Pens and Swords | Open

[Adam Brontes]

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Long Island, Camp Half-Blood	Session One: Pens and Swords
Forge	Adam Brontes, Virginia Grace [Open]

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The Arena. In many ways, it was core of the camp itself, alongside the climbing wall. From the adorably diligent to the born pacifists, no matter who you are or what your beliefs, you'd spend some amount of time there. Why? Simple. Plenty of things in the outside world would like for nothing more than to see children of the Gods dead at their feet, and their threats were very real. A fair portion of new arrivals had stories of nearly falling prey, and some were never able to tell them.

That said, not all gods were born fighters, and this rang truer still for their mortal children. And so things were needed, to bridge the gap and increase the rate of survival. Those that lacked Heracles's strength or Perseus's instincts needed to rely on their equipment. And so, while the training areas were the heart of this camp, the forge was its brain. The forge's workers knew people. The camp's current members, their state of training, inner rivalries, the works. It had always struck Adam as funny that the holy ground of the famed loner of the Olympians, Hephaestus, was a site of gossip that could rival his wife's Cabin.

On a warm afternoon, a few days after his arrival at Camp, the man would approach the forge, armed with a packed duffle bag and a dog, Argos - now considerably more familiar with the premises - that, as per usual, trotted around him, relentlessly curious. Taking a seat at a workbench on the porch, the bag would go on the floor and, from within, a handful of weapons would appear: a couple of swords and spears, some arrows, a shield and a bow. After carefully laying them out in front of him, Adam would proceed to pick them up, one by one, and sharpen and tend to them as best he could. Though not nearly as gifted as most children of the forger of legends, a decade at camp did mean he knew his way around the basics. It was tiring work, but there was something about the process that was strangely soothing. It reminded him of sailing in the sense that both gave off this feeling of being alone with the elements. And, with the open sky in sight, heat from the fires inside warming his back, and the occasional breeze gracing his front, one might say that, all in all, things were good. Peaceful.

[Virginia Grace]

Being a child of Hephaestus was no easy matter. Spending all day in the forge pounding away at hot metal to repair weapons and armor and invent new things had a way of tiring you out. Even the best demigods had to take a break sometime and for Virginia Grace it was no different. Fortunately the daughter of the forge god had been blessed with an acute sense of ingenuity and, that being the case, had long since come up with the solution.

It was simple really. Genie had long ago converted an unused corner of the forge to her own personal area complete with car magazines, tools and brightly colored bubble letters and flowers spelling out her name painted on the wall. The corner also included a hammock strung up over the floor and that's precisely where Genie found herself now napping after spending several hours in the forge finishing up her latest project.

She smiled happily as she snoozed to dreams of smoking tires and roaring engines but her sleep was not deep enough to ignore when her domain had been invaded. When the familiar sound of scrapping on metal came to her in her dream it was enough to make her stir and as she swam back up from unconsciousness it became immediately apparent that she wasn’t alone. Sitting up in her hammock Genie stretch and let out a loud yawn before swinging sleepily down to the floor. Shuffling her feet, still not fully awake and rubbing the sleep from her eyes the Hephaestus girl made her way blearily towards the sound wondering what all the noise was about. “Hey, can’t you see a girl is trying to sleep here? Whaaaaa-aaaa-aaaah…” She said with a long yawn before finally finishing. “…What time is it anyways?”

[Adam Brontes]

People in Camp Half-Blood seemed to have a penchant for subverting expectations. Only in a place like this would you see a young woman with such a small frame living in an actual Forge. In all his years of living here, just once he’d like to see a dwarven figure with a skin made rough by the forges and a frame to match the intense physical labour these kids fed off of. Instead, it was this petite woman, rubbing her eyes in a way reminiscent of a small child. It was adorable, really.

”… What time is it anyways?”, she asked. Adam pressed pause on his work, reached into the his bag and retrieved a small flask from one of its pockets. Clipping it between his index and middle fingers, the demigod would stretch the arm out towards his supposed niece, presenting it to her. ”It’s got to be five o’clock somewhere… Right?” - he said, offering the drowsy, mumbling daughter of Hephaestus a friendly wink along with the container.

Argos, lying down next to him, had his attention caught by the situation and raised his head in curiosity. After a good few pets however, the dog returned to its resting position, clearly satisfied with the exchange.

”How are we doing on this fine day?” - Brontes asked, returning his gaze to the sword on his lap, the taut arm remaining in place until Genie’s answer was made known. Clearly, if he did know the answer to her question, getting it out of him wouldn't be as simple as that.

[Virginia Grace]

It took Genie longer to wake up than was expected. As it turned out she had been well and truly asleep when she had heard the sharpening sounds and had apparently lost all track of time. “Five o’clock…” She mumbled and glanced up at the sun which was well on its way towards the western horizon. It took a bit for the knowledge to sinking that it was actually much later than she had thought it was but while she did she glanced back at the man shaped thing wondering who he was as well.

