Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lights....

Flashes....

Figures....

Lights and flashes and figures and... purple. Not the pretty purple of his hero, no. It was her purple. His crazy flailing had stopped briefly when she spoke to him, his body seemingly frozen like a deer in head lights. Oh gods she even spoke his name! Just the tone alone sent chills up his spine.

Shaking his head, he backed away as she came closer. Sweetie his back side, he'd rather hug a rock. It took all his might not to stare at her, his gaze instead focused downward. At least until he saw a flash of pink and his eyes trailed on the feather as it floated away. A cold sweat swept over him as he began to shake again, increasingly so until he was once again flailing about.

At least until his twin grabbed him and shook him. Blinking stupidly at Himeros, he nodded again. "Y-y-ye....ok." he quivered, scanning the crowd. At least Aglaia wasn't anywhere to be seen. Good. Please stay that way... oh but where was Mooooooom. The real mom....

Groaning, Pothos slipped over to the other side of the room, tip toeing AROUND the snakes as much as possible, not to mention other screaming flailing pae who by the way could really use a lesson on proper flailing, while starting to usher mortals out the door. Blinking as he caught a flash of familiar purple, he grabbed Vika, his once daring hero. "Mama's new man ain't worth it, lets book!" he shouted and tossed her out the door.... all the while slowly inching his way closer to the door as well.

Screaming...loud...the pain of it in her ears was enough to jar her even from staring at Adonis. Vika had nearly doubled over, hands over her ears, trying to get her bearings, figure out what was going on, did she run? Fight? Get away? Which direction?

Fortunately, her hero came to her rescue again. Pothos tugged her out of her stupor (quite literally as well), the motion giving her a direction to move as well as making the choice for her as she spotted the enormous snake creatures. By the dark forest...

Decision made, she looked towards the door where she'd been tossed, then turned back. Pae were rushing by all around, but she wasn't going to abandon her hero when he'd just saved her again. Reaching back, she took hold of Pothos' hand. "Come on! Let's go!"

Snakes.
It had to be snakes.
Not that Phaenna cared for snakes but this wasn't how the night was suppose to end. More so, where was mother? How long had she been missing? Had she been here at all? What was worst was he knew strong beings when he saw them and these snakes looked STRONG. This was bad. Really bad. Then there was Eris' threat. That really made his blood boil. He was helpless once again, just like last year under the mind control. To run away was simply cowardice but his back was against the wall. There was nothing he could do.

"KLETA! Get the mortals out first!" He snapped to his twin, but he was sure she already understood. Phaenna moved to get behind the last of the guest, turning around and keeping an eye on the snakes, backing away as the Pae moved. Least he could do was to make sure all the mortals got out before him.

Bree was charging ahead with a determined look on her face, not allowing anypae or crumbling of the building get in her way. She dodge screaming and flailing pae alike, apologizing for bumping or shoving some out of the way. She wasn't going to be a pushover this time, she was ready to get the heck out of there.

The screaming grew louder as the not Venus changed, Bree didn't catch this though. Her eyes were glued to the doors a few paces away from her and she was on a mission. She wasn't going to allow anything to distract her from safety. Not until the doors slammed open and two snake like Pae slithered their way in did she halt in her steps with a shriek. She had never seen anything like them! And she was glad she hadn't with the size of their fangs and weapons. She caught herself staring, unable to move from pure awe and fright of what she was seeing. Where had they come from?

Bree squeaked when Feral scooped her up, her cheeks going instantly red. She threw her arms around his neck, clinging as he flew them above the crowd. She wasn't new to flying, but definitely to this type. She squeezed a bit tighter, being mindful to not choke the poor guy. “Watch it, oh careful...” she commented as they tried to make their way through the crowd that was just continuously becoming a raging mass, anyone taking to the sky or pushing through the crowd. Any way they could to freedom and safety. She finally just buried her face into his neck trusting him to take care of it himself.

