Uprooted

Dimitri's hand dug into his back pocket, where his work gloves usually were. Lately he'd been carrying them around with him a lot more often, as some kids did with their weapons. Uprooting dying plants was extremely important for the health of everything growing around it, not to mention compost too. Unfortunately, uprooting with bare hands was just a bad idea. The dirt and mud would cake on your hands, and fast, Dimitri knew this first hand. Having a good pair of work gloves was essentially to tending to crops, even grape vines in some cases. Dimitri wasn't in particularly fond of strawberries and grapes in terms of harvest and tending, but it was enough for him.

It was an early morning, though he was very used to this. He noticed the Demeter cabin was much more abundant in waking up early than some of the other cabins, he often noticed the same about some of the Apollo cabin members. However, tending to crops and animals was very much a morning job, and Dimitri was up to the task. There weren't many people about the fields this morning, but Dimitri didn't mind it either way. It was a summer morning with a cool air about it, which was refreshing. Fastening the tight brown gloves around his hands, he approached the vines and roots, noticing an area in particular that was in need of care.

He quickly began uprooting the areas that weren't going to survive until harvest, it was almost cruel in a sense. The weak parts had to be taken away so the strong wouldn't be brought down. But, at least the weak went to the compost, Dimitri decided with a smile. Not far from him he noticed another boy that he hadn't ever taken not of in particular. "Mornin'." Dimitri said with a smile.

Thank the gods I had the morning shift in the fields today! It had been fairly hot lately; most likely the fact that it was now officially Summer and I guess Mr. Dionysus wanted to make camp a little more real. Anywho, I had been in the strawberry fields for quite some time now--around thirty minutes. The work for easy for me being a son of Demeter and all; digging up roots felt like they were just hopping out of the ground justbecause I was there. Perhaps it was my raise in ranking in my cabin from common member to Lieutenant (Shout out to Miranda and Katie!).

Today's outfit consisted of a tan colored shirt and worn out blue jeans paired up with brown working boots. I had a straw hat on my head to keep the sun off of my face when the sun continued to raise. I turned my head to another boy who was working along side me. He had greeted me so I returned it. "Good morning. How are you?" I smiled at him, then went back to working.

Dimitri tugged at one root in particular, he could feel it deep in the ground. That was always a sign of making the right call to pull it. Let it intertwine with other roots and it could be a serious problem. Healthy roots only made other roots more healthy, however unhealthy roots were like a cancer to other plants. Dimitri grunted as he took the root in his hands and yanked strongly, until it came out. Dirt covered all of the roots hanging from it. He was almost jealous of some of the other kids around him, some of them could yank out stubborn roots without even pulling. He could already feel a bead of sweat having formed on his brow, and he wiped it with his wrist and forearm. No way he could use his hands with the amount of dirt.

"I'm doin' just fine." Dimitri said happily, throwing the root towards a bin not far from him. In theory he could have gotten his own, but the bins built up faster if people shared. Plus, it never hurt to be able to toss the roots, add some sport into uprooting. The root landed in the bin, luckily. It would have been a fun way to look stupid in front of this guy. Who had so far been nothing but kind. "'Sgood to meet you. I don't think I've really ever spoken to you before. What's your name?" Dimitri asked, lending his hand forward to shake hands with him.

"That's good." I smiled at him before standing up and brushing my bare hands on my jeans. I watched the boy toss the root into the bin, which he made, and smiled more. "I'm Alexander Grains, son of Demeter and Lieutenant of the fourth cabin." I introduced myself, shaking his hand. "And what's your name?" I asked in return. I've never seen him around camp a few times, but never really spoke to him. Most likely because I was too busy working in the garden or hanging out with the bae. They guy had dark hair and blue eyes which were kind of nice to have...or were they green?

