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Chapter Text

Zeus, youngest son of Kronos, King of the Olympian Gods, was a real pain in the… anywhere and everywhere, really. Poseidon and Hades spent centuries fighting with their brother, and each other, before realizing that engaging in his ego wars wasn’t worth the drama. By the end of the world wars, the two older sons of Kronos were already considering leaving the mortal surface world to their brother. Poseidon had the peoples of the Sea, Hades ruled all those who died (and if he had living followers beneath the surface of the earth, no one could blame him for keeping that information to himself). They had realms of their own, and, frankly, Zeus didn’t. Sure, the surface world was supposed to be shared between the Three of them (and the other deities), but if Zeus wanted primacy there… maybe they could indulge him. If his belief that he had somehow ‘triumphed’ over his brothers got him to stop power-grabbing and making their lives a pain, well, they weren’t going to complain about that either.

No one was surprised when Zeus was the first to break the oath he demanded his brothers join him in. His brothers barely noticed, as their Stygian oaths did not prevent them from having children with the mortals of their domains, or nymphs, for that matter. AND they were more faithful to their wives, so they weren’t even going around looking for loopholes.

But, while the most powerful members of the current godly regime were at an all-time low in mortal engagement, other powers started to stir. This world, though orderly, was born of Chaos. Life was not meant to stand still. Times of peace and stillness have ever been harbingers of times of change and upheaval. The Titans were still imprisoned in Tartarus, but they began more earnestly to reform themselves and escape their captivity. They had been plotting for ages, since their last defeat, waiting for their moment to rise again, and now, it seemed their time had come. The Gigantes, too, were waking. Slower than the Titans, but still stirring. (For reasons unknown, although the Gigantes are headstrong and willful, they have little interest in ruling without their parents’ urging. When they’re around, they’ll try to replace the Olympians, but they don’t reform or launch campaigns unless one of their parents tells them to.) The Primordials, on the other hand, did not even need to reform before acting in the world. Tired from so many millennia of slumber, it would take some time for any of them to truly wake up, but their consciousness began to move. And Chaos, that most ancient of all beings, Chaos once again began to take an interest in the world it had made.

Zeus was not the only one to break his oath. Hades kept his, but he would bring his children out of their timeless hotel experience soon, in reaction to Zeus’s children. With children of two of the Big Three present, and forces ever more ancient stirring, Poseidon too would break his oath. Zeus had two kids (at least). Hades also had two (and, given that his kids were, well, his, that was not a concrete number either). Poseidon did not wish to anger Styx more than necessary, so, when he did sire a surface halfblood, he gave as much of himself as he could to them. He intentionally did the opposite of his brother, and courted a mortal as a blend of Poseidon and Neptune simultaneously, and, in trying so hard, ended up blending some of Mycenaean Posiedawone in as well.

Chaos could not (easily) sire a halfblood. As Its power began seeping into the world, however, It wanted a mortal offspring. Being the eldest Primordial, however, and Chaos to boot, It found Itself deciding to infuse the coupling of an Olympian and a mortal with its own essence, making a new breed of demigod. Its power wandered the world, drawn to possible heirs. The strongest pull, however, was to the strongest gods. Hades had no unborn children, nor was he planning on changing that anytime soon. That eliminated him as a candidate. Zeus, and later, Jupiter, had a child, but the mother could barely stand the attention of an Olympian, let alone the essence of essence itself. Poseidon, however, somehow brought all of himself into one relationship, and Sally Jackson… Sally Jackson was a special mortal. Few could say what made her so, and Chaos was not nearly awake enough to care. All that mattered was that the Sea God’s power pulled its attention, and the mortal parent would be able to withstand even the presence of its ancient power, if only in small doses.

And so, Percy was conceived. There is a reason human pregnancies are divided into trimesters, after all. It would seem, ever since the birth of the human race, the world has been waiting for the birth of Perseus Jackson. Most demigods were actually only about one-third Olympian. Two trimesters of mortality, one of divinity. The powerful demigods often have only one trimester of mortality, and two of divinity. (Obviously, not EVERY demigod child has their birth split so cleanly, and there are halfbloods who fall more mortal, divine, or blended, but most are at least close.) Sally somehow managed to carry a pregnancy with one trimester of mostly mortality, one of mostly Olympian divinity, and one full trimester of nearly pure Primordial power. (They blended together more than in most demigods. Percy is better. Fight me.)

When Poseidon realized what his child was growing into, he panicked. Monsters are drawn to demigods, even as children, and powerful children most of all. Zeus’s decrees and Ancient Laws together inhibited his ability to be a present father, even if he could explain it to his family. Over the years, there were few Olympians he could truly consider allies, so he turned to one who was even less welcomed.

Chapter Text

When Poseidon realized what his child was growing into, he panicked. Monsters are drawn to demigods, even as children, and powerful children most of all. Zeus’s decrees and Ancient Laws together inhibited his ability to be a present father, even if he could explain it to his family. Over the years, there were few Olympians he could truly consider allies, so he turned to one who was even less welcomed. 

“Brother? It is not often you welcome any god to Atlantis. Why have you summoned me? I must say, these depths are… charming. Lively, but… well, I’m not here to discuss the scenery.”

“Brother! Thank you for coming. I called you here, well, because I fear for my child. You are more level headed, perhaps you can help.” Poseidon did, indeed, appear to be struggling to control himself. Hades knew his brother had been working on self-control for the past several centuries, but he was still a Sea God. The Sea is tempestuous, with hidden depths and treacherous currents. It does not like to be contained, nor does it restrain itself.

“The standard measures are not enough? I know there are… troubling currents in the air, but what makes this child so… concerning?”

“Ah, perhaps I’d best… show you.”

“Show me? Show me what? Surely they’ve not been born yet? What could there possibly be to see at this point?”

“Well, not see with your eyes, but… just come,” Poseidon said, extending his hand towards his brother.

“Very well,” Hades said, taking the proffered hand. “I am… honored you came to me.”

As Poseidon released Hades’ hand, they looked around. They were in a moderately sized city apartment. New York, to be exact. Standing in the living room, Poseidon led Hades to a bedroom. Knocking gently in the door, he murmured lovingly:

“Sally? Dearest, I brought… company. Can we enter?”

Hades was surprised by the emotion in his voice. Poseidon was not the gentle type. 

He was more distracted by the reply from inside, however.

“Poseidon? Are you supposed to be here? Won’t your brothers be angry? Come in, come in! Who’s the guest?”

As Poseidon opened the door, the Olympians were struck by the waves of aura emanating from within the room. It was small, incomplete, but distinctly powerful. Not Olympian powerful… ancient powerful. Hades looked around, instinctively trying to identify the threat. 

Even as his senses were trying to find the source of the aura in the room, however, his mind was racing to identify its nature. Something about this aura, which was not coming from the mortal woman in the bed, no matter how much his senses tried to tell him it was, something reminded him of… well, of his uncle. Hades -the realm- which Hades -the Olympian- ruled from his capital -also called Hades- , sat above the realm/entity of Tartarus. (As all Primordials, the entirety of Tartarus was the body of Tartarus himself). Over the millennia, the two deities of the afterlife had interacted… rarely. Sometimes they fought, sometimes they ignored each other, often they commiserated their place in the hierarchies set by their siblings. By the modern era they were… not friends, but on decently friendly terms. (Mostly revolving around mutual disengagement, but that’s friendly-ish, right? Look, godly family dynamics are rough, alright? Give them a break!)

Anyways, the child -the yet unborn child- within the mortal, Hades had finally reached certainty, was exuding, not Tarterian aura, but some kind of Primordial for sure. Wait. Poseidon’s child. With a mortal. Smelled Primordial. That’s- that’s not right.

“Brother?? What- what is going on here?!”

“Brother? But that would make you-!”

“Ah, yes. Sally, allow me to introduce my brother, Hades, Lord of…Himself lol Hades. Brother, this is Sally, my… the mother of my child. Whom I love. Dearly. And- yeah, I’m just going to leave it there…” Poseidon trailed off slightly awkwardly. Hades understood. Introducing your… extramarital companions… never got easier, now matter how many millennia passed by. He did not understand, however, why the room reeked of Primordial, and made his confusion known.

“Brother. -great, hi, I’m sure you’re a lovely mortal- why does the child… ?”

“Throw off waves of Primordial aura? No idea. She can see through the Mist -you can speak freely- and no other gods have… approached her. The child was progressing normally, with the aura of a great hero, until…”

“A little over a month ago, something happened. I was lying in bed, and I felt a presence. Not like you -either of you- but also not entirely there. Then I felt it… enter me, wrap itself around and into my child- I felt things torn apart and slammed back together. And pain, so much pain. And then it was gone. When Poseidon visited the next day, he mentioned that the room had a powerful smell, but it wasn’t strong enough to identify, and I couldn’t remember anyone -or anything- entering the room. It wasn’t until he realized that our child was making the Primordial smell that I remembered.”

“And now she is carrying a child that is -at least- one-third Primordial, it’s going to be targeted by everything in existence, and I can’t protect them! Brother, please, say you have an idea? Say you can help me/them/us/we/her?”

Hades was silent for a few moments. Those moments seemed to stretch on forever, and yet ended too soon.

“I cannot help you, brother. Stop -don’t give me that look. I can’t help protect them myself . The same laws and circumstances that restrain you apply to me. I can, however, offer some advice. Mortal,” he said, turning to her. “Sally, was it? Or would you prefer something less informal?” 

“Just Sally is fine, Lord Hades.”

“Very well. Sally, I assume from the way you look at yourself and my brother that you are attached to this budding family, and have no intention of giving it up.” Hades paused long enough for her to nod earnestly.

“In that case, how attached are you to the city? Would you be willing to live somewhere… less civilized but safer, for you and your child?”

“I can pursue college later. Right now, this child is everything to me.”

“Excellent. In that case, I would recommend you relocate to some remote location by the sea, and find a guardian to help raise and protect the child, at least until they’re ready for Camp Halfblood. If you have any preferences, excellent, or I could send someone/thing from the underworld.”

“You could go to the cabin at Montauk. I have a palace that is near enough to send help, but far enough to avoid suspicion. Are there any beings you would trust or feel more comfortable with?”

“Montauk is a wonderful idea, but I’m afraid I don’t know enough beyond the old myths to know who/what… any suggestions?” Sally murmured, glancing from her lover to his brother. 

As the Olympians started thinking it over, they felt a presence enter the room. As the presence built, Sally recognized it as the force which had altered her child.

“I have a couple of suggestions,” the voice thundered through their beings, though they could tell it was a mere whisper. 

“Who- what are you,” Sally asked, trembling slightly in fear.

“Can none of you tell? I suppose I should not be surprised, you’ve never truly met me, and it has been so very long since I last gave this realm more than a glimmer of my attention. Still, you must have some idea?”

Hades paled with the other two, but managed to utter his thoughts: “You are no mere Primordial, are you. I had thought you might be one of my uncle’s children. Or some other, closely related Primordial. But you’re not.”

“No, I am not. And you? What do you have to say, young one,” the voice continued, turning its attention towards Poseidon. It had sounded humorous as it confirmed his brother's guess, but that made him no more comfortable under the scrutiny of such a being.

“You cannot be- What interest do you have in my child, Eld One?! Why have you even returned?”

“Ah, so you do know. Good. But does the mortal?” Sally shuddered. She did not even want to guess what this terrible power might be. And yet, it seemed she had no choice. As terrifying as facing this force most certainly was, turning from it, especially after having been spoken to directly, would only make it worse.

“M-Mighty L-Lord. What is your purpose with my child? Wh-who are you? I know not,” she stammered, looking back and forth between the other gods in her room for support.

“So she doesn’t know. Hmm,” the voice purred, sounding please, or at least amused.

“Well, it seems she must be told. Which of you had the courage, or must I do it myself?.. I cannot manifest a physical form to do so properly, at least, not yet, not here. I could have some fun with it though… If you don’t want me to… show her, one of you had better tell her soon.”

“Ahem. Very well,” Poseidon cleared his throat nervously, before kneeling by Sally and reaching out to hold her.

“Sally, Dear, allow me to introduce my… great-grandparent. The first- well, the first anything; from which Gaea was born. This- this is Chaos, Creator of all things. The Primordial Forces of Creation and Destruction incarnate. And they are here, in your bedroom, right now.”

Sally was too shocked even to speak.

“Well, a very, very small part of my consciousness, anyway. And you felt a similarly small fragment of my power earlier, when I added some of myself to your child. Our child, now, technically.

“Regardless, you were conversing about possible protection for the child. You needn’t worry too much, as Tartarus will not keep them long. But, your plans were still good. Perhaps I could help you…deliberate?”

“Wait. First. What do you mean, ‘Tartarus will not keep them long?” Hades spoke up. “Why would the child be under the purview of my uncle in the first place?”

“Where else would they go upon ‘death?’ Not to your realm, surely? As my spawn, their essence is older than yours. They will have far too much power, they are far too eternal to be relegated to your... kiddie pool dominion. No, this child will wake in Tartarus’ realm should they ever be slain. And, just as all other gods and monsters, they will have the ability to reform their body, and return to life. I will even command my son to ensure he is able to reform swiftly, although he will still need to find passage through Hades’ domain to return to life. I don’t imagine that will be a problem, though, right?”

“Of course not,” Hades spluttered, still trying to wrap his head around everything Chaos was dropping on them.

“Good. Now, I believe we were having our first family discussion? I’m so excited! I’ve never been able to be part of something so… mortal. I must limit my involvement, for various reasons, but please, continue. And mortal, speak up if my presence becomes… too overbearing. We do not wish to risk the child. (I have a child! Squee!)”

“Ahem. Hem. Um. Well. (Oh, blessed Olympus, this is really happening) Er, so, Sally needs a… companion. Someone to keep her safe, to help raise the child -that’s gonna be a job and a half-, and just a friend. Perhaps we should also consider a young creature, to be raised with our child, as a pet of sorts?”

Poseidon was the first to speak. Not the first to really add anything new to the conversation, but at least he said something. Hades found his voice next.

“Yes. Ahem. Good thoughts. Uh… sea-spawn that live on land…”

“Ooh! Does Charybdis have any spawn? She was one of my favorites of your children, young one.”

“Er thanks? But, even if she does, they would not be able to go on land, so…”

“What of Medusa? Does she still favor you?”

“Um, Lord Hades, would she not, you know, turn me to stone?”

“She wears sunglasses these days. And, yeah, I could give her a call…”

“You still keep an eye on her?”

“…yes? Anyway, what of the other monster?”

“Ah! Uh, Spot Cerberus just sired another puppy, so that could be an option.”

“Cerberus?! With who?!”

“Hmm? Oh, Nyx. Don’t you know? All hellhounds come from the two of them.”

“…right. And- and you’re suggesting I raise my son with the offspring of the Primordial of Night herself and the three-headed dog of the underworld. With Medusa as a… roommate. That- that- woah. I’m gonna need a moment with that.”

“Great! So it is decided. I will withdraw my presence for Salla- Sallin- Salleu- SALLY’s sake. (Curse modern… whatever this language calls itself nowadays. What happened to noun declension?) I will be in contact again however…”

With those… somehow playfully ominous words, the overbearing presence of Chaos finally left. The three who remained just stared for a while, processing what had happened. 

“Did- did that really just-“

“Yeah”

“And- and they… they-“

“Uh-huh”

“And I- I’m-“

“Yes, and yes.”

“Ah. Okay. Uh… hm. Yeah, nope.”

With that, Sally layed down and pulled the covers over her head.

Chapter Text

Medusa froze as she walked past the nursery room where Sally was laying her baby down to sleep. Surely she misheard. Surely she didn’t just say-

“Sleep now, little baby. Sleep, my darling Perseus.”

…She did. She named her son Perseus, after the hero who had first defeated her. Medusa wouldn’t lie, even to herself. She had always thought it was a rather nice name for a man. It- just- did she know what she was doing, naming her son after the man who presented her head to his own mother as a trophy? much like canon…

Medusa wasn’t sure how to react to this. Or even just how to bring it up. Sally didn’t seem to be harboring any negative emotions towards her. If anything, when she got around her nerves, she was downright grateful for the help around the house. And yet- she had to say something , didn’t she?

Sally was only slightly nervous when Medusa walked into the living room. She had just tucked her little Percy into bed again, and it looked like she had decided to get it off of her chest. Sally had noticed that something had been bothering her the past few days, and she would rather have it out in the open, so it didn’t fester so early in their… whatever you call the relationship between the mother of a demigod and the monster helping her raise him.

“...Sally.”

“Yes, Medusa? What’s been troubling you?”

“Did- did you mean it as a threat? I mean, I don’t think so- maybe you just- How well do you know the Hellenic myths?”

“A threat? What would you think was a threat? I should be thanking you, you’ve been so helpful and understanding and only a little bit terrifying. You mean, the greek ones? I mean, I read them a lot when I was younger, but I guess I haven’t really looked at them since I discovered they were real . I suppose I should, really, but I’m a bit- well, scared, I guess.”

“Fair, and valid. New question: Do you know the name of the ‘hero’ who- killed- me? -The first time, in Ancient Greece.”

“Uh, maybe? Wasn’t it, like… Bellerophon? Something like that?”

“Ah. So it was an honest mistake. Very well, at least it wasn’t intentional.” 

“...At least what wasn’t intentional? Did I offend you somehow? Are there rules of monster immortal ancient greek etiquette I don’t know about?!”

“No, no, nothing like that. Um… Bellerophon slew the Chimera, not me.”

“Okay… so who did kill you? -If you don’t mind me asking, I don’t mean to be rude, or pry, or bring up bad memories, you just got me curious- but I can just look it up if you-”

“Relax. I’ll tell you, and I’m not mad. Just breathe for a moment, alright?” Sally nodded. “... And remember, I’m not mad, just… surprised? The ‘hero’ who first killed me, his name was… Perseus.” Medusa bit the last word out. She didn’t have anything against the name itself, not like some others she knew. She didn’t even really hold it against the man. Mostly, she was concerned about how awkward this conversation was bound to get…

“Perseus, wait but I-” confused at first, understanding dawned quickly on Sally’s face, followed by regret. “Ohmigosh I’m so sorry! I didn’t think- nonono, I wasn’t trying to say- ugh, bellerophon is such a clunky name in the modern world, please don’t believe I was- How can I make it up to you? Are there any… safe names you would recommend? I mean, at this point I’m thinking about going back to my original plan of naming him something out of Tolkein or Shakespear, but if he’s going to have to go to Camp someday, he should have a ‘greek’ name, or he’ll be a ‘weirdo,’ but better that than have you think that-”

“Calm down, relax. Remember, I’m not mad. I was… concerned, but I have nothing against the name. You can even leave it, as far as I’m concerned, just- make sure he doesn’t make the same assumption I almost did?”

“No, no, I’ll change it- of course I’ll change it. Imagine if he grew up and- no. I just, I don’t want to make it worse!”

“Alright, I might have a few suggestions. For starters, don’t name him Jason, or any variant of ‘Heracles.’ That would be asking for trouble. I would almost suggest that you name him after my own, nigh-forgotten son, Chrysaor, but that would be too much, I’m sure. Amphicles would be… a choice, but probably not a good one. You mentioned Bellerophon being ‘clunky,’ what are you looking for in a name?”

The two women continued talking about names for quite a while. Unbeknownst to them, however, another conversation was taking place at exactly the same time. A conversation entirely different, and yet related on a most fundamental level…

“Son”

“...Chaos? What stirs you, mighty one?” Tartarus was… not scared. never scared. He was The Pit, people -and gods- were scared of him . not scared. Tartarus was… okay, fine. He was scared, okay? Not like there’s anyone here to see him. Tartarus was scared of his Creator, and rightly so. At the very bottom of Creation, Tartarus was closest to The Void, and knew its dangers better than any other. 

