Who: Poseidon and Ariel What: Strut your sexy stuff, back to work When: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 Where: Poseidon's office Warning: Flirtatious banter and language?
He still wasn't completely comfortable in his body yet, there were times where he felt out of place. As if he were getting his sea legs for the first time, learning the ropes. The ocean no longer wailed but she was as shaky as he, thrashing against the harbor with his unsteady command. He didn't have a place of his own again, while he was perfectly content loitering off of Amphitrite and the place she'd kept hidden from him for so long, it wasn't his. There wasn't a stitch in that house that represented him other than himself. They were slowly sliding back into where they'd left off, and he'd been rather successful at her not bringing up an ultimatum just yet.
Once he was back at the office, it was like slipping into a new suit. He had to wear it in all over again. It looked dashing, but there was some breaking in to be done. No longer creaking like the dead (or swimming with them), Poseidon walked into the building with that arrogant smile, crisp suit and shades. The secretary that he'd left a sniveling wreck with Ariel looked to still be there.
"Put on a little weight, honey?" he asked sauntering by. She displayed an irritated huff, tears lining her eyes.
"Where's the coffee, baby? Didn't you know I was coming?"
The girl stood frustrated tugging at her shirt. "And where have you been?" Her hands sat on her hips as if she had the authority to ask such a blunt question. Poseidon turned his chin over his shoulder, taking off the shades with a laugh.
"Vacation. Don't you see the tan?" he laughed again sliding right past Ariel's desk and turning her mug so that the words faced her before heading into his office.
On her end she ignored Poseidon even after he turned the mug on her. She simply turned it back around before getting the requested coffee. Then she followed him into the office and dropped the pack of files on his desk, "All new clients. All of them who only want to do business with me." He'd said charm, and she had. She'd just bend the rules a little.
She knew her value, and her limits. It was in her nature to push. Smiling she set the mug on the desk, "laced with arsenic, just for you. We managed to turn a profit while you were vacationing. And your son called."
Poseidon was standing by the window when Ariel stepped in, hands in his pockets as he turned. The new suit was a dashing fit, but like his body, there was some getting used to still. He still felt hot at times, the hot sun of Hades beating down on him. The back of his neck was slightly damp when he ran his hand back.
"Air on in this place?" He turned to the stack of files she'd placed, fingering a few pages as he sauntered around the desk. He took the cup of coffee with his other hand, giving her a slick grin before swallowing.
"My son? Which one?" he laughed.
She noticed something was off, but it wasn't her place to ask. She figured he'd bring it up if it was needed. "As it always is. You know that."
She rolled her eyes, "the godly one. Asked if you were back yet I told him no." She didn't think he'd call back. "He's a lot friendlier then you are Sea God, I'll give him that."
That clamminess continued as he still felt warm, waving one of the files in front of him as a fan. "Feels hot," he pulled at his collar. It was the same temperature it always was, which was much too cold for others, but for a moment he felt like he was roasting.
Poseidon took a seat then with a curious brow raised in her direction. "Worried is he? That's a new one," he snorted. "He's a woman, of course he's friendly. Takes too many cues from his mother."
She raised an eyebrow at him but in he end she sighed and opened a window. "Better? You're paying for it, not me." She ignored the jibe towards women. Poseidon still lived in an era where such things were acceptable.
She wondered how he'd react if he ever got sued for that. Probably not well. "Either way, he called. Anything else?"
He loosened his tie a bit and threw off his jacket, propping his feet up on the desk. "Much," he commented. "Yeah, get that little sniveling bitch outside to do something other than paint her nails," it was really a shame he hadn't fired her before he left, "Like go down to the store and get a case of bottled water. What does she think this was for me, a fucking vacation?" It was there that he let it slip to the mermaid that he'd far from enjoyed dying and being put at the mercy of his brothers.
"Is that all he wanted? Just to see if I was back at work?" It caused him to look at the phone curiously.
She watched him, then shrugged. "I didn't ask. You don't pay me to care Poseidon." She sighed, "and maybe come down from whatever you are on. Maybe they'll stop sending you on vacation." She walked to the door and talked to the secretary, making her go on the errand, before looking back at him.
"One of these days, one of these girls is going to sue you. I plan on laughing. A lot."
"I pay you enough to talk if I wish it." He seemed anxious, taking his feet down from the desk and flipping open a few files. So much paperwork, he hadn't missed that at all. After tapping his pen back and forth he motion for Ariel to come back into the office.
"Busy?" he started at Ariel, just as the other secretary grabbed her keys with a groan giving him the finger which he gladly threw back. "Next time, sweetheart," he yelled out running a hand against his neck again.
She watched him, waiting for the mortal to leave before giving him a long look. Sympathy wasn't an emotion she knew well. He ought to know that. Guilt and forgetfulness at times she had to encounter, but very few other things.
"Yes, but it can wait I suppose." She sat down on the chair opposite to him, "something bothers you. I don't know what, but I'm not the one you should be looking at for help."
Poseidon laughed with a hearty baritone, shaking his head. "Sit," he instructed pointing toward the chair in front of his desk. His laughter finally died down, that light sigh the only indication to his uncomfortableness with where he'd been.
He set his arms behind his head, spinning his chair from side to side. "I've been swimming with a kind of unlively crew the last few months, throw me something interesting."
He spun the chair one more time. "I'm not asking for help, sugar, just some entertainment."
"I am sitting," and she was. Sighing she crossed her legs as she watched him. She didn't see why he was giving his burdens to her. She couldn't care less.
"What kind of entertainment? Because my clothes are staying on." She had no interest in him physically, and she knew he didn't have any interest in her either. "Go find your wife or one of your whores. I'm not a parrot. I do not sing on cue."
"Smile now," he said motioning with his fingers and giving her a fake smile. Since his return he was in the mood for company. He didn't care if she said a damn thing or not, he just wanted her to stay.
He leaned back into the chair, it squeaking under his weight. "Aww, no topless dancing on my desk?" he laughed. There was no attraction to her in that reserve, something she should be grateful for.
"Now, now, don't be bitchy. Just sit, I don't give a fuck what you talk about. Or if you bring your work in here. Just," he grinned picking up the coffee cup, "enjoy my company." A malicious grin.
She gave him a blank look at his command, "no. I'm not a dog Sea God. I don't do tricks." She gave a snort and rolled her eyes, "not even if you paid me." She knew Sea Gods well enough to know that if he'd had an interest in her it'd do her well to just close her eyes.
But he didn't want it from her, so she didn't have to pretend. "Oh please. The amount of people that actually enjoy your company can't even fit on one hand. I also don't talk about nothing. I'll work." She wasn't the type to make conversation about nothing, unless she was luring in prey. With a sigh she took one of the files to keep herself busy with.
"Oh, because I so enjoy being hated. It makes things exciting," he laughed flipping open a few files just as the other secretary dragged in the case of water, in which he didn't bother to help her. She scooted it up to his desk, by his feet and huffed throwing her hands on her hips.
Poseidon looked over without turning his head, a raised brow, "Was there something else?" he asked causing the girl to grumble and start out the door. He leaned over opening up one of the bottles. "It's warm," he threw out just before she stepped out of his office completely.
He drank that water in at least two seconds before reaching for another, that he ended up pouring against the back of his neck.
She raised an eyebrow as she watched him, "See the thing is? It isn't. The heat wave dropped. It's nice out now." She paused before giving a long sigh and rising, "alright sea god. Up." She motioned with her hand, like she could control him. Or had any say. She hoped he had learned to listen. "We're going for a swim. I keep telling you to spend more time with the water, but no. Stubborn ass won't listen."
She smiled at him, "or I go and tell your wife to keep you near water. Either way, you are leaving this office and taking a dip. How long has it been since you've felt the ocean on your skin Poseidon? You have been away from it for too long. First through sheer stupidity, now through death. You are a Sea God. Stop trying to change that. You need the ocean. Stop denying that, or you will fade. Are we clear?"
Poseidon cocked a brow, watching her hand flail about before getting up on his own terms. He stood, leaning a hip on the desk with his arms crossed.
He listened to her talk, though her mouth just moved like a fish. "Not since I returned," and since then he'd hardly been back before being thrown into the guise of an old man.
"No better time then," she went to grab his arm to pull him out of the office and towards the elevator. She didn't say anything to the mortal girl. Let her assume as she like. The mortal wouldn't understand anyway.
The mortal would assume what she often did, and would pick up the phone to chat with her girlfriend over. Her boss was most definitely screwing the secretary. The one that wasn't her.
Poseidon pulled his arm back as they scaled down the elevator, curious as to where she was taking him.
"Do I get to see your seashells?" he poked.
She rolled her eyes at the comment, "Depends Sea God, do I get to see your peacock?" She could play this game just as well. With a smirk she walked out of the elevator, then building. "Come on. You're driving. I know a place."
"If you ask nice," he said with a thin-lipped grin. He fished out his keys, unlocking the doors and sliding in. The windows were rolled down for the duration of the drive.
"If you'd wanted to be a GPS, I could have skipped out on buying one," he laughed.
She just rolled her eyes, "one time thing Sea God." She directed him to the artificial beach the mortals had set up, stepping out of the car once he'd parked.
Then she walked to the spot where she knew no mortals saw her, "here. It's not the ocean but it will do. Get in."
"Aww, I feel special," he snorted getting out of the car. He stood for a moment, the breeze kicking in as he kicked off his shoes.
"You first," he said in a grin unbuttoning his shirt. The water may not have been the ocean herself, but it still invited him just the same.
"You should," then she rolled her eyes and removed her clothes. She had very little problems with her body. With a smile she slipped into the water before looking back at him. "come on. Or are you chicken?"
"Not hardly," he said in a gravely voice stripping himself of his shirt, tie and then pants. "Thought I'd give you the show."
He and the water, they had some unfinished business. When his feet hit the water, sliding into the bank, there was a surge that made his eyes roll back just slightly. It was cool, not at all warm, just the right temperature. He slid in carefully at first, the water, she hadn't been so kind to him when he' first been back as she'd tried to come at him all at once, arms reaching out and suffocating him.
The water was not suffocating this time, she sang to him, lured him, and he dived right in, letting it coat from head to toe. Letting it drench him.
She just laughed to his comment, before shaking her head. She had changed her legs for her tail, and it made it easier to swim. She watched him submerge before diving down herself.
With a smile she gave him a wave before swimming off. She'd let him become re-acquainted with the water.
The water soothed as it washed over him, seeping in deep to his skin like another layer. A wet caress like the hand of a willing partner. Not even Amphitrite could come between him and the oceans. The sea would always been his eternal mistress, her touch as hungry and eager for him as he was for it.
His body drank in the feeling, having been so long. His time in the Underworld had kept him at such a distance until his skin was nothing but a cracked surface with more fire than he could stand. The heat had been blistering. Now the water cooled him down, orgasmic in it's touch.
The depths of this water was not quite that of the deep ocean he loved, but it would be some time before he resurfaced, not gasping for air as he'd been the last time.