Hestia (heart_h) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2008-05-15 20:22:00 |
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Current mood: | thoughtful |
Entry tags: | hestia, tessia sloac |
Who: Hestia and Aaron (NPC)
What: Solo
Where: Parking Lot near her business
When: Wednesday afternoon
Warnings: None
"Tess!"
Turning round, Tessia smiled when she saw her skinny, blond-haired assistant running up to her, her car keys in hand. She'd only just reached her van in the parking lot before she'd realized she'd left them behind. "Oh, Aaron! Thank you so much." She took them with an embarrassed laugh. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
Aaron laughed too and tucked some stray hair behind his ear. "Look for a better assistant, I guess. You're leaving kind of early. Is something the matter?"
"Oh, not at all. I just thought I'd go pick up the boys from Nick, and take them to see their father."
At the mention of Dante, Aaron frowned. "I thought you said you couldn't get ahold of him."
"No, I found him..." She couldn't help but let her smile slip at the thought of how she'd found him. "He's been having some issues. I thought seeing Eric and Ed might cheer him up a bit."
"Seems to me like he's always having issues," muttered Aaron. Louder, he added, "What's wrong with him now?"
Tessi paused. She didn't know. She remembered his brief mention of Persephone... but in the same breath, her brother had claimed he was a ghost. What could she believe anymore? "I don't know, really. I felt it wasn't my place to ask."
"Sounds to me like it's his problem, then. You've got more important things to worry about then him, don't you? Like your sons. Or your work."
He did... have a point there, and Hestia hated it. Her flight to go inspect the Old House then watch over Hades until Mel and Hypnos had sorted the whole thing out hadn't been looked upon favorably. Two clients had backed out because she wasn't available. The higher-ups felt she hadn't been focusing on her business like she used to back in New York. And while they'd never said it, she had the strongest feeling (not to mention Aaron's ungodly ability to pick up on gossip) that they felt that their manager becoming a single mother to a married man was not befitting a representative of a very family-oriented business. She was still counting her lucky stars that she hadn't been fired.
"Aaron, he needs help, that's all... He--"
Her words were cut off by Aaron stepping forward, putting his hands on her shoulders and pulling her into a kiss.
At first she simply stood there, overcome by shock, until she felt his tongue probing hers. The goddess gasped and pushed him away. "Aaron! Wha-what are you--"
"He's not good enough for you," he blurted. His face was red, eyes wide as if he didn't even believe what he'd just done. "Dante, I mean. He's done nothing for you, but you run back to him when he has so much as the sniffles. I..." He choked for a moment. "I love you. I have ever since you hired me. And I just can't stand back and watch you get hurt."
Tessia stared at him as silence fell back over them, the both of them working through unexpected emotions. Finally, she whispered, "You don't understand..."
"Understand what? I know you, I've been working for you for years. You loved him." The mortal sucked in breath like the words pained him. "I think you still do. But what's he done? Got you pregnant, then ran off with some hotshot model? And he has the gall to still talk to you?"
"It's complicated!" she shouted back angrily. Angry at him for assuming how she felt, for the kiss, for thinking he knew Hades at all. But his words brought back painful memories of lonely nights in bed with no company but an aching back and swollen feet, the whispers around work when the news spread, Hades sitting in her kitchen barely a day after she'd been scared out of her own house with a wedding ring on his finger. She'd known she put herself at risk. The hearth goddess had no one to blame for those memories but herself. "I can't just abandon him!"
"Why not?" demanded Aaron hotly. His usually freckled face was now impossibly red. "He did it to you. My god, Tessi. When was the last time he came to visit you here? Or even at your house? You're always going to see him, but you know it's only 'cause of the babies. If they weren't born, he wouldn't even give you a second thought."
She winced like she'd been struck. That was a thought she'd never considered. But it made sense; why look back when he had his perfect wife? Persephone was independent, rich, powerful, smart, so beautiful... and now he had the perfect children he'd always wanted. The classic family of four, no room left for her. No need. Hestia hiccuped back a sob as a tear rolled down to her chin.
Aaron stepped forward again and tried to hold her. "Tessi..."
"No!" The slap she delivered to his cheek echoed around the lot. He gasped, staggering back with a hand to his face. Now he wasn't just red from emotion.
"I won't hear anymore!" Hestia declared, face wet but defiant. "Maybe... maybe what you're saying is true. Maybe it's not. All I know is that he's hurting and confused somehow, and that he needs help... and I want to give it. It has nothing to do with romance. Good night!"
Turning on her heel, she ignored his calls and stormed off to the van, driving away with a heavier heart than when she had arrived.
Summary: Hestia gets off work when she gets a revelation and chat from her assistant. Quite emotional.