Resting In the Strawberry Fields for a Bit

(All characters in here are my OC's but aren't in the reddit)

Kai looked around for a moment while sitting in the Strawberry Fields where nothing was planted and it was just green grass. Their eyes landed on Cassius Conwell, one of their friends as she sat next to them.

"What are you doing Kai?" Cassius asked. Kai replied with "Just trying to rest for a bit I suppose before I have to get up from here. Why?" They seemed genuinely curious of why Cassius asked this and stare Cassius straight in her eyes, as they don't seem to understand that eye contact isn't that direct all the time. Cassius didn't seem to care about this though.

"Want to do something else other than this?" Cassius asked in a light tone, hoping Kai said yes. "What do you have in mind?" They replied, desperate for something to do. Cassius was unsure for a bit but said, "Well, we could go find Coral? And maybe then we'll go and practice Archery?" She says, looking for any sign of disapproval on that plan. "Are we even allowed to practice out of scheduling or lessons?" Kai added. "Probably not..." Cassius looks down at her feet for a moment before gleefully shouting, but not loud enough for people to stare, "Let's go see your siblings! And if they're making any good plans for pranks." Kai stared at Cassius for a moment. "I don't think I want to join the pranking today. Whether or not it's happening."

Cassius looked a bit disappointed with her mouth set in an upside-down upturned smile. "Then what should we do?" Kai thought for a moment then said, "Can't we just go and talk around the Cabins? Or just enjoy relaxation? We don't get much of it." Cassius seemed confused by Kai's logic and made a face that someone who was new to camp would probably make after witnessing a harpy cleaning the dishes and not having been told about the harpies at all. "That works." She replies and the smile she had approached with had lit back up on her face.

Kai got off the ground and groaned as they did so. They usually weren't sore but after they'd been training with Liane out of sword lessons and getting absolutely beat to the ground by her on top of doing that for at least 3-5 hours... They had gotten multiple bruises that they didn't care to go to the infirmary for as they weren't visible so no one would tell them to.

"Kai. What did you do now?" Cassius asked with a stern but concerned tone like she knew how to make Kai say something instead of shutting her out as they did with everyone else. "Nothing, Cass." Kai blurted out in their best normal voice, but Cassius's demands had started to make them question if they would tell her. Not from Charmspeak because Cassius wasn't a child of any god who could do that, but because Kai was a sucker for her and her pretty wavy brunette hair, light brown eyes, and her freckled face. Then they decided they didn't care if she knew and told her. "Fine. I'm a bit bruised up, nothing serious." Kai says, hoping Cassius wouldn't drag them to the infirmary just because of it.

"I'll let you get away with it for now, but... we're going to the Infirmary later." Cassius says, leaving room for none of the excuses Kai was about to make that often involved Felix or Coral. Kai almost had crept out of their own skin to escape the dragging to the Infirmary that they were supposed to have gotten a few minutes ago but instead got that reply.

They walked down the Camp's paths and into the Cabins area past the Big House and the volleyball court as two children of Ares, Liane and Lucas, two that Kai and Cassius knew, were playing at the court. Liane was doing well until Lucas had spiked the ball and it popped on a very small but sharp rock that somehow had winded up there. Liane death glared him and shouted insults that were in English and surprisingly not in Greek, paying no attention to Kai and Cassius walking by.

"Those two are just amusing, and how'd a rock end up there? I say that Lucas might've kicked it or something or Liane just thinks it's his fault." Kai said, not trying to hide that grin that they had across their face that reminded Cassius of a raccoon scheming despite nothing about the grin resembling it really except maybe the mischief behind it.

"Yeah, I guess. But I feel like Lucas already gets enough trouble around here. Liane is a bit too rough, wouldn't you say?" She says and waits for Kai to reply in a hopefully calm and reasonable matter. "Eh, Lucas is a real big bully so it's not like he's being bullied and unfairly treated like the Ares cabin does to others." Kai replied then a leaf landed on their head. But before they could grab it, Cassius took it off their head.

Kai suddenly had the urge to look around and realized just how beautiful nature was when there weren't any pesky bugs. The medium length grass, the smell of the wind, the green trees that swayed in the wind. Especially the sunsetting sky with its yellow, orange, and sometimes purplish or bluish colors blended or blending together.

Kai hadn't realized that Cassius was trying to get their attention until a few minutes later. "Kai!" Cassius yelled, annoyed by the lack of response. "Yes? Sorry... was zoning out." Kai replies. "Do you have any idea where Coral might be?" She asked. "Yeah, the forges? Around the Hephaestus cabin?" Kai shrugged, only knowing of two places they might find Coral. They had already made it into the cabins area and past the Nike and Nemesis cabins to near the Campfire.

They caught sight of Coral with Felix and Tianya. Kai had always thought of them as a weird trio, after all, it wasn't very often that you saw a child of Hephaestus with a child of Hermes and a child of Apollo. Which meant Coral was hanging out with Kai's brother, not full brother but still their brother. "Hey guys." Kai called out. "Hey." They all said in unison for no reason but the fact that they were mildly distracted. "What are you doing?" Cassius asked. "Well... I'm trying to fix this for Remi. And they just came and joined me, but they didn't have any new information." Coral says.

Kai and Cassius realized that there was a paintbrush on the ground. "What kind of paintbrush needs to be fixed?" Kai asks. "Well... It's one of those weapons that has an object form. In this case, this one is a paintbrush." Coral responds. "What needs to be fixed then?" Cassius asked in confusion because it didn't look damaged. "Well, it won't turn back into a dagger. So, she asked me to fix it." Coral says in a calm tone. "Why do you think that would happen? And shouldn't you be in the Forges to fix it, or at least your cabin or Bunker 9?" Kai asked. "Well... I don't think anything in the Forges or Bunker 9 would fix it. And I didn't want to go to my cabin." Coral says.

"That's fair enough." Kai nodded at her awkwardly, as if not knowing the proper reaction or gesture to do. "You're so awkward Kai." Cassius observed but didn't really say so in a mean way.

After unsuccessful tries, Coral finally figured it out. The end of the brush unscrewed a bit and then it changed into a dagger. Tianya had done the job at finding that out, but Coral took the credit, which was quite rude. "Ah, that's very interesting, but... why are there weapons that are disguised as supplies or objects?" Kai asked. Coral was unsure and just shrugged.

Cassius dragged Kai away to the infirmary and Kai just waved goodbye to Coral, Felix, and Tianya as they were dragged away from the three.