Morgan spoke, informing Jax just how quickly she had seen past his lies and he had guessed as much. He was honestly just thankful that she seemed to be in a forgiving mood. Had he tried to lie to one or two of his other cohort mates, they might have made him sweat it out more. That or resort to physical punishment. It wasn't too often that he snuck out. It was more common for him to be the one catching people sneaking back in. He usually didn't care, as long as they were from the first or second. Any other cohorts though and he tended to be less forgiving. They hadn't earned the right to be lax, at least not in his mind. Jax could only grin back at her comment, giving a shrug, "I had to try."

Jax wasn't sure what time it was, but his stomach growled and he could only hope Morgan wouldn't make him beg for too long until letting him leave. He'd kill for some bacon, and perhaps a waffle as well. Normally he wasn't big on eating a heavy meal before the start of his day, but the alcohol and skipping last night's dinner was demanding more than a granola bar.

She brought up the fact that he knew that she was on patrol and he shook his head. "Not true. I actually skipped out of here the night before. I honestly thought this was Sam's patrol." He knew that Sam would probably give him Hades too, but Sam would be easier to convince than Morgan was going to be. Alas, he was at her mercy, as she so sweetly pointed out. He knew that she had a point, it wasn't often that she'd need anyone's help. They were in the first cohort after all, but that didn't mean it wouldn't come in handy. "Just name a price Morgan and I'm all yours." He gave her a smirk, though he doubted she'd fall for his charms.

He had assumed she'd tell him to shove off or perhaps actually shove him, but instead she moved to him, touching his arm softly and he raised an eyebrow. His hunger immediately forgotten as his eyes fell to where her fingers traced on his arm and then back up to meet her eyes, pausing a moment on her lips. Her voice spoke up and he wasn't entirely certain, but the nature of their conversation felt like it had changed. She lamented over catching him again and he grinned, "Let's call it fate." He could only grin at the cheesy line before moving his hand forward and tentatively moving a strand of her fiery red hair away from her face. 

The crack of Morgan's whip shot through the air and Jax involuntarily jumped, cursing silently in his head. That same head tilted to the side, waiting to see if she was going to actually give him more Hades for sneaking in or not. There were few thing he pressed his luck with and an angry daughter of Neptune with a whip in her hands was at the top. Thankfully, she smiled and he let loose a breath. It was entirely too early to have to fight for his life. He hadn’t even had coffee yet for god's sakes. She replied to his cheeky comment and he found himself grinning back at her in return. "Isn't that the same thing?"

Jax turned his attention back to the stream, lowering his hands to collect the water before rubbing it over his face and neck. He wasn't a child of any water-loving god but as soon as it made contact with his flush skin, it felt as good as any nectar or ambrosia. Morgan's voice brought him back to the precarious little situation he found himself in and Jax shook his head, a wide grin betraying any sense of seriousness that he was pretending to have. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I was just on patrol. I had to leave the barrier a little earlier to chase a monster." He had no delusion that she would believe him of course, but it was worth a shot. The water became colder and he splashed his face, noting her kindness and hoping that she would keep that good-natured feeling about her and not run and tell their centurion. He stood as she crossed the small stream, bringing up their centurion as if she was reading his mind.

"I told you, I had to fight a monster. It even hit me, see?" The smirk was still on his face as he pointed to the area where the man had punched him. It had grazed his cheek, barely missing his eye. He wasn't entirely sure that it was still there, but it was still slightly tender so he was hopeful it might be enough to corroborate his story. Morgan spoke again though and he realized that it was a losing fight.

Her eyes met his and he quickly realized that the game was up. Though she did seem open to bribery. "Because I'd owe you a favor and that's a rare thing Morgan. Think about it. How many other strikingly handsome, first cohort, son of mars legacies are running around in this place? None. And I'd be at your whim for anything you needed. Only once of course." He smirked. Sure this could potentially end up quite bad for the son of Mars, but it wasn't like he was swearing on the river Styx or anything. Even he wasn't that stupid.

She asked if he brought her back anything and he patted his pockets. "Sadly, I don't have anything to show for my efforts. Did you know they take everything from you when they arrest you in the mortal world? So strange." He figured the game was up anyway, she might as well know the details. "I mean, they don't even carry weapons. What's the point of taking away the random stuff in their pockets? I swear, it makes no sense." He shook his head slightly before crossing his arms across his chest and nodding to her. "So what are you doing up so early?"

