AUTHORS NOTE: IM BACK! So this little snippet is probably a day or two after Apollo first meets Isolde and realizes who she is (Cassandra. Back story explained in Authors Note of first snippet) and he goes up to her again. She still really doesn't believe that he is who he says he is...But that doesn't stop Apollo from trying. Also I see Apollo looking like model Justice Joslin with more sun bleached hair. Isolde/Cassandra looks kind of like Emmy Rossum.
Next snippet whenever I get to it will probably have Artemis in it. ENJOY!
Isolde's stomach dropped when she saw the familiar surfer-body-hot-as-hell-boy enter the library. The last thing she needed while studying for her Psychology mid-term exam were the delusions of a college boy who had smoked one too many reefers. She slumped in her seat and propped her book up, hoping he wouldn't see her. The pounding of her heart sped as she stared at the diagram of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and pretended to be deep in contemplation. Don't see me, don't see me, don't see me.
Seconds passed. She glanced up. He was gone. Maybe he hadn't seen her after all. She relaxed a bit and sat back up, placing the book down flat once more.
She couldn't have been more damn wrong.
The chair beside her pulled out and her golden-haired Adonis sat down. Not Adonis. Apollo. That's who he though he was. The god of the Sun.
"Gah!" she yelped and let the psych book slam down on the table. The librarian who unfortunately had only been a few feet away reshelving old textbooks shushed her harshly.
Irate, Isolde flipped her off under the table before turning to the bigger problem now smiling beside her.
"Hello." Apollo said cheerily. His short tawny curls bounced slightly as he settled in the seat. Isolde was caught of guard, if only by a second, by how blue his eyes were today. Last time they seemed to be more of a grayer hue. A trick of the light?
"What do you want now?" she said through grated teeth.
"Just to say hi. I thought you might be in here studying. How have you been?"
"Fine I guess." She gave him her best "I'm-busy-so-please-leave-me-alone" look.
He ignored it, of course.
Time for the big guns. He needed to go. "Okay look. I know you think you're this Greek god and all and I don't believe you. We've already established that much. But say you were Apollo from the myths. What if I showed you how bad you are for me? Would you finally leave me alone I could prove that you would be doing the best thing by leaving me alone?"
"If you could prove it to me I'd consider it."
Challenge accepted. Great.
"Fine. You're in luck. I've been doing some research" Isolde fumbled in her bag until she found the right sketchbook and pulled it open on the desk. She looked cute when she was fuming. Apollo watched with some amusement as she tucked her hair, a faded cerulean now, behind her ears with both hands before flipping the pages over. Between scribbles of partly illegible writing were meticulous drawings of all kinds. People on park benches and fancy animals mingled with monsters of epic proportions. Those caught his eye the most. He knew some of those monsters. Knew them by name even. Before he could ask anything about those drawings, however, she came to rest on a page with some scribbling near the top. Isolde looked up through her blue hair which had already fallen from behind her ear and narrowed her gaze before holding the notebook out.
"I think this will prove my point. Read this page only. The rest are personal sketches that don't concern you."
He looked down and began to read her messy handwriting.
It was a list…
Of lovers…
His…
.
Daphne: changed into a tree to escape after scorning you
Marpessa: chose her kidnapper rather than you
Castalia: dove into the spring at Delphi
Cassandra: (NOT ME!) cursed her with visions and left her to die after she told you off
Coronis: pregnant with your kid. Loved another. Either you or your sister killed her and sent the kid off.
Hyacinth: hit him in the head with a discus (frisbee?)
Leucates: threw himself off a rock than rather be with you
.
His mouth twitched as he read each name and the short description by them. By the time he finished the little list he was full on laughing.
The smirk that had graced Isolde's lips fell. She snatched the sketchbook back and held it defensively against her chest.
"What's so funny? These people hated Apollo. They left him because he couldn't leave them alone. If you really are him, you should be able to see that this" she tapped a finger on her research, "is not healthy. For either of us. Case closed."
"Did you get all that off of Wikipedia?"
Her brow furrowed. She was caught and she knew it.
"So what if-" her voice cracked slightly.
Apollo laughed harder.
Isolde tried again. "So what if I did? That doesn't change the fact that if you are really Apollo, you are the bad guy in nearly every story I could find! You "gods" were always meddling in human affairs and rarely did it work out in our favor."
"You have to understand, Isolde, that I while I am immortal, even if you don't believe it just yet, I have lived many different lives. It's not like I did all that within ten years. These few span centuries. I may have been the bad guy in all these stories, and yes, some of them are close, but I loved each and every one of those people. Also, Daphne was a flirt. The stories never mention that she started all of our problems with Cupid, not I. "
"But you had children with some of these people!"
"Yes, and so have many of the other gods in our time. Think of all the people you've dated in your life. I would guess maybe three to five at least to be average for this day and age by the time you are in your twenties, right? You have to realize that after eons and eons, that number is a lot more than just a few and you tend to create a few young ones. It's just how it goes. You can't tell me if you lived for several millennia that you'd never have a kid, even if not on purpose. Even gods have needs and sometimes those needs cause accidents."
