Realistic or Modern Oracle Manor

[Becboc]

So she couldn’t shake her head, but she could roll her eyes and that’s exactly what Essa did as Hayden went on to explain why he was here. Her note hadn’t intended to draw him back in, she had simply wanted to have the last word… hadn’t she? But before she could part her lips to tell him as much, that finger that he had infuriatingly pointed at her face was drawing close and her breath hitched as amber eyes followed it until the tip met her neck, just below her ear in that sensitive spot that ignited every other nerve ending in her body. It was like the bastard knew, like he knew what that would do to her.

Essa’s gaze flickered to the darkness of his as he drew the contact down the slope of her neck, as she struggled to hear the words he was growling at her simultaneously. Her body flooded with a heat she hadn’t felt since… well, since ever if she was being honest with herself and it was all she could do to ball her hands into fists at her sides to stop from lunging for the man who was now lilting his voice by the shell of her ear, to stop from crashing her lips against his despite how much her current condition probably wouldn’t allow for the things she wanted to do to him.

It was when he finally straightened that Essa was briefly cast back into the reality of her situation, how unwell she was, the bandages on her head, the slight swaying of her body. She blinked rapidly, trying to gather herself, trying not to replay those words over and over in her head, trying not to focus on the way that they made her feel.

“I’m fucking mad for you Essa. Do not deny me this.”

Gods, denying Hayden anything was the very last thing that she wanted to do. Her body yearned for him, craved him in a way that she hadn’t known was possible and yet… it was her mind that stopped her from acting on that instinct and the very real reminder of what this was, what he had told her it was only days ago.

“The gods are responsible for these feelings, remember?” The words were uttered quietly, softly, as though she didn’t truly believe them and her eyes finally lowered to the box of snacks that were now being thrust her way. It was as though being released from Hayden’s gaze had doused the fire within her; her shoulders sagged again and she felt… drained, unable to fight against what this was, what he wanted, what she wanted. And perhaps… perhaps a small part of her didn’t want to for the simple reason that him being here, being close to her? It made her feel safer than she had for as long as she could remember and as much as she hated that, right now, it was all that Essa truly needed.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, she finally reached out a hand to take a few nuts from the box with a muttered, “Fine,” as she dropped them into her mouth and turned away, not quite sure what to do with herself until she noted Hayden plopping down into the seat beside her bed. Despite the pain it caused in her temple, her brow furrowed slightly but then slowly, reluctantly, she began to move towards where she had prepared her bed only moments ago.

It didn’t take Essa long to clamber in, but as she sat there with the sheets pulled up to her shoulders, back propped against the pillows, she couldn’t stop her gaze from drifting to the man who sat beside her, pin straight in a seat that he somehow managed to make look uncomfortable. It was upon making this observation though, that Essa also noticed his paler features, the way his usually neat hair was mussed, the dark circles under his eyes. Sure, she had been through the wars today, but so had he. He had killed for her, sacrificed winning for her and now here he was; taking care of her again at the expense of himself.

Essa felt guilt roil through her stomach and a desperate need to change that, which is what caused her to say in the end, “Look, I’m never going to be able to sleep with you… sat there watching me like that. Put on one of those 90s films you love so much and… just come over here, would you? There’s plenty of space on here for two and I… I…” Her words faltered for a moment as flashes of images of them cradled together in the forest replayed through her mind.

“I’ll just… feel better, okay?” If you’re closer to me. “You need to rest too.”

 

[BoneBrain]

Her invitation was the olive branch, the waving white flag to his and Hayden latched onto it like a dying man finding water in the desert. His mind, though exhausted tingled with involuntary joy and he forced himself to rise up slowly and purposefully, rather than dive into the bed like his body wanted to. His heart did a funny little flip in his chest when she mentioned his weakness for 90's rom-coms and he snagged the remote to the TV on his way around the bed.

