“c7″>Aphrodite had a headache. Not the nuisance kind that just
lingered, but a throbbing, pounding beat inside her head that had
nothing to do with the pink shell-shaped headphones she currently
wore. In fact, the music was turned off and the headphones were
there merely to muffle the noise of millions of supplicants,
clamouring to be heard by her.

“c7″>"Argh! Why can't they, like, just go and bug someone
else?" she whined with a pout, then flounced into a
large, pink velvet chair.

“c7″>"There is no one else, Sis' – you are the Goddess of
Loooove – and everybody wants to be in love," Ares
suddenly appeared and taunted her.

“c7″>"Go away, Ares," said Aphrodite.

“c7″>"You know, there is a way to make them stop bothering
you," said her brother, stroking his chin,
thoughtfully.

“c7″>"How?" asked Aphrodite, eagerly. "Oh, wait a
minute – if this coming from you, there's a catch; there always
is. Zeus says Goddess of Love is a very important responsibility –
he also said I was here to keep you from running amok –
whatever a 'mok' is."

“c7″>"Nah, no catch," said Ares, a little too earnestly.
"You can take a break from all the prayers and supplications
if you can't hear them. I have to do that sometimes, myself. It
just all gets to be so … tiresome, doesn't it? A little break
never changes the larger picture when it comes to mortals. They
really don't suffer at all and you get to come back to them,
refreshed and ready to listen and answer their petty
prayers."

“c7″>"A break, huh? That doesn't sound too bad," said
Aphrodite, wavering. "What do I have to
do?"

“c7″>"Just … stop listening … " said Ares, grinning
as he faded from her room.

“c7″>"Stop … okay, very funny Ares!" said Aphrodite,
jumping to her feet and a particularly plaintive plea hit her –
accompanied by an offering of fish. “EN-GB” class=”c8″>"Ick! I hate fish
– you'd think people would get that coming from the ocean would
make a person, like, want to avoid some stuff – like the smell of
ugly fish," said the goddess, shaking her head. "That is
it – no more gooey love junk. I am going to focus on being goddess
of beauty – love can wait."

“c7″>She began to ignore the prayers for love and instead focus on
beauty – her own, that is. The goddess grew more and more
self-centred, staring into a mirror until at last, she no longer
heard the increasingly desperate pleas for more love in the
world.