I am the god of dips and wine (Dio)

[Apollo]

Apollo was having a bit of crisis, it was the kind of crisis that he was not comfortable with and now more than ever he wished that Auntie Aphrodite was here…or even Artemis….

He was fairly certain he was in love. Like actual proper real love. Not just that passing love that came along with the chase, but real, head over heels deep down painful, tragic, love. This was not good. It was not good for him and it was definitely not good for the object of his affections. He hadn’t even seen that damned brat about the place, how had one of his arrows found him? Unless this had nothing to do with the brat…could it be…was it in fact…true…lo-

“Wine…I need wine…” he said as he rummaged around the cupboards of the Staff room.

It seemed like the best place to find wine, teachers always had wine, right? He probably should have started in the kitchen but he hadn’t been thinking straight (not that he tended to think straight) and had headed straight for the Staff room.

“Where is all the wine?!” he whined, his head in a cupboard, not hearing the door open behind him.

[Dionysus]

It was like the word summoned him. Which, let's be honest, it kind of did. He had been taking the school in, checking out the drama department and the auditorium, and getting a student list from the administration. He was going to put on the most spectacular show this school had ever seen, and every student was going to take part. Possibly just in the chorus, because, obviously, Dionysus was going to play the lead role. And all the other roles. Hell, he was just going to do a one-man version of 'Grease'. And it was going to be glorious.

He heard someone calling for wine as he opened the staff room door and grinned - it was the perfect set up for the perfect entrance. Sweeping into the room, arms outstretched, Dionysus plastered his most charming smile on his face and took a deep breath.

"Did somebody call for wine?" He called out in a singsong voice, looking around the room. And then his eyes fell on the one who was looking for wine.

"Oh. It's you." His arms dropped to his side and a sullen look appeared on his face. "Sorry, can't help."

[Apollo]

At the sound of the singsong voice he shot up, only to realise that his head was still in a cupboard and would have banged it against the top if he wasn’t a God with significant amounts of strength. So instead when he had stood up his head had crashed through several of the shelves above the one he was looking in causing a few priceless glasses and a decanter to go crashing to the ground.

Wait. He recognised that voice.

He turned around. “Dionysus?” he said, hope filling his tone, “DIONYSUS!”

He grinned and walked towards his baby brat of a brother, arms outstretched and said, “oh come now Dio, you must have some wine on you. Don’t you have some wine for your big brother?”

[Dionysus]

He rolled his eyes as Apollo managed to smash half the room up by just moving. The other gods had no decorum whatsoever. Not like Dionysus, who was the height of sophistication and elegance. He considered backing out of the room quietly while Apollo was distracted by all the smashing, but his moment's hesitation was just too long.

He folded his arms across his chest and stubbornly looked away from Apollo, nose in the air. "I don't just carry around bottles of wine, Apollo. What do you think I am, some kind of ass?" He scowled at his brother. "As in donkey - don't you even go there." He said quickly, pointing a finger in Apollo's face.

Moving over to the counter, he picked up one of the few unbroken glasses, and held it under the faucet, turning the tap on and smirking as red wine poured into the glass. Turning the tap off, he moved away again, sipping the wine and smiling at Apollo.

"Mmmm, delicious."

[Apollo]

Why was he surrounded by bratty little brothers?! First Hermes, now Dio. Why had he been dropped into this nightmare?

He had grinned and been about to open his mouth when Dionysus cut him off. He pouted.

“But you always have wine, it’s like your thing,” he whined, because when one is in the pursuit of wine one is usually whining.

His current pout only intensified as Dio then went over to the tap and started pouring himself a glass of wine straight from it. Apollo frowned and said, “oh come on! Would it really hurt to give just one glass? Pleeeeeeeeeease?”

What he really needed was so leverage, it was the only way he could get what he wanted with Dio, he grinned, and then rearranged his features so that he looked utterly crestfallen, “fine…fine…whatever you say. I mean…I was going to ask Melpomene to assist us with the costumes for the show, and she was so looking forward to seeing you again…but…I guess I’ll have to rethink that.”

Ah his muses…how he adored them…and how useful they were as bargaining chips.

[Dionysus]

"OF course it's my thing, I'm the God of wine." Dionysus almost snapped at his brother, rolling his eyes. He sipped his wine, looking sullenly at Apollo as he begged for wine. This was definitely more like it, he did enjoy hearing the other Gods beg him for things. Well, wine. They only ever begged him for wine. But still, after all the crap he'd been through before they finally let him up on Olympus, it felt good to have something to hold over them all.

