To keep the gods from warring one another, all interpersonal arguments and relations must be dealt with through formal council. Because the reasons for convening the Council are her own, Maka must host the gathering in her home. Maka sends word for the Olympians, with special invitation to Gaia as an important party concerned.

She puts extra effort into making the conference room bright and welcoming, as most of the Olympians are not fond of the gloom of Hades. A glance at her hourglass tells her she doesn't have much time left; catching up on her paperwork and registering new residents had eaten a lot of time, and Hermes had been especially slow in sending out the invitations, for some reason. Maka is searching through the nether to procure the last chair for the conference table just as Kim walks in, dressed and glittering in full regalia.

"Ah, sorry, I'm a little behind," Maka greets.

A stack of familiar formal summons flaps in Kim's hand as she gestures towards the conference table. "You don't need to bother with all this," she replies.

Immediately on guard, Maka slowly asks, "...Why?"

"Because I'm denying your request to convene."

After a beat of silent confusion, a multitude of emotions crash through the Queen of Hades, mouth hanging open as she stares at her sister. "I've been- I only have-" Her breath comes out in a frustrated woosh of air. "I thought you, of all people, would have supported this!"

Zeus waves her free hand, a flippant, overused gesture intended to calm Maka down, but Kim looks entirely too ageless and polished compared to the man Maka had been rushing around for the past several hours trying to earn the right to see again that it makes her that much more infuriated. "Don't get your panties in a bunch. Listen-"

"I don't know where my panties are! You started this! You're the one who set this whole thing into motion, and yet you're-"

Annoyed, Kim snaps her manicured fingers and Maka's mouth clamps shut, her lips sealed with crackling static. "Can you shut up when someone's trying to tell you a thing?"

With a glare, Maka easily cancels out the curse. "I'm offended that you'd use a spell on me that was originally created for Black Star."

"Well if you would let the Queen of the friggen Gods speak for five seconds-"
"Why are you denying my request?"

Leaning over in emphasis, Kim snarls, "Be-cause, the council literally can't convene. One of the gods you summoned physically can not enter Hades."

Maka stammers, dumbfounded. "Wh-what? I mean, I know a lot of them don't really like it here, but I've never forbidden the gods from entering."

"He's not forbidden," Kim says loftily. "He simply can't exist in this realm. The consequences would put the upperworld in jeopardy."

Staring at her sister cluelessly for several seconds (Kim rolls her eyes and sits in one of the conference chairs to wait it out), Maka eventually hazards, "...Wes?"

"Ding, ding, ding, you're a winner," Zeus deadpans, tossing the invitations on the table. "If the God of the Harvest changed time zones, all the crops and crap on earth would die. Not like, get frozen because he's had a temper tantrum, but like, die-die."

"...Oh."

"And," she says, opening a hand-mirror and applying lip gloss that appears to have been imbued with the stars, "if he was stuck in Council for a few hours- because let's be real: our meetings sometimes go on for decades- " she smacks her lips, snapping her mirror shut, "all of mankind would die out. That, or turn into raving cannibals. Mortals are freaky that way."

Slowly sinking to another empty chair, Maka perches on the edge of the seat, at a loss. If she can't host a Council in a place with a different time zone, she'll have to send out a request to have it held in the mortal realm, which would probably get thrown back in her face with a big immortal laugh because convening last-minute on Earth would doubtlessly cause some catastrophe- the gods have never been good about behaving in front of mortals.

She runs her hands through her hair and realizes, as her fingers get caught, that it's still done up in intricate, formal braids for the meeting. She deflates, shoulders slumping forward.

"What am I supposed to do? He's been waiting two years and I have nothing to show for it."

Zeus makes a face. "You're a goddess, you don't have to prove anything to men," she says, incredulous. "What can a mortal expect in two years, anyway? That's like, not even a full workday."

"He doesn't expect anything," Maka says, voice cheerless. "I promised I would see him. I was just hoping… Urgh."

Kim scoffs, looking slightly nauseated in the wake of compassionate feelings. "Alright, enough already. I guess I'll have to once more remind you what a good sister I am."

Curious, she watches Kim dig in the front of her robes, pulling a golden coin from her cleavage. (Somehow, Maka is not surprised.) Zeus blows on the metal, stirring it up with magic until it begins to spin, twirling so quickly that it hums in the air. She tosses it carelessly over her shoulder, as if making a wish at a fountain.

"I made arrangements," she sing-songs with a pleased smile as the golden coin snaps to the ceiling of the conference room. A portal opens and a miniature sun beams a concentrated shaft of light onto the marble floor below. The polished stone ripples in the light of the sun, becoming liquid. Water bubbles from it, boiling and gurgling upward, and through the water bursts little handfuls of stone and dirt and gravel, which is, in turn, overtaken by shoots of thick grass and clover.

A sapling begins to stretch in the sunlight, branches unfolding with bright leaves and orange colored blossoms. It grows meters in moments, the flowers aging and bearing pale fruits that darken to a vibrant red. And though the trunk of the tree is only a hand-span wide, a woman steps out from behind it as if she'd been hiding there the entire time, holding a ripe pomegranate.

Her robes are darker than Tartarus, though when she steps across the small patch of grass around the tree, the lush hue is adopted by her clothes, the bottom hem bleeding green. The white gloves that come up to her elbows are likewise stained from the fruit in her hands, making her appear somewhat like a murderer caught in the act.

"Yo~"


Note: just a tiny little update today, but yay for a new character appearance! if you've been following my tumblr, you should know who it is pretty easily, haha

thank you so much for all your kind and wonderful reviews, and such creative fanart! i cherish them always.