"Brother, seriously, how could you? You and Del were away for so long! And you're the most sensible among us three!"
Irus' face was flustered. He wasn't used to being reprimanded by his sisters. "Okay, I'm sorry..."
"You'd better be!"
"Okay, okay, sure, jeez, no need to be so uptight about it." He mumbled.
"You had us all worried, you know. Inconsiderate git." Iria threw a snowball at him. They were standing out in the snow fort that the village children always played in.
"And the teacher was wondering where you were and we had to fake an excuse for you."
Blue sent his children to the village school to be taught by the mortals.
"Your cover story is that you were sick."
"What, for a year?"
"Something like that."
"We said you were sent to some fancy pansy hospital."
"And was treated for the semi-terminal illness."
"Something like cancer."
Irus shook his head. "You mean the teacher actually believed that?"
"Of course."
"We're so innocent."
"No one suspects us of anything."
"Because we didn't do anything."
"Which gives us the freedom to do what we want."
Iria and Iris behaved more like twins than Irus and Iris, adding on to each other's sentences, completing them, even their behaviour. Both were wickedly mischievious and acted innocently most of the time. The odd thing was that everyone seemed to believe them.
"Iris, how's dad doing?"
"Oh, he's just blue."
"Seriously?"
"Nope. He's fine."
"Okay."
"By the way, I think Linea's got a crush on you that's intensified with your disappearance."
"Yeah, she's been asking for daily updates on how your 'illness' was."
"I can't believe she didn't get over you in one year."
"She kept wanting to visit you."
"But we told her it was contagious."
"Stop talking so quickly! I can't keep up! It's been so long since I've talked to you two." Iris interrupted before they could continue. "Linea? You kid me not?"
Both of them groaned and said simultaneously, "Drop the accent, bro."
"But are you serious? Linea? She.. uh.. I never knew she liked me!"
"Yes. She did and she still does. Apparently she started liking you even more after you left."
"I think she wish she made her intentions clear before you got sick."
"Sick with a terminal disease."
"Sick in the brain."
Irus continued smoothening the snow fort's edges. He lifted a gloved hand to taste some of the pristine frost.
"Irus! That's disgusting!" Iris exclaimed, smacking his hand down. She then took some of the snow and proceeded to eat it too.
"Hey! That's unfair! You're really annoying, sister! I can't believe I returned home for this sort of treatment."
She surprised him by hugging him and Iria joined them.
"We missed you, vakhi." Iris said, using the term for brother. "I missed you."
"I missed you too, vakha."
Iria, being the younger child, said nothing and just buried her head in his jacket.
"First you two try to irritate me, now you're all lovey-dovey. I'll never understand women." Despite his words, he knew how they felt. He felt the same way too. He broke the hug first.
"Come, we're gonna be late for school."
"Vakhi, you've already not attended for almost a year. What does a few minutes matter?"
"What about you two then? Let's just go." He pushed them on.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Irus, you're back!"
"Gah! Linea, back off, I can't breathe!" He scrambled back against his chair, his sisters smirking at the side.
"Told you, vakhi." Iris whispered into his ear.
"Irus! It's been so long!"
"Uh, yeah, it has."
"That's all you have to say?" Linea hit him lightly, indignant.
"Mmf. Yes. What do you want me to say?"
Linea sighed contentedly and murmured to herself, "Even more handsome than I remembered."
Irus heard her statement and blanched to himself. Wind was their godmother and the three siblings always heard what others said.
"Hey, Lin, teacher's here." Iris quickly intervened before Irus got even more flustered and said something he shouldn't.
"Alright." Linea walked back to her seat and looked at him dreamily.
Irus shuddered and looked forward at the whiteboard, determined to avoid eye contact.
"Vakhi, don't you think she always was somewhat of a bimbo?"
"You're closer to her, you should know."
"Ah, but vakhi, you're the one she's crushing on." Iris took off her blue sweater and laid it onto her desk and lay her head onto it.
"Vakha, has anyone ever told you that you look really pretty?"
"Thank you, but are you practising on me before you start the compliments on her?"
"I never! I was just complimenting you, is there something wrong with that?" He mimicked her actions and lay onto the table as well, their heads touching one another.
"Irus? Welcome back to class, Irus. It's been almost a year, hasn't it?" The teacher smiled.
"Yes, sir."
"I hope you're feeling better."
"Yes, sir, the illness has been treated."
"That's good. Now, class, today I will be teaching....."
They were walking back home, to the House of Del.
"-so then Mariko also comes along and kills the last guy. Then Aunt Death appeared and scolded them."
"No wonder Arrt didn't look all that happy."
"He never is, vakhi. And I would expect nothing more from him."
"You don't like him, do you."
"I definitely dislike him."
"I can tell."
"Oh, look, your crush is coming over."
"Why's does she like me?" Irus exclaimed, exasperated as Iris and Iria waved. Bound by social ethics, he waved back too.
"Didn't anyone tell you that you're as dashing and handsome as I am pretty? We share the same immortal genes, brother. It's a pity we're only half-immortal. If only dad had chosen-"
"Don't you badmouth mother! She may have been only mortal, but she was our mother and I won't let you tarnish her memory!"
"Hey, relax, I was just kidding."
"Don't kid about this, okay?"
"Alright, alright. Look, here she is."
"Hi! Irus, you've recovered from your sickness?" Linea said cheerily.
"Yes." Otherwise what would I be doing here, he added silently.
"Good, good. What were you down with anyway?"
"He had a severe, reemergent form of meningitis." Iris said quickly.
"Oh."
"Yes, his brain lining was inflammed."
Irus kept quiet, content to let Iris talk. Linea nudged him.
"Why're you so quiet? You were much more talkative before."
He shrugged. "I talk less now."
"Come on, you were so lively then!"
"Then is then. Now is distinctly different."
"Your wit's coming back!" Linea smiled in what she apparently thought was a flirtatious manner. Irus, however, didn't know what in the world she was doing.
"I suppose so, yes."
"Why so gloomy?"
Because my dad, who is one of the Colour Personas, is so gonna kill me for not being home in nine months, he thought. But he shrugged once more and said, "Just worried. I have nine months worth of work to catch up on."
"Oh, don't you worry, it was mostly revision."
"Good to know." He tilted his head down and quickened his pace. "Vakha, I think we'd better get back quick."
"Yeah. I've got some stuff to clear before dad gets back."
They had reached the other end of the village.
"Well, I guess goodbye, Linea. It was good to see you again."
"You too, Irus!" She blew him a kiss and ran back down the slope.
"Ugh."
"Your single syllable says it all, vakhi."
"Brother?"
"Yes, Iria?"
"How're you going to explain to dad?"
"Um. Yes. About that..."
"Yes?"
"I have absolutely no idea."
"Oh. You're dead."
"I would tell you not to be disrespectful, little sister, but yes, you're right. I'm dead."
Friday, February 4, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Hot Spring
The Personas were more like the mortals than the mortals knew. They assumed that Personas were aloof, uncaring, arrogant, immortal and immune to disease and age. They were wrong on four counts. Personas did care, just not for what mortals cared about. They weren't too aloof and did have emotions. They weren't so arrogant that they didn't admit their mistakes, for if they didn't, the other Personas would pester them about it until they did admit it. And while they were immortal, they weren't immune to illness and age, though in a different manner. Personas aged slowly. Slow enough that millions of years was just a blink of an eye to them, though their children aged faster, still slower than mortals however. And Personas could get sick. They got sick whenever they got out of balance. For example, Life got sick whenever there was too little life or too much. It was a balance between actual sickness and overwork which in turn would cause sickness. Immortal though they were, they could still get stressed, just as Death was now.
Death coughed heavily.
"Mistress, that was bone-rattling. I could hear it all the way from Eden." Evolution said, appearing beside her.
Death glared at her, refusing to dignify that statement with a response. It was true, though. When Death coughs, everyone jumps, even the mortals though they don't know why. It doesn't bode well.
"Mistress, wouldn't it be better if, you know, you just wipe out those already infected? It'd save you a lot of time and effort and you could relax."
"Evvy, you know very well that some of the plague victims have a chance to live. I will not take that away from them. Besides, I'd just make Life sick."
"Oh yeah, that's right. Dead right."
Death threw a femur at her.
"Ow, okay, fine, I'll stop with the jokes, sheesh, talk about no sense of humour. Especially because dead people don't have any of the four humours." She muttered under her breath.
"I heard that. Make another joke and I'll stake your shins backwards to the ground."
"Mmm. Chaos is feeling kinda down. He apologises for stressing you out."
"It's ok. We've all got our respective parts to play. He probably should relax."
"No, you should relax. He is relaxing already, slacking out in Eden. You, on the other hand, should go to the Librarium. Tallis didn't ban you too, did he?"
"Nope, only Growth, Decay, Chaos and all of the Emotions."
