Scion – Petro Campaign – Downtime 9
This account was originally found on Livejournal, I am not the original author—I am just a fan of the journal and have found reading it on livejournal clunky to navigate and rife with errors/instability (such as having to refresh multiple times due to the page in questions becoming unavailable often requiring multiple refreshes. The original post can be found here, published by DJ-Yomi, and was published on Oct 30th 2009
So, it’s been a couple of months, and things are going fairly well. Nothing too dramatic has happened. Mostly I’ve been spending the time working with Keiko and Echo to plan my next tour (I really need to tour again now that Between Shadow and Darkness is out) and enjoying time with my friends and family. Rose gets cuter every day (as do Veronica and Alandra), Echo is as lovely and vivacious as ever, and Miko is just as warm and charming as can be.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s not more than I deserve. How much of the love I enjoy from others is really me, and how much of it is just my divine charms? Is any of it real? Or is it all just fate and legend?
Feng Yi’s affection is real. I know that. We’ve shared too much for me to doubt that. I don’t know what I’d do if we didn’t visit each other at least two or three times a month. She writes me the most beautiful poetry, and I reciprocate with music and gifts, but it’s spending time with her that means the most to me. It makes me so happy that she’s always wearing the bone-flower pendant I gave her. It’s amazing how my feelings for her have become so strong…it completely snuck up on me, but I can’t deny what I feel or how in love with her I am. ^_^
Anyway, speaking of feelings, the drama among my followers has been refreshingly minor lately. There have been a few issues, of course. Sera and Ophelia are getting along well. It’s obvious that Ophelia is crushing on Sera, but Sera doesn’t know what she feels toward Ophelia exactly. Sera’s also developed a thing for Charles. ^_^ I’m kinda pushing her in that direction, since Charles is a much more stable romantic partner for her than Ophelia, and Sera needs stability.
Sadako and Audrey are as close as can be. They share the same room and bed in the shikome house now. The two are pretty much a couple now, and while they’re plagued by a few little anxieties, I think it’s nice to see Audrey relatively content for a change. Fukuda-san’s counseling must be helping out. ^_^. He’s worried that Robin might not be such a good influence on Audrey, though. They both have kinda similar issues, and Robin might be reinforcing the worst parts of Audrey. Not good. >_< Sadako has been having some problems with Tabby and Kaori, mainly feeling objectified by Tabby thanks to her ethnicity, but I’ve counseled her on how to deal with that and I think things’ll get better for her.
Robin and Tabby are still happily married, though, which is wonderful. In fact, Tabby rarely ever seeks me out anymore. She doesn’t avoid me and still flirts a lot when we’re together, but she seems content to be with Robin most of the time, which makes me really happy. I hope they’ll remain happy together for a long, long time.
The rest of the shikome are doing well. Steph and Ophelia are close and generally stay out of trouble. Emilie has developed a thing for Kimiyo that makes Kimiyo uncomfortable (poor Kimiyo >_<). But otherwise, things are well with my crazy girls.
Keiko’s been worrying me, though. She’s been behaving strangely lately. She used to be the one point of stability in my life, and now, I don’t really know what to expect from her. The thing in Lanka was one thing, but that at least, was understandable given the nature of that place. But her feelings for Echo and Quinn are affecting her badly, and I’m not even sure how her husband, Oda, fits into things. I’m worried about her. I’ve talked to her, but she won’t really tell me anything’s wrong or what the problem might be (if there even is a problem). She’s been spending most of her time planning the next tour, though, and I think that’s better for her than anything else. I’ll probably leave her behind to keep up the work next time duty calls.
Dahlia and Quinn have begun to warm up to one another again, which is good. They used to be the best of friends, but then a series of things happened that turned them against each other: Quinn’s lamp-oil addicition, Dahlia almost slapping Quinn after I met with dark Miko… >_< But I think they’re mending their bitter feelings and will soon be back to the way they used to be. I hope so, anyway. Kimiyo, on the other hand, has been feeling lonely lately. I’d like to help her find someone. I guess I’ll need to work on that.
