Demigod and monster. (Quinn)

Ah, the ports.  Geoff, being a Magister, really didn't need to be here for any business or work, but he did have the right to take a walk on the premises, as long as he didn't get in anyone's way.  He just enjoyed looking at the water, ships, cargo, and people buzzing about.  Although the beach was relaxing and a good retreat when you just wanted to idle about and do nothing, the ports spoke of life and activity, and it invigorated him.  Just looking around at his surroundings gave him energy, so he was in quite a good mood as he casually walked inconspicuously down the port.  To top it off, it was a nice sunny day, as was typical but still awesome.

@quinn

Sitting on a bench that seemed to be dangerously close to the edge of the dock, Serena Seely had lost her story. She thought she was following the Chancellor down to the docks to catch he running of island again with no apparent explanation, but unfortunately she was just doing a random check on some cargo barge not that far from the beach. In fact, her inner reporter was so devastated by the wasted trip, she briefly considered doing a story on this stupid bench. Just sitting on it normal left her feet dangling over the water. Honestly, you had to shimmy on to the thing with the hopes that you were well balanced enough to stay top-side.

But a rather decent distraction strolled behind her. She didn't have to see him to know he was there. Something about the familiar sound of his gait caught her attention and she snapped her head around to get a good, solid glare in at him, "Not really your scene, is it Di Mercurio?" Her voice dripped with the acid that reflected her feelings like a mirror.

Geoff completely stopped and turned around when he heard someone talk to him--and not in the nicest of tones.  This was a voice he remembered even if it had been a long time since he had talked to his person.  When he turned around, he found himself looking at the dark-haired Quinn, one of Accalia's three best friends ever since the times of Camp Jupiter (who was now a reporter and whose reports he read often), and who he had been on good terms with while he was still her boyfriend.  Now, though, it seemed that those friends turned against him, blaming him for not caring enough for Accalia to leave her for dead.  He knew that they probably viewed his relationship with Rebecca as a double blow to Accalia, too.

He tensed.  His face flushed with color and his heart beat.  Geoff didn't have it in him to argue back.  He hated mean confrontations and usually ceded the victory to the person against him as long as they weren't blatantly wrong.  He thought it was unfair that Quinn should treat him as if he were the most evil person on the planet, but her anger toward him was understandable.  He blamed himself for his failure, too, and expected just as much from others.  But he'd rather avoid getting into squabbles or awkward moments like these...but he was too polite to leave, too even if Quinn probably didn't give a damn about his courtesy or not.

Whatever the case, though, he resorted to courtesy as his shield and defense and pretend to ignore her hostility.  "Miss Seely," he said politely.  "No, I don't come here often, but I think it's a nice place to take a walk."  He noticed that the bench she was sitting on was way too close to the edge, but he refrained from expressing concern, even if he was a bit worried.  But oh well, whatever floated her boat.  His opinion was going to be unwanted, anyway.  He hesitated for a moment before forcing himself to add, "How are you doing?"     

What a weakling. He didn't even bother to defend himself against her. She always thought he had a weak spine, like a snake or an eel or basically any of those gross slimy creatures that everyone actually hates. Sure, she didn't think he was a terrible person years ago, but everyone shows their true colors eventually, and he definitely did. Quinn narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the man, trying to rid her mind of the many curse words that played on the tip of her tongue. She didn't want to be a completely bitch, although had they been behind closed doors, she would have ripped him a new one. It only sent her over the edge when he so casually asked her how she was doing. She glared at him with dark eyes, "Oh I could be anywhere between 'best day ever' and 'dying in a ditch' and I am certain that you wouldn't care." She growled, clicking her finger nails against her aqua blue spiral notebook.

Oh, good Mercury.  This was spiraling downward all too quickly.  The way she was glaring daggers at him, her snarky comment coming out as a growl, digging her nails into her notebook...he could tell that she was pissed off at him, and he thought that it was useless to put up a pretext of courtesy now in this circumstance.  His first instinct was to excuse himself, but something stopped him from doing that.  Maybe it was a gut feeling that he had been too weak-willed and unmanly as is, and that he had hurt enough people by not having a backbone.  He couldn't keep hiding.  He owed it to Quinn.

He really didn't know what to say, though.  He was even more tense now, completely rigid if anything.  Geoff had a nervous expression on his face, but he took a deep breath to get a grip of himself.  "I-I...of course I would," he protested.  All of a sudden he got some courage to defend himself, at least a bit.  It wasn't out of anger completely, though, as much as it was out of exasperation.  He wasn't the best arguer, so the flow of his sentence wasn't really that smooth as he tried to think of the best words to fill in the gaps. 

