Chapter Text
Sally swiped her hand across her forehead as she locked the door to the sweet shop she was working at. It had been a long day, and she was ready to go home and go straight to bed. When her uncle had gotten sick three years ago, she had had to drop out of school to get a full time job so that she could pay for his cancer treatments. When he died last year, she hadn’t had an opportunity to go back to school, so she just continued working at Sweet on America.
Luckily, tomorrow she would be headed to Montauk, like she and her uncle had done every year after her parents died. Even after he had died she hadn’t broken tradition, and she wouldn’t start now. She loved the place. She always felt more complete near the ocean, and something about Montauk just screamed home at her. She didn’t know what it was, but she figured it was best not to question it too much.
Finally, she was able to collapse into her bed. The next day would start pretty early if she wanted to get to Montauk in time to clean out the cabin before it got dark.
The next morning she was up with the sunrise, and quickly packed her last few belongings before locking up and getting in the beat up old car that her uncle had left her. Since she rarely drove it for any thing besides the annual Montauk trip, it rarely needed any maintenance, which was a good thing as Sweet on America didn’t pay as well as she would have liked, even without the extra drain on the money her uncle, however much she loved him, had been.
Almost three hours later, she finally reached the cabin in Montauk, and she set to cleaning it up, getting rid of all the cobwebs and dust from the last year. Thankfully it didn’t take too long, although there were a few spiders that nearly scared the life out of her before she was able to take them safely outside.
Finally she was able to build herself a fire and bring out her boombox that she had gotten for her junior year in high school to play some music as she made herself some s’mores. She had been out there for an hour, singing along to Queen, when a man walked out of the ocean. Literally. He had a trident in one hand and wasn’t at all fazed by the fact that he walked out of the ocean. What the actual fuck. She had seen a whole lot of weird stuff, one eyed people, many headed gigantic snakes, but for some reason this was the weirdest.
“What the fuck.” She didn’t realize she had said that out loud until the man (something else?) jumped nearly six feet in the air and turned around.
“Shit.” His voice was deep, with a feeling like if he shouted the earth itself would move to his will. For some reason, Sally’s mind instantly thought of Poseidon, god of the seas, horses, and earthquakes.
“Oh shit, you’re actually Poseidon,” Sally said, half collapsing to the ground near the fire as Poseidon seemed to panic for a second before composing himself.
“You must be clear sighted,” he murmured, mostly to himself. “And I’m also an idiot for not checking that there was no one on the beach before I came up here.” At this he actually facepalmed and Sally had to cough to cover her sudden desire to laugh. It would not be wise to laugh at the god of the seas right next to the ocean.
Poseidon seemed to gather himself before turning towards her. “Hello, I’m Poseidon. I’m occasionally very unobservant and my wife always tells me that I stick my foot in my mouth when I meet new people.”
“I’m Sally,” she replied. “You just walked out of the ocean with a trident and honestly I’m still not sure how to deal with that. Other than that, I live in the city and came out here every year with my uncle before he died so I’ve kept up the tradition.” She awkwardly reached her hand out and sighed internally when he shook it.
“Nice to meet you, Sally. You’re very pretty.”
“I’m gonna stop you right there, I know what you gods were like in the myths. I am very much not into men, and especially not into men I just watched walk out of the ocean.”
Poseidon laughed. “Fair enough. I still think you’re pretty, but I like having pretty friends. And since you just watched me walk out of the ocean, I’d say we should become friends. Also my sister would love you. Meter always was straight to the point.”
“I would have expected the goddess of the earth and the growing season to be more roundabout, because plants never grow immediately.”
“Oh no, that’s Hera. She takes forever to get to her point. Always going on and on about whatever it is this time.”
“Tell me about your family?” Sally asked after a moment of silence. “Not the stuff I read in the myths. The real stuff. Their favorite color, favorite food, if they have a favorite place, what they argue about, that sort of thing.”
Poseidon looked taken aback for a moment, but he quickly recovered and motioned towards a spot near the fire. “Mind if I sit?”
Sally nodded. “Of course, have a seat. Want a marshmallow?”
Poseidon settled down with a marshmallow and thought for a moment. “I guess I’ll start with my immediate family. Hestia, she’s the oldest, or youngest depending on how you start, but she definitely acts like the oldest sibling in a good way, she hates when we fight. Hera may be the goddess of marriage and biological family, but Hestia is also the goddess of family, what with her domain over the hearth and home. She always says she doesn’t have a favorite color, because all of us have a color most associated with us and she knows we’ll take it to mean that she loves us the most, but I see her wearing a deep forest green most of the time. Her favorite place is probably Camp, honestly, because there she can feel all of us in our children, and for the most part our kids get along with each other better than we can.”
“Camp?” Sally asked.
Poseidon grimaced. “For a while, when we had kids, they didn’t have a safe place to go, so most of them died horrible deaths by monsters, or lived terrible lives that we wish they didn’t have to live, so Chiron came up with the idea of having a safe place for them to gather. We call it Camp Half-Blood. Most of our kids still die, of course, but now they often at least make it until their twenties.”
Sally shuddered. “I don’t know how I would feel, knowing that any children I might have would likely die. That sounds horrible. I’m sorry.”
Poseidon shrugged looking away. “I wish we could all just not have kids, but if we didn’t have kids we’d die. Mortals don’t know we still exist anymore, and without worshippers we would fade away. The kids may hate us, but they keep us alive all the same. As much as I hate watching my kids have such terrible lives, I hate the thought of fading and no longer existing even more.”
Sally nodded, then shook herself mentally. “Tell me more about your family. Demeter is next right?”
Poseidon blinked, then shook his head. “Yes, Meter. Her favorite place is actually the Midwest. Grain grows so easily there, and in the summer it’s hot and dry for the most part. Perfect weather to grow her main crops. Her favorite color is the golden color of wheat when it’s just ripe enough to harvest. Most of the time she argues about what we eat, funnily enough. She never thinks we eat healthily enough. Right now she’s trying to shove healthy cereals down our throats.”
Sally laughed. “I like her already. Anyone who’s able to keep your heads on straight and healthy is a good person in my book.”
Poseidon laughed as well. “Yes, well, as much as I love her, it can get a little annoying when I’m just trying to do normal everyday tasks and she pops in to tell me to eat cereal. Next is Hera. She’s the most naggy of all of us. She wants us to be a happy family, but we never see each other except maybe twice a year, and the rest of the time we’re too busy with our own thing to even think much about the others. She loves the old places, like the original Mount Olympus, because they still contain hints of our original power. She always was a little power hungry, and while the way she uses her power is not bad, it’s one of the big reasons she married Zeus shortly after he became the king. Her favorite color is white, because it’s the color of wedding gowns and the traditional marriage bed.”
Sally nodded thoughtfully. “It makes sense. Every time I think of Hera I see her in white, like a bride.”
Poseidon grinned. “Yeah, she’s a good sister, if annoying in a different way to Meter.”
“Aren’t all siblings supposed to be annoying?” Sally asked with a laugh.
Poseidon just laughed. “Next is Hades. You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but his favorite color is actually the yellow of a bright summer day. The Underworld is very dark, and while Hades loves his job, it does get a little much when he isn’t allowed to come up to Olympus except on the shortest day of the year. He and Hesty are probably my favorite siblings. When Kronos, did what he did, they were the first to get to me and make me feel safe again. His favorite place is wherever Persephone is, the old sap. Since she prefers the Underworld with Hades, I guess that makes them a match made in hell.” He grinned at her, and she just rolled her eyes.
“Yes, yes, you’re hilarious. Now go on. I want to hear about Zeus before it gets too late.”
Poseidon laughed and continued. “Zeus, Zeus is my baby brother. I love him to death, but sometimes I just want to strangle him.” Thunder rolled ominously across the clear sky and Poseidon rolled his eyes. “Did you miss the part where I said I love ya, you idiot?” he yelled. The thunder abruptly stopped and Poseidon rolled his eyes again. “Drama queen. Anyway, he loves the color blue, and his favorite place is the palace he lives in, because it’s where he has the most power. He and Hera never get along, and I don’t know why they’re still married except that Hera doesn’t believe in divorce even when the couple is clearly incompatible.”
Sally nodded. “I can understand why she stays with him, even if they don’t love each other as a married couple should. She may be a goddess, but she is still a woman, and there is a stigma to women who were married and got divorced, even when the divorce was the best thing that happened in that marriage. And if they still love each other, just as siblings, then it is probably the best choice for her to stay married to someone she knows, even if they’re, incompatible.”
Poseidon looked thoughtful. “I’ve never thought of it that way before. I’m sure you’re right.” He glanced at the sky and grimaced. “It’s past midnight and I’m sure you’d love to get some sleep while you’re here. It was wonderful meeting you. Might I come by again sometime while you’re here?”
Sally smiled and stood, brushing the sand off her clothes. “I would love to chat more with you. It’s very interesting to see this side of the gods. If she is amenable to it, I wouldn’t even mind meeting your wife if she so desires, unless you don’t want us to meet for some reason?” She raised an eyebrow and he gulped.
“You’re as terrifying as Hestia when she’s especially zealous in trying to get us to get along. I’ll ask Trite if she wants to meet you.”
“Then it was wonderful meeting you and I hope to see you and your wife again at some point,” Sally said, nodding and reaching for the bucket of water she had kept nearby to douse the fire when she was done.
Poseidon started to gesture towards the bucket, but the glare she sent him was enough to make him take a couple steps back. “Uh. Right. Nice meeting you. Bye?”
Sally smiled again as she dumped the bucket over the fire. “Goodnight, Poseidon.” With that, she turned away to walk into her cabin.