Run, Run, As Fast As You Can (Josh)

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Remus did not like having no weapon on hand. In fact, it made him feel, pathetic as it sounded, naked and kind of empty. He was a child of Mars! The war god’s children were not supposed to be sans weaponry. Not that he wasn’t confident that he couldn’t fight someone without a weapon. But still. However, he still very much remembered when he was young and new here and had tried to sneak a weapon past Terminus. He’d figured that a child of Mars could certainly get away with it, and he’d hidden the little dagger fairly well. Apparently, Terminus did not think it funny. In fact, he’d given him a twenty minute lecture on city safety and how a little kid could not get away with pulling an ‘et tu, brute’. Not that Remus had intended that in the slightest. Actually, he had looked up to those in power, with the dream that he would one day be in that position. So why would he hurt them?

Which led him to where he was now, sitting in the circus maximus as some slightly older kids below ran the chariot track, content in watching. Technically, he could be among them soon enough. He only had less than a year left of service at Camp Jupiter, but still he couldn’t see himself leaving, even if it was just for the city. He was a warrior, and as he’d talked with Charlie-Mack on more than one occasion, that wasn’t something easily given up without darn good reason. And at the moment, he didn’t have one. So he could easily picture himself ruling Camp Jupiter with an imperial gold fist – if allowed – until he was too old to hold a sword up anymore. Camp Jupiter was like his pet. He would take care of this place if it killed him. And besides, he’d miss Aurum and Argentum, the two automaton greyhounds that guarded him and Zidane. Leave this place? He would gladly just die, because outside fighting and protecting New Rome and its people, what was there? Well, there was that odd relationship he was sort of in with Felicity, but that was another story entirely. And just what sort of story, he wasn’t entirely sure.

He absently watched the race going on below, completely absorbed in a mix of his own thoughts and dissecting what he would be doing if he were in the racers’ shoes – like not paint the chariot like that! And their means of spurring on the horses was just sad to witness. Whips were not outlawed here, after all, and it wasn’t like that hurt the things or something like that. They were just pansies, he came to the conclusion. Perhaps heading back to the Principia wasn’t such a bad idea, but with the joking taunts he’d gotten before about never leaving that place from Felicity, he was almost a little determined to prove that he could spend time away from work.

Tag: Josh
Word Count: 478
Notes: a little short, but it works!

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It seemed that josh was walking on clouds those days, just a week before Rhia had conffessed that she loved him, she loved a crazy thief like himself! Well, it was a blessing to know that, because he also loved her more than his life. He was happy, maybe completely happy for the first time in his life! In the outside he only smiled a bit more, but was the same Joshua Rogers that everyone knew and have seen in the camp for the last 8 years, but inside... well he was radiant and self confident, gods if that was even possible!

He was so happy, that he haven't even tried to sneak out again for two whole months! That had to be a record. For other campers, it was normal to be all the time in the camp, for someone like Josh more than a week in the camp without teleporting out, even with the massive migraines, was too much! But two months ago, he got into a pretty deep mess, he almost got killed and got caught when he, and his brother, came back from the outside.

He promised Lance and his brother Rick he wouldn't go out at least for a couple of weeks. Rhia got herself really bad injured in a training. Then Felicity broke his heart telling him that Remus was the one she loved. Then Remus himself gave him his punishment. Josh thought he would have been really severe that time, but because he was still kind of injured from his fight with the scorpions, so he only told him to sharpen all the weapons in Camp, that lets say were thousands, and clean the stables for a month. Thank the gods he had already finished with that one too! Finally Rhia conffessed her love for him and he was happier than ever.

Yet, he still wanted to be out of Camp Jupiter from time to time, so he decided to go to New Rome, maybe he could get something to share with Rhia later when Felicity finished the training and Rhia and Josh could spend some time together by the lake. but when he walked by the Maximus Circus he heard the yells of the people inside, so he thought he should go and check who was winning those days. Caius Vinicius was one of the best and he had been the champion for the last 8 races!

He walked in and looked for an empty spot, he looked around and saw a free spot, he smiled and walked to where the spot was, but a couple of feet from there he saw that Remus was right next to the spot. Josh sighed and smiled. After all what had happened, he in many ways thank the gods Felicity had broken his heart, he was happy with Rhia. He also thanked the gods Remus was the leader of the Camp, he may be was a robot, but he was what the Camp needed to survive.

