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All decked out in clean, new clothes, Alexander almost looks presentable. Like a proper gentleman. And why shouldn't he? It's date night! Well, kind of. He had broken the news to Skye that his Aunt had made it clear that she wanted to meet the girl, give her stamp of approval, and whatnot, and perhaps it took some convincing for her to be okay with it, but arrangements were made to meet, and meet they shall. Both he and Skye arrived not long ago, and are sitting at a table together, side by side, with a couple slices of pizza before each of them, talking and eating slowly while they wait for the Muse to arrive. "… and so then he says to me, 'Just do it, it builds character'," Alex finishes an anecdote, and chuckles a bit before taking another bite.
*
If someone ever told Skye that she'd be dating the God of Fear, she'd laugh. If someone told her that she'd meet his Aunt, a Muse, she'd punch them in the nose. Well, she wasn't going to outright punch Alexander in the nose but she came damn close. So even while Alexander speaks, there was a slow bite and a chew to the pizza. In fact, what appears to be slow and a chew was her nearly shoving half of it into her mouth, chewing possibly four times, and swallowing with a near choke that has her eyes nearly bulging and watering.
Guh! As he laughs, she lets out a laugh, one that was drawn out and incredibly awkward. So much so that she has to put down the pizza, snatch up a napkin to wipe away at her mouth as she shrinks further into her side of the booth.
*
She wouldn't be a proper Muse if she didn't, at least on occasion, appear fashionably late. As such, Thalia finds herself walking through the doors of Mario's Pizza a little bit past when they set to meet, though not too late. Her gaze quickly finds her nephew and his date, and she smiles. Heels clack against the floor as she approaches the table.
"Alexander!" She says happily. "And this must be your friend." She extends a hand to Skye. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Thalia, Alexander's aunt. Which, unless he's explained things, might uh…might seem a bit confusing at first." Difference in skin colour would be the first unusual thing, if a person didn't know that these two were a bit more than human.
*
Alex smiles when Thalia enters, and nudges Skye gently, motioning toward her, "There she is," he says to her, his voice not too loud. He figures it'd be a good idea to give the girl a heads-up before she's confronted with the rather outgoing Muse. "Hi Thalia," he offers the dark-skinned Muse with a smile, and a motion for her to join them at the table, the seats opposite the pair just begging to be sat upon. He also raises his hand to signal one of the servers; besides Thalia's arrival and need for pizza (he assumes!), refills and another slice are in order for himself, at least. "Yes, this is Skye," he says with a smile, giving the girl a light squeeze. Thalia would have originally known her as Daisy, from their conversation, but no doubt she'll understand the shift in name, and understand that it is at least the same girl. He's not some kind of lothario, after all. "Skye, this is my Aunt Thalia, the Muse of Comedy." As if it were the most normal, every day thing. Yep, the family trees of the Gods of Olympus are illustrious, if nothing else.
*
Skye was nearly out of it, though not too out of it to notice that the prettiest woman she had ever seen enter into the diner. With a nudge, Skye's eyes shoot upright, her posture soon settling into something a little bit more respectable as she puts on a genuine smile that looks as if she were really, really surprised. "Hi!" She blurts out, near standing, the table bumped and rocked as she reaches out to take Thalia's hand, her other attempting to still the near fallen soda that was already almost gone. Shit!
And it really was confusing! The skin tones were so off that Skye had to look back and forth, her hand reaching up to rub slightly at the back of her neck as she lets out an uneasy laugh. "Uh.. Daisy. Daisy is my real name. But Skye is good! I mean, he likes it. Everyone likes it. So go with Skye, right? I mean, people really wouldn't let it go and you'd think that it was on my birth certificate. I blame the people at work. Yeah, they ah.. uh.."Her cheeks form a deep hiint of red as she slowly lowers herself into her seat, another bump of the table has her 'ow'ing' quietly, and scrambling to catch the fork that nearly falls upon the ground.
*
With her free hand, the one not in the handshake, Thalia reaches down to help steady the table. She smiles widely. Taking a seat across from the pair and removing her jacket, she orders herself a couple slices of pizza and a drink. "Well, aren't you a delight?" She doesn't seem offput by the little explanation of the name." I think Daisy and Skye are both wonderful names. But if Skye's the name you want me to call you, then that's what I'll call you." She tells the girl in a cheerful tone.
"Don't hurt yourself now! Tables are sneaky, they'll bump into ya without so much as a warning. They're tricky little things! And I know what you're thinking…the family resemblance is uncanny. It's like we're two peas from the same pod!" She gives a little laugh. The confusion is definitely apparent. "Don't worry. When it comes to our family, this isn't even the most weird that it gets." She chuckles softly. Pausing, she looks between Alexander and Daisy for a moment, a smile still on her face. "Well aren't you two just adorable? And I can tell that Alexander likes you so much! Like ice cream on pie." Raising an eyebrow inquisitively, she asks, "Why don't you tell me about yourself, Skye?"
*
Fear Gods aren't adorable. The thought passes through his head, but it's impossible to even entertain the notion of being upset with Thalia; she's just so bubbly! He helps to steady Skye as she sits, patting her leg lightly when she's seated again, a silent encouragement that things are going fine. He can't really blame the girl for being a bit jumpy, what with the family introductions. At least it's not his father, or his grandfather. Or grandmother. That'd be downright scary. Hera is not well known for her ability to accept newcomers to the family, just look at the history books. "Don't put her right on the spot, Aunt Thalia," Alex says with a bit of a laugh. "The visual differences in our family run the gamut of colour, shape, and size. One of my uncles is half-man, half-goat." And that's not even the strangest. But of course, Pan doesn't normally present himself as such in public. And for the record, Alex /does/ love pie. And ice cream.
*
"I..dah.. thank you!" Skye was a little beside herself. There was the thought of -what if-.. from what she could remember from their drunken fueled haze, it seemed like Alex really hated his father. Who was in the clouds. Somewhere. Which was odd. Shaking that thought aside, her cheeks were a continual rouge, she could even feel her face get hot, even the top of her head which was encased with the wool hat that she wore and seemingly never taken off. But she did then, tugging it free to primp her hair which was soon pushed back and out of the way of her eyes. "I.. I like Skye.." She says, her voice gone quiet, her eyes darting left and right. This.. this was going well, right!?
The reassuring pat does wonders, though the askance of her personal story has her blanching, glancing towards Alex and back towards Thalia with a slight shrug of her shoulders. Cory Daisy Skye Sutter-Johnson, Agent of Shield! Girl of too many names! She could handle this!
"It.. what?" Half man, half goat? What the bloody fu-..
"I'm adopted." She blurts out. She couldn't even possibly wrap her head around a half-man half-goat for an uncle. At least her being adopted seemed like the strangest thing in her own life by far.
Save for Alexander. And now Thalia.
"You're really pretty."
*
"I think Pan might be a bit much for the conversation. I mean, yes, he's half-goat. Is it amusing to watch him dance around and play his flute? Yes, but if you spend time with him, you tell him that he looks majestic doing it." Thalia gives Alexander a matter-of-fact look, before turning back to Skye. "Did I put you on the spot? Oh, franks and beans! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" She furrows her brow and frowns. Maybe she should try not being serious. That's what she's good at, after all!
"Adopted? I'm sure by a loving family, too!" She's trying desparately not to use any of her abilities to get to know Skye. She swore she would do things the 'old fashioned way'. "Aw shucks!" She waves a hand at the compliment. "Thank you. You're quite pretty too, you know."
*
Alex isn't trying to make the situation worse, but Skye's so cute when she's flustered. Maybe he can't help it. He sits back a bit now, and takes a sip of his soda, eyes moving between Thalia and Skye as they talk and try to make sense of one another. He can appreciate that Thalia isn't using her divine gifts, as it were, to simply /know/ what she needs to know about Skye; if for no other reason than a desire to maintain some semblance of modesty, for Skye's sake if not his own. Just a moment later, one of the waitresses arrives with a few more slices, including a couple for Thalia, and refills for anyone who needs it. Alex smiles up at her in thanks, but his attention soon goes back to the two women. This is going great!
