Show Them What For (Charlie-Mack)

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Food. It was considered by most to be rather important. And so it might be necessary. And set at certain times. That was the unfortunate thing about how this camp ran. Well, one of many. Maybe he could mention the myriads of idiots that both roamed and sadly were allowed positions of power around here. Take, for instance, Felicity Weingarten. That girl seriously needed help, preferably in the form of hands clasped tightly around her throat. Yeah, that would be good. Maybe even if they were his hands. Not a bad idea really. That girl was crazy. Interrupting his important augur work and having the nerve to come at him with a weapon. That girl was psycho.

Which was one of the reasons he was sitting by himself at dinner. Then again, that was sort of a lie because he was August and he always sat by himself. Except that one time a few weeks ago that Maddison joined him as she was railing on this idiot in her and Charlie’s cohort. Or apparently, idiot twins. Whichever. Charlie. There was a confusing character right there. She was officially the only person he’d ever had a civil conversation with and who didn’t pin him as some crazy guy with a love for destroying people’s childhood toys unlike most people. It seemed that people forgot that the old methods involved killing actual animals regularly and were quite messy. Stuffed animals were a hundred times better. He wasn’t really one to want to pull the intestines out of a cow or something. Yeah, no.

He glared at some younger campers heading off to their table and talking between themselves. Maybe it was just him, but he knew everyone hated him and was constantly suspicious of their intentions and what they were muttering while glancing at him when they thought he wasn’t looking. Felicity had made it quite clear – as she usually did, the little brat – what her thoughts were. He was pompous, replaceable, and unloveable. Lovely set really. He tried not to care about what she had to say, but regardless of the old sayings, words did hurt.

And he did not like that. So he immediately turned his mind to something else. Like the last teddy bear he’d mauled and the vague but semi-helpful news it held. He took his knife and carefully split his mashed potatoes into a lovely creased pile instead of the unceremonious glob without a split, with the steady hand born of years of dissecting stuffed animals like they were science lab creatures.

Tag: Charlie
Word Count: 425
Notes: really short, sorry, but started getting totally distracted towards the end. Does the job, though, right?

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Charlie liked food, more specifically, she liked good food. But of course there were catches. The food had to taste good and it had to be good for you. Comfort food, yeah it tasted good but the sad thing was it was always either drenched in grease or it had too much fat or too much sodium. Of course Charlie was a health food nut, it was mostly by design. Charlie wanted her body to perform at its peak. That meant if you wanted your body to perform the best possible way, you had to make sure to fuel it with the best foods. Sweet Potatoes were good for you, lots of Vitamin C and potassium amongst other things. But what to eat for dinner tonight, That was the real question. Charlie hadn’t even bothered to think about it until she spotted a passing Aurai depositing the food on the table of some fifth cohort lowbie. Charlie wasn’t sure where to sit. Like always the lunch room was a social labyrinth of a complex hierarchy. Normally she didn’t like being disturbed, Charlie tended to take a meal by herself. She preferred to not mess around in the social ladder that was the Mess Hall. In all honesty, Charlie just didn’t care. She wasn’t some Venus spawn who’s only sense of fun was to tear and rip at people and their social standings.

But out of all the people here, it really did seem like there was a bunch of lower ranking younger campers that were milling around the dining room, there was a single head that caught her eye. It looked like August did eat. She wondered about that, Charlie had never seemed to catch him at the dining hall, so she wondered if he ever ate. It was good to see him, though she would never admit to it, she was actually quite happy to see him. Maybe she could actually have a chance to sit with someone and not look like a total fool while she glared at any younger campers that even thought they had a sliver of a chance of sitting at the same table as her. Other than that, there were no open tables in the corner for her to sneak to. So Charlie swallowed, attempting to gather up the courage she had, which was pretty much all shot to the underworld at this particular time. She swallowed as she actually took a step forward and after placing one foot in front of the other, she found herself standing in front of the Augur. She flashed him a smile as a bowl of food was deposited into her hands by a passing wind spirit, who gave her a salute before dashing off into the whirlwind of pizza, burgers and fries.

“Heya Handsome, mind if I take a seat?” Charlie asked, probably in a happier tone then she intended. After a long day of kicking ass and taking names, having a seat next to someone who wasn’t about to do something stupid and piss her off in the sake of ignorance was a godsend. Or at least she hoped he would allow her to sit with him. There was the chance of rejection of course, a fear that Charlie always held. She just knew that she would end up being the crazy lady that lived and died alone. Way to look like some crazy and psychotic fool sitting there holding a bowl full of Pad Thai, Charlie mentally scolded herself, only praying that she didn’t look like too much of a stalker. Neptune was a bit of a creeper, but he was sweet, Charlie hoped and prayed to Venus that she didn’t look like a girl that had desperate written on her forehead.

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August hated this place. Not that that was news to anyone. He hated socializing. Hence why he was not currently taking part in such. If the camp was a boiling pot of reputations and comparing length of friend lists, then the mess hall was the concentrated gunk burned to the bottom of the pot. And it showed painfully. Who sat with who could even make the rumor list for the week from those useless Venus kids and, of course, Annaleigh, who was worse possibly than all the Venus kids combined when it came to gossip. And that was saying a lot.

