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Apollo ([info]apollolicious) wrote in [info]nevermore_logs,
@ 2021-01-21 23:11:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:aphrodite, apollo, athena, hecate, marcella bellini, tragos

WHO: Apollo, Marcie, Athena, Aphrodite, Hecate, Tragos
WHEN: Tuesday evening
WHERE: Hospital
WHAT: TAKE IT BACK
WARNINGS: TBA



Apollo folded his arms as he looked up at the hospital, this house of healing, this temple born from his knowledge (the medical kind, rather than the musical, or the prophetic, or the knowledge of sweet sweet loving) and felt a stab of irritation that Athena had managed to twist his arm into coming.

Her with her logic and utter unwillingness to be drawn into an argument. A part of him had to be grateful for that unwillingness, knowing that if he had argued with her any longer than he had, he only would have lost. She was right, a war, right now, would cost him too much. Didn't mean he was happy with her.

But a stab of irritation was better than a stab with a knife, he thought, as he inspected the blade he'd taken from Tragos. The knife crafted by one of his Muses, the knife that had killed him; Apollo didn't want to let it go. Oh no, he was holding onto this one. The fates would make it clear where he was to use it, he didn't have any doubt about that.

The gun he'd unloaded and chucked in a bin, the shells into another tip several blocks over. But the knife he was keeping, and he slipped it into his coat pocket as he spied Athena across the road, sighed internally at the sight of her, and crossed over to where she was waiting for him.


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[info]polymetis
2021-01-21 10:39 am UTC (link)
You're late, Athena almost said. She bit back the urge. It had taken enough work just to get Apollo to come here tonight, and the job was by no means done. It would be reckless to antagonise him unnecessarily before the truce was sealed. Even if it might provide a brief stab of satisfaction. Instead, she said only, "Are you ready?"

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[info]apollolicious
2021-01-21 10:46 am UTC (link)
"To be my most generous and benevolent self? Sure," Apollo said, with a wide smile at Athena, a smile with a touch of her own icy hardness beneath it.

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-21 10:57 am UTC (link)
Athena matched his smile, right down to the ice. "Then let's go." And she led the way into the hospital, through the warren of corridors and elevators, to the room where Marcie lay dying.

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[info]apollolicious
2021-01-21 11:43 am UTC (link)
Marcie's room was split between darkness and light.

On Marcie's left, bathed in the warm glow of a lamp bought in from her own home, sat Aphrodite, her golden hair illuminated and her delicate fingers laced through her daughter's hands. She had been speaking softly, reassuringly, lovingly to Marcie, but stopped when the door opened, and turned toward Athena and Apollo.

On Marcie' right, Hecate sat crosslegged on an armless hospital chair, robed in black and shadow. He eyes were closed, her consciousness on the verge of here and there. She faced the door, and if her eyes had been open she would have been staring straight at Apollo when he entered, but he was under no illusion that she knew he was there.

"Ladies," he said, and Hecate did not move but Aphrodite did, rising to her feet.

"You came," she said, taking his hand to draw him toward Marcie's bedside, where she lay unmoving. "Save her, please, save my daughter."

"That's what I'm here for," Apollo said. "Unbridled mercy despite the pain she put me through, despite the violence her father -"

"Get on with it," Hecate's voice said, not from her own mouth but from behind him, in both ears, a nasty old trick that cut him off.

"I said I would, didn't I?" Apollo said, to all three of the goddesses, but looked last as Aphrodite, and then took place on Marcie's left. The blankets that covered her were heavy and warm, and he pulled them down so no barriers but the thin cotton hospital gown lay between her diseased stomach and his warm hands, when he lay them both flat down upon her, leaning in close to share her dying breath.

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[info]born_greater
2021-01-21 12:02 pm UTC (link)
The hospital room seemed very far away from her now. She was only just aware of Aphrodite's words, murmured like a blessing, making her feel loved and at peace.

If she turned, she felt certain she would see the way down to Hades. The path would open up, and she would be able to pick her way down to the river and pay the ferryman, and go Beyond, to walk the hallowed fields and live in peace until the end of all things. She could see the beauty of it in her mind already. Her soul yearned to see it.

"I need a coin," she said to the woman cloaked in shadows, "for the ferryman."

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-21 12:16 pm UTC (link)
Athena came to a stop at the foot of Marcie's bed, in the borderland between Aphrodite's golden light and Hecate's swirling shadows. For Marcie alone, the mortal who had been so cruelly used in this squabble between gods, her voice was gentle. "Not yet, child. Not just yet."

She looked at Apollo, and her eyes were expectant.

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[info]saffroncloaked
2021-01-21 12:31 pm UTC (link)
That is one path that lies before you Hecate agreed honestly, silent to the others in the room but soft and clear in Marcie's mind. Something bronze in her hand caught the light, though there was no true source of light for it to catch. But not a path you need to take yet. Come back to us, Marcie, Marcella Bellini of the strong heart, it is a messy one, but it can be long. Paris, Australia, the choices you haven't made yet. Come back.

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[info]born_greater
2021-01-21 12:53 pm UTC (link)
Was that Athena, come to her bedside to observe the dying? Marcie wondered, distantly, at the appearance of three such notable goddesses by her side. Not many mortals could say they had incurred this sort of protection.

The glint of bronze caught her eye though. She was just a little curious. Maybe, she could have just a peek and then come back-

A golden glow filled her consciousness, suddenly, like a sunbeam breaking through a cloud, and she felt very hot all over, like everything wrong with her was burning off, the turgid cancer in her belly growing smaller and burning away to ash and disappearing in a breathless puff of wind. All the pain drugs in her system went with them too, and she could suddenly feel herself again, her fingers and her toes, hips and shoulders, every part of her belonged to her once more, and she opened her mouth in a gasp as she filled up with light until it all had to burst out of her again, taking the illness with her.

No, she would not take that coin!

Any thought of peacefully drifting towards Elysium sped away as her eyes opened.

Apollo looked down at her- smug, self-righteous, nasty creep-

Before she even thought, she lashed out, her tightly-balled fist smacking into his mouth. "FUCK OFF!"

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-21 01:29 pm UTC (link)
Athena was in there in an instant, forcing her way between her niece and her brother, creating some distance. She felt in the same moment a spear of admiration for Marcie's fire, and a stab of frustration at her timing. If Apollo lost his temper now, there was no telling what mischief he'd wreak – or whether this fragile truce would survive it.

"Stop." She spoke the word with hard steel in her voice, warning flashing in her eyes. "Marcella, I understand this must be confusing, but Apollo is here to heal you, and that is what he's done. Once he leaves this room, he will not touch you again." She addressed Marcie, but her gaze never left Apollo. Say the words, you arrogant fool. Say it, and walk away. For everyone's sake.

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[info]apollolicious
2021-01-21 08:57 pm UTC (link)
Apollo made a grab for Marcie's swinging hand at the same moment Athena pushed him back, and a low, terrible growl came from Hecate, or somewhere in the air around Hecate. Barely a heartbeat later, Aphrodite was bundling Marcie up into her arms.

Apollo raised his hand to his mouth. His lips smarted where they'd been crushed between her fist, weak as it was, and his teeth. His eyes moved over the three goddesses at Marcie's side, knowing that right here and now, he was outplayed. "That's right Marcie," he said, pushing his hands in what looked like a casual gesture into the pockets of his coat. One hand, though, pulled out Tragos' knife, and he kissed the hilt with his eyes on Marcie as he moved toward the door. "I won't touch you again."

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[info]born_greater
2021-01-21 10:39 pm UTC (link)
"Where did you get that?!" Marcie burst out. She at reacted primarily out of self defense at seeing Apollo so close to her so unexpectedly, and now she was filled with horror that her spontaneous action had put Tragos in danger. "No, don't hurt him! What is happening??" and as much as she didn't want Apollo to see her cry, she burst into tears, so overwhelmed by what was going on.

