“Oh come now. I’m sure you can do better than that. Tell us what you really think. Be honest.” She grinned and shifted so she could face her fully. It was quite a bit to take in: the sly, fanged grin, the amused violet colored eyes, the bare ebony breasts which, if they were differently colored might have belonged to Aphrodite herself, and of course, the long, twisting serpent’s tail, the tip of which was wavering in the air, just as a cat’s might when it was waiting for the unfortunate mouse to make that one fatal move.
Calliope flicked her eyes back to Thelios, still saw nothing helpful, and sighed with a mental shrug. If she wants honest, that’s what she’ll get.
“Alright,” she offered, straightening her back a little more and folding her hands in her lap, “Honestly, I don’t think ‘not’ being a silly prat warrants the title of ‘uptight prig,’ and just because what constitutes ‘fun’ for the silly prats of the world isn’t fun for the rest of us doesn’t mean we don’t know how to have our own sort of fun. But then that assertion probably makes me an uptight prig, which I admit I have been accused of… after a fashion. Therefore I’m probably not some one who should be commenting on the matter.”
Thelios’s head jerked sharply to the side and away from his sister, his arm bending up so that his fist obscured his frown. Her own eyes shot anxiously to his, but instead of the anger she feared to see, there was a much more familiar glow. She bit the inside of her cheek to suppress her smile.
It wasn’t a frown he was hiding after all. A flood of relief made her want to laugh out loud, and she inhaled sharply as she tore her eyes from his.
His sister looked between the two of them with an uncertain smile. Calliope allowed herself a mild smile as well and settled into a much more relaxed position with her legs tucked beneath her.
The snake took a sip of her wine and chuckled softly as she toyed with the rim of the glass. “I suppose I can agree with that, but I wouldn’t say simply agreeing to come to dinner and allowing oneself to be entertained is for the silly and the pratish alone. No?”
“I suppose not.” She conceded. It did seem reasonable enough.
“Traitor.” Thelios mumbled from behind his fist.
She decided to take exception to that and looked sideways at him. “Hardly. I’m merely conceding that it isn’t necessarily all that ridiculous. I never said you should do it.” She frowned thoughtfully. “Why…. why aren’t you going? If I may be so bold.” She added carefully, for proprieties sake. He still had company after all.
He dropped his clenched hand back to the arm of the chair and looked at her straight on. “Because I don’t want to. Do You want to spend an evening with my useless brothers while they preen and flaunt their wealth?”
“There are sisters too…” The other interjected lightly.
“They aren’t half as annoying, and don’t pester me with questions about when I’m going to come to my senses about- ”
“-When Will you come to your senses, by the way?”
“I take it back- useless brothers and sisters. Well? Do you?” He turned back to Calliope.
“Not really… I guess.” She answered dazedly.
He looked satisfied, as close to smiling as she’d seen all day at least, and back to his usual level of smugness. “Good. It’s settled then. I’m not going.”
The snake made a disgusted sound and turned on Calliope as well. “Fat lot of help you were.” She bit out sullenly, before catching up her wine again with a pout. “Now I have to face the vultures alone. You’re not a very nice brother.”
“The vultures are also your brothers… take it up with them.”
“Yes, but I Like you. And I like listening to you shut them up. If you’re not there to stopper them, who will? ”
“Feel free. No one is keeping you from it.”
“You know they don’t listen to me.” To Calliope’s surprise she addressed her directly again. “They don’t think I have anything to worry about because of who my mother is, so I get vetoed, which is preposterous.”
“I can’t say I know much of why you’re here, but if you have nothing to worry about and find them difficult to deal with, then why bother coming at all?” Calliope offered in return.
Thelios said nothing but nodded his agreement.
“On the off chance they’re wrong. Isn’t that why you’re here brother?”
He sighed. “Yes. You could just do what I do and not show up.”
She shrugged. “I suppose I could, but it’s easier in the end if you just play along a little. Path of least resistance and all that. Besides, I’m a little more out of my element here than you are, and I’ve been away for so long. I do need to catch up.” Again she addressed Calliope. “I’ve been traveling abroad, but my children insist I come back every now and then for a few years. I’m heading back home to Libya when this is over with. I want to see what little Hero you’ve met Herophile?” She glanced at Thelios who nodded, “… to see what she’s been up to. I heard a rumor she’s made quite a name for herself. Does a mother proud that one.”
“How are the rest of them?” Thelios asked, now looking more relaxed and in a somewhat better humor.
“Alive, well, and very much uneaten, thank you.”
Thelios chuckled and Calliope frowned. “Uneaten?” she ventured carefully.
“Yes, uneaten. Hera can’t keep her husband on a leash and the rest of us have to suffer for it. In my case she waited until I left for greener pastures, then, in my absence, started all kinds of vicious rumors about me. One of which was that I left because I’d gone mad and eaten my own babies. Can you imagine? The crazed bitch. If she wants to punish someone, she should punish him. I hate it when people blame ‘the other woman.'”
“That’s because you’re usually the other woman.” Thelios graveled with a smirk.
“Oh, shut up. Who isn’t the other woman with that bloody man. And he keeps getting away with it because he’s so damned charming. Just when you think you’ve built up a tolerance he comes out with some new trick. That’s why she picks on the women… he’s got this little smirk-smile thing he does and after a few ‘I swear she didn’t mean anything’s… Lo! All is forgiven… anyway, that’s not the point.