REX INFERNI

"He wanted to care, he wanted to care so badly, but there was this gap between what he felt and what he wanted to feel, a space where something important had been carved out. And it was growing."

[elvenking]

[hadesrexinferni]

Other lands are not my concern.

[talliedoesthe1x1]

deliver us ☢ gina + aiden

[talliedoesthe1x1]

She did not doubt him. Not when something unseen had returned that lurch of a smile. Before she could make much of a protest, her numbed legs followed him into the shade and her wrist found itself clasped, and for a moment, she felt her fluttering pulse echoing against his finger before he pressed forward. She had no idea through what they passed, but that it brushed into her, engulfed her in a chill she could not shake, and each of her pores erupted into distinct goosebumps, patterns scattering about her arms. Blinking once, then twice, the shadows then faded into the background, and when she inhaled ( more so gasped ) she smelt the interior of a musty space, felt four walls pouring down on them, pressing them inward. She was against him, and with another soft, but sharp, gasp, she pushed back. Even when her spine curved against the wall, still she could feel him - hear his heartbeat almost.

“Wait - did he just - leave?” The suspicions of Hades having returned confirmed, she almost wanted to start forward, but she was still quite shaken from what she had felt. “He was here?” Demeter was nowhere to be found; she reached out for the goddess, but nothing met her outstretched astral hand. It had been, indeed, as fleeting as one could assume. “A closet. You have to be kidding me. This is a joke, right? Did you know this would happen?”

It was a desperate, rhetorical question, but she moved forward then, and she pressed her hand against the doorknob to see for herself, jiggling it with such force, her heels rose off the ground. She backed away a couple of steps, collided with the front of him, and her hips jerked, and she spluttered and cleared her throat, and she felt a hot blush rising up her neck ( the very thought! ) as she concentrated on surging forward, in what little space there was. Her shoulder collided with the closet’s door - to absolutely no avail. “– Yeah, this was used to lock in people, alright. We would land in a madman’s fucking closet. HELLO?” Of course, no one would answer. Why would anyone? That would be too easy. Too logical. She thrust her shoulder against it again. 

“Aidan.” She didn’t know how she wanted to finish the sentence, so she let the plea hang there in the air between them, drenched clothing hung out to dry.

[hadesrexinferni]

It wasn’t a natural thing for Hades to just disappear so suddenly, but it had happened, leaving Aidan to wonder why it did. Why did he give the mortal that moment to feel the god’s power before ripping it away. It left him feeling empty, almost, as Gina worked the doorknob -- it left him feeling confused. However, he was broken out of his own thoughts when Gina called out to the silence of the house. Who knows how long this place had been empty? Aidan blinked in the darkness, adjusting his eyes to it as his vision blurred during his moment of reflection. 

With a single hand, he took hold of one of Gina’s shoulders to keep her from throwing herself at the door again; her small frame was going to do nothing to the locked door, so he held her back, but at her supplication Aidan turned his eyes down and sighed before directing his attention to the doorknob. After he kneeled down, he took a good look at the knob, jiggled it a few times and listened closely to the sound on the other side of the door. Dead bolt, definitely locked. If he could get the knob off then it would be a cinch for him to get them out, and as confident he was in his abilities to pick locks, this was going to be a major challenge. Especially without Hades.

“Maybe there’s something in here we can use to break the knob?” He suggested and turned to look back at her, an expectant expression on his face. Of course, he knew Bernard would never leave anything the girls could use to free themselves; he may have been stupid but he wasn’t an idiot. So Aidan rummage around, finding nothing but the dank rug beneath their feet and nothing but a lone and naked light bulb above their heads.

Okay, there were worse situations. Right?

Aidan chewed on his bottom lip, trying to gauge what would be the next best direction to head in, and in seeing how large he was he was sure he could do a bit more damage to the door than Gina did (if she even did anything at all). So with that, he lunged himself at the door with a shoulder, keeping his body stiff, stable as he hit the wood repeatedly. There was definitely some cracking, some creaking, but the door wouldn’t budge, and given the small space it was quite easily to misjudge a step.

Easy to misjudge where to place a foot, where to lean back, where the back wall was. Easy to misjudge and send him toppling down, crumpling to the floor like a marionette without its puppeteer. 

Aidan huffed out, body starting to ache from his tumble -- his legs were spread, knees on either side of the door frame and arms by his side, limp. After a moment of trying to rouse himself from the brief shock, Aidan spoke up, albeit voice gruff, “Oops. I was not expecting that.. To happen.”

[talliedoesthe1x1]

deliver us ☢ gina + aiden

[hadesrexinferni]

talliedoesthe1x1:

The pair of them froze in time. It would have been no such a shock to her if they had been. If this was some thread of a curse woven between them, the one that could halt the forces of the passing hours and minutes themselves. Did something have such power? In that shared minute after the doorbell rang, and the flat broken in its void of silence for a buzzing moment, she did think so - but reality was too fervent in its pushing, and her eagerness to find out what was going to happen too potent for time to remain paralysed as it was. Such things happened far too soon for her liking. But nothing could move at a snail’s pace. Even if she wanted it to. 

She had not been Chronos, who could stop the passage of time at will. She clenched down hard on her jaw so much the spasm which followed made the structure ache, throb a little even, but she followed after Aidan, and she slid into the back of a cab, where she felt as though she floated into a dreamscape - something heady, something gentle, something forsaken in the sands of time. Again - t i m e. It always came back around to haunt them, follow in their footsteps, make them think there was a semblance of control when none was to be found. She couldn’t relax, though. It was in places like these the nightmares wanted to run rampant, even if she wasn’t asleep to welcome them. 

When the taxi cab rolled into the vicinity, Gina perked up a little bit, though she had been staring with wide-eyes and bated breath, and she studied the surroundings. Absolutely nothing was visibly amiss. It could be the poster child for white-picket fences and the like, with the children playing in the yard sprinklers and the natural fifties’ vibe attached to its veins. She couldn’t understand. Not that she was dull enough to think nothing happened in such places, but she had wanted something - more. More tangible, more telling of the hatred and the cruelty which had happened here. With feet taking her in front of a house she had never seen, she was not pulled into persuasion of memories - not like her cohort in the approaching crime was.

