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Searching For Help || Bobbi and Martina

Bobbi and Martina bump into one another on a scavenging mission, they decided to join forces to help one another.

Bobbi’s constant frustration as the war dragged along was with the worsening state of her supplies. Medication, gauze, ambrosia, nectar and just about every and any other medical supply that you might need were in short supply. The deaths, injuries and mental onset of damage from the curses was really beginning to take its toll and she was informed that they would make a supply run soon, but not soon enough. So Bobbi took it upon herself to scavenge and found herself in an abandoned section of the city, picking through a pharmacy, or what was left of it. Hearing the door creak half way through trying to get into their locked medicine cabinet, Bobbi stepped nervously behind the door and prayed that it wasn’t a Roman.

There was only so many things Martina could do at the current moment. She was, in a sense, bored. At this point she took any job they gave her. As a slightly trained person in the medical field, she had been set out to gather more medical supplies that they needed. Finding a pharmacy that hadn’t already been totally picked through was difficult, but finally she found one. She entered as quickly as she could, looking around the area, before quietly setting out to find what she could. She only had a few knives on her belt, but otherwise was rather casual for the mission.

Not recognizing the other person scavenging through her spot, Bobbi had to admit that she wasn’t prepared for a confrontation. She had the short sword and dagger that Jax had provided her as a Christmas present at the end of the previous year, but truthfully she hadn’t quite got the hang of using them. She usually ended up training about twice a week, she knew that she should train more, the threat of monsters without a war going on was enough to convince her of that, but the truth was that she spending more and more of her time working in the field hospital and she didn’t exactly get much time to herself. Swallowing, she stepped out into the open, calling out to the stranger. They could be Greek, please be Greek. “Hello?” she asked somewhat tentatively.

Martina’s head whipped around to look over at the voice, her hand on her throwing knife as she crept out to see who it was. She knew she could probably throw and hit faster than someone could pull out their sword, which made her less worried than she realistically should have been. She didn’t know who the woman was before her, just that she didn’t think she had seen her around New Rome. She narrowed her eyes at the woman,“Who are you? What are you doing here?” No one else would have been on this same mission, at least Martina assumed they wouldn’t send out two people for medical supplies.

Raising her hands to prove that she wasn’t looking for a fight, Bobbi swallowed at the sight of the throwing knives. It didn’t matter if she had a sword, if this girl was accurate she could turn her into sushi before she could say by your leave. “I’m not here for a fight,” she said quietly, “I’m just trying to get some medical supplies. My name’s Doctor Roberta Truman, but most people just call me Bobbi…” she looked nervously at the weapon before swallowing once more. “What about you?” she asked perhaps somewhat hopefully.

Taking in the raised hands and the general look of anxiety, Martina decided that the woman was telling her the truth. She shifted her hand off the hilt, but made sure to keep it close enough to pull if she had. She searched her brain for that name, knowing that she had heard it from someone at some point. “You’re with the Greeks,” She said in reply, knowing from Jax that this was his brother’s girlfriend. She definitely couldn’t fight her now, not when that would make things really awkward with Cat and Jax. “Martina Acosta. I’m looking for my own supplies,” She replied, trying not to give away the fact that the Romans weren’t doing as well as they wanted their enemy to think.

As Martina’s hand moved off of the hilt of her weapon, Bobbi couldn’t help but feel slightly better. “I’d like to say nice to meet you, I just wish that the circumstances were somewhat better…” she smiled sheepishly before nodding gently. “I am with the Greeks, actually I’m a daughter of Athena, though I’ve hardly been aware of it for very long…” she cut herself off and sighed. “Sorry, I don’t mean to ramble, it is just kind of … I’m not good in these hostile situations.” She turned and looked around the room. “I’ll split half of what I find with you?” she suggested, knowing that it was hardly an ideal solution but right now it was probably the best one that she could offer.

Martina had the feeling that the woman in front of her wasn’t much of a threat. It made her feel a bit better about being there alone. She wasn’t too worried, she could take someone out if she had to, but she really wasn’t ready to have that conversation with Jax or Cat. The woman… Seemed pretty nice anyways. “I’m not hostile yet, don’t worry.” She replied, beginning to look around the pharmacy. “You said you were a doctor? I assume you’ve had your hands full.” She looked back at the woman with her eyes narrowed,“Why?” Martina wasn’t ready to give her half what she found, so why was she willing to do that for Martina?

