And Watch It Burn || Open

[Deleted]

Felicity knit her eyebrows together. It was weird to find someone who didn't think about their life after service, or it was weird to her because thats all she sometimes ever thought about. At times she'll pretend that she was a lesser demigod and dreams up what she might do in the real world. She liked the fantasy of traveling the world and having two dogs, one would be a German Shepard and the other a husky. Felicity loved those big lovable dogs, despite never actually having one. She would attend a college somewhere and get a degree involving History. Heck, she might even do some promotional thing for the History channel. However these fantasies would only ever be fantasies for her. "Well, I guess you still have time to think about it. I suppose I'll move out of Camp and into New Rome and be pestered by stupid demigods over why don't I move into the Underworld or something." Felicity stated with perhaps too much venom in her mouth that she could literally poison someone if they were too close.

Felicity let out a laugh. "I guess I am. Probably not safe to have a mentally handicapped person in the forge. I might play with something dangerous." Felicity said with a smirk and sarcasm in the sentence. Felicity didn't know why it was a little humorous to her at his anti-socialness. Supposedly a normal person would have left, or beaten Ed up in annoyance. She could only imagine what would happen to Ed if he met up with a God. They probably would turn him into a pig or something. For some odd reason imagining Ed as a little pig brought a twinge of a smile to her face. If he was an animal he would probably be a lot nicer. "Why are you so...awkward isn't the right word. Unsociable?" Felicity asked with an eyebrow raised.

Felicity dramatically raised a hand over her mouth and did an exaggerated gasp. "You would wish death upon an old man? Even if he isn't technically a doctor that is cold." Felicity said with a laugh at the end. This kid was a little morbid with that statement but morbid was just something Felicity was acquainted with fairly well.

Felicity perked up when Ed nodded in response to her offering help. She grabbed her sword and looked at it. Then at Ed. Then at the sword. Then at the forge. Then at Ed. "Um...so what do I do? Do I throw it in the fire again?" Felicity asked with plain clueless in her voice. Her eyes were wide with anticipation and excitement. She was going to learn something new today! What could be better then that? She started swinging the sword idly at her side like she was prone to doing. No one had ever told her not to do it, and besides, it only had sent two people to the infirmary in her entire seven years at camp.

Felicity turned and did a three sixty of the forge. There was some tools she didn't know the names of and looked confusing. There was scattered wood and metal and finally the fire. Also littered all over the forge were workbenches. She looked at her sword half regretting what she asked because she knew she was probably going to mess up at least once. Thats what happened when you were an unlucky child of Pluto, you always made a mistake the first time. Gods, imagine just how many mistakes Felicity had made in her lifetime. Her first soccer goal went into the wrong team. The first combat training her sword flew out her hand and almost killed someone. The first time she tried driving, well its best not to bring that one up, besides, she technically wasn't suppose to be driving, but she was sixteen at the time and though "Why not?". She just hoped she didn't end up burning the forge down with her little request to help.

outfit:
word count: 709
notes: that graphic is really good!!

[Deleted]

Graphic Credit to Cori!

Edmund looked up, studying her face while keeping his blank. Having an emotionless face could have easily been an art. It would probably be the only class that Edmund could pass: learning how to poker face. It looked like not thinking about life after service was unheard up. At her fist comment, he semi shrugged. Truth be told, Edmund didn't want to think about it, even though he probably should. He didn't want to think about how he actually didn't have anywhere to go. No house, no money, no living family that he could actually tolerate. He could live in a box on the side of the road and then could try to take up work as a mechanic or computer technician. Then again, people wanted to hire people with degree, and Ed didn't have money to go to college. Unless he got a job somewhere. Why someone would want to hire an antisocial mute, he had no idea. For him, it was either go to college to get into a repair job, open up his own toy shop (gods only knew how many wooden airplanes he turned out every year), or stay in New Rome to be forever annoyed by everyone. He gave his head a nod. Into New Rome for her; as she had said, it was the only option, but why did it have to be? Her tone was getting dangerous, but Ed could care less. "You move where you want. Why not break the mold?" he asked, raising his eyebrows slightly.

The demigod boy scoffed slightly. "Well, they've had one in here for nearly three years, and I haven't burned it down," he shrugged, "yet," he added, his voice getting semi darker. Edmund merely scoffed, his eyes rolling slightly. "You might play with something dangerous? I'm practically giving swords to ten year olds." Which kind of reminded him...how was it that she was still talking to him? This was so weird... his "keep people far away" techniques seemed to have no affect on her. Ah well, all he could do was try harder. He looked up slightly at her question, his face unreadable. "Why do you have brown hair and come to the Legion?" he asked dryly. His dark eyes looked up as he saw a big movement. It was just her hand going to her mouth. Sheesh, talk about dramatics. Edmund rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Yes," he said simply. Just like he had kind of wished death on his therapists and then his aunt for sending him there.

He carefully watched Felicity as she pondered what to do with the sword. "Never sharpened a sword before," he noted matter of factly. "No. Do you want to do the long method, or the slightly shorter method?" he asked, crossing his arms and watching the blade warily as it swung from side to side. His eyes scanned the room for the sharpening wheel. It was either sparks flying, which, in that case, he'd have to tidy up the corner (he didn't exactly want any of the pieces of scrap metal or paper bits to catch fire), or using a sharpening knife, sand paper, and a whet stone. Ed saw her turning, taking in everything that was in the forge. It was about the same thing he did on his first trip here. There was a lot to see: workbenches, tools, bins of metal, unfinished projects, coal, paper... the list went on and on. Maybe he'd take stock or something one day...

OOC: Thanks. Not mine though xD and sorry, my reply's a bit shorter >.<
IC: 596

[Deleted]

Felicity was taken back by his comment. Either he actually wanted Felicity to do what she wanted and decided to fuel the impossible dream or he secretly wanted her dead. It wasn't like she hadn't ventured out into the mortal world before. She could shadow travel for Gods sake! Every time she left the camp and ventured somewhere she might have a good hour before she would get a nice visit from a monster. It wasn't fair. She was a flare wherever she went. Even if she did train and master all fighting techniques as well as her powers she wouldn't last very long out there. Heck, it was a surprise she even made it to the great age of seventeen! She sighed. "If I was to do that I'd be dead within the first five years. Its the con side of being a child of the big three." Felicity said calmly.

Felicity laughed. True, he was making swords and giving them to children but in their defense they had been trained with it so it wasn't really dangerous. Unless they were stupid, in which case there was always a case of a missing limp at the infirmary. She knit her eyebrows together. "Those ten year olds have been trained. I don't see how that is dangerous?" Felicity stated. She smirked as his comment. That was a simple answer, it was her genetics. She highly doubted that in that dark haired kid his genetics were arranged to make him anti-social. It goes against all human nature. Naturally they are meant to engage in social contact. "The same reason you have dark hair and a knack at forging. Genetics. However I am fairly certain anti-social is a gene." Then again she never took a proper biology course so she could be wrong. Thats the funny thing about the legion. Any "schooling" you do get is on fighting tactics and Latin, so much Latin.

At the question she knit her eyebrows. She thought sharpening a sword can only be done one way. Now there was two? What was the difference? "I guess whichever one is best for a learner to try." She said with a bit of a question in here tone. She didn't know the difference so how was she suppose to determine which one would best be suit for her to do. It was a near impossible question.

outfit:
word count: 443
notes: *slams head* Sorry, my reply is shorted

[Deleted]

Graphic Credit to Cori!

Edmund was a Debbie Downer/Negative Nancy only 99.90% of the time. Being semi positive for the other .10% usually happened when he was in his as okay-ish as he was going to get mood. All in all, it was uncommon, but not strictly impossible or unheard of. Besides, Edmund was a rebel without cause, a rule breaker, and an all out rebel against the stereotypical system, or just system in general. It probably came from his elementary school days. Having Felicity go out in the world for another opportunity, to actually do what she wanted to do, was different. It was against the rules. Against what was expected. He was all for it, even though it was rather dangerous on her part. He gave a slight shrug. "Can't decide who your blood is, but you can from there. Either risk it or loose it." Either be happy yet living on edge for five years or be miserable yet safe for many years go come. Speaking from personal experience (and only six years of it) of being miserable yet safe was like a death trap. Or that was what it was starting to feel like, anyway.

He gave a slight scowl and shrugged. Yes they had been trained. But they were freaking ten! They were freaking ten and going to be broken sooner or later by the strict Legion. It hadn't exactly happened like that to him; he had already been snapped, all the Legion had to do was reinforce it. Ed was just kind of hesitant about supplying children with murder weapons. Once they knew how to use them... they could. Some people didn't care if it was a Camp member or not: if they snapped and knew how to use a weapon, there was a 50/50 chance that they'd use it. "It might as well be," he grumbled back. Ah, nature vs nurture... Was it in his nature to be hard and cold? Children had to learn how to hate. They were naturally loving and innocent. Children had to learn to recede into a shell. Humans were usually social and craved to be with other people. Children could be born slightly cold and temperamental though. So maybe that was already geared into him. He had never exactly learned about the whole children psych... he just remembered his mom telling him about those sort of things when he started getting bullied.

His dark gaze flickered over the daughter of Pluto and nodded at her slight question. "Wheel then," he nodded, marching over to a corner and starting to clear away scattered rags, metal scraps, and paper designs. The other method was more time consuming, required more material, and could possibly get her cut rather badly. Ed scowled as he took a broom and started to push various metal scraps a good distance away from the wheel. He didn't know why that area wasn't always clear. Weapon sharpening was so important to camp and it usually made some sparks fly. Maybe the people just neglected the corner, thinking that the sparks wouldn't do any damage. They probably wouldn't, but Ed wouldn't take any chances, especially since there was someone other than him in the forge. "Over here," he said, nodding to the wheel and going over.

