Better try, try and keep awake.

Ahhh, peace and quiet. Well, no, not really. Veronica was grateful to a degree, as much as she ever was, for the sounds of passing by cars that occasionally distracted her from the music running through her head. She was acutely aware of the irony for this particular torment, and would have rather had seiben seiben aylu ayalu stuck in her head. And that song was awful.

This song wasn't too bad tune wise, except very repetitive. It was the lyrics. She hummed the tune without realizing it as she stood next to Alex, some guy from the 3rd Cohort. Child of Discordia. Surly and quiet. Veronica had no feeling towards him good, or bad, but he wasn't horrible to stand watch with at the Caldecott Tunnel. Boring job.

I will kill you in your sleep, so you better try, try and keep awake. I will kill you in your sleep, so you better try, try and keep awake. I will kill you in your sleep, so you better try, try and keep awake.

So, guard duty today, huh? Alex was not really fond of guard duty, it was much too peaceful and quiet and frankly boring, for his liking. And the person he was with, just humming obnoxious catchy freaking tunes since the beginning of this. Now she was humming one that he knew, the most upbeat song...about murdering people. He didn't even want to know why it was stuck in her head. He knew her -Veronica, wasn't it? A name anyway- for being sweet as hell and as proper as possible in her duites, a perfectionist etc. Well, proud member of the "glorious" 1st after all. Pretty standard.

He tried to concentrate on different stuff -the cars passing et cetera. Unsuccesfully, since her stupid little tune was just getting into Ale's head and driving him freaking crazy. It made him wanting to wait for her to sleep and get his pilum and just drive it inside her sternum (thanks Asterix). He decided to adress her, as calmly as possible since she would probably already be angry due to that stupid aura of his. He cleared his throat. "Could you, like, uh... stop humming this? lt's getting stuck in my head and it's, like, really irritatinng and l would really, like, appreciate it if you could freaking STO- uh... sorry..."

Veronica stopped and sighed, rubbing her face under her helmet for a second. "Sorry. It's firmly stuck in my head. Didn't realize I was humming." She said, smiling in an attempt to be wryly sympathetic. Good. Someone else should have to suffer that infernal song.

"I promise, though, I'm not a serial killer. And I wouldn't stab anyone while they slept." That much was actually also true. It was a little nice when Veronica didn't have to lie, because she didn't have to remember as much. Stabbing was nasty business. Blood everywhere. High likelihood of being caught. Much better to poison someone.

Well, she apologised. And smiled. And was polite and calm and alien-ish perfect or something. He felt as if her brhaviour could be described as:,'I have to be polite to him, just cause.' It wasn't particularly forced, but he still felt that way since she seemed unaffected by nis aura. And no one ever was unaffected by it. Then she...felt the need to say she wasn't a serial killer. Not like anyone could think of her as particularly dangerous -excluding the fact that she was a trained legionnaire that could fight monsters, but that was,kinda standard in their world. Was it a poor attempt to joke?Maybe. "If you say so, l guess." he said, before getting the song stuck in his head. He made a mental note to bring headphones next time he was on guard duty to avoid something like that in the future.

"You don't sound convinced, Alex. Think that I'm hiding a pile of bodies under my bunk?" Veronica asked sweetly, looking over at him from beneath her helmet. "'Cause I'm in the kitche- Sorry." She said as she started to sing it.

To be honest, she would love to see the red blood on the white sheets. The idea gave her a thrill she couldn't and wouldn't explain to anyone else. But the thought of Discordia cursing her too, now that was disturbing. Apollo's sadistic curse was bad enough. Music. And this music that made her want to actually see what the beauty of blood on a white canvas looked like. She sighed, then rubbed her neck. Stabbing would never work. Too strong a likelihood of being caught. "Itching for your red blood, on those white sheets."

