igrab
in
grabi_hands
The Tick Tick Before the Boom [Ganymede, Bianca, PG]
Title: The Tick Tick Before the Boom
Author: igrab
Characters: Ganymede and Bianca
Written For: random00, for a random number meme
Wordcount: 679
Rating: PG
Ganymede has no idea why he's here.
Well, he knows, in that he knows Hades told Charon who told Thanatos who foisted this off on him in exchange for a little more time. It's a joke, really. Ganymede has all the time in the world.
He steps into the Lotus Hotel, both bewildered and delighted by the wonders inside. He can feel how quickly the world is spinning outside, so he tries to make this quick - he asks around, for 'Bianca' and 'Nico', but he can't describe them because he really has no idea who he's actually looking for. "A boy and a girl," he says, but that's obvious.
In the end, he finds them by complete chance. He's passing by the piano and he hears a strain of music - stops to listen, and when he does, he gets the shock of his life as he turns to watch the player.
She's a demigod. He knows this instantly, he's gotten attuned to the way power feels. What shocks him is that she's a child of Hades, and there's supposed to be a ban on.
Oh, he knows all about that. Zeus hasn't been himself lately. Ganymede understands why the vow was made, but he also wishes, selfishly, that it didn't have to be this way. How many times will it take until they learn? Prophecies have this tendency of fulfilling themselves.
He looks at her. She must be about eleven or twelve, though her hair is done so prettily, and -
He looks closer. He's extremely attuned to fashion nuances, he always has been, having the unique advantage of being able to study them as they develop. Her clothes? Square in the early 1930's, far before the outbreak of war.
She must have been here for years.
He feels the need to sit down, hard. He grabs a chair and pulls it close, sinking down on shaky legs. This girl, this child of Hades, has been in the Lotus Hotel for over thirty years.
She finishes up her song - a rambling Beethoven sonata - and turns to him, looking confused. He reckons she must not really see many people around, that the high-level Mist buzzing must make everything foggy and okay. It doesn't affect him. He was around before it was.
"Who are you?" she asks, in a very small, distant voice.
"I'm just here to see if you're all right. Bianca." Belatedly, he realizes he needs to check up on Nico, too, and doesn't have long to wonder - the second child is several rows away, at one of the game tables. He can feel the power signature, even from here.
Bianca bites her lip. "How do you know my name?"
Ganymede smiles like a flash, as quick as he can. "I'm a friend of your father." Very, very loosely. More accurately: your father is my boyfriend's brother. But we won't get into that.
She frowns, and it isn't a frown of disapproval, or anger - there is nothing but confusion on her face, not a single hint of recognition. "My.... father?"
He stares.
"Yes, your father. You know, your...."
But he trails off, as he realizes that he may as well have been talking to the wind. She has no idea who she is, or she's forgotten, or she can't even hear him at all.
Something twists in his heart.
"....Are you doing all right?" he manages, pushing the words out through a throat that refuses to loosen.
"Yes," Bianca says, like the playback of an automatic recording. "I'm doing just fine."
Ganymede leaves and feels the ache in his muscles at the release of uncompressed time, the groaning of the magic that holds him together. Two days had passed, and he hadn't even been inside for more than an hour. It's a dangerous place, the Lotus Hotel.
But more dangerous is the time bomb held within, frozen halfway to the next tick.
Author: igrab
Characters: Ganymede and Bianca
Written For: random00, for a random number meme
Wordcount: 679
Rating: PG
Ganymede has no idea why he's here.
Well, he knows, in that he knows Hades told Charon who told Thanatos who foisted this off on him in exchange for a little more time. It's a joke, really. Ganymede has all the time in the world.
He steps into the Lotus Hotel, both bewildered and delighted by the wonders inside. He can feel how quickly the world is spinning outside, so he tries to make this quick - he asks around, for 'Bianca' and 'Nico', but he can't describe them because he really has no idea who he's actually looking for. "A boy and a girl," he says, but that's obvious.
In the end, he finds them by complete chance. He's passing by the piano and he hears a strain of music - stops to listen, and when he does, he gets the shock of his life as he turns to watch the player.
She's a demigod. He knows this instantly, he's gotten attuned to the way power feels. What shocks him is that she's a child of Hades, and there's supposed to be a ban on.
Oh, he knows all about that. Zeus hasn't been himself lately. Ganymede understands why the vow was made, but he also wishes, selfishly, that it didn't have to be this way. How many times will it take until they learn? Prophecies have this tendency of fulfilling themselves.
He looks at her. She must be about eleven or twelve, though her hair is done so prettily, and -
He looks closer. He's extremely attuned to fashion nuances, he always has been, having the unique advantage of being able to study them as they develop. Her clothes? Square in the early 1930's, far before the outbreak of war.
She must have been here for years.
He feels the need to sit down, hard. He grabs a chair and pulls it close, sinking down on shaky legs. This girl, this child of Hades, has been in the Lotus Hotel for over thirty years.
She finishes up her song - a rambling Beethoven sonata - and turns to him, looking confused. He reckons she must not really see many people around, that the high-level Mist buzzing must make everything foggy and okay. It doesn't affect him. He was around before it was.
"Who are you?" she asks, in a very small, distant voice.
"I'm just here to see if you're all right. Bianca." Belatedly, he realizes he needs to check up on Nico, too, and doesn't have long to wonder - the second child is several rows away, at one of the game tables. He can feel the power signature, even from here.
Bianca bites her lip. "How do you know my name?"
Ganymede smiles like a flash, as quick as he can. "I'm a friend of your father." Very, very loosely. More accurately: your father is my boyfriend's brother. But we won't get into that.
She frowns, and it isn't a frown of disapproval, or anger - there is nothing but confusion on her face, not a single hint of recognition. "My.... father?"
He stares.
"Yes, your father. You know, your...."
But he trails off, as he realizes that he may as well have been talking to the wind. She has no idea who she is, or she's forgotten, or she can't even hear him at all.
Something twists in his heart.
"....Are you doing all right?" he manages, pushing the words out through a throat that refuses to loosen.
"Yes," Bianca says, like the playback of an automatic recording. "I'm doing just fine."
Ganymede leaves and feels the ache in his muscles at the release of uncompressed time, the groaning of the magic that holds him together. Two days had passed, and he hadn't even been inside for more than an hour. It's a dangerous place, the Lotus Hotel.
But more dangerous is the time bomb held within, frozen halfway to the next tick.