Dark, Dark Lies (Open)

[APOLLO]

Apollo didn’t tend to dwell on other people’s problems. Though he was intrigued by Rin’s…mostly he went from place to place and if he happened to be able to help at the time he’d give a person aid. But it wasn’t like he went out of his way anymore to do favors. Humans were fickle and often times what they wished for wasn’t what they really wanted, or needed for that matter.

“What do I want? Many things.” Apollo stretched out his arms, ignoring the strange looks he got from the couple across from them and then folded them behind his head. He gave Rin a lazy, self-righteous sort of smirk, “Other than people worshipping my greatness? Now that is a good question. It was so much easier when I was in Ancient Greece and I could come and go as I pleased.” A half-hearted shrug. “I want love without commitment, I want adoration without neediness…I want everything that is nearly impossible to reach but is delicious when I take a bite into it.”

[RIN COOPER]

[atrb=style, width: 500px; height: 400px; background: #0a090b url(http://teaandheresy.com/moon/rin02back.jpg) no-repeat center bottom, bTable][atrb=valign,bottom][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,15,true][atrb=style, padding: 15px; color: #aa9a90; width: 280px; background-color: #0a090b; opacity: 0.7; filter:alpha(opacity=70); border: 1px solid #857266; -moz-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;] Rin listened to that, thought about it, and then laughed quietly and said, "That sounds..." her nose wrinkled, "really horrible to me. But then I'm a girl, and a mortal. I'm sure our needs are different. That all sounds a little rarified to me, I think I'm into simpler pleasures." She grinned at him, teasing but not quite as challenging as the expression had been a few times in the past hour. "But I hope you find the things you want. I hear it's good for gods to get their way. Keeps them content and non-wrathy. Fewer earthquakes. Not so many tidal waves. Definitely cut down on the number decade-long still winds that will only come back with the sacrifice of the general's daughter." She picked up her bottle of Mike's, pursing her scarlet-painted lips and touching the lip of the bottle against her bottom lip as she thought. Like so many of her vividly enticing gestures this one seemed more habit than intent. She flirted and offered like most girls breathe, any man who really attracted her got the same kind of ongoing taunting, some part of her always waiting to see when they would break. A gentle nudge of her elbow against his. "Seriously, what was with that? I really hope you guys got some bad press over the years because if you go by the Iliad? Wow. The petty." A low giggle, husky and more adult than the rest of her.

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[APOLLO]

With a wink he replied, “It’s something that grows on you. After so many centuries of living things like that become more…desired. At least they have for me. Artemis still complains about my behavior. I’m uncouth apparently.” He shrugged, not really bothered by his sister’s opinion. There were others, like Ares, who understood. He was the god of war, for sure, but he also had his share of pleasures mostly with Aphrodite. “Oh, I’ve never raised hell like the ol’ man has.” Apollo always found Zeus hilarious. “And don’t get me started on the others. I’m simpler. I can be laidback and I like to enjoy life but if anyone mocks me they’re in trouble.” His grin turned wry, almost bitter. “Pan paid the price when he boasted he was better at the lyre than me.” But it wasn’t time for that sort of talk as he wasn’t vengeful in the usual sense of the word. And he didn’t want the lovely lady sitting next to him to get uncomfortable.

“You are incorrigible.” Apollo laughed deep again, letting it rumble and then drinking again. “I’m surprised you don’t drive the boys in here wilder with your flirting.” He could see a couple of the men were staring but they probably weren’t out right ogling because Rin was setting her teasing directly toward Apollo.

[RIN COOPER]

[atrb=style, width: 500px; height: 400px; background: #0a090b url(http://teaandheresy.com/moon/rin02back.jpg) no-repeat center bottom, bTable][atrb=valign,bottom][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,15,true][atrb=style, padding: 15px; color: #aa9a90; width: 280px; background-color: #0a090b; opacity: 0.7; filter:alpha(opacity=70); border: 1px solid #857266; -moz-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;] Rin shook her head, laughing again as she twisted the bottle in her fingertips. "This has got to be a god thing, because I just do not get it. But hey, as long as you're having fun?" She had a moment of disorientation so strong she was almost dizzy as she realized that she was sitting here talking to a god. Freakin' Apollo had bought her a drink and was sitting here in a diner in the middle of nowhere chatting with her and eating french fries. What the hell, man? Just...seriously, what the hell? The thought had her smiling even wider than usual at his last comment. "A few of them have tried, but I have a strict rule about not dating where I work, employees or customers. It does nothing but cause problems. But hey, that doesn't mean I can't play a little." A thin, sly grin. "And if any of them get out of hand, well, I do know how to take care of myself. You'd be amazed what a two-inch roofing nail to the testicle does to convince a guy that he's not actually feeling all that amorous after all." She reached over and poked gently at his upper arm. "But you're one to talk, mister Tiger Beat. I can't imagine this body is a coincidence, just picked up the first old thing that came along and never even noticed the whole too-pretty-to-live thing."

