Song of the Wild [IC]

DayDreamer

Badger Supreme
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Writing Levels
  1. Adaptable
Location: remote beach near Otranto, Southern Italy

On hindsight, catching a ride with a friendly Hippocampus that had been lured in by her pipes might not have been the best idea. Then again she was still underaged, so getting a boat ticket to get to Italy would've raised many red flags and would bring the social services at her wake in addition to the monsters she encountered on her way to Corfu all the way from Arcadia in the Peloponnese. Jeans and shoes soaking wet, Atalanta patted the seahorse thankfully on the neck as she dismounted in the shallows. Or, well, as shallow as the creature could go without getting stuck in the sandy bottom. The cold water reached up to her chest and Atalanta felt lucky she had remembered to put her backpack in its waterproof sleeve for the duration of the trip in the sea. Giving the seahorse a last, loving pet of the snout, Atalanta silently thanked Poseidon for allowing her to travel through his domain with no problems whatsoever. She would've offered him something more than just her silent thanks if she had anything more than camping food, but she doubted the Sea God would appreciate the beef jerky in her side pocket.

She watched the animal disappear into the deep again before getting into the first order of business. Set up her jeans to dry and scout the area, gaining intelligence from local fauna and avoid any monsters that might want to hurt her. Now, from what she had heard from her centaur and satyr friends, she didn't attract monsters as much as the children from other gods, but after her close encounter with that one Hellhound, she figured that even one attracted monster was too many monsters. Making sure nobody was at the beach with her, the brunette stripped down to a new pair of cargo pants, Tshirt and hoodie, socks and her second pair of trekking boots. Then she put out everything wet on large stones to avoid getting sand all over them and left them to dry. Hiding her backpack and keeping with her the collapsible celestial bronze spear and her bushcraft knife on her belt, Atalanta ventured deeper into the mainland.

It hadn't been long, but eventually she heard it. The howl of a wolf. A mixture of pain, rage and fear. That was the sound of a trapped animal and Atalanta was quick to move towards that direction, spear at the ready. Her breath hitched when she came up a hill and saw a young black wolf bitting at his leg. Atalanta knew this was no ordinary wolf, but she had never heard of a beast that would have blue whisps of smoke caught in its black fur or such intelligent piercing pale eyes, eyes that were almost white. A small breeze announced her presence to the wolf and he turned to snarl at her, getting into lunging position. His fangs glistened in the sunlight and his fur stood on end, releasing even more smoke from it. This allowed Atalanta to see exactly what the problem was. She hissed in anger and disapproval. Wire snare. The wolf's right leg was bleeding and it had been swollen from the pressure of the wire cutting off the blood circulation. Atalanta folded her spear back into it's penflashlight form and clipped it back on her knife's sheath. "I'm not going to hurt you. I want to cut off that pesky wire and stop the bleeding on your leg, but I can't do that if you are going to chew my head off." She told the wolf in its animal tongue.

It caught the beast off guard to hear a human speak in his own language and he sniffed the air suspiciously. He stopped snarling, but his fangs were everpresent. "You don't smell entirely human. What are you?" The young wolf asked cautiously and snapped in warning as Atalanta had taken a slow step closer towards him. The daughter of Pan stayed put for a moment. "I am a demigod. I am a daughter of Pan." She explained to the wolf and raised her hands slightly in the air and clearly away from her knife. "A child of the gods? Never heard of this Pan." Atalanta titled her head. She hadn't thought about what would happen if an animal didn't recognise her father's name, or didn't feel his power through her. "My father is a lord of the Wild. A protector of animals. I need you to stop being afraid and let me cut you loose, otherwise you might lose that leg at best and your life at worst. Mortals will see you as a normal wolf. I can tell you are more than that." She took another step and the wolf snarled and tried to pull free again, only tightening the wire even more and causing him to whine out of pain. "I am not afraid of anyone! And I don't trust you." The wolf snapped and Atalanta rolled her eyes. She guessed she would have to rely on an empathy link to get this stubborn wolf to listen to her. An Empathy link was always a risk and if Chloe was here, she would've smacked Atalanta upside the head for even thinking of using it, but the wolf didn't like her, so she was fairly sure he wouldn't want to keep that link between them once he was free. Chloe would've argued to use woodland magic instead, but Atalanta knew that could pose a bigger threat to the injured wolf. Woodland magic was not her forte. Trying to keep the anger from boiling to the surface again after thinking about her sister, Atalanta reached out to the wolf both in mind and with her hand. Hand stopped mere inches from the wolf's snout as the link was made and an exchange of emotions went through them.

She could tell the wolf was stunned in shock at the experience. She could also feel that she might've shared a bit too much about herself and the reason she was in Italy, so she was quick to cut the connection and look straight into the wolf's unnerving white eyes. Her hand still hovered over the wolf's head and they stayed like that, unmoving, for what felt like eons. Then, finally, the wolf exhaled loudly and brought his head to meet her palm. The fur was soft, but it felt cold to her touch, like it held the snowstorms of the North in it. That was her que to cut the snare and carefully fold it and put it in her bag. Snare wire was always useful when in the wild. It worked on monsters as well as on animals. The wolf never left her hands out of sight as she worked with his leg. She traced his leg, carefully avoiding the open wound, in order to assess the damage. "It dug pretty deep. I can have you moving by tomorrow with a decent dose of woodland magic. But I can't stick around for more than that." She looked at the wolf, aiming to end the link now, before the animals decided it was a much better idea to make a run for it, but to her surprise, the wolf didn't want to end it. Which made it impossible to do so as both parties needed to will the link away. Slightly panicking, she tapped into the shared pool of emotions and that's when she felt it. The wolf had been a rant, shoved from the pack he once was in. She sighed. She wasn't sure if keeping the wolf around while she searched for whoever got her sister was a great idea. Especially since the beast was a magical one its likes she had never witnessed before. Then again, she was the beast counterpart of nature. If anyone could handle one rowdy wolf that would be her and not Chloe. And since when did she stopped to think about logic and not just go with the flow? figure out one piece of the plan after the other?

"What's your name?" She asked the wolf as they came into a silent agreement. "Skuggi." He replied and Atalanta had to try several times to get the pronounciation right in her head. What kind of a name was that? It was definitely not Roman or Greek. What in Hades was that wolf? She didn't ask him though. She had to do something about that wound fast and then get back to the beach and make camp for the night as the wolf would be in no condition to travel more than their current spot to the beach.

