athenamarsden-blog

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Jodie Comer by Julian Broad

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ATKINSON, ATOM —

As the girl in front of him confirmed that no, the wallet wasn’t hers, Atom couldn’t help but let out a quiet sigh. He was hoping he could just hand it over, and that would be the end of it. There were too many things he had to do that day (lies), but unfortunately for he wasn’t a big enough asshole to just drop someone’s wallet on the ground, because even though he didn’t believe in karma and all that shit, knowing him it would come back to bite him in the ass. “If you’re headed in that direction, maybe you’d wanna take it anyway,” he suggested, holding the wallet up in hopes that she would take the burden off him. God knows that if it’s Atom’s choice he won’t be going anywhere near a police station anytime soon. He can’t help himself when it comes to being an asshole cops, he’s been around them far too much in his life and can’t deal with their (if you ask him) holier than thou bullshit. 

           Athena shifted from one hip to the other as she looked back down at the wallet. “Why the sudden change of heart? Or are you just feeling lazy?” She quipped before she shook her head no with some finality to it, she was too stubborn to be coaxed otherwise especially when it came to good deeding. “And to quote Gandalf the Grey, don’t tempt me, I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe. Understand... sir...” Athena hesitated without the stranger’s name to reference. “I would take this wallet with a desire to do good but through me it would possess a power too great and terrible to imagine. It is your burden to carry.” She responded theatrically, throwing her hands around in front of her without any shame of making a fool out of herself in front of a stranger. “In other words, I’d just take the money and dip, sorry.” The blonde shrugged. “Well, now ya gotta take it right?” 

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MCNEILL, MORGAN —

“I’m glad you have a good opinion of yourself despite your origins, they don’t define us or show us what we really are, but they have a role to play in what we become,” Morgan said, thinking back in her whole life and how she wished she could have met her mother. If things had been different, her father would have been kind to her, but fate had other plans and he became a different person the moment he lost his wife and was left with a small baby to blame for it. He did it his whole life until she decided enough was enough and left the house. People say that home is where the heart is, and hers was never there. “Very well,” Morgan nodded. “Then I’ll make sure to honor your wishes if I ever found your body lifeless and stiff.” She opened her black leather purse and pulled out a card. “If you find a body or someone in need or funeral arrangements, give me a call. We are open 24/7.”

         “Thank you very much, I do have a very good opinion about myself. I am pretty great.” Athena agreed without a shred of modesty or sarcasm to be traced throughout her tone. She’d never really saw herself as a wallflower, even compared to the immense amount of affection and attention her sister was showered with in their childhood. Eventually Athena found out she had to take care of herself and through that she found her massive ego that she deflected her mother with. Over the years it was getting harder and harder to tell how fake her arrogance was, and whether or not it was even a mask anymore or a trait she had always possessed but never mastered at a young age. Well, whatever it was, she was here now and a pain in the ass. “You are so sweet.” And Athena meant that, she was amused. “I greatly appreciate that.” She reached over and traced her fingers over the name of the business card. “Morgan McNeill. I like that. I’ll need a tour sometime.” 

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BENNETT, WREN —

wren looked at their hand and couldn’t help but feel a little hurt and disappointed in themself. they were just terrible at this, they put their hand down and smiled awkwardly. “sorry.” they simply said and nodded at her name, not quite sure what to say next after such an assertive reaction. they knew they should say something but they couldn’t. they were tired and not well versed in any of this. so, they just took a sip from their drink and hoped the ground would swallow them up.

          “You have no reason to be. I’m not offended, just you look a little on edge. Loosen up is all, we’re drinking.” It was about as empathetic as Athena mustered up these days, and although the other’s submissive reaction was exactly the very thing that stroked her enormous ego, she wasn’t out to hurt them intentionally. Athena sucked the rest of her vodka soda down, and began dangling her empty glass in front of the bartender queuing ready for her next. “So. Wren, you often go out to drink all my your lonesome self?” She asked sweetly, albeit sounding condescending.

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BENNETT, WREN —

“sure thing, i promised, didn’t i?” they asked her with a small smirk, a little shy, a little quiet. they were quite loud on the bench, quite confrontational sometimes but in their personal life, they were a lot quieter. they chuckled at the other woman’s assessment of the woman in the dress. “well, i guess…” they simply said with a shrug. “i am more bothered by her over-the-top makeup.” they told her and then held out their hand. “i’m wren bennett. nice to meet you.” they introduced themself.

