Michael questioned this... he wasn't going to change his mind but he could apologize for being crazy. "I'm sorry for freaking out" He said looking to the ground. He couldn't believe what she had said... he had killed... would he forever be a monster for that? He didn't have time to think about it. He scratched the back of his head..."I'm not really mad... things are just stressful, I shouldn't have took it out on you." He wasn't sure how to tell her he didn't want to take the flask, he didn't deserve it, it almost felt like he would be taking a bribe. "Just... hang on to that k? I'm sure its pretty rare, i haven't seen many." He was calm now, and totally relaxed. He quickly put his shirt on covering most of his scars. He looked down in his bag... maybe he could make something to truly apologize for his brutality, he was sure she had enough problems with her powers.

Krein said
After Nevea was done forming her part of the structure, Seth stepped up to the table and reached out to it. Several inches away from it, he could already feel their chill. Touching it almost made him shiver, but thanks to the heat of the cabin he was able to keep from doing so. A small spark of crimson energy escaped his fingers and crept into the ice, increasing its mass and size slightly as it spread and solidified into its crystal form. The ice, now a mixture of ice and crystal, acquired a more jagged appearance as Seth mentally guided the crystals to grow and connect with the rest of the structure, forming the rest of the prototype model as he saw it."It should be able to support the rotation mechanism now and will change accordingly to what we choose it to be. Also..."Seth stepped several feet back, grabbed a heavy piece of scrap metal from the floor, and threw it at the ice and crystal structure. As it flew through the air, a jagged portion of the crystals released a small beam of magic energy, deteriorating the metal. Seth smiled."This along with your ice magic should provide an incredibly apt defense."

Nevea watched and waited as Seth examined the structure and then began his work. For a moment, she thought she saw him almost shiver. That was understandable, even though she hadn't even applied the chilling effect yet. Right now it was just her regular ice... Which just happened to be cold enough to cool the room several inches from origin. She certainly wouldn't apply the effect right now, in this cabin. That would be far too cold in a confined space (for everyone except her, that was).

As Seth began to feed his magic into the construct, Nevea cast her awareness to the ice in order to understand, literally firsthand, what was happening. She could feel the construct's innate ice magic growing stronger, entwined with Seth's. The area around the table would noticeably drop in temperature, although only just. She removed her awareness as Seth began to speak, and nodded when he confirmed that it would work. She then watched as the metal was deteriorated, and then she momentarily applied the chilling effect. The metal lost quite a bit of velocity and it dropped harmlessly before it hit the construct. She removed the effect as quickly as it had came.

"Hopefully none of you were bothered by that sudden chill," she said, as when she had activated the chilling effect, the temperature had dropped and then rose for a split-second, likely causing chills to run down the backs of most of those sitting at the table. "That was just my activating the effect to slow the metal." She chuckled.

"Now, there's a little something about my ice that's very useful: I can cast my awareness onto it from a good distance away, so that I can feel its intactness, or its magic levels, or many other things. Since your crystal and my ice are fused, I do believe you should be able to do that. When you don't have your awareness on it, it'll feel like a barely noticeable... How should I say this... Area of your mind. It's really useful for checking on the constructs and adjusting them from a distance, so you won't need to take the time to walk all the way to them.

"It might be a bit hard to figure out which... Areas correspond to which constructs, but with a bit of time you'll have an intuition as to which to choose. When you aren't connected to any of them, they won't bother you in any way, unless you count the non-intrusive feeling of having navigable areas of your mind a bother."

If Seth were to cast his awareness at that moment, he would still have perception and understanding of his own senses, although with something like a sixth-sense that allowed him to feel the shape and aspects of the construct. When he was to first feel the sense, it would likely feel separate, with focus needed to process the information, but with enough uses it would feel just like the other five.

Val looked at the flask in her hand then back at him. "I have another one. If you don't want it then fine. Maybe I'll just use it to get twice as wasted. Its alright amigo. Stress get to the best of us. The only reason you havent seen many of thses is because Hephaestus gave me this one, and showed me how to make em one time. He helped me make this one then left, saying I'd make wonderful things one day." I shrugged. "Truce amigo?" I held out my hand for him to clasp.

