[center][url=https://fontmeme.com/fonts/biography-font/][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/260628/40437a91.png[/img][/url] [url=https://fontmeme.com/fonts/drugs-font/][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/260628/0355d699.png[/img][/url] [img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/ed8ed5528fdc612f2a179f974a737cad/237007e77904ca81-c4/s400x600/847866302cc199e9c5cb6e7f89e644329cd438d6.gif[/img][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/2a24b71f9fca2ac017c623430ae534a8/3f0ff4bec7dff1e9-41/s400x600/aa4a9e8dae92c67f38058f662799daa0e7ca3a53.gif[/img] [color=2e2c2c]▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇[/color][/center][right][sub][color=#c4c4c4]S T A T E N I S L A N D[/color] [color=#000000]◆[/color] [color=#c4c4c4]N E W Y O R K[/color][/sub][/right] [color=#c4c4c4][i]Now what..?[/i] Giovanni took another slow drag of his cigarette as he stared down at the black bident in his hand. A faint hum seemed to reverb off of the bident in his hand, a sound he could barely hear over the ever-constant noise pollution that is known as New York. Part of him wanted to go back upstairs to his apartment and simply slip into a deep slumber, hoping that this was all some sort of crazy pipe dream. Speaking of [i]pipe dream[/i]... Giovanni pulled the cigarette from his mouth and looked it over suspiciously, suddenly questioning the possibility that maybe they'd been laced with [i]something[/i]. With a dismissive shake of his head, the young man stomped out the glowing cherry on the curb and turned to head back inside to his flat. One thing was for certain. [i]Someone was near.[/i] How close? Were they watching him? If all of what had just been said to him was true, and he truly was the [i]successor to the Underworld[/i]... The unsettling feeling only continued to gnaw at the back of his mind with each step he took. With a quick glance over his shoulder down the hall, Giovanni let himself into his flat, a burdened sigh escaped him that seemed to drain the tension from his body. Only it didn't last for very long. Just as he'd grasped some sense of safety within his own space, he realized he wasn't alone. Sprawled out across the length of his couch as if she'd outright owned the furniture was a young woman, clothes as dark as her hair and the type of confidence of someone who never asked permission to be comfortable. An expression that seemed to read equal parts boredom and amusement spread across her face as she looked over a glass in her hand. Which wasn't just any glass... it was [i]hers[/i]. Not only was this woman intruding, she just so happened to be grasping one of the few items Giovanni kept of his fiancé's that he could stand to keep in the empty shell of their once shared home. Without so much as a second thought, the young man raised the head of the bident to point it balefully at her.. a certain fire burning behind his dark eyes. [color=#000000]"I'm going to give you exactly one chance.."[/color] The bident in his hand lowered just enough to make the threat feel more deliberate and less impulsive. Where Giovanni would hold a very composed demeanor normally, all bets were off when it came to his Lauren. [color=#000000]"Put. It. Down."[/color] Each word sharper than the next. [color=#000000]"[b][i]Now.[/i][/b]"[/color] She'd expected security. She hadn't expected...grief. It lingered in the rooms like dust that never settled: photographs left in place, a jacket draped over the back of a chair. It was a home that look occupied by someone who hadn't quite figured out how to live in it anymore. That was why the glass had caught her attention- it wasn't expensive. Hell, compared to everything else in the apartment, it was almost painfully ordinary. Which meant it mattered. Sloane had been turning it slowly between her fingers, studying the faint fingertips left in the old crystal, when the front door opened. His footsteps were heavier than she expected. They weren't careless; a heavy burden seemed to weigh them down. The click of the lock echoed through the apartment, soon followed by silence. She looked up just in time to find herself staring down the wicked black points of a bident. [color=9FE2BF]"...Well."[/color] A slow smiled pulled at the corner of her mouth. [color=9FE2BF]"I was wondering how long it'd take."[/color] The smile lingered on her face until she looked at his eyes. They weren't angry- not entirely. She instantly recognized the hurt. When his gaze flicked to the glass in her hand, everything clicked into place. [color=9FE2BF][i]Idiot.[/i][/color] It wasn't the apartment nor the trespassing- it was the very object in her hand. Without another word, she leaned forward and placed it gently onto the coffee table. Then she leaned back into the couch, raising both hands shoulder-high in an exaggerated display of surrender. [color=9FE2BF]"There. Happy?"[/color] Her brown eyes drifted from the bident back to his face. [color=9FE2BF]"...Didn't know."[/color] For someone else, the apology might have been longer. For Sloane, those two words carried more weight than a speech ever could. She studied him openly now: the expensive clothes, the exhaustion sitting beneath his eyes. The bident. The way he held it like someone who wasn't entirely sure whether it belonged in his hand. [color=9FE2BF][i]Yeah. That checks out.[/i][/color] [color=9FE2BF]"So..."[/color] she said, breaking the silence with the same casual tone she'd use discussing tomorrow's weather. [color=9FE2BF]"You see a dead guy with a helmet recently?"[/color] The corner of her mouth twitched. [color=9FE2BF]"I'm trying to figure out if we're having the same psychotic break...or if the Greek gods collectively decided to ruin both of our lives."[/color] She tipped her head towards the weapon. [color=9FE2BF]"I'm guessing option two."[/color] Her gaze dropped briefly to the black bident before returning to him. [color=9FE2BF]"Name's Sloane. Most people call me Blink. I'd offer to shake your hand..."[/color] Her eyes flickered deliberately toward the sharpened points aimed squarely at her chest. [color=9FE2BF]"...but you seem busy."