HOME | DD

Description
Leo:
Leo met Jason about halfway across the road. Frank had given him a tour and they were heading towards the Cohort base so Leo could check out sleeping arrangements. "I'm not sleeping near Jason, he snores when he's troubled" Leo had told Frank firmly when he'd asked why. Jason had hardly noticed Leo, his face full of thought, his sky blue eyes clouded with confusion. "Yo bro", called Leo grinning, "not a bad set up here. You Romans have style". Jason jumped, looking startled. Leo laughed. "Hey Leo, glad you like it", replied Jason, then he turned to Frank, "And you are?". Frank kneeled. "Frank Zhang sir, centurion, one of the seven, fifth cohort. I've heard so much about you from Hazel" Frank said loudly. Jason stuck out his hand and Frank shook it. "Nice to meet you. Oh, and how's Hazel. I haven't seen her yet" he added. Frank stood and turned slightly pale. "She's fine. Great even. She's one of the seven. Did you know?" asked Frank. Jason nodded. "Yeah, Reyna told me" he admitted. Once again Jason looked troubled. Leo hung his arms around Jason's and Frank's backs. "Geez I'm hot. Got anywhere I could get a decent coke?" he panted loudly, majorly exaggerating. Both Frank and Jason laughed. "There's an aqueduct but no cokeduct" Jason joked. Leo smirked. "Weak bro, weak" he said shaking his head shamefully. The three boys all grinned and started joking and taking the mickey and they didn't stop until they reached the cohort. As they approached Leo saw a huge majestic stallion with a chocolate brown coat standing proudly outside. Leo gasped. "Wow" he said. Jason nodded. "Whose that Frank, I've never seen him in the stable before, I would've remembered" he quizzed Frank. Frank smiled. "That's Arion, Hazel's horse. Watch out. He's a bit............... Feisty" he replied. Leo stared at the horse and Arion trotted around and looked at him. His eyes seem to say: "What you looking at?". Leo nodded, "That horse has serious attitude." The group walked towards the cohort, cautiously avoiding Arion. Leo stepped in first and was taken aback by the amount of beds all crammed in and the huge number of people milling around and talking loudly. The girl from earlier, the dark one, was among them, talking to a freckly boy in a purple t-shirt. "Well there's Hazel" said Jason brightly.

Frank:
Frank watched Hazel turn and beam as she saw Jason. Everyone in the room kneeled with respect although the atmosphere was awkward. Nobody needed to kneel for Jason, he was no longer praetor, they did so out of habit. "Hey guys", Jason called brightly, "there's no need to kneel. Percy's praetor". Hazel was the first to her feet. She sprinted towards Jason with Bobby and Dakota close behind. Hazel flung her arms around Jason and Frank couldn't help grinning. Usually he felt awkward when Hazel hugged other boys but anyone could see they were just friends. Jason was laughing loudly. "Hello, Hazel, Dakota, Bobby. Hello everyone", he said scanning the crowd, "but where is Gwen?". Everybody glanced around nervously. Dakota stepped forward, a cherry red bottle of kool aid in his hand. "She ummm went to collage" he said truthfully. Jason looked relived and surprised at the same time. "Is that all for a moment I thought she'd died or something" smiled Jason. The room went deadly quiet. Frank coughed. "She did die...., just Thanatos was chained so....," Frank trailed off but he knew he needed to say no more, Jason got the gist. "Oh" he said and looked a bit spooked. Hazel put her arm on his shoulder. "We can go and see her later if you like" she suggested, trying to brighten the gloomy mood. Jason nodded slowly. "Sure" he agreed. Frank glanced at his striped watch to see what time it was. The hands indicated that it was 5:15 leaving just ten minutes until dinner. He nudged Hazel and showed her the watch. "Goodness" she cried in surprise, "look at the time". Those in the cohort with watches suddenly glanced at their little clocks. Most of them knew they'd better set off to avoid being late, especially when Reyna was in such a mood. One by one the fifth cohort filed out, all calling goodbye to Jason, leaving just Frank, Hazel, Leo and Jason. They looked at each other. Hazel strolled over to her hammock and flopped on. "Erm, shouldn't we go too" asked Leo. Hazel turned around in shock and only just seemed to see Leo. Hazel laughed, an octave higher than usual. Frank stiffened. He hated the way Hazel acted around Leo. "Why bother", he said in a wooden voice, "when we have a super-fast horse with an attitude problem". Jason looked mystified. "Did you say super-fast?" he asked.

Hazel:
Hazel felt a lot calmer talking to Jason than Leo, the blond boy was an old friend who knew her well. Whilst talking to him she felt the tiny green emeralds that had miraculously gone unnoticed by the boys, sink into the floor. She stood and smiled at Jason. "Didn't anyone mention it?" she laughed. Frank looked sheepish. "Guess I forgot about it". That made Hazel laugh even more. She felt all the tension from earlier with Leo evaporate away, this was a happy time not a stressful one. "Umm sorry interrupt but we can't all fight on Arion's back" Leo pointed out. Frank looked at him. "That's why there's a chariot round the back". The room went silent. After several awkward moments Jason coughed. "How about we hook the demented horse up" he suggested. Frank nodded. "Sure" he replied. Jason and Frank exited closely followed by Leo. With no other option, Hazel followed and decided to put her battle helmet on. Leo raised his eyebrow at her. "Should I prepare for a sudden attack?" he asked. Hazel flushed. Luckily Jason saved her from a mumbled reply. "Don't be an idiot Leo" he said. Leo turned to him. "I don't know Jason, that girl in purple looked pretty murderous" he joked back. Jason rolled his sky blue eyes and hooked the chariot. "All aboard" Jason called. Hazel stepped towards Arion. "Hey boy" she murmered "got a heavy cargo for you". Arion whipped his head round to stare at the boys. His dark eyes seem to say "those puny weaklings aren't heavy". Hazel laughed and jumped on his back, she then turned to Frank. "Well get on" she said to him. Frank looked pleased and clambered clumsily on the horses back. Jason hopped in the chariot but curly haired Leo was frowning. He started to study the harness. "What is it Leo" Jason asked. Leo ignored him and pulled a pair of scissors out of a tool belt around his waste. "What are you doing" Frank said sharply. Leo didn't bother to look up. He positioned the scissors by a strap to the left of Arion's tail. "Stop!" Frank said sharply. Leo didn't. He snipped the strap then turned to face three confused faces. "You didn't need it" he said simply. Frank glared at him. "And how would you know?" he asked. Hazel suddenly felt the need to jump to Leo's defence. "He's a son of Vulcan" she squeaked. Frank shot her an annoyed look and probably would have said something if Arion hadn't suddenly decided he was bored and galloped off.