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George Coceancig, a wealthy businessman from Sydney, had a wife and young son, but he wanted more. While away on a business trip in Japan he consorted with a beautiful woman who named herself Clara, and left her in the middle of the night. This woman Clara, was truly the goddess Cybele, and was going to reveal herself to George the next morning but he had gone before she had the chance. Cybele found herself pregnant and tracked down George so she had somewhere to leave the child.
Approximately nine months later, while George was away on another business trip, Cybele dropped off baby Natalie to the doorstep of the family home, a nametag attached. Bec, George’s wife, found Natalie and took her in, appalled that someone would leave a child alone on a stranger doorstep. When George returned, Bec showed him Natalie, and George realised that she must be his. The facial features were uncannily similar. He convinced Bec they should raise the child as their own, as it would be cruel to leave her in a orphanage.
Natalie grew up, believing Bec was her mother, never having reason to believe otherwise. She was a brilliant sister to her younger and older brother, always patient and kind and loving. She loved travelling the world with her father, visiting various mountains and environmental landmarks around the world. Natalie became interested in environmental politics and the preservation of nature, always debating it at school.
She was accepted into an academically selective high school the year George and Bec filed a divorce after Bec caught George cheating. Natalie and her brothers were deeply saddened more than they were angry, and now had to live life between to homes. Natalie’s older brother, Olly, lashed out and punched George, breaking his nose. Natalie then had to work hard to keep Olly and her younger brother, James, in check, as well as keeping her grades high enough to not drop out of school and to be let into the next Model UN program.
At around the age of twelve, a lot began happening in Natalie’s life. She became friends with many people in school, including Milly, a satyr who had been tracking Natalie. She also began developing powers as a child of Cybele, and was attacked by a harpy one day while she was walking home through the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Milly distracted the harpy while Natalie grabbed a spare tree branch and somehow transformed it into a spear, driving it into the harpy’s chest and killing it. After the harpy had dissolved fully into dust, Milly sat Natalie and explained to her what a demigod was and how they are conceived. Natalie was confused at first, thinking her she had two mortal parents, but eventually she realised one of her parents must have cheated, and she presumed it was her father, knowing he had cheated on Bec before.
Milly told Natalie she would be safe at Camp Half Blood, in Long Island. Natalie thought it was a great idea, but when she asked her father for tickets to New York, he refused, glumly admitting he had no money to spend after losing most of it on the divorce details. Bec was the same, although she wondered why Natalie had asked. Natalie told her about Camp Half Blood, and at first Bec dismissed the idea, knowing Natalie to have a wild imagination.
From the harpy attack onwards, Natalie lived two separate lives; one where she was the perfect sister to her brothers, the perfect student and the perfect friend, and one where she spent her spare time learning basic self-defence, training with makeshift weapons and looking around every corner, making sure no monsters were around. Milly began talking to Bec, and managed to persuade her that demigods existed, and that Natalie was one. Natalie and Milly decided not to tell her father about the gods and demigods.
Natalie was attacked twice the following year, once by a pack of stymphallian birds, then by a hellhound. She was able to fight them off quite easily with Milly’s help, and Bec saved up enough money for two tickets to get them to New York. But before they could go, Natalie was chosen as a representative for the 2013 Model UN.
On the night of her fifteenth birthday, Cybele appeared in Natalie's dream, revealing that she was Natalie's mother, and warning her of danger at th Model UN. She also told Natalie to take her gifts with her. When Natalie awoke, a twig bracelet and a three daggers lay on her bedside table. Two of the daggers slid into the sides of Natalie's boots, one split into three at the push of a button, and when she touched the bracelet, it transformed into a 6 foot spiked quaterstaff.
In 2013 Columbia University decided to host a large Model UN event, even getting the UN to agree to have tours and meetings that the students could attend. Schools would come from all over the world. Along with the usual Model UN stuff that would be going on at Columbia, the UN would have students able to have tours of the UN building, sit in on certain functions, as well as have interviews with members of the UN. In July, students and teachers from all across the globe converged on New York City.
The first day was full of meeting new people, grouping off into who would represent which countries in the Model UN, and all sorts of various activities. By the end of the second day, many had made new friends and things were going along swimmingly. As evening wore on, danger loomed on the horizon, a danger they had no idea was coming. Unbeknownst to many, due to the large event, many that had come from other countries were actually demigods. Because of so many, in one place, at one time, unprotected by any magical barrier, the scent was powerful.
A group of huntresses had been tracking a lydian drakon for awhile, not sure what had caught its attention or why. They momentarily lost it's scent coming into New York, and stopped by camp to get more help, a small group of campers dispatched to work with the huntresses. As the lydian drakon neared the campus, it's hard to say what the mortals saw, some say they saw a tornado ripping through the sides of buildings, others said they felt like they were going through a giant earth quake. Regardless, the thirty or so demigods that had unknowingly been brought together, were about to face a fight they'd never forget.
Some in the group had been to camp before, and carried weapons, some still hadn't fully realised they were a demigod, or what it meant to be one. As seconds felt like an eternity, fate would not be so kind to these teenagers, as their scent had not just drawn a lydian drakon, but also the hydra and a few hellhounds. They were soon finding themselves boxed in, and fighting for their very lives. When all hope seemed lost, the huntresses and campers arrived, and being a bit more prepared, and catching the monsters by surprise, they were soon able to turn the tide of the attack. Unfortunately not without the cost of a few lives.
As they all re-grouped and started to care for the wounded among them, the group that had come from camp decided it would be best for them all to get back to camp as soon as possible, where they would be protected by its borders. Some were easily convinced as they'd been to camp before a couple of year's previously for summer's and holidays, other's were a bit more scared, and unsure if they should go, but not wanting to risk being attacked again, they agreed after being assured they could contact their parents safely from camp's borders. They gathered the dead and wounded, and headed to camp.
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Natalie Coceancig
