An Unexpected Friendship (Evie & Axel)

[Evie Connover]

Important notes

1. "Character speech"
2. "Character Thought"

Evie Connover
    "This war council is a complete draaag..." thought Evie as she paced in the back of the room after giving her scouting report from her mission the last two days. Of course the praetors wanted an oral account of what she witnessed while scouting the Usurper camp, not a much EASIER written report. Easier for her at least... well maybe, if her mild dyslexia didn't kick into full throttle like it did every once in a while. Evie held on to left arm as she paced anxiously in the back, annoyed  after being inside for what seemed like ages. "...and that will conclude the war council, dismissed legionnaires!" somebody said from the front of the room. "Thank the gods," Evie said a little too loudly to herself, getting glares from the centurions nearest too her. She rushed out of the Principia, her cheeks red with embarrassment at her outburst. "Stupid stupid stupid!" she thought to herself as she clenched the base her hair in both hands. "Gods I need a break from all of this... bleh-ness," Evie said aloud to herself. For the war council, they had expected all in attendance be on their best behavior, and apparently that meant washing beforehand. Two days of accumulated marvelous dirt and scents of the forest unfortunately washed away for a frivolous report on enemy movements when the enemy was in the same place as last time she scouted.
    Evie made her way into the Barracks of the Fourth Cohort, where she went over to her footlocker and slung on her one-strap, cross-chest day pack. She also made sure to grab both of her Imperial Gold ice picks and clipped  them to either side of her bag. Evie closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said a quick prayer to her mother. "Show me a path..." She's never gotten a reply before, but hey, can't blame a girl for trying. Evie stood up from her footlocker and exited the Barracks nonchalantly, as to not draw any unwanted attention, making her way towards the Caldecott Tunnel.

Axel Laughlen

[Axel Laughlen]

A giant yawn escaped the centurion's mouth as he blinked the drowsiness out of his eyes. Axel was typically interested in war council meetings, but today nothing that they hadn't already knew was reported. He tuned out most of the reports after the first few, and the rest of the time he fought off sleep. It would look terrible for a centurion who was supposed to be listening to reports to fall asleep. These meetings were vital to the wellness of the legion, with the number of enemies on the rise and all.

As his head was bobbing up and down, he startled when who must have been a praetor called the conclusion to the meeting. "Thank the Gods," someone had exclaimed, to which Axel gave a small scoff to. He looked around to the other centurions, and they didn't look any more enthused than he, but did not respond well to the girl's comment. Oh please, they can't be having any fun either, get the stick out of your asses, Axel thought to himself. Shoving his chair back, Axel followed the flow of kids out the door. Crisp air blew at his face and he let out a sigh of relief. It was good to be back outside.

The boy walked back towards the Barracks of the Third Cohort with a spring in his step, instantly in a better mood. Quizzically, he looked at a girl who looked ready for adventure going towards the boarder of camp. He'd seen her around before, but didn't know her name. She had obviously just been in the meeting, so couldn't have been granted permission to leave camp in the few moments they had been released. "Hey you there, yeah the one with the pack on walking away." Axel didn't mean to sound angry, but someone could have mistaken him for seeming like it. "Did you get permission to leave?" It was standard protocol, and with all the people around, he couldn't just let this slide or he'd get in more trouble than being caught almost falling asleep at the war council meeting. 

[Evie Connover]

"Shiiiiit!" Evie skidded to a halt at the boy's question. As she halted, she turned a little too quickly and started to fall sideways. Naturally her instincts kicked in, and she tucked her shoulder and rolled to her feet. She stood up, her clothes now lightly brushed with dirt, hair a little messy, and a streak of mud across her nose and left cheek. Relieved at being dirty again but annoyed with her situation, Evie looked at the boy and sized him up. Handsome, strong features, and unbearably neat and tidy; that boy needs introduced to dirt. "Think Evie, think. Tell him something, the longer you wait the more guilty you'll seem." Evie cocked her head slightly and said in an annoyed voice from being in the meeting so long, "Ummm, technically yes but not really." She lightly facepalmed herself and shook her head vigorously at her rudeness. After her what must have seemed an odd display of refocusing, Evie smiled nicely at the poor guy and said, "Sorry, that came out badly. I just need some nature time and Camp doesn't cut it for me." Evie began to draw circles in the dirt with one of her feet and glancing towards the tunnel as she talked. She knew that the guy had to be in some position of authority in order to care, but getting some real fresh air was all that mattered to her at the moment.