“...Are you here to reprimand me for taking an interest in the mortal world again? I’ll stop if you want, I know you have… designs?”

“No, quite the opposite, actually. You have a sibling.”

Tartarus wasn’t quite sure he heard that right. Impressive, seeing as Chaos was impressing concepts directly into his consciousness. There shouldn’t be any way to misunderstand that.

“A… sibling? Like… the Primordial of Cumulus clouds, or something?”

“No. Not even a full Primordial- at least, not yet.”

Okay, that didn’t clear anything up. If anything, now he was even more confused.

“A half-blood.”

… I’m sorry, what? That term applies to the offspring of Olympians and Mortals , it’s not just thrown around. And Chaos chose that particular term very intentionally. How… no. That simply isn’t possible. By definition!

“What- what do you mean by that? And, with the utmost respect, why are you telling me ?”

“I have added my essence and power to the offspring of Poseidon (or whatever he’s calling himself) and a mortal (what was her name? Salleia?). I am informing you of this development, because, unfortunately, with your older brother’s curse still in play, my child will be targeted by nearly everything in our pantheon. As he is still quite mortal-ish, I do not expect that he will manage to avoid being defeated- at least, not as a child. Therefore, I must inform you that he is my child, and you will help him return to his place in the mortal world whenever he finds himself down here.”

“Ah. I see. Idon’tsee. Of course, I will do as you… ask. How will I recognize- nevermind.”

He was going to ask how he would recognize the child as his sibling, but that became a rather moot question. As he was talking, a bubble in his flesh near where his consciousness was currently communicating with Chaos quickly formed and burst. On the surface of himself, he sensed the presence of what could only be his new ‘sibling.’ Making a form for himself, and then shrinking it down repeatedly until he was only seven feet tall, he inspected the infant. 

As the yet-to-be-renamed child looked up at him, it smiled. Tartarus could not help but smile back. He reached out to gently tickle the small babe. “A coochie-coochie-coo!”

“He is quite precious, isn’t he.” Tartarus startled at the statement. Somehow, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know, Chaos itself had managed to manifest itself in a vaguely humanoid form, and had rested its hand on his shoulder.

*Happy baby gurgling sound!* The child, who had been laughing delightedly with Tartarus, reached both its hands towards its parent, in the sign even these Ancient beings understood as ‘up.’

Chaos complied, delighted in his child’s delight, but knew that he would not be able to bear his presence for long. Handing him off to Tartarus with a final smile it said “Now, send him back. Hopefully his mother has not realized he’s gone yet.”

Tartarus nodded, and prepared to send his brother’s sister’s essence back to the- wait what?! Tartarus could only watch in fear as the child -now distinctly female - disappeared into the land of the living.

“That wasn’t me. Did you do that? You did see that, right?” Tartarus was freaking out a bit. Yes, gods and other immortals had been known to change their gender on occasion. But he was not expecting it of a child !

“Hmm. It seems that my child, sensing my own disinterest in the conformities of gender, has decided to… experiment. This should be- interesting?”

“That’s one word for it. I hope his mother is made of something fierce, she’s gonna need 

it.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Meanwhile, in the said land of the living, Sally and Medusa are talking about baby names- greek hellenic and otherwise.

“No. I understand that you think ‘Percy’ is a great nickname for daily use -I agree entirely- but you are not naming him ‘Percival!’”

“Why not? It’s a great name! Percival was one of the knights of the Round Table. And you know what he never did? Killed you! That’s what he didn’t!”

“... You’re getting more and more ridiculous. Do you need something? Like… ten hours of sleep?”

“Hah. I’m a new mother. I’m pretty sure missing sleep is part of the job description.”

As if on cue, a wailing sound started up from the nursery. Sally groaned and moved to get up.

“No, you go to bed and think of names that are not Percival. I will settle young whatever-you-end-up-calling-not-Perseus-or-Percival.”

At this point Sally was too tired to put more than a token attempt at resistance before being half escorted, half carried to her bed. She would not get to rest for long, however…

“...Sally?”

“Enh. If you’re going to let me go to bed, you could at least let me try to fall asleep, Medusa.”

“I know, but I think you’re going to want to see this.”

“?”

“You named your kid Perseus because he was a boy , right?”

“Yes? Why would you even need to ask?” Suddenly Sally was wide awake “What happened?!”

“Um, he seems to be a… girl now?”

“WHAT?!”

“Before you freak out- oh, it would appear I’m just a moment too late. Sorry.”

“Chaos! What is going on with my son child?!”

“It’s not technically my fault?”

“What kind of answer is that??” Medusa, quickly getting over Chaos itself’s presence, came to Sally’s defense.

“Well, the child -have you named them yet?- was in Tartarus, meeting her older brother, when-”

“What?! Why was Percy in Tartarus? Crap, it’s stuck now.”

“I’m not sure? Maybe he forgot to breathe for a minute? You should probably take a moment to make sure not to do the same, actually.”

Medusa… was uncomfortably not sure if that was a joke, but found herself agreeing. Helping Sally sit down in a chair, she tried to help ground the young mother.

“Anyway, I was just getting Tartarus to send our child back to you, when they -apparently- noticed my own… disinterest in conforming to mortal gender, and decided to … experiment? Can’t say as I blame her, staying in one form seems- uncomfortable.”

Sally was calming down, thankfully, so Medusa had to ruin it. (not really)

“Aha!” Medusa exclaimed, causing Sally to jump in fear again. (see?)

“Sorry, I just thought of a good name.” Sally just raised a tired eyebrow at her. Chaos, on the other hand, sent a solid wave of amused curiosity at her.

“Persephone. She can go by ‘Sephy when she’s a girl, or Percy as a boy, and no one would be offended, because Persephone -the goddess- is a darling who hasn’t -as you said- ‘killed me.’ What do you think?”

“I… huh. I actually kinda like it. Persephone it is. Persephone Chrysaor Jackson.”

Chapter Text

Sally thought back to how her life had gotten to this point. After that fateful conversation, she had in fact moved into the cabin at Montauk. Medusa was indeed her… roommate, for lack of a better word. And the black puppy curled up in the corner was a hellhound. Yep. This was her life now, apparently. 

She had laid her daughter to bed an hour ago, hopefully she slept through the night. As she sat back, Medusa walked in. It had taken Sally several weeks to be… almost comfortable… around her. She had to take a triple take, however, when she realized what the monster woman was carrying. A platter. A platter with a tea set on it. A platter with a tea set with steam coming out of the teapot. Medusa was setting up a tea set on her coffee table. That- Why did that make more sense than most of her life?

“Chamomile? I find it relaxing at the end of the day. Also, would you like to talk about tomorrow?”

“I, ah… yes. I would love some tea. What is this about tomorrow? What’s happening tomorrow?”

“Relax, sip your tea a moment.”

Sally did that, and the tea was good. 

“Persephone is two months old, as of yesterday. Her father mentioned introducing some of his family when the child was old enough.”

“Yes, and? Wait- he thinks she’s old enough now? At two months?!”

“Yes? With her ancient blood, at two months of age she should be able to withstand their presence. They probably won’t be here long, it will likely just be introductions, but I thought you might want to do some preparation.”

“Preparation. Yes. There are going to be a lot of Gods. And Goddesses. And- other divine and ancient beings, probably. In my house. Tomorrow. When did this become my life?”

Sally sank into her recliner sipping her (surprisingly very good) chamomile tea. 

“Yes. Poseidon will be here in the early afternoon, and any gods he invited will show up any time after that. Knowing Poseidon and his love for you… he probably invited everyone he could think of. You don’t need to do much, they should stay out of your way, and Poseidon will take care of ‘playing host.’ If he doesn’t, I’ll make him regret it. If you want, you can take a trip into town, and I’ll take care of Sephy for the day. Meeting the gods, goddesses, and other powers who have decided to take an interest in your child would be wise, but I completely understand if it’s also… daunting. I keep excellent notes. However you want to do this, she’s your child”

Medusa refilled Sally’s teacup, mixing in a bit more honey. A few minutes passed while Sally tried to process the news, and Medusa waited patiently, refilling their tea as needed.

“You- you would do that for me? Watch Sephy, keep her safe, and deal with who knows how many gods?”

“While you go to town and visit the spa or the theaters, maybe the mall? Yes. I have the benefit of several centuries in the mortal and immortal worlds, I can take it. You are the single(ish) mother of one of the most powerful beings to be born in longer than I care to remember. Also, I want us to be friends, and this sounds like the kind of thing friends do for each other.”

Sally leaned forward, resting her head in her hands, before looking up at the woman in front of her.

“Alright. Do we need to make snacks or anything? I’ll take you up on that offer, but I want notes, and I’ll do anything I can to help until Poseidon gets here- tomorrow.”

“Glad to hear it. No, we don’t need to provide food- they are gods, after all. Giving Sephy and Strider a bath would be a good idea, and cleaning up the living room.”

“Alright, let's get started.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day, Sally and Medusa double-check the house -Medusa doing so mostly to appease Sally’s nerves- and bathe Sephy and her hellhound companion. At twelve thirty -only technically afternoon, as Medusa grumbled- Poseidon showed up.

“Poseidon,” Medusa growled.

“Er, what did I do wrong this time?”

“It would appear that you forgot to mention to Sally that you would be inviting all the Gods to her house today. I don’t think you made that big of a blunder with me , and I died for it!”

Judging by Sally’s flinch, she was still adjusting to the supernatural elements of her life. Like people talking about dying like they did it all the time.

“Ah, yes. Um. Sorry?”

“I’m not the one you need to apologize to! I’m handling it though. You go over there, and watch your child for a moment. Sally is going to remind me -for her own peace of mind- all of the things I need to do to keep a baby alive for a few hours, and then she’s going to get into her car and drive to the city.”

“Alright- wait, what? Why?”

“Because she’s not ready to play host for a parade of ancient gods! So she’s going to spend the day treating herself in town. I will stay here to watch Persephone as you ‘introduce’ her to anyone that will listen to you, and you can find another time and way to introduce her to some of the more important and relevant beings. Like, I don’t know- Amphitrite? ”

“…alright. Are you going to scold me the entire time?”

“We’ll see. Go to your daughter”

Poseidon was grateful for the excuse to escape. He walked over to the nursery, where Sephy was playing… something that only made sense to babies, with Strider. Sally is a literature buff and named the hellhound after Aragorn. Fight me.

Meanwhile, Medusa listened patiently to Sally as she ‘helped’ her out of the house and into the car. Finally, Sally left, leaving Medusa to wonder if she had time to scold Poseidon again before the first Gods showed up. He was so cute when he squirmed! Unfortunately, the gathering glow near the front door suggested she wouldn’t.

Chapter Text

It was nine o’clock when Medusa texted Sally.

M: It's safe to come back. The Gods are gone, and I put Sephy to bed. Do you want me to warm up some leftovers, or have you eaten?

S: I ate, thanks. Do you want me to bring you anything?

M: I’m good. How was your day out?

S: It was nice, how was your day ‘in?’

M: hah. Could have been worse. Tell you about it tomorrow?

S: Of course. I’m heading home now.

M: See you soon.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Sally walked into the living room, she saw Medusa on the couch, pouring over a notebook. It struck her, rather suddenly, how similar this was to any other roommate she’d had in college. Friendly textversations, coming home to see them studying- really the only difference was that Medusa always wore tinted goggles, even inside- and really, how big of a deal would eccentric style choices be if she didn’t know why?  

“Everything alright? You’ve been standing there for a while.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, It just kinda struck me how similar you are to some college roommates I’ve had. I guess the whole ‘Terrifying Monster From Ancient Greece’ vibe is wearing off, and I’m actually getting used to you as a person.”

“Took you long enough. I also love that you had to capitalize that whole phrase. So: I have notes, as I promised. Do you want to go over them tonight, or tomorrow?”

“... Let’s do it tomorrow. I think I’m going to go write for a minute, and then go to bed. Did you have any problems?”

“Other than having to deal with Posiedon all day? No, not really. I am kind of amazed at how many deities he managed to rope into coming- you should really thank me. It would have been far too many divine auras for you.”

“Ah, then yes: thank you. I’m sorry you had to deal with it alone.”

“Like I said: I’m older, I have experience. ”

“Alright then. I guess I’ll leave you and your… experience to study, I’m going to bed.”

Sally sauntered out of the room, the friendly banter coming naturally to her. What? She’d had roommates in college, and while she hadn’t been friends with all of them, she might have been… ‘more than friends’ with some. As she left the room however, she froze. Oh Olympus, did I really just flirt with Medusa like any other roommate??

Medusa watched Sally… the only word she could think of was ‘saunter’ out of the room, and wondered if she meant to do so…?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, Sally woke up early to Persephone’s cries. After taking care of her baby, she found Medusa in the kitchen, making breakfast for the both of them.

“Hey, thanks. For breakfast and yesterday- again.”

“No problem. I have been cooking for a long time, it’s something I enjoy. And yesterday, again: no problem. You’ve been thrown into this world rather face-first, and I’m here to help with that. and more if you wanted.”

“Speaking of yesterday, can we go over your notes while we eat breakfast? I can’t wait to eat those pancakes, they look delicious, but I feel like I also need to know what happened.”

“Certainly! This last batch should be done in a minute or two, do you mind setting the table?”

“Of course not.”

Sally went about setting the table, and found herself rather enjoying the domesticity of it. As they sat down to eat, Medusa pulled out the notebook Sally had seen the night before. 

“How do you want to do this? Do you want to read it, do you want me to read it to you, or do you just want the highlights?”

“Hmm. For now, just tell me the highlights, I’ll read the whole thing later- if you don’t mind.”

“Sure.” Medusa paused for a moment, looking over the first couple pages while eating a few bites. Sally took the opportunity to do the same, and watched Sephy and Strider playing contentedly on the floor- making lovely happy baby sounds.

“Alright, let’s see. Obviously the most important: Amphitrite and Triton showed up shortly after you left.” 

Sally winced. “What did they say?”

“Oh, they ignored Sephy and I. They just gave Poseidon a look , and left. Their silence actually made more of a point than anything they could have said, though. I wouldn’t worry about them making problems for you on land- Amphitrite is nothing like Hera- but I doubt either of you will be welcome in their undersea capitol any time soon. They might also try to tie up Poseidon in legal/political knots, so he may or may not be as present as it seems he would like.”

“Well, I guess I expected that. I had hoped for better, but hey, at least it's not worse!” 

“Indeed. Hm. Actually, the next visit was a group of Poseidon’s other godly children.”

“Really? I’m afraid I’m not very familiar with them -I really need to ask you to help me draw up some family trees and political webs sometime- Who were they?”

“Rhodes, Kymopoleia, and Charybdis. They arrived together, and spent some time watching Sephy. We actually had some nice conversations while they were here, and Arion galloped over to join in- and watch Sephy be cute himself, of course. I would not be surprised if they returned sometime next week to meet you.”

“Right, mhm… remind me who all of those are? I recognize a couple of the names, but is Charybdis really…”

“Hm, yeah we really need to get you some charts. Rhodes is, well she’s ‘the spirit of Rhodes.’ She’s mostly become the goddess of Island shores- I think. You might have to ask her, she doesn’t really pop up in the legends much. Kymopoleia is the goddess of storms and violent seas… and it shows when she’s mad, but she wasn’t bad when she was here. I think having her siblings there may have helped with that, however- they seemed rather close. Charybdis, yes- the Maw of the Ocean. She is technically a giant creature in the Sea of Monsters, and her insatiable thirst causes the tides. But, like most gods, she has the ability to manifest a portion of her consciousness elsewhere, so she looked like a mostly normal humanoid wearing a camelbak (backpack with a water pouch). She did say something about only being here ‘between tides,’ however. Arion you may have heard of: He is the son of Poseidon and Demeter. A horse that can run faster than the wind over land or sea. He also eats gold and other precious materials, and has delightfully colorful language.” Medusa said that last bit with a smile. Sally could tell she was hiding something. “Um, he showed up Greek today, but the more time he spent around Sephy, the older he smelled. He actually ended up running off in the middle of a conversation- I think he might have been about to shift Names.”

“Shift Names? What does that mean?”

“Ah. Um, the gods -and the rest of us- have been around for a long time, and we have not always been seen -or worshiped- the same by the different cultures we have been part of over the centuries. Poseidon, for instance. You know him as his Greek form: Poseidon. The Romans, however, despite worshiping the same deity , saw him… differently. They called him Neptune. Being seen as Neptune long enough actually managed to split his personality- or identity, I’m not quite sure. Anyway, Poseidon and Neptune, despite being the same entity, are two very different gods. Typically, they are referred to as different ‘Names’ of each other. And, of course, most of the gods -and many other beings- have more than just one or two Names.”

“I… guess that makes sense? What Name was Arion shifting to, then? And -if it’s not rude- do you have…other Names?”

“If I had to guess, I would say Arion was shifting Mykenaean- which is a scary thought if I’m being honest. As for myself? Hm, I haven’t given it much thought in recent decades.I suppose I probably have an American Name by now- I’ve been picked up by various communities on the internet. Throughout most of history, my tale has been the same, however, so I don’t think it would mean much. It also depends on who I’m around. If I ran into a Roman, and they thought of me as ‘their version’ of Medusa, I might wear a different style of clothes, or speak Latin or something. Or my snakes- sometimes they just look like snakes, and sometimes they actually are snakes, and sometimes they do…weird things.”

“Ah. Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. Do you need to wear the turban all the time? I know the goggles stop me from being petrified -for which I am very grateful- but if the snakes alone won’t turn me to stone, you don’t need to hide them to make me comfortable.”

“… really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’m probably very grateful you have worn it so far -it made it easier to get used to you, I’m sure- but, well, I’m getting rather used to your presence now and, well, I’ve had some… strange… roommates, so I don’t think snakes for hair would even be the most I’ve ever had to put up with. Also- they’re not always quiet? Maybe if I could actually see them, I’d stop freaking out and trying to find the snake in the room?”

“Wouldn’t you be ‘freaking out’ because you found the snakes?”

“I doubt it. I actually rather like snakes, it just freaks me out a bit when I can’t see them.”

“That… actually that makes sense. And, no, the snakes alone aren’t enough to petrify you- at least not by accident. So, if you really don’t mind…” Medusa gestures to the turban she always wore to hide her serpentine locks.

“No, go ahead. …I’m curious now,” Sally gave her permission -and encouragement- in a slightly breathy voice.

Medusa had a bit of a double-take at that reaction, before shrugging it off and reaching up to unwind her turban. Slowly, gauging Sally’s reaction, she revealed her snaky hair in all its scaly… glory. 

There were a few dozen snakes sprouting from the monster-woman’s scalp, some larger or longer than others, but all a beautiful, foresty green-brown color. As she finished removing the turban, they all took a moment to stretch and taste the air- glad to be free of the dark cloth. After a few moments, however, most seemed content to lay against her back- some even seemed to be napping. A couple ‘adventurous’ snakes leaned out towards Sally, flicking their tongues and turning their heads to examine her.

Sally reached out, before pausing and glancing at Medusa. “Can I- ” Sally paused, before simply gesturing at the snakes.

“What? I- sure?” Medusa… was not sure how to process this. I mean, sure, I was hoping she wouldn’t freak out, but- …and with how she’s been acting lately- just what did she get up to with these ‘roommates’ she keeps mentioning?!

Sally, ignoring Medusa’s confusion, reached out to pet and stroke the snakes that were reaching out to her. This resulted in some rather humorous competition, as a couple more snakes came over, seeking to steal her attention for themselves. Sally laughed, and moved closer to Medusa to give all her snakes the attention they desired. She actually forgot for a moment that they were attached to a person-

“Oh, sorry!” Sally jerked her hands back when she saw the… confused look Medusa was giving her out of the side of her eye.

