Seeking Solitude

[Kallisto Notara]

Dionysus had left for his promised trip with a friend and Kallisto had gone to the Mountains in Colorado looking for a few days solitude before she went back to Greece. With her back packing gear secured to her back she was partway up a sheer cliff heading for the top where there would be the start of a mountain stream and flat ground to pitch her tent for the night. Only 1/4 of the way up left to go.

She felt good despite the screaming pulling pain in her limbs that protested continuing any further. Pausing she sex her safety anchor and secured the rope to it before using the free arm to take out her water canteen and pop the top taking a long deep drink of water. It felt so good against her parched throat. She needed to get to the top before night fall and get a fire going. Her water was begining to freeze and setting up a winter tent in the dark was not her idea of fun.

Thankfully she didn't have much snow or ice to contend with on this side of the mountain. Which contributed a large part of the reason she had choosen this side of it. By this time tomorrow she would be at the cabin. She would stay there for three days and then hike back to the ranger station and pick up her Land Rover rental to head to Colorado Springs. From there she'd catch a flight back to New York and from there back home to Athens.

She took a deep breath returning her canteen to it's place and started ascending the cliff once more choosing her hand grips, anchor points and footing very carefully. One slip and Dionysus wouldn't see her again unless he went to the underworld for a visit. A thought that wasn't very pleasant in the least. She smiled slightly at the thought of him and the night they'd met. That was one night she definitely wouldn't forget that was for certain.

[{Eris}]

Eris wasn’t one to look favorably upon those who did good works. Never would she smile at someone who took pity on a poor starving puppy, or handed a dollar to a homeless person, or, let’s say, pull someone from a burning building. Oh no, she would rather kick a puppy, smite a bum, and let the fire rage on as she laughed at the unfortunate people left inside. And usually it was at her bidding that those were so unfortunate in the first place.

Fire. Fire was so uncontrollable, wild and destructive. Sound like anyone? Eris had taken a fancy to fire in her early creation, for reasons she could not understand and those she knew so well. It was in her nature. And then there were firefighters, those who fought the fire. You see how this could piss her off? Well, yes, it has, and Kallisto Notara was a notorious firefighter(the title gave her shivers). She was also ‘in the know’, a potential hazard to herself and the whole race of gods – as she saw it.

The Colorado Rocky Mountains – what a sappy place. Sure it was beautiful, she could recognize that, but it wasn’t a place that Eris would normally spend her down-time. But Kallisto was hiking or rock-climbing or whatever they called this ridiculous waste of time the mortals fancied here, and Eris thought she would have a little fun. Everything about this place was precarious – rock formations, precipices, slippery shale and wet sediment. Hmm, so dangerous. This place did have a bloody past, Eris would just giggle with delight watching a person slipping over the edge of a cliff and falling down .. down .. down …

Eris pictures this delicious sight while sitting upon a particularly perilous rock face, staring down at the beige and sandy-red abyss that stretched down beneath her dangling feet. Leaning back she exposed her face to the sun, her arms extended behind her, and basked for a long moment before getting to her feet. She paced for a quiet minute, thinking things over, waiting for the best time to approach Kallisto, and what methods she would use. At this point the smirk on her face was inerasable.

It only took her about five minutes to stroll to the point were Kallisto would crest the top of the cliff face, and Eris settled herself down patiently, Indian style, hands rested in her lap. A faux pleasant smile was painted onto her lips, and she readjusted the neck of her dark crimson tunic and the hem over her tight black jeans. Not exactly dressed for rock climbing, but hey, she was a goddess.

[Kallisto Notara]

The muscle tissues in her arms and legs felt as if they would start to rip at any moment. It was a good pain, a distracting one at the very least. All she was focused on now was reaching the top of the cliff. She'd start a fire, set up her tent eat something small so she didn't puke it back up and sleep. She looked up she was almost there, just one more reach. It was tempting to go for it without setting the last safety. She was so bloody close she could taste it. Reaching she stopped, her cautious nature had kept her alive this long despite her occupation. Throwing caution to the wind now would be a dangerous habit to start.

