She waded in the water [open]

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There was that smell, that usual smell that greeted her nose. She pulled her hair back in her customary braid before she then placed her goggles over her eyes. Chlorine was a pain in the butt and made her eyes super red. She would also probably end up sneezing for the rest of the day. Swimming in a pool wasn't her ideal or preferred place to swim, but she didn't want to walk out to the lake and Terminus was ever sassy first thing in the morning. The sun hadn't even come up yet before she had slunk away from the cohort barracks to swim a few laps before the day was going to get underway. She had a full day of training ahead. Both individual training and cohort drills.

As Ava stood at the end of the pool, her smattering or so of scales glinting along her spine as she dipped a toe into the water to check the temperature. It was warm, but comparatively cold to the rest of the camp where it was a blistering 90 or so degrees. She stretched her arms and legs before heading to the deepest end of the pool that could muster, which was only about nine feet. She couldn't breathe in the water like the other water children could, but she wouldn't want to breathe in all these stupid chemicals anyways. She had great lung capacity as a small child and had developed it quite well as she got older, being able to hold her breath for about two minutes or so. which was impressive for a mortal but she felt like she could do better. She could always do better. It didn't matter how much she had improved in the years since she had come to camp. It was crazy how much she had changed. Would her family even recognize her any more? The girl who had once stuck out like a sore thumb and got picked on, she wasn't that little shy girl any more. She had seen and done things that most would think of as a fairy tale.

Ava bent at the waist, easily touching her toes for a moment before going into a racing dive. Her technique was flawless, one of the things that she had picked up on her home island all those years ago. She pushed through the cold water like a bullet, surfacing for a brief moment to get a breath of air before continuing on with her freestyle crawl stroke. She dove, turning in a summersalt like fashion as she pushed off the other end of the pool from where she started. She pointed her hands in front of her like a spear, cutting through the water as if she were a hot knife through butter. She felt the water restore her tired muscles and wake her as if she had a few cups of the good coffee or an energy drink. this morning was going to be a very good morning.

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The pool was somewhere that Adam didn't often go when he visited the bath houses due to the fact that it was mostly a hang out for the Neptune family and their Relatives consisting of the minor goddlings. He had been working hard a lot lately and decided that he needed a bit of time off before his work load. This lead the grandson of Jupiter to travel to the public indoor pool once he was dressed in nothing but a spare pair of shorts and his reflective aviator glasses.

Once Adam arrived at the pool he noticed rather quickly that he wasn't alone. He had been beaten to the pool by a familiar looking blond woman who seemed to be doing water gymnastics. As he watching the young blonde he remembered that she was the daughter of Triton who was related to Neptune although he couldn't remember her name to save his life. Once a few minutes had passed Adam decided to slip inside the pool with a happy sigh as the water hit his skin. Once he was inside the young Legacy decided that since it was just the two of them it was probably safe to remove his glasses without being judged and so he did so setting them just outside the pool. He then leaned against the edge with a smile.

"You're pretty good at that. You must feel completely at home in a place like this being a daughter of Triton. It's just to bad that crabs or flounders can't survive in chlorinated water. It's probably just as well, the song under the sea wouldn't sound as good as "at the bottom of a pool"."

Adam chuckled softly and smiled at his light hearted jokes. It was obvious that he didn't mean them in a mean spirited way he just thought it was kinda cool that the camp had a daughter of Triton who had become quite famous thanks to Disney's little Mermaid movie which in all honesty was Adam's third favorite. Adam just sighed a happy sigh as he tried to relax his body. As he did however he decided to place his right palm under the water slightly and cause the air around him to create a palm sized tornado which made the water surrounding him turn into a Jacuzzi type jet.

"I've seen you around for years but I think this is the first time we've actually talked. I'm sorry I can't remember your name. Should I just call you Ariel?"

@ava 

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Her feet had pushed off the side of the pool, shooting her in the opposite direction. Her hands ahead of her as she used them to direct where it was that she was going. A hundred laps generally took about a hour or so to complete, pending on if there were other people in the pool that had no respect for the ropes up that divided off the lanes. Of course there was one part of the pool that had no such lanes in it, the little end that was hardly deep enough to come to her waist. She skimmed along the water's top, twisting her head to the side to take in a lung full of air before she moved on. She hadn't started with the timing and it was something that she probably should have done. She'd need a new pair of goggles too, the ones that she had were starting to get a little worn out around the edges. After all she had these since she was fifteen. Ava was surprised that they had manage to last this long. Normally she was a bit hard on her things. Speaking of things, she needed some new long sleeved shirts as well, she'd have to go get them tailored to be a bit more sturdy along her forearms. Her spines tended to shred her sleeves and it was too cold around here in the winter to deal with short sleeves.

Her mind went to her training. She had to do something to help her with training. She wasn't a meek little child anymore. Ava was easily becoming stronger than when she first arrived at camp. It was a wonder that Lupa didn't eat her. She had prayed to both Bellona and Mars, here moreso than ever before. While it was a problem where she was someone who was totally into instant gratification, this slowly trying to do things was getting on her nerves. But Ava was getting stronger, she could tell now after nearly a few years of training. Well she had been training her whole life but now she was really becoming dedicated to it. She was becoming stronger, being able to run more, being able to go longer in a fight without tiring, and she had even been able to throw down with one of the stronger members of the cohort. Sure she had still lost, but she had given him a good run for his money and to top it off he needed stitches when they were finished scrapping. Sparring, the word was sparring. It was a mental chuckle as she surfaced from under the water, continuing on with her swimming of laps.

Ava released a small but high pitched squeak from her mouth as she was able to map out the entire area of the pool. One wouldn't be able to hear it if they were a demi-god. Dogs could hear it, she could hear it, and she was pretty sure that bats and dolphins could hear it too. But when the sound bounced back to her, she was able to clearly see that someone else was in the water. Forty five, she reminded herself as she surfaced to see what the legacy wanted. From where she was floating she could tell he was a legacy. It was the marking on his arm just like she had. He had three less lines than she did, marking him as only having seven years of service.

Then there they were. The Little Mermaid jokes. Thanks Disney. No, they didn't bother her and she usually would have preffered to keep them to a minimum as she was much stronger than her animated counter part with a bit less dramatics and she wasn't about to sell her soul to go be with someone she had never met before but was smitten. In all honesty, she thought the movie was stupid and she felt more for her dad's animated counterpart than she did for the main character. And the crab Sebastian. That poor little guy put up with so much crap from the protagonist that he deserved a metal and full retirement when the day was done. "It's Ishihara, Ava. my name is Ava. And you're Jackson. Jackson, Adam correct?" She used the traditional Japanese way of giving her name by using her family name first and then her first name. It usually got a good deal of strange looks from people as she would then have to explain that she was Japanese despite looking like one of those girls from California. The strange looks then begot questions and then the questions would drag up a bit of her past that she would rather forget. No, she wasn't the same little girl who was constantly picked on by the other kids in school just because she was different, looked different. "I know your name but I don't think we've formally met." She said as she pulled her goggles away from her eyes and perched them atop her forehead, leaving raccoon like rings from where the suction was around her eyes in an extra red fashion.

Tag: @adamjackson
Words: 857
Notes: sorry it took so long.

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Adam just nodded when the woman who named herself as Ava asked if his name was what she thought it was. The young Legacy then used a puff of air to bring his glass to him which he then promptly put back on his face so that the young blonde wouldn't be tempted to stare. He then used his powers to begin floating just above the waters surface while sitting in a cross legged position with his shorts dripping in the water.

"No we haven't formally met. It's not a real shock that we haven't though, you are the only daughter of Triton here at camp and I'm the Jupiter kid that everyone over looks because of his uncle the hero from the first cohort. Why bother with the hippie artist when you can be chummy with a war hero who is an actual child of the king of the gods."

Adam sighed slightly, a hint of bitterness and jealousy in his voice as he spoke. Once he was done speaking he couldn't help but notice the shiny reflection coming off of the young woman's skin but chose not to dwell on it since he hated when people dwelled on his eye. He decided to instead give the girl a big toothy smile and a chuckle.

"So besides swimming what kind of things do you like to do Princess Ava."

Adam couldn't help but laugh a bit at his small joke. He called her Princess because Ariel was a princess and both of their names started with A. It may not have been a super clever joke but Adam thought it was a bit funny. As he waited for a reply, Adam began to levitate upside down, making sure to stay at eye level as he stayed cross legged.

As he hovered he was struck with a genius idea. The young Legacy flipped right side up once more and lowered himself into the water. He then made a small tornado form in the palm of his hand with ease. Once the tornado was a good size, Adam stuck his hand into the water which caused the tornado to begin swirling the water around them as if they were in a hot tub with jets.

"Check this out instant jets! It's good for the muscles!"