“Well don’t stop now,” Medusa complained, as her snakes reached out to grab Sally’s hands and pull them back. Sally -not quite sure how to proceed- obliged, and went back to playing with Medusa’s hair. She did like snakes, and these were rather adorable- aren’t you my little cuddly-wuddly friends? -oh gosh I hope I didn’t say that out loud!

She had, in fact, said it out loud. But Medusa, who likewise has no idea how to deal with that information, elected to pretend that she hadn’t.

“So… do you want me to go back to sharing my notes? You can… keep stroking my snakes, if you want- they’re loving the attention.”

“Hmm?” Sally hummed, distracted. “Oh, yeah- that’d be great. You were talking about… Charybdis, and Arion shifting… mykenaean?”

“Yes. I- actually I don’t know what Arion is like in his older Names, but he smelled- dangerous, despite how much care he showed when he talked about Sephy.”

“Okay, I guess we’ll just have to deal with that as it comes. Rhodes sounded nice, and I might like to meet Kymopoleia- if she comes with her siblings.”

“Fair. Let’s see… after they left, Apollo and Artemis came, and Hermes- I wouldn’t be too concerned: they came, looked at Sephy, said hi- oh, they told me to tell you they said hi as well- and then they left.

“Hades and Persephone showed up-”

“Really?! What did they say?!” Medusa’s snakes hissed in displeasure for a moment at Sally’s outburst. “Sorry,” she mumbled, apologizing to Medusa and her hair.

“They were rather chill, actually. Hades spent a while talking with Poseidon- they seemed to be getting along well. Persephone listened to them for a minute, then came to play patty-cake with little Sephy and talk to me.”

“And? What did she say??” Sally asked, careful to be quieter this time.

“Hmm, well, she was touched that you named your daughter after her- she actually laughed when I told her the whole story! She doesn’t mind that ‘little Sephy’ might be ‘little Percy’ sometimes- she seemed to find it hilarious actually. I wouldn’t worry about either of them, although they did both offer babysit, so there’s that.”

Sally was very relieved, and it showed in the massage she had started giving Medusa’s scalp. Medusa didn’t think Sally even realized what she was doing -that was becoming a running theme of the morning- but she certainly had, and it was getting… distracting.

“Uh, after the chthonic couple left, there were a bunch of Sea gods, goddesses, titans, and I think I saw Pontus for a moment, but none of them stayed long. They came, acknowledged Sephy’s ties to the Sea, talked politics with Poseidon for a moment, and left. If you need to worry about them, Poseidon or Rhodes should tell us in the next couple weeks.”

Sally was beginning to notice how distracted Medusa was getting. Realizing the role she was playing in that… distraction, she decided to go with it.

“Mhmm, and what happened next,” she whispered in Medusa’s ear, “did anyone else show up?”

“There- there were a c-couple othersss,” Medusa stammered out with a hiss at the end.

“Such as,” Sally inquired, loving the control she had over the snake lady.

“A-Aphrodite was here for a moment. She -oh blessed Olympus what are you doing- she just smirked at all three of us before ditching as her husband appeared.”

“Do you want me to stop?” Sally murmured, caressing Medusa’s scalp and teasing some of her snakes.

“Oh please no?” Medusa gasped desperately, abandoning her notebook on the table.

“Good, then come with me,” Sally said, standing up and trailing her fingers down her shoulder to tug Medusa’s hand.

“Where are we going?” Medusa asked, confused, as she let herself be led away from the table.

“To my bedroom.” Sally said, smirking.

“Whyy- oh.” Medusa cut herself off as she realized what Sally was implying. Suddenly far more willing to get up, she let Sally pull her towards her room, pausing only to make sure Sephy and Strider were safely in their crib- extra large to accommodate the two of them. After the bedroom door closed behind them, the children stopped for a minute to listen to the fascinating sounds that came out.

Chapter Text

Sally and Medusa were enjoying their newfound relationship, flirting and teasing and being horny and young- and glad that Sephy was too young to notice. But it has been a week and a half, and Medusa’s prediction proved correct: looking out the window she saw two women striding out of the sea, with a horse riding down the beach towards them.

“Sally? We’ve got company,” Medusa called.

“Company? Who would be visiting us?”

“I did tell you that they’d be back. Looks like Rhodes, Kymopoleia, and Arion from here.”

“Ah. Um, can you answer the door? I’m going to see if I can wash Sephy’s face- without Strider’s help.” 

Medusa shared a laugh with her over the baby hellhound’s antics- while very exuberant , they were not actually helpful at keeping the other child clean. “Sure thing. How long do you want me to stall?”

“Uhh… if it takes me more than a couple minutes, I’m not going to care.”

Medusa laughed her confirmation as she made her way to the door. Hearing voices on the other side, she stopped to listen.

“So, can we just walk in?”

“No, Kym, I told you: we have to knock, and wait for them to let us in.”

“But- what if I just want to blow it down? She’s right behind anyway, it’s not like she doesn’t know we’re here!”

“Kym. You promised. If you don’t behave, I will take you back under- I’m not letting you make them afraid of us.”

“Ugh, fine- it’s not like I want them scared either; I’m just bad at being gentle, you know that, Rhodes!”

“I do, and that’s why I let you come with me as long as you promised to behave. I also know that you can be gentle when you want to.”

“Yeah,” Kymopoleia muttered as she knocked -very gently- on the door.

Medusa opened the door as Arion walked up behind the goddesses. “Hello Ladies, Lord. What brings you to our abode this day?”

“Oh, you don’t need to be that formal, we’re just here to visit,” Rhodes said comfortingly.

“Where is little Sephy? She was so cute!” Kymopoleia interjected excitedly, causing the waves to crash on the beach.

“Sally is trying to wash some dirt off her face, she said she’d be out in a minute. Would you like to come inside? Or perhaps we could wait for them on the beach?”

Rhodes glanced over her shoulder at her half-brother. “Perhaps we better wait on the beach today- you can treat us to tea another day.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They had only been on the beach a moment -long enough for Rhodes to conjure some coral chairs- when Strider ran out to greet them, barking and wagging his tail wildly. Sally was not far behind, Sephy in her arms.

Rhodes and her siblings did not stay long, but they left with Sally inviting them back anytime. 

Chapter Text

Medusa was watching Persephone for the day. Sally was visiting Rhodes and Benthesikyme in their ocean palace, and Charybdis stopped by to play with Sephy. Medusa was admittedly a touch nervous about Charybdis being present without one of her godly sisters to help keep an eye on her, but she had yet to cause any problems, so she couldn’t just send her away…

Medusa would later be very thankful that Sally was not there that day. It started like any other day at the beach. Sephy and Strider were trying to outswim each other, and Charybdis made the game more interesting by altering the currents and making random mini-whirlpools. 

It all changed when Arion ran up. Mykenaean Arion, who ran across the rivers and oceans of the world, and carried the souls of the dead across the rivers of the Underworld long before Charon was born. Medusa had worried that this would happen for a while, but did he have to show up when the only other adult was Charybdis?!

Arion had been hunting. Although he looked like a horse, he most certainly was not. Even in his Greek name, he ate gold and gems instead of hay or oats. As a Mykenaean? Son of Poseidawone, who’s children under any name tend to be monstrous? This ancient Arion was a carnivore of the bloodiest persuasion. His jaws were filled with row upon row of teeth, somewhere halfway between those of a horse… and those of a shark. He spoke in a primordial language that caused the minds of mortals to bleed, and answered to none but family.

Unfortunately, his family were almost all just as bad. Medusa really didn’t want to have to ask Persephone’s namesake to come and manifest in her own Mykenaean Name. She had done some more research with Sally after naming their child. She had thought naming Persephone after Hades’ bride would be fine -and it was- but had forgotten that in her older name, Despoina was a much more Terrifying goddess. 

Anyway, ancient Arion had been hunting seals on the beaches near Montauk, when he caught the scent of his youngest sister. Also sensing the presence of Charybdis, he decided to invite them to join his hunt. As he arrived, he noticed that Medusa was ‘supervising’ the children playing in the water, and sensed that she was not happy with the idea of Arion and Charybdis ‘playing’ with her child. Too bad. She was adopted family, and he would protect her against anything -his sister had claimed her, after all- but she was not blood-of-the-ocean- kin , and if his sister was hungry, he would teach her to hunt.

As it turned out, Persephone was hungry. She and Strider had been considering saying goodbye to Charybdis to go ask their 𝜇𝜂𝜏𝜀𝜌𝛼 about lunch when Arion arrived. When they told him they were hungry, Charybdis smiled and said, “Yes! Feeding time!”  Knowing that Sephy and Strider were young, their siblings decided to take them hunting for small prey -crabs, starfish and the like. Later, when they had grown, they would teach the little ones how to hunt anything that called the ocean home. Sephy was the child of the God-King of the Sea and Chaos itself, after all: the ultimate predator.

Medusa was worried when Arion came to join Charybdis and the two children, his hooves and jaws dripping with blood, but he did not attack, and he did not try to lead them out into the open ocean. Medusa knew that Persephone would have to embrace her monstrous side eventually, but it was probably better that it happened with her than with Sally, and Arion and Charybdis were probably the two best suited to facilitate her first hunt, so… It's not like she can die anyway, right? She decided to sit back and watch. She would step in if she needed to.

Persephone and Strider watched as Arion ran along the shore, before he stopped and pinned a large crab with his hoof. Running behind him, they watched as he bent down and grabbed the crustacean in his mouth, before tossing it into the air. As it fell, he caught it in his mouth again, eating it in two quick bites. Following his lead, the siblings ran along the beach in search of their own crabs. 

Strider found one first, and Sephy watched as her brother kept it pinned between two paws. As she watched, the young hellhound ripped the crab apart in his jaws, and gulped down the pieces. She tackled him into an energetic hug when he was done, before darting off to find a crab of her own. Moments later, it was Strider watching as his sister dove and grabbed a crab in her hands. Rather than eat it one bite at a time, however, she merely shoved the whole thing in her mouth and started to swallow. It took almost a whole minute, as it was a rather large crab compared to the monstrous little girl, but she managed to swallow the whole thing. Strider bounded over to return the previous hug- along with several sloppy kisses!

Not quite full, the children decided to try this new ‘hunting’ in the water. Instead of chasing each other around in circles, they tried to chase fish towards each other. Neither of them were fast enough to out-swim the small fish on their own, but eventually they figured out how to use pack hunting tactics effectively, and managed to catch a pair of wriggling fish in their jaws. Strider again opted to eat his prey one bloody bite at a time, while Sephy started with the head and swallowed the fish whole. When they were done with the fish, the children swam over to thank their older siblings for the fun lesson, before returning to shore to take a nap.

Medusa watched it all happen. ‘Definitely glad Sally wasn’t here for this,’ she thought to herself. She was initially surprised when Sephy decided to swallow her prey whole, but -being a snake- she usually did the same herself. ‘How am I going to tell Sally about this?’ She wondered, before giggling to herself- the beginnings of a truly terrible plan coming together.

Chapter Text

It was dinnertime at the Montauk cabin, and the table was set for six. Strider had originally been given a standard doggy bowl on the floor, but Sephy would not stand for that. Either Sephy ate with Strider on the floor, or Strider ate with Sephy at the table. After 'supervising' the children's first hunt a few weeks ago, Medusa suspected that both options would happen eventually. For now, Sally is blissfully unaware of just how monstrous her child has already become, and is 'compromising' to keep her at the table like a civilized child. Also, Strider having similar -if not better- table manners than his two-legged compatriot helped win his invitation to the 'people table.'

The fifth and sixth seats were set for Kymopoleia and Rhodes, who had said they might swing by. Medusa suspected that Kymopoleia had heard of the hunt, and wanted to hear about more directly than 'from the horse's mouth,' and Rhodes was -as always- there to remind her sister how to behave.

Knowing this, Medusa decided that tonight would be the perfect time to enact her 'terrible' plan. Only a day after the hunt, she had gone to the beach herself and collected a few of the large crabs that dwell thereon. They were currently hidden in the kitchen. The plan was simple: somehow get the crabs onto the table -still alive and moving- and in front of the children, without Sally noticing until its too late, and then basking in amusement at the face Sally makes when she sees her darling, precious daughter swallowing the creatures whole.

Sally had reprimanded Medusa a few times, when Sephy was even younger, for setting a bad example and 'playing with her food,' at least- at the table. In the bedroom, Sally had no problem watching -or helping- Medusa feed live mice to her hair; but at the table, if Medusa wanted to feed the snakes at all, it would be cooked, dead food, and she would have to use her fork or spoon to do it.

Sally was settling the children at the table, and slightly confused at how obedient they were, when there came a knock at the door. Medusa went to answer it, as her hands were -intentionally- not full.

"Kymopoleia, Rhodes, welcome! We were just setting dinner out. Come in, come in! As the two goddesses entered and took off their shoes, the goddess of storms and violent seas caught Medusa's gaze with a questioning glance. Medusa shook her head, and then smiled and winked back at her.

Kymopoleia smiled and replied, "What wonderful timing. I do hope hosting us tonight wasn't too much of a bother?" Then, turning to her sister she said, "There, are you satisfied with my 'manners,' Rhodey?"

"Don't call me that, and you did fine. Now remember to thank them for the meal, and use your utensils and I'll stop bothering you about it," the other goddess replied, disgruntled.

Medusa and the guests joined Sally and the children seated at the low table, and small talk started as dinner was served. The author refuses to write the small talk, because it is a language in which they have never achieved fluency. Eventually, however, the time struck. As Sally was distracted talking about undersea and coastal politics with Rhodes -A natural expert on the subject,- her partner in more than child-rearing caught the wilder visitor's eye. Reaching below the table, the mischievous gorgon grabbed the first two crabs and placed them on the table, giving them a nudge in the direction of the children.

Medusa and Kymopoleia watched and waited with excitement as the children noticed the crabs- and the older girls did not! Strider noticed the living prey first, gently nosing his pack mate to get her attention. When Sephy looked up, she froze, before putting her fork down. Forks and spoons were for civilized people, and what she had planned wasn't 'civilized' at all. Waiting for the crabs to wander into range, the children suddenly pounced, both striking at their prey with bared teeth and gaping jaws. Knowing that Sally would not like their choices, they went about their hunt as silently as possible, resisting the urge to growl or slam the crabs into the table. Strider bit down hard on his meal, cracking its shell, before pinning it with one paw and reaching down to rip off an arm to chew on. Sephy, once again, strayed from such conventional carnivorous practices, opting instead to merely walk her surprisingly dexterous jaws down the crab's body, swallowing it whole and alive- just the way she liked it.

As the last of the first crabs made their way down the children's throats, the two troublemakers exchanged victorious, devious glances, before Medusa reached once again beneath the table. Laughing silently to each other they watched as the two younger rascals watched them with their own eager silence.

Once again, two live crabs were placed on the table, and -with a bit of Kymopoleia's 'encouragement,'- they also wandered towards the children. This time, however, as the young spawn of Chaos was taking her time enjoying how the crustacean stretched her throat out, Kymopoleia decided to make things more... Interesting.

"Why, Sally," she said, an impish grin on her face, "why didn't you tell me that forks were optional for the main course? And Rhodey, look at our 'darling baby host's' table manners! I do believe she has the right of it, but she's certainly not using a salad fork!"

She and Medusa started laughing hysterically as the targets of their prank turned towards the children fast enough to get whiplash. They were just in time to see Strider gobbling up the last leg of his meal, but Sephy was still taking her time, enjoying the taste and texture of the crab in her mouth, the feeling of holding its struggling head and pincers in her rippling, muscular gullet. The struggles of the crab she had already swallowed, unaware of its incoming companion in digestion but already uncomfortable in the young demi-primordial's hostile gut, also gave her a sense of profound enjoyment. After a moment, the young devourer of squirming sea life noticed her human mother's attention and, fearing she would be asked to surrender her suffering meal, elected to finish swallowing with haste.

Not only did this result in Sally watching her beautiful not-so-fully human daughter swallow a crab larger than her own head whole with ease, but she was also subjected to watching her daughter, dumbfounded, as she obviously enjoyed holding the poor prey-thing in her mouth, letting it slide out little by little before gulping it down again, playing her tongue and jaws across its leg and shell, savoring the feeling of holding such a large piece of food in her maw. Try as she might, Sally struggled to think of it as a mouth, not distended as it was in such a savage display.

"I was wondering when something like this would happen," Rhodes sighed. Sally was still at a total loss of words, and her child was looking at her with a clear expression of 'I know I did something wrong but I hope I can get away with it if I act really cute or oblivious' on her face. Looking over at the serpent haired instigator next to her, Sally was rewarded with much the same look, but with a bold streak of 'I'm sorry but this had to happen' making it significantly less cute. But still somewhat cute. Especially with how her lively hair seemed torn between trying to hide from her around Medusa's head, and trying to stand up to her defiantly.

As Sally was engaged in her silent contemplation of her family's demeanours, Rhodes gave Kymopoleia a decidedly unimpressed look. Her wild and often violent sister was trying to reach beneath the table herself to enjoy the 'main course.' Medusa, frustratingly, was not cooperating out of a very valid desire not to get any further in trouble with the woman she had fallen in love with.

"Thank you for the food, matera," Sephy said, breaking the silence and trying to escape severe punishment by showing she still had 'manners.' "I'm sorry for not saving any to share with you, mom. Did you want one?" With this Sephy gave her human mother a bright, innocent smile... that was somewhat ruined by the rather visible sight of the crabs -still alive and not-quite digested- moving in her belly.

Thoroughly put off by the image in front of her, and ignoring the unhelpful woman at her side, Sally turned back to Rhodes, hoping for... Well, hoping for something!

"...You were expecting this?" Sally asked, still processing the fact that her child seemed to be taking after the only parent she didn't share blood with.

"Well, maybe not this exactly -certainly not my sister and her antics," Rhodes started, nodding at Medusa, "but something like this, yes. Young Persephone is your child, but also a child of my father, and a spawn of Chaos itself- some amount of monstrosity was to be expected. You may not be fully aware, but the Sea God's children have always tended to be more monstrous than those of the other Olympians. Bentheskime and I are actually rather glaring anomalies among our siblings, especially as older Names come into play. Chaos has not had any kind of child since the Creation -at least, none I know of- but I've been asking around for stories of the last time the Primordials had mortal children and, well, swallowing things whole -and alive, yes- is rather par for the course. As the child of Chaos, I would assume that Persephone actually consumes the very life-force of the beings she swallows- and indeed, she may require it. I encourage you to allow her to eat living prey like this, as it might actually starve her otherwise."

"Ah," Sally said, eloquently.

"Wait- consumes their life-force? Does that mean... The 'monsters' of Hellenic mythology, we reform in Tartarus when we are slain, and find our way back to the surface. Are you saying that if Sephy were to eat a monster, they wouldn't reform- that they would simply... Cease to be??" Medusa sounded slightly scared, finally grasping some of the implications of her daughter's new appetite.

"Yes and no," Chaos decided to explain. They were, after all, probably the only being that would actually understand. "Persephone can and will feed off of the life force of those she consumes, you're right about that. However, digestion is rather a different process for her than for other mortals. Firstly, any souls she does not fully absorb will still be sent to Hades or Tartarus, just as you do with excess/unusable food you eat. However, secondly, I thoroughly suspect that, especially as they grow older, our child will be more capable of 'selectively' digesting and absorbing both matter and souls- absorbing all of what they want, and letting the rest pass through largely unscathed."

