You're either flying or falling [open]

[julia]

Ugh. So much training. It was important. They were Roman. It’s what they did. Blah. Blah. Blah. Julia understood all of that, but it didn’t mean she liked it any more because of it. It wasn’t like she was inept with her weapon of choice! Julia could handle a dagger quite well and when you combined that with the gymnastics training she had done over the years she made quite the formidable opponent. Plus she had the added motivation to avoid getting hit because bruises and scars just didn’t work with her. Of course it was always easier to Charmspeak people into surrendering and just finish training early by beating the opponent… And that was exactly what she had done just a few minutes earlier.

But as soon as that was over someone had gotten on her about not training enough, most likely trying to goad her into a fight. Her response had been to head off to the obstacle course and do some work there. At least there were some obstacles she could use as gymnastics training. There were even some trees that could be used as bars, but she had learned the hard way when she was younger just how unforgiving bark could be on your palms. Those wounds had taken quite a bit of time to heal. Now the branches were used as last resorts, and always with some sort of wrap around her hands. Not ideal, but it worked if she couldn’t find anything else to do.

The obstacle course was fairly crowded and Julia considered just heading back and trying to find something else to do, some other way to train. There would likely be some sort of repercussions for what she was about to do, but frankly she didn’t care. She was still frazzled from the goading that had happened a few minutes ago, her emotions starting to get the best of her as she began to slip into the dangerous mindset that she tried to avoid. I have the power for a reason. Besides, it’s not like I’m actually hurting any of them. She might not even have to Charmspeak anyone. If boys were on the challenge she wanted there was a good chance they would just let her do her thing… She had noticed through the years that the males of the camp, no matter if they liked her or not, would be entranced when she walked by, sometimes to the point of forgetting what they had been doing. It was the same with most of her Venus siblings, but who could blame then when they looked so good?

It was that thought that put a smirk on her face when she walked up to the bottom of the climbing net, though it soon turned into a charming smile directed at one of the young men at the bottom who was about to start up. A son of Mars, if memory served. So easy to Charmspeak into doing what she wanted them to. ”Excuse me,”

[/color] She started, laying on the Charm ”I would really like to use this without anyone bothering me for a while. Do you think you could make sure no one tried to climb up?”[/color] The glazed look and nod of the head earned the Demi-God a quick kiss on the cheek from Julia before she started to climb. Sure, he might be upset with her once he snapped out of it, but if she timed things right she wouldn’t be around for that. The daughter of Venus gave herself at least an hour and a half before things wore off, so she could practice for a while before she had to leave.

Julia swung herself up once she reached the top, rising up to stand on the log that held the net up. It wasn’t quite a balance beam, but it would do. The ones that were actually part of the obstacle course didn’t give enough of a challenge. If you fell the worst that would happen… A cut, maybe a twisted ankle. Here the best you could hope for was a sprain, probably a break. She started off easy, a cartwheel or two here, a back handspring there, before moving into more and more complex tricks. The work was doing its job, calming her down, but there was still a part of her that, despite her normally peaceful nature, wanted someone to challenge the son of Mars she had stationed at the bottom so that she had some sort of extra challenge to go against. [/blockquote][/blockquote]

Tag OPEN
Words 758
Outfit HERE
Music HERE[/size]

[Deleted]

After scaring a bit of the salt out of a fish kid, Mars decided to continue on his way and head into the camp. He exchanged a few blunt and rather not nice words with Terminus, the armless and legless wonder. Mars couldn’t help but ponder on whom in their right mind would have made this nut job a god. He would have to have a few words with his mother and father when he returned to Mt. Olympus. Despite the fact he griped and moaned about New Rome and the camp, Mars truly enjoyed this place. He would never say anything of course. Gods forbid people found out that Mars had a soft spot for the Romans. Of course if he had a soft spot it would be for them. Now the romans, they were a real group of people, Mars mused as he strode through camp. The mist was tightly woven around him, so to anyone but the keenest of sense and maybe some of the other gods, Mars was damned near invisible. Or if someone decided to slam into him like earlier. That little fish kid got a good scaring and maybe Mars inspired her to become a better legionnaire. If that was what got this gods awful place into shape, then that was what was needed.

The camp, much more well-oiled and a lot less chaotic then the city, this was where mars truly felt at home. A cohort jogged by, heading for the Field of Mars, probably to do some maneuvers. A younger kid fell out of step; the centurion was extremely quick to whip him back into line. At least these romans were much better than the ones in the coliseum. Those were wimpy romans and must have been the tail end of the legion. This cohort had given him true hopes that this place wasn’t all going to the hellhounds in a hand basket. He examined the camp barracks, much nice ones than back in ancient times, but he wouldn’t blame them for wanting things new and comfortable. Mars knew that with technology these days it would be stupid to not have nice and snuggly barracks. Besides, well rested legionaries made for a good and strong legion. That was Mars’ opinion at any rate and being the god of war, he was the ultimate authority on the legion and his opinion did matter.

