neutral_omens | (no subject)

Entry tags:

ellie,
sphinx

(no subject)

Time: January 19th, 2001
Status: Private - Sphix and Ellie
Setting: The cellar
Summary: The sphinx and Ellie meet

As the months passed and both Hera and the police remained absent, Sphix allowed herself to let her guard down and settle into living in the Manor. Somewhere in the course of early winter she started to regard the basement as her territory, and before the winter holidays had passed she had made it a habit to take a walk through the basement at dawn and at dusk. After all, what good was a territory if you weren’t going to defend it?

She was on one of her now routine morning walks when she heard a faint sound - a clock clicking open, most probably - and the barely audible squeaking of a seldom used door swinging open. The sphinx stopped mid-step, trying to recall what exactly was behind the corner. She had, after long weeks of trying, managed to pry open most of the doors in the cellar, but there were a few that stubbornly remained shut. And this way… this way was the water room, wasn’t it? She had heard wet, splashing sounds on the occasions she had stood behind the door, trying to force it to cooperate.

For a moment, the sphinx considered turning into her human form. She abandoned the idea quickly; she had no clothing with her, and walking around without anything on her did not, in most occasions, go over too well. She would just have to catch the intruder as she was, even if it meant losing the cover that looking like a human provided. She pressed her wings closer to her body and, tail twitching in annoyance, went to see who had trespassed her territory.

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Ellie straightened up and turned around slowly, arms folded, her brows drawn into a delicate frown. "Box on the dresser. You know, if I was out to play pranks on you, there are much easier and nastier ways I could do it than tricking you with gimmicked clothes." She paused, chewing her lip for a moment. "I don't often go out of my way to try to make friends, so could you maybe cut me a little slack here?"

The sphinx stopped, too, and studied Chantinelle in silence. “Well, I have no idea what kind of tricks you prefer”, she finally said. “And I never asked you to make me your friend, Chantinelle.. You were the one who trespassed my territory. But I think you have earned passage, even if you didn’t guess anything.” The sphinx smiled. “So, if you wish to call it a truce, I will agree.” After all, friends and allies were rare.

"Well...yes. Good," Ellie said, smiling uncertainly back; not quite sure whether a truce was what she'd been looking for, but she was on unfamiliar ground and decided not to look a gift mythological beast in the mouth. She wasn't kidding about making friends. Girlfriends, anyway. Most females had been either impediments of one sort or another, occasionally assignments, or direct competitors in her work.

She walked over to open the jewelry box and began lifting out various pieces of gold jewelry, some more elaborate or of better quality than others. None very old, alas; all the lovely pieces she'd collected over the centuries had been left behind when she'd fled her garden in Hell. There were a few modern baubles that vaguely recalled the old Egyptian styles, however, as well as an eclectic assortment of others. The silver bracelet Crowley had given her was carefully moved to the back of the box; that one she wasn't sharing, and was rather grateful it was the wrong type of metal anyway. "Have you met many of the others who are staying here?" she asked, curious.

“Perhaps I have”, said Sphix, trying the clothes on, “and perhaps I have not. If you must know, I may have met a few Olympians. Perhaps an Egyptian, too. And a fair deal of redheads, although, as it seems, some people here just suddenly turn their hair to whatever colour pleases them.” She had coloured her own hair, too, but she had used honest hair dye to do that, so it didn‘t count. “And I did meet a mortal called Anathema Device, of all things. Far too clever for her own good, she is. And I may have run into other people, too.”

"Oh, you mean Hermes? Or are there other Greeks running around too?" She hadn't actually seen Hermes since their (ill-advised, she'd often thought since) tryst the previous spring. The poor kid had problems she had neither the ability nor the desire to understand, and she hoped he'd found somebody better equipped to help him work them out. "And the Egyptian would be Horus or Bast? There's always another one coming or going, it seems like." She didn't comment on the hair, which for some reason appeared to be an irritating subject to the Sphinx. Why mention she could change hers on a whim? She rarely did, anyway.

"I haven't met this Anathema, I think, but thanks for the warning." She smiled wryly. "Speaking of which, if you meet an ill-mannered mortal named John who stinks of magic and tobacco, I'd advise not trying to eat him. He'd be more trouble than he's worth, and taste terrible besides." She looked the other woman up and down critically. "I'd say that outfit suits you. There's a full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door."

“Hermes”, Sphix said and nodded, “and Apollo.” She hadn’t tried to seek them out since she had arrived. The less the Olympians paid her attention, the better. Hermes and Apollo were not as bad as Zeus or Hera, but they were Olympians, and for all they fought with each other, their side was picked. Or so it had been, anyway.