After kicking off his shoes he peeled back the covers next to her and slid in as gently as he could. He didn't want to jostle her and be responsible for one of the many winces she'd had since entering her room. He wished he could take the pain away. The red line of fate, always invisible and occasionally felt squeezed tighter around him at the thought of taking her pain away. It coiled tight like a snake ready to strike if only given the right circumstances. Hayden felt power bubble deep within him, but it remained out of reach- like a distant memory lost to time. He cleared his throat against the constricting feeling and focused on bringing the TV to life and finding one of his comfort shows. He settled on Practical Magic, and as the opening lines of the movie lulled them away from the horror and the pain of the day he settled back, snacks between them.

It was almost too domestic, too normal and Hayden had to ruin it somehow. "I don't care if you have a concussion or not, if you snore, I will smother you with your pillow."

Neither of them made it halfway through the movie and Hayden had the presence of mind to set the snacks to the side before he slipped down under the covers and and laid back, sleep taking him quicker than it ever had before. It was most definitely due to the days events and the pain and exhaustion roiling through him. Surely the presence of the woman with a song birds voice and sad eyes couldn't ease his soul that much?

Without the barriers of their awake minds to keep them parted, Essa and Hayden drew closer and closer in the night. His arms wound around her, drawing her back snug against his front. His body, now freely reigning over his actions slid his hand under the hem of her shirt, so the skin of his palm might rest against her warm stomach. In sleep he sighed, his body relaxing around her. He was at ease, utterly vulnerable and yet he felt completely safe. With Essa in his arms, Hayden was capable of anything- even getting the best sleep of his life.

---

In the days that passed, Hayden and Essa fell into a strange sort of routine. Hayden refused to speak to Essa about the compromising situation they'd woken up to days previous and despite his best efforts, he and Essa couldn't seem to keep away from each other. As had become the norm, their spats drove them wild and they would storm away from each other only to find themselves back in each others presence minutes later. Those around the house had taken to avoiding them when they marched down the hallway in a flurry of untapped lust and seething anger.

Hayden led Essa to the library one morning, intent on finding any text that had to do with the thread of Fate when one of the maids of the house approached them with gleaming gold envelopes that smelled like mulled wine and cinnamon when opened. The maid didn't offer any explanation and simply walked off after a small curtsy, leaving Hayden and Essa standing with their strange new gifts. Hayden cautiously opened it, half expecting some sort of trick, but when an invitation slid out of the the gleaming envelope he lifted it and read aloud.

"Hello my darling Chosen." Hayden gave that sentence the frown it deserved. "It is my greatest pleasure to invite you all to my grand Masquerade Ball, marking the first month of the games complete. Attendance and debauchery is mandatory. Love, Dionysus."

 

[Becboc]

The range of emotions that stirred within Essa once Hayden was situated within the bed next to her was too extreme to describe. Her body tensed and she refused to look at him, focusing upon the TV screen in front of them with almost too much intensity, until his comment cut through the moment and gave her some much needed release back into some semi-normality.

In response she choked on a laugh, "Not if I smother you first."

As it turned out, neither of them needed to worry about keeping the other awake. They were both so exhausted that sleep claimed them quickly, and too exhausted to realise what the absence of conscious thought allowed their bodies to do. As Hayden curled around her, Essa snuggled back into him, one hand reaching behind them to curl her fingers against the back of his neck where the strands of his hair ended. It was as though they both knew they needed this, even though neither of them were prepared to admit it - more so when they woke up in the same position the next morning and outright refused to talk about it in the days that followed.

Though that didn't mean that they didn't spend every waking moment together that they could after the fact.

It would seem that something between them had changed after that doomed and fated trial; Essa certainly seemed so much less able, and so much less inclined, to fight the need within her to be around Hayden, even when he was driving her to insanity... which was often. They could fight like cat and dog over the most stupid of things but they always found a way back to each other, and their rooms became a kind of joint sanctuary even though it was never declared as such. It was confusing and... exhilerating, and worrying all at once but Essa simply didn't have the strength to fight it and if she was honest with herself? She didn't want to. What this meant for them, for the trials, she didn't know but right now it was easier to push such questions aside in favour of a feeling, a sensation that made her feel more alive than she ever had before. It was one that may have been planted by the gods, but one that didn't mean she felt it any less and it would seem that Hayden was experiencing something similar.

