6 - ATHENA
“Why haven’t you given up yet?” Zet asked over brunch. Yeah, they somehow managed to drag me out of my cage. I regretted agreeing three-minutes in, when stopped for the first selfie. We were in triple digit territory now; even our waitress had grabbed one.
My motivations were glaringly obvious, but I still replied, “She intrigues me.”
“Arachne isn’t interested, she’s dodged you at every turn,” they pointed out unhelpfully, tilting their head to judge me from a new angle. It was true though, the little spider had not only managed to outsmart me, but Zet, themself.
I became desperate enough to loiter outside her office this week. In costume to hide who I was. But my efforts were unfortunately futile. It was as though she anticipated we might have a run-in so she was rifting everywhere.
“You could basically take home almost any femme, they, or male here; so, why her?” Zet motioned toward those pointing and whispering. This spot was trendy and packed to the brim; we’d asked for a table in the furthest corner from the commotion and it was still unbearable.
I sighed. “The more she circumvents, the worse the insistence that I want her gets.” My obsession with Arachne was also a distraction from the disappointment.
Civilian life wasn’t fulfilling. It was lonely. Mostly spent in my flat trying out hobbies that didn’t stick. I was itching for another deployment at this point. Unfortunately for me though, Zusicia refused when I asked; with my boss insisting the opposite, that I take a longer break.
I shouldn’t have brought it up to begin with.
“Do you think she’s going to the Gala tomorrow? Maybe you could try there,” Zet’s expression was more hopeful than mine.
“She knows I’m still after her, so I doubt it,” I replied, popping a fried jalapeno into my mouth.
Zet’s chrome lip ring caught the light as they frowned. “Are you giving up? That’s very unlike you.” I shrugged my wings. Wincing as the right gave me a taste of the nerve damage.
The dragon’s charcoal eyes became serious as they searched mine. For what? I didn’t know. “You’re depressed again,” they baselessly accused, misreading me completely. “You know their deaths weren’t their fault right.”
“You’re way off. It’s not that. I’m just… not busy enough. It doesn’t have anything to do with Arachne.”
“Well, that’s good at least… because she’s here.”