Who: Herk and Erato What: Meeting the Roomies Where: Herk's house When: Today Warnings: Some bleeding and a minor spat
Erato couldn't help herself. She needed to know how everything had gone with the Egyptians and see if Teddy was alright. She had grabbed some jars of jam as an excuse to see him and trotted off to his place. Knock knock~
The hulking hero couldn't hear the knock, but his dog did. He looked up at the loud barks and, knowing his dog, went to go answer the door, ignoring the howls and groans coming from behind him in the basement. He made sure to tug down the sleeve of his shirt to cover a gash in his arm before he opened it. "V!"
"Hi babe~" Valentine cooed, hugging him about the waist. "I've missed you~ How are you? I brought jam!"
"Jam?" Whoa, that was distracting. "Thanks. How're you?"
"Good, but you never answered my question." She smiled up at him. "How are you feeling? What happened?"
"I'm feeling okay... all my wounds from the battle are gone," he replied, putting an arm around her as he lead her inside. Hopefully, she wouldn't feel the growing moisture of his sleeve. Good thing the shirt was already a dark blue.
"You sure? You look tired." Poor baby~ Valentine was preemptively doting.
"These zombie dudes are a full time job," he replied with a shrug. "They're getting better, though."
"Zombie dudes?" she asked, quirking her head to the side.
"We saved a few of the enslaved gods when we raided the tower," explained Teddy. "Coffee?"
"That's okay...." she murmured, glancing at him. Something was off other than the fatigue. Hmmm. "Oh my god your arm!"
He quickly tried to pull it away. "It's okay! I did it myself." Wait, that wasn't reassuring.
"Teddy!" she whined, reaching out to inspect it.
... She wasn't going to give in, was she? With a sigh, he pulled his sleeve back to expose a deep gash in his arm, the ichor already hardening to stop the bleeding.
She gasped, hands flying up to her mouth. She stared up at her brother with sympathy in her eyes. "Oh baaaby~" She reached up to touch his cheek before pressing a kiss to his lips.
Blushing, he returned it, and once he was free of it replied, "It helps them heal better. Don't worry."
"What does?" she asked, quirking her head to the side.
"The ichor. It gives them a bit of power. That, and the porridge. But I think that's just 'cause they're hungry."
"The zombie gods?" Erato asked, ruffling Teddy's hair. "Do me a favor? Go take a nap. I'll cook you something while you rest."
Aww... It was like having a teeny weeny wife again! Not arguing, he moved over to the couch, hand clamped down on his muscled arm to stop anymore bleeding.
Erato quickly found a bandage. Hands were dirty! She wrapped gauze around his arm and kissed his forehead before scurrying off to the kitchen, making sure to make distracting kitchen noises while she was there. Her eyes, however, were on the basement door.
Mmm... that nap sounded good... Laying down, he closed his eyes, falling into deep snores that almost rocked the house.
Erato, true to her world, put some food to cook in the oven. Grabbing a small knife from the counter, she snuck down into the basement.
It was large, and dark, as all basements should be. Obviously from the varying exercise machines pushed into a corner, it'd been used previously as a personal work room. But now it was replaced by several hulking cages that looked like they'd weigh a ton.
In each one was what was probably a person. Their clothes were tattered, their skin pale and their hair loose and oily. Some of them had bestial looks about them, but others seemed to suggest they'd be beautiful if they were healthier. All of them looked to the goddess, white around their eyes.
"Hi...." Erato murmured. The all looked so sick and scary, but....they just needed some love right? She stepped towards the cages.
The reaction was varied. One threw a bowl, half-full at her and howled. Others just hissed and snarled. Only one was passive, watching her warily.
Val jumped with a squeak as the bowl hit her leg, splashing her with a paste of ichor. Ichor....she held out her hand, slicing it open and letting her ichor drain into the bowl. She pushed this forward with a nearby broom.
There was a second of peace before an ungodly chorus of howls set up. Absolutely deafening, they all reached for it, dragging their fingers along the floor to try to get closer to it.
Erato observed them there, and feeling pity for them, she squeezed her hand on the floor close to the cages.
They howled again and, if they could reach it, dipped their fingers into the inky liquid and sucked them dry.
She stood there and watched, looking for a sign of sanity in any of them. Her ears perked with she heard something that sounded like a raspy word "sun". She glanced around, looking for the culprit and found one away from the others. She blinked at him curiously. He didn't seem as crazed, but his color was very off."Hmm...sun..." There was a small window behind her, but it was dusty and covered--probably to keep the zombies hidden. She removed the cardboard from it and wiped it off with her shirt. The sun was shining but it didn't reach the cages. She glanced around, looking for something to help reflect the light. She sighed, her head feeling fuzzy.
The culprit -- the pointy-eared man who'd faced up against Herakles and actually lived to tell the tale -- focused his eyes on the patch of sunlight while the others ignored it. He seemed almost... happy...
