[OTA] Until the Sun Comes Up Over Santa Monica Boulevard

[acomedicgenius]

Thalia loved all of her little charges without a doubt, the ones that stretched from Tokyo to London to New York City, but there was a soft spot in her heart for Hollywood. Maybe it was the energy of the place, she thought. Or maybe it was the fact that it was one of the only places in the northern hemisphere where she could rent herself a shiny red Corvette and drive down Rodeo Drive with the top down and a pair of sunglasses perched on her nose.

In January.

She wasn't driving at the moment. The car was parked on the side of the street and Thalia was parked on the hood with her sunglasses perched on her head and a wild grin on her face. The kind of grin that bespoke trouble for someone, undoubtedly.

Or maybe - possibly - for everyone.

Comments

[hamelinic]

Someone like men who stopped to whistle between their teeth at her? Someone like men who popped their own sunglasses up to see her properly because they wanted to be sure they weren't thinking overly wishfully?

Someone like a man who's always a little bit in trouble but so much happier about it when she's involved?

"Pull me over and give me some coolant. What in the world are you doing here?"

[acomedicgenius]

"Sugar pie!" And isn't that the brightest smile in the universe. And isn't that a sad little group of would-be comedians getting shooed away so that Sugar Pie can help her off the hood of the car.

"I get here and I get there," she tells him. "And what are you doing? Collecting tinsel in Tinsel Town?"

[hamelinic]

It's a little staggering, being smiled at like that. Then again, it's a little staggering being acknowledged by her at all. Thankfully, his body is more responsive than his brain, and she'll absolutely have a hand offered to help her down to earth again.

A hand which might not remember how to let go of hers. Whoops. Fingers are impossible to navigate.

"Selling my soul, unfortunately." Not the bit that belongs to her, of course. "It's amazing how little you can get in the world without money these days. Someone ought to do something about that."

[acomedicgenius]

They're tricky little buggers, fingers. It's a good thing she doesn't particularly mind the adoration. So few people actually adore anymore.

"Souls are pretty priceless," she tells him. Leaning up to kiss him on the cheek, of course, because the reaction is also priceless. "You should try renting."

[hamelinic]

Fingers not throwing off his fingers are fingers that get wrapped up properly in his, long and just a little bony but absolutely zealous in their desire to cling close.

And kissed cheeks are cheeks that absolutely light up to a cheerful sort of red. "How would I manage that, then, darling?"

[acomedicgenius]

"Now that's a riddle." Luckily riddles are one of those ridiculous past times gods amuse themselves with. "But I would say that no one owns your soul unless you allow them to. But that doesn't mean you can't let them think they do. Temporarily."

By playing in a bar or something.

[hamelinic]

"I'll have to give that a try."

But, you know. In the spirit of the god of bad pick-up lines and all that.

"Save more of it to give straight to you."

Yes. Classy. He should feel good about that one.

[acomedicgenius]

Hand to her heart, Cynric. You know how to impress a girl. At least this girl. Two plastic starlets walking past are rolling their eyes.

"That one was good. I'll use it to buy us more Chinese takeout." Because clearly that is the best thing to do. "Or pizza. I don't have nearly enough pizza."

[hamelinic]

Lucky him that it hits the intended audience. Who's got time for anyone else when they've got a muse taking up so much of their hearts?

"Then let's get you pizza, dearheart." Time to convert those sticky fingers to actually pulling her arm into his. "And you can dazzle me about the newest comics about to hit the stage, mm?"

[acomedicgenius]

"Pepperoni and mushroom and green olive. It's the only way." Until the next way, at least. She thinks her arm with his. "I'm working on a movie. An action movie, can you believe it? I'm almost as offended as Urania was when they downgraded Pluto." Poor Pluto. Her sister stomped around for years. "Maybe you should be the newest comic to hit the stage."

[hamelinic]

To be fair, everyone had gotten riled up about Pluto. It had been an affront to the very fabric of reality.

General disgruntlement over her work in action gets a bit derailed by her secondary suggestion, however. "--sorry, what? Me?"

[acomedicgenius]

She'd heard all about it. All sorts of adjectives. In Greek, Latin, and all the other languages in between, but that's neither here nor there.

"Of course you, silly." Can't he see it? Well, let her set the stage. "You, riddles and puns and knock-knock jokes, the lute and the violin. The critics go wild! A return to classical comedy! Like going to see a court jester on tour!" Visualize with her, Cynric.

[hamelinic]

Oh, but he can visualize it. Oh, but he must let his heart patter slightly against his chest because that's the whole big beautiful perfect idea.

And because it's something she wants. Sees him as capable of doing. It's a tight, wonderful sort of feeling in the heart-area.

"I can see all of it but the critics getting behind it, my pulse."

[acomedicgenius]

Can you make a sound that means pshaw? Thalia can. She can wave a hand dismissively, too, which is exactly what she's doing.

"Oh, they won't like it at first. They never like anything when it's new. But they'll come around. Maybe I'll sweet talk Pan into influencing them." It's nice to have the god of theatrical criticism as a favorite nephew.

[hamelinic]

"What, all that for me?"

Except pshaw on that. Huzzah for the entirely one-sided devotion of a follower, whether he's favoured by his muse or merely glanced on from time to time.

"Or-- well. For the return of our more perfect art into the modern world?"

[acomedicgenius]

"Oh, both. It can be both." She does enjoy this one, she thinks as she leans up to kiss his cheek. He never grumbles about the inspiration she chooses to visit upon her.

He never turns her inspiration into Shia LeBoeuf vehicles, either.

"Pan hasn't had fun for a while. That's simply criminal."

[hamelinic]

He spends a lot of his life scoffing at the idea of true love--or, really, of love at all. He spends a lot of intellectual energy understanding that anything in his life even half like love is eaten up by his work.

But then there's Thalia. And there's the way she says almost nothing at all and gives him a soft kiss on the cheek and his insides flip-flop into something completely nonsensical and he almost stumbles from how overwhelming it must be for some people to live completely in love 24/7.

"If it's what you want."

[acomedicgenius]

"It is. Exactamundo." She gives him a curious look. "Will you do it?" She asks.

[hamelinic]

"Have I said no to you before, my verdant one?" Pish posh. Have the most arched of brows for you, madam. "I'll start preparing my battery of puns for your service."

[acomedicgenius]

"Never. It's why you're my favorite." For today, at least - and for a lot of days, really, but Thalia wouldn't be Thalia if she wasn't a little bit flighty at the best of times. "You're a doll, doll."