29 Hestia
A.N. For your information, the 'p' in Ptah is silent. It is spelt 'tar-h'.
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~Where did you come from, where did you go?~
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(Steve POV)
"Well that is sorted." I said as I teleported back home to my room. "Nothing concrete but now I can experiment by myself for a while."
It would be a drag to go over all the details of my meeting with Ouranos and what we discussed but to summarise, I'd gone over the basic details of a Minecraft world, and how it was structured. How there was no overarching superpower, and there were only probable remains of an ancient civilization long destroyed. How most mobs were relatively weak with only a certain few being quite powerful. Things like that, and it had taken a lot of convincing on my end but I finally got clearance to open portals so I could investigate myself.
This was not me getting his permission, it was me making sure he'd have nobody on my tail when I did such things. I did not feel much need for sleep nowadays, so I opted to make something to work on tonight. My fingers and toes were practically throbbing in anticipation of finally doing what I'd been longing to do.
The portals I was using was those of an immersive mod, in which you simply typed in the coordinates of where you'd want to go. I could still generate new worlds if I wanted to using my console but I was not ready to create new worlds. I wanted to establish any changes or differences now with the worlds I had already created.
It was all in the book that Nekros had left me. All instructions and details were written down clear and concise. And I had certain coordinates memorised by heart in regards to different servers.
First though, I had to check up on Ptah. I opened the door to my room and strode up the hallway to the kitchen where I heard distinct chattering coming from inside between him and Hestia.
It really should not have come as too much a surprise to me that they knew each other. They were both lazy bums who only worked when circumstances forced them to or when they were just plain guilty and ashamed.
Or in Ptah's case, obsessively deluded with a hopeless hobby.
Pushing open the dark wooden door, I stepped into the kitchen to see both Ptah and Hestia finishing up from mushroom soup, steak and a whole other sorts of things accompanied by several desserts I had locked in the pantry.
What raised my brows was seeing the plates upon plates stacked on the table, mostly on Ptah's side while Hestia's still had a good few.
"Oh, hey Steve." Ptah said with his spoon still in his mouth. "Where've you been?"
"...Out." I replied as I pulled up a stool besides the table and took a cookie for myself. It turns out that a Minecraft cookie can be whatever cookie you want it to be. Mine was nice and chewy, with just the right amount of gooiness in the centre. My favourite kind of cookies. My dad liked them crunchy and crumbly, which to be fair is nice with a morning cup of tea but nothing beats soft, large cookies in my humble opinion.
"Ptah says you made all this food." Hestia said with her mouth full of cake. "You're a really good cook! All of this stuff was just delicious."
"...Thanks."
'I won't argue that I'm a good cook but I didn't necessarily cook or bake these things...'
"So tell me about you two." I said as I leaned back and kicked one leg over the other to get myself fully relaxed. "You seemed to have very much missed each other when we bumped into you Hestia. How long have you known each other?"
"Oh we go way back." Hestia waved an arm. "I think I was still a young goddess when I first met Ptah back in Tenkai. He had a tendency to just walk around and stumble into new born gods all over the place. That was before he just stopped and stayed in one place from then on."
"Hey!" Ptah said. "At least I moved around. You stayed right where you formed and never left that place, opting to look at other realms from afar while you cuddled the Flame and ate 'perfect' apples that grew outside your temple."
"Well at least I kept to myself when I did that." Hestia argued. "You kept on beating up gods whenever they came to your temple."
"That was just one period when Lopt got that stupid giant to stick a sword the size of a mountain through my temple! Don't say you wouldn't be pissed when some mad bastard comes along and destroys your home and your statues for shits and giggles."
"It IS Loki were talking about." Hestia said distastefully. "Is she still the same?"
"If you mean a total wimp and a pussy whenever I'm around, then yeah." Ptah shrugged. "If you mean insufferable, perverted and loud, then I'm afraid you'll be delighted to know that she has not changed a bit."
"Great." Hestia grumbled. "She thinks she's so much, just because she came down and built a large and powerful Familia. She's still less of a woman than any self-respecting goddess. I bet her kids are just as bad."
"You probably shouldn't say that around Steve." Ptah said.
"Huh?" Hestia looked at me, slightly alarmed. "Why not?"
