Olympus Prepatory discussion

(go)

Ariadne arrived at the courtyard after directing Xena to it

"Ahhh so this is the courtyard. Nature-y but not excessive," Xena said with a content smile

"Yep, I can't stand excessive amounts of nature. When people buy me flowers it really annoys me!" Ariadne said remembering all the times people have got her flowers, a frown on her face.

"Nice," Xena laughed, "Maybe being a daughter of Persephone, therefore being granddaughter of Demeter, makes be opposite of either. Do you like poppies?"

Ariadne laughed, "They really like nature, and it just put me off. Always been more of a Daddy's girl I guess... And actually yeah! There's something about poppies..."

"It's our grand/mother's flower especially. So how is your father/our headmaster?" Xena asked

"Yeah, they always seemed to have them lying about now I come to think of it... And he was good last time I spoke to him, mother is making him have a party..."

"For what? I don't really take him for a party guy," Xena inquired

"He isn't... But mother insists on having one because apparently nowadays everyone is celebrating something called Christmas? Well, anyway she wanted a party..." Ariadne said, wondering how this party would go...

"Those parties must be interesting..." Xena pondered, "Are you a big party person?"

"That's one way to put it..." Ariadne muttered under her breath, then smiling looked up at Xena, "Kind of... As long as annoying people aren't there... Which cannot be guaranteed these days..."

"Annoyances grow on trees these days," Xena laughed at her statement, "Happen to know many in the Underworld?"

"Soooooooooo many! Is it bad that I've tried to send them to Tartarus a few times?" Ariadne giggled

Xena cringed, "As it sounds like you failed each time, then it's not THAT bad. Besides, I would think that each time you tried to get rid of them, the more they understand that 'she may have the power to kill the dead' and abandon trying to be with you,"

Ariadne laughed, "Yeah, Hades stopped me every single time!" Ariadne frowned mockingly, "And, yeah, they left me alone soon enough!"

"You're lucky. My 'talents' are more tactical than practical. Plus, you have parents that keep you from killing others by accident," Xena grumbled

"Aw, Xena!" Ariadne said, looking sympathetically at her half-sister, then stopping herself, Xena didn't seem like the type of person to want pity. "I've only accidentally made people join the Underworld a few times... Dad always sent them back..." Ariadne said shrugging

Xena glared at Ariadne, no pity mongering just brutal honesty. "Congrats on not starting any intercultural incidents! Dare I ask, how and why did you kill them?"

Ariadne laughed, "Well... One of them was a bully... And there was this boy I was friends with, and he got really down... So, I went and found the bully, one thing led to another and... he... you know... died." Ariadne thought to herself, "Now, the next one was a total accident, I was only young, just getting used to my powers, this happened a little while before the bully... I was walking down a street, in..." Ariadne racked her memory, "I think it was Uruguay or Paraguay, I always get them confused... Anyway, this girl tapped my back, it was completely unexpected... So, I just sort of... I don't know how to explain it... I used my powers, out of natural instinct and poof, she was in the Underworld..." Ariadne looked at Xena ever so slightly guiltily.

Xena laughed at Ariadne's expression, "Those are interesting experiences. If someone surprises me I punch them, a slightly better date than being sent to the Underworld. Once they were sent back, did they remember what happened?"

Ariadne laughed, "I don't know, Hades gave me his version of a restraining order..."

Xena laughed "There are RESTRAINING ORDERS here too? What DOESN'T this place have? What made you come here?" Xena said, switching topics rather suddenly

Ariadne laughed, "Daddy's headmaster, he didn't give me much choice... Plus it sounded awesome! What about you?"

"Avoiding people who are trying to kill me... Ring a bell?" Xena rolled her eyes at Ariadne's slight forgetfulness

"Oh yeah! I totally remembered!" Ariadne laughed, "Just being polite..."

"It's fine," Xena grumbled. Telling someone that someone else is trying to kill you, ought to be remembered.

