Viva Las Vegas

Pain was the first sensation which returned to Valerie, each beat of her heart causing a fresh pulse of pain through her skull. But pain was a good sensation right? It mean that she happened to still be alive and being alive usually tended to be good.
Valerie forced her eyes to open, finding herself in a near pitch black room, in reality it was dimly lit but due to her ability to see even with the glare of the sun in her eyes, Valerie's night vision was virtually non-existent. She realised that she was lying on the floor and pushed herself up, each of her muscles screeching in protest. The young teenager tried to recall what had happened, but the memories were hazy. Something about being in a casino? She must of had a weird dream whilst unconscious in the infirmary in New Rome. A common occurrence when she used her healing powers.

Valerie headed over towards the curtains, where a few chinks of light were visible. She pulled open the blinds, her eyes widening when she saw the view. Not Rome, not Camp Jupiter. A place far too familiar to Valerie. "Woah..." She whispered to herself. The short demigod turned around to see the room, it was a fancy room, long and a bit wide, with three single beds in it and two doors which she assumed one led outside and the other to the bathroom.
Valerie noticed the forms of two other individuals here with her, however this provided more questions. How did they all end up here? Who brought them here and why?
Instinctively, Valerie glanced around for her weapon finding it missing. She could not find it, so no weapons... With that it was not far to assume that they were captives here or something?

If she was in a casino, Valerie had a horrible feeling that she happened to be in one she previously spent too much time in. "Hey?" She called out in a quiet voice to the other forms, hoping that they would be alright.

Nakoma was dreaming, right? She could hear her own heart beat way to fast, she could hear a sound of someone walking. Then she heard a voice, so slowly she opened her eyes sitting up. She looked around first, this was not her bed. This place was not from the camp and she frowned trying to remember something.

Maybe she had mist traveled to a random place? Or, no, she shook her head, forgetting about the other person, she knew her! You could almost see that Nakoma relaxed a bit more at least. "I-I-I am He-here!" she said in a low voice almost like a whisper. Nakoma may be from 3rd cohort, but she is shy as all even around people she knew.

"where a-are we?" she stutters a bit as she question Valerie trying to come up with something logical to all this, because she sure hoped that she hadn't mist traveled both her and Valerie out of camp into a hotel room or worse, someones house. First now she notice the last person in the room.

Emilio nuzzled his face against the corner of the wall. He had fallen asleep sitting, leaning on the wall. The boy could hear distant voices. One of them was stuttering.I wonder if it's mom.. or maybe even dad ran through his sleepy head. All he could feel was a cold floor, but somehow he managed to dream about nice voices that had feminine rings to them.

He opened his eyes slowly, narrowing his eyes immediately when he saw rays of light. When was the last time he had seen something so bright? There were two figures moving in the distance. Or was it that far away after all? He groggily wiped his face with the gray T-shirt he had had for ages. Smells like..dust?
It took him a few seconds to realize that the environment he was in, wasn't that familiar at all. No New Rome, his friends were no where to be seen. His eyes followed one of the figures before he was able to focus on it properly.

"Where am I?" was the first thing that escaped Emilio's mouth, even though he had just heard someone repeat almost the exact sentence. It felt like he hadn't spoken for ages, speaking hurt his in fact. He coughed for a while, and looked around him. Walls, walls, floor and two rather pretty girls. "What happened to us? Are we okay?" he almost whispered, his voice sometimes falling silent. Never had he felt that way before. Trying to trace back what had happened, he frowned. There was no memory of last night, or nights before the eventful night that had led him here. Ugly room that had old fashioned wallpaper, the kind of you saw in old movies. He took a deep breath, and tried to stand up, holding himself with one of his hands. Emilio's legs were sore and his head felt extremely heavy, almost like his neck could snap any moment now. He wobbled like a baby who had just learned to walk. "Let me correct myself. Where are we, why are we here, do I know you?" he scratched his neck awkwardly. His lungs were filled with anything but clean air and he almost gagged after speaking so much. Turning left to right, he started searching for clues, not really minding the other people.

