--[closed! | incomplete] well hay there roomie! --backdated--

[thebooksaysso]

Characters: Anathema Device ( thebooksaysso ) & Cassandra ( cassie_of_troy )
Setting/Location: Their caravan room
Date & Time: Er. Backdated to Day 9, early afternoonish?
Warnings: None!
Summary: So a former prophet meets the prophecy obsessed.

Comments

[cassie_of_troy]

There were several ways this particular conversation could play out, and Cassandra had not yet figured Anathema out enough to know which one was most likely. She decided it was best to take things slow, to let Anathema lead as much as possible. After biting her lips together for a moment, she began slowly. "You said, over the network, that you knew of me. From...mythology, as they call it. Greek," the word was painful, "mythology. Before I answer, I should like to know what it is, precisely, you know or think you know about my story."

That was something of a difficult request. Cassandra absolutely hated listening to people try and tell her her own life's story. It had nearly caused an unrepairable rift between her and Ianto, back in Rowan. Cassandra hoped to learn from the mistakes of the past and move forward into this new, uncertain future, but she had to admit it was still difficult to hear. Nevertheless, she had to know, or at least try to understand, what Anathema knew and felt regarding Apollo. That would inform her way of explaining him and the threat he presented.

[thebooksaysso]

"It was one of the myths I read almost constantly when I was younger," she admitted sheepishly, a small half-smile quirking into place. It didn't stay for long, however, her expression falling again as she paused thoughtfully. How to go about this....

"I know that you were given the gift of prophecy because the god Apollo was attracted to you. But then you turned down his advances." Which, honestly, she couldn't blame her for, given the trend most of the Greek pantheon followed in their myths. Her frown deepened as she continued. "And I know that Apollo was, as he usually is in these stories, a complete sod about being turned down, so he...."

But there was something that felt very Not Right about relaying someone else's history to them. Especially one that must have been filled with a number of bad memories, ones she was fairly sure Cassandra must have had brought up with everyone she met. Things she certainly didn't need to be reminded of. Anathema hesitated again.

"People thought you mad when you tried to warn them about your visions. And then Troy was invaded."

[cassie_of_troy]

"A complete sod." There was a moment's pause, then Cassandra did the unthinkable. She started laughing. She supposed she sounded mad, but that was her calling card, after all. What Anathema had said, well, that had been the most poetic thing she had heard in a good many years. Cassandra offered Anathema one of her rare smiles. Much like her laugh, it was rusty, from years of neglect, but it was genuine, she hoped.

"Apollo is many things," she said when she could breathe again. "Arrogant, conniving, cruel, thoughtless, clever, selfish," she paused a moment before adding, "and here. In this caravan."

She leaned forward toward Anathema now, fixing her eyes on the other woman's. Cassandra had deep brown eyes, almost black. When she turned their full energy on anyone, they were like black holes, both captivating and deadly. "I have seen Apollo do great things," she said softly. "And many of them were terrible. Especially where young women are concerned. I have seen him chase unwilling lovers to their deaths, I have seen him carry away girls who were too young to understand what it means when a god parts their knees, and I have seen him smash the skulls of the mothers of his sons against rocks."

[thebooksaysso]

The laughter was indeed startling, but only for a moment. The fact it even seemed to be genuine was reassuring, and Anathema couldn't help smiling, or giving a small giggle herself, thought it faded away as Cassandra leaned closer, continued speaking. It was Anathema's turn to pause.

"....there's a god traveling on the caravan." ....meaning that the Mr. Apollo she had been talking to was really....

....oh dear. She tried to hide it, but a small grimace crossed her face. "The myths don't quite do him justice, then? That's comforting to know. I'll make a note to stay out of his way."

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra wanted to tell her that by virtue of sharing a room with her, Anathema was in a special, precarious position. She had honestly wished Anathema to be ugly. It might have kept Apollo at bay. Now, she had no idea what to expect from him. "I have no idea what to expect from him." Honesty stung, but it was the best course of action.

She pulled back for comfort's sake, relaxing. "A lot of the so-called myths leave out important details. I wouldn't trust them too far." And she left it at that.

"I want to know more about you. I feel as if I need to play catch up now. You know so much about me."

[thebooksaysso]

Anathema nodded, the movement very slight, her gaze falling thoughtfully to the bed. Apollo would only be one more added to the list of pricks she would need to avoid, which was simple enough to do. Or at least, so she thought.

"I'm a witch." She may as well be blunt about it. "Nothing bad, and nothing especially fancy, but I am. I've dabbled on and off in the occult since I was a tiny thing, but....I suppose you could say my main area of interest is in prophecies."

[cassie_of_troy]

At the mention of witches, Cassandra scarcely batted an eye. But prophecies, well, that was another matter. She raised one eyebrow slightly. "Forgive me," she said slowly, "but is that what witches do in the world you come from? Prophesy?"

There had been witches in Rowan. They had been some of the more productive members of society, using herbs and crystals to heal and protect. A far cry better than any sort of witch from Cassandra's first home. She wondered if Anathema was a healer or more prone to turning men into pigs. Or something else entirely.

