Standing on the Edge of the Unknown || Lyn

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credit to cidadedosilencio.tumblr.com

Edmund couldn't possibly sleep. If he couldn't sleep just being in the Legion, how could anyone expect him to sleep in the middle of a quest? Simple: he didn't. That being the case, he had volunteered first for guard duty. Like looking up at the stars, it helped fill his sleepless hours, while at the same time, it gave him something to do. Something to preoccupy his mind, since, in all honesty, Edmund honestly wasn't tired. Okay, so shadow traveling left him a little sick and drained, but only for a few minutes. The feeling it gave him was akin to Jolly's 48 hours drills and his body had grown accustomed to those. There would be a sick pit in the stomach for a few minutes, but usually after that he felt more... refreshed than anything. Maybe it was just him; maybe he was just a crazy, mechanical, child solider, but that was how he was now. After his few minutes of nausea, Edmund had been on high tune alertness. They weren't in the safe boundaries of the Legion anymore. They were in the mortal world, on a shady quest for the gods that could get any one of them (or all of them) killed in five seconds flat.

Sure, he had Weingarten had their scaring mortals, church fun, but that didn't trick him into believing that this quest was, in any way, shape, or form, good. With "fun time" over, Edmund became all business. Besides, he wasn't the only one on guard duty: Cinny was helping him. The shredder sat next to him, in tissue box form, quietly humming as he sent out pings, much akin to a bat. In the week before setting off, the simple forge shredder/remaker turned into a rolling weapon/guard. It had already logged in the quest member's stepping patterns; anything else that moved was in trouble. The seventeen year old had his sword out; the one that could turn into a Hello Kitty keychain. Jolly had given up ownership, so he had adopted it. No reason for his work to go to waste. His co-centurion's taste in Japanese weapons had been pretty cool. The samurai sword had even grown on him after a few adjustments. Actually, Edmund had made sure of that before leaving for the quest; he decided to bring the key chain sword rather than his normal sword, mostly because it was probably highly frowned upon in mortal society to carry around a sword.

Beside him, Cinny gave an electrical impulse. It went through Edmund something like an electric shock. Rubbing his fingers together, he looked down at the shredder, and then at the area surrounding him. Someone, or something, was up and moving. Giving that Cinny hadn't given two impulses, one of his quest mates were approaching him. Edmund had lost track of the time: he wasn't sure if it was time to change guards or what. Did one of them just want to back hand him for scaring a bunch of mortals? If one was to do it, it would probably be Rogers. Ed didn't take Hunter as the disciplinary type; heck, who knew, maybe he even got some of the sick humor. For whatever the reason they wanted him, Edmund stayed put. One thing he learned under Jolly, from the Legion, and just life in general: you do not leave your post in a life or death situation. Being on a quest counted as life or death. Then again, since when had he ever fully listened to orders? Squinting, the dark haired male waited, trying to spot one of the others with the little light there was.

OOC: This is just a little bit of a time jump, we can still do things inbetween ^_^
.....why, hello Ed muse >.> you don't have to match at all
Muse Song: "Iridescent" by Linkin Park
IC: 623

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The small stuffed bear she had gotten from Gunnar turned out to be a great hing, she snuggled that thing as she fell asleep and it was probably the only thing that help her at all. She was so excited, even with all the energy she had used it felt like she'd never be able to sleep, but with that little fluffy bear she was out like a light. For a while anyway, she wasn't sure how long she slept. Stretching a moment before rolling out of her sleeping bag, the small curly hair child looked around at the sleeping quest-ers around her. Still asleep, except for one. Edmund must be on duty right now. That brought a smile out of her sleepy little face, and a small silent yawn escaped her as she started to migrate to him. Stepping lightly around the people she made her way over to the forever cranky, forever awake individual that was Edmund Simons. She still held onto the stuffed animal that had caused worry earlier, at least when she first pulled the thing from her bag. She had no idea what it was or how it got to her bag because it certainly was not hers. At least she never had something like that before, but it seemed like Gunnar had decided she needed a few extra things, like money and a cell phone. Something he had shown her how to use before, and told her to normally keep off, but it was there none the less. She knew how to put the battery back in and turn it on, the press a button and Gunnar would be on the other side of the line. It was an interesting device, but apparently dangerous because it can lead monsters to you when on. Then there was the money, which also said for emergencies only, but she didn't know how to know what kinds of emergencies needed money on a quest. Maybe like fair when going somewhere or something? She didn't know, nor did she really know how to use it. Money was never something she had used before. Ambrosia sat in small neatly cut squares, it seemed like they all had something medical on them. Which she supposed was a good thing. Ambrosia was easy enough, just eat a little bit and you'd start healing up. She hoped she'd be able to eat a little, if she didn't get hurt on a quest like this is seemed like a waste. Of course she could always just be lucky enough to just not get hurt, but she'd gladly take the hit over Edmund, Felicity, or anyone else in the group.

