A Little Overnight Trip (Zoe)

[HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN]

Gods knew that some of their kids didn't like them... and sometimes some didn't even believe in them yet. They knew what would happen if they "politely" asked for them to meet said god somewhere in a vision or dream or whatever. Gods didn't like being disobeyed. There was potential smiting from that point, and that was just a big mess. So, there was an alternative, and Hephaestus knew that, in the case of Zoe, tonight said alternative was necessity.

Somewhere just outside of Chicago was an old, dive bar and grill called The Anvil's Hammer. Disguised as a mortal, Heph would occasionally pop in for a few hundred beers and some whiskey shots. Life was nice when alcohol didn't poison you. There was an eighteen and over policy at the place, so normally Heph's young daughter, Zoe, couldn't get in without a fake ID. Heph, clad in an oil-stained t-shirt, leather jacket, blue jeans, and black boots, eliminated that problem by causing everyone in the place to pause in time. He then whistled for one of his human-sized automatons to enter and serve as a waiter. After that, it was time for his special guest, who should have been sleeping in Cabin Nine at Camp Half-Blood at that hour. If all worked well, she would think all of this was just a bad dream... er vision the next day.

Heph sat down, had his robotic waiter serve up some beer and soda pop, and then snapped his fingers to summon one Zoe Calida.

ZOE CALIDA

[ZOE CALIDA]

Going to sleep should normally be the easiest part of the day, but it had become a complicated affair recently. Demigods always suffered from dreams in a way mortals didn’t, but there was a new dimension of danger now. If you went to sleep, what would you dream? Would you be the next target or, Zeus forbid, perpetrator? Nobody had any answers, and so every night Zoe went to bed anxiously, staring at the bunk above her as she tried to force herself to relax.

When she finally managed it, her dreams were usually nonsense. Little clips of memories, or odd scenarios borrowing from reality, but nothing earth-shattering. This time, however…it felt so real. She was wearing the same clothes as when she’d collapsed into bed fully dressed, camp shirt covered in soot and oil stains on her pants. The scenery around her felt familiar – having been born and raised in the Midwest, nothing felt out-of-place to Zoe and she wondered if she was dreaming about home. Or somewhere close to home, at least. She didn’t recognize the bar.

Still, what really caught her attention was that the scene seemed frozen in time, except for the automaton that passed her. Zoe had been staring transfixed at the frozen people, but her head naturally turned to follow its movements. One of the few benefits of being a Hephaestus camper, she supposed, was her natural (although odd) ability to sense machinery. Even from a distance, she could sense it and its truly flawless construction. She’d never seen anything like it, much less dreamed it up. Zoe frowned as she turned in a slow circle to take in the scene, before completing her circuit and seizing up. Somebody was watching and his gaze felt heavy on her. She gave a squeak of surprise at the realization that he wasn’t frozen like everybody else. “Who…where…” Zoe trailed off, entirely speechless.

HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN

[HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN]

Heph sat there as cool as a cucumber as his daughter took the whole scene in. Humans seemed to be so surprised by everything, even a simple, rapid trip from New York to Chicago. He guessed as a god he took that for granted. He traveled the world and back on a daily basis at times after all. He gave the girl a nod of greeting.

"Hey kiddo," she said. "Come over and sit down with your old man. We got some stuff to talk about." He then motioned to the brand of soda set out for her. "I assume that's still one of your favorites. I know ya liked it when you were younger. You want somethin' to eat? I got some automaton chefs who can grill up a mean patty melt." He then popped a cigar in his mouth and lit it with a flame coming from his thumb. "And don't worry about gettin' sick around this. I control smoke after all, so it'll all stay over on my end." Heph smirked a little at that. He of course hadn't introduced himself yet, but he found Zoe to be a pretty bright girl, so he guessed she figured it out by then.

ZOE CALIDA

[ZOE CALIDA]

He had everything figured out to a tee. The soda pop (her eyes lingered on the can of Sprite, because how could he have known it was her favorite?), the automaton chefs – everything about the set-up was neat and organized, with every detail carefully considered. She would know, as she was the exact same way. Zoe couldn’t even conceptualize saying no to a god at this point, so she plopped down on the seat clearly meant for her. It would normally be a more graceful descent, but she was fairly sure her knees had buckled the moment he’d begun to address her.

She stared at her father wordlessly. Because that was what he was, in the end – her father. Never mind that the man she’d always known by that title was in Detroit. Godly families were messy. She’d never really thought about Hephaestus as her dad, or the children of Hephaestus as her siblings. Her brain had never gotten to that point, and she’d never seen a reason to push the issue.

