Door's Open || Ethan

[Deleted]

but where's that s p a r k you used to have? Edmund could only stay in the forge with the live fire for so long. He had been doing really well too, but then he'd be pulled away and it was back to square one. First it was the infirmary, then the quest, followed by the war, dungeons, and trial. None of them had helped his arsonphobia. Especially the dungeons. Caulder had summoned hell fire during his verbal tirade... which didn't help at all. With his panic around fire, he had only a few options. Calm down outside, or calm down in the armory. The armory usually had less people... and it usually didn't have people giving him death threats. Not that he minded. He had expected it. Not everyone in the Legion would be all fine and dandy two traitors walking away from the chopping block or complete expulsion. True, it was much easier for an "accident" causing his death to occur in the forge or armory, but Ed would take his chances. Outside was only a little cooler than the forge, but Ed didn't feel like seeing people now. When did he ever? Okay, maybe that was... not true. If he was being honest with himself, he wanted the quest team back. Ever since he had survived the war, and had't been put on the death sentence, he had wanted to see them. Just to make sure the survivors were okay. He had missed them. Six months of only them to barely seeing them? It felt weird. Too late to argue that now. He particularly wanted to see a certain person who had died in the war, but that couldn't happen... or she wasn't allowing it to happen. He was being a friggin idiot. Trivia had been right. He shouldn't've gotten attached. And now look where he was. A traitor that had been given a walk away. The rest of the quest had spread out since their times in the ruins too. One joined the hunters (because he pushed her away). One died (because he couldn't save her in time). And the other two... busy with their significant others. Josh had Rhia. Ethan had Lilith. No. They were better off without him... He didn't deserve to see them... even if he was giving into the sentiment of missing them. Stupid, stupid, stupid.... He took a deep breath, letting the heat of the summer cool him off. Calm down... calm... Ed's eyes drifted to the dump and WIP tables. They had become even more crowded since he had left for the quest. Maybe the dump pile had something useful he could use... maybe to remake something. Not that he really had any real interest in it anymore... it was just something to do. Sure, he had thought that before, but before it was different. Before, he had actually enjoyed it. Now, it was more or less just going through the motions because people knew he'd go back. Go back to the one thing he was semi, kinda not really useful for. He unconsciously began shifting through the pile. He remembered seeing some of these contraptions on people's desk before he left. Good ideas, now abandoned in this pile, ready for the garbage, melt down, or waiting for someone like him to pick it up and remake it into something new. OOC: Yay more quest reunions ^_^ IC: 550

[Deleted]

Okay, so Ethan maybe kind of sort of might have snuck into the back shadows of the Senate House to watch Ed’s trial. Maybe. And Rhiannon’s, though that part was only for his brother’s sake to be honest. It was Ed he was most interested in, mostly because, come on, it was his only remaining little buddy from the quest team. There was still Josh from the team, but as Josh was older than him, he couldn’t exactly call him a ‘little buddy’ now could he? And, what could he say, Ed had always wanted to be a big brother, so six months with just the five of them, he not so secretly adopted Lyn. And she was gone now, probably never to see her again… no, come on Ethan, don’t get choked up. Not again. And Felicity… they were the same age, true, but he had sort of adopted her as a sister too. Especially after that one night that he had helped her out and tried to protect her as she called camp. But now she was gone too, definitely not to be seen again. Right, again, don’t get choked up, Ethan. Bad for the reputation. That left Ed, whom Ethan had very secretly adopted as his little buddy. His lock buddy. Edicus Maximus. Laddy. What have you. Every nickname under the sun for his little friend-not-friend. It was complicated. If he was on Facebook with Ed, he would totally put that as their relationship. Wait, no, that wasn’t how it worked was it? Not that kind of relationship! He didn’t swing for that team. He preferred to swing for the Cincinnati Reds, even though they were currently in a 3-game losing streak against the Cardinals. They always lost to the Cardinals, so no big deal, right? Yeah, so Ethan snuck into their games every now and again. Take him out to the ball game, steal him some peanuts and cracker jacks. Come to think of it, he’d better get back, cause it’s root, root, root for the home team. If security catches you, it’s a shame! For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ball game!

