Tormented mind and heart. (open)

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New Rome was everything that demigods and Legacies could have ever imagined. It was a beautiful city with gardens, a university, a coliseum, etc. Places where the people who lived in there and the campers in Camp Jupiter could spend some good roman time. Among those demigods was one of the daughters of the goddess Victoria, Vivian.

but for Vivian, a day like that wasn't the best in the world, she missed very much to her late boyfriend. Michael had been her second love in life. He died in the past Titans' wars. she missed him very much and on that very day it would have been her anniversary. So for her it wasn't the most happy moment of the week.

She was walking down the streets of New Rome, trying to find a way to get that pain and rage out of her system before she could kill someone. She heard some singing voices coming from the Forum and it wasn't what she was looking for so she continued her walk. She was going to her apartment, maybe there she could find something to fill her mind and take Michael's sweet eyes off her mind.

Suddenly she felt how a huge shadow covered her body, she looked up half scared, half worried. Her mind tricked her making her to remember when Michael died. What she saw wasn't a Titan, but the great Circus Maximus. She sighed in relief and smiled feeling like a really foolish woman. Michael would be laughing at her in that moment if he could have seen her.

She observed the amazing building and breathed deeply, maybe that was what she needed, a good training session. She forced her body to move and after a couple of steps, her body moved by itself. She walked into the building and smiled at the guy who was there to check that everyone would write their names before training in there, either sheduled or recreational. "Thank you..." After she wrote down her name, she walked to the armory and grabbed a sword and a shield.

Then she walked to where the dummies were, she needed to hit some of them for a couple of hours, she would do it as if she was fighting those stupid Titans again. There were others in there, they seemed to be preparing themselves for something big, but well she was there just to get some steam off her head. She looked at the first dummy in front of her and she twisted on her own axis and then hit the dummy's neck with her sword in a reversal hit. While she did that, some tears rolled down her cheeks.

NOTES: this is open, anyone can jump in and maybe train with Vivian.

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Graphic Credit to Cori!!

Edmund didn't go to New Rome that often. The idea of "no weapons" made him feel anything but relaxed. He had spent six years with a sword always by his side (except when going into New Rome). Maybe he was just too used being able to defend himself with a blade. Carrying a sword had become constant in his life over the past six years. Besides, New Rome wasn't exactly... his style, persay. Happy, peaceful, and recreational. That was not the dark haired demigod's forte at all. It may have been around... oh, say... ten years ago. But now? Forget it. He wasn't exactly sure what possessed his mind to go into New Rome, but he found himself relinquishing his weapon at the gate and entering. Being without a weapon felt so weird... he felt so vulnerable. It was probably supposed to be some sort of relief. No one had weapons, so no one could attack you. Edmund didn't feel any better.

Perhaps he had come here just to escape the annoying people of Camp. People like Kyoto and Petroski. Namely them. Besides, getting out of the forge every once and a while was probably good for his health. Gods only knew how much smoke he inhaled on a daily basis. Smoke inhalation (along with other things) had landed him in the hospital at one point, but that smoke hadn't had a chimney where it could have escaped. But still, chimney or not, Edmund thought it was important to get a change of air and scenery every once and a while. He walked down one of the lanes. All different. This place had apartments for gods sakes. Was he really going to stay here after his service was up? Did he want to stay trapped with these people yet stay safe, or only live for around three years in the mortal world but be free to do what he wished? Ah the pros, cons, and choices.

He looked up as a shadow loomed over him. The Circus Maximus. Only place where weapons were allowed. Not his own, of course, but weapons none the less. Ah well, while here, why not? He needed to get a bit more training in today, anyway. Besides, while here, he could potentially find a new training partner. He gave a slight nod to the guard, checked in, and then headed to the armory. Once in there, surrounded by sharp objects that could potentially kill a person, he relaxed. Back to normality. He carefully chose his sword, a shield, and then went into the large arena. Dummies and people. People and dummies. Did it really make a difference? Not to sound like a cold hearted jerk... but really. He went to pass the first dummy since a Roman was already working on it, when he noticed something was off. From the sunlight, he saw something reflecting off her face. Tears. She was crying.

The demigod's pace slowed as he blankly looked at the girl. She seemed almost suspended in the air, her axe still lodged in the dummy's neck. He may have been known around the whole gods forsaken Roman place, Camp and New Rome, as a grump, but if he saw someone crying, he wasn't about to laugh in their face or ignore them. Sure, he was cold, but not that cold. "You alright?" he asked, his usually flat voice taking on a very slight edge of concern, even though his face stayed emotionless. Well, duh, she wasn't alright if she was crying... but Ed was pushing his formalities as it was.

OOC: Heyaaa Let's see how they get along ._.
IC: 607

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Vivian hit the dummy with her sword and she felt how it had impacted it from the sword up to her hand and arm, she was sure that if it had been a living one, well would be paying his two coins to Caron in that moment. She breathed deeply and then shook her head when she landed on a foot first, then the other. She lowered her sword and was about to strike again when she heard the voice of someone. "You alright?" It was the voice of a young male as far as she could tell. She frowned and looked at the place where the voice had come from.

She was right, it was the voice of a young male, he wouldn't be older than 15 or 16 years old, camper or legacy, who knew in a place like that. She breathed deeply and frowned at him. "If am I fine?" she asked and then looked down looking for some kind of wound, then she felt a slight breeze on her face and felt it colder where a tear had run down her cheek. She lifted her hand and with her index finger she followed the trace of the tear, then she looked at her finger and frowned with a slight sigh.

She looked back at the teen and smirked. "Yeah, I'm fine, thank you. It was just dust in my eye, that's all" she said and it was a lie, you could tell due her red eyes. She got a tighter grip on her sword and was about to continue her solo training session, but something made her look back at him. He was also holding a sword and also a shield. Maybe it would be better to see how well he had been training back at the Camp.

"you're kind of far from the Camp, why you came here for a training session? Don't they train you enough so you won't want to get up from the ground again?" Maybe they have been getting soft with new campers. She smirked and then looked at the dummy which has a deep slash on the neck, then looked back at the teen and smiled a bit more. "I need a partner today, would you mind?" she asked with a friendly smirk. "My name is Vivian López" she didn't tell him who was her mother, some people got intimidated because she was the goddess of Victory.

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Graphic Credit to Cori!

Edmund watched as the woman took another swing at the dummy. First a straight on kill towards its neck, then two strikes that could easily render the person (if it were alive) footless. Only problem was, real opponents were alive, moving, and could fight back. These dummies were only the beginning, but a good beginning. They were good for people who just wanted to solo train or just beat something up that wouldn't and couldn't fight back. She came to face him. He could tell that she had been about to strike again too, the way she was standing. He had distracted her. Oh well. If she decided to attack him, he had a shield and sword. She seemed to study him, but after six years at Legion, it barely fazed him. He was doing the same. It was almost like a Roman greeting. Instead of saying hi, you sized up your opponent/person who you were coming into contact with. Or maybe that was just him. He didn't know and he didn't care. He stood there, half ready for an attack, but instead, she seemed a bit taken aback and sad even. Okay, even though he wasn't great at socializing, he could still read human emotions, even though it seemed that he didn't have any himself.

He eyed her slightly. "Sure. Right," he said in his usual flat tone, his face blank except for a slight nod of the head in acknowledgement. Edmund could easily tell that she was lying. It wasn't a 'I got dust in my eye' tear. It was an actual sadness tear. The one where your nose got all stuffy and your eyes turned red. He wasn't one to push things like this though. He lied about his condition all the time. As in always all the time, and knew what it felt like to be pushed. Some people wanted to be pushed, some people didn't. This was the Legion, so he would think that the majority of the people here wouldn't want to be pushed. He knew that he certainly didn't want to be, so, naturally, he wasn't going to push the matter. He'd leave it alone. If she really wasn't alright, and wanted to talk, whatever. If she wanted to ignore it and keep up the facade, whatever. He wasn't going to push her into anything, one way or another.

