Domestic Disputes

[nyx__dot__com]

Once their children had departed, Nyx was silent for quite some time. Meticulously, she straightened up the sitting room, moving like a living ice sculpture - her back ramrod straight, her movements graceful but incredibly deliberate. Her hands smoothed out the fabric on the couches. Manually, she fluffed pillows

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[erebos_dotcom]

He watched his wife keenly as she flounced around the room and straightened things that really did not need to be straightened. This was Nyx trying to calm herself to the point where she did not act or speak rashly. Erebos understood and waited

[nyx__dot__com]

Nyx did not look at him, did not acknowledge his physical presence. Her words were slow and deliberate as she now moved to one of Clotho's pieces, which was perpetually, purposely, crooked.

"I am unconcerned, at this juncture, with what Aither did and did not know about this situation. At this juncture, I am trying to ascertain whether Hybris' work may have had some influence over your actions.

"But it appears that the planning stages of your work had her hand in them, the final execution was all yours. Now that that's done," she said, "Perhaps you might see fit to explain to me, in all possible detail, exactly how this evolved. From the beginning."

[erebos_dotcom]

"Yes," he said.

The next thirty minutes he spoke uninterrupted except for a few cold 'Hmm's and 'Mm-hmm's from Night. He meticulously explained every event that transpired, to his knowledge. Epimetheus' involvement was difficult. The altering of the pendant was difficult. He did not have the knowledge of Prometheus' craft to know what was correctly or incorrectly done. He told her this, baldly, and moved on.

Once the bare details were laid out, he leaned against the wall to keep her from moving on to the next painting on her row of childrens' gifts.

She was allowed to be angry. And he was used to her anger taking the form of cold dismissal. He was even acclimated to it. But that did not mean he liked it.

He waited again for the next round.

[nyx__dot__com]

Nyx listened attentively, her anger only increasing as it became clear that he'd not told her of Clotho's link with the Egyptian as soon as it was brought to his attention; as he explained going with Aither for a clandestine "visit" with Seth; as she came to understand he'd consulted Prometheus about the situation; as he explained that he'd left their daughters' essences in the unsupervised hands of apparently inept Titans; as he explained that he'd deceived and manipulated Clotho in order to bring his plan to fruition.

He had blocked her path, so she smoothly pulled a cigarette from the air and lit it, not offering him one. That done, she simply turned around, looking critically at something across the room.

"Is there some reason," she asked, "that you saw fit to collaborate with Aither, and Prometheus, rather than your wife, or perhaps the other two Fates?"