[center][colour=honeydew][h3]Annie[/h3][/colour][/center]

The nymph's wide-flaring dress brushed past unnumbered petty godlets as she walked, brisk on her feet, circling and fluttering through the crowd, like the very moth whose solemn-and-stylish black wings it imitated. Grief! Why did everyone on Olympus have to aspire to such [i]height?[/i] Why was every demi-god and super-human in attendance at this fearful milling-about of the young Zeus's ascent so [i]tall?[/i]

[colour=honeydew]"Kallie? Kallie!"[/colour]

At last, in answer to her voice, muffled but not lost in the hundreds-strong smattering of gorgeous bodies which were now steadily diffusing back out into the empty space of the vast Olympian parade square: movement. Someone had detected her, not by the volume of her cry but by the subtle signature unique to her own voice, and had raised his gloved hand above the crowd. An arm straight and tireless and strong. A quick, loud bark of crude electronic noise called out over the din to make sure she had seen him.

"Sʜᴇ Is Oᴠᴇʀ Tʜᴇʀᴇ," said the skull-headed machine as she approached, pointing. In the instant she had appeared from between the stragglers outside the gates of the King's palace courtyard, Psilos had assessed her posture, her gait, the strain in her voice, the very texture of her skin, all to find her unharmed by the chaos. As she should be.

[colour=honeydew]"Thanks. Lost sight of her when the monsters strolled in."[/colour] Shades, monsters, champions of Hades, rude, violent interruption of the City's manicured peace. Most of those who had been tossed and shoved by the underworld denizens had not been reminded of their own nanomechanically pickled human bodies in decades, even centuries. Annie would have found it tremendously funny, had it not inflamed her fears for the future of her home as a refuge. If nothing else was a constant on Hellas, Olympus itself should be. It [i]had[/i] to be. [colour=honeydew]"Kallie!"[/colour]

Charis Kalleis Pannychis, when she was shortly found, was an image of calm, perched on a marble bench under a sprawling magnolia. One copper-titanium leg and one copper-titanium hand rested on the marble, the other long leg on the floor, draped with the holographic dress that projected her true body; that projected the shimmering, nubile figure that sat on the edge of the bench with both legs stretched out on the ground. Her free hand- alloy, of course- was idly shaking a wad of paper and film, a dozen or so little squares printed on the fly from that old artefact that sat on the bench with her, the [i]'polaroid camera'[/i] for which she had so extensively bartered. Her eyes rested elsewhere, off to one side, on the tomboyish figure of Charis Paidia sitting crosslegged on the plaza floor, wearing her loose chiton and goggled crash-helmet, engrossed by some infernal copper puzzle-toy with which she had been fiddling since before any of the High Gods had appeared. Kalleis watched her with empty-headed interest, like an old housecat watches a kitten at play with a mote of dust.

[colour=honeydew]"Kallie?"[/colour]

The housecat perked its ears, suddenly grinning. A moth had fluttered into its view. "There you are. You took good care of her, Psilos? Didn't let her get too frightened?" The wight conceded a one-shouldered shrug, a gesture so practiced that it passed for human. Kalleis reached out a long machine-hand and passed his charge the photographs. "Take a look at this, Annie. Apate, Demeter, Apollo, Apollo's gorgeous daughters, your Lady's adorable dog, that [i]boywhore[/i] Eros- I got good ones. It's a real turnout. Missed Hera, but I'm guessing she'll be keeping that black dress on for a while yet."

Annie thumbed through the photographs, still breathing heavily from her search. [colour=honeydew]"You're treating this like a fashion parade."[/colour]

"It is one." 

[colour=honeydew][i]"Kallieee-"[/i][/colour]

The Charis took advantage of Annie's fleeting smile to add her image to the collection, lifting the camera with superhuman speed and precision. The nymph rolled her eyed and indulged her with a curtsey. Another snap. [colour=honeydew]"So did you swear fealty?"[/colour]

Kalleis scoffed. Unlike Psilos, her polymer flesh was still in excellent condition, and could make such sounds. "Swear what? Did [i]you[/i] swear fealty? Didn't think so. You've probably never even [i]sworn fealty[/i] to your own Lady. Or your lady boss Demeter. I'm not a High Goddess, Annie. My loyalty is assumed."

Annie folded her arms. [colour=honeydew]"So Dionysos took the oath for you?"[/colour]

"Ah-ah-aah. Remember, I'm part of Aphrodite's retinue. Formally. [i]She's[/i] my Lady. And I don't think she even got a word in... she or that ridiculous alter-ego of hers, 'Charis Peitho'. Why someone would demote herself to one of Hegemone's dolls... Maybe she was demoted in secret, and this is how she hides the shame." Annie handed back the photographs, and Kalleis gave her the half-developed prints of herself. "I wonder if Zeus ever liked her. He barely tolerates Eros. I think he sees her as a, how did they say in the old days, a [i]phluze-[/i] phloözea- a floozy." Kalleis had a habit of digging up old words from dull archives, even more so than trinkets.

[colour=honeydew]"These are nice."[/colour] Annie handed the prints back. Calmer now. As Kalleis had known she would be. [colour=honeydew]"Kallie... we could be at war again. I know you're not the type to think about it. You've never lived through it..."[/colour]

"Mm. I guess we could be. I'm sure we'll find out."

[colour=honeydew]"The King is dead. Father Zeus is dead."[/colour]

"Really? He looks lively enough to me." Annie remained unimpressed. Kallie sighed, rested her head against her copper-composite knuckles, looked up at the magnolia. Looked back. "Alright, Annie. King Zeus is dead. His heir, King Zeus, instantly hops on the throne, prances around like he was made for it. He [i]was[/i] made for it. Made with a lot of care and resources, a great deal more than mortal kings ever need to produce an heir... you want to know how they do it? I can tell you..." Annie smiled, waved her off. "So the King's [i]heir,[/i] a perfect little replacement of himself, who has been waiting for the throne longer than most mortal empires have existed- takes it. This was [i]planned,[/i] Annie. I doubt the old King Zeus is even dead. He's just subjecting us to his [i]melodrama.[/i] Like all the rest of them."

[colour=honeydew]"You can't just replace-"[/colour]

Kalleis looked up at her with the same inhuman speed as before. Dove into the nymph's eyes with her own.

[colour=honeydew]"...Right."[/colour] She sighed, finally took her seat on the bench beside her friend. Paidia continued to tinker on the floor. Psilos stood by at ease, watching the horizon with eyeless sockets. [colour=honeydew]"How's Matilda, anyway?"[/colour]

"She's fine. How's Artemis?"

Annie shot her a look like a bullet. [colour=honeydew]"Y-"[/colour]

"I didn't say anything." 

The nymph sighed. They sat there together for a while. Somewhere behind the gilded gates of the courtyards, the gods held parley. A butterfly settled on Annie's finger. She neither looked at it, nor chased it off.

[colour=honeydew]"Kallie... Something's not right. It's not the same. I don't know how to explain it. I [i]feel[/i] it... in the air, the water... Like something is changing. Growing... Like something is going to [i]happen.[/i] To everyone."[/colour] She looked back to her friend, seeking the same guidance she'd received many times before. [colour=honeydew]"Is that just me?"[/colour]

Kalleis laughed and flicked her on the forehead. "It's just you, Annie. It's just [i]you.[/i]"