Thin Edges [Charlie]

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Weapons were a glorious, alluring thing, bladed weapons in particular. While Rhiannon did love her perfectly balanced gladius, wonderfully light strong shield, and beautifully ornate well made dagger, sometimes she simply wanted to examine the new weapons in the Armory. The strange things that a child of Vulcan would come across and decide to make, or things people bring from other cultures. All the different weapons were dazzling. While she did prefer the smooth edge of a blade, blunt weapons had their own kind of appeal. She held one in her hands, normal, well weighted, perfect for functionality even. Just what the Legion needed in weapons, or anyone for that matter. She never quite saw the point in decorative swords, shields, things like that people put over a mantle. Things not fit for fighting with. Didn't people realize that was what they were made for? Sure it's smooth surface which held a pleasant chill was delectable to the eyes and satisfyingly sweet to the touch, but it was the danger that gave it the edge in it's beauty. The elegance weapons held was incomparable.

Always placing the weapons back where she found them, or in their proper place if she knew it's not where it belonged, Rhiannon moved to another weapon. This one a smooth curved blade on a long pole, like a spear but very much different. In her eyes it was far more sexy than any spear she had seen before. The blade was longer than her forearm, close to the length of her own sweet baby Fenrir. Fenrir was the name she gave her own blade, the gladius she had so lovingly found in the armory. Perfect for her in length, balance, the smooth curves of it's edges and small indent which was it's blood groove. Not the heavy handed groves that were a line dug into the metal, this was a soft curve into the rest of the blade. Never has she found to glorious a sight as her Fenrir. That lovely instrument of blood shed aside, this one she held seemed as if it could be a sword should the shaft ever break. Balance may be off, but that could be dealt with. The curve of the blade suggested it was more for slashing than piercing, though as most blades it came to a pretty little point for which to thrust into an enemy. A truly lovely little thing, if only she knew the name.

OOC: It's totally a Naginata

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The Armory, once again Charlie had put everything properly in place, but someone had probably went to mess it up again. She couldn't leave that place alone for five minutes before someone wanted to go screw with it. Why was it so hard to just put things back where you found them?? But after a long and tedious practice, Charlie needed to make her way back to the Armory. She almost dreaded looking to see what horrors the room had in store for her. She had a few dents in her armor, her weapons needed to be sharpened and polished and cleaned, in general, maintenance needed to be carried out on what she wore. She tended to abuse her armor, that much was true. But it couldn't be helped. She was, after all a child of War. And being one of those particular people, bumps, bruises and dents seemed to come with the territory. She visited the armory at least a couple of times a day, when she wasn't forcing her hand on the other trainees. She was the lifeblood of First Cohort, she trained them until their arms were sore and they could barely pick their heads up. It was always nice to head to the barracks and see them sleeping soundly out of exhaustion. A lot of people grumbled and groaned about her, but there was a reason that First Cohort was on top of the pecking order.

Charlie groaned as she pushed the door open to the armory, but it looked as if someone was already here. She wrenched her helmet off her head, her pent up blond curls cascading down like a shower of golden water. She thought about how much Mors seemed to like how she looked despite the fact that she was a daughter of War. But her thoughts suddenly came back to the present as she watched someone pick up a weapon, it was Rhiannon. Rhia. The look on her face was priceless, it was as if the other female had found the proverbial golden ticket. Charlie loved that look. While the romans trained with certain weapons, It was always nice to see when someone found a weapon that was to their suiting. Charlie's particular favorite combination was the shield and sword, that which she was carrying right now. Well to a degree. Her favored sort of sword was the Eurpoean style Broadsword. She had one of those that she fought and trained with regularly along with her personal shield. She had an extensive knowledge of weapons and even had trained with a good deal of oriental weaponry, most of it coming from her training in Kung Fu.

“That's a naginata. Japanese style polearm.” Charlie said as she started to pull her armor off and looked it over. Okay maybe she was a little bit harsher on it today than she usualy was. But she sat down at the grind stone and set her shield against a couple of shelves before pulling her sword out and wiping it down. “It's good for all sorts of things, Slashing damage, Pircing damage, it has a good reach and if you're really good, you can use it for a blunt object too.” Charlie commented as she started to wipe some of the blood off of the blade. She watered down her whetstone before going to hone in on the edge of it.

