Never Stop {OPEN}

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Matilda Blair, commonly referred to as Mattie from her friends and a few select people she allowed to call her that, anyway. Matilda Blair stood at the beginning of the obstacle course. She was doing a private run without any measly cohort to slow her down. It was breakfast time, a majority of the camp was in the mess hall, or oversleeping. Mattie, on the other hand had woken up two hours earlier than wake-up, grabbed her water bottle and the apple she had stashed away and ate her breakfast on her way to the obstacle course. Some may say she was being crazy with the stubborn perseverance she had for this course. But, she needed to get through it without any problem.

Yesterday when her cohort was making the run she had been arrogant and went into the course cocky. She was quickly overcome by the obstacles brought on by the course, greeting her body with new bruises and having people laugh at her. She had grown furious and decided she would overcome this course. She had done it before by for some reason her speed was a bit off or her reactions were slower. Either way, she had been running this course for a hour and a half now. The back of her shirt had a sweat stain and the hair that had escaped being pulled back stuck to her face in sweat as her tired, ragged breathing carried on.

She took a deep breath and bounced on the balls of her feet for a few second before darting into the course. Giving it her all, following her gut and trusting her reaction time. She dashed, dodges, rolled, and crawled her way through the course as fast as her fourteen year old legs would carry her. She wanted to make her father and grandmother proud. What other demigod had two war gods blood running through their veins? She wanted to be the best, follow in the footsteps of her brother and become a praetor one day and she wasn't going to let some stupid obstacle course hinder her ability.

As she slide out the exit she stopped the timer she had going on a wristwatch and groaned. It had taken her a minute longer to complete than her last run. She had to be quicker, faster, heck, she had to be the best. She laid on the ground, on her back, trying to slow her breathing and heart rate to try her best at the course again

words: 421
notes: First Mattie post!!

[Deleted]

Tag: @matilda

Word: 499

Notes: Let's see how well this goes XD

War was over, Camp Jupiter was finally  getting back to the normal peaceful days, or at least as peaceful as the days could e in a camp full of teenagers, all of them full of hormones and with the blood of gods running through their veins. usually that was a killer combination, but after such cruel and bloody war, they seemed to be relaxing for a while. Praetors allowed the Centurions to relax a bit with their cohorts, so even the all mighty powerful first was relaxing those days.

"Good day,... yes thank you very much..." said Joshua Rogers as he walked into the Camp wearing his purple shirt and jeans, also he was wearing something that he never thought he could have been wearing before... or better said he never thought he would ever be allowed to wear one of those... a badge with the Centurion sign on it. He was a thief, a sneakery one, always joking and making some kind of chaos and dissaster among campers, so who in their right mental sanity would have given him such badge?!

Remus, Jason... and he was sure Ronan also had something to do there. No matter their reasons, he would work hard to be a good Centurion for the Fifth cohort.  that very day was his first day as a centurion and he wanted to be there early, so he went to the Principia and looked at the files, he worked on some and then checked on schedules, no new trainings were there, well that was about to change, He wanted as ronan that their cohort was again a proud one! and you only get that when you trained a lot!

So After checking the past trainings on the videos that Ronan gave him in that useful metalic ball, he decided to go to the obstacle curse to make some mental notes, plan a new training there. But when he got there, he saw a girl running up the curse. So he stopped and leaned his back on a pole and watched at her, he had been silent when he got there, just watching and checking the moves of the girl. He had always been good at checking the mistakes of others in that place. before being Centurion, he always helped Ronan on trainings because of that.

when the girl finally fell on the ground trying to breath well again, he dared to talk, not that he was shy, but because having Mars blood in him, he knew how much he hated other to interrupt his personal trainings. "those were good turns and twerks... but you still are half second slower than the highest rocking ball and three quarters of second faster than the rolling pole, that is what is making you get hit and why you end up like that all the time." Looking at her walking on a rolling trunk, but he was calm as if the trunk wasn't fast enough or not even moving really.

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Mattie looked up at the voice talking and gave an eye-roll. It was Joshua Rogers. Her, what? Nephew or whatever. Did it really matter, not to her too much. If they were related, they were related. But still, his words made her blood boil. She didn't get knocked around like a bag of flour. She was balanced and steady but she was still short and her knees couldn't take as big of strides as those older than her. She was still expecting a growth spurt sometime soon. And so when she does fall behind she takes advantage of the opportunity to dart ahead but still. She was only on the ground gasping for air because it had been her seventh run through and her legs and lungs were screaming for a break. She took a deep breath and turned onto her stomach to better look at Josh so that he didn't appear to be standing on the sky.

"Well you go through the course seven times and tell me if you wouldn't be sprawled on the ground gasping for air. It had nothing to do with how many times I get hit, that was what my bruises were to symbolize." Mattie said breathing quickly through her nose, trying to not look exhausted, she pushes the sweaty hair that was sticking to her face back and away from it. "How come you're not making breakfast for your wife or something, Josh?" Mattie asked him as she pushed herself up off the ground and brushed off the dirt and grass that was sticking to her, finding a small scratch that was bleeding and wiped away the trail of blood from it, wiping it onto her pants as the trail started anew. She looked like she had been working hard but she didn't mind. It wasn't like she was a Venus girl who always tried to make sure they looked good when the were working hard. Nope, Mattie didn't call it a good workout if her muscles weren't aching and she didn't need a bandaid or ice for some new injury of hers.

