PROSERPINA:

Something crashed behind her.

At hearing the sudden commotion, Proserpina feels a curious Thanatos slowly stir into attention at the back of her mind.

“POPPPPYYYY!!!”

…only for the god of death to promptly cut himself off faster than she could even register the words, let alone blink.

So she’s on her own.
Lovely.
Proserpina exhales noisily.
There can’t possibly be any sound reason for the blindingly bright god of the sun–and harbinger of headaches as Artemis liked to claim–to come running out of the blue towards her like the fate of the entire cosmos depends on it.
And not to mention, it’s not even five in the morning.
Quietly mourning the loss of her peace of mind (after this conversation, she was so sure, with a twinge of pain, that it shall never return), Proserpina takes a delicate sip of her orange juice as she sits by the edge of the edge of the pool, her bare feet dipping lightly over the water as she watches the older–but centuries way more immature–god now standing next to her, breathing in and out large gulps of air as he dramatically braces himself on his knees as though he was actually out of breath.
Her face was completely impassive.
It’s too early for this nonsense.
“It wasn’t a big deal when you rejected my love for you ages ago. Don’t worry, I am not a sore loser and I respect your decision, of course,” Apollo starts, his radiant face looking so serious while Proserpina’s eye twitched in irritation at the memory, “…but to accept the affections of a mere mongrel in favor of a god as dazzling as I is just BEYOND INSULTING!”
Somewhere far from here, Proserpina can distantly hear the sound of the morning birds chirping as they flew away.
…Proserpina thinks, longingly, that she kind of wanted to fly with them too.
Sighing, Proserpina turns her head away from the other god in favor of taking a larger gulp of her orange juice with a relish she couldn’t really get to enjoy. Come to think of it… she read in a book once that if one doesn’t pay attention to something, it will simply get tired and go away on its own.
Maybe it will work on Apollo too…
“Now, I know my baby sister is–hey! STOP SPACING OUT!–practically pressuring, probably forcing you into this madness because there is no way you will agree to be in a relationship.”
…and no such luck.
“No one is forcing me into anything,” she snaps, not bothering to even look at him.
If anything, the moon goddess, while usually not caring with the men looking up to her in general, was still most likely against with the idea of her worshipper being actively involved with another goddess and–wait a minute.
What baby sister?
She squints at him, “…Isn’t Artemis supposed to be older than you?”
Apollo ignores her, “But you must remember, Poppy, werewolf or not, they wouldn’t be able to stay alive not even an inch as long as ours. They may not be like those adorably fragile humans but they still have finite life-spans. Certainly, you might be inclined to think you are happy with this one for now… but it won’t ever compare to how a god could make you feel like you were on the seventh heaven! Besides, he would be old and ugly before you even know it!”
For a fleeting moment, Proserpina found herself wondering what Alastor Nyx would look like as an old man.
Hm… with his roguishly good looks, he most probably would have looked like a Mafioso don you’ll read from novels; charming but with a dangerous edge in it, boyish face much more mature, serious in ways that only old age could bring. She imagines the crows feet around his dark-chocolate brown eyes would be so endearing to look at–
…and Proserpina hereby bids farewell to her peaceful morning. It is therefore ruined, no thanks to this moron.
“Oh, but a god, my dear,” Apollo sighs, sappily, still droning on somewhere in the background, “…when a god shows their affections, their devotion, it will be unlike any other; our divine touch, the loveliest of smiles that no mortal could ever hope to reach and the favor of a heavenly being that we could only bestow upon one another was a blessing of the highest caliber–”
Dimly, Proserpina could still process that Apollo’s voice has somehow morphed into something so wistful.
Daring to risk it, she turns to take a look… only to find that, sure enough, the god of the sun was smiling dreamily to himself as he stares somewhere off in the distance, probably reminiscing about his best lovers.
But unfortunately, Proserpina wasn’t interested to hear remotely anything about the tales of Apollo’s past lovers… all who usually met such tragic ends.
Without a word, Proserpina snaps her fingers and the god of the sun startles at the sudden, sharp noise. Apollo slightly shakes his head, effectively snapping him out of whatever day-dream his mind seemed to have conjured up out of nowhere, stalking closer and placing both of his hands on her shoulders.
Looming over her still-seated form, Apollo easily towered over her, blocking the light and covering her in his shadow.
Proserpina was immediately tempted to melt into it.
“Poppy, you are a virgin goddess like my sister, right? Well then, as your cousin–”
She squirmed, trying to get his hands off of her, “If you are aware of our relation, then why did you even attempted to court me in the first place?”
“And as your best friend–”
“No,” she gritted her teeth, “…you are not.”
“But we are friends!” at the unamused look on her face, his grin wobbled, “…wait. We are friends, right, Poppy?”
She scoffs, “So you claim.”
He looked like she just slapped him.
Huh, maybe she should have.
“Stop hurting my feelings already! Look, just heed my warning, girl: do not and I repeat, do not fall for a dog’s pathetic excuse of a seduction because you most certainly could do better than that–and I could do a thousand times better than the best he could think of! Besides, you know Hades doesn’t take kindly to broken promises!”
“I know that better than anyone,”
And yet, here I am, courting his ire.
“Good…. because the lord of the dead will never be pleased at the very idea of having a mutt for a son-in-law!”
At that, her fingers immediately dug painfully in his hands, narrowing her eyes at this idiot who thinks he knows everything. Hopefully, he gets the hint and let her go before she pushes him off to an open chasm of the underworld.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that, Poppy?” suddenly, Apollo grinned, luminous blue eyes twinkling, “Oh, did you finally come to your senses? Did you realize that I am hotter? That’s okay, go ahead, stare at me with love and adoration to your hearts’ content~!”
Her eyebrow twitched, “Apollo, I am literally glaring at you with nothing but pure, unadulterated hate in my eyes right now.”
“…I told you so! After all, a mere dog could never compare with a face as radiant as I!”
“Apollo, stop insulting him.”
Finally, the idiot stopped singing praises to himself, a look of momentary confusion crossing his face… before a panicked expression quickly settled as he all but shook her violently–like a rattle, “Proserpina, is that mutt blackmailing you with something?! Blink twice if you need help!”
Completely done by this point, Proserpina firmly shoves the unwanted hands off of her shoulders as she stands up abruptly.
“Apollo,” the goddess of shadows drawls, her voice cold with a hard, dangerous edge on it as she looks at him dead in the eye, “…leave me alone.”
Apollo frowns, straightening up as well, staring right back at her, just as seriously, “Your answer is not very encouraging… and quite frankly, it is beginning to scare me,”
Proserpina itches to call forth Thanatos.
“This is none of your concern.”
“That is simply incorrect, my dear! The well-being of pretty girls is my concern!” he tapped her nose affectionately (which she slaps away, disgusted), “…and as I was saying, since once of our own is involved, it is my duty, as the god of the sun–and a whole lot of other awesome stuff!–to ensure that you, our sweetest Poppy, will be saved from whatever weird mating ritual that was being unfairly forced upon you by the likes of that good for nothing, dirty little–wait, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!”

