Previously On Solitaire:
Hades accidentally spent the night at Persephone's after realizing how lonely the both of them have been during her sentencing.
Zeus barged in with news that Demeter want's to overturn Persephone's punishment.
Where de heck is Hades?
Solitaire
Chapter 6
A Sad Thing to See
Before
Persephone sniffed out the rather potent eucalyptus infused air and wafted her hand out in front of her face. There was such a thing, as too much of a good thing.
"Persephone!" Hestia swiveled around behind her cherry oak desk. There was very little in her office. A succulent on her desk. A few books lined the shelves that she had written herself, with titles like "If I had a Daughter I'd Tell her Ten Things", and the popular sequel "How to Raise Pure Women in a Dirty Man's World" and of course her own organizational method book that swept the lower nations, "The Life Changing Magic of Purging Possessions: Joy is Overrated" The walls were bare, a few cracks in the paint, but it seemed to be industrial chic and very much purposeful. On the walls, the only thing hung was a portrait of Hestia herself wrapped up with a plain linen cloth with the quote, "Small Lives Serve Big Purposes" spelled out in large bold letters.
"What a wonderful surprise. Come in, come in." Hestia stood up and got the door behind her. "It's so quiet today with everyone going to the big party later. I hope you aren't going. You're not are you? After the last party you went to, being kidnapped like that, it was a bad look." Just then Persephone breathed in another potent pocket of diffused air and coughed into her elbow. "Are you okay? You got a coughing fit? Here, inhale this new essential oil diffuser I just got. It's good for you. Supposed to support respiratory. . . somethings."
"Oh, I already have inhaled it." Persephone cleared her throat again.
Hestia closed the door behind her. "A lovely Siren came through earlier with them and gave me a wonderful demo. I think I might start selling them on my own. You know to raise funds for TGOEM. Think about the good it would do. Two birds. One stone. Or, essential oil. In fact, if you buy products from me, you can sell too and then we could-"
Persephone stifled a laugh at the row of boxes of essential oils. "And I thought pyramid schemes were more up Ra and Isis's alley," She muttered under her breath.
"What?" Hestia turned pleasantly.
"N-nothing." Persephone grinned. "I hope that works out for you. I'm not much of a salesman. I'd end up giving away everything. That's more of my mother's thing."
"Oh. Well." Disappointment slipped into her tone like a dominatrix squeezing into latex. "I'm sorry to hear that. I had hoped I could count on you to be a proponent for women. Female advancement hasn't come so far by women not supporting each other. It's such a sad thing to see." She shook her orange hair out and pulled on a maniacal smile. "Oh well. I'm sure I'll win you over later. You know, I was just reviewing your application. After the tabloid snafu, it would be a nice gesture to. . . add something else to this resume. You'll be wanting to make smarter moves now. Think ahead. Be strategic." Hestia said over her reading glasses. "If you've read chapter nine of 'How to Remain Pure in an Impure World: Business Addition' you'll know that politics is key and you can't get away from it. Everyone wants something. So you have to always think two steps ahead. You have to know what you want, how you get there, and who you have to maneuver around to do so. You're young now, but you'll get it soon enough. Now then, what did you want to talk about?"
Persephone gulped as she stared past Hestia, an opponent, to the goal at the other side of her invisible board. She took a deep breath ready to make her first attempt at maneuvering her first hurdle. "Actually. It's about my application."
Now
Zeus folded his hands on Persephone's couch. "Ugh. I forgot how poor some people are." He said sadly looking around Persephone's room. Her cozy space that she'd made for herself. A space that she loved. A home she could be proud of. Handwoven quilts, knitted blankets. A worn table and bookshelves that had been painted over a few times as the season changes. "I don't like being here. It makes me sad."
His previous words still percolated between Persephone's ears. "Demeter." "Fuss." "You're not going to like this."
"I mean, I know I had to punish you, but I didn't realize you'd be putting yourself in such squalor."
"What?" Persephone tilted her head, waking back up from her land of thoughts.
"This place is sad." Zeus frowned. "I'm sad now." He touched the old coffee table fully lived in with cup stains and didn't understand why Persephone just didn't get a new one, or hire some servants to- Right. Solitary confinement. Still did servants really count? He pondered for a moment then stood up. "Come on, I have to take you out of here."
"No." Persephone backed up.
"Yes." Zeus nodded. "We're in a position that demands that we reevaluate your sentence."
