Fire and Ice and All That {Apollo}

[Elsa]

There was water in the fountain. This struck Elsa as odd, not because fountains weren't generally lacking water or anything. Usually water bubbled out and flowed and all that. But nobody had actually taken the time to quite clean all the Commons. Oh, people had certainly cleared out areas. Benches had been reclaimed, the fountain lacked any and all vines, and there were patches here and there where feet had cut into the unclaimed land, taking it back. So why was she concerned about water in a fountain?

Well, to put it quite simply, Elsa had put an ice sculpture here. She could distinctly remember doing it only a night or so ago. True, the weather should have melted it some, but to this extent? It was late in the year, not a time for this sort of quick melting. Not this sort of complete melting. Particularly not when said ice had come from Elsa, who was fairly certain her ice took forever to melt, what with having experienced that first hand.

So she raised her hands, re-sculpting the water into another elaborate, fairly striking, statue of pure ice. Elsa backed off, steam curling out of her mouth, and as she did, she noticed that, almost immediately, the statue had started dripping. "How?" she asked the world in general, touching the statue. What was doing this.... or who?

[Apollo]

Apollo had decided to head back to the commons to see how it was looking. He had spent some time with Alyss and Tori tidying things up and he wanted to make sure the little flowers the young girl had made were still blossoming. They should be, he had been sure to leave a little sunlight and warmth around so that they would have the best bloom. He still was not sure why he had done that, oh to win the girl over for sure because it would annoy Hermes…but still…it seemed…more than that…

However as he entered the square to take a look at the flowers he noticed that there was already a woman there and…an ice sculpture in the middle…

“Oh. My. Me,” he said as he approached it, looking at it in wonder, “that is amazing? Did you make that?”

The closer he got, the more the sculpture started to melt…

[Elsa]

The sudden arrival of the man had Elsa stiffening. Why was it that she kept running into strange men in this place? What particularly struck her was how opposite the incoming man was to the last one she'd met here. Dracula had been dark, cold, shadowy, and this individual was everything opposite. If Elsa didn't know better, she'd say he literally leaked light, it almost seemed to cling to him. She found her gaze sliding around him as if reading his aura, before locking onto his eyes.

"Yes," she said. She looked from it to him, frowning slightly. A hand extended, and a little more ice and snow clung to it. Elsa wasn't sure she could quite match the incoming person... threat? "Is it just me or are you a little... hot?"

Did that have double meaning here? Somehow Elsa felt like it should, but she wasn't fully aware of it.

[Apollo]

Apollo grinned.

“Why yes indeed, I am very hot, thank you for noticing,” said Apollo leaning against the fountain and winking.

Which would have been awesome in his books if the ice sculpture hadn’t picked up the pace with it’s melting causing part of it to fall on his head. “Ow,” he said, looking down at the icicle that was now…well…nothing more than a small puddle of water.

He looked back up at the sculpture and a look of horror crossed his face, “oh no…oh…”

He looked back at Elsa apologetically and pointed to the sculpture and said, “I…think this might be my fault…”

He held out his hand to her, “allow me to introduce myself, I’m Apollo, God of the sun…but also the arts, so this was amazing until…you know…it melted…”

[Elsa]

And there went part of her sculpture. Well, at least Elsa had confirmation about what had caused it to melt in such a hurry. She looked back at the sunny man, eyes scanning him. Dracula had said that there weren't people like her, people with her sort of powers. Yet this man seemed to have those powers only in almost exact reverse. She glanced back toward the melted puddle, hesitating, wondering if she should even bother trying to correct the error.

"Elsa," she said automatically, resorting to her royal stiffness without quite meaning to. She looked at the hand but didn't quite extend her own. The last thing she wanted was to see clouds of steam. "And I must admit that you're my first god," she scanned him. "I had sort of thought your kind would be a bit more impressive, but you did melt my... work," she looked back to it, then back up at him. "Wait, did you say Apollo?"

That did sound vaguely familiar. Elsa had read and studied some of the classics as part of her queenly education. Where had that come from? And did he-- "Did you say you were the god of art too? Did you just pick your tasks at random or is there some connection I'm missing?"

[Apollo]

Impressive? Impressive?!

Who was this mortal to say that the Sun God, the glorious son of Zeus, protector of young men and patron of the arts was not impressive?! He would strike her down with all the wrath of the sun, he would send the cruellest, most itchiest of diseases his way, he would bring down a fire about her that would melt that-…oh wait no…she had a point…he wasn’t as impressive here…damn…

“It’s this place,” he said glumly, complete with pout, “it dampens all my best powers…I mean I can still do a few things, but believe, you’re not seeing me in all my glorious radiance…not that you could, mortals usually can’t. Tends to leave them a bit…dead.”