Proserpina was already half-way stepping inside the house when Apollo had a half in mind to run after her.

Sighing, she leans tiredly on the locked door, pointedly ignoring the way the door shook and rattled loudly behind her, no thanks to a god’s ungodly racket… only to find herself locking eyes with her brother who was in the middle of buttering up a toast.
“I’m not going to let this slide, you know!” Apollo wailed outside, still banging on the door, “This is Stockholm syndrome! Don’t worry Poppy, I’ll save you!”
William raised his eyebrows, “Stockholm…?”
“Don’t ask,” she gritted out.

. . .
“I’d rather be punished for making the right decision than live with the guilt of making the wrong one for the rest of my life.”
–Shannon Messenger
. . .

When Demeter showed up, cautiously approaching her just a few hours later–fortunately, Apollo has given up making a scene and has left by then. ‘Wow, even has shame, who knew?’–the older goddess looking so worried that she could have sworn she had heard alarm bells distantly ringing in the back of her head.
And Proserpina knows, she just know deep in her heart of hearts that this is one of those long talks that is going to be so mortifying and potentially mind-scarring for life that the goddess of shadows just might be finally relent to the god of doctors’–Asclepius–kind suggestion for her to face a therapist.
She should know, she had a lot of moments like those in her existence.
Thankfully, William was nowhere near to hear anything of this certainly unwanted conversation since he had opted to leave to ‘check’ on his friend.
She scoffs at the thought.
It’s not like Proserpina had even hurt Nicholas or something, (Athena wouldn’t let anyone get away with hurting her boy) she just planted chronic nightmares in his brain… for weeks straight.
Meanwhile, Demeter hesitates.
‘Another red flag,’
“Darling?” she calls, looking just as uneasy Proserpina felt, “I would like to talk you about that werewolf… Alastor, was it?”
Resigning herself to this unjust fate, Proserpina obediently bows her head in defeat as she steps aside to allow her adoptive grandmother inside without a word. There is no use delaying the inevitable, after all.
As Proserpina quietly watches the older goddess move around the kitchen to make some herbal tea–which Demeter always does whenever she comes to visit, it was basically the norm for the two of them–Proserpina briefly wonders to herself if sheer force of will could somehow be enough to call forth the spirit of mother earth and plead for her to kindly split the ground open and swallow her whole.
When the goddess of shadows quietly tries to do just that, she is terribly disappointed and honestly a little betrayed when nothing happens. Maybe Gaea is most likely amused at Proserpina’s pathetic efforts to get out of this.
“As your adoptive guardian,” Demeter starts, not quite meeting her eyes as she held one of the teacups with shaky fingers, “…I believe it is my duty should you ever need someone to talk to–”
“No, thank you,” she blurted out.
Demeter turned to stare sharply at her, brows furrowing in apparent displeasure at being interrupted and Proserpina clears her throat, quickly bowing her head in quiet apology.
“I mean, I’m fine, Grandmamma.”
“I am not saying that you desiring to have a partner is wrong–regardless of whatever vow Hades roped you into. That was ages ago–but personally, I think you are far too young to be in such a serious relationship, little poppy, and while love is considered a blessing, being chosen as a mate to an animal is no laughing matter…”
“Grandmamma,” Proserpina interrupts, daring to look up at the older goddess again, “…is this conversation really necessary?”
Demeter winced at that, a trail of sweat running down on the side of her face but she decisively met Proserpina’s gaze and carries on, her adoptive grandmother’s usually warm face hardening into a look of steely determination that Proserpina can only chalk up to Demeter’s usual brand of motherly over-protectiveness… and to be honest, it was one of the few things she found scary.
‘Because hands down, mothers are scary,’
Amen to that, Thanatos.
“I am responsible with your well-being while you are in this realm and that no-good father of yours entrusts me to… to…” Demeter looked apoplectic at the very thought of having to answer to Hades.
“Stop,” Proserpina pleads… for both of their sakes, “Grandmamma–”
“Yes, Hades does show his affections poorly but I believe your father genuinely wishes for you, his heir, nothing but the best which is why I think that brute should just let me keep you up here. He really should treasure a girl as precious as–oh, SWEET RHEA!”
As expected, the teacup shattered in her unrelenting grasp and Demeter releases a shuddering exhale, looking wriggly in her own skin at having to (not-really) compliment the god of the underworld, fanning her face with her free hand as she all but collapsed on the nearest chair, looking as though she was on the verge of having an asthma attack.
For a moment, Proserpina found herself wondering if being dramatic is a classic Olympian trait because she… just hopes it’s not hereditary.
Demeter huffs, “Sorry, sweetie,”
Proserpina silently stares at the shattered teacup, thinking of how the beginning of her day that was supposedly peaceful looked just like that unassuming cup right now: shattered beyond repair.
Her face was unreadable for a long moment before her eyes narrow in sudden understanding as she glanced at her adoptive grandmother’s weary expression, “Grandmamma, did Apollo dragged you into this?”
“That is a bit of a strong word, my darling…” when Proserpina continued to stare, Demeter groaned loudly with all the stress of the world contained in it, rubbing tiredly at her temples, “...but yes, I suppose you could say that.”
“Let me guess, he told you I was being blackmailed.”
“No. He told me you had Stockholm syndrome.”
Proserpina grinds her teeth to stop herself from actually swearing out loud, ignoring the god of death roaring in laughter as she bowed her head to keep Demeter from seeing her angry.
She had been uncertain if Hades hasn’t known of what she had done last night, especially with how disappointed Thanatos had been but now… considering Apollo’s big mouth running around Olympus; it was only a matter of seconds before word reaches the god of the underworld’s ears–and all hell will (figuratively and possibly literally) break loose when that happens.
“Grandmamma, if Apollo suddenly… let’s say, falls to the void, I don’t know, do you think we can find someone who looks just like him real quick?”
“Proserpina, please don’t say such scary things with a straight face!”
Proserpina almost made the mistake of talking back when she felt her cell phone vibrate inside her pocket. Pursing her lips shut, she angrily pulled it out.
…and stared.
‘Oh,’ Thanatos uttered, sounding amazed, ‘oh, wow…’
Sensing something has gone wrong, Demeter hurriedly stood up and hovered worriedly next to her, “Darling, what is it?”
Proserpina continues to stare at the text message on her phone, “This moron,” she exhaled, a growing scowl on her face, “…is going to unleash hell.”
“Who is it this time?”
“Apollo,” Proserpina all but snarled that accursed name, “…just reported to me that Hermes was on his way to have an audience with Hades.”
Demeter looked aghast, “But... but why?!”
“In that idiot’s own words,” Proserpina was sorely tempted to crush her phone but decides against it at the next second when she remembered William had bought this one for her on her last birthday, “…to ‘rescue’ me,”
“Proserpina, if your father gets involved–” Demeter sputtered, looking both horrified and outraged at the thought of having Hades in this realm, “What is Apollo thinking?!”
And as if the god of the sun could hear, he starts typing again and Proserpina wordlessly watches with her temper steadily rising as the next message appeared on the screen which is a ‘don’t worry, Poppy! I’ll take you out partying after this is over!’
She didn’t even like parties.
“No,” Proserpina snapped, typing it as well with more force necessary, “Call Hermes back,”
‘But I wuv u owo’
“Go die.”
‘Okay T___T’
“And for goodness sake Apollo,” Proserpina hissed, hoping he could feel just how badly she wanted to strangle him with her text message alone, “…do not get my father involved.”
‘K.’
“I’m serious. Don’t get him involved!”
‘Okay, OKAY you meanie T___T’
Satisfied, Demeter leans from her, “Well… I suppose that’s that.”
But Proserpina wasn’t fooled into believing that for one second because her life has never been easy and she knows that this one wasn’t going to be easy too.
She narrows her eyes, biting the inside of her cheek in anticipation–and sure enough… Apollo does not leave her hanging for long as he types in a quick text that instantly makes her see red.
‘2 late hermie just came back X__X’
The world must learn how to live without the god of the sun quick because Proserpina is going to toss him to the void the next time she sees him.
‘You’re going to rot into the void.’
‘WHY U SO MEAN T__T you don’t mean it right? RIIIIIGHTTT? I’m sowwy ok? pwease fowgive meeee poppyyy owo’
Proserpina slowly sets her phone down to the table and screwed her eyes shut as she allowed her face to plant right next to the device still vibrating with the following barrage of messages filled with useless apologies that she knows was just as wholly insincere.
In her head, the goddess of shadows can hear the god of death counting down in their shared space in a bid to keep them both from screaming.