Tallis was the librarian. He had once been a mortal, but when a pirate raid had threatened his beloved store of knowledge, he had pledged himself to the service of the Personas for all of eternity if only they would save the knowledge. Life had rescued him, brought him up to their plane and he became their librarian, in charge of every single literary work that was being made or had been written. Not just that, but also sculptures, works of arts, music scores, he organised and managed everything with an efficiency that put the Personas to shame. He had made certain rules, banning three of the seven Natural Personas from entering as their presence would destroy his life's, his existence's work. The Emotional Personas were also banned, except for Joy and Love. Until one day, Tallis had discovered Joy and Love both had the joy of sharing. He had then banned them both too, no exceptions. Years of working with the Personas had given him a degree of familiarity with them that bordered on irreverence, but he was certainly entitled to it.
Death nodded. She did need a break and she did love reading. She appeared outside the Librarium, unable to appear directly inside thanks to the wards that Chaos had put up at the request of Tallis. She steppedd into the dry air, perfectly conditioned for the preservation of the the books.
"Lady Death." Tallis was tall but hunched over, brown skin slightly wrinkled but considering everything, extremely well-preserved. He came from the same time period as Chaos' Chinese though slightly older. Death remembered that his race had been what was known as Persian. Tallis wore gold bangles around his neck, around his arms, had gold ear rings, nose rings and it was a wonder that he didn't collapse with the sheer weight of his accessories.
"Tallis." She smiled. "I hope I have not been banned as well."
"No, Lady." He treated her with a greater amount of respect than the others, she being Life's wife. He never forgot his gratitude towards Life and never let Life forget it either. "Unless you intend to borrow some books and pass them to Decay, Growth, or the Emotional ones."
"What about Chaos then?"
"To tell you the truth, Lady, I don't mind him reading. What I mind is that his presence will mess up all the ordering. You can take him some books if you want, just not any of the more volatile ones. They react badly to presences. I fear that the words might get jumbled."
"I see."
"And take care not to get that scythe in something." He warned, turning back to his organising.
She shook her head and headed towards the fiction section. She really found it quite interesting what mortals could think of and write about.
Death wouldn't like this. But never mind her. Like Chaos always said, there were five things the mortal plane had that here on their plane didn't. Wine, drugs, hot baths, technology and, as a result, fried food. This time, their sojourn down was for the third.
Evolution appeared at Chaos' side, along with Growth and Mariko. Pity Creation couldn't make it.
"Settled Death?" Growth asked softly, vines perpetually growing about him as well as flowers in the bloom.
"She's at the Librarium." Evolution changed her appearance to that of an elf, hiding all aspects of her Personality. "Growth, try to look more regular."
"Sure. I don't understand why she doesn't like going down for recreation."
"Beats me. Mariko, what're you doing here?"
"I brought her along. Del, Arrt, Iria, Iris and Irus didn't want to come." Chaos said.
"I like the hot springs." Mariko said brightly. "But is that all we're going to do?"
"Pretty much, unless you guys want to walk around a little." Chaos held up an inky triangular piece of blackness.
"Ooh, what's that?"
"It's nothing. Literally. Don't touch it, Mariko." He drew a long vertical line in the air with the scale. The air ripped apart lightly, forming a tear to the mortal plane. They stepped through one by one, coming out onto a side alley off a busy street.
"Come on. I know a bathhouse."
Settling into the burning water slowly, Evolution gave a sigh of satisfaction. Chaos had just plunged right in to his neck, looking for all the world to be an eager young boy. Mariko had followed suit and squealed at the temperature, though she didn't rise out of the water. Growth still tested the water tentatively, this being his first time. He didn't usually join the other Personas in their sojourns to the mortal plane and knew little about mortals.
"Mariko! What are you doing? Why're you stripping? This is a public spring, we didn't get a private one!"
"There's no one else around, is there? No one comes at this hour."
"Why would you want to strip under the water anyway?"
"I want to be fully in contact with the water."
"It's against the rules to strip, Mariko. You have to at least wear your your bra and panties."
"Oh fine."
"And I'm surprised you can still chew bubblegum here. Won't it be soggy?"
"Apparently not." She blew a bubble, just to prove her point.
Chaos moved over beside her and whispered, "Mariko's just like her mother. No point lecturing her, really."
"Pink would go nude if she could." Evolution replied. "How'd you know what Mariko's like anyway? You visit the House Of Del often?"
"Once in a while. It's fun there. Not much to do up in our side of things, you know."
"Maybe we should bring more mortals up. Like Tallis."
"No, please, considering the way Tallis turned out, I'd say that the only mortals who call upon us for help are either mad, or dry and humourless."
The door leading outside slid open and Evolution groaned. How unlucky could she get? Hopefully, the mortal wouldn't recognise her in this form- No, she'd granted her the sight, of course she would recognise them. Raewyn and the six teens came in with her. Not just her pet project, but her main work too! She should have checked if the mortals knew each other.
"-Lune's sick so Sol's taking care of h-" She stopped and stared. "Is that... Are you... Evolution, is that you?"
Evolution sank deeper into the water, up to her bottom lip, muttering, "I'm not here, you don't know me, I don't know what you're talking about."
Raewyn stepped closer. "Evolution?"
"Evolution? Ev, how's this mortal know about you? How can she recognise you?" Chaos asked.
Evolution groaned. "Why couldn't you just have kept quiet a little, Chaos..." She sighed and turned. "Raewyn. Hello."
"Evolution, what are you doing here?"
"What do you think I'm doing, mortal? I'm enjoying a good, long soak."
"Congratulations, Ev, you must be the only one in history to have ever said that line."
"I... uh, right. Of course." Raewyn said, not sure how to respond.
"Raewyn? Who's she?" Cocytus asked.
"Um." Raewyn looked towards Evolution. "Can I tell?"
"Go ahead. I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Chaos, that one with the odd skin formation, that's Raewyn. She's my pe-, uh, one of my projects. I'll tell you more later."
"That's Evolution, the Natural Persona. She's interested in me thanks to this taint I have." Raewyn explained to the group as they sank into the hot pool beside the Personas.
"What? The Personas have kept to themselves for ages and out of nowhere Evolution likes you becau-"
"She doesn't like me, curse you, Styx! I meant interested, literally! Ugh, I'll tell you guys about it later, okay? What are you smiling at?" Raewyn snapped at Chaos.
"Ev, you gave her the sight, didn't you? Hey, Raewyn, is it? Do you recognise me?"
"I don't know you, boy..." She trailed off uncertainly. He felt familiar. He was very... so very familiar. He was... Chaos. The word came unbidden. Chaos. "Chaos. You're Chaos. But, you're the oldest, aren't you?"
"Yes. And so?"
"Why're you appear the youngest then?"
"How'd you know this is my natural humanoid form?"
"I didn't know. So this is how you look like normally. Huh. So the oldest looks to be the youngest. You Personas are weird." Raewyn looked at Growth. "Um. I assume that you're a Natural Persona too?"
"Growth doesn't really like talking to mortals that much." Chaos cut in. "He's just here for the hot spring."
"Oh. Then you must be Pink?"
"Oh no, that's my mum. I'm Mariko, pleased to meet you."
"Raewyn Aesiflay, glad to make your acquaintance. I didn't know Personas could have children. So who's your dad, then?"
"My dad was some mortal from a long time back. So I'm only half Persona, not like Del or Arrt."
"Mariko, ah yes, Evvy mentioned your name to me. Something about baby-sitt-" Evolution jabbed her with a talon quickly formed on her hand. "Ow. Okay. Who's Del and Arrt?"
"Del's Death's and Black's daughter, she's quite nice and Arrt's Wrath's and Impulse's son."
"Death and Black are together?"
"Oh, that was a long time ago. Now Death and Life are together."
"So, what's the House Of Del?"
"It's where we go. By we, I mean all the children of the Personas. It's our home."
"The House Of Del? Wait, isn't that where Delirious came from?" Phlegyas cut in.
"Delirious?"
"Um. Delirus."
"Del and Blue's children, Iria, Iris and Irus have the odd ability to merge together. Del and Irus must have come together, yes?" Chaos said.
"I think so, according to the papers. Then it said that he got sent to the asylum."
"Oh yeah. We brought them out and separated them."
"And scolded them, don't forget." Mariko reminded him.
"Yes. The scolding was deserved. They weren't supposed to be merged for so long or be out there."
"I can't believe we were taught Magic by the children of the Personas." Styx said.
"I did like their lessons though." Cocytus said wistfully. "I wonder if they'd still remember us."
"Seeing as how we're now all acquaintances, I'm willing to bring you mortals to the House Of Del sometime." Chaos offered.
"Psst. Don't. Please." Evolution whispered to him. "It's not just Raewyn who's my project. Those five are the ones you and the rest disapproved of. That other girl is his girlfriend."
"Really? Interesting. I will make use of this opportunity then." Chaos said, thinking deeply.
"I'd rather not get closer to them more than I have to."
"If you'll forgive my impertinence, may I ask why you Personas are suddenly more active down here?" Lethe asked.
"What makes you think that?"
"There's been no record of any form of contact, all that stuff, I'm sure you've heard of it before."
"We're not any more active than we have been in the past. You folks just never knew."
