Whoever Said "Some Things Never Change" Was Full Of It (Ava)

[Deleted]

Remus climbed out of bed in the apartment he now shared with he, himself, and him. The big-enough-for-two bed. He went into the bathroom, glad at least that he had donated all her girly shampoos and skin products to charity. The bathroom was utterly male. He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth and shaved. In nothing but a towel, he walked back to the bedroom and put some clothes on. He pulled his praetorial cape on and clipped it in place. His heavy military-style boots. Thankfully, he’d finally gotten past needing chemical intervention to sleep at night. He’d gotten used to being a one-man show. Which was really sad, but he looked past that by glaring at his reflection in the mirror and daring himself to get depressed. It didn’t sound effective, but it was. He was essentially bullying himself into getting through life.

He walked down the hall past the only closed and forever locked door. Inside, was a nearly complete nursery. No amount of self-bullying could get him past that one. So he shut it away and tried to ignore it. His cape fwipped as he reached for his keys off the table and headed past the clock on the wall that read quarter til seven am. Breakfast at the mess wasn’t served for another hour fifteen, but this was normal for him. He got his day started whenever he got up. He didn’t dawdle.

He walked outside of the apartment into the chilly still-dark morning. He’d forgotten his jacket, but he had a spare in the Principia so as long as he Romaned up and made the walk there, he’d be fine. The keys in his pocket, he walked with purpose through the virtually empty streets of New Rome. Terminus knew enough anymore to not say anything. The man and the statue-god merely nodded to each other as Remus passed through the gate. Terminus’ young sentry wasn’t even up yet.

Camp Jupiter was pretty quiet too. He saw a group drilling in the field as he passed. Judging by the frame of the ones directing, Fourth attempting to up their reputation. He kept going. He had the decency to walk softly along the cobblestoned via towards the Principia. He let himself in and went to his desk. He was decently chilled from the walk, so he dropped off his keys on his desk and did about twenty-five jumping jacks behind his chair, then stretched more and grabbed his coffee mug, going to the Keurig and plopping the English Breakfast Black Tea pod in the machine and getting the morning brew going. Out of the mini-fridge came the cream and a box of Truvia sweetener. As soon as the tea was brewed, he doctored it up with cream and sweetener, stirred it with a singular chopstick, and went back to his desk, setting it on his coaster Lyn had made him before she left camp forever. He sighed and sat down. Some things never changed, like English tea. But far too many things changed dramatically. He picked up the latest report out of his inbox bin and started reading.

TAG: @ava
WORDS: 523
NOTES:

[Deleted]

It was early in the morning, though it was an early that Ava was used to. Her own thoughts of training early in the morning were only interrupted by the intermittent need to sleep. There was no actual need for sleep, medically speaking, except for the chance that the body had to repair and re-energize itself. Or the fact that people needed sleep simply because they got tired. Ava would often go to be purely tired, exhausted, she didn't dream any either. At least if she did dream, she didn't remember what she dreamed about. though this time, it was weird, it was the first dream she remembered having before she started her extreme training regimen. It was a weird dream, to say the least. She blinked as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands to wipe away to last of the little green crusties. Her dream had been odd, there was a guy surfing on an ice cream truck in the middle of the ocean in Hawaii and the guy looked like Remus from the back, except he was different at the same time. "That's it..." She muttered to herself as she ran a brush through her hair, gently pulling the tangles out as the fine bristles caught on a few knots. "No more spicy food for snacks so late at night." Ava chastised herself as she quickly braided her hair and then shoved it under a flattened plastic swim cap.

She quickened her pace as she then walked down the roads towards the baths. She was going to do her morning laps as a warm up, then breakfast. She glanced at the clock that was mounted on the wall in the girls locker room, it was much to early for breakfast, but that wasn't going to stop her. She dove into the water. Her legs coiled, her muscles released and she shot along the water, skimming it slightly as her arms moved in near perfect swimming motion. Swimming always gave her a chance to think, to replay things in her mind. Maybe she should take something to Remus. She couldn't stop thinking about the fight that she had with him. Every movement replayed in her mind, she knew exactly what had gone wrong for her when it came to the fight. She simply hadn't been ready to fight the son of the War god. He was a mighty foe, someone who she wished to challenge again when the time came for her to test her mettle once more.