Now that he had all but identified himself, Zoe was sure she understood what this vision/dream/nightmare was about. This was her long-delayed punishment. Hephaestus had noticed that one of his children had been involved in forging weapons for the Titan army, and he was finally ready to dole out the punishment. The offer of a patty melt had to be some demigod version of a last meal. So, when the words jumbled in her brain were finally spoken, they came out rushed. “Mr. Hephaestus…um, sir. I’m super sorry. I promise I’ve been on my best behavior and I won’t do it ever again.” She flushed. She pushed out the final words in one breath, and surely only a god would have been able to understand her. “Please don’t smite me.”

HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN

[HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN]

Heph just smiled a little in spite of himself as Zoe began to apologize and beg him not to smite her. Yes, Heph shared a lot of the same personality traits as other gods. He could be arrogant, wrathful, selfish, but he was actually pretty halfway decent compared to some of them. He was going to lay it out straight for Zoe though.

"Look, I ain't happy about what ya did. Kronos is bad news and usually the gods see anyone who hangs out with a creep like that as bad news. But... I get why ya did it. I wasn't around to be a real dad. Can't help it. We Olympians got these crazy schedules that take us all over the place all the time. You know once I had to be in Atlanta and Seattle in the same minute? Long story. Anyway, I ain't here to smite ya. You're back at camp, right, back with your brothers and sisters doin' your thing in the Forge. Chiron and that crazy, booze-lovin' brother of mine gave ya a second chance... and that, kiddo, means you got a second shot at bein' somethin' better than you think you can be. That's why we're here. So, you want that patty melt? The chili dogs are good too, but I hear they give mortals a pretty rough case of heartburn."

ZOE CALIDA

[ZOE CALIDA]

The beginning started out exactly as Zoe feared, and she instinctively hunched her shoulders as she prepared for the criticism. She’d heard similar things a million times already, mostly from the other campers and especially the other Hephaestus kids. Zoe had had a long time to think about why she’d made those choices, but it was pointless to try and convince anyone that it wasn’t ideological. That, in fact, the reason had been deeply personal and the fact that no one really understood was part of it. So she didn’t bother trying to defend herself and instead dropped her gaze to her tightly clenched hands.

But the rest of Hephaestus’s words made her eyes shoot up to meet his. It was still a reprimand, but…it was also a sort-of validation. Something she hadn’t gotten since she’d left home. And that sentence. ‘You got a second shot at being something better than you think you can be.’ That was all the evidence she needed that she must be a daughter of Hephaestus, because it reverberated with something inside her that made her heart clench. It was embarrassing to admit, but she could feel her eyes well up with tears and Zoe blinked rapidly to keep them back. Growing up, she’d wanted nothing more than to meet her family’s expectations for her – be the first to go to college, escape the blue-collar life and become something more. She seemed to have lost that drive after arriving at camp.

“Yeah, the patty melt sounds nice,” Zoe finally responded, her voice wavering slightly. It was too hard to look right at Hephaestus so she watched one of his automatons instead. It was hard to admit, but… “I guess I am back at camp, but I’m not really with…my brothers and sisters.” The first time she’d ever referred to them as such out-loud. She mumbled, “…haven’t really done much with that second chance.”

HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN

[HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN]

Heph nodded as Zoe went on. Mortals were fickle with emotions just like gods were. Heph got that, he really did. He knew the girl knew she made a mistake. He knew she had feelings about her siblings and herself and the whole demi-god business. Zoe wasn't the first of Heph's kids that he had to have this little talk with. The god was pretty well used to it.

"You know... hold on just a second... Bronzey, two patty melt plates with onion rings for my kid and I, and tell the chefs not to go nuts on the grilled onions." The automaton server bowed and made his way to the kitchen. He then turned back to Zoe. "The chefs got a thing about grilled onions on patty melts. You'd think they were more important than the cheese the way they pile'em on. Anyway, I was gonna say you remind me of this kid of mine back in the day... his name was Henry Ford. When I went to him, he thought he had no future, no real direction, and his ideas were stupid and impossible. And what do ya know, he ended shapin' the whole automobile industry. But he doubted himself, just like you just did. Look, kiddo, I wouldn't be here with ya right now if I didn't know you were set for somethin' big, but all I can do is give ya the push. You demi-gods are the ones built to be heroes, not us. We just kinda run the show behind the scenes."

The server then made its way out with the food. setting the plates down, along with condiments. Heph spread his arms at the food and smiled.

"Now that's what I call service. Dig in, kiddo."

ZOE CALIDA

[ZOE CALIDA]

If there was anything that could distract Zoe from the oddity that had been this entire conversation, the automatons were it. She held in a snort as Hephaestus addressed ‘Bronzey’ (because her parents had told her a million times that snorting was not dignified and she was probably already pushing her luck), and her eyes tracked the automaton’s movements. They really were beautiful machines. Her own creations back at camp worked well enough, and they had that special touch unique to Hephaestus kids, but they still moved awkwardly. “How do they move so seamlessly?” Zoe sighed, craning her neck as she lost sight of the machine. She wanted desperately to see some blueprints someday.

