InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "It's de-lovely!"

Antigone (thehighestlaw) wrote in nevermore_logs,
@ 2020-08-20 23:41:00

Entry tags:

antigone, ares, asterion, bia

WHO: Antigone, Ares, Asterion, Bia
WHEN: Thursday night, directly following her conversation with Luna
WHERE: Outside Diogenes
WHAT: It's confrontation time
WARNINGS: TBA, we'll just update as we go. Rape mentions. And a FIGHT.

Whenever Antigone thought about confronting Ares in the past long weeks, she always imagined she'd do it with anger.

That she'd burn hot with the fire of injustice, that it would eviscerate all her fear.

It wasn't like that, though, as she followed Ares out into the night. It wasn't like that at all.

She was sad, she was resolute, and each step solidified her heart. With love, she thought. Solidified it with love. For the stranger in the bar, for the muse that'd given her a place to wash Maxwell's blood from her hands and a place to rest after. For every fellow woman that any man had ever used.

Asterion was checking in a small group of immortals when she left, she could slip out easily, through the crowded front room and into the night. The air was warm, and still, and full of voices, full of nightlife. Ares' form was unmistakable, though, so much bigger than most of the young, young things out tonight, as he cut away from them down an alley.

"You know what you're doing is wrong, Ares," Antigone called out to Ares' retreating back, her voice clear as she stepped into the alley behind him. "I know you know, and I know you don't care, but it's wrong. You're wrong."

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	asterius 2020-08-23 11:00 am UTC (link)
	"I like this one! What she said about paste, what the hell?" he asked, moving to get some ice for Bia as well. He returned with a glass full of it and handed it over. "You fought well," he said to Bia. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-08-23 11:10 am UTC (link)

Antigone flashed a smile to them both, quick as a bolt of lightning across her face. "He's been hurting my housemate," she said (though Ares' voice, confident, arrogant, disgusting but certain" I've seen her after you leave, begging for my cock thundered through her mind when she did.) "And you should have heard what he said to that girl in the bar. Won't stand for it anymore. Can't."

She wasn't looking at them as she spoke, though; Antigone was looking down at her hand. Slowly she used to good fingers to pull her wrist away from her chest, wincing sharply through her nose. She ran her fingers over her arm, from wrist (bad, hot, sore) down to her elbow (less bad, still hot, still sore) as if her eyes could not be trusted, and only her own fingers would prove that no skin had broken, no bones were jutting out of her flesh.

Her hand was the worst, he'd squeezed it so tightly (another pitchfork of fear at the memory, right through her stomach). Bracing herself for worse, she twitched each finger, and then bit down on a scream as hot pain washed down her arm when she straightened them. "Fuck," she whispered, turning her wrist (ow) to examine each side. It hurt and it was swollen and already discoloured, she didn't know enough to figure out what was broken.

"Can you pass me a tea towel?" she asked Asterion, feeling distant, but pragmatic. Ice would be easier to apply wrapped in something like a towel, more than a glass.

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rawforce
2020-08-23 01:03 pm UTC (link)

Bia took the glass of ice from Asterion with a quick smile. "Back atcha. Thanks, bro." She pressed the chill surface of the glass to her cheek as Antigone spoke, not entirely surprised by what she had to say. She'd told Bia that night they'd met at the bar that she had beef with some rapist perv of a god, too powerful and connected for her to touch. That she was drinking because confronting him would only get herself killed. So, what, did she have a death wish now?

Seeing the sharp twist of pain flash across Antigone's face as she tried to move her injured hand, Bia set down the glass and moved with a purpose to crouch at her side. "Here. Lemme take a look." She caught Asterion's eye. "You got a first aid kit in here, man? Might need some splints."

Then she fixed Antigone with a hard look. "Listen, that fucking sucks about your housemate. But this, right here? This doesn't help her. You getting pulped? Doesn't help anyone."

