Who:Athena & Hades What: Bored Where: Hades' Office When: Backdated. Very. Set before Hades moves in with Hestia Warning: They bitch a lot, but none really
Having reached a need to go out and do something out of her latest routine, Athena began a trek around town. By trek, really, we mean drive around aimlessly for awhile trying to think of something to do. As she neared the place where Hades worked, she had an idea.
Hopefully her Uncle was here and not somewhere hiding (which she knew was a very likely possibility), so she counted on her luck as she made her way up to his office. Time to play catch up.
The office was relatively quiet. Dante Lot had given his staff the day off and his interns as well. Many thought it was a gesture of good will. It was not. It was all a trick. A scam so he could be terrible to those he needed to be terrible to without people he needed to see on a daily basis noticing and giving him grief.
The door to his private office was open to that the main office and that was where the relative quiet ceased. Two voices could easily be heard: his and that of a young man, who was standing before his desk.
“Dante, please…”
“When did you get to call me by first name?” The Dark One was almost inattentive with his response as he feigned interest in the papers on his desk, and ignored the pleading twenty-something year old before him. With the muted sunlight shining through the tinted windows, he was cast in shadows, but in this dimness, his black eyes shone out with cruel brilliance.
The young man began to stammer, “I’m sorry, Mr. Lot, but you can’t just do this. You can’t sue me like this for giving away an idea.”
“On the contrary, I can. Signed a bindin’ agreement not to divulge any ideas discussed in this office and I have the brain storming session recorded and archived. Also, that idea was trademarked in regards to use on reality television the day ya handed it over so…” Hmm, he was actually getting work done while ruining this boy’s life. It was amazing.
The young man’s fist clenched and the action was the only thing to give the almost amused god pause. Would he have to leap over this desk and pound this boy into the ground? His black eyes lifted to the young man allowing all his cruelty to flicker there. In weak defiance, the young man hesitantly questioned, “How could you be like this?”
The Dark One shrugged, “Ya know, the usual reasons. Daddy didn’t love me; Mommy didn’t hug me enough… Now get out of my office, you snivelin’ ingrate.”
Hopelessly, the young man departed from the office, giving Athena a glance as he did. “You must be next. Good luck. You'll need it.”
She was a little surprised at the fact the office was so quiet, but thankful for it. Less people to talk her way past in order to get to her Uncle.
Upon finding the door open and the rather tense scene inside the office, the goddess only lingered in the open doorway long enough for her to be seen. After which, she moved to an open seat and made herself comfortable. This was not something she cared to watch, nor jump into.
The Dark One merely paused as he got his paperwork together, hearing someone with him in the office. His eyes lifted, ready to question why his three o'clock was here so early, but quickly realized this was not yet another person's life he had to ruin. Leaning back in his chair, he tried to offer her a smile, not that it worked quite right, “Hello, Gleaming Eyes.”
"I see you've been busy." She remarked from her seat, putting away the little gadget she'd been entertaining herself with during his little... session. Athena decided it was best not to comment on his attempt at a smile, though the fact he tried deserved at least a smile in return.
Athena was smart. Her intelligence made him a touch paranoid, but at least she was smiling. It meant they were still on good terms. Maybe... As what seemed to be a watch if watches lacked numbers and hands began to beep, he took a breath. It beeped until he took the second breath. “What makes you say that? Because of that?” He made a motion to refer to the boy he just destroyed.
Slowly, she nodded. "That, and if newspaper articles have even the slightest to go by..." Referring, of course, to a topic that would probably have him cringing if she dug too deep. But as that wasn't what she sought to do, she moved on. "I would ask you how you are, but I doubt you'd answer honestly or answer at all. So I suppose I'll skip that particullar pleasantry."
“Would probably shrug as my response if you asked me. It'd be honest enough.” But even the mention had him internally cringing. The emotions forced him to drop his eyes, but not out of grief or shame, but to glance at his sleeping infant sons in their basket bassinet directly under his desk. He had to hide them when he was being frightening to people after all. But looking out them always numbed the emotions thinking brought upon. Then he brought his eyes back to her, “So what does bring you here?”
It was her turn to shrug. "Bored. I needed a break from working on the shop and I ended up wandering this way. Thought I'd pop in." Which was her honest answer, as slightly pathetic as it was.
“Gonna pretend you said, ya decided to visit me on purpose. It makes a better story in my head.” Made him feel less of a resort of boredom and he was perfectly fine with lying to himself. “Is your shop open yet?”
"Hey, I coulda gone to see father, or D, or one of the other members of the handful of family I like." Athena replied with a small frown. Fine, don't take into consideration she came to see him first. "And no, it's going.. slowly."
He heard her tone and saw her frown. “[I'm sorry. I do appreciate that you came here. I'm kinda messed up in the head as of late.]” It caused him to sigh lightly. But at least he hadn't missed the opening to her store, “Any reason its going slowly? Or is it just going slowly?”
"I think most of the famiy has been, in their own ways, lately." She said with her own sigh, and shrugged. "It's just myself working on the building. The main structure is up, and I've just been working on the shelving and counters. Arty has been working on the merchandise."
Arty? Oh yes, Artemis. His mind flashed back to a conversation that seemed like at least one, maybe two lifetimes ago. “Think you should sit Arty down when you get the chance and explain to her tellin' random mortals I'm her uncle is not always a good idea. Sure, it worked out fine, but I'm sure you can guess that it might not have.”
Athena arched an eyebrow. "When did this happen?" Good job, Artemis. Good job. Maybe sleeping a few centuries in some European forest didn't do very well for her mental well-being.
“Awhile ago.” Hades closed his eyes as he thought back. They had been happy that day, everything seemed simple... No. He shook his head and forced the emotion away. “She apparently met Persephone's assistant, Mallory. It certainly made for an awkward conversation.” Not like the conversation hadn't already been awkward as it was.
"Ah." The goddess said and stood. She needed to stretch her legs a little. Didn't help that she'd been in the habit of getting fidgety lately. "I bet it did."
The watch-like band began to beep again and Hades took it off annoyed. He had to calibrate it better. It shouldn't go off with every rise in pulse. But regardless his eyes had snapped open when he heard her stand, but he settled himself. She just seemed to be just stretching... not he said something and now she was leaving. Just stretching. “... It worked out okay though, like I said. So, has everything been okay?”
"Other than the fact I feel completely restless, I guess so." She said with another shrug as she paced this way and that a bit before coming to a stop to check her watch. Though, honestly, there was little point to her doing so. She had nothing better to be doing.
“[I can see that.]' Hades muttered lightly as he watched her pacing like an average person would watch a tennis match. He leaned on his desk, putting aside the paper and whatnots there so he can lean on his hands in his observation, “[I doubt saying, 'Restless is better than worthless' would make you feel better.]”
Athena snickered. "[Yes, you would be right,]" she admitted and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans to keep from fiddling with anything. "[Not that there's really anything that can be done about it right now.]"
He moved what was clearly a robot to the front of his desk. “[If you sharpen a pencil it walks around for a little bit...]” It was an offer as he easily noticed her desire to fiddle with things but resisting. He knew that urge well. “[Honestly, I'm glad you're restless. I keep thinking there is an ominous cloud that is looming over us.]”
Ooh, toy! Athena reached the desk in a few steps and gestured for a pencil, or a few. "[I wouldn't doubt it if there is. With the Egyptians and all that other stuff around, something else has got to happen.]" Or maybe that was simply what she hoped. To fight like she once did, for something to do that was out of the mundane lifestyles the former gods had fallen in to. She was regretting her decision to stay back from the previous battle, or near-slaughter, whatever you would call it.
Without question Hades handed her a small box of unsharpened pencils. And with the mention of the Egyptians, he rubbed his chest unconsciously. He simply couldn't help it. “[Maybe I would feel better if I knew what happened when we left besides that the warehouse exploded after the fact... Or maybe if I felt we hadn't lucked out.]”
"[I don't necessarily like the idea that no one has followed up on it.]" She said, and began to sharpen. "[Go in, something screws up, leave and never follow up and simply wonder about the aftermath. That's Zeus' typical mindset anyway, out of sight, out of mind.]" Ooh, walking mini-robot. Cool~
“[Your father's mindset angers up my ichor when I dwell on it lately.]” He leaned back only to play with his mala beads. If she got to fidget, so did he, but they were less fun than his wind up robot so he stopped relatively quickly. “[I think it was one of those, 'We're not dead and the place is gone. Mission Accomplished' things. By the time I was well enough to get out, word from the paper was it had burnt down and there were no bodies. I wish I knew what that meant...]”
"[Yea, me too.]" Pencil number two. "[I don't like leaving things like that so open. Just because it burned down doesn not mean anything - they could have gotten out just as easily as you all did.]"
“[They were bloodied but Himeros had his head hacked off and eventually got better before. It's hard to know even when you look at injuries.]” Sure, Himeros had been killed but he still got better eventually. “[And their tower was activated but I think, Hephaestus messed it up maybe? Who knows? All I know for certain is Ra is an asshole.]”
Athena let the pencil sharperner robot walk around a bit as she stared at Hades. Though, she really felt like giving her father a good crack across the back of the head. "[Well this is just brilliant. What better plan than to leave a huge mess behind and sit around here with our thumbs up our asses waiting for the next to-do to come along. See Greeks. See Greeks smash. See Greeks hang around like sitting ducks.]"
