“Fateweaver!” Vae exclaims, surprise clearly written across her face, before she schools her expression into something more blank, giving a little cough to poorly hide her sudden yell. “It is-,” she pauses, visibly searching for a word before she awkwardly lands on, “a pleasure.”
Asterius knows that’s not the case, but he still nods, letting her have at least this piece of her dignity, not that there’s anyone watching them. Still, it is her creation day, so he can let some things slide.
“Well,” Vae tries obviously glancing around in search of something else to say, while sneaking glances at him and Cadeyrn. Asterius lets her, as he himself is busy evaluating her. She looks happy, a buzzy joy that causes the edges of her vessel form to slightly distort. Vae’s even dressed up a little for her birthday, her toga now a glittering gold and a wreath of flowers adorning her long unbraided purple hair.
‘Ah good,’ he thinks smiling slightly at the handwoven circlet of dandelions and peonies, ‘seems the Female Lead and Vae have hit it off already.’
“Just come in,” she settles on, looking more uncomfortable by the minute, shoulders tensing the longer they stand there awkwardly.
He ponders saying something to that, a teasing, “It would be my pleasure”, but the System is glowing red in warning, so he stills his tongue.
The 7th ring is the layer where most of the gods dwell, a network of floating islands, each personally designed and inhabited by a separate god. They are currently in Eros’s home, who in a daring move to impress Maria, offered his home for Vae’s Creation Day banquet. In the original novel, Vae is more than happy to reap the benefits of Eros's one-sided crush, throwing a lavish party at the god's home that would put many other god's creation day festivities to shame.
Considering Eros is the god of lust, whose only personality traits are throwing parties and bedding women, it’s not surprising that his home is just as cliché and hard to look at. A large, towering mansion of pink marble, with big archways and white gauzy curtains fluttering in a soft breeze. A neatly trimmed hedges of bright red roses and half-nude statues of cupids circle the edge of the island, offering an illusion of privacy from the other nearby godly homes. From the backyard, he can spot a pool, complete with tacky pool floats and a full bar, both of which look far too modern for this sort of setting, but Asterius begrudgingly admits they do truly help sell the scene of a rich young playboy.
Cadeyrn shifts behind him, bowing slightly in greeting, “My blessing to the Muse of Tragedy.”
Vae barely glances at him before focusing back on Asterius, her eyes flickering briefly down to the carefully wrapped gift lying in his hands, “Anything else you need god o’ stars?”
He has to fight to keep the smile off his face, offering the present to her, “In honor of the day.”
“Oh!” and Vae takes it with a gleaming eye, turning the package over in her hands with obvious excitement, “thanks-thank you,” she corrects last minute, smiling rather brightly. “Didn’t think you would get me anything…” she mutters obviously not intending to be heard.
He wants to say more, to offer his true well wishes beyond polite pleasantries, but he knows better than to test the System, especially with such an ominous mission. So he motions behind Vae, needing an out before he says something too genuine, “Well if you excuse us…,”
“Ah right!” and she quickly shifts out of the way, letting them finally enter the front lawn, “Enjoy the party FateWeaver!” and she almost sounds like she means that. It twists the gnawing guilt higher.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Before they even step inside, he can feel the weight of eyes on them, Vae’s parting greeting having caught everyone’s attention. Most of them are merely curious, the other muses even look happy to see him, everyone else however… looks far from pleased to see the god of fate here. Though considering the time and place, the guests decide against starting anything and the festive atmosphere slowly returns to normal.
The inside of the pink marble building is just as gaudy and ostentatious as the outside; fountains (full of sparkling champagne and dark chocolate) sit atop heavily detailed wooden tables, candles on every available surface curling pink and red smoke into the air, and rose petals scattered artistically all over the floor. Everything is made with a dark satiny red, from the plush lounges, woven carpets, and neatly folded table decorations. Despite how big and airy the whole home is, there are still a plethora of dark corners for people to “sneak away” too. Asterius avoids looking into any of them too long, knowing full well what purpose they serve, and trying very hard not to imagine a scenario in which he and Cadeyrn might-.
[Host.]
And his thoughts are getting away from him again. 'Sorry,' he thinks somewhat sheepishly, as the System's message shifts into an emoji, [(¬_¬")]. He ignores the judging ball of floating code and walks a bit further into the room, moving from scanning the scenery to evaluating the guests.
Five of the muses are sat atop a raised marble stage in front of a crackling hearth, each of them playing a strange forgotten instrument, filling the home with a slow but cheerful tune. The other 100 or so guests mill about, talking in small groups and failing in their subtle attempts to sneak glances at him. Asterius pauses in his sweep of the room, noticing a few familiar figures.
Eros is easy to spot, his face does feature primally on many of the sculptures and paintings around the house after all. Tall, tanned, and not wearing a shirt, he’s leaned against a marble pillar, trying and failing to pretend he’s not ogling Maria as he half-heartedly attempts to charm Bellum. The Muse of War is doing nothing to hide her disgusted glare at the lust god and in fact, looks like she’s one bad pick-up line away from punching his lights out.
The Female Lead on the other hand is fighting down an embarrassed flush as she picks at a red velvet cupcake, trying and failing to pretend she doesn’t notice all the eyes watching her every move. Perhaps as a symbol of her newfound status, she looks completely different than the day she ascended. Dressed in a long, elegant dress of layering pink silks, a white lace corset with matching gloves, and standing in a high pair of Cinderella-like heels that glitter in the light. Her lips are colored a bright matching pink, and hanging from her ears and neck are gleaming emeralds. Ever her curly brown hair is carefully styled and braided up into a bun resembling a blooming flower. She looks nothing like the mortal girl he pulled up into the heavens and ever bit like a princess ripped straight out of a fairytale. An unwilling fairytale princess though, because Maria looks like she wants to be anywhere else than here, standing awkwardly and tense next to a mostly nude statue of Eros.
He ponders walking over to help spare her, he’s not really one for parties himself, even less so after becoming Asterius, and getting a firsthand experience of how unnerving it is to feel so many eyes constantly locked onto you. So, he personally understands just how boring it can be to lean against a wall for a few hours, your only entertainment the hushed whispers of people talking about you. But he’s certain that any comfort he could offer would be read as being too friendly with the Female Lead. They technically haven’t even actually spoken to each other yet. Plus, he’s here to be the villain not-
They catch eyes. Maria looks surprised for a second, glancing around the rest of the main room as if looking for something. Asterius isn’t sure if she finds it or not, but she turns back around to face him before he can move out of her line of sight. She smiles politely, almost looking relieved to have spotted him, quickly making her way over.
Asterius can feel his heart shift into overdrive. Fear and anxiety forcing it to beat even faster, but he’s had a long time to perfect his indifferent mask. He carefully folds his hands together, tucking them into his selves so no one can see how tightly he grips his arms, steadying himself as the Female Lead stops in front of him.
Sadly, it would seem he will not even get to enjoy the party before he has to ruin it.