Stubborn Child[Cole][OPEN]

[Rhiannon Warlow]

And away we go-----------------------

Rhiannon woke in the same strange cabin she had fallen asleep in, other young people and perhaps a few that were not so young still lay in their beds snoring. The sun had not even risen yet but here she was awake again. Rhiannon was not sure how this camp worked yet, but she was more than willing to test it out. The sun had begun to creep up as she finished stretching her muscles for the day ahead. Her hair didn’t even have time to settle before she was out the door.

A light work out on the way to the mess hall to wake her body up and get the blood moving. Lunges and leap frogs probably made her look a little special, but go ahead and try to do the same. See how much it hurts. Rhiannon stopped shortly before the hall and finished up with some stretches. Oddly enough there were other people awake, Rhiannon almost never saw early risers. She was rather pleased to know she was not the only early bird in the world.

The spread was nice and Rhiannon picked out a balanced breakfast with protein, grain, and fruit. As she was on her way to a table someone told her to not forget to throw something in the fire. Rhiannon looked at the hearth and back at the camper who had gone back to eating. After scrunching her face she threw in some of her meat, she had gotten extra anyway. The fire did something odd momentarily, stunning Rhiannon. She looked around and seeing no one else care decided to move about her day. After a few backward glances at the fire.

It was a well-designed camp and easy to navigate to the place she wanted to go. A marvelous arena with weapons scattered in an in a less than orderly fashion. It would be interesting to see if she could drop a sword to pick up one in a moment’s notice. A smile spread across her face as she found a weapon similar looking to the javelin type weapon that had been light on fire by some strange male she met last night. Presumably the combat instructor. She looked it over and rattled off some information about it under her breath, making particular note of any differences from a javelin.

------------------------Is this the end?

[Cole Ryans]

Cole was always woken up with the sun. That’s how he worked. Sometimes he was up even before the few rays first fell upon the camp. It was always nice to have peace and quiet. He made up some coffee as he did a quick workout. He had to be in top shape to do what he had to do. After he finished up and then had a quick pick up of his messy clothes. The cabin like room looked much better. Since he didn’t have a roommate he had to make due by himself just till they assigned him one. But it was pretty nice to be back here at camp and trying to fight the good fight. After meeting Emma, a true cousin, daughter or Rhea, Cole felt better about being a demi-titan. It gave him more resolve and a better outlook on the idea. Even after his rocky start with Heaven, things started looking better. He liked that.

Cole took his breakfast in the mess hall, as he did with other meals. He tossed the most choice bits of food into the flame in a small thanks to the gods, to his father. Cole finally understood his heritage and why he was brought here, what he was doing now. He wolfed down his breakfast before heading to the Arena. He remembered the arena well from where he had come from. It was one of his favorite things that he had gone to with his mom and grandparents. There was a lot of glory in the arena despite the fact that back in the ancient times, most gladiators were slaves or prisoners. He moved on to take inventory and look over who was going to be doing classes today and tomorrow and what they would be working on. After taking inventory, he walked into a locker room as he went on his usual way. He headed into the office before stripping off his shirt and pulling on a tank top to go under his chainmail. Then he pulled up the plated mail and bronze armor that he had been given at such a young age, he pulled the strings of his armour. It was enchanted and grew with him, he had never needed another set. His sword went into his sheath beside him and his shield went on his back as he relaced his combat boots. He picked up his spear and locked the office door.

Cole was a bit taken aback when he stepped into the arena as spotted someone checking out the weapons he had tossed out for people to use. Today they would be doing a bullpen style exercise to promote versatility amongst the weapons. It looked like the new girl, the daughter of Ares that he had goaded into fighting last night. She had skill and was rather talented. “You there, Ares child. Have you been fitted for a weapon and armor?” He called out as he pulled out his sword and made a few practice stroked against one of the straw dummies.

[Rhiannon Warlow]

Holding the pilium so it was well balanced in her hand, Rhiannon threw it at center mass on a dummy piercing it through the shoulder. “Hmmm, a little off.” she said looking at her arm before going to pull the long javelin like weapon from the dummy. Again she checked the weapon making not of subtle weight differences before throwing it again, this time through the middle of the chest. A smile came across her face as she decided on moving to more weapons.

