Packing

[Shyfire]

"This Quest'll go fine", Mary-Kate thought to herself. She stood at her bunk, subconciously putting things into her silver drawstring bag. Flashbacks of the last Quest the daughter of Athena had been on were running through her mind. All she could think of was Nicole. Nicole had been the one who'd more or less raised Mary-Kate and her sister after the two had come to camp. She was also the one who'd died to protect the girls on the last Quest the three of them had gone on. The blonde shook her head in a futile attempt to rid the sense of dread from her body. She put ambrosia squares in the bag and sighed.

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[brinazarski]

"Packing already?" Riley questioned, her voice cracking a bit. She cleared her throat, and forced a smile, trying to act as if nothing was wrong. I guess I can't really talk right now. Perfect! Riley plopped down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. "I'm... I'm just going to wait a bit!" She paused, just to make sure she didn't break down for no reason. "I'm just going to think over my stuff and... and I'll pack later!" She nodded slightly, and faced the wall, biting her lip. Calm down, Riley. That was awhile ago. Nothing to be freaking out about... oh who am I kidding?! Of course it's something to freak out about... ugh. No. THOUGHTS! STOP IT! LEAVE ME ALONE! Think happy thoughts... Riley fought back a sigh, while pinching herself, doing her best to fight back tears.

[Shyfire]

Mary-Kate was completley zoned out when Riley came in and layed on her bed and said something. She tried to tune in and looked at Riley. "Did you say something?", she asked half-heartedly. Flashbacks of Nicole wouldn't leave her head. She had taught the twins the importance of a shield, and had given them their own personal shape-shifting shields. The daughter of Athena's left hand was immediatley attracted to the owlhead bracelet on her right wrist. She remembered how facinated she'd been when Nicole had shown her how the bracelet worked. Her eyes resembled storm clouds as the blonde remembered the last Quest. "If only she'd used her shield", she thought in anguish. "But then she might not've had time to save you", a deeper part of her mind reminded her. Mary-Kate didn't like to talk about it, but that was one of the huge reasons she was constantly onto Ari about her shield. A feeling of panic seized the teenager, and her chest tightened. "Oh gods no..", she whispered, "Don't let Ari be next..."

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[brinazarski]

Riley sighed loudly. "Nevermind..." She muttered softly, continuing to stare at the wall. The room was pretty quiet, and she heard the whispers of her sibling. "Ari'll be fine. Don't worry about it." She said, trying to sound encouraging, though her voice was practically emotionless. "She'll ACTUALLY have a shield..." Riley giggled softly to herself, the thought amused her, but she sighed again. "So don't worry. And if she doesn't use it, she'll get to hear a never-ending rant from me. Sound good, Sis?" The demi-god forced a smile, but hopefully she wouldn't have to give this rant again. Well. Kind of hopefully. If she did have to give the rant, at least that would mean Ari's alive. Right? Yes... Ari would live. She would use her shield. She would.

[Shyfire]

Mary-Kate nodded her head. "Yeah. She'll use her shield. It'll be ok", she muttered, more to herself than anyone. She looked up at her sister and gave a small forced smile. She shook her head. "It's the first time we've been on a quest since... you know." She met her sister's gaze. "Where's your shield?", she asked curiously.

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[brinazarski]

"Yeah. I know." Riley looked away, trying to put her focus on some other object in the room. The girl's feet were tapping- not like they did when she was angry. This tapping was much faster, in attempt that the sound might distract her. Meanwhile, her eyes landed on a clock, and she watched it. Tick, tock, tick, tock...

Her head then turned to her feet. Where IS my shield? She said inwardly, not voicing her thoughts. "Uh-uhm..." The shield Nicole gave you?! You did NOT lose it. Riley just wanted to punch that voice. No. I did not. Shut up and leave me alone. She got up, and looked through her drawer, shaking, worried she might not be able to find it. See? SEE?! HOW COULD YOU LOSE SOMETHING SO IMPOR- Her mind stopped there, as she found her dark little collar. Oh. She wrapped it around her neck, and turned to Mary-Kate. "It's right here."

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[Shyfire]

Mary-Kate raised an eyebrow at her sister as she searched for her shield. When she finally found it, Mary-Kate nodded. "Good", she said. She sighed and looked down at her bracelet again. "Nicole", she growled under her breath, "Why couldn't you have just used your shield?!". Sensing her irritation, her bracelet turned into a dagger. She clenched the hilt of the dagger as she would a lifeline. The blonde sigheh, attempting to release her anger, and the dagger went back into a bracelet. She looked up at Riley again. "So... Are you going to pack or what?", she choked out. "I can't do this. I can't lead a Quest. What if everyone dies?!", the thought of never seeing her sisters again made her depressed. And Saber. As annoying as he was, he'd never get his chance to prove himself a hero the twins were leading him to his death.

