It was rare this time of year that he was able to sit down and put his feet up on the tasseled hassock in his study. Which was why, as he settled into the cushy plumpness of his red velvet chair, Santa began mentally reviewing his to-do list for today. Did he really have time to enjoy his peppermint hot cocoa, or had he forgotten something that would require his attention?

( The List )

Iris didn't like to think of herself as a gossip. Oh, she knew damn well she was, but gossip was such a horrid term for someone who simply liked to know the ins and outs of what was going on in her world. Hermes, however, was as gossip. So when the two of them got together over drinks it rather was like two hens clucking over seed in a pen. They talked about everything: their lives, the lives of others -mortal and divine, and the world around them. No topic was taboo. Mostly because they were such dear friends who wouldn't dream of spilling the secrets to others unless they were of the utmost importance. Iris didn't create drama with her gossip unless there was no other option.

( Sometimes their gossip and conversation was catty: )

Very occasionally, Cernunnos was introspective.

Not often, mind you, because he wasn't really the type of god to get bogged down in the thoughts of what Is, Was, and Could Be--he left that for the other gods and the other pantheons to brood it out amongst themselves. ( He preferred to be left to his own devices for the most part )

Iris shook her head and laughed. “Okay, wow,” she said as they came up to the next piece in the exhibition. “I do not understand modern art at all.” She stood beside her husband, staring down a... thing. A cube by Alighiero Boetti that she couldn't quite figure out the how or why it was called 'art.' It wasn't art. It was a bunch of things smooshed together into a cube and somehow labeled incorrectly as art.

( Art museums weren't really her cup of tea on normal occasions. )

Hera had spent a considerable amount of time and effort in cultivating a very specific facade that she wished to show the world. That included, frequently, members of her own family. There were many, many things that she kept from her children, as she assumed all mothers did. They were not friends, after all, but lives she had been responsible for shaping and nurturing. They did not need to know all of her personal secrets. Nor, no matter what he may think, did her husband. He, especially, did not need to know all that went on in her heart or her life. Particularly if it were something he could use to hurt her, deliberately or inadvertently. He did very well in that task as it was.

But her family saw more of her true self than the rest of the pantheon did. Oh, she knew very well what others thought of her, how they saw her. How those of other pantheons judged her, that was within her ken as well. Hera was hardly as self-absorbed as some might paint her, and she was well aware of the way others viewed her and her supposed attitude. She was aware, because it was what she wanted them to think. It was the reputation that she'd created for herself.

( Not at first. )

Churchill Downs was all a flutter with activity. Which made sense. It was the most exciting two days of the year at the Louisville, Kentucky track. Zeus had been on site since early yesterday. Mostly for networking purposes, as while he had interest in the Oaks -the filly race held on Friday, from a gambling side of things, he had other things on his mind. He had a horse in the Derby.

( It was a very tricky business, racing horses. )

There were many great things about owning his own private island in the Pacific. The weather, for starters, and the constant view of the ocean. As a god who hailed from a land that was mostly sand, Bes could appreciate the abundance of water. There was no one who could tell him how he had to behave or what he could or couldn't do, none of which Bes would really have paid much attention to anyway. And there was something to be said for owning his own private paradise. The downside was, unless he was throwing one of his own parties, there was nothing really going on there. Fortunately, Hawaii was just a hop, skip, and a jump away. Less than that for a god.

( As luaus went... )

Athena hadn't been to Mt. Olympus in a while. Not because she didn't want to, but because things were a bit hectic down on earth. What she was doing down there was anyone's guess. Probably trying to prevent a lot of people from dying. In any case, she was home now and that was all that mattered. What was going on with the others, only time would tell. She wasn't big on gossip, but she did want to know what was going on.

( Upon arrival )

“What about these, Ma'am,” the clerk at Jimmy Choo's in New York asked the Goddess of the Rainbow as she handed her a box. Iris looked down at the shoes being offered. This was difficult. Jimmy Choo was her favorite designer when it came to shoes and she found herself unable to decide between the now four pairs in front of her.

She knew that she was planning on shopping today, mostly for accessories, which was why she was wearing a black pencil skirt with a simple white blouse. She wanted to be as blank a canvas as possible. She slipped off one pair of shoes she had been trying on and slipped on the newly offered pair.

( Standing before a mirror, she frowned. )