Nike would have pissed herself laughing, to hear Bia of all people counselling somebody to think before they threw a punch. But punching first was kind of a part of Bia's job description (or at least if it wasn't, it should be), and she had the distinct advantage of being able to take on pretty much anything she threw herself at. The rules were different for civilians. If Antigone threw herself at Ares, she'd break.

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thehighestlaw
2020-08-23 01:46 pm UTC (link)

As Asterion rifled, discovered, then presented Bia with the first aid kit, Antigone looked back at Bia, her return gaze only unsteadied by pain and by shock and not by the words Bia was using. "You sound like my sister," she said dryly, though not harshly. Sounding like Ismene wasn't a necessarily a bad thing, it was just almost always the opposite of what Antigone would say (and gods and monsters, despite all that, despite the onslaught it would bring, Antigone wanted to curl up on Ismene's couch tonight.)

"He needed to be told he's wrong," she said. "That's all."

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rawforce
2020-08-23 02:27 pm UTC (link)

"I sound like my sister," Bia said, with a low huff of a laugh. She ran her fingertips carefully along Antigone's hand, trying to suss out any breaks in need of setting. For someone who was built to deal out pain, rather than to relieve it, her touch was surprisingly light. Bia might be a tough-ass bitch, but much as she'd punch you in the throat if you said it to her face, she wasn't exactly invulnerable these days, either: by necessity, she'd picked up some practical field first aid skills over the years.

"I'm right, though," she added as she straightened to flip open the first aid kit and rummage through its contents. "So you told him he's wrong. Know what he's gonna do now? Whatever the fuck he wants." Bia shrugged, bluntly matter-of-fact. "Words don't mean shit. You wanna actually stop him hurting that girl, or you wanna feel righteous for the sixty seconds it takes for him to squish you and then forget you even existed?"

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thehighestlaw
2020-08-23 10:28 pm UTC (link)

"He's a god, he can't be stopped," Antigone said, just as matter-of-fact as Bia, only her sentence ended as she tried to flex her fingers again and winced, again. Every part of her hand hurt, but all of her fingers did move, a fraction. It was if the pain was too big to let the full instructions from her brain through.

Ismene might have had something to say about other disruptions to instructions from her brain. Something tired and resigned. Something that said I wish you weren't quite so... you. "The thing about being immortal," she pointed out. "Death can't stop me anymore either."

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	asterius 2020-08-24 01:44 am UTC (link)
	Asterion didn't have much to say to all this, his words always pretty inadequate for high-emotion moments. Instead, he sort of loomed a little behind them, watching carefully in case anyone else tried to come and threaten them. "Can stop you for awhile," he said quietly. "Can make him think he won." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

rawforce
2020-08-24 08:03 am UTC (link)

"Exactly," said Bia, grateful Asterion was there to back her up. Digging through the kit had produced a multipurpose splint, which simplified things a little, and she worked it into a roughly suitable shape as she spoke. "You keep coming at him like that, you're the only one who's gonna suffer for it. If you wanna go after him, at least try and hit him where it hurts." She pursed her lips, trying and failing to hide the twist of a smirk. "That bottle was a baller move, though. I'd high five you, but..."

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thehighestlaw
2020-08-24 09:02 am UTC (link)

Antigone looked from one of them to the other. She did understand they were trying to protect her, she did, but it wasn't that simple (though Bia's remark about the bottle did draw a small ghost of a smirk from her lips.)

"I know," she told them both. "But living with the knowledge that he's out there, threatening women, hurting them, makes me complicit. And living in this world you are forced to be complicit to evil after evil, the clothes we wear and the things we use - the child labor and the prison slave labor and exploitation after exploitation - we're all part of this sick, sick system, every single day, so when I hear... when I hear a mortal girl asking him what she can do to stop him raping her, how am I supposed to shut my ears to that, on top of everything else? He's the god of war, yes, and he has an army of the complicit standing behind him, a whole army made up of everyone who paves the way for him to get away with doing those things. I won't be part of it. Better to die than be part of it."

She turned her head to Bia, before Asterion could reply. "If you know where to hit him where it will hurt, then tell me, and I'll do it."

