[Video; Open] 03 Shadows [Dated August 2nd]

[fell_to_hell]

[Nico opens up a video on the Locket for the first time since the memory-sharing incident. He still looks like he’s going to be sick, and is still tired from his summoning the dead stint during the battle a few days ago. At least he’s more alert and not fighting to keep his lunch down today.]

I wanted to share at least one story from my world, gods know there are plenty to tell, and I had some…encouragement.

[He looks off to the side to give an annoyed look at a certain someone who happens to be in the room with him. That someone happens to be Jason Grace, son of Jupiter and moral support extraordinaire.]

Also...when I’m done, I suppose I’ll answer any questions people have regarding my powers. I don’t know if I’ll be able to answer all of them, but I can try.

[Within reason. He’s not about to give away his weaknesses to potential enemies.]

First, I should probably say something about the gods in our world. There are twelve “major” gods, though technically it’s fourteen, but only twelve reside on Mount Olympus, the home of the gods. It’s where their seats of power are. The other “minor” gods go wherever they please, though not a lot of them live in Olympus.

There are two cultures in our world who have the same gods, but with different names and personalities. Mine is Greek, and the other is Roman. Jason and I can hash out the differences between them if you want to know more.

[Jason is their only Roman demigod, at the moment, so...yeah. And Nico is a mythology nerd, so he’s got the rest definitely covered.]

Anyway, this story is a kind of popular one at home. Well, one version of it is, at least.

[Nico looks vaguely annoyed.]

Mostly, it’s mistranslating and a bit of another religion getting in the way of the actual story. Plus, the story is told more in sympathy with one goddess than the other, so the view is a little skewed because of it.

[He shakes his head. He knows he’s stalling. Nico sits back and gets comfortable.]

There was a goddess named Persephone, goddess of flowers and fertile vegetation. She was the daughter of Demeter, goddess of agriculture and a very over-protective mom to boot, and Zeus, Lord of the Sky, King of the Gods...who was, and still is, married to Hera, goddess of marriage and Queen of the Heavens. Yes, Zeus does this a lot.

[It’s really ironic and hilarious that Zeus has two kids who are either very faithful to their lover or have sworn off of love and lust altogether, one of whom lets out a groan at that whole description.]

Don’t remind me.

[Nico rolls his eyes.]

It’s your daily reminder that your dad is…[A man-slut? Player? Stereotypical hotshot jock from high school with absolutely no control over his raging hormones?] ...like he is.

[That’s polite enough. Right?]

Anyway. So. A couple of other gods try to get with Persephone, like Hermes, god of travelers, thieves, roads, other things, and Apollo, god of the sun, prophecy, medicine, music, and poetry. Well, Demeter wants absolutely none of this, and she fights off all of Persephone’s suitors tooth-and-nail because she doesn’t want her to be with anyone Demeter feels isn’t good enough.

One day, Hades, god of the Underworld, Lord of the Dead, chanced upon her and fell in love with her. He met with her in the guise of a mortal shepherd ‘cause...well. He’s the Lord of the Dead. He’s very recognizable and he doesn’t want trouble with Demeter, who will without a doubt stomp her foot down and say no to him courting her daughter.

[And probably because daddy-dearest was shy around a pretty lady. It apparently runs in the family. (minus the “lady” part) (shut up Jason nobody likes a smartass)

Nico is also starting to animate as he tells the story at this point. Talking about mythology does that to him. Normally, his gestures are close to his body when he talks, but as he starts to get into telling the story, his gestures become bigger to show off that excitement. He likes telling Greek mythology to people who’ll listen, and this is honestly a really good outlet for him.]

Soooo...he gets the super amazing idea to ask Zeus for advice. He responds in very typical Zeus fashion, and that’s to say he suggests kidnapping her to the Underworld. [Another quiet groan from Jason and he flops back on the bed, covering his face. Somehow, godly parents manage to be a thousand times more embarrassing than mortal ones. Nico seems amused by Jason’s antics.] Annnnd Hades goes with that because it’s the best he’s got. He rips open the earth, kidnaps Persephone on his black chariot, and they go down to his palace in the Underworld.

Here’s where things start getting...weird, depending on the version you hear. There’s a hymn that details Demeter’s reaction to this whole thing. Her despair at losing her daughter makes the earth wither. Crops are failing, famine is spreading all across Greece, and the people have never had this happen to them before. All of a sudden, the people were experiencing winter when all they’d ever known was summer. Helios, the former sun god, took pity on her and told her that Hades, with permission from Zeus, had taken Persephone away to the Underworld to be his wife. Demeter storms up to Olympus and demands that Zeus get her daughter back. He tells her he can’t, so she leaves Greece in response.

[Not that anybody can blame her, to be honest, but at the same time...lots of mortals dying….]

Meanwhile, in the Underworld, and this is the part of the story not many people know about, Persephone is angry and Hades is just kinda. Showering her with gifts because he really is sincere about it all, even if the whole kidnapping thing is pretty much the worst way to make a first impression. She’s very unimpressed at first, but his sincerity and sorta awkward flattery makes her fond of him.

[Nico shrugs at this point. Gods in love, man. Makes a better soap opera than most mortals can create.]

Eventually, after the mortals plead for Zeus to help them, he actually decides to answer them and begs Demeter to try and come back. She refuses, of course, so he goes to Hades and demands that he release Persephone. Pretty much all like, “Look, little brother, I know I promised you could totally have Persephone as your wife, but we need her back, now, before Demeter starves us all, okay?”

[...okay, yes, there’s a touch of sass in there. At least Zeus isn’t here to rumble thunder in his general direction. Just a son of Jupiter. Who, to his credit, isn’t gonna argue with that sass at all. Dad’s kind of a dick.]

Hades agrees to let Persephone go, but the two then decide to pull one over on the other two gods because who says deities can’t be spiteful? He tells her that eating food from the Underworld means you can’t ever leave, so Persephone grows a pomegranate tree somewhere in there and eats some of the seeds. Hermes takes her back to the realm of the living, and Demeter’s happy which causes the plants and everything to grow again. Winter breaks and now comes spring and summer again. However, she’s quick to realize that Persephone has eaten food from the Underworld, and tells her daughter that they can only meet for half a year because of it. The other half will have to be spent in the Underworld with her husband. And that’s the story of how there are seasons. When Persephone is visiting her mother, the world will come alive again with spring and summer, but when she’s down in the Underworld with Hades, the earth will wither for autumn and winter.

[Nico sits back, kind of taking a short break from all that talking. Long story, and there are some that are even longer, like Odysseus’ tale. Anyway, who even knew that the Lord of the Dead is actually a cutie?]

So...yeah. That’s one story from Greek culture. [He glances over at Jason.] Maybe you can convince this guy to tell you some Roman stories. If he’s done being totally mortified by his dad’s antics and general jerkiness.

[His voice still muffled beneath the hands covering his face, Jason still seems fairly mortified.]

Dude, shut up.

[There’s wicked amusement in Nico’s eyes. Ask the demigods questions and they will see about answering them!]

{OOC: Blue is Jason, black is Nico! You'll be getting both 'cause Jason will pipe in whenever he pleases, haha. Also, for those newly accepted, please feel free to tag into this if you want!}

Comments

[mesmerism]

[ Only when she's teasing, gosh. ]

Do you really think people want to hear about how she was born in the first place? People would lose their lunch.

[ Yes, she's skipping past her mom's numerous liaisons and going straight to being born from blood from a chopped up Ouranos. ]

[oursavinggrace]

That one's not as bad as the story of Mr. D's birth, at least. No one wants to hear that one.

[the whole "sewn into zeus' thigh as a fetus" thing. ew.]

[mesmerism]

Yeah, we should really spare the rest of the people here. We need to make a list of "Stories No One Wants to Hear."

[ Greek myths were just silly, tragic, or gross stories back when she and her dad were having fun researching them, but now? Yeah, they definitely mean a lot more. ]

[oursavinggrace]

Especially if this is gonna become a regular thing.

[which it looks like rachel and nico are down for. it'd be a nice way to entertain people and maybe make some new friends, and maybe if they're all doing this together then people will be less likely to call them crazy.]

I vote we leave out the whole story about Zeus and Leda.

[because no dad why ew ew ew]

[mesmerism]

I'd like it if it was. Nico's a good storyteller. And it looks like he enjoys it.

[ If his hand gestures were anything to go by. ]

How about we just omit any stories where Zeus is an animal? And any about my mom... and guys.

[ The "having sex with numerous men" is implied. It's just that it's her mom. She doesn't want to be thinking about it, much less hearing about it. ]

[oursavinggrace]

[he's outing himself as italian to all of fairyworld.]

If we all get to choose what we leave out about our parents, all we're gonna be able to talk about are like, more Demeter stories.

[clearly this is a sign that the gods do way too many gross and embarrassing things, and they have way too many demigods in fairyworld.]

[mesmerism]

And Artemis. Clearly we need to rework these stories to make them better for us to tell, but so the audience still enjoys them.

[oursavinggrace]

I'm gonna veto all Artemis stories myself on Thalia's behalf. Last thing I want is for her to ever show up here and throttle me for making her Lady look bad.

[at least, the latter half is the last thing he wants. thalia showing up would probably make everything about this place pretty damn cool as far as magical alternate universes of kidnappers go.]

