20 Days ('nother Hades n Seph fic)

[Persephone]

Maci: Hey, lookit, dad, the little nymph has a crush on you!
Hades: *facepalm*
Elisa, don't give Maci ideas. XDDD

"Daad, this is friggin' heavy."

"Deal with it."

"I want a raise."

"Hah. No."

"Four drachmas."

"Three."

"Do I get your blessing to go out with whoever I want?"

"Hell no. Don't push it."

"Ugh. Fine."

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"Persephone, where are you going?" Demeter cocked her head and folded her arms, an eyebrow arched as she spoke.

Persephone rolled her eyes, ripped off her stupid pink flower petal headdress, and turned. She pointed towards the backdoor of her cottage. "The garden," she said.

"Persephone."

"My garden."

Demeter hesitated, then nodded. "Okay, fine."

"You approve?" Seph said sarcastically.

Demeter glared at her.

She rolled her eyes again and went out back.

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Demeter's garden was like a giant greenhouse. Persephone's garden was like a giant rainforest.

Her power was mostly over flowers, so her entire garden was covered in color, every species of flower there was, every pigment imaginable. It was hot in this area, tropical temperatures, which most of the flowers there could deal with. There were certain areas that were reserved for certain flowers that needed different temperatures (she had arctic blossoms in the back).

There was heat, for the most part, though, and anyone else would have started to sweat buckets after about 20 or 25 mintues. Persephone was used to the heat, not just in here, but in general, seeing as she had been married to Hades for centuries.

She stode through her garden, doing her best not to step on the flowers that were everywhere, even though they moved all out of the way for her.

She stopped and leaned against a pair of apple trees that were in full bloom.

Two vines slid out of the gorund and hung themselves from the branches of the tree. A big leaf formed between the two and they gestured for her to come sit on the new swing.

Persephone giggled.

She sat and took ahold of the two vines like the chains of a swing, and pushed off with her feet and then she was in the air, the wind that was conjured by her soaring through the sky blowing her hair back. She giggled again and closed her eyes. It was like she was flying.

"That's very juvenile, mom," Macaria said.

The vines and Persephone stopped, the heels of her sandals digging into the ground to slow herself.

"I'm allowed to be juvenile," Persephone said simply, opening her violet eyes. She raised an eyebrow. In her daughter's arms was a huge pile of fabric.

"You're my mother," Macaria said.

"I'm only four years older then you."

Macaria rolled her eyes, muttered, "Which is insanely weird," and then stepped fowards. She dumped the pile of fabric into Persephone's arms.

Several vines slid out of the ground to help her unroll it. Persephone gasped when it was all unrolled.

"Wow," she exclaimed, her face lighting up. The fabric was a tapestry. Of herself. The border consisted of dozens and dozens of 10s.

"This is for you, too," said Macaria, handing her a scroll. Persephone let her vines take the tapestry and she accepted the scroll and opened it.

Okay....was I not clear when I said not to copy me? Come on, Seph. Originality is key!!

The tapestry, by the way, was made by the Fates. Let's see you try to copy this.

Happy 10th!

"I can find a way to copy it, I bet," Persephone smirked to herself.

"Please do so, it's fun to see him get all annoyed."

Persephone couldn't disagree.

"Now, I should really go before your mom catches me and gets pissed," said Maci.

Persephone sighed, and nodded. Maci disappeared.

"I wonder which one of my nymphs knows how to weave," said Persephone aloud, thoughtfully.

[Hades]

"Ianthe, you won't be able to carry this thing by yourself to the Underworld."

"I....can try."

"My daughter was barely able to carry this thing yesterday, and not only is she older and stronger then you, she's a goddess."

"...Okay."

"Hyale, go with her, please?"

"Sure."


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"Don't you have paperwork to do?" Macaria asked Hades, watching him in a bored way as he stormed around the throneroom, muttering.

He stopped, turned, and flared up at her. "I'm taking a break," he snapped, and he turned back around, not catching her eyeroll.