OOC: All good
IC: 558

[Deleted]

Images of France, England, Germany, Italy, and even Greece rolled into her head. She had the means to get to those places, it was free to. Just run full speed ahead into a shadow and pray you don't end up in Mexico. Mexico was not a fun place, especially near the border. Felicity knew from experience. She could still hear the Spanish and English yelling at her as she suddenly appeared on the wrong side of the border. Felicity ran the idea over and over in her head. Edmund did have a point but she was, admittingly, afraid to venture outside. She had before as previously stated but it was never more then thirty minutes, even then she had been on edge. "I'm afraid." She squeaked out.

Why of all people did she admit that to Edmund. She could feel the burning mark of embarrassment on her face. She couldn't help but look at the forges floor. She knew what would come next, well would usually come next from a normal person. "Why are you afraid? Your super powerful." or worst, "Haha, such a scardy cat. Just go hide in the Underworld with daddy." She hated people at times. Mainly, self-centered people who could do whatever they want but still found the means to be a bully. She wished she could give all of them an early burial, however, Felicity was trying to be a good girl after killing camp members last summer. That was accidental so she got off okay. Murder on purpose couldn't be covered up with a simple Oops. Though for the people she wished she could kill included Maddison Petroski, Jason Kyoto, Haley Campbell, and a few others. Of course she was wise to try to keep immortals off the "to kill" list.

Felicity sighed. For some reason she didn't think the same as Edmund. Now that could be because when she was seven she was attacked and saw dead people commit war against the creature. She felt the need to protect herself. She was eager to learn swordsmanship and archery and everything else pertainable to a demigod. Of course he sword skills greatly out weighed her archery. That could be due to the fact she spent the weekends practicing while everyone else just did their fun activities or hung out in New Rome. "Well, to each his own I guess." Felicity stated.

Felicity let a grin come to her face as she walked over to the just cleared wheel corner. She was relieved that Edmund cleared the spot before she started. She was already afraid of causing a fire and that clutter made her more weary. Felicity glanced at the wheel. She couldn't see how a circular object could cause a blunt sword to become sharp enough to kill. She studied it, half-expecting it to transform into some sword sharpening robot. No such thing happened. She glanced over at Ed. "So what do I do?" She asked Ed with a clear expression of confusion plastered upon her face. She probably looked like a kid on their first day of school. Not understanding why they are going to this place but eager to learn, despite what bad things may occur. Though Felicity doubted anything bad would happen, not with Ed being her teacher. She wondered if Ed had ever taught anyone before. She shook the idea off. Most people in this camp probably just asked him to fix their stuff and left without muttering even a simple thank you. Maybe part of his problem was that no one took the time to talk to him. She hoped that Edmund didn't find her presence bothersome, nor her request at sharpening. In fact she hoped that Edmund was enjoying conversing, even if it was more one-sided.

outfit:
word count: 676
notes: For a headache filled day I think this was good

[Deleted]

Graphic Credit to Cori! ^_^

Edmund could be all cheesy and say that he had "dreamed a dream in time gone by" and all that good stuff from Fantine's song in Les Miserables, but that just wasn't his style. Not at all. If he ever did say that he was either (a) high or (b) way too sleep deprived. Ed would never let himself get that sleep deprived. Even if he only slept around five hours a night, but never in his life would it come to hallucinations and acting drunk. Everyone at Legion had a right to kill him if he did. But he was fairly certain that he would never say anything. Mostly because he wasn't one to divulge stuff like that. He didn't divulge anything to anyone; no matter the circumstances. Period. But it had been true. At one time, at one point, some ideas would spark a smile to his face. But that had been when he was nine. Ed just calmly looked at the daughter of Pluto. Even though the forge light was pretty poor, he could almost see her face getting red. As heartless as he seemed on a day to day basis, he really could see it in her eyes: she wanted to travel. She wanted to get out of this hell hole. She didn't want to be trapped. Ed didn't blame her. At least she still had some spunk and hope in her.

At her simple confession, Edmund looked up as she looked down. Afraid. She seemed almost ashamed. Of course, this was the Legion! Where was the room for fear?! The way Edmund looked at it, there was plenty of room. She almost looked like she was afraid that he'd say something really mean. Well, he could, but that didn't mean that he would. He could relate to fear. He was pretty sure everyone at this damned Legion could. Afraid when monsters decided to invade personal space. Afraid when they were actually called to battle. Afraid to loose. Afraid to get disappointed. Afraid to die. Yup, everyone at this darned Camp should have some fear in them by now. He nodded slightly. "We all are," he shrugged slightly. "To some degree, of something." Everyone had a fear. Rough and tumble Romans? Afraid? Yeah, that'd look weak on the record books, but fears made people human. The determining factor was weather they decided to face it or not. So, she was scared of going out of Camp. So what? At least she wasn't afraid of her godly element.

When Edmund had got to the Legion, he had kind of been as hyped as any young boy to learn how to sword fight. Okay, maybe way less hyped, but he was open to learning it and all. Now he was pretty good at it and it was pretty much hardwired into his system as much as Latin, ADHD, and dyslexia. It was only when he got older and started actually giving out the weapons that he realized all the implications. It wasn't like he was going to stop giving weapons though. Fine, they were trained and all, and it was the Legion's way and all that good stuff but still... Ed just gave a nod. "Nothing we can do about it now," he said with a shrug. "They'll be getting them, like it or not... here they come."