Then she was asking him about his tasks and jumping up on to the fountain he said, “They are things I like. Well, sort of. My father gave me the sun job, bit of nepotism there, I know, but that sh*t is constant up there, and it is kind of fun, although science and a bit of magic does most of it these days, so I don’t actually have to do much anymore. However I also love the arts, the muses are my besties, they’re amazing, by the gods I miss those girls, I’ll have to catch up soon. Medicine! I do that too, always been very interested in Medicine, healing…dishing out plagues, depends on the day really, it’s all good. And then of course there is my most favourite thing in the world. Young Men. I do like them best.”

He lounged on the edge of the fountain and said, “so…what do you do? You some kind of Norse Goddess? Are you related to Loki, most of you’re lot are. Are you descended from the horse?”

[Elsa]

... was he pouting? Elsa stared at him, not quite believing her eyes. This guy, who was apparently the god of sunlight and anything else that caught his fancy, was actively pouting over not being impressive enough. This was a thing she was actually witnessing. It made his thinly veiled threat almost ridiculous in context, nearly to the point when Elsa was about to burst into laughter.

The continued list of tasks didn't help either. She kept a mental count: sun, arts, medicine, were those even connected? Sun and arts, maybe, though most of the best came out at night. But it really did sound like someone had just tossed random ideas this guy's way. The arts alone would encompass about a half a dozen different details.

"A horse?" Elsa repeated. "There's something about me that screams descended from a horse? Clearly you are not the god of tact and complimenting women," she stood a little straighter, though she also took a slight step back from the god. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm perfectly mortal. Just a human named Elsa," she paused for a moment. "Is it my abilities that made you think... goddess?" Because she'd never have jumped to that conclusion on her own, that was for certain.

[Apollo]

Apollo looked at her for a moment and said, “Well no, nothing that really screams ‘horse’ in particular, but you didn’t seem dead or hairy, but definitely icy, and I’m fairly certain that Loki was like, half frost giant or something…or maybe that was just in that movie…either way, not a long stretch.”

Laughing, completely unashamed he said, “no I’m definitely not, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a Greek God that isn’t, my father maybe, when he wants something, the rest of the time not so much. I’ve always just said what I think, it’s so much less confusing that way, then you don’t have to remember a whole bunch of lies and what you’ve told who. Honesty is the best policy…hmm…maybe I should be the god of honesty as well…although Dionysus pretty much has that covered with the whole wine thing…yeah maybe I’ll leave it.”

He was a little surprised when he said she was just a mortal, “Really I could have sworn I was getting at least a Demi-God vibe off of you, perhaps a scion. Just a mortal huh? I mean are you sure? Powers like that don’t just happen, maybe you should speak to some of the Norse Gods, you could be one of theirs. I mean, they’re always adopting people, you could be adopted.”

[Elsa]

"Nice to know I don't look horsey," offered Elsa, her lips twitching. As Apollo kept going, he actually reminded her more of Anna than anything else. The prattling, the complete lack of shame regarding who he was and what he did or said. Perhaps it was, again, that just general sunniness. Easy to compare her sister, who was close to being a literal ray of sunshine, to someone who actually was when you got down to it.

Still, Elsa could ignore most of what Apollo said. She mostly waited patiently while he got around to the point of the conversation, nodding as he repeated what she already knew. "Well," she had to confess at the end, "I admit that I'm not completely certain. I was born with these powers, and the trolls didn't seem to quite know where they're from..."

Should she ask? Elsa studied the god contemplatively. He did seem to know. "What, exactly, is a scion? And is there a Norse god nearby I should be aware of?" were there lots of gods at this school? Because that thought was actually rather terrifying.

[Apollo]

Apollo patted the empty space on the edge of the fountain, motioning for her to join him there, “Ah, my dear child, sit with me a while I will tell you of the Scions.”

He did a twirling motion with one hand and a lyre appeared from thin hair in his hands, he began to strum it gently, filling the courtyard with its melodic tune, “The Scion is a child of a god who shares the ichor of that gods being but has only a few of the abilities of their divine parent. They strive for glory, for their legend, in the hopes of one day improving themselves so that they might one day achieve the next divine state of being…demi-god.”

He changed the tune to a more dramatic and sinister tone, “and yes, the Norse Gods roam these parts, they are a dark brooding pantheon with no fear of the underworld or their impending doom at the hands of the children of Loki, they are proud people, but they are shrouded in danger. Beware the trickster god Loki, for he is the darkest of all and not to be entreated lightly.”

Apollo paused momentarily in his song and thus his thoughts and said, “most of the rest of them are alright but that Loki is a real stinker.”

Continuing his song on the lyre he said, “wait…did you say you were raised by trolls?”

[Elsa]

What exactly was she getting into here? Did everyone rely on dramatics? Elsa sighed, knowing that she'd have to at least play along if she was to find out anything. That seemed to sadly be the pattern here: play along with the fairly obviously crazy or cautious person to uncover just a little bit more about this world and her powers. Which Elsa did to a tee, sliding next to the god and trying to look at least somewhat relaxed. She could at least look focused and interested, since neither of those required work.

