Determination (OPEN)

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Lucille had been in the library all day long. She was fishing through every medical book she could find, from the Idiot’s Guides to the thick college course text books. She wanted to be good at this. Kyle was counting on her. She’d just yesterday signed up for a class that she could take during the evenings. That would start next week. Until then, she didn’t want to seem behind, so she was working hard. So hard her eyes felt buggy from reading so much. She’d sat by a window, which was good for light, at least. She leaned back in her seat and pulled her ponytail out, pulling the hairtie around her wrist and running her fingers through her hair to relieve the stress. It felt good. Reminded her of the days when she was little and her dad would brush her hair, not because it needed it, but because it felt so good. She looked up at the ceiling of the academia library and closed her eyes. She’d have to be careful or she might nod off here just like this.

With that motivating her, she stood up, her chair creaking in protest, and stretched. First she reached for the ceiling as high as she could, then she bent over and touched her toes. Then right back to her seat. Yes, she was determined. Next time Kyle (and her classmates next week) saw her, they had to be impressed. She would work tirelessly on this.

Words: 257
Tag: @ OPEN

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Ronan wasn't sure what he wanted to do when he retired, but he didn't plan on doing the whole retirement thing till he was forced out. He really liked his job, he liked the stress and liked the push that it put on him. But he had a few moments to himself today, his paperwork had been completed and he had finished his training, but he wanted a few things from the library. There was a thing or two that he wanted to look up. He had always been a shy person, someone who was not comfortable in a position of leadership. But he had to be a better leader if he was going to be praetor. He had done well in the whole being a Centurion. He was becoming a better man. Being someone who was a strong leader, he did everything he asked his soldiers when he was a centurion, he was hoping that it made him a better Praetor. Argentum clicked on the floor behind him, the automaton dog was a constant companion. The dog nudged him as he stood in front of the door to the library. "I'm going you know." The Russian born male pushed the door open to the library. He let out a sigh as Argentum followed him in. There were only so many psychology books that you could check out and read to help you be a good leader. Most of it was from experience and getting into the thick of it.

Ronan rolled up the sleeves of his button down shirt. He had taken to wearing a few nicer clothes. It was just a pair of nice jeans with a button down shirt in a pale blue he had even pulled his hair back. There wasn't a reason in him dressing up nice, he just wanted to feel better about himself. To start with he had to feel like he was worth something. This was probably the first outfit that he had ever put on that wasn't smelling like soot or slightly singed. He also planned on maybe surprising Zoe with something, he didn't know what, but he would do something. Girls liked surprises didn't they. But it looked like he wasn't the only one doing things today. But what he wanted was just on the other side of where the girl was standing. Argentum pushed past him before laying in the sun where it came beaming through the window. "S'cuse me," he said as he tried to side step around her with a shy look on his face as he reached up on one of the taller shelves where he grabbed one of the books. He was a big guy, not fat, just tall and broad. "Always hard to find what you're looking for when they put it in the wrong place." he mumbled when he pulled an engineering book from the shelf where the psychology books should be.

Words: 490
Tags: Lucille Temminick
Notes: he needs posts and friends

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Lucy was feeling that weird rung between drowsy and and dizzy and it was not a pleasant feeling. Too many pages with too any words, and most of these words were really big, so thank goodness she’d found a medical dictionary to help her out too. But it wasn’t enough. She needed more. Just one more book and she’d call it good. She grabbed her pile of at least six medical books and headed for the little rolling shelf to put them on, seeing as the librarian frowned on people putting them back themselves. She liked her perfect system and Lucille was not about to get on her bad side. That and she could totally respect said system. Unfortunately, there was something in the way that had not been there two minutes ago. That particular thing was a dog. She’d been so absorbed in her material that she hadn’t heard it come up and find a sunny spot. At first she thought she was hallucinating because the dog was shiny brilliant silver. Then it smacked her with a big fat duh that this was Argentum, one of the two automatons belonging to the praetors. Their guardians, not that they both weren’t fearsome enough to watch out for themselves.

Wait, but that meant... She walked a little down the aisle of books and peeked around the corner to see if she could spot which praetor she was dealing with here. Then, because the Fates were just funny like that, he came up behind her. She was embarrassed to admit she jumped a little. So much for stealth. What a horrible Roman she was. “No, no, it’s okay.” She got out of his way, risking a glance and was beyond happy to see that it wasn’t the borderline tyrant one. Okay, he’d been getting better since the last war, but his first years in the Principia were a giant power show. No, this was Ronan, the newer one. Thank every god up there he didn’t seem to have the same fierce drive to prove himself as the other did. He... Actually looked a little shy up close. Which was strange because he was built like a bulldozer and she was pretty sure he could snap her arm with two fingers. She’d seen him around before, of course. Always respected him. But add that purple praetorial cape and pin and things seemed to change. She was relieved to see he was wearing neither at this moment. He looked pretty sharp, actually. She wished Kyle would dress like that too. He’d probably pull it off pretty well too. She dared a laugh at his words. “Isn’t that the truth? Ms Arden find out about this and she’ll freak.” Ms Arden being the librarian. “We’d have a huge lecture posted on the announcement board. So what brings you here, Praetor Redpath?”