"I see. It's weird, sharing a hot spring with immortals. I wonder if my... No, I doubt so."
"Lethe. Don't try." Kestrel warned.
"I know. I'm not mad." Lethe got out of the water, the rest following in turn.
"Don't you Personas have to get out after fif- Right. I forget what I'm saying. Of course you immortals don't have to get out after fifteen minutes. You're not affected."
"But we do find it relaxing. The mortal plane has five things that we don't."
"Wine, drugs, hot baths, technology and fried food." Mariko and Evolution chorused. "Yes Chaos, we know."
"Something's wrong, when Chaos gets to be predictable. I think I will have to do some work." He said, rubbing his chin.
Death coughed heavily.
"Mistress, that was bone-rattling. I could hear it all the way from Eden." Evolution said, appearing beside her.
Death glared at her, refusing to dignify that statement with a response. It was true, though. When Death coughs, everyone jumps, even the mortals though they don't know why. It doesn't bode well.
"Mistress, wouldn't it be better if, you know, you just wipe out those already infected? It'd save you a lot of time and effort and you could relax."
"Evvy, you know very well that some of the plague victims have a chance to live. I will not take that away from them. Besides, I'd just make Life sick."
"Oh yeah, that's right. Dead right."
Death threw a femur at her.
"Ow, okay, fine, I'll stop with the jokes, sheesh, talk about no sense of humour. Especially because dead people don't have any of the four humours." She muttered under her breath.
"I heard that. Make another joke and I'll stake your shins backwards to the ground."
"Mmm. Chaos is feeling kinda down. He apologises for stressing you out."
"It's ok. We've all got our respective parts to play. He probably should relax."
"No, you should relax. He is relaxing already, slacking out in Eden. You, on the other hand, should go to the Librarium. Tallis didn't ban you too, did he?"
"Nope, only Growth, Decay, Chaos and all of the Emotions."
Tallis was the librarian. He had once been a mortal, but when a pirate raid had threatened his beloved store of knowledge, he had pledged himself to the service of the Personas for all of eternity if only they would save the knowledge. Life had rescued him, brought him up to their plane and he became their librarian, in charge of every single literary work that was being made or had been written. Not just that, but also sculptures, works of arts, music scores, he organised and managed everything with an efficiency that put the Personas to shame. He had made certain rules, banning three of the seven Natural Personas from entering as their presence would destroy his life's, his existence's work. The Emotional Personas were also banned, except for Joy and Love. Until one day, Tallis had discovered Joy and Love both had the joy of sharing. He had then banned them both too, no exceptions. Years of working with the Personas had given him a degree of familiarity with them that bordered on irreverence, but he was certainly entitled to it.
Death nodded. She did need a break and she did love reading. She appeared outside the Librarium, unable to appear directly inside thanks to the wards that Chaos had put up at the request of Tallis. She steppedd into the dry air, perfectly conditioned for the preservation of the the books.
"Lady Death." Tallis was tall but hunched over, brown skin slightly wrinkled but considering everything, extremely well-preserved. He came from the same time period as Chaos' Chinese though slightly older. Death remembered that his race had been what was known as Persian. Tallis wore gold bangles around his neck, around his arms, had gold ear rings, nose rings and it was a wonder that he didn't collapse with the sheer weight of his accessories.
"Tallis." She smiled. "I hope I have not been banned as well."
"No, Lady." He treated her with a greater amount of respect than the others, she being Life's wife. He never forgot his gratitude towards Life and never let Life forget it either. "Unless you intend to borrow some books and pass them to Decay, Growth, or the Emotional ones."
"What about Chaos then?"
"To tell you the truth, Lady, I don't mind him reading. What I mind is that his presence will mess up all the ordering. You can take him some books if you want, just not any of the more volatile ones. They react badly to presences. I fear that the words might get jumbled."
"I see."
"And take care not to get that scythe in something." He warned, turning back to his organising.
She shook her head and headed towards the fiction section. She really found it quite interesting what mortals could think of and write about.
Death wouldn't like this. But never mind her. Like Chaos always said, there were five things the mortal plane had that here on their plane didn't. Wine, drugs, hot baths, technology and, as a result, fried food. This time, their sojourn down was for the third.
Evolution appeared at Chaos' side, along with Growth and Mariko. Pity Creation couldn't make it.
"Settled Death?" Growth asked softly, vines perpetually growing about him as well as flowers in the bloom.
"She's at the Librarium." Evolution changed her appearance to that of an elf, hiding all aspects of her Personality. "Growth, try to look more regular."
"Sure. I don't understand why she doesn't like going down for recreation."
"Beats me. Mariko, what're you doing here?"
"I brought her along. Del, Arrt, Iria, Iris and Irus didn't want to come." Chaos said.
"I like the hot springs." Mariko said brightly. "But is that all we're going to do?"
"Pretty much, unless you guys want to walk around a little." Chaos held up an inky triangular piece of blackness.
"Ooh, what's that?"
"It's nothing. Literally. Don't touch it, Mariko." He drew a long vertical line in the air with the scale. The air ripped apart lightly, forming a tear to the mortal plane. They stepped through one by one, coming out onto a side alley off a busy street.
"Come on. I know a bathhouse."
Settling into the burning water slowly, Evolution gave a sigh of satisfaction. Chaos had just plunged right in to his neck, looking for all the world to be an eager young boy. Mariko had followed suit and squealed at the temperature, though she didn't rise out of the water. Growth still tested the water tentatively, this being his first time. He didn't usually join the other Personas in their sojourns to the mortal plane and knew little about mortals.
"Mariko! What are you doing? Why're you stripping? This is a public spring, we didn't get a private one!"
"There's no one else around, is there? No one comes at this hour."
"Why would you want to strip under the water anyway?"
"I want to be fully in contact with the water."
"It's against the rules to strip, Mariko. You have to at least wear your your bra and panties."
"Oh fine."
"And I'm surprised you can still chew bubblegum here. Won't it be soggy?"
"Apparently not." She blew a bubble, just to prove her point.
Chaos moved over beside her and whispered, "Mariko's just like her mother. No point lecturing her, really."
"Pink would go nude if she could." Evolution replied. "How'd you know what Mariko's like anyway? You visit the House Of Del often?"
"Once in a while. It's fun there. Not much to do up in our side of things, you know."
"Maybe we should bring more mortals up. Like Tallis."
"No, please, considering the way Tallis turned out, I'd say that the only mortals who call upon us for help are either mad, or dry and humourless."
The door leading outside slid open and Evolution groaned. How unlucky could she get? Hopefully, the mortal wouldn't recognise her in this form- No, she'd granted her the sight, of course she would recognise them. Raewyn and the six teens came in with her. Not just her pet project, but her main work too! She should have checked if the mortals knew each other.
"-Lune's sick so Sol's taking care of h-" She stopped and stared. "Is that... Are you... Evolution, is that you?"
Evolution sank deeper into the water, up to her bottom lip, muttering, "I'm not here, you don't know me, I don't know what you're talking about."
Raewyn stepped closer. "Evolution?"
"Evolution? Ev, how's this mortal know about you? How can she recognise you?" Chaos asked.
Evolution groaned. "Why couldn't you just have kept quiet a little, Chaos..." She sighed and turned. "Raewyn. Hello."
"Evolution, what are you doing here?"
"What do you think I'm doing, mortal? I'm enjoying a good, long soak."
"Congratulations, Ev, you must be the only one in history to have ever said that line."
"I... uh, right. Of course." Raewyn said, not sure how to respond.
"Raewyn? Who's she?" Cocytus asked.
"Um." Raewyn looked towards Evolution. "Can I tell?"
"Go ahead. I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Chaos, that one with the odd skin formation, that's Raewyn. She's my pe-, uh, one of my projects. I'll tell you more later."
"That's Evolution, the Natural Persona. She's interested in me thanks to this taint I have." Raewyn explained to the group as they sank into the hot pool beside the Personas.
"What? The Personas have kept to themselves for ages and out of nowhere Evolution likes you becau-"
"She doesn't like me, curse you, Styx! I meant interested, literally! Ugh, I'll tell you guys about it later, okay? What are you smiling at?" Raewyn snapped at Chaos.
"Ev, you gave her the sight, didn't you? Hey, Raewyn, is it? Do you recognise me?"
"I don't know you, boy..." She trailed off uncertainly. He felt familiar. He was very... so very familiar. He was... Chaos. The word came unbidden. Chaos. "Chaos. You're Chaos. But, you're the oldest, aren't you?"
"Yes. And so?"
"Why're you appear the youngest then?"
"How'd you know this is my natural humanoid form?"
"I didn't know. So this is how you look like normally. Huh. So the oldest looks to be the youngest. You Personas are weird." Raewyn looked at Growth. "Um. I assume that you're a Natural Persona too?"
"Growth doesn't really like talking to mortals that much." Chaos cut in. "He's just here for the hot spring."
"Oh. Then you must be Pink?"
"Oh no, that's my mum. I'm Mariko, pleased to meet you."
"Raewyn Aesiflay, glad to make your acquaintance. I didn't know Personas could have children. So who's your dad, then?"
"My dad was some mortal from a long time back. So I'm only half Persona, not like Del or Arrt."
"Mariko, ah yes, Evvy mentioned your name to me. Something about baby-sitt-" Evolution jabbed her with a talon quickly formed on her hand. "Ow. Okay. Who's Del and Arrt?"
"Del's Death's and Black's daughter, she's quite nice and Arrt's Wrath's and Impulse's son."
"Death and Black are together?"
"Oh, that was a long time ago. Now Death and Life are together."
"So, what's the House Of Del?"
"It's where we go. By we, I mean all the children of the Personas. It's our home."
"The House Of Del? Wait, isn't that where Delirious came from?" Phlegyas cut in.
"Delirious?"
"Um. Delirus."
"Del and Blue's children, Iria, Iris and Irus have the odd ability to merge together. Del and Irus must have come together, yes?" Chaos said.
"I think so, according to the papers. Then it said that he got sent to the asylum."
"Oh yeah. We brought them out and separated them."
"And scolded them, don't forget." Mariko reminded him.
"Yes. The scolding was deserved. They weren't supposed to be merged for so long or be out there."
"I can't believe we were taught Magic by the children of the Personas." Styx said.
"I did like their lessons though." Cocytus said wistfully. "I wonder if they'd still remember us."
"Seeing as how we're now all acquaintances, I'm willing to bring you mortals to the House Of Del sometime." Chaos offered.
"Psst. Don't. Please." Evolution whispered to him. "It's not just Raewyn who's my project. Those five are the ones you and the rest disapproved of. That other girl is his girlfriend."
"Really? Interesting. I will make use of this opportunity then." Chaos said, thinking deeply.
"I'd rather not get closer to them more than I have to."
"If you'll forgive my impertinence, may I ask why you Personas are suddenly more active down here?" Lethe asked.
"What makes you think that?"
"There's been no record of any form of contact, all that stuff, I'm sure you've heard of it before."
"We're not any more active than we have been in the past. You folks just never knew."
"I see. It's weird, sharing a hot spring with immortals. I wonder if my... No, I doubt so."
"Lethe. Don't try." Kestrel warned.
"I know. I'm not mad." Lethe got out of the water, the rest following in turn.
"Don't you Personas have to get out after fif- Right. I forget what I'm saying. Of course you immortals don't have to get out after fifteen minutes. You're not affected."
"But we do find it relaxing. The mortal plane has five things that we don't."
"Wine, drugs, hot baths, technology and fried food." Mariko and Evolution chorused. "Yes Chaos, we know."
"Something's wrong, when Chaos gets to be predictable. I think I will have to do some work." He said, rubbing his chin.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
No Wonder
Death was getting really cranky these days. Still, Evolution thought, I've got my own work to do. Though Evolution worked over extreme periods of time, she still had to work. She had been encouraging a group of mortal bloodlines to grow and develop and recently the fruits of her labour had emerged in the form of these five teens. Most of the other Personas disapproved, especially the Mistress, but Creation had helped her, though it was more of meddling rather than helping. He had caused the appearance of several new 'virgin' genes, never before seen, giving these teens certain abilities.
And then there was also that other mortal she was keeping an eye on. More than one if she had to. The mortal had somehow bonded her skin to a demon and recently an odd formation had been developing on her skin that she was so desperately trying to remove. Artificial evolution, so to speak. She would have to ask Growth about it sometime. But it would be interesting to block the effects of whatever medication the mortal used just to see what would happen. She probably should just warn her first. But then, the mortal would likely get angry and hateful and, as the Mistress loved to say so much, the relationship between the Personas and the mortals wasn't exactly rosy. Evolution was partially afraid that her project with the teens might draw too much attention and lead to another Meeting. The last time a Meeting occurred, Creation had been proposing this new race of humanoids which he called Cain. Now, uncountable years later, the Cain were still nomadic and sparse, though they were starting to integrate into society.
When a Persona came up with such an idea, all Emotional and Natural Personas had to give their blessings, otherwise the whole plan would just fall apart. Without Death, there'd be overpopulation. Without Life, they wouldn't be. Without Chaos, they wouldn't have that spark of creativity and individuality. Without Growth... The list goes on. The Elemental Personas generally didn't care and the Colour Personas were considered to be secondary. Either way, Evolution decided, it was pretty scary to be presenting an idea to all of the others.
Raewyn yelped in surprise as a woman appeared in front of her. The woman's form was decidedly humanoid, but contained an amalgamation of other creatures. Her head was that of a hawk, her left arm covered in scales, her right arm in fur, a snake coming out from the back of her neck, her legs ending in a paw on the left and a talon on the right and other numerous minute mixtures of animals. Raewyn fumbled to cover her own nude form as she grabbed Utrennyaya and got off her bed.
"What th-"
"Stay your hand, mortal, I do not wish to hurt you." The woman's voice was recognisably human, but in the same way that Acheron's voice seemed to echo and fold on itself, so this woman's voice contained hints of bestial roars, avian squawks, deep growls and sinuous hisses.
"Who and what the hell are you?" Raewyn didn't let her guard down and held Utrennyaya up menacingly.
"I am," She paused dramatically," Evolution."
No way. No blessed way. It's not possible. Libys thought.
"You can't be. The Personas haven't had contact with us mortals in ages."
"Yes, we have." Evolution corrected. Now, her voice was as normal as Raewyn's own. "Haven't used that dramatic, snobby, holier-than-thou voice in quite awhile." Evolution said to herself, rubbing her throat. "Yes, we've had contact with mortals. You just didn't know. The public was never told."
"What are you doing here then?"
Evolution idly pulled away the blanket Raewyn was using to cover herself. She blushed furiously as Evoution laid a furred hand on her taint-covered breast. Evolution either didn't realise what she was doing was causing Raewyn some discomfort or she didn't care. Most likely, she probably enjoyed watching Raewyn squirmed.
"This. I intend to let this anomalous formation grow over you."
"What!" Raewyn nearly spluttered in indignation and outrage. "I'm trying to get rid of it!"
"Yes, I know. I've seen your efforts. But it would be for the greater good. By observing this anomaly, I will be able to further the development of you mortals." Evolution said, in what she fully intended to be a soothing voice. It didn't work.
"No!" She angrily swung Utrennyaya at her, but the motorised morningstar went straight through Evolution. "I will not be your guinea pig, you bitch!"
"You might as well save your energy, mortal, your weapons can't hurt me. And," Evolution sniffed at her, though it didn't really seem possible with that avian head, "I have a name, you know. Most mortals call me Lady Evolution and fall over bowing to me but for you, I think I'm willing to make an exception. You can call me Evvy."
She was starting to get a headache. She'd forgotten how annoying and unreasonable mortals could be.
"Get out of my house!" Raewyn yelled, throwing Aida through her and the sword, like the mace, went through Evolution without harming her. The sword slammed into a wall and shattered some glass ornaments.
Evolution rolled her cat eyes.
"Please, Raewyn, we both know that you can't forcibly evict me from anywhere." Evolution groaned as Raewyn started bolts of magic at her. Now she knew what Death felt like, having to deal with disobedient children.
"You know, Raewyn, you could just ask me nicely to leave. And have you considered what you look like, a naked woman attacking the air?"
She responded by throwing more powerful spells at Evolution. The magic splashed against the walls of her room harmlessly, though Evolution could see that the protective runes on the wall were starting to glow a dangerous cherry red in response to the ever-increasing strength of Raewyn's spells. The wards weren't going to hold.
"Surely you can see that if you keep flinging spells everywhere, your runes are going to overload and no doubt start a fire?"
Raewyn breathed heavily, sweat lining her face. She hadn't used that much magic that fast in a long time and she was out of practice. She sullenly began to dress herself.
"Good. I'm glad that you have stopped acting like a spoilt child. Baby-sitting Mariko was bad enough. This visit was purely to inform you of what I will be doing. I would have carried out my plan regardless of your consent." She informed Raewyn bluntly. "Aren't you glad for my consideration? Now, contrary to popular belief, I do actually have work to be done. However, if you have need of me, just make a lewd joke involving Creation and I. Whichever Persona around that hears it will pass the message on to me, just because they think it's funny. Actually, I'll just give you the ability to see the other Personas, that'd make things easier."
Evolution lifted a clawed finger and scratched something on Raewyn's eyes. She was so surprised that she didn't even react until Evolution had finished. She also felt no pain, as if Evolution had been drawing on the air. She blinked a couple of times. Nothing really seemed to have changed. Except, in everything. In everything she saw a hint of something and the something was a Persona. Everything held a small part of the various Personas. She blinked again. Evolution was gone. The whole experience was so surreal and felt like a dream, except that dreams didn't leave her with a whole new perspective. And she didn't even get to ask who Mariko was nor express her incredulity at Evolution's relationship with Creation.
She found Chaos as she was walking through Eden, the garden of the Personas made by her and Creation as a joint effort, reviewing her plans for the genome of the world.
"Hello, Chaos." Chaos was the eldest of the Natural Personas. Eldest in terms of wisdom and maturity, since all the Personas had came about at more or less the same time. Ironically, he had the youngest form of all the Personas, appearing as a disinterested lad of no more than fourteen winters with a wild shock of black hair.
"Hullo, Ev." He said warmly. Despite his seniority, he didn't flaunt it over others except when circumstances forced. "I hear Grandmother Death's been wearing herself out. Lucky she's got you to take care of her."
"Thanks, Chaos." She couldn't help but feel a small bit of pride. Chaos had a way of making people feel important. "Grandmother?" Evolution chuckled. "She'd stake your shins backwards to the ground if she knew you called her that. She doesn't like the idea of Arrt and Del getting together."
"That's her incentive for you to get things done? Funny. How go your plans?"
"I doubt you'd like them, they're too orderly."
"Hai, you're a sharp one, Ev." His sallow face smiled lightly. He turned to the crimson flowers, staring deep.
"Something troubling you, Chaos?"
He sighed ruefully, rubbing his rounder nose, compared to the other Personas. "I shouldn't be troubled by it, really." He started talking softly in that language he often used, an odd language that nobody else knew about. When Evolution asked him once what it was, he had replied that it was 'Chinese'. When asked how he learnt it, he had shrugged and said, 'I get everywhere'. If Evolution wasn't wrong, Chinese had been one of the languages of the old times, tens of thousands of years back before the various countries had been wiped out and the continents had changed as a result of certain natural disasters. Civilisation had been set back to primitive times and the world took just as much time to recover. Apparently Chaos had liked the language and retained it through the ages. It wasn't too surprising. He did look a lot like one of the extinct Chinese. None of the human races at that time had survived and it was due to the intervention of the Personas that the world itself had survived, let alone prospered to it's current state.
He shook himself. "Pardon me. I meant, I just don't like how the way I work affects the rest of you negatively. I'm sort of an anathema to the rest of you. I feel like I upset the balance."
Evolution put her hand on his shoulder. "No worries, Chaos. You maintain the balance. Too much order and things go wrong." While Chaos always knew how to praise people, he tended to be a little irrational on occasion.
"I know. It's just that being me, I don't usually think logically. I should take a break. I've been causing too much chaos recently. The mortal plane is in upheaval. Suicide cults, plague, increase of crime, I've been stressing out the others."
"Yeah. The Mistress could really do with a timeout."
"I'll see what I can do. Help me tell Death that I'm sorry, will you?"
"Of course. She'll understand, I'm sure."
"We're all tired." He started singing in a low and melodic voice, using that language no one knew.
And then there was also that other mortal she was keeping an eye on. More than one if she had to. The mortal had somehow bonded her skin to a demon and recently an odd formation had been developing on her skin that she was so desperately trying to remove. Artificial evolution, so to speak. She would have to ask Growth about it sometime. But it would be interesting to block the effects of whatever medication the mortal used just to see what would happen. She probably should just warn her first. But then, the mortal would likely get angry and hateful and, as the Mistress loved to say so much, the relationship between the Personas and the mortals wasn't exactly rosy. Evolution was partially afraid that her project with the teens might draw too much attention and lead to another Meeting. The last time a Meeting occurred, Creation had been proposing this new race of humanoids which he called Cain. Now, uncountable years later, the Cain were still nomadic and sparse, though they were starting to integrate into society.
When a Persona came up with such an idea, all Emotional and Natural Personas had to give their blessings, otherwise the whole plan would just fall apart. Without Death, there'd be overpopulation. Without Life, they wouldn't be. Without Chaos, they wouldn't have that spark of creativity and individuality. Without Growth... The list goes on. The Elemental Personas generally didn't care and the Colour Personas were considered to be secondary. Either way, Evolution decided, it was pretty scary to be presenting an idea to all of the others.
Raewyn yelped in surprise as a woman appeared in front of her. The woman's form was decidedly humanoid, but contained an amalgamation of other creatures. Her head was that of a hawk, her left arm covered in scales, her right arm in fur, a snake coming out from the back of her neck, her legs ending in a paw on the left and a talon on the right and other numerous minute mixtures of animals. Raewyn fumbled to cover her own nude form as she grabbed Utrennyaya and got off her bed.
"What th-"
"Stay your hand, mortal, I do not wish to hurt you." The woman's voice was recognisably human, but in the same way that Acheron's voice seemed to echo and fold on itself, so this woman's voice contained hints of bestial roars, avian squawks, deep growls and sinuous hisses.
"Who and what the hell are you?" Raewyn didn't let her guard down and held Utrennyaya up menacingly.
"I am," She paused dramatically," Evolution."
No way. No blessed way. It's not possible. Libys thought.
"You can't be. The Personas haven't had contact with us mortals in ages."
"Yes, we have." Evolution corrected. Now, her voice was as normal as Raewyn's own. "Haven't used that dramatic, snobby, holier-than-thou voice in quite awhile." Evolution said to herself, rubbing her throat. "Yes, we've had contact with mortals. You just didn't know. The public was never told."
"What are you doing here then?"
Evolution idly pulled away the blanket Raewyn was using to cover herself. She blushed furiously as Evoution laid a furred hand on her taint-covered breast. Evolution either didn't realise what she was doing was causing Raewyn some discomfort or she didn't care. Most likely, she probably enjoyed watching Raewyn squirmed.
"This. I intend to let this anomalous formation grow over you."
"What!" Raewyn nearly spluttered in indignation and outrage. "I'm trying to get rid of it!"
"Yes, I know. I've seen your efforts. But it would be for the greater good. By observing this anomaly, I will be able to further the development of you mortals." Evolution said, in what she fully intended to be a soothing voice. It didn't work.
"No!" She angrily swung Utrennyaya at her, but the motorised morningstar went straight through Evolution. "I will not be your guinea pig, you bitch!"
"You might as well save your energy, mortal, your weapons can't hurt me. And," Evolution sniffed at her, though it didn't really seem possible with that avian head, "I have a name, you know. Most mortals call me Lady Evolution and fall over bowing to me but for you, I think I'm willing to make an exception. You can call me Evvy."
She was starting to get a headache. She'd forgotten how annoying and unreasonable mortals could be.
"Get out of my house!" Raewyn yelled, throwing Aida through her and the sword, like the mace, went through Evolution without harming her. The sword slammed into a wall and shattered some glass ornaments.
Evolution rolled her cat eyes.
"Please, Raewyn, we both know that you can't forcibly evict me from anywhere." Evolution groaned as Raewyn started bolts of magic at her. Now she knew what Death felt like, having to deal with disobedient children.
"You know, Raewyn, you could just ask me nicely to leave. And have you considered what you look like, a naked woman attacking the air?"
She responded by throwing more powerful spells at Evolution. The magic splashed against the walls of her room harmlessly, though Evolution could see that the protective runes on the wall were starting to glow a dangerous cherry red in response to the ever-increasing strength of Raewyn's spells. The wards weren't going to hold.
"Surely you can see that if you keep flinging spells everywhere, your runes are going to overload and no doubt start a fire?"
Raewyn breathed heavily, sweat lining her face. She hadn't used that much magic that fast in a long time and she was out of practice. She sullenly began to dress herself.
"Good. I'm glad that you have stopped acting like a spoilt child. Baby-sitting Mariko was bad enough. This visit was purely to inform you of what I will be doing. I would have carried out my plan regardless of your consent." She informed Raewyn bluntly. "Aren't you glad for my consideration? Now, contrary to popular belief, I do actually have work to be done. However, if you have need of me, just make a lewd joke involving Creation and I. Whichever Persona around that hears it will pass the message on to me, just because they think it's funny. Actually, I'll just give you the ability to see the other Personas, that'd make things easier."
Evolution lifted a clawed finger and scratched something on Raewyn's eyes. She was so surprised that she didn't even react until Evolution had finished. She also felt no pain, as if Evolution had been drawing on the air. She blinked a couple of times. Nothing really seemed to have changed. Except, in everything. In everything she saw a hint of something and the something was a Persona. Everything held a small part of the various Personas. She blinked again. Evolution was gone. The whole experience was so surreal and felt like a dream, except that dreams didn't leave her with a whole new perspective. And she didn't even get to ask who Mariko was nor express her incredulity at Evolution's relationship with Creation.
She found Chaos as she was walking through Eden, the garden of the Personas made by her and Creation as a joint effort, reviewing her plans for the genome of the world.
"Hello, Chaos." Chaos was the eldest of the Natural Personas. Eldest in terms of wisdom and maturity, since all the Personas had came about at more or less the same time. Ironically, he had the youngest form of all the Personas, appearing as a disinterested lad of no more than fourteen winters with a wild shock of black hair.
"Hullo, Ev." He said warmly. Despite his seniority, he didn't flaunt it over others except when circumstances forced. "I hear Grandmother Death's been wearing herself out. Lucky she's got you to take care of her."
"Thanks, Chaos." She couldn't help but feel a small bit of pride. Chaos had a way of making people feel important. "Grandmother?" Evolution chuckled. "She'd stake your shins backwards to the ground if she knew you called her that. She doesn't like the idea of Arrt and Del getting together."
"That's her incentive for you to get things done? Funny. How go your plans?"
"I doubt you'd like them, they're too orderly."
"Hai, you're a sharp one, Ev." His sallow face smiled lightly. He turned to the crimson flowers, staring deep.
"Something troubling you, Chaos?"
He sighed ruefully, rubbing his rounder nose, compared to the other Personas. "I shouldn't be troubled by it, really." He started talking softly in that language he often used, an odd language that nobody else knew about. When Evolution asked him once what it was, he had replied that it was 'Chinese'. When asked how he learnt it, he had shrugged and said, 'I get everywhere'. If Evolution wasn't wrong, Chinese had been one of the languages of the old times, tens of thousands of years back before the various countries had been wiped out and the continents had changed as a result of certain natural disasters. Civilisation had been set back to primitive times and the world took just as much time to recover. Apparently Chaos had liked the language and retained it through the ages. It wasn't too surprising. He did look a lot like one of the extinct Chinese. None of the human races at that time had survived and it was due to the intervention of the Personas that the world itself had survived, let alone prospered to it's current state.
He shook himself. "Pardon me. I meant, I just don't like how the way I work affects the rest of you negatively. I'm sort of an anathema to the rest of you. I feel like I upset the balance."
Evolution put her hand on his shoulder. "No worries, Chaos. You maintain the balance. Too much order and things go wrong." While Chaos always knew how to praise people, he tended to be a little irrational on occasion.
"I know. It's just that being me, I don't usually think logically. I should take a break. I've been causing too much chaos recently. The mortal plane is in upheaval. Suicide cults, plague, increase of crime, I've been stressing out the others."
"Yeah. The Mistress could really do with a timeout."
"I'll see what I can do. Help me tell Death that I'm sorry, will you?"
"Of course. She'll understand, I'm sure."
"We're all tired." He started singing in a low and melodic voice, using that language no one knew.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
We All Miss The Old Days
The three of them were at a brawling pit.
"Impulse, Wrath, we need to talk."
The male, Impulse, turned to the thin and gaunt woman, though her figure was mostly hidden under a cloak and a hood.
"Hello, Death. If we have to talk, then we're lucky that this is occurring." He gestured towards the pit. It was an event where the three of them would be present together with no other Persona involved. Wrath continued observing the fighters silently.
"Frankly, you two need to control Arrt. He is getting out of hand. This is the fourth time I've caught him so far."
Impulse smiled. "He is our progeny after all. He wouldn't be my son if he weren't rash."
"Nor my seed if he did not anger easily." Wrath spoke.
Death sighed. "But he cannot be so unrestrained. Or at least, not in that area. Being so rash, he'd probably exterminate the entire population of the town. You have to do something."
"What? I would give him a man-to-man talk, except that being who and what I am, I know that he's not gonna respond well to it. Besides, my son and your daughter seem to be getting along quite well..."
"I know full well what they are doing." Death snapped. "Which is why I do not wish to antagonise him. It would not make for a good relationship."
Wrath laughed softly. "And you think that parents antagonising their children is better than the child's future mother-in-law. You're a funny one, Death."
"I can see that talking to you two will be as productive as talking to a block of bone. The bone would probably respond better."
Death left the pit and warped home. She pulled out a chair and sat down, sighing. She really couldn't stand those Emotional Personas. So much better to be emotionally balanced. These days, nobody took her seriously. Time was when she could just wave her scythe about in a vaguely menacing sort of way and people would be tripping over themselves to fulfill her wishes. Death was tired and weary. Bone-weary, if she was feeling out of sorts enough to make a joke. She left that sort of thing to Evolution, her handmaiden and another of the Natural Personas. And there she was.
"Mistress, you look awfully tired. Dead tired."
"I don't know how I tolerate your horrid puns, Evvy."
"You love my deadpan." Evolution pulled back Death's hood and busied herself with tidying Death's hair up.
"Evvy, you remember Arrt?"
"Impulse and Wrath's child? What about him? Don't tell me you caught him in the act."
"As a matter of fact, yes."
"Tsk tsk, Mistress, you really should take care of your hair. It's all over the place."
"That's what I have you for."
"That, and to admonish you. So you caught Arrt in bed with D-"
"No, I did not!" She said crossly.
"Don't convulse so much, Mistress, I thought you'd be in rigor mortis. Now I have to redo that entire section."
"Evvy. Please. Not now. Enough with the jokes." She rubbed her face.
"Yes, Mistress. So, you caught Arrt killing some of those people."
"Three boys from the village."
"And why'd he do it?"
"He told me they made Del cry."
"Aw, that's so sweet of him. I wish Creation would kill someone for me if that person made me sad." She said dreamily.
"Evvy, you're missing the point."
"Right, yes. He shouldn't have killed those mortals. Of course."
"And I can hardly tell him not to. He wouldn't listen and if I tried to force him not to, it'd just sour our relationship."
"I'm sure you don't want to ruin your future son-in-law's feelings towards you."
"I don't like him, Evvy."
"Del does. And that's really what matters. Del doesn't need to like Life and you don't need to like Arrt."
"It's not just that. Which mother would approve of a son-in-law who is quick to anger and just as rash?"
"It's a good thing that you're so open-minded and you believe in free will then."
Death snorted. "The danger of being too open-minded, Evvy, is that your brains might fall out."
"Then it's just as well that you're just skin and bones, yes? Wait, did you just make a sarcastic remark? You must be more tired than I thought. Go and take a rest, Mistress. Tend to your snakes." Evolution remarked as she finished redoing Death's hair.
Death's hobby was snake-charming, though she wasn't particularly good at it. The fact that being bitten didn't bother her in the least helped. She didn't mind being bad at it. It just calmed her down and relaxed her. Personas do not sleep.
"Mistress! Your husband's here. May I?"
Death stood up from her snakes and nodded. "Go ahead. Have a good time with Creation."
Creation was Life's butler, Evvy's counterpart and it was rather fitting that they would be in love, the same way Death and Life were.
"If you say I look well, I will take my scythe and stick it in you."
"I was going to say that I expected you to be worse, considering the plagues and all down in mortal land. But you look better than I believed, so that's fine." He kissed her lightly.
"I wanted to go and find you."
"What's up?"
"Del. She misses you."
Life frowned slightly. "This is a very inopportune time, I have to say. All the mages down there experimenting and especially the artificers who are creating life. I have to manage them."
"And I have to deal with the millions of plague victims of Kylmir yet I manage to find time to visit Del. Such wonderful scheduling you have, my dear." She said dryly.
Life blinked owlishly. "You're learning humour. That's certainly unexpected."
"No, I'm just not myself recently. I'm being worn out by all the mass deaths that's going on. As if the plague wasn't bad enough, recently mass suicide cults have been sprouting around. Our daughter wants to see you again. Besides, I need your help in handling Arrt."
"Arrt? Impulse's son? You mean he did something to De-"
"No! He's been killing people just because of some minor thing they did that made Del cry. The relationship of Personas and mortals has never been very well and what he's doing isn't exactly helping."
"I see."
"And keep an eye on both of them too, I may let them sleep together, but I will not condone any of the sexual acts."
"Not until Del's older." Life agreed. "I wish we could meet more often. In those days when we were together all the time. Hospitals and all." He said wistfully.
"While Evvy and Creation had just started dating. Ah, happy times."
They sat together on the balconey of Death's home, watching the eternal sunset that would never pass. The sun never moved here, stuck in a perpetual sunset. But they would have to leave to their respective duties far too soon.
"Impulse, Wrath, we need to talk."
The male, Impulse, turned to the thin and gaunt woman, though her figure was mostly hidden under a cloak and a hood.
"Hello, Death. If we have to talk, then we're lucky that this is occurring." He gestured towards the pit. It was an event where the three of them would be present together with no other Persona involved. Wrath continued observing the fighters silently.
"Frankly, you two need to control Arrt. He is getting out of hand. This is the fourth time I've caught him so far."
Impulse smiled. "He is our progeny after all. He wouldn't be my son if he weren't rash."
"Nor my seed if he did not anger easily." Wrath spoke.
Death sighed. "But he cannot be so unrestrained. Or at least, not in that area. Being so rash, he'd probably exterminate the entire population of the town. You have to do something."
"What? I would give him a man-to-man talk, except that being who and what I am, I know that he's not gonna respond well to it. Besides, my son and your daughter seem to be getting along quite well..."
"I know full well what they are doing." Death snapped. "Which is why I do not wish to antagonise him. It would not make for a good relationship."
Wrath laughed softly. "And you think that parents antagonising their children is better than the child's future mother-in-law. You're a funny one, Death."
"I can see that talking to you two will be as productive as talking to a block of bone. The bone would probably respond better."
Death left the pit and warped home. She pulled out a chair and sat down, sighing. She really couldn't stand those Emotional Personas. So much better to be emotionally balanced. These days, nobody took her seriously. Time was when she could just wave her scythe about in a vaguely menacing sort of way and people would be tripping over themselves to fulfill her wishes. Death was tired and weary. Bone-weary, if she was feeling out of sorts enough to make a joke. She left that sort of thing to Evolution, her handmaiden and another of the Natural Personas. And there she was.
