askmenosecrets: (this strikes me as a bad situation)
panikondeima ([personal profile] askmenosecrets) wrote2010-12-11 05:55 pm

Arcadian Forest Party

This was more work that he usually bothered to put in, Pan thought, especially here, at home, but everything was set.




At first glance, it appeared to be a forest clearing, beautiful and wild but nothing different than a hundred other clearings spread throughout the woods of the Arcadian mountains. But when you looked again, Pan thought, you saw something quite different. Hidden in the trees were a series of structures suspended in air, hung with ivy and dew, and through the mist-shrouded branches you could see the faint glow of light, and you could smell the scent of fire and food. There was the fire pit, a circle suspended in the arms of a large oak with a crackling golden fire, a roast, and bowls of marshmallows, chocolate and crackers waiting. There was the bar, stocked with a rich variety of wines and alcohols and staffed by two of the satyrs. And then there was the forest floor itself, bare now, but waiting for the dancing. On all sides of the floor, there were cushions on the low branches and benches of fallen logs, each accompanied with wooden buckets full of wine and beer bottles and glassed suspended with vine.

"Well," he said to Zaffre, currently wrapped around his neck, "I think we're ready." Pan flicked a leaf off his forest green turtleneck and looked around with approval before pausing. "We're almost ready," he corrected, and pulled his pan flute up to his lips.

The forest filled with music as he played, music that began as the mystical songs of the flute, but transformed as he let the instrument fall to his side - transformed into thrumming, sensual rhythms and intricate guitars that would encourage the party-goers to...well, Pan thought with a sharp grin, to be bad. Very bad.

"Let the games begin," Pan said.

[Notes: Everyone in [livejournal.com profile] fortuna_invicta is invited, the more the merrier in Pan's opinion. If anyone needs directions to the right section of the forest, let Pan know on the SWS post. Mingle! Get drunk! Stuff your face! Find a secluded tree and do naughty things! Pan approves highly of all these pursuits. Format = narrative third person, if you please!]

[identity profile] panikondeima.livejournal.com 2010-12-15 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Pan's eyes widened innocently. "Of course I will, Selene," he said. "It's me, darling. That's what I do."

He trailed a finger down her cheek and kissed her lightly again before leaning back.

[identity profile] moonlitselene.livejournal.com 2010-12-15 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Selene leaned in for the kiss, smirking at him as he pulled away. "Then I'm looking forward to it."

[identity profile] panikondeima.livejournal.com 2010-12-15 07:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"Good," Pan said with a sharp grin, and his hair passed over her hair as he stepped around her. "Enjoy the rest of my party, Selene."

[identity profile] madethenight.livejournal.com 2010-12-15 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"Perhaps they will discover maturity before the ending of the world," Nyx mused with a soft smile. "Knowing their patron, however, I do doubt it." She chuckled and took another sip of wine, gazing about at the antics just getting underway.

[identity profile] falconvengeance.livejournal.com 2010-12-16 08:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Half a beer topped with half a cola," Horus replied. He had a certain fondness for beer, more so than any other type of alcohol. After all, he'd been around when it was invented.

[identity profile] falconvengeance.livejournal.com 2010-12-16 09:05 am (UTC)(link)
The brim of his fedora was automatically turned down lower on the left side, an instinctive gesture on Horus' part. Sure, it had been eons ago, but one never quite forgot having their eye ripped out by a family member. His brain finally reminded him to use his words. "Likewise. It's been a long time."

He wondered if Pan knew they were both going to be there. Horus reminded himself to track the little trickster down later for a 'friendly' conversation. "I need another drink." He desperately did if he was going to deal with his uncle being here.

[identity profile] falconvengeance.livejournal.com 2010-12-16 09:12 am (UTC)(link)
His face didn't change from its stone-like expression, but Pan's words had lifted the god's dour spirits. He set his finished drink down. "Wise words, Pan. You're smarter than you look," Horus said in his usual even-keel tone. It'd take a sharp eye to see that he was only joking.

[identity profile] panikondeima.livejournal.com 2010-12-16 01:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Pan lifted an eyebrow and smirked. "Thanks," he said dryly. "I do try to retain the facade of mischievous ditz of the Greek pantheon. It makes it ever so much more interesting when I say something smart."

[identity profile] sandsofchaos.livejournal.com 2010-12-16 01:31 pm (UTC)(link)
"I have not had one as of yet," and there was barely any of the desert left in Set's crisp, public school accented voice. "I've only just arrived. But please, nephew," he added with a smirk. "Don't let me keep you. Unless things have changed in the last several hundred years since I left, socializing is a rare pursuit."

[identity profile] trojan-hero.livejournal.com 2010-12-16 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"I might have to try one of those sometime." At the least, because it would be amusing.

[identity profile] falconvengeance.livejournal.com 2010-12-17 07:28 am (UTC)(link)
"Several hundred years seems like far too short a time." Indeed, Horus wouldn't have objected to about three or four hundred more before he had to see Set again. He turned around and stormed off through the crowd, intent on having a bartender fix him a drink so strong it would knock him down.

