"Was the sun worth it?"

[atlasxrose]

xander-amyntoros​:

-

Xander huffed out a laugh, “Your friend has a point. But there’s no need – I’ll die, you’ll get stuck with all my shit.” He thought for a moment, “Which is about…twenty houses, all crammed with artifacts, and – the location of my tomb. Want to go visit it?” The idea of vacationing around the world was a definite idea, and he had to wait to get a word in between Atlas’ sentences. The truth was, he’d been sifting through his stuff anyway, finding the item he was looking for. Manipulating it into the version he wanted was a whole other story, but he’d have to get through the other’s sentences first. “Why? So we can have an argument and fuck in every country?” His grin spread a bit more across his lips. He liked the idea and tapped his fingers on the desk after a moment. The truth was, the doctor was surprised his body was still functioning. At 34, he’d suffered plenty of trauma from swords, arrows – all things he’d been questioned about. He didn’t want to waste whatever time he had left – yet as a shifter, there was a now longevity that those human wounds wouldn’t be able to touch. “Let’s go, then. You can tell your brother that we’re having a destination wedding, too.”

-

“I’d love nothing more than to stare at your bones.” Atlas mused, he shifted his position from the desk to Xander’s lap, thoroughly placing himself between the other and the man’s desk. The whole point of arguing was the time they spent making up afterwards, his arms found their place across Xander’s shoulders, “Half the fun of fighting is-” Atlas didn’t get to finish his thought though before Xander was spitting out their impending wedding. “Very presumptuous of you, who said I wanted to marry you.” There was a brief moment of sadness as he thought about the people who’d never get to see it back home. “I wish you’d gotten to meet my parents. Aegon will be thrilled though.” Atlas smiled, he pressed his lips enthusiastically against Xander’s lips, committed to spending every moment of whatever eternity laid before them, this life and the next. “So, where we doing this then? Egypt? Athens? Maybe we should see it all and then decide.”

[atlasxrose]

xander-amyntoros​:

-

Xander crossed his arms over his chest, studying Atlas for a few moments as the fury spoke about what he’d found. “So a new pathway between the Underworld and Elysium.” The notion was there, and he managed a smile, “So you’re planning for my death already?” He sat up now, putting his arms on the desk, “Did you try it? Slip into Elysium. Alexander is there, go say hi.” The idea that Atlas could still slip in and see him daily, or perhaps every few days – time in Elysium was apparently fake news – was far better than waiting around for eternity. Whether or not Atlas even died one day was another story. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t want more than to see you after this life, too. You know that.”

“Hence the wedding question,” Atlas teased, “there’s no point in planning for your death if I’m not going to get anything from it. My friend at the library got married recently, he said never sign a prenup.” The fury was mostly joking, “I was there, but I didn’t stay long.” He could go on and on about the sights that had rolled over golden hills and homes made of old stone, but that wasn’t why he’d brought this up to Xander. “I wanted to get back to you and tell you the good news,” Atlas said instead as he lifted the folder from Xander’s hand and set it off to the side. “also, we should go on vacation.” He furthered, still not done talking. “Not to Elysium, but I mean while I was there I was thinking about the pyramids, and about your home in the UK. We’ve never been anywhere together but here- I want to see more.” 

[atlasxrose]

xander-amyntoros​:

-

Xander’s newfound powers had given him a higher purpose, and after speaking with Dreki, he understood where the lineage arose from, and how his ability to survive would come into play. He’d gone to the doctor for the first time since his human death after he’d been cured as a vampire, though nothing had really been shared. He was sitting at his desk, a folder in his hands as he went through the itemized list of artifacts that were on loan. Kyon was laying under the desk, mostly asleep until she heard Atlas. The dog got up from her nap to greet the fury, and Xander put the folder down with a half smile as the other began to talk a mile a minute. He picked up the coffee, grateful as he took a sip, “Mm, well, let’s start with the Underworld before I touch that other subject. Let’s hear it – I have no idea what it could be. A sword? A helmet? I haven’t seen the Underworld.”

