The Problem with Love

Careful... Aim... Shoot. With a sharp 'clink', the point of the golden arrow dug itself into the pillar. Scowling at the floor, Apollo slung his bow across his back, staring in discontent at the arrows that were jutting out of the pillars at random angles. Of course he knew that Hades and Aphrodite had defied law, and now faced the wrath of many major and minor gods, but he wasn't usually one to care about such matters. In fact, the sun god had originally been happy for them, and had even considered congradulating the two, until he realized a matter that greatly disturbed him. Apollo hadn't seen it coming. Nope, not at all. As the guardian of prophecy, he was expected to see these kinds of things in advance, but he hadn't. And good lord did some of the more judgmental dieties know it. It was odd, actually, for him not to have felt the twist in fate, but that didn't mean it wasn't meant to happen. Aphrodite had danced with the devil, in some ways more than others, so now she and her knight in shining armour were bound to their sin. A sin which was less evil, and more good. Good as in a big, googly eyed and adorable baby.

Letting his gaze linger upon his distruction, Apollo ran a hand through his hair, letting out an exasperated sigh and bringing back his habit of chewing on his bottom lip. What should he do? Lecture the two, both significantly older and wiser than he? Hardly an option. Besides, they'd be belittled enough by the others. What he wanted to know was what had happened so his vision had been blocked from this rather important event, and to do that, he might have to ignore what they had done, and focus on why. He saw everything; whatever people did, or thought, or even dreamt, so long as it had to do with their future, unless it had to do with... love. That was when Aphrodite's divine gifts shrouded his. But what did that mean?

Nearly choking on the surprised intake of breath he had forced into his lungs, the god let a foolhardy grin crack upon his face, wanting to jump and squee like a four year old girl on Chirstmas Eve. Hades had feelings? How odd. Laughing quietly to himself, Apollo scanned over the idea of the two lovers actually being in love, deeming it a possibility. Maybe the other god's were still furious, but all he wanted to do was interrogate Aphrodite about her feelings for Hades, just for the fun of it. Keeping the happy grin on his face, the diety began retrieving his arrows, which still acupunctured the pillars with a golden light, whistling contently. Oh yes, while the others would be screaming at the forbidden couple, he'd be cracking up and blackmailing them. Fun.

Never. Ever. Anger Persephone. That would be a good set of advice for anyone. The only person she usually got angry with was her "darling" husband. Her eyes drawn out a little by the kohl she wore and her lips set in such a way she resembled her father, Zeus. Persephone stormed past gods and spirits.

Persephone had found out about her husband's deeds through her friend in the underworld, Hecate. Angry, she'd been unable to find the god of the Underworld and wealth and decided to try her luck on Olympus. She was livid with nearly everything she saw. Flowers turned away or wilted a little as she passed them, springing back after she'd left them.

Aphrodite had been rudely asked to join a council meeting. She was quite ticked at Zeus for not be so nice to her and demanding she'd show up. She already knew what was on the topics list, her child. If not her child, her fling with Hades. Not that it mattered much though, they'd find some reason to do some yelling, the gods seemed to enjoy that. She'd only given them some nice reasons to yell. With a large sigh Aphrodite opened the door to the meeting hall. Not that many yet.

She took up her throne, which was a love-seat today. Well, just perfect for lounging too. With a sigh Aphrodite sat down and enjoyed the soft and fluffy chair. She closed her eyes for a moment, preparing for the scolding that was sure to follow. Oh, and the yelling she just knew Persephony would start off with. She ought to take the Goddess on a man-hunt the next time she got out of hell. The woman seriously needed a break from Hades, no matter how much fun he could be.

