The Farland Files

Temple of Ares, Hellena Island

Unsurprisingly, it was fairly easy to get Julius to fit right in at the Dionysus temple as the young handsome man he was. What she didn't expect was for Sam to have to drag her out of the place yelling and threatening the mob when they tried to 'adopt' her too, the woman and her laughing softly as they walked back to the temple in the cool night.

"I guess he's not coming back?"

Sam shook her head and chuckled, running her hand through her hair, the Celtic tattoo around her forearm rippling slightly. "No- I bet he'll be pretty busy there. I heard that everyone in that place has to learn how to make wine as well as being able to drink a whole bottle in one sitting."

Lena smiled mirthfully. "They'll take good care of him."

"I bet you that wicked knife you have in your bag," the woman started as if knowing about her temple-mates' possessions was normal, "that he'll break something because of some stupid stunt by the end of the week."

"No bet." She grinned. "As I'm coming to believe you were right."

The woman raised an eyebrow, questioning

"He's most definitely infected with the near-fatal dumbass disease."

Sam's hyena crackle split the warm night air, slapping her back with a gusto that had her stumbling a bit. "Gods- I knew I liked you for a reason, kid."

The temple was almost empty, as the Apollo temple had reluctantly accepted Kadir as a quick learner, Sam and Tahmid having built good relations with the scribes of Athena's temple over the last couple of days.

Lena just found herself helping wherever she could as well as exploring.

She went down to Aphrodite's temple at Phoebe's request and helped them make soap- and even though she found her face flushed red at some of the things she overheard she didn't ask and just kept her head down - spent lunch at Hera's temple watching one of the woman's kids, stopped by the Demeter temple to help out in the kitchen... Lena just liked to help.

She liked to feel as if, for a while, she could belong here (even if she knew she didn't).

And slowly, it seemed that the gods came to understand that.

Aphrodite had been nice, if somewhat pouty when Lena politely refused to 'make out with her beloved' (Riddle had joined her in pouting too, the traitor), and the goddess had finally settled on teaching Lena how to line her eyes with black makeup that were pointed like tiny knives. She appreciated the way they make her eyes even sharper, even if she had cursed like a sailor upon getting some in her eye, Riddle dying of laughter in the background.

Hera had been stern and seemed to be stuck in a permanent glare when she looked at Tom, but her eyes had softened around Lena, telling her all about different divorce options. Lena had to remind the Goddess that she and Riddle weren't married yet and that she had no plans to divorce him anyway- which had gotten a grin from Riddle, though it turned into a scowl when the woman just looked at her seriously and said 'you might love him now... but forever is a long time.'

Hermes had just smiled and then dragged her into talking about warding magic, Hestia sitting by a fire with her and Riddle calmly, Artemis teaching her the proper stance to use a bow and arrow while simultaneously apologizing for her brother.

Persephone and Hades greeted her and Riddle with excitement and kindness (and the biggest Cerberus she'd ever seen). She gushed with Hades over the dog as they played fetch, Persephone and Riddle seeming to get into a small fit over something in the background, but eventually, she got Persephone to braid flowers into her hair. Though this ended up with Riddle and Hades whispering about things, catching a few words like 'marriage', 'chariot', and 'kidnap' before Persephone sent them an impressive glare that shut them both up.