Café

Erin followed Benjamin into the café and sucked in her breath. The interior was absolutely amazing; different from the standard coffee shops usual dull browns, but not so much that the color scheme stood out. The dim light added a level of mystery and coziness to the place, making it feel more homey. Maybe that was because she tended to be a creature of the night, but whatever the case, she liked it.

She smiled slightly when Ben introduced her, letting her hair fall into her face again without protest. She was shy, but was trying to work on her social skills with little success; she was just too wary.

When it came Erin's turn to order, she scanned the menu quickly and ordered her standard hot chocolate with whipped cream. Okay, so maybe she was a bit of a chocolate addict, but coffee just wasn't her thing. The stuff that she usually came into contact was not grade A coffee.

Erin forced a smile when Lucy brought their orders over. She was a pretty girl who was a few inches taller than she and looked like she smiled a lot. Her cheeks were pink, and she could tell instantly that Ben had something to do with it. When she giggled and hid behind her hair, an ancient tactic girls employed, her suspicions were confirmed. Ben was good-looking and he was nice guy, but... Oh gods, this was so stupid. She'd just met the guy. It didn't matter if the pretty daughter of the store owner happened to have her eye on him. Jeez.

"Thanks," she said quietly, not making eye contact with Lucy. That didn't mean much, though. Erin rarely met anyone's eyes.

Then Lucy was gone, leaving her semi-alone with Ben. He had a nice voice and when he encouraged her to try her hot chocolate, she hesitated for only a few moments. She shook her hair out of her eyes and raised the steaming cup to her lips. It was hot, but really good. Amazing, in fact. It was sweet and thick, not watery like some others that she had tasted before. It warmed her from the inside out, leaving her feeling almost... complete. She couldn't really think of a better word.

"Oh my gods, this is amazing," she said, voice surprised, but pleased as she lowered the cup. "How'd you find this place?"

B- He smiled, much more genuine than the one he gave Lucy. He tolerated Lucy, and sometimes he could even tolerated her attraction towards him, though it wasn't mutual. She wasn't exactly an idiot like the rest of them; she could see through the mist. She was also clever enough.

"Chasing monsters, and occasionally running from them," He said in answer to her question, "I was running from a hellhound, whose better half I killed." He said dryly, rolling his eyes. "I required a place to hide, and this was the first place I found." Then he started chuckling. "I came in with a bloody harpoon and a bloody me. Usually I can manuever the Mist, but Lucy saw right through it. You should have seen her face." Now he was fully laughing, his mouth in a wide grin.

ooc; Sorry, I'm on my iPod and I hate it :/

Erin liked him. Ben had a good smile that made his stern and contemplating features ease up and become lighthearted, almost giving the impression that he was an easy going kind of guy instead of the brilliant thinker. He didn’t look like he smiled a lot, but it was good to know that he wasn’t dead serious and analytical all the time.

And, despite herself, she felt herself loosen up and start smiling too, for real this time instead of her typical shy smile. She could totally picture Ben running into the peaceful coffee shop covered in blood and sweat to get away from a monster, never suspecting that there was a mortal girl there who would be able to see instantly who he was. Oh gods, the look on her face. Erin had to laugh just thinking about that, not just because Ben was laughing, though that was part of it too.

“Oh gods,” she chuckled. “Poor Lu; at least it was just you she had to see and not what was left of the hellhound.”

The big grin fell from Benjamin's face, his mood changing in an instant. "She was very scared," He mused, "Maybe I should..." He trailed off, about to say 'apologise'. He remembered Lucy's face as he'd run in. Shocked, confused, flustered, but most of all terrified. She'd seen all the hellhound gore on him, but she'd been brave and hadn't run away screaming. She'd even asked him if he needed help. Maybe he should apologise. But that was something Benjamin didn't do, unless he didn't really mean it.

Ruminating yet again, he took a sip from his hot expresso. Just a bit hotter and it would have burned his tongue; just a little better and it might have been the nectar of the gods. He quietly hummed his approval, the sound almost like a cat's purr. Lucy knew by now exactly what his coffee preferences were, so maybe instead of apologising, he could thank her. He didn't thank people that often, but it was more common than his apologies. He turned his attention back to Erin.

"Why do you not like your mother?" He asked bluntly, suddenly.

ooc; Example of Benjamin going into Angelo and Lucy Hooper's cafe for the first time:
Lucy: Oh my god--A-Are you okay? What happened to y-you?
Benjamin:

Erin stiffened when he asked her about her mother. All the laughter died from her face and she seemed to withdraw back into herself again. Almost automatically, a lock of her hair fell back into her face and her thin body cringed back slightly. How'd he know? She hadn't said anything, hadn't mentioned her mom, hadn't done anything that might even vaguely reference her mother... Or had she? Was it because she hadn't given him her last name? But how was he not to know that 'Elizabeth' wasn't her surname?

Avoiding the question wouldn't make him retract it. In fact, just the opposite. It'd confirm that she and her mother didn't have a good relationship.

Upset and slightly unnerved, Erin raised her head slightly to meet his eyes. Gods, he had amazing eyes. "My mother abandoned me when I was eight," she muttered. "William and his girlfriend raised me."

His blank face gave nothing away. It was completely closed off, forming an expressionless mask that even she was unable to penetrate. He had shut him out completely and she could not see or read the emotions that usually lay in the eyes, in the lines of one's face, in the motions one made while they were answering or trying to think of something to say. But he seemed to shut that off. Immobile and face hard, his strange eyes looked into her dark ones, studying her. And it was that which told her that he felt contempt for her emotion.