[Axel Laughlen]

Cringing a bit at the girl's fall, Axel watched as she gathered herself to stand back up to her feet. With his eyebrow raised, he listened to her fessing up that she really didn't get permission to leave camp grounds. As he predicted. Axel had no idea what the girl was doing, but she smiled at him, so he gave a hesitant smile in return. Ah, getting out of camp, that sounds nice. Axel disregarded all of this girls antics that led up to this point, and chuckled, "Yeah man, I know how you feel. Lemme just get something from my bunk so its down on paper that you left." He turned his back to the girl and walked back to the barracks.

Once inside, Axel threw off his nice clothes, an outfit put together to look presentable at the meeting, and climbed into a pair of workout shorts and a tank top with dirtied pair of Vans. He grabbed his small day pack in which he put a beanie in case his hair got too messy, a camera, and a few extra snacks. Next, Axel unclipped his two daggers from the belt loops of his last outfit and fastened them to his shorts. Almost forgetting about the little permission slip, he looked quickly around for paper and sort of 'signed' himself out, signed his name, and took it along for the girl to sign as well.

Approaching the girl with a smug look on his face, knowing she wasn't expecting company on her little adventure, Axel handed her the paper and pen. "Just sign here so I have something to show if anyone asks questions. Oh, and I'm coming with you, surprise!" Smiling, he hoped to take the girl off guard. Axel had caught the girl looking towards the tunnel, somewhere he hadn't been before. The son of Venus was always down to explore, and she seemed to have the right idea about getting out of camp for a good dose of nature.

[Evie Connover]

Evie stood there with her arms crossed and one foot tapping impatiently. "Uhhhhg, what is taking him so long? Just getting some papers shouldn't take this long...unless he is disorganized. Unless he isn't getting papers and instead busting me for attempting to leave without explicit permission." She was half tempted to leave without the proper paperwork; she'd done it plenty of times but this time she got caught, so she opted to stay even though it was burning away at daylight. It was only about five minutes that had gone by, but to Evie it felt much longer. Waiting always made her feel impatient for some reason, especially when the outdoors were waiting.

When the boy came back he handed her a sheet for her to sign. And when he said that he was coming with her she was kinda taken off guard. "W-what?" Evie stammered a bit, her usually confident manner shattered. She then subconsciously hugged herself, which probably looked pathetic, but he didn't notice she was doing it. "With me?" Nobody ever really wanted to come with her ever, she asked those in her cohort before. She didn't really think they liked her much since she really wasn't normal, as if that was even possible here but apparently there was such thing as a normal girl.

Evie cleared her throat, regaining her confidence just in the fact that somebody wanted to come with. She perked up saying, "Sure! Not afraid to get dirty, are you?" She liked having company, being a scout is lonely. As she spoke, she released herself from the pathetic self hug and enthusiastically held up her fists in excitement. "Oh gods, that sounds wrong....I DIDN"T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!" Evie blushed a deep scarlet and looked away from the boy.  "Let's get going!" She exclaimed hurriedly and signed the form like so:  
 

[Axel Laughlen]

Axel chuckled, satisfied with Evie’s reaction to his surprise. He hardly knew the girl, but he was sure they had seen each other around camp before, so it couldn’t be that weird, right? Cocking a brow as the girl hugged herself, Axel was thoroughly confused now. Was this a good thing? He guessed by the way Evie carried herself, she was just kinda weird. But the good weird, the kind people usually were around close friends. Axel admired her ability to just be herself around anyone though. “Yeah with you, girl. Everyone needs to go on an adventure once and a while.” He paused, “and no one seems to have an appreciation for that around here, except for you.” Being the natural flirt he was, Axel just couldn’t help himself.

Axel was received when Evie regained her composure, feeling a bit awkward as she hugged herself to what he assumed to be good news he had given her. At the girl’s comment about getting dirty, Axel was yet again taken aback. Giving her a confused smile, not exactly sure what she meant by the remark, he replied, “I’m down for anything.” Judging by the blush that spread on Evie’s face, she hadn’t meant it in a sexual nature. Nodding, Axel gestured to the path ahead. “Alright, lead the way!” Laughing at the girl’s excitement, he was curious as to what she had in mind of doing.