The sixteen year old gave a slight eye roll. "Needed to get away from everyone," he grumbled, still in his monotone voice. At the question, he scoffed slightly. "Yeah, nothing's changed from that perspective," he said with a shrug. Then again, he always got up to fight again. Always. He always enjoyed a good fight. He eyed her warily, watching her eyes go to the dummy that had its neck slashed open with a clean swipe of her blade. At her question, the dark haired demigod gave a slight nod. "Sure," he agreed. "I'm up for it." One thing he did like about Camp Jupiter and New Rome: the fighting, training, and sparring. Even if he did get beat up every now and again, he still loved it. It was probably one of the only things around here keeping him sane. He gave his head a slight nod as she introduced herself. Even though he was a grumpy jerk the majority of the time, he still knew how to act decent when he wanted to. Even though he was antisocial, he still knew cues and appropriate responses. Whether or not he chose to use them... well, it depended on who it was and his mood. "Edmund....Simons."

IC: 621

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Viviana looked at the teen, by his reply, he didn't believe what she said about being fine. She glared at him just for a second, how this teen dared to even think that she was lying, but then she sighed and smiled shaking her head. He seemed to be more receptive, empathic, so maybe he wasn't just a common kid. "ok, you got it... it's not dust in my eye..." she said swinging her sword, as she walked around to a better open place, so the dummies wouldn't interfere with their training moment.

She listened from him that he needed to get away from the Camp, from others. She nodded and then smiled widely at his words about the trainings in Camp being still as hard as they could and more. "Sometimes people in Camp may be too hyper for my taste, I also used to go and train out here or in Mars field on my own." She looked at him again and heard his name. "Edmund... it's a nice name." she smiled a bit more.

Then she looked around and they were already far enough from the dummies and oter people. They could train there without hurting others, but what was more important they would be able to train without interruptions. "you were right, I was crying..." she said and looked at him again. She hated to admit it, but his eyes told her he was a good guy, he was capable to keep a secret and that made her trust him with something that she felt it was the worst flaw of a roman legionary was to be so sensitive.

"this isn't a very good day for me, It reminds me of someone that I lost and I came here to let that rage off me, so now you know why I was crying, but... well... I wouldn't like others in New Rome or in the Camp would know about it... love and soft emotions aren't considered the best options for someone that holds the SPQR mark on it's arm." she said as she smirked at him and move forward swinging her sword from north to south against Edmund. It would be a really hard clash of swords, that if he would be able to stop it. He should because he seemed to be in Camp Jupiter for more or less 5 or 6 years.

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Graphic Credit to Cori!

Edmund's voice was always the annoying flat monotone. It was annoying to certain people, anyway. So far, he had managed to get on Kyoto's bad side with it. Calm, emotionless, seemingly sarcastic tone of voice. At her glare, he glared right back unflinchingly. It should be a Camp game. The glaring contest. Gods knew they were good at it by now. His blank gaze watched her face carefully and after a moment, her face gave into a smile. Well that was different... then again, she seemed to be living in New Rome. Not Camp. It was rare that peoples smiled around him. Around Camp. He was probably at the bottom of the list for the most smiles ever given, which were, quite accurately, zero. Vivian seemed to have taken it the sarcastic route. Him being sarcastic about his belief that she was alright. Ed followed her away from the dummies and nodded slightly as she admitted that it wasn't just dust. He could see that much.

He gave a slight nod as she said how the half bloods at camp were too hyper for her at times. How she liked to do more solo training. Edmund was pretty much that way too, but he could go with a person/person spar just as easily. And these days, these demigods, they weren't hyper. They were just... he couldn't even begin to describe them. Did Camp ever change? The demigod's head tilted in the slightest as she complemented his name. "Thanks...?" he semi asked, his eyebrows scrunching slightly, and allowing a slight shadow of confusion fly over his face. He was not used to being complemented by peers... or at all, for that matter. "Vivian seems nice too," he nodded, some politeness creeping into his voice, even though his facial expression stayed blank. Yes, he could still be courteous, and yes, he still knew social cues.