Rhiannon turned to the direction of the sound, a voice that brought slight annoyance with it. It was morning and she could see him well enough, and he had a nice set of armor on but Rhiannon could not place him. She felt she could remember him, but it was on the tip of her brain not quite wanting to complete the thought. The actual sentence he spoke came in parts and pieces, weapons? Armor? Fitting? The sentence compiled after a few moments and Rhiannon could remember who he was. The man who had called her an Ares child before in the circle of cabins. That annoying man who fought her with a pilium light on fire. She remembered vaguely talking to someone last night about armor fittings, Eli if she remembered correctly. She doubted it, names were not a strong suite.


“Morning Pyromage, I was planning on doing that today. I didn't know we actually got armor and weapons for our own.” Rhiannon looked at the weapons again thinking about what she would prefer to have as her own. She was never one for thrown weapons, and she was fond of slashing weapons with a decent reach on them. Naginata was probably her favorite, but she was not sure they would have it here. Then there was armor, but Rhiannon was already annoyed with the thinking and wanted to move on to actually using weapons. They all had merits after all.

[Cole Ryans]

Cole frowned at the state of familiarity that the girl used. If he had used that while in the legion he would have gotten flogged. He had better go ahead and lay down the ground rules. He hung the roster on the wall right beside the sign in sheet for use of the arena. Cole walked up to her and gave her a look over. "While in the arena, you will call me Sir or Mr. Ryans. Out of the arena you may call me Cole. Since you are new I will go ahead and give you the rules of my arena." Cole sheathed his sword.

"First rule, you will learn discipline and respect. If you do not arrive on time you will be made to do ten laps and fifty pushups. Any other insurections will be dealt with by KP or Shower cleaning. I am not a demi-god and I am not your equal, I am your superior. " Cole crossed his arms as he surveyed her. "Secondly, you will be earning every broken bone, scrape, cut and bruise. If I hear whining you will be given a duty more suited to lack of combat abilities." His smoldering look was needed to instill fear. "Lastly, if you want to use the arena on your own free time you are welcome to. You will sign the wavier and post it on this board here. Even during class you will bring your own weapons and armor. If not you will not participate and will be punished by mucking out the stables and other manual labor."

Cole pushed many of the weapons back into place. "But since you haven't been fited yet, we will see what we can do." Cole walked into the office before returning out with a trunk. Anyone else wouldn't have been able to pick it up, but it was easy for him without a sweat. HE tossed it into the arena and dust and sand scattered. He kicked the locker open and various pieces of armor spilled out as well as many different weapons. "Till you are found a weapon, here is your short sword." He tossed it to her. Cole came up with a few things that looked like they would fit her. "Here, basic leather armor. Don't mind the blood stains. You can use this till you get fitted. Lucky for you Aries has first block this morning. They will be here in about a hour. We will get you aquainted with my arena." Cole started to circle Rhiannon like a hawk. The armour was a bit big, but it was the smallest thing that he had.

[Rhiannon Warlow]

And away we go-----------------------

Rhiannon almost couldn't believe her ears, this guy was lecturing her about discipline and respect. She was not sure how many of these lecture she has had before, but she knew they never did as they wished. Normally it had the opposite effect, but she was always willing to give people another chance. She'd have to count this entire speech as one, because him calling himself her superior really rubbed her the wrong way. Rhiannon had to try her best to not crossing her arms, a habit she had been trying to break for a long time. A straight face, arms at her side in what she hoped was a relaxed looking pose. She was probably standing at attention again, it was the best way for her to pay attention to someone without being angry and interrupting or crossing her arms in what many people see as being a defiant way.

After listening to Mr. Cole Rhiannon felt she may have taken his first use of the term 'superior' incorrectly. He simply meant he ranked higher than her in the camp, and especially in this place. Rhiannon accepted it and the angry defiant look that had been in her eye left. Making sure to take note of these new rules Rhiannon went back over the conversation in her head, now with her new found clarity instead of her anger. It was much more like a commander making sure his troops are well trained for a war. The training would also be good for any person in the world, and Rhiannon wished people would all join the military just so they could taste discipline and hard work at least once in their lives.

Mr. Cole left for the building she had seen him come out of earlier and waited in place until he came out. The large box was the first thing she saw, it was obviously a trunk made for storing something but she didn't know what. It had to be something light for him to be carrying it, the trunk was already large and awkward to hold. It was thrown into the arena and for the first time since his instruction began Rhiannon moved, covering her eyes with her arm as a large amount of dust was kicked up. When she turned back Mr. Cole had opened the top allowing Rhiannon to see all the weapons and armor it held.

She couldn't believe her eyes, it was full of heavy metal and leather. There was no way someone could pick this up by themselves, let alone throw it with the ease Mr. Cole had. Rhiannon looked questionably at the box then at her instructor and at the box again. He was talking as though nothing had happened. She barely caught the short sword, and that was on instinct instead of actually knowing what was going on. The armor came next and as Rhiannon held them she weighed them a little trying to figure out just how much that trunk must have weighted. It was simply not possible.

“Sir? How did you lift all this?” she was obviously more than a little bewildered, paying little attention to the fact she would have to be in a type of P.E class soon with multiple people.

------------------------Is this the end?

[Cole Ryans]

Cole couldn't help but laugh at Rhiannon's bewilderment. It was always a welcome sight when a child of Aries was confused at something. But this was an honest and innocent bewilderment, not from where the children of Aries were being their usual thick headed selves. "Actually when I said I wasn't a demi-god, I wasn't lying. I'm Cole Ryans, Son of Hyperion, titan of the east, sun and fire. Nephew of the dawn and night and time. Grandson to the mighty Lord Ares, patroned by the lord of war himself." It wasn't greek to do something like that, but old habits were hard to break. This one was roman. Anyone with half a few braincells that studied history knew that. "my power and strength surpass even the most seasoned child of my grandfather. I am a son of a titan. The ones that are left are the ones that have survived. that haven't been killed off by the other gods. when you've been trained to carry the amount of gear that I've had, you get strong fast."

Cole picked up the rest of the armor and hefted it back into the trunk. It was an old military footlocker. "I'm sorry but I have to be the hard ass around here. Don't take it personally." Cole easily picked up the gear and placed it off to the side in the bleachers. "I also referee the arena matchup we have every few months or so. Once you get trained up a bit, I'm sure you will do fine. if you feel like participating."

He vaulted over the bleachers and landed on his feet. "I think you'll be pretty intense. once you've trained up a bit." Cole pulled a target dummy up right and set it solidly on one of the stands. "Lets see what you got. Just go at it." He wanted to see what she could do on instinct. That was always good to see how someone reacted on instinct. It really helped him weed out the weaklings and atune his training to the abilities of the others. "I'm going to assume you know the basics with a sword stroke. Would you like a shield?" Cole asked as he turned to face a dummy that was beside hers.

"Take up a basic stance. This one is refered to as battle stance. Bend your knees and keep your feet shoulder width apart. Sword arm out with your shield in the back. keep on the balls of your feet." He demonstrated so she could mimic. He did a few diagonal slashes so she could get the general idea of the stance. "this is a balanced stance for both offense and defense." he did a few moves for her to try out. "it should be easy for you."

[Rhiannon Warlow]

And away we go-----------------------

Mr. Cole's entire introduction went completely over Rhiannon's head. There were a few names she recognized, but the whole family tree of the Greek gods always confused and disturbed her. If memory served her the Titans where the parents of the gods, she thought they were also called the elder gods. She could have been mistaken. Hyperion was just a cool name and that was why she remembered it, but if Ares was his grandfather then it couldn't work that way. Rhiannon decided to give up on thinking about it, it's question time.

“How is Ares your grandfather if Hyperion is your father?” she asked deciding to shrug off his comment about being a hard ass. He obviously did not know some principals, and as opposed to their name they are not pals at all. Rhiannon listened as Mr. Cole spoke, it only took a few words for the revelation to kick in. More inbreeding. Again Rhiannon was slightly disturbed. His father was also either a great grand father, or great grand uncle. The thought was shoved backwards, there was no such thing as these Greek gods anyway. Science had rules and reasons, though she never paid much attention to them. Perhaps she should have, it would make a better argument than 'I don't believe you'.

Mr. Cole vaulted over the bleachers and Rhiannon's jaw dropped. She couldn't help it, things like that just didn't happen. Suddenly it was go time, and Rhiannon had to do her best to ignore a nagging feeling at the base of her neck. Rhiannon copied her instructor as well as she could, adjusting of the difference in center of gravity. It was obvious that one needed to keep their knees bent, but staying on the balls of your feet was new. Rhiannon had never paid attention to fighting, but she had thought keeping your feet firmly planted was better. After a few strikes she could see why he was right. Apparently he was a competent combat instructor. The shield was strapped to her arm, she had never used one but it couldn't hurt. She studied it for a moment, the random statistics flowing into her head. As with any weapon she ever held she knew exactly how to utilize it.