This place hasn’t aged a day. A whisper delivered, and she glanced at him, and when he flushed she couldn’t keep his gaze. She didn’t know. She hadn’t been in this place. She didn’t want to know it, except to potentially find a clue. And it seemed to be locked - and he had a way in. Her brows furrowed. “What do you mean - you have our way in?”

She took a couple of steps toward him, watching his smile carefully, feeling the hard beat down of the Georgia heat on the back of her neck. She was glad she’d  thrown her hair up at the start of the day - as though she had known it would be in despair to come tumbling down later. “The house is locked, obviously, so unless you can suddenly walk through walls again, I don’t see how we’re going to do much else except stand out here.”

Aidan shrugged, ever present smirk on his face, “You doubt me?” He asked before leading her towards a shady side of the house, a side hidden beneath a large sumac tree. He then glanced back at Gina before taking a hold of her wrist and stepping into the shadow presented before him on the wall. The shadow was warm due to the Georgia heat, but Aidan didn’t mind -- he was just grateful Hades was back, even for a brief moment. And what a brief moment it was.

The pair had managed to slip into another realm of darkness, which actually was just the confined space of a closet lacking of light, before the god of the underworld slipped away from Aidan’s mortal form. It was seldom that he could feel the god remove himself from his person, but this was one of those instances. This was also one of those instances where Aidan couldn’t see where he was going -- no doubt due to the strenuous connection between the god and his host body.

Once he realized Hades had gone, he uttered a soft ‘uh oh’ before trying at the doorknob. Locked? Are you fucking kidding me. He tried again, only to be met with the same conclusion as before, and once more, he uttered a soft ‘uh oh’. He turned to Gina, in the dark, in a closet maybe five feet around, and sighed, “Well, that was short lived. Also. This house had.. One closet. Just one.. It didn’t need many others because the one closet was used to.. Well. Lock in people. I believe we are in that closet.” He paused. “Mostly because this door won’t open.”

[talliedoesthe1x1]

deliver us ☢ gina + aiden

[talliedoesthe1x1]

Ah, and there was such a thin line of thread between the emotions of love and hate. Both could fester in open wounds, both could rot in the boiling heat, both could grow into something that decayed the moment a warm touch brushed against it. Swallowing hard, she resisted the pull of the temptation to take a swig of whiskey after him and stabilised herself as best as she could. It was going to be fine. Something had to come of this. Right now, she didn’t know whether she loved or hated Clara, so close together were the vibrations of emotion ( and she wasn’t even remotely regarding the question in relation to Aidan ) - but she did know she needed to find out something more than what was given to her. In that, the two of them were united.

So strange, how similar the both could be. She had thought of it before, and now she thought of it again, knowing something raged within him, but it only emerged in the tightness of the small smile given to her, an attempt at optimism, the need for hope. Whatever was found, she would be the one to deal with; he would have to wait in line. A lot of his had been a long time coming. And it wasn’t reassuring that basically the entire town had known - all except for her. For him. Two sides of the same coin, ground into the soil and expected to pick themselves back up when the beating had finally ended. She sighed - and tried to return the smile.

But the pucker of skin beneath her eyes tattled just how drained it was.

“That’s fine,” was her remark, and she stared at the post-it note, not wanting to pick it up, not wanting to touch the reminder that everything had changed in the blink of an eye. “You’ll have a much better chance with them than I will. I’m sure they still remember how I opened the earth beneath one of them for pulling a gun on me.” Her voice sounded small, though she spoke in her regular volume. She would blame it on the mounting suppression, the pushing down on her lungs, the tightness of the air in the flat. The two of them, ready to explode, but refraining.

[hadesrexinferni]

As much as Aidan wanted to tell Gina how they were both equally dangerous in the eyes of the humans, arguing was going to get them nowhere; in this moment, they were far from the enemies they had always been in history. Right now, they were allies, and they needed each other now more than ever. Aidan simply nodded and pulled his telephone off the wall (yes, he still used a landline) and dialed the quick number for the cab services. Eventually, the operator put him through one that was available, and soon the conversation was over. 

It didn’t take long for the cabbie to get to Aidan’s washed out little apartment and ring the doorbell (first class service right there). For a short moment, Aidan just sat there, wondering if he really should go looking for Clara -- they obviously didn’t want to be found, or helped, so why should he bother? Because they were important to him, because he loved them, because they were his other half (the other half who didn’t bother to put him into consideration). That thought made him bitter, but, what could he do about it now? Go find them and give them a piece of his mind, of course. So he stood, then, and opened the door to the cabbie, eventually urging Gina to follow the man down to his golden rod yellow vehicle.

The ride there was quiet, save for the smooth, jazzy tunes coming from the driver’s radio. It was relaxing, and for the ride, Aidan completely forgot his anger, his sadness. It was just calming, a strange experience (not as strange as getting high, of course, but it was a close second). However, this serenity was broken by thoughts from Hades -- Hades? Could he really be back? Had the god finally returned from wherever the fuck he was? Aidan grew frustrated at that fact, especially because he was wasting his money on a ride, but now they were able to get into the house just fine (if it were locked, that is, they weren’t certain on that fact).

The neighborhood was quiet, friendly, unassuming -- no wonder Bernard picked this place. The sun was shining in this section of Georgia, bright and warm, and left no room for error when it came to the shadows. One wrong move and he could send people into a frenzy, and he didn’t need that here, not here. Savannah was bad enough. As they walked up to the house, Aidan had to stop as he took in his memories. Just as he remembered it. 

“.. This place hasn’t aged a day.”

The words slipped out before he could stop them, and flushed significantly when he caught Gina’s eye. Growing silent, Aidan strode towards the front door, held onto the doorknob and turned. Locked. With lips pressing together, the tall figure walked along the edge of the front of the house until the side was in sight. He looked down the East wall, the side where the bedrooms were located, and smiled when he found the shadow of an Oak tree splattered across the expanse of wall, “I have our way in.” Not once had he been so pleased to have Hades back, to have his whole self in this moment.

[cloudsofbespin]

You know how this looks? Bad. It looks bad.

[paceofbase]

[hadesrexinferni]

I feel like there’s a lot of goodness in me, a lot of greatness, but I can’t get it out of me. I can’t give it to the world. I have ideas. I’m not an echo.

[talliedoesthe1x1]

deliver us ☢ gina + aiden

[talliedoesthe1x1]

She had to compose herself, had to ensure nothing fell apart at the seams. A difficult task she had imbued upon herself, considering all she wished to do was pull at a particular thread and watch herself unravel. Yet she gripped harder the counter beneath her fingers and sniffed to pull back the new moisture building behind her eyes, refusing to shed more tears for this. It was worth no sort of emotion, no sort of strong grief. Something could still be done. Ever the unfortunate cynic, strange to be clinging to optimism - but it was one of the last places of stability upon which her booted feet could trod at the moment. Aidan decided whiskey was the answer for him. She had left the drink behind long ago - and wanted to take it up, all due to a realisation keeping things secret did not mean keeping them safe.

“Look at how well that worked out.” Aidan and Gina, fate intertwining them to meet over the doomed carcass of a long-dead dog in the middle of the road. How morbid of a beginning, and so then had the morbidity continued, shadowing them with wretched taloned fingers. Her throat was dry, and with a darting of her wrist, so then was the wetness on her cheeks. “Guess all that want for reforming our relationship was a fucking muddy mess.” The cool air from the fridge brushed against her face, and she closed her eyes against it. “What’s even real about the entire thing, then. If everything had to be so secret.” 

Nothing had to be real. All of it - a farce. Her neck grew rigid, her gaze growing dangerous. “The Messer kid? Opening his damned mouth, as per usual. But he knew about this as well? And yet I don’t. My parents probably know - and yet I never fucking did.” Now, she was to grow bitter, and that wretched hot flower, blossoming in her chest, felt rotten. Even more than it had before. “We have to start somewhere. Cleaning up others’ messes, as per usual. And if I find her, she won’t have to be concerned with what Bernard will do.” Clara might not be able to kill him, but Gina could - and then there’d be an explanation expected. Not to mention she might be angry enough to kill her sibling upon sight. ( Especially if Demeter all of a sudden decided to show back up. ) “Might as well give it a good shot.”

[hadesrexinferni]

Aidan could feel the bitterness between the two -- how it festered and boiled like an infectious wound. The alcohol lingered on his tongue, burning his taste buds, but it was a welcoming warmth among the sparks of cold. Why did this situation have to come to such a drastic conclusion? Why the secrecy? Were neither he nor Gina trusted? He knew he would do anything for Clara, and he knew Gina would be just the same; they were, in fact, two sides of the same coin. They came from the earth, one of shadow and one of light, but born from the same womb, cut from the same cloth and it burned.

A desire, a strong hunger, for fixing this grew within Aidan’s belly, red hot and angry, but he needed a level head. He needed to think things through and observe. So far, observing has suited him well and has led to him understanding the human mind and body. It’s been a valuable tactic, one he was planning on implementing during this adventure of heartbreak. One way or another, they were going to find the truth, and in all honesty, he wasn’t going to stop Gina from whatever it was she wanted to do. This was her sister, her daughter.. She had more of a right to deal with her as she saw fit.

“It wasn’t something that was hushed up, not exactly.” Aidan paused, “A cab will do just fine. We’ll get there in no time, I’m sure.” He licked his lips and rubbed the back of his neck, as if to think for a moment, “I can call, if you don’t mind. Hopefully we’ll find a suitable cabbie who doesn’t already hate me.” Despite the thick tension billowing within the tiny room, Aidan gave Gina a small smile, a hopeful and reassuring smile, one that told her that she wasn’t alone in this. Not by a long shot.

[talliedoesthe1x1]

deliver us ☢ gina + aiden

[talliedoesthe1x1]

So then it was confirmed: Hades had dissipated, just as Demeter had. Awakening at some point in the middle of the night, with sweat sticking to the back of her blouse, dripping down the bare spine, curling into vertebrae, emptied and hollowed. Although she liked being alone she did not like feeling alone; the two sensations remained quite different, potently so. And right now, despite current company, she felt indecently alone. Solitude swallowed her, a blank and yawning cavern with no bottom. ( Depression - at its finest. ) No one would ever be able to understand the punctures, the wounds delivered by these blows. No one - except for him. He would be it, for the rest of her life, and she knew it.

“She never told me,” was the repetition she uttered, shaking her head, attempting her best to understand the now-vacant body who had left a post-it note as an explanation. “Never. She would never speak of it. And then she’d always say I wasn’t trying hard enough. But I always tried so hard - maybe just fucking too hard.”

Rambling onward to herself, immersed in her own whirlwind thoughts, at long last her fingers grasped the edge of the counter, pulled her to it, and as her knees collapsed, her elbows bent to release the slack. She was an unfortunate pursuit of chaos, crumbling right there in the middle of his kitchen. His living room. His living space. Where he’d been shot. Where her sibling had discovered the perpetrator’s identity hiding behind a mask of deceit. 

“Someone had to have said something. Done something.” She murmured these words, and their volume was little more than the distant creeks in which she used to get lost as a child. Shivering too violently, unable to reach for much but her aching heart. “And Demeter’s gone. I never thought I would be sad to see that damn thing leave. I never thought she would.” She. But was it Demeter or Clara she spoke of? And was it a thread of hope he offered, or little else than the potential of a dead end? “His old house - we have to do something. A n y thing. Clara’s going to try to kill him. I don’t know - what she’s fucking thinking. She isn’t.”

[hadesrexinferni]

Aidan wanted to scream, to throw around a chair, maybe break the glass in his bedroom window. He wanted to break something, to squeeze the life out of someone and watch it leave their eyes, just to release some tension that was building up in his system. He couldn’t -- one wrong move and he could break the stitching he so delicately created in his skin. They were tight together, perfectly straight, a masterpiece and everything he had studied and worked hard for. They were perfect, but one wrong move could leave them frayed and broken, leaving the healing scar to burst open. He could get an infection, and his heart could stop again. There was no Zeus to help him this time.

“She didn’t seem to be too fond of telling anyone anything, apparently... She didn’t even want you and I to meet. Something about keeping me and her family separated. I don’t know why, maybe I was just a speed bump in her life.” Aidan clasped his hands together and wrung them tightly causing the whites of his knuckles to show. With lower lip trembling, he stood suddenly and stalked into the small, pathetic kitchen just off his bedroom. There, he pulled open the refrigerator door hard before pulling out a half empty bottle of whiskey. He stared at it a moment, with the cool air from the fridge seeping out onto the floor, then decided to unscrew the cap and take a long swig before returning it to its home next to the gallon of milk.

“I’m almost certain someone had said something. Maybe Zeus.. Whoever else had information on my brother’s sentence.” Aidan released a long breath and returned to his spot at the edge of his bed, dark eyes fixed onto Gina, “She doesn’t have Persephone.. She won’t be able to kill him. He’s a big guy.. I can only imagine what prison did to him.” It was spoken with little to no tact; it was full of truth Gina probably didn’t want to hear, but without Persephone, Clara was going to die. “His house is in Savannah, maybe fifteen minutes from here.. He might be stupid enough to go back to the same house. But it’s your call.”

[talliedoesthe1x1]

deliver us ☢ gina + aiden

[talliedoesthe1x1]

She could have sworn her heart stopped. Nothing echoed between them after his sigh, with the weighted words falling even more heavily from his pursed mouth. He was non too eager to give her this information, as it came out halting, and his face reddening, as though he could taste a perpetually sour thing on the back of his tongue. No wonder he chewed the words before he spit them out, provided them to her as repercussions for her lack of knowledge. For her lack of paying attention. How could she not have known? Had Clara attempted to confide this into her and she had ignored it? Had she been too wrapped up in the happenings of the town? But he said Clara hadn’t known until Aidan had gotten shot. So they couldn’t have. 

But Aidan had. And even though he had, still he pursued - something. Hades and Persephone, even without Demeter, left no imagination to the nature of the blossomed relationship. And if it was his brother, then perhaps that was the reason behind her saying nothing. Because he would stop her from doing it? But he couldn’t condone that sort of behaviour. The silence no longer remained there between them. Her heartbeat was quick, a hare’s racing to the hole.

“He - what?” The shock registered clearly on her face after a few moments. Her hand reached backward, for something stable. Her knees felt as though they were about to buckle, and the floor, it appealed to her, it promised imminent slumber, uninterrupted death. “It was him? It was your brother, your - family - who’s done this, who ruined everything?” 

She thought of her mother’s brokenhearted face and of her father’s wracking sobs, and how she had no childhood because Clara’s had been stolen, and how she transformed into an adult beyond her years, and how now she both felt very old, and very, very young.

“And it explains nothing. If he was released by someone else, if he was let out on probation, it just, they explained nothing. They just left to go after some –” 

That was when the trembling started, forcing no words to come out. Breaths shaking. Stomach tightening. And he’d been shot. Her gaze took in his form, looked for the injury, just like the so austerely compassionate creature she was - and her hand tried to reach the table, or the wall, but she remained attempting to stand instead, very uncertain of what to do with herself. “I -” It was a choking noise. How odd that she didn’t feel so much betrayed by him as she did Clara.

[hadesrexinferni]

“My family. Yes..” Aidan hissed softly, eyes lifting to look over Gina’s face before they fell, hands clasped together, shoulders hunched over. He was distant, almost, and didn’t want to linger on the fact that this was his brother that did this. He didn’t want to be reminded that this was his own flesh and blood -- this wasn’t Hades’ family, this was his, the people who loved him and cared for him, not Hades’ family. Hades’ family was a cluster fuck, an orgy fit for the gods. His family was imperfect, dearly so, but they were his family. His blood.

“If it wasn’t going to be Hades this time around, then it was surely going to be someone related to me.. Funny how that works out.” He replied bitterly with a scowl on his face, “I don’t know what possessed Clara to look for trouble.. This is done, finished, and she just--” Aidan bit down on his tongue, trying to keep from getting too angry, “I don’t know if I can find them. I remember where Bernard used to live, that’s something, at least.”

Aidan watched Gina again, always observing, always wondering what everyone else was thinking, and this was no different. He wanted to help in some way, to make this better, but this wasn’t his mess. He wasn’t at fault, wasn’t to blame. He was a victim, again, in all of this -- so he sat up more, back straight and hands pressed to his knees. Aidan didn’t move from his seat, at first, instead choosing to watch and remain silent. Comfort wasn’t his forte, nor were emotions, so he hesitated in trying to find the right words to say to Gina.

“We can find her.. If that’s something you’d like to do. There’s.. Nothing else other than that that I can do with Hades gone.. I’m sorry, Gina.”

[talliedoesthe1x1]

deliver us ☢ gina + aiden

[talliedoesthe1x1]

He watched her with such caution. Did he not realise there was no goddess to fear within her? Perhaps not; it wasn’t as though she had voraciously announced it, parading through the streets. The shiver at the base of her spine, she didn’t know whether it was something to be comforting or something to make her even more infuriated than she already was. Being looked at so openly reminded her of times when she couldn’t look her fears in the face, when she had to burrow her head or turn her face to the side and take what was being thrown at her with pretend blissful ignorance. The drugs and alcohol buzz could only numb so much.

But she stared back at him, and she watched him with his gentle fingers, always so gentle, turning the paper over, the startled gaze reading the words scribbled there - he had no idea. It hadn’t been his suggestion, it hadn’t been his encouragement. Clara had chosen to leave of her own accord. Gina thought that was what hurt the most about it, and it sent a driving, even sharper pain into her side, threatening to make her knees buckle. Yet it was his next spoken words which provided her with the strength to remain standing, though she quivered. Yes, she quite quivered with the effort, a racehorse with frothing hindquarters.

“What –?” The word snapped between them, tension released between a wound up rubber band. “She’s - what? Going after your who? Brother? He’s the one who’s done this?”

She could feel the widening of her eyes, the elation of the peril blossoming that rotten flower and coating her insides with venom. Her chest heaved, and weight loss made the dip of her tank top flare out, softly floating back toward her skin - but the breath would intercept it. Depression - such a nasty little black seed, it was.

“Aidan,” she repeated, with a little more emphasis, desperate and isolated. “What - the fuck - is going on here?”

