Aphrodite didn't notice them at first.
She was sitting on a carved bench, surrounded by roses. A mirror was floating in front of her and she was adjusting her already perfect makeup. Theia was just grateful she wasn't up to anything illicit. That would be awkward.
"Um… hello?" Zoe stepped forward. Aphrodite ignored her. "Hello… Lady Aphrodite? I'm Zoe Nightshade? Here to talk to you about—"
The mirror fell to the ground, where it shattered. One million years of bad luck, Theia added to her notes.
"What did you say your name was?" The goddess demanded.
"Um, Zoe, and this is—"
Aphrodite was shaking her head sadly. "Too young," she muttered. "Too young to be taking the name of a Hunter."
"Um, that's not really the—"
"At least you finally managed to get Artemis off her high horse with your latest story—"
"—It's not—"
"And… what is THAT?" The last word was a shriek as she pointed at Theia.
"That's Theia," Zoe said. "She's a person."
"No. I mean what is she wearing? Good lord Zeus, that jacket is fit for a hobo. Look at that stain."
"Oh, yeah." Theia took off her jacket and waved it in the direction of Aphrodite, who recoiled. "George spat rat bones on me. No biggie."
"EW!" the goddess stood and ran. Zoe and Theia stared at each other for a second before running after her.
If it wasn't for the repeated shrieks they would have lost her. As it was, they finally managed to catch up a little after she stopped to fix her robe where it had gotten mussed during her flight.
"Where did you get that thing, anyway?"
Theia made a point of walking in front of her, making her look. "Sorry. No Abercrombie's on the fandom battle field. And the vomit is still fresh, so I haven't had time to—"
The goddess ran again, and again, they followed, coming out in a small clearing with two familiar people.
"Hey Storm, Sheva," Zoe said calmly, as if they had not just chased the goddess of love through a rose garden.
Demeter was smirking. "Sorry. I have an important assignment… elsewhere." And she promptly disappeared, leaving her gardening tools scattered about.
Aphrodite frowned. "No attractive males came to interview me?"
"Sorry," Sheva said, unsympathetic. "Just us obnoxious teenage girls."
"With a horrible fashion sense," Storm added helpfully. "Of course, I refuse to buy an article of clothing that is over ten dollars." Aphrodite pointedly looked away from Storm's Goodwill pants.
"Now… we were going to interview you on emotions and romance." Zoe said firmly.
"Oh. Well. Go ahead. Hey, do I get a picture?" She smiled, showing perfect teeth. Storm snapped a photo, just to make her happy, because they didn't let her upload photos on fanfictions.
"Emotions. So. Hmm." Aphrodite paused. "Emotion is what drives a story. It's highly unlikely that a twelve year old will be a fearless monster fighter. He's afraid. He knows he's not likely to turn thirteen. That's terrifying." She smiled knowingly. "He would be running away sometimes. It's a matter of survival. It surprises me the number of authors who think that a kid would be ready to die for his friends, because most of the time they won't be."
"Percy has that problem too," Storm reminded her, switching back to her macro lens.
"But Percy's cute."
Zoe put her hands on her hips. "Hello? Cuteness is not an excuse for a perfect character."
"Theia, put that in caps," Sheva added.
CUTENESS IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR FEARLESSNESS. NOTHING IS AN EXCUSE FOR FEARLESSNESS. IF THEY ARE CUTE THEY SHOULD BE LESS FEARLESS TO MAKE UP FOR IT. DO NOT GO ON AND ON ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER'S CUTENESS.
Storm turned away from them, and started focusing on a flower. No one else noticed.
"My point is that they need realistic emotions. If the character's mom dies, they're not going to be all 'oh look at this cool camp,' they're going to be really upset. For a long time. Same if one of their questers dies. They can't just move on all of a sudden. They will feel it." She sighed dreamily. "Think about how you would feel. And how what they're feeling influences the character. Everyone loves a good revenge story."
"Hello," Zoe said in a Spanish accent. "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
"Do you happen to have six fingers on your left hand?" Theia added.
"Exactly." Aphrodite still refused to look at her, lest she see the hobo jacket. "Basically, you need to make them feel. Depressed, joy, grief, fear. We want to be there inside their heads, not watching them on a movie screen." She paused another second. "There's nothing worse then a story lacking in emotions. And their emotions affect how they respond to others. A grief stricken teenager will either lash out or be quiet. But their behavior will reflect the turmoil within." She nodded, clearly liking the phrase. "The turmoil within," she said again.
"And they won't be completely self sacrificing either," Zoe commented.
"Yeah. Everyone is a little selfish." Theia made a note. "They should have a couple selfish acts, then, if one of the acts is horrible, they will feel guilty about it later. Or if they let their friend die to save themselves or something."
"Ah, guilt." Aphrodite almost swooned. "Guilt is amazing. So much potential! So tragic!"
"Ew…" Zoe made a gag face.
"Well, it is. There are so many plots that can be born out of guilt alone. " She smiled, as if imagining some epic tale.
"And then… you get to love. Love is what drives any story. It is the most important part. It is—"
"Cliché." Said a younger voice. Everyone turned to see a twelve year old appear on a path.
"Artemis?" Zoe bowed, and Theia and Sheva hastily followed suit. Storm realized what was going on a second later, and bowed as well, hiding her camera behind her back.
"I know you." Artemis frowned at Storm. "You're the girl that keeps torturing my hunters."
Storm shrugged.
"And you," Artemis addressed Zoe, "Made me have a baby."
"Don't worry, it's well written," Storm assured her, and Artemis looked a little less annoyed.
"Anyway. Romance does not need to be the main part of a story. There are many other things one could write about."
Storm and Theia added another section to their notes. The romance debate.
--
which will come in the next chapter. Sorry for the delay in getting this one out. I got a new novel idea and have been working on that. I only have a couple more chapters of this one to go.
Now, for your review replies. For some reason the previous chapter got deleted, and with it all the reviews. But I still have most of my email notifications, so yeah.
Drowning in Technicolor dreams: Yeah something went screwy with the word in this chapter. I think someone turned off the squiggly red lines on the school computers.
Luna Jackson: I have no idea what was up with the italics. I fixed it.
xXxXGaara'sOneAndOnlyXxXx: Um, no… not unless they were the girlfriend of a sparkly vampire. But klutziness is NOT a character flaw.
Olympus Grandur: Capitalization is important. I can't stress that enough. Lol. And yes I know. Again, the squiggly red lines somehow were turned off on the school computers. No idea who did it.
If you didn't get a reply it means I lost your review. I am really sorry about this, I really don't know what happened. I tried to fix the italics and everything disappeared. : - ( Hopefully I replied to most of yours on the actual review. If you said something urgent you can rereview the last chapter.