Eventually the godling decides to go with something that looks like a rose, if roses could ever look so completely perfectly unblemished and indestructible. He raises it to his chiton and it shifts into the form of a pin—the same one he'd been wearing when Yvette met him.

Then he jumps over the surrounding railing.

... The presence of the rose makes her a bit nervous, for some reason. Which is strange, because she's seen it before, but. ... Now it's different. For some reason. But that's silly and doesn't make sense.

Onwards!

He lands, an imposing (and closed) gate to the House of Hades behind him, the river Styx to either side, and the way to Tartarus ahead.

And right there, waiting for him, is... a small dead plant, grown in a crack in the austere stone of Tararus, having lived only long enough to die. It's... out of place.

Mmmmmm that plant makes her nervous too! Why nervous in this particular way, too, it's like she's being confronted with a crush and doesn't know any of the right words to say—

—oh.

"... The small plant is also Aphrodite's, isn't it," she guesses. "And the rose you carry attracted her attention."

"Yes. Wearing her trinket, I attract her attention, and this is her. I felt like... after talking to Thanatos earlier, and with you around, she would be... thematically appropriate."

"Oh! I guess so, yeah. With me around... you mean because I pointed out that you two were clearly more than just friends?"

"Yes, and also because you are really attractive and I want to flirt with you a bit by proxy."

SQUEAK.

Zagreus laughs and walks up to the dead plant—

—which suddenly blooms, growing from dead leaves into a glowing flower as tall as he is. The air buzzes, not with static but with... with... It's like the smell of roses if smells also had a tactile component to them, if aphrodisiacs could talk to your soul.

Aphrodite's voice echoes. "Oh, hello, little godling~ I see you have had a little major breakthrough in your love life, haven't you? I'll let you in on a secret: you have not been rejected. Well, not yet. You'll have to work for it, though; little death is a flighty one, and always in such conflict with his heart, the poor thing. I think you'd be good for each other.

"Ah, but of course I shan't forget about your new friend, there, hello to you, too, dear! You are much more aligned with your heart than darling Thanatos, that's for sure. I know you'll figure it out in time, and I can't wait to see how that goes."

EXTRA SQUEAK.

(How can a flower be hot??? The flower is hot and she's so confused!!!)

"She still can't hear us even here with her keepsake," Zagreus says conversationally as his eyes once again get that glazy lack of focus they do when he's looking at something that is not there. "Even while making it easier for them to see us I would still need to expend power to get back to them."

"Nhh, but, that, um!" she squeaks. "NevermindI'mcommittingtohidingunderyourbedfornow, good luck escaping!!"

And then she flees.

He is perhaps taken a bit too much by surprise by this to really reply but he smiles and waves as she goes.

And thus did the eldritch goddess from outside of the world go and cower under Zagreus's bed. AAA. Does she want to hide here after being flirted with?? No, probably not, that seems like it has weird implications! Can she think of a better hiding spot? No, not really! Will someone try to talk to her if she tries to find a new hiding spot? MAYBE, so moving is CLEARLY IMPOSSIBLE.

Funnily enough, after a fairly long while of silence someone does show up in Zagreus's bedroom! "Death approaches," drawls Thanatos as he appears in the bedroom with his telltale bells. "—oh. You're not Zagreus," he says, looking straight at Zagreus's bed.

"Hi, I am not," she agrees, from her puddle under the bed. "He scared me under here and I couldn't think of a better place to go hide instead because I don't know this place very well yet."

The god of death lands onto his feet and folds his arms. "Zagreus scared you? He is probably the least scary person in the Underworld including all of the shades."

"Well you see," she says, a little defensively, "he flirted with me! So. So. ... I'm hiding under a bed."

"...I see. He does have a habit of doing that to everyone he meets, except for me. Until recently."

"Wow, really? That's so rude."

"I... would not have described it that way. We thought we were brothers, until recently. Not... that that would stop many."

"I guess that... does make it awkward, yeah." Cough. "Congratulations that you're not brothers?? I guess???"

"We are not mortals. Such matters are not that... important. Not when we live forever. And we were not really raised together. I was born centuries before him."

"Okay, but if it's not important then why did you bring it up as an explanation? Then you're only using it when it suits you."