Grecian Urn...

Everyone was back to normal, sort of, but Hori didn't feel all that different. He sort of stood there, looking at the wedding party that was frozen and frowned. They were making oaths, and Hori mere presence wasn't sending anyone into fits of lies anymore, and he should have felt better right? Maybe Ate was right and he just needed some sort of...hobby.

And while the idea of checking up on Eris came to mind, he imagined she was still at the house with siblings, or with Apollo. And none of her company appealed to him. Which left...Lethe, or Elpis.

Lethe, though, was probably alright. Tucked away in her comfortable home, and maybe Elpis would want to go with him to see her. And he hadn't had the chance to really talk to Elpis yet anyway. So, well... Hmmm.

"Elpis?" He called out, tugging at the emotional ties to his sister that could act like that 'hey, look at ME' attention getting bell. "Elpis!"

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 had returned to her home only long enough to find the note from Hori, groaning softly as she read it... how was she supposed to be finding time to cook with all this? Note in hand, she followed the directions and found her way to Vegas, navigating her way to the wedding chapel of his choice. She slipped in the back and into the seat beside him, leaning a bit into him as she listened to the minister give the vows.

She always loved weddings.

"Hey love. you...wrote?"

Hori did his messenger thing. He went to Strife and Limos and told them about the party. Limos, as expected, scoffed and said no...before looking thoughtful for a moment and saying 'yes' instead. And with that Limos had agreed to catch up to all the siblings that Hori was likely to never survive, not that Famine seemed concerned for his brother's welfare. It seemed more like he had something up his sleeve.

Ate hadn't been home when Hori came by, thus he had left a note. Telling her he was looking for her. Smiling.

And that was how he ended up in Vegas, leaning back in a pew, with his feet balanced gracefully on the seats before him. The couple was taking their vows, making oaths to always be with each other and yet the groom kept stealing glances back at Hori.

To have and to hold, till death do us part.

And then eyes of desire boring down. Closest gay? Or was it that Hori's...er...whatever, was just pulling at that potential? Or was it just speeding up the inevitable. Curious.

So he waited, making sure the fellow knew exactly where he was as he watched couple after couple make oaths that they ran away to break almost immediately.

"Hi," a voice said in his ear. "You waited..."

Glancing back, Hori looked at the guy through long locks of hair, his fingerless-gloved hands resting gently over his stomach.

"For you? Oh yes...I was waiting for you. Just for you." He smiled before sweeping up to his feet and looking at the guy. "Just married and already cheating. Amirable."

The guy started to explain it all away as he followed Hori to the lift, and then as they went up and up, he kept talking. Eventually he stopped, and tried reaching out to touch the god. But Hori ignored him, leading the way to a room that he'd 'acquired' magically. then he lef the way out onto the balcony....

Smiling.

By the time the police and the ambulance picked up the pieces of the newly wed Groom, Hori was standing on the ledge of a different hotel, looking down at the scene. There was something about the fool's death that was unsatisfying. But he couldn't name what it was.

Hori waited standing wide-eyed and silent as he mouthed silent protest to his grandfather's harsh words to Eris. And then her own confession? His heart sank a little as he frowned, looking on to his mother silently for a long moment. Waiting for his grandparents to leave.

"I don't think you messed everything up." He said quietly after a while, moving closer to his mother with a sympathetic smile. "And I don't think Sunshine is all that arrogant. Not when it comes to you..." Hori did have a knack for hearing a lie in someone's words, and that was something he had never heard from Apollo's lips. At least with Moms concerned.

Reaching out, Oath took his mother's hand and squeezed it lightly. "Ate, Gramps, Grams, everyone out there that wasn't around here, they don't really know." Alright, so Ate did, but still...this was about cheering Moms up. "They didn't get to see it all, did they?"

For a moment, Hori wished he could make his Grandparents really understand. Not that it was going to happen. Mortals thought changing a sixty year old's mind was heard...try sixty billion year olds.

