Welcome

Cody stood on a pile of rocks as he looked around. This was a good as place as any to have their first meeting. He had sent messages out to those he thought would be useful. Pepper was a given and the Ares boy he had met on this very spot. He had sent out two other messages to a Ares girl that seemed to share a similar view on the world. The last member was Noa, and he had convinced her to come too. His alliance was forming nicely.

He wondered how all the personalities would mesh. He had a feeling their might be a little bit of strife between the group. Gathering together so many people with such similar personalities could be dangerous, but Cody felt he could stamp out any fires between them. He'd have to keep an eye on Pepper most of all. She seemed to not like the idea of expanding their alliance. Cody could not understand why she'd be so against it. It made no sense to him. They were expanding their alliance for a better cause, couldn't she see that? Soon the camp would know the power of the alliance. Soon everything would change. Now all he had to do was wait until the other got here.

This was absolutely ridiculous! For the entire day, the teen had been contemplating the idea of not even showing up to this meeting. But that wouldn’t sit well with Cody and for some stupid reason, she didn’t wish to disappoint the boy. When she had returned to camp, Pepper had been shocked at the news that Cody had been going around trying to expand their alliance. Their alliance! Just thinking about the fact he was doing this without her consent made a scowl form on her lips. There wouldn’t even be such a group if she hadn't set aside her anger that one day in the arena. No, she had never agreed to this and the redhead doubted that she ever would. But she’d sit through the first meeting and see if there would be any point in letting this group form. But she wondered, if she voiced her argument, would the child of Demeter even listen to her?

Storming towards Zeus’ Fist, Pepper had her arms crossed tightly across her chest. Sure as hell, she would make it known that she didn’t like this prospect. No matter if she could actually tolerate the people that Cody had invited. The fact that they were intruding on what they had infuriated her to no end. Although the idea had crossed her mind a couple times, Pepper refused to admit she was acting so immaturely out of sheer jealousy. She was convinced that it would just be a better alliance with just herself and the boy with no one to mess anything up. Plus it had all started without her knowledge when she had been away, so of course she had a right to be mad! No, it wasn’t jealousy at all. Psh. The child of Ares and Cody were just allies after all, why would she be envious?

Catching sight of the brunette up on the rocks, Pepper began ascending towards him, a frown still etched on her face. “Hey,” she greeted roughly before standing next to him. An air of frustration around her was obvious. "I still hate this idea." With that, she said no more and sharply narrowed her hazel eyes. Scanning the area, she silently hoped everyone changed their minds and didn't arrive. Or got eaten by monsters. That would definitely remedy her mood.

Stalking out from the trees towards the rock, Allegra obliterated everything in her path (generally leaves and occasional branches) with her wedges, pretending that she wasn't apprehensive about this little meeting at all. It was nerve-wracking, actually, since she hadn't really gone out of her way to endear herself to people in any way, shape, or form, and subsequently was very out of practice with being amiable towards others. If what he said was right, then there were quite a few of them meeting at the Fist; dangerous. If Allegra added to anybody else was enough indication of how disastrous things could turn out, instead of an alliance, they'd end up blowing the entire east coast up, nevermind just the camp.

Emerging from the trees, the brunette moved towards the rock, tilting her chin up slightly, catching sight of two figures already there. Cody himself, and Pepper, who Allegra knew (they were... sisters) but really didn't know that well. Looked like that was going to change pretty soon. Pausing a good meter away from the pair, she halted, subtly grinding her shoe into the ground before realizing she wasn't wearing a heel. Nevermind; it was a bad habit anyways, seeing as she then had to dislodge thousand-dollar shoes from dirty dirt with a fair bit of effort. Whatever. Things were really, really tense. Good.

"Cody," the brunette nodded at the Child of Demeter, before turning towards the redhead with a cool, "Pepper." Crossing her arms over her chest (no, she was not freezing, her Ares blood was fire) Allegra scanned Pepper's black ensemble habitually, before tapping a finger up and down repeatedly on her arm in another subconscious gesture. No, her pants were not outlandish; they looked perfectly smoking fine on her. Okay.

When Cody had told Noa where to go for the first meeting of his little 'club' she was rather excited. It would be her first time seeing the rest of the group, although she knew Pepper was going to be there. And Cato. Now, obviously Noa had every intention of not showing Cato that he was mostly the reason she had agreed to join. It was after all her brother's club and it was much nicer to let people think that she had joined because she wanted to bond with her brother and she didn't mind Pepper as much either. Sure the Ares girl had quite the reputation, but Noa rarely mingled with people and usually tried to avoid annoying them.

