387/Asgardian Hangover

Asgardian Hangover
Date of Scene:	09 March 2020
Location:	3B - Alexander's Greenwich Loft
Synopsis:	Mel and Alex talk about mummies.
Cast of Characters:	Melissa Gold, Alexander Aaron

---

Melissa Gold has posed:
    In most households the sounds being heard right now would be cause for joy, trepidation, or outright alarm. The joys of a woman vomiting into the toilet in the early morning.
    Of course this isn't most households. This is Chez Aaron and the woman is Melissa Gold, over-indulger of Asgardian mead supreme.
    The vomiting gives way to obsessive gargling. Then teeth brushing. Then gargling. Then more teeth brushing. All in a vain attempt to get the taste of death out of her mouth. It's not working. Finally she gives up and exits the bathroom, shading her eyes, wincing at the bright light of a room with all the shutters closed. And lights off. Huddling only in her very sparse underthings below, very strongly supporting above, she curses the tiny spider in the far corner of the room whose stirrings on her web send daggers through Melissa's ears straight into her frontal lobes.
    All in all she's looking miserable and piteous and ... strangely OK with it.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    The night had passed and eventually Alex had crawled into bed as well. Until that first round with the bathroom. He roused then, rolled up and out of bed to try and do what he could. Which, to be fair was not much at the start.
    Right now, however, Alexander is in the living room, near enough at hand to be there in case help is needed, far enough away so his infernal heart beat with all its thumping and thumping isn't too close to be heard. The Olympian youth is settled on the passthrough to the kitchen, wearing grey sweat shorts and a black t-shirt, leaning against the wall like some sort of hipster gargoyle. One foot resting on the counter beside him, knee drawn up to his chest as he watches.
    When she's near enough he'll tilt his head and say lightly, quietly, one word, "Water?" And likely that word might be enough to gain a 'look' of some sort.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    The look is one of brief pain, but then thankfulness. "Yes, please." Then a wince as her own voice echoes in her head and she begins to mentally curse the wind blowing. Indoors.
    "Hell of a kick that shit has," she finally works up the nerve to speak, soldiering through her own voice. Then, "You were right. She's cool."
    Beat.
    "Shit I made an ass of myself, didn't I?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Mm," Alexander usually says when he's trying not to say what springs to mind right off the bat. He hops down off that counter, bare feet landing with a thip-thap as he patters on into the kitchen. There's the whisper of the fridge opening with a soft whoosh as he digs in and withdraws a glass of ice water he'd already thrown together. The cubes clink faintly against the sides of the glass. All such sounds clearly like great church bells off in the distance.
    "I think I came off worse than you did, to be fair." As he says that he extends the glass to her, pausing a second to turn the straw to face her.
    "But yeah she is pretty cool."

Melissa Gold has posed:
    "How...?" Mel looks up in confusion, owlishly blinking in the dim light. "I'm the one pukin' my guts up. What happened to you while I was sleepin'?" she asks confused. "Did you eat too much pizza and have wicked problems dumpin'?" She seems to be actually ... sympathetic to this. "What did you and Blondie get up to anyway after I fell over?"
    Her fuzzy memories recall being carried off. Laid out. Drunken pass made at him and politely turned aside. And then oblivion. "I 'ssume you ate the pizza at least. Waste if you didn't. She was really into that crap wasn't she?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Ahh," Alexander sits down on the arm of one of those overly large chairs, one hand resting on the back of it, the other on his knee. "There was a point where you were talking," Which doesn't narrow it down /at/ all. He smiles a little crookedly as he pushes a hand through his hair then looks back at Melissa with one eye scrunched up.
    "And you were sort of telling me it'd be ok to be with her, and I was like. No." He spreads his hands a little. "But I don't like to lie, makes me unhappy." Though the reason for that she doesn't quite know yet. "I mean not that I can't, I just don't like to."
    He looks over at the door, as if half-imagining Heidi might bust through it. Then his lips twist as he imagines Heidi holding a big jug o Asgardian mead and bursting through the door yelling, 'Oh yeah!'
    Another shake of his head as he looks back, grinning a little then affects a more serious face. "But I did tell her that I found her beautiful and attractive, but that I'd only want to be with her if you were there."
    And then he opens a hand to the side, "And then both of you basically said I was full of shit. Which yeah that wasn't pleasant."