Dimitri slipped his work glove back on his hand after shaking hands with this guy, Alexander. It wasn't always the most popular means of introduction, Dimitri had learned. However, it was as his father taught him, and so he carried it further with him. "Lieutenant, well, that's impressive, I know one've the good guys." Dimitri lightly jested with him. There was already a natural respect for Alexander, being a farmer (or at least similar to one) like himself. Adding the rank to it, Dimitri felt a beaming ray of respect. He felt almost a natural sense of comfort in talking to this boy, one that wasn't so usual. He felt he'd share a long bond with him.

Dimitri knelt once more, yanking a root from the ground. It was beginning to look like most of the bad roots were gone. He tossed it, nailing in into the bin again. He wiped the sweat from his face with his arm once more. "Dimitri Midnight." He replied. It was almost odd referencing his birth mother. Did she really have anything to do with him? Still, Alexander gave him the good manners to tell him who his god parent was, Dimitri figured the decent thing to do would be to return the kindness. "Son of Cymopoleia." Dimitri stated, he was finally starting to be able to pronounce her name right too.

I laughed some. "Just some hard work that's all." I stated before cracking his knuckles and getting on his hands and knees and helping him out. "It's very nice to meet you, Dimitri." I paused and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Cymopoleia? I've never heard of her before. What is she goddess of?" I asked him while I went back to working on removing the weeds. They actually begged me to let them stay, but I couldn't let that happen. I nodded my head and allowed them to get out of the ground and walk off on their roots.

Dimitri looked up for just the moment to spot weeds quite literally walking out of the ground. "Christ, now that's persuasion right there." The demigod said with a smile on his face. He didn't typically see acts like that happening, but it didn't surprise him; lots of magical acts happened around Camp Half-Blood. Dimitri yanked on another root, getting it from the ground. It was all second nature to him by now, though he did wonder how it must have felt to be able to communicate with roots, plants, and weeds. Still, he supposed at least uprooting was good for his shoulders.

Dimitri removed his work gloves once more, to wipe a bead of sweat off from his forehead. "She's a water goddess. Goddess of sea storms." Dimitri explained, his eyes still fixed on the weeds that were walking. He was utterly fascinated. "I've been mistak'n for a child of Demeter before though, guess it's 'cause I spend all my mornin's out here." Dimitri said, a happy aura laced in his voice as he looked throughout the field. The strawberries and grapes always grew to a prime like no other, and he was proud to be a part of that.

I laughed a bit at Dimitri's comment about moving the weeds over to the pile that he had already started. "I know, huh?" I never really thought about my powers being really special. He continued to control the weeds until there were no more left in his section. "Sea storms? That's actually pretty cool, Dimitri. I bet you have some pretty wicked powers yourself." I'm sure he could create a few storms that have some power behind it. That would be awesome to see first hand. "Hm, yeah, I could see you being a child of Demeter." I nodded my head, giving him a once over.

"The powers are certainly there, I just don't know how handy they are." Dimitri replied, he slipped his work gloves back on. The communication with the plants made Alexander get through uprooting much faster than Dimitri, who was just grabbing his final bad root now. With a strong tug, the soil released its grip from the weed, allowing Dimitri a sigh of relief, as he tossed it into the large pile of weeds. "If anythin', being able to heal is the most useful. I dunno, I guess I was just meant to be a child of the sea." Dimitri commented, eyeing the son of Demeter. He certainly fit in this cabin well, sadly his DNA didn't.

That is to say, Dimitri loved his own cabin. But his abundant farming knowledge and ken made him sometimes feel like he was born a child of Demeter. Still, he supposed to have both worlds at least. "I couldn't help but notice your accent. Reminds me've home. Where did you come from before Camp Half-Blood?" Dimitri asked, happy to mark the last of the bad roots as compost. Dimitri suspected Alexander came somewhere from the south. But he also wasn't going to make any blatant assumptions about the boy.

I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms over my chest after I finished. "You should show me sometime. Your powers I mean." I fixed my straw hat and sat back down on the grass crisscross, looking at Dimitri. "Healing huh? I heard most children of water gods could do that. I think it's pretty cool to have that." I stated, playing with the grass in front of me. I started to notice that Dimitri had a certain accent and was about to ask him about, but he beat me to the punch.

"I'm from North Carolina." I smiled some, scratching the top of head. "What about you Dim, er Dimitri. Where are you from? Georgia? Tennessee?" I asked curiously.

OOC: You're the first person to notice his accent. *claps*

"'Salittle exhausting sometimes." Dimitri admitted, about his healing. "I just hope I never truly need it. I'll practice it, gladly and all, but I hope there's never a time where someone woulda died if I didn't have that gift." Dimitri explained. While he wasn't squeamish, his ideal way of contributing had nothing to do with blood or gore. Dimitri squatted down so that they were once again at a relatively close height level. "Christ, those roots know how to hold on." The demigod commented, glad that the hard part was over. Just keeping an eye on the patch, and it would bloom absolutely beautifully.

"Oklahoma, actually." Dimitri said, he was quite fond of his home in every way. He yearned for the day he could return. There was truly no place like home. "Ironic, a little bit, that my godly parent relates to the sea, but I lived nowhere near any coast."

I nodded my head slowly. "Ah, well if there would be a time, then I would hope that you'll be there. And if not, then I'm sure the Apollo kids can handle whatever comes." I chuckled lightly and watched him struggle with the roots. "That's one thing that I admire about these things. They are so tough and always find a way to be successful and grow." I said in thought, then looked over at Dimitri.

Oh. So Oklahoma was his home state? Was that considered the south? "Dimitri? Is that's in the Midwest right?" I asked for confirmation. I'm pretty sure it was in Midwest, but I wanted to make sure so I wouldn't seem stupid. "And I guess that is ironic. Maybe Cymopoleia wanted to see how the land locked states are."

"Yeah, I know they require a lotta care and all, but they're stronger than given credit for." Dimitri said, glancing back at the vines. These were more in the field of Dionysus, but his kids certainly had no interest in growing the grapes. They just liked what the grapes became afterwards. Dimitri has a lot of experience with corn, peppers, and turnips. Midnight farm was an odd jack of all trades. Dimitri didn't comment about being there for situations he needed to heal. It wasn't a bright subject for him. He'd talk about it, but not in a casual light.

"Just north'a Texas." Dimitri replied. "Real close to the center of the country; if it was just a 'lil more north." Dimitri said. He missed home dearly. "Though, my mother had nothing to do with it. My parents adopted me." Dimitri began, though there wasn't a hint of sadness in his voice. He loved his adopted parents more than the world, and he felt no loss from either of his birth parents. "No way to know where I was born. But I wouldn't have it any other way." The demigod said with a smile.

Dimtri looked up at the sun, guessing what time it might be. He tucked his work gloves in his back pocket before he stood up. "I gotta take a rain check on this conversation though. I have self-defense lessons from a child of Ares in the arena right 'round now. I'll definitely come talk to you later, it was a pleasure meeting you." Dimitri said with a sincere smile. It wasn't often he met other southerns, especially ones so like himself. For now, it was time to get meet Evander.

Sad to say, it was going to be a more robotic encounter than he wished for it to be.

I smirked. "Don't I know it." Weeds were extremely strong and for good reason. They had to stay deeply rooted in the ground because they knew that they were unwanted when it came to gardens, fields and manicured landscapes. These daisies and dandy lions knew in order to survive that they must be fit and strong. I let out a sigh of contentment, smiling when Dimitri cleared up where exactly Oklahoma was. In all honesty, I thought that Oklahoma was near Ohio. Don't tell anyone that I said that. "I thought so. I guess I really need to brush up on my states huh?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Oh! That's cool. I didn't know that about you." Well I kind of just met him, but whatever. Then the conversation was cut short for the son of Cymopoleia's self-defense class. I had to admit that I was a bit, sad, but knew that I would probably be seeing him again soon. "Alright, Dimitri. I'll be in my cabin whenever you're done with you class." Wtith that, I returned his genuine smile and headed to the greenhouse styled cabin.