Leaving the Zeus Dorm, Beth set her mouth and started the trek to the Apollo Dorm. This was probably the most silly of her impulse to spread seasonal joy. She hoped she wasn't overstepping any boundaries. She'd only met the man twice and hadn't made any gestures toward wanting to continue the association. But there was something sad and almost lonely about him that made her want to do something nice for him.
Of course, she was relying on luck to guide her. Hopefully Lex's associate would help a girl out. She had no idea how to contact him. She was basically hoping she could find him at the dorm or find someone who knew where to find him. Finding a way to find a way, indeed.
Feel free for Tom to find her! And don't worry about gifts. She's just hunting down her friends one by one to give them hers. heart
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 5:13 pm
Beth was lucky, at this point in time Tom was just heading back from the library back to the dorms. He had mostly been keeping to himself at this point. Holidays would be celebrated with the family of course but at this point he was mostly still researching, job hunting, and just trying to find a reason as to why he was here.
Nothing. He hadn't been able to find anything as of yet. And of course he had let his training slip too. Not his regular exercising, but he doubted he could hit a target with an arrow at this point or even know how to notch one. He really needed to get back into that. Though he hadn't been that good at it in the first place.
He sighed as he walked up the steps in front of the dorm. He wasn't sure if he should go in and nap or just read another novel.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 5:51 pm
Luck must have been a lady indeed. Beth watched a man with a familiar-looking black cowboy hat trudge up the stairs. Quickening her pace--and ignoring the spray of gravel from under her ankle boots--she called out, "Tom! Hey, Tom!" She outstretched the arm not laden with parcels to wave towards him.
Hopefully he didn't have earbuds in or anything, or else she'd have to actually run to catch up with him.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 6:56 pm
Tom looked up from his continual staring contest with the ground when he heard his name being called. He noticed someone coming towards him and realized that it was Beth! He probably had a bit of a surprise on his face when he recognized her, but quickly got rid of it and smiled, making his way towards her so she didn't have to run to him.
Jogging a bit he finally caught up to her. "Beth! It's been a while!" He was glad he had remembered her name, of course meeting the people hear he had been keeping a list of who was who. Looking at the parcels in her arm and looked a bit worried. "Do you need any help with those?" he was sure it wasn't comfortable to carry all of them.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:17 pm
Beth grinned at the man warmly, heartened by the surprised look on his face. She always liked being an unexpected ray of sunshine when she could. And, bless him, he diverted his steps to meet her. Which was good because despite her experience with heels, it would only take one misstep for her ankle to turn. And then she would fall and it would be embarrassing for everyone. To say nothing of spraining her ankle.
Beaming, she said, "It has, but I figured I'd give you a little something for the holidays!" She selected one of the smaller bags looped over her arm. It was gold and white with lines of gold glitter making it look like a ribbon wrapped box. She pulled it off her wrist and held it out. Then she realized that Tom had asked her another question. "Oh, these? No, I'm good, thanks. You should have seen it earlier this morning! This is sans a few bags." Now that she thought about it, prompted by him, her arm was starting to ache from the ropes and ribbons looped over the sleeve of her turtleneck, cutting into the skin underneath. But she had already responded in the negative and besides, she wasn't going to shove that off on him. Unless he asked, of course.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:34 pm
Well at least she was a familiar face. Though her reassurance didn't remove the worry from his face. "Are you sure? Because I can help if you want." Even if there weren't that many now, she had to have been carrying them for a while right?
He blushed a bit as he was handed the present. "Thanks!" Though he didn't want to admit he hadn't gotten her anything, though he still had time to get some gift cards at least. He took the present and gave her a smile. "Really, thanks. You didn't have to, though I appreciate it."
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:58 pm
Beth hesitated. Her arm was pretty exhausted. But she couldn't ask Tom to trail behind her as she went to her other friends to deliver their presents. Her smile was back on in a moment. "I...It'd be nice to set them down, but I have a loose timetable to keep to. I just wanted to make sure you got something from me! That's the holiday spirit, right?"
She waited to see if he would invite her up or open her gift or let her go. He looked a bit tired, so maybe he needed some alone time. She would let him choose whether he wanted to talk more.
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Inside the bag, Tom will find x, a prayer to Apollo wrapped around it, and a Visa gift card for $200.
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:13 pm
Well, he couldn't do anything but respect her wishes then. "All right." He wasn't sure if he should open the gift yet or wait, but when he looked back at her face she seemed to be waiting for him to do something and he figured he might as well. After all, she hadn't said that he had to wait for the holiday after all.
Opening the gift, his eyes widened a bit in surprise at all that was in there. "Wow!" He hadn't meant to be loud, but he couldn't help it when he made the exclamation. "Really Beth, this is great! You didn't have to though, but thank you!" He was excited! Or at least it made him feel a bit more included within the Prytaneum. One couldn't help but feel a bit left out when the gods barely even deigned to talk to you and more or less just announced you were suddenly going to work for them.
He quickly looked at her again and smiled. "Thank you, really. This is great."
