Look, it's a strike, and when they block, you step like this, and slash! What, is your guinea pig brain having a hard time? Suck it up. Do it again.

You nervously approach the girl roaring instructions at her vict- half-siblings. You've heard that she's been around for a long time. Not as long as her, but longer than him, so you hope she could tell you a bit more.

Whaddya want newbie? ...Oh, you want to know about the two fighting over there? The blonde and the dark haired one? Fine. Find a good seat, cuz' I'm gonna be talking a while.

Obediently,(and not without a bit of fear), you make yourself comfortable while she orders the others to continue on with their exercises.

He's a punk. He gets on your nerves real easy. A-I hate to admit this- good fighter. When he actually bothers to think, he notices a lot of stuff. He jumped into battle, all, 'Monsters! Slice 'n dice time!' even when he wasn't in battle. Reckless. Of course, only Athena's kids make plans with 200 steps, and about 5 different plans if something goes wrong, but he still rarely 'looks before leaping'. She calls him Seaweed Brain because he usually doesn't see, doesn't plan ahead. But don't let her catch you calling him that, because it's HER name for him. No one else. He doesn't like it from anyone else either.

She's the brains in that couple. Plenty of brawn to back it up, still. Don't touch her laptop, or any of her stuff. She's VERY possessive. When it comes to him, though, she was clueless as him. Well, she wouldn't admit it. She doesn't like admitting when she's wrong, too. And... she had some issues to deal with when he first came along. Another guy. He hurt her so many times, and that one, the one you see today, was there to hold her together. Guess it was for the best.

A small half-smirk half-smile decorates her face, softening her hard expression slightly. At least, until she looks at those training, and the scowl appears bigger than ever.

You idiot! Don't hold your weapon like that! HERE! Like THIS! (camper yelps) THAT'S how you do it. Now do it RIGHT. (camper yelps again)

Sorry, these guys are idiots.

Anyway, how it started... He came to camp, they went on a quest. You remember that 'top 10 funniest moments' on Hephaestus TV? Remember the two people screaming willy-nilly in a Tunnel of Love? That was them. Plenty of chuckles, seeing as where they are now. Kind of a Fate's idea of a joke, mild prophecy. Anyway, when he went to deliver the bolt to Zeus, he made her and his friend go back to camp. In case he got blasted by some irritated god. Smart move, for once. She actually worried about him. Couple threats about if he didn't make it back and stuff. Raised a couple of the Aphrodite kid's eyebrows. Heck, an Athena's kid getting along with one of Poseidon's was already amazing.

Second time around, not much happened. It turned out he wasn't such an obnoxious punk, when it counts. Still clueless, at that point. He managed to convince her not all Cyclops were bad, and that's something. She lost a friend because of a Cyclops, before. Oh, yeah! Two... memorable chariot races. One, we got nearly pecked and stripped to tiny shreds of meat (always the best way to visit Hades), and the second, the two of them, and said Cyclops who helped convince her there were good apples and bad apples, won. Appropriate. Creator of horses? Poseidon. Maker of the chariot? Athena. Worked out well. Well enough that she kissed him. On the cheek, though. Amusing, but disappointing at the same time. More people started catching on, by then.

Her grin widens at the next memories, and you ready yourself for a grin of your own.

Third time, now that was something. She got kidnapped, so he goes, travelling with Hunters (the anti-boy people that come around sometimes) and Thalia, to rescue a god and her. He manages to convince the Hunters, somehow, that he isn't a typical heartbreaker boy, is somewhat decent. And Artemis. Artemis called him a man.

You raise an eyebrow, perplexed.

That is one of the best compliments males will ever get from that goddess. In any case, when he gets there, he holds up the frigging sky for her and everyone for a couple hundred miles around. You know how the both of them have grey streaks in their hair? It's from that time. Raised even more eyebrows. Oh, yeah, did I mention they slow danced at the winter solstice?

She chuckles at the twitch your mouth has developed.

My thoughts exactly.

Oh man, after that... She goes to New York to go to a movie with him. That was the plan. Plans never work too well with those two. You'd think at least one of 'em would figure that out. Another girl, now the Oracle up the hill, saves him from a couple of cheerleader monsters. When... well let's say that Annabeth came back to camp in a fury. The silent treatment, for a while. Did I mention that she's extremely possessive? Well, it extends to her friends as well. They go on a quest again. At one point, she's the only one who comes back. She's crying about him, thought he died in an explosion. Mount Tam. You probably heard of it, saw it on the news, or something.

We were just going to burn his shroud, and the punk has the nerve to show up right then, after two weeks of her moping, all confused-looking. When Athena's kids start answering questions wrong, screwing up simple (for them) problems, you know they're out of it. She practically leaps on him, and then tries to hide her feelings. Well, too late, everyone saw her outburst. The Aphrodite kids had already been linking things together, but that was pretty much clinched it. She was mad later, she kind of figured where he was 'lost'. Something to do with the Fates and punishments.

The final battle, plenty of... call them moments. She took a poisoned dagger for him, got angry when the present Oracle showed up, saying things that ticked her off. Actually, ticked off is an understatement. I guess they managed to resolve it, eventually. Eventually, it was only him and her, fighting Kronos. According to a certain Hunter and a satyr... she was absolutelys terrified that he was gonna be a god. Anyway, he refused, put all you newbies before immortality and all. He could've been fried. Gods don't like their 'gifts' being turned down. So go thank him or something. Don't tell him I told you to do that. I have a reputation to keep.

And when he finally admitted his feelings... oh, gods, now that was hilarious. They were so focused on each other, they didn't even notice all of us creeping up on them, watching. We tossed them in the lake, but he had to go and spoil our fun, with that underwater kiss. We had to sit there, waiting for them, while they took their sweet time. Geez. He didn't even have the decency to get wet.

Yeah... That's them up 'til now.

You stand up, thank her for stopping to tell you their story. She stands up too, taking her spear in hand.

No prob, kid. ...You want to know what I think?

You wait, looking at her, head tilted, eyebrow raised, in a silent 'Go on'.

I feel half-sorry for what gets between those two. Whatever bothers trying to, deserves what's coming.