On the morning that Hayden had 'demanded' her presence to accompany him to the library, Essa had grumbled the whole way about it, mostly to annoy him because even she knew that it was probably a sensible idea to try and find some clarification regarding their situation. Although it was just as they were about to get into it when they were interrupted by the maid and Essa felt her chest flip; they had been granted a few days of peace after the intensity of the last trial (and boy had she needed it), but it was only a matter of time until they were thrust back into what they had come here to do once more.

Although, judging by the expression she was now studying upon Hayden's features, this appeared to be something... different.

As he read it aloud, Essa's expression soon began to mirror his own and at the end of it, she simply shook her head in exasperation. "Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me," she growled, yanking the letter from Hayden's hand as though she wanted to believe he'd read it wrong. Her amber eyes scanned each word in turn and then she pushed the paper back into his chest once she was done.

"This day just keeps getting better and better," she muttered as she turned away and ran a hand through her curls that seemed almost as cranky as her mood was (thankfully minus the bandages now that her head was well on its way to healing).

In reality, there was much more to her reaction than she was perhaps letting on. These kind of events? Those that were formal and carried expectation? Essa never felt as out of place as she did at that kind of thing, simply because the world that she came from was so far removed from it all. She was used to dingey back alleys and dive bars, not oppulance and fancy dresses, which is exactly what Dionysus' ball surely promised to provide.

"He couldn't just organise an orgy and be done with it?" She muttered mostly to herself as she turned away to once more peruse the towering shelves that stood around them. "Masks unnecessary, clothes optional. I think I'd prefer that, actually."

 

[BoneBrain]

Lavish parties filled with caviar and gold crusted champagne glasses were a dime a dozen in Hayden's world. He'd stopped being surprised at the maximalist outrageousness that old money could garner by the time he was but ten. Donning a tux came just as easily to him as wearing his pajamas. His grandmothers harsh training had proven useful against the constricting bow tie he no longer felt taught around his neck. He'd learned to dance in every ballroom style there was and moving through a throng of people came just as naturally as breathing to him. Hayden had been bred for such things and it was that teaching that blinded him to the notion that Essa might not feel the same.

Of all the tasks they'd been given, a simple party was paltry. He didn't consider how the woman across from him looked at finery like it might swallow her whole at any second. He scoffed as she tore the letter from his hands to read over the letter- like she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. It was like he'd told her that they would be forced to hike up Mount Everest rather than attend a party. Mind you it was a party hosted by the Gods, of which he wasn't as familiar, but surely it couldn't be as bas as Essa was making it out to be.

"It's just a party, it's not a big deal." Hayden grumbled in that way of his.

Essa ran a frustrated hand through her hair and Hayden averted his eyes from the sight. He didn't need to be thinking about what it would be like if it was his hands running through those curls. How she might react if he fisted a bundle of her hair at the base of her neck and tilted her head this way and that, at mercy to his whims. His hands curled around the leather cover of the book he'd pulled from a shelf to peruse when Essa muttered again. The book in his hands slammed shut and clattered to the nearby reading table, forgotten, as he stalked towards the woman that dare speak of group activities when he hadn't yet had her.

Jealousy was not something Hayden was used to. He could snap his fingers and have any object in the blink of an eye. If he wanted sushi from Japan and pizza from New York, he'd damn well get those things.

"Oh, you'd prefer that, would you?" He seethed, corning Essa against a bookcase and glaring down at the song bird he wanted to drag his hands over. Fuck, he was starting to lose his mind. He couldn't track where the line of fate began and his longing ended. It wound together tightly within in him like a knot that would never be untied. "I'm warning you now, Essa. If you let anyone touch you before we figure out this nonsense between us, I will kill them. I. Don't. Fucking. Share." Once his irrational vow filled the air, revealing far more than he would have preferred about how undone she'd made him- how out of control he felt, he picked up the book and marched away from her.

