(Untitled)

[akhilles_heel]

Characters: Achilles and Athena
Date/Time: Tuesday afternoon
Location: The Veteran's hospital Athena works for
Rating: TBD (but not likely much)
Warnings: TBD
Summary: Achilles goes to visit the Vet's hospital a place he often feels a connection to with the ex-military men and he runs across a familiar goddess.

Comments

[akhilles_heel]

As older people often do, without much else to but passing time on their hands, he smiled big noting that the two were around the same age.

"She's pretty isn't she?" he said rolling his chair back to let her in and do the basic roundup.

Achilles gave a slight smile, nothing too impressive, it wasn't often the boy actually smiled to begin with. His face was very stoic, serious in a manner that spoke volumes for his work ethic. He wasn't about playing around.

"Quite," Achilles said giving her another nod picking up that he and this doctor were not on first named basis yet.

"I'm doing fine," Randall said as he let her go over her check-up. He wasn't the worst of the group, but some days were better than others. Today was a better day and he wasn't raising cain. There was an air of calmness whenever Andreas visited, mostly because he didn't feel so alone.

Continuing to be chatty until she was done Randall went off exploiting his friend to his proud compliments which Achilles stood like a statue during. He wasn't the most social when it came to others. He watched the woman carefully finding there was something else that linked them. He didn't believe at all for a second that Patton was her real name.

[sprangforth]

To be honest, there wasn't ever going to be a time where Athena was ever used to words like that. She didn't think of herself that way. Despite the fact that she'd once been in a contest about who was more beautiful, it always seemed a bit ridiculous to her. In any case, words like that just made her blush and look slightly uncomfortable.

If it hadn't been a patient, she probably would have glared at him for a remark like that. Neither one were big on smiling it seemed. It was rare that she really laughed, only a few had that privilege of making her laugh.

"Ah, well thank you, Mr. Randall." It wasn't that she didn't want to call him by her first name, but she thought if she had, perhaps it would seem unprofessional in front of the man she didn't know.

She checked him over, listening to his heart and taking his blood pressure, all rather quickly. "You're looking very well," she told him, writing notes into his chart. Finally she turned to Achilles and looked him over. "And what brings you here to visit Mr. Randall?"

[akhilles_heel]

Randall was still a cheeky old man when he wasn't throwing himself into fits. He patted Achilles on the arm, holding onto his hand with his own, shaky as it was in thanks. There was something in that look that shook Achilles down to his very roots, knowing that at one point he had been this man. He nodded again taking in the question he'd been given.

He side stepped out of the room giving Randall another tip of his head and promised he'd be back again soon.

"I come here often when I have a free opportunity. Randall is quite the talkative one."

"Andreas Karalis," he said giving his full name to her, he paused in his step. "Though, I do believe that is just a stage name. Same for you?" he rose one brow waiting for her reaction before he continued.

[sprangforth]

Athena knew those looks, she had seen those looks and she felt the same way when he looked at her. She always had this flash of the Civil War, and fighting in it, dying in it. She was always taken back to some other time when she looked at the people she was treating.

She followed Achilles out of the room, giving Randall a wave as she left. "That he is, he's always telling me stories about this and that." Sometimes they weren't even war stories, they were stories about his childhood. "I like hearing them though," she admitted.

"Mercedes Patton," she responded. "But you're right. It's a .. stage name. Some have called me.. Athena." They were both being cautious, not wanting to seem like a crazy person, she supposed.

[akhilles_heel]

"The stories give me a sense of comfort. I like hearing them." His hands clasped behind his back as he walked with a valor only a strong, graceful man would. He held himself with as much pride as other gave, it was a part of him.

"Athena," he repeated still not giving a smile of his own but there was a soft tone to his voice.

"Achilles."

[sprangforth]

"Exactly, it's the comfort." She hadn't really thought of it being comfortable that way, but he was right. That was the right word for it. They walked down the hall, her own hands full of charts for other patients.

Hearing that this was the guy that she had been talking to before, and it was Achilles made her glad that she was talking to someone that she respected and admired. One of the few Greeks she could stand.

"It's good to meet you, Achilles. I had thought perhaps that would be you. I'm glad to be right. Do you visit here often?"

[akhilles_heel]

He walked slowly, his ankle having finally started to calm in it's annoyance. He didn't like being off his feet, it was a hindrance.

"And you, Athena, it has been quite some time." Since the ancient days when he held a shield and spear in hand with little but time on his side. "I come when I can, when I am not preoccupied with other things."

[sprangforth]

"Far too long, if you ask me," she agreed. Though in some ways it felt like just yesterday that they had both been on the Trojan War, putting sword against sword and shield against shield. She could still see it, still smell it.

Ah right, he was in the movie business. She wondered why he didn't live in Los Angeles, but didn't ask. "If I had known it was you, I would have said hello earlier. Everyone likes visitors here." Especially when they didn't have anyone to come and see them.

[akhilles_heel]

Sometimes it really did flash back too real. As if he were still standing there with the stench of blood under his nose, letting out those battle cries that made men quiver in fear.

"They are brothers in arms, it's not just a duty to make them feel connected, it's the honorable thing to do. Too many today, they've lost that belief." Achilles was all about honor.

[sprangforth]

Perhaps some wouldn't want to be reminded of that constantly, but it was a part of her, and she didn't want to forget it. Oddly enough for her, things were simpler then.

"You're right, not too many people think it's more than about duty. Perhaps it's only something other veterans understand." Maybe, she'd never not been one, so it was hard to say. "Thankfully everyone on staff here is a veteran themselves, so they know."

[akhilles_heel]

There was an even deeper connection he felt right now, more than what even the veterans could give him. A connection to the past that was his very beginning. When he'd been something important, a triumph for men, their honor, their hope, their leader. This business he was in now, it gave him fame, the chance to carve his name into rock for all to know and remember---but there was something missing. Conversing alongside Athena at this moment reminded him of the days of old, and it came flooding back like a wild river. Everything. As if he were a patient that had long forgotten himself.

He was finally awakening from that coma, that long and deep coma of sleep. His brows crossed. It was triumphant, but there was a deep sorrow and pain that he could not express in words. The rush of flashbacks, stronger than it had ever been, made him pause in his step.

[sprangforth]

As Achilles slowed, Athena did as well. She looked over at him, studying him a moment. There were all these memories in her head, but she'd had them for almost as long as she could remember. When she was a small child anyway, capable of being able to understanding the difference between her own thoughts and these memories. In any case, there were memories of him, and standing there next to him, it was like being right there at the Trojan War. Looking different of course, but it was like looking at the past, staring at him in that moment.

Carefully she reached out and only silently put her hand on his arm. She didn't say anything at first, because she wasn't quite sure what was wrong, but she recognized that look, just a little. Finally, after making sure that he was physically okay, she managed to ask. "Are you all right?"