-

Atlas playfully rolled his eyes, if Xander didn’t make it soon then Atlas would have to forge the wedding documents himself. How difficult could it really be for a fury to fake a marriage? Alter some minds, cheat on some documents. They’d been together long enough, who would question it? “Elysium.” Atlas said simply, “There’s a fissure in a wall in a cavern, I think it opened after the veil went up again.” He thought about how the gates of Tartarus had been opened as a result, it wasn’t that far from the realm of possibility that others were affected. “It’s big enough for me to get through, and there’s no rules that say I can’t be there.” He was never going to get tired of fighting he didn’t think, at least not with Xander, he wanted to do this forever. If Xander died, he wanted a way to see him, maybe even a way to stay with him. What was one more soul in Elysium?

[atlasxrose]

@xander-amyntoros​

Working with Aegon was a dream, Atlas’ other half handled the books and Atlas did all the real work. But it was seasonably warm, and oddly sunny for fall. Everyone had the day off, Woven was closed for the day. Corinth had been his home for years now, he loved it here, loved the adventures, the people, and to some extent he loved the danger too. Atlas had always needed purpose, he was once a witch born with the gift of sight - he divined meaning from clouds, dreams, birds, stars. Anything he could get his hands on had a hidden lesson etched in its underbelly. Now, Atlas was a fury. He’d have centuries of time alongside his immortal other half, the things they could do together, the places they could go. The stories they would someday tell. It all excited Atlas a great deal more than Aegon, Xander least of all Atlas thought. Because the former vampire knew something that Atlas did not yet, a fact that was too painful for Atlas to admit outloud: someday the fury would tire of eternity, and all that would be left was heartache and the people who punctuated the bright places in between. Xander, too, might someday become such a punctuation. 

“My brother keeps asking me when you’re going to propose.” Atlas stated simply as he stopped in at Xander’s office at the museum, his boyfriend the relic was older than at least half the things the Corinthians had on display here. The fury set a pair of coffees down between them before he took a seat on the corner of Xander’s desk, “I don’t think I can tell him that I’m not interested in marriage anymore because he knows I’m lying. So, what should I say?” Not done talking yet, he didn’t let Xander answer before he spoke again. “I found something in the Underworld the last time I was there, you’ll never guess what it is.” 

[atlasxrose]

The forest didn’t have the same appeal as it once had, the old cabin they’d repurposed had once more been overtaken by the wild. It had been dilapidated from the start, but with the fall colour change came the reveal of the rot underneath. Nostalgia had driven Atlas to ask his other half here, the brother who’d risked everything for him. Things were different now though, so much had changed between them but the bond between the two boys remained unbroken. It was a bit like this shelter, a relic from the past that still withstood the test of time. “I heard you stood up that firefighter I set you up with” The fury smirked, it wasn’t really why he’d asked his brother here but Atlas enjoyed small talk. All talk, really. Maybe spending time with Aegon came with a different sort of danger now. But he didn’t care, Atlas had spent so much of their life balming Aegon’s flames - now it was his brother’s turn. Because it was only when they were together that the fury’s instincts were dulled and Alecto’s pull was weakened. When they were together, he felt a bit like his old self again. It was nice. “What was wrong with this one?”

[atlasxrose]

levividalis​:

    It took Levi a moment to understand that apparently Atlas had also gotten a view of his memories. Which made sense, he supposed, but in that moment he was so overwhelmed by the memories of his younger self that it was hard to think about anything else, or even just fully take in the world around himself. “Kill her?”, he echoed, his voice small and wavering as he ran his hands through his hair. “Atlas, you don’t… have to do anything. That’s not your fight.”

-

“You can’t just let her get away with this.” Atlas said defiantly, there was a part of him that was maybe projecting but he couldn’t stomach just letting the woman who did this to Levi simply walk free. If Anastasia hadn’t done it already then the fury was going to make damn well sure that she didn’t hurt anyone else, if not for Levi’s sake then for the next kid. 

