Grecian Urn...

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.

"... 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."

The desert had been excellent. Better than excellent! It was green and refreshing and simply...jovial. He'd done all he could with it, a nymph launching herself at him screaming when she finally caught up to him.

Demeter was displeased, and that fact right there was enough to make his day a few centuries over.

Deciding to return to New York, he cursed under his breath when realizing that his Blackberry was currently perched on Hori's bedside table. And little Horikins was bound to not think of bringing it to him, thus Limos was forced to return to his mother's home. But upon entering he noticed something...odd.

"What the hell is that?" He muttered allowed, walking past the statue. Shaking his head he mounted the stairs lightly, before noticing the brightness coming out of one of rooms. "Natural sunlamp....or....the Sun come to visit?" Though why his mother would have a Titan in her home was beyond him.

Ate left the relative calmness of Bantry Bay, a plan formulating in her head. Sh had three options as far as she could tell... One was to just... avoid the source of her emotional disarray. The second was to do the exact opposite, seeking him out to prove that it was all a fluke, and that she was fine. Third, she could just ignore it all, and assume business as usual. If she ran into him (and she was sure to do so, given that she'd just asked a favour of him) she culd just fall back into their normal pattern - comfortable, enjoyable, and safe. It was the obvious choice for action, and she easily ignored any internal disappointment that this was the way to go.

Still, she needed something or someone to distract her from her overwhelming urge to ignore reason. Mentally, she went over the list of usual suspects. Strife was probably busy with his girl, Lethe was annoyed at her (and a bit too insightful for comfort lately), Hori was a bit flaky on his best day and lethargic lately, Elpis was... Elpis, and if she had any insight on this, Ate just didn't want to know. Anteros had already proven gracious enough to let her distract him from his vacation and suffered her issues. Which left Zelos - and he was out, as she was already plotting to coerce him into service once things were back to normal, Momos, out for the obvious fact that he was the one distracting her in the first place, and Limos. Limos was probably still cranky and she doubted he wanted company, but she'd never really paid that any mind. He was also her first choice after Anteros, and Ant apparently had strange ideas about attraction. Erotes.

Finding him was easy enough - she knew what he hd planned to do, and from there it was a matter of following fresh foliage. She shimmered into view and stepped up behind him, resting her chin against the side of his arm.

"This is one big ass oasis... the global warming freaks are going to go nuts."

She didn't pause before she made it outside, figuring if people wanted to stay, that was their own decision... she cared mostly about getting Limos out of there. Once out of the temple, she took a deep breath, and turned to face the others.

"I, for one, am getting off this mountain..."

Apollo pushed past him, his arms around Eris as he laughed at Hermes. They all left him in the entry way alone, Dite's voice in his head as he tried to make sense...

Everything felt wrong. His hands were shaking as he reached out for the the door, only to pull back a moment later and look away.

It is all wrong Dite, he said softly, Apollo...

He drifted, stumbling back as groaned. It was wrong. It was all wrong. He moved from the entry way, and through Dite's more private quarters. A servant came running toward him, and Hermes jerked away, surprised and startled as he pushed her away.

"I know you were behind it, just fix it all." The girl hissed it at him as he back away, "Die...Die....Poor little Hermes."

"Get away from me!"

She stopped looking at him Maliciously (or that was what he saw) before she turned an ran out of the room, Hermes falling to the floor and crawling into a corner where he hide, curled into a ball and rockin'.

Its all wrong...I didn't do it....I...

Only he wasn't so sure anymore.

Chin up and full of confidence, she walked out of her salon into the main audience chamber, escorted by Deimos. She paused once inside, taking a quick inventory of those there... some were expected of course, and others posed quite the surprise. She pat Deimos arm lightly and released it with a smile.

"I'm going to make the rounds... if you'd like to rejoin your brother, that'd be fine."

If he wished to go with her he was of course welcome, but she doubted he was really in the mood. Seeing as how she already felt a pang of guilt for what she'd asked of him, she saw no need to torture him further. She decided to start at the back, moving to each group of individuals quickly, greeting each deity in turn, offering each a welcome of some sort, stopping only for a moment with each.

"Iris, thank you for coming."

"Anteros, please stop scowling... it's hardly flattering."

"...Flidais. What a surprise.. welcome to my home."

"Artemis. It's good to see you. Thank you for getting the ball rolling with the refreshments... There may have been riots. It's appreciated."

"Hephaestus..." To him she said nothing, just smiled as patted his cheek lightly, thumbing away the lipstick mark left by Artemis' kiss.

She moved closer to where the bulk of her children were gathered, and a small stand off seemed to be happening.

"Harmonia.. Do sit up straight, please.:

"Strife" She offered him a wink. "You're still here and sitting still? Wonders may never cease."

"Ate - It's been a very long time since you've graced my temple."

"Elpis. Welcome."

"Zelos... You already know I'm glad to see you."

"Limos.... my, you've grown up quite handsome, haven't you?"

"Lethe, a pleasure."

She bent down to kiss Phobos,the only one of her children present she'd not seen recently, on the cheek lightly. "You're plotting something, darling... I hope it waits till we're done here."

She straightened and smiled at everyone again, surprised at hose she noticed were missing.. Hermes, most obviously, and Thanatos - though she expected he'd return. Hermes, though - one could never be sure about. He could be dealt with later, though.

"Thank you all for coming. I do appreciate your patience. I wanted to say first that I realize everyone is being affected by this... and I kno no one is very happy. I do not know what has happened - but I plan on working hard to find out what it is, and restore everyone to their rightful selves. I know we're all anxious for answers, and while I can't promise any today, I do hope that maybe collectively we can perhaps pool our knowledge, and see if together we might be able to discover anything."

Limos didn’t leave his mother’s home, not when the other’s had. Instead he read, and ate. Mostly read, though. Lethe’s world tumbled out before him, with the eloquence that could have only come from the tongue of a muse, the emotional drive to give the emotion backing to her words. As though she would forget again.

But then, he supposed she would, much like he would stop sprouting trees and flowers. Much like any of their siblings would return to normal. (Such as Hori-Boy, who had returned from his trip and promptly tumbled over into his bed, as though nothing in the world could bother him.) Only the idea of her forgetting brought the idea of her being abused by themselves all over again. And they had, hadn’t they?

He looked at the page again forlornly, wondering when they had all become so selfish that they didn’t treat Lethe as a sister any longer, but rather as a quirk in nature that none wanted to deal with. Except Hori, it seemed, who dealt with all their siblings (save Lies and Falsehood) with equal pleasure.

And so he read more, engrossed and then…

It took every fiber in his body to hold the journal steady, though rage began to build. He had taken the news of Elpis with grace, having no real care either way. But this…this was worse than any hatred a sibling could have for another. This was a crime against his blood…a repeated crime!

Ate…. he almost screamed for her, but did not. Instead he stood in one flood motion. The book closed and politely stashed to out of the way of anyone who could stumble upon it and read. No one else needed to know. He and Ate could deal with the crimes…

Would.

Eyes narrowing, Limos left his mother’s home and stalked across the greens to Aphrodite’s palace. No scenes. That would be what Ate would say…

When he entered Love’s Temple, though, he ignored the glances of his sister’s, his eyes searching out the two beings he loathed the most in that moment, surpassing his hatred for Demeter herself.

He didn’t even wonder about what he could really do to them. He didn’t care. Son’s of war or not, the would pay.

Putting aside the deepfelt dislike she had for the plan at hand, Ate draped an arm around each of her siblings' shoulders, pulling them in just tight enough that they wouldn't be able to escape her loving grip. She offered Anteros and Flidais a smirk, matched with a light bow of her head.

"I hate to break up this little party we've got going on here, enjoyable as it is, But I think we need to go drop in on Casa de la Discord... and I'm really not nearly inebriated enough to do so in good spirit. So I'm kidnapping both my siblings here so we can get it over with... I'm sure we'll see you both at the meeting. With any luck, it'll be a good time."

Witout offering Limos or Elpis the chance to argue, she snapepd a finger, depositing all three of them in the entrance way to Eris' temple, leaving behind trees and diners and such. Not that what they saw was anything less strange... There was no sign of Eris, but Lethe sat curled on a sofa, a journal like book on her lap that she was writing in.

"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone..."

Anteros hoped he would find Ate at this diner he knew she liked to work at when she needed a break from her usual. If she wasn't there he was at a loss of where to search for her next with the exception of his house. He didn't think if her powers were as botched as his, that she would be at any of the other spots she worked. He only hoped that his mother was right in gathering everyone and hoped that once everyone was rounded up that together they could determine what had happened and hopefully reverse it. He didn't want to be...a god of hate and riots or whatever he currently was.

He opened the glass door with the brightly colored welcome sign suction stuck on the other side of the transparency.
An electric chime hailed their arrival as he waited for Flidais to cross the threshold, "After you."

He could still be somewhat of a gentleman despite the lack of sympathy for anyone other than himself.

Limos didn't care what people saw as the world exploded in color and the god appeared in the middle of the street with a seething hissing and glare. The tress seemed to perk up, flowers wiggling their way up through crack in the concrete. He couldn't stand it! It was all so wrong, and unclean. He even felt different, his sunken features slowly plumping up. His fingers look rounded out, and his eyes where clear and bright.

And he was hungry, as if he hadn't eaten for ages.

Stalking into the spoon, he hissed at the first hop that tried to give him a seat, and stomped his way to the dark girl that was sitting next to the other. His sisters. And they were in store for a storm, and didn't even know it.

"I'm BROKEN!" He roared, planets starting to perk up and lean toward him as if he were Gaia herself. "They...Its...There are flowers popping up where I walk! There is green grass, and trees, and I'm getting fat!" He looked as if he was on the brink of hysterics, an unusual sight for the usually mellow Famine. Whatever had him worked up, was something quite wrong.

"I didn't even go near her gardens! And now I'm, I'm like her," his voice pitched high and helplessly. He was hyperventilating when he finally grew quiet, shaking with furry, and unable to escaping the 'flowery' feeling he was having.

‘Te and Hori had an idea that Limos needed to find Neikos, which is what he was trying to accomplish. Only it was easy to be distracted as he wandered through the unfamiliar landscape of the Olympus. He hadn’t been here…in…ever.

“Nei--,” Demeter’s garden was right over there, “Neikos….Neikos, we need you.”

The garden was really close. He really wanted to walk in it.

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.

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~