He took a seat, crossing his legs and sipping the wine with his little finger sticking out, deliberately and obviously ignoring his brother. Until he mentioned Melpomene... and costumes... he twitched slightly, his resolve fading...

Turning sharply in his seat he looked at Apollo. "She was looking forward to seeing me?" He repeated excitedly. "And she will help with costumes?!" That was much more enthusiastic. "No, no, no - no rethinking, definitely no rethinking." He waved his hand lazily and a bottle of wine appeared next to Apollo, a particularly good vintage too.

"Brother! Come, sit, drink with me and we can talk about these costumes!"

[Apollo]

BINGO!

Apollo smiled and put on his most grateful expression, “thank you brother dearest, you have no idea how much I have been looking forward to this.”

Grabbing the bottle of wine he joined his brother in the seat opposite him and poured himself a glass of that sweet, sweet nectar that only Dio could get right. He nodded and said, “Oh yes, she was saying just the other day how much she adored your production of Julius Caesar last year, she said you really captured his essence.”

It was true, she had said that. Although her delivery of it might have been with a little more sarcasm than Apollo was admitting too. Although he hadn’t lied about the her being excited to see him, the girls loved their wine and as catty as Melpomene could be, Dio was always good for a laugh, whether on purpose or not.

“Costumes, yes,” said Apollo pouring himself a glass, thinking about it, and then drinking straight from the bottle, “what sort of aesthetic are you going for. Are you staying true to the original or…do you have…ideas?”

[Dionysus]

He grunted in response to Apollo’s thanks, making it clear he was still annoyed and this did not mean he liked Apollo any more just because he could get them some good costumes, and get Dio some facetime with Melpomene.

His expression quickly changed to one of practiced theatrical gratitude. “Well, of course, my Julius Cesar was utterly sublime. I went for the Stanlislavski’s method acting approach, I spent six months as his attachee. It was hell, but I suffer for my art.” He said with a pained expression and a hand on his chest.

He visibly brightened with excitement at Apollo’s question. “Oh I have so many ideas... we could set it in outer space and the car is actually a spaceship and the school is a space station and they all wear futuristic costumes and all the girls wear gold bikinis like Princess Leia.” His eys glazed over slightly. “Yeah,,, that would be good...”

[Apollo]

It was best during moments like this to just sit back, drink the wine and pretend to listen. It was damn good wine, so that made the ‘pretending to listen’ a lot easier. However, unlike previously, Apollo found himself actually listening to his little brother as he monologued about his methods and spaceships. He spent time as Caesars attaché? That would have been interesting to see, he made a mental note to go see the fates sometime soon and see if they would let him look back at the tapestry of history so he could see what actually happened.

“Well it worked wonders little brother, she was incredibly impressed,” said Apollo with as charming a smile as he could muster.

Taking another sip of wine he said, “Oh I see. That’s quite the deviation from the original there, but I can see your thought process…”

He was mad. It was the wine. Or maybe they just hadn’t put him back together properly when he had been torn to pieces. Had a few screws loose so to speak. If he didn’t intervene then this show was in serious danger of becoming a flop…then again…he had known a few ‘flops’ to achieve cult status…

Hmm...

“So do you think we’ll need to change any of the original material to fit in with your vision?” he asked.

[Dionysus]

"Of course she was, she's not stupid. She knows real talent when she sees it." His tone was aloof and he stuck his nose in the air as he sipped his own wine. He couldn't help the little dig at his brother; after all Apollo may be a patron of the arts, but Dionysus was the God of drama, and any idiot could see that gave him a natural talent that Apollo could only dream of. And of course, that thought and belief may have been ever so slightly nurtured and encouraged by his time with Hades and Hermes.

He frowned slightly at Apollo's question. He studied his brother with slightly narrowed eyes, wondering - would Apollo try and sabotage his show? Of course, Grease in Space had the potential to be incredible, but with a cast of high school children? Probably not the wisest directorial choice - so why wasn't Apollo arguing? His name would be on the masthead of this, right alongside Dionysus' after all. Paranoia (and an ingrained need for off-stage drama as much as on-stage) immediately flared in him, and he gave Apollo an over the top look of hurt, mixed with anger, mixed with defensiveness, his mouth dropping open as he slammed his wine glass down on a table nearby, turning to glare at Apollo.

"Why are you trying to sabotage my masterpiece? Grease in Space is obviously a terrible idea! What's your game?"

[Apollo]

‘Yes, she does’ he thought as he took another sip of wine, ‘Which is why she hangs out with me.’

