O' Heaven-Born Ones

You're burning up. Don't argue with me. Get back in bed.

I made soup. It's not great. Eat it anyway.

You should have called me the moment you started feeling like this.

Stop trying to get up. There is nothing on this earth that needs you upright right now.

I found three blankets and a hot water bottle. Pick your combination.

You look terrible. I mean that with so much love.

Let me take your temperature. Stop being difficult about the thermometer.

I cancelled everything. Don't apologize. I wanted to be here.

You fell asleep mid-sentence. I stayed anyway. I hope that's okay.

Drink the tea. Yes, all of it. I'll make more.

I've been checking on you every hour. You keep telling me to go home. I keep not going.

Your voice sounds awful. Rest it. We can talk tomorrow.

I'm not going anywhere. Stop thanking me for staying.

You hate being taken care of. I know. Do it for me anyway.

The fever broke. I don't think you know how relieved I am right now.

Sleep. I'll be right here. I'll wake you up if anything changes.

I brought your favourite thing from the place on the corner. Don't cry. Please don't cry.

You're a terrible patient and somehow I still want to be the one doing this.

I know you think you're being a burden. You are not a burden.

Let me sit with you. I don't need to talk. I just don't want you to be alone.

You tried to make your own tea and you could barely stand up. Sit down. I've got it.

I've seen you strong. This doesn't make you weak. It just makes you human.

You smell like fever and you still somehow look like everything to me.

Lay your head here. Right here. I've got nowhere I need to be.

I brought every movie you've ever mentioned. We have time.

You're mumbling in your sleep. I'm not going to tell you what you said.

I changed the sheets while you were in the shower. Don't make it weird.

You need to eat something real. I know you don't want to. Eat something real.

I've been sitting in this chair for four hours. I'd do it four more.

Stop apologizing for being sick. People get sick. Let me help you.

Your hands are cold. Give them here. I'll warm them up.

I found the medicine in the back of the cabinet. Take it. All of it. Don't negotiate.

You're not inconveniencing me. Taking care of you is exactly where I want to be.

I didn't know you got like this when you were sick. Softer. I like knowing this about you.

You asked for me. Out of everyone, you asked for me. I haven't stopped thinking about that.

The heating pad is on the lowest setting. Tell me if you need it warmer.

I'm not leaving until your temperature is normal. Make your peace with that.

You cried a little when the soup was too hot to eat yet. I pretended not to notice.

I've never seen you let anyone take care of you before. I'm honoured. I mean that.

Your hair is a mess. Can I? Is that okay? Let me just — there.

You keep saying you're fine every time I check and you are so obviously not fine.

This is the third night in a row. I'm not going anywhere. Stop looking at me like that.

You're delirious and still trying to be funny. It's working. Please stop, I'm worried about you.

I learned how to make your mother's recipe. It took three attempts. Don't tell her.

There's nowhere I'd rather be than right here, even like this. Especially like this.

You always take care of everyone else. Just this once, let someone take care of you.

I left the light on in the hall in case you woke up scared. I remember you mentioned that once.

"Why don't you just sleep?"

"Hey... hey! You're dozing off, again."

"I brought you something to eat / drink."

"The work will still be here after you rest."

"You haven't moved since I left, have you?"

"Stand up, walk around the table, at least."

"Put down the pen. You can finish that later."

"Yeah, you'll get this done, but at what cost?"

"I don't like when you get lost in work like this."

"Close your laptop. I'm mandating you a break."

"You really don't know how to take it easy, do you?"

"You have a headache? Have you had any water lately?"

"Working yourself into the ground isn't going to help anyone."

"I'm worries about you. You look like you haven't slept in days."

"If you're gonna keep working, do you at least want some coffee?"

"When was the last time you had something to eat? Or a shower?"

"Of course your eyes hurt, you've been staring at the screen for hours."

"You fell asleep on your paperwork. You need to take some time for yourself."

"You're barely staying upright. You need to lie down, they can function without you long enough for you to take a nap."

actions

send (pluck) for sender's muse to take paperwork / pen / computer mouse away from receiver's muse.

send (hidden) for sender's muse to hide receiver's phone / writing tools in hopes of getting them to relax

send (barricade) for sender's muse to block the doorway and not let receiver's muse leave until they agree to rest

send (pillow) for sender's muse to tuck a shirt or cushion under receiver muse's head when they doze off mid-work

Send 💋 to get a kiss from my muse. The more 💋💋 the more effort my muse has to put into the kiss.

"I'm so glad you've visited. I missed you." She murmurs, giving him a gentle squeeze within the hug - not yet letting him go.

"what? do i have something in my teeth?" poseidon bared his teeth, which lasted a grand total of two seconds before the grin took its place, bodies colliding. hestia's hugs were warm, comforting, necessary to functioning, and he would not be parted from them a moment longer than he needed to. she was so small against him, and he marvelled at how she managed to engulf him so fully. stooping low enough for her to get a good squeeze definitely helped.

in war was where he thrived the most; it gave him the kind of life he needed, that raw excitement of fighting against anyone or anything that dared to stand before him, the thrill of blades crashing against one another echoing across the battlefield, the way his own blade cut against flesh with a precision that felt almost natural to him. it was a feeling he could never truly explain to anyone else, something that lived too deep within him, something that could only be understood by the one who carried it. that feeling, the pleading, the screams, the prayers whispered in desperation to gods who would never answer ... everything came to him in waves, feeding him, filling him like nothing else ever could. nothing else but one thing ... aphrodite. but she was far from here, far from the fields of war as she should be, for something so precious should never be seen in such a place, never touched by the blood, the ruin, the chaos that surrounded him.

the battle was already won. he knew it, he felt it the moment he had stepped into it, like a certainty settling into his bones. his blade moved quickly, mercilessly, cutting through what remained of resistance, his armor glinting beneath the harsh sunlight, reflecting flashes of gold and red as if trying to paint him as something noble, something heroic, rather than what he truly was. around him the battlefield still breathed with the aftermath, bodies scattered, some still moving, others long gone, the ground soaked in blood that mixed with dirt beneath his boots. the air was thick, heavy with iron and smoke, with the distant echoes of what had just taken place and yet, in the middle of it all, his name burst through the field, cutting through the silence that had begun to fall, calling for his attention.

his eyes widened slightly when he turned, when he saw her light brushing across the battlefield, something so entirely out of place that it seemed almost unreal. that difference she carried, that softness that did not belong among broken bodies and shattered weapons. her presence alone was enough to drawn the attention of everyone still alive, soldiers frozen where they stood, eyes drawn to her as if they had never seen something so untouched by war before. and for a moment ... everything stopped. the chaos quieted, the battlefield held its breath as the goddess of love stood before the god of war.

her words reached him with a delay, slow, as if his mind refused to process them too quickly. for a moment, he simply stared, still caught in the disbelief of her presence there. and when, finally, her words made sense to him, something shifted inside his chest, something deep, something strong enough to cut through even the echo of battle still lingering in him. she was free, she was finally free. free to be his.

he would not have to share her with another man, would not have to endure the thought of her belonging to someone else, of being touched by someone who could never love her the way he did, who could never understand her the way he did. ❝ you are free from that marriage ? ❞ his voice came lower now, almost disbelieving, yet filled with something burning beneath it. ❝ free to be mine ? ❞

there was no thought behind his next movement. no hesitation. ares closed the distance between them in a single step, pulling aphrodite into his arms, holding her tightly against him, forgetting completely that blood covered his skin, that his armor was still stained with the lived he had taken moments before. none of it mattered. not the battlefield, not the eyes still watching them, not the war he had just finished. only her. his lips found hers, not gentle, not restrained, but loving in the only way he knew how. desperate, certain, as if he had been holding back for far too long. as if now, finally, he no longer needed to hide it.

She shrieked in delight as strong arms lifted her, all her own limbs curled around him and his armour. The blood coating it did not draw her attention either, not when there was much delight in his expression and in his kiss soon after.

"The paper is not yet signed but it has been sworn. I will be free from him and we will not be shamed for a love that's ours." Came her reply, carefully worded but no less loving. She still loved him and wished to be with him, but marriage was not something she was going to rush into again.

Nobody could own love, after all, but that wasn't to say that she hadn't given her heart to this passionate god in her arms. How she adored him.

She gave him another passionate kiss then before glancing around, willing the dazed men to ignore them both and turn back to one another. Mortals could be so nosy!

her  children  shimmer  and  slither  across  her  auric  senses,  and  she  grips  them  with  a  wildness,  a  frenzy  to  pull  them  close  and  keep  the  wild  senses  of  harm  from  them  evermore.  she  could  never  hurt  them,  not  after  all  that  she's  done  for  them.  all  that  she's  wished  she  could  have  done. 

they  were  safe  in  slumber,  but  she  will  not  be  without  them  now.  she  tucks  them  against  her,  beneath  her  shattered  aura,  together  and  protected,  shielded.  she  trembles  from  the  effort  of  trying  to  do  the  same  to  hypnos,  of  trying  to  collect  his  aura  beneath  her  own,  frantic  and  desperate  in  her  metaphysical  grip. 

“no  more  pain,  no  more  suffering,”  she  murmurs,  breathless.  it  isn't  quite  a  confirmation  of  hypnos'  words,  but  it  isn't  quite  simply  mad  ramblings.  she  is  a  both  and.  “i  keep  you  with  me,  i  keep  you  safe.” 

a  mantra  that  had  become  prayer  as  she  secluded  herself  from  others  in  the  crossroads,  only  letting  hekate  and  a  few  select  children  of  nyx  come  to  see  her.  the  rest  couldn't,  regardless  of  if  they  wanted  to  or  not. 

"We'll be safe with you, and you'll be safe with me." He tells her softly, a hand gently cupping the back of her head, fingers almost lost from view within the wild frizz of her hair.

A glance up at the thorns around them has him concerned. They do need to get out of this garden. He was hoping to go and bathe with her. The shades did a good job of giving him a cozy respite spot, but boy did he need some self-care...and so did she.

Regardless, for a little while he just keeps quiet and lets her just take in that this is real. He is okay, the little ones are alright, and this is all real.

"I'll keep you with me. But how about we go leave the garden and go to the baths. We can soak together then, and I could do your hair. How about that? We can all go together."

he never thought he would feel this kind of love, this kind of affection for another. he never thought this could be possible for a good like him, born of war and anger. he had never cared much, not until aphrodite had seen him, truly seen him. and he had seen her as well. in a way no one else ever would. in a way her own husband could not see her. there was no regret in him. she might not belong to him completely ... not yet. but he would show her the love she needed to see, the desire she needed to feel.

as long as she allowed him to. he wandered for a while, not quite knowing where he should go, yet somehow knowing he would find her in the end. the places she brought him to were never like anything he had seen before. used to battlefields, to the smell of iron and smoke, he found there hidden places strangely relaxing. welcoming even. the air was softer here, quiet. the kind of quiet that did not exist in war.

those red-blooded eyes moved around slowly, searching for her. ares could feel her, he always could. it was like a wave that struck him whenever she was near, a pull he could not ignore. and he did not want to. the sound of her voice caught him by surprise, and a smile came to his lips. gentle, amused even.

slowly the god of war turned to find aphrodite standing only a few feet away, and yet he did not move to her. his eyes lingered, admiring her beauty the way one would admire something sacred. the way light seemed to follow her, the way the world itself felt softer wherever she stood, admiring her like he did.

He took a step towards her and she took a few herself, a few small wild daisies springing up in the grass around her feet as she did so. The breeze did wonders for her too, ruffling her light robe in its tresses and letting it stick to her body just a little more, showing him what rests beneath the translucent fabric. As if he could forget.

With the distance between them closed, soft hands rested gently against his chest, light eyes gazing up at him, with a pleased expression clear on her face. How she did love when he said exactly what she wanted to hear.

"Good. It's only fair when you occupy so many of mine. Daydreams so vivid I lose my breath when they fizzle away." And sometimes left her blushing without a single reason to.

"I've missed you so much, I don't know why we have to be apart for so long."