“Oh no,” Lottie immediately shook her head at the suggestion. When Persephone had laughed at her impression, Philotes had beamed with satisfaction. Lightening the mood had definitely been her goal, since she was pathologically incapable of remaining stern, serious or tense for any great length of time. Her endurance for being upset, sad, bored and angry were somewhat lacking as well. She could not help but to try to bright then mood. But the idea of showing Hades her impression of him found her no longer smiling.
“No,” she repeated. “I can't show him that. He wouldn't appreciate it like you did.” That was an understatement. “It would upset him.” Though he would do his best not to show it. “It would hurt him.” And that was why, in the end, she couldn't do it: Lottie couldn't stand the idea of hurting him.
But Persephone wouldn't want that either. Lottie knew how unhappy she'd been when she first got here. Back then she might have wished to hurt him, but not now. Not since she'd come to know him. She had to see, didn't she, how big Hades' heart was despite his efforts to hide it? She had to know, didn't she, how much Hades loved her? Lottie hoped so, but she wasn't certain. Surely Persephone wouldn't wish him pain.
That conclusion was affirmed by her comment about him needing time. He truly did. Philotes though back to her first meeting with him, which very nearly got off on the wrong foot, and where she was in her own relationship with him now. Outsiders might not be able to see how far he'd come, but Lottie could. He evolved. And that was never a speedy process. Obviously Seph understood that too.
“Someday, maybe,” she offered with a smile to take some of the sting out of her immediate refusal. “But he and I, our friendship isn't there just yet. I'm working on him, but I don't know that he's ready for that level of teasing. At least from me.”
She gave her queen a decidedly impertinent grin. “Of course if you want to tease him with it, I'm sure he wouldn’t mind at all. Would you like to practice? I can give you tips.”