Honestly, Noa had hoped that she would be the first to get there. Even if she and Cody didn't get along so much, he was still her brother and she hoped he'd have her back if anyone decided to go after her. That was unless he decided it was a good idea to go after her instead.She was even starting to doubt coming there. Pepper and Allegra were already there, and even if Allegra was her age, she was so much more adult. And so much prettier. She lightly tugged at her shirt and slowly walked up to them.

Softly clearing her throat she finally managed to look up at all three and face them. Gods what had she gotten herself into. "H-hi Cody.. Pepper, Allegra.." she greeted them and already hate herself for stuttering. She never stuttered and yet the presence of these two girls seemed to do it. Allegra and her seemingly never ending confidence and Pepper who had the ability to out-snap anyone if she wanted to. Alright, Pepper was sort of okay, after all, she had managed not to eat her at Halloween so she even managed to shoot her a tiny smile.

So. Where was Cato?

Cato had hoped to be one of the first to get to the meeting, but the time slipped away from him while he was training. So now he would be lucky if he wasn’t late. Therefore, he was walking quickly, trying to reach Zeus’s quickly. It would look bad on his part if he was late. He didn’t want to look bad in front of his siblings, like that Pepper girl. He didn’t know her well or anything, but she seemed to have a temper.

It was weird that he was even part of some alliance with these people. They were sure to make an impact on this camp. All four of them; Cato, Cody, Allegra and Pepper. See, Cato didn’t actually know that Noa would be there as well. Nobody told him. Cody had just told him to meet out here at this time and he wasn’t one to ask questions. When he finally arrive at Zeus’s fist (seconds from being late), it seemed as though he was the last one to arrive and.... wait, why was Noa here?

Did Noa say her brother was like ‘not nice to her’ or something? Whatever, it didn’t really matter. He was just happy to have her here, even if he would never admit it. That would make him look like a idiot, the last thing he wanted to do with this group. Of course, he went over and stood beside Noa, since she was the only one he talked to on a regular basis. “Hey.” He directed this mostly at Cody and Noa, giving the other two a nod. He didn’t really know them or anything. He had shared a cabin with them for a month, but hadn’t made an effort to talk to them. Maybe it was because he was too busy scoping out the girls around this place...

Cody was slightly surprised that Pepper had been the first to arrive. She wasn't exactly the most punctual person in the world from his experiences with her. He was not complaining though. He knew how much she hated this and he wanted reassure that it was a good thing.

"I know," he began to reach out to her arm, but quickly withdrew it as he heard someone coming. He could not show favoritism in front of the others. He gave Pepper one meaningful look, hopefully catching her eyes. With that taken care of for the moment he refocused on the situation. "Hello Allegra.," he said in what passed as a friendly tone for him. No swords drawn yet between the two Ares girls. That was good. Cody wasn't positive about Allegra's temperament, but if it was anything like Pepper's, he'd have to keep a eye out for conflict.

Cody tilted his head. "Hello dear sister," once again with the same processed friendly tone. He looked his sister up and down. What was she wearing? If he cared more, he'd tell her to cover up her legs more. He noted that Pepper also had rather short shorts on, but for some reason he did not object.

Then the last member arrived. Outside of Pepper of course, Cato was the only one Cody knew for sure would be useful. He had called on Allegra through the grape vine of things he had heard about her, and Noa was an experiment. From their brief meeting, Cody could tell that at least Cato was a good choice.

He however noted how he stood next to Noa. He of course gathered that Noa liked him, but for some reason it had never crossed his mind that he might like her. Hmm, he'd have to keep an eye on that too. Romance within the alliance would be just as detrimental to the alliance as a fight would be. He glanced at Pepper out of habit and then addressed all of them.

"Good, you are all here now. First order of business. As you all know each cabin has a cabin leader. I am the cabin leader of my cabin. Thus, I will have leeway over all that are in my cabin and all those who will soon enter. That being said. That is one cabin out ten. We must get a foothold within all the cabins. Become a influential force. This is where we come in. Before I share my own views on the subject....Would anyone want to offer a suggestion?

