Big Things Come In Little Packages

Rainy days in Camp Half-Blood were more rare than you would think, considering that the camp itself had at least some control over the weather it got. It gave many campers a reason to stay the morning in their cabins. Despite the intense rowdiness of the camp, many of the half-siblings got along better than met the eye. It almost made Dimitri miss Harper, who he no longer made an effort to communicate with. Dimitri's cabin was likely deserted at the moment, as very few children of water gods minded the rain. Most of them could will the water to slip right off of them, which was nice, unless you were in mortal public.

It felt like it was just yesterday that Dimitri had broken up with Dominika. He hadn't planned on it, but one intense moment lead to another, and eventually there was no choice left to make. Her words and actions still lingered in his head as though they were happening in front of him. The way she had cowered in fear from him deeply hurt him. He wouldn't have ever layed a hand on her, but it was clear she felt otherwise. Even if they had remained together, Dimitri knew it wouldn't have worked. How could two people heal from something so twisted? Dimitri supposed he'd already known the answer to that; there just was no way.

The demigod splashed some of the water in the lake in his face. He'd been performing, hosting, and attending training and combat drills with other concerned campers, the biggest thing he felt that needed to be worked on in camp was communication and teamwork. Moving together and communicating, without voice too, if need be. When things with Nestor and Dominika had failed at the old property, Dimitri had blamed himself. He wasn't going to let another team crumble like that.

Rain was not something that Leandra was used to, living in California for a good chunk of her life. It didn't bother her, though, as she walked to the lake, where she had been told her enemy was. She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do. As much as she wanted to kill him, she needed to actually try non-violence first. Yell at him.

"Dimitri Midnight? You Nika's idiot? I want to talk to you about her." She said to the back of a demigod who was up against the lake. She had met Dimitri once, briefly, masked. How was it going to go now?

Dimitri's head tilted back, just enough to get a look at the girl behind him, in mostly his peripherals. He turned back to the water, he just wanted all of this business to be done. He was relatively sure he knew who he was talking to. "Nope." He replied simply. "I'm 'fraid I don't know anythin' 'bout that." Dimitri lied, though, his tone wasn't in particular one that was helpful or mindful. Lying wasn't in his nature, and he couldn't remember a time that he had ever told a true lie. The demigod was usually bound to a code of politeness, though exceptions had been in a wide abundance lately. After all, why did she feel it was her privilege to get involved in something that was none of her own business.

"But if you did find him," Dimitri continued, still not bothering to turn to look at her. "I imagine he wouldn't wanna talk 'bout whatever is you're goin' on 'bout. He'd probably say there ain't nothin' to talk about in that regard." Dimitri glanced back again, making eye contact with the girl. "After all, it ain't really your business. You should respect that."

Leandra was quiet for a few seconds. She flung her black and purple backpack off and opened the main compartment, looking inside. If the other demigod had been paying attention, he would have seen her reach her entire arm into it. Her fingers grasped on what she wanted, and she pulled out a plumbata, although this throwing dart was not tipped with imperial gold, and in fact had no gold on it. It was a training plumbata, designed for practicing aim without maiming, weighted at the end with lead.

A seasoned underhand throw sent it sailing into the air making little noise before it crashed between the shoulder blades of the lying demigod. Leandra followed it, gladius now drawn and backpack back in place. She tapped the demigod on the side with her blade to indicate he should roll over. "I am Leandra, daughter of Angerona, reliever of anguish. And you have caused anguish in my friend, my family, and now we are going to talk."

Dimitri could still sense her behind him, but he remained still. He could swear he could hear her fumbling with something, but he didn't move. What was the worst she could do? Injure him? Kill him? He'd roll with the punches, but he wasn't going to instigate anything. If she wanted to strike first, that was on her.

A strange laugh of sorts escaped Dimitri after she had struck him. "You here to talk t'me, or y'here to do somethin' else entirely?" Dimitri asked, looking back up at the girl. He stood up, despite the gladius pointed at him, he was certain she wouldn't dare attack him with it. "You're either stupid, or y'just don't care 'bout anyone but yourself. Demigods that I know, ones that are on my side, they're the ones who live here. You lookin' to start a civil war among camps? Mighty selfish've you." Dimitri argued his point against her.

"Fact is, you might not know it yet, but you are f***in' with the wrong person." Dimitri threatened. "You came to talk? Let's talk. It ain't in my best interest that we fight, but trust me, it's a lot less in your best interest than it is mine. What is it you wanna know?" Dimitri asked her, his tone set his opinion even more clear than his voice did. He hadn't drawn a weapon. The worst thing she could do to him was kill him, and that would go back to haunt her more than it would him.