Mars wandered over to the obstacle course where a few of the young men (he used that term loosely) had gathered. A single female was up on the branches above the obstacle course, probably looking for more of a challenge. There was something to admire, but he wasn’t sure who the kid was from all the way down here. A few of the other males that had milled around the course had wandered off, save for a single child of his, looking punch drunk. Mars appeared suddenly in front of his son, though now it was debatable since the kid darted off quickly and there was a distinct feeling that mars had just made his kid wiz in his own pants. Maybe he could use a little bit of fun now. Mars may or may not disrupt the kid up in the branches, he probably would. But that was beside the point.

Mars pulled off his leather jacket and tossed it on the ground, revealing rippling muscles stretched across a massive frame. Mars stretched his arms and legs before backing up and taking a running start. His leather boots were weightless and mainly for fashion, not like Mars cared what he looked like, but they didn’t weigh him down at all. He vaulted himself upwards on the tree, leaping parkour style from branch to branch. Quickly and effortlessly he attained the same height as the female he was watching. Now that he was able to see her more up close, Mars was much surer that it wasn’t a child of his. With the exception of maybe one or two, most of his kids tended to take after his ‘handsome’ good looks, in a brutal and many way of course. This child was a child of Venus, or a descendant at the very least. She had that aura. He crossed his arms and leaned against the trunk of the tree, adjusting the sunglasses around his face so they sat perfectly on the bridge of his nose. “Hmph and I was starting to think this place had no one worth their salt, but I finally see there is someone here who likes a challenge.” Mars stated, his voice gravely as if he decided to gargle with cement that morning.

[julia]

She paused for a moment to look down on the rest of the obstacle course, pleased to see that a few of the male demi-gods had made their way over to watch her. It was a Venus thing, of course, but it was still flattering to have a group of admirers gather wherever you went. The young blonde wondered offhand how many of them were sons of Mars… They tended to be the gawkers more often than not. The thought made her smile as she looked down to the child of the war god that she had left as a lookout. Good, he was still doing his job, pushing a few legionnaires away who wanted to try the net. She couldn’t have anyone breaking her concentration, after all.

After a few more moments of looking around Julia got back to her routine. She loved the feeling of the beam beneath her hands and feet, that wonderful spring as she pushed off from a move. Of course they were all moves she could practice on the ground, and most of them she used in combat, but it was just so much more fun to do all of it up in the air. Knowing that one slip up meant crashing down to the ground… It was both thrilling and terrifying. But it was definitely worth it. Plus being up high meant she didn’t have to deal with anyone else, she was high enough that any stupid comments about children of Venus went unnoticed by her. Really, she didn’t understand some of the other legionnaires sometimes when it came to that. Children of Venus could fight, they just generally preferred not to. Fighting got you all dirty and gross… Getting blood out of clothes took forever sometimes. But just because they got mani-pedis didn’t mean they weren’t made of muscle.

A shout from below broke her concentration and she nearly missed the log as she came down. ”Merde!” She shouted as she caught sight of the son of Mars running away from something. So much for him being a good choice of a tool… Well it wasn’t like she’d had much time to look around for someone she knew she could trust under Charmspeak or who she could flirt into watching the bottom for her. Julia didn’t know how much time she had before someone decided to use the net now that it wasn’t being blocked, so she rose up again and started back with what she had been doing before the moron had run off. Getting thrown off of her routine was so frustrating. She made a mental note to go after that son of Mars later and repay him for it.

And there it went again! This time comprehensible words cut into her thoughts. Her eyes flew open as one foot slipped off of the log. No. She hadn’t fallen yet doing this; she wasn’t going to do it with someone watching! She felt herself dropping and her arms shot out, hands managing to catch the rope of the net before she fell too far. Her eyes flew to find the location of the voice as she pulled herself up. Before she even found what she was looking for the Charmspeak was flying out of her mouth, reverting to French as she just got angrier. ”Espèce d'idiot! Quoi pensiez-vous?! Vous devriez juste-”

[/color] But as soon as her gaze connected with the figure in the tree she cut herself off. That certainly wasn’t another legionnaire. Charmspeaking some random muscular guy in leather didn’t seem like the best idea. ”Any reason you’re jumping around like some deranged monkey?” She asked, finally pulling herself up to sit on the log.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

Tag MARS/OPEN
Words 617
Outfit HERE
Music HERE
TRANSLATION “You idiot! What were you thinking?! You should just-“[/size]

[Deleted]

