It had been a long winter, in more ways than one. Thalia's heart still ached for the broken Nine, for her family now scattered and driven apart by terror and violence. Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, Terpsichore-- one by one, each had retreated, disappearing as silently and as completely as Melpomene had done all those months ago. And Thalia-- she had retreated too, in her own way.
She couldn't tell you when it happened, but somewhere along the line everything seemed to just... stop. She had thought that when the dust had settled and the wounds had started to heal, then things could go back to normal and they could all, the Nine of them, start to be okay again. But some hurts cut deeper than skin and bone and, she realised now, some had been festering for far longer than any of them would have cared to admit. There was no going back, no undoing what had been done, and that realisation had hit Thalia hard.
And when Mark's show had been cancelled and she, along with the rest of the writing staff, was put out of a job, she just hadn't really bothered to find a new one. And when the contract with the Roxy had run its course, she had opted not to renew it. She'd spend her nights drifting from open mic to open mic, laughing often (sometimes with genuine appreciation, sometimes simply as encouragement) but never truly satisfied by what she saw. Her world simply seemed to stagnate.
But sooner or later, you had to do yourself a favour. Polly's return had been a blessing and Kouros was a darling, but if she wanted to get herself out of this rut, she couldn't just expect others to pull her out of it. Sometimes you've got to pull yourself up.
Thalia was trying, really. Spring was creeping into the air, winter's chill grip was failing, and there was - she told herself - no sensible excuse for moping around inside all day. She'd forced herself to get out of the apartment but now, amidst the emerging blooms and the comfortable buzz of human activity, she found herself rather glad that she had. She caught the eye of a nearby woman - a blonde, enjoying a snack on a park bench - and smiled impulsively.