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The shine of the blade had her captivated, until a voice pierced the silence of the armory. The female daughter of Mars, whom she had shared an obviously illegal outing to the beach at one point. At one point before she was going out with Josh. Some how the sight of her brought up that beach trip, and she immediately wished to see Josh again. A sigh escaped her. How far had she fallen to enjoy someones company so much she could not wait patiently for them to return from a quest? She supposed being away from him for this long of a period of time had never happened before, the closest being when he was in the medical area and she refused to visit him because of multiple reasons. One being she was attempting to figure out her feelings, the other was because Jason was there. She supposed if it happened again then there would be one less problem. Jason had moved to the lovely Praetor spot in the Principia. Some little Venus Legacy was working as the one in charge of the infirmary now. It seemed strange to her, especially since the girl didn't talk, but no skin off her back. She didn't bother her the way Jason did. In fact she heard the girl turned the tables on the former head of infirmary and bugged him for his health.

"Sorry, could you say that again?" she asked tearing her eyes away from the weapon she held, so she could pay more attention to the one trying to tell her the name of it. She was fascinated with this weapon, though she loved her shield and gladius. It was a two handed weapon, obviously, and she had never learned how to fight with a spear very well. Sure hold positions and let the enemy skew themselves before pulling out the swords, but actually wielding on in a fight was beyond her. The balance on the pole arm was far different from anything she had held before, the shaft sturdy and more than capable of being used to injure someone. She wondered if it would leave an opening for people to attack, a reach type weapon like this. Attacking in close quarters would be difficult.

Finally able to not only take her eyes, but to take her focus off the magnificent work of art she held in her hands, Rhiannon looked over the armor Charlie has pulled off, a smirk sliding across her face. "Fun days all the time in First Cohort huh?" Blood lightly coated the other girls blade, sometimes Rhiannon wished her own Cohort would train harder. She was even attending training sessions now, and though the heat of the day bothered her, the training did not. It was nothing compared to what she pulled on Josh before he left. She always felt so weak in the sun, it was deplorable. She'd live in an underground cavern forever away from that awful sun if she could. "Yeah, I was actually just thinking about that. I'm not that great with weapons, but a few years of using the things and you get a bit of knowledge about it. I'm not sure how easy it would be to use in close combat though, you know how we normally train in Centuries, and Tent Parties." she shrugged, this was centurion of the First Cohort after all. Half sister of that idiot Remus. At least Charlie read books, she wasn't even sure if Remus could read.

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Charlie had a few things on her mind at this particular point. She thought about the blossoming relationship that she had with Mors. She didn't know how it happened, but it just did. They had a few outings here and there, but they were fun and it was nice to be treated like an actual female instead of a soldier. While she did a lot of hard work and practice to be just as equal as the men from a young age, she wanted to be strong and she wanted to be independent. She didn't want to rely on men to get what she needed nor what she wanted. The time they spent together was precious to her. With the brewing problems that the camp was starting to go through, it was like watching and waiting for a typhoon to come ashore. While Charlie didn't care for the gods, some of them anyways, she wanted to protect the families that lived here. The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few, her needs were nothing compared to that of the other families. She was the one who was going to protect them, the people needed her. She knew that the gods only used the demi-gods as pawns, but it wasn't them she was serving, it was the people. Her mother always told her that one day she would understand that there were few people that protected the rights and lives of others, and the time that that day came, she would be prepared to put her life on the line for people other than herself.

“It's a Naginata.” Charlie stated again for Rhiannon. She gave a smile. “Japanese polearm.” It looked like Rhiannon was having a hard time taking her eyes off of the beautiful weapon. Even Charlie could admit that it was quite an amazing piece of work. The handle was made of a solid hard wood, the blade was wonderfully curved and there looked like there was some ornate design in the bladed. Engraving of that standard was beautiful and it added to the threatening look of power that the daughter of Trivia held in her hands. Charlie's mind started to formulate training exercises that would be best for the daughter of Trivia's fighting style. “I could help you if you want, I worked with those in martial arts before. I have Wednesday afternoon off if you want to hang out.” Charlie said as she looked around at the state of the armory. Okay it wasn't as bad as she was expecting it to be but it could still use some tidying up. She would do that before she left the room, when she was done with her armor and keeping her weapons in shape. They weren’t godly gifts like a few other people had, they were simple and strong.

