Strange Kind of Love

I’m no ordinary girl. No, not in the sense of edgy teens or mutant turtles. I’m a goddess. Literally. My name’s Iris, I’m the goddess of rainbows. I know, that sounds so cliché but I’m serious! The Greeks represented the rainbow as me and I’m also kind of the messenger for the gods, but that job mostly goes to Hermes.

              Anyway, I’m not here to talk about my past, I’m here to talk about my love life. Ever since I could remember, I was hopeless at romance. I couldn’t even get any dates back in the A.D.! Mostly it’s because I love girls and every girl I’ve had a crush on HAS A CRUSH ON A GUY!

              I mean totally nothing mean to those girls but it breaks my heart when I know they won’t return my love, but I’m no quitter! I’ll find my true love one day and we’ll have a cute house by the forest with a fence and adopt 2 dogs and-

              “Iris, are you in here?”

              Iris threw her diary off her bed and flipped her pen across the room. Hermes opened the doors to her room slightly before peeking his little snout. “Can I come in?” he asked shyly. Iris grabbed her diary quickly and hid it under her bed. She collected herself and greeted Hermes by her room’s door.

              “Hey Hermes! What’s up?” She said cheerfully, slightly out of breath. Hermes fiddled his fingers, “I was just going to ask you if you want to come with me to the Main World?” He peeked a bit into Iris’s messy room. “Were you busy?”

              Iris shook her head hurriedly, shifting to the side to block Hermes’s view. “Sure! Totally! Of course!” She awkwardly laughed. “We can go to the Main World, no problem!” Hermes looked at her doubtfully at her awkward grin but shrugged it off. He took his basketball and said, “Well, get dressed quickly! I have a match with my friends at 7.”

              Hermes left the house and Iris slid down her room’s door sighing. Hermes is her dear brother but he can be quite oblivious at times. Iris changed her sleeping hoodie into something more appropriate for going out. Not saying hoodies aren’t good for outside but she isn’t going to get a girlfriend looking like a tired college kid in their fifth cup of coffee during exams week. In her floral skirt and sleeveless shirt, she skipped her way towards the Portal.

              As Iris strolled down the rocky pavement of the street, she tripped on one of the rocks. Suddenly, a pair of strong, slender arms grabbed her just before she hit the ground. Iris found herself in the arms of a grey otter. His eyes the colour of heather and his smile gentle as the river flow.

              “Oh my Gods…” She gasped with awe before squealing with glee, “Archelous that’s so romantic!” She took Archelous’s hands in hers and spun him around in a circle. Iris shook Archelous’s shoulder wildly, “Could you imagine if I did that to a girl? It’ll be just like in the movies!”

              As Iris continued to fangirl, Archelous tried to calm her down. “Iris, could you please stop shaking me? I’m getting dizzy,” he begged. Iris stopped and gave him a cheeky grin. “Oh Archelous, I’d never took you for a romantic man!”

              Archelous brushed off the imaginary dust off of him. He frowned at Iris’s remark, “What is that supposed to mean?” Iris toyed with her hair, not looking into his eyes, “Well, you have a natural resting bitch face. That doesn’t really tell how romantic you are.”

              “Oh please, appearance isn’t that important,” he scoffed. “Of course, Archie, of course,” she giggled, “that’s why only Dionysus likes you.”

              Archelous flustered up immediately. “Dio does not like me nor do I like him!” Iris ran away laughing before Archelous could do anything.

              Soon enough, Iris reached the Gates of the Portal. She sees Hermes in the distance chatting with Nyx and approached them.

              “…Megadeth is actually pretty cool.”

              Nyx and Hermes were talking about new songs that they had discovered. A majority of them being songs from metal bands. Iris used to wonder how a shy hermit like Hermes could befriend the goddess of darkness herself but it’s not that surprising when they both have similar taste in a lot of things.

              “Hello hello lovely people,” Iris greeted them. Nyx looked over and nodded in response. Hermes pouted, his hands on his hips and whined, “Finally you’re here! Geez, what took you so long?”

              Iris patted Hermes’s head gently, “I ran into Archie,” she said. Hermes raised an eyebrow at her, “Did you tease him again?” She gave him an innocent look and winked. “Iris you’re so mean to him,” said Hermes. Iris just giggled, “he’s just fun to mess around with.”

              Nyx walked towards the Portal, waving at it with one quick motion. The Portal activates and opened a gateway to the Main World. Hermes and Iris stepped into the Portal and they arrived in a quiet tea shop.

              Soleil, the shop owner, was in the middle of cleaning some cups when they arrived. They gave Hermes and Iris a nod before returning to their cups. Hermes and Iris walked out the shop and was greeted with the busy street of Mex City.

              Hermes looked at his pocket watch. “It’s 1 PM right now so I have some time to eat lunch with you first but I have to leave at 3 to meet my friends,” Hermes said hurriedly. He looked at the street sign and began to drag Iris around.

              A few minutes of walking and they reached a café bustling with customers. They both had some lunch, Iris’s was completely fruits and sweet pastries only. While Iris enjoyed her sweet pastry, she looked around her surroundings.

              Mex City was always fascinating place to explore for her. She had always been in forests and the countryside, appearing as a rainbow in the sky above. She has appeared in cities but she never truly experienced the thrill and fun of the area until the whole ‘Gods and Goddesses getting kidnapped’ thing.

              Disguising herself as a mortal, running away from danger, exploring Outer Space, it was all so intriguing to her.  Iris knows that she won’t be able to have this much freedom for a long time so she’s going to make the most of it.

              As she continues to bite into her pastry, she felt as if someone was watching her. She looked around non-suspiciously and found a pair of crimson red eyes staring at her. When their eyes lock for a brief moment, crimson-eyes looked away and went back to whatever they were doing before.

              Iris observed them. The crimson-eyed beauty belonged to a pastel mint and pink feline. They were sitting alone with a bunch of books on one side and some dried flowers on the other. They were adorned with colourful patterns on their shirt, shorts and suit jacket. They look terribly out of place yet harmonised well with their surroundings. If anything, they look absolutely beautiful.

              Crimson-eyes glanced over again and Iris caught herself staring. She looked away quickly and felt a blush crept up her face. “Wait, why am I the one blushing?” thought Iris, shaking her head. Hermes, who had been busy with his bowl of spaghetti and game, looked up to see Iris just shaking her head with a confused look on her face.

              “Iris? You okay?” he asked, a tone of worry in his voice. “Huh? What?” Iris stopped her antiques. “Oh yea! Yea, I’m fine Hermes! Don’t worry.”

              Iris gave Hermes a reassuring smile and Hermes reluctantly went back to his game. Iris let out a sigh of relief quietly and glanced back to wear crimson-eyes had been sitting. The seat had long gone been empty. Iris was slightly disappointed but she can’t really say anything. Like almost everyone in the world, she falls for the random strangers she passes. Dreaming of having a life together with them. They’re just fantasy but it’s fun to dream.

              Once lunch is finished, Hermes left to find his friends for some basketball. Iris was left to explore the city. She stopped by the flower shop to visit Lukas. Iris had ordered a few baby succulents to bring back home. Demeter had taught her a thing or two about plant and flowers and she fell in love. She’s been taking care a few plants ever since.

              She rang the bell in the flower shop. “Coming!” There was a sound of rushed hooves clopping and a blue cow with an apron of flower cuttings came to the counter. “Iris! It’s so great to see you again!” Lukas greeted her cheerfully. He went around the counter to give Iris a full-blown bear hug. Iris giggled and laughed as he hugged him back.

              “How are you? You look lively! Came for your succulent didn’t ya?” Iris nodded at Lukas. He was always so happy to see his friends, even if they saw each other literally yesterday. He ran back behind the counter and Iris could hear rustling. “Give me a minute! There’s quite a few stuffs in here!” he shouted.

              “Okay!” she answered back. Iris looked around the shop. There was a good amount of sunlight coming in. Flowers were hanging from the ceiling and tons of other plants, trees and flowers decorated every corner of the shop. Iris took a mental note to decorate her room a bit more like the shop.

