Part of the Crowd

The grand hall looked majestic. Athena had changed the decorations to reflect the grand opening, and had made the tapestries even more intense, depicting more of the gods’ glories than anything else. Soft lights adorned the tops of the walls and the long banquet tables were set beautifully. Ari had had name plates made for each invited, and everyone invited was from everywhere. There were some tags, Toby realized, that were not even in the English language.

Toby was mingling with everyone. There was anyone above the age of sixteen it seemed, all dressed in elegant costumes. Just how many children could gods father in a lifespan of a human? It wasn’t like there were hundreds of gods. But there were hundreds of people present. He knew that Ari had bewitched the grand hall to make it accommodate everyone.He looked quickly at the automatic check list in his hand. Ari had explained to him that not everyone would come, most likely, and so she had created a check list. Anyone that didn’t come would be brought later on, for a second round of introductions and explanations.

“You ready to go up there and start things off?” Ari’s voice came behind him. He had just finished speaking to a Japanese woman and welcoming her. There were a lot of Asians.

“Um, no. Not really. Some of these people don’t even speak English.”

“There are headphones for those who won’t understand you. And a translator near by. If they have questions.”

“All this god technology and we can’t consolidate languages?”

“I don’t want to make these people freak out too badly on their first date.” Ari told him.“As it is, Chaos is probably going to reign for a while, if you know what I mean. That’s why we have crowd control.” Ari pointed to the corners of the room, where the nymphs stood as body guards. Large, very male, body guards.

“Okay, understandable. Hey, you better introduce me or something.” Toby said.

“Introduce you to who? There’s millions of them, it seems.” Ari said, laughing.

“I mean introduce me as the speaker. I can’t have any respect if I don’t get introduced.” Toby pointed out to her. “And plus, I’ve never been introduced. Hell, I’ve never had to give a speech before. So there’s lots of first times for me.”

“Okay. Here’s the deal. I’ll introduce you to everyone if you promise not to bitch at me later on. For the whole process.” Ari winked at him.

“Deal.” Toby agreed. He looked at his watch anxiously. “Its nearly seven. How do we get people to take their seats?”

“Like this.” Ari nodded to him. “Come with me.”

Toby followed the slightly luminous figure of Ari through the crowd of people in the grand hall to the front of the table and room. The materialized a gong in the front and winked at him. She took the large mallet and struck the gong. Silence immediately reigned over the crowded halls. Ari stepped up to the microphone.

“The ceremonies will begin in five minutes. Please find your seats. One of our staff can help you if you are unable to do so.” Ari managed to get out with squeaking or otherwise disrupting the microphone’s sound.

“Wow.” Toby commented as he smiled at all of the people staring at them, taking a moment to comprehend what had just been said, “I thought the whole being a goddess thing would make you above the use of a microphone. Apparently not.”

Previous Chapter: Toby's First Day
Next Chapter: Welcome To Choice
Go Home: Go To Title Page