Video | Two (can be as bad as one)

[pummelgranite]

[ This time there's no movement in the background. She's reclining on what seems to be a throne of flowering greenery, and a smattering of animal bones. ]



Head count, who's dead? No, wait, actually- who's died.



Also, anyone got any spare human skulls you're looking to move? I'll take other skulls too if they look cool enough, or whatever.

Comments

[quaerit]

In Satan's greenhouse, maybe.

[ Actually, he shouldn't say that. The last time he checked, Satan was actually here. He frowns at her, peering at the name in particular. Persephone. ]

Who are you, by the way? I should've asked.

[pummelgranite]

Persephone. [ He really probably shouldn't have said that. Her gaze goes a bit colder. ]




Don't you watch the news? Lucifer wore white.

[quaerit]

[ Um.

Well, interesting. Clearly he's hit a nerve. ]

I try to pay as little attention to Lucifer as possible, if I'm honest. Are you a friend of his?

[pummelgranite]

Was. Lucifer's not here.

[quaerit]

[ Gansey blinks. ]

Isn't he?

[ Gansey will actually sleep better knowing he's not. Even if she's irritated with him, it's something of a relief. ]

If he's not, then he was. He had a TV show, it was all very surreal. Were you part of that?

[pummelgranite]

[ yeah yeah nobody loves the underworld :( she does her snap-fingers-to-light-cig trick, just as a lucifer may be wont to do ]



Nope.

[quaerit]

[ Okay, that's...

Unsettling. Yes, that's the best word. Gansey runs his thumb over his lip. ]

Well then. I...didn't mean any offence, about the chair. [ A pause. ] Or the skulls. I suppose if spingtime in Hell is what you're going for, it does the job nicely.

[pummelgranite]

[ She... scared this guy? Unsettled him? That's what she wants, right? Of course that's what she wants... he should be scared of her just-


but for not liking her aesthetic? ]


Whatever.


No accounting for taste.

[quaerit]

[ Yes, he was just thinking that too. ]

To each their own.

[ Even if it's Lucifer. Your choices, lady... ]

So is it Persephone, like the goddess? You're named for the wife of Hades, yes?

[ Because, come on. That can't be a coincidence. ]

[pummelgranite]

[ HE SHOULD THINK ABOUT HOW SCARY AND INTIMIDATING SHE IS!!! ]


Uh huh, exactly like the Goddess. I'm named for me. Above ground and single for a limited time only.

[quaerit]

[ She has a throne full of flowers, there's only so much that can intimidate any man. ]

I...see. But you're connected with Lucifer and not Hades.

[ Christ. ]

Are you married to Lucifer? Under normal circumstances.

[pummelgranite]

[ SOON TO BE FLOWERS AND SKULLS!!! ]


Just friends.

[quaerit]

That's not exactly how the story goes.

[ The original, he means. Gansey is something of a nerd when it comes to...

Well, most things, actually, but history in particular. Magical history, all the more so. ]

How does it work for you? Six months above, six months below?

[pummelgranite]

Nah, that part's history.



It's more complicated where I'm from but that doesn't matter, because I'm not there, am I? I'm here. So now this is how it works.


[ She makes a dismissive wave indicating "all this bullshit right here." ]

[quaerit]

[ Did she just say history didn't matter because how dare. ]

Now what is how it works?

[ His eyes flick over the chair, the flowers, and the skulls again. ]

What is all of this for?

[pummelgranite]

It's not- [ She huffs, frustrated. CULTURE SHOCK MOVING TO A PLACE WHERE NO ONE HAS CONTEXT. ]



It's not six months up, six months bellow. It was more complicated than that. Now it's just "be here. be an imPort. you can't die. fight the Russians. bag groceries. blah blah blah," so who gives a shit how it's supposed to be.

[quaerit]

What? Well, I do.

[ For as much as that matters. Though he doesn't blame her for that attitude. Being here is enough to throw a wrench into anyone's plans. Gansey knows that well enough. ]

Just because they tell you what they want you to do doesn't mean that's how you have to live. Christ knows we don't have to fight the Russians just because they'd like us to, and I don't think you're collecting skulls to make you into a better import.

[pummelgranite]

I'm doing it because I fucking feel like it. I'm a god. That's how it works.

[quaerit]

All right, if you say so.

Is there an actual reason you wanted to know who'd died, by the way?

[pummelgranite]

Uh huh, but it's complicated.