voidtreckerexpress | Secrets and the Telling Thereof [Closed]

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Secrets and the Telling Thereof [Closed]

Who:Persephone and Zetta [Closed]
Where: Garden Car
When: Imagination 22, late night
What: Persephone spills some stuff about her past
Warnings: Discussion of violence

Persephone shows up long after others have gone to bed, the talk and 'excitement' of the questioning long forgotten as everyone goes about their business. With less people around, less to hear her spill her guts.

But she doesn't start spilling, start talking. Instead she sits right down beside the stream and dips her hand in the water. A lotus, a deep red fading into orange at the middle, blooms nearby.

"Probably not evil enough, huh?"

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"It's a lotus. Honestly, the standards are pretty low."

Not much of a companion, in many ways. Just a tome, not a person with a proper body, or even proper body language. A prisoner in pages, something he'd been doing an absolutely terrific job of ignoring until Persephone wandered onto the train.

Sheesh.

"I'm making an effort to accommodate. They could all be pink and white." She tucks her legs up to her chest and glances over at him.

"Is it a bad time? I could do this some other time."

"Yeah, like I should just pick the time most convenient for ME for you to talk about some secret." Come on, 'Sephe, even Zetta didn't feel any need to put himself first in a situation like this. "Let's go."

Persephone winces and tugs at her hoodie, wishing it was bigger. Big enough to hide in maybe. No, everything has to be well fitting.

"It needs some back story." And because she isn't sure how to begin, she just launches into it, before she can start overthinking not than she has.

"I grew up in the mortal realm, with flower nymphs as my companions. They're rare, you need special flowers, carefully cultivated, to keep them around. But my handmaidens, my closest friends, I made them in the garden we created just for them. We did everything together. And then one day, I got in a fight with my mom. She didn't want me to go to Olympus for school, why would I want to leave the paradise? We screamed and fought and I ran off. They followed me."

Most of this wasn't news, she'd told him it before. The part at the end was where it started getting new.

"Wait, weren't you going to school in Olympus? Your mother didn't want you to?" She'd told him that too, hadn't she?

"No, she didn't want me to. I was being a spoiled child who didn't understand the world. Of course, she's the reason I didn't so--I'm getting off track. The nymphs, Melia and Delphine, followed me, asking if I wanted a break. When I told them to leave me alone, I turned around to see them turning to ash, to burnt petals, reaching for me but I couldn't do anything. So I ran to the fields. And found the humans there, tearing up the flower bushes I begged then to stop, we had a treaty, but I'm just a minor goddess, goddess of spring, flowers and junk. Why should they listen to me?" She's crying now, silently, but enough to make her words thick.

Uh. Whoa. This got pretty heavy pretty quick. Zetta frowned, already making plans to go deal with all those humans the second he had a chance. So they'd murdered Persephone's friends, huh? Let's see how they'd like their planet being reduced to rubble!

...wait, that was also Persephone's planet. Back it down, Zetta.

"You're still a goddess, though."

"Well, they still said it to my face. After they shoved me to the ground. And--I don't know what happened. I--my body moved without me, I couldn't stop it. I killed them. The two men. And then I freaked out. My powers went out of control, I grew tall as a building, a tree sprouted and grew as tall as a skyscraper, destroying their town. Even though I didn't want to, I ended up killing more, people who didn't say anything to me, because I couldn't control my powers.

[She tugs the hood over her face] That's my big secret, I murdered two men and got half a town killed. I was called Kore as a girl, maiden. Now I'm Persephone, bringer of death.

Zetta's mental image of that was definitely a sort of "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" style, with an inexplicably fur-bikini-clad Persephone stomping through a modern-day city like a busty pink Godzilla. Not gonna lie, that kind of did it for him.

"So THAT's why you're all hung up on control."

"Well--yes. When I lose control, bad things happen. If I get angry or upset--so I don't." Or at least she tries. Persephone glances over at him, peeking out from the edge of her hood.

