Nathaniel Charles (photoguy) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2009-02-07 20:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | arion, nick aiolos, npc, pelops, zale scott |
Who: Nick and Zale (NPC) (Hades cameo)
What: Meeting and Horseback Riding
Where: Aiolos Ranch
When: Dec 19, Right before the Mel/Zale scene
Warnings: none
“And I can stay as long as I want?” Zale asked for what must have been the third or fourth time as he looked out the passenger side window of his uncle's black jaguar. They had taken a round-about route, mostly the boy believed, so he could see the size and scope of the ranch.
“Yes. For as long or as short as you want... at least until dinner. Your aunt wouldn't be happy you missing dinner.” Hades finally brought his car to the house and parked it. “Call when you want to be picked up, alright?”
Zale nodded with a small smile as he looked around. His uncle's response never ceased to confuse him. It was like Hades thought he would really want to come home so quickly... It really did look like a well run ranch. There were a lot of horses at the Riding Club, but a ranch was all together different. He approached the front door and rang the bell before looking over his shoulder to half-shout, “And I remember the pick up word.”
His uncle nodded and continued to wait in his idling car. The preteen shrugged. He probably wasn't leaving until he saw him go in.
Nick opened the door, giving the boy a smile. "Hey. You must be... Zale, right?" Looking up, he saw Hades and crooked an eyebrow. Uh, hi there.
Zale looked over his shoulder to Hades as well and when he saw his uncle nod and heard the car begin to rev back to life, he turned back to the man with a smile, “Yeah. You're Nick, right? ... Or should I call you Mr. Aiolos?”
"I'd say something about Mr. Aiolos being my father's name, but that's cheesy." Waving to Hades, Nick nodded his head into the house, stepping aside to let Zale inside. From nearby, Shadow lifted his head to look at the guest before going back to sleep.
Zale stepped inside. As if on cue, the black jag came back to life and turned to drive away. The boy was too busy looking around to really notice, “I just wanted to make sure. I was raised to call adults by their last names usually, but honestly except for my teachers, I've never met an adult that wanted that.”
Nick shrugged, looking down at him. Well, almost down. The kid was growing, and Nick was never very tall to start with. They were almost eye to eye. Weird. "Want some Coke before we head out?" he asked, not sure what the etiquette was for a younger guest like this.
Zale was probably due for another growth spurt soon. He had tall genes, but at least his current foster father was too rich too notice how much buying new clothes for a boy could possibly cost. “Sure.... So, this ranch is all yours?”
Nick nodded. "It's a family thing."
“Do you breed them for work or for horse racing?” Zale hadn't been able to rightly guess from just driving around the ranch. It probably could have been both, but he wasn't sure. He hadn't been to a lot of ranches before. He had had his own horse stabled at his house in California and his father had owned a private enough ranch but this one was an operating ranch. Not just something for fun.
"We breed them for dressage, and also to continue the breed," said Nick with a smile, leading the kid into the kitchen and handed him a Coke can.
The boy tried very hard not to drink half the can in one shot, but like many children his age, sodas were one of his many dietary vices. Luckily, he was an active boy unlike his peers. But Nick's answer made him smile. “I'm glad. Dressage horses are always the happiest... Well, besides just a family horse.”
Hey! He liked this kid already. Nick grinned back and started to head out the back door where a golf cart waited. Hey, big ranch! It totally warranted a cart. Besides the fact that carts were awesome. "Come on, I'll show you the main stable."
Now he downed the soda, wiped his mouth and quickly found where the recycling was to throw out the can with a grin. Zale had never been on a golf cart before; he hoped they were as fun as they looked in the movies, in though he doubted Nick was going to floor the gas and launch the thing across the ranch. “Uncle Dante said you had a lot of horses.”
He wasn't disappointed; Nick drove the thing just as haphazardly as he did... well, everything else that didn't have hooves. Off he sped to the barn, a large blue building surrounded by pastures with fat white horses. "Right now, we're getting back our stallions that other ranches pay us to have bred with their mares and vice versa, so we have about fifty horses currently on the estate, and fifteen of those are pregnant mares. So if everything goes well, we'll have tons of foals come April or May."
Zale held onto the bar of the golf cart knowing that one good rock and they would go tumbling. But that didn't stop him from enjoying the ride. The speed wasn't the issue for the young horse whisperer but the haphazardly nature of Nick's driving. “Do you think I could meet them? The pregnant mares?”
He nodded and made a sharp right towards the nearest field, three mares within the white fence. They lifted their heads and started to walk closer at the sight of him, knowing that his presence usually resulted in treats. Carrots, whoo!
The boy left the confines of the golf cart and approached the fence. “Hello there.” The mares seemed to give him notice, one of them giving him a good and loud sniff and only then did Zale pet her head, stroking down from her crown to her hithers. He spoke as if they were English speaking people, with no fear that Nick might notice it. After all, Hades had driven him to the front door and Nick shared his life with Mel. Greek blood was not really a secret. “No, I'm sorry. I don't have any carrots.... Is that so?”
Nick arched an eyebrow. But then... Greek. Freakiness abounds, and apparently in the kids, too. Who would his girl talk to? Turtles? "Cubes, though." He pulled a ziploc baggie out of his pocket and held them out to the boy. "Not very many, though. Don't wanna spoil them."
If Helen could talk to turtles, Nick should be worried about her sometimes transforming into a talking turtle.... Zale took the cubes in his hand and offered them to the mares as he kept petting the one most interested in him. “She misses the stallion.”
The mortal blinked as his brain caught up to his confusion. "You can talk to horses."
A little sheepishly, the other younger mortal lowered his head but kept his eyes on Nick, “Yeah. I figured it would be okay to tell you.”
Nick tilted his head to better see the boy in the eyes. "Huh. What do the other ones say?"
Zale looked back to the mares. Horse speech wasn't all sounds. It was in the twitching of the ears, the movement of the hooves and the swooshing of the tail. Scent, too, probably, but if it was the boy was not conscious of that part. It all came naturally anyway. He returned his gaze to Nick. “The one on the left wishes the sugar cubes were actually carrot cubes. The one on the right is nervous her foal won't be as strong as the other foals.” The worry brought a warm smile the boy. Mothers were mothers no matter the species.
Nick smiled and laughed a bit, reaching out to the one on the right. "Um, can she understand me any?" he asked, curious now himself.
Zale nodded. “But differently.” He paused to consider how to explain, “I mean, you can understand her, right? Even though you don't hear every detail...”
"Kind of..." Nick picked out a sugar cube and held out palm out flat, letting the animal take the treat away. "I can read their bodies. I know when they're nervous, angry, tired, excited. I can tell when they're about to foal and when I'll have to wait. I know which ones do best at certain things and worse at others..."
He shrugged. "Not real words though, I guess. You can tell her she had a great stud, though. Hers is gonna be a champ."
“That's how they understand you, too. Mostly anyway. They can usually pick up the gist of what you mean when you talk, too.” That's always how it had been when his mother or Amara had spoken to Gemini. Or when Hades had spoken to the zebras in the zoo. Gemini and the zebras had understood enough words and movement to embarrass him. “Like right now. She's less nervous now.”
Nick smiled. "Cool. Um, can you ask what they think about me?"
Zale tried not to laugh as the mares needed no prompting. They all tried to nuzzle their heads against Nick's body.
Laughing, Nick gave them all extra cubes. Because that was all they were after, totally, before looking back to Zale. "Did you wanna ride any?"
“Not the mares...” They were pregnant after all. But the boy nodded, “Of course I do.”
"Well, duh, not them. But we've got others. Come on, hop in the cart." Which Nick proceeded to do, as the mares trotted off. They knew about that machine. It tended to be loud and fast, and they didn't like it one bit.
Zale hopped in without needing to be told twice. He didn't understand why his uncle griped about Nick so much. Maybe Nick was more disagreeable with Hades, but he certainly didn't seem it with him. “Were you worried they didn't like you?'
