fandomtownies | Dite's Decadent Delights, Saturday

Entry tags:

Dite's Decadent Delights, Saturday

When Aphrodite opened the store, she found two squirrels standing under a rack of unmentionables and chittering at each other. If she didn't know better, she'd say they were having a conversation and pointing at the items.

"Okay, out. Out! This store is for humans only. Go find your squirrel kink somewhere else."

To her surprise, the two of them looked at her, then headed for the door instead of the slightly open window through which they'd obviously come. The first one went through the doorway without stopping, but the second one stopped, doffed his hat, and ran away. She heard a sound suspiciously like laughter.

Shaking her head, she flipped the sign on the door and closed it behind the little guy.

Turning on the lights, she also patted Little Strife, then sat down to see if Valentine had left her any notes. She hadn't, so Aphrodite grabbed her magazine and leaned back on the chair.

As she opened the magazine she spoke out loud to herself. "Was he laughing at me? And what is up with a squirrel wearing a hat? Ooh, new goddess shades of lipstick. Huh."

Dite's Decadent Delights is open.

(OOC: Squirrels modded with permission, store and post are open!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There was a head poking through the door carefully before slipping in and letting it close behind her. She glanced around, looking for 'Jackie' more than she was interested in the 'wares.

'Dite had been in the storage room unpacking a new box of books for the store when she heard the door open. Smiling, she headed out to greet whoever was there.

"Hi, welcome to Dite's -- Fiona! Welcome back, Sweet Pea!" Throwing open her arms she gave the girl a hug. "It's so good to see you!"

She was surprised by the hug, but it put a true smile on her face almost immediately.

"It's good to see you too," she said, tucking a curl back behind her ear.

"How've you been?"

"Me? I'm good. The store's doing well, I have two employees, and I think I even have a friend or two." She smiled at the younger woman. "And how are you? Wait." 'Dite put a finger to her chin. "There's something about you that's different . . ."

Fiona blushed and the smile went all the way to her eyes.

"I don't think there's anything," she said, "except that, um, you do remember that guy I told you about?"

"Uh-huuuuuuh." She gave Fiona a knowing smile. She could see the power of love from miles away. "Here, come with me." She pulled Fiona behind the counter and put her in the chair, then leaned up against the display case herself.

"Now, tell Auntie Jackie all about this guy you're in love with."

Hearing it like that made her have a little trouble breathing, but she sat in the chair where she'd been put and tried to think.

"That's just it. I'm in love with him. And he knows. During the singing the other day, I sang this song and he was there since we both like to go to this one part of the beach."

...and yes, she looked just a little freaked by this. Fiona had very good reason to be absolutely terrified of the idea of falling in love with someone, and it wasn't as if she was too familiar with 'love' itself much.

"You were singing to each other? That's so romantic." 'Dite folded her arms. "You sang that you love him? What about him? Did he sing to you?"

Oh, she'd gone over this a few times. She'd analyzed her memories over and over... and it had left her a little unsure. And yes, still terrified.

"I- I do love him," even though she'd hoped that this would never ever ever happen, "and yes, I sang it. He didn't... I don't know. Sort of. More like he wasn't opposed to the idea."

"Sort of? Not opposed?" 'Dite leaned back, her elbows on the counter now. "Sweet Pea, that's guy talk for 'I'm madly in love with you but I'm scared of my own shadow.'" She waved a hand in dismissal. "It's a guy thing. I've seen it a million times."

Literally.

"Is that why you look a little worried? You're not sure how he feels?"

"That," she said, lifting her head a little, "and it's love. It's being in love with someone. That's... that's terrifying. I've seen love. I've seen what it does to people, what it did to my parents."

And she swallowed, hard.

"Sweetie, I don't know anything about your parents, and yeah, love can be scary, but it doesn't have to be terrifying."

Giving in to her instincts, she knelt by Fiona's chair. "I've seen a lot of love over the years." Understatement, thy name is Aphrodite. "Love of all kinds, in all its guises, from unrequited, to passionate, to love so strong it makes the stars stop in the sky."

Putting a hand on the girl's knee, she smiled. "But Fiona, I'm telling you. The best love in the world is first love. No matter how it ends, it's always the most magical moment when you realize for the first time that you're capable of such a wonderful feeling." She closed her eyes and smiled, her shoulders shrugging in glee. "There's nothing like it, Sweet Pea. Nothing."

