(no subject)

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

Date: May 1, 2000
Setting: The Manor grounds
Status: Public
Summary: The new year dawns for the pagan calendar, and you know what that means...


Hermes had been gathering wood all day, depositing it in a large pile in a very clear spot on the rolling lawns. He'd gotten up very early, and had spent most of the morning making little flyers. They were on plain white paper, decorated with a box of crayola markers that he'd produced*; still, Hermes was rather a good hand at doodling (he inherited some art in his blood from Apollo), and soon flyers were posted in the most commonly frequented places of the manor. The godling made it all the more mysterious and fun by simply disappearing the flyers off to their appointed place as he finished them. So he didn't even have to leave his room.

There will be a bonfire starting
at dusk to celebrate the new year.
Please come! There will be music
and other fun things!

All the rest of the day, Hermes was outside, running around with Dog and whatever other creatures were outside, and frolicking about the grounds, laughing and generally having what grown-ups would call 'way too much fun'.

As the sun was setting, he lay on the grass to watch it, hands behind his head. Sunsets always reminded him of his brother, and thus made him a bit serious.

"Someday we'll celebrate the new year in Hawai'i," he said, speaking to Apollo, Eros and Dionysus in the manner that mortals spoke to dead or far-away loved ones. "We'll have a big luau with drums and dancing and lots of fun...someday, I promise."

______________________________
*Unlike most people who could just make things appear from thin air, Hermes literally teleported them from somewhere else. He was the god of thieves, after all.

Comments

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

The melody of a lyre floated through the air, and Hermes sat down on Ellie's other side, smiling as he plucked the strings in a soft little song, the fire reflecting in his eyes.

"Does anyone play any instruments, besides me? Or dance?" He looked at Ellie, the only person here he actually felt comfortable with. "Or are we all too grown up for that?" The tone was playfully mocking.

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

"Hermes, darling," Ellie answered in a similarly facetious, haughty tone, "my sisters and I were devising dances that would scorch your pretty eyebrows off when no human had yet laid eyes on the land that became Greece. I don't play any instrument that would be appropriate here, though."

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

"Aha, but you dance!" he changed the lyre to a drum, grinning. "I would love to see this fiery dance of yours."

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

"So would I," said Crowley, smiling mischievously.

[allfather-odin.livejournal.com]

With all the sleeze of a lounge lizard, Wednesday looked Ellie up and down. "I, too, would love to see you dance, vixen."

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Ellie's gaze swept imperiously over the three males, and the ruddy glow that flared up in her eyes was not entirely reflected firelight. "Would you. Well, never let it be said I backed down from a challenge."

Rising to her feet in one fluid motion, she stepped out away from the others a bit and nodded to Hermes that she was ready. She hadn't danced to a drumbeat alone in quite some time, but it was among the oldest and most viscerally compelling of instruments, and she remembered. Oh yes.

Hermes struck his drum once sharply, and then again, setting a complicated and insistent rhythm. Ellie tossed her hair back from her face and swayed to it, her pulse accelerating as she called forth memories of older, wilder times. Of living mortals it had been her duty and pleasure to entice, and the lustful damned who'd paid their penance in the Fire Gardens, cursed to watch the lush extravagances of the Succubae but never to touch.

Legends spoke of elusive dances known only to ancient tribes, and never in their entirety; dances that, if one could master even a fragment, might drive men mad with desire. The legends were true, but they failed to tell that mortal women had first learned such arts from the daughters of Queen Triskelle.

"Faster," Ellie commanded, in the same throaty tone she might have said such a thing to a lover, and danced.

It was like and unlike the dance she had shared with Belial. (http://community.livejournal.com/neutral_omens/39256.html#cutid1) That had been a thing of the moment, spun for her own pleasure, and the Crown's participation had been no plan of hers.

This was a dance of seduction, deliberate and pure, devoid of any pretense of decorum. Every sweep of a limb drew the eye inward, toward her center, where even in the dim and flickering firelight the undulating motion of hips or belly or shoulders or the heavy-lidded intensity of her gaze caught and held it, whispering promises in a language well understood by anything that wore a male body.

Her clothes, scant as they were, stayed in place for the moment; but the ripple and shift of her body beneath made the constraining fabric seem an unnecessary adornment at best, an impediment at worst. Ellie's sultry smile turned the dare back on her strange little audience, silently asking who would be the first to join her, and perhaps correct that small oversight.

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

Being the drummer, one always felt like a part of the dance--Hermes wanted to dance with her though--Ellie was everything he wanted right now: she was kind, and gentle, and beautiful with her generous cuves.

Mesmerised but still holding a rhythm well--Apollo had taught him better than to let his hands get distracted--he watched her form admiringly in the light. The swell of her belly, the curve of her thighs, the expression of entranced concentration as she went from thinking to feeling. He longed to dance with her.

It wasn't just that Ellie was pretty to look at, and could entice physical desire; no, Ellie was beautiful INside to, with her kindness and sense of humour, and the way she talked to Hermes. She made him feel...like he was worth something.

