My Arkhelios Gameplay, Storified

To avoid cluttering up the main blog. My for fun-gameplay ended up being full of angst so now it's a story.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Izzy jumped down from the couch as if she'd heard him.

"Well, that settles it," Zane mumbled. "The cat is psychic and I need to stop dreaming about things that will never happen."

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Zane allowed himself to sink into the nearest couch. I'm imaginning things, he thought. Pia would never want a loser like me when she can have Thomas. A man who can go outside without having an anxiety attack. A man who is an actual lawyer instead of an unemployed grilled cheese-obsessed couch potato.

One of the cats, Izzy, jumped up next to him in the couch, giving him a smug look, as if participating in the mockery in his inner monologue.

"Hey Izzy," Zane said. "Stay on the couch if I have chance. Jump down if I don't."

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Zane had allowed Pia and Adriel to borrow Melvin's old room for their sessions. He eavesdropped on them a little each time. A part of him feared the moment where she would be functional enough to not need anger management anymore. He enjoyed having her around. And, as ashamed as he was to admit it, a part of him liked being the only person in her life who knew her secret. Sure, Thomas understood her career in a way Zane didn't, he could go out for dinner with her and leave flower bouquets outside her house, but her demonic heritage? She'd called him the night she transformed. Not Thomas. Him. That meant something. Didn't it?

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Her tone was enough. Pia didn't even notice her transformation until she saw Adriel roll her eyes at her.

"Finally," Adriel said. "Now, let's begin..."

[arkhelios-gameplay]

"Switch to demon form already, I don't have all day," Adriel complained, admiring her freshly manicured nails as she waited for Pia to transform.

Pia clenched her fists and tried to focus on how obnoxious the woman in front of her was. They'd been training wrath demon anger management for over a week now, and Pia was convinced Adriel was deliberately attempting to sabotage her efforts. "Isn't it a good sign that I'm struggling to get angry?" Pia asked.

Adriel sighed. "No, that means you're suppressing the rage," she said in an annoyed voice, as if she had already explained this to Pia hundreds of times. "Surpressing the rage will make things worse next time you get angry."

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Still, Claudia had been hearing alarm bells ringing in her head since getting back together with Roman.

He was grateful for her help, he constantly said so. Though the reassurances he gave her didn't move much beyond that. Claudia was starting to fear that she might be more interested in maintaining the relationship than he was.

Worst part was, she couldn't bring herself to be angry at him, even if he was indeed cynically and intentionally using her in order to get help with the children and have someone to hold close at night while managing his grief. She understood. As much as she hated to admit it, she might have done the same in his position.

The children were easy to manage, they weren't a problem. Ulyssa, however, kept shooting glares at Claudia, which made her strongly question how "kind of poly" their relationship was, as Roman had labeled it. Truthfully, Claudia didn't really want a non-monogamous relationship, but Ulyssa was cute. If her grief wasn't making her so off-putting at the moment, perhaps Ulyssa could have been good friends with her. Or more. She'd seen the punk rock band posters on Ulyssa's wall. She liked several of those bands. They could go to a concert together! Sure, no bands came to Arkhelios due to the lack of cultural... well... anything, but there were planes and boats and ways to travel to another country for a concert. If Claudia was going to try out alternate relationship styles, then she could picture herself attempting some sort of throuple. Though not with someone who had no interest in getting to know her or even making an attempt.

She couldn't bring herself to be truly angry with her either, though. Ulyssa had very recently lost her girlfriend. Romance must be the last thing on her mind.

Claudia sighed, sitting down in front of the hot plate of spaghetti. She recognized that she was essentially erasing her own wants and desires in the situation for Roman's happiness. Though she also couldn't bring herself to leave him all alone with Ulyssa and the kids in their time of need.

No, she'd have to wait and see. Perhaps her thoughts were just spiraling because of their past breakup.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Valerie was first to embrace Roman in a hug. Martha took some more time to stand by, giving her father suspicious glances, then eventually hugged him as well.

"Thanks for watching them, Claudia," Roman said. "Ulyssa appreciates it too, even if she can't show it."

"I'm sure she does," Claudia said, though she had her doubts. Ulyssa seemed completely incapable of seeing anything other than her grief. Jocelyn spent most of her time sleeping, and, the few times she saw her mother, she seemed confused and sad. "Do you need anything? I made food." She gestured toward the kitchen. "I made spaghetti con vongole!"

"I'll have some later," Roman said. "I'll just... Spend some time with the girls first."

"Okay." Claudia nodded and tried to soothe the sting she felt. Of course he wanted to spend time with his daughters. That was perfectly reasonable. Especially after all they'd gone through. It wasn't him avoiding her.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Claudia watched from the kitchen silently, her heart breaking at the sight of the scared little girls.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Valerie was standing in the small space between the hallway and dining room, giving Roman a nervous look. Martha hid behind her, looking over her shoulder to try to assess the situation.

Roman knelt down in the hallway, trying to make himself look smaller than his two daughters. "It's okay," he said softly. "It's me."

They'd been doing this since the demon attack. The first few times Roman came home from somewhere, Valerie had been holding a knife for protection when he walked in. This was progress. His daugters felt safe enough to welcome him unarmed. Even if at a distance.

As much as he hated to admit it, he was okay with the distance. Ever since he had to possess the demon version of himself and experience his slow death, he couldn't help feeling fearful around his daughter. Even though it wasn't her fault. The opposite, if anything. Valerie had saved them all.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

When they got home, Ulyssa immediately walked back upstairs to her room, slamming the door shut. Roman wanted to run after her, comfort her, tell her everything was going to be all right, but he knew she would not be receptive.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

The funeral was also briefly derailed by Cemile, who took the stand to declare that she and Kerstin had been best friends ever since meeting at Evren's wedding, and that she would miss their talks greatly.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

No one talked to Ulyssa except Roman. She rarely graced him with a response. Roman was not sure if she was too consumed by grief, or if she was upset with him for having Claudia over so often. She had never expressed disapproval at him dating other people before, but she hadn't been acting like herself since Kerstin and Rachel died.

Roman hadn't been acting like himself, for one. He spent all his time either with the children or being comforted by Claudia. If he managed to fall asleep, he had nightmares about Rachel dying in front of him, or about Valerie slowly stabbing him to death, his blood splattering on her expressionless face.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Kerstin had a small, quiet funeral. Few of the attendees even knew one another, and even fewer knew Kerstin personally. Kerstin's father barely talked, only saying a handful of words to Evren, the one person he was familiar with.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

The texts were responded to almost instantaneously.

"Are you at Thomas'? I can pick up some ibuprofen tomorrow."

Pelle just wanted to make sure she was somewhere safe. She let out a sigh of relief. Then she checked Thomas' text.

"Don't worry about it! Do you need anything? I can drop off some medicine or chocolate at your place if you want."

Pia felt warm in her chest reading his response. He hadn't given up on her. She texted both back letting them know she had it under control now and that she'd message them tomorrow. Once it was sent, she called Zane again.

"Why did that work?" she asked.

"A woman on her period is twice as scary as a demon."

Pia rolled her eyes and shook her head, but reluctantly found herself smiling. Perhaps she wasn't going to be stuck in eternal rage after all. Her father had seemed to live a normal life despite the demon gene.

But for tonight, she'd lock herself in Zane's house to ensure she wouldn't hurt anyone.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Pia wiped her tears and started typing up the texts, feeling embarrassed.

"I'm so sorry Thomas, I got my period and immediately had to leave. Date night was great. I'm so sorry I ditched you with the bill and everything, I didn't mean to."

"Hey Pelle, I got my period and can't come home tonight. Can you watch Daria?"

She gritted her teeth. Her first thought was that she'd kill Zane if this backfired, her second was that she didn't feel comfortable joking about killing, even in her thoughts, after how she had snapped tonight.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

After almost half an hour, Pia had managed to explain the time travel conspiracy, the demon gene, her state of mind, and answered the numerous questions Zane had to ask in order to attempt to understand what was going on.

"Well... Uh..." Zane tried to recall the little he knew about demons. It was mostly horror stories. "It's not your fault you're a demon."

"I know," Pia sobbed. "It's not fair..."

"It's probably not that bad," Zane lied. "I don't really hang out with anyone from summer camp anymore, but... I could probably send some emails. I remember a few names. I can ask."

"I don't know what to do," Pia whispered. "I was so angry for no reason, I could've... I could've hurt someone, Zane, I..."

"Hey, listen," Zane said softly. "Maybe so, but you didn't hurt anyone, right?"

"I didn't..."

"Maybe it's like an anxiety attack, you know?" Zane said. "You can learn to manage it but it takes a while. And a lot of practice." Several years of practice, in some cases. Zane had still not mastered his. But Pia didn't need to be reminded of that fact.

"I don't know if I dare to go home," Pia said. "What if I hurt my daughter? What if I hurt Pelle? Or his dog?" Her voice choked up with tears. "What am I going to tell them? What am I going to..."

"Look, just... Sleep in my mom's old room here, or something," Zane said. "Then you won't be near anyone you love. No risk of someone other than me or the cats being hurt."

"I don't want to hurt you or the cats," Pia sobbed.

"Okay, uh..." Zane struggled. "What about Wanda or Melvin's old room? They had locks on their doors."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a minute as Pia thought it through. "I think that could work," she said. Then, her breathing sped up again. "What do I tell everyone? What do I tell Pelle? What do I tell Thomas? What do I tell my job?!"

"You're a woman, just tell them that you're on your period," Zane said.

"What?!" Pia yelled out, seeming outraged at the suggestion. If she wasn't already in demon form, Zane wondered if this would have caused a transformation.

"Men never ask questions about periods," Zane said. "If your boss is a dude, he won't either. Just say you're on your period. If they try to push more, go into detail about how there's blood everywhere."

"That's... I can't just tell people I'm on my period," Pia said, sounding mortified.

"Why not?" Zane asked.

"Because... It's weird."

"No, your refusal to is weird," Zane said. "Trust me. Just tell him you suddenly got your period and had to leave the date. Then tell Pelle that you're on your period and can't come home."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Try it!"

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Zane didn't know what to expect when Pia called. Wasn't she supposed to be on her date with Thomas today? Had something gone wrong? He felt his heart leap in his chest then immediately felt guilty for it. Pia deserves to be happy, I shouldn't be selfish, he thought as he answered the phone.

Then he heard loud sobbing on the other line.