Dante Lot (unseen_miami) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2010-08-31 23:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | dante lot, hades, hestia, tessia sloac |
Who: Hades & Hestia
What: Reveals
Where: Hestia’s Bakery
When: Backdated. Midmorning, same day/following this scene with Persephone
Warning: None.
Hades was more impressed that he had found a parking spot near the bustling bakery than anything else. His black 2008 Jaguar came to a complete a total stop in the tightest possible spot he could actually fit the car in. Miami’s traffic and parking conditions were out to get him today, he was certain of it – simply certain of it.
Entering the bakery, he began to fully understand why there was no parking in front of it. The place was filled – perhaps he had come during a midmorning rush but with a shrug, he simply waited on line. They were all going to get muffins or something like that. He had no fear his choice would be gone and when he reached the counter, he looked down at the little woman that was his sister, “Hello, Tessia. Let me have the whole loaf of pumpernickel bread over there.”
Hestia turned around from the employee she had been instructing and, after a moment of surprise, offered him a wide smile. She was busy and overworked and overstaffed, but this was her element. She was positively radiant, though the mortals chalked it up to the lighting. “Dante! What are you doing here?” she asked as she reached into the glass display to fetch him the freshest loaf available.
Hades returned the smile but it was much less wide than hers, more of an impression of one than anything else, but watching her kept it firmly there. She certainly did look in her element, content with life and enjoying herself in that moment. "Felt like visiting you and I knew you would be here. To be honest, the bread is kinda an excuse but I do want it."
“Oh you’re so sweet. Here.” She handed over the loaf in a thin, soft paper to keep his hands clean. “On the house.”
He took the loaf carefully. After all, she had wrapped the loaf carefully so he would follow suit. "When do you take a break?"
Hestia laughed at the idea. “Wendy. Take the register please.” A young woman took hold of the counter and the line of people behind Hades as Hestia walked around and to the door that would let her out. “I take a break whenever I like,” she reminded him.
"It is good to run your own business," he commented quickly and then looked around the crowded little bakery, "Is there someone we could talk and not have to worry about words being lost over people's cell phones going off?"
“Would outside be okay? I could use some fresh air,” she replied.
“Maybe outside in the back,” he considered.
“Fair enough.” She took him by the wrist and led him around the building until they were out of sight from customers and employees alike. A few chairs and a small table sat in the back, protected by a small fence, and she took the seat away from the shade of the tree that overlooked the table.
He looked at the set up and then down to her, “Is this your hiding spot when you want to see if your employees can run the place without your directions?” But with a shrug, he walked forward and placed the wrapped loaf on the table before leaning back against the fence, “Or just a place to relax?”
Hestia chuckled and relaxed into the bamboo chair. “Both, really, but usually the latter.”
“It must be a really stressful day for you to have to duck back here,” he said as he moved closer so he could stand behind the chair she was sitting in and after putting on the sun glasses tucked into his pocket to deal with the bright, unshielded sun, rested his hands against the back of the bamboo chair, “You looked like you were enjoying yourself in there.”
She leaned her head back to gaze up at him. “I like owning my own business, and it’s been years since I owned a bakery. We got off to a slow start, but we’re doing well, and my employees are wonderful.”
“Had no doubt you would make it work...” he caught her eyes and did his hardest to keep his expression entirely neutral, “Considering you outright promised me you wouldn’t let it go to waste. Though I do hope you used some of your profits to buy new ink for that fax machine I bought it on.”
Hestia paused with some surprise before she smiled warmly, replying softly, “Yes, I did, didn’t I. Feeling better, are we?”
Hades liked when people he cared about smiled directly due to his actions. He had learned he was a sucker for it and it was something in worse times he had grasped at. He simply enjoyed it at the moment, thankful he didn’t need to grasp, “Define ‘better’.”
“You remember buying the bakery,” she pointed out, “and that was quite a while ago.”
Hades shook his head and half circled around her chair to plop himself down into his own. He was silent for a moment... a long moment, taking the time to grab his loaf of bread and pick at it. It gave him a distraction as he thought. So understated. Persephone might as well have tackled him in glee... “I can pretend I don’t remember if you want....”
Hestia watched him pace before he walked back down. Yes, he did seem back to normal. It had been weird, seeing how different he had become in everything; not just words and sounds, but the way his body moved and held itself... And she quickly reminded herself that she had no place thinking about the way his body moved. “I think I prefer you this way, if you don’t mind. May I ask what happened? This is a pretty quick recovery!”
She was lucky he was looking away from her when she was eying him. He might not have been able to help bringing up the fact that she was a married woman. But he turned his attention to her at her words, even with the piece of bread in his hands. “Everyone said I was who I was.,” he shrugged a little, “If that was the case, I should have been able to call myself to judgment. And I did...” He then smirked just slightly, “That probably makes no sense but you asked.”
His sister smiled with a bit of shame. “It is confusing,” she admitted, “but as long as you’re all right and feeling well, I’m glad.”
“Feel like I have a headache, but it’s easing away bit by bit...” Hades’ gaze drifted downwards, “Glad you’re glad about. You gave me a not terribly reassuring reaction at first... Guess you were processing...”
“I hadn’t heard much of it before you came to the door. I’m sorry I reacted the way I did,” Hestia replied apologetically, reaching over to squeeze his hand in hers.
