Nanowrimo 2020 Day 18 - Word Count and Favorite Bit (Patreon)

Today I added 1914 words to Match.God, bringing my current total word count to 37, 422!

As predicted, Lindiwe and Spring showed up that night, pouting at the fact Hannah and Clara had already claimed the master bedrooms. Lamia and Star showed up the next day, followed by Nessa and Thunder a few hours later. While Lamia appeared incredibly jetlagged, Nessa bounced around like a spring fawn, utterly unaffected by the time change.

“I’ve been flying internationally since I was like, five,” she explained breezily as she snapped a few photos for instagram. “Chris, honey baby, come take a selfie with me.”

“Chris?” Lindiwe echoed incredulously.

“Yeah! You know. Like Hemsworth!” Nessa chirped, grinning ecstatically at her own joke. “The guy who plays –”

“Yes, Nessa, the guy who plays Thor,” Clara said, rolling her eyes in affectionate exasperation.

“He also played Kirk’s dad in the Star Trek reboot movies,” Hannah pointed out, sipping on a Shake Shack milkshake.

“Okay, but that doesn’t help me be funny,” Nessa said.

Hannah smirked mischievously. “Never said it did.”

“It just sounds so mundane,” Lindiwe said.

“Well, what do you call your partner?” Nessa asked snippily.

Spring, who wandered in from the balcony at just the right moment, paused and smiled serenely. “Lindiwe calls me Daisy. Is that not delightful?”

Nessa stared at Lindiwe. “You are never allowed to complain about what I name things again.”

“Screw you!” Lindiwe laughed, squeezing Spring’s hand as the goddess passed through, the scent of blooming flowers following her. “At least it’s fitting!”

“Alright, everyone just calm down,” Clara shouted from the kitchen, holding back a laugh. “We are not here to critique anyone’s choice in names.”

“Sure we are!” Nessa said, grinning. “What do you call Moon?”

“I call them Artemis,” Clara said casually, walking out with some kind of artisanal soda in her hand. “I figured if the white boy cat from Sailor Moon can be Artemis, then the name is neutral enough to fit them no matter what their presentation.”

“What about you, Lamia?” Lindiwe asked, leaning back in her chair to catch Lamia’s attention.

Lamia looked up from her book, smiling shyly. “I call her Layla.”

“Layla?” Lindiwe repeated.

Lamia nodded. “It’s an Arabic name meaning ‘night’. I thought it was fitting.”

“Awww,” Nessa cooed. “It totally is! That’s so cute, Lamia!”

“Hannah?” Clara asked. Hannah froze as all eyes landed on her.

“I haven’t come up with one yet,” Hannah admitted. “I only just recently brought it up with him.”

“Makes sense,” Clara said. “It’s probably pretty hard to come up with a name that fits a god of death.”

“At least not without sounding kinda weird and pretentious,” Lindiwe agreed. “Heaven help her if she tried to call him Thanatos or Anubis or whatever in public.”

“I’d die,” Hannah said flatly.