InsaneJournal

WHO: Kymopoleia & Briareos
WHEN: Thursday
WHERE: A mall
WHAT: The second - more public - meeting of husband and wife
WARNINGS: Mentions of rape but nothing detailed.
NOTES: I can't remember if America uses the term 'food court' right now and I can't be bothered googling as I usually would. SUE ME.

Kymopoleia was understandably on edge.

She'd moved in with her brother although she was sure to call the situation temporary even if she didn't know if it would be. She'd already shown too much weakness in front of Triton though and Kymopoleia was Poseidon's daughter through and through: weakness was not acceptable. Weakness would not be tolerated. Weakness was something to exploit and use in others.

So she forced herself not to hide inside her own closet like she wanted to. She forced herself to pretend that she didn't care about her husband being in the city. She covered every inch of fear in layers and layers of sarcasm and disdain because cruelty had always kept her safe. (At least, it had always kept her safer. No one could hurt what they couldn't touch, and she had learned longer ago that even if Briareos could take her body, she could still stop him from taking her soul.)

She sat in the crowded food court in a mall today, poking at the McDonald's fries in front of her and not really eating them. She'd lost her appetite for food of late. Things that had been enjoyable had turned to ashes.

Her stomach clenched in fear and Kymopoleia looked up, slowly standing as she felt him. It took a few moments to actually see him but he was coming towards her through the crowd now. Kymopoleia stood still, watching silently and waiting for him to reach her. If he wanted her to run he would be disappointed.

(Post a new comment)

[info]metacarpus
2012-01-26 06:39 pm UTC (link) Track This
Briareos had settled in as well as he was able. He'd found an abadoned shop the he could turn into a studio space using Poseidon's money. The damned sea god owed him something for things turning out as they had. He might appreciate Poseidon's interest, but he didn't have to like him right now. Neither of them were speaking to the other, so Briareos used the opportunity to get his head straight. Kymopolemia's stunt only made the itch to pursue that much more inviting. She'd embarrassed him, proved just how human he was now. It was enough to make him grind his teeth down.

The mall was close to the shop he'd been eyeing. Crowds of people were not as easy for him to bat off, but he smelled her nearby. In the middle of the day it seemed not so hectic. There were mothers out with their children as he stalked into the food court. Her options were limited now. He held his composure pretty well, but there was anxiety when any group of people invaded his personal space too closely.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-01-26 06:43 pm UTC (link) Track This
Kymopoleia herself had no discomfort around so many people. She didn't like them but it was simply that: dislike. Mortals were beneath her.

"I'm armed," she told him simply, her fingers hands buried in her pockets and one of them wrapped around the knife there. "Touch me and this time I'll make you bleed even better than last time." She raised an impatient eyebrow at him. "So if you have something to say to me, say it."

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]metacarpus
2012-01-26 06:55 pm UTC (link) Track This
Briareos held his hands up. He had no intention of attack unless she came at him first again. He had her cornered now, it was enough to sate his interest. "Come at me like a ravenous dog and I'll drag you outside by the hair." His advantage was what reign he had had over her in the past. He may not have been the same twisted monster but he wasn't going to let her embarrass him again.

He didn't really have anything to say, he just came to be a pox on her skin, never to leave. "I said I'd find you." She didn't smell quite as fearful, but it was there, which brought out an old excitement.

Briareos took a seat across from her, lazily slouched in it as he stared her down.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-01-26 06:58 pm UTC (link) Track This
Kymopoleia sat down at well, her hands remaining in her pockets and on that knife. "Drag me outside by the hair?" she asked her husband, looking him up and down contemptuously. "I'd almost like to see you try now. The last time we met something was pretty damn obvious to both of us and you know it: you're not stronger than me anymore."

She smirked, leaning back in her chair a little. The terror inside her wouldn't quite die but she knew she was right about this. He was weak and possibly trapped in this tiny mortal form. He was a pathetic memory of a monster.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]metacarpus
2012-01-26 09:56 pm UTC (link) Track This
It was a confusing reverse of roles. It haunted him every day, that detachment from what he had been. His body was covered in tattoos, a form of mutilation to some to feel complete within this puny body. The more he broke and inked skin, the closer he felt to home.

He spread his legs out in the seat, butt sliding down the chair and cocked his head back. He watched her like a hawk, eyes unchanging before straightening up in his chair. His elbows pressed against the table, drawing himself closer to her than was probably comfortable. "You have a good grip now, I won't deny that." But she would not do that again. She would not throw him into a tight place because he couldn't handle it. His head lowered, blue eyes taunting her. "It doesn't mean you're free of me."

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-01-26 10:04 pm UTC (link) Track This
Kymopoleia didn't draw away, even though it was her first instinct. She just watched him. "Seeing you now, like this, I don't know what I was scared of the last time." She smiled, and her amusement was cruel. "I've killed stronger men than you in this country. I can make you bleed."

She leaned in then, feeling stronger than she had since he'd walked into Poseidon's kitchen. "Maybe you won't get free of me this time, hubby."

