TracerBulletBilly: The Oddity - Olympos

Book Three: Olympos

Hands on hips, glaring at Aphrodite-Grace She says, "What the holy hell is going on?! If Tracer-Achilles is in denial ..."

Aphrodite-Grace laughs, arising from Her office chair, She casually waves a hand over the chatroom monitor, the 200 IMs and PMs she's running having them all indicate She'll "brb." She knows that Hera-Ally would have never interrupted Her during the most sacred of Goddess activities the call.

She faces Hera-Ally and calmly asks Her, "Why Goddess Queen surely You don't mean what You say. Are You questioning My abilities and therefore Yourself in placing Me on this fair Olympos? Of course neither Billy-Odysseus or Tracer-Achilles are on denial! Not since the one and only time they did it without My permission and single handedly sacked Troy! Noooooo, denial is not for those two! Oh, by the way, I'm having a good, light day, only 36,454 emails to answer, 7,235 from billy-Odysseus himself and 12,000 or so blog comments to make."

"That is light!" says an envious Hera-Ally.

Both Goddesses exit Aphrodite-Grace's office and languidly stroll down the fine marble hallway to the large Goddess chatroom. This is a place where the Goddesses take breaks, drinking fine ambrosia and relaxing, knowing here they can speak their minds freely and openly discuss ideas.

Both Goddesses lay back on couches of the finest, softest leather. They greet the myriad other Goddesses in the room and watch the five hundred pets working their way through rocky terrain about eight miles from their objective, a large warehouse stuffed to capacity with thin mints, on a wall sized viewing monitor.

Hera-Ally addresses Aphrodite-Grace, "So what did Tracer-Achilles mean when he said, It's not about the thin mints, not anymore. I had to pretend I knew what the hell he was talking about since I'm a Goddess. That annoys me to no end! I nearly vaporized him on the spot! And would have if the Moirae hadn't intervened, decreeing this must run its course."

Aphrodite-Grace solemnly replies, the mention of the Moirae weighing heavily on Her heart, "I don't have a clue as to what gets into those boys heads from time to time, particularly Tracer-Achilles and Billy-Odysseus's - those two ... " She giggles.

"Difficult?"

"Noooo, but they have to be managed..." Aphrodite-Grace smiles at some memory she chooses not to share. Quietly she asks, "Must this run it's course?"

"You know we're powerless against the Moirae. I'm told Atropos has already severed two of the threads with her abhorred shears and now merely waits for us to choose those who shall live before continuing her grim work."

"We may choose only two per Goddess with pets on the field to live? Only two? It's not fair! What would happen should I select another?"

Hera-Ally looks shocked, her beautiful pale skin goes pallid, "You would risk Khaos? Our very destruction?"

"Of course not, but I dearly love my boys and this is a cruel burden."

Other Goddesses are showing interest in the conversation and begin to join in the discussion ...

Here gentle reader I must break the flow, your tentative writer must invoke the muses. I am going to enter a minefield of complications. I wish to explore how pets are viewed by the Goddess-Mistresses. As you know I am very close to MsGrace, I need to make absolutely clear that these are my thoughts I have not consulted with Her or any other Mistress at LDW. I just find this topic interesting, but there is no agenda, but I hope for comments to clear up any misunderstandings I may have. This is my story - there were no coauthors. For that reason I am dropping names, I will not lay words at particular Goddess-Mistresses feet. It's the topic, not who says what that intrigues me. OK, I've stalled enough - here goes ...

A goddess stirs from her lounger, "Come now, they are only pets. If they go there will be another toy to play with another bauble."

"Oh surely sister you do not mean what you say! Pets have value to us, they have so many alters to worship at, should they choose to linger among us should we not encourage them?"

"Well of course! And they are encouraged."

"Well what is a pet to you?"

"First and foremost a pet is one who stays. They might not like the moniker or even know they have it but unlike the many who trudge past our fair Olympos, make a call and move on in their dreary march to find whatever it is they are looking for, these stay, enjoying the divine pleasures we offer.