And don’t get him started on the rank system here. The praetors usually kept to themselves, with the odd exception. Centurions had their special spots in the food chain (no pun intended) and the cohorts themselves were extremely competitive most of the time. He himself was in the second cohort, which was doing pretty good, but the fact that he hated everyone in his cohort meant that he did not join his barrack buddies for meals. Or for much of anything that wasn’t required for that matter. There was a reason he didn’t hang around the barracks or other heavily populated areas on break times. The temple of Jupiter was a nice, solemn, and infrequently visited place that made it easy to find some sense of peace there.

But August liked to think of himself as an equal opportunity target picker. He hated everyone equally. From the highest of high – looking at you, Remus and Zidane – to the lowest of low – cohort five newbs. Sure, there were people he gave a special amount of hate towards, but all in all he was usually pretty fair about it.

And then came the sense that he wasn’t as alone as he usually tended to be. He looked up from his chicken and mashed potatoes to find that, indeed, he was not. One of the few people that he didn’t hate was standing right there, smiling down at him. “Um… I mean, hey. Yeah, sure.” First of all, he was not at all used to any form of nickname, much less that one. Second, he was not used to any sort of company either. Though maybe this would be a nice change. After all, he and Charlie-Mack got on pretty well, as their chat in the forum had proved. So maybe having dinner with Charlie wouldn’t be so bad. No, not at all. Heck, he might even start coming to the mess hall more often if it meant hanging out with an agreeable human being like Charlie. “What have you been up to? Been a bit since we last chatted in the forum. Sorry I’ve been a bit scarce. Came down with a cold that seemed quite persistent. No worries, it’s gone; I’m not contagious or anything.” Conversation… yeah, this might be the hard part of eating with someone else.

Tag: Charlie-Mack
Word Count: 474

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Anyone who would have normally been in the mess hall that Charlie would go socialize with; they already had taken their meal and gone by the time she arrived. Charlie had to take an extra ten minutes to give this little Mercury brat as good and stern talking to for at least ten minutes and fifteen of giving the kid a good old fashioned scaring, not the wishy washy stuff, the kind that made younger campers pee on themselves while Charlie held her gladius to their face and would shave off any shadow of prepubescent hair that might have encroached too far. She remembered the centurion that had done a similar thing to her when she had first arrived here at camp. Charlie could see her older brother doing something similar in her mind’s eye. Sometimes there just wasn’t a substitute for a good old fashioned ass chewing. Or at least in the mind of Charlie Jolly there wasn’t. But you could always count on the children of Mars for a great beating, sound whooping or a good dose of common sense walloped into your thick skull. Everyone needed that done on occasion and it was great when Charlie was in a seriously bad mood and was more than happy to oblige some poor and pathetic excuse for a legionnaire.

August acknowledged her greeting. Charlie was horrible at reading the emotions of other people. That was a job that was best left for the Venus kids, but oh dear gods did she wish that she had some points reserved for a reading people skill. August looked, surprised? Was that the correct phrase? Charlie mentally shook her head, that wasn’t the word that she was looking for. Caught off guard was more of what he was starting to look like. Charlie had been told on more than one occasion that her way of giving nicknames like sugar, honey and handsome to people was a little off putting. That was just how she was raised in the south east of the United States. People were always a bit slower, the pace was more casual and the people were generally friendlier than anywhere else in the world. Charlie missed that with all of the usual hustle and bustle and assorted commotion that was Camp Jupiter. But it seemed that August was alright with her sitting down at his table with him. It was nice, no fan girl squeals erupted from the centurion of the first cohort, which was only matched by the fanfare going on in her mind. But she pushed it all aside and gingerly took a seat beside the Augur.

“Oh a cold? I do hope you’re better.” Charlie spoke with a concerned voice. She knew how serious colds could be and she didn’t want to have anyone be as sick as her grandfather had been. “I hope it was nothing serious. Did you at least visit the Infirmary?” Charlie’s brow knitted with worry as she looked over August with a rather careful eye. “You should still be careful alright?” Charlie wanted to make sure that August would at least be somewhat cautious.

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August was used to being on his own. It was how he went about just about every day here at this wretched camp. How glorious would be the day he was allowed to leave this place. Though it had its upsides. Take, for instance, the girl who came up to ask to sit next to him. It was weird really. Wasn’t he just earlier overhearing some little freckled kid freaking the heck out about her and calling her mean and, well, other things that he didn’t think were appropriate coming out of the mouth of a little kid like that? And yet here she was, being perfectly nice to him. To each their own, he supposed. Besides, that kid had seemed annoying, so he couldn’t blame her for being harsh to him if that was indeed the case. Some kids just took a bit rougher a time learning how to survive Rome.

But personally, he liked Charlie-Mack Jolly. She was pretty cool when they’d talked at the forum a while back. Hopefully this would go just as well. So he was more than happy to offer her a seat with him. He gave her a smile, which was a rare thing indeed for him as she sat down. “Yeah,” he said with a hint of a cringe. “Was forcibly reminded why to avoid them,” he chuckled. That had been a very unpleasant few days of being holed up in his barrack, even though he had managed to finish reading a few books in the downtime. As stubborn as he was, he had been determined to stick to his idea that he wasn’t getting sick until he was most undoubtedly and undeniably down for the count. Then he had even had the nerve to stay in his barrack with the intent to tough it out until one of the centurions all but ordered him to go to the infirmary and take something before he got everyone sick. Come to think of it, some little kid had had to get something as well. He’d thought he could pick on August while he was under the weather and in a lovely move by the Fates, the kid had gotten sick too. Good for him.

Charlie, however, did not need to know that he’d been an idiot about it, if she didn’t already. He rather hoped she didn’t know. He waved his hand semi dismissively. “Yeah, not to worry, I went and got something and now it’s all passed. I’ll be careful though.” Eager to change the topic to something a little more nice than remembering coughing up a lung practically just two days ago, he turned it on her instead. “What about you? How have you been? I hear your cohort royally walloped four in training yesterday,” he said with a grin. After all, four mostly deserved it. And while he liked to win himself, a close second was someone he actually liked winning instead. Grabbing his glass of water, he took a long drink, looking forward to what he hoped would be a lively account of well-deserved victory.

Tag: Charlie-Mack
Word Count: 516
Notes: muse started running out, but tah-dah!

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August smiled, Charlie couldn’t help but smile back as she looked over at him. It was good that he was feeling better. “I’ve seen people get sick, I’d hate for anything to happen to you.” Charlie admitted as she took a drink of some orange juice. “But on the off chance that you do get sick again, pineapple and orange juice are the best things to drink when you’re sick. Vitamin C helps boost your immune system” Charlie said in a knowledgeable way. She wasn’t a health nut by birth; she just preferred to be healthy to keep her body at its peak performance. To do that, you had to make sure that you ate healthy. Lots of veggies and protein was what the body needs. “Oh and the chicken soup actually has things that make you feel better, something about a chemical reaction.” Charlie always suffered through illnesses, unless they made is so Charlie couldn’t walk or talk (it had happened once or twice before). Charlie always tried to be strong, so she always tried to figure out way to make sure to naturally rid her of a cold or an illness. It kept in the way of training and training was something that was important.

“Yeah we totally put the Fourth on their backs. Felicity thought she was going to try to one up us, but our archers put them in their place rather quickly.” Charlie nodded in thought of how badly they thrashed the fourth cohort. She shook her head. “They tried to put a fight up, but really it wasn’t much of a match. We ended up Turtling their backside till we broke their defenses in half. We aimed right for the clump of Venus kids in their middle. I mean who clumps all of their weak links together?” Charlie was excited talking about her victory. “They ended up panicking and freaking out, they scattered like a bunch of mice when the cat comes out.” The sight in her mind was just too precious and too hilarious. “They worry me though, heaven forbid something happen to the camp and the fourth is the last line of defense.” Felicity might have been a friend, but her cohort was a bit…. Lax as far as the standards went. Charlie sure didn’t want to think what the fourth would think if she happened to take over the fourth cohort for a day. “I’ve only ever seen the fifth panic like that before.” Charlie sighed as she took another sip of orange juice.

“Been busy divining the will of the gods? “ Charlie asked curiously, she wanted to know what August had been up to. Mostly small talk at any rate. “Hope besides a cold things have been alright for you.” At least talking to August was easier to talk to, that disastrous date with Edmund was horrible. She would rather swallow a rusty sword wrapped in barbed wire. The thought made her hate Cupid even more, but of course he was her favorite divine brother. Maybe cupid would help her out when it came to August since he had a fun go at her already with that Edmund debacle.

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August tapped on his glass of water and studied her. It was hard not to notice Charlie-Mack, as she was one of the precious few here who didn’t call him all sorts of names or criticize his work. She was, dare he say, genuinely nice. Though to some degree, that was hard for him to trust given his own background with people faking it. But Charlie had no reason to fake it. By all accounts, she could just as easily be one of those people who blamed him for any darkness that befell the camp for not predicting it, or considered him a crackpot case for the padded room for his tendency to destroy children’s toys. But she didn’t. And that was what made her so different.

That, and apparently she knew a lot about being sick. “I’ll keep that in mind. If you don’t mind me asking, how do you know all this? You sound like your mom was a doctor or something.” Come to think of it, he really knew nothing of her background. Then again, he kept it that way for pretty much everyone here. Why get involved in their stories if you don’t want them involved in yours. But he had to admit he was a bit curious.

He smirked a little at her comment about beating the pants off the Fourth Cohort. As it was Weingarten’s cohort, he was always more than happy to hear they had soundly lost and been put to shame in some way or another. And the fact that it was at the hand of Charlie and Maddi’s barrack just made it all the sweeter. He listened as she recounted the fight. Poor defense, how very unroman. He was glad to say that Fourth was not his home, but rather one that actually functioned. Even if he hated every one of his cohort mates. “Not surprising, but I do believe congratulations are in order. But you have a valid point. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. And there’s definitely trouble coming.” If anyone knew, it was him. As he was usually the first one to get the news. Whether people took it seriously or not was entirely up to them.

He set the glass down and cut off what was becoming even to him an agitating noise, even if it did keep his hands and his AHDH occupied. “Was just at temple hill earlier today, actually, doing just that. It seems the gods aren’t offering up much help, so I worry that what we’re looking at here is something they may not even know, Jupiter forgive me for saying. Either that or they’re keeping us in the dark for some reason. It’s frustrating.” Be took a bite of his chicken and nodded thoughtfully before continuing. “Had a lot of spare time with the cold to think and even get a little reading in. And practice my music,” which was sort of a personal thing to add though. He didn’t like to flaunt the fact that he dabbled in the arts, but Charlie seemed the sort who wouldn’t ridicule him for it. “What about yourself?” he asked before taking a bite of mashed potatoes.

Tag: Charlie-Mack
Word Count: 536
Notes:

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Charlie was watching August, trying to decide if she was bugging him. But he seemed interested in what she had to say. It was a first for her to be able to speak to someone without having to bark orders or to threaten the kids under her command with shaking a sword at them like they were some kind of petrified little mice when the cat was out. Sometimes it was amusing to watch them scatter and other times it was a bit frustrating. She gave August a smile before looking down at her food when he had asked her a question. “No actually my mom was an intelligence officer in the USMC. My grandmother was good with natural remedies that she learned from her grandparents. My grandfather fell ill just after my mother died and…. It was hard.” Charlie could feel her ears turning red. There wasn’t much she shared with other people. It was private, but she felt as if she could trust August with her information. She didn’t want to scare him off, though it seemed that almost all of the people that she really cared about ended up dying. Except for her grandmother, but that old bird was tough and Charlie could almost guarantee that she would be alive and kicking just to spit in the face of people.

Charlie nodded and grinned at August as he congratulated her in the victory over the fourth. “Thank you, August. Though I think slaughter was more of the correct term for what happened.” Charlie paused as she pondered about what August was saying about trouble coming. Charlie could feel that something was about to happen. Even her talk with Remus in the armory that felt like it had happened ages ago, he hinted that he had been working hard on trying to get things in order and the amount of the unknowns that he had to guess at. “Yeah… trouble. Remus was saying something about lots of unknowns. But he’s scanning all of the archives again…. Or at least that what I’m gathering from all the dark circles under his eyes and the amount of paper cuts on his fingers.” Charlie tried to think about what was going on in her mind. “And I know you don’t exactly get along with my brother but it worries me that he’s so obsessed and worried about it. I’ve never seen him like it.” Charlie gave a sigh as she took another bite of her noodles. She slowly chewed it and savored the sauce in her mouth.

“The gods always have reasons for what they do, or at least I hope they do.” Charlie commented at August’s remark about the gods keeping the camp in the dark. “It sounds problematic and as much as I trust in my own sword arm, it’s hard to trust it when you don’t know what you’re fighting.” Charlie sighed as she took a sip of her drink, trying to collect her thoughts. “I have been mostly working with some new weapons. You know us Mars kids have one track minds…” Charlie chuckled at the thought of her favorite things to do. “But actually I just finished a good book about the Nazi military.” Charlie shuddered, she didn’t like the Nazis but some of their strategies were top notch. Even if their methods were a bit much, they got results. “Now don’t judge, but Hitler was an amazing leader. Off his rocker, yes, but a good leader and a persuasive speaker.” Charlie said as she tried to defend herself, holding her hands up in defense.

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August knew the minute that she looked down at her food that that had perhaps been a poor question choice. He actually felt bad for saying it if it was such an awkward question. Though as she went on, he wasn’t sure why it would be. Her mom was an officer, her grandma good with natural medicine. Oh, there it was. Sickness and death. Yep, that was likely why she was looking down. And he didn’t blame her. Having that in her family couldn’t be easy. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that…” And here was the point where August really wished he had that precious gift known as ‘people skills’. Not something he wished for often, but now that he was sitting next to Charlie and wishing he had something better to say, he sort of wished it was there too. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help her, just that he didn’t know how to. That wasn’t really something he’d learned to well at any point. His mom certainly hadn’t taught him and his time here at camp taught him nothing more than fortifying the idea that nineteen out of twenty people could not be trusted. Charlie just happened to be that one. Along with about… one other person here. So maybe the odds were worse than he thought.

Thankfully, battle, he could talk about easily. He had a feeling his and Charlie’s views on fighting and war were pretty similar. “Ah, even better. I wish I’d been there to witness it then.” As the topic changed yet again to the issues facing the Camp, August got in a visibly more somber mood. “Well, then, that’s finally something Remus and I agree on.“ Lots of unknowns was putting it lightly. It was interesting to hear that the stony praetor was doing to help the camp though. That much was a relief. As much as he hated the guy, which was a lot, he was running this place. He let out a ‘hmm’ and nodded, certainly not about to admit that maybe he had a smidge more respect for Charlie’s brother than before. “Well, I guess we’re all doing what we can. Though that hardly seems healthy to me.” He waved off her comment regarding the ill feelings between the two boys. “Charlie, I hardly get along with anyone. Don’t take it too personally your brother’s on the list, it’s nothing against you. But… I’d be happy to help any way I can.” After all, Charlie really did seem upset about it all.

He took her cue and took a bite of his own food in the moment of silence before going on himself. When she agreed with him, he nodded. “Like fighting a shadow or something. And for once, I don’t mean Felicity. Though I wouldn’t mind taking an arrow to her.” He leaned into the table slightly with interest. “New weapons? Do tell? I promise I’ll keep your patent safe and won’t go mass-producing or something.” Though at her comment on her reading, he blinked. That was not one he would have expected. “Interesting material choice.” He nodded slightly as she explained her reasoning for the reading. “I guess you do have quite the point there. So, learn anything new?” He reached over and pushed her hands down lightly. “I’m not going to turn you in as a crazy for it. You honestly have a great point.”

Tag: Charlie
Word Count: 570
Notes:

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Charlie regained a grin on her face before August’s mentioning of it being a sad time and that he was sorry to hear that something had happened. “It’s alright, my mom died serving her country and my grandpa lived a long life and was happy about it. I bet he greeted Mors as a long lost friend.” Charlie smiled at the thought. She then suddenly laughed, a thought had strayed across her mind. “Though I would bet anything that he was reincarnated as a hand grenade.” Charlie always wondered what happened to old service people when they passed. She could bet that both her mom and grandpa were in the Isle of the Blest. She really hadn’t put much thought into it even though she was fairly friendly with Mors. Maybe she would ask him about that when she saw him next. Charlie shook the thought from her mind. She didn’t want to bother the god about stupid and rather trivial things. But for the most part, Mors obliged all of her questions and bothering of the god. But it was something to file away for later.

“I know very few people get along with my brother……” Charlie started. She felt the need to defend his obstinate nature, but it was hard to explain what it was like to be a Mars kid to someone who wasn’t a child of Mars. Though at this point, Charlie was grateful that August wasn’t a child of Mars. That would be strange for her to like him and for her to have this… what was it her therapist called…. A crush? Yeah that was the word, a crush on August. “It’s hard to explain, but Mars kids have a certain…. Lack of skills when it comes to knowing how to get along with people. I don’t even get along well with some others but I seem to get along with you and that’s enough for me.” Charlie said, offering up a small smile to August. She sighed. “But I get along with Remus but he’s kindda a pain in the neck when he’s the favorite child. My dad has made it more than clear that Remus is his favorite and I don’t belong in the front lines.” Charlie darkly shook her head. It was almost a little bit of jealousy of her brother. She would never admit it of course. At least not to Remus’s face at any rate. Maybe to one or two people but that was it. She hated to let people know that her older brother made her jealous. It was a petty emotion.

Charlie couldn’t help but smirk at August’s comment about felicity. While they were friends, here lately they had gotten into a little tiff here and there. Mostly over Charlie being a jerk to Edmund (though it was mutually reciprocated by the latter party) and Felicity’s obsession with trying to beat Charlie and Madison’s Cohort. “I’m inclined to agree with you for the moment. I’m rather irritated with her constant obsession with attempting to beat me, not that it’s likely.” Charlie rolled her eyes for a moment. “And as far as weapons go there was a really sweet repeating cross bow with a bladed bow front. Whether you’re shooting or slashing it’s stylish.” Charlie said, mimicking the sound of some of the venus kids did. She waved it off for a moment, trying to get the thought of one of those girls doing a commercial for the crossbow. It was something quite frightening. Suddenly Charlie felt the heat rise across her cheeks as August touched her hands. She looked away quickly before trying to make a recovery. “well… umm… Hitler was very persuasive and he actually did some digging into the occult. But most people look at me strangely when I say I research Nazi history. In fact most of the surgical procedures and Medical advances can be attributed to them. But then when you bring that up it raises questions of Morality. That’s not something I’m ready to debate on yet.”

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August couldn’t imagine what young life must have been like for Charlie. First of all, because he didn’t know what real family felt like. But then losing it? That just sounded harsh. Like the Fates had played some cruel joke on her. Yet here she was, taking it in stride and even proud of her mom for the way she had died and happy for her grandpa. She really was something.

Speaking of her being really something… He couldn’t help but notice other things about her. First of all, she was sitting next to him, which was not something people did. And getting to know her back in the Forum a while back had been nice too. And, though he’d never fess up to it, she was pretty. Which seemed a bit ironic as one would normally expect kids of Mars to be all tough and no niceties whatsoever, but Charlie seemed to have found favor with Venus or something. He got off that train of thought before he made himself blush or something embarrassing like that. Stupid hormones. There was a sense of humor there, too, which was refreshing. And anyone who could look at death and find a bright side had something definitely to be admired.

He listened as she started to defend her brother. Not that he blamed her. Jerk though the guy was, he was Charlie’s brother, so he sort of figured they likely got along. Though he could be wrong. August in no way got along with his own siblings. Or rather, he didn’t bother trying to. Charlie at least put effort into it, it seemed. Which meant that it was surprising when she said that she didn’t get along with many people. “Wait, really? I mean, your siblings, I can see if from, no offense. But not you. You seem too friendly.” Though he realized just a touch late that she had just complimented him, more or less. “Oh, well thank you. For what it’s worth, you’re one of the few I get along with as well. Make that the only.” Which was true enough now that he thought about it. Barrack? Nope. Cohort? Nope. Any authority except Charlie, well, and Maddi? Nope. He frowned a little as Charlie went on. Being not the favorite child, now that he knew couldn’t be fun. Especially coming from a god. “You mean your dad actually told you you’re not his favorite. No offense or anything, but what a jerk. I’d pick you over that robot any day if I were him. And I think you’re perfectly well suited for the front lines. They don’t make people centurions of the first cohort for no silly reason. Don’t listen to him, Charlie.”

He leaned back and watched her, giving everything she said extra attention, which was unusual for him. He was usually the one to zone out and ignore petty chatter. But her talking wasn’t petty chatter. He smirked at the idea of Felicity and her sad little cohort beating Charlie’s. “She is familiar with the idea of her not being able to win, right?” At the mention of the weapon, though, he raised an eyebrow, trying to picture the thing. “The repeating crossbow part I could definitely be persuaded to want to try,” he said with a growing smile. Archery was one of the few things he was worth anything at. That and tearing about toys. Though he had to laugh slightly at her impeccable impersonation of Venus’ spawn.

Though putting her on the defensive was not a priority today, so he was quick to try and calm her defenses in what few ways he could think of. He hoped it wasn’t a bad idea, though, as she looked away pretty fast. She didn’t get up and leave, at least, which was reassuring. The conversation did keep going. “Oh, I believe you. Sometimes it’s the darkest pages that we can learn the most from.” Now that he knew about personally. Even if it wasn’t necessarily Nazi tactics.

Tag: Charlie
Word Count: 670
Notes:

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Charlie couldn’t help but watch August for a brief moment before averting her eyes, returning her attention to the food on her plate. He was handsome, very handsome; she had noticed it in the Forum in what seemed like forever ago. The way the sun had hit his hair and the way his eyes seemed to shine was something that was noticeable. He wasn’t like the other Romans, burly and muscular, built like a brick wall with the personality of an outhouse. August was different, handsome in a mysterious way, as if he was hiding some secrets that he didn’t want anyone to know. Most people didn’t want anything to do with the Augur but Charlie felt differently. She had listened to Remus whine and moan about the augur and his lack of skill, but Charlie knew how finicky the gods could be so trying to divine the will of the same said gods, it was near impossible and she believed truly that August was doing the best that he could. It’s not like the gods were nice enough to say ‘hey this is what we’re trying to say so do this’ but no it was more along the lines of ‘yeah, go find something that may or may not be there and hope it helps but I’m gonna say it in the most obscure way possible’. It was such a pain sometimes and August was doing the best he could. Charlie knew that deep in her heart.

“Yeah, but even some times I don’t think that Remus ‘likes’ me. Just the other day I heard he sent some camper to the infirmary for saying I was better.” Charlie shrugged her shoulders. Whether or not that was true remained to be seen. Sure she thought about aspiring to be praetor at one time or another, but she wouldn’t dream of taking it from Remus. Her brother worked hard to get where he was and Charlie was proud of him for it. “But yeah, my dad has actually said that he would rather me join the hunters then see a woman on the front lines. Or see me married off to birth an army of sons to serve Rome or whatever.” Charlie snorted with derision. Her dad was Neolithic and a chauvinist to boot, not that insulting the god of war was the best idea at the worst of times. “I just want to prove that I’m more than a woman, that I can do anything Remus can.” The sentence stung her as she said it. There were some things that were a sore subject and her brother and her dad happened to be one of them. She bit her lip as she stared down at her plate of food. Suddenly she really didn’t want it any more. The noodles she had previously swallowed sat like a brick in her stomach. Charlie took a swallow of orange juice to try to settle her stomach before looking at her noodles once more.

“Well I’m not normally one to tap dance atop people’s dreams, but I’m just being realistic. She has about as much chance of beating me as I do of getting my dad to hug me.” Charlie visibly shuddered at the thought of making her dad hug her. The thought was terrifying in the most deepest sense of hell. “Strike that, I don’t want my dad to touch me at all….” Charlie shook her head full of curls. “Well at any rate, I can’t wait to take the repeating crossbow to the targets to give it a try.” She couldn’t help but at least to make an attempt to shake the sour mood that had settled in on her heart. Charlie briefly inhaled before watching August for another moment. Cue creepy stalker music in the background. “Sorry, I don’t mean to stare…. Its… hard to explain. For some reason I feel the need to not be so tightly wound up when I’m around you August.” Charlie felt the head flush across her face, probably rendering her just as red as the red bell peppers in the uneaten entrée that sat in front of her. She probably looked like the worlds creepiest person right now as she regarded the Augur whom was sitting in front of her.

“I just don’t understand why people look at me like I’m so crazy when I study the tactics of some of the less desirable people.” Charlie took a breath as she thought about the books she had read. “I mean look at the samurai. Their combative tactics and their discipline made them possibly greater than the romans.” Charlie gave a small sigh in adoration of the Japanese warrior class. “Back in that time, it meant something to be a warrior. It was what defined the people as a whole. They were respected and even the women were armed to make sure the villages were protected while the men were away on a war campaign. Every day was dedicated to the perfecting of an art or a form.” Charlie relished in the thoughts that were passing through her mind. The samurai were a favorite topic of study for her and she desperately wanted to be like them.

“But enough about me, what sort of endeavors have you been on lately?” Charlie was really ready to stop talking about herself. She wanted to know more about August and what he was into. She was curious into the life of the mysterious Augur. Charlie wanted to know what he liked to do other than playing the violin. Charlie was more into the rock music, but she could bet that August’s passion for the violin was unparalleled and he could play with the best of them. One of these days she wanted to hear him play. “Have you found any new music to attempt to play?” Charlie asked, a bit curious. Maybe she could find out August’s favorite composer and make up the fact that she was acting so weird to him. She could only hope at any rate.

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August wasn’t used to company at mealtimes. Maddi had joined him once or twice over the years, but that was different. Or, he should say, Charlie was different. By a long shot. She was nicer for one, though he was used to more caustic personalities as he had one himself and usually incited one in other people. But Charlie seemed nicer, which was ironic for a child of Mars it seemed. Didn’t they usually come in one size, and that was big, bulky, and rather dim witted. Sort of like Remus. But no, Charlie was much different. She was shaped much more gracefully than the bulk that was August’s vision of kids of Mars. And she was smart and had a good personality to fit it. All in all, not what he would usually expect.

When she went on, he had to pay attention. Not just out of curiosity, but he honestly felt a little bad for her. He hadn’t realized she was in that rough a spot. She thought her brother didn’t even like her. As for the infirmary thing, he had heard about that. He made a point usually of getting the scoop on all the bad stuff he could use against people like that. Though as he’d been gunning for Ed as well, he’d heard a slightly different version. He decided not to bring it up though. No sense in correcting her when she was already upset. Even he knew that was a bad idea. “Maybe he’s just in a bad mood lately? Call me biased but I figure he usually is. Male PMS or something. Thank the gods it’s not universal.” HA! That was a joke. Seeing as he was usually even worse than Remus when it came to pleasant moods. He pursed his lips and shook his head at her talk about her dad. “Well, no offense, but he sound like an idiot. I remember getting a glimpse of you fighting at Orthys. You were doing better than half the boys there.” Himself included actually, as he was definitely not one for short-range. “Well, you’ve proven plenty to me, for what that’s worth, which isn’t much I know.” Which did sound a bit pessimistic, but he wouldn’t be August if he wasn’t.

So he took a minute to take a bite of his mashed potatoes as she talked about Felicity trying to beat her. Yeah, like that would ever happen. “That girl is a crackpot. I wouldn’t take anything she says seriously. May just be me though.” He chuckled at the idea of Mars, or any god, actually liking their kid enough to hug them. Maybe some foofy messed up god like Cupid or something, but not the real ones. Not Mars, and not Apollo. He gave a nod of approval at the idea of getting a repeating crossbow on the range. “Do I get an invite? I just want to see the thing.” He took another bite of his potatoes and looked up to notice her watching him. Was there something on his face? But before he could ask, she answered. And thankfully it wasn’t so bad. The comment – or compliment? – was certainly not what he was expecting though. “Oh, um, don’t worry about it. I’m glad you don’t feel like you need to be so wound up.” He could honestly say that no one had ever spoken of him that way. It was… kind of nice.

He shrugged when she talked about people looking at her funny. He was used to that sort of thing himself. “It’s because people are usually morons and don’t see the value in some things.” He fell silent as he listened. He had to admit that he didn’t know a whole lot about the samurai, so it was interesting to hear. He’d grown up on the idea that the Romans were the best at everything. Not that Camp Jupiter was biased or anything. Enter sarcasm here. “Well then, sounds like a worthy people to study. Are there any other groups like that?” He was becoming highly aware of the fact that he was not a good conversationalist. He sorely hoped that Charlie didn’t mind so much.

He stopped short when she asked about him. Oh, now this was a topic he definitely wasn’t comfortable with. He never liked talking about himself. Unless it was like telling off Weingarten about how important he was. But he jumped in awkwardly all the same. He needed to get the hanfg of this conversation thing sometime after all. “Oh, you know, nothing much. Archery, auguries, training, and practicing. That about sums it up.” Wow, he really was boring wasn’t he? He was grateful when she gave him a topic in particular to expand on, though it might not have been a good idea on that one. Before he knew it, he launched into talk about music. “Well, I’ve been working on ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’, you know, the one by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Very good piece, but I’m not quite up to par on it. It does have a way of making one’s hands and arms very tired and I’ve broken more than a few bowstrings working on it. Luckily there is a restringing place in town. But other than that, I have been working on another piece. Have you heard of the group 2cellos? They have a magnificent version of ‘Smooth Criminal’ I’ve been trying to adapt to violin. It’s a lot of work though, but it makes a nice break from Bumblebee.” He paused. “I’m sorry, I was babbling wasn’t I?” Even August could get that way about some things. Gods forbid she ask about the details of reading auguries. Then she’d be in for an even bigger ramble.

Tag: Charlie
Word Count: 958
Notes:

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Charlie found it strange to actually be with someone who wasn’t bugging her to teach them or train them. She had gotten a good bit of a reputation for being a half decent fighter, there were much better people out there then her. But it was nice to listen to August speak. She tipped the orange juice to her mouth when August made a joke. She choked on her juice and tried to clear her windpipe. Charlie felt lucky that she at least didn’t spray the guy she liked with a mouthful of lukewarm orange juice. “You made a joke? From what everyone says, you don’t have a sense of humor.” Charlie laughed. It had been a long time since she had laughed. At least it had been a long time since she had genuinely laughed. Her ribs hurt as she gasped for air. She didn’t know why she thought it was really funny, it just was. She smiled as she wiped the corners of her eyes with a napkin. “oh I totally believe that he’s in an eternal state of PMS. I think many of my brothers are like that, they absolutely have to get it from our dad.” Charlie shook her head as she continued to smile, the way August put it, it seemed a whole bit funnier and the situation a bit lighter. “Thanks. I’m glad my work hasn’t been all for naught.” August noticed her fighting? For some reason the thought made her blush and feel a bit more conscious about her fighting style. “I’m sure you know more about combat then you think you do.” Charlie flashed him a grin, her mood drastically improving.

“I just don’t normally discourage the idea of trying to beat someone if it makes the person better on the inside, but Felicity is just… obsessive. Her relationship with her Cohort is already strained and they don’t listen to her, this possibly could make it worse.” Charlie commented as she took another bite full of noodles and chicken. The taste was even still good while it was semi-warm. It provided a nice distraction from the conversation. Not that August didn’t provide wonderful conversation, but she wasn’t exactly the best of people when it came to doing this whole people thing. It wasn’t normal for her and she wasn’t quite used to it from someone else. Charlie flashed August another smile. “Yeah, I’m planning on going out to the range and testing it out tomorrow afternoon. You’re probably a better shot then me, so it might be a bit embarrassing to show you how much I suck at hitting things with arrows.” Once again she could feel the blush creeping up in her ears. Oh gods why did she feel so embarrassed over something that shouldn’t be? And he didn’t mind the compliment? Well she would have to write down these other feeling in her feelings journal that her anger management therapist was forcing her to do. She hated that stupid therapist. There was a reason why she was angry, that jerk kept on asking her how do you feel or why are you so angry at people? Charlie wouldn’t be so angry if people would just leave her alone and stop asking about her anger.

“The Vikings are also really good for study. While they were pretty brutish and liked to carry off women, they had a ferocity that even made the Romans look twice. Even the Seal People from northern Ireland gave the romans a hard time, they were Celtic berserkers.” Charlie said. While Charlie loved to read, it was apparent that her interests were strictly a love of war. She always was studying history and books of war. “The Vikings even believed that death in battle was the greatest honor a person could be granted. When they died, they believed that they would drink and feast in the hall of the gods after fighting the most glorious battle. Though the Valkyries are my favorite.” Charlie lowered her voice so that only August could hear. “I’ve never been one for tattoos, but if I get one, I want a Valkyrie tattoo.” Charlie bit her lip and grinned sheepishly. She had never told anyone about wanting to get a tattoo before. It had always been one of those secrets that she felt she needed to keep quiet.

“Oh ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’? I’ve heard that song before, But It was played on the piano. You must be really good to try something like that. I’d love to hear you play it.” Charlie hadn’t been exposed to much classical music, mostly the things she liked as far as music went was rock music. She was never into the heavy metal or scream bands, but she like things like Bon Jovi and the Goo Goo Dolls. “One of my favorite classical pieces is ‘Danse Macabre’ by Saint-seans. I think that’s got some good violin in it. I heard it in the first grade and it was the coolest thing.” She lowered her eyes away from him for a moment as she took a drink from her juice. “I think it’s cool you really have something you like and care about. I bet you feel the same way about your auguries.” She grinned and batted her eyelashes at him.

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August had to smile when she seemed to find his joke funny. This was a first. He actually made a joke being one of them. He wasn’t usually one to joke around. Ever. Second, someone found him funny. Enough to almost give him an orange juice shower by the looks of it too. “Well, I didn’t think I did either, but I’m going to take that as a negative there?” he asked with a hint of a laugh. This was getting to be the strangest encounter he’d had in a while. He laughed at her response. Yeah, he could see that from a lot of Mars’ boys. And the legacies weren’t much better usually. “They must then. Glad it doesn’t seem to have affected you though. You seem a lot less stick up butt than your siblings. No offense.” Was it okay to sort of insult her family? Then again, hadn’t he just done that and it ended with her having a laughing fit instead of a kill August fit? He decided to cut short the insults for a while just to be on the safe side. Better to shut his mouth than to run the risk of trying to defend himself from Charlie-Mack Jolly.

August had to laugh at her comment about him though. Though it wasn’t the nice sort of laugh, more of a yeah right sort of laugh. Him? Know stuff about fighting? Yeah sure. “You’ve never seen me in close range training then. I’m awful. It’s only archery I’m much good at. But I’m okay with that. As long as I stay away from the front lines, I can actually be handy sometimes.” He fell silent and listened to her talk about Felicity. Ah, Felicity-bashing. One of his favorite hobbies. He nodded slightly. He had heard of the craziness going on in the fourth cohort, which was one of the reasons he was quite grateful he was not in that one. Or Charlie’s from what he heard of the training level they had. No offense to her. He was sure she was a great leader and all, but still.

He listened quietly as she went on. After all, shutting up and listening was something he did pretty decently. It was the conversation bit that got him. And Charlie knew a lot, so it was easy to listen. He never knew that much about the Vikings, after all, so it was interesting to hear about them. Though the Valkyries he wasn’t so sure of. He knew a song named after them, but that was about the extent of it. He hoped he didn’t sound completely stupid, but it was sort of getting to the point where he couldn’t hide his ignorance anymore. “Um, not to be a total moron, but what are the Valkyries? Not that I’m saying it doesn’t sound cool and all, just not really sure I know the specifics on that one.”

He rubbed his neck awkwardly. “Well, I’m not very good at it yet. Definitely not ready to preform yet. But I’ll let you know?” He pondered her own music choice for a moment. And as much as he hated to say it, it didn’t ring a bell. “Well, then, I’ll have to look that one up. That’s impressive you heard it so long ago and still remember it.” He shrugged a little. He usually didn’t think about his liking the violin being all that big a deal. Everyone here had something they were into, music was just his. Just like Charlie’s was weapons and old battle strategy sort of things. “Yeah, I’d say so,” he said in answer to her question about the auguries. Though the frowned a little at her unusual behavior. “You okay?” Maybe that was a mark it down to a girl thing sort of thing. And that was the last thing that August knew a single thing about.

Tag: Charlie
Word Count: 650
Notes: sorry it’s late, muse was being funny