Who: Poseidon and Rhode When: Monday morning, January 16th What: Settling in to this no-name life where 'Poseidon' doesn't exist. Where: Poseidon's office Warnings: Language, a little depressed, pouty ex-sea king
The walk to work had been an excruciating one. There was a bitterness in the air that went beyond his own depressive mindset. There was no sense of belonging, cast back down in the pit of Cronus' stomach without a way out. He could gnash and claw, push and pull, but the result was the same. Trapped in this suffocating place.
When he stepped up next to the harbor there was a darkening realization. What he actually feared. The ocean herself recoiled from him. She shrieked in an unnatural way, waves pulling away as he stood against the harbor rails. It was a knife in his gut, wrenching inside, coiling everything around until it couldn't function anymore. There could have been a mist to his eye at the sight of his eternal mistress curling her waves away from him, screaming in his ears with a piercing voice instead of luring him with her siren's call.
His hands gripped the rail with a choked reply. All his ties were broken, string severed and frayed at the ends. To have everything cut from his very existence, his wife, children, his powers and titles made him incredibly vulnerable. More vulnerable than he'd ever been at the mercy of the underworld lord and brother. He hardly knew how to carry himself now. He slipped in unusually quiet to the office bypassing Ariel and his daughter. If she could be called that. What were these children, estranged? What was Amphitrite now? Just this aggravating burn that wouldn't heal.
Flopping into his seat, Poseidon twirled it around while the computer started up. His mind seemed focused on more menial things, even the very sight of seafood made him sick. His entire body rejected all things related to what was once his. Either that or he still had a sour taste in his mouth and not at all ready to give up on his tantrum. The day seemed to pass in long minutes, keeping his distance from those just outside his office while he for once paid more attention to his work than a pair of sexy legs.
Rhode still wasn't sure what her position was in Poseidon's company, but she showed up because he tended to freak out when she didn't. Plus, it was a paycheck. Also, she kind of wanted an up-close view of how he was dealing with all of this.
So when he slipped inside and ignored both her and Ariel, she knew he wasn't taking it well. But he deserved this. He'd messed with her and her mother and siblings one time too many, and bringing Briareos to the city, knowing how much Ky hated him, was incredibly low, even for him.
So she followed him into his office, closing the door behind her, and perched on his desk, crossing her legs. "You're pouting," she said. "It's very becoming."
Poseidon's eyes went just over the paper he was scribbling away on, noticing her space on his desk but not once looking to meet her eyes. There was a dullness in his own that made them sick, hardly the bright blues of the ocean.
"I'm busy, do you mind?" he gave her a forced and equally creepy smile. It was harder to focus with her there. Just like her mother he'd never even felt her approach.
"If you're here to gloat, I won't hesitate to throw you out." It wasn't easy to save face now, there was nothing to back him.
"Don't mind at all," she said flippantly, adjusting herself to get better purchase on the desk. "But honestly, can you really say you didn't know this was coming? You fuck with all of us like we're you're little playthings, and then you're all fucking surprised when someone strikes back. We're your children, Earthshaker," she said, putting a venomous emphasis on his title. Well, what had been his title. "We don't just lie down and take abuse. We fight back. You have no one to blame but yourself."
She stood up, shrugging. "Throw me out. See if I care. Still not afraid of you. Royally pissed off, sure. But not afraid."
Poseidon slammed back against his seat, pushing it from the desk the closer she moved. His hands gripped his neck not at all liking just how much she was able to see of this side of him.
"Your mother has already given me that lecture. I'm well aware of the growing hate for me." Before, that hate would have made him laugh. Now it was just a knife prying itself a little deeper into his side. His fist curled into a ball against the perfectly polished desk, but there was no shake. Not even the roll of his pen down the side. Just that dull sound of wood vibrating against his fist.
His hand covered over his face, down that long nose and over his mouth as he stood abruptly. Like a fish out of water he had no idea of where to go. Poseidon looked out the window able to see the harbor from a distance. She still shrieked at the sight of him.
"Because you've earned it!" she fired back, eyes flashing like lightning. "You tried to kill my husband, you still threaten that you will! You beat up Triton! You treat Mom like crap! You bring Ky's husband here, knowing how much she hates him! What did you expect?! Flowers and candy?!"