[hadesrexinferni]

She didn’t know.

Clara never told her about Bernard, or at least, who he was -- Aidan sighed, realizing this wasn’t surprising at all. It was disappointing, but he came to realize he didn’t know Clara at all. He didn’t know the person he fell in love with, and realized this couldn’t be his queen. They just couldn’t be, not after all the heart ache they were giving him.

He looked up when Gina continued to question him and took in her appearance, her expressions and heartbreak. He didn’t blame her, oh no, not in the slightest. In fact, he sympathized with her; they were both rejected and damaged by the same person, someone who meant a great deal to the both of them. He had to wonder, why the secrecy? Did Clara think either of them was going to stop them? Did they think they would lock them away? It hurt to think that might be Clara’s thought process.

After all, Aidan wouldn’t have stopped Clara. In fact, he would’ve offered going as well, but he had a feeling Clara would just refuse all help -- this is something they have to do themselves. They didn’t need anyone’s help, even if this was Aidan’s family. Bernard was his brother, his older brother, and he had looked up to him at one point. He was the only one in the family who could do right, but not anymore, it seemed. There was a part of him that missed his brother, that wanted to talk to him, try to diffuse the situation. Who even gave Clara the idea in the first place? If this wasn’t theirs and there was someone else in the picture, Aidan was going to make them regret it.

“My brother.. Is the one who kidnapped Clara in the first place. That’s how I knew she even existed.” Aidan sighed and rubbed his face, cheeks growing red from embarrassment and anger, “Clara didn’t know it was my brother up until a month ago, when I got shot in here. I’m.. Not really surprised she didn’t tell you about him.”

A pause. “But that’s all I know. Last I heard, he’s in prison.. So I don’t know why she’s going after him. Unless.. They let him out early. I don’t know. He’s not too bright to break out on his own.”

[talliedoesthe1x1]

deliver us ☢ gina + aiden

[talliedoesthe1x1]

She remained uncertain what she’d expected. The door to remain closed before her? More of a strong spark of recognition in his face when he realised the reason behind her appearance? A completely different thing she couldn’t name? Whatever it was, so forcefully did she pound on his door that when he opened it, she nearly fell through. She retracted her fists, curled them hard against her chest, tucked herself in very, very small, one hand grasping at her loose hair, as though pulling at it would make her gain some form of stability. She breathed through her clenched teeth and sucked in another breath and tried to regain control over herself. But she was too far gone. Too tormented. And he looked just as lost as she did? No, no, no. That would not do. That wasn’t how this was supposed to go. She was still weeping, tears streaming freely from exhausted eyes, brown eyeliner running - and him backing away from her didn’t help. 

And then - Hi. All he had to offer. That was all he had to offer. Inhaling so sharply it resembled an aching gasp ( and perhaps it was, perhaps it was her anguish vocalised ) she stormed into the flat unceremoniously, and if she had been Zeus, she would have blamed the sudden crack of thunder in the sky on herself. Perhaps it still was because of her. Even though no god nor goddess frequented her soul these nights. “What the fuck’s happened? What did you say? Did you do this? Did she leave because of this?” 

Her fist uncurled, and she beat her chest, as though she could not feel her heart beating - she both couldn’t, and could, and she turned on him, and she was on him before he could say much else, one hand flattening the note against his chest, though it was nearly demolished in her upset. She was very small in comparison to him, but still she pushed herself at him, sudden strength in her determination. “Read it.” More emphasis. More lack of room for error on his part. “Read it and tell me you don’t know anything.”

[hadesrexinferni]

One moment she was furiously silent, and the next, she was shoving him and crying, screaming, demanding answers. Answers he didn’t have. Answers that were fleeting and completely gone from all thought. He didn’t even know the questions at hand despite Gina throwing them so angrily at him. A frown spread across his face, brows furrowed -- he felt so confused, so lost, what was going on?

Suddenly, and without warning, she was pushing her hands at him, pressing a note of some kind to his person with force. He could barely keep a hold of it when Gina let go, and so the small piece of paper started to flutter down towards his feet, but with a quick movement he managed to snatch it up. With eyes still on Gina, he flattened it against his right thigh, making sure it was legible on some level. Once that was done, Aidan lifted the note up so he could read it.

Now, the words scribbled onto the piece of paper were clear, concise, and definitely in Clara’s hand writing, but he had the hardest of times trying to make it out. It was bullshit. Clara left? To find his brother? Just as the words hit him, he stumbled backward, the back of his knees hitting the edge of his mattress, causing him to sit down unexpectedly. The note started to shake in his hands, eyes fixed to the words before him. This wasn’t happening.

This couldn’t be happening. 

Aidan let out a strangled breath, anxiety flaring up within him, “... She’s.. Going after my brother.. I,” The words fell out, and just as they had, the note fell slowly and delicately to the floor as he stared out, a blank expression on his face.

[talliedoesthe1x1]

deliver us ☢ gina + aiden

[talliedoesthe1x1]

Someone had to know where she was. Someone had to know something about this, more than the little words left on a piece of paper. Clara hadn’t even bothered to take it from a notebook. It had been scribbled on the back of a spare post-it, one that had been pasted to Gina’s fridge for the longest time as a reminder to get replacements for the window sills. She had done it a long time ago, but she kept the notes up for posterity’s sake. Swallowing, she turned the note to the other side, staring at her own handwriting. Missteps. Mistakes. Letters she could barely read. It was no different from the new note on the back. Someone had to be behind this. She couldn’t have wanted to go and do this herself, by herself, at random. Something triggered it. 

She wracked her head for anything that could help with this. ( Clara was g o n e and she had so many times promised not to be the one to leave, and Gina always thought if it was to happen, she would have to be the one to suggest it, and the two of them would go together. ) But not a thing came to the forefront of her mind. Except one person. One person who could know. One person who Demeter had hated because of who resided within him. But all of that was different now. Demeter wasn’t there at the moment. That meant Hades wouldn’t be. And even if Hades was, she wouldn’t have to deal with the screams of the goddess. Just her own, which again threatened to crawl out of her abdomen and break the nearest windows. 

She wanted to leave this town as broken as she was now.