Ava surfaced from the water after a few moments, her lungs changing from water to regular air instantly. She coughed slightly, Ava knew that the chlorine was kind of a pain in the backside. Ava sat on the edge of the pool, her toes dipped into the water. She should surprise him. That was it, Ava knew that today she was going to surprise Remus with something. Though what it was she didn't know just yet. She hummed to herself as she stepped out of the pool and into the showers, carefully washing off the scent of chlorine and replacing it with a soft scent of honey and vanilla. It was a special soap from one of the vendors in town, she had a soap that she selled that didn't effect her scales like the others did. Ava pulled on her boots and jeans before slipping on her Deep purple roman shirt. Her tattoo was obvious on her arm as she threw the towel into the communal hamper before heading off in another direction, the direction of the city.

She flashed Terminus her badge as she then hopped off of the main road and waltzed down the side alley way. The shops were barely starting to open up though she was able to purchase what exactly it was she was looking for, a box of bagels with all kinds of spreads, and all kinds of bagels, her favorite being the cinnamon crunch ones with butter. But there were some savory bagels as well. She just got a mixed box. THen she purchased two cones of ice cream, one of her favorite and another that Remus liked, mint chocolate chips. Some how those Khione kids managed to make never melt ice cream was beyond her. But she had gotten permission from Ronan, who was a big lug that needed a vacation too. But he gave her permission to visit Remus when she wanted to bug him. Ava then knocked on his door once she had finished bopping along to the beat in her own mind. It sure made the walk from the shops quicker.

Words: 777
Tags: Remus Stone
Notes: don't mind her

[Deleted]

Oh look, another case of someone dumping a container of spiders in the girls’ barrack in second. Seriously? Why was this on his desk? Centurions should be taking care of this. He’d speak with second’s centurions and see just what they were thinking and why they were so incredibly lazy. He took note of the culprit’s name and the centurion who signed it over to him. Oh yes, words would be had. He put it in outbound.

He took a great big, deep breath and sipped his still-hot tea. The creamer cooled it to drinkable temperature, but not much better, so still in need of sipping. As if one should ever treat hot tea any different. He had the blinds pulled on the office window, but they were starting to glow with morning light and he figured natural light was usually better for you anyway. So he stood up and undid the blinds and pulled the string to pull them up and lock them in place. His window faced East, as did Ronan’s, with the thought that the leaders should look upon the rising sun. That and the whole thing about the West side of the empire falling first. So look east!

He sat back down, took another sip of tea, and got back to work. He didn’t bother to look at the clock. The sun was rising, that much he knew. Other than that, what did he honestly need to know? Report after report after report. Some worth attention, others not so much. He wondered what Ronan’s inbox looked like. He looked over a troubling one and stuck it in his special box for to be discussed with Ronan. He hated those ones. He stretched again and heard footsteps outside his door, but figured no one every bothered him anymore, so he thought nothing of it.

Then there was a knock. He frowned and got up. Thud, thud, thud, thud. His heavy boots announced his walking across the wood floor, then he opened the door to meet a laiden-down Ava looking rather cheerful. “Oh. Ava. What’s all this?” He hadn’t been surprised in the principia in well over a year, so he quite forgot what it was like and was caught off guard.

TAG: @ava
WORDS: 374
NOTES:

[Deleted]

None of these things that were in her hands were explicitly heavy. With that being said, she was mostly trying to balance the large box of bagels. They were simply in a large box where she was balancing it, trying to keep from spilling the ice cream she was carrying. As she walked the halls of the principia, making her way to Remus's office while holding all this stuff, well she just hoped that no one suddenly opened up the door and whacked her in the face with said door. That would end up fairly horribly for the ice cream, not to mention for her purple SPQR shirt. Ava would really like to not mess her shirt up and have to go get a new one. That would be pretty embarrassing. Not that Ava was a vain person by nature, but she did want to look her best for Remus.

