PHILTATOS // Foolish X Reader

12

Eager to put the mosaic of Foolish and his brother behind you, you lead him back to the other parts of the agora, letting him wonder over each of the stalls and what the vendors were selling. He spent at least half of an hour cataloging every piece of jewelry one of the stalls bore, his eyes scouring over the precious gems and metals gleefully. It was amusing, watching him pick out the gold pieces like a harpy over a hoard, but you couldn't help the worry dancing in the back of your mind.

You had been so sure that seeing the mosaic of himself would have made him grin, but it had killed the mood instead. He had said before that not many people bothered praying to him anymore (though you couldn't exactly blame them - in a time of crisis the god of fools and creation was not someone you reached out to), and you'd thought that seeing the mosaic would at least make him feel a little better, but no. Perhaps it had been that Sofos was also pictured...

Either way, you were eager to put it you, and get Foolishs' mind back on the city, and how excited he had been before.

"Hey, look at this one!"

Foolish held his hand up very close to your face, causing you to blink and stagger backwards a step. Your gaze refocused to the palm of Foolishs' hand, to the little golden ring he had been trying to show you. It was simple - there were no stones inlaid in the band - but the shape of it reminded you of a crown, or maybe a row of shark's teeth. Either way, it reminded you of him - his true form anyway.

"It's very nice." You said, glancing over to the vendor, who was watching both you and Foolish out of the corner of her eye. "I don't know if I have enough coin to pay for something like that though."

"Oh- you don't have to." Foolish said happily, holding the ring in one hand and extending the other. Something around his ring finger shimmered, and slowly, an exact copy of the ring he was still holding began to form around his hand. "One of my things is creation-"

Quickly, you grabbed Foolishs' hands, covering the one that had the now almost fully formed copy of the ring on it with your own, and plucking the real ring out of his fingers to hand back to the woman. "Thank you." You said, starting to steer Foolish away from the stall. "Your work is beautiful- have a lovely day!"

"Wait, the ring - Y/N-"

You ignored Foolishs' protesting as you walked him away from the jeweler's stall, leading him by the hand that was still clasped in yours. When you pulled your hand away, a fully formed copy of the ring was wrapped around his finger. "You can't do things like that Foolish." You hissed.

Foolish blinked at you. "Yes I can? I'm the god or creation -"

"No - you can't do that when you're pretending to be human." You clarified. "Human's can't just do... whatever that is."

Foolish flushed at that, looking down at the hand that bore the copy of the ring now. "Right." He said sheepishly. "I forgot for a minute... sorry."

"It's fine." You said, looking at the ring on his hand now. "It's not like anyone will believe her if she started telling people about it..." It wasn't the worst thing that could have happened, you were sure, and you had caught it pretty early, but it was exactly what you had been worried about before. "You're just lucky that nobody else saw it either."

Foolishs' eyebrows furrowed. "Well, it's not like there are many people around here to see anything anyway."

Your eyebrows furrowed, and you turned to glance around the rest of the agora. You had been more focused on the mosaics and the wares before, but now that you looked, it was unusually empty. The place was usually crowded with beggars and shoppers alike, but now only a few people mingled about the stalls. "That's odd..."

"Yeah, you said this place was usually super stuffed, right?" Foolish said, following your gaze as you looked around. "Seems kind of empty to me." He laughed. "Weird."

You were about to agree with him, until a loud clang echoed through the agora, drawing your attention to the sky. The bell tower rang in a slow and steady succession, and you squinted up at the sky, finding the sun right above your head. Midday.

It was no wonder the agora was empty - the colosseum was just getting started for the day.

"They've all probably gone to the colosseum." You said, turning back to Foolish. "The fights usually start around now, and most of the city attends, so-"

"Can we go?" Foolish cut you off, that excited gleam coming back to his eyes.

Your stomach dropped. You hadn't attended a fight since they stopped being the traditional fights and had started being execution shows for hundreds of prisoners a day. Just watching all those people meet their demise made your stomach curdle - you would have rather taken a dip in the ocean yourself than go to see a fight.

"Please?" Foolish asked again, sensing your hesitation. "I'd really like to see the whole city gathered in one place - and you said everyone attends! It's got to be worth watching."

Green eyes pleaded with yours, and you could feel yourself wavering. The colosseum was one of the most important parts of the city, after all - you would be doing Foolish a disservice not to show him. There was no better way to have Foolish understand the city than to see all of it's people gathered in one place - if you were lucky, the caesar would be there too.

"Y/N?" Foolish asked, rocking forward on his toes lightly.

"I suppose we could go." You said. "You have to promise to stay close though, it's a lot of people-"

Foolish wasn't listening though, he was already heading off in the direction the bells had come from, a wide grin on his face.