"Boss!"

Hades turned back around with an exaggerated annoyed sigh. Macaria tilted her head.

Panic ran into the room, a second before Pain tumbled in after him, and the two struggled to catch their breath.

"Th...there's...there's two of them now!" Pain gasped, and Panic wheezed, "They're on their way, and they're holding fabric--"

"She didn't," Hades said, his eyes widening. At the same time, Macaria said flatly, "Two of what?"

"Nymphs!" said Panic.

Macaria wrinkled up her nose and made a face. "Ew."

Before Hades could respond, said nymphs entered the room. One was the same girl who had been showing up for the past week, the purple girl, and then the other one was....different. She was all....clear and tranparent and shiny, like she was made of crystal. Her skin was a shimmery white, her hair looked like if she pulled it, it would crack and shatter, her eyes were a similar shiny white and her dress looked like it was made of frosted glass.

Ianthe gestured towards her companion, who was staring at Hades with wide, frightened eyes. "This is Hyale," Ianthe said, and Hyale blinked and shrunk back.

Hades raised an eyebrow. "Okay....now we have Purple Girl and Crystal Girl. Weird."

"Mom sure has some strange looking employees," muttered Macaria.

The pair moved so that each one was holding an end of the fabric. They walked in different directions so that the fabric - another tapestry - unrolled.

Hades narrowed his eyes and folded his arms.

It was the exact same thing he had given her yesterday, only HE was the figure woven in it, and the border was made of 9s.

Hyale stepped hesitantly up to Hades and handed him a scroll. Her very tip of her finger brushed up against his wrist and she darted away and hid behind Ianthe, quietly freaking out.

Macaria snickered as Hades covered his face with his hand and rolled his eyes.

After Ianthe managed to calm Hyale down, Hades decided to ignore the pair of nymphs and he unrolled the scroll and read it.

Turns out none of my nymphs know how to weave, but Athena does.

Yes, that's right. I paid Athena for this.

It's amazing what measures I'll go to to copy you, huh?

Happy 9th!

Hades stared.

Macaria giggled, and clutched to the armrest of his throne for some kind of support as she laughed.

"Yeah, it's hilarious. I know," Hades said sarcastically, and set the scroll down.

There had to be SOMETHING she couldn't copy. Sheesh.

[~Elisa Maza~]

*High fives Seph* Woot! I knew you could do it!

[Persephone]

"Losing our touch, are we?"

"Did I ask for your comment? No, I did not. Now scurry along."

"Ugh."

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She was done packing, her suitcases were lined up neatly by the door, and now Persephone reclined lazily on her woven couch (which, upon closer inspection would appear to be made out of strands of wheat; it was) picking at an open pomegranate. Demeter forced her to wear pastels during the spring and summer, but since the summer was nearing to a close, she reverted to her usual black chiton.

She wore it anyway, behind Demeter's back.

It was a good thing her chiton was black at the moment, because otherwise she'd be covered in red/pink/magenta stains from the pomegranate in her lap. They were messy, and Seph wasn't exactly eating in the neatest way possible. She was picking at it with her fingernails.

She sighed, and, with her elbow, pushed her hair out of her eyes and then stared out the window.

The remaining 8 days couldn't go fast enough. Whether Demeter liked it or not, Persephone'll be back in the Underworld THE SECOND it was the first day of fall. Who cared if techinally the first DAY of fall was on the 22? The sooner she could go back HOME, the better.

"Gimme one."

Seph blinked and returned her attention to inside her house. Macaria looked down at her.

"One what?" said Persephone.

"Pomegranate seed."

A smirk flitted across Persephone's face. She had taught her well. A child of Persephone should naturally have an extreme obsession with pomegranates, like the goddess herself did.

She had pomegranate soap in her bathroom, for Zeus' sake.

Persephone pulled a tiny red seed out and flicked it to Macaria, who caught in and popped in her mouth without hesistation. Maci wiped her slightly juice-stained hand on her black dress and practically threw a scroll at Persephone.