Rhiannon commented on her blade. Charlie gave a vicious smirk that rose to her ears. “oh you know, the usual idiot that though he could best me. I didn't kill him but he is in the infirmary.” She shook her head, when would those idiot boys learn that it was never good for them to try to gang up on the female centurion of the first cohort. The younger legionairs always wanted to test their metal and knock down the first cohort centurion. Getting their asses handed to them was like a right of passage or something stupid like it. “If you ever feel the psychotic need, you can always join up one of our fourty eight hour drills.” She gave a rather vicious smile. Once or twice someone from the other cohorts thought they wanted to try out one of the big drills the first cohort put on. Sometimes it was pretty amusing, but other times it was sad and pathetic. Charlie always felt the need to alert the infirmary when they did their long drills, she didn't want them to be unprepared for a sudden surge of patients from exhaustion. Sleep deprivation was a big thing, but they had time of rest sprinkeled in between the training. They would take breaks for food, water breaks between exercises, pee calls between then. “people think I'm joking when I'm pushing people through drills and techniques.” Charlie continued to hone the edge of her blade as she looked up at her friend. Maybe Rhiannon was a friend, but she was never certain. “I heard you and remus get into it on a daily basis. What did the old blowhard do this time?”

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"Naginata" she repeated after Charlie trying to commit the word to memory, easier with the gorgeous weapon in hand. Perhaps there would never be a weapon like it again, not exactly like it. Even her own Fenrir was one of a kind, a sword she had picked up in this same armory. She had tried many before, but the weight and the grip where never the same. She had even planned on discarding it at one point to pick up a new sword, but Simons put a stop to that. She was able to get her perfect weapon back. Out of all the weapons in the armory no two were the same, she knew that. She was a daughter of Trivia, perhaps the farthest from a warrior deity as possible, and she knew at least a little bit about weapons. That was why it amazed her when people seemed to have no clue about weapons and using them, after being in the Legion for as long as they had she thought they would figure it out. Then again she had assumed she'd be able to find something as good or better than her Fenrir. She was never attached to a weapon so much before, but after she felt the weight of other blades in her hand she realized how well she worked with him. That's right, Fenrir, her sword was a male. She figured another child of Mars wouldn't judge her for naming and gender relating one of her weapons, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to be cautious about it. Sometimes she thought she was crazy for it. This Naginata seemed more like a Sleipnir, and a female. That or maybe calling her after a Hydra. She'd have to think about it, and with this she wouldn't be able to wield her shield. Punching people in the face with a shield was just fun.

She gave the Naginata a little twirl. Glee came across her face as it spun perfectly around her hand almost without her forcing it to. The balance on it was perfect for her. She wondered how strange it would be to have a sword, shield, two knives, and this lovely little work of art on her. She felt pretty strange about the two knives in her boots already. "It might be interesting, I've never been very good with polearms. At least not the spear, and defiantly not in throwing the things." This little daughter of Trivia had no aim what so ever beyond about ten feet. She was so fascinated with the weapon she forgot to be antisocial. Normally the use of the term 'hang out' left her with a eye roll, but that word seemed to be skipped over in her mind. There was also the chance that what most people consider 'hanging out' and what a daughter of Mars considers 'hanging out' would be different. To Rhiannon it sounded more like a mini training session was about to be had, training in something she had absolutely no idea how to do other wise. Sword and shield was easy enough, and they drilled it into you the moment you entered the Legion. Even without that Rhiannon could look over her book at the fields of Mars and study the people who were fighting there. She was no genius with a weapon, but if you watch and practice enough you could get something down. Given he nine years she had been in the Legion she figured out how to use those two items very well together.

That smirk could turn water sour, she wondered how it worked on the people in her Cohort. She could just imagine coming against that smirk while in the middle of a fight, maybe if she participated in the Cohort drills more often she might get to do some kind of battle against the First Cohort and see for herself. Then again it would be a miracle if she wasn't instantly overwhelmed because everyone around her fell easily to them. That's almost what happened in Orthys, it seemed like everyone around her fell like flies. The joys of being in Fourth Cohort she supposed. "I'd imagine people who are good enough can strike devastating blows without them being killing blows." She couldn't actually imagine Charlie killing someone in training, or on accident. A novice, or some very good fighters who had to go all out on each other perhaps, but Charlie and some new kid? No. "Sorry, I like my sleep." she was still a pampered girl in Fourth Cohort, sleeping at least eight hours a night. Sometimes she's sleep twelve hours depending on the spells she used the day before. Sometimes she'd take naps, against depending on the spells she used. She'd gotten much better at regulating her spells and energy, that teleportation spell was difficult. She'd started really trying to plan it out perfectly after Felicity told her she wasn't going to give Saturn the relic. Felicity was going to let him down, Rhiannon couldn't do the same. That and she wanted him to be in control, she felt that it would be better and people wouldn't have to die. No violence or anything, no more people hurting each other or hurting nature. It was strange how much she felt she was a hippie.

