Becoming Pluto's Ambassador: Nico Di Angelo

5

On my way down the hill, I had plenty of time to think about what I was going to say when I got there.

I could say 'I'm Nico di Angelo, your new ambassador for Pluto', but that would be really awkward, especially if there was one already there, or they didn't have a clue what I was on about.

I might have also tried 'take me to your leader', but that was what they say in movie and sounded really corny.

Eventually I gave up on opening lines and decided to let the first person I meet talk first.

As someone who would prefer not to interact with other human beings, it was much easier this way, I could try to gauge the mood of the person, before I had to speak. This gave me a higher chance of saying the right thing.

Ok, it was settled. Don't be the first to talk.

As I looked up to see what progress I had made down the hill, I saw a group of 4 people marching hurriedly towards me.

I assumed they must be a patrol from their battle armour and drawn weapons.

As they were nearly upon me, I wondered what would happen if they stabbed first and asked questions later. ..... I didn't like the outcome.

To make it clear I wasn't a threat, I quickly checked my sword was sheathed and held my hands above my head, the universal sign for I surrender / I mean you no harm.

They slowed their pace slightly when I did this, but still proceeded to surround me with their weapons pointing in my direction.

Now they were closer, I could see two girls and two boys made up this group of 4. I couldn't tell much else about them though as their features were mostly obscured by armour which was without a doubt Roman.

The boy in front of me who was a good head taller than me said "You are trespassing on lands that belong to Camp Jupiter. Please come with us and we will settle this matter with our praetors."

As his lips moved I noticed they were stained bright red by something that definitely wasn't lipstick.

I also realised that he had just told me some vital information: that the name of the Roman camp is Camp Jupiter. I also wondered what or who Jupiter was. It didn't make sense for the camp's name to be refering to a planet.

I thought that this guy would give me something more to work with if I coaxed it out of him, so I thought up another question.

"The praetors are in charge right?" I asked, and once again he replied in a helpful manor.

"Yeah, the two praetors run the legion," These must be the people my father and Pluto wished me to see, I thought. "But I am Centurion Dakota of the 5th cohort, so that leaves me jointly incharge of one fifth of the legion." He continued proudly.

"Ok," I said.

We stood still for a good 30 seconds while no one said any thing.

I motioned at the guy in front of me and asked, "What are we waiting for?"

And with that, Centurion Dakota ordered his patrol to keep me surounded, and I was marched off towards the military style encampment, away from the town and temples.

This will be interesting I thought to myself.

As we marched, I wanted to think about what to say and do, or think some more about what Dakota had said to see if there was anything else I could glean from his words.

However the patrol was doing a seriously quick march that didn't leave much time for me to think about anything other than where I was putting my feet.

As we arrived at the military part of the encampment, I realised that people could be heard in loud conversation, but no one was in sight.

Suddenly we came to a halt, and one of the patrol ran off into a building that I now realised was where all the voices were coming from.

Me and the rest of the patrol waited in an uneasy silence. Well it was a silence until one of the patrol members stomach growled.

I had to stifle a laugh and heard Dakota do the same.

I then realised why they had forced such a quick pace back to their camp. They were missing their lunch, and really wanted food.

I was about to apologise for keeping them when they were clearly very hungry, when the 4th patrol member came of of what I now assumed to be the dining hall with two other people. Instead of them all coming towards us, they split up and I was left confused.

The 4th patrol member came back and announced that the praetors would see me now.

With that I was once again marched off, this time towards the finest looking building in the whole encampment.

Just as I arrived, so did the two people who had rushed out of the dining hall, now both wearing matching purple cloaks. I realised that with these people being in charge, the cloaks were probably some sign of power and authority.

As we went in, I was awed by the beauty of the room, but I couldn't take it in for long as I was pushed to my knees, and my head made to bow. From here I could just see that the two people in purple cloaks were a boy and girl and were now sat on two matching chairs.

Could they really be described as chairs? From what I could see, they were much more like thrones in my opinion. The were made from a deep brown wood and carved with ornate designs.

"You are dismissed." said the girl sat in the chair, and with that, the whole patrol backed out of the room, leaving me alone with the two praetors.

"Could you please make yourself unarmed" the boy said with a commanding tone so natural that I suspected he didn't know he had it.

I chose to go along with them as I was trying to make friends not enemies, so I slowly drew my Stygian iron blade and placed it on the floor. I then pushed it out of my reach so that they would be satisfied.

"Thank you," said the girl, "now could you please explain why you are wearing our robes," she gestured at my toga, "but in black? It is rather disrespectful to taint them with the colour of death."

I understood from this that they had no idea who I was which was a good start. It would make it easier form me to spin my lies and avoid suspicion.

×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+

A/N
Hey, thanks so much for reading. I find it funny that they treat Nico so poorly when they don't even know who he is, do you?

Let me know if there are any grammatical errors and I'll get right on them.

~Sheeps