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Location: Boston, the Entrance to Hotel Valhalla

Vidar paced infront of the limestone wall as he waited for his other companions to arrive. He still tried to wrap around his head that other Pantheons existed and that they were supposed to find a Greek Demigod somewhere in Italy. His father hadn't been too helpful when he told him he ought to keep an eye out for the rowdy vikings the other gods were sending and that he also had to make sure that the set of Twins of Pan ought to be reunited and brought back to safety in the States. He had mentioned something about Pan's pipes being a powerful symbol of Nature, one that could potentially bring the whole world to heel and cause the gods from various pantheons all sorts of problems, but he didn't tell him what this girl looked like, where exactly they could find her, who was the one that had taken the other Twin and threatened the world and other useful stuff, like gee! who are the other two people that are supposed to go with him?

No sir! Tyr had only told him that he would know the girl when he saw her and that his two companions would meet him at hotel Valhalla at noon. It was noon and he was just outside the hotel. Not that he could enter it. He was not dead just yet and he didn't plan on becoming a dead Viking just yet. Thankfully that mission had gotten after he had managed to forge his two swords back at Nidavellir. His dwarven friend had also insisted in making him a new chainmail shirt and helmet for protection before he left. So here Vidar was, wearing a chainmail short tunic over his T-shirt and under his leather jacket, a viking visored helmet hanging from his belt and waiting for whoever was supposed to meet him. He really hoped he looked like a hockey player waiting for his friends to mortals as the sight of a kid with dual swords and a backpack hanging around with a coffee in his hand would've raised questions about his sanity.

---
Skuggi
@firejay1 @SkittlesAndSpike
 
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Bellanca's arms were wrapped tightly around Vedette's waist, her eyes jammed shut. No matter how many times they did it, she could not get used to the mind-boggling speeds and death-defying swerves Vedette liked to make on her motorcycle. She felt rather like they had been driving for years, her arms and face were sore, the wind nipping at her clothes, despite the helmet on her head, and was beginning to wonder if this was Vedette's way of punishing her. Vedette had been at "work" when she had gotten the sign, a white dove sitting on a tree bough outside of the condemned factory plant they were camped out at. Its white feathers had stood out starkly against the grey background, and the pink ribbon fluttering around one leg made it quite clear to Bellanca that this was a message from their mother. She had wasted no time in capturing it and unwrapping the message from around its leg. One of the twin daughters of Pan has been kidnapped, along with half of an important relic: the pipes of Pan. Otranto, Italy, by tomorrow. Expect other demigods. That was it. There was only so much information you could put on such a small piece of paper, but it really was far less information than they needed.

Vedette had always been good about listening to their mother. So far as Bellanca could tell, the two had made some sort of agreement that as long as Aphrodite helped them out here and there, Vedette would respect her directives and not cause too much fuss. Bellanca also suspected their mother had guided the two together in the hopes that she would temper her sister. But something like this wasn't up the other girl's alley. If she'd received the message, she probably would've sent the dove back with a Stuff yourself or something equally unhelpful and offensive. She really wasn't interested in the gods' agendas. It had taken Bellanca some work to convince her to go, at least to help this poor girl, and they had driven the 10 hours from Venice to Otranto at outrageous speeds, with only two stops, one for the two of them to sleep.

Bellanca peeked an eye open, squeaking and jamming it shut again when they sped through a red light to the sound of a large truck honking. Gradually, however, they slowed, until Vedette jerked them to a stop. "Bellanca. We're here. C'mon, let go." She said in French.

Bellanca wobbled to her feet, gently ungluing herself from her sister, eyes opening somewhat blearily. She gave Vedette a reproachful look, receiving only a smirking, raised eyebrow in response. Yep, her older sister had definitely been punishing her. "Where are we exactly?" She asked, defiantly responding in Greek.

The two of them had gone through Otranto before, to get to Greece, but this strange, secluded beach was unfamiliar to her. Few people were around, which was odd for a beach in Otranto in the summer. It was a relatively popular destination. The more she looked around her, though, the more it made sense. Unfriendly rocky structures surrounded the green hills hugging the small beach, and looking back the way they came, Bellanca realized that their last leg of the journey had been down a stony road that looked as if it had been made by a clumsy giant child several million years ago, a road probably only even visible to demigods. She was overwhelmingly grateful she had not had her eyes open for that bit.

"Mom left some signs to come this way." Vedette said with a shrug. "That's who we're looking for?" She pointed down the beach, and for the first time, Bellanca saw the clothes sitting on a large rock not far from the water. Footsteps led away from them through the sand, towards one of the hills, though whoever it was was bound to be deeper among the trees of the hills somewhere. This set Bellanca on edge a little. She was a city girl and a monster magnet. Forests were bad news.

Vedette knew it, too. She was eyeing Bellanca with an expression that said, "we can still go back, you know." Bellanca just raised her chin marched forward. She didn't have to look back to know Vedette was following. For a while, she managed to keep up her brave face, but then she heard the barking and growling sounds of a monster, and Bellanca almost blanched. She cast Vedette a quick look and noted that her sister was already holding her bronze bat at the ready. Finally reaching the peak of the hill, she saw the girl, appearing somewhat to be conversing with a wolf. She stopped abruptly, not sure what to do with this new development. Vedette didn't seem to have any concerns about that. "Hey." She called loudly enough to make Bellanca wince, even as the two of them continued moving closer. "You alright over there?" Sometimes Bellanca really admired her sister's attitude. Sometimes it just made her want to strangle the other girl. Usually it was some combination of the two.


Even liked being alive, so the sight of Hotel Valhalla was something he preferred to admire from afar, but he supposed it was as good a meeting place as any. The overlap between the worlds made it the most reasonable place midpoint from wherever they happened to be. He had come from Jotunheim. Of the nine worlds, he spent the most time in Jotunheim or Midgard. Jotunheim was the place where the most interesting things happened to him, in his estimation, while Midgard had different sorts of magic-users he could learn from... and occasionally had to escape from. In fact, he'd found himself in Jotunheim on the run from a particularly mean sorceress he had met in Minnesota. He sighed thinking about it, as he got closer to the Hotel. All he'd wanted was for her to teach him the first steps in changing one's shape. Instead, she'd tried to turn him into a rat so she could set her abused pet owl on him, so, of course, he'd burned down her house and freed her owl. Homeless people, he supposed, had a little more freedom to move around, because she'd chased him all the way to Massachusetts before he'd lost her and gotten to Jotunheim.

His mother had come to visit him there and told him to go to Hotel Valhalla to meet a couple other demigods who would then meet up with some demigods from the other pantheons. For what, he didn't know, but his mother's little quests always led to something interesting, so here he was. He reached the building and noticed someone standing there already, looking somewhat impatient and nervous. Oh wait, he knew this person.