They strayed a good distance away from everyone else. He was probably right in thinking that they didn't want an interruption. For only fighting or fighting and talking was yet to be seen. Vivian could easily just leave her red eyes at that. Whether she wanted to go forward was once again her own decision. He looked at her slightly, barely blinking as she admitted that she had been crying. This was new too. He didn't see many people opening up, least of all to him. If she was to ask anyone at Camp, they would probably say to not even try to talk to him. "Oh," he said, his voice becoming a shade softer, and letting his eyes un-harden in the slightest. Okay, so he may have been a jerk, but he couldn't just stand there and just watch a girl cry with his usual mean demeanor. "Tissue?" he asked, casually fishing a small packet of Kleenex out of his back pocket. Ed could bet that she was probably upset that she had just opened herself up. Romans weren't supposed to show weakness or be weak.

The dark haired male just stood there, letting her talk. That's what he did practically all the time. Listened to things. He nodded slightly, he could relate to that. Day when he lost it all: the fire. Beating the dummies half to Hades helped to an extent, but it was never enough to help with the feelings of emptiness. "I'm sorry for your loss," Ed said sincerely, his usual cold edge toning down a notch once again. He could empathize with these sort of things. At her request, Ed nodded slightly. "I'm not going anywhere with this besides the grave," he said quite seriously. His dark brown eyes gave a slight roll and a soft scoff left his throat. "You're not kidding," he agreed, his voice back to flat and face back to emotionless. Soft emotions were a no no at Rome. The emotions switched turned off as she raised her sword to fight. Edmund instinctually moved his sword to block her, the uncomfortable, yet familiar vibrations going down his arm.

IC: 687

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It was something really weird for Vivian when Ed took those kleenex from his pocket, who in the Camp carried some tissues with them all the time? Usually no one cried out in the open and no one got the flu there. Blood was like a marvellous badge of pride and bravery for most of the campers and people in New Rome, so thinking about wiping blood from their faces or clothes wasn't a common action in that place, then why? "thank you..." she took one ond cleaned her face with it, she hated to have marks on her face of anything that wasn't make up or dust after a good training session.

Then looked at him again and smiled at him with a nice warm smile. "thank you, I really love my name, both of them" Viviana was her mortal grandmother's name, so she loved it, her second name was Nikky, her mother's name, so she loved it. She felt the air blowing and she smiled, it seemed that it was a good day for an amazing training session. Then Ed told her that he wouldn't tell anyone about what she had told him. "I'm thankful for your silence, also thank you for your concern."

She didn't really know why she felt so free to talk near that kid, he wasn't different from others, but at the same time he was. Even when she was surrounded by other demigods, Psyche's children weren't the best around her, always trying to mess her head, well if it was possible to mess it even more. Although she was with them, mostly in classes, she never opened herself like she just did to that kid. She hated herself for being so weak in that moment.

Everything erased for a slight second, the right moment when her sword swung over Edmund and clashed against his sword. They heard the sound of metal clashing and an excited smiled, full of competitive feelings, was drawn on vivian's face. "at least the kid could stop my first attack, that is something I should congratulate him for. But I won't, I'll wait to see what else he is capable of doing."

She thought as she used the impluse of strength coming from the sowrds' clash to jump backwards and prepare her next attack. She tilted her head as she swang her sword, then attacked Edmund again, this time she moved her right feet to the front and her sword was going from uper right to lower left, if he didn't stop it, he would end up with a nasty wound on his left shoulder.

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So... why did Mr. Emotionless Jerk randomly have tissues in his back pocket? Edmund actually didn't exactly know why he carried them around. Maybe it was the same reason he burned all of the houses and grandfather clocks he made. Then again, he did use the tissues from time to time while in the forge if he couldn't find a spare cloth. Other than random clean up purposes, tissues certainly weren't exactly necessary around here: people didn't get sick often, even rarer was the case of people crying, and then most people liked to keep the marks of battle (aka blood) on them. Ah well, at least he had them and could use them for something productive now. "No problem," he grumbled, pocketing the small package again.