Mars smirked as he watched the girl slip, but she caught herself. He was impressed. That wasn’t something that should be taken too lightly. Mars didn’t show any emotion as the girl started to power the air with her charmspeak. He smirked as he patted her on the head with a single calloused hand in a slightly demeaning way. Of course there was no other way to do it, maybe he could be nice, but that would take too much energy. “Your charmspeak won’t work against me little love child.” He easily spun on the branch before leaning up against the trunk of the tree. Mars trusted these mortal feet and the tree was strong, It would have made a hell of a spear. “Deranged monkey? That’s a lovely comment from a mouth like yours. I was hoping to hear something more eloquent from a daughter of Venus. Your mother certainly has a wonderful way with words.” Mars laughed as he brushed off some bark from his shoulder and off his hands. They weren’t messed up or anything of that nature, they just had some irritating bark on them.

“But I didn’t think I’d find such a pretty little prize up in the trees like this. You have some talent that’s for sure. Have you ever done arieal combat?” Mars asked as he snapped his fingers and a water bottle appeared. He cracked it open and took a long sip. His eyes regarded this pretty little thing in front of him. Sure he had a soft spot for his own kids, but it was the children of Venus that really held a soft spot in his heart. But once again it wouldn’t be something that Mars spoke out loud, those aggravating emotions were useless and stupid. Though Venus might chide him that they were important and blah, blah, blah. One of these days he would listen to some sort of lecture that was set on him, those chances were slim to none. You couldn’t tell him anything. He had an opinion and he was right. No discussion and no changing his opinion. Mars had been set in his way for the past few centuries and not even his father could dissuade him. Hell he even didn’t pay much mind to what his father said about contact with demi-gods. He was always with his romans, more in spirit then in physical presence. Mars always fought with them even in hard times. That was his thing, these were his people.

“You have your mother’s spirit for sure. So what’s it going to be? Up for a real challenge? Up to being a true Roman Woman?” Mars asked as he drained out the last bit of his water bottle before crushing into absolutely nothing, it vanished. He snapped his fingers and a pair of gladiusus appeared in his hands. He flipped one handle over and passed the hilt over to the daughter of Venus. “What’s your name love bird?” Mars asked as he gave his own gladius a few experimental swings. This could be fun, and Mars needed some fun for a change. Sure fun was tormenting little Neptune kids or smaller little brats, but it wasn’t as much fun as having a nice and leisurely spar in the tops of the trees. That could be such a wonderful challenge and Mars was up for a challenge, he always was up for something fun to do.

[julia]

Julia couldn’t help but feel that the man in the tree was getting some amusement out of watching her pull herself back up onto the log. It wasn’t funny; at least not in her mind. But when he didn’t react at all to her Charmspeak she started to put the pieces together, and things started to make sense. If he was a god then no, her powers wouldn’t work over him. But which god? That still had to be seen. Despite her best efforts she shot him a glare as he patted her head; she didn’t like the demeaning attitude and he could very well mess up her hair doing that. ”My mother’s way with words isn’t lost on me, but eloquence tends to go out the window when someone causes you to almost break a limb.”

Yep, he was definitely a god. Not ugly enough to be her mother’s husband… The way he was dressed and the way he carried himself made it seem like he could be her mother’s lover though. The young demi-god brushed away the prize comment, it was something she’d gotten used to, that and the continuous looking over. Maybe not from gods, but certainly from mortals. ”Unfortunately no. Fighting really isn’t my style, first off, I’d rather just charm someone into either doing it for me or to surrender if they’re against me. But when I do have to fight people usually disregard me because of the whole daughter of Venus thing, so I haven’t gotten the chance to do anything too fun. Speaking up against that would be disobeying orders, and we all know how much of a crime that is here.” She rolled her eyes. Really, if they would just give her a chance when fighting absolutely had to happen then they might be surprised. But no. Daughters of the love goddess certainly wouldn’t know anywhere near as much about weapons or fighting styles. ”The closest I’ve ever gotten to aerial combat is back flipping towards an opponent. “

His next question intrigued her. A real challenge? And when the pair of gladius appeared in his hand she knew exactly who he was. Mars, god of war and her mother’s ongoing affair. She raised an eyebrow at him as he offered her the hilt of one of the weapons; did Mars actually want to fight her? She certainly didn’t see it ending in her favor, but wouldn’t it be rude to say no to a god? ”My name is Julia Porter, Lord Mars.” One hand tentatively reached out to take the weapon, though she had to admit she preferred a dagger if given the choice. Much easier to flip around and run with, and definitely less of a chance of stabbing yourself when twisting through the air. ”While I’m not saying no to your challenge, I have to admit I’m a bit curious why you would chose a demi-god, much less a daughter of Venus.” Her hand flexed around the grip of the gladius, feeling the weight and balance of the weapon as she waited for the god’s response.