He turned into the corner, took out a bucket of water, and carefully filled a small tray at the bottom of the wheel. It was just enough to wet the stone. The look on Felicity's face was enough to tell Edmund that she had never done anything like this. The question after just confirmed it. Ed gave the wheel a gentle spin, ever so lightly coating the entire outer rim with water, before taking the tray away. He took out his own sword. "When you step on that petal," he said nodding down to a few inches away from his foot, "this wheel will turn away from you. You take your sword," he said, taking out his own. "And place it on the wheel at an angle and keep it constant," he said, placing his sword on the stone at a slight tilt so the blade was pressing into the grindstone. "You take your non sword hand and put it higher up on the blade to keep the angle," he did so, "and to make sure it doesn't spin off the wheel." He took his own sword off, stepped to the side, and nodded his head over to the stone. Her turn.

OOC: It was great ^_^
Google FTW xD I should start reading forgery books rofl
Just reminder (although you prob know) emotionless face/voice lol
IC: 777

[Deleted]

Felicity studied at the son of Vulcan at his statement. True, it was human nature to fear, but for the legion that was suppose to be something you buried deep down into your core. Never to let it overcome you, never to let anyone know your weakness. Whether or not everyone at the damn legion had a fear it wasn't suppose to be anyones business but their own. Felicity figured that your fear was suppose to be something to motivate you. To fight so that no one would ever have to deal with that fear. However, here fear was difficult to dispose of. For a demigod there will always be monsters awaiting them whenever they turned around. Felicity shook off the emotion of embarrassment and cleared her throat in order for it to not squeak again. "Whether or not we all have a fear doesn't mean we have to share it. Sorry to lower my defenses in front of you." Felicity said with no emotion, almost comparable to how Edmund talked all the time.

Truthfully she wanted to just open up to but that was never going to happen, at least not in the legion. Maybe after her service she could invest in a computer and just rant her feelings to anonymous people on Tumblr or whatever social network teenagers used nowadays. She had only seen the wonders of the internet for two days and that wasn't really enjoyable. The main purpose was to e-mail her mom a Christmas e-card. Her mom supposedly still cared about that and expected to get a letter or e-card in return for the one she sent to Felicity. Felicity shrugged it off as if she didn't care though she had a shoe box full of all the cards and pictures her family sent her. She regrets that she can never see them again. Though, as far as Felicity knew there was no restriction on computers in New Rome so at least Felicity may be able to video chat with them in three years. If there was a restriction Felicity would just ignore it anyways.

Felicity nodded. It was true, no matter if the entire camp protested outside the Principia there would be no dis-continue of the giving out of gladius and swords to campers. Heck, if there was Felicity would throw a fit. Once campers learn to fight they can protect ones they love, or if they had none, then themselves. Felicity raised an eyebrow though as her mind whirled its gears. "You know, if you don't approve of giving weapons to young campers you could start a petition to give dull weapons to campers under the age of thirteen." Felicity stated suggestively. Why thirteen? She had no idea. It seemed like a good age. Besides, this way the young campers could still practice while not having a murderous weapon in their hand. Although, if war time came about they would need sharp weapons, but at least they would have training with weapons before hand. Too many of the young campers did go to the infirmary with numerous scratches. It was so common that it wasn't considered a bad enough injury for infirmary anymore. Kinda sad when you thought about it.

Felicity listened intensely and nodded in understanding every now and then. Her focus was fixed on Edmund showing how to sharpen the sword. Once the introduction was finished Felicity took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves before lifting her sword and taking a step forwards toward the wheel. She pressed her foot on the pedal and watched for a second as the wheel spun away from her. Suddenly she was really nervous. She took another deep breath but her eyes gave her away. They were wide and full of nerves. She held out her sword at an angle like Edmund previously shown. She pressed it against the wheel and everything was okay for a couple of seconds. Then the sparks started to sputter. Felicity yelped and jumped back dropping her sword. She picked up her sword nervously. Obviously forging was not her element. "Sorry." Felicity muttered as she stepped back to the wheel, prepared this time. She stepped on the pedal and placed her angled sword against it. This time she was ready for the sparks which surprised her the last time. She didn't even blink when they appeared. However her body was very rigid with concentration. She had no clue what she was suppose to be doing besides holding a sword against a moving stone wheel. "Um, how do I know when it's done?" Felicity asked. She hoped it was soon. She really didn't enjoy forging. It was making her nervous, any second she knew something bad would happen.

outfit:
word count: 831
notes: Haha, I had to watch a youtube video XD

[Deleted]

Graphic Credit to Cori!

Looks like what he said was non traditional. What was he supposed to say? Suck it up we're at the Legion? Probably, but Edmund had established long ago that he was done being the traditional, behave, and do what you're told sort of person. It was pointless to deny that the did indeed have fears or to pretend that they didn't exist. That was probably supposed to be a standard of the Legion. Show no fear. Show no weakness. Be an individualistic, fighting robot. Ed had no problem admitting to himself that he was afraid of things. He also knew he had a lot of weaknesses. They probably outweighed his strengths in leaps and bounds. "That's your choice," he shrugged. Besides, what was he going to do with her fear? Use it against her? Start a rumor? Yeah, no. Ed wasn't the use things against other people type. What people said to him went to the grave. If they wanted to tell people on their own time, fine, but he wasn't going to tell anyone anything. "It's fine."

Edmund never opened up. Not anymore, at least. The last time he did was when he was...nine. When his life had been semi-normalish. When he had actually had a life he liked. Meaning before the fire turned his world inside out, upside down, whichever other twisted direction one could think of. Here, there was no chance of him whatsoever becoming himself. Ever. What was himself anymore? He actually had no clue. He had much less of a chance opening up, like, around .000000000000001% chance. Actually more close to impossible and never. His aunt had tried to get him to open up: first to her, then to psychiatrists. Neither of them worked. Ed was on total lock down forever and he didn't see anything changing any time soon. Especially here. He had no outside contacts. No one to look forward to when his service was over. His aunt practically hated him and his family... well, he had none now. The only thing he did have left of his family, was a photo. It was charred pretty badly, but the faces were still distinguishable. He just wished he could remember their voices. Ed had been trying to remember them talking to him. Anything. But year by year, their voices had begun to fade.

He gave a slight shrug. It sounded plausible. They were supposed to be this senate with rights and whatever, but who in their right mind would even buy that the antisocial, grumpy spawn of Vulcan was semi-concerned about the well being of the Legion's children? On a day to day basis, Edmund seemed to not care about anyone. It wasn't like many people would agree with him. None did on a daily basis, he couldn't imagine any agreeing with him on a camp wide issue. True they were being trained, but he just saw too many of them going into the infirmary. He hated that place. With a passion. All the cuts he got from his beginning days of fighting didn't even qualify for the infirmary, thank the gods, but he got scars. Edmund never wanted to go into a hospital like structure place ever again. Not like they were new to him but still. Ten years old and getting permanent marks? Best avoidable.

The dark haired sixteen year old stood back, watching Felicity carefully. She looked as nervous as heck. He didn't doubt that she couldn't do it. She seemed rather capable. It was probably just first time nerves. Despite him having the blood of the forge god, he had gotten flat out nervous just being in the forge for the first time. Compared to him, Felicity was doing fine. She seemed to go alright for the first few moments... until the sparks showed up. Ed barely blinked as the blade spun out of her hand and landed on the cold, hard floor. He had also had a flinch back reaction, practically the same as hers, when he had sharpened his first sword. The fear of fire and anything that could spark one had still been there. Was still there to this day. "No problem," he said in his regular, monotone. Like him, she went back to try again, and like him, she was wondering when this would be over. Oh how he had hated the forge for the first week or so, mostly because it freaked him out... but then it grew on him. "Count around twenty turns, flip it over, twenty more turns, and then it should be alright."

OOC: LOL Same. And look up a lot of stuff from google xD
Did Ed explain it right? o.o *must read forgery-ish books...*
IC: 778

[/font][/blockquote][/size]

[Deleted]

Felicity glanced at Ed. She wondered if he experienced the same fear at the first sword sharpening. She doubted it, though part of her still wondered. She nodded as Ed stated what she was suppose to do with the sword. As she worked on sharpening the side she was doing nothing bad happened. Then she turned it over to the more dull side and again rested the sword in her hands the way she was shown. She placed it against the stone, again sparks flashed. Felicity again jerked back. Now she was shaking. Finally she realized, the sparks reminded her of lightning, even if it was different. Her body was shaking softly. She just held her still semi blunt sword in her hand tightly that her knuckles were starting to look white.

Felicity remembered her first thunderstorm, even if it was still while she was a baby. Thunder boomed loudly and lightning seemed to be trying to aim directly at her house. Her mom told her a tree caught on fire. She remembered sparks, flame, and booms. It was rare that something would remind her of that, she thought she had concurred it, obviously she hadn't. She took a deep breath and tried to calm her body down. She handed the sword out to Ed. "I'm sorry, I can't do this." Felicity said with her head towards the ground. She moved away from the sharpener. She didn't want to be near it when it sparked brightly again.

Stupid Jupiter and his stupid lightning. Why was he able to have kids and them not worry about being charred. No, Felicity had to worry about being drowned (Neptune), being charred (Jupiter), and being strangled by flowers in Spring (Persephone). She hated her life. Why couldn't she been born normal? Into a normal family. Then again, she did love the legion and she did love herself, just sometimes it came too much for her to handle. She looked back at Ed and wondered if he ever had to deal with angry family members.

"I'll just stand over there and watch. I can still learn that way. Yeah, that'd be better." Felicity said as she walked over to the spot about five feet away from the wheel. She was talking in a way to inform but also to encourage herself. Gods, people were going to think she was crazy. She just wanted to run out of the forge and go hide in her barrack. Yet, she was a centurion of a Roman cohort. She had to appear strong and tough. Plus, who would she be if she wasn't the optimistic cheerful daughter of Pluto?

outfit:
word count: 496
notes: okay, so I'm just going to assume that shortly after Felicity was born Jupiter tried to kill her because she was Plutos kid. Sounds reasonable.

