On the War Path

“I’m looking for them everywhere,” she said, her tone a lot more irritated than was normal for her. “I don’t have much to go on.” It had been a fluke that she found any of them in the first place, but she wasn’t complaining. That wasn’t the sort of thing she could just blurt out though so she bit it back. Anyway, it had worked out for her this time - not that he knew that, or even cared about it. It was strange; she’d watched her father interact with other people for so long and she had always believed that he truly cared for them, somewhere deep down. Well, not everyone, but some of them. Being on this end of it, she found it was harder to gauge whether he truly cared or not. 

That was an unsettling and unhappy thought. Not for the first time, Harmonia considered just quitting. It wouldn’t be hard to walk away now - disappointing, certainly, but not hard. If there was no point in this, then she didn’t want to waste any more of her time. But if she left and he did remember, then that would be equally as bad. Torn between options, she decided just to stick it out a little longer.

Which was hard in a completely different way. She did yoga. This was so far out of her realm of experience that it was probably comical to all the people around her. Taking a breath, she tried to shake off her frustration and restrain herself. “Am I supposed to count?” 

It would be impossible to count and answer his questions, so she decided just to start punching and worry about the counting later. “I work with Scarlett Leclaire. She -” Harmonia hesitated, not sure what exactly to say that would indicate she had her memories but not make her sound crazy. She’s my mother - that would definitely get her into trouble. “She reminds me of my mom,” she finally said, blinking against unexpected tears.

“Yes, you count,” he said. How else was she supposed to know when she’d done enough? He would count too but he wasn’t about to tell her when she’d done enough, only if she stopped short. He was a hard arse like that. “And remember to breathe. I don’t need you passing out on me.”

He almost choked when she mentioned Scarlett and mother in the same breath. It was enough to make him abandon his half-baked plan to try and figure out if it was real or someone messing with him. What were the chances that Harmonia would find Aphrodite and then him if she didn’t remember who she was? He didn’t think it was a coincidence that she was there in his gym. And if’d thought about it he would have realised that her reason for being there was rubbish also. 

And if she was an imposter? Well, he’d always preferred handling things as they came up. Besides, better to know sooner than later, especially if she might be a threat to Aphrodite.

No time like the present to test his theory. 

“And me? Who do I remind you of.”

“Street carts are not food, they are… eh… pretending to be food. Something other than food.” Alexandre knew that he was naturally stubborn about things, but, in his opinion, he had every right to be stubborn about this. There were hundreds of restaurants in the city - hundreds of good restaurants; no one should be eating at street carts, in his mind. “Well, you are the only one of us who knows this area, so you will have to recommend a place.”

He was genuinely surprised when Aaron started heading for the door; he thought that they’d plan a night that they could both eat together, but he supposed that that wasn’t what was going to happen. He followed at the man’s heels, sliding his hands into the pockets of his peacoat. “No, sir, I do not have plans tonight, thank you for asking,” he spoke sarcastically, rolling his eyes to himself. “Tonight is fine.”

“Everything is food if you eat it,” he said. One of the things Ares liked most about being a mortal was the food. What he didn’t like was how reliant he was on it, and just how often he had to eat to stay as strong as he wanted to be. There was also a whole host of things that he wasn’t supposed to eat and that caused it’s own problems because they were usually the things he wanted to eat. “I know a place. I hope you like meat.”

Ares stopped just shy of the door, exasperation written all over. He might have thought that Eros took more after Aphrodite but it seemed he shared some qualities of each of them. He wasn’t entirely sure where being a snarky brat fit in, but wouldn’t have admitted he had those leanings anyway. 

“Do you want to eat or not? Isn’t that why you’re here?”

It took a great deal of effort for Harmonia not to repeat her father’s words in a mocking tone; she didn’t remember if she had done that before but it felt like something she should do now. She didn’t though. He didn’t seem to recognize her and she didn’t want to do something to make him angry enough to lose this thread. And she could be amused by it as well; how many times had she heard him say something similar to that in the past? It was such an iconic dad line. In the past, when she wasn’t so on edge, it was something that was more amusing than it was in the moment.

