Long Time No See ((Calla))

Sienna was still very tired from last night, but she woke up very early the next morning. At about midnight, one of her good friends had woken her up to coerce her into flute lessons (and who was Sienna to attempt to dissuade a child of Discordia from their objective?). Between the shock of the night, as well as the lateness of the meeting, Sienna had been sure she’d sleep very late, and part of her was convinced she’d sleep through morning muster. Both concerns were unnecessary, and wrong. Sienna’s body, on a schedule, had woken her up at five o’clock, and Sienna had lain in bed unmoving for a bit, blearily staring up at the bottom of the bunk above her. Only a few hours of sleep and Sienna was awake, thanks to Calla and her early morning training sessions.

Calla. Legacy of Mars and Sienna’s best friend. The two girls had known each other for years, and Sienna couldn’t help but smile at the things the girls had been through together. Of course, Sienna thought while frowning slightly, she hadn’t seen her best friend for a while. It’d been even longer since they’d talked. The Roman could guess why, of course. Both girls were busy with their Centurion duties, and being in separate cohorts often meant they did activities separate. A real shame, because Sienna missed her best friend, and it’d been the longest time since she’d had some girl talk with her. Rolling over onto her side, facing the wall, Sienna thought about when she might next see Calla, while trying to fall back to sleep. Contrary to her efforts, Sienna found herself more awake than ever.

Sitting up, Sienna pushed the covers off. If she couldn’t sleep, she might as well get up. Swinging her legs over the side of the bunk, Sienna sighed as she ran her hands through her hair, straightening it out. As she did so, her mind continued to travel back through memories of Calla, occasionally mixed in with others of her other friends. Looking out the window, Sienna watched the sun slowly rise. It’d be a good day today; Sienna was going to make sure of that. And what better way to start than to visit your best friend?

Having come to this thought, Sienna stood up promptly. Never mind that the legacy was probably still asleep, she’d woken Sienna up many times before. Now the daughter of Venus could return the favor. Smiling slightly, Sienna quickly changed quietly, so as to let her cohort members sleep. Changing quickly into a purple tank top and denim shorts, Sienna slipped on some sandals, and picked out a few rings to wear. A pair of emerald studs for earrings, her mother’s ring, and Sienna was ready to go. She wouldn’t need weapons for this (hopefully). Tying her hair into a ponytail, Sienna left the barracks without further ado.

Since Calla was in the Second Cohort, Sienna made her way over to their barracks. Opening the door slightly and peeking in, Sienna rolled her eyes at the sight. Some of the bunks were already empty (not a surprise, considering Second was full of overachievers). Others were full, so Sienna tiptoed her way quietly over to her best friend’s bunk. Considering different ways to wake her, and wondering if she’d scream if the daughter of Venus used water, Sienna finally decided on an old-fashioned approach: poking. Poking the girl in the side a few times, Sienna whispered, “Rise and shine, Turtle.” She said nothing else, but backed up a few paces to let the legacy of Mars wake.

Sleep was a luxury that Calla didn't grace herself with often for a long period of time.  Typically, the Legacy of Mars would sneak out to the arena (like she did the night prior), and train until three or four in the morning.  Occasionally, she'd get caught and be sent to the Principa where she'd have a little slap on the wrist from Calix; and if she had the other praetor to deal with, she would be pegged with more guard duty.  Being the smart-aleck that she was, Calla would request night duty, because there were few things that would keep her inside (past curfew, and throughout other times of the day).  However, she kept her motives secret to the praetor and to other second party.  Letting people know of her motives was something she learned was a bad idea while she was still a new recruit of the Roman Army, and she wasn't about to change her experience because the praetors are different.

The night before, Calla had narrowly missed getting caught.  She had ended climbing a tree to get a guard off of her trail, and throwing something to get him away from her so she could get back to her cohort.  Calla was thankful for her tendency of walking like a dancer to minimize sound.  The action of walking toe-heel instead of heel-toe minimized sound, and the breaking of twigs, if she caught herself in time.  Eventually, after playing cat-and-mouse for five or so minutes with the guard, Callista slipped into the Second cohort of the barracks, and found her way to her cot.  Though, she overestimated the distance from the door to it and crashed into the bed.  Cringing both in facial expression and with a bringing up of her shoulders, Calla quietly looked around the room to make sure there were none missing, nor anyone who had been awakened from the collision.  Thank God you are all sleeping... she thought, removing her shoes and slipping under her comforter.  She then proceeded to shed her clothes and replace them with her pajamas of a tight-fitting tank top and shorts.  She snuggled with her pillow underneath the comfort of her blanket and sheets, laying on her side, blanket covering her entire body below the neck.  Closing her color-confused eyes, Calla tried to fall asleep.  She wasn't successful for about an hour, but eventually, she managed to drift into dreamland.
She was running from an unknown presence, clearly a threatening being (considering the fear that overwhelmed the Legacy's subconscious mind).  She glanced behind, to see if the being was still there--and she didn't see him.  Calla grinned, but continued running, feeling a strange sensation in her side..which was unexplainable.  Calla looked forward again, just to have enough time to stop and crash into the entity she was running from.  He grabbed her and lugged her over his shoulder.  Calla's heart was racing.  She had been in this situation before, and she KNEW how it was going to turn out.  After what seemed like a few minutes, Calla was thrown onto the ground with a crash [physically, she rolled over, laying on her back, head facing left]  She watched as her attacker approached--knife in hand...Always never knowing his next move, no matter how many times she'd been in the situation...Though, the scene continued.  His knife was in his hand blade sticking straight up

