I don't know why you're always complaining. It's not like you can go back and fix anything. Just move on, Nick. Acheron certainly has.Once again, his fate changed on a throwaway comment
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"Well, you've got three places to choose from," Aphrodite informs him, one hand on her pink-clad hip and the other shading her eyes as she walks up to him. "But you probably don't know that, do you, sweet pea. You've got that new chariot smell all over you."
Nick took a long look at the woman approaching him and it was everything he could do not to drop his jaw. He didn't know who the woman was, but he knew women that dressed like that. One of them was his best friend and worst enemy, depending on her mood. And the way this one said chariot, it was just like the way Artemis screwed up human expressions all the time.
Where the hell was he?
"That'd be a no on the knowing where the bar is, but if it helps, I'm glad to hear there are options."
"One of them's even a strip club, if you like that sort of thing," she says. Aphrodite so doesn't have a problem with it herself, has even gone in to the place a few times to check out the guy dancers, but she's a little bitter the owner won't put her on the VIP list. She's a goddess - okay, former goddess - shouldn't that be enough? "So how green are you anyway, handsome? Do I need to give you to the lowdown or have you gotten the introductory schpiel?"
He gave his head a good shake but the woman was still there, and still looking like she'd come from Olympus. "Well, I was sitting in front of a half-finished beer about five minutes ago. I'll go for the lowdown option for now."
His right hand was at his side, ready to reach for the shortsword at his back - he was too used to gods and demons fucking with him to relax.
"Too bad you weren't holding the beer, you would've had something to wash the far out news I'm about to give you down with," Aphrodite says, her smile more of a smirk but still not unsympathetic. "Welcome to Tabula Rasa, an island that takes people from all different places and times and yanks them totally unceremoniously from there to here with no way to voluntarily leave. It's an okay place, except for the part where any powers or abilities or whatever are taken away, which leaves me without my godhood."
She gives a little flourish with one hand and smiles brightly. "I'm Aphrodite, and apparently I'm your welcome wagon."
It took him a minute to process everything she'd said. Traveling through dimensions wasn't anything new to him at all, not being able to leave was, though. And it had taken his powers when it dropped him here? If that was true, it had taken a fuck of a lot more than that. It had taken Ambrose - and he can't say he was sorry to leave that bastard behind
( ... )
Aphrodite still thinks it's totally weird that people want to shake her hand, what's up with that, but she returns the gesture, even if she's thinking more guys should be realizing the proper thing to do with her hand is kiss it, not shake it. Sheesh.
"So, Nick, when and where are you from?" she asks. "Some place where you've heard of me, I hope?" Because any place that doesn't know about the Greek gods is seriously deprived, clearly.
That almost startled a chuckle out of him, and he did crack a small smile. "Let's just say I'm well versed in my Greek pantheon. I was born and raised in New Orleans, though. In the heart of the red light district."
He wondered idly what Julian's mother would think of her name twin. If he ever got back home, he'd have to ask. Or get Artie to as he wasn't allowed outside of her temple.
"New Orleans," Aphrodite repeats, trying to remember if she's ever heard of the place, and nothing's coming to mind. "Never heard of it, so you're probably way in my future. I'm from Caesar's time."
Nick nodded. All right, he could go with that - and that was about the time Julian was born if he remembered right. At the same time, he didn't think so. Julian's mother was very different from this goddess.
Still, he had to know. "Do the names Julian or Acheron mean anything to you?"
Aphrodite thinks about that for a second or two, combing through her memory for anywhere she might have run across a Julian or an Acheron. Eventually, she shakes her head. "Nope, sorry, kiddo," she replies. "But there might be differences between me and the Aphrodite you know of. I've got a sister, a nephew and a cousin here, all from a different universe, and their Aphrodite's totally different from me."
His shoulders relax, though only slightly. Different universe. Much better than different realm. And for whatever reason, he was stuck here without a way back out again. When she mentioned the different versions of herself, he couldn't help but lay another one on her. He also knew he'd have to find these people from the other universe, make sure they weren't from his and using this seeming paradise as a cover to come after him again.
"Considering she's grandmother to six? Yeah, you're just a little different from the Aphrodite I know."
"Ugh, don't say grandmother," Aphrodite says with a wince. "And to six? And I thought having one grandkid was bad. I mean, don't get me wrong, Bliss is great, but seriously, do I look like a grandmother to you?"
"I honestly don't know, I haven't known many grandmothers, but then again you don't look anything like the Aphrodite I know, either."
His hand came up and he rubbed at the scruff on his jaw, before running long fingers through his hair. "Just what I needed, another place that messes with my fucking head."
"Yeah, it's pretty good at that," Aphrodite agrees. "Believe me, not having my powers is major heinous. But listen, there's more to this place than beach, as much as I love the beach. Let me show you around."
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Where the hell was he?
"That'd be a no on the knowing where the bar is, but if it helps, I'm glad to hear there are options."
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His right hand was at his side, ready to reach for the shortsword at his back - he was too used to gods and demons fucking with him to relax.
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She gives a little flourish with one hand and smiles brightly. "I'm Aphrodite, and apparently I'm your welcome wagon."
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"So, Nick, when and where are you from?" she asks. "Some place where you've heard of me, I hope?" Because any place that doesn't know about the Greek gods is seriously deprived, clearly.
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He wondered idly what Julian's mother would think of her name twin. If he ever got back home, he'd have to ask. Or get Artie to as he wasn't allowed outside of her temple.
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Still, he had to know. "Do the names Julian or Acheron mean anything to you?"
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"Considering she's grandmother to six? Yeah, you're just a little different from the Aphrodite I know."
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His hand came up and he rubbed at the scruff on his jaw, before running long fingers through his hair. "Just what I needed, another place that messes with my fucking head."
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Nick eyed the edge of his little patch of shade and hesitated. "Um. Maybe you can just tell me where things are and I'll go looking later?"
Like after sundown.
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