The Great Eight (Temporary Hiatus)

Chaos 101 II

The sound of the creaky dorm's front door opening led Jay to stand up and be greeted by the familiar sight of Herry. But, just as he was about to introduce Odie, he caught sight of an unfamiliar blonde girl that stood beside one of his new friends. The slight smell of muffins caught up to his nose as well as Jay found himself observing the tiny teenage girl even as his manners forced him to make introductions before this became an awkward stare down.

"Uh, hey Herry. This is Odie, he's going to be living here with us too." Not like Jay could say he was a fellow hero, who was going to aid them in defeating Cronus in front of an unknown girl.

"How you doing?" Herry asked cheerily of Odie, the effects of the muffins from earlier still lingering in his tone.

"Good!" Odie smiled back, presenting a fist to the gargantuan male in front of him. To which he earned himself a crushing grip when Herry confusedly grasped it like it was a regular handshake instead of a fist bump. Causing the girl beside Herry to giggle some at the misinterpreted exchange.

"Oh right! This is Mel, she's one of us too!" Herry coaxed the girl forward a few steps by gently prodding her lower back with one of his hands. Allowing an appropriate time to have the girl observed by the others. Odie, especially, found her interesting since she was about his height and lately felt just a tad dwarfed by the taller fellows around him. Plus, with her get up consisting of light-washed, cut-off overalls paired with a short sleeved white shirt, a pair of green sneakers with a matching green scrunchy around her ponytail, this 'Mel' seemed like a nice person to talk to.

"Wait you mean-!" Jay's eyes widened when his eyes got caught on the identical medallion they all had with her own initial on it and he couldn't help the bout of relief he got at Herry's affirmative smile. They only had one last person to add to their team now, what a stroke of luck!

"It's nice to have a person on the team that I won't have to crane my neck to talk to! I'm Odie!" Odie introduced himself to the girl, again, and held out his hand ( not wanting a repeat of what Herry had done to his hand ) causing the girl to giggle but holding a confused look to her eyes.

"Mel, pleasure to meet you. What is this 'one of us' all about now?" Mel tilted her head to look back up at Herry, insistent on making him keep his words on how everything would be explained once they arrived at his dorm.

"Uh " Herry grimaced, looking to Jay for help but only getting a wide-eyed frown. Leaving him floundering when his eyes eventually reconnected with her round, hazel that made his tongue flop around lifelessly in his mouth. Even Odie was looking at everything but the newest, newcomer as his tech-savvy mind wasn't quite a good fit for explaining the literal existence of Gods and Goddesses. Thankfully though, their wonderful den mother just happened to make an appearance since she was doing her daily cleaning routine since teenagers are known to be quite messy.

"Athena!" Jay happily announced the Goddess's name, all too eager to hand over the explaining to the War Goddess who could use her centuries of experience to break the news gently to Mel.

"Yes?" Athena looked over at the group and her quick mind analyzed the group, especially when Herry carefully pushed Mel further in front of the boys and closer to their den mother. The two females blinked at each other rather indiscriminately at the abrupt encounter.

"Athena, you mind helping explain the whole medallion, chosen heroes thing to Mel here? Herry just found her and brought her here." Jay asked of Athena, managing to lean over and quietly tack on, "Doesn't look like she had the whole, rescued by griffins experience."

"I see " Athena narrowed her eyes at the boys before redirecting her attention to the young girl in front of her, who was nervously clutching a basket that smelled of muffins to her chest. "Come along dear, why don't I answer your questions in the kitchen so we can make some tea?" Athena asked rhetorically and put down her cleaning supplies temporarily to use her hands to guide the girl through the archway and down the hall to the kitchen. Noting to herself to talk to the boys, namely Jay. about how to take responsibility for informing new teammates of the situation at hand rather than pass it off to herself. As the two females ventured out of the room, Herry eyed the basket Mel carried rather pathetically. But looks like Fate was in his favor, since Mel caught this and gently set the basket down on a nearby table and managed to give him a small smile before finally loosing sight of the boys after taking the turn into the kitchen. Herry, though, positively beamed and wasted no time in grabbing the basket and returning to the boys who spoke on their experiences and were trying to come up with answers on limited knowledge. Or at least come up with functioning theories.

"It seems odd that we can't find something as big as the Typhus." Jay states to the others as he crossed his arms in contemplation.

"No offense, but something like that is going to stand out in the crowd." Odie added, watching as Herry walked to sit on one of the couches and continue devouring the muffins that Mel brought.

"We'll find it, and Cronus. We didn't exactly have time to ask for a forwarding address." Jay spoke confidently as he strode across the room, pacing.

"Yeah, we had a couple of other things to worry about," Herry said around a mouthful of muffin. Reclining further on the couch and propping his legs on the coffee table, managing to reach for the TV remote without dropping the basket and turning it on. The local news blaring with another annoying reporter.

"-And when electrical crews try and find the cause of local power brownouts in the city, evidence points to monstrous damage to the walls of the nearby dam. Some nearby locals even sharing their shocking theory." To which a group of hikers were chaotically interrupting one another by shouting things like 'monster' and 'snakes.' The boys were left speechless.