"You seem to be under the impression that you frighten me at all. I have faced down much scarier monsters, and Graecii for that matter. Don't worry about the war, though, I have no intention of killing you. Maiming is still a grand possibility, but that is fairly common among demigods." Leandra said, her voice quiet and even, her gold gladius raised to the level of Dimitri's belt.

"So, are you a coward, a cruel man, or an idiot? Because only one or a combination would abandon someone because times got a little hard."

"No, I know how this goes. Demigods feel they're strong, can take on anythin', 'til they're pegged down. Forced to learn the truth. I woulda thought you'd learned that truth already, but I guess you haven't been through 'nough yet. 'Sokay though, you will someday soon." Dimitri concluded. He didn't draw his weapon still, he didn't feel he needed the defense. If she tried to get him, he had the only weapon he needed, all around him.

Dimitri's eyes narrowed, and his head tilted, trying to gather an understanding of what this girl wanted. "You really came all this way to ask me that?" Dimitri asked, his voice conveyed an utter lack of understanding for her motives. "What, d'ya think confrontin' me is goin'ta help you? Help her? She needs you right now, and you're here askin' me if I'm cruel?" Dimitri asked, his voice in disbelief. "If it'll make it easier for you and her? My answer is I'm cruel." Dimitri didn't truly view himself that way, but it seemed like the right thing to say. She wouldn't just let the subject go. "Now go home. Your friend needs you. And with everythin' goin' on, your people need you too. 'Salong way back, don'tcha think?"

Leandra's grip tightened on her gladius, and her wrist flicked, moving the sword closer to Dimitri's nether regions. Her jaw was clenched, and her dark eyes smoldered with a desire to end the man. "I should be with her? Isn't it too dangerous for her to have people she's close to? Isn't that the entire reason your yellow bellied hide gave for leaving her? Or does that only apply to your cowardly presence?" She asked coldly, her voice barely making it above the rain.

"You know she was happy. For the first time in her life, she was happy. And now you've destroyed her. Worse than anything any monster could have. You proved that everyone abandons her and she can't trust anyone. And she doesn't even know how to tell you."

Dimitri remained neutral, until Leandra began to talk about what he had done to her. "I had to!" He replied, his voice vengeful and angered. She didn't understand any of it. Dimitri's arm flew inwards, willing a glop of water to fly into her sword, knocking it out of her hand. In the moment, being held at sword point was too much for him. He didn't want to be held hostage in his own camp. But the words weren't going to fly over him. He didn't trust Leandra, but he had to confess.

"There was-" Dimitri broke his eye contact with the girl. The shame of what he would admit was just too abundant. It was so much easier to ignore than to accept. "There was a moment, last time her and I talked. I asked her a question, and I really really thought I'd asked it so simply, y'know? Nothin' threatenin'. Nothin' hurtful. It was just a question, and that- that's when I saw it. She became frightened of me. She thought I was gonna hurt her, with my own two hands. That's when I knew, even if we could just go live somewhere safe? It wouldn't matter." Dimitri confessed.

"The worst part? I don't even know when that happened. At some point I became the worst monster in her life, and I don't even know when. But that's me. That's who I am." It was a vile sensation to say what he had been saying. "Leandra, you can't tell Dominika these things. She's gonna blame herself for makin' me think that. I can't be 'round her, it isn't healthy for her. I love her, I wouldn't have done this if I thought there was any other way."

Leandra had been a little, but not entirely shaken when a giant glob of water hit her hand, wresting the gladius from it. She wasn't too worried though, because she had more weapons if needed, and she could always kick him hard in the jewels.

What did shake her, though, was Dimitri suddenly invoking secrecy over his ridiculous reason for breaking off. Who in Olympus, the Underworld and Tartarus did he think he was? This boy's head was too big for his shoulders, but not even the safe way. She was furious, but she also felt he was ridiculous. The small Roman laughed, unable to compute the entirety of the ridiculousness.

"The first time I came here, I fully intended on killing every Graecus and Graeca in camp, along with every satyr and nymph who followed the old gods. No remorse, no regret, still. And now the only thing keeping you alive is not the threat of war if I killed you, but Nika's love for you." Leandra took a deep breath and pulled her pugio, twirling it a little as she admired the gold gleam.

"You see, Dimitri, you are by far not the only monster. We all are. We train our monsters to fight other monsters, but sometimes it shows to our friends as well." Leandra stopped twirling the knife and looked at him, dead in the eyes. "So stop your self-loathing pity party, pull your balls out of your back pocket, and stop being the monster that makes Nika feel miserable and be the man that tells Nika the truth. Or so help me, I swear by the River Styx, I will tell her, and consequences be damned."

