omicronia

Charon the ferry man on an ordinary day in Hades: "Oh, gods! There's so many of them today! One could think that there's another badass war going on up there. Or a plague. What, both? Corona, is that a name for a desease, come on! Don't they use to have Asian names? Ukraine? Where's that? Them Russians AGAIN? I guess I'm gonna get myself a bigger boat any day. And hopefully with a turbo engine, beer fridge and a plusher drivers' seat." "OHAY, all aboard now! It's time to leave, and you don't wanna wait around this side of Styx when they turn off the heating. Cold? Cold is just the surname. Let's just say that if you spit it's frozen when it lands on the ground. Freeze to death? Well if you haven't notice, girlie, you're dead already." "Now stand in line, no pushing, stand in line, you are all gonna get a place aboard, stand in line I said. No pushing and showing! STAND IN LI... Yeah, I know you are German and don't understand the concept of lines, but just watch what the others

'Curtainfall' wasn't really my kind of movie, I've never been that much of a musical fan, and when people started to sing and dance in the middle of a story I always wanted to press fast forward. But now I was sitting there with Ares, feeling his arm around me and his warm body against mine. Thus I could distract ourselves by tickling his abs when the hero and heroine launched into a melody for the umpteenth time and all the extras begun tap dancing and swaying their fancy clothes, umbrellas and fans. And Ares was sighing as well. "Gimme a good old Western any day over this crap," he was whispering in my ear. "I agree, I miss the bang-bang. But at least we can indulge in a deep kiss and still not lose the plot," I whispered back and Demeter turned around and hushed. I had to work real hard to suffocate that titter which was bubbling under, after all I was usually one of those who hated when people talked and giggled in movie theatres. It was bliss when the curtain finally fell and

The next morning I woke up with the sun tickling my nose. My mind was filled with the recollection of yesterday. Of Ares and my private and romantic dinner and the love making it has not unexpectedly lead to. And before that the contrasts of a morning in the dojo fighting with staffs and an afternoon where we had gone over to Aventina's to see the development of the film of our Atlas Orb adventure. The film hade turned out quite different from what we had seen at Ares' place back in November. The muse of documentary movies had had it trimmed down to about 110 minutes of a linear story about our way to the Atlas Orb. It featured the actual 'Clash of the Titans' and the encounter with Torianus including me falling down in the orb seen from above, someone telling it was Hercules' head camera. Seeing that again, seeing my petrified face made me squeeze my eyes and claw at Ares' arm. As a response he pulled me tighter, whispering in my ear: "It's fine, sweetheart of mine, it's all fine.

"Ketlakyther will live," Hercules informed as soon as Ares and I arrived into the courtyard of Zeus and Hera the same evening. Hercules was standing together with Alexander, Kratos, Hekate and Alala by the fountain. The latter didn't seem to bother much; instead she was texting on her phone, long, brown hair obscuring her face. "Tell!" Ares urged as he laid his arm around the small of my back, pulling me even tighter to himself. In return I did the same, sliding my arm slightly beneath his shirt, touching warm, hairy skin. "Lorenata called just an hour ago with an update from the Titan capital Tsermiran." "So how are they doing, our propaganda mongers?" Achilles asked and turned around from the conversation he had been having with Hephaestos and Aphrodite. "Fine - they think," Hercules replied. "You know, my daughter says that the reactions have been rather bizarre among the Titans. They are not out in the streets demonstrating as humans would be doing. Instead they are locking

"It's not really that hard, Aidra," Freya was saying, her voice sombre and concerning as she was sitting opposite of me in my garden, legs crossed and the white of her pants almost blinding me, her blond hair and strass-adorned nails glistening in the sun. "All you have to do is listening to your heart." "It's not exactly... telling me anything consistent," I replied and put down my coffee cup on the low marble table. After yesterday's dinner's drama people had thankfully respected me enough to leave me alone for the rest of the evening. There had been no one trying my locked front door and no mind calls or ringing telephone. But this morning the worried Saxa and Bellona had been at my front door, and they had brought Freya with them. The 'un-biased goddess of love', as my friends labelled her. Freya had just smiled secretively, and I had opened up the door and let them in. Then we shortcut through my home and sat down in my little garden, where I had my breakfast and my guests

As soon as Ares had finished talking, Diamanda and Palaistra began to sing: Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war Waterloo, promise to love me forever more Waterloo, couldn't escape if I wanted to Waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you Wah-wah-wah-wah-wah Waterloo Finally facing my Waterloo "Oh come on!" Hekate groined and Saxa was laughing, then she and Kyknos begun singing too. Wah-wah-wah-wah-wah Waterloo Finally facing my Waterloo "I guess you asked for it," I turned to Ares who appeared sparingly amused. "Yeah," he put down the phone next to the gun again. "But at least this increases our chance for a solstice at Olympia a great deal." Wah-wah-wah-wah-wah Waterloo Finally facing my Waterloo, Waterloo, Waterloooooooo Now Proioxis and Palioxis had joined in too, holding imaginary microphones and waving their asses. "I need a loo," Polemos was singing, quite out of tune. Meanwhile Hekate was hiding her face in her hands, but I could tell that she was

Waking up the next morning, I wasn't immediately sure where I was. Not Manhattan, not Olympia, definitely not New England or Hercules' Paris apartment or in any of all those other places where I had stayed for more or less brief periods during these last spinning months of insane adventures. No, this was Athena's place outside South Africa, and more exactly Ares' bedroom and Ares' bed and Ares' arms I was resting in. As realization hit, I remembered day before and although I ought to feel something like shame and embarrassment I rather wanted more of the same. No matter that I was still more or less together with Apollo; it was Ares who had triggered all those sensations within me yesterday. It was he who had me yearning so desperately that I felt my cheeks burn. Was he still asleep? No, as I tried to move away I felt his biceps tighten across my chest. "Good morning sugarplum," he was whispering in my ear. "Ares..." "There's no hurry," he went on. "Yes, I need... I need the

When Helikaon and I stepped out in the clearing adjoining the old dilapidated building, I realized it was actually fire burning inside of those dirty windows. Apparently this had once been something of a lovely little Chinese garden house or tea house, complete with a three story pagoda standing to its side. I could well imagine the scenery as delightful once. Now most of the colouring had faded and the wooden balustrades and stairs were broken in several places. Still, the place look perfectly habitable - if you didn't have that high demands of course. Naturally I wondered if this was good enough a hiding place for this Toshinari Minamoto who was the next on our suspects list. Yet Helikaon seemed certain of his goal, he crossed the grass like he had done it a million times before and ascended one of those wooden staircases in disrepair, skipping two of the steps, as if he knew they were not in the shape to thread upon. Thus I did the same, and then I followed Athena's son as he