Priormath

There was a certain sense of order in Camp Jupiter, an aspect that was very foreign to Camp Half-Blood. There was order and respect to be seen among most of the demigods there. Though, the goal was for all of the demigods to maintain their Roman traits. He knew at least one of them who failed to do so. The mixed ties he now held with Cohort Three in particular made him hesitant to visit. But he had to see Dominika, it was important after everything that had happened. The aftermath of the break up was a lot more than Dimitri ever would have expected. Dominika had only told one person, to Dimitri's knowledge, yet that one girl took things far further than they ever should have gone. It would be for the best that he wouldn't see her today.

Upon entering the barracks, specifically, where Dominika slept, he took notice that she wasn't there. He'd already checked Temple Hill when he'd arrived in camp. He figured that it was likely no one knew about the break up, unless Leandra had already spread rumors about it. If Dominika had it her way, Dimitri figured that it was possible no one would even know for sure if she'd had a boyfriend. None of that was important now, though. He just wanted to check up on her. To make sure she was safe. After everything that had happened at his own home, he wasn't sure how she would be feeling on a mental level.

"Hey, 'scuse me." Dimitri stopped somebody, and his southern accent flared in his voice, as it always did. "I'm lookin' for Dominika Orlov. It's kinda important, do y'know where she might be right now?" Dimitri asked the boy. There were other people around he could have asked, but he didn't want to spend any more time looking for people than he needed to. He gained some sort of positive vibe from him too, as he did from many Romans. They knew how to fight on a team, how to look out for each other.

At least, most of them did.

If there's one thing I hate more than anything else in the world, it's insects. But close to insects, there's random visitors who ask about very secretive, very elusive people.

Case in point, last Tuesday. It was my free hour (about 15:00 PST) and I was just lying on my bed for a bit. Just relaxing and sh*t, nothing too mindblowing. I had just gotten back from some offensive training, and would be going to an hour of defensive training, so I hi kept the lorica segmentata "breastplate" on and swapped the helmet out for my desert tan baseball cap I wear for airsoft - a very engaging furlough activity, I should add.

But getting back on track, after several minutes of lying on my back and doing nothing, I decided to get up and go see if any of my non-3rd cohort friends were free. And that's when I bumped into the Graecus.

It wasn't like I hadn't seen the kid (I say, me probably being no older than him) before, swooping in and taking Dominika off to wherever they ran off to, but this was the first time I had ever been face to face with the guy, who I surprised me by not calling me "Yankee". He asked for Orlov (which was expected), prompting me to snark back with "Excuse me, but who the hell are you? And what do you want with the most antisocial Romsn in all of Camp Jupiter?"

Dimitri didn't exactly expect the response from the person in front of him. While it wasn't the expected reaction, it wasn't a surprising one. Dimitri had met many demigods, even Roman ones. There was no way to ever predict who you were talking to, or what they were capable of. The demigod took solace in knowing he could hide the things he was capable of doing. Whether it was the demigod's instantaneous strike or his willingness to attack Dominika, Dimitri wasn't pleased with his response.

His teeth flashed for a moment, in a smile. "Y'know, 'skinda ironic when you really think about it." Dimitri replied back to the boy. "Can't even be polite to a stranger, askin' you a simple question, with all the right manners too. And ya'still call someone else antisocial?" Dimitri asked. He wasn't looking for a fight with this person, but even before Dimitri was experienced in the demigod business, he didn't believe in being stepped on.

"You should really watch what you say." Dimitri warned. "Best case scenario, all y'do is hurt someone's feelings. Worst case? It comes back to bite'chu." Dimitri replied, though it wasn't intended to be a threat. "Some people bite harder than y'think you can handle, too." The demigod wasn't in particular thoughtful of the words. People didn't usually take these things to heart, but he did want to know where Dominika was still.

"I'm not too worried about someone biting back; six years of military training doesn't leave much room for intimation." A snarky reply, but I had a point. He wants to tee it up, then why step back? Like I said, I'm a legionnaire of six years, I can handle a fight. "But since you're keen on manners, a rarity in these days of state-sponsored classlessness, I might as well give you the radio edited version of my question. So, who are you, and what do you want with Dominika?"

"Last Roman I had to fight said she had seven years." Dimitri replied. Ironically, they were all in the same group too. He was hopeful he wouldn't run into her today; Leandra and him just wouldn't be able to have good blood in the future and he knew that. "If I ain't mistaken, they teach you to fight in a team. Work together, adapt and overcome, 'sthe way the show you. Two've you're in the same group. If you can't learn to work together, then you won't live long 'nough to work alone." Dimitri warned. Maybe he was angry to hear someone talk down about her, and less angry that he was being judged.

He'd accepted that some Romans wouldn't look kindly on him for being Greek. It was part of who they were, and despite the prejudice nature being harmful, it wasn't something he could fix overnight. It was a work in progress. "My name is Dimitri Midnight." Dimitri decided it wouldn't harmful to give his name and motive. His face remained serious, he could imagine a comment on his surname was coming. He hadn't coped well with those since his parents died. "Dominika is a friend of mine. She and I were there when Sean's body was found. I'm sorry he didn't make it." Dimitri was sincere at that point, for all he knew this person never even met Sean; Dimitri sure hadn't. But it wasn't okay to be disrespectful of the dead. Dimitri kept to that, even now.

Dimitri Midnight, eh? His mortal parent must've been some real Haight-Ashbury type to give their kid a name like that. "Dimitri Midnight? Ok, I've heard stranger. But that's only one of two questions that you've answered. You maybe her friend but I'm still not telling you anything 'till I get a reason."

Dimitri also had a little tangent about the whole team mentality of Romans, which seemed ridiculously off topic and more of some kind of pander-speak he's using to try and get me to spill the beans on Nika, along with some apology for finding the "body" (a poetic euphemism for a severed head) of that of some Nate* kid.  But he doesn't even know the extent of my knowledge on that Russian, and this was the best part of the whole thing...

*: