Leo looked up from the table. Once again he sat there with a trinket in his hands having absolutely no clue how he got from trying work on the ship to this. His mechanic's block has been going on for three weeks now, and it was taking a toll. They planned to leave in three months. Three months to do five times the work he's done in the past two. Yippee. Maybe- maybe he could find a solution to his problem like he could find the solution to why Buford wasn't moving correctly (answer being, if you haven't already guessed, a needed amputation of one leg). He could translate his situation into something he could better understand! Except, how in the name of Zeus was he supposed to do that? Finally he gave up and left to take a walk. He knew it was clichè but maybe some fresh air could clear his head, even if only temporarily.
Leo stepped out of Bunker 9 into the blinding sunlight and into the dense canopy of the trees. He maneuvered quickly through forest onto Camp Half-Blood's main grounds. The sweet smell of stawberries lingered in the air, no suprise because the strawberry field was just to Leo's left. For a while he wandered endlessly, as long as he was trying to clear his head he needed to stay away from everything Hephaestus-y. That meant as of then he had nowhere to go, nothing to do, and nowhere he truly belonged. Of course he could always go hang out with his friends, Jason and Piper, but now adays he just felt like a third wheel around them, unintentionally on their part. So he strode over the bumps and bends of camp until the breeze blew a piece of paper up against his shin.
On the paper was writing which made Leo almost throw it away but he realized it was in ancient Greek, the language his brain was hard-wired for and caused his dyslexia with English, and could almost completely understand it! He began reading but was stopped when a hand flew into his view.
"Stop!" A voice pleaded. Leo looked up. Before him was a girl about his age, dirty blond hair that fell in elegant waves, golden eyes, along with gorgeous tan skin. He could have sworn she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. "Don't read that!"
Before surrendering the paper to the girl he asked, "What is it you don't want me to read?"
"Oh, nothing! Just some fictional story I've been working on. I don't like people reading my writing," she told him and snatched the paper out of his hand.
"Leo!" shouted Piper from across the feild, "Come 'ere!"
"Alright, I should go see want she wants. Have a nice evenig, eh..." Leo told the girl.
"Julia. My name is Julia," she said.
"It was nice meeting you, Julia! In case you haven't noticed, they call me Leo!" and then he ran off to his friend.
That night Leo went back to Bunker 9 and surprisingly the block had vanished. Instead in its place was a longing to see that magnificent girl again.
***
The next day Leo's longing was temporarily fufilled. Along the lake he saw her sitting on the grass with a concentrated look on her face an a pen moving at the speed of light in a notebook. He sat down next to her.
"Would you like something? I'm a bit busy," she said without looking up.
"Would I....? Ah, yes! I was wondering if you would accompany me to the forges. I seem to have forgotten something," he responded.
Julia gave him a sucpicious look but hopped to her feet anyways, "Only because I have some writer's block," she insisted.
Now Leo was the one who didn't believe it, "So," he began, "You never told me your parentage is."
"I'm a daughter of Apollo. And you are Leo, son of Hephaestus, correct?"
"Uh huh. So Apollo? I haven't seen you in the medic tent."
