𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄

[heavenscrowned]

ercsmius​:

Percy is silent for a long while, looking at meaningless words on paper that seems older than he was. Flip, page. Flip, page. He almost died yesterday, and everyone wants their heads, and something something something. It almost felt like he was going to go on hiatus again, with the drama of it all. “Isn’t it? You had a sniper round and you got up like it was nothing,” he replies, exhausted. “Is being remembered worth the rest of your life? The rest of ours?”

" We’re Gods, Percy. It was nothing. ”  Or, at least, it needed to be treated as such. She had two years of this and did not plan to waste any moment that could be spend securing her legacy on recovery that didn’t really matter. Death was coming for them all, as long as she made it to the intended finish line ...  she did not want to step out of the race. That was the difference.  “ That’s already the arrangement, so I’m unsure why you’re taking it up with ... ” She trails off as a particular book seems to call to her and she pulls it off the shelf.  “ Have you been through this one yet ? ”

[heavenscrowned]

divinitynpc​:

“Hardly. But I’ll live, I suppose.” She remembers darkness, an endless yawning void that reached into the Underground, not unlike the comfort of the shadows that she used to know. An imperceptible shift that maddened her how she could not know. “I don’t know. I have theories: the celestial alignments, the ebb and flow of power during the night,” she surmises, her brow furrowing, “There was—an opening? No, a lapse. Something drew focus, and I pried something open. Is that… any clearer?”

“ Not especially, but it’s fine. ”  She smiles at Emily, accepting that this is what she’s going to get. It’s clear that the other is about as unsure as she is, or at least when it comes to communicating it. However, the conversation brings up the itch being down here causes. Alizeh  cannot  be trapped in the Underground.  “ How long do you think we’ll be visiting you ? ”  The words are meant to sound like casual conversation, but she perhaps gives herself away a bit as she continues,  “ Have the sisters said anything ? ”  She hadn’t caught them yet, busy with their own dealings, but perhaps Emily knew something. It was her domain after all.

[stormyamaya]

“okay, okay don’t get mad at me. i am going to come study down in the library like everyone else. blahblahblah nerdy shit, don’t worry.” amaya barely looked up over towards where the felt the presence of alizeh behind her. honestly there was no need to even ask who it was, at this point she had it down to a science. instead amaya was searching through drawers and cabinets as quick as she could. “you think in the underworld i would be able to find a drink.”

@heavenscrowned

[heavenscrowned]

“ I’m not mad, ”  Alizeh says, trying to sound like her usual self, trying to sound like she’s unbothered.  “ Just checking on you, that’s all. ”  She puts her energy in this moment into focusing on Amaya and brings herself out of the depths she’s currently in. A frown passes her features for a moment, but then a bit of understanding.  “ While I could use one at this point, ”  a rare admittance,  “ I wouldn’t trust anything you do find. Not down here. ”

[heavenscrowned]

divinitynpc​:

“Oh. That’s not so bad, I guess.” A smile of relief washes across her face, her thumb rubbing her temple. “I thought I’d been gone a year or something. Christ, I was so afraid would’ve surfaced and turned to ash or something. It felt like years here, you know. Or seconds. It’s so hard to remember which.”

" It’s still a month, Emily.  ——  Are you okay ? ”  It’s genuine question, or at least it feels enough like one. She does care about them, it’s the mother in her. The ambition makes her care too, a want to complete the story. Alizeh is ... complicated, and so are her motivations. There’s a pause and then another questions,  “ What changed ? ”  She had gotten out, gotten to them. Something must have changed.

[heavenscrowned]

@l1lxth​

“This is what it’s like ? ”  she asks, looking around Hecate’s ... place, if it could be called that. The crawling feeling on her skin has subsided somewhat, but there’s still a general unease. The question isn’t meant to be a confession, that the Underground is a place the acting  ( self proclaimed ? )  Queen has not ventured to.  “  All of it ? ”

[heavenscrowned]

divinitynpc​:

“It’s been—I don’t know. A while. I always liked the Underground,” she replied, looking a little bit lost. “Then, it was like… falling from a dream. Every time, it was like… falling.” Her face hardens, and she sighs, her divinity seeping through, making it seem as if the hairs on her head had more grey in them. “How long has it been?”

" Ah, ”  she nods, keeping a gentle smile on her features. She wasn’t exactly sure how to parse the look on Emily’s face, but she’ll accept it like she does. Liking the Underground is an entire other beast that she won’t tackle now.  “  Well you’ve been missing for a few weeks. ”

[heavenscrowned]

ercsmius​:

“I did,” he replies, raising an eyebrow. She worked like a racehorse, and bled herself dry for her godhood, for her death sentence. It wasn’t something Percy could understand, the way that she could empty herself out to make a mark on the world and call it good. “Lachesis ran you through the media, even before Baldr. Concerts, what? Every month?” Percy takes a book and flips, trying to distract himself. “If the stress doesn’t kill you the goopy darkness monster will, you know. Especially with the bullet wound in your shoulder. Shouldn’t you be taking it easy for once?”

“ You say that like it’s a bad thing. ”  Alizeh was proud of what she was able to do, believed that concerts every month should have left the other with a different tone. This wasn’t a death sentence, it was a bargain; she was working to make it pay off.  “ That doesn’t stress me out. Not doing anything does. ”  That’s why the hiding was driving her to the edge, that’s why she was ready for last night to start fixing things.  “ If I was someone else, maybe, but we have a clock. ”

[divinitynpc]

@heavenscrowned​

“Hail there, queen of heaven! You didn’t look too happy coming back around here, if my selves had anything to say about it. What’s the matter there, Alizeh? Afraid of the dark?”

