Freebird {Ed}

[Deleted]

People kept turning their heads to the brown haired girl running towards the forges. In her arms was a bundle wrapped in a blanket. Her face gave one of concern, frantic, and mad all at the same time, if that was even possible. She skid around a corner and ran straight into the forge door, literally. She backed away and rubbed her head with one of her hands. "Right, it opens the other way." Felicity muttered to herself as she grabbed the handle and pushed. She looked inside looking for the familiar forge boy. She glanced at one of the clocks somewhere within in the forge. It was lunch time. Perhaps he was in the mess hall, though that sounded very unlikely considering how antisocial he was. Then again, Lyn could have dragged him along.

Felicity gingerly set the bundle on an abandoned work table. She grabbed one of the freestanding stools and dragged it to the table. She climbed on top of it and started to slowly undo the layers of the bundle. A metallic wing tumbled out, then a head, body, other wing, and the rest of the pieces from what use to be known as Metal Bird. She gingerly set the pieces out, in a way to tell where each one should belong. As she did so her eyes started to sting a bit with saltwater.

Who would do this? Why would someone do this? Whoever did it was going to have a place with their name on it in tartarus. Felicity would make sure of that. Today had been pretty normal. Metal Bird had woken her up, like he had done for a awhile now. Then Felicity went about her daily business and made sure to readjust the blanket that Metal Bird loved was extra fluffy. Then Felicity had gone to breakfast and was going back to her cohorts to pick up her training supplies when she noticed her barrack door was standing wide open. As she cautiously entered Felicity examined to see if any damage had been done. At first glance there didn't appear to be any. Then she saw it. Scattered across her room were the fragments of her beloved metal bird. It looked as though there was a fight as talon marks had tore up the floor and walls in some places. As she walked over to the pieces she noticed that the metal had been distorted. Perhaps some acid based product? Felicity spend the time in between breakfast and lunch just looking at the pieces trying to understand what had happened. Finally, her sense returned and she ran to the forge.

The first couple of tears had began to fall as Felicity again looked at the fragments. This was made by Ed because she gave him the idea. She loved the bird. Sure, metal bird had been abusive to some people but that wasn't any reason to hate it was it? Could it had been Remus? No, he said he was trying to change his attitude to the bird. Some other camper than. That had to be the case. She had already started an investigation but at the moment she waited for her favorite son of vulcan to return to the forge and hopefully hear good news that her little friend can be fixed."

outfit: camp stuff
words: 577
notes: Poor Metal Bird

[Deleted]

credit to ineedthisforreactions.tumblr.com
(basically ed's reaction to people...)

Once again, Edmund was in the armory....sorting the WIP table. He had become nearly as OCD with this pile as he had become with any other of his projects. Talk about trying out his time management skills: WIP table, Jolly's orders, everyone else's orders, training, and plane making. No wonder he decided for no social interaction. Well, that was one of the reasons, anyway. He had a good working pile of gears and small daggers going. Which reminded him, he had to give Rogers the dagger he asked for Warlow. The gears, he'd probably use for something. Maybe for the flying car with rhyming monkey that Weingarten had suggested. After everyone else's orders were done. Suddenly, Edmund a light thud that sounded like it came from the forge. It sounded like someone's weapon or invention had fallen off the table. It certainly couldn't have been someone in the forge... it was lunch time. All the normal-ish demigods would be eating. Not Edmund though. Meal times meant a lot of people at once, so he usually opted for an hour before or later, when there were less or no people....

So instead of Edmund's oh-so-lovely-always-smiling face (in the most sarcastic degree of sarcastic-ness of course...) greeting her as she walked through the forge doors, Ryley the gerbil's head peaked up from over the little bed of fabric scraps that Edmund had made for him. He heard the collision of her forehead with the door frame and then had felt the minute vibrations of the crash from the door, into the walls, into the floors, which left only a little bit to go up the table legs and into his little fabric bed. From his height, he could see the girl pull up a stool and then crowd over something. What that something was, he had no idea. It was too warm in his little bed to think about getting up... so instead, he just nestled back into the small scrap of shirt that Edmund had cut out for his "blanket". Ryley watched the girl for a few more minutes before the door connecting the two buildings got nudged open by his owner, Edmund, arms ladled with daggers and a bucket of deconstructed gears.

Edmund's eyes went straight to the hunched over, silhouette of Felicity. He surveyed her silently before putting his pile on his work bench as the way to announce that she wasn't the only one in the forge anymore. "Weingarten, what are you doing here?" he asked in his usual flat voice. He moved closer to the work station she was at and then stood to the side of her, keeping a respectable distance. It was kind of odd to find a camper other than himself avoiding the lunch scene, but this was Weingarten. Who on Orthy's would know why she decided to visit the antisocial forge grump when she could be eating and hanging out with people who actually enjoyed company?

OOC: MB the alarm clock LOL
IC: 511

[Deleted]

Who could have done it. She had already ruled out Remus, because well, maybe she was being too nice on him. He did have a motive, after all Metal Bird did try to peck his brains out. However, he did tell Felicity that he would try to get along with her metallic pet, despite how much he wanted to hurt the creature. He would respect her property right? Okay, maybe. Now Remus was back on the suspect list just because Felicity was over thinking everything. Who else though? There was a nice long list of people actually. Josh had good reason to try to harm Metal Bird. After all, every time they ran into each other it turned into a feud. Why couldn't everyone get along with that metallic being of awesome? No, instead people had to try to kick it, swat at it, hit it, or verbally abuse metal bird. Felicity hated whenever that happened. Usually she defended MB to the best of her ability. Isn't that what you usually do for your pets? Well, for metal bird and Shadow, her adorable little kitten, she protected them with her life. They were her only family at camp. Plus, Felicity trusted them to always come back that she let the freely roam at their own pleasure. Maybe metal bird did something when Felicity wasn't looking to really anger someone. Though Felicity couldn't see what would anger someone so much as to do something that far to metal bird.

Felicity jumped at the sound of the metal being placed on another workbench. She frantically scanned the room until her eyes landed on her friend, well it was a one-sided friendship. Felicity called and believed Ed to be her friend while Ed probably didn't see any type of living mortal or immortal person to be acceptable for a position of friendship with him. He wasn't too full of himself for a friend. He probably just didn't want one.

At his question Felicity sighed and looked back down at the broken fragments of metal bird. She felt her heart drop. It was depressing to see the joyful song bird broken apart and vandalized with acid like that. "I'm trying to figure out who I need to give a one-way ticket into Tartarus." Felicity said through gritted teeth. She lifted her head back up and looked at Ed. "Remember that bird you made because I gave you the idea. Well, some annoying little camper decided to destroy it. I'm sorry I couldn't protect it better. I tried to I really did. I'm so sorry Ed." Felicity said as she tried to hold back the tears. She felt really miserable about it. She never got gifts so the ones she did get she tried to cherish and protect for a long time.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She nodded at the fragments of metal bird. "It looks as though someone tore it apart and then, I don't know what it could have been, probably acid, vandalized the metal. Is there any possible way to fix it?" Felicity asked with worry. What if it was impossible? What would she do then? Actually, she knew what she would do. She would ask every single camper about the incident and once she found the camper who committed the crime she would make sure to beat them until an inch of their life. If Felicity was in a better mood she would let them live, maybe.

outfit: camp stuff
words: 634
notes: I need to get Felicity a MB fangirl shirt or something XD

[Deleted]

credit to morgchad.tumblr.com/

Unceremoniously dumping an entire pile of electronic gears and weapons on a work bench wasn't exactly a graceful method of announcing one's presence, but Edmund Simons was no where near socially graceful. He did whatever came to his head so when he approached the person, they wouldn't jump out of their skin. He was known to most as a creepy forge lurker who would stare at people from the forge window. So, logically, he didn't want to spook a person when he actually was a few feet away from them and went to address them. Okay, his brain was making this way more complicated than it had to be... just, he felt that people had a right to know that someone was in the room with them before they got freaked out by hearing a voice a few feet from them. The way Weingarten was holding herself (along with the fact that her back was turned), Ed guessed that she needed the heads up before he spoke and spooked her into throwing something sharp at him.

His notification that he was in the room didn't even work as less settling. She jumped even then. Ed stayed in place while her eyes traveled, eventually landing on him. "Jumpy much?" he grumbled, drawing closer still, in order to see her face properly. It was only then that he saw that her face was slightly tear stained. "What's wrong?" he asked; his voice took on a sharper tone, but his face remained the same. Then his eyebrows raised in the slightest. Finding someone a place in Tartarus? What serious crime against humanity (or Weingarten) had someone committed? She turned to face him and spoke. He nodded slightly; yes, he remembered making that bird and then giving it to her. Rightfully hers since the idea belonged primarily to her. He was just the one with the resources and tools needed to build it. It had been hers all along. At the news that it had been dismantled Edmund moved slightly in order to see it: parts of computer chips, separated wings, head, talon, and so on. All in little pieces. "Oh," he said still in his flat voice, his dark brown eyes assessing the damage and already on "how shall I go about fixing this?" mode. Then she began apologizing. "Weingarten! You have nothing to be sorry about. It's a piece of metal loaded with computer chips and wires. No need to protect it." His tone and face were still emotionless, but none the less, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small packet of Kleenex and threw them down infront of Weingarten. Quite frankly, she looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"Uh-huh," he murmured; his eyes continued scanning the scattered pieces of metal and chips as Weingarten came up with her assessment of how the metal bird had been destroyed. He took a step closer to the table, to the side of the older girl. He slowly went into a half kneel, so the metal was level with his eyes. His inner knowledge of the condition of metal ore was already telling him something, but he wanted to analyze and look at the metal up close himself. "And you'd be right," he confirmed after a few seconds with a seminod. Yup, that metal ore was as good as busted. Question was, had the acid also completely wrecked all the computer chips? "Depends," Edmund said, standing again and looking at her. "What is your definition of "fix" for this?"