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[brinazarski]

Riley nodded. "Yeah. I'll pack. But first," She got up and gave her sister a huge hug, while trying not to cry. "You know we'll all be fine on this Quest, right? Don't worry about it. Ari's going to have her shield, we'll all be able to take on any monsters, and maybe we'll even be able to train the idiot. So don't worry. We're gonna' do great, and mom's going to be happy, and everyone's going to be happy!" As much as she tried to hold it back, her voice kind of gave away that she was about to cry. Just a little. Unfortunately, however, tears we're already slowly streaming down her face. Riley hoped that she could maybe wipe them away quickly when the hug ended, so her sister wouldn't notice. She absolutely loathed it when people saw her crying.

[Shyfire]

Mary-Kate nodded and embraced her sister. Tears trickled slowley along her jawline, and she could feel her sister's tears soaking the shoulder of her orange camp t-shirt. Mary-Kate hated crying in public. It made her feel weak. All she could do now, however, was hug her sister and try not to break out in absolute sobs. She hated to admit it, but she was scared. Everyone else looked to her for the absolute down to the point calculations. She wasn't quick to temper unless her family was in danger. In other words, in a way, she was sort of the backbone of the "family" she'd built at camp. She was the little sister that everyone seemed to, directly or indirectly, revolve around. They always tried to protect her. After all, it wasn't her fault she was socially challenged. Riley had social issues as well, but she was more prone to being too outgoing rather than freeze when someone tried to talk to her. She was Mary-Kate's other half. And Ari, well, she was the leader in their lives these days. Ever since Nicole had died, though she wouldn't always admit it, she had begun to take the twin's well-being (and coaching- though the two didn't always mesh peacefully) under her wing. And Saber. The engergetic boy was just getting a start on who he was. And within a few days, they could all be ripped away from her. The thought didn't exactly comfort the crying teenager.

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[brinazarski]

Riley could feel her sister crying as well, and she hugged her tighter. "Hey..." She said, her voice much softer, gentler, and reassuring, as it got whenever she became motherly and protective of anyone close to her. "Everything's going to be fine. We've all got each other's backs..." She felt that she had all of their backs, in a way. In battle, her intent was to protect everyone but herself. Of course, sometimes instinct and fear kicked in, then yeah, of course she was worried about her own well-being. Generally, though, she felt practically invincible, like she was a god, like she could never be killed. It wasn't pride that made her think this way- it was life. Nothing bad ever happened to her. Ever. She could run in front of hundreds of speeding cars, and somehow not get hit. She was always safe for some reason. It annoyed her, and so she didn't mind putting herself in danger whenever she could, just to test this "immortality." So when it came to battle, she'd take on every monster, making sure that those close to her- and even strangers, perhaps- remained safe.
"Nothing ever happens to me, so that's one less person to worry about. I'll do my best to protect you and Ari and even Saber, I guess. If I'm protecting you guys, and nothing ever happens to me, we'll all be fine. I'm like a living shield!" She joke, but she was still crying. "It'll all work out. This isn't a major Quest, probably just a few minor monsters will be after us. No biggie. We're strong. We can take 'em!"

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[Shyfire]

Mary-Kate wiped her eyes and stood back up. "You're right", she said, though her voice still wasn't quite as strong as it was before. She rolled her eyes playfully. "I still don't see why that Saber kid has to come along. I wonder why he could control you and Ari. And the fact he couldn't control me...", she frowned, deep it thought and her gray eyes clouded over for a second before she snapped back to reality. " Anyway. Yeah. We'll be fine. It's not like the world depends on it!". She smiled. "Maybe this is a good Quest for us to start off with again. It's not like we haven't saved the world before, eh Riley?", she gave a wink to her sister. "Ya know... Saber still can't tell us apart. We should use that to our advantage. How irritated do you think he'd get if he kept getting us mixed up?". There was a slightly michivious look in her eye as she regarded her sister. "It's not like we dress too differently. We could even switch weapons to throw him off!". Scheming, after all, was something the daughter of Athena did well.

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[brinazarski]

"Maybe you were just too freaking awesome to be controlled by Saber!" She laughed, wiping the tears from her eyes. "It will be a good Quest. We'll be fine! This'll be fun! Heck, it maybe even be boring, but let's try and make it fun! And oh yes..." She could imagine the moron confusing them. He didn't even know their names yet! "We'll wear our stuff for a few days, then switch. Suddenly, my name'll be Mary-Kate and you'll be Riley. Haha, I think we found a new source of entertainment!" Distracted, she was feeling better now, looking over the room, gathering things she would need for the Quest.

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[Shyfire]

Mary-Kate had to give a big grin in the direction of her sister. "Entertainment's fun", she agreed, "I'll bet the moron hasn't even picked up on the obvious height difference yet. And hey, it's not like we knew the difference our first few years of school. Being a twin can defenetly be fun sometimes. And we'll defenetly make the Quest fun!". The trademark sparkle that was always in Mary-Kate's eyes whenever she was around her sister retured to her gray eyes. She was now looking forward to the Quest. Everything was going to be fine. Riley had made her confident of that.

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[Shyfire]

Mary-Kate and Riley have been excused from this thread due to the necessity for them to be somewhere else. That is all.