[b]Vasilia![/b]

"I agree!" said Zeus daughter of Cronus, slapping Molech on the back so hard that he jumps. She then glances at her hand, grimaces slightly, and wipes the dead lice off on Hades' shirt. "It is a time for feasting! It is a [i]world[/i] for feasting! What do we have here? Sandwiches? I love sandwiches!"

The Thunderer beams at Dolce, and goes to ruffle the fluff atop his head but is thwarted by the fact that she holds a sandwich in each hand.

"Little sister," Hades said quietly, with thin-smiled grimace of someone who was doing their absolute best to be polite. "Are you sure that this is a good idea?"

"Of course it is!" said Zeus. "Hospitality has been offered and accepted. Alliances are being negotiated. [i]Peace[/i] reigns, Hades! Do you have any idea how tired I am of war? Dionysus? DIONYSUS! Get down here!"

With a shock of violet, the God of Madness is amongst you. A mirrored glass face with painted eyes sits atop a beautiful androgynous mechanical body, wearing a flowing cape of cold violet and purples. Zeus beams and offers a high five. Dionysus silently meets it and then sits cross-legged at the table and pats the ground for Liu Ban to sit next to them. The former Emperor sits as directed.

"[i]Little sister[/i]," said Hades again, reaching a new record for the smallest possible upturn of the lips. "I do not think this is a good idea."

"Oh, psh, Hades. This poor man has been tormented for nearly three hundred years!" said Zeus through a mouthful of sandwich. 

"He has not suffered enough," said Hades whose voice was all the icier for the fact that he forced so much warmth in it.

"You don't think [i]anyone[/i] has suffered enough," said Zeus, rolling her eyes. "If it were up to you we'd all just sit about contemplating our sins while playing Russian roulette. Come! Food has been offered and you [i]will[/i] join in, big brother."

Hades' eyes burned a brilliant blue as he sat down next to Dionysus. Immediately the Strange One threw their arms around him and kissed his face and neck and whispered into his ear. Hades' expression did not change an iota, even as Zeus gave him a thumbs up with hands filled by her third and fourth sandwiches.

For the part of Liu Ban, he is not aware of the gods. His mind is still on the machine, still on the challenge, still far away as it focuses on a problem he has been absorbed by for -

Then he takes a bite of food and all else is forgotten.

He eats in a frenzy, prompting Zeus to beam and slap him on the back again - and wipe her hand off on Hades' shirt again. This, at last, is how one brings an emperor's dignity low.

[Mark off two units of food - one for yourself, one for Liu Ban - but by sharing a meal with another you can heal two instances of damage]

[b]Alexa![/b]

It's more still than anything you've seen from this world so far. The spirit of madness has lifted; Dionysus has been summoned elsewhere. Instead you face the soft whirring and clattering of mechanical minds, so still and familiar they seem entirely like what they once were. This is no longer a party, a riot of colour and motion. Now these are machines wearing clothes, as emotionless and alien as you must seem to others.

Cavel-4954 speaks to you not as a mistress of the dance, not as a wife, not as an individual. She speaks to you in the voice of a standard issue Cavel unit giving a report, and though that voice is as emotionless and mechanical as any of her kind it feels all the more raw and emotional for that. This is the most honesty she can give.

"It was not a waste of time, Palas Rex," said the Cavel unit. "We had to know. We are not separate entities, you and we. Together we form a complete engine of war. You are our speartip, our champion, our avatar. If you were perfect then we would have wailed and gnashed our teeth and tore our clothing and become perfect in turn. We prayed to all the gods that when we found you that you would be as flawed as us, as broken as us, for if you were broken then we could remain so too. A galaxy where the greatest killing machine ever built functioned properly would be a terrifying one indeed."

Aphrodite nods at that, and glances aside at you. Molech was always obsessed with Ares, but it was not Ares who wrought this fate.