Practicing the Stress Away (Dante)

Elyza had just thrown her sweatshirt somewhere around her because she was sweating ti death. Using the sword she had gotten from her dad about 3 years ago to kill a dummy. She wearing her hair up in a messy bun with pieces of her blonde hair hanging loosely in her bright blue eyes. Her clothes were just running shorts, a workout tank top and some blue Nike's. Yes it might be cold, to her it was okay. Even back in Brisbane when winter came and a chill hung in the air and was either jeans and a t-shirt or her running clothes. She really didn't care. Elyza stopped after a while to breath. She took and few steps back from the dummy and looked at herself. Sweat was everywhere, but she was still tan and ripped. She loved when she went to the beach and guys would try to impress her, but then she just did what they did about ten times better. She laughed remembering home. She never said anything. Maybe a grunt here and there while practicing, a laugh while thinking, but Elyza didn't talk very much. she zoned out most of the time and forgot people were even there.

Since she moved nothing was the same. Her dad forgot about her, stayed at work forever so Elyza left. Left a not packed up took some cash and got on a plane here. She loved it. Time to practice, her dad wasn't here to forget her and she didn't have to talk. She kept her distance from people so she wouldn't have to talk. Maybe she would cling on to a few people, but never to close because she knew they could hurt you. Get to close and they stab you in the back. Elyza went back to practicing. Focusing on the dummy and nothing else. Elyza thought she was pretty good herself, but she wasn't about to ask anyone to watch. This was one thing she had been good at. Her dad tried to get her into dance when she was little, but no one want's to know how that turned out. Doing this Elyza felt free, graceful, light and flowyish. Anything else besides running and she sucked at it. Elyza loved her new life even if it was imperfect, but it was her's.

Ever since meeting with Centurion Linslee in the Arena, Dante had gotten better about going to train.  He tried to get over to the Arena at least once a day for at least an hour to work on his fighting skills.  It wasn't easy...the boy wasn't exactly the fighting type, but he knew it was one of those necessary things.  And Janus had provided him a weapon, which was probably a sign of some sort.  When he had left Camp Jupiter 2.0, the tall boy had brought along a dagger from the armory.  It worked well enough for the dangers in the mortal world, but it never felt totally right.  There was something off about the grip or the handle or the length...Dante wasn't experienced enough with weapons to know for sure.  But the dagger that had appeared in the form of a magic ring over night, that Dante had named Viottolo, was obviously made for Dante and him alone.  Training got a lot easier once he started using Viottolo, and he felt safer with the ring on his finger all the time.  He didn't have to worry about strapping on his dagger every time he went out (though it was much safer at camp) or fumbling for it if the need arose.  The boy wore the ring at all times...at first he had been a little hesitant, since he feared the ring could turn around easily without him doing so.  But the boy had quickly learned that if he wanted to keep the etched key hidden against his palm, it would stay there.  The image wouldn't turn like it would on a normal ring...it didn't get twisted or move at all, really.  But as soon as Dante turned it himself, so the key was visible, his dagger was in his hand.

So now he was starting to train regularly.  He hadn't bothered much his first time at camp, mainly because he hadn't been healthy enough to think about such things.  His time back in the mortal world had proved rather dangerous without that.  It hadn't taken very long for Dante to realize that it was kill or be killed in the mortal world...monsters at every twist and turn.  It was one of those things where Dante had to learn really quickly.  And he had managed well enough...at least, well enough to get back to Camp Jupiter 2.0 in one piece.  As the tall boy pulled a hoodie over his head, getting ready to leave the Fourth Cohort barracks, he took a moment to think.  Ever since turning nineteen a few days ago, Dante had been thinking about the future.  Whether he wanted to stay at camp and eventually move to New Rome or go back to the mortal world eventually...probably back to Firenze.  Even though the boy knew it shouldn't be a worry at the moment, it was.  Dante was sort of terrified of being an "adult", even though he figured he had technically hit that the year before when he turned eighteen.  And he had already lived on his own and worked to make a living...life was different for the boy than most people.  And in more than the demigod sense...the son of Janus was just different.

As he headed towards the Arena, Dante shivered slightly.  Having grown up in California and lived awhile in Firenze, the boy still wasn't too used to the cold of upstate New York.  But he had learned pretty quickly that intense training meant intense heat and sweating.  Although he got a little chilly on the walk there, he was typically okay in a t-shirt shortly after starting.  So it was easier to wear a hoodie...less to lug around afterwards.  After a long training session, the less Dante had to bring back to the barrack, the better.  Though sometimes, depending on what time of the day it was, he'd wear the hoodie back.  The boy was still relatively shy about things in general, let alone his body, and he didn't like the idea of walking into a full barrack wearing a sweaty t-shirt.  Especially as he was getting to know people in his barrack.  Like his sister, Ronnie.  The two children of Janus in the same Cohort, completely by accident.  It seemed rather odd, though who was Dante to argue with fate or the will of the Gods?  Centurion Linslee was nice too, though the tall boy was still a little intimidated by her.  He had met that girl, Janelle, who was related to Griffin somehow, though Dante hadn't seen her in awhile.  There were a few familiar faces from his first time at camp, and a few unfamiliar...and of course, more coming in.

Reaching the Arena, Dante was a little upset to see someone had beat him there.  The tall boy didn't especially like training around other people...he was still rather self-conscious about it all.  It was okay with Centurion Linslee, since she was teaching him, but Dante wasn't crazy about anyone else seeing.  Most of the time if he saw someone there already, he'd turn around and plan to come back later.  But it had been a few days since he had been to the Arena, and the boy figured he shouldn't fall off the horse too bad.  He'd just go around to the far side or something.  But as he got closer, the son of Janus was slightly surprised to recognize the girl.  She was young...no more than fourteen or fifteen, and had recently gotten to camp.  Dante knew all this because she had shown up in the Fourth Cohort barrack a few days ago, looking a little lost.  If he didn't spend so much of his own time feeling lost, the boy might have gone up to her.  He never really knew how to deal with age gaps like that, anyway.  The girl was working with a sword, and for a moment, Dante just watched.  Maybe the girl could use someone, though.  Why sit back and let someone continue to feel lost, even if they hid it well.  "It's easy to be afraid of the Arena when you first get here," he called, running his thumb along the bottom of the ring just to feel the raised key design.  "But it's good to get out anyway.  The Fourth can get stifling at times."

"It's easy to be afraid of the Arena when you first get here." Elyza looked towards the voice. She thought this time she would be here alone, but there standing near the entrance was a boy, 19 and his name was Dante. Then he said something else, "But it's good to get out anyway. The Fourth can get stifling at times." She nodded faintly. Elyza saw him in the Fourth, two bunks away from her anyways. Elyza put her sword back into the sheath at her hip and picked up her sweatshirt. "Am I supposed to be cold?" She said guesturing to her clothes and then to his. She looked at the boy and made an small attempt at a smile. It was probably more like a grimace. Elyza hadn't smiled for real since before she left Brisbane She then started walking towards the exit. "I'm just going to go looks like you don't really want me here either."

Elyza just wanted to go around him and just leave. The less talking on her part the better. Maybe she would get to know him later, make at least one 'friend' here. She had just walked across the arena and had gotten to where he was standing. "I'm Elyza by the way." She said before she put her sweatshirt on on flipped the hood up to hide her face.

((I sort of just copied the beginning before you deleted it and then just shortened it. Lol have fun ))

Suddenly, Dante was feeling a bit self aware.  Well...overly self aware.  Despite speaking to the young girl, the boy was feeling he should have just moved on.  Turned and walked away the moment he saw the Arena was "occupied" (even though the girl was the only one there, that just made one more than the boy wanted around when he was going to train).  Lots of the time, Dante didn't feel much like a Roman.  He wasn't spectacular with orderly things, and training wasn't his favorite thing.  If it wasn't for the fact that his father was a Roman specific God, the tall boy would think there had been some mistake and he was actually a Greek.  But Lupa didn't come to Greeks and bring them to Camp Jupiter (even if it was Camp Jupiter 2.0).  Greeks got to their camp in different ways.  Fauns (or satyrs, rather) and that sort of thing.  The way Dante understood it, anyway.  Of course, the thought process would work much better if Janus was a God shared with the Greeks.  He wasn't, though, which meant Dante was a Roman through and through.  At least he had a decent grasp on Latin thanks to his fluency in Italian.  The languages were pretty similar, so the boy was able to understand a fair amount of Latin.  He had attempted looking at Greek, both modern and ancient, and it made him dizzy.  Perhaps it was all a part of being a son of Janus...perhaps Dante was just as much between worlds as his father was.

