tushanshu | i. | [video]

[the video comes on in his own suite, very evidently in the fire sector by the blue glows flickering in through the open windows. dressed in simple and casual - if nice - city clothing, chase is watching the video feed with a bored expression, one gloved hand supporting his chin, the other wrapped idly around a cup of tea on the desk.]

Aren't there just so many ... interesting people here, now. [the significant pause indicating that 'interesting' was a few dictionaries away from the word he probably intended to use.] And so many so young, too.

[there's a flicker of a sneer there.]

I'm sure everyone's had their fair share of time trying to figure out precisely what this place is and how you got here, but undoubtedly we've all heard the suggestion that this is, in one way or another, the afterlife. Not an idea I'm entirely fond of, but without any evidence otherwise, I'm forced to consider it a possibility. [very grudgingly, if his tone is anything to go by.]

So - a question. How many of you actually remember dying before your arrival here? A simple yes or no is enough, unless you had a particularly interesting death, in which case feel free to elaborate.

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Consider this a vague suggestion to elaborate on that. I'd have thought someone your age would want to brag about being a rare living soul in the realms of the dead.

How do you even know how old I am? But you're right that it's not exactly the number one vacation destination for the living. Probably not even for most of the dead either.

It's an educated guess. You don't look like much more than a teenager.

What was your underworld like? Even if you were never particularly excited to visit it.

Well, you're right on that end. I'm almost 17.

It's... the Underworld. Elysium, the Fields of Asphodel, Fields of Punishment -- all of that. Ruled by Hades.

Greek. [said without hesitation, and a bit of surprise.] I'd always heard about it, but never seen it myself ... and it's something you've just gone and strolled through?

Not exactly. It's a lot more complicated, and no one can just stroll in. The living are generally unwelcome.

Regardless, you've been there. How? I can only hope you weren't trying to save a lost love.

[She rolls her eyes] I was on a quest. If people haven't learned from Orpheus, it's their own fault.

On a quest in Hades. Sent to retrieve? To destroy? Or to try and negotiate? I hear he's not precisely the negotiating sort.

You're pretty curious and not very surprised by all this.

But no, negotiations with Hades must be done with the utmost carefulness.

The idea that a pantheon of once-revered gods does still exist doesn't surprise me. Just because I could never find them doesn't mean they weren't there. I'm curious to know more about them, and in particular, why you seem to have been so fortunate to have the ability to interact with them. Mortals generally don't fare well when they get involved with Zeus' ilk, as I've heard.

Well, if you know the myths, they're really not much different. They've just adapted to the twenty-first century. And then it's a good thing I'm not exactly a mortal, isn't it?

Edited 2012-08-26 04:56 (UTC)

Don't tell me you're the result of one of those constant illegitimate affairs those gods seem so fond of having. [it's said more offhandedly than anything else. it's not even really a guess, he's just saying it for the hell of it, and to try and goad her into a real explanation.]

Not all of the gods are married, so they're technically not all affairs.

You get my intention, though. You're no demigod?

Why, are you?

Not quite. [he'd be arrogant enough to say he was close, though.] I have relatively little interest in gods these days.

Sometimes they'd pretend to feel the same of everyone else.

Of course they'd try that, impossible as it is. That's gods for you.

So, you're just a very lucky - or very unlucky - chosen one to have to deal with a pantheon thought long dead? I don't really envy you.

Not exactly chosen and definitely not the only one.

Fated into it?

Fated's one word for it. Born into it is also applicable.

Same general idea. Fate enjoys damning people from birth.

[bitter, why no, of course not.]

Or their birth can cause that fate. I've seen that happen too.

In my experience, they tend to be one and the same. You're born fated or you're fated from birth. It isn't particularly pleasant either way.

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