Edmund's eyebrows raised slightly. "Both of them?" he asked, his head tilted in the slightest. Did she mean that her first name was hyphenated or was she referring to her middle name? Edmund himself had a middle name. It had never exactly been used by anyone except his parents. Even then, it was only used when he was in trouble. Oh, he knew full well when he was in trouble... it was one of the only times that his parents called him his whole name, as opposed to Eddie or Ed. It had happened a lot when he was a child. He gave a slight nod as she thanked him. Again, even if he was to go somewhere with it, who would believe him? He was a temperamental, angry son of the forge. Edmund was probably better known for lying than he was for telling the truth, anyway.

He wasn't exactly sure why she had picked him of all people to talk to. Out of everyone in the whole darned Legion/New Rome area, he was pretty sure that he was on the bottom of the list for "most easy to talk to" or "best person to tell your problems too". Heck, he could barely keep a conversation or be around more than one person at at a time. He was horrible at small talk and was usually just not a very pleasant person to be around. Perhaps he was just at the right place at the right time? Or rather, given the circumstances, the right place at the wrong time... or, well, you get the picture. As much as he knew that she was probably hurting, he equally knew that it had also hurt her to open up like that. Romans weren't supposed to show their soft emotions. It was all "suck it up and live". Edmund thought that he had gotten that pretty much down pat the first day he got there. He had pretty much gotten that concept and semi emotion control in grade school.

At least her short display of sadness didn't waver her from her fighting skills. Then again, it was half the Legion's job to teach the Campers how to fight at any time. For Ed, when he was in a fight, his fighting instincts kicked in, along with his ADHD, and nearly every emotion he had dropped. Be alert. Be vigilant. Be focused. One of the few things he could actually focus on. They jumped apart and it wasn't long before Vivian made the second first move. Edmund turned himself sideways, trying to make himself a smaller target. He brought his sword up and around to meet Vivan's so his shoulder wouldn't be hacked off, and then tried to force their swords to circle so he could try to disarm her.

IC: 607

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vivian felt the air rubbing her tan skin while she was swinging her sword against Edmund. For that slight moment, few seconds that her attack lasted, her mind completely erased and focused on the attack, Michael's image got wiped out and she only was a roman soldier, something that she had needed for long time.

Fighting against dummies weren't as satisfactory as it was to fight against a human being. dummies didn't fight back or look at you with fear or pride, they were just fool wooden dolls. Now she was fighting against this teen, but he wasn't that bad, he had been able to stop her first strike and that had given her the chance to erase her mind and fill it with fighting strategies, instead of Michael's smiles.

"I have two names, Viviana is my first name and Nikky is my middle name, I love them both and maybe if you survive this, someday I'll tell you the origin and history of each of them." She said right before she jumped against Ed once more. He really was a legionary, he had stopped her strike by moving his sword up and around. It wasn't a super elaborated move, any one after a year of service would have been able to do it, but at least he stopped her strike.

She smirked at Ed while he was trying to make a circling move to take her sword away from her. He wasn't the rookie she thought he was in the beginning, so maybe she should have to stop treating him like a teen and start fighting him as the roman legionary that he really was. She smirked at him a bit more and then winked at him, less than a second later she squatted letting Ed's strength pushed both of them to her back.

That would make him lose balance, his legs would not have the right grip from the ground and he would lose strength on his strike and circling movement. she didn't want to kill him, maybe sent him to the infirmary for a day or two, but that was all of it! It was a friendly roman training session after all, right?

She felt the air rubbing her body while they were falling to her back, she would then push him with her legs over her head and make him fall a couple of meters behind her, but that would happen only if he fell for that little trick, if not, she would have to think on other thing to do.

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The air was rushing around their arms and adrenaline was starting to filter through Edmund's system. It was semi sad, but everyone at Camp kind of learned how to just shut off any and all emotion while fighting. When fighting you were a fearless solider, ready to do whatever it took to defend your territory and protect yourself. Taking fear out of the the equation wasn't totally possible though, at least, not according to human psychology. However, it was good to not think of anything except fighting. Trying for no human emotions. It made things much less complicated.