A scion... was that somehow related to Elsa? She frowned at the mention of gods: she had two mortal parents, and they had most definitely had her. They'd had Anna too, who was most definitely not gifted or cursed with any sort of power. So that did seem to rule out that. It did make her wonder about these other gods.

"I'm sure I'll smell him coming then," she replied as he cautioned her away from Loki. She was tempted to go further and suggest that avoiding any and all gods sounded like an idea. She had to laugh at his question. "Not raised by, no. I was raised by my parents, both of whom are quite normal human beings, I assure you. The trolls simply lived in our lands, and were arguably the most magical beings before, well, me. They examined me at a few points and worked magic of their own, though they weren't responsible for my gifts." She paused. "I'm not sure if there was anything divine in my background, unless there's some way of checking such a thing?"

[Apollo]

He stopped strumming the lyre for a moment and thought about her question.

“Yes, I suppose there is a way to check these things,” he said thoughtfully.

The lyre morphed into a book and a pair of gold rimmed round spectacles (which may or may not look like the same kind of spectacles that Milo was often seen wearing) appeared on his face as he flicked through it. The title of the book was ‘Physiology of the Gods, Demi-gods and Scions, by Asclepius’ and it looked extremely well read very much loved by its owner. As he flicked through the pages he paused for a moment on the first which read ‘To father, in the hopes that this sheds some light on our kind, your son’, before proceeding onwards.

He eventually stopped on a page and said, “aha! That’s what we are looking for.”

Clearing his throat he continued, “It says ‘on the occasion that the divine being is of mortal parentage on both sides then it is possible that the subject may display powers beyond their mortality due to having divinity within the bloodline. This is often the case when a grandparent or great grandparent has had an encounter with a divine being. There are cases with the divinity of such a union can skip a generation and present itself in the third generation. To test whether this is the case ask’ I don’t know why he’s underlined that bit, ‘the subject to provide a sample of their vitae for analysis. If there is Ichor present within the sample then it is likely that the subject is descended from a divine bloodline.”

Apollo snapped the book shut and conjured a syringe and a lab coat for himself, “right! Shall we?”

[Elsa]

Did he just pull a book out of no where? Right, god of... apparently books too. Either this man really was what he said he was, or he happened to be quite good at faking it. He started reading, and Elsa paid close attention. It took most of her attention to stay on top of the text, given that it had apparently been written by scholars for scholars. Apparently there was a chance that the powers had skipped her parents and instead come to her, and that apparently someone could check with a sample of blood.

"I suppose," she said, moving to roll up a sleeve. "Though you really should make sure that whoever you're speaking to knows what you're referencing,' she pointed out as she bared most of a very pale forearm. Elsa had been bled in the past: had been part of seeing if there was some sort of cure for her abilities. At least they'd been good enough not to scar. She did, however, look to his syringe.

"Is that sterile?" she asked, looking up at him. 'Because the last thing I need or want is some sort of divine disease."

[Apollo]

Apollo looked down at the book and then back up at the woman, grinning proudly, “It’s my sons work, he’s always been fascinated with the physiology of the gods and in particular immortality…to his detriment…sometimes…but he’s a good lad, I really ought to check in with him some time, not seen him for a while.”

Unexpectedly to most, Apollo was actually fairly paternal. He didn’t always check in with them all the time, letting them to get on with their own pursuits, but whenever they needed him, he was there, and he loved each and every one of them, wholly and completely. They were mostly the product of unexpected liaisons in his youth where he thought he might try something ‘new’ or when Eros had been trying to wind him up again. Whilst he couldn’t even remember what the mothers looked like never mind their names, he could recite all the imaginary friends his children had, their favourite books to read before bed, their preferred meals and of course all of their successes in life.

He moved in towards her, syringe poised and said, “Darling, I’m the God of Medicine, of course it’s sterile, I left it soaking in some wine for a day-I’m kidding, I’m kidding, I do try to keep up with recent advances, I am the God of Healing after all. Now you’ll just feel a tiny nip.”

Only she wouldn’t have because when he ran a thumb over the area he was about to put it into he allowed a little numbing agent to seep out to cover the small area. He gently lowered it…although…under his thumb…he could feel the heat that he naturally emitted…fighting back against the cold…

[Elsa]

"So, that's... arts, music, medicine, and healing?" said Elsa, brows raising. She would definitely have to doublecheck all this. Still, he did mention modern medicine, and he clearly at least knew something about sterility. Plus, well, Elsa supposed that it was probably safe, what with being created out of magic from nothing and all. So she forced herself to remain still, waiting while he touched her.

Heat met cold. It was the first time in quite a while that Elsa actually felt the heat. It almost made her jump, though she had the good sense to remain still while someone was about to stick something pointed and sharp into her. She took a few breaths to steady herself, looking up at Apollo.

"Whenever you're ready," she said, nodding to him. Curiosity made her look down, seeing where the needle met the flesh. What would be in that blood when it came out? Would it actually provide answers.... or just more questions?