Persephone scooted out of the way and the scroll landed in the space next to her. Her hands were covered in pomegranate juice. She nodded to the scroll then looked expecantly at Macaria, plucking a few seeds and throwing them on her tongue as she did so.

She sucked the fruit off and placed the seeds themselves in a cup, which was nearly filled to the brim. You couldn't have enough pomegranate trees, and since she could make them grow quite easily (despite the fact that they had been in her mouth), she could (would) plant them in her Underworldian garden when she got home.

"Unroll that for me, please?" Persephone asked, then added as an explanation, "My hands are sticky."

Macaria gave her a blank look.

"I gave you a seed," said Persephone, raising an eyebrow.

Maci rolled her eyes, allowed herself a grin, and unrolled it, holding it open in front of Persephone. Persephone leaned fowards, read it, then narrowed her eyes slightly, the corner of her mouth turning upwards slightly in a tiny, diobolical looking smirk.

Now look what you've gone and done. You copied me so much, I lost my creative-ness.

Way to go, Sephy.

Happy 8th.

Macaria watched her carefully, then sighed.

"What?" said Persephone curiously, noting her expression.

"I figured you'd have more of a reaction. I mean, he called you Se--" She cut herself off, resisting the urge to clap a hand over her mouth. As a child, it had been repeatedly drilled into her head that while she didn't care whether Maci called her 'mother' or 'mom' or 'mommy' or even 'Persephone' or 'Seph,' it was never okay to call her 'Sephy.'

"Um," said Macaria, "Um, he called you.....that name. Y'know." She shrugged to punctuate her point. Personally, Maci couldn't see why Persephone got so upset whenever someone called her that - such an overreaction, honestly, she'd start screaming sometimes- but whatever. Us Greeks are insane like that, I suppose.

Persephone's sudden smile became fixed. "Oh, trust me, I'm not letting this go." She shrugged nonchalantly. "Not my thing to do so."

Macaria smirked. "Yell at him when I'm there. I wanna see." She crossed her arms.

"Can I have another pomegranate seed?" she asked.

Persephone pulled out a chunk, and handed it to her. The juice splattered on Macaria's pink hand.

Maci mock-curtesyed, grinning. "Thank you," she said lightly, then disappeared.

[~Elisa Maza~]

......

Hades did not just call her..... Oh my gosh.

[Hades]

"That's very pretty, Seph."

"Thank you, Ianthe. And thank you, Hyale, for helping me make this."

"Y'welcome, Seph."

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Ianthe walked calmly through the dark corridors of the Underworld, clutching the pretty little sculpture that Persephone had made. Persephone and Hyale, actually. Seph had asked Hyale to take it to Hades, since after all it had been her who was in charge of making it, but Hyale had quickly declined.

The white and shimmery nymph was obviously scared of Hades, like all nymphs were. Persephone had pointed out to them all that Hades wouldn't dare burn a flower out of respect (and terror) for her, but Hyale was different. She was the embodiment of crystal, like Ianthe herself was the embodiment of violet(s), and, as Hyale had told Ianthe firmly the day before, "...fire melts crystal, okay, and I will not be melted."

She entered Hades' office where he was again and became aware that in the silence something was...buzzing.

Somethings, actually.

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"Mom's pissed," Macaria stated, trying rather obviously to stir up trouble. Hades, who was used to it, didn't even look up.

"And why would that be?" Hades asked suddenly, his voice sarcastic, "What did ya do to her this time?"

"Me?" said Macaria, gesturing towards herself mockingly. She laughed, then her voice became sarcastically serious. "Was I the one that called her Sephy? Uh, don't think so."

Hades blinked, then rolled his yellow eyes. "I'm sure she's just writhing in anger," he drawled, a long finger tapping on the desk.

"She'll do something," pressed Maci, "She doesn't let things like that slide."

Hades wrote an 'alpha' on the papyrus and then followed it with a 'delta' then set the feather pen down and stared blankly at Macaria.