Her apology made him smile slightly but it was not an especially happy one as he watched she reach out for his hand but did nothing to move it from her, “I didn't mean that reaction. Meant just now. Guess you were just processing or maybe figured jumping me with a hug would have probably startled me out of this chair."
“Oh. Heh. You surprised me! You’ve been doing that a lot lately, you know. You’re reaching your quotient for the year...”
“Have a quotient?” Hades looked up to meet her eyes, even though his were hidden behind the tinted lens of his shades, “Never got a memo about that.”
The goddess giggled and, releasing his hand, leaned back into her chair with an amused shrug. “It’s a new thing I’m putting in. You’ll have to adjust.” After a pause, she added, “But if you really want that hug, I wouldn’t mind giving it!”
He crossed his arms over his chest when she released him, “Well, I hate surprises but since I would be ready for you hugging me, it’d be okay.”
“Okay.” She waited a few moments, just to give him time to prepare, before standing and leaning down to hug him tight, a kiss pressed to his temple. “I’m glad you’re better, brother. We missed you.”
Hades made sure to uncross his arms just in the nick of time and then wrap them around his eldest sister when he found her close to him, hugging him tightly. “I was never gone, Sister.”
“You know what I mean,” she scolded without really scolding, releasing him. “Who else knows?”
“Dahlia...” He replied but his words were hushed, his arms still looped around her in a hug as he look up to her. Uncertainty dwelt in his black eyes as he tried to meet hers, “No, I don’t... Was it like I was a different person?”
Hestia blinked at him once she had sat back down. “You had amnesia,” she reminded him.
Hades nodded a little, “Know that but...” He closed his eyes and took a breath. How to be understood? Part of him wished he was still amnesic... It was easier to talk it seemed then. “You wouldn’t have written me off as gone if I hadn’t come here confessing my memories returned, yes?”
The goddess opened her mouth before closing it again, considering her words. “It wasn’t that you were gone, brother,” she explained, “but you were not the same. Whatever our issues or history, I missed the you I knew.”
He lowered his eyes with a small smile, “I like that you missed me and yet I wasn’t gone either.”
The smile made her heart go pitter patter. “[Oh, little brother,]” she sighed with a smile of her own, and she couldn’t help but hug him again. Not with that face! “[Don’t ever go away again.]”
There was no way to avoid almost rearing back at her sudden hug. Some part of his brain braced for it -- the part that understood that of course a hug would follow a ‘Oh, little brother’, but not enough of his brain had been braced. It was only when his back hit the bamboo of the chair that he realized he was being hugged and again looped his arms around her. “[Can’t promise that like how you clearly can’t promise not to surprise hug me but I’ll try my best, Wordless One.]” If there was any doubt in her mind that his memories had returned, he hoped they would be whisked away by the use of that title.
Hestia’s cheeks flushed. “Hee. [Sorry.]”
Hades released her before keeping her close made her flush more. She was a married woman and he was engaged. It wasn’t right to act in a way that could be considered less than innocent. “Where are my boys? Does June have them or did you bake them a ginger bread house they are eating their way out of?”
“June has them, yes,” she replied, “for the afternoon. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind letting you go see them, though.”
She doesn’t have any say in the matter, went through his mind but he thankfully kept it from his lips. Instead, Hades nodded, “Sure she wouldn’t. Just as well. Can see them and tell her at the same time.”
Hestia nodded with a smile. “Great! Thank you again, for stopping by. I’m so glad everything’s back to normal. Do you want to take anything with you?”
“Back to normal? Maybe,” Hades questioned/confessed as he rubbed the back of his head where he knew he had been shot and where he was convinced his headache was coming from. He didn’t feel normal. His memories all too close to the present but normal for him wasn’t something to be desired. That he knew very well. But he stood and grabbed his loaf of bread, “You already gave me something to take with me. How much of your goods do you want me to take with me?”
“Don’t ask me that, you’ll regret it,” she warned, shaking a finger in his direction.
“Maybe, but only because my brand new big SUV needs massive repairs,” he stood as he spoke, remembering his poor SUV. He had broken it, broken it as an affront to nature. Truly that little spree was his only regrettable action during his amnesia and it was all Demeter’s fault that it was a regret. Her betrayal of him was just as close to his mind as all his other memories, as fresh as yesterday and the only thing that didn’t reopen that painful scar was knowing that Persephone was home madly in love with him. The betrayal and the eventual victory almost canceled each other out... at least enough for him not be beside himself in despair and rage about it.
Instead, such emotions were far from him as he took a single step around the table to catch Hestia’s finger and her hand in one of his larger hands. With utmost gentleness, he folded her finger back with the other and then lowered her whole hand to rest above her heart before releasing it, “Should probably get moving to see my sons before your employees think something is going on between us back here. Let you get back to work.”
Oh. Hm. Well. Hestia’s mouth opened up slightly before shutting again, her brain catching her lips before they did something they’d both regret. “Okay,” they decided on.
Hades began to step away from the table, only to be forced to wheel around and snatch the bread right off the table, “Will talk to you later, Wordless One... And thank you for the bread. Plan on eating all of it for lunch.”
“You’re always welcome here, [little brother],” she replied in turn, offering him a smile as she wrapped an arm loosely around his to lead him back to the store. “Don’t forget that.”
Summary: Hades had a list of people to tell that he had recovered his memories early in the morning. The second on his list was Hestia.