Complicated.
'Nuff said.
"Not really. If they didn't, they'd probably kick my head in," he said matter of factly. "Just wanted to know what they'd think, I guess." Looking over, he gave the kid a once over, a new train of thought pulling in. "So you're his nephew? Are you Zeus' kid, then?"
“No.” Zale's smile fell a little bit at the question. It was hard to be a cheerful kid when you were suddenly reminded of your absent old man, “Poseidon's.”
... Nick paled slightly and turned his attention back to the dirt road. "Ah."
Zale caught notice of that. Maybe it was his time with Hades that made him catch the reaction so easily, or maybe it was because Nick was as transparent as glass, but it was an odd reaction. “It's okay. I mean, you don't have to feel bad about it...”
Ack! "No, it's just, haven't heard the name in a while," he said with a shrug, making sure his eyes were focused straight forward. Calm. Total calm. Totally doable! "You... You look like him."
“Really?” Zale felt the side of his face like, tactilely looking for that resemblance “I always thought I looked like mom. Mara kinda looks like Dad, I guess...” She does have dark hair and similar facial features, he assumed when he really thought about it. But now he turned his head and looked more intently at Nick. “You sound like you knew him...”
"... I do."
It probably shouldn't have been surprising. Nick owned a ranch and one of his father's passions had been horses. “How?”
Or did he mean did know him? Nick wasn't sure. "Hades didn't tell you?" he asked.
“Should he have?” Zale tilted his head a little bit watching Nick. He was beginning to think this might have been something his uncle should have told him, but... neither of them spent a lot of time talking about Poseidon.
Mouth twisting up a bit, Nick just hoped knew his mythology. "Pelops. I'm Pelops. Kinda."
“Oh...” It took a second for the information to actual register and cross-reference with that book of myths he had bought so many months ago. There was a mention of Pelops. He had been Poseidon's cupbearer. Zale's eyes went wide. “Oh! Wow... yeah, I guess you would know him then.”
And now Nick's face went from white to red, thank god he was focusing on that road. His knuckles clutched the wheel tightly. It'd been way too long since he'd even thought of that name. How could it still hurt so much? "Yeah."
... You didn't have to be an empath to figure out Nick was uncomfortable. You didn't even have to be very good at reading body language. Zale looked away with a slight frown, “I'm sorry. We don't need to talk about it, if you don't wanna.”
"Thanks." Gonna talk about feelings? Absolutely not. Too chick-y. He quietly drove them to the barn and led him to Merc's stall. The gelding stretched out his nose to nuzzle against the man's neck.
"This is Mercury's Pride," he said, a bit of a smile returning to his face. "My pride, too."
“He's gorgeous.” Though Zale wondered how he would fare against Gemini in a race. Then again, it would probably be a bit unfair. Nick definitely weighed more than he did. He reached out to place his hand against Merc's snout. His own smile returned with the conversation dropped. “Hey there. I bet the mares must like you.”
"Ah, nope, he's fixed," said Nick with a laugh.
Zale laughed a little, too, petting the horse's snout even more now, “Probably makes things less complicated.” The little horse whisperer wasn't quite sure if horses had a lot of romantic entanglements, but they always seemed like people to him so... He knew it was complicated for humans and was less than excited for when his hormones decided to start up on him due to that fact. With another laugh, he put his forehead against Merc's, “They probably still like you. You're strong and fast...”
Merc nickered and lipped at the boy's sleeve playfully until he saw Nick pulling out the sugar cubes again. "So you're living with Hades now. What's that like?" asked Nick.
Zale very much understood the attentions of horses; sugar cubes beat boys. So, letting Merc concentrate on his treat, he put his hands in his pockets with a shrug. “It's nice. I mean, unless something really bad and urgent is going on, Uncle Dante makes sure we hang out for at least an hour one-on-one. And he's really good at helping me write essays for class.”