Where was he going with this train of thought? Right! To find his little lock buddy! The forge was devoid of Eddikinseses. That seemed odd. So he headed to the next place the youngster might logically be, and he hoped he was there, because if he wasn’t there was no telling. When he got to the armory, though, a wide grin spread across his face. “Sir Eddikins! Oh, Laddy, I’ve been looking up and down for you! You’re free! I mean, sure, dishonorable discharge, but hey, could be a lot worse. So you’re free! Congrats! We should celebrate! Come on, Eddie!” He dropped his arm across his friend’s shoulders as if this was totally natural, which it wasn’t, and grinned like an idiot.

Tag: Edwina
Word Count: 485
Notes: I’ll save my surprise for next time around, heh heh

[Deleted]

but where's that s p a r k you used to have? Edmund hadn't had much sibling or friend experience since the fire. And then came the quest. They had all come to adopt each other, in their own weird ways. Friends, family, whatever they had between them in various degrees. He supposed the two that left just showed what it cost to let himself get attached. Anyone near him got burned. Not always physically, but emotionally. He had betrayed all their trust, had ditched, and... everything, but they had still stayed by his side. WTF? It had just been the their time with him in the quest that was clouding their judgement... He was a traitor... didn't deserve their loyalty to him... and yet they didn't seem angry with him. They didn't turn their backs. He couldn't... didn't understand these people. He had expected to be shunned or ignored. He had been hoping for it. Instead, they just... continued talking and interacting with him like nothing had happened. Edmund could've dealt with their hate towards him. Easily. He had full bent prepared on it. Would it've hurt? No. Maybe. Kinda. Just a little. Because no matter how much he tried to convince himself that he didn't care, he did. But, for their sake, he would continue acting. Because it was much easier to hate him than love him. Because it was much easier to die convinced that they hated him and he didn't care about them. But that's not what happened. Ed's plan flipped right in front of his face. She had joked around and said she hadn't hated him. The remaining of the quest team had talked to him like he was the same Ed as he was in the quest as he was in the dungeons. He had been completely unprepared for that. Continuing to sort through the dump table, one of the power tools caught his eye. It looked oddly familiar, and a part of him was almost disappointed to see it in the dump pile... "This is one of those hole… drill… sorta… things. Right? You know what I mean. I don’t know my tool jargon" A small smile flickered across Ed's face. Hunter. True, they had had the least amount of bonding time during the quest, but they had done the locks together. He had become Ed's family just as much as the others had. Heck, Ethan had put up with him from the get go. Short forge meeting, quest, ruins, betrayal, and all. Miyuiki had said that he made it out of the war alive. At least that was something. She had said he had made it, was just recovering with Lilith. So alive. Then he had visited him in the dungeons. He looked like he still should've been on a cot, but... this was Ethan. He'd get out if he wanted... and then a familiar voice came. It registered as a quest member, so no picking up a weapon. Even if they were here to hurt him, it wasn't like he'd exactly do anything... Edmund turned around. Speak of the devil. He partially opened his mouth before Ethan let loose a tirade. At the end, all Ed could do was stare at him and ask: "..... celebrate?" IC: 533

[Deleted]

Ethan grinned at the look on Ed’s face. Sort of like a deer in the headlights sort of thing. Just like he remembered last time he verbal freight trained him. It was, after all, his specialty. Would hate to deny anyone the sheer delight of his extra chatty presence. Especially Ed! Poor kid didn’t get enough bothering; that was Ethan’s take on things. He beamed. “Of course celebration! I snuck in during your trial, so I saw the whole thing. Man, you were like… Mr. Unmovable Force there! And pleading guilty to throw them off your scent! Nice one, man, very daring. And now look at you! Allowed to stay in New Rome and everything! And you don’t have to do that horrible training anymore, you lucky dog!” He leaned his head back and laughed. Okay, so Ed-in-his-head had a point. He was a verbal KO sometimes, to use the boxing jargon. Which was weird because he didn’t like boxing, but they used it for strike outs in baseball, and that was where he’d learned it. Close enough.

He drew in an overly-dramatic deep breath and grinned like the Cheshire cat. Which probably looked all the better with his ears sticking out from his head as they always did. Lovably dorky. At least, he assumed that was why people like Lilith liked him. A teaspoon of idiot, a tablespoon of awesome, and about seven cups of sugar. Then spice and everything awesome. Which made him sort of sound like a Power Puff Girl… no, he was not a girl. But he refused to accept that he was made up of snips, snails, and puppy dog tales. First of all, ew. I mean, come on. Ew. Puppy dog tales? Poor puppies! Ethan was not okay with animal cruelty! Cutting off puppy dog tales? Horrible! Detestable! Poor puppies! Now Ethan wanted a puppy. No, no puppies. He’d have to talk with Lilith first. After all, seeing as he planned on spending the rest of his life with her if he could, it was sort of up to her too. But back on topic!