Eris smirked as Kia left... Naked hula dancing? Not very likely. Luckily, there was little to no chance of that being required. She did look forward showing Apollo her newest bit of art... he was fond of art. She was worried about him, that she hadn't heard from him yet. Still, she was unwilling to go to his temple, knowing he'd know where to find her. She could only hope that if he was hurt, she'd come here, and not go to his sisters. There was little to do but wait.

Sighing lightly she took a seat on a chaise, fighting the automatic urge to take a nap. It was funny... she actually was starting to miss the idea ofpeople being around.

Waking up was hard these days. But he did so, dressed in a hoodie with sleeves that were too long, and jeans that sagged and were holey. While Hori had long since picked up the punk-rock style of the America’s he was much sloppier in his dress than usual.

Ironically whatever had taken over the mountain had not had the drastic affect on his personality, but rather the cause found its place in something more or less related to the heart. His steadfast need to be the one that was always good for his word, and there to hold others to the truth….seemed pointless, really. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t hold anyone to their word at the moment, he didn’t feel like it either.

Standing in a seemingly empty part of the Mount, Hori looked about with a sort of loneliness. He wasn’t like his siblings enough to fit in, but he wasn’t anything like the Olympians, and he didn’t have a fit. A place. Always a friend, but nothing more than that. Which was fine, right?

What did it matter if he was just Horkos, oath. Friend of Nike, and child of Eris. When she was awake.

And why was his always the positive one? The one that kept everyone happy and everything going, and always saw the good things in his family? Was it even worth it all?

Did he care anymore….

Maybe he’d just go to sleep…No one really needed him around anyway, did they?

Melpomene stood looking looking up at the sky for a long moment before turning, disappearing from her spot in the back gardens of Apollo's temple and appearing instead near the door of Eris' temple. She wasn't sure, really, that she'd ever been here before... at least never on purpose. It looked like a normal enough spot, she supposed. She nodded absently to herself, not sure what she was expecting, then knocked... and waited. And waited. She was perhaps as surprised to see Lethe as Lethe was to see her.

"Hello?"

"Hi... I came by to see your brother... just to, you know, check up on him?"

"Which brother?"

"Oh! Horkos. Is he in?"

Lethe studied her for a moment, offering a look that could be anything from in-depth thought to total confusion... the muse found the blonde rather hard to read. She actually was about remind Lethe why she was here... maybe she forgot? when Lethe opened the door fully and waved her inside.

"Straight upstairs, First hall on the left, third door on the right. "

"I... Ok. Umm.. thanks."

She made a mental note... kill any sibling who ever sent a visitor to her room... but smiled in thanks to Lethe, and stepped past her, moving up the stairs and following Lethe's instructions, knocking lightly on the door. This better be his room, and not some strange joke they played at Eris' home...

"Hori?"

Eris had been pacing restlessly when the tremors first traveled across Olympus, and it was only with a bit of luck she managed to keep her balance in anyway. Idle thoughts made her wonder what had annoyed Poseidon so that he sent earthquakes to Olympus, the thought instantly dashed with the sobering memory that Poseidon was no longer the one to make the earth shake. She was on her way out the door to look over the Mountain when three of her children burst in her door, Lethe looking particularly alert, Horkos looking decidedly less so, and Ate, of all people - who had not entered her mother's home in eons.

"Ate... what's this?"

"Did you feel it?"

"Yes, but what is this?"

"We were with Memory. Something happened... Hori hit his head, and Helios went all crazy, and i hate this fucking mountain."

"Something happened to the sun?" Helios was connected to Apollo, and if something was wrong... Eris moved towrd the door again, to be stopped by Ate's grip on her arm. "Ate."

"No, Eris. This is your first concern."

Discord's eyes blazed bright for a moment, and she looked at her daughter, then her two younger children, before sighing with a smile, She shook off Ate's grip, and stepped closer to Hori, lifting his chin with her fingers.

