章 53: hanging out
[Olympus: one day later]
"Mhm these are delicious"
Persephone said to no one in particular as she took and ate a piece of dark chocolate, letting it melt in her mouth as she savored its flavor. Currently the Goddess was seated on the side lines, she was seated on a chair with a small white table before her that had various kinds of sweet confectioneries laid on top of it, there were other 2 chairs one on the side of the table and the other was placed opposite of her position, both the chairs were empty as the two people who were supposed to be seated on them were currently engaged in a game of tennis.
Persephone was wearing a piece of jewellery that had been a gift from Aphrodite, an apology for the way she had acted during their encounter last year, a necklace made from both gold, Mithril and Emerald, she was also wearing clothes that wasn't just white cloths draped over her body but instead a dress, that was coloured black at the torso but faded into a cerulean colour from the waist down a beautiful dress that quite suited her.
"Oh by Tartarus!!"
Hestia threw her racket onto the Floor as she lost another game for the 5th time today, and Aphrodite simply shrugged her shoulders, playing off her victory, making it seem it was too easy because it was.
"Hestia maybe you should have picked a game you were good at"
Persephone commented, offering the goddess of the hearth an alternative to the game that she clearly was terrible at playing.
"This was decided via Quartz parchment sheers so she couldn't"
Aphrodite comments as she moved towards the table to take a seat, the three of them were currently on the back yard of the royal palace, while the Palace was located at the centre of Olympus, everything was at it's front and there was nothing but empty space behind it, which Hephaestus had decided to turn it into a tennis court at Aphrodite's request six months ago. There were other activities that could be done like table-tennis, badminton, and volleyball, but Aphrodite was very partial to tennis for some reason.
"Well since you already played tennis, why not cross it out and choose another game less favorable towards Aphrodite?"
"I suggested that to her earlier, but she's surprisingly competitive"
Aphrodite stated, she sat down and took a muffin off the table, took a bite, and before getting comfortable on the chair, with Hestia doing the same.
"I'm the elder amongst us. I can't have you best me in simple game like tennis"
"Yet I do best you, so why not just concede"
"there's nothing for me to concede, I'll best you eventually it's only a matter of time"
"if you say so"
Aphrodite smiled as she shrugged, Hestia was always the energetic type, but she had never thought her as someone who cared about winning or losing, but that was fine. They were similar in that regard. Although she does understand how Hephaestus must have felt when she refused to admit defeat.
"what about you? aren't you interested in playing a game?"
"and ruin this dress? Absolutely not"
She refused with a vigor in her voice. It seemed that she quite liked the dress and wasn't willing to have it dirtied. Incidentally, she was also the only one in the group that wore a dress. Both Hestia and Aphrodite were wearing clothing that facilitated movement, like shorts and T-shirts.
It was thanks to Hephaestus that the majority of Olympians now wear clothing, proper garments instead of just some cloths draped over their bodies, at Aphrodite's request Hephaestus had made a machine that would make various type of clothing as long as the materials are present, one simply has to put in a request, it was thanks to this that majority of citizens wore proper clothing, all they had to do is put in a request at a the royal castle and the maids will use the Machine to make the clothing. Hephaestus had to do the painstaking works of using Runic Magic and have his maids skilled in Clothe making.
"What was the point of wearing it here then?"
Hestia asked in a bit of curiosity, if Persephone wanted to show off the dress to Hades she can do that in their private time, it made no sense as why she'd wear it somewhere her husband would not be around to see it.
"I wanted to look my best for my husband since he was coming with me"
" he isn't here now. He and Hephaestus aren't here at the moment, so what was the point?"
Aphrodite asked.
"That is true, but he will have to leave with me eventually so he'll see me again in this dress, I like the sparkle in his eyes each time he sees me in it"
She spoke with an unhidden confidence, something one would hardly see on her. Hestia rolled her eyes a bit before speaking.
"you love your husband to a ridiculous degree"
Hestia stated, as she placed her elbows on the table and supported her face with her hands, surprisingly she wasn't partaking in eating the sweets as she was the one who made them thanks to the recipe and ingredients given to her by Hephaestus, plus she already had her own fill of them when she was making them although the other two seemed to be gorging themselves.
"Isn't that a given in a relationship?"
"is it? I wouldn't know I've never been in one. What do you think about it? Aphrodite"
"I suppose it should be like that, I love Hephaestus, but I wouldn't say it's to a ridiculous degree"
She stated that although she loved Hephaestus, she couldn't accurately measure how much all she knows is that it's a lot.
"By the way, Persephone, I need some advice"
"Is it about how to be a good wife again? because if you don't understand that after a year I can't help you, plus being a good wife is subject, Luke I said before"
"No it's not about that, it's…
She struggled to find the words to explain her situation since both Persephone and Hestia don't have a troublesome sexual past, and neither of them experienced what she's currently going through. Each time she closes her eyes whenever she's alone her body feels like it's being touched by hundreds of disgusting hands, this is no doubt something only she has experienced, this has caused situation where she can't sleep and sometimes she nearly vomits due to how disgusted she feels with herself.
"actually it is about something related to that. You see now that it's been a year, things have gotten stale in the bed, do you have any advice for that?"
She decided to lie, Hephaestus is quite actually inventive in the bed and coincidentally never fails to satisfy her. There were a few times, but he does satisfy her more often than not, so everything is fine. She decided that the two couldn't possibly relate and that it was her own problem to deal with.
