Hestia (heart_h) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2009-04-09 22:46:00 |
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Current mood: | contemplative |
Entry tags: | hestia, npc, tessia sloac |
Who: Hestia and Baulder
What: Oh hai.
Where: Washington, D.C.
When: BACKDATED to Sunday
Warnings: None
Well, the suggestion had been to explore. That didn't sound too bad... Hestia had brought some comfortable shoes. And a little extra cash. And it wouldn't be a trip if she didn't bring back souvenirs!
Having heard good things about the Georgetown shopping district, she had decided to go there to explore, waiting for the cool evening so she could miss a bit of the crowds. She shouldered her purse to peer into a window of a toy shop. Little black cows and sheep! Perfect! Smiling proudly at her find, she turned towards the door when she felt a tug on her purse strap. Hm? Caught on a brick?
But instead of a brick or tree limb, it was a hand. A hand belonging to a big, hairy man that smelled distinctly of bourbon who had staggered out of the alley. He swerved slightly as he yanked on the purse again. "Lady, gimme some money."
"Ah, no, I have to go," she said, hoping he was just drunk. "I--"
Hestia froze, paling, when he pulled a pistol out of his pocket. "I said gimme yer purse, bitch," he snarled like an animal as he pointed it to her face. Hestia only froze. She was no helpless maiden, perfectly capable of fending for herself. But they were in a public area. Someone could see her and attract unecessary attention. Oh dear...
A very large catcher's mitt like hand reached around the drunk's shoulders and pulled the gun up to the sky suddenly and on instinct the drunk turned around with a surprise swear to see the very tall red-headed Norse glaring back down at him. "People like you are the reason our clubs are never filled to the brim with young, attractive tourists." Baulder smiled, but it wasn't a warm, welcoming one; it was very much the happy mania the Norse were known for in a fight as he punched the man with his other hand square in the face as hard as he could, dropping him to the ground.
"Bau--" Hestia put a hand over her mouth to catch herself from blurting his name out of surprise. And even more surprising to herself, she felf a smile underneath her fingers. She felt bad for the man as he fell with a nasty thud to the sidewalk. Well, not too bad. "What are you doing here!" she squeaked.
Aww, down in one punch? That wasn't fun at all. Oh well, that wasn't why Baulder was roaming the streets this fine early evening anyway. If it was he would have gone to a fight gym or deeper into the poverty stricken residential areas looking for trouble. He shook out his hand as he pocketed the gun after unloading and pocketing the bullets. "Short cut. But the better question is what are you doing here?"
"I'm here on vacation..." She lowered her hand, revealing her smile. And the slight blush on her cheeks that she wasn't quite aware of yet. "Thank you."
"I should probably bring him to the police, but they're busy enough as it is..." Baulder kicked him hard and yet gracefully in the ribs, before looking down to her with a smile, "You picked DC for a vacation? Desperate to see the monuments?"
She shook her head. "My sister suggested it for some, ah, get-away time. I actually forgot your family lives here. You have good timing!" she said with a laugh.
Someone came to DC to relax? That wasn't Norse? Hmm... oh wait, Baulder suddenly remembered Freyr's debriefing of the Greeks. Complicated, verging on crazy. Right. He continued to smile down to her, "Appears so. It would have been a shame if he shot you."
"And messy and hard to explain to my family," she added, chuckling. "It's nice seeing you again..." Though she physically had to stop from looking him up and down. Yes. Yes, it was nice seeing him again.
No one would blame her for the difficulty. He was a beautiful man dressed for dinner and then a night of clubbing. "An attractive woman really shouldn't be wandering around on her own after dark in this city."
The blushing got worse. Hestia could feel it then. "Well what about attractive men?" she asked before she considered her words. Wait. What?! Oh gods.
Baulder considered the question, even as he reached out and lightly touched one of her blushing cheeks. She was adorable and had a point. "Well, actually, no one should wander around this place alone after dark, unless they don't mind finding trouble." The city was excellent for people not minding trouble as a companion.
She looked down the near-empty street and decided, he was probably right. Even if she was far from home, perhaps the Norse were not the only gods around. "Well. If I'm not imposing... where are you going?" she asked curiously. "Then we can do each other a favor."
"I was going to go dinner and dancing. It's the weekend, even if tomorrow is Monday. Still the weekend." Though Baulder didn't mind finding trouble. Sometimes it felt the same as finding a forgotten five dollar bill in a freshly laundered pair of pants. He didn't even consider something could get over his head, even with what happened to Freyr still fresh in the Aesirs' minds. "What were you doing?"
"Just exploring. This is my first ever vacation," she admitted with a shrug. "I honestly have no idea how to spend one. I spent most of the day cleaning up my hotel room out of boredom. Well, that, and the maids really have no idea how to dust, I think."
"You're supposed to do fun things you can't do at home on a vacation," Baulder tried his best to hide the fact he didn't understand why anyone would clean a hotel room. That was the perk of being in a hotel room. "If you just do things you can do home, what's the point?"
