A Night Out With the Fates Pt. 1

A Night Out With the Fates

Part One: The Odd-yssey

As the sun is setting behind Mount Olympus, Clotho looked out across the lake that surrounded most of the base of the mountain and smiled. It was Friday, it was the end of the day, and it was time close up shop. Most of the people don't know that when they're not spinning the fabric of life, they also have a lovely weaving shop where they make a good chunk of money.

"Clo! Will you get in here and help me put up the Fabric?"

Clotho sighed and went inside to help her sister, Lachesis, put up the Fabric. It was a big dusty thing and was quite a handful. It was really important, though. They had to go through a lot of trouble of making sure that the last thread is run through properly and that it won't unravel during the night or over the weekend. That would be a disaster. The gigantic oak cabinet that held the Fabric stood at the other end of the room. And there was Lachesis, trying to carry the Fabric across the room by herself. Stupid girl.

"What are you doing!? You might drop it or make it unravel! Remember what happened last time? Do you remember the Dark Ages?"

Lachesis flipped her blonde hair out of her eyes with a jerk of her head and giggled. "Sorry."

Clotho thought she was gonna puke.

"Do you girls have that put up yet? I wanna get outta here."

It was Atropos, the oldest of the sisters. Clotho got so sick of Atropos "holier than thou" attitude. Just because she was the oldest she got to decide the Fate of time.

"Yeah, yeah, we're going."

The two girls hobbled the rolled up fabric over the cabinet and strained to set it on the shelf. Atropos started sighing and tapping her foot. Clotho thought of ways she could get rid of her sister, some of the ways involved sewing needles and a big back of beads. Simmering in her own dark thoughts, she almost dropped the Fabric.

"Will you be careful!!! I don't wanna come back on Monday and have to redo our work from today!!"

Clotho growled and dropped the Fabric on the shelf, smiling inwardly at the crash it made as it landed.

"Ow!" Lachesis slapped Clotho on the back of the head. "That was my hand!!!"

Clotho slapped Lachesis back. "That was my head!"

Lachesis' hand slammed across Clotho's face, knocking her glasses off her nose. "Don't hit!"

Clotho returned the gesture. "You hit me first!!"

"You dropped the Fabric on me!"

"If you had some upper body strength maybe I wouldn't be lifting it all by myself!"

"Well we can't all be built like Minotaurs now can we? I swear, Aphrodite was right, you're more a guy than Hercules!"

"Oh, you and Aphrodite were talking about me behind my back again, eh? Figures, you two are two birds of a feather."

Atropos flew across the room and slammed the doors of the cabinet shut."Will you both just shut up! Damn, you giving me a headache!" She spun on her heel muttering to herself and stormed out of the white marble room. Clotho and Lachesis followed after, arguing back and forth. They all got in the carriage and sat in silence as they rode down the mountain and into Athens.

"So what are we gonna do tonight?" Lachesis asked.

Atropos sighed and looked out the window. "I dunno, let me think."

I guess being the decider of Fate means you get to plan our weekends, too? Clotho thought as she shot dirty looks at her sister.

After a few more minutes of silence, Atropos sat up in excitement. "We could go to the bar and try to pick up a few guys. There's this guy Jason. He's a sailor, and he's got a whole bunch of men that follow him around...the Aristocrats or something. I'm sure we could score a couple of them."

Lachesis giggled and sighed, dramatically leaning in her seat. "I do love a sailor. Mmm...and they've been without...companionship...for so long."

Atropos smiled and clapped her hands together. "Right, so it's decided."

What will the Fates decisions do to the course of history? Find out in Part Two: