Hey, I am not dead....I think. [Remus]

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Popoff Pavlov Krupin just walked out of the tunnel into the open air and onto the hilltop. From there, Popoff could see the Little Tiber, the Camp, and New Rome. The demigod pushed his faded brown leather fedora up so his demonic red eyes could take in the scenery around him. Popoff's hand scatched his crooked nose from where it was broken and never properly set strait. His ghostly pale skin reflected the rising sun. His light brown shirt was stain from a couple days old blood. Krupins neck bare a red scab on his neck from where a man tried to take his head off a nearly a week ago. The scab combine with his natural disturbing appearance gave the illusion that his neck had been halfway slit open and now he was a walking corpse. The skin on his face was stretch thin from hunger from his long journey. Popoff never got a decent meal in since he left New Rome ten years ago and his BMI had dropped to a unhealthy low. His jaw and cheek bones stuck out more on his sullen cheeks giving off the effect that Popoff was really just a undead monster ready for the slaying. His long white as snow hair was done in a long braid down to the middle of his back and it hung over his brown leather jacket that matched his faded hat. Krupin's eyes had black bags underneath them from his lack of sleep. His pants, torn at his knees, show scabs from sliding across concrete. After a second longer of taking in the nostalgia of the city, Popoff took a deep breath and set out to the Principia.

After so long, the smell of the camp brought back Popoff to ten years before right before he set out so long ago. All of the buildings in the camp seemed shorter now, and the legionnaires , and everything else now that Popoff thought about it. Popoff figured he grew some on his trip, but not enough to dwarf so many things that use to be taller than him. Popoff was halfway into camp lost in his memories of what the camp use to be like before he realize a lot of people where looking at him. Across his journey he had gotten use to people looking at him since he looked distinctively pale, taller than most natives, and overall have a fairly unique appearance, but this was his home. People were not suppose to stare at him so intensely and with so much fear. Popoff overhear a brat of a legionnaire ask another kid of the same age, “Is that a monster or something?” Krupin scoffed at the idea that someone could confuse him for a monster. How big of a rock do you have to live under to confuse a legionnaire for a something like a monster.

Popoff walked with an aggressive posture now that he was in a crowded area and people were looking at him. Krupin learned over time that if you looked like you were about to kill the next person to talk to you, then you avoid a lot of confrontation. The scowl on Popoff's face was also part of self defense mechanism that he did on reflex now in large crowds. The brown leather messenger bag flopped on his hip as he walked through the town. Popoff was at the Principia before he realized it. The two guards at the door stood ready to take action if the demigod continued at his pace towards the Principia. Popoff slowed his paced towards and came to a stop ten feet short of the guards. Krupin then realize what his posture and facial expression would look like to others. How long had it been since Popoff could walk through a crowd in peace? With out worry that an assassin was standing behind a false smile, or on a roof of a building with a rifle? Too long. It was too late now for Popoff to try to act nice to get through the guards, so he switched to his second tactic, angry and confident. “I need to see a Praetor about a camp security issue now,” he let out in the deep bass that was his voice. He pulled his arm out of his jacket to show the mark of the legion on his arm and the little Apollo bow above it. Popoff took off his gun harness and stuff it into his messenger bag before going through the tunnel in case somebody did ask to see the SPQR on his arm.

The guards looked at each other for a second like they were confused for a second before they let Popoff pass. They escorted him into the Praetor's waiting room. One of the guards stayed with the legacy and the other went to go retrieve the Praetor. Popoff had put his arm back into the sleeve of his jacket. It was cold here compare to what Krupin was used too down south. Popoff would wait patiently standing for the Praetor to come. Sitting down would bring Krupin dangerously too close to sleep.

Remus Stone

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Remus was bored with all this blasted paperwork. Apparently some Mercury kid had decided it would be a good idea to prank an entire barrack. The girl’s barrack for fourth was now filled with crickets. Thousands, probably. Annoying little chirpy things. And how were they supposed to get rid of them? The complaint went straight through the centurions, who also had no idea what to do, to his desk. Crickets. Well, could be worse. Could be like slugs or something. Either way, though, presented a unique challenge. If only Jason were around, but Remus was pretty sure he was training with second right now. He, lucky devil, hadn’t heard about this yet. Remus glanced over to where Aurum stood at the ready as usual. Hmm, that was an idea. Perhaps the Vulcan kids could come up with some kind of way to get the crickets gone. They were just shy of geniuses, most of them. Except Ed, he was just weird. Nah, Remus was alright with Ed now, sort of. The fact that the kid had snuck in and tried to destroy the file rooms here way back when, that was sort of in the past now. Remus wasn’t sure how far he trusted Edmund Simons, but… well, it was just a strange situation.