          “Her make up’s not as bad. Though that shades too dark towards the brow. Must look in a funhouse mirror when she gets ready, or the dark.” Athena made a face as she brought her beverage towards her mouth and began to loudly suck through the green straw as Wren extended their hand to shake. “What do I look like to you? Your business partner — put that thing away.” The honey blonde scoffed, setting her glass down, and crossing her arms across the bar. “I’m Athena, and no, I don’t shake hands. We’re in a bar for fuck sake, not talking numbers over lunch.”

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ATKINSON, ATOM —

With his hands buried deep in his pockets, Atom kept to himself as he walked down the somewhat busy street. It had been a crazy week, hell it always was at the shop, and he was so grateful for it. But, why was he on his way to work on his day off? Who was he kidding, he knew there wasn’t anywhere he’d rather be. It was a blink and you’ll miss it moment, but Atom barely noticed as his foot kicked something along the ground in front of him, and almost didn’t catch that it was someone’s wallet that had hit his boot. Frowning, he bent down to pick it up, opening it to see if there was an ID for the owner. In the distance he squints a little and thinks he can see someone that might fit the profile. “Hey! Excuse me!” he called out. “I think you dropped this,” he spoke again, tapping the person on the shoulder from behind.

          Athena whipped her head around when someone tapped at her desperate for her attention, she removed her hands from her pants pockets and pulled out her headphones. “Yeah, what?” Athena snapped, before looking down at the extended hand with a wallet in hand. “Oh... no that’s not mine.” Some tattered brown wallet, for fuck’s sake no, that was a man’s wallet for sure until she realized the photo identification was that indeed of a woman. Peering around her, she looked around for someone that fit the profile. “Sorry, whoever you’re looking for, they’re long gone by now. There’s a police station not too far from here. If you’re totally lost, I can show you the way, I’m headed that direction.” While Athena wasn’t a saint, she wasn’t super evil either. It’d be a different story if she was the one who originally grabbed the wallet though and it happened to have cash in it. 

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MCNEILL, MORGAN —

“Oh, Athena, goddess of wisdom, handicraft and warfare,” said Morgan, remembering the many books she read about greek mythology. “Born from the head of slutty Zeus himself,” she gave the woman next to her a small smile. “It’s a wonder that someone so smart was born from someone so promiscuous like that god, but like I said, I’ve seen stranger things happening in the world of the living and the dead, and to answer your question, yes, I am a mortician and I provide the very best when it comes to placing your loved ones six feet under.” Dead or alive, Morgan never wasted an opportunity for others to know about her business. “Would you like to plan ahead and visit the funeral home to see your future resting place? We even provide an email address for people to send their condolences if they can’t make it to the funeral. 

          “Well can’t say the same for my family that’s for sure. Athena born under a lush for a father and a gigantic cunt for a mother, but hey, what can you do? Lucky for me, I was still blessed with smarts and good looks so.” It wasn’t every day Athena was open to talk about her family, but there was really no harm in being self deprecating about them while they weren’t here. It wasn’t much of a secret anyway, of course she came from a fucked up family. “Maybe I’d be better off with Zeus as my father, but hmph, what do I know about Greek gods. Fuck all.” She answered in a huffy deadpan as she tucked her newspaper away before dropping her hands back between her legs. “Mmm, no, I’m good thanks. I’d rather someone just toss my corpse into a body of water. To float away and rot. Thanks though. I’ll keep you posted, babe. I’m all about that live fast die young motif.” 

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JACOBS, ISABELLE —

             The conversation they had been carrying for far too long with a few of the board members seemed to have no end, Isabelle was bored and her wine glass was painfully empty. She could see that her husband was dying to find a way out of this interaction but the way his gaze wandered across the room she instantly knew it was for a completely different reason. If there was one thing Isabelle was particularly good at, it was handling her rage — she wasn’t an explosive person, rather, she swallowed her anger and grabbed his hand, a tiny gasp leaving her throat as if she had just remembered something life-threatening. “Oh honey, you should really call the sitter and check on Emma, see if her fever has gone down. Would you excuse us gentleman?” She didn’t give the others a chance to answer before they began to walk away. Her features hardened as she watched the other woman take her chance once her husband left the room, but there was no way she’d allow anything like that to happen tonight. Not while she was here. 

