Enter Stage Left: Roman Squad

Finn Elysium trudged along the long highway on his seemingly never ending journey to Camp Jupiter, a place where there were many more children like him. Or so this is what Lupa had told him. Finn had trouble believing this. But after the countless monster had fought off and hardships he had faced on his quest, he had to believe it or all of it had been for nothing and he would be right back here he started. Alone. Finn stopped for a second, allowing Zelda to catch up. She wasn't the quickest, but Finn hoped to upgrade her quite a bit once he found the parts. She arrived at his feet, nudged his ankle as if she was tired. Which didn't make sense to Finn because being a mechanical dog, Zelda shouldn't get tired. Finn was wearing some clothes he had raided from a Wal-Mart; a pair of sweatpants and a baggy purple shirt which he didn't know why he chose, just felt right. He had his Master Sword strapped to his back, the sword was a gift from Lupa. He had added some modifications of course, styling it after his favorite weapon of all time.

In the distance, some rumbling could be heard. Finn sighed knowing what it was. It was the minotaur, the beast from Ancient Roman legends that was half man half bull. Finn had already killed the beast once before, but it had returned from the depths of monster hell. Which was stupid if you asked Finn. Why would it come back just to be killed again. Seemed like a pointless cycle to him. The monster had been tracking him for a few days now. "Come on girl" he said out loud to Zelda as he started to jog, trying to put some distance between himself and the beast, however not full on sprinting because it didn't really bother him that he was going to have to kill it again. He drew his sword and continue at his slightly more rapid pace. He knew he had to be close to Camp, he just had to find where it was. Up ahead was an overpass and once he took a look at it, he was hit with a sudden dizziness, which he recovered from almost immediately. This had to be the place. A second roar could be heard now, much closer this time. Finn turned around and could see the outline of the beast. He looked over his shoulder and thought he could see two kids, about his age standing guard under the overpass. But that couldn't be. Must of been a figment of his imagination. Turning back towards the beast Finn stood his ground and awaited for it to come closer.

OOC: Sword

Guard Duty. Guard Duty was not something the Opito of the First Cohort was used to doing. In fact it should be delegated to younger members of the Legion to better prepare them for what was to come while they weren’t off training. It was not meant for the Legion Officers who could be better spending their time going over the tactics and styles of war used by the Greek Demi-Gods or even re-reading Shun Zu’s Art of War for the fifth time. Or even better training the Probato’s or similarly inexperienced Legionnaires on proper sword fighting techniques or techniques involving the spear and shield combo. Any of the above would have made Romulus Emanuel Mercury a happy man. But no, it seemed his Centurion decided Romulus needed a break.

A break that apparently meant ‘guarding’ the entrance to the tunnel during the time of day when practically nothing happened. He was given the most boring shift and although he understood the reasoning behind the orders it did not mean he had to enjoy it. He would however relent and admit that at least his partner wasn’t too bad, Jordan was a nice girl and she didn’t talk his head off which Romulus appreciated. He was however surprised when she spoke up and he of course walked over to her position and followed her gaze, but he didn’t need to look very far. One of his two abilities allowed him to see what was truly needed, the boy with the sword and mechanical dog was powerful and they were interesting too.

Romulus had never seen such powers before and from what he was getting off the boy’s aura it would be very interesting to fight him or fight alongside him. Which it seemed he was going to be doing at least one of the two things very soon as the cry of the Minotaur was heard, and then shortly after the Minotaur came into view charging after the boy. As much as Romulus wanted to stand back and see what the boy could do leaving their own behind, even one who was not yet in the Legion, was not something the Romans did. “Jordan stand guard, do not let the Minotaur in and signal the camp if me and the boy are to somehow fall.”

Sure, Romulus knew she could handle herself but he was itching for a fight, for something to do, and the tone of his voice gave that away. Running over to the boy he removed his Imperial Gold Verutum from his back and readied it as he came up next to the sword welding boy. “Looks like you could use some help defeating the Bull, wouldn’t want you to die before you made it to camp.” He said watching as the beast made its way closer to them, almost within charging range now. Romulus would stay his hand somewhat if only to watch the boy and learn how he fought as he helped where it was needed. But if things got out of hand he would take over the situation.

The two children were far out of Finn's mind already. He was too busy focusing on the beast, it's movements. One of his abilities he had discovered at the wolf house was he could interpret his enemies movements and foresee what they would do next. Just from tiny movements made by the oncoming minotaur, Finn could already tell that the beast would reach him, lead into his left over head swig with his left foot. The monsters massive battle axe was intimidating but slow moving which gave Finn an ample amount of response time. As the beast closed in to 25 meters, Finn placed his left foot back supporting his weight for the attack to come. That's when the boy appeared. Finn's concentration broke for a second when the boy said “Looks like you could use some help defeating the Bull, wouldn’t want you to die before you made it to camp.” He was so confused by the boy, he was wielding an imperial gold short spear which must meant he was a Demigod as well. All Finn could get out was "Uh." Wrong time to get distracted. Finn looked back just seconds before the bull had reached him.

Whoops.

His plans changed instantly, he didn't have the time to implement his previous plan of dodge and disarm. So instead, he kicked up off the ground and reaching upwards with his hands, Finn grasped the bull by the horns, swinging his legs to the side allowing momentum to carry him on to the bulls back. All of this transpired in the mater of a few seconds. From this position he could've easily sliced the minotaur's throat, ending this crisis. But instead, Finn wanted to show off for this Roman boy. He seemed like someone he should impress so he would be respected at "camp". Finn raised his sword above his head and dug the tip of his Master Sword into the back of the beast, pulling it down as he slide down. The monster roared with anger as it turned yet again to face it's enemy.

To say he was impressed was an understatement, and yet it didn't show on Romulus' face. All the while he watched the new boy show off and take on the Minotaur he waited for his chance. He readied his Verutum and as the boy drug his sword down the Minotaur's back he raised his eyebrow wondering how the thing hadn't turned into a pile of dust yet but didn't question it either. Instead as soon as the Minotaur spun around to face the new boy with the interesting powers Romulus struck. The beast's back was facing him and thus meant the attention was not on him. Romulus wasn't one for showing off and liked to end the fight as quickly as possible. Which is why he shoved his spear forward into the things heart from behind then ripped his spear out as the giant bull turned into golden dust.

The Minotaur's axe fell to the floor with a thunk and Romulus bent down and picked it up. As it was not his favorite weapon and the new boy did most of the work he held it out to him. "Here, spoil of war. You deserve it as you did most of the damage to the beast and it should be a reminder of your first day here." Romulus waited until the boy either accepted or denied the axe before putting his short spear back in the 'sheath' on his back, and motioning for him to follow. "I assume you have just come from the Wolf House so I and Jordan" he nodded to the girl that was waiting for them up at the tunnel they were slowly getting close to "will take you to the Preators and we'll get you sorted out. The name's Romulus by the way." By then they had made it up to the entrance of the tunnel and were coming up to where Jordan was standing.

Finn cocked his head to one side, slightly disappointed in the fact that the new boy had finished the fight before he had finished his fun. However it was practical that the fight ended swiftly. He sighed as he too slide the Master Sword back into the sheath on his back. Taking a few steps closer to the boy, Romulus, Finn eyed the axe. Too heavy and large for his liking, but it would make a good trophy, reminder, memento, or whatever. It just meant he had to now luge it into the Camp. He took the axe from the boy's hand, weighing it in his. Finn gave a nod and simply said "Thank you." Whether the thanks was regarding the axe, the help, or just his existence, Finn was thankful for it all. His journey was finally coming to a close and he was among friends. "It is nice to meet you Romulus, I am Finn." he replied to Romulus as the two approached the third Roman, a girl. She seemed to be of their age, maybe a year or two younger. Finn started to grin a little due to his happiness of being around allies. "Hello there, I am Finn." He said to the girl, extend a hand to shake. After introductions Finn cut strait to the chase. "I suppose I must meet with your Praetor."

