神々の悪戯
After breakfast, she sleeps through the day. Sleeps through the light knocking during mid-morning break, and the more heavy-handed thuds at lunch-time, as well as the calls of her name. Remains completely unaware of the strawberry rice-cakes and Kusanagi's very sly attempts at using emotional blackmail on Hades. Has no fucking clue about the group strategizing about Hades and his 'Curse of Misfortune'.
It's close to sunset when she wakes, which has luckily been happening earlier and earlier these past few days, and not by the usual few minutes of the human world, but by hours. Luckily, this means she won't have missed dinner, which is good for her rumbling stomach.
There's no obligation to be present at mealtimes, especially given the ability to get things from the kitchen or school store at near enough any time of day (she still needs to test out if the store is open at something like three in the morning). That said, she has noticed that, when she comes to get food to takeaway, that each of the pantheons tends to sit together, although spread across the room slightly.
Which is why it's immediately noticeable that the entire Greek contingent is missing, as well as Purp-…ito… Tsukito, Balder, and Kusanagi. Loki and Thor have their heads bent, seemingly discussing something important, maybe even their 'Going Home' club, but Takeru…
"So have I missed something?" she asks as her tray hits the table, startling the blue-haired boy-god. She sits down opposite him, then slides the bowl of leafy salad across the table, to his unblinking stare. When he looks up at her, she tilts her head to the rabbit sitting next to him, that he'd been stroking, and then she nods a greeting to the rabbit as well. She's got a very big feeling this is no ordinary rabbit, given what she knows of Sailor Moon.
"Huh?" He looks up from where he's holding out a piece of lettuce to the rabbit.
"There's only half of us here, and you're…" she pauses to choose her words very carefully here, "attending to this rabbit in Tsukito's place."
"Oh. Something to do with the Greeks."
"Hmm…" She sticks her fork in her spaghetti, twirling it, only to stop before pulling it out. "Dionysus mentioned something along the lines of school clubs earli-…erm…yesterday. Did you join one as well?" He scowls before responding.
"No, and you can't make me!" He looks like he's about to start an argument, except-
"Okay." Well, that definitely stops him in his tracks.
"'Okay'?"
"Yeah, like…okay. If you don't want to, that's your choice. I'm not exactly going to say anything, considering I was apparently brought here to be a student, and I'm not going to class. Already graduated," she clarifies, to which he slowly nods. "Clubs are supposed to be fun, but sometimes… Sometimes you want to do what you like without other people being involved. Then again, some things can be better if there's more of you. One person, after all, can't play an orchestra's worth of instruments simultaneously."
"Hmm…"
"Can I give you something to think about?"
"Eh? Tsk, whatever."
"These shackles…they've basically turned gods into humans. And humans are social creatures. Granted, some more than others, but… There's a phrase, that 'no man is an island'. Remember, that there's more of us here than just you, Tsukito and…" she waves a hand at the rabbit before picking her fork up, finally taking a bite.
"Usamaro." She looks up, fork still in her mouth, and hopes her raised eyebrow is enough to ask the question for her. "I've named this one Usamaro." She pulls the fork out, bowing her head to the rabbit as she chews; it stares at her, only to turn when Takeru holds up a carrot stick, and she can't help but feel she's just had a close encounter with the devil and been so lucky to come out alive. "Tsukito has more, but this one…you're special, aren't you?"
She can't help the smile on her face as she watches him interact with Usamaro, even as she tries to eat her food. Do you even know how hard it is to eat spaghetti when you can't stop smiling?
神々の悪戯
Rather luckily, she'd already had her phone out, that miraculous almost Doctor-Who like invention (doesn't lose power, but doesn't have a signal; it's basically the opposite, right?) when the storm begins gathering in the mid-ground. It easy enough to record the grey oval that appears, the way it increases outwards in size and how rain falls from the centre, moving outwards like a wave.
Of course, by the time she gets the new canvas set up, a glass of water to the side with all her paints and brushes ready, the sudden storm is gone, only the faintest of grey cloudy flecks in the distance that vanish mid-blink.
Thank fuck she was taking a video, not a stream of pictures.
How to do this though, how to do it? Before and during? During and after? Or… Yes, that could work! If she splits it down the middle, with a during and after…or- Or! What about thirds? Before, during, and after! Yes, that could also work!
Or both, to compare which is better?
Now that sounds like a plan.
神々の悪戯
"I can't quite decide if this is stalking or not," Apollo mutters as he sits opposite his brother in the hot tub. His brother, who is seated facing the building, his eyes fixed upwards on the floaty curtains he knows lets the shadow image of Cee-Cee through, especially considering how bright the lights in her room can be.
"The spring's in our garden," is the somewhat distracted answer, and he watches Dee-Dee stretch out, leaning further against the wall. Music begins playing, the volume somehow increasing over a few seconds, and he watches him sigh. The melody, the beat of the music…a bit heavier than he's used to, what with the drums, but he could definitely- "Do you suppose she dances as well as paints?" Dee-Dee asks, still in that same distracted tone.
He can't help but snicker at the way Dee-Dee doesn't seem to be here. Instead, he's in a temple, reclining on a couch in a shadowy, torch-lit stone room, musicians playing on auloi, kithara and the deeper bass of the barbitos whilst hidden behind draped trails of gauzy fabric. And Cee-Cee… She'd be dancing before her god, hips swinging and swaying, hair wild and free, with such a look of powerful desire for her god on her face… He could see them doing that…
!
No. He couldn't just see them, he could See them.
He breathes in with a loud gasp as water is splashed against his face, and rapidly looking around has him noticing Dee-Dee's super concentrated stare on Cee-Cee's balcony, the brilliant glow of the water he's in fading away, his uncle's concerned look as he holds him by his elbow.
"Apollo?"
"Uncle…she…Dee-Dee…they…" The words won't come out properly, despite how fixated his brain is on those few seconds of…can he call it 'prophecy'? Or had it been a vision of the long-distant past? Had she been…had her soul… Had it been, or rather was it, from a previous follower of his brothers? Was that why Dee-Dee felt so attracted to her? "Definitely a form of stalking."
But which of them was stalking the other?
神々の悪戯
It's a light where they shouldn't be one, not from this angle and at this time of…evening? Night? Whichever, it's the light that attracts her attention away from the canvas, and she dips the brush in the dirty water, leaving it to soak as she wipes her fingers. A blue…she wants to say glow, but considering she's seeing it through the flimsy things masquerading as curt-
It's fading. Definitely something glowing then.
It's somewhat cool as she pulls the gauze aside to step out onto the balcony, since it's still autumn (at least they haven't hit winter yet, given Zeus'…abilities), but especially because she's wearing a shirt that had swiftly become her painting attire, and jeans she'd cut into shorts for the summer.
But everyone knows how that went.
The stone of the balcony is cold in contrast to the sort-of warm wooden floor she's just left, and it sends a few chills up her legs, but-
Is that steam? Oh, whoever's got that lovely tub in the garden below must be using it! Maybe it's Takeru…but would Zeus have been so kind as to provide that type of water for the foreign God of Sea and Storms? He certainly wouldn't have done it for his own brother. Everyone knows about the rivalry between Zeus and Poseidon after all. It's like…world famous.
It's equally as possible that it's not one of the gods though. Okay, maybe not equally, but-
"Well hell-ooo neighbour!" Burgundy-red hair, wet smooth skin… Leaning on her elbows on the stone railing, she looks down at the man-god that is holding her attention.
"Darcy." He purrs out her name with what sounds like devotion, and how is a girl supposed to remain calm with that in her ears? She's fairly certain her panties just got drenched.
"You look like you're having fun," is all she can say, especially as she watches him dip an arm into the water, only to pull it nearly immediately back out, the water trickling down off him, back into the tub. "Finally getting to wear that swimsuit then?"
"That was earlier," he calls back. "Now? Well…" His voice trails off, and what? Like, whaaaaat? Did he just imply-
"One second," she responds, holding a finger up, and rushes back inside, grabbing…where the hell is it? She left it- Ah! Got you! She walks back, opening the camera app, because damn if she's not taking a reference picture for this. It's already planning itself out in her head; horizontal canvas, the stone railing framing at least two sides of it, the water glowing a blueish-green. The purpley-blue sky would be a thin strip far above the ivy walls that serve as the boundaries for the garden downstairs…or would it even be in sight? No, the sky would be reflected in the water! She could…she could have him sitting in a sea of stars. "This is going to be perfect!" she calls out as she leans onto the balcony.
"Do you want to join us?" He shouts up, as though making to stand, and she can't decide how deep she wants the tub to be, given his earlier implication about what he may or may not be wearing. In fact, when was the last time she was in a hot tub…
…
Has she ever been in one? Do the jacuzzi tubs at the gym count?
Wait a second. 'Us'?
Ah, Apollo…wait was Hades…she can't see him, but it's not like her balcony lets her see everything.
"Tonight? Ah, I'm in the middle of something at the moment, I just came out 'cause I thought I saw…well…something, but-" All that wet, bare skin… "Tell you what. Tomorrow night. I'll bring the food, you bring the wine. We'll make an evening…a proper night of it." Now that will be fun.
"White or red?" Yet that's what he chooses to focus on? Well…it kind of makes sense, but it also makes her question which came first for him, being the god of wine and wine-making, or fertility? This goes back to what she was thinking before; was a godhood over something innate for a god, or did they acquire it as they aged?
"Why make that choice?" Haven't they had a similar discussion to this before?
"Because different wines go better with different foods, obviously!" She snickers at his words.
"I meant, why bother picking between the two. Just bring both. We're going to make a proper night of it, right? Just us two?" The words come out of her mouth without her thinking about it, but- Thinking about it, impromptu wasn't working for them. Maybe if they plan ahead for once…
"…Wait, you mean-"
"Obviously. I'm tired of waiting. Pissed off with every interruption." She's definitely very close to murdering a few people. "And I'm going to have you, one way or another, even if I have to tie you down to get it." She studiously ignores Dionysus' dropped jaw, the way Apollo goes red and flails about in the water, splashing it everywhere, until a fabric-clad arm drags him from the water and out of sight.
"'Tie me down'?"
"If that's something you like, I…I'd do it. Just…I'd prefer not to do that the first time though." Like, she'll do all the research she needs to for ropes and handcuffs and- Wow, did it get hot out here or what! But yeah, the first time…for their first time, she'd prefer something a bit more…traditional.
Is that wrong for sex with a fertility g-
Ah. That…might be something to check-up on as well.
"First time or first night?" Dionysus asks.
"First night. I'm setting up near enough everything for the first, so it'll be up to you to arrange the second. Do you think you can impress me enough on the first night for there to even be a second?" She hopes there will be, given how attracted she's been to him, how her sleep has suffered these past few weeks since they first met because of the dreams. Hellfire, the dreams…
"I've never had a complaint," is all he responds with, before smirking and standing and…
…
Holy fuck.
Like…like…
Holy. Fuck.
…
Is it even going to fit?
…
Holy fuck!
神々の悪戯
She…she's hesitant to call it a retreat, but that was definitely a weapon capable of making anyone want to pull back, so…okay, she retreats back into her room, barely noticing the difference between the stone outside and the wooden floors, because wow, that was a cock and a half, almost literally.
Although…
It could be literally, given that she wasn't exactly able to measure it. Also, it depends on what you define as the measurement for a cock, because everyone could have a different 'standard' in mind when they think of a dick, given past experiences and interactions and the like, and-
She's trying to distract herself again.
Bollocks.
She needs…she needs… She needs to plan. She'd really thrown a gauntlet down at the end there, basically challenging him to impress her tomorrow night, if he wants any chance of a second, and if she's being honest with herself, she might want a second (and third, and fourth, and maybe more) even if the night doesn't go…entirely according to plan.
A plan that she doesn't have the barest bones for.
Yet.
She needs to speak to either Thoth or Zeus about the whole fertility thing, and thinking about it, she's been here, what two weeks now? Three? Wow, how long has it been? Whatever the length of time, she needs to know if she should be planning on having any monthly bleeds, because has her physical body actually been brought here, or just a mental projection of her body at the point she got home with the painting?
And holy hell, she's…
She's thinking like this is real. Like…like gods really exist, and this isn't a dream, or her in a coma, and-
Oh gods, if this is real, then that means Kusanagi…she's really the stereotypically weak female lead character she's seen in anime! All…kowtowing to people older or more experienced, agreeing with them even if ninety-nine percent of what they say is obviously wrong. There really exists a person that is that weak!
And if the gods are real, then how many of the pantheons are? And what about religions without a pantheon, like Christianity? Maybe…maybe it's like the planet is layered, and each pantheon exists in each separate layer. Like…like making several photocopies of the same picture, and colouring them in differently, but then placing them one atop the other, so that if you held them up to the light, all the outlines matched. The same world, but things existing on different layers…
Oh boy, the number of pantheons, and the sheer amount of gods and goddesses per pantheon, and- What about gods and goddess from different groups who cover the same thing? Like Thor and Dionysus both being fertility gods, or Takeru and Poseidon both being gods of the Sea and Storm? Does it only work up to certain boundary lines, or-
No.
No, she's not going to think about it.
If she accepts that the gods are real, that they've all been brought to this Garden to…how to put it?... Reinvigorate the bond between humans and gods in an attempt to prevent the possible complete annihilation of all the realms, human, godly, and otherwise…
Holy motherfucking shitake mushrooms!
Alcohol. She…she needs alcohol. Like yesterday.
神々の悪戯
Author's Note 28/06/18: It got worse people. I finished 'Isekai Izakaya "Nobu"' (or at least what's currently available)…and then I watched an hour forty of 'Bonjour Sweet Love Patisserie' (more food porn!). And then…all three hours forty-four minutes of 'Love Stage'. I'm so sorry.
In my defence, I skipped through most of the intros and credits and 'last time, on Dragonball Z' moments, which probably took it down to three hours twenty (at least!), but…
This is what having no Uni work to focus on does to me. But no stories planned! Let's count that as a good thing, okay?
And 'Super Lovers'…it's near enough four hours of weirdness. If you ever watch it, just think of the ages, okay?
'Hitorijime My Hero' is also definitely worth a watch though!
Edit: Literally just realised we're getting into territory that is definitely above the T rating for this story, so it's going to be changed from this date onwards.