One Heart • •

[Harrison Marshall Bryant]

Harrison could hardly believe how awful this week had been. He had only left England on Monday morning, and he had had to fly to Vienna before he could return to New York. It didn’t matter to his father that he had classes to get back to, his father only saw the company as a priority, and thought Harrison should be doing the same. This third degree was nothing more than procrastination on Harrison’s part, but he was still taking it just as seriously as the other two. He wasn’t going to slack off or miss class without an adequate reason. He didn’t think a business deal in Vienna was an adequate reason. There had been other people who could have gone instead of him, including his father, but Harrison had felt as though the older man had wanted to send him out of spite, knowing it would delay his return to America and his life there. His whole visit home had been filled with nothing more but the usual arguments about the future of the business, and the clashes that came whenever Harrison mentioned bringing the Bryant name into the twenty-first century.

Harrison had other reasons to get back to New York beyond school. His dinner date with Athena was Friday night and he had to make plans for it. When he arrived back late on Wednesday, or early Thursday depending on how one looked at it, most of the restaurants he had considered were fully booked for the Friday night, even with the pull he had. The rest only had really early reservations and Harrison had a meeting over a commissioned engagement ring late in the afternoon that he didn’t want to be watching the clock throughout. His father sending him to Vienna had really thrown a spanner into the works for everything, and the exhaustion from all the flying had left him with no greater wish than to sleep right through Thursday. Still, he didn’t want to cancel on Athena, and he had classes to catch up on. Harrison was nothing if not committed.

His idea for his dinner date came to him only after a decent night sleep, first thing Friday morning. It probably wasn’t going to be what Athena was expecting, but it was the best the young heir could do after everything this week had tossed his way. He only had one morning class to get to, and then the day was mostly his, aside from needing to be at the office just after lunch to get ready for that appointment. It gave him enough time. He sent a text Athena before leaving his apartment to let her know that he would pick her up just after seven, and that her address might be helpful. Then, once his class was done, Harrison ran about the city to get everything ready for the night. He wouldn’t have the time after his meeting, and he didn’t want to be rushing.

Come the evening, once he had left the Bryant office and had a new design concept in his mind for the commissioned ring, Harrison headed home to shower, change and put his plans into action. They were far from the night he had originally thought up for Athena, but he didn’t think they were so abysmal she would hate him. His dogs were curiously following him around, wondering why he hadn’t flopped onto the couch with a book and some soft music playing, but Harrison shooed them away. It didn’t matter to them; they kept coming back to him, still wondering what he was up to when he pulled bags out from under the kitchen counters, and grabbed the fresh bouquet of peonies from the vase on the side where he had kept them since that morning. “What am I going to do with you lot?” He asked, looking down at the small troop of pups, raising his eyebrows when Darcy barked at him in response. “Not a bad idea, Darcy. Now, behave while I’m gone. No eating what you shouldn’t eat - Colby!” He pointed a finger at the Labrador and then grabbed his car keys before locking up his apartment and driving to the address Athena had given him. When he arrived he found the right door and knocked sharply, smoothing his hair down at the back and checking the flowers over once again.

• • •

TAGGED! Athena Violet Williams
WORDS! 734!
OUTFIT! Fine Diner!
LYRICS! Room At The End Of The World - - - Matt Nathanson
NOTES! <3

[Athena Violet Williams]

Athena knew she should have been packing her bags for her trip home for the holidays but she told herself it was something she could do in the morning; before she left for her flight. She still didn’t know where she was headed, her father had told her it was hot and her tickets would be at the airport, waiting for her and he gave her the departure time so she knew when to get there. And that meant her bag would be relatively easy to pack. It was a matter of deciding on which dresses she should pack in case her parents signed her up for another museum function. She loved letting people into her world, but she would prefer her parents warn her in advance instead of just springing it on her like they usually did; claiming they “forgot”. They never forgot, they did it on purpose. It was their version of tests; seeing if she still knew what she was doing. She hadn’t disappointed them yet.

She felt like she’d spent more time deciding what to wear for this date than she ever did preparing for one of her museum trips though. Those came so naturally to Athena while dating did not. She had been years younger than her classmates at university the short time she’d attended and the last relationship she’d had didn’t exactly end well. So Athena really didn’t have the experience most had at her age. She’d been too consumed with work to really care either. And then some foolish man gave her a gorgeous, ridiculously expensive ring and tried to walk away. Athena smiled at the memory, deciding she had needed to know why a complete stranger was willing to give something so precious away to a woman on the street.

At the time she hadn’t known his story and still didn’t know it all but then again, he hadn’t heard her story either. He knew she was a professor at the university and she assumed he knew what she taught but that was about it. Aside from her name, she thought she was a mystery to Harrison. But she hoped that was about to change with this date. Checking her reflection one last time, she hoped she wasn’t over doing it. Most of the dresses she owned were professional attire meant only for the museum trips and functions. She didn’t really have any club or date clothes because despite loving the club, she didn’t go out often enough to have more than a couple pieces she could mix and match. This dress and one other were the only ones that weren’t appropriate for the work functions so she was trying her luck with them. The knock on the front door had her wishing she had a few extra minutes to fiddle with accessories or something but she was officially out of time. “Remember guys, attack intruders.” She said to her small collection of pet lizards, even though obviously they wouldn’t give two damns if a stranger walked in and walked right back with all of Athena’s most prized possessions.

The house she lived in was the family home. It was just never used but her parents always said they needed a base of operations. They would return maybe once a year, stick around for a couple weeks and then head back out on the road once again, looking for buried treasure. They didn’t like staying in one place for too long and they always felt like they could do the most research out in the world and not stuck in a library somewhere. So Athena sort of took over the museum like house while she was in New York. And the house really was like a museum. There were more priceless artifacts on display in that house than the Museum of Natural History could boast in any single exhibit. Opening the door, Athena smiled at her date. “Oh, you look handsome. Won’t you come in for a minute. I just need to grab my shoes. Can't go out in my slippers!” Athena said, blurting out the first thing that popped into her head.

Tag || Harrison Marshall Bryant
Words || 736
Clothes || Dazzling Digger
Music || Take Your Time --Sam Hunt
Notes || <3

[Harrison Marshall Bryant]

Creativity was thankfully part of Harrison’s nature. Without it he wouldn’t be able to be productive with the company, or salvage this date night with anything nice. He probably would have flaked out and ended up taking Athena to some bar downtown where he was sure to at least get them some food, though it wouldn’t be anything close to the night he had planned for them. He was used to having the finest things, and working hard to get them. He liked sharing that with people, be them clients who came to the Bryant stores for jewellery to celebrate special occasions, or by treating friends to nice evenings and places. Tonight was supposed to be like that, but the fates had seemingly been against him and Harrison had been forced to think quickly to save the date night.

He wanted tonight to provide them both with the chance to get to know each other better. He knew very little about Athena besides her job and a few of her likes that had been mentioned in the brief conversations they had shared since their first meeting. That had been the downside though; they were brief. Harrison was a busy man, and she too had been busy, and it left them with little time to get to know each other. Tonight was that chance to spend time together without having to check the clock constantly or worry about classes or appointments they had to be at. There were no guarantees that they’d have all that much in common once they sat down and had the hours to themselves, but he wanted to take the chance to find out. Unlike his father Harrison wasn’t afraid to take a chance, to gamble on something to see what the outcome might be. It was the only real way to make progress in life and he didn’t want to be stuck with the same Bryant traditions and values that had been preserved for a century already. Some he might have liked, but others were outdated and needed to be changed. He wanted to be the one to change them.

Stepping inside, Harrison glanced around like most people do whenever they stepped into an unfamiliar place. He took in a few of the decorations and photographs, but his attention was on Athena and not on the place she called home. “You might want to put these in some water first, too.” He smiled, offering her the flowers still clutched in his hands. “And I wouldn’t stop you from going out in your slippers, myself, but it is a little wet out there. You might ruin them.” His smile was a lopsided one, and Harrison closed the door behind him to keep the cold February air out while he waited for Athena to get her shoes. He didn’t want to give anything away about their plans for the evening, especially not when he had to improvise in the end to ensure that they actually had a date to go on! Plus, he enjoyed the element of surprise and expected Athena would, too.

