Yin and Yang

Naomi was sitting on the harsh ground, alone in the forest. She was quietly humming a tune to herself while watching ants climb on her denim romper. "The ants go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah." the daughter of Apollo mumbled, her Seoul Korean accent plaiting the words nicely. She was still struggling a bit with English, even after being in the camp for almost a year now. Sometimes it really felt like ants were her only friends and she wasn't able to connect with anyone. Her lungs were filled with warm air, when she looked at the crowns of the trees. Naomi sighed and stood up, brushing off any excess dust, ants or negative thoughts. "I have no time to be worrying." she cooed to herself.

I had been at the greek camp for two whole days now and I hated the whole place. Please remind me, why did I come here again? Stupid depression. With a sigh, I raised my head to look around the beautiful, quiet forest. No overly happy kids, no clashing weapons, finally some peace. I stopped dor a second and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath in order to relax my mind and calm my racing thoughts. A few minutes later, I was lost in the great forest, not that I minded at all. While making my way through small dirt mountains and upraised roots, I heard a soft humming. Hoping to see a dryad for the first time, I slowly approached the sound, finding a very human looking girl. "Well, that's disappointing."I mumbled to myself, a bit louder than I'd expected.

Just as Naomi was ready to take the first step towards leaving, someone mumbled about his disappointments in a loud voice. At first she was startled, since she thought she was alone. Then Naomi proceeded to turn around dramatically and quietly mouth 'what?'. There stood a rather average looking boy with striking eyes. "Oh, hi! I'm Naomi." she approaches him without any second thoughts or doubts, smiling like an insane person. She was wearing thigh high socks which didn't match, a denim romper with a yellow T-shirt that almost hurt her eyes. Naomi's long black hair was braided in two french braids and she pretty much looked like Pippi Longstocking.

I took a step back as she turned and started to walk towards me, my panicked voice screaming in my head Get the hell away from there! "I-I'm sorry, miss N-Naomi, I-I didn't mean to d-disturb you, I-I'll go now, I'm s-so sorry."I hurried to apollogize, my palms raised in defense and my familiar nervous stutter haunting my words. I never thought dryads or nymphs or whatever would be so weird. I should have asked before coming here. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Naomi looked confused maybe for a second before taking more steps forward. "Huh, why are you sorry? I don't get it? Are you knew here?" she said high fiving his palms and then doing her signature victory pose. "You see I've never have seen you here!" Naomi kept prying and rambling, slowly shifting her weight to the balls of her feet. She tried matching her height with his but ultimately failed and gave up.

I yelped in surprise when she high fived me, quickly burying my hands in the pockets of my plain jeans. "I-I'm not n-new, I'm R-Roman. I-I came to visit the G-Greek camp, s-someone from my legion s-suggested it-t."I explained in a rush, still taking more step backwards untill I tripped on a stone and landed on my butt in the dirt. Looking up at the small girl with wide, fearful eyes, I tried to put on my most convincing smile in hopes of appeasing her. "M-my... My name is Peter."I said after clearing my throat to stop my stuttering and play the role of the laid back camper convincingly.

"Roman?" Naomi gasped dramatically, then followed by a series of squeals. "Oh oh, who's your god parent, or legacy? Why are you here?" she started jumping up and down. The girl stared at him when he fell down, studying the Roman. "Hmmmm... are you okay Peter?" she offered him her hand, smiling proudly like sunshine. "I'm Seung Naomi! Wait you people introduce yourself first name first. I'm Naomi Seung!" she frowned.

I took a moment to stare at the little girl in stunned silence, mouth hanging open in surprise. "Um, thanks?"I muttered, taking her hand to get up and dusting myself off. "I'm Franklin Peter, a son of Janus."I fully introduced myself, saying my last name first in an attempt to tease her. "Do you even have Janus here? I don't know.... He's a super creppy dude. That's pretty accurate. I have no legacy, I'm just a plain demigod."I tried to answer all her rapid questions, speaking faster to catch up to her.

"Um, you're welcome." Naomi imitated him and then silently laughed at her own joke. "Janus is the creepy door dude right? Right?" she asked, struggling to lift him a bit. "Plain demigod? No demigod is plain!" she tried looking intimidating, straightening her back and putting her arms on her sides and nodding after every word he said. "I am, the daughter ooooof...drum roll please~." Naomi whispered while banging the invisible drum her eyes closed. "THE DAUGHTER OF APOLLO!" she jumped in the air.

