Scion – Petro Campaign – Session 10
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 16th. 2007.
Well, it’s been an eventful day, and I’m really only halfway through it! To be fair, I was up all night at the club, but even so, a lot has happened to me in the last 12 hours or so. I tagged along while the others tracked down and destroyed the ghost of Bloody Mary, and then we all headed over to the dojo run by Ray’s nemesis, Goto, in order to *hopefully* talk some sense into his followers. But before I get to that, I have to talk about the experience I had while I was on my way from the club to meet the others at Adam’s apartment. It was terrifying, enlightening, inspiring, and confusing all at the same time…
While Mara and I were walking toward Adam’s apartment, I suddenly started feeling lightheaded, and then a terrible pain shot through by belly. I vaguely remember screaming, and then I passed out. When I woke up, I was lying in an alley. The pain I felt must have been Oiwa’s ghost emerging from my body, because she stood before me in all of her macabre glory. And there were others, too: a few very calm, collected shikome and one shikome (their leader, maybe?) who seemed more important than the others. She was a Japanese woman and said her name was Miko. I could swear I know her from somewhere, maybe back in my childhood, but I still can’t place exactly who she is or how I might have known her.
I hate to do it, but I’ll have to call my father and ask if he knows anything about a “Miko” I might once have known. Dad and I aren’t exactly on the best of terms, and we haven’t talked in awhile, but it’s worth a try. I wonder if Miko’s name is significant. After all, “miko” is the term for a Shinto shrine attendant.
Anyway, Oiwa, Miko and a few shikome were standing near me when I awoke. I looked around but didn’t see Mara anywhere. Before I could panic, though, Oiwa spoke. She told me that my mother was very pleased with me for helping Oiwa as I did (yay!) and by way of acknowledging my desire to reconnect with her, she had asked Oiwa and Miko to give me a gift. It’s a beautiful ring made of bone (I wonder if it’s human? That would be so creepy but so cool). It has the kanji for “unclean” on it…which is appropriate, given that it comes from Izanami. Hell, as a child of death, I guess that “unclean” is part of who I am, by Shinto standards, anyway.
According to Oiwa and Miko, the ring is a relic, and a fairly powerful one. It protects me from the transforming effects of a shikome’s bite, so as long as I wear it, shikome can’t turn me into one of their own. But there’s more to it than that. If I want to, I can temporarily change myself into a shikome. I’ll be stronger and faster, and unlike most shikome, I can control myself…for awhile, at least. Pretty cool, actually. I mean, just being able to do that connects me to my mother in a more visceral way than ever before! The only problem is that in order to end the effect, I have to bite another woman and turn her into a shikome, who would then be under my control. If I don’t, I’ll soon lose control. I’ll return to normal before too long, but until then, there’s no telling what I’ll do.
After they explained all of this, Miko bit me and then Oiwa placed the ring on my finger. I briefly became a shikome. I don’t remember much, but I don’t think I passed out. I just don’t remember what happened while I was…out of control. When I came to, Mara was holding me. She was horribly upset and was bleeding from a few bite wounds on her arms. Yeah, I was the one who bit her. Fortunately, she’s immune to becoming a shikome, I guess because she’s an oread.
Aside from that, though, both of us were okay. It didn’t take me long to get back on my feet, and I healed what damage I’d done to Mara. I feel terrible about hurting her like that, but fortunately she’s extremely understanding. She’s so wonderful. She was just confused and worried about me since I apparently just disappeared, and when she found me I was a crazed shikome.
So, it was a very harrowing experience, and I’m pretty anxious about what it all means and how I’m supposed to deal with this new ability I have. Even so, I am absolutely thrilled that my mother is paying attention to me again! She’s pleased with me! I’m finally starting to connect with her again. I cannot express how wonderful that is. I mean, almost my entire divine education has come at the hands of my half-sister, Amaterasu. I’m really grateful for all that she’s shown and given to me, but she can only help me explore one side of who I am: my bright, creative side. There’s another side to me as well, a darker side that takes after my mother, and I feel that side is important too. It may be hard for others to understand, but I don’t think the darkness in me is evil, just as I don’t think my mother is truly evil.
