#so its old and poorly finished but yolo

[fireandseaweed]

Let’s Get Down To Business || Lina and Percy

To defeat, the huns.

Percy was almost excited, there was something about training people that brought back an almost nostalgic reaction for him. It was like all of those times that he had trained kids back at Camp Half Blood. He’d worked with the Ares, Hermes and Apollo cabins mostly, but sometimes he’d helped Annabeth with the Athenians. But now, now he was going to be training with the fourth. Which wasn’t going to be easy considering the fact that he was always going to be loyal to fifth. But for the moment he wasn’t going to let that stop him from helping. He hadn’t known what to bring with him, so he’d loaded himself up with Riptide and grabbed a shield which he’d slung across his back, he’d whistled for Mrs O’Leary and made the walk into Camp from the city. They’d agreed to meet on the Field of Mars to run drills, so as he waited for Lina and her cohort he threw the shield for Mrs O’Leary a few times, watching her bound over the hills and fields like a giant black dump truck of fun. Spotting Lina from a distance, he waved her over and smiled. “Hello Centurion Kolina,” he said doing his best to be serious, “I’m present and ready for action!”

If there was one thing Lina loved to do, as person and a centurion, was to surprise people. She didn’t stick to the most traditional methods, they were too expected at this point. While she sure other people thought that her methods were strange, she had made them for her cohort specifically. The fourth over the last few years had become a place for many demigods from minor gods and goddesses. She felt that this made people underestimate them, which in turn, caused her to push them harder than ever and train in ways that other people wouldn’t expect. Hence why she asked Percy to help train her legionaries. She waved back at him with a smile,“Hello, Percy.” Jogging over to him, she started to speak,“Alright, so I figure I can send them to do their warm ups and we can quickly go over what we’re gonna do, what you need me to do and help with, and I’m going to point a few kids who I think might need a little extra help.” She clapped her hands together and looked up at him,“Sounds good?” In this setting, Lina was certainly in a different mood, she was more energetic, but there was a certain confidence about her. She ready to take lead, but willing to hand over some to her guest instructor.  

As Lina made her way over to him, Percy hurled his shield one last time for Mrs O’Leary, watching her bound off into the distance like a tank, each one of her bounds thundering a little bit. “Hey Lina,” he said smiling gently, “sure, warm ups and stretches are definitely a good call,” he smiled at Blossom as she began running laps with the other members of her cohort. Percy remembered those laps and knew that they weren’t fun, but they were necessary. Fitness was one of the key things that won you a battle. “Sure, so I’m going to run them through a few basic moves, sword stances, phalanx formations, that sort of stuff, then I was thinking we can break them off into groups of two, they can spar with one another and we can work with them to make sure that they’re training well.” He smiled gently at the Legionnaires, it had been awhile since he’d trained anyone but he was always happy to help with this sort of thing, he remembered how scary it was being out there without this training and he’d hate for anyone to have to go through the same thing that he had. “Let’s quickly talk about who you’re concerned about, then I can keep an eye on them and give you my analysis at the end of it?”

Lina watched Mrs O’Leary run off with curiosity, she hadn’t ever actually been near a nice hellhound. “I’m assuming your pet doesn’t live in your apartment with you?” She waved at a teenaged boy, who seemed to be leading the legionaries in their warm ups. “That’s Xavier, he helps lead the others when we need help. He’ll be able to help if we need a third person.” She was very proud of how Xavier had been able to step up the last few months. While Adriana had been in Europe, Xavier had helped run the Fourth with Lina. Now with both centurions busy with investigations and injuries, Xavier was helping once again. “Klara,” She pointed to a small, teen girl who was at the head of the group with Xavier,“She’s talented, but she relies on being fast more than she does technique. She ends up being sloppy with some of her moves. Mason and Julie both don’t use swords very often, Mason enjoys spears more and Julie is more interested in hand to hand.” Lina continues telling him about those who she’s worried about.

