Who: Hera and Euterpe What: Meetings and Information Where: Hera/Zeus’s temporary home at the hotel When: Thursday, January 18th, 3pm Warnings: None.
As she had said, Euterpe was at the room Hera had given her right on time. She wasn’t particularly nervous, though there was a small feeling of guilt considering the last time she was in the hotel – she was delivering the head of her father’s assistant to his office. With Pitch patiently beside her (and she would have struck anyone mute if they so much had tried to make her leave the dog outside), she knocked on the door.
It felt weird coming to Hera instead of Zeus, although talking to one was nearly as good as talking to the other. But, somehow, she hoped what she had to say would be something Hera would perhaps take more to heart – and do something about it in a quicker time than Zeus. Maybe. Possibly.
The door was promptly opened by the queen of the Greek gods, and her eyes immediately fell to the dog. She arched an eyebrow at that and raised her eyes to the muse. "I did not know you would be bringing the dog... Hold him while I put the cat into a closed room." She would not have an animal battle break out within her suite.
Leaving the door open for the woman to show herself in, she turned and quickly went to locate the animal.
"Pitch won't attack the cat." She reassured the other woman and stepped inside, shutting the door. Pitch stayed dutifully beside her, without any need for her to grip his collar. "I'd be more worried about the cat attacking him."
"It is possible." Hera glanced briefly to see that the dog was staying close, even without the prompting from his owner. She had known more then a few dogs who would be investigating the area in detail right now. It was why she wasn't fond of them normally. But the cat was retrieved and placed within the bedroom, the door being closed before Hera returned to gesture to the living area of the room. "Either way, it will no longer be a difficulty."
Rather than investigating the room, the dog's eyes were strictly on Hera. Euterpe, however, shrugged. "Either way. I shouldn't be taking up too much of your time." Now for the deep breath. The one bad thing about talking to Hera over Zeus? She would be asking far more questions - ones she probably wouldn't like the answers to.
A short visit? It cause Hera to arch an eyebrow. She stood still then, and simply held her hands together before her. "Very well then. Would you prefer to skip the normal formalities and offers of hospitality?" There was no reason to be less then blunt.
"Preferrably." Euterpe let out a long sigh. "What I have to tell you would ruin the charm of any niceties, I think."
"That sounds rather serious." So much for the offer of sitting. "At least move away from the door so you will not be heard, then speak."
Oh, yea, right. Euterpe hastily moved away from the door to what seemed like a more appropriate location to stand. As she tried to think of how exactly to say it, she began to wring her hands in front of her. She had agreed to do this, but no one said it was going to be easy. "The family's children are in danger," the Muse blurted out after a moment. Well, so much for being smooth.
An eyebrow was arched. That was at least to the point. "How so?" There were a thousand ways the children could be in danger. Some more of a concern then others.
"I... I don't know much, but the Egyptians will make a strike on them. They know how meaningful children are..." Euterpe diverted her gaze from Hera, and frowned. "There are Easterners. I don't know if they're other deities or not, but the Egyptians will use the children to make an alliance with them against our family." Not that she even knew that the Egyptians were in Miami, or close, before her vivid dream, or what they were capable of.
"Then we will need to get to the Easterners first. And form some alliances of our own." She frowned slightly as she considered this, wondering how just a thing could be done. Did the Egyptians have any children they could take in return? "How did you come by this information?"
"This sounds so silly, but a dream. I've never had a dream like this before," the Muse frowned again. "It will come before the Chinese New Year. Not all the Egyptians are mad, but they must be stopped." She repeated those words as well as she could rememeber, and her eyes looked back up at the Queen before her.
For a long moment, Hera met her gaze and held it. A dream hardly sounded like a reliable source for such doom prophecies. Perhaps had it been one of the foreseeing gods, it would have carried far more weight and concern. However, caution could be advised and learned well enough. She gave the barest of nods. "Very well. Do you have any other information?"
Euterpe's hope visibly deflated. Perhaps Zeus had been the better option, at least he would have pretended to take more heed to it. "I know that I am not a prophet," she began, her eyes on the floor, "nor will I ever be, but this wasn't a silly dream. It was not flashes of images that could be easily misinterpreted." Euterpe paused in her frantic defense and let out a long sigh, casting a glance at the doberman on the floor. No, saying that her dog talked to her was not a bright idea...
"I have already stated that we will attempt to form an alliance with the Easterners first, or other groups if we can find them. We will warn those with children, or soon to have children, and the rest of the family to the danger. Unless you have other information, Muse, I do not know what else can be done." An eyebrow arched. "Or would you like to be the one to suggest to Demeter that her children need full time immortal body guards?"
"It would be better than sitting around trying to be political with other pantheons and those who would threaten us." Euterpe practically snapped, more out of frustration now than anything else. "February 7th - it will happen before then. So let this Muse humbly suggest, my Queen, that these treaties be made earlier than that." She didn't bother to look at Hera again, as lingering her would probably end in a grand tongue lashing due to the way she just spoke to her. Instead, Euterpe opted for the quick route: the door.
"[Freeze.]" The word was said with the icyness that it implied, as anger was beneath her calm mask of an expression. She would not be talked to in such a manner and let it go uncommented upon.
Damn. With her hand nearly on the doorknob, Euterpe did exactly as Hera commanded, turning slowly to face her. And despite the fact she preferred the dog to stay out of this one, Pitch protectively planted himself infront of Euterpe - seeming to guard her from whatever nonverbal attack Hera dared to throw.
Her eyes were not on the dog, her tone cool as she addressed the goddess. "[I have only had moments to consider the information that you have brought before me with little more to go on than an unknown date. I have no intention of letting anything happen to a single member of our family but you may also be wise to recall a hint of practicality to the situation. We are not so numerous to easily promise defenders of any might against ones such as the them.]" There was no Argos to set before a someone as a watchful guard, nor even a flank of Satyrs for a mass attack. Things were limited.
"[I am aware of that, and I despite the fact that those... things.. that I was with for a time are gone. But there are other threats and there have been times where our family has sat idle while trouble has knocked on our doorstep - even when many of us were still on Olympus.]" Euterpe retorted, much more calmly this time.
"[I would hardly call tending to an issue sitting idle. Your father and I took care of the cyclopes once we were able. He was their main target. You could have taken this information to your Aunts, speaking over the phone rather than waiting to deliver it to me, here. Since you have not I intend to call Athena and speak with her first about securing the security of the those concerned. You may also wish to consider what the implications of removing a cause for their attempts at kidnapping would be upon them.]" This was quickly becoming more complicated and she was twitching to set to work. Still, Hera stood calm, as though unbothered by the situation except for the coldness of her tone.
"[I know Zeus was their target, and I do not speak of recent events when I mean sitting idle. I did not even learn from him that cyclopes had been 'taken care of']" The Muse frowned. Cyclopes made sense - Pitch hadn't mentioned what they were. "[But next time I will do no such thing and bother you about it first, Queen of the Fallen Gods, as apparently you now hold it against me for doing so, even though I know not who is here in Miami or how to reach them. I will leave you to your matters, then.]"
"[It is your attitude that is most disrespectful,] she sneered, prepared to let the rest fall away. Was she honestly attempting to bitch her out because she wasn't panicking to see things tended to that exact moment? That is what the little imp seemed to say. "[Perhaps whoever informed you of the work of your father and I would be willing to inform you with more information about the attackers of the children, that we might better prepare then 'sitting idle'.]"
Euterpe shook her head. "[I'm sure if they had more information, they would have told me. Not any more information than we would have had from a prophetic god's vision, honestly.]" And no, she didn't give a damn about whether or not she was being disrespectful. That wasn't what she came here for. She wasn't apologizing for it, either. "[You've both functioned on less information than this before.]" Now, she was going to make her second attempt at leaving. She did what she came to do, and didn't want to have to deal with Hera any longer than she had to.
This time the queen let her go, frowning at her back as she left. Zeus and Athena would need to be contacted first, and not in that order. She would cancel the work she had planned for tomorrow, perhaps next week as well, and see what could be arranged. A bit of travel may be needed in the near future. Hopefully it wouldn't be needed for recovering.
Summary: Euterpe meets with Hera as planned to give her the information that was revealed to her. The meetings doesn’t go as planned as tempers fly and the muse leaves in anger.