Pompeiian Politics

It was business as usual in Camp Jupiter for Christian. Nursing a healthy addiction to painkillers, relentlessly fighting for Cohort 5’s name, and repressing the urge to commit comedic vandalism was all in a day’s work for the Centurion. Christian had been trying something new with his Cohort lately. He personally didn’t feel a connection to Mercury, his godly ancestor, other than behavioral traits, but some of the soldiers did, and he felt it might be a good idea to include them together. A unit was only strong when they were unified.

It wasn’t very surprising that the children and legacies who did prefer to leave offering at Temple Hill were related to gods like Mars, Mithras, and Apollo. While many descendents of Mercury did end up in Cohort 5, bonding with them in a professional way wasn’t easy, and they certainly weren’t looking to give their ancestor offerings. Christian tried to be less strict with them, and had some success with it, but still, that wasn’t today’s battle.

“Grand-daddy-o!” Christian prompted when he stepped into the temple of Mercury. Traditionally, more people respected him as the god of messengers. Christian felt that he was more happy to be the god of thieves, though. Christian brought forward a few things into the offering bowl, which looked extremely valuable. Christian’s offering consisted of foreign currency and one single green apple. He dropped the foreign coins into the bowl, he wasn’t sure what all of them were, but he knew thieves liked money.

“I don’t do a lot of stealing anymore, I left that behind before I came here. Your uh, companions aren’t really big on the whole thing, and I don’t think my superiors would approve of me going Robinhood style. But, just for the occasion-” Christian knelt down to place the apple above the coins. In truth, Christian really had stolen this from the Forum and left more than he owed in money. It was the only way he felt it was justified anymore. “Washed it for you and everything. I don’t actually think you have a digestive system though, so pesticides aren’t really a big deal.” Christian was pleased with his own humor. He paused for a moment, and figured that now was as good a time as any. He slipped out a small bag that was concealed in a pocket, and took one of the pills out before popping it straight into his mouth.

“A lot of uh. A lot your jurisdiction does this stuff now. Well, usually not this. They’re a mess. Phew.” Christian popped a second pill out from the bag, and threw it into the offering bowl. “Hey, good luck with the god stuff. I think FedEx looks up to you most, by the way, so, if you were looking to give someone a hand with the whole… you know. Good luck.” Christian turned back to leave the temple, and his eyes immediately drew to something he’d never seen before. There was parchment in a glass tube laying on the floor.

His curiosity was peaked, and he didn’t waste a moment. He quickly opened the cap to the tube and ushered the paper out. Inside the parchment, there was also a rolled up piece of paper. Christian hastily unrolled the parchment, but he quickly regretted it. He could tell how old it was, and he studied it. There was a map of a city, with some special markings on it. Above that were a few lines of Latin scribbles. He hadn’t damaged the parchment at all, but Christian’s demeanor still changed, he might have been holding a missing page of the Sibylline Books. He unraveled the paper to unveil there was just a small, Roman, looking message.


Christian’s head tilted back to the bowl, where there was no longer anything left. Traditionally, you were supposed to burn the offerings or at least say a prayer. “Free, my ass.” Christian smirked. He poked his head outside of the temple. “Good news! You guys get to go see Corinne for morning drill!” She wouldn’t mind, hopefully.

There was a thrill, to have a piece of history with him, he could hide it and keep it forever. But still, he knew it was best to take it to a superior. He could make the call and send his people out on a quest, but he would be demoted instantly for not clearing it up first. Rosalind wasn’t yet a Praetor when the decision was made to promote Christian to Centurion, but even still, she resonated with him much better than her former and her counterpart.

Christian found her inside the senate house. He was, in theory, soon to be experienced enough to take on the position of senator, but the title didn’t keep him interested. “Roz.” Christian spoke, and the girl’s head turned to spot him. Her body shifted to look at him. She was in her full armor, and purple cape, and she pulled it off well. She was the spitting image of a Praetor, and Christian didn’t want to mess with her. He felt that all it would take was one bolt from that crossbow to take him down.

