Cupid's Miss (closed for such_a_bad_man)

[Ohia_Lehua]

There was no better sound in the world to Odette then the sound of happy laughing children and today the cafeteria’s walls echoed back the playful giggles and merriment of the young boys and girls gathered for today’s arts and craft activity. It wasn’t Odette’s normal schedule; Mr. Arthur was gone for the week as his daughter was getting married in a different state and she had volunteered to cover the hour long block. The craft of the day was suncatcher window animals where Odette had premade a whole zoo of cardstock outlines with contact paper negative filler space that the children could fill with colored tissue paper. Also provided was an assortment of glitters, beads, googly eyes, ribbon and yarn to further decorate their chosen animal.

Odette laughed and smiled as the children held up their colorful creations.

“You can hang this one in your office.” Karl, a boy of six, offered with a crooked tooth smile. He and his mother had been at the shelter for three months and there was a huge improvement with Karl, the shy crying boy was nearly a shadow to this radiant child who now laughed so easily with his newly made friends.

Lowering herself to a knee so she and the boy were near to eye level Odette took the offered seahorse and hugged it to her chest. “I know just where this will go, thank you Karl, I love it.”

The boy puffed with pride and hopped away a moment before other kids followed in his lead and soon Odette’s arms were filled with paper animals. It was moments like this that made the job worth it, that blanketed the memories of their hurts and her own.

“Miss Bethany!”

The hour arts and crafts hour was nearly done with and the next volunteer had just entered the cafeteria and was announced to the room by a young girl who was already wrapped around the teacher’s waist.

“I see arts and crafts was a success.” Chuckled the fifth grade teacher. Beth was a full time teacher who volunteered at the non-profit woman’s and children shelter on the weekends and often than not during the week. “I’m sad to have missed it.” Her voice was soft and light as she brushed hair out of Maya’s face.

“Don’t worry Miss Bethany!” Maya detached herself from Beth and ran back to the table she was working at and held up a rainbow horse. “I made this one for you!”

Odette stood up and watched as Bethany made her was to the long folding tables and interacted with the dozen and a half kids who rushed to show her their works of art. “I guess I’ll leave you to it.” Odette started in parting, lingering a moment. The craft tables were cleared and cleaned up of the materials and trash from the project and what was still usable had been returned to the cabinets. “Unless you need anything from-“ Odette flinched and sucked in a surprised breath of air. A flash pain had stung her in the back right below her left shoulder and while it wasn’t painful it had been a shock and she looked behind her in search of the cause. However, the only thing there was a well dressed man, or was he? He shimmered in her view, blurring out of focus and her head swam with dizziness as if her eyes were dilated and she were staring at the sun.

“I got it, thank you.” Bethany waved off with a smile, not noticing that Odette hadn’t finished her question or the distracted look on her face.

Odette’s focused on Bethany’s voice and turned to look back at her. “Right, then I’ll see you tomorrow.” Curious about the man Odette turned to head towards him and conveniently the exit as well but he was gone. Figuring he had left Odette quickened her pace but found the halls outside the cafeteria empty. “Curious and curiouser.” Odette mused to herself taking the right hallway towards her office.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Eros stood against the wall of the converted grade school, eyes wide in panic. "Idiot, that arrow was meant for Bethany. Pay attention!" he chided himself. Standing up, he straightened his jacket and took a breath. "No matter, just go back in there and hit her with another arrow. You still have a window to make her fall for the love of her life..." the tired God of Love told himself. It wasn't the first time he had missed a shot, but he had hoped he was past that chapter of his life. Eros is meant to bring people together, to help people find love. That's his whole job in the pantheon of Olympus. He couldn't very well go back and report he'd failed. Aphrodite wouldn't let him hear the end of it.

Turning the corner, he paused however. The woman he hit, the one that reacted as though she felt it, was lingering in the hallway. "No... go away. You're not supposed to know I'm here..." he murmured to himself. Replaying the moment that made him run, Eros seized on something, something in her eyes. A look of recognition. "She saw me?" he vocalized, the thought so incredulous that he had to verbalize it to hear how stupid it sounded. But no, it was so clear. She not only felt the sting of his arrow, but this woman turned and looked right at him.

"Could she be one of Zeus' kids?" he reasoned, wondering if she had senses like the other gods. It would explain how she felt the arrow but didn't fall in love with Bethany in front of her. He pursed his lips as he watched this suddenly interesting woman. Bethany would have to wait. In any case, he couldn't risk going back into that room with this woman blocking the door. For now, he had to be sure of something first. Stepping out into the hallway, he stood and waited to see if she saw him again. Perhaps something in the aftermath of the arrow allowed her to see him; he couldn't be sure without it happening again. Narrowing his eyes, he stared back down the hall for any reaction from this mortal.

 

[Ohia_Lehua]

Seriously, where did he go? Odette wanted to let it go, put her new treasures up in her office but her mind wouldn't stop thinking about the man in the doorway. It was just odd; she had seen him so clearly in the first few seconds, but it was like the more she looked the less she saw. It didn't make any sense, why did he shimmer and blur? Maybe I just need to get my eyes checked, stop drinking so much coffee and sleep more than a few hours at night. She lectured herself as she stopped midstep and turned around. It was clear that he didn't go this way as the hallway stretched the length of the building and opened only to locked rooms and offices with there being a hallway at the very end leading towards the other end of the building.