Secondly are the ones who enter our chatrooms and discuss their interests and play our games. They flit among us like bees pollinating flowers. Never settling down with one Goddess but enjoying all of us depending on their moods. They may even write stories about us, throw up blogs of tribute.

Thirdly are the exclusives. They choose a particular Goddess to worship and stay loyal either by allowing the Goddess to pick among us who they see or by simply choosing the Goddess exclusively, conversing with no other. Their devotion is total and their blogs are as focused as their fetishes."

"Are there no other types of pets? I think there is one more type of exclusive because as you defined it my sister falls short, the exclusive you mention may simply elect a particular Goddess without even the Goddess's knowledge he has done so. The exclusive I'm thinking of is more public and enters a mutual agreement with their Goddess. A pact if you will. There is a unique bond that forms over time but is occasionally immediately apparent. This bond is valued by both the Goddess and the pet, a friendship evolves. These pets are unshared by mutual choice."

A Goddess chimes in, "We provide entertainment, nothing more. We are compensated to listen and understand their needs."

"Think you so Goddess? What you say is certainly true but for any of us to reside here on this Olympos we must truly enjoy our work. The type of pets we attract have discerning ears and know through experience if we are fraudulent in our claims. However, In enjoying our work do we not then begin to enjoy our pets, all of them? Care for them, grow to need them as they need us? Is there nothing more?"

"The unshared are trouble!"

"They certainly require attention, but is it bad? Can not a unique relationship evolve from this lonely business? Must both the pets and ourselves become cynics? The pets and particularly the unshared must trust us and believe."

"Trust? It is a blind trust, we can withhold our attentions at anytime, grow bored with them, cast them aside when we please."

"But don't you speak of a double edged sword my sister? Does not the pet have the same options? Isn't the trust truly mutual? Earlier another Goddess spoke of all the altars a pet can choose from, temptations abound for them. Soft whispers of the false Goddesses of other sites, if we are not available when they need us. Those that remain loyal, who resist these myriad enticements deserve our loyalty in return, to believe us when we say we will not go, will not glance over them like yesterday's news, will continue to enjoy them with each passing year. We can only do this by example."

"The same 'example' applies to the pets."

"Trust ..."

Hera-Ally steps forward, "The five hundred approach, I will quantum teleport the redshirts and defectors between them and their objective as the Moirae decreed."

Aphrodite-Grace, smiling softly, "We must find a way to help the five hundred, even a little."

Hera-Ally turns to Aphrodite-Grace, "I know you would do this even without my blessing, but my blessing you have. Teleport to FridayFridayFoFriday and whisper in her ear about the map, do not let her see you ..."

FridayFridayFoFriday is carefully studying the map that Tracer-Achilles tossed on the ground awhile back. The five hundred are moving through rocky terrain nearing their objective. FridayFridayFoFriday calls out, "Holy Shit! Take a look at this!"

The previous war council including lbb-Agamemnon hunker around FridayFridayFoFriday. She's quite excited pointing to something on the map, "Just around the bend there might be a way for us to grab the cookies without being discovered." She looks at lbb-Agamemnon, "We'll need your Vulcan Spear of Vaporization though!"

The pets quietly begin to plan.

An hour or so later lbb-Agamemnon and jem-takenbyPrincessAphrodite return. Tracer-Achilles regards them, "How long do we have to hold them off to achieve our objective?"

lbb-Agamemnon replies, "We figure with a team of about one hundred, any more would just get in each others way, we could grab about half the cache."

"How long?!"

"Two days."

Tracer-Achilles studies the map, "It looks like about a half mile up the pass narrows dramatically, that will reduce their number advantage significantly. A good defensible position. I can't make out the name of the pass. Can you read it?"

FridayFridayFoFriday takes the map, "Thermopylae"

Tracer-Achilles grins his shit eating grin, "Good a place as any ..."