OOC: LOL. That would be adorable xD
IC: 600

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Felicity had gotten use to the flat and emotionless tone of Ed so when he spoke she didn't get offended by it. If someone hadn't known Ed they might think he was a cruel insensitive jerk. Or was Felicity just naive to think better of Edmund? Either way, Felicity didn't make any kind of retort about his tone or sense of caring. He had, after all, looked at the fragments so that meant he had to care, somewhat, right?

Then he said there was no need to be apologizing. "But it had a personality, a life. I don't know how you did it Ed but it was like it was actually alive. To me it was the same if someone had tried to hurt Shadow, wouldn't you be mad if you came back to the forge and someone had hurt Ryley? It's the same concept." Felicity said with a sigh. Then a pocket pack of kleenex was tossed in her direction. She raised an eyebrow and looked from Ed back to the kleenex then back to Ed. "You carry kleenxes with you? But, thanks." Felicity said as opened the pack and pulled out a tissue and wiped away to previous tear tracks and any water that might be tempting to pour out of her eyes.

She watched Ed analyze the metal. she swore she could see the gears in his head turning as he looked. He was probably figuring out just how bad it was. Felicity deemed it pretty bad but that was an amateur assessment. It might help to get a professional opinion though. Then he said it. So it had been acid. Felicity nodded, showing that she understood. Yep, whoever did this was going to feel the burn of the fires in tartarus.

Wasn't there only one definition of fix? Fix mean to well fix. Make it good again. Yet, Felicity had to be realistic. She had dealt with lose before. Still, as long as there was hope Felicity was going to go for it. She took a deep breath and thought for a moment. "Well, it would be nice if it could work again. Maybe if the innards aren't too badly damaged you could create a new shell for it. I mean, if that's even possible." Felicity said, losing confidence. She had no idea about the working with metals and other stuff associated with it. Perhaps what she had said was impossible. Though, she had seen Ed make some incredible things. If there was anyone she would trust with this it would be the birds original creature. Edmund could make anything in her opinion.

outfit: camp stuff
words: 474
notes: shorter, sorry.

[Deleted]

credit to me o.o

Edmund had no idea why people like Weingarten and Lyn even tried to be around him. He had no idea what they saw in him. There was nothing to see. Edmund was just heartless, cold, and empty. Was it just not obvious enough that he didn't human companionship? He thought it was... Either he was failing at being an emotionless, insensitive, antisocial, mute-ish jerk or they were stubborn headed mules. Yes, he knew full well what he seemed to other people. He knew it and he wasn't changing it anytime soon. As for the second option of them being stubborn, that could be entirely plausible. No matter though, he could match it and more. Easy. Besides, he had eight years of intensive, non distracted practice behind him.

The forge boy just stood there quietly as Weingarten went on her little rant. And this is why it was bad making something that could interact with humans. It had become social. Heck, according to her, it even got a personality. Just something to make it more attachable to. What if he couldn't fix it back to it's normal state? That would be a problem. Most people liked others (or in this case a metal bird with it's own mind) based personality. As Ed crouched, looking at all the little scraps here and there, he wasn't sure about how much damage had been made to the wires and chips that had created this so called "personality" the metal bird had apparently taken on. As she asked him how he'd react if he found Ryley hurt, he just looked at her in his usual blank gaze and said nothing. He also opted to ignore the (he took it as) rhetorical question on his Kleenex. Weird item for Edmund Simons to carry around? Sure. Did he care? Not in the least. That caring had stopped a long time ago. "Sure," he grumbled slightly in response to her thanks.

Weingarten looked none the happier after Edmund confirmed her assessment. By her look now and the first few words she had said to him, she was probably kill someone later on. Either that, or save them a place in a more torturous location in Hades. He was semi-thinking about doing that too. It had taken him weeks to make this. No matter though... It was whatever. It was broken and Weingarten was asking him to fix it. That was the only thing important now. Could he fix it? The ore was pretty messed up from the acid, so keeping the original frame work was out of the question. He'd have to make a new frame, busted computer parts or not. Now it was the difference of the bird having it's original "brain" or creating an entirely new one. He gave his head a semi nod as the daughter of Pluto gave her definition. "The frame has to redone," he said resolutely; no way out of that. "And if the innards are too badly wrecked and I can't get the original bird back?"

OOC: all good <3
IC: 504

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Okay, so Ed said, without a doubt, that the frame had to be redone. Felicity figured that. Though, he was right in his question. Would she be okay if the innards were wrecked? Would it still be the same metal bird she knew and loved? Or, would this one be totally different and not want to have its number one greatest fan and caretaker looking after it. Though, with her stubborn personality Felicity was sure she could get on the birds good side, but still.

Felicity had her eyebrows knit as she thought. "If it has to be done then it has to be done. I would just hate for this little bird to have died in that way. It was such a happy bird." Felicity said, depressed, though she tried to keep a smile on her face. After all, it was only a metal bird. She didn't get that certain buzzing in her ears that she was all too familiar with after the Mt. Othrys battle. Whenever someone died a buzzing would go off in her ears. Then again, it was only when someone she knew had died. Plus, when animals died she didn't hear it. Perhaps it was restricted then. Either way it was eerie and depressing all at the same time. Despite hearing that buzzing or not Felicity believed that Metal Bird was alive and she want that little bird to get fixed so it can go on tweeting and pecking people to its pleasure.

