lesterzeppelin | mask or menace

Of course I wouldn't. [ he almost sounds offended, until he remembers - mortals don't usually put themselves in positions to kill others. Even demigods only kill to survive. ] They - that other place, it put you in a rough spot.

You didn't want to kill them. Anyone would've seen that - no, anyone would've seen that there wasn't another way.

[ though in the back of his mind, he has to wonder, just when the heck did he meet Styx? As far as he's aware, his quest hasn't coincided with her so far... ]

[Fuu smiles, just a little, on the other end of the line. Of course, Apollo is a Greek god. That would hardly be the worst thing he's seen, or been a part of.]

No... I tell myself that I could have done something different--that I should have found another way before it got to that point. [Because, after all, they did find another way--or rather, Hikaru did, reshaping the Pillar system so that it wouldn't place the entire world on the shoulders of a single, fragile individual. But she can't tell that to Lester, not when Hikaru doesn't know about it herself.] We were swept along, guided by people who were in too much pain themselves to conceive of there being any other possibility.

[ he nods along, thinking back to all the times he had led demigods to their doom, or convinced them that the path with the most violence and bloodshed had been the only route possible. Sure, he wasn't involved with Cephiro. He could also sadly, painfully understand where those from Cephiro had gone wrong. ]

Yeah. It's... hard, when you're trying to guide a kid, and you think you're sending them off on the only way possible. [ he sighs, ] You were young, Fuu. I know you want to blame yourself or think you could've done something different, like you said. That's... that's the natural human instinct.

At the same time, adults like us? We're pretty stupid too.

[That... sounds like the voice of experience speaking now. Fuu has always been sympathetic to Clef. He was blameable in what he said, straddling between carefully misleading statements and outright lies, but whatever anger she may have held towards him faded when she saw him again.

He and Apollo would have a lot to talk about, it sounds like.]

I know... rationally, I know it wasn't my fault. It's just a way to make myself feel less powerless. But if I don't blame my friends, I can't blame myself, either.

And I don't hold it against the people who sent us on our mission. Maybe they weren't stupid, exactly [there's just a bit of wry amusement in there--she can't deny she's thought that to herself many times when watching the news or hearing of some avoidable incident] but they were too set in what they knew.

We were all caught in a terrible situation.

Yeah, [ he exhales, feeling that weight on his shoulders too. ] I can't say I envy you. That kind of burden isn't one someone your age should have to carry around or live with, and yet... I think us "grown-ups" could learn a lot from your flexibility and open-mindedness.

[ there's a pause, because even though it's not truly his fault – ]

I'm sorry, by the way. If I'd had better control over my old powers, maybe you wouldn't have been forced to be so open with me.

[As true as it is that she doesn't hold it against Clef and the others, Fuu agrees with that wholeheartedly. She doesn't think anyone should have to bear the burden of death, but especially not herself, Hikaru, and Umi--not even high-schoolers yet.]

I'll do my best to set you all a good example.

[She thinks a moment. Control... old powers.]

So when you appear to us all as a human boy--is that not a guise of your choosing?

Oh, of course not. [ he laughs, though it's not as warm and genuine as usual - almost like he's offended that Lester would be a form of his making. ] I mean, I'm not that much older, maybe like 18? 19? But my favorite form is way hotter.

[ He can't recall what he looked like, once the burning, throbbing sensations in his mind had subsided and he had faced Emeraude head-on with all of the heat of the sun. He remembers his curls disappearing - maybe it had been singed off? ]

Dear ol' Dad chose this for me. Gotta say, it's one of his worse jokes.

[Fuu stifles a laugh at Lester's indignation over the aesthetic deficiences of his current body, though she doesn't hide it completely.]

I would have thought 18 or 19 hundred. BCE.

But your father--that would be Zeus? [there are. Stories about Zeus.] Why did he do that?

Edited 2019-07-07 04:40 (UTC)

Oh, I'm older than that, [ he laughs, shaking his head - even if Fuu can't see the action. ] And my best guess? He blames me for our last war.

I won't know until I see him, but it's Zeus. Said reason could be 'for the heck of it.'

Ah... [For starting a war? That's quite a weighty reason.] I don't think it's fair to blame one person for starting a war. We like to do that in the mortal realm, but in truth, one person couldn't do much without a whole host of other factors behind them. I think it would be difficult for a god to do so, too.

I do hope it isn't as capricious as that second reason, though. [...] I'd like to think that the Greek gods aren't quite as--as much as the stories say.

[who knows what adjective would be best? flighty, haughty, selfish, flippant, Deeply Flawed in a Heightened but Relatable Human Fashion--all potentially applicable, and also all less than tactful when talking to one of them.]

I agree. It's super unfair. [ at the time, he had griped about it so much that he could've written a full novel about his trials and misery! now, he's kind of accustomed to this semblance of a life. ] If I had to guess, he's just looking for a scapegoat.

See, my powers of prophecy are both hard to decipher and impossible to change. Once I've seen it, the future will come to pass - and for most people, Zeus included, it's a hard pill to swallow.

[ Most of all himself; even he, the one through whom fortunes are told, cannot change his own stars. ]

...That sounds very difficult to live with. I don't know that I would want to know the future. But blaming you for what you've seen is like blaming a meteorologist for the rain... not that people don't do that, too. [She sighs.] I doubt that locking away your power actually changes what's going to happen.

And even if it's impossible to change, you can still figure out what to do afterwards.

[ he agrees with that sentiment. Powers like his and hers won't make the future that much more different - especially if his prophecies always come true. At the same time... ]

Yeah. I just - [ he sighs, ] Because I'm mortal, my domains don't work anymore. That's fine on this Earth, because they've never relied on me. But my Earth? No one's getting prophecies, and I've seen communication lines disappear altogether.

I'm not sure what's going on, but it's... well, it's all the more reason I want to be better. I feel like it's my fault my powers are making everyone else's go haywire.

So without your prophecies... does the future not happen? [that's not quite right; she wouldn't even be sure how that's possible.] Or it's... harmed, somehow?

[Having something so important rely on a single individual like that--it seems that doesn't work anywhere, even when that individual is an actual god.

As much as Mokona had been frustrated with her Earth, pulled in as many directions as there were people who live on it, she can't help but think that it's better than the alternative that she seems to be finding again and again.]

Not quite. Without prophecies, heroes aren't told when they're supposed to go on quests, and the general public lacks the ability to discern the future. [ he pauses, ] It's like losing sight, only it's foresight in this case.

My kids still seem to have their powers, which had been my biggest concern before. On this world, though, it's all nanite-given, so I might be running on a false assumption.

Ah... so everyone has to muddle through using their own individual sense of judgment. [While she knows that has to be hard if you're accustomed to having guidance, there's a little wryness.] It sounds like the way things happen on my own Earth.

You know, it's still strange to think of someone who looks so young as having children? Even though I know you're old enough to have generations of them.

For better or worse, yeah?

[ He has a nagging feeling that something worse will happen because of the vacuum he left behind, but that's not a problem even he's willing to discuss here. ]

Really? [ he laughs, ] I guess that makes sense given my current form, but I have three right now. Will - who's here, then Austin and Kayla. They're about... Will's sixteen, then Austin's thirteen, and if I remember right, Kayla's... either ten or eleven.

You have three 'right now?' [Wait. No. Apollo is immortal and humans are not, and she did just say he's old enogh to have generations. Does that mean he's seen his children grow old and die...? What an insensitive question.] Ah--three children at once can be very challenging.

[you seem kind of fuzzy on their ages too there apollo]

But I'm glad that you have one of them here with you.

[ In his non-existent defense, he wasn’t there to raise them!! Which, tbh, is part and parcel of being a god. ]

They can, but they’re good kids. [ he laughs, his voice filling with pride: ] And Will? He’s going to outclass me when it comes to medicine, if he hasn’t already.

Oh, that's right! I'd forgotten that medicine is under your purview. [REALLY, MORE REASON NOT TO LOCK HIM UP, WHAT GIVES ZEUS.] I'm glad he's taking up that part of your legacy. I think it gets overlooked, compared to the arts and music... and the sun, of course.

And the sun wasn't even mine to begin with, not initially. [ his voice grows thoughtful, if only at Helios's memory - ] Thanks, Fuu.

I know I have like, a million things under my name, but it doesn't diminish any of them in my eye. Just means I have a lot to protect, and well... just as much to teach my children, when the time comes.

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