She had been dead. She had been so close to death, and now she was awake and alive and not in any pain. She put a hand to her stomach as she turned towards Aphrodite for comfort, the relief washing through her so much it made her feel weak. Or perhaps, that was just from the weight loss and the not eating.

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-22 03:49 am UTC (link)
Athena narrowed her eyes at the knife, at the insinuated threat, at the horrified realisation in Marcie's voice. Where did you get that, and then, don't hurt him; instant recognition for both the knife and the implied target.

What was it Marcie had told her about the knife she had used to kill Apollo? She'd snatched it up from the nightstand. Her boyfriend had given it to her for self defence. Her boyfriend, the interestingly-named Tragos.

"Yes, Apollo," she said, her voice all acid, eyes sharp. We had a deal, you bastard. "What, exactly, is happening?"

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[info]apollolicious
2021-01-22 04:03 am UTC (link)
It shouldn't have been satisfying, making a girl in a hospital bed scared, so scared and overwhelmed that she cried. It really shouldn't have been.

And yet it really was. Just a nice little fuck you to her. She could live, but he didn't want her to forget what he could do.

"What's happening," Apollo said, sliding the knife away and hooking his thumbs casually into his pockets. "Is that my boys are throwing me a welcome home party tonight, and I've promised to pick up a keg. Lots to celebrate, you know?" He turned, but paused at the door, looking over his shoulder. "Enjoy your life, Marcie. Aphrodite?" he said, and kissed the air at her, then grinned. "I'll call you later."

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[info]born_greater
2021-01-22 07:00 am UTC (link)
Marcie sobbed as Apollo left the room, and as he retreated, her heart grew lighter, and her tears of confusion turned to tears of joy as she pulled away from Aphrodite to feel herself all over. She was alive, alive, ALIVE! She laughed, and covered her face with her hands to cry, and laugh by turns, the emotion twisting her up until she grew tired and had to stop, ripples of giggles going through her.

Enjoy your life. Oh she would, she would. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

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[info]tragos
2021-01-22 09:20 am UTC (link)
In the reflective surface of the hospital elevator, Tragos inspected his neck. It was a little red, but it hurt worse than it looked. Tragos suspected that the barrel of the gun had bruised the corner of his jawbone, and it was going to hurt for a while. He jabbed it with his knuckle, with not even a tenth of the force someone else would use, and pain exploded up his face. Right. Don't get hit.

Still. Could be worse. Tragos put his finger on the sore spot, mimicking the angle of the gun, and pictured the path the bullet would have taken upwards through his brain and out the top of his skull. He'd been a finger twitch away from death, and Melpomene had saved him, again.

The elevator doors rolled open, and he made his way back down the corridor. He dragged his feet, a little; Marcie, he figured, would still be asleep, and the women in the room with her all made him uncomfortable in their own ways. Aphrodite's kindness and emotion disarmed him, Hecate made his bones feel cold, and Celeste... he was still angry at her for all she'd done, but she smiled at him like she wanted to understand him, and he didn't know what to do about that.

Sitting in the room with the three of them, with Marcie barely conscious, was on the verge of unbearable. But Tragos bore it, knowing it would all be much worse when it was over.

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[info]saffroncloaked
2021-01-22 09:22 am UTC (link)
For the long moments after Apollo left, Hecate's attention was simply on her breathing. If she did not concentrate on pulling in careful lungfuls of hospital air through her nose, she might summon something to take Apollo down. Lightning felt right, sharp and painful, and it may strike the fear of Zeus into him on his way to his car.

Maybe not lighting. Maybe something bigger. Maybe something titanic.

Breathe in, breathe out. Marcie was laughing.

She felt herself shift properly back into her body, starting with her smile, till the connection with the liminal space she'd been ready to guide Marcie through had effervesced away. She reached forward and helped herself to a piece of chocolate someone had bought for Marcie, and offered the girl a piece as well, giving herself a moment to soak in Marcie's relief. "We're going to need something proper to eat," she said, slowly rising from the spot she'd inhabited for what felt like a little lifetime. Her feet tingled a little, as the blood rushed back.

In the doorway she met Tragos, and the boy stiffened, stopping in his tracks so he would not run into her. She said nothing, and neither did he, and Hecate turned and caught Athena's eye. Watch this one, her eyes recommended, and then she slipped past Tragos on her mission for sandwiches and cheesecakes.

And Tragos stared into the room, at Marcie, laughing, so stunned the only thought that even tried to break through was that he'd stepped into someone else's room.

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-22 10:41 am UTC (link)
Athena watched Apollo go, her eyes hard flecks of stone. It wasn't over. Perhaps his words were nothing more than that: malicious words, meant to strike fear into the girl he hadn't been allowed to kill. Perhaps he had no more designs on Ares or Marcella, at least for the time being. But he hadn't forgotten either of them, and it rankled him that he'd been made to back down, and Athena had no doubt that if an opportunity arose, he'd be sorely tempted to take it. And Apollo was always a slave to his own temptations.

But for now, at least— For now, the peace held. For now, Marcie was smiling and sobbing and laughing all at once, her health restored. Perhaps, after all, she would live to grow into that intriguing fire.

And then, the boy in the doorway. He had the look of one of Ares' acolytes, all hard muscle and buzzed hair, but his eyes were for Marcie, all stunned amazement. And in Hecate's eyes – a caution. Watch him.

Athena turned each of the pieces this way and that in her mind, like jigsaw fragments, trying to find where they fit.

Hecate had been asking about one of Ares' men a few weeks ago. Melpomene's favourite, she had said.

But Ares would not send one of his men to watch over Marcella. Ares certainly wouldn't tolerate one of his men looking at her like that.

Ah. Yes, that would explain it. She had thought it a curious name.

"Hello. You must be Tragos."

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[info]born_greater
2021-01-22 11:47 am UTC (link)
"Tragos!" Marcie wanted to clamber out of bed, but there were still monitors and tubes in places and that would be awkward, so she settled for holding out her hands to him, tear-stained face uplifted with joy. "He took it back! He took it back!" And she started to cry again, although with less of an edge of hysteria this time.

These three goddesses had saved her life, and she was going to spend the rest of it repaying the debt. Never would she ever not have a shrine to the three of them in her home for as long as she lived.

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[info]tragos
2021-01-22 12:00 pm UTC (link)
Tragos looked back at Athena, trying to work out where she fit, as she was trying to do to him, but without any of the background or context that Athena had. She was just another woman, a hardass looking woman, and he looked at her with hard suspicion for the moment before Marcie said his name, and reached for him. He ignored Athena in favour of Marcie, weeping but lively Marcie, and closed his arms tightly around her. "How's that possible?" he asked, rocked by the shock of it, the impossibility of it.

People rallied, didn't they? Rallied before their deaths, a burst of energy that felt like another shot. Tragos couldn't trust in miracles like the one she was talking about. His heart couldn't about-turn that fast.

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-22 01:00 pm UTC (link)
Athena met the boy's suspicious look with one that was perfectly, infuriatingly opaque. That look told her she'd deduced correctly; seconds later, Marcella confirmed it by calling his name.

She continued to contemplate him as he crossed the room in long strides to wrap his arms around her niece. Tragos. A boy whose fate hung somewhere between Ares' service and Melpomene's favour and Apollo's ire. No wonder Hecate's eye was on him. Walking a line between so many gods – his name might just turn out to be all too apt.

"Apollo was persuaded that it would not be in his interests to make war with Ares," she explained. "Healing Marcie was one of the terms of the truce."

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[info]born_greater
2021-01-23 11:39 am UTC (link)
Marcie gripped the back of Tragos' jacket, burying her face in his neck. Gods but she loved him, the solidness of him, the warmth and strength and aliveness of him. "They all did it," she said softly, her voice cracking with emotion. "They saved me. They saved me."

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[info]tragos
2021-01-23 12:18 pm UTC (link)
Tragos had to snort with smug amusement at the woman's comment; course Apollo fucking chickened out in the end. Course he folded under the threat of war with Ares.

He never should have doubted Ares power. He'd scared submission out of Apollo. Good. Fucking good.

He didn't quite understand the women's part in it, though. But not something he was gonna ask in front of them.

So there was a truce, and Marcie was healed. He wondered how that truce would have held up if Apollo had fired the gun, and he stretched his neck to make himself feel the imprint it had left, since he couldn't poke it, cos he wasn't letting go of Marcie for no shit. He tilted her chin up and kissed her mouth. Maybe he should have cared who the other woman was - and he would wonder, soon, what she'd meant when she said you must be Tragos like she knew something about him, but right now he only wanted to kiss Marcie.

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-28 10:43 am UTC (link)
There was more she might say, but Marcie and Tragos clung to one another with a fierce, the girl's cheeks still shining with tears, and Athena decided to let them have the moment.

Another opportunity soon presented itself. Before Hecate had returned from the hospital cafeteria, a doctor arrived, looked from Marcie's healthy flush to the chart and back again, squinted at the readings on the monitors and then promptly called in a nurse to confirm what she was seeing. In short order, the visitors were bustled out of the room as a crush of doctors surrounded Marcie's bed, talking over one another in their rising confusion.

Within minutes, the door had closed firmly shut, leaving Athena and Tragos alone in the corridor. She turned to the boy, studying him frankly. Conversationally, she asked, "Does Ares know that you disposed of the body?"

It was an educated guess. Marcie had been unwilling to tell her who had dealt with Apollo's corpse, fearing that the information would endanger them. But she had revealed the names of those who knew about the killing, and it had been a short list. Aphrodite, Ares and Hecate, Athena had eliminated at once; all three matched or exceeded Apollo in power, and none of them needed Marcie's protection. That left Much the Miller's Son, and the boyfriend. Tragos.

Tragos, who, it turned out, was one of Ares' foot-soldiers. The men who ran with Ares were ruthless, hardened fighters, and no strangers to the underside of the law. Alone and covered in the blood of a god who had attacked her to strike at Ares – it was reasonable to imagine that Marcie would call Tragos first.

It was also a tactic. Athena was beginning to see the web of connections fanning out from Tragos – Ares' patronage, Melpomene's favour, Marcie's love, Hecate's suspicion – but of the boy himself, she knew nothing. She wanted to see how he'd react, when prodded a little.

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[info]tragos
2021-01-28 11:45 am UTC (link)
Tragos looked sharply at the woman, wondering again who the fuck she was in all this, how she knew Ares, how she knew him.

He knew he was not to answer that question. Ares instructions had been explicit: no one was to know. That had slipped a bit, starting with Much and spreading to the other women in the hospital today, but not because of him. He could keep his mouth shut. Tragos folded his arms and leaned back against the wall, under a poster about measles. "Fuck do you care?" He asked, almost hitting the same conversational tone as she had - though his was part of his defense, mirroring her while he tried to work her out. His walls had gone back up all the way as soon as he wasn't with Marcie.

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-28 12:15 pm UTC (link)
I want to understand your place in this puzzle, she might have said.

Instead, Athena replied, "The peace we've brokered today is fragile. I'm trying to understand where all the cracks lie."

She contemplated him a moment – the closed-off stance, the suspicious eyes; she was certain she'd guessed correctly, but he was too disciplined to rise to the provocation. "It was a thorough job. He died a second time, on the return. Suffocation, I assume, or drowning. So I suppose the real question is, does Apollo know you were involved?"

She thought of Apollo, his eyes fixed on Marcie as he'd kissed the hilt of the knife, and how Marcie had screamed don't hurt him, and she felt she could guess the answer to that one, too.

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[info]tragos
2021-01-29 03:04 am UTC (link)
Died a second time - Tragos' mouth twisted as he heard that. Good. His revenge fantasy of finding Apollo and killing him over and over reared its head, greedy for the news that suffocation and drowning would be as effective as stabbing and shooting.

He wiped the beginnings of a smirk off his face when she asked if Apollo knew.

Was it you who threw me in that hole, lover boy - Yeah, so Apollo might've worked it out after Tragos threw himself at him in an attempt to kill him a second (no, third!) time. That had been - in hindsight - rash. The memory (and the ache in his jaw) killed the last of the repressed smirk completely.

"Suppose that is a question," Tragos agreed, pressing his teeth carefully together to keep his expression neutral, and raising an appraising eyebrow at her. "Who's asking it?"

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-29 04:21 am UTC (link)
Athena watched the hint of a smirk twitch to life, fade and die, almost in the space of a single breath. "Yes, we haven't been properly introduced, have we?" She said it in that same conversational tone, as though the fact had quite slipped her mind. (It hadn't.) "I'm Athena. Ares and Apollo are my brothers."

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[info]tragos
2021-01-29 04:33 am UTC (link)
Ah. Ares' sister - Ares never spoke of her, and Tragos couldn't guess at their relationship. He'd only seen how Ares was around Apollo, but that may mean nothing here. He knew first hand that a relationship with one sibling didn't indicate what the relationship with another would be.

Best tread carefully. "Tragos," he said, with a nod that was curbed away from suspicious by a cautious respect. "But you already knew that." He wanted to ask how she knew, but wasn't sure that being so blatantly curious right now was a wise idea.

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-29 08:18 am UTC (link)
"Yes," Athena agreed mildly. "Tragos. It means goat in Ancient Greek; did you know that? From it, we get the word for tragedy. Tragōidia, the song of the sacrificial goat."

In fact, modern scholars disagreed on the precise origin of the word. Some theorised that the goat had been the prize over which tragedians competed at the Dionysia. Others argued that the ritual sacrifice of a goat was a component of the original tragedies. Some even postulated that the goat was pure metaphor, not to be taken literally.

It seemed to Athena that one common thread ran through all three theories: the goat's fate was never his own.

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[info]tragos
2021-01-29 10:19 am UTC (link)
Tragos narrowed his eyes at her, as suddenly her casual tone turned into something more calculating. And quietly insulting. His name was in honour of Melpomene, yes, but no way it meant goat, especially not a sacrificial one. He'd got that name because he didn't die that night.

"Fascinating," he said, with a dismissive roll of his eyes.

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-29 10:39 am UTC (link)
Athena saw the impatience, the irritation. Not a man with any time for analogy, this one; no, those warriors tended to gravitate toward her. Ares' dealt in violent literalities.

"Names can be powerful," she said. "Yours has drawn a certain amount of attention recently. From Ares, from Melpomene. Hecate. Apollo, now, too. For a mortal, the attentions of gods are not always a blessing." She glanced meaningfully in the direction of Marcie's room. "Just something to keep in mind."

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[info]tragos
2021-01-29 10:56 am UTC (link)
"Depends on the god," Tragos retorted, muscles tight as he considered stepping between Athena and Marcie's door, like her glance was a threat.

Every part of his life had started looking up after Melpomene let her knife slip, and he'd never been part of anything as strong - as unstoppable - as he was as part of Ares' crowd. Attention from Ares and Melpomene was still very much a matter of pride. The others, though? "Apollo can go fuck himself. Hecate-" he bit down on his tongue. Hecate gave him the creeps.

She hadn't said anything to him about the shooting, but she stared a lot, and something about her presence gave him goosebumps.

He definitely didn't want attention from her.

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-29 11:34 am UTC (link)
Athena shook her head, a crooked smile curling the corners of her lips. "It depends on the way the wind is blowing. Watch out for the whims of gods, Tragos, that is my advice to you. Everything they bestow, they can just as easily take away."

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[info]tragos
2021-01-29 11:51 am UTC (link)
That warning was so bloody unnecessary - He knew that already. Ares stripping him of rank and making him work for every scrap of respect and privilege had proved that. She was underestimating how much he knew, how much he'd been through. Realising that made him feel a bit cockier. "And what about your whims?" He asked, trying to turn the spotlight away from him, and feeling like the fact she talked about gods like she wasn't one herself was something to watch out for. "You said 'the peace we've brokered'. You gonna turn on a dime bout that, if the wind changes direction."

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-29 12:56 pm UTC (link)
Ah, there was the fighting spark she'd been searching for. Tragos may not have had any use for metaphor, but he had a sharp eye and he refused to let himself be cowed. Athena appreciated such things, so she offered him an honest answer in return.

"It would have to be a stiff gale. A war between Ares and Apollo would have a terrible toll. Dozens of mortals would suffer for it. Many would die. But," she let the word hang in the air for a brief moment, "if circumstances were to change, and I judged it the lesser evil, then yes, I would throw today's truce to the wind. War is under my patronage, just as it is Ares'."

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[info]tragos
2021-01-29 10:21 pm UTC (link)
Tragos frowned. He hadn't expected honesty, and he certainly hadn't expected her to admit to ditching this truce (the truce that saved Marcie's life) depending on... What?

It worried him. How much danger was Marcie still in? Was Apollo likely to be an underhanded sneaky fucker and try to get to her again? He cast his eyes towards her door and they lingered. He wanted the doctors to confirm she would live, wanted her in his arms again.

Fuck Apollo. He couldn't break this truce if Tragos killed him again. Chucked him into the East River weighed down with something he couldn't fight out of. Drowned over and over, forever out of their way. (And if Ares found out? And if Melpomene did?)

And what circumstance would it take to make Athena break the truce?

Tragos watched Athena, trying to understand her, to get more out of her than she got out of him. There were so many unknowns. Athena (he reckoned) seemed less unknowable than certain others. "And Hecate?" He lifted an eyebrow in the direction she'd gone, this woman he'd killed who had done nothing in retaliation but watch him.

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-30 01:12 am UTC (link)
Yes... Hecate. Athena wasn't sure of the shape of the connection there. Hecate had only spoken of Tragos in relation to Melpomene and her disquiet about the Muse's intentions, but the boy's reaction to the mere mention of her suggested there was more. Apollo had brought his girlfriend to the brink of agonising death and might as easily turn the same power on him, but Tragos seemed to have no compunctions in rashly cursing the god's name out, even in the presence of his sister. Yet when he'd Hecate's name, all other words had died on his tongue. "Why do you ask?"

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[info]tragos
2021-01-30 01:30 am UTC (link)
"What's her stake in this? Why is she helping Marcie?" How is she helping Marcie was another question he didn't ask - two questions in a row already felt like he'd asked too much, any more would be broadcasting his ignorance.

Is she only interested in Marcie to get to me? That was the real question. Does she know? And if she doesn't know I killed her, and she finds out, what then could she do to Marcie, or himself?

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-30 01:57 am UTC (link)
That wariness again. What was his interest in Hecate, she wondered? Did he expect something other than help from her? "Apollo attacked Marcie under the pretext of avenging Hecate, who he wrongly believed Ares had targeted. His actions weren't Hecate's fault, but she feels responsible."

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[info]tragos
2021-01-30 09:19 am UTC (link)
Tragos' frown didn't leave his face as he followed that pathway through. He kills Hecate, Apollo avenges Hecate by trying to kill Marcie, Hecate adopts a bedside watch for Marcie because she feels responsible?

It was not how he expected anyone to behave, and was struggling to believe it. Hecate felt like a threat, and it would take more than a version of events from Athena's perspective to change his mind on this.

