Gears of Delight

[Kenna Rhys]

Kenna was one that loved to build things, even before she came to camp half blood. Back in north carolina she found herself in the shop with her mom as she tried to make the forge a better place with new machines to help her with her work. It was fun working alongside her, seeing the beautiful things that she build with her own hands. But those days were long gone as she never got time away from camp to go and see her anymore. Not that it was smart either as the monsters would smell her more now that she was older and her powers stronger! Kenna was trying to push all this out of her mind a she was walking through the cabin. Stopping by her big brothers room who was particularly good with building machines. Her knock on the door was light but as she pushed the door open she saw no one in sight.

But the one thing she did see was his book full of blue prints. "OH NO WAY" her face split into the biggest grin as she went right for it. Taking it with her on the way to the forge. Maybe had some good secret ways to improve her spider machine that she loved and kept with her at all times. Opening the book she turned and turned the pages as she saw more and more cool ideas. The heat of the forge hit her but to her it just felt like home as she got to her bench, hunched over as she got to a spider machine blueprints just like hers. "Oh he has one too yesssssss" her voice thrilled at this find!

@ Devon Long

[Devon Long Rare]

Devon would get up and to go get some more paper for some blueprints in order to make more plans. He also needed to get more pens and maybe a ruler of some sort so he got up from his desk and turned his light off. He went to the storage closet of the cabin to get more of these items. He would then stop and think and kind of say to himself and half out loud “A golden dragon fly ring, but the dragon fly is actually a spy camera that can fly off the ring to collect audio and video information. Or a necklace version of this. Stylish and functional. I need to write this down when i get back to my desk. Glasses that are magnifying glasses to an almost micro scopic level.” He would get these papers and pencils and everything else. He would then start to head back to his room when he would notice his light back on. He would be curious but then realize it had to be one of his siblings. He would look quietly to see Kenna and then shout to scare her “Whatcha lookin at?”

[Kenna Rhys]

Startled by Devon's sudden words, Kenna jumped and let out a surprised yelp. She quickly turned toward her brother, clutching the book of blueprints to her chest. "Devon! You scared the life out of me," she exclaimed, trying to catch her breath. Her heart was still pounding from the unexpected fright. She shot him a playful glare before her excitement returned. "But look what I found!" She held up the book, displaying the spider machine blueprints. Maybe it was the fact that she had come to really enjoy Devon company as the two were very similar but he did have the pyro ability that she did not!!! "You've got some awesome stuff in here, and I couldn't resist taking a peek. I've been trying to improve my own spider machine, you know." The smirk on the girls face was one that knew she had been caught but was enjoying finding the book that he kept so secret all these year. She wished he would just share with her his secrets as she wanted to get better and he was just so good in her eyes.

[Devon Long Rare]

Devon would laugh as Kenna jumped out of her chair. He found it hilarious when the younger siblings jumped. He is always trying to get them to jump. But his machines were his true passion and he was not too worried about Kenna stealing his ideas but he figured he would give her a little bit of a hard time. “Dont you have your own blueprint book for ideas or are you trying to steal some of mine?” he would laugh and then say “I know I have some good ideas. I thought some of them might be impracticalbut they are cool and those arent even my top secret awesome ones. But what's wrong with your spider machine? is that one close to your plans.? Do you want me to take a look to see whats wrong or do you want to try to figure it out. If you would like to try to combine our blueprints thats fine.”

[Kenna Rhys]

Kenna chuckled at Devon's teasing, shaking her head. "Nah, I've got my own ideas, but I couldn't resist checking out what my big bro's been up to in secret," she replied with a mischievous grin. He was someone in the cabin that had always been so kind to her. She was shy and so was he! So at times they would just sit near to each other and build things without speaking but they seemed to work for them.  "Your stuff is just so cool, Devon. And yeah, my spider machine's been acting up a bit lately. It's like it's lost its spark, you know? Sometimes it gets all twitchy, and I think it could use some upgrades. I'd love for you to take a look and maybe help me figure out what's going on."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, intricately designed spider-shaped contraption. It had tiny gears and wires that made it look like a miniature work of art. "Here it is," Kenna said, holding it up for Devon to inspect. "I've been trying to improve its mobility and make it more agile, but I think I messed up the balance somewhere. Plus, I've been thinking about adding some extra features, like a retractable grappling hook or maybe a mini flamethrower. What do you think?" Kenna's eyes sparkled with anticipation, eager to collaborate with her older brother on their mechanical creations. This was the machine that she used a lot in capture the flag to take on those other cabins on the opposing team. 

[Devon Long Rare]

“I wouldn’t leave my super fun stuff on my desk, it's in that safe behind you. I challenge you to open it. It is hard to open. You try that and I will look at this little guy.” he would take the spider and hope the safe would distract her for a minute. The safe had no dial and only 2 pipes and a latch. “Can you figure it out?” oh well he would sit and check out her spider. It was pretty impressive for a 13 year old to do. So he would say “what kind of joints are you using? Wait why are you having trouble with grappling hooks and maybe we should wait on making a pocket fire launcher for a while. I do not know what you would want with a fire launcher?”

[Kenna Rhys]

Kenna looked at the safe for a moment, intrigued by Devon's challenge. She had seen him tinker with it before, and it always seemed like some sort of puzzle. Her fingers danced over the pipes and latch, her sharp mind working to figure it out. "Challenge accepted," she muttered to herself as she began to fiddle with the safe, determined to crack the code. It was like a game to her, and she loved solving puzzles almost as much as building machines. The children of Hephaestus were good at stuff like that as they could get a sense of the gears and such by touching it!  As she worked on the safe, she replied to Devon's questions about her spider machine. "I've been using ball joints for the legs to improve mobility," she explained. "But I think I might have gone a bit too lightweight on some of the materials. And about the grappling hook... well, you never know when you might need to scale a wall or get out of a tight spot, right?" Kenna winked playfully, her attention divided between the safe and her conversation with Devon.

[Devon Long Rare]

He would take the small spider and see some friction marks in the joint so it wasnt lubricated right. “So ball joints? How did you keep them lubricated or are they self lubricated? That makes sense and I think I know exactly what you need to do. I need something out of there. I keep all my super expensive materials in there also. Hence why my safe covers most of the foot locker over there. So i will let you have what you need if you can tell me how the safe works. I have two things in there you can have that will help you. One with your friction issue and the other with a flame thrower. But you have to figure out the safe it is good practice.’

[Kenna Rhys]

Kenna's fingers paused in their intricate dance across the safe as she listened to Devon's explanation about the ball joints. "I didn't think about self lubrication," she admitted with a thoughtful frown. "That could be the issue. I've been so focused on the mechanics that I overlooked the maintenance." She made a mental note to ass in a lubrication system into her next design. Turning her attention back to the safe, Kenna examined it closely. It was a clever puzzle, and she loved a good challenge. She ran her fingers along the safe, trying to get a feel for the mechanism. After a few moments of careful consideration, she had an idea. "Devon did you" she said, her eyes narrowing as she thought that maybe it was what she thought it was. "The way the pipes and latch are set up, it looks like heat could expand them and release the latch." Kenna rolled her eyes as she shook her head at this as he knew she would never be able to open it if it is what she said it was. As only his ability would be able to open it!

[Devon Long Rare]

Devon would start laughing “Did you think it would be easy to get into with a cabin full of my siblings? Your close enough that i am going to give you the two items I said i would. Pull the pipes together.” all of a sudden the safe would tilt back a slight bit. And he would put one finger up and say “I made it out of a material that takes a super heated flame to melt the lock away and then it falls into a storage basin that keeps it liquid till I put the pipes back then the whole thing goes back to solid.” he would make a flame however it would start to look like a butane torch with a very intense heat. He would reach in and pull out a 2 vials one that looked like nail polish and the other something aerosol. He would pull the one that looked like nail polish “this is lubricant that supposedly never dries” he would put a little on the ball joints. “And this is greek fire so it will burst into flame in a aerosol form like something that will spray it.” he would be distracted and not put his safe back and leave his folders out in the open all with code names like Argo III, Rhodes, Delphine. There were a few others but those were the ones on top.