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:43 pm
Beth's expression lit up at his reaction. She had only meant to give one person prayer beads, but Lex's response had been enough to convince her that she was onto something. Maybe next year she would have to come up with some plan to outdo herself, but for now, she was delighted by the fact that, to a one, her friends had been stunned by her choice of gifts. Despite looking pleased with herself, she said, "I didn't know what else you might like--I wouldn't dare ask you to replace your hat by buying you a new one--so I just got a gift card and...." She trailed off before pulling the coil of her own prayer necklace out from the collar of her black turtleneck to show him the beads. "I know my necklace helps me feel closer to Hera." As she tucked it back beneath her clothing, a thought struck her and she continued, "But then I was raised Catholic, so having a physical, beaded representation of devotion kind of makes sense to me. I got the bracelet because I figured you could just stick it in a pocket or around your wrist--though I guess wrist wouldn't really work because we're, like, always fighting and." With an effort, she got her babbling under control. Tom had said he like them, right? Why did she have to assume he was just being polite?
"I'm glad you like it, Tom." There, was that so hard?
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:57 pm
He chuckled a bit. "You did well." He hadn't been raised in any religion, but it was interesting to learn about them at least. "I really appreciate it." He couldn't really think of anything else to say at this point though.
"Well... do you want to take a break or something? You can come up to my room though there isn't much up there." He felt as though he should get to know her better, though he could understand if she was too busy to chat.
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 4:46 pm
Beth paused. Tom was in a weird quasifriend qualification. There were some people she could naturally fall in with, treat with almost obscene amounts of platonic affection. There were others she was still getting to know and wasn't quite sure where the boundaries lay. Tom was, for now, in the latter category. It didn't help that he seemed to treat her with a strange blend of easygoing formality, tempered with a bit of melancholy she couldn't quite place.
On the one hand, getting to know him would be lovely! Coaxing him out of his shell, seeing the sun-filled smile that Apollo had blessed him with, was enough temptation on its own. On the other, she wasn't quite sure what he expected of her--or her of him, for that matter.
Oh dear. She was complicating things rather rapidly, wasn't she?
The facts were: 1) Tom had invited her up to his room. 2) She still had to deliver gifts to Song and Briiva. 3) Her arm was getting mighty tired.
After a (hopefully) short consideration, Beth nodded. "Sure, why not? Knowing how someone sleeps is one of the best ways to get to know them." Even as the words slipped out of her mouth, she was kicking herself. 'Way to make yourself sound like a creep.'
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 7:53 pm
When Tom got a chance to think about what he just asked of Beth, he almost blushed like crazy. Sure, he had invited plenty of girls over to his apartment who were just friends, heck he had some best friends that were females, but perhaps he shouldn't be doing it with people he barely knew? It's not like he was expecting a relationship that was something other than casual/friendly, but perhaps he shouldn't be inviting people into his room so quickly.
She seemed to be thinking about it, and he almost said to forget about it until she responded. Well, he wasn't sure what they would do up there, but it would probably be talking for a bit and just letting her rest her arms. All of those bags had to be heavy.
He chuckled a bit at what she said though, a small smile creeping onto the corner of his mouth. "I don't think you'll see anything other than a well-made bed." Sure, he could have really told her how he slept, with clothes on and almost 4 layers of blankets in the winter, but she didn't have to know that.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 7:30 pm
Beth cheerily linked an arm with Tom's and gestured to the dorm with the one laden with gifts. "Well, that'll be a difference from my bed, at least! Lead the way!"
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Aaaand now it's your turn to decide what Tom's bedroom looks like twisted
Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2017 7:10 pm
He nodded back at her and led the way up to his room. When they got there he opened up the door, holding it open so she could go in first. Inside she would find mostly modern furniture, some of it from IKEA, and quite clean as it wasn't used that often. He still mostly stayed in his apartment back in San Francisco.
There was a couch, and the bed, and a desk and not a whole lot of anything else. No decorations, nothing to make it "homey", honestly he would probably lend it to another chosen if they needed it for some reason it was so clean. He was a little embarrassed, but he didn't really stay here that much, not yet anyway.
"You can take a seat anywhere you want. Do you want something to drink or anything?" He wasn't sure what to do now. He hadn't really ever invited anyone over whom he hadn't been good friends with at his own apartment.
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Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 3:40 pm
Beth swept her gaze across the room, a bit surprised and disappointed by the minimalism. She set her bags down with a sigh and sat on the couch, leaning against the armrest to give Tom space to sit next to her--if he wanted. She had hoped for a little more insight into the Apollo Chosen; even so, she supposed simply talking to him might help.
She was dying of thirst, actually, but waved off the the offer of a drink. "No, thanks, I'm good." More obviously, she looked around and then smiled pleasantly. "You weren't kidding about a made bed. I'm kind of awed at how clean this place is. What's your secret? I could definitely use some pointers." She blinked. "N-not that my place is a pig sty exactly, just," she searched for a word, "chaotic."