"You needed to go to the front office and pick up your new client list anyways." Odette justified heading back the way she came. If I went all the way to my office the distance would be twice as long, this way it's only halfway. She told herself with a nod, shuffling the stack of paper art in her arms into a more manageable and tidy pile.

Odette was near the cafeteria doors when she saw him again. This time he was clear, and she quickly took stock of him. He was taller than her 5'8 height, even if she were to pile her long dark brown almost black hair on the top of her head, she didn't think that the wavy curls would amount to his height. He also had... Odette's eyes started to water and she rubbed her eyes to clear away the moisture. "Hello, is there anything I can do to help you?" She greeted with a bright friendly smile on her face. She wasn't worried that he shouldn't be here, there were two monitored doorways that he had to get through to be in the building, but that didn't mean he knew his way around and first time volunteers often got turned around. In fact that was something she was going to have to bring up again, there needed to be a better introduction with a tour and functions of the program and building before volunteers were left on their own, it would help with confusion of being in a new place. "This place is larger then it seems and it's easy to get turned around." Odette filled in approaching the man. "If you're looking for someone or headed somewhere..." Her voice fell off as she started to feel jittery, like she had butterflies and could feel a faint blush color her cheeks. Suddenly she was happy that she had taken the time to put on a nice outfit, her dusty rose palazzo pants fitted her trim waist and was accentuated with a fabric belt tied into a bow while hinting at the shapely hips that were mostly camouflaged by the flowy fabric. The white satin pearl button top was tucked in and had the same flowy capped sleeves with a high cut sweetheart neckline that balanced the swell of her breasts with the professional look that she strived for. Pale pink slip-ons covered her feet and she had even found the time this morning to put on some light makeup and pull her hair back in a fancy twist and clipping it in place.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Eros sighed as the woman seemed to turn around and look back down the hallway. Something in her changed her mind and she turned back around to see him, though. He felt his eyes widen in surprise as she started to walk down the hallway toward him. As she did, he could see in her eyes that she saw him. Even worse, she smiled, hinting that she must have recognized him from the missed shot.
Shit, she can see me... but how is this happening? he pondered, watching this mortal woman advance down the hall toward him. Around him, students and other teachers went about their business as though he were not there. That's not to say that they could pass through him; even in this form he was as corporeal as they were. But the gift the Olympians had was subtle influence that would make people walk around them without them realizing. That's what made this woman's advance all the more surprising.

Thankfully, the Olympians would blend in whenever they left Mount Olympus. In this day and age, his peplos and himation would appear to be a blazer and dress pants to anyone capable of perceiving him. It wouldn't be modeled after any designed on Earth; it would be too specialized as it was still a garment weaved by the gods. The shirt under his jacket would look surprisingly white as if bleached within an inch of its life. Such was the influence of Olympian craft. Even so, his sandals might give him away. In modern dress they would look so out of place.
Underneath his clothes, however, there was no denying that Eros was an Olympian. He was at least 6'4" with a toned build that physical trainers would strive for. His black hair hung naturally in the latest cut without product. His dark eyes seemed to have speckles of starlight in them as well. It was as if the Vault of Heaven lay there.

As the woman approaching drew closer, it was obvious that she was talking to him. From the word choice, it sounded like she thought he worked here. Eros looked around before clearing his throat. "Uh, no, I was just visiting. I was looking in on a classroom, but I was trying not to be disruptive." As Eros spoke, his gifts allowed his words to be understood by Odette. To her, he was speaking English with a slight Grecian-accent. As he made himself apparent to this teacher, others in the hallway seemed to realize he was there as well. As such, he was starting to cause a stir in the hall and that would not do for an Olympian. "I can see that this may be a bad time to visit so I'll return another day." He says, trying to end the conversation. As interesting as this mortal may be, Eros still had a job to do.

 

[Ohia_Lehua]

"Um..." Odette's mouth felt dry and she licked her lips before restarting. "Yes, we appreciate that. The kids can get so easily distracted and the adults often feel vulnerable as it is and feeling like they are being peeked in can be a huge set back." The man didn't look like he would be a teacher, advisor or mentor. Odette tried to be sly as she looked him over again taking in his dress and presence. Maybe he was a doner, they were always in need of more money and the chance to land him as a regular had Odette forgetting about everything else but him.

"It's really not a bad time. In fact I'm free if you had the time." She quickly offered seeing him trying to leave. "We can start at my office and make the rounds on the ground floor. My name is Odette." Her hand turning out from the grip she had on the artwork to offer the man a handshake.

The hallway was starting to get crowded, and it was louder than normal so it was with some surprise that she noticed that they were being noticed, or rather HE was being noticed. The adults stared without shame, some of the women even going as far to wink or bat their eyelashes as the children giggled and scurried about in a patternless manor that took them nowhere with a lot of steps.

Turning back to the man she had noticed that he was handsome, that there was this dashing old Hollywood air to him, that he had the body of a god and his eyes... Okay lets not get too carried away with ourselves, Odette warned herself ending the total body eye scan she had just started of the man. "I can promise that it's less crowded and much quieter." She pushed with an overly friendly but genuine smile.