"Hence why freaking out at the whole window thing and causing all those plants to grow was kind of upsetting. I don't want to hurt someone when I don't mean to."

Zetta scowled. And then his scowl got darker and darker, as he considered the ramifications of her statement. Not only what they meant for her, but how badly everyone she'd ever known had blown it.

"You can't go through life not getting angry or upset," he finally said.

"I've done pretty well so far. I've been here months and only caused one minor mishap when I lost control. Nothing awful. Nothing I can't take back." She waves her hand, then tucks it to her chest, "I work very hard at it."

What she doesn't say is that it's exhausting, that is part of that pressure to be exactly what people expect of her. That it claws at her sometimes, this something, this feeling she felt right before she killed them.

"Honestly, I guess I expected more about the guys and the town. When I told Nita, that's what we... What we talked about."

"Nita can be really shortsighted. Those guys are in the past. Me, I'm hearing you heading straight for a repeat incident. Along with all sorts of other problems that are gonna mess you right the hell up and make you miserable, and I don't consider that acceptable."

Zetta was better than most people would ever guess at seeing problems and trying to help people. Including himself, because he would never admit to being on anyone's side or trying to pick anyone up. At least not for selfless reasons.

"So look. I get that losing control really upset you. But the answer to that isn't 'avoid what made you lose control'. It's 'get control'."

"It wasn't short sighted, we both felt awful about things we'd done, it was--bonding." Her hand waves around as she finds the word, then braces on the ground as she turns to face him properly.

"This is control! I--" She gestures at the next from over, the greenhouse, "I use my powers daily, I try to work off energy when I start to feel trapped or upset. I've only lost control when things weren't possible to control. I'm not sure... I'm not sure what else to do. Mom just gave me more things to do when I started to stagnate."

"Yeah, and life's gonna be all sorts of stuff you can't control. Look at me! I'm a freaking book!" And his ability to control things was pretty darn good, thanks to being powerful!

"That's why I work on not getting angry, because I have to control myself when people upset me! When stupid things happen! I didn't turn the whole greenhouse into a jungle or hurt someone, I wrestled back control!" Persephone tugs back her hood and glares at him.

"I don't know how else to work on control, okay! If my emotions make my powers go off, I have to work on controlling emotions to control my power."

"No, you gotta work on your emotions not setting your powers off! It sounds to me," Zetta said, with the air of one who had the utmost authority on a subject, "that your power knows you better than you do. When you get upset or frustrated, it pops out to try to change things, because you personally don't think you can do anything."

Persephone squints at him. When did he get all kinds of insightful, huh? He's probably not wrong but it's not exactly something actionable. She ignores all the very accurate parts of this.

"That's very easy to say, you know. Just don't let them affect it, very simple."

He was better at figuring other people out than he looked, after quite a bit of experience dealing with lunatic idiots like Hibiki and Elfnein.

Zetta scoffed. "You're getting honked off at me and I don't see any vines. It's all about practice and knowing yourself, stuff like that."

"I'm annoyed and frustrated but I'm not angry. Or upset. I mean, I am upset, I just recounted one of the most awful things in my life but not like I can get." She bites her lip and then sighs, loudly.

"I'll work on it, I guess. Or try."

"...anyone who tells you you shouldn't be upset or angry about things that are upsetting or angry doesn't have your best interests at heart," Zetta said, much more subdued now that she was actually kind of agreeing instead of arguing. "That includes yourself, too. You're allowed to feel what you feel. It's totally okay! But, uh... when you get angry or upset, you've got people who'll back you up and help you out. You're not alone, so there's always something you can do when that happens. Always. You get it?"

"...Yeah." She rubs at her cheek, trying to wipe away tears before they fall. There's a few more secretive wipes before she looks back up at him.

"You are kind, you know. Sweet." A little watery smile, "I won't tell if you don't."

Then she holds out her arms.

"Hug?"