“Ugh I need coffee.” She said finally as she rubbed her eyes once more. She couldn’t be sure but there was something familiar about the man and now that her brain was beginning to catch up to what was going on she wanted to get a better look at him. In the meantime she decided to answer his question. “Oh I’m good. Apparently I really needed my beauty rest because I’ve been asleep since…” Genie trailed off as she finished rubbing away the last remnants of sleep and looked back at who was speaking to her. She did recognize him as it turned out. This person was very familiar and even though it had been a while, four or maybe five years, she certainly recognized his friendly face. “Brontes?” She asked referring to him by his last name because she had always liked that one better. “Is that really you?”

[Adam Brontes]

With a soft laugh, the man returned the flask to his bag, amused at the fact that his little joke had gone over the drowsy Genie's head. ”I don't actually know what time it is.” - he remarked between chuckles, swivelling his head from side to side ever so slightly, with no intention of explaining the actual joke.

”And I'm afraid so." - he added in a playful tone, no doubt a reply, to the tinkerer's 'Is it really you?' inquiry. ”Not dead just yet.” Leaving his words hanging in the aether for a bit, Brontes would return the xiphos on his lap to the floor and turn to face his niece. ”It's nice to see you too, Gracie. It seems you've grown up quite a bit since I last laid eyes on you. You've gotten pretty, it seems. I'm a fan." - he added. Two years might not be much of a of a difference between a 21 and a 19 year-old, but back when he left he was 17 and Genie 15, and that was something else entirely. When you add in the fact that this niece of his had always been quite petite, it was interesting for Adam to see someone he'd always regarded as a little girl now considerably closer to a made woman. Not to mention that, as he recalled, she flustered rather easily. It was adorable. Considering she was always such a good sport as well, his old gang rather enjoyed seeing this daughter of the Fire God blush.

After a few moments of reminiscence, ”Now then, Madam Blacksmith... Would you do me the pleasure of helping out with the goods, or shall I leave you to your beauty sleep?" Brontes inquired, motioning towards the weapons beside him with his eyes.

[Virginia Grace]

Genie didn't really get joke so maybe she was still a little asleep but she was waking up at a steady pace. That said regardless of the time it was getting late and she had slept quite a bit longer than she had intended to. Not that it was much of a problem but still it would have been nice to know. For the moment at least it wasn’t that much of a concern. What was a concern is that Genie did recognize the man sitting outside her forge and if memory served her correctly it was one of her favorite people.

“Oh I wasn’t worried. You’ve always been able to handle yourself but I thought you were traveling.” She said with a big smile as he confirmed his identity. “When did you get back?” Her grin remained even as he began commenting how pretty she was. Genie was no child of Apollo but if it had been possible for her to brighten even further at the compliments then she would have. In any case she thought it was very nice of Adam to say so. “Aww shucks. Aint you just as smooth a talker as always. It hasn’t been that long and besides I’ve got a girlfriend to talk all pretty like that. You don’t have to be so nice.” Lydia told her that she was pretty all the time and that was good. She didn’t see herself as anything too special herself but her mom had taught her never to turn down a compliment when it was given so for her part she accepted it gratefully.

It didn’t take long for the conversation to turn back to the task at hand however and as Genie took a look at the weapons that Adam had laid out she nodded thoughtfully. “Lots of pointy things I see. I can definitely help and you’re just in time. I just woke up so I don’t have any projects hangin. Come on it might help if we used some better tools. I know just the thing.” Giving Adam a motion to follow Genie turned on her heels and marched back into the forge like a girl on a mission.

[Adam Brontes]

Adam had always had a soft spot for these blissfully unaware people. Their lives seemed simpler... purer. Perhaps it was their lack of awareness towards the subtleties of the world around them that allowed them to accept the harshest of realities. By lack of understanding they remained... sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird.

For one such as himself, who decided from a young age that understanding these subtleties, acknowledging these interstices, would be the very thing that solidified his chances at survival, these people seemed... What did they seem like? What ever it was, it was appealing. Most people portray themselves as capable players of this complex game - even if it really isn't true - and those types he's never really felt much remorse in misleading or tricking. But to not be aware of the game itself... that kind of innocence he himself had never been privy to, and it felt like something that should be protected so that those lucky enough to have it could have a shot at keeping it.

About half-way through his little inner rant, the man had realised he'd simply been pensively staring at Genie moving back into the steaming forge she'd just left for the better of a handful of seconds. A quick chuckle escaped his lips as he reminded himself that his father was the God of Justice after all, and wondered if this was one of the good person aspects he'd inherited from dear old dad.

