Can You Not. Like. For Real. ((Elijah; PG13 -- L))

Too many things had happened since the destruction of Camp Jupiter in California.  Too many things that had affected Calla on a personal level, and to be honest, the young woman didn't know how much she could take.  The legacy of Mars had decided to keep her apartment from last year, and rent it out to one of her friends from school who needed a place to crash during the summer while the centurion knew she was going to be out at Camp.  She had a lot of mail coming in to that address...while most of it was bills, and such, but there was something that had caught her eye right when she moved in:  a rather large package from the French military.  The date on the mail was from about the middle of August, and that made Calla really excited.  But, when she opened the box, she saw a uniform with Marius's surname on it.  Confusion overwhelmed the Roman.  She took it out of the box and found a few more knick knacks, and her letters to Marius.  Calla's confusion had grown even more at this point, she didn't want to think of the worst...but the idea kept prodding the back of her mind for weeks since she moved back.  

On Monday, Calla had gotten a letter from the French Military, again.  The envelope wasn't in Marius's handwriting--the woman knew that right off the bat.  She took the letter to her room to open it--knowing that if it was what she was hoping it wasn't...well, she didn't exactly want Ronnie seeing her like that.  She opened it, and just read the first sentence.  At that point, she lost it.  She knew exactly where this letter was going.  The box now made sense.  Calla looked at the date of the letter, August 6th, 2015.  That package was dated August 15th.  In a perfect world, the legacy would have had time to brace herself, instead of wallowing in confusion.

Like any good soldier, Calla forced herself to seem normal.  The dedication she had to her schooling was important to her.  So, she emailed her professors explaining the situation, also saying that she'd try to be in classes, because it was important to her.  Calla did just that, but ultimately failed within the first couple minutes of all of her classes (though it did get a bit better as the week progressed).  She always held her breath as she was walking back to her apartment, knowing that if she were to breathe normally that she would break down.

When she got back to the apartment, the legacy locked herself in her room, packing up her rehearsal bag to hold some clothes for the weekend, and her homework and all of the stuff she needed for the weekend.  At least, finally it was the weekend, and she knew that she could get out of Manhattan.  The downside of it though...she wouldn't be able to escape anyone.  She could always do the thing where she hides up in a tree for hours, but Calix would probably--most likely--find her there.  

On her way out of her room, Calla slipped the letter into her backpack and knocked on Ronnie's door.  "I'm going back to Camp for the weekend.  Help yourself to brownies, or whatever else is there...I've kind of lost track of what I made this week..." she said.  "Annnnd, I'm taking the nutella cookies...so...sorry not sorry," she grinned sheepishly.  "See you on Monday."  The legacy closed the door again and took off towards her car. 

Getting out of Manhattan was always a struggle.  Having road rage, and normal rage wasn't really a good thing...let alone in traffic...not moving...Calla loved it.  Especially on Friday afternoons.  It was Calla's favourite thing.  There was nothing she loved more than Friday afternoon traffic.  It took her a good hour and a half just to get off of Manhattan Island.  An hour and a half alone with her thoughts.  That was exactly what she wanted.  At least the drive to Long Island isn't bad, she thought to herself, as an attempt of distraction.  

Just her luck, the roads were packed.  It seemed as though everyone on Manhattan Island was going to Long Island that weekend.  Calla was already a short fuse.  This extra forty five minutes to get to her personal car park was ridiculous.  And then, some asshole cut her off three times.  The same car.  Thrice.  Each time, of course, Calla slammed on her horn and cussed him out in her car.

Finally, she got to where she always parked her car...and of course there were no spots for her little yellow Porsche.  She sped off, finding another spot.  She got out of her car, slamming the door, and was muttering to herself the entire walk back to Camp.  Which, again of course, was elongated due to the Sermon on the Mount taking place on fucking Long Island.

Honestly, the legacy couldn't have been bothered by anything.  She was pissed off beyond belief, Marius was killed, and everything was just peachy fucking keen.  The centurion stormed into her cohort, and just dropped her stuff on the floor by her bed with a big thump.  In the same way Calla came in, the legacy of Mars exited--feet heavy, not quite to the point of stomping, but damn near close.  On the way out, she slammed the door again.  Her shoulders were tense, and she could feel the thick atmosphere.  

Calla made her way to the Principa, ignoring anything that got in her way.  As she entered the building, it seemed as though every door she encountered was slammed.  She looked in all of the rooms that she knew Calix might be in.  The reason why she was looking for him was because she knew that he would try to help her.  She needed something positive.  And, she knew that--in all honesty--only Calix and Cicero could have helped her with that.  Since Cicero went missing along with that Greek girl (which Calla was still salty about, even just thinking about it made her more frustrated than she was.  

