It was time. He knew it, though there was a part of him that just didn't want to leave yet. Admittedly when Dionysos had first invited him to stay, Anteros hadn't wanted to. He thought it just might be a bit too weird, Dio's lifestyle and beliefs could be out there, a bit too extreme for the brooding erote. Surprisingly, it had all worked out. What was at first only going to be a few days, turned into a week, then 2, then a month and more.

He had had fun, though being around Dionysos how could you not. For the first time in what felt like forever, he felt carefree and relaxed. He had been in a rut for far too long. Though the debauchery had been fun, it was time to move on. Anteros had decided it was time to make some changes, and if he stayed here, he'd just be avoiding them.

He had hired a contractor to fix the damage to his place. As soon as it was fixed, he planned on putting it on the market. The condo was nice, but he wanted a change, which was kinda how the renovation project had started. His plan was to look for a little cottage on the beach. A place where all he needed to do was open the door and be on the beach, a few steps away from surfing or just enjoying the sand and sun.

Anteros surveyed his apartment. It had definitely seen better days, but now that his run of bad luck was over, he could finally do something about it. His first instinct had been to hire a professional to remodel and redecorate, but then he had gotten caught up in watching marathons of House Crashers, Room Crashers, Bath Crashers, and Kitchen Crashers. He had even watched some Yard Crashers and Desperate Landscapes, but he didn't have a front or back yard to worry about.

The more he watched HGTV and DIY, the more Anteros felt like he could handle this job on his own. All he needed was tools and time, if they could redo rooms in 3 days, why couldn't he? Ok, he was realistic, knowing that it would take him far more than 3 days to get the work done, at least if he wanted it to look good. Truthfully though, he probably shouldn't have laughed at and slept through the episodes of Renovation Realities.

The first step was demolition. It always looked like so much fun when Josh Temple did it. Anteros had to admit that between the chicken and the bad luck, a lot of demolition had already been done. He probably should just clean out the damage and access how bad things were, but he really wanted to swing a sledge hammer and take out a wall. They did it all the time on TV, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?

One of the problems Philotes had, a problem most wouldn't consider a problem at all, was that she had a vast number of friends. In all honesty, pretty much everybody she met she considered a friend. So keeping up with all of them could get a bit tricky from time to time. Oh, she made time for special people in her life. The slumber party with Harmonia and Idun, for example. But then there were times when she looked at her calendar and realized she hadn't seen somebody for a while.

( Like Anteros. )

The place was packed, which was how it was supposed to be. There were costumes everywhere... also exactly how it was supposed to be. Because it was Halloween. It was also Chicago and Americans went all crazy for the holiday. On top of that, it was Thirsty Thursday, something everyone in the American Midwest was familiar with. Professional drinkers, this lot, and Ninkasi loved them for it. Most of the costumed were immortal in some way, not just gods but nymphs and the like as well, but she was clearly allowing an occasional mortal in as well. There were rules outside to her bouncers for screening them properly.

Shortly, the specialty taps would be opened and her private brews would begin to flow. Which is what, she was sure, Kratos was hoping and/or waiting for. ( Wherever he was. )

"You are free to go."

It took a few seconds for the words to penetrate, and even longer for Anteros to sit up.

"You can pick up your things at the front desk."

The erote nodded at the officer as he got to his feet. It wasn't his first time in jail, and probably wouldn't be the last, but it was for the strangest sequence of events leading to a cell in his lifetime. He pushed his hand through his hair, grimacing as his fingers got stuck in the mess created by salt and fruity beverages. If that wasn't enough his jaw ached from where the restaurant manager had hit him, plus he could tell from experience that his eye was swelling and he'd have quite the shiner, if it wasn't already... Damn, who woulda thought that that tiny little woman could pack such power.

He walked quickly to the front desk. There was nothing he wanted more than to get outta the police station and home. Then, Anteros remembered that his shower was broken and sighed.

"Please sign here," the officer indicated as he handed Anteros the bag with his possessions. It wasn't much, his wallet, a cell phone, and the necklace he had found at the beach after the party.

"It doesn't seem like your type," the policeman remarked.

The erote smiled, as much as his injuries allowed. "I found it after a friend's party. Should give her a call to see if anyone has lost it."

He stuffed the wallet and necklace into his pockets as he turned on his phone to call Ninkasi about the necklace. He pressed the power button, but the screen remained black. He pressed the button harder and longer, but there was still no response. He could have sworn that he had left the phone charging while he went to the party. "Damn it," he swore.

"Is there a problem?" Queried the policeman who looked at him suspiciously.

"Nah, my stupid phone is dead. Gotta love technology," Anteros remarked before quickly heading out of the police station. He had spent too much time there for no apparent reason other than wrong place, wrong time. He wasn't about to stay any longer, especially with the strange looks the cops were giving him.

Once he was a few blocks away, he tried his phone again, but still no response. He let out a long string of curse words, but restrained himself from throwing the phone in frustration. He caught a glimpse of himself in a storefront window and whistled. He was a mess between the bruises, drink stains, and what looked like a weedwhacker styled hair do. Luckily as a God, he could do something about that, and with a thought he was presentable again. At that moment his stomach started to growl. After the fiasco last time he tried to get something to eat, Anteros wasn't sure if he wanted to face another restaurant anytime soon, but he was hungry.

As luck would have it, there was a grocery store at the end of the block. It was known for having several ready-made options for when you didn't want to cook, so it would be the perfect solution to his hunger issue. What could happen at grocery store?

Anteros slowly opened his eyes. It took him a few minutes before he figured out where he was. Ninkasi had thrown a great party, one he hadn't wanted to leave judging from the fact that he had just woken up on the beach. The last several hours were a blur of alcohol and fun, but it was all good. He stood up slowly, stretching his arms over his head as he yawned and blinked at the bright sun.

After spying his surfboard still parked in the sand, he decided to hit the waves before heading back home. As he jogged across the warm sand, one of his feet caught on something and he fell to the sand hard. The erote winced as he gingerly got to his feet. His ankle was throbbing, so now surfing was out of the question. Curious as to what had caused him to fall, his dark eyes scoured the ground. The glint of metal in the sand caught his eye and he pulled a necklace out of the sand.

"Looks like someone musta lost this last night," he said to himself. "I'll just hold onto it for now and try to find out who the owner is."

Once Anteros arrived home, he decided that as much as he loved the beach, sleeping on one was probably a bad idea. All he could feel was the rough grains of sand in his hair and all over his body. "OK, first a shower, then some food, and then I should contact Ninkasi- thank her for the party and see if anyone is missing a necklace," he listed his tasks.

The shower could have went better. The water was the perfect temperature when he stepped in, but then went from being freezing to almost boiling. He tried to adjust the knobs, but that didn't help, in fact one broke off into his hand and water sprayed everywhere. He ended up having to turn the water off and calling for a repair. At least the sand was gone.


Lunch didn't go much better. Anteros wasn't much of a cook, so he headed to one of his favorite restaurants where the food was always good as well as the service. First, he was seated by the hostess with a menu and promises that his server would be by soon to take his drink and food order. 5 then 10 minutes went by with no sign of a waiter or waitress. Just as he was about to get up and leave, his server stopped by full of apologies for leaving him alone for so long. The erote ordered a beer and a ribeye with fries. 5 minutes later the server was back to apologize that they were out of his favorite beer, would he like one of their others? Anteros agree, because at this point, he really needed a drink. When he said that he wanted a beer, he meant to drink, not wear. As one of the other waitresses walked by, the heal of her shoe gave way, and the erote found himself covered with her entire tray of beverages, soda, margaritas, wine, and yes a beer. If that wasn't bad enough, his server came back and informed him that they were having trouble with their grill and that the only thing available was salad. By this point he was wet, thirsty, and hungry so Anteros agreed to change his order to a Caesar salad. The salad was good, but it was just a salad, not really a meal. When his bill came, instead of getting a discount for the issues, they tried to charge him for the drinks he ended up wearing as well as the ribeye he never got. Anteros asked to speak with the manager. He wanted to discuss this calmly, but the manger came over and started yelling at him. Not wanting trouble the erote decided he would just get up and walk out. Unfortunately the manager must have interpreted that as a threat and punched him in the face. No son of Ares would let such a thing go unchallenged, so later that afternoon, Anteros was charged with assault at the local police station.

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 )

Of all the stupid trends to start this year, Hebe hated YOLO the most. The core idea behind it was laughable to her, you only lived once? Hebe lived anew again every night. With every lover. With every change of season and change of trends. There was no ONCE in her life. It kept going and going and times would change, bell bottoms would be out then come back into style, Zeus knows why. Bell bottoms.

But all these kids and their 'YOLO' tattoos. All their SWAG shirts. All of that. Hebe wanted to slap the lot of them around and yet HER core being was screaming it too. Because Hebe was youth. And she caught HERSELF saying YOLO before she pulled a shot glass, with her teeth, out from between a pair of really nice...

( Well, you only lived once, right? )

There were a hell of a lot of things that Hebe had missed doing. One of them was partying. The second was shopping. The third was partying again, it deserved two spots! The fourth through probably twentieth spot was men. She missed men. She missed Gods. She wished the way the sounded, smelled, tasted, moved.. so on and so forth. Youth was YOUTH, they mingled, danced, went through the motions, lost themselves, went crazy, fell in love all at the drop of a hat. Hebe needed that. She needed release from the bounds of her latest wedding blues. Stupid husband that was stupid and gah. Thankfully Hercules was pretty much history. She may have held the title but not the ring, not the commitment. Which made things like this way easier. It really didn't matter what Erote she ran into, but her hips kind of guided her right for Anteros' door.

( He was probably the prettiest Olympic god beside his brother Eros... )

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. )

Pothos had just arrived at Aphrodite’s temple. His foster mother had sent out an open invitation to all the erotes. She had said that they all deserved a little party after all the hard work they had done on Valentine’s Day. She did it every year and he always thought she wasn’t serious about the hard work part. For him at least, Valentine’s Day was the easiest day of the year. ( The mortals handled their own passion )