𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐋𝐘 day in and day out for the past two months trying to chase leads and get to the bottom of what exactly had happened that night in the Hallowed Woods Forest back in February, the night the supposed anomaly had led them to lose one of their own and inflict trauma on a sizable portion of the campus.
She doesn’t lose her guilt, doesn’t stop feeling that sting of failure, but she patches the wound and continues the work because she knows the only thing she can do now is try to get answers, and to stop it from happening again.
It’s late April when she gets her first lead in the form of an email, the glow of her screen illuminating the sleepless look in her eyes.
It’s taken time, but it seems one of my connections has heard rumors, and I hate to say they sound eerily similar to what you’ve described to me. The community of anthros here is small and tight-knit— if they’re able to track this lead, it would take time and effort, and I’m not sure they believe in you enough. Could you make time to fly out to us, speak to them yourself and plead your case? For once, our interests may be aligned.
Marina’s tired face turns hopeful for the first time in a long time, a small smile resting on her lips as ideas start turning. She’ll fly out first thing in the morning to meet with her old friend and their reluctant network of anthropoteras, but she’s already thinking of the next step. She could fly out any time she needed in order to gather the intel they could discover for her, but what if she could get them to come with her? What if in exchange for the help of finding leads on the monster that had cost them one of their own, she could offer a safe haven they’ve never had before? What if she decided to open the doors of Nemean Lion to accept not just the children of the gods, but the descendants of monsters?
cw: drugs, death mention
august 26th
Equipped with all the newfound knowledge she has and the speech she’s prepared to give her community, Marina feels as prepared as she can be for what can promise to be one of the biggest shifts Nemean Lion will face. It doesn’t make it any less daunting, and a heavy weight of dread and anxiety sits against her skin, pulling with imagined gravity to the center of her heart. All she wants is to be able to protect the people she’s sworn her life to, and while she can’t always fight with her weathered fists, she can arm them with the information she has that can keep them safer, and that’s exactly what she’s here to do today.
“Firstly, I want to apologize for how long it’s taken to give you all an update on what happened last February in the Hallowed Woods Forest,”she starts, her voice commanding authority as the crowd hushes, realizing that she’s brought them all here to finally give more answers on a night that’s haunted them all. “I have spent the last six months working tirelessly to find answers for you all, and while I can’t yet claim to give you the full story, today I can at least give you the first step in what we believe happened.”
“As we all know, the agency at Nemean Lion was started for one reason, to protect the mortal world from the dangers of the monsters who seek to do them harm— therioteras. With the rise of monster attacks in recent years, we had no other responsible choice but to reveal the world of gods and their offspring in order to best fight for mortals and keep our world as safe as we can,” Marina starts, and none of this information is new to the community of demigods before her.
“When our heroes fight these monsters and kill them, a mineral ore is left behind in their place that is then delivered back to Nemean Lion, as well as the ash of the monster’s remains. The ores are passed on to jewelers as precious stones which helps to maintain the facility, and we dispose of the ash as a biohazard like other types of remains.”
“...We’ve discovered rumors of an unknown dealer collecting this dust and refining it into what is effectively a new drug. We suspect that when taken, in addition to inducing a high to the user, this drug has the ability to enhance the abilities of presumably all types of monsters.” Marina takes a beat. This is her job, to tell them what she thinks she knows, but the next part is the hardest to get out of her mouth, to put into words just how unfairly unprepared they were that night, and how it cost them one of their own.
“We suspect… We suspect this drug was at play the night of Aprhodite’s Ball last winter. Due to circulating rumors from the area and eyewitness accounts of the monster attack, we have reason to believe the griffin that night was under the effects of monster dust.”
Her words hang in the air for a moment, knowing it will take time for them to process just what she’s saying.
“Clearly, a therioteras like that griffin would not have had the ability to induce its own high, and was instead drugged by someone else before our demigods happened upon it in the forest. I promise we are doing everything we can to track down the individuals responsible and to stop the distribution of this product before it causes any more irreparable harm,” she says somberly, swallowing once through her tightening throat, imagining just how far she’d go to protect the people before her now, and the one face she failed to save.
“It is my opinion that the best way to track this threat down is to work side by side with the citizens who already have eyes and ears plugged into the circles these rumors are floating around in. I have reached out to my own personal connections to communities of anthropoteras around the world and have extended a hand to help grant them safe haven in exchange for their assistance in tracking down a threat that poses a danger to all of us. To that end, for the first time since its foundation, Nemean Lion will now be opening its doors to anthropoteras,” Marina concludes, letting the weight of her words take the space they deserve.
“Starting this week, we will begin to house a handful of willing anthropoteras who have agreed to volunteer their knowledge and connections in order to help us. They will be able to take on roles in our agency to contribute to the community or choose to pursue their own careers and education in the Standard role, just like all of you, and will do their best to assist in discovering the people responsible for the refining and distribution of monster dust.”
“I want to remind you all that though many of you have likely never met an anthropoteras before, they are just like you: people born with extraordinary abilities that despite it all, just want to be able to live in the same world you all love. In fact, it may be long overdue that Nemean Lion opens its doors to them, and I hope our community is all the more stronger thanks to them,” Marina tells them, sincerity and fervor in her voice. “I swear to you that we will find whoever hurt us. I won’t stop until we do.”
With that last statement, she thanks the demigods gathered before her one last time, knowing a mountain of questions, concerns, and work will be waiting for her, but she’s prepared to overcome it. Besides, she’s got to be ready to greet some new guests.
OOC INFO:
following this plot drop, we will begin accepting apps for monsters (anthropoteras) as per the instructions we posted last week!
in character, the anthros that join NL are doing so with the intention of helping in whatever way they can to help Marina track down the people responsible for the monster dust drug and subsequently the attack at the ball last winter.
they will be arriving to NL in character starting as early as today, with about twenty or so arriving by the end of the week.
all the information that Marina has relayed to the demigods on campus will then be relayed to officials around the globe, but since they are still trying to contain it, it is probably not yet public knowledge.
all NL members are instructed to be as safe and careful as they can, and to provide any information they come across in their work to help track this threat down.
as always, if you guys have any questions, please ask!! this is a crazy new time for NL and we hope you and your characters enjoy the new era with all it’s twists, turns, conflict, and strife!
