[open]

[ofinspiration]

Would someone like to tell me why my friend and I found ourselves with surprise tattoos? I'm fairly certain they weren't there before we returned to Liminal Space - mine would have been... noticable.

Second question: how do I get rid of it? They're pretty, I'll give you that, and points for appropriate symbolism on her, at least... but I do have an aesthetic to maintain.

Comments

[leftbehindagain]

I doubt they have a set shape, which only makes this more difficult. It was probably someone you interacted with, though - that seems to be the common pattern so far.

[ofinspiration]

I ran into a lot of people. That doesn't really narrow it down.

[leftbehindagain]

Most of them would've been us. Did you spend most of your time in one place over the rest of it? If so, it was probably someone there.

[ofinspiration]

There were a lot of people in and out of the castle, despite my best efforts. No interactions worth mentioning, though, if we're discounting travelers.

[leftbehindagain]

...huh. Weird.

I mean, I guess we can't rule out the nine million talking animals around Questing Country, but I can't decide if that's too much of a stretch or not.

[ofinspiration]

If that's the case... No, still not helpful. I was surrounded by them.

Really, I just want to know who I should blame if I see them again...

[leftbehindagain]

I'm sure we all do, especially anyone else they might've snapped up along with you and your friend. Seems like this one was particularly stealthy about it.

[oftoomuchfaith]

We were basically walking anime tropes for a month and you're not sure if it's too much of a stretch that some all-powerful being might hide in the form of a magical talking animal?

I mean, I wouldn't, but I think the entire setup was a stretch.

[leftbehindagain]

...Okay, point. What I was going for is that I don't know if they'd go for one of the animals instead of something... well, humanoid, considering. In any case, whichever one this was stayed pretty well hidden - Priestess makes sense by that logic.

[oftoomuchfaith]

Well, even if she didn't buy us dinner first, I can't fault her for her impeccable symbolism. And style, mine is gorgeous.

[leftbehindagain]

Well, hey, if it's apt, at least there's a silver lining to the situation. I don't know all the imagery the Trumps are using, so I wouldn't have been able to work out that part. [If they'd had a number on the tattoos as well, it'd be another story.]

[oftoomuchfaith]

I know fuck-all about tarot, to be honest. I would've thought it had something to do with me specifically, and Luci being my friend.

[leftbehindagain]

I can do a crash course on the basic archetypes. So to speak. But I don't know the deck the imagery's coming from - the stuff we worked with back home uses completely different visuals. Someone else would have to cover that end.

Why would it have to do with you specifically?

[oftoomuchfaith]

Don't bother right now, I doubt I'd pay enough attention for it to be worth it. I might tap you later, though.

[ she almost sounds like she's smirking when she continues ]

I'm Persephone. Pomegranates are... kind of my thing.

[leftbehindagain]

By all means. There's a few of us who know the basics around.

Are they? That's... Greek, right? I don't know Greek mythology all that well.

[oftoomuchfaith]

Oh, you don't know the story of Persephone? There's a few different versions, but I can tell you my favorite.

[leftbehindagain]

I'm from Japan. Between Shinto, Buddhism and the odd Hindu stuff we've got our hands full.

But sure, go for it.

[oftoomuchfaith]

Okay.

So Persephone was a goddess of springtime and maidenhood and shit, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the king of the gods and the goddess of fertility and the harvest. And she spent her time with her mother, who loved her desperately, following in her mother's footsteps and feeling very very bored. She wanted more than to follow in her mother's shadow.

[ this is definitely Laura's favorite. Which probably has colored the Persephone she's becoming. ]

At some point, Hades - the lord of the underworld and god of the dead - noticed her beauty and opened a rend in the earth to come and try to... I don't know, court her or something. And when she saw the chance to do something new, get away from her mother and make her own life, she jumped, and told Hades to take her to the underworld with him and she would be his queen. So he did.

But Demeter was clingy and needy and started freaking out, and her grief made winter happen for the first time, but there wasn't any sign that it would actually end, right? So Zeus told Hades to let Persephone go, and Hades said that if she hadn't eaten anything in the underworld while she was there, he'd let her go.

But Persephone didn't want to leave forever, so she ate six pomegranate seeds, so that even though she went back to her mother, she'd still have to come back to Hades for six months of the year. And she became the queen of the underworld and was immensely scarier than her husband, who was pretty laid-back as far as gods go, and was generally pretty awesome.

[ she pauses ]

There are other versions where she's kidnapped, and tricked into eating the seeds, but I don't buy those versions, honestly.

[leftbehindagain]

...Well, that's definitely one way to get a change of scenery. Hopefully it was a better underworld than Yomi.

[He was gonna say, isn't kidnapping more standard in this kind of thing? But hey, if she got to choose for herself...]

[oftoomuchfaith]

It's sort of a bit of everything, as far as I remember. Nice places if you were exceptionally good or died in battle, neutral places if you were just a person, punishments if you were particularly awful.

[ shhh. Persephone takes umbrage with the idea that she didn't have a say in her fate. ...in so many ways. ]

[leftbehindagain]

Ah. Yomi's neutral at best. I'm not in any hurry to revisit it.