A Relaxing Day in the Woods (Lyric)

It was a lovely brisk day; the sun glinted in the sky like the lovely burning star that it was, and all in all, Adora decided it was the perfect day to explore the camp. Her teeth chattered as she walked through a large patch of tall grass. It wasn’t terribly cold, but being the desert child that she was poor Adora was shivering. She picked up her pace, tightening her grip on the glorious green leather capelet that she borrowed from the armory. Mom would never let me wear one of these around town, she thought with a fond smile. But hey, she was at Camp Half-Blood; if there was any place where Adora could get away with wearing something so archaic and costume-y, it was here. And it matched her knee-high brown boots too! Besides, with her green cape and her golden bow she felt an awful lot like Robin Hood, and she loved Robin Hood.

The only thing she had to do to truly feel like she was one of the Merry Men was to trot about the forest, and currently that seemed like a fantastic idea. Adora made her way over there and as she walked through the trees, her eyes noted the way the light glinted through the trees. A small smile trickled over her face. It was those little things she appreciated; those things about nature that were often overlooked. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she nearly walked into a tree, and as she quickly backed away from it she noted that it was quite a lovely tree at that. What a perfect tree to climb. She looked it up and down, using her limited but still very valuable experience to ascertain just how sturdy it would be, and after a moment of debate, she walked over to it with a confident stride. Wrapping her hands around the bottom branches of the tree, she hoisted herself up, branch by branch, hand over hand, until she settled on a sturdy bough.

Dangling her legs over the side, she pulled out her artbook from her knapsack and started to sketch, but suddenly, she picked up on a faint rustling sound in the distance. Her fingers instinctively wrapped around the golden key in her pocket. Is it a monster? She thought, but as soon as she caught a good look through the trees, she saw James and immediately relaxed. Just one of the campers. She acknowledged with a faint sigh. She’d silently hoped that it would have been a monster -she hadn’t faced one yet and she wanted too- but then perhaps it was better that it wasn’t. However, at the moment, her curiosity was getting the better of her; even if it wasn’t a monster, she was still curious about James and what he was doing there. If only I could see better… Her hand went to brush away some leaves out of her view, sending some loose branches falling loudly to the floor. She bit her lip softly, hiding further behind some leaves and silently hoping to herself that James wouldn’t notice.

Her eyes fixed themselves on his ring inquisitively and widened ever more slightly as she saw it transform. That was a really impressive sword. But it wasn’t not only that: his whole threatening appearance, his piercing gaze, his stern manner – the combination of everything about him sent a chill down her spine. She wouldn’t want to be the monster that confronted him. So absorbed in her thoughts was she, that it was only after he began to walk towards the rabbit that she picked up on the squeak.

From her vantage point she couldn’t see exactly what it was, and worried about causing more branches to fall on James, who was almost directly beneath the bough she was on, she stayed completely still. But as soon as he moved the branch away, her heart dropped. Oh no… THE POOR THING. Part of her told her it was an accident, whereas the other part blamed her for being so curious and unaware of her surroundings. But debating won’t allow you help any, just focus on the situation. She was ready to slide down the tree and help the injured bunny, but his actions stopped her short. He was actually helping it. Her head cocked to the side, her blue eyes softening as she watched him. How tenderly he was taking care of that poor rabbit. He’d seemed so menacing and imposing, and he actually was quite menacing and imposing, but his whole manner was completely different; it caught Adora off guard.

But the question of what to do still remained. Adora really didn’t want to give away her position, but she knew that she could help. She already felt partially responsible and her temperament wouldn’t allow her to just sit around, so it was a no-brainer for her; she was going to help. Adora sensed that he was trying to calm down the poor bunny, so if she jumped off the tree, or even climbed down it, she might startle the both of them and do more harm then good. But she couldn’t just sit silent either. What to do… She bit her lip yet again, and then took a deep breath, speaking in a gentle but sufficiently loud tone, “Hello.” She called out from where she was, carefully brushing aside some of the branches so that she was visible, “Um, I know this seems strange, but… I know how to heal.” She furrowed her eyebrows in hesitation, “I could help, if you need me too.”

Adora nodded and let out a soft breath, a bit relieved that she hadn't messed things up but revealing herself. However, she knew that she had to act quickly and the tone in James voice only motivated her further. Steadily, she balanced on the different branches and made her way to the trunk of the tree, and after grabbing a study vine, she used it to repel to the floor. She landed on the ground with a soft thud and quickly scurried over to where James and the rabbit were.

She motioned to take the rabbit from James and very carefully cradled it in her arms. The bunny struggled a bit, but Adora held onto her with a gentle but firm grip,"Shhh... You're safe; nothing to fret." She cooed sweetly, her fingers gently brushing between the rabbits frightened eyes. A wave of worry washed over her. She said she knew how to heal, but she'd never really attempted it before. Would it really work? You're going to be fine, just focus. What was that Ancient Greek healing song that Chiron taught her? She took a breath and, holding the trembling bunny closer to herself, she began to softly sing lyrics she remembered,

"Ισοπαλία και πάλι οι γραμμές κομμένα πολύ σύντομη ,
Και να επιδιορθώσει το νήμα που ξεφτίζουν..."

After she finished, she observed the rabbit with anticipation. Did it work? A tense moment passed and then suddenly a slow grin spread over her face. The bunny's breathing was steadying! She cast a bright smile towards James and then looked back down the rabbit and resumed petting it, "Well, it worked! She'll still be sore, but at least she's out of danger."

"Glad I could be of help." Adora returned his smile and let out her own sigh of relief, internally thanking Chiron for teaching her what he had. She really had doubts about whether this whole healing thing would work, and she was so glad that those doubts proved false. Now all she had to do was experiment with her powers more. But hopefully not in uncontrolled situations like this. She turned her attention back to the rabbit, which she had secretly named Cosette, and giggled as the bunny nuzzled her hand oh so cutely. As soon as he asked his question she lifted her head, biting her lip slightly in embarssement, "Oh! My apologies; I ought to have introduced myself. But I suppose I can give you my name... if you give me yours in return." She chuckled, cocking her head to the side with a playful glint in her aqua eyes. Her mischievous look eventually faded and was replaced with a friendly grin, "My name is Adora." She replied, still petting the bunny as she spoke.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw James rub his arm. I'm not the only one who finds it cold, she thought to herself. She debated on whether to offer him her capelet or not, but then she realized that he did have a jacket and it was current wrapped around the rabbit. She pursed her lips in thought and then glanced up at him, "Do you want to hold her? She's really quite warm and I think she'd prefer to be with you. After all, you were the one that did rescue her in the first place." She remarked, her friendly grin still on her face.

Very carefully she held the bunny out and gently placed it in James' arms, a tender look on her face as she did so, "There. Now she's happy; aren't you, little one?" She cooed to the rabbit yet again, smiling as she watched it cover its nose with its two fluffy paws. She chuckled and glanced back up to James, "You needn't thank me; I'm just really glad I could be around. And I'm glad you were observant enough to notice she needed help and caring enough to stop and assist her."

Hearing his name she nodded to herself before another playful expression passed over her face, "Nice to meet you, James. /James, James, how are ya'? Isn't it a looove-ly day?/" She sung before cutting herself off with a chuckle, "It's a song from a childhood movie of mine." She explained with a faint smile and slight shrug. In normal situations she would have been far more reserved, but she felt surprisingly comfortable around James. His calm and quiet demeanor didn't intimidate her, so she felt free to be herself. Still, as much as she loved joking she didn't like bringing too much attention to herself, so she thought it'd be better to ask polite questions, and besides, she was curious about him. She folded her hands on her lap and looked at him, cocking her head to the side in interest, "While I was hiding up in the tree I saw your sword. It's really neat; did you design it or did your godly parent give it to you?"

((No worries; I actually took yesterday as a sleep day as well! ;P))

Adora grinned softly as her expression brightened up; she loved hearing people laugh, and even though James contained his laughter quite well, it still brought a smile to her face. Her eyes only lit up further as he spoke; he liked books! The question was, what kind of books? Also, what kind of work had he done? She shuffled through these questions, trying to determine which of them would be the least impertinent to ask, and then shifted in her seat slightly, "Ah, so you're a fellow reader." She remarked with calm excitement, brushing away some loose curls from her forehead, "Might I ask what sort of things you enjoy reading?" She asked. Usually Adora preferred the company of extroverts, since she didn't have to talk much around them, but it was nice to be around a fellow introvert and she found it refreshing that James was a good listener. She didn't like being around people who were so concerned about what they were saying that they ignored everyone else around them and James didn't seem that way in the slightest. She found it quite refreshing.

Her eyes wandered over the various details of the ring with fascination as she leant forward to observe it. It really was quite beautiful. /What a gift/, she reflected as she spotted her own reflection in the ruby. But now more questions fluttered through her mind, and these included who his father was, what was this door James had mentioned and exactly how long had he been in camp. She didn't want to ask them all at once -that might be a little bit rude- but she still was curious. "Is your father Hades, by any chance?" She inquired with a slight furrow of her dark eyebrows, taking a stab in the dark at his parentage and hoping to herself that she didn't come across as impertinent.

Adora had felt the conversation lighten too, and even though she was normally reserved around strangers, she found it easy to talk as well. At the moment, she was determined on being the best listener she could possibly be, and so she smiled when he mentioned his favorite genres of books. FANTASY… She rested her elbow on her knee and cast him a beaming smile, “We share similar tastes! Fantasy happens to be a favorite of mine as well. Do you have a favorite author or book, by any chance?”

Being the unobservant dreamer she was, she probably wouldn’t have picked up on any of the talk around the camp about Thanatos. She had a vague inkling that his father was from the Underworld because of James’ sword. His weapon didn’t look like Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold, so she assumed that it had to be Stygian Iron. But at the moment, she was mildly –okay, perhaps not so mildly- obsessed with the Underworld and the gods that lived in it, so when he mentioned that his father was from there, she quickly started to piece things together. She started to deduce why his father couldn’t be Hypnos, but as soon as he mentioned ‘the keeper of souls’ and ‘the god of peaceful death’ the answer immediately came to her. “Thanatos?” She hadn’t met any demigod who was the child of Thanatos; she didn’t even think that there were any. But still! That was so cool! She determined that she wasn’t going to ask too many questions, but knowing that James was a son of a god of the Underworld simply made her excitement take over her, “You’re the child of Thanatos; that’s fascinating, James! What is it like? What powers do you have? What is it like to travel through the DOORS OF DEATH?” She inquired excitedly, her eyes brightening as she clasped her hands together and patiently awaited his answer.