NFWMB ────Nico di Angelo

4: The ambassador

─────"Don't tell me you're hung up on some guy or girl again" Jason groaned as he sat down next to Cassian.

One week. 

It had been one whole week with no contact from Nico.

That didn't mean Cassian hadn't tried, of course. Nico di Angelo was like an itch in his brain that he could never quite get rid of. He was singularly the most annoying and infuriating person Cassian had ever had the displeasure of meeting. But he was powerful and useful. Cassian would be a fool to forget about him and keep on living his life as he used to. 

Nothing was the same anymore. 

In less than a month, his entire life had been turned upside down. That happened to him a lot. He would get used to one sort of life and then an event would come along which completely changed everything he was sure of. He had been in this situation enough times to know that this was the calm before the storm. Whatever came next, whether it happened in the next few days or months or years, it would be the next great thing that uprooted his life. He hated things like that. Was stability really that bad?

Which is exactly why he hadn't told anyone about it. 

Instead, he chuckled dryly and played with the food on his table at Jason's remark. "No guy or girl, just tired. We whooped your butts in war games tonight, that makes a guy hungry and sleepy"

"First of all, no butts were whooped" Jason held up a finger, "And second of all, the fifth cohort almost won this time, I swear we were so close"

"Keep dreaming, Grace" 

Jason laughed. He wasn't a very angry or petty person. He didn't take war games half as seriously as the other Romans and that's why Cassian liked him so much. From their first day at New Rome, Jason had shown Reyna and Cassian around, he'd been the bridge between the hostile Romans and the newcomers. 

He was, as Cassian had got to know over the past four years, the nicest person at Camp Jupiter. If there was anyone Cassian could tell about the Nico di Angelo business, it should be him. Still, he couldn't bring himself to voice his doubts and concerns because that would make them real and he wasn't yet ready to face that. 

Cas heard Reyna before he saw her, cursing all the way to the table. As calm and collected she presented herself to be, sometimes, too much was too much for her as well. 

"Well that sucked" She plopped herself down opposite Cas and Jason at the Praetor table. The other few Centurions and Legionnaires were too far away from the praetors and Cassian, and those were the few times when Cassian could enjoy Reyna's true personality shining through. 

She pushed herself too much, always expected too much from herself. In theory, that should have pushed Cassian to be productive as well, but he was happy where he was. 

"Gods, you look like shit" Jason snickered and if it had been anyone else saying that, they'd have Reyna's two hounds on them in the blink of an eye. But because it was just the three of them, she just scowled and dug into her food. 

But Jason was right, she did look like shit. 

Her hair was a mess, Cassian couldn't even tell if she was wearing her usual braid or not since half her hair was free. Her cloak was more muddy than purple and she looked absolutely miserable as she dug into her food. 

"Hannibal" She muttered, "It's all that damned elephant's fault"

"Stop blaming cute innocent animals," Cassian tutted, "when it was your fault"