Allegra Lenkeit // Elpis (h8texpectations) wrote in forgotten_gods, @ 2009-06-05 11:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | elpis, kali |
Who: Elpis and OPEN
Where Central Park
When: Friday morning
What: Thinking. Hoping. Peppermint.
A girl sat on the grass in Central Park wearing pink pajamas, a dandelion crown, and sunglasses on the back of her head. The PJ were neat but clearly oversized; the cuff on both ends were rolled up. She had a similarly roomy leather jacket. Only the sneakers, old but noticeably scrubbed, fit properly. Or at least they would if she'd been actually wearing them.
Elpis, goddess of Hope and Expectations, wiggled her bare toes in the cool greenery and thought.
It'd been a busy morning. She'd rode the clunky subway, holdings hands with a disheartened vet. He left the train with a new glimmer of light in his tired heart and had given her three peppermints. She'd given one to a busker with an electric banjo outside the station; he'd given her a song with a little more shine in the tune. The melody made the mother and daughter standing near, smile and linger. Elpis gave both a flower--she always had some in her pocket--and they'd walked with her to the park.
Now, here she was awake, truly honestly awake, for the first time in weeks. It felt strange to be out on her own; Allegra was sleeping, her mortal consciousness a small, warm pulse on the edge of Elpis' senses. She'd been briefly tempted to peek into her dreaming (mortals have lovely dreams) but Legra was really touchy about that sort of thing, so Elpis kept out.
It was lonely, though, being outside without Legra's fervor. A little scary, too. Elpis sighed.
She didn't use to be such a coward, really, she didn't. But the more often she'd returned to rest in the Box, the flimsier her nerves became afterwards. Upon each resurfacing the world seemed a little colder than before, the sun more glaring, people less generous. She'd always entered the world ready to give--but how could you put anything into a fisted hand?
Some day it felt like nobody believed in hope anymore.
And yet...
Elpis wrapped pink arms around equally pink knees and stared at the weedy flowers trying to shove their way into the sun. She licked her lips and tasted peppermint.