Still own less than nothing. Though I bought a plate set that actually like goes with my style and kitchen and stuff so I own that. Rock on.
Random comment: Exams are almost over. I have one on monday (and my portfolio is due for my Creative Writing class then) and then on Wednesday I have two. That means my summer break is almost here since I've opted not to take summer courses. Too expensive.
However I'm trying to make my house MINE. So I'm doing a lot of painting and trying to afford furniture and new appliances (since my washing machine is seriously the anti-christ. I hate it.) which takes time and money. I always write at least once a day, but sadly I have been inspired by this story for one about Persephone and Hades relationship as it is...not related to Fanfiction at all. So I can't promise that I will update any quicker just because I don't have class.
I won't abandon this story though, I love it and all my kind reviewers so no worries there. Just thought I should warn you.
"Be to her, Persephone, all the things I might not be: take her head upon your knee. She that was so proud and wild, flippant arrogant and free, she that had no need of me, is a little lonely child Lost in Hell,--Persephone, take her head upon your knee: say to her, "My dear, my dear, it is not so dreadful here." Prayer to Persephone ---by---Edna St. Vincent Millay
He knew this world well. A world of Stone and Shadow and Fire. A world he had been born into. A world he was meant to rule and a world he was condemned to no matter his wishes. A slave to his crown.
His sun, though to call Mandy "sun" was laughable, was above and forever lost to him. Athena had finally come forward and said that friend did not mean slave, and he was fetched right away and dragged back to rule the whole of the realm.
They also expected him to take a Queen. Eris was certainly more that perturbed that her mother—the feared Goddess of Night—was trying to push her on "A loser" like Grim. But she was in enough trouble with her father and Nyx had other daughters. Seven of whom were Nymphs, bustling giggling things who would wither in the dark of Grim's Realm.
Nyx wanted a daughter beside Grim so she could have even more power. Ker was obviously in the running. The Goddess of Violent Death.
It is a misconception to think there is one kind of figure for Death when there are so many kinds of Death.
Ker sat to his left at the elegant table. They were having a party, of grim sorts, to welcome their king back to his realm. Unlike Grim—they called him Hades here in this realm, though mortals above no longer knew him by that name—she kept her flesh, her look of Mortality.
Her skin was pale, and not attractively so...it was pallid as the flesh of one who is deathly ill. Her hair hung in lank strands around her face, as dark as her flesh was light. Clothing—no matter what she wore—hung off her, revealing ribs and sagging flesh. Her eyes held that manic glitter found in the eyes of murderers. She sat beside him and her fingers, long and knobby, skittered over the table, touching a fork, a spoon, her knife, then starting their dance again.(1)
The Fates were not an option, and never had been. The three of them lived in their world with their loom and their thread and nothing else.
Nemesis sat across from him. Her gaze somewhere far away, a small smile hidden in the corner of her mouth. Her mother would push her at Grim, but both deities knew she would not have it.
Nemesis was many things, a dealer of justice. A Fate in her own right. She was neither good nor evil, she simply dealt people what they were due, and whether they were due good or bad was her judgment. Men often thought of her an avenger, or so closely tied to her sister Ker. All the same they looked nothing alike. Nemesis had long since cut her moonshine hair short. She wore pants and a shirt, looking more like a man with her small frame. It was just as well. She was neither. Though a female she was not good nor bad; neither just nor unjust.
She was.
She had no pretenses about what she did, she knew it was cruel and that it was rare that anyone deserved their fate. But she never regretted what she did. She never showed remorse. She rarely smiled. In fact Grim had never seen her smile, and this small twist of her lips that she bore tonight was the closest she had ever come to a smile.
She reminded him of Mandy at times.
Though dead and though lacking in organs he still felt his heart twist in his chest when he saw her. The only difference was in her pale and sightless eyes.(1 again) She did not need her eyes to see into the hearts of men.
Apate chattered away to his other side. Still bemoaning having been locked away within the famous box awarded to Pandora. She was always hunched over something and her fingers were too long for her hands. Her eyes had a habit of being too large for her face while her mouth always hung open.
Her voice was by far the worst of her. As the embodiment(2) of deception most of what she said were at least exaggerations, but in general. It sounded much like bones scraping against rock, and always sent unpleasant shivers through Grim. Had he flesh it would have been crawling.
Philotes, like the Nymphs was not even at the table. She was the goddess of affection and she would not do well as the Queen of the Underworld. Power aside Nyx knew that should the Queen not fit she would not stay, and as mentioned before, she always had more daughters.
It was a shame that she was not here. Like Nemesis Grim did not mind her, like her well enough even.
Though when he looked at her he was not reminded of a mortal out of his life forever. The loss of whom he should be celebrating rather than mourning.
Nyx had invited her sons (3) so as not to seem like she were fishing for Grim's attention, but they were all gathered at the far end of the table.
Surrounded by deities and Nyx and power and death once more and all he could think of was a blond mortal a lifetime away.
He wondered if she missed him.
He wondered what she had done to poor Phelgethon and if Billy knew he was missing.
He wondered if Mandy would care that he was gone or if she would take it to the Courts again.
It would not help but he did wonder, he couldn't help but wonder.
Wonder and push at his uneaten meal with a fork. Miserable though the time had been he would miss both those two, who had—as children—enslaved him. He would miss them because Billy had become a friend in those ten years and Mandy...
...had become so much more.
She was...She was everything he wanted out of his afterlife. She had tortured him it was true and she had humiliated him it was true, but she had helped him and she had saved him and she did make him laugh and let him experience life. There were times she had made him smile. HE was able to, at times convince himself that maybe she cared—just a little—about him.