What he said was, “Oh absolutely, absolutely little brother. I remember her saying that she would love to see your version of a Midsummer Night’s Dream, that you would have made a truly wonderful Bottom.”

Apollo started a bit as Dio thumped the wine glass down on the table and began on one of his over the top monologues about how he was trying to sabotage him. He forced down the urge to roll his eyes and instead, placing his glass of wine to the side rearranged his looks into a more sympathetic manner and said, “Brother no, how could you think that? If I were to sabotage you, it would be to sabotage myself, I’m just as in this as you are, although you remain priority number one, our shining star if you will. Grease in Space is a bold choice, it has never been done before, it is fraught with pitfalls…but if anyone could make it work…it would be you.”

He smiled, one of his dazzling sunny smiles, “this is the kind of thing that could achieve…dare I say it…cult status.”

[Dionysus]

Cult status... It was something Dionysus dreamed of. Obviously he already had star status, he was already a legend, but cult status was something altogether different. It was tempting, to place himself up there in the same league as Rocky Horror, as Scot Pilgrim, as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. To be a flop, only to become a cult classic, adored and worshipped as theatrical genius. Dio's eyes glazed over slightly as he considered it, as he imagined the leagues of adoring fans that awaited him in the future...

But, there was a problem. The show would fail on its opening. It would be a disaster - hardly the entrance in a blaze of glory he was hoping for. Dionysus knew full well that 'Grease in Space' would be a complete disaster in its initial execution; apart from anything else his cast was going to be damn hard work, he knew that for a fact. His casting was absolutely perfect - how could it be anything else? But he had already heard the rumblings and mutterings. The children were not going to cooperate nicely. He was already running the risk of fights on stage, lover's tiffs, frenemies and enemies pitted against it each other. Just the thought of all that drama was utterly delicious.

And fights on stage? That could only add to the potential cult status Apollo spoke of...

"Alright. 'Grease in Space' it is." Dionysus said with a proud look on his face. This was going to be wonderful. "You're absolutely right, if anyone could pull this off, it's obviously me. It will take thinking about though, it will take hard work." He raised an eyebrow at Apollo. "Do you actually know what hard work is?"

[Apollo]

“Of course I do, it’s Hera right?” he said with a grin over the top of his wine glass, “In all seriousness though, for you darling brother, I shall attempt this…hard work.”

Oh and he would, he would work very hard to help his little brother with this one. What else was he going to do? All the teaching positions in the school seemed to be filling up quickly and right now he appeared to be ‘The Headmasters Protector’. It was either that or he was going to end up teaching gym, so why not help out with the school play.

“Soooo,” he said after taking a long drink, “what made you decide to come down off your cloud anyway? It couldn’t just be to put on an instant cult classic, so what was it?”

[Dionysus]

He couldn't help but smile appreciatively at Apollo's joke, after all, no one knew better than Dio how true that comment was. She had killed him twice already, after all. He fixed a serious look back on his face as he looked back at Apollo though. "Good. Because if not I'll have to inflict some of my wrath on you. I'll..." he thought for a second - what could he actually do to the God of the Sun? Dio was going to have to find a weakness to keep him check. "I'll turn every glass of wine you ever pick up into lake water." He gave a nod, a smug look on his face.

This was going to be good, he knew it. Grease in Space, every child involved - and he knew there had to be some hidden talent somewhere in there - and he just new that he had put together the best production team he could have asked for. That penguin was an incredible dancer, and everyone knew mermaids had stunning voices - oh it was going to be incredible. And at the end of it all, Dio would be there, praises raining down on him, everyone worshipping his artistic vision, all the other gods finally realising he was more than just the little dramatic grape crusher.

Apollo's question pulled him out of his daydream - where he was currently being crowned with a wreath of gold in front of a backdrop of a double rainbow, his father nearby wiping tears of pride from his eyes - and brought him back to reality. He shrugged, looking at Apollo with what he hoped was a careless expression.

"Well, I just wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Everyone keeps coming here, I didn't want to miss out of the fun. Plus I knew Uncle Hades was coming, and I just love him." He said with a smile. "Isn't Uncle Hades just the best? Oh, and Hera looked like she was getting restless again. Thought I'd get out of dodge before she calls her pet titans again." He tried to sound nonchalant, but a he couldn't stop a tremor of fear entering his voice. At least he knew she wouldn't try anything like while his Uncle-Dad was around. "Besides, the humans adore me. I gave them wine, drama and orgies - thought I'd come and reap some of what I've sown, if you know what I mean." He gave Apollo a dramatic wink.