Misted Eyes

Grumpy, Freckles and Lilia- aahh!

Lee sat across from me, leaning against the wall of the training arena. It had grown dark, but the weather stayed calm and nobody seemed inclined to go anywhere.
"So," she said, after twelve seconds of silence. Well, it was more then twelve seconds, but ADHD tended to get in the way of idle counting.
"So. Am I Roman or Greek? Or, I don't know, a Viking?" I asked, chewing on a vegan muffin that had fallen out of the rainbow earlier.
Shoddy rainbow.
Lee and I had tried, for almost an hour, to get a hold of Mum again, but to no avail. Iris would calmly tell us Mum was unavailable.
"What did you say about being half-platypus?" She joked, her dead eyes crinkling.
"Hey, I could be a monotreme. Who're you to say otherwise?" I volleyed back. She rolled her eyes and wisely didn't ask what a monotreme was.
Damn Americans, never seen an echidna?
"At a wild guess, I'd say Greek. You've survived till 15, so your dad probably isn't an Olympian."
"We never were sporty people." I say dryly, earning another eye roll.
I couldn't care less if my dad was an Olympian, a marsupial or a lemon. Well, no, I wanted him to be humanoid, but, also,
I wanted him to have a damn good reason of why he left Mum.
Is he important, or did the wind just change? Did he leave selfishly or because he had a duty elsewhere?
Dammit, there you go, Ryan. I thought spitefully. Looking for a way to put your dad in a nice light. I don't want a scumbag's blood. No matter how quintessential.
"You'll probably find out soon enough," Lee said.
"C'mon. I'll take you to the orientation film."

A half-hour later and I realized I was paying attention to the film for roughly 90 seconds at the start and end.
I walked out feeling dazed. The darkness had closed over, and kids were filing in a mishapen clump to the campfire I had seen earlier. They headed from a pavilion, and Lee sighed.
"You missed dinner. That's fine, we'll grab you something ."
"I'm not hungry. Who was the dude with the organs everywhere?" I asked her.

"Uhh... Oh, .that'd be Apollo. He agreed to do the stunt. It was fake. He's fine." She assured me. I was halfway heigh a shrug when I realized I hadn't a clue of who Apollo was.
"A-"
"Apollos the god of the sun, medicine, healing, prophecy, art, music, archery... Did I miss something?"
I shrugged.
"Big guy in the gods?"
"Meh. He got into loads of trouble with his dad, Zeus. We haven't seen him in... I'm not even sure. Three months? The sun-chariots being driven on autopilot, I think." She told me, glancing at the sky worriedly.
"Zeus is Big Daddy, yeah? Sky and stuff?" I said. She nodded.
"King of the gods."
"Mmm," I murmured.
"Do you want a weapon?" She asked abruptly.
"Who doesn't?"
I followed her as we neared a shabby green garden shed. It was out with candles which flamed different colours.
"Grand." I noted. She smiled patronizingly and opened the door, letting me step through.
"Ah. Just the usual garden tools," I said, voice quiet in awe. Boxes and crates of swords, whips, bad-ass battle axes, chakhrams, bows and quivers, daggers..
And then, leaning against a wall, the dustiest, most dented, corroded, scratched, pathetic dagger I had ever seen.
"So, what kind of weapon do you reckon you're after?" Lee asked, walking along the aisles.
"That beauty," I say, pointing to a gigantic double-edged battle axe. She laughed mockingly.
"You probably can't even lift that." She teased. I raised an eyebrow and went to the hilt, hefting it. The hilt barely lifted an inch.
"Bam. Lifted. I'm ready for battle!" I claimed, triumphant. She snorted.
"And you said you weren't a sporty kid,"
"Hidden talents," I say, winking.
"No, but seriously. What were you like? Before, y'know, this."
"A popstar." I volleyed, then turned to the racks again. She sighed from behind me but accepted that I wasn't in the mood to talk about my life.
She helped me with a sword, but its point dipped so rapidly I ended up tripping over. We tried daggers, a 'celestial bronze' gun, maces, spears, knives.
I did everything to avoid the rusty sword in the corner.
"I think this is the one!" I called to Lee, who was digging around in a box. She looked up and burst into laughter.
"What?" I complained, "do I not look bad-ass?"
"Yes," she snorted. I shifted the giant spear that was as thick as my torso and as long as my entire body. I had splattered weird battle paint that I had found to make a quick portrait of myself on the side. I thought it quite flattering.
"That spear belonged to the god of war, Ares. I think you'd better put it down." She said, eyebrows knitted now.
"It? It? This is a she, Lillianna." I scolded, but propped the spear on a counter and turned to find a sharp knife at the bade of my throat.
"Hello. I will call you Grumpy." I informed it, unfazed by the angry Lee on the other side of it. She signed and lowered it.
"Don't call me Lillianna." She said quietly. I pondered asking her why for a rough 1.7 seconds before I decided Grumpy was pretty wicked.