Raising her eyebrow, Bobbi couldn’t help but frown at the word yet. It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear but she was intent on hearing everything that she had to say. “Let us hope that you don’t become hostile,” she laughed nervously, “I’m not really in this for the fight, I just have a job to do.” She paused as she turned to one of the mostly abandoned shelves and swept a number of items into a bag. Bandages, disinfectant wipes, any painkillers that they had left. “I am a doctor, neurosurgeon by training and by design as well, but things don’t always work out according to plan…” she paused. “Because there are both Romans and Greeks that need help, I don’t care about the stupid differences that everyone else seems to care about. We’re all demigods and we all need as much help as we can get.”

“Let’s hope not. I don’t get much say in it either,” Martina replied lightly. She wasn’t exactly lying, most of the time her mood ended up getting affected by other people. Though, she would admit that she tended to get annoyed easily. “I’m not looking for a fight either. I would get quite the lecture if I hurt you.” She wasn’t looking to fight a woman who wasn’t a fighter either, there was nothing exciting about fighting someone who wasn’t at the same level. She nodded,“I feel that. I was in pre-med before this. Still in the Legion, but mainly working towards getting out of school early. Don’t see that happening anytime soon.” She cocked her head looking over Bobbi with critical eyes. “Romans hate the Greeks, half of them wouldn’t care if y’all ended up dying. That doesn’t seem stupid to me. I wouldn’t expect someone to patch me up after I killed their friends.”

Bobbi raised an eyebrow but decided to remain silent. She wasn’t about to lecture a Roman with weaponry about responsibility for their own actions, especially when she was in a precarious enough position as it was. “Well as there is no reason for us to fight, we can both get what we need and leave without having to fight.” She paused and raised an eyebrow at the explanation that Martina gave her, she honestly wouldn’t have pegged her as being pre-med, or any sort of med at all. “Ignorance has always been an excuse for prejudice and violent actions against people groups that don’t deserve it. I’m not here to hurt other people, I’ve got a job to do and I intend to do it.” She continued her job, at least to the best of her abilities, sifting through what meager leftovers were in the pharmacy. It wasn’t exactly encouraging.

Martina gave her short nod, agreeing for now not to try anything. She could see how grabbing one of the Greek’s doctors would do good for her, but at this point she was really feeling loyal to the Legion. Her loyalty laid with people now. She supposed it always had been. She followed people to the Cult, she’d probably follow them out if they wanted her to. “Yeah, well you’re one of the only people around here who’s got that privilege. We don’t all get what we want being passificists. Some of our jobs is to kill people,” Martina replied back tensely as she gathered supplies. This woman didn’t seem to understand that some people didn’t have the liberty to be selfish in their fight. “I’m that fucker. The one who kills people’s friends. That’s my job.”

“Maybe you should think about getting a job where they save people and you’re not put in a position where it is kill or be killed,” Bobbi replied quietly. This entire system was cruel. It forced children to fight for their lives and experience a plethora of trauma, assault and injury at a truly formative time in their lives. The fact that the Roman demigods had a standing army was nothing short of lunacy, The fact that they were mostly children made her mad. Though she couldn’t say that the Greeks were any better. That was what struck her as confusing about this entire situation. Why were they so intent on focussing on their differences and not their similarities? “You could always just leave. You don’t owe anyone enough to make you kill people’s friends… or see friends die, any of the other shit that we’ve experienced in this hell hole.”

“Get me a job where I can get enough money to support the people I need to, and I think about changing careers,” Martina replied back, knowing that she would be keeping her position with the Legion for as long as she could. No words from someone who didn’t get struggling would convince her otherwise. She looked over at Bobbi for a long moment, before scoffing,“I owe these people my entire life. I was kicked out of my home at twelve. This was the only place that took me in. These people are the reason I got any form of education, the reason that I have a place to stay. No matter the shit I have to do, I owe them. You don’t get it.”

“Being a doctor is usually at least relatively well paid and has decent benefits which mean that the people you’re having to support will benefit from your work, not to mention you said you were pre-med so you’re on the right track for it. You could really help people,” Bobbi paused for a moment and tried to recall her name. “I don’t know what you’re looking for in your life Martina, but there are few paths as challenging or as fulfilling as being a doctor. However, the hippocratic oath is not something to be taken lightly. We have to make sure that we make good on our promise not to harm or hurt anything should we be able to help it.” Pausing, she sighed. “I may not understand the process, but anything that asks you to sacrifice your morals and beliefs and ethics in a war isn’t good. It shouldn’t have ever come to this point.”

