.:*・°☆hera

Zeus knew there would be pushback, and logic and reason to shut down what Hera thought were simply drunken ramblings. He finished off his glass of wine, a Malbec that he knew Hera to be fond of, and settled back sadly into his seat. Tonight was his night of wallowing - tomorrow was his day of action. It seemed wrong to blur the two, but he couldn’t help speaking up for himself. “No, we’ve known each other for ages. For an eternity. You are my beginning and my end.” Instead of telling her things he knew she wouldn’t believe, he decided to latch onto the things she might have a shot at believing. “He’s married. The vows you’re so fond of? Every time he touches you, he’s pissing all over them.” If there was any karmic justice in the world, his entire being would go up in flames at the utter hypocrisy of that argument, but fate seemed to be asleep at the wheel and nothing happened. “No thank you. I’ll stay here until I die or pass out, and hopefully bring on some bad internet reviews for this shadow of hell he calls a bar.”

Her brow furrowed at his words, honestly having no idea what he was talking about. This was their second time meeting and here he was, drunken rambling about eternity like they were somehow fated for each other. But fate wasn’t real and she knew that she wasn’t this man’s anything. Her jaw dropped slightly and she let out a short breath like she’d been hit in the gut when he said that the guy she was dating was married. Her skin suddenly crawled in every small place that he’d touched and she was supremely grateful that they hadn’t slept together yet. “He’s married? He doesn’t have a ring. Or pictures or....no one’s said anything about seeing him with someone else,” she said, unsure which of the two men to believe.  She turned to look back towards where Hades’ office was, wanting to storm in and demand answers right then, but the comment about dying or passing out brought her back to the conversation. “Try to have a little more self respect than that,” she said a little coldly, unamused with his dramatics when he was simultaneously trying to ruin her relationship. 

Ten minutes, millennia, what was the difference? He was going through the loss of a life partner, and the dash of lemon juice in his wound was the fact that she only remembered ten minutes of their time together. The ache was so real and sharp that he started talking without any hope of dialing back. So what if she thought he was crazy? He would murder Hades and wind up in prison before it mattered. Or more likely he would spend the next few decades hunting down a witch of his own to reverse this madness. “You don’t get it. He’s using you, to get to me. He’s being an asshole. And the worst part is, you would never date him in your right mind. You’re….” Zeus’ train of thought was cut off by the very obvious thud of a water glass hitting the table in front of him, and a small spark flew from his fingertips in surprise. “Don’t you feel like something’s missing, Hera? It feels like someone peeled every inch of my skin off, and you’re walking around like you’re fine. I need you to remember.”

Hera had heard plenty of drunken rambles in her day, but not one quite like what the man in front of her was saying. None of it made sense, but he seemed so sure of every word he was saying. She shook her head at the idea of Hades using her to get to this guy she barely knew. “We started dating before I met you. That doesn’t make any sense. And why would you care anyway?” she pointed out, hoping he’d start saying things that actually meant something. The question about something missing felt entirely too personal to answer and so she didn’t, because he didn’t need to know about how her life felt weirdly empty, how memories felt softer than reality should. “Remember what? I think you should drink that water and I’ll call you a car, okay?”

Zeus had been served long past the point of coherence, and any other place in the city would have cut him off and sent him home in a cab. But this was his brother’s bar, and he had a feeling Hades would keep letting his staff serve Zeus until he died of alcohol poisoning in his new and pathetically weak body. At the bottom of his second bottle of wine, a god of serendipity decided to answer his prayers and delivered a vision of his wife to set his mind at east. After a few seconds of admiration, his mind caught up to the vision and he realized she was real and he wanted to curl up in a ball immediately, so she never had to see the disgrace he had become. “I remember every second you’ve ever spent on me,” he tried as smoothly as possible, though the effect was ruined by a hiccup and the slightly slurred words. He couldn’t handle the reality of talking to Hera about Hera at the current moment, so he sidestepped her inquiry entirely to get to the meat of the issue. “You’re dating my brother. And you’re way too good for him.”

“All ten minutes? Very impressive,” she said with a gentle smile when he hiccuped. Were they really still serving him when he was clearly drunk? She slid into the barstool next to him and motioned for the bartender to bring him some water. “How much have you had?” she asked gently, hoping that he wasn’t actually as bad as he seemed. She supposed she could just stick around for a bit, call him a cab whenever he was ready to head out. Her brows raised in surprise at his statement before she tried to blink away the surprise. “Your brother?” she questioned. “I can’t imagine there are that many bar owners around here who go by Hades. Why didn’t you say anything last time?” she asked curiously. It seemed like a weird thing to just skip past.  “You barely know me or what I deserve. And he seems...well, he’s been really good to me so far.”

@king-ofgods

“Hmmmm. Fighting the inevitable, it seems,” he teased lightly. It made sense that his goddess turned mortal would swing in the polar opposite direction. Their psyches were hidden deep below the surface, and pulled them whether they knew it or not. Once he got his powers back full force, maybe he could woo Hera with some Superman display. And for all that was once sacred, he needed to stop dedicating so much of his energy on mortal culture - that’s all he had done for the past year while he waited around for his powers to come back, and now his wife had strayed to someone new and different. “Opposite how?” Zeus couldn’t answer her for a few long seconds, wondering how he could possible boil any of this down into something simple and uncomplicated. It wasn’t about love, not anymore. He had always loved her, quite possibly from the minute he had first seen her. She had never looked back until he had made her, and she had been unhappy ever since. Maybe it was only fair to let her get her own turn at running around. “Then I’ll let her go. If it’s meant to be, she’ll come back. I’ll try to be a better man in the meantime.”

She considered his question about how her current guy was opposite of how she’d imagine Zeus. “He’s.....dark. I always imagined Zeus to just seem very....bright and wholesome and this guy...he’s the opposite. He seems a little cold and mean but he’s actually really kind and sweet and honest. And there’s the obvious in that he runs a club called The Underworld and goes by Hades, but his actual name is Hunter. I like him,” she said with a soft nod of her head. He’d been good to her so far, but they’d only been on a handful of dates so there was plenty of time for him to disappoint her somehow. Her smile faded when the man said he was going to let his girlfriend go, disappointed in that answer. He should have been fighting for her, but if he didn’t want to put forth the effort, then he really didn’t deserve her, she supposed. “If it was meant to be, you’d be fighting, not laying down,” she said gently. “Being willing to let go so easily is selfless but also a little.....I don’t know. I don’t think I’d go back to a guy who didn’t fight for me. But maybe that’s just me,” she said with a shrug. “I hope it works out for you eventually....whether with her or with someone new. You seem like a good guy, for the most part.”

“I like that you’ve taken to your namesake so strongly,” he admitted, a smile gracing his face as he tried to remember whatever the hell he had told her his name was. “So, Hera. Who’s the lucky Zeus?” The marker on her wrist was visible now and it sent a sharp jolt of warmth through him, quick as a lightning flash. They had dissected his relationship. Did she have one of her own in the mortal world? The idea was maddening. Jealousy sprung up at the mere thought of it. Of course she would date now - she had no memories of him and was finally free from her marriage. The warmth was gone now, and so was the light feeling the wine had given him. This was the divorce he never thought he would have to fear, but in the form of a witch and the curse of being mortals. He chuckled darkly when the version of Hera that wasn’t with him assured him that her normal self was with him by choice, the sharp twist of a knife. “What do you think, then? We both agree she’s too good for me. Do I fight? Or do I let her try to find something or someone that does deserve her?” Zeus was ancient, too old to change his colors now. He would always get bored. He would always try to find new thrills with new lovers, and he would always circle back to a hurt Hera. This was the breaking of the cycle.

“She’s a strong woman. I could be named after worse,” she said with a shrug. Her brow furrowed at the question before remembering the sharpie on her wrist. She looked down at it with a fond smile. “I don’t even remember writing this, honestly. I have no idea who it’s referring to,” she said with a soft smile. “I am sort of seeing someone. It’s new and he’s...kind of the opposite of Zeus, I guess,” she said, though it felt strange to talk about. She wasn’t sure it was even that serious so why spend time on it? She took another sip of her wine as she considered his question about whether or not he should fight for his sort-of-girlfriend or let her leave. “Do you love her? If you love her, then fight for her. Who says you can’t be the guy that deserves her? But if you don’t think you’re capable or don’t want to put forth the energy to try then...it only seems fair to let her go. Only you really know the right answer here.”

