Demeter (Madeline Scott) (ex_earthmoth431) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2010-09-14 13:04:00 |
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Current mood: | accomplished |
Get thee to Miami
Who: Demeter, Thanatos, James Paulson (NPC), and Sheila Delaney (NPC)
What: Receiving orders that will send the two immortals back to Miami
Where: A Deputy Director's office in the secret headquarters of a clandestine federal agency
When: ~8:45am today
Warnings: None
"I know about the standing requirement for your missions, but this case is--"
"The definition of the word 'requirement' hasn't changed recently, has it?"
"Of course not... Wait... 'Definition'? What are you talk--?"
"Good, then it's settled. This mission is not happening. End of story--"
"It is happening--"
"No, it's not."
"Demeter, you're not listening to me."
"You're the one who's not listening, Paulson."
The secretary outside Deputy Director James Paulson's office knew it was bad form to hover outside the closed door and listen in on the conversations taking place inside. However, it wasn't often that the Greek goddess stormed in without an appointment. Even rarer was the fact that she came in to actually refuse to go on a mission assignment.
In fact, she'd never refused a mission before.
"Something interesting going on in there, Sheila?"
The poor girl nearly jumped out of her skin and whirled about, looking for the source of the voice that had purred into her ear. At first there seemed to be no one there. Then, slowly, a man began to materialize before her eyes. He had dark brown locks of hair, pale blue eyes, and was dressed in a crisp black designer suit. Upon his head he also wore a similarly colored fedora at a jaunty angle. Once she realized who it was, she relaxed slightly. Sheila couldn't relax completely, though. What mortal could when they were in the presence of a god of death himself? Thankfully Thanatos didn't seem to mind her reaction to him in the least. In fact, it seemed to amuse him if the charming smile he was wearing was any indication.
"Don't tell me, Sheila, let me guess," he started as he looked towards the closed door, behind which there was still the muffled sounds of continued arguing. "Demeter's already in there having a 'discusion' with Jim about our current mission assignment, right?"
Sheila nodded. "She's been in there for the last forty-five minutes," the secretary confirmed.
"Any headway made by either side?"
She shook her head, to which Thanatos sighed.
"Mr. Unstoppable Force, meet Ms. Immovable Object," he muttered.
There was an insistent pinging from the phone on Sheila's desk. She pressed the speaker button to answer. "Yes Director?"
The voice on the other end of the line was clearly frustrated, but trying extremely hard to hold it together. "Has Thanatos arrived yet?"
"Just now, sir."
"Then for pete's sake send him in!" The line cut off abruptly. Sheila glanced at Thanatos, who tipped his hat to her.
"Message received," he said before walking towards the office and ghosting through the door.
When Thanatos solidified in the office, he could see the Director and Demeter sitting opposite one another in the spacious room, with only a large desk seperating the two individuals. The earth goddess was sitting in her chair, looking at nothing in particular, while the Director had turned his attention to Thanatos, visibly relieved at the death god's appearance.
"Morning Jim," Thanatos said as he made his way to the empty chair beside Demeter. Before he could even take a seat, though, Director Paulson spoke up impatiently.
"Will you talk some sense into your partner?" he ordered brusquely.
Demeter turned to look at her partner, a stoic expression on her face. "Will you tell the Director that there's no sense to be talked into me?"
"I need the both of you for this mission."
"Get someone else."
"There's no one else ranked high enough to trust with it."
"So promote someone."
Thanatos sighed. So it was going to be one of those sorts of mornings. He removed his hat and set it down on the desk before picking up the dossier that Demeter was making a point of refusing to acknowledge. Of course he'd already read his own copy when it crossed his desk last night, but it was more to give his hands something to do while he mentally ran through his options with straightening out this situation between the mortal and the goddess before him. "Firstly, Jim, can you explain to me why the two of us have been assigned to a case involving a..." Thanatos paused to reread a few lines in the dossier. "...chupacabra of all things." He closed the folder. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but aren't those things usually assigned to teams who are cutting their teeth on active field duty for the first time?" The death god looked directly at the director, arms crossed across chest. "At face value, this mission is really beneath us, Jim."
The director nodded as he teepeed his fingertips together before him. "That would be true if this was your standard, run-of-the-mill chupacabra. However, the creature that has been sighted in the Miami area seems to have graduated from goats to humans..."
Demeter's gaze shifted subtly back to Paulson at this bit of information. If the Deputy Director noticed, he didn't let on and continued speaking to Thanatos.
