Grecian Urn...

Finally. Philotes could go out in public. With no offense meant to Gods Who Did That Sort Of Thing, Lotus was done with being the chaste homebody that she'd become over the last... well, however long it was. She could feel the need to touch, to interact, to BE. The urge to be in public, to talk to people, was overwhelming and she stood in front of the full-length mirror for the longest time. Boobs and legs and form fitting clothes were all on her agenda.

She left the house dressed to the nines and immediately saw the difference on Earth. Nothing was moving. Nothing was breathing or interacting or being. As she walked down various streets, her thoughts turned to other places she could go.

Like... a party. With a thought, she appeared in the middle of Eris' garden. A big smile and Friendship was ready to go. "Okay, who missed me?"

Awhile after he watched Thanatos stagger away, Neikos left his ennui inflicted brother Hori to raid the food table.

They had cake! Cake! He was going to kiss Ate next time he saw her, give her a big slippery wet one on the cheek because he couldn't remember the last time he was at any social function on Olympus and they had cake!

He wished the Ate and Styx punch-out thing would have kept going, at least until someone scored a TKO! Watching his sister punch another chick? Even if it was his aunt Styx? Was awesome! But then grand-dad had the "bright" idea to go stepping into the thick of the girlfight and whatever he said sent Styx one way and Ate another. He'd really bugged him because it didn't seem like anything interesting was really going to happen at this party.

Next to watching Ate hit Styx, the most interesting thing in his opinion was watching Thanatos getting plastered which he thought was kind of funny.

Strife decided he would have to ask Kia how she managed to get him that way because Neikos thought Thanatos was too uptight to really enjoy himself to the point of drunken intoxication. And that? That was kind of unfortunate he guessed because Death had an awesome job. Strife thought Death should enjoy it. In fact Strife wished he was Death, or rather he wished he had Death's job because he thought it was the most kickass job a god could have...being the redeemer; the reaper of souls.

He bet Thanatos enjoyed the perks of the job too. Like Blue Oyster Cult, "Don't fear the Reaper," perks...

Riiight! Who was he kidding? Thanatos was too uptight to take full advantage of any potential perks like seducing maidens.

Strife was actually kind of surprised he didn't have to run to Thanatos' rescue actually, rescue him from Kia---Hahaha. That sister of his was a pouncer. It was not that he really liked the spooky bastard that much, to keep him from falling into horny sisterly clutches, he just kind of felt oddly responsible for him after the peacock thing. Okay, he'd felt sorry for him too. Thanatos had reminded him of a lost puppy. Big soulful dark brown eyes...

Strife passed by Morpheus and Lethe who were dancing awfully close and he gave them a perplexed stare, almost walked into Limos while he was staring...

"Hey, sorry Twig---gonna get some foodage..."

And he completely lost his train of thought upon almost collision.

Now he as wondering what was up with Cousin Dream? Strife had never known of Morpheus as being into...Well anyone, or at least he'd never been known as a ladies man. So why would Morpheus be dancing with his sister? That was really weird.

He came upon the table and was making himself a plate, said a casual and abrupt hello to Kia, Nom and his grandparents when....

All the lights went out!

"Whoa! Who turned out ALL the lights?"

"Not at all. Not at all, niece."

She sniffed and looked down her nose at Ate.

"Simply that as a spawn of my sister, I doubt you know how to properly prepare anything, let alone how to wash your hands."

Oh, that felt good. Very, very good.

Girl? Did he seriously just refer to her as girl? She just smirked and offered a bit of a shrug.

"I do clean up nice every couple of years, I suppose. I trust you're finding everything ok?"

She was tempted to introduce herself, but didn't think it really worth the effort...

    All in all, She was rather dubious about the idea of family dinner. It wasn't that she didn't want to see people... She was rather fond of everyone she was related to. Her grandparents were quite lovely, so far as she was concerned, and she did have things she needed to discuss with certain  siblings.

    On the other hand... she had a finite, short amount of time with Morpheus, before everything got all messed up again. She wanted to be irrational, and think up all sorts of ways to avoid what was going to happen... but she voiced none of them. She wasn't even sure he'd want that, if it was possible... and wasting time on theories and ideas seemed... well, a waste.

    She paused in front of her mothers house and listened, hearing the sounds from the back, and turned to face him, offering a smile.

    "It sounds like everyone's in the back. Sure you want to go? We don't have to..."

She was in the kitchen, finishing a few final touches on dinner as she heard the door swing open.

"I know I'm not dressed yet..."

She looked up, a grin forming a she saw it was Kia, and not Eris as expected.

"Ahh... it's you. Disregard that. You early?"

“I was hoping for a nice sit down dinner…”

“Well, Eris, You are rather certifiable.”

“Cheeky. That's no way to talk to your mother."

Ate laughed, and looked at Eris. “Oh, right… like any sane person would want to figure out the seating arrangements for this dinner, if they were hoping to avoid bloodshed? We’re doing a buffet. Listen to your caterer.”

“Caterer?”

“Mmm. You’ll get my bill. You’re sure you want to unleash this sort of crazy?”

“I just want everyone to get along.”

“You invited the wrong family for that.”

Eris lifted a brow at her daughter’s retort, and shook her head. “You're a horrible daughter. So, here in the garden, you think?”

Ate glanced around her mother’s garden, and smirked as she nodded. “You’ve got what... Venus fly traps, yellow trumpets, cobra lilies, hemlock, belladonna, fox glove, white oleander… I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t want to dine amidst the carnivorous and poisonous, but it’s not like you can uninvite the family now, is it?”

“You’re in a foul mood.”

“Gee. Considering I’ve been shanghaied into cooking for a dinner I don’t want to be at for people I don’t want to see in a place where I’ve been officially banned… and the easiest bit since it all has been convincing Hori that Curry with Sprinkles really wasn’t the thing to make… Yeah. I’m in a mood.”

“Bah. Away with you.”

Eris shoo’ed Ate toward the kitchen, and surveyed the garden. Ate did have a point… there was a lot less that needed doing if they were going to have it out here. She manifested some bistro chairs in various groupies around the garden paths, as well as some wrought iron chairs, and watched contently as a string of Chinese paper lanterns hung themselves along the privacy hedges and over the garden. Rather then candles, each one produced an orb of darkness – her parents would be bright enough for anyone.

Along the side of the temple near the kitchens she conjured a long buffet table, then moved it toward the pool, Thwarting any plan Ate might have of hiding in the kitchen all night. If forcing your child to mingle with relatives at a family party wasn’t part of parenting, she didn’t know what was. Pleased with the way the garden looked, she moved toward the kitchen, watching as Ate did her thing.

“Need help?”

“I’m good.”

“What have you made?”

“Fried chicken, baked ziti, potato salad, ceasar salad, pasta salad, Shish kebab… plus crudités and an olive tray for starters, and for dessert, svinghi and kataifi.”

“Impressive.”

“Eh. You taught me how to make most of it…”

“Ahh.. and that school in France had nothing to do with it?” Eris smiled as she saw the look on Ate’s face. “You didn’t think I knew about that.”

“Didn’t think you’d care.”

“I pay more attention than you think.”

“Any attention is generally more than I think.”

“Am I really that horrid?”

“Eris… I have a lot of stuff to do. Won’t people be here any minute?”

“So that’s a yes.”

“No, it’s… no. You weren’t. We don’t have time for this conversation right now.”

“Your sister thinks this is a good time to bury the hatchet.”

“There is no hatchet. We’re never going to have some deep mother/daughter bond you seem to want lately.”

“But we could be friendlier. We could both probably benefit from that.”

“Probably. You’re beating around the bush about something… spit it out.”

“I’ll spit it out if you tell me why you’re in such a bitchy mood.”

“Will it get you to leave my kitchen? Fine.”

“My kitchen… but yes. Very well… Apollo’s asked me to marry him. I told him we needed to talk to family first.. especially Elpis. But I’d like it if the rest of you were ok with it.” She canted her head as she watched her eldest’s reaction, a bit surprised at the total lack of response. “ Your turn.”

“The only thing bothering me currently is the fact that I’m going to have very little time to get changed.”

Eris frowned, a bit perturbed at the reaction, or lack there of, and was about to argue it a bit when she heard something in the front of the temple, indicating someone had actually arrived on time.

“Yes.. do change first. I’m going to see who’s here. Yell if you need anything…”

She swept out of the kitchen, leaving Ate to finish whatever it was she was doing with various bowls and trays, making her way to the main hall, a smirk growing slowly across her lips. Oh, her parents were going to just love this… she knew it.

She glanced around the dark gothic building, smiling at the memories the place brought to her... this the ground zero of a recent alter boy scandal. Sure, the man had left the cloth and was probably far from the city... but this church had offered her a lot of fun. It was only fitting, really, that it was here she came for answers.

She slipped into one of the wooden booths, sitting quietly on the seat as she waited. She hated to wait. She almost said as much when she finally heard the screen open, only just realizing that it probably wasn't the best way to start this thing off.

"Bless you my child."

"Hi.. umm. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been like, 5000 years since my last confession."

"It can often seem like a long time when we are away from god."

"Umm... yeah. So I just lay it out on the table, right?"

"Yes, child."

"It's only been the past week or so that has been problematic, father. I was at a homeless shelter, and helped a group of addicts fight their addiction. I talked a man out of cheating on his wife. I stopped an illegal dog fight. I kept a boy from gambling away his mother's rainy day fund. I can't even get a dieter to buy chocolate. And the sex? It's all vanilla. Missionary. Without a single ring."

"These all sound like good deeds. I am confused."

"I know they are! That's my problem!"

"I don't understand. Are you not here to confess your sins?"

"Well.. I don't know what I did for this to happen. So I must have done something wrong."

"My child... are you a member of the catholic faith? You seem to not understand the process here."

"You mean your monotheistic trinity thing? Hell no... Not at all."

"Then why are you here? All you're telling me are good deeds you've done."

"Look... can't you just tell me how many hail mary'
s to say to fix this shit?"

"But you haven't..."