Zoe forgot about dignity and her mouth dropped open at the casual name-dropping. The same Ford whose factory her family had worked at for generations? Ford, a son of Hephaestus? Ford, who might have passed through camp at some point? “You knew Henry Ford? Wait, he was your son? And he thought he had no future?” Her brain felt broken, like an engine with a clogged radiator that was overheating. That was one of the dangers of the whole demigod thing – sometimes it was better not to think too hard about how mortal and godly histories overlapped sometimes. And Ford was one of her idols. So it was a particularly jarring story.

It was hard to consider the idea that part of Zoe’s isolation the last two years might have been the result of self-punishment for her choices. But the thought occurred to her. Zoe didn’t reach for the food and kept her eyes fixed on Hephaestus. “So you think I still have a shot? You mind telling everybody else?” Zoe asked doubtfully. It was hard to pinpoint a shot at what, exactly, so she didn’t try. At making amends, at realizing her potential, at having some semblance of a normal life. It all sounded impossible, like she’d missed her chance two years ago. But hey, if Hephaestus (and his children, apparently) hadn’t proven that the impossible was possible, then nobody else could. The thought cheered Zoe enough to try an onion ring.

HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN

[HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN]

Heph nodded proudly when Zoe asked for confirmation that Ford was his son. He then smirked when she was surprised that Henry didn't think much of himself at first.

"Oh yeah, he really let the nay-sayers get to him for a while there. A few of my kids were like that- Rudolf Diesel, Orville and Wilbur Wright, two of the people who designed EPCOT Center, the list goes on. But your pops gave them a stern talking to, they took my words to heart, and... the rest is history. Zoe, I look at you and I see the next great inventor, Better yet, I see the next great hero. However, I can see what I see all day. I can park you on the path tonight just like I did them, but you gotta walk it, little lady."

When Zoe asked if Heph could tell everyone else, Heph let out a loud laugh. He them sipped his beer and cleared his throat a bit.

"I ain't a publicity agent, kiddo," he said. "Plus heroes really put themselves in an awkward spot when they get a rep before they begin doin' their heroism stuff. Your time is comin' though. When it happens, how it happens... I ain't at liberty to tell ya, but you're as bright as a Winter Solstice Light Show, so you'll know when the time comes."

ZOE CALIDA

[ZOE CALIDA]

Zoe made the mistake of digging into the food. The patty melt was delicious, not that Zoe expected anything less of food made by automaton chefs designed by the god of the forges himself. And maybe the sensation of eating while in a dream/vision/whatever this was also seemed odd, but the food wasn’t the mistake. It just meant that Zoe had her mouth full when Hephaestus began to list some of his children, and naturally she choked as she recognized some of the insanely famous people that had been some of her half-siblings. She eventually washed down the patty melt with some Sprite, but her face was still red from the increasingly overwhelming conversation.

It was hard to process that Hephaestus thought she could be a hero. She’d given up so much the day she’d discovered she was a demigod. And this talk of ‘the time is coming…’ She leaned forward in her chair and opted out of a second onion ring in case Hephaestus had another big revelation coming. “Look, I really appreciate the vote of confidence. It’s really next-level to hear that someone like you thinks someone like me can do big things. But you have so many children that could do it better.” Zoe frowned at herself – it didn’t come out the right way. “I mean, you have a moderate amount of children. Modest, proportionate. Not unreasonable.” She cleared her throat. “Um, anyway, there definitely has to be something coming. With all these nightmares and all. But there just isn’t anything I can do about it. I only create things, and my automaton birds still fly like they came out of Looney Tunes. Maybe I can still fix that. But I’m just the wrong person to be a hero, especially in your name.”

HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN

[HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN]

Heph just smiled and shook his head as Zoe went on. She wasn't ready yet, and that was clear. If she had to face what he had foreseen right now, she would barely stand a chance. But that was right now. That wasn't later. All of his kids had to realize that.

"I'm tellin' ya, it's just like deja vu," he said. "I've heard this so many times, I feel like I'm sittin' in that old garage with Henry again. Kiddo, the reason you are feelin' all of this right now is because it's right now... start of the show... steppin' on square one. Everybody and everything begins somewhere, even me... though I began with my mom kickin' me off Olympus, but let's not discuss that anymore." Heph blew smoke out of his cigar, which landed on his side of the table and formed a box with a key attached to the top with duct tape. "I know I haven't been the best with presents when it comes to my kids, so hopefully this one will make up for a few years. Only catch is... you can't know what it is now or open it now. You will know when to though. Trust me, you will. It'll hit ya. You're gonna find yourself in this crazy situation and be like... what do I do... and then be like... oh yeah, my pop gave me that box and... well I better stop there." He then smiled at Zoe. "Everything takes time and hard work, kiddo.... everything, and just because a machine don't work right off don't mean it can't be made to do so. It all takes time and hard work."

ZOE CALIDA