Lost [Open]

[Megara Argyris]

She stared at him and he stared back. She could practically feel the rage radiating off him. It was nice, it was comfortable, it was what she wanted, to see him so put off by her gesture. Did he deserve it? In all honesty, probably not, but in Meg’s mind he could have done countless things in his life to lead up to this brief punishment. Call her lady karma if you will, a vexed and jaded woman with a devilish set of skills. She wanted to make him feel her pain because if she was making someone else hurt, she could ignore her own. It was working. Meg smirked. She was in control. As long as she was the aggressor in the situation she was safe. Better to fight and to know what was going to happen then to stay silent and open herself up to a terrible surprise that might break her hard hide and careful facade. Then he had to go and do something completely unexpected.

Didn't he know that the proper response to someone pissing you off was to yell or punch or claw? She could have at least understood him storming off in a huff, but to calm and offer nothing but those words. What was that supposed to mean, anyway? No...no she knew what he meant. She was not that stupid, but she was also quite sure she wasn’t that transparent. He was just throwing out words, blindly hoping something would stick....right?

There was a brief flicker of terror that registered on the brunette’s face. Shock causing her heart to pound, though she calmed her expression fast enough. She was losing control. This was something out of her script. He wasn’t supposed to do that. He was supposed to get mad and yell or push her or damn! Anything, but that! What was she supposed to do now?! She couldn’t just let him walk away thinking he won!

He was just passing by when she managed to growl I’m not mad. Though her forced, tight expression and gravely words betrayed her. She flexed her hands which she just realized had moved down to her side and balled into fists. She took a breath. She was fine. Everything was fine. Who was this stupid, kid to get under her skin? Maybe she was a little mad, but even if that was true, who else would she be mad at? Did he see any other green haired gladiators around? She swiveled and opened her mouth to spit some sarcastic comment when the guards made a move, having lost interest in her now that she had lost interest in them. They made a move, and then the green haired kid moved as well.

And they were on the ground with a taser split in two.

Just as she had expected, a regular hero. The porky sunglasses guy had fainted and a dozen or more people had stopped to stare. Meg didn’t care.

Feel better, Junior? Meg said with a scowl, folding her arms across her chest and being careful to look anywhere, but at him. She was having enough trouble without the danger of him catching anymore glimpses of truth in her purple pupils.

I’m not mad she repeated with a scoff and a chuckle, as if the idea were absurd. I’m mildly annoyed, however, that you think you’re some kind of hero.

[Deleted]

This woman claimed she wasn't mad, but everything about her screamed otherwise. Her posture, her tone, the way she was avoiding eye contact... all of it was something that an angry person did, especially when they had something to hide. That alone was irritating enough, nevermind the sarcastic remarks she was shooting in his direction. A scowl darkened Zoro's face as he fixed his gaze on her, his swords still gripped in his hands. He could easily knock her out to shut her up, but that seemed like it might be a bad idea. Especially with so many people gathered around now. 

He ignored her first comment, and probably would have stayed silent, had she not kept talking. A dark smile slowly curved over his lips, and a bitter laugh wormed its way out of his throat. "A hero?" he scoffed, shaking his head. "Hate to burst your bubble, but I've never been a hero. And I never intend to become one."

True, his moral code might make some people consider him as aligned with good, but he had always considered himself a neutral party. "I don't care about good or evil or that other crap. I have a goal, and I intend to see it through to the end. Doesn't matter who gets in my way, I'll cut down anyone who tries to stop me."

Glancing down at Wado, his expression turned more serious, and a hint of sadness flashed through his eyes. He had made his promise, and he would keep it, no matter the cost. After all, he was the reason Kuina was dead. The least he could do was hold up his end of their promise. "I made a promise with a girl, and a deal with a 'devil'. I know where I stand in the world, and it's not with the 'heroes'." Turning his gaze back to the woman, he stared challengingly, daring her to tease him further.

[Megara Argyris]

He didn't seem to appreciate the hero comment. Good, although Meg had never known a warrior of his sort to claim he wasn't training to be a hero. Men in Greece could be very black and white. Most that trained for battle were either reaching for the stars, literally wanting their picture formed in the stars, or they had fallen short and decided to use their strength for evil instead. Heroes and failed heroes. There were plenty of swindlers and cheats out there too, of course, but those types tended to rely on their brains more than muscle power. She was pretty confident this jerk with the three swords had never thought his way out of trouble in his life, so she had to assume he was some kind of failed hero with a chip on his shoulder. Every move he made was to prove something.

Why set goals when your fate is out of your hands? Meg had long since given up on ever leaving Hades control, the Fates tended to hang around the underworld an awful lot and never once given a hint to her possible escape. Anyway, he was a god. She might have the gift of cunning, but even if she got out of the underworld, where could she go that he couldn't find her? Even here she was not convinced she could stay lost for long. Speaking of the devil, what was all this about making a deal?

Meg smacked her lips and formed them into a contemptuous grimace. She braved a glare at him, her blood boiling. Forget about keeping up a cool facade, this was a step too far over the line, and what was the point if they were one of the same. Meg was suddenly 90% sure this guy was sent here by Hades, as soulless as her. His speech was too familiar and specific sounding for her tastes. How could he have known how to echo her own situation with the actual devil unless the dark figure himself had whispered in his ear. Then there was the whole bit about promising a girl or whatever, surely thrown in just to irk Meg and her bias against men and their interactions with woman. What really convinced the calas woman that this green haired man was not all that he appeared to be was the last bit of his text. A shock of pain spiked her icy heart as she took the comment as a pointed attack. In case she was getting any ideas that she was anything, but a soulless minion. She didn't stand with the heroes, not even remotely close.

She was defeated, one of Hade's dogs had found her, she might as well just heave and sigh and ask him what he wanted her to do. Than again, she was itching for a fight and anyway, there was a twinge of doubt, however, what was all his speech and actions beforehand about? The show a force was obviously some warning to not resist, like she had the will power anyway, but what was all the chatter? Meg tried to think back at all the things he has said to her. Asking her stupid questions, a test?! His three swords, it all made sense now, he probably sold his soul for his strength in order to reach his 'goal.' Jokes on him, Hades will never let him have his dreams, he likes to keep his henchmen as miserable as possible. A few of his words she remembered stuck out to her especially. 'I'm not the one you're mad at.' Hades....he was talking about Hades, wasn't he? Only one way to be sure.

With a new kind of despairing rage, Meg took deliberate steps in his direction until she was close enough to place a finger on his chest, pressing unnecessarily hard. With her face invading the space of his own, her purple eyes burned and she hissed two words.

What. Devil?

[Deleted]

Apparently his words had some effect, because the woman got really pissed really fast. Her expression went from one of masked neutrality to blind rage in seconds, and she directed a glare at him that probably would have made lesser men step down. Zoro stood his ground, though, glaring right back at her. She'd insulted him, and now she'd have to deal with the consequences. 

When she stormed up, murder in her eyes, Zoro was half expecting to get hit or shoved. This had turned into a 'fight' - he was in 'attack' mode, ready to deal with any physical attacks. She didn't attack, though, just stomped up and jabbed a finger against his chest. Zoro stared coldly back, eyes narrowed as she sat there in his personal space. He didn't like people poking at him. There was that one guy - what was his name again? - who constantly poked at him, intentionally trying to start fights. He couldn't remember who, just that he didn't like it.

Interestingly enough, it wasn't the hero portion of his speech that she'd latched onto. It was the devil part. Even though Luffy was his friend, Zoro still considered the deal he'd made with the boy nigh equivalent to a Faustian deal. He'd essentially bargained away his freedom for his life. And while he was fairly positive that Luffy would have helped him anyway, he still wondered if he would even be alive had he not agreed to join him. 

The tone in the woman's words was something some would have considered dangerous, but Zoro found himself smiling in response. "My idiot captain," he drawled. "I bartered away my freedom and joined up with a pirate to save my own hide." Narrowing his eyes, he hissed, "You got a problem with that?" 

[Megara Argyris]

A....pirate...?

Meg was dumbfounded. She'd never been so purely confused in her life. She always had everything figured out. People were predictable, specifically men were predictable. She always knew what was going to happen, thats how she stayed one step infront of people. Thats how she kept up her fortress of emotional protection. If she knew what was going to happen she could prepare for it and handle it in her own way. Even if she was caught slightly off guard she could at least make sense of one thing or another and latch onto that. It had been a long time since someone had smacked her upside the head with a surprise. Her brain didn't know how to cope with it. It just kind of fizzled out for a second or two, nothing but static bouncing around her skull as her face dropped and her lips slightly parted.

I-you're- She furrowed her brow and forced her mind to work. She cleared her throat and bit her cheek in a poor attempt to hide her moment of nothingness. You're a pirate. She stated, looking down and still struggling to gather herself. Get yourself together Meg, she demanded of herself. He was a pirate. Not a minion of Hades? But...but she had been so sure...he showed all the most obvious signs. He wasn't here to send her back? But It had been almost a whole day and Hades had not contacted her...this didn't make any sense!!

Meg was getting a headache.

No, he had to be sent by Hades, he must be! Lucky for Meg she had a solid way of finding out, why she hadn't thought to check before was beyond her. She figured she didn't have too, maybe. She was just so confident she was right, yet the words left his mouth with such sincerity that she couldn't deny the truth in them. Yet, still...how could she have been wrong!?

Lookatme She insisted rapidly. It was strange the way they left her mouth, in a unusual sort of panicked rush rather than demanding and cruel. Still, she reached up to turn his face toward hers. She locked her eyes on his. If she looked hard enough she could see weather this man had a soul or not. All minions of Hades had their souls ripped away from them which made them live forever, but live forever in hell. This guys had the right demeanor to have seen some terrors in his time and yet...no...there it was, just a wisp of a light reflecting behind his pupils. A soul. Weather he was telling the truth or not, he was not a minion of Hades and she was wrong.

She was wrong.

What? Meg released his face and took a step backwards, her stomach in knots. This was an entirely new and unwelcome feeling. She needed to get back on top of this exchange and fast.

What...what are you doing here she demanded, a little breathlessly.

[Deleted]

Zoro slowly arched an eyebrow as the woman seemed to suddenly realize that he was a pirate. Was that really so shocking? "Yeah, I am. Not too familiar with that whole business, are ya?" he drawled. He really wanted to cross his arms, but he still had his swords in hand. He wasn't sure if he should put them away or keep them out, but eventually, he decided to sheathe them. 

His gaze was down, making sure his swords were properly situated when the woman grabbed his face and yanked his head down to where she could see his eyes. He stumbled a bit, surprised by the sudden movement, and he couldn't help but resist, but when she had her grip on him, he sat quietly, glowering back at her. He wasn't sure what she was looking for, and really, he didn't care. Her expression was interesting though, like she was borderline desperate. His glare slowly softened, and he ended up just directing a moderately quizzical look at her by the time she released him. 

She looked... really confused. Zoro slowly cocked his head to the side, wondering what the hell was going on.

Her question was even more confusing, and the swordsman wasn't entirely sure what she meant. "Like... here here or this whole place here?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning. "If it's the second one... hell if I know. I just sorta showed up here." His shoulder throbbed as he tried to remember what he'd been doing before that. Absentmindedly rubbing his palm over the injury, he continued. "If you meant the first one, then... Well, I got bored. I don't know where Luffy or anyone is, I can't remember things, I don't know where anything is, and I swear this town is a massive maze." He ended up staring off to the side, a scowl set into his face as he ignored the fact that he'd essentially admitted to being lost.

[Megara Argyris]

Admittedly there aren’t many pirates around Greece, but Thebes had just about the closest thing. Not many called themselves pirates, but there were enough that Meg knew the meaning behind the word. To tell the truth, she was quite familiar with the business. She’d never been a pirate herself, but, as it turns out, they tended to make a lot of deals with Hades. They lived in the shadows of life, burning a plundering and participating in other unsavory activities. Meg might not be able to hate this guy for being a minion of Hades, because he wasn’t, but she could still hate him for being an all around nasty sort of fellow. Good. Hating him for something was a lot easier than panicking over an accusation that had gotten away from her.

Meg kept taking deep breaths until she felt herself settle back into a comfortable, irritated stupor. She folded her arms over her chest in an unconsciously protective manner. She was glad to see her question trip him up a bit. It released some of the invisible hands gripping her insides and helped her to relax. If conversation worked like a sword fight, Meg liked to keep her opponent from standing on solid ground long enough to get a swing in. It was the only hope she had really, given that she often took hits so poorly.

You got lost. Meg concluded from his ramble. She smiled, in fact, a few melodic notes of laughter bubbled through her lips. Shocked, she cleared her throat and shook her head, but the jubilant feeling remained. Somewhere between calming down and discovering he was just some lowlife that had lost his way she had come to realize that she was not being dragged back tot he underworld at the moment. Had she been...afraid? No, Meg didn’t get afraid anymore...or at least she buried it deep enough that she hardly noticed. Her body seemed to have different ideas, however, because the strange sort of real laughter that had pushed to the surface came from a place of utter relief. It was a sort of rush of such extreme release that she was almost positive she’d never felt it before. Ugh happiness was so fleeting, she should swallow it now before it’s taken away from her.

[Deleted]

"You got lost."

Zoro scowled darkly, gritting his teeth and crossing his arms tightly across his chest. He knew he had a poor sense of direction, so why did everyone feel the need to point that out? It wasn't like he was magically going to become a navigator if he got laughed at and mocked enough times. Besides, why did he need to know where to go? He already knew a navigator... didn't he?

The swordsman would have offered a slightly calmer but still grumpy retort, but the the damn woman had to go and laugh at him. The frustration and anger on his face was almost too comical as he shouted, "Shut up! I'm not lost! And what the hell does it matter if I am?!" Growling angrily under his breath, Zoro decided that, screw it, he was done with this conversation. He didn't need this crap. Wheeling around, the teen stomped off, the irked glower on his face making it very clear that he was not to be messed with at the moment.