"If the innards are replaced would it hold on to any of its previous memories?" Felicity asked. Her knowledge on electronic engineering and computer chips were definitely not her strong suit. She kept all that to the experts, which were mainly Vulcan kids. Sure, she had her strong suits too. Dominion over the dead, necromancy, shadow travel, geokinesis, releasing souls, and not to forget her ability to create giant fissures of spewing hellfire. Yeah, Felicity had her talents too, just now could help her here, unless she could wield with hellfire. Though, she figured that would probably lead to more ruin, the metal might melt too badly.

Felicity thought for a moment. "As long as we can fix it to the best we can I'll be happy. I'll try to help in any way possible. Even if it's a Metal Bird 2.0 I'd be happy. Though, you're the expert on all these mechanical stuff." Felicity said with a soft smile. She was being serious though. No matter what, she would try to be Metal Birds friend, even if he ended up forgetting Felicity.

outfit: camp stuff
words: 480
notes: poor Felicity

[Deleted]

credit to welcometotheparanoia.tumblr.com

Edmund would actually feel kinda miserable (not that he wasn't always a miserable old grump, but still), if he couldn't actually fix the bird. Truth be told, he had kind of liked Metal Bird. It had been his first really complex automation and Felicity looked so upset about it... so he wanted to try to actually fix it. "Fix it" as in "get it back to where it was" fix. Then again, some things were out of his control since it apparently started to take on its own way of thinking. Edmund hadn't exactly anticipated that, but it had happened. Just as so many other things that had played out not the way he had wanted. There was probably no way to reproduce exact, 100/100 personality, but he could try... in his stubborn, mule headed way, until he got Metal Bird 1.0 back. He could see the next few weeks ahead of him: a lot of fixing, tweaking, and test runs. He just hoped that while he experimented with getting the old bird back that it didn't attach to him as the mother instead of Felicity. Yeah... he'd probably have to repeatedly reset a couple of chips to prevent that from happening.

He gave a slight nod at her confirmation. Alright... operation get Metal Bird back until it was back to 1.0 was on. First, he'd have to assess the actual damage and see if any of the chips could be salvaged in any way, although from the feeling he was getting in his gut, the chances were looking slim. After he redid the fundamentals, it'd be lots and lots of tweaking and nudging by a centimeter or millimeter until he got it as close as he could get to first version. He merely looked at her, but decided not to comment about her saying the bird died. In all technicality, it was shattered metal and fried computer chips. Perhaps she was equating an automation frying with it dying because she got a buzzing in her ears? But he didn't see why a metal structure would trigger her powers of dominion over the dead. Fine, it was technologically dead, but not real life dead. There was a big difference. Then again, she looked upset about it either way, so he wasn't just going to go bashing up her phrases purely based on technicality.

Then Weingarten asked the the question that Edmund had been semi dreading. As he did with everything though, he gave her the most direct, non sugar coated answer there was: "No." It would also probably be fair to warn her exactly what they'd be dealing with. "It'd be on a complete memory wipe. Social interactions, personality, and all." It was probably the bird's personality and ways it interacted with different people (basically the things that made it "alive" to Felicity) that made the daughter of Pluto love it so much. It was probably the same way with people. Then again, this being Felicity, maybe she'd find a way to love it again, even if it wasn't with the original inner chips. Maybe this time he'd create a back up system and make the bird visit the forge periodically, just incase something like his happened again.

The seventeen year old nodded slightly again. "Once I get the fundamentals working, you can help by telling me, honestly, how close or far away it is from the original. Telling me what's different and what the Bird used to be," he said simply. So he could make the necessary adjustments, of course.

OOC: D:
IC: 610

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Felicity nodded sadly, though she was prepared for the worst. At least Edmund didn't cut corners or try to sugar coat. He gave it as it is, Felicity was thankful for that. She didn't want to be given a possible percentage and just have hope thrown at a number. She wanted a yes or a no and that is what Ed gave her. "As expected of a memory wipe." Felicity said with a sigh. She understood what it meant, and, like previously stated, she was prepared for this kind of news. However, something inside of her still dropped. It felt as though a weight had fallen within her. still, she stayed strong, after all it was like Ed said, in the end all it was is a pile of computer chips and metal. Even if Felicity didn't believe that, it was the truth.

As Ed nodded slightly Felicitys smile grew. For a moment she though Ed would look at her like an alien and tell her simply to go sit in a corner and wait for the contraception to be fixed, if possible. She was happy that he had said he would accept her help, even if it was just to tell whether or not the personality of the new Metal Bird was anywhere close to the original. Felicity started thinking about the original personality of Metal Bird. She was trying to not be biased on it, since her love for it often resulted in her not noticing the evil the bird could do. Metal Bird had the people it liked and then the people it didn't. It also mainly communicated in song or high pitched sounds. Actually, near the end it had even started to voice mimic, which was a bit creepy as it would use either Felicitys or Eds voice a lot, but also adorable in Felicitys eyes. She really was the closest one to the bird, personality wise. Ed knew more about its innards. Felicity would be really helpful in figuring out the personality of the metal contraception.

