Title: The Prisoner in the Woods
Name: Willow
Cohort: Three
Team: Offense
Challenge: At Nature's Doorstep
Prompt: 28. XXX lives by themselves in a cabin in northern Wisconsin, and someone comes knocking on the door.
Words: 2795
Notes: Human AU.
Humming, Calypso dropped freshly cut blocks of wood into her fireplace. It was a chilly evening in northern Wisconsin, but not unfamiliar to Calypso. She lived by herself in a secluded cabin in a thickly wooded forest, with towering trees that reached for the clouds.
She wasn't too lonely - she had gotten used to her prison-turned-home. Calling it her home had been quite the struggle for Calypso. Getting sentenced to live in an abandoned cabin in a forest owned by her relatives was nothing to celebrate. The reason why she was here was even more ridiculous, but Calypso didn't like to dwell on that. It had been about eight years since the first time she had stepped foot into the cabin nicknamed Ogygia by her relatives.
Ogygia was a pretty place. Thick pines ascended into the cloudy skies, their fresh scent carried by the wind. Sometimes a misty fog would swirl through the branches, giving the whole place an air of mystery and wonder. Although it was hard to see past a few yards due to the heavy foliage, Calypso knew these woods like the back of her hand - that is, she didn't know how to describe it at all and wouldn't be able to tell anyone much about it. Although, when shown the forest - or, as the example goes, the back of her hand - Calypso would be able to find her way through it quite easily.
Peering out the window for a moment, Calypso pursed her lips. The trees directly outside of her window loomed before fading away, the night swallowing them into its shadowy embrace. If anyone was in the forest - not that anyone would be - they would have an awful hard time finding their way through.
Putting dishes away, Calypso gathered vegetables and a knife, sitting down on a stool. Absentmindedly chopping them, she sang a tune, the whimsical notes dancing out of the open window. She wasn't paying attention to much, which was why it was so startling to her when she was brought out of her thoughts.
Knock-knock.
At first, the raps were gentle, questioning, before giving way to the intruder's impatience. Standing up and accidentally knocking her stool over, Calypso clutched her knife as she made her way to the door. She tried looking out the window, but could only catch a glimpse of a hazy figure outside her door.
"Who are you?" she demanded, her fear giving way to determination.
She heard a shuffling outside of the door, before a cheerful voice called, "I'm Leo. Now, I'm sort of lost out here, and I heard some singing and I thought I'd make my way here. Mind if I come in?" Calypso narrowed her eyes, not putting down her knife quite yet. Whoever this 'Leo' was, he sure was ignorant. The forest was private property, and nobody was allowed to trespass. It was how Calypso was kept in solitude for eight years, after all. But suddenly, this lost stranger came and disregarded all rules and sensibility. It was rather annoying. While she had originally hated the quiet and solitude, it had grown on her. And idiotic strangers who disrupted her solitude irked her.
"Why are you here?" Calypso asked snappishly, not liking the intruder. "I mean, why were you around here in the first place? Ogy - this forest is privately owned, you know."
A beat of silence followed. "And I suppose you're some rich person's bratty daughter?" a teasing voice asked. "Well, little miss ray of sunshine, I was out for a walk. I didn't expect to happen upon someone who has parents rich enough to own a whole forest."
Calypso bristled. She didn't like being compared to her parents, and it was also rather obvious the stranger had lied. "That's none of your business," she said haughtily. Well, perhaps she should act less condescending - now that she thought about it, the more snobbish she acted, the more the stranger had to go on about. "For all you know, I could be the rich one here, not my parents. And besides, why were you out for a walk? No one walks here."
A dry chuckle came. "Well, Sunshine-" Calypso wrinkled her nose at the nickname, not liking it one bit, "- I think that's best left alone. I won't go asking questions about why you're here - and don't lie and say you bought this, you sound barely my age - if you don't nose into my stuff. Deal? Deal."
Staying silent, Calypso mulled this over. Leo was perceptive, she noted. While he was dumb enough to get lost (she was being a little harsh, but who cared), he was smart enough to pick up on things. That could be dangerous.
"Alright," she said, tightening her grip on the knife. Still, this Leo could be ready to murder her, and it was best to be prepared. Throwing the door open, she looked in surprise at a scrawny boy who looked much younger than her blinking at the sudden beams of light shining out her door.
Focusing on her, Leo gave her a bright grin, giving a low whistle. "So, Sunshine - oh, you never gave me your name, did you? - nice home you got for a cabin in the woods. Stove, fireplace, and by the looks of it, two stories and a basement… definitely a rich kid."
Scowling, Calypso loosened her grip on the knife. "Watch it," she snapped. "I'm the one letting you in. And I'll decide if I want to tell you my name - besides, you hardly look my age. What are you, thirteen?"