Smiling, Even raised a hand to wave slightly, making a beeline for the other demigod. "Hey, Vidar, right?" He called, loud enough to be heard, but not to draw too much attention. He got close enough that the two of them could have a somewhat private conversation before continuing. "It's Even. Do you remember me? Did you actually die before me, or are you here for the quest with the other pantheons as well? What do you think they have for us?" He asked cheerfully, not bothering to hide the fact that he had no clue what the quest was about.
 
"Class 3-A Kozato Enmei-san, Class 3-C Shirogami Hisae-san, please come to the teacher's office."

The sound of the intercom was barely audible over the howling of the wind and the pounding of the rain against the concrete roof. Hisae was sitting atop the short building that led to the entrance to the stairs, skipping class. It was a well-known fact that this was a common place for her to be during a nice storm like this. Everyone knew, but who was going to brave the pouring rain to visit a girl who could accidentally zap you with lightning if you made her mad during this weather? Yes, it was peaceful, being alone. Hisae closed her eyes, leaning back and drinking in the rain... which somehow miraculously hit her, and yet never left her wet.

"Nice weather, isn't it?" A male voice asked, conversationally, somehow perfectly easy to hear, although he hadn't raised his voice to counter the shrieking of the storm. Hisae opened her eyes in surprise, looking for the source of the voice, and quickly caught sight of a boy, who looked to be maybe her age, maybe in his early-twenties, with jet black hair and dark, unreadable eyes. If this had been the first time she'd seen him, she would have been confused, but she'd pieced together who he was at her mother's funeral years ago, though it took a minute for that memory to reconcile with the boy in front of her. He hadn't aged a day.

"Father." She said, matter-of-factly, finding nothing better to say. There was a long pause in the conversation, before she finally managed to ask, "Why are you here?"

He grinned at her in a mischievous way, but she did not return the affectionate gesture. "It looks like something interesting's about to happen, you see. In a moment, my sister's boy is going to come up here and tell you that you've both been sent on a mission to go save a demigod from another pantheon, who is in possession of half of a precious artifact, called the pipes of Pan. They want you two to help and retrieve her, and return the artifact to them." He leaned forward conspiratorially, "But those pipes are strong, you know. So you take them. Take them for yourself, Hisae. They're more powerful than you might think."

Hisae opened her mouth to respond, but the door below her opened, and in a flash of lightning, the god was gone. Good old dad.

~~

A few minutes ago...

Mogami-sensei had been the one assigned to tell the two most powerful kids in school what was going on, mostly because she was the monster-fighting teacher, which was the only class Hisae regularly attended and excelled in. Also partially because despite being a petite woman with tacky bleached hair, she still managed to be the most threatening and dangerous teacher in school. She was an accomplished fighter, and everybody knew it. She looked at Enmei, who had been waiting with her, then finally sighed. "Hisae-chan isn't planning to come, I guess. Alright then, Enmei-kun, please go find her when I'm done explaining this all to you."

She pulled out a piece of paper and began scribbling to exemplify her point. "Listen carefully, okay? There are many religions in the world. You know that Shintoism, that's us, actually exists. It turns out so do a bunch of the other ones." She'd never been one to mince words, even though she'd also been shocked when she'd learned this fact just a few hours ago. "There are also the Greek gods and the Norse gods, and apparently there is a Greek god of the wild." She drew the ugliest doodle of a human being ever seen and scribbled the word for nature above his head. "He had two twin girls." Two lines and little circles to represent the girls extended from the picture of the god. "To each of them, he gave half of an important magical item, the pipes of Pan." It still sounded like the pipes of bread to her, but she kept plowing forward to prevent any potential interruptions. "And one of the girls" one circle got circled again, "has been kidnapped, along with her half of the magical item. So." She emphatically pointed her pen at him. "We want you, and Hisae-chan, to join up with the remaining girl and some other demigods sent from the other gods," she tapped the other circle on her paper pointedly, "and rescue the other one, returning her to her home, giving the magical item back to her pantheon, and things like that."

Taking out an extra piece of paper, she wrote down a description of each of the companions they were to expect, as well as where and when they were to meet with them. She shoved it into his hands and added, "And watch Hisae-chan. Don't let her cause any trouble, okay? We're counting on you, Enmei-kun. Any questions? No? Go on, fetch Hisae-chan, gear up, and go. Now." She pointed at the door abruptly, not letting him voice whether or not he really did have any questions.
 
At first, Arvid was rather bothered by the sudden quest his father had thrust upon him. The young man had been in the middle of a hunt when his father had appeared to him in an unnatural flurry of snow, ruining what would have been an amazing shot to his prey. His father had spoken to him about a missing girl from the Greek pantheon, and at first, he didn't understand why the god had come to him with this problem, let alone why he even cared in the first place. It was a Greek thing, so let the Greeks handle it was his logic.

Then Ullr spoke of what the pipes could do, and while he understood it why it was being brought to him, he still wasn't completely sold on the idea of going to help, at least not at first. But then he realized that this could end up being quite the adventure, one that would add quite a bit of glory to his name. This could be the start of the legend of Arvid!

That was how Arvid found himself in Boston, approaching Hotel Valhalla with the biggest smirk on his face. Although he insisted to his father he probably wouldn't need much assistance, he was, like most people tended to do, ignored by the god and sent on his way with some instructions. It wasn't hard for him to scope out who his companions were supposed to be. One of them looked like he was prepared for war, something Arvid could respect. The other one, however, looked a tad bit too pretty for his taste. He didn't expect much from that one.

He came to a stop before the two, crossing his arms and clearing his throat, "So...you're my quest mates, eh?" He asked rhetorically, raising his head ever so slightly. "I'm Arvid." He introduced himself, having absolutely no idea how pretentious he was coming off.​

*****​

Enmei nodded his head several times as he listened to Mogami-Sensei, giving small "Mmhm's" and "Makes sense" to confirm that he was listening and understanding what she was saying, trying his hardest to bury the snickers that would occasionally escape, thanks to her drawings. Mogami-Sensei may be a battle-hardened veteran, but she was by no means an artist. While he was paying attention, he was, as quietly as he could, bouncing his foot. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited. It was a quest! One that would take him westward as well!

"Yes, ma'am!" The moment Mogami-Sensei pointed at the door the boy was on his feet and dashing towards the door, nearly tripping over his feet on the way. He did his absolute best not to slam the door behind him as he broke into a sprint. A quest! A quest to the west, with the best of the best! Or at least so he assumed, considering they were sending him and Hisae.

Speaking of Hisae, he had to find her, not that it would be particularly hard. She was always at the same place: The roof, where she could be closer to the storm and further from everyone else. A part of him was a little worried about how she would behave on the mission. Like the storm, she was unpredictable, if not a teensy bit volatile. But only a small part of him was worried, the rest of him was rather excited. While his mother and her father's relationship had been rather...up and down, he had high hopes that his and Hisae's would be much better.