Felicity looked back at the pile. She wondered how long it would take. Perhaps, if Ed wasn't busy, they, well mainly he, could start working on it today. She really didn't want to be a nuisance though. She knit her eyebrows together to think. "Okay, I'll help that way. Though, if you need me for anything else I'd be happy to help. Even if it's to refill your water bottle or something." Felicity said as she looked back up at the son of Vulcan. "I could be sorta like a, an assistant. That's the word. That way I can repay you for working on Metal Bird. I can get you clean cloths, move stuff, clean the forge, whatever you need me to do I'll do it. I'll even keep quiet and leave you alone. I'll just help lower your load around here." Felicity smiled as she explained her idea. It was pretty good, in her opinion that is. She would work for him, silence guaranteed, in payment for the bird being fixed. She knew he always was working on projects for the other campers and he was always busy. With these maybe he could relax some and take a breather, take a stroll in the forest or something.

As she thought on it Felicity realized that Ed and Remus were a bit similar. They both seemed to work non-stop. What was it with guys and taking on huge work loads? Couldn't they ever ask for help? Well, Remus was way too prideful to ever ask for help. Perhaps Ed would be willing to accept Felicitys help. In all honesty she had enough free time. All she did was train her cohort for about three hours a day, at the least, sometimes it was five. Then she spent the rest of the day training by herself, reading, playing with Shadow, or seeing if any of her friends are free. She wouldn't mind helping out some, besides, looking at the forge, it looked like it could need some help. Plus, helping in silence, just by keeping busy, would help her think about some things. In Felicitys mind this was a perfect deal. She wouldn't let Ed try to fix metal bird for free. He should probably realize that if he denied this Felicity would have her stubbornness override until she found something that Ed would agree to in order to repay him.

outfit: camp stuff
words: 802
notes: One free mute assistant for Ed?

[Deleted]

credit to my-teen-quote.tumblr.com

Edmund nodded, watching Felicity's face carefully as she repeated what he confirmed. In all honesty, with the way she seemed attached to this thing, he thought she'd start crying. But no, she was able to take the news fairly okay. Besides, being as straightforward as possible was always the best way; to him, anyway. Blunt and harsh at times? Yes. But that was life and there was no reason in denying, for even a second, that Metal Bird was in pretty bad shape. Then again, it could have been worse. It could have been Felicity. She could've gotten exposed to the acid. That would have been much worse. "Come on," he grumbled, standing up and gently rewrapping the wrecked pieces back into the cloth. No time to start like the present. There was a very slim chance of the Metal Bird retaining a stand of memory, depending on what chips were where when the acid got poured, but there was no reason in giving her any false hope, so he kept his mouth shut.

He walked over to his work space and cleared some of the scrap metal that was sitting on his desk from his earlier run to the armory by feeding it to his new invention, Cineribus. "Cinny. This is Felicity Weingarten," he said, addressing a mechanizim with an opening akin to a tissue box (but instead of tissues it had razors) that had grown as high as his desk in order to facilite the shredding. Cineribus made a slight whirring sound in acnowledgement to it's creator's voice. "You do not eat her. Got it?" He put the bundle down on his work space and took out a pair or tweesers and his notebook. His system wasn't as fancy as Jaycee's personal assistant. Not by a long shot, but it worked for him. Cinny made a low growling noise. "No, not even if she puts her hand near you. Kyoto and Hunter on the other hand, you can eat them." Seriously, talking to machines and animals were so much easier than talking to other humans.

He looked up at Weingarten as she started to talk again, his eyebrows raised slightly. He didn't open his mouth for protest until she was finsihed; even at that, it was a short sentence covering everything. He preferred staying away from long, drawn out explinations. "No. You don't need to repay me," he said flatly. Even though she had taken it upon herself to reciprocate for helping fix her sword before, he wasn't looking forward to it becoming frequent. He was there to fix and make things, the end. People who asked him to do things for them were helping him take his mind off of stuff, so for that, he had to be semi greatful. Couldn't let random thoughts or musings interfere when handling sharp or potentially explosive objects. And that was how he had lived with himself during the seven years of his life here: keeping busy by either plane making, training, armory clean up, or special orders. It had been harder at Em's. Not much to do after school other than wood shopping. It had gotten worse after he got his carving tools taken away. After semi throwing a fit, he had taken to other means of occupying his hands: he taught himself how to juggle, how to make oragami, typing blindly on the computer, taking the computer apart (which she hadn't been too happy about), putting it back together (which she was a bit creeped out by), and just... anything that would occupy his hands and make him focus on something other than his actual thoughts.

