A Wash For Two.

Irene riding on Gyzmo, her hands not yet numb from the leather the way she knew they could be, Gyzmo happily flaunting his speed and tongue by that matter. Gyzmo's fur smoothed back from the wind resistance and body developed into a bullet like figure, lean and stretched forward, happy and carefree.

Irene's hair started to loosen up form the bun, but on Gyzmo she couldn't care less and laughed the whole way there raising the braids and slapping them down gently with her wrists to let Gyzmo know he could go as fast as he wanted to the creek. they passed a few startled campers and some by standers along the way so quickly she didn't bother looking at who they were. Accidentally knocking over one or two people, Irene yelled back a single "SORRY!" and didn't stop for a second.


Suddenly Irene noticed they hadn't slowed down. She tugged at the braids quickly and lead Gyzmo into the water, praying she wasn't disturbing a Nymphs territory. The water slowed the two down just enough to slide to halt. Her face flushed, hair tangled and hair tie lost somewhere along the way, broken most likely, wide childlike grin spread on her face, Irene felt it a much too short ride to the creek as she noticed they had reached the base in under five minutes.

She got off of Gyzmo and looked around for Roy as she filled the bucket with some water and let some clothes seep it in for a moment before bringing out the soap.

"You did marvelous Gyzmo, thank you boy." Irene was very proud of her pup and almost felt bad about giving him a bath however she knew that Gyzmo loved being clean but hated the actual cleaning part.

After looking around a moment more Irene started to wonder where Roy was or if she just couldn't see him.

Roy was rather lost; it was only his third time out in the forest. Hunter though he may be, the forest was HUGE, and there were dozens of creeks here, not just one "Oh, here I am, the Zephyros Creek" type of creek. He figured that he was late with helping Irene wash her clothes, which was lovely. Of course he wanted to be late and act a fool. Who wouldn't while he's trying to make good with the girl?

At intervals, he stopped, climbed a tree, looked around and listened to see if he could make out where Irene was. There were other campers here and there, but none of them were Irene, or even close looking to her voluptuous self. He surveyed left and right, and his tracking skill didn't come in handy if he didn't even know what to track. Sure, he knew the imprint Irene made with her feet, but he didn't find it. If he found them, then he would probably know where the creek was.

Eventually, when on a rather thick tree, he looked over and found her with Gyzmo. Irene was in sight, tending to some clothes and looking around every once in a while. Roy quickly got out his manriki chain, extended it, and swung it to a good branch. He let himself swing off the branch he was on, and onto the crunchy, leafy floor that was so attributed to forests. He was only around 30 feet now from Irene.

"Hey there, sorry I'm late. I was lost," Roy admitted to the girl.

"I should have asked where the creek was in relation to where we met yesterday, but that didn't cross my mind until a bit after you left."

Ecstatic that she wasn't stood up, Irene laughed and stood up to greet Roy.
"No no it's perfectly fine, you're not too late, here just take this smaller bucket and get some clean water in it to rinse off these soapy clothes with. After that we can start on my buddy over there"

Irene sent a quick nod over to Gyzmo who was happily rolling around in the dry dirt and trying to snap his mouth over some stray bugs in the air.

The creek's soft rushing sound was a nice touch to the atmosphere as the water nymphs played on a deeper portion of the creek and the animals of the forest laid tame in the sunlight leaving only the wild birds to boast their songs.

Irene looked around for a stray reed to improvise as a hair tie, now that her fun ride with Gyzmo was over she hated having her hair down, her locks would flow over her face and wouldn't leave her to her work the way it did when it's in a bun.

Roy realized very quickly that he was washing girl clothes. Not that he didn't think of Irene as a girl or anything when Roy offered to help, but he wasn't really thinking of the clothes, he was thinking of her. This was certainly one of the more awkward situations Roy had in his life, even more so than misspeaking some German and sounding like he was flirting with an older lady, because that was atleast a small meeting and he would never meet her again. But this was Irene, who he was (hopefully) going to see more.

