Same Fruit From Different Trees

**Moderator** Posts : 300 Join date : 2017-03-10

The forum was a magnificent place, and from what Christian could understand, this forum in particular was most likely inspired from Pompeii's forum, which was known to be one of histories most impressive social and economic gathering areas. Fascinating stuff, sadly, that was fascinating when he was ten years old. Seven years later, and the forum just wasn't as great. At least, not when you were a centurion.

This is where all of the trade, business, meeting, and fun happened in New Rome. Fun was not a static term, however, and Christian knew that just as well as his half-siblings. At the very least, he had their respect, and went easy on them. Christian sighed, taking a lone pill out of a side pocket and popping it. Ironically, the Forum was the one place to not worry about it. There were other worries, however.

He spotted some of Cohort 5 by a stall, their technique was poor at best. Sadly, he didn't recognize them for any good reasons. "Put it back or the praetors are going to put you on toilets for a week." He snarked in a whisper to one of their ears. Some of the timid ones were easy to scare into behaving. Truth be told, he wished he was in their shoes. Before he could snap his head back into position, he bumped right into a girl.

Subject: Re: Same Fruit From Different Trees Sun Mar 19, 2017 8:57 pm

The young Roman demigod bit her lower lip as she slowly walked between the stalls, her eyes lingering on a few items that she found was something she wanted to possess. A startled gasp was able to get a stall owner’s attention away from their merchandise and eyes on her, which allowed her to quickly swipe whatever she wanted in that split second. A smile would then dismiss all worries as the owner returned to their business, none the wiser as she walked away with her prize. She snickered as her finger trailed atop an apple, quickly dropping it into her pocket as she walked away from a fruit stall. Her eyes, flicked between a few more stalls, wondering which one she would hit next. Maybe she wanted a necklace that mother was selling, or, perhaps, she wanted another nice ring that the pudgy man was selling. She saw many things she could steal, her thievery always going unnoticed.

As she contemplated where she would relieve merchandise from next, someone bumped into her, causing her to totter backwards and onto her tush. She was flustered, obviously caught off guard by the sudden mass of muscle walking into her. She stood quickly, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked into the eyes of the one who knocked her down.
“Oi, would you watch where you’re going?” She fumed, dusting her dark blue jeans off as she spoke. “Some people are trying to walk around here, and, mind you, I happen to be one of them.” The young demigod allowed her foot to fly forward, making contact with this oaf’s shin.

Same Fruit From Different Trees Tumblr_m2d59uzmpR1rrd2pzo1_500

**Moderator** Posts : 300 Join date : 2017-03-10

Christian was fully ready to apologize, although, depending on who it was, the scenario would be wildly different. Demigods and legacies just had strong personalities, and in this case, Christian was met with an Australian accent with very stern words. He wasn't entirely surprised, he would have likely given a slightly toned down response at best. A foot came flying into his shin, and made contact with his shin before he could move it. He was close, but she was faster than most people.

There was a fair amount of pain, but Christian wasn't ready to give her the satisfaction of reaction, especially not in the Forum. He was, however, concerned with her speed, and checked his wallet, as discreetly as he knew how to, anyway. It was still there.

"You know, just because you're a based Aussie doesn't give you unlimited privileges." He normally wouldn't drag this confrontation on, but she looked familiar, surely she wasn't in Cohort 5? "What's your Cohort?" Christian asked, he kept his tone in check to sound firm, but not threatening.

Subject: Re: Same Fruit From Different Trees Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:11 pm

“Unlimited privileges?!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up for added effect, attempting to draw a crowd in. If Hannah was going to be subjected to questioning, well, specifically, a single question, she was going to make him work for it.

“So, you’re telling me,” her accent was fully apparent as she proclaimed in a loud tone, “that Aussie’s don’t have the luxury of not being harassed when walking around and perusing the goods of the Forum?” Hannah scoffed, acting as if she was genuinely upset as a few people began to murmur amongst the crowd.

“All I wanted was to enjoy my evening, but this oaf,” she began pointing at Christian as she addressed the growing crowd, “began harassing me, asking me in which Cohort I belonged to so that he may…” she decided to trail off, covering her face as she began to sob.

Hannah blindly walked into, what she hoped, was someone from the crowd. To her relief, it was the hands of one of the mothers who was in charge of a stall she stole from. She received several gentle pats on the back as she used the crowd as a shield from further questioning. It would have been pretty terrible if she was caught with all of the things she had relieved from the various carts and stalls.

**Moderator** Posts : 300 Join date : 2017-03-10

Definitely Cohort One.

Christian could feel the eyes on them, and he realized that this situation would have been much better to have happened in the camp over the city. Sure, there were people he knew in New Rome, but even then, the majority were not on his side. People like the Davenports and Virgos infested New Rome, and then people whom served their ten years and their children. Sure, a large number of campers ended up in New Rome daily, whether it be social, business, or military related. But the majority was civilians that were older.

She was lying, and she was very good at it, it almost made Christian envious, had he not been in such a bad situation. Why bother to lie though? It triggered an anger within Christian. He'd worked so hard over the last almost-decade to keep people feeling good about who he was, and this was a very deep wound in that. "She's lying." Christian said, he had to speak clearly and loudly in order to keep somewhat of a grip on the situation. However, speak too loud, and things only get worse.

"I'm a Centurion within the legion. I have every right and authority to question her as I see fit. Everyone should move along with their business, congestion in the Forum is hurtful to New Rome." He hated speaking like this, but it was the only option he had on the table. It had some effect, but he had a feeling the girl was going to work the crowd with her. His jaw clenched at the thought.

Subject: Re: Same Fruit From Different Trees Mon Mar 20, 2017 5:51 pm

“He’s going to make me do unspeakable things, ma’am.” Hannah had effectively sobbed into the shoulder of one mother, who was now busy combing through the award-winning actress’ hair. In her mind, all the daughter of Laverna was doing was laughing. Laughing at everyone she had fooled as she was slowly being comforted by this sweet, loving mother. It’s a shame that she didn’t care that she was deceiving her.

As the Centurion spoke, Hannah quieted her sobs to listen, her brain working to counter what he had just said. She could always say that he was looking for her, since he was a known brute among the Centurions, beating on innocent children and demigods alike. Maybe she would be able to convince the crowd that he was actually a known sexual harasser, since that story was what she began with. All of a sudden, an idea clicked as she thought about it.

“Do Centurions normally have addictions?!” she yelled, from within the woman’s shoulder, the mother gasping as she quickly passed the word around to the crowd.

“A Centurion with an addiction problem..? That can’t be.”

“This is horrible! They allow that type of behavior in the legion?”

“What a terrible man. Did you hear what this poor girl said? He was going to have his way with her, then go off and get high or something after.”

The murmurs of the crowd seemed to be mixed, but they were slightly in her favor. The daughter of Laverna was quite pleased with the commotion she was causing.

**Moderator** Posts : 300 Join date : 2017-03-10

Christian's heart effectively stopped for a moment. How could she know? He'd popped one only minutes prior, but there was no tell-tale signs that he was addicted. He almost never chanced it like that, how close would someone have had to watch over nine years for them to find out? A million other questions came over Christian. Was she the only one who knew? He'd lose his position and respect if the Praetors found out. Everything he worked so hard to gain and get away from was crashing down over him now. In her hands, this Australian girl held the weapons she needed to effectively destroy Christian.

He never bothered to talk to his mom before he left to find Camp Jupiter. He found himself wondering now, is this what happened to her? A daughter of Mercury dating a doctor, is it possible there was more behind it than was first seen.

Christian's composure didn't change much, he put every ounce of effort in to keeping himself composed. But the claims from the crowd didn't help. He needed to figure out how she knew and who else knew. He was a little less than a year away from reaching his ten years in service. He'd worked so hard and long to build something for himself that his parents could never provide. A bad choice he made so long ago now loomed over everything he built, threatening to destroy its very foundation.

