Useful Someday

Winter was the season of cold. Snow fell from the sky, obstructing the ability to move quickly. Foggy mornings withheld good visionary fields. Rabbits stayed away from the snares, and many animals were as conservative as they humanly could be. The question Abigail had been asked by brand new recruits the most wasn't so crazy; why was winter such an important season to her? Abigail often smiled in the face of that question. Sadly, many of her peers still considered her to be fresh meat, despite having been a hunter for years, some had been members for as long as a thousand times longer than Abigail. Even still, it didn't keep Abigail from showing her instincts, cunning, and ability from her peers, older and younger. Often with just a hint of arrogance and a dash of overconfidence.

Winter was the season to prove yourself as a hunter. If you could thrive while the hunt and the elements worked against you, you could certainly survive when the elements blessed you with blooming nature and resources. Surviving in the winter meant you had grit. Thriving in the winter meant you had excellence. Abigail was determined each winter to prove herself better than the last. However, before she set out for a long couple of weeks of building shelters and freezing her fingers off, she did decide to have some words with the newest addition to the hunt.

Dominika Vorlov. A lady Abigail had tried to recruit some time ago.

Abigail recalled the meeting of the two. Dominika had everything a hunter should. Abigail felt she could help Dominika reach her full potential. The Romans, nor the Greeks, deserved someone so strong. Dominika belonged with the hunters, to make the strong even stronger. When Abigail made the offer, Dominika had turned her down, suggesting there were things that needed to be done in her life. Something had surely changed her mind, and Abigail wasn't informed on that in the slightest.

The brunette waited patiently, she'd asked Dominika to meet her privately on the outskirts. Abigail had arrived early, something she was accustomed to, to keep her higher ups happy, especially lady Artemis, she who blessed Abigail and all of her sisters. Her gear was tightly fitted to her body, and colored entirely black, despite the camouflage discrepancy. Not a hair was out of place on Abigail, including her calm, but seemingly resting furious expression.

Abigail could hear Dominika coming before she could see her. Though, it was apparent that Dominika wasn't attempting to stay undetected. Abigail formerly held everything her peers did to be a test, though it was often discouraged by some of her peers, though often encouraged by others. She'd began to make many exceptions, and this was one of them. Abigail didn't lack in an ability to understand empathy, but to be able to display it was a whole different scenario.

Abigail noted Dominika's hair, shorter than previously. Abigail's own hair spanned much longer than practical, though she always took care to tie it up. Her hair had currently rested in two pigtails, tightly tucked behind her, into her turtleneck. Her bow was twined over her chest; her signature weapon. Her only closer friend was her dagger. Abigail's arms had been crossed over her chest, and didn't change formation when Dominika had greeted her. Perhaps a handshake would be a reasonable introduction, but only to strangers. Once someone was part of the hunt, they would have literally all the time in the world to get used to their new sisters.

Abigail's expression was unchanged by Dominika's greeting. "Good morning, Dominika." Abigail replied, coldly. Her arms unfolded, and she stepped away from her former position. "I'm going to be absent for some time, consented by lady Artemis herself. I wanted to speak to you before I left, on your intentions and reasoning." Abigail finished, beginning to walk. She gestured for Dominika to follow, and then bit her tongue. She hated to ask what she was going to. But this was the first time she had talked to a recruit she felt was strong. She didn't trust Dominika. But there was some far distant bond. "And... my brother. On the off chance you've ever met him."

Dominika's silence hadn't bothered the hunter. Social construct had changed since becoming a hunter, and even before then, Abigail was never socially correct. Awkwardness just wasn't within her understanding, the same applied to social anxiety. Abigail only knew the most basic emotions when it came to human socializing, and typically at that, anger showed the most. The silence opened up the opportunity to tap into the arguably most important sense; hearing.

Most hunters learned hand signals, Abigail was no exception. To be able to move as a unit was important. To be able to move as a unit silently was vital. Of course, Dominika was not on a hunt at the moment. Abigail would have loved to have taken Dominika under her wing, but she spent a few weeks every winter on her own, it was just a tradition of hers. Perhaps when she got back, she would be able to pull some strings and be able to have Dominika as a student of sorts.

As determined as Abigail was as a hunter, a few years was nothing in the hunters. Many of her peers had been hunters for hundreds, even thousands of years. For some hunters, they considered you one of them after a century. Abigail still had a long time to go before that. Still, with each day that passed, Abigail got her way more often, and was more welcomed and accepted than the day before. Abigail worked tirelessly, always, to get closer to perfection. Apparently, it was noticeable.

Abigail resisted emotions when Dominika said she knew Andrew. Her heart nearly dropped. No other hunter she had ever asked had known, despite being such a small number, Abigail had her reasons. No veteran hunters would know him, and she trusted so few hunters as it was. Abigail kept her composure, but she felt a million questions arise. She had to find out why Dominika changed her mind, still. But in the moment, she let out a small hint of her fear and curiosity. "Is he alive? Is he okay?"

As Dominika and Abigail continued to walk in the snow the silence had filled the air. There wasn't much that could be heard except for the sound of snow falling off the tree branches in the distance. It was calming in a way to just be able to feel the cool air on her skin and heard the silence.

That's what the winter was good for. After Dominika had mentioned that she had known Andrew she could feel the silence again. It wasn't long before it was broken again and Abigail had asked a few questions.

It was understandable. Family meant a lot to people. Dominika knew she cared immensely about her sister and her mother and would do anything to know how they were doing. The expression on Dominika's face had softened a bit.

Probably the first time in awhile that Dominika had began to revert back to how she was when she was with Dimitri. When she was able to show more expression, and sympathize with people a lot more. The silence continued for quite some time before Nika let go of a sigh.

"Well, he's alive, but is he okay? I'm not too sure." Dominika said with a sad look crossing her face. She remembered the day that Dimitri came back with Robert, Joan, Lia, and Andrew. Robert had lost an arm, Andrew had lost his best friend, and in general people had just lost that day. There  wasn't much good about that day. Except the fact that they had brought back a girl they had found somewhere out in the woods who was also a demigod.

Andrew hadn't always been the nicest of people. Most of her memories of Andrew was back at a dance at camp and the punch bowl was spilled on Netha. Dominika remembered seeing how Andrew had changed a bit after Netha had passed, and it was weird to see him without her now. They were always together and now, they weren't.

"He lost his best friend awhile ago. He lost his wolf, her name was Netha. He hasn't been quite the same since then from my observation, but I was never close enough to him to try and help in any way." Dominika said softly.

Make no mistake, Abigail loved Netha, but not like she was family. Abigail nodded, simply, when Dominika stated that Andrew was alive. To her, that meant a lot, but she didn't let that part show. Andrew was alive, and that's all that mattered. "Netha was my wolf first." Abigail said, but she didn't bother to look back at Dominika this time. "I gave her to Andrew when I left him at Camp Halfblood. She wasn't the most loving animal, but I know how loyal she was. As long as she protected him long enough that he learned to protect himself." Abigail said. She knew so much about how far Andrew had come, but also so little. She'd only seen him twice since she left him behind, and even then, it had been a long time.

"You're either alive or you aren't. Nothing else matters." Abigail concluded. Not that in mattered, in particular. Whether Andrew died of a virus, age, or a mauling, she would lose him someday. She didn't intend to die, and she wouldn't die of natural causes, like other demigods would. Abigail didn't bother digging deeper into her philosophy. She already felt she was pushing her own bounds too far out as it was.

She still didn't look back at the other hunter, her determination and mindfulness showed in abundance while she kept aware of the surrounding areas. "You told me before that you had things to handle, when you turned me down. Are they dead?" Abigail asked, making her own conclusion. People only declined the hunters when they had someone dear. But nobody declined them on moral principle, at least, Abigail didn't think so.

Dominika continued to walk alongside her fellow hunter. She waited for Abigail to respond. In all honesty the daughter of Jupiter had no idea how she would react. Nika had respect for her, but she wouldn't say she fully understood Abigail. Heck, she probably hardly understood Abigail. At least she had plenty of time to.

Soon the brunette started to talk again. She talked about Netha a bit and how originally it was her wolf that she had given to Andrew. Dominika was tempted to ask her when she had last been at camp half-blood, but figured now wasn't really the time. It'd be something she'd have to ask later on if it ever came up again. Dominika wasn't the one to just bring up something randomly and ask a person. She especially didn't feel it was appropriate with Abigail.

It wasn't long before the matter of Andrew was concluded with a 'you're either alive or you aren't' a rather dark thing to think in her perspective, but she wasn't going to speak in regards to it. Dominika felt like even if you were alive sometimes, you weren't really alive. You could live and breathe, but just be a shell. A person was more than the mold that they were. Their body was purely there to connect them to the physical world, but each body has a spirit linked to it. Sometimes that spirit fades out. In a way, Dominika felt like that could fit to quite a few different campers, Andrew included.

After that Abigail started to talk more about what Dominika suspected she came to talk to her to talk about. She inhaled and exhaled slowly as she turned to look over at Abigail and she began to speak. "No." She said softly. Dimitri wasn't dead, and Dominika wasn't sure what would happen if he had been. Would she have gone to the hunters still? Or would she just lay in her bunk at camp all day? Would she have gone back home to Russia? It was hard to say. That was something she didn't know.

"He didn't die. Someone else did." The demigod said slowly getting to her point. She didn't know how to explain it without going in depth with it, and she didn't know exactly how much information to disclose about it. "In conclusion, I ended up feeling weak and a burden. I couldn't stay. I needed to get away and grow stronger be able to learn to hold my own."

"That answer either means you lost someone you loved or you failed to kill someone you hate." Abigail replied, nonchalantly. It wasn't in her usual style to think about revenge. Abigail played to win, and often held grudges against other hunters. However, she didn't consider to be vengeful, as to some hunters who joined holding entire feuds over from the other world. Likewise, Abigail felt they were stupid to bring over baggage like that; they would never get a chance to handle it, and would be stewing on it for a very long time.

Perhaps Dominika was one of them. Strong didn't always mean smart.

Abigail halted her walk, now turning to Dominika, in a formal and strong stance. "If it's strength and skill you're looking for, you're in good company." Abigail insisted. With such a skillful group, there was always something to strive for. So long as your passion was true, there was never a dull moment. Abigail slipped her bow off, looping it over her chest and into her hands.

"Have you tried shooting one yet?"

When Abigail mentioned the alternatives of what her answer meant, she had no reply to give the other girl. Dominika knew which of the two was true. However, sometimes she wished it had been the other one. If that was the case her step father would likely be gone and off this planet for good. The daughter of Jupiter was just left with having lost someone she loved, but that was more so on her terms. She lost Dimitri, but things were supposed to be better off this way, right? Dominika knew she had to get stronger. She didn't want to get to that point of being so low again. To feel like she wasn't enough for Dimitri, to feel like she wasn't strong enough for him. She failed him. They lost their child and to have someone die while in your care, it was a horrible feeling. Of course, she wasn't dumb, she knew there were more reasons that just her taking care of herself and the baby, but it still felt like someone so special to her died on her account. Dominika had just started getting excited about being a mom when it happened to.

The hunter blinked her eyes a bit and shifted her mindset. It wasn't beneficial to her to think about that, and if she was going to be spending decades upon decades being alive, even centuries, she had to try and let it go. Luckily time was on her side.

Soon the brunette came to a halt and turned to her. Nika heard what Abigail had said and she nodded her head in acknowledgement of what she had said. Nika knew wanting to gain strength and skill the Hunters of Artemis, well Diana, was the best place to go for that. Nika had a very high respect for the women who served the goddess.

Nika's eyes followed the movements of the other hunter as she slipped off her bow and it was now in her hands. Nika was unprepared for what Abigail had asked.

The sad truth was, she had tried shooting one before. It didn't go very well though.

"I have. It didn't go very well." The daughter of Jupiter admitted. She had the utmost respect for those who did use long range weapons. Getting accuracy was at least ten times harder than weilding a blade. The fact that some if not most long range users could also do close combat, had really impressed Nika.