"So, who is it that is trying to kill you? Because the answer to that doesn't ring a bell!" Ariadne said, wondering why someone would try to kill Xena.

((Jada, this probably has absolutely no touch with reality but...))

"It's... A long story," Xena started, "When I was born, I was brought to New York City as a child of an unwed mother who died during labor. Growing up as an orphan who thought her parents didn't care for her, I was bounced around foster houses until I turned 14. At that time I ran away to my friend James' house. He was my best friend for several years but was a couple years older. We kept in touch throughout my many moves and, somehow, my last move happened to be to the same neighborhood," Xena took a breath and waited to see Ariadne's reaction.

((Haha, maybe not Tab, but it is interesting!!))

Ariadne's eyes lit up, this sounded interesting. She looked at Xena expectantly, hoping to hear more.

"I went to whichever mortal school was closest for my whole life and when I escaped I started highschool under the pretense that I was James' long lost niece," Xena started again, "Although, it was slightly far fetched it worked due to the fact that many mothers have kids many years apart. Hence, James' and "mother"'s age gap. Plus, the school already knew I was an orphan, so we exploited this fact. Throughout my life I was a loner and so I discovered my, what are we calling then again?, ah yes, powers early. In case you didn't know, they are seeing truth, hence why I stare at people when they are speaking, and raising dead great military leaders," Xena took a breather right here, she rarely spoke this often.

"Aw Xena, that sounds hard! Plus, it must be horrible knowing when people are telling the truth sometimes... Like when they lie to your face!" Ariadne said, memories of past I love you's and I'll never leave you, ever's streaming into her mind.

"Ariadne, it's okay you are free of the past," Xena said as Ariadne seemed to zone out, "And being able to see the truth has helped every now and then. People always lied to me, 'life will get better' and 'you'll get out of foster care'. Empty promises and simple reassurances. When I was 16, I dropped out of school. Nothing there would help me. James had a few friends on the... Shadier side of town and one made me a fake ID saying I was 19, the age of James, and I cut and dyed my hair, added contacts, and started wearing heels and makeup making me look different," Xena made a look of disgust at the heels, "However, in order to get that money, I had to start living like I WAS from that side of town," She stared at the wall, trying to decide how to continue.

Ariadne zoned back into the present, "I guess so," She said, smiling weakly at Xena, "Godless life sounds hard as well, James seems lovely though!" Ariadne said looking at Xena, her story was starting to make a lot of sense

"If you are thinking what I think you are thinking, the answer is a violent NO. I was NOT dating him nor did I ever fancy him. Just so you know," Xena cringed at the possibility of that thought, "And I guess it was hard, I never had anything to compare it to," She sighed in thought of what could have been. "Anyways, I took up forgery and fraud from that friend of James'. It was easy for me, being able to sense truths in people, I could find ways of making it a little more realistic. I never had a dissatisfied customer. James' had the same ideas of life: money was more on that side of town. He did the more... different jobs: Robbery, Gunrunning, and, the slightest of A&B (Assault and Battery). We proofread the payers and what they wanted for his cases. During initial 'interview', I watched and he questioned. I was able to see if the victim was actually good, if so he never did it,"

((Oh and Jada, you may want to go to Beautyology, there's an awkward silence))

Ariadne laughed, she actually hadn't assumed that Xena and James were a couple or anything, but now that she mentioned it... "That sounds kinda... Fun! Like a bit of an adrenaline rush type of thing!"

((Thanks Tab, I'll head over there now!))

((AHHH I just realized that my timeline is SO screwed up, err pretend Xena dropped out on her fifteenth birthday))

"Fun? Adrenaline? Never for me, 'yond the first day, and that was due to pure nervousness about getting a new... job, I guess," Xena scoffed at the notion, most of her job was sitting in a room mimicking stuff. "It went smoothly until I turned sixteen. At that time, I was given another job: aiding James in his businesses. What this meant was, in addition to screening candidates for our service, I would help him in things like robbery by being look-out. This doesn't sound like much, but I had to learn quickly how to defend myself, James, and whatever he was doing, sharpen my eyes, and run quicker," Xena laughed at memories of her previous pitiful attempts at punching people.

