::Hermes flew quickly towards the exit and the closer he got to it the cooler the air became. Before the little God knew it, he was hovering above ground in the warmth of the afternoon sun with a cool breeze blowing. Grinning broadly, Hermes took a deep breath, but when he exhaled he began to cough. The air wasn't exactly clean and fresh like it was so long ago, but it sure beat that damp, foul smelling Underworld any day.

After his eyes finally adjusted to the light, Hermes looked around and noticed the way to the Underworld was not even visable out here, but he knew it was there. Taking a mental note as to where he came from, Hermes held his Caduceus with both hands and zipped away from the area, heading for a tree to hide in. Sitting on a high up branch, Hermes surveyed the landscape and was pleased to not see any mortal destruction near by. Maybe the humans didn't destroy every bit of land like he originally assumed after all. The air still smelled, though.

"Let's see now," he thought aloud, rubbing his chin and looking around. "Where can a swinging cat like myself find some great music action? Hmmm..." He pondered for a moment then a grin spread across his face as he remembered the book he read eariler. All the best and most different music could be found in that nutty new place called America. "Oh yeah!" he cried and swiftly flew away leaving a trail of sparkles behind him as he headed towards this new land.

He was in the continent's vicinity in seconds, but he never would have known it for the once lush, green world was now filled with massive cites and the trees were sparse. The little messenger paused from his flying and hovered where he was. "Geez, this joint's a worse mess then Greece," he growled and stared distastefully at a huge greenish statue right in the middle of the ocean. He flew towards it and smirked. "Guess through time humans forgot that copper turns green when exposed to the elements. Buncha squares." He tapped the statue on her shoulder with his Caduceus and flew towards the large city on land that she seemed to be guarding.

The closer he got to the metropolis, the more his look of disgust turned into wonderment. The buildings were huge, way larger then the ones he saw back in Greece and England. The noise below was tremendous from the traffic and aside from the smells of pollution, Hermes could pick out wonderful scents of food. He smiled and headed towards a building with a small landing around its outer edges.

Alighting upon it, he looked down and saw vendors and outside eateries amongst the huge swarms of people that seemed to be everywhere. He watched the people carefully and knew if he had any chance to get himself some of that fabulous smelling food he would have to fly very fast and just snatch it from a table or stand. He hated such tactics, but he was quite hungry and had no choice. The mortals of now weren't just going to hand him a dish like they would have in his time, so stealing was his only option.

Finding an easy target, Hermes waved his hand and sent his Caduceus where he sends all his deliveries to and dove down towards the man carrying a large plate with smaller plates laying upon it. With only a slight breeze giving him away, Hermes grabbed a dish full of food from the man and a bottle of wine resting upon a table and swiftly headed towards a grove of trees off in the distance.

The waiter Hermes stole the food from was baffled as he served his customers only to find an order was missing. The couple at the table Hermes took the wine from were equally confused as to where their drink had gone. Hermes chose a tree far away from where he just came from and flew into its top most branches. He sat down carefully and set the warm plate on his lap while shoving the wine bottle in a twist of branches behind him. Picking up the silver fork, Hermes studied it for a while before he shoved it in his ill-gotten spaghetti. He's had pasta before so the food was not a big deal, but much welcomed. He sighed happily feeling his hunger slowly being satisfied and finished his meal in no time.

Balancing the now empty plate on his lap, he reached for the wine and pulled the cork. He hated taking a swig from it like a drunk, but he wasn't able to steal a glass so this was the only route. Putting the bottle to his lips, Hermes took a controlled, but long drink. The wine went through him, warming him and making him more relaxed then what he was. He sighed and leaned his shoulder against the trunk of the tree and closed his blue eyes.

This isn't so bad, he thought to himself, taking another drink from the bottle. The very idea of such pollution and massive buildings and all those mortals running around may have repulsed him, but at the same time this all held a high fascination for a very curious little messenger. He knew he should be heading back to the Underworld just in case Zeus and Cronos were looking for him, but first he wanted to scope the new music scene. He had to find out all he could on the fabulous music he read about in Belit's office.

Taking one last drink of wine, Hermes waved his free hand and produced a small, but signifigant sized gem he recieved from a Thebian diplomat a while back for a message delivery and set it down on the plate. Hermes hoped that the gem would cover the cost of the food and wine he took. He then flew quickly back to where he stole the food and deposited the plate, bottle, and gem down on a empty table and headed off in search of music.

Meanwhile, down in the Underworld, Belit-Sheri was just returning from the small errands she completed. She cautiously opened the door half expecting Hermes to come zooming out at her, but he did not. Stepping inside her office and closing the door, Belit looked around and didn't see Hermes sitting on the filing cabinet, but there was a book resting in his spot. She shrugged figuring the flighty messenger was off lost in the caverns of books as she made her way slowly to her desk.

"What the heck is this?" she asked aloud as she spotted the note Hermes left resting among her papers. Plopping down in her chair, Belit picked the note up in one hand and began to read it while holding the rose in the other. Her eyes widened for not only did Hermes leave to get something to eat, he went to scope out the music scene and wasn't sure when he was coming back. She groaned and put the note down so she could rub her brow, feeling a sudden headache coming back. What the heck was he thinking by doing this?

Opening her eyes she glanced at the rose and touched its silky petals, sighing heavily. If Zeus came looking for his flighty messenger she wasn't sure what to tell him. Most of this was her fault, but she didn't need a depressed blue God lingering in her office and she surely wasn't going to let him sit in a cold damp cave out in the depths of the Underworld so telling him to go above ground to get something to eat was an act of kindness wasn't it? Zeus should understand, but Hades might not since he is the one that is supposed to keep the little deity down here.

Almost as if on cue, a billowing column of black smoke appeared in the center of the room to form into the Lord of the Dead himself. Hastily, Belit shoved Hermes' note between her other papers to get it lost and she tossed the rose in the circular filing cabinet beside her desk. She snatched a pen and quickly began to scribble away hoping Hades would just come in, look around, and leave. Keeping her head bowed down, concentrating on her task, Belit tried to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Hades glided casually to his secretary's desk and stopped in front of it slamming his hands down for effect. "Hello there Belit my sweet. How's my little Sphinx minx? Anything shaking, babe?"

The Goddess cringed from his comments and glanced up at him. "All that's shaking is your cash flow. You have really got to stop buying CDs already."

Hades shrugged and waved a hand in the air. "Awww...but the Grateful Dead is hot I'm telling you! Anyone that is grateful to be dead is alright in my book."

Without looking up or taking notice to his pun, Belit muttered, "Anything I can help you with? I got work to do."

"Oh, no, no. I'll just look around myself. You're doing just fine, babe, really." Hades moved from her desk and headed towards a stack of scrolls leaning against the wall. He rubbed his chin and then strode towards a pile of books. "Ummm, you didn't see anything short, blue and annoying around lately have you? I mean, it's hard not to notice something like that, but I'm just asking."

She shrugged and reached for a small date book sitting on the edge of her desk and casually began to flip through it. "Don't know, I've been too busy to notice anything other then your everyday run of the mill shades coming in and out of here, not to mention the lovely paperwork I'm swamped with."

Hades headed to the filing cabinet and a wicked grin covered his face as he reached for the book resting on top of it and read the title. "It would seem to me that my little Egyptian is in denial. Get it? De-Nile? Ba-da-bing I'm good!"

Belit just rolled her eyes and looked up at him and said sarcastically under her breath, "Good for what?"

If Hades heard he paid it no mind for the mythology book he found had more interest to him. He looked down at the open page and smiled a wide pointed toothed smile. "Got an interest in Hermes and his wife huh?" He glided to Belit and put one hand on her shoulder while setting the book down on her desk with the other.

She made a face and picked his hand off of her and dropped it to the side. "No, I don't care about him or her," she replied calmly and put the date book back in its resting place. "He's good with the speedy deliveries, but other then that he holds no interest of mine." She glanced down at the book on her desk and cursed in her mind. When Hermes came back he was going to get it from her good. She told him to make sure he put all her books away when he was done with them. "Look, I haven't seen the guy lately ok? He flew in here all bored and I told him to go read something and leave me alone. I don't know where he is right now." Belit stood and picked up the mythology book and walked slowly from Hades so she could put it back where it belonged and hoping her answer was enough for Hades to leave her office.

Hades ran a hand through the blue flame of hair on his head and chuckled. "Well, at least I know the little dickens is flying around someplace. If he just so happens to come back to you, Belit, ask him if he's got any forget-me-nots for me yet. Oh, and if he asks about Zeus, well, I haven't heard from him." he shrugged and backed away from the desk preparing to leave.

Just then his eyes spotted the white rose in the garbage can and he smirked. You're a good little liar, he thought and glanced knowingly at Belit who was still trying to get the mythology book back on the shelf. He wondered what she could possibly gain by not telling him about Hermes and his whereabouts. Niether she or Hermes knew about his plan so that certainly wasn't the reason. No matter, Hades would find the blue messenger sooner-or-later and he especially knew that Hermes needed to return to the Underworld to wait for Zeus anyway.

"Toodles, Belit!" Hades called to her and in a bright flash of fire he vanished from her office.

The Goddess pushed the book back in its place not having to dawdle anymore and shook her head. This was just great. She didn't need Hades watching her every move now like she knew he was going to. Hermes was getting to be more trouble then he was worth and she was begining to wish that she just left him in the cave with Cerberus to play his sad tunes on his violin. The blue messenger was a nut alright and she couldn't help but wonder how on Olympus his wife put up with him. Mostly she couldn't figure out what Hades wanted with him so badly.

She stepped back to her desk and sat down on the chair and had half a mind to flip Hermes out of her office when he returns from his little jaunt up on Earth, but for some reason she had some nagging feeling that the best place for him was here in her office. Fine, she thought and angrily picked up the pen again and continued with her work. He could stay, but it was going to cost him.

First he interrupted her work with his violin playing and as if that wasn't enough he got Cerberus all riled up and howling. Then he flew through her office and began touching everything like a curious little child. Fortunately, he fell asleep after he grubbed all the pizza she gave him, but that only served to give him more energy for he woke up and began to annoy her again. Now, he took off to only Zeus knows where and left a book out on the filing cabinet when she specifically told him to put them away when he was done. That wasn't the worst of it, though. The worst was Hades sniffing around for the blue messenger and finding that book and knowing Hermes was in Personnel at some point and time.

Belit didn't want to be mean to Hermes, but right now she was highly annoyed. The Hermes of this time she barely saw and when she did, he was just delivering a message or escorting some poor soul or something to their eternal realm. He never stuck around for her to really converse with and she liked that alot better then this nut that was always seeming to be in her face. She shook her head and continued on with her work. Most certainly he was going to owe her for all of this regardless on where he stays after he gets back from his little jaunt on Earth.::