Masquerade! Paper Faces on Parade! (OPEN!)

[lyzander]

Alexander sighed. Another Thursday's walk home from Carlton's Prep Academy. He wasn't very preppy of a person. Happy and troubleless, sure. Preppy? No. Still, his father was absolutely intent on getting him into that school since he was born, so he says, and so when time came around for schooling, Alexander attended Carlton's from Pre-K to his eighth-grade status. It was a large, rectangular and unoriginal building. It was said to be nearly as Green of a building as it gets, energy wise. It was a bricken building, or rather set of buildings. It had three buildings all on one large estate. The grass had the mascot, some sort of mongoose painted artistically onto it. He wiped his forehead. It was a hot day, this one. Usually, his dad would pull up in his black suburban, and then they would chat or sit in silence until the five minute ride to their house was over. It was highly convenient that in this section of New York City, that all the suburbs around the school most naturally belonged to attendees of Carlton's. Alexander liked the neighbourhood. Alexander liked his life. Whether that would change or not was very much of his ignorance.

So for now, he strolled listlessly down the street, closing his eyes every so often, feeling the breeze on his light skin. It was peaceful. Except for homework. And the strange events that've been occurring lately. Homework was just obnoxious. Two lab reports and an English essay about superlatives due by Friday. How much could you write about superlatives anyways?! Add in Dyslexia, and he was set for a horrible night. On the other hand, what's been happening to his vision was something quite interesting. He spent many an hour trying to Google up the cause of it. Maybe he was schizophrenic or something...Not that he would tell anyone. He was NOT going to the loony-bin. He'd fight first. He'd— He scoffed. That was hardly sane behaviour.

What's been happening to him was not on the wonderful internet, however! Alas, even that disappointed him, what with it's infinite knowledge. It had given him no explanation, no....excuse for what was happening. Turning around in class, and seeing the math nerds as a group of hissing amphibians, the Jamaican Spanish teacher as a thrice-headed something or other. Perhaps he was losing too much sleep lately. It would make sense to him. The amounts of work they were given was usually extensive! Alexander had thought he'd seen something out of the corner of his eye. Was it a bird? Why, yes it was. It was a large, black raven, in fact. Most likely, that was what had caught his eye. They didn't get too many of those around there. Always an interesting sight when you saw one.

Alexander turned his head back into a forward direction, and kept walking. Or, rather, he would have if he hadn't ran into something most probably human. From the feel of it, it was at least a little larger than him. But who could it be? He turned to face the interruption.

[Wolfezth Deraine]

Vincent Horn was a guy of rather average height, standing in at just an inch or two below six foot. He has his own distinctive style of hair, having it curly and down right above his neck; and a big chunk serving as his bangs that always appeared to be in his eyes. He got used to seeing through it while no one can see his eyes. It proved infinitely useful in sleeping through meetings while maintaining the appearance of listening intently. He was wearing a black T-shirt with the letters "Blades'n'Nades" with a picture right under it depicting crossed swords with a pile of grenades under it. It was nearly brand new, just being ordered for identification for the upcoming gathering. As for his pants, Vincent wore some old jeans that were cut in at least ten different places down but were still serviceable. Vincent had a rather average build, not really being a big guy or a small, skinny guy. His eyes were impossible to see under his bangs, and the T-shirt helped define his strong-set shoulders.

He was also plainly and obviously armed with a longsword at his left hip and a kite shield on his back; the longsword in a black leather scabbard. The kite shield gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight, and from him walking through the city all day so far he's ascertained that mortals thought his kite shield was a large yellow backpack and his longsword was a weird looking pistol. He had no idea how his longsword looked like the small and compact pistol or how his kite shield looked like a smaller and more bulky backpack... But he also knew the mist was strong so he didn't ask anyone to closely examine it. He walked down a nice little street, filled with rich and lavish looking houses all around. His job was to check out the entire area to make sure there weren't any monsters, along with his squad and any early arrivals. The area had to be absolutely clear of all monsters due to the inherent risk of so many demigods together in the same general area unprotected by any gods. The city was a good hiding spot for any monsters wanting to bide their time for injuries or to plot and scheme for their next attack on where ever. And do general monster stuff, Vincent reasoned; he had never seen a monster not wanting to either eat him, kill him, or maim him for life so he didn't know what monsters did in their free time... But he doubted they celebrated tea time and ate crumpits every afternoon for fun.