"Because I happen to be friends with her kids." I said. "More than that, it is unannounced but there is an official alliance between the Ptah and Loki Familia, and beyond that, I may have a romantic interest in one of their members...maybe two depending on who's perspective you want to take. Apparently the latter is the universally expected truth." I rolled my eyes.
"Have you decided yet?" Ptah asked me.
"Nooo...I haven't. I've been busy with other things."
"Well like I said, just go for it." Ptah said bluntly. "Be a man about it, and if it doesn't work out, don't let it end on bad terms."
"Not everything is so simplistic Ptah. You may have had things your way by simply speaking of it as it were your way but these are not just situations that can instantly be accepted and adhered to, let alone having the chance to work or not work out."
"Just stop pussying out and go for it you philanderer." Ptah growled. "You're killing the f*cking vibe out here."
"I'm not pandering to all of your whims. But...you're right, I have to do something about it." I said as I looked away.
"Ugh, men. You're all the same no matter how nice you are." Hestia in a strained voice as she made her displeasure very prominent before her brows scrunched in confusion. "Wait, go back a bit." She said to me.
"Hm?"
"You just said you're allies with the washboard's Familia." Hestia said as she then looked to Ptah, who held his hands up.
"Not my doing. I had no part in it, it was just a deal made between him and Lopt's captain." Ptah said as he pointed to me.
"I'll admit, there are some outright pricks in her Familia." I said as a certain werewolf and a certain elf came to mind. Bete was just an asshole in general, it couldn't be helped. But the useless elf still got on my nerves. You may think I'm being harsh but f*ck me, that girl was absolutely useless. She barely cast any spells, she was always stumbling over her own feet and she would freeze even if she made passing eye contact with a large monster.
She was a liability, fight me on it.
"And then there are some who are just...weird." I said as I thought back to the small groups of men and a few women as well who only ever seemed to want to converse with me on the attractiveness of a woman's hips and appeared to take down notes of every word I said. I would have thought it was just some sort of research by lonely men who wanted a change of perspective to increase their chances of securing lovers, and I would have been glad to offer up any new perspectives if I could...if it had not been for a disturbing glint in their eyes.
It reminded me of those fanatic preachers and evangelicals who lived in churches instead of raising their families and keeping their wives happy, who would go out and spread the love of the Lord and the importance of time by shoving it down the throats of people who just wanted to buy the last Belgian bun before the special sale ended.
And no, I am definitely not talking from a specific experience.
"But most are really nice. Finn's a good example. He has the composure of a leader and always puts his Familia's safety and interest first. But he's really cheerful and interesting to talk with. Then there's Gareth who kind of insists on giving some sort of fatherly advice all the time, but he's a good drinking partner. Riveria is a magic fanatic despite her serious, kind of soul-less expression. But she doesn't hesitate to put someone in their place when they speak or step out of line. I will never disrespect a woman who sets boundaries and enforces them, because that is a self-respecting woman."
"Who are the ones you have a love interest in?" Hestia asked me. Ptah answered me before I could speak.
"He's head over heels for both the Crusher and the Sword Princess but he's just in denial when it comes to the second one." Ptah said. "It's frustrating honestly. Especially when Miss Wallenstein was the one to confess to him...publicly too."
"Aren't they supposed to be mega adventurer celebrities though?" Hestia asked before her eyes rolled and she looked to the side. "I don't see what's the big deal about that Wallen...whatever her weird name is. From what I hear, she has a face of stone and a heart of ice."
"But she has a soul." I said with a slight edge to my tone. "Don't go judging off of baseless rumours. She has every right to reject those men as a man does to reject her. Understand? Just because she's not interested, it doesn't mean she doesn't have feelings."
.
.
.
"What?" I said as they both stared at me.
Path turned back to Hestia and pointed at me again. "See what I mean? Head-over-heels."
"I see." Hestia said. "But back to the point, if Steve is your only member, why would they ally with you? For all Loki is, she still has the second most powerful Familia. So how can you be allies?"
"Simple." Ptah said as he crossed his arms. "Steve is level 9."
...
"WHAT!" Hestia's jaw dropped. "How?!"
"I don't know." Ptah shrugged. "But I was lucky enough to have the best land right into my lap. He also beat the Loki Familia up single-handedly to get the point across, so they they would be forced to accept an alliance."