• • •

TAGGED! Athena Violet Williams
WORDS! 519!
OUTFIT! Fine Diner!
LYRICS! Room At The End Of The World - - - Matt Nathanson
NOTES! <3

[Athena Violet Williams]

Athena was surprisingly nervous for this date. She didn’t date. She was all over the world, doing what she loved and then spending most of what was left of her time in a lecture hall, trying and usually succeeding in engaging the room and museums, doing much of the same. She was her parents go between for museums stateside. Athena worked hard to make sure she didn’t neglect her job at the university whilst also making sure she did all she could for her parents and what they did. They barely returned to New York or the united states at all. They sent Athena whenever something needed to be done there. It was difficult but the Dean knew what he was getting into offering the young archaeologist the position she had now. Much like Indiana Jones, she wouldn’t always be around to lecture her students but when she was she damn well made the most of the minutes she had with them.

She had told herself when she decided to stay in one place that she would do those things that really couldn’t be done when she was in the air more than she was on land. She would hit up the clubs, she would make friends that weren’t part of the dig group, she would get out there and date and she would do silly things like learn to really cook, maybe take a dance class or something. She wanted to do what she hadn’t been able to before. She wanted to get out there so when she was ninety she could say she’d done more than dig up treasures from the past. It was quite a thing to be able to say but in Athena’s family, it wasn’t anything special. She wanted a family eventually as well but she was only twenty six and figured she would have plenty of time to figure that part of her life out later.

Of all the things she could have worried about shocking people, she hadn’t thought her house could be one of them. Of course, she lived alone in a Manhattan brownstone that hadn’t been one of those that had been turned into apartments, it was filled from top to bottom with artifacts they’d found on all sorts of digs. In the living room, there was a small collection of things Athena had found while she’d still been in nappies. Mostly they were clay pots and the like but there in among those usually useless things was a small gold coin. She had been sitting next to her mother in Greece at the site, playing with the equipment and just digging with her fingers when she’d pulled that from the dirt. Or so she’d been told. They’d found dozens like it so to keep one for their private collection had been allowed.

“Oh, peonies! They’re lovely. Thank you, Harrison.” She said, accepting the blooms. “Come on.” She said, even as she stopped to grab the ankle boots she wanted to wear with her dress. She continued down the hall to the kitchen, laughing at Harrison’s comment. “That’s very sweet of you, maybe next time.” She said, playfully. “But this is my favourite pair and I would hate to have to toss them out and dig out another.” She added, going straight to the cupboard off to the side for a vase. She made quick work of arranging the flowers after she’d set her shoes on the floor next to her before finally switching her slippers out for them. She kissed Harrison’s cheek. “Thank you, really. They’re beautiful. So what have you planned for us tonight?” She asked, picking up the vase and bringing it with her back through the house to set at the front door. She wanted to be able to see them when she walked through the door later.

Tag || Harrison Marshall Bryant
Words || 695
Clothes || Dazzling Digger
Music || Take Your Time --Sam Hunt
Notes || <3

[Harrison Marshall Bryant]

Harrison was used to impressing women. At least those who belonged to other men. When he designed and made expensive jewellery for a living, most often to take a relationship to a more permanent level, it kind of was a given that he would impress them…just with shiny rings and gemstones. Harrison himself rarely ever dated and when he did it was usually short lived. He was handsome, and he had charm and money, but what he lacked was time. He didn’t have the time to commit to a relationship in recent years. Women wanted to be wined and dined and Harrison barely knew when he was coming and going from one week to the next. He was a busy man and he wasn’t likely to slow down once he finally surrendered and gave up hiding behind college degrees. Classes would simply be replaced with meetings and more responsibilities at the jewellers. The only day he had off was a Sunday and forgive him if he wanted to be totally selfish then and do what he wanted to do.

