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Alexander's foot still hurts. It's mostly healed, at least from an outside perspective; one of the benefits of Olympian physiology is the propensity to recover from injuries much faster than a human should be able. But a gunshot wound to the foot? Bullet straight through? Even after the time that has passed, there's still damage there, and not much more than Alex can do about it but wait. So there he is, in his apartment on a shabby couch, foot propped up on a couple of boxes, television on. Skye's not home just now, either working or off figuring herself out. Frankly, Alexander doesn't know, and while it wouldn't be fair to say he doesn't care, the girl doesn't need him to babysit her. Clearly.
Alexander had, given the fact that he's reluctant to go far on his bum appendage, given Thalia a call earlier to invite her over, ostensibly for the purposes of coffee and conversation. The door is unlocked, which given the neighbourhood and his lack of physical capability just now, might not be the safest thing, but he's never been one to worry about such things. Not when he can scare the pants off anyone who would try to break in. A frown sits on his face, as he is apparently unhappy with the program on the television. What he wouldn't give for some kind of device to change the channels without having to get up and do it himself. Someone could make a lot of money with something like that.
*
The voice can be heard before there's even a knock at the door. "It was a one eyed, one horned, flyin' purple people eater. One eyed, one horned, flyin' purple people eater. One eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater. Sure looks strange to me! Well he came down to Earth and he lit in a tree. I said, 'Mister Purple People Eater, don't eat me!' I heard him say in a voice so gruff, 'I wouldn't eat you 'cause you're so tough!'" And then comes the knock on the door and a twist on the handle.
"Hellooo! Anyone home?" Thalia calls out. Obviously she knows he's here. She was invited! One arm carries a paper grocery bag. "Well now, there's the lazy young fella who'd rather have people come to him than go outside!" She grins and winks. "You're gonna have to explain just what happened!" She says as she places the bag down on a counter and starts to pull out a variety of food: bread, cheese, a few different deli meats, a pie, a cucumber, and a tomato. "I figured we might as well eat. Unless you've already eaten?" She asks as she looks over at him.
*
"Come on in," Alex calls back just before Thalia opens the door and enters. He shifts a bit to turn to face the door, rather than get up, which would normally be the polite thing to do, but see he's still got this nasty gunshot wound in his foot. "I can always eat, Aunt Thalia," Alex says, finally allowing a smile to take root on his face at the appearance of the various foods. All the fixings for sandwiches. It's like the woman can read minds. "And I'm not being lazy, I just can't walk very well. Doc said I should stay off it as much as possible. You know, not to aggravate the wound." What doc, exactly? Well, Alexander isn't saying. But it sounds like reasonable medical advice. "As for what happened.. well, it's kind of a long story," he says, wriggling his foot around a little bit to try to keep it from going numb, it having been elevated for as long as it has. "Hope I didn't call you away from anything too important?"
*
"Where's that…" Thalia murmurs as she reaches further into the bag. "Ah, there we go!" She pulls out mayonnaise, followed by mustard, ketchup, and butter. Whichever a person may wish to add. "I find a nice 'snack' never did nobody any harm." A wide smile crosses her face. "Well, the sooner you heal that lil foot of yours up, the sooner you get to instilling the fear of Zeus back into people." A little playful wink is given as she says that. "Hey, I got time for long stories. I've helped write epics, and those ain't no walk in the park!"
She shakes her head. "No, no. Nothing important. I just gave a few people a nudge here or there. I had nothing in particular planned." She stares at all the fixings and glances to Alexander. "Now, I've got beef, bologna, chicken, and turkey here for meat. Just tell me what you want and I'll just throw it all together!"
*
"Guess it's not really a /long/ story, if you're making comparisons.." Alex gives a light chuckle, and lowers his foot to the floor, tentatively putting a bit of pressure on it. Nope, no good. Back up it goes. "Skye kind of shot me?" But it wasn't her fault! Okay, it was kind of her fault. But not really! "It was an accident.. she'd never shoot me on purpose, obviously.." He hopes! "She's a bit on edge these last few days," he finally says before changing the subject back to the food. "Oh, uh, roast beef, mayo, mustard, tomato, lettuce.." His mouth is practically watering. "And, thanks for bringing all that.. our fridge is pretty bare." Probably because someone can't exactly go out and get groceries. Not that it was much better when he had two good feet.
