answers to reviewers questions or statements:
darthwolf: He can turn into a spider, control them, turn into a swarm of them, generally powers he'd have when he had the Other with him along with a few added ones given his status as a God.
Sonic2610: It happened, it was a memory, happier times.
Jason Chandler: Petros is just calling her that as an insult, he doesn't care if it's true or not, he just hates her and her late master.
pandawok301: Petros was the kind of God who stayed away from humans as much as he could. He didn't particularly like them and wanted nothing to do with them.
Spider-Menace76: No.
Soda-fiedPsycho: I know that's probably difficult for a supposed 'Flamer' to comprehend, but I figured after three chapters you'd be hung up on something else instead of something that was already explained in the very first chapter.
Guest: Yeah.
Fire: Yeah, why?
Guest: A Troll or Ogre Petros can handle within reason, it's just he's never actually taken part in any actual fighting. As he is now, Magni or Modi would ragdoll him despite his near similar level of power. Thor might be beyond Petros's level by the time he encounters Kratos again. Even Mimir has stated he wasn't sure if Kratos would be able to win if he and Thor ever clashed, and that's saying something considering what Kratos has accomplished. Freya wasn't so much as impressed as she was curious as to why he was so self conscious of himself. The Norse Gods of Love, which Freya is, seem to care less for naked appeal like Aphrodite would given they prefer combat over just about anything else. No your about right, Petros and Hephaestus's relationship was cordial enough but that was about it. The two to keep out of one another's way, only ever interacting when Petros needed him to fix something he couldn't or learning how to fix things himself so he doesn't have to bother the crippled deity. It was kind of a depressing relationship between the two.
superpierce: Kratos didn't kill every God and Goddess, but a fair number of them.
pyrojack25: Just look her up via God of War on YouTube, explains plenty about her. But basically she's like a combination of Hera, Aphrodite, Hecate and Athena in that she's the Nordic Goddess of love, lust, battle and magic and was once the lover of her brother Freyr and ruled the Vanir until the war between them and the Aesir ended and she married Odin before said marriage fell apart. Not exactly how it went down in the actual myths, but in GOW's lore it is.
Guest: We'll see what Kratos's life was like before she became the God of War once we get closer to the events of the fourth game.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or God of War characters seen, mentioned or used.
The weeks following Petros's sudden arrival into this strange land were some of the most stress inducing weeks of his life.
After he established a rather comfortable home in the branches of the turtle tree's tree, much to the visible displeasure of the Goddess, The God of Spiders went about looking for a way to properly communicate with the Witch outside of gestures, drawings and hope that she had an idea of what he was implying.
Safe to say, it was going... well it was going. Neither had gotten too upset at trying to pronounce one another's names and fly into a fit of rage and start taking their anger out on things. Least the Goddess didn't as far as he could tell while Petros would simply slink away and brood for a few hours before returning to try again.
"You know, you never really consider how long it takes someone to learn a whole new language from another when both parties have no idea what the other is saying and thus can't use any specific words to compare them to" Petros said as he sat before the Goddess, something that started with an 'F' he believed until he before giving up.
They were outside for this little session of trying to say one another's names, next to the gentle flowing waters of the river, using a pair of wooden chairs that the Goddess had. The sky was clear apart from a few clouds that helped create breathtaking views of the nearby mountains and the warm air almost allowed Petros to believe he was simply in northern Greece rather than who knows how far north of it. The leathers and furs that Freya had also helped him make to wear instead of his damaged armor or thin tunics were a godsend, pun intended.
The boar that the Goddess had all but made clear was off limits for Petros to eat was busy trotting through the water a few meters away, oblivious to the literal cultural milestone that Petros and it's mistress were attempting to achieve through these sessions of theirs.
