[eppy]

[callipygos]

Aphrodite has been feeling hungry for gossip.

Well, 'hungry' may be too strong a term. Peckish, perhaps. In need of a light nibble. And, since there is no place in the manifold universe better for the acquisition of interesting tidbits than Milliways, she's sitting at the Bar with a fragrant drink that seems primarily to involve whiskey, cherry, and orange bitters.

She has on a sleek black trenchcoat (for secrecy) and a pair of high high heels (for the femme fatale in her).

Comments

[2020sight]

"Horse farm outside South Bend. Someone left her in a box at the end of the driveway. Owners say it happens a lot."

[callipygos]

"Poor baby," Aphrodite murmurs.

Epimetheus really kills her sometimes. Here he is with a literal rescued kitten in one hand, nursing her back to health-- it's the absolute perfect Noble Scruffy Woodsman scenario, if you're into that sort of thing. And he's in their family; people should be throwing themselves at him. But he's got to go and ruin things with ...

Well, when you get right down to it, Aphrodite isn't sure. She's always assumed it was his awful personality.

[2020sight]

Sadly, he probably puts too much pomade in his hair to make it all the way to Your L. L. Bean Boyfriend, but it's true he fits the general mold.

"Yeah," he says, fond. (Miss Thing has closed her eyes and is nursing away contentedly.) "You know anyone looking to adopt?"

[callipygos]

Maybe it's the pomade. She'll ponder.

"Not off the top of my head," Aphrodite says, sipping. "But I'll keep an ear out. Artemis is more of a dog person, isn't she?"

All animals are supposed to be sacred to her, but Aphrodite really can't conceive of not playing favorites.

[2020sight]

He chuckles. "Yeah, I'd think she'd take her, but she's got enough animals on her plate already, I'd say."

[callipygos]

Aphrodite wrinkles her nose.

"Seems likely."

She doesn't offer to take the poor thing herself, of course. Aphrodite likes certain animals in small doses, but she knows she'd make a terrible pet owner.

[2020sight]

"Ah, well. I'll find someone around here who's looking for a pet. Shouldn't be hard."

[callipygos]

"Mmhmm."

She sips, regarding him and Miss Thing with slowly narrowing eyes.

And, after a moment, she shakes her head.

"Eppy, you're ridiculous."

[2020sight]

"--Beg pardon?"

Because he rescued a kitten??

Look, he thinks a lot of bad things about Aphrodite, but he doesn't think that badly of her. Or didn't.

[callipygos]

"Look at you! You've got this adorable little girl, you rescued her, she's in your hand drinking from a bottle--"

Aphrodite waves expressively to the bar at large.

"How is it that not even one adorable boy or girl has stopped by to find you irresistible?"

[2020sight]

Epimetheus blinks at her.

Looks left.

Looks right.

"I'm not following."

[callipygos]

Aphrodite stares at him.

"... Listen, Eppy. Don't let this go to your head, but rescuing a cute animal and nursing her back to health is the stuff that lust at first sight is made of." She gestures to him now, an impatient flick of her wrist. "How in the world are you so utterly failing to work this?"

[2020sight]

". . . Are you critiquing my game? Is that what's going on here?"

[callipygos]

"Maybe that lovely girl you crashed my party with a few years back would like to adopt a kitten," Aphrodite says, meaningfully. "What was her name, Brooke, River ... River."

[2020sight]

Epimetheus frowns at her.

"Hey, now. I do not have any game with River. No gaming. Period."

It'd be like flirting with Medusa. Or Lethe. Just. No. Ew. What? No.

[callipygos]

"Which demonstrates terrible taste, but all right."

Aphrodite crosses one leg primly over the other, lifting her glass to her lips.

"What about that nice boy? The one who brought me candy."

[2020sight]

"Who, Matt?" He shrugs one shoulder. "Haven't seen him in a while.

". . . You are trying to set me up, aren't you."

[callipygos]

"I really can't put one past you," she says dryly.

[2020sight]

"'Dite," he says, starting to get annnoyed, "for fuck's sake, you know how I feel about that."

DEEPLY SUSPICIOUS.

[callipygos]

"But this time I'm not doing anything!" She holds up her free hand. "Not anything divine, at least. I'm just holding a bit of a mirror up to your life."

And in that mirror, there is a vast and sexless prairie.

[2020sight]

Dry: "My sad, sad game-less life?"

[callipygos]

"Prove me wrong."

[2020sight]

"This is important to you why? Do you get some kind of voyeuristic thrill out of me getting laid?"

[callipygos]

Her nose wrinkles.

"No offense, Eppy, but I don't really want to picture that." Half a beat. "Although your boy was very cute."

He had such a long neck. Like a swan!

"No, sweetie, it's important to me because it's what I do. I know I haven't always gone about it in the best way, where you're concerned, but I do get love right more often than I don't."

[2020sight]

"Ha! Prove that."

Miss Thing, having finished her bottle, wriggles out of Epimetheus' hands to explore the countertop.