Spying the shiny metal box, and it's owner towards the edge of camp she picked up her pace. Her trot was probably pretty distinct by itself anyway. Having never really seen Cinny attack anyone she wasn't concerned about him. Except for the fact he was another awesome thing Edmund created, with a great personality. She liked both Cinny's. “Hi.” she said softly before plopping on the ground and scooting closer to the boy who claimed no godly parent. “How are you doing Ed? Hi Cinny.” she did her best to keep her voice hushed as she reached out a hand to pet the metal tissue box.

[Deleted]

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Sitting at the edge of the questers' camp, Edmund started to think of his life before it turned upside down. Before the fire. Before the Legion. That was pretty much how his life was split up: before the fire/legion and after the two. The seventeen year old exhaled in annoyance. He shouldn't be thinking of this, but it happened from time to time. Especially when he had time to himself; when he had time to himself, it lead to thinking. Exactly why he had taken up plane making, fighting, and eventually forging. He had to have something, anything to distract him from his own thoughts. Today's random before the legion thought (even though he was on hyper quest guard alert) was about his room and sleeping patterns. Even back then, he was a horrible sleeper. He would wake his parents up at odd hours. He would have dreams about it. He remembered some sort of teddy bear. He remembered liking pancakes and chicken parmesan. Pancake. Was that the name of his stuffed, brown bear whose image was as blurry as the faces of his parents? So innocent. So far away. Now, the thought that he had once had a stuffed animal was repulsing. What was the use or function of something like that? Then again, he could ask the same question about himself...

With one hand on his side dagger, one of four weapons that he had, he waited quietly as the quest member, whoever it was, showed him or herself. After a few seconds, Lyn came into view. Youngest and most naive quest member they had, rivaled only with Hunter. He had tried hard to show her the reality, and from what he had heard, so had Felicity, but the ten year old hadn't budged. Oh well, whatever. It would blow up in her face one of these days, even if she was the daughter of luck. Heck, Ed believe in luck as much as he believed in the gods. Aka, not that much. Luck had nothing to do with anything. It was going to be a hard crash into reality for her, but hey, not his problem. No one could say that he didn't try to warn her. The antisocial grump's dark brown eyes looked over the curly haired ten year old. Awake, semi sleepy, semi peppy and.... holding a teddy akin to what he had just been thinking about. "Hi Lyn," Edmund nodded at her, his voice in its usual dull state. Tired? Not at all. Edmund was on high alert. No no, dull and monotone was just his normal speech pattern; one that the younger girl had probably gotten used to by now. "Where'd you get that?" he asked suspiciously, eyeing the bear. No buzzers were going off inside his head. There were no traps or explosives rigged to it that he could detect, but still, Edmund wasn't exactly the most trusting person ever.

"I'm fine." Usual, standard answer with a shrug. "You? You should be asleep." True, it was probably hard for anyone to fall and stay asleep on a quest, but still. If she could get some sleep and had the opportunity to so, she should take it. He looked down at the metal box beside him, who met Lyn's outstretched hand half way. It gave a mechanical, yet cat like purr at the younger girl's pet. Cinny: all purpose (including flesh) shredder and loving pet all rolled into one. How the heck did he make something like this? Sure, Cinny became a bit tamer around the questers since they were "off limits" in its programing system, but Ed would have no problem making it snap at Rogers's and Hunter's heels. Just for entertainment.

