OOM: The Raid

[dovelike]

There is a forest outside Eirene's door, one that stretches up the side of a mountain. The trees aren't anything like Midwestern America - most of them are smaller and bear fruit. Some even bear olives. She finishes moving forward to give Clark enough room to escape the small hut they are exiting from.

"Up there, behind the clouds, is my home." She points at the distance top of the mountain, currently shrouded in low-lying nimbus clouds.

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[hero_farmboy]

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.

[eirenikos]

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."

[hero_farmboy]

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.

[eirenikos]

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."

[hero_farmboy]

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."

[eirenikos]

"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.

[hero_farmboy]

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.

[eirenikos]

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."

[hero_farmboy]

"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."

[eirenikos]

"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.

[hero_farmboy]

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."

[eirenikos]

"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."

[hero_farmboy]

His thumb strokes along her lower lip.

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

[eirenikos]

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.

[hero_farmboy]

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

"So, do I get the grand tour?"

[eirenikos]

"Uh, yes. Sorry. This is the entrance, as you've probably figured out. Uhm. Through the archway is the sacred altar of Hestia, where her flame burned from almost the beginning until she extinguished it."

And Clark ...well, he's going to get a quick kiss, because he didn't faint or go mad.

[hero_farmboy]

A quick kiss he can handle, and it's returned softly.

And then he'll get his attention back on the area around them. "Why didn't she just leave it burning?"

[eirenikos]

Yeah, it's those long ones you've got watch out for. The narration will plead the fifth on them.

"Because we all left." Eirene shrugs lightly and moves towards, and then through, the archway.

On the other side is a series of interconnected temples that Hollywood would sell their own mother to see. Even abandoned, it's impressive.

[hero_farmboy]

That makes sense, he supposes, though he has a nagging thought that the flame was never supposed to go out, no matter what. But who is he to argue with someone who was there?

As usual, he follows her lead, glancing up at the archway as he passes underneath and then taking in the temples before them.

"I should stop being surprised that you went all out, shouldn't I?"

[eirenikos]

Well... Eirene wasn't there at the time. She was only informed after the fact by her mother, who was.

She stands there, hearing the long ago shouts and the laughter, seeing transparent images of a holy city bustling with her family and their servants.

"I haven't been back here since before they left," the murmur is more to herself than Clark.

Slowly: "Went all out?"

[hero_farmboy]

That's good enough.

"Went all out. Spared no expense. Did everything to extreme. That sort of thing." He hopes that explanation's good enough.

Then, quieter, "What made you want to come back now?"

[eirenikos]

"Ah." Her grin is fleeting. "We've a reputation to maintain, I suppose. There's a vain side to everything, I think, and that becomes doubly so when you live forever."

The second question is a little harder to answer. She'll duck her head and blush while answering.

"Intuition? An overriding sense that I should bring you here to see where I once lived."

[hero_farmboy]

"Oh." Because that's, well, special. "I'm honoured you'd want to share this with me."

[eirenikos]

"No, no, Clark. You honor me by agreeing to come here." Eirene turns to look towards the pinnacle of the mountain again. "We should head up there. The view from the top has to be seen to be believed."

Beat.

"And then I'll take you back."

[hero_farmboy]

He's argue, but he has a feeling neither one of them would ever let up and it would go on forever. So he just nods in agreement and then stares up further.

"Okay, then. Let's go."