---

The afternoon just before the ball was a flurry of chattering and the pleading of overworked maids as they ushered their chosen back to the rooms to get prepared for the evening's events. The maid's found Hayden and Essa once more in the library. They'd found a few promising texts on the Fates and were keeping notes on their discoveries. While the information unfortunately didn't come with a set of easy to preform steps to undo their bond of Fate- it did share the knowledge that the Fate's predictions and magic always, got what it wanted. How the journey came to be wasn't in the Fate's control, but somehow, no matter how hard it was resisted, things ended up exactly as they should be.

"Give us five minutes more." Hayden demanded of the maids when they insisted that it was time for them to head to their rooms. Again the maids persisted and he resisted the growl building up in his throat as he tucked their findings and the books under his arms and followed after the maid. He paused and twisted his head to look back over his shoulder at Essa. He didn't say anything. The air crackled between them, a livewire repetition of his threats and promises. He had no right to demand her time or loyalty, which just meant he'd have to find her right away and hinder any of Essa's chances of being debauched with anyone else but him. No, he had no right to her- but that didn't mean he couldn't make it difficult for anyone else. If he couldn't have Essa, then no one could.

Back in his room, the maids worked quickly. Donning him in something that looked more like a costume piece plucked from the pages of a romantasy novel. Black boots, reaching up to his knees, gleamed pristine and perfect in the lighting of his room. A long velvet coat touched the tops of his boots, gilded with silver detailing along the lapels. He looked like a resplendent farrier of the dead.

"And now for the final touch." The maid placed a large box on the edge of the bed and opened it to reveal an ornate mask. It gleamed silver, shaped like the skull of a dog. Near the top of the skulls crown, sprouted two pronged antlers.

"There's no way that's staying on my face." Hayden eyed the heavy accessory with trepidation.

"No need to worry, Chosen. The mask has been enchanted by Hades and Dionysus. Hades has given given a unique mask to each of his Chosen and Dionysus has ensured that the mask will stay in place until the party is over. You will not be able to remove the mask until then, nor will you be allowed to speak your name, or ask the name of another."

"That's horrifying." Hayden deadpanned as the mask slid over his face and found rest over the bridge of his nose. The mask had been designed to leave the bottom of his nose and the entirety of his mouth still open and free for use, which Hayden was grateful for. Having a mask that covered the whole of his face seemed so constricting, especially if he couldn't take it off.

"You're perfect!" One of the maids clapped her hands together, regarding him like he was an art piece she'd curated. "Please make your way to the great hall and enjoy." The maid winked at him and Hayden was grateful the mask was able to hide the way his nose wrinkled.

"Here goes nothing."

 

[Becboc]

She didn't think twice about the comment she had made. In Essa's mind it had been throw away, a grumbled, empty preference that was designed to bring to life her distaste for large formal events. As she thumbed along spine after spine of books, it was for this reason that she didn't immediately notice how her words were like kindling to a flame.

"That's easy for you to say," Essa grumbled back, the sudden snap of a book causing an eyeroll and a turn towards Hayden, as she readied herself for whatever he was about to fire back at her. Because he would; if the last few days had taught them anything, it's that they were very well matched in fire and verse. They could go toe to toe on a bad day for a verbal sparring, although on this occasion as Essa turned, she wasn't quite prepared for the strong arms that encircled around her and the lean, brick wall that cornered her against the bookcase behind her back.

Her golden eyes darkened as she looked up into two swirling voids of fury but she didn't flinch, not even a little. Instead she tilted her head back, almost infuriatingly casual as a smirk began upon her lips - mostly to hide the hammering of her heart that she wasn't convinced wasn't audible over the soft panting of their breaths in the small space left between them. "Touched a nerve, did I?" She cooed, her voice a low, sultry drawl in the face of Hayden's frustration. "Careful Kaneko. You almost sound jealous and nothing's even happened yet." Essa moved closer, into his space, making a very concerted effort not to look down at the lips that were mere inches now from her own; it was as though she was pulled into him by that invisible string, a magnet drawn by an invisible force. "But I promise you this. If I want it to, then it will. I'll. Do. What. I. Fucking. Want."