"Yeah, yeah, door dude, right."I nodded before shaking my head with a chuckle. "I guess you're right, daughter of Apollo. He's still god of the sun and music here, right?"I asked, slightly confused by the different mythologies, and scratched the back of my neck awkwardly.

"Yeah, yeah." Naomi said while doing that one rapper gesture, crossing her arms and playing cool. "Yeah, sun and music. Petition to make him best god!" Naomi mimicked what she had seen on the internet. "So uh, what exactly are you doing in here? Exactly?" her eyebrows came closer to each other while she ignored the awkward air.

"Um, I-I'm not sure Jupiter would like that very much."I shrugged, taking another tiny step back, still somewhat intimidated by her bubbly personality. "Uh, I-I'm a tourist, you know? J-Just came to look around and stuff."

"It's a joke, dummy." Naomi said, taking another step forward and flicking his forehead. "Tourist? Is that so?" she said, having hard time believing him. "Chiron doesn't let anyone so easily in here." she raised her other eyebrow and puckered her lips. "Just kidding! I believe you!" Naomi exclaimed.

"Ouch!"I exclaimed in a whine, rubbing my forehead. "I told you, I'm a Roman demigod, we are allowed here now! We're not enemies anymore."I explained, confused at her sudden change in demeanor. "Mr. Chiron said we were welcome as long as we didn't cause any trouble. I-I haven't caused any, r-right?"

"I was just teaaasing." she flashed her tongue and laughed at herself. Naomi was confused, why was this kid so scared. "You didn't do anything wrong. I'm sooowwy I intimidated you." she said with a childlike mischievous shine in the corner of her eyes. "Or how could I know, I just met you! How long have you been in here, Peter?" she repeated his name over and over.

"I-I'm sorry, Naomi, I didn't mean to upset you."I took a small step forward but froze once again when she grinned. "Uh, um... T-two days. I-I won't stay long, I'm leaving the day-after-tomorrow."I explained, giving her a small but honest smile. She doesn't seen to be that bad. At least she hasn't tried to kill me yet.

"Huuuh? You didn't upset me." she scratched and tilted her head. "It's like a dance. You take a step back and I take one forward." Naomi mumbled to herself, looking at her feet. "Day after tomorrow? Oh no! That's such a shame! Suuucks" the daughter of Apollo complained and whined.

"S-sorry, I m-misunderstood."I mumbled and looked around awkwardly. "Uh, well. Not really. I-I haven't found anything I l-like here, so it's alright."I tried to calm her down as best as I could.

"D'aww, why are you apologizing?" she tried turning his escaping attention to her. "You haven't found anything you like? Then mm..what kind of things DO you like?" Naomi rested her chin on her open palms, seriously thinking if she should show him around. "I'm kinda new here too! Kinda! If 8 months counts!" she smiled faintly.

I frowned as I took a moment to think over what I like t do in my free time. "Uh, I can't think of anything."I shrugged, searching for something else to say in order to change the conversation. "Uh, you're a great singer."I offered with a small smile, mentally facepalming. Great job, who would have known a daughter of Apollo would have a nice voice? Did you also know the sky is blue and the grass is green?

"You can't think of anything? How come?" Naomi asked in confusion. "I can help you find something you like!" she said after a while of thinking. She was driven of her tracks when he complimented her voice. "T-Thanks, I didn't know anyone was here.." she stuttered. "I am sure you are a great singer too!" Naomi cheered.

"Cause I don't really do much other than reading and stuff."I shrugged and turned my eyes on the ground, once again disappointed in myself. I looked up though at her adorable stuttering, chuckling at her surprised face. "Nah, not really. Especially not on your level, little miss Sunshine. Thanks though, I appreciate it."

"But that means you like reading!" she huffed, tempted to flick his forehead twice this time. She put her hands in the air, squeezing the thin air, but reverting from flicking him. "What kind of books do you like?" Naomi tried prying again, really curious. She was embarrassed when he laughed at her and complimented her. "I am sure you are a great singer though!" she repeated.

"Yeah, well, not really, it's just that I have to do something in order to pass the time, you know? I can't just stare at the ceiling all day."I tried to make a joke, noticing her obvious frustration. "I'll read anything, don't really have a preference. Told you, it's more like an obligatory task than anything."I replied with a small shrug, choosing to ignore her persisting comments on my singing.

"Oh, passing the time. But what do you do for..fun? Staring at the ceiling and reading books are fun but I mean fun fun?" she asked, putting her hands on her sides. She still had trouble understanding his motives. "I for example like painting and psychology." Naomi did a small square that resembled a camera with her fingers and pretended to take a picture.