Tag MARS/OPEN
Words 518
Outfit HERE
Music HERE
[/size]

[Deleted]

“Hmph and people say that there’s no love in war. Even I consider diplomacy where bloodshed is not needed and unwanted. I don’t approve of fighting careless wars.” Mars said as he gave his gladius a twirl. Children of Venus were very unexpected and were very useful when it came to negotiations. Maybe he would have to speak to Remus or Zidane about that. He was someone who considered every aspect of war and all of the repercussions that came with it. Mars would rather advocate diplomacy than spill the blood of Roman soldiers without reason. But many times there was no reasoning with monster armies. Many of the rebuffed charmspeak, he had seen it before and since he was always in war with his romans, he had seen many negotiations fall short. It was always worth a try and it was something that this day and age seemed to have fallen by the wayside. “Maybe I’ll talk to that thick headed son of mine. Diplomacy is essential to any war. He should know that well enough. Even if there are things you can’t negotiate with, it never hurts to try.” Mars stated before he intently watched the young Venus girl in front of him.

Mars smirked at the question of why her? Why challenge her of all people? Mars let out a low chuckle before contemplating an answer. He truly had no intention of maiming or hurting her in any way possible. He didn’t want to get in a bad light with Venus, though it didn’t much matter. The gods did what they wanted regardless of any opinion that other gods may or may not have of them. “Just for a bit of sport. I won’t hurt you, besides a pretty little face like that could launch a thousand wars without a weapon I am assured.” He said as he took up a fighting stance on the thick branch. He gave the blade a twirl before pointing the tip of it at the young Venus woman. Of course he was going to press her for a fight, some of the best fights he had ever had were against women. That one time in Ireland, the bare knuckles boxing match he had against a proud woman, if Mars had been mortal he would have been laid out in the hospital for at least two months.

“Come on now, don’t keep me waiting.” Mars said with a coy grin. He gave a couple of short jabs with his gladius. Nothing too threatening, just enough to get the proverbial point across that he wouldn’t be dissuaded from his declared challenge so easily. This was just for fun of course; no armor and the blades were blunted. “If you’d rather…” Mars snapped his fingers and a dagger appeared in his other hand as he tossed the smaller blade to Julia. He was pretty open to any type of physical competition, though he was always outrun by Diana and Mercury on a consistent basis, but that was nothing unusual. He was fairly good at Archery, but as per usual Diana or Apollo always bested him, but nothing and no one, save for his twin sister, would be able to possibly best him in melee combat.

[julia]

”There is rarely love in war, Lord Mars, though we all know love can certainly start wars. When you love someone, you’d do anything to keep them safe. And that’s why diplomacy is a better option, though try telling that to most people around here.” Negotiations didn’t always work, though, and those were the times when Julia believed war wasn’t completely unwarranted. But why risk losing your loved ones or making them lose you if there was another way? She smirked a bit when he mentioned possibly talking to his son about better use of diplomacy, though if he was referring to Remus she wasn’t sure if it would much matter. If anything it would probably mean he would hate her even more. Oh well, it wasn’t as though she had much to lose in terms of respect from the Praetor; he’d never had much respect for any child of Venus as far as she knew.

The chuckle made her a bit apprehensive, but she did her best not to show it. Showing any weakness was, after all, not a very Roman thing to do; not to mention she was standing in front of the god of war. ”Oh, I wouldn’t know about a thousand wars, though I’ll admit it’s made some of your sons get into a few nasty fights. Amusing, I have to say.” She watched as he twirled his gladius, her eyes on the point as it came to rest. Of course she didn’t think Mars would actually do any damage, that would just be cruel and she didn’t truly believe the god was that mean. Not outside of war, at least. She had honestly just been curious. Julia stole a glance down at the rest of the course, wondering if anyone would see what was happening above. That would certainly be interesting, people talking about the daughter of Venus sparring with Mars up in the trees; though Julia didn’t much care for the recognition it would still be fun to hear what people said.

One eyebrow arched in question as the god’s weapon came towards her a few times. It didn’t look like he was planning to give up. A smirk broke out across her face as the dagger appeared, she quickly caught it with her free hand before setting the gladius in the fork of a branch. The smaller blade was much more her style. ”I would hate to keep you waiting.” She said, taking a few steps back before moving forward quickly again and leaping into the air. She twisted her body as she came down, aiming to slide the dagger down Mars’ blade and giving it a sharp twist. That move aside, Julia fell into a defensive stance, looking for any indication of what Mars might do.