"Don't look at me," she sneered, studying her fingernails.

Hades narrowed his eyes, then replied, "I won't, but I'll be sure that at least half of Persephone's 'upcoming anger' is directed toward, you, mkay?"

"Thanks a ton, and good luck with that."

Ianthe entered the room with a little violet smile.

Hades' face twitched into a smirk. "Ooh," he said, "Now what is that?" His smirk grew, "Enlighten me, Purple Girl."

"It's for you," said Ianthe simply, and she set the crystal thing on his desk. It was very pretty, shards of eyecatching, rainbow crystal twisted around each other. Though the crystal was opaque, one could tell that it was somewhat hollow.

In the swirls of the structure two words could be found and those words were '7 Days'.

Hades picked it up and examined it, his smirk still in place. It really was pretty, and even Macaria seemed mystified by it.

Then the thing fell apart.

Ianthe looked confused, and so did Hades and Maci, but only for a moment.

It was hollow, but not empty. No, inside there was a tiny little scroll and...

....7 bees.

Hades immediately stood up and backed against the wall, somewhat alarmed as the 7 insects lazily flew around the room. Macaria vanished in a poof.

"Oh, the last thing I need is to get stung by a bee," Hades muttered, his hair flashing red as he swatted at a yellow and black creature that had flown by his ear. Another one came closer to him and settled comfortably on his arm, seconds away from sticking him with a stinger. Hades shook it off and backed up more.

Ianthe, confused as she was, didn't flinch as the bees swarmed around her and Hades. Bees wouldn't harm a flower, and that was what she was. A bee landed on her shoulder and actually attempted to pollinate her before Ianthe lightly blew it off.

Hades was swatting away the remaining six. The seventh joined them and they all became focused on circling around him.

"She sent be bees," Hades protested in a whiny wail, "Why the hell would she do that?" He vanished and reappeared by his desk and grabbed the scroll. The bees flew after him.

No-one calls me Sephy. Enjoy your bees.

<3 Seph.

Hades stared for a second, before realized that there were still bees floating around him and he resumed swatting them away. He didn't want a bee sting to worry about, no, not at all....

Was that Macaria snickering just outside the door?

Ianthe tilted her head, unsure of what to say, and then curtesyed, spoke politely, "Enjoy your bees," turned and left.

A now flaming yellow and black insect went flying across the room.

Hades stopped swatting for a moment and wondered if his evil-ness was rubbing off on Persephone.

[~Elisa Maza~]

*dies laughing, high fives Seph*

That was bloody brilliant!

[Persephone]

"What is that?.....um....forget it, I don't wanna know."

"Give it to Seph, okay? Ya don't need to know."

"I said I didn't want to."


"Pfft."

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6 days 6 days 6 days 6 days 6 days 6 days 6 days...

The voice in her head woke her up. Seriously. It was all the alarm clock she needed.

6 days 6 days 6 days 6 days

"I know," Persephone mumbled into her pillow.

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

"I got it," she said, louder, and sat up. The voice in her head shut up. Persephone smiled, her eyes still closed.

6 days.

Less then a week.

Gods, the days were flying by.

She had slept through the morning and it was now 12:00 pm. 12:01, if you wanted to be exact.

Persephone drew her knees to her chest and glowed, literally glowed. Gods and goddesses could turn their auras on and off like a light switch (not that there was a giant switch in her back or anything) but that took effort and energy. During night, when asleep, all divinities relaxed and let loose their auras.....it was always brightest in the night and then in the morning. Persephone's pink glow lit up almost the entire room.

A corner of her mouth quirked up in a smile. Hades had no aura ("Birth defect," he had told her flatly and then the subject had been dropped) and so during the nights when she was there his entire bedroom glowed pink.

Funny, really.

"Gods, you sleep late," said Macaria, entering Persephone's room without knocking or a care in the world. She seemed happier and impressed. Persephone guessed it wasn't because she had slept late.

Seph shrugged. "Only today," she said, then grinned crookedly, "I was up late thinking about me being diabolical. Did Hades like my bees?"

Macaria beamed. This was obviously the topic in which she had been so impressed with. "I was dying in the other room listening to him," she snickered, fully aware that that was a pun, "Mom, you're a freaking genius."

Persephone shrugged modestly, then said firmly, "Not even Hades is allowed to call me Sephy."

Maci grinned. "On the note of the bees, here's your daily pre-fall present." She held out a clear bag and a scroll. The bag held several blackened circular things.

Persephone squinted at them in confusion, noted that there were six, and then unrolled the scroll.

I enjoyed my bees, thankyouverymuch.

By the way, did you know bees smell funny when they're charred? I've provided a few examples in that bag. Enjoy your charred bees.

Happy 6th day!

Persephone made a face.

"Burnt bees?" she said aloud, setting the bag on a desk and not daring to open it and see what bees really smelt like when they were charred, "How....classy."

"Romance at it's finest," chimed Macaria, who was staring at the bag with a similar expression of distaste.

"Mm," said Persephone, nodding. She grinned wryly, then stood up.

"Tell hades to expect another insect tommorow," she told Macaria. Her tone held no clue as to whether or not she was kidding, "And I won't say if it stings or not."

Maci saluted, and vanished moments after she chirped a quick, "Got it."

Seph shook her head after she had gone.

Burnt bees.

Really.

Oy.

[~Elisa Maza~]

Burnt bees. Lol, Hades is acting a little petulant, no?

[Hades]

"Be careful now. Don't let it fly away."

"I won't."

"And please don't kill it by accident!"

"Oh, I won't! I'd never do such a thing."

"Great."

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Persephone's Underworldian garden was three things:

-Creepy
-Beautiful
-And friggin' big.

It was filled with pomegranate trees (thousands!) and every type of flower. All the flowers were dark colored.

They all died when Persephone wasn't here, and that made the garden even creepier. Hades stood at it's gates with a flat expression, staring.

As soon as Persephone was in the Underworld, her garden sensed her presence and came to live. Anyone watching would be shocked, because, it was, after all, shocking to watch.

A skeleton cat walked in between the withering black blooms.

"'Scuse me!" said Ianthe, suddenly behind him and staring with wide eyes at the garden.

"Did Persephone make those?" Ianthe said curiously.

Hades glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow, scowled at the dead cat which was lying down under a dying pomegranate tree, and nodded.

"Those aren't anything like the ones she makes on Earth," said Ianthe.

"It's all different in the Underworld." He shrugged. "Her powers go all screwy."

Ianthe tilted her head. She had never heard of one's powers being affected by one's realm before, but the Underworld was strange...maybe things were VERY different in the Underworld.

"So," said Hades, smirking slightly and changing the subject which was for some reason awkward, "What'd she get for me today? Wasps?"

"No," said Ianthe brightly, "A butterfly."

Hades looked confused.

"A what?!"

"A butterfly!" repeated Ianthe, and she opened her cupped hands. The black butterful crawled over her violet hands for a moment before it flapped it's wings and hovered upwards. It circled Hades a few times and he read, in the design on it's wings, '5 days' before it flapped quickly away.

It landed on a flower and rested. The cat looked up and tried to pounce on it.


Hades blinked.

"What's a cat doin' here anyway?" Hades muttered, watching the butterfly freak out and the cat pounce several more times.

Ianthe shrugged.

Hades shook his head and rolled his eyes as the butterfly fluttered past his ear and the cat followed it on the ground.

[~Elisa Maza~]

Squee! Five days!

[Persephone]

"AND JUST WHAT IS MOM GONNA DO WITH THIS THING?"

"I dunno....store it in a closet, under her bed, in the garden, sic it on Demeter."

"Dad, this is ridicul--IT'S SCRATCHING ME!"

"Crumple it into a ball or something. It's dead, it won't hurt it."

"Agh."

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"You look so happy," said Demeter in a dejected tone of voice, her chin(s) in her hand as she watched Persephone twirl around the room and slam shut suitcases.

"Well, that's because I am," said Persephone. She stopped twirling and stood by a stool that was up against the wall, "Only 4 days until I can come home, you know."

Demeter narrowed her eyes. "I know. Don't remind me."

Persephone shrugged. Demeter rose from her chair and walked absentmindedly around the room, like she was examining all of Persephone's things.

There was a pile of.....stuff on the table. Demeter picked an item at random from the pile and looked at it. It was a clear bag with several burnt ovals in it.

"Sephy, what's this?"

Persephone placed her hands on her hips and glared. Demeter cleared her throat and corrected herself.

"Persephone. What's this?"

The goddess of spring appeared next to her mother and peered at the thing in her hands. "Oh. Bees."

"Bees?"

"Burnt bees," said Persephone, taking the bag from her and placing it back on the pile of scrolls and such.

Demeter looked horrified. She wrinkled her nose in an expression of disgust. "And where," she said, "did you ever manage to get ahold of burnt bees?"


"Hades," said Persephone, collapsing onto her couch and draping an arm lazily over one armrest.

Demeter made another face. "Oh, that figures."

Persephone opened her mouth to retort but then whipped her head around to stare at the door. Because there was something scratching at the other side of the door.

She stood up, and she crossed the room, and she then opened it to see what the commotion was about. Something that was white and thin shot past her and Macaria practically fell into the room, her arms covered in lines by the triple, like something had been clawing at her.

"Gah," gasped Macaria, and she stumbled further into the cottage and sunk face first onto the couch.

"Yeesh," said Persephone, alarmed, "What happened?"

"Your present happened," Macaria spat, her voice muffled from the fact that her face was buried in the couch. She, without looking up, jabbed a finger in the direction of Persephone's bedroom. "It went that way."

Demeter rolled her eyes and disappeared as Persephone walked into her room. Her eyebrows shot up in alarm when she saw the white skinny thing again, only now it was much clearer to see what it was.

"He gave me a dead cat?" Persephone said skeptically, a hand running absentmindedly through her hair as she watched the skeleton cat claw at the foot of her bed.

"Yup," called Macaria from the other room, sarcastic "It's wonderful. It's dead, but it scratches and bites like it's alive."

"It's probably just scared," said Persephone.

"It's DEAD!" protested Macaria.

"So?" She approached the cat, which jumped away from her and hissed.

"There's a note in it's collar, good luck tryin' to get it out," said Maci.

The cat leapt onto the bed and Persephone pounced on it. The cat yowled and attempted to break free of her. Persephone ripped the note from it's collar and let it go; it hissed and yowled again, then retreated to a corner.

Persephone unrolled the scrap of papyrus and read it's contents.

I found this thing wandering in your garden...it's kinda vicious, but, hey, what in the Underworld isn't? Do whatever you want with it...Maci suggested you feed it to Cerberus when you get home.

Only 4 days left.

Technically, it's only 3 days until the 21st...but thanks to someone-DEMETER-ya gotta wait until like nighttime on the 21st til you can come back, so I guess that counts as a day.

Dunno why they call the 21st the equinox then, 'cuz it's really the 22nd....whatever.

"Loopholes," muttered Persephone. Stupid Demeter, she couldn't be satisfied with having Persephone for 6 months of the year, oh no, she had to attach extra time to her sentence, too....

The cat was hiding under her bed now and Persephone left it alone. She returned to Macaria, still lying on the couch. "Maci, don't you have to be going?" she questioned.

"I'm in pain here," Maci whined, but reluctantly stood up. She picked at a scratch on her forearm. "Stupid cat," she muttered, "Please get rid of it when you get home...I'm sure Cerbie'll love to play with it."

"Since when did you hate cats so much?"

"Since I nearly got mauled by one." Macaria glared, and then disappeared suddenly.

Persephone shook her head. The dead cat bolted out from her room and leapt onto the top of the couch, glowering with eyeless sockets at Persephone.

At least Hades was being creative.

[Hades]

"Only three days, Persephone!"

"I know. Time's flying, innit?"

"I'm gonna miss you, Seph."

"Oh, please. It's only six months until I come back, and you'll be surprised how quickly it passes...it always passes quickly."

"I know, but...still."

"Don't worry 'bout it, Ianthe...now go bring this to Hades, okay?"

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"The days are ticking by," said Macaria, ignoring the glare that she was recieving from Hades. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow after about 30 more seconds of silent glaring.

"Can I help you?" she said sarcastically.

"You're on my throne," he snapped, turning red and continuing to glare poisonously at her.

Maci studied her fingernails and smirked. She was, in fact, on his throne, and she damn well knew she wasn't supposed to be on it, but her throne was a piece of junk and, besides, it was fun bothering him. After a long pause, she said in fake skepticalness, ".....so?"

"So get the hell off before I roast you where you stand."

"Sit."

"Whatever."

She yawned and shot another fanged smirk at him. "You can't roast me, anyway. Not only am I a goddess, but..." Her entire arm engulfed itself in flame, "I'm fireproof. Inheritance, you know. Blame yourself for that."

Hades rolled his eyes and gave her another glare.

"I love this relationship we have," Hades said flatly, folding his arms.

"'Least you didn't swallow me," replied Maci. She rolled her eyes, too, and {slowly} got off his throne. She vanished and reappeared lying on her stomach on his chessboard. Hades gave her a dirty look.

"You can't win with me." She snickered.

"I hate teenagers," Hades muttered, and went to claim his throne (he did). He glowered at the rest of his throne room and then rolled his eyes again and drummed his fingers on the side of his throne.

"I'm bored," he declared.

"Good for you!" said Macaria, sarcastically bright, and the sat up and slid off the chessboard. She leaned against the side of it with her arms folded, facing him.

"Hey, only three days left until mom comes back, and then you can harrass her all day and then no more boredom. Works wonderfully."

Hades rolled his eyes for the fourth time.

"Actually," she spoke again, "I'm bored too. I'll see ya later, or something." She vanished with a curl of smoke, and for the fifth time Hades rolled his eyes. He resumed drumming his fingers on the arm of his throne.

Where were the imps when he needed them?! Gods, he could sure go for some imp-zapping right about now...

"Hello," said Ianthe, and she (with some difficulty) pushed the door open wider then it had been--it had only been open a crack and she couldn't have gotten through--and skipped into the throne room.

Hades became aware that his villainous image and rep was definitely slipping. He was sure none of the other big-shot villains would have ever let a lavender, flowery, nymph come skipping into their realm. Then again, none of those big-shot villains were married with children.

"So," Hades sat up and clasped his hands together with a smirk, "What'd Seph get for me now? Skeleton dog? More bees?"

"Flowers," said Ianthe, skipping (Again with the skipping, gods, have I gone downhill, Hades thought). In her slightly violet tinted hand were three flowers. All were bright blue. Hades had a feeling that if one were to move them to his hair, they'd match perfectly, but since they would incinerate if one were to do that, one could never be sure.

"Didn't she already give me flowers?" said Hades, taking the three, and setting them on the arm of his throne.

Ianthe shrugged, and handed him a scroll from Persephone.

Ah, routine.

Hades unrolled it, one finger absentmindedly tracing the petals of the flowers.

Sorry 'bout the repetition thing....I'm running out of ideas. Hey, I'm coming back in three days (!!), do we really have to worry about creative presents now?!

Happy third day mark! See ya soon!



Hades smirked as Ianthe exited the room with a wave.

So now he knew that he wouldn't have to rack his brain for ideas tonight. Creativity no longer mattered. Good to know.