His mind went back to the problem at hand. Which god/dess could have anything to do with this that he could ask help from his or her kids? Rome had a lot of deities, but crickets? There was that crazy cow goddess, Bubona. Talk about specialized. Nothing for crickets or just regular little critters, though. Not that he knew of. And even if there was one, no promises on him or her having children here. He could go with regular extermination, but surely some of the more… ah, natural people here would argue that. He was not really in the mood to have hippies banging on his door calling him a cold-blooded murderer. He’d talk to Jason about it. Maybe Jason had some ideas. Or he could even get Jason’s brother, Ethan, in on it. He was a legacy of Mercury. It was his kin that played the prank, so maybe he would know how to undo it. Yes, he’d do that.

Thankfully, he was spared from further trouble in plotting this whole thing by a legionnaire coming in and announcing that there was someone here to see him. “Right, on my way.” He got up and headed for the door, Aurum at his heels. Nothing could have prepared him for what – er, who – he found waiting for him though. Sure, he’d seen the guy before, but that was so many years ago, if he hadn’t been so unusual, Remus would have straight up forgot. But even a tough guy son of Mars at the tender age of ten trying to climb the ladder as fast as he could… well, it was hard not to notice a guy like Popoff. The memory was vague, but it was there. He had never known what happened to him though. Word had it he died, but Remus hadn’t really been concerned with that then. Now it was staring him in the face, with tons of scars and scabs and overall looking entirely beat up. Aurum watched with as much curiosity as an automaton could. “Ah, um… forgive me for not knowing your name. I’m Remus Stone, son of Mars, and, though I suppose you’ve gathered, praetor. And… you?” He added after a moment.

Tag: @popovakrupin
Word Count: 584
Notes: Don’t ask where the crickets came from, lol

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Popoff heard the footsteps down the hall before he saw Remus and the other Roman legionnaire coming back down the hall. Either that or the legionnaire requisition the help of another legionnaire to subdue the legacy. Krupin really hoped it was the first option and not the second. Popoff would hate to be locked up all day and he might do something stupid if somebody tried to lock him up. The man the guard brought back was shorter then what Popoff expected and Remus just happen to look a whole lot different then the Praetor Popoff remembered running the camp.

Popoff thought the Praetor look a little bit too small, but surely the legion hadn't gone upside down and the man in front of him was surely his new boss until he retired in about 3.5 minutes from now. Popoff gave Remus the Roman Salute and stood up strait. He made eye contact with Praetor Remus The soldier standing in front of him wore the Praetor garb well. Popoff introduece himself after making eye contact, “My name is [Insert appropriate Rank] Popoff Pavlov Krupin, Sir. Legacy of Apollo and member of First Cohort,” Popoff barely raise his voice but it filled the room like a heavy drumbeat , “I am here to complete the quest I lead ten years ago of retrieving [Insert Appropriate Artifact]. Here it is.”

Popoff notice the tension in the room from the guards. The legacy didn't know what unnerved the guards so much. Krupin had a hard time remembering his mental image of himself and his voice didn't match his current voice and appearance. Popoff had the mental image of himself at the age of 15, before he embarked on a life altering quest. This was of course when Popoff still had pudgy cheeks and looked like a clumsy cross between a teenager and a kid standing at a 'massive' height of five foot three. Being able to recognize himself in the mirror was a challenging task most days. This lead to a lot of misunderstandings about how people treated him. Most people view Popoff as a monster, but the young man all to often saw himself as the boy just trying to do what is best for everyone. There are times of crushing realization that Popoff was no longer the tough little kid trying to become the Paragon of defending the weak and more of the monster that goes bump in the night. Murderer, Villain, Criminal, Nightmare, Monster were the words he would describe himself when he was alone and the mask he wore when his blood pumped with adrenaline, anger, and fear.

Popoff reached into his bag at a mild pace and touch the purple camp shirt that now wrapped around the artifact. Krupin saw the guard in front of him start to turn the spear towards him. The Legacy's posture change to more of an aggressive one on pure reflex as his teeth flashed white. Popoff's teeth were a horror upon themselves. His entire family had a slight birth defect where their canine teeth were slightly more protruded then the average person's teeth giving people a lot of jokes about how his family were secretly vampires or creatures of the night. Popoff also had a couple of teeth visibly missing and even one tooth had a quarter chunk missing. The legacies teeth pressed together as he let out a low growl coming from the lowest part of his throat sounding like that of a beast ready to kill if provoked. The growl was a trick he learned to scare off the less willful of the criminal world and monsters. It also would probably make the rest think twice before continuing their current plan of action. The tricked work as the guard in front of him took a step back and the guard behind Popoff clatter into the wall stepping back.

The Legacy didn't mean to let out the growl to scare the legionaries, but it was pure reflex and it was too late to take it back now. 'Roll with it and everything will be fine' Popoff thought to himself. “Cool your jets, Sparky.” Popoff growl to the guard in front of him, “If you were worried about me killing the Praetor, then you should have check me for weapons before you got him. Though I probably vouldn't need weapons, cause I vould just take yours.” The second line was a bluff—Popoff had no clue how tough the Praetor or his guards were, but bluffing became the legacy's best weapon and he could do it perfectly now. There was no killing intent in his words, but the way he stated them made them seem more like facts of life. Krupin grabbed the cloth covered artifact and pulled it out of his bag holding it towards Remus. The shirt smelled horrible from that of sticky tar, black powder, and other things to help hide it from monsters.

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Notes: Sorry about the guards, but I couldn't ignore them as long as they were in the room and I tried to play them legitimately as possible.

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This was stupid. Remus was doing everything in his willpower to stay professional. First things first. “[Rank] Popoff Pavlov Krupin, my welcome. “ Before he decided to ask the all too obvious question of what the hell that was supposed to actually mean, he listened carefully. His eyebrow raised at the mention of a ten-year quest. That was… unusual. “I see…” This just kept getting stranger and stranger. This man was difficult to place. Between his peculiar appearance, his peculiar accent, and his peculiar mannerisms… well, he was just all over the board. Remus kept his mental guard up though, as always, and went about it as he figured he was expected to.

He glanced around the room when Popoff seemed to go on a mental tangent. Was this normal? Apparently the man was lost in thought for just enough time to make it strange and Remus was perfectly ready to inquire to his sanity when finally he reached for the artifact that he said he had come to deliver. Then things went wrong. Aurum was the first to react, not to the reaching for the artifact, for the greyhound could sense lying and knew full well that Popoff was not speaking untruths. Nor was it to the spear because that was commonplace. It was to the growl coming from the pale young man. If Aurum had hair, it would have bristled, but somehow the metal dog still managed to look dangerous as his gleaming red eyes flashed and he rose to his feet, taking a step towards Popoff and baring his perfectly sharpened metal teeth. Remus glared hard at the guard responsible. “Put that down! And you,” he turned on Popoff, “since when do legionnaires of your rank use the scare tactics of a hellhound? Both of you need to calm down or so help me.” The guard with the spear seemed lost a moment before stepping back, though still keeping a close eye on Popoff. The fallen guard awkwardly pulled himself back up and kept an extra distance from the newcomer.

“Thank you for discounting my own abilities to defend myself.” He didn’t bother to sugar-coat anything. Aurum kept at attention too, so he rested a hand on his gladius, just to be sure. He wasn’t afraid of sending this guy to the infirmary. It was actually one of his favorite pastimes, considering his lineage. He only took his hand from his gladius when Popoff offered over the artifact. He took it without word and held it down for Aurum to look at. Once he was satisfied that Aurum saw no problem with it, he looked at it himself. Pulling one now tar-covered hand from the cloth, he raised an eyebrow at Popoff for the mess. “So then… ten years, huh?” It was an expectation for further details and he took it for granted that the message would get across.

Tag: @popovakrupin
Word Count: 482
Notes: You did fine on the guards. Though Remus is 6’2”, so not that much shorter than Popoff.