Roman Holiday

London Calling

"I'm just suggesting that you be a little nicer to Frank. He's still learning what it means to be a praetor and I think he would learn faster if you didn't... yell so much," The daughter of Pluto rattled on for what had to the hundredth time in the last week alone.

At that moment Reyna would have sold her soul to get away from the five-foot-nothing girl standing before her. A titan rampaging through the countryside, Gaea rising up once more, Terminus going rogue and attacking New Rome, literally anything was better than listening to the sickly sweet innocent voice for another moment.

Mother, if you ever cared for me, strike me down where I stand.

But Hazel continued her defense of praetor Zhang with nary a bolt of lightning or pillar of flame in sight.

Thanks mom. You're fucking wonderful...

"And please be more considerate about his eating habits," Hazel continued, completely oblivious to just how close she was from being punched in the throat, "Frank is not used to his body yet, and we're trying to get him used to a new lifestyle to maintain it. It would be a real big help if you could be more supportive instead of shaming him for taking two slices of pizza."

Die! Die! Die! Shouldn't Thanatos be hauling your ass back to the Underworld anyhow?!

Let's take a moment to step back and examine why Reyna is plotting a murder-suicide against Hazel. See, it all started when her memory-wiped ex promoted one Frank Zhang to praetor, a move that she would admit made sense given the circumstances. What didn't make sense though was the Canadian baby-man keeping said field promotion after their collective grandmother was laid to rest. Frank had been a shoddy centurion, so that translated into a shitty praetor on his best day. He was too lax on his troops, didn't know proper protocol, could barely put on his own armor, and outside of being one of The Seven, he didn't inspire those under him. And Reyna got it, she really did, it was all so ancient and stuffy and made anyone that took the mantle of praetor into an asshole, but when it came down to it, all that stuff was there to save lives. And Reyna would rather have Frank hate her for trying to shape him into a proper leader than have him live with the regret of getting his people killed.

People, that on average, were not old enough to drive.

And then there was the issue of praetor Zhang's new and improved body. It was impressive, truly he looked like one of the marble statues that littered New Rome had stepped off its pedestal. It was even inspiring in its own way to the people that remembered Frank as the pudgy kid, that if he could shed the pounds and turn into a Roman god, then they could too! But the problem was, Frank didn't earn his body, rather it was gifted to him by his father.

Or his father's Greek counterpart.

Or both of the them.

Fuck, she didn't know or particularly care.

But like anything that was given rather than earned, Frank's body was starting to revert back to its natural flabby form. A damn shame really. See, by not working for his body Frank didn't know how to maintain it. And it didn't take a genius to figure out that seconds on desert and light cardio wasn't enough to maintain that muscle. So she tried to help him there too, tried to discourage him from making bad dietary choices and making him run extra laps and perform extra drills with him to halt the degrade.

And yet, in Frank's eyes (she thinks) and by extension Hazel's, she was considered nothing more than a schoolyard bully.

Kind of wish I was. I'd punt both of their asses to Temple Hill...