"Hey there, baby... what's wrong?"

Melpomene heard the knock at the door and gave her mother one last look, silently pleading with her to not go all... Mnemosyne like on the visitors, and stood, smiling at Helios and squeezing his hand lightly as she passed him. She opened the door to the temple silently, and offered a smile to the trio standing there, mentally chastising herself for not warning Horkos about her mother's preference for traditional garb. It'd be fine. She waved a hand, letting them enter,and closed the door behind them once more - some thigns just weren't open-door-policy friendly.

"My mother's expecting you."

Ate looked at the muse and nodded respectfully, fully aware of the favor being done. She glanced around the temple, hiding her awe quite well so far as she figured. Lethe, on the other hand, seemed distressed here, and tugged lightly on Ate's hand, whispering quietly.

"Why are we here? And why did you call me Princess? Is our mother a Queen?"

"No, hon.. she just sleeps with one. Just... stand still, ok? we're fixing things."

She stepped forward, with Lethe in tow.

"Lady Mnemosyne... thank you for seeing us."

"As I told my daughter... I've been expecting you."

It was right, nothing was right. He needed, he just needed to…to, put everything right! He had to make it all ordered and perfect and…

He stopped in front of Ate and stared, jaw lax as he gawked a little. He was going mad maybe, but there was something wrong in the way Ate looked back at him expectantly…

“I think I’m going crazy….” He blurted out, lip trembling a little, “I just yelled at Helios and Mel because they didn’t ‘get us’ and, and…Te…Everything’s all wrong.” He whined a little, flopping onto the ground and pouting into the grass as he looked at Lethe. Why couldn’t he just forget what he was?

And then the whole Mel and Helios thing, the way they were just so…couply.

“Ate…Whats wrong with us?”

Not good, so not good. Oh the bright side, he couldn’t imagine the pantheon would miss Forgetting things. However the world might not survive Lethe forgetting she was Lethe! For that matter, it didn’t seem that Twiggy would survive it either, with forgetfulness running amuck.

So that was how he ended up at Apollo’s temple, dressed in his best…

Which was a pair of grunge inspired jeans, holes in the knees and the back worn out from where his heel always stepped on it. He topped it all off with a jacket and a tee-shirt. And then he had long, fingerless gloves that were as black as his hair.

Knocking on the door, Eris’ youngest boy rocked on his heels back and fourth, waiting impatiently before knocking again and just hopping he didn’t find Apollo answering the door instead of one of the snotty muses (that weren’t Mel).

Lethe frowned as she looked at the body on the bed, and nudged it again with her arm. The body, as it had for the past few hours, refused to move. It wouldn’t be quite so upsetting if it was a one time occurrence, but this was the third time this month she had fallen asleep beside someone who seemed to just… forget to wake up. It made no sense to her. It was starting to feel strange that no one she knew remembered anything… it felt wrong, but she didn’t know why. Or at least, not very right. And it wasn’t just the forgetting to wake up part that seemed strange… people weren’t doing other things they did, even when she first found the town… like sleeping or eating…

On the other hand, it seemed so normal to her. But she didn’t know why that was, either.

Drama! That was all this place ever seemed to be, even in the best of times. Te and Limos weren't any help either, not with their holier than thou shit, and Limos was likely to really blame for it! 'Oh, pity us! We aren't 'allowed' on the mount, woe..woe woe.' Well damnit, everyone else was breaking the freakin' rules, why couldn't they?

Shaking his head, Hori stalked down one of the paths in a moody atmosphere, eyes boring holes into the ground before he took each step. Logically he couldn't think of a reason to be so pissed, but he was. He was pissed about the whole damn mess and he couldn't even figure out why!

Frustrating!

He wanted to kill little cats in vicious ways just so he could bleed off steam, but he wasn't sure if that would even work. Everything was bleeding insane!