"... Sephy? Why don't you and Strider go get ready for bed. The adults are going to be talking for a while- it'll probably be very boring, so you and Strider can go ahead and play for a few minutes. Just stay in the house, kids." Sally said, turning for a moment to her children.

"All right!" Sephy exclaimed, jumping down from the table. "Strider, come on- lets go wrestle!"

Strider growled happily in agreement, but stopped to grab his dishes and carry them to the kitchen first. Then he barked at his playmate to do the same.

"Fine, there you go. Happy now?" Sephy said, after putting her own dishes in the kitchen. Not waiting for a response, the young girl charged the puppy in the living room and tackled him to the floor.

The adults at the table sat in silence for a few moments, listening to the joyful sounds coming from the other room. Eventually, Rhodes decided that the conversation needed to start moving again. "So, Sally. Do you want my sister and I to stay and help you talk your way through this, or would you like us to leave while you process?"

"Um. That is a good question," Sally said, hesitantly. "I don't- I don't think I can really process this tonight, so I think I'm going to have Medusa put the kids to bed, and I'm going to go do the same, and I will process all of... this... later."

"That sounds reasonable. We will wait for you to figure things out before we come by again, and I'll make sure our other siblings leave you alone for a few days as well. Thank you, again, for hosting us tonight, your family -as always- has been lovely." With that, Rhodes took her and her sister's dishes to the kitchen and she and Kymopoleia left.

Medusa gathered her and Sally's dishes, before coming back and helping her lover to bed. "I'm going to go do the dishes and get the kids to bed, if you're still awake when I get back then I will help you get your mind off this." She murmured gently, before tucking her in... and sauntering out the door.

Sally watched her go, and part of her was appreciating the view as Medusa left, but mostly she was just replaying what she had seen at the table, and the things that Rhodes and Chaos had said.

"Sally." Chaos spoke gently, reminding her that they had not left. "I know that I cannot even begin to understand what you are thinking and feeling right now, but know that I am here, and that I care for you and Persephone, and that you will get through this. Have faith, not in me, but in yourself. There is a reason, as in all things, that Persephone is your child: because you are the mother she needs. Mortal you may be, but the next age of this world will be shaped by your hands- and I could not think of any better for the task."

Sally had frozen at the reminder of the ancient entity in her home- the parent of her child who was to blame for the monstrous display no less, but they sounded so sincere that she took the time to actually listen to them, and to the thoughts racing through her mind. "Sephy, she isn't a monster. I went through the same thing with Medusa: all I could think of her as, at first, was a monster- a killer, something dangerous and less than human. But now... She's a person, she's always been a person, I just didn't recognize it at first. And not only is she a person, but she is the person I love, the one I trust to help raise my child, the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. Persephone- she is not human, she is not like me, but she is my child, she is not a monster, and she still needs and deserves my love."

"I knew you could do it," Chaos said happily. "And do not think that I intend to neglect my duties as a parent, as the Olympians seem prone to doing. I am not here every day -your mortality could not bear my presence- but I will be here when you need me. And Persephone is old enough to start spending the day in my company, should you and Medusa ever want a break- or just to have the house to yourself for a day."

"I- thank you, Chaos. That does help. Now, what were you saying earlier, about me 'shaping the next age of this world?'"

Before the Primordial being could respond, Medusa returned to the bedroom. "Don't you think that's enough massive revelations for one night, dears? We can deal with the foreboding statement that was just added to the pile tomorrow- or next week. Right now, its time to sleep, and tomorrow, well, we'll deal with tomorrow when it gets here."

Chaos smiled in agreement, and left the two women to comfort each other in peace.

Chapter Text

"Mama?"

Sally turned at the sound of her daughter's voice. "Yes dear?"

"I'm hungry," the child said meekly.

"Already?" Sally asked, "We had lunch just an hour ago."

"Not that kind of hungry," Sephy said, confusing her mother.

"Not that kind... do you mean thirsty?"

"No, not thirsty- hungry," she insisted. Seeing the confusion on Sally's face, Sephy tried other words, to see if she could make her Mom understand. "Not hungry like you, mom. Tired? Empty? Drained? Um..." Sephy paused for a moment, thinking. "Hungry like Arion and Charybdis, or, or, or Momedusa sometimes!" She exclaimed, hoping that Sally would understand now.

A small part of Sally smiled, and plotted merciless teasing of her girlfriend. The rest of her was struggling to understand. Thinking about what Arion and Charybdis have in common, that they don't share with their other siblings, but might share with Medusa sometimes... and apparently little Sephy? 'Hungry...'

Slowly, Sally began to understand. 'Hungry' indeed. Not thirsty, nor hungry for food, but what other word could she use?

"Medusa dear?" Sally called, "Would you come here a minute? Persephone has something to ask you."

Persephone looked slightly confused as Medusa entered the room.

"Yes, child?" Medusa asked, curious.

"Momedusa? I'm hungry- and Mom doesn't understand. What's the word for other-hungry?" Persephone looked up at her other mother with innocently pleading eyes.

Medusa turned to Sally, confused. 'Other-hungry?' she mouthed, raising an eyebrow.

Persephone noticed, and repeated herself. "Like Arion, and Charybdis, and you sometimes? You get... other-hungry too, right?" Sephy was getting confused and frustrated.

"No, she doesn't," Sally said gently, trying to calm her daughter. "Arion and Charybdis don't either, actually. I don't know a word for it. You're not hungry for food, dear, you're hungry for- well-" Sally paused, trying to bring herself to say it.

Medusa's eyes lit up as she realized what they were talking about. Then she started looking around as if trying to find something.

"Medusa? What are you looking for," Sally asked, grateful for the distraction.

Persephone also looked curious, willing to wait for explanations for a moment to help her Mom find what she was looking for.

"They usually come by now," Medusa said, explaining nothing. Seeing the confused looks, she continued: "You, know- Sephy's other parent? They're usually here when we need their help explaining things- or when it's convenient to the plot. I mean, now that I think about it, we really should have a way to call them, but we haven't needed one."

Sally understood. "Ah, yes. Now would be a great time for them to be here. Um, yeah how do we call them?"

Persephone looked at her mothers, confused. "I have another parent? Who are they? Why don't they live with us?" 'Will the two of you please start making sense?' she thought, but didn't say.

Sally looked back down at her daughter, and crouched to her height. "You know the stories about the gods you've been learning?"

Sephy nodded. All of her family told her stories about the history of the Hellenic Pantheon. She liked Rhodes' storytelling the most, but she paid attention when anyone was telling the stories- or at least, she tried. The gods were real, she knew- some of them were her cousins and siblings! Learning their history was important, even if she didn't always remember why.

"And do you also remember how I told you someone can be your parent for different reasons?"

"Yes: someone is my parent if they helped make me, but they can also be my parent if they love me and help raise me. And you are the best because you do both! Posiedon helped make me, but he doesn't help raise me, so he is my sire, but he's not my Dad. Momedusa didn't help make me, but she loves me and teaches me, so she is my Mom, even if she's not my dam. You made me and you love me and you teach me, so you're the best parent!"

Sally and Medusa smiled at their daughter. It was so heartwarming and affirming to hear the girl say that.

"Yes, but you have one more parent. They helped make you, and they love you, and they try to be here to help raise you, but it's a bit hard because they're so different." Sally saw Sephy about to ask a question, and explained more: "Your other parent is Chaos itself, and that's why you're getting 'hungry.' Usually, when you are doing things that 'Momedusa' and I don't understand, they come and help us- but they're not here, so we're trying to figure out how to... call them."

Persephone sat down to think for a moment. This was a big thing. She has another parent? Chaos? But Chaos is only in the very oldest stories, and she didn't even know that they could have kids like herself. She started scratching her brother behind the ears- she didn't know when he got there, but it didn't matter. He was there, and her mothers were there, and they had finally mostly figured out what was going on, so everything would be fine.

"In the stories, when the heroes or kings want to get a god's attention, they say prayers. Is there a prayer we can say to get my- Chaos's attention? And are they my mother or my father or, or what do I call them?"

Sally and Medusa shared a look as they considered Sephy's latest questions. Medusa decided to take over the explanations, sitting down on the floor with Sephy.

"There probably is a way to pray to them, but we don't know how. We haven't needed to, so we didn't think to learn. I don't think anyone has ever prayed to Chaos, actually. Also, you know how girls are 'moms' and boys are 'dads?'"

Sephy nodded.

"Well, Chaos is older than boys and girls, and doesn't really follow the rules. We usually just call them your 'parent,' and we use 'they' instead of 'he' or 'she,' because that is the closest we can get to describing them right."

Persephone was quiet for a minute while she thought about that. It made sense, honestly. Chaos was old, and stopped doing things in the world before there were humans to say prayers. The gods didn't usually pray, so who would make prayers for them? And also, the whole 'not a boy or a girl' thing made sense to her. She didn't always feel quite right as a girl, and if Chaos was her parent, then that would make sense. After thinking things through, Sephy nodded, and decided to figure things out herself.

"Chaos? Do you have a name? Apparently you're my parent, but not my mom or my dad, and you want to be here to love me like Mom but you can't be here all the time. Can you be here now? I'm- well, I don't know the word for it, so I'm just calling it 'other-hungry,' and Mom and Momedusa don't know what to do, but they say that you will, because you're the reason for it? I know no one has prayed to you before, and this probably isn't how it's supposed to work, but can you at least come tell us how we should call you? Um, I'm Sephy- that's short for Persephone Chrysaor Jackson, and, and yeah I don't know what else to say. Come help please?"

The three of them sat together for a minute, deciding that that worked as well as anything else they could come up with.

...

...

...

Several minutes went by, and the Jackson family started feeling a bit awkward. They were about to give up and try something else, when they felt the presence of the eldest being start to fill the room.

" Of course I will come, my dear child. Sally, I apologise, we really should have arranged a convenient way for you to summon me beyond trusting on plot convenience. Now, what is this about 'other-hunger?'"

Sephy was all smiles at this point. It worked! She asked her other parent to come, and they did! Now the adults would talk and figure everything out, and she could stop being hungry. Happy with her success, she leaned back against Strider, and the two children waited for the adults to do... adult things?

Sally turned in a direction that she decided to designate as 'towards Chaos,' despite the fact that their presence was coming from every direction and no direction in particular. "Do you remember our last conversation that we didn't really finish, about how Sephy, being your child, needs to eat more than food?"

Chaos sent a wave of understanding agreement.

"Well, apparently she's 'hungry,' and I- I don't know what to do. I knew this was coming, and I thought I was prepared for it, but I- this is something I don't think I can help her with. I know that I want to teach her to respect life, and be conscious of what she is doing when she... 'feeds,' while also teaching her to be comfortable with herself so that she never thinks she's a monster- and I think I'll be able to figure that out, it's just the actual act that I just can't- I don't know. It's not something I have any experience with- not something that I will ever truly understand.

"Her older siblings, Arion and Charybdis took her hunting a week or two ago, so we know that she is fully capable, but they don't actually feed on the souls of their prey like she does, so I don't know how much they can teach her. I don't even know what -if anything- she needs to be taught! Help, please?" Sally finished, hoping that this ancient being that was also parent to her child would live up to it's claims and co-parent with her.

"Of course. How about I take-" Chaos cut themself off to pay more attention to their child.

"Young one? How about you stop trying to reshape your body in the overworld until I can teach you how to do so safely? I assure you that those two organs do not like being connected like that, and I promise that I will teach you if you wait."

Startled, Sally and Medusa looked at their child, who had apparently tired of being female. Encouraged by the presence of their parent who existed beyond gender, the youngest Jackson had started trying to reshape her body. Being a young child however... she was woefully ignorant of how a body was supposed to work, much less how to break the rules effectively.

Sephy frowned, but acknowledged that her attempts were only making things worse. "Fine, but you better teach me soon!"

As she started to put her body parts back how she found them, Chaos interrupted again.

"Here. Let me do it- you got those two backwards. No, that's wrong again. I'm going to leave you a girl for now -don't give me that look- I will help you change to whatever feels right when I'm done talking to your mothers, okay? Can you be patient for a few more minutes?"

Sephy groaned, but stopped trying to 'fix' her body. "But I don't wanna be a girl! can't you talk to them later? I'm other-hungry, and bored, and being a girl feels wrong!"

Chaos sighed. "Do you want to eat? Do you want to meet a new sibling?"

Getting Sephy's attention with that, they continued, "Then please, my dear child, be patient for a few minutes? I just need to explain what is happening to your mothers and tell them my plan for helping you so that they can stop worrying. You don't want your Mom worrying about you, right?"

Reluctantly, Sephy calmed down. "No, of course not. Just, be fast please? Moms like to talk forever."

Chaos chuckled softly as they finished restoring Sephy to her functional female form. "Of course. We'll be fast. We can leave the 'Mom talk' for after you get something to eat."

"Now, Sally -and Medusa- as I was saying, how about I take Sephy our child to visit her brother -on my side of the family. She can get a more direct experience of feeding on souls there to help her differentiate between that and eating food, and it will be a much safer environment for her to experiment with her body. While we're gone, the two of you can discuss what you're going to teach her and how. When we get back, the four of us can 'sit down' and discuss rules and morals and other necessary details? I can check back with you in a week, and see where we're at then?"

Sally thought for a moment, traded glances with Medusa, and then asked "By brother, you mean Tartarus, right? Is that really the best place? I mean, I know she'll be safe with you there, but- are there even souls that small there? Wouldn't Hades be better?"

"Hades would be a less hostile environment and have weaker souls, but no. Tartarus is better. First, she is going to experiment with her body, and she is going to mess up, which means that she is going to end up in Tartarus anyway. Second, Tartarus does have souls small enough for her to feed on. Third, Tartarus is a better realm for her to get a grip on her own form and the existence of souls- what she is doing to them. Lastly, I know that her brother has been wanting to meet her again, and it appears the feeling is mutual."

Sally sighed, but agreed. "Alright. Thank you so much for being patient and participative. You are making a fine co-parent. Take Sephy to meet her brother, have some parent-child bonding time, and I'll see you again next Friday afternoon- not a day later!"

With that final declaration, Sally and Medusa hugged Sephy goodbye, and then she and Chaos simply ceased to be there.

Chapter Text

Persephone blinked her eyes a couple times. Only a few moments ago, she had been in her family’s cabin at Montauk, hugging her mothers goodbye. Now… now she was in a red, burning hellscape, fraught with spars of jagged rock and deep trenches. The lighting was incredibly inconsistent, changing from the glare of burning flame to the darkness of deep shadows with little ambience. The very atmosphere was burning, toxic, and oppressive. Pustulent bubbles of various sizes littered the hellscape, occasionally bursting to free the beings gestating within. 

Truly, it seemed a most wretched and horrible place, and yet- 

Somehow, a part of her found the whole scene beautiful. She didn’t know what it was about the place, but there was a feeling of rightness that she couldn’t shake. 

“Here we are,” her parent said, drawing her attention. “Tartarus, your brother. This is his realm, the spawning ground of immortals. Look around a bit, let your essence adjust to the new environment. I’m going to get his attention, and then I will fulfill my promise and help you remake yourself.” 

So saying, the pocket of near-solidified attention she had come to identify as Chaos’s ‘physical form’ turned away. They stayed by her, but were clearly not focusing entirely on her.

Persephone wondered what he meant by ‘letting her essence adjust,’ before she realized: the air no longer clawed through her lungs. The bursts of flame no longer scorched her skin, either. She could tell that her surroundings had not changed, it was just as toxic and fiery as before, but something in her had changed- she now belonged in a way that she hadn’t before. The deep shadows that had seemed so strange earlier now made sense, as her eyes adjusted to truly see them as draining the light around them, rather than merely lacking it as the shadows she was used to did. 

Likewise, the off-colored bubbles that bore reforming monsters only seemed to be pus-filled blisters because that was what most beings interpreted their contents as. Monsters, being the living embodiments of the darker side of civilisations, were born out of the vices and criminal deeds of mortals, and that is what visitors of Tartarus saw in the skin of the realm. And yet, born of Chaos as the young not-quite-girl was, she had an intuitive understanding of entropy, and the necessary give/take relationship of all things. The vices of society may not be beautiful, but they were still part of it, and should not be disregarded. In all things, growth; in all things, decay; in all things change and beauty.

Shaking her head to clear her mind of the sudden input of understanding, Persephone turned to see if her brother was coming yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tartarus was distracted. He normally slept through the eons, waking intermittently with the turn of society to reorganize the way monsters manifested to better reflect the way the overworld existed. He was the boiling pot of all the vice produced by mortals and immortals alike, and it was under his control that monsters reformed. He was a reflection of his work, and his realm a reflection of himself- the punishing environment most visitors perceived was actually them experiencing the concentrated presence of iniquity, offending their morals and enraging their flaws.

Regardless, his existence was generally one of quiet contemplation and slumber. Internal reflections and soliloquies that he sometimes murmured into the fabric of his realm were a sign that respawning monsters had come to fear- an omen of wakefulness. He blamed his Parent, of course. Sure, all the Primordials were wakening, but it was only because of Chaos coming by to introduce Their demi-child that he was really, truly awake. 

Not that there was so much wrong with being awake, but it was rather boring at the moment. Nothing was happening in the overworld, and while that absence of activity was actually the very thing waking the Primordials, he had not had the time to decide what he wanted to do before fully waking, so now he was bored.

And distracted. Chaos had introduced his youngest sibling to him, and Tartarus had not really been awake enough to fully register that when it happened. Now he was awake, and wanted to really meet his sibling. He didn’t even know their name, by flame and felony!

So Tartarus lay, and contemplated the existence of a mortal child half sibling. And then he felt a Presence enter his domain. Chaos was visiting again? What now, had they brought their child to visit? Tartarus started shaping a physical form, trying to make it as ‘human’ as possible, and stretched his consciousness towards his Parent. After a brief moment, he felt more than heard a wave of thought from Chaos calling him. Sending a brief wave of acknowledgement, he strode off in the direction of the call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ah, there he is. Look over that ridge, do you see him?” Chaos asked, and Persephone looked in the direction she could feel her parent looking in. Sure enough, a towering figure that seemed part of the hellscape was striding determinedly towards them. 

“That’s my brother?” She asked, curious. “What’s he like?”

“What’s he like? Hmm. Your brother Tartarus is… well, fierce- but surprisingly caring. He punishes those who disregard their own vices, but shelters those who are unjustly persecuted by others. You could say that he hates bullies- but he is all too willing to bully them back. He will probably confuse you at first, because he is so different than anyone you have met, but I hope the two of you will be good friends when you understand each other.” Chaos was distinctly terrible at introductions.

“Ookayyy… can you help me not be a girl now?” Patience gone, Persephone was not going to let her parent stall any longer.

“Hmm? Ah, yes.” Chaos took a moment to collect their thoughts before continuing: “First, remember how I told you not to experiment with your body in the mortal world?”

“Yes?”

“You can go ahead and try whatever you want here-” 

Persephone cut them off “Why? You said that I didn’t know how to do it right yet, and that doing it wrong would… be bad? What happens if I do it wrong, and why is it better here?”

“Do you see the bubbles that monsters are being born from? If you make a body that doesn’t work, you will die, and reform in one of those. It doesn’t really matter if you do that now, because you’re already here. Also, this realm is more conducive to altering your body: the definitions of what does and does not work are more flexible. You do still need to be careful, though,” Chaos cautioned their child before they did something they might regret. “You won’t be able to finish reforming until you make a body that does work- although your brother and I can still help you.”

Persephone paused, 100% about to start remaking their body recklessly before hearing the warning. “So… how do I make a body that does work?” They asked, tired of the wait but scared of the consequences.

“Well, first: do you know what you want? You mentioned ‘not wanting to be a girl-’ do you want to be a boy again? Or something else?” Chaos asked as Tartarus finally reached them- he totally didn’t slow down to listen in on their conversation, even when it was about him, what are you talking about? Okay, fine, he did- he was curious didn’t want to interrupt!