I thought a lot about my new gift as Mara and I continued to Adam’s place, and when we arrived, I told the others about my experience and asked for their thoughts. Hmm…I guess I should talk a little about my thoughts first. I simply can’t see this gift as a bad thing. I was worried at first…I mean, do I really want to turn people into shikome? I don’t know. I sure don’t want to breed a pack of raving psychopathic cannibals, that’s for sure. But I should be able to control any shikome I create and keep them from doing anything too terrible. And I believe in my mother, and so I believe that if she wishes me to use this gift, it can’t be entirely wrong for me to do so, within the boundaries of my own morality of course. Wow, it is really hard to talk about this stuff in a way that makes sense.
Anyway, it’s like Pierre said. The dark side of me is just as important a part of me as the light side. I have to explore both and find a way to balance them in a manner that makes me comfortable. And that’s what I want to do, even if it means using the power of the bone ring to turn people into shikome. I just have to find a way to make the power work for me without becoming a horrible person in the process. I mean, I don’t want to turn people into shikome against their will. And that’s why I thought that I could just use the power on hopeless people who want and need something to help drag them out of the cesspool of emotional ennui. I’d give hopeless people who don’t want to be hopeless anymore some sort of driving passion. Shikome are certainly passionate, even if that passion is severely misplaced…
Like I said, it’s all very, very confusing. It’s not easy wrestling with this sort of deep inner turmoil, especially when you’re deeply concerned about the impact it’ll have on others, as I am.
My friends were understandably disapproving of my mother’s gift. Actually, they were more upset by my thoughts and plans in general. They don’t like the idea of creating shikome at all, but after we talked about it for a bit, I think they at least understand and sympathize with the idea that this is all a manifestation of my connection to my mother. They just don’t like her much…and I can’t blame them after the trouble on Red Mountain. It’s depressing that they got such a terrible first impression of her, even if that impression is pretty accurate in many ways.
Ray didn’t say much while we were talking about it, but I could tell he disapproved in a major way. He said that it didn’t matter what he said, like he thought I wouldn’t listen to him or to his opinion. It bothered me, so later in the day I found a chance to talk to him about it individually. I explained how I’m trying to balance the different aspects of my divine being, and that his opinion really does matter to me even if we don’t always see eye to eye. After all, unlike me, Ray is very certain about his own path in life, and I admit that I’m a bit envious of that.
Ray thought carefully before answering (despite appearances, he can be a pretty sharp guy!). He basically said that he understood how important it could be to use the gifts we receive from our parents. He values the sword and bracelet he got from Raiden, for instance. But he also said that turning people into shikome wasn’t the same as truly giving them a new passion for life. In other words, he shot my justification down in flames. And he’s right. After talking to him, I’m not so certain how I could really, guiltlessly justify using the bone ring.
He also encouraged me to rely less on my mother’s influence to guide me. I’m not so sure I completely agree with him on this angle, though. Well, that’s not true. I totally agree that we shouldn’t rely completely on our parent’s influence to determine our own path in life. The gods do use people, after all, even their own children (Ray warned me against being used by Izanami, in fact). And their sense of morality isn’t necessarily the best it could be (no offense, mom). But at the same time, I think it’s important to explore and understand the part of me that comes from my mother. It’s an important aspect of who I am, and how am I to come to terms with it and balance it with the rest of my spirit without understanding it first?
Anyway, thanks to Ray’s input, and that of the rest of my companions, I’m not planning on making any shikome immediately. In fact, I don’t think I’ll be making any until I can sort out more clearly how I feel about all this.
And if I do, and they get out of control, Ray promises to kill them for me. All the more reason to make sure that I approach this carefully and keep them on a tight leash if I do make any.
Sigh. Deep breath, Erika.
Now that I’ve gotten all that off my chest, I’ll move on to the less psychologically traumatic events of the day. Actually, the rest of the day was really interesting.
I cleaned up and changed clothes (unfortunately, I tore my new club dress a bit when I was a shikome! *sob*). I put on a hot Catholic schoolgirl getup I brought with me (you know, white button-up shirt, short blue plaid skirt, black tie, etc.). I think it went over well. I caught Adam and the others giving me appreciative looks, anyway. Too bad Adam and I can’t be an item anymore. Especially since Anna wasn’t around. She apparently went off to some sort of clown show *shudder*. There is something wrong with that woman.
Anyway, with Adam leading the way, we tracked down Bloody Mary. We eventually had to leave the cars behind and follow her on foot. The trail led to an abandoned industrial park. The place was repulsive! There’s no industry going on there now, but there was in the past, and the companies in charge apparently had no concern for the environment whatsoever! I mean, the place was so full of toxic waste that I’m surprised there hasn’t been a toxic zombie epidemic!