Sighing she grabbed the safety lock and stuck it in a crevice testing it. It was likely the strongest hold point she'd found. Grabbing a caribener she set the safety, having no idea that she had just saved her own life. Pulling herself up she saw the goddess sitting waiting for her in Indian style and lost her grip. The shock threw off her footing sending her plunging suddenly towards the ground with a loud scream.

She free fell for six feet before the safety locked. The momentum of the sudden stop slamming her into the mountain side hard. Something hard hit her in the head and the arm she used to cover her ribs managed to find a sharp rock and crash into it. The sickening crack of her humerous coupled with the pain from the sudden snap of a breaking bone made her stomach churn as she hung there in a dazed panic.

Taking a deep breath she grabbed the rope with her good arm steadying herself. Shutting her eyes she felt the world spin and somthing warm and wet trickling down the side of her face. She had a concussion at the least. Reopening her eyes she looked at the damaged arm, her stomach spewing down the mountain. The deformity was nasty and pointed inward, her injured arm would be useless in getting her off this rock. Her legs weren't deformed and upon moving them only had the aches from a long day's climb. Pulling up with her good arm she discovered her ribs were ok also, if they hadn't been she likely would have lost her grip again.

Calming herself she yelled up to the top of the cliff, "Help, I can't climb anymore!" Looking down she found a ledge and slowly moved her feet to it, quickly reaching out for a hand hold with her good arm and clinging to the mountain side. If the person on top of the cliff didn't help her she was potentially in big trouble.

[{Eris}]

Eris saw Kallisto’s face and had just opened her mouth to say something before the women panicked and suddenly disappeared back over the edge of the cliff. For a short moment Eris remained in a still position, not trusting was she saw until the last notes of her scream kicked her into gear.

“Shit.” She stated the simple curse bluntly, not angrily or frustrated, just uttered the single syllable with a flat monotone. This wasn’t starting off the way she had rehearsed it in her mind.

Calmly she got to her feet, walking to the edge and peered down, half expecting to see Kallisto’s body strewn over the rocks, but no. Damn, I shouldn’t have worn wedge’s today. she thought angrily to herself, jerking off her glossy red heels with a cork wedge, one of her favorite pairs. Kallisto was stopped on her safety, some feet down from where she stood, blood dripping from her arm and the side of her head. The sight made her stomach give a pleasant jerk, and though preserving Kallisto’s life certainly wasn’t on her list of favorite things to do she felt pity for the girl. Eris took her time examining the situation, defiantly more than she needed. The sight of the mighty Kallisto hanging off the cliff with only the prospect that Eris would help to save her life. Delicious. Yet certainly she wouldn’t let her die before she found out what the gods had found so charming about the girl. Then she would think of a way to unleash her chaos into the mortal’s life.

“Nice to meet you, deary, no need for introductions. I know who you are, all you need to know is that I am Eris, the women about to save your life.” The portentousness of the whole statement made her swell with self-satisfaction; it was a good way to present herself. Eris kneeled down, then turned to face the earth and rested her belly on the edge of the cliff. A foothold she immediately found, and only for the sake that she was a god was she able to stand on the slightest curve of the rock-face and delicately hold onto the edge with enough force to hold both herself and potentially Kallisto without crumbling the precipice.

“You mortals are always up to no good, expecting decent people like me to come and save your ass,” It was her fault in the first place she Kallisto had fell, but details like that never seemed to be exposed in Eris’s world. And of course ‘decent’ would never be a word anyone would describe her, and she would be disgusted to be described as so anyways. “Take my hand, quickly now, before I decide to let you dangle there any longer.” She extended her arm down, trusting that Kallisto would be quick enough to let go of her line then swiftly take Eris’s hand before she fell again. She sure as hell wasn’t going to dive down after her.

[Kallisto Notara]

Kallisto watched as the woman started to climb down, she was nuts! kallisto herself would have reached down the two feet to grab the line and pull her up. Then she heard the name and it made sense, a Goddess wouldn't have any qualms about climbing down a cliff. Taking a breath and holding it she let go quickly grabbing Eris's hand with her good hand in a firm grip, "Yes well, you looked bored, so I thought I would give you something mildly interesting to do. If that doesn't help you can always give me shit and tease me about falling off a mountain for the rest of my days." Her sense of humour kicked in, just hoping that the Goddess would find her at least somewhat amusing.