“Greetings Chaos, have you finally come to introduce my youngest sibling?” Tartarus asked, looking down at said sibling instead of at his parent in a show of childish pettiness. 

“Hello? My name is Persephone Chyrsaor Jackson- and I’m not a girl! Well, I am, but I’m trying not to be anymore, and Chaos isn’t helping even though they said they would!” Persephone smiled angrily at the newcomer, testing them. Tartarus, being for most of its existence a youngest child, understood the play at once. 

“I see! Well, how about you and I go for a walk, and I can try to help you? We’ll leave our parent here until they feel like being helpful again,” He responded, smiling mischievously at Chaos.

Persephone smiled at her brother- he definitely passed the test. “Okay! Also, I’m other-hungry, and Mom said you were going to feed me. My mom, not yours- do you even have a mom? You can share mine if you want, she’s the best!”

Chaos watched as their children walked off without them- not really offended, but thoroughly amused. ‘I wonder how Sally would react to that offer,’ they wondered, smiling.

“I don’t have a mom, actually. But sharing yours sounds lovely! Then we could really be siblings!” Tartarus said happily, playing along and meaning every word . “Now, what do you mean by ‘other-hungry,’ and do you want to fix that before or after we fix your body?”

“I don’t know the real word for it, but I’m not hungry for food. Apparently I’m hungry for souls? Do you know what that means? Mom and Momedusa didn’t. And, well, I know that I don’t want to be a girl, but I don’t know what I do want, so you help me do something just not girl , and we’ll figure the rest out after eating? Are you hungry? Ooh! Mom said that my other siblings don’t even get other-hungry, do you?”

Tartarus had to think for a moment at that. His sibling needing to feed on souls was something he probably should have predicted, but he couldn’t remember if he ever actually ate anything -soul or otherwise. He usually just absorbed what he needed. 

“Hungry for souls, eh? Well you came to the right place! Do I get hungry? Yeah, sometimes- and I get ‘other-hungry’ too, just like you!” He smiled at his sibling before continuing, “Now, just relax a moment, and let me try to sort you out.”

As Persephone relaxed, he tried to peer into their essence and intuit the form that would fit them best- or at least better. Seeing nothing distinct, he decided to just make certain parts more reptilian- without making them scaly. Despite the similar appearance, it should feel different enough to settle her nerves until she knew more of what she wanted.

“Alright, how does that feel? I know it doesn’t look much different, but it is different on the inside, and you are definitely ‘not a girl,’ so I hope it works?”

They looked down, but obviously couldn’t see anything through their clothes. Closing their eyes, they felt what their brother had changed, and decided that it would work- at least for now. “Yeah that works, thanks big brother!”

“You’re welcome little sibling! Now, let’s get you fed, shall we? You probably can’t eat anything really big yet, but I know where we can find the souls of some smaller critters, don’t worry! While we’re walking, are you just ‘other-hungry,’ or are you normal hungry too?”

“Hmm. I’m actually both- I think. Also, how far do we have to go? Can I sit on your shoulders?” Persephone smiled brightly at him.

“No problem, climb on up! We’re not going far, do you see those lichen-covered rocks? There are some smaller souls spawning there that you can eat.”

Chapter Text

As the siblings approach the rocks, Persephone slides down Tartarus’ arm and lands on the ground in a crouch. Feeling the hunger in their gut, the child’s eyes lock on to the sight of small, rat-like creatures scampering across the lichen. 

Tartarus watched as his younger sibling scaled the face of the nearest boulder. Clinging to the rock face, they pulled their body upwards to catch one of the rats’ heads in their jaws. Leaning back, the muscles in their throat rippled downwards, pulling the rat-thing to its doom in the growling stomach below.

Clambering onto the top of the rock, Persephone’s gaze darts about, searching for their next target. There is a rat on the boulder just next to theirs, looking in the other direction. Most of the rat-things have scurried for cover, but this one is unaware- and thus, unafraid. Persephone tenses the muscles in their limbs, crouching and preparing to leap onto the other rock and pin their target just long enough to stuff them into their mouth- when they hear their Brother’s voice.

“Persephone,” Tartarus called out, interrupting the young demi-primordial’s search for more food. Approaching the rocks, he gestured to a small blister on the ground. Dire rats can be seen in various stages of rebirth in the blisters around the cluster of rocks, but this one is rather new, and there is nothing to see within it but swirling golden dust.

“Touch it. I want to see if you can absorb the raw soul by itself, without consuming the full creature.” 

Reluctantly, Persephone descends from their stony perch. Reaching out, they try to pull the swirling soul into themself. Failing that, Persephone pokes a hole in the surface of the bubble, and tries ‘drinking’ it out. That works, but the taste and texture does not please them as much as feeling the squirms of living creatures in their gut. 

Experiment over, Persephone went back to chasing dire rats among the rocks, swallowing as many as they could get their hands on. 

Tartarus stood back and watched contentedly as his sibling engulfed the pitiful denizens of his realm in their jaws and devoured them. After consuming three more of the dire rats, Persephone sat against one of the boulders and stared at their belly. With their shirt riding up, both children of Chaos were able to clearly see the struggles of the living forms within. Persephone poked and prodded at them a little, stroking their belly. They were fascinated by this new sensation, by the feeling of power and dominance. Knowing that there was another living, breathing being inside them, and that they were bathing their prey in strong acids, and draining their very souls -it was truly a blissful experience for the young demi-primordial. 

After a few pleasant moments, Persephone noticed their brother watching them, and jerked their hands away, ashamed. Deciding to teach his sibling to embrace their monstrous nature, Tartarus reached out and grabbed a dire rat of his own, bringing it to his mouth while looking right at Persephone. Maintaining eye contact, he opened his mouth wide, revealing a nightmarish maw with several rows of teeth. Releasing the squirming rodent, he swallowed at just the right moment such that his prey passed all the way down his enormous throat without even brushing the sides. 

Bringing up another rat in his other hand, the Primordial of the Pit placed it with deceptive care into his mouth, before slamming it shut, impaling the little monster upon rows of canines, and crushing it between ranks of molars- the only two kinds of teeth he bothered shaping. Breaking the common rules of table manners, he proceeded to chew with his mouth open, affording his sibling a view as he mashed the poor creature to pieces, blood and viscera dripping down his chin.

“I know that you must control your desires on the surface world, and hide your true nature from the mortals, but do not fear judgement here, in my realm. You are my kin, and Chaos is our parent- in this place all other beings kneel before us. Eat your fill, little one: everything in this Pit is fair game. Enjoy yourself, and feel no shame. I know what hunger is like, and I know the pleasure you feel, right now.” Tartarus murmured, comforting his younger sibling.

Persephone looked up at him gratefully. “Thank you for understanding, Big Brother. It was so frustrating, earlier, when no one understood me. And when Mom first saw me eating like this, she was so scared -I know she was trying not to be, but it still hurt. It’s… nice, knowing someone else understands me.”

Tartarus smiled down at Persephone, touched by the trust and love in their statement. “You shall have to come here and hunt more often then, little sibling. I am sorry that your Primordial nature disturbs your mortal family, but you will always be welcome and accepted here, no matter what.”

Persephone smiled up at him. Opening their mouth to respond, they were interrupted by a loud belch that carried with it the sounds of screams from their stomach. Persephone froze, and began to apologize, before pausing, remembering who they were with. As the young predator looked up, the elder being just smiled at them. “...That was kind of cool. The way their screams came out.” Persephone said hesitantly, hoping it was the right thing to say. 

“Yeah, it was a little cool, wasn’t it?” Tartarus replied easily, assuring his sibling that he was not going to change his mind and judge her. “Well, it seems you have eaten all the dire rats currently here, do you want to go hunt somewhere else? I could also give some of these others a little nudge, if you want to stay here- or just like their taste.”

“I think I’m full, actually.” Persephone replied, climbing to their feet. “We definitely need to go hunting for something else next time, I can’t wait to explore your realm! I want to see you hunt more too, Big Brother.”

“Very well then. I can’t wait to show you every corner of my realm- including the hidey-holes that some people don’t think I know about! I can introduce you to some of the beings that live down here, and help you learn to hunt literally anything that catches your fancy. Your parents will no doubt have lessons for you later, telling you what happens when you eat something- but don’t worry: I don’t care. You can eat whatever you want. Well… Okay, some things you may have to wait until you are older and bigger, but you are allowed to eat anything, is the point.” Tartarus fumbled a bit at the end, trying to be all dramatic and cool, as big brothers should be, before remembering how young and small his sibling was. Big brothers should also be responsible and protective, he supposed. 

“Anyways, if you’re sure you’re done eating, we should probably go find our Parent. Chaos is probably ‘ready to be helpful’ now,” Tartarus said with a grin.

Chapter Text

Hunger -for both flesh and souls- slaked, the young predator ambled back over to their brother. Picking them up, Tartarus returned his sibling to their perch on his shoulders, before striding back towards Chaos.

As he began walking, Persephone spoke: “I think I know what I want now, Big Brother.”

“Oh?” The Primordial asked, tilting his head up to where his sibling sat, holding his horns in their hands. “And what do you want, little sibling-of-mine?”

“I like what you did earlier,” they said as the duo reached their shared Parent. “It’s simple, and uncluttered, and it feels nice. But it doesn’t feel… complete? And now the rest of my body doesn’t match, so can we just finish what you started?”

“We can certainly do that, my child,” Chaos said, joining the conversation.

“All I did earlier was remove your female organs and give you a reptilian cloaca- without the scales. How would you like us to help you ‘finish’ it?” Tartarus asked.

“Well, I know that I want to change my mouth to be like a snake’s, and maybe a tail would be cool? I’m not sure about the scales yet, but I kinda want to try it! So, can you just make my whole body reptilian, and then teach me how to tweak it from there?”

The two elder beings looked at each other for a moment, holding a silent conversation. After a few moments, Chaos spoke: “Alright, we’ll do that. Now, pay attention to how I change things, so you can try and do it yourself next.”

Persephone nodded, then closed their eyes to focus inwards. 

Beginning with the jaws, Chaos shifted the connection to the throat to flow better and put in a detachable joint separating the two sides of the lower jaw. Moving downwards, they moved the child’s shoulder blades, and adjusted how their chest muscles attached- not making it fully reptilian, but different enough to teach them how moving muscles works, and what effect doing so will have on how their body moves. 

Continuing the transformation, Chaos extended the vertebrae and muscles of the pelvis, and created a simple tail, reaching no more than a few inches in width, and brushing against the ground with its tip. Chaos hardened and sharpened their child’s finger- and toe- nails into short claws, and gave them a thin layer of snakeskin from head to toe. 

Finally, Persephone’s eyes were given a slitted, reptilian appearance, and their teeth were sharpened to match the rest of their body.

“Hmm… Try that. Move around a bit, test your eyesight, and tell us how you feel.”

Persephone Chryss opened their eyes and blinked a couple times as they adjusted to their new eyes. Bending and twisting, they felt the changes in their chest, upper back, and arms. Running a hand along their arms and legs, the new lizard-child admired their claws and smooth, scaled skin. 

Licking their lips, Chryss flexed their throat and jaws, spreading their lower jaw apart and bringing it back. Looking behind them they noticed their tail, and took a few moments to learn how to move it intentionally- nearly knocking themself over several times in the process. Reaching up, they ran a hand through their long hair, and frowned.

Chaos and Tartarus watched the child explore the new body, rather curious as to what they would and would not like. 

Concentrating, Chryss sat down cross-legged- and winced as they sat on their new tail. Taking a moment to re-learn how to sit down comfortably, Chryss closed their eyes and focused inwards. 

Beginning to make their own changes to their body, they started with their new scales. Like, ‘thank you, Chaos, for the scales- but skin colored like this they’re just hideous.’ Instead, the scales became mostly forest-green, like Momedusa’s. Add some dappled black patterning, and highlight in a gold-brown hue, and they were looking so much better. 

They decided that they did like the tail, but it was, again, a bit too bland. A few thoughts later, and there were small spikes emerging along the length of their spine, running all the way down to end in a bony, pointed plate at the end of their tail. 

Now for their jaws. Chryss loved the way their throat and jaws moved now, but wanted slightly bulkier jaws, with bigger teeth- more like a mini crocodile than the original snake design. They did give themselves a forked tongue, however- which was harder than they thought. A snake’s forked tongue is rather thin, but they still wanted theirs large and muscular. Simply scaling the pattern, or putting a split in the middle didn’t work very well, so they played around for a few minutes before they found a style they mostly liked. 

They saved the biggest change for last, however. As a young human girl, Sephy’s hair had reached her mid-back, and she loved it that way. Chryss, however, was now distinctly reptilian, and the hair really didn’t match. Letting it all fall out, they did their best to make short snake tails -patterned after their own tail- grow out of their head, reaching just shy of their shoulders. Now that they looked a lot more like Momedusa, they were happy.

Opening their eyes again, Chryss looked at their Parent and Brother. “How did I do? Also, don’t call me Persephone anymore. Call me.. Chrysssss” They said, intentionally drawing their name out into a hiss to show off the tongue they spent so much time on.

Chapter Text

The house was quiet. Sally was sitting in her armchair in the living room, adjusting to the fact that her child was not there. Strider was curled up in a corner, napping and missing his sibling.

Sally was still sitting there, staring thoughtlessly into space, several hours later. Medusa decided it was time to have a Conversation. Walking into the room, she laid her trusty tea set on the table and poured a cup for herself, before putting a steaming cup in front of Sally. Sitting down, Medusa started sipping her tea while she waited for Sally to register her presence.

Sally’s mind was a minefield of error 404 messages. She was trying to process all of the things that had happened in the last couple of days, but any time she thought about one thing, everything else overwhelmed her and her brain bluescreened. As she caught the scent of tea, she realized Medusa was probably here to help her again, and returned her focus to her surroundings. 

Sally blinked a few times, registering her surroundings. 

“Lemon-Ginger?” Medusa said, indicating the cup of tea in front of her. “I find it comforting, and it helps stimulate the mind.”

Sally looked down and picked up her cup. Medusa had steeped it just the way she liked. ‘Bless her for knowing me so well,’ Sally thought as she took a sip. “Ahhh” she sighed, breathing deeply. “You make the best tea, Medusa.”

The snake-haired woman smiled. “I’m glad you like it. Now, there are several things we need to talk about- where do you want to start? And no, you can’t avoid this conversation by dragging me into your room- although we can do that later, you need to talk your way through this first.”

Sally smiled at her. “I know, I know- and I’ll hold you to that. Actually, let’s start there: what are we to each other? I know at first you were basically just a live-in babysitter for Persephone, but that changed. So… are we ‘Friends-with-Benefits?’ Girlfriends? Something… else?”

“Do you want us to be something else?”

“I don’t know. I think so? You’ve done more to help me raise my child than anyone else, you care more for me than anyone else, I- I think, no, I know I have feelings for you, but I don’t know if you…”

Medusa had been alive for centuries. If she wanted something, she was going to take it. And if Sally didn’t love her back, then it would be better to know now. “I love you, Sally Jackson. I would like nothing more than to stay with you forever, in whatever way you want me.”

Sally was shocked. She had hoped that Medusa felt the same way, but to hear her say it… “I love you too, Medusa!”

“Well I guess that settles that question,” Medusa smiled. “I love you, you love me, we are raising your child together-”

“Our child.” Sally interrupted her love. “Persephone Chrysaor Jackson is OUR child. You may not have birthed her them, but she is they are your child all the same. You are her mother, which makes you my… wife. ” 

Medusa felt her heart beating out of her chest. Sally’s words had hit her right in the feels. “Very well: our child.” Medusa paused for a moment, letting that sink in, before she continued. “Our child, who is also a demi-primordial spawn of Chaos and consumes the souls of their prey.”

Sally wasn’t sure if she appreciated her love’s sense of humor when she was dramatic like this. “Right. Souls. That’s, that’s a thing. That- yeah. Help, please?”

“Well, we’ll need to talk to Chaos or Tartarus for the details, but I’ll explain what I can.” Medusa paused to collect her thoughts. 

“Creatures of the Hellenic mythos, ‘monsters,’ are born from the actions of mortals. Mortals doing good things creates positive energy in the world, and mortals doing bad things creates negative energy. That energy collects in Tartarus, where he uses it to form creatures, ‘good’ and ‘bad.’ When Persephone consumes them, they take that energy for themself, instead of sending it to their older brother. I don’t know what they can do with that power, but probably something awesome and terrifying.

“I honestly have no idea what happens if they eat other things. I know animals have spirits of some kind, and they probably absorb them like the Olympians feed on prayers and sacrifices? That makes sense, mostly. Someone sacrifices a goat to Hephestus, and their prayer takes the goat’s spirit to him- Persephone just skips the praying step and takes the spirit themself. 

“As for mortals and demigods… Maybe digesting their soul sends them straight to Asphodel, with no chance of Tartarus or Elysium? Maybe it just erases the soul, causing them to be reborn with nothing from their previous life? I doubt that Persephone has an entire underworld pocket dimension inside them -although that is how Tartarus works, so I guess it’s possible- so maybe they just absorb the souls of mortals like they do the energy and spirits of monsters and animals.

“Regardless. It doesn’t really matter exactly what happens to the souls of Persephone’s prey. The fact is that they are in some way digested and absorbed. Monsters usually reform in Tartarus with all of their memories when they are slain. If Persephone eats them, they won’t. Humans and demigods go to Hades when they die, and face judgement before entering the afterlife. If Persephone eats them, they probably don’t- which means no punishment or reward.

“You need to learn how to process that information, and we need to raise them such that they don’t become a true monster, with no respect for other living things.”

“Wait, you said that the good deeds of mortals create positive energy, which causes the birth of good creatures, right? And then those good creatures go around doing good things, making the world better, and helping/inspiring mortals? And the bad deeds of mortals lead to the birth of bad creatures, which essentially punish humanity for their existence?”

“Basically? I mean, monsters usually inspire humans to do the bad things that made them- like a succubus born of men’s cheating will try to get men to cheat on their girlfriends with her, but then she’s probably going to kill him or curse him or something, so yeah? I think you got that about right?”

“So then Persephone eats monsters -good and bad- and takes that energy for themself. Now it’s their responsibility to use that energy. And they can choose to use that power to help people or to hurt them… I think this makes sense. It’s just like teaching any other child why we do nice things instead of mean things, except that Persephone is a baby force of nature, and her actions have more drastic consequences.”

“... You know what? Yeah, we’ll go with that. And… how are you dealing with the fact that your baby is going to continue swallowing things whole?They won’t be sticking to crabs and fish for long, and you need to be ready to support them without fearing them.”

Sally took a moment to reflect. “I… It took me a while, but I got used to you. Your hair used to scare me, and now I help you feed them and play with them. I am still a little freaked out by the sight of my not-so-human child swallowing their food whole and alive, but I will adapt. I am sure that they will continue to surprise and startle me, but I can decide now to support them, and celebrate with them when they learn how to do new scary things.”

Medusa smiled at her mortal lover. “Alright then. Now we just need to figure out where Chaos fits into our family dynamics- unless you want to wait to have that conversation until they return?”

Sally decided to take several a few sips of tea before responding. “Chaos… seems rather nice? They try to help where they can, and apologize when they mess up- which is more than any of the Olympians can claim. And- is it just me, or have you gotten the feeling that they have been trying to flirt with us?”

Medusa laughed at Sally’s response. “They are definitely more mature and helpful than the Olympians, you’re right about that! And, yeah, I have gotten a distinctly flirting vibe from them the past couple of visits. You clearly trust them with your our child- how much more do you want to trust them with?”

Sally sighed. “I don’t know. I know that they are trying to be a good parent- and succeeding. I know that they care about me- and probably you. I don’t think that I would be opposed to being in an actual relationship with them, I just don’t know what that would look like. I mean, how do you take Chaos itself on a date, much less try to have fun in the bedroom with them like we do?”

“Those are all very good points. Why don’t we approach this from a different angle? Don’t try to think of what a relationship with Chaos should look like- or even what it could look like. What do you want from them? What are your expectations, and your boundaries? On Friday, we can ask Chaos what They would like in a relationship, but for now… What do you want?”

“I… I want them to help raise our child when they are acting primordial and I don’t know what to do. I would like them to be available to help raise our child more often than that, but that is the minimum. I need to have some way to contact them, without just waiting for them to realize that I need them. I enjoy their banter, and would like to continue doing that. I would be willing -if you are- to have them join us in the bedroom, even if that just means watching- but I am drawing a line at any kind of possession. They also can’t just take Persephone without telling me, I need to know where my child is and what they are doing. I think that’s it, do you have anything to add? This isn’t just about me, after all, not if you’re going to be my… wife?”

Medusa paused, touched by the tenderness in Sally’s voice. “I- Sally, I love you. I will mention that I am not as opposed to the idea of being -temporarily- possessed in order to have a more… involved group experience, but other than that, I think you got it.”

“Excellent. In that case, I do believe we have covered everything that ‘needed’ to happen in this Conversation, so I’m going to take you up on your earlier suggestion.” With that, Sally stood up and pulled Medusa to her feet, before leading her -not unwillingly- to the master bedroom.

Chapter Text

“You look wonderful, my child.” Khaos smiled as They watched Chryss stand and show off their new look.

Chryss smiled at their parent’s praise, and turned to their elder sibling. “So where are we going exploring first, Big Brother? I want to see as much as I can before I have to go back to my moms!”

“Well, if you want to be able to find your way around down here, you need to be able to find and follow the five rivers not born of my blood, so let’s start there.” Taking his youngest sibling’s hand in his, Tartarus, Lord of the Pit, strode across the hellscape that was his realm. “Let’s start with Phlegethon, the River of Fire.”  

Khaos and Chryss follow Tartarus to a massive cave wall with a torrent of liquid flame pouring from a hole near the top and cascading down into a pool of flickering yellow and orange light. From the pool flows a river, winding its way out of the cave and across the jagged terrain. 

“This is the safest of the Five Rivers of the Underworlds, the River Phlegethon. The River of Fire may appear dangerous, but these are healing flames. They will restore the health and strength of those who drink from the river. If you ever need to escort a mortal across my realm, -for some strange reason- take them to this river first.”

As Chryss listened to Tartarus’ explanations, they continued forward to the river’s edge. Bending down, they cupped their hands and reached into the rippling licks of fire. Lifting their hands again, they marveled as they held a small pool of plasma in their hands. Fascinated, Chryss took a sip of the fire in their hands, and gasped at the taste. 

“Ah! It tastes like- like the feel of sunshine on my face, of Mom tucking me into my blankets and the moment when food stops struggling in my stomach. This tastes wonderful!” Smiling, the young Demiprimordial drank greedily from the flames in their hands, before scooping up some more and drinking that too.

“Do the other rivers taste this good?”

Tartarus smiled and extended his hand to his beaming sibling. “Let's go find out, shall we?”

Chryss ran over to take his hand, their tail lashing in excitement behind them. “Yes, yes please! I want to taste them all!” 

So the two siblings stride off across the realm to visit the next river. As they chatter happily to each other, they barely notice their Parent distractedly following them, unaware that Khaos’s attention was in a bedroom in a cabin by the Montauk beach.

---

“No. No, I don’t believe you. You can’t seriously expect me to believe that your own siblings didn’t know that you were one of them until they had been throwing their own children down here for over a thousand years! I mean, the first time or two, sure, but come on! Of course you were one of them! What else could you be, Khaos’s fart or something??” 

“No, I swear, little sibling. They didn’t know I was anything more than a pit to throw things in! After a millennium and a half, I finally decided to say something to them… And you should have seen their faces!”

“What did you say? I mean, if it was the first thing you ever said, it must have been something epic, right?”

“Nope. I think it was something along the lines of ‘Hey, Brother. I think your face looks stupid.’”

“What! No, really? ‘I think your face looks stupid?’ That is the first thing you ever said?”

“Yup. I mean, I said it in Primordial, but that’s what I said.”

“That’s embarrassing. I can’t believe my Big Brother was so silly!”

“Hey, I was just a child!”

“You were over a thousand years old!”

“Exactly! Just a little baby Primordial! Oh, look at that: we’re here. Welcome to the River Acheron- the River of Pain and Woe. The ‘blood’ of tortured spirits and souls flows here, carrying their agony through the Underworlds and to the Brink of Chaos. Drink up, Chryss.”

“You can’t get out of this conversation just because we reached the next river!”

“Are you so sure about that? Just watch me!” Reaching down, Tartarus slapped the blood-red river flowing in front of them, splashing his sibling.

“Aah!” Chryss cried out in surprise, getting some of the liquid misery in their mouth. “Ooh, yes, that does taste good!” Kneeling at the river’s edge, they reached down to drink more, before changing their mind. Laughing, Chryss splashed Tartarus. They waited a moment, and then splashed their brother again right as he was about to say something. As he wiped the liquid from his eyes, they turned away and started drinking innocently. Only Chryss’s impishly twitching tail betrayed their playfulness. 

“Is that how you want to play, little sibling? Very well… have a splash!” Smiling broadly, Tartarus reached over and shoved Chryss into the river.

Chryss cried out in shocked delight as they tumbled into the river. They could feel the agony in the bloody water trying to pull them in, but their essence was far too strong. 

Tartarus watched his young sibling as they started floating on their back in the river, a look of mild confusion on their face. Smirking, he kicked at the water, sending a showering wave towards the young Demi-Primordial.

“Ack! What’d you do that for, Big Brother?” Chryss shook their head, drops of red water flying from serpentine hair, before distracting themselves and forgetting the continuation of the splash fight. “This river is weird. It carries so much pain, and I can tell it wants me to feel that pain; but I just don’t. It makes me feel… different? I feel like I should like it, but I’m just empty; and then I get confused, because why would I like something being in pain?”

Tartarus thought about that for a moment. “Hmm. Ah, that makes sense, but then… Right! Obviously.”

“Huh? What’s so obvious! Tell me!”

“Hm. Very well, Chryssss,” Tartarus began, jokingly imitating his sibling’s hiss from their introduction to set a humorous tone for a rather serious conversation. They laughed in pleasure as he continued:

“The pain you feel is the pain of mortals -living and dead- as it flows from them to the rest of the world. It reaches out to you because, as they say: ‘misery loves company.’ Most mortals hate to be alone in their pain, so they drag others down with them, whether they know that they’re doing it or not. You aren’t as affected as most victims of the river would be because you aren’t mortal. You’re my little sibling, born of Khaos. You are simply too powerful for the souls of mere mortals to have any power over you. Does that make sense?”

Chryss tilted their head to the side as they considered. “I guess, but why would I feel good about them hurting?”

“Well, most of the pain in this river comes from the tortured souls of mortals who were bad people. Some part of you knows that, and thinks that they are getting what they deserve, which makes you feel good, even if the rest of you doesn’t know what you’re feeling good about. As for the ‘emptiness,’ hm, how do I explain this? …For now, let’s just say that the part of you that likes their pain is very small and new, and the rest of you doesn’t know what it feels, so you mostly feel empty? When you are older, you can decide what you want to do with that, and then you won’t feel empty anymore, okay?”

Chryss nodded slowly. It didn’t really make sense, but it would make sense later- that’s okay. Meanwhile…

Tartarus saw the impish look in his sibling’s face as they decided to move on from this topic. “Before you splash me again, would you like to continue our battle at the next river? The goal is to visit all of them today, after all.”

Pouting a little at being called out, the scaled child swam to shore, before climbing up the avatar of the Pit to sit on his shoulder. “Alright then, which one’s next?”

—————————————————————-

“Behold, dear sibling, the River Cocytus. The River of Sorrow and Despair. It flows with the tears of mortals, carrying their laments and regrets.”

Chryss surprised their brother by jumping off his shoulder and cannonballing into the river. Smiling, he decided to join them, throwing himself into the water and sending waves crashing about. 

The siblings spent some time swimming and splashing about, before Chryss decided it was time to leave. “This river isn’t as fun as the other two. I don’t mind it, but the crying doesn’t make me feel good like the pain did, even in a weird way.” 

“On to the next river then?” Tartarus asked as he followed Chryss back to dry land. 

“Yeah. Which one is next?”

“Well, I’m saving my favorite one for last, so next is the River Lethe. Hm, actually, both of the next rivers are a bit more powerful than the other three, so no swimming in them until you are older, okay?”

“What? Why? You said I was too powerful for them to hurt me because I’m your sibling!”

“Well, I mean- they probably couldn’t hurt you, but this is only your first time visiting me, and I don’t want you to get hurt. And if your moms learned I let you swim in these two rivers, well they might not let you come back. So let’s just be careful this time, and we can be fun another time, okay?”

At the mention of her parents in the mortal world, Chryss sighed. “Yeah, okay. I won’t even drink them, then. I don’t want mom to say I can’t come back, you’re my favorite sibling!”

They didn’t stay long at the river of Forgetfulness and Loss, merely walking along the bank to familiarize Chryss with its location as one of the borders of this world.

As they were walking from the headwaters of the Lethe, Chryss spoke up: “Hey! You said that the last river was your favorite, so which one are we going to now?”

“Ah, yes- I did say that, didn’t I? Well, the river Lethe is known for wiping people's memories, making them forget everything about their lives. It has even worked on gods, which is why I didn’t want you to touch it.

“The last river, however, is even more powerful. This river is not only one of the borders of my realm, but the border between the underworlds and the world of the living. Mortals -and gods- swear their greatest promises on this river, because it can make you cross from one side to the other if you break that promise. Some exceptionally powerful heroes bathe in this river to burn away their mortal parts, leaving only their divine self behind.

“We are going to the River Styx, the river of Hatred and Mortality. This black river flows with the Passion of mortals, but only the passions that they take with them to my realm. Any love and happiness is left behind, or carried with them up to Elysium or even Olympus- the only passions they bring me are the ‘sinful’ ones.”

“I was wondering when you would get here.”

Both siblings looked around for the voice that had joined their conversation. Somehow simultaneously harsh and musical, it came from the direction of the river… and the young girl sitting on the bank, watching them.

“Who are you?” Chryss asked, wondering how someone else got to their Big Brother’s realm.

“I am Styx, the spirit of this river. And you, lovely Chryss, are my new favorite person.”

Tartarus blinked and stepped back at that declaration, not even expecting her to be here. ‘Well this should be interesting…’ he thought to himself.

“This is your river? That’s awesome! Big Brother was just telling me about it- you’re so cool! Wait, if I’m your favorite (what does that even mean??), can I drink some of your water? Big Brother said it was dangerous and might hurt me, but I want to know what it tastes like! So, is it okay? Please?”

The spirit smiled at him, her body and strange clothing (very heavy metal fan, but Chryss wouldn’t recognize that) made up of the dark black water of the river. “Well don’t try swimming, for sure, but I think that you’ll be okay with a small drink.”

“Awesome!” Chryss exclaimed, as they ran ahead to the banks, barely remembering to slow down before they fell in. Carefully sitting down on the rather jagged, cliffy rock shore of the River, the young child reached out to fill their hands with the cold black water. Raising their hands to their lips, Chryss closed their eyes as they took their first sip of the powerful waters.

Exhaling, Chryss took a moment to examine the flavor of their first sip. Blinking in surprised delight, they proceeded to gulp the rest of the water cupped in their hands before it could drain away. “This tastes awesome! Even better than the fire river! It's like ice, but spicy, and the black syrup that mom uses to make things sweet that isn’t sweet itself! It feels like I’ve been running or fighting or something for hours, but I just want more!! My feelings are going crazy, but my head is so clear- it’s Awesome!”

Chryss reached down for more of the Passionate water, but Tartarus reached down to pull them away and Styx used her power to make the water curve away from the demi-primordial’s hands. “That’s enough for you today, little sibling,” Tartarus murmured.

“Listen to your brother, Chrysss. I am delighted that you like my waters, but drinking more of them today will hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you, dear one. I want to make you smile.”

“Oh, alright,” Chryss agreed disappointedly. “I won’t drink any more today- but can I please have some next time I visit? Please?”

Tartarus laughed happily at the sight of his sibling giving the Nymph of the River Styx her best puppy-dog eyes. Styx glared at Tartarus, before breaking down and smiling with him. “Of course you can, precious. As long as your next visit isn’t today.”  She smiled as Chryss’s face took on a slightly rueful expression, their secret plan having been foiled.

“Speaking of temporal continuity, I think it’s time to find you somewhere to sleep for a while. Time passes differently down here, but you still need to sleep regularly.”

Styx smiled and waved goodbye as Tartarus picked up his yawning sibling and carried them away…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

Chryss slept for a few hours in a cave near the headwaters of the Styx, watched over by their brother. Upon waking, they had one question more pressing than anything else…

“Um, Big Brother?”

“Yes, Chryss?” 

Chryss paused, uncertainly looking around the cave and thinking of their travels before they stopped to rest. “…Where’s the bathroom?”

“The what?” Tartarus asked, completely lost.

“You know… a toilet?”

Tartarus stared at her blankly for another moment, before realizing she must be asking about some mortal thing. Extending a tendril of his divine presence into the mortal realm, he scoured his consciousness for the meaning of these strange words: ‘bathroom’ and ‘toilet.’

After a half second of searching, his power reported back to him: a mortal chamber designated specifically for personal hygiene, containing a device intended to carry away waste. As he received this understanding, Tartarus threw his head back and let out a long, hearty laugh. Trying to get a hold of himself, he looked down at his sibling, who was looking at him with a look of concerned bafflement, and started laughing all over again.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA  OHOHOhoho  hahaha…” He paused for a moment to find his breath, “Aahh, humans crack me up sometimes. Ah, hahaha. Um, Chryss, little sib, what part of a rocky cave in the middle of actual hell gave you the impression that I would have indoor plumbing? You think I actually care about the thousands of monsters who inhabit this realm making little ‘messes?’”

“But then where do I-“

Tartarus cut them off- “Just find a pit or a chasm or something- ‘go’ wherever you want, really.” He paused and snapped his fingers. “There’s a pool of acid in the back of the cave if you’re really worried about making a ‘mess.’”

Chryss just stared at him for a minute, before deciding that was as much sense as they were going to get out of him at the moment.  Turning, they walked to the back of the cave, where they found the promised pool of acid- that was definitely not there earlier. 

A few minutes later, Chryss skipped back out of the cave to find their waiting brother. “All done,” they smiled, using the bony spikes and rocky protrusions on their brother’s body and limbs to climb up to his shoulder, where they sat on a keratinous pauldron. What are twelve foot tall brothers for, if not to be climbed on?

“What do you want to do first today, Chryss?”

“Hmm….” Chryss looked around, pondering their options- until they saw a flock of stymphalian birds flying across her vision. 

“Can I fly? That looks so fun! How do I make wings?”

“Hm. Sure, why not? Climb down a moment, and watch me.”

Chryss’s decent would be more accurately described as a series of somewhat-controlled drops in their excitement, but they reached the ground unhurt in just a few seconds, before taking a few steps back to gaze at their brother’s back. 

“First, you’re going to need to add a few bones here, along your spine below your scapulae- shoulder bones. These will be the attachment joints for your wing-shoulders.”

Tartarus let the ‘skin’ of his avatar peel back so his sibling could watch as he formed the new bones.

“Then, a short arm bone with a socket joint goes in there, and a long, fused pair of bones extend from that one.”

Tartarus paused in his explanation as he created the bones he was describing- modeled after a bat’s wing because he liked their appearance better- but bare of any flesh.

“At the ends of those, instead of making a hand, you make really long finger bones: with all three ‘knuckles,’ each finger should be around the length of the wing-arm itself -maybe even longer.”

Skeletal fingers spread from bony wrists as he spoke, before stretching out to form the frame of wings large enough to lift his towering, muscular body into the air… with a bit of magic.

“Oh, and before I forget, you’re going to need to put a big bony plate on your sternum -the front of your ribs- like this.”

Tartarus turned, peeling the skin and muscle off his chest to show Chryss his new bony keel. Turning back around, he started on the necessary muscles.

“That was all the easy part, however. Now you need to connect all the bones together with muscles and tendons. Most of them are going to connect the first wing bones to the keel on your chest: those are your main flight muscles. The muscles between the other bones don’t need to be quite as big. They help you control your flight: you will need them to steer and do cool tricks, but they don’t need to pull your wings hard enough to get you into the air.”

One by one, he added flight muscles to his skeletal wings, attaching them to the bone with tendons.

“When you finish that, let me look. If you get it right, you can cover it all up with skin. Remember to stretch the flight membrane between the fingers like this, and connect it all to your back down here, near your waist. This skin needs to be very strong, or it will just rip apart when you start flapping, okay?”

Finishing his wings, Tartarus turned around to watch Chryss try to make their own.

Chryss, having paid close attention to their brother’s demonstration, turned to let Tartarus see their back. Taking off their shirt, they started to form the first bones beneath their scaled skin. As the first wing bones formed, they tore through the skin, causing the young Demiprimordial to gasp lightly in pain. Focusing on the promise of flight, they kept going, forming bone after bone until their skeletal wings were complete. Glancing backwards they asked their brother if they had done it right.

“Looks good so far, Chryss, but don’t forget the bone on your chest- you won’t be able to fly without it.”

Chryss nodded and extended the bone in their sternum into a keeled plate. Feeling the muscular attachments in their arms, Chryss tried to duplicate that arrangement for their wings, adding extra muscles that wrapped around to anchor their wings to their keeled sternum. 

Joint by joint, they attached muscles to their bones one at a time. Tartarus spoke up occasionally to offer advice, or correct them when they put a muscle in the wrong place. Eventually, the last muscles on their wing-fingers were attached. Tartarus gave their wings a last look over, and gave his approval.

Stretching a few layers of skin over the muscles, and then stretching it between the fingers was harder than Chryss expected, but still much easier than the precision work of the muscles had been. Finally, after about an hour of concentration, they had wings.

“Now that your wings are done, let's find you some food. Growing new limbs takes a lot of power, and flying takes a lot of energy, so you’re going to need to eat. Why don’t you practice holding your wings against your back so they don’t drag on the ground, and you can sit on my shoulder while I walk back to your hunting grounds from yesterday.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they reach the  rocky outcropping from the day before, Chryss launches themself off of Tartarus’s shoulder, gliding unsteadily on new wings. Rolling out of a crash landing, they leap towards the nearest prey-thing. Reaching out to grab the little fiend, Chryss stuffed it into their mouth and swallowed quickly, wasting no time savoring the sensation before searching hungrily for their next target. 

The sound of a blister popping to the right caught their attention. A poor dire rat’s first sight after reformation became the same as its last sight before being dispelled. The last rat Chryss had consumed the day before reformed after being digested as the demiprimordial had consumed enough souls to not need his. Alas, the same will not be true this time…

Unknowing that they had consigned their last morsel to their own digestion for the second time in two days, Chryss continued hunting. 

Locking their sights on an unsuspecting morsel a few yards away, Chryss crept silently forwards. As they advanced, however, their intended target was stolen from them. A fiendish viper struck the dire rat before Chryss could reach them! Growling softly with indignation, the demiprimordial huntress charged forwards. As the viper worked its jaws along the body of its prey, it found its own head engulfed in a much larger maw. By the time the snake had finished swallowing its own prey, its entire body was tucked away in a churning stomach.

