<div align="center"><strong>Hephaestus's Forge</strong><br/><br/>(http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/7874/hephaestusforge.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/4/hephaestusforge.png/)</div><br/>No demi-god or immortal beyond the Gods themselves knew exactly where his forge was. It had been in Mount Saint Helen, but as that was also the prison for a Titan he had moved it to some where more private. Somewhere that mortal tourist were not always gawking again. Hera approved of the move since it took Hephaestus even further from the lime light and pushed him away into some little hole where no one could see him. Most couldn't figure out where he could move since most figured he would prefer a volcano.<br/><br/>Truth was that he did prefer a volcano, but American didn't have many good ones of those. Hephaestus knew that if he buried himself far enough into the Earth he would find fire. The center of the Earth was molten and hot. His domain. He could plant his forge anywhere so long as it was far enough into the ground.<br/><br/>Not many in history had seen Hephaestus' forge. It was his private sanctuary, but he did enjoy letting his children come once in a while. Even his own wife had never been here. Too dirty for her tastes. Even after having built her a special room so she could have a clean, non-forge like space she still refused to come down. Not that he was sure what he would do if she did come down. Aphrodite had made it very clear that she would never let him lay a hand on her. Though she didn't seem to mind letting every other god and mortal man do that. He was sure that it was mostly because Zeus had forced her into marrying him.<br/><br/>It was the beginning of summer, or he assumed it was. He assumed this because around dinner time his head was flooded with the sound of his children sending prayers to him. Having been listening to these for several thousand years he was decent at not letting it distract him...and he did like the smell of the food sent to him. Meat, cheese, and fruits. It always smelled wonderful. While the Gods could eat, they didn't have to. The smell of the offerings their children made were usually enough to tide them over.<br/><br/><em>Please accept my offering, father Hephaestus.  Please, let this camera thing work out?</em><br/><br/>While it was common for him to get requests for things to work out and for help, this was a voice he didn't hear often. Vanessa Concepcion. He remembered all of his children and their mothers. She'd been a pretty woman, though not in the same sense that Aphrodite was. She was so focused and strong willed. Her creative sense for her work is what he'd been the most attracted to. It pained him when he realized that Vanessa was 'lame'. He felt that it was his fault and had no reason to think otherwise. Many of his children were lame in some way. Those that weren't born that way usually ended up that way in the end. Vanessa was just as creative and mechanically minded as her mother.<br/><br/>Hearing her not asking him for help, but simply wanting him to hope that her camera worked meant a lot. She wasn't asking him to fix it. She wasn't asking him to build it for her. And she wasn't asking for his help. While most of his children were self-sufficient enough to build things themselves without help, most didn't even ask for his blessing on projects. Vanessa had never asked him for anything, not really at least.<br/><br/>It had been a while since he'd see one of his children. Vincent Masterarm was the last one and that was a very short meeting. Without meaning to think he, he knew that they were two of his favorites. Parents shouldn't pick favorites, but even he knew many did. Vincent was one of his few non-lame children. He was strong, brave, and mechanically intelligent. He'd had a difficult life before finding his way to Camp Half-Blood. Then there was Vanessa. Quiet, kind, weak-hearted Vanessa with her weak body. She had the same fondness for beautiful things, even if his fondness was more mechanically oriented. He also felt she was much prettier than she seemed to realize.<br/><br/>Lifting his lumpy, hulking form from the oversize la-z-boy type chair covered in bronze and silver gear. The steel brace on his leg creaked and sparked as he moved towards the one source of cool water in his forge. A small, compared to his size, pool of sea water with a hammer coming out of the middle and more water pouring out of it. Poseidon had made one of these for all the Gods 'homes' as a quick way of contact. He had a feeling that Hermes was part of the reason for these to help keep down the amount of short messages the Gods needed to pass on. They were a surprisingly easy way to contact their children at camp too, or rather Chiron or Dionysus.<br/><br/>Pulling a small, golden drachma from his jumpsuit and tossed it into the pool. The water splashed up and created a small rainbow, "Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering," maybe it was that silly saying that was the reason most Gods didn't use this method of contact, "Chiron and Dionysus, Camp Half-Blood," the image of the rainbow was distorted to show the inside of the Big House at the camp. Chiron was in his wheelchair, something Hephaestus had created, and Dionysus was sucking down another diet coke (years of sobriety had not been kind to the God of Wine). He coughed and cleared his throat to get their attention.<br/><br/>Chiron was the first to respond, "Oh, Lord Hephaestus! What a surprise," the centaur wheeled himself closer and Dionysus just waved a hand as he went back to his drink and playing some card game with himself, "What can I help you with?"<br/><br/>"I wish to speak with my Daughter Vanessa and my son Vincent," his voice was deep, almost sounding like rocks grinding together.<br/><br/>"Ah, yes. Vanessa and Vincent. I believe they are still at the pavilion eating dinner...I can go get them if you would like, but as a God and, more specifically, God of Fire, you do have right and ability to use the center brazier to appear through. You can speak to them directly that way if they are still there..."<br/><br/>The God nodded. He had thought about that and would prefer it to using these rainbows, but he had also thought about not wanting to scare the living daylights out of new campers or upsetting those that would find his appearance unsightly, "Yes...I could. I just thought that might be a little rough for the new children..." but that did seem like the best way. He hated paying for these messages every five minutes, "I suppose it would be best for me to...invite...them in person," or at least in vision.<br/><br/>Before Chiron could think about the crying younger children when they saw someone like Hephaestus, the God of Forges was gone. He was already heading out of the door when he heard a few screams from the pavilion. Hepheastus had knocked over the brazier and the hot coals and fire were enough to use. The flames shot at least ten feet in the air, sending any camper near it running. The great, hulking God was standing in the middle of the pavilion. He was an imposing sight, even if it wasn't his physical body standing there, "Vanessa Concepcion, where are you?" he called out.<br/><br/>Abigale was bombarded with young, new campers crying as they tried to cling to her for safety. The children of Ares had drawn spears and swords. Apollo's kids had their arrows held like daggers. And anyone under the age of 13 was either hiding under a table or clinging to their cabin leader like what was happening Abigale.