Hermes stopped drumming quite suddenly and got up to dance, leaving the drum to be snatched by a black half-snake, who coiled around it and started the rhythm up again as her white sister slithered up to Crowley, sitting rather near him.

~"Happy spring,"~ she hissed, grinning. The tip of her tail brushed against his leg. ~"Wanna fuck?"~*

Hermes looked adoringly at Ellie as Melantha got her bearings with the drum.

"Please miss Ellie, may I dance with you?" he asked, his aura a little bit warm and rosy from shyness.

_______________________________--
*Snakes are straightforward creatures, unless you ask them for advice.

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Ellie laughed low in her throat and spun close to the comely, youthful god--very close, bringing her face to within scant centimeters of his--and murmured teasingly, "Need you ask, sweet Hermes? It's your party, is it not?"

With that, she twined her fingers in his golden hair and kissed him boldly, slightly drunk with the dance and the awareness of the interest rising around her. A feast after a famine--she wondered if that sneaky little Horseman had been exerting his own influence in an arena where Adam might be less likely to notice, or if she just hadn't been trying hard enough.

She lingered long enough to leave no doubt as to her own interest. But then, too flush with energy to remain in one place for long, she broke the kiss and twirled away toward where Crowley had just jumped up and gave every indication of intending to join in as well.

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Mesmerized, Crowley watched the firelight softly caress Ellie's gracious curves as she slid through the night, carelessly erotic. Forget being male or male-shaped. No one could have seen that dance and been unaffected. In Crowley's case, it manifested in his body as a coiled throbbing in his groin that matched the beat of the drums. Vaguely aware of being addressed, he looked at the white snake near his foot.

"No. I want to dance."

Feeling powerful and energetic, he stood, kicked off his shoes, tossed his jacket to the ground and loosened his tie before stepping close to the succubus and matching her rhythm with his own sinuous moves.*

Crowley hadn't been out dancing for a couple of years, but it wasn't the kind of thing that one forgot. He remembered the smoky nightclubs where he'd seduced so many young men and women by the simple sway of his body, inducing lust while siphoning his own tension away. It was really no coincidence that he'd usually gone dancing after he'd left the angel's shop. Memories of brushed fingers and wine soaked lips had been danced away until he was so exhausted that he could no longer dwell on them.

But for now, he moved seductively, twining his limbs with hers so that it was difficult to see in the dim light where one of them ended and the other began. Their hips undulated in close proximity, making it impossible for her not to notice his erection.

They were beautiful together and they knew it, long, lean shadows gliding through the velvet dark. As the drums sounded a quick staccato beat, Crowley smoothly sped up his movements, dancing with graceful abandon as he caught her short denim jacket and snaked it down her lithe arms, pinning them momentarily. Then he seized her tiny skirt, a mere strip of fabric, and held it firmly while spiraling her out wildly. As the skirt tore off, Crowley flicked it through the air, looping it around her gyrating waist and pulling her in close once again.

*Anyone who says that a demon moves like a white band on Soul Train never saw Crowley dance.

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

The kiss had stunned him, and when he came to (so to speak) he saw her dancing with Crowley. A pang went through him--so I was just someone to be distracted? He shook his head to banish the thought. No, he wouldn't think that.

Travelling to the other side of Ellie, he joined the two, his build making it easy to match Ellie's undulations. Me too he thought, trying to forbid any angry thoughts at Crowley--after all, he wasn't really angry, he was hurt and that was only because of a flittering 'maybe'. He wasn't Eros or anything, getting miffed at trifles. Softly he crept his hands up and down her back, enjoying her smooth skin. Soon his hands settled on her hips--beating Crowley's there.

The Messenger leaned agaisnt Ellie as the beat became less frantic, nuzzling the nape of her neck and shadowing her hips with his own--but never touching.

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Slightly breathless at the unexpected intensity of Crowley's response--of the three of them, she honestly hadn't expected that, not from him, though she couldn't help a small thrill of triumph; she hadn't lost the old touch after all--Ellie was also keenly aware, as Hermes nuzzled up behind her, of the bruised feelings she had inadvertantly caused.

She didn't want that; nobody should be hurt here. Including those not present, she reminded herself with a pang. Such pitfalls were unfamiliar and unsettling. She wasn't used to having friends, in the plural, with hearts of their own to be mindful of.

Giving way to old, bad habits had painted her into a corner. She wanted them all, achingly so, each powerfully desirable in his unique way. But one of them she simply couldn't have, period, and none of them deserved to be used so carelessly. Particularly poor Hermes, who had somehow come down through the centuries lacking the emotional armor the rest of them had so painstakingly acquired.

How to extract herself without causing further injury, though...thinking quickly, she tugged at Crowley's necktie, drawing him down to whisper, "I think I know an angel who'll be very happy tonight," and deliberately shoved away from him--not without a pang of regret, and not hard; just enough to put a little bit of distance between them and snug her up closer against Hermes. Mischievously, she flipped the loosened tie over his head and took it with her, just because she could. Sky-clad was all well and good, but she'd liked that skirt*.

Leaning back to fit herself closely to Hermes' splendid body, she said over her shoulder as she matched her movements to his, "Don't be hurt, sweetheart. There's the whole night before us. No need for anyone to feel left out." The words were pitched to carry to where Odin watched, as well. Though he hadn't joined the dance, his interest reverberated clearly across the short distance.

Men, she thought wryly. One minute you couldn't turn their heads with a pipe wrench, and the next you were beating them off with sticks...and why hadn't the odd little blonde girl joined in? A little competition would actually be welcome right about now.

Feeling silly with nothing but a halter top on now, she took a second to peel that off as well. If the boys didn't follow her example, she'd just have to see to it herself...

---

*And was secretly and recklessly hoping it would encourage him to continue disrobing. Old habits did indeed die hard.

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

Hermes was delighted, and whispered, "Skin!" happily, doing away with his own clothes. "Mmm..." He nuzzled her anew, hugging her from behind. A soft kiss graced Ellie's neck. Now that he was naked, one could see (or feel) the lithe muscles of his lower body. Long hands splayed wider on her hips.

The beat grew insistent, and Hermes moved away from Ellie, sitting down to add to the music with his lyre, blue eyes glued to her. She was much lovlier than any of the goddesses or nymphs or anything...and she's kind, too! he thought with a dreamy little smile.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

Luna sat and stared, fascinated by the succubus's smooth movements. She could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks. Of course she'd been told about the birds and the bees - her father had spent a rather ackward after trying to explain it to her before she finally realised what he had been trying to get at, and assured her father that 'she knew all about it - she'd been observing the birds and the bees for quite some time now.'

Power radiated from Ellie, self-assured, and Luna was not surprised when first Hermes, then the man(-shaped being) with the sunglasses joined her. Dark, throbbing, sinuous flows swelled and ebbed with the beat of the drum.

Luna blinked when Ellie kissed Hermes, and licked her lips unconsciously; wanting, but not knowing what or how or why or when.

Her blush came out in its full glory when Crowley ripped Ellie's skirt off, and deepened when she took off her top. Luna released the breath she did not know she had been holding when Hermes shucked off his own clothing, leaving it on the ground. Pressing her lips together, and hoping that she hadn't made a sound, Luna closed her eyes. Almost against her own volition, she felt herself stand up, and the world whirled around her.

Luna began to dance.

At first it was a dance of mimicry, seeing how much of Ellie's smooth movements she could copy, but soon she was dancing on her own. Drumbeats and the soft sigh of the strings urged her on, at first slowly, then surely as she danced the dance of the innocent, the dance of the pure, the dance of the Virgin. The dance of awakening, and of life. For what else could be more fitting, at the beginning of the new year?

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Crowley hadn't cared when Hermes jumped into the dance. He had no interest in Ellie apart from the physical immediacy of the moment and was too wrapped up in himself to notice the god's jealousy. Yes, he'd admit to a temporary attraction, but there was only one being he would truly dance with and he wasn't here.

After being gently shunned by the succubus, Crowley got intimate with the music instead, feeling it flooding through him as he moved; his body playing a complicated syncopated harmony to the unheard melody. The demon left himself behind, pulling off his shirt so as to channel the music without hindrance. He was nothing more than a conduit now for rhythm, for the essence of something greater than himself. For a brief frenetic moment, it felt almost like having the Presence back again. Almost.

[roadkill-god.livejournal.com]

Horus had been watching the gods and demons from the sidelines, just out of the flickering firelight. He could see the dancing, the driving drumbeats reminding him of older times, and for once trying to remember didn't hurt. Abruptly one of the shadows cast by the fire changed shape and slid deeper into the trees. Once hidden by the trees, for the first time in centuries, Horus danced.

[allfather-odin.livejournal.com]

There were two reasons that Wednesday didn't get up and dance with Ellie. The first was: he much prefered to watch Ellie's lithe and sultry movements than to try and accompany them.

The second reason was: Wednesday didn't dance. In his pantheon, the closest things he had ever done to dancing were sex and shamanic trance. While there was nudity here, and he was hoping to get laid later, he felt that the shamanic trance bit was probably a little more welcome rather than him suggesting an orgy.

So it was through the veil with him. Behind the scenes. He went back to his room quickly, digging in the bottom of his chest. He returned to the feast practically within the blink of an eye. In his hands he held his ancient noaide drum, the one Freyja had given him when she had taught him seidre. It was not perhaps the right use for the instrument now, but somehow he figured Freyja, wherever she was, would approve of it being used in this wild dancing.

Settling himself a little ways away from Hermes (Seidre often innvolved same-sex coupling, but Odin still felt a little uncomfortable cuddling up to the blue-skined naked god) Wednesday began to play, his hands caressing the ancient reindeer skins to rhythms that hadn't been heard for centuries. As his beat blended with Hermes', he raised his voice in song:

Gáttir allar
áður gangi fram
um skoðast skyli,
um skyggnast skyli,
því að óvíst er að vita
hvar óvinir
sitja á fleti fyrir.

Gefendur heilir,
gestur er inn kominn,
hvar skal sitja sjá?
Mjög er bráður
sá er á bröndum skal
síns um freista frama. *

*Lines from the Hávamál