Welcoming the Little Ones(OPEN)

[Heaven Lee Wise]

Going back to Texas probablywasn't the smartest thing she'd ever done, what with the DCA out for her blood. She had to go though! She could rattle off the names of six pegasi mares that were close to their due dates, and there was no way she was going to let them give birth without her there. Since she had taken over the ranch, she had been at almost ever birth, helping to bring the foal into the world. This was even more so important with her pegasi. She wasn't a Poseidon kid, that could speak to the horses she bred, but if the pegasi were introduced to the aura of an Ares child from a young age, they were less likely to shy away from the child of the War God. Besides, at least two of the mares were confirmed to be carrying twins, something she was trying to encourage among the winged horses, and twin births could often be tricky.

Luckily, the trip had gone off well, with only a few minor instances, where a few young children had spotted her and 'the pretty winged ponies'. She'd been able to high tail it out of the town before any DCA showed up looking for her. It really sucked, being on their wanted list. It was different then being 'known'. They knew her and they wanted her put down.

At the moment, she was down on her knees, hands inside one of the mares as she guided the second foal from her. The mare was busy cleaning the first as Heaven laid the second beside her twin.

After the mother began to clean the second filly, the Ares daughter stood, removing the long rubber gloves that she had been wearing, grimacing slightly. She never did like the clean up involved after birth, but Wind Song had been too tired to push after the first filly was out. That was why Heaven was there, to make sure she never lost mother or foal.

She opened the stall door, shutting it softly behind her, and quickly walked to the water hose, as she began to wash her arms and her hands. Out of the six mares that were due, four, well five now, had healthy babies. All she had left was Feather and she was going to have twins as well.

With a tired, hearty, sigh, the small woman leaved against the barn wall, looking at all the horses and pegasi. She'd been up around two, when Wing Song had started giving birth, and now it was about noon, and she was exhausted...

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outfit: click

[Cole Ryans]

It had been nearly forever since he had been in the stables. But as he was one of the adults, there was no reason to shirk responsibility. He had been assigned to help the aphrodite kids muck out the stables. But by the time he had arrived, things looked great. But yet again there was no one in sight. It looked to Cole as if someone had scared them off, or something as the case may be. His sword clanked at his side and the spear in his hand. Gently, Cole leaned his pilum against the wall. The smell was faint, like a past memory he had suppressed a long time ago.

Suddenly the stall door swung open, Cole backed up out of habit. It was a battle reflex that kept him sharp. But it wasn't a monster, it wasn't even a random hay bale flying in his direction. It was Heaven. The beautiful daughter of Cole's patron. Her eyes betrayed her fiery personality and to be honest, one of the only people he had expected to actually find here. On her horse she was like a female version of her dad, just much more like an amazon or another goddess. But after being gone for so long, there was only one thing he could say. "Hey." He waved a hand in acknowledgement towards her.

Seriously?!? Cole mentally scolded himself. After all these years that was just the only thing that he could come up with? What the hell was wrong with him? Cole kicked his own ass around his brain, trying to think of something more suave and debonair to say other then just hey. He tugged at his sleeve, as he did some times when he was nervous or fidjity. HE felt as if he should jsut ram his head into the post he was leaning on. He was angry with himself. Hell he wouldn't blame her if the only thing she wanted to do was shove his spear right up his arse and make him a cole shishkabob. That would be a good answer to just saying hey. But luckily he didn't think that would happen, no matter how fitting it would be.

[Heaven Lee Wise]

That voice, it tickled memories. Memories that she'd long since locked away. Memories of battle, of a party, of playing at being Aphrodite, of a boy, and of kisses. When she turned around to look at the person who had spoken, he was the last person she had thought to see alive.

If this had happened before the DCA invasion of her home, before she had taken over the ranch, even before the death of her family, she would have flown off the handle when she saw him. Her sword would have been in her hand in a second, the aura of her level of anger would be spilling off of her at her loss of control. Of course, that reaction was what her teen self would have done. Now, as an adult, only the smallest of ill feelings leaking from her. Her negative emotions no longer controlled her. She gained almost perfect control over her negative empathetic powers, and they had grown as well.

"Hello," she said, her voice low, smooth, and slow. "I'm afraid we haven't met." Her grey green eyes were dispassionate as she looked at the man that she had once loved. When the accident with her mother and younger sister had happened, she had tried to explain what had happened to her friends. She had told them that she wasn't sure when, or even if, she would be back at camp but it would be easy enough to find her, and had given the ranch's address out, just in case. No one had even come to call, which had hurt, but the pain of her families deaths had hurt so much more. But now, Cole, her father's tool, the boy who had once given her his phoenix necklace, was back and all he could say was, 'hey'? She could have strangled him!

