Who: Mel and Thalia What: Shopping When: (not time dependent) Where: Near Thalia's work and studio Warnings: none
Afternoons were meant for her sister. It was the private choice that Mel had made. It worked out, because Nick would spend mornings and into the afternoon on the ranch, and possibly running errands for Hades, and Mel could catch Thalia on lunch breaks for their own bit of fun. Right now, she had snagged her sister and was walking arm in arm with her down the side walk, peering in different shop windows. She'd had a idea for a while, and just needed the right stone to act on it. Seeing a shop with a number of odds and ends, she tugged her sister's arm. "Let's go in here."
Like a good sister Thalia followed, she loved shopping and she loved her sister and now she was doing both even though she had no clue what they were shopping for. "Doesn't look like an Ice Cream place." She playfully whined as the entered the shop which looked like the sold everything. Well, everything except for Ice Cream.
"We can get some in a minute." She kissed her sister's cheek and began to peek around. Ice cream was the normal habit of their outings, or at least some kind of desert and sugar like item. She picked up some shot glasses, and set them back down. Eclectic store much? "I'm looking for a worry stone. Hopefully black onyx or something like that."
Thalia didn't question her sister's request and started to look around for a stone that would work well. There were tons of great items in the shop but no onyx... yet. "Who do you need one for?" She rifled through a display with tons of sunglasses, all bright and flashy a small grin crept onto her face as she thought how funny Hades would look in one of those.
"Uncle." And she didn't mean kelp dick. She wandered into a different line of shelves, peering around and looking over items as she passed. Sometimes it was these random shops that had the most interesting items.
"Favourite Uncle?" Thalia asked as she moved away from the sunglasses knowing she could look at those another time, she was here to help Mel find a worry stone. Ran her hand over little rectangular boxes, they were all in nice bright colours. She was about to open one when it tumbled off and a small tingle of bells inside it caught her attention.
"Yeah..." Hearing the sound, Mel went over to investigate. She knew that sound... Peering at the box that had fallen, she picked up a similar one that was still on the shelf and opened it up. "Chinese medicine balls..." she murmured. The ones in her hands were plain polished silver, but she had seen ones with designs in the past. Taking the pair out of the box, she began to move them in her hand.
Thalia picked up the little box that had fallen and opened that one, they were midnight blue with out any markings. She gently stroked the smooth surface . "I like those, they sound so happy when you play with them." She closed the box she was holding and put it back on the shelf. "But even though they are pretty and relaxing, it was not what we came in here for."
"What if..." Mel considered her idea a bit more, and peered at the boxes. She wondered if there were any with the intricate designs, or in black. "What if I took one, and you took the other?" She peered at Thalia, wondering if she understood.
"You mean, tragedy and comedy." Thalia looked at her sister, hoping that she was thinking along the same line as Mel. "Together to help our uncle when he needs it?" She looked at the silver balls in the other muse's hand.
"Yeah. Tragedy to help get the negative thoughts out, and comedy to lift the spirit." She frowned slightly, wondering how much energy it would take to be able to do such a thing and store it. Was there a way to keep only a little coming out at a time? "Have you ever done that before?"
Thalia let the idea settle in her mind, trying to feel what the power those tiny balls could and would hold. "Not since the Fall." She had a very positive outlook on life, "but I am sure if anyone can do it, it will be us." She smiled at Mel, gently putting her hand on top of the balls in her sister's hand. "We might have to find a way to get some extra power..." She mused out loud.
Mmm, worship sex. .... The thought brought a slightly glazed smirk to Mel's face before the reality hit her a bit more. She didn't want to use Nick that way, and knowing that he hadn't settled well into the idea of being an errand boy, she didn't want to explain that it was to help Hades either. She swallowed and peered down at the balls once more. "I have some stored... We could probably find a theater or something."
"I think a theatre should work." Thalia smiled wondering what Mel had been thinking about before speaking. "I have some stored too, I found blessing our little cousins gave me a real boost." It always amazed her how happiness seemed to grow when shared. "Do you want these or do you want to look in the other boxes if there is a set that would be better?"
Mel turned and looked at the boxes, opening a few others in answer to the question. She wanted something that would properly show either wealth, or a ying yang type of an idea. Finally, she came across a set. On one, was a dragon, and the other held a phoenix. She peered at them for a moment, setting the ones in her hands back to their own box before pulling the new set to her, touching them, and looking over the little card that was inside. She read it aloud as she showed it to her sister. " 'These Baoding Balls depict the dragon and phoenix. In Chinese history, the dragon and phoenix are complementary symbols and in the same as light and dark. The dragon is a symbol of the supreme ruler and power while the phoenix is a symbol of virtue and grace. The Chinese saying goes "When the dragon soars and the phoenix dances, the people will enjoy happiness for years, bringing peace and tranquillity to all under heaven." ' " Mel peered at her sister, wondering what she thought.
Thalia had listened to every word Mel had read, they sounded perfect to her. It would show the difference between Comedy and Tragedy but those who knew better would know that they could not be one without the other. "I think they would be more then perfect." She beamed at her sister. She was so glad that they would be able to help Hades.
Mel beamed back at her sibling, and closed the lid on the box. "Great. We'll buy them, then figure out how to make them work... Did you have anything else you wanted?" She peered around the store, knowing there were many odds and ends that could be rather distracting.
Thalia looked around for a moment longer but then shook her head, "No, we better get these." She got a playful grin on her face, "I still didn't get my ice cream." The shop she would visit again soon, she loved looking around so many little things and she would have to do that when she had a bit more time.
