神々の悪戯

"You're not in your uniform," is the first thing Dionysus says to her when they meet up way too early outside the main door, and for a moment, all she can do is stare at him unblinkingly. Then she has to blink, because fuck, that sun is bright.

Sunglasses! She knew she forgot to get something at the shop. Urgh, is it too late to go get some? Too early? Does the shop even close?

"Have you ever seen me wear it?" she retorts, fingers rubbing back and forth over her eyes, her palms covering up a yawn.

"Come to think of it, no. Do you even have one?"

"Of course, I have one. It's sitting exactly where I found it, in my wardrobe. But I graduated high-school years ago, and I'm not putting a school uniform back on. It's almost…a word I can't think of at this time of morning. Urgh, morning. Why couldn't we have done this journey in the evening?"

"Because Apollo was one of the leading creators of this little trip?" he smoothly answers, and it takes a few moments before she's nodding. Of course Apollo would prefer to do things under sunlight, even if technically moonlight was also sunlight, just diminished…slightly. "Did you even manage to eat yet?" She shakes her head, even as she waves a hand at him.

"Too soon since I woke up. My body's all just…blergh when it comes to situations like this. I probably won't want to eat for another few hours yet."

"If you're sure." She can't even bring herself to smile, especially as another yawn forms and she covers her mouth. "We're meeting the others out by the small pool at the main gates. Can you even make it that far?"

"I have not been to the beach for…a really long time. I'm going to the beach, even if it takes me twice as long as everyone else."

神々の悪戯

He nods at his uncle, who is standing in the shade of one of the nearby trees, and gives a brief smile to Balder, waiting with Loki and Thor over near the small pool. Thor has a tight grip on the back of Balder's trousers, which is lucky, considering how the blond loses his balance and nearly goes flying into the shallow water. No sign of the Japanese pair yet, however.

No sign of his brother or Yui yet either, so…

Is it wrong for him to hope his brother has finally overcome…everything, and just kissed the girl, especially after the way he came back to their rooms last night, saying something about the Japanese girl being lonely and practising with a sword in a 'cute outfit'?

Let him hope, okay.

And talking about cute, what about Darcy this morning? It looked like she'd attempted to tie her hair up in braid whilst being half-drunk and upside-down, but given how much she was yawning, she'd probably done it whilst staring in a mirror completely sober (horrible way to be, in all honesty). She looked…wild. Like a partied-out maenad, hands having run through her hair after she'd danced the night away… It makes him want to figure out where he can get some musicians, just to see how true his imagination is.

As an artist, surely she can also dance? A private party for two?

And the shop, (although is it technically a 'shop' if you don't buy anything?), he'd be able to get supplies there, right? Maybe…a leopard-print linen dress? Or something with ivy; a necklace, or a bracelet?

Or maybe just all of it, especially since he doesn't have to trade for any of it?

神々の悪戯

"Everybody came!" she hears Apollo shout out, and she can't help the way her head falls forwards into the crook of Dionysus' neck, even as she groans out that it is way too early for this. She feels more than hears the way he chuckles at her muffled words. "Then, follow us. We're leaving. Let's go to seaside school."

"Way too early," she mutters as she pulls back, yawning, grabbing her bag from the ground to sling it onto her bag, and then the beach bag with all the miscellaneous shit she'd decided was necessary for a trip to the beach, slinging it over her shoulder as she begins trailing the group.

"I'm fairly certain Apollo is powered by the Sun," Balder comments from her right side, falling into step with her, and if she's not mistaken, that was Loki just tutting at her from somewhere beyond the tall blond god. "Our pantheons haven't interacted much in recent millennia, but-" The other pauses, and she looks to her side, noticing his slight frown. "I'm fairly certain I remember an incident about the Sun and the Moon…or maybe it's a different pantheon entirely. Who knows?"

Does he mean incident like between Apollo and… Who's the Greek goddess of the Moon again? Apollo was the god of the Sun, so Ar….Ara….Armi…Aramis? No, that was one of The Musketeers. She knows this, she knows she does… And it was in an anime… Sailor Mo- Luna, Diana…Artemis! Duh! Male cat named after a female goddess; she remembers finding it funny now.

So, incident between Apollo and Artemis, or-

Wait a second.

Attic pantheon, aka the Greeks. Nordic. Japanese. Egyptian, because of Thoth as the teacher. That's the existence of four pantheons from across the world, if they are indeed real, and not just her imag-

(Pretending it's real, remember?!)

Four pantheons. Ones that have made their mark in history, the Japanese a bit less known to the world because of all those years of seclusion, but they'd still had a large amount of followers and believers. And with the mark in history had come their resurrection in the media; immediately to mind springs the TV programs about Hercules and Xena, the films with Thor and Loki, all The Mummy films there have ever been, and weren't the Japanese ones mentioned in about a third of all the anime she's ever seen? Which, granted, isn't a lot, but still! And didn't that Star…something program use different pantheons for the bad guys? And wasn't Shelley's Frankenstein based off the story of Prometheus?

The Big Four, yes, but they were four out of how many pantheons? If these four were real, then others? Aztec and Mayan and Celtic and…every other pantheon she can't think of, or doesn't know without looking it up?

These ones were obviously chosen because of how many people knew them now, because of the media, right? She's fairly certain there have been new 'cults' dedicated to the worship of Loki and Thor because of the Marvel films, (as well as maybe Iron Man, but that's besides the point!), so were they useful in preventing the Nothingness? Or was the energy not going to the right 'spot'? In fact, wouldn't it have been better to 'select' some of these influential 'priests and priestesses' and bring them here, to show the right way to manipulate the energies of the faithful?

Yet…

Maybe it wasn't the human energy that was the problem, but with the receiver of it? After all, the gods had been brought to the school/playground/floating island where they couldn't affect many humans, but could more easily be affected. So, the goal isn't about worshipful energy, but…the way the gods viewed humans?

But a school?

Wouldn't a college have been better, with all its drunken debauchery, and classes on three hours of sleep, and not being with the same people all the time? Okay, that sounds perfect for Icy, and maybe Apollo and Balder with their people….thing… The blue-haired Japanese god, as well as Loki, would probably more like the freedom of the college system, going to classes based on what they wanted, not what they were told to do. Then again, they still would have forcibly been brought there without warning, so...

Wait, she's gone on a tangent again; what was she thinking about?

…

Goddesses?

…

Sounds…completely wrong, but come to think of it, where were they? All of them, barring her and the Wea-… and Kusanagi…everyone brought here was male, or at least identified as that given gender. There are stories, okay? About gods swapping genders for a night (or more) of fun and entertainment. Why only the males?

…

Unless…

…

Is someone matchmaking?

Or had Zeus, what was it he said again, something about 'learning about humanity'? Had he decided it was best to have eight magical men here with just two wom-… In fact, that line of thought isn't logical whatsoever. Then again, these were gods, magical beings (just like the Invisible Flying Spaghetti Monster), so what does she know?

But that's assuming this is real. If it's not, her brain has summoned up a weak version of herself, eight potential paramours (the way the 'other students' had been created removes them from the running), a domineering father-figure, a hot teacher (she's not blind!) whose class she will never attend, and whatever that running cat-man shaped thing is she's seen out the corner of her eye.

"This is so fucking convoluted," she finds herself muttering, only to jolt as she realises they're all on a trail somewhere, Loki and the short blue-haired god (Keiru? Keanu?) complaining about being sweaty and tired, like children do on a long day ou-

Isn't the Weakling supposed to be her Inner Child? Weren't these two supposed to represent her rebelling against the syst-

Pretend. It's. Real…

Hmph…aren't gods supposed to be all majestic and powerful, like they were when they first…showed…up? Actually, before their powers had been bound, they'd been pretty powerful, hadn't they? With the energy balls, and the athleticism? Do not say that their emotional mentality is liked to their godly powers, because if it is-

"How far do we have to walk?" Loki calls forwards, and- That's actually a question she'd like an answer to herself, and probably one she should have asked yesterday, before deciding what footwear she was going to put on her feet. Even with the short distance they've travelled (they haven't been walking for long during her distracted thoughts, right?), she's really glad she didn't decide on flip-flops or open-toed sandals, because she knows from experience they can be awful to walk in for long periods of time. "Surely not all the way to the beach." They'd bloody well better not be! Wherever the beach is, it has to be miles from here, because she can't even smell it yet, and everyone and their dog knows how far the smell travels!

She knows the horrifying answer before Apollo even opens his mouth, and she's suddenly getting a bad feeling about the whole trip to this beach res-

Resort? It is a resort they're going to, right? With little shops along a boardwalk, and a small amusement arcade, and maybe a few fairground rides? They'd said it was a re-

…

They hadn't, had they. They'd mentioned 'beach', and she'd just… Her first thought had been the beach they'd always gone to for holiday trips when she was younger, with its long boardwalk, the fairground music playing in the background, the scent of the ocean, freshly cooked doughnuts and newly-spun cotton candy filling the air.

And she can't even get mad at anyone but herself.

"For fucks sake," she mutters, a hand flying up cover her eyes, and she unexpectedly yawns.

"You alright?" the recognisable voice of Balder asks, but she looks up before responding; he might not be talking to her after all. She moves her hand, and- "When the fuck did we start walking through a forest?"

"About twenty minutes ago," Dionysus answers, and she finds her hand being grabbed, tugging her off the path everyone's walking down. They only walk for a few seconds off the path, but immediately the path is darker, more shaded and secluded. If her brain wasn't so…focused on how stupid she'd been, it would almost be perfect for a quick make-out session. "Are you alright?" The roots of these trees are humongous, and Dionysus lifts her up slightly, elevating her to about his height. Above his shoulder, back on the path, she can see Hades and the Weakli- and Kusanagi, having some sort of discussion.

Someone should tell Hades how weird he looks hugging himself like that…and then give him a back-breaking hug, because if that's not a sign of not being hugged enough growing up, she doesn't know what is.

"Just…weird thoughts. Nothing important enough to share," she continues, once she sees the questioning look on his face.

"If you're sure," is his reply, eyes fixed on her, and-

It's really strange having someone be so…so…interested in her. Like, even in uni, once her housemates left, everyone else in her classes had sort of…drifted away from her as well. She's not used to people wanting to talk to her anymore.

Which is why she leans forwards to kiss him, the difference in height making it so much easier…except he's not doing anything. It's taken her a few seconds to realise he's frozen, plush lips unmoving, and- Shit, was this wrong timing, or-

Her backpack hits the trunk of a tree, the vibration travelling almost painfully through to her back (shit, she hopes nothing got broken or shmushed too badly), her body lifted up, hands underneath her upper thighs, as he pushes himself towards the apex of her legs. Her breath is more like 'what breath?' as she feels her lips practically bruising with the intensity he's kissing her with, and of their own volition, her hands are up in his hair, gripping those burgundy locks tightly.

Oh, she could do this all day!

But her stomach decides that, no, she really can't, and it begins grumbling. She could have ignored it if she hadn't heard the easily recognisable voice of Apollo.

"Dee-Dee, Cee-Cee! You can't just- Uwah, sorry! Sorry!" Then the sound of someone running away, along with something that sounds like 'they'll catch up'. Then again, it also sounded like 'they're ketchup', but that made absolutely no sense in the current context. It wouldn't make much sense in any context, to be honest.

"Exactly how much do you love your brother again?" she asks, as she's lowered to the ground, trainers sinking into the soil lightly. Her stomach grumbles again.

"Right now? Enough to snip the strings on his favourite lyre." She watches him breathe deeply, walking away a few steps as he runs his hands through his hair, trying to set it into some sort of order. It kind of works, but it kind of doesn't, and all she wants to do is muss it all up again. As her stomach makes a noise again, she leans over to her beach bag (when had she even dropped it?) looking for…where the hell is i-

…

"Want some?" she tries to ask, holding out the tin-foil wrapped sandwiches, although it comes out more like 'Bom bomt?', given that she'd already stuffed a full quarter of a ham-and-cheese sandwich into her mouth.

"You really do think ahead, don't you?" he asks as he reaches out with a slightly shaking hand.

"Well," she pauses to swallow, "I thought it would be about an hour's bus ride or something to this beach, and I knew I'd get hungry at some point. I wasn't expecting the whole…trekking journey thing."

"I don't think any of us were," he comments before taking a bite out of his sandwich, and something about the movement catches her eye. Maybe nothing physical, but… Do gods actually eat? Like, fully-powered gods? Obviously they drink, case-in-point standing three feet away from her, but was eating a thing for them? She knows there's a goddess for agriculture (the exact name escapes her for now, but at least she knows the goddess exists!), and everyone knows the story about Persephone and Hades, but she can't remember if any of the…it's Titans, right?...Titans had a food-based jurisdiction. And that line of thinking leads to the whole chicken-and-the-egg debate; did humans associate a god with agriculture, which gave them jurisdiction over it, or did the god have jurisdiction over it, and humans then knew to associate it with them? "Your mind's gone wandering again."