Zeus knew he wasn’t laying a good foundation for their mortal relationship. He ought to be properly wooing Hera like the lady she was, proving his devotion to her now that they had a blank slate. But he was drawn to the track of arguing his side freely. This was possibly the most honest they had ever been about their relationship. “That’s what gods do. They’re tricksters. He knew he could never have her any other way. Ladies of honor don’t lie down with foxes. Not right but - they were old fucks, their ways were very archaic. And,” he continued, knowing that they both knew way too much about the gods for this to look like a normal conversation. Still, if Hera knew this much about herself from mythology, that had to be a good sign. “She was the goddess of marriage. Even if she had wanted to stray, she wouldn’t have been able to. If she had the same freedoms, do you think she would have indulged?” Zeus chuckled and picked up his glass again. The benefit of being trapped inside a mortal body was the mortal tolerance. The glass of wine had smoothed over the ache of losing her, even if it was temporary. “Never apologize for your fire. It’s what sets you apart.” Zeus took in a slow breath, trying decide how to describe his wife to herself in a way that accurately captured her. “She’s….feisty. Beautiful, past the surface. She had an energy that draws people in, without even knowing it. Wicked temper, and at least half the time it’s distractingly attractive. She might be the perfect woman, but sometimes….her love feels like it’s obligatory, on her end. Like she’s only still here because of the chunk of time she’s already wasted on me. It might be healthy for us to part, if I’m being truthful.”

“They’re not all tricksters and calling them such does the few who are actually good, or try to be, a disservice. Gods just like to use and abuse their power and time,” she said. No one ever forced the Gods to act like shits, but most of them took their power and did what they wanted with little thought to their consequences. What did consequences matter when in a few short decades, they’d disappear anyway? She shook her head at his assumption about Hera only being faithful because she was the Goddess of Marriage. “Perhaps she only reigned over marriage because she didn’t have it in her to be unfaithful when she was committed to a person. Her title reflected her being instead of her actions being the results of her title,” she argued. There was no real way of knowing, of course, but she liked to give the Goddess the benefit of the doubt. And someone had to defend her and play devil’s advocate in this conversation, didn’t they? And sure, maybe she felt a little more passionately about her in particular because they shared a name. Strong women often got so shafted in history that she felt it was her duty to defend them. She sipped on her wine as she listened to him explain his sort-of-girlfriend, or whatever she was, unable to help but smile at the description. She sounded like someone she’d like, someone that this man probably didn’t deserve. “There you go, assuming people stay because of obligations. If a woman is staying with someone, it’s because she wants to. At least with strong women, which she sounds like she is. We would rather have wasted time and move on to something worthwhile than simply stay to save ourselves the hassle. She sounds great and she sounds like someone that you should try a little harder to appreciate.”

“wine? what kind?” he leaned forward a bit, eyeing the bartender to try and get their attention. no wonder she’d been having trouble—the barkeep was either not looking their way on purpose, or was outright ignoring them. so he did the thing he knew best: he yelled. “oi,” he called, voice at only about half his usual shouting volume, but it did make the bartender, as well as the other seated patrons look his way. good. “been trying to order for ages, thanks.” he nudged the woman next to him. “he’s on his way.”

“Okay, you’re right, you win. He was a complete asshole, an egotistical and manipulative unfaithful liar, who never really appreciated what he had. But - and this probably says a lot about my own character and morals - I still get it. It must have been hard, never being able to outrun the fact that his chosen life partner never really chose him in return.” And those were words he had never said out loud; not to his brothers who would have listened, or a mortal who would have forgotten, or even to himself if he was being really honest. “I don’t know why anyone would marry if it wasn’t for love. I think humans should develop some sort of technology to test for love before any wedding took place. Maybe Zeus would have shocked the world and passed it.” Zeus drained his glass and had it quickly replaced with the same thing, swirling the contents around as he considered. He had come to Hera once in the form of a bird, and he tried not to read into the fact that her one chosen pet was also a bird. “Good. Stay single, it’s a noble pursuit.”

Zeus knew he was digging himself a deep hole, revealing too much knowledge about a deity that wasn’t talked about every day anymore. “Some of those weren’t about the women…..or men, at times. Some of those were about power, or control, or besting another god or goddess.” Like the time he had pretended to be Hades to seduce Persephone, something he still ranked as the lowest of his lows. “And even so. Time is endless. Most mortals only live one hundred years. That handful of dalliances over literally thousands of years….they feel much more like mistakes than the norm. Shouldn’t he have racked up something in the 2000s? And why marry at all if he didn’t love her?” At the last sentence he cut off, knowing it was best to stop, before he got too invested in arguing his point. Best to cut himself off while he could still be the charming detached asshole instead of the ruin of a man he felt like. The history books seemed to slate it so unfairly out of his favor, and he couldn’t even argue that most of it wasn’t deserved. Even on Earth, Hera had managed to let her kindness seep through, the kindness that often also got overlooked by the history books in favor of her vindictiveness. “Sounds like a much more worthy profession, honestly. That’s amazing. Your husband couldn’t come out tonight?”

triton had heard quite the stories about the festival at delphi. part of him wished he’d have been there to witness the madness for himself, while the other half was content to avoid the family drama that had always ensued when they were all gathered in the same place. but he couldn’t hide out in his bathtub forever, so he ventured out the night after the festival ended, looking for a drink and maybe some company. maybe another familiar face. he approached the bar, nearing one of the empty stools to see—his aunt. “no,” he said slowly. did she not remember him? he shrugged, sitting down next to her. perhaps the less trouble he invited, the better. “stay there, you’re fine. you having anything?”

Of course Hera would have the same scorched earth mentality for cheating here as she did on Mt. Olympus. It was different in the mortal realm, though. He could have easily gone eighty years or so without straying - in fact he had, too many times to count. But eternity was long and it was easy to get bored. Especially when his wife had never wanted to marry him, and seemed just as unhappy now as then. “Oh come on. You can’t boil a complex character down to a few indiscretions. Aren’t people more than their mistakes?” Zeus hoped that he was, but maybe he never would be. In her eyes or anyone else’s. If only he could go out and enjoy this time free of a jealous wife, to dally in physical pleasures as much as he wanted, but the idea struck a sour chord in his mind. He had slept around his entire existence, but he had only married once. She was the most important woman in the world. “I live off my good looks, mostly. I model when I run out of money. What do you do?” He was more interested in where she lived and if she was happy, but those questions were too intimate for a ‘first meeting’.

Zeus didn’t know if this version of Hera could tell when he was lying too, so he decided to stick as close to the truth as possible. “No girlfriend. I had a girl, but I strayed too often and too far, and now….hollow hookups just don’t seem as appealing.” His mouth twisted into a smile while she threw out possible reasons for a Zeus nickname, still addicted to the effortless way she moved. “King of campus, obviously. He was more than just an egotistical, lightning bolt throwing womanizer.” When she offered to by his next drink he declined politely with a shake of his head. “Don’t bother. My brother owns the place and I’m trying to see how large a tab I can run up without him noticing. So if you’d like anything else, don’t hesitate to ask. $300 bottle of champagne, caviar, you name it. What brings you out and about, Hera?”

A sharp sting of disappointment hit, but he could roll with it. At least Hera wouldn’t be alone this time around. “It does. I’m more interested in the times it doesn’t work, though. Besides, I’m mostly retired from the game.” Maybe that lie would turn into truth one of these days. All this sleeping around wasn’t good for either of them, but it was hard to stop a habit that had endured for thousands of years. His eyebrows arched in surprise as she gave her real name, but the small flame of hope almost immediately sputtered out. “Queen of the gods, an excellent choice. My nickname in college was Zeus, so I think we’ll get on just fine.” He ordered a second glass of the same red he was enjoying and slid it over to her as casually as possible, no strings attached. Even in this foreign life, Hera wouldn’t react well to shameless flirting and a strange man plying her with alcohol. “Nico,” he decided on a fake name with a nod in her direction.

“Alright, so here is the million dollar question – ugly, topless hat or a strange lamp shade?”

Back in Athens once more, Zeus had lost his hold on his powers again. They were still there this time, but they flickered in and out and were extremely weak. This time his first thought was Hera. If he had reverted, so had she, but her curse was much worse. They had a tempestuous relationship, but he didn’t know who he was without his wife by his side at the end of the day. He would start looking for her tomorrow, but he would give himself one night of wallowing, of getting too drunk at his brother’s bar and feeling sorry for himself. Except fate was much crueler than that. “For you. But I couldn’t be sure if you were coming,” he hedged careful, unsure if she was teasing or truly didn’t recognize him. “Sit with me?”