A/N: Wow. I just checked my reviews and found 13 entries, many of them left by people with MUCH better stories than mine! Thanks, you guys...I feel so loved. Here's the next chapter, as quickly as I can type it.
Jess: 37,613 points! But, hey, the points don't matter, just like keeping my seeecret now that everyone's calling me out. I still got a few trickseses, but I'm not pulling any punches with Eris, so read on. These are my best jokes, though, so you must be warned that the comedic genes skipped me.
And FOREVER: Cool name! Thanks for the compliments!
aranelisse: Bonus points, too! I guess I left too many hints...But thanks for the constructive criticism. I really only wrote that chapter so I could write the rest of the story, and at times, I just want to toss the whole thing in the shredder, so I'm quite aware of clunkiness. I'm glad you like it, though.
Biskuits: You really think I'm good at dialouge? Wow, I'd put that down as my greatest weakness, especially for Grim, because if I write him without it, it'll sound OOC, but that means I have to say everything out loud to myself in the world's WORST Jamacian accent before I write it. Trust me, you don't want to hear it. Don't worry, I will not get bored with this story. All these wonderful reviews seem to make my muse work overtime.
anime-raven: I really didn't mean to snap at you, but I actually work better in small chunks, and I don't think I'd get the right effect if I posted long chapters. Hey, thanks for saying something, though.
Finn Mac Cool: Heh...not exactly...But that's an...ahem...interesting way of veiwing things...Thanks for the comment about getting into Mandy's head. This wasn't even nessacarily meant to be centric on her, but that's just the way things ended up turning out. I think I just sort of naturally write semi-angst for charactors who are dissatisfied with their situations in life but aren't exactly sure how or what to change, and I also admire Mandy's strength and control, and I just keep writing for her. I'm glad you liked Grim's piece in the last chapter. I always got the impression he had a mild case of Stockholm syndrom, too. (That's what it's called. I only know that from reading Artemis Fowl, though...)
I have to say, I can't recall ever getting as much sadistic joy from torturing a charactor as I did from this chapter. I believe the title, "The joys of Karma," says it all.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Eris kicked back at one of the cheap plastic food court table at the Endsville Mall, leaning back on two legs of the filmsy chairs in a way that would have just begged retribution from vengeful Murphy and his dreaded law had she been anyone other than the very holder of such exquistie powers of irony.
Idly, she glanced at the headlines of someone else's folded paper before a spilled cup of coffee "happened" to render the print illegible. Natural disasters, crimes, car accidents. Work was such fun...
"Eris." A flat tone called her name emotionlessly.
"Huh?" the goddess articulated gracelessly, casting about for a moment until her gaze settled on the blonde teenager who had seemingly appeared from nowhere in front of her table.
"Oh, it's you," Eris said with distain. "What do you want?" She'd had a bit of a running rivalry (at least in her own mind) with Mandy for quite some time now, harboring a major grudge against a prank on the trickser goddess herself. Eris still liked to find any and every oppertunity to exercise her prowess on the girl or her companions.
"I need a...favor," Mandy replied at length.
"A favor?" Eris laughed. "What makes you think I'd do you a favor?" The goddess was nearly in hysterics when the mortal pulled out her coup-de-grace with her usual appereciation for dramatic effect.
"This," she stated simply, holding something out to the goddess, within view but out of reach.
Eriss soberedin mid-laugh when she realized Mandy was holding the Apple of Discord.
"Wha? How did you-" She trailed off, at a loss.
"That's not important right now. I need you to do something for me. Then I might give you your toy back."
"No," Eris whined defiantly, crossing her arms like a spoiled child.
Her chair tipped completely backwards as Murphy's Law operated under the command of its new mistress, dropping Eris on the ground in an unceremonious tangle. Mandy glared down at her victim.
"We can do this the easy way of the hard way, Eris." She paused, again for effect, then continued:
"The hard way's a lot more fun."
ooo
"Fine," the goddess sniffed, clamoring to her feet. "What do you want from me?"
"Passage to Olympus. And back."she clarified.
"Drat...I could've had fun with that...So whom do you wish to see?" Eris asked, raising an eyebrow.
Mandy's tone never wavered as she spoke the name of the deity with the expertise in the area of her problem:
"Aphrodite."
"Aphrodite? The Goddess of Love?" Eris asked increduliously, dissolving again into laughter. "Aww...What's the matter? Do you have a cru-"
CRASH!
Eris bit her tounge hard as she slipped on a puddle of grape soda that managed to be both sticky and slippery at the same time, despite the fact that she hadn't moved from the perfectly dry spot she had earlier inhabited. The taste of copper and salt filled her mouth and she looked ignominiously up at the teenage who now stood menacingly above her, silently reiterating exactly who was holding the power here.
"Just. Do. It." Mandy's tone was dangerously low, positively seething with barely contained rage. The goddes merely swallowed somewhat nervously and opened a dimensional rift. Arrogant and proud though she may be, even Eris knew better that to toy with the fully ticked girl.
Much.
"There you go," the Goddess of Chaos said with mock sweetness before muttering something incomprihensible under her breath.
"What was that, Eris?" Mandy asked with equally fake innocence as she raised an eyebrow.
"I said...go fall in a ditch," Eris covered quickly, indigent.
"I thought so." Mandy stepped into the rift, which neatly sewed itself back up and dissappeared, leaving the once high and mighty goddess still sprawled on sticky mall floor, nursing soaked purple clothes, several bruises, and severe ego damage. Still, she was luckier than some who had crossed Mandy before.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
A/N: Heh...wasn't that fun? I don't really have a problem with Eris in general, but I'm pretty big on the theme of karma and irony, which really comes through here. This it a bit of a devience from the tone of the rest of the story, but hey...I had fun. Now I need to buckle down, and write actually write the next chapter this weekend, sandwiched in between writing SIXTEEN PAGESof rough draft for my research paper on mythology. It's fitting, though.
Demi