"Sorry." She shakes her head slightly. "I was just... Did you eat before? Like, before here?" She waves a hand around slightly, trying to indicate not just the forest, but the whole Garden.

"Kind of, but…not really?"

"Wow, way to clarify things there." She wonders if it's something he can't talk about, isn't allowed to talk about, especially to a mortal, and for one brief moment, contemplates storming off…but they are literally going to the same place. What would be the fucking point?

"Wait, wait, let me…let me try and word this properly." He pauses to hold a hand out, and she places hers in it as he helps her keep her balance as they step down from the large roots and back onto the main path. "We eat, but only one thing, and it's the same with drinking; ambrosia and nectar. Well, with my pantheon at least. I know the Norse tended to feast well every night, but I don't know about any others." Back on the path, she can just about make out Hades in the distance (that hair!), before he turns a corner. "But it's not like we can't eat either. Like, leaving Olympus and going down to the Mortal World meant we had limited access to nectar and ambrosia, but plenty of ways of gaining food and drinks. We could swallow them until our stomachs burst, and gain limited use from them, but…"

"Quality over quantity," she concludes, puzzling his words out. Ambrosia and nectar are like the best foods in the world, and it sounded simple once she boiled it down to something she could fully comprehend. In fact, you could probably think of it like food in a video game; ambrosia and nectar would probably be one of those full-heal, full-food, full-water, max stat-boosting, long-lasting meals that you could get, but bread and water would heal ten health-points and have you be hungry again two minutes later. "And because your powers are cordoned off, simple mortal foods are adequate enough?"

"Exactly!"

Food for thought…if you'll excuse the pun.

神々の悪戯

They catch up to the others just as they reach a bridge, and he watches Darcy breathe deeply, stopping to stare at it for a few moments, before even putting a foot on it.

"Health and Safety would have a field day here," she comments, determinedly walking straight down the middle, although he can't help but notice how she stretches her arms out near the start, as though testing how far she'd have to reach to grab the rope, and then shuffling more to one side than dead-centre. Birds fly underneath the bridge, and further underneath, he can see small islands floating; some completely forested, others with lakes or rivers or small fields.

This is… He'll give his father credit for this creation. It really is beautiful and majestic.

If he was talking to his brother (perhaps the silent treatment for a few hours would work, to make him learn to not interrupt him and Darcy?), he'd suggest that the other should take Yui to one of the floating islands with a picnic on his Pegasus. Maybe he'd even slip in a small bottle of something-something for the two of them to share.

Then again, getting the young girl away from her efforts of getting the others to attend classes…

Oh, just let him fall over the bridge! Father would probably catch the red-headed mischief-maker after he's had a heart-attack or three.

Probably.

Twenty minutes later, it's Loki again making trouble for himself as they walk through a crystal-coated gorge. If the annoying one cuts himself, he's not helping wrap any wounds! At this point, despite the beautiful sights they've seen (he might even suggest he and Darcy go on a picnic to those waterfalls at some point), everyone is starting to get a bit…sharp with one another. After all, some of them weren't exactly expecting to be going on a walk for several hours before reaching their destination.

Almost like it's timed, about ten minutes later they turn a corner and walk straight into a forest, and ten more minutes of walking after that has them stepping foot onto sand.

Finally!

He really wants to see what Darcy looks like in her swimming outfit, especially since everyone and their mother keeps interrupting them when they're getting even the vaguest bit close to sex.

It's almost like someone keeps planning on intruding upon them, every single time.

神々の悪戯

Author's Note 13/06/18: What might interest you all is that the entirety of this chapter takes place in less than two minutes of episode three. Two minutes, and creating a bit of exposition, creates my longest chapter yet. Imagine how many more chapters I might get out of the episode… Well, there goes my summer!

And yes: Longest. Chapter. Yet. Seriously. I even went into my Stats page, just to make sure. I accept "thanks" for updating so quickly (relatively speaking) after the last chapter in fav's, follows, and ConCrit/Flames, so long as you say why you say what you're saying.

Hopefully you're all enjoying this, and I'll see you all next chapter! Hey, maybe you'll all be lucky, and the next one will be even longer than this one! Fingers crossed!