"Listen up, everyone! The legion works tirelessly to be a respectable and valiant force. Most of your friends, sons, and daughter all serve, will serve, or have served time with us. Of our two Praetors, one is a woman. Of our ten Centurions, six are women. We all work together, tirelessly, to root out this sort of misconduct and all others. Our legion is airtight, and in having that, so is this city. I assure you, my conduct is more than satisfactory according to my peers and superiors. This girl, however, has to answer to the legion for her own manipulation and misconduct. If it would make everyone more comfortable, I'm willing to hold her here until New Rome Constables can show up for further verification." Christian worked the speech on his feet. He prayed silently that there was no damned Virgo or Davenport here to witness this.

He gave the girl a look. He was not happy, but he was also not secure. There were too many questions and not nearly enough ways to get answered. Doubt riddled Christian.

Subject: Re: Same Fruit From Different Trees Mon Mar 20, 2017 6:50 pm

Hannah was almost never nervous; her motto was “Stay frosty”. That being said, her heartbeat began to quicken at a slow rate as the Centurion began to speak. Romans were patriotic, and that’s saying the least of how they feel when talking about themselves. Leave it to the oaf to hide behind the pride of the Legion to turn the crowd against her. That’s unfortunate.

As the crowd’s began to verbally agree that the correct course of action would be to hold the daughter of Laverna at this spot, she began to become antsy. It felt as if she was now entrapped in a web of people, with nowhere to run. Hannah had effectively boxed herself in by a swarm of concerned citizens. Even though, in their minds, they were doing Hannah a favor by keeping close to her, ensuring that she was protected, she had now blocked off all possible escape routes and no amount of persuasion was going to help her wiggle out of punishment when the New Rome Constables arrived.

Hannah would have to come clean.

“Alright, alright.” Hannah had thrown her hands up once more, this time in surrender rather than attempting to draw more of the crowd into her lies. The mother who was comforting her had a confused expression written across her face as the daughter of Laverna detached herself from her shoulder. A quick wipe across her eyes dried and removed any tears that were present.

“You want me? Fine. I’d like to get a move on before the New Rome Constables arrive.” Hannah emerged from the crowd, numerous murmurs now wondering what the hell was going on. A sigh escaped from between the young woman’s lips before she turned around.

“C’mon, can we move it along?” she insisted that they went somewhere that wasn’t within earshot of the crowd she had gathered.

**Moderator** Posts : 300 Join date : 2017-03-10

Had he not been so stressed out, Christian may have smiled when the girl surrendered. His title was probably the only reason that worked, and although he was relieved, his expression remained dead serious. Still, she had surrendered to him, which he didn't quite expect. It meant, most likely, that she had former experience with the law of New Rome. Christian didn't care, New Rome was very lenient with the legion, and generally sent them home with a vague citation. Christian wanted to handle this one personally.

It was impressive, in a way, how quickly her act had ended and how fast she dispersed everyone. She could always change her look if she had to do this again, but her accent was pretty dominant. Unless that was an act too, in which case, she was quite literally not based.

"You try to run, I'm gonna catch you." Christian insisted. He didn't have any of his formal gear on him, so there wasn't much in the way to bound her with. He began walking, keeping clear sight on her. "What's your name and Cohort?" He asked, but he just couldn't keep his most inner fear held in. "Who the hell told you that I was addicted?"

Subject: Re: Same Fruit From Different Trees Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:00 pm

Hannah had a bored expression on her face, her hands in her pockets, her finger tracing the many items that she was able to steal while she was wandering around the Forum. Most of it wasn’t valuable enough to make anyone cry, save the ring she had swiped, so no one would really be missing anything that she had. It was a stroke of luck that she had been seen, whisked away by a Centurion. That would mean that no one would suspect her when people began to notice the various items that were missing in their carts or on their stalls. If anything, this oaf had just done her a huge favor.