Laughing gently, Percy shook his head. “Mrs O’Leary is probably the size of the room that me and Annabeth share, so no, she definitely doesn’t live in our apartment. Me and Nico fixed up a nice den for her, she shadow travels there whenever she isn’t busy with her own thing.” Percy watched Xavier and nodded, “well if you’re confident with his level of training then you are of course the one who would know. He can help with the drills and check their sparring, the more eyes the better really…” he trailed off and looked at the three she had pointed out. “Cool, I’ll see what I can do, swords are my speciality, much better with a sword than with anything else really.” He watched them do their warm up before Mrs O’Leary bounded back to his side. “Thanks girl, it is time for you to go,” he explained as she nodded appreciatively before disappearing into the shadow of a hill, “she is more of a distraction than a help, believe me.” His explanation was based on experience. “I’m going to take the three that you pointed out to me, they can help me with demonstrations and you can help out too if you want, they’re probably going to want a reassuring face throughout this.” He knew that some Romans didn’t trust him, being a son of Neptune wasn’t going to help with that.

Thinking of the giant hellhound being stuck in a tiny apartment was rather amusing to Lina. However, she knew it would quite unfair to ask the creature to actually cram into a room that size. Still, it would be a thought she would save just for when she needed something funny to think about. “That’s quite nice of you, thoughtful to set something up for her. I am curious to what she’s doing on her own. Running errands, perhaps?” She was confident with Xavier, the son of Juventas was truly one of the most talented legionnaires she had in her cohort. “He’ll be a great help. He has a knack for helping with training, he enjoys helping the younger kids understand things.” She didn’t often have the opportunity to tell others about how good her kids were, which made her talk a bit more about them when she did. “Maybe you’ll teach me something as well. I’m primarily a magic user or I wield a whip. I don’t train with swords that often.” She didn’t question why the giant dog could be a distraction, it would distract her if a huge hellhound was playing in the field next to her while she trained. “If you’d like, for the first few you can use me. Then based on the reactions they give, we can move on to using those three. I do warn you, Mason likes to try to show off at times. He might try something to make himself seem cooler.”

Percy had seen Mrs O’Leary in his mom’s apartment, and he was sure that no one had enjoyed that experience, least of all Mrs O’Leary. “I hope that she is living a life that is well stocked and well cared for, maybe she is looking for Mr O’Leary, hopefully we can finally meet.” He smiled gently, he didn’t think much about what she was doing, despite the fact that she was technically a monster she was still smart enough to look after herself. “Is he thinking about a career in leadership?” he asked curiously, he seemed to have the characteristics for it to say the least. “Well, it is probably best for you to look good in front of your cohort, we can practice with swords later, I want your kids to know that you’re tough enough to handle whatever comes your way.” Magic was something that he envied of her and of Wally. They were abilities that he’d love to try, but then again, he wasn’t exactly under blessed with his abilities. “Perfect, we can run through a few basic techniques and then when everyone is a bit more comfortable we can move on, and don’t worry about Mason, I’m the worst show off ever, just ask Annabeth why I’m not allowed to help with sword training when we are with the Athenian cabin, she’ll tell you it was because I was a distraction, but the truth is that she just isn’t the swordswoman that I am.”

“Husbands are overrated,” Lina said lightly. She didn’t often speak about marriage or husbands, perhaps because she felt as though she had to hide what had happened in her own life. She nodded,“He’s looking to be a centurion one day. He’s a bit stubborn though, he’s not sure he wants to be centurion for any cohort other than the fourth.” Lina couldn’t blame him for that, considering it was exactly what she had done. The job could have been her’s before last year, however, Lina wanted to stay with her cohort. “They know I’m plenty tough, it might be good for them to see that I struggle with skills too. Normalize their own struggles.” She smiled softly at him, finding it amusing that he wasn’t allowed to help Annabeth. She often told the ones who would show off that they were going to be in the back of the group, where no one else could see them. “Well, I won’t try to say who’s correct in that situation, but I do think it will be good for all of us to see what you may or may not be showing off.”

“Speaking from experience?” Percy asked with a gentle laugh, a smirk dancing across his face as he teased her. Percy could understand wanting to remain with your cohort. If that were where all of his friends were, people that he had fought shoulder to shoulder with, well he wasn’t sure that he would want to lead other people after forging that sort of bond with his current cohort. “Understandable, if he really wants to be a centurion I expect that that is something that he will have to get over.” He shrugged gently and adjusted his grip on Riptide so that the soft leather handle sat in his palm more comfortably. “That makes sense and as long as you’re happy to follow that path then that is what we will stick to, as long as it is what you’re comfortable with. They’re your cohort after all.” He laughed and shrugged. “I think she is probably correct, she is the sort of person who is annoyingly right all of the time and there is nothing that you can do to avoid that. It is actually sad.” He smiled as the cohort finished their warm ups and began to congregate a few meters away from them. “Well, they look ready, so whenever you want to start you can address them.” He was a guest, he didn’t want to overstep his bounds.

Lina blanched slightly, realizing no one in camp ever knew about her marriage, and that her comment was pretty obvious. “Not really. Just from what I’ve seen,” She lied. It was personal experience, she truly did feel that marriage wasn’t worth it for her in the long run. It had been a bland marriage and a half baked idea when she had said yes. “I did that. It’s the reason why it took me so long to become a centurion. He’s following my footsteps, I suppose. The fourth holds a lot of pride, though I’m sure people would question why we do.” She was relatively sure other people saw the fourth as where some of the left of kids ended up. Anyone who spent time with the fourth would realize how many hard working legionaries they had. “I’m fine with it. It’s always healthy to experience other people’s talents and learn from the mistakes you make going against them.” She smiled,“She’s probably a very good person to have on your team.” She looked toward the group and motioned for them to line up. “Today, we have a special guest who will be helping us learn a bit more about how to wield a sword. As if I were leading, you will listen to him and treat him with the respect I know each of you have. No goofing off just because this isn’t the normal lesson.”

Nodding, Percy didn’t think twice about her reply. Marriage was a concept that he still had yet to experience, at least properly. He had seen his mother marry Paul but she wasn’t exactly his age and it was different when it was your mother. Percy smiled gently and nodded. “Don’t worry,” he replied, “I was part of the fifth cohort so I understand exactly what you mean when you talk about pride, I even fought alongside your cohort in a war game once or twice.” Nodding gently Percy smiled as he watched the cohort take perfect form and rank in front of him, his students in Camp Half Blood wouldn’t have ever managed something like that, combined with Lina’s speech and Percy found himself almost excited to get to teaching. “Hey everyone, my name is Percy Jackson and Lina has asked me to help today” he said smiling at them and waving, “if you can’t hear me just say and I’ll find a cone to speak through or something….” he trailed off for a second before drawing Riptide out of his pocket and extending the sword to its full length. “Swordsmanship is pretty common and you’re almost always going to be in a comfortable area to fight with it, whether you’re inside or outside. So I’m going to run you through some demonstrations with your centurion Kolina, then you’ll break off and practice what I’ve showed you.” Taking a step backwards he faced Lina and smiled. “We are going to demonstrate three moves, a parry, a counter and a disarm. Whenever you’re ready centurion.”

Lina’s marriage wasn’t something she necessarily regretted, however, she certainly wasn’t proud of it. There were moments she wished she could go back and change, the way she handled her divorce one of the main ones. Changing her address and phone number was a bit much, she admits now. “I remember and I’m sure some of them do as well. We didn’t think we could ever win against them. You showed up and suddenly we did. I think you helped bring a lot of pride back to my cohort.” Lina remembered the day that the fifth had bested the first and second vividly. She watched her legionnaires closely, happy to see them listening to him already. Lina took her own sword out, a pretty, but relatively unused thing. It was obviously functional, but the centurion was more comfortable with long range weapons. She readied herself and nodded at Percy to go ahead.

“I don’t know if that is true, Frank and Hazel had a lot to do with it too, it was hardly just me…” Percy trailed off somewhat sheepishly and shrugged, the limelight was a position that he enjoyed on his own terms. When it was forced upon him by people remembering things like that it just made him feel uncomfortable. The training that followed was effective at several things and by the end of it Percy felt confident that the fourth had come away with a lot more than they had come in with.