“Oh, hello!” The brunette feigned shock the moment she stood in the other’s path, a small chuckle leaving her lips at the greeting. “Please call me Isabelle, darling. I think Senator Royce would be very offended if he heard you call me that,” she commented, the ease in her tone suggested she was being playful, a characteristic Isabelle wasn’t known to possess. “Don’t worry, my dress is safe,” the brunette assured, running a hand down her silky red gown before meeting the other’s gaze. Even in heels, Isabelle still felt so small in Athena’s presence, something she certainly didn’t want showing as it was often overlooked as a weakness. “It’s a pleasure to properly meet you, Athena. What a beautiful name, a true goddess,” she smiled. “So glad you’re here, I thought this thing was for adults only, it’s nice of them to allow the kids to come out and play too. Half of the crowd is asleep and the other half looks about ready to be put six feet under.”

          "Oh of course, state representative." She thoughtfully corrected herself. "I really oughta know better by now, seeing as I've read up on your political platform." Athena confessed in such a seemingly innocent way that she conveyed some shred of respect over. It was the honest truth too that really assisted her in coming off as sweet and charming and most importantly genuine. Her professor's wife wasn't some doting teary eyed wife sitting stupid waiting at home for her husband to return. In fact, Athena sensed she knew about the affair, to some extent. It all narrowed to their first meeting, that exchange of glances where Isabelle had originally found her husband looking stupidly guilty about something but passing it off as a student looking for an extra hand on her assignment, and Athena standing there were her chest heaving in heavy and breathy motions, just further adding to suspicion. And her excitement too. It’d be hard not to smell the bullshit the moment they were caught.

          "Thank heavens." Athena cooed softly as she eyed the pretty wife up and down slowly, perhaps her stare lingered for a moment too long but Athena was enjoying every curve of the other woman's body and how her dressed hugged her small and slender frame. It was impossible to deny how attractive the brunette was, and well Athena was drawn towards attractive persons. Athena smiled. "I'd hate to spoil your evening when you're dressed so beautifully tonight." The honey blonde practically purred before squinting at the backhanded comment falling from Isabelle's proud mouth. "Lucky for me, they have a bouncy castle in the next room over." She moved some hair over her shoulder, the smell of her perfume and shampoo wafting around them, and tightened her lips together in another phoney smile. "Well, perhaps it's past their bed time at the old folk's home, or they missed their date with the grim reaper. Tell me, Isabelle, what category do you fall under then?"

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          Athena wasn't supposed to be here tonight, at the very least, an invitation to a school benefit like this wasn't extended to students unless they were contributing in some way to the charity auction. Athena was not one of those students. Instead, she blended in as a guest among faculty in a fancy floral flared jumpsuit she saved for just such an occasion, dressed to the nines in heels that shot her already tall stature by two more inches. She was here to sneak in a proactive session with her professor behind closed doors but until she found him amongst the rest of the crowd, she lingered around the hall and grabbed an hors d'oeuvre from the platter off a nearby waiter, just to spit it out into her hand and dispose of it by a nearby plant. The last thing Athena accounted on when she spotted him a few feet away from her was his wife attending the event with him. From all that she heard about her in the past, she was a distant workaholic and a bit of a shrew. Not that she didn't compile her own research about Isabelle Jacobs either however — her political platform, online columns, public profiles and whatever information that was available to her online.

          It was all part of the thrill that came with sleeping with her professor, knowing who the wife was. Not just the close face to face encounter they had upon their initial meeting at her husband's office. Athena eyed them carefully as she sipped her flute of champagne and when it looked like he was attempting to step away from his wife, Athena was ready to follow him away and set her glass down to move. A waiter had cut in front of her, and the next thing she knew Isabelle was there waiting to cut her off next. "State senator." Athena purposefully misconstrued in one shallow breath upon bumping into the tiny brunette woman. Even though she stopped dead in her tracks, she refused to let herself get intimidated and therefore stuck both hands in her pockets and rolled her shoulders back before feigning a smile in return to the small brunette. "So sorry." She faked politely. "Didn't spill anything did I? It's Athena, I don't think we had a chance to properly introduce ourselves last we bumped into each other. At this rate, it looks like it's about to become a habit of ours."

                                                                    ( — @isabellejacobs )

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MCNEILL, MORGAN —

“I’ve seen my fair share of strange and impossible stuff working at the funeral home and even before that, so of course I believe it.” Morgan said, remembering a few scenes of her past that she would just love to forget, but mind it’s an open book and no matter how hard you try, some pages are just to easy to read. She shook her head and sighed. “I don’t think anyone has tried it before so I would love to be the one to do it, but then I would have to ask how to free the spirit from inside the mirror. No one wants to be trapped, in this life or in the next.” Her green eyes looked down at the puzzle the woman had in her hands and blinked when she read it. “Thanatos,” she pointed to it with her finger. “Four across, greek death. It’s Thanatos.” 

          “Are you a mortician? Have you seen ghosts before?” Not that Athena was gullible enough to even believe or entertain the notion of ghosts actually existing, there was a part of her that was mildly interested in what the other was telling her. Mostly because she was so painfully bored to death of the day so far. “So you’re telling me there’s a spell out there somewhere? Well let me know when you do put that theory to the test, yeah. I have a few names I’d love to trap into the mirror dimension myself, but don’t let them out. Trust me, they deserve eternity in the looking glass or whatever.” Athena grinned before she scribbled into her puzzle. “No shit?” She scoffed writing down the word before she swivelled just ever so slightly to face the other woman. “Just so happens I’m Athena.” 

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MCNEILL, MORGAN —

“Did you know that in the Victorian Era when a family member died, you closed the curtains and covered the mirrors so that the deceased’s image didn’t get trapped in the looking glass?” asked Morgan to the person who sat next to her on the empty bench of the park while reading from a book she got from the bookshop that day.  She decided the best spot was under a big tree, so most of the shadow covered her and the sun avoided her pale skin. She didn’t like the sun and that was obvious to see. Her employees sometimes joked that she was a vampire and some of them trully believed it, making her secretly smile. “How fascinating and strange humans can be, don’t you think?”

          “If you say so, but it sounds like a gigantic waste of time to me.” Athena replied, sitting hunched over her spread legs not bothering to look up from the crossword puzzle she was scribbling into from her morning paper and coffee — the coffee long gone by now, and her crossword more than halfway done. Without looking up from her puzzle, she continued. “Is there a set time limit or what? Such as thirty seconds to cover the mirrors once the sorry bastard collapses dead or he’s doomed an afterlife in another dimension? What happens when they do get trapped and did anyone test this theory, that’s what I really want to know.” Finally looking over, she eyed the woman. “You believe in this stuff don’t you?”

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BENNETT, WREN —

“whiskey, straight.” wren ordered as they sat down at the upscale bar in the ‘design district’. it was odd being here now, in this neighborhood. they grew up here when it was still looked at as not cool, nor trendy. now, it was somewhere people wanted to be. how strange it all was, they thought. it was just after work, they’d done close to thirty cases in a speed tempo and their head was spinning. they looked over at the person on the barstool next to them and gave a small smile. “penny for your thoughts.” they offered, reminding themself that their goal was to have a social life, now that their professional dream had come true. so, talking to people was probably a good start.

          “Do I actually get a penny though?” Athena asked as she playfully wagged her eyebrows at the patron sitting next to her. Usually someone chatting her up was cause enough for her to get up and move seats, unless she was on the hunt for someone to take home with and fuck but then that meant she was most often the one chatting someone up. Though her stranger seemed harmless albeit at the very least socially awkward, Athena presumed. Stirring the straw around her vodka soda she shrugged. "I was looking at that girl’s dress.” She nodded across the room, towards the back. “That shade of red looks really terrible. It really yellows her out.” Athena’s shrug turned into a shudder for emphases.

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do you think you will ever get married

“Never. There are way too many pretty girls and boys I need to share my body with. Can’t be letting anyone get greedy over me.”

do you have a crush

“I haven’t had a crush on anyone since maybe around the fourth grade. I have better things to do than falling in love. Gross.”

thoughts on astrology

“I’m a virgo and as a virgo we don’t believe in such nonsense.” 

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anonymous asked the tower

favourite colour to wear?

“I look good in just about every colour. But I mostly wear soft earth tones and light pinks and browns and white.”

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anonymous asked strength

what is your dream occupation?

“Well I’m at school to become a civil litigation lawyer, but I’d really love to be a professional sugar baby.”

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anonymous asked death, the moon

three things you want to do before you die

“I’d like to pay off my student loan debt, visit france and go shopping, and marry nick jonas and run off to europe together.”

have you ever written a love letter before

“No, but I have written a raunchy email to someone before, and sent my nudes over text so modern day romantic over here.”