“Y’know, if I wanted to run, I doubt you’d catch me.” Hannah replied, her feet dragging along the path as they walked. She wasn’t sure where they were going, but she played along. For now. “You’re a persistent one, y’know that? Most Centurions would’ve just let me be, but you,” she snorted, then continued to speak. “You were like a clingy ex-boyfriend.” She began to laugh at the comparison, having a good ‘ole time with herself, even if she might face some serious trouble if she didn’t cooperate.

The teenage girl stopped in her tracks, completely ignoring the first question as she was hit with the second. A smirk slowly began to form on her face as she continued to walk, this time, without a worry. Well, she didn’t have any worries to begin with.

Everything was now in her favor.

“You just told me.” Hannah replied simply, allowing the error of his interrogation to sink in. “Who knew that you were actually addicted? I certainly didn’t until now. But, it’s good to know, for future reference, of course.” Her accent must have been why it sounded so satisfying to hear. If she had an American accent, it probably wouldn’t have sounded so based.

**Moderator** Posts : 300 Join date : 2017-03-10

The dreadful feeling that had somewhat dug back down had resurfaced, more large than the last time, as Christian realized that he in fact had kept the ruse airtight for nine years, and then, blew the top off on his own. Christian stopped in his tracks, his hands slid down, but he attempted to keep an authoritative stance. The legacy was devastated with himself, in the most angry way possible. He looked up again, at the girl. "I'm not an addict, and I never have been." He said the statement, but he knew that she knew it was a lie. At best, he had plausible deniability if she told the others about who he was.

"I'm gonna cut you a deal, because I think you might actually be Australian, and I have a big respect for your people." Christian began. "No matter what, we're going back to Camp Jupiter. You can tell me your name and Cohort now, or I'm going to take you to every Octio until one recognizes you." Christian continued.

"If you tell me who you are now, I won't tell your superiors how dreadful you've been." She was right, he didn't have a lot of room to make demands or orders, but he tried his best to keep leverage. "And by the way, I would catch you." Christian dared, though, only out of defiance.

Subject: Re: Same Fruit From Different Trees Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:48 pm

A shrug was all that Hannah gave the Centurion, since she wasn’t afraid of being caught anymore; she had information she could use to cut a deal with anyone who questioned her. Besides, who were they going to believe? An oaf who had caused quite a commotion at the Forum, or a pretty little Australian who happened to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time? Think about it: even if people smartened up and saw that the daughter of Laverna had put up a huge act, the word of a certain Centurion being an addict had already circulated. All that was needed was one person to confirm Hannah’s story and this man was finished.

The teenager rolled her eyes, shaking her head slightly at his guess at being an actual Australian. “What gave it away?” she asked, her voice monotone, but her accent present. “I’ve got a better deal.” Hannah interjected, her hands clasped behind her back as she began to lay out a deal that only benefitted herself. “You will allow me to leave your custody,” she began, speaking slowly as she laid out the rest of her deal. “I will not be questioned any further, you will forget this ever happened, and you will vouch for me if I ever need a helping hand.” As she finished, she flashed the Centurion a smile, outstretching her arm. “Do we have a deal, or should I be turned in, with the danger of my loose lips telling your higher ups of that little addiction you have there?”

**Moderator** Posts : 300 Join date : 2017-03-10

The girl's blackmail rubbed Christian the wrong way. Though, that was common practice when something like this was in motion. Christian didn't have a lot of experience with blackmail, on either side of the coin. Misdemeanors, trespassing, and soft-core vandalism were more on his secret resume. That, and of course, addiction. The girl's mannerisms only made the situation worse. Her smug attitude didn't make Christian feel any more angry, but it did keep him grounded to the situation.

"You don't seem like the kind of person who's chummy with the Praetors." Christian challenged her again, though, it didn't matter if she had a good name or not. They both knew that. "The Legion comes first." For the first time in his life, Christian wasn't sure if he meant that or not.

He didn't shake her hand, which was a bluff on his part. He knew the dangers, but was faring them anyway. "I let you go, you go back to whoever the hell is in charge of you, I'll report the Forum incident as a low-priority investigation and it won't get touched. You and I never speak of this again. That's my deal." Christian now offered his hand, the same way she had hers, only he lacked any swagger in his step.

