Hades ♚ Andrus Kalda (ofshadows) wrote in mythologs, @ 2012-05-07 11:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | hades, persephone |
[closed/complete]
Characters: Hades (ofshadows) and Persephone (anironqueen)
Date/Time: 05/06
Location: Asser Levy Recreation Center
Rating: Low
Warnings: None
Summary: The King and Queen of the Underworld go for a swim.
Having no use for swimming didn't mean she had no need of swimsuits. She enjoyed rolling beneath the warm sun, whether on the roof of her building or on the beach. But Hades wanted to go for a swim and Persephone relented because it was difficult to deny him many things.
Not telling him immediately about what had been going on in her place during the last game wasn't denying as much as stalling. In the end, she would submit to him, as she would to her father and mother. He would know whatever he wanted.
She really hadn't packed anything, wearing her swimsuit beneath her clothing. She'd not even brought her cell phone or a wallet. For good reason, she felt that Hades would take care of whatever problems rose up. He always had before.
A reliable husband, that man.
After a few well-placed phone calls with programmed modulators, Hades had managed to get one of the Asser Levy's outdoor swimming pools reserved for Persephone and himself. He had to contain a touch of smugness - knowledge was the true currency of any country. He'd known that from the start - how could the god of wealth not? As a consequence, even though he'd the appearance of a harmless immigrant boy, he knew he was slowly amassing hiw own brand of influence, one that relied on circuit boards and programs, but an effective one nevertheless.
Like Persephone, he'd worn a shirt over his swimming apparel. He greeted her arrival with a pointed look, giving no evidence that he had not forgotten the attentiveness of her false self. He'd intended to bring Ivika to distract them both, but the little girl's presence would be a more than convenient excuse for his wife to keep silent.
Hades did respect his wife's privacy, but it was rare that she made an overt attempt to hide information from him. Even Adonis, he had known about, and he had been more amused than annoyed by his wife's fondness of the mortal. She knew that he could always accept matters when it came to her (and on the occasions that he could not, he took decisive action). Whatever she was hiding was thus of paramount importance, and he would not be content to suffer ignorance of it.
Adonis had been a lovely creature to keep around, much like a beautiful pet that one want to stroke and feed delicious treats. She'd even fondly admired Pirithous and Theseus when they were forced to be immobile in the Underworld. Perfect decorations they were (such a pity her half-brother had to take one).
Upon their arrival at the pool, she made a faint clucking sound and slipped a hand around Hades' arm as she leaned toward him. "We're alone here. Should I be worried?"
Teasing, it was safe and simple. Easy for her to distract herself with it and not think about the two Hades who had vied for her attention, on occasion with some measure of force. If Ivika was there, she would have taken advantage of that and would have made the little girl the center of attention for as long as possible.
Unfortunately, her teasing was not as easy to tolerate after a week of her false self's far more aggressive advances. Gently, but firmly, he manuevered himself out of her grasp. There was a brief touch to her shoulder - to show that nothing was amiss - before he pulled away entirely
"You'll be fine," he promised, walking ahead and pulling his shirt off. Laying the garment on one of the reclining seats, Hades sat facing the seat beside it, arms resting on his lap. The water next to them looked cool and inviting, the light being reflected in myriad directions on the tiled floor.
He looked at her calmly and patiently, but not without expectation. They both knew what was weighing on Hades' mind.
A flutter of anxiety was felt in her belly even after the touch she wished had lasted a moment longer. Having no idea why he reacted as he did, she could only presume it had to do with her denial of information. Lips pressed and rubbed together nervously, she went to sit on the other seat, knowing what was being asked of her. Though her shirt and shorts remained on for the time being, she slipped off her sandals.
"I suppose I have to confess my mysterious week without you before I can see you wet." Partial teasing. It couldn't be helped but it was without a smile. Her bare toes twitched and then curled up, appearing as fretful as she was. "There were two of you, Hades. Along side Mother and the children, there were two of you."
"Me now and me then," he guessed, but with enough of his natural monotony for it to sound more like a statement than a supposition. It would never do to sound uncertain, and though this was Persephone, Hades had been so long accustomed to the mindset that speaking in anything other than a deadpan was unnatural.
Of course it wouldn't have been hard to guess. Teeth scrapping over her lower lip a bit, she shifted to bring her legs up and fold them beneath herself. It was movement that would grant her a movement to think of what to say exactly to that. Or, rather, how to explain.
"Yes," Persephone finally offered. "You're right but I suppose that's not surprising. What else has been worrying me since I saw you? Foolishly." That last bit was added with a touch of bitterness, entirely toward herself.
He agreed that it was foolish, but he knew better than to touch on the add-on. Hades responded as if he had never heard, "I do not see the issue."
And truly, he saw no cause for concern. From what he'd seen, people had received simultaneous versions of supposedly parallel lives. If Persephone had contemplated perfection with him as he had been and him as he was, there was nothing surprising in there being two of him. If anything, he felt a smidgen of masculine pride - in both forms, he was included in her understanding of the ideal.
"No, I suppose you wouldn't," she replied with a small laugh and she was moving yet again, her fidgetiness something that could be likened to that of a worm on a hook. Feet pressed against the cool concrete again, she reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Casting it aside, she wriggled out of her shorts next and those landed atop her shirt.
With the sun warming her flesh, like it hadn't all winter, the goddess of renewal sat a moment and enjoyed the feeling. But the break between words wouldn't linger too longer. "You both were the same."
He averted his eyes when she disrobed, opting to swing his legs into his recliner and gaze out at the water. It was ridiculous of him, but he accepted that taking control of a teenager's body required more discretion than a more matured one would.
"The same?" Enough of a lilt for it to sound like a question, but these things were always difficult to pick up with Hades. She would be able to, he knew. After all the years of getting used to him, she must have learned to decipher the minute changes in his inflections.
"I don't know how else you want to say it," she offered back, mildly frustrated, picking up that it was, indeed, a question opposed to a statement and carried on without pause. "You were the same. Old or young, you were the same. Arrogant and dominant and the same outside of your physical difference."
How she wished could jest about that (even if she didn't know certain details as she had not indulged either and kept her door barred at night) but she wasn't in the mood. She huffed and used a toe to poke him in the thigh as she continued.
"I'm sure you're well used to people finding out you were always right in the end, but don't rub it in."
"I am not rubbing it in." He turned towards her, an enormous amount of self-discipline keeping his eyes level on her face. "We agreed you would have time to come to your own conclusions. And you have come to them, on your own time."
He had not expected for them to come so quickly or so agreeably, though he hated to have anything to be thankful to Khaos for. No, this would have happened had it taken years or more, Hades was certain, and human years made little difference to a man who had lived thousands.
At the very least, he would not have to be forceful. He knew when his container was older and more powerful, he would have lost the hesitation to take by such aggressive means. But, in truth, it was different contemplating being rough and unforgiving with a wife of countless years than a young woman one hardly knew. He was less concerned with her opinion when she was nothing to him but an object of desire; as one who had proved herself his equal, he had to confess to some amount of scruples.
Persephone had genuinely bigger things to worry about that him eyeballing her breasts (and much else). She was still thinking on the uneasy she had displayed some time ago, kicking herself for not having been more sensible. Yes, Khaos had sped up things, throwing in her face reality even when she had tried to flee from it. There had been no dodging the truth, though.
Nineteen or older, Hades' soul would never change. Not his mind or heart. The body was just something to cope with but the child of spring should have to worry so. Where once she thought it would upset the balance, it hadn't. Her fretting, thumb-nibbling and anxiety had be just silly.
A small huff again, planting her hands just behind herself to lean back on her arms. "I feel like how I was before you took me. Unwise and lacking all good judgment." Frowning, she added, "I am surprised you didn't try to force the matter. You were very patient."
"It would have accomplished nothing." That much was for certain. He supposed he could have chained her up somewhere quietly enough, but how long before her sisters and brothers came looking, followed by her father? He was not foolish enough to take on the Blackwells, or to make himself more noticeable than necessary on their radar. Now was not the time.
"You really think so?" She wondered about that and decided there was a likely chance she would have fretted even more, possibly rebelled out of simply feeling pressured and rushed.
It was oddly nice to have been given a chance to feel out things for herself. A positive look on the whole matter, that's what that was. And it came straight from the man who had once given her no say on being taken.
A grin replaced her look to contemplation. "So you gave me a choice, unlike before. How sweet"
Hades replied only with a grunt. The conversation was straying into an avenue Hades was not equipped to handle. Perhaps Hermes or Apollo might have responded with flowery words, Poseidon or Zeus with sexual overtures. But Hades had never been like his relatives.
So he stood, approaching the edge of the pool. He looked back at her, a small smirk on his face. "Swimming or not?"
At least she wouldn't press, not today. Persephone had her answers, had given him what he wanted to know and it had gone well enough as far as she knew.
But at the prospect of seeing him wet, she perked up even more. There was something a bit too enthusiastic about her smile (if he only knew her temptation leap up and push him in with as little warning as possible). Had she a tail, it would have been wagging and most happily. "That depends entirely on you, husband," she replied, up on her feet, hands clasped behind her back. "And how tempting you make the water look."
"Tch."
With his unnatural grace, he dove into the water. The break of his body through the surface did not make half so much sound as it ought have. He sliced through the water with ease, assisted by his ability and familiarity with the water.
He resurfaced, facing her, and waded his way back to the shallower part of the pool. The water came up to his waist. Gazing up at her, he raised a hand to push his hair back. "Good enough, wife?"
There had been a 'oh' and then a laugh before she made her way over to where he had swam to. Crouching down, she reached out to splash some water at him. Men did always look more divine when soaking wet. It was a truth she didn't think any woman would really want to deny. "Good enough? I say I'm delighted, dearest!" She splashed at him again, perhaps wanting to provoke a response.
"But make a bigger splash next time." Her smile nearly turned into a smirk. "No one's here to judge you except little ol' me."
He defended himself from her assault with a raised arm. Oh, he'd show her a big splash. He neared the edge, raising his arms out to pull her into the water.
Something in Turkish was uttered when wet hands were felt followed by mousy squeak before she met the water. There was relief and shock at once, the cool water sweeping over her heated limbs.
But she was definitely going to tell Artemis about this one day. And her mother.