Scion – Petro Campaign – Session 21

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 Mar 21st 2008.

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Whew. It’s been a stressful couple of days, but I’ve finally gotten a chance to get away and write a journal. Echo’s taking a long, hot bath; I can hear her singing from the next room. She has an incredible voice. Anyway, at the end of my last entry, I was in Persephone’s Underworld palace (which I later discovered was a wing of Hades’ palace), getting the spa treatment of my life in preparation for a liaison with Persephone.

Eventually, Persephone sent for me, and I joined her in her chambers. They were absolutely beautiful, and the lighting was just perfect…nice and dim and shadowy. We spent a short time talking before we became intimate. Maybe a little longer than Persephone wanted.

I needed to make sure that she understood my perspective on our friendship (see my last journal entry), so I told her that I value her friendship, but that I wanted to make sure that we really were friends, and that I wasn’t just her plaything or a submissive consort. In short, I told her that I valued my independence, and that if our friendship and growing alliance was to work, she needed to respect that and treat me more-or-less as an equal, at least in terms of our friendship. Persephone’s daughter, Cila, had earlier suggested that if I were to assert my independence, I had to come across as though I wasn’t rejecting Persephone, so I tried very hard not to do so.

As I explained myself to her, Persephone’s expression saddened, and she told me that though she understood rationally what I was saying, she could not understand it on a deeper, emotional level because her own life had always been controlled by domination and submission. It’s how she ended up in the Underworld to begin with, after all.

In that moment, Persephone suddenly made a lot more sense to me. It became clear to me that more than anything she needed a true friend, someone with whom she could interact without all the baggage of control and subservience. Someone who could understand her, appreciate her, and possibly help heal—or at least soothe—the scars of her past. After all, she’s right about one thing that continues to become ever more clear to me: she and I have more in common than pretty much any other gods I’ve encountered thus far.

I didn’t try to assert myself anymore after that. Instead, I told Persephone that at least for now she could be completely free, and we enjoyed ourselves for the rest of the night. I didn’t die from ecstasy this time, but Persephone did reveal to me the extent of divine beauty. Wow. I cannot remember exactly what she looked like now, but it was…indescribable. I woke up blind in her arms, but she quickly healed my eyes before leaving me exhausted in bed.

Cila came to fetch me before long, and I asked to visit my friends. I think she was a bit flustered when she walked in on me dressing. I guess she takes after her mom in that way at least. lol. BTW, the Greek-style clothing Persephone gave me to wear was really fetching. ^_^

I didn’t get to see Ray; he was apparently in a library somewhere doing research. It’s so adorable how he’s such a scholar-warrior. I mean, the man really does embody the virtues of a samurai! We just have to bring out his artistic side a little more. Hmm…I wonder what his calligraphy is like? Mine’s not all that great, to be honest. >_<

Anyway, everyone else seemed to be doing well. They were enjoying the comforts of the palace when I met with them. Elisa and I talked for a bit, and of course Echo was happy to see me. I didn’t really get to see much of Adam (unfortunately) and Anna (fortunately) since they were off drafting a letter or something when I arrived. I’m not exactly sure what that was all about, but T-Bone seemed to think it had something to do with Ares. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for long. I wanted to see more of the palace—Hades’ parts of it anyway, and Persephone wanted me to join her as she attended to the daily functions of running the Underworld so that I’d get begin to get some training in how to handle such things once I carve out my own little niche in the place.

I must say, while Persephone’s part of the palace was really beautiful, I really loved Hades’ palace. His halls were so dark and sepulchral; it was so inspiring to walk through them. I finally felt like I really was in the Underworld. I could totally get used to living in a place like that, as long as I could get away from time to time to enjoy the sunlight a bit as well.

As Cila took me back to Persephone so that I could sit in on the day’s functions, I noticed a letter sitting in the windowsill of one of the tall, narrow windows that overlooked the dark palace gardens. It was in a normal, modern-style envelope and was clearly addressed to me. Cila didn’t seem to know anything about it, so I opened it up and read it as we walked.

It was from Suchette, the vampire that runs New Orleans. She was practically frantic with worry. She knew I had gone to Kaymakli, and thought I was dead after the explosion that collapsed the ruins. She confessed that she didn’t even know why she had written the letter since she didn’t even think I’d get it…but it was something she had to do.

I know Suchette’s been investigating me since we were in New Orleans; Karen (the ghost I set to watch Suchette) told me that much. But I had no idea that her interest was so personal. I need to get back in touch with her ASAP and let her know I’m alive. If her concern is sincere (and I believe it is), then she’ll be a wonderful contact and ally in New Orelans. And besides, it’ll be really cool to be on the good side of the vampires in New Orleans.

But why is she so worried? I was under the impression that we only barely made peace back in New Orleans. I guess my divine charisma and beauty are beginning to have a pretty intense effect on people. And I did exert and lot of divine influence on her during our discussion. Maybe she’s fatebound to me?

Oh well, I’ll worry about that after I’ve actually talked to her.