She was a bit taken aback by the boxing gloves - not that she hadn’t believed him, but this situation was so far removed from anything that she had done - as Harmonia or Addie - that she couldn’t believe it was her. She fumbled the gloves, dropping one and flushing. Her instincts screamed at her to get out; she didn’t belong here. She never truly belonged in Ares’ domain. Though she had spent as much time with him as she could, even going so far as to visit him and his men during times of war, it had never been comfortable. But when she looked up, with an excuse on her tongue, it died before she could say anything. Because it was him. Father. She couldn’t give up before she had started. 

So she managed to get the gloves on as he continued, mentally shrugging away his grumblings about a family. She knew Addie had a family - or she did in memory; sometimes Harmonia wasn’t sure that she believed they were real. They could just be figments of her imagination, brought into existence only in her mind. For now though, she focused on the question, trying to sort out an answer that wasn’t just repeating herself. “We were separated,” she finally said, letting the frustration build up and fuel her punch into his hand. That was something Ares had taught her, long ago, and she hoped she remembered the lesson. It was easy too - the emotions of their separation - all the pain and loss and fear after she lost Cadmus were never far from the surface, and had fueled several nightmare-filled evenings. “And now I need to find them and the rest of my family.”

He waited and watched, assessing her as she fumbled the gloves. He wanted to know that it was her before he let on that he had his memories. He wasn’t usually one for tactics, but after finding so many gods without their memories, he had to think that something was happening. He was pretty sure he hadn’t done it which meant it was entirely possible that someone was messing with him. And what better way than by sending in his daughter who was meant to be a snake?

“And you’re looking for them here?” he asked. He believed her reason but then he thought anyone else pretending to be Harmonia would try the same line. 

The punch though? That felt familiar.  

Ares had always wondered at just how he and Aphrodite had caused Harmonia. There was very little in either of their natures that they had passed on to their child, almost as though she had all of the traits that they did not have. Still, she threw a mean punch when she had to. 

“Light punches. You’re just warming up. Do a hundred then pushups. As many as you can.” She might have been probing at him, but he was going to push her as far as he could to see if she’d break. Might be easier to get some answers that way. 

“What do you do? For work.”

Even now, even mid-conversation with Aaron, he could feel people’s eyes still on him. It made him stand a little straighter, smile a little bigger. Maybe he’d ought to return to the gym someday with the intention of meeting people other than Aaron… with the intention of sleeping with people. Some of the trainers were just his type, after all. 

Turning his attention back to Aaron, Alexandre nearly laughed. “Fair enough - for me to hide those arms would be to sin. What’s your favorite sort of food? I’m sure we can find a place to eat where you would not need a collar. But - to set the record straight early - I will not eat from those street food carts. And, if you would, you care less about your own wellbeing than I thought.”

“There’s nothing wrong with street carts.” Part of Ares wanted to insist on a street food cart if only for the reason that Alexandre had told him that he would not eat from one. He didn’t like limitations or constraints or challenges, not even from his son (maybe especially not from his son - maybe he had more in common with his father than he thought) and so his instinct was always to rail against it.  “Anything around here will do.”

He started heading for the door, assuming that Alexandre meant they should get dinner right now and not bothering to wait and find out, and said to a trainer on his way past, “If I’m not back, lock up. You know the drill.”

She saw his frown, which made sense. Alexandria Kang was not a favorite, and the fact that others didn’t have warm and fuzzy feelings pertaining to Alex made Ella smile.  “Alex indeed. But I like to keep formalities with her. She’s the type.”

Ella leaned back in her chair, the martini drawing close to her lips. “You can do whatever you want. But I want intel. I don’t want money, I don’t want material objects, I don’t want anything with a price point. I want secrets. And it seems like you can’t deliver.” 

She paused, a smirk on her face. “Which, truly… it’s disappointing. You’re this brave, strong man. You’re scared of a little secrets? That’s cute.” She dabbed at her lips with a cocktail napkin. “It’s sad, what you’ll be missing. And your little fighter has so much potential. What a waste.”

