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That...that sounds like what happened to you, yeah.

[ She didn't realize how much Riptide would relate. But he could, couldn't he? Even if the situations were radically different, he always seemed like he'd be pushed along by the violent whims and tides of the war around him, existing for battle and then not knowing what to do. ]

He stopped being a god. Like all the rest of us. [ Which means she has to explain that, too. Fuck fuck fuck. ] Hey, what to hear about how I've been a dipshit for the last couple years, Riptide? It's riveting, I'm sure.

[dryly enough that he could've only have picked it up from andy:] How could I say no, with you so excited to share?

I've had it the opposite way, actually. People offering to talk. Acting like I'm permanently injured or something. I just want things to go back to normal so I can do my job.

You were home for months?

Yes, yes, funny.

[ But she's already distracted. Where does she begin with this? Riptide is someone she knows she can trust, who she almost wants to vent to, even if she also doesn't. ]

Riptide...I was never a god. And yeah, I always knew that part, but I mean I wasn't in the Pantheon either. None of us were. Apparently we're all special, but we aren't supposed to have powers like that. It's why it burns us out, why it...it made me like that. This entire time, Ananke was fucking- doing some fucked-up necromancy shit where she was siphoning the life force of us or whatever to be immortal? Minerva was Ananke! I never fucking cared about Minerva, but she was Ananke!

[ Did he even know about Minerva? Who cares! ]

And- did you know about the talking heads? Did you ever get that part? I've had to carry severed heads around. I haven't absorbed that. Severed fucking heads!

I don't feel like things should. I mean, why do we all let that happen? People die and then come back to life and we all act like that's normal. Not that it's not what I want, but fuck.

And yeah, I was. Fucking locked up by Woden for most of it too. Shithead.

Nope. All I knew was the god thing, which... wasn't real. Talking heads, huh? Guess it's just like that sometimes.

[he doesn't... seem freaked out. typical riptide.]

Why did you need to carry them?

Yes, I guess it is just fucking...like that sometimes. I don't even know how it works! How do they stay awake? How do they breathe? How-

[ What is he asking. ]

Riptide. They don't have legs.

Really? Your world had god magic, and that's what confuses you?

[he tilts his head.]

No shit. I meant-- how did you get into that situation?

Look- I- I don't determine what confuses me, okay.

[ Stop making fun of her!! Well, he's not, but it's how she's inclined to respond. ]

So- right when I got back to my world, Persephone- Laura and I found Woden's secret lair or whatever. It's where he kept Jon, his kid. Jon was already a talking head...and from that we figured out a bunch of the other gods probably were too. We thought they were dead. I tried to tell people the truth about Woden, but- [ She huffs. ] He got the Valkyries to pull some brainwashing shit on me. I got locked up for months.

By the time Laura came to get me out, he'd already gotten the heads. We just went and got them all, and then we took them to get bodies- most of them, I mean- you know, how there were bodies available is its own shitty thing. We may need to pick and choose here. We're not even close to me figuring all this shit out.

Lucky they all died via beheading then, eh?

[he's... actually following this easier than he thought he would. maybe he's just that used to horrific shit?]

What else can we do? I hate what happened, but I'd rather be here to bitch about it than the alternative.

That sounds like hell, though. Were you able to escape?

That was the point. It was actually...a teleporter? So Ananke could siphon their head powers or however she did it. But everyone else who died-

[ She sighs. She wasn't close to any of the remaining dead, but. ]

They're gone for good. Amaterasu and Sakhmet. Baphomet now, too.

[ God. Right. ]

You knew Dionysus, right? Now he's not dead. That's- that's a thing that happened. [ She looks a little stunned, being able to say that. ] I...shouldn't be happy about it. Or, I should, but the circumstances were- [ Ugh. She rubs her face, covering her eyes. ]

Yeah. You're right. It just feels like it shouldn't all go back to being "normal" the way it has.

And, yeah, once Laura broke me out. Persephone, if you knew her before her last port-in. And then shit got real and I found out I was participating in a cosmic lie and lost my powers, but that's a good thing? Long fucking story. You have more important shit to worry about.

Yeah. Primus, that ain't right.

[he frowns as he tries to make it work in his head.]</small. How is he not dead?

It sounds like a long fucking story. But I've got the time if you want to share. I know a couple things about everything being a lie.

[ Cassandra leans back in her chair and continues to cover her eyes. This...wasn't a good time for anyone, was it. ]

Baphomet traded his own life off for Dio's. His girlfriend, Morrigan, she was never here- she was incredibly fucked up, first of all, but she did that for him. After killing him. I guess Baphomet wanted to pay it forward or something.

[ That's a crude way to put it. But she never knew Baphomet well enough. She sighs and puts her hands down. ] But I don't know. It was- it just happened. We didn't have time for anything.

That's a shitty life experience to have to share, you know.

Fine then- what do you even know about my world? Anything about the Pantheon? Godhood? Or jack shit?

[he looks down at the floor a little unhappily, clearly familiar with the concept of the situation.]

That's how it is a lot of the time in a crisis. No time for thoughts or regrets. Just actions. Good or bad, right or wrong.

I mean...Baphomet would have had time to think on that. He said he was thinking of bringing Morrigan back, too, trading off with her forever like some sort of shitty abuse ouroboros...

[ She'd wanted to understand Baphomet, in the end. Laura and Dio cared for him too much for her to not want to try, no matter how fucking annoying the guy was, even if he'd tried to kill her once in a desperate moment. In the end, he did-

Well, she's not sure if it was the right thing. But she knows it feels right for Dio to be alive again. ]

But that's what he picked. [ She puts a hand through her hair. ] I don't know what the fuck I'm going to say to him if he shows up. Christ.

What's the first thing that comes to mind? I'd go with that.

[he frowns.]

...Why did he want to help someone that hurt him?

Bad idea. I've said the first thing that came to mind for most of my life and all it's lead to is a wide variety of fuckups.

[ She looks away. She's starting to become genuinely sad, thinking about this. ] I think he...thought he deserved it. Wanted to believe it'd be right if things worked that way. I don't know.

[ This feels...as if they shouldn't be talking about it. She shakes her head. ]

What else did you need to know about? Fuck.

Just the basics. Some people get power and fame, and are called Gods for it. But it comes with a two year expiry date.

So the basic summary? That was horseshit. We were only dying because we were told that was how it had to be. If we didn't display our powers the way we did? Performing, attacking shit, all of that? It would never have mattered. We were being tricked so we could be used.

Would have been a great fucking thing to know here.

Wait, hold on. You're saying there was no time limit? Using your powers is what really caused it?

Basically. I don't know if you ever got this detail, but there was this woman, Ananke, who would show up and tell us we had powers. Turns out she would make us think we were gods so we'd use more of our powers quicker, basically. That's what would kill us.

And then she'd use our severed heads to become immortal. As you fucking do.

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readers there are big wicdiv spoilers here

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