Another information feast [open]

[anna]

Boredom was a rare thing for Annaleigh Jordana to experience. Usually there was something to talk about; some event that had gone on or someone rising to the occasion or making a fool of themselves so that she could let everyone else know about it. But when it happened, boredom was dangerous. The danger was mainly for the rest of camp, seeing as when Anna couldn’t find anything when she went hunting into leads she would occasionally just make something up off the top of her head and see how far she could go with it before someone called her bluff. And it wasn’t like she ever spread anything particularly nasty… It wasn’t her fault! She was a child of Fama, and rumors demanded to be spread. Anna and her siblings were just the vessels of said spreading. At least they weren’t like their mother, the one who had power to completely ruin your reputation in the blink of an eye. Anna had ruined her fair share of reputations, she’d built many up as well, but it took quite a bit more time for her words to work their magic.

Making things up rarely ended well; basing her whisperings off of what she knew to be true usually helped them last and spread and allowed her to reach her influence over more people. And so Annaleigh found herself walking through New Rome, weaving her way from group to group and trying to find something interesting going on. It was interesting; for the daughter of the goddess of fame, renown, and rumor Anna really did a great job of blending in and remaining inconspicuous. Maybe that was another gift from her mother, or maybe she was just so good because she had practiced being invisible for so many years because it made it that much easier to know what people were doing if they didn’t try to hide things from her. Of course even those who noticed what she was up to weren’t completely safe from her prying eyes and ears. They would try to shy away, take their conversations elsewhere, most likely believing she wouldn’t be able to catch onto what was being said or done. People like that were amusing.

And then there were those who had caught onto the presence of her little black book; the journal where she wrote down notes and ideas as she came across them. They knew what that beat up little moleskine meant, though most of them falsely assumed that Annaleigh kept all of her thoughts about everyone in the Legion written in there and there alone. Of course that had led to instances of people trying to destroy said book. That really just showed how ignorant some of them could be. It held notes and ideas, yes, but why would she trust everything to something that could be so easily damaged? The journal simply allowed her to focus on other things while she observed. The notes and ideas were quickly transferred to the physical and mental files she had, things that documented far more than what was held in the tiny black journal. And those were far harder to destroy; an eidetic memory kept the mental files safe and the places she hid the physical documentation constantly changed.

That little book was out in full force, the pen writing away as Annaleigh made her way down to the forum. The day was quite beautiful, actually, with the sun shining and the temperature nice enough that people were out and about. Even better for eavesdropping. People were relaxed, enjoying their time out in the sunlight and not worrying about who might be listening in on their conversations or analyzing each and every movement they made. It allowed Anna to choose a perch on the central fountain, perfect for seeing and hearing everything that was going on around her. She closed her eyes for a moment, just letting the conversations wash over her and waiting for something particularly interesting to catch her ear as she continued to write. Sometimes, like now, the enhanced hearing was a blessing.

TAG: Open
WORDS: 675
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[Deleted]

It was forum time! Because there was always fun stuff in the forum. Always new stuff to see. Well, that and Marie was just on her way back from returning a book to the library in the academia, so why not stay a while? That and she had “Holding Out For A Hero” (the Shrek version) stuck in her head, so it was a good day. So she set off along the shops and crowds, enjoying the gorgeous day and the interesting crowds. People were so fun to watch. It was interesting to try and see what they were up to and sort out what was going on in their head just by watching. Unfortunately, that did not make walking easy, so she spent a lot of time stopped and just looking around.

A coffee and a fresh peach later, she was on the move again, saying hi to whoever looked her way. After all, it was sort of weird to make eye contact and not say something, right? So she took care of that. That and being in a good mood put everything in a happier light. So by the time she got to the fountain area of the main forum, she was beaming. That was when she caught sight of a semi familiar face. She knew she’d seen the girl around and probably should know her, but with her gift for forgetting names, that wasn’t really that surprising. So she did the only logical thing, for Marie at least. Stand there and watch her through the crowds for a moment in the hopes that some memory of her would come back. And for one of those rare instances, it did. That was right, she remembered that face! Not the name, but the face! The girl who people always warned you to be careful around or you’d end up with nasty rumors spreading about you. Daughter of Fama, if she wasn’t much mistaken, which made sense. Well, she wasn’t about to let some old wife’s tales scare her of. The only way to get to know a person was to talk to them! And who knew, this girl might end up being a great friend or something!