Slowly in the back of her mind the thought began to creep up her spine chilling her brain from the stem up, and it had finally reached fruition. If these gods were real then they had real power. If they were real then demigods were running around whether they were good or bad. Rhiannon thought back to the stories about demigods, thought about what she has seen and heard here. It was only a moment of thought but it was enough. Her face grew cold and hard. Her mouth now closed stayed in a neutral position, neither smiling nor frowning. “Gods are real. Demigods are real. This is....” Rhiannon wrinkled her brows trying to think of how to describe it. “There are people hunting demigods. I suppose they are scared.” She did not sway, and only looked him in the eyes. “How do the majority of demigods use their powers?” She clenched her teeth. It was a silly question to ask who was the bad guy, because everyone does what they think it best. Rhiannon knew her moral code, and knew that in her code people had no right to start a physical confrontation. Finishing was another matter altogether.

------------------------Is this the end?

[Cole Ryans]

Rhiannon was asking a bunch of questions as he started to show her a few basic things so she would at least stand a chance in the bull pen today. A bunch of demi-gods always had questions when they were first new. He didn’t really since he had grown up where the gods were very much part of their existence. He remembered paying his first tribute at the age of four to his grandfather during the feast of fortuna. “my mother is a daughter of Ares. But not only is he my grandfather, my whole family has been interbred with him every three generations. But the godly side has nothing to do with your actual genetics. As long as you’re not trying to date or do anything with people of the same cabin, like if you were to fall in love with a boy from hepheastus or a girl from Aphrodite, that would be completely fine. But another from an ares cabin? Off limits.” Cole showed her another three moves, strike, strike, parry.

It seemed like Rhiannon had a sudden realization about the gods and demi-gods. It was sometimes hard for others to accept. Cole had a varying opinion about the gods, some days he hated them, others he loved them. “bend your elbow here, don’t lock it. Your shield arm must be strong. Always strong. It will take most of the brunt of the blows.” He tried to consider her question about how others used their powers. It was somewhat hard to answer that since every demi-god was different. “It depends. Because of my background, I’m more suited for combat. I use my abilities and training to teach the other demi-gods how to be better at fighting and how to defend themselves. The children of Athena are smart, they use their battle wisdom to quickly come up with ways of defeating monsters. The Hephaestus children make armor and weapons as they mainly have inherited the skill of the smiths. The Demeter and Dionysus children provide the camp with the strawberries that fund the camp. They also help with food and drinks. Like I said It just depends on what your abilities are to what sort of jobs you will be assigned to.”

Cole stabbed at the dummy, spilling some straw every where. “You’re a daughter of Ares, so you might be assigned under Levi for guard duty. He’s a son of Zeus. Or you might be assigned to me under arena duties.” He shrugged as he cleaned up the straw and brought out another dummy and set it in place. He gave it a good shake to make sure that it was steady. “The DCA is terrible. Its lucky you were able to get here before they caught up with you. The torture is terrible and eventually they kill you.” It was a hard truth and probably not appropriate talk for a girl of her young age. But it was a hard truth that people like him had to learn to live with. “Here you will learn the skills you need to survive. To keep you alive whether its against DCA or monsters.”

[Rhiannon Warlow]

And away we go-----------------------

Blood rushed to Rhiannon's face as she direly tried to avoid the new bright color that came to her cheeks. These kinds of things she had simply not thought of, dating or falling in love with someone was still far away to her. Crushes came and went, she'd rather not have a fling like that. At least she didn't think so. Rhiannon attempted to push the thoughts from her mind with the drills, the sword and shield were here dates right now, and she'd better pay attention to them. As his tutoring went on Rhiannon began striking and parrying by instinct. Taking everything to heart and implementing it as best she could, slowly improving from the oaf she had started out as. As she learned she began to see her past mistakes, and what she could have done better. Mostly in the tiff she had with this very instructor.

Rhiannon was glad to hear people actually got tasks catered to them, and how they work best. I seemed like the higher ups cared some about the campers. Not wanting to get her hopes up she reminded herself of all the other places she and her friends had been that seemed nice on the outside. Still if she could find a small place here to call her own it would be nice. Guard duty could be both boring and exciting, while arena work might let her actually help more. She allowed herself the small hope of being able to try out both.

One could almost hear the happy little bubble burst. This organization out for demigod blood, this DCA, was not just killing them for fear but also torturing them? Children? Rhiannon was only 13, but she had seen enough news to see what crazy people can do, but the thought of a sane individual who knew what they were doing was more than a reality call. Though she did not want to die, Rhiannon was never afraid of death. She was rightly afraid of torture though. If she trained well enough could she stop that from happening to her? More importantly could she keep others safe from it as well. From what Mr. Cole spoke of, not all demigods are made for fighting.

“Sir, what about the families of the campers here? I'm guessing this DCA doesn't know where this camp is, so wouldn't they try to get it from the parents?” Strike, strike, parry. Rhiannon had to make it muscle memory, had to focus on something so that her mind wouldn't wander to what she was really asking. Right now she could not have a rational conversation if she were to start thinking about it, about her mother and father.

------------------------Is this the end?

[Cole Ryans]

"Actually, the mortal parents don't know where this camp is. Some of the DCA are demi-gods and know where the camp is, but because of the magical barrier put in place by the gods, they can't get in without express permission from a camper or the gods. And even if the gods are a huge pain in the ass, they wouldn't just let people in to slaughter their children" Cole walked around Rhiannon and changed up her stance. Shield out front with the short sword behind. "Defensive stance, It allows for more stalwart defensive moves and for some reason it makes you seem more like a threat. try this." Cole then demonstrated a shield bash, shield wall and using the edge of the shield as a weapon.

"Many of the families here are because they had been found out by the DCA. There are toddlers and adults and just about anyone you can think of here. Being on the balls of your feet will allow for more movement and versatility in switching stances." Cole instructed as he showed her the proper way. "I've been around the gods my whole life. It amazes me on how much in denial people can be about them" Cole slammed his shield into one of the straw dummies, knocking it back about a foot. he then demonstrated another move of a shield bash being followed up by a stab. "Now try this set. you roll forward, use your shoulder to aim at the dummy, come up shield over head and slash at the legs." Cole backed up a few feet before demonstrating.

"if you want or need extra help, I'm generally here in the arena from dawn till dusk most days. I take a hour for lunch at midday." Cole adjusted a strap on his armour before continuing. "Next week we will be doing hand do hand combat, wresteling, that sort of thing so make sure you read up on the rules in the library." He said as he continued to drill her in the defensive stance.

[Rhiannon Warlow]

And away we go-----------------------

So the DCA already knew about the camp, they knew where it was and since they had been demigods they probably knew all the best hiding spots. It meant they would never go after her parents for the reason of finding her. Rhiannon's tension eased and she hit with more force than she meant to, the slice she made with her shield slightly lodged it into the dummy. It was not one who's edges were sharpened. Rhiannon got annoyed at herself, she knew she had to hold back her strength otherwise it would end badly. The realization dawned on her that now she was not the only one. Mr. Cole seemed to use his strength well without breaking anything, but not simply hold back all the time. Yanking the shield out of the dummy she continued her exercises.

Another time, when a class wasn't soon to start, she'd have to ask if he could help her. All Rhiannon knew how to do was turn it on, or completely remove it from the equation. She wanted to learn to control it. “You've always been with knowledge of the gods? Well, I guess it's the same with a lot of things. Like I knew some people who had never been taught to treat people with respect, unfortunately learning later in life is difficult for them. Especially when their supposed to be full grown adults.” Rhiannon thrust her sword in a little too much. “Ugh not again.”

The move felt a bit awkward. It was easy enough to roll then aim with her shoulder, but smashing her shield in it's face while slashing at the so called legs was a bit....weird. She tried again, and did a little better. It still felt weird but she could see how it would be useful. She was getting ready to try again when Mr. Cole mentioned rules. She groaned, immediately wishing he hadn’t. Attempting to cough to cover it up Rhiannon thought about where to place a library visit. She'd rather spend her spare time here, or in the armory learning more about the weapons. She had to remind herself this was not only a weapons camp and there had to be other things to do, though she was having trouble seeing it.

“When does class start? And what other classes are there? Was there anything else I should read up on in the library? Is there a camp schedule somewhere?” Questions, always with the questions. Rhiannon was bound to think of more later, and she knew where an Instructor would be most of the daylight hours. Poor Cole.

------------------------Is this the end?