It was hang out with Eddie day! Which in his mind should be an international holiday or something. No training, just hanging out with Eddikins McTwisterpants. Perfect. Well, there was the fact that Ethan was skipping training to enact his surprise. Sort of. He had warned Clare in advance, and she had laughed it off. So that was good, right? Seemed even she believed Ed needed a day off, maybe not at the expense of training, but she knew she couldn’t do much to deter Ethan from this. He was on a mission. Right, back to the mission.

With a grin, he did the last thing Ed probably suspected: he hugged him. And then teleported. When they got to the alleyway in downtown Frisco, he semi-let go, but not all the way, because he was perfectly aware of how teleporting got to first-timers. Heck, Lilith still got sick if they went far enough. And so did he. Ugh. But Frisco wasn’t as bad. Nice and close. “I have Pepto if you need it… just say the word, little buddy. But don’t judge just yet, you’re going to have a fun day, I promise.”

Tag: Eddikins!
Word Count: 549
Notes: heh heh

[Deleted]

but where's that s p a r k you used to have? Fact: Edmund had missed Ethan chatting his ear off. Even though Edmund usually didn't have much to say when Ethan word bombarded him, he would still listen. Heck, he usually didn't have much to say when anyone word bombarded him. But still, whether he showed it or not, he listened. Listening to others made for a good distraction. It demanded his focus, taking him out of his own thoughts. He didn't have that at Orthys. Didn't have that in the dungeon. Usually didn't have it in the forge, although there, he had a whole other set of problems that demanded his full attention. He stood there quietly as Ethan continued, raising his eyebrows slightly. Okay. Wait. Ethan was taking his whole trial as an act? Okay, granted it was, to an extent, but still... Ethan would probably never know to what extent, but he had been kinda close. Only thing? Edmund was still going along with the act. He'd be caught up in it for the rest of his life. No one could ever know... ever. Besides, after doing it for so long, it was hard not to start believing it yourself... Yes, Ed believed himself to be a traitor. Not in the way camp deemed him though. Being a traitor meant he had to betray people who had trusted him (against their better judgement). He had betrayed his quest mates, and that would negate any good thing he'd ever do. "Was just telling the truth," Ed shrugged. That was partially a lie, of course. Well, anything could be either a truth or a lie when looked at from different points of view and from different people. His guilt to camp was a bit of a grey area. Did he leave? Yes. Did he show up with Saturn? Yup. But he had been on Camp's side all along, anonymously note passing. He just decided not to bring that point up in the trial. He had let them debate over his metal contraptions and sanity. While talking to Ethan though, he decided to leave off the bit where he was 99.8% certain/hoped that they'd pass a full expulsion or the death sentence. And sure, he didn't have to go to first cohort training anymore, but he still did daily, scheduled training in the Circus Maximus. After eight years of daily training, it just felt weird not to do it. Now, more than ever, he needed structure. He needed semi-normality, even if it wasn't with his cohort. Forge, train, hydrate. Sleep wasn't even on the list anymore and eating was becoming a rarity. And then Ethan drew a breath and grinned. Ed knew that grin from the quest. It was his "I'm about to do something that I'm not supposed to and I'm going to drag you along too and you're going to like it, it's going to be fun" Cheshire grin. Gods. What now? "Ethan, what...?" And then came the plot twist of the day: Ethan hugged him. Out of everything, Edmund had probably expected that least. A playful (or not) punch, some bantering, him being his hyper self, sure, but not the hug. Before he could push away or anything, he felt himself disappear. Teleportation. His feet hit the ground and a slight wave of nausea rolled over him. Odd. He had almost gotten used to shadow travel, but he supposed teleportation was a tad different. After a few seconds, he stood up straight and semi backed away from the older male. "I'm fine. What-?" he asked, and then semi rolled his eyes. So this was what this was all about. "I don't do fun," he muttered, a semi smirk flashing across his face. OOC: ^^ Love those two xD IC: 609