Therefore, she stormed off, boots thudding hard against the ground. Around each corner, she called out, “Clara!?” as though that would change what had happened. But it changed nothing. It made her feet pump faster, her calfs screaming, her shoulder muscles bunched and roiling. If she, the goddess, never returned, Gina could take care of herself. She was angry, upset, in her own grief enough for it. She didn’t need earth-turning powers to handle this. No, she could do it all on her own. On her own. Right? That’s how regular people lived. Wrong. But Aidan had to be aware of where Clara was. Maybe he set her up to it. Maybe he was with her. And she was going to find out. She was going to find out now. She hadn’t lived thirty years to surrender.

Once upon a time, Clara had taken her to meet him at his flat, and she used that single time, as she had never gone there again ( and had no reason to ) to remember where it was. With hard clenched teeth and hands balled into fists and the bubble of panic settling at the back of her otherwise throbbing heart, she stumbled up to the door. Up the stairs, knuckles hitting hard to the metal bannister, promising abrasions on the dark flesh. Then, that same bruised fist now pounded hard against the door. Desperate. Seeking answers and attention and success. And a relief from this pain. ( No relief would come. ) 

“Aidan. Open the door.” She spit out the words, chewed on them, didn’t realise she wept. “Just open the goddamn DOOR.”

[hadesrexinferni]

The silence was broken and in its place set a rather obscure and abrasive sound -- knocking. It wasn’t far, heavens no. In fact, it was just at his door. No, it was his door, it was someone at his door, and for a moment, the strong, aggressive sound brought him back to when he was shot. For a moment, he played with the notion of hiding, or just not answering, and he didn’t, not until he heard a voice. It was familiar, angry, but he knew it -- Gina. Beneath the harsh tone to her voice, he could tell there was worry, sadness, confusion.. Everything he felt in the current moment, but he had never pegged Clara’s sister to feel the same way.

So with that small amount of information in mind, Aidan decided to slip from the bed and carefully move towards the front door. He took his steps carefully, breath quiet and eyes wide, and even took his moment to wait once he reached it. Instead of opening it immediately, he pressed his hands to the cool metal, just listening to the woman on the other side before unlocking everything one by one. Why was she here? What did she want? This had to have something to do with Clara, he knew it, but what? Maybe she knew where the other was, but if she did, why did she sound so angry?

Perhaps she didn’t know, and she was here seeking answers. Well, she was out of luck; Aidan hadn’t a clue where his other half had wandered off to, and it saddened him to think his queen would purposefully refuse him of information, but what could he do about it? Nothing, it seemed. So to find Gina at his doorstep, demanding answers, Aidan needed to proceed with caution. He opened the door slowly, making sure to take a large number of steps back when his eyes locked onto Gina’s face, taking in her worn appearance. ‘Fuck’.

“Gina.. Hi.”

[nothinghere0000-deactivated2022]

PJO/HoO Aesthetics: Hades

[talliedoesthe1x1]

deliver us ☢ gina + aiden

The reinvention of the flower shop would take almost too much effort, too much time. And the eldest sister was exhausted from all that had occurred. No goddess to provide her with a strength beyond the limitations of mortals, plus the nightmares of loss, and the very odd dream involving a sweeping landscape smelling of fruits and celestial gems, hadn’t assisted her. Her boots dragged heavily across the floor, her shoulders almost drooping from the heat. It was simple oppression. People avoided her now. All because of what Demeter had done, what Gina herself could hardly remember. But she did remember, when she was alone. Not that she wanted to. If there was a choice in the matter, she would’ve gladly forgotten.

Yet because of how she had grown up, she was unaccustomed to being wholesomely herself in her head, having her decisions and choices to herself. Of course, she and the goddess had gotten along so much easier than other counterparts due to their similarities, though the truth was, Demeter was a tad bit more volatile in her decision-making. Therefore, one would think that the two minds would have melded. But Demeter always let Gina keep herself. As though she’d sensed one of these evenings, she would weaken and depart. The mortal still remained unaware of what precisely had happened to chase Demeter away from the premises. Had she done something - wrong? It felt almost juvenile to be concerned about it.

She wouldn’t have to be once she immersed herself in Clara’s presence. The two of them had sworn to spend the next week of afternoons revitalising and refurbishing the burned-out flower shoppe, starting from the ground up. New beginnings, new plants - though she could not forget the utter rage that had filled Clara upon seeing the demolished leaves and blossoms. The screaming echoing down the streets. Gina had joined her, though more so with anguish than with wretched ire. She empathised with her sibling. She knew what it was like to walk into a room and to lose everything. And she was about to know it again. As she opened the creaking door, half on melted hinges, and shifted her bag on her shoulder, she was met with silence in the shoppe. It was no longer as big as it once was, half of it having to be severed due to extreme burn damage - therefore, it was easier to see that it was empty.

Half-eaten shelves and mishaps of pottery were strewn about. Her boots crunched against those distinct remnants as she made her way forward. It had the sensation of a ghost town. An abandonment to the environment that couldn’t be jostled even with Gina’s presence.

And that was when she saw it. The note. Whiter than the rest of the soot-covered counters. Frowning, she snatched it up, unfolded it, read it – – –

And bit down hard on the knuckles of her hand to keep from screaming. As it was, a low-pitch whine emerged from the back of her throat, thrashing, trying to claw its way out. She took in a deep breath, held it - but it didn’t help. The words were there, not erasing themselves from her sight. They imprinted themselves on her skin, burned her heart. Made her pulse feel as though it was fluttering downward. As though she was dying. She couldn’t be dying. This wasn’t real. This was just another night terror. Right? Clara wasn’t gone. She hadn’t left in the middle of the night. Right? She wasn’t going after the man behind this. She hadn’t demanded that Gina wouldn’t follow, hadn’t left out a location.

R I G H T ?

Wrong. It was all too real. “Clara.” She whispered this to the abandoned shop, as though it would change something. As though the evening would go differently. “Clara.” But no one was around to hear her pain. She crumpled the note in her hand, hitched her bag around her shoulder, threw her side into the door and nearly broke it in her panic. Clara was gone. No, the two had sworn this week would be - redecorating - starting anew - but it’d all been a lie - and now she wasn’t even here - she was just - somewhere else – and Gina didn’t know and she couldn’t tell because she wasn’t cursed to be beyond mortality and she was just human. Painfully so. So painfully that she felt as though she had been stabbed.

