entranceway | video; (Real!Frank)

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video; (Real!Frank)

[When Frank turns on the phone he's barely looking at the network. He seems more focused in checking his arrows- all the different kinds of arrows he could gather.]

These things, the... mirrors, the ones that have crossed over.

[He strings the bow, testing the feel of it on his fingers. Those from his world will recognize that as something Frank does when he's nervous, even though his face is completely calm.]

What happens if we kill them?

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About what holds her back. What holds you both back.

[She wasn't psychic. She wasn't telepathic. She couldn't predict the future. Sure, she could sense Death--even stronger than Hazel could, in fact--but there were no abilities she possessed that Frank would not already have known about. Nor was there any knowledge she possessed that she shouldn't.]

[What made her so dangerous...or at least, unsettling...was that she was so good at fishing. Making statements vague enough that they could really be referring to anything, then watching how and to what the person responded. Which key words worked. Then going from there.]

You know. I know you know. You know you know.

You just won't say it.

You don’t know anything, and all I know is precisely that. [He doesn’t know what’s her angle, but he knows there is nothing that could hold Hazel back. She’s powerful, she’s brave and she’s good and all Hecate and Hades did was teach her how to use a gift she already had.]

Maybe you’re jealous because of what she is, what she accomplished.

Why would I be jealous over something like that?

I'm her. What she's done, I've done. Give or take a few minor details.

You don't have me.

[It's a stupid thing to say, but the words are out before he can stop them... and he realizes he doesn't want to. It's just a hunch, but he thinks it's a good one.]

[It was a stupid hunch...and it also worked.]

[She froze. The perpetual knowing smirk gracing her lips faded away into a thin line. Her eyes were hidden, but evidence of her lower facial features indicated they would have been hard. Maybe even glaring. He had actually struck a nerve.]

At the moment, she doesn't either.

[He raises both eyebrows- but quickly tries to mask his surprise. He's managed to get a reaction out of her, to find something that somehow gets to her and he's going to grab onto it like a lifeline.

Why? He isn't sure. He just really dislikes this mirror in particular.]

But she has me. She has me here. [He points at his chest, where his heart is.] Because I love her. And that will give her strength to survive in your side. Something you don't have.

[He was still going. The only thing that...got her to react more than him having pointed it out, was the fact that he remained so insistent in pressing the issue. Some might call him desperate. Clinging to a Truth out of foolish hope.]

Hmm.

[Her usual low, contemplative hum came out much sharper than usual. Annoyed.]

You really think that would be enough. Feelings. Thoughts.

[Some might call it that. Frank also doesn't care what they think, not when he knows what he feels and what they share together. He might doubt himself a lot but this?

This he's sure of.]

It's more than empty words. Are you trying to distract me from looking for the sword? Shouldn't you be doing that?

I have little interest in the sword.

[Truth. Though her tone still remained curt. Still reeling from the previous topic.]

Do you have interest in anything that isn't bothering Hazel or people close to her?

Do you even care what my interests are?

I care about anything that will keep you away from me.

Why?

Why is it you hate me so much, Frank?

[He scoffs, as if the answer were obvious. And then he realizes he actually doesn’t have an answer ready for that. Sure, he’d bothered them both but they had both faced worse.

And once he realizes that, once he sees it’s nothing that she’s done to them but what she actually is… the answer is actually quite clear.]

You’re … you’re everything people assumed about her. Everything she was scared people might think about her once they discovered everything she’d gone through. [Once they discovered she had been dead.]

[Again, not quite an answer she had anticipated from him, although this one was significantly less of a shock.]

[Because she had done things. Little things. Mere words, really. It was her strongest (and, really, most of the time her only) weapon against the world around her. But one should never underestimate the power of mere words. It had gotten him to react violently. Shattering his own mirror out of rage.]

And just what is that?

You.

[He really doesn't have another way to put it.] You're what people think when they think of children of the underworld. And Hazel isn't like that.

[She relaxed some. Traces of the old smirk were back. He was repeating himself. You. That was all he had to say. No specifics.]

[She could work with that.]

So you keep insisting.

Yet...by your words, you seem to hate me simply for who and what I am. For being the daughter of Death. For taking pride in my heritage. For wanting to make father proud. No other reason.

Hazel makes her father proud. [The words are almost hissed. Slowly. Because he isn't sure if Hazel would appreciate him saying that, even he knows it's true.

Pluto is proud of her. He is. But he shows it in the only way he is able to.]

Hazel doesn't hide from who she is, not anymore. You just hide your face and pretend your words give you power. Well, they don't.

[He had returned to his more generalized comebacks, borderline insults that hardly stung. Well--the "pretend" part, maybe, but it was barely a prick of the finger compared to the slice he had already taken.]

Don't they?

[The fact that he was still talking to her proved otherwise. The fact that the things he said....]

She hides far more than you think, Son of Mars. Either out of shame or fear. Maybe both.

Whereas I speak the Truth. I do not hold back, because I am not afraid. And you hate that.

You don’t know me at all, do you? [He doesn’t buy it, not even for a second. If he does, if he hesitates for the slightest moment and allows himself to even consider the possibility that Hazel is hiding and lying the mirror has won.]

You have no idea of who I am- inside, who I really am. Because if you did you’d know what you have just said is complete nonsense.

Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Are you claiming you do not hate me afterall?

Are you claiming you care if I do?

If I wasn't curious about your answer, I wouldn't ask.

[The closest thing to an honest answer to an otherwise potentially riddling question she'd ever offered. Good job, Frank.]

I do hate you.

[If she's going to admit to curiosity he can admit to that.] But not because you aren't holding back or whatever you're telling yourself. All the opposite. Hazel is herself, while you...

You're just in denial.

[Ouch. That stung. Or it might have, if she hadn't been completely expecting it. Better for him to be honest about his feelings, in the moments when she was prepared to hear them.]

About what, exactly?

Nothing I've said to you is a lie. [Perhaps her one redeeming quality: she might...exaggerate, or take advantage of the flaws of spoken language, but she believed every word she uttered.]