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[sub][color=gray]a [@smarty0114] & [@metanoia] collab
mentions: Odin [@KZOMBI3] & Ares [@Legion02][/color][/sub][/center]
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[color=ea7e5d]“Love the outfit, Artemis. Green and pink aren’t my colors, but you always had a habit of making things work for you. So enlighten me: who do you think will be the source of most of our future headaches in the immediate future?”[/color]

[color=5e74ee]“I do, don’t I?”[/color]

A rare smile graced Artemis’ face as Athena arrived beside her, happy to have the company. Her half-sister was often the only member of her pantheon that she could stomach for long. It was rare she found someone more clever than her, and besides, she had no girls to watch over for the day. In the absence of work, she supposed she could let her hair down, just a little.

[color=5e74ee]“Immediate future? I’m sure our wonderful step-mother will push all the buttons that she can by the end of today’s festivities.”[/color] Artemis hazarded a glance over to the other side of the room, where her brother was still toying with Melinoe. She rolled her eyes and let them fall on Ares. Brooding as he was, she could not rule him out of any possible trouble. [color=5e74ee]“Though, I suppose one of our brothers will make an effort to upstage her.”[/color]

Athena lost her half-smile at the mention of Hera. A complicated relationship, those two had. Some days were tolerable and some days she wished she still had both her Shield of Aegis, which was lost during the crusader days, as well as her full divine powers. There was no proper way to…repay Hera in the weakened state she was. But she couldn’t think about that. It was neither here nor there and she was, at least, in the company of someone who made this obligatory luncheon much more tolerable than if Artemis wasn’t around.

Looking around as Artemis mentioned their brothers, her eyes couldn’t help but fall on Hercules, who she just noticed. “Could always count on the Divine Idiot over there to make things interesting.” She had a fascination with her half-mortal brother, Hercules. She found him annoying but in the way one kept a jester around than a cockroach like she had to assume most saw him.

[color=5e74ee]“Can we blame him? He’s hardly more than a toddler,”[/color] Artemis said, swirling her cup gently. [color=5e74ee]“I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything of interest lately?”[/color] Artemis had her hand in a great many pots, and if there was anyone she trusted to aid her, it was the grey eyed Athena. Between searches for their father, keeping tabs on the mortals and their knowledge regarding the existence of the fallen deities, and her own, more personal ambitions, it paid to have a helping hand. Athena was well positioned to hear some interesting whispers, and Artemis loved to gossip.

Athena let out a slight chuckle at the comment Artemis made about Hercules. She agreed, of course, but she found it hilarious because was absolutely right. Athena was fond of Hercules, but he hardly inherited their father’s natural intelligence. That right was reserved for the two goddesses analyzing everything that happened in the ballroom. “Anything interesting, you ask?” Athena hummed, glancing at Artemis. One could say she certainly had something, though Sophia Pellas was urging her not ot say anything. Something about duty and honor, but Athena had to admit, she’s been meaning to get it off her chest and Artemis was, if not anything else, a trusted confidant. Perhaps even someone who could help her out. “Well, I have something you might find interesting. Let me ask you first: what have you heard about a vigilante that goes by The Blue Crusader?”

Artemis snorted. She had never been one for the high drama that putting on a costume and fighting crime required. She preferred to let her prey see her face. [color=5e74ee]“Enough. A few of the girls heard something about one of his nighttime adventures, relayed it back to me. Honestly, I thought it was Apollo. He used to like to play dress up, back in the sixties. The guy sounds a bit too hands on for him though.”[/color] Artemis smirked at the distant memory of her brother, clad in spandex. That endeavor had been amusingly short lived.

Athena chuckled at the mere thought that The Blue Crusader could be Apollo. She wouldn’t put it past him to do something like that, but something about the Crusader was that whoever it was, they were careful. Careful enough to not have their identity known to those who they attacked; careful enough that not a simple person even knew what he looked like. [color=ea7e5d]“As amusing as it would be to find out that our brother was behind it, you’re right. It’s too hands-on and, to be quite frank with you, Artemis, this Crusader is too smart to be anyone even remotely close to Apollo.”[/color] Though her tone was serious, she chuckled again. [color=ea7e5d]“But he struck again last night. At the docks in Belltown. Five men were injured, all with several cuts and premature bruises all over their body.”[/color]

[color=5e74ee]“Well, that seems to rule out most of our family. Smarts have never been their strong suit,”[/color] Artemis said, a wry smile creeping across her face. [color=5e74ee]“Probably eliminates most mortals as well. Useful as they can be, I can’t imagine one of them being able to stump you.”[/color] Silver eyes scanned the room, observing each immortal like they were a deer she was tracking. [color=5e74ee]“Have you tried our friends from the north?”[/color] Artemis nodded in the direction of Odin and Loki. [color=5e74ee]“This isn’t either of their styles, but Odin can be helpful, if you’re willing to owe him a favor. He does have an annoying tendency to know things.”[/color]

Athena mused a sound at the mention of Odin. She had what one might call an interesting history with Odin -- one that Athena would neither call favorable nor unfavorable. Artemis was right, of course. Odin was one of the most knowledgeable deities of their kind. Even if she had not conversed with him in such a manner in quite some time, that much she remembered as clear as the fall of Troy. But she just didn’t agree with Artemis about Odin but how none of those from their own pantheon fit the motive or style. Either too idiotic to not get caught or too arrogant to not want at least [i]someone[/i] to know it was them. The Blue Crusader had to be someone both with the humility to not seek fame among their peers and with enough brains to do so without getting caught.

And the longer she thought about it, Athena wasn’t sure if she wanted to know who he was to arrest or congratulate them. It was a perplexing situation for the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, to say the least. [color=ea7e5d]“Perhaps I’ll give the Alfather a visit. Not here, of course. Hardly the place to talk about such a sensitive matter. Perhaps after today’s festivities. Surely he could make time for me.”[/color] In the back of her mind, Athena dreaded what Aretemis said might come to pass: owing Odin a favor. It didn’t frighten her, but the reputation that the Alfather amassed made her worry.  

[color=5e74ee]“Surely if he won’t, you’ll make the time yourself,”[/color] Artemis said, flashing Athena her playful smile. [color=5e74ee]“Let me ask you a question now. Have you heard from Hephaestus recently?”[/color] Artemis swirled her champagne and slid her eyes across the ballroom. [color=5e74ee]“Girls tell me he’s been seen more and more recently. It’s not like him.”[/color] Artemis was a huntress, and she knew that animals, divine or otherwise, did not change their behaviour without reason.

Glancing at Artemis, she hummed in a thoughtful way at the mention of their brother. [color=ea7e5d]“Hephaestus?”[/color] She repeated back as she thought to the last time she remembered even hearing from her brother. As unfavorable as he was in her opinion, past incidents of their interactions still bearing a rather lasting impression on her, in the years spent among mortals the Goddess of Wisdom has come to soften up on him somewhat. He still retained negative thoughts on him, but she did not loathe him like Hera did. [color=ea7e5d]“I cannot say that I have. Truth be told, I think it’s been a few decades since I had any contact with him in any sense.”[/color] She subtly pursed her lips, hiding resurfaced feelings as she sipped her champagne. Swallowing the small sip, Athena asked, [color=ea7e5d]“Why do you ask? What’s troubling you, Artemis?”[/color]

Artemis pursed her lips, and pondered the question for a moment. [color=5e74ee]“It’s probably nothing. Just… variances. You know I don’t like when things aren’t in their place, and Hephaestus has been out of place more and more recently. If it’s not nothing… well then he’s looking for something, and whatever he wants, I want it more.”[/color] Artemis didn’t trust her family. Most of them were scheming, self serving, liars, and while she supposed she wasn’t so different, at least she was herself. Anything that was of value to her brothers, was more valuable to her. 

The Goddess of Wisdom chuckled to herself, making casual glances around the ballroom as Artemis spoke. She too wondered what that atrocious-looking troll of a God was looking for (if he even was). Who was to say? Maybe he was just trying to give weight to an interest in him that has been nonexistent for centuries. Athena certainly hasn’t given the troll any place in her mind since before the fall  -- though, if she was completely honest, even centuries before that, Athena gave little care to him. Even the likes of Hera were more tolerable in her mind than the wretched beast that burst from her loins (in a matter of speaking).

[color=ea7e5d]“Do you have any leads on his whereabouts? Or maybe a last known location? Perhaps the Alfather could help, as well. Not that I am particularly fond of owing him [i]two[/i] favors, but if it is something he might be able to assist, especially if it will finally shed some light on the troll’s location, it may just be worth the hassle.”[/color] Internally, Athena doubted the very thing she stated. Stories of Odin reached even the Greek Pantheon and not everything that reached her ears were favorable stories. Still, she stood by what she said about it possibly being worth it. 

[color=5e74ee]“Honestly, I was expecting him to be here. Seems he’s chosen to forgo today’s festivities.”[/color] Artemis shook her head. Something was perturbing her, she just could not see what. [color=5e74ee]“You’re right about Odin. It can’t hurt, seeing what he knows. Perhaps it’s time we pay him a visit,”[/color] Artemis said, smiling her hunter’s smile.

[color=ea7e5d]“We huh?”[/color] Athena smirked, poising her glass to her lips. She smirked under and it hummed a thoughtful sound, one that had many of her brilliant thoughts pumping through her mind. [color=ea7e5d]“Just like the good old days.”[/color][/indent][/indent][/color]