Martina stopped and placed her hands on her hips, looking at Bobbi with narrowed eyes. “I’m twenty, I’m not in Med school yet. I have years until I will actually be a doctor, not to mention the fact I’m trying to get into surgery. I’m sure you know that makes the path even longer. I ain’t going to be making that much money for years, not to even mention the amount of debt I’m going to have.” Jax might be helping her out with Milo and her brother at the moment, but she wasn’t going to rely on him forever. She needed to make her own money, get out of the debt that she was already in with him. Huffing, she shook her head at Bobbi. “You don’t get what it’s like having people on your back do you? Not as a doctor, but as a family member. I pay for my brother and my - his nephew’s,” She grimaced at her mistake,“Rent and phone bills. I’ll sacrifice anything for them. Even if it means I gotta kill people who used to be my friends. Morals don’t mean shit when you fail your family.”

Bobbi shrugged, “If you don’t start it soon then I don’t know how you’d ever manage to finish it off, but you’re right, it is a long way away and there is a lot that you need to do first, but there are several programs that help demigods reach their goals despite financial difficulties, you’re not the only one who’s made it through hard things. You could manage this too.” She paused and shrugged. “We’ve always got a need for new healers, whether you’re a trained doctor or not there is always someway that you can help.” Pausing she frowned and sighed. “I’m sorry that you’ve got that to deal with, I understand that it is difficult and I’ve never had to support my family through anything like that, but would your family want you having to do all of this?”

Martina rolled her eyes, this woman really didn’t get it. It wasn’t easy trying finance everything while still keeping herself going. Sacrifices have to be made, even if it’s her doing all the sacrificing. “Programs like that are probably on hold at the moment for the war. Not to mention that would just add to all the shit I already owe this city,” Being in debt to the collectors here was not something Martina could deal with. She could deal with Jax and Fergus, when he was around and helping, they didn’t even expect her to pay them back. She was going to, but they didn’t expect it. “I’m a Daughter of Apollo who can’t heal a scrape. They’ve got healers better than me.” She shrugged as she picked up a roll of bandages,“They don’t have to know. Plus, like I said, I owe people on this side and I’m not dying to join your’s. Rather stick with the people I know can take care of me than with nothing.”

Pausing for a long moment, Bobbi pursed her lips and continued scavenging and dividing rations up that would eventually be used to patch her and Martina’s people up. “I can’t imagine what you’re dealing with and frankly it’s none of my business o even try and do so, however I don’t think you should give up on your dreams and hopes and the possibility for a life that you’re happy with because you’re facing adversity, but I may simply not be able to understand that the obstacles you face are untenable and possibly impossible to over come.” She shrugged and placed a roll of bandages on both terribly small piles before sitting back and sighing. “I’ve separated all my stuff that I’ve been able to find, either pile is fine, but I’ve got a few more hunches if you’re interested.” She paused and quickly packed one of the piles of supplies into the rucksack that she brought with her.

“I got a lot of people who are on my shoulders. After this war, I’ll continue studying, right now though, I got to keep doing this. For them. I’ll be a doctor one day, I promise.” Martina told Bobbi, as if she was trying to convince her as much as she had to convince herself. She looked at the piles and sort the supplies she found between them too. Placing an extra roll of bandages on one pile, she took the other. Greeks probably needed it more. They had enough apollo kids that Martie was sure they wouldn’t miss one roll. “Yeah, gotta get some more stuff anyways. We will do this with those too?”

“I really hope so Martina,” Bobbi replied quietly as she double checked her supplies before zipping up her bag and shouldering it, “there is a distinct lack of capable demigod doctors.” She stood and looked around the now entirely empty pharmacy. A truly surreal experience. Bobbi noticed Martina’s generosity and smiled but didn’t acknowledge it out loud. Martina seemed to be the quiet stoic type. Or at least that’s what she assumed. “Cool, I guess you should follow me then?” she wasn’t really sure what she should say to Martina, they hadn’t known each other long enough for her to know how she would react and Martina’s tension wasn’t making her feel any less concerned.