The seventeen year old unwrapped what was left of the Metal Bird and started separating the (sometimes fragmented and sometimes hole) computer chips from the ruined metal. Nope, he didn't need nor want an assistant. He was always fine by himself, or taken another way, always fine and always by himself. The two things actually went quite well side-by-side in the life of Edmund Simons. No, he didn't need help. He didn't need reciprocation. All he needed to do was be left alone and be kept busy. Maybe he really should consider just resigning up for another ten years of service. At least as a soilder he'd have to stay on point and sharp; he'd have training, a tight schedual, orders, an armory to keep under control, and all. No time for mind wandering. New Rome... more relaxed, no weapons. It made him uneasy. So, either (a) sign up for another ten years or (b) leave, face the mortals, face the monsters, and open up a wood shop, takecommissions, or start pattening inventions. Ah well, he still had three years to make up his mind. Until then... Edmund picked up a fragment of a computer chip and placed it to the side, onto a tissue from his Kleenex package. He'd try to salvage any information he could. It was only until he put them in a small test tracker that he would be cetain. "So, what was... Metal Bird like before he got smashed and burned?"

OOC: all the muse...
IC: 874

[Deleted]

Felicity raised an eyebrow but still got up from the stool she was sitting on. She watched cautiously as Ed picked up the bundle which held Metal Bird. It wasn't because she didn't trust Ed to treat Metal Bird okay. Heck, he was the one who made Metal Bird so he had to have some feeling of care for his inventions right? Maybe not. Either way she kept an eye on the bundle, for Metal Birds sake. As they neared Eds workbench Felicity examined it, just out of genuine curiosity. It was just covered in scrap metal but that wasn't what caught Felicitys attentions. The large metal tissue box looking object did. At first Felicity was too nervous to even approach, then she saw that Ed feed it with the scrap metal. Maybe it was just some sort of metal shredder. Do those even exist? Well, they do now apparently.


"Cinny? Felicity asked? She examined the invention with a smile. "Wow, thats a fine piece of work Ed. It's nice to meet you Cinny. You wouldn't want to eat me anyhow. I probably don't taste good. Like Ed said though, You can go after Kyoto anytime." Felicity said cheerfully. Felicity loved Eds inventions and heck, she would admit, she wanted to be friends with them, no matter how crazy it sounded. Besides, Felicity had already befriend one mechanical contraception so why not be friends with a shredder?

At the short reply from Ed Felicity sighed. She just wanted to show that she appreciated his work and was thankful. Words could only go so far. "You're right. I don't need to repay you, but I want to. If you don't need help, that's fine. I'll think of something." Felicity said as she started to think. Ed could probably make anything so buying him something was out of the question. A trip outside? Well, Felicity had tried that but it didn't turn out quite as glamorously as planned. There must be something. She would have to think about it. Maybe she could reserve a spot in tartarus for a camper he hates. Felicity had no idea.

Felicity watched as the peices of what use to be known as Metal Bird were sorted into piles based on whether it was metal or computer chips. Seeing all the fragmented inside pieces made Felicity a mixture of angry and sad. She was still mad beyond belief at whoever dared to destroy Metal Bird, but then sad because Metal Bird was destroyed. Someone at this camp obviously had a death wish and Felicity was more than eager to grant the camper that wish. She wouldn't even feel bad as she watched the guy squirm in pain, but that was getting ahead of herself. She still had no idea who even did this. Therefore, no punishment was going to be carried out yet.

At the question Felicity looked up from the pile and up at Ed. She thought for a moment. "Well, he had certain people that he liked and others that he would peck at right away. Usually, if people attacked it or said something rude concerning people Metal Bird liked it would automatically go after the person. It had started to talk too. Well it was really odd, it was mimcing voice to talk. It was fond of yours and mine the most." Felicity tried to think more of the times she was with Metal Bird. "It had a wide range of music that it played. I let it pretty much do whatever it wanted. So it still had a sense of freedom." Felicity finished. She felt like there was more but that was the basics of Metal Bird really. Thinking about it really was saddening as the lifelike bird was now laying dead in a bunch of piles. It was just like the death of a person. One moment the person can be so alive and have story and a future, then the next, they are laying motionless with their life cut off and all their dreams for the future destroyed. The people who knew that now deceased person would never be the same again. Heck, even if that deceased person were to be revived or was a lare, they were never the exact same as they were before death. Felicity had a feeling that Metal Bird would never be the same, original Metal Bird, but that was okay. She liked the challenge of gaining the friendship of the new version.

outfit: camp stuff
words: 795
notes: wow. depressing ending

[Deleted]

credit to my-teen-quote.tumblr.com

It was fair enough to say that Edmund got a long better with metal objects than breathing people. So, on not too far of a stretch, he did harbor some protectiveness over things he made. Heck, his new, all purpose shredder was the closest thing he had to a "friend". Metal friends over people friends. Sounded about accurate in the life of Edmund Simons. Like any and all emotions, he didn't show his "defensive creator" mode, but the feeling lurked somewhere beneath the surface. If Weingarten found the person who had poured the acid, Edmund would have no problem helping her send him or her to Tartarus in the most painful way possible. He got that Timothy... Metal Bird could be annoying and cruel. He had made him that way. Edmund remembered quite clearly. But did they seriously have to deconstruct AND pour acid? It was a bit of an overkill for just a hunk of metal. Nevertheless, the hunk of metal was important to Felicity and she really wanted it fixed. So there he was, doing his job, and trying to fix by carefully sorting the remains of Metal Bird.

