A Ticking Timebomb (Or Two) ((Hanalise Winneshek))

Sometimes afternoons were fun.  Well, the ones where Elijah allowed himself to have fun.  He had been down lately...since River had moved to New York City and all.  The boy missed his best friend, there was no denying that.  River had always been there, for everything, good and bad.  She had been the small boy's first friend ever...a chance meeting nearly two years ago when neither had been expecting it.  It wasn't like the girl was gone...sure, there were six or seven hours between the two of them now, but they could still write to each other and all.  That didn't mean Elijah didn't miss her.  But Jack was more than happy to keep Elijah sane.  And the boy was grateful his boyfriend was right there.  If it wasn't for the older boy, Elijah was pretty sure he'd be sitting around, wallowing in his own angst and applesauce.  Applesauce...Elijah's version of sitting around eating ice cream when he was sad.  His dad and step-mother would never buy the vegan ice creams, but applesauce was cheap and healthy.  But the boy hadn't even had time for applesauce, because Jack had been so hell-bent on keeping him busy and distracted.  And although the son of Discordia was trying to keep being productive and all, he was more than happy to let his boyfriend distract him at times.  He wouldn't be able to stand it otherwise.  So when Jack had strolled into the Principia a few hours prior, "accidentally" airing the fact that the First Cohort barracks were empty, the small boy was more than happy to give Calix a wave and a promise he'd be back soon.  Well the First Cohort barracks had staid empty, and the two boys had used that to their advantage.  Elijah had been okay with risking the public thing.  Sometimes being dangerous was fun...and life was for having fun.  Why waste the limited time all of them had, anyway?

The two had lazed around for a bit before Jack had fallen asleep.  Elijah had contended himself to lay there, head resting on the older boy's chest.  He really loved that feeling...the older boy's heartbeat steady against his cheek, the gentle, sleep specific rhythm of rising and falling of Jack's chest.  But the boy knew he couldn't spend his whole day like this, no matter how much he wished he could.  He had promised Calix he'd be back soon, and that was hours ago.  Untangling himself from his boyfriend, Elijah headed to the bathroom.  It was definitely better to clean up now...the boy didn't really like the idea of walking through camp looking a mess.  No one came into the bathroom while the small boy was showering, and when he walked back into the barrack, it was still empty aside from Jack, who was still snoozing.  Unable to help the soft chuckle that escaped his lips, Elijah grinned, just watching his boyfriend for a moment.  It was so easy to see Jack as overly-sexual and eager being, but it was different when he was asleep like that.  He had more of a gentle, passionate handsomeness than his usual dead-sexy look.  The small boy could never figure out which look he liked better...it was more than just those two, of course.  In the end, the Praetor figured it didn't matter.  He loved Jack no matter what he looked like.  It was still nice to watch the older boy sleep...he just looked so relaxed and content (though decidedly less so without Elijah as his teddy bear).  Watching his boyfriend, Elijah wasn't sure he wanted to leave...but he had to.  Grabbing his coat and pulling on his combat boots, lacing them up tight, the boy kissed Jack's forehead lightly, whispering a quick love you before pulling on his coat and grabbing his bag.

It was chilly out, though it wasn't really bothering Elijah at the moment.  He was okay with the cold most of the time, it wasn't nearly as bad here as it was in Bridgewater.  And the lack of snow was definitely a plus...but the boy still didn't like it too much.  Having spent the past few hours keeping warm with Jack, the easy walk from the First Cohort barrack to the Principia wasn't a bother at all.  When Elijah approached the doors, though, he frowned slightly.  He didn't especially want to go back in there, sorting through paperwork and dealing with Legionnaires.  And Calix was always telling the boy he needed to take some time off...it had been so long since that dark time, though Elijah would never forget those three months...the stillness in the air...the tragedy at every turn.  And the boy didn't want to think about it...any of it.  He'd take forgetting it had happened over taking a few days off.  Things that the son of Discordia would probably never admit to Calix.  Calix was one of his best friends, and an amazing complementary Praetor to Elijah's, but there were some things that just didn't need to be said.  Besides, with the wedding and all that happy ending stuff, it was probably best to leave pieces of the past behind.  Keep quiet, but hold it close...those who forget the past and all that.  And the danger would always loom, no matter how normally things went.