Jax, as of late, had done his fair share of legionnaire duty. He had filled in on guard rotation when it was required. He had gracefully showed Graecus around Camp Jupiter, he had even behaved himself. At least, what could be called good behavior for Jax standards. He had been a picture of Roman perfection. As he always was. So he had taken it upon himself to sneak out of camp the night before. It wasn't that the mortal world called to him. He didn't honestly find it very interesting, they frowned upon carrying weapons for gods sakes, he couldn't fathom the reasoning behind that. But it did have something New Rome did not. A beautiful little thing called anonymity.

In New Rome, there wasn't much he could do without someone telling his mother about it almost immediately. Then he would have to hear her utter his full name aloud and pass along a list of punishments to his Centurion, who annoyingly enough, was always eager to dish them out. It was hard finding any sense of freedom in New Rome. At least when it came to things that he shouldn't be doing.

So out into the mortal world he had gone. He had snuck into a club, which had been boring. So he left that one, quickly finding another club that was also a bonus secret gambling hall. Jax had no desire to gamble but he did oblige a mortal who insisted on arm wrestling him. Jax had, of course, won. The man had then sucker-punched him and that had turned into an all-out brawl. He had gotten thrown out of the club, a giant grin on his face of course, but as he had begun to make his way back to Camp Jupiter, a hand had clamped down on his shoulder.

Jax had never been arrested before and found the whole ordeal hilarious. He gave them Espen Bekker's name and could only give them a shrug when they complained about him having no identification on himself. He had given them a mugshot that any child of Aphrodite would have been jealous of. To top it off, the mist had apparently turned his few weapons into a toothbrush and a comb, a fact that only made him erupt into fits of laughter when they asked him about it. They had detained him for just over twenty-four hours before finally letting him go. So off he went.

It was quite early as he made his way back to the border and Jax tried to stay in the shadows and woods as much as possible as he made his re-entry. The fewer the eyes, the better. He had almost made it entirely back with no issues before stepping out into a small clearing and finding none other than one of his cohort mates. She looked as if she was ready to skewer him and Jax laughed, "Relax Morgan. Don't want to kill your favorite son of Mars do you?" He gave a quick wink before walking over to where she was, swatting down to catch water in his hands before washing his face.

Jax crossed his arms, a clear look of annoyance on his face. The boy wasn't exactly the most humble being, even on his best day, but he took exceptional irritation when a fourth cohort newbie dared to correct him on anything. The girl looked every bit as annoyed as he was and he was prepared for a yelling match. Oddly enough, instead of telling him off, she spoke about peace being better than war and confusion instantly filled his features. How she had gotten that he preferred war over peace was beyond him. "No one said that it wasn't."

He barely had time to utter those words before she snapped at him all over again. Jax could only listen silently as his features displayed every confusing thought that was running through his mind. For a brief moment, he even wondered if she was talking to him at all. He knew some mortals had earpieces that were practically invisible, but the wards wouldn't allow anything like that of the sort inside camp. 

She launched into Cicero and that she imagined he'd find glory in conquest and he could only continue to stare, clearly bewildered. His godly gift arose, like a cat waking up for a nap and he felt it like waves of hot air on his skin. She was angry, quite angry.

The whole ordeal was growing more and more confusing, the girl speaking of not raising her sword and though Jax understood the metaphor that she was trying to convey, he wouldn't be Jax if he didn't make a quick comment, the confusion moving into his normal cocky demeanor. "Actually, it looks like you're already raising a weapon. So who are we at war with again? I can't remember." The smirk was plastered onto his face, but he couldn't enjoy it too much because she snapped at him again, this time bringing up the dead and orphans. "Are…are you unwell? No one mentioned war." He tilted his head just slightly to the side, unsure if he should call for a medic. He again found himself wondering if she was speaking to him, that maybe she was just saying lines from an upcoming play or something but the anger was clearly there and directed at him.

She continued to speak. On and on she went and when it became clear to the boy that she was in no rush to hurry along with her odd critique of him, he sat down on the ground. Arms stretched out, supporting himself from behind so he could watch her rant with a bemused expression on his face. The anger was clearly evident, even without him sensing it. No one had to have special powers to see that the girl before him was fuming. The only thing that didn't make sense, at least not to the son of Mars, was what had exactly set her off on a wild tangent about war.

As she spoke on, a grin slowly spread across his face, one that didn't leave, even as he noticed her moving towards the gleaming sword laying near. When she finally wrapped up her tirade, he could contain it no longer and found himself full-on laughing. The laugh continued for at least a minute before he composed himself enough to retort. "First, you need to know that yes, being a child of a god does make me more. One of the many reasons actually that makes me more." The smug grin returned to his face before continuing on, "Second, do you need a medic? You do realize that you're the only one who brought up war, conquest, and glory right? I spoke of honor and pride, two things which the people you yourself brought up not only had but demonstrated daily, so how exactly am I the fool in this scenario?" Jax angled his head, waiting on either her reply or attempt to skewer him.