OOC: ugh sorry for that wait D:
IC: 633

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The stuffed bear sat in her arms as she curled around it, the warmth from when she held it while sleeping still lingered on it. Her brown eyes looked over the dark fur, to the small compartment in the back which held different types of money. After looking a bit more she even found Roman coin, though she wasn't sure what she could use that for. Lyn had never actually used money before, normally using trades or something of the sort to get things in camp. Though this made her wonder if the adults had money to buy and sell things in town, the few times that they had to go. Normally for medicine, or things they really needed. There was also the phone, and the ambrosia that sat snuggly inside of it. She squeezed the bear, and even then she couldn't feel the things inside of it. It gave easily, the softness cushioning the things that lay hidden inside. “I found it in my bag, right after we got to the city. In the park. I thought I was getting water, but there was this fluffy bear. I opened it up, cause the back has an opening..." Letting go of the bear enough to show Edmund the back, she pulled apart the seem. It was well hidden in the natural form of the bear, and had all the things originally there still in place. “See? Stuff. There's also a note that said it's for emergencies. It has the healing stuff that tastes like honey and raspberries, but I don't wanna use the other stuff. The phone and the money. I think we can do this quest all by ourselves" a broad smile came across her face “We have you Ed, so that makes this the best team ever."

A tiny yawn escaped her as she squeezed the bear, and stretched her legs and arms in front of her. She knew she needed to be asleep, but that was probably not going to happen for a little while. She had woken up, and generally that meant not going back to sleep at all. Though since this was the quest she might have to force herself to sleep. If she wasn't busy talking to her favorite person in the world. “But I'm awake now." she said pulling the little metal box towards her affectionately. She moved the bears paws so Cinny could feel the softness of the fur against it's smooth outer shell, talking to the little metal box as if it were another person. “Does Cinny take breaks? He must get tired. Even you get tired sometimes Edmund, not very much though. Not like me, but I have lots and lots of energy and can make up for it! I wish I could be up as much as you, then I could hang out with you more. Like now!" for a moment her excitement got the better of her. The volume of her voice slowly getting louder as she spoke, but she soon clamped her hands over her mouth. Turning towards Cinny she put her finger on her lips and gave a small shush sound. Though he hadn't actually done anything wrong.

[Deleted]

credit to this blog right here

Looking at the bear, Edmund thought of no logicality for real stuffed animals. Comfort? But then came the question: why did little kids feel safe and calmer with a stuffie? At the moment, he wasn't coming up with any good ideas. Sinclair's stuffed bear though, seemed to serve a purpose. He nodded slightly as Lyn described how she found her new plushie, and then watched as she opened the back up, exposing the items. He had to admit, whoever had made that hidden compartment did it really well: using the natural seem of the bear. He wondered if Lyn could feel everything that had been placed in there, or if the manufacturer (whoever it was) put enough stuffing around it so she wouldn't feel it. Still, a bear from a stranger didn't exactly sit well with him, so Edmund took to scanning his suspicious brown eyes over the items: nectar, ambrosia, mortal money, a cell phone. "Emergency only," he agreed. Combined, the questers probably had probably smuggled enough ambrosia and nectar out of camp to overdose and burn themselves, and a couple of mortals into crisps. His eyes gave a quick glance at the cell phone, lingering for a few moments since he hadn't seen one in a while. "Especially the phone." One of the oddest concepts that he had come to accept about Roman life: cell phone use would attract monsters. What'd the cell phone do? Absorb and transport the DNA of the halfblood through the shell material, register it as a half blood, and then use the signal waves to ping a message down to the underworld? Sometimes this world still made no sense to him. Including the people in it (rather, more the people on a daily basis than the world). He looked sideways at Lyn and gave his head a slight shake. "Far from the case, Lyn."

Edmund watched as Lyn sat, just holding the fluffy bear, and looking at him. The thought had crossed him mind multiple times, but he had been refusing to really think too deeply into it. However, now that they were on a life or death quest, why not admit to it? She reminded him of Meg. A little. Fine, a lot. Being that they were in a gods forsaken forest in the middle of only Pluto knew where and that they could die at any given moment, Edmund's thoughts about everyone should have been going in the opposite direction. He should have been detaching, as in more than usual, but, much to his dismay, he wasn't. It was sounding stupider and stupider to him, but the longer they were on this outing for the gods, the more Edmund started to feel protective of them. As in, more than usual (not that it showed, but still). Heck, even the annoying Hunter kid. Yeah, he was an idiot; stupid feelings, why did humans have to have them? Edmund tried not to have them, but it didn't always work out. He knew he was just making it harder for himself, because if something did happen, he wouldn't only be failing the person as a quest member, but he'd be failing them as an acquaintancey/tolerable/kinda friend too. But try getting that out of his mouth. "And you'll have to be awake later." Beside him, Cinny was cautiously nuzzling the fur of the bear; even though Edmund had swapped chips, the fuzzy thing was coming from Lyn, so the machine had no problem with it. "Sometimes he goes into sleep mode," Ed shrugged. "But he's a machine, so he doesn't exactly get tired." Lyn had a point, Ed didn't exactly get tired that often; mostly because of forced habit of not sleeping for long periods of time. He gave his head a slight shake. What was he going to do with this kid?

