I Don’t Smoke Astroturf

Let it be known that Lez was not, in facted, addicted to cigarrettes; she was addicted to nicotine, and smoking was her preferred way to have it enter her system. And yes, she’d heard all the talks that it was bad for you, or it would give you cancer, or you weren’t old enough, but the daughter of Thanatos gave no shits about any of that. Fighting monsters could also kill you, but none of the other demigods seemed to care about that, and many of them were younger than her—hell, she had first arrived at camp when she was barely ten. Such double standards.

Unfortunately, Chiron and Mr. D didn’t seem to acknowledge her argument—well, in the case of Mr. D, the god didn’t really care, but Chiron had told her that if she got caught one more time, she’d be relieved of her position as cabin leader. Lez didn’t really have that much, so she actually cared about keeping her position—even if she really didn’t do anything but space out during meetings.

But old habits die hard.

It was a pretty decent day, so most of the other campers were at the beach. Now, Lez despised the beach, but today it gave her some quality time to herself. She decided to spend that time in the best way she knew how.

I’m only having one, she told herself as she took a long drag from her cig.

"Ugh, cigarette smoke. That stuff is atrocious." came the comment from the Daughter of Dionysus. "Why waste your lungs on that?"

Where. In the actual fuck. Had she come from? Lez barely restrained herself from punching the girl—would serve her right for sneaking  up on her like that. However, once she recovered from her initial shock, she shot a glare at the girl. “Why waste oxygen on a rhetorical question?” she snapped, but there was hardly any malice in her tone. She gave the girl a second look. “Do you also enjoy sneaking off to partake in frowned upon substances while everyone else enjoys themselves?” she asked sarcastically.

"Not my fault people don't pay more attention to what's happening around them." She'd flip her hair a bit. "I prefer to drink the wine I make. It's fun." She'd roll her eyes at the sarcasm. "Gee, you must be a bundle of fun with that attitude"

"It also destroys your liver," Lez pointed out, but most of her annoyance had dissipated at this point; she just didn't like booze of any kind. Her mom was an alcoholic (or at least had been back when Lez saw her last) and a violent one at that, so the prospect of even being around the stuff triggered her gag-reflex. "I guess you either don't give a shit or your godly parentage makes you immune or whatever," she added with a shrug as she took another drag. She actually had no idea who this sneaky chick was. Lez ignored the comment about her attitude (a girl after her own heart, apparently), the only sign of acknowledgement being to exhale the smoke out her nose. "If you're gonna snitch, might as well get on with it," she said, trying her best not to sigh. She had no goddamn self-control nowadays.

"Why would I snitch? People do whatever the damn well they please." She wasn't interested in talking a lot, which wasn't normal for her. Perhaps she was tired, or drunk. Nah, she was more interested in this chain-smoking nutter. "You have a snitch problem or something? Are you like a magnet to them?"

Lez visibly relaxed. Th gods or Fates or whatever were giving her a break for once. "Most of the kids around here are f*ckin' goody two shoes when it comes to this stuff. It's as though they think they're gonna get cancer just by seein' me smoke thirty feet away from them. It's not like I do this around people or in buildings or anything like that, but these little shits act like it's the end of the world." She took one last drag before dropping the butt and smashing it with her Converse-clad foot. "I bet Chiron asks some of these kids to look out for me, the sneaky bastard," she added.

"I think he's busy trying to make sure the Camp isn't burned down, really. Pyros, Nutjobs, Halfwits. We've a lot of idiots here. Left unchecked, we'd be forced to sleep outside because everything would be destroyed."

She snorted a bit at that comment. "Yeah, you might be on to something there," she chuckled as she turned to face the other girl. "Ain't much of a fan of the Romans, but at least their kids don't blow stuff up inside the cabins." She shook her head a little bit before looking back up at the girl. "Guess we haven't done that introduction bullshit yet. I'm Lez Kowalski—zombie kid cabin leader," she said, using the somewhat derogatory nickname other campers chose for Underworld god kids. She didn't really find it offensive; after all, it usually just made people want to keep out of her shit, which was fine with her.

"I don't think they have Cabins, I think they sleep in some sort of Tents or something." She'd roll her eyes at Lezzie's nickname. "I'm Serenity, of Dionysus. Resident Winemaker"

Lez's eyebrows shot up a bit. " 'Resident winemaker,', eh? Didn't know that was a real position," she joked, smirking a bit. Serenity didn't seem old enough to legally drink, but then Lez honestly couldn't remember what the laws and regulations and shit were for legally drinking in New York. "Well,  at least you get to see your dad sometimes, though. Don't know mine, but I guess he's pretty busy reaping souls and scaring ghost hunters and such," she added as an afterthought. She wasn't sure if one would enjoy having Mr. D as a dad, but she bet it probably didn't affect this girl much. Serenity seemed....well, not like that type of person. " 'Course, I don't know if you two actually get along or interect much, but—well, I forgot my goddamn point."

She'd roll her eyes. "Dad is usually pretending to be drunk off of soda. He likes to play '20 Questions' with me all the time so he can 'remember' who I am. Considering he doesn't seem to have a lot of kids like Most of the Gods & Goddesses, you'd think he be happier." She'd shrug. "Of course, he's probably still annoyed that he can't drink."