Lost is a matter of perspective

I had to admit that today had been a slightly, if not very, annoying day. After enjoying a large granny smith apple, I decided to put another one in my pocket and then 'stumble' around any random Cohort and see what was going on. I enjoyed doing this because I always had the excuse that I was looking for a friend of mine, a good excuse that almost always worked since I had at least one friend in all cohorts. Yesterday I had gone to the Third Cohort and actually had a good time with the people inside. They just kept on bantering with one another and bickering over the smallest things. I eventually helped bring arguments to an end, most of the time, but some were just to funny. One pair was fighting over socks and the colors they had. Others just made jokes and stories about the past. as a ten-yearder of the Legion, I did tell em about a couple of my stories, like the time when I tried to fight a Hydra, but ended up with a huge wound on my chest that still holds some scars to it, although they are almost impossible to see, or when I met my dad Mars in Olympus and started to talk about ancient strategies with him. It seemed to please him to talk about successful battle tactics and I enjoyed reading about older leaders so we had a mutual connection, but aside from that, it was a rather platonic meeting. Nothing particularly intimate or emotional, but then again, I didn't really expect much from him in terms of deep emotional connectivity.

Right now I was walking around the Second Cohort Barracks and met a couple of nice-looking faces and a couple of not-so-nice faces. I really didn't let those not-so-nice looking faces bother me, but I did smile back to those who at least had the courtesy of purporting to be nice. As dark, denim, bootcut jean covered black boots, moved across the Barracks I realized that my earlier assessment wasn't really right. I knew at least one person from all Cohorts except the Second one. Great, this meant that i had no real excuse to be in the Second Cohort. Oh well, I hope I get to meet someone soon enough. I just continued to walk down with my simple outfit consisting of a blue tank top with a black belt and my dark denim jeans with my black shoes. Along my neck hanged my dagger-necklace and in my hand was my mom's silver ring which I wore for no reason other than just liking it.

My mind was totally in a daze! I had no idea what to do before somebody called me out and got me pulled out of the Cohort. Suddenly, and much to my relief, I crashed against a girl. I would normally apologize for my clumsiness, but I have to admit that words failed me when I saw her.

The word drop-dead gorgeous failed this girl. She had long, wavy, thick honey-colored hair that fell onto the middle of her back like shiny caramel silk. Her great eyes and little, pointed nose gave her a playful look. Her jawline looked delicate, as was her pearly white neck. She had dimples on her face, but no tan abundance of them, which actually made her look more realistic. I felt all sorts of wrong! I was a taken guy! Lena was my mate, but GODS, this girl was hot! I tried to speak up to her, saying it was ok, but failed and tried to maintain a cool demeanor. I put a hand behind my back and gave her a half smile, trying to not come off as a dork or an idiot.

"D-don't worry. I'm ok. Enough about me though, are you hurt? I can be a wall sometimes." I said, with the last part of my sentence sounding a lot more funny than I thought. I chuckled a bit a my comment, but only after scanning her with my deep blue eyes to see if i had done some sort of damage to her. She seemed alright and well. Phew!

I kinda felt like a big idiot, just standing like a statue with this mystery girl being nice and all. She seemed nice enough, so I smiled at her in the nicest way I could, which if I may be honest, wasn't better than an awkward smirk. Don't blame me though! I, Damian Gladius Valorous, am not a smiling guy! I'm more of a smirk and grimace guy. It felt weird feeling the muscles of my face contort into a smile, as if I was pushing them upwards. Had anybody told me I would be smiling to a pretty girl today, I would had taken better care of my hygiene. My teeth were not bleached white, and I still had a few droplets of sweat in between the furrows of my face. No matter how much I tried to tell myself that I was a good-looking guy, I could not convince myself that it was true.

"Well, I guess that's a good thing. Don't want ya to hurt yourself with big o' me." I commented after placing a hand in the back of my head and switching my all t--forced smile into a more comfortable, relaxed grin. All the sudden this blonde bella placed a hand on my arm and I felt myself tense a bit and shuddered at her caress. To say that I was used to soft and nice gestures was one of the biggest lies one could say. I was less of a cuddly puppy and more of a gruff old dog that's been beaten and abused far too much. I felt her retract a bit after I reacted to her touch and immediately felt bad. Wait, bad wasn't exactly it. I felt like if my heart just sunk. I didn't mean to frighten her. It's just...so uncommon.

"Sorry for that...I'm not exactly used to gentle touches. I'm more used to getting stabbed or punched. Anyways, yeah, names Damian Valerius. Also yes, I was gone for six months on a mission in Camp Half-Blood. Now, if you would let me, can I retort and ask what is the name of la bella that stands in front of mi?" (OOC: I used Spanish here cuz I thought it might be more characteristic of him) I asked and declared to her as I allowed my Spanish accent to appear. I had no problem showing it. Nor did I feel ashamed. I just felt proud that I had something to carry off Spain with. I tried to keep eye contact with her as I spoke, yet also made an effort to not come off as a freak and stare at her. It was just a friendly conversation, not an Inquisition.

I smirked confidently at her as she spoke up to me. Had to admit, it felt good to be sorta asked put. A part of me, a very large part of me, screamed to just be blunt and say no due to my relationship with Lena, but a small thrill-seeking part of me wanted to just have fun and experience a bit. I decided, against my better judgement, to just try out the whole thing and chuckled slightly. She was quite forward, something I found very attractive, not to mention she was, in good old Spanish caliente!

"I'll make sure to not forget about that. Anyways, I'm free tomorrow afternoon if ya wanna meet up, Laure." I said making sure to say her name as a way to assure her that I would make an effort to remember it. Though, in all honesty I guessed it was hard to forget her name. It wasn't as if I knew more than one Laure.