Stir-Fry with the Squad (PRIVATE)

Ever since Cam and I got back from Park City and nearly dying, things began to look up rather than remain at the neutral state of staleishness that's not even a word but who cares XD. Or at least they were looking up for me, as I had received a nice promotion to decurio, which is basically like a Marine going from PFC to an NCO, which is a pretty good jump. So, to celebrate both the promotion and the fact the we returned in one piece each, Cam and I decided to give each of the usual suspects a buzz and meet down at this little "Pei Wei/P.F. Chang's" like place in New Rome for lunch. Of course, everyone was paying out of their own pockets, so cheapish Americanized Chinese seemed like a good choice for six or so teenage heroes.

At about 13:30, I managed to get a table for seven at the place and decided to wait for everyone to arrive. On about my fourth glass of water, Cam showed up, which prompted me to get up with an "Oh snap, look who decided to show up!" and a hand raised up, all set for a high-five from the daughter of Pax.

She slapped her hand into his. "Between this and YouTube, it was a rough tie," she admitted with a grin before sitting down. She hadn't really dressed up or anything: black tank, olive shorts, sneakers, the usual. She had refreshed her messy short hair look at a barber's shop before coming here, the white of her hair popping out even more now that her skin had gotten tanner.

"Casey and Ash should be here soon, they texted me a few minutes ago," she said before grabbing the menu. "Should we order already or wait till they get here? Jesus, I'm starving."

OOC: Outfits, right... Dean is wearing a FC Barcelona jersey over a white undershirt with a pair of khaki cargo shorts and some black adidas skate shoes. Ankle-high white socks as well. He's also got a tan mesh-back baseball cap on with a tan American flag patch velcroed to the front and a desert MARPAT name patch reading "FIDELIS" velcroed above the snapback strap in the back.

BIC: "I hear ya;" I replied while taking my seat; Chris and Kansas-kid are gonna be here in a bit and Haiden should be here in a few minutes. I wrote him up an exemption from a knot tying lesson, so he should be here in a bit."

"Doesn't matter if we order or not. The only person I can see getting somewhat salty is Chris, and even then he's been pretty chill lately. Did someone spike his meals with some pot or something, 'cuz I swear he's been acting like he's been munching on some edibles." I took another sip of my water, looking Cam over for anything I could compliment her with - not that she lacks anything laudable, it just sounds awkward saying "hey you have a great personality today. Want to try dating?" "Nice hair, by the way. You'd get it cut or what?"

"Can't hurt to relax," Cameron commented, then ordered dumplings, spring rolls, and a big plate of Ma Po tofu. What? She did say she was starving.

The daughter of Pax looked up. "Huh?" She touched the side of her hair. "Yeah, just got out of the barber's. Thanks." She smiled and pretended to look at the drinks for a few moments, the skin of her shoulders tingling lightly. Nice hair. He had actually noticed... Her friends generally couldn't tell unless she had gotten carvings.

"I think I'm gonna go for this pomegranate soda," she said, suddenly feeling really good. "What about y-- Oh, hey!"

The rest of the crew had arrived. Well, almost, Haiden wasn't there yet.

"Where is he?"

"Terminus held him up, he had a bottle of water with him and some metallic objects," Ash replied, taking a seat next to Casey.

"Yeah, next thing you know ol' Silentium is gonna be booking flights to the Middle East and bunking with ISIS. One day water bottles, the next day AK47s. Gotta keep an eye on that one." "Yeah; thanks for the tip." I coldly replied to Chris as the d0uche took his seat; "Because Haiden really is the kind of person to even break a rule, let alone aid a group of terrorists." "Hey man, y'all can never know for sure, can you?" spat out Gabe, clearly riding Chris' coattails. I could easily take down any argument that damn 15 year old put up, but I decided to back off for a bit. After all, he was new to this whole full legionnaire thing and had still yet to learn that after a month nobody cares about your mural crown you got against the 4th and 5th cohorts.

That being said, I decided to place an order in for pretty much the spiciest chicken-based stir fry they had, as well as a Vanilla Coke. "Hey, Ash, do you remember if the next wargames are a siege or just a straight up battle?"

