Flower Circle Time! [OPEN]

[julia]

It was time for training again… So naturally Julia found a way around actually having to train. She felt bad about it, she really did. A Centurion, and one who wasn’t necessarily the best with a weapon, not to mention the fact that her abilities were a gift and not anything to be thrown around without a second thought. But she had just had that spar in the canopy with Mars a couple days prior, and it had been so easy to Charmspeak the right people into ignoring the fact she was skipping out… And there were more important things to do. Tanning for instance.

And what better place to tan than out by the lake? The docks offered great exposure to the sun and she could easily slip into a canoe if anyone expected her to look busy; though honestly she had learned that people would generally leave her alone if she looked good enough. One of the perks of being a daughter of the Goddess of Love and Beauty she supposed, or perhaps they thought that a Centurion wouldn’t be tanning if there was something else that needed to be done. Either way, Julia wasn’t about to question it if it meant she had some uninterrupted time in the sun without anyone lunging at her with some sort of pointy weapon. Even if someone did feel like bothering her she would probably just lay on the Charmspeak and get them to calm down, maybe even convince them to join her. Yep, her inner hippie was truly coming out.

With a smirk on her face and a tote bag on her shoulder, Julia made her way down to the lake. It really was strange; the young demigod who had been all too happy to fight with the God of War was now very seriously considering turning anyone who spoke to her into as much of a pacifist as she was. Well, at least for a while. Charmspeak couldn’t last forever, unfortunately. Still, she would love to see half of the people around here acting peaceful for just an hour or two. But it wasn’t like she was actively going around trying to pull people into her hippie ways…

… until about half an hour later.

But it wasn’t even her fault! Well… Maybe the first one was. The son of Mars had come up and started going on and on about how helpful training would be and why she should be there and blah blah blah… So convincing him to make flower bracelets was the obvious choice. And others just kept coming and maybe she just got a little bit out of control. They were all so happy! Or at least they thought they were. And their little flower circle was so much better than going at each other at in the training arena. What could go wrong?

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[jimi]

This could possibly be the worst decision (more like an order) that Xavier ever had to carry out. So he took a little bit of a beating in training, it happens all the time! What's so bad about a bone bruise anyways? After a trip to the infirmary, he was ordered not to go back to training, but to try his best to recover. X wasn't even sure what recovery even meant. When your father is the greatest warrior of all time, youd on't "rest" just because you're a little beaten. After inquring about his different options, the nurse finally agreed that he could swim in the lake because water was good for rehabilitation. Still sucks.

To make sure he didn't continue training, they would not give him another sword, so he was forced to just carry his book and catch up on studying when he finally did decide to rest. He carried his favorite book ever, The Art of War by Sun Tzu. It was written many many years ago, and X knew the book so well that he now carried the original version of the text with Chinese characters. He didn't know how to read the characters in general, but he knew the book word for word well enough that he could translate it in a way.

Over his bare shoulder (who needs a shirt to swim?) was a plain white towel, contrasting with his black shorts that could barely pass for swim trunks since he never really though swim trunks offered much functionality anyways. For being so heavy, and what most people considered a brute, Xavier walked with a surprising quietness that came from his training as a swordsman. Stomping around could be the first way to lose an advantage in a fight. This was why Julia, whom he met the other day couldn't have heard him coming.

From a distance, she looked lost in her own thoughts, and he hated to disturb her. Besides, she had been nice to him the other day. Felicity was normally enough to ruin his day on site, but the combination of Julia, Ronan, and the cutest little camper ever, Lyn, made it a pretty good day overall for Xavier. Julia helped him argue against Felicity who made it her business to ruin an innocent girl's reality, and even helped them in the training grounds. "Hey Julia, did you get ordered out of training at the infirmary too?" Hopefully she wasn't hurt like he was. She was nice, and too often, the nice people got hurt before the bad ones. There was no justice in that.

Tag: Julia! (hope you don't mind my joining you)
Words: 447

[julia]

This was the life. Truly, it was. Most days a majority of the people she had convinced to join her would be more than happy to bruise her up in training, just to show that a child of Venus wasn’t a good warrior. But outside of the arena was where Julia shone. Fighting and muscles and physical challenges really didn’t offer her much of a chance to prove herself, short of something she could incorporate gymnastics into, but mental games were a completely different story. Charmspeak was a weapon in its own right, though too many people didn’t recognize that fact until it was used against them. Not to mention that it was a nice boost to be able to manipulate others if one was trying to be diplomatic. Or if one just wanted to manipulate children of Mars into sitting around the lake and making bracelets made of flower and grass. The downside? When she tried to use it on as many people as she had gathered around her, the power just wore Julia out.

Hence why she was reclined on the grass, eyes closed behind her sunglasses. The other demigods would be nice and calm for quite a while longer if she had factored everything correctly, and she would have plenty of energy to be far away from them by the time they realized what had happened and who to blame. And in truth she wasn’t really worried about them. What was a little Charmspeaking among friends? Even if the sons of Mars didn’t consider her a friend she could flirt with them enough to calm them down. Plus, their father hadn’t seemed upset that she often used her abilities to manipulate his sons, just that his sons fell for it. That thought brought another smile to her face.

Between all of that and the sun streaming across her face, Julia was happy. Actually happy. And it was a little upsetting to admit that being happy didn’t happen nearly enough at camp. Training schedules were too demanding, people were too uptight… But after eight years in the Legion she had learned ways to get through the day with a smile on her face. This wasn’t just getting through it with a smile though, this was actual happiness. Times like this, and times when she could find a quiet place to practice gymnastics, were few and far between so she was determined to make the most of it. Luckily she still had enough energy to manipulate convince a few more people to join them if it came down to it.

And it looked like it would. Julia felt the shadow come over her, blocking out the oh so comforting sunlight, and the Charmspeak-laced words were coming out of her mouth before she even opened her eyes or registered what had been said to her. ”Why don’t you co-“

[/color] Good thing her brain caught up to her and she stopped herself before much got out. She had only met Xavier a few days ago, and for some reason she didn’t want his second interaction with him to be her Charmspeaking him. The young demigod opened her eyes and pushed the sunglasses onto the top of her head, looking up at Xavier. ”Ordered out of training, right. Like that would ever happen.” She sat up, brushing some nonexistent dirt off of the navy shorts she was wearing. ”No, I just decided that I needed a break.” It probably only counted as a break if you actually started before you left… But still. ”What happened to you? Want to sit? A flower bracelet?” She motioned to the jewelry that his half-siblings were still blissfully making.
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[jimi]

From what he gathered a few days ago, Julia was not one that was going to budge an inch. Based on his own nature, it was shocking to hear that someone was simply shirking duties just because, and she was a centurion for that matter! He knew she could really put his foot down though, so in a way, if anyone was going to outright decide for themselves that they were skipping training, it was Julia. Or Rhia. Or Felicity. Or... okay, so there were a lot of stubborn women, but thankfully, Julia was still a nice stubborn woman, and he was too mad at the nurses to worry about her choices towards training.

Before he could make up his mind about whether or not he should go into a big brother - style lecture on the importance of training, the next thing she said totally changed his mind. He looked her over a second time. Obviously, she was a beautiful girl. The epitome of it really. She was so far out of what Xavier thought was in his league (he didn't really think too many girls at camp were in his league in the first place), that he really admired how nice she was to Lyn, Ronan, and now him for the second time. Most nice girls were snobby and too good for everyone, and he felt bad that she probably got judged for her looks as much as he did for his lineage.

He tilted his head to the side, and tried his best to see her as just a normal girl. "You know what, don't tell my siblings this, but I'm glad you decided to take your break. I think you deserve it if you want it." He smiled, and the awkwardness of being alone with a pretty girl that might have normally happened disappeared. He looked down at her flower bracelet and reached a hand out to it, looking it over. Interesting, maybe it turned into something useful? "I hurt my collarbone and my elbow, or at least they say. I feel a little something, but not a bone bruise. I think they just wanted to anger me. The only thing I'm allowed to do is swim, but I think they'd love to know that I took a break instead."

He would never admit the true extent of his injuries, but he still gingerly guided himself down next to her anyways. He was careful to rely more on his right arm, which was his weak hand. "Hey Julia, I really do appreciate you being nice to me. I don't often find it easy to talk to your siblings, but you make it pretty easy." That took a lot to get him to express something of a feeling in how easy it was to talk to her. Unprompted at that, which was basically a never for Xavier. His own wants and needs were always ignored for necessity.

Trying to be casual and still nurse his injury, he laid on his right side, bracing his head with his elbow, facing Julia. "Curiosity has gotten the best of me, so I'm going to go ahead and ask, what do those flower bracelets do?" Because of course, a bracelet that's just a bracelet wouldn't exist in camp right? Some people had some that turned into weapons, or other useful little gadgets. Everything in Xavier's life was about function over form, so he just assumed...

Tag: Julia!
Words: 588

[julia]

Xavier was completely right about Julia. She was quite stubborn, and if she truly believed in something it would take quite a bit to change her mind. She didn’t consider herself anywhere nearly as thickheaded as the children of Mars, as she was open to diplomacy, but that’s a different story. Luckily for Xavier, Julia didn’t think he was nearly as thickheaded as most of his half-siblings. And that already put him miles ahead of them in her book. But none of them would be able to get Julia to give in on her break. Nope, she deserved this.

She was actually prepared for some sort of lecture, ready to Charmspeak him despite her better judgment if he decided to dive into one. Something apparently made him think better of it, and Julia was spared the trouble. Good. She looked up at him, waiting for him to react in some way. Julia still hadn’t made up her mind about him, the thoughts she had about all other children of Mars, her opinion on Mars himself, and her initial reactions to their first meeting were all playing in her mind. He had been nice enough, and certainly more open than most of the children of Mars she had met. Plus he was cute, and that definitely didn’t hurt. Not to mention the rather pleasant interaction she had had with his father… But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.

A light laugh escaped her as he spoke and she picked up one of the bracelets and held it out to him. ”Well we can keep this our own little secret. Gods know they won’t quite remember everything.” She nodded to his half-siblings, smiling again as he took the flower bracelet. ”See what comes of all the endless training? Nothing but bruises and scars. And those look horrible on almost everyone.” Sure, Xavier was the rugged type that could pull off a scar, but bone bruises were never fun. ”I’m sure the healers know what they’re talking about. Maybe you should listen to them, take a page out of my book and just relax by this lovely lake.”

She was relieved when he went ahead and took a spot on the ground next to her rather than doing something stupid like looking for someone to report her to. ”Well, I try. And I have to say it’s nice to find a child of Mars who doesn’t talk about training all the time. There are other things in life, I hope you and your siblings know that.” Really, she didn’t understand them sometimes.

Julia slipped her sunglasses back over her eyes and turned her head towards him, lauging again when he asked what the bracelets did. ”It really is function over fashion with you Mars kids, isn’t it? Well, my motto is fashion over function.” She grabbed another bracelet from the pile and twirled it around in her hands. ”They don’t do anything. Except for look good and piss off your siblings when they snap out of it and realize they’ve been sitting there making them for about an hour.”

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[jimi]

Was it right to have secrets like this? Xavier wasn't a rebel by any means. He fulfilled his obligations and requirements to the tee, which is why he went to the lake against his wishes in the first place. He was not required to be a snitch and report things to his siblings, so it must be okay. "Yeah, it can definitely be our secret. It's not like anyone would believe I sat out by the lake with a beautiful daughter of Venus anyways. So you're safe for sure." He smiled at her, wondering if it was charmspeak letting him speak to her so freely and confidently. Of course, it was more like a placebo affect she had, and it was a good thing Xavier didn't know that or he'd have turned scarlet at giving that compliment.

He fiddled with the flower bracelet while he listened to her. Let's be real, Xavier could never completely hold the gaze of a girl like her without cracking under the pressure, so distracting himself was oh so necessary. "I can't imagine what you'd look like with a scar. There is one girl that I know that has a scar and she still looks cute. Then again, you'd be a better judge of beauty than I would I think." He couldn't help but agree with her about the healers though, they did know best, and since he was lying down and comfortable, he didn't plan on leaving now.

"I'll be honest, sometimes it does feel like training is all there is to life. Maybe that's why I have to talk to people like you, to keep me from believing that fully." She did it again! Where was all this openness coming from so suddenly? Maybe her compliment was more warranted than he thought when he said it. He knew Julia had very pretty eyes. He already gave her a compliment, and he didn't have the nerve to admit that he was glad she put the sunglasses on before turning to face him. He might have been shell shocked if he stared into her eyes.

"Really? Well yeah, I guess it is function over form for me since I so naturally thought that they did something. Sorry about that. They are nice wait-" a perplexed look accompanied his pause. What did she just say? "Did you say my siblings have been making these for hours? Why would they do that? They should be at training right now!" This was major news! If the Mars kids were skipping training, the camp would fall apart! The sky would fall down!

Tag: Julia
Words: 447

[julia]

There was no harm in having secrets; all that mattered was the size. Unless some child of Fama decided to snoop too much and told everyone… But Julia wasn’t too worried about that. So what if someone found out she had skipped training? They would assign her some stupid chore to make up for it and that would be that. She would still have her tan, and all would be good. ”Oh, and why wouldn’t they believe you?” She understood that many of the guys at camp thought her and her siblings to be out of their league, but that was a stupid idea. Not that Xavier was lacking there, but looks weren’t everything to Julia. Beauty is more than skin deep, as the saying goes, and Julia believed fully in that.

She watched him mess around with the bracelet, smiling again. ”Well let’s hope we never have to find out.” Something told her she didn’t have the right complexion to deal with a scar… But to be honest she wasn’t quite worried. The healers did wonderful work, and if she hadn’t gotten scarred up in the battle a few years ago she wasn’t too likely to suffer one during their daily training. But still, the thought of having a scar, or at least one on her face, gave her the chills. There were definitely people around the legion who could pull one off, even some of her siblings. Not all sons of Venus were the pretty boy type, some of them had the rugged bad boy style going on that wouldn’t be absolutely ruined by a scar.

”Well, it’s what I’m here for, I guess.” Julia smiled again, glad that she had found someone, a son of Mars even, who would admit that training wasn’t the whole point of their lives. Yes, they needed to do their duty to the legion and all of that, but what about after? When there were no wars to fight and at least fewer monsters to worry about? Yes, there was the choice to stay in New Rome, even attend college there… But there was also the real world, which was where Julia fully intended to end up once she finished her required time of service. ”Just don’t forget that when people like me aren’t around to remind you.”

His reaction to what she had done to his half-siblings was priceless. ”What? You’re the one who just admitted that training isn’t the only thing in life! And they’ve only been at it for a little under an hour… I felt like they needed a bit of a break. Plus, they were the ones who decided to try and lecture me about how much I needed to train, so I decided to show them how much they needed to relax and take a break for a while.” She shrugged her shoulders at him. ”Plus, it’s not like they’ll actually remember what happened. They’ll just suddenly wake up next to a bunch of flower bracelets.”

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