神々の悪戯
She wakes up to the horrible sound of a bell echoing into her room from outside, the thin drapes doing nothing to block the noise or sunlight. She spends the next five minutes trying to fall back asleep, tossing and turning, shoving her head underneath the pillow and then adding the duvet on top, but, to no avail. She lets out a deep sigh as she turns back over, flinging the duvet half off the bed and folding an arm across her eyes to block out the light.
The sound of people talking floats into the room.
Urgh, even without any commitments to attend to, obvious since her alarm hasn't gone off, she can't sleep in? How mean of the world!
And then she remembers. Gods, school, islands in the sky. Dionysus.
…Well, maybe she can find the kitchens in this place instead…..dressed up in her very new, very expensive clothes.
神々の悪戯
(His girl) Darcy is waiting outside the classroom door the moment they all break for lunch, and he takes a second to look her over as she lounges against the wall. Around him, the other 'students' look at her, then him; both the males and females have a range of emotions that cross their faces, although most of them hold either bemusement or jealousy. But they're simply placeholders, soul remnants used to fill up the empty space of the 'school', so he knows it's pointless to take them into account.
The red and blue checked shirt has the sleeves rolled halfway up her forearms, her blue shorts are short and would be remarkably indecent if she wasn't wearing another form of leg covering underneath them. Her boots are gorgeous though, the platform and heel making her legs look even longer than they already are. By her feet, there is a picnic basket with a blanket over the top.
"Darcy?" She opens her eyes to look at him, and it's like someone sets a fire in her soul the moment she looks at him. By the way his heart and stomach flutter, he's pretty certain she sets the same passion aflame in him.
"Hey Icy. You available for lunch?" He'd had tentative plans to join his brother and his friends for lunch, but…
"For you? Always." Her smile is radiant.
神々の悪戯
"I didn't know what you'd prefer exactly," she starts, as she flings out the blanket in the shadow of one of the large trees, "So my selection basically just went; 'that looks good', 'I know what that is', and 'I like them'. Hopefully it'll be good for both of us though."
"That's….that's fine." His mind has been distracted by the way she bends over to smooth out the large square of fabric before abruptly turning over and falling on her arse right next to the basket, opening it to remove the contents. The sight of the little food-filled containers and plates makes his stomach rumble, but it's the flask of wine and the two glasses that gains his attention then, and he kneels down next to her, reaching out for them. "How….how did you manage to get this?"
Faint though his powers are now, he can still sense through the glass that this is decent enough alcohol, not excessively potent, but…..
"Yeah, funny story. At first when I asked, the kitchen staff were all like 'no chance in Hades', but as soon as I said who I was and what I wanted it for, they near enough threw it into my hands! Funny, huh?" Either that or his father is attempting to get into her good favour. "Sorry they aren't proper wine glasses though, but I didn't think they'd stay upright on the blanket or grass."
"That's fine." He pops the cork on the unnamed bottle, sniffing as he does. Hmm; red, maybe fifty years old, Chilean. Best to let it breathe for a while before drinking.
Containers are opened, and he notes that whilst there is a lot of what he deems traditional European food, there's more than a few things he doesn't know, and decides to wait to see what Darcy does with them first before trying them. Both of them soon have full plates, and begin munching and crunching their way through their lunch.
神々の悪戯
"So how was class this morning?" Whilst she doesn't possess the inclination to attend, she has to confess she is slightly intrigued about what Zeus and Thoth have deemed important to learn about humans and humanity. Dionysus pauses as he leans over towards the wine he'd set aside to let breathe.
"Um….." She can't see his face all that well from this angle, but she'd posit an assumption that his eyes are wide as he tries to remember. What are the odds he wasn't the best student in class? "Human anatomy!"
"Oh? Anything particularly interesting?" Like how it related to sex or reproduction, she thinks to herself, as she lets her eyes glide over his stretching form. She's not really into the whole public sex thing, so it was a bit of a bummer she chose this spot that's completely in sight of those in the cafeteria. Later is a whole other matter though.
"Blood?" Definitely said in a questioning tone. "Bones?" That is said a lot more quietly. Still a question though.
"You have no idea, do you?" She smirks at him, as he seems to try and make up a lie before sighing and passing her a glass over. "Thanks."
"Classes are just so boring. However did you cope in the mortal world?"
"One day at a time, and by finding ways to amuse myself." It's only day two of classes and he's already finding himself bored? Lords, he's going to regret going by the end of the week!
"How so?" He looks up at her from where he's lounging on one side, hand holding his head up as he sips from his glass, and he looks so yummy, it's all she can do not to throw everything to one side and throw herself at him.
"Well, one day in physics class a few years ago, I…."
神々の悪戯
"One of your brats didn't show up for class after lunch." Thoth almost harshly states as he walks next to Zeus through the empty atrium.
"Oh?" The end of his staff clicks against the floor with each step.
"Dionysus."
"Hm." Zeus stops, and Thoth continues for another step before noticing and pausing himself. He turns back, almost ready to continue talking, but observes that the King of the Greek pantheon is looking over the balcony, head slightly tilted towards the manifested indicators on the ceiling. Following his gaze, Thoth looks up, and-
The large glass orb already has more 'liquid understanding' in it that he'd calculated would be possible! How? Why?
"Perhaps now you understand why I'm not too fussed about my son missing class."
Zeus walks off as Thoth remains mesmerised by the liquid settling in the bottom of the orb.
This was because of Dionysus? How? Granted, perhaps his powers and abilities gave him a closer connection to the baser instincts of mortals, but-
The other mortal. Darcy Cosmotos. It had to be.
神々の悪戯
"Waaa, Dee-Dee," Apollo calls out as he runs up the stairs to his brother's room. "Dee-Dee, are you back yet?" He knocks on the door, but it opens as he finishes knocking, to the sight of-
No-one.
It's well after the time they all normally returned to their rooms, even if there wasn't a curfew (as such), and even though his brother had been missing from afternoon classes, he'd seen Darcy outside the classroom, seen the way the pair had gone outside to eat lunch.
Well, it was….nice how Dee-Dee had someone…..
神々の悪戯
The next day, (she's going to think of classes having started on Monday, so in her mind that makes today Wednesday), she waits until afternoon classes are finished before making her way to the classroom. Today's outfit comprises of a pleated velvet burgundy mini-skirt, a red vest with a long-sleeved black mesh over it and thigh-high stockings. She wears the same boots as yesterday, having discovered they were rather comfy when you weren't always on your feet.
"Hey." Has she mentioned yet how much she loves the sound of Dionysus' voice, the way it's all smooth and silky and seemingly just designed for sex? She really can't wait for the opportune moment to discover how he sounds in such a situation.
"Hey yourself Gorgeous." Mmmm, she just wants to nibble at the sternocleidomastoid muscle in his neck, suck and bite a hickie deep into the muscle and just shout to the world that right then and there, this stunning specimen of manhood was hers. "Up for eating dinner with me?"
"Sure. In the cafeteria, or…?" She realises from his quick glance he's looking for the basket by her feet like yesterday.
"If that's alright with you," she almost hastily replies. "It's still a bit cool outside to eat this late in the day, but I thought we could at least eat together in the cafeteria?" He nods and they begin walking together, and as he looks at her, he notes that she looks like a pretty red light in a diamond mine. Beautiful and different.
One that's just for him right now.
神々の悪戯
Even as he looks over at Balder eating with them, he flicks the ends of his braids as he talks to Thor, who merely nods on occasion as he eats from his plate. He's not concerned about the lack of a verbal response; Thor didn't really speak up unless it was important. Like 'things are going to Ragnarok' wrong; that was how you knew to start worrying.
He nibbles away at the small amounts of food on his plate, not really hungry, but knowing that this form requires sustenance now his powers have been shackled and bound from everyday use, a thought that rankles him and causes his lip to curl into a momentary snarl.
Curse those Greeks!
But Balder wasn't thinking like that, too distracted from the situation by his new 'friends', a group that seemed to mostly consist of those thrice-damned Greeks! Who knew what they were telling him whilst he and Thor were searching for a way to get home?
At least not all the Greeks were pandering to Zeus' decision about this stupid Hakoniwa Academy of his; his own brother Hades was staying as far away from everyone as he possibly could, (except (presumably) at night-time when everyone went to bed), and the dark blueish, curly-haired Cosmotos (a private meeting with the blonde-haired bastard of a God had garnered her the faintest smidgeon of respect, especially when he notes his fellow red-head freak out about her disappearing in private with his father), someone he's now fairly certain may actually be from one of the Celtic pantheons, especially with the addition of woad to her hair. He'd previously thought her to be Greek, but he's pretty certain there's been no new additions to that pantheon since they last both walked the Earth at the same time.
Even the Japanese brothers were divided, and from what he remembered of the very few times they'd met several centuries ago, it was near impossible to separate them on any matter. But Susanoo was making his way about the grounds, only returning to the trees near the Academy to catch naps and watch over his brother, who was inside, studying 'humanity'.
Just what was so good about the little mud-monkeys?
神々の悪戯
"Cosmotos-san? Dionysus-san?" She can hold back the sigh, but not the way her fingers clench about her fork, as the voice of her Inner-Wea…..voice of Kusanagi Yui travels over her shoulder. She had her back to the rest of the room, and was sitting opposite Dionysus, who'd been regaling her with a story of his past on Olympus, and then that weak-ass voice speaks up, and the date-like mood between them just fades out. The surrounding voices could have been excused for other patrons in a restaurant, but being addressed directly? Yeah, not so easy to dismiss.
"Kusanagi-chan," Dionysus replies, a light smile on his face, nothing like the wide-grin that had been there when he'd been verbally reminiscing, she's happy to note. "Can we help you?" Can we help escort you out of the cafeteria maybe? This was supposed to be their time, together.
Can't she feel the vibe that's going on here right now?
"Ah…I was just wondering if-"
"Dee-Dee!" Darcy watches as Dionysus' eyes narrow into a faint glare as his own fingers twitch about his fork. And then the bright, sparkly (almost vampiric; Gods, why did you let them be written?!) Apollo flings himself into the seat next to Dionysus, leaning in closely and completely ignoring the fact that his brother is looking like he'd love to shove his fork through his eye socket. "Why didn't you come sit with us? We missed you!" Behind him, the blonde, long-haired Norse god follows, and although there's a faint smile on his face, she'd love right now to just wipe it off his face.
There's just too many people crowding about them now. There's a reason her chosen career path was one where she had to meet and interact with minimal people.
Her hand goes up to rub her straining eyes, and her fork is placed on her half-empty plate as she drinks from her glass to keep herself from blabbing some, probably, very mean yet very true things. Then the seats about them are filled and conversations started up, and the pleasant aura that had been present not even five minutes ago completely evaporates into nothingness.
Seriously? For centuries, if not millennia, old gods, they were not skilled at reading situations!
She gathers her things and stands, attracting the attention of all those now sitting at the table. Dionysus has that same look of irritation on his face at being interrupted, Apollo and….Blondie (shit, does she actually even know his name?) are just completely ignorant to the situation they've interrupted, and Inner Weakl-
-Kusanagi…is probably the only one who likes slightly uncomfortable, ready to jump up at any mome-
She'd better not try and follow her out of here!
"Next time," she directs to Dionysus, "I don't care if there's rain, sleet, snow, hail or even a frigging apocalypse going on, we're not eating in here." And she walks off, to the sound of silence, noticing in her peripheral vision that Loki is sarcastically clapping at her exit from the room. Her voice must have travelled further than she'd originally thought.
"Cosmotos-san?"
Time to run!
神々の悪戯
Author's Note 06/10/15: Apologies for delay in updating everyone! It's not like I haven't posted anything new since I last updated this story, but….things happen.
I went to Japan, watched all four seasons of Natsume Yūjinchō, have begun making plans for a multi-story, epically massive crossover fanfiction…..
And then I watched Free Iwatobi Swim Club, discovering so many potential pairings, and just…. Urgh.
But here I am. Hopefully, it won't be as long between this update and the next as it was between the last and this one. (I promise nothing…..)
You also may all agree with me that this chapter doesn't seem to be as good as the others, which is probably since this is acting more like filler before we get to the canon storyline. Remember, there's what, three weeks between episodes two and three? Plenty can happen in that time.
Also, does anyone know exactly what the place they are all at is called in Japanese? I hear it as 'Eien ikko no haku' which Google Translate delights in telling me means 'Forever one of the Night'. (Yeah, I don't think so either.) I could swear it's supposed to mean something along the lines of 'Garden of Forever', or 'Eternal Garden', (edit: it appears they translate as the same thing; 'eien no niwa', but I can't find the official translation anywhere, which is really annoying me. So, if anyone out there has any ideas….
Edit 08/10/15 – a bit of research has me thinking it is Hakoniwa a.k.a. a miniature/boxed garden; does this sound about right to everyone? Anyway, that's what I've used in the story, so if it's wrong, read the comment below! :D
As always, ConCrit and/or Flames please, so long as you explain why you think what you type.