InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I am one mass................."

Antigone (thehighestlaw) wrote in nevermore_logs,
@ 2020-07-29 23:06:00

Entry tags:

antigone, asterion

WHO: Antigone, Asterion
WHEN: Wednesday afternoon
WHERE: A department store
WHAT: Don't ask the universe to be chill, Tiggers, it doesn't listen.
WARNINGS: Enclosed spaces

Antigone frowned as she looked at the label on this plain black shirt. The fabric felt fine enough between her fingers but the Made in India on the label make her stomach turn, thinking of kids fingers and rows of sewing machines, appalling conditions, no escape. She’d expected that, from a big department store like this one, but sometimes even when you know something bad is coming you still reach out to check. Fast fashion was a shitty, powerful, brutal organisation, harder, Antigone thought, harder to fight than Ares.

Although at least there were people - lots of people, fighting for children’s rights around the world. At least that was a fight that was... fighting.

Antigone gave up looking at the stupid clothes and wandered back toward the windows, but outside it was still bucketing down so hard the sidewalk looked like an actual river. There were still people out there struggling through the weather but Antigone knew that if she tried to get home right now she’d just get home in the foulest of moods and honestly, no one needed that.

Lightning cracked open the sky, reflecting her mood perfectly, and Antigone felt cruelly mocked by the heavens.

Maybe she should head up to the cafe on the top floor and get in touch with the local Unicef branch and see what she could do while she drank a coffee. At least she could tip the people working in the cafe, and maybe not think too hard about where the beans came from.

A woman and twins, all three of them dripping, stepped out of the elevator when it opened and just for a second, she thought it was Ismene. Her stomach clenched, and remain clenched, even after it became really obvious that it wasn’t.

If you could chill today Antigone asked the universe, the fates, or whatever Antigone-upsetting god was out to get her today. That would be great. She remained terrified of running into her sister before she worked out what to say to her.

Distant thunder rumbled through the city in answer and Antigone lay her head back on the wall of the elevator with a resigned sigh. At least, for the moment, she had the elevator to herself.

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	asterius 2020-07-30 11:27 am UTC (link)
	Asterion looked over at her like she was insane. Did she know what being scary meant? Well, of course she didn't. She couldn't know how starved he was for affection and touch. How it hurt him when people screamed and ran away. He supposed, though, if she wanted to be scary, she had to have a reason. "Did someone scare you? Can I help?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-07-30 11:38 am UTC (link)

Antigone laughed at the horrifying idea that fate had sent her the minotaur to send after Ares, and then felt sick at her laughter, and pressed a hand over her mouth, and that act very almost turned it into a sob. It took her a horrible moment to pull herself back, to press her hand calmly down on the floor. "Thank you," she said, and though it was pretty interesting that she didn't say anything like but no.

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	asterius 2020-07-30 11:41 am UTC (link)
	He had been so upset and she had calmed him just by talking to him. Now that he was calmer, she seemed to be teetering on the edge of losing it. "Can I come closer?" he asked, because he wasn't going to do so if she said no. "You look sad." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thehighestlaw 2020-07-30 11:47 am UTC (link)
	She forgot everything she'd used to convince herself he wasn't a creep when he said that. "What are you gonna do?" She blurted, the warning in her stomach dialing up a notch again, her hand gripping so hard around her phone. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

asterius
2020-07-30 11:50 am UTC (link)

He held out his hands, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. "Okay, I'll stay here," he promised her. "Was just going to- You're scared of something. Or someone. Was going to touch your arm. Like you did mine. I won't. I always ask." Well, he always asked unless someone threatened him, and then he beat the shit out of the other person. But she wasn't threatening in the least.

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thehighestlaw
2020-07-30 12:01 pm UTC (link)

Oh hell, she was going to throw up - all Antigone could think for that moment was how much her body was threatening to throw up. - was going to touch you - Stop it! She screamed it at herself, stop it! Antigone moved back and pulled herself to her feet, using the handrails to grip tight. She felt less vulnerable, on her feet, and she just needed a second to - to cram it all back down.

She sent a glance in his direction, looking, for all his size, as meek as he could. "I just don't like being cornered," she said, her voice on the edge of breaking. Part of her did believe him, when he promised he'd always ask, it was just, her body didn't.

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	asterius 2020-07-30 12:15 pm UTC (link)
	Asterion looked up at her, but he didn't stand. He didn't think his hulking height was going to help matters here. "Sorry," he said sadly. God he should have known better. People were afraid of him. Why had he thought this was different. Slowly, so she didn't panic, he moved himself back into the far corner of the elevator. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-07-30 12:26 pm UTC (link)

"It's not you-" she said, as he scootched backward. A hard, angry part of her berated her for feeling she needed to explain herself, another part warned her that he was just acting sad to make her feel guilty. But she said 'it's not you', all the same. She wanted to explain, all the same. "Fuck, it's... when you've been on this planet for this long, all the shit you've been through can all pile up on you, all at once." There really wasn't enough room in this elevator for both of them and all their baggage.

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	asterius 2020-07-30 12:29 pm UTC (link)
	"Yes," he acknowledged, even though he didn't think she should have to make him feel better. He was the one who scared her. "I said I would help. Is someone hurting you?" Was she in an unsafe situation at home? Was that why she was here shopping, trying to escape it? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-07-30 12:43 pm UTC (link)

Antigone closed her eyes for a moment, rubbed her forehead hard with the back of her hand, and slowly sat back down on the floor. Despite the fact that they were in a tiny box hanging between floors, it was as solid as she was going to get. There was a metaphor in their, somewhere, though Antigone didn't think she was going to write that article anymore. "Not me," she said eventually. "A friend. I just. I know what she's going through. Watching it happen to someone else is... Hard."