Cineribus (now officially nicknamed Cinny) whirred slightly, it's sound loosing the sharper clicks and mellowing down into an almost gentle hum. That made three people that it didn't have to eat and chase! It rolled away from Ed's desk while he started sorting and gently bumped into Felicity's leg. "Right..." Edmund grumbled in response to her compliment, placing half of a computer chip into the pile. Cinny was probably the newest addition to the forge form his work bench. It was about time one of them came up with a way to deal with all the extra scrap metal besides just leaving it on the floor. Even if one person just left a few pieces of scrap metal on the floor and didn't think it mattered, they couldn't be more wrong. Take that person's mentality and multiply it by how many people came in and out of the forge daily, and the place would be littered with scrap. Reason one Edmund cleaned up at night. Besides, most of the work benches alone could be put into serious consideration of being a fire hazard. Something Ed wasn't looking forward to dealing with if any of the other forger's carelessness caused this place to go up in flames.

Edmund looked up, raising his eyebrows slightly. "Now, why did I think that you were going to say that?" he asked wryly. She had done it before. After he fixed her sword. It was just a sword fix too. Nothing to get too hyped about. He did around ten of them a day and no one else thought anything about it. It was just... his job. Expected. The end. Besides, he was also taking in the fact that he was never really thanked or complimented for anything in the genuine sense. So, coming here and getting them from peers was a bit disconcerting. He didn't trust it one bit. The last time Felicity "paid him back" was by smuggling him out of Camp. It had been... interesting for the first few minutes, but then had quickly turned sour with the appearance of Rogers. Then again, he couldn't deny that seeing the outside world for the first time in six years hadn't been intriguing. Not much had changed, but it was still kind of nice to get out of the same old setting.

After a few more moments of sorting, Edmund finally put down the tweezers. Any of the chips he had managed to salvage were carefully sorted to see if there were any whole ones. There were only two: the learned audio and the brian. What used to be the "people memory"/"personality" chip was busted into about six different pieces. Ed took out a contraption that could have easily been a memory card holder and opened it. This test was the moment of truth: the difference between having to start from scratch or having at least some base of the old bird. Hoping for the best, but knowing that it could turn out to be the worst, he put in one of the whole chips. After a few seconds, the casing turned red, blocking out the transparency, and beeped. Edmund took it out and replaced it with the second whole chip. The same thing happened. Ah well, he had been preparing for either way it went. "We're starting from rock bottom." Now he'd have to rely on what she said was the old personality of Tim.... Metal Bird.

As Felicity started to describe what MB used to be like, Edmund started to scrawl nearly illegibly on his pad. Hey, illegible to everyone else... except him. He could read it... half the time. Wide range of music... had he put a radio intercepter in there or something? A quick glance through his notes said yes. He had no idea where he'd get another one of those... unless he could somehow miraculously make one... which he had a 50/50 shot of doing. "Alright," he nodded after she finished describing. Well, it would have made sense... him being the creator and Felicity being the owner that it would use their voices the most... "Construction of Metal Bird Trial Version 1 starts now," he grumbled, pushing off of his chair and starting to ghost around the forge to try and find computer chips.

OOC: D: Felicity!
....sorry. idek where all that muse came from >.>
IC: 924

[Deleted]

Felicity smiled as Cinny bumped into her. However, she still took a step back. Even if this mechanism was being friendly, which it seemed to be at the moment, you could never be too cautious. Especially when it kept bumping into you. For all Felicity knew she was in the way of something. She couldn't talk to the mechanisms, that was Eds job. Felicity could talk to dead people, that was her job.

She smiled at Ed. "Because you obviously know me so well." Felicity said jokingly. She doubted anyone fully understood her. No, he probably had a feeling she was going to say that due to her repaying him last time. What could she say? She was just a thankful person. "Don't worry, it won't be as bad as last time. I won't take you out of camp, well, if you don't want to. I'll think about it and surprise you with it later." Felicity said as she started thinking but got sidetracked as she watched the piles of computer chips grow. She watched as the piles seemed to stop growing and as Ed tested out a chip. To someone who had no idea the workings of the forge or computer chips, Felicity was really confused, but she trusted Ed. He was one of the few she did. Maybe that was why she was always a pain and wanting to talk to him. Perhaps she was selfish in that way. For all she knew this boy liked to be alone in his own little world. Just like the question of how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop, the world may never know.

Felicity was brought back to reality at the next statement. "Rock bottom?" She sighed and looked at the pieces of Metal Bird. "Well then, guess it is time to start figuring out how to fix it. I presume you kept the original plans? Or so you have it memorized?" Felicity asked as she glanced around the forge. It had been a few months so it probably wasn't laying out in the open, but you could never tell until you looked for yourself. Then again, does Ed even make plans or does he just start tinkering with something until he wakes up surprised at the invention that has formed from his hands? Again, the world may never know, well, that might actually know that one. Ed wasn't that mysterious, at least not in Felicitys opinion.

