NEW GODS: The Awakening

Bright Night

WARNING: we have some harsh language in this one so beware those who are uncomfortable with that. No slurs though so no need to worry about that.

The Goddess had slipped away as soon as she got the chance. Unwilling to let this stranger lurk around on her own, Leon followed after her.

With no hesitation whatsoever, she headed to the dressing room, leaving the door open for him to come in. By the time he had entered through, she was already comfortably lunging on the chair, legs crossed elegantly, fingers tapping rhythmically on the armrest.

The Goddess was as beautiful as the texts had described. She had an air of youth like time had barely flown over her. If he was correct, she was supposed to be a bit older than him, but it truly did not show with her round cheeks and bright eyes.

Leon could not put his finger on it yet something about those eyes unnerved him.

She dragged her index along her lips while considering him.

"You know I have heard reports about your whore but I hardly expected you to be so open about it,"

Leon bristled, expression turning even more sour. His arms crossed over his chest, I see if he was trying to shield himself.

"Damian is my..." he hesitated, looking for the right word "Friend. Don't speak of him like that."

"Friend?" she hummed, not too concerned "Well let us get back to the subject. Your whore screwed up."

"He's not my-!"

"Screwed up anyway," she cut him off "Horribly in fact. And now we have to find Xiris again."

The disappointment that crossed over her face and was gone just as quickly was the closest to a genuine emotion he had gotten out of her so far.

"If we have lost him because of your-,"

"Damian was tricked. He's hardly more to blame than... than any of the younger students when the older ones drag them into mischief," Lyon rushed to his defense.

"Yes, it is easier to not hold him accountable when you think of him as a child, right?" she snickered condescendingly "Unfortunately you can only shield him for so long."

Leon remembered the image of shackles dangling from Damian's limbs, his lips dry and his eyes hollow.

"I don't see how it is any of your own concern. This is a matter of my monastery. You have no say in it," he said coldly.

Hee eagerly threw that memory back into the void of his mind.

"Leon," she jostled when she called his name "I am involved in this. Whether you want to or not. How beneficial my involvement is to you will depend entirely on your behavior."

"I do not want the ring. You may take it and rid yourself of all this mess,"

He stopped when she laughed. It was not so much her laughing as the way she did so.

Her body shook and she bent over, grasping her chest like she was suffocating, all the while laughter pooled out of her mouth. She was trembling so hard that he feared she would fall off your chair and on the floor. He stiffened when she slammed her hand down on the table, still chuckling to herself.

"Oh sweet mortals," she wheezed "You are comedy gold, Leon. You really think I came all this way for a ring..."

She shook her head in disbelief and cleared her throat.

"Allow me to demonstrate,"

She raised her hands, showing of the myriad of rings adorning your fingers, ranging from simplistic silver bands to diamonds larger than her pinky.