[Video]

[unbrokenwheel]

[Leo frowns, ignoring his dark hair that has gotten free of his protective goggles and inspects his latest work. The screen only shows him, some teenage kid working in the forge. The forge is somewhat grey, but the fire and the anvil are normal colored.

He steps away, giving the folks watching a good view of the sword blade waiting to be turned into a complete weapon. The craftsmanship is impressive, something that someone years his senior should be able to produce. He pushes his goggles up with a sigh.]

Okay, so, question time. This 'coloring' process. [He uses finger quotes before he starts bustling about, stirring up the fire in the forge with an expert's touch.] Can someone narrow their focus down and concentrate on one place?

Or is it one of those mysterious things that hasn't been explained?

Comments

[unrestrained]

[Percy'd learned long ago not to offer help in creating things with children of Hephaestus. More often then not he ended up messing things up and that was probably not a good idea. But that did make him feel a little bad as he weighted what to say.]

Dude, I'm not sure one person's capable of powering a whole city anyway.

[unbrokenwheel]

Good thing that's not what I'm asking. We're all part of this process to fix the city and bring color back. What I'm asking is if I can focus on one thing or,

[Leo starts assembling the weapon, carefully fitting the blade into the hilt.] Or it's like demigod stink to monsters.

[unrestrained]

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm saying. I think even the Gods would say making someone un-gray a place all on their own is kind of crazy. If it were that easy-- [A shrug as he watches.] I'm betting it's a group effort. [Why else insist on them being friends?]

[unbrokenwheel]

[Well, so much for that idea. He had a feeling that's what it was but, worth an ask.] I thought as much. When is anything easy?

[He has no idea what else to say. Sorry for letting you fall? It's a lot to think about.] I got picked up by the god Freyr.

Something about my drawings will be granted life? I haven't tested it yet.

[unrestrained]

[Not that Percy's 100% sure but the gods did want them to make friends and live and be happy here. Which sounded stupid.] Never, it sort of comes with the title. They should really put a warning label on that-- "Heroes: Only sometimes as Cool as you think."

[Percy's...really not putting the blame on Leo. Or anyone. So the idea they'd think it isn't something that crosses his mind. There were bigger things to worry about. And it wasn't like any of them knew about the spider silk that was attached to Ananbeth's leg.] He's the one we just had to save.

Hey, man, at least that's useful. Just so long as you don't make a burger that comes out and starts talking.

[unbrokenwheel]

[Leo visibly considers a talking burger for a second, his eyebrows both shooting up. He quickly decides to stop thinking about it. He's completely distracted from the previous topic because of it.] I can't even begin to figure out how that would work. Or why I'd want it to.

I'm wondering if I can't build things in sketches. It will miss the whole connecting gears part in real life, but the idea is cool.

[unrestrained]

I think you'd just put a face on it and maybe arms and legs? It might be fun as a joke. [Now he vaguely wonders if it would be edible.]

I don't know. Maybe? I've never actually seen that power in action.

[unbrokenwheel]

[Leo has that look on his face that always spells trouble. He walks over to his things and starts doodling on the edge of a journal page. At first, nothing happens, then rising slowly from the page is a figurine of a talking burger.]

Huh. [He takes it into his hands and inspects the work, moving the little pose-able limbs he imagined in his head. Can it dance? With Leo's help, yes it can. He makes it dance.] I guess it's like my toolbelt was.

You have to imagine reasonable things, or it just won't work.

[unrestrained]

[You know, Percy should be worried, but he's more interested than anything. Why do people let these two hang out?]

[It's kind of less cool now but still cool.]

It's still cool. And useful. Maybe it gets better once you can use it more.

[unbrokenwheel]

I'll talk to the other people in my house, see what they have to say about it. You think I could store my drawings and activate them later?

[He sketches a few small gears and they appear, brass and gleaming in the light. The pen moves again and this time he creates wires and cogs. He sketches metal plates and hooks. Once he's done his hands descend on the parts.]

[unrestrained]

I don't know-- Maybe it's a one time deal? I haven't seen the others be something you can just hold onto.

[He's ADHD enough that he has to watch, because suddenly there is lots of thins on the screen. And he doesn't know Leo too well, anyway.] What are you doing?

[unbrokenwheel]

I had an idea. I can just draw the parts I want and assemble them on my own. [His fingers fly from one wire to the next, threading gears and cogs together with little clicks. In two minutes he's holding up a little bronze fish. It flutters its fins and sweeps its tail back and forth, each scale hooked together so it seems to ripple like a real one.]

I have to draw to size, or I get the size I'm drawing out of it.

Maybe. With time, I can make things the way we know them to be. I understand how they work, maybe that will transfer to the drawings.

[unrestrained]

[He's got to admit, he's impressed. And let's out a low whistle. There was a reason Leo was the captain of the Argo II, after all.]

Yeah, it might work. I mean-- maybe not all of it. Celestial Bronze and all that-- we can't get that, but maybe a few other things?

[unbrokenwheel]

Yeah, I'm not thinking I can absolutely get what we want. But the spheres of Archimedes and some of our more fine tuned equipment? It might be possible.

[He glances back to the control sphere from Archimedes lab and back to the little fish in his hands. He gently presses against one scale and it stops thrashing about.]

We'll see.

[unrestrained]

Maybe. We'll have to try. We don't have anything to lose. [Considering they're stuck here.] We could show these Norses cutting edge Ancient Greek technology.

[unbrokenwheel]

They won't even know how to handle the delicate and sophisticated technology brought to their door. Stupid Norse wouldn't even be able to understand it.

[unrestrained]

[That earns a small, mischievous grin at least.] So we show them how Greeks do it better.

[unbrokenwheel]

We're going to knock their socks off. [He grins wide and mischievious.] I wonder what creatures and powerful components exist in this world. I'll read up on it.

[unrestrained]

I don't know, but I'm just glad I haven't found out. [His own grin is still there while he shrugs.] It's nice not being monster bait for a day.

[unbrokenwheel]

Yeah. That's a really handy perk about being depowered. Nothing trying to have us for a snack.

No more, curse you demigods!

[unrestrained]

Or no more seeing them in their whitey-tighties. I've got to say it's a pretty good vacation. Free food, free rooms, slides in the houses. At least it's not the inside of a jail cell.

[unbrokenwheel]

Or being on the run from other demigods. I can see the perks of this. Wait. Did you say a slide?

[unrestrained]

Yeah, so we just lay back and relax. [He grins.] You don't have one? We have slides and climbing nets in my house.

[He totally takes the slide down every day.]

[unbrokenwheel]

I wouldn't know. I haven't been there. I woke up at the Palace and came straight here. [He'd needed to work after everything he'd remembered. Working, much like running was a way to escape the pain.]

[unrestrained]

Oh. [Now he's concerned, but he doesn't know how to voice it.] Have you eaten? We should check it out later.