Jax paused a moment wondering for half a second if she was a Greek who simply wasn't wearing orange. She had given him something amounting to an apology, something very un-Roman, at least not the kind of Romans he was used to being around. He hadn't actually expected her to reply at all to him. The fact that she did, and then further apologized to him only threw him deeper into confusion. He watched her for only a moment as she nocked the arrow and let it loose, the arrow piercing the target perfectly. A fact that made him just slightly more self-conscious.

Jax grabbed his bow, nocking the arrow and taking his time aligning his sights. One deep breath in and letting the arrow loose on the exhale slowly. It hit the target, though quite a few inches from the middle where he had been aiming. A frown pulled at his lips as he moved to grab another arrow. That kind of shot wasn't going to cut it. In the war games, the shields were too close for a shot like that to do any damage. There was nothing worse than a wasted shot.

The girl spoke up before he could grab another arrow though, pulling his attention to her as she spoke her name, mentioning that she was a child of Bellona. That was surprising to the blonde. She hadn't seemed at all like a daughter of the war goddess, at least not to him. "I'm Jax, son of Mars. Are you new or something? I don't think I've ever had a Bellona kid apologize to me." He grinned. Threaten bodily harm? Check. Given actual bodily harm? Check. Apologize? Not a chance. He mused that she could be new. Probatios and newcomers tended to give off nicer vibes than those who had been here a while. Though sometimes the big three kids liked to go against that trend.

She moved to take another shot, blowing the target completely and he turned back to his own weapon. He listened silently as she asked if he was in the first. Jax lined up the shot slowly. His instincts wanted him to launch the arrow immediately. To move quickly and fire even faster, but he didn't have the skill set yet to follow through with speed. At least not accurately. Jax inhaled and exhaled once more, the shot again hitting much lower than intended. He nodded towards the failed mark. "You don't have to make any excuses to me. Thank gods no one else is out here, we'd have to fight them to gain our family pride back." He gave a half-grin at the joke before turning back to her and answering her earlier question. "And yeah, I'm with the first. What about you?"

Jax had spent the past twenty-eight and a half hours passed out in blissful sleep in his bunk. That time had been proceeded by sixty-one hours of no sleep at all so he had taken his sweet and precious time returning back to the land of the living. It had all been for a task that he wasn't looking forward to ever doing again, though he knew that wasn't likely to happen.

The border was malfunctioning, kids were still pouring in from the Greek camp and there simply weren't enough guard rotations to cover it all. So he, among a few others, had volunteered to help fill the gaps in rotation. A chore that he usually didn't mind doing. Although it could get boring at times, it surely beat out teaching Greeks or sitting in on a Latin Class any old day. Alas, he was half-mortal and until the Hermes kids could perfect their energy drink recipe, he still needed sleep. After coming in from the long haul he had stumbled into his bed and promptly bid the world goodnight.

It wasn't until late afternoon that he finally arose from his slumber. The only perk to forcibly keeping his body up well past the point of exhaustion was that when he finally did give in to sleep, it was nothing but empty unconsciousness. There were no dreams, no nightmares to speak of. There was no disruption from his bunk-mates nor camp. It had been a fast and whole encompassing of darkness that he had savored every minute of.

After he finally did sit up in bed, one hand running through his blonde locks before giving a stretch, he savored the groggy feeling for a moment more before proceeding to the showers. From there, after changing into a purple camp shirt, the obvious next stop was the Mess Hall. He all but inhaled a few slices of pizza before trying to talk one of his siblings into a sparring match. Unfortunately for him, the day was winding to a close and no one was interested in spending a few hours getting thrown to the ground, which really was a pity.

So instead, the boy found himself idly walking to the archery range. He mused that at least, with it being close to nightfall, no one would be around to give him hades for missing any shots. Archery, admittedly, wasn't his strong suit and he tended to avoid the weapon and the range itself altogether if he could help it. It had been a few months since he had last practiced though, so he figured now was as good a time as any.

His feet carried him along the path until the range came into view. A small frown making its appearance on his face as he noticed someone already there. They were methodical, and he silently grumbled to himself that it was just his luck to have an Apollo kid at the range when he wanted to brush up on his skills. Nevertheless, he continued on, walking towards the designated spots. The other person turned to face him and he gave a small smirk before moving to the spot beside them. "Don't pause on my account."