The Demigod sprinted up the stairs as he headed to the school's rooftop, not bothering to stop for even a moment. He burst through the doors and onto the roof, throwing his hands into the air upon seeing his cousin. "Hisae! Mogami-Sensei has given us a quest, we're going west!" He declared, sounding a tad bit winded. "We're to leave immediately!"​
 
Atalanta's head snapped abruptly in the direction of the voice as Skuggi's ears flattened against his skull and his fangs glistened like razors in the sunlight. The daughter of Pan saw two girls approaching from a distance and immediately stood up, moving infront of Skuggi and raising a hand slightly to get him to stop being so aggressive, something the wolf didn't like all that much. "Uh, yeah! My dog just got caught in a wire over here. It's all fine now!" She said as she tried to cover this up. She wasn't expecting to find any demigods here, so she had to come up with a mortal friendly story here. It's not like they could see the glowing black wolf for what it was...... Scratch that! That was a Celestial Bronze bat the oldest girl was holding. "I'm not a dog!" Skuggi snapped in disgust, but to anyone without the ability to talk to animals he would sound like a very agitated dog or wolf, depending on the lineage of the two girls. "Skuuggii!" Atalanta warned and turned to look at the wolf with a glance that said "Really? I'm trying to save our hides here!" to which the wolf reacted with a proud scoff.

"So uhhh, that's a nice bat you have there. Where did you get it?" She asked, still unsure of whethere these were mortals that had stumbled over a Celestial Bronze weapon or if there really were more demigods like her out there. Her hands appeared to be casually hanging over her thighs, when in reality she was ready to draw her spear and knife at the slightest indication of danger.

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Vidar suppressed a groan as the boy with no danger perception waltzed in the rendevouz point. He could understand the need for a capable mage in the team sent after the greek demigods, but did it really have to be him? "Yeah, I remember you. Almost got us killed by that Lindworm in Jotunheim. No I'm not dead yet. This was just the meeting point I was told to come." Before he could speak further though, another boy made it's entrance and this one Vidar knew he was going to have open trouble with. The boy reeked of pride from miles and pride was dangerous. Plus, selfrighteous people really got on his nerves.

"I suppose so. I'm Vidar, son of Tyr and this is Even, son of Freja. Are you an einherjar?" He asked cooly as he tried to assess their situation, strenghts and weaknesses. After introductions were made proper he would have to figure out a way to get to wherever that greek demigod was.
 
Vedette swiveled her head to look at Bellanca. The girl had spoken in English. Bellanca was the translator between the two of them, and it was she who'd had to learn all of these things. Still, English wasn't her best language. She thought she'd caught everything the other girl had said, though. She hadn't been speaking too quickly. She translated quickly for Vedette, snapping out Greek. She was still cross with her for that stupid speed they'd been using earlier. Vedette didn't love Greek, but she did understand it.

"Where?" Vedette seemed surprised by the question, responding in her accented and slightly wonky ancient Greek, assuming the other girl could understand it, without having an excellent grasp of it herself. Bellanca was still alarmed by the almost-clearly-magical black wolf still apparently somewhat communicating with the girl, and warily didn't offer her own reply at first. "Well, how do you get weapons? Mom led me to a cyclops cave that had a bunch of old demigod weapons in it. That's where I got Bell's knife, too." She pointed a thumb over at Bellanca.

"It's Bellanca." The Greek girl corrected, irritated enough to bite out her own response. She really wanted to smack Vedette for revealing the fact that they were demigods, but at least if it was a regular mortal, they'd have a harder time understanding, even if they understood modern Greek. Before her sister could say anything to make it worse, she added, "Uhm. Are you one of the others? You know, sent to help rescue the daughter of Pan." She felt awkward saying it and her voice trailed off at the end of the sentence. They never talked about demigod things with anyone, so it felt now like a forbidden topic. "They said we should expect other demigods-" her voice tripped over the word a little, "as well.... Please tell me that monster isn't your pet." She said, trying to make her voice sound a little less small, though monster made her nervous.


Vidar didn't seem too pleased to see him. Even could tell, but kept his observation to himself. He got the impression he made Vidar anxious, but it wasn't a complete dislike. He could work with anxious. He let Vidar introduce him when the new boy came by, but smiled in a friendly way. "Nice to meet you. Do either of you know what this is all about?"


Hisae popped her head over the edge and yelled back, "Ah, I know already, you sunny idiot. You don't have to yell." She hopped from the top of the structure, landing on the regular part of the roof lithely. She noted with some dissatisfaction that as soon as he'd arrived, the storm had lightened slightly, a ray of sunshine peeking through the dark clouds. Ruining her nice storm. She brushed past him in annoyance. Her weapons were all already on her, the only thing they needed to pack were supplies: money, matches, food, some first aid. Then they'd be on their way. "Hurry up and get ready. You know exactly where we're going?"
 
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"Me? Nah. Not yet." Arvid responded. If he was ever going to go out, he hoped it was on the battlefield in an epic way. "I'm a child of Ullr." He told them, smirking proudly, "God of Archery, winter and...snowshoes." He sounded as if the hot air he was full of escaped a little at that last part."Well, my old man told me we're supposed to protect some kid and her piece of a super awesome pipe while, hopefully, finding the other." He informed Even, squinting at him. "Nobody gave you the details?"​

*****​

"Oh, you do?" Enmei blinked, surprised but pleased. That saved him the time of explaining their mission to her. As curious as he was about how she knew, that curiosity gave way to the excitement bubbling inside of him. Her comment about him being a sunny idiot didn't seem to dampen his spirits, in fact, it seemed to make him glow brighter."How exciting is this?? The two of us on a quest together! Saving the world and meeting demigods from other pantheons!" In his mind, the two of them were something like ambassadors. As far as he knew, the Shinto pantheon had little contact with the others, so this was as good a chance as any to make a good impression. "You can't tell me you're not the least bit excited."​
 
Atalanta had to do a double take on the modern greek translation of her english as well as the accented ancient greek response from the girl wielding the celestial bronze bat. So they were demigods and they have had celestial bronze weapons. The younger girl, Bellanca, seemed to be angry at the other girl for some reason. Probably because she had revealed they were demigods and that they were here to rescue Chloe. However that had her raise up her walls a little. Nobody had told her to expect help from anyone. Then again she wasn't even sure that there were more demigods like her in Europe, much less that they would come to her sister's aid.

However at the mention of Skuggi being potentially a pet, the wolf was quick to respond with a snarling "How dare you?!" and he had taken a step forward, ready to teach this insolent girl a lesson, but a step was all he managed to take as Atalanta's spear had materialized in a flash and had pierced the ground mere inches away from his snout. "You are not the Alpha in this pack Skuggi. I am! And I have not given permission to attack them. Stay put!" She said coldly in the wolf's language and gave him a piercing look. There had been a brief staring contest, but Skuggi was quick to lower his gaze and flatten himself on the ground as a surrendering gesture, whining lowly as Atalanta nodded her head in approval.