“Christian. Doesn’t your Cohort have a morning drill today?” Roz asked, her demeanor was conserved.

“Yes ma’am, Corinne is running it.” He hoped. “I know you’re busy, but I have an emergency.” Christian persisted.

“What’s your emergency?” Rosalind asked.

Christian handed her the glass tube from before. “I’ve been taking some of my soldiers out before drill to give offerings to their parents and ancestors. I gave to Mercury and when I turned around, this was on the ground and my offering was gone.” Rosalind took the tube from him, she remained silent while reading it. “The map, that’s Pompeii. I recognize it.”

Roz glanced up from the map, making eye contact with the Centurion. “Christian, I know what Pompeii looks like.”

“Sorry, ma’am.” Christian gave a half-felt apology, which didn’t earn him any points. Him and Roz had an understanding, enough that he only called her ma’am half the time.

She slid the paper back into the tube, and handed it back to Christian, but kept the parchment in her hands. “It looks like a page from the Sibylline Books to me. I’ll consult with my partner, and we’ll send a team out. Thank you.” Even her voice was strong, but Christian couldn’t stop himself now.

“Mercury gave that to me. You’re going to send Cohort One out there, aren’t you?” Christian’s defiance broke through.

“Excuse me? Who died and made you in charge of the legion? I think you’re forgetting your name and rank, Centurion.” Roz’s voiced tensed up.

Christian wanted to keep arguing, but he knew you couldn’t win an argument against any Praetor by yelling, persistence, or intimidation. At the end of the day, there was almost no way to win. But if there was any Praetor he could reason with, despite where he was now, it was Roz. “Ma’am, I apologize. But, that page came to me. I believe it’s a sign that the quest belongs to Cohort Five.”

“I’m not making a decision to spite you or favor anyone. The data shows that Cohorts one and two have the best combat records, in wars and war games.” Roz concluded.

“That data is a dying breed, Roz. Besides, Cohort Five has the best track record in promoting leaders! Cohort One is just a group of pampered rich kids who were handed everything. Of course it’s easy for them.” Christian argued.

“The legion doesn’t operated on personal opinions, and if it did, I would bring up the recent shooting that Cohort's Five and Two were involved in.” She stated simply. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Christian stood in a silent stance for a few moments. “Roz. I’m not asking for the quest to upstage anyone. Yeah, I’d love to take this one and shove the end result in Carter’s face.” Christian admitted. “But, that isn’t why I’m doing it. Kids like him, and those in his Cohort, they were raised to be ready for the legion. Hell, the kid was born in New Rome with a dad who funded and perfected him and his family.” Christian could feel himself unhappy with the members of Cohort One and the Virgo family, but he was able to gather himself. “Cohort Five, we’re full of kids who had no one to vouch for them. All of us have personal battles to fight, we’ve all felt loss and despair, and to top that, we have Cohort One who gleams their falsified glory all day and night.” Christian finished. Roz's comments on the shooting absolutely ate away at Christian. He craved to defend himself, that the shooter was from Cohort One, but he couldn't bear to.

“What’s your point, Christian?” Roz asked. She had an eyebrow raised, but Christian was convinced. She’d been in his shoes and knew how it felt.

“I spend all of my time with my people. They’re riddled with horrible stories. Abandonment, addiction, and abuse are only some of the struggles people from my Cohort commonly face in their youth. We do face these things, but they don’t need to be what defines us. How will it feel to us, if our quest is handed off to Cohort One? After all of the struggle to make it here, to feel accepted, to feel like our lives matter? I’ve connected with them. We work together to do better, every single day. This is our next step. I know it is.” Christian pleaded.

Roz’s stance changed, only slightly. She studied Christian’s words, and even with such a plea, she came with a response. “Okay, fine. You can take a team and see this thing through. But if you don’t see this through, you won’t be allowed to do it again.” Roz declared her choice. "And you're taking Sophia Virgo with you."

Christian held back a "thank you" and managed to protest again. "Sophia Virgo?" Christian questioned.

"She's a reasonable addition to the team, and I need to know that you're taking someone with you that can step up in case things go FUBAR." Roz insisted, still, she didn't even flinch.

"I'll bring Corrine."

"And leave your Cohort without a Centurion?"

"Lennie is a great Optio, she can step up. Prove herself. We might need it if something happened to one of us anyway."

"Christian. Sophia or no quest." Roz slated.

"Rowan Davenport. Please." Christian pleaded, desperation hinted in his voice.

"Rowan Davenport?" Roz asked, and for the first time, her expression changed to skeptical. "You get a girl shot, and then want to take her out for a second date while she's still recovering. Makes sense to me."

"She's the strongest person I know, Roz. She can read Latin and has a survival rating that could outdo anyone in this whole country." Christian wagered. He felt pained again about the shooting, but he didn't show any signs of it. He knew Roz was just kidding. She didn't know why it went down the way it had.

"Sure. If she agrees, you can take Rowan. If she doesn't agree, it's Sophia or bust." Roz finished. She turned around from Christian and began walking. "I'll have the page copied to you and sent to you before noon. Good luck."

"Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am."

---------------

Jerome spent a lot of time on Temple Hill. When Christian originally chose to start taking people up there to make offerings together, Christian was relieved to have such great support from Jerome on the subject. Now, it was time for Christian to ask for his help on something much more important.

“Do you want me to talk to him?” Lennie asked. She was skeptical as to why she was brought up to a walk to Temple Hill. Christian just hoped that she didn’t assume she was invited to the quest.

“No, I like Jerome, I asked you to walk with me because Corrine is my next stop from here.” Christian wound up the words, but he was ready for a confused response.

“You’re taking our only other Centurion? Why?” Lennie delivered the response Christian was expecting. It was a good question. Why take both leaders from a Cohort?

“There’s a lot of reasons why.” Christian assured her. “She’s gotta get passed what happened to her last time. On top of that, I’ve left a lot of slack for her to pick up these last few months. We haven’t had time to become partners, leading a Cohort together. I shouldn’t barely know her. And, while we’re gone, I want you to lead. You’ll need the experience when it’s your turn for promotion. If you’re really lucky, that’ll be less than a week.” The look Christian got for the joke wasn’t a pleasant one, it sent shivers down his spine. “I’ll meet up with you before I go. Give you the lowdown on what you’ll need to do. If you need it, go see Roz and tell her I sent you.”

Christian separated from Lennie, and entered the Temple of Apollo. He could hear a divine sounding instrument. The harp or maybe the lyre, he assumed. Having Jerome would be an asset. He was well driven, knew his Rome and mythology, and could work well with others.

Christian leaned against the wall by the entrance, waiting for a pause in between songs or verses. Surely, it was a sign of disrespect to enter a god’s temple and interrupt their divine music. It wasn’t a bother, if anything, it was a rare soothing moment for Christian.

When he did hear the pause, he capitalized on the opportunity. “Jerome. I’d like to talk to you about something urgent, if you have a moment.”

There was nothing like modern music transitioned into ancient tools. Granted, Christian didn't know a lot about either side of that coin. Christian listened to the son of Apollo's explanations and banter. He was a good soldier. "No, it's actually about something else. This morning, when I took- wait, you've been at Cohort Three's barracks for over a week?" Christian asked, his arms crossed while he talk to the demigod.

"Neither Corrine or me, or Yoki, or- wait, you didn't show up to drill this morning?" Christian asked. He took in an uneasy inhale. "Yeah, me neither." He admitted. "Okay, we're going to keep your bed time agenda between us. Corinne comes from a long time ago when that stuff did not fly; no exceptions." Christian was sometimes to lax with his people, a trait that some Centurions felt was horrible. He felt it was a key to digging out the best traits in the inhabitants of his Cohort.

"I didn't show up to drill this morning because I gave an offering to Mercury this morning. When I looked back into the bowl, my offering was gone, and there was a page of the Sibylline Books. Less than twenty minutes ago, I got approval to assemble a team and go on a quest. I wanted you to come with us." Christian proposed.

Jerome stood there for a while as Christian started talking. He let out a breath of relief when his Centurion told him that he wasn't going to tell Corinne about his time spent in the third cohort. He was starting to feel bad about indirectly lying to his Centurions about his whereabouts. Explaining why he did it would be pointless considering it was because he went on a date with this son of Cupid that ended up ditching him in the middle of their date to talk to another guy. It was more so out of embarrassment than anything else. Also because Robin was in the Third Cohort. Oh, Robin. Jerome shook himself from his dream world to apologize was about to apologize to Christian when heard "offering" and "Sibylline Books".

"...Me?" Jerome asked out of shock. "...You want me to go on a quest with you?" The Jamaican couldn't believe what he was hearing. Of course he was one of the best archer, if not the best in the Fifth Cohort, but that didn't mean anything. "Oh, uh, thank you. Thank you, thank you! Yes! I accept! Wow, me? A quest?!" Jerome chuckled out of awe and was in the middle of fist pumping when he  paused again. "...Wait, why me? Is it because of the letter? I mean it, honest. I'm not an ass kisser. Well, not in that sense." Jerome moistened his lips. "...I'll stop talking now."

[/color]

The look Jerome had on his face was a priceless one, and it caused a grin to form on Christian's face. The stereotype of the Fifth Cohort was that people like him didn't exist. It was assumed that anyone worth while was given to at least the third, usually the second or first. Jerome was a, dare he say it, shining example that the Fifth Cohort wasn't broken.

"We don't do ass-kissers in Cohort Five." Christian confirmed. "I know you work well with others, you have great combat instinct, and your fluency in Latin might come in handy. You're an asset to us everyday, Jerome. Even more so in this instance." Christian paused for a minute. He didn't want to make any false promises. "This prophecy came with a map of Pompeii. I don't want to get your hopes up, but I'm sure you know, their highest praise went to Apollo. Meet us outside of Caledcott Tunnel at noon. Pack as though you'll be gone for awhile."

He still had to assemble the rest of his dream team, and pack for himself. Not to mention, tie his loose ends with Roz and Lennie before he left. He took a glimpse back at Jerome. "Hey, Rowan is an archer too, and she reached the rank of Centurion. When we get back from this, start coming to drill, Jerome. You're as much a part of Cohort Five as I am."

That was one down, and two to go. If the other two were as easy to convince as Jerome, this would be a much more pleasant experience than Christian expected. Technically, Christian lied to Lennie. He wasn't going to Corinne next, but it just seemed so much easy than explaining the motives behind Rowan. He was off to a place in New Rome that he never expected to enter lawfully.

The Davenport Household.

He could count the amount of people in this property who hated him on one hand, mostly because the family consisted of only five people. Clearly the servant who had let him in didn't care much for gossip, because he hadn't recognized who Christian was, and he was more than happy to avoid the usual glares he'd gotten lately. He'd managed to not run into any Davenports, which he was grateful for. Especially Aspen.

He found Rowan where he expected her to be; the only place she should be. On her feet and exerting herself. What else was new? The Centurion was practicing her archery, and Christian could feel new guilt pour over him. Was she doing this because she felt she hadn't shot fast enough? "Most people who get shot like to take it easy for a few weeks." Christian spoke up, entering the room.

For how guilty he felt, it was still relieving. It was the first time he'd seen her up and about since the day. "Are you okay?"

"Aquila thought it was pretty funny." Christian replied. "Roz got an even better kick out of it than I did though. Guess, they didn't count it as contraband, because she told me to put it back where I found it." Christian let a grin creep on his face. "Too bad I forgot where you found it." Christian replied, with a figurative wink. He did, in fact, still have Carter's book. It would come in handy, at one of the meetings.

Christian remained silent a moment longer than he expected. He didn't like the way his emotions changed so rapidly with Rowan, but he still didn't feel any doubt that she was a staple in their build. "Listen, this morning, I found something. Well, I was given something. I won't bore you here. I made an offering to Mercury, and the next thing I knew, the offering was gone. A page from the Sibylline Books was left in its place. Roz gave me permission to assemble a team and go see this thing through."