No, Pepper was definitely never on time for anything in her life. Not usually, at least. But what had urged her to be on time for this meeting of the alliance? There was no way she would show whoever Cody invited that she could pose as a weak link. No, she had to be the strongest out of any people the child of Demeter considered his allies. Plus, there was a tiny...alright, a large part of her that wished to impress the boy in her achievement. Maybe he’d come to his senses and realize they the two of them absolutely did not need help from other campers. That she was reliable. Not to mention, she needed to be standing there before the others just so they knew, she was more important to Cody than they were. If anything, she was second-in-command, and her intent was to not directly tell the rest of the group, but let them know no one was taking her place.

“You had better...” Pepper muttered in response to Cody, giving him a warning out of the corner of her eye, not noticing the fact he’d meant to touch her arm. Yet, she did catch the look he sent her, but she hastily averted her eyes. As much as she hated everything to do with this, she had already promised that she would try and be civil and give the others a chance, so Pepper was planning on doing just that. “Allegra,” Pepper replied almost reservedly, but also in a faintly bored tone when the girl showed up. But what the hell were up with her half-sister’s pants? They were...shiny. Strange. Soon enough, the redhead caught sight of another member. Wait...Noa? Raising an eyebrow, she couldn’t recall if Cody had mentioned the fact his own sibling was joining as well. Whatever, at least Pepper was relatively cool with her. But if she was joining the alliance...Pepper felt wary about it. But she still returned the girl’s smile with a tiny smirk of her own.

When the final member joined the rest at the rocks, she sent her brother a similar look to the one she’d given Allegra. Uninterested and cool. If these were the two siblings of hers that Cody had described as gems, then she frankly wasn’t incredibly confident in his opinion. Fine, Cato was burly enough and had muscle, but Pepper was sure she was far more experienced in fighting than he was. Then there was her sister, who didn’t seem like anything special to the fifteen year old. Figuring she had might as well listen to Cody, Pepper tilted her head to observe the boy now that the meeting was underway. Yes, the daughter of Ares was aware that he held a position of power, which she couldn’t help but feel envious towards. But Jake, as much as she liked her brother, was unfortunately in her way of reaching that seat.

“Yeah, I’ve got one,” she spoke up, brushing some of her long, loose red locks away from her face with her slender fingers. “I say we don’t bother with the Aphrodite or Dionysus cabins. There’s no merit in trying to worm our influence in there. Aphrodite is, well, we all know what they’re like. Plus Dionysus, do they actually have any talents other than partying?” Pepper scoffed at this very idea. “Just my two cents,” she added in conclusion before she became silent and returned to her indifferent mood.

Standing sullenly with her arms crossed over her chest, Allegra tossed her brown locks over one shoulder, gaze focused intensely on the brunette boy. That was, until two more people appeared, one of which Allegra more-or-less knew (was it somewhat of a crime that she estranged herself from her so-called siblings?), and one who Allegra dearly wanted to clock over the head with a few choice insults. How on earth was Noa supposed to be useful? From what Allegra knew about the Demeter girl, she spent her days one, dancing, and two, being sickeningly nice and chasing after pretty boys (like Cato). Raising a thin eyebrow at the stutter, Allegra bit her tongue and stomped on a leaf. Cato received a small nod of acknowledgement (she didn't want to be on his bad side; he was enormous).

They were going to take over the camp? Allegra wasn't the most ambitious girl ever -- she just wanted to obliterate anybody who she deemed unfit. So camp-wide control, as glamorous and large-scale as it might sound, didn't sit well with her. To be honest, the whole thing sounded a bit absurd; they had Head Counselors (well, one of them was standing right here, but he didn't really count) and Chiron and Mr. D, all who controlled the camp. Unless Cody was referring to figurative control? 'All ye who make us mad be prepared to suffer'? Allegra could live with that. Especially since she hadn't really done anything other than to make enemy upon enemy inside the Camp. She just wasn't a friendly person, full stop. It was a wondrous thing she hadn't already snapped and went on an insult-throwing frenzy on Pepper. Or Noa. Or anybody.

"Aphrodite cabin leader's a sniveling snot-rag," Allegra opined, backing up her sister. Caitlynn was a mess. To be frank, the most 'dangerous' person in that cabin would have to be one Breindel Klein, who Allegra intended to bury the next time she saw her. As though slapping her with a pancake wasn't mortifying enough, Breindel just had to come back for more. With her stupid elitist attitude and disgusting clothes. No, her pants were not tacky, they were fabulous. "Big Three cabins are formidable." Marina and Matt were old and scary, even if the somehow seemed sort of... removed from the camp's going-ons, so it probably wouldn't matter that much. Unless the Alliance somehow managed to burn down the camp, and then they'd get involved. Though there were younger members of both cabins, right?