But it was dirty! It had to be cleaned. Hestia shrugged. "Hence my slight confusion. Heh."
The Norse shrugged, "Well, what do you want to do here that you can't do home? That would be a good starting point."
Hestia's smile fell a bit, both with concentration and a little bit of sadness. Cook for her lover? See her house spotless? Play with her children? She couldn't do any of those things here. "I don't know," she murmured in confusion. "Everything I like to do is within my home..."
Baulder frowned as well. Sadness was not something he enjoyed; it went against his nature. "There is nothing you like outside your house?"
"Goddess of the hearth," she reminded him softly. "I like gardening, I suppose. I went to a movie... last year? I don't remember which it was. Um, I run my bakery..." She paused, and added, "I must sound pathetically boring..."
She did, but it gave Baulder an idea and it made him almost light up, "What have you always wanted to do?"
...Cook the world's largest cake? She considered. "Well. I suppose I've always wanted to see the White House." Her eyes lit up a little bit at the realization. "I mean, it's... the White House. I hear it's beautiful at night, too. What do you think?"
"Well, we can't get too too close but..." It was much less boring and workable than needing to air lift her house from Miami. And with a bright grin, Baulder knew another short cut. He grabbed her by the wrist and began to dash, "C'mon! They probably have the lights on!"
Squeak!
Hestia followed after, clutching her purse and running fast to make sure she wasn't left behind in his giant-sized strides. By the time they reached the crowded front gates, she had to stop and support herself on her knees as she caught her breath. Good heavens. She'd never been much of an endurance athlete... or an athlete at all! But one look up at the gigantic building, home of the president of the free world, and her eyes were aglow with fascination. "It's beauitful," she whispered.
Baulder's breath was quickly caught and chuckled softly as she supported herself against her knees. He rubbed her back softly until she looked up and with that he bent down to whisper to her, "I could pick you up so you could see over the gate. Not for long though. The Secret Service doesn't like it."
Hestia laughed at the idea and shook her head. "I can see just fine here..." She straightened herself out, smoothing down her skirt, and returned to gazing back to the magnificent monument. "It's so hard to believe someone actually lives there. Did you know it's haunted? I'm actually a little jealous of them, hee." She looked back up to him, illuminated slightly by the lights around them so her hair was even more scarlet than usual and her cheeks rosier. Her eyes conveyed every feeling, even if she couldn't find the words. "Thank you."
She wasn't the only one illuminated. His own hair drew the light and appeared a richer red. He let his hand rest upon her shoulder then, a subtle gesture to help keep purse snatchers away from her as she enjoyed herself, "You're welcome, but there is no need."
He was beautiful. That much was obvious. She suddenly felt self-conscious and reached up to put a hand up on top of his. "It was still very nice."
"Kinda selfish though," Baulder shrugged and looked to the White House. He wondered if he should tell her what it looked like on the inside, but he kept it to himself. "I'm happy when other people are happy."
"I'm kind of the same way... I only feel happy when I have people in my home, family or not, and they're happy enough," she replied understandingly. "I guess it's the whole reason I'm out here, even."
He understood her until she got to that last part. The Norse even scratched his head in visiable confusion, his long hair flowing around his hand in the action, "You're only happy when you're entertaining in your house and so you left your house?"
Hestia shuddered at the look of all that lovely hair. Guuuuuuh. "I told you a little about my relationship with Dante, yes?" she asked once she had regained her composure. "Well... we decided to go to a bit of therapy. I don't know how much it helped, but she suggested I vacation for a few days. So, here I am."
Baulder brought her closer to his body, misinterpting the shudder. He took it as a shiver, clearly she was cold in this cooler enviorment even though she was a little furnace. But with a pause, he looked down at her again, "Sounds like your therapist was trying to get the two of you to stop pinning your happiness on each other."
The goddess blinked at him in shock. "Am I that obvious?"
He grinned and whispered in her ear, "God of happiness and light, pleasure to meet you."
She giggled a bit, quite flush when she felt his lips brush her ear. Good heavens. "I suppose you're right. I just.. I don't know." She shrugged again, unsure again. "I feel like if I could just be better, maybe he wouldn't be so sad and angry. Like if I could just make up for the wrongs I did, we'd both be happier. And..." Well, the other issue... She blushed again."Well, there's you. I-I don't want to sound creepy at all, but I really can't stop thinking about you. I don't know what to do about it."
Uh oh, Baulder really hoped he wasn't adding to a household's suffering. It was bad enough he almost had the whole world crying for him, he didn't need to cause suffering while alive. "You don't sound creepy." He straightened up and was about to lean against the gate before catching sight of security and choosing against the action, "But why do you keep thinking about me? Because I'm all carefree and you're surrounded by grief or something else?"