"His name is Skuggi and he doesn't appreciate being paralled to a pet. We just formed a pack if you want to call it that." Atalanta said in perfect Ancient Greek. Growing up in the Ancient lands had its ups and downs, but their mentor had been adamant about them becoming fluent in Ancient Greek and not just rely on their instinctual translator. "You said you're here to help rescue Chloe, but I was not expecting any help. Who send you and how many of you are going to be?" She demanded, her spear was still resting on the ground infront of the wolf, who was still laying on the ground watching the newcomers as intensely as Atalanta did. The daughter of Pan was not ready to reveal that she was the other part of the set of Twins. Her sister had been kidnapped in broad daylight under everybody's noses and Atalanta figured she could trust no one at first glance after that.

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So at least Arvid had been somewhat briefed on their mission as well. He didn't seem to know much more than Vidar did or he didn't care enough. Vidar wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. The guy did seem like one of those types. "Yes, my father mentioned something similar. Apparently, the Ancient Greek Pantheon is as real and present as the Norse. Now we are supposed to find one of Twin daughters of Pan somewhere in Italy and help her free her sister and then, bring the two girls safely over to the States, making sure that their set of reedpipes is with them. The pipes of Pan are a powerful symbol of nature that could create all sorts of problems in both Pantheons, so we need to make sure that whoever is trying to get to them through the Twins doesn't succeed. I have no idea what the Twins look like or how we are supposed to get to Italy and find one of them though." Vidar explained in order to give Even a more detailed picture than the one Arvid so casually and indifferently described.
 
Bellanca yelped and jumped back as the wolf snarled and moved forward. Vedette had her bat spikes showing, ready to swing, but the other girl beat them both to anything, slamming her spear into the ground and having an exchange with the creature that Bellanca recognized from Vedette facing off gang members as a display of dominance. So much for the idea that she might not be a demigod. Frankly, the other girl made Bellanca a little nervous. She had a monster friend. A monster friend. Plus, she was being rather hostile, which Bellanca hadn't expected when being sent to help on a rescue mission. "Okay, yes, please don't set your monster on me." She said in a small voice, regretting the sentence as soon as it came out of her mouth.

"There, there. You're alright." Vedette said in bored modern Greek, patting her on the head with her free hand, and Bellanca realized she'd grabbed the sleeve of her sister's leather jacket. She flushed crimson and let go, clearing her throat and composing herself.

Since she was the better communicator in this situation, Vedette let her get her bearings before speaking for them both. Her ancient Greek was much better than Vedette's, albeit a little shy at first. "Well, I'm Bellanca, and this is Vedette. We're daughters of Aphrodite. I don't exactly know how many people total there's going to be, the note from mother just said to come here and expect more demigods, so I'm guessing that means more than just you and the two of us. I'm not sure why nobody informed you, when you already know her name. We weren't even told that.... Who are you?" She asked, brightening slightly. Introductions were always the easy part.


Even didn't react to the details to their quest externally, simply processing the information in his head and storing it away. "Protect some kid and find the other one" and "find a daughter of Pan and help free her sister" was not exactly the same description, but he got the general gist. "The Romans, too." He muttered, half to himself, but then he snapped out of his mental information gathering, and focused on his two quest mates again. "Mother doesn't really find it necessary to give me too many details." He explained calmly. "She likes me to figure out for myself which part is most important to me, especially if I'm going to be working with other people." He smiled, slightly, still somewhat thinking to himself. "I wouldn't worry about how we're going to get there, though. With something this important, we'll get plenty of help with that." He tried for a reassuring expression, but got the impression that it wouldn't really work on Vidar.


Three years ago, Hisae would've yelled at him to back off, because they were not friends, they were not doing anything together, and she'd only been sent because they probably didn't want her around anymore and couldn't figure out another way to get rid of her without angering Susanoo. Now, however, she just sighed and headed for the door to the stairs. Before they got there, however, she stopped, turned around and pointed her finger close to Enmei's collar. "You have something on your shirt." She told him, and when he looked down, she flicked her finger up to hit his chin and nose lightly. She snorted at him and turned away again, though the snort sounded suspiciously like a hint of held back laughter. "Seriously, you're so gullible. Not interesting at all. Come on, sunny idiot, we have things to do. And please. Be. Quiet." Yeah, that was a pipe dream.
 
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"Hm...weird," Arvid muttered in response to Even's smile. Why was he smiling about that? If he had been shipped off on a quest with almost no information, he would have...have...well he definitely wouldn't be smiling! "Well, that's pretty much the gist of it all." He confirmed Vidar's words, nodding his head. "I guess my dad ain't perfect either. He told me to meet you guys here, and that's it. No info on where to start or what she looks like. Gods, amiright?" He asked with a snort, a small smirk on his face. He leaned over and elbowed Vidar. "This guy gets me, don't ya, big guy?"

"You would do well not to speak so callously in the open." The limestone wall had made a large door-like opening, and standing before that opening was a tall woman with loose golden brown hair. In her hand was, what would appear to the three demigods a rather long spear, bigger than her even. It was clear that she was a Valkyrie. "You don't want to get in trouble before a quest." Irritation practically dripped from her voice, and she was nearly glaring at the three of them.

"Listen, I'm sure you understand the importance of this quest," She eyed them carefully, sizing them up, "You need to secure both pieces of the pipes, both twins, and return them as fast as possible. Who knows what evils will try to claim the reedpipe for themselves." She raised her spear and slammed the butt of it on the concrete steps of the hotel. A loud sound rang from the weapon, though it was quickly drowned out by whinnying. A chariot, pulled by two white, winged horses descended from the sky, landing in the garden behind her. A few backpacks sat on the chariot.