[thebooksaysso]

A small half-smile was sent in Cassandra's direction, followed by a small shrug. "Some, maybe. The only one I knew was one of my ancestors. And she was the only one in our family line with the ability."

There was a momentary pause, and as if on a whim Anathema stood and walked over to her bag, pulled out the tattered old notebook from early. She flipped through a few pages as moved to take her seat again. "She wrote down all the visions she had in two books, but the thing is, she didn't always understand what she saw. It's been up to us to figure them out from the clues she tried to give us."

[cassie_of_troy]

Interested, Cassandra moved a little bit closer to Anathema. "Didn't understand what she saw? That's interesting. That sounds a lot like dreaming." Cassandra's visions had always been rather clear, like she was watching a play. Admittedly, sometimes the scenes would shift without warning, but they were always linear and blessedly free of symbolism. Her dreams on the other hand...well, that was a different matter. Cassandra's dreams always had a hint of prophecy in them, but they were nonsensical most of the time.

"Clues," Cassandra said suddenly. "You're trying to piece together clues? Regarding what? Something in particular? An event?"

[thebooksaysso]

"Well, she often saw things that happened centuries after her time," she explained, still flipping through pages and scanning the notes. "So I suppose it's understandable that some things were rather hit and miss."

Another pause, and with a sudden smile she handed the notebook over to Cassandra, and moved a little closer in order to point out a few of the older scribbled passages. 'A street of light will screem, the black chariot of the Serpente will flayme, and a Queene wille sing quickfilveres songes no moar.'

"They all read a little something like that. You can see where the difficulty is." Her smile softened. "Mostly she was trying to look for all of us future decedents."

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra scanned the page curiously. "That is rather cryptic," she murmured. "It sounds like something the Pythia at Delphi might say. A riddle." She tilted her head, re-reading the passage again. "Do you have any idea where the prophecy came from? Did someone gift it to your family? Or did you perhaps live in a magically endowed place, like Delphi?" She wasn't quite ready to accept the possibility that Apollo could somehow have been responsible.

"Is this one you've figured out? Or one you're still trying?"

[thebooksaysso]

"The popular theory back then was that you only gained that sort of power by selling yourself over to the devil." She sounded for all the world as though she was chatting about the weather, or some other similarly mundane subject, and she only gave another lazy shrug as she read it over again herself. "Personally, I chalk it up to an unfortunate genetic fluke. But I doubt we'll ever know either way."

She tapped lightly on another set of notes written out beside the prophecy. "Mm, one of my some-odd-great-uncles thought it had to do with the banishment of Weishaupt's Illuminati from Bavaria all the way back in the 1780s. I disagree, though."

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra raised an eyebrow. "I'm afraid I have no idea what a Weishaupt's Illuminati is. Or a Bavaria, for that matter. Or the devil." She shrugged. It was easy to simply be behind the times. "But you disagree anyway." She touched the paper lightly, feeling the words and imagining that she could feel the fingertips of their author, despite the chasm of time between them. In both directions.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't shed much light on that situation. I was the only member of my family with prophecy and it was gifted to me. Not something I would wish on another person." That wasn't entirely true. There was some sort of sick, twisted pleasure Cassandra had derived from being the one who knew. But that pleasure was doubtlessly a reaction to being the one who was never believed.

She reread the prophecy on the page another time. "The chariot. Could that refer to the caravan somehow?"

[thebooksaysso]

"The caravan?" There was a thought, though in the back of her mind she doubted it. She glanced at the book between them, turning the thought around in her head.

"I don't know....neither Cid nor his giant strike me as very serpent-like...." And these prophecies were old. The supposed end of the world came and went, meaning this particular set had to have already happened.

Although, there may have been something to it....

"The chariot will flame...." It was only a slightly worrying thought. "....perhaps we should be careful anyway. To stay on the safe side."

[cassie_of_troy]

"A snake often stands in for something less than trustworthy. I would certainly put Cid in that category. Honestly," she sighed, "what in the world would motivate someone to head up a caravan of complete strangers, at no cost, unless there was something in it for them." She scoffed slightly. "He's not doing this out of the goodness of his heart. There's something more going on, something we must be missing."

She paused a moment, looking up at Anathema. "I'm afraid," she continued, somewhat apologetic, "that I have difficulty keeping faith in people. I've been lied to many times. And men often put their own agendas ahead of what is good and right. All too often."

Cassandra looked down at the page of prophecy again. "Flame is sometimes a symbol of rebirth. Fire destroys life as often as it gives it. There's something to that, perhaps."

[thebooksaysso]

Anathema nodded sympathetically, knowing all too well how lies eventually took their toll. But Cassandra's thought was an interesting one; her hand was already reaching for the pen she didn't have before she realized what she was doing. She quickly set it back on her lap.

"A fresh new world, a fresh new life? That sort of thing?" She had to say, liked that idea even less. "....or if he's being truthful about taking us to see that witch, maybe it's some sort of way back home."