“I’m not scared of anything,” he said and bared his teeth at her in a snarl before he could remember where they were and that she had no idea who she was, or who he was. He knew a challenge when he saw one and he had never been good at turning down a challenge. It was no longer about the fighter, it was about pride and that was something that Ares had always had an abundance of. 

“She’s trained at my gym,” he said, not sure whether Ella would recognise that there was a certain confidentiality or fraternity that came with such a thing, not that he had any other warm and fuzzy feelings towards his sibling.  He rubbed at his face trying to think if he knew anything about her. 

Then he remembered. 

“She bailed some street brawlers out of the police lockup not long ago. Not really in line with her reputation is it.”

She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her at his commentary on the park. “You’re not wrong,” but she was still smiling, unable to even try to hide it. Not that she would even want to. Scarlett was having a marvelous time, and he deserved to know that.

She noticed the kind of familiarity in the tone of his voice, but payed it little attention. They had been circling each other for years, after all. And besides, she would have been lying to try and claim that she didn’t feel a level of familiarity herself. She couldn’t put a finger on it, but something about being near Aaron felt very much comfortable. It was a shame that they had waited so long for this night.

A bemused brow raised as he pulled her back, and she turned, keeping it raised as she faced him. She was almost sure that she could sense what was going through his mind, though she found that she didn’t mind at all. “Well hello,” her smile was softer now, a kind of warmth in it that hadn’t shown earlier in the night. She let the hand that wasn’t laced through his find a home on the back of his neck, not breaking eye contact she she did. 

@seasrising​

How many times had they stood just like this? No, not them. Scarlet was not Aphrodite, something that was becoming harder to remember especially as she stood so close and reached a hand to hold his neck. His other hand dipped lingering on her hip but he didn’t unlace his fingers from her other hand.

And then he hesitated. 

Ares was not a god who hesitated like Aaron was a mortal who did not hesitate. They dove straight into things, acting long before they had a chance to think it through. Standing there with Aphrodite, Scarlet, he couldn’t help the feeling that he was going to mess it all up somehow. That was what he did.

Then he wasn’t hesitating, he was acting. He pressed his lips against hers, gently at first and then not so gently.

Scarlett took his hand, but took a step ahead of him as the exited the restaurant. The tables were close enough together that they could only fit through one at a time, and while she was sure his backside was a fantastic view, she relished in being able to do a little showing off of her own. It certainly wasn’t hurting anyone, anyway.

Once they made it outside she was able to stand beside him, unable to ignore how naturally they seemed to fit together. Perhaps she was being a romantic, but she really always had been at her heart. And something about Aaron felt right, in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever. Things were easy with him, almost as if they had done all of this before. But that was preposterous, Scarlett knew. Still, it had been a wonderful evening.

“It’s very unoriginal for me to admit, but I walk through Central Park every morning before work. It feels like the heart of the city, in a way.” She gave a small grin as she looked up at him. “I hope that doesn’t make me boring and predictable. I would hate to be either of those things.”

@seasrising​

Scarlett took his hand and led the way as Aphrodite had countless times before.He took the opportunity, as she had known he would, to look her over and take in every gorgeous curve and hoped that the little similarities he noticed were signs that his lover was not hidden too far below the surface. 

He was amused by their difference in height in a way he hadn’t been when she had been immortal. Aphrodite’s presence had been such that he had not always noticed her height. Now that Scarlett stood beside him he could only think that she was cute. “It is a good park. Big. Green.”

“You could never be boring or predictable,” he said, speaking of a familiarity that Aaron had no right to. He tugged at her hand wanting to turn her to face him. Outside, with the lights and noise of New York he no longer wanted to walk. He wanted to touch her, to hold her. 

Well, that had provoked something. Harmonia’s spirits lifted ever so slightly, although she masked it under a flirty smile sent in the direction of the cute trainer. She might not take after her mother in all areas, but she had certainly learned how to handle men from Aphrodite. “Maybe I don’t want to train with you now.” She had so rarely done anything to defy either of her parents in the past but this uncertainty wasn’t helping her settle, and she just wanted to know if he remembered or not. 

