Who: Apollo and Erato (and a d!cameo) What: a big Talk Where: Apollo's House When: Today Warnings: Emo-sauce and bickering
Dionysus yawned, glancing at his watch. "She's coming over soon, huh?" He glanced over at his brother. "You look tense..."
Glare. "Oh, do I? I hadn't noticed. Must be because the sister I want to punch through a wall is coming to visit. Who knew!"
Apollo fished between the couch cushions for his pack of cigarettes. Grumble. It just wasn't fair...
"You gonna punch her through a wall?" D asked, in all seriousness. If that much action were to happen, he wasn't happy about being banished upstairs.
Just then, the doorbell rang. D gave a long suffering sigh, but trudged dutifully out of earshot to give Apollo and Erato their privacy.
"Poor you~ Tell you what; if you hear fighting you can come down and watch. Listen for me breaking things," he called up the stairs as he passed on his way to the door.
Reluctantly, very reluctantly, he pulled open the door, holding his lit ciragette in front of himself as a makeshift and rather uneffective shield; he just hoped that the prospect of getting burnt would stave off any weird greetings his sister might have in mind.
"Hi," Erato said softly, trying to smile. She had expected a scowl but wasn't entirely sure what to make of that cigarette. Her smile widened as her nerves got the better of her. "You look..." She paused, actually taking in his features. "Actually, you look really good." Even as grouchy and bothered as he so obviously was, Erato noticed a healthy glow about him. "Has Poly-doodle been feeding you?"
Well good. His plan had worked. That meant he could go back to smoking the cigarette; he brought it to his lips as he backed away from the door and turned to enter the living room. "No, she's been out of town, hasn't she? Haven't seen her since before Christmas; she did text me at 3am though." Huh. He'd forgotten to call her, now that Erato mentioned her name. Whoops.
"I thought she'd gotten back already..." Erato murmured, stepping in the space Apollo had left at the entryway and closing the door behind her. "I guess I've been out of touch," she added, her voice soft and apologetic.
He shrugged, dropping down onto the couch. "I don't know when she got back; generally that's not any of my business anymore." He reached for the ashtray on the coffee table, and rested it on his thigh as he leaned back. "So what's the point of all this again?"
She joined him in the living room, but Erato didn't feel as though she had the right to make herself comfortable. So she stood. Awkwardly. "I wanted to talk to you...but the mistakes I've made. And see if the damage I've done is irreparable."
Chuckle. He shook his head a little, and ground the filter end of his cigarette into the ashtray. "I should have figured as much." It never failed, really. He supposed he had known that was what this meeting as going to be about, but... It was just one of those things you didn't really...realize right away.
"Plus," she added with a little smile, "I just wanted to see you...but that part will almost definitely be more enjoyable if I can convince you that I'm not worth putting hole through the walls of your beautiful home."
"I'm pretty sure that there's nothing you can do in a day that is going to make this better." That, he thought, was way too optimistic, even for her. He wasn't even sure there was anything to be done to make things less awkward between them; he certainly wouldn't be trusting her with much from now on.
"I had a thought the other day." Erato was pretty much ignoring his pessimism. "How you feel the men, women and whatevers in our lives make you feel less important. And how you didn't know anything about the Norse. I know you think empirically. That you like facts you can see and touch and measure. Freyr's going to make a hunting trip to get a boar for the wedding. If you went with him, he could tell you a lot about himself, and about his family." Her eyes made their way to the floor. "Plus I know you're more capable of handling a bow and arrow. Makes you both less likely to get gored with pig tusks..."
"So you're rather we were gored with bows and arrows then?" At this point he was more likely to start shooting at Freyr, and he had a feeling that the Norse god might be more than willing to do the same. "Once again you are suggesting things that would require me to help out with this whole wedding disaster. Did you think sticking the word 'hunting' in there would distract me or something?"
He tapped out another cigarette and lit it. Maybe it was time to switch to something stronger than nicotine for this meeting...
"You like hunting. We need someone to hunt. It's a mutually beneficial outing," Erato pointed out. "Plus I trust you not to shoot him. Because he's a good man."
"If I'm going with him, obviously he's capable of hunting as well, which begs the question of why you need me there at all. Which, you really don't, you just hope that we'll become bestest friends or something equally obnoxious." He blew smoke in her direction, and shifted his position on the couch so that he was resting against the arm. "And 'because he is a good man' is not a good reason; I don't think he's a good man. Look what he's encouraged."
"As I recall he was just about as pissed as you over the mess," Val replied, her voice thoughtful. "Except for different reasons. He didn't like the idea of surrendering control of his life over to anyone else. I felt...so bad because the whole predicament came about from people trying to rescue me. Stupid, huh?"