Thinking along those lines he bumped into something, and he looked down. It looked to be a kid around the age of ten, so he just in a friendly tone; "Watch your step, kiddo; you could bump into someone a lot angrier than I am." and continued on his way, skirting the kid; his blade sheath brushing against him slightly. Mortals probably didn't feel that, as he probably just saw a pistol and thought something like "Holy crap murderer!! Mommy, I saw a murderer today and he had a mean looking pistol and everything! Call 911, 911! 911 NOOOWWW!!" Vincent grinned at the thought of the utterly redicules scene playing out in his head for the moment as he continued walking down the street, cursing the fact that he didn't pay attention to when his guard shift ended due to him sleeping in the meeting yet again; so he'd just keep going until someone either found him or called him. Sure, cell phones are normally a bad idea due to the monsters coming after the demigods who use them; but that's the entire point for right now!

[lyzander]

Alexander looked up to see a person he'd never met before. He almost took the route of innocence. Simply apologizing, and slurking off to do what he should have been doing. The backpack would have stayed nice normal, and the pistol, whilst already strange to be carried around in such a quaint town, would have remained normal. However, the pistol caught his eye. Alex was fairly accustomed to a gun's appearance, but this one was a very....unusual model. It was practically rifle-like. Or at least, could have been with perhaps a bit of exaggeration.

However, this was not at all what Alexander did. He had been going through perceptional increases, and took another look, focusing on the pistol. What occurred was quite the phenomena. Instead of getting a better view of the gun, and perhaps finding a model or brand name, something else occurred. Something else entirely. His eyes seemed to disobey him, as they seemed to be giving off a blurring, or double vision effect. He couldn't choose which it was. It was like seeing two different views placed on top of each other, both of them about at half-opacity. He struggled to keep his eyes straight. This included severe blinking and finally another event occurred, just as unexpected as the first. One of the vision-types was peeled away, so to speak, revealing only the other. It was nearly identical, but in its own way, unique.

It left the same person, walking away, but quite different at the same time. He let his eyes widen, than turned towards the person who had interrupted his walking, and ran towards him. "You. You're one of them! What are you?!" He asked, quite panicked and with questionable sanity. Both eyes were focused on him intently, so much to the point where they began to wish for a blink or two. Thoughts raced across his mind. What if I'm crazy. Oh God, I just went on a crazy spurt in front of someone! They'll tell the others, oh great. I'm schizophrenic. Seeing things, hearing things...Maybe he's not real! He wrassled with the ideas inside his mind whilst he waited for a reply. He was sure to keep an eye on that gun, or rather sword as it became after the other vision was ripped away, and was momentarily startled when the book bad he'd seen a minute ago had sometime became a sort of a shield. His blood pressure increased, and he was desperate for answers. What the hell was going on?

(Blegh! Its so blegh!)

[Wolfezth Deraine]

Vincent was taken aback when the kid came back with questions that seemed like... He didn't know what he was? This kid is either seriously crazy, or a demigod. What was the policy with that?... Damn, I gotta remember to stay awake once in a while in a meeting. I should have the policy booklet in my pocket... Vincent thought, stuffing his left hand in his pockets, and finding nought but his phone and a few bills. He cursed his disorganizedness and said to the kid as he pulled out his phone; which was a Blackberry he recently got from his girlfriend. "Looks like you either see through the mist, or you're absolutely insane. What do you see on my hip?" he asked calmly. He then flipped out the keyboard on the Blackberry and texted to his half-brother and squad leader Jack.

"hy man, i got a dmigod her and i ned to know how 2 deel wih the sitution"

"I JUST went over this a few hours ago... And where the hell are you? Your shift ended two hours ag, you moron! If you're out with Sierra, I swear I'm going to make sure you get beat up in ALL of the contests. I can do that, you know!"

