Athena sipped her nectar. Her eyes darted around the room. She knew something had to go wrong this evening, even though she didn't know what yet. She thought of the past few years of Thanksgiving on Mount Olympus. People throwing turkeys, getting beaten with quivers, everyone in the room being bathed in punch. Athena shivered when she thought of all the fruit dripping from her hair. She sighed deeply. A long time ago, she had (stupidly enough) sworn to Poseidon that she would come every single year until everyone had been the cause of drama once. And seeing how Hestia was to sweet to ever anger someone, or get angry herself, Athena knew she was stuck going to the thanksgiving party forever.
From the corner of her eye, Athena saw that Ares was approaching. She straightened her back. Her we go again, she thought. 'Athena! Why are you just zstanding in zthis corner, alone without fwiends?' He asked, with a double tongue. Athena rolled her eyes. 'Go back to your stone and leave me alone, Ares.' 'That rhymed!' Apollo came running by. 'I never knew you had it in you to be a poet, Athena!' He yelled. Ares grabbed the god of poetry by his arm. 'I waz ztalking to Athena, Zunnyboy! He screamed, so loud that Demeter and Hermes turned their heads around and stopped squabbling about the right value for tulips. Apollo shrugged and grinned mischievously.
Athena power walked away from her brothers, feeling that there was a fight on the horizon. She didn't get far, because after a few seconds Hera announced that the first course was ready and that everyone had to come to the dinner table. Athena walked over to the table. She saw that there was a space next to Hestia, and started running. If you sat next to Hestia, it was guaranteed that everything would be less hectic - that was just the effect the goddess of the hearth had on people. Sadly enough, Hermes sprinted past Athena and sat down next to Hestia before she could. He pulled a silly face at his older sister, who was forced to sit somewhere else.
Athena looked around the room, only to realize that the only space left was in between Hephaestus and Amphitrite, the latter with her husband right next to her. With a dark expression, Athena sat down. Amphitrite shot her a look like Athena was the weirdest thing she had ever seen. Hephaestus didn't dare to look at her. Before anyone could say something, Zeus stood up, ready to give a speech.
'Fellow Olympians and other gods! I am happy to announce that all of us are here for thanksgiving again! Well, almost all of us, seeing as how Hades is still in the underworld, Persephone is there with him and I banned Dionysus, but that's not important!' Athena groaned and sunk deep into her chair. Her father's speeches might just be the worst thing about thanksgiving. They were always full of mistakes, seemed completely improvised and he insisted on giving at least three per Thanksgiving, while they gradually became more and more illogical as Zeus got more than a little tipsy.
When the king of the gods was finally done speaking, the first course magically arrived on their plates, and everyone started with their soup. The tension in the air was almost physical. Suddenly, Poseidon jumped up from his chair, and pointed at Nike, who was saying something to one of Janus's heads. 'Nike! You are gossiping about me! I see that you are pointing at me with that spoon!' Nike shot him a weird look. 'I wasn't. I was talking about the pumpkin pie for the last course, because that is each year really good.' Poseidon pulled his mouth open again, but closed it when he remembered that this was Nike and she would win the argument no matter what he said next.
After a few minutes of silence, some people started whispering, and that quickly turned into a lot of noise from conversations. Athena looked at the person sitting next to Hephaestus, which was Artemis. 'Arty, did anything happen in the forests this year?' Artemis rolled her eyes. 'Let me tell you about this weird running-in I head with a bunch of opera-loving freaks.' After a few minutes of talking, Apollo heard what his twin sister was saying. 'Arty, I send those to you as a gift! Did you really blast them to Australia?' Artemis gave him a weird look. 'Those things are your creation? Also, don't call me Arty.' 'They are, and I loved them! They can sing any opera you want!' Artemis gave him such a dark look that Apollo didn't start about them again, at least not until the next morning.
After the first three courses, the turkey finally arrived. Athena took a bite. It was just as tasteful as always, but something was of. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was of, just that something was. She took a sip of wine. That tasted completely normal (even though the quality seemed to go down every single year Dionysus was gone. Athena had the theory that it would be undrinkable by the time Dionysus could come back, as a form of petty revenge for banishing him). She tasted another bite of turkey, and realised what was wrong with it. She jumped up. 'Poseidon, you stupid fish, you poured seawater into my plate of turkey!'
Poseidon bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. 'Do you have proof, Athena?' 'There are four people at this table with control over the sea, and you are the only one who would try this kind of thing!' Athena bellowed. Poseidon shrugged. 'Sit down, both of you!' Demeter screamed from the other side of the table. Both Poseidon and Athena got ready to chew her out, but they heard a small cough coming from Hestia's direction. Immediately, they sat down and silently went back to their food. Hestia smiled, while Hermes was trying to contain his laughter.
After the desert, the gods that didn't have a pounding headache from different arguments and those five slices of pumpkin pie that were being thrown around walked over to the ballroom. Not that there was going to be a lot of (sober) dancing, but it was the room were everyone could stand in without being squished together. Athena looked around, sipping from her glass. She sighed, for what felt like the hundredth time that night. She put her hand to her hip, only to realize that she had in fact been hit with one of the pumpkin pie projectiles. She looked around the room.
In one corner, Aphrodite was making out with some minor god. Ares was picking a fight with Hermes and Apollo at the same time, while Artemis was screaming at them to stop and that they were making complete fools of themselves. Zeus was flirting with some nymph, which Hera had just noticed. Demeter was running out of the room, angrily wiping some pie out of her hair. In the middle of the room, Nemesis had picked up a tray of sausages - and she threw them all at Poseidon, who was holding something in his hands. Athena didn't even care to look at what it was. She walked out of the room, thinking that if the goddess of revenge must be angry that it meant Poseidon did something as well. Just as she left the room, a piece of sausage hit her in the head and stayed in her hair.
Athena was walking back to her palace, when she saw a dark figure sneaking around the palaces. She rolled her eyes. 'Dionysus, hey! I will keep silent about this if you let me eat thanksgiving dinner in Camp Half-blood next year!' She yelled. Dionysus stopped, and nodded at her. Athena grinned. Maybe next year, she could be free from everyone on mount Olympus during Thanksgiving.