Ptah's grin suddenly turned to a pained shout as I tugged on his braid.
"That's not what happened and you know it." I scolded him before looking back at Hestia. "I simply mean to open a business soon and with business, you need connections to get a head start. By being associated with the Loki Familia, whose captain now wields one of my products by the way, I will get a lot of traction from day one."
"...But 'her' Familia?"
"Better than the Freya Familia." I said. "That is a whole different brood of assholes."
"As you can see, despite his great level he's a complete jerk!" Ptah rubbed his head. "But, he does have a point. Familiar as I am with both Lopt and Freya, at this moment in time I'd rather be friends with the red head brat than Freya."
"Right..." Hestia said absentmindedly as she stared at me. "Just...wow...a real level 9. There hasn't been one of those in ages and there has only been one before."
"I'm questioning why you believe us so immediately." I said. "Everyone else we've told calls us out on a bluff before anything else."
"Ptah's one of my best friends." Hestia said. "I have no reason to distrust him."
"Damn, you really are good friends." I commented. "Well, enough about us, what of you Hestia? Do you have a Familia?" I asked although fully knowing the answer.
Hestia visibly deflated to the point her depression was quite palpable in the air. That sudden exhale though made her assets assert their presence at the table quite punctually and I cursed them for it. For a goddess of mythology meant to be modest and chaste, she sure did not care much for common decency. Then I remembered...
...I'm in an anime.
...
"No." Hestia said as she drew patterns on the table with one finger and rested her head in one of her arms. "Nobody wants to join a poor, unknown goddess like me. I mean I can understand why, since I have nothing but a Falna to offer. But it's so hard you know." She looked up at us. "How long have you been with Ptah, Steve?"
"Not even 3 weeks maximum at this point." I said. "Although, I spent two weeks tagging along with the Loki Familia on their expedition. So in that instance, my time with him barely counts at all."
"Oh." Hestia said. "Well it's good to know I'm not the only god who faced this." Hestia sighed before burying her face in the table. "But am I going to really have to wait a whole two years?!"
"Cheer up. You gotta have more hope than that Ves-" Ptah suddenly stopped himself before he finished that sentence as he quickly looked at me then back at her. "Uhhh, I mean...Hestia. I held patience, and even if I did get a complete ass hat, I still got my first child."
Another good tug on his braid shut him up.
"I know. But it's so hard to find a child that would want to join a worthless goddess like me." Hestia pouted. "It's no fair."
"Chin up." I said as I reached over the table and lifted her chin with my fingers. "You wanna know what I think?"
"What?"
"I think that someone who would join you regardless of your state of affairs, or your financial status or your reputation, that is a child truly worth having and keeping." I told her as she looked at me. "It doesn't matter how useless, hopeless or worthless they look, if they join you for you and not the material benefits that come with it, then that is a child that will not only be best for you but one that will strive and thrive as well. From my experience at least."
"Thanks for the kind words Steve." Hestia said. "But even if I do get a child, I doubt I'll be as lucky as Ptah. Scoring a level 9 child as his first."
"That's just where I am concerned." I said. "There is no way you or anybody else will find someone like me. So don't put your bar too high. Expect low in life and you'll never be disappointed. That's what my grandfather used to say." I nicked Ptah's drink much to his indignation and I held him back with my hand on his face while he tried to reclaim it as I raised it. "A toast I shall give to him. Cheers to old grampy...and to the hope you find a child soon." I held the cup out.
Hestia smiled and tapped her cup with my own.
"Cheers." She said as we gulped it all down.
I slammed the cup on the table and let out a satisfied sigh.
"Alright. I suppose it's time for bed." I said as I made for the door, before turning around slowly. "Wait, are you staying the night Hestia?"
"Well, I really must be goin-"
"Yes she is!" Ptah piped up and looked at her. "She can spend the night with me."
...
"...What?" I said.
"Yeah." Ptah grinned. "It'll be just like old times when we had sleepovers. Besides, it's not like we have another bed."
"After you proclaim such feelings for Hephaestus and yet you would share a bed with her best friend?"
Ptah and Hestia looked at each other. The girl seemed to realize the implication as she flushed but Ptah remained ignorant.
"We've always shared the same bed. whenever we stayed together." Ptah said as he looked between both our gobsmacked expressions. "Is that so wrong?"