[/color] Despite the joke, she never once reached for the Caduceus hidden beneath her jacket. She never shifted her posture, never made a move towards the exits she'd already catalogued the second she had walked in. She simply watched him- waiting, curious for his next move. Trying to decide whether the successor of Hades was going to lower the weapon...or prove she had been right about rich kids all along. Giovanni stood there quietly holding his ground while she offered up an explanation, his demeanor immediately relaxing as soon as the cup was out of her hand. She seemed apologetic enough, for what it was worth. And not that he owed her the courtesy of allowing her the time to explain herself, but something seemed familiar about her. Eerily so.. [i]Then it hit him.[/i] She'd been the pick-pocketer who'd caught him slacking on the subway on his way home from a long day at the office. She'd made off with his watch and the few stray dollar bills from his wallet, though he'd noted back then she never stole the wallet itself. Somehow she'd managed to thieve the wallet and store it back in its rightful place in his jacket pocket that had been hanging from his hand, while the other had held his phone tightly pressed to his ear for a very serious phone call with his father about a case the firm had just lost. It had been his father's loss, but somehow it always came back to Giovanni as some sort of lesson, though the stern talking to always felt less like a lesson and more like a reprimanding as if Gio had made the offense himself. The young man brought his eyes up to meet hers once more, the fire behind his own had since died down, looking her over. [color=#000000]"I know you. We've met before..."[/color] It was then that he'd taken a deep breath, letting out with a hefty sigh as he raised the bident back up to use as a post to lean on while he stood there facing off with the young woman before him. [color=#000000][i]Personally, I'm still betting on a psychotic break. Or rather, praying for it.[/i][/color] A crooked grin spread across Sloane's face the moment recognition dawned on his. [color=9FE2BF]"There it is."[/color] She pointed at him with an accusatory finger, as though he'd finally solved a puzzle she'd been waiting on. [color=9FE2BF]"I was starting to think that subway ride didn't leave much of an impression."[/color] She leaned back into the couch again, one arm draped lazily across the back as if they weren't discussing divine awakenings and breaking-and-entering in the same conversation. [color=9FE2BF]"You had your phone glued to your ear. Expensive watch. Designer jacket."[/color] She shrugged. [color=9FE2BF]"Honestly, you were practically asking for it."[/color] A moment passed as she continued to study him before she made her next statement. [color=9FE2BF]"...I left the wallet."[/color] It didn't hold pride nor regret, was just simply a fact. [color=9FE2BF]"I needed cash. You needed your ID more than I did."[/color] Biting the inside of her cheek, she took in his posture against the bident. It wasn't necessarily surrender, but it was progress. She'd take it. Though, even through his stance, she could tell he wasn't all too familiar with the weapon. Sloane took a breath. [color=9FE2BF]"I tried disproving it."[/color] Her voice softened- not vulnerable, just honest. [color=9FE2BF]"Sleep deprivation. Hallucinations. Stress. Hell, I even stole a psychology textbook from the library."[/color] A faint smirk returned to her mouth. [color=9FE2BF]"Turns out mental illness doesn't usually come with complimentary magical artifacts."[/color] She pushed herself off the couch, stretching as though she'd merely stopped in to borrow a cup of sugar instead of trespassing into the home of one of New York's wealthiest families. [color=9FE2BF]"So. I've got one god telling me I'm,"[/color] she paused to make air quotes, [color=9FE2BF]"supposed to find the others. As if I've spent my life looking after anyone besides myself."[/color] Her expression flattened into one of mild annoyance. [color=9FE2BF]"I don't do teams. I don't mentor people. I don't even like people. No offense."[/color] Sighing, she shook her head. [color=9FE2BF]"Yet somehow..."[/color] Sloane gestured vaguely between them with one hand. [color=9FE2BF]"...here I am. Standing in your apartment. Talking to the successor of Hades instead of minding my own business like a perfectly rational person."[/color] She shrugged her shoulders before giving a dramatic sigh. [color=9FE2BF]"I blame Hermes."[/color] Her brown eyes met Giovanni's again, this time without the joking edge. [color=9FE2BF]"I don't know what we're supposed to do next. I just know that if a god went through the trouble of finding both of us, it's probably because something bigger than either of us is coming."[/color] Then, just as quickly as the seriousness appeared, it vanished beneath another crooked smile. [color=9FE2BF]"But if it makes you feel any better, I'm still fifty bucks richer from the last time we met."[/color] Her grin widened. [color=9FE2BF]"And honestly? I'd call that fate."[/color] [i]Fate, hm?[/i] Giovanni stood there, moments of silence passing between them while he digested everything she said. What had happened earlier.. meeting Hades, being [i]chosen[/i] as his successor... [color=#000000][i]And why? Why [b]her[/b]? HOW was this... [i]thie[/i]- well. She had mentioned Hermes.. Hermes was the "god of thieves", wasn't he?[/i][/color] He couldn't help the [i]literal[/i] eyeroll that came from the thought alone. Good lord. Once again, Giovanni gave a hesitating glance over to his dining room table with the case file still sitting in wait for him, bringing his eyes back to meet with hers. There was a heavy divide forming within him over the duties he had to uphold with his job.. his family... while there was a new pull, deep within his chest that he hadn't been able to shake since the bident had been thrust into his hands. He wasn't sure if he trusted this girl, this Sloane character. Knowing she was another chosen successor didn't much help her case. He still didn't trust her. Not by a long shot... he knew he had no other choice, at least not right now. Hades had told him he needed to 'find the others'. [color=#000000][i]One down.. however many more to go.[/i][/color] Giovanni shook his head as he headed off towards his bedroom to change out of his suit, leaving her standing in his living room as he grumbled under his breath. [color=#000000]"I'm gonna need another cigarette before we bounce outta here."[/color] [/color]