*
Even as she starts looking for the plates and knife to help make the sandwhiches, Thalia pauses and looks to Alexander with a raised eyebrow. "Boy, it better have been an accident. You best not be lying! Is that gun around here? 'Cause I can easily find out right now if you're telling the truth! And if you ain't? I don't care how much you hate your daddy, he and I are gonna have a little talk with that girl of yours." She's dead serious, the look on her face says all it has to. Her brow is furrowed, and her face is set sternly.
"Boy gettin' shot by the girl he has a crush on. Ha. That's worse than Romeo and Juliet." She murmurs to herself as she sets about to actually making the sandwhiches and setting them on plates. "Here." She says finally, after a few minutes of silence, approaching him with a plate held out, sandwhich cut in half. "And don't get me started on having an empty fridge. If I find you ain't makin' enough money to eat, I might have to start coming by regularly to make sure you're not dying! Or worse!"
*
"No, it's not here," Alex says simply. "And yeah, total accident. My fault, really. Shouldn't have had my foot in the way." A joke! The boy makes a joke! He accepts the plate with the sandwich gratefully, offering a heartfelt 'thank you' when Thalia passes it to him. "Money's fine," he says after a bite, chewing and swallowing like he hasn't eaten anything all day. Probably because the fridge is SO far away. "I get what I need, and Skye's usually pretty good about keeping food in fridge.. just been a little crazy lately, is all. Hey, you know anything about a man named Blackagar?" That was the name she had mentioned, and he'd sworn he'd do everything he could to find out as much as possible. Gotta start somewhere, right?
*
"You just saying it ain't here so I won't handle the gun? Or is it really not here? All I want is the gun's perspective on things." Thalia takes a deep breath in. "Not my circus, not my monkeys." She murmurs to herself. "I believe you." She tells him as she starts eating her own sandwich. "As long as you're not starving and you're…usually not in this much danger." She waves toward his foot. She tilts her head at the name. "Blackagar? Nope. Don't know who he is. Should I? I didn't mean him in Chile did I?"
*
"No, it's really not here," Alex affirms. And frankly, he's not so sure he'd want Thalia to see things 'from the gun's perspective'. He may not have a big problem with modesty, but he certainly doesn't want his aunt seeing an exact accounting of what was going on surrounding the whole incident. Yikes. "One time only thing, I swear," he says, holding up a hand as if taking an oath. Alex takes a bite of the sandwich, grateful for the food; first thing he's eaten all day, which for Alex is a bit of a feat in itself. "I don't know. He's.. some guy. Skye met him. Supposed to be helping her with some things, I guess. Just want to know more about him and his kind, is all. Maybe I'll try and ask dear old dad.." He gives his eyes a bit of a roll there, even though he's seriously considering. "You know she's not a hostess, right?" Of course she knows. That was a very poorly told lie, for a spy-in-training.
*
"Alright. No gun it is. I wonder what the table has to say, though." Thalia grins as she reaches out toward the table tentatively. At the last second she pulls away. "No. I'll let there be some secrets. I'm not that nosey. Just mostly that nosey." She chuckles and nibbles on her sandwich. "Blackagar…Blackagar…him and his kind? What's his kind? He's not a Tuatha de Danaan, is he? Because they gave me some trouble once for inspiring this one guy that I guess they had their eye on? I dunno. But I've been careful in the British Isles ever since!" She shudders a little bit.
"Skye's not a hostess?" Thalia gasps and covers her mouth in mock surprise. "Noooo." There a sparkle of amusement in her eye. "I am sorry that our meeting didn't go better. I could have made it a little easier on her, I'm sure."
*
"No, you were fine. She was just a bit on edge." Alex takes another bite of his sandwich, chewing and swallowing before he speaks again. "I think the idea of meeting other Olympians is kind of a tough pill to swallow." At least he gets that it's not really a normal thing. Feels normal enough to him though, which is probably a good thing, otherwise the therapy bills would be huge. "And I think she liked you.. just, she's got some things. Not really my place to say. But not a hostess. And not a wet-nurse." But she has a gun, so feel free to put two and two together there. The gun's definitely not Alexander's. "I don't know what his kind is. Got the distinct impression they're not human. And if he was an Olympian, you'd know him. If he was Asgardian, someone at the Bellator would have known him.." Alex shrugs a little bit. Will have to keep on investigatin'. "She was gone for a week, though. Trapped in some kind of.. coccoon. And this guy had something to do with it." So much for keeping her secrets, right?
*
"Give her some alone time with me, and it'll be a smaller pill, trust me. I've got one of the best personalities of all us Olympians, if I'm not being modest." Thalia waggles an eyebrow. "I figured she wasn't a hostess or a wet nurse. If she don't got a job, that's fine. If she's got a job that's…well, that she'd rather not talking about for one reason or another? That's fine too. I'd have just rather she'd said she couldn't talk about it than trying to make up some story about being a wet nursing hostess. That's all I'm saying." She shakes her head and takes another bite of the sandwich.
"This Blackagar's cocooning? Oh, boooyyy, that's some weird people. Possibly dangerous people. They some kind of spider or caterpillar type people something?" Because a spider or caterpillar person is probably within the realm of possibility in her mind. "If you need help with these people, let me know. I know I'm a muse and in Olympus I'm darn right average when it comes to some thing, but on Earth, I'm stronger than the the average bear!" She pauses for a moment, sandwich held up halfway to her mouth. "…smarter. It's smarter than the average bear." She chuckles. "But you get my point. I can help!"
*
Alex actually laughs. Thalia certainly has a way of putting him at ease, even though the actual topic of discussion is serious as a heart attack. "I know," he says after a moment. "And I appreciate it. Definitely don't like her coming home and being freaked out over things like that.. even more don't like getting random visions of her trapped in a weird black shell.." Yep, that happened. He knew about it before she did. Didn't make it better. "Anyway. You talk to my dad at all recently? Haven't heard anything from his since he sent me over to the Asgardians." Not that he's been there much recently. "Kind of expected I'd have gotten a lecture about one thing or another since then," he says, with an implied eye-roll.
*
"Getting visions is a great and terrible thing. But being trapped in a cacoon ain't a walk in the park. Just…just be patient." Thalia puts the remaining quarter of her sandwich down and places the plate on the nearby table. "There's a lot to be scared of. A lot to be freaked out by." Leaning back, she shakes her head. "I haven't seen Ares much lately. Not in a while, actually." She scrunches up her nose. "You know, after his little war in Troy, I spent years in that city trying to bring people's spirits back up. It was not an easy task."
*
"Yeah, studied that one in school. You have any idea how hard it is to go through high school knowing that you're a god, that your father is Ares, and you've met Zeus himself? Sitting in history class while they're talking about Greek mythology? Let me tell you how hard it was to keep my mouth shut." Alex gives a bit of a grin, and takes another large bite of his sandwich, which is almost done. "Not easy." He gives a little shake of his head, and then pops the last bit of sandwich into his mouth. When he's done chewing, which doesn't take long, he starts talking again. "Probably best he's keeping his head down, I guess. Dad doesn't tend to bring out the best in people, or make situations much better.. things are just a little tense these days without a reckless God of War sticking his fingers in the pudding, so to speak."
*
"I couldn't have kept my mouth shut. So I think it's a good thing I didn't have to be in that class! I just would've said, 'All y'all sit yourselves down and be prepared to have a real lesson about how all this went down.' And I would've called my eight sisters down, the Muses, and we'd have given a proper lesson, let me tell ya!" Thalia stands and clears her throat. "The titans were angry! They kept smashing the cosmos! But then Zeus was born and he said, 'Uh-uh, no way! I ain't lettin' you do none of this jib-jabbin'!' And so he gathered them and put them in prison! And then Zeus ruled supreme! Now, Zeus was a curious fella…he liked lightening and people. In fact, people used to be really different. They used to look like two people in one! But then Zeus was having none of that! So he took his lightening and split them in two!" She sits back down and looks at Alexander. "You see, that's how I'd start telling it!"