His hand on the door of the Principia, Elijah finally decided to just go in.  He'd get some paperwork done...hopefully no one would come in with an issue and he could get said paperwork done quickly.  He'd sit with Jack at dinner, drag the older boy back to the Principia to stay the night, and everything would be just fine.  With a deep breath, the boy shook his head.  He just had to go in there.  Sit down, get to work.  Besides, Calix was in there.  Even if River had moved, Calix was Elijah's other best friend and he couldn't take that for granted.  Though the boy really did miss River.  It had only been a few days since the older girl had left and Elijah was already feeling it.  He'd have to start sucking it up if he intended to get through until he was ready to move to the city, too.  Maybe he'd pen a letter to the daughter of Trivia before he got started on paperwork.  See how things were going so far and all.  Try not to sound too much like a sad puppy.  Pulling open one of the heavy doors to the Principia, Elijah sighed softly.  Calix rustling papers around was an unwelcome reminder as to what the boy had to do for the next few hours.  "Sorry about that, Calix," Elijah called, trying to concentrate on unbuttoning his coat.  "The First Cohort barrack really was empty.  Anything interesting happen while I was out?"

Hanalise looked up at all the lights, happily taking in the smells, sights, and sounds of Times Square.  If and when she finally decided to move out of Camp Half-Blood for good, New York City was exactly where she would settle.  She loved the chaos and the constant energy of the place.  Not to mention it was lacking the winter snow that Minnesota had.  The winter there was absolutely brutal.  Minnesota always got lots of snow.  That part was inevitable.  This year, though, it was beyond cold.  Hanalise was lucky enough to have left the state before the wind chills reached -50, but she had still spent too many mornings at the bus stop in -20 degree weather.  The cold was definitely not her thing.  She could deal with the 20 or 30 degree cold, but as soon as temperatures dipped into the negatives, she refused to take it nicely.  Hanalise used to be able to deal with it, but she had gone soft in the years she had been away from the frozen tundra.

New York was so much better.  It was warmer, it was busier, and nobody was worried about ‘Minnesota nice’.  That was one of the best parts for Hanalise.  Nobody in New York glared at her if she shoved her way onto the subway or pushed through a line.  Well, they did, but that was usually because they were in a rush, and they had to wait another three minutes for the next train.  In Minnesota, people would glare and grumble about how rude she was.  Passive-aggressive described Minnesotans to a T.  New York was certainly a much better fit for the daughter of Ares, but Camp Half-Blood was even better than New York City.  With that in mind, Hanalise stepped off the curb and flagged down a taxi.  Climbing into the back seat, she announced, “3.141 Farm Road.”

The cabbie gave her a funny look before asking hesitantly, “Is that a real address?”

“Of course it is!” she answered.  “It’s on Long Island, near Montauk.”

The cabbie shook his head.  “I’m sorry.  We don’t go that far.  City limits and surrounding areas only.”

“Long Island is a surrounding area!”

“Montauk is not.”

“I’ll pay extra.  I have cash.”

“I can’t go two hours out of the city.  I’m sorry.”

With something between a frustrated sigh and a growl, Hanalise climbed back out of the cab and retreated to the sidewalk.  If she couldn’t take a cab, what were her other options?  She could call Argus and have him come pick her up, but there were three problems with that option.  One, she didn’t have a cell phone to use.  Two, she didn’t know where she could find a public phone.  And three, she would have to wait another two hours for Argus to drive from camp to New York.  So no, he wasn’t the best option.  What else was there?

The Gray Sisters.  Hanalise had used their taxi service more than once before.  It provided a chaotic ride, but at least it was quick.  The daughter of Ares rummaged through her pockets in search of a drachma.  Pulling out a small handful of coins, she sorted through the quarters and dimes and pulled out the single gold coin.  The rest of the change went back in her pocket, but the drachma went straight for the pavement.  “Stêthi, Ô hárma diabolês!” she called.  Within a matter of seconds, the grey, smoky taxi materialized.  She quickly clamored into the back and opened her mouth to speak.

Before she could, all three sisters screeched, “We know!  Camp Half-Blood!  That’s the only place you demigods go!  What do you think we are, a taxi service?”

“Actually, yes,” Hanalise responded.  The Gray Sisters began arguing angrily, but it quickly turned to yet another argument about their eye and tooth.  The daughter of Ares sat back as the taxi took off, knowing it would be better if she ignored them altogether.  Before long, the taxi arrived outside the border of Camp Half-Blood.  Hanalise gave the sisters another drachma, gathered her few belongings, and made her way back into her home.  But…it wasn’t her home.  It was, but it was bigger.  There were new buildings, and they were so strange.  She remembered that new cabins had been going up when she was last there, but these buildings didn’t look like cabins.  They were bigger and didn’t match the rest of camp’s architecture.  Naturally, the girl was drawn towards one of the bigger buildings that seemed to be in the middle of everything.  It exuded the same feel as the Big House, but it was clearly different.

Pushing open the doors, the daughter of Ares was faced with a large, open room with what looked like desks at the other end and a few doors heading off of the main hall.  Curiosity getting the better of her, she crossed the room, letting the heavy doors slam shut behind her.  As she approached the desks, she kept her hand around the switchblade in her pocket, just in case there were traps somewhere.  Hanalise rounded the desks, which were laden with papers, and looked down at those on top.  The Official Roster of the Roman Legion read the top sheet.  Roman Legion?  What was this all about?  Convinced that nothing was going to attack her, at least not yet, Hanalise began ruffling through the papers.  They seemed to detail everything from architectural and battle plans to lists of campers and all the information about them.  The daughter of Ares was most curious about the lists of campers.  She didn’t recognize any of the names, and she was surprised to see things like ‘Son of Venus Amatorius’ following their names.

Venus was the Roman name for Aphrodite.  Hanalise normally wouldn’t have known or cared, but she had taken Greek and Roman Mythology as a remedial English class during the short time she had been back in school.  The ‘mythology’ part made her laugh, but at least the Greek unit was an easy A.  All she remembered from the Roman part, however, was what the Greeks were called by the Romans.  So if there were sons and daughters of the Roman gods here, did that mean there were Roman demigods?  Hanalise didn’t even know they existed!  When had they come to Camp Half-Blood?  Why were they at Camp Half-Blood?

She barely looked up as she heard the door open.  She was too intent on the strange things in front of her, and from the brief glance, it didn’t look like the other boy was paying any attention to her.  That was perfectly fine in her book.  The longer she had to look, the better.  The boy started to speak, but from what he said, he clearly hadn’t noticed who she was.  Or that she didn’t belong.  Did she belong?  Probably not, but she didn’t care.  Laughing slightly at his question, she called back, “Yeah.  Romans moved in!  Can you believe that?  Roman demigods!  I didn’t even know they existed!  There’s a whole lot of ‘em here, apparently.  I gotta say, they look a little weird, but I like their battle strategies.”