Raising an eyebrow at the girl as she spoke, Dante wasn't sure he was in the mood for riddles.  "Well it is quite cold out," he said flatly.  It was rare for the boy to have attitude like this, and he had initiated the conversation to begin with.  But the girl seemed to have some attitude as well.  "But I made no comment about the weather.  So I'm not sure why it came up," it wasn't like Dante was dressed for the cold either, in jeans and a hoodie.  Here he had been, all set to try and connect with someone (in his cohort, though definitely with a wide age gap) and he was already feeling a strain with it.  Maybe it was the age gap.  Freshly nineteen, the boy figured he was now running as one of the older campers.  This girl was too young compared to him.  Perhaps it was best to leave this one behind.  But it would be rude to leave now.  Maybe the boy could find some way to excuse himself.  Say he forgot something and not return.  Dante could feel the raised key on his ring against the inside of his hand.  It steeled his nerves.  Janus had taken the time to gift his son a magic weapon, and the boy had to learn to use it properly.  Twisting the ring around, Dante felt the perfect dagger appear in his hand.

"The arena is a shared place," Dante said, raising his eyebrow.  "If you want to leave, so be it.  But it's not like I can force you either way," definitely someone very new to camp.  Dante could barely remember what camp was like the first time he was there.  He was still in a mental breakdown induced haze.  Sure, the boy got flashbacks and memories this time around, but most weren't too pleasant and he didn't like to think about them.  The arena wasn't a spot where the flashbacks visited...Dante had mostly avoided it before.  It was places like the woods and the sound and the lake that were the most intense.  Spots he had frequented last time, places where there was still memory residue (as the son of Janus liked to call it).  And since none of those places were easily avoided, the boy dealt with a fair amount of it.  But that was his father's realm, so the boy wasn't sure why he would expect otherwise.  It was all the sort of thing that came along with being a son of Janus.  It didn't matter if Dante loved it or hated it...that was his life.

As the girl crossed over to where Dante was standing, he kept a neutral face.  Truth be told, the tall boy still wasn't the best with showing emotions.  It had been a while since he actually had to...and his years leading the debate team had taught him how to keep himself and his emotions in check.  When debating, showing emotions led to a pretty certain loss.  It gave the other team something to pick up on, something to exploit.  "Elyza," Dante nodded as the girl introduced herself.  He watched her flip up her hood and gave a half smile.  "Dante," he said simply.  Names were a good place to start, he supposed.  "You can't expect to hide forever here, you know.  Believe me...I've tried," swishing his dagger around a bit, Dante tried to turn his concentration from the girl.  If she didn't want to be bothered, he wouldn't bother her.  Elyza seemed to be about as much a people person as the son of Janus was (which was to say, not at all).  And with her attitude, Dante just sort of felt like why bother?

((So sorry this is late.))

"You can't expect to hide forever here, you know. Believe me...I've tried," He said. Elyza stopped. "I mean if you don't mind. I not a people person anymore." She sighed at the heavy accent still in her voice. She felt like an outsider that no one wanted to know. She walked back over to the dummy she was at before. She took of her sweatshirt and threw it someone behind her. "Dante you could maybe the second person I have talked to since coming here. You should feel amazing." She smiled. Part of her real side was showing then she remembered her dad and where she was and all of that happiness she had felt left her like a deflated balloon. "Sorry if I'm being weird or something, but I try to be normal. You look like what I am going to turn into if I don't fix my attitude and get some friends."

She took out her sword and looked at it. The glow was brilliant in the light. Elyza sighed and started practicing again. As cool as it was here, she wanted to go home. Not home with her dad, but back to Brisbane with her friends. Soon Elyza was sweating. She stopped for a break. Having time to think these past days she had a hard time keeping herself together. She wanted to break down and cry, but that would be stupid of her so she held it. She noticed people talked about her, she knew her accent was different and of what she could gather most people didn't like different. Sometimes she could swear people could tell she was trying to hide on purpose. She sighed again and just stood there thinking.

((Again really sorry this is so late.))