Blame the two war gods running in her veins for it. At least one was a female, her grandmother, so she must have understood, right? Besides, Mattie was only fourteen and finding a boyfriend was not on her to-do list right now. No, instead she was going to work on becoming a praetor. She still had five years left of service to accomplish that goal. She wanted to follow the footsteps of her older brother, Remus, whom she had found herself growing closer to after her aunt died. Before then it was Valerie who Mattie spent the most time with. Now, it was Remus, though, after the war he had even been hard to spend some time with. There was still Charlie and all the other legacies of Mars, but she had found that alone time wasn't all that bad either, at least then she could train and see her own flaws instead of someone pointing it out to her in some obvious manner. It may have been helpful but she found it a bit embarrassing because she wanted to be the best and yet there was someone, pointing out all the reasons why she wasn't.

words: 550
notes: WHOOT

[Deleted]

Tag:  @matilda

Word:  409

Notes: he is being cocky... blame Mars! lol

Josh looked at her and smiled, gods! why couldn't he just go away and leave her alone, he was sure that she would really apreciate it, but well... why wouldn't he help her, maybe because he wasn't her centurion, then he asked himself how did Lance do to keep that girl under control?! She was wild and had her blood filled with gun powder! She was TNT and if she didn't watch out for her desisions and actions, she would explode any moment, killing everyone around her... like Nicholas. Josh knew very well she wouldn't freely accept help, but maybe if he did it in a much more appealing way... maybe if he made it a competition she would find it... exciting and she would agree on having some help while training.

But her words were also like C4 in Josh's mind, she talked as if he was just another camper, as if he was a weak one... or maybe not? maybe she only thought he had never done what she had already did...
He could perfectly remember the first time he went to the Obstacle curse, the first time it totally beat him up. He ended up a week in the infirmary with a huge bump on his head. That thoought made him half smile and even chuckle. then, as soon as he woke up, he escaped from the infirmary and went back to the curse... he didn't beat him immediately and he landed on his back, panting, gasping for air while his lungs almost exploded there... just like Matilda in that moment.

"come on kid... how old are you? 13, 14?... " he chuckled and then shook his head. "I did the same what you have done... and I beat this thing at the age of 12... so I think your like some time behind. To beat this thing you don't need to be stronger than others or taller than other, in fact there are parts that when you are tall, it becomes more difficult to beat them... it all lays in your head... the way you aproach the obstacles... this thing is to defeat yourself... and right now, you are being beaten up by the very same person you look when you look into the mirror." He said knowing that a kid like her would love to kick his face only for the first sentence he told her! let's not talk about the rest of the lecture!

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I don't care what you've done. You have no right to talk to me like that!" Perhaps when Mattie was younger she could have had more control on her spurts of anger that came with having war gods in her system but the way Josh talked to her at the moment. So what if her muscles were screaming for a break and her bruises screaming to have ice on them, she pushed herself off the ground and dashed the wrong way through the obstacle course, using good maneuvering techniques and agility to get to that stupid moving log Josh was on and went to punch him. Like previously stated, she may have had a good control on it, but now, Ha! That was out of the question.

Maybe Mars and Bellona would have been angry that she let her anger control her action but she was still young, still had a bit of immaturity to her, despite all the loss in her life. What right did Josh have to talk to her like that? He still had his silly little brother, he was married and expecting a child. He had a life and a family. Mattie had seen countless members of her family die before her. Her mother took her own life and then the aunt she had always looked up to was murdered and her body disgraced. Had they ever found out who had actually done that? Because Mattie would love to scalp them, and that was only the first thing she would do and she would do it the way the Americans use to do it the Indians. Grab a bunch of hair in her fist and take a knife and cut as close to the scalp as possible. Accidentally cut some skin, so be it. And then watching all her other friends and relatives die on the battlefield and seeing the affects of those who died affect her close family. It wasn't fair. She couldn't find an inch of something to be happy in right now and just decided to work on pleasing the one family she knew wouldn't die. The immortal ones but what did this ungrateful fifth cohort jerk do? Insult her right in the face. So what if he was older, had more experience. That didn't give him the right to bully her around. He didn't know her back story, what all she had experienced. It infuriated her.

words: 413
notes: Josh always seems to anger Mattie  

[Deleted]

Tag: @matilda

Word: 412

Notes: sorry so short, lol but Josh is like that... XD

Josh looked at her and noticed how upset she was against him, well upset maybe wasn't the right word to use in such moment, she was infurated by his words. But couldn't she see? Couldn't she realize that they were just words and that her enemies would sometimes use them much more than just a sword? They were words... Sounds produced by his vocal cords and the air from his lungs. They could only harm her if she let them do it.