Edmund probably liked fighting against humans better than the dummies. Dummies were good for training and tactic purposes, but humans would fight back. Humans would move. Real life situations: the enemy would move. So, all in all, fighting other Campers were more preparatory for real life situations. Fine by him, he was pretty sure he had already learned a quarter of the hand to hand combat class in grammar school. During the years that he decided to fight back. Even as a younger kid he had been stronger than some of the other people. He never exactly understood why, until getting claimed. His strength didn't mean that he won his fights, he mostly lost and showed up at home with blood and bruises, but he was able to learn something every time.

He nodded slightly as Vivian informed him. Two names and one of his guesses had been correct: first name, middle name. Oh great, if he survived this. Ed had probably survived worse, but today didn't exactly feel like his destined death day, so he was going to try to stay alive. Less for the name explanations, more for the continual forging he could do. He wasn't exactly sure where his own middle name had come from. Ryan. Where on earth had his parents gotten that? Ah well, it didn't matter... it was near to no use now. No one had called him that in a while. Emalia hadn't for sure.

And she was winking... why? Edmund found out a second later. She went into a squat, taking his forward momentum and causing his sword, along with his arm and the rest of his body, to lurch forward as their blades semi tangled. Before Edmund's body had a chance to fully fall over her back though, he used the remaining balance in his legs to semi hop and tumble sideways. His sideways tactic ended up with him semi falling behind her at an angle since he didn't have the time to get the proper footing. Hopefully before she could realize that he was off balance, he took his sword and sent a flat bladed swipe to her legs, trying to get her out of the crouched position.

OOC: Sorry, he's not much of a talker >.<
IC: 475

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To Vivian the ADHD had never been a problem in her life. Her father was a novelist, but also a chopper, so he was always on the road. Vivian lived with him all the time since she was born until she had to go to Lupa's house. The few times she took clases in a school, the teachers never new she had ADHD, they always thought that she only was a bad girl, someone that would never pay attention and gives problems in a classroom.

That was the main reason her father used to stop sending to schools, he decided to be her teacher, he would be much better than all of those useless teachers that only wanted good silent children in classrooms. She learned that she had ADHD when she got to the Camp and heard that everyone had it too. She also learned there that her hard times trying to read any book her father gave her weren't just bad luck or that she couldn't understand them, she also had dislexia. Her father also helped her there by buysing tons of audiobooks.

For a second, as they were falling backwards, she remembered her father and how he work so hard to teach her as much as he knew, from English, Maths and Sciences, to how to tune a motorcycle and change the oil to his Harley. But remembering ones past isn't the most intelligent thing to do in a battle, even less if you were fighting against a good roman soldier like Ed was showing to be.

She got distracted right in the moment when Ryan got back his balance for a second to land at some distance behind her. She didn't really realize about it until she felt a deaf hit on her legs that made her lose her balance and was about to make her fall to her back. "oh no..." She whispered and then thought on what she ould do. The hit on her legs made her roman mind to connect again to the battle and before her back touched the ground.

She arched her back backwards and lifted her left hand to touch the ground and use her arm as a pilar to balance her body, she lifted her legs and passed them over her head, landing then with her feet on the ground once again. She stood straightly and looked at Ed, she smiled once more and swang her sword. "that was a good move! maybe you really are a roman soldier" she smiled again. "come on, now attack me"

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It was kind of apparent from his first moment he could breathe that Edmund was hyperactive. Okay, maybe that was stretching it, but you could get the picture. It was one of things that he had gotten constantly picked on about, along with other things. He hated sitting still for anything; he always had to be doing something with his hands: tapping, rubbing, building, something. The only time he potentially looked peaceful was when he was sleeping. Even at that, he'd dream, which wasn't peaceful at all, and he would rarely stay asleep for long amounts of time. There was really no such thing as a "good night's sleep" for him anymore.

