Of Early Mornings

Of Early Mornings, Make-up and Consequences


Deathmask woke up at the sound of his phone ringing. Groaning, he got up and wished a slow and painful death upon the person who called him at 5 AM. As he reached the phone, he noticed the name "Aphrodite" flashing on the screen.
"What the hell does Dite want now?" he flipped the phone open and nearly snapped: "Do you know how early it is?!"
"Why, of course I do." he said flippantly, and continued after a brief pause: "You know, I went shopping late at night and found this amazing new type of make-up. I need help with the damn thing, though, because for some reason the text on the box is all in Italian."
"Eh? You want me to translate it for you... THIS EARLY?!"
"Is this early?"
"It is. FOR ME."
"Well, it certainly isn't for me so I'm coming over." the phone was hung up.
Deathmask was getting pretty irate at this point. Good way to start a morning, yeah right. He poked one of the masks on his wall and caused it to shriek. Well... at least that was fun.


He noticed the perfume before Aphrodite even entered. He sighed inwardly and motioned him over.
"Let me see that box." as he took a look at the text, he nearly automatically translated it. "Spread a thick layer and let it stay on for half an hour, blah blah blah."
"Blah blah blah?"
"Random ingredient stuff, not important."
"...Ingredients are important, you know. Is there aloe vera in there?"
"As far as I can see, yep. However, are you willing to use something that has animal bone powder in it?"
An indignant look appeared on Aphrodite's face and he backed away from him. "...Eeeeeeeeew, yuck, I don't want to touch that, take it away from me!"
"It was a joke."
Deathmask ran for cover since for some reason Aphrodite snatched the box from him and was now pelting him with several similar ones.
"Hey, it's not my fault you have no sense of humor!"
"YOU NEED A SENSE OF HUMOR!"
"..."
"Idiot, meanie, shrimp!"
"...Shrimp? Who are you calling a shrimp?!" Deathmask could take insults, but anything that implied he was weak got on his nerves. Big-time. He and Aphrodite began to scream at each other, which in turn attracted the attention of the people living below and above them.


Saga and Aiolia both entered at the same time, looking at the mess in front of them. Then they glanced at each other across the hall and sighed.
"I think we need to disentangle them."
"Good call."
For some reason Aiolia was poking Deathmask and Aphrodite apart with a broom. Saga stared. He really couldn't comprehend why he would use a broom. Where did he even get one so soon, anyway? He shrugged it off, walked over to them, pulled Deathmask from behind and managed to get him away from the scene. Somehow he'd been reduced to a snarling bundle very short of punching Aphrodite, and the Pisces was, very mildly put, having a hissy fit.
"How in the sodding world can you two be so immature?" Aiolia grunted. "Even I have more tact than you do."
"You keep your mouth shut, catscratch."
"Yeah, Aiolia, why'd you butt in?" Aphrodite glared at Saga. "And you, too."
"You're noisy and you might kill each other, that's why."
"'m not noisy." Deathmask objected.
"You are noisy. As hell. Dite, too. I was able to hear you on the FAR side of Leo Temple."
"So what if we are noisy?"
"You distract others."
"And well, the killing thing..."
"You're supposed to protect Sanctuary, not die due to your own personal fights."
Suddenly Aphrodite sat on the floor and began to pout. Him... pouting? You don't actually see that every day.
"I think you broke him." Deathmask attempted a joke. Aiolia didn't find it amusing and just glared at him. Then he sneezed.
"Th-there's something in the air here..." he looked down and Deathmask couldn't help bursting into laughter as he saw what it was. Aphrodite had sat down on several make-up boxes and caused the substance to spread. Some of it was settling down all over the four Gold Saints, and Aiolia's face was turning white from some powder. Aphrodite grinned as he looked up.
"Ghostlia."
"A what?"
"Ghost Aiolia. Ghostlia."
"...You both have no sense of humor."
"I concur. We need to get your brains scanned or something. You're so similar you might be related. Or have the same brain deficiency."
"Hey, I'm not dumb!" Deathmask snapped.
"..." Saga sighed. "Brain deficiency. Mental disorder. Ring a  bell?"
"...Oh."
"Isn't he sort of clinically insane already?" Aphrodite offered sarcastically.
Deathmask shot back a snide remark. "Narcissism is a mental disorder, too." Aphrodite slapped him and the fight nearly broke out again - Saga and Aiolia restrained the two bad-tempered Gold Saints and looked at each other again. Aiolia moved his head toward the door.
"Probably for the best. Take him back."
Aiolia began to drag Aphrodite back to his temple, while Deathmask and Saga looked on.
"And I will tell Shion shortly. He should find a nice little punishment for you."
"Me? What the hell did I do?"
"You started a fight..."
"I didn't start it, Dite did!"
"Well, you certainly continued it, much like an elementary school brat. Also, you disturbed the peace with your loud yelling."
"What is this, are you a teacher and I'm a student now?" Deathmask snorted.
"If you want to take it that way. Hm. I think I'll ask Shion to have you clean the temples."
"...WHAT?! Wait, what about Dite..."
"He will never have the same punishment as you, we don't want another scene like this. He should probably..."
"I think he would be better off cleaning the temples, he'd get dirty that way."
"Good point. Then you can probably babysit the trainees."
"...Oh shit." Why had he opened his mouth? Screaming, fighting bratlings were one of the worst things he knew in the whole goddamn world. He made a mental note of doing something to Dite's shampoo one day. ...What a morning, indeed. And how on earth did Dite get so worked up over mere make-up, anyway? Oh, wait, he was Dite. Right.