Edited (Added for reasons) 2020-12-28 18:14 (UTC)

What a really good way to stop him from protesting. "Hell yeah! Gimme the sugar!"

Persephone snorted and wrapped her arms around him, tugging him to her chest. Not ideal, this is never ideal, but she takes what she can get.

"Shut up and let me enjoy some comfort. Can't let me have a moment, huh?"

"Hey, I'm enjoying this too! We both get to enjoy it!"

Please ignore the happy little noise he made after saying that.

Persephone pulled him tighter, reluctant to let him go. In lieu of a proper hug, she has this, so she milks it for all it's worth. But--eventually she pulls back and wipes one more at her eyes.

"I miss hugs. People don't really offer them after you're an adult. Suddenly too mature for hugs."

"You just run around with the wrong crowd. Some people are way too huggy." Grump, grump. Mostly because he was no longer being pressed quite nicely against her.

"I run around with you, are you the wrong crowd? Am I too huggy for you?" She raises an eyebrow, a smile tugging up on her lips despite herself.

Zetta scoffed again. "No, but you're also a hot and not entirely uninterested girl. That lets you get away with a LOT."

Persephone snorted and pulled herself up to a stand. Not entirely uninterested. She fluffed her hair and adjusted her hoodie.

"Oh no, my poor Zetta, dealing with hugs. I'll try not to take advantage of that power." Too much at least.

Well. Not entirely uninterested. But Zetta knew perfectly well he was still a freaking book. Certain aspects of a potential relationship were beyond possibility at this point. If she got tired of waiting... well, he couldn't blame her.

"Hey, hey, half of that power is actually the power of your awesome rack, and that's always on."

"You have such a way with words. There are better ways to say you find someone attractive, you know?" She raises an eyebrow and then grins, the first proper smile since she entered the garden.

"Well if I'm getting away with stuff..." She shrugs, a fizzing pink power sparkling from her hands and the little river are awash with lotuses and lily pads, half pink and white, the rest a veritable rainbow of colors, though they do veer dark.

"It's not my normal style," Zetta said, failing to even sound grumpy about this as he turned in midair to admire her work. "But I may be starting to acquire it as a taste. You're really good at this, you know."

"It's what I was born to be, to do. Have to be pretty good at it." With a slight smile, she leans over to kiss his cheek.

"Thank you for listening, by the way."

"I like hearing you talk, you've got a nice voice."

His guard must be low from that hug earlier. That compliment didn't even need to be filtered through an advanced Zetta-to-English dictionary. (Or whatever language this was!)

He has the honor of making her blush, tucking her hair back self consciously and patting at her hoodie.

"Thank you. You do too. It suits you, the real you."

"Damn straight! This is the true and only voice of Overlord Zetta! If I ever make any DLC appearances, remember that!"

What an odd thing to say.

"I will not even ask." Persephone leans over and kisses his cheek, only subtly rolling her eyes at his ridiculousness. She can be subtle.

Unlike some Overlords we could mention. Zetta's look of glee was particularly blatant.

"Hey, how about we get dinner later?" Y'know, together.

"Oh, sure, why not?" Is this date? Friendly hangout? Sources unclear (but only really unclear to Persephone let's be honest).

"A particular time? Not that you can actually tell time on here. You know what I mean."

"How about, when you get hungry, poke your head in here." Why bother with time when only one thing mattered anyway?

"Then I'll come get you sometime? Or you come get me if you're getting hungry and bored." Though she's rarely as easy to find as him.

Easier if you had minions to search everywhere! Zetta chuckled. "You got it."

The consideration she showed him was of course his due! ...and much appreciated, after being a book for so long that people didn't even think of him as an actual being. Just some talking book, emphasis on book...

Persephone throws a little smile back at him and nods. Honestly, she thought she'd feel drained after explaining this all but he has a way of bringing her back up again.

"Until then. Again, thanks." A wave and she heads into the greenhouse.

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Secrets and the Telling Thereof [Closed]

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