Noa was starting to feel rather uncomfortable at the mention of plans. Of course she had to pretend to know exactly what they were talking about. She couldn't let them know that she had been led to think that it was just some nice club. And did Pepper always smirk, rather than smile? At least she felt that two people around here didn't mind her that much. Although Cato was the one she wanted to like her most. She didn't even care too much about Allegra or Cody liking her. Pepper, though, she wouldn't mind befriending Pepper. But apparently, unlike she had thought, making friends wasn't the point here. It even seemed like it was the opposite of what they wanted to do.

Okay, well, Noa could play along. She did afterall know a lot of people around camp. Nodding slowly when Allegra mentioned Caìtlynn she tried to show that she agreed. Okay, so maybe Caìtlynn was a really nice girl and all. "She could be useful, though. You guys do know that she can charmspeak? No other Aphrodite can do that." Noa told them and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She wasn't completely useless, obviously. Or at least she had to seem like she could be of some use. If she was going to stay in this group, if she was going to hang out with Cato, she had to prove herself to be useful.

Ah, and the planning had begun.

Cato tried not to zone out while the others talked, he really did. See, he wasn’t much of a talker or an idea giver (maybe it if was just him and Cody, but not in a group like this). He wasn’t loud or obnoxious like those other annoying people from his old town. And as much as Cato hated to admit it, he was pretty much incapable of being a leader. There were a few situations he could take the role, but for the most part he was more of a follower. People would tell him what to do and he would either tell them to shove off or follow instructions.

So far, he had agreed with what was being said. The whole reason Cato was staying around was to take over the camp, and taking down the cabin leaders was the first way to do it. Dionysus was completely pointless to go after and as hot as the Aphrodite girls may be, they really had no use. All Cato ever heard them do was giggle and talk about their hair or something else completely stupid. Wait, what was this ‘charm speak’? Cato would ask, but everyone else would probably know. He would just end up looking like an idiot.

It was quite noticeable Cato wasn’t about to voice any opinions here. He just waited for what Cody had to say next, since clearly the boy had already put a lot of thought into this plan.

Cody could tell this would no be pleasent. This group was so sullen and snarkey. If a fight broke out he would not be surprised. Their personalities had a good likely hood of clashing. He listened to the others carefully. He was also trying to decide if he had made the right choices in his alliance members. Were they useful to him? Cody didn't consider this a full take over. He was not that foolish. The gods probably would not like that but he was pretty sure that they did not get involved in their children's affairs. Cody was fairly sure he would have been stopped long if they cared. All the things he had done to Justin, if Athena cared she would have stopped him.

"Pepper don't let your prejudice affect your judgment. As you are aware, demigods powers associated with their parents. Children of Aphrodite or Dionysus in fact are possibly the most useful to us for this reason. They can ensnare the senses and bewitch the mind." He reached out to pat Noa on the head like a dog that had done a good trick. "Caìtlynn indeed can use charm speak. A very useful talent if you ask me. Much more useful than swinging a sword about." He made a quick glance at Pepper. Cody noted that Cato was not offering anything, but the child of Demeter had basically already classified the boy as just being muscle to get things done.

"Of course the big three cabins are formidable, but that fact is a bit overblown. Their powers are too flashy. Has no room for tactical application. You see I simply want a say in how this camp is run. Democracy and all that. Look at this as doing a political service. If that means unseating the current people in power, then we will do it with subversion and not force."

Nodding towards Allegra when she supported what Pepper had just said, she then sent a rather irritated look towards Noa. Did she really just go ahead and claim that pathetic, puny, blonde Aphrodite child would be useful? The redhead would have laughed at the very idea of it if she didn’t hate the fact it was even mentioned. A little thankful that Cato wasn’t saying anything, she turned to Cody and, at what he said, simply frowned at him. In her own mind, she had no prejudice. Simply, she didn’t like those from the Aphrodite cabin and figured they were all a useless bunch of kids with no real talent. However, there was of course that twinge of jealousy that she refused to acknowledge since they, especially the girls, were all too pretty for their own good. Though, Dionysus was a cabin she was mostly indifferent about.

