Recharging. (Accalia)

One could say that it was break time for Bernard.  It was the start of the afternoon and Bernard had been harvesting since morning.  While he harvested without an effort--he could get the fruit to drop from its stem and into the harvesting basket at his own will without needing to touch it, he was now hungry for lunch.  Also, it could also be said that he had been using his powers nonstop for so long that they were somewhat exhausted.  His powers were never going to be depleted from him, of course, for the power of chlorokinesis was natural to him.  However, considering that he had been using it without pause, he did feel a little tired.  But, no worries, all he had to do was eat!

Bernie had his moments when he went to the Food Court to eat, or he just sat down in the middle of the fields to eat fruit.  When he did the former, he was normally craving other foods that were not fruit.  When he did the latter, he was too lazy to make the walk to the Food Court and wanted to get eating over with quickly.  Today he chose to do the latter; therefore, the son of Dionysus plopped down to the grown with his legs crossed, his back leaning against an apple tree.  He currently was working in the orchards, where he obviously picked apples.  Bernie had a basket full of apples beside him, and he grabbed one in his hand and brought it to his mouth, taking a bite out of it.  It was absolutely sweet and savory, and he chewed slowly so he could savor the taste.

Tag: @accalia

TEMPLATE BY ELIZA @ BOTE

"That apple better be good," Accalia said sternly as she walked up beside Bernard. She was doing her rounds in the orchard, making sure everyone was doing their jobs and taking care of things. She wasn't so strict as to not let people taste the fruit or take several breaks, but she did like to make sure that they weren't under working either. In this case, she didn't really mind that he was eating the apple, but it was too fun to tease Bernard.

"But really," she asked, bending down to pick up an apple from his basket and weighing it in her hands, "how are they doing?" Accalia loved the orchards and the vineyards the most. She loved the red fruit that came out through apples and grapes. The more vibrant, the happier she was.

@bernard

While he was enjoying the apple, Bernard heard someone approaching and glanced to his side.  Ah, it was Accalia, the senator of agriculture! She was a person who he liked; well, more because he liked to tease her and attempt to loosen her up.  She was a decent person, and he respected and admired her, all the more so because she was a daughter of Demeter who also had chlorokinesis.  He thought that she was a little too uptight and serious, though.  He wasn't sure why she felt the need to be that way, but she was missing out on a lot being like that.  It was always better to relax and enjoy yourself.  Life might have its rocky moments, but the past was the past (still, though, he didn't know about anything that had happened to her in the past).

He swallowed and grinned at her.  "Good?" he repeated.  "It's amazing, Accalia! Take one."  He was glad that she did as he said and took one for herself.  Still smiling, he took another bite out of the apple.

"They're doing great," he replied to her question, although his voice was a little muffled from chewing.  "You can always count on me to take good care of them.  I'd never let anything bad happen, not if I can help it."  He patted the ground beside him, which was still enough space for her to sit and lean her back against the trunk under the shade with him.  "C'mon, sit with me," he coaxed.  "It's nice under the shade."  He was trying to get her to loosen up, and that meant that he would have to attempt to get her out of her comfort zone a bit.   

Tag: @accalia

TEMPLATE BY ELIZA @ BOTE

"Well, no I'm-" she paused for a moment, "I'm not going to eat it, I was just making sure it felt good," she commented, replacing the apple in the basket. Bernard was a lot more light hearted than she was, which made him annoying and made her like him even more.

"I'm glad they're looking good, and I'm also glad-" she leaned over and snagged the apple from his hands, "that you can communicate efficiently without an apple in your mouth?" she cocked one eyebrow at him.

She looked down as he coaxed her to join him. She wasn't used to relaxing while she was on the clock. "No, I'll... I'll stand, thanks."  She said, tenser than ever, "but, since you've already taken a bite out of this apple I guess I wouldn't mind taste testing it as well..." she flipped the apple around as the bite into the other side opposite of where he had bitten.


@bernard

What? She seriously wasn't going to eat it? He got that she was a prim and proper lady, but...come on, those apples were delicious.  Who wouldn't want to sink their teeth into them and taste the juicy sweetness?