"Look guys, I don't mean to intrude or anything..." Vic was back to her regular self. "But, gee wiz, there's a quest. So we should probably call a something, and then jump on a anything, then go to a hotel, and then jump back on a something."

She gave a cheap grumble, and adjusted her slingshot in her pocket, so that it felt a bit more comfortable to walk.Truthfully, she felt a little happy that they were able to make up.

Shay sighed in relief "Peace has been restored." He said to the air "Now how much money do we got in between us because we can do it the short way, as for getting into the underworld that's easy but getting out is a problem." He laughed and then looked at the others "But in all Seriousness getting out is going to be a huge problem." He told the group, and walked off towards some dirt and retracting his spear out and drawing a map of the underworld in the dirt.

Val thought for a moment. "I have at least $200 in human money and a small bag of drachmas." She smiled sheepishly at his questioning look. "I may have sold and invention or two. I also learned how to steal from jewelry stores. I had to make a living somehow." She sat down next to her bag and put the flask away, but rummaged through it. "Retractable spear, cherry coke cooler, drachmas, oh i found it." She pulled out a tiny bronze player and pressed a button and the song Higway to Hell came out of a little speaker on the top. "I made it myself. The human made MP3's attract monsters." Then she laughed. "Technically we are on the highway to hell." She grinnied devilishly.

whizzball1 said
Nevea watched and waited as Seth examined the structure and then began his work. For a moment, she thought she saw him almost shiver. That was understandable, even though she hadn't even applied the chilling effect yet. Right now it was just her regular ice... Which just happened to be cold enough to cool the room several inches from origin. She certainly wouldn't apply the effect right now, in this cabin. That would be far too cold in a confined space (for everyone except her, that was).As Seth began to feed his magic into the construct, Nevea cast her awareness to the ice in order to understand, literally firsthand, what was happening. She could feel the construct's innate ice magic growing stronger, entwined with Seth's. The area around the table would noticeably drop in temperature, although only just. She removed her awareness as Seth began to speak, and nodded when he confirmed that it would work. She then watched as the metal was deteriorated, and then she momentarily applied the chilling effect. The metal lost quite a bit of velocity and it dropped harmlessly before it hit the construct. She removed the effect as quickly as it had came."Hopefully none of you were bothered by that sudden chill," she said, as when she had activated the chilling effect, the temperature had dropped and then rose for a split-second, likely causing chills to run down the backs of most of those sitting at the table. "That was just my activating the effect to slow the metal." She chuckled."Now, there's a little something about my ice that's very useful: I can cast my awareness onto it from a good distance away, so that I can feel its intactness, or its magic levels, or many other things. Since your crystal and my ice are fused, I do believe you should be able to do that. When you don't have your awareness on it, it'll feel like a barely noticeable... How should I say this... Area of your mind. It's really useful for checking on the constructs and adjusting them from a distance, so you won't need to take the time to walk all the way to them."It might be a bit hard to figure out which... Areas correspond to which constructs, but with a bit of time you'll have an intuition as to which to choose. When you aren't connected to any of them, they won't bother you in any way, unless you count the non-intrusive feeling of having navigable areas of your mind a bother." If Seth were to cast his awareness at that moment, he would still have perception and understanding of his own senses, although with something like a sixth-sense that allowed him to feel the shape and aspects of the construct. When he was to first feel the sense, it would likely feel separate, with focus needed to process the information, but with enough uses it would feel just like the other five.

Casting awareness? Seth was wondering if she was going to mention that sometime. If her ability to create structures with her ice magic was anything like his crystal formation ability, then she should have been able to tap into her own magic once again to check the area where it had been place. Now she had obviously said she could, but he would have realized it anyway had she not. Nevea focusing her mind upon her ice (and therefore the magic that had been fused with them) had been noticed by Seth since he was doing the same thing to examine Nevea's magic. Both had merged with little to no trouble and were showing no signs of trying to expel each other. What a relief.

"No need to further explain the process," Seth told Nevea. "I'm familiar with it and have often made use of it from time to time. Good to know you can do the same..."

His attention turned towards the Hephaestus kids working on the rotation mechanism. They were working speedily and were just about done with an early model, and knowing them, they would then get to improving it to be more effective. He was glad that this entire meeting was going well, no ridiculous arguments over petty things had occurred. Nevea also had been open to the idea of working with his magic, something which even most of his half-siblings were uncomfortable with. Now there was someone willing to use anything at her disposal to succeed at a given task!

"Looks like the forgers are doing well in their work. Is there anything else you would like to suggest, Nevea?"

Austin listened, nodding at the instructions. "Understood, I'll see you in a bit. Let's hope their invention works and can recognize friend from foe" He walked away, then after a few feet flew into the air, flying towards the nearest boarder, gazing around the area slowly. He searched for anything abnormal, searching the sky as well. Things didn't have to necessarily attack from the ground. He took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of the air against his face.

Angelo sighed a little as he stood up seeing that the defense meeting was starting to wrap up. Angelo said "alright if theirs nothing that would concern my end of the defense force I will go and check up on our water front defense. if they use the water I can use my lightning abilities to stop them before they get close to the land. If theirs anything that requires manpower or leadership skills you can contact me or my brother. I will be organizing the Apollo and mars kids to cooperate with my campers for the time being. unless theirs something else that needs to be discussed?" Angelo asked either of them hoping it wasn't more mechanical jargon that Angelo wouldn't be able to understand or even remotely care about

"I have a good amount of cash in my savings..." He said pulling out his black MasterCard he rarely ever used. He had inherited alot of money when his mother passed. He looked around at everyone. "So how are we gonna get to LA? Anyone afraid of planes?" Michael said trying to help for once.

Krein said
Casting awareness? Seth was wondering if she was going to mention that sometime. If her ability to create structures with her ice magic was anything like his crystal formation ability, then she should have been able to tap into her own magic once again to check the area where it had been place. Now she had obviously said she could, but he would have realized it anyway had she not. Nevea focusing her mind upon her ice (and therefore the magic that had been fused with them) had been noticed by Seth since he was doing the same thing to examine Nevea's magic. Both had merged with little to no trouble and were showing no signs of trying to expel each other. What a relief. "No need to further explain the process," Seth told Nevea. "I'm familiar with it and have often made use of it from time to time. Good to know you can do the same..."His attention turned towards the Hephaestus kids working on the rotation mechanism. They were working speedily and were just about done with an early model, and knowing them, they would then get to improving it to be more effective. He was glad that this entire meeting was going well, no ridiculous arguments over petty things had occurred. Nevea also had been open to the idea of working with his magic, something which even most of his half-siblings were uncomfortable with. Now there was someone willing to use anything at her disposal to succeed at a given task!"Looks like the forgers are doing well in their work. Is there anything else you would like to suggest, Nevea?"

Nevea stopped as Seth began to speak, and then nodded when he finished, understanding. "Splendid," she said, simply. "Explaining all of that would have been rather tiresome." She hadn't been looking for Seth's awareness, and her mind had dismissed his presence, so she hadn't noticed him when casting her awareness. However, it was fairly fortuitous that he would be used to it and could do it already.

She, of course, knew exactly what kind of magic Seth wielded, but of its nature she cared not. She would use anything she had at her disposal to accomplish her ends. She certainly wasn't scared of dark magic. She in fact rather liked it; it did useful things that nothing else did right. What she felt of the magic when casting her awareness sent not chills down her back.

"Currently, nothing," she said, in response to his question. "Although I do hope they'll be able to insert the mechanisms. I think they will, but they should just make sure. On that topic, a few of you should also start working on the firing mechanism, so that that and the rotation mechanism can be designed in tandem. Otherwise there may be problems with compatibility." With that, the campers working on the rotation mechanism joined with a few others to begin working on the connection of both.

Shæ chuckled in amusement. "I wouldnt be able to ride Ace if I was afraid of flying." She grinned.

Val shook her head and hummed alng to her music. "Nah I'm good. I've never been afraid of flying. Sure as hell beats driving thats for damned sure."

whizzball1 said
Nevea stopped as Seth began to speak, and then nodded when he finished, understanding. "Splendid," she said, simply. "Explaining all of that would have been rather tiresome." She hadn't been looking for Seth's awareness, and her mind had dismissed his presence, so she hadn't noticed him when casting her awareness. However, it was fairly fortuitous that he would be used to it and could do it already.She, of course, knew exactly what kind of magic Seth wielded, but of its nature she cared not. She would use anything she had at her disposal to accomplish her ends. She certainly wasn't scared of dark magic. She in fact rather liked it; it did useful things that nothing else did right. What she felt of the magic when casting her awareness sent not chills down her back."Currently, nothing," she said, in response to his question. "Although I do hope they'll be able to insert the mechanisms. I think they will, but they should just make sure. On that topic, a few of you should also start working on the firing mechanism, so that that and the rotation mechanism can be designed in tandem. Otherwise there may be problems with compatibility." With that, the campers working on the rotation mechanism joined with a few others to begin working on the connection of both.

"The children of Hephaestus are skilled designers," Seth reassured her, "Even I have to admit that. I wouldn't worry too much about the mechanisms failing to fit properly on our constructs."

Heh, wow! Seth said something nice for once!

Seth looked at the forger that had made the comment, who in response looked away quickly and got to hammering away on the piece of metal he had been working on. Some of the other Hephaestus children laughed, but in the end Seth didn't say or do anything but smirk a little.

His attention turned to the outside of the bunker. It was already dark outside, nighttime illuminated only by the moonlight and the fires of other cabins and campers. It had a nostalgic feel to it, reminding Seth of the time he and Morning had first arrived at camp hears ago. Nostalgia soon gave way to sadness, and that then to anger. All of these inner emotions registered only for brief, fleeting seconds on Seth's face, and soon his visage returned to its usual expressionless appearance. His attention turned to Nevea and then to the forgers

"I'll be leaving momentarily," he announced. "There are some things back at my cabin that I need to check up on, and I also have to give the message to some of my half-siblings of the role they'll be playing with Angelo's defenses."

The demigod left without any confirmation and began making his way to Hecate's Cabin. Other than knowing how to get there, the place was easily recognizable by its tall, marble torches and pillars, along with many magical lights and ripples that came from enchantments and other arcane items embedded on the cabin grounds and the cabin itself. A beautiful sight to behold, moreso than any other cabins in Seth's opinion.

During the walk, Seth spotted someone familiar.

"Is that...?"

Sure enough it was. Morning, Seth's sister. A smile actually spread across his face, Morning being the only other halfblood at camp that he trusted. Of course, she was his sister, but still.

"Morning!" He called out as he quickened his pace to greet her. "How is everything? I hope everything back at our cabin has been patched up along with our other half-siblings. Also happened to notice you enter the Big House after I left the group of idiots in it. What exactly were you doing there?"

Angelo sighed loudly and simply gave up talking to them when they were in tech mode. he started to walk to the pier they had or to be more accurate their lake with a few paddle boats. as he walked by a few of the other campers were their on guard and they looked happy to see Angelo and others were worried they already screwed up and to put those fears to rest Angelo told his campers "no you didn't do anything wrong, my skills are better put to use in the field and right now the water front is the best place for my skills" Angelo told them as they all nodded going to back to their patrols although now it seemed like they were doing it with smiles and heightened spirits seeing their leader in the trenches with them at the moment as Angelo walked around the waterfront on his own accord choosing when to go in one direction and when to go in the other personally making sure that their would be no spaces for the enemy to sneak in without alerting someone

IC: "I healed everyone as best I could, but some of them are going to take time."

Morning sighed and looked down. "I was doing what I always do. Smoothing things over, giving their little dysfunctional group a slightly better chance of coming back alive."

Kaithas said
IC: "I healed everyone as best I could, but some of them are going to take time."Morning sighed and looked down. "I was doing what I always do. Smoothing things over, giving their little dysfunctional group a slightly better chance of coming back alive."

"Hm, well at the very least no one got killed by those abominations," Seth said disdainfully. He chose not to say anything more about the questers at the Big House mainly because he already finished up his business with them by granting them that crystal. It was now up to them to follow through with the quest, of which hopefully one of them would return with the Fleece.

"I'll have to be going soon. There is still the matter of creating defenses for the camp with Nevea and the Hephaestus kids, and I only stepped out of their cabin to handle some business with ours."

Walking further, Seth finally arrived at Hecate's cabin. The place had been damaged and strewn with debris from the hellhound attack, but by now everything had been patched up and cleaned up to return the cabin and its ground to its usual impressive appearance. Seth also saw some of the wounded campers up and about, so that was good too.

"Time to make an announcement...."

Seth walked up to the central torch on the cabin's ground, placed his hand on it, and emitted a magic that changed the orange and yellow flame on top to a more green and purple color. It was eerie to see flickering in the distance, but by now the Hecate kids had grown used to it and knew to stop and listen when they saw it.

"As you all have heard by now, the Golden Fleece has been stolen," Seth began, "meaning the Camp's borders will weaken and fade away, opening all of us up to attacks from monsters and anything else that may want to cause us harm. As such, the boarders will be protected through different means, and one of those means includes manned defenses."

He paused for a short while, making sure everyone was still listening to him. They were still.

"These measures are led by Austin and Angelo along with his other half-siblings, and they are aided by children of Mars and Apollo. Capable as they may be, they will still require healers and those gifted in magic to fight against monsters. I think you already know what I'm getting at, and that's that I will demand a group of you to go and help them. You will also be providing a simple communication system by use of mystical torches that will change color to signal shift changes and other things. Now.... who will do these things?"

The children of Hecate began muttering amongst themselves, debating who should go and who should stay behind. It didn't take long for some to finally speak up and make themselves known, followed by them walking towards Seth and grouping together in front of him. Seth surveyed them. It was a good sized group, and the demigods in it were known by him to be skilled in both magic and physical combat. Some of them had even been taught a few things by him, so it was an acceptable group. Seth nodded and proceeded to tell them where to go, after which they went to go and get ready before heading off.

Krein said
"The children of Hephaestus are skilled designers," Seth reassured her, "Even I have to admit that. I wouldn't worry too much about the mechanisms failing to fit properly on our constructs."Seth looked at the forger that had made the comment, who in response looked away quickly and got to hammering away on the piece of metal he had been working on. Some of the other Hephaestus children laughed, but in the end Seth didn't say or do anything but smirk a little. His attention turned to the outside of the bunker. It was already dark outside, nighttime illuminated only by the moonlight and the fires of other cabins and campers. It had a nostalgic feel to it, reminding Seth of the time he and Morning had first arrived at camp hears ago. Nostalgia soon gave way to sadness, and that then to anger. All of these inner emotions registered only for brief, fleeting seconds on Seth's face, and soon his visage returned to its usual expressionless appearance. His attention turned to Nevea and then to the forgers "I'll be leaving momentarily," he announced. "There are some things back at my cabin that I need to check up on, and I also have to give the message to some of my half-siblings of the role they'll be playing with Angelo's defenses."The demigod left without any confirmation and began making his way to Hecate's Cabin. Other than knowing how to get there, the place was easily recognizable by its tall, marble torches and pillars, along with many magical lights and ripples that came from enchantments and other arcane items embedded on the cabin grounds and the cabin itself. A beautiful sight to behold, moreso than any other cabins in Seth's opinion.During the walk, Seth spotted someone familiar. "Is that...?"Sure enough it was. Morning, Seth's sister. A smile actually spread across his face, Morning being the only other halfblood at camp that he trusted. Of course, she was his sister, but still."Morning!" He called out as he quickened his pace to greet her. "How is everything? I hope everything back at our cabin has been patched up along with our other half-siblings. Also happened to notice you enter the Big House after I left the group of idiots in it. What exactly were you doing there?"

Nevea nodded in affirmation of Seth's compliment to the Hephaestus campers, and then the corners of her mouth raised into a slight smile at the forger's comment about Seth. She turned her gaze to the designs currently being zealously drawn up collectively between the rotation designers and firing designers. But her eyes were caught for a fleeting moment by Seth's expression changing from its normally neutral state, and the smile returned, if only for a split-second. Then she went back to watching their designs.

She nodded in acknowledgement as Seth notified them as to his brief leave, and then studied the construct they had made, adjusting one or two ice areas slightly, but not enough to be of much significance other than small things she thought might be important. When finished with this, she watched the designing of the mechanisms and affirmed dimensions, and offered a few suggestions here and there, including changes of measurements of speed and other sorts of things.

She made sure that the principal feature of detecting monsters was implemented in a compatible way, and then while that was happening, she made a mock ice image of the designs currently on paper. None of the intricacies, mind you, but only the outside shape of it, so as to see how the mechanisms would be properly inserted and if the constructs themselves needed to be changed. Thankfully, no change was needed.

However, she did find out that the base of the construct and the current design for the rotation mechanism were slightly incompatible, and so instead of having to go through the trouble of changing all of the soon-to-be-created constructs later, they changed the slot design so as to fit the current base. Hopefully that would alleviate most problems, although the constructs wouldn't be carbon-copies, so there would probably have to be a bit of adjustment with a few of them. But that worry would come later.

A few minutes later, the designs were nearly finished and completely compatible. Nevea looked the designs over, comparing them to the construct, and then tested new mock ice images fitting through the shafts. Satisfied, she approved the designs and asked them to wait for Seth to return so that he could check on their designs before they began to build. On that note, she went to the window to search for Seth.

Krein said
"Hm, well at the very least no one got killed by those abominations," Seth said disdainfully. He chose not to say anything more about the questers at the Big House mainly because he already finished up his business with them by granting them that crystal. It was now up to them to follow through with the quest, of which hopefully one of them would return with the Fleece."I'll have to be going soon. There is still the matter of creating defenses for the camp with Nevea and the Hephaestus kids, and I only stepped out of their cabin to handle some business with ours."Walking further, Seth finally arrived at Hecate's cabin. The place had been damaged and strewn with debris from the hellhound attack, but by now everything had been patched up and cleaned up to return the cabin and its ground to its usual impressive appearance. Seth also saw some of the wounded campers up and about, so that was good too."Time to make an announcement...."Seth walked up to the central torch on the cabin's ground, placed his hand on it, and emitted a magic that changed the orange and yellow flame on top to a more green and purple color. It was eerie to see flickering in the distance, but by now the Hecate kids had grown used to it and knew to stop and listen when they saw it."As you all have heard by now, the Golden Fleece has been stolen," Seth began, "meaning the Camp's borders will weaken and fade away, opening all of us up to attacks from monsters and anything else that may want to cause us harm. As such, the boarders will be protected through different means, and one of those means includes manned defenses."He paused for a short while, making sure everyone was still listening to him. They were still."These measures are led by Austin and Angelo along with his other half-siblings, and they are aided by children of Mars and Apollo. Capable as they may be, they will still require healers and those gifted in magic to fight against monsters. I think you already know what I'm getting at, and that's that I will demand a group of you to go and help them. You will also be providing a simple communication system by use of mystical torches that will change color to signal shift changes and other things. Now.... who will do these things?"The children of Hecate began muttering amongst themselves, debating who should go and who should stay behind. It didn't take long for some to finally speak up and make themselves known, followed by them walking towards Seth and grouping together in front of him. Seth surveyed them. It was a good sized group, and the demigods in it were known by him to be skilled in both magic and physical combat. Some of them had even been taught a few things by him, so it was an acceptable group. Seth nodded and proceeded to tell them where to go, after which they went to go and get ready before heading off.