"Well that took a sudden turn"
"If you're going to talk about your sexual escapades I'll feel left out, you know "
The goddess of the hearth interjected, trying to stop the conversation from going toward that direction. Although she wouldn't mind hearing about them.
"okay but who's fault is that?"
Aphrodite chuckled as she asked, earning a pout from the goddess, and Persephone simply smiled.
"Well If you want to know how to keep things fresh, I know just the trick"
Persephone said with more confidence than necessary, Aphrodite raised her brows in curiosity, and their conversation continued without much delay, leaving Hestia to sit there and listen like a child when two adults were talking.
...…
Deep in the ocean two Ginormous creatures were locked in deadly combat, a giant kraken was battling against its natural enemy a giant whale, their size difference mattered not, as they were both powerful creatures that could bring devastation to the surface world and were feared throughout the sea.
The whale was one with an impenetrable hide and a powerful tail and jaws capable of swallowing creatures whole and the Kraken had strength but it's specialty was poison and its sharp stingers in its tentacles that injected deadly poison to its enemies between the two titans, the battle was one of attrition. The whale hoping to kill the kraken before its poison wore it down and the kraken was doing vice-versa.
Unbeknownst to the two creatures, two gods were watching their battle with great enthusiasm, Hades and Hephaestus. The two gods were watching this epic battle between monsters through a large pane of glass, it was a mirror, that Hephaestus had created, a bigger rendition of the same one he has made for Aphrodite last year.
"That's my win"
The king of Tartarus folded his arms as he stated, fully believing in his victory.
"What are you talking about? the fight isn't even over"
Hephaestus objected to Hades' comment. The older god had the habit of calling things before they were over, and the accuracy of his predictions was hardly ever accurate.
"It's pretty obvious the kraken has the upper hand"
Hades said while unfolding arms and pointed towards the kraken , pointing at its multiple limbs that were wrapped around the whale, it stingers scarred the whale's hide, seeing as such he was quite confident on his judgement.
"Don't be ridiculous, your little kraken can't even deeply penetrate the whale's hide. What basis do you make your judgement"
He said, noting that the stinger only left minor flesh wounds and hardly penetrated deep into the whale's flesh.
"this match is over simply because of the fact your whale doesn't have the advantage of multiple limbs"
"just shut up and watch"
"you're being a sore loser"
Hades noted, the young god had the habit of denying reality sometimes as such the only way to have him accept defeat is by letting reality play out. He wonders how many bets has won against Hephaestus? Plenty of them. his win streak is impeccable.
"The match isn't even over yet"
Surely, this old man didn't think he won the bet simply because he thinks the creature he bet on was winning. Just because he won a few bets in the past means nothing. although the whale does seem a bit tired as it's movement had become sluggish, but admitting to that would only serve to prove Hades' right.
The two of them had taken the small house that was located just behind the royal palace, the Same house that Here formerly used to cry whenever Zeus cheated, Hephaestus had taken in and transformed it in to his personal God cave?
"Yes it isn't over, but it will be in a few moments, and you'll be giving me those 10 mithril coins."
Mithril coins were the part of the new form of currency of Olympus that Hephaestus had invented, Olympus had no form of trade in fact if someone wanted something they just asked someone to help them and in return they would owe them a favour not to mention that the majority of the gods saw no need to imitate humans and their ways so there was no need for currency. However with the introduction of finer clothing and Hephaestus using the royal castle as a store for clothes, the other gods saw the need to sell their own goods and services as well, creating the need for currency and in just a year currency became a staple thing, in essence Hephaestus created capitalism.
"as if, you'll be the one paying me!"
Hephaestus declared. However, confidence in that statement was quite shallow. It looked like he might actually lose the bet, but he quickly denied such a reality.
he currency was divided in to various coins made from precious metals, like bronze, iron, silver, gold, and mithril, the value of each coin was determined by its rarity and durability, both silver and gold were much rarer than iron making them more valuable, with mithril having greater durability than all of them and being rare pure mithril is rare, most of the of the royal palace from mixed silver and mithril, mithril mixed with iron or gold, with mithril being the superior metal any other metal mixed with it will take its colour even if it's just trace amounts. Pure un mixed mithril is incredibly rare and much more durable, hence why it's so valuable.
Naturally, with the creation of currency and stores new law had to be created and implemented, and that kept Themis quite busy, which is one of the reasons she seems to be tired all the time. On a side note a stadium was created for duels as many gods took to the idea after Hephaestus had defeated and naturally gambling became a thing and now the gods lived in a similar fashion at the humans, with only slightly differences.
"Just watch"
The two gods again focused on battle and kept quiet. Hades had wide grin on his face as it seemed the kraken had the upper hand, the whale seemed to be getting tired and slowly sinking further into the ocean, Hephaestus was gritting his teeth clearly not wanting to lose the bet, as the wo watched just anticipation, there was black mist like substance that suddenly made itself known.
"Huh! What's that?"
Hephaestus asked as the both of them squinted their eyes to focus on the suspicious looking mist, the mist crawled up from the depths of the ocean and slowly engulfed the two creatures, sensing the danger they tried to flee but the mist clung on the Spreading all over their bodies before completely swallowing the both and then suddenly disappearing from view leaving the two watchers perplexed about what just happened.
"I still won"
Seeing the results of the match were in conclusive Hades hurriedly claimed himself as the victor of the bet.
"no you didn't"
......
A/N: I thought I'd add some SOL moments as well and establish some friendships while adding some relevant information. Though I wish I could write something more comedic .
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