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	asterius 2020-07-30 12:47 pm UTC (link)
	"I'm sorry," he said, though for once he wasn't apologising for something he did. "Want to protect your friend." Asterion probably would too, if he had any. "If I can help, I will. After we get out." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-07-30 01:12 pm UTC (link)

"After," she echoed, nodding. Gods, her mouth was so dry from all this freaking out and granola - Antigone pushed the thought away before it could combine with the thought that the bottle in her bag was already empty. It would be fine. They'd be out of here long before she had a chance to get really thirsty. She swallowed, just thinking about it, and turned back to look at him, offering to fight a battle he had no context for, just because someone he'd never met was in trouble. "Thank you, Asterion," she said.

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	asterius 2020-08-01 02:21 am UTC (link)
	"Oh," Asterion blinked, not used to being thanked much. At least not like this. "Welcome," he said, nodding his head once. Then he sighed and cast his eyes to the doors, willing them to open. Not that it would do a lot of good if they were between floors. "Not used to thanks." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-08-01 04:59 am UTC (link)

She was not surprised by that admission, and laughed nervously. No, it was hard to imagine him, from his legends, being the kind of person people would be grateful for. She was, though, and that gratitude did surprise her. He understood how threatening he was and tried to minimise that, and that was not something a lot of men understood how to do. It was even rarer a talent to find in her fellow figures of myth and legend.

She wasn't at ease, not at all, but she find room to be grateful, somewhere among the anxiety and claustrophobia and chilling awareness of how vulnerable she was. "Is it the Diogenes Club, your new job?" she asked. "I go there, sometimes. We could... have fries." She didn't want to say a drink, or a meal - in case those things implied a date, in case he read too far into it and pushed. Fries seemed arbitrarily a little more neutral.

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	asterius 2020-08-01 10:07 am UTC (link)
	Asterion never ever thought anyone was asking him on a date, so she would have been safe there. He was surprised enough she wanted to spend more time with him. "It would be more fun than this," he cracked another joke. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-08-01 10:41 am UTC (link)

That nervous laughter again, and the smile held onto her face for a second or two longer than it had previously, before falling off into the void. "Yeah," she whispered. "Yeah I'm a lot of fun."

The worst part was, she had been fun, once. Sneaking out of the house before the kitchen fires were lit to go swimming in the dawn, racing the village boys down the street to see who was faster or sometimes just racing the wind, inventing silly songs with her brothers - and sometimes cruel songs, too, which made them all laugh the harder, in the way that cruelty was hilarious when you were young. She'd laughed easily and she'd danced freely and she'd loved her life with a passion.

And then the civil war came, and brother on brother, and the rest was history. (She hadn't thought about it since running into Ares again, till now, but how much of a hand had Ares had in her life, even back then?)

She squeezed her eyes shut, as if she could will the whole world away.

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	asterius 2020-08-01 10:53 am UTC (link)
	Asterion didn't know if maybe he had said something wrong, so he just nodded. "Fries are nice," he added, because he hoped she still wanted to go. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thehighestlaw 2020-08-01 11:08 am UTC (link)
	"Fries are nice," she agreed, trying to act like a normal person who wasn't a frizzled ball of nerves and nausea held together with skin. "They have this um. Chicken salt. It's nice." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	asterius 2020-08-02 02:06 am UTC (link)
	Chicken salt sounded delicious and Asterion tried to focus on something that wasn't food. "Hungry," he admitted, though he honestly always was so that was hardly due to the damn elevator. Then he looked up worriedly, wondering if that would scare Antigone. "Shit, I- I don't- I don't- I'm not like I used to be." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-08-02 08:08 am UTC (link)

Honestly, out of all the things she was worried about, being literally eaten was not one of them. Maybe it was a horror too far for Antigone's poor overworked mind. She thought of being cannabalised and her brain threw up a blank wall in her imagination and wouldn't let her. "Lucky for me," she said, her thin smile trying really hard. "I think-" she said, but stopped herself speaking as she rifled through her bag. She didn't want to promise something she couldn't deliver, but it was to her great relief that her fingers closer over the thin pack of gum. "Um," she said, shakily holding the battered packet out toward him. "Dessert?"

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	asterius 2020-08-02 08:51 am UTC (link)
	Asterion let out a deep breath, grateful that she seemed to believe him. Then she offered him gum and he smiled a little, reaching out to take the packet. He popped a piece in his mouth and handed the packet back. "Thank you," he said, warmth in his voice. "Strange. Having someone be so nice to me." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-08-02 08:59 am UTC (link)

She took a piece of gum herself, hoping that working her jaw would stop it aching with tension so badly, and tried to settle herself on the floor of the lift, legs crossed and hands on her knees. It seemed like the kind of posture someone who wasn't on the brink of loosing it might take.

She didn't know what to say to his words but she did want to keep talking. If either of them fell into silence, she reasoned, it would be bad. "How long have you been in New York?" she asked. One knee jiggled constantly under her hand.

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	asterius 2020-08-02 10:23 am UTC (link)
	"Few years," he said. He had been living in LA, but Minos had shown up and Asterion wanted to be on the other side of the country from that asshole. "Running away from Minos. Like it here. Easy to get lost. Less people look at me funny. You?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thehighestlaw 2020-08-02 10:47 am UTC (link)
	"Couple of months," Antigone said, with a shake of her head. The shake went on for longer than it normally would, the movement giving her adrenaline somewhere to go. "Feels like longer. Or less. New York's a good place to go if you don't want people to look at you funny, huh?" She agreed, trying briefly to imagine him in a small down, but it didn't work. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	asterius 2020-08-02 11:03 am UTC (link)
	"New Yorkers are all weird," he explained. "Don't look twice." You saw far weirder things on the streets of New York than a giant man walking around. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)