She nodded again when she heard Bast’s name. “Could have been her”, she said. “Or perhaps not. She wasn’t Horus, though.”

Sphix glanced at the jewellery, but didn’t touch it yet. “A mirror?” she said. “Very well.” She strode towards the door she supposed led to the bathroom. “I’ll keep your warning about this John in mind. Although…” she paused before swinging the door open, “how do you know what he tastes like?”

Caught by surprise at the question, Ellie blinked at her and then laughed. "I'm speculating, based on his habits. But if I do have the opportunity to find out firsthand, I'll be sure to let you know." Hey, it wasn't like she hadn't tried.

“So, it is just me who isn’t allowed to eat people, now?” Sphix asked quietly, more focused on her own reflection. Chantinelle had been right; the dress did look good on her. She smiled, showing her teeth. Too bad she didn’t have more outfits like this.

When the sphinx had got enough of the mirror, she slammed the door shut and stalked to look at the jewellery. She fingered one of the objects, then put it back down.

“Just so you know”, she said, not looking at Ellie, “I would offer you something in return, but, alas, I don’t have any fresh meat right now. But if I did, I just might share some of it."

"Not at all," Ellie said smoothly, carefully hiding the smirk that tried to steal across her features. "But there is more than one way to learn what a man tastes like, you see. ...Don't worry about reciprocating. We can always work something out later, if need be." The exchange of favors was a game she knew very well, but she was accustomed to trading for much higher stakes.

On a sudden thought, she added, "Or perhaps you could pay me back by accompanying me on a shopping trip sometime. There's an appalling lack of fashion sense around this place."

Shopping? That caught Sphix by surprise. That would be an easy answer to her lack of belongings, clothes included. She stood still for a while, just looking at Chantinelle. Then she nodded.

“Shopping. As you wish. It has been a while since I was in a town.” She smiled. The smile was not unfriendly, but not exactly friendly, either. “I have been… keeping a low profile. Yes. But I would enjoy a change of scenery.” There would also be people to hunt. Proper people. She recalled the man she had met on that dark road in early September. Not right, that man. She wasn’t taking the risk of running into him - or anyone like him - again. Once was quite humiliating enough.

"All right then," Ellie said, pleased. She hadn't had company on a shopping trip in a long while. There had been times when a few of her sisters would go out together and make a game of seeing who could find the most tempting outfit, and while she didn't expect the Sphinx to go in for such things, it could be fun to take turns modeling attractive clothing for one another (and if any passing males happened to get an eyeful, well, so much the better.) "When would you like to go? I'm free...pretty much anytime." She wrinkled her nose expressively. In between peril-fraught trips to look for her errant offspring and the occasional Manor crisis, her life of late had been dull, dull, dull.

The sphinx sneered. “Oh, so you don’t have much to do? What a surprise. I would have thought you were busy, seeing how you have to rely on your not-at-all-friends to tell you what is going on around here.” Then her expression turned a bit more serious, as she tried to figure out a date that would fit her best. As it was, though, she didn’t have any pressing things to do either. She ended up shrugging.. “But surprise, surprise, anytime fits me, too. Rather convenient, is it not?”

"Oh, I have my diversions," Ellie said, keeping a firm grip on her temper. Clearly, getting along with this peculiar creature was going to be a challenge. But then, she liked challenges, even if this was a somewhat unfamiliar kind. "But I can set my own schedule." She crossed her arms, considering. "If you've nothing more pressing, then there's no reason we couldn't go right now, is there?"

“Now is as good a time as any”, Sphix answered. “Although… how do you propose we get from here to somewhere with shops?” She hadn’t seen any promising sort of businesses on the few times she had ventured away from the Manor. She had been staying out of sight, though, avoiding roads and traffic. She was sure she had missed a lot of things.

If they were heading out, she would have to get her purse from the cellar, too. Sphix nodded towards the door. “And I do have to take care of some things, first. Such as the matter of money.”

"I usually call a cab," Ellie said. Unlike some of the other Manor regulars of late, she steered clear of John's friend Chas to avoid complications, but there were others who didn't mind coming out here. Especially once they'd seen her. "There's not much in the way of shopping in Lower Tadfield, but if they make it, you can buy one in London."

She walked to the wardrobe and began sorting through the clothing. "Why don't you take care of whatever you need to while I change and make the call?"

A cab? Sphix thought for a moment before nodding. She would have avoided cabs last autumn - all public transport, in fact - but she doubted the police was still actively looking for her, so taking a taxi shouldn‘t be a problem any more. And Chantinelle claimed to be able to handle the officers, anyway.

“Suits me”, the sphinx said and went to the door. “I’ll meet you in the lobby, Chantinelle.”

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