She frowned as her vision blurred slightly, her words slurring a bit, "By the way, if I pass out... sorry." Her arm started to throb causing a sharp pain with every pulse sensation that went through it, clearly her vision. She'd heard military friend say that pain was your friend, that it would keep you awake, alive and remind you to get home; but this was a ridiculous way to test that theory. She was definitely going home after this little mishap. Her chief was going to kill her and she didn't know how Dionysus would react. What had been a short mandatory vacation had just turned into six weeks of disability to look forward to. Rock climbing wouldn't be in the near future either.

[{Eris}]

As soon as Eris had a firm grip on Kallisto’s hand she hauled her up, easily shimming up the stand on the edge and setting Kallisto into a seated position on the ground. Something about seeing her safe and sound with only a few bumps and bruises made her seethe. She liked her much better dangling for her life at her mercy, subjected to her pity.

“Teasing and shit should be the least of your worries. And the time I spend humiliating you would only last a blink.” She said dryly, her natural acerbity making her words mocking. Eris preferred effects that would last for ages, but perhaps human kind didn’t have ages … So for now she was off honing her powers and playing her games with the mortals. She might otherwise enjoy Kallisto’s sense of humor and presence if the situation differed. For now she loathed her existence.

Humans were so weak. A little fall and a bump and they were breaking things and passing out. So fragile. She liked it. In fact, if it wasn’t for that actuality they would be too similar to gods, now wouldn’t they? That wouldn’t be good. Plus, they would be much less susceptible to her prying.

“Your not going to pass out.” She said firmly. Something about the prospect of herself carrying Kallisto to where she needed to be was just too undignified. Eris would rather leave her there to rot. Or send Dionysus to see to her safety. Was that too nice for her? Yes, way too nice. Rotting sounded better. Eris found that the years without major bloodshed had left her a little weak-minded. Here she was, saving a mortals life (not without her particular reasons, though, I might add), sucking up to Zeus, and wasting her time doing little dirty deeds, it just wasn’t going to be her style for much longer.

In this state it would do no good to threaten or otherwise talk to Kallisto in a serious fashion, but rather get her stable before she really did pass out. And that arm –sigh- it needed tending to. Once Kallisto was no longer supported by Eris cocked her hip and placed her open-palmed hand on it.

“Now, where are you headed? Out of this death hole certainly. You gotta a car? House somewhere nearby?” It occurred to her that she might need to go to the hospital. At this thought her mouth opened in an innocent looking ‘o’. “You can’t drive like that, can you?” It looks like there were more hang-ups in this situation than she first intended. But, no worries, Eris always found a way to work the situation for her benefit.

[Kallisto Notara]

Once safely on the ground sitting Kallisto slid her bag off catching her breath and giving the pain in her arm a moment to dull. Her head was her greatest concern, but the arm served as a very good distracting injury at the moment. With her good hand she dragged the pack to her side unzipping it and grabbing a couple of 4x4" gauze pads tearing the packaging open with her teeth and holding it to her head where se was bleeding, just long enough to see how bad it was. Pulling the pad away she frowned, thirty seconds and it was half soaked she needed a hospital. Sighing she took out more gauze holding the bundle of pads to her head with her good hand.

Her head momentarily cared for she looked at Eris, "I'll stay awake, if I don't the concussion could kill me. I was headed to my cabin, but that's a day away, the car is down the mountain. I wouldn't survive the trip to either." Her bandages were soaked. Her luck was failing her quickly. Grabbing more gauze she added a piece of tape to it and stuck it on her head to hold itself in place while digging for her rescue gear, "I need a helicopter." she found her radio pulling it out. She didn't want to bother the Goddess with her troubles any further. Eris afterall was not someone to trifle with.

Holding down the push to talk button she spoke, "Climber number five to ranger station three with traffic for an emergency evac via helicopter to nearest Trauma Unit." Hearing the go ahead she continued, "One downed climber in Mountain zone three ten miles west of Notara Cabin. Area will be marked with flare upon helicopter arrival to the area. Patient has a head injury and broken right humerous showing signs and symptoms of heavy bleeding to the head, dizzyness, nausea and blurred vision."

