Hades and Persephone

A Date With the Girls

"What's your plan today, sweetheart?"

Demeter stood in the doorway of the sitting room, already dressed for work. Her dark green suit blended into the colour of the walls and surrounding plants, and there was a tulip in her hair today. Persephone was still in her too small pyjamas, sprawled across the sofa, one leg dangling over the edge. A bowl of toasted pancakes sat on her stomach, and Persephone ate them with her bare hands, licking the syrup from her fingers. Demeter frowned ever so slightly, but she has long since learnt not to question her daughter's actions.

"Going to go meet up with my friends," Persephone said.

"I thought Hermes had work on Fridays."

Of course, Demeter thought Persephone was only friends with Hermes. And that was only the case because Demeter never let Persephone out to meet other friends. Persephone loved her mother dearly, but sometimes she just wanted to scream. Only, she never wanted to upset Demeter (she'd seen Demeter angry once, it was not fun) and so she never screamed. Eating a lot of sugar helped her keep calm.

"I was talking about my imaginary friends," Persephone replied. "Y'know, the ones I can never see because I'm locked up here all the time."

Now Demeter's frown wasn't so slight. "Kore... we've talked about this..."

Kore, Kore, Kore. We've talked about this. It's for your own protection.

Persephone, not Kore, glowered at her mother, then stuffed a pancake in her mouth.

Demeter was no longer smiling, nor was she looking at Persephone. "Well... have fun... I'll see you after work."

"Good luck," Persephone grumbled, though since her mouth was still full of pancake, it sounded as if she had said nothing at all, and Demeter retreated with a defeated sigh.

Persephone sighed herself, then stuffed another pancake into her mouth. She really needed a bunch of sugar in the morning to get her going.

With Demeter gone, Persephone sullenly gobbled up the rest of her pancakes, finished washing the breakfast dishes, then got dressed. ready to head out on a date with her not so imaginary friends.

It really wasn't that hard to leave Mount Olympus. Persephone simply had to, well, walk away. No one really knew her face, apart from a few gods, and if a local stopped her to say she looked like Demeter, Persephone would shrug and say she was a nymph who worked for her. Not that she was ever really stopped. Persephone had found out if you walked anywhere quick enough, and with enough attention, no one would question that you weren't even supposed to be there.

Down in the mortal realm, Persephone made her way to the usual meeting place, a small pub by the name of The Dusty Chimpanzee, just one part of a large chain of small pubs by the name of Wetherforks. They were never fantastic places, but the food was decent, and decently priced too, and you could always rely on there being a Wetherforks in town.

"Persi!" Psyche called out when Persephone had entered the pub. Psyche was already sat at the regular table in the corner, alongside Arachne, and was waving Persephone over. As Persephone trotted over to the table, Psyche clasped her hands to her chest and said, "Girl, you look super cute today."

"Thank you. I put in no effort whatsoever," Persephone said, twirling around so her green maxi skirt could flutter around her ankles.

"Really? Even with those flowers?" Arachne asked, nodding to the bright pink ones threaded through Persephone's hair, something she asked every time they went out.

"Even with these flowers," Persephone chortled, because it was true. As a goddess whose whole schtick was growing flowers, decorating her hair with different ones every day really wasn't that difficult. As she plonked down, she said, "And you girls look extra cute today too."