"The child is currently in search of her sister," She muttered dryly, shaking her head. It irritated her to no end that the girl was out and about. The twin should be kept somewhere safe, like here, where it was safe. "Thankfully, we know where she is headed, at least. She's going towards the Carnac stones, in a small village in France. I will be your ride there. Now come. Quickly." She turned around and boarded the chariot. "The faster we get there, the sooner this mess ends."​



Not only did Enmei fall for her little trick, he grabbed his nose with both hands, as if her finger flick has actually wounded him somehow. "Hey, I just care about how I look, okay?" He mumbled, his voice muffled and nasally due to the hands pressing down on his nose. "I'm right behind ya." He dropped his hands to his sides and hurried after his cousin, his cheeky grin returning. Sure he might have fallen for the oldest trick in the book, but he could appreciate a simple prank like that. Besides, years ago she might have socked him in the nose instead of just flicking it. As far as he was concerned, Hisae was definitely warming up to him. "Next time, I'll make it a little more interesting for ya. I'll be on my guard. You won't prank me so easily next time." In fact, he may very well prank her instead!​
 
Atalanta barely registered the scared reaction of Bellanca as she was pretty much locked into that starring contest with Skuggi. However, once the pecking order had been established and the young girl had regained her wits, Atalanta was leaning casually on her spear, wondering why Aphrodite of all the gods would send her help. "Well you see, unlike you two, my father has faded and no longer has the power to help or communicate with me." She said as she nodded in acknowledgement of Vedette's name. "I'm Atalanta and my sister has been snatched out of nowhere, so excuse me if I don't get all friendly with people who know about it all of a sudden." She paused for a moment and then added reassuringly "Skuggi won't attack you. I'm the alpha and he won't disobey me, but I need to treat his wound soon. So how about you tell me what business Aphrodite has with me and my sister in the meantime?"

As a gesture of good will, she shrunk her spear back to its flashlight form and slid it back to its place on her knife sheath. Then she turned her attention on Skuggi's would and turned her back on the two girls, pulling her reedpipes to their full size and starting to play a healing tune. She had no intention of carrying Skuggi back to where her backpack was and where she was planning to camp. So she had to somewhat heal the wolf now.


Vidar rolled his eyes as Arvid commented on the imperfection of their godly parents and frowned as the boy elbowed him as if they were on the same page. They most definitely were not. While Vidar knew the gods were not perfect, he wasn't as full of himself as to talk about it so bluntly and carelessly infront of Valhalla of all places!

The sudden appearance of an annoyed Valkyrie made him do a double take and he peered curiously at what the opening on the wall revealed of Valhalla before quickly sifting his attention back to the woman and the now fast approaching chariot. "I'm pretty sure all of us would have taken action if it was our sibling's lives on the line." Vidar commented to defend the girl and was quickly to follow the Valkyrie. He was of a like mind with her. The sooner they found her, the better their chances of success were. "Any ideas on who might be behind this or what she looks like? A name maybe?" He asked as he boarded the chariot.
 
Bellanca blinked, finally realizing who this girl was. Though the snappy, almost business-like near-hostility still put her on edge a little, she felt an overwhelming wave of sympathy for the other girl. She couldn't imagine what it would feel like to wake up and find Vedette just gone one day. Actually, the more concerning scenario was waking up and realizing she'd been kidnapped and having to worry about what exactly Vedette was going to do to try and get her back, but still, the poor girl had to be going through a hard time. Bellanca barely even realized the pipes that the other girl was playing on was probably the magical artifact they had been told about.

She sat down next to Atalanta, though Vedette remained standing and not looking any less bored than before, and raised her voice slightly to be heard over the sound of the pipes. "I'm so sorry about what happened to your sister." She said, gently. "Truthfully, I don't really know why mom sent us instead of some more useful demigods. It's possible we were just closest. We tend to stay around this area as it is. But we're here to help, if we can. I really hope we can bring your sister back to you again. I don't know what I would do if something happened to Vedette. We have different mortal parents, but we're all the other has."

Vedette rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "This is why I tell you you're too naive, B." She changed her conversation target to Atalanta. "It's clear that whatever you have is so powerful, the gods don't want to risk not getting it back. It's possible they even have some secondary agenda that can't be accomplished if you're alone. Half of all meaningful quests are traps and political moves of some kind, which is why I said we should ignore her note." Vedette said pointedly at Bellanca. "I'm not interested in getting involved with the gods' personal agendas. Bell is just here to help you, and I'm here because she and I are a package deal. I get that you need to go find your sister, but I would bet you anything something is going to happen because of the gods meddling. We just don't know what it is yet." She tapped her bat against the ground, having retracted the spikes again.


If Vidar didn't like Even, he really didn't like this Arvid. Vidar... Arvid... Their names were two of the same halves flipped. Interesting. He barely blinked at the appearance of the Valkyrie. What had he said? Important things like this were always taken care of somehow. The Valkyrie didn't seem pleased to see him either, but he'd run into them before, on occasion, and they always gave him this strangely warm, fuzzy feeling, like home. As he turned to board the chariot with the other two, he turned to look at the humans milling around them and snapped sharply, just once, muttering something under his breath to help feed whatever illusion the mortals saw instead of the lady with a giant spear herding the three of them through a hole in the wall to a horse-drawn flying chariot.

He picked up the backpack waiting for him, transferring the contents of his own little pack to the new pack. Gifts from gods were always better taken than not. "Thank you." He said, brief, but polite, adding to Vidar's question. "He means thoughts on who might be behind it, or some description or idea of what the kidnapped girl looks like, I believe. A description and name of both siblings, actually, would be helpful. If it's not too much trouble."
 
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"We have a few ideas, but nothing concrete." The Valkyrie responded to Vidar and Even as Arvid climbed onto the chariot. "We have our suspicions as to whom it could be, but the list is large. It could be the act of a smaller pantheon making a desperate grab for power, or one of the Greek's many enemies seeking destruction." Thankfully, she wasn't one of the people tasked with narrowing that list down. Her only job was to transport them to the girl's location. At least for now, anyway.

"As for the twins, the one you shall be rendezvousing with is named Atalanta." With all three aboard the chariot, she whipped the reins and the horses took off, galloping as their wings beat, carrying the chariot and its passengers into the air. It didn't take long before Hotel Valhalla and nearly Boston itself became but a speck in the distance. The horses moved fast, fast enough that the Valkyrie had to shout over the roaring winds. "Her hair is auburn and short, shaved at the sides. I'm sure you won't find many girls that look like her where you're going. The missing twin is named Chloe," She informed them, "I'm sure that, considering they're twins, I won't have to mention that they look alike...other than the fact her hair is green. But aside from that, they look similar."​
 
The melody did not stop as Bellanca knelt next to her, somehow overcoming her fear of the monstrous wolf, which had Skuggi look and sniff the air to commit the girl's scent and disposition to memory. It didn't even seem like Atalanta had registered what Bellanca had said, or what Vedette had for that matter. But Pan's daughter had heard everything and a lump had began to form on her throat. Bellanca's aura was too similar to Chloe's and Vedette's brutal honesty was much appreciated. No secrets. At least no visible ones.

The melody slowly died in echoes a couple of seconds after Vedette was done talking. "There. That should hold until we get back to the beach and I can properly tie it up." She said to Skuggi and the wolf slowly got up and tested his newly clog-closed foot. He took a limping step forward and turned to look at Atalanta with a pleased and thankful glare. Atalanta nodded and focused on the two daughters of Aphrodite.

"Of course something's supposed to happen, otherwise me and my sister would still be back in Arcadia, getting ready for school. But any help is welcomed. Up until now, we thought we were the only demigods in the Ancient Lands." She willed her pipes back in their pendant form and she expertly slid it back under her shirt. "I don't know what it is they would want from us however." She added and started to make her way out of the forest.

"You shouldn't feel oblidged to help me. You can walk out of this now, but I appreciate the honesty Vedette." She glanced back at the girl wielding the bat as she directed Skuggi on the way to the beach. She always carried around a first aid kit with her, along with some demigodly measures in the form of a small canteen of nectar and a tin of ambrosia the size of a poker cardset.


Vidar was paying attention and made sure to commit what few details they were given to memory. It shouldn't have come as a shock that there might be more pantheons out there since the Greek and apparently Roman ones existed as well according to Even. He would have to ask the guy how he knew that later on. For now, the speed they were traveling at was making small talk rather difficult, so Vidar focused on how he would fit his sword harness and the new backpack in such a way that drawing his swords wouldn't take longer than normal. Speed was the difference between life and Valhalla.
 
"I don't feel obliged to help you with anything." Vedette said, bluntly. "But someone's gotta keep an eye on this one." She said, prodding Bellanca twice in the chest with the tip of her bat. Her voice was more fond than annoyed, though. "And she is determined to be here."

Bellanca snorted at her and got up, brushing herself off, still keeping a little distance from the dark wolf. She hadn't realized at first that it was injured, but seeing its foot in the makeshift cast, she felt just a little calmer, especially since she'd never actually seen an injured monster who wasn't dead yet. The cast made it feel a little less like a hellhound and more like a regular wolf. She gave her sister a nudge and a little glare as the two of them followed Atalanta back the way they'd came, then continued their conversation. "It would be nice to know what the kidnappers or the gods want with your pipes, and why they sent the two of us. It's a little nerve-wracking not knowing." She moved a little faster to catch up to the daughter of Pan. "Do you have any idea where to start to look for Chloe? Is that why you're here in Italy? We really weren't given many details."

"And preferably a way to get there." Vedette added, "I have my bike," she gestured at the motorcycle that was now in view since they had left the cover of the trees, "but I don't think it holds three."
 
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A knot twisted in Atalanta's gut as she became witness to the siblings interaction. It was too much like she was with Chloe. Oh gods! Who knew what Chloe was going through while she was here wasting time trying to help a monstrous wolf and listening to Aphrodite kids wanting to help. Now, she wasn't ungrateful for the extra help, but she was also worried. Every time she went to sleep, Chloe would reach out and what they shared through their Empathy link wasn't pleasant or reassuring in any way. It made her both dread and long for the time she would dream. The time she would talk to her sister.

"The pipes? Why would they want our pipes?" She asked as her head turned almost owl like to look at the two girls. "And I know exactly where to find Chloe. Or at least where they want me to find her." She frowned. She hadn't been able to see the kidnapper as he talked to her through Chloe, but she knew it had humanoid shape. She couldn't tell if it was a god, demigod or other monster because the figure had been surrounded by an impermeable darkness. But she knew it was male and she knew he wanted her to come to her sister's aid. "The Carnac stones in France." She said and the frown turned into a feral grin as Vedette pointed out their need to find suitable transportation. "Oh don't worry about me. I can hitch a ride. But will you be able to follow me all the way on your bike?" She asked as they had now reached the beach.

Skuggi had promptly sat down as soon as they had stopped and he had tried to lick his injured leg over the leaflike cast that was over the wound. Atalanta was quick to recover her backpack from its mossy hiding place amongst the rocks. "But I'm going to set up camp here for the night. Skuggi needs some extra healing before he can travel freely and I need to arrange my ride." She added as she went over to her now dried clothes and began folding them so she could stuff them into her backpack.
 
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"You don't know?" Bellanca asked in surprise. "Mother said the pipes were an important relic."

Vedette, however, had more practical concerns. She didn't much care what the pipes could do or why anyone wanted them. "The Carnac Stones, huh?" She asked, eyes flicking to her bag, still sitting on her motorbike. The two of them didn't have cell phones, but they had managed to steal a battery-operated GPS device a long time ago that still worked decently. Vedette had never heard of the Carnac stones, or didn't remember them if they had. In France, they had mostly focused on the landmarks in Paris and Mont St Michel. Bellanca vaguely recognized the name, though.

"It's on the other side of France, I think, Vedette." She cut in. "Maybe a two-three day ride if we take it easy?" Her voice was a little conflicted, and Vedette could tell that she wanted to take it easy, but understood there was some need for speed.

Vedette thought about it, then told Atalanta, "I don't know if we can keep up with whatever speed a magical ride might take, but we won't be traveling with an injured companion, so we won't have any delays and can head out today." She clicked her tongue, annoyed. "Where we were was closer. She should've sent you to us, not the other way around." She said, referring to their mother, but Bellanca jabbed an elbow into her ribs, reminding her to be polite, even if their mother was used to her somewhat rude mouth. "I don't like this talk about them wanting you to find her, though, so maybe it is best if you get there first anyways. In case it's a trap. Be careful. We'll head out first, see you there."
 
Atalanta had wondered if she would see the two daughters of Aphrodite again after they parted ways that day on the beach. What they had talked about had worried her greatly. If their pipe necklaces were an important relic then what could it be? A cyclops that was on good terms with them had told them of magical items that could shrink in size or disguise themselves as something mundane to hide their true nature. Atalanta always thought the necklaces they had since they could remember themselves were a gift from their father. Fancy reed pipes and nothing more. Now, she wasn't so sure.

And of course she knew it was probably a trap. Take her away from familiar territory and its allied fauna and nature spirits and put her in a situation where the home turf was probably in favor of her enemies. Pretty obvious and effective since Atalanta was already on her way there. With Skuggi fully recovered in the morning the next day, Atalanta had packed her things and had hitched a ride with the Calydonian boar just before the borders in Northwest Italy. To her surprise, Skuggi had been able to keep up just fine with the boar, though he had been pretty tired by the end of the run.

Of course, the journey didn't go as smooth as she had hoped it would. If there was one breed of monsters she absolutely hated, it was Hellhounds. Those bloody darkness dogs would never leave her alone no matter what she did. A whole pack of them had appearead as soon as she had set camp for the night. That's when she realized that Skuggi was much, much stronger than he appeared to be despite his young age. With a startle, Atalanta had realized that he was barely an adult and yet he was already the size of a normal grey wolf, once they had sat down and talked a little. But no matter how much she probbed him, Skuggi wouldn't give out his identity as to what he really was. It would've made Atalanta suspicious had she not been able to tap into the wolf's intentions.

The next part of the trip was a bit trickier than she had anticipated however. The only animal she had been able to find willing to transport her all the way to the other side of France was a male Griffon, which Atalanta suspected might have had a thing for her nature aura. However that way Skuggi would've been left behind. When she had voiced those thoughts however, Skuggi had scoffed and dismissed her worries. He would've been able to find her just fine. He was of magical origins afteral. Atalanta hadn't been convinced, but the painful dream of that night made her relent and at the crack of dawn, she and the Griffin had been on their way. The last she saw of Skuggi was the black wolf becoming a black bullet that darted in the woods at her general direction.

It had taken her three days to reach the Village of Carnac, since they had parted ways with the Aphrodite girls. At around 5 in the afternoon, the griffin had landed again in an empty parking lot near the Carnac Museum of Prehistory. Atalanta had thanked the Griffin, giving him a rabbit she had caught during their day of rest in Northern Italy. After that, she ended up looking around the city, trying to get her bearings and getting a tourist map of the area along with directions on how to get to Carnac Stones. She didn't plan on visiting them tonight. It was too risky and she needed to scout the area first.

A couple of hours later, just as the night had fallen for good and Atalanta was resting at a bench in a small park, Skuggi stepped out of the shadows, panting and in great need of water. Atalanta had been quick to take care of the wolf. She knelt on the pavement next to him and pulled out her canteen, allowing him to drink from her cup as she petted his fur. To a mortal it would seem like a teenage girl petting her black German Shepherd, but to a demigod? That would've been an alarming sight. What none would notice, would be the small cord necklace of miniature reed pipes passed over the wolf's neck and disappearing in his rich black fur. If Bellanca was right and they were looking for her pipes, then it would be best if Atalanta didn't serve them on a plate for her enemies tomorrow.
 
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Thanks to the speed of the Valkyrie's horses, the joruney to the vilage of Carnac had been a relatively short one. What would have easily been a half-day flight on a plane merely took a few hours. The chariot had settled down in the open grass of Carnac without a problem. Thanks to the power of the mist, regular mortals would see the chariot and its passengers as nothing more than tourists arriving in a hot air balloon, and so the village had paid no mind to the demigods and valkyrie for the most part.

Once she found them a place to stay she gave the norse demigods another briefing, reminding them of the Pan child's appearance once more, as well as telling them that she should arrive within a few days at the least. She also informed them of the future assistance they would be recieving in the form of Japanese demigods. Once she was positive they were sufficient she took her leave, demanding that the moment they find the twin that they should contact her or the gods to decide what the next move would be. "Defend her pipe with your lives." Were her last words before she departed with her horses and the chariot.

For Arvid, the days spent waiting were torture, if not worse. Admittedly, he had expected the mission to be more...action packed, than it was. He didn't expect to be sitting around, waiting for this girl to arrive in the village. If he wasn't out making rounds, asking the villagers if anyone fit the description given, he was whining about the time spent waiting.

On the day it was believed she would arrive, Arvid was on edge. Gone was his whiney attitude, replaced with boundless energy and excitement. He hoped she'd actually arrived, and even more so that they would actually find her. If they didn't, well, he'd probably just go home. If he could a way home. When he, Even and Vidar set out to see if they could spot her, he was running about like mad, his eyes on constant alert for anyone that might fit the description that was given.

At first it seemed as though they wouldn't find the girl, but when they reached a park within the village, his eyes lit up with excitement. He did not notice the girl kneeling besides the large wolf but rather the wolf itself. "That's not normal." He spoke to both Even and Vidar, performing air quotes around the word normal. If he had been anyone else he would have been scared. In fact, he was pretty sure that his companions were scared. "Hehe, I should probably take care of it, eh? Could cause trouble." He slapped his hands together, rubbing them against each other gingerly.​
 
Even considered himself a patient sort of person, and he wouldn't say he hated, or even disliked, Arvid, but the other's seemingly endless grousing and posturing was actually starting to wear on his nerves, he decided. If the girl did not arrive that day, he was going to challenge Arvid to a duel with the promise that the loser would have to speak less than thirty minutes every day they were together. If he lost, no big deal, but there was a lot to gain if he won. He wasn't sure how much longer he could handle the constant flow of noise from the other demigod. He was almost relieved when they finally spotted the girl kneeling beside the wolf in the park. Of course, there was the large, most likely magical wolf she was petting like it was no problem, but he was starting to think he would have felt relieved to see her even if she'd been the sorceress who'd tried to kill him not so long ago.

He gave a surprised glance at Arvid when he suggested they need to "take care of it" - it wasn't like it was attacking her, what was he talking about? - and was about to caution against attempting any such thing, when something else caught his eye and he put out his hand. "Wait." He warned. "Those two girls..."

~

Vedette had somewhat assumed that they would arrive after Atalanta did. She'd never traveled by monster before as Aphrodite girls were not gifted in that department, but she'd always thought they might be magically fast or something. She was not expecting, after arriving in Carnac around midday, to find no one matching the girl's description in the area at all. Now that she thought about it, it would probably have been a good idea to set a meeting place, but she hadn't thought about it, since she didn't know the place itself particularly well. It wasn't until later in the evening that they finally stumbled across someone who had seen a girl matching that description in the park. When they found her, she was with that wolf cub. Vedette wasn't as scared of the monsters as Bellanca was, but she had to admit, she didn't really relish the idea of traveling with one.

With a sigh, she stepped closer, whistling once loudly so that Atalanta would notice them, and asking in Ancient Greek, "Hey, when did you get here? We've been looking for you." Bellanca stayed quiet. She had been rather tired throughout the journey. They rarely traveled so much in one shot.


Hisae hadn't been sure how they were expected to get to Europe and all, and had been greatly surprised when Mogami-sensei had met them at the entrance to the school and pressed two tickets into their hands, along with fake passports she had somehow managed to procure. She had looked down at the ticket in her hand a little nonplussed, and said, "These.... are plane tickets? Are we going by plane?"

The short woman put her hands on her hips and said, "It's fine, isn't it? I should think the children of Susanoo and Amaterasu shouldn't have any problems with a plane flight." And Hisae supposed she had a very valid point.

Having never stepped onto a plane before, however, she wasn't really prepared for it when it happened. The security checkpoint at the airport had almost confiscated her gun, ignoring the weapons made of Heavenly Tamahagane, and it had taken Enmei using a bit of persuasive magic to prevent that from ending their journey right then and there. Add the change in time zone, and she was rather glad that they had had a couple of days to recuperate after the flight before the girl was supposed to come. Today was the day, though, so she'd strapped on all of her weapons, made sure her pack was secured carefully, and wrapped her magical shawl carefully around one arm before heading out.