The legacy looked in all of the rooms she knew.  And, still, there was no sign of her best friend.  Calla went to the other praetor's office.  Opening and slamming the door with enough force to make him at least acknowledge her presence.  "Where the hell is Calix?" she demanded, walking closer to the Praetor's desk.  Every previous encounter Calla and Elijah had had gone south.  Those memories flooded back into her mind, and her atmosphere just kept getting thicker and thicker.

The days had never felt as long to Elijah as they had since his fiancé had moved to New York City.  It had only been a month, but to the boy, it felt like Jack had been gone for ages.  River had said something about him being a drama queen...not necessarily something the small boy could deny.  The boy wasn't like that all the time...in all fairness, he didn't think it was more so than usual.  Maybe just a little exaggerated.  But the son of Discordia missed his fiancé desperately.  He missed cuddles and kisses and sex.  He missed long talks about anything and everything.  He missed the nights curled up at Jack's side, the two fitting like puzzle pieces.  He missed just looking at the son of Venus's face...into his eyes.  And sleep...Elijah just wasn't sleeping as well without his human sleep aid/pillow.  All these things he had taken for granted felt so much heaver in their absence.

With all the free time Elijah had these days, he was truly starting to enjoy work in the Principia...even paperwork.  Sure, he saw River every day- the only way to stay relatively sane, but his days were much different from before.  There was nothing wrong with that...the boy needed to learn separation anyway, but adjusting was still a little strange.  Elijah wasn't good with change at the best of times, and this was totally insane change.  Every night, the two spoke on the phone for as long as they could.  They'd hang up, the Praetor would sniffle back tears, and he'd do everything he could to not totally lose his mind.  He attempted to keep his routine normal...he ran and trained early every morning, saw River at breakfast, sit in the Principia, take a long lunch to be with River more, back to the Principia...on and on.  Although Elijah tried to think of it as a normal routine, it was often too hard for him to believe it.  Any routine without Jack couldn't be normal.

Despite all that, Elijah knew he was doing okay.  He wasn't moping around everywhere like he had been the first week or two.  He got sad, but he was still functioning.  He wasn't blocking people out, or withdrawing all the time.  River had scolded him for doing so at first, and between the fact that the girl was scary when she was like that and the fact that she was absolutely right, Elijah knew he had to pull himself together.  And he had definitely improved in all that.  Sitting around feeling sorry for himself was childish and silly...something the boy had to come to terms with.  Besides, Jack had sent his fiancé a cell phone, which made talking much easier.  And Elijah did have his engagement ring, which was very reassuring to have.  The weight of it, getting to twist it around...the plain iron band was the most gorgeous piece of jewelry the boy had ever seen.

Today was the most boring day Elijah had had in awhile.  The Principia was quiet...there wasn't even much paperwork.  Calix was...Gods knew where.  Hopefully it was more interesting than here.  Glancing to the side, the boy grabbed his good journal, his anniversary gift from Jack, and his nice pen, his birthday gift from River.  There was something very nice about writing in that journal with that pen...all thanks to the two people that meant the most to Elijah.  It was a comfy break from the mundane times in the Principia, getting to write in his journal.  He had a bit of paperwork work in one of the baskets on his desk, but he could get to that later.  He had at least leafed through it, and hadn't seen anything that demanded immediate attention.  Just typical reports from Centurions about how things were running...quite smoothly, by the sounds of it.  Nothing huge had come up, in paperwork or Legionnaires coming to the Principia to bitch at him.  That was probably a good thing right now...there were times when Elijah just couldn't play nice...like now.

Of course, as soon as he thought that, the office door opened with a bang.  "Oh, for fucks sake..." Elijah mumbled when he saw who it was.  Definitely not a person he wanted to be dealing with.  Of that little group of campers leftover from the original Camp Jupiter, Calla was the one who hated the boy.  And pretty much the only one, the son of Discordia was sure...Mia and Calix had always been his friends, and he and Sienna were even getting to be on better terms.  But the legacy of Mars had had it out for him from day one.  "Well hello to you, too, Calla," the boy said dryly, pushing his journal and pen back to the side.  This was not a welcome interaction.  "I don't know where Calix is, but if screaming at me is going to help, then by all means," neither were each others' favorite person, so hopefully this one could go by quick.