Aphrodite found Apollo's looks a bit... unnerving. She didn't have anything against him but he had tricks up his sleeve all the time and Aphrodite just knew that he was planning something. His grin was a little too wicked for her comfort. She sighed and looked around the room. "Now that I'm here, can we get this over with? I'm not much for fights and I shouldn't really have too much stress." She said. She thought none of the gods knew about her daughter yet but the bom was going to drop sooner or later. Yet if it had to drop, Aphrodite needed it to have as much impact as possible. So she wasn't going to mention it untill the last moment. She looked at Apollo for a moment, remembering his gift for prophecy. She pressed her fingers to her lips, motioning for him to be silent about it, and gave him a sly wink. She just hoped he'd get the point and keep silent about it. She didn't look pregnant yet and so for now, she could still delay telling them, a tiny bit longer.

What had happened? WHAT HAD HAPPENED?' Terpsichore was shouting to herself. This couldn't be true, besides why would they of all people do it? Terpsichore wasn't a major god but she knew this meeting was going to take place on the Olympian meeting room. This concerned two major gods, it had to be there.

The gold arrows confirmed angry gods in the room and walking in, it seemed a couple of them were already there.

Apollo was grinning crazily while Persephone was standing in dead flowers. Aphrodite looked as calm as ever sitting in her chair. Something must have happened because she saw her send a quick wink to Apollo.

Terpsichore stood in the shadows not wanting to bring much attention to herself. This was their brawl. All she wanted to do was be informed and maybe take someone's side. Half of her wanted to be supportive towards Aphrodite and Hades because she knew the gods would defiantly be spewing rage at the two, while the other Greek half wanted to scold them. Terpsichore would just have to wait it out and see what would happen..

Morpheus had been sitting in the gardens a few weeks ago
when news started spreading and it was news from Nymphs so it had to have been
something good but it wasn’t what Morpheus expected. He sat on his bed in the
shadows thinking about what the two had done, They could have just finished all
the Gods because of it and of all Gods why would Aphrodite and Hades have a
child…Together, They weren’t family but of all people. Morpheus knew he had to
do something because this child would be a cause of something horrible. The
child would be raised between love and death and would have to be in one or
another domain. Morpheus didn’t want this poor child to be transported from
Olympus all the way to the Underworld unless it was going to camp half blood
and that was something Morpheus wasn’t and couldn’t allow. The children of
Camp-Half Blood would be in danger because some Gods decided to be numb headed
idiots.

Morpheus was full of anger and couldn’t sleep so it’s not like that helped. He
had been listening to some other Minor Gods talking saying there was going to
be a meeting in the throne room so Morpheus decided he would pop in and perhaps
tell some Gods what had been going on between the two. Morpheus began to
imagine himself telling Zeus what the two had been doing then they would kick
the two off the Olympian Council and give Morpheus his rightful spot next to Zeus
and become a Major God. Morpheus actually didn’t mind being a minor god but it
was almost like they didn’t care about him just because he wasn’t strong and
powerful. Morpheus grinned as his black cloak flew in the wind then he suddenly
transformed into a raven flying to the Throne Room. He finally arrived and
transformed back to his normal form and grinned noticing Terpsichore walking
into the room but he didn’t care, It’s not like she could stop him. Morpheus
black cloak followed his feet as his pure black shoes clicked on the tile of
the throne room echoing and he smiled bowing to the other Gods looking over to
Aphrodite with a devilish grin.

Artemis was always the last to know, or the one who knew least. At least, she felt this way. For some reason, she and all the other gods were being called to Olympus, for a reason unknown to Arty. Yes, she did choose to stay on Earth with her hunters, but it would be nice if someone decided to notify her once in a while about some things. Seriously, it wasn't that hard to track her down, catch up to her, get past her hunters somehow, and giver the message, right? Maybe someone had tried, but failed... Arty didn't dwell on that, though, as she walked into the Olympian Meeting Room.

She looked around the room, seeing a few gods and goddesses there. Apollo, Aphrodite, Terpsichore, Persephone, Morpheus, and now, Artemis. She walked up to her brother, and asked, "you probably know more about this than me. What has been going on?" Hopefully he wouldn't speak in riddles or anything, though Arty doubted he would. If he did, she could always find a way to punish him.