Words: 518
Tag: @ronan
Notes: Yeah, so does she!

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He needed to be better at life. He was in the temples when he wasn't busy doing paperwork or training. He had to keep up with his training, doing repetitions when he messed up some paperwork in the office, tinkering when his hands became bored, but he tried to keep up with his soldiers. He wouldn't ask them to do something he wouldn't do and that meant keeping up with the training too. He didn't want to become soft by sitting in the desk chair for so long. Ronan stood and stretched, swaying slightly as he stood in front of the bookshelf, his shoulders popping slightly as he moved. There was a sigh that escaped his lips as he watched Argentum laying in the sunlit spot. It was like the sun was a death ray and Argentum was it's first victim. Though the wagging tail provided a different method of telling that the automaton dog was alive. Ronan couldn't help but smirk before telling the dog he was probably in the way. Argentum lifted his head and looked at him before laying it down once more, ignoring Ronan with a huff and a tail wag of contentment.

Ronan couldn't help but smirk slightly as the girl who was in the library jump when he had somewhat snuck up on her. "I didn't mean to startle you. I apologize." Never say you are sorry, that shows a sign of weakness, but apologizing showed that while you were wrong you recognized your mistake and were trying to atone for it. "Ms. Arden? Oh yes, her." Once he had a name to go with the face, he nearly wanted to facepalm himself for not remembering the librarians name. She had thrown him such a tongue lashing once when he had neglected to put a book back on the cart instead of the shelves. he had gotten into a bit of trouble, but he could understand that there was organization to everything. "Just looking for a few books, on leadership. I want to be a better leader. And it's just Ronan. No cape or pin today." He said with a grin on his face as he looked at her in the eye. "And mostly asking people what they want from their praetors, we're here to serve them after all, not the other way around." That was how Ronan saw his position, a chance to be the leader the people needed.

Tags: Lucille Temminick
words: 409
notes: don't mind ronan

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Lucy felt utterly and entirely embarrassed at being startled in front of anyone of rank. The fact that it was a praetor was even worse. Ronan, though, he was a good guy. He took it in stride and didn’t tell her off for being a bad Roman. She couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you. I promise I’m not always this bad.” She made mention of the librarian. She kind of took it for granted that he would know her, seeing as she at least was always here. Didn’t occur to her until he questioned it that this was not normal.

Leadership? Now that caught her off guard. “Leadership? I bet you could write the book yourself. Praet-… Ronan. You’re a good leader. I know you haven’t been in the principia long, but I just... I know you’ll do really well. This camp needs people like you in big spots like that. No offense to Praetor Stone. I’m just glad you’re there now too.” What he said next, now that startled her more than him walking up. “Wait... Really? Well now that alone earns you more respect than any title, if I do say so myself. Thank you, Ronan. Then that is one thing I can help with. I’d love to sit down and talk with you. Over coffee, if you want, my treat. Or just here. I mean, I’m a civilian, so I know I’m not technically under you anymore, but I also work at the infirmary, so I guess I kind of am. So if you think that counts, then I’d gladly help.”

Words: 303
Tag: @ronan
Notes: How is it that right before this I wrote a 600+ word post on another site? *sigh*

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Ronan couldn't help but smile at her. Was it really so wrong that he had this deep seated desire that he wanted to be the one leader that people could be proud of? Sure they had the hardest decisions to make, and Ronan wasn't sure if he could make them. He admired Remus in that way, he had made some hard decisions in his time as praetor and Ronan didn't know if he could make them as well. But he would do the best he could with what he could. He knew so many people who were so jumpy when it came to dealing with their superior officers, he knew that so well as he used to be like that. It was hard for him to look people in the eye when he was younger. He felt so much anxiety, it was half feeling like you wanted to run away and the other half was like he wanted to cry or explode, and once or twice it had happened. He had gotten better at that. He had hurt Tessa with his combustion but he had resolved to have more control over it.

Ronan couldn't help but smile. It seemed like she was more than willing to talk to him about what she wanted out of his leadership. "Remus has made more hard choices than anyone else I know. I hope that I can make the right decision under the circumstances." He admitted. He really didn't have a problem with admitting the faults that he had. "Well you work in the infirmary so your opinion is just as important. So here is good or over coffee." He accepted her offer. "You can offer a perspective that those in the legion can't. A different view of how things should be run." She still served in the legion so she could take her experiences and tell him. If Ronan could combine what he wished that the higher-ups had done while he was a legionnaire or centurion, and ask the same of other people what they wished they could have done or do better, he could work with that. IT would be a great foundation upon which he could build his legacy as praetor. "Everyone who was in the legion or is in the legion counts. Everyone matters." Ronan stated as Argentum looked up from the ray of sunlight that he had chosen to be his spot in the library.

Tags: Lucille Temminick
Words: 405
Notes: sorry it's so late