I Just Wanted An Excuse To Write Bryce Lawerence Ill Be Honest Guys- - Tumblr Posts
SoN Re-imagining Story snippet
This is that one strategizing scene I added to introduce some characters; the first draft of it specifically, it has been briefly skimmed and is of course a first draft. It’s really long, sorry dudes-
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It'd been a few weeks maybe? It didn't matter much anyways, Percy still hadn't gotten the best grips on Camp Jupiter and the routine, Hazel and Frank kept him away from trouble well enough and Dakota was as lenient of a Centurion as possible. It's been... rough, between drilling and the marches freetime was nothing more than a passing thought or joke; a jab to 'wait until after dinner' from more senior legionnaires who could only have gotten used to the constant hustle and bustle of Camp life.
"Wait- I thought Dakota said something about staying loose?" Percy asked, Riptide spinned idly in his hand while the three lazed about in the clearing. Perks of the Centurions taking half the day off for the Cohorts Legion-wide to plan for the War games and their Optiones deciding to also just give the legionnaires the day off too. Frank took refuge under the shade of a tree; the old strategy handbook looked small and paper-thin from wear as he marked down more notes into the margins. Hazel shook her head a little, moving over to stand shoulder to shoulder with him,
"No, you have to be really close next to each other during combat so you shouldn't be 'loose'. I mean maybe keep your shoulders relaxed?" She tried to off the advice, and urged the two to go back into practicing some drills for another half hour; even Frank joined in for the extra practice, even if it didn't really apply to him much as an archer.
The three were only interrupted by a voice shouting out at them, maybe it was something like 'Hey guys!' but it was for the most part cut off by the sound of it's speaker coughing on his own kool-aid. Dakota came running up, flask in hand and cap halfway unscrewed,
"Hey, Hey! We need some second opinions and you guys are the closest so hurry up before Hank and Sylvia decide for us," He didn't really give any of the three time to respond except for Frank's small muttered "What?" before they were following after their Centurion back to the Meeting place of choice (Bombillo's). It's not like they had much of a choice anyways; even if Perc would've preferred telling Dakota to find some legionnaires who were more experienced. But regardless the three made their way to the Fabrica strip, passing Legionnaires cherishing their moments off. Playing games, flitting in and out of the few shops in Camp Jupiter; the Forge, bookshop, Bombillo's and an empty shop that hadn't been inhabited for years and wouldn't be since the Senate was; in Mercury's words, 'Constantly arguing over what they'd actually do with it'. Not that Percy liked or trusted Mercury all that much, she also said that place had been an old hair salon in the 80's and 90's so who really knew? Dakota nicely enough held the door open for the three of them.
The smell of ambrosia hit Percy's nose immediately; the sweet scent of fresh brownies. Five other legionnaires sat huddled around a table with a rough drawing of what the Field of Mars looked like at the moment and the proposed interior layout of the Fort. Gwen; who Percy didn't talk with much, she always dealt with the senior Legionnaires in the Fifth Cohort, popped her blonde head up from the mass; with the rest following suit. A boy with scruffy auburn hair and growing sideburns that couldn't have been legion approved frowned and scoffed a little,
"Dakota couldn't you have found some people more experienced? Not three probatios?" The kid snapped, *Exactly what I'm saying*, though Percy kept the thought to himself. Hazel stood there silently, like she was going to mouth off but barely stopped herself; lest she got the three of them in trouble again. Gwen rolled her eyes and put her hand on the Centurion's shoulder in a placating matter,
"Calm down Hank, it's not that serious. They'll have good things to say, I mean they have to at least know *something*." Gwen gave them all; including Dakota a 'you better know something'. It seemed like a common enough stare that any legionnaire knew; plenty of them gave off that energy during drills or when they were paired with Percy. He nodded a little and walked over to the table, Hazel and Frank staying a little bit back still; everyone seemed to respect Percy a bit more here anyways. Gwen seemed satisfied enough and glanced over, something about her reminded him off his dream girl; Annabeth. Maybe it was that similar look in her brown eyes while Dakota stood next to her,
"Hey, we don't bite.. well, I don't at least," She joked a bit, a few of the Centurions chuckling along and it got a half snort from Frank. Gwen continued with some satisfaction, "You guys probably haven't been here long enough to know all of us- or, Hazel I know you do but just for the sake of it. I'm Gwendolyn, or Gwen for short, Daughter of Mithras. That guy with the beard is Hank-" "It's not a *beard*!" "-Whatever. Uh, that's Sylvia, Leila, and Tanner."
Hank still looked faux-upset over the beard comment, brushing down his sideburns with his hands while Sylvia; his Co-Centurion gave a joking push. Leila was calm enough, wheat-blonde and sitting in her chair sipping on the culprit to the Ambrosia smell next to the dark-haired kid identified as Tanner. Percy gave a flimsy wave while Dakota tried to reel the conversation back in.
"Uh okay- cool, we have introductions but important stuff at hand. We still haven't picked formations and whose getting Hannibal." Everyone shifted a little, Hank and Leila straightened up, while even Tanner looked a bit more interested; even desperate to have everything sorted out. Dakota continued. It was... boring, to say the absolute least. Mostly just everyone arguing over who's doing what and various rock paper scissors games, bringing the legionnaires into it to pick sides. It was a bit hard- knowing if you didn't agree with your Centurion's opinion they could easily punish you for it. Though with some hesitation things might have finally been settled? Percy didn't exactly know but what he did fully know is that he wanted to be as close to the siege as possible, it almost felt like instinct in a funny way. Frank sublty moved his little scribbled notes over to Dakota to read; knowing their Centurion already let the hour and a half of planning slip his mind.
"So, we're all in agreement on this, we're going in first with the siege towers; the 3rd will come in around the sides to see if we can make any breaks that way and the fourth get's Hannibal when we're in-" Dakota was jabbed in the ribs by Sylvia, who over the time Percy had come to the knowledge that she was a child of Fortuna; the Roman Goddess of luck. Percy had to stop himself from calling her a daughter of Tyche several times, the Legion never liked hearing about the Greek names for Gods. Dakota rolled his eyes and moved the fake map to knock on the hardwood table, taking a drink of his kool aid, "There, we won't be jinxed. Gods Sylvia."
After seeming marginally satisfied with the half-hearted knock Sylvia nodded a bit. The Centurions rushed all of the normal legionnaires out for the Centurion clean-up Bombillo's after they moved several tables to fit their needs. Unfortunately it was also getting close to closing time of most of the shops so the legionnaires were getting their last minute.. Well, everythings settled and figured it out. Percy got pretty lost in the crowd immediately, only to be pulled out and away from the crowd by his upper arm into the much more deserted backroads that led to the barracks. It took Percy a minute to get his grips with what was happening and to tug his arm free whipping around to see his... somewhat halfway capturer, his crowd surge savior? It was.. the kid who had been staring him down when the legion welcomed him in. Those bacteria-pond algae colored eyes and very poorly healed broken nose was enough of a giveaway. The kid scratched at some of the scruff under his chin, a Pilum in hand; stamped proudly with the 1st cohort branding. Percy quickly jumped to asking,
"Are you from the First Cohort? What are you doing like.. not up there or on the main road then?" It was maybe not the most important question at the time. His new not-buddy gave a dry laugh, it didn't sound as... happy as it probably should've. He replied,
"Ah, nah. I'm Bryce, Bryce Lawerence. This is just an old family good luck charm, I'm actually in the 2nd. But that's not why I needed to talk to you." Bryce replied, he said the words 'Second' and 'old good luck charm' with some amount of bitterness. Like it was someone else's fault he wasn't in (From what Percy had heard of) the 'best cohort'. Bryce gave a smile that was probably meant to be welcoming and Percy noticed the braces that he had; and the same pond scummy green tone as the fun bracket rubber band color. He replied,
"The 2nd Cohort, that's pretty good right?" Percy asked, brows furrowing. It didn't sound really bad, it was the second best cohort anyways right? Bryce scoffed a little and began walking on the paths and Percy trailed behind,
"Not really; just for kids who had good letters and mediocre skills or no letters and bad skills. The scraps left behind from the First Cohort." Bryce huffed. Holding the Pilum close to him, the same type of way a kid might've held a stuffed animal or blanket. Percy didn't really get it, Bryce didn't seem like someone devoid of any skills; he was a big dude after all. In most senses of the word, tall, chubby, and muscular, even if his hair (That was in a grown-out bob type look). Bryce continued on,
"Anyway, that doesn't really matter. I wanted to talk to you, and say that the whole water thing you did on your first day was real cool. The whole, using the Tiber to rip those monsters to shreds was good. More legionnaires have to get off their high horses and realize powers are more useful and should be properly utilized." Bryce spoke. It felt.. uneasy, like he was a spring held tight ready to lunge. It just felt... off, if that made any sense. Percy nodded a little again, while Bryce graciously slowed to walk next to Percy and the Son of Neptune replied,
"Oh, uh. Thanks dude, a lot of people here didn't really appreciate the show. Do you.. like, know any of your powers?" Percy asked, turning his head a bit to look at Bryce. Who gave a grin and nodded a little. It was different, most legionnaires Percy had the off chance to talk with never really liked acknowledging their powers and didn't explore them much; unless it would've been good for the legion of course (Healing, sharing of strength, being able to relieve the mind, stuff like that). But Bryce seemed different, like he knew his power and how much more dangerous and that fact made him proud.
"Oh yeah, I don't have much. Legacies never tend to inherit too much, of course it only gets weirder once we mix up godly blood between parents. But I've still trained up my powers." He didn't seem like he was about to elaborate on what those powers entailed, so Percy felt the awkward air grow thicker around them as the conversation slowed. Bryce frowned a little and tried to pick it back up,
"Yeah- I came over to say. Use the powers during the war games, your cohort and the others aren't gonna win anyway. At least try and make sure you all put up more of a fight. Just.. think on it for the night." Bryce replied, with those words slipping off behind a building. Percy didn't bother to follow the strange, slightly off-putting 2nd Cohort legionnaire. It wasn't like the other interaction's he's had. It wasn't like Hazel telling him that bad things happen in the legion to those that mess around with their powers. Not like Frank fiddling with his bow and trying not to look too upset as a senior archer dug into him a bit. Not even the three at the helm of the First Cohort; Mercury, Octavian, and Michael Kahale. Maybe Mercury was similar-? If not just much more overt in any sinister intentions she had compared to Bryce. Percy shambled back to the Fifth Cohort's second barrack to hopefully re-unite with his Conterbanum or find someone he knew.
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I’m very proud of myself for getting through this scene (which would be a chapter methinks-) though the beginning and the actual Centurion part of the scene is somewhat clunky, I was getting into the writing groove and those really aren’t my favorite parts of the scene. Though all in all I think the transitions between settings, the uh PoV and probably dialogue in the first part could use some help, but that’s what drafts are for!