OOC: A bit short and more than a bit late.. I sorry D:

Finn noted both of their kindness. It was nice to be among friends, ones that he already trusted in battle. He had yet to fully meet Jordan, the girl he had just met, but he already had respect for and developed trust with Romulus. He proved to be a talented warrior. Picking up on minute movements in Jordan's face, Finn knew that she was scanning them, whether for weakness or for injuries. Judging by the somewhat worried face, he guessed the later. "It is nice to meet you Jordan" Finn replied, slowly retracting his unshaken hand. "We should get going." The group started moving into the tunnel and into Camp Jupiter.

As the group entered the camp Finn smiled. It was exactly as Lupa had described it to him. Before he could think any more on the topic, he felt an excruciating pain in his skull. It felt as if someone had cracked his head open with a sharpened rock. Finn cried out in pain as flashes of images filled his mind, each only lasting a fraction of a second. He saw the following in order: a tree on fire, a bird, lines of demigods in Imperial Gold armor, and a girl. The image of the girl lasted the longest of the images. She was blonde, with the brightest blue eyes Finn had ever seen. Beautiful.

And then, he collapsed.

OOC: This is not his usual powers, this is his claiming thing

Ferro was so excited. All the other demititans had obviously recognized her latest distress at losing rock to one of the most recent field trips. She preferred to look at it positively, though, and figured that the fall from such of height would've meant that his last sight must've been marvelous. He finally achieved his dream of flying. Or, well, falling with a view.

Anyway, the group had urged her to take a trip away from the camp, to be alone. It was very sweet of them. They didn't want to be a distraction to her during her time of mourning. So very kind, those friends of hers. Always looking out for her best interests.

So, here she was, in the sunny fields of California, or rather, the sunny fields of Camp Jupiter. She'd decided it was the best place to be, seeing how she hadn't brought any money for a hotel room with her and the food was pretty delicious. She'd been greatly accepted, of course. Most of the campers only did accept her, however, because they were unaware of her parentage. It was nice, though. The Romans were oddly opening to her. Then again, she supposed she was a bit useful. She'd already solved five disputes without a single unnecessary injury, and she'd only been there three days.

Right now, however, she stood in the grassy area directly beyond the Little Tiber, simply resting her feet  in the grass and giggling lightly to herself as tiny dandelion seeds tickled her nose, watching as the blades of grass danced for her. Occasionally, a small butterfly would flit over her head, and she would stop to let it land on her outstretched arm or even nose. Her white-blonde hair lay splayed out around her, and her oversized long-sleeved Boston Red-Sox tee fit her comfortably, despite the warm weather. She was, as always, perfectly content.

Her pleasure paused, however, as a small sparrow hopped across her line of sight. She followed it, eventually standing up quietly. It looked so soft and sweet, but Ferro wondered why it hadn't flown off. It seemed relatively small, almost as if it were a child, though she saw no parent nearby.

She sprinted after the bird, jumped up right behind it, trying to convince the thing to fly off, however, the little creature simply hopped off a bit further. Ferro's face morphed into something like sympathy, as she realized the thing must injured. She'd have to catch it and try to mend it back to health, or else it would never survive. She snuck up behind the bird quietly, though it just flitted off, this time giving a sad, flustered effort to fly, but only reaching a short, low branch of a nearby tree.

Determined, Ferro stepped up into the tree, climbing onto the first sturdy branch she saw. She was used to climbing trees, as it was one of her best ways to be left alone in the camp, while still being able to see everything going on below her. This time, though, something went a bit astray. She reached out to grab the bird, and it flitted back down to the ground, landing clumsily. As she began to lower herself to continue the chase, she noticed that she was unable to move past a certain point. Her loose hair had been caught in a group of tangled branches.