But as Cody mentioned the apparent worthlessness of swordsmanship in comparison to charmspeak, Pepper’s frown turned into a glower. That was simply going too far in saying that. If it was so useless, then what was she doing there? He had to know by then that it was essentially her one talent and activity she cared about. From her perspective, it was also one of the few things she had to offer to this wretched alliance, which she was growing to dislike more with each passing second. Unable to remove her harsh gaze from Cody, the daughter of Ares tightly clenched her fists at her side. Why she hadn’t hit Cody after her first night back from visiting home, well, she didn’t know anymore. Right now, the idea was very appealing and doing so would prove exceedingly satisfying, or so she believed.

Cold hazel eyes taking one last glance at the rest of the demigods, the strawberry-blonde girl took several steps to distance herself from Cody. If not, she was afraid she would snap and punch the boy anyways. Reaching into her shorts pocket, she found the lighter she had recently begun carrying around with her. Flipping the lid open to stare at the flame for a prolonged moment, doing so eased her anger a bit, but not a whole lot. Returning her attention to the group, clearly with minor interest and plenty of annoyance, she continued playing with the lighter. “Politics, great...” Pepper muttered with a roll of her eyes. But in her opinion, force was an equally effective method of going about achieving such a goal. Alas, she found no point in stating this as it seemed her opinion didn’t matter much anyways.

Noa noticed Cato being rather quiet. She was still standing next to him and she couldn't help but notice how tall he was. And muscled. Okay, focus, Noa. Cody was talking about how she was right and then proceeded to pat her on the head. Like a dog. She swatted at his hand and glared at him. "I'm not your dog, Cody." she snapped and looked over to Pepper who seemed to be unwilling to be around her and the others. Which Noa could understand. Well, maybe not the part where it seemed like Pepper just didn't want the others around. Just Cody. Noa preferred to not be alone with Cody, but sharing a cabin with no other siblings, it tended to happen anyway.

Now, Cody was going on and on about something about politics and Pepper was playing with a lighter. Where had she gotten that anyway? Frankly, Noa wished she had that lighter. At least it would keep her from being bored half to death right now. Cody's attitude didn't really help either. Frankly, neither did Pepper's but that was okay. She actually rather liked Pepper even if she was a bit scary sometimes. Definitely not as scary as Cody was, of course. Or Allegra. Especially Allegra was a bit scary to her. The girl was gorgeous and she was glad she was Cato's sister.

Huh, that was funny. She hadn't realised that they were only there from two cabins until she started thinking about it. "We have democracy, Cody. And the big three aren't in power. What did you plan on doing otherwise, overthrowing Mr D? Convincing him to let you have more power over the camp? You're already out cabin leader. That isn't enough for you? If you actually paid attention to what people around camp were doing, you wouldn't be so dead set on taking over. Or whatever the Hades it is you're trying to do here." Noa continued. He was being ridiculous, really. Sure, she thought it would be nice to have a say in camp, but the ways of achieving that were far more complicated than Cody made it sound.

Besides, she was just in this to hang out with Cato, right?

Cato was actually a little mad at himself here. He just had nothing to say. He normally didn’t go out of his way to talk to anyone, except Noa of course. So why was he so keen on trying to get some opinion out now, and mad that he had now? He felt as though he wasn’t being useful. The others were all talking and planning, while he sat there quietly. It seemed like the most he could do here was flex his muscles. It was probably the only reason why he and Cody even talked. The muscle to his brain.

Maybe Cody was happy with his little pet sitting quietly and behaving himself.

Pfft, more useful then swinging a sword around? Bull. If a monster came at him, he could kill it, but what was this blonde Aphrodite girl going to do, seduce the monster to death? Even in this whole politics game, it would be more fun to use brute force than to mess with people’s minds or whatever those freaky Aphrodite girls did. And quite frankly, Cato found those girls freaky.

Hot, yes. But total freaks. Why? They could mess with his mind and stuff. The thought was horrible. Maybe not all of them were bad, but from what he had seen they were all the same. No, he would rather not be close with them, or they might just start messing with his mind too. He also made a mental note to stay away from this Caìtlynn chick as much as possible, since her powers were just creepy...

And no, he wasn’t scared of the girls... he just didn’t want to be messed with.

Cato glanced at his half-sister playing with the lighter. That girl was going to send the whole camp up in flames one day, he was sure of it. Psycho that one, but she also seemed like she would be fun to mess with. Her reactions were always priceless. As Noa started questioning Cody, Cato looked between the two. To be honest, Cato was pretty sure Cody just wanted power. Cato had never been that power hungry himself, but being the top kids around camp did spark Cato’s interest. He knew he was the best, but he wanted to make sure everyone else knew that too.