The amount of paperwork Elijah had to tackle was feeling more and more daunting.  The boy liked being a Praetor, but he hated the paperwork.  It certainly wasn't as bad as being back in school where he'd be tacking Trigonometry and stuff at this point, but it still took a lot of concentration...which the small boy didn't have much to spare.  "Omne opus non fabula," Elijah mumbled in Latin, gritting his teeth.  Now that things had gone from bad to worse, the boy was feeling more and more moody.  Burying himself in paperwork was probably the best thing he could do for himself.  It was kind of sad, and the boy was well aware it was just a coping mechanism.  Like he had done when Lúth was missing.  Just concentrate on the paperwork, throw himself into his Praetor duties in general.  Be a good and strong leader...and there he was, back into a Machiavellian complex.  "Quando mos rebus recte?" he muttered softly.  Suddenly, Elijah felt an overwhelming urge to walk right through the main room of the Principia and curl up in bed.  It was just how he was feeling, not to mention it was pretty cold at the moment and warming up in bed seemed nice.  Not that his bed was too warm anymore.  "Bracchae," Elijah swore softly.  He was beginning to think that maybe 'pants' was an okay swear word.  It did mean 'underwear' over in England.  Yes, maybe he'd just head to his bedroom after saying hello to Calix.  He could say he wasn't feeling well and just needed to lay down.  Calix wouldn't question too much.  The boy's best friend and fellow Praetor wasn't like that...he respected that Elijah would say things when he was ready.  It was the quiet sort of comfort that the small boy appreciated.

Calix.  Calix!  That wasn't Calix who had just spoken to him!  Looking up sharply, his coat half unbuttoned, Elijah stared with an open mouth at the blonde girl sitting at the main table, going through paperwork.  "Hey!" he snapped.  "That's confidential paperwork right there!  Unless you've magically replaced Calix, put it down and get the hell out!" Elijah glared at the girl as her words started sinking in.  He had never seen this girl around camp...and her words weren't the words of a new Legionnaire.  She really didn't know Roman demigods existed, which meant she had to be Greek.  And she couldn't be a new Greek, because they were all well aware that Romans existed.  The cogs in Elijah's head were going into overtime as he tried to figure this one out.  A Greek who was obviously not new to this, but didn't know there were Roman demigods.  She must have left the Greek camp at some point and was now returning.  Though that didn't really explain why she was in the Principia...sure, Greeks were often accidentally wandering into Camp Jupiter 2.0, but most didn't end up sitting behind the Praetor's table in the main room.  And going through their paperwork!  Who did this girl think she was?  Approaching swiftly, his fingers ready to flip open his poison rings to reveal his daggers, Elijah caught her last few words...battle strategies.  That made the son of Discordia's blood boil.  Because he had worked too hard on battle plans for them to fall into the hands of a Graeca.

"Those are my battle plans," Elijah said sharply.  "Hands off!" he wasn't in the mood for this.  There was too much going on without throwing a pesky Greek into the mix.  Really, the small boy didn't have problems with the Greeks.  He had met a handful, and most of them were rather lovely.  But this was like some dangerous Goldilocks...a seemingly overly-confident Greek had found his chair "just right".  It was taking everything the boy had not to just grab the blonde haired girl and throw her out of the Principia himself.  He was sure he could do so.  Though he knew he had to be careful...he didn't know who this girl's parent was.  Was there a God or Goddess of snooping jerks?  Rubbing his temples, Elijah looked back up at the girl.  "Get out of here," the boy said, a bit of a nasty tone in his voice.  He didn't want to be dealing with this right now.  A flippant Greek going through important and confidential paperwork.  And she didn't even seem to care.  Like the whole thing was a joke...Roman demigods and casually going through paperwork...Elijah could practically feel the steam coming out of his ears.  And no matter how much he had been taught it was wrong to hit a girl, the Praetor really had no quarrel doing so.

So maybe it was best to start from the beginning.  Get the girl out of there.  "Yes," Elijah finally said through clenched teeth.  "Roman demigods.  Welcome to Camp Jupiter 2.0...if you need something, you should be on the opposite side of the table you're on.  Where you're sitting is the Praetor side.  We're the ones that run camp over here, and although my partner might not threaten you for sitting in his chair, I certainly will," Elijah felt dangerous.  Maybe he should stop...maybe he should just let it go.  But after everything that had been so cruelly taken away from him, he wasn't going to stand for more of it.  That Praetor seat was his and the blonde haired Greek needed to get over it before the son of Discordia did something rash and stupid.  "I'm Praetor Emmanual...if you need anything, please address it with me now.  If not, I suggest you get out.  Quickly," Elijah didn't want to make good on his threat, but he was very ready to nonetheless.

Hanalise couldn’t help but laugh softly at the outburst from the young man standing across the room from her.  It didn’t take long for him to approach, clearly angered by her presence in the hall.  Well, that certainly answered one of her questions.  No, she didn’t belong there.  And apparently the fact that she was provided enough cause to get very, very angry.  Was there a chance that this boy was a son of Ares?  Or…what was the Roman equivalent?  Mars?  Hanalise could certainly see her father in the boy.  His overreaction, his anger…it was all very Ares-esque.  Though there was something strange about him, too.  There were some odd sensations rolling off of him.  Hanalise shrugged it off.  It didn’t bother her any, but if he was a son of Mars, that was something new.  She definitely couldn’t throw off waves of upset, and as far as she knew, none of her siblings could, either.

She was about to respond, but the boy kept right on talking.  Bemused, she sat back in the chair and propped her feet up on the desk.  Sure, the boy was angry, but it didn’t seem like he was going to attack.  At least not yet.  Besides, if he did, she could defend herself easily enough.  She was a little out of practice with proper technique, but her sword, Kosmos, still functioned as an extension of her arm.  The fact that it was a gift from her father combined with her many years of work with it at camp meant she would never lose proper control of it.  Of course, there was that little blip in weapons wielding that the pesky Hades had caused, but the daughter of Ares had compensated for that.  As the boy across from her continued to prattle on about Camp Jupiter 2.0, Hanalise pulled her switchblade and a ponytail holder out of her pocket.  She rested the knife on her leg, out of the boy’s range of sight, just in case she needed it.  With the ponytail holder, she pulled her messy hair back and tied it off.  The water in New York had made it frizz out more than usual, and it was starting to drive her up a wall.

When the boy finally fell silent, Hanalise asked calmly, “Are you done?”  Dropping her feet from the desk, she leaned forward and rested her elbows against the surface.  “First off, can you say much more than ‘get out’?  I think you said that at least three times.  With everything else, though…where do I even start?  You talk a lot for saying so little.  Let’s see…It’s Praetor Emmanual, right?  Is that a first name or a last name?  I want to know how formal I’m getting before we really get into this.  And you Praetors run the camp?  How many of you are there?  Just you and the other guy?  Calix?  Do you think it’s wise to have the entire camp run by just two people?  Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m not the brightest bulb on the tree, but that doesn’t seem very smart.  And if this is Camp Jupiter 2.0, what happened to version 1.0?”

Hanalise paused to glance around, working to remember everything else the boy had said.  Looking down at the rosters and battle plans before her, she continued, “Praetor Emmanual, if this is confidential paperwork, you guys do a terrible job of protecting it.  You just leave it laying out, all over the desks!  And you left the doors wide open.”  She smirked and said, “Anybody could walk in and read it!”  Relaxing against the chair again, her eyes swept over the room.  “I don’t know who this Calix guy is, but it looks like it’s just you and me here, Emmanual.”  Raising her hands in a sort of ‘ta-da’ manner, she grinned and added, “Who knows?  Maybe I have magically replaced him!”

This would be a test for Elijah on a good day.  It wasn't like he had an issue with Greeks or anything, he hated insolent, mouthy demigods in general.  They always made his job harder, and put the boy on edge.  Today was not a good day...that meant things were even more precariously balanced.  And the fact of the matter was that Elijah was already in a bad mood, and an insolent Greek was just going to make things worse.  "Bracchae," Elijah muttered under his breath.  He wished River hadn't left...the boy could use his daughter of Trivia best friend right now.  She'd be able to do all sorts of witchy stuff.  But the son of Discordia had to behave.  Throwing a punch at a Greek girl would be really bad news for a Praetor.  And for Greek-Roman relations in general.  The problem was that the small boy had to deal with this, even though he didn't want to.  He had to not do anything rash or dangerous.  Just keep going and not act like a baby.  "Yeah, I'm done," Elijah finally said, a slightly defeated edge to his tone.  This was going to be a mess, that much was becoming more and more obvious.