Calla rolled her eyes.  "You would know if I were fucking screaming at you, Emmanual," her tone was fierce, and scarily quiet--especially for her.  She was not going to take any shit from him.  "I've been trying to find him since I've gotten back.  And I find it really hard to believe that you don't know where he is.  Considering that you two spend, what? 90% of your time together?"  Her volume started getting louder again.  This was ridiculous.  Why couldn't people just accept that she needed her best friend?  Because God forbid that she was stressed out with school work, and Marius.  And everything.  The centurion took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose, "If you refuse to tell me where he is, will you at least tell me where he might be found?  Or is that bigger you, too?"  She leaned back up, standing straight again, muttering in Latin, "Quod non capit multo labore..."

((...#yaycrappypost.  Latin translation:  Not that it takes much at least, that's the gist of it... ^^"))

Part of Elijah's biggest problem, when it came to Calla, was that she really brought out the worst in him...just as he seemed to bring out the worst in her.  Maybe it had something to do with their parents, or the fact that they were often quite similar at times, or...well, there were a million reasons, when the boy really thought about it.  That didn't make any of it more pleasant to deal with...or make it any easier to go forward with her.  The quicker she got out of his sight, the better it was for everyone involved.  "Oh, you’re the type who gets really screechy, aren’t you?” logically, Elijah knew he should be baiting Calla.  Unfortunately, he was never very good at logic.  He was good at chaos, and strife, and making life as difficult all around as possible.  This was certainly nothing new to him...though he knew it probably wasn't too smart to get this way with Calla.  But again...logic.  The whole thing was completely wasted on him.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Elijah wished he could just vanish, and not have to deal with any of this nonsense.  "Braccae," the boy mumbled under his breath.  He was more than ready to just...send Calla away.  But they both knew that wasn't going to happen, even if it was one of those things that went unsaid.  The girl had to be just as bad as the son of Discordia.  Maybe not worse, but definitely just as.  Maybe, instead of working so hard against Calla, Elijah could try to work...with her.  Or less against, at any rate...whatever that meant.  "I'm not his keeper, you know," Elijah rolled his eyes.  No matter how hard he tried to convince himself to be reasonable, and not an asshole, he had a hard time controlling it around Calla.  He always had...and often felt like he always would.  "There's always that last ten percent.  You got me."

Elijah knew he shouldn't do this, he shouldn't act like this.  He knew it...but at the same time, it was fun.  It was dangerous...like poking a sleeping bear...but that was also a bit of the appeal.  And the boy was quite dangerous himself, so at least they'd be on equal footing.  But there were certainly some things that held him back.  Like his friendships with Mia and Calix...even the one he was building with Sienna.  He knew the friends he shared with Calla hated that the two couldn't get along...that they had such anger and hatred between them.  It was something that Elijah tried not to think about, since thinking about it hurt him as well...but then he ended up in a situation like this.  If he was a better person, he would try and work things through with the legacy of Mars.  He would taunt her, give her a hard time, openly hate her...or dislike her or whatever.  But at the same time, making friend with everyone was impossible.  Elijah had come to terms with that a long time ago.

"Seriously, Calla, I have no idea where he is," Elijah supposed it was some consolation that Calla didn't pretend to like him either.  Their mutual animosity wasn't hidden behind some stiff, painfully professional tone of voice.  Because the boy could definitely hear it in her voice, too.  He always could, every time they had ever spoken.  Something the boy had always hated was pretending he was okay with someone.  He had encountered that sort of situation far too many times in his life, and it was so much easier not to pretend.  If two people didn't like each other, they shouldn't have to pretend...though in all fairness, Elijah and Calla managed at least a little in front of their friends.  The way the boy saw it, it was the least they could do.  The others didn't have to suffer through Elijah and Calla's hatred of each other...that just seemed wrong, even to Elijah.

With a soft sigh, Elijah shook his head.  "For Gods' sake, Calla, stop acting like a child," the boy snapped.  Honestly, the boy didn't feel like playing that game.  Not right now...he knew he couldn't necessarily contain himself, but even if he could hold back just a little.  There was too much going on, and dealing with Calla was just a nightmare he didn't need right now.  If he wasn't in the Principia alone in the first place, he would leave at this point...just to get away from it all.  "I don't know what you take me for, but I'd tell you if I knew where Calix was.  Okay?" the boy glowered.  "Non ego nunc hoc somnum exterreri solebat," the boy mumbled in Latin.  "Ego vere non."

(("I do not need this nightmare right now."
"I really don't."))