She patiently began to untangle her knotted hair from the branches, squirming uncomfortably as she did so. She was only partially through with it, when she heard a thunk. She looked down towards the origin of the noise, just in time to see her lighter fall from her pocket. It was completely unlikely, nearly impossible, but the lighter hit the tree three times on the way down. The first time, the clasp was hit and the top popped off. The second, the tree hit the lever on the lighter, causing a few sparks to fly into the air. Finally, the lighter fell into a small crook of the tree, one containing the remnants of old dried summer grass. Jammed between the two trunks, the lever was under just enough pressure to cause a quick spark, enough to set the grass alight.

Panicked at the sight, Ferro quickened her pace, carefully tugging at strands of hair, and eventually just resorting to tugging. The hair, and her head, refused to budge. The flames were growing, and she could feel their heat upon her legs. What was she going to do?

OOC: Shade is gonna skip for a bit, so the order so far is Beanie, me, Athena. So it's da bean's turn ^.^

OOC: I've written this post twice now, hopefully this time it sends or I don't accidentally close tab. Fingers Crossed.

BIC: Finn's eyes fluttered opened as Romulus shook him awake from his semi-conscious state. The images from his vision were still seared into his mind. The tree, the bird, the army, the girl. Especially the girl, the other images seemed detached as if not related to Finn personally. But the girl seemed to be a vision regarding him personally. As Romulus helped him up, Finn noticed that Jordan was missing, also maybe Romulus is trying to say something? Maybe? Finn wasn't quite sure, it was still hard to hear after the vision. Then he looked across the river, his mouth dropped and his eyes widened. His vision had become a reality. A tree was ablaze just on the other side of what Lupa had called the Little Tiber. The flame was only on the trunk of the tree, but there was a girl, the girl, stuck in the branches. Jordan was there too, on the ground trying to help the girl.

"Stercore"

Finn quickly closed the gap between himself and the Little Tiber and waded through the river as fast as he could. His sweat pants were now thoroughly soaked, as he now sprinted to the tree. Wait. Did he just speak Latin earlier? Whatever, not important. By the time he reached the tree, the flames were so high he could see their reflection in the girls big blue eyes. This was very frightening for Finn, but he felt an over whelming urge to help this girl. She was important and she was scared. He took a deep breath and on instinct, Finn began to scale the tree. The flames licked his skin, but left no marks. It seared his clothes but less than it should've. He didn't understand it, but Finn didn't question it. Once he reached the girl, he looked her calmly in the eyes and stated, "Vacate avicula." which in Latin meant, "be still little bird". Finn's hands quickly started to untangle her hair from the tree, freeing the knots that binded her to the tree.

Ferro looked down at the girl who had rushed up to her, a bit panicked as she continued tugging at the hair. "Oui, je crois. C'est mes cheveux-" She stopped once she realized that she was not, in fact, speaking English. Gods, she was so frazzled, even her translation was working slowly. "Yes. It's my hair. I-its caught in the..."She tried again, this time a bit slower and steadier with her words. She tugged again, fiddled with the knot a bit more, and threw her head back as hard as she could without injury. Oh, ow. That had really hurt.

She could feet the feet start to cause some actual pain to her feet, and stepped up onto a higher, nearby branch, now awkwardly half-ducked under the limb as she worked on the knot. The flames were rising more quickly, now, and the dry grass was causing a lot of smoke, which she was directly in the path of. It was kind of burning her eyes, though that was about it. She just needed to get out of there fast, but nothing seemed to be working. She was starting to get a bit hopeless. What if she couldn't get out?

Just as her mind switched to the thought, a new voice materialized near the tree, though he didn't just stop there. He climbed into the tree. "Ne pas!" Sh screamed at him, before noticing that he wasn't burning. Then he looked her straight in the eye, and all her blood froze. Gods, just looking at him calmed her down almost instantly. His eyes were the dark blue color of the Seine river at night. Her father and she would go to Paris once or twice a year and stay in the cheapest hotel they could find. Every night, he'd take her down to the Passerelle Debilly, and they'd spend hours just looking at the water. and watching all the tourists and couples pass by. That place probably held some of her happiest memories, which seemed to be the ones which always made her the saddest.

