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.

Three hours, four chocolate dipped apples the size of her head, five boxes of chocolates bagged for keeping her busy while she was away from home and an entire emergency chocolate stash completely re-stocked later, Psyche returned to Anteros' house.

Opening the door a notch, she peaked her head in. "Hello?"

No one answered.

She opened the door wider and looking around realized that Anteros probably had yet to return from his trip with Aphrodite, which meant she had the house to herself. Setting her bags on her bed, she took the time to explore the house a little more without anyone looking over her shoulder. It was a pretty house, she could see why Anteros had chosen it. There was evidence of his roommate, and Psyche wondered when she would meet her, or if she even would.

After she found Adonis in the backyard, she decided to finally hit up that beautiful beach she'd seen. It would be a great place to just let her mind work out some of her issues. Changing into something a little more sunny beach appropriate, she headed out with Adonis to walk along the water.

About two benches down on the bleachers, Strife was lying on his side on a slab of cool metal while idly watching the most peaceful baseball game he'd ever attended. This game had been the most boring baseball game in the whole existence of the history of the sport that he thought he'd ever witnessed.

It was a bit odd, although no one seemed to know or understand how odd it was except for him. It was the bottom of the ninth inning and throughout the entire game no one had fought at all about anything; anything at all. It seemed as if everyone involved in both playing and watching the game had gathered before the game had began and had ALL agreed that there would not be under ANY condition or circumstance, any contention at all no matter what happened in the game. The coaches seemed indifferent, the players played as if Philotes had passed out bottles of the club pill called ecstasy to each and every one of them, there was a bit too much friendly bum smacking for the usually mischievous strife god's taste and no matter what happened in the game? Everyone, down to the umps and opposing players, were congratulating each other equally with praise of, "Good job."

Stranger yet was that no one had yelled anything from the stands to provoke anyone else; it, the game, had been thus far the paradigm of gentlemanly sportsmanship and polite spectatorship. It was ALL wrong.

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..."

It was an insistent tug that pulled at those old enough to remember... the strongest felt to those closest to Othrys. Rhea had felt it days ago, pulling her out of the reclusive home she'd kept herself in since the rise of her children. It was an insistent tug that pulled at those old enough to remember... the strongest felt to those closest to Othrys. Rhea had felt it days ago, pulling her out of the reclusive home she'd kept herself in since the rise of her children.

She knew, you see... she knew something was coming, and it could only be him. She'd been waiting... though the portents and omens all pointed to doom... doom for someone, at least. It tugged at them, this force, like a magnet pulling back those that would remember, who'd understand what this meant... and what it could mean for the future.

( Othrys looked like liked the shadowed forbearer of Olympus that it was... decrepit, run down.... a mountain of temples sitting in ruins. One would expect more of the flora and fauna to have taken it back, but there was something that kept out all but the most stubborn, as if Gaia kept this place the way it was, so much a she was able. )

She should have been content there, curled up in his arms as she was, luxuriating in soft kisses that for a change didn't need to be stolen. and she was content, at least mostly... there was this underlying restlessness to her, however, and a growing need to do something... and talk of childhood pranks had offered her an idea.

Nipping lightly at Strife's lower lip, she tilted her forehead lightly to rest it against his, eyes bright as she offered a smile.

"Want to go exploring? I promise a land devoid of peacocks..."

At least, she hoped there were no peacocks... even if Hera had gone to Mt. Othrys, she seemed to have left all the birds here...

Taking Styx's oath, the oath that they were all supposed to have took, hadn't seemed as important as just getting the hell out of dodge. Neikos figured like Harm, that they could take it later. Didn't matter if they took it in front of anyone as long as they took it, Auntie Styx would have known they'd took it whenever they took it.

They strolled past the glass doors he'd longingly sought while seated and took a less noticeable way outside. Harm was always smart like that.

The moment the smell of Aphrodite's rose gardens infiltrated his nostrils without any sharp word uttered and emitted from behind them, Strife sighed a sigh of relief

He looked down into Harmonia's velvety brown eyes, traces of the impact of the fresh kiss she'd just pressed against the corner of his mouth lingering in his pale blue eyes.

"I love you too."

He looked back behind them as if expecting some authoritative figure to come storming toward them and demanding that they go back inside and take their oaths before they leave. It made him feel very young again, much younger than he was.

"The treehouse?"

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.

As they sat, she could hear something in the hallway just outside the chamber, and frowned in the general direction, only lifting a brow as an attendant approached her.

"We are unable to locate Lady Aphrodite... and she has many guests."

"So... you're going to make them wait in the hall? My mother will be back eventually.. Let them all in already... "

Gods... sure they were cute, but they weren't all always very bright... She waved a hand dismissing the cabana-boy-esque doorman, and offered a somewat forced smile to the three gods already there.

"And... it looks like it's about to begin. I'm offering 5-2 odds there's a fight somewhere before Mother comes back... do I have any takers?"

She glanced from them to the door was opening, rather surprised atthe number of people now entering the room.

After Deimos and Phobos went rampant on a filthy run down hotel's patrons it was time to return to Mount Olympus to await whatever was in store.

Phobos sighed as if the very life force that animated his body was being sucked out as he looked on the face of his Mother's temple. He wished that they could be meeting at his Father's temple instead. Deimos and himself could at least occupy their own rooms and the rooms of the dungeon that they had turned into their own personal lounge and rumpus room if the meeting became drawn out and stale.

Once Ares and Hephaestus left, She was at a loss of what to do. The gravity of the situation hit home when she encountered Ares... and it suddenly seemed like such a lost cause. Some say the world will end in fire, some say the world will end in ice.... apparently Mr. Frost had never taken into consideration that the Gods would get so messed up they'd end it on their own. She wasn't sure what to do. She had stepped back into her temple, frowning at the general... confused yet robotic nature of her attendants, before realizing they probably didn't understand why they were no longer lusting after her. It made her wonder really... she never considered it such a defining part of her, the preternatural sex appeal, as she did now that it was gone. She had never realized it was important to her, the ability to make a man drool on sight. Until she didn't. Sure, her physical appearance hadn't changed, but the inner glow, the aura she produced, was wholly different now... as was a lot of her motivation for things.

her wandering had eventually found her back out in the gardens, taking a seat on a landscaped hill not far off the path. Gone was the agape love that she had felt for everyone for so long... it was strange to think of certain persons and no longer feel a universal love for them, even though she may dislike them. Now there was only one emotion... and if she thought too long on people, she could come up with only a short list of those she cared for in her current state. Gone was the love for Ares, the deepest feeling she had had for eons, leaving a hole in her heart... her very soul, torn out as it was. it hurt... it hurt physically when she thought of it, a land pressed in against her chest as if to staunch the pain. Gone with it was a lot of her motivation... her need to do things for certain reasons, all born out of love.

How was she to do this, now? How was she to make the Pantheon act as one, to solve a problem... when gone was her underlying love and desire to do the best for them she could?

She leaned back, resting elbows on the grass behind her, weight propped up by them, and closed her eyes, head leaning back... this had to work. And it had to be done. And for the... well, it just needed to be fixed.

Thanatos did not understand why he was presently giving life instead of taking it, but he knew that something was amiss in the universe and that while it was a beautiful thing to watch a withering flower stand anew verdant and blooming, it was not his purpose in existence. So he decided to do the only thing he knew would get him anywhere, he set, in a manner of speaking his hovering feet down on Mount Olympus to seek out the Fates. Only something quite peculiar caught his observant all absorbing eyes.

( Read more... )

‘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.

The world had taken the change in power with considerably less upheaval than she had expected... she wasn't sure if that spoke well of the world's ability to adapt, or just spoke to the greek pantheon on how little they mattered to the world at large these days. Still, even Olympus seemed calm... eerily so, of course, but calm was better than riots in the streets, or whatever it was that generally occurred on these situations. Harmonia had spent a bit of time avoiding people, and she could admit, if only to herself, that she was a bit disappointed at the complete and total lack of attempts at revenge or retribution. What was the point of being the daughter of the two most powerful people around if not even one person tried to corrupt or abduct her?

Her brothers were decidedly absent, which really only added to her boredom... and even those who were around were all busy little working bees being useful for Dite. Her mother, however, had not thought to recruit her help.. and there was no way she was offering it. Though it would be something to do.

No one, however, seemed to be running around Ares' temple all idiotically... not even Strife. Which was weird. And while daddy wasn't one she'd ask this to (lest he suddenly force everyone into extreme productivity) Strife was a much better source of information.

And so it was that Harmonia appeared behind Strife, her brow raising slowly at what she observed.

"Hmm."

After Neikos-Strife, more than a little bit stoned, had done a striptease for New York, a city selected for the sheer irony of its unfortunate nickname having the word "Apple" in it, Strife decided that his next destination would be as far away from The Big Apple as you could get in North America. It was a pretty chaotic and random decision based solely on his sister's insistence that he was behaving like a psycho! Psycho---He was only having a bit of fun! But who was it that crashed their brother's party and tried to subdue their brother---End the fun? Yea Strife knew he was going to have to get away from her before she tried to contain him! Why couldn't she understand! Why wasn't she happy! It wasn't everyday that Olympus became theirs! But oh no! She'd not understood. She wasn't celebrating! She wasn't running amuck! She'd yelled at him. Yelled and Scared him to tears! And Hori scrammed. And Twig! Well Twig had strangely looked good enough to eat! Didn't any of them feel anything...different?

And so it was that a minor deity of disorder found himself out West and throwing a celebration worthy of recognizing Ares!

Was anything more apt than having a bonfire? Hadn't Ares favorite color been flame? It was if the dancing flames, devouring whatever lay on their floor, outstretched their flamey tendrils like incandescent hands to embrace the sky! Clouds of smoke rose high, a burning incense to appease the gods of destruction!

Strife was completely immersed on splurging on the power that was overflowing from him and he didn't seem to be coming down off his high like he had previous times before.

In a sleek black vinyl cat suit that clung to his thin form like a second skin he basked in the heat of the fire from a safe distance watching embers drifting on the wind as if they were dandelion seeds. Had the material he wore not been divinely inspired and thus flame retardant his suit would have melted and incinerated from his rather gangly body.

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~