InsaneJournal

Stopped at a set of traffic lights, Marian reached down and rubbed her thumb across the carved scarab in her pocket. Brave and true, she reminded herself. She had to be brave and true.

She wished these things didn't take so much time and work. The boys all seemed to be doing so well. Or, at least, they seemed to be doing so much better than her. Tuck and Will Scarlet were moving in together and just got a dog. Will Stutely was being his stable dependable self, building and repairing and putting the world to rights. All three of them were out there among people and doing good, and what was Marian doing?

"You have to shake this off!" she told herself loudly in the car, using the same firm voice she used on the boys when they were being foolhardy or difficult.

But that was part of why she was going to see Artemis, even though she very much wanted to hide in her apartment and doing nothing but play old familiar video games. She wanted that feeling of walking into an area and knowing exactly where every enemy was waiting, what their move-set was, and how many hits it took for them to go down.

Don't know if it helps to hear, Artemis had written, but he begged a lot.

Marian didn't want to think of herself as vindictive, but on some level it did help. On some level she wished she could have stared down at him, made him look at her while he suffered.

Marian hated herself a little for thinking like that.

But it was spring and a beautiful day and she was meeting a very powerful goddess in a green slice of wilderness. Today would be a good day.

She had texted Artemis before getting in the car, and when she pulled into the carpark now she spotted the goddess waiting for her under the shade of some nearby trees. Marian got out of the car and waved to her, slipping her phone into a pocket of her dark grey cargo pants. After making sure the car was locked, Marian made her way across to her.

"Hi," she said once she was near enough. "We got a nice day."