"I wish I knew, really. I mean, besides the fact that you're... You know... handsome." Hestia twittered her thumbs, blushing right down to her neckline. "I... I can only think the only other reason is because you are so nice and kind and warm. Dante... I love him. I can't imagine my life without him anymore. But... it's hard to live with someone when it only feels like you're adding to their own pain. I just want him to be happy, and if I can put aside my own problems, I can focus on that."
Baulder couldn't help but the find the fatal law in her logic and he gave the shoulder his hand rested upon a gentle squeeze to get her attention, "But your problem is him being unhappy, then how are you going to put it aside to focus on his unhappiness?"
"..." Hestia looked down to her feet. "I just don't know."
Aww, he made her feel bad... even if he did just speak an honest question. Baulder shrugged a little, "Maybe if you're happy, it'll guide him from his sadness."
"I'm trying," she sighed. "I really am. I think, I just need to sort myself out? Maybe?"
"Hence the vacation, gotcha..." Baulder held back the comment of circular logic. If she was on vacation to find herself and happiness and chose Washington DC out of the blue... Well, it just seemed like he had a responsibility to help her. He reached down and took her by the wrist again. "Maybe gentle distraction and forgetting your concerns is in order."
Hestia looked back up to him with a small smile. He was clearly trying, and she couldn't help but be touched. "That'd be so nice," she sighed.
Trying in a nonmagical way, he would use magic if forced. She just looked so pitiful when she was sad. "C'mon, be my guest for the evening. I can show you some nice places you can explore in the daylight."
She paused, considering, but it only took her a moment to smile and nod. "I'd love to," said the goddess, extending her hand to him.
The clubs would live with him not visiting them one Sunday, though his stomach was going to angrily grumble at him in a little bit. No matter. Baulder had a mission to do and he would see it done. Keeping an arm around her shoulders, he led her away from the gates of the White House and began to head toward the great monuments. So many of them were based on Greek structures as it was he was sure she would at least appreciate them and she was a tourist; it was required. "Who do you like better Lincoln or Jefferson?"
Hestia felt her shoulders warm at his touch on her. "Jefferson," she said with a nod. "It looks so much like the temples at home, kinda."
"Really? Almost everyone says Lincoln." Baulder smiled and began to lead the way, weaving through the crowd that always managed to be around the White House, even though they were not supposed to be. "I always think Jefferson looks lonesome."
"Maybe..." She kept her hand in his, giving it a small squeeze, as she watched his face while they walked. "Do you always do this for strangers?" she wondered aloud. A little bit of her kind of hoped he didn't.
"Most strangers wouldn't let me do this. The world's a dangerous place, you know?" The danger was actual kind of a thrill to Baulder, and maybe of his clan, but that was not especially important right now. He gave her little body a gentle squeeze, bringing her closer to his own. He led her along the sidewalks, "But you're not a stranger anyway."
Hestia giggled and allowed herself to walk closer against him. This was nice. And, yet, it shouldn't have been. Her mind drifted to Hades with a guilty tinge, and she released his hand.
When she released his hand, Baulder let his hand slip away from her shoulder. But it worked out. He pointed to the Jefferson Memorial. "I think it looks nicer at night with the lights on it."
"Yeah..." She paused and looked him over. She needed to work out her problems, right? Get distracted? Work out her priorities? A phrase she often used came to mind: you have to try everything at least once. How else do you know what tastes best?
Hestia stopped in her tracks. "Baulder," she murmured.
Baulder stopped as well. "You should really be calling me 'James', but yeah?"
Reaching up, she cupped his sculpted face into her hands and kissed him, lightly at first as if wary of what she was doing, then deepening it.
Well, well, that was surprising,but Baulder could almost feel how much she wanted to carry on like this. And he supposed kissing him was something she couldn't do in her house. Not breaking the kiss, he looped his arms around her lifted her clear off the ground to make the whole endearvor easier for the both of them.
She returned it just as eagerly as for the first time since she'd met him, her sensations were not on fire but her mind was. He had soft, warm lips and a gentle embrace. But it didn't carry the security and strength of Hades'... She let her hands rest on his arms, closing her eyes to enjoy the kiss.
Baulder boosted her up against his chest, his hands pressed against her skin through the fabric of her clothing. His kiss was full of life and joy and excitement, he conveyed it all with his embrace and affection.
And she could feel it, too. But as much as she enjoyed it, craved it, everything made her drift back to Hades. How she already missed his touch... no, how she had been missing it for a long time. Even feeling his smile on his lips only made her wish she could see Hades more. To be able to be the one to bring it to his face... "This is nice," she said with a little smile, but the sigh was obvious in her voice.
She missed her lover. She wanted to go home.
The Norse nodded with a smile and put her back down to her feet, "I think you have your answer." Not commenting any further on what he had said, he took her by the hand and brought her to the front of the Jefferson Memorial.
She did.
Summary: Hestia goes to D.C. with some questions and leaves with an answer.