ARES PATERA
Warlock
Posts: 225
Age:
36
Occupation:
Sheriff's Deputy
Status:
Single
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Aug 31, 2024 18:03:29 GMT
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Flames
Oct 30, 2022 15:57:16 GMT
Post by ARES PATERA on Oct 30, 2022 15:57:16 GMT
A thin plume of smoke rose up from the coals as Ares prodded them with the tongs. Half an hour before the smoke had been boiling up from them. He’d muttered those familiar words in Greek, the ones he’d heard from his father dozens of times before he’d realised it was magic he was using to kick off those barbecues that had filled the Patera house with life almost every weekend of his childhood. Such a simple spell, but one that was wrapped in home for him.
Hazel eyes narrowed critically, the tongs set down, the hand that had gripped them held spread an inch above the grill. Five more minutes and it would be ready. Maybe by then Claire would be pulling up. He guessed one person – his partner, at least – didn’t exactly jibe with the word ‘full’, but it was still gonna be life at the cabin when his brother and sister had both begged off. Work. Bah. They all had it, especially in this town.
The last few months hadn’t seemed like much of a reprieve, although in a way that was a blessing. You kept yourself busy enough and you didn’t start to miss what wasn’t there amongst all that chaos. No firefights, still plenty of opportunities to be dripping with adrenalin, no constant push from the irritants that could get under his skin like sandpaper, still enough annoyances to keep his temper on a boil. Maybe he could’ve shoved a notice up in the break room at the station and had himself both for the afternoon. Maybe he could’ve saved himself the trouble and just shoved his hand straight into the coals to test their temperature instead.
Ares huffed out a breath and scrubbed his fingertips through the short, thick hair that seemed to be carrying a heavier sprinkle of grey these days. There was nothing like acknowledging your well ingrained streak of masochism to have you feeling old. Old enough to know better than to look book at what had driven him crazy – and ruined his newly waxed living room floor, he wasn’t forgetting that – and to move on instead. The house was mostly finished now, the days where he’d call in the cavalry almost every weekend to help shingle the place or paint the downstairs bathroom in exchange for the souvlaki he’d slave over once they wee done. Undoubtedly Eros and Clio had that exchanged in mind when they’d spouted their excuses, no amount of ‘it’s not that, I swear’ penetrating their thick stream of suspicion when it came to his motives.
Not Claire though. Her boyfriend maybe. Ares’ smile dimmed faintly as he squinted back at the driveway that wound through the woods, back towards the rural roads that snaked through the area. If Damon came the coals wouldn’t be the only thing on a damper later. The two of them had started to tolerate each other for Claire’s sake, but it didn’t make their exchanges pleasurable on either side. Like his meeting with the … the goddess (he still couldn’t get his mind to adjust to the idea that there was anything else that powerful out there, despite all he had seen) … their time together always left something shivering inside, like his gut knew what his mouth wasn’t ready to say.
Huffing out a breath, Ares tested the temperature of the coals again. A hair cooler this time, perfect. There was no way a Patera man would serve food charred too far on the outside or dry meat. There was a family pride to this. He scooped the skewers from the tray, settling them down on the grill bars just as he heard the crunch of tires on the driveway. The brush he dipped in the oil and herb mix worked over the cubes of lamb as Claire rounded the corner of the house. ”Anybody ever tell you that you’ve got impeccable timing?” he called out, his grin slanting as he glanced over his shoulder. ”I just put the food on. Grab a drink and pull up a seat. The prep’s all handled.” Like he would’ve allowed anybody else to touch the food anyway, this was a matter of pride after all.