Alex would say yes, partly just to see her reaction. Maybe it would offend her and anger hem. Which a part of him found really fun. But he was more unnerved than anything. Music had a big impact of him. When he got angry he heard Anselmo's voice in his head ordering him to "Destoryyyyyy!" and Corey Taylor to "kill everything that guilts him" and he proceeded to stomp everything/one at his sight. He didn't want to know how that particular song affected her. Instead after lots of calculation he decided to play it cool. "You're not. There's no room under your bed for that. he said smiling.

Veronica smirked slightly, "Logic and a sense of humor. Good. Besides, the smell would get to everyone in a few days." She hummed a little. Damnit, she wanted any other song in her head or silence. Gods blessed silence.

Logic and a sense of humor. Right. Of course. Alex was funny. Really funny. Always. A comedian... more like, that statement was funny. And the logic part was funny itself. Hilarious. "See? No reason to even mention not being a serial killer then. There is no evidence claim"ng otherwise. Even though l myself would love to kill some people too."

"I'm sure you would, as a child of Discordia. Mars, Discordia, even Jupiter, violent, vengeful gods and goddesses. It rubs off on the children. And living here, in Camp Jupiter, with violence and other violent people around, that must make it harder. Like in gardening. A bell pepper planted too close to a habenaro plant will produce spicy bell peppers." Veronica said, the song still merrily playing away in her brain as loud as the conversation she was having. She could hardly focus on the conversation for the song.

Alex was about to tell her that she was prejudging, but essentially she was right. Many campers could confirm what short temper he had and he knew it applied to similar parentages too. Though 'to his credit' he tried tl restrain himself more often after starting to date Tanzania to look less like a bloodthirsty freak. Though anyone who'd hurt her in any way would take an arrow to the knee -Skyrim reference ftw- and his/her neck twisted in a way that he/she wouldn't have thought possible. So... "Fair enough. So l will guess you are all calm and sweet all the time? Man, that's boring."

Veronica didn't smile this time. Instead she kept looking forward, her mind replaying the music louder than she could think. "Proserpina's moods shift with the seasons. Calm, yes, that is true enough. No need to lose control. It makes things messy. I prefer things to be in order. Everything, every action, in it's place." She said, once again rather honestly. "Call me boring. I call it proper."

Had Alex... insulted her? He hoped he hadn't. Mostly because he hadn't tried to. Anyway, so her point was that she was always calm because she didn't like it when things got out of control. 'Proper' behaviour. Right. Fair enough, he guessed. Though he did have a protest. "So, like, never letting loose? That's unhealthy and almost impossible. Never feeling triggered, wanting to lose control? In any way really." Partly he wanted to seeif she would change her attitude and partly to work with his aura, piss her off a little, make this less awkward and more fun. Not like he would actually fight her though.

(Hey, is this open?)

(Hey, ask Manda, l am not a decision maker)

(Feel free)

(OOC: Deleted the last post and made this for the sake of keeping the emails up to date. Anyway, here we go...)

Nate knew better than to run along the side of an active highway. He had heard the stories of people being crushed against guardrails and the like due to drunks or distracted idiots. But compared to the crap he had to put up with since he left those woods who knows how long ago, running alongside cars going fast enough to kill him seemed like child's play. Those big freakin' dogs and all the other s**t... it made him shiver on the inside.
But that would soon end, he was almost sure of it. That wolf said to head to the Caldecott Tunnel, and if the signs were any indication, it was coming up.

As he approached the tunnel, Nate spotted two people standing next to each other in the distance. The wolf also said there would be guards. Guards...how fun. And due to the fact that the thrift store polo and cargo shorts he had on made him look like some sort of frat member hobo, they probably were going to give him a hard time. But this was California, and hobos were probably a common thing here...probably.

Wishing himself the best of luck, he headed up to the two and, short of breath, managed to get a question out. "Hey....Are you two....like....the guards I was....told were gonna be here...?"

Veronica looked over at Alex, her uneven brown eyes focusing in on him. "There is a significant difference between never losing control and never wanting to lose control. Like the difference between killing and wanting to kill. Despi-" She stopped mid-word when she heard someone close by speak.