Athena seemed willing to tell him things, though. Things he might not be able to find out any other way. He tried to pull his thoughts away from Hecate, back to something more tactical. He needed to know, in order to keep Marcie safe, and chances were good Melpomene would want to know too. "What are the other conditions for the truce?"

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-30 11:00 am UTC (link)
"Apollo heals Marcie and reimburses her medical costs, and Ares, in turn forfeits his right to demand retribution. Each agrees to make no further moves against the other, his people or his territory." Provided they can restrain themselves, she thought darkly. Apollo's scarcely-veiled threat as he'd kissed the hilt of Tragos' knife still played on Athena's mind.

"You seem surprised," she added, "that Hecate would help. This isn't the first time your paths have crossed?"

She'd been prodding at the thought since she'd seen the boy stiffen and come to a silent halt when he and Hecate had passed in the doorway. Athena had thought at the time the sharp look in Hecate's eye had to do with Melpomene, and her reservations about the Muse's intentions. That his unease was that of a mortal who who knew enough to walk carefully around gods not his own. But that didn't gel with the questions Tragos was asking, nor his reactions.

There was one recent occasion Athena could think of, when Hecate had encountered followers of Ares. One encounter that might provoke misgivings on Hecate's side and disquiet on Tragos'.

Hecate had never said what had become of the men who had attacked her.

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[info]tragos
2021-01-30 11:28 am UTC (link)
Tragos really didn't like the cleverness in Athena's questions. "No, it is," Tragos said, leaning back against the wall. "Just trying to figure out why someone Marcie's never mentioned meeting before would give up so much time to help her. And what she wants from Marcie in return."

That, surely, was a legitimate reason for the suspicion Tragos knew he had been unable to keep from showing.

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-30 12:05 pm UTC (link)
Hmm. It would have been plausible, if she hadn't seen that wordless encounter in the doorway. "A powerful god tried to make a plaything of Marcella. Hecate mislikes such things, and this time it was done in her name. You needn't be concerned about her looking for something in return." And then, without missing a step, she asked offhandedly, "So Apollo is the first god you've killed, then?"

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[info]tragos
2021-01-30 12:19 pm UTC (link)
Shit. He hadn't killed Apollo. Athena knew he hadn't killed Apollo, so what the fuck was that question other than some kind of trap?

Unless she meant killing Apollo by burying him too well - but by the time Tragos though of that he'd already hesitated. Besides, he'd never confirmed he was the one who buried Apollo. She was trying to trick him into admitting he had.

She wasn't getting a thing out of him. Tragos smiled hard at her. "He will be if he ever comes near Marcie again."

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[info]polymetis
2021-01-31 02:15 am UTC (link)
It was neither an admission nor a denial. She hadn't really expected either; the boy knew better than that. And it was possible she was off-base about Hecate. Athena had eyes in a lot of places, but when it came to Ares' War Dogs, all she had was supposition. Any one of his men might have been the killer.

But this was not the first time Hecate and Tragos had met; she felt sure of that much. And there was a certain... tragic symmetry to it that couldn't be ignored, not when the boy's fate was so closely entwined with Melpomene. A boy strikes a god, not knowing that the consequences will fall on his lover. The lover strikes a god, and... well. Suffice it to say that Athena was keen to avoid Tragos and Apollo ever meeting, lest the consequences spiral out of control yet again.

Hecate had been right; this one bore watching.

"Be careful who you say that to," she advised. "One time, unintended though it was, Apollo will not forget. A second time, he will not allow to pass unanswered. You'd do well to stay clear of him."

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[info]tragos
2021-01-31 06:57 am UTC (link)
Tragos just watched her, hearing her advice but having little to no intention of taking it to heart. Maybe Apollo would do well to stay clear of me he thought, and wished he could believe it fully.

He had Ares and the boys at his back though, if it came to that. Wasn't anyone Tragos would rather have. With the thought of them, Tragos felt his spine strengthen.

Maybe Apollo would do well to stay clear of us.

He smiled at Athena. "Noted."

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