"I hate this place!" He announced, coming to a stop in front of Apollo's palace and huffing as he glared. No one had seen the moody Prince of Zeus since Dite and Ares had thrown everyone in chaos. He wondered, for a moment, if Apollo was hiding in fear, but just as quickly dismissed it. If the Golden Prince was doing anything, it cooling his temper before doing something irrational.

Which meant trying to sneak in to find the Muse of Tragedy could be dangerous.

New York, New York

He didn't know exactly how Ares and the other two had pulled it off, but it didn't matter. Nope, all that mattered at the moment was that it had happened! And he wasn't thinking about consequence because Strife rarely ever did when it meant good things for him. He was ever a spontaneous creature of "the moment," who had been restricted for way too long. All that he knew was that he felt so ecstatic and so good and so free! Everything was suddenly beautiful and sparkly and alluringly fresh and new as if he'd taken the favored party drug: Ecstasy!

Ever since Neikos had received his first taste of power way back when his older brothers had first showed him how to use his own powers to string along mortals, he'd been addicted to the way that having power had made him feel. He craved it possibly more than any other deity among his siblings and it was possibly that mere fact alone that had made him ambitious. Ambitious enough he was, that down through the ages he had went after powerful mortals in order to attempt to have influence over them simply to gain some more powerful deity's attention who may have been watching. Actually he had tried like hell to gain the attention of any of the twelve, just whoever, so that he could be closer to the kind of power that he had thirsted for, a thirst that had never been quenched. And it had been Ares attention he had snagged; Ares had recognized his special talents.

Strife had always figured that as soon as Ares took the throne of Zeus, there would be a New World down below just waiting for Strife to be unleashed upon it! In Strife's brave opinion---It was their world now! Screw whoever didn't like it! It was time for Fun and Revelry!

It was dim and smoky inside. The music was blaring and now men were calling out at him although he was too high off of what had happened to tell what they were calling out. He pranced across the platform in a model's strut, swung his hips suggestively and gazed his crowd with hazy eyes. He slung the boa back around behind his shoulder before spinning around and into the pole which he proceeded to molest with stroking hand before straddling it with one crooked thigh....

Strife had never in a million years thought he would be doing this, but as soon as the curtain fell down over one reign and another reign began he had became so immersed in the three C's: conflict, confusion, and chaos, that it was no wonder he wound up where he ended up winding up down on the mortal plane and eventually ending up on this stage before this crowd.

It was like a starved animal that he had binged on the overflow of energies created off of one the largest political upheavals he'd ever been exposed to within the span of his existence. Unbridled power had trickled down upon him like rain and submerged him. In fact he had became so intoxicated that after he wound up down on the mortal plane staggering aimlessly around and spreading his mirth onto unknowing passerbys who were unfortunate enough to walk by him on the street, provoking reactions that stacked on top of the surge of power that had already intoxicated him? That he ended up in a thrift shop in New York before he'd ended up dancing in a strip club.

~Hello little boys, little toys
We’re the dreams you're believing
Crawling up the walls
Running down your face
Razor sharp, razor clean
Feel the weapon's sensation
On your back
With loaded guns~

Strife had previously entered the thrift shop pulling off his clothes which had dissipated upon touching the floor and putting on a matching mini skirt covered in coral colored sequins and tube brassiere that he'd seen hanging in the window he was skipping past. He had also put on a red jacket decorated in snake skin print that the store clerk had previously been wearing. Right before he left he grabbed a black feather boa that had been laying across the cash register before parading out the door and leaving the shop clerk hanging in the window with the ends of a clothes rack shoved through the backs of her shoulders.

It hadn't been long after that that he had found his way into this strip club and upon recognizing the beginnings of a song he liked had took stage, bumped the erotic dancer off the platform and started off by swinging the red jacket he'd killed for around and tossing it off into the crowd.

~Now hold on to me pretty baby
If you want to fly
I’m gonna melt the fever sugar
Rolling back your eyes~