At times, Edmund kind of wished that his parents could have home schooled him, but there was no chance. It would have eliminated a lot of his hardening during life, but his mother had work and his father had work. Both had work and both traveled sometimes. When Ed had been a child, he thought his parents' jobs were so cool. Working in the computer field, programming and stuff. His mom also knew how to forge, which, now that he was older and knew who his biological father was, made him wonder: is that what made Vulcan pick her. When both his parents were away on business: enter Emalia. At least he had his sister to keep him sane when that happened, albeit rare. His mother would have made a great teacher though. He could have done wood shopping instead of gym. Ed had always liked making things, even from the time he was little. He supposed it was in his blood and all that stuff that came from being a child of the forge. Like the way he took apart his father's computer and then put it back together again. That had probably been fun for him, even if he couldn't exactly remember it.

For a moment, it seemed that Vivian had gotten distracted by something. Interesting, for someone who had survived camp. Edmund did his best not to get distracted with emotions and random thoughts while fighting. His flat hit to her legs seemed to throw her off balance for a moment, but a second later, she was up. It was a really cool visual tactic to get up. It looked like it involved flipping though and Edmund was anything but flexible. He had given a try at gymnastics when he was younger and he didn't like it. He'd rather sit and make origami. Weird ADHD except when it came to making something Ed would be weird. He just stood in his defensive position as Vivian got her bearings again. His face kept the same blankness with only a slight nod as Vivian started smiling. Well, another optimistic here, kinda. The sixteen year old gave a slight blink. He had always been suspicious of praise. Besides, after six years at the Legion, he would hope that he'd be a decent fighter. At the older girl's request, Edmund nodded slightly. His turn to go offensive and take the first move. He lifted his sword and rushed at her. His eyes locked on her shoulder, but his sword went to a flat bladed hit towards her chest.

OOC: Again, sorry he doesn't talk >.<
IC: 548

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In the ten years that Vivian had been in the Camp, she never shone as one of the best fighters of the legion, in fact she always got punished because of her lack of attention in combat. Sometimes, that usually was all the time she was training, she felt that maybe it had been a mistake, maybe she wasn't really a demigoddess, maybe she was just another average girl with a lot of luck when she had to do anything in life. she wasn't the fastes or the strongest, but she always or ninety percent of the times she could defeat her adversaries.

She always got distracted in a battle. Almost always because she was thinking on her father or her lost friend, or maybe there was another roman who reminded her one of her father's friends. so anyone who knew her from her past days in the legion would know that she wasn't going to win the award for the 'best Roman fighter in the legion' any time soon. Still when the life of the ones she cared about were in jeopardy, her mind lost all kind of distractions. she became a perfect roman soldier.

But in that moment, in front of Edmund, she didn't feel a threat. The life of the ones she cared about, which weren't a lot in that moment, wasn't in danger. It was just a training to get some steam off and to spend some useful time instead of being thinking in stuff that would only hurt her more. Her mind didn't have the 'Roman killer-fighter' mode on, in fact she was having a lot of fun, why to ruin it by turning into a killer once more?

Suddenly after she smiled at Edmund and praised him for his excellent defensive move, she had just invited him to attack her. She never thought that Edmund would already be in the perfect roman soldier mode. she forgot that almost all of the legionaries, around ninety-nine percent of them, as soon as they got a sword in their hands, they turned on that mode in their heads. Edmund nodded at her and charged his attack against her, hi lifted his sword and moved in a strong move.

Vivian looked at his sword and noticed the way he was moving, he wasn't playing, not like her, he was acting as he had been trained for at least 6 years, right? Before his sowrd touched her chest armor, she moved her hand and covered her chest with her sword. Edmund's sword went to a flat bladed hit at it, if she hadn't put her sword in that place, at that exact moment, Edmund's sword maybe should have ripped her chest armor. But with her movement she stopped his hit from getting to her chest.

She knitted her brows and for a slight second her eyes got the shine of the battle, the red shine of war in them. She looked at Edmund's eyes and glared at them, then she pushed with her sword, Edmund's backwards. Then using the same inertia, she lifted her sword and gave an arch up in the air with it. Less than a second later she was lunging a hit having his left shoulder in sight.

Note: O.O Vivian didn't talk this time!!

