Another Sleepless Night

[Eos]

Eos sighed as he plopped down onto the ground, his back against a tree. The garden was less beautiful at night, but it was a quiet place to stop and think. A place where he thought people wouldn't be about to bother him.

He wasn't an insomniac, he had been asleep, it was just that the nightmares that haunted that sleep had woken him up. And he didn't particularly want to experiance those again. At least not tonight. They weren't even nightmares, but memories. Crappy ones.

He missed his family... the human parts of his family at least. But most of them were someplace he couldn't follow, at least while immortal. What does happen to you after you die? Questions like that haunted him as much as his nightmares most of the time... especially when it was quiet and he was alone at night, or just before he went to bed. He held the small cross that hung on his neck, next to the charm Athena had given him.

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

Adonia walked along the garden path only slightly drowsy. She had been taking the medicine Iva had given her diligently every night. Sometime It worked with no problem at all, but sometimes, like tonight, it needed a little help... So she had decided a walk was in order.

She was usually very careful to keep a look out for mentors, but in her semi-drowsy state, she was not as alert as normal, closing her eye as she walked along the paths. Thus it was quite a shock when she opened her eyes to see her teacher Eos sitting in the clearing she had just walked into, holding a small symbol that hung from his neck.

Feeling it was better to be sociable than get herself into more trouble by running, she stepped forward saying "Good evening Sir... Having trouble sleeping?"

[Eos]

Eos looked up surprised. Who could it be at this hour? It was the siren Adonia, walking along.

"Hello Adonia. Yeah, a little," he half admitted, not telling her the root of his problem. He tucked his cross back into his shirt. "What about you? What are you doing at this time of night walking around?

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

"I have trouble sleeping... I'm generally nocturnal" she said with a shrug. "Iva gave me some medicine for helping me sleep... but sometimes I have to walk around a bit after taking it to get it going" she added sheepishly.

She looked at him with head cocked curiously at him. Had she been wide awake, she would have known better than to ask, but being somewhat tired, she asked the first question that came to her head. "What was that symbol you were holding?... Its very pretty." she smiled.

((Way to go Adonia.. aaaaah how the tables have turned... Now she's the groggy one XD... I literally just noticed this XD))

[Eos]

He smiled. "So Iva drugged you too?" he asked.

"Oh uhm... it was just a cross," he explained, feeling strange about it. How many people here were Christains? Probably only him. And he was a demigod... a demigod that made all the sense in the world.

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

"Er.. I guess you could say that" she giggled, a bit louder than normal, clearing her throat as he realized what she was doing.

"What's a cross?" she asked, with genuine curious. She knew nothing of religion at all, since she had lived alone her whole life. She refused to think of these meddling being as gods. In her eyes they were nothing but harsh, cruel tyrants with too much power and far too much time on their hands.

[Eos]

He held in laughter as Adonia let a rather loud laugh loose. Pfft, the girl was out of it.

"Well... that's a really hard question. A hard one, but a good one. It's a symbol of my religion I guess. And a promise to a friend," he tried very hard to explain the little peice of wood around his neck. A little peice of wood that couls cause so many problems.

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

Adonia blushed rather badly knowing she must sound like he had just the other day.

Adonia thought about his response for a moment, wrinkling her nose in confusion. "But... what's a religion?" she asked, still cocking her head at him. She had a feeling someone had explained it to her once, but she couldn't remember. "Oh a friend? Who?" she said with a sweet, if slightly tired-looking, smile.

[Eos]

Eos stared at her confused. Religion? What was it exactly... how was he going to explain THAT?

"Well religion is very hard to explain with words... it's like, well, what you believe. Like which gods of God you put your faith in and what you believe happens to you after you die." Was death really the point of religion? It was what Eos htat abou thte most, but there was more to it than that...

"Oh just a guy," he skirted around the answers she wanted.

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

At the words 'the gods' Adonia gave him a mildly grouchy look.

"Wait a second... you're not saying you believe these meddlesome, lazy tricksters are actual gods." he grumbled.

"Are you?" she said giving him a cutesy sad little look that she would normally have never allowed herself to make.

"Cause I can't stand 'em" she said crossing her arms and looking rather defiant. Breaking her rule of never being blatantly flippant about her general dislike of the gods and her particular hate of Hera.

((Whoo... those must be some seeds Iva gave her ^^; Or maybe she just has weird reactions to medicine like I do XD))

[Eos]

Eos smiled again. Her face was so... just so. He silently thanked Iva for giving her whatever it was she gave Adonia.

"There are more gods than the Greek ones. And I kind of agree with that. The word god is used loosly with them. But they are beings of extreme and inconprehensible power, I would talk like that, they have ears all over. I could be loyal to one of them, Adonia, best to keep those thoughts to yourself. One is my father," he smiled at her and wondered which of his immortal relatives had done her wrong.

((Pfft your just doing it to make him feel better. XD))

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

Adonia took a moment to register what he had said. When she finally did, her mouth dropped open rather comically an she lapped her hands over it a if to take back all of what she had blurted out.

"Ooooh,I'm doomed. What's wrong with me?" she sniffled. "I spent 18 years of my life barely saying a word, except to the fishes, no getting in trouble with anyone except that one man..." she thought a moment. "Two men" she corrected herself.

"I had it made! I stayed away from people, they stayed away from me... Then Hera had to come along and trick me into coming here and now I've been singing and talking back to a bunch of all-powerful people that cou-"

She stopped short, realizing who her present company was, and that she was rambling again. She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands to hide the bright red blush that spread across them.