 "I'm not a monster, Quinn.  I know I've made mistakes, yes, but that doesn't mean I'm cruel.  I never meant any harm, not at all.  They were just...they were like I said...mistakes.  So why do you keep acting as if  I...I'm a murderer?" Right then he realized that he probably chose the wrong word because she most likely thought that he had murdered Accalia in a way with his lack of effort to save her.  He sighed.  Oh well, there was no taking it back.       

If she wasn't mad before, she was furious now. She turned her body, swinging her legs around so that they hung over the side of the bench. She stood up and threw he notebook back down on to the bench with a loud 'bang', "You may as well be, Geoff." She screamed, catching the attention of some of the day workers on the dock. She stomped her foot and approached him, leaving her notebook on the bench. Balling her tiny hand into a fist, she feebly punch him in the chest, "You left her." Tears were welling in her eyes. Although she had had many opportunities to cry over this with Lia, she had never actually confronted Geoff about it. Despite his weak nature, she had cared about him at one point and had actually thought he could be a decent guy, "I. Can't. Forgive. You." She whispered through gritted teeth, sending her daggered look at a young dock worker, "I could never have left someone I supposedly loved behind, even if I thought they were already dead." She cringed thinking about feebly trying to drag one of her Fama brothers away from the wreckage of their barracks despite his missing right leg, "How could you?"

Geoff wondered if he should have just left before it escalated.  She was completely and uncontrollably furious, and he took a step backward.  His first instincts were to get her to calm down somehow, but the words died on his lips when she pointed out angrily that he had left Accalia.  He could only focus upon that, knowing that what she was saying was true.  If he had truly loved her and meant what he said to her, he wouldn't have left her like that.  He would've went through heaven and hell to try to get her out, even if she was beyond saving, but all he did was give up the moment it happened.  He was a weakling and a disgrace.  There was no excusing what he had done, especially when he was a demigod.  He should've used his demigod skills to find a way to get her out.  All the feelings of guilt and shame that had been buried deep inside of him surfaced now, all the more because this was Quinn, Accalia's best friend, emotionally raging against him.  He had come to see her as his sister, and knowing that he had hurt her made him feel guiltier and pained.  The truth was that he had a similar confrontation like this with Quinn, Esmeralda, and the other girl five years ago, but it felt no different that it should be happening now. 

He stood very still, staring at her with a miserable expression on his face; he even let her punch him against the chest.  It hadn't hurt all that much, anyway.  Geoff was only able to focus on her emotional hurt, knowing that it was a result of him failing those he cared for.  It was because of him that she was distressed like this.  He wanted to comfort her, somehow, even if the source of her distress was him.  Of course, he was also listening to what she said, knowing that he hadn't done right by Accalia.  No, that was understatement.  He had betrayed her.  It didn't matter that he wasn't evil and that hadn't been his intent, but at the end that was what he had done.  Geoff idiotically wanted to reach out and give Quinn a hug, but at least his brains still worked and he didn't do that.  Instead he swallowed and said weakly when she asked how could he have done that, "I...I don't know, Quinn.  I don't know."

Pain. That was the tone underlying his voice. Pure, unadulterated pain. Part of Quinn was pleased, thinking that he deserved every bit of pain he felt for the rest of his life, but another part of her, the part of her that had been his friend once upon a time, felt guilty. She glared through her guilt, tears threatening to spill over, "How can you not know?" Where she had meant to sound fierce and angry, her voice was feeble and quiet, barely heard over the crashing of the waves against the base of the docks. Without realizing she had lost her strength, Quinn fell to her knees with her head bent over them to keep herself from sob loudly. She spoke again, her voice louder this time, "I hate you." I was obvious now that she was crying.

Geoff couldn't take it anymore.  What only mattered to him now was that Quinn was on her knees, crying with such pain and grief.  He didn't care if she was hurling abusive words at him, or if he was the one who she loathed.  He only knew that he couldn't leave her like this without trying to console her.  That was what mattered.  Geoff quickly dropped down to his knees beside her, and without thinking twice (because if he thought twice, he knew what he was doing was incredibly stupid), he pulled her into his arms, wrapping them around her tightly.  "I know you hate, me, Quinn," he said softly.  "I deserve it.  I'm very sorry.  But please, don't cry..."