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CLAIRE DEVEREUX
Vampire
Posts: 166
Age:
25/156
Occupation:
Police Officer
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Damon Salvatore
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Sept 19, 2024 23:45:31 GMT
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Flames
Jan 27, 2024 1:11:46 GMT
Post by CLAIRE DEVEREUX on Jan 27, 2024 1:11:46 GMT
Claire usually liked to spend her time off with Damon when she could and lately she had been hanging out more with Stefan as well but that day it was Ares’s turn. She had tried to talk Damon into joining her but he had refused in favour of spending some time with his brother and Claire knew that she couldn’t hold that against him. Things were so much better between Damon and Stefan now than they were when she first met them in London decades ago and they were better than they had been when she’d arrived in Mystic Falls. It was good to see them doing better than they had done and she had a feeling that the fact that Stefan had made a deal with Klaus to save Damon’s life had finally helped repair the rift that had been there between them for such a long time. Sometimes she spent time with Damon at the Boarding House but given how much busier it was these days, more often than not he would spend the night at her apartment it seemed and Claire would be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about suggesting that they move in together. She had been roped into helping Ares fix his place up more times than she cared to remember so she knew that she might end up asking Ares to return the favour in the near future if Damon agreed but for now she was just looking forward to being able to spend some time with her friend outside of work. One thing Claire knew she definitely didn’t have to worry about was trying to hide anything from Ares. He knew what she was and had done since before they’d both found their way to Mystic Falls and she knew what he was. In a way it was a relief to have someone else know the truth about her and it definitely made working together that much more interesting since they could talk openly about everything that was going on in their lives. He had helped bring her out of her shell having cut herself off from everyone for so long and Claire knew that she really owed him for that. For a long time after she became a vampire she hadn’t felt like she deserved to have people in her life after leaving her husband and children behind but Ares had been the first to show her differently while Damon had shown her that she deserved to be loved so she knew that she was lucky to have them. Claire had known there was no way she would turn Ares down when he had asked her over for a barbecue and as she drove over to his place she couldn’t help but find that she was looking forward to it. She wasn’t sure whether anyone else was going to be there or not but either way it didn’t really matter. Ares was her partner at work and her best friend so she was always going to take the chance to spend time with him when she could even if it sometimes resulted in Damon joking about the amount of time that she spent with her work husband. Climbing out of the car after she’d switched the engine off, Claire made her way around the side of the house and laughed at his greeting. “Oh yeah, all the time. I’m surprised it has taken you this long to realise,” she teased as she joined him. “Perfect,” she said, offering him a smile as she grabbed a beer. “Didn’t get any other takers or am I just special?” she grinned as she took a sip of her drink. ARES PATERA
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ARES PATERA
Warlock
Posts: 225
Age:
36
Occupation:
Sheriff's Deputy
Status:
Single
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Aug 31, 2024 18:03:29 GMT
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Flames
Mar 4, 2024 21:40:24 GMT
Post by ARES PATERA on Mar 4, 2024 21:40:24 GMT
Family barbecues had been a cornerstone of his childhood, some of his first memories wreathed in the smell of woodsmoke and grilled meat. His ma would bustle out of the kitchen with big bowls of salad, gleaming with olive oil and lemon juice, and plates of fresh, warm bread that his dad would toss on the grill for a second to get the perfect char. Aunts and uncles (the real kind and the honorary), cousins and friends would pour in. The sun would dip eventually, but they’d all still be sitting there, talking about the old country, laughing as one by one the kids would end up sleeping in their laps. There was a chance it could’ve ended up a once a year thing once the two of them had enlisted, but instead of it just being family, the Patera brothers had taken their barbecues on the road.
Ares carefully turned the meat as Claire joined him, then took a swig of his own beer. He hadn’t been sure if she’d remembered the times he’d grilled in the tiny patch of a yard at the house he’d been renting while they were in the academy. If Eros, his parents and Clio had joined them the place was packed practically wall to wall. These days he figured he could’ve invited half the town and still had room to stretch out before they hit the woods that clustered thick around his little clearing here. Of course, Damon’s ego could probably fill that space all on his own. The guy had softened somewhat, but he still exuded over-confidence from every pore. Coming from one of the Founding families probably meant that was expected here. It just wasn’t gonna get a reaction out of him. His family name went back hundreds of years further in the old country. Maybe they didn’t drip money the same way, but that never made anybody happy.
”It always takes time for things to get through this thick skull,” he snorted at her, rapping his knuckles against the side of his head. It was never a matter of being unobservant, more that innate stubbornness that made changing his opinion on things a true battle of wills. Leaving the kebabs to do their thing, Ares dropped into one of the chairs he’d set out next to the wooden table that’d been one of the first things he’d built for the house. That and the barbecue had come in handy when the inside was in no fit state to be cooking. ”Would you believe me if I said you’re special?” Ares asked, a smirk tugging at his lips. He took a long swallow of his beer, then used the bottle to gesture back towards town. ”I invited Eros and Clio too, but they were both working. I think they were worried I was gonna have them up on the roof patching holes, or something. That didn’t cross your mind?” Amusement hitched his brows like he was daring her to say yes. If there was one thing he was honest about it was what the bargain for dinner was. There was no point in springing it on them once they were in the door, not with both of them just as stubborn as he was.