Thoughts like that were certainly no help though and served only to make his heart twist in that painful manner again. But whatever thoughts he tried to fill his head with instead they inveribly settled onto the subject of Mandy.
It was maddening and lovely all at once.
He missed Billy less though. After all it was difficult to miss someone who barely remembered you. By far Billy had been the worse of the two. Mandy at least knew what she was doing to Grim. She knew and she dared him to defy her. Billy just wanted and wanted and expected everyone to do as he wanted because he knew no other way.
His malice was born of stupidity. Somehow that made it less tolerable.
1) (both of them) Okay the goddesses I have listed here: that is what they are and who they are and what they stand for (as documented at the sites and books I have, I can't read ancient greek so I don't know for sure. Heh.) Their looks are totally mine though. I just...saw them like that. Also with Nemesis being blind. I made that up. It's part to deal with Cassandra being blind and seeing more than everyone else anyway and the idea that your eyes can lie so to see the truth and all that. It seemed to fit in general. Either way that's that. I made all that up.
2)Embodiment vs. Goddess: Okay there are Gods and Goddesses in Greek myths but there are also Embodiments. These are...still people but rather than being deities they are just...that thing. A bit like a nymph or a muse...not a god but decently close and still higher than mortals. I honestly have looked but not found any reason why some things are Gods and some things are Embodiments. If you found it or have a thought feel free to share with me I would love to know.
3) She had less sons than daughters but she did have sons. Though I do apologize, anyone who has studied myths knows that there are at least three versions of each and so it can get confusing. So for now her sons are remaining nameless because the only one I want to deal with--I'm taking his birth and such from a different myth and while I know inscest was popular among the Gods if I left him her son that would just get confusing and vile...so just know she birthed a couple boys in there but they're not important to the story.
Yin.Yang.Sisters: I got my welcome mat from a magazine...I don't know which one but I could find it I'm sure. It was actually a gift from some of my high school friends when I moved into my first house. They all chipped in since it was really UNGODLY expensive at about $40. But I do like it and I get a lot of comments--or at least strange looks--so that's fun. I'm glad to hear you like my story and you don't have to comment often, though I do love reviews, the important thing is really just that you enjoy my story.
Atrophy-Conception: You've started something by not being afraid of learning. I don't want this to become "How many gods and goddesses can I list" but it's important to give you a certain idea of what's going on in the story and I think, especially with these sorts of characters, they add something to the setting. Either way I am glad you're still delighted and I suppose you wouldn't want to be in my pocket anyway, I tend to be a packrat so my pockets must be pretty gross if you have to live there. Maybe my closet then? I am glad that you (and supposedly most who reviewed) didn't mind the way the first four chapters had NOTHING happening really, but it sort of set the story, which I felt really necessary since I've skipped about ten years from where the Cartoon is at, and also because these are really deep characters I'm playing with here. Either way I'm glad and we are into the action bit now, so yay for that.
Chaotic Pink Chocobo: Yay I'm glad you can't wait, I always hope to keep people guessing and--dare I say--excited about what's going to happen.
and FOREVER: I know what you mean about not enough detail. And I'm glad you like detail because I certainly do. It does take a lot of detail to be too much, but once you have too much it's hard for your readers to trust you again, that's at least what I find when I'm reading.
fireblade Quickclaw: I always prefer longer reviews but I do think yours is officially one of my favorites. Simplistic but it left me smiling for days.
Hells Agent: Oh no! Am I going to have to put disclaimers up? heh. I'm glad you like it so much and I hope you continue to like it so much and thanks for putting it on your favorites! That always makes my day better!
Furubafmanarutohngfan: I hope it stays good now! I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Purple-Rosie: I dunno, so many people see her as the Lawyer type, but I know a lot of lawyers and I'm thinking about law school and they don't strike me to be like Mandy, so I thought maybe I'd try taking her in a different direction, so I'm glad you like what I've done with her instead. I love the idea of "saving" your english report and hey I'm always up for teaching people. I can't seem to learn what I'm meant to so I figure I should pass on as much of my utterly useless knowledge as much as I can.
Lily of the Shadow: Firstly I love how I put things in my story, read how you read them and go, "Holy shit it's true!" My characters do have a habit of getting away with me so it's always fun to get to look at my story through other people's eyes and your reviews always help with that. So thanks just for that.
I loved the way you describe maybe it's a little of both for Grim, because I imagine it is both. He wants it to be that she knows the symbolism, but he's almost afraid to hope, which in itself is awesome when you think of Death hoping for anything. Heh your reveiw of chapter five (it was awesome I got all three of your latest reviews at once and THAT made me really happy.) the first bit about my plot was an excellent joke and I was laughing so hard I almost forgot to read the rest of your very kind review. Heh. It still makes me giggle, because it is true and I was thinking it myself. As to your points, I can't really say without spoiling it, so I think I'll just smile knowingly and let you find out as I have time to write eh?
As to your comment about the mythology, I hope you're still interested since it plays an even larger part in the upcoming chapters (and also a bit of Dante will find it's way in because I love Dante. If he were still alive I would stalk him.) so...yeah...heh actually I love Mythology and I've never really gotten to do anything with it other than just enjoy it so writing about it makes me love it even more and brings up a whole other obsession. And hey I love that you review at all. I make you guys wait for chapters so I suppose it's only fair that I should wait on reviews.
Kyo-kun and Hatsuharu are hot: Hey I don't mind, I'm just glad you enjoy it. I'm also glad you think so highly of my work it makes me smile. I certainly enjoy it but I wrote it so I should hope I enjoy it.