Tag MARS/OPEN
Words 475 [Gaaah they keep getting shorter]
Outfit HERE
Music HERE
[/size]

[Deleted]

“I do think that diplomacy is something that should be more looked into. I don’t like seeing the children of Rome fall. I don’t like seeing needless slaughter, despite what people say about me.” Mars said, remarking about war and negotiations. “But I’m sure that not all my children are muscle bound brutes. I’m sure there will be one or two that would listen.” War was about give and take, but for the most part Mars viewed that as don’t give an inch and take what you can. There was a lot of love that went on through war, people fought to keep their loved ones safe and sound. There was fighting for freedom and fighting for what was right. It was something that could be very profound once you really got into thinking about it. “Remus will learn, once he finds something that he loves enough to fight tooth and nail for it. It will happened, it happens to everyone.” Mars nodded in a matter of fact way.

Mars laughed at her comment about his sons getting into more than a few nasty fights over a Venus girl. That truly didn’t surprise him. Mars and Venus children always had such a strange bond since he was always after Venus’ skirt tails. She was a hell of a woman that was for sure. “They should know better than to let their guard down over a pair of big goo-goo eyes.” He snorted. They were men after his own heart, no doubt about it. The mist had dropped, this should make for a good and inspiring show for the rest of romans down there. Maybe this little bit of sparring fun would give more credit to the Venus children. If he was to come across this child on the battlefield all bets would have been off, now was just a little bit of fun. Everyone needed a bit of fun now and then, but he wanted to show this venus child that she could be a force to be reckoned with. A charming personality and a wicked mind could be much sharper than a sword. Or you could wield two swords, that was always sharper than one.

The Venus girl leapt at him, surprisingly quick. After all she was a roman. She was quick to catch the dagger and pretty damn fast and agile. Almost as if she was like Mercury. Mars reacted fairly fast, he spun on his heel, moving opposite of her with ease. The dagger blade deflected off of his gladius with a loud twang. There was one or maybe two teens down at the bottom of the course, they had started to congregate and point upwards at the match that was getting started amongst the branches. Mars brought the flat of the blade downwards and then in another swift motion, he made a slice at her midsection. “Not bad, not bad at all. You’re quick. That’s good.” Mars said.

[julia]

”So you only like good, sensible slaughter, that’s it?” She asked, raising one eyebrow into a questioning arch. When it did come down to fighting being absolutely necessary Julia still believed there were ways to avoid slaughter, to minimize the number of casualties on all sides. Just because someone was your enemy didn’t mean they had to die. ”The day he finds something he loves is the day I’ll wear a bonnet. He’s closed himself up, it’ll take quite a bit to get through, I’m sure.” Not that she’d ever really tried; Remus Stone didn’t want love in his life and she wasn’t about to try and intervene and be rewarded with some ridiculous punishment.

Julia smirked as the god laughed at her comment. It was true. Mars boys were some of the easiest to distract with looks and a few words. Sometimes it was just plain pathetic, but she wasn’t about to tell their father that, but most of the time it was cute and she had to say it had its advantages. ”They should, but they don’t, and I have to admit I’m glad for their lapse in discipline.” It was always good to have some muscle around to do things for you when you needed it… Moving heavy objects, joining your side in a fight… Sons of Mars definitely had their uses. But now she wasn’t faced with one of the children, she was faced with the god himself. Charmspeaking was out of the question to avoid a fight; he had made that much clear. When the god of war wanted to spar with you there really wasn’t much of a choice. Run away and you’d earn the reputation of a coward, not to mention that your weapons just might fail you the next time you actually needed them on the field of battle. Who knew, though? There was always the chance she could learn something from this, pick up on some sort of tactic she wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

She hadn’t really expected her attack to do much, though it did seem to catch Mars slightly off that she was as quick as she was. She had gymnastics practice, both before and during her time in the Legion, to thank for her speed and agility. As soon as the blades met and rebounded she was thinking about what her next move would be. She wasn’t going to let the god get the best of her, at least not this early in their match. No, she was determined to rise to his challenge and to show him and anyone else that happened to be watching that children of Venus were more than just pretty faces. As much as they hated getting sweaty or bloody it was usually unlikely anything that happened would cause permanent damage. Camp luckily had quite good medical facilities, so scars were rare. She didn’t mind to pay her dues with sprained joints, and bruises could be covered with makeup until they faded.

Mars made her decision for her, and Julia barely had time to bend herself and tuck in her stomach in order to avoid the blade that was swung at her midsection. ”That’s an honor, especially coming from you, sir.” She aimed a kick at his sword hand and spun on her foot, swinging the dagger towards his other arm.

