Catching Up | Cameron

[Axel Laughlen]

Axel was a sucker for pineapple pizza. Maybe it was an LA thing, but he remembered always splitting a pie with his twin brother and older sister all the time back home. He often left camp himself on holiday's just to visit them and continue their tradition. Pineapple pizza was like a necessity at least once a week even if he didn't have anyone to eat with, and his favorite restaurant was just around the corner where he could just about eat an entire pie by himself. The young man didn't eat breakfast just for this occasion. However, he would have company for once. Cameron, another centurion, had left camp for a bit after the kraken attack, and Axel wanted to treat him to a good meal and time to catch up after his absence.

The two had a lot in common, so it was no wonder they were friends. They were both centurions, first of all, so they were able to discuss and exchange ways to run their cohorts. The two were also athletes, and enjoyed the sport of football. They could always depend on one another to go on morning runs together or sit down and watch a game in the rec room. Axel missed having his dependable friend around, and thus was excited to hopefully go back to where they were.

Axel arrived at the pizzeria at exactly 12:00, where Axel had told Cam to meet him. As he entered the door, is stomach gave a loud growl, and the hostess gave Axel a little giggle. Winking at her, he said, "Sorry cutie, I'm here to meet one of my boys." The son of Venus couldn't help but turn on his charm speak. After all, she was cute, but there were also a few people who seemed to be waiting. "Don't think you could get me a table for two could you?" The waitress led him to a cleared table by the window where Axel gave his thanks with a napkin with his number on it, and she walked away smiling. Axel sat to wait for Cam.

(We had discussed before that they were friends before Cam left camp, so I hope this is ok. I tried to be as vague as possible so you could add your own input, but let me know if you want anything to change.)

Cameron James

[Cameron James]

Well the R&R with Vega had been pretty nice if Cam said so himself. It wasn’t often that he got a break from his duties like he just had but this one in particular was needed and even turned out a little better than he had hoped it would. All in all it had left him recharged and ready to get back to his legion duties which was good because while it had been nice taking a break the legion certainly hadn’t decided to put things on hold in his absence. He was caught up now though and things were beginning to get back to normal so when he got the summons that Axel wanted to hang out for a while Cam decided to take him up on the offer.

Axel was a good guy. The kind that Cam found he could genuinely trust which, being in a centurion’s position, was somewhat rare. Still, Cam valued the fact that Axel thought enough about him to come asking for him after he had gotten back from his trip to the City. His friend deserved some catch up time and, well, how could Cam turn down lunch at one of New Rome’s pizzerias when they served up some of the best eats in town? The simple answer was you couldn’t so here they were.

Cam arrived at the pizzeria a little after 12:00. He smiled politely at the hostess as she greeted him at the door but he had no problem finding Axel sitting by himself at a window table. He waved away her offer for help pointing out where he was headed and after a quick exchange made his way over to where Axel was sitting. “Axel my man, how goes it?” He said with his friendly good humor that he usually had with those he knew and trusted well. He walked over throwing out his fist for a bump as he got closer. “Long time no see right? How have you been?”

[Axel Laughlen]

In the few minutes from when Axel sat down to when Cam came through the pizzeria doors, he became a bit nervous to see his friend. Axel didn’t know much about why Cam took a leave of absence, and he didn’t want to offed the other centurion in any way. Making a solid, loyal, and trustworthy friend was no easy feat. Even in Axel’s case, where most people seemed to like him, he didn’t like to tell everything to just anyone, after all. And he didn’t want to ruin that with Cam with just one mistakenly rude comment.

Most of his worries seemed to wash away when the other demigod greeted Axel just like he always had. He stood up, a genuine smile on his face. “Hey man, good to see ya!” He reached out to fist bump Cam back, and sat back down at the table. Blowing out a puff of air and shaking his head, he responded, “Too long, and life here’s not to bad, work’s been stacking up though.” Axel snapped out of his own thoughts that had been stressing him out lately. They’d get to that later.

“How about you? How was big city trip? Musta been nice to get away and feel normal for a little bit.” Axel would give anything to go on a road trip with his siblings. He missed that the most about his time before he came to Camp Jupiter. But lately, things had been so busy, he hadn’t even gotten out to New Rome often to visit them.

[Cameron James]

For the most part Cam hadn't really thought his absence would have been noticed. Perhaps he should have. The Legion was a well oiled machine of efficiency after all and it was likely that leave time was documented somewhere. Of course that hadn't really seemed important at the time when Vega had been his number one concern but now that he was back it had definitely been lurking in the back of his mind.

Apparently it had been on Axel's mind as well because as soon as the greetings were done thoughts turned to his absence. Oh well. He supposed next time he was going to have to get the word out a little better. In any case Cam thought he could cross that bridge when he came to it. Right now he was supposed to be catching up with his friend.

Cam bumped fists with Axel and took his seat before joining in the conversation. "Yeah, yeah I hear you. I've just been playing catch up myself. It's no wonder why we ever leave this place you know what I mean?" He gave a chuckle and shot a wink Axel's way sure that his fellow centurion understood how things worked. "But yeah it was cool. Definitely worth it and needed and hey, I did what I went to do so I'm pretty content." The ghost of a smile wouldn't fade from his face but he said no mote on the matter. Instead he turned the question back on Axel. "You should try it sometime. Come out, catch a 49's game. It would be fun. We all need a break every once in a while and it looks like the Legion is capable of holding itself together without us every now and then."

[Axel Laughlen]

Axel nodded a few times and really thought about Cam’s statement. The centurion didn’t leave camp often, and if he did, it was only to New Rome to clear his head. Having to keep track of two cohorts was no easy feat on your own, especially when trying to keep up with training on top of it. It was hard not letting himself fall behind in the fighting aspect, as it took away from the dwindling energy he had on top of it. “I can understand how the work really gets to you, that’s for sure,” Axel remarked. He smirked back, understanding where Cam was coming from.

A quizzical look emerged on Axel’s face, not entirely sure what Cam meant by ‘doing what he needed to do’, but he assumed the other demigod wanted to keep that to himself, as he quickly changed the subject. It wasn’t really any of Axel’s business what Cam and Vega did on their trip, certainly that’s why they had gone away together and not with others. Axel nodded enthusiastically at Cam’s suggestion to catch a football game sometime. The boy had grown up watching the 49ers with his brother, and then going outside on the beach to play their rough version of tackle football with the occasional lax game of catch. “I’d love that, honestly. I seriously need a break...” Axel trailed off, thinking about all the work he had to cram in to come to the cafe with Cam.

But he shook his head. “I just don’t know if the legion can hold it down while I’m gone. With no centurion for the third and fourth cohort in camp, I don’t know man. Maybe on a weekend, I guess.” Axel shrugged at the thought. Eh, he could try to charm a praetor or something to take over his duties for the day. His charm speak was becoming stronger as the months rolled by and he practiced on anyone whom he didn’t associate himself with often. The power of words were almost as powerful as any celestial bronze. 

[Cameron James]

Cam was as serious about his centurion duties as he ever had been at football. In a lot of ways being the captain on a football team was a lot like being a centurion so maybe his love for the sport had helped prepare him somewhat for his new role. There were also a lot of ways the legion and a football team weren't related though. For example he wasn't preparing his cohort to go out and play a game, he was preparing them to go out and fight monsters that wanted to destroy the world. Still, there was one thing that stood out to him as a definite fact that he knew a lot of other legionnaires didn't want to admit. You couldn't expect everyone to devote themselves entirely to the legion without ever giving them a break.

Some people got off on being better than everyone else. He had seen that commitment drive many players on a football field to go above and beyond what they might be able top achieve otherwise. Most however weren't built that way. Cam wasn't and if he had to guess he would say Axel want either. His superiors might look down on him saying but he preferred a more balanced approach and it was one of the things he thought might help in this situation.

"Then take a break man." Cam said with a chuckle as Axel finished talking. "Look, I'm not saying you should ignore your duties. Don't go skipping out on your responsibilities but if you need to recharge then you need to go ahead and do it." Cam reached over and patted Axel on the shoulder in encouragement. "Look we've all got things we've got to do to make sure the Legion works. We all have to do our part but if you can't take a break to let yourself unwind and depend on someone else to pick up the slack every once in a while then sooner or later you're going to crack and that is definitely something the Legion can do without."