Once she had finished giving Edmund the details of Metal Bird she tried to glance over at the scrawling that was taking place by Ed. Unfortunately, his hand writing was harder to decipher than Arabic. How a demigod with dyslexia expected to even try to read that, yet alone write in it, was beyond her. She smiled as he stated the beginning of the construction project. She also followed him as he bag to ghost around the forge. It had been about a month since her last visit and she was enjoying herself looking at all the mid-completion. Needless to say she kept stopping and looking at stuff. Perhaps being a bit of a nuisance, but it was Felicity, she sometimes forgot to care. "You forge kids sure do like to make stuff." Felicity said finally, breaking the silence.

outfit: camp stuff
words: 595
notes:

[Deleted]

credit to my-teen-quote.tumblr.com/

"Of course," Edmund returned dryly. In all honesty though, he didn't know anyone around here. He didn't know anyone and no one knew him. That was just how it rolled around Camp Jupiter. They all knew eachother on a fighting basis and all, but it was rare that someone would truly understand another person for what they were. He certainly knew that no one alive truly understood him. No one ever would. Everything that made him, well, him, was going down into the grave with him. "Right," Edmund muttered. Seriously, she didn't have to, but fighting with Weingarten about these sort of things was as futile as convincing him that he was a pink elephant with wings and poka-dots. Her "thank you" outing had been decent-ish. Probably not something he was vastly looking forward to again (especially with another demigod along for the ride), but it had been interesting nonetheless. Nothing had really changed in the outside world, but it had been kind of nice, have a change of scene after six years of only being at the Legion.

He nodded as Felicity echoed his verdict. Hey, at least he didn't need to go through the three prototypes again. Edmund had his solidified plans of Metal Bird. It was just a matter of making him all over again. In answer to her question Edmund held up a scrawled notebook. Take into account that he had horrible hand writing to begin with, plus the fact that he had dyslexia, and well, his hand writing was near illegible. Yup, his penmanship was horrible; even he couldn't figure out what he had written at times. He had heard about other forge kids who would make things unconsciously. Edmund wasn't one of those people, or at least, he hadn't made something unconsciously yet. It could happen though: he supposed he had operated some of the technology in his house unconsciously. Before he knew that he was all technopathic and every thing else that he could do. Making things had always been a given, but his parents had just thought it was one of those odd children gifts (which, in essence, it kinda was). At least they hadn't landed him in a nut house or anything. It had probably freaked his parents out equally (if not more than) him. Seriously, what other kid on the block could turn on the lights and the vacuum with his mind? Another way he had begun to get classified as a weirdo at his school.

As he began moving around the forge, Felicity followed suit. A couple of projects had been added since she had been here a month ago. The forge was just, well, the forge. Construction and projects everywhere, all the time. Edmund continued to go further into the forge, picking up chips as he went. He could adjust them all later: all he needed were chips. After wandering around for a while, he finally started to get an adequate amount. Time to start planning which chip would contribute to what. Oh! And since he had chips now, that also meant he'd have to go wire searching, and make a new, temporary frame just to keep the innards from falling out while Metal Bird went on all his trial runs. A voice broke through his thoughts: Weingarten. The seventeen year old gave a semi nod again. "Kind of our job I guess," he grumbled in short response.

IC: 581

[Deleted]

Was it really there job? They didn't get paid so it couldn't be a real job. It was more like a hobby wasn't it? Well perhaps it was as close to a job one could get at camp. Kinda like how all the Apollo kids get crammed into the infirmary and most of the Mars kids get stuck in leadership positions. It was just the way the camp was run. It was stereotyping also, which is wrong. "I don't believe that. I'm sure if you wanted to all of the people who hang out in the forge and make stuff could just do something else." Felicity said as she examined one of the near completed products in the forge. Some of these Vulcan kids created weird things, than again, Cinny was weird so Ed must be in that group too. She figured all the Vulcan kids needed a break from fixing swords for the legion.

Felicity glanced around the forge again. Why did it seem only Ed was the one here all the time. What did the other Vulcan kids do? Perhaps they were training, but Ed was first cohort, didn't they get trained all the time? Felicity wondered if Ed ever left the forge. True, she had seen him walking outside of it before but that was either leaving or heading the forge. He probably didn't take proper care of himself. What was it with the guys at this camp and not taking proper care of themselves? Did they want to kill themselves? In Felicitys mind Ed was a bit like a Remus, but also the opposite. They both worked constantly and people rarely saw them out of their work environment. She doubted that Ed would like to be compared to the Praetor though. Felicity was beginning to think he didn't like authority, just from the way he acted around the Gods and Charlie.

"Do you spend all your time in the forge?" Felicity asked curious plus the quiet was a bit too quiet. Perhaps that was because Felicity had the fourth cohort to deal with all the time and they never seem to shut up. Shouldn't this quiet be a relief to her? Nope, it put her a tad on edge but she didn't show it. Besides she was with Ed and they got along, right? So it wasn't like anything was going to happen in the forge. "You really shouldn't. You need a proper place to eat and sleep. Why not at least build a bed in here?" Felicity said, already guessing at the answer to her first question. It wasn't hard to guess that though, Felicity did almost always see Ed in the forge. An idiot could guess that he spend most of his time here.

outfit: camp stuff
words: 508
notes: Felicity cares Ed! Haha, not like he does XD