Isolde face palmed. Literally.
"What in the literal hell have I gotten myself into?" she grumbled to herself.
"Hey now." He reached forward and rubbed her arm, pausing briefly when she flinched against his touch. It sent a blast of memories coursing through his mind and he nearly stumbled back.
Cassandra with her brown hair filled with leaves and grass after an afternoon tumble, the way her bronzed skin felt against his own as they lay entwined and practiced her soothsaying, the way her hands shook when she finally rejected him for good, the way he hated her with a thousand shards of passionate fury because of it, her screams from Athena's temple as…
He swallowed, bidding the memories away.
"You have to at least give me a chance to find out what this all means. Me, you, here. Come on, Cassandra."
She folded her arms and met his eyes with a steely focus as she leaned back in her chair. While all he saw was ferocity, what he failed to notice was how her black fingernails dug into her skin. The pain kept her from the rising panic threatening to explode. That would only trigger a vision and she WOULD NOT have one here.
He already thought she was some long dead Trojan princess.
Isolde didn't want his belief to be strengthened.
"I still don't even know who you are. If you are who you say you are…well that changes everything I know about the world. And I still doubt what you say is true."
"Doubt all you want. You know this is reality. Just accept face as it is and find out what this is with me. We could do it together you know. You and me."
Isolde rolled her eyes. What a flirt he was. It was grating on her nerves.
"So who was your favorite one?"
"Lover? You mean other than you?"
Isolde rolled her eyes once more but added a huff before sarcastically declaring, "Yes. Other than I, Cassandra of Troy, the moon of your life and your sun and stars and all that shit."
He smiled wide enough to show white teeth. "Don't hate on Game of Thrones. It's a classic of Iliad-like proportions."
She chuckled against her better judgment and felt her nails relax. "I never said it wasn't. Trust me I love it as much as the next person. Now answer the question Sir Sun God."
He was quiet for a moment as he pondered. His eyes grew distant, as if he really could see who he was thinking about.
"I really did love Hyacinth. I was shook up for a long time after Zephyrus killed him in front of me. He touched my heart in ways that most could not and was one of the only people I could open up to."
Apollo's far off look focused in on her.
"And then there was you. You were the only one that made me forget Hya. Hell, forget them all."
The tension resumed in a quick snap. Isolde's dry tongue felt like cotton in her mouth at the return of it.
"Stop it."
He sat a little straighter. "I forget myself. Sorry."
Isolde felt her cheeks grow hot as she let what she was thinking leave her lips. "You talk as if you still love all of these people."
"I do."
"When I met you...when you first bombarded me with all this...you referred to yourself as a womanizer who needs fixing."
He grinned. "Did the wikipedia search not prove that to you?"
"Its just that...how to put this correctly...you've loved a few men in your time. Hyacinth for example."
"Are you asking where my sexuality lies? Kind of a personal question for one who wants me out of her life. I am many things. Sometimes I fancy women, sometimes I fancy men. Sometimes I fancy both. Is there really any right way to put a title on love? I love who I love because I feel for them what I do. I have no reasons other than that. Nor do I need any."
A smile played at the corner of her lips as she traced the lettering on her psych book. "I like that."
"And right now I like you."
She roughly pushed the book away "Okay. Too far."
Apollo braced as her coldness returned. While her continuous rejection hurt, it was also like a high he could not stop riding. Being with her once more was a drug that he could not get enough of. With the gentleness of a mother he pulled her towards him and kissed her forehead. She pushed away but not as immediately as he expected.
So he still had a chance then…good.
He would make her see the truth. She would know who she truly was. The fates had brought her back for a reason. They would figure it out together. And if he just happened to mend their relationship while they were at it, well, all the better.
"Well as much as I love our banter, I should get going. You have studying to do I'm sure."
"Goodbye Apollo."Ooh, dismissed just like that. What spirit she still had!
Isolde leaned her elbows on the desk in front of them and held her head up with her hands on her cheeks. He thought she looked adorable like that. Like the little rebel princess he had once known.
"One more thing."
She pivoted so she only leaned on one elbow and cocked an eyebrow
"What is it now?" The exasperation in her voice almost caused him to falter but he was a god. He would not be cowed into silence by some punk human girl.
"Tomorrow is Saturday. Meet me in the diner on 47th for breakfast and then a walk in the park. There's someone you need to meet."
"Hal's Diner?"
"That's the one. And if you don't show up by 9, I'll stalk you for the rest of the year."
Isolde huffed and tried not to smile as he walked away. "You probably will anyway." She called after him.
"True." He called back. "But indulge me this once."
As he left, Isolde let out a slow shaky breath. She didn't really believe him, but something about him felt familiar. And she had to admit, if nothing else, she found him pretty hot. She would meet him for breakfast in the morning, and then, she promised herself, she would never talk to him again.