A bit of laughter escaped her as Stone was brought up. Had it really become a thing? That people talked about her and Stone getting into fights? She never expected that, and she was fairly certain Stone wouldn't bring it up himself. She wasn't important enough to waste his precious time talking about after all. "I wouldn't say daily, just any time we see each other. He tells me to go do something. I decline. He tries to prove his manliness. I ignore it, or bash it. Swap insults until he tries to grab or hit me, then yeah a few blows." She'd normally end up on the ground until she figured she needed to give up or loose an arm. She wasn't all about pain, or losing limbs. She'd rather just give into the idiot than loose something important like movement in her extremities, and broken bones had a tendency to not heal back correctly. That and she hated pain, she could stand it, but she hated it and wanted to avoid it. Probably the same reason she'd never be crazy enough to volunteer for a 48hr drill.

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Charlie listened as Rhiannon repeated the word that she had said. The weapons that lined the walls of the armory immediately came to mind as her fingers touched them. Mars might have been brash and obnoxious, but there were some perks to being his kid. As her fingers touched blades and blunted objects alike, strategies and tactics immediately came to mind, her ability to calculate the physics behind the different weapons. A weapon nerd, sure, that's what you could call her. Anything you put in her hands, she could wield effectively. She could shoot a bow, though not quite as accurate as a child of Apollo, she could throw daggers and compensate for lack of accuracy with arc and force. Her favorite was her shield and her sword, a long sword. It was rather typical of a roman, but it was comforting. All her weapons and shield had a name, her armor was like a second skin. The Armory was home to her, but not in a strange sort of way. Weapons were mearly an extension of her body, that's what the kung fu taught her, but it's the blood of Mars that made it first nature. But the girl in front of her, Rhiannon, was smart and Charlie probably didn't have to explain the physics and tatics behind the weapon. Maybe not the keep it simple stupid version, but she just might share some of the more fun techniques that she knew about the weapon, if the child of Trivia would be willing to listen.

A smile came to Charlie's face as Rhiannon deftly twirled the naginata with some skill. “The naginata isn't exactly made for throwing.” Charlie stated as she thought of someone trying to throw that polearm. “Though if one did use it for throwing, I'm sure it wouldn't be good over long distances like the spear or a dagger, but even those have to be made for throwing.” Charlie couldn't help but shake her head at the thought of throwing a weapon. “Though why someone would want to get rid of a perfectly good weapon is beyond with me.” Now there were some people who were extreamly skilled in throwing knives and the bow, but other than them, throwing a weapon was just a ridiculous idea. Hanging out when it came to Charlie's idea was a bit different than other peoples. Mostly it involved some sort of training or bodily harm, but never death. “I can always show you a few techniques that I know. I've trained with it in Kung Fu, but the Chinese version is a bit... smaller.” Charlie looked at the weapon in the hands of the daughter of Trivia. Yeah the Chinese version was smaller by a foot. Not much but it was still effective. Also, it was known that Asians were smaller, and the Chinese were somewhat smaller than the Japanese.

“I wouldn't kill anyone on purpose.... maybe in self-defense but never just willy nilly.” The curly haired teen shook her head. There was once or twice she had been called on to kill. Wars were never pretty but at the same time, she never lost any sleep over it. When she was younger, sometimes it bothered her, but now it was hard to say how she really felt about killing. It didn't feel good, but she didn't beat herself up over it. There was a good deal of blood that stained Snowblade's blade, she had done the killing in the last war. There was little room for mercy but Charlie was more apt to give it than her brother was. “you're smart though, sleep is wonderful, but unfortunantly war won't stop for a little thing like sleep, no matter how much we like naps.” She smiled, though while it wasn't a vicious smile, charlie tended to look like a homicidal maniac at times.

Charlie couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Rhiannon and Remus getting into it at times. Remus was that stereotypical Mars child. Brute strength and force was something that her older brother was rather fluent in. It was obvious that Charlie got the more.... subtle side of Mars, if there was ever such a thing. “Yeah it's hard when you're dad is the only thing in Masculinity. You know how hard it is to catch a date as a daughter of the war god? People always look at me weird, like they expect me to be butch with a mustache. At least Remus has an excuse, he's a guy.” Charlie couldn't help but laugh and shake her blond head of curls. “Sometimes I don't think his elevator goes to the penthouse.” Yeah thinking was never really that particular thing of sons of Mars. Or children of Mars in general, but Charlie was sure that she was one of a kind, at least she could read. “No offense, but he should be ashamed you're able to get under his skin so much. And on that note, well done for antagonizing everyone's favorite idiot in charge.”

