un: aphrodite ;; text ;; 001 <- "first post"

[wingstosee]

so i'm not really sure how this works?
it doesn't look like anyone else has posted yet.
but uhhhh no time like the present, right?
so
my... bracelet? watch?
i guess it's kind of a smartwatch.
anyway it said something new just now.

"we made it work. attempt number six was successful. it worked, everyone!"
"wait, there's a problem, we're not where we..."

does this sound familiar to anyone?
there might have been more but i was in the cafeteria
or well. am, i guess

also, first post?
i think you're supposed to say that.

wow i have no idea where to end this.
i hope you're all having a good day?
even with the kidnapping and everything.
okay bye

wait jk jk
jupiter, if you see this
let me know, okay?
this is venus. though i guess that's pretty obvious.
i'm really worried :(
that was probably obvious too

okay bye for real this time?
maybe??
yeah.

Comments

never apologise NEVER

[solarcharged]

[ Destructive justice is something that Apollo can relate to. Of course he can - it's why he dropped a dictator from a hundred feet down upon the rioting mob of his own people for them to tear him apart. It's why the Authority overthrew the government of the United States. The Sun King understands the need to tear down and destroy that which needs destroying.

He takes another breath, an oddly redundant and human thing to do once again. But it helps in a way. It helps remind him he is human, somewhere beneath all the fire and fury.

The idea that Venus and her friends left the summer camp in ruins is reassuring. ]

Good, [ He says quietly, approvingly. The idea of something as hateful and fucked up as that summer camp still being standing makes his hands itch. He'd Door his way there himself if he had the Carrier, just to drop a mountain on it himself. He picks up his coffee again, forcing his hands to be still and calm and to not crush the mug to dust. ]

So. The devil is a female force?

[ He's heard weirder shit but it makes him smile faintly. ]

That's... surprising.

[wingstosee]

[ good, he says, and she feels a warmth in her chest about ready to burst. she's thrown out a lot of things, becoming who she is, and the approval of society is pretty high on that list. but having someone like this say he approves, say he's happy for her, is... it's a lot.

she's smiling, as radiant as a star, as she answers. ]

Maybe? Or maybe just for us. [ she sort of chuckles. ] Everyone says the devil's a boy, but maybe... they just can't imagine her as she is. They only see what they want her to be.

[ maybe she's the same way. she laughs softly, looking over to catch apollo's gaze. maybe this is the best way to explain. ]

What do you see? When you look at me, I mean.

[solarcharged]

I used to think the devil was a big red guy with pointy horns but then I met God. God was a giant pyramid alien so I wouldn't be surprised if the devil was the same, to be honest.

[ Apollo sounds matter of fact about it all because he is - they met God and they killed God and that was about all there was to it. Apollo, lacking any kind of religious convictions, hadn't exactly been upset by the revelation. If so many people hadn't died - Jenny Sparks included - it would almost have been funny. ]

I guess I see -- [ Apollo steps back, appraising Venus from the tips of her many-eyed wings to her toes. ] -- I see a young woman with some pretty impressive wings. Is that what I'm meant to see?

[wingstosee]

[ -that gets a snicker out of her. he met god? wow. she's only ever heard him on the radio, but somehow she's not surprised he'd look like that. even though humanity was supposed to be in god's image and all? huh. still, she avoids speaking up until he's fully appraised her, and it's only when he's said his piece that she says- ]

There's not really a right or wrong answer? Haha. It's just a question. [ but it's an answer she's clearly okay with, given the small smile on her face. ] So if that's what you see when you look at the devil, that has to be part of her. It doesn't mean that's all she is. Right?

[ there's a key piece of information there, one that isn't said aloud but might as well have been. venus doesn't even seem to notice; the words flow easily for her, no hesitation in her voice. ]

[solarcharged]

[ Apollo knows he can be pretty blonde at times but even he picks up that message behind Venus's words. A mystified frown crosses his expression, like clouds passing over the sun, as he processes what that truly must mean about the young woman standing before him. ]

You... are the devil? [ He says slowly, brows pinching in thought before amending his words slightly: ] You're a part of the devil?

[wingstosee]

Yeah. [ she's smiling as she says it, reveling in the freedom that simple word gives. she's got nothing to hide - she is the devil, proud and shining and beautiful. or at least, sort of. ] Or, well. It's complicated? I'm the devil, but I'm also me. Same with Jupiter and Neptune. It's like...

[ she thinks for a moment, then snaps her fingers. ]

It's like the Holy Trinity. Jesus and God are the same, right? But they're also different. Even if Jesus is God, he's also Jesus. It's kind of like that, but- with a whole lot of Jesuses. At least a whole camp's worth, haha.

[ hopefully some parts of this entire conversation are starting to clear up a little. ]

[solarcharged]

Huh. Okay.

[ Venus seems like a lovely kid who's been through a hell of a lot of bad shit, but a manifestation of the actual devil? The manifestation of everything bad and horrible in the Biblical world? Apollo isn't a believer, not now that he knows God is a pyramid-shaped alien asshole. For all he knows, the devil is a circle. Or a parallelogram.

If anything, he worries that it's more of a reflection of what Venus thinks of herself. That, perhaps, after spending that time in a criminally abusive summer camp, she thinks she's the devil. ]

I have to say, you don't seem all that devil-like to me, [ Apollo observes, giving her a hazy, squinting smile. ] I mean - you're not going to corrupt my soul and drag me to hell to burn for all eternity, are you? You don't seem like the type to do that to someone...

[wingstosee]

[ a circle, or a parallelogram, or a lovely voice on the radio. the devil can be lots of things, apollo. so when he smiles at her, she still smiles back - even if it looks like she wants to explain things she doesn't have the words for yet. ]

I mean, not unless you want me to?? [ there's a teasing lilt to her voice - even if it's not quite on the parts you'd think. ] Hell sounds pretty cool to me. But I wouldn't want to take someone who wasn't into it.

[ a pause. she hesitates for a moment, unsure how much she wants to say, before finally addressing the issue at hand. ]

Besides, I don't... really know if I can do that? At least, not anymore. I'm not the last kid from the scouts to grow wings, you know.

[ and she smiles. even if she can't do much anymore, she's still inordinately fond of the memory. ]

[solarcharged]

No, I really don't want to go to Hell, [ He emphasizes with a small smile - the kind of smile that suggests he doesn't really think they're talking about the same thing any more. He's been told to go to Hell enough times that he can be flippant about it, but that doesn't mean he would actually want to go to Hell any time soon.

But then Venus goes on and Apollo's smile turns a little... worried. ]

What do you mean, 'anymore'? You've sent people to Hell before? Actual Hell?

[wingstosee]

Yeah. I kind of figured.

[ and she gives that smile right back - right up to the sudden concern when his smile shifts. ]

Um. Sort of? Not like, the place. I've never really been there either. But I have turned other kids into- well. Something like me.

[ hell was beyond that door. that's what she'd promised jupiter. if hell was where the devil lived, then why couldn't hell be in their world too? ]

GOD HOW DID I MISS THIS i am sorry this is a million years late wow

[solarcharged]

[ The worried smile is still in place as Apollo processes what Venus is saying. He still has the sneaking suspicion that some of this is just an elaborate metaphor. ]

You turned other kids in to devils, [ He repeats faintly and a little uneasily. ] I presume they... wanted to have that done?

[ Who even wants that! Apollo doesn't know!! ]

[wingstosee]

[ she's worried about apollo's unease. how could she not be? he's strong, and loud, and there's a power to his voice as bright and radiant as the sun. she wants that behind her back, pushing her forward with the light - not beating down at her from above.

but it's not like she's smart enough to make anything sound better by being evasive, or not telling the whole truth. she wouldn't want to even if she was. so instead, she just lays it all out. ]

The devil can't get you if you don't want her to. [ it's said simply, plainly - because it really is just that simple. she shrugs. ] It's not like any of us were any good to begin with. We just- told them that they didn't have to try so hard anymore. That they were okay the way they were. And that's all it took.