((Haha, okay Tab :P))

"That sounds fun!Being able to look back on stuff like that, one time I helped out the Furies with one of their little projects..." Ariadne said trying to see if she had anything as impressive as Xena.

"Projects?" Xena asked. This sounded interesting

"Yeah, like sometimes they had to go avenge things..." Ariadne looked back on her first memory of helping the Erinyes. "I went to see them one day, and Alecto told me they had to go sort something out for a friend of ours in the Underworld, they wouldn't tell me what had happened, but when she had arrived she did look traumatized. Anyway, so I asked Tisiphone, Magaera and Alecto if I could come with them, they couldn't see a problem so we all went up. Tisiphone asked me to go talk to this random boy... It turned out he was our friends son, he was a little older than me. Anyway, Tisiphone used me as a distraction, not that she needed one, she just wanted me to feel included I guess... I didn't stay around much longer, but the boy came down to the Underworld like the next day, they took him to Cocytus and then to Tartarus... I never did get told what he'd done, but he paid for it..."

"That's... Pleasant," Xena was unsure if she should continue with her story or not.

Ariadne laughed, "It was kind of creepy, so I stopped helping out... Anyway, continue with the story of Xena!"

Xena laughed, "Where was I... Ah yes, my first few jobs with James went smoothly. No issues, but enough danger to make me train. Yet, on December 5, we had problems. It started normally enough: a shady guy asking for us to take a few dollars from his ex's store. I watched the interview, and I saw lies. When he was asked, 'Why he wants that' he responded with, 'She didn't give me enough in the divorce'. Yet, I could see a half-truth there, there was something more than just money that he'd get. But, I couldn't see what it was. This NEVER happened before and so I thought it was an innocent lie. I consulted with Katilya ((I think that's how you spell it)) who said that's what he'd do if he wanted a fall guy. I ignored his advice, we never had any issues before. I was wrong in my assumption. That night, we went over there. He started picking the lock while I watched the street. He opened the door and opened the cashier. He grabbed the money then," Xena's voice cracked, "He calmly walked out the door and the store owner appeared and shot James in the chest without preamble. I screamed and she took the money from James and was about to shoot me too but a taxi rolled around, I hopped in, dragging James, and asked for him to drive us to our shop. We had stuff for this in case of emergencies especially if it was too sensitive for hospitals. The taxi arrived there too late," Xena was crying a bit now. "When I got there I dragged James' body to his friend, who pulled out a gun and tried to shoot me for killing James. I tried to explain that I didn't kill him, but he didn't listen. I turned around and ran. After living in various parts of New York, I was able to find another of James' friends who actually listened. I bunked at his house for a month but the James' other friend found me and I ran and ran I got that letter the next day and poof I'm here," Xena started sobbing when she finished. It was the first time she said any of that to anyone. James only knew a bit of her life story.

"Oh honey, you poor thing! That whole ordeal sounds traumatic, we'll go down to the river Lethe if you want? Get the main trauma forgotten?" Ariadne said, trying to be helpful, she gave Xena a hopefully comforting pat on the shoulder, "Maybe you wanna come visit Persephone again, and we can go visit James?"

"That would be great," Xena tried to breathe normally but it didn't work, "I still think it's all my fault, he relied on me and then..." Xena took a deep breath and went through a routine: she turned right, away from Ariadne, and kicked left foot, kicked right, kicked left, jumped, and sat down. She was calm and composed now.

Ariadne stifled a giggle at Xena's little routine, "He won't blame you!"

Xena rolled her eyes at Ariadne, she could tell that she believed so, she could see that but there was a line between truth and facts. "Why do you think that? You've never met the guy,"

"Because, he seems like a good friend..."

"That doesn't mean anything... What's the Underworld like?" Xena changed the subject