So she strolled over, coffee in hand. That was when she noticed the odd thing. She was writing, yes, but her eyes were closed. That wasn’t exactly normal. So she took a seat next to her and promptly tried to settle the matter. “How can you write with your eyes closed like that? You must be really good at it. I’d write all jibberish and the lines would look awful. I’m Marie, by the way. What’s your name?” No harm in saying hello by way of a question. That was usually how her encounters went anyway.

Tag: Annaleigh!
Word Count: 464
Notes: sorry it’s short! Muse wasn’t cooperating as much as I’d have liked.

[anna]

Yes, enhanced hearing could be a blessing. But it could also be a curse, like that group over there; the one with the young woman with such high-pitched obnoxious laughter that Annaleigh wanted to rip her ears off. She had spent years bettering her abilities, and had come quite far from where she had been when she’d discovered the power. Back then it had been like standing under a waterfall, with everything coming crashing down over her at once. Now at least she had some control over what she heard. Yes, the waterfall problem came up every once in a while when she was looking for something interesting, but mostly she could focus in on one conversation and drown the others out. But occasionally she got stuck on certain sounds… obnoxious laughter, for instance. And that was how she ended up with two pages in the journal cursing that obnoxious daughter of Venus, her normally intricate handwriting transformed into a mess of scribbles and strikethroughs.

She forced herself away from the conversation, opening her eyes and looking at those pages. They would have to be burned. Anna wouldn’t spread anything about that girl, and it would be best if no one ever found the notes she had taken in an annoyed state. Another thing she had learned through the years. Anything written or spoken in a foul mood tended to be false. If the feelings continued over the long term, then perhaps they had an inkling of truth to them. Yes, she had spread her share of nasty rumors, but most of those nasty rumors held some truth, and even her mother loved to tangle the true with the false sometimes. Maybe certain people didn’t want their skeletons shoved into the spotlight, but then again maybe those people deserved to have their closets cleaned out. Not to say that everything she did was bad… Just a few pages back Anna had some notes about that same Venus girl doing exceptionally well in training. Which was why she had to remember to burn these pages as soon as it was safe to do so.

But now Anna’s eyes were closed again, and she had managed to drown out that laughter, though she hadn’t really found anything of great interest or importance yet. Just the same boring stuff as always. Though of course that didn’t mean that Anna could stop recording it. No, she wrote down everything, regardless of how inconsequential it seemed at the moment. Who knew when something little could turn into something much more? She had to know absolutely everything about absolutely everyone around her. So the young demigod let herself get emersed in the conversations, the immaculate handwriting returned, and she was calm once again. Until someone interrupted her; then her eyes were open again and the pen stopped. She took in the young woman in front of her, accessing those ever so handy mental files. Marie Winters. Daughter of Janus.

”Years of practice, but that’s not to say it stays perfect all the time.” Though that was usually when she was angry, not because her eyes were closed. No need to show the daughter of Janus what she had written about the obnoxious laughter, however, so Anna closed the notebook and slipped her pen into a pocket. ”Nice to meet you, Marie. I’m Annaleigh, but call me Anna if you’d like.” She offered the hand that had been holding her pen out. ”What brings you to the forum on this beautiful day?”