"[I'm all for 'Greeks Smash', but I know from hours of reading that the Smash method usually leads to the hero, which would be us, launched into space or something.]" Hades slumped in his chair a little. He doubted his luck of being able to crash on an awesome planet either. "[I would have gone and checked on it when I healed but I knew I wouldn't be able to tell anything. Give me a kingdom to run and I'll govern it. Give me a court to handle and cases will be dealt with. Give me a bunch of burnt ruins and I can only shrug...]" It caused him to sigh a little. He was beginning to get very accustomed to the feeling of helplessness, but at least this time it was due to him lacking the skills to be of help.
"[Or something,]" Athena muttered, moving on to the next pencil. "[To be honest, most of us might not be able to tell anything. The only way we might is if we bring a psychic or tracker. Artemis would be of some use.]"
"[At least we know where we can find one Artemis.]" Hades tried not to imagine a Greek Gods store in his mind and taking an Artemis off the shelf in a big box. No matter how much she would have kung fu-archery grip, "[Want to hear the less cheery part about all this?]"
"[If there's another Artemis, drivers of the world beware,]" the goddess muttered before turning her gaze back to her Uncle. "[There's a less cheery part?]" Because, really, the whole situation was like a huge rainbow coloured bag of sunshine.
And if the Dark One knew anything it was rainbows of sunshine... "[I don't know what befell our allies that went with us. Ishtar...]" Again, he rubbed his chest without thinking, "[Ishtar was taken before my eyes, and Anubis, I think we just left.]" Not that he had shed tears for the abandoning of the death jackal, but Ishtar almost cost him his life.
"[Then the event was not just a tragedy for us, then.]" She said with a sigh, set down the sharpened pencils, and turned to walk around the office again. "[The Barker was good for information, too. What happened to the two others that were rescued earlier?]"
"[I have no idea. I had nothing to do with any rescues. You would have to ask someone else.]" Hades took the sharpened pencils and put them back in his desk. They were not going to get any sharper than what they were. He grabbed the robot and put it back safely at the corner of his desk, and continued to watch Athena as she paced, "[It was very strange, but there's little I can do about it or to understand it.]"
"[True. I just don't want something like this to simply let be. We have no confirmation of anything and I won't feel comfortable until I at least know what mess was left behind.]" Now she had begun to talk more or less to herself as she paced slowly back and forth across the room. "[I ought to have a chat with father and see if I can get him to do anything, or at least give me a blessing to do so. I don't want to have to do something behind his back... Again....]"
"[Why do you even need to ask his permission?]" Hades questioned softly, unconsciously softening his tone as if speaking secrets, "[Really? What happens if he says no? You obey and have no confirmation or peace of mind?]"
Athena turned to Hades when he spoke, and shrugged. "[The only real difference is if I do it with permission, he's less likely to pitch a fit if something goes wrong. You know as well as I do that I'll do it no matter what he says or thinks.]"
"[If it makes your life easier...]" He shrugged in turn now. "[I know I would sleep easier at night if I knew what we did was more of a victory... But I'm biased. I had a hole shot in my chest.]"
"[I can see how that would affect your outlook on it.]" Athena agreed, and took a second to glance at a clock. She hoped she wasn't taking up too much of his time. "[Even so, if it's a victory for us at all it's a small one, and not the last.]"
Hades glanced at the clock as she did. He knew from her own words that she had little to do so... She must have been concerned about him. It touched his heart. In that moment he really liked this visit, even if it had been filled with a terrible discussion. The terrible discussion let him know there would be no horrible surprises in store for him. “[Do you know how to play pool?]”
Whatever little thoughts she had at the moment were tossed aside when he spoke, and she turned to look at him again. "[Pool? Yes. I don't play often, but I do.]"
“[Want to play? I have a pool table in the office behind you. You might have missed it since its covered in nonsense.]” Hades leaned back in his chair as he watched her, trying to gauge reactions. Sometimes he couldn't help but try to gauge. “[You wanted something to do and every time we visit we come up with the most depressing things to talk about.]” If it wasn't the Egyptians it was the Devil... “[And its in the office, which is a benefit to me.]” Mostly, because he couldn't leave, even if he didn't have anything to do for hours.
Athena shrugged. "[Ya know, you're right. You're depressing and I'm depressingly logical. Let's play pool,]" She said with a small grin. Because that was better than talking seriously, sharpening pencils, or pacing around like an idiot. Yes, making an ass out of herself by playing pool was a great alternative. Seriously.
He knew that pool table would be a good investment. Standing up from behind his desk, he picked up the basket bassinet that had been hidden and tucked away beneath it. After all, if he was going to play pool in the next room, he couldn't keep them in here. The twins squirmed a little as they roused from their slumber at the lifting, but besides from making quiet waking noises they didn't protest. They knew their Daddy liked to carry them places sometimes. And since Hades knew those sounds, he paid them no mind as he motioned Athena to the larger office, “[Come on, Gleaming Eyes. Time to try to put depression behind us.]”
Summary: Athena is bored and restless and finds herself near the office of Call Up Consultation and decided to visit her favorite uncle. They are not cheery people except when they actively try it seems.