神々の悪戯
Her university courses aren't as challenging as she thought they'd be, and she thinks it's showing to everyone around her. It's not just the students, who notice the near none-stop praise of the professors, but some of the higher ups who are starting to sniff around her talent. Not the worst thing in the world, but after the first time one of her pieces gets destroyed due to another student's jealousy, she'd like to think them a bit smarter and a lot more discrete….
And the few friends she thought she'd made in first year? Yeah, they ridden on her coattails to try and make themselves more known, only to fail when their own lack of talent had begun to show.
So yeah, she's basically friendless in a foreign university, (why hadn't she picked her local one again? Oh yeah, the lack of art department options!), and it's pouring down with rain, and she's running the risk of getting her new piece of work drenched.
Half-running back to her rented house, (she'd started second year with three others in the four bedroomed house; now she has two nearly full rooms of stored artwork and supplies with a third just waiting to be filled), she sacrifices her left side to tilt her body towards the wall, protecting the art as a car rumbles by and through a large puddle where a drain has become mostly blocked. Figuring she's mostly drenched anyway, she runs the tip of her shoe near where she thinks the drain is supposed to be, and dislodges…something, and the drain swiftly empties. She doesn't see the puddle become void, since she's already heading back to her house again.
'Darcy Keres Cosmatos'
It echoes in the sudden stillness and silence; the rain seems to freeze in mid-air for a second or two, a car takes it time to speed by at thirty miles an hour, and she swears she can see that dropping glass through a nearby window in bullet-time.
Great. Now she's hearing things. Stupid rainy weather. Maybe she's coming down with somethi-
'Darcy Keres Cosmatos'
Yup, coming down with a cold, maybe a fever after getting caught out in this weather. She should pop the kettle on for a brew, as soon as she gets this painting on an easel and her coat on the hook near a radiator. Did she remember to get milk yesterday?
She gets as far as putting the painting on the easel, making sure it had survived the journey unscathed, before she hears-
'Darcy Keres Cosmatos'
And then she's out like a light; completely dead to the world.
神々の悪戯
She wakes up (which is a bit weird, since she didn't remember falling asleep), in heaven. It could be a heaven, or the Heaven, but wherever it is, it couldn't be some place that physically exists. It's got the colour intensity of that really famous James Cameron film, (no, not the one with the sinking ship), and it just doesn't seem real enough to touch, like it's something she could only dream up.
The unsoftness of the pillar she hits her hand against whilst trying to get up renders her previous thought inconsequential. It's definitely real, the pain proves it. Then again, maybe she's just imagining the pain, and this really all is just a dream.
Maybe her brain is trying to think up a new scenario for her to paint?
Gods, where does someone get paint that can paint with such vivacity? Such jewel-like tones it's as though someone has crafted gems into flowers and weaved gold and silver into the very veins of the stonework. Maybe her brain is turning her into a masochist if it wants her to paint this scene, since it's an impossible venture to succeed in.
A quick look on her phone registers no phone signal, and the date is…..still the same. Time is….twenty minutes after the bell went on campus, just as she was leaving, without any knowledge that it was going to start raining five minutes later. Not long enough to be kidnapped then (because there was no way a place like this existed anywhere near the university without it being spread around to every art student); but, why would someone kidnap her?
She begins walking, her heels echoing off the stone walls, of which there are many. There are arches galore, covered in banners, as well as…ivy? Whatever. It's also very bright. She peers through as many doors as she can, discovering that the building she's currently in must be some sort of academy…maybe? She's guessing that because of all the desks. It would kind of make sense. Since it looked so expensive, chances were it was probably a boarding school.
She walks down one corridor, around the corner, looks up, and freezes. Yup, this is either a dream or insanity. Why, you ask? Well, there's an island floating in the sky. Just like in that film with the ten-foot-tall blue people. It looks like it could be a very pretty island, but still. Floating. Fricking. Island.
"Any chance you know why we're here then?" The voice comes from behind her, maybe to her right. It's a very smooth, masculine voice. Very nice, as well.
"Any chance you know how that island's floating in mid-air?" She turns, looking over the man. Mmm. If she dated, he would be her ideal. That vibrant red hair, almost a bloody shade, spikes shooting upwards and outwards, making it look a little like a lion's mane. His eyes are….emeralds, yes, the exact shade of emerald she's always trying for when painting gems, but can never quite get exactly right. The jacket, that is the exact same shade of white as his trousers, has been tied around his waist, leaving his long-sleeved black shirt and brown undershirt on display, a silver winged…something (it's the wrong angle for her to tell exactly) on a brown cord settling an inch or two beneath his collarbone. And that is some beautiful muscle showing from where he's pulled his sleeves up to his elbows.
"Godly powers, I'm assuming." He does his own once over of the female he can now see more clearly. Her hair isn't black like he first thought; it's been given a faint blue shine, but the black itself may even be a dye, considering the dark (but not black) shade of her eyebrows. Her eyes are an almost deep ocean blue, or maybe the colour of the blue part of the sky at dusk. Nice. For some reason, she looks a bit….wet. It's odd considering the sky is near enough clear at the moment. He watches a droplet of water slide down a near naked leg, until it gathers in the black sock showing above her red ankle boot. Being who he is, it's certainly not unusual to feel sexual attraction to complete strangers, but this mental pull in his head to approach, to get closer…..that's something new.
"'Godly?'" Well that would explain a few things…not. Probably an unknown brain tumour that's pressing against some part of her brain and making her hallucinate. It's the only way she could possibly create such perfection; it exists only in her mind. Oh well, she might as well play along. She's probably created this whole world as a means to cope whilst she's in a coma in a hospital…or something like that. It's more than likely she'll know soon enough; there're a few things that coma patients who've woken up said they couldn't do in their 'world'. Of course, it still could be a dream, normal or feverish. Maybe she's dead and this is her heaven. Maybe there really are godly powers, and she's talking to someone who knows about them.
"Well, that tells me something. But I thought someone who looks like you would have to be a goddess?" Obvious not one from his own pantheon, he knows most of the females by sight, and the rest by description. There was muscle tone, but not an excessive enough amount to count as a warrior. She had pale skin, so he'd thought her maybe from the Celtic side of the pantheons. If she'd been blonde, he'd have thought her from the Norse, maybe a new Valkyrie not long into her training.
"Someone like me? A goddess?" She laughs loudly, her head thrown back in joy, before she brings it back down and looks him over. "But someone like you? If you're a god, you're one of the more sensual ones. Someone with a bit of fire in his veins…..if you even have those." She steps closer, running a hand through his hair, to his obvious shock. Hey, if this is her dream/fever/coma/whatever, she'll do whatever she wants. "I'd guess one of the Erotes, maybe Eros or Himeros, but I suppose I've always thought they were blond. If you were darker skinned, I'd assume Bes. With your wild hair, I'm half tempted to call you Pan." The hand that had settled on his shoulder begins to slide its way down his chest, fingertips catching on the collar of his shirts for a moment. "I'm tempted to call you Freyr, but looking at you doesn't immediately make me think 'Norse god'."
"Would it help if I narrowed it down to Greece?" He slides a hand over a hip, curving it round to the base of her spine, underneath her white coat. Well, white with coloured spots near enough everywhere. Pulling her closer, her nose bumps into his chest, and she reflexively inhales.
"You smell like….Liber….no wait, you said Greek, and Liber is Roman, so…..Dionysus?" She pulls her head back, only to look into wide emerald eyes.
"'I smell like Dionysus?' Well," his face relaxes, and a small grin starts to appear, "I would certainly hope so."
Okay, so, there's absolutely no need to get tongue-tied, even when pressed against a complete hottie, because, chances are, he's more than likely a man/god you've dreamt up in whatever state you're currently in. Ergo, he's….you? Wait, would this be narcissism then?
"Freedom at the bottom of a bottle."
"Ah, you know me so well." He cocks his head, and lets loose a smile that would cause her panties to drop if she wasn't wearing shorts. "So do I get the pleasure of knowing your name then?"
Her brain was going this route then? Building up a (near-enough) whole new world for her to interact with? Who is she to deny what she wants?
"Darcy. Darcy Cosmatos." And in a turnabout for the books, she lifts his free hand to her lips, and kisses his knuckles, like the gentlemen of old would do for the ladies. Hey, it's her fantasy world, so she can do whatever the hell she likes!
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Both she and Dionysus turn their heads to look at the newcomer. Tallish, maybe a bit too thin, although that might be the purple of his coat messing with her mind, as though she isn't having enough problems there. Then again, she's been dealing with colours and dimensions for years now, so her line of thought is probably right. The sleeves of his jacket extend past his fingertips, but as he taps them against his lip, in (possibly) false curiosity, she notices silver flashes; rings, maybe? He does have a rather mischiev-
"Bricriu?" The red-head looks a bit poleaxed at her sudden name burst. Obviously not then. There was a slight slenderness to the face, and the way the eyes were set…. "Inari?" She's probably said that wrong, (damn those languages saying syllables differently), but he must understand enough, because he blurts out-
"Loki!" He looks like he's about to begin pouting, and it looks so cute!
"That was my next guess." She knows 'Loki' is what most people think of when they think 'trickster god' these days, especially with all those movies that have been released recently, and she supposes her mind, consciously at least, associates Loki with being someone who looks like Tom Hiddleston. This Loki looks nothing like the man…..maybe her brain is telling her not to judge a book by its cover?
"Loki." Dionysus' voice has lost a good portion of its smoothness as he pulls away from her slightly, and, in a move she's never before been subjected to, slides himself somewhat casually in front of her, as though to guard her from Loki's attentions. It's probably a bit too late, judging from the look in the trickster's eyes.
"Dionysus." The taunting tone his voice had originally possessed is nearly completely gone now. "Did you bring-"
"Dee-Dee!" The tense situation is diffused somewhat by the appearance of a blond-haired teenage male, who looks to be dressed properly in whatever uniform goes for this place, unlike how Dionysus had tied his jacket around his waist and Loki has his long purple cardigan. But….
"Dee-Dee?" She faintly snorts under her breath, but it's clearly heard by the man in question, who faintly cringes and tries to make certain she can't see the blush forming on his face; what a pity the tops of his ears have turned red.
"Apollo, you idiot…." It's faintly mumbled under his breath, but audible to herself. Across the way, Loki is becoming tense as he sees what he thinks of as the 'Greek Invasion'. The newcomer is certainly bright enough to be Apollo, she supposes. All light and smiles and sparkly clouds around his fa-
Yeah, this definitely isn't reality.
神々の悪戯
Author's Note: Man, in comparison to my normal updates, I have been on fire this month! Of course, most of them have been of anime that aren't as well-known as others, but, sometimes that's how the dice roll. You can't control where you get your inspiration from!
This should be the first chapter in at least fifteen chapters, hopefully with updates happening no more than a month apart!
As always, ConCrit and Flames are requested, to show me where things need to change or be improved upon.