“Serves you right,” Chryss muttered to her latest meal, “Trying to steal my prey? This is my hunting ground, Big Brother said so! Anything that comes here is mine to eat!”

Overhearing his siblings disgruntled muttering and finding them incredibly amusing,  Tartarus subtly nudged a nearby blister, speeding its reformation to completion.

Hearing another blister pop, Chryss’s attention instantly diverted towards their brother. Seeing a new viper heading towards their claimed territory, Chryss charged.

“Oh no you don’t,” they growled as they ran. “This is my hunting ground, which makes you my food!” 

Pouncing the last length, they pinned the head of this new, larger serpent to the ground. Reaching with their left hand for the snake’s tail, they were cut off by their brother’s voice.

“Always swallow the head first, Chryss. Especially if your prey has horns or scales. Look at how the snake’s scales all lay backwards? They will feel very smooth headfirst down your throat- or very sharp if you start with the tail. Also, unless you want to be bitten, either kill them or get their head first.”

Shrugging, Chryss turned back to the snake. “Enjoy the view, I guess.” A dark look came into their eyes as they opened their mouth, flexing their powerful throat muscles intimidatingly. The snake began writhing frantically in terror, but its fate was sealed the moment Chryss saw it. Plunging the viper’s head into their mouth, Chryss took their time savoring the flavor as they swallowed one. inch. at. a time.

Chryss hadn’t noticed in their vengeful rush to swallow the previous serpent, but these snakes tasted so much better than the rats had! And the feeling of them writhing in her throat and stomach was fantastic! So much more strength than the puny rats. Closing their eyes, they lay on their back to savor the sensations as they slowly swallowed the last foot or two of this delightful morsel.

As the last inch of the viper’s tail made its way into their stomach, Chryss opened their eyes to look up at their brother, who was smiling gently down at them.

“That was awesome, Big Brother.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed, little sibling.”

“I’m totally going to catch some of those birds later.”

“Are you now?”

“Absolutely.”

“But not right now?”

“No. Right now I’m going to lay here and feel these snakes try to escape.”

“Oh, okay,” Tartarus smiled.

“Big Brother?”

“Yeah?”

“These snakes are never going to escape!”

“Are you sure?” Tartarus reached down to gently tickle his sibling.

“Yes I’m su- hey! Hey that tickles!” They laughed for a while, until Tartarus stopped tickling them.

“…They’re still not going to escape. They feel too good.”

“Hmm. I guess that’s good then. Wouldn’t want them to escape, after all. Not after they trespassed in your hunting territory.”

“Nope! All mine! And now they are too!”

“Indeed.”

… 

“Chryss?”

“Big Brother?”

“I love you.”

“Aww, I love you too!”

Chapter Text

The siblings spent the better part of an hour lying there, enjoying each other’s company. They had small, drawn-out conversations about nothing really, as Chryss took their time enjoying the feeling of their prey slowly ceasing to struggle.

Eventually, the vipers stopped struggling, and Chryss got bored of lying still. 

“Alright,” the demiprimordial cried, leaping to their feet, “Time to learn how to fly!”

Tartarus smiled as he rose to his feet. “Alright then. Guess we better find a cliff.”

“A cliff?”

“Yup. We’re going to climb up to a cliff, and then jump off- and hope you learn how to fly before you hit the ground!” Tartarus gave his sibling a dark grin.

Chryss took a moment to consider that explanation. Flying off a cliff sounds fun; Mom wouldn’t like it; she’s not here so it’s more fun; hitting the ground would hurt; this is Tartarus, so they can do all the dangerous things because they’ll just come back… “… Sounds fun!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The siblings arrive at the precipice of a cliff, looking out at the hellscape of the realm far below them. A light breeze of scorching miasma blew from behind them.

“Okay, I’m going to jump off and show you how flight works, then I’m going to come back and it will be your turn, got it?”

“Yeah, let’s do this!”

Flexing his tremendous wings, Tartarus leapt into the air and caught the wind behind him. Muscles rippling in effort, he flapped his wings a few times, rejecting the terrestrial constraints of gravity. Gaining a bit of elevation, he banked and dove a few times, showing off his impressive aerial skills, before coming back around to the cliff face.

“Pay attention: your arms and legs can’t help you fly until you have a lot more experience, so just leave them straight, like this- flailing around will only help you fall.” Tartarus leaned slightly in the air, gently circling Chryss as he demonstrated his explanations. “Hold your wings out steady and level to glide- that’s the first thing you need to learn. You need to stop falling before you can start doing anything cooler. Flapping your wings like this,” Tartarus pulled his wings backwards slightly, before angling them forwards on the downstroke, “doesn’t actually give you much lift, but it is very good at slowing you down if you need to stop. Keep your wings even, and push downwards -maybe just a little backwards- if you are just trying to maintain altitude or speed up.

“While you are learning, turn gently, please. Lean the wing you want to turn towards downwards just a little, and you will start turning that way. Don’t lean too hard, or you will start spinning- and then falling.

“The fastest way to go down is obviously tucking your wings in and diving. DON’T do that. Your wings are still new and weak: when you need to slow down at the end of your dive, you won’t be strong enough to hold your wings out. If you are lucky, they will only be dislocated by the force of your speed they are trying to absorb -and then you’ll hit the ground anyway.

“Just lean your head down to go down, gently. You can learn how to do flips and rolls when your wings are strong enough to stop you from falling.

“Got it?” Tartarus asked as he landed beside his sibling.

“I think so-” 

“Great,” Tartarus cut Chryss off as he reached down and threw them off the cliff!

Chryss screamed for a moment as they plummeted, before they heard their brother’s voice. Looking over to the side, they saw him falling beside them, wings held out to the sides and angled in the direction he was falling.

“Hold your wings out, Chryss! The first step to flying is to stop falling! ”

“Right. Easy for you to say,” Chryss muttered to themself as they continued to fall. Looking forwards, they flexed their muscles experimentally, spinning sharply as one wing caught more air than the other. 

Continuing to fall, Chryss put more effort into extending both wings in the same direction. After a minute or so, they managed to get it right… except that they were pointed straight down , and therefore definitely still falling. Bracing themself for impact, they tried to pull their legs down and their head up. That… didn’t help much. As they started flailing around again, however, they angled their wings slightly, catching the air rushing past. 

They felt a sudden jerk, and the muscles in their wings screamed in exertion, but they held firm. Two seconds later, they were gliding nearly straight forwards. Looking down, they had fallen about halfway down from the cliff. Screaming in delight, the young child of Khaos flapped their wings and flew .

As they stumbled their way through their first glide, Tartarus dove down past them, flipped around, and climbed his way back up to glide alongside them.

“Welcome to the skies, little sibling.”

“This. Is. AWESOME!”

The siblings spent some time frolicking in the air around the cliff as Tartarus taught Chryss how to fly better, and then some techniques for aerial combat and predation, obviously! When he was more or less confident that they wouldn’t be landing on their face, he called them back over to him.

“So, now that you’ve gotten pretty good at not falling, shall we see how you do at some actual flying ?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I believe you told me that you were going to catch some of those birds from earlier, did you not? There’s a flock of them a few minutes flight over that way, towards the Phlegethon.”

“You better believe I’m going to catch some! Those shiny feathers won’t protect them from me ! Let's go!”

So they climbed a bit higher, and set off towards the Phlegethon- and the Stymphalian birds drinking at the river’s edge.

As the birds noticed the primordial’s approach, they took to flight and scattered, trying to escape involuntary participation in the coming lunch.

Chryss quickly learned that the smaller, nimbler birds darting and wheeling around them were much, much better at flying than they were- but they set out to eat a bird, and they weren’t about to give up now!

Circling away from their brother, Chryss climbed up above most of the flock. Getting the attention of some of the closer birds, they angled their wings and dove straight towards them- and straight towards Tartarus. The targeted birds started powering away from the young hunter, before realizing the threat in front of them. Backwinging, they fell right into Chryss’s trap. Reaching out, the snake-haired child managed to grab both of the birds by their necks.

As they flared their wings to slow down, they brought one of the birds to their face, and opened their mouth to invite their captive to stay for lunch… and ever.

Flapping their wings forwards a few times, Chryss came to a bit of a stop in front of their brother to show off their catches- one of which was already halfway down their throat.

Trying to stop in midair was not as good an idea as they had imagined, however, and they promptly began to fall again. As Chryss managed to get themselves back into a gentle glide, Tartarus came over to glide alongside them and congratulate them on their successful hunt.

Gulping the first bird down, Chryss grinned victoriously at their brother.

“I did it, Big Brother! I caught two of them! ”

“Yes you did, little sibling. I’m so proud of you!” Tartarus paused for a moment as he realized that his sibling was not eating their second catch. “Are you going to eat the other one, or just carry it around for a while?”

Chryss beamed back at their brother’s amused question. “Nope! I’m going to take them to Styx, and ask if she wants to eat them! She was so nice yesterday, and maybe she’ll let me drink more of her river!”

Tartarus looked forwards, and noticed that they were indeed heading in… mostly the right direction to reach the Styx. ‘Huh. Guess they really liked her. I don’t think Styx has had a crush in… well, ever. That’s sure to be… interesting.’ Gently changing their course, he started gently teasing his sibling about their new friendship as they flew towards the River of Hatred- and Truth.

Chapter Text

Styx was contemplating the nature and implications of her interest in Khaos’ youngest child. Persephone Chrysaor Jackson -currently going by Chryss- was born of the forces of entropy- of raw creation and destruction. In a sense, so was she. Styx may be known as ‘The River of Hatred,’ and it is not an inaccurate epithet, but neither does it truly describe her. She carries all the hate that mortals bring with them to the underworld, but she carries almost all the passion mortals bring to the underworld. 

The souls of those mortals who reach Elysium retain their identity, and so she only gets some of their love, honor, and glory- but the same is true of those who receive eternal torment. She gets all the passion -good, bad, and neutral- of those who wander Asphodel as shades, stripped of their mortal identity, and she gets some of the passion of monsters when they die and are reborn in Tartarus -she absorbs some of the passions of the gods themselves, by her own Name!

It is true that, of all the passions she holds, Hatred is the most prevalent- but that doesn’t mean that that is all of who she is. Why is she known as the River of Truth? Because it is mortals’ passion that reveals their truth. Because it is their passion that drives them to act, and their actions that define them. 

And so, She mused, Passion is the entropy of mortals. Passion is their drive to create and destroy, as entropy is the drive of Khaos and the world to create and destroy. 

Styx’s musings were interrupted, however, when she sensed the approach of her visitors from the previous day. Forming a body from the blackened water of her river, she gazed out across the harsh desert, seeing nothing. And yet she knew the feeling of a Primordial’s approach… turning her gaze to the skies, a smile grew across her face as she saw Tartarus leading Chryss through the skies towards her river. Apparently the two children of Khaos had decided to grow demonic wings as some form of sibling bonding time, and Chryss’s scaled wings were adorable!

Letting her current body return to the currents of the river, Styx created a new form from the water of the bend in her river her visitors were flying towards. Sitting comfortably on the shore, she watched as they approached. Now that they were much closer, she could see that Chryss was carrying some metallic object in one hand?

———————————————

As the siblings approached the River, they caught sight of the nymph awaiting them. Chryss immediately cried out in delight and launched themself into a dive. Tartarus smiled as he watched, before realizing that they weren’t slowing down in their approach at all . Flexing his own wings, he powered himself into a dive, racing his sibling to the ground. Touching down, he whirled around to catch his sibling, only to find that Chryss had already been caught -by the nymph of the Styx.

“Styx! You’re here! Look at my wings! Aren’t they so cool! Big Brother and I were hunting this morning, and then he taught me to fly! Then we went hunting while flying, and I caught this for you! Do you want it? They’re really sharp, but they feel nice and heavy in your belly.” Chryss smiled as they held the stymphalian bird out to the nymph.

Tartarus paused, curious about how Styx would respond. He honestly had no idea if the nymph even could swallow the bird, much less if she would want to. Any answer they gave would likely be interesting, however, especially given the completely charmed look on her face.

Styx took a moment to coo over Chryss’s new wings, complimenting them on how strong and beautiful they were. As she was talking to the young demiprimordial about the joys of flight, the nymph was internally stressing out about how to respond to the gift she had been given.

Tartarus smirked to himself as he watched Styx give vague, halfhearted answers to his sibling’s excited questions. The nymph was staring in turns at the stymphalian bird in her, Chryss’s beaming face- and their belly, still slightly bulging with the remains of their earlier prey.

Eventually, Chryss realized that Styx was not responsible to them, not because she was swallowing the bird, but because she was distracted by… something.

“Styx? Are you listening? You don’t have to eat the bird if you don’t want to- or if you can’t. My moms can’t either -or, well, I think Momedusa eats mice, but nothing bigger. I just wanted to give you something nice, I did mean to do something wrong!”

Styx shook herself back to attention. “Hey, hey. Calm down, Chryss. You did nothing wrong. I was just surprised. No one has ever brought me a gift before- and I don’t think I’ve ever tried to eat anything, other than the souls of mortals, I guess.” She smiled at Chryss. “Here, watch this-”

Styx pulled a large wave out of her river, bringing it towards the shore and shaping it into a large mouth-like appendage. As it reached Chryss, it opened up, showing off hastily frozen teeth and a rough approximation of a tongue. 

“Would you like to feed me?” Styx asked, nervously blushing.

Unaware of the effect this exchange was having on their new friend, Chryss eagerly reached out to caress the outside of the wave-maw, fascinated by what Styx had made. With one hand petting the wave, they reached out with the other hand to put the exhausted bronze bird in the icy-toothed mouth. As they removed their hand, they watched as the mouth closed around it’s prey, leaving it visible through the transparent watery muscles of its form. 

Tilting her main body’s head back to swallow reflexively, Styx watched as the bird was swallowed into the depths of her river. Chryss started clapping happily as their gift was accepted.

“So? So? How was it? Doesn’t it feel great to swallow something living? You said you haven’t eaten anything before- Ah! I should find more food that I like to share with you! Eating is so much fun, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

Tartarus, ready to burst with laughter, decided to form two more avatars of himself in random corners of his realm. Before they had even finished forming, they terrified the unfortunate monsters in their vicinity as they immediately let loose all of the thigh-slapping, side-splitting, rolling-on-the-ground laughter he had been holding back. 

Back at the river, Styx smacked her lips a couple times, contemplating the sensation of having swallowed something living- and decided that she rather liked it. Turning back to her crush, she gave Chryss a feral, ice-fanged smile.

“You were right. Eating things is the BEST!  We should totally do that again!”

“Yeah!” Chryss exclaimed, smiling broadly at their friend’s delight. “Hey! How far from your river can you go? Or can you go to the other world? We should go hunting together! Ooh! And I want you to meet my Moms!”

“I-” the nymph cut herself off. “…I don’t actually know. I’ve never really tried to leave my river before. Tartarus, any advice?”

“What are you asking me for?” Tartarus laughed briefly. “This whole realm is me, and I’ve never had any reason to manifest in the mortal realm. 

“… That being said, I suppose I do know the theory, now that I actually think about it. Um, the further away from your domain you try to manifest, the more power and presence you have to invest in the avatar. The extra attention acts like an extension of yourself, tying your avatar to your domain. 

“In your case, imagine if your hair was long enough to reach from your head to your river -avatar to domain. The farther away from your river you walk, the more power and attention it takes to maintain your hair as you grow it longer and longer. You don’t actually need the physical connection, but it will make it easier the first few times. I remember the first time I tried to walk my own realm, eternities ago, I had to make a golem before I could properly conceptualize a true avatar.

“I imagine Chryss would enjoy helping you experiment- they came here to experiment with their own body, after all. And maybe when Chryss has to leave, you and I can try to visit them in the mortal world.”

Chapter Text

“Look at this!” Chryss called out as they finished another transformation. Their torso had stretched, making them nearly a foot taller. The added space was filled with their new pair of arms, connected to their torso by shoulder joints under their rib cage, mirroring the originals.

“Good job,” Tartarus praised, sitting and watching the other two as they experimented. “Creating new limbs is difficult enough, but attaching their joints to the rest of your skeleton is the real trick. Was flipping everything upside down easier than working around your rib cage like we did with your wings?”

“Yeah, your way of doing the wings makes sense, but trying to get my arm muscles to attach to my chest that way was awkward. Strong, but less precise.” 

Styx started laughing as she watched Chryss use all four arms to gesture while they talked.

“What’s so funny?” Chryss asked, turning towards her.

“Your arms are upside down!”

“Yeah? I made my shoulders like that on purpose?”

“No, no,” Styx laughed, “your hands are upside down- and so are your armpits!”

Tartarus leaned back and laughed as he watched his sibling look down in shock. Chryss blushed as they waved their arms and realized that Styx was right. Pouting, the demiprimordial sat back down to rearrange their limbs again.

As Tartarus and Styx watched, Chryss’s lower set of shoulders twisted around, and the corresponding shoulder blades and collarbone switched places. Unsatisfied with how that looked, Chryss experimented with setting their shoulders further forwards or backwards, causing the joints to jut out strangely from their chest and back. This, of course, looked even worse.

Frustrated, Chryss opened their eyes. Turning to their brother they said, “Would having a second set of wings provide any benefit, or would they just get in the way?”

Tartarus smiled at their sibling. “I have seen monsters and avatars with four or more wings, so it does work. However, I would strongly recommend that you wait to experiment with more limbs until you can use the ones you have better.”

Chryss frowned, but accepted their brother’s advice. Closing their eyes, they unmade their lower arms.

Walking further away from her river, Styx laid her arm across her friend’s shoulder. “Hey, you’ll get it someday. Don’t be sad. Do you want to try something else? Maybe you could help me see how far away from my river I can get?”

Chryss brightened at that. Yeah! We should see if you can reach my hunting grounds! Or the cave where I’ve been sleeping!”

“That sounds fun,” Styx smiled. Her long, eddying hair shifted as they stood together. Walking slowly away from the river, Styx reached the furthest point her hair would reach. Focusing, she took another step, pulling more water from the river as she did. As she felt her power pull itself further and further from its  source to maintain her avatar, she smiled in excitement and turned back to the others.

“I did it! This is the farthest from the river I have ever walked!”

“Congratulations! Now, can you do it without the physical connection to the river? Try to return the water in your hair to the river while maintaining your avatar where it is.”

Styx’s face furrowed in concentration. Her water rippled and lashed briefly, before calming. The tether remained, but a slight splashing sound drew Chryss’ and Tartarus’ attention back to the river. Another avatar of the Styx was climbing up the bank and walking away to join the first. They were nearly identical, but the second avatar’s hair ended at mid-back, instead of connecting to the river.

She paused several steps from the river, before taking another deliberate step- and another. By the time she reached the first avatar, she was almost walking smoothly.

As the first avatar turned to walk back to the river, she explained herself to her companions. “I couldn’t figure out how to separate the avatar from the river while maintaining its presence, so I just made a new one, and imbued it with extra power and attention from the start!

“So- where are we going? Dinner time or bed time?”

Tartarus decided to be a responsible older brother. “Let’s go back to the cave. It’s closer, and I can summon something to eat if need be. Chryss, you’ve been manipulating your body for a couple hours now: it needs to sleep. Your sense of self-identity is not strong enough for your body to remember what it is ‘supposed’ to look like without some time to rest and reset.”

“Okay. I do feel kinda tired,” Chryss accepted, grabbing Styx’s hand and turning in the direction of the cave- or so they thought.

Styx followed the demiprimordial, not knowing where their destination was. “Wrong way, little sibling,” Tartarus smiled. 