He walked to the spot and stood by Remus' side. "well, it is a miracle to see you out of Principia..." smiled and looked at Remus.

NOTES: it is great!!

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There was something about watching people in dangerous, low-safety chariots racing around a ring that was enthralling. Nascar and the horse races of the moral world had nothing on their Roman counterparts. Poor souls were missing out and didn’t even know it. Ah well, their loss. They thought their sports were fantastic merely because they did not know what real sports were. After all, what legionnaire didn’t recall with some fondness the first ludii they attended? He knew he certainly did. It had been his first Ludii Plebeii when he was but ten years old. Though it had been nine years ago, he could still remember being entranced by the games and the majesty of it all. All of New Rome had been polished to the tee and decked out for the games and even Terminus had seemed almost in a good mood.

These, though, these were just standard races. Part of the normal Roman panis et circenses. Though they weren’t as gaudy and prestigious as the ludii, but they were still entertaining enough to watch. So watch he did. Or rather, half pay attention and half let his mind wander. His mind went back to the mountain of papers waiting for his review back in the Principia. Well, it wasn’t like he had to do them, but it made him feel like he was doing something for the camp he held so dear. They were facing something big and unknown, and possible quite dangerous, none of which sounded good in Remus’ book, though he tried not to show his anxiety to anyone. In fact, he was pretty sure only Zidane knew he was so anxious about things at all, and that had been by accident really.

Mentally, he started running through the old files once more. While it was doubtful that anything from the 1800s as he’d been looking in would really do that much to help, there was a chance. After all, the incident with the Titans that had happened two years ago could have been aided by a little more knowledge about them, and as it turned out, about the minor gods as well. And especially now that there were plenty of gods and even a titan roaming the camp that he’d heard, knowledge on the situation was all the more important. Some of them he wasn’t so bad with, like Mars or Apollo, seeing as one was the patron of Rome and his dad and the other was, well, let’s be honest, kinda harmless. Diana could use a trip away so she didn’t get any ideas about snatching up any of the younger campers here for her crazy girls’ club, but she was essentially harmless too. Cupid and Mercury were troublemakers in his book, but not the kind that threatened the camp really. Mors worried him a little bit, seeing as the god usually only showed up when someone was dead or pretty near it. At least, that he was aware of. And Prometheus with his sense of foreboding wasn’t much better. So all in all, it was a curious bunch hanging around the camp.

So lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice much – not even the race to be honest – until someone spoke up. Josh. Oh, good. Hadn’t he just dealt with this kid? Then again, seeing that he was okay from those injuries was something of a relief. Not because he much cared for Josh, but because a soldier down was never a good thing. Not that Josh made a very reliable soldier with his running-away habits, but still. He took a deep breath, hoping for some form of patience, if that was possible with him. “Josh. Yes, strange though it may be, I do leave every once in a while. Though perhaps not as often as I should. Here for the races, I presume?”

Tag: Josh
Word Count: 641
Notes: late, and not very good, but muse has been failing lately

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Josh gave Remus a half smile, then he looked back at the Races. Marcus Vinicus wasn't in the race, that meant it wasn't one of the huge and important race, maybe amateurs, and that was good, sometimes there were a natural racer and in a strike of luck they could make their way to the Ludii. The people seemed to be very excited, but why was that? Josh leaned over the bar a bit and looked to the racers coming, he saw why the excitement, the racer number three was coming faster than the others but the racer 4 had a carriage style greek, that wasn't good... those ones had spikes on the wheels and usually were used to destroy the wheels of their competition. "that should be against the law!" he said not paying attention to Remus. It was kind of comic to listen to him talking about respeting the law, when he was the first one to break the rules all the time!

Then Remus replied to him. Josh looked at Remus and got his sight apart from the race by the moment the carriages passed exactly in front of the place where they were standing on. Josh half smiled when he mentioned tht he needed to leave Principia more. Then he asked if he as there because of the races. Josh shook his head and then as a man yelled near them that the one on the greek styled carriage should be punished. Then he smiled again and replied in a moment when people weren't screaming that much. "Not really, I was going to get some food, later maybe invite my girl to the lake and spend some time together."

He said and then looked back at the race, the third racer was on the ground and some horses had run over him. "that will need a lot of ambrosia" he said and then looked at Remus again. The Praetor seemed to be in more than one place, his mind seemed to be in other moment or place. "I heard the noise here and thought that maybe the champion Marcus Venicus was racing, but he wasn't" Then he turned and leaned his lower back onto the bar and crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn't Remus friend, in fact since like... forever Josh had been a real pain in the podex to Remus. But he really seemed to need someone who could see things out of the box. "what's wrong Stone? I haven't been out in a while, so it's not my thick file the une needing an update, right?" he wanted to be... funny and bring Remus' mind back to the Circus.

NOTES: Sorry for this being so late!! RL was killing my muse, but now I'm fine and back! lol
PS, I love the plot with them! XD

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Remus had to chuckle to himself as Josh of all people decided to critique the laws. Seeing as he was notorious for conveniently ‘forgetting’ them. But he couldn’t help it and leaned forward himself to see what Josh was talking about. And frowned with disgust. “Anything Greek should be outlawed if you ask me. We don’t need their garbage here. We conquered them for a reason.” It didn’t even dawn on him the oddness of the way he was talking. As though he had been there for the battles that had won Rome the territory that had once been Greece. But that was the way Remus’ mind worked. As far as he believed, anything that Rome did still applied to them today. They were still members of Rome, even if it wasn’t the ancient empire over in the Mediterranean. He sat back and shook his head. Greeks be gone, so far as he cared, along with all their silly little toys they called technology. Obviously from the shouting, he wasn’t the only one with that thought process. Not all that surprising really in a Roman camp. There was a certain pride that came with being Roman.

He nodded slightly when Josh answered his question, thankfully when less people were screaming. “That sounds pleasant.” A little short, yes, but he wasn’t really sure what else to say. He had never been good with this relationship stuff. It was only recently that he and Felicity started dating and he was still pretty sure he was messing everything up. By some miracle, she hadn’t come to her senses and ditched him yet. Thankfully, he was saved from having to come up with a further answer by a collective gasp from the majority of the audience. He looked to the race in time to see a horse nearly trample a man that had fallen out of his chariot. Hazards of the game. He looked back to Josh. “He should be thankful it didn’t crush his skull really. Though that’s Rome for you.” A little grim, but it was true. Rome was not a peaceful place. This was a military camp and a city filled with retired soldiers and soon to be soldiers.

Marcus Venicus. A popular racer, to be sure, and no surprise to be looking for him. They guy was amazing in the chariot. “Not this race. Haven’t seen him out in a while to be honest. Which is a shame.” Another pause of silence as they both watched the races. It dawned on him that this was probably the only time he had talked to Josh that didn’t involve exacting punishment. It was… sort of odd. And what he was least expecting was Josh to sound concerned. Followed by a joke to boot. This was getting to be the most unexpected meeting he’d been part of in a long while. It took him a second, but he hazarded a small smile. “No, I think you’re up to date. Unless you want to confess anything.” There was still the question, though. And Remus wasn’t really sure how to go about it. There was the honest answer then there was the leave me alone answer. After a moment, he decided he didn’t really have any reason to hide anything. It wasn’t like his thoughts were confidential. “Look around you. These people, this city, this camp. I feel responsible for it all. And I’m afraid it might be in danger. I will die before I let anything happen to anyone here.” He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little curious on how a jokester like Josh would respond to something like that.

Tag: Josh
Word Count: 609
Notes: don’t worry about it! Totally understand rl and muse not getting along, lol

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Josh was still looking at the wheels and how they were getting closer to the wheels of the racer number three. He saw how almost all the Romans in the Circus were yelling out in disgust of the selection of those kind of wheels. Then Josh heard Remus' comment, he was right, all the greek stuff should be banned from camp and the City. "yeah..." he sighed and thought about that. Romans conquered the greeks, they couldn't have a chance against the roman legions, it was impossible, they were the best army in the known world by that time, and even in the present they still were the best one. "maybe if the greek would have followed their Spartan ones... maybe and only maybe they could have resisted a bit more of the Roman attacks, but in the end the result would have been the same one... Romans would have conquered them all"

He stated as the racers were lost at the corner of the leap, Then he looked at Remus, not that the crowd was kind of silent waiting for the racers to run the other half of the track and show up again on the other side of it, by the other corner. He smiled widely and nodded, it was pleasent to think about spending his afternoon with Rhia, but he couldn't resist a good race, he had never been able to resist it. "yeah, I'll look for her after the race is over." He smiled at Remus and then looked back when the carriages came back turning on the other corner. He nodded at what Remus said. He was right, the roman way had always been more tough and rough than any others. "yeah... he's lucky. Still he will be praying to the gods to keep his legs, usually racers lose them after injuries like those... well mortal ones at least."

