It's like magic.

[Tristan Damaris Rare]

It's been some time since Capture the Flag has ended. It felt like the longest two weeks but it's not something he could not handle. When he first arrived at camp, his body was lanky. Tristan doesn't exercise when he's had an abusive stepmother intruding in his personal life when an opportunity arises. The one time he did, she locked the doors but one of his siblings opened it several minutes after. It was because of her that he had developed severe trust issues and he would cower in the face of a bully but being in camp sort of helped with that. During that CTF game, he saved a camper from falling towards the ground. Sure they had already sustained light injuries but hitting the ground would have worsened his condition. He couldn't help but think about that. Such feat made him elated. Though when asked to come to the Blue Team victory party, he politely declined and walked off somewhere to unwind. That camper's name was @ TJ Gardner .

One afternoon, Tristan was sitting on a sturdy tree branch reading Skulduggery Pleasant. It's none other than a fictional novel but he always loved to sink into the realms of fantasia. Magic, a skeleton who turned out to be a magician, modern day fantasy, and a strong female lead - a great combination for a read and certainly inspiration to try out to spells when he gets the time. Leaves of the tree slightly shook from the light breeze. The high sunlit clouds drifted across the clear blue sky. The whole landscape was bathed in a warm glow of the sun that had risen. It's a good weather to be invested in a book... other than a rainy day.

[TJ Gardner]

TJ had been over at the archery range with the rest of the Hermes and co kids, he was realizing even though he had been pretty busy back in Ohio all these activities at camp were starting to take its toll on him. Especially all that archery.. he hurt in muscles he didn't even know he had. He still wasn't sure why he wasn't allowed to bring his BB gun with him and use that but with all the rest of the cabin he could barely get a word in anyway.

He had decided after this latest exhaustion he was going to find a place to chill out of sight, the cabin was super busy and the head camp lady had some big obsession with keeping every inch of it super clean. TJ pulled one of his last bags of sweets from the pocket of his jacket and started to wander to find a tree worth ducking behind, it didn't need to be in the forest or anything but at least out of sight of cabin eleven.

It was only after he dodged out of the vicinity he came across the Hecate camper looking at a spell book while relaxing on the tree line. He was a bit put off by the sight of the dead on the front but it didn't look very... ominous. he guessed they could make them newer and less stinky old book style. The undead thing still put him off from the capture the flag but Tristan as pretty cool. TJ snuck his way closer like he had found out was the Hermes way and then from under the tree branch he suddenly asked "Stuck doing cabin homework?"

[Tristan Damaris Rare]

Tristan was still under the novel's trance - imagining himself through the author's delicate prose. He loved reading and each experience gets better when he can get around his learning disability. There are times when he felt like he's never had dyslexia at all but he was becoming more confident in his reading comprehension skills. It was but a familiar voice gave him a reality check and he blinked - suddenly, he is back in Camp Half-Blood. He would not consider it cabin homework but he could understand the some of the stereotypes of Hecate children one being that every child must prove their worth and study hard to master their skills in magic. Really, any one of his siblings can study their god given gifts in their own pacing. As for Tristan, his motive is self-incentivizing-- the child loves magic inherent from his love towards the fantasy genre. Being a Potterhead certainly has its benefits.

"You could say that. Mother's library is never ending. With a simple gesture, you can change the books on the shelves depending on what you are looking for though I heard it is more of a certain child of Athena's doing. She's the one who built the cabin after all." The young man sprung himself from the tree branch and with two palms facing down, he slowed down his descent until he landed onto the dirt with the crunch of a fall leaf. "You're... that boy from before. From Capture the Flag. How have you been?" Though he may not show it, he was clearly happy to see him again. Closing his book with his hand, it disappeared with a poof and the magical dust it leaves soon dissipated into thin air.

[TJ Gardner]

TJ's jaw hung open with the routine way Tristan threw about his magics. He had never really cared for books and they sure as heck hand never cared for him but seeing one vanish was cool and vindicating as it blended into the air.