She watched as Seth told the Hecate campers where to go. She hadn't seen the announcement, since she had been busy working with the designers, but now they were done and hopefully Seth would be, too. The Hephaestus kids kept themselves occupied by putting the finishing devices on their designs, and Nevea formed a glove of snow around her hand, forming intricate designs of frost on the window. They would melt quickly after Nevea took her attention away from them, because of the heat of the cabin, but they were beautiful while they lasted, nonetheless.

She loved making these designs. She expressed herself more passionately through the frost on windows rather than through facial language and tone of voice. But only she could decipher the emotional basis behind her designs. But sometimes, her subconscious inserted things that not even she could understand or figure out. About half the time there was a bit of loneliness and melancholy embedded into the designs. She had never realised that that was what those undecipherable parts meant, and possibly wouldn't for quite a bit of time.

But even still, she took joy in her designs. Every day during the winter, Nevea would form new designs on a few cabins throughout the day, which would keep there until she next redesigned them. It was a pleasuring sight to many campers, but the praise from them was actually not her primary goal in making her designs. She did them with passion, she did them to express herself in a way only she could understand. But maybe one day, just maybe, someone would understand them for what they were and share the emotions with her.

Maybe not.

The group meant to go and help the manned defenses at the borders appeared before Seth once again, informing him that they were ready and prepared with magical potions and items to help themselves along in case they needed to.

"Very good," Seth said with a nod, "Be on your way then."

The demigods then took off and went to meet with Austin and Angelo. Seth stared after them for a few moments before he uttered a small prayer to Hecate.

"Keep them safe, mother..."

Others, even his own half-siblings may not have been completely aware of this, but Seth cared much for the other children of Hecate. Other than basically being family through the goddess, they had created for Seth and Morning the closest thing they could get to a home. On top of that, Seth knew that many of the demigods here had come from difficult pasts due to their noticeable talents...

And scents. His mother was an ancient and powerful goddess, not even a goddess, but a Titan. Monsters were just as attracted to them as they were to the children of the Big Three, and not all of them made it to camp. For that reason, it sickened Seth to no end whenever children of the Big Three would get all the attention and sympathy from other campers, while Hecate's children were just left to receive solace from their own half-siblings

Now coming back to his senses, Seth realized he had probably spent more time at his cabin than he had originally intended to. The others were probably done by now and waiting for him, so he hurried quickly on his way back to the Hephaestus cabin.

Only several yards away from it now, Seth couldn't help but notice formations on a window that would otherwise seem incredibly out of place in a cabin permanently heated by the fires of multiple forges. Ice. Ice patterns to be exact. He immediately figured out it was Nevea's doing, obviously because she was the only child of Khione in there, but also because her work had a certain beauty to it that would never fail to appear during the colder parts of the year, or catch his attention. He actually smiled at it, but was left wondering what prompted her to make her icy art in the cabin in the first place.

"Back," he said simply as he entered the cabin. The sound of clanging metal had stopped now, indicating to Seth that the forgers had already finished their work. He went over and inspected their crafts, attention turning from them to the ice and crystal model that Nevea had slightly altered. Examining it closer, he came to the conclusion that she had modified it slightly to accommodate the mechanisms.

"Interesting, I'd say things look better than they were before," he said to the room. "Are there still things to be worked out, or are we ready to actually begin setting these up?"

Val sighed and hit the shuffle button, settling on Its Not Over by Daughtry. She hummed along then looked at the others. "Anybidy else want me to make something for ya? I dont mind honestly. I'm kinda bored right now." She laughed.

Krein said
The group meant to go and help the manned defenses at the borders appeared before Seth once again, informing him that they were ready and prepared with magical potions and items to help themselves along in case they needed to. "Very good," Seth said with a nod, "Be on your way then."The demigods then took off and went to meet with Austin and Angelo. Seth stared after them for a few moments before he uttered a small prayer to Hecate."Keep them safe, mother..."Others, even his own half-siblings may not have been completely aware of this, but Seth cared much for the other children of Hecate. Other than basically being family through the goddess, they had created for Seth and Morning the closest thing they could get to a home. On top of that, Seth knew that many of the demigods here had come from difficult pasts due to their noticeable talents...And scents. His mother was an ancient and powerful goddess, not even a goddess, but a Titan. Monsters were just as attracted to them as they were to the children of the Big Three, and not all of them made it to camp. For that reason, it sickened Seth to no end whenever children of the Big Three would get all the attention and sympathy from other campers, while Hecate's children were just left to receive solace from their own half-siblingsNow coming back to his senses, Seth realized he had probably spent more time at his cabin than he had originally intended to. The others were probably done by now and waiting for him, so he hurried quickly on his way back to the Hephaestus cabin. Only several yards away from it now, Seth couldn't help but notice formations on a window that would otherwise seem incredibly out of place in a cabin permanently heated by the fires of multiple forges. Ice. Ice patterns to be exact. He immediately figured out it was Nevea's doing, obviously because she was the only child of Khione in there, but also because her work had a certain beauty to it that would never fail to appear during the colder parts of the year, or catch his attention. He actually smiled at it, but was left wondering what prompted her to make her icy art in the cabin in the first place."Back," he said simply as he entered the cabin. The sound of clanging metal had stopped now, indicating to Seth that the forgers had already finished their work. He went over and inspected their crafts, attention turning from them to the ice and crystal model that Nevea had slightly altered. Examining it closer, he came to the conclusion that she had modified it slightly to accommodate the mechanisms."Interesting, I'd say things look better than they were before," he said to the room. "Are there still things to be worked out, or are we ready to actually begin setting these up?"

Nevea stared at the ice patterns she'd made for a few moments, trying to decipher the parts in which her subconscious decided the emotions she couldn't understand should be. Being unable to figure it out, as usual, she dismissed the process from her mind and focused on what was outside of the window. She moved away from the window after a bit more time, and noticed Seth approaching the cabin when not in front of the window. She watched him for a bit as he admired the patterns, and was surprised at his smile, but kept herself from letting out what would have been a slightly audible sharp intake of breath.

When he stopped looking at it and went to the door, she moved her gaze to the construct, and the ice patterns melted away. She looked to Seth as he came in and nodded to acknowledge his first statement. She considered asking him what he thought about the patterns, but discarded the notion for various reasons. That wasn't the topic at hand, after all. The focus was the constructs.

"Nothing much at this point," said Nevea, in response to Seth's question. "We just need to make sure it all fits together, and then we can start producing the constructs. So, since it seems that they're just about done making the prototype mechanisms, let's try fitting them in. How are we going to do this?"

One of the designers spoke up. "We're going to put in the firing mechanism first, through the horizontal shaft, then add the connection through the vertical. We'll then attach the whole thing to the control mechanism. It should all snap together quite well." With that, they filed outside and gave her the firing mechanism.

At the front of it was a thin, hollow tube which was presumably supposed to be where the ice shard would form. The mechanics behind it were inside of a casing, and at the bottom of the casing there were slits through which the connection between the control and firing modules would fit. When the control mechanism decided it was time to fire, it would push and pull two half-centimetre metal strips that fit inside the slits respectively. These would initiate a magically helped change in air pressure that would fire the shard, and it would be able to fire in rapid succession.

Nevea slid the firing mechanism into the horizontal shaft, back first, so that the hollow tube was at the front. It fit perfectly. A few of them lifted the construct off of the ice pedestal, making sure to hold the crystal parts and not the ice, so that their grip wouldn't slip. Then another one inserted the two metal strips into the slits, and then they placed the construct onto the control mechanism. They made sure it fit well, and then the camper who had put in the strips turned a knob on the control mechanism. The strips of metal fell fully through the slits in the rotation module, whereas they had been only partly through.

The camper turned the knob back and the strips locked into place, and the ice and crystal construct was now fully integrated with the Hephestan creation. "Lovely," Nevea said. "I suppose I'll start up the forming of ice shards." She directed her hand toward the construct, and applied an attribute to it such that it would form ice shards in the hollow tube when there were none there. Those shards would subsequently hover inside the tube, waiting to be fired, and then new ones would be formed. "Shall we test the targeting, then?"