Even as she spoke the words though, each one tasting more and more like ash on her tongue, Essa found that she wasn't convinced by them herself. Not as an ache of need coiled in the pit of her stomach, not as her chest tightened in disgust at the mere thought of touching anyone else. Hayden didn't need to know that though.

Her eyes remained upon him, even when he finally picked up a book and marched away from her. Only once he was far enough away she thought he wouldn't notice did Essa loose a shaky breath because for all of her bravado? That had been close. Perhaps too close, to descending into something that was getting harder and harder for either of them to deny.

---

The rest of the afternoon passed by thankfully without incident, until the two Chosen were ushered away to get ready for the evening's festivities. Essa remained quiet while the maids worked on her, her mind elsewhere, distant. By the time they were done plucking and preening, and when they finally presented her new image to the floor length mirror in her room, she hardly recognised herself. The dress she wore, if it could be called that, fit her figure perfectly. It revealed the supple, tan skin of her thighs and shifted to hint at more without revealing anything at all. Her slender, upper body was barely covered by the thin, sparkling material so that the dress looked like an extension of her body rather than an item of clothing. Essa would never have dared wear something close to this in all her life, and while a part of her wanted to be mad about it, she couldn't deny that she looked... different, and not in a bad way, which perhaps helped her with the thought of stepping out into the kind if splendour that she was not, and probably never would be, accustomed to. If she felt like someone else, maybe she could behave that way too?

The enchanted black mask that was fitted onto her face curled a scoff from her lips, because if ever there had been a sign that the Gods had a sense of humour. Songbird indeed. She hardly heard the explanation of how it would stay in place, as her hands reached up to finger the smooth, black edges of a disguise that was perfect for her. Her hair was a mass of wild curls around it, untamed with small, golden cuffs weaved through odd strands. They glinted like stars amongst a night sky every time that she moved and for a long, few moments, Essa felt... strange, as she looked at herself. At this new version of herself. The scrappy kid from the back alleys of New York. Esther's big sister. Now Athena's Chosen. Multiple time champion. Hayden's...

"Are you ready, miss?" The maid cut off that thought before it could take root, and Essa took in a breath before giving a nod that was anything but convincing.

"As I'll ever be."

"Then please make your way to the great hall. Dionysus is waiting."

---

The hall was everything that Essa had expected it to be and more. The decor was resplendent, the space bedecked in so much magic and enchantment that one felt a wave of sensation as soon as they stepped into it. The walls were lined with large, golden vases, filled to the brim with flowers made up of black, velvety petals. Candlelight flickered in every corner, while glowing chandeliers lined the ceiling. Many of the Chosen that remained were already within, each one masked and dressed so that it was near impossible to recognise any of them, such was the plan, Essa considered. She took a steadying inhale as she moved into the room, already feeling eyes upon her, some curious, some... hungry, some indifferent. Her footsteps were slower than she would have liked in the black heels that had come as part of her outfit, and it was a relief when she was approached by a butler with a tray of golden goblets.

"Thank you," Essa retrieved one and without consideration for what it most likely was, she knocked it back and then replaced the glass before taking another. The wine was sweet, delicious... and it reminded her of that night on the yacht. In the pool... when Hayden had...

A tug pulled at her chest, forcing her to turn before it felt like a conscious decision to do so. She knew he had entered the room before she even saw him, but when she did... Essa could not deny the way her mouth dried, or how her chest seemed to sputter to a stop. No, they weren't supposed to recognise each other tonight but Hayden? Essa knew when he was close, felt him like a piece of herself. She could sense him without sight or sound, her body simultaneously relaxing into knowing he was nearby, while tensing with the anticipation of him in... that suit. That mask. Like the fucking God of Death himself.

Fuck. Now she really needed another drink.