Kids these Days [August]

August was tired. It had been a long day so far, to put it lightly. Training had been hard, and getting harassed yet again for no apparent reason was just frustrating. He needed some relief. Usually that came in the form of either his violin or his bow, but there was currently a cohort training at the archery range and it was one of those rare occasions that he just didn’t feel like music. And he knew from experience that forcing it was never good for anyone involved. He was just too… wound up. So he decided to opt for a hot shower. Usually a good idea when stressed. Just hoping the rest of the lot here hadn’t already used up all the hot water.

He stopped back at the second cohort and grabbed his towel and something a little less sweaty to change into. His violin was laying on his bed, the case open. It was one of those things that thankfully people got the idea that if they touched his violin, they died a horrible death at the hands of the scrawny augur. If people hated him (well, there was no if about that) they at least knew better than to personally challenge anyone trained here at the Legion. Even the youngest here were formidable foes, and he’d been here ten years. Walking down the via from the barracks, he studiously ignored ever single living human being and lar as well. It was usually better that way anyway. How someone with his social skills got to be a centurion, he wasn’t always so sure. Though there was the seniority factor. Technically, he should be retired by now. But with everything going on, he didn’t want to abandon the place without an augur, as much as he hated being there.

When he got to the bathhouse, he had to pass by the seemingly empty pool before getting to the showers. Key word being seemingly. It was roughly right when he set foot through the door that a shower of water burst from the edge of the deep end of the pool. It made him jump and took him a second to realize that it was a person. A very small person. And someone gagging at that, as the young girl held onto the edge of the pool. He didn’t hesitate. Dropping his clothes and towel, he was at her side in a moment, reaching for her arms to pull her up. Thank the gods for the training here, and for how light she was, as it didn’t take too much to get her out, though the spasms made it a bit of a challenge. He leaned on the edge of the pool and practically pulled her onto the edge, hurrying to press his hands against her chest in the hopes of getting the water out of her lungs. Gods, what did she think she was doing, jumping in the deep end like that? Unless she’d slipped. But no time to worry about that now.

At the first word out of her mouth, August officially thought she was crazy. Maybe inhaling so much water was what did it to her. But no one should nearly drown and then be that excited. Or have the first thing they say be ‘hi’ in that cutesy little voice. Maybe it was just the fact that he was still worried about her, gasping for air as she still was, that he didn’t take too kindly to being ‘hi’ed like that. “Hi yourself. What in the Underworld were you doing?” Cut to the point. That was typical August. Even around a little kid. Actually, maybe more so around a little kid. Children were a mystery to him. Gods forbid he ever have one of his own, though he had full intention of living his life alone more than likely. He sat back on the concrete and raised an eyebrow as she smiled up at him. How on earth was she not panicking? She could have died. Spoke a lot for the training here, he supposed. Little thing was a Roman when it came to dealing with rough situations. Though he had to admit, he wasn’t sure it was Roman to be beaming away about it. “Well, I wasn’t going to let you drown.” Then he figured he might be being too harsh to the kid. She wasn’t doing him any harm. That, and he remembered when his mom used to be harsh to him. That was never a good feeling. So he sighed and determined to treat this little girl like he wished he’d been treated. So he did a rare thing… and smiled. Not a big smile, or hardly what could be called a smile by most people’s standards, but the thought was there. “You’re welcome. Just be careful, okay?”

It was unnaturally hard to be nice. There was pretty much no one here except maybe Charlie who August smiled for. So he set his face back to normal, or at least, passive instead of hating the world. “Alright, Lyn it is. Good to meet you too. I’m August. Yes, like the month.” He got that one a lot, especially when he was younger here. Is your name really August? or Did your mom just look at the calendar to name you? or You look more like a February to me. None of it good. He preferred to think towards his connection with the Emperor Augustus, which, while his mom may or may not have intended that, he liked it a lot better than simply the next page after July. He pushed back the memories. Just more reasons to hate people. And this little girl had done nothing at all to earn his hatred. Not yet anyway. He was of the mind that, given time, everyone would let you down. But today, he would be nice to someone. He got up and went back to where he’d dropped his things and tossed the clothes against the wall, bringing her the towel. “Here.” He offered her the towel. “So what happened? Fall in or just really…” Reckless? Stupid? Yeah, those were some of the first words to come to mind, but he reminded himself he was being nice here. “…gutsy…?” He finally finished. That sounded better than the alternatives, right? And had a better connotation.

Little kids. Never his forte. Then again, people in general weren’t his forte. The only thing that he might be considered good at was auguries. Which was fine by him. He didn’t have many friends – in fact, Charlie and Jason were the only two he could think of – and he was okay with that. He was a loner. It was just in his nature.

Which meant that facing a very excitable – what, maybe ten or eleven or so? – year old was not high on his list of things to do. Or to know really how to handle. He looked back to the water when she a little too enthusiastically announced her intentions. “Kid… This is the deep end. You’re not going to get that yourself. Not unless you can breathe underwater or something.” He cocked an eyebrow at her when she said she was strong. Well, determined was at least true. Maybe not strong yet, but she had the makings of it. Just would take a little time and training. Then again, hadn’t they all been in her shoes at one point? New people with little to no training or understanding of the way the world, or especially the Roman military worked.

He sighed. “Careful would mean not recklessly diving into the deep end and swallowing half the pool in the process.” Which was obviously not something she was doing at the moment. He watched her, a little surprised that she hadn’t caught on to the let’s-make-fun-of-the-kid-named-after-a-month deal sooner. Then again, she was young. And she babbled on about other month-named people she met. “Well then, sounds like all you need is July and you have five in a row,” he said, not actually caring much what he was talking about. Did he mention he wasn’t a kid person?

He looked back to the water when she insisted she get the doll. He could make out some of the doll’s features from through the considerable amount of water. Then she went on and he looked back to her with an expression that clearly read he was not impressed with her logic skills. “Motivation? No, it’s called treating you like rubbish and torturing you. You really need to learn the difference, and fast.” He sighed and sat down, setting to work getting his tennis shoes off. Once he had them off to the side next to him, he got back up and looked to Lyn. “Now don’t go anywhere.” With that he dove into the water and began the swim to the bottom. Yes, he could see the rocks she’d mentioned now. Whoever did this was even more messed up than he was, and that was saying something. For all his nastiness, he wouldn’t purposefully torture a little kid. He knew full well what it felt like to be on the receiving end of that, even if this little kid in particular was a little dull when it came to recognizing it for what it was. Finally, his fingers wrapped around the little toy and he grabbed it, turning and pressing off against the bottom with his feet to get him to the surface faster.

The air was a welcome thing. He set the doll on the side of the pool, then pulled himself out and plucked it up again. He set to work untying the stones from the doll and tossing them to the side before offering it back to her. “Next time they try to ‘motivate’ you, get someone’s help a little sooner.”

August didn’t even bother trying to hide his eyeroll. “You’re kidding me, right? Rubbish, like trash, garbage? Treating you like you're worthless? Ringing any bells? And torture is hurting someone on purpose.” Ugh, how’s he end up with the stupid kid? He mused while she babbled on. “I take it you’re pretty new here then. It takes some getting used to. But before you know it, it’ll be home too.” Which was a total lie in his own case. This place would never be home to him. It just had the honor of being the first place he felt actually needed. So that was the reason he stayed, nothing more. Not the people, not the atmosphere, not the food. Just the job. He really didn’t care about how at home this little idiot felt. She meant nothing to him, just like the majority of the people here.

Why was he doing this again? Oh yeah, because picking on little kids was wrong. He wasn’t above picking on people, but he did have some rules. Don’t harm the innocent. That was first and foremost. Don’t take advantage of people, and don’t hurt a person who was down. All things his mother had taught him by doing the exact opposite. He hated her, so he had grown up with the idea that whatever she did was bad and the opposite was what should be done.

He pulled his shoes off and dove into the water, getting the doll for her with at least a little difficulty. He wasn’t the best swimmer in the camp, but he wasn’t horrible. In time enough, he was back at the surface with the doll and hauling himself out of the water. He shook his head as he pulled the rocks off it. “You’re kidding me right? Wanted to help you? How about not. They were toying with you, trying to upset you. Or worse. Never underestimate people. There are those who are out to hurt you. And they will if you let them. So don’t let them. Those idiots who dropped your toy in the pool wanted to hurt you. Getting hurt does not make you a good Roman.”

He shrugged when she thanked him. “No problem.” He pushed his wet hair out of his face and sighed. “Come get me? Doesn’t matter who you get really. Someone you trust preferably. Who isn’t the kind of idiot who would do this to you in the first place.” He laughed, though there wasn’t a lot of humor to it. “A better way than nearly drowning yourself? I should think so. Hit the obstacle course, train with the weapons. Possibly a bit young for war games, but get in on those when you’re old enough. Just train like everyone else. It’ll come in time. That’s what I did. That’s why just about everyone here did. Just follow your centurion’s instructions. He or she will help you.”

Why do people want to hurt other people? How the heck should he know? He just knew it happened. A lot. “Some people are just mean, that’s all there is to it. You can’t trust everyone you meet, especially if you only just met them.” And yes, he knew that included him. But it was best she didn’t trust him either. He had a low opinion of himself, after all, and was perfectly content in the idea that no one should be around him. Except maybe Lilith, his sister/niece. Or maybe Charlie and Jason too. Maybe. All the same, it was a short list. Oh great, she was new. And apparently hyper now too. Great. He raised an eyebrow at her list of names. It was certainly an odd mix. Gunnar, Ed, Remus…super nice and fun to talk to? Were they thinking about the same people? A few of the others, he could understand. Though he didn’t know Charlie was a kid person. Huh. “Well then, sounds like you should ask them too.” Gods knew she needed all the help she could get.

Good. She wasn’t upset just over a doll. At least she did have some sense in that soaking wet little head of hers. Though this day and age, he couldn’t be sure what people would do, he shook his head all the same. No need to mentally scar the girl. “No, nothing like that. If they do, you get help before trying to do it yourself though, got it? You’re right though, people are irreplaceable.” At least she had that much right. That was good. Not like some kids he saw around this place that considered a teddy bear on the same level as a human being. Heh, those sorts of kids really were terrified of someone like him, which he found both a little funny, and a lot exasperating. At least she wasn’t like that. Either that or she didn’t know what he did here. Perhaps both. He’d give her some credit though for valuing a human over a toy. Though some of it had to be taken away again for her risking her life to save her toy.

This was getting old. August was not a kid person, and this little girl was getting a little too much for him. Unfortunately, he didn’t know the half of it. That was about when the babbling started. He could hardly get a word in, she was shooting off questions so fast. He tried to keep track of what she was saying so he could address it all, but it wasn’t easy. He waited a moment after she stopped talking just to make sure she was done. “Right, um, let’s see. Well, um, depends on how they act, I suppose. If they do something you know will hurt you and they seem fine about it, then they probably mean you to get hurt. If they offer help if you ask them, they probably don’t mean it in a bad way. Um, pretending to be nice. I don’t know. Because the world is full of cruel, manipulative people. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. You can be mean on accident, but usually people would say they were sorry if they realized they were being mean. Like you won’t see that gang that dropped your toy in the pool coming to apologize and help you out. No filter, that one is different. Some people can’t help what they say. They just… say it. That help any?” He wasn’t sure if he covered all the topics, but gods only knew she probably had more to ask.

August resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Yes, you just met me. But the other part… I’m just being logical. Do I look insane enough to want someone dead?” Seriously though, he wasn’t heartless. He didn’t know this girl, but he didn’t wish harm to her. She looked like, what, ten? Eleven maybe? She needed a good example, and obviously her little pool prank ‘friends’ weren’t doing their part. Not that August really planned on doing his either. He wasn’t a kid person. With his horrible childhood, he really had no idea what was the right thing to do for a kid. Just what not to do. Anyway, back to the present. He nodded at her immaculate English skills. He was tempted to correct her, but decided against it. “Lots of busy. Yep,” was all he commented on that tidbit of grammar extravagance. “Well, there is a war coming. Of course they’re busy. Everyone’s getting prepared.”

I’ll ask Ed… More troubling words had never been spoken. Was she seriously that off her rocker that she thought hey, I should ask the most annoying, worthless blob in this camp important stuff? Not to mention antisocial and stupid. Not that August could comment much on the antisocial part, but he didn’t care really. He liked being antisocial. Not making friends meant no one could betray your trust. Simple as that. That was his philosophy on life. And so far, it was working well enough for him. All the same, back to the moment at hand. He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you have fun having a meaningful conversation with Simons.”

She was blowing hair from her face as he spoke. Oh wonderful. So in other words, he could start reciting the Iliad and she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from actual productive talk. In one ear and out the other. Perfect. Just perfect. Why was he even bothering? Well, at least she was polite about not having caught a word he said. He had to give her some credit there. And then she caught him a little by surprise with a question that actually pertained to what he had just said. Albeit a little early in what he’d said, before the hair-blowing incident had come up, so his theory still held water. Ah well, better a little than nothing. “What that means, you mean? Well, it’s like when something seems perfect, I guess. Because no one is perfect and if people act perfect, it’s probably a rouse. A trick,” he added, figuring a little late that ‘rouse’ might be outside her vocabulary.