神々の悪戯
"There is a small moon floating over there," she blankly comments to no-one in particular as she lets her beach bag slide from her shoulder and down her arm to basically go splat against the sand. Luckily, she can't hear anything fall out. "Asteroid?" she continues, eyes fixed on it, even as she hears the others extol the virtues of what they're seeing.
Is this created beach/ocean really that fantastic to them? Okay yes, the sand was nice and clean, and she can't smell any seaweed (that does tend to detract from the beauty, you have to admit it). There's no rubbish, or indeed even any rubbish bins anywhere near them. The water is a beautiful aquamarine, shifting in shade only slightly with each swell of water. The sky might be cloudy, but they're the fluffy white variety that so rarely leads to rain, and the sky is about ten different shades of blue from the horizon to above her head. It's the type of sight she imagines the Caribbean having, or the Mediter-
Hang on to your big-girl panties for uno momento.
Could this have been copied from the actual Mediterranean? Like, the real-life Grecian coastline before there were people and holiday villas and wars and what have you?
Okay fine, it's worth the extolment.
And that is way more energy than she thought the Japanese blue-haired god was capable of expressing! Although…weren't his powers related to water…or something like that? Or is she assuming that because of his hair colour? But she could swear that someone's mentioned him in relation to water before… And hadn't he-
"Loki," Apollo begins, "aren't you glad you came?"
"Yeah, it's not bad." High praise from someone who hasn't stopped complaining or making a nuisance of himself the whole way here. Hades' zombie-walk towards the ocean is…unexpected, to say the least. She half-expects him to just keep walking into the ocean and never come back.
"Well, let's start enjoying this seaside school." Apollo kind of has the right idea there. There's no sun-loungers, but if she moves some sand into a wedge shape, lays down a towel or two… This could wo-
Why the hell is the sun-god stripping? Although… She can't help the way her head tilts slightly as she looks him over, because that is the perfect tan. She can kind of understand the preoccupation with all the statues now…although she hopes the way the artists carved the marble penises wasn't as realistic, because if it was, she can't hold up much hope for Dionysus now, can she?
We- Kusanagi begins blushing, hands to her face as she splutters something about him stopping stripping, but she just rapidly switches her gaze to Dionysus, who meets her gaze easily…until it drops to her lips, which might be because she's nibbling at them.
"Please. Continue," she finds herself almost purring out, watching as those green eyes flicker with interest. He keeps staring at her, even as he says something about 'wearing the swimsuits under our clothes'; ah, continuing Apollo's explanation, she supposes. She hadn't really been paying that much attention.
She pays attention now, especially as, with a move that must have been learnt in a strip-club, they all divest themselves of their clothes, throwing them up into the air. Jackets, shirts, and trousers fly everywhere, and she barely blinks, until a shirt lands on her head, covering her eyes, before falling to the ground. And no wonder most of them complained about being too hot, given the varying degrees of skin-coverage their swimsuits gave them! Hades was wearing a t-shirt and long-shorts, and the Norse contingent were also wearing long-shorts, although Thor was the only one without a top. Loki was wearing a long white cover-up (although it could have been that he just hadn't taken his school shirt off yet), but Balder was wearing some sort of open vest…maybe? Just like Hades, the purple-haired Japanese god was covered almost fully, but she has to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing at what the blue-haired one (okay, maybe she should learn their names at some point!) was wearing, because it looks a lot like a thong with a bit of fabric dangling from the front to cover his cock.
But Dionysus, with those skinny briefs, and those hip-bones, and those muscles… And that more than decent sized package barely being covered up, and-
Why do gods have belly-buttons?
…
It's a stupid thought, but it shakes her from the haze of all that yummy, divine flesh that she definitely would like to get her mouth on. Has, in fact, been trying for several days now, but-
"Fairy, Cee-Cee," Apollo calls out, and she thinks about responding but her brain has already dragged her back into its various thoughts. She can't speak for the Japanese gods, and not even for the Nordic ones, since she doesn't know their creation stories, but she knows a little about the Greeks, and-
Wow, she can really only compare Apollo and Dionysus, considering how much of himself Hades has covered up. Huh. Okay, that's not really fair then, but thinking about it even lightly… Apollo's parents were Zeus (a god) and Leto (the daughter of two Titans). Dionysus's mother in most versions was a mortal woman, which would explain the whole needing a belly-button, except that there was the whole 'sewn into his father's thigh' thing.
So, these bodies that the gods were now in… Were they humanised versions of what the gods normally looked like, in their actual godly forms? Did gods even 'normally' have physical forms when in their home Realms, like the Greeks on Olympus, or did they only take form when needing to interact with someone who couldn't understand them in their natural forms?
The thought brings to mind the circumstances of their first day here. Zeus had summoned forth those orbs that had transformed into students, but where had those orbs come from? Were they actual souls of humans? If Zeus had created a school simply for gods, and not included her or Kusanagi, would there have even needed to be a physical construct?
…
This is way too much meta-physical bullshit for what is supposed to be a pleasant day out at the beach. Her brain needs to stop doing this to her.
The song of an echoing gong draws her out of her thoughts, and she wonders if it's like the old days, when the sound of a village bell indicated a possible invasion…although the boys didn't exactly have any 'weapons' on them right now. It might even be interesting watching them fight an enemy mostly/half-naked on the sand. Would they copy a scene from 300…depending on how many of them know how to fight?
But the faint breeze is picking up speed, the clouds moving ever faster, combining and turning greyer with every passing second, even as everyone begins glancing around. Soon enough, the sun is covered, and the temperature has definitely dropped by a good few degrees, and getting colder still. And the trees, the flowers… It's like someone pressed fast-forward, and she watches a nearby scattering of white flowers droop and rot within a few seconds.
"It seems to be autumn," the purple-haired god states (she definitely needs to start learning these guys names pretty damn soon). She sighs deeply, not having gotten the chance to change into her own tankini, or to take a dip into the ocean, given how the season had changed so rapidly. (She'd say 'damn you Zeus!', but a) she's standing right next to a body of water, which is about ten feet away from some very tall trees, and b) those clouds look like they could very easily turn into a thunderstorm with the slightest bit of provocation. She does possess some sense of self-preservation, thank you very much!)
There's shouting, even as she drops her backpack next to her beach-bag, and begins gathering the fallen clothes. Some are easy enough to match to owners; Loki's pink shirt, Dionysus' black t-shirt, the long black vest with white-stripes for Hades… Hadn't Balder and Apollo been similarly dressed though, in the school uniform? Same colour ties, same trouser style…same boots even? Why there needed to be two different styles for the boy's trousers, she'll probably never know, especially since the baggy ones didn't exactly do much for the aesthetic appeal of the boy's…men's bodies.
She's not exactly surprised when Dionysus complains about it being cold; apart from Blue (it's simpler to call him that, for the moment at least), he's wearing the least right now. She grabs his t-shirt, and the pile of straight-line pants, since he'd been wearing at least one pair of them coming here, and heads over.
"Here, you might as well get dressed again. No point in catching a cold just yet." His shirt is gone from her hand before she can even blink, and it's a great pity that his body is covered up. Seriously, she might even weep. He grabs the first pair of pants, only to blink, tossing them in the general direction of Loki, who begins shouting the second they land on his head; the second pair are tossed in Blue's general direction, but he puts the third pair on, which fit perfectly. How had he-
She heads over to the baggy-pants pile, and looking inside the waistband, just as he had, and-… Huh. A little tag with a symbol on it; a hammer? Ah, Thor. Makes sense.
"Don't let the seasons beat you," Apollo tells them, even as she almost slaps Thor's trousers against his chest, which he grabs with a nod. "I'm going to swim. After all, this is a seaside school." The next has a skull symbol, so they're obviously Hades. She ignores the way Kusanagi and Balder are leaning over the kneeling Death-god, and drops them right onto his head.
"Impossible," Thor comments, even as he begins sliding his trousers back on. "You'll make yourself sick." Finally, someone with a bit of common sen-
Purple declares he's going to swim as well. Fucking idiots, the pair of them. Wait, isn't this last pair of trousers his as well? Urgh! She tosses them onto the beach near Blue, who side-eyes her, but turns back to look at his…cousin? Brother? She remembers there's a familial relation between them though.
The two idiots wade into the water, and she watches Purple shiver, even as Apollo tries to show that he's having 'fun' as he splashes about. This isn't going to end up going well, she just knows it won't.
Now that she knows the secret behind the pants, she returns everyone's clothes back to them, although a few of the symbols take a bit of working out. As they're getting dressed though, she finally decides to ask something that's been going through her head for the past few minutes.
"Have any of you ever gotten sick before? Like, from what mortals can get?" Obviously she's excluding Kusanagi from this line of conversation. She receives a few scoffs, a few yells, a few considering looks before she gets a 'no' or a negative head-shake. "Fuck. Well, at least if they die, we can say it was their own fault then. Kusanagi, this was supposed to be an overnight thing, right? Where are we sleeping?"
"You think they'll die?" Blue yells, and Hades suddenly begins a new litany about how he's…cursed them all? What the fuck? What has she missed there?
"If they stay in there for too long, it's a possibility. Or everything below their waists could freeze and snap off. And I do mean," (she makes certain to waggle her eyebrows for this part), "everything." The breeze picks up again, the waves no longer a beautiful aquamarine, but something a lot colder. An extremely light turquoise perhaps? Something that more closely resembles ice.
It doesn't take long for the pair to begin shivering, self-hugging themselves in an attempt to create and preserve body-heat…which is pointless when they're still in the water. Idiots.
Then Apollo sneezes, Purple falls over, and it's all systems go as Blue, who hadn't even bothered getting dressed, dives into the water to grab his…he called out 'brother', right? Apollo then trudges out behind the Japanese gods, and she wanders over, and right as he sneezes again, she slaps his head, even as she wraps a towel around him from her beach-bag, throwing the second she'd been carrying in Blue's direction for him to use with his brother. As much as she'd been talking about them dying, she doesn't actually want them to die.
Fucking idiots.
神々の悪戯
It's a short yet hasty walk, Kusanagi in the lead, even as she keeps looking back towards the group. Blue is fawning over Purple, Dionysus holding Apollo to him in some sort of half-hug, and somehow she's become the centre of the Norse triangle. Hades is somewhere behind them, his self-abasement about being a curse and blight upon them all just about audible over the sound of the roaring ocean, the waves having picked up in intensity the second they'd started down the path towards…wherever the hell it is that they're going. The only thing going for them at the moment is that it isn't rai-
Stop. Don't even think about it!
"You think they'll actually die?" Loki asks her, and she looks towards him briefly, before back to where they're going. He's not quiet about asking; Balder and Thor turn their heads towards them, Apollo physically cringes in front of them, and Dionysus turns his head to look back at them for a second or two before tightening his hold around his brother.
"I think they'll get colds, but people have died of colds before," she mutters. It has gotten a lot colder, especially with the sea breeze trailing them up the path, and she can't wait until they get indoors. She hadn't exactly prepared her closet for autumn, especially since summer seems to have only lasted three days. There had better be a bloody kettle, because she's dying for a brew. Oooh, or hot chocolate. With whipped cream and caramel syrup and-
This is a fucking beach-side mansion.
Okay, maybe not exactly beach-side, they've been walking for about five minutes after all, but given that it's slightly elevated, she's completely certain they could stand on that very large balcony and see the ocean. The shade of wood, and the way the balcony glass is reflecting the setting sun behind them, as well as the purples and reds in the sky just behind it, completely contrary to the dark grey clouds currently above the ocean behind them… She'll have to try and remember this for when she gets back to her paints.
Actually, just a thought; would it be possible to get some sort of camera here…
Oh, for fucks sake, she brought her phone with her. Idiot.
They cause an explosion of echoey noise when they walk in, and all too soon, they realise there's no-one there except themselves, meaning they have to do everything themselves. Without even speaking, everyone just sort of…how to say it?...drifts, into doing certain things. Loki goes to start the fire in the huge fireplace, which is luckily already loaded with wood, more logs at the side in a huge pile. Balder almost runs, trips but manages to catch himself, and then moves a lot more slowly down a hallway, calling out his intentions of looking for blankets and more towels. Blue follows her over to the kitchen, which means she has little idea of what anyone else does from them on considering it's a completely separate room with no hatch. Whilst he pours water into a kettle, she peers into the fridge. She'd brought herself snacks, not enough things to feed ten people with, but luckily, someone has filled the (admittedly) very large fridge with a range of items. Fruits, and vegetables, and slices of meat ready to be coo-
"Oi, woman!" She's going to assume Blue means her, and she leans back, peering around the edge of the door, only to see him standing there, kettle in hand and a look of confusion on his face. "Where's the kitchen fire?" The what now?
