caughtinanetwork

Well, we did go on it, but we didn't finish it before I wound up here. We made our way to Rome to put a stop to a pair of giants who were working for Gaea. As part of that we rescued another demigod named Nico who was going to lead us to the doors of death so we can close them. That won't stop Gaea, but it will slow her down since the monsters she's using won't be able to come out of Tartarus so easily.

But we were just leaving Rome after two of my friends fell into a pit that leads right into Tartarus - there was no way to rescue them or we would have - and then I wound up here.

[He begins to sound a bit choked up, like he's fighting against saying any more, but it still manages to come spilling out.] It's my fault that they fell. If I hadn't used the fortune cookie Nemesis gave me to rescue two of my friends, the other two wouldn't have fallen. Se said that using it would come with a steep price. But the two that fell wound up here, too.

Well, that makes it sound like Vatheon is Tartarus.

I haven't been to Tartarus, but I can tell you this place is nothing like it. Tartarus is filled with the worst monsters you can think of. It's not somewhere people tend to go on purpose.

I've heard more than once that humans are the worst monsters. And no one's here on purpose.

Yeah, I know people can be awful. I've had personal experience with that. After my mom died, my Aunt Rosa sent me into foster care because she thought I was a diablo, a devil.

I know that, too. [He sighs.]

My parents never did anything quite that drastic, but I'm sure they considered it once or twice.

At least you have the excuse of being a demigod.

[That was way more information than Stein wanted to share, but this curse isn't exactly being kind to him.]

That's the thing. She wasn't my parent. She was my Aunt. And [He tries to stop himself because this is the last thing he wants to be telling a stranger, but he can't.]

And my mom died in a fire. I blamed myself for that fire for a very long time. Just up until a few months ago when I found out it was Gaea who did it. Trying to break me.

You thought your own powers killed your mother.

Yeah, I did. I was 8. I was a kid. I might have been smart in some ways, but that doesn't mean I understood that it wasn't my fault.

It's understandable. Now, at least, you know better.

Yeah.

Who are you anyway?

Doctor Stein. I'm doing a bit of data collection about the types of people here in Vatheon.

A doctor, huh? I'm Leo Valdez.

Your father didn't bother passing down his name to you?

Gods don't really stick around long enough to be part of the naming process. I didn't even know who my dad was until a few months back.

What a pity.

I'm sure you'll impress him if you do your best.

Nah, I don't need to worry about impressing him. Just 'cause I didn't know who he was, doesn't mean it was the same on his end. He told me he's been watching me all along. I got the picture that I've done some things to make him proud.

Does that make up for not having him around while you were growing up?

Of course it doesn't.

Do you have much interaction with him now? Back home, before you came here.

Not directly. That was just the once when he spoke to me in a dream. It's fine though, I'd kind of given up on ever meeting him a long time ago.

But he helps me out sometimes. Like taking Festus back to camp for me when he crash landed and was unfixable.

Edited 2013-06-08 19:20 (UTC)

Who's Festus? [That sounds like a good train of conversation.]

Oh, Festus is an automaton dragon that I repaired. He was our transportation on my first quest but when he cash landed, there was no repairing him. But now his head is the masthead on the ship I built. He's got a new purpose. One day I'd like to be able to rebuild him.

I'm sure you could make something similar here, if you wanted.

Not to the scale of Festus. He was 60 feet long and about a ton a foot in weight.

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