Beams of Bright Light [Julia]

[Deleted]

This was one of her favorite spots in Camp Jupiter. Behind the possibly stereotypical swimming pool and lake. The Via Principalis and its plethora of interesting things to look at. One of the few things that could actually keep her ADHD satisfied most of the time. She dropped a denarius on the coffee shop counter and beamed at the Lar manning (or ghosting?) the shop. “Thanks!” She picked up her latte with just enough enthusiasm as to not make it spill everywhere. Coffee probably wasn’t the best idea, but it was just so good!

As Clare walked away from the stall, she fixed on of the earbuds of the mp3 player she’d borrowed from one of her brothers into one ear and left the other ear clear. Life needed some background music. Even if Xander would probably kick her butt for putting the music she had onto the player. Come on, though, his was so depressing. A little change would do him some good. She hummed along with the unnaturally un-Roman music as she walked along the street lined with shops. It was really hard for her not to stop at each and every one of them. She paused at one selling weaponry that you couldn’t get from the simple armory. It wasn’t so much her interest in the weapons themselves but the detail put into some of them. It wasn’t normal to embellish weapons at Camp Jupiter. Rome was all about purpose, not pretty, when it came to war. But some of these were really intricate.

It took about 30 seconds for her to get bored with it though, and move on to the next stop. The stall with food for offering, important though it was, was not deemed necessary to visit at this point in time. She hoped maybe later to get someone to go with her to Temple Hill – because going by herself was not nearly as much fun – even if it involved dragging Damien from training again. Then there was a shop selling crystals that made perfect rainbows. And considering they had their wares displayed all across the counter and handing high above, it was by far the most interesting shop she’d seen yet. The crystals threw little rainbows in every direction, some making that section of the via seem more like a mult-colored disco in the middle of the day. Well, except the only music was what was playing in her left ear and no one seemed to be dancing. Ah well. She couldn’t help but admire the lightshow anyway.

WORD COUNT: 425
SONG: Hello Seattle by Owl City

[julia]

Beauty was everywhere. You didn’t have to be a child of Venus to see that, but sometimes she thought her lineage let her appreciate things all that much more. She understood that training and organization were important to maintaining Camp Jupiter. She loved organization as much as the next person. But why did everyone always think they didn’t have time to stop and smell the proverbial roses? Though with her reputation, that might not be the best phrase to use when she tried to get people to relax and acknowledge the beauty all around. Everyone thought she was enough of a hippie already, what with her preference of settling battles with words and her belief in love, maybe going around talking about flowers wasn’t the best course of action.

Julia chuckled to herself as she walked among the stalls and shops, occasionally stopping to look at this or that but never giving anything much actual consideration. All she really needed from the little excursion was some makeup. Sure, some people would think it impractical, but Julia saw absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to look your best when training. She’d even beaten people by distracting them with her looks before, if only enough to charm them into giving up so she could claim a victory. Just because she’d rather talk things through didn’t mean she didn’t like to win; and she won through whatever means necessary.

Passing a couple of stalls reminded Julia that she needed to head up to Temple Hill and make an offering to her mother, along with a few other things that got added to her ever-growing to do list, but Julia was determined to spend some more time relaxing. And it wasn’t as though her relaxation wasn’t structured! She knew exactly how long she could spend shopping so that there was enough time to get cleaned up before heading to train some more. Her wanderings eventually landed her at a stall selling crystals, which were casting a beautiful display of light around the shop. And it appeared she wasn’t the only one admiring the wares. ”Beautiful, isn’t it?” She asked, though from the presence of an earpiece in one of the other girl’s ears Julia wasn’t sure whether she would be heard or not. Or she would get the typical response of a shrug or just a grunt. Julia was surprised that the shop even bothered displaying the crystals this way, considering most of the camp was more worried about function than fashion.

[[Hope you don't mind I threw Julia in rather than Annaleigh]]

[Deleted]

Clare was busy trying to keep one of the tiny rainbows on the palm of her hand, which really wasn’t easy considering a breeze was making the crystal move around. But that just made it all the more interesting. And also made it all the easier to not pay attention to her surroundings, an old and probably bad habit of hers. In her defense, she was pretty good at paying attention when she needed to, like in a fight or when someone was being serious with her.

But now was not one of those times. So instead she was playing with a light, humming, and bobbing slightly with the catchy music. Damien or Xander would likely give her an explanation as to why it was important to be attentive at all times. They both meant well with they’re attempts, but the fact of the matter was, she had a horrible attention span and an even worse ability to not simply do her own thing. She blamed her dad, not negatively though, for that one. One couldn’t just tell the ocean what to do, or force it to be entirely tame. So she figured it was excusable.

She was somewhere between thinking about her dad and enjoying the fun music when someone talked next to her. With a squeak – another habit, unfortunately – she jumped and yanked the ear bud out of her ear to look to… Julia Porter. A smile broke out across her face. Julia, she liked, even if she’d never really talked to her. She seemed like a nice person and Clare had to admit she had some of the cutest outfits she’d ever seen. That, and she didn’t seem like the type to tell Clare off for being a dork. “Yeah! It really is. I like that one,” she decided to randomly inform the other girl, pointing up at one of the hanging crystals in the shape of a butterfly. “What about you?” And she was off. “So what brings you out and about at the via? Julia, right? Daughter of Venus and fashion extraordinaire!” She grinned. “Not that I’m a creeper or anything. Which saying so probably didn’t help make it very convincing that I’m not, huh? Oh well.” She held out a hand, not missing a beat in her rapidfire speech. “Clare Rodriguez, daughter of Neptune and camp idiot. It’s okay, I know most people think that so I really don’t mind it anymore. So how are you doing?”

WORD COUNT: 413
TAG: Julia!
NOTES: Of course I don’t mind! And it’s so short! Sorry!!

[julia]

Get cleaned up from her first round of training; check. Spend some time just relaxing and walking around the via; in progress. Get ready for more training; still to be done. Find some time to go up to Temple Hill; still to be done. Even as she tried to relax the to-do list was fighting for priority in her thoughts. Couldn’t she just get half an hour to her own thoughts, not the thoughts that living at camp had molded her into thinking? Of course not. After 8 years she had come to accept the obsessively-organized mindset of the people she grew up around. At least she’d been able to retain her appreciation of the aesthetic. It wasn’t like the two had to be completely exclusive, although sometimes Julia thought everyone else around here believed that.

And then there were shops like this that restored Julia’s faith in Roman society. Did the crystals have a function? Julia had no idea, and frankly she didn’t care. Things were allowed to be beautiful to just be beautiful. She considered buying a few and setting them up just to annoy people who might see them as a frivolity. She could even find a purpose for them if people complained. She herself was a shining example that what people might consider worthless could, in fact, turn around and surprise. She had experienced what nearly every child of Venus had; the expectation that they would be a waste of space here because of their mother’s attitude. But just because they liked to get manicures didn’t mean they weren’t made of muscle or that they wouldn’t gladly pay their dues with bruises and sprains. Charmspeaking someone into giving up in a fight didn’t always work, and that wasn’t even a luxury that all of her siblings had, so they trained until they were just as able-bodied as any other demigods.

The squeak that came from the other girl pulled Julia from her thoughts and she had to suppress an eyebrow raise. No need to start judging and acting like so many of her siblings just because the girl had reacted… differently to being surprised. She couldn’t stop her eyes from widening ever so slightly when the girl started to talk, no matter how hard she tried. Julia always thought her siblings could go on and on, but this girl was giving them a run for their money. She was too caught up in what was being said that she almost missed the hand extended towards her. ”Yeah, Julia Porter.” She said, shaking the other girl’s hand. To be honest, though, she wasn’t sure if she should be accepting the greeting or turning and sprinting in the opposite direction. It was flattering that this girl knew who she was, but still it was a little creepy. Something she’d expect from the children of Fama maybe, but she had always also been a little concerned by them.

”Nice to meet you, Clare. You’re certainly bubbly.” Oh, wow. That had been a horrible pun. ”I’m just trying to make the best use of some time I have between training. It’s nice to see that not everyone around here places function over fashion.” She motioned back to the crystals before picking up one that was shaped like a heart. ”Would it be too cliché for this one to be my favorite? And what about you, what brings you out here?”

[Deleted]

Clare guessed right from the off that this was going to be one of the less happy encounters. Which was okay, it happened. She knew full well she wasn’t like most people here around Camp Jupiter, and that some people tended to take that a little… less enthusiastically than others. On one hand, there were people like Nate or Zidane who were unusual themselves and she got along with great. And on the flip side, there were people like, well, like that kid who had told her that her existence was a mistake just the other day. Win some, lose some. Julia didn’t seem so bad at least. She wasn’t calling her a freak or anything. Though Clare was pretty sure that initial look was her wondering if she was doing illegal drugs or something. And unless Dum-Dum suckers were illegal, she was pretty sure she was good. So she made a mental note to try and tone it down a bit. Which took a moment of actually focusing after her long stream of chatter.

She gave Julia a sheepish hint of a smile. “Sorry. Is bubbly bad…? I can be not bubbly… And I, um, I’m really not a creeper, I swear. I’ve just seen you around a lot and the other day heard someone call you and guess my brain just hasn’t gotten around to forgetting it yet like it normally does…. Yeah, I’m not helping, am I?”Shutting up was looking more and more promising. And contrary to popular belief, she did have a serious side. And a not-hyper side. She just preferred to stick with the happy side when she could. With as rough as this place was and how kind of depressing her oldest brother could be and how serious her other older brother could be, it was good to remember there was stuff to be happy about. And, well, it was sort of habit by now.

Tone it down, tone it down, she kept reminding herself. “Chill time is definitely a good idea. Gods know there’s enough training around here. A little too much if you ask me, but I guess it wouldn’t be much of a military camp without it.” She looked over at the display of crystals as Julia motioned to them. “Yeah, I guess they wouldn’t really be in business if there weren’t a good amount of people who did.” She tapped on a card prominently displayed among the crystals reading ‘Great for portable Iris Messaging!’ and shrugged. “Guess everything has to have some level of purpose though.” All this being serious was taking its toll.

She looked at the crystal Julia was holding up and smiled. “Oh course it’s not too cliché. It’s pretty. Absolutely nothing wrong with hearts.” She probably would have gone with some form of stereotypical fish or aquatic crystal as her favorite if it weren’t for the slight problem that there didn’t seem to be one. So she certainly couldn’t fault Julia for going along with good old traditional. Cliché or no. She shrugged at her question. "Eh, about the same. Taking a little time off."

WORD COUNT: 519
TAG: Julia
NOTE: Sorry it’s a bit shorter than I generally like to get it.

[julia]

Julia tried not to jump to conclusions like some of her relatives, honestly she did. But sometimes it just happened. It was certainly accepted by other descendants of Venus to judge people. She was pretty sure her niece – half niece? Whatever. Julia would never get used to thinking of someone older than her as a niece – Maddison Petroski certainly didn’t see anything wrong with judging someone and slapping a label on them, no matter how bitchy of a move that seemed to be. And she knew that children of Venus tended to stick out of the crowds and make a lasting impression on people; but it was still a little offsetting for random people to know who you were. So she would try to give Clare the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she had… eaten too much sugar? Yeah, that worked.

”Bubbly is fi-.” She hadn’t finished the sentence before Clare was off and running again. ”I guess I just made a lasting impression. Venus kids have that effect, you know.” She really didn’t want to make the other girl feel bad, especially not for just being a little hyper. Heck, Julia could ramble on and on about certain topics; boys, clothes, who was dating who. Maybe this girl just linked to talk about why she knew who you were and why she hadn’t forgotten your name after someone mentioned you in passing. Totally legit. There really wasn’t any need to not give her the benefit of the doubt unless something else proved otherwise.

And there, back to normal topics of conversation. Well, normal to her at least. Most other people here would probably scoff at the idea that there was too much training going on. ”Oh my gods, I know. I barely have time to get ready some mornings before its off to monster fighting classes or heading to the obstacle course and having to crawl through mud for hours on end. They could at least get rid of the mud so we wouldn’t have to spend hours getting cleaned up again.” Well, maybe only she and the other Venus demigods spent that long, but there was no way she was letting sweat and mud clog her pores. ”And now I’m rambling.” She laughed before looking at the crystals again. ”Of course it does. Nothing around here can be pretty just for the sake of being pretty. That just wouldn’t make any sense.” That really bothered her sometimes.

Julia turned the heart-shaped crystal over in her hands a few times, seriously contemplating buying it just to see what everyone else in her barrack would do. If there were adverse reactions she could always use the shop’s own excuse, that it was for portable Iris Messaging. No one could fault her for that, right? Other than the fact that anyone she would need to send an Iris Message to was at Camp Jupiter with her… She would figure something out. If all else failed she could just Charmspeak them into dropping the subject. ”Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks taking a break is a good idea. Other than crystals, what’ve you been up to?”

[Deleted]

Yeah, she was pretty confident she was just digging herself in deeper. Clare chewed on her lip in those rare moments she wasn’t talking. Though when Julia seemed to warm up a little instead of that deer in the headlights look she sort of had before, it was encouraging, and Clare managed a meek, but hopeful smile. Maybe Julia would prove to be a friend after all. “Yeah, I guess you do,” she said with a small laugh. “You and your siblings always look really good. Like fashion and stuff. Wish I knew how to do that. But guess that would be the Venus thing, huh? Ah well.” Shut up, Clare, you’re babbling! she mentally scolded herself. This was a challenging conversation! But she was determined to, despite the caffeine and general excitability, to hold a normal conversation. It was getting there…

Okay, training. That was a pretty straight forward topic. Who didn’t complain about training at some point? Well, except the psycho war-head kids. Ooh, Warheads. She got a sudden craving for the sour little candies. Espicially the purple-y ones. She mentally shook herself. “Yeah, that mud is gross. I mean, I get the idea, of it’s not always sunshine and clear skies in battle, but… I swallowed some of that stuff once and it was disgusting. When it gets to that point, no. Just no.” So she wasn’t as uptight about her appearance as she suspected a lot of Venus kids were – well, at least Maddi was from the one time she’d talked to her – but that didn’t mean she enjoyed that nasty squelchy feeling where it wasn’t supposed to be. Which, in her opinion, was anywhere. Water, good. Mud, gross.

When Julia admitted to rambling, Clare couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, don’t worry about rambling. You saw how bad I can be.” She looked back to the crystals and scrunched up her face a little in displeasure. “Yeah, seems they like to be all function and no fun.” She looked back to Julia, expression back to normal, “Though the shops in New Rome are a little better about it at least.” There were a good number of shops in New Rome, after all, that had all sorts of not-so-functional things like candy or toys or books that didn’t have to do with war and history and boring stuff like that. She was pondering the assortment of options when Julia spoke up again and, not for the first time, she had to pull herself from her own thoughts. Cursed ADHD. “Oh, you’re definitely not!” What was she up to. Excellent question. “Um… well, I know what I should be doing. Like practicing or going to the temples, but what I actually am doing is a different story. Mostly just poking around. Like to see if there’s anything new and different.” Even though there usually wasn’t. Oh well.

WORD COUNT: 481
TAG: Julia
NOTE: Sorry it’s so short!!!!