FORKS THEATER

A WEEK LATER

Ikaris performed his duties as all the previous days; his day usually started by cleaning out the unfortunate closet that had become his abode over the past month. Of course, he needed to make sure that nobody knew he was actually sleeping at his work.

“What is it called – Sleeping on the job?” Ikaris joked as he neatly folded the articles of clothing that had become his favourite blanket.

Goose2 had her own little cardboard home in a corner of the room, demanding her own space since – as she put it – girls needed their privacy. Ikaris honestly couldn’t guess what for, but Goose2 seemed very adamant about it.

Hence, her home within their home.

After the feline and her slave had cleaned their respective areas, ensuring to hide all evidence of their unwelcome stay, they grabbed the tools necessary to complete the rest of the day’s work.

In Goose2’s case that was a feline-poof scooper, a strip of cloth, and a squishy mouse that would serve for some much-needed stress relief during their fifteen minutes break at midday.

In Ikaris’s case, he grabbed the broom, a gum scratcher, two brushes – one hard and one soft – and a bottle of Zep toilet cleaner. Needless to say, Ikaris hated his job as much as someone could possibly hate anything, but he also enjoyed the feeling of being like one of them – a human.

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Ikaris’s and Goose2’s duties gave them little breaks and a lot of work, and every time the chubby boss of the theatre came around – which was not a lot – the duo had to pretend to work all that harder.

Goose2 had a rebellious streak when they first started to work at the theatre, but when Ikaris refused to share his food and she was too proud to ask, leading her to starve the first couple of nights, the cat learned to be a diligent work to secure her food.

These days, she was making a bit more than Ikaris on the salary scale… and of course, it had nothing to do with the fact that the boss was a bit of a cat person.

“You missed a spot!”

HISS

“Fine,” Ikaris was a bit peeved as well. “I won’t cover for you anymore. I am always cleaning the things you miss and you make more than me.”

MEOW – MEW YOW

“Oh, you’re just better than me you say?”

Goose2’s response was a swishing and curling tail as she strutted away without a care in the world. Her answer was obvious, rather blunt, and incredibly ruthless given what she and Ikaris had experienced together thus far.

But the cat could care less.

It was all fun and game until The Eternal questioned her paycheck, trying to get a piece of the pie, then the friendship was worth jack shit to her. Of course, knowing the benefits were not worth the brief spat, Ikaris cleaned up the mess anyway.

A couple of minutes later when it came time to clean the bathroom, Ikaris did it alone as he always did, but in return, Goose2 was the one to clean the popcorn machine and the surrounding area, which was just as disturbing as the bathroom on certain days.

The duo split to perform their respective duties.

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Twenty minutes later, Ikaris was finished cleaning the bathroom, and as if by some supernatural decree, he knew he was needed in the kitchen. The Eternal banked left and leapt onto the pedestal, sliding through one of the open windows that took him directly into the kitchen.

There, he witnessed Goose2 sprawled on the ground, nursing her puffed stomach as she created a snow angel from the remnant of popcorn scattered on the ground. Ikaris had to remind himself that Goose2 was essentially still a child.

Though it was hard to tell what type of child she was – alien or supernatural, Ikaris could tell that much.

“That’s ten dollars off your salary.”

MEOW – MEOW (Translation: I already made up for that in popcorn.)

“I hope it keeps you fed for all of the day,” Ikaris quickly cleaned the kitchen as best as he could. “—and half of tomorrow!” he added angrily as he finished brushing up.

Of course, Goose2 didn’t care what threats he spurted since it would amount to nothing – honestly, she had stored enough popcorn in her stomach/dimension to last her more than a week. In the end – she reasoned – Ikaris would be the one begging her for food.

As soon as Ikaris exited, Goose2 followed, her stomach somehow shrinking back to normal size.

The duo eventually found themselves scraping the gum from beneath the theatre’s seats next – as it turned out, this was a job that had to be done every two days or guests would start to complain about the weird bubble gum smell, knowing full well they were the reason why.

Ikaris scraped.

Goose2 shoveled.

A perfect symmetry of tasks was born from such repetitive actions, the first row became the second row, and the second row became the third row until the duo had reached the lowest row of seats in the theatre.

It was then that Ikaris stopped to watch the large white screen as the video projector to the back of the theatre flickered to life. It was important to test the equipment just before a show since the last thing the theatre needed was to have faulty equipment.