“What? But this is the direction we came here from, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is, but where are we going?”

“The cave.”

“And where did we come from?”

“The ca- oh, no. We came here from the hunting ground. Which means,” Chryss paused for a moment, before pointing to a slight ravine to the left of their previous course, “the cave is that way, right?”

“Now you’ve got it.”

The walk back to the cave was passed in chaotic conversation. As they passed the entrance, Tartarus pranked his sibling by sneakily causing an opening to form in the rock above them. A panicking spider-like creature immediately fell, landing on Chryss’s face, legs scrambling in every direction. Chryss’s reaction was briefly panicked, jumping back in alarm and waving their arms around in a distinctly ineffective attempt to dislodge the unwanted creature without touching it.

As both Tartarus and Styx watched, sides aching with laughter, the victims of the prank continued to perform their involuntary dance. The many-legged spider was trying to escape, but kept tripping over its own legs and randomly turning around. Chryss continued to attempt to shake their passenger off, but always managed to step into the falling arachnid’s path, undoing their own progress. As the fiendish little beast ran back along one arm towards the demiprimordial’s shoulders, something happened that made them both freeze.

*Ghurrnngll*

As Chryss’s stomach growled, they remembered that they were not under threat- they were the threat -and a hungry one at that. Instead of trying to escape the skittering surprise, they turned their head toward it, and opened their mouth. Then they separated the two parts of their lower jaw and opened their mouth further, showing off even more teeth. Then they unhinged their jaws at the back and flexed the muscles in their neck, continuing to open their gaping maw, showing off the rippling muscles leading down their cavernous throat- and the sound came again, louder this time.

*Ghuuurrngll*

As the grumbling sound ceased, the walking snack mustered what little remained of their shattered courage. Raising one leg to take a tentative step backward, the morsel tried to turn and flee. It never got the chance to take a second step, as it was immediately shoved past the lips, over the teeth, across the tongue, and halfway down the demiprimordial’s throat before they were released. Chryss left them suspended there for a moment -swallowed but not eaten, engulfed in rippling muscle, bathed in saliva, but not yet in the churning acids growing ever louder, ever closer…- as they pulled their arm out, wiped it off, and put their mouth back together. Then the young predator smiled. And swallowed. The prank-turned-snack in their throat was promptly pulled down to its doom.

Turning to face their thoroughly amused spectators, Chryss remarked, keeping as straight a face as they could, “What? I was hungry, they shouldn’t have snuck up on me like that.”

The cave was silent for a brief moment as they all tried to maintain nonchalant expressions. 

The brief moment ended abruptly as Chryss’s stomach let out an enthusiastic grumble, and they all fell down laughing.

Chapter Text

As Chryss was lying down in their cave to sleep off the day’s adventures, Styx lying cuddled against their side, their parents were gathered in a bed far above them- but sleep was the last thing on their minds…

Kissing Medusa’s snakes was fun, Sally decided as she snuck up behind her lover to do just that. The gorgon could be aware of everything her serpentine hair perceived if she wanted to, but it got very distracting very quickly, so she rarely did. On days like today, when she had no reason to be paying any attention to her host of additional eyes, and especially if the snakes themselves were trying to hide their view from her? Well, she may literally have eyes in the back of her head, but she still completely failed to notice Sally sneaking up on her.

Medusa froze, momentarily thoroughly confused, as she felt the distinct sensation of being kissed by someone who clearly wasn’t there. Reflexively checking her surroundings, she noticed that one of her snakes was trying to hide its thoughts from her and the rest of its siblings. As her other snakes turned to see what was going on, she was treated to several different views of Sally -who had apparently snuck up behind her- happily making out with the secretive, lucky lock of scales. 

Medusa started to turn around, when several of her snakes turned and nudged her back to her previous position before returning to watch Sally themselves. Smirking in slightly exasperated amusement, she returned to reading her book on childcare. A large part of her attention, however, stayed on her snaky hair, watching and feeling as they competed with each other for Sally’s attentions. 

Sally noticed Medusa trying to get up after she kissed the first snake, and smiled as she watched the others make sure she stayed seated. As the other snakes started sliding and shoving against each other, trying to get closer to her, she reached out to pet the gentlest ones. Leaving her current partner with a sensual lick along the base of their jaw, she turned to another, larger snake who had been herding some of the more energetic serpents away from her.

Rewarding this larger lover, she parted her lips and brought them towards the serpent’s. As the new snake opened its mouth, she felt the flicking of its forked tongue exploring her lips and tongue. Reaching out with her tongue, she returned the gesture, matching her partner move for move.

After about a minute, she drew back and locked eyes with yet another snaky lover. She was surprised as she opened her mouth again, as the much smaller snake darted forwards, slipping past her lips and shoving a few inches of its neck into her mouth. Sally exclaimed quietly in surprise, jerking her mouth further open to avoid accidentally biting down. As the eager invader pressed itself against her tongue, however, she relaxed and started giving them some love. She lifted her tongue and moved it side to side, threatening to drop the snake before moving back to catch them. A brief wrestling match ensued as her new friend tried to duck under her tongue and do the same. She had lots of fun with this kiss before she dragged herself away to give her attention to the next viper.

The many-tongued make out session continued for an hour or more as Sally persisted in her quest to kiss every snake on her lover’s head for at least two minutes, and often longer. By the time she was done, and her scaly partners were finally satisfied that they had all had their turn, she took a couple steps forwards and turned collapsed onto Medusa’s lap, leaning her head on her shoulder.

“That was awesome,” Sally whispered into Medusa’s ear, before turning up to nip at it gently. 

“I’m sure,” Medusa replied, setting her book down and embracing her love. “They were very happy with you too- nothing but good reviews.” She smiled as Sally wiggled smugly in satisfaction. “I appreciated it as well- for the record. Though now I feel a bit greedy,” she murmured, lifting Sally upright, before leaning forwards, “asking for my turn!” Medusa locked her lips with Sally’s, kissing her with all desire she had built up as she watched. Sally squeaked in delight before happily returning the kiss.

They hadn’t been kissing for more than a couple minutes, however, before snakes started reaching forwards to snag the shoulders of Sally’s shirt with their teeth. Some of the longest ones went down even further, slipping under the hem of her shirt and pulling upwards. More snakes, seeing the bared skin, slid forwards to rub themselves against her, caressing her sides, exploring her ribs. As they moved further up and across her chest, they encountered her bra. The silky material was soft, but in the way of their appreciation of Sally’s breasts, so they sent a couple siblings winding around behind her back to examine the fastenings.  Sally felt them tickling her as they tried to release the clasps. 

Drawing away from her kiss, she addressed the snakes that were a dubious technicality away from groping her. “I can help you take my clothes off, but only if you convince ‘legs’ here to carry me to bed. I think we all know that we’re not stopping any time soon if you go any farther, and this chair isn’t comfortable enough for most of it.” Sally smiled broadly as all the snakes paused in their place, before turning to look at Medusa pleadingly.

Medusa raised an eyebrow, gazing back at her love and regarding the many pairs of unblinking eyes surrounding them. “Is that all I am to the lot of you? A pair of legs?”

“Nonsense,” Sally interjected. “Legs alone wouldn’t be able to carry me to bed. Clearly, we appreciate your arms too.”

“‘Clearly,’ she says” Medusa grumbled good-naturedly as Sally continued.

“And you’re a good kisser too,” Sally continued, keeping Medusa’s focus on her while her hands relayed instructions to the snakes watching her. “Lips are a big advantage for you on that front,” Sally said, acting as though she were reluctant acceding a point. “And your ears,” Sally murmured as she leaned in to gently nibble on one as she cut off any response. A couple snakes took advantage of the distraction to reach down and start removing Medusa’s own shirt. 

Sally waited until the opportune moment to lean back as her partners in sexy crime got Medusa’s shirt up over her chest. “And breasts, of course- can’t forget about these beauties!” Sally said, reaching out to hold them, but stopping herself a mere inch away. 

“But wait,” Sally said, pouting slightly. “I can’t enjoy them here when I stopped our friends from enjoying mine, can I?” A few snakes started nodding their heads eagerly, begging for Sally to continue, before they realized Sally’s plan and join the rest in sadly shaking their heads in mock reproach.

“And there’s something else you have that I’m sure we all appreciate,” Sally murmured even more seductively. “Or are you not making as much of a puddle as I am?”

Medusa’s eyes darted down to where Sally’s lap rested on her own. 

Chapter Text

Medusa’s eyes darted down to where Sally’s lap rested on her own. There was indeed a conspicuous dark, wet spot spreading through the crotch of both women’s pants. She moaned as Sally gently rolled her hips, briefly rubbing their thighs together.

“So, ‘legs,’ be a dear and carry us to bed?”

Leaning in for another kiss, Medusa shifted Sally’s position in her lap so that she could lift her into a princess carry. Struggling to pay attention to where she was going without pausing her kiss, the gorgon stumbled over something on the floor and ran into a wall. As the lovers staggered back from the unexpected impact, a few snakes brought her attention to their field of view, helpfully guiding her safely through the house to the master bedroom.

Finally breaking their kiss, Medusa laid Sally on the bed, running her arms along her sides as she stood up.

“Well, I did my part. I believe you have a promise to keep,” Medusa smirked as she took a small step back.

“Indeed I do- and I happily will!” Sally smiled back as she sat up. Beckoning to her snaky friends, she raised her arms above her head. “I believe I said that I would help, however- not that I would do it for you!”

A brief moment of interpretation ended with her gorgon lover being very insistently nudged forward by her eager companions. Rolling her eyes, Medusa smiled as she leaned forward again, bringing her snakes close enough to dart forwards and grab at Sally’s shirt, working together to work it up over her shoulders and off her body. As they struggled to free themselves from the shirt they were now loosely entangled in, some of their siblings came forward to poke Sally and gently nip at her bra.

“Yes, yes, the bra, I’m working on it,” Sally muttered, amused by their impatience. She reached behind herself to unclasp the straps- and her arms were immediately pulled forward again as the undergarment was aggressively pulled off and thrown to the ground. 

At this point, the shirt had also been discarded, freeing all of the snakes to admire her naked torso. Some of them seemed content to merely observe her beauty for the moment, but the rest moved forwards to rub their bodies against her bare skin, caressing her sides, slithering along her slightly pudgy abs, and winding around her breasts. A couple of snakes made their way to her face to say hello, as two particularly daring snakes began licking and gently nibbling at her stiffening nipples.

“Ah- that feels- ooooh, that was nice,” Sally moaned around the broad-headed serpent nibbling at her lips.

“I’m sure it was,” Medusa grinned, “but I can’t help feeling like we still have too many clothes on.”

“Oh, definitely,” Sally agreed, reaching down to unbutton her pants. She let out a brief yelp, however, as Medusa reached up to pull her pants all the way off, causing her to fall backwards.

Several snakes’ attention  were immediately caught by the sight of her panties. They slithered along her body to reach this last patch of fabric covering their lover’s skin. As Medusa knelt down, settling her head between Sally’s legs, she was treated to the sight of panties being carefully bitten and pulled off. As the last of Sally’s clothes hit the floor, the gorgon leaned forward to kiss the nether lips in front of her.

Sally moaned happily as she felt Medusa licking at her pussy with slow, broad strokes. When another, smaller tongue started lightly flicking at her clit she gasped and arched her back. The pleasure continued as the snakes encircling her breasts and suckling at her nipples resumed their attentions. 

Medusa had completely forgotten her plans to get out of her own clothes in favor of learning just how many sounds she could get her girlfriend to make as she licked her way deeper into her pussy. She heard a delightful groan as she extended her tongue deeper into the sensitive folds to briefly lick at Sally’s inner walls before she returned to lapping at her labia. Her snakes were taking turns gently playing with Sally’s clit, which seemed to be very well appreciated. 

Sally was drowning in pleasure. Medusa’s tongue was a weapon she wielded with great skill, and the numerous serpents slithering across her skin, stroking the sensitive surfaces of her hips and thighs, rubbing against her clit and stretching up and encircling her breasts were powerful allies in bringing her to seemingly endless new heights of pleasure.

“alright. that. was. Awesome.” Sally panted after word, recovering from her series of orgasms. “Get up here so I can take your clothes off. It’s your turn.”

Seeing the predatory look on Sally’s face as she stood and stepped onto the bed, Medusa gulped. She was used to being the hunter, not competing with her prey. But Sally… Sally was going to make her whimper and beg, she could already tell.

No sooner had the gorgon bid farewell to the safety of the floor than her mortal lover had her pinned to the bed. Straddling her hips, Sally kissed her passionately. Rolling her hips, she groped Medusa’s breasts through her shirt.

Sally’s patience lasted less than two minutes. Breaking their kiss, she nearly tore the shirt in her haste to get beneath it. As soon as she had the shirt off and thrown somewhere, she returned her attention to the uncovered breasts before her. Falling on them passionately, she massaged them and kissed them, squeezing, groping, and suckling.

Medusa alternated between drawn out moans and loud gasps of pleasure, twisting and bucking beneath Sally’s assault. 

After one particularly intense scream, Sally paused and looked up, worried she had hurt her. Seeing no pain on Medusa’s face, she looked down, and further down, before laughing maniacally. Stripping away the gorgon’s pants and dripping panties, she spread her legs to see the beauty between them.

“Did you just come from me just playing with your breasts? That’s awesome- and I’m definitely going to use that again!”

Medusa groaned from pleasure and terror as Sally licked her lips… and then licked her lips.

Sally was nearly growling in delight as she coaxed Medusa to her next climax, greedily lapping at the liquid love she released. 

Any time the moans stopped or slowed, Sally sucked at Medusa’s clit while reaching up to pinch her nipples, causing her to gasp and writhe as she succumbed to pleasure again.

Eventually, Medusa mustered the strength of will to get up. Grabbing Sally, she pulled her away and kissed her- before rolling over and pinning the mortal woman to the bed. 

Eventually, they fell asleep, Medusa’s head on Sally’s belly, snakes lying across her breasts and passed out between her legs. Laying nearly parallel, the mortal woman had one hand woven into the snakey hair, and her other hand was draped over one of the gorgon’s legs. 

Chapter Text

Chryss woke. It could have been early the next morning, or late afternoon, or still in the middle of the night. They didn’t know, and, after the briefest moment of puzzlement, didn’t care. It wouldn’t have helped if they had cared, as all of the previous options were wrong anyway. Regardless, Chryss woke, and made their way to the back of the cave, trying not to disturb their brother or their guest. Reaching their destination, they pulled down their pants and crouched over a pit of acid, voiding their bowels of the remains of their prey from the previous day. Redressing, they returned to the main cave, and considered the most entertaining way to wake the other two up…

As their eyes roamed the rugged walls, they noticed a spider-crab-thing, much like their snack from earlier. A smirk spread across their face as they climbed up the ledges towards it. Trapping their target in a corner, Chryss clambered back down to the ground. Creeping up next to Tartarus, they reached out to gently open their brother’s mouth, pausing for a moment to stare in awe at the Primordial’s teeth. As the many-legged creature in their other hand tried to escape, Chryss remembered their plan. Dropping the unidentifiable snack in Tartarus’ cavernous mouth, they closed his mouth on it and scampered away.

~~~

Styx was practicing ‘sleeping.’ Which, at the moment, meant keeping enough power and presence in the cave a short trek from her river to maintain the avatar she left there, while keeping to the bare minimum. So little presence that the avatar is incapable of processing enough of its surroundings to get bored, and therefore bore Her. So little power that it actually has to rest to sustain itself- that new activity Chryss introduced her to, eating, may affect this in some way. Enough presence that she can still find the avatar, and it doesn’t split off to become its own entity (wouldn’t that be embarrassing). Enough power that it doesn’t fall apart into a puddle of liquid emotion (also embarrassing).

She checked on the avatar and its surroundings regularly, waiting for Chryss to finish their rest, aware of Tartarus doing the same with his own avatar. Last time she checked, the Demi-Primordial was still fast asleep, but that was a while ago, so…

Styx blinked her eyes and looked around. Chryss was no longer curled up asleep. They were standing on the other side of the cave, failing to hide their excitement about something as they watched Tartarus’ sleeping form.

“What are we waiting for?” Styx asked quietly, approaching her young friend.

“Remember the crawly thing Big Brother dropped on me last night?”

“…yes?”

“I caught another one, and I put it in his mouth! It’s trying to escape, so he’s going to wake up, and there’s going to be something with too many legs running around in his mouth! It’s going to be so funny!”

Styx considered that for a moment, before joining Chryss in barely-restrained enthusiasm, a mischievous smirk spreading across her face. They didn’t have to wait much longer, before the sleeping body before them stirred, showing signs of wakefulness. A profoundly confused expression crossed his face as he sat up, his mouth and jaws moving consideringly as the Primordial tried to simultaneously wake up, discover what was in his mouth, and comprehend why and how anything would get there??

Blinking again, he saw the two smirking observers, and answered the last question first. Shrugging, he bit down and chewed whatever it was before swallowing. “Thanks for breakfast, youngsters. Find anything to eat yourselves?”

“Not yet! But we should totally go to my hunting grounds! I’m hungry, and it’ll be Styxie’s first time!” Turning to ‘Styxie,’ they continued, oblivious to the nymph’s growing blush, “It’s my hunting grounds, Big Brother said so. So if I catch something else trying to hunt there, they go straight to my stomach! But you can come, I’m giving you permission. Come on, let’s go already, I need to eat something!”

Tartarus watched in amusement as his sister dragged the nymph out of the cave, Styx blushing too much to offer a coherent response, much less any form of resistance.

As the group approached the rocky outcropping at the middle of Chryss’s claimed territory, the young predator finally released their friend’s hand. Sinking into a hunting crouch, they shot forwards, intercepting a fiendish viper in its course toward a dire rat. Unhinging their jaw, Chryss hissed their superiority at the serpent before swallowing the trespasser whole. The rat tried to flee, but joined the snake in Chryss’s stomach moments later.

Standing up again, Chryss licked their lips and rubbed their belly as they walked back to the other two. “See?” They said, lifting their shirt to show off the writhing shapes beneath their skin. “Fun, delicious, and then they feel so good inside you!”

Styx reached out to feel the rat trying to escape the snake while both of them were stuck in the same stomach. “Yes, I do see,” she murmured. Looking around, she saw another crimson-hued viper slithering out of a cleft in the ground. Striding over to it, she lashed out, the water in her arm extending in a tentacle of power. Grabbing her intended snack, she pulled it towards her and inspected it for a moment.

“Swallow it headfirst,” Chryss encouraged. “It’s better that way.”

Shrugging in agreement, Styx opened her rivery mouth and dropped the snake in- headfirst. Swallowing pulled her first meal down like a whirlpool. 

Chryss watched in fascination as the viper remained more or less visible in their friend’s translucent body.

“So cool! I can still see it! Come on, let’s hunt some more!” Dashing off, the demiprimordial searched for their next catch. 

Seeing the Tarterian variety of another rat and viper, they quickly gulped down the rat, before grabbing the snake behind the head. Running back to their friend, they offered the tastier snack to her.

Styx, who had yet to move from the place her friend had left, smiled in amusement at the eagerly offered gift. Indulging Chryss, she accepted the serpent and sent it to join the other in the space she had hollowed out to serve as a ‘stomach.’ There, the snakes tried to escape a pool, not of acid, but of water infused with more of her power, stripping their souls from their bodies. 

The hunt ended when Chryss, perched regally on the highest rock in the middle of their domain, leapt into the air. Beating their wings, they fought for altitude before intercepting a bat-like creature and flying straight into it. Face first. Or, rather, mouth-first. Descending, they took their time walking their jaws across its body one inch at a time, before swallowing it and shouting in triumph.