Valentines Day thread needs ref approval!

[Sandman XI]

Participants

Crow

Wisp

Life Knight

Silhoette

Premise

A lonely mage summons Aphrodite for a Valentines date. Said lonely mage will want this date to go perfectly, so he gets some heroes to make sure no others interrupt them. Unfortunately for him, when Aphrodite comes to town, there will be villains trying to kidnap the now mortal goddess. Specifically I plan to use Rant and Rave as comical foils and Medea as the big threat. So, what say ye?

[Dr Archeville]

I see several issues here that will need firming up:

A] Mages powerful enough to physically summon deities generally don't do so for a one-night date. How was this guy able to pull it off? Why is he using this mojo for this? Why not summon something lower on the power scale, like a succubus (or some non-evil version of one), or use his magic to get a date with a local gal (either by impressing her with displays of power, or more nefarious means, i.e., emotion or mind control)?

B] Why does Aphrodite agree to date this mortal? Did the summoning compel her to agree? (If so, that would indicate even more power on the mage's side, and the questions of "why use it for one date" and "why has no one heard of him before" comes up again. Also, if this is the case, he's effectively roofied her -- would the heroes condone that?)

C] If said mage is potent enough to summon gods, why does he need mortal heroes to guard them/make sure things go smoothly?

[Sandman XI]

So, we've downgraded Aphrodite to just "a spirit of requited love". Seeing as no mortal woman would give this guy the time of day, he has to turn to summoning a servant of Anteros. Would that be less strong than summoning a god?

[Dr Archeville]

That would fit better, yes.

But why won't any woman "give him the time of day"? (Is he hideously ugly? A "Nice Guy" that's walked over? Is is that his Magical powers come with the Side Effect of "forever alone, repulsive to all of the opposite sex"? [something created by a stodgy Hermetic to do away with distractions so he could focus on his studies?]) Why must he resort to summoning a being from another dimension to go out on a date?

And, why would this servant of Anteros agree to dating him? Again, does the summoning compel it?

[Cubist]

Some of the questionable aspects of the idea go away if the mage in question is on the low end of the Magical Expertise scale, and his being able to summon/control a deity (!) are the result of a seriously improbable stroke of luck (perhaps one that was orchestrated by one of [deity's] rivals in their pantheon?). That way, the mage isn't the prime mover behind a sorta-kinda squicky series of events; rather, he's just opportunistically taking advantage of a jackpot that fell from a clear blue sky. Of course, if this scenario doesn't suit Sandman's notion of what this mage character is like, feel free to ignore it.