Three chapters down, two to go. Next one should be up in a couple of days at the latest.
ALSO! I actually clarified some of the context this time, albeit only as author's notes at the end of the chapter, but I am marking this as PROGRESS.
Dagflabbit.
[technically, homer probably owns these characters. riordan only has rights to sally.]
::Aphrodite makes an inconvenient deduction::
Sordid love affair or no, Poseidon's got a whole world worth of oceans, rivers, inlets, and streams to govern, and when nereids from the Prince William Sound arrive at the palace to plead for his assistance, wailing frantically about the 'inky darkness' blanketing the water and decimating all manner of local marine life, he deploys Triton, together with a legion of Cyclopes and a small fleet of hippocampi, to take stock of the situation, mount an investigation, and undertake all necessary and appropriate rescue and retaliation efforts on his behalf.
Amphitrite, who of late has been particularly vitriolic (understandably so after the awkward introductions he'd had to make when he'd brought Sally to the mermaid court and found his wife already there, visiting her cousins), volunteers to go with them, out of what she claims is "crippling concern for her sister nereids," though as she readies to depart she makes it patently clear that her actual interest in leaving has very little to do with vicarious distress or magnanimous purpose and quite a bit more to do with rumors of "the majestic and powerful and marvelously well-endowed" Oceanus vacationing near Alaska, which, now he's thinking about it, should probably bother him a great deal more than it actually does.
When he learns some few days later of the true scope of the catastrophe visited upon his ocean channel (a calamity the little mortal morons have attempted to write off as an 'unfortunate accident'), he embarks at once for Olympus to consult with both his perpetually grumpy brother and his irritating, offensively idiotic nephew –the former for permission to instigate some devastating 'unfortunate accidents' of his own, the latter for prophetic advice regarding where, exactly, he should visit his Divine Retribution, where it will have the fewest possible repercussions for the planet and, at the same time, do the most damage to the puny, feckless creatures so unapologetically wreaking havoc on his Venerable Mother's design.
Poseidon is in the chamber hall for all of five seconds before the one relation he's been purposefully steering clear of Olympus to evade shimmers into existence before him, graceful and mesmerizing and dreadfully penetrating as ever, with a special, secretive smile she grins with lips eerily like Sally's.
Aphrodite folds one delicate hand out before her to blow him a kiss, winking mischievously as she reorders the seating arrangement with hardly a thought, cheeks flushed and eyes fairly glowing with undisclosed rapture.
Now conveniently occupying the space next to his, she slinks on bare feet to her throne, dropping with centuries-sharpened elegance into the gossamer seat. Once she has settled, she flicks a tart glance over her shoulder at him.
"Brother," the goddess speaks, tone honeyed and sweet, "you reek of Forbidden Love." A little shiver of anticipation shudders through her, and Poseidon willfully checks the bubble of rancor threatening to rise within.
"Aphrodite," he acknowledges, patient, "any love I undertake is forbidden. I'm married, you will recall?"
"Pish posh, Fish Breath." She looks quite pleased with herself when he startles at the handle, failing to compose himself in time to avoid the sharpness of her shifting visage. "Give me some credit, will you? You've got the market cornered on slimy, scaly, and aquatic, no contest; but I'm the expert here on licentious vulgarity and scandal." Malicious cunning transforms her features yet again, and he remembers abruptly what he frequently forgets about Aphrodite: that beneath the fatuous frivolity of her disposition, she is woman of harrowing eloquence and incisive intuition, and furthermore, that she is a force to be reckoned with. "Oh, poo. Don't look at me like that, you great big teddy bear, you." She simpers. He frowns. "Come, Brother, tell me alllllll about it. I only want to help you, you know." Poseidon gazes at her, incredulous. For all her shrewd conspiring, he doesn't know that she has ever been able to conceal her own love affairs; he would rather avoid her publicly bungling his, as well.
"Well-intentioned though you may in fact be, and generous as the offer is," he begins diplomatically, wishing to incur as little of her wrath as possible, "I have no idea what you're talking about, and as such, have no need of your assistance, Cousin." The goddess of love and beauty glares murderously at him. One thing he has never forgotten of her is that she can't stand being out-of-the-loop, and more than even that, she despises being denied –anything, ever. "It's clearly slipped your mind that my brothers and I made an accord, for the sake of the mortal world—"
"—to be very, very careful not knock any poor girl up, yes I'm aware." Her lips slide into an easy smile. "Or to be very, very discreet about it if you do." Outrage overtakes him.
"Aphrodite, I would be careful with my assumptions--!"
"Brother," she silences him with marble cool, petal soft fingers pressed gingerly across his mouth, "I made no mention of The Pact because I hadn't realized it was…relevant." Poseidon realizes his mistake immediately, and deflates. "I don't recall the three of you proscribing adultery; you'd have fooled none of us with that. The only thing explicitly outlined as 'against the rules' regarding your dalliances was…the gift of progeny, if I recall?" School girl delight brightens her countenance, and this time the resemblance her face bears to Sally's is so striking he very nearly forgets who's really in front of him. "So why, Brother, why would you mention The Pact if you weren't intending to bestow some pretty young thing—but, that's silliness. You would never betray your brothers' trust, would you?" She flounces backward, elegant even in play, and Sally's eyes smile back at him. "Besides, the young Miss Jackson is far too young for the challenges of motherhood."
He's on his feet in an instant. Aphrodite was playing him for a fool; she knew, and had known, all along.
"You—" He begins, only to be cut off yet again, this time by the ear-splitting crack of thunder heralding the arrival of his golden-glorious asshat of a brother.
Apollo pops in right after him, flipping a compact mirror deftly shut as he does so, whipping the accessory out of existence when he turns a gleefully inquisitive look on the warring pair at the far end of the chamber.
"Who's too young for the challenges of motherhood?" The sun god pries, titillated. Zeus, beside him, cuts Poseidon a glower chock full of bloody, terrifying promise.
For one bleak moment, Poseidon is sure Sally Jackson's about to be an anonymous scorch mark on Montauk Beach.
Then Aphrodite is slapping a hand to her hip, leveling a brow at his nephew, and inexplicably Saving His Ass.
"Not that it's any of your business, Phoebus, but I'll have you know that your very own Uncle Fish Breath's son and heir has been cavorting with one of my mortal daughters." She turns back to Poseidon, eyes flashing. "After I made it explicitly clear that I had other plans for her, and that she was not to be touched." Poseidon slips smoothly into his assigned role.
"Triton is entitled to whatever vapid harlot from your brood he desires, Aphrodite—"
"Poseidon." Zeus rebukes, still glaring, though now for a different reason entirely. Poseidon swells with relief. "Have a talk with your brat, will you? Tell him to keep it in his…tail, or wherever it is your lot keep such things; there's no need for these meaningless hostilities." Says the poster child for both infidelity and wanton wrath. Zeus pans his gaze toward Aphrodite. "Venus, if you'll excuse us. We have business."
Apollo looks knowingly from the goddess of love to the god of the sea, and Poseidon pretends he doesn't notice. Aphrodite sweeps Zeus a low bow and then shifts the Earth shaker a menacing grin.
"We are by no means finished with this, dearest Brother. I will contact you regarding this matter very soon, rest assured. I hope our next meeting will find you by far more gracious." She smirks, dangerously, and then soundlessly vanishes, leaving behind only the lingering perfume of roses and pomegranate.
When Poseidon looks back at his brother, he startles to find something like rueful commiseration on Zeus's face.
"Just give her what she wants, Brother. Last time I tried to pawn off a goddess's daughter, Demeter nearly starved the entire planet. Terrifying, our women." Then, advice dispensed, "Now, to this Destruction of Mortals business…"
Some notes on this chapter: the events referred to at the beginning of the fic are drawn from REAL LIFE (dun-dun-dun), an off-shore incident near Alaska known as the Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill, which devastated the Prince William Sound and a fairly huge surrounding area in early 1989 (for the sake of this fic we must move the events from March to somewhere amidst the summer months), followed by several rather terrible natural disasters all throughout the 90s. Which is true of any decade, I suppose, but I have used these HORRIFYING TRAGEDIES for my own selfish purpose. Wooooo!
Also, Poseidon's 'venerable mother,' is of course, referring to Mama Earth. (Even though, technically, Rhea --not Gaia-- is his mother.)
And! Regarding the 'brother/cousin' business between Aphrodite and Poseidon...it's difficult to discern their precise relationship based on their respective mythologies; if anything, Aphrodite probably qualifies as more of an aunt to Poseidon than anything else. But I figure familial relationships have to be pretty fluid and arbitrary where the gods are concerned, anyway, what with them always having sex with each other and all. So. There's that.
Lemme know if ye' need anything else cleared up. I realize I'm Very Bad about spelling things out.
NEXT CHAPTER: poseidon exhibits a fondness for cosmetology. sally is an unflappable badass. amphitrite explores oceanus's endowments.