"People change! You never know." Tempe snickered, grinning at him warmly.

As Tempe continued to speak with Luke, Casting a worried glance at Zephyr, the Aphrodite girl next to him seemed certainly intrigued him.

Tempe gave a light shrug at the question. "Honestly? I'm a little tired right now. Maybe later?" She offered, and Luke gave a simple nod, having expected the answer. They made idle, vaguely flirtatious conversation and she tried to chat with Zephyr as often as she could manage without being rude. She felt terrible about not talking with him as much as she wanted to, but Luke made her job rather hard. Plus, she didn't want him to lose interest in her, for her own personal teenage girl reasons. To let Zephyr know she hadn't forgot about him, she shifted to press her knee gently against his.

Zephyr stared at his hands, which ended up tinkering with the bone chain he had around his neck. He was rather lost in thought. What was he even supposed to do right now? Glancing around quickly, he noticed the- mind him, quite pretty- Aphrodite girl next to him was all but batting her eyelashes. He resisted a groan and buried his face in his hands for a second. This was why he hated this stuff. He couldn't deal with it. Plus... listening to Tempe and Luke's conversation was either going to make him gag or punch Luke in the face for seemingly no reason. Other than deeply buried jealously. When Tempe nudged him he glanced at her apologetically. "I'm sorry ... I have to go." He said quietly, all but fleeing the scene as he disappeared into the shadows of his cabin. No way could he stay there any longer. Even though that meant Tempe would most likely just forget about him and keep doing her disgusting little flirty thing with Luke. +Yeesh. If you don't want her to do that, speak. With your mouth. Have this weird outdated thing called an awkward conversation+ he thought Sourly, growling under his breath as he chucked the unbreakable skull at the wall.

Tempe frowned when Zephyr stood up to leave after her nudge, tilting her head slightly. "Oh. Alright. I'll see you at dinner? And maybe at the little gathering tonight?" She offered apologetically, watching him walk off with a guilty feeling. But why should She be guilty? She couldn't always dedicate her time to him- She needed more than one friend in the world. If he wasn't willing to find other people to converse with, was she just supposed to give up her pursuit of other relationships? That didn't seem right. He also didn't seem remotely interested in being in a relationship with her, so why was he so huffy about it when she even thought about pursuing one with someone else? She tried to push the confusing train of thought away and focus on her conversation with Luke, engaging with him a little less enthusiastically than she had before.

(To respond to you) Zephyr glanced back. "Yeah." He answered, his answer short and with a hint of sadness.

(Present time) Zephyr angrily smashed the skull a couple more times before sitting down on the bed heavily with a defeated sigh. Every time he saw Tempe the churning in his stomach got a little stronger. He couldn't deny that he liked her. He couldn't deny he was jealous when he saw her openly flirting with Luke. Did she actually like Luke? If he confessed his feelings, would she just laugh at him, would she turn him down, would she- no, she wouldn't just accept it. And she definitely wouldn't say she liked him too- he knew that as a fact. She was obviously into Luke at least a little. Zephyr rubbed his hands over his face before sitting there for almost an hour. Soon the bell for supper was called. He stood slowly and ran a hand through his hair, obviously a bit stressed, and walked out, towards the big gathering. His eyes instinctively searched for Tempe, but he didn't find her in the crowd yet. Instead they met with the Aphrodite girl, who all but swooned, causing him to duck into the shadows.

Tempe spent a little more time with Luke, and then an Ares girl started challenging people to playful duels- being as exhausted as she was, she sat and watched Luke and a couple of other people try their hand at fighting her. Luke was the only one who held his own and disarmed her. Once about 3 people fell to the ground and didn't get up, Luke put a stop to it. It was time for supper anyway, as announced by the bell, so she stood and made her way toward the pavillion with Luke and his group of friends; which happened to contain the Aphrodite girl from before. Tempe had finally discovered that her name was Amelia. She glanced at her and around for Zephyr as they made their way inside, but by the time she followed Amelia's ogling line of sight, he was nowhere to be found. With a slight frown, she continued walking, only to be pulled aside by a satyr and led up to the Camp Directors table- She assumed Zephyr would be going through the same thing, since they were about to be congratulated for... not dying.