His hands folded into his pockets, a gesture he typically didn't do, not for the better part of his time in the legion. "She told me to take Sophia Virgo with us, and I told her you were the better choice. She agreed that I could take you, if you were willing to come with us." Initially, Christian felt it would be easy to ask Rowan. It hadn't occurred to him that he was asking her to risk her life, once again.

"How would you feel about that?"

Christian snacked on some berries while Rowan made her choice. He wasn't expecting a yes or no right away, but he was certainly okay with a yes. Still, the moment afterwards, he couldn't help but feel stuck. He'd asked her to come with him, and once again, her life was on the line. She still didn't know the truth. It wasn't in Christian's nature to tell the truth, not on this subject. Still, his head tilted, while he studied the Centurion.

He couldn't keep this a secret. He didn't know how bad things would get, but she needed to know. Christian took a deep breath, and panic set in as he wandered into dangerous territory. Nothing good could come from telling her. But in this moment, he found the courage, and he didn't know if that would happen again. A shaky hand fell on her shoulder, and it wasn't shaky because of withdrawal this time. "Rowan, I need to tell you something." Christian's voice became stone cold and dead serious.

Then, the moment after, he heard footsteps. His hand withdrew, as did his commitment to the truth, faster than the speed of light. His head tilted, just quickly enough to spot the Davenport he wanted to see least.

"That's funny, is that what the legion told you after your first promotion?" Christian said the words, but they weren't felt the way they usually were. He typically wasn't one to wave his status of Centurion around, but sometimes he felt like some people in New Rome only cared about status. Christian grabbed one last berry in his hand, before turning to Rowan. "Speaking of which, I have to go see Corinne. Thanks for the berries. I'll see you at noon, Caldecott Tunnel." Christian wandered off, showing himself out. He ignored whatever comment was coming to him from Aspen.

He knew better than to let himself be caught in retaliation, that, and he still hadn't gone to see Corinne after ditching morning drill.

A flustered Christian hit the streets of New Rome once more. He hated leaving his weapons at the gate, though it wasn't like he would need them anyway. More so, he hated visiting that household, and especially, Aspen. He was surprised when she'd stayed silent when he left. Maybe he should speak his mind to authority more often. Like that would happen. He still had a few hours to get ready. Next stop was Corinne, and he wasn't feeling too great about how long he'd kept her waiting.

He made haste to the Field of Mars, hopefully, his last stop until the barracks. He was lucky enough to find Corinne still there, doing independent training after the drill. Leave it to an old lady to be predictable. He wondered if this is how Roz used to feel, when he first became a Centurion. Christian grabbed a training pilum, and took a sneaky crouch behind some fencing. He watched her for a moment, and she was pretty accurate. Still, he'd already missed drill, why not take the chance while he'd already messed up today?

Christian pulled his right arm back, and whipped the pilum out of his hands. It was on projection to hit her pilum, and then fate had other plans. Another soldier, much closer to Christian, threw a pilum of his own. Christian's knocked it straight out of the air, and Christian didn't even somewhat recognize him or what Cohort he was from. Christian gave the kid an awkward look. "You should uh. Throw faster."

Christian approached Corinne now, his first and flashy plan was a bust. Instead, he chose to climb the rafters behind her, where the wooden tents layed, so he was about ten feet above her. "Hey, there's my favorite grandmother." Christian said aloud to her. "Now, before you get mad, I need you to give me a chance." Christian didn't actually expect to be given that chance.

Corinne had got up early. She got up around five in the morning as she normally did. Most people would think routine was a good thing, but Corinne knew outside of camp the world didn't give a shit about routine. You could try and prepare yourself to wake up at five everyday, but it wasn't going to happen.