TAG: Open
WORDS: 586
NOTES: Rambling Anna is rambling.
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[Deleted]

Marie was not a stranger to strangers. Which come to think of it, was kind of a weird thing to say. Because if they were a stranger, you were likely a stranger to them. But what she meant in it all was that she was not one to avoid strangers. After all, if you did that then how did you know that they couldn’t be friends. Now that was an established fact. She hadn’t known Chris, after all, or Ronan – but was it bad that she was mostly focused on Chris? Sorry, Ronan – before she’d wandered into the forge that day. Everyone there had been a stranger, but now she counted them as friends. That was the lovely thing about being outgoing. Sure, you made some enemies, but in the end, things usually balanced out. And who knew, maybe this girl would prove to be a friend. And she wasn’t just saying that because getting on her bad side would be a really bad thing. She honestly was curious about the older girl, what made her who she was. How she thought and what she liked and why. Those were the sorts of questions Marie was curious about when it came to everyone in this camp. Perhaps it was the psychology books getting to her, but she’d sort of always been like this. Asking questions where most people were content to just accept things the way they were. That was just how Marie worked. How her brain functioned. Blame her dad.

Which brought her here to the fountain and to the side of someone she was quite curious about and that she had never gotten around to talking to. Well, that was about to change. “Practice? I guess that makes sense. Like how we all get good at fighting because they make us train til we’re blue. Not that I don’t like the system. Trust me, I’m no rebel. So anyway, you don’t seem the type to make a whole lot of mistakes though. Is it hard to listen in on other people. How do you know what’s important and what’s not? I would think that would be really hard. Or do you just write down whatever you hear? I guess that might make sense.” She realized a little late she was being a chatterbox again and bit back any other questions or ideas that were constantly bubbling to the surface. That was normal life for her. She had a constant, steady stream of questions and thoughts come to mind. Opinions on this, curiosity regarding that.

Annaleigh. What an interesting name. So she decided to tell her as much in typical uncensored Marie fashion. “That’s a pretty name. But okay, Anna it is. Good to meet you. You’re a daughter of Fama, right? That’s neat.” She tapped her half-eaten peach on her knee as she looked over, distracted for a moment by a couple of little boys playing gladiator with wooden swords, which seemed to have morphed into a game of chase. Oh, yeah, conversation with Anna. She looked back to Annaleigh. “Sorry, easily distracted. Little kids and all. They’re so cute at that age. Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, what am I doing here. I just got back from returning a book at the academia. I like to read a lot. Psychology mostly. That and it’s too nice to avoid the forum today! What about you? Enjoying the crowds and the nice weather? I bet you can get a lot of interesting stuff with so many people around, huh?”

Tag: Annaleigh
Word Count: 591
Notes:

[anna]

Annaleigh certainly wasn’t a stranger to strangers either. Except in her case most people remained strangers. Occasionally she tried to strike up a conversation with someone, but then they usually shied away when she mentioned something in conversation that they had never told her. Something she had found out about them before officially meeting them… Again a place where the gifts from her mother could double as a curse. It had always been that way, as far back as she could remember. She had even freaked out a couple of her dad’s friends because she would mention something they’d never told her, but with people her own age it was different. Worse. It made making friends so difficult sometimes, so Anna tended to stay on the stranger side with most people. A lot of the people around here knew her reputation; they could approach her if they wanted to. And it seemed as though Marie had done just that. Well, nothing that Anna knew about the other girl set off any alarms in her head, so why not enjoy a pleasant conversation and potentially make a friend?

She couldn’t help but smirk slightly when Marie began to ramble. Anna was a woman of few words, and rarely asked questions (mainly because she normally knew the answers if the questions were about other people), but questions seemed to be what Marie was made of. ”The system here is quite fair, actually. Work your way up to the top, respect where it is warranted… It all works out.” She nodded, choosing her words carefully before answering any of the actual questions. ”Listening to everything has gotten easier through the years, practice again. And I don’t write absolutely everything down, just what I find important. Everything else just goes to my head. And what is important changes every day.” She decided to leave out the physical files it all got copied down to after each session or whenever she learned something new… No need to sound like a complete stalker. Though if anyone outside of her half-siblings were to understand it would probably be Marie, who seemed to constantly have questions.

”You’re welcome to call me Annaleigh if you’d like, but most people prefer Anna. And yes, I’m a daughter of Fama, which I guess helps with all of the questions you’ve asked. A lot of this is a gift from my mother.” She followed Marie’s gaze over to where the children were playing, smiling at their little game. ”Believe me, I know all about distractions.” She’d gotten better at it, but still. ”Psychology? Interesting. I’ve read a bit myself; it’s nice to know what makes people tic. She let out a laugh when Marie asked why she was there. ”You’ve got it. Nice weather brings everyone out, and they talk a little louder and more freely. It’s always better to have truth in the things I tell everyone else instead of just making them up as I go. A lot less dangerous for everyone involved.”