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[APOLLO]

Apollo finished up the rest of his food as he listened to Rin, attentive and trying to work through everything she said. Rin was intelligent. Definitely more so than his usual encounters. The girls he dealt with were quick lays and there wasn’t much going on in term of brain activity. He really had to contemplate his answers to this young independent and gorgeous woman. “It’s complicated but something you get used to. I think you would enjoy being a goddess.”

He gave her a sly grin. “I bet they were sorely regretting their impertinence at that point.” The god of light took his time, more soft chuckles erupting from his chest at all of Rin’s observations. “I do like getting attention but I don’t like too much. I like to…stay under the radar but also be noticed. It’s strange and may seem very illogical but that’s how I roll.” Apollo brushed his hand against the outline of his jaw, thoughtfully. “I saw this face, a poor boy that had died, and knew that it was the perfect fit for me. And it serves as a momento for him. I’m not as vain as my dear sister Aphrodite.”

[RIN COOPER]

[atrb=style, width: 500px; height: 400px; background: #0a090b url(http://teaandheresy.com/moon/rin02back.jpg) no-repeat center bottom, bTable][atrb=valign,bottom][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,15,true][atrb=style, padding: 15px; color: #aa9a90; width: 280px; background-color: #0a090b; opacity: 0.7; filter:alpha(opacity=70); border: 1px solid #857266; -moz-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;] "So basically you want a lot of attention from a few people, but not so much attention that it gets in the way of you doing what you want to do?" Another of those low, rather husky laughs. "And what you want to do is mostly to have random conversations and get a lot of sex? Does that about cover it?" There was no particular judgment in the question, how could there be? Rin was just as much a creature of pleasure and whim, the only difference was which way the whim took her. And so she reached over and flicked a few of the wisps of hair falling across Apollo's forehead back out of his eyes, smiled at him as she said, "And I'm sure the fact that this face looks like the exact point where the sex fantasies of openly lacivious gay boys and nervously undersexed straight women meet had nothing to do with your choice. You just wanted to honor the boy's memory. Uh huh." A wide, wicked smile but again there was zero malice behind the teasing. Rin thought that people should laugh at themselves, that it was good for the heart and the soul. Picking up her mostly-empty bottle of hard lemonade she asked, "So where are you headed next, have you decided? Or are you still tasting the pleasures of this town?" Rin herself had taken only about a month to decide that she'd seen everything good that this area had to offer, but part of that time was spent healing up from older trouble.

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[APOLLO]

Apollo nodded after thinking about it another moment, “That pretty much wraps it up.” He gave her a cheeky grin. Some might think his way of living and doing things was selfish and shallow but to each his own. Rin seemed to do her own thing for happiness and pleasure so he didn’t feel pressured to put up an image. He was just being himself and that was his favorite way of being.

The brush of his hair surprised him. She really was a bold one. “Ah, well a little bit of both, I suppose. It was convenient, let’s say.” He couldn’t stop laughing around this girl; she really knew how to hit him where he didn’t expect it with her teasing and flirty smiles. Sex was fun no matter who was in his bed but it couldn’t compare to good company.

“Now that fully depends,” Apollo gave her a wink, the teasing grin still in place. He could deal with just a conversation, something to entertain and distract him, but maybe something more would come of this. It didn’t hurt to insinuate just a bit. “The town may be dry but I still might get some pleasure from here.”

[RIN COOPER]

[atrb=style, width: 500px; height: 400px; background: #0a090b url(http://teaandheresy.com/moon/rin02back.jpg) no-repeat center bottom, bTable][atrb=valign,bottom][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,15,true][atrb=style, padding: 15px; color: #aa9a90; width: 280px; background-color: #0a090b; opacity: 0.7; filter:alpha(opacity=70); border: 1px solid #857266; -moz-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;] Rin smiled broadly at Apollo, that tilt of the shoulder that seemed to herald when she was about to do something particularly naughty. "Well, your divinityship, for the forty-eight hours I intend to stay in this town before I move to points due west, you are welcome to the pleasures of my company, the pleasures of my table, and the pleasures of happy flirtation. As for the pleasures of the flesh..." She leaned in toward him, near enough to give him more than a glimpse of the shadowy cleft between her breasts, near enough to let him smell quite clearly the notes of blackberry and sage in the light perfume she wore and for her hair to brush against his cheek as she pressed her lips close to his ear. "Even a god has to earn it with me. Call it a point of pride." Her breath stuttered against his hair and the lobe of his ear, hot and lemon-sweet, and she was laughing quietly but honestly amused as she leaned back and sat up straight on her stool again. "But," she went on happily, smiling bright and chipper as she gestured for her check, "if you get yourself into trouble trolling the other available pleasures and need somebody to pretend to be your girlfriend, give me a call? I make a great beard."

