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iii. capture-the-flag on steroids
gale was happy to escape seeing octavian, but in all honesty, assembling with the legion wasn't much better. hazel had brought her brother nico, the ambassador of pluto, right on time before it started. at the very end stood the fifth cohort, with arcana playing with her purple magic as she held onto her javelin, which turned into an anklet when not in use, and gale, who held his sword loosely in his hands as he began to tune out for most of this. the rest of the cohort, including frank and dakota, stood with them, and hazel soon joined them.
reyna sat in the front with her pegasus scipio, or skippy as some called him, with her metal dogs aurum and argentum at her sides. nico soon joined percy, who stood off to one side behind a couple of guards. his hair was damp, drops of water falling onto the hard wood floors, and he had changed from his ripped clothes to a purple camp shirt, and gale couldn't help but blush.
he was snapped out of his internal panic when reyna started talking. "romans!" she said, her voice loud enough for all to hear. "you've probably heard about the incursion today. two gorgons were swept into the river by this newcomer, percy jackson. juno herself guided him here, and proclaimed him a son of neptune."
"hi," percy awkwardly said.
"he seeks to join the legion," reyna continued. "what do the auguries say?"
"i have read the entrails!" octavian (news flash, no one who was actually sane liked him) announced. "the auguries are favorable. he is qualified to serve!"
"ave!"
frank was a little late with his, "ave!" so it came out as a high pitched echo. the other legionnaires snickered.
reyna motioned the senior officers from each cohort, and octavian turned his attention to percy. "recruit, do you have any credentials? letters of reference?"
the letters were a dumb system in gale's opinion, but maybe he was slightly biased, seeing as though jason and him joined the legion with no letters of reference and had to join the fifth cohort. it was just stupid altogether, your worth in an army should be determined by actual skill, not how many pieces of paper you got. it was dumb, but it was just how camp jupiter worked, no point in trying to change it.
percy shifted uncomfortably like he was having a brainfart. "letters? um, no."
octavian wrinkled his nose, like he felt he was too special to be here. "no letters. will any legionnaires stand for him?"
"dude, stand for him," arcana whispered to gale. "your dad is literally daddy thunder, that oughta give him some brownie points."
the boy shook his head. "no, it's not like they would care. it wouldn't do anything if i stood up." arcana looked at gale worriedly, but didn't push the subject.