Valerie felt a small tinge of relief when she recognised the quiet voice of her friend Nakoma. It gave her hope that someone else from the legion were here with her, even more so as they came from the third cohort. Jupiter knows what it would be like with someone from the first here.
She opened her mouth to begin to answer her friend's question when a new voice interrupted her. Valerie politely waited for him to finish speaking before answering both his Nakoma's questions as best as she was able to. "I fear..." She swallowed, her throat dry. "That we are in the lair of the lotus eaters or as many know it, the lotus casino." The daughter of Apollo, despised this place, it ensnared her and a close friend for many years. She still did not know if he had fallen or if he still lived.

That was the worst part, the not knowing his eventual fate.


"I do not know why we are here or even how we got here... But for those of you who do not know me I'm Valerie." She flashed a friendly smile, glancing back out the window. The sun was setting slowly, hardly a good time to try and escape in Valerie's case.
She walked towards the door that she believed led outside, cautiously she tried it and much to her surprise, it opened. Valerie peeked outwards to look at the ornate hallway, with fancy plants in pots, lush red carpet and brightly coloured wall paper. It was well lit, looking disturbingly familiar.
She closed it after a few moments, sliding the lock on the door to keep anyone else out. Valerie walked over and investigated a coffee table in their room, with a silver platter on it's gleaming glass surface. It contained free casino chips, passes for everything, some weird coloured drink that seem to shift into different colours as she sloshed the bottle around. Placing it back down, Valerie picked up a cake in the shape of a flower. There were three on the platter. The smell was intoxicating, it reminded her of freshly baked loafs of bread, of the sun rising over moors... It would not hurt to take a bite right? After all, since they were here they might as well enjoy themselves. With that Valerie moved the lotus flower closer to her mouth.

Nakoma swallowed hard as she heard the last one wake up. She clutch her arms around her legs, if she could become smaller no one would notice her, right? But she couldn't stay quiet either so she stared hard at the floor as she whispered again, still stuttering, maybe worse then before the unknown boy woke up. "I-I-I a-am Na-Nako-ko-ma" she tried her best not to stutter, but she failed miserably.

Right after introducing herself she frowned thinking hard "Not, that casino?" she even manged not to stutter at that sentence. Of course had Nakoma read about it, and her friend had been here too. She ended up biting on her bottom lip.

Finely she looked up and rose slowly from the ground feeling her howl body telling her no. She tried her best to stand up, but it didn't go so well for her either. She felt really dizzy swaying a bit where she stood. She had to blink away some of the dizziness trying to get a grip on herself.

When she finely got a better vie of her surroundings she felt goosebumps on her arms. She turned around looking at the boys feet, not daring to look up. "I do-don't Kno-know anythi-thing, except that that.." she swalloed hard building up all her courage to finish the sentence. "That, i-if we trully a-a-are at the ca-casion, we ha-have trouble"

she turned around fast setting her eyes on the wall not even noticing what Valerie was doing.

Emilio crossed his arms and frowned in disbelief. That famous casino? "I-I'm sorry, I think I misheard that." Emilio stuttered. It took him a few fleeting moments to realize no one was joking and he didn't mishear. How did he even get in here? Did these girls have to do something with it? "Valerie and Nakoma, doesn't ring a bell." his weak dry voice echoed in the room. He closed his eyes. He was waiting for the panic to settle in. How long had he been here? Was he even alive? All Milo could to is overthink the situation.

He watched the other girl, Valerie, casually close the door and handle the situation like she had done it a million times already. How could she even be so calm and collected? Atleast the other girl couldn't stop stuttering. They were in the same boat, confused about their fate. "Well we need to get out of here for sure." Milo insisted, not really understanding why weren't they already coming up with a plan on how to leave from there. His throat was screaming for something to drink, but the only thing they had was weird cakes, chips and suspiciously colored bottle.

He watched one of his new acquaintances take one of the inviting flower shaped cakes. Didn't her parents teach her? Don't eat strange food. But the bottle looked very appealing to him. "I suppose one gulp or bite won't hurt. We're hungry anyways." nicknamed Milo mumbled and decided to approach the small coffee table. He took one of the cakes in his hand and investigated it closely. He cracked it in two and looked inside. "Ew, buttercream. I don't like creamy cakes." Emilio said narrowing his chestnut colored eyes, but for some reason the food and drink still felt very inviting. He was tempted to lick his slender fingers, colored with crumbles.

Emilio put the pieces of the cake neatly stacked, back on the plate. It was almost like his heart broke when he had to put those creamy cakes back. An invisible force was drawing his hand back at the direction of the cakes. "I want to go home. This place is scary. Who know how long we've been in here?" he started his famous whining, following Nakoma's example he wrapped his hands around him. It brought him a temporary feeling of comfort, warmth and familiarity. After all, who even likes to find themselves in such a weird place with strangers?

With a soft crunch Valerie sank her teeth into the delicious lotus cake, all at once her cares seemed to be forgotten, her worries and woes leaving her. She swallowed, smiling turning around to face her two companions. "You've got to try these things." She said with her grin growing.
"Why would you want to go home? We have everything we ever want here." Valerie looked confused, almost horrified by the suggestion that they should go home. She recalled the memories of the wonders to be found, the delights to be savoured in the Lotus Casino. Yet, where as once these memories were bad, she viewed them as negative, now Valerie recalled it with delight.

"You two should try one of the flowers." She took another bite, mumbling round a mouthful. "I wonder if they still have that ride I like." Valerie moved towards the door. "Come on! It is the one where you shoot things with a pellet gun." She finished the flower, her desire to leave utterly forgotten. "We could stay and enjoy ourselves, you'll both feel better then." Valerie did not want her two companions to leave without sampling some of the wonders housed here.

Nakoma held around herself before she swallowed again, trying to get rid of all her fears, or at least some of them. She listen to what the other said as she looked over at them, her eyes went big as she set her eyes on the coffee table. "Th-th-they can be cur-cu-cursed?" she said trying to make her voice higher then a whisper.

She nodes to the boy "We, we-well, we shou-should go?" her voice was trembling a bit, but she felt drawn towards the table anyway. Like magic, and this thought made her fear everything, but her stomach was as empty as if she hadn't eaten for forever. So slowly she reached out for one of the flowers. She sigh making herself a tad more calm then before.

She took a tine bit of the flower thing. All at once she felt a lot more calmer, she couldn't resist it the great taste and everything at once. Maybe it wasn't as bad as all the books had said it was? Maybe they where in paradise?

"Ma-maybe, we could sta-stay a bit?" she question out in the air, after all, I wasn't as bad as she first felt like it would be. She had a friend with her, some good food and well how bad could it be? She even had a tiny small smile on her face as she finished up her cake.

Emilio's face turned a bit more pale, and he tried to say something. His voice was suppressed by some force again. He frowned, standing there, mouth open and occasionally stuttered something. What had happened, Nakoma was just talking about going to home, scared what to do and tried to even help Valerie. Now she was happily eating flower cakes that had disgusting butter cream inside. He finally picked up his jaw from the floor and made an effort to say something smart
"You just said- I don't understand." his attention was turned back to the cakes chips and ominous looking bottle.

It wasn't hard to put two and two together. "Equals four." Milo whispered to himself, still frowning. It made more sense in his head than in the outside world. Emilio had always hated butter cream because of its disgusting sweetness, but those cakes were so inviting. He had to actually hold his right hand with his left, so he wouldn't reach to the cakes. Grinding his grip and teeth, there were probably marks on his hand. "G-guys, I mean girls. I don't think this place is safe. I don't want to see any rides, I just want to go to home. Back to my friends. Please. I don't like this weird vibe this place is giving me, I don't want any of that cake anymore. It's super scary and old and, I-I mean-" he almost begged, something he rarely did. This was not the way he wanted to really present himself to these strangers. Rambling his way through complex sentences his eyes started watering. It wasn't like he was a manly man ever anyways.

Milo looked at the two pieces of one cake, the one he just had cracked open. He tilted his head like lost puppies do, forgetting all bad in this word. Everything faded around him. No soul could hurt those three if he took just one bite. "So what if there's butter cream, I need to be more open to experiences! Dad used to say that a lot!" Emilio smiled at the memory and his salty tears were long gone, covered by the striking sweetness of the cake. The boy took one piece in his hand. He studied it closely, and then took a bite. Bite after bite he was finished with the first piece.

