Stabbing with the sharp end [Private]

"Yeah... uhm... well I found out that some of my half-sibs are a bit... thieving. Or mischevious? Something like that." he said.
"And it's apparently fine because it's in their make up... or something. I am not catching up but it's just that." he was still a bit confused.
"But I think it might be nice to share with them. I have some trouble settling in and this could help, thanks. But only if you give me some chance to make it up to you." he offered.

"I understand, sweetheart; these things tend to happen, especially when your still settling in. And think nothing of it, honey; I do this because I love to, you don't have to feel obligated to give me anything in return for it. Simply seeing you happy and smiling is more then enough for me" She explained as she finished her portion of the pudding.

"You keep telling that and I even believe you... but still I insist," he said adamantly. He felt a little bit like he was using her good will. So in a sense, he was doing it for himself? That certainly felt a bit selfish...
"What do you know, perhaps you might even need my help one day." he smiled a bit nervously since right now he really didn't know what he could be good for.

"Well, if you insist, honey; how about tomorrow, you come round and teach me about the food from your home country?" She asked him gently.

"I think I should be able to do that. Sure, no problem," he smiled happily since it was something that was in his power. There were some things he wasn't sure how to translate but he was fairly sure that he will think of something.
"If I manage to survive that long, in this place you can never tell," he tried to joke about it a little. It was safe from monsters but all the training was insane.

"Then its a deal then and don't be so dramatic; as long as you stick to your cabin or train with me, you'll be fine. Again, I'd avoid the Ares cabin since their physical training is just ridiculous and they are pretty hardcore about it" She explained, giving the option of a more relaxed series of events for Timothy if he wanted to take her up on it.

"You don't have to tell me twice..." he said and rolled up his sleeve showing the bruises and scratches he had from the fight with the Ares kid.
"I think I will rather train with you," he said quite honestly.
"And if I will be able to avoid the climbing wall with the rising lava I might even survive" he laughed nervously.

She smiled back.

"Indeed and sure, I wouldn't mind that. And yeah, I never was too good at the climbing wall, mostly because I wore heels instead of climbing shoes, haha" She said with a giggle.

"Although you know you don't have to do the climbing wall if you don't want to; sometimes some activities ain't as good for some camper then others. I did physical training, sure, but I also mainly focused on developing my powers and honing them until I had mastered them and even adapt them to various situations like you saw me using with the full plate armor or the various other abilities I've used in the past" She explained simply.

"I am not a good climber... and that's when there is no lava threating to kill me. I have absolutely zero interesting in dying because I fall in lava..." he said openly.
"I am trying to... ease into it, but it seems like everyone except you want me to just toss me right into insane training. But unless Apollo himself came down from Olympus I won't climb that deathtrap!" he said adamantly.
"So far I should try to improve my close combat skills... and perhaps try to improve my archery... though I think I am pretty good at that..." he said.

"Indeed; I'd recommend working on the things you can do. There's not much point doing something your not good at yet till you work on the things you can do. I'd especially try training your powers so you can use them at will since they seem to stress you out as your not sure when they go off, right?" She said softly, being very understanding of how he felt.

"Besides, using your skills and abilities can overcome areas your weak in. Just a idea off the top of my head, you could get like a grappling hook-like arrow from the Hephaestus kids that can pull you up on like a mechanism or something like that. I think you'll find that you have a lot of options if you really think about it" She said sweetly.

"Well, that's an interesting idea but I think I will have to learn what I can and can't do first. Once I learn that I can try to cover my weaknesses. But I will keep the idea in mind," it was an interesting idea but he didn't want to end up like Green Arrow shooting donuts arrows around.
"I guess I have years to find that out..." that was the scary part not knowing how long will he have to stay here.

He thought about it a moment before answering.
"Well, back in Prague I was playing football a lot... or... soccer here I guess? Uhm... I was really into archery, but that really isn't much fun in that anymore. But it feels like I spent most time just chatting with friends, playing games... " it hit him a bit that he really didn't do many fun things since he was here.
"Are there some funny things to do here?" he asked

"I think I enjoy more the "playing with friends" than the game itself." he really missed his friends. He left them a few messages about having to leave suddenly and that he will write to them soon but he never did. What should he write them - Hey guys, my dad is a god and I am training to be a demi-god in an ancient Greek demigod camp in the US? Yeah... that would go well...
"Here everything is fighting... even games. Everyone is talking about Capture the flag... but that sounds like just another opportunity for Ares kids to kick my butt..." that was unappealing in many ways.

"So far I had no luck finding friends... but I am not sure if I even tried though. I was...or am so wrapped around trying to exist at this place. Does that even make sense? " he asked.
"Yeah, I played both Portal games, but only the single player... never played the co-op." his friends weren't into puzzle games. Or story games. They liked shooting things.

"I guess I want to feel like this is normal even if it completely isn't," he tried to explain.
"I am not sure if I can relax at this place. It doesn't feel like home, it feels like a bootcamp with a touch of Greek architecture." he was overreacting a little but not that much.
"I think it's a great idea." he nodded with a genuine smile

"I understand, honey; but I will try to help you feel at home as much at possible and of course, come with me, sweetheart" She smiles back sweetly and leads Timothy to her bedroom; a fairly lovely and very girly bedroom with pink and red all over the place. She went over to a wide screen TV with a pink Xbox one connected to it. She took out two controllers; one red with pink butterflies that seemed to have been custom painted onto it and the other controller was the reverse as it was pink with red butterflies. She offers Timothy the red one.

"Here, take this, sweetheart while I get the game up" She says softly while she opens up a pink woven hamper and takes out a Xbox 360 version of portal 2 and loads it into the console.

Tim smiled and followed her. He was smiling a lot when Fauna was around since she was really the only one that made this place feel like home. Her room made him realize how spartan did his room look in comparison. There was barely anything there... he will have to do something with that... somehow.
"I will be quiet bad at this. I never played with a controller before. I guess that requires some getting used to, right?" he asked. He was only playing on a computer before.

"of course, sweetheart; we'll start at the first levels so we can get you used to the controls, then you should be fine once you get the hang of it" She smiles softly as she logs in and logs Timothy in as a guest account before loading up portal 2. She goes into the main menu and starts up the co-op section, going into the main hub world as she spawned as Atlas and Timothy as P-body.

"So, you start the first section, honey?"

Tim tried a few times to turn, jump all around the place and shoot portals. The shooting was the hard part... he couldn't aim at all. He was lucky this wasn't a shooting game or he would be dead as soon as they met the first enemy. Hopefully, during the first sections, precise portal placement was rarely needed.
"So... does my portal connect to each other? Or to yours? As I said I never played the co-op missions..." he felt a bit strange, Fortunately, GLaDOS explained everything...
"Oh... easy."

"Your portals connect to your portals only, same as mine" She explained with GLaDOS explaining the rest of it.

"Indeed, so follow me, sweetheart" She said, going to the first section and selecting the first level, getting into the pod and waiting for Timothy to do the same with his pod.

Tim nodded and got into the pod waiting for what will happen.
"Hello and again welcome to the Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment center..." he heard the voice of GLaDOS, making him smile. It brought back some memories.
"Sure, let's do this," he was smiling, concentrating on the game and felt generally refreshed