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Also, he's more of a sword and staff kind of guy -- though I've been told he's good with a handgun. And well, you're an archer. You don't kill boars up close. Gore. Tusks."
"Forgive me if I'd much rather he find out about the tusks on his own through trial and error." Grumble. Why should he go out of his way to make sure the guy didn't lose a limb...or all his intestines. "If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be running around behind my back doing all sorts of sneaky bullshit; so his whole little 'Boohoo they are making me get married to this lovely woman' crap doesn't buy him any sympathy with me."
"Why are you blaming the symptom, doctor?" Val asked, suddenly very serious. "This isn't much about him at all...it's about you and me." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "It's never been this bad. You could still stand to be around me after Nate....are you mad that I didn't stay traumatized? That Freyr convinced me to get over what happened?"
"When you wanted to marry Nate, you came and asked me; I told you no and you did it anyway, but you *asked* me. You gave me some line about it being the 'way things were done'. This time? Not even so much as a note. What happened to 'the way things are done'? It's proper to ask me if you can marry a psychopath, but you can't be bothered if it's someone more normal?" Puff puff. "You got so caught up in this asshole that you couldn't be bothered; *that* is why I blame him just as much as I blame you. He's so amazing that you can't even remember I exist until it's too late."
"We argued remember?" Val pointed out, her face full of regret. "Because I wanted to make myself better--braver--on account of Freyr's suggestion, and you said there was nothing that I needed to fix." She sighed once more. "I was angry. I was hurt. Because...it was like..." She scrambled for the right words, her eyes filling with tears. "You...were the only one...who was there with me. You were the only one who could possibly understand how misery had taken a hold of all my insides. And you didn't." She glanced down at the floor, tear drops falling from her lashes. "And I couldn't talk to you about Nate anyway. Not without feeling guilty for having emotions for someone I had loved....he was crazy, but I played my part in what happened too. And not just because I didn't listen to you." She glanced up at him. "My not telling you about the new relationship or the kidnapping or the problems with Teddy or the arranged marriage was not because of Freyr. There was a rift, and I didn't know where to cross it. So I foolishly ignored it."
"And now it's even larger. You never asked me if I understood, and you were vague at best about that whole trip of yours. For you to even consider that I wanted you to stay the way you were is an insult, but your brief and woeful explaination made it seem as though he was giving you some sort of ultimatum: change or forget about me. And *that* was not someone that I felt you should be wasting your time on." Second cigarette down. He smashed it in the ashtray and thought about getting another one, despite the rather vivid memories of what had happened the last time he'd gone on a chain smoking binge.
"But, of course, I was just being an ass. I'm the bad guy. Always sticking my nose where it doesn't belong. Holding everyone back because I'm selfish prick." Shrug.
Val glanced up at him. "No..." She shook her head, slowly walking towards him. "I know that's not true." She leaned over, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "I'm glad to hear you say what you did. To know how much you want to protect me...I think we just misunderstood each other, y'know?" She was still crying--not an all-out sobfest but the percipitation still was there.
Apollo didn't return the hug. He should have decided about the cigarette earlier, but there hadn't been any way to tell that she'd suddenly start with the bodily contact. "I would say that's probably an understatement at this point." And frankly, her protection wasn't really up to him anymore, was it? She'd have some...staff wielding, crazy Norse bastard to do that for her now. So...
Val took his physical cues, releasing him and going back to her standing position away from him. "I want to present him to you...I want you to go hunting with him and learn about him before you judge him. It may be an arranged marriage, but it isn't loveless."
Want want want. They all wanted something. They all wanted him to do what they wanted him to do, to share the same opinions they did. She *wanted* him to like this jackass as much as she did, so that he would *want* them to get married as much as she did. It was enough to turn one's stomach, really, if they thought about it in circles long enough.
"You say that like it's going to make a difference." What did he care if they were in love or not? The marriage would happen either way. "And what if I don't want to do what you want me to do? You think just because it's something you want, I should jump to make it happen? There was a time when I would have, but it sure as hell isn't now."
"No," Val said softly, trying to be patient. "I want you to be fair. To not write him off completely." She crossed her arms, rocking her feet back and forth as they began to protest standing still for so long. "I just really want my brother back...my musagetes."
"My opinion of him has little bearing on that, really. You dug yourself a fine hole, Erato. I may have dimissed Melpomene, but I really don't think I was this disappointed and angry with her; it was just horrible timing, really. But you...I guess I just expected a little more from you; my fault there. After everything that had happened, I just...assumed that, I don't know, we'd gotten closer; that you might come to me about these sorts of things. Especially these sorts of things. But, you know what they say, one should never assume..." There was more to that saying, but he really didn't think it fit the situation at the moment.
"Then let me tell you what the situation was!" Erato was crying openly now. "You would understand if you knew what I've been going through..."