Before long, she was freed, and she quickly lost her balance in her awkward pose, falling onto him and screeching as she grabbed the trunk of the tree and hooked her legs around him to keep him from falling. Or her, for all her clumsiness. Realizing that the position she was in now was even more awkward, all stretched out between him and the branch, she quickly slid down back into the closest foothold she could find, somehow, through all the danger, finding enough calm to wonder if she was blushing.

The beautiful girl fell on him and Finn's face turned more red than the flames bellow them. Now that he was this close to her, he was absolutely certain that she was the girl from his vision and she had every ounce of beauty she did in the image. When she fell onto him, Finn quickly wrapped his arms on her torso to stabilize her. Immediately realizing how awkward this position was Finn let go once she was stable. "Are you ok?" he asked, a concerned look on his face. Bellow them, Jordan called up to them to descend quickly. The flames continued the grow higher, Finn knew that they would have to jump soon. He could tell that his new found fire resistance was wearing off, and if he did not act quickly he would be unable to get the girl to safety.

Finn looked down assessing the distance between their branch and the ground. Jumping wouldn't kill them, but it wouldn't be pleasant. He would have to be careful though because the girl could still be hurt by the flames while he could not be. He needed a plan. Too much thinking. While Finn had over analyzed the situation, the flames bursted even higher, raising to their height. The branches in front of the two had been ignited and flames danced not three feet in front of them. No time to think, just to act. He scooped up the girl in his arms and jumped out of the tree. He shut his eyes and recreated her image from the vision in his mind, focusing all his energy and willpower into that one image. As the two emerged from the flames, Finn's fire resistance had been transferred to the girl. However, the little that was left for Finn was unable to keep him from being burned.

He screamed as his feet meet the ground. His legs retracted in recoil, trying soften the fall even a little bit. He placed the girl on the ground and made a bee line for the river. He ditched the shirt half way there, didn't even bother trying to stop drop and roll. He dove strait into the river. He immediately felt better thanks to the rivers magically properties. However once he exited the river, one burn remained. It was completely unnatural but on his back, was burn a circle and in the circle a picture of a man being torn apart by vultures. ((picture)) He started to walk back to the group, unaware of his new burn tattoo.

"Yeah. I think I'm fine," She replied, voice softer than usual over the crackling fire. God, now she was even closer to him. His eyes really were like river. The fire added a strong shine to them, and she felt almost like she could get lost in them forever. God, what color was that? Is that even allowed? Really, it shouldn't be allowed to have eyes that color. When you put people like Ferro and distracting, shiny blue things together, and mix it with dangerous fire, it typically doesn't go well. She was so out-of-it, she didn't even notice at first when they jumped.

They hit the ground hard, and Ferro rolled painfully a bit away, stopping a few feet away from the still-burning tree. She took a few seconds to collect herself, pulling herself up and immediately noticing a sharp pain in her side. Probably nothing broken, or even seriously injured. Just a very bad bruise that probably wouldn't go away for a while. She stood up, wincing as she felt the first bit of sting from the one or two small burns on her palm or calf.Still, she quickly began to get away from the tree and move toward the Tiber, eager to make sure that the boy who'd helped her was okay.What if he'd been hurt? Oh, no, that wouldn't do. She'd give him all her ambrosia and nectar, and whatever that didn't fix, she'd nurse back herself. She couldn't have people getting hurt on her account, could she?

The boy was already emerging from the water, though, looking pretty unharmed after the whole incident. Oh, yeah. The whole magic river thing. Romans were weird.

She gave a small cough as she caught up to him. "Are you okay? That was so brave and sweet of you to jump in there like that. Are you hurt? I have some-" She stopped mid-ramble as she noticed the burn mark along his back, still not gone after his little swim. She moved nimbly around him, so that she could see it in full view. It took her a while, but she recognized it rather quickly.

"Woah..." She said, stepping back around to face him, a smile now plastered on her face. "That's so cool!" Her expression quickly morphed into confusion, though, as the realization hit her. "But aren't you Roman? You can't be a Roman demititan, can you?"

