Shiri Eneas (pensivxpression) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2010-12-15 19:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | cato jube, polyhymnia, shiri eneas |
Who: Shiri & Cato
What: Midterm Hell
Where: University of Miami
When: Backdated. Before Thanksgiving
Warnings: none
Papers. Cato's world had become an endless one of paper. Demeter's offer to test his powers had come at a good time; if he didn't test them on something else, he may have attempted to use them instead on his computer.
Books surrounded him like a little fortress as he hunched over the sleek laptop, typing diligently, mouthing the words to himself. But he wasn't the only one; he was surrounded by similar freshman as they worshiped at the paper and digital altars fretfully. Some looked calm or even confident, but most looked like Cato, worried and stressed. Sighing, he rubbed at his forehead and went back to the start, realizing he'd made a mistake at some point and would have to fix it.
Sigh.
While the freshman worshiped at the paper and digital altars fretfully, the seniors (if they had scheduled their classes properly) eased through midterm season like it was any other week. Shiri was not one of these seniors, but she was close to it – while busy, she didn't fret. She simply wished that the freshman were truly worshiping at such altars, worshiping the idols of their educational progress. It would give her a nice rush.
Her pumpkin latte she held would have to do instead as she eased through the Student Union, glancing at the poor Freshman, not envying them at all. She wondered if her midterms when she was a freshman had been like this... Hmmm....
Hey! Someone she knew!
She darted over to Cato and placed her hand flat atop his head, “Hey there.”
Cato blinked and leaned his head back so he looked straight up to her. "Hey, sis."
His leaning his head back did not displace her hand, but only managed to make her pet his hair. She giggled at how soft his blond hair felt against her palm, “What are you doing here? Chained to microsoft word like the others?”
The younger brother groaned and held up his wrists in evidence; they were chafed from where they had been resting on his desk's edge. "Yes."
“No way to delay the deadline?” Shiri moved around the desk, putting her latte down as she sat/leaned on the edge. Taking both his wrists, she began to rub them with her thumbs as she held them in her hands, “Or at least finding a cushion to support your hands?”
Cato chuckled a little and closed his eyes at the sensation. "Mmm. A cushion would be more likely. I've been putting this off enough as it is. Not-not that I meant to," he quickly added guiltily, "I just didn't realize how quickly the deadline would be here!"
“Be careful after you get them done then. You think you have time to breathe... then as soon as Thanksgiving is over, finals come to pounce upon you like a mountain lion from the hills,” Shiri said as she continued to rub his wrists but also tried to look at the computer screen, “I never have these problems. Deadlines are not my concerns.”
"Don't you have yours to do, too?" he queried curiously. "Or do juniors not do them..."
“Senior and yes, but mine do not,” Shiri shrugged and then released his wrists to reach back to her pumpkin latte. She had learned the hard way previously that they were not delicious cool or cold, so she brought it back to her lips, “I am listed as having a special need. Special needs students get to make demands of their professors and the professors do not argue generally, not wanting to have to deal with laws and offices...”
"Lucky," he stated with a smirk. "So what are you doing here then?"
Shiri had been trained by her Marine friends well to work her albinoism to its utmost and it was a sentiment she agreed with. About time this curse came in handy... “Between classes... Not enough time to go home so I came here. They make good coffee.” She held up her latte as evidence.
"Mmm. Coffee," murmured Cato dreamily, "that sounds so good right now..."
“We could share....” Shiri offered her cup to him.
He offered a polite but declining hand. "No, I can get my own, but thank you. Smells good, though, what kind is it?"
Oh good. Shiri had selfishly hoped he wouldn't want any. More for her. All for her. “Pumpkin. They always do seasonal flavors. After Thanksgiving break it will be gingerbread...”
"Hm." Cato glanced to the coffee, to his laptop, and back up to his sister. "I think I may be craving too much to write now. Can I blame you?" Saving the document, he closed the computer and stood.
“Yes, you can blame me for all your procrastinating needs,” she said with a giggle as she pushed off the desk and returned to her feet. “Come, get away from this place.” Shiri glanced at the almost despair see could see on the other students' faces and in their eyes. She hoped Cato was writing a report on a war or something... otherwise this atmosphere just seemed counterproductive. “You will probably write better after a break... Why are you even here and not in your dorm or somewhere else?”
"I wanted to get out of it for a little while." Cato paused to consider before adding a little more sheepishly, "Also, Ben is nursing a hangover. My typing was irritating him. So I removed myself."