[Deleted]

Edmund had honestly been a wreck in the forge for the first week. Not outwardly, of course. Inwardly, he had been freaking the hell out. He wondered if anyone had noticed. He hoped to the gods no one had. Hopefully no one cared about him enough to notice. Him, not wanting to be anywhere near the forge for the first three years at the Legion. Then getting claimed and having to go in, usually coming out slightly white for the first month. Thankfully, he had stopped semi-hyperventilating on the first day. It had been hard enough to breathe in there on principle, but throw in the fact that he wasn't getting enough air and breathing too fast, he would have suffocated. So, hyperventilating was kind of not an option. After his hate/freak out week, he was kind of okay with the crowdedness, the heat, and was actually doing semi okay with the fire aspect. However, he didn't actually stop his almost hourly flash backing and PTSDing until nearly a month later. Even at that, three years later, it would still happen on occasion...

He carefully watched as Felicity continued to sharpen the sword. She had no problem with finishing the side that she had already started. It actually looked quite good for her first time. Then came the other side... and new sparks. Edmund watched them and then looked up at Felicity to see how she was handling the reappearance of sparks. Not well. She was staring to shake and her hand was getting white. "Hey, hey, take it easy..." he murmured, moving closer to her and taking the sword from her hand. He vaguely wondered if she had something against fire as well; if it acted as a trigger for something. "No, it's okay," he said, his usually hard tone semi loosing its edge. He understood not being able to do something. If she couldn't take sharpening a weapon and the sparks, fine. He couldn't exactly take it the first time, but forced himself to. Em would be so disappointed. He had forced himself to go near sparks, but not to go to his own family's wake/burial.

The sixteen year old approached the grindstone, flipped Felicity's sword over to find the dull side, and then stepped on the petal again. He carefully angled the sword and then put it on the wheel. A few moments later, the sparks showed up. Edmund breathed out. Sparks with nothing around for them to catch on. He was okay... Yeah, he still needed to convince himself when around the wheel and the forge fire. Kind of sad after three years, but true. Edmund counted as the wheel went by, slowly pulling the sword as the wheel turned so the whole length could get sharper. He wished he didn't react so horribly around fire. Around the infirmary. If he didn't, that would mean that year nine of his life didn't happen. He sincerely wished that could have been the case. He could have had mail, people to go back to, and something other than fighting and forging to keep him sane.

"Alright," Edmund nodded, back to flat as Felicity retreated a few feet back and said that she'd just watch. She sounded semi nervous to him, but he brushed it off. Getting freaked out by first time sword sharpening. Reasonable. He wasn't offended or anything; she could do it, or she could opt out, whatever made her more comfortable and at ease with being in here. Besides, standing around and watching did help. Most of the things Edmund had learned how to do in respects to forging had been learned from him lurking/watching other people and then trying it out for himself. "You did the other side just fine," he decided to tell her. She seemed a bit put down by her inability to stick with the second side; least he could do is tell her that what she had done was correct.

OOC: Yup Yup! Plausible
IC: 675

[Deleted]

Felicity nodded as the sword was taken from her and Edmund told her that it was alright. As she watched Edmund continue with the sharpening she couldn't help but be amazed. She actually had to try, but for him, it seemed like the motion and ease came naturally. She was awestruck, almost forgetting about the fear that had recently gripped her. She found the power of Vulcan to be incredible. How many legions would have fallen had it not been for his kids or legacies? They were the heart of the legion. Without them they would have no weapons and no one to help fix them. They would be ultimately defenseless. Yet, this kid seemed to shrug it off. They had already talked about that. She watched as Edmund sharpened the blade so intensely, as if in thought. She wondered why he didn't laugh at her startledness, could he maybe relate. It was a long shot, but seemed like a good solution.

Her eyes lite up with happiness and a grin broke out on her face at the compliment. "Really? So it isn't horrible? I though since I have no idea about forging I probably ruined it. Yay! I'm not a failure." Felicity said enthusiastically. She didn't ever seem to stay sad for long. She knew it got her no where. All those times during elementary school and on her soccer team. Not having any friends, being called weird and not normal. She had been a depressed child, luckily she gave up on depression. All it did was make her hate herself. For some reason she was meant to live this life, not wallow in pity about it. Those kids back then were right, she wasn't normal and she was weird. Nowadays, she was a walking talking encyclopedia of historic knowledge. An optimistic daughter of Pluto, how weird that must sound to normal people. Usually Pluto is associated with grief and hate. Why the heck would his daughter be such a happy and active kid. Well, why not?