She peeked out behind them to look at the woman responsible for this. For someone causing such a freak out she was beautiful. As scared as Bree was, she felt a twinge of pain as she wondered what had happened to this being that she chose this path for her life. She didn't know a thing about the purple Pae, but she wished there was something she could do for her sake. Something must have happened to her in her life that brought her to this point, something that was causing this mess now. Had it been different for her would it have been different for them?

Eros snarled.

Eris.

"I knew something was up," he murmured, to Phaenna, who had come over previously. He didn't see any signs of Kleta, but it seemed that Phaenna did, already shouting for her--or his, tonight--twin. Good. The Spartan Graces were mobilizing as he knew they would. "Defend the mortals!" He shouted to her, looking around. "Things are going to descend into chaos fast around here and we absolutely need to get everyone out--"

Was his brother shouting over him?

Eros' eye twitched. That was his responsibility as the leader of the Erotes, not Himeros'... Still, this wasn't the time to get into petty bickering about who was the boss. He was helping, so, for the moment, his own barked orders would stand. There was no real point in Eros trying to cause any more problems than there were already with the return of Eris.

What happened to his mother? It seemed odder and odder that she declared she needed to check something out and she would be right back. Had she been lured--

To all the Erotes and Graces, Eros flew over to them, giving them his commands.

"Do not engage Eris. I repeat, do not engage. We will not be able to challenge her. The best we can do is protect the mortals and protect each other. Clear them out and protect. Defend as much as possible but do not be afraid to retreat if needed."

He felt bad for his mother's temple but ...

What else could they do? Even he had fallen to her spell in years prior.

Even with his wings, getting out was proving difficult. Many others had had the same idea and were colliding in their panic to try and get out the door. Some were trying to play hero when the before mischiefs makers were already seeing to that. Feral would leave the heroics up to them, it seemed more their line of duty, after all, judging from that purple one's words, they were related. Yet even still, they seemed powerless without their so called Venus and she was still no where to be seen.

"Hold on tight Bree, it may get rough." he said, though the words were more for himself. The fae was clung so tight around his neck, he couldn't drop her even if he wanted too. Not that he did. But the packed spaces were proving difficult to maneuver, and in attempts to not hurt Bree, himself, or others, he had to often hit the breaks quickly.

The only time he purposefully hit the breaks was once he had shot outside. He paused long enough to set Bree down on her feet so she could take to wing herself. It would be quicker that way. "C'mon, I don't think it wise to stick around this place a second longer...." he said, glaring inside before back at her. He knew when it was better to run then stand and try to make a difference.

As soon as the lights went off, Kleta had been on edge. She had quickly made her way through the darkness down a side hall and into a room where she had hidden her spear and shield in order to carry the bow instead that night. She wasn't supposed to need her spear and shield.

But the lights going out wasn't on the planned events list either, so it was better to be safe. The green goddess could hear the roar of thunder as she made her way back down the hall, and by the time she was back in the main room all chaos had already broken out.

She heard the call of her sister, more masculine sounding than usual but it was undeniably the voice of Phaenna. Get the mortals out, right. Kleta's eyes darted around the room trying to figure out what exactly happened in the short time she had disappeared.

Eris... of course. Kleta's eyes narrowed, but she couldn't pay attention to Eris now, they needed to get the mortals safe before they had a repeat of the year before. These sort of matters... really needed to stay in the family, no need to drag in innocents.

What the... At the other entrance to the room, Kleta could now see what everyone was moving away from. Massive, snake like creatures. Where in Telrunya had these spawns of hell come from? Her eyes darted back to Phaenna for one moment.

Kleta then heard Eros barking out commands and her attention turned towards him, still trying to keep the mortals moving and one eyes on the predators. Oh... she didn't need to be told twice not to mess with Eris. The best of warrior was not a match to her cursed magic.

"Stay calm mortals, everyone will get out." Kleta spoke as she began herding them with the other erotes, her spear pointed towards the outside. If they all began pushing and shoving, trying to get out first it would just make things worse.

Montana needed all of three seconds after the snakes appeared to make a dive for it. The panicked fae didn't care if anyone saw her, she went to the mirror she came from and dived right in. Only there was she safe, the worst that would happen was she would loose a window. For as long as she had it, the fae watched, now calm and passive.