"Yup.. TJ. Good to see you again." He looked back over his shoulder to check none of the hermes mob had followed him "Just laying low before the fireworks plan tonight, I have aches and pains in muscles I didn't even know I had. Those archery bows as heavier than they look as well." he said massaging a bicep. He had run around a chunk back in Ohio but nothing like this - the camp was pretty nonstop with climbing and fighting and shooting, and this was on top of all the cabin eleven powers they kept talking about. Everyone else must ether by fitness fanatics or dying of pain as well.

He took the time to put the tree in the way of the big house and his cabin "So getting a bit of breather for now. How about you - been good since the flag day?"

[Tristan Damaris Rare]

The boy snapped his fingers upon the enlightenment. "That's right." Tristan has trouble remembering names but he can definitely remember the face of the kid who nearly fell down several feet towards the ground. He also had a BB gun which did impress him. If he could enchant it so it can kill monsters, he would be much more comfortable shooting from afar. When he looked back over his shoulder, it was an indication that he was gettingay from someone or some people. He understood the gesture too well. Is that even normal?

"That's the point of training. To get you used to our weapons. It's quite a challenge for the first few months but it gets easier. And besides, your BB gun isn't here to stick around often so you would have to rely on a bow for that long range attacks. Even us Hecate kids do this too. We can't rely on magic most of the time. We can't even use them much during the day." He shrugged. Either way, he learned to "get around" it by limiting himself to casting charms, enchantments, and the simpler spells. Maybe some outside of that but he'd have to recharge until the evening to do more.

"I've been good, yeah." He nodded. The mere fact that he saved him from the fall got him excited to study more spells in combat application. "Actually, since you're here... Do you want to see some of the spells I've been studying?" 

[TJ Gardner]

TJ just glided past his need to remember the magic boys name (...something T-ish) happy enough to find a good spot to lean up against to be outta sight and catch up with him. He was kinda amazed at all the magic he could just do, he was only learning a bit about the Hermes powers but they seemed to be alot more hassles and training intensive - these seems to just come outta the books.

"This place is just so much though, theres always someone telling me where to go or what we are running off to next." he said with a bit of a huff "an I just cleaned up the alchemy station after it bubbled over an now its clean time of all the bunks again! this is supposed to be a break..." he realized he was complaining again, not that he didn't have plenty to complain about, he was down to the last of the supplies he had brought with him and wasn't sure ho long he could hide out before the tidy crew showed up..

As the conversation moved over to magic his eyes lit up though "Yeah! more magic sounds super fun - what kinda thing you been learning" He had seen disappearing things and flying for a bit and was definitely curious on what was  "and I think I just about got a smoke bomb out of the potions station, it kinda looked like it did in the picture.. I'm gonna be ready like a ninja the next time dead things shown up" he mimed throwing down a smoke bomb "Whoosh!"

[Tristan Damaris Rare]

Listening to him complaining, it reminded him of his first year at camp where it was an intensive training regiment no matter what god parent you have. The staff wanted every camper to be in shape in the event of real danger because they would hate to lose one out of oversight. Things began to feel a bit more relaxing once he entered in his third year but he devoted more time to his craft in magic cultivation. "That's what everyone says. Summer camp is supposed to be fun where you play games, hang out with friends, and eat smores. This camp is like that, save for the exercise and Greek stuff." He remembered some of his half-siblings using the Mist to pass the cabin inspections instead of actually cleaning them but once that trick got exposed the punishment was more harsher than just cleaning the bunks but with more places to clean.

"I can't do much at the moment but our magic does get stronger during the evenings." He began. Showing other people his spells was something he would do just to let them assess how versed he was in the mystic arts. It was never for the intention of bragging but to show what he had learned so far. Upon the mention of smoke bomb and his little mimic, he spoke up. "Oh, like this?" With the snap of his fingers, the boy disappeared into the smoke screen and his voice came from a bit way behind from TJ. "Over here."

He was smiling as he leaned an arm against the tree. Such act required teleportation magic and a spell to form a smoke, but it was nothing he could not handle. "Speaking of, I could make a couple of smoke bombs for you if you want. I have the spells and the ingredients so it would not take me long to produce them for your ninja acts. Whoosh!" Tristan mimicked throwing a ball and his arms expanded to demonstrate the smoke exploding as a laugh followed. 

[TJ Gardner]

TJ realized ho much the complaining as not going to make his sound as awesome as he was and tried to reel it back in a bit. "Yeah.. Its all good just alot of muscles I didnt know I had hurtin. I mean I can do em - just getting used to em that smarts.." he said with a grin. 

TJ listened and started to come to terms in his own head that this was the weaker styles of magics "Woooow, thats super nifty" it took most of what will he had not to test out the potion he had managed to brew in the cabin and see how it measured up. He looked around at the noise and heard how far Tristan had managed to get away from him. With this and the revelation this was weak magics his jaw just hung open.

He pulled the vial out. It was filled with black heavy liquid, moving and crashing like a storm within it and looked at it, the temptation to give it a go obvious on his face. "I gotta try this one - I followed all the steps and think I got all the bits right, it bubbled over a bit but for a smoke bomb its probably all good, just a bit more mist to add to the mix" he said with his grin going back across his face. "Only hassle as the smoke and storm I dropped into the back of the cabin but I fixed it in the end.." he had a look of annoyance as he remember the hours of cleaning having chased the worst of it out the open windows.

At the potion of getting more smoke bombs the temptation was quick to cross his face but quickly vanished, "I wish, I gotta learn this as part of the cabin.." he dropped into a bit more of a mocking attempt at the other Hermes campers "your dads god of innovation... a gift you have been given.. powers of alchemy" he shook his head "But its easy and how much you need to keep an eye on it." he wondered if working with the mage camper would be allowed, he wasn't quite sure what kind of secrets were allowed outside of the cabin or not, but if they hadn't told him to keep it secret it couldn't be his fault.

"But if you can keep a secret I got my first ninja assignment, I gotta work out a good prank as part of of one of those right of passage thing" he said proudly, he had heard about cool rights and plans when you joined a secret society or ninja team and was feeling like this would be an awesome accomplishment once he pulled it off "from being an unasssigh... un ass.. general camper type to being a full Hermes cabin member" his grin was solidly back as he told Tristan of his mini quest "Its why I worked all yesterday to make me one of these!" he said proudly showing off the ninja storm vial.

 

[Tristan Damaris Rare]

Only nifty during the evenings but he will take it rather than not having his mother's given gifts. It was because of her that he became this way but it was also her that his life went downhill. Camp for the most part helped him get distracted but it never failed to remind him what he could have had.

Seeing the boy take out a vial, it piqued his interest. He always had an interest for alchemy but he never got around to actually do it despite the branch of magic having an intimate connection to his craft of potion making. It concerned with the study of the composition, structure, and magical properties - a tidbit he recalled from reading Harry Potter but he would not know the difference just yet. Maybe he is to find that out today. "The Mist... An excellent idea. It's properties do well in concealing the intended target's eyes and maybe even show them what they wanted to see." Tristan grimaced at the mention of his accident. He could relate to that all too well. He had to clean up after his own mess too but all it took as a spell to clean everything up. The harder part was undoing the effects if one person had drank a potion by accident.

"Learning this kind of stuff is what being a demigod is all about. Learning about your godly heritage and what you have been given as a result." Hecate children never had physical abilities like Ares, Athena, Hermes, or Nike children do but there are other ways to be useful in battle which is why he dived so much into spells on combat application. "I do have to see that your cabin's alchemy entails. I think it's quite similar to our cabin's potion making. You should show me the ropes sometime." And certainly an opportunity to spend more time with him. He does not realize it yet, but it does feel like he is his little brother.

"Hermes! Wow. Congratulations man." Tristan did not know he was his father not to mention that alchemy is part of their trade. He did hear that a cabin specializes in that area but it was not until today he matched it with Hermes. "That's impressive. I can keep the secret but you have to let me in on your prank." Perhaps every cabin has their own rite of passage but he could not recall Hecate's having one. He did remember being asked to perform a spell and he had demonstrated his umbrakinesis instead... was that their rite? "So what did you have in mind? I can make a spell for a ninja suit... Purely cosmetic so it'll wear off within a given time for convenience unless you actually want to keep the suit for yourself."