She wanted to believe. She wanted to believe that so much, so hard, and her fingers curled around the edges of the chair. But she'd wanted to believe a lot of things and too many of them had turned out false. So with the singular arrogance of the young, she shook her head just a little.

"You didn't see them," Fiona insisted, feeling her gut twist in a terrible hollow sort of way.

It was a sight that would haunt her: her father standing on one side, strong and handsome and once more restored, his smile speaking volumes to his improved situation and their mother, shaking and full of a terrible rage, insisting they come with her, right now, trying to force them like she always forced them.

She'd thought it odd, how off-balance Audrey had looked at that moment compared to her usual solid stance. It had given her the bravery to threaten, to speak up. And then her father had spoken, begging them to give their mother another chance three seconds after she'd threatened to kill him.

That was love? That was something people wanted?

"Are you sure he really loves me back?"

That was the best she could hope for, she supposed. She loved him, she loved Griff. It was the truth and she was the last person willing to lie, especially about something like this.

Something had obviously happened that made Fiona so frightened of what should be a magical feeling. It made 'Dite angry.

She so wanted to use her powers. She wanted to give Fiona the confidence, the happiness, the excitement that being in love should have given her.

"Oh, Sweet Pea." Aphrodite reached out and hugged Fiona tightly instead. "I can't say exactly what he's feeling, but if it's not love, it soon will be. I really believe that."

Pulling back, she brushed a stray hair from Fiona's face. "Fiona, I don't kow what happened to scare you so much. If you ever feel the need to talk about it, to tell someone exactly what happened, feel free to come to me. I'll listen." And if she ever got her hands on the people who hurt this girl . . .

Ares' voice echoed in her ear. "You'll what, hit them with love bolts?"

...it would scare the hell out of Louis, anyway. If there was anything the Prince of Darkness feared, it was the power that love seemed to hold over him. First God, then what he'd thought was the perfect woman, and now his children.

"It's complicated," which seemed to be her answer for everything that happened with her family, mostly because it was 1. the truth and 2. a really good answer.

Fiona swallowed and looked up to give 'Jackie' a small, still genuine, smile.

"I can tell you," she added after a moment of consideration, "but my family is pretty weird."

"Weird, huh. Well, if it's just regular weird, then you can tell me now. But if it's Fandom weird?" Aphrodite winked. "Then maybe we should do this tomorrow." Her face lit up. "I have an idea. If you're not busy tomorrow morning, why don't I take you to breakfast? Aaaaaanywhere you want. And we can talk all you want, no interruptions."

That way she had all night to reign in her temper so she didn't explode if the situation was as bad as Fiona's reactions hinted.

She didn't like to eat, but since she'd eaten from the Apple, she could and now didn't really seem like the time to point out her issues with food.

"Okay. But you choose the place."

Because she'd be eating most of the food, after all.

"Welllll, there are still plenty of places I haven't been in town, but . . ." She bit her lip. "It sounds like there needs to be some privacy for this. So, you can either choose a place to eat, or we can pick up something and bring it back here before I open the shop. What do you think?"

"Whatever you'd like," she said firmly, "I don't--"

Okay, she was just going to tell her.

"I don't eat. And no, it's not harmful. And no, I'm not anorexic. I'll explain tomorrow morning, since it's part of the whole" what was a good word? "thing."

"Thing." 'Dite gave a slow nod. "Right." Well, that made things a little easier. "Okay. We'll talk here. I'll pick something up from Jeff and get some -- can you drink things? Coffee? Anything?"

The not eating thing was throwing her. Mostly, only gods and goddesses didn't eat. This didn't bode well for their talk.

"I can, I just usually don't. But, um, tea should be good."

Coffee would make her think of Griff and then she'd be really really distracted.

"Soothing," she continued with a nod.

"Excellent!" 'Dite stood. "I'll meet you back here at -- ten o'clock? With tea and biscuits."

She pushed herself up from the chair.

"And maybe after, I can... tell you about Griff?" she said with a hopeful little smile.

That brought a huge smile to 'Dite's face. "That? Would make me very happy."

She gave Fiona another hug. "Oh! Were you looking for something when you came in tonight? Or just to talk?"

Fiona practically shivered she shook her head so fast.

"Just to talk. The stuff in here is, uh, a little advanced for me."

"Don't worry, Sweet Pea. They won't always be." 'Dite laughed. "You have a good night. See you tomorrow."

She smiled and headed for the door.

"See you tomorrow."

Thankfully before Fight Club just in case things didn't go well.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Dite's Decadent Delights, Saturday

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject