Namtar wasn’t sure how he’d ended up here. He knew why he’d come to this place, yes, but how he ended up precisely where he was, that was a bit of a mystery to him. Making it even more puzzling, he was currently surrounded by more mortals than he usually liked to expose himself to, and he wasn’t all that bothered. Well, slightly. There was a child that kept staring at him, but other than that, he was too pleased with what he was seeing to really care all that much.

It was not that Namtar disliked mortals, he’d just discovered over the years that it was generally much easy for him to perform his duties when he was unobtrusive. Particularly his more deadly duties. He preferred not to have someone interrupt him at a critical moment. Or while he was collecting data. Namtar was not fond of having his concentration broken. So it was quite an extraordinary event to find him at a mall. ( Especially during the holiday season, when they were particularly busy. )

The Swiss Alps, Skadhi loved them. They were prime ground for favorite winter activities. There was ample incline for skiing, there was enough terrain for snowshoeing and over all it was always riddled with tourists enjoying the mountains. She couldn't ask for more. Except maybe to have it more to herself, but even Skadhi had to admit that there was a certain pleasure to having mortals enjoy the elements she governed.

Herself, she enjoyed skiing on the more advanced slopes. The ones that the admittedly attractive ski instructors would frequent when they wanted to show off. Not that she was looking at them, Skadhi was exceedingly happy with her husband and didn't have any interest elsewhere. She was wholly dedicated to Ullr. ( But while she didn't pay them much attention, they certainly paid her some. )

There was a hazy feeling of contentment and satisfaction that were not the norm for how Lottie usually woke up. She was a morning person, sure, and she frequently bounced out of bed in a good mood. But this was more than a good mood. It went deeper. It was in her skin, in her veins, in her bones. She felt good. ( Everywhere. )

It wasn't that Lethe needed to be here at zero-dark-thirty in the morning, but she kind of liked the rush that the people around her were giving off. So excited, so anxious, and so ready to kill the other over the latest christmas need. She remembered the great Furbie battles, the tickle-me-elmo tornado, even back when Barbie used to cause women to trample each other. This year Lethe was pretty sure it was something to do with TVs, or maybe an MP3 player, but here she was standing outside a Wal*Mart. No one was really looking at her because well, they forgot she was even there. For the better.

( She didn't want to get trampled at all. )

Harmonia was happy. Genuinely happy. So incredibly bounce-off-the-walls happy she was convinced that nothing could bring her down. Nothing whatsoever. She had left the company of Njord feeling very... well she wasn't sure satisfied fully encompassed it. The feeling took her over physically in ways she never imagined.

Though she walked into her San Pedro home with a certain grace to her step, in reality she was quivering. Her knees were shaking with glee. She was happy. ( And what she wanted more than anything was to snuggle her darling cat and relax on her couch to a girly movie.  )

Kratos awkwardly juggled the turkey in his arms as he attempted to reach for the doorbell, wondering just how he’d managed to end up in this predicament. Well, no, he knew how. Bia had been giggling about the idea of a deep fried turkey and Kray said he didn’t get why anybody would do such a thing, and it had sort of devolved into joking, name calling, and finally challenging. Kray couldn’t back away from a challenge from his baby sister. From Nike, sure. From Zelos, all the time. But from Bia? ( She’d never let him live it down. )

Dysnomia had taken her cousin’s cat home with her after her vandalism spree on Olympus with Loki. Man, what a dud he’d turned out to be. If she wanted to be fair, she could probably consider the fact that she’d had a ridiculously high expectation of what he’d be like from the reputation he had. And the fact that she compared most interesting people to her mother. They’d all come up short thus far, and Loki was certainly no exception.

However, she didn’t feel like being fair. Not when she felt like he dragged her down and tried to derail the activities for the evening at every turn. Really, what kind of Trickster was he if he wasn’t willing to play a few tricks? At least he hadn’t kept her from taking the cat. In fact, he’d been the one to find Harmonia’s cat, which was the best part of the night as far as Dizzy was concerned. Cats were wonderfully naturally inclined to lawlessness and disobedience, which made them dear to a goddess who held those things as her patronage.

( Of course she catnapped him. )

Zelos had to admit he was glad that Bast hadn’t won him in the auction. She did not seem very pleased with the way he and Kratos had stopped her fight with Eris. He remembered hearing about the last fight Bast had gotten into, and it was with a Greek goddess as well. It seemed that she had a disagreement with Nemesis at the Winter Ball. One thing was for certain; the Egyptian was never boring. But he wasn’t sure he wanted to be around her when she was mad at him. Besides, she might not have even bid on him.

Rivalry was even happier when he found out that the person who had won him was Nike. He had been wanting to spend some quality time with his sister, but various things kept that from happening. But now they would be together for twenty-four hopefully uninterrupted hours. He had a few thoughts about what they could do with their time.

Unfortunately, most of those thoughts involved talking.

“I’m glad you won me, Nik,” Zee said, smiling. “I would have hated to spend the day with someone like Enyo.”

Even before the incident with his sisters and Nergal, Thanatos had been planning to visit his father. But he had been procrastinating such a one-sided confrontation for over a year now, and his insecurities concerning his own guilt of the past seemed to continue his lack of follow through. Then his mother's untimely death occurred, and Thanatos felt as though she were giving him some sort of sign. Imposing her insistence upon him. Thanatos didn't hate his father. Just as he could never hate any of his family. They had simply had some disagreements in the past. A few quarrels. Maybe Thanatos had made the wrong decision in siding against Erebos. He didn't know. But there was nothing he could do about it now. All water under the bridge, as they said. And with both Erebos and Nyx gone, he had to make amends on his own. And live with his conscience until time allowed him the opportunity to seek forgiveness in person.

Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing how long he would have to wait.
( Thanatos couldn't deny his true nature. )

The only bad thing about coffee was that it reminded her of Morpheus, at least normally. Right now she was a little preoccupied with the handsome Egyptian God sitting across from her. The small round wooden table was rather shorter than she thought was useful, but then Starbucks didn't have that much room for people to actually sit inside them. Makaria supposed that was because most people took their mochas to go. All she wanted to do was sit there and listen to Anubis talk for the rest of the day. But wasn't that wasting oppertunity?

She had both of her hands around the venti peppermint mocha and was trying to think of something to say to him.

( The problem was she wasn't coming up with anything. )

Nothing in Aphrodite's temple seemed to have changed to Himeros. It was spotless and well take care of as any temple was. The attendants however seemed very eager to please and more charismactic than he had ever seen them.

They fussed over Himeros and calmed his growing nervousness of returning home with small bits of gossip. They informed him about the bachelor auction and claimed that if he was there, he would have pulled in the most money. They have obviously been studying the way Hedylogos speaks to people because their flattering skills have improved drastically since the last time Himeros was here. But were they the same attendants from when he left?They all seemed the same with their friendly faces and Himeros could only hope to whatever happened to Aphrodite's old attendants was as easy as falling asleep. He felt dismayed as an attendant re-informed him of Aphrodite's torture. Hearing about it the first time was difficult and having this attendant repeat it and of the attack by the Underworlders where Hedy died made Himeros feel worse about leaving Olympus. Hedy was one of his fellow erotes that Himeros would do everything to protect from danger. He wasn’t one to fight or the one to get involved in a fight unless someone he cared about was in dire need of assistance. Hedy was too gentle to be put in a situation like that. Anteros was the fighter amongst erotes followed by Himeros and Pothos but Hedy was...well Hedy. 

Himeros could just imagine how Anteros felt when he learned about the Underworlders attacking and killing Hedy, and Pothos being burned made Himeros worry about Pietho and Philotes. Sensing something was wrong, the attendants shoved trays of food in his face as one female attendant offered to go find Aphrodite. Himeros shook his head and sat down in the sitting room. Time to put on a brave face, he thought before invoking the goddess he had accompanied since her birth. 

Aphrodite guess who's home? Come greet me if your not busy. I also come bearing gifts. I've missed you so much.

It was not exactly what he had in mind when he thought of taking a lovely lady out for a night on the town. But then, these were fairly unusual circumstances. He’d been “purchased” in the bachelor action by a lady who, while definitely lovely, had some very unorthodox interests. Though unfortunately, the only ones that he had any personal interest in himself were the candy and cookie dough. ( Perhaps they could see about finding some a bit later. )

Nyx's body felt lighter in his arms than he had expected it to, but Thanatos didn't know if that was actually the case, or just his perception during a state of heightened emotion. Once his sisters had left the Sumerian's land, he felt an anxious weight fall from his shoulders. He knew he would be in trouble with them for his reaction to the situation. He knew that both Styx and Lethe would be disappointed in him. In his own way, he was disappointed with himself. He felt a considerable amount of guilt for not allowing himself to unleash unadulterated violence upon Nergal and his entire household. When he arrived he was so full of rage. Anger seemed to seep through his pores. There were things he'd wanted to do to that Sumerian god that would have shocked even his most virulent death-harboring siblings. Then Lethe arrived, followed by Styx. And the sudden switch to feelings of distress and worry almost made Thanatos sick to his stomach. And when they left safely? With no harm to them or Nergal? Thanatos almost didn't believe his good fortune. He had wanted to bring about a suffering in Nergal. But not as much as he wanted to protect his sisters from the Sumerian's wrath. So, in the end, Thanatos picked up the shovel used to bury his mother on foreign ground and uncovered her body, one patch of dirt at a time.
( The familiar presence of darkness was a comfort. )

Njord brought them to his beach, rather than directly into his home, when he moved them from the auction to Lana’i. He had a great deal of pride in his home, and he liked to show it off from all angles. Besides, after that moment of hesitation from her back at the party, he wasn’t going to make any assumptions about Harmonia’s intentions in coming here with him.

( She’d said she wanted a margarita )

Frigg left the auction pleased with the results. Hermod had gone to what seemed to be a nice Greek girl and things couldn't have gone better. Actually, that wasn't entirely true. She was still rather certain that Harmonia belonged to her brother, Tyr, and was a little put out to see that she had obviously bid on Njord. And won him. And was walking arm and arm with him. Obviously the girl's judgment needed to be called into question. Njord, while a lovely man to look upon, could sour an afternoon by simply opening his mouth. ( Though, what else could be expected from one of the Vanir? )

That was it. Finally, the meat market was closing. Artemis thought it was more fun than she had thought it would be, but she was eager to get back to her forest and maybe go catch one of the World Series games. But there was still one little bit of this to finish off.

“Okay, gods and goddesses,” she said, raising her voice to get everyone attention. “That was the last love monkey we had up for grabs. Just in case you lost track, the winners of the erotes are the following. Eros goes to Apollo. Anteros goes to Bast. Pothos goes to Philotes and Hedylogos goes to Pothos. Come on out, guys.”

Pothos came out from backstage first. His hair was mussed and he was tucking in his shirt as he waved to the crowd. Artemis just rolled her eyes and hoped Lottie had enjoyed claiming her prize. She was happy for her friend, though. She knew how Lottie felt about that erote.

( Now for the results of the silent auction )

It wasn't as if her temple was dusty but Hebe felt like that's what was coating every inch of the place on Olympus. Because she hadn't been there, because she'd been enjoying the mortal realm far too much. Well, kids did keep her busy. Not little kids, although they could be cute. But teenagers, college kids. Right in the prime of their youth kept her busy. She liked feeling young, she was young, she'd always be young. But this temple felt old and it needed something. It needed her back in it.

Her attendants had taken good care of it of course. There was no dust on anything, it'd just been a feeling. But still, the place had been missing her being around. Hee stood looking at herself in a floor length mirror and wondered what it was that everyone was up to. Normally she was on top of every bit of news, all the gossip, all the in things and the out things. But with her long absense.. Well.

( Things had piled up. )

He wasn’t sure what to do with the body. Usually when he killed, it was either in battle or just to release stress. In both of those cases, he just left the body where it fell. He had no more use for it and it wasn’t his responsibility to dispose of it. But this was different. He had killed Nyx as a favor. Her body may be nothing more than an empty shell, but he felt he could not leave it for the vermin or scavengers. ( She deserved some respect )

Loki looked at himself in the mirror and smiled. It was Halloween, a mortal holiday that had quickly and easily become his favorite out of all of their traditions. It was a day that combined two of his favorite things: mischief and candy. It had all started that first year he spent in Alaska, when he was awoke from a stupor on his couch by a group of young children in costume spouting the words, "Trick or Treat?!"

He didn't get it at first, thought they actually wanted a trick OR a treat, and gave them the former. Then some small child dressed as a penguin, adorable as it was, tugged on his pants and asked if he had any candy. It wasn't until a group of teenagers stopped by, each wielding a carton of eggs, and threatened the trick, that he understood it was meant that he gave candy or someone would trick him.

He woke the next morning to find his house egged and his house toilet papered. ( At first, Loki hated Halloween. )

Erebos was gone.

She knew that in her heart and in her soul. Her actions had caused the life of a dear friend to be taken. She was sure it had been done by the hand of her husband. She could feel that, too. She tried much harder to ignore that connection than she did the loss of Darkness.

For once in her life she had found somebody who knew what it was like. Somebody who wanted to stand up for her and give her peace. Because of that, he was now dead. Gone. She had lost him. She had caused his wife to lose him. His children. None of what she had wanted. She had started a war in her own pantheon. A war that she could not win, and she knew it. She was not a fighter. Not a warrior. She had gotten Nanshe hurt in the foolish endeavor. Raised the ire of the Lion of Sumer. Foolish. It had all been foolish. She had been caught up with Erebos and what he made her feel. Nyx was not only hurt because she misunderstood the relationship, but now her husband was dead.

Reshi had no idea how to make any of it better. The only thing she could think to do was go to Nyx in person and offer herself. Let Nyx have any revenge that she wished to have. Apologize for all that had happened. Let herself die at the hands of the woman who she had hurt so much if that was what it took. She would just have to return to Irkalla. That wasn't so bad. She would be confined there for a time, she knew. But it was nothing that she hadn't done to herself previously. She could endure the months or years it took to recover, if only somehow she could make it up to Night.

She had left the auction early, finding that it did not bring her distraction in any way. She sat alone in a dark place. A place filled with shadow. Far away from the desert. Far away from the sun. She needed to be alone. Truly alone. And this was the only place where that was possible.