OOC: Hi Ed muse >.>
OMGODS RHIA HE'S GONNA EAT ME FOR THIS POST.
IC: 655

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Starting to feel a bit thirsty, and a bit hungry, Lyndis wondered if she should have brought her other things over. It was just something that happened when she woke up, she'd start wanting food. Looking up at the sky she could tell what direction they were facing, and could even remember what types of plants were in season. Sure weather played an important role in it, the plants seemed to go by temperature and the amount of sunlight more than what time of year it actually was. It would probably be for the best if she stopped thinking about food. She was doing her best to ration out her supplies, and keep with fresh foods. She had always hunted food, so unlike most children her age, killing and skinning a small cute rabbit was no problem. Eating snake was no problem, she even knew how to clean them properly. Cooking over an open fire was normal to her, with or without pans and things to cook in. She had always been a bigger fan of skewering the meat and rotating it over the fire herself anyway. Her stomach gave a very small barely audible groan of discomfort.

“Yep, the battery is separated so monsters don't know where we are. Gunnar showed me how to use one once. You press the number one and the green button, and I can talk to him if the battery thing is in. Edmund what's a battery?” it was probably a question she should have asked before, and while she knew what it looked like, the black square, she wasn't sure about anything else about it. She knew he could give her a good explanation about it, something short and to the point. She loved his explanations the most. She had asked other people questions before, and they gave her long answers and her attention just could not stay focused for it all. Her head tilted slightly as she looked at the boy beside her. “What do you mean? Of course we're the best team ever.” she said with a hopelessly trusting smile. “We have you, smart, strong, ever vigilant, Ethan and Josh can do stealthy things, navigate, and talk to people, Felicity is strong, confident, and is people smart, and I'm the good luck charm! Best group ever!” Lyndis had an incredibly hard time seeing the faults in people, or perhaps she saw them and just didn't see them as faults. Though she never thought people were perfect, and never expected them to be. She'd still be troubled when people yelled, or cried though. She didn't really have to deal with Edmund doing either of those things though.

She was pretty sure she could do it. She had a two day long drill with Edmund's cohort after all. She did it with Charlie more than Edmund, since she was the centurion, but Edmund was normally first in her mind so he was what she associated with. “Yep, I can be awake later.” she said positively. “Machines don't get tired?” her normal inquisitive nature was not daunted in the slightest by the surrounding. She was perhaps more comfortable out in the middle of nowhere than in a camp full of people and buildings. Solid structures like that in camp unnerved her sometimes, though she had gotten more used to them after being in camp for so long.

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Edmund's appetite usually came and went depending on his mood, stress level, and work load. Taking into account that he was training all the time, usually had forge work to do, was nearly always grumpy, and sometimes saw little point in eating, he didn't eat much. Good for his health? Probably not, but neither was training under the hot California sun for forty-eight hours in long pants and inhaling forge smoke whenever that wasn't the case. Being on a quest for (well, you guys've heard the spiel already, so I won't bore you), Edmund could count his stress/anger level as pretty high. Hungry? No. Hypervigilance, yes. For the few months and year following the fire, his therapist had just written it off as PTSD. Now he was just hypervigilant because of a) the Legion and b) his previously undiagnosed ADHD. Useful for a demigod, horrible for a school student (which he was forced to be for eight years of his life). He followed her gaze up, the same sight greeting him as it always did when he looked up at night: stars, constellations. They both saw the same physical things, but he doubted that they actually saw them the same way. He could barely remember his dad's voice on the rooftop, but Ed was pretty sure that the ghost voice was trying to explain how different starts connected and made pictures in the sky. Edmund never got it, not as a child... and definitely not now. Kind of ironic when he thought about it. Didn't he "connecting the dots" (albeit in a more complex manner) whenever he made something?

The seventeen year old gave a slight nod. Keeping the battery out of the mobile would help, just in the case that something accidentally bumped into the phone, turned it on, and dialed. Knowing stupid demigod luck and as if they weren't in a life endangering quest already, that would happen to them. Gunnar... He was pretty sure that he had heard the name around camp, but like almost everyone, Edmund didn't exactly know him. "Hm?" he asked, looking down at Lyn's curious brown eyes. "Oh, battery. It's anything that contains energy to power a device." Short. Edmund all around. Along with the thought that batteries extended to humans. Unfortunately for them though, their ultimate battery was not rechargeable. A slight sigh drifted out of Edmund's mouth. Lyn was just so... naive and trusting. She couldn't realize that they were just a band of badly flawed misfits who were walking right into a death trap. Being that he was probably going to die, Edmund should have been terrified or even angry. Instead, he had pretty much accepted it. Even though he hated this quest with a burning passion, there was no other way he'd want to down. He'd live fighting, and he'd die fighting. Besides, his life wasn't going anywhere.

"Alright," Edmund agreed with a slight shrug. If she was tired later, then that would be her fault. Then again, from what he remembered, kids needed less sleep than adults. Maybe it had just been him though, the nightmares keeping him up or not allowing him to sleep, or just across the board. In addition to that, Lyn had survived a forty-eight hour drill with the first cohort in the days leading up to the quest. Staying up for days straight got easier after the first forty-eight hour drill, which was the hardest. "No," he said in his usual voice. "Machines don't feel." Odd, he sounded like he was giving a double meaning for something. Oh right. Himself.

OOC: Omgods. So late. Not even excusable.
IC: 619

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Yep, Edmund always had the best answers. One sentence and Lyndis knew at least a little of what a battery was, and it made sense. That was why it had to be in for the phone to be on. It was food for the phone things, or she supposed anything else. Her stomach groaned slightly, she really needed to stop thinking about food and comparing things to food. Though it was the only thing she could think of to compare it to. That was her mind. Oh, wood to a fire. That was a type of energy right? To energy, fuel, batteries, they did the same kinds of things. Make Lyndis think of food. That's about how it ended up. Now every time she thought of batteries it would be food that came to mind. That wasn't going to be weird later on in her life at all. “How long does it feed it? It has to run out right? Everything runs out, then you put more. Does it disappear when all the stuff stored inside is gone? Will I have to get a new one?”

Looking at the metal box she was petting, her little head tilted back and for a few minutes after he answers. An unusual silence for the little girl. What he said couldn't be right, but it was Edmund, so it had to be right. He build Cinny, he build Mr. Metal, aka Metal Bird, and he should know them the best. Slowly her little brown eyes shifted back up to Edmunds face, her curious little eyes fixed on his. “Cinny can't feel?” her voice was a little cracked, and obviously sad. Perhaps a bit disappointed. She thought Cinny liked her, that he liked Edmund and the people on the quest at least a little. He reacted to her, Mr. Metal did to. He liked some people and didn't like some people. That was feeling right? He reacted to her touch, so he could feel the physical too right? She couldn't figure out what Edmund meant. How could they not feel when she saw all kinds of signs that they did? ”Mr. Metal?” She asked in the same voice, quieter than what she had been talking earlier. She looked at him expecting him to tell her they could feel, that it was another kind of machine that didn't feel. Maybe that they weren't machines, they were something else. She didn't know, she wasn't sure. She just wanted Cinny and Mr. Metal to like her. She loved them, so it just seemed wrong for them to act the way they did and not feel.

A smile came across her face. ”You mean they can't feel tired right? Cause see? He can feel me touch him, and he's lika puppy. He loves me, and you too.” Yup, that's what he must have meant. He didn't mean all feelings, he bright little face showed she understood that. That's what she took from it, all on her own. The idea that something she thought of as liking her suddenly not liking her was not something she wanted, even if it never liked her in the first place. It was Edmund after all, and he used as few words as possible to explain things. Saying they couldn't feel was only in reply to her question. She wasn't thinking enough, she should have thought of that before.

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Simplicity was always the best way to go. Especially with kids. Not that Edmund claimed to be any sort of expert on humans of any age category, but still. They all had ADHD which entailed short attention spans. He knew that he didn't want to sit through an entire lecture about something as simple as a battery. Besides, it fit with the less than five words thing he had going on. Most of the time. There were two developing exceptions to that rule... and he wasn't liking it. He sighed slightly, crouching down with his back against the tree. Now that he thought about it, he had become slightly rusty with regular mortal technology. Of course he had become well versed in whatever the armory and forge had to offer as far as Roman technology, but something as simple as a mobile? He hadn't seen one in a while. Lyn decided to open her mouth for another tirade of questions. Edmund couldn't say that he was surprised though. Her questions always came in multiples that were usually all related to eachother. That being the case, it usually only took a short explanation on Ed's part to answer all of them in one shot. After a moment of silence to make sure she was done with all her questions, Edmund opened his mouth. "How long depends on the type of battery. They all give different lengths of lives. Yes, it'll run out and then you'll have to replace it. The battery won't disappear, the phone just won't work."

Interesting... Lyn didn't have a comment to that. He expected her to go on a tirade about how it would have to feel in order for her to interact with it and for the machine to respond properly. "Neither of them can," he stated simply. Straightforward and blunt. That was always the best way to do things. No reason to soften a lesson just so it could punch you back harder when you were older. Edmund studied her face for a moment and took note of her tone, the way her eyes looked. Sad. He had upset her. She obviously liked Metal Bird and Cinny... so telling her that machines didn't feel meant that they couldn't reciprocate those feelings. Well, it was no different than him really... All of them, when he thought about it. The Legion was just filled with fighting machines. Then you got the even more extreme version of a machine: the ones that became emotionless.

Just when he thought Lyn got it, she decided to have an optimistic take on it. He'd never get anywhere with her, would he? In that way, she even reminded him of himself. Ed exhaled and stayed quiet. It's not like his argument with her was going to wind up anywhere productive. She'd keep countering him, but then one day, she'd see the truth of it all. Edmund just wasn't sure if he wanted to be around to see that or not.

IC: 515

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Lyndis had moments when she worried if Ed didn't like her. Who didn't? The little optimistic ball of energy could only keep everything bright and sunny in her life for so long. Everyone around her knew one day she'd come to learn about things like bad people, and traitors, and things that hurt her. She'd learn first hand about the pain of loss and disappointment, but that was going to be at a later date. He hadn't replied to her, no yes, or no. She didn't mind, that was just the way Ed was. She would never want him to be anyone else, and at one point when he wasn't talking at all he scared her a little bit. Perhaps a lot. Then the quest came, and he spoke. He really spoke again, and now he was talking to her normally again. She replied normally, or as normal as Lyndis could get. They had been on the quest for a while now, and she wondered how long it would continue. It was a good thing Ed was also on this quest with her, she'd have missed him a lot.

"I love you too Ed." she said with a smile. "More than Cinny and Mr. Metal!" she gave the odd little box of metal a hug. The sharp razor blades and furnace that could melt swords didn't bother her in the slightest. Nothing dangerous was too scary for her. She was on the quest after all, and was gutsy enough to stick around Gunnar the camp assassin, and Ed the camp... whatever he was. "Do you like being away from the camp? I know you don't have the forge out here, and there's not training, or really a place to get food. I know I grew up like this outside, under the stars....." where exactly she was going with her line of questioning she wasn't sure. She was never sure, it was just words coming out of her mouth as she thought of them. Though this time she seemed a bit stumped. Words were difficult to find. Possibly because if Ed hated this way of living, he'd hate part of her.

OOC: T^T sorry it's short ellie I loooove youuuuuu

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credit to me!

A good way to detach yourself from emotion was to convince everyone, including yourself, that you didn't have any. Unless there was a serious hormonal imbalance, the fact stayed that most people had emotions. Most people had them... they just chose not to show it as much as others. Could Edmund count himself as one of those people? Maybe. Either that, or the Legion had knocked a few of his important emotional genes out the window. Ed hated to admit it to himself, but biologically speaking, he still had emotions. It was just mentally he didn't. He didn't need anyone to care for him. He didn't need anyone to like him. Wasn't that the whole point of having "friends"? Even the concept was odd after all these years. If he was younger, he could have considered himself and Weingarten as somewhat friends. What they did kind of emulated what regular people called a friendship: pulled off pranks, teased each other, and verbally bashed the gods. That's what regular people did in a friendship....right? And then there was Lyn. The way she trusted him and liked him so much went as far as scaring him. With each passing day she was reminding him of Meg. That just scared him even more. Why anyone would decide to choose him as someone to follow around and like and think highly of? He had rock bottom no idea. Maybe she just liked his inventions and in turn equated them to him. If that was the case, she couldn't get more wrong.

His eyes went to wander back to the bushes, but then Lyn spoke up. For a moment, it became apparent on how much time he had spent around Felicity. Still half looking on a diagonal (not exactly at the bushes, but not exactly at Lyn either), his eyebrows scrunched together the way Felicity's did whenever she was either thinking hard, or confused. He blinked, trying to process that; an honest, dumbfounded confusion broke through his usual expression. What the hell could he say to that? He knew the correct social response from when he was little, but now... now all he could do was avert his eyes to the grass and stare at a fixed point without meeting her eyes. Beside him, Cinny was giving small impulses and a purring noise. Lyn must have been hugging or petting him. And then she hopped topics. For once Ed was grateful for it. "It's alright. Good to get out." Finally, he was able to look back over to her. "How was it? Legion life must be really different."

OOC: No month long wait this time
IC: 445

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Ed asked her a question! She was excited, completely and utterly happy. He'd asked if she was hurt before, or something like that which was perfectly normal for him. This time though he asked something about her, about how she used to live. Her bright face showed the excitement she felt, and the idea's of food and hunger seemed to sustain themselves on that pure innocent joy she had. Where could she even begin? There was so much to say about it. "Very very very different!" she said scooting a little closer to Ed and turning to face him better. She'd try to keep quiet, everyone was still sleeping after all. "No walls holding you in, tents with only people you've known your whole life. Everyone helping each other, helping with everything. Hunting, cooking, pitching the tents, making clothes, taking care of younger and older ones." she spoke so very fondly of it, as even her own normally quick excited way of speaking slowed to show value on each and every piece she spoke of. She missed it, missed it so very much. "I'd go with my dad on hunts sometimes, or help gather vegetables from near by. Just fire to cook with, and the pots and pans. But nothing like the stuff in the kitchens at camp. No electricity. Stars, so many stars all the time." Looking above them she could see it. The sky she had missed, the one that civilization wasn't drowning out with florescence bulbs.

She didn't exactly know or understand constellations, but she knew the sky was beautiful. She was never one for connect the dots anyway. It was a sky full of twinkling stars, some brighter than others, some in a kind of river across the sky. She could kind of remember that being called the Milky Way. Who had told her that? She couldn't quite remember, it seemed like she heard it a long time ago. Maybe her dad, maybe one of the many other people she considered family. She couldn't take her eyes off the sky, the stars and the darkness that surrounded them. Her family was probably sleep by now, but someone there was keeping guard. Like Ed, awake and watching out for everyone else until it was another's turn. Actually more than just one, four people at night were on watch normally. Sometimes talking quietly, joking. She could remember hearing them. Her rambles had stopped, her eyes not quite focused she was just staring at the sky, missing her family.

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credit to markingmydifference.tumblr.com
stxllion.tumblr.com/

Edmund didn't consider himself good with small talk or anything, but if he had to do it to get out of a situation, he could get by. Barely. He supposed it was one of the first thing he noticed when Lyn started hanging around him: if you got her excited, she'd overlook things and go right on to the next task. Partly thanks to her ADHD (and he supposed they were all like this when they were younger) his reaction to her affection was forgotten. Good thing too... He watched as her smaller body inched closer to him and he lightly slid down the rest of the trunk so they would be more or less eye level with each other. It was a harmless enough question. It wasn't like he was asking her backstory or anything. Then again, this was Lyn. She'd probably add in her own backstory if she wanted. Most people in the Legion (including him) would avoid history. Not many demigods had happy ones; after a while, it became repetitive. It came as an occupational hazard, a fact, a part of the territory, especially if you were a half blood. Besides, if he was honest with himself, Lyn's way of living did sound interesting. What would it be like to be raised under the sky? No roof and out in the open?

He just listened quietly to her, as he always did. Lyn usually talked fast, but for once, she slowed down, as if reminiscing. She was young. She had just gotten into the Legion. Of course she'd still remember what it had been like before. If only he could forget. He let her go on for as long as she liked, only nodding slightly. "..... that sounds nice," he said quietly, following her gaze up to the sky. Same stars. Same sky. Anyone could look at them and miss each other at the same time. Or some variation of that mushy stuff that he had heard in a movie. From how she was talking about them, her community still seemed alive, which was good. At least she had somewhere to go back to if she so decided. "Seems like you had a pretty good community going for you there." She had even managed to rebuild it slightly at the Legion. Some sort of a family, anyways. He had been invited to campfire things with Charlie, Felicity, Clare, and Prometheus. There were probably more people, but those were the only names that had stuck with him, besides, he had never even gone. Circle, happy talking time just didn't go well with him being.... well, him.