Then he listened to Remus about not having seen Marcus Venicus in a while. It was a real pity, he was the best and only a serious injury or his death would have kept him away from the circus. He thought about it for a second and the idea wasn't pleasent at all, death was common in a demigod life, but it was never pleasent to know that a demigod had died, no matter the reasons. Besides, Marcus was a hero too, he was well know for all the things he had done in the past, specially the circus and the Othrys battle. "I hope it's only vacations and not something else."

Then he almost laughed when Remus said his file was good if he didn't have to confess anything. Well that was something tempting, but the fact was that he hadn't done anything wrong in the past days, not since he came back all injured by those scorpions. "not at all my distinguished praetor, I fear I haven't done anything that would worth to be added to my already thick file." he said with a wide smile and then Remus told him about his fears, how he cared for the romans, not only campers but members of New city too. He knew about it, he in fact had been born there, the woman who took care of him when his step father died, still lived in New Rome, so he also felt kind of responsible for the people, both in camp and in the City.

But would Remus believe him? would anyone believe that a prankster, a thief like him would really care about the people that lived in camp and in the City... He sighed and after a second, he looked at Remus, he had lost his goofy smile to replace it for his confident one, the one he only used when he was talking about something serious and he was sure about it. "I got you... even when this people were once campers too and all of them are trained warriors, the ones in active service are the ones who should keep them safe..." he said and then looked at the race, but not really paying attention to it. "I would do anything to keep them safe, the ones I love with my life live here. The one I could call mother, my brother, the one who was stolen my heart and mind,..." smiled talking about RHia. "I would never let anyone or anything hurt them... and if you ever need a soldier, you have one in me..." looked at Remus again. "no matter I'm a sneak thief and a prankster... I'm a roman first."

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Remus listened in silence as Josh spoke, though he had to smile a little. Mutual dislike for the Greeks. It seemed he and Josh had something in common after all. Who would have guessed? Well, being Roman, at least this point of similarity wasn’t that uncommon, though the idea that he and Josh had anything similar about them was sometimes laughable. He nodded though. “The Spartans. Yes, now there’s a group of Greeks worth something. Not as good as the Romans, of course, but a decent effort for a graecus.” He looked to the race as the chariots disappeared around the bend and the other side of the circus maximus crowd erupted into cheers and shouts now that they had a good view of the race at hand.

It was good to hear that Josh had someone like Rhia. He was tempted to ask about it, but resisted. Sometimes he was afraid his own relationship was so messed up and he himself was so messed up that he couldn’t help but wonder at times what a real relationship would be like. Without the drama and the hardship. Then again, maybe that was just the reason they made movies about it. Who knows? He gladly turned his attention back to the race. That was something he could understand. Something solid and simple. Win. And try not to get killed in the process. Which seemed to not be going so well for the charioteer on the ground. “I guess we’ll see how much the Fates favor him, hmm?”

Marcus Venicus. Remus didn’t always follow the races as closely as some people, but the guy’s name was a household one. He nodded. “I imagine they all need a break at some point. I’m sure he’ll be back before you know it.” There was that wide smile. Remus had learned long ago to worry about the state of the camp when Josh Rogers got that look on his face. It usually meant he was up to something. He couldn’t help but smile a little, just a hint of it, at that look. Typical Josh. “Nothing to add, huh? Well, that much is new. And why do I have trouble believing it?” He chuckled to himself and looked back to the race, losing himself in his thoughts.

Opening up to Josh of all people, even just a little, felt so odd. This sort of thing he usually saved for people he was actually close to like Charlie or Jason. The last thing he expected was for Josh to open up in return. Suddenly the race became a lot less interesting. He turned to Josh, frowning slightly as he tried to make heads or tails out of the unusual son of Mercury. He couldn’t help but listen intently, watching the other boy. Josh really had a lot more to him that he let on usually. He cared just as much about the people here. Maybe he was a greater guy than Remus ever had given him credit for. He couldn’t help but admire his courage and commitment. It almost made him take back every bad thing he’d ever said about him. Almost. He nodded to him when he looked over and finished. “The way things are going, I might have to take you up on that. You know, I’ve underestimated you, Josh. I’m sorry for that. You’re not so bad.” Which, coming from Remus Stone, was admitting a lot.

Tag: Josh
Word Count: 573
Notes: sorry this stinks. My muse was trying desperately to die out