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rawforce
2020-08-24 11:17 am UTC (link)

Bia screwed up her face with the effort of trying to twist her head around that one. She couldn't remember the last-time she'd heard something that was at once so smart and so bone-headedly idiotic. Yeah, the world was shit and Ares was shit and not being able to do anything about it was especially shit, but what in the five rivers of hell did dying prove?

"You could cut off his dick, that'd fucking hurt him," she said. She made a few final adjustments to the splint before laying it across Antigone's lap. "Here, try this for size."

She sat back on her heels, considering the question more seriously. "Who's your housemate? God or mortal?" Bia was an Enforcer of Zeus's justice, and Zeus's justice gave the Olympians a lot of leeway. A lot, but not infinite. If it was a mortal, the Boss would give less than a shit, but if it was a goddess, well, maybe...

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	asterius 2020-08-24 11:31 am UTC (link)
	Asterion was going back and forth between them, until Bia suggested cutting off Ares' dick, and he barked out a laugh. Probably, Antigone had never heard him laugh. "Yes! Take his dick! As punishment!" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-08-24 11:41 am UTC (link)

Antigone couldn't laugh. She screwed up her face at the mention of Ares' dick, her blood running cold. Horrifying.

Yes, cutting it off would hurt him, but Antigone did not believe it would stop him. There were other ways to do what he did, and she feared he'd just do them... worse.

Probably starting with her.

Antigone would fully and completely rather be dead.

Trying not to think about it, lest she send herself into a full blown attack of blinding horror, Antigone picked up the splint, and concentrated on putting it on without shaking. It was less than successful, but she tightened her jaw and muddled through.

Till Bia spoke again, and presented Antigone with a whole nother thing her mind had been trying not to think about.

Oh she's been twisting you up too, hasn't she, she thought. Remembered. He’d sounded so amused. Superior. Antigone considered herself a bit of an expert when it came to working out when men were lying (most of the time, she assumed) and she hadn’t expected Ares, blunt, violent Ares, to be so clever at it. It's not MY fault Melpomene has been playing her twisted tragic stories out with her.

“Do..." she began, feeling like she was betraying everything she believed in just for considering Ares might not be lying. "...either of you guys know Erato?” Her stomach turning over inside her. Asking felt wrong. Asking felt like she was putting stock in Ares that he didn’t deserve. She kept telling herself she should have disbelieved him entirely, but something wouldn’t let her. “Or Melpomene?” The name felt strange on the tongue. Unfamiliar, alien, yet there was a dreadful inevitability about it.

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	rawforce 2020-08-24 12:08 pm UTC (link)
	Bia sat straight up at that. "Whoawhoawhoa, hold up. He's hurting the Muses?" The Muses were the Boss's kids. The Muses were Kratos's charges. You did not fuck with the Muses. She stood, quite forgetting that she was in the middle of tending to Antigone's wound, her hands tightening into fists. "I'll fucking end him." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	asterius 2020-08-24 12:11 pm UTC (link)
	"And I will help!" Asterion said, since maybe if he helped, he could have two friends. "Erato. She's the woman who gave me her phone number the other night. The one who- It didn't go well." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thehighestlaw 2020-08-24 12:16 pm UTC (link)
	Antigone looked at Asterion, holding herself still. So still. "What did she look like?" she asked, barely moving her mouth at all. I can't believe you're doing this I can't believe you're believing Ares what the fuck what the fuck who are you, Antigone? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	asterius 2020-08-24 12:20 pm UTC (link)
	Asterion didn't know what to do for Antigone if she didn't like what he was about to say. She looked terrified to know the answer, and he didn't quite understand why. "Short. For me anyway. Pale. Red hair. Pretty eyes." Actually everything about Erato had been beautiful, which was why he didn't believe she could want him. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	rawforce 2020-08-24 12:33 pm UTC (link)
	Antigone's question, tense and strange, neither a confirmation or a denial, gave temporary pause to Bia's planned retribution. Her brows drew together in confusion. "Uh, yeah. That's Erato. Why?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-08-24 12:38 pm UTC (link)

Antigone pressed her lips together, slowly biting down on her bottom lip, slowly squeezing her eyes shut, slowly letting her head tip forward till her forehead hit the table and she could cover her head with her good arm.