@ava

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"you do know that the sun is hardly up." Ava stated, regarding him as he put the sunglasses on. She had seen the scars, not that she cared. Ava really wasn't exactly one who would pick on people just because of how they looked. She had been there. She remembered what it was like to be picked on and ostracized just because she had blond hair and blue eyes. Ava remembered feeling so self conscious when it came to her scales. She used to wear her hair down all the time no matter what the heat was, feeling as if it nearly suffocated her from the heat and the humidity. But she had to remind herself that not as many people were as confidant as she had become. If he wanted to wear the sunglasses that was fine with her. It wasn't her place to judge people by what they wore or what they looked like. Ava looked at people by the character of their personality and their loyalty to their friends. That was what she looked at in people. Was it wrong? Well everyone had something that they looked for in people, or friends, but maybe someone should be friends with everyone regardless of their traits. It sounded kindda dumb the way she thought about it.

She heard that bitterness in his voice as he spoke about Chris. Well she could see why he would be jealous. Chris was a nice guy, though he was often considered a slave driver by many in first cohort, she had heard Gabriel grouch about him and Charlie all the time. They were first cohort after all, they were crazy strong and the best cohort in the entire legion. They were the people to compare yourself to. They were people to aspire to be. Or at least if you wanted to be a good Roman, those were who you wanted to be. If you were into other things there were other people to look up to as heroes. Even when she was little she had her own heroes. She wanted to be strong like the gods, though there were things about the gods that made her irritated. But the gods did what the gods were going to do. There was no chance they could be exactly like the gods but they all had traits she wanted to embody. She wished that she had Mars and Bellona's ferocity and abilities in battle. Apollo's sunny disposition. Yeah there were things that the gods did that were petty but there were still so many good traits to look up to.

"Doesn't matter what he's like. You're nothing like him. There's nothing wrong with that. Sure there are good things about everyone, but people have their bad sides too. You're different and there's nothing to be ashamed of." She stated as she leveled her eyes at him with a semi-stern look. Her tone was pretty kind and gentle but at the same time she had a fairly stern tinge to it. She hated it when people tried to compare themselves to others. They couldn't see their own good qualities if they were too busy comparing themselves to other people. IT was alright if you wanted to emulate someone but when that sort of animosity came out of someone's mouth, it was toxic and wrong.

"I swim and train. And tea, I brew my own teas." She said, explaining to him what it was that she liked to do other than swimming. The pool wasn't her favorite place, and she preferred to be in the lake as opposed to the chlorinated water of the pool. The princess part made him sound a bit smarmy but she ignored it before returning his own toothy grin, dipping her head backwards into the water to get the stray strands of blond hair back as she felt the cold water hit her scalp. There was a sigh of relief as she felt the cool water on her neck and shoulders. Then she thought that she might want to get some weights to help her train in the water.

"bubble jets, nice, but it's rather really loud don't you think?" She said as she winced at the sound. Her ears were fairly sensitive when it came to noise in the water with her whole being able to use echolocation. "Sorry, just sensitive ears. I can use noise to map things out, echolocation and all..." She gave him an apologetic smile.

Tags: @adamjackson
Words: 750
Notes: sorry it's so short!

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Adam couldn't help but blushes and adjust his glasses a bit self consciousnessly as Ava said that the sun was hardly up. He gulped a bit nervously as well because even after a decade of having the scarred eye and right side of his face he still felt a bit odd about it. The young Legacy kept his smile however so that Ava wouldn't feel bad about what she had said.

"I don't just wear my glasses to cover up my bad eye for cosmetic reasons. Due to the damaged my eye sustained during the harpy attack on my 10th birthday it can no longer make tears to keep it from drying up. The sun irritates it unless I use eye drops. On my 10th birthday my mom, my demi-god dad and I were celebrating up in my moms art studio when a flock of harpies broke in through the studio's sun roof. My dad and I were able to kill them all but my dad was fatally wounded. Thinking we had the battle won I ran over to my dying father to try and stop the bleeding. As the last harpy died it thrust it's claw at my face. I couldn't react fast enough."

Adam let out a rather sad sigh as he looked down into the water for a moment until Ava began to tell him that he shouldn't compare himself to his uncle because he was nothing like him and that he had his own talents that were unique to him. This made Adam look back up at Ava with a renewed smile. It was nice to hear that someone appreciated him.

"Thank you Ava. I needed to hear that. I guess I'm just a bit lonely because unlike the other Olympians being a child or grand child of Jupiter is a extremely rare thing. I was thinking that once my time in the Legion was over I would become a world traveler of sorts. I want to travel to other lands and study their cultures and types of artwork. It's common knowledge that our Roman gods have Greek sides but we don't know is if the gods that people like the Egyptians worship are real or not. While I'm traveling the world I may even find more of our kind out there who are unclaimed and need a home."

Adam then listened to Ava tell him what she liked to do while also asking him to stop using his powers to make a jet because it was too loud for her. Adam just lifted up his hand and stopped the tornado in his palm. He then scratched his chin as he thought of his favorite things to do.

