The Winter Dance
It had been a very slow autumn so far in the Hermes cabin for Connor, especially now that Travis had left for college. There were barely any campers left in the usually large cabin, now down to him, his new sibling Venus, and a few others.
Then again, all the cabins had fairly small numbers, what with the school year rolling around and all. Maybe he should whip up a new prank, to help with the boring days. Capture the flag was coming up again soon, and pranks would get his opponents riled up and unsure, which would give his team an advantage.
Of course, it’s also just for fun; pranks /are/ life. Thinking of new prank ideas, Connor strolls toward the bulletin board in the mild September air, checking to see for any updates that could help with his ideas.
Along the way, he passes Will Solace. Connor thought it was /hilarious/ to mess with him, and he often flirted with the newly-out boy. The truth was, Connor didn’t really like Solace like that, but he wasn’t opposed to him; he was pansexual, after all.
As he walks by the blond healer, he winks and subtly blows him a kiss, then walks away like nothing happened. That move was sure to mess with Solace’s head.
Finally, Connor reaches the board, with old posters and newspapers still tacked to its cork surface, gently flapping in the mild September breeze. The newest poster was one he hadn’t seen before; a poster carefully designed and printed, most likely by Chiron. In fancy-font Ancient Greek, it talks about a winter dance on the solstice.
The poster also recommends bringing a date, as the best couple at the dance would be voted on and then given a reward. This piqued Connor’s interest, but he didn’t have anyone to bring. /Well, I guess I’ll just have to find a date, then,/ he thinks with determination and resolve.
But that wasn’t his main priority. He wasn’t interested in anyone at the moment, either. He sifted through the papers, to no avail; nothing useful. /I guess I’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way,/ Connor thought.
He makes it back to the Hermes cabin, and runs his idea over with his siblings, to which they all quickly agreed. Quickly gathering some materials, he makes his way to the arts-and-crafts pavilion, getting to work on his poster.
After a while, he had a couple to tack up around camp, advertising a truth-or-dare gathering in the Hermes cabin in two week’s time. This was sure to draw in at least the Aphrodite and Ares cabins, looking for gossip and challenges respectively. He also reckoned that the Nike twins would come too.
Gathering his posters, he tacked them up around populated areas, like the dining pavilion and the archery range. Finally, Connor returns to his cabin, to tell his siblings his long-run game plan for pranks.
Together, the four of them sifted through the logbook of past pranks; how successful they were, and if they were, how the cabins retaliated. In true detective fashion, Connor puts up a board with photos tied together with red string. He has big ideas, and some get put in the secret spot in the floorboards, for future use when there are more people at camp.
Finally done with their work, they hide the evidence in various spots across the cabin, and gather in the crawlspace to have a movie marathon, taking turns looking for people who might discover them.
On Connor’s turn for watch, he spies someone outside. Daring to take a closer look, he sees a blue-haired guy, with blond roots. Connor thinks he remembered him, a son of Aphrodite, he was pretty sure; his name was Mitchell. He manages to look away from the boy, a spark settling in his chest.
After what seems like an eternity of watching movies, the gong rings for dinner. Tucking a potion into his pocket, Connor exits the cabin with his siblings, preparing to cause mischief.
When they arrive at the dining pavilion, he manages to slip the potion into the punch unnoticed. Getting his helping of dinner, he goes up to the brazier, burning some of his M&M’s for Hermes, his godly father.
Dinner goes by, providing a sense of suspense for the children of Hermes, waiting to see how their prank played out. They wait, trying to see how long it would take for the spiked punch to kick in. He’d got it from the Hecate cabin, which he'd advised to skip the punch tonight, unless they wanted to face the evils of major diarrhea.
As dinner inches on, he notices the Athena cabin and Apollo cabin (plus Nico and Percy) skipping punch. Maybe they caught wind of the prank, maybe they just had sense not to, seeing the Hermes kids skipping the punch that night. Eventually, dinner concludes, and everyone rises to head to the campfire.
After many sing-alongs, and Percy making a big deal out of asking Annabeth to the winter dance, everything settles down for the moment. Heading back to their cabin, Connor jots down the prank in the logbook. It may have been a little crueler than most of their pranks, but hey, it could be easily fixed with a little mortal medicine, so it didn’t do much lasting harm.
As the lights in the cabin went off, his siblings dozing off to sleep around him, Connor couldn’t manage to keep the blue-haired boy out of his mind. Maybe he was a little excited about getting to see him at the truth-or-dare, and maybe until then he’d have to bump into him… /accidentally/… more often. /Hypothetically, of course,/ he reassures himself as his mind slips into sleep.