floriography [ stories five ]

carnation || d

[ this should be the conclusion to this arc and i kinda wanna do another that's more chill but i also wanna like do my randomly generated thing but for another character

stay safe,
lew. ]

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When I wake up, everything feels off. I'm back at camp, there's people bustling around me, but I can't hear anything.

The first sign that something's majorly wrong is that Will Solace from Apollo Cabin is somewhat hovering around me. Solace is the best healer we've got, so he's not going to be treating like... minor shit.

I force myself to sit up, painfully aware of the lack of sound. It's pissing me off, so I rub my ears, hoping and literally praying that even a small sound will come through. And nothing. For the first time in a long time, my own fear grabs me by the throat. Losing a sense is something on the very short list of my fears.

It isn't long before Solace notices me sitting up, and honestly? I'd love to hear his overly cheerful voice in that moment. His mouth is moving, but no sound.

I suck at reading lips, and the gravity of the situation just hits me all at once. I'm honestly ashamed to admit that I start crying.

He takes my hands in his, and through my tears, I catch two words on his lips. I'm sorry.

—

Getting used to no sound is difficult.

I don't talk as much as I used to. I don't hang around Ezra, I don't participate much in anything. Bailey and Ronnie hover, which pisses me off.

Best any of us can guess is that I was hit by a curse or something. The girl Bailey and I saved has apologized so many times, she's outdoing Lewis. But I don't think it was her fault at all. I just messed up.

According to Bailey, I got the shit slapped out of me by a monster, one that he and the girl managed to kill with his slingshot and ball bearings and her broken spear. Then, the two of them dragged my sorry ass to a safe-ish place to call Chiron and wait.

Ezra and Ronnie found Aphrodite's missing mirror, returning it just in time to save Lewis from getting charmspoke into jumping into the ocean or something. He's afraid of drowning, so... that's a good thing, I guess.

The girl we found goes by Ellie. Between notes from her and Bailey, it turns out, she's a badass. Ditched the Roman camp, hiked all the way across the country, nearly got killed a bunch of times. She keeps on telling us that she had to leave, but won't tell us why. She's sad, though, and you can always catch glimpses of a guy with blonde hair and a dumb sheet-dress thing in her sketchbook before she snaps it shut. (Ronnie informs me that it's called a toga, but who the fuck cares? It looks stupid as fuck.)

Hopefully, this is just a curse and it'll fade soon. As much as I hate to admit it, I miss hearing Ezra making fun of everyone. And the camp singalongs. And Bailey's nervous rambling. And even the satyrs and their shitty reed pipe playing. Fuck, I'd even be okay with someone charmspeaking me again.

One of the Athena kids has been looking for a cure, and a couple Hecate and Hephaestus kids have been working on a hearing aid or something for me.

Bailey sits in front of me, a notebook on the bed between us. He's scribbling rapidly, but the wide smile on his face tells me he's excited.

"No more quests for us this summer!"

"Well... That's good 'cuz I'd be a liability," I tell him. I can't see his point, and this is a sore spot for me because he knows I love leaving and getting out.

"You are not! Chiron just thinks we all need a break."

"Whatever, B. I'm gonna take a nap."

And effectively, I've ended the conversation.

—

Aphrodite ends up having the time to make my love life interesting.

I stay at camp all year round, so by the time I turn fourteen in November, it's getting colder around camp and I still can't hear. But slowly, I start getting a crush on this other camper who's actually deaf. She's pretty in an unconventional way, and she helps me learn sign language a lot faster than the Athena kid that tried.

And then one day, I finally get the guts to kiss her. When we pull away, the sound of Bailey cheering greets me. I touch my ears softly, eyes wide.

And then I decide that when I grow up, I'm gonna punch Aphrodite in the fucking face.

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[ okie dokie this arc is done.

fun facts-
aphrodite cursed her bc she's the one who made the suggestion to help the girl and abandon the quest.
originally she was gonna almost did bc of the monster and then pray super hard to artemis and join the hunters.
originally i wasn't gonna give chase her hearing back.
the reason ellie left the roman camp was bc everyone kept blaming her for not stopping her dumbass boyfriend from doing his dumbass shit.