"There was misery, arguments, and misunderstandings. Vacations and kidnappings and rescues. Pleas for punishment, relationships ending and starting. Arranged marriages. And somewhere in there Hera and Hades with a textual smackdown on yours truly, but that's neither here nor there. Tell me if I left anything out of my summary." Time for another smoke!
"You make it all sound so simple..." Val said, a little disgusted with the way he threw around the details of her life as if they were nothing. She could understand that he was passive-aggressively punishing her, but it still hurt. "Nate's death left me in such a bad place. I started a relationship with Teddy because he was big and strong and I was scared out of my mind...but I was also depressed out of my mind. I had been forced to start my life all over again, and I had no desire to do anything with it...at least Evie Zane had had goals, a career path like any mortal. It was like Valentine Ames had only been thought up long enough for me to handle the grief. And then I met Freyr and he put me on the right track. He gave me a future without needing anything from me. Teddy wanted committment. Nate wanted constant inspiration. And I couldn't deliver. Freyr...he wants so little. He has adorable elf ears, and I feel like I'm enough around him. Sometimes you feel unattainable, but I'm sure you knew that."
"There's...a lot I could say, about the way I used to be, and how everyone reacted to that, beause it seems very similiar, but that could just be my egotism talking. But I won't. Because it's not even worth it anymore. I also know that if I say anything about how you never came to me about any of this, so there was little I could do to help you, you'll probably just tell me that you were trying to spare me because I was such a fucking mess. This all being the case, I'm not sure what you want to hear from me." If she was looking for him to drop everything, say he was sorry, feel bad for her, and tell her everything was all right, he understood completely...well...she'd probably have to keep looking.
"I want to let you know everything now," she said. "I can't undo not telling you earlier, but this is what I would have told you...what you don't know already."
"That's not really the answer I was looking for," he said, frowning into his ashtray. "If you're waiting for me to forgive you, and tell you everything's all right now that I've heard all the details, you're going to be waiting a while."
"You don't need to forgive me. Just accept me...please," her voice was soft as could be.
"I haven't actually dismissed you, if that's what you're so worried about. I think, however, that any...daydreams you might be having about our relationship returning to the way it used to be ought to be stuck on a very high shelf for awhile." He glanced sideways at her.
"I know," Val said softly, wiping her face. "I wish you'd just look at all the good I've tried to do for you as well..." She sighed, shaking her head. "Nevermind about the hunting trip if you don't want to go. And I...I'll get Dad to give me away. I'm sure he expects that."
"You did do a lot, sister, and that's why all this...hurts so much. I trusted you, depended on you when I probably shouldn't have, and then suddenly it's like I don't exist?" He shook his head. Whatever.
He stretched, slid the ashtray back onto the coffee table, and then stood. "I suppose I'll go; it's not often I'm set loose with weapons around someone who irritates me. It'd be stupid to pass up a chance like that." Maybe he could pull a Cheney...
"Umm..." How to say this after all that conversation? "Try to behave? He's drawn a line in the sand that he's going to come back with limbs and dignity in tact. I don't want either of you getting hurt..."
Snort. "As if there was anything that he could do to me that wouldn't be gone in 5 minutes." Honestly. And as for dignity? Well, only one of them could leave with that, right? Apollo wasn't going to let it be Freyr.
Val frowned, maybe this was a bad idea. Ah well, she couldn't take the invitation back now. She sniffled, wiping at her face with the palm of her hand once more. She let out a little laugh. "I bet I look like a total mess right now..."
"Just a little." He looked her over critically for a moment. "D's upstairs, waiting to hear breaking glass; he'd probably kiss it better for you." Eyeroll.
D stepped into the room as if on cue, grinning lasciviously. He gave a little cough. It was nice to be mentioned. Val jumped a little, turning to look at him.
"Sunshine's absolutely wrong, m'dear..." He took her hand and kissed the top of it. "I love a woman who's in touch with her emotions." He winked before taking her in. "You muses get prettier and prettier..."
Apollo rolled his eyes, and just barely stopped himself from making a gagging noise. "Just remember who's ass it is you are supposed to be kissing, *sweetheart*." Because he was still not letting up on that. Nope!
D rolled his eyes, but he was grinning. "He's probably right there, sweetcheeks..." He looped an arm around Erato's waist and started back out of the living room. "Best to get all hot muses out of the house before I wind up in the dog house again."
Before she was ushered out of Apollo's line of sight, she was sure to mouth something to him about how she thought Dionysus was definitely a keeper. And that was how their visitation ended....just as strangely as it had begun.
Summary: Erato tries to mend things with Apollo by arranging a date for him and Freyr to go hunting. He eventually agrees to the hunting trip but not to mending his broken relationship with the muse.