Subject: Re: Same Fruit From Different Trees Tue Mar 21, 2017 6:31 pm

“And you don’t seem like you have an addiction problem, but that certainly isn’t the case, love.” Hannah’s eyes wandered around, taking in the current setting as she spread her arms out, feeling the gentle breeze as she listened to the rest of his reply. At this point, the daughter of Laverna had no intentions of leaving without being able to benefit from this exchange; she was going to get what she wanted, whether he cooperated or not. It was something she was going to see through. This Centurion is going to learn what happens when being persistent in matters that does not concern him.

“I don’t quite like that deal.” She said simply, her eyes now meeting with his as she prepared to speak once again. “If the Legion comes first, you should turn yourself in soon. I’d hate to see what would happen to you if a blabbermouth suddenly spoke to a Praetor about a certain Centurion.” Hannah spoke with an innocent tone, her accent laced within her words. She gave a quiet giggle, wondering how far this Centurion was willing to go. She already knew what she was going to do however way this ended anyway. It was all about the fun right now.

**Moderator** Posts : 300 Join date : 2017-03-10

"Don't call me 'love.'" Christian replied, with a stale tone. What were his options now? He could detox overnight, but the temptation would always exist, and there was no way he would be able to detox quietly. He'd tried once, long before his promotions. It didn't go well, the aches, pains, and suffering were enough to keep him on the pills all these years later.

He kept his eye-contact with her. Christian wanted to be alone more than anything, but even after he shook this girl off of him, whatever her terms would end up as, he still had whole duties left unattended to go for.

"Now, tell me what you want." Christian stated, defiantly. "Tell me what you want from me as a human being, and I'll give it to you. But you're not getting anything from me as a Centurion." Christian stood his ground here. "Be careful how far you go. You think you can burn my life down, sure, but do you really think you can talk me into burning it down myself?"

Subject: Re: Same Fruit From Different Trees Tue Mar 21, 2017 8:35 pm

“Now, don’t start getting prissy, love.” Hannah said it again, mostly to spite the Centurion. Authority figures made her laugh, and, this Centurion in particular, was a joke. He was literally making it way too easy to blackmail him. It was almost as if he wanted to be blackmailed and, as Hannah being who she is, how could she refuse him that?

“Wha’ever I want, eh?” She asked, now tilting her head up, her eyes watching the clouds lazily drift by as he spoke. Her attention span was pretty low, the conversation already beginning to bore her. She was already thinking of a few things he could do for her that didn’t require his status as a Centurion. Hannah snickered as she continued to listen to him, thinking of how terrible he was at negotiation. Her eyes suddenly met his once more. “Love, I think you can destroy yourself just by being defiant.” She shrugged, then began to lay out her new deal, one that wasn’t so draining for the Centurion.

“Alright, how about this.” She stopped pacing, now facing him before she continued to speak. “You can do your little investigation, if that will make you happy or wha’ever,” she waved her hand a few times to show how much it didn’t matter to her, “but, you will come to my assistance if ever I should need it.” Hannah’s deal was vague, but it had nothing to do with his duties. That would be the best deal he was going to receive, in exchange for her silence.

**Moderator** Posts : 300 Join date : 2017-03-10

Christian left out a sigh, full of flustered frustration and annoyed defeat. For someone with nothing bartering with someone with everything, this wasn't a bad cut, and he suspected that quitting while he was, figuratively, ahead, was the best call. He broke the eye contact and took a pace back from her. His options were limited. He could ditch the legion the second he hit ten years, but it was the one thing he'd done well in. His only other options were to confess or detox. Both were equally terrifying.

"Yep." Christian replied, giving a smile that was clearly fake and condescending. He paced another step back, figuring a handshake was both unneeded and unwanted at this point. "Fine. There's your deal. I'll be going now." Christian said, turning around and beginning to walk away. He took one last glance back, he knew he could only push lightly, or else he could suffer. "You're so not a based Aussie." He stated, looking back. He was hopeful that would be the end of this.

» Enchanted Fruit (p)