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"Oh baby." Genie said probably a little louder than she should have from her spot on the shore of the lake. "Now that is just one absolutely gorgeous specimen. Where have you been all my life?" The Hephaestus girl was sitting in a lawn chair under the shade of a parasol. She had an ice cold glass of lemonade beside her but it set there almost completely forgotten. She was thirsty right now but it wasn't for her drink. "Those perfect lines, all that power and that body looks like it was carved out of solid granite." She almost had to keep herself from drooling as she adjusted her sunglasses and finally turned the page of the copy of Automotive Magazine she had been looking at.

At the sight of the next picture she practically squealed. "A 4.0-liter twin turbo V-8? With full leather interior?!? Oh mama's going to have sweet dreams tonight." She tossed her head back in a sigh of pure pleasure as she reached down to take a sip of her drink. It was then that she noticed she wasn't the only one who had decided to come out to the lake today. There was a boy coming towards from the forest and headed straight for her spot by the lake. Genie smiled, excited for a new face and set her magazine aside for a moment. She didn't know exactly who this person was and that meant they were probably new. Luckily Genie liked new people. "Hi there." She said with a wave. "A beautiful day to be out isn't it?"

Genie's breath caught in her throat when Lydia's fingers brushed lightly over her own and she suddenly found herself wishing that she had cleaned up a little bit. Lydia was beautiful and Genie, well Genie was a mechanic with dirt under her nails. They weren't exactly the most likely pair but then again she had caught Lydia blushing and maybe that was something. Either way she held that caught breath hoping that maybe she had done a really good thing in picking the ipod she had.

When Lydia's eyes widened Genie could hardly dare to hope but sure enough the girl was smiling and happily flipping through the playlist of stored music and at that the Hephaestus girl felt a little of her confidence returning. "Oh it wasn't nothing like that. I just got lucky I guess." She smiles and chuckled. "I really found your favorite one? That's pretty awesome. What have you got on there anyways? I'd like to hear what the wonderful strawberry detective likes to listen to."

More dates? Was it just her or did Genie actually hear some excitement in Lydia's voice? Once could have been a slip of the tongue. A date could mean anything really even between friends but more than one? Dates on dates on dates? Well when you put it like that it sounded like they were dating and well that couldn't be could it? Genie bit the corner of her lip as she popped the ipod open and busied herself with the doodads and gizmos inside. It was certainly a lot to think about and right now even her Hephaestus blood wasn't enough to compensate for the heat in the room.

Thankfully Lydia was right there to save the day by bringing her attention back to what might be contained on the device she was fiddling with. She gave a little giggle. "Party music is good though. I'm not much of a party girl, they're usually too fancy for me, but dancing is fun even if it's by yourself and music is fun too. I sometimes jam out when I'm here by myself. It helps me concentrate and if there's nobody to watch you then you can sing as loud and be as crazy as you want."

Lydia agreeing to help her paint just made Genie’s day. It was pretty rare for her to have some help with her projects but to have an assistant who was so cute would be even better. Plus painting was a fun way to hang out too. Like it or not Genie thought she could already see another date / work night / hangout session thing in the future. “I knew I could count on you Lydia. I could always use another person’s opinion on the artsy stuff. It’s really never been my cup of tea.”

Stacking the devices into three stacks Genie organized the ipods into a group of easily fixable, probably fixable and trash. She was a little disappointed she wouldn’t be able to get all of them but this was at least something and now that the preliminary work was done she could focus her attention fully on the girl in the hammock. “I could install one if you want.” She said with a little embarrassed smile. “I mean it wouldn’t be much trouble and I already have experience.” The thought of getting to see Lydia’s room was pretty appealing but now was not the time to lose her head. “I wouldn’t mind though. I like being handy.”

Hearing so much praise coming from Lydia made Genie blush. Normally she had no problem receiving praise for her abilities but the Dionysus girl had a way of making even some of the most ordinary things Genie did sound amazing. “Oh it’s nothing too special yet. She’s not even running. When she is though you better believe that folks are going to take notice. Course the picking is the important thing and she’ll be able to do that too. We want to make sure she can do what she’s made to do before we get people staring at her.”

Genie chuckled and came over to take the ipods for Lydia. While not an overmuscled meat head like some of the guys that she knew the Hephaestus girl was fairly strong having gained a lot of that strength through years of hard work in the forge. That strength helped her here as she hefted the box with surprising ease and brought it over to a clean, more or less, workbench that she could work from. “You let me worry about these ipods. I’ll have them good as new before too long. In the meantime make yourself comfortable. I know it’s just a forge but I try to keep my side of it homey.”

Homey it was. In one corner of the forge a hammock had been strung up that looked like it had seen recent use as a bed. That this was Genie’s corner was obvious by the colorful flowers, admittedly crudely drawn, that were painted on the walls. To make the seen complete Genie’s name had also been painted above the hammock in large multicolored bubble letters announcing to the world that the girl had claimed this for her own. “It’s not much but I like here and sometimes I don’t make it back to the cabin. It’s actually one of the most relaxing places at camp I think.”

The forge was definitely the hot place to be on a Friday night. Not in the sense that there was some big party or that it was the big “It” location around camp but because Genie was usually working and when she was the forges were quite literally very hot. Of course the heat didn’t bother the Hephaestus girl that much but for most folks who weren’t blessed with the god’s tolerance for fire the forges weren’t really the most highly sought after location to bring a date.

Was that what this was? Genie didn't know not to mention the fact that she had never really been the dating type. She had never been a girly girl who fixed her hair or who got all fancfied for the people she liked. If people didn't like her for who she was, scars, grease stains and calluses alike then they were out of luck. So that's exactly how she handled this situation. Sure Lydia was coming over and she was about the prettiest thing next to a chrome plated hubcap that this forge had seen in years but if Genie tried to be anything other than what she was did that make it worth it if the other girl decided she liked her when she was like that? Probably not.

So here she was dressed in a faded pair of work overalls and a t-shirt that clung to her body in the heat, her hair was up in a ponytail and she had smudges of soot on her face and hands. In short, she was anything but cutesy so maybe this wasn't a date but considering how much of the large strawberry picking machine she had completed it was obvious that she was trying to impress. 'Hopefully,' she thought as she stepped back to huddle over her plans, 'It will actually work.'

Lydia Shepard

Genie practically beamed as Lydia accepted her invitation. She wasn’t sure how much quieter the forges would be compared to a Dionysus party but so long as she was getting to see Lydia she wouldn’t complain. Maybe she could even obtain a few more strawberries by Friday too because if there was one thing that would make a night in the forge with a cute girl a little better it was having a good snack to enjoy on the side.

“That sounds perfect.” The Hephaestus girl said excitedly. “And yeah you’re probably right. It’s pretty hard to resist a perfectly made machine. I’ll just have to make sure I do my best. If you’re lucky I might even have a few things ready to show off to you when you come over. Who knows, maybe you’ll like shiny things too.” Genie chuckled and popped another berry in her mouth before continuing. “So it’s settled then? I’ll be really looking forward to the weekend if that’s the case.”