*
Alex laughs again, in fact several times throughout the little performance. "That would have made the class a lot more interesting, for sure. Sadly, I didn't have your voice, or your way with words," he says with a grin. "Not sure it would have gone over so well, what with my voice cracking and tripping over my words." A smirk, and he leans back in his seat again. "I still don't understand why I had to come back to Earth after all that happened. I mean, what good does a human education do me? If they wanted me to learn what it was to be a god, shouldn't Zeus have let me stay and learn? I could have done so much more.. instead I got kicked back down to Iowa of all places." Yes, he is perhaps a little bitter. And can you blame him? Iowa.
*
"I've always thought I'd make an excellent teacher! Truly!" Thalia chuckles. She scratches her forehead, and looks at Alexander with sympathy. "Oh, young Alexander. I wish I knew the reasoning behind Zeus' decision. But I don't. A human education isn't a hindrance, though! And as for Iowa? Well, a fair few people have come out of Iowa. Like Arthur Davison Ficke. He wrote a few things." She clears her throat and starts to recite,
"'I am weary of being bitter and weary of being wise, and the armor and the mask of these fall from me, after long. I would go where the islands sleep, or where the sea-dawns rise, and lose my bitter wisdom in the wisdom of a song.
There are magics in melodies, unknown of the sages; the powers of purest wonder on secret wings go by. Doubtless out of the silence of dumb preceding ages song woke the chaos-world, and light swept the sky.
All that we know is idle; idle is all we cherish; idle the will that takes loads that proclaim it strong. For the knowledge, the strength, the burden — all shall perish: one thing only endures, one thing only — song."
She looks to Alexander with a raised eyebrow. "Iowa is anything but boring. You could have been sent somewhere worse, with worse people."
*
Alex listens the way a teenager listens. It's not that he's not paying attention, but could he repeat any of that back if asked? Not likely. Even so, in the moment he can appreciate it for what it is. No doubt this Ficke fellow was quite the wordsmith. "I'll bet he didn't write that while he was actually living there, though," he says when she has finished. "But your point is valid. It could have been worse." Much worse, in fact, considering that Alexander's rampage through Olympus cost more than a few lives, and Zeus would have been well within his right to kick him straight down to Uncle Hades to be dealt with. All things considered, Iowa's not the worst place he could have ended up. "Just.. you know. Middle of nowhere. Alone. Not exactly stellar parenting." Of course, that's Alexander's constant complaint. And maybe Ares wasn't the greatest father, but his kid sure likes to comment on it. In truth, when Ares was around before all of the ugliness went down, by many standards he wasn't doing such a bad job. Alex just refuses to recognize it. The situation wasn't exactly normal after all that.
*
"Just remember the very first words: 'I am weary of being bitter'." Thalia tells him in a matter-of-fact tone. "Being bitter only gets you so far." Looking about the apartment, she shrugs. "May not of had the parenting you wanted or needed, but you survived. That's what matters, in the end. You've made it this far. What you make of your life now is up to you." There's silence for a moment before she speaks again. "You ever hear the story of the dancing crab?"
*
Alex gives another nod, silently accepting that Thalia's not wrong. He's spent a lot of time being angry and bitter about it, but he's a grown-up now. Time to start taking responsibility for whatever comes next, not dwell on bad parenting, or decisions he doesn't understand. "No, I haven't heard that one," he says when she asks about the dancing crab, and settles in a bit more, expecting a fable of some kind. Foot still hurts. He won't be dancing for a few days to come, yet.
*
And a fable it is. Filled with plenty of jokes. The visit continues on for a good few more hours. Thalia tells more stories, sprinkled in with small bouts of serious conversation with Alexander as they eat some more and while away the time. When she finally leaves, it's actually rather late, but she ensures Alex that she'll check in on him soon, and that he should call her if there's absolutely anything he needs, even if it seems small and insignificant.
*