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(General POV)
"Unbelievable." Steve said as he removed his Egyptian garb and slipped on his iconic Minecraft Steve outfit. "Is it any wonder why Hephaestus doesn't notice him? Apart from the fact she looks like a grown-ass woman and he looks like a kid, she probably assumes he's 'close' with Hestia if the two of them share a bed when they're alone in the house together. Even if they're just close friends, anybody would get the the wrong idea."
He closed the shutters to his window before taking a lantern and doing one last round of security checks on the grotto. Doors locked and windows fastened...and Bathsheba sleeping out in front of the door tonight. Yes, everything was in order.
Steve opened the door to Ptah's room to see the Primordial fast asleep with a full snot bubble inflating and deflating with very breath. Steve cringed in disgust before closing the door and opening the one connecting to Hestia's room, which was a spare bedroom Steve had quickly whipped up for her stay here tonight.
Quite an experience it was meeting the main goddess of the franchise. She seemed pretty ordinary. Perhaps he eccentric behaviour started only when she met Bell Cranel. Speaking of whom, he would have to keep a sharp lookout for the boy. And make sure that he ended up where he should be.
After making sure that everyone was asleep, Steve entered his room and bolted the door behind him. He then opened up his closet and removed the floor panel to reveal a trapdoor. He closed the closet doors and lifted the trapdoor, bracing himself as he jumped down with the hatch closing over him and he was momentarily bathed in darkness before he brought up the lantern again to reveal a secret room beneath his own.
Within here was his secret library, his ender chest, his enchantment table, his armour stand with his netherite armour on it and his tools hung up on the wall. In the corner was a carelessly dumped pile of gems, gold, silver, platinum, dragon scale and a whole other manner of precious stuff he'd dumped out of his inventory.
"An underground secret base." He said before shivering a little in nostalgia. "Never gets old."
He placed the lantern on the ceiling and walked over to a bare wall with a large rectangle cut out of it by his pick axe. He moved ten obsidian blocks from his inventory and neatly placed them in the hole in an arranged manner along the edge of the cut-out bit.
"Before we do anything like re-opening my servers and stuff, let's start off small." Steve said to himself. "A simple Nether portal to the hellscape of the underworld. Totally exciting." Steve finally placed them all in and then withdrew a plain flint and steel of this world as well as other lighting tools.
One by one, he tried lighting the portal with each tool be they tinderboxes, torches, matches or flints. The portal would not light. Steve then took out a Minecraft Flint-and-steel and breathed.
"Here goes nothing." He breathed again before striking the tool over the inside of the obsidian structure.
There was a spark, and then a flash of light as what looked like purple fire filled the doorway. It was not unlike the realistic mod that Steve had once installed. Instead of just a sheet of purple magic appearing in the doorway, purple fire swirled in the doorway before closing in on itself to fill the portal with purple magical energy. It looked similar to Amadeus's realistic Nether portal video. Steve first felt a blast of cold air on his face before a blast of heat hit him. Then room temperature returned as the secret base was filled with the glow of the portal.
"Okay, good to know. Only a Minecraft flint-and-steel works on the portal." Steve wrote in his notebook. "Would that excuse lighting it by woodfire or lighting strikes though? Will have to experiment further in a safer location, away from harm of people. Right, time to do what Steve does best."
Steve pulled his collar a bit as he jumped a little in excitement.
"That is, talking to himself and exploring places inside games. Brilliant! Now before that."
Steve turned on one of his mods and then entered creative. Out of his creative menu, he withdrew some robotic drones and turned them on, watching them as they hovered in the air while lights flashed red with beeping sounds before turning green.
"Recording?" He asked.
The robots whirred and cooed for a bit, indicating an answer of yes.
"Good. Do keep up. I haven't done this in a while and I am way too excited to stay in one place. We are going to record everywhere and I mean everywhere. We finish with one dimension and we move on to the other. And you will record the whole thing. Understand?"
The robots affirmed and he nodded satisfied as he opted to stay in creative. He ran at the portal and jumped in.
"Geronimo!" Steve shouted as leapt through the curtain of magical energy. There was a bright flash of purple before Steve disappeared from the room and the robot drones with him. Peace returned to the secret room and it would remain that way until sunrise when Steve would come back to his life in Orario.
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