The girl looked tough enough, but Elijah wasn't sure he wanted to test that.  "I think in a perfect world, I say what I want, and you vanish into thin air," the boy snapped.  He didn't want to listen to this girl, or even look at her face, he wanted her out.  She wasn't going anywhere, and the small boy was more likely to scream himself into a heart attack if he went that way.  At this point, the boy figured he'd play along.  There wasn't much else to do without things getting ugly.  "Emmanual is my last name.  I don't care who you are, you call me Praetor Emmanual.  So there's the first answer," the boy worked hard to keep breathing...no screaming, no matter how bad the boy wished he could.  No dragging the girl out by her frizzy blonde ponytail, although that would definitely be a sight...and a good one.  Sadly, this was where Elijah worked out of, and the official title meant he had to be official.  As a Praetor, he was one of the faces of the Roman Legion, and he didn't want to ruin that.  Or get kicked out of the Principia and his job.  Because the boy liked his job, and on most days, he would be fine to be an adult.  Today was just not one of those days.

This was all some sort of nightmare.  It had to be some sort of nightmare.  Carrying on with this girl was the worst possible thing that could be happening right now.  Elijah just had to keep his head held high and not freak out.  "So next on your freaking list, yes, we run the camp.  There's structure, and at this point, I'm feeling like explaining the structure would just make you even more of a nightmare, and all I want is for you to get the hell out of the Principia," the small boy was done with this...why wouldn't this girl just leave?  Elijah knew that dealing with him was no walk in the park, Jack and all his friends had quite a bit when it came to him.  Maybe this was all some terrible karmic backlash...the son of Discordia was a nightmare to deal with, and now this insolent Greek girl was giving it right back to him.  "Gods...give me a hand and I will try my hardest not to give Jack or any of my friends a hard time," the boy mumbled, glancing up to the ceiling of the Principia.  It seemed like too much to ask for, really...besides, it was sort of offering the impossible.  The small boy was pretty sure he couldn't not give Jack and his friends a hard time.  It was sort of just who Elijah was.

"We don't get many insolent Greeks up this way, and the Legionnaires know to show some respect," Elijah snapped.  The boy had met plenty of nice Greeks.  Some not so much.  He thought briefly of a Greek girl he had met a couple times...Cara something-or-other.  The blonde girl sitting at the high table reminded Elijah of Cara.  Maybe this girl was a daughter of Ares, too.  The thought wasn't too reassuring.  The boy didn't know of any children or legacies or Mars.  Well, there was a legacy of Mars, but Elijah had never actually met her (though she sort of hated him by default, a relationship that seemed absurd).  Someone had once said to the boy that he was a lot like a son of Mars, but children of Mars knew when to stop beating the crap out of someone.  Children of Discordia were insane enough to keep going, even when they should stop.  Really, Elijah had no idea if that was true, but he wasn't sure he wanted to find out.  Assuming this girl was a daughter of Ares, anyway.  "Most people aren't going to just walk in here.  And now you need to walk out."

Elijah knew it wasn't going to be that easy.  Of course, it was that type of day...why would coming back to the Principia be easy?  "Gods, I swear..." he mumbled.  The boy wanted to turn around and find his boyfriend again.  Just get out of this whole nonsensical situation.  "Praetor Emmanual," Elijah hissed.  He couldn't keep dealing with this.  "I don't know who you are or why you feel the need to mess around with our stuff, but I'm too damn tired to play nice by now, and I swear to the Gods, this will get very ugly very quickly," the boy felt his temper rising, even though he didn't want it to.  In all honesty, he was too tired to be angry.  Maybe that wasn't the key to it all.  Maybe driving this girl away took the opposite.  With a sigh, Elijah walked around to the other side of the table, dropping his bag to the floor before sitting down.  "Invading my space and desecrating my stuff.  Who the hell do you think you are?"

