Work Text:
Clarisse walked into the room. Her black combat boots clicked against the ground as she stepped, they were covered in mud and probably other things. There was a group of new campers sitting in front of her, as she got closer to the centre of the room their voices became hushed whispers as they all turned to look at her.
Clarisse absolutely despised running orientation. She got out of it as much as she could like Drew did—but Clarisse didn’t have the charm speak or her good looks to back it up like Drew did—so she typically went the other route to get people to do what she wanted. Screaming, lots of screaming and yelling works just fine for her. This time it hadn’t. Jackson just couldn’t resist being a pain in her neck, he couldn’t just agree to take her turn to run orientation just this once. But no, he’s Percy Jackson and he just has to have a date with Annabeth right now.
Stuid Jackson.
Once she got to the middle of the room, she glanced at the kids sitting in front of her. There were about 15 new campers, all dressed in the same orange and black t-shirt that read, Camp Half-Blood, Long Island Sound, with the camp logo a pegasus in the middle of a circular Greek key pattern. Around all of their necks were military-grade dog tags with their names, birthdates and maybe a cabin number embossed into the enchanted metal courtesy of the Hephestus cabin, which had all been previously enchanted to withstand things like acid and magic. They were relatively new, after The Battle of Manhatten the older consolers had spoken to Chiron and Mr. D about getting some form of identification because of how many nameless bodies they had burned after the battle. It only became a reality after Gaea. They also adorned leather necklaces similar to Clarisse’s, except theirs weren’t full of carefully crafted clay beads that had been painted as a representation of each summer she’d spent here.
The room they were cramped into wasn’t too small. They were in the old infirmary in the big house before the Cyclopies and a few Hephestaus campers had built a new one just outside on request of Will Solace and the other children of Apollo, it clearly hadn’t been touched in a while, the old flowery wallpaper was peeling back and the ceiling was off-white almost yellow in colour, dust and cobwebs covered the ceiling but Chiron needed the meeting room that was usually left reserved for orientation, so it would have to do.
She took a deep breath in and out.
Gods she hated orientation.
“Hello campers and welcome to Camp Half-Bloods Offical Orientation.” she started with false and weak bravo, “My name is Clarisse La Rue, Cabin five, daughter of Ares,” she introduced herself quickly so she could get this over and done with.
“Today I’ll tell you a few things about what it means to be a half-blood, some house rules and a few things to expect while you stay here.” spoke in a monotone voice, saying the line from memory.
“First off, since you are here you should know that you're a half-blood and that doesn’t just mean that you get cool powers and learn to fight with a sword.” She saw almost every kid's eyes light up at that, like a We get powers and fight with swords! Kinda’ look, she took another deep breath. “You have to understand the responsibilities that come with being born this way.” She finished a little more harshly than she meant to, whatever if they were a little more intimidated of her she wasn’t complaining.
“We go on quests and fight monsters, real monsters that can kill you if you aren’t careful,” she warned, “Monsters can smell us, they’ll hunt you down and kill you once your guard is lowered. Most of you have probably already seen a monster before you got here,” she said more to herself, crossing her arms, the statement was loud enough for them to her, and with the look in some of their eyes told her that they have had run-ins with monsters.
“With that out of the way, house rules,” she said with little to no excitement, the camper clearly agreed with her sentiment by the sound of the groans and complaints that she’d drawn from the small crowd. “First off, be in your cabins before curfew, the harpies bite, hard. Secondly, two campers should not be left alone in a cabin together, there are sibling exceptions to this rule but still.” she droned out, having committed this spiel to memory, “Third, meal time is meal time, you miss it, tough luck.” she shrugged.
“Fourth, no cellular devices, it attracts monsters when we use them. Fifth, don’t go outside the borders unless instructed, and lastly, Persecus Jackson is not the camp deity, don’t burn him offerings, or worship him in any way, he’s got a big enough head as is.” she finished, the last rule was set in place after Nico Di Angelo had told a set of new campers that Percy was the guardian deity of the camp and they started burning him offerings, which made him a little more god than human. In the end, they were able to stop him from ascending into godhood, but it had been enough to make it an official rule.
“Any questions?” She asked, multiple hands shot up, “Didn’t think so, now so thing to expect around here are sing-a-longs from Cabin 7, which by the way don’t piss them off you don’t want to see that, a game of Capture the flag pretty much every Friday, the Hermes cabin playing pranks on everyone, Percy Jackson almost dying every couple of days, Rachel Dare’s eyes turning green and she’ll start speaking in rhyme, shes our oracle don’t question it, and um-,” she turned over the thoughts in her brain for anything else that happen on the regular that could be jarring for new Campers, “I believe that is it, the lunch bells about to go off so make your way down to the dining pavilion.” she made a sweeping motion with her arms, shooing the confused looking campers. One by one they all hesitantly stood and made their way out of the door and off to eat their lunch, leaving more confused than they did coming in.
Once she was alone, Clarisse signed out a breath of relief, but as she looked out into the hallway to the retreating campers all chattering among themselves, the faint trace of a small smile crept up on her lips.
She smiled because they might not have to live like the rest of the veterans did, in constant fear of some ancient power looming over them, threatening their very existence, taking everything and everyone they loved from them. Constant reminders of who they had lost, scars, memories that refused to be shoved deep down, nightmares that wouldn’t let up.
To give the veteran some sort of clarity and a healthy way to mourn without therapy, Will Solace and his siblings had come up with an idea to honour the dead even further than a funeral, on the back side of the Amphitheatre there was a large mural, the smiling faces of those they had lost all those years ago painted to last forever. It had been a group effort, all of the veterans from Manhatten had pitched in, along with a large handful of older campers that survived Gaea, hell even the Hunters of Artemis had joined in when they came to visit.
It had been, not a happy experience, but a good one. One filled with laughter when they had gotten into numerous fights with the paint or when they had bickered over what paint brush they got. It had been full of tears when they saw the face of a sibling that they had to burn, or when none of them could remember the small details of someone's face. Clarisse remembers holding veterans close as they shook under her arm as their body was racked with sobs. She remembers herself having to be dragged away from the damn thing when she refused to leave after she had seen the Aphrodite campers section on more than one occasion.
She hadn’t realized that her feet started moving until she stopped. She was behind the Amphitheatre, behind her was a well-worn path, made by campers travelling in and out of the small length of trees that had been planted to keep campers from coming back here. On the other side of her was a small river that led to the canoe lake. The rushing water and gentle rustle of the leaves filled her ears. Distantly she could hear the lunch bell ringing out. She didn’t really care.
She stared at the painting, it had taken them months to finish it. Brightly coloured smiles and happy eyes despite how many tears it took to paint them. Candles, flowers, note cards and little trinkets lined the bottom of the wall. Little things their fallen friends would have liked.
She looked up at the smiling faces, some she knew very well others, not at all. It made her feel guilty, not knowing them at all while they were alive. But she had learned about them after, once they finished, everyone went around telling stories about each camper drawn delicately on the wall, giving names to the faces she’d worked so hard on getting just right. Of the ones she remembered the names and stories of was Bianca Di Angelo, Nico’s older sister who had died on a quest 2 and a half years before Manhatten, Zoë Nightshade, a Hunter of Artemis who had died on the same quest. Luke Castellan, a traitor who in the end saved them all. Charles Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus who died taking out the Princess Andromeda, Luke’s monster cruise ship a week or two before the battle.
Her eyes caught sight of long dark hair and blue eyes. She had long eyelashes and a pink tint to her lips that curled up slightly into a small smile. In the moment Clarisse fell for her all over again. She didn’t hadn’t liked her just because she was pretty, she had been kind and smart and she cared about everyone she met. She had been the camp traitor. And Clarisse had been hopelessly and miserably in love with her. She would have fought a million drakōns just to see her in the flesh again.
She stepped forward and put her hand up to brush against her cheek, memories of holding the same dying face scorched by acid haunted her. And if her eyes got a little misty and she let a few tears roll down her cheeks, well then that wasn’t anyone else's business.
Maybe she likes orientation more than she’d like to admit, maybe that's because it reminds her that there's hope for the next generation of demi-gods, that maybe there will be a day when the sun rises and their parents stay true to their word and care about their children just a little more.
She’d like to think she’ll get to live long enough to see that day come. But she doesn’t have high hopes. She likes to think that when that day comes she’ll have done enough to pass judgment and make it into Elysium, and spend the rest of eternity with a girl of long black hair blue eyes and a small curl of her lips that makes Clarisse’s knees go weak.
She can only hope.