Same old Same old (open)

[Jace Serrano]

A child of Hephaestus working at the forge and completely absorbed into that work, call TMZ. It was definitely something news worthy wasn't it? Well, in the case of big boy Jace Serrano. it kind of was. Jace wasn't like the average child of the fire and forge god at least not all the time. His ADD was a bit more severe than most, it made it hard for him to do just one task at a time or to give any his full concentration. Luckily though he had hypermanic episodes, moments where his attention was completely and utterly focused on whatever he was doing. It was as much a blessing as a curse as he would tune out the rest of the world and could even spend whole days with no sleeping or even eating just doing and completing his task until it was perfect. Being bipolar was a bitch sometimes even if Jace wasn't one of those that was an emotional wreck ever five seconds, he still had his episodes and when they hit, they hit hard.

This time was one of those and it had been for the last couple of hours. One of the campers had asked him to work on his 'Glove Shield' a metal glove that when his fist clenched in a certain way it would push the circle on the back of it up and expand the shield in a cascading circular direction. The shield once out was light weight and thus made of thin metal weaker than most. The fact that it was a fold out shield made it even weaker in exchange for flexibility. A few good whacks with an axe or hammer or someone incredible strong would dent or even puncture the damned thing but at least it would hold up against must powers thrown at it.

This was where Jace came in, he was meant to fix the damage already showing up on the shield and how how strengthen the material to be more resistance to blunt force. It was no easy task give how detailed the damned thing was and smelting it down and rebuilding it was difficult thanks to that. Still, it was a process that Jace had done after keeping a impression of the shield's exact details. What was it called when molten metal was poured into a cast, die-cast? Regardless, it was a process he would mainly use after mixing the celestial bronze with some steel. It would add a bit of weight to it but it would be stronger and still expandable this way at least.

Now Jace stood there pouring the new material into the iron cast. His face and arms were covered in soot and sweat and his skin was well tanned from hours of training and working here. The blacksmith's apron that he wear was also dirty but most of them were ever since most of his brother's never learned to clean and expected the females to do it. Jace's blond hair was matted against his head instead of being in its usual combed and slightly spiked style. Hephaestus's 'fairest' child didn't really care about how he looked though even if some would say it was still a good look for him. His mind was completely focused on the task at had and as soon as the iron cast was filled he lowered it down into the water to cool it faster. The process would still take at least twenty minutes before he would be able to remove the newly reconstructed shield and yet he was already feeling antsy the moment the steam settled. Jace's leg begun to shake, his eyes darted left and right as he waited for what seemed like an eternity but was really only two or three minutes. There was nothing he could do with it now but there was also nothing else he could focus on or think of doing at the moment, he knew this but still couldn't keep from willing the damned shield to hurry up.

[Artisan Kim]

CRASH.

The automaton bird Artisan had been fiddling with clattered to the ground, its delicate gears smashing against the floor. The muscles in his arms tightened and released out of his control, flying outwards without warning, and the son of Hephaestus jumped from the shock passing throughout his body. The entire process took under two seconds to complete, but it’d cost him a morning’s worth of work. As if the seizure never happened, Artisan sighed and knelt to the floor to collect the pieces of the metallic toy. Myoclonic seizures weren’t particularly harmful unless he was holding a power tool or a lethal weapon, but he’d smashed too many inventions because of them. At least he’d already finished using the blowtorch, or then he’d be in serious trouble. Small hiccups like those never hurt him, but were a real pain in the butt.

An unfastened gear rolled to the foot of one of his brothers, Jace, who was impatiently waiting for an iron cast to cool. Like his brother, Artisan had a fair share of soot smeared across his face and metal shavings glistening in his hair. But because he hadn’t been working near the fire - or lifting anything remotely over ten pounds - he wasn’t coated in sweat.

“Where’d that last gear go?” asked Artisan, “I’m missing one.” He searched under the worktable, but came up empty handed. The young man pushed a pair of black rimmed glasses up his nose and continued to scavenge the floors. Sure, the glasses may have made him look a little geeky, but he’d never liked putting in contacts. Too much hassle.

Artisan had a lost look on his face, as though a pet dog had run away rather than a gear. Ah well. He’d just have to make another one, wouldn’t he?

The son of Hephaestus got to his feet and spread the automaton’s remainders across the table, making sure everything else but the runaway gear was accounted for. Now that he had to start over from scratch, Artisan wasn’t too keen on getting to work right away. He arched his back with a yawn and glanced around the forge, catching sight of antsy Hephaestus boy.

“Waiting sure sucks, doesn’t it?” he said, a knowing smile on his face, “You alright there, Jace?” Artisan had met Jace once when they’d been introduced in the cabins, but he remembered the event clearly. The real question would be if Jace could remember Artisan!

“What are you going to make?”