Rolling her eyes, the younger looking, though not younger, muse linked arms with her happy sister and lead her toward the cash register. "Ok, we'll get ice cream next then. With sprinkles even."
Thalia knew she was too happy at times, but being the Muse of Comedy what else could she be. Little things amused her and sprinkles were one of those little things. "You do know me too well, Pomene." She said smiling warmly at her sister.
Mel kissed her sister's cheek. "I hope so," she teased. It was easy to know her sister in some manners, but being able to predict what made a loved one happy always made Mel feel better as well.
Thalia sighed happily, she enjoyed the time she could spent with her sister, it would not make up for lost time but being immortal made it almost as if they were. "I am glad I found you again, thanks to our sweet uncle." Not many would call Hades sweet but she saw him like that, he had shown her where to find Mel.
Pulling out some cash, Mel paid for the medicine balls, declining a bag and simply carrying it out in her hand. She rested her head to her sister's shoulder as they walked back out of the store, in search of ice cream. "He is good. It'll be nice to be able to do something useful for him."
Thalia kissed Mel's hair and nodded gently so she wouldn't bump her head into her sister's. "I tried to thank him before..." She trailed off, she hadn't known how to do that then. "I am glad we can do this for him."
"It's the classic 'what do you get the man who has everything...', " she frowned slightly. "But he likes giving to others when he can." Blinking, Mel twisted just a hair to look up at her sister as they walked. "Be careful what you say around him," she warned. "I once found a furniture fort built for me because I wasn't paying attention."
"A fort?" Thalia stopped walking, she would love to hear that story. "You mean he actually build you a fort out of furniture?" That sounded like so much fun, she really hoped she could see Hades do something like that one day.
She stopped as well, and tried to think how to tell the story without getting all sad. So, she shrugged. "When I ran off to Vegas, and Nick followed, we came back and I was living with Nick. So, I told our uncle that he could have the house. He had a bunch of movers move all the furniture from the house to Nick's. Then, another conversation, he said I should make it into a fort. I went to take a nap, and when I came back later, there was a fort made from my unused furniture in the middle of the living room."
Thalia noticed right away that there was much more to that story but she did not push, she knew Mel would tell her when she was ready. "I bet it was the best fort ever, better then any of Ares' forts ever were." She beamed at her sister and squeezed her hand.
She snickered at that idea. "It confused the house staff. I told them my invisible friend Aiden did it." Mel squeezed her sister's hand in return. "I think he liked the idea."
"Oh, I am sure that made the confusion go away." Thalia laughed picturing the looks Mel must have gotten when she told them about an invisible friend. "They didn't sent you to one of those mental hospitals to get your head examined?"
"The staff thought I was odd anyway. They couldn't explain it. Or why they found some of Luke's DVDs randomly hidden in places when they disappeared." She smirked. That had been more her. And Nick. And was more just to be annoying.
"You called odd?" Thalia grinned as she kissed her sister's cheek while starting to lead her to the ice cream place. "I do that all the time." She looked around because she had the feeling that while talking she must have missed the shop with the best ice cream.
No, it was just ahead, not far. "You've never seen me in high school. I'm so odd, I fit in." And only in high school did such a thing even exist. She frowned slightly, and snuggled against her sister's side as they walked. "Do you think we can make the balls actually work like they should?"
"That must have been odd." Thalia said before turning serious. "Of course we can make them work, we are a great team." She spotted the ice cream parlour and led Mel toward it. "We can do anything we put our mind too." She was known for her positive outlook on life, but this time it wasn't just Thalia being positive, this was Thalia being sure.
"Do you want to work on them together? I'll buy you an ice cream sundae if you take off the afternoon just so we can work on them," she tempted. She'd need to warn Nick, as it'd probably take most of her energy, but it seemed like something they should simply do together, most likely in Thalia's studio.
Thalia really didn't need to think about that, she got her phone out in a flash. "Sounds like a perfect plan." She started to fumble with the cell, she really was hopeless when it came to modern devices at times. "I am sure Connor won't mind..." She started to get annoyed by the stupid thing in her hand. "As soon as I get this phone to cooperate."
Plucking it from her hands, Mel went through to the contact list and picked out Connor's number, hitting enter and pressing it to her sister's ear in as much time as it took her to normally send a text message to Hades. "We can make it up to him later..." she promised. They were muses! Writers loved muses.
Thalia spoke to Connor, reaching out to him as best as she could with the distance between them. He didn't mind Thalia taking off at all, he was writing and he had promised to take his wife out to dinner. She promised to make it up to him, as Mel had suggested. Ending the call was easier then starting it had been. "Ready!" She beamed.
It was hard not to beam back at her sibling, so Mel did just that, looping an arm with Thalia's and leading her to get the promised sundae of her choosing. "Then let us get ice cream and get started." It was like having a new project all over again. What muse could resist that?
Thalia almost skipped over to the ice cream parlour. "We will have a great afternoon, I am sure we will have figured it all out before the day is out." Yes, Miss Positive spoke and she was not going to let anything change her mind.
Mel only nodded. She could see them spending all their stores to make the balls take the energy and hold it as they wished, and passing out nearly cuddled up together. She'd have to warn Nick, but really, she'd suffered worse muse attacks. It would be a good day.
Summery: Thalia and Mel go out for ice cream but find the perfect gift for their favourite uncle too.