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

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

There was a quick nod of the head as Horus acknowledged the presence of the god who had landed on his branch. He wasn't one to bandy idle words just to fill up space. His hand gripped the beer just a touch more, as if it didn't know what else to do with itself.

The words were a touch clipped as he spoke. "Pan. It has been quite some time."

[panikondeima.livejournal.com]

Pan grinned and moved gracefully into an easy crouch, his slender fingers wrapping around the glass as he watched Horus over the rim with crystal blue eyes. "Our paths don't generally cross," he said after a moment, and then mischief glittered. "I think that's unfortunate, don't you, falcon?"

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

Horus' head tilted and he leaned forward."Not at all," he said in his low, even tone. "My solitude is by design rather than accident." Horus was fond of the other gods, but their constant scheming and soap operatic tendencies wore him out. He rarely even saw the other Egyptian gods these days.

[panikondeima.livejournal.com]

Pan tilted his head to one side, lifting a single eyebrow. "And yet," he said. "Here you are. In my tree. Have you grown tired of solitude, then?" He shifted a smidgen, nearly brushing his knuckles against the other god's arm.

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

Horus' forehead creased into a slight frown as the tricky god drew closer to him, but he was too polite to mention what he saw as his sudden lack of personal space. "For the moment. We'll see how long it takes until I long for the quiet of my desert once more."

[panikondeima.livejournal.com]

"Not so soon, I should hope," Pan said as he took a sip of his drink. "You've only just arrived, and we've all got so much to catch up on, Horus." He watched the other god steadily for a moment and then grinned. "Arcadia is also quiet," he said. "Though admittedly not just now."

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

Horus stared Pan as if trying to read the god's mind. "Then it shall not take long. I have been mostly idle this past millennia."

He sighed, the sound like the wind moving over the sand. There was longing in his voice. "There is precious little to do without an enemy for me to fight." Then his dark eyes blinked and his attention returned to his drink. "And how have you been?" Horus asked, looking for a diversion from his thoughts.

[panikondeima.livejournal.com]

"Well," Pan said, sitting down with an elegant flop and setting his drink down on the branch. "There is much to keep me occupied these days," he added. "Chaos is on the verge of being unleashed every day, and I often have the duty of releasing it. It's different than it used to be," he added. "But we must adapt like every other being."

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

He turned on his cushion to face Pan, tilting the brim of his hat upwards. "It's easier for some then others." A good deal of beer was washed down before Horus spoke again. He gestured with the hand not holding his drink, as if he was flinging his question outward into the woods. "What is a god of protection when there is nothing left to protect?"

[panikondeima.livejournal.com]

Oh, a serious question, Pan thought, and it was on the tip of his tongue to answer it lightly, but instead he watched Horus for a moment. "It is easier for some of us than others," he said, though entering the modern age had been anything but easy for him. "What makes you think that there is nothing left to protect?" he asked. "Humanity will ever need protection from the likes of me, and even more so, from themselves."

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

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.

[panikondeima.livejournal.com]

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."

[falconvengeance.livejournal.com]

"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.

[panikondeima.livejournal.com]

"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.