[~Elisa Maza~]

Giselle: *starts singing, dancing, and skipping in Hades' throne room*

Elisa: I swear, I did not have anything to do with this! Just... Don't toast her.

[Persephone]

".....Whoa."

"I'll assume that's a whoa in my favor."

"...Eh."

"...Right. Go take this to Persephone."

"I'll try. Forgive me if I topple over while attempting to carry it."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Persephone, I'm gonna miss you!" wailed Demeter for the fourth time in the past 10 minutes.

"I know," said Seph flatly.

"Why do you have to leave so soon?" she sobbed, "Can't you stay for just one more day?"

She was so loud, Persephone was sure all of Olympus could hear her. At least she hadn't dragged her up to Olympus and made this a public display like she had last year. Oh, gods, had that been bad.

"I have no desire to stay any longer then I need to," said Persephone coldly, extending a hand and studying her fingernails, "Maybe if you let me stay with Hades for more then six months at a time, I'd be more open for hanging out a little bit longer."

She paused, and looked pointedly at Demeter. "But no."

Demeter buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

Persephone rolled her eyes. She could have pointed out that Demeter "frowned upon" Persephone's parting reactions when she had to leave Hades, but Demeter herself was reacting worse right now then Persephone did. She didn't, however, point this out, but she did sigh loudly and rise from her seat.

Persephone shot an apologetic glance over to Ianthe, who was seated on the other side of the room and was staring in a somewhat horrified way at Demeter.

Ianthe grimaced; Persephone motioned for her to follow her out of the room, and she did so. The two left Demeter wailing in Persephone's living room.

Persephone walked into her bedroom and sat crossed legged on her bed, playing with the hem of her dress.

Ianthe had never really gotten herself aquainted with Demeter. In fact, she never really hung around so much in Persephone's house either with her. So this whole 'Persephone's-leaving' ritual was new for her and she cast an awkward glance in Demeter's direction.

"Is she...okay?" Ianthe questioned tentatively.

Persephone rolled her eyes. "Yeah, unfortunately. Ugh, she's such a pain. And she's so dramatic. Just ignore her."

Ianthe winced and then said with a tiny smile, "No wonder you're always waiting to get back to the Underworld."

Persephone grinned back. "Well, it's more then just getting away from Demeter, although that plays a big part of it....my whole family's down there, y'know."

"But, isn't Olympus your family? And Demeter?"

"The family that cares about me, and that I care about, not these...other people who only care about themselves and spend days insulting us Underworldians."

Ianthe was silent. "...Oh."

There was a slight whoosh noise in the room and Macaria appeared. She stumbled as the sound of Demeter reached her ears.

"My gods," she gasped, "Someone either gag her or get me earplugs."

Persephone snickered lightly but then stopped as she noticed what Macaria was carrying.

"What," she said, stunned, "is that?"

Macaria set the thing in her arms on Persephone's bedroom desk. "I dunno. Some weird crystal sculpture present thing."

If you looked at it the right way, and Persephone was, it looked like a giant 2. But it was a complicated 2. Much like the thing that Persephone had given him a few days ago, only she was willing to be that not only did this not house bees, it wasn't hollow.

Cords of thick multicolored crystal wound around themselves, and it sparkled like crazy. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that there were tiny gems, dozens and hundreds of them, set in the crystal.

Ianthe caught her breath. "Wow. No wonder he's the god of wealth."

"Should be the god of heavy things," said Macaria bitterly, trying to work some feeling into her hands, which had....well, lost feeling after carrying that thingy.

"He outdid me," Persephone smirked, "So much for forgetting about creativity."

"It's only one day until you come back, he's not gonna give you some crappy little nothing for his finale," said Macaria.

Seph grinned. Demeter continued to sob in the next room.

"So," said Macaria, "I'll see you tommorow," she clapped her hands together and grinned brightly, "and you," she turned to Ianthe, "I'll see you next year."

She waved, glared at Demeter, and then vanished.

Persephone stood up and picked up the sculpture to figure out which suitcasde she could fit it in to.