Melissa Gold has posed:
    It's blank incomprehension that crosses Mels' face now. "I don't know what your talkin' about," she finally says, trying to think back and failing. "I thought we was havin' a good time yakkin'. Least that's how I remember." She scratches the back of her head ruefully. "Don't remember much honestly. That shit's strong stuff. I haven't had a good bender in ages. But only laughin' I'd make is if you told me you didn't think she hot cause she hot as fuck."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Yeah, yer right, probably was just the drink." Alexander says this with a steady nod, but it's pretty clear it doesn't do anything to mollify his thoughts about the matter. He pulls his leg up and across his thigh, sitting there as he looks to her, then nods again. "Alright, I'll go and get a shower in, clean up a little. Let me know if you need anything."
    And as he says that he pushes himself to his feet and rests a hand on her shoulder to give it a faint squeeze before he starts to stroll down the hallway, pulling his t-shirt of and tossing it into the bedroom as he passes by, leaning into the bathroom and flipping the switch back on. Then crinkling his nose a little at the smell.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    Mel sits in confusion a while, before padding along the hall to follow Alexander. "Hey, loverboy," she says through the door, voice uncharacteristically gentle, "Look, if I said somemthin' upsettin', I'm ... really sorry? Maybe I wasn't thinkin' straight? Ya know me. Big-mouthed, stupid old Mel. Can't talk worth shit. Don't understand worth shit." Her voice shrinks almost to a little girl's. "I never wanna hurt you. 'Less it's us poundin' the shit out of each other."
    Ah, romance, Melissa style. Beatings are OK, but emotional abuse is out of bounds.
    "I wish I knew what I said and why? I mean, if you're mad, just punch me or somethin'."
    And Phobos within can sense Melissa's fear inside. The fear that informs everything she does in some form or another.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    A moment passes, then the door opens. Those hazel eyes meet hers and there's a touch of sadness there, just a small touch that is quickly superceded by a warmth in his eyes as he takes in a breath and holds it. He pulls her close gently, hands on her hips and resting his forehead to hers, so they can look to each other. Then he lifts his head to give a small kiss to her brow as he murmurs, "It's okay, Mel. Seriously. I'll get over it."
    There is that faint feeling, that pulse of that fear in her that in some ways tries to draw his attention. On some level there is the impulse there to reach out, to change, to take that pain from her. But that feels... wrong. So he tries to use too too inadequate words as he lifts fingers to her cheek and smiles a little. "We're prolly gonna argue now and then, and I'm sure some time down the line I might do or say something that's going to piss you off right proper. But..."
    He looks around, then back to her. "I don't intend to go anywhere. And if you wanted to get rid of me it'd take a ton more than just giving me a hard time. Right?"

Melissa Gold has posed:
    'I don't intend to go anywhere' gets translated to 'I ain't goin' nowhere' in Mel's mind and she visibly relaxes. She attempts a chuckle. It dies in her throat, a horrible, painful death. "Look, was I outta line sayin' you could be with Blondie?" she finally asks. "Was that what you got mad at? 'Cause ... I was just ... thinkin' ... you know, I'm not ..." Enough. That's the word she's trying to say. Enough. But she can't.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Hey," Alexander smiles and nuzzles her cheek, then leans back against the bathroom counter, pulling her closer with his hands in hers. "No. Never do that, Mel. Never imagine you'd be anything less than perfect for me." He gets a small smile, "I was like... yeah, Heidi is attractive. But you're the person I'm with. And my brain was like... did /you/ want to be with her? And was this your way of telling me? Or are you worried we might be moving too fast and so we should give each other freedom?"
    "So I just... I felt like I was in a hard situation. And I tried to thread the needle and still be sort of honest. And I just felt... kicked around a little because of it."
    He takes a deep breath and furrows his brow as he tries to find the right words, to put them to the feelings he has and are unfamiliar with. "I... since having met you, much of my life is viewed through a Melissa filter." His lip twists as he looks back. "I find myself thinking about what you would think about things, about what might make you happy, what might be fun to experience with you. Right?" He snaps his fingers.
    "That time in the subway. Where those gangsters were shooting stuff. There was that explosion. What was the first thing I did?"

Melissa Gold has posed:
    That she has an answer for. Probably not the answer he's expecting, but still an answer. "You got in my way. I hadda dodge you to get into action." Her face goes into "memory rewind" mode as she thinks back. "Yeah, you got in front of me and I had to slip under you to get in..."
    Realization dawns. The world stops as she understands something for the first time. "Wait, was you protectin' me? You was gonna take a hit for me?" He eyes widen. "You was playin' hero ... with ME!?"
    She seems genuinely confused, if not actively disconcerted. "But I'm the one who protects people. That's what I do."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Yeah, I sorta..." Alexander seems about to say something, then pauses. He takes a breath and looks to the side, then looks back to her. "I care about you. I care about what happens to you. I..." Alexander lifts a hand from her hip and rests it on the back of his neck. He looks up at the small row of lights illuminating the bathroom, then back to her.
    He lifts a finger to lightly pull a bit of hair from the corner of her mouth as he grins a little. But then he takes a deep breath and grows a little somber.
    "I... should tell you some things. And they're not hugely great. Ok?" He looks up at her, meeting her gaze. "But just, maybe bear with me. Ok? Let me talk and get the big picture all assembled and then you can ask whatever you want. Cool?"

Melissa Gold has posed:
    "Mind if we do that on the couch?" Melissa looks at the toilet she was so recently voiding her bowels into. "Ain't got find memories of this place right now." She makes a face, and does a weird swallow like she's trying to swallow her dead-tasting tongue. "'Sides, on the couch I can lie down and look up at you while you talk. I like doin' that. Even when I don't understand."
    She steps up to Alex and pokes at his neck. "Your atom apple moves in a cute way when you talk. Like it's warnin' me you're about to say stuff. Kinda cute, really." She then rests her head on his chest, though this may not be entirely a romantic gesture since her knees feel a bit shakey at the moment.
    "Really, 'Lex. I'm sorry. I know, I suck and I'm happy you put up with me."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    A small grin settles on his features as she makes that gesture in the direction of the toilet, and then he nods slowly, "You're prolly right." He stands up from that counter and holds her against him, hand resting gently on the back of her head and brushing fingertips through that wild mane of hair. "Alright, c'mon." Though when he says that last word this time, it's not quite as suggestive as before, but there's still love there in it.
    Once they're back out and in the living room, he'll adjust the pillows for her to lay down, helping lift her legs up and getting her settled. He even asks, "You want a cover?" In case she might be feeling the chill of the morning.
    Then she murmurs that apology and he shakes his head, "It's who you are that appeals to me, Mel. Bad with the good." His lips turn up a little, "Though it's pretty much overwhelmingly good." He grins and squeezes her knee a little.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    "And don't you forget it!" Ah, there's some of the songbird bluster! And Alexander now has scientific data for how long hangovers last in her. Not very. She's clearly recovering and her devil-may-care attitude is beginning to reassert itself.
    Not that she's turning down the pampering mind. Indeed she's being quite the suck about that. "Yes, a cover would be nice," she says, smiling up at Alex.
    Beat.
    "Means when I touch myself while you talk you won't notice."
    D'oh!
    She takes a deep sigh. "You're makin' me feel so comfy. I think you got heavy stuff to drop on me. Am I close?
    Say it with me: she's uneducated, not stupid.
    "Won't matter what you say. Won't change my mind."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "I hope it doesn't," Alexander says as he smiles and gains his feet, still holding her hand for a moment then slipping his fingers free. He turns, walking back down the hallway, pulling open the closet door and digging into a box in there to find an old comforter and unfolds it a few times. Just a beige colored thing that has a good bit of goose down to it. He holds it against his bare chest for a moment as if testing if it'll be alright for her, then gets into the room...
    And /tosses/ it on her entirely, engulfing her world in darkness for a moment. "There you go." But once she frees herself of its confines he'll be grinning faintly, settling into the chair beside her.
    "So yeah. Heavy stuff."