[atlasxrose]

winterdupont​:

“How much pumpkin do you think is too much?” She’s looking at the recipe pulled up on Pinterest and it only says a cup, but she’s skeptical. The Halloween season in Greece isn’t quite what it is in France, she’d normally be desperately trying to organize a trip to the catacombs in Paris just to get in the mood this time of year to start things out. She’ll take baking in Atlas’s decent sized kitchen though, she’d brought a multitude of seasonal cookie cutters and a few muffin pans. A little smile, almost sly, tugs at the corners of her lips as she looks sideways to the fury. “And do you think Xander is going to roll his eyes to see we’ve used the fang shaped cookie cutter?” @atlasxrose​

-

“In my experience you can never have enough.” Atlas said simply as he mixed a vegan version of his own batch, he stopped mixing to eye the other’s mixture. “But I would stop there, otherwise you’re going to be making pumpkin soup instead of cookies.” The fury added, the afternoon was quiet, and while there was about a dozen other things Atlas should be doing, this was a nice break. “He’ll probably just be happy he’s getting fed,” also probably glad to see Atlas doing something other than running headfirst into danger. “though he’ll find something to complain about. He always does.” There was something different about Winter, a change. An instinct pulled at his gut and he had to take his eyes off of the butcher block to meet his friend again. “How’ve things been?”

[atlasxrose]

xander-amyntoros​:

-

“A bit of both,” he answered after a moment, looking at Atlas once more. “But he told me if I needed him, I could find him. Why, do you think he has the ability to do the same thing to Hektor that he did to me?” Xander wasn’t sure what the limitations on these abilities were. He was still wrapping his head around the fact that some of these figures were no longer myth.

-

“He has the ability to mute the powers of others. If Hektor’s power is castrated, then he can be contained. Maybe even killed.” Atlas offered, "Patroclus can’t come into contact with Hektor he-” The fury stopped short, unable to say anything further on the original vampire, unfortunately even to the vampire. But if the rift came in contact to try and reverse Persephone’s hold over him, it wouldn’t end well for Patroclus. “He just can’t.”

[atlasxrose]

xander-amyntoros​:

-

That was debatable, but Xander saved that argument for another day. At least this was something Xander was good at; war and strategy may have been Alexander’s thing, but Hephaestion was just as knowledgable. “Despite the fact some of them wanted the veil to fall, there were others who didn’t. They may know how to slip past Hektor, or weaken Persephone’s protection. Because that’s all this is. Her influence keeps him safe.”

-

Atlas doubted that Alecto would let him weaken Persephone and Hektor’s connection directly, but if there was a rift in the city with such capabilities then it was something to consider. He thought of the names that had been spouted off by Anastasia at the party and the inherent knowledge the fury had of each of their gifts, useful maybe, but it was hard to know where their allegiances lay. “Patroclus,” Atlas said, “the man who made you mortal. You met him at the temple, right? Was he just there waiting for you or did you... Did you contact him somehow ahead of time?”

[valtsv]

What do you think of the "revenge bad" tropes frequently found

it actually pisses me off sooooo much when characters are like “ohhh but if i hurt or kill the bastard who made my life and others’ a living hell i’m just as bad as they are!” like grow up and shoot him what are you catholic

[unbearablyindifferent--a-deacti]

gayarsonist​:

“but i’m too good to kill anyone! :(” i’m not. give me the gun.

[atlasxrose]

levividalis​:

     Someone had blocked his memories. And logically, Levi could only think of one person who would do that. But why would his mother keep the first eight years of his life from him? He always wanted to understand himself better, why his invisibility was so flickery at times, why he was afraid of the dark, of closed rooms, of touch. His eyes closed when Atlas touched his temple, and the water witch was not sure what he expected. But what was released was a flood of memories, one worse than the next. He gasped quietly as he stumbled back a step, flickering in ans out of view for a few seconds like a broken light bulb. Then he lifted his hands to press them against the sides of his head. This was not what he wanted. But it was too late now, and he had always silently begged for this. Now was not the moment to complain. “I… thank you,” he managed to get out, even if his eyes filled with tears at the same time.