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CLAIRE DEVEREUX
Vampire
Posts: 166
Age:
25/156
Occupation:
Police Officer
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Damon Salvatore
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Sept 19, 2024 23:45:31 GMT
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Flames
Mar 27, 2024 0:24:43 GMT
Post by CLAIRE DEVEREUX on Mar 27, 2024 0:24:43 GMT
Claire knew that there were some people who liked to forget all about work and the people they spent their days with as soon as they clocked off at the end of their shift but it wasn’t like that for her. Ares had been a big part of her life ever since they went through the police academy together, he was the first person she had really let in after leaving her family behind when she became a vampire and being around him had made her confidence slowly start to build. She had always been fine on her own but he had made her realise just how much she missed having people in her life. Reconnecting with Damon when she arrived in Mystic Falls had helped her open her heart a little more and being partnered with Ares again when he moved to town had changed her life completely. Now she felt more like her old self than she had done in years and she liked spending time with him even outside of work when she got the chance. Damon sometimes liked to tease her about it but she knew that he didn’t mean anything by it. He and Ares might never really see eye to eye but Claire knew that they both just wanted what was best for her and that was definitely having the two of them in her life. Of course, spending so much time with Ares meant that she’d had the chance to get to know his family as well and she hadn’t known whether they or anyone else would be at the barbecue that day. She had hoped that Damon might join her but he had decided to spend some time with Stefan instead and Claire knew that she really couldn’t hold that against him. Honestly it was nice to see the two brothers getting along given the way they’d been at each other’s throats when she’d met them back in London. Back then Damon had been determined to make his brother’s life hell but they seemed to be doing much better now and she really was glad about that. She loved both of them, albeit Stefan only as a brother, and Claire had hated seeing them not getting along so as far as excuses to miss the barbecue went, it was a pretty good one this time. Truth be told she had a feeling that Ares would probably be pretty glad that Damon hadn’t tagged along that day since it meant that the two of them wouldn’t be able to butt heads the way they usually did. It had taken her by surprise when Ares had brought the dress Damon had picked out for her into the station when he turned up to take her on their first date and there had been a few glimmers of hope that they might start getting along better after that but she knew better than to push her luck. “Your words, not mine. You’d better not forget it now,” Claire laughed before taking a sip of her beer. As Ares asked if she would believe him if he said she was special, Claire didn’t hesitate in shaking her head. “Not a chance,” she teased. She knew that whenever Ares decided to host a barbecue there were other people on the invite list as well and that was why she was surprised that she was the first to arrive that day. His brother and sister always ended up gaining an invite and she wouldn’t have been surprised if they had decided to take him up on it but it seemed like she was the only one that day. “That doesn’t surprise me,” she laughed as he said that Eros and Clio were probably worried he was going to put them to work. “Of course it did, I even threw some old clothes in the car in case there was a catch,” she said as she took another sip of her drink. “I’m not sure if you’ve realised but you do have a bit of a reputation,” she teased. ARES PATERA
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ARES PATERA
Warlock
Posts: 225
Age:
36
Occupation:
Sheriff's Deputy
Status:
Single
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Aug 31, 2024 18:03:29 GMT
|
Flames
Apr 25, 2024 18:47:12 GMT
Post by ARES PATERA on Apr 25, 2024 18:47:12 GMT
There was no room for arrogance in the military. Some tried, showing up to basic training thinking they were gonna smash every record before graduation, expecting to go straight into some war torn corner of the world to bring some sort of Rambo-esque justice to the place. They were the guys who charged straight into a firefight. The guys who would be lucky to be medevacked home instead of being sent home in a pine box. Most got chewed up during training, the instructors well aware of just who they were aiming to be. They’d put extra pressure on them, the same way he’d tried to with Brooke. Moulding them into good marines.
Undoubtedly he hadn’t been much better when he’d enlisted. His parents had spent years trying to make sure their son wasn’t an arrogant fool first and Ares liked to think enough of that had stuck that he hadn’t been too big a pain in the ass through basic training. After that he’d worked his ass off to be the best marine – and now cop – possible. Aiming a grin at Claire, he dropped his hand away from his head. It had probably been the first time he’d actually admitted to her that it took him time to pick up on things sometimes. He gestured to her with his bottle. ”You wanna get your phone out and film me repeating it? Then you’ve got proof for your ‘I told you so’.” Which he’d undoubtedly hear the next time he was a jackass about something.
”So cynical,” he muttered before his smirk became a snort. He settled the bottle against his thigh, squinting at the trees that surrounded the house through the thin shreds of smoke that drifted from the smouldering coals. ”You’re all cynical,” he grouched. ”Sometimes a man just wants family around to have a good time.” That hadn’t been what had happened for the first couple of years he’d lived here though. Every time someone walked through the door he’d seen an extra set of hands to help with some task or another. It wasn’t like it had been free labour – finding good pork shoulder around here for the souvlaki wasn’t easy, and they all had a tendency to drink the fridge dry.
Both of his hands rose as Claire admitted that she’d suspected his true motive, warding off the idea. He probably could’ve pulled some job together if she had a yearning for manual labour, but he hadn’t planned it this time. The little snags that were left were his to slowly cross off his mental list. ”No catch. No surprise about the reputation either. I’m not a leopard who can’t change his spots though. The house is practically done. You think I was gonna start making stuff up just to keep people coming over here?” Once they got used to the idea, and summer actually hit, he’d turn the yard into one that reminded him of the family home. Full of people in the summer, the grill fired up every night until winter hit and even then he'd probably be out here in the snow, trying to wring out one last barbecue before he had to admit defeat.
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hope to see you in the discord! 