Hanalise laughed softly at the boy’s defeated tone. For a guy who got worked up and seemed so angry, he sure did give up easily. Was that all it took to get him to shut up? A few harsh words and an annoyed glance? Some leader he was. Camp Half-Blood worked entirely differently. Each cabin had a representative, and even though they were seen on an equal level as the rest of the campers, they still knew how to stand up for themselves. That was half of how they kept their positions after all. Anybody could challenge a cabin leader, but it took that strength and determination to hold onto the spot. With this guy’s tone, he almost sounded like he would just step down if somebody else said they wanted his position. This Roman camp was looking weirder and weirder by the minute. Thank the gods she was born into the Greek family. At least things made sense over there.

As Hanalise leaned back in the chair, she realized she may have spoken too soon. Maybe. The boy’s harsh tone was back, but he wasn’t the most eloquent of speakers. The daughter of Ares certainly wasn’t, either, but at least she didn’t pretend to be. This guy had an air about him that said his word was law, even if it did sound rather ridiculous. Hanalise actually laughed aloud as she put her feet up on the desk again. “In a perfect world, I’d be gorgeous, super smart, and incredibly strong. I’d have control over all weapons and everybody would love me, but hey, this isn’t a perfect world.” In all honesty, the daughter of Ares didn’t even want half of the things she had just listed, but if the boy was going to say stupid, nonsensical things, so was she. It was all just fun and games anyway. When the boy started talking about his name again, Hanalise shrugged it off and snapped back, “I don’t really care who you are, either, so I’m just going to call you Emmanual whether you like it or not.” Hanalise hated when people shortened her name to Hana, but that didn’t make her any more sympathetic towards the Roman demigod. The waves of whatever coming off of the boy were starting to get to her, and she could feel herself getting angrier by the minute.

And then, of course, they were back to ‘get out.’ “For the love of the gods!” Hanalise groaned, throwing her head over the back of the chair. “Please say something else! Haven’t you put two-and-two together here? You’re clearly no child of Athena. Or Minerva. Whatever the Hades you people call her. I’m here and I ain’t going anywhere until I decide I’m bored and ready to move on. Also, I may be some ‘insolent Greek,’ but…oh, hey! Guess what? That doesn’t make me one of your Legionnaires. Just because they ‘know to show some respect’ doesn’t mean I have to, and that doesn’t mean I’m going to!” Looking up again, she fixed the boy, Emmanual, with a cold stare. “Suck it up, Sunshine. Words don’t get very far with me.” The daughter of Ares wasn’t sure what ‘very ugly’ meant with this boy, but she really didn’t care. She fingered the blade in her lap, ready to flick it open as soon as the boy lunged her way. If he came at her, of course. If it was too quick, she’d have no problem sinking the shorter blade into his stomach. That would probably do more damage anyway.

The boy came around the edge of the table, and Hanalise pushed the button. The blade popped out with a quiet click, but she still kept it hidden beneath the desk. Suddenly, Emmanual dropped into a chair, and all the air seemed to go out of him. She could have sworn he deflated a little before her eyes. Quietly and inconspicuously closing the knife, the daughter of Ares raised her eyebrows and repeated his question. “Who do I think I am? Hanalise,” she answered coolly. “And as you’ve so kindly pointed out, Greek.”

This wasn't how Elijah wanted to spend his afternoon.  He could think about ten million things that would be better than this, some of which included breaking up a spar gone bad in the arena and slowly pulling out his fingernails.  Dealing with people was difficult enough for the boy when he was in a good mood.  And he didn't have any issues with Greeks, despite having some bad run-ins.  As a Praetor of the Roman legion, Elijah had figured out a lot of the diplomatic end of things.  It was a piece of his personality he was just starting to figure out...well, since he had been appointed as a Praetor.  The boy had never been like that...he had actually spent a lot of time laughing at student council.  Seeing the looks on their faces when they had to do especially diplomatic things like working with a teacher that nobody liked.  Now the son of Discordia was the diplomat, and there was a lot more on the line than handing over a plague to retiring teachers.  That also meant dealing with frustrating people, Greek and Roman.  Even though Elijah could never pretend he was completely on top of these things, he knew better than to act rashly with a Greek.  He just had to keep reminding himself that the consequences would be really, really bad.  Rubbing the bridge of his nose, the small boy tried to pretend this wasn't happening...trying to keep from radiating with this whole situation.