So rinsing panties and a couple bras wasn't exactly what Roy had in mind when he signed up for the job. Eh, it could have been worse. Roy didn't make any faces or make it any more awkward than what it already was. He rinsed them like he would a shirt or a pair of pants. It wasn't such a big deal, just awkward, was all. Soon enough, the clothes were all washed and rinsed, making it time to give Gyzmo a bath. It looked like a daunting challenge, but Roy knew that it'd probably be quicker than what he had in mind. And maybe afterwards Roy and Irene, since they were already going to get wet washing the dog, would go swimming in the creek. Roy was open for other things, he was still in the mindset of 'This is a pretty interesting camp, let's have all the fun we can!' that most newer campers have.

"Ready?" Roy asked as he looked into Irene's eyes with a light smile.

Irene hung up all the clean clothes on some trees and took the net out of the bush where she hid it from Gyzmo while they washed. He knows what the net means.

She rolled it up behind her back so Gyzmo wouldn't see until she was ready.

"Ok here's the deal, he hates baths and if he gets even close to a shadow he will shadow travel right out of here and I wont' see him for like, two days. so I'm going to throw this net and you have to hold him down while the sun is still up and I get another bucket of water to prewash him with ok? after the net and he gets prewashed he knows its all over and gives in to the bath so we just have to make it to the prewash"

Irene snuck up behind Gyzmo while he was in the sunlight and threw the weighted net over his body and instantainiously Gyzmo started to howl and thrash about trying to get to the shadows of the trees.

"ROY NOW" Irene called for Roy's help just before she could contain Gyzmo no longer. Before Roy Irene had to set a trap for Gyzmo to be hoisted between trees so she would throw buckets of water on him, it was harder but she could do it alone. Now that Roy was here the bath would be much faster and easier assuming all went well.

Roy didn't just go over to the dog and hold it down. He ran to the dog at full speed, and didn't jump, but pounced onto the dog, on all fours to keep him down. The dog was putting up quite a fight, but Roy managed to do an incredibly good job holding the dog down. He had dug on of his feet under a root to a nearby tree, and the other was wrapped around the dog, holding him in place. His arms were around the dog like he was bear hugging Gyzmo. He tried to worm out of it, but Roy wouldn't give.

"Anytime now," Roy said between gritted teeth as he held down the hellhound.

Luckily for Roy, Blaze was fine with baths. In fact, he kinda enjoyed them. Blaze liked the way it made him feel and look. Who could deny when the black stallion's body was shiny, almost a play on its night black coat and mane, shinning in the sun. Blaze like attention, not as much as some other horses did, but nonetheless, he still liked being acknowledged, not necessarily worshiped.

Irene pulled a bucket of water from the creek, and ran back to see Roy wrestling Gyzmo on the ground.

"Careful not to let him touch the shadows!"

Irene called out as she ran closer and arrived. She poured the bucket of water all over Gyzmo and some on Roy out of desperation to get it over with. With a over dramatic howl Gyzmo laid on the patch of grass with what appered to be a pout on his mouth and puffed a bit of air from his nose in discontent. He then turned to Roy and let out an intimidating snarl before looking back down at the ground with annoyance.

"Oh don't be such a drama queen, you know you like being clean"

Irene poured some left over water from the bucket on to Gyzmo and scrubbed him with soap when she turned around to face Roy, who was near soaked at the pants and arms of his right side.

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry Roy, if you still want to wash him, you can take the extra soap bar over on the side of that towel, but I understand if you'd rather go dry off, I'm really sorry Roy"

Irene's eyes looked up in an apologetic way as she took a pause from washing Gyzmo to look at Roy.

Roy was far, far from angry at Irene; this was exactly what he expected to happen. Oh, he planned to playfully splash, or even pull Irene into the creek with him, but for now he just smiled wide. He was enjoying this.

"Absolutely no need to be sorry, Irene," Roy chuckled as he grabbed the bar of soap the girl had pointed out to him and scrubbed Gyzmo -- of course, right after taking off his jacket and shirt; those were hardly necessary now. Roy was scrubbing down the back of the dog, getting out all the dirt Gyzmo just rolled around in. He looked like he was more annoyed that he lost if anything. Roy continued to have a large smile on his face.

Irene enjoyed watching Roy smile like that. She rinsed off Gyzmo's soapy fur and let him air dry himself by darting back and forth and shaking his fur persistently.

"Good boy Gyzmo, see that wasn't all that bad was it?"

Irene was basically soaked from her head down to her toes and felt like going for a swim while the sun was still peaking out, it was around 3 or 4 now, and they still had some sun to spare. The light started to glow over the trees and the creek started to sound more and more welcoming.

Irene picked up some supplies from around the creek and took a few herbs she knew were useful for healing small cuts or bruises. She looked over at Roy and flipped some water his way with her hand playfully.

"You got a little something der Roy" Irene laughed as she spoke and a bit of her french accent slipped away from her normal Spaniard tongue as she said "there".

Roy had fun, spending his time washing Irene's dog with her. They both were now soaking, and the creek seemed to beckon the two to swim together in its waters. Roy was now shirtless and shoe-less, having only his black dress pants on, which made him feel ready for a swim, without his swim trunks or not. Roy chuckled as Irene flicked water at him.

But that french accent...

Wow, was that something. It kinda took Roy off his guard, and he stood a bit dazed with an awed smile on his face. It fluttered  some butterflies in his stomach, but then he went right back to his normal self.

"Not if we both have a little something," He laughed as he ran at her, with all the speed he could muster up. He didn't plow into her, but he grabbed her in his run smoothly and swiftly with both of his arms. It was kinda like a mid-air hug, and had to be the best hug Roy ever experienced. It made Roy feel floaty in the inside, but before the moment could last forever, they both splashed into a deeper part of the creek. Roy swam away with a good thrust of his legs, and then forced himself right out of the water, smiling widely.

Under any other circumstance Irene would have hated to be touched, she's always hated being touched unless consented to or initiated by her. However, with Roy she was fine with it, it seemed alright after initial shock.

Irene was soaked in the creek but having a blast, she swam over to the corner of the creek to where Roy was and gave him a longing stare and a devious smile as if she was planning two different schemes at once, which she was; her only problem was she did them at once.

pushing her self up just a bit Irene pulled in close to Roy's face. She let a small breath out, faked an actual kiss and traded it last second for a small and delicate one planted on the cheek before pushing backwards and kicking some water into his face before he had any time to react to her spontaneous stunt.

Laughing so hard she almost choked on surrounding water Irene looked over to some giggling Nymphs who had seen the whole thing, and she blushed so hard you could have mistaken her for a tomato. The water was cool and she was wondering if Roy was following her down the creek, she knew Gyzmo would take the bucket filled with things back to the cabin, he was a good boy that way, so she didn't worry about leaving her things.

Roy had gone underwater after the splash, allowing a big breath to keep him underwater for a while so he could collect his scattered thoughts for a moment. Because, you know, when you just got kissed on your cheek spontaneously by the girl you were having an eye on, it'll probably put your thoughts all scattered-like. Because wow.

There was an explosion on the left cheek of Roy. He felt himself stunned in an emotional paradise. He was happy, he was joyful, he was smiling from ear to ear, nearly as red as Irene was, he was infatuated with Irene... he had an expanding gas in his chest of euphoric feelings. In short, he felt absolutely wonderful.

Roy shot up out of the water, running a hand through his hair, and swam near Irene, still smiling wide, and noticing Irene redder than a tomato. He somewhat crouched in the water as he approached, getting close to her face.

"I'll return the favor, sweetheart," He said, as he then landed his lips on the girl, and gave her a small but an incredibly meaningful kiss on the cheek as well. It was passionate, even though how small it was. After his kiss, he backed away from her with a roguish smile on his face and his eyebrows up, showing some wrinkles on his forehead.

Irene somehow managed to turn an even deeper shade of red. she rose her hand fro the water and felt her cheek where Roy had left his mark as her smile grew, expending from  ear to ear she swam over to Roy and circled around him for a moment.

"You know, I'm still not your sweetheart Roy." Irene smirked and held her head high as she finished her lap round him and swam past, going deeper into the creek the way one would walk if they wanted to return to the cabins.

She was having a wonderful time but she knew the sun was going to go down and it takes a while to get through the forest via creek. The creek being at almost the heart of the dense forest, animals started to awaken and Irene could tell, still, she wanted the day to never end.

She looked back at Roy who seemed to be catching up to her so she kicked a bout of water in his direction playfully and giggled a bit before slowing down to speak.