Despite the defiant statement, however, she moved toward the boxing ring. This was very far out of her realm of experience but the chance to be with her father was stronger than her nerves. “You never answered my question. No family? I’m looking for my parents. We were separated. For a long time.” She chose her words carefully, trying to find ones to convey meaning on two levels - she had an explanation that would satisfy anyone who questioned her but she hoped she didn’t need it now.

“You don’t get to decide what happens in this gym,” he snapped, more aggressively than the situation warranted. The trainer she had been looking at turned his back and tried to wander off like his first instinct hadn’t been to shoot a flirty wink right back at Harmonia. “My gym, my rules.”

It wasn’t often these days that Aaron’s memories intruded into his own, that they overlapped and gave him pause to know what was really his. He knew it was Harmonia, his daughter, standing in front of him - or at least a very convincing imitation. But then there were Aaron’s memories telling him his family was two parents, several siblings, a few nieces and nephews scattered about. No children. But Harmonia was here looking for her parents. Was it possible she had her memories? “I have a family,” he grunted and threw some boxing gloves at her before he held up his hands, palm out, for her to punch into. 

“What happened to them?”

She leaned in, seeing if he would take her up on her challenge. Aaron didn’t seem like one who would back down from a task, a fight, even though he looked confused. But this was a game to her, and she found it amusing enough. 

“Alexandria Kang.” She could barely stop herself from rolling her eyes. “It’s not like I want you to try and do anything, or to hurt her or anything like that. Though that may be a bit more suited for your skill set. I just like keeping tabs on everyone, and as she is the byway for a new client, I don’t want any conflicts of interest. Blah blah blah, business business business.”

“As much promotion as you request. I’ll smear opponents, I’ll raise your guy up. He will be the talk of the fucking town when I’m done with him.”

“Who?” he asked before he had a chance to think about whether he knew the name. Then he frowned. He did know that name. Athena. His manager had asked him how it came about that Alexandria Kang had bailed him out of jail. He hadn’t elaborated. “Wait. Alex?”

It would have been easier if he’d asked him to hurt her.

He shook his head. He didn’t want to spend any more time around that woman than was necessary. He and Athena had famously quarrelled many times over the years. It had become a habit to disagree with her, a principle of sorts. “No. I don’t want anything to do with her.”

Her offer was tempting and he didn’t doubt that she could do what she said but even he had his limits. 

“Is that so?” She questioned his comment, though she did little to hide the fact that that was exactly what she had hoped would happen. 

Dinner was always a safe move for a first date. Conversation could move easily between a pair, and there was a decent enough time limit that one could use to their advantage if things were less than perfect. But, Scarlett had never been someone who played things safe. She challenged rules and expectations left and right, and her dating life was no different. 

If she had been intrigued by Aaron before, her interested had only increased tenfold over the evening, and so, his suggestion was met with a smile.

“That -” she paused, taking a moment to finish the last of the wine from her glass “- sounds like a wonderful, and thoughtful idea. We wouldn’t want to sleep on full stomachs, of course.” She stood with a grin, collecting her bag and coat, before looking up at him. It was the first time that evening that she was really taking his height into account, and even with her high heels, she found herself drawn to the sheer difference in their sizes. “Tell me where your favorite place in the city is.”

iii @seasrising​

An Aphrodite smile was like a revelation and Scarlett’s smile was pretty close. He smiled back at her grin and tried to think of where his favourite place in the city might be. He liked his bed and he liked his gym, but they both seemed a touch boring to name as his favourite places. He didn’t want her to think he was simple, something that wouldn’t have bothered him had he not run into Hephaestus earlier. 

He offered Scarlett his hand to lead her through the restaurant and out to the street. He still wanted to touch her and this was the most appropriate way he could think to do it - not that he wanted to be appropriate.  If he didn’t think it would embarrass her he would be very inappropriate.

“Dunno. The rib place down the street from my gym is actually pretty good. But other than that? Dog park’s alright. Madison Square Garden maybe. What’s yours?”

