War--What Is It Good For?

Sibby stood in the line along with the other archers who were training, her bow drawn, the target about thirty yards away. Their instructor commanded them to fire and, in unison, each released their arrow. Imperial gold-tipped streaks flew into the air and entered the targets with a resounding thud.

The daughter of Apollo frowned once she saw where her arrow hit. Though she was looking from a far distance, it seemed as though her arrow missed the center of the target by a mere two inches. To Sibby, missing by two inches was missing by too much. The youngest of the Legionnaires (and older ones who were being punished) retrieved the arrows and stood out of the way while the archers prepared for the next volley. Sibby notched another arrow in her bow at the instructor's command and drew back once more.

Caden was visiting Camp Jupiter once again. This time, to get a better feel for everything, he toured the camp, and was going to the Field of Mars right now, surrounded by a group of people and being led by a tour guide. Caden's biggest fear on this trip was running into Shiloh Virgo again. He hadn't seen her since... While walking along, thinking about Mikaela and Camp Half-Blood, getting a little bored of the tour, he noticed a female archer who caught his eye. Her beautiful eyes and face drew Caden towards her. Looking around, making sure no one noticed him, he approached Sibby.

"Hey, I'm Caden," Caden said, a little nerve to his voice.

The sound of a nearby voice addressing her caused Sibby to jump a little, startled. She missed the bull's eye by about three inches. Well, she should've been more prepared to have someone speak to her while she was aiming. Chiding herself mentally, she turned to face whoever was talking to her. Wow. He was cute. "Uh....hi," she greeted in a friendly tone. "I'm Sybill--everyone calls me Sibby, though." Noting Caden's orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, she asked "Which cabin are you from? I'm the the Third Cohort, but I hear you guys don't have those." Sibby always thought that strange. How did the Greeks assemble for organized fighting if they didn't have Cohorts? She wondered if Caden would inform her.

"Cool, cool," Caden said, studying her appearance. She was smaller than him, by a lot, probably a good 7 or 8 inches and 60 or 70 pounds. Her eyes were what caught his attention in the first place, and they were much more beautiful up close and personal. Her hair flowed down like a goddess, and- Caden shook up his thoughts, mentally. The last time he was in the Roman camp and thought of a girl like this, she cheated on him. Caden knew the only reason he had this much confidence towards girls was Mikaela. She really trained him, and he wasn't sure if that was good or bad. "Uh, I'm a Poseidon kid. Over here, you call him Neptune, right? Yeah, we don't have cohorts, you guys are much more organized than us. I'm sorry if me approaching you is weird, I was just taking a tour and I saw you, and to be honest, I think you're beautiful. Who's your god parent?"

Whoa. Sibby felt her breath catch in her throat. Nobody had ever called her beautiful before--especially not an extremely attractive son of a Big Three god. Caden was above average height--maybe 6' or so--and tan, reminding her of the surfers from movies. He even had the blonde hair and blue eyes to complete the look. Wow. "Uh....umm, thanks," she stammered, blushing as she pushed her hair out of her face unconsciously. "It's fine--I mean, just talking to me and all is fine. It's not very unusual when we get visitors from the Greek camp. I'm a daughter of Apollo but I'm also a legacy of Pluto--you guys call him Hades, I think. He was my mom's dad."

"Oh, nice. So we're both descended from a Big Three god. Neither of us are supposed to exist. Hooray!" Caden said and laughed his very contagious laugh. He nodded. "Yeah, we call him Hades. He's probably the least populated Big Three cabin, though...actually, that may not be true. I don't actually know." Caden looked at her, now that she was showing more of her face. He saw her blushing and smiled. "Awe, you're blushing, that's cute. Do I make you nervous?" he asked. "I heard a good way to calm down your nerves is reciting your phone number, so you should do that."

She couldn't help but giggle once Caden started laughing. It just felt right laughing along with him. Not laughing was like trying to suppress a yawn once someone else started yawning. "I don't have a phone," she admitted, still giggling. "Bad for monsters. You're just kind of cute and funny...." Well, now that was out of the way.

"Well, damn. Maybe we could find another way of communicating, like Iris messages, you know?" he asked, with a grin. "I wouldn't expect a Roman to chicken their way out of having a phone. Thanks," Caden said, his grin getting wider. He looked down for a few seconds, then back up. "Do you want to hang out sometime? Like, maybe tonight, in New Rome?"

Sibby nearly frowned at the mention of her chickening out with getting a phone. "Well....it's just that phones are supposed to be bad for demigods, you know," she explained, though suddenly feeling unsure, "and it's not like we really get service here, and I live here year around. I don't know how it works in Camp Half-Blood, but New Rome's my only home and the Legion's my only family." However, her face brightened at the mention of hanging out. Caden seemed like a very neat and interesting person--a lot more laid-back and confident than the people Sibby was used to being around. "Sure! There are a lot of different places....do you have a specific site in mind?"

"I get it, don't worry. I'm not concerned with the phone thing." Caden was happy when she accepted his offer of going out. "Uh, how about we go out to eat or something?" he asked. "We could get some delicious Italian food, or anything you like. What about a movie? What kind of movies do you like? It's all up to you, let's do what you want." Caden lightly touched her on her shoulder.

It almost felt like electric sparks shot up her spine when Caden touched her shoulder. Feeling her cheeks heat up again, she giggled nervously and forced herself to meet Caden's tranquil blue eyes. "Uh....a movie would b-be nice," she stammered, blushing all the more. "Do you like comedies? There's this one with Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock--it's really funny. It's got Betty White in it, too," she added, more enthusiastic. She loved rom-com movies. They were the perfect blend of silliness and romance. She wondered if real life could actually work like a rom-com. Probably not, she figured, seeing as that there were monsters about.

"Sure, we could go see that," Caden said. He thought for a second. "Can you go right now or are you busy?" he asked, with a raised eyebrow. He could tell he was making her nervous by her blushing and stuttering.

"Well...." Sibby used her head to indicate towards the rest of the archers. "Technically, I'm supposed be training right now--but how about around 6? We can meet up at the mess hall. Sound good to you?"

"I'm good with that," Caden said with a smile. "See you then, Sibby," he said, waving and walking away. He couldn't wait to see her again.

Sibby couldn't help but stare with a silly smile on her face as she watched Caden walk away. He was just....wow. Just wow. She'd never met anyone like him before. Still grinning like a giddy girl, she returned her attention back to her archery training. A sudden thought struck her. How was she supposed to concentrate now?

OOC: The End