"i wuzz sleping"

"Go to Hades... Anyway, you need to actually make sure he's a demigod. I assume you're breaking another rule and walking around with weapons in plain sight, and if so take them out of the concealers I hope you have and make sure he's just not a crazy kid. If he can see it bring him back to base, so we can fuck someone's week up having to take care of him."

"kk"


"'Kay, if you see a sword there and a shield on my back... Long story short... You're a mutant freak borne of a government conspiracy given to your human parent but born out of an alien." Vincent nodded slowly, talking completely and totally seriously. "But seriously, you're not going to like the REAL story much better than that fake one. If you see a pistol and backpack go the hell home; 'cause you're wastin' my time. If you see otherwise come with me if you wish, 'cause I'm not waiting up for you. It'll reveal part of who you are, and your inevitable part in the shaping of the world. The question is, do you want to be part of the underground revolution? Do you want to be part of the great overthrow of the current powers? Do you want to be instrumental in the shaping of the world as we know it? If you do than come with me back to the little shack where your greatest fantasies and nightmares will come alive before your very eyes. If you're just wasting my time, the sights will probably kill you; so let that be a warning." Vincent said to the boy after turning to him and crouching down slightly to look him straight in the eye. He then started walking at a leisurely pace back the way he came, back to the current base of operations which was only about a half mile away from where he was currently at anyway; at the juncture between this neighborhood and the poorer ones nearby.

[lyzander]

"Mist?" It was practically the only thing that Alexander could hiss out in a questioning tone actually on time. Everyone of his other words seemed too slow and lame to come out on time. He looked at the other inquisitively. He hadn't a clue what he was talking about. There was clearly no mist about, it was a perfectly sunny day. In fact, he was somewhat wishing to get back to his house. They had both and indoor pool, and a rather nice garden to boot. Alexander tried not to act confused. Apparently there was some sort of something he was supposed to know, according to the tone of both urgency and surprise in the other's voice. What was he talking about anyways? He was going to reply to his question about his hip, but instead, the other took out a phone, and strangely and randomly enough, began to TEXT on it, of all things.

Aha! Thought Alexander, as something in his mind clicked! I am NOT crazy! He is. It all makes sense now. Actually no. It doesn't...Damn! It explained not, the other things he'd seen recently. So, he followed the only lead he had, and grew annoyed with this dectective game. Still, he'd not yet quite passed go. And he desperately needed that two hundred dollars. Of course this was all just a giant and overwhelming metaphor about how much he desired the knowledge that person had.

"Alie—?!" Alexander half-started to respond to Vincent's statement about him being a mutant, with utter disbelief. It proved to both be correct and incorrect at the same time. He said it was a lie, that was good. However, Vincent was also trying to convince him that the secret beyond all his confusion was all with him. Or, at least that was what Alexander had taken from his words and demeanor. Perhaps he had AIDS or some sort of other crazy disease. Tonight was surely one he'd not quickly forget, that was known to him. He half-wanted wanted to pull out his EnV2 and tell his dad he might be a bite late from school. However, he didn't.

"How am I supposed to choose whether I even want to 'change the current powers' without knowing what is even going on? I don't even know you!" Nevertheless, despite it all, Alexander did follow him. He looked strange, books in one arm, and trying to keep up. His tall navy uniform's socks were getting quite scratchy in the the heat, and he was not comfortable with the tie or the khaki shorts they were having to be wearing each day. He hardly owned any comfortable clothing. Just a couple pairs of Aeropostale jeans and a couple of sweatshirts. He hated wearing them outside, however, for they were quite hot. On the other hand, they were comfortable wear for the cool temperature inside their house. His face was set, adorably, upon him. It was determined that he would at least check out what this person was all about. Anyone who could get away with carrying a sword or shield around in their suburb was worth looking into.

[Wolfezth Deraine]

Vincent grinned at the 'I don't even know you!' comment, but he kind of figured curiosity would get the better of the kid. He continued walking, but got out his phone and flipped open the keypad again and texted Jack again.

