Persephone Anthos woke to the sound of a buzzing alarm and her mother shuffling outside her room, looking for her keys on a Saturday morning. As she reluctantly got out of bed, she slammed her hand onto the nearly broken clock. As she finished getting dressed, she thought. I don't even know why I still use one of those, Jesus Christ. Everyone just uses their phones. Then again, I would probably slam my phone into the wall. Hah, what am I saying? I would slam my phone into the wall, period-

"Seph, I am leaving! Come down and say goodbye to your mother!"

"Coming!" Persephone sais as she slipped on her flats, half hopping out of the room until they were fully on and then quickly padded down the steps, holding onto the railing the entire way down. "Morning Mom-"

"Go change. I am not having you leave the house like that," Demeter said, taking a sip of coffee and barely looking up from her phone, keys in hand and pantsuit pressed. As she turned her head to look at Persephone, she stopped leaning and set her now nearly empty mug down. "Now."

"Fine." and with a dramatic roll of her eyes, without her mother seeing it of course, Seph walked dramatically upstairs, dragging her feet back into her room. She really didn't see the problem with her outfit. A body hugging dress that she bought on her own time with her own money that fully covered everything shouldn't be shot down by her mother. That woman won't let me wear a simple thing that literally everyone is wearing! I mean really, I'm not a child. At 19 years old, Seph knew that there were limitations put on her that were not even thought about in other households, such as her very conservative wardrobe considered too loose by her mother. After she changed into a oversized pastel blue sweater with pristine blue mom jeans and some sneakers, she ran back down the steps and out of the door with her bag before her mother could judge this outfit too. "Bye!"

Ten minutes after bolting out of the house, she finally got to the cafe next to the above ground train station. The small details of an east coast town. Opening the door to the empty exposed brick cafe, the sound of milk being steamed and the beginning of Africa by Toto lessening as she walked up to the counter to see Dionysus' back to her, standing in front of the copper machines, doctoring up his latte with a small bottle Baileys.

"Exactly how drunk are you?" Persephone taunted, leaning against the counter.

Not bothering to look behind him, he dryly replied, "On a scale of what to what?"

"Amish child to Tyrion Lannister."

"I think I'm either 'gay guy who just showed up at his first rave' or 'single twenty five year old convinced she's Carrie Bradshaw,' drunk. After this," Dionysus waved the doctored drink at her as he turned around and walked towards the counter, "I'm going to be at 'ruining brunch for everyone including myself' drunk."

"Is that why you're playing Toto?"

"Nah, Apollo came in here earlier and was insulted by my music taste. Apparently, Kesha is trash except for her new album and I needed some 'real music' in the shop." Dionysus snorted into his cup.

"And Toto is somehow better?" Seph said, giggling with him.

"If you wanna hear an absolute pretentious garbage fire, just listen to anything Apollo listens too. Even worse, I still have a poem he did at open mic night!" He laughed, turning around and walked towards the bulletin board, setting down his half empty cup on the counter. After looking for a good thirty seconds, "Ah HA! Here it is!"

"I don't think I'm mentally or emotionally ready at ten a.m. to hear anything Apollo has said." Persephone cackled, beyond amused by her half-brother's antics.

"Ready?" He said, leaning over the counter after walking back. He positioned himself as if preparing to present the most important speech ever created, one what would make MLK a nobody in the history books. As Dionysus started, Seph couldn't keep her shouting laughter to herself.

"Us.

I am no God, I am

Me.

You are no God, you are

You.

If I am me and you are you

Then who

Is nobody?- Good question Apollo, lets hope we can figure this out without your large intellect! Okay continuing;

What do we say to the monster

We talk to each night?

I am nobode

But I am me and you are you!

So nobode- He misspelled nobody twice,what the fuck? Okay continuing;

Is who?

I- SEPH, I WAS ON A ROLL!"

Persephone couldn't keep the tears hidden any longer, falling to the floor in laughter. Between Apollo's pompous poetry that made no sense to anyone except for him and his groupies, and her other half-brothers blatant drunk mockery of the work, she couldn't stop the howling laughter coming. Minutes later, the two finally settled down, sporadically laughing every now and then.

After a minute of quiet between them, died out and a new song popped up after.

Seph looked up at the speakers overhead, "Is that snow patrol?"

"Don't even fucking start-"

After the laughter finally died down and the conversation dulled, Persephone checked her watch and decided that after an hour and a half, it was time to explore somewhere else. They both said their goodbyes and Seph cleared out of the slowly filling cafe.

Exploring the town that she had been in for a little less than a year was still a thrill. The river was happy and bubbling, the small stores where the delicacy foods cost twice the price as the market were bustling, and the farmers market on the largest street in town was bustling with locals selling their locally made hand crafted organic nonsense was crowded. Persephone ducked in to the nearest clothing shop, looking around to see if the overpriced flowy shirts has gone down by any amount. They hadn't. Walking out of the shop before Arachne, the stores owner, came over and wrapped her in her webb of luring shoppers to their credit score doom, she ran out and continued walking around, eventually landing herself into the adoption center. Welp, might as well go in. She always cried leaving this store and she was sure that today was no exception, but man were the dogs cute. As she walked in, Pan, a curly haired pubescent teen boy with acne and what looked like the beginnings of unshaven facial hair walked up to her with a smile and brushed her arm with his hand. "Hello there, Persephone." God is he creepy.

"Hey, Paul!" That should get him to back off.

"It's Pan."

"Cool, whatever. You still have those rottweiler triplets?" She said, smiling.

"Yes, but not for long. Right this way, my lady." ew. Wait. Not for long? Did they finally get adopted? Aw thats so cute. Wait, who is going to be taking care of them? I hope they have a good home.

"I'm sure they'll have a great home," Pan replied.

"Did I say that last thing out loud?"

"Yes, milady." Oh! I should interview the parents of my puppies to make sure they'll get a good home. What did he just call me?

"Haha, yeah. Cool, Pete."

"It's Pa-"

"You going to open the door?"

'OH! Yes, I am. One sec."

As Pan opened the door, a man in an expensive suit with his back to the entrance was holding a sleeping rottweiler triplet while the other two were barking at Seph, tails wagging at their supposed mother. "Hi Babies!" The puppies both jumped as high as they could while the third started to wake up and wag his tail, yipping now that he saw the human that he thought was his mommy. Leaping out of the still mystery man, the three triplets joined together to spin on their hind legs, competing for the attention of Persephone. Looking down at her small puppy children, she smiled and leaned down to scoop them all up and proceeded to sit down, not realizing that the man who had held one of her puppies stood up and was looking down at her, blushing. It took her a full minute to finally look up and when she did… wow. "Uh… Hi."

"Hello." he said awkwardly, a nervous air floating around him.

"I'm Persephone."

"Hi."

"Er… hi. Again." God he's cute. "I'm Persephone," I just said that you dumb idiot, say something else. Ask him something. Be smart. "What is your name?" Nailed it.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"No, what did you ask?"

"About what?" Really laying on the charm, aren't you Seph?

"You uh… you said something and I was distracted and so I asked what and then you said huh and the now we're here," the man said.

'Oh… Oh! Yes, I am Persephone," You sure your name is Persephone? Could've fooled me!"I forgot what I said. Wait, no I remember! What is your name?"

The mystery man looked at her for a solid ten seconds in silence, his suit pants flattened under his large hands running up and down his thighs. It felt like an eternity before either of them moved, staring at each others eyes.

The man opened his mouth without breaking eye contact and mumbled.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I said my name is Hades, and those are my dogs."

Okay then.