[mesmerism]

Hey now, you're Roman. You'd be telling stories about Diana if anything, and you wouldn't have to at all. She can just give the rest of us dirty looks if we make Artemis look bad. And I'm sure not planning on it in the first place. I've always thought she was cool.

[ She even thought being a Hunter would rock until Annabeth mentioned the "no boyfriends" rule. ]

[oursavinggrace]

They're basically all the same stories, though. All the Roman stories are pretty much the Greek ones with different names and some things changed a little. They honestly don't have much that's original beyond the whole Remus and Romulus thing.

[and given that that one was just to explain why rome is the best thing ever...yeah. rome was kind of full of itself.]

[mesmerism]

Kind of sad when you think about it. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that, but you guys should have your own stories. Beyond the founding of Rome.

[oursavinggrace]

Hey, that's their business now. I'm not even Roman enough to command a bunch of ghosts anymore, remember?

[he says it with such good humor, no one could really be blamed for failing to notice how that's still bugging him a little. it's not like he'd really wanted to go back to new rome, but it's not that easy to shake fifteen years of being roman and trying to be its ideal.]

[mesmerism]

[ She smiles at his tone, but she wonders how he really feels about all that. She often wonders about Jason without ever outright asking him things. She doesn't want to be nosy or poke at things that shouldn't be poked. But if he's bringing it up... ]

I didn't want to speak for you or anything. Do you... feel Greek now? Or something different?

[fell_to_hell]

[Nico pipes in. (haha pipes in....)]

Or the numerous times Aphrodite and Ares have gotten into trouble?

[Totally. Innocent.]

[mesmerism]

[ Piper groans mightily. ]

Now I'm going to lose my lunch.

[fell_to_hell]

Oh, then I won't get into the Adonis story.

[Okay he'll take pity on Piper and name one where Aphrodite isn't so bad.]

But if it wasn't for Aphrodite, we wouldn't have the Graces or Harmonia, the goddess of harmony.

[mesmerism]

At least there's some good among the questionable.

[ She shakes her head. ]

And here most kids think their mortal parents are embarrassing. Our embarrassing family stories have lasted thousands of years.

[fell_to_hell]

Honestly, in some cases, it was kind of the mortal's fault. Why you'd make the goddess of desire and love mad, I have no idea. It always ends poorly.

[Nico snorts at this.]

No kidding. And it's always the worst ones that get told the most.

[mesmerism]

But if you're our official storyteller, you can make sure the good ones are the ones told.

[ And she brings it around back to him. ]

Is this your first time telling a Greek myth to a large group? Because you're really good at it.

[fell_to_hell]

[Holy Hades, he keeps getting compliments like this and he still isn't sure how to feel about it.]

Well, yeah, unless it's Zeus. That's like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

[...Aphrodite, too, come to think of it. A lot of her stories are about her jealousy making misery for mortals....]

Ah...it is. I may have given up playing a game based around the Greek pantheon, but...the passion for those stories never really left, I guess.

[mesmerism]

[ Just accept the appreciation, dude. It's all good. ]

Sad, but true.

[ Poor Jason. ]

My dad and I researched Greek myths for one of his movie roles. This was before I knew I was a demigod, though. It was a lot of fun.

[ And what she's just said would have been locked to him if she had that setting figured out yet. She'll need to wait until someone sends her a private message before she knows how. ]

[fell_to_hell]

[It's sad that Nico doesn't think to private message her about this, either. The demigod thing has already been outed for him, Clarisse, and Jason. And he has no idea who Tristan McLean is. Oops.

Also, godsdamn it, Piper, pursuing the topic he loves so! No keep going.]

Do you have a favorite story?

[mesmerism]

[ Luckily McLean is a common last name, right? And it's not like anyone here will know who he is and want his autograph if they're all from different worlds. ]

I think Artemis is really cool, so anything involving her. Though I'll admit she really overreacted if that guy really did just stumble on her while she was bathing.

[ Piper would have just thrown a punch at him, not turn him into a stag and set her dogs on him. ]

[fell_to_hell]

[It's all good for Piper, really! His eyes get a little distant at the mention of Artemis. He has...a lot of muddled feelings about that particular goddess.]

The story of her birth was interesting, even if Apollo insists he's the oldest. Actually...now that I think about it, there was a story about a guy who swore to Artemis. If I remember correctly, it ended badly for him and it wasn't even his own fault. Artemis respected him, though, for keeping his oath and being faithful to her ways.

[mesmerism]

Sounds like sort of a good and bad ending to that one, but it might be a good one to tell anyway.

[ It's sad that she can't think of any with really happy endings. Well, Eros and Psyche ended up happy, but her mom's the villain of that one, so no. ]

What else do you have in mind to talk about?