Calla woke back in her cohort, hitting another unknown presence.  Her eyes were widened slightly, with a hint of fear still in them (fearing both her subconscious and the fuzziness that veiled her vision, not knowing whom she had struck).  She blinked a few times, eyes adjusting to being awake, and blinking the fear from her dream.  She focused a little more on a familiar figure, but it was still blurry.  "Morning, Si," Callista groaned, quietly, reaching a thin arm to grab the black glasses case from a nightstand.  Sliding the light brown, oval framed spectacles, her eyes could finally focus on one of her best friends standing in front of her.  "Why are you up so early?" she whispered.

Sienna watched the Legacy of Mars turning fitfully in her bunk, a small look of worry on her face. Having had the same problem herself, the demigod knew Calla was having a nightmare. Having known that, maybe it hadn’t been the best idea for her to touch the other girl. Dreams often carried into reality, the daughter of Venus knew. Sienna herself carried around the images all the time, watching fire burn behind her eyelids. She’d had this problem when she was 15, and she had it now. Others would have said to leave Calla alone. Sienna felt differently. While this varied from person to person, Sienna would have wanted someone to wake her up from her nightmares. The idea of prolonging the terror for the sake of sleep was foreign to the girl, and she hoped Calla would understand that.

Considering the Legacy’s subconscious need to defend herself was at work here, Sienna moved back quickly after poking Calla. Not quickly enough, considering the other girl still managed to hit her. Thankfully (or unfortunately, depending on how the situation was viewed), Sienna had done this before, so she knew to back up (the first time had been painful). The pain was only momentarily lasting, before it faded to a dull throb. Sienna rubbed her shoulder ruefully once, before letting it go and watching her friend slowly wake up.

Seeing Calla’s expression told Sienna to keep the situation light. “Considering you're still half-asleep, I still can’t figure out how you make your punches hurt,” Sienna whispered back, eyeing Calla as the girl put on her glasses. Sienna’s best friend was woefully thin, which made the Roman think that someone wasn’t eating well enough again, but she decided to save the lecture for later. By this point, Sienna was sure Calla had it memorized, anyway. Raising her eyebrow slightly at Calla’s last question, Sienna rolled her eyes. “What, you’re allowed to wake me up insanely early but I’m not allowed to do the same?” Sienna took a step back, in case Calla decided to hit her again.

After a time, Sienna spoke. “I missed you. And I wanted to talk.” The girl motioned outside the barracks, to indicate that she didn’t want to keep speaking in a whisper. As an afterthought, Sienna said, “And maybe  eat breakfast. You could use it.”

While Sienna waited for Calla to speak again, she took a seat on the floor. Sitting cross-legged, the girl looked around. “I see cohort recruitment’s up,” Sienna spoke idly, just to fill the loud silence. It was true. Most of the bunks were full, and Sienna knew from cohort reports that the second was the biggest cohort in the legion. While the Fourth was losing members, and quickly, Sienna knew Calla had no such problem with her cohort. Sweeping her gaze from bunk to bunk, some full, and some empty (although the beds weren’t made), Sienna didn’t speak again. Partly to let the legionnaires sleep, and partly because Sienna wasn’t sure whether Calla was listening.

The girl finished her assessment of the cohort. As Calla had once explained, Second was the overflow from the First. Considering how empty the First Cohort was, and how full the Second Cohort was, Sienna could imagine the praetors were using a different system now. Remembering when Calla had told her that (hadn’t it been Sienna’s first tour of the camp, four years ago?) made Sienna slightly more depressed. Those times had been better, less complicated, where the only thing Sienna had to worry about was not accidentally walking into the wrong temple, or missing morning muster. Things had changed, and as Sienna turned her gaze to Calla, the girl knew they both had changed too. How, and whether it was for the better or worse, Sienna had reserved judgment on. Waiting for Calla to respond to Sienna’s chatter, the girl messed around nervously with the bottom of her tank top.