"That's an electric kettle," is all she says, and yes to the power of electricity!...or whatever the power here actually is that looks like electricity. Whatever it is, it's what's been letting her paint at one in the morning, so she's not complaining.
"And?" Does Blue…not know what electricity is? Like, when was the last time he left…wherever the fuck he dwells, and actually walked amongst his people?
"Okay, put it back on…" What the hell is the holder at the bottom of the kettle called? The part that's connected to the wall? "…the holster." Good enough, right? "Now, there's a small lever at the bottom of the handle. Push it down, and it should light up." It does, an almost neon blue colour. "Now we just wait for it to boil."
"Oh. That was…"
"Pretty simple, right? Electricity makes everything convenient in the human world."
"Are you familiar with the human world then?" He leans against the doorway, and she gestures towards the fridge, disappearing back behind the door whilst answering him.
"Pretty much. I mean, I normally stuck around the university," there's so much cross-cultural food in this fridge… "but I occasionally went out into the surrounding cities for, like, inspiration. Hey, what exactly do you eat?"
"Is there any soba?"
"I…have no idea what that is. What's it look like?"
"Like…noodles?"
Fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, meat of all kinds… There's a shit-fuck ton of food, but there's nothing resembling any form of pas- Wait, you normally cook pasta from its completely dry form, which doesn't require refrigeration. Duh. Slapping the door shut behind her, she heads over to the cupboards, and low-and-behold, the first door she opens is full of…spaghetti! Like, twenty packs of the stuff. How long are they even staying here for? Digging past the spaghetti, she reaches up, finding tagliatelle, then fettucine, linguine…
All this Italian pasta. The Greek gods are the Roman gods, aren't they? Shit. But then!
"Hang on, I've found the ramen."
"Ramen?" Blue is a lot closer than before, and the unexpected proximity has her turning unexpectedly, hitting her hand off the cupboard door.
"Shit! Mother fu- Mmm." She shakes it before rubbing away at the faint red line that's appeared across the back of her hand. "Yeah, there's ramen, something called…udon…..ah! Here we go! Soba!" She pulls the pack out, blindly handing it backwards, only letting go once she can feel him tugging on it. "Just letting you know, I have no idea how to cook them."
"I know how…if there's a way of boiling a pot of water in here." She turns around, blinking at him. Oh yeah, the whole electricity thing. Across the room, the kettle clicks, as though on command.
"Okay, I'll get a pot and start it boiling. Can you find me cups or mugs or something?" He walks off, opening cupboards near the kettle, and she finds a pot which should be big enough for him to cook his noodles. It's a simple task of igniting the pot and setting it to boil, and without a word, they trade places as she starts making a tray full of hot chocolate. Then she leans her head just around the doorframe, calling out for some who's not known for tripping to come grab the tray. She hears a few snorts and chuckles, and even Balder as he calls back that he 'doesn't fall over…too much', but soon enough, Thor appears in the doorway.
"Could you take this in and share it out please? Let me just grab some milk and sugar…" She turns around, watching Blue stir his noodles, listening as Thor walks away. "Can you leave them for five minutes, come grab something warm to drink?" He nods, and she then gives him the milk to carry as she grabs the packets of crisps and biscuits she'd found, easily noticing the way he eyes them. "You're cooking soba for you, right? I have no idea what we're supposed to be doing for dinner, so…." She gives a casual shoulder-shrug, before leading the way back into the main room.
"Hey, this might be a bit impudent of me, especially considering that we've just been in the same room for fifteen minutes and conversed through a good portion of that, but…what's your name?"
神々の悪戯
Author's Note 16/06/18: So are you guys liking the speed of the updates? I hope so, because I'd like to finish this story this summer, before uni starts back up again, otherwise it might end being another year before you get more of this story.
And you're all lucky! This chapter covers three minutes of the anime…although we're still on the same episode as the previous…hmm…..chapter and a half? The word count is, unfortunately, about a hundred or so words less than the last chapter, but it's not too noticeable, right?
As always, ConCrit/Flames, but with explanations please! Enjoy, and I'll see you next chapter, which might contain four minutes of anime content; we might get past episode three sometime within the next two weeks!