Finally deciding to wrap up the slew of weapons carefully placed around him and place them back into the bag, the man would raise from his seat and follow the teen into her domain.

"Why thank you. You've got more faith in me than I do myself, it seems..." - she didn't... she reeeeally didn't, but it was a nice little white lie to say, and Adam did like to earn points when and where he could - "I've been back a few days. Not too long, just enough to catch some shut-eye and get used to living here all over again. Gotten myself a new sister, it seems. She seems nice. A bit forward at times," - he said, being reminded of their, shall we say, memorable first encounter - " but nice. And yourself? How go things with this new girlfriend of yours?"

[Virginia Grace]

“Nah I just know people and you’re the survivin type of people. You don’t give up easily which is good. That helps you stay alive and kickin.” Genie said as she marched back into her domain fully expected him to follow. If he wanted his weapons sharpened she could do that for him. Fortunately you didn’t have to know how to use weapons to fix them but she would need some real tools to do a good job and Genie always did a good job.

As she walked back to her workstation Genie listened to Adam tell her about his experience since arriving back at camp. She thought for a minute trying to picture who Adam was talking about and yes, she thought she might know. The children of the big three did tend to make names for themselves after all and children of Zeus were certainly no exception. “Oh you must mean Daphne. Yeah she’s been around a while but you would have missed her. Guess it’s kind of a shock to find out ya got a big brother you didn’t know about all of a sudden but I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Pretty soon I bet you two will be good friends.”

Genie wasn’t sure what had happened between Adam and Daphne but hopefully they could get over it. Bad things tended to happen if the Zeus campers weren’t happy and the daughter of Hephaestus didn’t need any rogue lightning storms frying any of her inventions. Surely it wasn’t anything too bad though or she would have heard some rumors about it through the rumor mill. The fact that she hadn’t was encouraging but you never knew sometimes. “Well it’s good to have you back in any case. Are you planning on staying for a while?”

Working to fire up her forge Genie motioned Adam to bring on his weapons. As the flames leapt from deep inside the furnace and the heat really started to pick up one might have thought that Genie had lost the train of the conversation but as soon as Adam mentioned something about Genie’s girlfriend the daughter of Hephaestus turned to meet him with a big smile. “Oh Lydia? She’s great. She’s pretty and nice and sweeter than my mama’s ice tea. She’s the best.” Genie could have gone on but Adam probably didn’t want to hear about all the mushy gushy stuff. Besides, she had been trying to work on her filter lately. “How about you? Anybody caught your eye while you are traveling? You know there are plenty of options here at camp. I could ask around especially if you’re goin’ta be here a while. Hmmm?” Maybe she still needed a little work there.

[Adam Brontes]

Adam Brontes's drug of choice is control, and alcohol of course, but mostly control. His particular type control is difficult to spot because it is not the more common variety. It is a subtle thing, like being the one who asks the questions, or deliberately answering either too much, or too little, cracking certain jokes, resorting to flattery or even insult, all to steer people into or away from certain directions. In this way, all interactions, no matter how invasive they may be, would flow towards environments of his choosing, where most lines delivered by other parties are more or less within the realm of the expected, and unforeseen events are kept to a minimum. This, is part of why the man's so adept at paying closer attention to the more minute details of their responses.

For the jaws of men like this to drop takes quite a bit. For them to be left perplexed, or with no witty retort left in the bag, takes a special kind of occurrence. And, to someone like Adam, who sees life as a series of challenges, anyone capable of leaving him in that kind of position deserves respect. This son of Zeus is not as sore a loser as his divine parent and will, at times, be the first to tip his hat to those who've bested him at his own game, regardless of whether they did so intentionally, incidentally or accidentally. Even if Adam's proverbial thumbs up aren't as evident as they should be, from time to time, or if the reason behind the subtle praise is lost on the recipient - this might just be one of these cases, Adam felt - the man will hold on to these moments, and these people will be moving up, in his mind.

"I could ask around especially if you’re goin’ta be here a while." she'd said. A single, dry cough emerged from the man's throat, followed by a handful of chuckles. The laugh was short and nearly silent - he wouldn't want to make Genie too conscientious of the very free-spiritedness he found so refreshing - but he could feel the hints of tears forming on the corner of his eye. Though short-lived, this was the purest he'd laughed in quite a while. The line had caught him so off-guard it'd felt akin to a bucket of freezing water to the face, or a good old sock on the jaw, piercing through his many defences and giving him a good shake. A smile of sheer entertainment he could not contain showed from ear to ear, as he pondered over how to best tell this particular ray of sunshine in front of him she was most definitely not allowed to change. Ever.

"Not even five minutes into the conversation and you're already offering to put in a good word for me with your friends, eh? I must've done something right.” - he said, allowing these words to simmer in the air for a good long while, before being reminded of the girl's previous question: "Oh, and I don't really know how long I'll be. I've no plans, really. Just playing it by ear.”