“I mean a lot of these kids think they’re industructiable. They don’t think they need doctors. At least they don’t think so until they have arrows in their stomachs.” Martina had thought she was indestructible until she ended up in the hospital a few times herself. She couldn’t heal herself. “Where we headed? I can keep you from any sights of the Roman towers.” She zipped her own bag, slinging over her shoulder. “Don’t tell anyone I did this shit with you or for you. I can’t have people know or I’m going to be a traitor.”

“Believe me, I know the type, there was this stunt man who I had to do a few minor operations on, he never seemed to understand that if he didn’t tone it down he could get very seriously injured…” Bobbi remembered him clearly. He had eventually been killed in a car accident. The irony was somewhat palpable. “There is a small bodega with an even tinier pharmacy attached to it on the northern edge of the city. But believe me, I don’t want to jepordise my position within the Greeks anymore than you do.” Especially not because of Leo.

“I broke my wrist once. I was training too hard and too much. I didn’t go to the healers until my centurion saw how swollen it was. I had been trying to hide it under some bracers. Didn’t learn til my third break that I actually have to go to the healers.” Martina had broken quite a few bones over the years. More than she’d care to admit. “I’ll give the Greeks one thing. You tend to be far more forgiving. We aren’t. So, let’s do each other a favor and not tell anyone anything.”

Frowning gently, Bobbi couldn’t imagine ever being so desperate to train and fight that she would hide the pain and the sight of a broken bone. It was frightening what some demigods did out of a perceived duty to their Legion or their People or their godly parents. “Going to the healers is always a good idea,” she shrugged gently, “Agreed. We can definitely keept this between the two of us, for our own good.”

“Not if you got something to hide. You all tend to be nosy.” Martina was the same. She wanted to know what happened and why. She knew that sometimes people weren’t willing to give those answers. “You’re with the oldest Karavadra, aren’t you? Didn’t he leave his family for you?” It had been bothering her since the beginning. It made sense though, how she kept saying you didn’t have to give up morals for family.

“Doctors are usually obliged to keep all matters discussed confidential, I can’t imagine that any of them have been nosy for anything other than professional need, at least I hope not.” Bobbi paused before nodding. “Leo, me and Leo have been together on and off basically since high school, though I guess it was more off than on …” she had almost married someone else. “I guess I must bear some of the blame, but he didn’t approve of the Roman treatment of the Greeks and this entire conflict, that wasn’t something that suddenly changed when I returned to his life.”

“You’d be surprised,” Martina knew that her doctors had had good intentions, but it had made a little bit of trouble for her. Excuses were harder to find after so many questions. She pressed her lips, giving the woman credit for at least taking some of the responsibility. “Take it from some who doesn’t speak to most of her family, he’ll regret it later in life. I’m not trying to start anything with you, but family should come first. At least in my book. Especially in a town like this.” She shrugged,“Hard place to be in, where you two are. Harder than mine.”

“I think everything that happens is at least somewhat surprising,” Bobbi said with a gentle incline of her head as she slipped through a small alley that wound its way between houses and apartment complexes in the center of New Rome’s italian architecture. “Leo knows exactly what he is doing and I think he is starting to make a new family. He hasn’t cut all ties to his siblings but his father is probably the worst person ever born, so I don’t think he’ll really miss him all that much.”

“I could do with a break from surprises, I think. At least for a little. I almost wish that the curses breaking would give us time to rest, but we just went straight back into this war.” Martina was tired of the war, if she was actually willing to admit that she was. She’d still fight it, still stay with New Rome and her people, but she was tired. More tired than she could explain. “Yeah, I don’t envy them with him as their dad. And mine kicked me out when I was twelve.” She didn’t know Jefferson well, but to have kids like Cat and Jax there had to be something messed up in his brain. Even if she was their friends, she had to admit they were a little messed up. “Father like that could drive anyone out.”

“There seems to be no common ground that we can agree on,” Bobbi agreed. It was nice to hear that the Greeks weren’t the only ones who were done with this entire conflict. Swallowing, Bobbi sighed. “I hope we can end this before we do irreparable damage, although I’m not sure we’re not already past that…” Bobbi wasn’t sure if there were enough adjectives in the dictionary to describe the depths of depravity that Jefferson must have decided to stoop to. “Jefferson may well think he is doing what is best for his children, despite his despicable approach he is not a stupid man. He was simply raised in a culture which is dangerous for us all.”