"can i get a ride, man"

"I'm going to see if someone's nice enough to give it to you; just give me a second."

"thx"

He continued walking down the road, but his legs were starting to get sore and stiff due to him patrolling for basically the whole day so far. "We should be getting a ride soon, kiddo. I have a feeling I know who's going to be driving, so don't be surprised if we start doing 100 or so on a city street we're gonna keep walking until he finds his way here. If I'm thinking of the right guy, he's not a native here; and has only been here once before; so bear with me on this one." Then he felt his phone vibrate slightly in his hand, with a message on it; but not from Jack.

"Heyo Vince! I'm comin' to pick y'all up. You were supposed to be back ages ago; but I heard your funky ass was sleeping in the meeting again. Aw well, the squads don't have combined meetings until the gathering actually starts; and good luck in the contests mate. Just hope to whatever is protecting you right now that you don't have to get your ass kicked by me TOO early. I wouldn't want to embarrass you TOO badly."

"yah, yah, get ur ass over her"

"Yes ma'am."

"go 2 hades"

"See you there, mate! I should be coming up on your location in about..."

The whole time, Vincent had continued walking; and didn't notice the blue, old, and beat up Toyota pickup truck following him until it pulled up right beside him and honked three times VERY loudly. Vincent looked over, and saw a kid around his age driving it; with short black hair and steel gray eyes. He wore no shirt, and you couldn't see his pants from under the door. He was lean and muscled in an athlete sort of way. He was tanned from all the time outside, and yelled jokingly with a deep, strong voice; "All aboard the Polar Express! Little boys in gay uniforms and kids that sleep a lot with gay haircuts not allowed!"

Vincent just grinned and said; "Heya Wolf, still think you can take on Mosso?"

"Damn straight, brother!" Wolfezth responded immediately. "The kid'll have to squeeze in, but we got this. And I can guarantee you this Vince, I'ma win first place, undisputed badass in at least of the contests. You don't even want to fuck with what what me'n'Alaina can do in the team double matches though; I'm telling you! I'm giving EVERYONE fair warning before we come in and kick your ass to back out while you can!"

"If she knew you were bragging THAT much she'd probably back out and let you go two on one, you DO know that; right?"

"Pfft! .... Yeah, probably. OK, all aboard." Wolf finished up.

Vincent said to the kid; "Don't do anything stupid and you'll be fine." as he walked over to the passenger side of the truck, opened the door and said; "You get in first; 'cause I sure as hell ain't gonna deal with Wolf's BO."

"Whaaat?! I'm fresher than the dew on the grass on the morning!"

"Worst... Comeback... Ever. Anyways, get in kiddo so we can get goin'." Vincent said in a part-friendly, part-rushed voice.

[lyzander]

Alexander's eyes were as large as the moon as the truck pulled up. It was clearly making him hesitant. However, he refused to let that, or anything the driver said for that matter, stop him from continuing on. At least he didn't make the uniforms himself. Dropping out would have been so characteristical of him, and he was tired of being boring anymore. He was a bite too intimidated such to say anything. Anyways, Vincent had told him not to do anything stupid, and he had the idea that talking about probably end up in something stupid. So, taking one last look from side to side, Alexander heaved himself up into the the truck, making sure to slide far enough over such that Vincent had room. He had a feeling Wolfezth wasn't lying when he said it was going to be a tight fit. This was putting a slight damper on his adventure mood.

Instead, he focused his eyes outside the truck. A group of children watched as they drove by, and Alex hoped that he didn't know any of them. They hadn't looked familiar anyways. His books looked out of place. He had just began to write his essay that was due for English, and he couldn't get through the paragraph inside the textbook in time to get any more written. The words were too small and in such a fancy font that he had to strain in order to read any of it at all. His green eyes didn't like the effort, so he jotted down things for the rest of the class. At a glance, they'd look like notes, but in reality, they were far from notes. Just random words arranged to look like sentences.

It took much of his constraint to keep silent. He wasn't usually this silent, it was true. He wasn't always talking, but these recent events were a bit....extreme to not talk about. Alex dared not ask what the big secret about himself that Vincent knew. It seemed like the wrong place. Maybe it was because he was naturally empathic in general, or maybe it was because he was rather trapped in between the two of them.

(Sorry its all I got! Tornadoey rotating clouds RIGHT behind our house. )

[Wolfezth Deraine]

Vincent wordlessly got in after the kid, and Wolfezth revved up the truck; easily going 60 on the street. He was wearing black shorts, with an Adidas logo on the left side of it. He absentmindedly tried to restart the radio on the truck, but it still didn't work due to a Minotaur's head crashing into it a few days back after falling through the back windshield. Needless to say there was no back windshield currently on the truck and there was a rather large hole where it should've been in addition to the normal vacancy due to the largeness of the minotaur.

They drove in almost total silence for about thirty seconds, the only sound the kid writing up something on his book.

"So..." Vincent began, flinching slightly as Wolfezth turned sharply; narrowly avoiding a collision with another car. "How's it workin' out for you?"

"Go to Hades." Wolfezth replied immediately, his tone making it clear that was something that shouldn't be talked about.

"Blegh, what weapons you using for the contests?" Vincent said, realizing he touched a bad topic and switching it.

"Same as always. Dual Sabres, bastard sword, and greatsword if need be. Also the assassin's blade has come in handy, but I bet it's a little TOO deadly for non-lethal contests. And for the grand finale of the contests I got something... Real fast'n'furious I bet you'll enjoy watching happen; the way you like explosions."

"Oh, really? What kind of explosion?"

"That's classified."

"It's just a contest, y'know. It's not like it's on the field; for real."

"Pfft! I've already tried the real thing, and it worked just fine. And I sure as hell ain't gonna have a repeat of last time's performance of Jimmy."

"Ahh... I forgot last time you came too late to actually be involved in any of the contests... And saw Mosso at work! I believe he won that swordsmanship bout that time, didn't he? Usually does."

"Yep, and I'ma knock him off his high horse and beat 'im with it."

"Gotta see it to believe it."

"Kay," Wolfezth said, pausing for a moment, "If I beat Mosso in the bout we will undoubtedly have, you hook me up with as many fireworks as you got."

"What do I get if you lose; or don't even make it that far?"

"You get the pickup!"

Vincent paused, and sighed. "So an old truck for pounds and pounds of fireworks?"

"Hell yeah! And you get to ride shotgun on the way to the finale."

"OK!" Vincent said cheerfully, "THAT makes the deal worth it right there! No one but Ned has ridden shotgun for ... Like, ever! How're you gonna make him move?"

"Let's just say he owes me." Wolfezth said cryptically, grinning.

The bundle of warehouses the squads were using as temporary HQ came into sight just as Wolfezth finished saying that. Wolf grinned as they got closer, and within seconds the truck was parked in the road in front of the warehouses.

"We didn't die; holy shit!" Vincent said, part serious and part joking about Wolf's driving.

"Want me to go drive on the highway?"

"HELL NO!" Vincent said, opening the door immediately and getting the hell out of the truck.

"That's what I thought!" Wolfezth yelled to him, and got out himself. "Come on, kiddo! Out of the truck."

Vincent was already at the nearby door to one of the warehouses, and opening it up with a set of five keys that he had on him.

"This little warehouse is the place where you're gonna find a lot of things out. You can choose to accept it or go into denial... And if the latter is reached and you try to fuck us over; I can guarantee we're gonna be gone before you get the chance. And if you even THINK about touching my Red Vs. Blue DVD set... I can't be held responsible for what I may do to you! So let that be your first and ONLY warning about that!" Wolfezth said to the kid, having his back turned to him watching Vince fumble with the lock. He in no way felt threatened by the kid, so he had no compunction to having his back turned to him. Vincent had just broken one of the keys and was cursing rather loudly in front of the door, beating at it. After a few seconds a hidden slider slid, and there was blue eyes at them.

"Vince, you're a fucking idiot. You're lucky I'm the one on duty or you'd be stuck out there." A female voice said, and she started unlocking the locks one by one, stopping as one jammed where the key was stuck in it. "You asshat, you broke the door; Vince! You're going out to get a new one ASAP."

"How are we gonna open the door? This thing is metal and isn't going to go out with a kick..."

"Wanna bet, Vince? WOLF, SOMEONE IS REARRANGING THE RED VS BLUE DVDS!! THEY MIGHT BE STEALING THEM!" The voice yelled out, and Wolfezth immediately grinned.

"They do that EVERY time they want something tore down... I mean REALLY?" Wolfezth muttered to mostly himself but to the kid too in a distant sort of way. "You only gotta ask, you jackass! If I was your superior I'd pull rank on both of you for being clumsy asshats! Now get the hell away from the door, girl. I'ma kick this sucker down." Wolfezth yelled, moving sideways to position himself about ten feet from the door; straight in front of it.

"There is not a snowball's chance in hell..." Vince muttered to himself as Wolfezth charged at the door, and leaped into the air to dropkick it. The lock broke under the new, intense pressure and the thick metal door went inwards; sending Wolf in an awkward fall as he landed with a thud. A girl about his age soon came into view walking toward him. She wasn't a small girl, standing nearly the size of Vincent. She had a slender, athletic build and blonde hair that reached down a little past her neck. She was wearing a blue T-shirt that said "Death's row is over there" with an arrow pointing to the right on it. She had a compound longbow on her back, with a quiver next to it. She walked over and extended a hand to help Wolf up, and he immediately took it and was up on his feet with a pull from the girl.

"All aboard! Except for Vincent, 'cause you're getting new identical locks and buffering up the big dent in that door; right now." The girl said in a commanding tone.

"But... I just got off of patrol!" Vincent groaned.

"Should've thought of that before breaking your key in the door. And jackass?" The girl said the last word with a grin, "You can come up with a better insult than that, surely!" she said in a joking tone while Vince grumbled and cursed under his breath about how Wolf got all the breaks and how he got to stare at ass in the meetings and all he got was boredom and how Wolf should have to buy the locks 'cause he broke 'em and just ranting in general.

"Come on kiddo, enlightenment is comin' for yah." Wolfezth yelled, remembering they brought a new guy on the truck with them.

"New demigod?" The girl asked, sighing.

"Ssshh! Jack doesn't like people stealing his thunder!"

"Jack left a little bit ago on patrol... Which means..."

"DAMN IT!" Wolfezth cursed, "I'm going to have help you explain this whole deal to 'im, don't I?"

"Yup, as technically we're the highest ranking people in the building right now."

"Blarg. This is gonna be awkward. Come in, kid! This is gonna take a while." Wolfezth yelled over his shoulder as the girl led the way left of the doorway. The whole warehouse was a big, open space with gray, smooth stone floors. It had quite a few steel chairs around the room, with tables and desks scattered in their own niches and in no real order. To the right of the door there was some stairs, and on the second story you could see TVs, DVD sets, computers, and other entertainment technology along with bean bags for comfortable seating.

They went to the left, and the girl and Wolf quickly got three chairs and sat them in a loose triangle, with the door being behind the kid's chair. This was to try and make sure the feeling of being trapped didn't set in. Wolfezth sat on the left of the kid, and the girl on the right. The chairs were about three feet apart, with the girl's and Wolf's chairs being only about two feet apart. All were facing inward, making a rather crappy triangle as aforementioned. Wolfezth and the girl sat down in their respective chairs. Both assumed a rather laid-back and friendly position, while Wolf idly wondered how the new kid would take all of the information they were about ready to give him; and whether or not he'd think they were completely insane or not.

