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 )

Sometimes Makaria's job was complicated. Sometimes it was easy. Today it was complicated. She was the Goddess of Blessed Death, but that didn't necessarily mean the souls themselves were ready to make their trip to the underworld. Sometimes they liked to give her a run for her money, or in this case, enjoyed cat and mouse more than anything else in the world. In his youth, Phillip had been a sprinter. Old age had robbed him of his ability to run at all. His hips had failed him, he had arthritis. So the moment life had passed out of him and he was free of his body.

Well.

"Where the Hades did he go?" Makaria scowled at nothing. He HAD been right there. She'd just been saying hello.

( This was not going to be fun. )

Deià, Mallorca, was a village. Not a quaint little suburban village, or whatever popped into mind in the modern world when the word was tossed about. Deià was a village; it had exactly two real estate agents, five hotels, eight stores and a whopping sixteen restaurants and bars. Mostly because the tourists had to eat and get drunk somewhere, not because Deià needed sixteen restaurants and bars for the local population. ( Two would have been good. Three, a luxury. )

Makaria loved that she had so many unique friends outside of her Pantheon and kind of lived to meet more. Each Pantheon had different traditions and unique ways of celebrating life and celebrating death. Of handling the souls. That's one of the many reasons why she enjoyed Anubis' company or that of Hel's. Speaking on Hel, she hadn't seen the Norse Goddess in a while. Too long in fact. Makaria needed to remedy that. And so she set up her home for a visitor. She grabbed a really nice bottle of wine from her cellar, one she was sure would have been devoured eventually anyway by Thanatos' great love of fermented grapes. Hel deserved a really good bottle.

( Makaria just wanted everything to be perfect for her guest.. )

Chutney was an odd duck. Mostly because she had always treated him more like a dog than a duck. Chutney knew how to fetch, he quacked on command and he was a nearly constant companion when she was home and comfortable. She had other animals, but Chutney was special to her. She knew ducks didn't live as long as cats or dogs so the time she spent with Chutney was special. She had been trying to explain that to the vet on his yearly check up but mortals just didn't understand how short mortal years really were. Especially to a duck.

( She didn't get upset over death very much.. )

Makaria was thinking of something serious. Serious enough that she needed guidance. She could speak with her father or mother, or she could have consulted various Gods in the Greek Pantheon, but what she really thought she needed was the guidance of a certain Egyptian God that she hadn't seen in awhile. Anubis was always very nice to her. And he wasn't bad to look at. NO. Okay he was really easy to look at. NO. She really needed to take a cold shower or something. She wasn't a pubescent teenager. She was a grown Goddess and however distracting his looks might have been this was serious business. She was not calling upon him to look at.

( But it was a bonus that he was so easy to look at. )

Makaria had a few problems. The first problem is that she never seemed to have any time to herself, given that she was a Death Goddess she almost always had somewhere to be and someone to see. But she could split herself up, and had to. Often. The second problem was that she had certain duties to uphold because she was the daughter of Hades. No problem, she could act perfectly perfect when she needed to be. She just preferred not to simply be known as Hades' daughter. Problem solved, she was going to spend more time out of the Underworld and more time meeting new people and making it on her own. She had a house after all! And pets! And some mortal friends! The third problem was not so easily fixed. She really really hadn't spent much time with her other Immortal friends in awhile. The two earlier problems led to this third one and it was exactly why she was wandering around trying to find her friend Phobetor!

( Underworlders had to stick together! )