empirestategodsThe campers are brought through Olympus. There’s a strange kind of daze over the crowd--like being in a dream, or waking up after anesthesia--as if nothing’s wrong, as if the world is totally right. Like waking up on the six hundredth floor of the Empire State Building is no big deal. Olympus is grander than anything anyone in the group could have imagined. Golds and silvers line the hallways, marble architecture making every building look imposing and beautiful. After leaving the first room, halls are huge and one, especially stands out. The campers only get a peek inside this room.
It’s so large it makes Grand Central Station seem like a shack in the woods. On twelve giant thrones sit twelve giant... beings. They seem to emanate power, and don’t notice the “children” passing by. There seems to be a heated debate going on in the room, however.
A giant sandy-haired teen addresses the room, hands spread in a gesture of explanation. “Look, I’m not saying it was Hades.” His voice is musical, and even with his mouth pulled into a frown, he’s beautiful. “But... it was Hades. Look at his track record. When something goes down and we’re all screwed by it, it’s normally Hades.”
“Brother!” A horrified girl who can’t be more than twelve accosts the teen. “Don’t show such disrespect!”
The boy shrugs, glancing now, at a fountain at the other side of the room. A frail rainbow is cast from the water, a face contrasted against it. Pale and stern, with dark eyes, he looks... unamused at best.
“Look, dude, sorry, but everyone’s thinking it. I’m just saying it.”
Hestia, still guiding them, frowns deeply at her family before turning back to the campers. “Please don’t worry. Things will work out.”
The daze lasts through the rest of Olympus, where they pass by worried spirits and lesser gods discussing things with judging glances at the group. It’s as if everyone is sizing them up, the new children, the new heroes. How many of them, they wonder, will make it? Making bets in their heads over who’s going to be the first in a funeral shroud.
The elevator down takes them in groups to the bus, where they meet Chiron, the man in the wheelchair--or the white centaur. He explains the basics of camp, of their new life here, of how things are going to work and, of course, who they are. He may not explain it well, but he tries.
The tour of the camp is short, simple. Satyrs watch them, tree spirits stare from the woods. All living beings seem to stop and watch as the new demigods enter camp. It’s like being an attraction at a zoo. Everyone wants to see the new children of the gods who may or may not save the others. Finally, they stop at the U of empty cabins. It’s quiet and it’s as if the ghosts of the last campers watch from windows. Looking back to the Big House, Chiron promises more details later, when it’s sunk in. The head of the camp, he warns, Mr. D, is still on Olympus, but he should be returning by dinner. Be on your best behavior around him.
And then, with campers facing their new home--the peeling brown paint, the worn out deck, the normally-but-not-now-crowded Cabin 11--the daze fades.
Welcome home.
[OOC; Feel free to make threads below for your characters below on their first day at Camp Half-Blood!]