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Throughout his six years at the Legion, Edmund had risen to become a pretty decent fighter. He spent nearly half of his day training, so he would hope so. In another sense, he leaned on fighting and forging to keep him sane. Edmund always tried to give his all, 120% during fighting. Whether it was training or just a recreational spar in New Rome, he always took it seriously. It could come in handy, especially since the Battle of Mt. Orthys. His seriousness was probably in part that he was part of the first cohort; it didn't exactly help that he actually enjoyed a good fight. He didn't care if he got hurt in the process, but it helped him feel alive. It gave him something to focus on. With Petty and Jolly as his centurions, they made sure he was on his toes 24/7 (even 48/2). He learned not to be distracted. Gods forbid he let his guard down once, they could fatally strike him. It was rare that he'd go blade side up when going to strike; they weren't real enemies, so what was the point of spilling blood and sending people to the infirmary?

It was kind of hard not to go full out mode once someone put a sword in Ed's hand and an opponent in front of him. He wasn't sure if the feelings of always being in a "fight" mode whenever you had a sword in your hands was diminished after living in New Rome. As of now though, he belonged to Camp, where he went into fight mode at the presentation of a sword. She seemed to catch on that he was being serious rather fast. She stopped the strike almost easily. Well, of course, she had been trained for ten years. Vivian had already served her time with the Legion. She probably knew all the tricks in the book by now. After that strike though, something seemed to change. Edmund noticed the true glint of battle in her eyes. Gone was the softer look. Gone were the smiles. She had just flipped that Roman Solider switch on. A slight smirk flashed across his face; now things were going to get interesting.

With his blade stopped by hers, she started to force his arm upwards in an arch. His mind went to either a) she was trying to disarm him or b) she was trying to get his center open. He went to swing his sword to the side, trying to unlock their blades. A second later though, his sword was fighting air and she was lunging at him. Looked like he was back on the defensive. He moved his left foot behind his right, swinging his full on profile into only a half. Ideally, the swing would miss and the momentum would carry her froward into a trip. His timing though, from trying to avoid a sword lock, was slightly off. As he moved, her blade slightly nicked the side of his shoulder. Trying to ignore the pain, he tried to execute the second half of his plan. This wasn't even taught in fight training: he just learned it from school. As she was still in the lunging forward position, he put his left foot out in hopes to trip her up.

OOC:
IC: 559

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The moment Edmund’s sword almost got her armor’s chest, her mind went back to what the legion ga taught her to be. The mind of a warrior, using her THDA to analize faster than a normal person the situation that she was facing in that moment. Her mind was once more covered with the red cloth of war. She had lost that cloth long time ago, she had tried to put it inside a small box in her mind. Since Mt. Othrys war she tried to stop fighting, maybe that was the real reason why she didn’t joined the legion for another ten years. She needed to get away from war and battles, but how could a Roman do that?! Her whole being was ordering, asking and begging her to fight, reason why she walked into that place that day, reason why she was training with Edmund in that moment.

Vivian noticed each movement of Edmund’s body, something that only hours of practice gave you, the ability of checking the movements of your opponent. Something that she stopped doing and training with after Michael’s death. But now her battle senses were alive! She had spent almost all her free time training but with dummies, now Ed wasn’t one, Ed was a very good fighter, which was like gas to red ashes, Vivian was again the fighter she was back then when Michael was alive.

Vivian was lunging at Edmund’s shoulder when he moved his feet, one behind the other, but she didn't change the grip of her sword, she didn't have to. She was completely sure about that attack, her sword would finally taste blood, not the usual wood and scraps of it! Suddenly Edmund's shoulder was hit by her sword, she felt the deaf hit against his body, the vibrations ran from his shoulder up her sword to her hand. It was the kind of feeling that a true Roman would love to feel in a battle. But a second later something got Vivian off that trance.

Ed's shoulder was bleeding! He was hurt and it was her fault, she had hurt him! A kid! How could she be so irrational and fought like that?! Her attention got distracted again, she got a flash of the wounds on her friends, the blood they bled, she didn't notice Ed's movements until it was too late. He moved her up, she tripped up, landing on her back, not letting her sword go, but feeling how she was sorry for hurting him.