Dimitri's head tilted even further, he couldn't get a read on her angle. "Do you even know why you're here? Why you're doin' what you are?" Dimitri asked. He began thinking this was more of a waste of time than anything, the only thing keeping him here was the lack of ability to shake anything Dominika related away. "You don't even know me. Did'ja even think about all the possibilities here? What if I hit her when we were together? What if I manipulated her? Enough to make her still want me back? What if I just used her?" Dimitri asked. "It baffles me that'chu really think y'can do this. You could be wreckin' a lot. It could be true, y'know it could be."

"It ain't 'bout anythin' I've been through, dunno why you would think that. Yeah, I feel shame that I've caused her the feelin's I have, but I don't feel shame over bein' this. Nothin' bad has happened. I've just grown, gotten a hell of a lot stronger. This is how I should be, and trust me, I ain't wallowin' over nothin'."

"Besides, I think there's a hell of a lot more than that keepin' me alive, don'tcha think?" Dimitri asked, as though he was taunting the girl. "I don't think you have what it takes. First you pull a weapon, then you tell me you want to kill everyone, then you tell me you won't kill me? Your talk says 'nough 'bout'chu. Have you even ever killed anyone before?" Dimitri asked. He strongly doubted it, but maybe he would be surprised. "If not. I welcome you to start here. You won't win."

Leandra stood there dumbfounded, and utterly confused until it clicked that he had entirely misunderstood her meaning. "You don't have two brain cells to rub together, do you? First came here. First time to Camp Half Blood. The war. You know, that big one, couple years ago, Camp Jupiter only stopped from wiping Camp Half-Blood off the map because Reyna showed up with the Athena Parthenon." Leandra said, her voice drenched with scorn. "No wonder you can't get what I'm saying, you can't even understand basic concepts."

Leandra sheathed her pugio, tilting her head at Dimitri. "You seem to think that Nika is some sort of fragile child or breakable ornament that you need to protect, from yourself as much as anything else. If you hit her, she would no doubt hit back, harder. She wanted to hit you. More than that, though, she already wants you back. She won't admit it, I doubt even to herself. You haven't grown, you're not strong, you're a coward who can't control himself, hiding behind excuses. You could play the trio in the Wizard of Oz by yourself."

Leandra shook her head, rain droplets falling from the dark locks. "I already told you, I ain't gonna kill you, because Nika asked me not to. Challenge me again, though, and I will show you I am not some blowhard. If the plumbata didn't help you figure that out."

"You really gonna try'n bring semantics in? Gonna bring somethin' up, then wait for the reply, then try'n tell me I don't get it? Please, you even said 'still.' Far be it from me to judge the all mighty, right?" Dimitri made the sarcastic remark. "It took me a little bit to think 'bout, but the more we talk, the more I realize that fact is, you don't know sh** 'bout Dominika." Dimitri wouldn't dare spill her secrets, even now, but he would say that much. "Sucks, don't it? I mean, you're right there next to her 'round the clock and I'm over two-thousand miles away, and you ain't even as close as we were a month into knowin' eachother."

"If it makes me doubt anythin', it's that I thought she was in good hands when I left. Now I don't." Dimitri made the bold statement. "I can only hope her other friends, though few, take care've her. The truth is that what happened between us ain't exactly a community event, it's between her and I. Don't know what makes y'think y'get to play detective on this one and come'nd draw your weapons on me. Makes me think I was in danger the whole time her'nd I dated." Not that Dimitri was afraid. He'd figured he proved that much. "Y'can throw somethin', but I'm thinkin' that doesn't change nothin'. You're small 'nough that I figure knockin' you down is easy. Even if you somehow grew two feet and ninety pounds, you're still in my element."

"Besides, with the circles you talk in? You came here to fight. Comin' here wasn't for Dominika, no. I bet she doesn't even know. If you even knew what she said, you'd realize why all of this is pointless. If you're gonna strike, then strike. Otherwise? I'm busy, I got stuff to do."

Leandra listened to the lunatic rant, then laughed loudly, mirth filling her enough that she let her guard down and bent over holding her stomach as she giggled. "I'm sorry, I'm not even going to dignify any of that tripe with a response. Except for a few things. Nika does know I'm here, and aside from hitting you with the plumbata, I had no intention of truly hurting you. The sword was to keep you here to talk, since you had already tried to avoid it." She explained as she regained her composure.

"Although, I am honestly surprised that you decided to judge my competence based solely on my size. Nika had said you were an idiot, but a decent fighter. Now I'm fairly certain it's not that you're a good fighter, just brute force strong and probably dumb-lucky." Her serious countenance returned, her face hardening slightly. "You insulted my dignity, and have invited a fight. More than once. I accept your challenge to a fight, Dimitri Midnight, do you require any rules to help give you an advantage?"

Dimitri's head would have tilted, had it not been in position. "I don't understand you." Dimitri admitted. "You really expect me t'think you need a sword to talk? I don't even have mine with me, s'cause I don't hold people hostage when I think I gotta talk to them. Whether or not I would have left, that ain't up to you, you don't just get to make up the rules. You ask me who you think I am, yet you believe yourself privileged 'nough to hold someone at sword-point, just to 'talk' to them?"

"Fact is, I don't care what I insulted. You shoulda been smart 'nough to realize somethin'. That this was never goin' to change nothin'." Dimitri declared his point, though his expression hadn't once changed from the sharp seriousness that he had conveyed. "I don't care if y'think I can fight. I don't care if I've insulted you, ruined your dignity, or whatever. Hurtin' you would be hurtin' Dominika, so no, I won't fight you." Dimitri could already feel the backlash of the comment incoming, but he said it anyway. "I realize what I did, but I'm thinkin' she doesn't need any more pain, how 'bout you?"

"We're done here, Leandra. I don't have anymore interest in talkin' to you. If anythin', I don't feel safe try'n to talk to Dominika again, if this is how her friends feel it's appropriate to act. Y'think it's funny, that it's a game, a joke. But it ain't." Dimitri finally dared to walk passed the girl. If she chose to strike, he would not retaliate.

"You didn't feel safe talking to Nika anyway, but now your cowardly podex is going to hide behind how scary I am." Leandra said, her voice full of distain. "You know, it's probably a really good thing I came, Nika deserves a lot more than a man who is too afraid to fight a little girl he could easily knock over, while he's in his own element. If you can't handle that, you certainly wouldn't be able to protect her from anything that wanted her dead."

The girl herself didn't mean anything to Dimitri. All he knew about her was that she was a close friend to Dominika, one of her few, and for that, he was grateful. Even still, her words sliced through him like they were super-heated and he was glass. The demigod stopped in his tracks. In the moment, he'd lost what anger he had earlier. "I'm thinkin' you're startin' to get it now." Dimitri replied. All he could see in his head was Dominika after the cyclopes had attacked them. She did wonderfully, he remembered. Then the night on the hill flashed into his head, and his eyes clenched shut tightly, and a shaky sigh left his mouth. It was his fault she had lost her leg that night. Dominika could always get a new boyfriend. But she would never have a new leg, not like the one she had lost.

He turned back to face the girl, and the instant he did, he regretted it. He could have walked away and avoided all of this, but he didn't. "But fine, if you wanna fight me that bad, I accept." Dimitri said. He hid the pained look that was previously on his face; he knew showing weakness to anyone or anything could be the most vital mistake one could make. "But only if'ya agree. Agree that if I win, you go back to Dominika and you do whatever it takes to make her move on from this. And for her to be happy, d'ya understand me?"

Leandra resisted the urge to laugh again. She was always going to do what was best for Dominika, for her to be happy, and if that meant to convince her to forget Dimitri ever existed, she would. "Deal. Contest ends when one yields, or if one is unable to continue." She said, then shifted her backpack.

She slipped one in the bag and grabbed her shield, pulling it out of the smaller bag with one large movement. The two other plumbata were hanging on the back of the shield, but she wasn't planning on using those yet. "Ready?"

Dimitri's head shook while she shifted equipment in her backpack. Especially after pulling out her shield, even if it looked surprisingly big for her, it was painfully clear Dimitri wasn't equipped for a duel. The only weapon he had on him was his dagger, tucked under his belt, hidden beneath his shirt. Even with that element of surprise, it was nothing compared to an entire backpack of equipment. Dimitri had abandoned skill in many recent fights, and substituted it for brutality. It worked on many more monster than he ever would have thought. Though here, a rock wasn't going to cut it against someone fully equipped.

"Ready." Dimitri replied, with malice in his voice. He looked at her lowly now, speaking of honor and dignity and then initiating a battle with unfair odds. Dimitri would have to milk the rain for every drop it was worth now. He was grateful he had spent so much time on it this last year. He assumed a defensive position, there was no way he was breaking through the shield. Though, he figured he may be able to use it to his advantage if he could get a strong enough force against it.