SWITCHBLADE.

It’s only the second week, and still, the feeling of being split in several directions hasn’t left Alecto. The threat of succumbing even further into their familiarity only grows after the party. After Than knelt at her hand, after she gave Hypnos the seashells she’d collected for them, even Dusa in the bathroom. Their safe haven of scented candles and marble walls, a chair pushed in front of the door to keep anyone else from entering. 

There were plenty of things to draw Alecto in. The threat of falling prey to them under the gaze of others was what kept her withdrawn. To blow the operation this early? It would be childish. She’d been careless with a lot of things, but this was important to her. It had to be, after all of this preparation, after all of the thought put into this, after testing Nyx and Hades’ boundaries on what they would allow her to do. 

To make it worth something, she had to not fuck it up. But to do that, she had to stop seeking them out. 

This time, though, this time it is not Alecto who seeks out Meg. Instead, they stand on the other end of a very long hallway. It’s like every other time, and Alecto is beginning to fucking hate Pontius and its stupid hallways. Things had been tense, the last they left them, and they weren’t sure they were in the right mind to address it, or even assess the damage that’d been done. 

Eurydice isn’t sure when it happens. There’s a shift in their vision, a familiar head of blonde hair – the height. She feels like she’s shrinking, and before she knows it, she’s getting out of her seat, beelining for the door. Somebody tries to stop her, to tell her that the panel hasn’t started, but she’s shaking her head and brushing past them. 

Fumbling with her phone, she takes it out, texts Meg the moment she pushes into the stairwell. There are few people who linger, most of which already inside, eagerly awaiting the up and coming tech debuts, while others have taken to retiring to their rooms in preparation for the next. There was always something more, always somebody trying to outdo somebody else. 

Competition – it was something she was used to. But being faced with the sister of the man she’d killed in unison with that? Tensions were already high, and Eurydice was worried that any moment, somebody within the Asphodels would crumble beneath some kind of invisible weight. Herself included. 

“Well. It is her boat.” He doesn’t waste time on greetings, slipping into the conversation as if it were already ongoing, maybe forever. He does wonder if it would be kinder to feign surprise, but when has he done the kind thing? Truthfully, he’s been expecting this moment since they first stepped foot in the damn place; it was only ever a matter of time. “But she can’t be everywhere. Even Poseidon hasn’t figured out teleportation yet.”

ABOUT

Name: Megara Kiraz. Suggested Occupations: Fury, occasional Fixer for Khton Corporate. Age: 32. Gender & Pronouns: Nonbinary, he/they. FC Suggestion: Alp Navruz. Can be seen: Sending fake rumours about Orpheus to gossip accounts, arm wrestling Zagreus, leaving long voice notes in the Furies’ group chat, helping Eurydice behind the bar, compiling reports for Nyx, signalling Tisiphone via complex eyebrow raises, hearing too much about Thanatos’ professional life, running security updates on the casino’s Cassandra.

STATS

Influence  ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Charisma  ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Protection  ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Information ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ Experience ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

CODEX

Of all of Tartarus’ children, Megara is the one who truly understands the worth of their sunken citadel. Where others have rejected the kingdom’s gifts, the opportunities it offers, the lessons ground so early into its children’s bones, Megara doesn’t receive such blessings lightly. The eldest Fury truly understands: no one is promised anything in this life. To have a chance of thriving, even in hell, is more than she’d ever take for granted. I often believed Tartarus should be written down as Megara’s mother, the depth who made hordes of children and bound them by oath. She certainly refers to the region not as a place, but as a parent. And is there any family on earth better welded than theirs, the children of Asphodel?

Throughout their long, fraught childhoods, no was the only answer to that. Anything else was so unthinkable it could not even be dreamt, and Megara would sneer at them for trying. Why seek a life above the trenchant dark that loathed and loved them? What other place could understand them? Or, better said, dare claim them? But then Orpheus was gone. And the days of childhood ended. When Zagreus praised the musician’s cowardice - no, encouraged them, to boot, saying everyone should strive to leave Tartarus - she stopped speaking with him for months. By then, Megara was already a Fury, of course. She excels in spying, I think, not because she is deceiving, but precisely because she is incorruptible. She has no weaknesses and no vices - which means, ultimately, there is no leverage to sway her. 

This is what people fail to understand about Megara, as they do about most of the furies: they believe in what the depths gave them. Their devotion can rival the idealism of Poseidon’s fans, or the enchanted faith of Olympe supporters. They truly see in Tartarus what Hades, Nyx, and Persephone saw all those years ago - a land free from the rules and fights of others, away from Gaian hypocrisy and Arcadian morals. As a result, they want nothing more than to keep it safe, and make sure it prospers on the back of rich sheep.

I recall her fervid declaration that Orpheus would come crawling back: to one who has lived too long in the dark, she told her sisters, what can the sun do but render them blind? But Eurydice had plans to follow. When she clasped Megara’s hand, begging to be initiated among the spies for a penny more, the Fury was dissuading. Yet, in the end, she realized that helping Eurydice to join the sisterhood was better than letting her flee in the night. I think a part of her believed the dream of Olympe will die as it arose, a half-fledged whisper in the gardens. It was a scorn mixed with conviction: the stuff of martyrs, prophets and fools.

We all know what happened with Eurydice’s stint as a Fury. Or, I should say, none of us know what happened, only that it was sordid and irreversible, and swiftly swept back into the dark. I cannot know whether Megara blames herself, or whether she believes her friend is safer here, even as an outlaw, than she would be as a beggar in Olympe. In a world that owes you nothing, how many are fortunate enough to be raised within a fortress? 

These days, Eurydice stays out of numbness - and necessity. But other Asphodels make plans to leave. Megara looks at Hypnos, whose shadow grows thinner, whose eyes hold more distant lights by the day, and knows she will lose them to the surface. Zagreus is half gone, anyway, and Thanatos is only ever half present, sent on his shady exploits. It seems only Tisiphone and Alecto remain to her, and she holds to them with a fierceness bordering obsession. At some point Megara’s rage must falter, and betrayal must give way to grief. Asphodel is no longer the future, but the past, and nobody can hold time in their jaw - not even someone as resolute as her. I fear the recent invitation to Olympe will prove that once and for all. Is there any family on earth better welded than theirs, the children of Asphodel? If asked, Megara’s answer remains unchanged. But the question is no longer rhetorical.

CONNECTIONS

Familial connections: Alecto & Tisiphone (family can be darkness, not just blood alone).

Professional connections: Hades (big boss, the final word to obey). Nyx (direct superior, guiding figure, they share the same vision). Achilles (security point man, constant collaborator). Minotaur (security guard; not to be trusted, but a calculated risk). Sisyphus (former superior, disgraced, deserves worse than they got). Theseus (financial henchman, needs Hades’ boot on his throat more).

Social connections: Zagreus (embarrassing ex, unfortunately endearing). Dusa (companion and protege, deserves all the shots). Eurydice (Asphodel member, close to heart; questionable tastes in romance and morals). Orpheus (former Asphodel member, thus always to traitors). Hypnos (Asphodel member; reliable entertainment, already learns to miss them). Thanatos (Asphodel member, friendly rivalry; she resents how far his reach extends). Athena (suspects a tie to Tisiphone; intends to watch her closely).