Goddess • Ben Beast

3

6/6/24

They'd arrived in Auradon too late for dinner, and she was hungry.

Finding the kitchen proved difficult, eventually she found herself lost in a maze of buildings and corridors.

After many dead ends she plopped down on a bench with a huff, scrubbed a tired hand across her face.

"Hey."

She jumped, which wasn't like her, she didn't spook easy.

Ben came around from behind the bench, his suit long gone, replaced with grey sweatpants and a blue t shirt.

"Lost?"

He asked with a small smile, an almost teasing glint in his eye.

"Yeah I was looking for the kitchen, didn't get a chance to eat earlier."

She admitted, running her hand through her blonde locks.

It was a stress thing, anytime she was anxious or upset she couldn't stop playing with her hair.

"Oh shit, yeah um... here let me take you."

He offered her his hand.

Persephone stood without taking it, gesturing for him to lead the way.

"So... what kinda stuff did you guys eat on the isle?"

Persephone nearly laughed, for a future king the brunette seemed quite awkward. She supposed to him, the answer seemed like a matter of cultural differences. In reality, it was more of a class difference.

"Well, there's no open land for farming, so your dad ordered shipments of grain and canned goods to be sent to the isle monthly. Of course there's no administration once it's on the isle, so there's a riot once a month where everyone struggles over the food. Which is different from the other riots, because it's about survival, not turf or some shit."

Ben winced at that, stuffing his hands in his pockets as they walked.

"We eat a lot of seafood, which I hate. And... well Evie's mom has an apple tree."

He nodded along, holding open a door for her, which she assumed led to the kitchen.

It was enormous, tons of counters, sinks, and stoves, a huge walk in pantry, and pots and pans hanging left and right.

"Of course every few apples, there'll be a poison one. One bite knocks you out for a week, so it's kind of a crapshoot. There's no magic on the isle, but poison doesn't have to be magical."

Ben chuckled at that, which made Persephone grin.

He was so desperate to relate to the villain kids, he was willing to laugh along like- ah yeah, good ol evil queen.

It was kind of endearing how hard he was trying.

"So well there's probably leftover lasagna from dinner in here."

He said opening the oversized fridge.

"Lasagna?"

"Never tried it? Here let's heat some up."

Ben helped her put a red square of lasagna into the microwave to warm, and when it was finished she took a tentative bite.

The flavor reminded her of the canned tomatoes she'd had on the isle, but so much better.

Ben watched as she savored it.

"Good?"

"Yeah, great."