TAG: Open
WORDS: 504
NOTES:
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[Deleted]

Marie wasn’t good at making friends usually. People tended to find her knack for asking every question under the sun and then some to be a might annoying. That and there were the mood swings to deal with. She almost had them under control, but they did still happen, and could be quite unpleasant when they did. Ah well, just part of being Marie. Or rather, part of being a child of Janus. She had a few close friends. Like she considered Jason a good friend. But then again, he had saved her life at the battle of Orthys, so she wasn’t sure how much that counted. She tried to be nice enough to her friends, sparing them the brunt of her curiosity. Which she realized too late was not working so well with Anna. She mentally told herself to calm down. She didn’t want to ruin maybe gaining a new friend just because she couldn’t shut her trap.

Was it bad that she was a little surprised that Anna didn’t tell her to buzz off? Maybe a little, But it was still true. She nodded in agreement when Anna talked the system here. She was right, or course. This place was a well-oiled machine. This was one of those rare occasions where Marie stayed silent. She respected people, Annaleigh included, it was just that usually she didn’t show it very well. And this time around, she was determined to show it a little better. So she listened as the other girl talked. And it made sense really. You only got good at something through practice, so naturally Anna must have been working on this for a long time to get as good as she seemed to be at it. Marie gave some thought to her words and she couldn’t help but get a few questions from it. A few didn’t hurt, right? “But wait. If it changes per day, then what if what was important and thus you wrote it down turns up not to be important the very next day, and something else was? Or are you used to that happening and can sort of predict it in advance? That would be a handy talent to have, huh?”

She smiled brightly. “I like your name and your nickname. So I’m fine with either! So if you’re more used to the nickname, I’ll go with that.” She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, just a bit. You must have some interesting gifts for this sort of thing. Knowing people is the best way to win a fight if it comes to that, I usually tend to think. Not that I particularly like battle. I just like to know people. So many layers. Like a parfait.” She smiled to herself at the little movie reference. Ah, Donkey, one of her favorite characters ever! But back to the conversation at hand. She brightened when Anna agreed with her. “Oh phew. I mean, I know a lot of people here have adhd for battle reflexes and all that, but I always felt like I was a little too easily distracted.” And Anna didn’t think her a dork for liking psychology! Great! “Yeah, me too. My mom did that for a living, so I guess you could say I want to follow in her footsteps. But yeah, it’s so interesting knowing or at least guessing what’s going on in a person’s head. Not to sound creeperish.” She smiled along as Anna laughed and affirmed her guess as to why she was here. Though the part about what Annaleigh did was interesting. She supposed she had never really put it to thought much until now. “So how exactly does that work? I mean, if I’m allowed to know. I completely understand if not. Just curious. About how you can start all these rumors that become such a big part of the camp makeup. That seems like a lot of responsibility.”

Tag: Annaleigh
Word Count: 654
Notes:

[anna]

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Questions didn’t bother Annaleigh. Without people asking questions, there would be no flow of information. No need for any news or rumors or gossip to spread, and no use for her, her siblings, or her mother. Every question needed an answer, and plenty of questions led people to seek some sort of fame. Anna herself didn’t really ask questions, she let other people’s questions become the reason she went after new leads. Let them be curious, she would provide the answers she could come up with, and maybe they could find their own answers in the news and rumors she spread. After all, everything was open to interpretation.

Honestly, Marie’s questions didn’t bother Anna one bit. And anyway she wasn’t really the type to tell anyone to go away, unless she was really in the middle of coming up with something great; how else would she keep getting new sources? It was fine and dandy to eavesdrop on people and get information that way, but it was much easier if the information was freely given through a chat with a friend. ”Well, I can’t always get everything myself.” She chuckled a little, but tapped the book again. ”But the book lets me write down almost everything I hear throughout the day. Of course I’m not my mother though, and I can’t be everywhere at once. That’s the wonder of siblings. There might not be too many of us, but I’m not the only child of Fama around here.” Between her and her siblings, the children of Fama usually managed to gather anything that might be even remotely important around the legion, and often had little sessions to determine who’s information lined up and were truly important.

”We might not like battle, but sometimes it’s necessary. And it’s a wonderful place for people to earn respect. A lot of what I’ve learned about the people here I learned in battle, whether on the Field of Mars or at Orthys.” People showed their true colors in battle, either rising to the occasion and gaining renown or bowing out in infamy. ”We all have the ADHD, but each of us have our own little things as well, so who can say whether one person’s distracted is another person’s normal?” The children of Mars tended to manage it with their militaristic, ordered lifestyle, she had learned, and on the flipside her and her siblings’ ability to hear so many conversations at once just made it worse. ”I’m definitely following my mother here as well. My father was a star on Broadway, discovered and helped along in the beginning by my mother, but there doesn’t quite seem to be anywhere for that type of activity around here.” She shrugged. Maybe when she left the legion she could pick it up, or continue on the route her mother had taken and become a talent scout… As far away as that seemed it really wouldn’t be too long until Anna was gone from here if she chose to leave. ”To be honest, I’m not quite sure how it works. Sometimes it seems like those Venus kids who can Charmspeak, but not always. I come up with something from the information I gather, and when I mention it to people they just kind of believe me for the most part. Then they tell someone who tells someone, and it takes off. As for responsibility… Sometimes when people don’t like what I’ve spread they get upset, but like I’ve said before everything has a bit of truth to it. If they don’t want it to get around, they shouldn’t have done it. Simple as that.”[/blockquote][/blockquote]

TAG: Open/Marie
WORDS: 608
NOTES: Sorry it took so long![/size]

[Deleted]

Marie had to admit that it was impressive, what Annaleigh did. There was not a snowball’s chance in Tartarus that she could even come close to being that influential. It was interesting to learn about. She looked curiously at the book in the other girl’s hands, though knew better than to look to closely. That was likely private information and very valuable to the daughter of Fama. That and she had a feeling it wouldn’t hold nearly as much meaning to her as it did to the one holding it. Hence why they were both in the positions they were in around the camp. “Ooh, that is a good point. So do you sit down every day or so and compare notes with your siblings then? I bet that would be interesting, to see what everyone else has come up with since you last talked. Pick out the good stuff, and the bad. Maybe over hot chocolate,” she added thoughtfully. The hot chocolate wasn’t necessary of course, but it added a nice cozy little touch.

She nodded as she pondered Anna’s words. Battle really was a good place to make or break yourself (sometimes literally on that last part…). Especially in a world like the one they lived in, the world of monsters and gods and the dominance of the Roman mindset. Aut vincere aut mori. Conquer or die. It was what they lived for from the moment they set foot in that Wolf House. “Good point. That whole Roman war mentality thing. Makes sense.” At a Roman camp, do as the Romans did. Or do. Whichever.

She smiled at the other girl. “You know, I like the way you think. We’re all different, and that’s not a bad thing at all. So yes, this is my normal,” she said with a laugh. She liked her normal. It kept things interesting. And what was life if it didn’t have a little interesting in it? She grinned at Anna as she went on about following in her mom’s footsteps. “She should be proud. You do a really good job. I know a lot of people who have had a real boost from something you’ve said. And the opposite too, but they sort of had it coming so that’s okay. Ooh, but Broadway does sound like fun too! I can’t hold a note to save my life, but it sounds like fun!”

Leaning in a little like she was getting to be privy to some great secret, Marie listened to Anna’s words with interest. It all made sense really. A powerful, raw kind of sense. And she was right, it was pretty straightforward. If they didn’t want their reputation smirched, then they should have thought about that before doing something stupid. “I’m glad you have a gift for that then. You’re right, some people should think more before they do something. They can’t just expect to get away with anything they want.”

Tag: Annaleigh
Word Count: 490
Notes: embarrassingly short, sorry. Muse died halfway through