Arcadian Forest Party

[askmenosecrets]

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 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!]

Comments

Forest Floor

[panikondeima.livejournal.com]

The air is virtually vibrating with music, and there's plenty of room to dance. And pretend to dance.

[norse-freya.livejournal.com]

Freya loved to dance and the music was positively glorious. It was nice to get away from her hall and seeing to her warriors for the night. And the music positively sang to her nature. Lust radiated from her body as she swayed to the beats.

[lovessweetbait.livejournal.com]

As though he could resist the lure for long. Almost immediately after coming to a light landing at the outskirts of the clearing, his wings were tucked away and Eros was moving toward the music, letting it slide over him as he stepped onto the dance floor.

And who was that across from him? His faint smile turned wicked as he moved closer and bowed low. "Good evening, Lady Freya," he said, glancing up at her with a knowing smile.

[norse-freya.livejournal.com]

Freya turned at the presence and gave him that smile right back. She was still swaying to the music as she walked closer and curtsied slightly. She held out a hand to him, her eyes trailing him slowly, "Evening, Eros."

[lovessweetbait.livejournal.com]

Eros' fingers slid across Freya's palm as he took her hand and tugged her closer with a laugh. "Welcome to Arcadia. We don't often see you this far to the south."

[norse-freya.livejournal.com]

"I felt it was time to..." she gestured vaguely to his back, "spread my wings, a bit?" Freya smirked, "And the rest of the Aesir were starting to bore me."

In other words, she'd already slept with all of them.

[lovessweetbait.livejournal.com]

"Endless feasting and recounting of great deeds in battle? I can see how you might want a change." He twirled her and then stepped up close, close behind her and laughed low in her ear. "I do hope our Greek hospitality is sufficient to entertain."

[norse-freya.livejournal.com]

"I still do like a good feast, and I'm as much a goddess of war, as I am of love. But, all the same-- yes. It is nice to get away every now and then."

Freya let out a cheerful laugh as he twirled her, her head resting easily against his shoulder, "Oh, I'm finding it more than sufficient, so far. Definitely."

[lovessweetbait.livejournal.com]

"I'm so glad." They moved with the music for a few moments as his hands settled easily at her waist, for now.

"I have to say," he murmured with a sharp grin, "you're much more appealing than the god of war in my own pantheon." He'd never found anything appealing about Ares, including the fact that Ares was his father. Especially not that.

[norse-freya.livejournal.com]

"Thank you, Eros." she purred, pressing up against him, "Ares is much more like Odin or Tyr, than myself... although, even they are much much more agreeable than him."

[lovessweetbait.livejournal.com]

"Mm, and she doesn't care for my pompous, overbearing father? I'm liking you better and better, Lady," Eros answered with a low laugh, his hand sliding over her stomach. "And not just because of the way you move. Although..." He laughed low in her ear. "That certainly helps."

[norse-freya.livejournal.com]

Her small silk dress leaves very little to the imagination and the feel of his hands grazing over the fabric, makes her eyes flutter. Freya's arms raised in order to wrap around his neck, as she looked upward and back at him, "You aren't lacking in positives, yourself, Eros."

[lovessweetbait.livejournal.com]

Eros' sweet smile was entirely at odds with the way his hands were roaming down to her hips. "So we approve of each other," he murmured. "An auspicious beginning." He took a step backward, drawing her with him, with every intention of finding one of the thoughtfully-provided shadowy nooks and deepening their acquaintance.

Re: Forest Floor

[sandsofchaos.livejournal.com]

Set stepped into the deep woods with a thought and looked around with a faintly amused expression on his face before straightening and stepping onto the forest floor.

He's avoided his kind for several years, and for a moment he paused to lean against a tree and survey the possibilities.

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

He'd done his fair share of mingling, which isn't a lot, but that was more than Horus' usual lack of social niceties. He was on his way back to the bar for another refill and was perhaps stumbling just a tad. Avoiding one of the dancers, the Egyptian god narrowly avoided crashing into someone at the edge of the forest floor.

"Sorry," he muttered, intent on continuing towards the bar. But the thought of more alcohol was whisked out of his mind when he saw who it was he'd almost careened into. "Set?" He asked in a tone so colored with conflicting emotions it was hard to pick just one out.

[sandsofchaos.livejournal.com]

Set automatically reached out a hand to steady the god who'd nearly crashed into him, and then his eyebrows shot up to disappear into his dark curls as he saw who it was. Horus. His eyes automatically narrowed for a moment as he recalled all that his nephew had done to him.

But then, he had to admit to himself, he had done his fair share himself. "Horus," he said evenly as he let his hand drop. "This is unexpected, nephew." He let his eyes move from head-to-toe. "Nice hat."

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

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.

[sandsofchaos.livejournal.com]

"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."

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

"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?"

[sandsofchaos.livejournal.com]

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.

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

"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."

[sandsofchaos.livejournal.com]

"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."

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

"There was nothing left to keep them there with the temples crumbling and people turning to new gods." Horus had been tempted to leave as well many times. He had no reason to stay. None, save the eons old loyalty he felt towards the land and its people.

Horus shrugged, his hands rubbing the beer bottle in his grasp. "I suppose the desire to talk to someone besides myself was stronger than the distaste I have for the usual drama that surrounds these gatherings."

[sandsofchaos.livejournal.com]

"That was beginning to occur even when I departed," Set said evenly, but it was interesting, he thought, that there were no recriminations for that from Horus. Forever, it seemed, the two of them had found things to criticize.

He looked around and his lips quirked up. He had seen Eros passing, and of course Pan was hosting. There was likely to be more hedonism here than drama. "I think if there is to be drama at this party, the two of us shall have to expend the effort to create it."

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

"Looks like you set a precedent." He sounded just slightly accusatory. "But I can't blame you much. I've been half-tempted to leave myself."

Horus attempted to raise a single eyebrow, but failed, and ended up looking more dopily surprised than anything. "I'm not drunk enough to get into one of our oh so entertaining squabbles. Give me another hour and then I'll go from being stumbling-when-I-walk-drunk to I-hate-everyone-around-me-and-their-dog drunk."