''This was a mistake. I feel ridiculous..!''

''Would you calm down? You look great. Just keep piling on the allure.'' Nyx comforted.

''Remember, you know what he likes so lean into that. Break his will into pieces! Clearly since he hasn''t been able to take his eyes off you, you can''t be too far off base!''

Izanami glanced at Abaddon out of the corner of her eye.

He was staring at her rather hard, but to be honest, so was Odessa. It could have been that she really did look different than usual.

Her long black hair had been lightly styled to give it a wavier texture that resembled the black waters of the river styx.

She usually only dressed in a traditional white dress that was literally as old as her.

But now, she was adorned in a much bolder black leather jacket with a white crop top and a pair of baggy grey cargo pants.

However, none of it was as surprising as the high fashion sneakers on her feet.

Abaddon was continually rubbing his eyes and blinking.

Izanami wasn''t the kind of woman who put this much thought into her outfit.

Until she spent some time in the dream world, of course.

There, she learned that dressing herself up and trying different things not only did wonders for her self esteem, but it also elicited preferential reactions out of her husband and wife.

Her preferred styles were minimalism, vintage clothing, and streetwear.

Today, she tried to pick an outfit that wouldn''t feel like too much of a drastic change in routine and raise any alarm bells in the minds of those she was trying to woo.@@@@

And now, here was the first test.

''Remember, be aloof. Make him work for your attention..!'' Izanami was fighting hard to pretend that there was something interesting on her phone.

''Come on... say something, please-''

"Wow, GGMA. Have you been hanging around with Nubia?" Thrudd circled Izanami over ten times in under a second.

Her eyes sparkled with the kind of interest that was usually only present when working out was involved.

"O-Oh.. no, I haven''t." Izanami muttered.

"So you put this together on your own then? How??"

"I finally made a dragongram account... because I was bored." Izanami lied.

"Oh really?" Straga''s ears perked up as he was currently the one with the most followers in the house. (8.8 Million) "Should I follow you?"

Izanami just blurted out the first lie of denial that she could think of.

"T-That''s okay, I only use it to watch pornography and get outfit inspiration anyway.."

While a surprising confession from Izanami, no one really batted an eye at the casual admission of enjoying amateur pornography.

Aside from grandpa Helios. He didn''t even know what porn was.

''Why is she behaving so differently..?'' Abaddon asked his grandfather.

Unlike everyone else, he could literally sense Izanami''s heightened focus on him.

''Well, I don''t know the specifics, but... apparently she suffered some kind of psychic attack.'' Helios admitted.

Abaddon nearly lost every ounce of his composure. ''What? Here?!''

''I know your worries, but quell yourself.'' Helios urged. ''Eris has gone off to the tree to speak with the all-mother and get to the bottom of this. But just in case, you may want to cleanse the house in divine energy.''

He hardly needed to tell Abaddon that. His eyes were already closed as he washed his divine power over every inch of their home.

But it just so happened that as he was doing so, another portal opened up in the hallway.

"..."

Izanami reached for the rope again.

"No!" Nyx swatted her hand away.

"Why will you not let me be free from my misery?" Izanami laid down on the floor.

"Because we don''t have any reason to despair just yet! We had a setback, but you were still married to him for 1,000 years and you know exactly how to seduce him! If plan A didn''t work, then we go to plan B!"

Izanami wiped a black tear from her eye. "Get him drunk and take advantage of him..?"

"No, that''s plan D, sweetheart. Plan B is the utilization of your assets to turn his head!"

"Assets...?"

"Or just your ass." Nyx patted her on the butt.

Izanami rolled her eyes. "I can''t compete with Ayaana in that department."

"That''s true." Nyx admitted. "But you don''t have to compete, you just have to make them want a taste of what you have! Got any skimpier clothes in that new wardrobe of yours?"

Izanami held her face in her hands. "This is so embarrassing..."

Nyx rubbed her back and spoke to her in a tender voice. "It''ll all be worth it down the line, my sweet little emo goddess."

"I hate you..."

"I can live with that."

Izanami''s mood showed small signs of improving as she sat up on the floor.

She smiled weakly at Nyx before her expression slowly changed to shock.

In her haste to get out of the hallway, she had accidentally chosen an occupied room.

A figure sat up on the bed and stared at the two of them in confusion.

"Who are you..? And where am I?"

-

Abaddon was in the common room with Odessa crawling across his chest.

He lay on the floor with his face turned towards the ceiling- a blank, robotic look permanently affixed to his face.

He almost looked catatonic.

"What''s wrong with dad..?" Yemaja asked as she poked him with the spoon she was using for her yogurt.

"I dont know... He just started looking like that in the hallway on the way here." Belloc shrugged.

He wandered over to his father and nudged him with the underside of his shoe.

"Hey, dad. Don''t say anything if I can have a couple of track suits from your closet."

Still mentally broken, Abaddon said nothing.

"Hell yea." Belloc nodded.

"Go easy on your father, grandson." Helios sighed. "Your marriages are still new so you haven''t yet learned to sense it. The sight of a man not long for the living world."

At that moment, Eris came into the common room with Asherah in tow.

"I''m back." She smiled to the room. "And I see some of you are too."

Abaddon immediately popped up. "I swear, I didn''t do ANYTHING this time!"

At first Eris was confused, but gradually she developed a knowing smile on her lips.

"It seems we have a great many things to talk about. Should I get some wine?"