Common Ground ((Miran Kim))

Although he had been at camp for quite some time, Izzy wasn't very good at combat.  No matter how much effort he put into slashing and stabbing at straw dummies in the arena, it felt like he wasn't improving at all.  But the boy knew he had to keep going.  Because not only was he a demigod...he was a Roman demigod.  Romans were supposed to be good at fighting.  It was supposed to be in their nature.  There were a lot of times the Brit didn't feel like a Roman...but he couldn't imagine fitting in with the Greeks either.  Izzy did what he could...mostly going to the arena early in the morning so he could train without embarrassing himself in front of fellow legionnaires.  The boy had made a few attempts to train with more experienced demigods, but nothing had really...stuck.  He should probably try again.

At some point, Izzy had found a dagger that felt pretty good in his hand.  He figured he'd get it perfectly balanced at some point.  For now, it worked just fine.  The boy wasn't entirely sure whe he liked the dagger the best...he had tried everything- the dagger, a spear, a bow and arrows.  The most sense Izzy could make of it was that close combat was best with the powers he had as a son of Mercury.  The boy was light on his feet, his movements extremely graceful.  Not only was a dagger the least heavy, it allowed the boy to move in and out on nimble feet.  Not that working with dummies really helped with that.  The more Izzy thought about it, the more sense it made to find someone more on his skill level.  They could learn all of it together...maybe some basic help from someone with more experience.  The son of Mercury had started some with a legacy of Mars named Saar...but that had ended up being more than a little overwhelming, and not necessarily fruitful.

He would have to figure it all out sooner or later.  Because in all honesty, there was only so much he could do on his own.  Maybe Izzy could ask Sienna...he was pretty sure his Centurion was a good fighter, and he figured the fact that she was a daughter of Venus would make her more compassionate in the arena.  The boy didn't necessarily know her too well...she had welcomed him warmly when he arrived at camp and was sorted into the Fourth Cohort, but that had mostly been the extent of it.  As he headed towards the arena bright and early, the son of Mercury resolved himself...he'd talk to his Centurion later on today.  Because, as much as he hated to admit it, it was all sort of necessary.  With a soft sigh, Izzy looked around...it was early enough that he was the only one awake...at least that he saw.  There were some mornings where he passed a person or two...sometimes he even saw one of the Praetors.  But this morning, camp was empty.  That was definitely okay...hopefully that meant the arena was empty, too.  Izzy really did hate training in front of others.  Even the mornings when there were others there, the boy tried to remove himself as best as possible.

Not that anyone really cared, especially not this early.  Izzy wouldn't even be surprised if other people came out in the early mornings for the same reasons he did.  He couldn't be the only inexperienced fighter...especially now that he wasn't as new as some other legionnaires.  How long had it been now?  He had arrived late August...which seemed rather unbelievable when he first thought of it.  How could it possibly be that close to a year?  Gods...that made the boy feel a bit of shame in regards to training.  But he hadn't really taken it seriously until he was claimed.  At first, he had been a lot more concerned with just getting into the swing of things.  For as much as the boy could blow things off, everything about Camp Jupiter 2.0 was strange.  Izzy was in a new place, in a new country, with no real way to keep in touch with his parents.  There were people- which was definitely a good thing.  For someone who had never had friends, aside from one that turned on him quite quickly, the Brit had been very worried about that at first.  But he was getting better at socializing, and making friends.  And hell, if he could manage that, he could learn how to use a dagger.

Thank the Gods, the arena was empty at the moment.  That meant that Izzy could get in some good training time without having to worry about people watching and judging him.  Though really, the boy was getting better about not caring.  Some of the time, anyway.  Most of the time, the boy was really laid back about this stuff.  He didn't necessarily care what people thought, or reactions to him.  Training was one of the few things that pulled that out in him, and the other biggest thing being when his accent got thick and hard to understand.  Though that was more a worry of people not being able to understand him.  It was one thing to watch a movie or TV show with British characters...it was another matter entirely to be talking to someone who had never left England until he was nineteen.  So far, there had been a handful of times at camp when Izzy's accent had gotten in the way of someone understanding him...though he had expected a lot more of that.

Arranging a straw dummy in a corner of the arena, Izzy took a deep breath.  "All ready," he mumbled, taking out his dagger.  "Let's go."