Why had she not heard them coming? Oh, right, song. Stupid song. Damned Apollo. Seriously. She wanted to kill him in his sleep. Despite her mental fussing, Veronica was quick, turning and leveling her hasta at the teenager's throat. She sized him up quickly enough. Her height, filthy, with clothes that needed to be burned. Ugh. She was not going into the maintenance tunnel with him. He needed a scrubbing. "Identify yourself or perish."

Crap. There was a spear pointed at him. Crap crap crap crap crap! Then the girl wielding the damned thing asked for his name. Putting his hands into the air, Nate cried out "Nathan Scott!", hoping that would work.

(OOC: Sorry for the short post. Any plans on forming a posting order?)

Alex didn't bother to react as Veronica scared the crap out of Nathan Scott. After smng in amusement he figured they should probably act more friendly... and judging by his comrade's reaction, the son of the Goddess of quarell was the one that ought to try. Though he wouldn't. "Now, leave the kid alone. He'll have plenty of chances to die and he hasn't seen anything from the Camp." Then he pointed to Nathan "And you, tell more."

The other guy spoke up, making it seem like the two were using some sort of "good cop/bad cop" routine. But apparently his name wasn't enough info to get him off the hook. "Alright.", Nate said, trying to catch his breath. "What do y'all want to know?"

Veronica grunted at Alex, keeping her hasta up at this Nathan person."Where you came from. Who told you there would be guards. How you got here." She still didn't lower the hasta, she liked seeing the worry on his face. It gave her a rush of feeling, of pleasure. Still, she had to be careful, because the temptation to impale him was there, and it was made all the worse by the psychotic song in her head about spilling red blood on white sheets. Why?! Why could it not be that awful horrible rotten song about songs that never end?! Why was it this one?! She kept her face neutral, but the irritation at the song did make her want to be violent.

Blood would get everywhere. Killing someone in public was not socially acceptable. She would have to clean everything up. And kill Alex. She would probably still get caught. It wasn't socially acceptable to get caught committing a crime. Especially one heinous enough to make you hear songs in your head for the rest of your life. Damned Apollo.

Nate was frantic, being only inches away from becoming a shish-kabob for nothing more than saying something that this girl didn't like. "Well, I was sent here by this wolf who called herself "Lupa". She, li-like, told me to find this tunnel with two people outside of it. S-she didn't really say they were guards, but given the nature of what I was being taught, a-and that people don't normally stand in front of tunnels for fun, I just assumed you'd be guards. And I got here on foot." He though about saying something like "of course" about the "on foot" thing, but he decided not to as it would probably cut down his longevity big-time.

Veronica tilted her head a little, listening with bored disinterest to the rambling person. She still wanted to impale him, but he was making sense, and Alex would be all up in arms of she did. "Lupa doesn't exactly talk, Nathan Scott, but you've changed your story from guards to people. That makes me less inclined to believe you..." She raised the spear a little more, just enough that he could probably feel the cold radiating off the iron tip. Then she lowered it. "But our auger will determine that. And if you are not approved by the gods, you will be killed."

(OOC: Oh, my lack of knowledge on the whole Roman side of things and how it shows. XD)

Ok, so his life was in the hands of three entities now: the guards, the gods, and this...auger...guy...thing... Nate was pretty sure things weren't looking up for him. "Um...ok, whatever you say. You're the one who's able to turn me into a kabob right now so I'm not arguing."

OOC: Wow bomb posts. Progress left me behind :'(

BIC: Alex really felt no need to interfere. Veronica was handling the situation more than well enough and certainly in an amusing way.. Maybe she was affected by his anger aura after all. Good to know. Could prove useful...potentially. And the new recruit was about to crap his pants. How joyful. "Uhm... though if you kill him, how will the augur, like, decide if he's fit to join the Legion, or preferably die?"