dovelike | OOM: The Raid

Clark ducks his head to exit the hut without breaking anything (the hut, not him) and when he's finally out and takes in the landscape around him, his widen. He's never seen anything like this. Not up close.

"That's... wow."

"Welcome to Greece, year 2000 of the common era. Those aren't ordinary trees, they bear fruit all year. Tourists who come this way don't see anything of this. Just ancient oaks and fruit trees that stopped growing years ago."

She squeezes his hand. "We can hike or blur. Go ahead and choose, it's okay if you don't want to fly."

Clark is a little busy turning in a slow circle to take everything in, but most of what she says registers.

Especially that last part.

"Fly? No. I'd rather not."

Eirene can't help but smile. Very few mortals see the mountain as the gods do, and Clark's reaction is priceless. "Beautiful, isn't it. I grew up here."

In layman's terms, Clark just stepped out of Auntie Em's black and white world into Oz.

"That must have been something," he replies, not even bothering to hide the small note of awe in his voice. He hasn't felt this way in a couple of years now, back when he watched giant shards of crystal form an icy structure before his very eyes.

This isn't exactly like that - nothing else ever could be - but it's close.

"Why did you all leave?"

"It was. Once there were tribes of dryads and nymphs roaming around, being chased by satyrs. The trees bore enough food to feed all of us if we were so inclined. Once, a very long time ago, humans lived in harmony with us and each other. Before Pandora opened her box."

She glances up towards the cloud cover.

"We left because mortals have exchanged belief in us for belief in science now. We have always been here, and we always will, but it was time to make our own ways."

Her lips may tremble a little.

Science. Right.

"Yeah, I guess that could be a little... upsetting," he offers, quietly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "Still, it hasn't been all that bad, has it? Making your own way?"

"Not so much upsetting in the way that I've been wandering across the world for centuries, but ... it's gone. Nobody comes here anymore."

Eirene clears her throat and returns the squeeze.

"We should probably start walking. It's a ways up and I really want you to see this."

"Yeah, we probably should." Clark feels like he should be doing something here; she seems upset but he isn't quite sure what to say, or do, to make her feel better.

So in an attempt to just have done something, he pulls her in for a half sort of one-armed hug before starting up toward the mountain.

He'd have to convince every single member of her (admittedly) large family to return to home for that ache to fade. Which is an impossible labor to dwarf even those of Hercules, so.

But the hug does help, prompting a brighter smile as they begin the hike. She has to concentrate to get them to the gates in one piece.

He follows dutifully, taking his time initially to continue to take in the scenery as they walk, though he trusts her not to let him get lost from her. He'd probably be able to find his way back down without her, but not back to Milliways, and not back to his own world.

The higher they get, however, the less he pays attention and the increase in tension in him might be noticeable. When they're above the clouds, it's likely palatable.

The view is much the same as it was at the bottom of the mountain, though they ascend more quickly than is normal for mortals. Acres and acres of trees spread across the area, broken by the glint of rivers in the distance, and what might be cities beyond that.

Eirene's grip tightens the moment they step through the few feet of cloud cover. The view is decidedly different: a narrow stretch of path leads up to a pair of shining gates. She stops moving for a handful of moment's just soaking in the sight.

"I used to guard these with my sisters against those few mortals brave enough to disturb us." Pause. "Come on, we're almost there."

The gates are easily reached, though her grip has tightened once more. "Don't look back. Just keep your eyes forward until we pass through."

That's the thing about telling someone not to look back, or don't look down. Invariably, most people will do exactly what has just been suggested they not do.

Clark isn't any different, and look back he does.He remembers what the clouds look like from this side, the wind in his face. The feeling of freedom, of power, of belonging.It doesn't last long, though if possible his shoulders are tenser than before, and he looks back toward the gates, following Eirene as she leads him through.

"How would you convince them to leave?" He can't imagine many people who truly believed this was the home of their gods would just turn around and leave it on polite request.

Eirene doesn't answer until they are both through the gates, turning to watch them close with a quiet 'clang'. Blue eyes drag themselves away after a few moments to regard the deserted garden they now find themselves it. With a minimum of imagination, it's easy to visual healthy vines and a riot of flowers surrounding an archway perhaps twenty feet beyond them.

"I would --my sisters and I would-- appear without the veil of mortality, as you see me now. I'm not sure you want to view that."

He may have been studying the archway, but her words draw his attention back to her.

"Is it what you really look like? I don't see why I wouldn't want to know that about you."

"I look relatively similar to this guise." She glances down at the ground nervously. "I, uh, we ... there were mortals driven crazy. But I suppose you don't exactly have to worry about that."

She lets out a breathe and steps back a foot or two, letting go his hand in the process. It's a relatively easy process to remove what she calls the veil; one moment she is a simple, blonde woman, and the next she ... isn't.

While her physical stature doesn't seem to change, there are echoes behind her, translucent shadows of herself flickering several feet above her - like a ghost's imprint of what humans term their soul. Layers on layers of these shadows, stretching so far into the sky that titanic would not be an inappropriate term.

Of course, with Clark viewing, the effects may be muted to alien eyes.

There's a good chance Clark's perception isn't all that much different. He steps back a step or two and his eyes widen again, moreso than they did when they first stepped out of the hut.

There's nothing he can say to this. He's never seen anything like it, and he's speechless.

Her expression tightens, eyes averting themselves from his reaction. Again, it takes just one or two heartbeats for the veil to descend, leaving Eirene as she looked the night she met him. And now she's probably terrified him.

"I didn't meant to-- I'm sorry."

"No," he says a little shakily after a moment. "It's okay."

And then there's the brief hint of a smile. "You were beautiful."

Beat.

"I mean, you still are but you were then, too."

"I would rather appear plain to your eyes, and not have you afraid of me." Eirene wraps her arms around herself for a minute to prevent herself from shivering, dropping them back to her sides only when she's managed to tamp down on her emotions.

"Thank you, though. For the compliment."

Her own smile is slower in arriving, but it does appear.

Oh, this won't do.

Clark walks over to her and raises her face up with a hand under her chin. "Hey. I'm not afraid of you." Serious face, Eirene. "And you're anything but plain, although I think that's kind of secondary here."

"Oh, I know I'm not plain. I meant that--" There's a thoughtful pause. "You're not afraid? Truly?" She'd like to believe him, but Eirene also remembers the few mortals whose minds broke on viewing her and her sisters in front of those gates.

She can't sense any sort of lie behind his eyes, however, no matter how long she looks into them.

Softly: "That means more to me that you'll ever know, Clark."

His thumb strokes along her lower lip.

"You don't scare me, Thallo Eirene."

She has no other way to thank him but a beaming smile. There may be tears as well, but Eirene will just have to ignore them.

She gets a similar smile in return and Clark takes his hand back.

"So, do I get the grand tour?"

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