*
For some odd reason, right then and there Skye pictured Pan to look a little bit like Krampus. It must be the season or the snow fall that plagued New York, or the half-man half-goat thing prancing around with an insidiously long tongue, playing a flute to lure children to be boiled alive in a cauldron. Skye's eyes glaze over in that moment, her head shaking ever so slightly as she lifts a hand. "No no! Really, it's okay!"
Though the question of her family, her adopted family comes up, she gives a faint shrug. "They were okay?" She says quietly. "They were usually too busy working and what not. But I think I turned out to be a slightly well adjus—.." She quiets as the waittress comes, her cup offered to fill with more soda, careful at placing it back down again. "Can we have more napkins please!" Well, her. She was anticipating a spill -very- soon.
Her being pretty actually makes her blush, her hand lifting to cup over her mouth as she settles an elbow upon the table, then off again. Then back on again, and off. To the point where she's grunting at herself and forcing her hands into her lap as she glances out the window. What to say?! What to say? "Do you have any kids?"
*
"Well, as long as they weren't horrible! And you definitely seemed to have turned out alright! Like myself or….Athena. Or any of us daughters of Zeus. We turned out all right, though he was always up to something! Girl, if I had drachma for everytime he was off gallivanting when I had a question for him, I would've been the richest lady in all of the Grecian city states!" She laughs a little, brushing a lock of hair over her shoulder.
"Children? Me? Oh yes, I did! I do. I have. Nine of 'em. All boys! Can you believe that? Not even one daughter." She rolls her eyes. "They're often known as the Corybantes. I can say this, at least they got my love for music!"
*
"You turned out perfectly well adjusted," Alex offers as support for Skye, giving her another gentle pat on the leg, smiling while the two talk. The talk of Thalia's own children causes an eyebrow to raise. "I didn't know that," he says, tilting his head a bit. It was something he hadn't come across in his reading; oh for the days to come when information of this nature would be available at the touch of a few keys. "So that makes.." He tries to count, but loses track. "A lot of cousins." More than he knows, in fact.
*
Skye slides a pizza towards herself, reaching to take a bite as she listens to Thaila, a smile upon her face as she chews, the napkin taken and pressed to her lips as she tries to stifle a laugh at her analogy. Thalia was fun, she rather liked her. It was told by the twinkle in her eye!
It was going well, she even got another pat to her knee.. but the question of her children actually stuns her into silence, her mouth hung open ever so slightly.
"NO WAY!" She blurts out loud enough for people to glance in their direction. What the flimsy what?! "You.. What?!" Holy jeebus. "You.. you look.. fa.. what?!" Yes, Skye, she looks fantastic. Let it go.
*
"Yes, Phoboxander, you have a lot of cousin. Probably more cousins than you have aunts and uncles! Although…" Thalia slightly lifts up her hand and starts murmuring to herself, pointing back and forth, as if she's counting. "Yes, you definitely have way too many cousins. But if you want to be included in the family newsletter, you must learn all their names. It's not fair to them if you don't! They learned your name, after all!" She giggles lightly, giving him a playful wink that suggests she isn't serious.
"YEAH WAY!" Is Thalia's immediate response to Skye. "Let me tell ya, it wasn't easy. Though there are nine of us muses, so I suppose I know what my mother feels like." She clucks her tongue and shakes her head.
"Now, what do you do with yourself, Skye? How do you occupy your time? College? Work? Reading? Writing? Travel?"
*
Alex lets out a chuckle, and takes a piece of pizza for himself. "I'll get to work on that," he says. "Probably like, a rhyme or something.." Smile. Bite. This pizza is delicious! He's certainly at ease around Thalia, more than he has been around any of his other relatives, or even talking about them, which Skye might pick up on. Frankly, most of the other Olympians are not exactly easy-going or fun-loving. At least not in a way that Alexander can relate to; Ares' idea of fun is most others' idea of the End Times. Alexander thought cow-tipping was a hoot, while any other violence was simply a part of his genetics, not an exhilirating pastime. The question of her occupation has Alexander looking to Skye; while he almost thought about answering for her, he realized it would both be rude, and she may not want to tell everyone exactly what it is she does. Even though Thalia likely has means of revealing that information on her own.
*
It takes a moment, a clear moment for Skye to come back to the conversation. Her eyes darting back and forth in between the two, her lips twisting in a slight hint of dismay, quite frankly hoping that she doesn't have to attend any family reunions anytime soon! New love! And this was her biggest thing.. uh.. in fact, she had friends who's parents that she had never met! And now this! Toooo muuuuch..
"I.. I don't think I'll have that many kids." Skye confesses. "Maybe two? Three? But.. nine?" It was a shocking thing to her, but then again, she wasn't a god. Just a normal girl, really. Having nine kids was a surefire way to piss herself once she gets older.
With that said, Skye eyebrows shoot up, a series of word vomited words spew from her mouth as she begins to lie, lie, lie with the best of them. "Oh! I work at the hotel as a wet nurse!" What the fuck? "Sometimes I clean and everything and run errands for my boss but I'm wet nursing it up with the best of them!" She curls her fingers into a fist, then gives a shove into the air as if she were proud of that fact. "I don't go to school but being a wet nurse sure does pay the bills! I mean it's really the best job I've -ever- had.."
*
"A rhyme is a good way to remember!" Thalia agrees with Alex, nodding. "And I agree, Skye. Nine is a lot. I mean, really. I'm surprised I had so many! What am I, an apple tree?" It doesn't make sense, but it's the first thing that came to her mind. "Two or three are a good number, though."
At the mention of being a wet nurse, Thalia raises an eyebrow. "A…" There's a tilt of her head. "A wet nurse?" She glances between Skye and Alexander for a moment. "As in a woman who nurses the children of other women?" She seems to be having some difficulty with the story. "If…if that's the job you want?"
There's a pause as she chews on her lower lip for a moment. "Did Alexander explain what we muses do? We…we often help inspire others to create stories." She leaves it at that, finally taking a bite of her own pizza.
*
Kids? Alex doesn't want kids! Little brats running around getting kidnapped and turned against him? Like father like son? NO THANKS. He deftly avoids /that/ particular topic of conversation, and eats pizza. Pizza that he doesn't have to share with angry hungry animal-like children. Mm. The lies pouring out of Skye's face are a surprise, but he's not going to call her out on them. At least not publicly. He may have to explain to her that it's not generally a good idea to lie to divine beings? He has so much to teach her! Instead, he just smiles, and eats. Ladies and gentlemen, his girlfriend, the consummate actress.
Wait, /that's/ what a wet nurse does? BUSTED.
*
Rhymes! But there was no rhyme or reason for this lie that she told, good god Skye needs to read more! Thalia's question and confusion had Skye even more confident at her words, her shoulders straightening up as she wriggles a little proudly within her seat. "Yup. A wet nurse."
Beaming with pride she was, that was until the true definition of what a wet nurse was has her features paling a little. She was busted, but if she were to continue on with the story, she might as well sell it. Or not!
"I mean.. hostess!" She snaps her fingers, pretending that everything was right as rain. "I saw a documentary on CBS about wet nurses. Must have been confused." Liar! Thalia's revelation about what muses really do has her quieting down, her gaze flinging left and right, whatever pizza she had thought to eaten was slowly pushed forward so that she could take up her soda and drink. Drink drink drink! Drink until her eyes water and her nose burns.. which it does. "Ow.."
As Skye holds her nose, she gestures a little towards the bathroom, expressing her need to go. "Uh.. donth feed duud!"
Flee Daisy flee!
*
"Ah. A hostess. Well, hosting is a very important job! Why, I hosted a clown once. Very strange fellow. Turns out he was a sad clown! Exactly the type of clown that would need a bit of comedy in his life!" Thalia nods, as if it was the most common thing in the world. Though she still doesn't quite believe Skye's story. But she's trying to respect her, and Alexander's, privacy. No matter how difficult it is for her not to go digging.
"Oh! Girl, if you're not feeling good, go. Go to the bathroom. We'll be here when you get back! Take care of yourself!" She nods. She'll be here, eating, and chatting with Alexander.
*