"Mistress, you look awfully tired. Dead tired."
"I don't know how I tolerate your horrid puns, Evvy."
"You love my deadpan." Evolution pulled back Death's hood and busied herself with tidying Death's hair up.
"Evvy, you remember Arrt?"
"Impulse and Wrath's child? What about him? Don't tell me you caught him in the act."
"As a matter of fact, yes."
"Tsk tsk, Mistress, you really should take care of your hair. It's all over the place."
"That's what I have you for."
"That, and to admonish you. So you caught Arrt in bed with D-"
"No, I did not!" She said crossly.
"Don't convulse so much, Mistress, I thought you'd be in rigor mortis. Now I have to redo that entire section."
"Evvy. Please. Not now. Enough with the jokes." She rubbed her face.
"Yes, Mistress. So, you caught Arrt killing some of those people."
"Three boys from the village."
"And why'd he do it?"
"He told me they made Del cry."
"Aw, that's so sweet of him. I wish Creation would kill someone for me if that person made me sad." She said dreamily.
"Evvy, you're missing the point."
"Right, yes. He shouldn't have killed those mortals. Of course."
"And I can hardly tell him not to. He wouldn't listen and if I tried to force him not to, it'd just sour our relationship."
"I'm sure you don't want to ruin your future son-in-law's feelings towards you."
"I don't like him, Evvy."
"Del does. And that's really what matters. Del doesn't need to like Life and you don't need to like Arrt."
"It's not just that. Which mother would approve of a son-in-law who is quick to anger and just as rash?"
"It's a good thing that you're so open-minded and you believe in free will then."
Death snorted. "The danger of being too open-minded, Evvy, is that your brains might fall out."
"Then it's just as well that you're just skin and bones, yes? Wait, did you just make a sarcastic remark? You must be more tired than I thought. Go and take a rest, Mistress. Tend to your snakes." Evolution remarked as she finished redoing Death's hair.
Death's hobby was snake-charming, though she wasn't particularly good at it. The fact that being bitten didn't bother her in the least helped. She didn't mind being bad at it. It just calmed her down and relaxed her. Personas do not sleep.
"Mistress! Your husband's here. May I?"
Death stood up from her snakes and nodded. "Go ahead. Have a good time with Creation."
Creation was Life's butler, Evvy's counterpart and it was rather fitting that they would be in love, the same way Death and Life were.
"If you say I look well, I will take my scythe and stick it in you."
"I was going to say that I expected you to be worse, considering the plagues and all down in mortal land. But you look better than I believed, so that's fine." He kissed her lightly.
"I wanted to go and find you."
"What's up?"
"Del. She misses you."
Life frowned slightly. "This is a very inopportune time, I have to say. All the mages down there experimenting and especially the artificers who are creating life. I have to manage them."
"And I have to deal with the millions of plague victims of Kylmir yet I manage to find time to visit Del. Such wonderful scheduling you have, my dear." She said dryly.
Life blinked owlishly. "You're learning humour. That's certainly unexpected."
"No, I'm just not myself recently. I'm being worn out by all the mass deaths that's going on. As if the plague wasn't bad enough, recently mass suicide cults have been sprouting around. Our daughter wants to see you again. Besides, I need your help in handling Arrt."
"Arrt? Impulse's son? You mean he did something to De-"
"No! He's been killing people just because of some minor thing they did that made Del cry. The relationship of Personas and mortals has never been very well and what he's doing isn't exactly helping."
"I see."
"And keep an eye on both of them too, I may let them sleep together, but I will not condone any of the sexual acts."
"Not until Del's older." Life agreed. "I wish we could meet more often. In those days when we were together all the time. Hospitals and all." He said wistfully.
"While Evvy and Creation had just started dating. Ah, happy times."
They sat together on the balconey of Death's home, watching the eternal sunset that would never pass. The sun never moved here, stuck in a perpetual sunset. But they would have to leave to their respective duties far too soon.
The Family of Del
I turn the corner and bump into Mariko.
"Del!" Her doll-like face smiles happily. "Go to the hall, someone's waiting for you." Mariko continue skipping away.
Someone waiting for me? I run there quickly. And,
"Arrt!"
He's back! My big, strong Arrt! We hug and I breathe in the smell of him.
"Did you miss me while I was gone?" I love the sound of his deep voice, warm and enveloping. I respond by nuzzling closer against his chest. He rubs me there, just the way I like it and I inhale more of him as I moan a little. I have a fascination with smells and my Arrt's man-smell is gooood.
He freezes suddenly and I cringe slightly.
"You've been crying." He whispers softly into my ear.
"I.. I missed you." I lie. But he knows.
"Your veins surge even blacker when you lie." His hot breath on my face makes me shiver ever so slightly. "Who? Mariko?"
"No... Mariko's always nice to me. I play with her a lot." I reply nervously.
"Then who?" He holds me tight and stares into my eyes. Lightning dances in his eyes, so scary, so beautiful, my Arrt.
"Some.. some of the boys in the village." My voice is little more than a squeak. I know that I had just killed those boys with my words. "They only looked at me and Mariko and called us some names! Don't hurt them... Please..."
My words have no use, just as I knew they wouldn't. My Arrt's eyes blaze with unrestrained lightning and anger. I know that he would go through the village tonight and kill them.
My sweet Arrt pulls away from me and I take a few steps back. My dear Arrt is scary in this mood.
A clap of thunder sounds, rain falls, lightning flashes and my Arrt is gone. I walk away gloomily.
He comes back. Outside, a flash of lightning and my Arrt is back. He has three boys held tightly by the neck of their shirts. The same three who had called me bad, bad names. Lightning flickers and plays around my Arrt's brilliant white hair. The three boys are in their nightwear and one of them has a dull splotch spreading down his pants. One of them stammers, "Demon!", looking at my Arrt.
I can't help but giggle. My lovely Arrt is no demon, but that's the story we all use. We're all supposed to be demons, but they are just boys from the village who know nothing about us. I can just make out the slight hint of a smile on his face, but he forces it down.
"Are these the ones?" My Arrt asks softly. The boys stop their whimpering and crying and look at me.
"Tell it we didn't do anything!" One of them shouts out. They don't recognise me, I realise. Except one of them, the leader. The one who started jeering at me and Mariko when we went to the small village-town today. Mariko had responded in her usual way, smiling and blew a bright pink bubblegum till it burst. Everything about Mariko screams pink. Her hair is naturally pink, just like the bubblegum she so loves to chew. Her dresses are pink and white, her eye colour is even pink. I don't think I've ever seen her wear clothes of any other colour apart from pink and white. And she is pale. Mariko is very pale, until you feel that you can almost see through her skin. But then, that's what people say about me too. They say that my skin is even paler and that they can see my black veins running though me. And when I lie, you can see my veins surging even blacker. I don't lie well. Mariko lies much better than me. She always has that smile, then she'll blow her gum till it pops. Mariko likes pink, but I like black better. I always wear black.
"Del!" Her doll-like face smiles happily. "Go to the hall, someone's waiting for you." Mariko continue skipping away.
Someone waiting for me? I run there quickly. And,
"Arrt!"
He's back! My big, strong Arrt! We hug and I breathe in the smell of him.
"Did you miss me while I was gone?" I love the sound of his deep voice, warm and enveloping. I respond by nuzzling closer against his chest. He rubs me there, just the way I like it and I inhale more of him as I moan a little. I have a fascination with smells and my Arrt's man-smell is gooood.
He freezes suddenly and I cringe slightly.
"You've been crying." He whispers softly into my ear.
"I.. I missed you." I lie. But he knows.
"Your veins surge even blacker when you lie." His hot breath on my face makes me shiver ever so slightly. "Who? Mariko?"
"No... Mariko's always nice to me. I play with her a lot." I reply nervously.
"Then who?" He holds me tight and stares into my eyes. Lightning dances in his eyes, so scary, so beautiful, my Arrt.
"Some.. some of the boys in the village." My voice is little more than a squeak. I know that I had just killed those boys with my words. "They only looked at me and Mariko and called us some names! Don't hurt them... Please..."
My words have no use, just as I knew they wouldn't. My Arrt's eyes blaze with unrestrained lightning and anger. I know that he would go through the village tonight and kill them.
My sweet Arrt pulls away from me and I take a few steps back. My dear Arrt is scary in this mood.
A clap of thunder sounds, rain falls, lightning flashes and my Arrt is gone. I walk away gloomily.
He comes back. Outside, a flash of lightning and my Arrt is back. He has three boys held tightly by the neck of their shirts. The same three who had called me bad, bad names. Lightning flickers and plays around my Arrt's brilliant white hair. The three boys are in their nightwear and one of them has a dull splotch spreading down his pants. One of them stammers, "Demon!", looking at my Arrt.