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She let out a small snort, some semblance of the laughs she’d share with Josh. Throwing was certainly not this weapons forte. Of course there was a perk or two to throwing something, if you have accuracy it could be an attack or like her it was mostly used as a distraction. She had a tendency to become attached to her blades though, so she'd not be throwing any times soon. "I don't imagine the curve would be that great, they'd have to be straighter to actually be good as a thrown weapon right?" she obviously wasn't perfectly sure, again throwing things was not in her resume. Though for the most part things made for throwing had to be balanced as such, and straight. Anything over distance really, even arrows were straight. Rhia couldn't do any of that. Shoot straight, throw straight, even a curve she couldn't do. Sure calculate it on paper, the force needed, the arch, everything like shat she could write out on paper. Don't ask how, she found a book one day and read it, then suddenly it made sense and she thought she'd try it in real life. Still didn't work, she didn't have the body kinesthetics sense to do all of it correctly. Just her luck. Brains, but that was about all it was. Empty knowledge. She hated that she knew how to do it, could plot how to do it, and not succeed in completing it. Stupid body science, and motion learners.

"Gods know. I like my weapons planted firmly in my hand" She gave a slight eye roll. Even Josh tended to keep his daggers in hand instead of throwing them. Not that he couldn't, but he did. Inek on the other hand was almost an expert at throwing daggers, but he was so little it was a bit necessary. She wondered if that little ball of fluff was where any hope of throwing went. Straight into his foxy brain. If that were the case she was better than fine with not being able to throw daggers, or fire a bow. Straight. Rhiannon thought a moment. Kung Fu, which one was that again? She never quiet kept up with which martial art was which, but Charlie gave her a rather nice clue. "Right, one of the martial arts from China. Can't really remember what it's focus is though, but if they used weapons it might be strikes?" she was thinking it through aloud, sometimes being by yourself for too long would do that. Not the kind of by yourself that involved going crazy, because everyone talked to themselves. At least from what Rhiannon knew, the alone that made you say your thoughts aloud because you could process them better than just thinking them. That same feeling that when you think something it may sound good, but said aloud and you feel like an idiot for thinking it.

Okay that brought about another bit of a laugh, and a grin. "I don't know many people who'd go around on a murdering spree. Pretty sure if you tried Stone would put you down real fast anyway, sister or not." No matter what she said she had faith in that idiot. Faith was had to come by in Rhiannon, but there was a few people she thought of as being actually good people. People who might not be the best and brightest, but they were inherently good people. Perhaps too much knowledge made people sour, it sometimes seemed that way. No, it was just peoples view, because stupid people could be just as evil and vindictive, and terrible as she was. Rhiannon knew she was part of that scum that shouldn't be walking the earth, but oh well. She was here and they'd have to deal with it. She'd help get Saturn into power and maybe then people wouldn't be scum. Maybe then people could all be rid of the bad things they do and just be happy.

Of course war wouldn't stop for a nap, she'd been in the last war and fought long and hard in it. People around her died, enemies fell to her blade, her magic was useful in keeping her alive but no one else. She'd leaned how to use it better since, especially with Saturn complimenting her. Magic in a Roman camp wasn't often favored, not Roman enough to sling spells at people. She focused on the spells that could help in a fight, speed, strength, a little healing. Things that could keep her going in a fight. Now she had a teleportation spell, invisibility. Yeah, she was doing the children of Trivia a wonderful service in proving witched were sneaky evil things. Deal with it. "Don't we all know it."

A smirk came across her face. "I don't see why hitting a guy over the head with a club and dragging him off can't work just as well." Not that Rhiannon endorsed such things, no of course not. She was pretty sure that was how Felciity got Stone. Well, had one of her skeletal warriors do it, since she never really did anything herself. Though sometimes they seemed the perfect brainless pair. "Is there a penthouse or was the building demolished?" She gave a small wobble of her head as she thought. Her own fairly wild curly locks shifting and tumbling over themselves. "It was only at first, he's gotten much better at it. I think I've been doing the legion a service building up his tolerance for sarcasm and insults."