Melissa Gold has posed:
    It takes her a while to free herself. She's too busy laughing to be able to effectively find the edges. Finally, though, she emerges and covers herself mummy-like with the comforter. "Call me Farohess Imaho!" she says in a stern voice. "Who dares awaken me from my slumber!"
    She tries to imperiously point at Alex, but of course being wrapped up this doesn't work. Oh well, who else could she be talking to? "You, peasant, tell me your life story so that I may be entertained in my thousand-year life!"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Taking up his position of honor to the lovely Pharoah's place of recline, Alexander settles on that seat and pulls his left leg up under him, smiling across that short way to her. A tilt of his head is given and he says, "It's not so much, story of my life. More... how things are for me. How they've changed or might be different for me in some ways."
    A deep breath is taken as he scrunches up his nose a little before pondering what he is to say and how he should say it. After a pause, perhaps three heartbeats worth, he continues.
    "When I say to you, I'm the God of Fear, what does that sort of mean to you?" Alexander starts off this way, asking a question, then watching her and seeing what perhaps springs to mind for her, perhaps hoping that it is something he can work with.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    "I imagine it means you control fear? Like make people REALLY afraid?" Melissa guesses, her voice uncertain as she is faced with something unfamiliar and having to think through it from first principles. Time passes. More of it passes. Her gaze suggests she's still processing it. So does the smell of smoke from the wood burning in her head. "Maybe you can take it away too? Or ... move it? Like from person to person?"
    She's blindly guessing,, it's clear, based on a question that caught her by surprise. And being hung over, even as it's fading, doesn't help. "Honestly," she finally says, "I don't know shit about gods at all. Until I met you I didn't think any existed. Especially not that big fucker that people said made the universe."
    A hint of intense bitterness there behind that ... well, OK, 'angelic' is the wrong word to describe her face. Unless she fell.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "I may be the only person that can sort of talk to this. I don't think there are many people who have had an experience like mine." Alexander says after she finishes speaking, though when she had been talking somewhat about what a god of fear can do he did nod at a few points, as if agreeing.
    "But I lived my early life just somewhat normally. Right?" Then there's a lift of his eyebrows as he looks to the side, "I mean, normally for a kid whose dad handed him a sword when he was three and told him to defend himself. But you get the vibe."
    He takes a breath and looks back, "When I was fifteen, I became Phobos. I don't know much about the mechanics of the thing or what all went into it happening. But I inherited the mantle of that god, my father's son according to myth. So I was one thing, then I was another. And... things sort of changed from then on."
    "Like yeah, I can sense fear, I have some control over it. But it's... more than that. Like there's this heartbeat always constant in the background of things. The world's feelings of fear and horror. And when something terrible happens. I know. Because of everyone who experiences it then in that moment."
    Then he shakes his head, "But it did other things to me. Like there were two other people who had laid claim to the mantle before. Two other Phoboses. Phobi? Phobeeses? Whatever. But since then I can sort of hear them, in the back of my mind. It's still my voice, right? Still /me/ as far as I can recognize. But I can tell they're also something that's just plain /other/ from me. I know that doesn't make sense."
    He'll hold up a hand slightly, as if trying to stay an interruption, "Just lemme finish my thing." He takes a breath, "Thing is, with that, and with some of the... emotional changes. I find..." He smiles a little and shrugs, "For a lot of things I just don't care. I just really don't. People in danger, sometimes I'll help since I can and I'm bored, or I know it's the right thing to do and I might get hassled if I don't do anything. But I don't care. I don't... relate to people, don't connect to them. It's hard for me to consider people friends."
    Then he smiles a little and he says, "But." He leans to the side and then points at her. "I care about you. In the greater scheme of things. Just you. I would..." He shakes his head a little and looks to the side, "Let all of the fucking sentinels in the world burn down this whole fucking city. If that was the only way I could save you."