[Cole Ryans]

"I'm sorry..." It was much, that was for damned sure. But Cole just couldn't bring himself to explain why it had been so long since he had last seen her. There were things that Chiron and even Lord Aries had forbid him to speak of. Like his family, his biological family. He tugged at his wrist band that he kept on his left arm out of habit. It hid something that could possibly throw the entirety of the demi-god balance off kilter. He wasn't about to do something that stupid. He couldn't help but gulp. he felt as if he was about to get his ass chewed up and spit out by a hell hound. The angry glint and smooth vocal tones made him worry. It was the quiet ones that you really had to watch out for.

"I owe you an explanation. If I could tell you I would but I can't. Please just leave it at that." Thinking about what had happened made Cole's eyes look sad. It was a sour feeling in the pit of his stomach. He bit his lip. All he wanted to do was to hug her and fix everything that was wrong. But Cole had messed up. He knew that something had been wrong, that something had happened and he was a jerk for not being there for her. But despite all the emotions welling up inside him, the little voice in the back of his head screaming that to do what he was about to do was damn near suicidal. Cole didn't care. He tossed his pilum aside and pulled Heaven into a hug.

He embraced her. He wanted to never let Heaven go, never again. He felt a few tears on his cheek, hotter then a normal persons. Heaven's intoxicating scent of horses and hay filled his nose. "I'm sorry I wasn't there, That I couldn't protect you. I don't deserve someone as amazing as you." HE tried to put as many emotions behind what he was saying. That he was here now and that he wasn't going anywhere. That even though the past few years they had been through some rough patches, he wouldn't be going anywhere. "I missed you."

[Heaven Lee Wise]

She listened to him, silent as a grave, as he tried to explain himself to her. She didn't care, didn't want to hear his story, didn't want to feel anything. It didn't matter that she wanted to lean into him and have him hold her. It didn't matter that, underneath her anger, she had missed him so much, had missed everyone. It didn't matter that he was here now, when the world was going to hell. None of it mattered, because of what she was. All these good emotions were harder for her to hold on to, to bring to the surface. With anything negative, she could easily latch onto it and bring it out. Positive emotions, however slipped through her fingers like sand. Anger, betrayal, and hurt was something solid for her to cling to.

She stiffened for one moment when he hugged her, emotions warring inside her. Part of her wanted to weep and say that there was nothing to forgive. She understood that there were things that had to be done. Another part wanted to tell him that she should have known that he would leave her, everyone else had. He was back now, though, unlike everyone else. Yet another part of her wanted to rage and scream and tell him that he could go to hell for all that she cared. The last, and the strongest wanted nothing to do with him, to present a cold wall of indifference.

"You weren't there, I have never needed your protection, and you're right, you don't deserve me." She said in a soft, hollow voice as she pulled away from the demi-titan. The cold, uncaring part of her had won, it seemed. She wielded her calm voice as she would a blade. "You missed me? What did you even really know of me to miss?" Her eyes were almost completely grey, the green in them all but gone as she regarded Cole, readying herself to make the final, cruel blow. "I didn't miss you. At all." It was a lie, of course, but only partially so. Half of her had missed him, had pined for him, just as the other half had cursed him and hated him.

[Cole Ryans]

Her words hurt. They were more deadly than any other blade that she wielded and more wounding than a serrated blade through the naval. But it was then he decided that she needed to know the truth. What her father asked, his other family, what he had to attempt to do. Suddenly the small stable seemed to place the two of them worlds apart. She hated Cole and there was nothing that he could do to blame her. For all the pain he caused her, for the wounds he should have been there to heal, he did nothing. Maybe this was her dad’s way of telling him to go screw himself on his spear. Cole had almost literally felt his heart shatter to pieces. He knew that he never truly belonged here at camp, but he didn’t belong with his other family either. Deep down, Cole knew he couldn’t even belong with her. “So that’s it then is it? Nothing? So pretty much I can go out and get my ass smoked by the DCA and you wouldn’t give two drachma’s in hell about it.” Cole took a deep breath, keeping his anger in check. He knew what she could do as a negative empathy, that if he didn’t stay in control she would take his bad emotions and run rampant with them. Aries had done it on more than one occasion.

“You want to know the truth? I had to go back to where I came from. There’s a reason why I can’t tell you about my ‘family’. Chiron would kill me and so would Lupa. You’ve always had people that care, I don’t have that. Everyone here hates me and back where I came from they will kill me on sight. But you don’t give a damn.” Cole ripped off his wrist band and showed Heaven his brand. He felt his temperature rising, as it did in the midst of battle when he was about to burst into flames. Cole kicked at a bucket of water in frustration, the water that lapped up on his feet immediately turned to steam. The horse in the stall next to him whined and knocked against the walls of the stall, trying his hardest to get away from cole. “You’re lucky and you don’t even know it.” His voice was cold as he snatched up his Pilum and shield. He let out a snort of derision as he turned his back. “Your father sent me on a mission and by the gods I will accomplish it even if he’s sent me back here. I won’t go against the gods on your feminine little whims.”

He started to walk away, leaving trails of blazing footprints in the wood. “I’ll tell you the truth when you’re ready to listen.” Cole placed a hand on the door of the stables, but the metal melted in his hand. He cursed in latin before kicking the door down.