perhaps when one becomes too familiar with war,
they forget that peace exists.
[ book one -- storming universe ]
[ Sierra Machisse -- book one ]
[ sea of monsters -- titan's curse ]
{ 03 / 29 / 2020 -- ? }
( Percy Jackson x Female OC )
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SIERRA MACHISSE DIDN'T BEGIN HER DAYS WITH MAKEUP. She didn't begin them with a skin care routine or even a long drawn out shower that disabled another hot one for at least an hour. She didn't spend time staring at her reflection ensuring her hair was styled just right. She didn't sort through drawer after drawer to find the perfect outfit.
Sierra Machisse began her days brushing her teeth and spitting out the excess onto a lawn. She had pixie cut burning red dyed hair that didn't ever fall quite right and was always in her eyes. She took five minute showers, just long enough to wash away the dirt and mud and blood all on her skin, and to throw some random product in her hair that might remove the oil, or make it worse. She wore jean shorts, an orange t-shirt, and a leather jacket or tunic everyday. She didn't wear heels or a pantsuit to feel powerful, she slipped two knives into holsters on her thigh and boot, a sword to her hip, and a spear to her back.
Sierra Machisse wasn't your typical teenage girl because she didn't really care if there was a stereotype, much less that she follow it. Sierra Machisse didn't care about much really, and the way she looked certainly wasn't on the list.
Silena Beauregard was adamant that should change.
"Just let me do your makeup once," the daughter of Aphrodite pleaded again as she walked beside Sierra as the latter marched towards the arena. Ares cabin was teaching lessons today led by herself as she was the only one in her cabin who really had the patience to teach.
"Silena, how many times do I have to say no before you stop asking?" Sierra asked, pausing her quick pace to allow the shorter legged of the pair a pause to catch her breath. Silena was stunning, even Sierra had to admit that. Her mother was the goddess of beauty and it showed in everything her daughter did. Silena moved with a kind of practiced grace that still managed to look effortless. Her blue eyes and brown hair gave an almost doll like look to her face and she seemed to never stop smiling. If Sierra made friends, Silena would probably be one of her closest.
"Infinite," she replied, "if I have to, I will sneak into your cabin and give you a makeover while you're sleeping." Sierra rolled her eyes and continued her march.
"Good luck with the landmines," she stated, which seemed to give the girl pause.
"I'll ask your siblings to help," Silena stated, like she'd just found a miracle solution to the world's largest problem.
"They wouldn't help you," Sierra replied, "they're all terrified of me," Sierra had to admit, they had good reason to be. Anyone who'd ever gotten on the girl's bad side was now dead or severely injured. Most the earlier.
"Fair," Silena relented, and they continued walking in silence, finally. Sierra paused at the entrance of the arena as a strange shock spread up her spine. Silena didn't notice and continued inside, her cabin being first for lessons that day, but Sierra remained outside.
Her brown eyes scanned the camp for a moment. They skipped over the cabins, noting only dimly the bright gold glow of Apollo and a small fault in the barbed wire above Ares she would have to see fixed soon. Her eyes focussed on the big house for a moment in all its baby blue glory, its windows like two dark eyes that always seemed to watching her, waiting for her next violent slip up. There was nothing distinctly wrong that she could see, so why did every instinct she have scream to draw her sword.
"Sierra?" Clarisse La Rue, her half sister, had approached the arena and was right in front of her now, watching her sister with more curiosity and annoyance that concern. "You're blocking the door," she pointed out, and Sierra nodded.
"Something's wrong," she voiced, eyes still ranging over the camp, taking her time to notice more details now.
The Stoll brothers were chasing Sidney Jester again. Who knew why? Annabeth Chase was on the steps to cabin eight beside one of her brothers, the two of them going over a textbook with the same level of interest Sierra gave a war map. Michael Yew was at the archery range, trying to help one of his younger siblings, a new girl, hold a bow correctly. Everything in the camp seemed normal. Her eyes strayed to the big house again, and then to half blood hill. Her eyes widened in alarm.
"Oh Gods," she said, "the tree," Clarisse frowned in confusion but followed her gaze.
"Which tree? We're in a forest-. Oh, oh no," they both drew their weapons and ran forward. Several campers paused their activities in confusion at the daughters of Ares sprinting towards the hill. Before they followed their paths and saw what Sierra had sensed. Thalia's pine tree was coming apart, the once vibrant green pine needles dulling to a sickly yellow before falling to the ground in heaps. But it wasn't the tree itself that concerned the children of war, it was what the dying tree supported.
They reached it just in time, as the first monster stepped over the newly broken barrier.
