Here Comes the Sun (OPEN)

[Alyss Heart]

It took Alyss a moment to realize that there was now a sort of glow happening all around them, but once she did, she looked up...and it didn't take long for her to realize that it was Apollo's doing. That would make sense, after all. The chill of the autumn air around them had faded, and while she was merely pleased with the change, she could see Tori's wide, fascinated eyes. Sure, they could create a lot more, all three of them could, but this was a simple thing that just happened to be beautiful, particularly since Apollo was using it as a metaphor, clearly.

"Who, me? Oh yes," Tori agreed, and Alyss could see the somewhat feigned innocence on her face just before she showed just how confident she was. Not that this was a surprise, Alyss had raised her to be, and CERTAINLY some of Hermes' genes got in there...

With a chuckle, Alyss added, a wistful tone in her voice, "Absolutely...she's the best thing in my life...and I owe him for that, at the very least..."

She glanced back up at Apollo. "Really, thank you. You've been rather kind to us." Perhaps too kind for someone we just met...but it's almost hard to be suspicious right now...best be careful, though. DEFINITELY talk to Tori about how she feels about all of this later.

[Apollo]

Apollo shrugged and said, “In some way I suppose you could technically be counted as family, it’s just the sort of thing that family does for each other. I am sure that if the roles were reversed, Hermes would do the same for me.”

He smiled at her sunnily, but his thoughts were not sunny.

‘No he wouldn’t,’ he thought, ‘he would do exactly what I have done, he would have seen this as an excellent opportunity to get back at me and turned it to his advantage. Although…that kids was sort of funny…and perhaps she was a little sweet…and Alyss doesn’t seem so bad…it’s clear she’s been burned by him as well…and I get that…I really do...’

“Also, I guess it’s just that I have been in a similar position as yourself,” said Apollo, looking over at Alyss, “I want to help you the same way I would have hoped that someone would have helped me.”

[Alyss Heart]

The mention of family always stung. Again, the Liddells had certainly tried their best with her, and she often missed them (though they weren't given the opportunity to miss her, given she had sent what was essentially a clone of herself back to Victorian London...it was a long story), they had also stamped out anything about her that made her Alyss instead of Alice. And as for the family that would have likely loved and embraced her for everything the Liddells disliked about her...well, she hardly got the chance to know them, not really, and what memories she had of them grew foggier every day. That was the whole reason Victoria's very existence meant the absolute world to her.

"I'd like to think so, yes," she agreed, trying her best to keep the sadness out of her voice. "And more people should conduct themselves that way, as far as I'm concerned. And...well, no offense, but I almost thought a lot of the gods didn't care so much about that sort of thing. Mortal attempts at morality, I mean. I'm glad I was proven wrong."

She glanced around the area. Now the fountain was full, there were flowers...she could probably replace some of those broken tiles, now that she thought of it...a grin appeared on her face. "Hey Tori, let's try something together..." She knelt down towards one of the tiles that had been left unflowered, and gently moved them away. "I know this sounds super easy, but you've never actually thought to do this before...let's try to replace the broken tiles, all right?"

Tori scoffed a little. "Mum, come on," she teased, and a shiny blue tile filled the gap. "I thought the old ones looked kinda boring, this is prettier, right? Oh, can we add fish to the fountain too! They could jump around and...oh the fountain isn't even WORKING, let me try!"

There were times when Alyss thought that perhaps she encouraged her daughter too much, but that energy was hard to resist. "Well, you certainly can, but don't get disappointed if it doesn't work, okay? I'll admit that neither of us know much about how fountains work--"

While that was certainly the case, some spurts of water did sort of leap up from the fountain, and she could've sworn she saw a very shiny fish leap out as well. "....well that's a start."

[Apollo]

“Well you are mostly right,” conceded Apollo when she spoke about the gods, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, gods are always going to look out for their number one priority, themselves. However as much as many of us might claim otherwise there is still so much of us that is shaped by your kind. Over the years, as the worship of us has changed and we have found new ways to find followers, we have also changed, moving with the morality of those that worship us…or at least…that’s how I have always imagined it.”

He was prone to bouts of introspection…it was part of the whole ‘god of the arts’ thing, it kind of just flowed out of him every now and then. Apollo was maybe not the smartest of the gods, but he could pull out a few sensible sounding sentences every now and then, and he was a God after all, they were supposed to impart wisdom every now and then.

“However, right now, it is in my best interests to see that you and Tori are safe, because you are effectively family,” he said with another sunny smile to both, “just before you go thinking too well of me. I would hate to mislead you.”

Apollo looked around and said, “this place is starting to look really good. Good job girls.”

He watched as the two worked on the fountain and clapped when Tori was able to do a little bit. He knelt down beside her and said, “here, let me see if I can give you a little tip, that’s if your power is the same as mine. Try moving your hands like this,” he demonstrated a large swooshing dramatic movement, “see if that helps.”

[Alyss Heart]

Alyss nodded. She supposed that made a lot of sense...because what were the gods without those who believed in them, after all? Sure, they could control nature, move the tides and turn the earth...okay, perhaps the question was misspoken. Or misthought, rather, if that was a word. The better question would be...would being a god really feel quite as meaningful without anyone to believe in them? Would anyone's life? She knew for a fact the answer really was no. Why else would she spend a decent amount of her life pretending her own past was a dream? And if the gods had similar flaws and feelings as humans, it'd make sense that they would long to be believed in, that they would truly rely on humanity, even if they didn't want to admit it. "I can only hope the other gods catch up, then...that seems like a wise way of thinking of it. At least to me it is...and the family angle is more than fair. I still appreciate it, and have certainly been treated worse by family."

That should be safe to reveal, right? That was vague enough...it's not like I told the whole sad story of my murderous aunt and my adoptive family that never understood me...

She distracted herself by watching Tori and Apollo interact, as Tori seemed rather proud, particularly at the god's praise, and his suggestions. Alyss knew pretty well that hand gestures didn't typically enhance her Imagination's effects, so she had her doubts it'd work that way with Tori...but how could she resist an encouraging, "Yes, go ahead Tori, give it a try."

Tori rubbed her hands together, moving her expression into a surprisingly serious face as she mimicked Apollo's motions...

...and Alyss was prepared to offer some consolation, or maybe a modest little bit of applause...but...the water did seem to move considerably higher. Certainly higher than the first time. Her eyes widened. "...oh good job, Tori..." she managed, but then couldn't help but mutter, "Makes you wonder if she took more after him," as Tori chuckled with pride, and kept making bigger splashes.

[Apollo]

“Well…it’s just as well you’ve got a good family now then, eh?” he said motioning to Tori, “sometimes that’s all the family you need.”

Apollo applauded when the girl made more water for the fountain, “Good job,” he said and held up his hand to her for a high five, “just keep working on it, you’ll get there eventually.”

Looking around the courtyard they had already done a lot to clear up most of the mess, it was slowly beginning to look like it’s old self again. Oh it would still require a few touch ups here and there, but for now, a good job had definitely be done. Sitting on the edge of the fountain he turned around to look at Alyss again, motioning for her to come and sit beside him.

“Trust me when I say I know about having crazy families, my stepmother loathes me,” said Apollo, in a moment of truthfulness that surprised him, “but the funny thing is…the reason she hates me is because I’m one of my father’s bastards but…so is my brother and…she doesn’t hate him so much…it’s…well…all I’m saying is I now that happy families isn’t always easy and so…if you ever needed to talk about it…I would be happy to listen.”

[Alyss Heart]

“Oh, of course…I couldn’t ask for more, as I said.”

After celebrating with her uncle, beaming with pride at his praise, Tori had decided it was a grand idea to start playing with the water, and Alyss had a feeling she would be occupied for at least another five minutes, unless she came up with some great trick to show off. She supposed that meant it’d be wise to take the time to settle down, have a chat with Apollo as he clearly wanted.

Alyss had heard of Hera, of course, and of just how dramatic the family tree at Olympus could be, so it didn’t quite surprise her to hear that Apollo had a complicated relationship with her. “Well that’s hardly fair…that must be frustrating.” That sort of thing was enough to drive her aunt to hating her own sister, after all…that was a reminder, really. The gods did enjoy playing tricks, after all… “And I appreciate the offer. It doesn’t bother me as much as it once did, but I’ll be sure to come to you, should it ever hurt more than I can bear.”

That wasn’t entirely honest, and she knew it. There was always this dull ache in her soul, one that she had gotten very good at covering up by keeping busy, but it was very much there. But it was better to keep it quiet. The last thing she needed was to burden her people, or worse, her daughter. And she could bear it. She learned the whole “stiff upper lip” thing from her adoptive family, after all.

[Apollo]

“Sometimes it helps to speak about the burdens on our shoulders, sometimes, afterwards, you find that the burden that is shared is somewhat lighter,” said Apollo with a smile.

Wait? Did he actually just offer to be a confidant for this woman? Oh sure, he did it all the time for the handsome young men of the world, but really, this woman? This had started as just some sort of way to get back at Hermes but at the moment he couldn’t see the benefit in actually sitting and listening to this woman’s problems, in fact, there wasn’t anything he could think of that sounded worse than that.

And yet…and yet…he had meant it…

“Well…my door and temple is always open to you, anytime, for both of you,” he said and patting her back in an awkward sort of way (he wasn’t all that used to touching women) got to his feet.

“We are making good progress here, let’s finish it off shall we?” he said, holding his hand out to her.

[Alyss Heart]

Alyss nodded, though she was probably about as surprised as Apollo was that he was honestly offering to lend his ears to her troubles. Her eyes darted towards where Tori was playing...and just as she suspected, Tori had glanced over. Despite how sneaky she was, she was still seven and not too subtle about eavesdropping. Some people in the Heart Palace said that it seemed as though Alyss and Tori had an unspoken language sometimes, and perhaps this was one of those moments, because Tori nodded at her mother, offering her a thumbs up to cement the point that Alyss was exactly right. Apollo meant what he had said...well damn.

"That's...very good to know..." And she accepted his hand. "Yes, let's...we were called here for a reason, after all," she agreed as she was pulled up to her feet. She might not have been sure what reason, but Hermes wasn't the only thing she owed a lot to. The school itself provided her a place to belong, a place to heal, and a place where Tori was possible. She couldn't let it remain in disarray like this.

((And I do believe it's winding down here, yes?))