              Lukas came back out with a batch of baby succulents in tiny pots. He placed two in a basket and gave it to Iris. “Here you go! Two small, sweet babies for you to take back home!”

              Iris took the basket and smiled, “Thanks Lukas! Lunch tomorrow at 3?” Lukas nodded, “Totally! I’ll bring Fog along.” Iris bid Lukas goodbye and left the shop, not before she took a flower from the front of the shop. She slipped the flower in her hair and went back to exploring.

              As she went on, more and more people began to crowd. It was peak hour and Iris was stuck in the sea of people. She was having a hard time navigating through the crowd when suddenly, her basket was snatched out of her hands.

              “Hey! Thief!” She shouted. The bandit ran away and Iris ran after him. They escaped the sea of people but Iris couldn’t keep up. She tripped on the rocky pavement and fell as the thief took her basket away.

              She felt like crying. It was painful to fall onto hard ground and have her belongings stolen. As she tried to get herself up, a cool voice asked, “Need some help?”

              Iris looked up and she finds herself staring into crimson red eyes again. She was a gorgeous feline. Her eyes were sharp yet her gaze was gentle. Soft features accented her sharp edges. ‘Holy smokes…’ Iris whispered. She offered her hand to Iris, who gladly accepted it.

              She pulled Iris up and Iris towered over her slightly. She could see freckles on her face, but they were so soft Iris could only see them closed up. Iris stilled. She was very close to crimson-eyes face. She felt like she was in the part of a movie where the love interest would blink in slow-mo and her lashes would follow through. There would be butterflies and flowers popping out of nowhere and surrounding her. Violins would-

              “Are you alright?” The voice woke Iris up from her daydream. Crimson-eyes was staring at her worriedly. Iris could feel her face reddening like a tomato.  “I-I’m fine, thank you,” Iris stuttered. Crimson-eyes sighed in relief, “That’s good.”

              They were both still holding hands. Iris began to worry that her hands might start sweating and she would freak crimson-eyes out. However, Iris was distracted by her eyes. For some reason, they look so enchanting. It’s like she’s seen them before, way before Mex was even a city. They look timeless.

              Iris tried to look away and she saw that crimson-eyes was holding a basket, the same basket she got from the flower shop. Iris pointed to the basket, “Is that-?”

              Crimson-eyes looked as if she snapped out as well and lifted her other hand. “O-Oh yeah!” she handed Iris her basket back. “I saw him took your stuff so I ran after him.”

              “Oh gosh, thank you.” Iris was getting all flustered. ‘I must be reading into this way too much’ she thought. ‘But I have to repay her, she got my basket back.”

              There was a slight awkward silence between them both. “Uh, well, I guess I’ll take my leave,” said crimson-eyes, though reluctantly. She slowly turned around but before she could go, Iris stopped her.

              “Wait!” Crimson-eyes looked back at Iris. “Would you like to- um,” Iris had to think of something quick. She just stopped her out of the blue. She searched around for anything that could help her and a coffeeshop sign caught her eye. “-go for coffee some time?” Iris improvised.

              Crimson-eyes blinked. Iris thought she had fucked up but when crimson-eyes smiled at her and nodded, Iris had punched the air with joy mentally. “Yea, that would be great,” said crimson-eyes, her toothy grin made Iris heart beats faster.

              Iris could only smile like a dork. “I’ll see tomorrow at 3?” Iris twirled her hair, “Sure.”

              Crimson-eyes seemed to laugh a little at Iris’s little blush. “Cool, catch you later then.” Iris waved goodbye as the two parted ways. Just as Iris was just about to leave to fetch Hermes, she remembered that she hasn’t asked crimson-eyes her name yet. Iris turned and crimson-eyes had left again.

              ‘She must travel really fast,’ was all that Iris could think of. ‘It doesn’t matter, I still have a date with her tomorrow, I guess I can ask her later?’ thought Iris. Iris smiled to herself, she can’t wait for tomorrow.