"Did I just say what I think I said?" she groaned into her hands.

((aaaand she just spilled her guts... That was fun XD I've always wanted to do a long, blathering rant for Adonia. XD I'm glad it makes him feel better, but I've always vaguely wondered what she'd be like if she were out of it like this XD))

[Eos]

"Could turn your bones to ash and boil your blood with a twitch of a finger," he finished her sentance for her.

"Depends," he said calmly. "Were you just complaining about Hera being at the Athenaeum?" What two men were she talking about. People she had sund to their deaths?

"Adonia, are you ok? Maybe you should go back to your room," he tried to hint that blabbing about things like this probably wasn't the best idea. "You can complain to me Adonia, gods know, I'm not particularly happy with them. But still, not best to flaunt that. "

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

Adonia sighed "I'm fine... I just need to button my lip." she said smiling sadly. "I just keep forgetting that my medicine makes me a little more... er... forward with my opinions" she grimaced, looking apologetic. "If anything, its good for me to try to learn to control it..."

"Bones to ash and boiling blood... that's a vivid mental image" she muttered. "Yes.. I suppose I did mention Hera.... She's my sponsor here, and we're... not on the best of terms." she admitted, nervously twirling a lock of her hair between her fingers.

"It won't do me any good to go back to my room though... Not yet I'll need at least..." she thought for a moment, trying to gauge how sleepy she was. "...At least another 20 - 40 minutes before I can head back and finally sleep. The night air helps..."

She took a long breath of the night air, willing it to calm her before cocking her head once more and saying "So what's keeping you up? You don't seem much like the nocturnal type."

[Eos]

"That's ok, you can sit wiht me if you want," he told her and patted the earth next to him. If he could keep an eye on her he'd feel better. He didn't want her walkiong around talking to everybody in that state.

"I'm not.. just my thoughts," he said. "And a nightmare," he admitted.

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

Adonia sat down by her teacher grateful for the company, "Thank you sir.... Just ... stop me if I start rambling on again?..." she asked sheepishly.

"A nightmare?" she asked, looking up at him with concern. "What about?"

[Eos]

"Alright," he said and smiled as she sat.

"Just... something that happened back before I came to the Athenaeum." The faces of the men he'd killed, burning in hell, along with his friends and family that had died. The usual.

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

"Thank you," she smiled.

Adonia continued to watch Eos' face, wondering what it could be that could make him seem so uncomfortable."What happened, sir?" she asked as she watched his eyes, still feeling somewhat distant.

[Eos]

His lip twitched into what could be loosly called a smile as a, 'your welcome'.

He sighed, figuring she wouldn't be able to remember any of this in the morning anyway.

"I've killed a lot of people Adonia. It doesn't exactly give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside," he said. "And being immortal, cursed like this, I've seen a lot of people I love die..."

((Oh huur derp he needs a therapist... or... Suus as a psychiatrist.))

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

Adonia looked at him sadly. "I understand.... sort of..." she drew her knees up, wrapping her arms around them and resting her chin on top. "I'm not exactly innocent either..."

She frowned slightly, as if she was trying to grasp what he was saying. "What do you mean cursed?" she asked lazily. "I mean.. I never really saw the appeal of immortality... but.." she let the sentence drift off as she began to doodle in the dirt with her finger, waiting for Eos to respond.

((Pfffff doesn' t everyone in the Athenaeum? XDD Poor thing ;3; ))

[Eos]

"Hmm you darling? I don't think you're anywhere near my level." He smiled at the shear absurdity of the sweet little siren hurting anyone.

"If you can't answer, the gods don't ask you if you want immortality. They just force it down your throat... becoming immortal isn't exactly roses and honey either, it hurts, like being forced to smallow a comet. And you never change, never die. What is a life but memories of a person, of their actions, or their relationships... if you never die than your life isn't... well then it wasn't a life," he tried hard to explain. "And I watched to many people die... my family, the people I love, my daughter at the hands of Kizamir...." The sad part was that Kiz was his own son. Which was why he was so afraid of commitment, of relationships. He was hard pressed to form connections because he was afraid of them breaking.

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

Adonia smiled and blushed at his comment, but the smile did not reach her voice. "I've killed two men in cold blood" she said bluntly. "It may not seem like much to you... not after what you've seen... but, for me... I still see their faces. I see their eyes grow dark as their life leaves them... over and over again." She shuddered slightly at the memory.

"I see what you mean..." she said, thinking about what he had said, her eyes sad and distant. "A life that never ends seems so...." her eyes misted a bit, "lonely.." she finished, hugging her knees closer to herself as she remembered the long years she had spent on the island. "I'm really not sure I want to win this tournament... I'm not sure I could live with immortality.." she whispered.

[Eos]

He didn't know what to say... he wasn't the best with words. So he just lat her head with his hand, knowing that maybe that would make her feel a little better, that she'd know that, no, she wasn't alone.

"So get second, become a staff member, be with that Jack guy you like so much," he offered her his advice.

[Achlys Adonia Argyris]

Adonia felt his hand on her head and smiled again.

She blushed a bright pink as he mentioned Jack. "I want to... I really want to... but if I don't win, Hera won't keep her promise... though part of me doesn't even believe she'll keep it even if I do win."

[Eos]

Eos let his hand move through her lonf white hair. Not even thinking about it anymore.

"What did Hera say she would do?"

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