Bernard had looked a little surprised, but that changed and he put a coaxing smile on his face.  "Aw, come on, Accalia, it doesn't hurt to eat at least just one.  We have plenty of them here," he said imploringly.  "No one's going to get at you for it, or notice a missing apple."  A mischievous smile formed on his face.  "Well, actually, you're the senate here, so no one's gonna question you at all..."  Of course, Accalia was the last person on this planet to abuse her powers, but Bernie was just teasing her.

However, she proved her point about not eating the apples when she snatched the apple he was eating away from him.  Bernie looked rather crestfallen.  "H-hey! What was that for?" he protested...but, to be honest, he looked more surprised and amused more than upset.  Bernie rarely got angry...for a son of Dionysus, he was quite the low-tempered and easygoing fellow.  "Oh, I get it, you just wanna get a better look at my handsome face without the apple blocking the view.  Keep the apple, then."  Seriously, one of these days he was going to get a noose made of vines tied around his neck.  Somehow, though, he wasn't afraid.  More fool him.

He shrugged when she said that she was going to stand.  "If you insist.  After all, I can look at your legs easier this way," he said with an pleasant smile.  They were quite comely if you asked him.  Bernie was delighted when she finally decided to get a taste of the apple--and it was the apple he had bitten from, too! He pretended to look surprised at what she was doing, which was turning the apple to the other side where he hadn't bitten from it.  "Wait! What do you think you're doing?" he said with a frown.  "Aren't you going to continue eating it from where I had taken a good bite of it? That's what lovers are supposed to do."   Bernie was usually one who got along with many; he never asked for much in companionship.  However, he had a bad, mischievous habit of teasing people; the more they disliked it, the more he felt compelled to egg them on, all in good humor.  It also didn't help that she was a pretty young lady! But he supposed he'd have to stop at some point...maybe...

Tag: @accalia

TEMPLATE BY ELIZA @ BOTE

She was used to rolling her eyes at things Bernard did, so it wasn't that much of a shocker when he kept egging her on and tease her. He was lucky that she knew it was just teasing, otherwise she would be very cruel to him. Accalia was a beast with her plants in battle, causing vines to do some serious horrible damage. No,  Bernie didn't deserve that. Not yet, anyway.

She also wasn't surprised that he had called himself handsome of mused about being able to see her legs better from a standing position.  "You're Faux flirting is flattering and all Bern, but have you ever actually spoken to a girl who wasn't me or your sibling?" she teased, raising an eyebrow at him. Not that she was one to talk. Flirting was SO not her MO.

Then he implied that they were lovers with his silly little smile and she rolled her eyes, "Sure. But lovers are also supposed to enjoy one anothers company. And I only see one of us enjoying themselves," she gestured to him and took another bite out of the apple.

@bernard

Truth be told, Bernie thought that his teasing was a little more silly than it could be considered real flirting.  If he wanted to flirt for real he'd be a little less goofy, but he was just kidding with Accalia.  But he was happy to see that she took it with good humor, and that gave him the cue to just go back to acting normal, sort of.  Well, at least, she did remember how to be witty so he didn't have to worry about her being an emotionless rock.  She was still a little too serious for his liking, in Bernard standards, but she wasn't too far into destruction, either.

"Well, considering that almost every female in Concordia flocks to my parties, then yes I have," he said in regards to her quip about whether he met girls who weren't just her or his sisters, a cheeky grin on his face.  "But that was a good one, Accalia!" And he very much meant the compliment.  That had been a clever gibe, coming from her.

He pretended to frown.  "What? So you're saying that you don't enjoy my company?" he said.  Bernie shook his head. "You lie worse than any child of Hermes or Mercury on the planet.  My presence is pretty much the only thing that keeps you motivated."  He chuckled before asking, "So, how's senate duties going for you? I've always thought that it was boring."  Bernie hated hard work.  He worked only when necessary and chose a job that he enjoyed, but anything else beyond that was unnecessary burden to him.  Because to him, fun was the top priority of everything.         