'I hope a crocodile eats him' Petros thought as he spared a glance at the odd looking Boar as Freya tried to pronounce his name for the tenth time in the past hour 'If they even have them up here. Maybe a lion, or a bear. I'll even take a wolf or a snake shooting an arrow at him at this point-'
Petros's line of thinking was cut off by the Goddess tapping his knee, causing him to look at her and see she was looking at him with a somewhat annoyed expression. It seemed she noticed his gaze wasn't on her and felt insulted. Aphrodite was similar in that if she wasn't the center of attention in any room, she tended to throw fits until she got some sort of attention. It was times like that when Petros was glad his love life was managed by the likes of Eros, at least he was far more mature and didn't create love between people only for it to fail epically or only be rooted in lust.
It was than that Petros felt the Witch Goddess's foot lightly kick his shin, causing him to blink and see she was still looking at him with an annoyed look on her face.
"Your definitely a Goddess of Love" Petros remarked dryly as he moved his leg away slightly to make it harder for the woman to kick him again "Can't stand having someone not looking at you when your in their presence"
"ᚹᚺᚨᛏ?" she said with visible confusion before Petros sighed and leaned forward a little and repeated his name, very slowly.
"Petros... Petros..." he said as he rested his elbows on his knees and twiddled with his thumbs "Come on, PETROS. Pet-ros"
"P-P-Pet-... P-Petr-P-Petrosss..." Freya said with a wince, trying to wrap her mind and tongue around the odd pronunciation.
"YES!" Petros shouted with his hands in the air, causing the Goddess to look at him with confusion which in turn caused him to give the immortal an embarrassed grin "Sorry, just got a little excited there"
Freya quirked her head to the side as she stared at the God with an unreadable expression before humming and giving a slight nod before she pointed towards herself "ᚠᚱᛖᚤᚨ.ᛗᚤ ᚾᚨᛗᛖ ᛁᛋ ᚠᚱᛖᚤᚨ, Petrossss..."
"Fr-Fre-... Frrra- no that's not it" Petros shook his head as he tried to remember how the Goddess sounded her name "Freee-... Frey- Freya? Freya!"
"Freya" the Goddess said with a pleased smile on her face as she pointed to herself "Freya..."
She than pointed towards Petros and grinned.
"Petros..."
"Amazing" Petros said as he clapped his hands together in joy before the moment was ruined by Freya's boar running over and squealing in delight at Freya.
The Goddess smiled lovingly at the pig and began to rub his head and chin while muttering quite words to it. Petros stared at the beast with an annoyed expression before he saw Freya was gesturing to the boar.
"ᚺᛁᛚᛞᛁᛋᚡíᚾᛁ" she said with a nod towards the board "ᚺᛁᛚᛞᛁᛋᚡíᚾᛁ"
"His name?" Petros said with confusion before he glanced at the boar and saw the pig was looking at him with a smug look on his tusked face "I'm about to turn you into a stew if you keep looking at me like that you little mother fu-"
"ᚺᛁᛚᛞᛁᛋᚡíᚾᛁ" Freya repeated as she stated at Petros with an expectant look.
The God of Spiders took a deep breath before he regarded the boar and began to try and pronounce the name Freya had given it.
"Hillll-... Hilld- no that's not- no wait, I think it was" Petros said with a look of struggle as he tired to mentally pronounce the word in his head before speaking "Hildis-víniiii?"
"Hildisvíni" Freya nodded in excitement before she signaled for the boar to look at her before pointing towards Petros and muttered his name several times towards the boar.
Hildisvíni quirked his head at this before he glanced at Petros and made a squeal like growl and promptly turned and ran back towards the river. Freya giggled at the boar's actions while Petros could help but feel a nit insulted by the thing.
"Stupid pig" Petros muttered bitterly at the boar.
He's never really liked boars, even though they were a sacred animal to Artemis. Though given how things ended between the two Immortals, he supposed his hate for the pigs was a bit biased.
He than saw Freya stand up and waved for him to follow her towards her house. Petros blinked at the gesture and looked at her with a surprised look on his face before he pointed towards himself, than her, than towards her home. Freya nodded with a small grin as she held her hand out for him to take and said something in her language that he didn't quite catch.