How he had met Athena had been so outrageous though that he had found himself wanting to make time for her. Of course it wasn’t easy and it had taken long enough just to get to this, but she didn’t seem to complain that he was slow to ask her out. Harrison wondered if maybe their first encountered had suggested just how hectic his life could be, or if she honestly hadn’t expected to see him again. It was another thing he sort of thought was selfish of him, but he had wanted to crash back into her life and squeeze himself in there. She was something different and he wanted different. He respected the traditions of his family, and how they liked to keep things the way they had always worked, but he was supposed to be the future and he wanted something a little new. He hadn’t dated in a long time, but even so he was tired of socialites and pretty aristocrats who were groomed to charm just like he had been. Harrison had spent enough time with them and would continue to spend the rest of his life around them. Was it so terrible of him to want a change? A breath of fresh air?

“You’re very welcome.” He smiled, stepping further inside and watching Athena rush about, putting the flowers in a vase and swapping slippers for shoes. “I can’t say I’ve had that problem since I was a boy. Dorm room dares at Eton one winter. Snow ruined just about everyone’s slippers and if we’d have been caught we’d have probably been in the most vicious detention for a month.” Harrison mock shuddered at the thought. He waited for Athena to be ready to go before he spoke again, and when he did Harrison started with an apology. “For tonight, I must apologise. I’ve had the most atrocious week, of which I shall spare you the boring details, but because of it all the restaurants I could think of taking you to were booked completely. So, I am taking you back to my apartment where you can watch me cook my best meal for us, and drink as much vintage wine as you can handle.” He explained, leading her to the passenger door of his car, opening it for her. “Also, I hope you like dogs.” He said cryptically, closing the door after her and jogging around to the driver’s side, strapping himself in and starting the engine for the journey back to his place.

• • •

TAGGED! Athena Violet Williams
WORDS! 608!
OUTFIT! Fine Diner!
LYRICS! Room At The End Of The World - - - Matt Nathanson
NOTES! <3

[Athena Violet Williams]

Much like many people in Athena's line of work, dating was put on the back burner. Her parents had been one of the luckier pairs in their line of work. They were constantly on the go, lecturing at school, museums or they were elbow deep in a dig. The only people around were those of the team and the handful of locals they hired to help out. It was a small crowd and drama didn't work in a family like that. And Athena grew up in those families. The guys she knew were so much older than she was; at least until she'd turned eighteen and then it was just the summer students and none of them lasted all that long and the rest of the group were more like brothers and uncles to the raven haired archaeologist. Being in Greece had been her first real chance and romance and it had broken her heart. Thankfully she'd been a resilient girl and had mended that particular injury well enough. But it all meant that dates were very few and far between.

Even after she'd moved to the city, her life revolved around her life's work. Her life was busy, her schedule hectic. If she didn't write everything down, she wouldn't know what she was doing from one day to the next. It was a chaotic mess to be sure but Athena wouldn't have had it any other way. How she met Harrison was strange and peculiar, even for New York but that ben part of the intrigue. And it had seemed like the first relaxed breath he'd taken in a month when they'd taken a couple minutes for a cup of coffee. It was obvious to Athena that he was a busy man and it worked well since she was a busy woman. Even getting their schedules to sync for this date night had been a bit of work but they managed to figure it out. There was something different about Harrison. He was nothing like the boys she'd grown up surrounded by. He has a different air about him and considering he wasn't getting the shakes from excitement to be digging in the dirt, different was good.

Athena liked to keep a tidy home, though it was more because she hated to see all those artifacts covered in dust after spending so many centuries caked in the stuff. They were a point of pride though very few actually saw them. In fact, in the past two or more months, Harrison had been her only guest. She usually went out and met her friends wherever they'd planned. And since she didn't cook at all, having dinner parties seemed a tad redundant. That was another refreshing thing about Harrison; he didn't stop and gawk at the things that decorated her home. "It must have been interesting. I never went to school." She admitted while doing all that she'd been in the middle of. With her alarm set and her door locked, she stepped down the stairs and chuckled when Harrison spoke again. "So I guess I should have brought my slippers?" She teased, slipping into the passenger seat. "And I love them, I just can't have one." She added, before the door shut and her date rushed around to get behind the wheel.

Tag || Harrison Marshall Bryant
Words || 552
Clothes || Dazzling Digger
Music || Take Your Time --Sam Hunt
Notes || <3

[Harrison Marshall Bryant]

Harrison didn’t know the story of his parent’s romance. His family wasn’t the type to sit around talking about sentimentality and feelings. They focused on achievements and the future. For that reason, he knew they would be happy if he announced his own engagement to some pretty lady. It meant an eventual heir, and the continuation of the Harrison business down through the first born children. That probably meant more to his father than seeing his son happy and in love. Harrison was not about to open that can of worms and start that conversation though. There was already enough tension between himself and the man he sounded and looked like without having to add more problems to the list. His mother frequently asked if he had met anyone, but he suspected more and more of her social events were beginning to include chatter of grandchildren and wedding plans for the children and she was feeling a little bit left out when her children were not ready to take those steps themselves. Harrison’s sister was a second year at Oxford for goodness’ sake and though she had suitors in young men she was far too invested in her studies to even look at them right now. Harrison, on the other hand, had buried himself in school and the business to lose himself in any kind of romance.

Not that Harrison felt pressured to settle down. He wasn’t that kind of guy. He was happy with school, with work, and with trying to balance the two of them together. Athena just happened to cross his path and catch his attention like others hadn’t. He liked that she could understand he lived a busy life and didn’t hold that against him. Too many people grew tired far too quickly of Harrison because he couldn’t drop everything for a night out, or grab lunch on a whim. He still felt bad when he had to say he wasn’t free to have lunch with Athena on a certain day or see her for a week or so, but he sent flowers to her office to make up for it.

He ran his fingers through his hair. His school days were very different to most and not just because he’d gone to boarding school. It was different because he’d gone to what was probably the most prestigious boarding school in the whole of the UK. Royalty was only a few years above him, and the fees were shockingly high. It was tradition for his family, however, and all the sons were expected to attend Eton. “That’s one word for it. It was also probably fifty years behind its time for a lot of things.” Tradition was everything at Eton, but that was something families paid for. Harrison had enjoyed the friends and some of his classes though, so he couldn’t pretend like he hated it. He quirked his eyebrows at Athena and made a guess from what he already knew about her. “On dig sites?” He asked curiously. Harrison laughed, starting up the engine and pulling out into the street. “You can wear whatever you’d like.” He said honestly, checking the traffic before getting into the right lane. “On your feet, I mean.” He added easily enough. Grinning, he glanced across at Athena quickly to gauge her reaction when he broke the next bit of news to her. “Good, because I have five.”

• • •

TAGGED! Athena Violet Williams
WORDS! 578!
OUTFIT! Fine Diner!
LYRICS! Room At The End Of The World - - - Matt Nathanson
NOTES! <3

[Athena Violet Williams]

Athena loved finding out why the people of those ancient times chose those places to settle in and call home, what was it about those places that told them this was it, this was where they needed to build their homes, their communities; this was the place they would thrive. She also loved finding what was used all those years ago that was still in use then and there. The obvious things of course, but the little things, the things that were special in that area or those people specifically. Her home was filled with those things on display because they were the ones that meant the most to the Greek beauty. It all meant that they were all connected in some way or another and that's what Athena liked to use in her lectures and during her discussions in the classroom. That was how she managed to get her students to connect to the literature she was throwing at them. She wanted them to know that these things weren't just dirty old dust traps they found in the ground but things that people used to make their day-to-day easier, much like the entire class used mobile phones, laptops and tablets all synced together to get through their days.

It was surprisingly easy to get them to make the comparisons of the little, useful things from way back when and right then and there. She wasn't teaching dull gardening tools. Athena had been expected to know all these things, use the tools of today with the tools of yesteryear, trying to figure out what they were actually used for when no one knew immediately. It was rare they came across things like that now but when she'd been younger, some things were still new and curious to her. Athena herself had found a little tool that had, as it turned out, had been an easy way to make a favoured meal. A tool the years had reworked, updated and turned into something even better than it had been at the beginning making the job even easier to get through. Each dig site was the same in that sense but entirely different in every other aspect.

Much like learning about how people lived hundreds of years before, Athena enjoyed figuring people out in the here and now as well; though not as much as that was an entirely different PhD programme and she was not interested in that! Harrison though was someone she could see really trying to get to know more. He was intriguing and made Athena curious; which was always a good thing. She nodded her head with a grin. "Yeah. Not a lot of proper schooling going on when you're trying to learn about people and civilisations from hundreds of years ago. There are definite upsides to it though. I learned to speak and write Ancient Greek before I'd ever learned long division." She'd also understood Mayan, the current Greek language, which wasn't far off from the ancient one, Latin and English. She might have been home-schooled a little out of regular order but she'd learned so much more than the basic American curriculum required. She had her high school and college credits for languages aced and out of the way before she'd been ten. Her history and science grades were impressive and her understanding of the English language was incredible. And she'd managed to do all that whilst still rolling around in the sand and dirt, discovering how people lived in the days of Pharaohs and Emperors. "Alarms on, too late." She said with a laugh. "Next time." She added with a grin. Athena felt like the question about animals was a loaded one and laughed out loud when he came out with his reason behind it. "Five? Oh, I wish." She said, genuinely excited to meet his pets.

Tag || Harrison Marshall Bryant
Words || 642
Music || Take Your Time --Sam Hunt
Notes || <3

[Harrison Marshall Bryant]

Harrison liked the idea that his jewellery could be passed down the generations. It was made to last, and he envisioned couples growing old, sharing their romantic story with children and grandchildren before passing the custom design onto them when the time was right. He liked thinking that the pieces he made could be sent out into the world to gather history. It could be preserved in the ring, just like the gem cut to make the piece something special. They were timeless designs, tweaked only for those special customs when a client knew exactly what he wanted and why he wanted it. Harrison was more than happy to mix the traditional with the modern cuts, but his father was less invested in moving the company forward. He wanted their work to be in the design of the old classics. He didn’t want to see the fancy bling that celebrities boasted nowadays. Harrison did agree sometimes that it looked tacky, and more like costume jewellery than something inherently priceless. He never made anything like that though. He always kept things delicate and ornate, even if the buyer had requested a large stone set in the centre. There were ways of making that work without it becoming gaudy and cheap.

They weren’t on the same level as Tiffany’s or Swarovski. Bryant Jewellers only made one of a kind pieces, adapting every mould and design for the customer. They had never wanted to mass produce their jewellery. They didn’t want there to be a chance for two people to find themselves wearing the same piece. It had been decided that that could cheapen their worth, even take away from the sentimental value of the jewellery. Harrison was still of the mind that keeping pieces to ‘a one off’ design made their business lucrative. They could do affordable designs or rings that would cost someone another’s life savings twice over. Harrison never wanted to scare someone off by making them think they could never afford a Bryant piece. He kind of liked the simplistic designs that they sold for much less than some of their more famous pieces. Plus, they were still a unique cut, something made for the bride that would mean something special to her. Harrison might have come from wealth, but he knew money wasn’t necessary for the ‘happy ever after’ promise.

Harrison enjoyed listening to Athena speak. He liked hearing stories about a life that was so different from his own. Sometimes it was hard to forge relationships when he had such a prestigious history. The best schooling, a mansion for a home, and a job that was full of riches (he played with diamonds for a living!). It was refreshing to get a break from all of that and be around someone who knew nothing about that way of life. “I’m fluent in Latin. Alas, it’s mostly law that keeps trying to revive that dead language.” He was keen to further his education, but law was not a subject that held his attention. Even when they had contract meetings with lawyers, Harrison struggled to keep his focus. Checking his mirrors, he grinned, happy that his “roommates” hadn’t put Athena off their dinner date. “Walking them is better than gym cardio.” He joked. Five dogs were hard to handle, but thankfully Harrison had trained his well enough that they mostly behaved. Besides, he liked to take them to a park where they were allowed off the leashes to run and play together. He didn’t particularly enjoy having to tug on leads and collars when they were only excited to be outside and seeing everything.

• • •

TAGGED! Athena Violet Williams
WORDS! 609!
LYRICS! Room At The End Of The World - - - Matt Nathanson
NOTES! <3