Tag: @accalia

TEMPLATE BY ELIZA @ BOTE

Accalia rolled her eyes at the idea of a party with the Bernard family. Those kids were pretty much the wildest people on earth, and she wasn't really that kind of girl. Granted, ever since she and Geoff had gone separate ways a part of her had wanted to lose herself in a party... but she hadn't yet. She wasn't nearly brave enough for that. She bowed a little as he complimented her little gibe, however. "Accalia Phillips, well-rehearsed sassy remarks. I'll be here all week," she joked. More like she'd be here for the rest of her life... that was a depressing thought.

She laughed as he frowned at her saying she didn't enjoy his company. Then glared a little as he called her a liar for it. He was a funny guy, that much was certain. However, at the mention of Hermes/Mercury, her good mood vanished. She tried to bring it back, but her insides were in knots now. She was happy when he changed the subject to her duties as a Senator of Agriculture. "It's not boring," she started, "At least not to me. I like to do the paperwork and converse with the government. It works for me," she explained.

@bernard

At the mention of paperwork and conversing with the government, it almost seemed like the air around Bernie turned perpetually cold and the sunny blue sky turned a leaden gray.  BORING.  He stared at her almost disbelievingly.  "How do you survive a day doing that stuff? By taking a nap?" he said.  He thought that a person endowed with nature powers of some sort should enjoy the outside more than bend her head over tedious documents and speak in a formal, rigid manner.

But then again, it was probably a good thing that she enjoyed that stuff.  Them farmers needed a senator and she really did a good job as an official.  They needed her to continue doing what she did.  He didn't know why he had been surprised to hear the reality of her work when it was already obvious that she did that.  Maybe because it was hard for him to imagine a real human being doing stuff like that, and Accalia was standing in front of him as a person, not to mention a fellow chlorokinesis manipulator.

The expression upon his face quickly changed into a smile.  "Well, I guess it's a good thing that you like work like that, however dull it is.  We farmers do need you to.  But, otherwise, don't you have moments when you like to have fun? Like, ever?" He was very curious about that.  Fun was everything, and he was of the belief that every human being needed a good dose of it, just as much as they needed to breath air.   

@accalia

Accalia shook her head at his nap comment, "no. Unlike you I actually work when I'm on the clock. Crazy, right?" she was only joking of course, but there still was a little truth in the statement. Here he was sitting down and eating apples. Still, shew knew that he could get the job done well when he got back into it. "Though, it can be dull some days, I'll agree," she said slowly as she contemplated this 'fun' statement he made.

Accalia used to have fun, a lot of it. She was upbeat, excited and crazy. But... things were different now. She had almost died, she had lost her father, she had her home destroyed... nothing really seemed 'fun' anymore. She simply shrugged at his question, however. "Fun is... a relative term. In the eye of the beholder and all that," she said.

"Crazier than Dionysus himself," Bernie said in agreement to her.  He was joking, but not entirely joking.  "My so called work is more like play time to me."  He was a nature loving bloke who just loved to be around the nature that his powers enabled him to manipulate.  It was fun, and he was glad that Concordia offered him the chance to do what he loved and still be employed and paid.   

Hmm, true.  Fun WAS in the eye of the beholder; no son of Dionysus could deny that.  The definition varied from person to person; Bernie generally viewed fun in terms of parties most leisurely activities.  It all came down to enjoying yourself, though.  "Okay, so, like, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time? What makes you feel like you're living in the thrill of the moment?"

"Wooah, I don't think anything is as crazy as your father. Er, no offense?" she said, looking up into the sky. She heard that his dad had been at camp half blood... that must have been incredibly strange. But lucky for his children having him around when another Demi Gods had to just pretend that their parents didn't exist in order to feel better about the lack of communication. "Well, I can understand that you love your work. That's probably why you took the job, right?" she asked, smiling a bit more at this concept of enjoying yourself while at work. That was a good thing!

"Hmm..." she thought about what he was saying, and finally decided to sit down across from him on the ground as she contemplated. "I'd say listening to music. Sailing. Sailing for sure," she added. She wanted to have this conversation with Bern. If anyone could get her to have a little fun it was him!

Bernie laughed when she pointed out that nothing could be crazier than his father.  "That's totally true, which is why it makes for a good sarcastic expression," he said.  "But my dad back in Camp Half-Blood had been pretty...sane.  Boring, in fact.  He would just drink coke, be grumpy, and do nothing."  Dionysus had actually acted rather controlled in camp.  He was grouchy, but that's all he had seemed to be.  Nothing crazy.  He hadn't partied, too.  Bernie still thought it was a letdown. 