"Thank you Roy, really for helping me today. I'm having a wondrous time, how do you like camp so far?" Irene smiled gently slowly returning to her normal self as opposed to her silly crush-stricken composure she held onto only a moment before.

That giggle, so extraordinary. It made Roy feel like he had done the world right -- and he planned to keep it that way. He wasn't going to deny it. Why would he? It felt right.

"Eh, I figured it was necessary for that move." Roy winked at her. He felt he was having a pretty damn good day today, one of the best one Roy had yet. He felt like he could get used to this. Being with Irene, and just having a good time. He thought for a moment bringing her on an adventure, but at the same time, he didn't want to risk Irene's life like that. Maybe when Roy found her ready to. She just seemed a bit...what's the word...unprepared to take on the challenges that are usually presented with the adventures he went through.

"So far, everything's better than expected. It's been a very long time since I've been able to stay in the same spot for a while like I have planned, so it feels like a vacation, almost. And my time here has most certainly been better thanks to you, Irene." Roy smiled at her.

"That's great Roy, I'm glad you are enjoying yourself" Irene was sincere although she felt puzzled,had he not been able to stay in the same spot because of monster attacks, Irene knew all too well of the fears a demigod can have of the outside world before they get to Camp Half Blood, or had he been safe from harm because he moved around so much.

Son of Polydeuces can't possibly have as strong a scent as a daughter of one of the 12 Olympians, maybe he was safe, I hope so, he deserves it.

Irene began to recall all the times a chimera disguised as an injured animal from the animal shelter attacked her, all the times empousai came after her thinking that she was taking their territory. Irene had only a few boyfriends in her life and every time an empousai would consider her man prime target and attacked her until they broke up, or worse would take him from her whoever the unfortunate soul was at the time.

Camp Halfblood was her home now, and she was very grateful to be safe from most harm. They trained her to use a flail and while she wasn't good at close combat, ranged and planned was her forte, with the exception of archery that is.

"We should get going don't you think? the cabins can't be far we could probably just swim it, what do you think?" Irene looked at Roy with a half smile, not wanting to stop the fun but it was almost time for her to feed Gyzmo so she would have had to leave soon anyway.

"Oh, we can swim it. The cabins, as you said, can't be too far," Roy told, with a knowledgeable nod. That, and he didn't care if it was going to be late; he was having fun swimming with Irene, and didn't want it to end. Irene was just so lovely to be around. She drastically beat out his exes, which were quite a lot -- he was much happier with her than any of them so far. And it wasn't like he was nuking the fridge when he was thinking of a relationship with Irene. After all, they just kissed each others' cheeks. it wasn't like they hated each other. There was an obvious romantic light to this friendship. Sooner or later, they'd be dating if everything went like it was going. He swam in front of Irene, smiling giddily.

Eventually, the two made it back to the cabin courtyard. Roy now knew where it was; he talked to some of his cabin mates last night and found out where it was. His dress pants were still rather wet, but they were starting to dry up a bit. They were made of a thinner material, so they did that. Roy smiled at Irene, in front of her cabin door.

"I couldn't thank you enough for today. It was a lot of fun," Roy said, and then brought up her hand to his mouth and lightly kissed it.

"Though, I would like my clothes back before I leave," Roy chuckled a bit.

"Oh of course Roy, Gyzmo brought everything that we left at the creek, I'll give it to you now.

She walked in grabbed Roy's soaking clothes willed with left over soap and mucky water, he'd have to clean this up himself it could take hours getting the stains out, and walked back out to give them to him.

Irene smiled, she couldn't care less that she was soaked, she had had a wonderful time and couldn't wait to see Roy again. She could hear Gyzmo whining for some food and reminded her to get inside.

"Thanks again for everything today, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Good Night Roy" Irene was still blushing lightly from the kiss on the hand. She found Roy to be more romantic than most people she'd met or dated as a matter of fact. With that Irene walked into the cabin, filled with her less than subtle audience of Apollo girls squealing on the inside. You don't need to be in cabin 10 to be a sucker for romance.

Oh great fans. I wonder if it's from the haiku I left on the bed.

Of course her thoughts instantly went back to Roy and knew they had seen the whole thing, Irene had to hold back from turning to see Roy one last time.