As we were wandering through the area, we passed by a deep and highly corrosive pool of…water, I guess. Actually, I’m not even sure it was water, with all the chemicals in it. A big, deformed alligator (!!) crawled out and attacked us. I have no idea what an alligator was doing in Chicago…but I guess the companies who ran the park were probably experimenting on it or something.
The others started fighting the alligator while I stayed as far away from it as possible, and that’s when Bloody Mary struck. I saw her coming before anyone else (since I can see ghosts anyway) and called out a warning as she attacked Adam, but he’s got the reflexes of a cat, so by the time I called out, he was already reacting and managed to avoid the attack.
Bloody Mary looked like a cross between a malicious old woman and some middle-English Queen (Mary Tudor, maybe?)…I guess her form was influenced by the legends surrounding her. She carried these long, freakish, knitting-needle knives. We had a little trouble fighting her because she only manifested when she was attacking, but since I was able to see her, I coordinated the others’ attack so that they were all ready to strike when she appeared…and that was the end of Bloody Mary. Ray, Adam, Elisa, Pierre, and T-Bone had things well in hand (no surprise, really).
With Bloody Mary dead, we finished off the alligator too. Mary’s knives were left behind. Adam said they were powerful yet evil relics (I think they were especially dangerous to children! Not cool.), so I thought it would be neat to keep one as a souvenir. I mean, they were the knives that belonged to Bloody Mary! You don’t come across that every day. But Ray did the right thing and cut both of them in two so that they could never be used again. Even so, I kept the pieces of one. They do make a nice, deliciously macabre trophy.
Anyway, Bloody Mary’s oblivion was one thing, but the horribly polluted industrial park was, in my opinion, a far larger problem. A place like that could easily become the haunt of titanspawn or worse (Is there worse? Aside from the titans themselves, I mean?). I called upon one of the native kami to see just how bad it was and to ask about the cause.
I’m used to seeing horrific things. In fact, the darker side of me derives some pleasure from horror. But the kami that showed up wasn’t the kind of horrific that sends wonderful chills up my spine. It was the type of horrific that makes me recoil in utter revulsion. The kami that showed up looked kinda Native American (which makes sense), but like the alligator, it was deformed and mutated. Its spiritual flesh cracked and ooze and sloughed off of it like it had been long dead, and it didn’t speak, it just moaned in complete agony. It was so horrible that I sent it away almost immediately. It was too far gone to give us any useful information.
We explored a little more and found other horribly mutated animals (Ray and Elisa put them out of their misery). And we got some samples of the toxic waste that was in the water. I was worried that we might have been poisoned just by being there, but the medical intuition granted to me by my divine blood and Mara’s gift showed that we were all okay. *Phew*
Mara was even more horrified by the place than I was. She barely spoke while we were there. She just stared, but I could tell that just being there was traumatic for her. I took her hand to comfort her a little as we continued to explore the place. I promised her that we’d do something about it, and we will. We looked for signs indicating what companies had been responsible for the place, and I called Keiko and asked her to find out who we had to talk to to get it cleaned up. I intend to make sure that whoever is responsible for that land cleans up the mess that has been left there. As soon as Keiko can set up some meetings, I’ll speak to the people in charge, and if I have to use a bit of divine charm to get them to take responsibility for their property, then so be it. I’m not happy about the pollution, but it feels good to have a goal like this (one that won’t end up being resolved with a fight, that is).
Once we finished up at the industrial park, we returned to Adam’s place for a bit and cleaned up before heading off to visit the Goto’s dojo. You see, the others had figured out (I think from Elisa’s prophecy) that Goto’s divine-blooded followers weren’t aware of their master’s duplicity. They thought he was a great guy (a daitengu, actually!!) who had the world’s best interests in mind. That couldn’t be further from the truth, though. According to Ray, Goto is solidly on the titan’s side and has a nasty habit of deceiving divine-blooded people like us into working for him. That’s how Ray got to know Goto, in fact. I don’t know the details, but apparently Ray was duped by Goto some time ago, but figured it out and turned against his “master”. Good thing, too. Can you imagine Ray fighting for the titans? Scary.
Anyway, we were hoping to speak to these unwitting scions at the dojo so that we could convince them that they were being used and lied to by Goto. When we arrived at the strip mall that held the dojo, we decided that Ray should stay behind in case he was recognized. Adam, T-Bone, and I (all smooth talkers) went in to talk to Goto’s followers. Before we went in, however, Adam and Elisa spotted something suspicious moving around in the dumpster…
WHY THE HELL DID IT HAVE TO BE A SHIRIME!? Of all the cool, freaky, creepy youkai out there, why the hell did Goto’s daitengu rival have to choose a shirime? Talk about disgusting! Gross. I have nothing against youkai. I mean, five of my best friends are youkai. I love youkai. But a shirime? They just shouldn’t even exist. Even now I feel…soiled. Especially after some of the comments it made…
*Ahem*. A shirime was hiding in the dumpster. Ray began talking to it while I tried to avoid looking at it. It was apparently spying on Goto’s dojo for a rival daitengu named Hondo. I tried not to pay much attention to the creature (whose name I will NOT repeat), so I don’t think I caught all the info it gave us, but it basically gave us some tips about where to find a couple of residences Goto uses, including one where he keeps several titanspawn (including a minotaur!). We’ll be checking those places out later this afternoon or evening, I think.
While Ray continued talking to the shirime, Adam, T-Bone and I went inside to talk to the scions. Only three of the five were there. The leader of the pack seemed to be an Italian boxer named Antoine (he’s a son of Ares). He looked a bit like Stalone, but seemed more intelligent. The Japanese swordsman was also there. His name is Hiro (a son of Hachiman). Finally, there was a very attractive but disturbed young woman named Angela (a daughter of Persephone). She wanted to be called “Skank” and has some deep issues about her mother’s submissiveness.
We were up front about who we were and why we were there, so we introduced ourselves as the children of our divine parents. I turned on all my charm; I was pretty irresistible. ^_^ We told Antoine that we wanted to discuss the dojo and its owner, so he took us into the office and we talked. I was as convincing as I could be, and Adam and T-Bone’s comments definitely helped to bolster our arguments. Even so, we couldn’t quite convince Antoine to turn against Goto right then and there. I didn’t think we would. It wasn’t really what we were trying to do, after all. What we were trying to do was just to encourage Antoine and the others to watch out for Goto’s duplicity. Hopefully, they’ll take our warnings seriously and will begin looking into their master’s real motivations. They seem like nice people, so I don’t want them to become our enemies in the future.
In order to help make sure that doesn’t happen, I did my best to charm them all once we left the office and returned to the dojo itself. I talked to Hiro at some length. He has a really beautiful sword relic from his father. He obviously really liked me, and offered to help instruct me in the use of weapons.
Angela was…an interesting case. She has some weird issues with her mother. She sees Persephone as a submissive, weak woman and wants nothing to do with her. But she also fears that she’s going to end up just like her mother, and so she has a really messed up view of relationships. Poor girl. I tried to encourage her, and I think she really warmed up to me. Maybe she warmed up to me a little too much. I got the feeling she thought I was flirting with her, and she was really embarrassed by every little faux pas she made. I hope she doesn’t have a serious crush on me. I think she could use a good friend (not a romantic partner) to help her overcome her issues.
We didn’t say anything about Goto to Hiro or Angela. We left that up to Antoine, who told us that Hiro in particular might not take such allegations lightly. I hope Antoine can sort things out. I’d prefer to have him and the others as allies rather than enemies. Altogether I’m pretty positive about our talk with Goto’s followers, though. If nothing else, I know they’ll be well-disposed toward me. And really, isn’t it nice to work toward resolving a problem like this with words, diplomacy, and charm rather than swords, guns, and violence? I think so. ^_^
After the talk, we left the dojo. We briefly discussed checking out Goto’s other residences (especially the one where he keeps titanspawn), but decided to put it off until later, so I’ve had a little time to work on my journal. It’s a long one, but like I said, a lot has happened in the past few hours.
And you know, even though I’m still depressed over losing Adam and a bit anxious about the potential of the bone ring I got from Oiwa and Miko, I’m still pretty psyched about the connection I’m beginning to form with my mother. I really need to call Fukuda-san and talk to him about it. I’m not sure he’ll be happy, though. As a Shinto priest, he’s always steered me toward Amaterasu and away from Izanami. Actually come to think of it, I’m curious about what Amaterasu thinks of me now. Oh well. I hope she and Fukuda-san will be understanding…
Oh, and before I end, one last bit of news that I’ve been meaning to bring up. The Birthday Massacre, one of my favorite bands, released a new album last month! It’s called Walking with Strangers, and it is superb! Keep ’em coming, TBM!!