A GODDESSES PARADISE (girlxgirlxgirl)

11; Painfully different

"Is being popular tough?"

🌿

⚠️ mentions of sexual activities, bruises ⚠️

Her muscles flex as she draws her sword to the side, and with one mighty push manages to make her opponent fall. A deep chuckle rumbles from her chest, and she quickly helps the girl who has fallen to her feet. The sun shines down upon them, and as it is late morning, it's already very hot outside. Her skin is glistening with sweat and she drags a rough hand through her black hair.

"Leader, we should head back to the temple. You have promised to visit the little February festival later today"

Thea grunts out a hum of acknowledgement, sticking her sword back in her belt. Her opponent bows down to her, but Thea immediately sends her a glare. During practice she is equal in rank to her opponents, otherwise it is not fair. The smaller girl apologizes half heartedly, like she always does. Many of the girls she practices with like to bow down and speak to her with respect regardless of what Thea has told them. It just seems more right.

The leader of Athena's temple stretches her arms and sighs. She and ten others have been out on the practice fields, up in the hills, all morning. It's colder up here than down in the city, and fewer people roam about. She does this almost every morning, whenever she gets a chance to do so. No matter how skilled she is, Thea believes that practice is essential to keep herself in shape, and continue to grow stronger. The others would disagree. Thea is already the strongest out of them all, by far.

They begin to head down the hill, Thea first in line, and the rest following her. The few people working at the farms bow down when she passes, and she gives a small smile in return. Thea doesn't like to smile and be affectionate that much, but she isn't disrespectful. If someone goes out of their way to bow down to her, she'll show some respect back. It's been about five years since she attained the position as leader of Athena's temple, and still Thea hasn't gotten used to it. It's all quite a big change. Going from being just one among the crowd to being the one everyone looks up to, it's hard, it's challenging, but Thea has always been up for a challenge.

When they left the temple at seven in the morning, only a few women were out and about. Now the whole city seems busy, the main street packed with people. Some are selling things outside of their shops, others are trying to bargain for a smaller price. The sellers tend to be stingy during rush hour, and Thea can tell by the sour faces of the ones trying to buy things for a low price. A few guards walk around, keeping order, and they all bow down when Thea passes. She gives them a serious nod, something along the lines of, "keep up the good work".

The people along the streets always clear the way for a leader to pass through. Thea hasn't had a problem with walking around anywhere for five years now. Sometimes it's annoying to be the center of attention, have everyone come looking for your approval and your opinion. But often it doesn't bother her that much. Thea likes to be in control. She likes to take charge, and she likes when people do as she says. And with her intimidating face and body, nobody has dared to defy her orders for years.

Athena's temple is far to the west side, and normally they'd be headed directly that way. But their training fields are all the way on the east side this time, and the group of women are forced to walk right across the city. They haven't even gotten far before they are walking along the streets near Aphrodites temple. On the southeast side of the city Aphrodites girls take up the biggest portion of the population. The northeast is for Artemis' temple, which is where a lot of Artemis girls choose to live as well. In that sense, Athena's temple girls mostly gather around the southwest, and the northwest is for Demeter's temple girls. Usually they don't like to segregate like this, but it's just a natural phenomenon based on the fact that the girls want to live near their designated temples.