[Virginia Grace]

“I like setting people up. It’s fun to watch them fall for each other and everyone could use a little love don’tcha think?” Genie couldn’t turn down a good romance. She may have been a tough daughter of Hephaestus on the outside but inside there was love and happiness and kittens, lots of cute furry kittens. As a people watcher it was fun to see others happy and rarely where people happier than when they were in love. She just couldn’t help herself.

Unfortunately though Adam didn’t seem too committed to staying at camp. That could put a hindrance on the romance game but then again there was nothing that could get someone to settle down like falling in love. Maybe she would give it a shot despite Adam’s hesitation. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him after all and if she actually found someone well he could thank her later.

"Too bad for you." She said with a mischievous grin as he finished talking. "As payment for sharpening your weapons I say that you at least have to stick around for while. It's a small price that only the people I like have to pay for my services, oh look we should be ready." Genie gave a happy little squeak as her thoughts almost seemed to run together and she turned back to her forge. It was almost unnecessary to check it. She knew her business very well and there were no doubts in her mind that it was time to work.

"Now if you'll be so kind Mr. Brontes, just hand over those pointy things and I'll have them fixed up in one, maybe two shakes of a lamb's tail." Genie wasn't sure what that saying meant but she liked lambs and she thought that they could shake their tails fairly quickly. For Adam's purposes that meant that Genie would have this knocked out in no time and the weapons would be as good as new. You couldn't expect a son of Zeus to be able to do the work that a daughter of Hephaestus was born to do after all.

[Adam Brontes]

The son of Zeus would raise his left hand to his chin in a feigned pensive mood, offering a quick "Hmm” for good measure, before laughing somewhat self-depricatingly and accepting the terms placed before him. "You drive a hard bargain Gracie, but you've got yourself a deal.” - he said, before reaching into his bag and delivering his celestial bronze tools one by one, as requested.

Having always had a fascination with the forge himself, Adam would spend a few moments in an ethereal nirvana-like state, enthralled by its fires, before his thoughts dragged him down to solid ground. Genie had always had her own idiosyncrasies and somehow, lamb tail-shakes as units to measure time fit the girl to a T. Rather, his mental monologue this time revolved around would come of a girl like this's idea of love and how it'd apply to him when she proceeded to attempt to set him up. Because, at this point, there was no denying she wanted to try it. Mulling over whether or not to dispel the fantasies that she may be concocting as they spoke, Brontes ultimately figured to let her have her thoughts. There'd be plenty of time to draw lines in the sand in the future if she somehow went overboard, which didn't really feel like her style. He'd certainly been wrong before but, deciding to trust his eye for people, the man decided to leave that subject untouched, lest it escalate. It was better, then, to go with the low-hanging fruit.

"You like to see lambs shake their tails, huh?" - he said with a smile on his face, no doubt asserting that he'd seen through her, mostly to see how the smith would react. "So, then. There's the forge, and the girlfriend. We've established that much. What else? What passes for fun around Camp, nowadays? - he inquired. Truthfully, the two had very different ideas of fun, he'd wager, but it never hurt to ask. Stranger things happened every day in this land of Gods and monsters, after all.

[Virginia Grace]

“Good! That’s what I like to hear.” Genie said happily as she succeeded in getting her way. The girl had her faults, she certainly wasn’t good at everything but she did know how to read people and how to drive a hard bargain when she needed. “Now gimmegimmegimme!” As Adam offered up his bag Genie’s eyes lit up with excitement. Grabby hands took the bag from him and then began removing the equipment excitedly.

For someone who was a pretty strict pacifist it wouldn’t have been known by how reverence with which she handled the weapons. There was something about the metal, the smooth, shiny, perfectly forged celestial bronze, that was something that captured her attention like nothing else and even though the weapons were quite pointy she was still inexplicably drawn to them. Maybe it was the whole daughter of Hephaestus thing or maybe she was a bit nuts but whatever the reason she liked the forge and any work that came her way was worth her time.

“Who wouldn’t?” Genie said as she shoved the first sword’s blade into the forge. Flames flared and sparks flew as the heat began to turn the metal red and malleable. “Sheep are super cute and fluffy and they have little stubby tails that are just the best you know?” She wasn’t sure how much experience Adam had with sheep but she didn’t think he would disagree. How could he after all? Sheep cuteness was an undisputed fact. “As for fun I probably wouldn’t be the best to ask.” She said with a giggle as carefully turned the sword. “My idea of fun is inventin stuff or sittin out on the porch watchin people. That’s fun for me. There’s other things you can do though. I went to a party not too long ago at the Dionysus cabin and that was pretty fun. Then there’s trainin and games and the strawberry fields. Really it’s just a matter of what you want to get into.”