After she knocked on the door, well she wondered if he was even in at all. How stupid would she look just standing here, waiting for someone to answer that would never come. It was kind of early after all, maybe he was still asleep. Ava knew that both the praetors needed a vacation, they were too stubborn to admit to it. but she heard the heavy booted foot falls from the other side of the door as it approached. Nice, so he was here after all. Ava couldn't help but watch her inner psyche do a fist pump of victory as he opened the door up. Her cheerful demeanor couldn't help but let a smile shine through for seeing it. Ava really couldn't help but feel like she was possibly bugging him. Ava dreaded the thought of bugging him.

"Hey Remus, I brought you breakfast. I didn't know if you liked bagels or had a preference, so I got a bunch of different ones. And Ice cream." She said as she passed him a cone of mint chocolate chip. "because sometimes you need ice cream for breakfast whenever you want it." She stated as she gave him a large smile. "I was almost thinking that you were still asleep." Ava said.

words: 364
tags: Remus Stone
Notes: because ice cream for breakfast is a good start to the day

[Deleted]

Remus was trudging the paperwork and mundanities of this part of the job. He took his tea and sipped it, not even caring how hot it was. He could feel the heat rushing down to his stomach, leaving a pleasant taste in his mouth that always lifted his spirits. The granola bar he had at ten last night had certainly worn off, but he didn’t care. He had a box in the pantry and could get another in a couple hours when it became more unpleasant. He was familiar with fasting. When you were really hungry, it was like a twisted motivation to work harder.

Then came a knock at the door and he looked at it quizzically as if doors were not something to be knocked upon. He got up and walked to it, admittedly a little curious. Then opened it to find… Ava. Carrying the biggest assortment of gods-only-knew he had ever seen. She clarified it in a flurry or words that broke his traditional world of silence in a way he didn’t quite want to admit was actually refreshing. Then a cone of ice cream was handed to him and he took it without thinking, but with more than a little confusion. “Um, thank you… I mean, come on in. So sorry. Horrible of me to just stand here.” He stepped aside and held the door wide. “Make yourself at home.” He chuckled when she said she thought he might be asleep. “With how often work invades dreams in the past, I might have wondered so too. But my unconscious never delved into the realm of surprise breakfast, so I’m pretty sure I’m awake.” He chuckled. “Have a seat anywhere you like, Ava. Let me get you something to drink. Green tea, black tea, herbal tea, English tea, and… I think I have some of the coffee Jason left over. Or cold things like milk or dragonfruit juice.” What could he say? He had peculiar taste.

TAG: @ava
WORDS: 329
NOTES:

[Deleted]

Her biggest fear was that she worried that she would bother too many of her friends and they wouldn't want to be friends with her any more due to the fact that Ava wanted to ask them questions or hang out with them too much. Sometimes she felt as if her simple presence was a pain in the rear to other people. But here she was standing here in front of Remus's office. Even though she hadn't eaten herself, she had seen a bunch of people up already, probably from first cohort, that were taking a small bite to eat whilst they were on the go. Nothing too big or filling as they would probably end up puking it out by the end of the next thirty minutes. Ava was always surprised at how intense the training was when it came to first cohort, not that second wasn't as intense. It simply seemed that no one could really hold a candle to first. They were the best, the pride of the camp. She trained a bit harder than a few other people in the cohort, but it was a debt that Ava felt like she had to repay to the legion.

The look of confusion on Remus's face, well it amused her slightly. He stepped to the side to let her into the office, which Ava slid past him and gave him a smile. "If you dream of surprise breakfast, let me know and I'll have to change it up. Do something a bit more unexpected." She said as she flashed him a grin. Maybe ice cream for breakfast was a bit out of the way for a highly oiled machine like Remus was. He was a machine of speed, strength, skill, caffeine, and well he was down right handsome. He started to offer her a multitude of drinks. "Green tea would be wonderful right now." She said as she sat down. "I hope there's something in there to your liking." Other than ice cream. Something that was real and substantial to put in ones stomach. Ava wiped her eyes with the back of her hand as she blinked and took in a slow and deep breath, praying to all the gods in existence that she wasn't bothering him. "If there's nothing you like I can always swing to some place else and grab what you like."

words: 498
notes: buggy ava is freaking out
Tags: Remus Stone

[Deleted]

Remus wasn’t sure what to make of all this. Ava was so… enthusiastic. Even in the days of she who must not be named, he hadn’t encountered this kind of attention. Which was why he was handling it a little awkwardly. He still had this vague feeling that dinner he’d invited her over to followed by the after-dark spar had been a dream. All of this did. But he kind of felt like, little by little, Ava was pulling him out of the haze. She seemed to get him better than anyone else. Confused the heck out of him, but got him. And they had this mutual respect that was really something.

He stepped aside so she could come in and she put on that smile that had this effect on him that he couldn’t help but smile back. Her words made him chuckle. “Not at this present moment, so you’re good.” He stumbled into the best impression of a good host he could with what he had, considering this was entirely unexpected. He nodded and went to the Keurig to get some hot water going for the green tea as he listened. Then she made this preposterous offer to go pick something else up should she not have what he liked. He stopped with the water and turned to face her. “Ava… I would never ever even dream of such a thing. Besides, who can go wrong with bagels? Well, and ice cream. That’s a first for breakfast time, but a good one. But anyway, trust me, you’re entirely fine and you better not even think about going to get more.” Then it struck him that me might seem to, well, praetorian in that, instead of the grateful one he was. Whatever his status or title was in this encounter, it was not praetor. So he came over, the ice cream still in his spare hand seeing as one could not put a cone down. “Sorry, I’m not very eloquent. What I meant was… I really appreciate this and I’m definitely not going to make you go even further out of your way. I respect you much more than that.”

Then came the familiar noise the Keurig made when it was just about to pour the heated water, so he went back to that and held the mug under it. Then something dawned on him as the steam poured up as the water poured down. He looked at the ice cream in his other hand and noticed it for sure. “How is this still solid?” It was the dumbest question in the world, but he had honestly just stumbled into the second utter confusion in as many minutes.

TAG: @ava
WORDS: 449
NOTES: They are both freaking out in their own way

[Deleted]

Ava didn't know why she was doing this, why did she feel such a need to surprise him like this? He was handsome and very sweet to her, sure everyone had heard the rumors, and being a son of Mars, he was intimidating. There was just something about him that Ava wanted to chase. The way he looked surprised when she had appeared on the other side of the door, well it made it a thousand times worth it. The biggest thing that she could think of, well she wanted to see him smile. That smile was like a thousand suns, when it reached his eyes, Ava knew she had done something right. IT was worth everything in the world to see him smile, to see him happy. Everyone deserved their own happiness. She believed that one hundred percent that people needed happiness. If his was a bit of surprise with Ice cream for breakfast, then that was what she was going to give him. There were many people who suffered, and if the rumors had any shred of truth to them then she believed with her whole heart that Remus deserved happiness more than anyone else. Those that suffered the most, they had the best smiles.

Ava loved to see Remus in action, though it was amusing to watch him train. It was that whole, hate to see you go, love to watch you leave sort of thing that she had heard one of the Venus girls say about watching Remus leave after training. She could whole heartedly agree. "It's alright, I really don't mind. I can do better at learning, then i won't mess up." She said as she flashed him a grin and her eye winked at him after he said that he appreciated it, that his authoritative tone might have come off wrong. Ava wasn't one to judge based on tone alone. "And I appreciate that, but I do want to eventually learn what you like and don't like." She mentioned in a passive tone that she was simply trying to get to know him better.

The kureig popped and let them both know that it was done brewing the hot water for the Green Tea that had been offered. Remus caught the dripping hot water in a mug as it came loose from the machine, though another look of confusion had crossed his face again. She couldn't help but smile once more. To be honest she wasn't really sure what or how they did it, just that the ice cream that they sold at that particular stand never seemed to melt. "I'm not actually sure, but I have a theory." She said slowly, hoping that it didn't sound too strange when she said it. "I'm betting that the lady who runs it has something to do with it. She's a daughter of Khione. And her husband is a son of Trivia, so I'm going to go with Magic Ice Cream. As dumb as that might sound, I'm actually pretty sure that both the magic and the ice have something to do with it. They have a really good Mochi flavored ice cream too." She smile.

