~Why, that's a wonderful idea!~
"Haaa....so tired. Give me a massage, Ethan." The god leaned on the human next to them, earning a frown from the larger man who pushed them in the opposite direction, nearly causing them to fall out of the chair with a quiet cry of protest.
"How about you get off that lazy butt of yours and get to work." He replied.
"And we're in public, Clio." Ethan...one of their co-workers at the hospital. A fellow doctor, and by all accounts both a skilled one and an upstanding human. He had tried their best to discovered any dirty secrets he had, but without his insight it was difficult to ascertain, but oh well. Such was life. Currently they were in a...ahem, relationship of sorts. No, not, that. She had no interest in that sort of physical affection. She would rather spend time in the lab researching something. They were just roommates...and eh, 'friends' for awhile, as far as this life of theirs went.
"How rude. I've been my working my lazy butt off in the ER all night." 'Cliodna'. Right, that was their name now. One of the many names they had used throughout history. Irish in origin, as far as the humans were concerned, heh. It was always difficult starting over at the turn of the century, especially when you didn't age. "
What's the matter? Am I not girly enough for ya now? You like girls with a larger chest? That's not what you were saying last night." She gave him a coy smirk. Ethan simply rolled his eyes, biting into a piece of toast.
"Oh, sorry, you're right. I was telling all of those other important medical people how much you slack off in the work space.""Y-you didn't!""I did.""So cruel, I might cry. There goes my credibility as a doctor, whatever shall I do?" Ethan reached over, giving them a poke on the cheek only to receive a light giggle in response. Aha, it was so easy to look cute. Especially to men. One of the few joys she had, aside from their ahem, experiments and research.
"Ah...anyways what is it with things recently? Seems like we've been getting more work." She leaned back in the seat, taking a look at the busy lounge in the hospital. Not that they minded being busy. While they did like taking a generally more passive and watchful approach to things, keeping oneself busy was never a bad thing. Still...things had been more hectic recently. She had expected so upon becoming both a successful doctor and medical researcher in a big city, but this was just ridiculous.
"I feel like I haven't gotten a decent nights sleep in a week.""I know right?" Ethan replied grumpily.
"We've been at this for hours. And you were here before me. Have you even slept today?""Nnnnope." Cyl replied, reaching over and grabbing a forkful of egg from Ethan's plate.
"I barely have time for breakfast these days. I'm lucky if I catch more than a handful of hours a sleep ever day." She sighed.
"I'm going to die of exhaustion of this rate.""Damn," Ethan sighed.
"You think they'd at least give us a pay raise.""Aha, I don't know about that." Not that they needed the extra money. They were practically one of the wealthiest people on the planet.
"I'd prefer a vacation to eh...what-cha-callsit. Antartica?""...why do you always want to vacation in the weirdest places?""Hey, have you ever been to Antarctica? Everyone can go to like, the Bahamas and go backpacking over Europe, but who goes to Antarctica? We might find some fun stuff there!""Yeah, penguins and frostbite.""Tsk, no fun." She relaxed, letting her body sink into the chair. Ugh, being human was annoying at some points. Exhaustion. Fatigue. She couldn't get sick, or at least, they had never been sick but from the amount of stuff they've purposefully have exposed themselves too, it was likely they couldn't. Tiredness though? Uuuugh, it was the worst. Worst worst worst thing about being mostly mortal. He couldn't do whatever he wanted to for as long as he wanted too! And without his insight their concentration had gone down considerably.
...
dingTheir head shot up, eyes wide.
"So I was thinking that we and the other guys all take time off at the same time. We should have enough vacation time..." He had stopped listening. That...that couldn't have been, no. No. No no no. But...maybe yes? yes? A welcome, blissful yes? Cyl looked around the room, unconsciously rubbing their head. A dull pounding sensation was forming in their head, as though someone was beating a drum, dancing along rhythmically to some olden ritual.
Their eyes wondered over to the other humans in the hospitals waiting room. A baby. Married couple. Old guy with a tumor. Pregnant woman with a child that wasn't their partners. Whoops, now that was a scandal...wait. How had it known these things? Were they even true? It hadn't made baseless assumptions like that in a long time, not since their insight left. The pounding sensation increased until it was painful. Nausea washed through their body as they held a second hand to their head.
"Clio...?" She was vaguely aware of Ethan's hand on their shoulder. She grit her teeth, rubbing her temples.
Ding!That was...no mistaking it...the bell? But...then...
And all at once, like a damn breaking, the pain and nausea were gone.
"Hey Clio are you-" He suddenly found himself silenced by a hand covering his mouth.
"I...have never been better, Ethan." A laugh started. A loud, jovial, pure laugh that could only be ascribed to someone experiencing the most pleasurable thing in their life. Ethan gave her a mildly worried look, frowning lightly as she bolted from her seat next to him.
"Oh joyous, happy day!" Cyl grinned, finally managing to control their giggles as she looked down to Ethan.
"Ethan! I have a question for you.""uh...alright?""Say you were an old god locked out of heaven, stripped of your powers? What would you do once your powers returned?""I would...find the guy who kicked me and and took my powers, and shove my powers back in his face? You sure-""Ahaha yes yes yes! That is a wonderful idea!" She twirled, walked past the pregnant woman, then back, gave her a look and pointed at her.
"You may want to have one of those...parental exam things on that kid. Don't stop me Ethan, I have a business date!" And then proceeded to leave the hospital, leaving an entirely bewildered room and Ethan behind.
"...I...I feel like I just gave the worst possible answer to that." Ethan frowned, rubbing his head before finishing the rest of his breakfast.
Aha, yes yes! The world was so much more vibrant! Lively! They could hear the whispers again! The unintelligible mutterings of things that were better left unmentioned. And the bell. Oh the bells sweet, sweet ringing. Such a sweet melody. She wondered if she could make an instrument of some sort out of it? Oh now that would be lovely. Very annoying for the others, but intensely amusing for them.
Aha, no no, they were getting ahead of themselves.
Desious. She had to find Desious. Assuming he was the one who rang the bell. There could be no other options. Chances were low, at least. Otherwise he might just lock up the gates again and ruin their fun more. But how? How was he supposed to get over there? Across such a long distance? England was a vast distance away from where they were. At least, for her. Sure, other gods could get to their easily but her? She didn't have much in the way of instantaneous long-distance travel without preparation.
but wait -
If magic was returning, that meant...the old places of power may be functioning again too. They might just need a little...nudge, in the right direction. The bell was so far away, it sounded across the ocean even. The Americas? Perhaps and most likely. Good, good...as long as no one had tampered with their markings in the aeons since their banishment...they just needed to open a gate from this side.
He moved down an alleyway. Yes, it would be easy enough. Out of the way now so as to not attract attention. A homeless person would be around here somewhere, heh...one human should be enough for this. She'd just need to figure out which ones still worked, and open a gate. Simple, simple. So very very simple.
And so delightful.