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]metacarpus
2012-01-26 11:09 pm UTC (link) Track This
Briareos rolled his eyes. He'd be inclined to get in a bloody battle with her on open ground and see if she could say that to his face again.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." His face turned less amused. She was starting to annoy him.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-01-27 10:23 am UTC (link) Track This
Kymopoleia leaned forward, plucking one of the fries off her plate and eating it. She had taken her eyes off him, a purposeful action to taunt him and show how little she feared him. Always in their marriage she had been on guard. There had been no relaxing around him because he was always dangerous and always volatile and even when she had tried to match it she'd only come out weaker.

She had nothing she cared to say to him. If he wanted to speak then let him.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]metacarpus
2012-01-27 10:54 pm UTC (link) Track This
That dreadful silence hung in the air. Briareos was not a heavy conversationalist, but her lack of words annoyed him even more. She was gloating in the fact that she had one level over him. Her confidence would not last forever.

He pulled her tray over towards him, helping herself to her fries. "Staying with your brother?" Triton was her safehold right now with Poseidon's titles, but that too would not last forever.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-01-27 11:02 pm UTC (link) Track This
Kymopoleia ran a casual hand through her blue locks and watched him, her smile the very image of very fake politeness. From her pocket she drew a plane ticket and flashed it between them for a moment before putting it away once more. "Not staying anywhere long."

The ticket was to Florida, an escape from here, but it had been for three days ago. Closed he couldn't see that though. Kymopoleia didn't know why she hadn't taken the chance and she refused to believe that it was because she was relying on Triton to protect her. That felt pathetic.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]metacarpus
2012-01-30 02:33 am UTC (link) Track This
She played her tricks now just like her father. Did she find him an idiot? He had never been the fastest when it came to understanding the particulars of those around him, he didn't care. Now, that he was in this humanistic form, it was easier to obtain his own thoughts, to read people when it was necessary, to leave when he felt trapped. Kymopoleia held a power now that he wasn't satisfied with.

"If that is what you wish you would have been there already." Surely, she would have booked the first flight out of New York the day she'd seen him if she'd really felt to.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-01-31 07:53 pm UTC (link) Track This
Kymopoleia just shrugged, a gesture revealing nothing. A child squealed somewhere across the food court and the blue-haired nymph turned her attention in that direction, glad to have anything to distract her from this thing sitting across from her.

When she looked back at Briareos her face was expressionless. "So what do you want?"

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]metacarpus
2012-02-01 05:05 am UTC (link) Track This
"You seem to think this is all about you." He laughed falling back into ease with the situation instead of letting it set him into a panic. The people around them were blocked out as he set his cold gaze upon her. Those eyes would devour her.

"Things in California were not working out. Your father made me an offer I couldn't refuse." He gave her a nasty grin.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-02-01 05:44 am UTC (link) Track This
"If it isn't about me," Ky told him with a sneer, "then you're doing a shit job of it, seeing as how you keep coming to find me. Makes you look pretty much like an obsessed fucking creeper." She flicked her eyes down across him, her lip curled. "No surprise there."

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]metacarpus
2012-02-16 12:56 am UTC (link) Track This
His lip curled into a half smile, leaning in, elbows on the table. "Maybe that's just what you need." His neck craned, head tilting to the side to look at her from another direction. "Someone you can't break."

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-02-16 04:14 am UTC (link) Track This
Ky raised one slow eyebrow. "You think I can't break you?" she asked him, almost amused at that. "You're like a stickman now and-" she pointed at his cheek "-you have my teethmarks still."

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]metacarpus
2012-02-16 04:20 am UTC (link) Track This
"Don't act so triumphant. It'll heal." There was a time he would have broken her near in half and still made her stand up. His eyes dropped to the table, his focus elsewhere. "You can't hide behind Triton forever." It was really a shame that Poseidon had let his titles go so easily. It was one person on Briar's side.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-02-16 04:29 am UTC (link) Track This
"It'll heal," Ky agreed, picking up a chip and pointing it at him casually. "But you'll always remember that I'm no weaker than you."

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]metacarpus
2012-02-16 04:33 am UTC (link) Track This
"It will heal, you won't." His eyes started to focus around them as a small crowd of people started to hone in around, passing by their table in a fashion that was much too close for him. He twitched, hands off the table as he shuffled in his seat.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-02-16 05:15 am UTC (link) Track This
Ky noticed and instead of responding to his words she noted, "you don't like the crowds. And I remembered when I locked you in the pantry you screamed - not cause you were angry. You sounded scared." She couldn't help but smirk a little. "Scared of the dark, Briareos?"

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]metacarpus
2012-02-16 05:24 am UTC (link) Track This
"Fuck off, Ky." His tone turned defensive. "I'm just not a fan of tight spaces." He was used to being alone, it was better suited than out in the open.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-02-16 05:27 am UTC (link) Track This
It made her feel good, that clear weakness of his. "Good to know," she commented, relaxing into her seat. "Not so strong anymore. I like it."

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]metacarpus
2012-02-16 05:42 am UTC (link) Track This
Briareos sat more comfortably in his chair once the crowd passed. "You have your own weaknesses, don't be so smug." He flipped her his own grin.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

[info]waveranging
2012-02-16 06:36 am UTC (link) Track This
"Do I?" she asked him, not exactly seeing how she could possibly have anything to fear from him anymore. "And what would those be?"