Morning came too damn early for everyone, the sun slowly cutting through the polluted haze of the city. Athena groaned as she felt her headache pounding in her head, the taste in her mouth reminding her of something that had died. The blonde rolled out of her bed, fighting the urge to be sick then stumbled over to the suite's bathroom. Mouth rinsed, cold water splashed on her face and some mouthwash and Athena felt nearly human, a few steps down from her usual state but she wasn't complaining. 'Thank the fates I wasn't drunk enough to bring anyone home with me,' she noted her still empty bed with a bit of regret. Not that some of the mortals last night hadn't been pretty, but she hadn't been in the mood. Putting on shorts and T-shirt she headed out, taking off at a brisk jog around the block. She ran for nearly an hour on her usual route, and by the time she was done the sweat was streaking down her back.. but her mind was clear and the night's aches and pains were all gone as well. Ducking back into her apartment she showered under cold water and changed to casual clothes before heading over to the Daughters. Walking between the apartment building and the bar she could feel an electricity in the air, even her limited mystic senses picking up on the mystic defenses that watched over the whole set of buildings. She pushed open the front door and headed in, the scent of cleaning chemicals in the air. A tired looking Diana waved as she entered then the brown haired woman warned, "Watch your step, we just did the floors." With a degree of caution Athena navigated over to where Circe was washing down the top of the bar, "You should have woke me, I'd like to have helped." "You had a rough night," Circe remarked, the blonde looking at her in amusement. Athena actually blushed faintly. Last night there had been some trouble from a group of drunken college boys and she had fallen into her now semi-regular role of bouncer. Two of the boys decided they wanted to fight, but they hadn't counted on Athena's over 2000 years of combat experience. Even when they tried to attack together she had handled them, dropping both boys to the ground in a manner of minutes. "Several ladies and gents were asking about you after that," Diana informed her with a certain amount of glee, dumping her mop back into the bucket. Dressed in old shorts and a smelly T-shirt it has hard to believe this young woman was the goddess of the hunt. "Knowing your clients they'd probably want to see me all in leather wielding a whip," Athena noted as she settled on one of the bar stools, "no thanks." "True enough," Circe admitted. "Still, that sort of thing can be fun in moderation," Diana pointed out. Athena shook her head, deciding she didn't want to know where Diana had learned that. "So how are our new guests doing?" she asked curiously. "Descent and Sam helped unload the kegs of beer and stock the larder this morning," Circe reported, "they'll be back to help with serving this afternoon." "I'd hire them full time if I could," Diana mused, "but I know they'd turn me down." "Are you sure it's such a good idea to be sheltering them?" Athena asked. "We don't need a feud with the Lady in addition to our other problems," she said. Circe shook her head with a smile, "The Lady is scum, Athena, sheltering her enemies is practically a public service." "Besides," Diana pointed out seriously, "part of the way the spells that shield us work requires us to extend sanctuary to anyone worthy who asked." She paused, "And can you honestly say that they are not worthy?" "Fair enough," Athena conceded. She smiled slightly, "I just thought I was obligated to present the other argument." "Sometime you're a bit too much the goddess of wisdom," Circe grumbled. "She was like that in Olympus, too," Diana sighed. Deciding that it was safer to change the subject she asked, "Is there any news on the Jess and Alice front?" "Still not talking to each other," Diana said with a sigh. The mystical community in this city was fairly close knit, and gossip about them flew with the speed of light. Diana seemed to enjoy keeping up with the news, more than Athena did, to be honest. "Damn," Circe sighed. She looked thoughtful, "I feel pretty guilty about all of it, considering their blow up happened here." "Considering Jess was juggling a fling with Elizabeth and her dating Alice I don't think you can blame yourself," Athena pointed out. "It happened under our roof, when I organized a circle involving Jess and Elizabeth," Circe shrugged uncomfortably, "I still feel uncomfortable." "Just don't try to fix them up," Diana said firmly. She smiled faintly, "I remember the sort of trouble our nephew Cupid could cause." "Don't remind me," Athena agreed. "All right, all right," Circe raised her hands, "I'll stay out of it." Athena checked the time and got up from the stool, "Sorry to say I have to bail, I have a kendo class to teach at the community center." "You know kendo?" Diana blinked in surprise. "When did you learn Japanese swordsmanship?" she asked her "Considering how much globetrotting we all did after the hall of Rome," Circe pointed out, "that's a dumb question, love." "Point," Diana conceded with a blush as Athena quietly slipped away. 'I'm glad they didn't press me,' Athena thought as she collected her wooden practice sword from her suite then headed out at a quick jog down the street. She went to a walk as she neared the old public school that had been converted into a community center, slowing a bit... "Banzai!" she yelled, black hair flowing at she attacked, leaping from the cover of a clump of nearby bushes. CLACK! Smoothly Athena had drawn her practice sword from it's case and parried the attack, meeting those flashing eyes confidently. "Slow," she said in unaccented Japanese, "but you're improving." From nearby the others emerged, wooden swords ready as they studied her warily, circling. "Attacking as a group this time?" she asked them. "We will defeat you this time," the young man at the lead said, brown hair flowing over his street clothes as he pointed with his sword. "Come on then," Athena invited. Without warning she charged, Athena breaking through the circle before they could close it around her. In less than two minutes she was surrounded by fallen young people, separated from their weapons and clearly defeated. "You know," the black haired young woman sighed as she got up, "when you promised to treat us to lunch when one of us beat you, I figured we'd be eating for free in a week." Athena helped pull her up, "Yoriko, do you think I would have made that vow if it was going to be that easy?" "Obviously not," the brown haired man laughed. He grinned, "Though personally I just think you're a samurai movie otaku." "That too, Alec," Athena agreed cheerfully to the laughter of the others. Raising her voice to the rest of the group she called, "Okay, everybody inside! We'll start with standard drills." "Hai, sensei!" they called as they all headed inside. "You know, when someone told me this was happening every week I had to go see for myself," the amused voice said. Turning Athena saw a woman dressed in casual clothes, her red hair flowing over her shoulders. "Keeps them motivated," Athena said, studying the woman thoughtfully. "Margaret," she smiled slightly, unbothered by the way Athena was looking over her. "Do you think I could observe your class?" she asked boldly. Athena raised her eyebrows, "No." Margaret watched the woman leave, her expression more thoughtful than offended. "This isn't the end," she murmured to herself softly. To be continued.... Japanese Note: "Otaku" is a word referring to a die hard fan, often to the point of excess. A insult in Japan it's considered something of a badge of honor among western anime fans. "Sensei" is used for teachers both academically and in martial arts.
Back to Daughters of Artemis Index - Back to Original Fiction Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction