Camp Half-Blood discussion

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Nikki stomped in muttering darkly, then almost fainted, the smell was so bad. "Oh my gods..." She muttered, plugging her nose ((are they regular horses? Or special ones?))

((Um... both))

((Are they like the carnivorous ones at the triple g ranch? Or skeletal horses?))

((Skeletal!))

((Okay)) she picked up a shovel. "Why can't the stupid skeletons do this?" She muttered. "They can't smell."

Connor strolled in the stables. "Well that went well!" he said brightly.

She was gagging from the stench.

"Oh gods, we have to CLEAN this?" he groaned, wrinkling his nose

"Yep." She said, her face slightly green. "Get to work, or they'll come for you."

"Ooh, NOW I'm scared." Nevertheless, he picked up a pooper-scooper and sighed.

She was scooping while piles of it. "When's the last time this was cleaned?" She asked, gagging

"Probably not since some other poor kid got sent down here for snowball fight." He rolled his eyes and tried to avoid stepping in horse poop.

She tried to giggle, but couldn't as it smelled so bad

Connor sighed and took of his jacket. He wrapped it around his mouth and nose like it was a cowboy's bandana. "Much better!" he grinned, even though Nikki couldn't see it.

"Good idea," she said taking off her own jacket.

"I AM a genius," he said, the jacket causing his voice to be muffled. "But we still have to clean."

"Gross." She shovelled some more.

He nodded in sympathy. "Sadly, there aren't many ways to make cleaning a stable fun."

"You could have a poop fight, but... Somehow I don't think that would help."

((Gtg, see you tomorrow))

He nearly gagged at the idea. "Yah, I think I'll pass."

((Bye!))

Her face was turning steadily greener. "This is the worst."

"Ugh, I KNOW! And that horse over there keeps giving me the evil eye!" He looked warily at a nearby horse and got back to work.

She managed a smile. Then groaned. "How much to these things poop? They're skeletons..."

"Interesting question, actually. How does a skeletal horse do its business?" he said, striking an imaginary beard.

((*stroking, and BYEE! I'm off to school))

((Lol, he has a jacket over his face and BYE!!!))

She managed another smile. "I'm not sure we want to find out..." She said glancing at one of the horses and turning away disgusted.

((Well then... He was stroking the jacket LIKE a beard. Improvise!!!))

"In a really weird way, I'm actually curious." He stared at the horse, as if expecting it to drop a load right then.

"A little bit... But not enough." She said, shovelling some more.

Connor worked a bit more, then stepped back to see what they had done. "So, we've got two stables clean, and that leaves..." he counted briefly, "...ten more."

"Great." She said, looking at the mountain of poop that awaited them.

"Hey, look on the bright side! Maybe we can get that girl to trade jobs with us!" he said brightly.

"Hades already said she couldn't, remember?" She groaned.

He looked at her pointedly. "Anddddd?"

"Well... He was pretty explicit that we weren't switching. And, even if we could switch... Would you stop polishing boots to clean poop out of a stable?"

"Well, that girl DID seem pretty weird. Maybe she was dying to clean up skeletal horse poop?" he suggested feebly.

She looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Got a plan b?"

"Not really. Well actually, I have MANY plan b's, but most of them would get us murdered in an instant." He said this casually, as if they were discussing the weather.

She nodded, eyes slightly wider. "Yeah... I can think of a lot of plans that would get us killed." She glanced it the window, then began shovelling again. "Stupid skeletons." She muttered.

"Ooh, now they're gonna get you!!" he laughed.

"More like you!" She replied, looking pointedly at his shovel leaning against the wall. Hen she paused. "Do you hear something?"

"Uhh... Other than the sound of skeletal horses breathing, which I still don't understand how they do, then no."

"Exactly... It's too quiet. We've been hearing that girl muttering for hours, but now it's quiet..." She looked at the skeletal horses. "And that's really strange... I don't see any lungs..."

Connor shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe Hades finally did away with her or something."

"It's strange..." She said, puzzled.

"Wanna go investigate?" he asked, grinning mischievously.

She looked down at her shovel, then grinned. She snapped it over her leg. "Oh dear! I think I need a new shovel! In sure there will be an extra in the palace," she said, with a glance at the skeletons

"What a pity. I wish we could keep working, but first we have to go get a new shovel," he said with a dramatic sigh.

She grinned.