Tag MARS/OPEN
Words 560
Outfit HERE
Music HERE
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[Deleted]

It was true; his kids were a bit lapse in their discipline when it came to a pretty face. His male and female children were included in this. Mars knew that even some of his female children had lost their concentration because of some Apollo kid with a pair of big goo-goo eyes. His children needed special people; it was true that most of them had their father’s harsh and grating disposition. Mars reckoned that was a real reason why he had close to no grandkids. Mars could change if he felt like it, but he had never been one for real change. The girl in front of him was a girl of Venus. She had a spark and a fire in her that was unrivaled in almost anyone else he had met. Even Venus herself didn’t have the same spark that this girl had. Sure she would torment him later, but anything done by Venus was well worth it. Anything was worth this bit of fun. He liked this girl and Mars would most assuredly do right by this girl in honoring her sword hand in the midst of an important battle and in her training.

Mars easily caught the kick that had been aimed at his sword hand, pushing it away to disrupt her balance. “Try to keep your focus on the torso, use your peripheral vision to anticipate arm and leg movements.” Mars stated. He blurred his form before sending a flurry of blows, mostly with the flat of his blade. The branch was steady under the boots he wore. Mars knew how to take a blow quite easily. He arced his left arm like he was going to attack with an overhead swing, but he changed direction in mid stroke to attack with his right hand, the sword seemingly hopping from his left to his right. “Always try to think a minimum three steps ahead, but remember to keep from having too many minds.” Mars stated as he lightly spun around on the branch, rather quickly and easily made another flat bladed attack against her shoulders and midsection. This girl was much better than she let on. The thought made him grin a rather malicious grin. Of course he wasn’t going to hurt her much, Mars might even relent to have her land an attack or two.

“You may call me Mars. Battle makes us allies and friends.” He said as he put his feet into a rather defensive looking stance. “Always take into consideration the type of weapon your opponent. Longsword, spear, and bastard swords need length and reach. When working with a dagger, get up close.” Mars quickly moved as he made to grab her dagger hand to pull her close to him in an instructional manner, or flirtatious, depending on whom was watching down below. “You want to be up close. You want to get inside their box, find the niches in the armor and exploit that.” He then began to prod at places where you would want to attack. “Armor connections at the under arm and joints, knees and elbows and underarms are what you want to aim for.” He instructed. Mars couldn’t help but critique the form and technique of Julia, the girl in front of him.

“Very good Julia.” He said as he went to slam at her collar bone with a controlled bit of strength. It was enough force to get the point across but not enough to break a bone of so. “Make sure you use your speed and dexterity to exploit your opponent. A well armored soldier can always fall to the smallest of opponents if they know the weak spots in the armor.”

[julia]

Some of Mars’ offspring may have been lapse in their discipline, but not Remus Stone. Julia used to find it amusing to try, but after enough assignments cleaning up after the Pegasi she learned differently. Plenty of his siblings would fall right under her spell, even without the use of Charmspeak. Venus children just had that love magic that attracted members of the opposite sex. Charmspeaking was an added bonus granted to a few of them, and Julia didn’t forget that. Yes, it was a great way to manipulate someone if it came down to it… But where was the challenge in that? Plus she didn’t really think her mother approved of some of the ways certain siblings of hers used their powers, and who knew if that was something the goddess could take away if she got angry enough? So she tried to control herself but sometimes it was just too tempting to use those powers to manipulate people into giving up a spot in line or breaking up with a significant other… Not to mention that the sons of Mars usually were just so easy to control.

Their father was a different story. He caught the kick intended for his sword arm and his push nearly sent her off the log. When he said he wouldn’t hurt her had he meant just with the gladius? Julia almost missed his instructions as she fought to right herself, struggling for a moment to maintain balance. It was more due to luck and random flailings that she managed to avoid the next set of attacks before she gor into a fighting stance again. ”So I’m supposed to think three steps ahead, keep my eyes focused on the torso but also on four other limbs, plan my own things, and not get any of it jumbled up?” The sarcastic bite was back to her words, but she didn’t have time to form any more as the flat of Mars’ sword connected with her stomach to knock the wind out of her. She gave him a look, though luckily for him the sword hadn’t damaged the shirt. If it had torn no godly powers would be able to save him.

The god moved to defensive mode, which gave her enough time to catch her breath. She took deep breaths as she listened to him speak, but drew in a rather sharp breath when he pulled her close to him. One eyebrow arched in question as she pulled her dagger hand away, having been one of those who saw the move as less instructional and a bit more flirtatious. ”I’m not too sure my mother would approve of that, Mars.” And while Venus wouldn’t be able to do much to him, she definitely had the power to fry Julia where she stood. Or at least curse her with acne for a few weeks; something that to Julia was almost as bad as death. She wasn’t quite worried about the people below them so much as one person above them. So Julia was quite relieved when Mars started to prod at potential weak spots in armor, but he took the lesson to heart.

His next blow sent her staggering back a few paces, her free hand moved up to inspect the area; painful but definitely not broken. Higher collars were in the wardrobe lineup for the next week or so until the bruise went away. She wasn’t sure she would have a chance to get at any weak spots even if Mars had been wearing armor, but she surged forward anyway. He had said to get close, after all. Speed was on her side again as she reached out with the dagger, keeping his blade in her field of vision in order to avoid it.

Tag MARS/OPEN
Words 626
Outfit HERE
Music HERE
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Mars gave a bit of a smirk as her words had a bit of a bite to them. “It’s a skill that you need to refine over time, I’m sure I could give you a bit of private lessons if you wanted.” His voice and tone were completely flirtatious. He liked Venus alright, but her kids were something else. Man were they something else. Venus really knew how to pick the mates so she could have some of the best kids. “Takes most of my kids years of practice, but I’m sure that you’d be able to master it in a few months.” He said as he gave the blade in his hand a twirl. “I can tell, you’ve got quite a mind, I have no doubt you’ll learn rather quickly.” She seemed a little bit frustrated, but she was doing rather well against a god. He wasn’t going to go all roman on her the way he did to Clare. That little fish brat was totally asking for it. But she ended up impressing him all the same. He decided to patron her, it was a nice thing to do after all, he did kind of turn her into a cat scratching post.

“Your mother won’t approve? Ha, you gotta be joking. Didn’t think there was a demi-god out there who actually was worried about whether their divine parent approved of what they were doing?” He couldn’t help but scoff. For the most part he didn’t care who his kids wanted to screw or hook up with or whatever. If they wanted to hang out and date and flirt with gods, he was a proud dad. Mostly proud of the fact his kids could get the intentions of a god or goddess. “Besides you should be proud, getting the eye of a god should be quite the accomplishment for a daughter of Venus.” He regarded her with an intense stare. She had the look of her mother, maybe which was why Mars was always taken with the daughters and legacies of Venus. They all had their (grand) mother’s fiery temperament and her impeccable dress sense.

She quickly came at him once more, trying her hardest to keep the sight of his blade in her line of sight. He felt the dagger brush against his side, very minimally of course. It did however snag the hem of his shirt, ripping it across his stomach showing his rock hard midsection. “Better, you’re getting better.” Mars discarded the shirt with a single toss and flipped the gladius into his off hand to give the girl a slightly better chance. He gave her a rougish grin before flipping the blade across his back and swinging once more at her. He arced his swing upwards before flipping the blade once more and bringing it back down in a flat of the blade slice to the stomach.

[julia]

There he went again with the flirting! Did he want her mother to curse her with some horrendous malady?! Yes, he was an attractive god, but she really didn’t think her mother would approve of her moving in on him. Oh gods, what if Venus did something like curse her with a horrible wardrobe? Or permanently trashy or ugly makeup? Nope. Flirting with a god definitely wasn’t worth that. Couldn’t Mars just be satisfied with his affair with her mother without having to flirt with the kids too? The best she could hope was that he was trying to frustrate her even more, make her lose concentration so that he could teach her some sort of lesson. Not that he needed to actually try to beat her, she was sure, after all he was the god of war.

”I’m sure she’d be quite proud if I got the attention of any other god, but I would assume you would be off limits. I know I don’t like it when someone moves in on a guy I’m involved with, and hell hath no fury as a woman scorned. I really don’t want to see that fury multiplied to goddess level.” The worst Julia could do was Charmspeak someone, maybe meddle in their love life a little, but her mother? Julia shuddered to think what Venus could do if she got upset with someone over a love affair. ”I don’t want to end up a spinster because my mom got angry.” Of all the gods to come down and flirt with her, it had to be her mother’s boyfriend. Of course.

Julia couldn’t help but smirk a little when she managed to catch his shirt with her dagger. It was the first blow she had really landed against the god, and that was quite an accomplishment in her eyes. Maybe he had let her do it, but frankly she didn’t care. And then he took his shirt off. Of course he had to. Mom, I swear I’m not trying to do anything! Please don’t force me to wear orthopedic shoes or something. She sent the silent prayer to Venus, hoping the goddess either wouldn’t notice what her boyfriend was up to or would forgive her daughter. She rolled her eyes at his theatrics, but his blade still landed against her stomach. Luckily it was the flat of the blade again. ”If you’re looking to rip my shirt I doubt it’ll work. And if it does then you’d better be willing to head to New York to buy me some new clothes.” She might not be allowed to leave but Mars sure as heck was, and she would have no qualms about demanding the god go replace anything he ruined.