He nodded.  "Of course! There's no other reason why I would be doing it.  I'd never do anything that wasn't entertaining to me, ever."  He smiled, leaning his head against the the tree trunk.  "That's why I love Concordia.  The freedom to do what I want and still have a legit job.  Back in camp, there was really nothing to do besides fight and follow the camp routine."  While Bernie had enjoyed being at camp and really regretted what had happened to it, he'd be lying if Concordia felt better to be in.

He looked again at Accalia.  Sailing? He didn't know she was into that! "Woah, that's a pretty good one! In all honesty it doesn't sound like a thing you'd do, but that's cool nonetheless.  You should take me sometime."  He tilted his head to the side.  "What about swimming? Fancy that, too?"

"Coke? As in Coca Cola?" Accalia let her jaw drop a little as Bernard explained how his father was at camp. That didn't sound like any fun at all, actually. "At least you got to hang out with him, right? Was he pretty active with you and your siblings?" she asked. Really, he was lucky to even be able to see his father every day. Ceres? Accalia barely knew anything about what she was like. Except that she was a bit stern, at times... which is probably where Accalia got it from because her dad was fun and fancy free.

"Aw, yeah, I get that. At Camp Jupiter you either joined the Legion, the military, or you were basically out on your own. Romans are... incredibly war driven and very organized. It's pretty annoying, actually," she explained with a little roll of her eyes, "But I can't deny it made me a good fighter. Here... the freedom is nice. I'd expect more structure if Masin gets elected, though," she added. She hadn't decided who she would be voting for... but that was a whole other topic.

"My dad was a sailor, Bern, I practically grew up on a boat," she chuckled, rolling her eyes a little as he said that he couldn't see her doing that. "Swimming, eh, it's okay. I don't hate it or love it, it's just one of those things?" she wasn't sure how to put it.

Bernie arched an eyebrow. "Yeah, Coke as in Coca Cola," he said.  He pondered upon her question as to whether he and his siblings got to hang out a lot with their dad or not, trying to remember.  "Well...I guess we did get to be around him, in moderation.  He never sought us out, but we would chat with him when we felt like we needed to socialize with dad more.  He was grumpy, but treated us a bit better than the other kids."  He shook his head and chuckled.  "We always knew that he loved us, though."  (Say, what happened to Dionysus after the attack?)

He whistled when Accalia recounted how it was either fight or die in Camp Jupiter.  He already knew how hard the Romans were, but it still amazed him.  "Ugh, its unbelievable what you guys did.  I think I would've died the moment I spent one day with the wolf lady.  I'm surprised that there are so many of you...one would've thought only a scant few would've been able to endure that.  I guess that's why the Romans are all-mighty, huh?" Bernie was pretty lax where the whole Roman and Greek rivalry was concerned.  He liked people regardless of their godly ethnicity.  In fact, he quite respected the Romans' prowess and understood why they would sort of sneer at the puny Greeks.  However, it was all balanced out in Concordia now.

Bernie wasn't opposed to Accalia's idea that Masin was better than Ember.  Actually, he barely knew about politics at all, so it made no difference.  He grinned.  "It's hard for me decide.  I mean, they're both so hot!" He laughed at his own joke before sobering up.  "Joking, joking! Well, I'm too stupid to know who's better than who, but if you vote for Masin, then I guess I'll do it, too."  He grabbed another apple from the basket and lifted it up as if in a cheer.  "Here's to the success of Masin DeLisle!" And with that he took a bit out of that apple.

"Ooooh, I gotcha," he said when she told him that his father had been a sailor.  That sounded quite like a Poseidon thing to do, but then not every sailor in the world was going to be related to Poseidon somehow.  Although, his mom was a botanist and that had attracted his very plant-loving dad.  He nodded when she said that swimming was something that she didn't like but didn't hate, either.  "Yeah, you're just indifferent to it.  Plenty of stuff to be indifferent to.  Now, let's see...do you like climbing trees?" He titled his head upward to stare at the leafy top of the tree that he was sitting against.