Zephyr's eyes caught the edge of some wrestling with an obvious Ares girl. His face flickered with a smile. He loved those little mock fights- He was one of the only ones who could hold his own against every single Ares person there. He glanced around to see the Aphrodite girl staring again, so he finally gave up and disappeared into a shadow to appear on the other side of camp. Yes it was tiring, but he was sick of someone staring at him that he couldn't even be with. He wasn't going to be with ANYONE unless he could give them his full attention, and he couldn't if lingering feelings for Tempe still existed. He sighed heavily and stuffed his hands in his pockets, ducking his head as he headed towards the Camp Director's table. His face a little stormy, although it looked... fake. Like he was just trying to hide the emotion underneath. Which was obviously something he didn't want to show. Under the stormy look was sadness knowing he was too much of a wimp to speak, and under the sadness was the same irritated jealously he didn't understand. Zephyr finally saw Tempe at the same spot, hesitating before heading over to her. Just because she was more interested in Luke than him didn't mean they had to ruin their tentative friendship because he was ignoring her and being a jerk.

Tempe leaned against the director's table facing the twelve long tables with a calm, confident air. Was she nervous that at least half of all the people at Camp Half-Blood were staring at her, wondering why she was standing there? Uh, yeah. Very nervous. But she was a strong believer in the fake it till you make it strategy.

She offered Luke a slight smile when she caught his eye, and he offered her a simple wave and a relaxed grin in turn. She blew out a breath and glanced to the side, her face practically lighting up when Zephyr approached. She stood up straight and took a few steps toward him, hoping to talk before Chiron stood and addressed them. "Hey. Have some nice brooding time for yourself?" She asked lightly, cursing inwardly. The brooding time she had caused.

Zephyr sucked in a breath and ran a hand through his hair again, preparing for a round of standing and having everyone stare at him. Which sucked because he hated even being noticed. He wore black for a reason. It wasn't just to look silly. It was to blend into shadows so he did NOT get noticed. A small sliver of hope unwantingly flared up inside when she at least looked happy- the slightest bit- to see him, but he battered it down quickly. It didn't matter. At her question his face flickered, momentarily exposing the emotion he was hiding- sadness. He cleared it quickly. "My brooding time always is perfect. I'm the champion brooder." He answered with a faint grin, glancing around.

Tempe watched him run his fingers through his hair with the slightest hint of longing. She shook it off under the guise of sweeping her hair out of her face. She tilted her head at him faintly at the foreign emotion that crossed his face, puzzling over it for a moment. "You seem like it. I'm sorry if I made you run away early, I should've spoken with you more- I just wanted to..." She trailed off, glancing toward the Hermes table, her mouth slightly open as if she was about to keep speaking. She shook her head and offered Zephyr a simple smile as she looked back to him. "But will you stay tonight and at least try to make some friends? People like you. They want to befriend you. You just have to be open to it." She murmured, looking a little concerned.

(Could you be Chiron maybe? Just doing their whole, "Congrats, you're alive!" thing?)

Zephyr nodded, then tilted his head, glancing at her carefully. "No one can make me run away unless I want to. You don't have to speak with me. I know I'm boring compared to Luke." He answered, his voice a bit curt at the end. He glanced away before pausing st her next words. "No one likes the real me. I learned that a long time ago." Zephyr mumbled back, shaking his head as Chiron came over.

"Zephyr, Temperence, I want to thank you two for completing your quest and, well, not dying, as you expect me to say." Chiron said quite loudly. "You have completed the quest successfully." He ended. "Since I know you hate being the spotlight, Zephyrus, and you don't like it that much, Temperence, you're free to go to dinner now." Chiron said.

Without a word, Zephyr only sighed and dropped his shoulders, forging into the crowd and attempting to disappear, not feeling able to stick around Tempe anymore. Yes she probably wouldn't want to be his sort of friend anymore, but he almost felt sick. He just wanted to talk to her- he enjoyed talking to her. He just didn't think she enjoyed talking to him.