She was shaking, which didn't make sense to her. Her head snapped up and she glared at him angrily, "See? You're so terrible you don't even comfort people properly!" She stood up and straightened her skirt sighing and wiping her face trying to make the tears that were still falling disappear. She hated looking weak in front of him. She crossed her arms over her chest when she finally gave up attempting to stifle her tears, "Do you even know how to love anyone?"

Tongue-tied Geoff was simply tongue-tied.  He had a good idea of what he wanted to say, but he just couldn't translate that into words.  He had to agree with her that he couldn't comfort properly, but he didn't think that he was terrible for it.  Still, though, he got up to his feet and was reluctant to be in this situation but reluctant to leave her crying like that as well.  I love Rebecca very much, he almost said when she challenged him about knowing how to love. 

"Of course I do," he said, and this time he sounded a little more firm.  This accusation he felt he could defend himself against.  "I know I made a mistake, and I was weak of heart.  But that doesn't mean I don't know how to love.  That's going too far."  He hesitated; it had been established that he didn't love Accalia because he left her there, having given up too easily.  But he was so sure that what he felt for her had been nothing short of love for her.  The words just sprang from his mouth, and he said, a little quietly, "I loved Accalia.  I loved very, very much, and I loved you, Mac, and Esme as if the three of you were my own sisters." 

She knew she had crossed some unspoken line with the accusation. Something about the look on his face told her that she was very, very wrong. She took a step back as if pushed by some invisible force, "I..." She started, no longer crying. Her face was screwed into a strange, confused look that she wouldn't be able to explain if someone asked what she was thinking. Because, honestly, she didn't know. There was the part of her that wanted to keep pushing, yelling at him until he shrunk into a small, upset mess and then there was another part. A part that wanted to apologize. To hug him like she used to when they were still good friends. Her arms lift ever so slightly in response to her thoughts but she pulled away again, "I..." Shaking her head, she couldn't stop the nervous laughter that escaped her lips, "So..." Her next words were almost a whisper, "I'm sorry, Geoff."

Geoff really couldn't believe what he was hearing, or seeing.  That expression on her face, the way her words came out with difficulty.  He stared, solid, wondering what she was going to do.  Was she...going...to make another outburst? He braced himself for just about anything.  But she strained herself to say something quietly, laughing midway, and he stared at her with what was close to shock when she apologized to him. 

He closed his eyes.  What had he done? Of course she was the one who had started it, but he felt like it was all his fault.  Of course; she wouldn't be angry if it hadn't been for him.  He was the one who started it, first and foremost, and for that he was guilty.  She was just a victim of his stupidity.  He opened his eyes again and shook his head.  "No," he said weakly.  "No, you have nothing to be sorry for.  I'm sorry...and for so much."

She had stopped crying, and seemed a little calmer.  He supposed that he ought to go now.  So much damage had already been done, and at least she wasn't in hysterics anymore.  He would fell less bad about making his departure now.  "Have a good day, Quinn," he said softly before slowly turning around with the intention of walking away.

In a sheer moment of panic, Quinn reached out and grabbed his sleeve. She regretted it the minute it happened. What the hell was she thinking? The answer was obvious. She wasn't thinking at all. Quinn's eyes went wide as she pprocessed what she had just done. Opened mouthed, she stared at his face. He was so...dare she even think it? And that look in his eyes...She didn't even realize she hadn't let go of his sleeve yet. Feeling the need to say something to try and cover up her odd actions, Quinn spoke, "You said you loved me like a sister?" The words were awkward and came out in a different tone than the strained, stange one she had been using the entire time they were standing there.

Right when Geoff turned around and was about to walk away for good, he felt someone hold into his sleeve.  He stopped walking.  Was that...Quinn? He couldn't really think of anyone else who could possibly do that besides her.  He couldn't believe she was trying to keep around, though.  Yet, he slowly turned around to face her.  She looked so...well, the expression on her face was one that he'd never seen on her before.  The words she let out were totally unexpected, to.  The tone of voice she used was one he didn't recognize as ever belonging to her. He wasn't sure what to say, but to confirm what she said.  "Yes," he said, sounding a bit unsure.  After all, he couldn't believe that she wasn't challenging what he said.  "I did say that, and I meant it.  You meant a lot to me."  He didn't know if he could say that she meant a lot to him today.  So much time had passed, and so much unsaid hatred.  He wasn't sure what they were now.

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