Persephone continued to back up. Her feet pedaling away out of survival. "N-no." She muttered. "I have nearly 99 years left." Then her back hit some kind of wall. She turned but the hallway wall was 4 feet away. A hand quickly held her own and she felt Hades shirt cuff drag along her arm. She stifled a yelp of surprise before rocketing forward again, ripping herself out of his invisible grasp. The shock of Hades still in her apartment. The surprise of his hand all made her heart beat fast.
Zeus didn't seem to pay any attention to the odd moment. "You're not in any position to make demands."
"But." Persephone pouted.
"If you want to be treated like a criminal." Zeus adjusted his cuffs. "Then you'll be treated like one."
Persephone rolled her eyes. "If you go back against your decree, the people will see that as weakness. You're in a really good position right now. People fear you and love you. If they don't fear you, if you walk this back, then you may lose both."
Zeus crackled with energy, "My optics are none of your concern."
"Really?" Persephone gritted her teeth. "Because that wasn't true a few months ago. I gave you a golden opportunity to be a hero."
"What you did was hellish." Zeus snapped back.
"And you loved the attention you got because of it." Perspehone crossed her arms. Damn, this conversation would be better if Hades wasn't slinking around. She had to be careful with her words.
"Don't make it sound like you did all this for my benefit." Zeus practically laughed. "Please. I know the game you're playing."
"Funny." Persephone huffed and looked at her feet, wondering where to take this next and what would be the fallout of every action. Two steps ahead. Chess was easy because you only had one opponent. Life was difficult when everyone on Olympus had their own king they were trying to protect and they were all playing on the same field. "You're not even on my board anymore."
Persephone tried to remember the goal at the end. She sighed and dragged her hands down her face. All her careful planning and weighed risks, but now Demeter came swinging from left field. She hadn't fully considered her mother's dynamics. The field changed. The goal scooted further back. "If I go with you. . ."
"Which, you have to." Zeus grinned, enjoying the fact she still thought that was up for debate.
"If I go with you-" Persephone persisted. "What happens?"
"Negotiations. Most likely nothing will be decided today."
"Do you know what Demeter is going to bring, what her angle is?"
"No. But I'm leaving that all up to my lawyers."
Persephone's finger twitched, a slip in her compuser. "What happens if something is decided."
"What do you mean?"
"Can I ask for a favor?" Persephone bunched up her sweater nervously.
"Like I said before, you're in no position to-"
"A fortnight."
"Huh?" Zeus sighed, folding.
"Or till the end of the month. Whichever works better, I don't care. Whatever is decided on, whatever comes from the negotiations, any changes in my sentence, give me that time before the changes are enacted."
Zeus chewed it over. Everytime she wanted a favor it was something completely logical and easy. There was always some ulterior motive but he never knew what her sights were set on. Still, it was so rational, he would be a fool if not to go along with it. "If I set a timer, that would make it appear as if these changes were more methodical and that the initial intent was still effective Huh. People really don't give you enough credit." Zeus watched her try to figure out the puzzle in her mind.
"I know." Persephone grabbed her coat. "I'm counting on it." She stuffed her arms through.
Hades watched the exchange from his position near the kitchen. He hoped to comfort Persephone, but when he had grabbed her hand she recoiled. Idiot, he realized. No one wants to hold hands with a ghost. People feared him for this power, and he forgot about that.
Watching Persephone and Zeus talk, confused him further. There seemed to be some kind of information missing. An elephant in the room that only they could see. Even though he was himself, his own elephant in the room, but no one could see him.
He couldn't tell who had all the cards in this situation. The dynamic was interesting to say the least. He was just glad that Zeus didn't try anything funny with Persephone. A beautiful young woman "alone" in her own apartment, imprisoned by Zeus' own ruling. He'd seen this set up before with Zeus' trysts. Zeus really loved the advantages that his power gave him and didn't let it go to "waste."
But that wasn't at all the dynamic Hades witnessed. They talked the way he and Hecate did together. Not exactly friends, but business partners. He scratched his chin, his fingers running against the chin guard of the Helm of Darkness.
"Are you going to lock up?" Zeus asked in the apartment hallway. Persephone closed the door right as Hades was about to skirt passed with her. He leaned his ear against the wood still able to hear their muffled conversation outside of the apartment. As soon as the coast was clear he could open the door and follow after them.
"Um. No." Persephone said hesitantly. She waved her arms around the hallway as she had when they came back from the bathroom. If Hades had managed to leave with them, she couldn't feel him in their space now. If she locked the door, suspicions would arise if she returned and the door was unlocked miraculously. A different game and she wanted to keep this to herself. In this game, the king she wanted to protect was her time spent with one eavesdropping in her apartment, now more than ever. "There's no need to. No one wants to bother the way-ward Destroyer." She hissed and turned to be escorted out of the building by Zeus.
"Remember that thing about my optics?" Zeus leaned down in the lobby of the apartment complex. "Well, I'm gonna need to handcuff you."
"What?" Persephone looked out the glass doors to see a dark hurdled mass. "Are there news cameras?"
"I suppose I should call Hades." He tapped his chin. "He should be aware of what's happening in his kingdom."
"No!" Persephone spun in front of him. "Hades has nothing to do with this."
"True, but it is rather unusual to take out someone who has been sent to the Underworld for punishment." He reached for his phone.
"Well, this whole thing is rather unusual. Can we just go? I really don't want to bother Hades about this. I'll be back today. He's very busy and-"
A smile grew on Zeus' face. "Mhmmmmm." He leaned down and studied the blush rising to Persephone's cheeks. Part of him always wondered. . . "Very unusual indeed."
"Knock it off." Persephone rolled her eyes. "Are you gonna handcuff me, or what?"
Zeus grinned even more. "I usually only hear that question from Hera. Interesting."
Oblivious, Persephone held her hands out behind her back obediently.
"I don't actually have handcuffs." He knew where he kept his. Under a certain draw in his bedroom, but he didn't think the media would appreciate his fuzzy leopard print handcuffs. That would be a whole nother scandal for a different day. That and the chains of Tartarus, he did keep in his office, but that was overkill. Literally.
Persephone groaned and grew her own vines around her wrists, and waited till they brackled up into stiff binds. "Will this work?"
"Good enough. We'll only be outside for a bit." Zeus looked out the window. "They're going to be asking you a lot of invasive questions. And by asking I mean screaming at you. You know what to do right?"
"Say nothing." Persephone nodded.
"After you, death bringer." Zeus opened the door.
"Good morning everyone. Phylis Beakman with Channel 9 here with breaking news." A young hot looking wood nymph said into a microphone. She wore a puffy red coat with the symbol of her network embroidered on her collar. "I'm standing in front of the home of the cruel and ruthless convict, the god slasher, the destroyer of light, death bringer herself, that's right. You all know who I'm talking about. Persephone. In just a moment she will be escorted off the premises by Zeus. Where, later today she will be joined by her mother in renegotions for her sentence." Phylis walked two steps to her right in a planned and coordinated movement. "Let's get some opinions from some of the citizens of the Underworld how they feel about this development. Hello, sir. What do you think about Persephone potentially reducing or negating her sentencing?"
A scruffy satyre scratched his beard. "I don't know. I don't really care what the gods do. It's not really our place to-"
"And how about you miss?" Phyliss jammed the microphone up to a large ogre.
"I think it's horrible. Just because she has connections doesn't mean she should be able to get off easy. It's hard sleeping at night knowing people like her are out there."
Her friend rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Bertha. It's not like she slaughtered a village of people like us."
"You know what she did to-"
"And he's fine! It's not like she could actually murder a god. The deathless ones. I think this whole thing is being blown out of proportion and people like you," The ogre's friend pointed at the reporter. "Make it harder for people to think with their heads rather than with the fear you shove down people's throats."
Phylis was about to cut the feed but then the door opened and the other news networks all ran for it. Zeus wore a dark solemn face as he stepped down with his hand clutching the bound arm of Persephone. She stared at her feet, not making eye contact. She watched the camera flashes from the reflections of the small puddles in the cracked pavement. The only emotion came in the form of a small smile as she twisted her bound hands around an invisible finger for comfort. Hades trailed behind her, not able to protect her from the paps like he wanted to, but hoped that this small gesture. Letting her hold his finger, would be enough reassurance.
"PERSEPHONE!" Phylis screamed. Her voice got drowned out in the shouts of the other reporters. Cameras flashed, washing the Ruler of the Gods and the Goddess of Spring out in dizzying white light.
Others asked, "Do you feel any remorse?"
-"Have you spoken to him since then?" Cameras flashed.
- "Is this the first time you've stepped outside since your punishment?" People pushed each other to get a better angle.
Phyliss waited for the perfect opportunity. Just as Persphone lifted herself up into the back seat of Zeus' car, she plunged forward, mic in hand, "The goddesses of eternal maidenhood have abandoned you, what do you wish to say to these women?"
Persephone looked up coldly. Her face betraying no emotion. Zeus pushed on her back but she didn't get in the car. She stared directly into the camera invading her space. "It's such a sad thing to see, women who don't support other women."
After feeling Hades slip into the backseat, She ducked into the car finally. Zeus slammed the door shut behind her. Persephone released her vines as handcuffs and caught her own smile in the rearview mirror.