"My favorite things to do is paint and read. My part of the barracks is covered in my artwork. I also to go on flights through the sky on nice windy days as well have sparring matches in the field of mars. I find the obstetrical course boring because I can fly. What are your plans once you finally leave the legion for good?"


@ava

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Ava had heard plenty of sob stories and battle stories. Hell she had lived a few herself. No, she wasn't discrediting his own story, but just that it sounded so similar to the other stories that she had heard. There was a boy in third cohort that had done something similar. But with a different twist. She had fought all manner of creatures. She had fought in two wars now. What could people possibly say when they heard that a twenty year old, one who had seen so much death and so much carnage. She wasn't afraid of what peoples stories were. Ava wanted to hear the stories that people had. "So you have battle scars. You're a hell of a guy to be able to kill a harpy at such a young age." IT was an impressive feat none the less. It wasn't a lie at all. Besides people shouldn't be ashamed of themselves, physically, emotionally or able wise.

"The legion isn't for everyone." Ava stated when Adam was finished with his spiral of slight self loathing. "There's nothing wrong with that either. I only stay with the legion till I feel like I'm strong enough to survive on my own." Not that she would openly admit to the fact that she nearly died in the wolfhouse. That Lupa thought she was someone who wouldn't benefit the Legion. She swore it was a secret that she would never tell a single soul. That was a weakness she could never get over. "If you're doing what makes you happy, that's what matters. "Art is great and fine. Study it. Do it. If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life." She said with a nod as she hefted herself out of the side of the pool to sit. She reached over to grab her bottle full of green tea. She took a long sip of it. Tea was mostly water. Kept you hydrated.

She slipped down back into the water as she had dabbed her face off to keep the chlorine getting in her eyes. "I'm going to stay in the legion. Don't know how long. But I want to give back to the legion, they gave me a home and protection. They taught me to be strong." She said. It was obvious that she had changed, her body was more toned than what a normal twenty year old was. She still wasn't as proficent in weapons as she wanted to be. But she was getting there. She envied the children of Mars and their natural abilities. She worked just as hard as she possibly could. She wanted to be considered just as good if not better. Those days would never come. She saw the best in everyone but she couldn't even see the best in herself.

Words: 473
Tags: @adamjackson
Notes: n/a

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Adam couldn't help but blush slightly as Ava complimented his feat of defeating the harpies. He had never really stopped to think about what he had accomplished so hearing it out loud made Adam's face a bit hot. It wasn't very often he received compliments on things other then his artistic ability so it was rather nice to hear. Adam just smiled at her.

"That means a lot coming from a veteran like you. I never really thought of it as impressive before. I was just doing what needed to be done. During my time in the wolf house with Lupa, she was rather upset with my archery skills and my swordsmanship. I can see why she would be upset since those are two of the most basic skills for someone in the legion. I think I surprised her though when I started using my powers. She said she had seen very few demi-gods or Legacies especially a big three having already come close to mastery their powers before even entering the Legion. I never really thought it was anything worth bragging about ya know? My powers just came easy to me where as swordplay and archery were almost impossible since I have a literally blind side."

As Ava said that she was staying in the legion in order to give back to them for giving her a home and making her strong. This made Adam looked down into the water at his reflection. As he stared at his own face under him he just removed his glasses and just sat them gently on the side of the pool while floating just above the water. As he stared at his forever damaged eye the young legacy knew that despite all that he had lost he had gained that much more thanks to the legion. After a few moments Adam looked back up at Ava as she explained that he should do what made him happy.

"I don't want you thinking I'm ungrateful to the legion because I'm not. If I found out they needed my help and I needed to reenlist I would in a heartbeat. I just want a chance to see who I am besides a grandson of Jupiter and the artist. I wanna see what is out there for me. What I am thinking of doing is reenlisting so that I can stay with my girl friend while she does her service. She got here late because she was trapped in the Lotus Hotel. I was gonna ask her to travel with me when our time was up. I guess it's all up in the air right now, pun intended. While we travel we could find people like us and send them to the wolf house."

Adam sighed a content sigh. It was plain to see that despite the pain he had gone through he had yet to lose that spark that drove him and kept him who he was. The young Legacy just took his hand and ran it gently in the water making ripples.

"Who knows, maybe one day I'll be a papa to my very own bundle of air or lightning. A little Jackson..ahh wouldn't that be something."

The thought just brought a loving gaze to both of Adam's eyes as he caught his rippled reflection in the water once more. The ripples of fate held many things, he just had to hope there would be more good then bad.

@ava