“I think we’re already there. Let’s say the Greeks are let back in, how do you think that’s going to go? If I had to bet, hate crimes would skyrocket, more fights wll break out a lot. Doesn’t help that half of us are under twenty five. We don’t have the brains for this shit,” Martina grumbled. She, at this point, didn’t even care if they came back. She just didn’t want to deal with this shit anymore. “Yeah, well didn’t half those kids who deserted grow up in that culture too? Why aren’t they fucked up like he is? Culture can’t be all there is to that.”

“We educate the population to avoid hate crimes, we prove that those who have a reputation for hatred mongering and scare tactics are nothing more than cowards. We do all of that and we’ll start to make the impact that we need. I am by no means saying that this is going to be an easy fix to a problem that more than likely has a years long fix to it.” Bobbi paused for a breath. “But this isn’t something that we should or that we can just ignore.” She paused and frowned. “Those children weren’t deliberately shaped to be something that they shouldn’t be. The culture is so much more extreme in the Karavadra family. Why do you think two out of three of Jefferson’s children have led soldiers into battle during this war?”

“Who is going to lead all that? I can’t see us being open to the Greeks telling us that New Rome is full of fear mongering officials, even if it is true.” Martina sighed, even if she wanted this war over, even if she didn’t care if the Greeks came back, this was going to be a city at war for a long time. She shrugged,”They probably feel like me. Like they owe someone something. Or at least, maybe they did at first and now it’s an opportunity. Lots of people are looking at this as an opportunity.”

“We do what everyone else has ever done, we compromise, we elect people democratically and we attempt to move into a better system less hell bent on upholding dangerous and deviant traditions based on prejudice.” Bobbi swallowed for a moment. Pausing, she frowned. She’d not considered that before. “Well, I can only speak to as exactly what my boyfriend has told me, but you’ll simply have to forgive me for being skeptical about any system that prioritises the militarisation of children.”

Martina snorted,“Good luck with that. I’m pretty sure the same families controlled the Senate when my grandfather was here. People are weirdly conservative here.” It was both a surprise and not that the younger population was rather conservative at times. Romans loved their traditions, even if they were too young to understand why they did them. “Dude, I went to war the first time when I was like twelve. Everything is about militarisation here. There are people who are taking the centurions who died or left as opportunities to move up. We ain’t kids here, we’re weapons. Instead of getting a barbie here, you get a dagger.”

“Just because something has been someway for a certain number of years, doesn’t mean that it should be that way,” Bobbi replied defiantly, she liked to think of herself as a realist and whilst she didn’t realistically know whether or not there would be change in her life time, she could only hope, “and things are never going to get any better if we don’t take a stand and say enough is enough. In Sparta they used to leave their deformed children to die. We would think that was a terrible abuse of power now, and it will be the same with this eventually. Just because things have been one terrible way for a few generations doesn’t mean that we can’t find a way of making things better.”

“I just don’t see it happening. Who’s even got the support to go up against the Senate? Call me a pessimist or whatever, I just don’t know.” Martina didn’t want get her hopes up about the whole thing, not when things seemed to be in a weird limbo thing. “I don’t know who’s going to stand up against this stuff, other than you all. I mean no offense, but people could get in trouble with stuff if they do. Obviously, it’s not as bad as you guys going through your shit, but we’re selfish creatures most of the time. Maybe it’ll change, maybe it won’t. I’m not holding my breath.”

“I can’t tell you how this would pan out, but surprising things happen at times like this,” Bobbi had to hope, gods she prayed that she was right and something happened, “The Russian Revolution, the French Revolution, the rise of the Septum Piercing. Not all were ideal or necessarily good, but they happened at times of tension…” she smirked gently at her own joke. “We’ve just got to hope that something happens, because from my position I can’t see things getting anything but worse if things continue.”

Martina snorted at Bobbi’s joke, her shoulders becoming slightly less tense than they had been before. “Maybe they’ll teach about this in New Roman schools one day. Maybe it’ll be a lesson for everyone.” She couldn’t help but think of her son and how as he got older, if he were to be in New Rome, he’d known she had fought against the Greeks. She hoped he would understand why, her intentions weren’t completely terrible, even though she wasn’t overly fond of them. She would admit she was in a gray area when it came to where she stood at the moment. “If things continue, we’re going to have more dead kids. I honestly don’t care what happens anymore, I just don’t want these children fighting anymore.” In that moment, Martina realized that she wasn’t exactly grown either. She was twenty one, yes, but she was barely an adult.

#f&gwar #f&gwriting #para #p: Martina #searching for help #chatzy #chatzy para

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