"Fine. Before last week? You name it, I did it. I've fucked a priest. A nun. A crucifix. I tempted your damned lord and savior. You want details? I've gotten kids addicted to coke. I've helped bookies fix races to feed the gambling addiction. I support marketing cigarettes to kids. How many fucking hail mary's?"

She slammed her hand against the wall separating them, hearing the startled choke of the priest on the other side as he tried to figure out her words.

"I... um... 60. 60 will do fine, my child. Go in peace."

She heard the screen slide shut, and the door of the booth beside her opn quickly, closing with a bang, and waited until she heard the speedy steps fade out before she exited her own booth, going to a pew and kneeling down.

"Hail mary, full of grace, the lord is with thee. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus..."

She was going to be here for a while... And this better work.

"... We're being nice because I said so, and I'll kick your ass if you're not?"

She smirked lightly at her sister.

"She's not really dumb, just... not all there. We were in a box for a few decades, right? She was a dead snake for over 4000 years. It has to affect the brain. But she makes Neikos happy, and that's the important part, right?"

Besides... it was imperitive to her little plan... if she ever remembered to focus on her plan when talking to those involved, however knowingly... instead of choosing to forgo all rational thought like she'd been doing lately.

"Mmm... Gossip. Limos growled at the terror twins a lot. Momos slapped Aphrodite on the ass, and got his hand fireballed. A muse apparently stole Artemis' beau out from under her nose... and it seemed in retaliation, Artemis has decided to no longer be a virgin huntress. Apollo tried to pin everything on Hermes... and Eris was a groupie."

Gods.. .She was really starting to hate this forced vacation. Sure, technically, she could work, but honestly she knew fuckall about good, wholesome decisions when it came to love or attraction... Or anything else for that matter as evidenced by her recent actions. She was ruin, not salvation. Her new plan, since working had proven a bust and her soaps were unwatchable (she knew it was bad the moment she started hoping for relationships to work out, and seemed to lose her taste fro the convoluted and contrived goings on of her favourite town of Salem...) was to sit in the hot tub for the next... year or so, or until she was back to normal.

Until everything was back to normal. It wasn't that she was avoiding things, really... just staying well out of the way. In the hot tub, with nothing to do, she had all the time in the world to be annoyed at herself for recent behaviour. She couldn't bring herself to regret anything... far from it, really.. but a part of her might have perhaps regretted that it was doomed to be only a momentary blip on her radar of control. If she thought about it, she realized the analogy really didn't fit, but... thinking was not what hot tubs and wine were for.

What annoyed her, really... was the idea of wanting it to be more. Or just wanting moer in geneneral, and wasn't that just proof that she was best off staying away from such things? She knew they weren't for her. Had always known that. And really, did it matter? One roll in the hay did not equal potential... whatever. Besides, it was Momos she was thinking about (Why was she doing that?) and he was one of the biggest skirt chasers she knew. He got what he wanted, right? And so had she. She'd done as promised and stayed until breakfast time (Or the time normal people who didn't spend all night out and about ate breakfast) so why was she feeling guilt over the whole thing? She sincerely doubted he was caring one way or the other.

Bah... she was annoying herself Just thinking about how annoying it all was.

Anteros was away, Adonis was with him... She had an entire house to herself and two bottles of wine. If she had her way, she wasn't leaving the hot tub for anything.

She offered her mother an injured look, one that was wasted on the older goddess asshe moved past them into the temple. She turned her attention to Strife, a brow raised in curiosity... still not sure what to think of what they just witnessed.

"We;;.. that rules out going home for a while. If she's going to see Daddy, chances are I'll be homeless by tomorrow. It'll go Kaboom..."

She leaned in, arm hugging around his waist as she grinned suddenly.

"Global thermonuclear war? Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta..."

If anyone noticed her, they didn't say anything. She didn't stick out in the crowd of miscreants that had crowded the court room in support of their rapist friend. She sat in the back, behind them and waited, patiently, sending all of her power towards the deliberating jury. This was the best part of the entire trial process, if you asked her.

Getting juries to let off rapists was one of the biggest injustices one could create, if you were going for that sort of thing, and Adikia usually was. A hobby? You could say that.

Soon, the jury was back and the tension in the courtroom rose to catastrophic levels.

"How does the jury find?"

"We find the defendant...GUILTY on all counts."

The room went up in cheers and jeers. Each side yelling at one another. The judge calling for order. The bailiff's and security guards rushing to separate the opposing sides and Adikia sitting in the back row, her mouth wide open, shock pouring from her in waves.

Her thoughts raced. What the FUCK? I put everything I could into this fucking case! He was supposed to have gotten off! We were supposed to party TONIGHT! WHAT THE FUCK! Why? Why would it have gone so wrong? What happened? Something is off, something has to be off. What the hell is going on?

Confused and shaken she left the courtroom, easily by-passing the fists being thrown, there really was only one person she could seek out that would know what the fuck was going on. After all, this was her kinda deal, wasn't it?

Adikia transported out of the mortal plane and ended up in front of a temple, shoving open the door, she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"MOM? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"