Oh, one other exciting bit of news regarding Quinn…she and Elisa have apparently gotten Pierre to agree to formalize relationship as a family. Not marriage, per se, but something to mark their commitment to each other, like a handfasting ceremony. It’s weird…Quinn never was the sort to settle down, but I guess having a kid changes things. ^_^
As for Miko, she’s doing wonderfully. She’s so endearing. Every time I’m with her she makes my heart melt. Which is a little dangerous, because although she’s not at all wanton, it would be so easy to give in to her charms. But no. I didn’t give in to the shikome taint in Lanka (or afterward), so I’m not going to let myself soil the one thing that’s still pure about me. Fortunately, Miko and I are happy to just be together. It feels so natural. I think I’ll take her with me next time we head out on a mission for the Gods. ^_^ Which reminds me; I need to work on my mastery of Tsukumo-gami so that I can summon her whenever I need her, no matter where I am.
In other news, Carina’s pregnant! She sent me a letter telling me all about it! Sam’s the father, of course, and Carina’s so happy. She still seems to be struggling with self-esteem issues, though, so I did what I could to encourage her. I do hope I’m one of the first to meet her baby when he/she is born. I never really understood what the big deal about children was until I became a mother myself, but I totally get it now. ^_^
Also, Chiaki (our kuchisake-onna/slit-mouthed woman friend from Japan), called me up for romantic advice. You might recall that she had a serious crush on Hinako that ended badly when Hinako reacted with horror when Chiaki shared her feelings. Chiaki’s terribly lonely and is looking for someone. It’s a good thing she came to me. ^_^ After all, as a blossoming goth love goddess, I’m well equipped to help her out. I have a few options in mind, so I’ll be setting her up on a few dates to see how it goes next time I’m in Japan. Among my top picks for her is Mercy, my elite shikome nurse. Mercy and Chiaki have a lot of similarities, and I think they’ll get along well. Whether that’ll blossom into love…who knows? But it’s worth a try. I need to keep my eyes open for a few guys to throw her way too. Overcoming the handicap of Chiaki’s horrific appearance will be tricky…but I’ll figure something out.
Well, I guess that leaves one last thing, which has less to do with personal drama and more to do with the war against the titans. Suchette came to visit on Red Mountain (with the help of Jenny, her protégé). As usual, it was nice to see her. I fed her more blood…which is starting to become an issue. It’s truly becoming a serious addiction for her. She finds herself craving scion blood, but fortunately she’s good and disciplined enough not to go out seeking it own her own as long as she knows she can get her “fix” from me. She’s kinda becoming a slave to my blood, which bothers me. >_<
But that’s not all. The blood is apparently empowering her. She’s been developing new abilities, like the ability to sense the presence of scions or to transform into a sort of half-insect version of herself. Suchette’s happy with the change; she knows she’s becoming something more than she is. The powers she’s developing aren’t unheard of among some forms of African vampires. I wonder if she isn’t transcending into some kind of vampire god?
Suchette also expressed curiosity at the taste of shikome blood, but since I figured that would probably be a bad idea (kinda like giving crack to someone who’s already on meth, I guess), I nixed that right away.
Anyway, before deciding whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, I decided to consult Adam. So I called him up in Chicago, and after discussing it for a bit, we decided that even if Suchette is becoming dangerous to scions, she’s also becoming a potent ally to the gods, and if she is turning into a vampire god or something, she has the potential to draw a lot of vampires to our side. That’s would be a huge victory for us.
So I agreed to continue feeding my blood to Suchette periodically, provided that she feeds only from me or Pierre. She was more than happy to agree to that bargain, so I guess we’ll see what happens. I’m interested to see where this goes and what Suchette becomes, but I get the feeling we’re playing a dangerous game. Still, if it ends up strengthening our forces in the war against the titans, then it will be worth it.