The male voice clicked back, "Ten-four. Medivac eta will be ten minutes."

Kallisto looked at Eris, "I didn't imagine you wanted to be stuck helping me further. I appreciate the help you've given, I'd be dead in a short while if you hadn't been there, Eris. Do you think you could help me stay awake and keep me talking till the helicopter gets here?" The world stared spinning again and Kallisto laid down carefully using her good arm to balance her. Hopefully that would also slow the bleeding. She carefully rested her badly broken arm on her stomach moving the good arm to support it.

Something made her curious beyond belief other than no matter where she went the Gods and Goddesses seemed to be following her, "Mind if I ask what you were doing up here? I don't want to be rude it's just, you're one of six dieties I've run into in a very short time. Even believing it's getting kind of hard to grasp why I'm running into immortals everywhere I turn suddenly. Its very..." she could feel herself drifting and moved her arm just enough to wake her back up, "odd."

[{Eris}]

Eris waited patiently while Kallisto spoke confidently into her radio and attended her wounds. She had no inclination that she should or would help. She did everything but look at Kallisto, biting and examining her nails, sighing impatiently and looking out over the mountains, walking over the few steps to put back on her heels, taking her time tying the gossamer piece of string around her ankle. She thought dryly that in any situation other than walking that piece of string wouldn’t do anything to keep her shoes on. Perhaps she had better invest in some more decent walking gear… na.

She nodded here and there when Kallisto talked about her cabin, and smirked at her not being able to survive the walk. 10 minutes until the helicopter arrived, a satisfied bob of her head and accompanied bored flash of her eyes. When she was done talking to whoever was at the other end of the radio she sidled closer to Kallisto, not feeling like soiling her clothes any further with the dusty pale earth that seemed to already be sticking to her skin by sitting down. She wanted a shower, even after only half an hour in the mountains.

“Don’t think of it as a favor, sweetheart. It was hardly for your benefit, though I will say it has been my pleasure.” It was mostly true, and the pleasure part was half sarcasm, but she had no other urgent obligations. She was also sure that Kallisto wasn’t feeling any pleasure at the moment. Keep her awake? She could do that. Normally she preferred silence, though if it kept her from dying then she could spare a few words.

“Well, since I obviously am not here to experience the pleasantries of rock climbing,” She gesticulated downwards across her attire, “I was merely here to talk to you about a few things. Namely to raise a little hell though you do a good job of that by yourself, don’t cha?” she deadpanned. “And yes, it is very odd that suddenly my fellow immortals are taking such interest in you, a question I thought you could answer. Certainly its not just because your such a delightful person. Consider yourself lucky, though, that you have found favor among most of them,” She paused to touch her pointed finger delicately to Kallisto’s nose, “because the gods are no people to mess with.” A fire alighted in her eyes for a brief moment, an illusion that quite fitted her. “And all this...saving people and dousing fires and good Samaritan shit you do just doesn’t work for me, lovey.” Eris looked like she was pouting, though her rapier words had no humor in them. But she didn’t want to scare her just yet, which might not be the best idea considering her state.

[Kallisto Notara]

Kallisto quirked an eyebrow at the Goddess her gaze even, unafraid and no longer fighting for consciousness, "If it weren't for good samaritans you would have a lack of people to pick fights with and I mean that with great respect." Her look turned thoughtful, "I'm afraid it would not matter what I did in life there would be those Gods who don't like me Eris. I will admitt that it hadn't occured to me that I would be at odds with you as a firefighter, though it makes perfect sense. I respect all of the Gods, but I cannot give up who I am I'm sorry. If I'm not helping people then I'm not being myself. " she sighed her look serious, something was nagging the back of her mind, but she wasn't able to put her foot on it, "Well at least my adversary when I'm fighting fires is a very worthy one, I'm not sure she would say the same."

Kallisto looked up hearing the helicopter, "As for the Gods I don't know why I've found favor with them, it probably doesn't matter much why. I'm not even sure I'd called it favor, more like coincidence. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one that believes." she returned her gaze to Eris, "I have to assume the Gods are planning to reveal themselvese once more. In which case I'm sure I'll lose favor quickly when more believe."