'Well... this is escalating' Petros thought as he took Freya's hand and allowed her to help him to his feet before following after her.
He'd be lying if he said he didn't notice the fertile beauty that was Freya. She easily rivaled Aphrodite if not surpassed her in certain ways, making her seem all the more appealing to the Spider God. Where's Aphrodite was the sort of woman you'd have a good fuck with, Freya seemed the kind of Goddess you'd want to spend the rest of your forever with, and promised pleasures that couldn't be rivaled by some one night stand or occasional tryst.
It was a wonder why she was unwedded, though perhaps that played into why she was all the way out here, away from her fellow Gods. Maybe she grew tired of the constant proposals, or perhaps something happened and she wanted nothing to do with them anymore.
"I really hope that I don't come to regret this..." Petros groaned as he followed after the Goddess, his gaze flickering between the sway of her hips and rear to the lithe muscles of her arms and legs, to her long braided hair and the various beads and feathers she's decorated it with.
She came to a stop and gave him a warm smile over her shoulder that made her far to attractive in Petros's eyes before she turned and said something to summon the turtle she lived under to the surface. Seeing how eager she was in get into her home, Petros decided to take this opportunity to begin removing most of the furs and leathers he's taken to wearing. He made sure to keep the thin layers covering his waist and legs on, and was just removing his shirt when Freya began to say something as she turned around only to stop when she saw that he was already half naked before her and was just beginning to undo the ties that held his pants up when he noticed she was looking at him with wide eyes.
"PETROS!" she yelled in surprise as she took a involuntary step back in surprise.
"Uh, Freya?" Petros said with confusion before she saw the scowl of annoyance she was giving him "What?"
"ᚹ-ᚹᚺᚨᛏ ᚨᚱᛖ ᚤᛟᚢ ᛞᛟᛁᚾᚷ? ᚹᚺᚤ ᛞᛁᛞ ᚤᛟᚢ ᚷᛖᛏ ᚢᚾᛞᚱᛖᛋᛋᛖᛞ?" she gestured wildly towards his half bare form.
"But... I thought..." Petros motioned towards himself, than Freya than the house turtle who had finally rose out from the ground and was busy looking at the two Gods with a expression that seemed... bewildered.
Clearly this wasn't what he was expecting to see when he was summoned to the surface.
Petros stared at the confused Goddess for a moment before he made a few gestures of grabbing Freya's hips and made a thrusting motion, which in turn caused the Goddess to gape at him before she violently shook her head and pointed towards the turtle and began to repeat what he assumed was it's name.
"ᚾᛟ! ᛁ ᚹᚨᚾᛏᛖᛞ ᚤᛟᚢ ᛏᛟ ᛏᚱᚤ ᚨᚾᛞ ᛋᚨᚤ ᚲᚺᚨᚢᚱᛚᛁ'ᛋ ᚾᚨᛗᛖ! ᛁ ᚹᚨᛋᚾ'ᛏ ᛒᚱᛁᚾᚷᛁᚾᚷ ᚤᛟ ᛟᚡᛖᚱ ᚺᛖᚱᛖ ᛏᛟ-ᛏᛟ-ᛏᛟ ᚠᚢᚲᚴ!" she yelled.
"Ohhhh, you didn't want to..." Petros said with a slow nod as he began to understand what Freya's intentions are, or well were.
She wasn't bringing him to her home to fuck, she simply wanted him to try and pronounce the name of the turtle she lived under... who was still looking at the two Gods with confusion.
Awkward didn't even begin to cover the tension between the two for the next several weeks.
...
After the awkward debacle that would forever be known to the two gods as the 'Incident', life in the former Vanir Queen's sanctuary was... much the same before the God's arrival really.