The older demigod's eyes drifted towards the younger girl. Still looking upwards at the stars. She had grown up outside, with no buildings to obstruct her view of all the stars. He wondered how many hours she had spent as a kid looking at them. "I didn't really get to see a lot of stars as a kid, but it never stopped me from climbing up on the roof and trying," he said with a slight smirk.

IC: 523

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She almost wanted to cry. She missed them, all of them so very much. The family she grew up with, always around them for her entire life, and now she was here. She was to stay in Camp Jupiter for at least another ten years. Sure here wasn't exactly Camp Jupiter. It was some kind of combination of them being out and about and the people from there. Some strange combination of her life before and after the Wolf House. "Yeah..." she softly agreed, so quiet almost whispering it into the air. It had been nice. She nodded, pulling her knees up to her chest before lowing her head to rest on them. She turned to rub her face against her pants, not wanting to cry. All these changes, it was too much. First she flew to find the Wolf House, and trained there for a little while. That was kinda cool, but then she had to find her way all by herself to the camp. Sure everyone had to do it, but Lyndis had never in her life been so alone before. The joy she felt when finally getting to camp, and getting to be with people was great. She loved them, and talked to them, as many people as she could. It was just nice to be around people again, and Edmund. Edmund was amazing, the things he could make were super cool, and she got to talk to him and he was nice. Not like what everyone else said.

She looked up at him. He had shifted himself lower, and wads about eye level with her when she wasn't curled into a ball. She smiled a bit as he said something about himself, of course not really thinking about how he almost never shares anything personal. She was just glad to be talking to him. "Wasn't it scary being up on the roof?" She could only think of the building she had seen, not only getting to and leaving the airports, but also the ones in New Rome and Camp Jupiter. "It's so high up, and slanty." she said tilting herself to the side a little bit as she imagined the sloping roof tops.

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credit to these-times-shall-pass.tumblr.com/

Edmund wondered if it was the same with everyone who had been at the Legion for their service. Begin as homesick (okay, granted not everyone came from a good home, but still) and then slowly, but surely, the memories faded. At least, that was what it had been like for him. He remembered his backyard. The trees. His mother's garden. He could walk around his house with a blindfold on. Now, even though it wasn't even standing anymore, Edmund was pretty sure that he couldn't even pick out the exterior of it if he saw it, forget being able to walk around the interior. Lyn was so young... and from the sound of it, she had a pretty family oriented base back at home. Wherever that home was for her: stable or wandering, but always a stable family unit. She must have missed them... Then again, at the Legion, there was usually little time for the campers to dwell on it. Being on the quest though, with so much down time, let things and feeling seep in. Emotions that they had been trained to burry deep, so that they could give all their attention to the good of the Legion as a whole. That worked in times of being busy, but when you were alone at night, not able to sleep... it didn't work so much. You had time to think. And thinking (for many Legionaries) was dangerous. It must have been nice... to come from a strong community and remember it. Nice, but probably upsetting at the same time too. If what happened to him, happened to her too, how guilty would she start feeling once the memories started to fade?

It was rare that Ed divulged anything personal. It was almost nonexistent for him to even hint at anything that happened to him pre-Legion. But there he was, sitting with the sky above him, the questers around him, and Lyn beside him, talking about climbing up on rooftops when he was little. He gave himself a mental hit on the back of the head. What was wrong with him...? Then again, if he was truthful with himself, it was almost nice... having the quest team. Having Lyn. Just the five of them against... well, whatever was out there. As much as he hated to think about it and wanted to cancel out the pull of it, he was starting to view the quest team in a more positive light. Something that felt akin to having a... He could easily make a list about everyone: likes, dislikes, habits, pet peeves, things they did with their faces on certain situations, words they used often ... that's what happened when you were stuck with the same group of people for months on end. "The first time... the first time, yeah, I think so," Edmund mused. His dad had actually been the one to tell him to come up. "But I got used to it after a while.... Like everything I suppose."

OOC: Ed the talkative >.>
....he's going to kill me for that opening quote
IC: 505