Felicity moved closer to examine the sword, and Edmunds working. Though, still keeping a safe distant from the sparks. "It looks done, how do you know for sure that it is done?" Felicity asked, still being her curious self, even is she was know a little more timid in the forge. She would just have to suck it up. Besides, what if she went on one of her unauthorized trips outside of camp and broke a sword. She couldn't actually trust a camper to keep that a secret, nor would she want to lay that burden on them either. Knowing more about forging she could hopefully one day remain incognito during her little trips. Usually she just left while her cohort was training. The most she ever had was two hours, then monsters appeared. But in those two hours she would get to be normal. She would go to McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and even a library sometimes. She wasn't able to go every day, more like once every other week. It was so worth it for her though, it was her escape.

outfit:
word count: 550
notes:

[Deleted]

Edmund had been pretty much the forge stalker for a week. Like he had been when he had first entered Camp, he was semi amazed at everything that all the other forgers could do. He never thought he could do anything like that, but his claim day kind of told him wrong. During the settle week and for the three years after (yes, he still had a lot to learn), he had just watched other people and then tried to mimic. Of course, while mimicking, he took the criticism, the pointers, and the corrections in stride. He didn't want to do anything wrong that could accidentally cause a fire again. It made him wonder: what did Felicity have against sparks? Then again, it wasn't his place to pry. He could barely talk or question someone about fire when he, a son of the forge, would go crazy if he saw a fire or saw sparks outside of their respected places in the forge.

Felicity's seemingly upsetness soon changed to happiness not long after he told her that she had been in the right. Well, at least she didn't brood on getting things wrong or beat herself up too horribly about things that she couldn't do. Not something like this, at least. "Not horrible and far from failure," he affirmed with a slight nod. If she wanted to see what a horrible forge fail was, there would have to be video archives of things that happened in here. Thank the gods there wasn't. It was probably better that she could just as soon be happy than sad. His sister had been like that. It just took one thing for her to perk up again. At least they found a way around it. Edmund used to be able to, heck he still could, albeit differently. At least there were some happy Campers around this place, even if he couldn't understand how they could be happy.

Out of his side vision, he could see the daughter of Pluto once again approaching. It wasn't close per say but it was closer than before. Probably just to watch again. Ed carefully kept count in his head while still sliding the sword backwards. 15... 16... Nothing is going to catch fire here, he tried to convince himself again. He had taken the extra precautions too, but still had his paranoid doubts. Ed just did what he had been doing since his days at grammar school: he sucked it up. It was what the Legion expected and, as of now, it was what he expected of himself. He could be worse off. 19, 20. At her words Edmund looked up at her and took her blade off the stone. After a moment's inspection, he nodded slightly. "And you'd be correct again. I'll show you," he said, walking away from the sharpener so she wouldn't have to go near it. There was no problem in her showing a few things around the forge. Maybe one day she would be comfortable enough to do it herself. If not, he'd probably be here. He got closer to the light that the fire had to offer and then held her gladius vertically, so the edge was facing her. Ed calmly stood there, holding the hilt, the blade a few inches from splitting his face in half. "Do you see anything glinting?"

IC: 546

[Deleted]

Felicity kept her ever optimistic grin on her face as Edmund stated that her handiwork on her sword was far from failure. Though, she couldn't say she would be going at it full time, not soon. Still, hearing that she didn't fail was always pleasing to ones self esteem. She wondered what the Vulcan kids, or anyone who was good at forging, thought was a bad forge job. Images of melted swords and askew angles popped into her head. Her imagination caused the weaponry to look so horrific that she almost wanted to laugh at it. At least she wasn't that bad. Then finally, were all Vulcan kids just popped out of the womb ready to forge? Or, did they also have to learn. She wondered how the other demigods became so well acquainted with their skills handed down from their parents? Maybe they are just born with it. "So, did you have to learn how to forge? Or did you pop out of the womb knowing the skills?" Felicity asked as she knit her eyes together from the previous thought.

Correct again? She was just making a guess when she said it was finished. Perhaps she had a good eye for there things. Or, just lucky. How funny that would be. A spawn of Pluto being lucky. Felicity followed Ed, careful not to get near the sharpener. She watched as Ed held it so the light would cascade over it. She knit her eyebrows together, there was no glint that she could see, but that was from where she stood. She got closer to it, and Ed, since he was holding it. She examined the blade. There was no glint. Was that suppose to be right? She knit her eyebrows even more together, if that was possible. "I don't see a glint. Is it suppose to be glinting?" Felicity asked as she pulled away from the sword.

She didn't have her eyes leave the blade though. She was waiting for a glint, but it never appeared. It was official, Felicity knew absolutely nothing about forging. Perhaps the prinicipia had some books about it. She could really use a "Idiots Guide To: Forging". Felicity doubted that even after analyzing the guide would help her. She could always stalk the forge, but then people would think she was weirder then she already was. Besides, it probably wasn't safe to have an unlucky demigod around a place such as a forge. The forgers would be too nervous to even get their work done. Even if Felicity did stay in a back corner she was bound to get wayward glances and hear mutterings about herself. True, she wouldn't care about that, she received that kind of treatment all her life. Felicity would care that she was being a distraction, a nuisance, to the forgers. She just wanted to learn a skill, books would have to do that for her, she figured. That's why she became such a big book worm recently too. It was her way of learning, and understanding the way the world worked. She wasn't a daughter of Minerva, heck, that was impossible, but she wasn't going to live her life unaware either.

outfit:
word count: 577
notes: So, do you think we will reach a third page? XD

[Deleted]

Someone would really have to royally mess up in order for Edmund to consider it a forge fail. As in... the sword's obviously bent yet the person says it's fine. Even if Felicity had left some rough spots on the side she did do, he wouldn't write it off as a fail. At least she would have gotten most of the sharpness. She was honestly doing better in here than he had been doing on his first day. Then again, almost anyone and everyone could do better in the forge for their first time than him. If she wanted to see a forge fail, she could have watched his first time sharpening a sword. He kept trying to sharpen it, but then kept dropping it every time the sparks decided to show up. At least she had the sense to not push herself instead of attracting multiple stares. It wasn't so much as the stares that bothered Ed, he had written those off a long time ago, it was more of the fear that he wouldn't be able to do it that got him frustrated. At her question, the demigod boy had to think for a minute. That was actually a really good question.

He gave a semi shrug. "I guess born with the talents, but learn how to use them...?" Or that was his case, at least. Edmund had always been good at building things and he had always liked it. He just kind of... kept doing it, watched people, mimicked, and it made him improve. His forging skills had been semi delayed from his inability to go into the forge and then his fear of the fire and sparks. He wondered if it was the same with every demigod. All of them must of shown their powers at one point, but just not fully understand what it was that they were doing. "Did you have to learn how to shadow travel?" he asked in turn. Being able to do (or do better than most) was in the genetics, but at the same time, Edmund would think that they'd all have to practice control and learn how to fully use the powers. Maybe it was just him. It probably was. He had always been the odd one out.

Edmund could see the slight surprise on Felicity's face as he gave his acknowledgement that she had once again been right. Why was she so surprised? Maybe it was because she was a child of Pluto and, stereotypically, they didn't do many things right? Stupid clichés. Okay, fine, maybe sometimes they were true, but that didn't mean all the time. It was kind of dampening, only being known by a few things just because of the immortal parent you got stuck with, especially if it was negative, but oh well. Camp would be Camp. He watched her avoid the sharpener. Okay, definitely something against those sparks. It was no biggie to him. He had something against sparks too: they had probably started his house fire. Edmund carefully watched her face. She was trying to look for something that wasn't there. "Don't over think it," he said, still in his normal tone. "There's supposed to be no glint on a sharp blade. If you saw one, that would mean that it was dull," he explained. It was kind of semi nice, having someone who was interested in what happened around the forge. Usually campers would just stalk in, tell him to fix whatever, and then leave.

OOC: Lol maybe xD
If you want to end it though, just let me know though ^^
IC: 597

[Deleted]

Felicity listened to his answer. It made sense, if you thought about it. It was like the way mutation occurred in x-men almost. The mutants were born with the x-gene but they never knew they had it until their powers emerged. Most of the time it was at thirteen. Then the mutants had to train to control their power, the good guys went to the Xavier Institute. In a lot of ways the xmen were relating to this topic. Though, Felicity couldn't remember if she was born with her abilities or not. It would make the most sense wouldn't it. True, the nonacceptance that came with being the daughter of Pluto was there since the beginning. Yet, Felicity never used her powers until the night she was taken to Lupa. Heck, she was even afraid of the dark when she was younger. How unlike Pluto was that?

"That seems like the more common way of thinking." Felicity acknowledged. At the question Ed asked Felicity knit her eyebrows together. She remembered one day walking at night and how the shadows were forming around her. She didn't give it any thought back then. However, one day she was upset and kinda ran into the shadows, however you want to explain that. Next thing she knew she was inside the library in her hometown. Luckily, it was at night and no one was there, however, she also had no way out unless she tripped the alarm. So she tried running into the shadows again. That time she ended up somewhere in California. She was super tired and just called for a taxi, which reminded her. She owed a taxi company a good sum of money.

"Concerning shadow travel, one day it just sorta happened. Ever since then I had to train. Its a pain in the butt to get to the right destination. Thats what I am still learning. I have to be a hundred percent sure of where I am going, constantly thinking about it. One time I tried to get to London, England and ended up in London, Kentucky. Plus it still uses almost all my energy. With great power comes great need to take a nap is my new motto." Felicity said with a light laugh. She had to train a lot at night, that way she could avoid random sightings of a teenage girl. She had scared a few homeless people though. Despite what people think, those homeless people can really be mean. She had rocks thrown at her a few times. Luckily nothing serious happened. She didn't know how much the mist could cover if her random sighting caused a national incident. It would be horrible if she shadow traveled accidently into the Oval Officer or the Pentagon. It was a relief that it hadn't happened already.

Felicity smiled when Edmund said that there was suppose to be no glint. She backed away from the blade. "Then I thank you for your fine handiwork." Felicity said. It was sharpened really well, from Felicitys point of view. Though, she thought it was done shortly after the sharpening began. Despite her lack of knowledge in that department she still would continue to think that the sharpening was the best job in the world. Felicity wondered what other stuff the Vulcan kids were good at. She remembered Ed working on wood when she arrived. What other things could they do? Could they manipulate anything and make it wonderful, or was it limited to certain substances. "So besides fixing peoples weapons what else do the Vulcan kids do?" Felicity asked with curiosity.

outfit:
word count: 647
notes: Same to you, if you want it ended let me know. [/quote]