Tag MARS/OPEN
Words 458
Outfit HERE
Music HERE
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Mars wasn't sure why he had such a soft spot for the venus kids. They always had the perfect smiles and the kindest eyes, it was the legacies you needed to watch out for. They were the ones that you had to keep an eye on, though there was some times when you had to watch the full blooded spawn and they could be vindictive sometimes. But Mars wouldn't say anything bad about Julia. She had some gorgeous hair and had a winner smile. Her blond hair was much like her mothers and her eyes has a shine like the sun on the lake of New Rome. Mars could appreciate some of the finer things, but it was due to his appreciation of Venus that he learned how to like and appreciate other things. Hell even some times he could stand Cupid every so often and he could stand to talk to his sons or even his daughters, but he still didn't like kids. Except for maybe the Venus kids, or even some of the other girls around here, they had some spunk and a fire that Mars couldn't put his finger on and he absolutely loved. Julia had something special and was a lot like her mom. Venus knew about his flirting and his flings with mortal women, and the occasional daughter of Venus, but Venus was pretty forgiving about the fact that Immortals had nothing but time and a lot of mortals to look after. However he would really have to do some making up to Venus later for flirting with her daughter, but at least Venus would be forgiving.


"You have nothing to worry about sweet heart, I'll make sure your mom doesn't go too ballistic." Mars gave a grin as he flipped the blade in his hands and gave a rather obvious swing of his arm. She could easily parry or block it or even avoid it. It wasn't too hard to do. "Besides, despite the immortals, you demi-gods have a lot more going for you and you can do things despite the meddling of the gods. I mean look at the legacies of Jupiter that are walking around." His mother wasn't one for subtlety, when Juno wasn't happy, she let the whole world know it. Have you ever wondered why some months the divorce rate was higher then others? Yeah that was Juno's PMS. Mars snorted, pms? More like potential murder suspect. That woman was the poster woman for the lifestyles of the godly and psychotic. "With a beautiful personality like yours and a pair of eyes to match, you'd have no problem catching a guy." Mars was stating the obvious.


"I don't have a problem heading to get you a new shirt. Besides I'd love to get you anything you desire." Mars quipped as he brushed a bit of tree bark off of his bare chest. His boots were sure on the branch under his feet. "I could even go to Rome or Paris if you wanted me to." Mars made another strike with the flat of his blade at her midsection, this time aiming for the side. He followed through with the swing before flipping the blade over and making another mirrored swing in the same manner but for the opposite side of her midsection. "You have talent, you really do." Mars gave her a grin, spinning again to pull her close, grabbing her hand with the dagger and bringing it up to his under arm. "Weak spot on anyone. right here." Mars looked down at her and gave yet another mischevious grin.

[julia]

Julia still wasn’t sure what Mars was about. Sure, the gods loved to come down and mess around with mortals and demigods alike… Was that what he was doing? She had to admit she didn’t mind it all too much, but she also wasn’t the type of person to take kindly to anyone, god or not, to flirt with her and then disappear. Not that anyone could expect a god to stay in any type of relationship for a long time… Julia just didn’t want this to be a flirt and run type of thing. Well, she would just have to figure out whatever this was later. Their little spar wasn’t over yet, and she couldn’t let herself get too distracted by the god’s possible motives.

She let out a little laugh at Mars’ insistence that he could make sure Venus didn’t get too angry. Right, like any man could control a woman when said woman was angry. But it wasn’t like she was going to turn away any help he might offer, maybe he would be able to calm her mother down slightly. Her blade caught his and she gave a light push back, content with defending for now. ”Well luckily I’m not one of those. Lady Juno doesn’t seem like the best goddess to have as an enemy.” But it wasn’t like the Jupiter kids had asked for it; Julia felt bad for them most of the time. She really didn’t think the pros of being Jupiter’s child or legacy outweighed the cons of being on Juno’s bad list. Being a child of Venus came with plenty of perks and very few downsides, she would much take that over being the child of any other god or goddess. ”Flattery will get you everywhere, Lord Mars.” She smirked at him.

”Well if you’re offering…” Gods, how Julia missed France! It had been so long, since the trip where she had just started speaking the language perfectly. But she hadn’t been allowed to leave the stupid camp in 8 years, which meant no trips to France. Luckily she was able to get the designer fashions she needed, otherwise she likely would have had some sort of breakdown and gone crazy and attacked whoever tried to stop her. As much of a pacifist as she was there was no getting between her and her high fashion. The young demigod managed to evade one of the blows to her stomach, but her movement put her right in the path of the second and she cursed as she started to lose her balance. Luckily Mars took it upon himself to pull her closer to him, which allowed her to regain her footing. ”The weak spot I tend to go for is the heart,” She looked up at him with a smile and pressed the tip of her dagger into the spot he pointed out, ”but I’ll keep that one in mind.”

Tag MARS/OPEN
Words 489
Outfit HERE
Music HERE
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