Shiri frowned in sympathy, not that she could especially relate, “I am thankful, once again, that I am a special needs student. I never had a roommate until I unofficially moved into Adam's room. If I had a paper to do, I could always retreat to my single.”
Getting to his feet and gathering his things into his bags, the younger brother chuckled. "Lucky. But, it's not bad! I like them, they're very nice. Like, I didn't know about the sock on the door thing until now. They're very patient with my lack of social experience. Ready?"
“Very,” She nodded in all earnestly as she walked backwards, sipping at her latte, “I learned the door marking technique from Sammie. You can also use a tie or some other marker. But they all mean the same thing and everyone seems to know them. Everyone.”
"I learned the hard way. I'm kind of shocked I never knew," he replied, following after, shortening his steps to keep up with her smaller ones.
Shiri couldn't help but giggle as he slowed. “Maybe you should walk backwards in front of me. You would walk slower that way...” But with one more sip of her latte, she sighed when it was all gone and tossed it in a trash can as they passed it by, “I believe it may be something of this modern, Western world.”
"But then I might trip over you," he pointed out, "and I'm bigger than you."
“No, no, silly,” she reached out to tap his nose as she said it, “You would walk in front and I would take your place there. If you tripped, you would trip on something behind you, not me.”
Smiling even as he jumped at the poke on his nose, He said, "Not if I fell forward! That happens."
“I suppose we will have to remain like this then,” Shiri then looked over her shoulder, realizing an important fact, “Where are we going anyway? Getting coffee? Adventure?” She suddenly hoped they could combine those two things.
"Getting coffee can be an adventure," he proposed, "but I was mostly just considering coffee."
“We could do that. I am all out of coffee,” She showed her empty hands as proof of it.
Nodding, he turned in the direction of the nearest coffee shop, pointing out a finger like an attacking general. "To the coffee shop!"
“You walk too slowly!” she declared then and grabbed him by the wrist to quicken their pace as she turned and headed to the little school cafe. This could be adventure! Adventure that was probably helped along by the sugar and the caffeine in the muse's system.
Eep! Swept along by his smaller sibling, Cato was nearly bent over as Shiri dragged him along. Narrowly avoiding other students as she marched past them and into the cafe, he stuttered, "You-you really want that coffee."
“Got bored with slow walking.” Shiri released him as they entered the cafe, her skirt twirled around her in a low circle as she ceased her racing and spun around to face him again, “I can be dangerous when bored.”
"Fun dangerous or scary dangerous?" he queried, approaching the counter. "What kind of latte did you get again?"
“Both. Sometimes at the same time,” she circled behind him and peeked over his shoulder only to whisper into his ear, “Pumpkin.”
"Pumpkin spice latte," Cato repeated faithfully to the barista. To his sister, looking at her as best he could from this position, he said, "I thought scary-fun was our brother's position."
Brother's position? Well, that narrowed it down to anyone? Shiri giggled at how difficult it really was to figure out who Cato meant. “What do you mean?”
"D?"
Shiri ordered her own latte over his shoulder and paid for it over his shoulder as well, before giggling behind his back and then whispering in his other ear, “Come sit down. I want to to tell you a funny dream I had about D.”
He nodded and, once he had his own coffee in hand (and a piece of marble cake, it had called his name!), he followed her to a pair of armchairs paired next to each other in front of a window.
Plopping herself down in one of the chairs, she tucked her legs beneath her and covered them with her flowing skirt, before leaning on the arms of not only her chair but his beside it. “It is a short dream. It begins a few hours after sunrise. Vally, Melly, Thalia, all the others and I, were standing in a semi-circle around D and Elton... They were getting married you see. When the ceremony was over... and I know you do not especially care how it was like...” she leaned in then to whisper to him once more, “D turns to us and says, ''I hope you know I'm your step-Getes now.' All in English except for the last word.”
Cato tilted his head to the side. "That's a weirdly specific dream. Usually there's something weird in there too. No flying fish or purple horses or something?"
Shiri shrugged a little as she sipped at her new latte. Woe to Adam when she got home. She had no plans to stop drinking her delicious seasonal lattes. “No. No flying fish or purple horses. I rarely have dreams like that... at least not that I can remember anyway.”
"Hmm," said the younger god, sipping his coffee. The warmth and taste made him shiver with pleasure. It was immensely satisfying. "So either it was a dream or maybe a prophecy?"
