Grecian Urn...

Artemis sits in the guest room of Selene's temple and brushed her hair in front of the long mirror. Dressed in a long comfortale sleeping gown, she stares at her reflection, eyes seeing bruises and bite mark that have long since healed.

On some level the goddess knew that at some point her huntress powers had returned but there had been no celebrating or excitement on her part because she knew that athough her ability to hunt, trap and trek had been returned she was still disgraced and she wasn't sure if there would ever be a way to fix that.

Satisfied that her golden tresses were perfect, Artemis returns the brush to small drawer in the vanity before heading to bed, pulling down the heavy blanket and crawling beneath it to spend another fearful and sleepless night.

placeholder...for something yet to be determined

Helios was at a loss. He stood in the large, arched doorway of his worn stable at the Rhodes Temple site, a bridle hung in the bend of his elbow. He stared out into the deepening darkness of a moonless night and felt physically ill. O god, it was going to be dark out there. Completely and utterly black. Like, not even a speck of light.

And why? Because some messengers from Lady Aphrodite had told him she wished him not to fly? Helios could count on one hand all the times Zeus had ever asked to hold his Chariot, and at least he had always explained himself! But the Goddess had mentioned morning... wait untli morning...

Helios wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but he couldn't help the hope firing to life in his chest like a banked smithy. The titan shifted uncertainly, leather of his tack creaking in the quiet. Even the horses seemed to be holding their breath for the outcome, still and strangely cooperative in their stalls, despite missing their accustomed routine. Helios was sure they were as ready as he to return to life as the sun.

The Titan turned finally, sighing slowly and trying to force the tension out of his body. He ambled towards the tack room, depositing the forgotten bridle from his arm to its designated hook. He knew if Dite were immersed in something universe altering, then Helios was best off staying out of the line of fire... but he couldn't help wondering how the earth was handling this... unusual turn of events.

Helios stepped outside again, beating his gloves against his thigh to dislodge dirt into a small cloud. He peered around him, listening to the sounds of the night, and suddenly stood rigidly upright. Because the sounds of night weren't... they just weren't there! Everything was quiet... no crickets, not wind in the tree branches, no...

"--the fuck?!" Helios muttered quietly, loping towards the cliffside edge of the plateau his barn sat upon. Looking down, he could barely make out the glass-like stillness of the ocean. So yeah, no sounds of the ocean moving... no motion at all..

"...wow. That is just... really not right." What the hades had Aphrodite done?!

Artemis had no idea how long she had been trapped in Dite's garden with the twins. Somewhere time seemed to have stopped as they took advantage of her, leaving her with nothing but a broken shell when they were finally finished. After they had left it had taken her a good amount of time to get her feet under her and to just get herself out of Dite's temple. Even transporting herself to just in front of the stately home and conjuring up something to wrap around her bruised and desecrated body exhausted her.

Yet, the worry that the twins could appear at any moment and bring her back in kept her moving almostly blindly away until she realized she had no idea where to go. Home was out of the question because she certain didn't want to see Apollo in this condition or Mel for that matter after all she had been warned yet she had ignored the warning and she had paid the price for that bout of stubborness.

Pausing for a moment, Artemis closes her eyes and tries to think of someplace where she could go just to be alone, someplace where no one would think to look for her. Opening her eyes she glances up at the sky out of habit until she remembers that Helios is no longer doing his duty as the sun..he'd be home asleep since Selene was now taking his place in the chariot.

Selene..why didn't she think of that before. If Selene was now the sun she was most likely staying with Helios, the siblings would definitely be together during this crisis which meant there was an empty temple that she could use to hide out and stay safe.

With a renewed effort, the tainted goddess made her way toward Selene's 'unused' temple.

Thanatos and Selene finished their dinner at the nice Italian restaurant they'd stumbled across on the Las Vegas strip and then departed it afterwards to find a roller coaster.

Thanatos had never sat down in a mortal place to have dinner before, and it had been as interesting to him as he had found public libraries and museums. Other then on those rare occasions that people died while in the middle of eating a meal and he had allowed curiosity to get the best of him, Death had not really had a dish among mortals before. The first time he had buttered toast and jam had been back in 1984 when a man named Harold had died in that familiar diner his niece Ruin liked to work in from time to time. He had lifted a piece of toast spread with strawberry jam from the plate. Having never paid for things like food and drink, it had slipped his mind that usually these things costed something and so he was slightly embarrassed when Selene had to pay.

As they walked, "Where is the best roller coaster in Las Vegas?"

While he rested on the softest bed he'd ever lain, dreamless and exhausted, he knew nothing. Usually when Death slept, which was rare, he still unconsciously toiled, ever so incorporeally. However, now that his true essence was misplaced he slept whole.

He didn't know how long he'd slept, but he'd slept like the dead and after he had awoken he had a name he hadn't thought of nor spoken in a very long time, not since his youth, on his lips: "Phanes. "

With a bit of a headache Thanatos didn't want to remain here in this noiseless room. He departed from his bed and dressed less restricted and more airily then he'd ever dressed. He wore a pair of thin black slacks that whose fabric was mostly made up of polyester with under four percent of it consisting of spandex. The pants were identical to a pair he'd saw a girl wearing at a club once who he had collected after she'd overdosed on a cocktail of pills. He also wore a tight black sleeveless, body fitting shirt with a sheer and shimmering crimson colored button up shirt over it and left unbuttoned. He pulled his hair back and secured it with a black band.

Perhaps it was him being accustomed to always being on the move, but it felt strange to him to be in any one place for very long without purpose. He headed downstairs...

Dusk hit and Selene sighed in relief. This long, long day was finally finished.

She guided her horses home and began the process of stabling them, cherishing the time she had with them after being away from them for so long throughout the day.

Cooed words were whispered to them as she brushed them down and prepared them for night.

It was good to finally be home.

And so it had come down to this. With a little huff, she looked down at the at the inch or two of concrete separating the tips of her toes from the grass. Then she looked at the sign. KEEP OFF THE GRASS it warned. Keep off the grass indeed! It was grass! You were meant to stand on it!

Dysnomia didn't though. In her mind, she clearly saw herself running and skipping and jumping all over the lush green carpeting, but in reality her feet didn't move. Oh, they'd move on the concrete, anywhere on the concrete, but the grass was off limits. Because the sign said so. It was a rule.

Stamping her foot on the ground, she moved away from the grassy area and took refuge on a park bench. Her experiment had failed. Again. Why couldn't she rule-break? That was her job, her reason for being, and now she couldn't do it!

Ever since that silly earthquake things had been going wrong. Nobody had wanted to destroy property or mug old ladies with her...and now she couldn't even walk on grass! This was getting ridiculous. Whoever was behind this power outage was going to pay.

She held his hand tight, sparing only a quick glare for her brothers, biting the inside of her cheek to keep tears from threatening. This was, quite obviously, her fault... she's the one who had dragged him here in the first place.

"I'm sorry. It was. I'm really, really, sorry..."

She kept walking until they were outside, only then releasing the viselike grip on his hand... she didn't believe one of her brothers had done this.

(Continue the meeting here. )

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."