#xseen2muchx

from Alex

Send 🗨️ for my muse to drunkenly confess a secret they have been keeping from your muse. ACCEPTING

@xseen2muchx

The lab was too quiet.

Not in the sterile, humming way Maverick liked, no steady beeping, no soft clatter of data being gathered in real time. Just quiet. Which meant his head was too loud. He sat on the edge of his desk, sleeves rolled to the forearms, jaw tense, and eyes fixed on Alex like she might evaporate if he blinked too long.

“…I can’t believe he just... let you go.” It wasn’t accusatory. It was just, genuinely baffled. Ulysses didn’t let go. Ulysses gripped. Clenched. Possessed like the devil at a pawn shop. And yet there she was, somehow released from the metaphorical (and possibly literal) chokehold, like it was nothing.

He exhaled, slow. “Can we talk now about what the hell happened back there? Because he walked in like a war god and left like a, resigned older brother? What the fuck was that?”

@xseen2muchx

Gritted teeth. White knuckles. In that moment, the logic that he had been able to think with since coming out to the ranch, relocating to the small town, was out the window. Anger has flowed white hot through hia veins. More at the situation and the injury than anything else. It was a concentrated effort in that moment to not lash out at Alex, revert back to old habits that had been the safe walls to remain behind during his time in LA. Defense mechanisms that were so deeply ingrained it was almost second nature. A harsh rush of air came blowing through his nose, a silent attempt at keeping that anger wrangled and under control. He knew, he knew that Alex was worried. The bruising along his ribs was going to be prominent from the redness that lingered and the gash would need stitches but he had just wanted to shower and forget the entire afternoon. Small towns were supposed to be more quiet than the big city and yet he was far busier here.

Alex pressed her lips together to keep from smiling but it did feel good after being so worried for so long and after the violence of what had just happened in the man’s house. The fact that Ian didn’t seem phased by it or even like he was coming back down from an adrenaline rush probably said something. Probably that she should take his words about not making out with Eric more seriously.

She settled in on Erics good side once he took the laptop, pressing the fast-forward button so that it was moving a little faster.. “You guys have never had to watch a big game Camera have you?” She chuckled. “We used to leave these out to monitor the woods for the Fish and Wildless to watch the Wolves and make sure there weren’t any poachers running around.” She murmured.

“56 hours is a little under four and a half days…and normally you can fast forward through most of the nights until you see movement.” She gave Ian a little smile as he stood up. “I think I’m good….I’m just going to take a little nap.” She admitted, feeling the yawn build up in her chest.

After his father had left she glanced up at Eric. “Any better?” She hoped he wasn’t still angry that she’d gone with Ian. “I think he likes me even more now.”

Eric's gaze shifted away from the screen and over to Alex, a deep frown furrowing his brow. She thought Ian liked her even more now? What on earth had they done at that house? What was there they didn't tell him? He looked back at the screen, but nothing interesting was happening. Hell, he didn't even know what they were actually looking at here.

She rolled her eyes though he was right.  She’d forgotten that part of history class.  The Greek gods weren’t all knowing- they were just testy and easily irritated.  Well, most of them were just annoyed with Zeus but she figured she could probably be close to as annoying if given the option and the immortality.

“I guess because where people get older, they’re supposed to become wiser.”  She pointed out, scuffing her boots in the dirt.

“Anyway, I probably died after I went into shock a few times but I came back.  So I think I won for now. I didn’t eat anything so that little bit of mythology tracks…though I did drink the water.”  She was willing to bet that filtering it didn’t really matter for that.

At his pause though she stopped, amber eyes darting over his face curiously.  Oh he was thinking something… ”What?” She asked curiously.  

“Tell that to my brothers...” Hades muttered, rolling his eyes. Still. This wasn’t usual. This was very strange, in fact, and he wanted to know what was going on. But at the same time, he couldn’t just let this woman go - which was exactly what she would do if he left now. 

He wasn't the young man that he used to be, wasn't the fresh baby face that was on the cover of magazines and in the media. Dominic had long ago accepted that and found a sense of appreciation in the way that the world had flipped. There was a simplicity and sense of peace in being able to go out without having to worry about getting swarmed by fans and vultures. That wasn't to say that it was always that way. Occasionally, there was someone who would make the connection and approach. An autograph, a picture, some chatting. It was all fairly easy and not too time-consuming. Appeasing was often the quicker choice anyway. The responses were obviously less vulgar and harsh than if he turned someone down. Today, however, wasn't a day that he wanted to deal with any of it. All he wanted was to grab a drink at the bar before heading home. A dull throb worked insistently behind his eyes, stress induced. A hat was pulled down, lower to cover what features could be, and it accompanied a pair of sunglasses that he was reluctant to remove even in the dim lighting.

Trinity watched the girl that her godson had brought to her, her translucent eyes watchful.  She knew that Maverick hadn’t brought the girl because he wanted her approval.  Trinity wasn’t the kind to have a single bad thought about anyone.  If she could tell that Alexandra loved the young Fae king, she would approve.  And seeing as she hadn’t even known about the fae, not really anyway, it didn’t seem like she had any designs on taking power.  Though she had seemed concerned when Maverick had said that he was going back. 

One of the things about being very old and stuck in one place was that you didn’t have a great deal of entertainment, so when people came, you tended to listen in.  Which is what he had done, even though she knew it was rude when Alexandra had pulled Maverick to the side when he’d left. 

“Please don’t go back?”  Alex’s fingers were gripping into his shirt at his sides like a life line.

“I’ll be fine Alex.”  He’d told her but there was a long silence. 

“You’ve just…this has become normal for you Maverick.  They are up to something.  In between that and the egg and everything else.”  She had clearly been about to go on but Maverick was sushing her, calming her down, assuring her.  “Just…remember that you’re king alright?  You don’t have to do what they’ve told you you have to.”  She reminded him softly, playing with one of the buttons on his shirt as though it would distract her enough.  “If you wouldn’t let them do it to me, don’t let them do it to you?” 

His hand came up to her cheek, fingers running across it with a tenderness she had never seen from him before.  “It's going to be alright.  I just need to know you’re safe.  And Mother Trinity, she’ll keep up safe for me for a few days alright?”  He lowered his head and tilted it so that his eyes caught hers.  “Alright?”  He asked again until the human girl nodded. 

Though now, Trinity had to wonder if calling her a human girl was appropriate.  It was like saying that she was a human.  Yes, she technically was.  But there was something else inside her too.  Something old.  Something that could easily be construed as dark.  But the truth was that it was too old to be dark.  Once something was a certain age, and went back far enough, good and evil didn’t really apply anymore.

She watched the younger woman through the kitchen window, sipping her tea.  None of the powers that Maverick had told her about had come out, but that didn’t mean much here.  No magic could happen here without her go-ahead.  That’s why this was a sanctuary.  But there was something…

She felt a shiver roll down her spine as one of the little lights of a soul came into the corner of her vision.  She waved it away but watched as it actually zipped through the glass of the window toward the girl.

…and she flinched.  As if she knew it was there. 

Trinity slowly put the tea down, focusing, leaning forward and paying more attention to the brunette.  Her lips were moving, like she was talking to it. Trinity knew that there were cases of humans who almost died or died for a few seconds coming back and being able to remember, sometimes even to see things. But this was something altogether different. It wasn't something out of the corner of her eye that the human girl was seeing. This was a conscious knowledge. This...this was a path interrupted, a destiny derailed.

Still, she knew that there was a very very thin line in between the gift of life and the gift of death. They were partners really, two actors on the same stage working on the same play.

She should have asked more questions when Maverick and brought her, but she hadn't wanted it to cloud her perception. Now she had to wonder if she had been alive, or truly claimed by Death when the fae king had found her. She wished Ulysses was here...maybe he could tell her more. In 200 years Trinity had never seen anything like it. She would need to look back far longer and talk to someone far older.

Alex rubbed her temple, trying to get it out, the voice out.  The worry about.  The things she saw but didn’t speak of out.  This wasn’t the time or place.  The witch Maverick had brought her to meant a lot to him and she didn’t want to come off as crazy or hearing things or seeing things.  She didn't want to make this worse on him and seeing as how she didn't know why she was brought here, she was even more determined to hide it. Maverick had only said a few days after all and while his godmother seemed....nice, she could feel those translucent eyes on her. Even now when she was outside.

She had tried to keep herself busy, to not be a pain in the ass but she was worried. Worried about Maverick, about her egg, about what was going on in the Moorlands. About wondering what the plot was. Now that she had stepped back she was able to look at the big picture and see it even more clearly. It was easier to think about those things than to think about that amber goop that had seemed to come from her when she'd been afraid and angry.

And why should she be worried about it? There was so much magic in the Moorlands and so much shady shit happening with those council members that it probably hadn't had anything to do with her...right? (No she didn't actually believe that.)

"Oh my god sush!" She finally swatted at the little pebble of light, sending it flying back into the woods as if on an order.