"Oh," she said faintly, as the last months rearranged themselves into a shape she could not yet understand. "Okay." And then to her horror, burst into tears.

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	asterius 2020-08-24 12:42 pm UTC (link)
	Oh no, she was crying! Asterion wasn't sure what to do with crying. He leaned down and sort of gently patted her shoulder while saying, "oh noooo." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

rawforce
2020-08-24 12:58 pm UTC (link)

Bia shot Asterion a slightly alarmed look over Antigone's head. This entire conversation had lurched in an unexpected direction and she wasn't sure how to deal with it, or even properly what they were talking about anymore.

She crouched back down by the chair, resting a hand on Antigone's arm. "What's going on, Tigs? What... Did something happen to Erato??" She made a wild stab in the dark.

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thehighestlaw
2020-08-24 01:16 pm UTC (link)

Antigone curled both her shoulders in tight around her ears (her sore elbow yanked, her wrist yanked, her hand throbbed) and tried to raise her good hand like no - please - don't touch me. She couldn't be touched while trying to re-calibrate so much in her head. The comfort of it threatened to smother her.

"Gods, I-" she began, but she felt too vulnerable sitting, and used her good hand to push her away from the table and stand. She didn't feel any better, standing. And both of them were looking at her like she was crazy.

"No?" she answered Bia. Her second question, at least. The first... the first was taking a bit longer to work out. "I think I got things wrong," she said faintly, well aware that it answered nothing for them, but her mind was refusing to accept that Ares hadn't been lying.

Or rather, refusing to accept what Ares hadn't been lying about.

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	asterius 2020-08-24 01:21 pm UTC (link)
	Asterion still didn't know what that meant, but he could handle stopping touching her. "Should we...drink?" he asked, pointing back out into the main immortals area of the bar. Sure, they could drink back here in the staff only area too, but it was weird. "Or I walk you home?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	rawforce 2020-08-24 01:35 pm UTC (link)
	"Drinks," Bia nodded firmly. When in doubt, drinks were always an A-plus solid option. "Something stiff. And I gotta fix your splint, you really want to keep that arm immobilised till you've had it checked out properly. And then..." she squinched her face uncertainly. "...you wanna maybe talk about it?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thehighestlaw
2020-08-24 01:49 pm UTC (link)

Antigone did not know if she wanted to talk about, but she nodded, anyway, because Asterion would take a few minutes to get drinks, and Bia would take a few minutes to fix her splint, and she could take those minutes to think.

She sat down again and lay her bad arm on the table to Bia to work with, as she stared at a black smudge on the table.

Why would Romeo lie to her about who she was? Ares gave her the impression it was to deliberately mess with her, but Antigone's heart still told her that Ares was wrong. Some other explanation, then? Her mind groped for one and found nothing in the darkness, just the sense, the hope, that the answer was there, just out of reach, full and complete and explaining everything.

"What do you know about Melpomene?" she said, to the smudge on the table, as Asterion came back in with drinks.

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rawforce
2020-08-24 02:43 pm UTC (link)

After a couple of final readjustments, Bia carefully guided Antigone's arm into the U-shaped curve of the splint. She slid some folded gauze under the palm to support it, rolled up some more to fit between each finger. It wasn't gonna be the prettiest job, but it should keep everything where it was till Antigone saw a proper doctor. She was wrapping the whole thing securely in place when Antigone sprung a new riddle on her.

"Melpomene?" Bia frowned. She wasn't really sure what kind of answer Antigone was looking for, so she just threw out the first things that came to mind, scattershot. "Muse of Tragedy. Dark hair, kinda curly. Little bit high drama sometimes, but it comes with the territory."

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thehighestlaw, 2020-08-24 08:47 pm UTC

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asterius, 2020-08-25 09:28 am UTC

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