“She does.” He nodded, giving the man another once-over. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something about him was eerily familiar, but it was the same feeling he’d had when he first met Scarlett, and he quickly adjusted to that. Hopefully, the same could be said about Aaron. 

He could tell that something that he’d said had offended Aaron, and, while that wasn’t his intention, there was no going back on it now. Raising his hands in a surrender sort of gesture, he shook his head. “I mean no harm to you or to her. She is an intelligent woman - more so than many people I have met - but… as a close friend of hers, I think I ought to make my own judgement as well. And I was planning more along the lines of dinner with the two of us? You and I, have conversation, be pleasant. I am sure that she would be happy about the two of us meeting.”

Any irritation he felt at knowing Eros had walked into his gym and distracted every single one of his trainers was weighed against the knowledge that Scarlett had been talking about him, and that she liked him. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy to see his son, only that he couldn’t shake the feeling that the more gods walking around meant trouble was coming, and as much as he liked trouble, he didn’t think this was the sort of thing he would enjoy: a sword and fists would probably not fix it. 

Dinner and being pleasant. He could tell just by looking at the boy (Alexandre, had he said?) that the sort of place he wanted to go for dinner was not the sort of place Ares would enjoy. He grunted in a way that might have signalled assent. “I’m not going anywhere that means I have to wear a shirt with a collar.” 

Perhaps this had been a mistake. Harmonia had been so excited at the thought of seeing her father again that she hadn’t stopped to think about what it would mean or feel like if he didn’t recognize her. And no matter the truth or the past, in this form, if he didn’t remember her then there would be no reason for him to find her presence acceptable at all, let alone welcome. An ache started to build in the back of her throat as she fought tears back again. It was so hard to be around her parents and not have any hint of recognition from them.

“No family?” She got the words out in a surprisingly light tone, despite the way they weighed on her. Nerves made her antsy - or maybe it was her father’s influence. He had always made her bolder than normal, and she stepped further into the gym, looking around curiously as she went. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it was an online thing? Do you do personal training? Does he do personal training? He’s cute.” After a minute of looking, she located the guy who had been there early and pointed to him. She had no interest in him in the slightest but she was grasping at straws for anything that might provoke her father’s memories. 

It probably wasn’t a good sign that she was so bad at this; maybe she should just leave while she could and find Astraea and ask for advice, but it felt like giving up to just leave.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it,” he snapped. It was probably harsher than he should have been, he could see that she was upset. But there was no way that he was going to let anyone else train her and especially not any of his trainers that she thought were cute. If she was Harmonia, if it was not a trick, then the only person getting anywhere near her in that gym would be him.  

Said cute trainer, no doubt seeing extra pay slipping through his fingers, pointed out, ‘But you don’t train beginners.’

Ares glared at him. “She’s not a beginner. She’s learning self-defence.”

He pointed a finger at Harmonia then at the boxing ring. “You. Ring.”

@emberstoflames | @pathvfwar​

It’s not like she’d downloaded the app intending on actually dating anyone – it’d always been more like an exhibit of evidence; could anyone really fault her lack of dating life when the pickings were so slim? Brantley had been a surprise for multiple reasons, not the least of which was his relative normalcy considering how other older men on Tinder seemed to behave. They’d ended up exchanging numbers; it was that sense of intuition (Not quite, she whispers, you know better) that he was someone worth knowing. Vague coffee plans had never quite materialized, so she had been surprised to receive his rather outrageous request for her to post his bail over text.

That’s when it started, a slow niggling feeling that Alex she had done this many, many times before in a different lifetime; the very idea of posting bail for a near-stranger (and his friend? compansion? fight buddy? she didn’t glean the exacts in their short conversations) should have felt ridiculous, absurd, but instead the only emotion flooding her (HER) senses as she stepped out of the cab to enter the precinct was fond exasperation. The weight of her black credit card is nothing in her palm as she pays for both her new friend and his companion to be released. The door opens with a quiet click as two men are brought forward, and the steady, calm beat of her heart suddenly begins a war march and neutral expression fading into something angrier.