"It's a battle," the Australian replied, browsing the menu. "First and Third against the rest." She grinned at the Dean, who was in the Third. "Tell your boys they better dress up warmly. Forecast says scattering clouds with a 90% chance of fire balls."

OOC: Now that you mention it, Gabe is in the 2nd with Chris and Cam. What cohort are Ash and Casey in?

OOC: Ash and Casey are Cam's barrack mates, so 2nd. Also, I edited.

"Well, if we've got fireballs in the forecast, then I'll tell my guys to dress lightly and keep their shields up." It wasn't a very smooth reply, but it seemed like a reasonable one. Nobody really reacted to it and were pretty much just eyeballing the menu, so I just decided to move on to the next topic. "You know, I actually have an idea of an offensive siege tactic that might actually work." "Is that so? Then how about you share it with the rest of us?" "Nah, wouldn't want to give away any secrets, right?"

"Are you trying to scare us?" Casey snickered while ordering a noodle soup. "Try again."

There was always a bit of competition going on in the group, but it was a healthy one. Casey and Ash were a bit the same type as Cam: girls with a taste for wrestling, hip hop,and camo vests, the only difference being that Casey was more of a rocker chick and Ash a kind of jock. (She lived for soccer and football.)

"So how were things here in camp while Dean and I were off saving a city?" Cameron asked, innocently sipping her soda.

"Wasn't trying to Case; just putting it out there."

Cam asked the group what had happened while we were gone, and Chris was by far the quickest to let it be known to the two of us. "SO, besides the usual hustle and bustle of life back here at Forward Operating Base Jupiter, a few notable events occurred: A new probatio came by and got assigned to the fifth, that Alex kid from the fourth knocked over all the armor racks in the armory and spent the day cleaning them up, Centurion Larry was in and out of the infirmary several times - some say flu, others say poisoning - and Dean's boy Silentium bagged a mural crown against the first, fourth, and fifth." "Haiden got another crown?!" "Yessir he did" replied Chris, taking a sip of some grenadine-enhanced Sprite; "And he didn't tell you?"

I shook my head "no".

"Figures." The son of Bellona stopped chewing on his straw and rested the glass on the table. "That kid could become praetor and you wouldn't f*cking hear about it from him."

"With all those crowns and medals he could make a chainmail," Ash noted. "Maybe that's what he's gonna look like next time we do a triumph."

"I'd love to do another triumph," Cameron said, putting her glass down. They only did triumphs after a great military victory, like destroying Mount Othrys, which meant they'd have to go to war again to get another one. "Peace is so boring sometimes."

"He's got enough for a decorative set, that's for sure."

At that time Gabe pulled out his flip phone and took a long look at it, squinting as he did. "Haiden says he just got past Terminus and he'll be here in a few." The son of Ceres said as he flipped the old Motorola and slid it back into his pocket.

"Speaking about peace being boring, have you heard back from your dad about that order? The one with your Deagle and my AK5C? I'd like to know when to send him the $410 for my bit."

"Is that your airsoft jargon again," Ash huffed. She wasn't much of a gun person herself, preferring a nice Roman stab to the mess of flying bullets.

"We talked yesterday," Cam said, ignoring her, "and it should be there in a week. You can give him the bill when he drives up to San Fran."

OOC: Pellets, my dear Morgan, plastic pellets.

BIC: "A week? I might be back home next week, depending on when the plate comes back from Michigan." I was about to go on another furlough, and instead of the normal 'every other weekend' plan most people have, I mostly did a two-week break every other month. Since I lived about 2,000 miles away from camp, the two weeks alowed me to drive out to Grand Rapids and see my family. "Can you ask him if he can ship it up to, like, a UPS store or something? Tell him to tack that to my bill."

Seeing an opportunity for him to flex his wealth-muscles, Chris tactlessly butted in. "Speaking about heading east, net week I'm going back to the Hamptons. Cassa del Hawthorne is going to be quite the place when I'm back in town."

OOC: I was talking guns in general, not just airsoft

BIC: "And deliver it where? UPS guys can't access camp." Cameron leaned back as her food was being put on the table and immediately dug in with a pair of chopsticks. "I'll just ask my dad to bring everything when he drives up. Just give me the bill and I'll give it to him when I see him."

"Oh, lucky you, Chris," Casey said. "Send me a postcard?"

"Don't send anything Greek though please. Except if it's a head," Cam added, popping a dumpling into her mouth. (The Hamptons were quite close to Camp Half-Blood.)

"Cameron," Ash frowned and shook her head.

"They can drop it off at a UPS store though. They send out an email or something and you go pick it up. I've got a car, and I could probably find some time to grab it." I was a bit shocked that Cam didn't know this was an option, and she's had more time in the outside world than I have.

"Nah, no postcards." retorted a chuckling Chris. Maybe he thought the idea of sending postcards was funny? I dunno, but that's the only reason I could see him laughing a that request. That, and ingested pot. "And being around Greeks isn't even something I have on my list. Given how their camp looked, the majority of them would be shooed away by the locals and those that could get in probably would just pass through on their way to Manhattan or Brooklyn, depending on how 'hipster' they feel like being. F*cking graecus."

Finally, late as ever and without any meaningful greeting besides "Hey", Haiden arrived.

"Fair play," Cam chewed, who had forgotten about that UPS feature.

"Haiden!"

"What's up, my man." Casey shook his hand whilst Cameron gave her friend a smile and a nod. She liked Haiden a lot because of his silence -- he was a no-bullsht!t person, which she knew to appreciate.

The son of Mars (and legacy of Pax, I should add) looked a bit overwhelmed by all the attention, but there was nothing in his deep, nearly monotone voice that hinted to any insecurity. "Nothing much; just got back from being detained over a water bottle that was more than four ounces."

"Look bro, we already know about that. How about you enlighten the saviors of Mormonville here and tell them the story of how you bagged your third mural."

"What's there to say? I did my job in battle to the best of my abilities and Hank saw that it was somehow worth rewarding. Nothing much really."

That. It's called modesty. Take a hint, Chris, Cam almost said, but ate noodles instead.

"Good job though," Ash told him.

"Oh guys, have you heard? There's gonna be a rock concert in Berkeley in two weeks!" Casey interrupted. "Who's game?"

Cameron rose a hand. "Why not? Depends on the time."

I shrugged. "Depends on who it is. If it's some death-metal freak fest then you can count me out."

"You can count me out guys. I've got some plans that week." "But it could be fun, Haiden."

The glare that Gabe received was something the son of Mars clearly pulled out of his lineage, it clearly being much colder and spiteful than how Haiden normally was, attitude wise. "Did I stutter?"

"N-no..." Haiden freaked the kid out so much, you could just picture the p!ss stain forming in Kansas' pants.

"That's what I thought." After that little incident, he calmly sat back in his seat and restated that he couldn't make the show regardless of who the act was. Shame, but not my place to intervene. Kid's got a life too.

"Why do you always have plans nowadays?" Casey frowned. "Last year there was not one group thing you missed, but now, it's almost like we're not (she airquoted) worth your time."

"Oh no, you guys are worth my time still. Except that I, unlike a few people here, have responsibilities when not on duty now. I may be from New Rome, but don't let the marble and architecture fool you, we're not all loaded around here."

"Wait, are you saying you got a job? Don't you have, like, four years left in the legion?" "Five, and it's more of a paid internship with a shocking amount of leniency on showing up. Regardless, I've been working and will do so for awhile."

A job and legionnaire service? Kid really gives himself high standards. Can't say it's something I'm against though, if h wants to dedicate his time to making money I say let him do it.

"You go," Ash said. "Making some mortal money never hurt anyone."

Casey still had pursed lips but didn't say anything on that matter anymore. Instead, she continued: "Anyway, the concert is mainly punk rock, electro rock and alt. No death'n'roll or extreme metal."

"That does sound pretty sweet," Cameron agreed with a growing smirk. "How much?"

"Like, 25 bucks per ticket. Easy."

"$25? I'll look into it. Check out who exactly is preforming and sh*t." What? I'm not going to drop $25 on something I have no interest in seeing. "So, anything else coming up?"