Pylades | Πυλάδης (vesseloflife) wrote in nevermore_logs, @ 2017-02-14 21:03:00 |
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Current mood: | blah |
Who: Electra & Pylades
What: Reunions, part 2
When: Monday afternoon
Where: Electra's weapon shop, Indian restaurant
Warnings: I doubt it?
Ever since she'd opened it a few years ago, Electra's weapons shop had been her pet project. She got to play with all sorts of interesting things, she met lots of interesting people (and sometimes a few odd ones), and she made a comfortable living doing something she was good at. And now that her brother was in the city, she was determined to find him something she thought he might like.
Pylades had seen Electra give Orestes the address of her shop, and he'd debated for a few days whether or not he should drop by. Would she even want to see him again? He didn't know, but he also figured it couldn't hurt to be polite and say hello. He drove himself over to her shop, which wasn't massive, but looked to be well kept and prosperous. He parked and went inside, glancing around for someone to speak to.
Electra heard the bell go off, followed immediately by the presence that signaled another like herself. She quickly made her way up to the front, only to be brought up short by the image on the security monitor. That definitely wasn't Orestes, and it wasn't her father. So it had to be her husband. Still, it wasn't like she was unhappy to see him. Her smile still in place, she rounded the corner and made her way to the shop floor. "Boo," she said, grinning at him.
Pylades looked up from where he'd been examining a case of throwing knives. He smiled back at her. "You're a sight for sore eyes," he told her. "Love the shop, by the way."
"I bet you say that to all the girls given to you by Apollo," she teased, and Pylades rolled his eyes. What had started as a bone of contention in their marriage had slowly turned into something they'd had to work through together. They had been bound together by divine decree, and had finally decided, after several knock-down, drag-out fights, that they'd try and make the best of it. They even had three children together, and by the time of their deaths, they were probably as happy as they were going to be.
"He could've at least given me someone who could cook," he retorted, and Electra squawked in mock-outrage. "That's so rude! Just because I burned the bread...all the time..."
He cut her off with a laugh. "Peace, you know I don't care."
She laughed, then sighed contentedly. "Yeah, I know. It's good to see you again."
"You too," he replied, leaning against one of the display cases. "Been in the city long?"
"In the grand scheme of things, not really," she told him. "Since the 70's. I've been in the country for...about two centuries, give or take. I really wanted to get out of Greece."
"Yeah, I can't blame you there."
They fell into a comfortable silence, then Electra asked, "I don't suppose...you haven't heard anything from the children, have you?"
Pylades shook his head sadly. "No. And I don't really expect to, honestly. Their names our barely remembered, some sources even disagree on whether we had two or three."
"It was definitely three," Electra said. "It's rather difficult to forget how sick being pregnant makes you feel for the first few months."
He snorted. "Yes, I'd imagine so. You remember, when we had those envoys for dinner? You had to excuse yourself three times to throw up, and the fourth time you just didn't come back."
Electra burst out laughing. "I just remember thinking, 'I want some water. I want to lie down. I want some water. I want to lie down.' My ladies were like fluttering birds, and I just about banished them so I could get some rest. I fell asleep before I could do it."
Pylades threw back his head and laughed as well. "Which explains why I found you passed out, face smashed into the pillow, snoring. It all makes sense now."
"I don't snore!" she gasped, fluttering a hand over her heart in mock-indignation.
"No, sweetheart, you really do," he told her, chuckling. "Kept me awake some nights."
"You're the worst husband ever," she pouted, crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out at him.
They lapsed into another silence, this one a bit less comfortable. She'd hurled that accusation at him before in the early days, only with less cute faces. They'd both flung their share of insults back and forth, and it had taken time for them to forgive the other one for their wounds. Electra's favorite had been, 'You obviously love my brother more than me', which had always made Pylades withdraw into himself for a time. He couldn't help it, but at least he hadn't moped around their palace, pining away for missing Orestes. That barb had stopped coming once they'd tried to make their marriage work, but the two of them had never really forgotten it.