Anyway, the rest of my day was spent at Persephone’s side, observing as she attended to the day-to-day business of managing the Underworld. It was fascinating, though I can easily see how it would get boring fairly quickly. She had to mediate disagreements between ghosts, muster forces to deal with specter incursions, etc. She asked for my thoughts every now and then, and I did my best to give good advice, but she obviously knows a hell of a lot more about these things than I do.

I’ll get there, though. ^_^

Unfortunately, the day ended on a very sour note, and I’m still shaken and upset about it. As we were finishing up the day, guards ran in and told Persephone that Amaterasu was on her way to see her. Persephone’s face went white. I’ve never seen such fear in the face of a goddess before. She ordered me to leave the room, and I was taken to an adjoining chamber.

Even so, I heard parts of the argument between Amaterasu and Persephone. Amaterasu was severely pissed that Persephone was “exploiting” me and abusing their agreement that Persephone act as a go-between so that Amaterasu wouldn’t anger my mother by directly interfering with my divinity (she’s worried about it now that Izanami has expressed a devoted interest in me). The argument ended with a resounding slap and a sharp cry from Persephone.

I rushed back into the room and found Persephone crumpled on the ground, cowering before the furious might of my godmother. Amaterasu has always been warm, gentle, and kind to me. I’ve never seen her so angry before, but despite the fear I felt, I asked her not to treat my friend as she had. I knelt by Persephone to make sure she was all right and to offer what little comfort I could. Then I confronted Amaterasu. I told her that Persephone was not abusing our relationship and that though she might have been a bit controlling at times, that’s simply an aspect of who she is, not an intentional attempt to “exploit” me. I also told Amaterasu that Persephone was my friend, and that she had no right to be angry with Persephone.

Amaterasu didn’t budge, but she insisted that I accompany her out of the Underworld. I thought about refusing, but one glance at Persephone told me that she would want to be alone. Besides, I wanted to do what I could to smooth things over between them. I didn’t feel that Persephone had done anything wrong, and I wanted to Amaterasu to understand that.

And so I left with her, stopping only briefly to pick up my things and to let my friends know that Amaterasu had come to fetch me and that I would be leaving with her. Echo joined us, and Amaterasu took us out of the Underworld to our house on Red Mountain.

As we left Persephone’s palace, the Amaterasu I know and love returned. Her gentleness and calm reasserted itself, and she even seemed to regret her treatment of Persephone. I later learned that she and Persephone are friends, and, it hurt Amaterasu to do what she did.

Anyway, once we were back at Red Mountain, we had an argument. I guess I probably would have been too intimidated to argue with Amaterasu if she hadn’t always been such a friendly, mothering figure to me, but as it was I was angry that she’d hurt Persephone like she had. I told her that I valued Persephone’s friendship, in no small part because I feel that friendship is good for both Persephone and for me. I don’t feel that Persephone is taking advantage of me, at least not intentionally, and I believe her interest in helping me develop my divinity is both sincere and valuable to me.

I don’t know if my godmother really understood, but she did relent. She said she would not interfere with my friendship with Persephone in the future, but she did tell me something else that I did know about, which led to a completely new argument.

Apparently, part of her deal with Persephone was that Persephone would remove the shikome “taint” from me. Persephone didn’t do it even though she could have, so Amaterasu was naturally quite pissed. I asked Amaterasu why getting rid of the taint was so important. After all, it was a gift from my mother, so why shouldn’t I keep it?

Amaterasu told me that the taint disrupts Takamagahara (the Amatsukami Overworld) and that because of it, I won’t be able to spend any time there. This distances me from the rest of the Amatsukami, and most of them don’t want to accept me into the pantheon because of it. I have to admit, that made me angry. I argued that I’m no more tainted than my mother, and that I’m a black sheep among the Amatsukami anyway. Even without the taint, I’m sure they don’t think very highly of me. Besides, it’s practically their fault that Izanami’s stuck in the Underworld, right? If they’re going to shun her, they may as well shun me.

Amaterasu responded as calmly as ever (damn, it’s hard to carry on a heated argument with her). She told me that Izanami’s death was to blame for her current status, not anything the Amatsukami did. And she doesn’t want me to distance myself from the pantheon. She’s afraid that if I do so, the titans will use it against me, as she fears they are with Izanami. She wants me to help keep Izanami from falling into the titans’ grasp, and for that, she feels I must get rid of the taint and be a good little Amatsukami. >_<

Anyway, in the end, I had to tell my godmother that I’m not convinced. I know my fate is to be a goddess of light and darkness, and I refuse to severe my ties to the Underworld. How can I deny my mother’s wishes and retain my connection to her and what she represents? Still, I can’t exactly severe my ties to the Overworld either, can I? And Amaterasu was suggesting that the taint was doing just that, wasn’t she?

I don’t know what to do.

…                                                                    

Anyway, tomorrow morning I’ll head back to my townhouse in Boston and visit Keiko and the others next door. I need to check in on them and make sure they’re all right. Plus, I’ve been working on a new direction for my music. I’ll be touring soon, and I think this is a good time to really make a huge new impression on the world.