“CLARA?” But passersby scattered, and Clara didn’t answer.

[hadesrexinferni]

Silence. It was deafening and empty, the sound of nothing hitting Aidan to the core. It wracked his body, causing tremors to flutter through his bones and muscles, and causing goosebumps to flesh across his skin. The silence was what scared him, it was what made him feel even more alone. Where was Clara? A rhetorical question considering his apartment studio was bone dry and void of all life -- even his own. He sat in the silence, the lack of sound thick and penetrating; he couldn’t take it, not in the slightest, but what was he going to do? Clara wasn’t answering their phone, and without his ability, without Hades, he couldn’t check up on them without facing ridicule from the townsfolk.

He was like a leper, an outcast hated and feared. People feared him, human kind feared him, as how it should be, but he was just a mortal and they could harm him if they wanted (they already had). It was disappointing how alone he felt, despite his brothers and sisters surrounding him, despite the darkness ever present and comforting. It wasn’t the same with Hades missing. Aidan was seated on his mattress, hands clasped together and his usual stoic expression on his face. He wasn’t sure what to make of the lack of sound -- perhaps it was the quiet before the storm? Perhaps another round of police officers would show up and finish the job (his gunshot wound was still tender, but it was healing). 

Aidan wasn’t completely certain where Clara may have wandered off to -- she was always independent, so much so he wondered whether their relationship would last. He craved affection, adoration and love. He craved warm nights and cuddles in the bed, good morning kisses and everything else romantically cliche in this world. He wanted it, he needed it, but he wasn’t getting it. It felt as if it were a losing battle, and seeing how Clara had disappeared to somewhere Aidan wasn’t sure, he felt he was never going to get it. Clara was Persephone, his wife, his queen, his world and everything. It broke his heart her reincarnation wasn’t what the goddess was like, what he was expecting her to be like. 

So Aidan sat, quiet, alone, as he waited for something, some semblance of what’s to come. Part of him wanted to leave the apartment, the place where the rioters knew where he lived, and to visit a bar or two, maybe hit up Jack for a round of getting high to lose themselves and a good fuck. That was a fun idea, right? No, he wasn’t sure he could go through with having sex with someone else while sober -- drunk was a completely different experience, he was a different person under the influence of alcohol, and he knew he couldn’t “cheat” on Clara again. So again, he just sat in the darkness, figuring it was high time to change the dressing on his gunshot wound and make sure to check the progress of the cut on his face. It was healing nicely, and yes, there was going to be the remnants of a scar there, but scars were cool and he’d probably look sexier (if that even was a thing for him, who knew).

[addyxum-deactivated20160222]

long reign the earth ☢ demeter + hades

[addyxum-deactivated20160222]

It was too simple. Then again, in the life of a god, of an immortal, all things were much simpler than they were for the humans or even the heroes, those who would believe themselves to be in the plane of existence of the demigods. Her lips turned  in a cursory smile of amusement. “Ah, yes, Achilles, with no weakness but the arrow in his heel, though he will soon find that out if he keeps fighting as though throwing temper tantrums.” Another grape slid from the cluster and into her gentle hands before disappearing beneath the slice of her teeth. “But it is quite enjoyable to see, these images on a screen of clouds before us. Better to not say anything lest they all decide to storm the gates.” 

Rolling her eyes, face dropping into a scowl, she fidgeted in the chair and sat erect, shoving the draping fabric across her arms from the flesh to fall at her sides. Her chest heaved as she took in a deep breath, sternum quivering as she exhaled, then glaring towards the opposite side of the columns, where the others had disappeared not long before. “Waging bets on the war and who will be smote down first and what have you. Dices tossed onto the floor.” 

She waved a dismissive hand at the thought of the antics and reached for the golden goblet. It was filled with rosewater, a different and more earthen texture than the mead and the wines. 

“Zeus walked out of here with that blasphemous look in his eye. Poseidon - well. I give no care where he could be. And the rest of them are taking sides. You would think this conversation would tire after a few moments, but they still go with it.”

[hadesrexinferni]

“Poor boy, really. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to see him, but alas.” Achilles was young, stupid, but young and if it were his time to go, then so be it. But that didn’t mean Hades didn’t have any sort of feelings when the young were taken from the earth so early in their lives. They had everything ahead of them, so when that opportunity was ripped due to war, well, it was saddening, but there was the option of not going to war. That was possible, as well. “He is far too stupid for his own good. Perhaps he will give the others in my domain something to.. Look forward to. Get them out of their slump.” Hades grimaced, “They are depressing me.”

Hades sighed, the sound lengthy and full at first before it slipped into a hiss, “I tire of their antics. There is far more to be done than gamble on the petty and stupid things humanity does. Unfortunately they are molded in our image.. I see nothing but my brother down there. War hungry, vain.. Greedy.” He then stood and traveled effortlessly over to the edge of the room to peer down at the fight below – brutes. “Why can’t the rest be like.. Us?” He announced to no one in particular, though turned back around in one smooth motion, silver hair falling over his shoulder, “Perhaps we would get something done, then, if that were the case.”

At the mention of the others, the god sighed, shoulders visibly sagging; he was growing tired, and old, and he was done with their childish ways, “They are children. Children do not tire of their own ilk..”

[addyxum-deactivated20160222]

long reign the earth ☢ demeter + hades

[addyxum-deactivated20160222]

If she was in the vein of Zeus or Ares, perhaps she would have shivered with the echoes of the swords from the battlefields below, felt some sort of stimulation with the outcries of those who gave their lives to perish for the sake of a woman. It was as though Helen was elevated to the level of Aphrodite. And if the goddess overheard such lunatic comparisons, then she would be the one to rain down wrath from the heavens, with no one to stop her. Because who would wish to get in the way of a woman scorned? As it were, Demeter remained in her lane, staying out of the middle of the conflict - though if the skirmishes continued to tear up the fruit of the earth, and made things more difficult for the lives down below, then she would have a problem. Then she would make the soil quake and crumble beneath their feet. Perhaps she should follow in with the prayers being beseeched to her, ones to assist with the unfolding conflicts.