"Oh," she said quickly, pretty carelessly, as if this event was just as exciting as everything else that happened to her. "I'm Ferro, by the way. I'm Greek, but I'm also a demititan, so who even knows what that means anymore."

Romulus was unsure why he didn’t help, he wanted to convince himself that it was because he wanted to say he wanted to see what the new guy could too. He thought that he’d be able to jump in and help as soon as Fin and Jordan moved but he stopped, upon watching the boy walk through the flames unharmed. That was when he started questioning just who the guy truly was and what it was he could do. As the three, including the Greek girl stuck in the tree, made their way away from the fire he signaled the camp and had a group of Legionnaires adequate enough to put it out as he himself made his way over to the group knowing this was going to stir something up, and whatever that was he wanted to know.

Upon walking up to the group his mind analyzed the situation taking in everything that was going on. The first thing that he noticed was neither of the two were seriously burned due to the magic of the river thankfully. However there was burn he did see and that was one that was slowly appearing on Finn’s back. A mark that made Romulus’ mind filled with ever expanding knowledge almost break, as his eyes widened in realization. He wasn’t sure if he was truly seeing what he thought he was but Ferro, the Greek and latest reason for his latest study session, sure thought it meant what he was thinking. “Ferro, no need to pester the man.” He stated walking into the water and then up to them shaking his head. “You are of course right to question how it is possible.”

Shaking his head he walked in front of Finn and sized the man up once more. It wasn’t often he found someone who seemingly could hold his own against the minotaur and then was seemingly claimed by someone with a ‘Godly’ parent whose name carried more weight than his own. With that a thought crossed his mind and without displaying any outward sign of what he was about to do his right arm crossed his chest in a fist, a salute as well as a sign of respect. “Hail Finn, Son of the Fire Bringer, the Titan of Forethought Prometheus.” After that was said he let his hand fall and then after smiling to show he was joking before his face became serious. “You are a Demi-Titan. I need to take you to the Preators.”

Wait. What?

According to Lupa, Titians were no bueno. But his father was a Titian? This was a massive curve ball for Finn. He had finally been accepted into a place where he could be himself and had he already been branded as different. He couldn't actually see the burn on his back, but ran his fingers over it. It gave him that weird feeling where you know you're touching your skin but you can't feel it. Would this be permanent? Would the other kids hate him? He had already started to like his new friends: Romulus, Jordan, and Ferro (what a pretty name). He wouldn't want their opinions of him to be based on a father he had never known. He searched all the knowledge he had on this Titian. He was the one who gave humans fire, he was on the gods' side of the first war, he was punished by Jupiter and torn apart by vultures, and he redeemed himself by telling Jupiter some future bull crap. Was he still on the gods' side? The group pestered him with questions. Ferro's bright blue eyes intrigued him the most and he zoned in on those, obvious to the buzz around. They were absolutely gorgeous. His eyes drifted on to Jordan. She had a worried look on her face, a caring one. She was a good person, caring so much about someone she barely knew. She would make a vital ally and a good friend. He turned from Jordan to the approaching Romulus, walking strong, tall, and confident. He said something funny, Finn wasn't sure why is was funny or even what was said that was funny, but then got serious. Obviously it was time for him to meet the official people. He gave Romulus a nod and said "We should go."

Ferro got a bit distracted by the boy-Finn, as Romulus had called him. Damn, Finn was a cool name. It was like some name you'd read in a book but never expect in everyday life. Like, oh, Xavier or Luce or Zian.

She was pulled back into reality when Romulus said something about going to the praetors. Ferro didn't really know him, only that he held some rank in the weird system that would've been completely lost to her had she been unable to read latin. She only really knew his bane because she was staying in some spare bunks in the first cohort.

"I should go, too!" She stated rather energetically. "I mean, I'm the only other demititan available at the moment, and the rest are going to be really really mad at me if I don't be all official and stuff. I like to avoid Stella's temper when I can."

OOC: Sorry its so short, typed this on my phone at 12 AM while sick, so it seemed very, very long at the time.

(Ooc: shades turn right?)

(I figured the preators would just kinda show up <_<, we could do a time skip right?)