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[roseredheart.insanejournal.com]

Characters: Erato and Achilles
Date/Time: Just following the gathering.
Location: L'Hôtel Jeu Ancien hallway
Rating: TBD
Warnings: TBD
Summary: After the meeting, Erato wants to catch up with her hero...

After the meeting, Erato looked around at her fellow Greeks. Oh, she wanted to talk to them all, but she noticed Achilles was quickly leaving the ballroom. She hurried to catch up to him.

"Hey. Um. I didn't really get a chance to say hello before the meeting started... It's good to know you came. Not that we had any choices in the matter, but, still. I'm glad you're here."

Comments

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

Achilles had no reason to stay as he held his head high heading down the hallway. Asclepius had stepped on an unseen line, speaking like a father to him in a manner he'd always had. To a point it gritted on the warriors nerves.

Achilles' eternal mistress would be the thrive of battle. Blood, battle and the rush. His heart had hardened over the years. Through the course of his reincarnations he'd let little go in the ways of his heart, though he was still compassionate and considerate.

This revelation while opening doors also peaked many more circumstances. Achilles was as arrogant as any god, just not with the fancy powers to show off. Bit Achilles had other skills.

He looked down on the little muse as he turned to face her, his uniform showing off his strong facial features and just made him look dashing.

"There was no choice," he said in a straight tone though she'd just announced that. He needed to assert the assumption. "There are others here," as if there was a hint f rejection in his voice that she had not come to speak with him earlier--when he'd been in a better mood.

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He looks so handsome... she thought to herself, a faint blush rising in her cheeks.

"No... And, yes, there are others, but..." Erato sighed. "My own sister doesn't know me. And the rest... I don't know that they'd have much more than passing interest in me. I'm only a Muse. No one of importance in comparison to the likes of the Olympians."

"I'm really sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to you earlier. I did want to, but by the time I got away, Nigel was talking and..." She trailed off, shaking her head apologetically.

"But, we're here now. And... I'm not sure I properly thanked you for rescuing me and taking me home that night..."

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

He didn't mean to give her such a cod shoulder but he was already thinking strategy and who he could use to his advantage. There were those more powerful, but even Achilles would not be detered with Olympians hoovering.

He looked down, and easy feat to loom over the short little blonde. His expression hardly changed but he assured her with a soft shake of his head, "You have, there is no need to thank me more. I am glad to have been of assistance."

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"Recitation isn't enough. We Muses were born to sing of greatness--it comes as naturally as breathing," Erato insisted. She hesitated for just one moment. "Those words were of deeds long done and softened by time. It is a new age, a new era. ...I want to help you write a new song."

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

Achilles tilted his head studying her for a moment. She may be a young girl with a case of hero-worship, but something in that offer set his tenseness at ease. At least for a little while.

Part of him was inclined to let her. To be something of legend again, to be the hero he was born for even in this age.

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"Your star shone brightly once, Achilles. You heard Nigel--it is our duty, our destiny to reclaim our former glory. Respect, honor, glory... these are the things you desire most. You and I both know that. I doubt there are any among us who know your story better than the two of us. It's not a coincidence we found each other."

She paused nervously. "If... if I don't please you--if you're unhappy with my work, tell me, and I will go. But, please, let me try. Let me inspire you to new heights, and I promise I will be the first to sing your praises from the rooftops. I'm only asking you for a chance."

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

She didn't speak of him as if he was just another cutout from a book, from a story, he was who he was because of the actions he'd taken. Achilles looked at himself as strength defined, he held such high expectations for himself and those around him, weakness was not accepted. Perhaps overtime he started to look at attachments as a form of weakness. It was his love and compassion for his comrades and the women that were central to his story that made him lose everything. Yet, he had gained exactly what he'd sought after. Glory.

In this new time things had changed, but his ambitions were still the same. He had reason. He had purpose, and he was meant for greatness. What Erato spoke of could be just the confessions of a girl pandering to his ego to anyone else. To him her words hit somewhere deep. Deeper than he had expected. She called out to his heart with those promises, and how could he deny her when she spoke so earnestly, with such passion.

His eyes stayed on her, still studying as if to wait for her to cower, but she didn't. She stood firm in her thoughts, and he respected her for that. He may not have answered her yet, but there was something in the he parted his lips ever so slightly as to speak, that contortion of his brows, and the greener flash of his eyes. She'd pulled a string.

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He wasn't speaking. Erato couldn't quite tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It was nearly impossible to read his face.

Still... Something in his expression changed when he spoke. It wasn't a softening, per se, but... she had piqued his interest, surely, hadn't she? Erato didn't flinch from his silence, but kept looking into those cool grey-green eyes.

Absently, she brushed his hand with her fingers. She wouldn't go unless he sent her away. She'd said her part, the ball was in his court. But one thing was clear in her guileless blue eyes:

If you want me, I'm yours.

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

When she reached out he didn't push her away or move his hand from her touch, no matter how innocent it had been. He swallowed taking a deep breath and looking off at the others that had exited the ballroom. He wet his lips forming the words to say in return to her offer. She'd set up a pretty irresistible one.

He turned back to face her with the slightest of nods.

"All right," he spoke in a softer tone than he'd been using.

[roseredheart.insanejournal.com]

Erato smiled.
"Thank you," she said, curling her fingers around his. "I don't suppose there's a quieter place where we could talk, is there?"

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

He was going out on a limb by letting her follow him. It would be acute to that of a puppy following a child, but he would not say that aloud. She had some strength to her, it just made this situation awkward, though he felt what she spoke of. A reasoning they'd met before.

His eyes dropped to her hand which curled around his. "Follow me," he instructed her heading back down the hall toward his room.

[roseredheart.insanejournal.com]

"Sure," she agreed, and followed him back to his room, still hand-in-hand with him. Her heart pounded a little as he led her inside.

Erato glanced around as to where would be the most appropriate place to sit down.
"I was hoping we could get to know each other a little better. I mean... I know you as Achilles. I don't know you so well as Andreas. I'm sure not quite everything is the same, is it?"

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

He did not release her hand, her presence alone tugging at more than just his fingers, her forces more powerful in this setting than they had been in the previous meeting.

Unbuttoning a few buttons down on his jacket he took a seat in a nearby chair while offering her the bed. The room wasn't too terribly small, but it wasn't gigantic either. He was okay with the less is more mentality. There was little use for unnecessary items, only what was needed was important.

He sat back in the chair, not usually as chatty as she was poking for. There was not much need in it for his day to day activities, and even with women he wasn't the conversationalist.

"No. The times have changed, so has the body and though the mind is intact, there are some differences. I am sure with you as well, little Muse."

[roseredheart.insanejournal.com]

Erato sat lightly on the edge of the bed.
"That's true," she said. "For one thing, I don't have any sisters in this lifetime. Or brothers. Just me, and my parents. Oh, and our cat, Delilah."

She blushed.
"Truthfully, I don't know if I really feel like a Muse yet. I mean... of my sphere. I know... I know it works. It does. I've seen the results before. But... it's like people expect me to be like a miniature Aphrodite and I... well... I'm not... um... there, yet. I really don't know what I'm doing."

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

"You're being quite open," he hadn't expected that of her yet, not when they were still acquaintances. He was strangely comfortable with that, as if she respected him enough to be so open and honest. Not many people were these days.

"My family is from Italy, father a military man. I know nothing else but this. So moments slowed down in this way, it is a challenge to stop and not think in terms of combat." He was always on the defense, checking surroundings, and loud sounds tended to make him stop cold. He didn't sleep anymore than necessary, and even then his mind never stopped. There was something in her presence that made it slow down, and it was a nice change of pace.

[roseredheart.insanejournal.com]

"I don't like secrets. When information is kept hidden, people jump to the wrong conclusions, and it almost never ends well," she admitted, shaking her head.

"So... War is all you know? Have you even had a job? A girlfriend? Anything?" she asked.

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

"Secrets cause strife. Only foolish men use them to build themselves up."

