Being

The Meeting

"Eris pay attention to me, I'm bored," Dane whined.

"Shut up ass hat, I'm trying to read a book from the mortals," Eris sighed.

"Ugh, you're always reading some new story the mortals come up with," Eris breathed deep, trying to ignore him, but her temper was obviously going to get the better of her. "We never spend any time together, I miss conversation," Dane crossed his arms and began to pout on his regal, red velvet chair. 

"We're bound for eternity since the war, I'd say we spend plenty of time together," she mumbled, not even looking up from her book, "Now please leave me alone before I contemplate throwing the entire universe out of balance simply to get away from you."

"That's not what you were saying last night," Dane seductively replied. At that, Eris looked up, not at him, but at the fire in front of them.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Don't I?" he raised an eyebrow and smirked.

Eris sighed deeply as she said, "Last night will never happen again. It was... a moment of weakness for me," she again looked down at her book, not reading, but pretending to to try and get out of this conversation.

"That's what you said last time. And the time before that and the time before that," he drawled, "Honestly, I'm beginning to think you like me," his smirk deepened to a smile.

Eris dropped her book into her lap exasperated, looked Dane in his eyes as she said flatly, "I like your dick, not you." 

Dane barked a laugh, but then said, "It's pretty much the same thing, don't you think?" Eris returned to her book, "No, I don't." 

Dane's smirk dropped slightly. Then he said, "Well, if you're not going to cure my boredom will you at least help me mess with some mortal? I'm in dire need of some entertainment." 

"What do you need my help for? You're just as capable as I am, do it yourself." 

"I can't alter reality by myself now can I?" Eris paused, "What are you planning?" 

"Well, I was thinking of sending some random mortal to the past to see what will happen," he answered dryly, picking at his nails. 

"Time travel is not the same thing as altering reality idiot," she countered. 

"I know that, I'm not stupid," Eris made a face that said Are you sure about that? but Date continued, "But the mortal will need to be able to communicate with whoever they come across right?"  Eris raised a brow, a silent invitation to continue, "So I need to alter reality to where they all speak the same language. Hence, I need your help." Eris examined him as he smiled. She rolled her eyes and replied, "Fine, whatever to keep you out of my hair. Pick a mortal and I'll help you."

Dane mouthed a victorious yes then said, "Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" A compliment, he figured, was the best form of gratitude. He stood from his chair and started walking away. Eris smiled and blushed.

* * *

Emmah rolled over as she was beginning to wake up. Why was it so cold? She kept her eyes closed as she moved her hand around her looking for blankets. Why was her bed yet? Better wet, where was her pillow? Emmah opened her eyes, giving them a minute to adjust to the brightness. Why was her room so bright? As her eyes finally adjusted she realized where she was and all tiredness vanished. She was sitting on a beach, the waves nearly two feet from where she was sitting up. The fog, or was it drizzling, made everything damp, including her. She was only in pajama shorts and a t-shirt so the cold clung to her as the sand did under her. Emmah stood up brushing off as much sand as she could. She folded her arms around herself as she looked around looking for any indicators as to where she was. She saw the tops of buildings over a hill and started walking toward them. As she rounded the hill, she saw what looked to be a renaissance festival. What was a renaissance festival doing so close to a beach? And in this weather? She looked around to see if she could see a parking lot maybe, but didn't see any. Maybe this was a local thing. Emmah continued down the hill and toward the makeshift town. As she came closer, people stopped what they were doing and just... stared. Emmah stopped walking at some point when she realized everyone was staring. 

She found the closest person to her, a heavy set woman holding a basket of measly looking vegetables. Emmah walked up to her and asked, "Excuse me, ma'am, but can you tell me where I am?" The woman was, Emmah realized, wasn't staring at Emmah herself, but at her legs. It took a moment to realize that the woman seemed a little horrified, not because Emmah might be cold, but like she was exposing herself. Emmah, suddenly becoming a little self conscience, rubbed her legs together and repeated her question. The woman shook her head, finally lifting her head to meet Emmah's gaze.

"Um, you are in Hull."

"Hell?"

"No. Hull," she corrected.

"Hull?" Emmah asked more to herself than to the woman, but she nodded anyway. "What state am I in?"

"State?"

"Yeah, state, like Virginia, Maryland, California?" Emmah waited expectedly for an answer, but only got a confused look. Emmah starts looking around again, expecting something to make sense, but is only faced with more confusion when everyone seems frozen. "What the fuck is happening?"

"Hello mortal," Emmah turned around again and was faced with a man. What she thought was a man, at least. "I imagine you may be a little confused right now."

"What is happening?" Emmah asked desperately as she rubbed her arms to try to get warm as much as she could.

 "Well you see, I was bored so I picked a random mortal" he gestured to her, "and thought I'd send you back in time to see what would happen," he put his hands in his pockets and waited for her reaction.

"What do you mean by back in time? What year is it?" Emmah's breath started to shudder. If it was from the cold or the feeling of her world crushing around her she couldn't tell.

 Emmah felt everything go still as the man said nonchalantly, "Sometime in the 17th or 18thcentury. I'm not sure, I kind of just spun a wheel and saw what happened." Emmah felt her knees go weak and the color drained from her face. "Oh no, you're not going to faint are you?" Emmah couldn't hear him over the drumming in her ears. She just kept breathing. No. Hyperventilating. She couldn't breathe. The man's face shifted from something almost smug to concern. "Woah there, what are you doing?" Has he never seen a panic attack before? Am I freaking him out? Emmah thought to herself, Not me being concerned about him right now. Those thoughts, and so many others were racing through her mind. She has to figure out how to organize them, slow them down. Emmah knelt down, still hyperventilating; it was getting hard to stand. The man took a step forward, concern turning into complete worry now. "Hey there, is this a mortal thing or something?" Emmah remembered the beach. Maybe cold water will help. She got up and staggered a few steps before practically running to where she woke up not a few minutes ago. "Hey where are you going?" the man called after her. Emmah didn't care. Once she got to the water, she walked right into it. Her already cold legs turned almost numb, but as she splashed her face with the water, she felt her breathing calm. Either that, or her body was too focused on keeping itself warm to allow her panic attack to continue.

She took a few final deep breaths and backed out of the water. Looking down at herself, Emmah realized she was completely soaked. She decided that she didn't care and looked up to see the man look completely flabbergasted. "What just happened?"

"Panic attack." Emmah said flatly, still catching her breath. 

"Are you- are you still- panicking?" he stuttered. 

"Yes, dipshit, I'm still panicking, but at least I can breathe now," Emmah, now completely over this situation, ground out. 

"Mortals stop breathing when they panic?" the man exclaimed, eyes going wide. 

"Who are you?" Emmah asked, "What are you?