the series he was currently indulging, A Song Of Ice And Fire. Set in a fantasy world, he still attained useful information regarding social behavior, battle strategy, and manipulation. He especially respected the latter. "It's funny that you say that," he cocked his head. "I would bet you'd have never guessed where you'd be now, a few years ago. And yet, here you are. A demigod. To find that the world is shrouded by a veil of so-called truth...that mythology has been cast aside as a lie. What is fiction? What is nonfiction? You can't find the right answers until you ask the right questions." By now, his voice had rose not in volume but in intensity, and the speed of his lips paralleled that of his thought process. "If you're not learning anything, then you're not looking close enough. But look too closely and you're constrained by your own periphery." His voice stabbed through the biting wind, cold as a steel blade. "When you think of life as a game it becomes quite simple. You can either submerge yourself totally, become just another piece on the board. Or you can take a step back and become a player. People forget that you play the game and not the other way around."

Allison: Allison had to resist the urge to sigh. She'd always been sort of forthright, never bothering with similes or metaphors. "Sure. Mythology. Lie. Game. Player. I guess I wouldn't have guessed that I'd end up here, now..." Allison paused. "But it's nicer here. Everything's organized, categorized. I just think sometimes categorization is taken to a different level entirely. And don't think I don't understand what you're saying. It's just, I don't think of life as a game. You can't take control. No one can. Everyone's life affects others. You know, something that happened to you might have been an effect of something in Asia." And life is much more serious, Allison thought. "But this topic is deep. Seriously. If you could choose your godly parent, who would it be?" She herself already had an answer in mind.

Casey: Casey's face was motionless as he followed every word. The girl was most definitely more aboveboard than he was. She was more candid than he, expressing her feelings in more of a mundane manner. He on the other hand entertained more arcane thoughts. And why wouldn't he? When you spend your entire life in solitude the only conversations you have take place in your mind with your own sub-conscience. When introspection became a routine thought process, how could he expect others to share his ideals. He'd followed her response to its entirety, however one line stuck, apart from the others. You can't take control. He simply couldn't live with that. Sure he was a realist, but he couldn't leave his life in others' hands. "Yes, of course it's serious. You mistake my sense of a game as something to be played for individual gratification. The metaphor was not meant quite so literally. I merely believe one can take control." For once, he met her eyes, his austere as usual. "I choose this not because I haven't been affected by others...but quite the opposite." He blinked for a moment. "If I had a choice I would choose Hades." He made a gesture that incorporated his entire figure. "This is me. I wouldn't change that. Son of Death. It's only fitting." His lip curled on one side.

Allison: "The real god of death is Thanatos, but yeah, I guess," Allison shrugged. "So you're not, like, wondering about what it's like to die? That would be cool. I mean, not the dying part, but like, the part about finding out. Before camp, I always wondered. And that was fun. Now that I know, I'm kind of disappointed." She deliberately avoided the question she had asked before. It wasn't bad or secretive, but her mother could be listening at any moment, and Allison didn't want to offend her.

Casey: Casey shrugged casually. "I suppose that's true. But remember who the Lord of the Underworld is." Her next comment felt like a slap in the face. His lip trembled as he spoke, his voice so light this time that it could've blown away in the winter breeze. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about it." He thought back to the tour he'd undergone with Cody. "I've been to the Underworld. It feels like home." His stormy eyes grew wistful at the thought. "I suppose I wouldn't mind the return." He smirked at the mention of her disappointment. He for one was quite content with what he'd learned. He remembered his father's words, repeating them aloud as he did so. "Death is a beautiful thing." He knew he was most likely coming off creepy and depressing. However, once you embrace death anything is possible. Had he not done so on Halfblood Hill he never would've defeated the Chimera. "It's what makes life so precious."

Allison: Well, I guess," Allison shrugged at his second-to-last comment. "Until you actually look Thanatos in the face. And, I hope you mean other people's lives? I plan on not visiting the Underworld until I'm at least seventy. And I want to die peacefully, in my sleep or something. Is that a little ambitious for a demigod? Going to the Underworld is pretty hard for children of non-Underworld goddesses." She hated how the Olympians were referred to as GODS, when obviously there were WOMEN (GODDESSES, whatever) there, too! "Actually, I probably don't want to die at all, but seventy is good enough."

OOC: sorry for the wait, I was watching Star Wars.

OOC: It's fine. I was sleeping anyway. LOL

Casey: "Thanatos? Hell I'd almost be glad to meet him. Bet we'd have quite a pleasant conversation." He was actually more serious than joking. With the current topic traveling down a rather somber path he subtly stretched the sleeves of his leather jacket a tad further down his arms. As soon as he took notice of the subconscious movement he also realized why he had done it. Though there was no way his scars could be seen under his jacket and black short sleeve shirt he was somehow troubled by the topic of death. Not out of fear, no. He was afraid of one thing in this world and it wasn't death, that's for sure. He'd been walking that fine line for years, between fighting depression and monsters. The thought of his near-death experience on Half-Blood Hill made his left hand twitch. Suddenly, he felt inclined to do something he never ever felt content with. "Let me ask you something." His eyes grew solemn and distant. He replayed the scenario, recalling each and every minuscule detail, painting the scene in his head with an uncanny precision. "You're on Half-Blood Hill. Salvation awaits just over the summit. But the way is blocked. A Chimera lurks ahead and death is all but certain. One demigod...alone, forsaken. The rain falls in sheets as you fight an uphill battle (pun intended). Your legs threaten to buckle from exhaustion, your body ravaged into a charred black crisp of flesh and blood and burnt cloth. The smell of scorched flesh invades your nostrils, threatening to suffocate you. There's no way you should still be alive. With nothing left to fight for...what's keeping you going? What pushes you forward? Do you give in peacefully, or do you plunge into the heart of destruction?" There was a point to be made here, but first he awaited her reaction. He wondered for a moment if he was coming off as melodramatic. Matter of fact, that just might have been his intention.

Allison: Allison flinched. "What do you mean? There's family. The future. Everything keeps me going. But maybe - well, maybe it's the desire to live. Oh, and by the way, I don't get the pun...." Allison said, trying to lift the mood. "Like, doesn't everyone have this innate desire to survive? And why so specific or dramatic, anyway? You'd make a great storyteller." She was surprised to find that that comment was not at all sarcastic. "Huh. I've never smelled scorched flesh. Ewww." (OOC: I was out of the house and traffic was TERRIBLE, sorry!)

Casey: Casey smiled. It was a small, thin-lipped smile. He often enjoyed making people think. The variety of answers he received was quite interesting. He appreciated an honest answer. "Yes, I suppose those are all viable options," he sighed. "But not for me." He cringed at the thought of him being a storyteller. He never spoke like this about himself. "It's so specific because it only happened a week ago." He suddenly flashed a crooked grin. "And I can tell you it's a repugnant stench." He wrinkled his nose thinking back on the acrid sensation. In the crippled state he was in he had failed to notice the scent until he recalled the experience the next day. The grin vanished and he blinked for a long moment. "I thought I was all but dead. All the shit they say- your life flashing before your eyes- it's true. Then, I realized someone was gonna die on that hill. The Chimera...or me. All along I'd been running from death...all I had to do was embrace it. And then it didn't matter what happened to me. What I'm trying to say is find what motivates you. Hold onto it. Embrace it." He bit his lip nervously. "That's why I embrace death."