He saw her moving, for his trained eyes and his Mercury genes, she was moving in slowmotion, well that was cool to see... usually at least, but in that moment he knew that she would leave him without the possibility to give Art a sibling, so the moment she jumped up there, he moved to an upper pole, this one was moving, rolling on a single spot, but it was usually difficult to keep balance on it, Josh did it as if he was on the ground.


"that acid fire you feel inside, that is Mars and in your case also Bellona's blood, but believe me that it won't really help you if you don't have the strength and preparation to fight when you feel it." he wanted her to think, to let that acid help to start a fire that would consume her enemies, but not that would consume her.

"besides... What made you feel so mad at me? What was the problem that is consuming you? You must remember that word are just that, words..." he said and the started walking down the horizontal pole, closer to where she was. He didn't have a threatening attitude, but he would attack he if needed. Which in her case, was needed, she was too confident and in a war, she should know it by that moment, it might get any one killed.

He then waited there looking at her, she was so mad, and that would be good... and bad at the same time. It would give her the boost to fight him, maybe if she was good enough to almost compare her speed to his, butthat boost would also make her cockier than she is, it would make her think she had the fight in the pocket and that she only need a good punch to get rid of her enemy... well in any case, he really hoped that she could control it or she would lose that day.

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There he went again. Talking and acting cocky telling her what was going on with her and shit. Well, screw him. If he knew everything there was about fighting than why was he running away? Couldn't he hold his own ground or was he acting cocky too because he had a centurion badge on him, brand new, just as she did? Because he was older. Ha! He was a son of Mercury, what could he even relate. He had some off hand Mars blood. He didn't know what it was like to be a child of war. All his taunting, even if it was just wars just made Mattie want to shove her sword in his cut and mix his organs all together from the inside.

"I do know how to use it to help me fight and if you know everything there is about fighting than why don't you come down here and stand your ground like a real Roman instead of running away like a sniveling coward!" Mattie yelled up at him, half in a taunt to hopefully make him attack her. She knew she could have the upper hand if he would quit using his speed and standing up, literally, on his podium preaching some stupid fighting gospel."And words aren't just words. They can be a tactical strategy. No one likes to be taunted so it makes them angry so that they can attack blindly. That's why its good to taunt your enemy. That stupid sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me saying is completely and utterly stupid." Mattie yelled up at him again, ending in another huff.

Yeah, she could feel her insides yelling at her to attack him but she knew he would just move so fine. It may just be a stand down, until Mattie got bored with it and just left, which she was fully capable of doing. She wasn't going to waste her time here with someone who felt like preaching instead of actually showing her or attacking her. Not everyone liked to learn that way. She preferred the hands on approach and hated when someone felt they could lecture a topic into her. She preferred acting it out and trying to teach it that way while explaining. That way people got the visual, auditory and hands on learning experience. But then again, she hated teaching people. Not that she wasn't happy to be a centurion, she was beyond pleased, but she was still a bit angry at being in fourth. Always holding a grudge against herself and constantly asking herself what she did wrong to deserve that spot. She was a better fighter than all those super charged freaks in that cohort. They all seemed to rely on their powers instead of a good old trusty gladius. Why was Mattie stuck with them?

words: 484
notes: Enjoy ^_^

[Deleted]

Tag: @matilda

Word: 485

Notes: Ok... a more upset Mattie XD

Josh looked at Mattie as she called him those words. He smiled and then jumped to the next pole and then to a horizontal trunk and he sat on it, but his eyes never stopped looking at Mattie, not even when a metalic bar almost hit his head, he simply docked and then continued walking till the place he chose to sit onto. She was right about the words and he knew that, Gods! he was used to use words to bother his enemy, to unbalance it , to make them think in nothing more than killing him, so they got reckless and he would only had to push a bit to make them fall, lose or even to kill them in case of war.

He sat on that log and then tilted his head. Words... what he wanted Matilda to understand was that the words were dangerous only if you allowed them and the speaker to upset you enough. She mentioned that say and he huffed as she pronounced it and smiled widely. He wasn't mocking of her words, he was just remembering how many times his mother had told him those very same words. He had always been a hothead, always in fights since he could lift a fit and punch someone, which had happened as a toddler in the park. 

"sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me..." He repeated the saying and then shook his head. "you know, people usually forget the real meaning of those words, of that saying. As an example... you just called me a sniveling coward, right?" he asked but more as a retoric question. "And usually because of my Mars blood I would immediately jump from here and land near you or over you, fight against you... right?" he asked and looked at her seriously. "But I didn't. Because the moment I'd have done it, you would have been ready to attack me and my mind would have been too distracted with those two words to pay attention to your movements and your attacks, due my rage." 

He then smiles again at her. "But instead of that, I stood up here and made you more upset. It's not that your words didn't affect me, they did, I didn't like them and believe me my mars blood is running to my brain to force me to do something reckless. But then I must think more, think ahead. Let you use your words to hurt me, as I use your rage to hurt yourself. Yes, Words ar a weapon, but only you decide if they will be your weapons or your enemy's." He said hoping she would understand that he wanted her to break through that point where Mars blood, and in her case also Bellona's, made them do stupid and reckless things in battle. "A Centurion must think more than a common legionary."