Ares came out the front door of his house to greet Hephaistos and Scroat when they arrived. He was in his pajamas. The sky was just starting to get light again.
“Man, it took you guys about long enough to get here. I was thinking maybe you’d actually decided to camp out in the desert. Did you run into trouble on the way here, or what?”
“No, Scroat got a flat tire,” Hep said. He looked down at Ares feet, and said, “Nice bunny slippers.”
“Thanks. How long did it take to fix that tire? I wouldn’t expect that to slow you down much.”
“Hep decided to make friends with some random nut when he could have been helping me out, so it took a while, what with working in the dark and all,” Scroat said.
Hep and Scroat grabbed their gear and followed Ares into his house. Ares’s decorating scheme consisted largely of black leather furniture, weapons, and an occasional framed war movie poster.
“I don’t suppose we could do some laundry while we’re here, could we?” Hep asked. He’d been planning to do the laundry at home, but, well, the house burned down. It had been a while since he’d last washed his clothes and he was a bit worried it was going to stage a revolt if he kept it cooped up in a duffle bag much longer.
“Sure, sure, but you can worry about that after you’ve slept. Come on, I’ll show you where you’re crashing tonight,” Ares said. He led them down the hall to a couple of rooms. He pointed to one room and said, “Hep, you’re in here. Scroat you’re in there. You know where the bathroom is. See you later.”
“Thanks,” Hep said. He went into his room, and saw an air mattress with a couple of sheets and a blanket laid out on the floor. The walls were covered with weaponry, from swords and axes to state of the art tactical rifles and handguns. He opened a closet and found more weapons, as well as a stash of leather clothes hanging neatly. There was a chest of drawers as well, filled with smaller weapons and ammunition. On top of the chest of drawers were a few copies of Soldier of Fortune magazine.
“This must be the armory,” Hep mumbled to himself. He dropped his gear on the floor and tumbled without grace on to the air mattress. In a matter of seconds he was sleeping.
Scroat’s room was similarly decorated, only there wasn’t an air mattress, just sheets and a rough wool blanket.
“Nice fucking hospitality,” Scroat said. He spread out the sheets and blanket on the floor, and rolled up his jacket to use a pillow. Despite the discomfort, he also fell asleep within moments of laying down.
“Rise and shine, Hep!” Ares said after knocking on the frame of the door twice.
Hep woke up with a start. It felt as though it had only been minutes since he’d laid down. He wondered if Ares was messing with him. He sat up and looked at Ares.
“What time is it?” Hep asked.
“Four in the afternoon. Time for some breakfast.” Ares said, and went to the room Scroat was sleeping in. This time he didn’t bother to knock, and just shouted instead.
“Wake the fuck up!”
“Man, fuck you, Ares,” Scroat groaned.
“Likewise,” Ares said. “Get up. Breakfast is in the kitchen when you guys are ready.”
Breakfast was a pot of coffee, a dozen donuts, and a tub of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
“This is the closest you’re getting to chicken and waffles from me.”
“Close enough,” Hep said. “Thanks.”
Ares sat down at the table with Hep and Scroat. Once they’d gotten a plate fixed and some coffee, he said, “So, Poseidon told me he needs some crew on his boat. I let him know you guys were free for the time being, and he said you were welcome to come along on his next cruise.”
“Where’s he going?” Scroat asked.
“Well, he told me he’s headed for Alaska.”
“Nice,” Hep said. “When do we leave?”
It’d been a while since either of them had been to Alaska. Hep had liked the place, apart from the cold. The cold made his legs ache. For his part, Scroat preferred places with plenty of people around to mess with, but despite the sparse population, Alaska was a nice place to visit.
“Tomorrow morning, about seven in the morning.”
“Fuck! Don’t give us any time to get ready or anything,” Scroat said. His laundry was, if anything, more disturbing than Hep’s.
“Yeah, that’s pretty rough,” Hep said. “I mean, it’d be nice to have a little downtime to get prepared.”
“Hey, that’s when he’s leaving. Besides, you just got eight hours of sleep. How much downtime do you need, really? Let me show you where the laundry room is.”
Ares showed them the washer and dryer, and pointed out where the detergent was.
“Hey, later on we should grab some tacos. It’ll be your last chance for decent Mexican food before hitting the high seas,” Ares said.
“Yeah, that sounds good. Did Poseidon mention if we’d need to bring anything specific?” Hep said. He wondered if he had enough warm clothing for an ocean voyage to Alaska.
“None that he mentioned. If I was you, I’d bring plenty of weapons. In case of pirates, you know,” Ares said.
“Pirates, right.”
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