"...Right now, the cryptid is feeding mostly on the homeless squatting in the industrial district. However, our trackers indicate that it's starting to make its way towards a nearby residential area. Because of this 'evolution,' its been elevated to a delta-class threat, and of all the agents who are licensed to handle gamma-class and higher, only you two are currently not on assignment elsewhere in the country."
Thanatos studied Demeter as he listened to the Director. It was clear she was interested in the mission. She was concerned about this creature running loose in a major city, especially if it was targeting mortals instead of livestock. However, something major was preventing the goddess from accepting the mission. The conflict was clear in her eyes, though she kept the rest of her expression relatively neutral. Stubbornly she sat in her chair, lost in her own thoughts.
"So everyone else is gone?" Thanatos asked.
Paulson nodded. "We're not expecting the first team back for at least another week. Ugh... If we weren't so short handed these days."
"Understood." Thanatos turned his full attention back on Demeter. When he spoke to her, it was in their native tongue. "[We have to go,]" he said in the archaic, mostly forgotten form of Greek.
"[No,]" she said. "[I... We can't.]"
His eyes narrowed slightly. "[Yes, we can,]" he insisted sternly.
Demeter's body stiffened before she whipped her head around and glared at the death god, showing more emotion in her outburst than she had since she'd set foot in the Deputy Director's office. "[I cannot go back to Miami, Thanatos! I can't!]"
"[I know you're scared of facin--]"
"[I'm not scare--!]"
"[You're terrified!]" Thanatos yelled at Demeter, startling the earth goddess into silence. In the past two years she'd worked with him, he'd never heard him raise his voice before. "[The only reason you're being stubborn right now is because you're practically petrified with fear! Now let me finish!]" He took a deep breath and spoke more gently.
"[Demeter... It's been two years. I know you're scared of returning home and facing those you left behind. I know you're afraid of the questions that will be asked, and the people who will ask them. But, do you really want to let another year go by without seeing your children? Persephone? Zale? What about Hestia and Dionysus? Also...]" He paused a moment, wondering if he ought to really play his final card against her. It was a fairly low blow, in his opinion, but... "[...Don't you think Zeus ought to know what really happened to the child that the two of you created?]"
When Demeter's tightly clenched hands began to tremble, Thanatos reached out and held them gently, but firmly. "[Demeter, the decision is yours. Do you think it will help anyone to keep putting this off?]"
There was a long, heavy silence in the office. Then Demeter sighed deeply.
"Fine," she said in English with defeated, bitter resignation in her voice. The goddess got to her feet and retrieved her mission dossier. "You win."
Jim nodded. "You set out tomorrow morning. I'll have Sheila make hotel arrangments..."
Demeter shook her head. "That won't be necessary," she said. "Is there anything else, Director?" She eyed him coldly.
The old man shook his head. "Get some rest, Demeter."
"I'll be fine," she said as she made her way to the door.
"I'll meet you down in the armory in a few," Thanatos called after her. Demeter shrugged nonchalantly and left the office, refusing to look back even once at him. Once she was gone and the door had closed firmly behind her, the god of death sank down wearily into one of the comfortable leather chairs in front of the director's desk. Dealing with the drama of the living this early in the morning was exhausting, especially when one of the living was an immortal earth goddess.
"Do you think she's really fine, Than?" The director asked curiously. "It is by your personal request that I'm even giving you two this assignment, and I can't even fathom what you told her to get her to take the mission."
Thanatos shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure. She's definitely better than she was two years ago, when I first brought her here. But I'm uncertain if she's really strong enough to handle visiting with her 'family' and all the drama that will surely ensue."
Jim frowned. "So why are you forcing the reunion in the first place?"
The death god shook his head. "It's complicated, but the simple answer is that I 'think' it will be a good thing for most parties involved."
"Death turned family therapist, hm... Or is there something more between you and Demeter?"
Thanatos gave Paulson an curious look, then shook his head. "Nothing to speak of," he said simply.
With that statement, Thanatos rose up and made his own way toward the office door. "I'll let you know when we touch down in Miami."
"Oh, and don't forget about your mission!" Director Paulson said as Thanatos started ghosting through the door. "Family issues or no, that cryptid needs to be neutralized as soon as possible!"
Thanatos waved his hand in acknowledgement before phasing completely out of sight...
Summary: Demeter and Thanatos are ordered to work on a mission that will send them to Miami, Florida for the first time in over two years. The earth goddess tries to resist, so the death god pulls out a few cards to make her fold her hand.