A GODDESSES PARADISE (girlxgirlxgirl)

21; Violence and hatred

"You can't hide forever"

🌿

⚠️ violence, choking, crying, bullying, verbal abuse⚠️

A woman frowns to her on the street.

And she's not the only one.

Irene slowly walks on the big market road, the one leading to the palace. Hundreds of little stores on wooden tables crowd the otherwise wide and open place, with thousands of people trying to buy or sell. Irene can smell spices, some which she has never even heard of or seen before. Clothes in all kinds of colorful fabrics, although the women here prefer white. Jewelry in weird, open wooden boxes and gemstones that are cheap here but expensive at home. Pearls, seashells, dried seaweed, fish in all shapes and colors and forms, a small amount and variety of meat and tons of vegetables in almost every shop.

The ground is wet from earlier, when it was raining. Although it doesn't rain as much as it did a week ago, the water still pours down from time to time. Taking advantage of the slightly warmer and drier weather, Irene thought that she should head outside today. The weather is surely nice, and the walk has been somewhat relaxing, but in reality Irene is also just trying to get away from the temple. Things are getting a little weird back there, even more than usual.

First of all, the girls are all a little tense around her. She doesn't spend time with any of them that much either way, but today they have felt a little more distant. Instead of smiling at her, it comes out as a forced twist of a grin or a simple frown. Instead of flirting with her like they do every morning, they avoid her like the plague. Sometimes, Irene feels like they are staring at her, but when she turns to look at them, nobody is doing anything wrong. It's just a little weird, and a little uncomfortable, but it's nothing that Irene is too bothered about or can prove just yet.

Secondly, and most importantly, Ariadne has also been acting weird. But not in the same way as the others. Rather than ignoring her or giving weird looks, Ariadne has been moody around everyone. She's angry one second, shouting something at someone with such a thick accent that Irene can't understand, and then extremely clingy and flirty the next. She acts like Irene would suddenly just fade away if she let her go, but is snappy and angry at every single woman she meets. Especially those from Athena's temple. She doesn't allow them to visit anymore, and when Thea came to complain about that, she and Ariadne had a three hour shouting match in her office with nobody being allowed to disturb, not even Irene.

It's scary to say the least, and also very uncomfortable. It's been going on for four days already, ever since the leaders had their last meeting and Thea announced something to the public. Irene couldn't understand all the words that she used, but when she asked Ariadne about it, the leader changed the topic. Whatever Thea announced, it's been effecting everyone and everything. People are more glum now, they glare and argue a lot. Nobody really treats her with that extra kindness that she used to receive, instead they have replaced it with painfully obvious fake smiles and rushed orders. But to be completely honest, it hadn't bothered Irene beyond that. It's just something weird and a change of attitude that doesn't effect Irene's life at all.

Until today. Irene didn't even recognize that there was a problem until today.

Just as she passes three stands with fish, a fourth one selling beautiful golden necklaces with diamonds shaped like dolphins on them catches Irene's eye. She smiles widely at the beautiful artwork and skips to the stand. Her fingers lightly and carefully touch the diamond dolphin on one of the bigger necklaces. It shines and glimmers in the faint sunlight. With wide and sparkling eyes, Irene looks up to meet the eyes of the saleswoman. And then, to her shock, she is met with a completely different attitude.