"Never thought the lord of the dead was a kid person."
“Before I met him, I wouldn't have thought so either.” The myths didn't really paint his uncle in a favoring light, but since he had arrived in Miami pretty much, Hades had been lingering the shadows when he couldn't be public about being around him. Maybe it was the previous Poseidon conversation, it made Zale realize once again that Hades acted much more like a father than his own ever did. “But he's real good with his kids and he's always gone out of his way for me. I guess you don't get to see his good side, right?”
Nick blinked at the boy. "What have you heard?"
“He mutters about you sometimes.”
... Nick couldn't help but smirk. "Glad to hear I'm so popular."
Zale only seemed confused, “It didn't seem like happy muttering.”
"We don't exactly have a buddy relationship," Nick said with a shrug.
“Do you hate him?”
Nick considered then shook his head. "I dunno. I don't like him. But, hate's a bit too strong."
“Good, 'cause I like you, but if you hated him...” Zale wasn't quite smiling, but there was some happiness behind the expression because of Nick's response. It wasn't a smile because of what he was about to say. “My mom hates him and he hates her right back. They try to keep it from bubbling over but it's always there. Unless its them though, I don't really want to be in the center of something like that again. But you don't, so that's good.”
"Who's your Mom?" asked Nick while he opened up the stall and led the horse towards the large closet containing all the saddles and such gear.
“Demeter.” Zale watching the older mortal, and quickly chose to change the topic. It always hurt to think about his mother... It just created wonders like “Where was she?” “Can I ask you something?”
"Sure."
“You said you were Pelops. But I thought Pelops died...”
"It's really, really messed up. I don't know how I'm even here, or if I'm really me or him or..." Nick shook his head, ow. "No idea. It's like reincarnation, I guess."
If some Greek outside observer walked into the conversation at this point, they might really wonder if Zale was Hades' son. He simply lit up at the phrase 'reincarnation', but not because he had any love of death or dying matters. “Do you sleep walk?”
Pausing in his gathering of the saddle, Nick considered. "I think I had one time where I was little, and I ended up in the barn. But, nothing I can think of besides that."
“Oh. Alright.” Maybe Zale was the only reincarnation sleep walking about. But he hadn't, thankfully, sleptwalked as Arion for a while now. Maybe it was brought on by stress... His life was pretty calm down. The boy shook away his thoughts before the returned to the idea of his mother and her leaving, “So, where are we riding to?”
Now, nightmares, nightmares were a while other things.
"The fields. Can you set up the tack?"
“Sure.” Zale looked around the barn for the tacking equipment and was quick to get to work. His smile was quick to return him to him as weird conversations ended and simple joys replaced them. “Wanna race? We could use any fences you have as jump hurdles.”
"Hm, probably want to put aside the jumps," noted Nick. "These horses aren't bred for show jumping or racing. My father's-- er, my company mostly caters to dressage."
Zale shrugged. All horses liked a good run, but he wasn't one to argue or press. “Alright. Let's take a good stroll then.”
Smiling, Nick nodded and handed over a saddle and the rest of its tack to the younger boy. "Do you know how to put all this on?"
“Mhmm. I have my own horse. His name is Gemini.” The younger boy was quick to prove he knew how to do it and when done, looked back to Nick with a smile. “Anything else you think we need?”
Nick, pausing only for a second to look over the gear on Merc before nodding in approval, shook his head. "No, you're good. Head out to the field just behind the barn. It's the biggest, and empty. We can go out in the woods, too. Wait for me there."
With another smile, Zale pulled himself up on the horse he was provided with. “Okay. Don't take too long.” And with that, the boy went off, only taking a few moments to find himself completely at ease with this horse's gait like he had ridden it countless times before.
Nick smiled back at the boy as he left the barn and went to get his own horse. Maybe this would be fun. If only he could get the sea king out of his head...
Summary: Hades bring Zale over to hang out with Nick and Mel on MLK Day and Nick and Zale talk for a bit about who they are before deciding to take a ride.