“Because we are human.” Psyche answers absentmindedly, taking care to brush her fingers along the spine of the purring kitten on her lap gently, a small smile playing on her lips for a fraction of a second. “Our, at least--you are human.” She murmurs softly. “I was once human.” She lets those words sink into the demigod for a moment before, here brows lightly quirked. “I guess life and fate both see mortals being beaten down by life itself as a hardship that they can endure.” She grimaces rather visibly at the thought.

“Do you have doubts?”

Despite her natural distaste for the demigod - sun and shadow didn’t normally or naturally mix - many trips to Sombra Muerte to deal with Zico had made her almost intimately familiar with the various employees a the shop. Not only that, but some of its patrons as well. Since she couldn’t be bothered to check for Zico’s presence in advance, she had a bit of a habit of dropping in and spending time at the store merely looking around and chatting with patrons or employees while she waited for him to show up. He couldn’t expect her to make an appointment every time.

Or, he could, but he would be in a constant state of being let down if he did.

As such, she had taken to chatting with Sehun today. Frankly. she wasn’t even sure about staying long enough for Zico to show up. If she found anything to her taste - which honestly wasn’t terribly likely - she could purchase it from Sehun and go on about her day. It seemed, however, that Sehun wanted to chat a bit more than usual. More often it was Sekhmet doing the chatting as she always had more than enough to talk about for the both of them, but apparently there was something on his mind today.

🌸

   “It’s only a volunteer position you don’t gotta go that hard,” the tired mochi shop owner groans as he rubs roughly at his eyes. It’s too fucking early to be so enthusiastic about rice sweets- even for Eiji. Still, he admires it even if he would never say so. Sehun was too early for the light chat Eiji had planned to have with him about helping with the shop. The guy seemed strong, to say the least, and to have an eye for putting things together– he dressed like he could have his life together. Even if that may not be the actual case was not any of Eiji’s concern, but the appearance was what made him stop and ask the other to meet him here to discuss a volunteer thing.

meme: shakespeare inspired starters

"So which one are you,” Hades inquires with a half-smile and a little raise of his eyebrows. “Are you the tempted one or the one giving into temptation?” He turns his gaze to the young man who he thought was browsing for books but who is apparently more interested in some form of conversation at this point. “You must have been both in the past to make this comparison, of course.”

For a moment he just takes in the youngster, then lets his gaze wander over to the shelve of books he’d been browsing through. There’s plenty of interesting pieces there, and within moments a hint of understanding flickers over his eyes.

“Or are you perhaps speaking of a current dilemma you’re suffering from?” His gaze suggestively goes to the books the youngster has already taken hold of before, then he gives a slight shrug. “I personally don’t feel like the temptation to read or buy books should ever be fought. There are only good things in having more books.”

“You’re being dramatic.”

As one of the newer clerks in Sombra Muerte, Anise saw quite a bit of Sehun. She didn’t really have much of an opinion on him as he had made rather little of an impression on her. This, though, this was something new. If he had dropped the stag skull and impaled his hand with the antlers then Anise might have understood that kind of reaction. As it was, a little bead of blood was slowly building from a little cut on his hand. Anise had to roll her eyes at his theatrics.

After her moment of rolling her eyes, the girl promptly swung her backpack around to her front and opened the front pocket to pull out a little travel-sized first aid kit. From there, she pulled out an antibacterial wipe, a little tube of Neosporin, and a band-aid. It would be easy enough to take care of the little cut, provided that Sehun would let her.

Mia laughed. “Yeah, fuck the world and everyone’s dumb expectations.” She sipped on her cocktail, glancing over at Sehun. There was nothing quite like getting tipsy with a friend and having wonderfully philosophical conversations.

“You know, I was the biggest asshole back in the day for many many reasons, and then when I decided to stop being an asshole, partially at least, I was like: fuck anyone who thinks I can’t be nice, I’ll be the nicest fucking person ever! But then, also, I failed, so that kinda sucked. I’m getting better though, right?”

“Do you believe in destiny, my dear?” Nuwa watched Sehun with a soft smile. Destiny was a tricky subject, but Nuwa liked to think she had somewhat of a grasp on it after the many, many centuries she had been on this earth.

But she knew that mortals spent a lot of time pondering it, too, and she did not mind having discussions about it. After all, she liked to help. “I agree that destiny is something you have influence on. The stars do not have to define who you are, that is up to you to decide.”

A lot of people had been interested in Leo’s thoughts, lately. Or maybe Sehun was speaking generally? Was it too paranoid to assume Sehun was talking about him, specifically? They didn’t know each other that well, after all, how would Sehun know that Leo’s thoughts weren’t his friends?

“Thoughts can feel very real, though,” Leo said slowly, carefully. “Even if you know they’re just messing with you... sometimes they feel too real to ignore.”