Tags: Remus Stone
words: 533
Notes: sorry it took so long

[Deleted]

Remus liked Ava, he really did. She was nice and funny and – okay – pretty cute too. So being disturbed from his work like this was totally okay by him. She was so interesting. And no, he wasn’t even talking about her scales. She brought bagels and ice cream as a breakfast surprise. That definitely counted as interesting. He stole another glance and smiled. Yeah, she was pretty cool. And a dang good fighter. That battle they’d had had been one of his best. Not something to tell his similarly ego-trip sister, Charlie though. They sure did share that. Dear old dad making them the high-strung, battle-hungry people they were. But he’d calmed down. He still liked to fight, of course. It was his drug. His vice. He’d always do it.

He nodded at her words. “I like that theory. Wish I wasn’t the learning the hard way type.” He chuckled. “Maybe I’ll try your way. Check out an Idiot’s Guide book. Or just ask a lot of questions if my pride will let me.” Then she said she wanted to learn what he did and did not like. That struck him as odd. Why was she interested? Either way, he walked to the box of bagels and looked in, then pulled out a blueberry bagel. “I’m not too manly to admit blueberry is my favorite. For bagels and pancakes alike.” He set the bagel back in and smiled at her. “So what about you, Ava? If you could have any type right now. Could be one they don’t even make. What would it be?”

Then the water finished heating and he went over and grabbed a green tea bag and put it in. “I have some Truvia sweetener if you’d like it,” he offered. Then it dawned on him that no sticky wetness had reached his hand yet from that ice cream. He turned and questioned it. Her smile – which struck him as bright and sweet and pleasant – made him smile. “Well, I’m game for theories.” Then she said magic ice cream and despite how silly it sounded, and he did chortle at that, it sounded perfectly plausible. “I like that theory. But, um… Mochi? The cat from Big Hero 6?” He knew she was definitely not from the US, so it must be another culture sort of thing. Which fascinated him.

TAG: @ava
WORDS: 392
NOTES: You're totally fine!

[Deleted]

There was just something about Remus, the way he held himself, the way that people followed him into battle, it was manly. Very manly. Not to mention it gave her a bit of respect for the praetor. Not that she didn't respect him at all, on the contrary, she looked up to him in the way that most people looked up to their superior officers. He was strong, that much was well defined if their fight, their little match was anything to judge by. Even if her training wasn't entirely Roman to the core the way his was, she couldn't wait to fight him again. Sure she didn't exactly win that fight, but it was a challenge and boy did Ava love a challenge. She adored a challenge. Most people were exceedingly dismissive of her, but Remus wasn't. It was a nice change that he wasn't like that. She knew she was a bit freaky, even in the powers department. No one had powers like her. No one. It was one of a kind, she hadn't even met anyone else who shared the same parent with her, as her father was one of the minor gods. New Rome was a large and big place so even the legacies had legacies.

Remus admitted to liking the blueberry bagels, which she registered to the back of her mind for later use. There was nothing wrong with that, not that she could see in any case. Blueberries were supposed to be really good for you and fruits had always been used for a natural sweetener, most fruits had been like that for so many ages. "I really like cinnamon in things." Ava stated when he asked her which she would like. She plucked the cinnamon crunch bagel from the box. "They have an amazing one here and it's perfect with just a little butter, almost like eating cinnamon toast." Ava savored the smell for a moment with a pair of closed eyes. She blinked them open to smile at Remus. "Its weird but my mom used to make me cinnamon toast for breakfast and a bagel like this...." Well she left it trailing off. She didn't want to come off as too Un-roman to Remus. IT was silly and stupid. It really didn't matter what her life was like before, now she was in the singular best fighting force on the planet. At least they were in her oh-so humble opinion.

"This is going to sound weird, but I don't like sugar in my tea. One of the Venus girls, she said it was sacrilegious to drink non sweetened tea." She figured the venus girl was one of those that was born and bred in the southern part of the states where they liked their tea sweet enough to send someone into a diabetic coma. At least he didn't out right laugh at her theory of magic ice cream. "I mean it'd sound more outlandish if we weren't in a place where demi-gods lived. I mean i have scales, so the thought of magic ice cream is not outside of my realm of possibilities." She gave a large grin. Then he asked about mochi, which was one of her favorite things in the whole world. "well no, i mean it's the Big hero six cat yes, but it's actually a pounded rice paste that's sweetened and they roll it in powdered sugar before they use it to cover some super cold balls of ice cream. Kindda like an ice cream chocolate truffle. They had some green tea flavored ones at the shop and they tasted amazing... oh sorry." Ava turned red, the tips of her ears growing scarlet as she looked down at the ground. She was probably boring him to death. how many times had she gotten excited about something and people told her to shut up and no one wanted to know what she was so excited about.

