#aegisframed

      “Medusa!” Iris sobbed, pounding her tiny fists on the door. “Medusa! Please! Euryale! Stheno! Please open up-- It’s me, it’s Iris, it’s just Iris--”

      The Olympians didn’t call her Iris. They stiffly called her the Thaumantia, referring to a child of Thaumas. It was a reminder that, even if the Titanomachy was freshly over, they still knew Iris’ family consisted of enemies and traitors. It didn’t help that Zeus himself had wracked revenge on Arke, who had the exact same face as Iris. Mends were still being made, and while young Hermes and Hebe smiled at Iris when they saw her, it still felt terribly lonely-- especially for a young girl who’d lost connections with her mother, father, brother, and twin sister in one awful war. 

      All she’d had left, sans the sharp-toothed sisters that bit and scratched and required feeding, were her cousins. They’d accepted her with open arms, the tiny goddess with no one to turn to, and held her as her heart wept enough golden ichor to fill a room. 

      That morning, the mountain had been terribly quiet. Poseidon and Athena looked ready to murder each other, more so than usual, so much that the entire throne room felt it might implode with tension. Hermes tugged on Iris’ chiton, whispering horrible, horrible news. But don’t worry, it was just some Nereids-- Medusa and her sisters. It’s sad, but probably no one we knew.

      Iris felt a horrible sliver of ice run down her spine. The tension of the room was broken with a bloodcurdling scream as Iris exploded forth her path of raw rainbow, practically tripping over her own heels to run to her cousins. Hermes stumbled back, wide-eyed as Iris vanished. 

      ( There had to be a mistake, for there was no one in the world that deserved to go through that horrible act, and especially not her cousins. Not the only ones she had left, no. Not her family, not again. It had to be some other Nereids, some other tragic tale, some confused rumor of a story-- )

DUSA IS SO STUBBORN SHE’D LITERALLY NEVER LET HERA BE HURT IF SHE COULD HAVE STOPPED IT

MEANWHILE HERA IS SCREAMING BECAUSE SHE IS ??? LITERALLY DEATHLESS ?? AND DUSA ?? ISN’T ??? 

     She’d lived with the outlaws for too long of a time (seventeen years, to be quite exact) to not notice any sort of peculiar sound in the bushes. Molly Grue had lived in the woods for such a while-- not that a house ever would have solved her problems-- that she felt she might as well be part of it, be part of the shaking trees that spat their leaves in the wind the way she hurled out her feisty challenges. When the bushes crackled, it was no different than Molly cussing anyone out, for she was the woods and the woods were her.

       But Molly heard the noises, and she knew someone was drawing near. It couldn’t be Schmendrick, who was temporarily in the town over to earn them a bit more food while Molly cooked up what they did have. The way the magician moved was faster and lighter, and this stranger walked with a dark confidence. ...And a strange noise, the rasp of snake against snake. For a dark moment, Molly remembered stories of Mommy Fortuna’s show, and she visibly shuddered as she found a sharp rock for defense. Like a rock’s going to protect you from a monster.

                                ❝ I don’t see why you would care. ❞

        She did see. She saw it everyday in the gorgon’s eyes when their gazes met, saw it in the way claws met gentleness as they reached for her. And yet she said it ; Bella’s words were as deadly as the spells she cast. A harness, a sword, a shield. Even Medusa was no stranger to Bella’s cold winters and adamant walls.

[ continued from here!! ]

    “wait,” medusa says, lifting a hand to get nina’s attention. “you missed a button. allow me–?” she steps close, unbuttoning from the bottom up until she gets to the missed button and then backtracking, going down. “you dressed in a hurry, i see.”

    once finished, she pats her abdomen cheerfully and grins up at her. “there! all fixed. you know —- i have some armor that might fit you, if you’re interested. it doesn’t have buttons either.” her head tilts thoughtfully. nina would look divinein armor.

    “———–matching sword, too.”

☢ >> “I dress,” Nina says, “like someone who’s used to not putting any effort into dressing besides throwing on an open jacket. And for the record, with these claws of mine -- ” She holds up one hand to show off talonlike nails, each of them finished in glassy, yellow-tipped black -- “I’m lucky I even got it on at all without shredding it to ribbons!”

                She’s about to make some tactless point about how she doesn’t need armor -- how it would only slow her down, or just melt the second she activates her power in earnest -- then looks down at the dress Medusa has just fixed for her and reconsiders.

❛     you’ll come to the markets with me, WON’T YOU? come, come! i will hold your hand, my love.   ❜   she does love staying with medusa & her sisters. JUST THEM. in their little abode, living, loving, being drenched with HAPPINESS. but caelestis loves humanity, & people. loves being able to wonder the streets & laugh, pick up different scarves & fruits & see children gasping as they see stripes wrapped around her shoulders.