“Probably just a dream. I am no prophet.” Though that title had been given to mortals she had touched and lived with. She giggled at that fact and his shiver. She knew what a shiver like that was! “Told you it was good.”
"I love it!" he said cheerfully, raising the cup to her in a toast. "Thank you very much. I'm finding that I really like fruit and vegetable flavors."
She lifted hers in return, “I am a senior. I know all the best stuff by now.”
"Oh, like what?" he asked, folding his hands around the cup to take another sip like a worshipper to holy water.
“On Wednesdays after 3 pm, if you go to the little cafe near the theater, the brownies are half price.” She nodded as if that would help convince him of this great truth all the more.
Cato's eyes went wide. "I should be taking notes," he murmured. He wondered if Demeter liked brownies. She had offered him quite a bit of food... it'd only be fair to take her some! "But chocolate is a bean, she must like it..." he murmured to himself.
Shiri grinned and leaned in to him again, “Who would like it? Who is she?”
Falling back into the moment, Cato looked up from the drink to his sister. "Huh? Oh. Madeline."
Sitting back, she frowned a little. Madeline? Madeline... Hmm. Well, now she had to ask, “Madeline who?”
"Oh, you didn't know...?" Glancing first to see if anyone was nearby, and satisfied that there was not, he leaned in and said, "Madeline Scott. Demeter."
“Oh! Oh!” Now it all made sense to the albino muse and she took another heavy sip of her latte as a reward for it making sense... and because it was delicious. Only then did she lean back in and whisper to him, “Is she your aunt or more than that...?”
Cato blinked, lost. "How can someone be more of an aunt? Like... a super aunt?"
Shiri giggled, “More like an aunt with benefits.” Even the muse of eloquence couldn't help herself sometimes.
What?
Wait.
What?
Cato's face turned only a slightly lighter color of red than a pomegranate. "She-- No-- I-- Shit!" The curse was from the latte nearly slipping out of his hands, barely caught in time. "No no no. No. Gods, it's awkward enough... the last memory I have of her is..." He cought, glancing up at her once before looking away again. "Well, you knew father."
Shiri's new giggle at that little image was only partly muffled as she hid her smile behind her coffee cup. That certainly does sound like her father. Sleeping around even to the end. Even when he was married. Especially when he was married. “You never thought about it for yourself?”
Cato's face couldn't hide the truth. His voice wasn't much better, wavering with some doubt as he said, "A... a little. But, no, she wouldn't. There's too much history between us-- Father. Between her and father. And she's been hurt a lot; to assume she would feel anything or be attracted to me just because she's been kind to me is a little silly. I mean, so have you, right?"
The muse desperately wanted to say, “Yes, but I'm not a son of Zeus. The Last Son of Zeus even.” but it was easily held back. The muse of eloquence was able to resist that much as she pondered to explain and to finish her latte. When it was gone – sadly gone – she frowned and put the cup aside. Her smile returned to her instantly when the empty cup was out of her hands. “Yes, but I was merely asking. You are the one trying to think about how to return gifts to her, murmuring about it aloud.”
"You, Uncle, Madeline, Tessie... you've all been more kind than I had hoped for, much less expected. There has to be a way I can be worthy of it," he said.
“I have no reason to be cruel.” Shiri shrugged.
"It could be pointed out that not many people do," he counter-argued but with a smile.
“You worry too much, Cato, “ she replied quickly, leaping to her feet from the chair in one fluid motion. Sitting still was no longer an interest of hers. “Do wish to go back to your studies or follow me?”
Cato quickly took a sip of the coffee, to put it down to a level where it wouldn’t spill when walking, and stood up with her. “I’ll follow.”
Shiri grinned. Maybe it would be off to adventure yet... if only she knew what that adventure was. But that fact didn’t stress her. She was far too caught up in the moment and was sure it would become clear when the time was right. “Well, then you are going to have to run...”
“I’ll keep up,” he said, a teasing smirk on his face. It looked slightly out of his face, as if he wasn’t used to using the expression. “My legs are longer.”
“I am quicker than I look,” Shiri’s grin transformed into a playful wickedness before she turned from her younger brother and began to dash. “And I know the way we are going!” Where they were going was another question. But she never claimed to know that answer.
Cato had just enough time to blink and open his mouth before he let out a laugh and followed after her. She knew but he clearly did not. Oh well. Maybe that was part of the fun.
Summary: It was midterm season in the University of Miami and it was the first time Cato had to experience the utter joy of constant paper writing. Shiri found him in a computer cluster and promptly helped him play the “Not Studying Game”