"I'm seventeen!" Leo protested, slowly edging his way towards the door Calypso still blocked. "And you wouldn't say no to a weary traveler - especially not one so lost, hungry, and devilishly handsome?"
Blinking at the last part, Calypso quickly fixed a scowl on her face. "Well, come on in then," she said impatiently. "It's already late, and I don't have all day to stand around and do nothing."
"Thanks, Sunshine." Slipping inside, Leo looked around at the cabin, on occasion giving a nod of appreciation. Calypso looked him over while he did so. He had a worn backpack that looked mostly empty, and a strange tool belt around his waist. Its pockets bulged with tools and knicknacks, but Calypso didn't really care. Shutting the door none too gently, she strode back into the kitchen, putting her knife and half-cut vegetables aside.
Stalking to a soft couch, she glared at Leo and gestured for him to follow her into the sitting room. Dutifully trailing behind her, Leo only stopped to look at a broken picture frame.
Calypso, who had not been watching Leo, did not notice him turn the picture frame over, the stand hanging off limply. It had been propped up against a book, but that didn't really matter. What mattered was the picture inside - a cheerful looking Calypso as a child with five other young girls and serious yet happy man. The five girls were her cousins, nicknamed the Hesperides. And the man was Calypso's father, the veteran General Atlas. He had fought in multiple wars, renowned for his prowess in battle. One of the successors of a major business tycoon, Atlas was very well off, as were his relatives. Rich enough to afford a whole forest, and much more.
"Is this you?" Leo asked, staring at it. "You look a lot sunnier in this… hey!" Setting the frame down, he ducked away as Calypso chucked a pillow at him.
"Don't just go around touching other people's stuff," Calypso hissed.
"I was only holding it because I noticed the stand was broken and I knew how to fix it!" Leo yelped, covering his head with his hands as Calypso picked up another pillow. "Jeez, lady. Shouldn't you be more nice to your guest?"
"You can fix it?" Calypso asked warily, lowering the pillow and ignoring his protests.
"Of course I can," Leo scoffed. "I'm Leo! The Super-sized McShizzle himself!"
"Sure," Calypso said unenthusiastically, raising an eyebrow. "Well, what are you doing? Aren't you going to fix it?"
"I'm not just some tool boy," Leo protested as he made his way to the picture frame. "Have some patience, Sunshine." Searching through his pockets for some bits and bobs, Leo set to fixing the frame quickly. Within a minute, the frame was fixed and standing on its own.
"How'd you fix it so fast?" Calypso said, walking closer, peering over his shoulder.
"It was a simple fix," Leo laughed. "I'm surprised you hadn't fixed it yourself."
Flushing, Calypso huffed. "Not all of us are mechanically adept. And besides, I don't have any tools or anything." She moved past Leo, picking up the frame carefully. Calypso had kept it out of spite and longing - to remind herself every day what she had lost, and how she didn't need her stupid relatives, and out of her desire to rejoin her family. But she knew she couldn't do that, her relatives had made sure of that.
"Alright, alright," Leo said, fiddling with some nails and screws. "But - if I may ask - why aren't you with your family? And why are you in this private forest… alone?" He put the bits in his tool belt, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Not meeting her eyes, Leo shuffled around slightly. "And I know you didn't choose to live here - I could tell you were lying."
Calypso ignored him for a moment, staring at the picture frame. How long it had been since she had seen them, since the scandal that had torn her family apart. And according to some of her relatives, supporting the 'wrong side' of the scandal… was punishable. Her father was in prison because of his crimes, and Calypso, who had supported him, was banished to the forest. Over a stupid scandal between her Aunt Rhea and Uncle Kronos, and a nasty divorce. To be fair, Kronos had hidden away most of his kids and tried to murder them. But Atlas had been one of Kronos' best friends, or so he had thought. Of course he was going to support him, and not Rhea's annoying kids, nicknamed the Olympians. What was most sickening was that in honor of their headline nicknames, they had changed their last name to 'Olympiane'... those snobbish, egotistical idiots.
"So what if I lied?" Calypso answered harshly. "It's not any of your business, and there's no reason why I should tell you."
"Alright, then. But can you at least tell me if the dude in the photo is Atlas Titanne, the dude who went to jail? And if so… does that make you Calypso Titanne, Atlas' missing daughter?"
Clenching her fists, Calypso tensed. "What makes you think so?" she asked, gritting her teeth. Missing… so that's what excuse her aristocratic, self absorbed relatives had come up with.
Studying her, Leo had a serious expression on his face, practically for the first time since he had walked in. "I won't push it," said Leo finally, turning away. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"Wait - what about the other Titannes? Hecate? The Hesperides?"
Slowly looking back at her, Leo furrowed his brow. Calypso knew she had slipped up, since surely a person unaffiliated with the Titannes and so removed from society wouldn't care about a bunch of rich people. But while she was sure Leo knew this, for some odd reason he didn't mention it. "Hecate was sentenced to community service, I think, and the Hesperides were put on house arrest for a year. Though they never go outside of their house anyway. Well, one Hesperide, Zoë, I think, left and went to work with Artemis Olympiane."
"Anyone else? Did any of them go missing? Like me?" In her desperation, Calypso forgot to hide her identity. Falling silent, she glanced at the floor, disappointed in herself. She hated revealing who her father was, even when she had not been stuck in Ogygia. The curse of being a Titanne still reigned over her, and she wished she could have a life where the Titannes didn't exist. Where she could just be Calypso, a regular girl. It was almost like that in Ogygia, but it wasn't. Her entire existence in Ogygia, the only reason why she was here, was because she was a Titanne, daughter of Kronos' most fierce supporter. It seemed that she would never break free from her cursed legacy. She supposed that it would never go away, just as her relatives intended for it to be.
"Nobody else… Calypso," Leo said cautiously.
Freezing at the use of her name, Calypso ground her teeth together. Her relatives… had apparently seen fit to give her such a ridiculous punishment, and write it off as a runaway case - it made her blood boil. And not only that, a runaway case made it seem as if she had run away from punishment, meaning that if she would ever return to society, she could face court. Against her relatives with enough money to buy the best lawyers and to even bribe judges, and keep it all under wraps. Clearly, she would not be leaving Ogygia.
Snorting, she stalked back to the kitchen. "Well, I suppose that was to be expected," she said blankly, an indifferent look forced on her face.
Leo stared at her, a mixture of sadness and empathy written all over his face. Calypso wasn't sure if she hated it or if she appreciated it. For now, she would go with hate.
She felt her eyes prick, and cursed herself. It wouldn't do to cry, not in front of a stranger. What would her father say if he saw Calypso like this, her eyes swelling with tears and her chest tightening? And what had Calypso expected - her relatives to be fair? Or rather, equal in punishment to everyone?
It was silly. She should have just gotten over it, her relatives had always been hypocritical. But here she was, turned away, stomach queasy and hot tears beginning to slip down her face.
"It's okay to cry."
Leo's voice was quiet, awkward, and weirdly close. She suspected he was a few feet behind her - he probably followed her.
"I didn't mean to - I didn't-" Leo started, stuttering and stumbling over his words. He gave a sigh of frustration, taking a hesitant step forward. "I didn't mean to make you upset."
"I know. It's fine." Her words were brittle, empty. Calypso just felt so tired, exhausted. She supposed she just hadn't been ready for her family to be brought up.
"Do you, er, want a hug?" Leo offered spontaneously. Surprised, Calypso stayed silent for a while, trying to work out what was happening. "I mean, well, it's what one of my friends does if I'm upset, and I thought…"
Clearing her throat, Calypso wavered for a moment. She had never really had hugs before; Atlas Titanne wasn't known for being cuddly.
"That - that would be alright," said Calypso, her voice catching.
Tentatively, arms wrapped around her stomach, and she instinctively leaned into it. It was weird, mildly awkward, yet it felt strangely nice. It was warm, comforting, and unfamiliar in a good way. Calypso felt safe, safe enough to let her tears fall down her face without shame.
"I know we don't know each other that well, but if you want, I'll find you a way out of here," Leo whispered, standing perfectly still. "And you can stay with me, if that's okay, until you find a place to live."
At a loss, Calypso's throat tightened as she took in what Leo had promised. No one before had really bothered to pay this much attention to her. Not her family, much less strangers. And yet, this lost idiot had shown more compassion to her than pretty much anyone else.
Was it selfish to want it? To long for the possibility of escape, freedom? Calypso didn't know what her relatives would think or do, but at the moment she wanted to jump at the possibility. But she restrained herself, knowing that she couldn't just throw herself into things and expect for there to be a safety net waiting for her, and not a gaping chasm.
Sniffling, Calypso wiped her eyes hastily. "I'd… love that. But I don't think it's possible. My relatives - the Olympianes - they'd just put me right back here."
"I wouldn't let that happen," Leo vowed. "But you don't have to decide now. I'm not going anywhere for the time being."
"Okay," whispered Calypso.
And for the time being, they remained where they were. Still in a silent embrace, standing in the kitchen, not knowing what dangers their futures held. And as odd as it was, Calypso felt more at home than she had ever been before.
A/N: I'm awful at writing hugs… well, it'll have to do. The story behind Calypso's sentencing to Ogygia is shady and full of holes, but I didn't have much to work with. *many sighs* Leo is very mellow and not at all his usual hyper self - but I suppose being lost in the woods and happening across a hurting stranger with a weird and convoluted past does that. Or at least, I hope so. And let's just pretend that there can be privately owned forests for the sake of this challenge. And let's just pretend this never existed either.