"This is really good but I'm full." Milo said his mouth full, licking his fingers. "Show us the ride you talked about! I want to hold hands, I'm afraid I'll get lost!" he chuckled happily. Deciding not to wait for others anymore, he shoved the bottle in his pocket and opened the door. "This place needs a makeover." Emilio huffed, looking left and right. The hallways looked like they never ended, but he wanted to explore. After all, he was a teenage boy, even though sometimes it seemed like his testosterone never hit him and he still was a tiny toddler.

Valerie nodded really pleased with their change of heart towards her idea. She followed Emilio back into the corridor. "They are below us." She explained, her memories of this place coming back thick and fast. "Wait till you see all the slot machines, the games and rides." The young demigod bounced along looking happier than she had been in days.
They walked for sometime before they came across an elevator. "Let's take this and go down to the ground floor." She said smiling as she walked over towards the elevator door. Valerie pushed a button and waited. It took a fair few minutes before it arrived with a ding. The doors slid open gracefully, Valerie entered, the elevator was beautiful with gilded wooden panels, carved with pictures from Greek and Roman mythology. Soft calming music played from a hidden speaker. "Hurry!" Valerie encouraged them. She hit the button on the inside for the ground floor.

The wait may not of been actually that long to reach the ground floor, however to Valerie it felt like an eternity. Eventually the elevator came to a halt, with the doors opening and a wall of noise hitting them, the buzz of human conversation, the sounds of casino machines, the distinctive roar of fancy rides.
For a few heartbeats Valerie was uncertain where she should head, but she stepped confidently out of the elevator to be met by a young woman in a emerald green dress. "Have another lotus flower." The child of Apollo accepted it happily. "Thank you." But the woman had already moved on, heading towards her two friends.

Nakoma didn't want to be left behind of course, so she followed those two. "Ple-please don't lea-leave me behind" she said. Almost without her stuttering her way trough everything. She smiled a bit more feeling safe and all better. What was it that she was afraid of, she couldn't even remember why she was so afraid of. She streached out her hands for her friends(she felt like they where at least).

She hurried after them trying not to get lost, but she was quiet most of the time except of some Ohh and ahh here and there. It wasn't until a tad later she finely said something again "It's soo big" and her sentence came with out even a hint of stuttering. She looked around with big brown eyes.

Once they got another flower offered she took it with a shy smile, she may feel a bit more safe, but people in general was scary. Maybe not directly scary, but she was shy even so. "Tha-thank you" she said in a quiet voice looking at Emilio and Valerie. She was waiting for them to lead on into this giant place, maybe even a mace.

"Below? Slot machines, rides?" Emilio asked wondering how huge this place was. It was almost like a maze. After waiting for Nakoma a bit he walked in to the elevator. "Fine fine, I'm coming." he exclaimed. The music and small space was making him nervous in there. The roof of the elevator was like a huge painting, the type you'd see in Sikstus chapel. Emilio was staring at the roof in awe before awakened by the ding of the elevator. It felt like they were trapped in the elevator for hours. He exited the elevator quickly. There were bright and flashy colors everywhere.

He felt really in tune with Nakoma's ooh's and aah's. The place was indeed very big and pretty. The sound of slot machines ringed in his ear. Emilio's worries were long gone and he was happier than ever. A loud laugh escaped his mouth. He spun on his place, examining the whole place. "Look Valerie, Nakoma! There's so much fun stuff to do!" he giggled exited.

Emilio was rudely awakened from his slumber by the pretty waitress who was offering lotus flower shaped cakes. "I'd take one, but I'm seriously full. Thank you anyways" he shook his head and pushed the cake further away from him politely. The waitress didn't seem to want to give up and started getting a bit rough with handing the cake. Emilio raised a brow, looking around for help with from his friends who looked just as insane as he did. "I don't want the cake!" Milo proceeded to say, maybe if the waitress didn't understand what he was saying?