[lyzander]

Alexander couldn't do a much of anything sitting there in the truck. So, the majority of the ride, he watched and listened to the conversation of the two go back and forth. Well, that and pray to God for dear life. He wondered whether the driver even had their license. He surely didn't drive like it. He hated to have thought such immodest thoughts, but Alex seriously considered whether he could have done better. Probably not. So with that, he obediently stepped out of the truck with a thud! as he landed upon the ground. By now, the clouds had blocked out some of the sun, which was setting. A rather spectacular sunset was drifting down below the horizon. A large blackbird was perched on the buildings roof, and he couldn't help but to remember the superstitions that it was bad luck. He was sure there was some story about them being white at first..It completely escaped his mind. Alexander half-ignored Vincent's little clues as to what he wouldn't tell him. Getting all pumped up with adrenaline might have him a bit less focused than needed. For all he knew, they were going to kill him or something. A nice warehouse wasn't quite as nice as it looked, in most instances. Maybe they were smugglers. Oh great! He'd get thrown into a box, and then shipped to Czechoslovakia to be whored to rich fat men. No, it wasn't his idea of an exciting vacation.

To tell the truth, Alex had absolutely no clue what a Red Vs. Blue was, so he decided to, instead, not touch anything. It seemed as thought it would prove the best technique for the situation. What warehouse a group of children could own was behind him. Vince's problem with door was simply resolved, much to Alexander's surprise. Whatever Blue Vs. Red was must have been quite important! Alexander wondered why the girl inside would ever need a bow or arrows, but Vince had a shield and sword, so who was arguing. Afterall, half of the ride there was something about fighting and driving. It could very well be gang related, but what gang used bow and arrow or sword and shield. Ugh. There was really no explanation for this. Maybe he had fallen asleep in that wretched world history class and this was all a dream in which he was surrounded by strangers. Seemed to make sense. He wasn't comfortable with the giant metal doors and the warehouse, but they wanted him to come in. He walked in reluctantly, automatically feeling a bit more pale as he did so.

The set up of the room was...less than organized. Alexander had half a mind to move all the tables into a more useful pattern. The fluorescent lights' buzzing game him a bite of a headache, such like which trying to study for a test or staying on the computer too long. His ears perked up, figuratively of course, for the girl asked whether he was a Demigod. What did that even mean? He thought he'd heard of it when someone was talking about Latter-Day Saints, but he couldn't remember for his life. he took a seat, the only seat open for that matter, and felt much like he was going to be interrogated. He looked from one face to the other, and managed to say, "What's a demigod?" He imagined it might be a new cult.

[Wolfezth Deraine]

When the kid asked 'What's a demigod?', the girl immediately turned to Wolf and grinned at him.

"Don't wanna steal your thunder there, Wolf."

Wolfezth sighed and said, "You're doing this on purpose, and I hate you."

The girl grinned and said, "Yup, I know yah do." She then reached behind the nearest desk, and pulled out two sabres and a bastard sword; both wrapped in black leather and handed them to Wolfezth. "That might help with your explaining there."

Wolfezth took them and stood up to strap them on his both sides of his belt for the sabres and back for the bastard sword quickly. "Thankee there Alaina, and now... This is probably gonna seem pretty damn weird for yah. In a warehouse with strangers. Theoretically, we could both be evil leprechauns and be out to sell you for a ransom of ten thousand gold pieces..."

Alaina interrupted, and said; "I ment TELL him the TRUTH, not get the poor kid scared to death, Wolf."

"Okay..." Wolfezth said, rolling his eyes. "OK, there's no easy way to prove or explain this... But you're a demigod. You ask what that is, and that traces back milennia to a lineage of Greek mythology..."

Alaina interrupted again with a sigh, "You know what? I'm going to explain it to him. He needs to know what he is, not an extended history lesson that will surely take hours to end the first chapter of."

Wolfezth sighed, and muttered; "We're just one big, happy, dysfunctional family here."

Alaina nodded and began; "OK kiddo, this is going to sound stupid at first but keep listening and you'll understand. No doubt you either have a single parent or a step-parent, with a supposedly dead or missing parent as well. Well, they're not exactly dead; to put it in layman's terms they kind'a just screwed your other parent and left. Happened to all of us demigods, because your missing parent is actually a divine being."

This time Wolfezth interrupted, "This disproving every single one of the world's current religions right off the bat. Myself being an atheist before I found out it was quite a shocker."

Alaina nodded, not caring for the somewhat helpful interruption at all; "Yup, all that Greek mythology you probably read about in school and dismiss as crap that you will never use? It's all real. Don't believe me? Call up whatever parent you actually GOT and ask them. If you wish to leave, you certainly can to go and talk to 'em. After you actually get out of denial, you basically have two options. Wolf, I'ma let you take over from here; you're better at a briefing than I am."

Wolfezth nodded, and began as if they had rehearsed this before: "The gods of Greek mythology were rather fickle and self-serving if you look through the texts. They did things that are downright evil and blamed others for it; killing them without mercy. They fucked everything that moved, and killed everything that tried to stop them from doing it quite frankly. If two gods wanted the same bitch; so to speak... They solved it by killing the bitch. Look in the Greek texts if you don't believe me. The further you look into it, the more you begin to realize they are just self-serving and downright corrupt. The way it stands now, they haven't done much... But history repeats itself quite often. If history does indeed repeat itself, this world will be torn asunder under the wrath of the gods over something absolutely stupid and pointless. The way it works is that gods use their children as cannon fodder to do their dirty work for them, because they could care less if they lived or died. They are protected by the gods from dying in mundane situations, like falling off a horse to some extent. When the gods feel like it; which is probably once in five lifetimes... They can guide an arrow, say... Straight through a target's heart from a mile and a half away when the arrow shouldn't've been able to go half that far. But they can also do the same for your enemies, which we suspect has happened many times. They have no problems lying about it, 'cause subtle killings of people they don't like is their specialty; after they trick them into coming to their side." Wolfezth's steel gray eyes were completely serious and you could see a hidden sorrow and regret in them as he spoke, his voice dead serious.

"The ONLY real help humanity got during its ENTIRE run of existence was fire; given to us by Prometheus. And what did the gods do to him? They chained him to a cliff and put a regeneration magic on him and got a vulture to rip off his dick every day for the rest of eternity. It would grow back every day, just to get ripped off yet again. He couldn't die in this state... Due to the gods'..." Wolfezth paused for a moment, and said with total spite;

"Charity of keeping him alive. He was in this state for hundreds of thousands of years... Millions even until Hercules saved his sorry ass on his journeys. Hell; the only resistance like EVER to the gods was Kronos coming back from Tartarus quite some time ago. Before our time anyway, and he was wiped out because he was an idiot. I won't elaborate, but he was a total tactical idiot. His mistake is so obvious it's rather pathetic, and it made him suffer defeat mere seconds before total victory. We and our merry band of adventurers are the modern resistance. Our odds, statistically speaking; of total victory are absolutely zero. But then again, our odds of surviving for any extended period of time without the supposed 'godly protection' is also zero... And we've been running for the better part of a decade now. Just goes to show the person who makes up these wacked out statistics is retarded. So, basically... Your three choices are thus. First off, you can run home and cry and whine and try and rat us out and be in denial for however long until you're either killed by monsters or come to terms with reality. Two, you can go to Camp and be the gods' little pawn, and I sure as hell won't stop you; but if you choose that route there is no guarantee we won't brutally murder you for trying to do the same to us next time we meet. The third and smartest option is to do research yourself and get back to us within the week with a decision, most likely to actually join us if you actually did do your research on Greek mythology. Whatever conclusion you come to, double check it to make sure it's correct. Then triple-check it to make sure your full conviction is behind it, because your decision will net you enemies and friends for life. Once you choose, it is extremely and deadly hard to switch sides in all but the most ideal situations." Wolfezth concluded, sighing.

"Damn Alaina, got any gatorade or kool-aid left in the fridge? My mouth's kind'a dry now." Wolf added, trying to puppy-eye Alaina into getting him something to drink.

"Stay focused, jackass." Alaina said in a clearly joking tone, grinning for a moment before focusing her attention to the boy.

"Fiiine. I guess I'm obliged to gauge your reaction to all that I said, which is all fact by the way... And that would be a LOT easier with words." Wolfezth said, reluctantly tearing his gaze from Alaina back to the small boy in front of him.