Why? Didn't it prove that she was human? Erin had tried for so long to cut herself off from people, to not think and try not to feel... But he had realized that something was happening to her. She was being almost robotic, only reacting without really living. So when she reached Camp, she allowed herself to let go of herself just a little bit... Enough to recall how it felt to be alive. When she looked at Benjamin's face, she saw that he was still trying to shut down that part of himself, still trying not to feel.

"Will's in Iraq," Erin replied, her own expression hardening. She had always needed a good stone face whenever she was talking about Will anyway. He had been the only person to ever treat her like she mattered. "Celeste... was nice," she said.

Her voice was detached, cool. It was not quite hostile, but it wasn't friendly either. It sounded more like it was trying to sound strong, but couldn't quite do it. And why? Because she foolishly allowed her emotions to get in the way.

She ran a hand distractedly through her hair, staring at him with wide eyes. "A case?"

Erin sounded faintly surprised, a tinge curious, and faintly ironic. Oh, how it all made sense. He probably had a Watson character back wherever he came from - England, probably. Son of Athena, he was the ultimate Sherlock Holmes come to life. She hardly knew much about the famous detective or his story, but it was impossible not to know his name or that he was a genius. There was no way to win, because he was the ultimate master of the game. He had her figured out somehow.

The daughter of Pothos was starting to get scared now. So was that all she was to him? A case? A lost cause or a puzzle that he wanted to figure out because she intrigued him? Was that all? She felt hurt at this thought, but didn't show it... or tried not to. Feeling mixed up and confused, she took another sip of her hot chocolate, looking away from him.

But instead of retreating into herself and wallowing in self pity, Erin forced herself to meet his gaze once again. Gods, she made herself sick. "So what's your story?" she demanded brazenly. Or at least, boldly for her. "What was your life before you ran away?"

Erin watched Ben carefully while told her his story. Dang, it was like hearing something from some old movie or spy book. Things like that just weren't known to happen in the real world. The action, suspense, the danger was all just an idle dream to most people. But Ben had lived it, whether through choice or necessity, it didn't matter... Though, at first, it had definitely been choice. Later on, perhaps not so much. Mark had suffered and that clearly made him few few steps past plain upset. Devastated might be a better word.

But something didn't make sense. Frowning slightly, she folded her hands on the table and looked at him carefully. "Why did Moriarty shoot himself?" she asked slowly. "I'm sorry, but that just seems backward to me. Someone like that wouldn't kill themself unless something major was going on... or unless they knew they were caught... But with you quote dead, he wouldn't have anything to worry about because he had you effectively blackmailed." Her mind was trying to figure something out that she did not completely understand.

The careful control in Erin's dark brown eyes shifted to empathy, but it still didn't make sense. It just wasn't logical for someone powerful enough to control those snipers and get to this critically important key before Ben to kill themselves immediately after their devious plans worked out. It would have served no purpose. All the planning and deducing would have been for nothing. She refused to accept that that was the end of it. No, there just had to be more to it. Moriarty wasn't an idiot; he had to be a part of something bigger than himself for what Ben had just explained to her to be worth believing.

She shook her head, clearly distressed. Ben didn't deserve that kind of a fate. She'd hug him if she wasn't fairly certain that he'd push her away and state exactly how fine he was. Later, she'd try to ask him about it, but not now.

Erin tried to smile. "Well, you live to fight and die another day," she said, referencing Breaking Benjamin. "You might yet find Mark again someday." Ugh, that last sentence sounded so cliché.


ooc: Haha, no worries! My last was rubbish.

ooc: You too!! I've to head off for some school function in twenty minutes, so I'll be out of action for a bit.

Erin wished that she could understand what was really going on here. Admittedly, Ben would probably never willingly reveal to her exactly what was the real purpose for the life he lead and what was actually going on, but still. If only she could really understand the situation, the people involved, the overall goal. But she had only met Ben today, and all she knew about him was minuscule compared to all that he was. Comparatively speaking, she was peering through a keyhole, and what it showed her was more than limited. The way he spoke about Mark made her wonder if he and Mark had been more than simply best friends. Eh, it didn't matter; it didn't change his character.

She saw his lips tremble as he smiled weakly, and her heart went out to him. He'd been strong for so long... And it was killing him on the inside. Gods, she felt so bad for him, because she knew that his life easily could have been just like that of any other child had he not been a demigod.

Before she could think better of it, Erin got up and sat next to him. Thank the gods that they were sitting at a hybrid between a booth and legit table, because it wouldn't have worked half so well if they'd just been sitting at a two person table. Sitting next to him, she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Erin was going for comforting and not awkward, but guys could take things in completely the wrong direction sometimes

"You're not terrible company," she said firmly, making herself pull away from him. "You're a good person. Okay? I mean it, Ben."


ooc: One adorable and awkward, fresh off the computer!

ooc; working on it
I'll post as soon as I finish this other one I've been procrastinating on
give me ten-ish minutes

ooc: No worries! I'll finish up my homework so that I won't get kicked off early for not doing it.

Erin held back a smirk at his expression; he looked like his mind was going about a million miles an hour with trying to analyze her hug. Jeez, being a consulting detective and a son of Athena must be a rough deal sometimes. His look of fevered debate turned to one of thoughtful contemplation, and she assumed that he was thinking her words over. Like her, he liked having things figured out.

When he asked her what other questions she had, Erin hesitated slightly. She didn't want to make him upset again. After a moment, she shrugged slightly. Well, to heck with it.

"Tell me more about you," she asked him with a faint smile. "Maybe the timing's off, but, as a general rule, I don't consider people to be my friends unless I at least know their favorite color." Her shy smile turned to a grin. Okay, so she was weird, she got that.