The daughter of Chione had managed to get herself ready and was on the field of Mars, preparing for the day. By the time she got out there, it was about thirty minutes until morning drills. Slowly cohort five was trickling in. It was fifteen minutes before that a fairly good chunk of demigods came in and told her that she was supposed to lead morning drills today. Corinne was a little irritated at the fact that Christian pinned it on her last minute, but it was not an irritation she liked to express to the rest of cohort five. It'd show that she was unwilling to work as part of a unit, and sometimes things happened and duties would have to be taken up.

For the next hour she led the drills, and made sure to tell everyone one good thing they were doing and one thing that could use a little bit of improvement. Corinne just hoped that whatever was holding Christian up, was important and was worth it.

As usual after morning drills ended, she'd stay behind and she'd train on whatever skills she could. Usually she started out easy with stuff she knew, and then tried to do things that were trickier for a bit, and then go back to something easy. Rinne was almost done a rep of a drill she was doing when she heard his voice.

After finishing the rep she stopped, and turned to look at him. This wasn't the first time she heard the grandmother comment from him, and she assumed as long as she was alive she'd hear it again. A smile played on Corinne's lips as she looked to him. "Hey, now there's my favourite grandson!" She retorted.

"You have two minutes to explain yourself, or I'll make sure there's a good price to pay."

"Two minutes? Really, that's pretty good actually, I thought you were gonna clock me at like, ten seconds." Christian replied, and it was actually a fairly honest thought that came from his mouth. "Uh, just so you know, there's been a good bit of change in currency since the 1800's, so, you know, consult someone who's an expert on that. Your 'high price' is probably pretty low, but anyway," Christian kept the teasing short, but in his defense, she did give him two minutes. He only needed half of one.

"I brought some of the soldiers up to Temple Hill this morning, figured it was a good way to break some of them up into a new group, get some bonds going, and be a stronger team. Anyway, I don't need to butter it up too much, long story short, Mercury left me a page from the Sibylline Books. A set of books almost as old as you." Christian said, a smile played on his face.

He jumped down from where he was, landing on his feet. He knew she knew about the Sibylline Books. "I had to go see Roz, and, I was able to convince her to let me take this quest. I want you to come with us, Corinne." Christian took the conversation a pinch more seriously. "I know I've been leaving a lot for you lately. I want to include you in this, if you want to be included."

"You forgot, I've been around for a year, I've caught on to some things." She said with a small roll of her eyes as he continued on with what he was saying. She listened to what he was saying and nodded at certain points to show she was listening and understood what he was saying. After he finished speaking and basically asked her if she wanted to go on the combat mission she stayed silent for a bit.

Last time she went on a combat mission she was gone for over a hundred years. She wasn't sure what would happen if she left camp again. She'd just get told she'd have to try again, wouldn't she? Rinne just stared at him for awhile and then cleared her throat. "If I go, who's going to lead Cohort five?" She asked him genuinely curious as to what he was thinking for that. Sure an opito could fill their place, but were they ready? Corinne had faith in the opitos, but did they have enough training in the position yet? She knew Christian would have a better idea than she would on that.

"It's not up in the tundras is it?"

"Lennie's going to take over, with some of the Optio's taking a second-in-command spot. I told her she can go to Roz for anything. I want her to have this chance, because if something happens to one of us, she's filling in. Its always been her dream." Christian confirmed. Lennie had been under Christian's wing for some time now, but not nearly as much as since Roz left the Cohort. "If you don't come with us, I still want Lennie to have my spot, at least. She might be there longer than we think."

"Quest is in an unknown location, but I've been thinking about it, and I think it might be in Kansas. Prophecy warns of fire, so, if we get stuck in it, we're not coming back." Christian layed it out straight for her. Even still, Corinne could be in asset in surviving heat like that.

"You know, I'm just saying, and don't expect me to get serious with you everyday, but we haven't had a chance to become partners yet. Its only been a couple months since Roz's promotion, and there hasn't been a time for us to form what we need to. This could be that opportunity."

Rinne nodded as Christian began to mention that Lennie could do it. Christian knew more than she did, he had been here for quite some time. Meanwhile she had been at camp previously, it wasn't anything recent to know anyone that still resided here. If anything a lot of the common family names she had seen since she came back, she knew their grandparents or great-grandparents. Which was difficult to think that, they were long gone, but here she was still alive as day.

Taking a deep breath in she looked at Christian again and she extended her hand. "I accept your offer." Rinne wasn't always formal, but she felt for something like a combat mission it was something that should be shook upon. "I rather deal with heat than cold again."

"You're from Canada, aren't you? I thought you guys lived and breathed the cold." Christian said. He couldn't be serious with her all the time. What fun would that be? Of course, his point would be null if she already knew he was from Canada too.

"I got the old hatchback getting set up just outside of Caldecott Tunnel, for noon." Christian gave her the final details of it. "Roz is gonna have a copy of our prophecy with it. Oh, uh, noon is a period of time, by the way, I know time wasn't invented and all back in your day." Christian teased her again. "I gotta meet up with Lennie, and do my own packing before I head out. I'll see you at noon." Christian began his pacing. As hypocritical as it was of him after talking about partnership, she couldn't know about his vice.

-----

Christian walked through the small tunnel. Everyone walked through here at least once during their youth. An unsteady feeling usually accompanied them, and although Christian felt confident in his team. He didn't feel confident in himself.

This last moment in the tunnel could be his only chance to use with no risk. He popped two into his mouth for good measure. He wouldn't be caught with the shakes again.

Christian spotted the hatchback, and his dream team, just outside. He unlocked the hatchback, and opened the trunk. "Welcome!" Christian declared. He set his two bags into the trunk; he might have taken more weapons than Roz would have wanted him to.

"Go to the home of bulgur seed, under, where Apollo’s temple once lay. There you’ll find the tools Rome will need to keep monsters astray. Be weary of the fire, for he can bring forth your own last day." He recited the prophecy aloud to the group for the first time. "That's what we live and breathe by for the next slice of time. Bulgur is wheat, Kansas is the what state. I'm thinking Kansas. What about you guys?"

After Christian had talked to her about joining them on their combat mission she began to pack up her stuff she had brought with her to the field of Mars. Corinne started to make her journey back to the barracks. As she did she passed a dew familiar faces from her cohort now and she waved to them.

When she got back to the barracks she began to pack the essentials. She grabbed several changes of outfit, weapons, water bottle, one of those emergency thermal blankets, a few other things, and she made sure to grab her father's pocket watch. It had definitely seen better days, but it was nice to be able to carry a piece of him with her. It was all she had left of her old life, and surprisingly it still worked.

Corinne decided to wear a pair of jeans, white tank top and a black hoodie. She grabbed her two bags, slipping her backpack on, and carrying her other bag and walked out of the barracks, and headed towards the tunnel.

Corinne ended up being the second one there, then Jerome, Rowan, and Christian. Christian recited the lines they'd be referring to for the next while. Rinne thought on them for awhile and when he mentioned Kansas she nodded in agreement. However, she did have something to add to it.

"Well since you asked, I think I should drive." She said. She was positive she was going to get some sort of comment about how old she was from Christian and that she shouldn't be driving, but she did know how to drive and operate a car. She made sure it was something she learned upon finding out cars had advanced much more since her time.

"You do know that there were only 44 states back in your day, right?" Christian jabbed at Corinne, which at this point was usual for him. He dug into his pocket, and pulled out a mini tube. "Rolos, caramel inside of chocolate." He handed it to the daughter of Chionne. He closed the trunk when all of their gear was in; he knew going for the hatchback was a good idea. You could never have too much space.

"There's a way to drive for the DMV and a way to drive to cut your expected time in half." Christian insisted, taking the driver's seat for himself. "That's Department of Motor Vehicles, by the way." Christian shot Corinne a smile. He felt like he was being somewhat a jerk, but Corinne had come back to the biggest century of change in human history. He felt that there was no way she could take in modern civilization within a year.

Christian revved the engine, it sounded like you would expect for a ten year old car. The exterior was a dull red, and the interior was a leather brown. Christian could only imagine how hot this thing would feel in the Summer. He waited for everyone to load into the car before he took off. There was no point in wasting time.