    "So yeah. I think that might be love. But..." Alexander pulls his other leg up under him, sitting cross-legged on the chair. "I've never felt it before. But I think it might be."
    "So yeah. Love. You." He comes so close to saying it.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    Melissa listens soberly. She promised not to talk and she's keeping that promise. His hand going up wasn't necessary. She's just watching and listening and not understanding much of anything that's so far out of her experience.
    But that bit at the end? About caring for one person and to Hell with anybody else? She understands that. That resonates deeply. And it brings tears to her eyes as he speaks. Tears she doesn't try to disguise, nor to angrily wipe away.
    "I think that's what it's called, yes," she says in a tight, hoarse voice. "I've felt it and it felt the same way you're describing."
    Tears are still flowing, and it's unclear why.
    "And I gotta warn you. Everything in my life that I touch I turn to shit. You gotta be careful loving me. I'm not ..."
    She takes a shuddering breath. "But it feels good hearin' you say it, even if it scares the shit outta me."
    And yes, there's intense fear leaking from her now as she speaks. As she realizes the cost of what's being said.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Leaning closer, Alexander slips onto the couch at her side, taking the mummy queen's hand and smiling a little into her eyes. "Hey, I know things are probably going to be tough, just because of who we are. All the craziness that is going to go on. But we can promise each other just..." He looks to the side, and then back with that gentle smile, trying to hold her eyes. "Just to put up with each other's shit, ok? You put up with mine, I'll put up with yours, whenever and wherever it happens. And we just work on it from the angle that we're team Al and Mel versus the World."
    That said he brushes her cheek with his fingertips and then lets himself slip off the couch to fwumpf onto the floor so he can be face to face with her and lean in to kiss the corner of her mouth. "Alright with our powers combined we are Team Almel. Mel-Al. We'll workshop it."
    That said he grins and even though she might be feeling self conscious about her trying morning and him kissing her, he does so anyways. Just a gentle touch of lips to hers, a faint smack of sound as they part and his hands holding hers.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    Cute little girl face applied. It doesn't look natural on her. "I like that," she breathes. "Almel. Like that cryptofascist guy, only it's you and me." She makes a 'rowr' face and feigns cat-claw scratching. "Against the world."
    And there's that smile, past the tears. "Yeah, trust me. If you're puttin' up with my shit, you'd better go to plumber school 'cause shit's comin' down like rain on you now."
    She pauses. Wrinkles her nose. "Ew! That wasn't quite how I wanted to say that."
    She struggles out of her wrapping to sit up. "And next time I get that drunk, 'Lex, just stuff a cork in my mouth and tape over it. Then I won't be so much of a pain in the ass.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Hey, the idea did occur to me," Alexander says with a rueful nod, then he squeezes her hand again. "Ok, now I'm gonna go hop in the shower. Feel free to just relax or get ready for the day or whatever, maybe we can go out or something and enjoy the day."
    That said he pushes himself up and to his feet, rising with an ease of motion that might offer subtle reminder to how graceful the youth can be. His fingers slip from hers and his spread into a small wave. Quiet footsteps across the floor and into the hall. Though there's an instant where he pauses and tilts his head to the side, "Or, you know..."
    Alex's eerie pale eyes meet Melissa's and there's that tone in his voice, that devil's own teasing tone as he tells her, "You could join me."
    That said he continues down the hall. The door opening and soon the sound of the sink being turned on is heard, followed by the low hiss of the shower.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    Melissa stares after Alex and giggles at his suggestion, burying that in the blanket next to her. Once the shower starts, she gets up, sneaking down the short hall, disrobing on the way.
    Not a lot of work, she only had on two pieces.
    As carefully as possible she sneaks into the bathroom, relying on the mist from the shower to conceal her until, sneaking up on him, she suddenly throws open the curtain and shouts "BOO!"
    Because making the god of fear react in fear is just too funny to pass up!