As it were, she had a new unfolding conflict on her hands. One that came around as a shadow in the lands and plucked the grape from her palm without so much as a cursory smile. There was almost no expression on his face, despite the twist of his mouth to formulate the words of sister, and the addition of a slight explanation, blaming it on his nature. Well, there were many a thing that could be blamed on the deities’ natures, couldn’t there be. Such as the time with the god of the sea, with Poseidon, who had taken to the land and pursued her. But no one paid any mind to such things when they occurred; after all, it was in their nature. 

The words affected her more than they should have, considering where her mind allowed for her to go. A low hiss of breath ( though not directed directly at the newcomer, Hades, god of the underworld ) emitted from her pursed lips - but she quickly acclimated to the company, deciding to not cause a war where there didn’t need to be one. After all, Persephone was stubborn enough for Demeter to have realised that it was the girl’s choice partially in the matter to leave. And she, as her mother, hadn’t bothered to stop her after a while. Why bother?

With her other hand, she brought around the long and intricate braids of dark tresses to rest upon her shoulders, dipping into the grooves her collarbone. She was not so elaborate as the others, not so vain; her tunic was one of an earthen grey, and her braids fastened with the tightly woven vines and moss of the forests below, and if she wished, she could cultivate her own fruit in the soil in the corner of the main foyer. 

“Indeed, it is. You surpass all others in this regard, brother.” She was slightly amused that he had come and decided to spend his time with her. If there was something the two of them held in common, it was their general disdain for companionship. ( Well, unless it was her daughter, which the two of them erupted into blood-filled conflict about. But she was exhausted, or so she would tell herself, and therefore wouldn’t start with the jabs just yet. ) “Should you not be doing so down on Earth, striking fear into the hearts of men? It might be a source of laughter and entertainment to see that light flicker in their eyes.”

[hadesrexinferni]

“That is too easy.” Hades didn’t like easy, which was apparent in his lifestyle -- granted, he was sure Zeus had a hand in his own downfall, but at least he was given his own kingdom to rule over. He was the king of the underworld and he called the shots, not to mention he had a queen to rule beside him. He was thought to be death among the mortals, and despite that being incredibly false, Hades couldn’t help but feel a swell of amusement, and even enjoyed playing up on that little misconstruction. 

“I think they are already feeling that fear.. Achilles seems to be unstoppable.” He popped another juicy grape into his mouth and sat opposite to Demeter, eyes fixed downward towards earth, as if he could see the battle going on below, “I would rather watch, anyway. They seem to be handling their own just fine without my involvement.” A curt chuckle escaped his lips and his hand went for another grape before he stopped, brows furrowing as he took a look around their surroundings, “Where are the others?” Not that he cared much for his siblings, but he didn’t like not knowing if one of them was to intrude or not. “Are they waging bets on who will win the war? They will take anything for entertainment, unfortunately.”

[hadesrexinferni]

don’t cry for me || daya & aidan

[iralmock-deactivated20161013]

Her expression softened slightly at his response. She liked getting her way, didn’t enjoy resistance that led to fighting. It got ugly real fast when she argued, she would say things she half meant and regret her words later on and then of course, inevitably would come the apologies. A shitload of trouble if you asked her and so Aidan’s pliability was always appreciated. He was predictable but not in a boring way, the sort of person you could rely on, that you could count on to be constant. She, on the other hand, was of changeable mood despite her stubborn tendencies. Settling down just didn’t come easy after years on the road essentially running away from actual commitments. All the responsibilities she had taken on in Savannah still scared the hell out of her after all these years.

The events of the last week had only served to distract her from how antsy this quiet life was making her, she had a stable job and income and neighbours she knew by name. The only thing she didn’t have was what she had sworn off, love. It was useless and damaging and she didn’t want it and yet she would see Clara and Aidan together and suddenly a thought of what if would pop up. She would never be the perfect housewife type, would never be able to give anyone children but the idea of having someone to share her life didn’t sound so bad at times. For one she could unburden herself of some secrets. Of course, the thought was killed almost immediately as the brunette was far too prideful to admit she needed anyone. She was good with the people she did have for now. Speaking of which before she could reach the kitchen to pour herself some much needed coffee, Aidan was speaking again and lifting his shirt up.

She had half a mind to cover her eyes and fake gasp, but she figured she’d done enough as far as dramatics went today and the sight before her kept her silent. Another scar marked her friend’s abdomen and unlike the one on his face this one didn’t seem to be fully healed. “Wow ok, I don’t want you to think I’m overreacting here but who do I need to murder?” she said as she sat down, dumbfounded. Despite the sharp turn the riots had taken, ending on a dead count she had never once seriously considered the possibility of her loved ones getting hurt.

[hadesrexinferni]

Daya’s reaction was actually rather calm, almost passive -- it worried him, if only because he knew when one reacted quietly to a situation such as this, they were inwardly plotting how to fix this, how to get back at those wrong doers. It worried him because those quiet were calculating and could find ways to get back at those who caused either them or someone else harm. Aidan dropped his shirt, making sure to cover it completely before taking the seat next to her. He didn’t want to show her this, but, she was really the only friend he had. Sure, he had Clara, but she wasn’t a friend, exactly. He needed someone in a platonic sense, and this was who Daya was, and he needed to keep her in the loop on his well being, but--

“No one. They’re already dead.. I,” Aidan sighed; this was another incredibly touchy subject. Tell his friend who he really was and risk being rejected completely, or keep it a secret from her forever, “They were cops. They figured I was.. Different, so they came to the apartment. I don’t know, I panicked.” I thought they were taking me back to prison. I thought they recognized me. Aidan’s head bowed slightly, as if he was some sort of puppy who had just been scolded, but he turned his attention back to Daya’s face and sighed, “I’m not safe here. Not anymore, not like I thought I was. I can’t go back there.. They probably have my address.” A hint, really, but he didn’t want to flat out impose on her. He knew it probably wasn’t the smartest idea, especially since these people could find him in a heartbeat it seemed. He didn’t want to put Daya in danger.