Freya would wake up in the morning, bathe in one of the woods many natural springs, magically altered to be a hot spring thanks to her magic, dress than eat before going off into the woods to monitor her various wards and protective staves set up to bar any unwelcomed Aesir. Than she'd make sure Hildisvíni was okay and hadn't lost any more of himself and tend to her garden once she was sure the boar was alright. Petros for the most part kept to himself in his little 'tree house' and barring emerging to take part in their 'language lessons', hardly ever ventured far from the clearing of her home unless it was to find her.
The only real notable event to unfold between the two since the 'Incident' was when Petros accidently passed a small spring she was using to bathe in. Again, Freya was both grateful and annoyed that the God hadn't attempted anything outside of a few seconds of awkward staring before quickly departing to another part of the woods.
'By the Norns, I sound like a hormonal girl trying to gain the attention of a boy' Freya thought with a shake of her head as she tended to a few plants in her garden, mainly flowers that aided her in her potion making.
She could hear Hildisvíni nearby forging with a few other wild boars that have made Freya's woods their home and the earth gently rumbled under the snores of a sleeping Chaurli. Petros, last Freya checked, was still up in his tree house, which was in reality a bunch of boards and branches webbed tougher to make something akin to a home. She's offered to use her magic to help improve his 'home', but Petros vehemently refused, stating he liked it the way it was. Though given the brief descriptions he's given her of his former home, Olympus, Freya couldn't help but wonder if it was pride that was keeping him from accepting help.
"Gods and their pride..." Freya said with a sigh as she contemplated taking a small break before reaching for a small shovel to help dig up a few roots she'll need for a salve she had in mind when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
Freya frowned and turned to see a bird sitting on a nearby boulder, looking at her. It was a raven, though it looked unlike any raven she's ever seen before. It was a little larger than your typical raven, and that was before she even got to the part about it being semi-see through and made of some sort of green energy. Add the fact it was watching her far too intently for a typical bird, it was safe for Freya to assume that this entity was one of her former husband's little 'spies'.
Freya's eyes narrowed as she stared at the 'bird'.
"Hmm, stepped up from possessing regular Ravens for artificial constructs" Freya muttered as she studied the 'raven' for a moment before sensing that it wasn't alive.
With a flick of her wrist, she took control of a few vines and roots that were wrapped around the boulder and had them lash out at attack the raven. The 'bird' squawked in surprise before it was torn to shreds by the vines, it's body making a noise that sounded like glass being shattered as it was destroyed. She hoped that Odin's pain receptors were connecting to the damned thing, a nice little 'love tap', courtesy from her.
"Not a bird fan?"
Freya flinched and turned to see Petros was standing only a few feet away, his gaze on the boulder the raven was. His eyes flickered to Freya before he nodded at where the now destroyed raven was and repeated his question.
"No like bird?" Petros said, his words simple and carrying a heavy accent still.
"It's not a bird. Not a normal one" Freya revealed with a sigh as she sat down and ran the back of her hand across her forehead to wipe away some of the sweat and dirt that's gathered there from her gardening "Spies, created by my former husband"
Petros made a sound at this and turned back to where the 'raven' was and quirked his head a little to the side, an odd expression on his face "Magic birds?"
"Something like that, yes" Freya nodded as she let out a brief exhale of air through her nose before leaning back on her hands and crossing her knees "Petros, would you mind doing me a favor?"
"Hmm?" Petros glanced back at the Goddess with a curious expression on his face.
"I'm running low on a few things that I can't grow myself" Freya nodded towards her home "Preservatives mainly. Would you be willing to head to the nearby town and acquire me some?"
"Why not you?" Petros asked with confusion.
"I need to stay here and rework a few of my wards and spells to keep those damned birds out" Freya nodded to where Odin's construct was "And make sure there isn't any more watching us"
"Watching you?" Petros said with a nod towards the immortal woman.
"Nope, I'm afraid it's 'us' now" Freya said with a grim chuckle "He probably saw you though those birds of his by now. Which means, in his mind, I'm no longer alone in my exile and he's going to try and uncover what and who you are"
"Safe for me to leave this place?" Petros said with a nervous voice as he looked up towards the sky for any signs of Odin's spies and than towards the nearby trees.
"Oh he won't try anything against you, not yet at least. Not until he discovers if your a threat to him or not" Freya said with a slight shrug "He'll undoubtedly have his ravens watch the boarders of my woods for a while either way. And if you leave them for the town like I asked, he'll definitely see you. But he wont send anyone after you if that's what your afraid of"
At least, she hoped he didn't.
While Petros may be safe from any sort of immediate attack from Odin in the sense he wishes to know who Freya has allowed to take up residence with her, there was a possibility that it'll be jealousy that'll influence the Aesir King's actions. And while she doubts that Odin himself will come all the way to Midgard to potentially kill Petros, he very well could send someone else, perhaps one of his grandchildren, to deal with Petros with some well crafted lie on how he's a danger to Asgard.
'At least, I hope he sends one o his grandchildren. If he were to send one of his sons...' Freya held back a grimace at the possibility of her own son Baldur being the one sent.
It's only been a few years since she's seen her child, but the feeling of his hands on her throat, the look of sheer and utter contempt in his eyes as he squeezed the life from her, still haunted her. She would not apologize for what she did, nor the sacrifices she made to ensure he lived, all she could hope for was that one day he'd understand why she did it, why she made him invulnerable.
And if not... well, at least he'd be alive to hate her.
Petros hummed as he considered Freya's request, weighing the pros and cons of it.
He wasn't exactly eager to get caught up in some sort of family drama this land's Gods seem to be in the middle of. While Freya hasn't spoken too much about the Aesir, what she has said painted a pretty clear picture in Petros's mind on what they were...
"Your sure he won't send anyone after me if I leave this place?" Petros said with some uncertainty in his voice "Just because I survived being nearly killed by one God doesn't mean I want to try my luck with another"
"I'm... fairly certain" Freya said as she brought her legs up to rest her chin on her knees "The town your going to isn't very far. Only about a day's walk. Leave early in the morning, get what I need, and leave and be back in time for dinner"
"It all sounds so simple when you put it like that" Petros said with a snort of grim amusement before he took a deep breath "Alright, I'll go. Been meaning to bet out and explore anyway"
"Win-win" Freya smiled up at the God "I get my preservatives, you get to see more to this place beyond my wood"
"And the only danger I can expect to face is either your ex husband's minions or freezing to death" Petros said with a shiver, though he wasn't sure what it was for, the cold or the Aesir Gods.
"And the occasional Draugr. Oh and bands of Reavers too" Freya added.
"Your not helping" Petros stared dryly at the smirking Goddess.
"just making sure your aware of the dangers you'll face" she said with a laugh as she stood up and brushed some of the dirt of her pants "Oh and Petros?"
"Yes?" he asked with a raised brow aimed at the Vanir Goddess.
"Please try not to fuck anyone while your there" Freya gave Petros a tiredly amused look "I don't think many people will appreciate it"
"I thought you were trying to seduce me!" Petros groaned before he slipped back into Greek and began to speak at a pace that Freya struggled to keep up with "Για την αγάπη όλων όσων είναι - την επόμενη φορά, μην βγάλετε μερικά πολλά συγκεχυμένα σήματα!"
She understood maybe two or three words, but the rest sounded like complete gibberish to her. Petros went off for another few moments before he caught himself and took a deep breath before he began to speak in Freya's tongue.
"What do I need to get you?" he asked with a resigned look on his face.
"Come on, I'll show you" Freya giggled as she gestured for Petros to follow her "And keep the pants on please"
Petros grumbled as he followed after the laughing Goddess, both blissfully unaware of the glowing translucent Raven watching their every move with a unnaturally watchful gaze in it's glowing eyes.
With a final caw, the raven took off into the sky.
...
And done.
Next chapter, Running errands...