Outcome Engineer

What?

Yeah, what are you doing right now?

"Oh, excuse me."

Hades rolled his eyes, stepping closer all the same and nodding. "Sure thing, why the hell not? It's not like I've got anything else to do."

No.

Is there something I can help you with?

I'm just checking up on our favorite cowboy, that's all. How's it coming?

Sighs

Look,

You asking me to leave? Now that's something I'd like to see happen.

Eleven days.

Until or since?

Come on, people.

Go away please...

Problem?

So,

Alice had no clue where she was going. She wanted to explore and get to know as many people as she possibly could. Wandering around, she found herself on the edge of the circus. Wherever she was, she would find her way back eventually, if it was the right which way to go, of course. Sitting on the ledge, she saw someone else. He didn’t look very good. When his head shot up, she quickened her steps in the grass and tilted her head to the side to look at him, “Are you okay? I hope you’re okay. Okay is better than not okay.”

Normally, when people figured out that Hades was present, be it mentally or physically, they ran; they either fled or stayed hesitantly out of necessity, and Hades was very much okay with that. He didn't need company apart from a few people, his assistants, his fiancee... When the footsteps quickened to move closer instead of away, though, Hades was shocked. Assuming that he really did look a fair amount more unkempt than usual, he turned, confusion evident on his face when he saw the blonde girl, Alice, a quick mental image of his paperwork supplied. "I'm fine," he replied, words clipped but quiet enough so that he wasn't barking at her. "What are you doing?" The question was unnecessary, but if it took the focus away from himself, it was worth asking.

Cassie giggled as she chased after the dragon flying just above her head. Zadie would fly much faster than Cassie could run, before slowing down and waiting for her to catch up. This continued for a while before Cassie found herself stumbling into the grass. She looked around for a moment before gasping and standing up quickly. “I’m so sorry. I’m so so so sorry!” She told the man who she’d tripped over. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” The dragon landed on her shoulder and looked at the man as well. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” 

It was with a throaty growl that Hades pushed himself up off of the ground, glaring immediately at the girl who'd been too stupid to watch where she was going. When he was on his feet, he rounded on her, shoulders shaped in a predatory curve. "What the hell are you doing?" he spat, brushing his sleeves off, eyes falling first on the small dragon, then on the curve of her eyebrows, taking in everything and calculating. It was clear enough that she wasn't watching where she was going, and that, for breaking Hades from his... whatever it had been, didn't suffice. He didn't care if his anger was irrational - he hadn't been a very rational man for these past few days.

Shayne wasn’t sure why she went to find Hades. He was the reason everything felt so wrong and off; he went too far and all that Shayne could do was take it. It was weird, being reminded how weak she really was, but that wasn’t even what numbed her down. It was boundaries, and how easily they could break. She didn’t know what hers were anymore. She wasn’t going to find Hades either; she didn’t have to go looking for him when she already knew where he would be. It was easy to see him, sit next to him, and say absolutely nothing, because she had nothing to say to him.

Hades felt Shayne's presence before the noise of her footsteps behind him made her known, and for a moment, he tensed. For a moment, he tried to find the right words to say that would fix this... whatever they were having, right then and there. For a moment, maybe even two, that seemed plausible, talking his way out of this like he talked his way out of everything else, but Shane was... absent, if that was the right word to use. She was a shell walking and a shell when she sat, and damned if Hades could find her using his words. Giving up on his futile attempts, he let himself slump back down, too tired to come up with anything clever, and his instincts led him as he placed a hand on her thigh, a few inches above her knee. Silence was maddening, but inactivity was unacceptable.

I never said that. You can be soft and still murderous.

Can you now?

"Some of them look horribly suicidal and that is not what the visitors want to see. Fear? Sure. Depression? No.”

"Piss off. Everyone's depressed."