“I can see you’re working hard.”

Ikaris didn’t even need to raise his head to see who it was. Goose2, on the other hand, slipped the scooper from her mouth and darted into the woman’s arms, earning a large bag of chips for her kiss-ass attitude.

“What do you want, Julia?” Ikaris was annoyed, and admittedly, a part of the reason was that Julia never brought chips for him too. “As you can see, I am busy and you need to stop feeding Goose2 – she has been gaining weight recently.”

HISS

“You should never tell a woman about her weight,” Julia commented, placing Goose2 on the ground as the cat couldn’t be less interested in remaining in her arms after earning her daily gifts.

It had been a week since Julia started coming by, and at first, Ikaris expected her to be gone soon enough, but the woman tended to stick around after work hours and treat Ikaris and Goose2 to a meal.

The friendship had only grown since then.

Of course, on the third day – when Julia forgot to bring the food, Ikaris and Goose2 didn’t even bother to acknowledge her presence, making the implication very clear – we aren’t friends, we just want your food.

Strangely, Julia didn’t seem to mind.

“So…” Julia seemed to lap into an awkward silence for a couple of seconds. “What are you kids doing today?”

Ikaris sighed and extended his hands outward, stating with a lack of words that the answer should be obvious after seeing the chisel in his hands. Of course, he was going to be doing his job.

“Remind me again why you work here. Have no parents? And sleep in a closet at the back of this place?”

Goose2 and Ikaris narrowed their eyes.

“I am not a spy or anything,” Julia justified quickly. “It’s just that every morning you two come in here smelling like detergents so you either sleep in a janitor’s room or a laundromat and since there is no laundromat here…”

Goose2 sniffed her pristine fur – definitely no detergent scent.

Ikaris resumed his duties. “What are you doing here? Came to feed us?”

“Something like that,” Julia made a small show of recovering a basket that smelled of fresh bread, wine, and red meat. “And besides feeding you and your lovely cat, I also came to enjoy a movie I think you will like as well.” She gestured to the screen where the title ‘Greek Gods’ was being shown. “I mean… your name being Ikaris and all.”

Ikaris stared at the screen for a bit. “I have seen a thousand documentaries,” He added nonchalantly, continuing his cleaning. “Each was more wrong than the last – in the end, I simply became disillusioned.”

Julia visibly deflated, but had a brilliant idea the next moment as she turned to Goose2, retrieved a piece of sausage from the basket in her hands, and without saying a word, she bribed the feline into cooperation.

HISS – HISS – HISS – HISS

It took exactly four rhythmic hisses for Ikaris to decide it was not worth a fight with Goose2 – not yet anyway, every dog… or cat, would have their day. The trio enjoyed the meal as the documentary resumed play, solving one of the mysteries Ikaris couldn’t wrap his mind around.

“You’re rich, aren’t you?”

“What makes you say that?”

“I saw the bill for this place the night Thomas refused to let you leave,” Ikaris’s voice was mocking. “He paid three thousand to rent the theatre for six hours, but it takes at least six thousand to rent this theatre for that long. I saw the bill – two people paid for it.”

“You’re right,” Julia didn’t bother to hide anything. “I paid for it, but I am not rich – just not saving anymore. I know he wanted to rent the place and didn’t have enough money so I secretly supported him.

“To get violated?”

“I didn’t know that was going to happen!” Julia’s voice rose in anger – something it rarely did, not that Ikaris and Goose2 cared about her feelings. “It’s starting,” she quickly shifted the focus back to the documentary.

[The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homer's epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on events surrounding the Trojan War. Two poems by Homer's near-contemporary Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works and Days, contain accounts of the genesis of the world, the succession of divine rulers, the succession of human ages, the origin of human woes, and the origin of sacrificial practices.]

As soon as the documentary started, Ikaris could feel the heat building inside his brain – the stimulated Cosmic Energy searching desperately for a way to vent, but Ikaris could not allow that to happen.

It had happened once before… with Waylon, and the man was almost sent to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. For some reason or another, Ikaris felt like it would hurt someone he knows if he were to harm humans in any way.

The Eternal didn’t want to.

“Shut it down!” His thick Scottish accent made him seem more annoyed than angry, so Julia chose to ignore the warning.

[Greek Mythology is the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices.]

“I said…” Ikaris grabbed a theatre seat and thought it was nailed to the ground, he pulled and ripped the seat free of its hinges, tossing the scrap metal like a bullet towards the screen. “SHUT IT DOWN!”

BANG – BANG

The metal seat tore through the white screen, but just barely missed the mechanisms behind it. Julia was relieved since it would have been impossible to repair the projection mechanism before the next screening – that could lead to a hundred of thousands of dollars lost on the part of the theatre.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Blood rushed to Julia’s head and she was already out of her seat, shoving Ikaris in the chest, oblivious to the fact that he had just ripped a bolted-down chair out of its hinges and tossed it like a bullet.

“I – I – I am s – sorry,” Ikaris also realized his blunder, but the headache he was nursing was too intense to even see clearly.

Images were starting to overlap with memories from Ancient Greece – the documentary had ended abruptly, but somehow, Ikaris was witnessing memories like a documentary inside his mind so – for him – the movie was just starting.

It flickered.

Changed.

Settled.

Focus.

Distanced itself.

There was no rhyme or rhythm to the memories, just a swirling array of sweet nothings and bitter somethings. The memories of Zuras and Hyperion never left, but neither were they this intense.

“You’re lucky I can pay for this and get it fixed quickly! FUCK!” Julia pulled out her phone and quickly dialled a number. “Yeah, I need a quick repair to the theatre screen. Things got a bit intense on this side. Just, get it done!”

Ikaris was nursing the memories, drifting between reality and his subconscious, and it was becoming increasingly clear that his mental health needed a serious upgrade. Because of his nature as an Eternal – whatever that meant – Ikaris thought it was impossible for him to die from anything but battle.

Alas, that was wrong.

Even as he stood there, drifting between memories, Ikaris could tell it was breaking him down from the inside, driving him to madness – Mahd Wy’ry. The word popped into his mind like a revelation from a Cosmic Entity, and The Eternal suddenly understood what was happening.

Somehow, coming here – wherever here was – had broken his mind a bit, leaving a gap for Mahd Wy’ry to take hold… and it was increasing its hold with every passing second – warping his mind until all he would be useful for is combat.

“Hey, you okay?” Julia placed a hand on The Eternal’s shoulder. “I know I ignored this before when you got into it with Thomas – mostly because you were defending me, but you need to go see a doctor. There is something wrong with your mind.”

Ikaris spun around and peered into Julia’s eyes, and they remained like that for a couple of seconds. At first, Ikaris was trying to hold himself back from burning through the woman’s skull with his Cosmic Beam, but soon, Mahd Wy’ry took hold in an unconventional manner.

The Eternal no longer wanted to kill her.

Slowly, Julia’s features morphed and changed until who stood before Ikaris was no longer Julia in his eyes – she was of Asian descent, no… the progenitor of Asian aesthetics to begin with.

She was beauty incarnate and cared for humanity as if they were all her dearest children. And they reciprocated that love – the unique braid in her hair, filled with flowers of all types told of such love.

Her clothing was a plant-green Premier fit for the Prime Eternal.

Ikaris hesitated no longer and leaned forward to indulge in Julia’s lips – the woman drifted back a bit at first, but it was almost as if Ikaris blurred and was in front of her once more, sucking on her lips before she could even blink.

A shudder of something ran through her body – honestly, Julia couldn’t tell if it was her own excitement or something more, but whatever it was, it caused her will to collapse almost immediately.

For a moment, Ikaris was no longer a kid in her mind, but a God of sensuality.

Julia tried to resist so desperately, pushing against the chest of the Eternal, but just like Thomas, he didn’t relent, and somewhere deep inside, Julia knew Ikaris didn’t relent because she never wanted him to.

After all, she had been coming here for a week – not missing a day. She fed the cat to curry favour and even rented the entire theatre to see the boy today. At some point, she had to stop lying to herself, saying it was a motherly instinct.

As Ikaris’s hand slipped into her panties, Julia heard the faint whisper of a name leaving his lips – Sersi. Of course, it broke her heart, knowing he was not thinking of her at the moment, but as soon as his fingers went beyond her folds, Julia knew the pleasure more than made up for the blunder.

MOAN

A strong moan escaped her throat and Julia’s final resistance was gone – she gave herself over to the pleasure, and soon, Ikaris entered her for the first time. Julia had the illusion of golden energy pulsing around their bodies.

It was sex like she never experienced before.