Because radiating would be just as bad as acting dumbly, especially since this girl definitely had an abrasive personality.  And since Elijah had a rather abrasive personality as well, he had to be careful.  Things never turned out well in situations like this.  "Gorgeous, super smart and incredibly strong?  I think you need a basis of any of those before going that far," Elijah rolled his eyes.  He could feel a headache coming on...the boy never got headaches.  Hopefully he could find some Tylenol somewhere...as soon as this girl got out of the Principia.  Really, though, what was wrong with her?  Maybe the small boy hated how much of himself he was currently seeing in this girl.  Was he this bad about things?  Insolent and nasty and caustic.  It was a thought that almost gave Elijah chills.  "Emmanual is my father's name," the boy said grumpily.  He hated that he still carried his father's last name.  "If you're going to insist on sitting here like an ugly toad, at least call me Elijah.  I'm less likely to be driven to murderous insanity that way," he didn't like the thought of sharing all that with this girl, but he would definitely take her using his first name over his last name that he hated so much.

All things considered, Elijah knew he mostly behaved at camp.  He hadn't caused much physical damage to others...a couple broken bones and a black eye or two, but nowhere near what he had done in the mortal world.  But even the diplomatic Praetor had a breaking point.  "I'd rather this be a nice and pleasant farewell over the fight we both want," Elijah said, his voice strained.  Get out was polite enough...if the girl would just do it.  They were both ready to attack at a moment's notice, Elijah could feel it in the air.  "I don't know what you're doing here in the first place.  Other than being the black spot on my day," obviously nice wasn't going to cut it...the boy was feeling the chaotic energy bubbling up inside of him.  Any moment now the dam would burst and he'd start radiating.  That wasn't going to be pleasant for him or for this girl.  Taking some deep breaths, Elijah tried to keep the chaos inside...though he knew things could get just as dangerous holding it inside.  It was a matter of weighing his options...either keep it inside and just him cracking or letting it out and he and this girl killing each other (as it definitely seemed to feel).  The boy had a feeling neither the Greeks or Romans would like that.

So rather than starting a war, Elijah just tried to keep his cool.  "Yeah, I can tell that one," Elijah snorted as the girl said words didn't get far with her.  "Quite frankly, I'm doubting your understanding of the English language," okay, maybe Elijah had a different idea of keeping his cool than most people had.  As long as he was slinging insults rather than punches, though, he didn't see a huge issue.  It didn't seem to be an issue with this girl, anyway.  She doled out the insults just as fast as the small boy did.  And at this point, he was starting to feel like she really wasn't going anywhere.  Maybe Elijah just had to let her get bored.  He had a feeling she was the type who would pretty closely...attention span of a fly, or something like that.  He didn't know who she was or where she came from...and as much as the boy didn't like her going through his and Calix's stuff, he was pretty sure she wouldn't do them much harm in the end.  And if she did, at least it was on her.  There was nothing anti-Greek in his and Calix's paperwork right now, Elijah was sure of that much.

Sitting down was nice.  Elijah felt himself relax the tiniest bit, though he noticed something out of the corner of his eye that could have been a weapon.  He was ready to spring his own daggers, but had to remind himself (again) that starting a war was a really bad idea.  "How clever, giving your name.  Well, Hanalise, as ready as we both are to murder each other, I'd rather not start a war...so it's on your head if that happens," the boy said cooly.  He was still ready, his thumb resting on the catch of the poison ring that would spring his dagger on the hand that wasn't next to Hanalise.  There was no being too careful at this point...the son of Discordia definitely didn't want things to get out of hand, but he also wanted to be able to protect himself.  Things were too precariously balanced at this point, and Elijah refused to light the fuse.