Hades flinched at the contact. A shock ran up his spine. He did not know what dangers he had expected to face that day, but a friendship goddess barreling forward and attaching herself to him was not one of them. He didn't have that kind of imagination for danger. He did know he didn't like to be touched. It reminded him that he could be.
Hades didn't really know what to respond to with this goddess. She said things that indicated she wanted responses, but then moved onto the next topic too fast to get them. Hades hadn't met anyone like that before. He raised an eyebrow while she backpedaled. The good thing about her pace was that it let Hades ignore the topics that he didn't really want to acknowledge or think about, or discuss. Talking about his childhood wasn't going to instill anyone with confidence in Hades' leadership. There wasn't anything to say about it really anyway.
“I know her,” Hades said with a short nod. He didn't know Nike nearly as well as Bia, but that wasn't something he really wanted to get into either. There was very little from Hades past that he wanted to get into. Hades had lived for years already and he still hadn't found a single thing he wanted to talk about. He understood why their mother had done what she did, but that did not mean that Hades had to like it. He didn't. It was just one more thing for the golden thunder god to just have handed to him like everything else. Hades didn't want to use any of their names. If he used their names then they had to be people. Family. Hades' family. If he didn't use their names they didn't have to be anything. Hades gently removed his arm from Philotes' grasp, but slowed his pace a little to match hers better.
He looked at her sideways. “What do you think could be improved?” Hades asked.