27th October 2012
07:38 GMT +3
"No, Canis, 'the mood took me' is
not an acceptable reason to wreck a potential ally's place of business.
"
"I understand, but you cannot perceive the
textures!"
Unappreciated Artist Bemoanment.
I deposit the construct-barrow of fresh heather down on the ground, where Hecate's shop assistants are ready to receive it.
"I know that you experience sensory… Tessellation, differently to the rest of us. I'm not saying that you were
wrong to create it. I'm saying that the way you went
about it was wrong. I also know that you're perfectly capable of
buying stuff. Hecate's a goddess; she'll understand domain-based impulses.
"
"That is…
True."
"Then would you mind telling me why you just-?
"
"Because it was
there!"
"Canis, could you make art with a person's internal organs?
"
He shakes his head dismissively. "I've rather
exhausted the medium. Human livers are bland in colouration. Though I
have wondered about incorporating rot and carrion-eaters into a design, that it could change over time and so change in the mind of the observers."
"And do you feel so overwhelmed by your desire to produce art that you're about to try to steal the organs from my body?
"
Canis stares at my torso for a moment or two as I dismiss my construct.
"No? There are no insects in this place, and likely none of the proper microbes in your body. I would have to culture them. I would not be able to achieve the proper effect before the textures of your organs were changed by their death." He frowns. "Do the dead here have organs?"
A few of the witch-women below make gestures I associate with certain styles of spell casting.
"You're free to ask them, and they're free to put thousands of years of spell casting experience to use against you.
"
"Then perhaps a mortuary?"
"We can just synthesise-.
"
"The soul-feel would be wrong."
"We're getting off the point. I-.
" No, no, he's Apokoliptian, I'm going about this wrong.
"Canis,
do not do that again.
"
He nods, apparently untroubled by my gross violation of
proper etiquette.
"As you command."
Okay, feathers smoothed here and useful intelligence gained. And I've got some idea of what I'd need to do in order to beat Zeus. One
obvious place where I could get a titan no one else is using, but I…
I have some fairly significant reservations about making Richard Simpson powerful enough to fight Zeus.
And if he's getting powered by a
lot of titans, it probably wouldn't be enough anyway.
Can the connection be disrupted? Not easily or quickly. Can it be redirected? No. Could a god learn to use their new power quickly? No.
"Hey!" Eris waves her raised right arm as she walks towards us, and I drop down to ground level. "You staying for the pool party?"
"No, I'm afraid not. I have leads to purs-.
" Hm.
"While you're here, have you seen John Constantine recently?
"
"No? Why, did you lose him or-?" She blinks. "You
lost him?"
"He's his own man.
"
"How do you
lose a Constantine?! Especially
now."
"I'm fairly hard to find myself. And he can use magic.
"
"You've checked with his friends?"
"Friends and a good few of his enemies. No one's seen him. And since
you haven't heard anything, I'll have to look elsewhere.
"
"Is this a threat? I know Constantine's beat powerful things before, but this is
Zeus. He doesn't have the weaknesses of demons or the sense of duty and order that angels have."
"I'm not threatening Zeus with John and asking you to pass it on. I've lost him, and I was wondering if -since you've got other worshippers now- you could ask them to keep an eye out? I really just want to make sure that he's alright.
"
"Uh-huh."
"It's entirely separate from the Zeus-Diana situation. Unless I find him. Then I'd probably ask for his advice.
"
"Yeah. Howsabout we sort this thing out
before we find John Constantine?"
"Sounds good. Any further divine insight you'd like to share with me?
"
"Ey
gh… Make sure you've got a plan for what happens afterwards?"
"What does Zeus actually
do? He doesn't run the world's weather, he doesn't adjudicate disputes and he doesn't guide mortal rulers.
"
"Him just
being there stops some… Things. Fights with other pantheons. Stuff like that
could spill into the material universe."
"And I do actually like some Olympians. So if he
does get overthrown, someone as powerful needs to be ready to step up. And… Even then, certain parties might try and test things. Right.
" I nod.
"I'll get back in touch when we make some actual progress. Canis, you can find your way back up to the surface on your own?
"
"Of course!"
I nod, then transition over to the gates to Tartarus where Donna is waiting. She looks a little out of sorts.
"Get anything?
"
"Cronus was pleased to see me."
"He gave you the Darth Vader spe-
"
"Hah!"
"-ech, didn't he?
"
"Yeah. Yeah, he did. And he didn't ask about Deva, which gives me an idea how paternal he was
really feeling."
"Vader didn't ask about Leia, either.
" …
"Oh.
"
"What is it?"
"I've just realised that Vader never knew that Leia was his daughter.
" Donna frowns at me.
"It's a big deal in the story-.
" She's not convinced. Move on.
"Ah, according to Hecate, Zeus draws power from the titans in Tartarus in the same way that Hades gets power from Erebos, which is why he's never going to release them. And why he's as powerful as he is.
"
"Oh."
"Hecate and Eris are willing to help, but I don't have a silver bullet quite yet. Let's go and see if Kon and Mitchell have done any better.
"