He wasn't looking at her anymore, and that, more than anything, pissed her off. She grabbed him by the collar and forced him to meet her eyes, right before she backhanded him across the face.
"I have been wanting to do that for centuries," she hissed. "That and so much more. Should throw you in the harbor and watch you drown. Gods know you deserve it."
He'd always been the biggest bully of the bunch, but in old days he actually held some merit. People were afraid, they ran from him. They embraced him. Now, Triton proved what any father was terrified of. Taking over and doing a better job. It was what happened of Ouranos, of Cronus. Now, it was happening of Poseidon. He would sit but for so long in this lingering depression, but he wasn't going to let it keep him there. There were still a few days yet for him to pout before taking action. He had to savor all the strength he did have. What little was left.
None of his children would ever understand that undying feeling to fill whatever emptiness he possessed. His stress to pull back what power he had when others rebuked him.
He pushed her off, smacking her hand away without the force that he was used to. It was just a defense now. "And watch your world turn upside down." Triton was not harsh at all, Poseidon did not believe he could handle all that power.
He wasn't going to let her see his eyes broken with redness. The way they burned under his lids from the magnitude this stunt he had pulled.
She rallied quickly, bringing her hand that he'd swung wide back up into his face again, delivering another stinging blow. "Please," she said, words laced with as much scorn as she could muster, which right now, was quite a lot. "You barely have enough power to turn me upside down, never mind my whole world. You're human now. And you will be until Triton feels you've learned your lesson. Which, for all of our sakes, takes a long fucking time."
She stepped back out of his face, she was done slapping him. She was not going to be feeling any sympathy for him for a long time, but that didn't mean she had to keep wailing on him.
Poseidon like the rest of his Greek clan was a creature of habit. They lived in the walls of their power and what made them as such for centuries. Their ways were hardly changeable. He'd been thrown hit after hit after hit---but fuck it all, this one actually stung the worst. His powers were his right, his place. No one else's. Child or not.
Your brother won't be able to handle it. It's what he wanted to say, but instead of giving her a nasty retort he just let it pass. She was beaming over this, much like the rest of them. Happy to see him crawl on his belly. Except that little sunshine mistake that kept calling his office.
"So throw a fucking party," he threw in as much bite as he was able, but it just came out pathetic.
Rhode watched as her father seemed to deflate before her very eyes. She knew he hated this more than probably anything else in the world, and while she still firmly believed that he deserved it, there was just no fun anymore in kicking him while he was down. That didn't mean she couldn't get a few verbal barbs, though.
"Maybe a themed one," she agreed airily. "With little tridents stuck in cupcakes. It might be fun."
This was a dream he wanted to wake up from. For a moment he ignored her jabs, holding his head up even though the water was coming in to drown. He didn't know how to swim in an ocean that treated him like poison.
Rhodes verbal lashing tuned out as he starred off into space out that window. Time seemed to buzz by so quickly now. Immortal life aside, it was like that of any human. Without power under his belt, there was too much to do in each day. That was insufferable.
"Oh, you going to have party hats too?" He threw out with a devious smile to save face. "Let me guess? A crown?" He was mocking her attitude towards the whole thing, but when he shoved off the windowed wall he went back to his desk, that smile was replaced with a much more grim face.
Rhode tried to gather herself, but her exhale was pretty much a growl through gritted teeth. He was being such a drama queen about the whole thing. It wasn't like this had been sprung on him with no warning. He had to learn that his family's lives were not things he could twist and manipulate for his own amusement.
"A nice, shiny one," she spat out. "Maybe, to top everything off, we'll burn you and Briareos in effigy. Could be fun." Her smile was cold and mean, and if they'd been near the harbor, she had no doubt the wind would have been howling around the pair of them right now.
What Rhode or no one else understood was that desire to live in destroying others, it was what his jealousy had been breed into. Though, now without such powers he could not only feel himself drain away day by day, becoming normal, but it was stripping back everything to a man he didn't recognize. He'd never had to deal with the part of himself that had once been a stronger, considerate individual.
Now he was having to see that man resurface and it frightened him. He'd already shown a side of himself that made him greatly uncomfortable when he'd returned from Hades. He was a different man, father and husband, but this was old and new ground at the same time. He didn't like it at all.
"Why not use Briareos for twigs and firewood." He rolled his eyes, not having anymore of her lip. He would have barked she step back and rolled her right out of the office, but it was useless as he was now.