[heavenscrowned]

“ No, no — it’s a lovely place. Really, dear. Beautiful.  ...  You’ve just been down here ? ”  There are so many things about this that frustrate her, not least of all her being proven right about celebrating early, but she’ll start with that question. Alizeh doesn’t feel she owes Emily answers regarding her own fears, not now.

[ercsmius]

@heavenscrowned​

“You know, we never did finish me answering you if you look ragged. What was that about, Alizeh?” The tone is even, but the walls are up and reinforced. He wasn’t going to fight, not yet, at least. “Was there anything you wanted to say?”

[heavenscrowned]

The fact that they’re in The Underground, with seemingly no plans to leave soon; at least, not as soon as Alizeh would prefer. Being here makes her skin crawl. If Percy was looking to have a productive conversation, now was likely not the time.  “ What do you mean ? ”  she asks, scanning the spines of books on the shelf they stood by.  “ You implied, said I was running myself ragged. I disagree. ”  It’s really not his fault, this edge had been sharpening inside her for months, he’s just the first to discover it.

[heavenscrowned]

@atunderground​

Things concerning death have never sat well with Alizeh. Death itself could be dealt with, as long as it was on her own terms, but being confronted with it made her stomach turn (likely thanks to old memories from a life once lived, the feeling of her own decay consuming her). Yet, she does her best to play nice with Santiago; reminds herself that they’re not that different, both beings of creation and destruction.  ‘  Keeping yourself busy ?   ’   she asks with a smile. There’s an assumption that because she enjoys movement, others must as well.

[ercsmius]

@heavenscrowned​

“You think I should perform again?” Percy asks, a lit cigarette in his hand, trying to convince himself to do something. Between the threats, the people, the looming specter of Ragnarock, it was a question that he needed an answer to. “Do my hair up, make a performance again?”

[heavenscrowned]

‘  Frankly, I don’t understand why you stopped,  ’  she answers, looking at him like that was obvious. What exactly was he expecting her to say, she who was only slowed by gunfire.  ‘  But yes, Percy. If you’re asking my opinion, you should always be performing.  ’  Opinion sounds an awful lot like fact when coming form her.

[heavenscrowned]

@unbrigid​

The media briefing had gone about as well as expected, which was to say Alizeh had done her absolute best for her current condition and was trying not to think about that modifier. She leaves them with a smile, one she’s become known for at this point, one that enough people seem to be convinced is genuine, the one that shows the motherly kindness in her, as well as the lover-like allure, but neglects to display the bite of war ( not to mention, the damage to her person ) .  ‘  Penny,  ’  she says with a similar smile.  ‘  Good to see you’re back.  ’

[heavenscrowned]

@l1lxth​

‘  I think you should take them,  ’  Alizeh gives her unasked for, and possibly unwanted, advice about the various media outlets that have been doing their best to contact Hisako. If she had anything to do with it, they would all continue as normal, and to her normal included any and all media functions she could spin in her favor.

[heavenscrowned]

ercsmius​:

“Of course, of course. Queen of heaven, first and best and all of that.” Percy waves it off, though the tinge of jealousy comes and goes, every time he talks to her. It’s odd, that he really likes talking to Alizeh, though afterwards he just feels worse about himself. What he wouldn’t do for space, but Olympus is only so big that talking to anyone feels like an eventuality rather than a necessity. “I take it being holed up in Los Angeles—in Olympus isn’t really doing any wonders for your mood?”

Was she bitter? Possibly. Yet, Alizeh is trying her best to play nice at this current moment. Even she ( though she was teetering so close to the darker part of her nature these days ), knew that infighting was not going to help them now... though she might be careless with how accusations of such may land, may cause the very thing she wishes to fend off.  ‘  I appreciate it, Percy,  ’  she says, accepting his dismissal as a compliment  -- she forges her own futures.  ‘  Do I seem upset ?  I think I’m doing as well as any of us can be.  ’  Her fight, at least the one regarding their current stay was not with him. 

[ercsmius]

@heavenscrowned​

“Huh, you came to the summons.” If it wasn’t apparent to him, Percy was shocked to see Alizeh turn up at Olympus. He figured she would’ve ignored it, or gone on another trip or tour or miracle, but he was surprisingly wrong. “No tours? No… signings? Just come to see little old—well, me?“

[heavenscrowned]

She laughs politely, a breathy chuckle that does it’s best to let a listener know she’s genuinely amused, or perhaps slightly embarrassed at being caught in someway, but the world would do well to remember that Alizeh did little without rehearsal. ‘ Oh, Percy, even I have to breathe sometimes, ’ she says, though even her practiced speech can’t fully hide her frustration -- or maybe she doesn’t bother trying as hard around them,  ‘ but I’ll be back out there soon enough. ’

[lifeinpoetry]

We have built cathedrals out of spite and splintered bone, of course they aren’t pretty, nothing holy ever is—

Brenna Twohy, from “To the Guy in the Back of the Room Complaining About Listening to Another Rape Poem,” Forgive Me My Salt (via lifeinpoetry)

[shirazade]

Freema Agyeman photographed by Felicity McCabe