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[APOLLO]

Apollo had to hold back more swells of laughter. Rin constantly surprised him and kept him on his toes in a fun but surprisingly enlightening conversation. “You certainly are a fox. Sly and swift.” Her silver tongue was amusing. It held sway but Rin didn’t cover up her words or offer a sugary sweet undertone. Everything was the truth though it was done in a flirty fashion. He winked at her and when the check arrived, it grabbed it out of the shocked hands of the waitress and put it with his own check. Apollo liked to be a gentleman, even if he got nothing for it. It gave him the illusion that he still was in the same far-back time of manners and etiquette he had gotten accustomed to in the beginning of his life.

“Now, how does a man earn it? Take you to a fancy dinner? Serenade you after weeks of courtship?” His voice was light with a teasing flair but he really was curious to see her answer. What would a girl like Rin want a man to do to prove himself and to “earn” it? He didn't even touch her last comment. The deity was rarely put off by anyone even humans that others would find annoying. Sex and conversation was sex and conversation. It didn't need anything special though the extra touches amused him if they occured.

[RIN COOPER]

[atrb=style, width: 500px; height: 400px; background: #0a090b url(http://teaandheresy.com/moon/rin02back.jpg) no-repeat center bottom, bTable][atrb=valign,bottom][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,15,true][atrb=style, padding: 15px; color: #aa9a90; width: 280px; background-color: #0a090b; opacity: 0.7; filter:alpha(opacity=70); border: 1px solid #857266; -moz-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;] She laughed and shook her head, reddish brown hair sliding across her shoulders, feathering across the wide sweeps of bare skin her dress left exposed. "Not even close. Did you really think it was going to be that easy? No, a man earns it by actually giving a damn about me. There's a lot of people in this world willing to tell me how pretty I am, spend money on me, pour on the charm till you could drown in it. But I'm really not the one night stand or even fling type. I like things more..." her teeth caught at her bottom lip, but for once it wasn't intended to be at all flirtatious, it was just her searching for the right word, "intense." "I've tried casual sex," she said frankly. "And I can see the appeal of it, I really can. But it's not for me. I like my sex intimate and urgent. When you're pulling each other's hair and kissing so hard it's like biting and rolling back and forth because you just can't get enough of one another." Her voice dropped, low enough not to carry past them and maybe the slightest bit husky with memory. "I like it when looking into one another's eyes is as good as a touch, and you're squeezing each other's shoulders to pull yourself in tighter with every motion because you need more, always more, and you'll say anything that comes into your head, you're not afraid because there's no shame with them, no reason to ever need to protect yourself by playing at being more casual or cool than you actually feel. You know they'll never hurt you on purpose, and you feel the same about them and so you can come together honest, clean, totally unafraid. That's what I like, and that's how a man earns it with me. Be worth that."

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[APOLLO]

Such a tall order from such a young girl. Rin had spunk, that much was sure, and Apollo gave her a lot of credit for knowing what she wanted and how she wanted it. There were tons of youth in this era that dilly-dallied and didn’t seem to care about figuring out their desires and needs. About the important things like what they wanted to do with their lives and how to go about getting it. Rin had all of that covered and she was still so young. She continued to surprise him with everything she dished out, from her flirts to her words.

“You are quite the sly one. So confident and assertive.” Apollo tapped at her nose lightly, a smirk coming upon his lips without him being able to help it. “Well then, I hope you have luck finding a man to satisfy all those hungered urges.” He wouldn’t be able to do it himself, not that he didn’t want to try. Apollo could stop his gallivanting round and one-night-stands for the right girl but what Rin was looking for required more spontaneity and probably a better soul them him. A human or a creature that could give her what she needed. Not that Apollo didn’t mourn the loss of such a fiery passion and a deep sensual encounter that could have occurred.

[RIN COOPER]

[atrb=style, width: 500px; height: 400px; background: #0a090b url(http://teaandheresy.com/moon/rin02back.jpg) no-repeat center bottom, bTable][atrb=valign,bottom][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,15,true][atrb=style, padding: 15px; color: #aa9a90; width: 280px; background-color: #0a090b; opacity: 0.7; filter:alpha(opacity=70); border: 1px solid #857266; -moz-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;box-shadow: 3px 3px 12px #000;] "I'll find one someday." She didn't sound all that worried about it. "My Daddy says I'm destined to make some man blissfully miserable someday, and I'm quite looking forward to it. But in the meantime, I travel and have adventures and chat up Greek gods." Rin grinned broadly at Apollo, any awe that there maybe should have been at sitting around in a diner teasing a divinity was well and truly past now and she was just enjoying the moment. Which was why she had no hesitation about leaning over and brushing a kiss across Apollo's cheek before saying, "And now I've got to go deposit this cash and get my beauty sleep. Big day tomorrow, got to visit all the friends I've made here in town, find somebody who wants to take me out to dinner and drinks as a farewell party, then get nice and rested to hit the road tomorrow." She pulled over a clean napkin and scribbled a phone number and email address across it, then handed it to him. "Call me now and then while you wander. Who knows, we might end up in the same state now and then." A quick smile at him and she slid up off her stool. "I'll see you around, your divinityship."

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