-

Levi’s memories crashed against his like a tidal wave, a rush of images passed over his mind’s eye - too much to sift through at once. Despite everything Atlas’ hand recoiled and he broke the connection as shock was replaced quickly with anger. Some crimes were simply unforgivable and all at once the fury of Alecto felt himself possessed by the due rage and vengeance that would inevitably need to fall onto the head of the woman responsible for all of this. “I’ll kill her.” Atlas managed to bite out, his balled fists shook at his sides as he quivered with unbridled rage. Death would be a mercy when her punishment was at last finished. 

[atlasxrose]

winterdupont​:

“I’ve dreamed of her, you know. Not all the dreams the scale gave me were bad to start with.” No, some of them had felt like a memory that had started out like she’d actually woken up and gone about her day only to twist into something awful that had her waking up in a cold sweat. “I um,” Winter’s hand closes around the scale on the chain as she bites at the inside of her cheek for a brief second. “I lost that day completely, the one where she died. I still don’t know if it was a dream or not that I saw her for real. But I must have, if I have this.” Nereus, Scylla, Selene, all names for a woman who’d been called a sea monster by history. Maybe she should feel some type of way about her after spending all this time plagued by one of her scales, but she can only hope the original shifter found some kind of peace. In her lap, Honkus gives a quieter ‘honk’ and it can either mean that he’s ready to settle down or perhaps he’s cursing the poor dog that he’d tried to square up with under his breath in his own way. Scoffing lightly, Winter looks from Atlas to the goose and offers a small shake of her head. “I think I better get going before he decides to fight Xander himself.”

-

“I had a vision about her the night she died.” Atlas recalled, “I made the call to the station - not that it made a difference.” The then-oracle had beaten himself up about it for months, afraid that he could have done more, fearing that he was somehow responsible. Ajax, Isaac, Xander  -Scylla had been the catalyst for so much change in his life but it had been losing his mortality completely for him to understand that fate was completely out of his hands. Perhaps that was what he needed to accept about Winter now, whatever would happen next would fall in no short supply on her shoulders alone. “I’ll see you two around,” Atlas smiled, “but if you need me, you have my number.” The fury’s own sister and him had been parted for so long, but if they were still in contact he imagined she’d be something like Winter. Strong, independent. The fury turned away, reminding himself in the process once again that he couldn’t control everything. “’till then.”

[atlasxrose]

xander-amyntoros​:

-

Xander had to refrain from biting out his response, making himself take a breath so he could gather himself once more. He didn’t want to say it just for Atlas to disagree with him, which also happened, but what did he have to lose at this point? Just more years off his life. “A plan, at the very least. Someone who knows Hektor better than we do; his movements. Instead of plotting his death, why don’t you plan his capture? Or burial – somewhere he can’t escape. A head on fight with the furies would end in all of your deaths, and probably not his.”

-

“I never suggested we do anything without a plan.” Atlas could concede a little but as always he was prepared to argue, though he was glad at least that Xander had suddenly decided to be helpful. “There are a lot of rifts in the city.” Though the idea of working with any of them, or going to any of them for help or advice didn’t exactly sit well with him. Still, he could set his emotions aside for the sake of the people that he ultimately wanted to help. “At least a handful of them are as old as he is.”

[atlasxrose]

xander-amyntoros​:

-

“It’s for you to learn. To grow into. You have a long, long time, Atlas. To take on this world. Long after I’m gone and won’t be here to help you.” Perhaps that’s what worried Xander the most, despite the fact that of course his ego was bruised when Atlas wouldn’t bother with his point of view, let alone acknowledge it. He enjoyed hearing himself talk, and felt like he had something worth saying. Countless wars, strategizing, a decade long campaign – now a power to help, and feeling like he was going nowhere with it. If he had a mortal life left to spend with Atlas, then he wanted to give as much as he could. Knowledge he’d spent two thousand years collecting and understanding. “Yes, you’re right. Is that what you want to hear? I don’t want you dying, not when we’ve figured this out.” They had been together far longer than how long they’d been caught up in Corinth Bay’s drama, and Xander was tired of risking it for others who did little for them. “You act like I don’t want to help people. I have been doing that for centuries, and for once, I’d like to be selfish when it comes to you. I won’t lose you, so I won’t sit idly by if you want to run head first into a fight.”

-

“Fine.” Atlas huffed as he folded his arms across his chest, being right was, in fact, what the fury wanted to hear. While he still didn’t like Xander’s tone the shifter had a point in at least one facet that the man was very, very, very old. The truth was Atlas didn’t like to think about how short their time together would be in the grand scheme of things, while Atlas remained the same for eternity, Xander would grow old and the fury would have to watch him as he did. Then when he was gone... What would be left of him? Before Xander Atlas’s identity was always tethered to someone else. Astraea’s twin brother, the oracle and later pet of a genasi. Anastasia’s resident forest himbo. It had taken him nearly three decades to find a voice of his own and now digesting and applying someone else’s opinion felt almost physically painful. “What would you suggest?” 

[atlasxrose]

xander-amyntoros​:

-

Xander’s mood had soured considerably. He’d come home in a good mood, and now they’d done what they do best: disagree. “Maybe that’s it, love. You don’t ask.” He stood up, looking for his shirt that had been discarded along the way. At least the fury hadn’t ripped it, otherwise he’d have to spend more time looking. “You’re obsessed with doing this yourself. And I’m just tired, Atlas. I want to help you, but – you won’t fucking let me. It’s not just your life you’re risking. Maybe you’ll understand that eventually. So I already told you – I will help you. Don’t throw the bury my head in the sand shit at me after I already mentioned it.”

-

“And I won’t nod along and agree with you just because it placates your ego.” Their night had started off so well. “You don’t want to help them and you don’t want me getting involved because you’re afraid that it’ll get one of us killed. You said as much already. Hektor’s cruelty aside people die everyday, they get their hearts ripped out in alleyways by his offspring or they bump into the wrong person on the street.” Atlas said, thinking about Ajax and himself.  “If there’s a way for me to help them then I have to, otherwise what is any of this even for?” 

[atlasxrose]

ajaxgriffin​:

-

Ajax blinked a few times, now only realizing how much he’d actually missed. It seemed strange when he and Atlas hadn’t been talking, like one argument had pulled them apart. The reaper idly wondered that if he hadn’t of reached out first, would Atlas have bothered? “Eternally complicated – I think that’s a good term for it.” He offered a smile, before he looked even more confused than before, “Xander, too? I couldn’t believe there was one dragon, let alone two. He started saying that this Valkyrie person helped with the…main dragon guy, and now they have these abilities.”

-

“As good as any I suppose.” Atlas said with a sigh as he moved to grab them something to drink, finding it hard to keep himself idle while around the reaper. Like Atlas needed to be doing something. He opted not to ask after Ajax’s boyfriend, mostly because Atlas didn’t want to know. Valkyrie’s name made something in him harden though, “Of course a rift had something to do with it.” The veil, the shifters - their motives were their own and had a large scale effect, but just like Hektor Atlas could do nothing against them. “Enough about... everyone else.” The fury said with a sigh, “I’ve missed you. A lot.”

[atlasxrose]

xander-amyntoros​:

-

“No, my answer is that you know what battle you can make a difference in without sacrificing yourself or those who stand behind you. But you don’t listen to my take on things – ever. Not even my advice. So fine, Atlas. If your answer is to take Hektor on, then I’ll help you. I understand what his violence is like. I’ve endured it for enough centuries.” Xander released his grip on Atlas’ hand, though he stayed seated. “Anastasia is my friend, but even she wouldn’t expect me to sacrifice what I love.”

-

“If I was asking for your advice, then I would consider it. I’m worried about people that matter to me - and I’m scared. But if your solution is to bury my head in the sand then you’re welcome to do that. I won’t. The Delphi matter to me, whether it’s you, or Anastasia, or Ajax - some things are worth risking my life for.” The fury felt his cheeks flush as he turned away and rubbed at them before he turned towards Xander again, maybe someday they could agree on something.