I can't help but giggle. My lovely Arrt is no demon, but that's the story we all use. We're all supposed to be demons, but they are just boys from the village who know nothing about us. I can just make out the slight hint of a smile on his face, but he forces it down.
"Are these the ones?" My Arrt asks softly. The boys stop their whimpering and crying and look at me.
"Tell it we didn't do anything!" One of them shouts out. They don't recognise me, I realise. Except one of them, the leader. The one who started jeering at me and Mariko when we went to the small village-town today. Mariko had responded in her usual way, smiling and blew a bright pink bubblegum till it burst. Everything about Mariko screams pink. Her hair is naturally pink, just like the bubblegum she so loves to chew. Her dresses are pink and white, her eye colour is even pink. I don't think I've ever seen her wear clothes of any other colour apart from pink and white. And she is pale. Mariko is very pale, until you feel that you can almost see through her skin. But then, that's what people say about me too. They say that my skin is even paler and that they can see my black veins running though me. And when I lie, you can see my veins surging even blacker. I don't lie well. Mariko lies much better than me. She always has that smile, then she'll blow her gum till it pops. Mariko likes pink, but I like black better. I always wear black.
"Are these the ones?" My Arrt asks again and I stop daydreaming. (Is it daydreaming if it's at night but I'm not asleep?) I nod.
"Yes."
He nods slowly in return and more lightning courses around and about him. Pretty bolts dance between his fingers and the boys shrink back. The one who wet his pants even starts shouting for his mummy. Silly boy. The House of Del has none of the dead, especially not those bandaged mannequins.
My Arrt draws a bright blue finger across the boy's face and it tears. The face rips and tears, a broad gash on his visage and he dies screaming. The other two boys get up and try to run, but lightning crawls across the floor and chains them to the ground, burning them. The smell of burnt flesh is in the room. My Arrt's white hair is flaring upwards now, the sheer amount of electricity in the room causing things to fly. My Arrt grabs the second boy and forces him to stare into his eyes. My Arrt's eyes are a pure blue-white now, no iris, no pupil, just blue and white. The boy's eyes spark a little and suddenly the spark grows, consumed by an inner lightning. There's nothing left in those burnt and scoured eye sockets. Those screams are really starting to get annoying. My Arrt feels the same way and crushes his throat, killing him. My Arrt then draws some of the lightning around the dead boy's face and skins it off, a cohesive flap of skin. My considerate Arrt smiles.
"Mariko will like this." Mariko, when she can, likes taking the faces of people and weating them. She's got a huge collection of those face masks, but she tells me she can't blow bubblegums as well when she wears her masks.
My Arrt suddenly looks past me and I turn. Mariko! She serenely chews her gum and walks to the last boy.
"Arrt? May I?" She asks so politely and nicely.
My compromising Arrt reluctantly backs away and calls back his lightning to him. Mariko lifts her hands up and crackling pink with a few threads of black surrounds them and she claps her hands on the sides of the boy's head. The energy discharges into him, wounds bleed open and his orifices start pouring with blood. Mariko quickly takes her hands away before they get dirty. The death of these three touch me. They aren't the first that have died thanks to me. Sweet, protective Arrt. I remember what Mariko tells me. Dolls are always prettier when they're broken...
As if thinking about her summons her, my mom appears. My mom is wearing that same boring old cloak and hood and is carrying that long, sharp scythe that she always brings wherever she goes. Her gaunt, skeletal face is stern and I think she's going to scold us. People tell me that my mother is Death and my dad is Black, the Colour Persona. But that was a long time back, before mom broke up with him and fell in love with Life. So Life's my dad, but Black's my real dad. Life is very nice to me, always getting me things I want and playing with me even though I'm not really his daughter. But I love mom and Life and my Family.
"Arrt, this isn't the first time." My mom's voice is as stern as her face shows her to be, but I can tell that she's exasperated.
"I'm sorry, auntie."
"That's what you said the previous times."
"They made Del cry!"
My mom's expression softens and she walks to me, picking me up.
"Are you alright now, Del?"
"Yes, mom. I'm okay."
She turns back to Arrt after tousling my hair a little.
"Let's try not to let this sort of thing happen again. As it is, mortals don't really like me."
Arrt smirks a little. Only a few mortals actually like Death. According to mom, nobody welcomes her with open arms.
"Mom?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"When's dad coming?" I have to call Life dad even though he's not really my dad. It's kinda funny, but I guess it doesn't really matter.
"I'm not sure either, dear. I'll tell you when I know. I have to go now, take care of yourself, sweetheart."
"Yes, mom. Bye."
"Bye." She turns back to Arrt. "And do try not to kill or torture anymore people. Especially torture. Pain is a sterner matron than I. Take care of them for me." Mom disappears. Arrt's parents are two of the Emotional Personas, Impulse and Wrath. He got his pretty lightning from his godfather, Light, one of the Elemental Personas. Each group of Personas have seven, so there are seven Colours, seven Elements, seven Emotions and seven of the Natural Personas. Sometimes I get mixed up, but Arrt's always here to explain. I hug Arrt and he hugs me. We head to our bedroom. Mom knows we sleep in the same bed, but she doesn't say anything about it. Mariko has a separate bed, though in the same room. All the others of my Family have all been long asleep.
"Yes."
He nods slowly in return and more lightning courses around and about him. Pretty bolts dance between his fingers and the boys shrink back. The one who wet his pants even starts shouting for his mummy. Silly boy. The House of Del has none of the dead, especially not those bandaged mannequins.
My Arrt draws a bright blue finger across the boy's face and it tears. The face rips and tears, a broad gash on his visage and he dies screaming. The other two boys get up and try to run, but lightning crawls across the floor and chains them to the ground, burning them. The smell of burnt flesh is in the room. My Arrt's white hair is flaring upwards now, the sheer amount of electricity in the room causing things to fly. My Arrt grabs the second boy and forces him to stare into his eyes. My Arrt's eyes are a pure blue-white now, no iris, no pupil, just blue and white. The boy's eyes spark a little and suddenly the spark grows, consumed by an inner lightning. There's nothing left in those burnt and scoured eye sockets. Those screams are really starting to get annoying. My Arrt feels the same way and crushes his throat, killing him. My Arrt then draws some of the lightning around the dead boy's face and skins it off, a cohesive flap of skin. My considerate Arrt smiles.
"Mariko will like this." Mariko, when she can, likes taking the faces of people and weating them. She's got a huge collection of those face masks, but she tells me she can't blow bubblegums as well when she wears her masks.
My Arrt suddenly looks past me and I turn. Mariko! She serenely chews her gum and walks to the last boy.
"Arrt? May I?" She asks so politely and nicely.
My compromising Arrt reluctantly backs away and calls back his lightning to him. Mariko lifts her hands up and crackling pink with a few threads of black surrounds them and she claps her hands on the sides of the boy's head. The energy discharges into him, wounds bleed open and his orifices start pouring with blood. Mariko quickly takes her hands away before they get dirty. The death of these three touch me. They aren't the first that have died thanks to me. Sweet, protective Arrt. I remember what Mariko tells me. Dolls are always prettier when they're broken...
As if thinking about her summons her, my mom appears. My mom is wearing that same boring old cloak and hood and is carrying that long, sharp scythe that she always brings wherever she goes. Her gaunt, skeletal face is stern and I think she's going to scold us. People tell me that my mother is Death and my dad is Black, the Colour Persona. But that was a long time back, before mom broke up with him and fell in love with Life. So Life's my dad, but Black's my real dad. Life is very nice to me, always getting me things I want and playing with me even though I'm not really his daughter. But I love mom and Life and my Family.
"Arrt, this isn't the first time." My mom's voice is as stern as her face shows her to be, but I can tell that she's exasperated.
"I'm sorry, auntie."
"That's what you said the previous times."
"They made Del cry!"
My mom's expression softens and she walks to me, picking me up.
"Are you alright now, Del?"
"Yes, mom. I'm okay."
She turns back to Arrt after tousling my hair a little.
"Let's try not to let this sort of thing happen again. As it is, mortals don't really like me."
Arrt smirks a little. Only a few mortals actually like Death. According to mom, nobody welcomes her with open arms.
"Mom?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"When's dad coming?" I have to call Life dad even though he's not really my dad. It's kinda funny, but I guess it doesn't really matter.
"I'm not sure either, dear. I'll tell you when I know. I have to go now, take care of yourself, sweetheart."
"Yes, mom. Bye."
"Bye." She turns back to Arrt. "And do try not to kill or torture anymore people. Especially torture. Pain is a sterner matron than I. Take care of them for me." Mom disappears. Arrt's parents are two of the Emotional Personas, Impulse and Wrath. He got his pretty lightning from his godfather, Light, one of the Elemental Personas. Each group of Personas have seven, so there are seven Colours, seven Elements, seven Emotions and seven of the Natural Personas. Sometimes I get mixed up, but Arrt's always here to explain. I hug Arrt and he hugs me. We head to our bedroom. Mom knows we sleep in the same bed, but she doesn't say anything about it. Mariko has a separate bed, though in the same room. All the others of my Family have all been long asleep.
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