"ERATO!" His voice booming, Teddy ran down the steps and swooped her up and away from the cages.
"Eek!" Val squeaked, suddenly finding herself very high up. Crud. He'd woken up prematurely.
"By Tartarus, sister!" he gasped, shocked. "What the hell are you doing?"
Erato squirmed, wanting very much to be put down. "What you were doing. Helping them!"
"Yeah, except if they got out of control and broke out, I could handle them." He held her much like a parent would hold a child, refusing to let her back on her feet. "You couldn't."
Erato sulked, pouting at him. "Then help me....that one wants sunlight." She pointed.
Herakles looked over to the sullen god then back to her. "Yeah, he's the good one, I think. He keeps talking but I don't understand the language. Uncle Hades says it's old Norse or German or something."
"Well I just heard him say 'sun' so...." She gestured to the window.
"Really?" Teddy looked to the figure, who remained silent and staring with his too-wide eyes. "Huh. I think he's going back to normal."
"Yeah. So. Let's help him...and maybe put me down while you're at it." Her legs swung idly at the air.
"Yeah, I'll put you down." He started heading towards the basement door.
Erato was getting pissed now. "TEDDY! PUT ME DOWN. NOW."
"No!" he yelled right back. Though it really wasn't effective, as he did put her down. It just happened to on the couch. "You're not allowed back down there. As the guy who owns this joint, I forbid it."
"Are you going to get that guy the sunlight he needs? Are you going to help them?" Erato huffed, trying to keep her hand from dripping on anything. "If not you might as well just kill them. Its cruel to keep them like this."
"I am too helping!" he said with a deep scowl, face reddening. His temper was raising, despite himself. "I got them out of there, didn't I? I feed them, I'm just waiting for them to be a little more sane before I let my girlfriend go down and hang out with them." Jeez... "What if you were hurt?"
"I wasn't! I can take care of myself!" Her voice was getting high pitched, in spite of herself.
"You haven't seen them go at someone," he accused with a sigh. Picking up a keychain from his cabinet, he locked the basement door. There! "They're savage. It's not their fault."
"So fix it!" She looked ready to cry, dabbing at her palm with a tissue.
"They need time, V..." Why was she getting so upset? His fierce scowl turned almost into a pout as he got her a rag and pressed it gently into her bleeding palm. "They were beaten, kidnapped, enslaved... Pan's still getting over it. And he wasn't nearly as bad as them, he says. I'm giving them time to recover their power by feeding them ichor. I'm glad that one's getting better already! But until I'm sure he won't hurt anyone, mortal or immortal, I can't let him out. It's just logic, honey... I'd never forgive myself if he hurt you."
"I wasn't going to let him out. I was gonna try and get the sunlight to him. You have lots of reflective metal down there," she sulked, massaging her palm.
"Then I'll do it. Here." He reached for the first aid kit and handed her a roll of binding. "You stay here. Please?"
"Okay...." she sulked, beginning to wrap her hand.
Teddy struggled not to roll his eyes. Women. Unlocking the door, he headed back down and tugged the mysterious Norse-maybe-dude's cage towards the sun. Not entirely in it, lest he roast under the Miami heat, but close enough that he could sit in it somewhat. Then he retuned to the living room and sat by his Muse.
Erato was dozing softly on the armrest now. That fight had taken it out of her. "Hey..."
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry....if I scared you," Erato murmured, pushing herself up and over to lean against him. Mmmm he was warm. "Oh. There's a casserole in the oven..."
"Just... don't do it again, please? You're so little. I worry about you," he sighed, giving her a kiss on the forehead. And then, "Mmm, casserole."
"M'not that little...." she murmured sleepily.
Sleepy? Putting an arm around her, he fed a little bit of his power into her. "I'm bigger, then."
"Fine." She smiled, reaching up to touch his cheek. "Go eat big guy."
"You wanna eat with me?" he offered.
"Sure." Just don't wanna move yet was the implied part of that.
He smiled and nodded, getting up to go microwave it. Master cook! He knew how to operate the toaster oven! Two plates of luke-warm casserole later, he sat beside her, with a pair of beers to wash them down with.
"Thanks...." she smiled, but instead of eating she rest her head in his lap.
Well, that was okay, too. Trying not to let his mind drift to dirty thoughts related to her head and his lap, he brushed her hair back.
Well whatever he was thinking, he wasn't going to get it. One minute of light petting from Teddy and Val was out like a light.
Aw, poo.
...Eh, it was cute. He smiled and sat back to eat his casserole, making sure none of it fell in her hair.
Mmm. Casserole.
Summary: Visiting her sorta-boyfriend-sorta-lover, Erato gets nosy and she and Herk get in a fight. But they solve it with cuddles and casserole.