As if sensing his train of thought, she asked quietly, "So have you seen Orestes lately? How is he?"
Pylades looked up, dragging himself back from his memories. "Hmm? Oh, yes. He's doing pretty well, at least from what he told me. He found me when I was teaching at the gym, he showed up just in time to see me get knocked on my ass."
She snorted. "Impeccable timing, as usual. What do you teach?"
"I'm an MMA instructor," he replied. "That day it was pins and holds, and he distracted me at just the wrong moment."
"A likely story," she answered, chuckling. "I'll have to come by your gym sometime, I'm always looking for ways to occupy my time, ones that make me feel like I've accomplished something."
Pylades opened his wallet and took out a business card for the gym, with a web address and telephone number. "I'm going by Peter this time around, so that's who you should ask for," he explained. She nodded and tucked the card in her pocket.
"And on a different note," he continued. "That knife is very shiny, and I would like to take it home with me, please."
She brightened visibly. "Oh good, a new loyal customer," she said, smiling, as she pulled out the knife to show it to him.
"Not to toot your own horn, or anything," he replied dryly, looking it over.
"Please, my selection is the best around, and the prices are more than fair," she shot back. "I don't do replicas, and I don't cater to amateurs or people looking to be cool on the internet. I sell the good shit."
"Yes ma'am," he agreed, following her to the register.
"Just remember that phrase," she told him, winking at him over her shoulder. She rang him up for the knife, then boxed it up and put it in a bag.
"Do you want to go get dinner or something?" Pylades asked. "I'm starving. And I need a drink."
"Yeah, alright," she agreed. "Give me a few minutes to close up and count the register down." Pylades nodded and settled himself onto the floor, scrolling through Facebook on his phone until she was ready to go. The two of them made their way to a small Indian restaurant, where they ordered beers and dared each other to order the hottest curry they could stand.
"I'm not getting vindaloo," Pylades said firmly. "I'm fond of my digestive tract, thanks."
"Weeeeeak," Electra laughed, taking a pull off her third beer.
Pylades flipped her off and opened his third as well. "Hush, woman, let me order my naan and korma in peace."
"Oh, fine. Spoilsport."
When the waiter came, they ordered more naan, and Electra ordered prawn jalfrazi, and Pylades got his korma. As he walked away, Electra asked, "Maybe we could do this again sometime? Bring Orestes and Hermione, if they wanted to come."
"Yeah," Pylades agreed. "Once Orestes gets past the 'holy shit, look, my wife!' stage he's probably in."
Electra snorted. "Well he loves her. I can't really blame him."
He raised an eyebrow. "And..." he prompted.
She sighed. "I just-I wish you were as happy to see me, sometimes," she said, very quietly.
"In fairness to me-and I'm aware of how that sounds," Pylades began. "I wasn't unhappy to see you. I also had no idea you were even here before about three days ago. I wouldn't go out of my way to avoid you, but I also wasn't expecting us to automatically be totally happy living in each other's pockets, either."
Electra blinked a few times, not having a reply quite ready. "That's...that's quite enlightened of you," she finally said. "And that's fair, so...that works for me." She held up her beer bottle, and they clinked the necks together. She took another long pull, then asked, "Want to go to the shooting range with me on Wednesday?"
"Fuck yeah I do," he agreed, grinning. "You look like you have all the fun toys."
"Oh, if only you knew," she told him, winking again. He laughed and finished off the last of his naan.
Their food and replacement naan arrived not long after that, and they wiled away another 45 minutes, chatting and eating and drinking. Finally, they called for the check, and made their way to the door to go home. "Iiiiiiit's taxi time," Pylades sang, pulling out his phone and ringing for a cab.
"My hero," Electra sang back at him, leaning heavily against him while they waited. The car arrived not long after, and Electra gave him her address as the first stop. They both got out when it pulled up to her building, and after a moment's hesitation, she pulled him into a hug. "I'll call you tomorrow, yeah?" she said, pulling back. "With the range address."
"You have the good plans," he agreed. "Good night, Electra."
"Good night."