Tags: Remus Stone
Notes: I thought i replied to this already. my mind is so gone >_>.
Words: 674

[Deleted]

Remus smiled as he listened to her own opinion. “Cinnamon? Nice choice. Reminds me of when I was a kid and I was obsessed with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. With or without milk.” Then she just happened to bring up the idea of a bagel tasting like cinnamon toast and he had to laugh at the irony. Watching her take in the blissful smell of the bagel, he smiled himself. He liked seeing people close to him happy. He didn’t get that so much anymore. People were somber around him, as if smiling in his presence might be an insult to him. It wasn’t, though. But the reoccurring thing made him isolate himself more. Even his lar brother, Nick, was always down. He kind of had hoped for help from that particular sibling since they shared the love lost thing now. No such luck. Nick moped and trained and that was it. Meanwhile Remus was training and doing paperwork and studying new recipes and planning for school and thinking about what kind of job he could do to support his schooling.

Remus watched her as she started to reminisce, fully looking forward to the story. But it ended early. Then it hit him as to why. He had a reputation here, so it was probably his fault. He came around from behind his desk, but not before reaching in a drawer for a thick folder. He knew he was taking a chance, but he handed the folder to her. Inside were all the letters he’d gotten from his mom over the years, and photographs from every year and major event. “And the only photo on my nightstand is the one I got of us together right before I came here.” He smiled encouragingly. “It’s not wrong to love your mom. In fact, my mom promised me if I ever settle down and have a family, she insists on taking everyone to Disney Land. I’m rather excited about that one.” He laughed.

He went about fixing them drinks and nodded at her saying she didn’t like sugar in tea. He chuckled. “Probably.” A couple nods answered her. “Then cheers?” He held up the ice cream. Then she mentioned the idea of mochi and he gave her a curious look. “Sweetened rice paste? Welp, worth a shot. Anything you like can’t be that bad, right?” Then she turned all red and he stopped short. “You okay?” Being completely horrible at reading emotions nine out of ten times, he thought he’d done something wrong.

TAG: @ava
WORDS: 421
NOTES:

[Deleted]

"I really love cinnamon, but I've never heard of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal. I was told there was something called Snow Cream that people made with snow, milk and cinnamon sugar. I've never seen snow before. I'd like to try snow cream once." She really felt so at ease talking to Remus. It was different from talking to one of her superiors, even if Remus was technically a superior... well at least it made more sense in her head when she thought about it and she had the decency to not say it out loud. Sometimes her mind and her mouth didn't work together. She could think of the most amazing things in the world and want to tell people about it, but something just got lost in the translation. "I can't cook much, but I can make this sort of salad thing, it's weird, but my mom made it with blueberries and strawberries. She called it Fluff I think. If you'd be willing, I'd totally make it for you." Ava looked shyly down to her feet.

Remus gave her an encouraging smile as he told her about the letters that his mom had sent. Ava couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. She hadn't seen her own mom in years, though it wasn't like they had the greatest of relationships. "You look a lot like your mom. You have her eyes and chin and ears. Disneyland huh? Never been, but I hear it's a nice place." Ava observed, showing a slight grin as she looked up at Remus. "I've just been told that I'm either bothering people when I talk or I'm too un-Roman for thinking of stuff like that." She simply said. There had been plenty times when centurions had told her she wasn't being Roman enough. She really couldn't get over how much Remus looked like his mom. But they always said that boys look like their mom's and girls always looked like their dads. Not that Ava really had anything to judge against. She had never met her own father and her step-father was pretty Japanese.

Ava couldn't help but look at her shoes. She gave a genuine smile when they did cheers with the ice cream. It was a great gesture. "I'm sorry, I really feel like I'm bothering you or bugging you. You've got a lot of work to do, running the legion and all. I want to kindda... well...." There go those words again. Her mind had a hundred and one things that she wanted to say but right now nothing was coming to her lips. Ava let out a small sigh. "I mean I just.... I really want to get to know you. Spend time with you. But I don't want to bug you." She rubbed her ears trying to get the pink tinge to go away. She was horrible at this.

Words: 482
Notes: she's feeling like she's a bother
tags: Remus Stone

[Deleted]

Remus chuckled. “I’ll get you some next time I see it. Fair warning: it’s very, very sugary.” He listened as she described Snow Cream, something he’d never heard of. “Well, I’ve never heard of snow cream, but I know plenty of places there’s snow and it would be feasible. You ever want an escort and fellow taste-tester, let me know. I mean, even just the mountains on the border of camp are good if you’ve got the gear.” She was really cool and he had to say, he was happy she showed up this morning. Definite highlight. Her description of what her mom called Fluff was pretty much amazing. “Now that sounds much better than Cinnamon Toast Crunch even!” he laughed. “Healthier too. Count me in. If you need help, I’m game to that too.”

Remus was genuinely surprised when she said he looked like his mom. He looked at the latest picture, from Saturnalia 2016. “Maybe. I don’t know.” He chuckled and set the picture down. “Except I’m roughly a head taller than her by now I’m sure. It’d be fun to visit. She’s still out in Cincinnati kickin’ butt in the city police department.” He looked back at her and smiled as she commented on DisneyLand. “Yeah, I found a picture from opening day of right where Mr. Disney stood. I want to stand right there.”

Then she went and said she might be bothering him. He was pretty sure he was not good enough to hide his confusion from his face. “What, no? How about this: you have the solemn word of one of the Praetors that anyone who tells you that you are not being Roman enough is completely wrong. And I can put that in writing if you want to shut them down.” He gave her a rarer of his smiles, one of those that said he was genuinely happy and having fun. “As for bothering, let me be the judge of that. One moment.” He looked to the ceiling and tapped his temple twice, then looked back. “Nope, no detected bother.” Okay, so maybe he was trying to get her to smile. Or even laugh; wouldn’t that be something? Despite his strict personality, there were a few he really wanted to be happy in life. Those were his family, and now Ava too. So if he could make her smile, it would be a victory better than a battlefield.

He noticed her examine her shoes, but was glad she seemed to snap out of it at the ice cream cheers. He shook his head in response as she spoke again of bothering him and that he had a lot of work to do, seeing as he didn’t want to interrupt her when she obviously had something on her mind. Though she came to a stop halfway, not done, but seemingly unsure. He decided to do the best thing in the situation and just be patient. Then she blew him out of the water when she finished her sentence. For likely a solid ten seconds, he wasn’t sure how to respond. Then he smiled ear to ear and laughed. “Brilliant! I feared it wasn’t mutual, but was always too scared to say anything. I’m not that great at words, you see. But ever since that spar we had, I knew you were really an individual that I needed to get to know. You have such a grand outlook on life from what I can tell, and I just… it’s magnetic. So yeah, definitely not bugging. By all means, keep bugging. So long as I am allowed to bug back.”

TAG: @ava
WORDS: 604
NOTES: Yay!

[Deleted]

Ava gave Remus a smile, it was genuine and wide, made her whole face light up. She wanted him to know that this was a full on smile that was just for him. "I'm always willing to try something at least once. Probably twice. I like adventures." Ava was always up for an adventure, all kinds of adventures. "I bet it'd be nice, a little adventure up to the mountains, I can make some stuff to take it along, call it a date if you want. To the mountains at the edge of camp." She was excited, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet because to be honest, any where she went with Remus was going to be an awesome adventure. "I think I can find the stuff to make fluff, I'll make you some." Not that she needed an excuse to make food. Well the stuff that she could make was tasty. Ava tended to have a bit of lack of confidence when it came to making new things. The last time she tried to make something it ended up horribly, she had to make it at least another five times before it even was somewhat edible.

"I mean I promise you look like your mom, that's what they say though, right? Guys look like their mom's and girls look like their dads. But that's with normal people. Don't know how they work when it comes to the divine." Ava had seen some statues of Mars, though she could see that Remus had some similar features to his father, she was pretty sure that he resembled his mother more. "Police department? I bet she's the best officer on the force." To be honest she wasn't a bit surprised. That was a very respectable job, the cops in Japan were strict and had it rough, though here in America, it was much more dangerous that over there. "I bet your mom is super proud of you." He seemed to be super happy about talking about the picture of Mr. Disney that he had found. "I hope that one day you'll be able to take a picture like that. It'd be an awesome memory."

He gave her a rare smile as she then watched as he did something a bit ridiculous. She covered her smile as she started to shake with a bit of the giggles. He was making her smile. "I'm glad I'm not a bother. It's silly and I'd hate to bother you. It's a weird anxiety thing." She removed her hand, her whole face was lit up and her eyes even smiled. She liked how awesome he was. He seemed to be trying to make her smile, and she was really appreciative for his efforts. "Thanks." She said as she pushed a blond strand of hair behind her ear that seemingly was trying to escape from her pony tail.

He grinned which in turn made her grin. "I just want to know you and I want to have a good time with you. You're someone who...well.... you're a strong man. You're just so amazing." Again her ears flushed scarlet. It was always hard for her to talk to someone that she liked though she was always messing up. But it seemed that Remus knew how she felt and reciprocated her own thoughts.

words: 557
notes: she just wants to hang out with him and do stuff and all the things!
Tags: Remus Stone

[Deleted]

She had a nice smile. He caught himself watching her eyes. They sparkled. It was stunning. You didn’t need to see her mouth to know she was smiling. That was a rare gift. She seemed really caught up in the idea of visiting the mountains together. It did sound nice, though. Call it a date if you want. He felt himself get a touch red. “What do you want to call it?” He cleared his throat and nodded. “So… when’s your next off day? We could do it then.” The ever-excited Ava continued on about making him fluff and he couldn’t help but laugh. “Please do! I’d love to try!” He smiled big, the kind you could more easily see on a kid whose mom had just told him they were going out for dinner at Chuck-e-cheese. Yes, he remembered that place when his mom took him.

The topic switched, ironically, to parents. “Yeah, that’s a good point. We’ve got ichor in our heritage, but we still bleed red, so I honestly have no idea. Some things we cannot know though.” She mentioned how she thought his mom was best in the force and he had to smile. “Thanks. She’s best so far as I’m concerned.” She said something that really dug in, but in a good way. He looked down at the letters on his desk from his mom, fondness in his eyes. “She says so a lot more now.” He didn’t want to mention that he knew exactly why she did too. Of course she had the motherly pride thing going on, but he knew his mom well enough to know that whenever young Remus fell off the jungle gym and scraped his knee, his mom would dish out a big bowl of pep talk so he wouldn’t get upset. It always worked. But Remus was hoping he would have better news for her soon.

He brushed that thought aside and went back to a story he shared with his mom about Walt Disney. Thankfully, Ava did not pull out the lame card and call him weird. He chuckled. “Would be boring to go alone though.” He didn’t know how to better put that he would like her to join him. He wasn’t even sure she was the type to go to public places, given her scales. Of course, that did not occur to him until after he said it, and at that point it was too far to take it back.

But there was something he could do. He could make her smile. So he did his best to get her to be happy and couldn’t help but smile when he looked back to her to see she was actually shaking with giggles. “The day I tell you to leave is the day peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are outlawed. Then again, on that day, I’ll probably enlist your help to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich speak easy.”

Dang, she was stunning. Inside and out. How had he gone all this time and not really spoken to her? It was horrible, but he was glad those days were over. And then she started talking about wanting to know him and the like. That he was amazing too, though he didn’t quite believe that part. “I think you’re crazy to think so highly of me… but I’m glad you’re crazy if that means I get to hang out with you, Ava. You’re a wonderful woman and I feel incredibly happy just to be in your presence. Even when you’re kicking my butt in a duel.” He chuckled. “Now how about we share this nice meal you were so thoughtful as to bring? I know this ice cream isn’t going to melt, but holding an ice cream cone for so long makes me nervous out of habit.”

TAG: @ava
WORDS: 640
NOTES: This was SO much fun to write