He opened up his jacket entirely, letting some air in and undoing the cuffs before taking it off entirely, the tie now pulled from around his shirt collar. He folded the tie neatly and laid it atop the nearby table.

"War is all I know," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "No job outside the military and relationships I have little time for." His polite way of saying he didn't trust people easily enough to make them long lasting. Not when it came to matters of the heart.

[roseredheart.insanejournal.com]

"I see..." she said softly.

"That's really too bad. I suppose I can understand why, but... It sounds lonely. While war may have its time and place, there also needs to be time for peace, friendship... love," she said. "Everyone deserves a chance to be at peace. Everyone deserves to have the chance to love and be loved. Even warriors."

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

Achilles smiled slightly but it was bittersweet. "I am afraid little Muse your testimony comes too late. There is little peace left for me in the lives before, in this one, or even the next. Perhaps at some time, but not in this one," his voice was almost as lonely as she felt at hearing it. There was an emptiness inside at the thought that he'd closed himself off so much, but in this reincarnation there was little for him to cling to. No Briseis or Patroclus to hold close, no one that he had held close at all.

[roseredheart.insanejournal.com]

"Why not?" she asked. "Love isn't a zero-sum game. It doesn't have to come at the cost of something else. And, so long as you draw breath, so long as there is someone in the world to care about, it's never too late."

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

It was easy for her to believe that so whole-heartedly, and yet he was too hardened to fall into her promises completely. There was a pause and a softness to in his eyes, but he sighed again somewhat exasperated.

"It is not that simple," he said in a solid but soft voice. So sure of himself, a confidence that would never be shot down by fear. "There is no one to give my heart to."

[roseredheart.insanejournal.com]

"No. There is no one you have chosen to give your heart to," Erato corrected.

She stood and took his hand in hers again. "I know it can be a frightening thing to let someone get close to you. I've been too afraid to do it myself, I admit it. It isn't easy, but I know it can be done. It takes time. It takes trust. And I know you aren't the sort to do things the easy way."

"You've been fighting for so long... The song of battle is the only one you remember. But you did know another one, once. Let me help you remember. Let me help you write a new song."

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

Achilles tilted his head to look at her with a slight startle toward her forwardness. Thus far she had been a soft spoken, and her correction made him pause. That urge to argue was put at rest when she took his hand again within hers.

"It has been a long time since I've allowed anyone my heart," he said in a more direct tone. He wasn't sure what to make of this or what she was presenting.

And yet....

His hand gripped hers a little tighter. He didn't know any other song but the one he had written for himself.

[roseredheart.insanejournal.com]

"It's okay," she said softly, lightly stroking his fingers with her thumb, "We'll just take it one step at a time. Together."

"You know... I was the only Muse to marry--not counting the time Apollo tried to marry all of us together. Zeus gave me to a mortal man, one I barely knew at the time. I had to leave my sisters and everything I knew behind."

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

He'd traveled the world for years alone, he wasn't sure he knew what it felt like to let another be a part of it. Yet, this little Muse seemed so sure of herself and of what she was willing to offer. He was still a man, had his own urges, though he'd not been anything like the men she'd run into his first night meeting her. He would not be disrespectful to her in that way, but he could not deny that something signaled in the way she touched him, as feathery and innocent a touch it was.

He stared at her soft eyes for what felt like an eternity. Searching in their gaze. "Proves your strength."

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"Exactly," she said. "I was taken from my comfort zone, put in strange circumstances with strangers. And, I came to love it. And him, too. If you're willing to take this leap of faith, I'm sure you can as well."

[akhilles-heel.insanejournal.com]

He let his hand stay within hers a moment longer, but Achilles was too proud right now. There was a softness she brought out in him and he wasn't sure if it was the place and the situation or her.

He pulled his hand away slowly. "In time," he shook his head, "but not now." She was digging into deep places and yet he still had much to learn of her.

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"Okay," she said. "I know it won't be easy. Still, you have my trust, even if you aren't yet ready to give me yours. But, whenever you're ready, just know that I'll be waiting. Just let me know." She very lightly touched his cheek for one brif moment.

"I'll let you think on it now."