((Sorry for shortness and badness))

((Sorry for not replying sooner x.x))

As expected, immortals were now entering the grand room like a swarm of angry bees, though some seemed rather reluctant to, and hung back. Turning around to face the others, Apollo kept the smile on his face, mentally listing those who had arrived. Persephone came first, obviously angry, then Aphrodite, who looked almost bored, and Terp, Morpheus and his sister, all with mixed emotions. Fixating his gaze upon Aphrodite, he found himself almost amused by her actions, and returned her wink by blowing her a kiss, twitching his head in an undeniable nod. Why should he decieve the goddess of love? It isn't as if she deserved to be yelled at and scolded, and the others would find out sooner or later; it wasn't worth angering her by revealing the secret and kindling the flames. And though he felt rather at ease with Aphrodite, Persephone was another matter. She was obviously enraged, something that slightly worried the god as he switched his attention to the fuming immortal, offering her a sheepish smile but not daring to say anything, beginning to chew is bottom lip again. Finally freeing the golden arrow he had absently been tugging at, he set it back in it's quiver, for now ignoring the other projectiles and glancing from Terpsichore to Morpheus. For some reason, the muse of dance had hidden herself in the shadows, seeming to battle herself on what her proper reaction should be; she was having an inner turmoil, which would have been funny, if Morpheus hadn't been grinning like an insane fool.

Frowning slightly at the god's crazed expression, Apollo opened his mouth to let out words that would have surely gotten him killed, had he been mortal. "Not sure how to say this, Morpheus, but... relax." He said, both hesitant and slightly annoyed at the fact that the other immortal seemed to mock them with a bow that could only be considered as a taunt. But, before he could say anything else, his sister strode towards him. He welcomed her with a smile that went from friendly to nervous as she began to speak.

"You probably know more about this than me. What has been going on?" Leave it to Artemis to dive right into a subject. Studying her expression with a certain unease, he averted his eyes to the ceiling for the moment, before bringing his gaze down on Aphrodite and sighing. This probably wasn't the time to annoy his sister with riddles, but it truly was the only way he could beat around the bush...

"I am just two and two
I am warm, I am cold,
I am lawful, unlawful
A duty, a fault
I am often sold dear,
Good for nothing when bought;
An extraordinary boon,
and a matter of course,
and yielding with pleasure
When taken by force..." He stopped, groaning and shaking his head in resignation. "Oh forget it! I can't tell you, Arty, it's a... secret?" He offered with a guilty look, picking at the bangles around his wrist. Why was this so complicated for him? Oh, right, because he was the idiot who agreed to keep Aphrodite's clandestine quiet! Never again. He told himself, and he supposed it was true, because his father would have his head if he found out that he was helping the two lovers.

When Apollo sent her a sheepish smile, Persephone stopped, the flowers momentarily coming back to life. Then she remembered her anger and the flowers wilted again. A plan formed in her head and sure as Hades had done something behind his wife's back, Apollo would probably know it already. Persephone turned to Aphrodite. Her face was expressionless, bar for the obvious anger, except for her eyes which plainly were filled with hurt and a little hatred. Persephone may have been angry but one emotion that outdid it and was pretty easy to conceal for the angry goddess was disbelief. Her ever changing dress didn't seem so pretty to her when she looked at Persephone. Her own beauty paled and Persephone started to doubt her own stability in her own marriage. There must be a reason he doesn't want me anymore... I'll show him... I show him just how irresistible his handpicked Queen of the Underworld can be. And his lover can help me out.

Persephone gave an angry sigh then tapped her foot. She looked at Aphrodite once again. "Well? Aphrodite? Do you want to share what happened with the class? With my husband?"