Unfortunately, the voice of reason in the back of his mind wouldn't let him be. "He's the only family you've seen in ages. Are you really going to sit here and brood over ancient history or go back over there?" One long, weary sigh and a half-finished beer later and Horus found his feet dragging him back over to Set. He started right back in as if he hadn't just stormed off in a dramatic huff. "Incidentally, what have you been up to since we last spoke?"

[identity profile] falconvengeance.livejournal.com 2010-12-17 07:39 am (UTC)(link)
A small smile graced Horus' lips and then was gone again. Never let it be said the god didn't have a sense of humor. It was just a very tiny one.

[identity profile] falconvengeance.livejournal.com 2010-12-17 07:43 am (UTC)(link)
"For you, that must happen about once in a blue moon." He gave the 'mischievous ditz' a gentle nudge in the ribs with his elbow.

[identity profile] panikondeima.livejournal.com 2010-12-17 03:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, gods no, that's far too frequent. I do it about as often as comets fall from the sky." Pan grinned back, nudging Horus back.

[identity profile] sandsofchaos.livejournal.com 2010-12-17 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Set lifted an eyebrow as he watched Horus turn back and walk back over. Unexpected, he thought. Highly unexpected. The only civil thing that he and Horus had ever managed to do in all their years had been crown the pharaohs.

"I left the desert to you after the Ottomans overtook Egypt," he said. Being the god of foreigners in a captive nation had been...uncomfortable, to say the least. He received no tributes, in fact exactly the opposite. "South first, and then to Europe, and finally to the New World. I live in New York these days." He paused. "And you?" he asked.

[identity profile] trojan-hero.livejournal.com 2010-12-17 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"Where did it get a name like that?" Drink names didn't usually make sense anyway, but he was curious.

[identity profile] he-who-shapesus.livejournal.com 2010-12-18 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh hardy har har. Speaking of work, I'm going to need you to clear my appointments Monday-I have an all week appointment with some dignitaries, and it's going to take every bloody part of my conscience to take care of it."

[identity profile] moonlitselene.livejournal.com 2010-12-18 08:16 am (UTC)(link)
Selene peered up at him through heavy lashes, smiling and taking yet another sip of her wine. "Of course, boss," she assured him. "You may have to remind me on Monday, though."

She wasn't a lightweight by any means... But the atmosphere of Pan's party was enough to make her want to sleep for days. She nestled herself in his shoulder a little more. "Is there something I can do to help, aside from clearing the schedule, though?"

[identity profile] he-who-shapesus.livejournal.com 2010-12-18 08:20 am (UTC)(link)
Morpheus hummed in thought for a moment as he absently lay his head on hers. "Just make sure everyone will be alright with me canceling-if not there's a list of temporary shrinks we can direct them too. Can't have the poor mortals thinking we've abandoned them."

[identity profile] moonlitselene.livejournal.com 2010-12-18 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
"And then if they don't want a temporary shrink, I'll reschedule them for the next week... Mortals can be delicate creatures, after all... I'll do my best to take care of them," Selene murmured as she swirled her wine in the glass.

[identity profile] he-who-shapesus.livejournal.com 2010-12-18 08:31 am (UTC)(link)
"That's my girl." Sighing Morpheus gently began to sing an old Greek sea chantey as he stared, transfixed into the dancing fire.

[identity profile] moonlitselene.livejournal.com 2010-12-18 08:40 am (UTC)(link)
"Mm, well, I've learned from the best."

Selene closed her eyes as he began to sing the chantey, lacing her fingers with his sleepily.

[identity profile] falconvengeance.livejournal.com 2010-12-18 09:01 am (UTC)(link)
Horus shrugged as he drank. "I've no idea, but I'd like to imagine a drunken frat boy who was also a history major thought himself terribly clever when he named it."

[identity profile] falconvengeance.livejournal.com 2010-12-18 10:24 am (UTC)(link)
"You would end up in the city that fancies itself the center of everything." Horus rolled his eyes. Sometimes, it was more like having a much older brother around than an uncle, the way the two of them sniped at each other.

The question of what he had done with his time was left hanging with a thoughtful pause. "I stayed, even after the last of the family had abandoned everything. I left the cities once the British became too obnoxious to bear any longer and returned to the desert for good. I went back only once when the Germans and Italians invaded."

[identity profile] sandsofchaos.livejournal.com 2010-12-18 12:45 pm (UTC)(link)
"So they all left," Set murmured almost to himself, sinking his hands into his pockets. Somehow...he hadn't expected his family to follow his footsteps, and somehow, despite his own actions, it annoyed him that they had.

"New York is a melting pot of cultures and chaos," he said after a moment of silence. It was that that drew him there, he thought; that and the fact that he could manage to blend in while standing out in New York.

"And now?" he said, lifting an eyebrow at his nephew. "This is not the desert."

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