Because it’s not just a stranger who’s face seemed remarkably similar on his dating profile, fire in his eyes, heated expression revealing the whirring cogs and mechanics of a sharp mind. It’s also fucking HIM, the brute from the gym, tall and broadshouldered with blood in his teeth-baring grin and challenge in his stride. Alex SHE sees them both and the intuition instinct that causes her hand to twitch sharply (she doesn’t notice the coffee cup she knocks over the desk, bitter liquid seeping into papers and onto the floor with a steady drip that matches the throbbing in her head) for a weapon she doesn’t have is that of a warrior’s, and suddenly —

it all makes sense.

Except, that it doesn’t, Athena frowns, not with the silly heels posing such an obvious weakness to her ankles and mortal prisons that could apprently hold the gods. None of it makes sense, aside from one little detail.

“You did this,” Athena hisses as her brothers draw near, eyes focused coldly on the war god. Every line of her body is taut, jaw set and fist curled to keep from swinging. “You did this, I don’t know how but you did.”

Getting into a fight with Hephaestus in the middle of a busy New York street was probably not the smartest thing that he had ever done. But, to be fair, it wasn’t the most stupid either. Not to mention he felt really rather accomplished knowing that he had annoyed Hephaestus into throwing the first punch. 

That would be important later if anybody decided to press charges. 

It wasn’t his first time in a police station or in a cell. After the cops had realised he had no intention of fighting them and was more than happy to be taken in quietly, he’d discovered that at least a few in the station were fans of his. He had even signed a few autographs. 

That had been hours ago. 

Since then he had sat in a cell beside Hephaestus in stony silence. He’d tried to call his manager but for some reason they hadn’t answered so he’d decided to wait it out. It seemed a much better idea than to ask Heph for help anyway. 

He was surprised when he was told that both he and Heph had been bailed out but not moreso than when he saw who was waiting for them.  And Athena - because there was no way to mistake that stance and fury for Alex - was none too pleased. 

Me? his expression seemed to ask as he pointed to himself with all of the feigned innocence of a child who knew he had been caught doing something naughty. 

Ares couldn’t think of a worse combination of Zeus loving gods to be trapped with. There weren’t many things that he thought could have been worse and his manager had to get his message eventually. 

“Actually Officer I think you better lock me back up. I don’t feel safe being left with that woman. And hand her a copy of the witness statements so that she knows this guy,” he jerked a thumb towards Hephaestus, “started it.”

He looked so confused and it was almost funny to her. Because she knew she was asking something off base. Something he never would have expected. Now maybe he should have, as secrets and gossip were kind of Ella’s whole thing. But asking someone else to find them out, well she usually didn’t go down that route. Still, it couldn’t hurt to try.

“There’s someone I want intel on. But she’s really fucking annoying and I have too many people I’m working on to really delve into her whole thing. She might be sort of one of my clients, in a way, and I don’t want to meddle with that relationship. If you were to, however, it wouldn’t cost me a thing.”

She laughed, downing her drink. 

“I know you must think I’m batshit crazy. You’d be right. But I have all of the money in the world, and a security team to match. I’m not going to hire you. Just think of this as quid pro quo.”

If she wanted his opinion on how to run her business, Ares thought it was ridiculous that she would ask him to find intel for her. Talk about asking a fish to climb a tree. But she didn’t ask and he wasn’t the sort to back down from a challenge. 

“Right,” he said, not really understanding her motivations but it wasn’t his place to question it. She obviously had a pretty firm idea in her head and he might as well find out who exactly it was that he should be investigating before he refused. “Who is it then?”

“Yeah, not gonna argue with you on that,” he said. “How much promotion am I gonna get for this secret?”

phoebe took no offence, only smiling with a pinch of happiness that someone FINALLY didn’t take her with the utmost seriousness. though she doesn’t quite respond, hands hiding in the pockets of her coat as she watches iris run and play with the dog; a dog with no name, apparently. 

watching her daughter always brought a mixture of emotions but one emotion she couldn’t quite understand was sadness. as if she could loose her, as if she was already lost! phoebe had tried to decode it before but had never quite made it - leaving her with a handful of loose ends rather than the answers she had been looking for. and there was something in that moment that made her bottom lip wobble before she took control of herself, forcing her lips into a neutral smile that’d be best described as passive. fingers clench in her pockets, staring out as iris laughs with the dog that prances as if it were smaller than a wolfhound. “what’s his name?” she asks to be polite, as iris waves to the pair of them to watch; a child who wanted an audience, something phoebe could understand. 

“i’m sorry about this, she has always wanted a pet of her own… i’ll have to tug her home now…” 

He didn’t know what to make of the woman with the cheerful child. So he thought he’d better ask, if only to make sure he knew where they stood. “Are you hitting on me?”

“Conan,” he said. He hadn’t picked the name - Aaron had - but he liked it. The dog might have seemed tough but he was gentle and eager to please. Not the sort of dog that Ares would have picked but he made for a decent companion. Given that Ares wanted to avoid being locked up in a mortal prison it was probably for the best that his dog was not a killing machine. “Like the barbarian.”

“She’ll be nothing compared to him. He’ll sulk for days if he has to go home before he’s ready. And that probably won’t be before next Tuesday.”

the looming abandoned building smelt of sweat and blood the moment theo walked through the door. but what could one expect from a building that was housing an underground fighting ring? the crowd was rather large tonight, she assumed there must have been some kind of draw to get everyone in. maybe a big fight happening later. pushing her way through the mass of people, theo spotted more than half a dozen extremely interesting looking characters. but they would have to wait since in the distance she saw the guy she was looking for. honestly, it wasn’t too hard to find him since he towered over most people in this crowd.

it must have been that one fight just ended since the group seemed rather rowdy and amped up. theo basically had to shove the last guy out of the way to get over to aaron. the fate glared at the man she had just shoved as he mumbled some insult to her but quickly turned back to aaron, now with a smile. “are you fighting tonight? should i be placing money down for you?” the redhead asked. “please tell me i came all this way and i at least get to see you punch someone.”

@pathvfwar​

A fair chunk of the ticket prices had gone toward making sure that the fight would stay hidden from those who could not know about it and yet somehow she had found them again. He’d tried to find the snitch in his gym and been unsuccessful so he figured she must be getting her intel from somewhere else. 

In many ways he thought of Theo like the stray cat that had adopted the gym. He had very little hope of keeping either out - he’d tried. But while Theo wasn’t catching mice she made herself useful in other ways. He might not have known who she actually was but she’d been around enough and made enough good guesses for him to think of her as something of a lucky charm. 

Ares bared his teeth at the man that Theo had pushed in a clear warning to back off. The man did but he wasn’t happy about it. Ares’ palms itched. 

“I had no plans to,” he said, though he had been quietly hoping that someone would at least try to start something with him. Maybe he would get a chance with the man she had pushed if he couldn’t show adequate respect. “But the nights is still young.  Do you have any tips for me?” 

And of course he served that right back to her. It was annoying, but not surprising. She could ask for money, but that wouldn’t mean a thing. Ella had all of the money in the world. A few hundred or thousand or whatever she asked for wouldn’t change anything for her. No, she needed something far more important. 

Ella dealt in secrets. Now, it was odd, thinking about this big hulking man, holding something as delicates as a crystalline piece of gossip. Whispers are rumours were delicate. They were not to be tampered with, and not to be thrown into the hands of someone who couldn’t hold their weight. They needed to be treated with care, spread properly, and used at the right time. 

“What I want is a secret. But I don’t think I’m all that interested in you. There are a few people on my list that I haven’t been able to crack. Think you could do some investigating for little old me?”

@phemeandfortune​

“Let me get this straight,” he said, brows knitted together as he mulled over the proposition. Whatever it was he thought she might ask for, secrets and information was not something he had anticipated. He didn’t know where she got the idea that he knew things about anything from, but he was pretty sure he didn’t know anything that wasn’t at least reasonably well known by almost everybody else. Unless it was about fighting. He knew how to fight.

“You want me to what? Investigate someone, learn their secrets, and then feed them back to you?“

He shook his head and laughed. This chick was crazy. 

“Can’t I just give you money or a security detail or something?”