OOC: I feel as if I could have paragraphed that better but meh. LONGER POST THAN LAST TIME! *pats self on back*

Well it seemed like most people had managed to show up for the good oldfashioned scolding she was about to receive. Aphrodite shot Morpheus a disdainful look. The minor god had no sense of respect for the Olympian council and it irritated Aphrodite. She'd keep an eye on him and make sure his coming attempts to win the heart of a woman would fail. It was the least she could do with the way he acted. On that point, she was being mild, only planning on half a century of bad luck in love rather than two full ones or something along those lines. Aphrodite yawned deliberately and stretched. After lounging on the love seat that was her throne Aphrodite smiled at the other immortals present.

Apollo went on to sort of explain things to his sister, who seemed to be in the dark about all of this mess. Aphrodite smiled, it wasn't unusual for some of the gods to be out of the loop but Aphrodite usually wasn't the complete center of attention, she left that to the big three. And now, she'd gotten herself into trouble by having one day of fun with one of the big three. If Aphrodite was honest with herself, she would have been able to admit she knew trouble was coming long before it arrived at the scene. Yet Aphrodite felt like denail and so she didn't admit it to herself. Truth be told, if you're going to maintain any kind of self-respect, you're going to have to keep secrets from yourself.

Aphrodite turned to the furious Persephone but only the Goddess of Love and beauty could feel that the Goddess was insecure by what had happened. Aphrodite would send the Goddess and Iris Message about that later. Aphrodite smiled at the words of Hades' wife and sat up in her throne like a Queen would sit upon her throne. She was powerful, beautiful and hadn't done anything wrong at all. She refused to be the accused in this picture. She looked at the gathered immortals and smiled at them. "As Persephone so gently requested, I shall tell what happened. It's will be a very short story though, as I'm not going to spend much time on the details." Aphrodite said and shot a glance at the door. Hades was actually making more trouble for himself by not showing up. She was on her own it seemed. Not that it mattered much. "I was working in Paris when I ran into Hades. We had a little talk and decided to have a little fun. It was all innocent and no harm was intended." Aphrodite said, looking straight into the eyes of Persephone. "In the end we parted and Hades ignored me for weeks. We already talked all this over a few days ago. As long as I know that my motives are good, I'm seldom very concerned with the opinions of others though. Maybe that is why I didn't bother to talk about every single love affair I've had in the past millenia." Aphrodite said, not bothering to hide the thing that irritated her most about this entire meeting. They hadn't called on her to explain before so she suspected either Zeus of Poseidon wanted to use this to have Hades take a hit. It was childish and it bugged Aphrodite.

"Please don't forget that last little detail that I'm sure everyone here is hating most of all, Aphrodite." Hades said as he entered the throne room just as the Goddess of Love breifly retold what happened in Paris those few weeks back. For Gods, they seemed to be getting sloppy about acting on these meetings sooner. Though Hades didn't really care...since he hardly ever was allowed up her anyway. He was only here now because talk of his and Aphrodite's daughter is the one matter of question that concerned him. What happened between the Goddess of Love and himself was in the past so as far as he cared, the new goddess was all that mattered in his mind.

"Yes, yes, yes. Aphrodite and I had an intimate time together in Paris. Big whoop. Zeus and Hera are siblings and they are married. Every single one of us has an affair, it's not like it makes a difference. All of you. All of you except for the mother, are just pissed because of the new goddess that is on the way." Hades stated to them and he knew that they all had to agree. They don't care about the time in Paris. Zeus is just furious that there will be another goddess to be born.

Demeter quickly rushed down the hallway leading to the god's meeting room. The only thought going through her mind was how dare he. That sleasy low-life god just thought he could take whatever he wanted without consequice, but Demeter was going to make sure Hades got exactly what he deserved, even if she had to take matters into her own hands. First he steals her daughter, only letting her leave the Underworld during the spring, but suddenly that wasn't good enough for him? He needed more? So he just had to go and find another god, Aphrodite for who-knows-what reason, and have a little fun with her. Most of all, it couldn't be a one-night fling either because they were now having a baby for crying outloud! It would be a burden on them forever, and even though he would have a child, he refused to let Persephone go. It was an outrage and Demeter felt like wrapping that god up in vines and never letting him go.

She burst through the doors only to find many of the other gods were already there, listening as Aphrodite and Hades tried to explain themselves, but from the looks on their faces, they hadn't been succeeding. Instead of taking a seat on her throne, Demeter decided to stay towards the back so she could strangle either one of them if neccisary. Even listening to them talk just enraged her more, they betrayed all the gods, but mostly her daughter, and that hurt her. How dare Hades take her Persephone from her, and then just toss her to the side once he was bored with her? No way. Demeter wasn't going to let him get away with it, all those thoughts were running through her head as she listened to the end of Hades' testimony. All she wanted to do was walk right up to him and give him a piece of her mind. If there was a new goddess on the way, it should be from her daughter and she should be the grandmother. Anything else just discusted her. She clenched her fists as she tried to keep her temper down.



((No offense to Hades or Aphrodite!))

Eos was very nervous being back on Olympus, considering that the last time she'd been here, she had shut Tithonis up in her palace, doomed to live forever, without eternal youth, the whole story. She'd done a very good job of spending time in the mortal world, except for her daily job of opening the gates up every morning. Then again, she just had to see how the gods were going to react about Aphrodite and Hades...well, that stuff. Eos wasn't really sure how she felt about the whole thing. There were basically two sides here, Aphrodite and Hades' side, and most of the other gods side. If Eos agreed with the other gods, she wouldn't call attention to herself, and would therefore not be noticed. That was the safe side. Then again, there was Aphrodite's side. If Eos did that, she would risk being punished, but then, Aphrodite might take away her curse, she just might. That was good enough for Eos, the prospect of being able to look men in the eyes again, without the shame she felt from her curse. She could hardly stay on Olympus, because a god and a mortal were two very different things, especially when it came to life spans.

Eos walked into the throne room, and quickly went to go stand near the edge, where she could observe everything, without bringing too much attention to herself. She brushed some unseen dirt off her robe, and looked around. Eos had her saffron colored robe, and her white bird wings, and her diadem, which she only showed during a claiming, or when she was among other gods. It felt good to feel the wings on her back again, since she couldn't exactly show them in the mortal world. That would bring unneccesary questions. Eos could see Aphrodite and Hades had arrived, and Apollo, and a few others. So she wasn't too late. Persephone was also here, which could prove to be entertaining. Then again, it wasn't like Hades and Aphrodite were the only gods to have...flings with each other. Eos decided she should speak now, before too much happened. Persephone looked about ready to kill something, like the flowers Eos had seen on her way in.

"While I have no doubt that what Aphrodite and Hades did was...uncalled for," Eos began, stepping forward. She wanted to phrase this right, but she wasn't exactly Athena. "We need to be careful how we proceed here," she continued, smoothing out her robe. "I am quite sure that no matter what, that baby will be born, one way or another," Eos said, glancing at Aphrodite. Eos had heard quite a lot of gossip, and she had managed to put together what had happened. Paris...two gods...baby. That was basically what she heard. "So, you have two options, from what I see. You can either disapprove of the child, and have it raised to hate those who were against it's birth," Eos said, looking not so discreetly at Persephone. No, she didn't mean anything by that. "Or, you can allow this baby to be born, as it will, and make an...ally, out of it. Your choice." Eos stepped back at that, but didn't quite fade back into the shadows. She wanted to watch what would happen next, and she wanted to make clear that while she supported Aphrodite and Hades, she wasn't totally on their side. She knew what it was like to be a mother, so she had an idea what might be going on in Aphrodite's mind...among everything else. Still, it had been a rather stupid thing to do, and it should not be taken lightly.

Eos could feel her Roman side, Aurora, wanting to say some things, but she pushed the feeling away. Watch carefully, she said in her mind, for her sake, as much as Aurora's.