#bdrpagopen

The very gleeful Diablo had left the Temple behind when his attention turned to the marketplace that took up part of the Agora. He’d taken some time to deliver a sizable tribute earlier, just to get his message through that he was very satisfied with this new arrangement of destiny. Perhaps he had been adoring the wrong deities for his entire life, if it was so easy to turn his curse into a blessing overnight.

It was interesting to see the people that walked and sold and bought. They all, slaves and free people, were familiar faces he watched every single day in Swynlake without them even noticing him. And now, they would have to, because he was important. If he threw walnuts at them from above, they probably would get punished for complaining. Or something. But the point is, he was important and an aristocrat, and he wanted to take advantage of this life for as long as it lasted. 

But for now, he was curiously looking at those familiar faces taking on another lives. Maybe he could talk to some of them. Perhaps he could even find someone he could convince to join him for a bath, or one of those other strangely erotic things everyone in ancient times seemed to be doing.

The young man took flight. A mess of black smoke and feathers gave way to a remarkably large raven, who flied into the crowds. Intentionally, he transformed right in the middle, making a spectacle of himself, and soon returned to his wonderful human form right in front of a face he recognized from Swynlake who may or may not recognize him. Since he looked at everyone as a bird, anyway. “You look quite different, but very much the same,” he said with amusement, smiling playfully at the individual. “Funny how things change one moment or another, hmm?”

Apparently, one of Attina’s tasks for the household was gathering water twice a day, once in the early morning and once in the evening. She didn’t mind this so much, seeing as she liked to rise early anyways, and being near water always made her feel calmer.

This whole world had her chest feeling tight, like she was on the verge of a constant panic attack. With no cell phones to contact her family. At least Daddy was with Ariel and Aquata. At least everyone seemed--safe.

They just had to keep their heads down while this blew over--which was what Attina was doing, walking back from the fountain at the Agora where everyone got their water--when she smacked someone with the long pole she had slung over her shoulders--a bucket of water on each end. One of the buckets overturned, soaking both the person she’d hit and herself.

“Neptune! I’m so, so sorry. Oh--I-I-I’m so sorry,” she said, crouching down to put the half-full other bucket on the ground. 

So, in this world Hercules was not only well-respected but liked. He was a powerful warrior and a lord. He remembered having complete control of his powers--using them to complete great feats of strength to help his fellow warriors in battle.

He’d been in battle before.

It was both thrilling and terrifying.

But, Hercules was still Hercules, gentle and kind to a fault. 

Which was why, when he saw someone struggling across the way, he sprung into action (both versions of himself leaping at the same time.) 

“Hey! Do you need help with that?” 

Marlin never trusted premonitions, but something felt different about this. He had heard whispers that ghosts had been released from the Underworld or something to that effect, and was sure he had seen some, and now he was hearing voices. He was having a hard time making out exactly what it was saying, but there was no mistaking whose voice it was: Coral’s. And if he listened closely enough, he thought he could hear the cries of children, too. Maybe, Marlin thought, I’m finally going insane. Or maybe this was part of the chaos that had fallen on Swynlake.

The nagging thought that he had to get back to work kept bothering him, but instead Marlin was wandering the agora, trying to hear the voices more clearly. They were garbled and distorted, like a phone call in poor service, but present, and, Marlin had to admit, spooky. “Excuse me, do you hear that?” Marlin asked the next person he saw. There had to be someone who knew what was going on. Marlin knew very little about the nature of the Second World.

Jane Porter had been in the market with Roger Radcliffe, since apparently she needed a bloody escort to go to the bloody agora and now he’d wandered off, muttering something about some engagement, and jane was trying to look at the tomatoes for sale and trying not to snap at the vendor for no reason.

The reason Jane was so on edge was because she’d just seen her boyfriend raise his hand to volunteer to be dragged into the pits of Hell and she had to restrain herself so much not to toss up her hand and join him. It was funny, in a way, since what Milo had done was a normally very Jane move and what Jane had done was normally a very Milo move, but no matter—

The fact was, she was here and he was not and she had made up her mind to run the moment she could.

Also the other thing bothering her was apparently she was married to Paul and he had cheated on her and was raising his bastard son. This would not bother her at all, she knew she wasn’t actually married to Paul (the sort of hazed magic stupor had snapped the instant she saw Milo dragged off to the Underworld), if not for the fact that most everyone seemed to be playing along and people kept giving her pitying looks.

Someone had come up to her and muttered something that sounded like “ah poor woman” and Jane whirled on her heel.

“For the last time I do not care that my husband had kids with some other woman!” she snapped and then instantly felt better for having said something at all.

“Hello,” Daisy said, with a smile that did not quite reach her eyes. “Are you here to make your offering to our Great Queen?”

This whole thing sucked, but what sucked the most was the stupid rule about not being allowed to go anywhere without a man. Seriously? Darla had thought as soon as the announcement was made. What is this, the dark ages? And then she remembered that yes, it sort of was. But Darla was not one to risk her life (or whatever else she would be risking, getting sent to hell-prison) for the sake of feminism, so she went back to the Dragon Household where she was supposed to be and promptly began searching for someone to please take her to the bath house. That was where the mermaids were, after all. Darla was sure of it.

“Hey! Hey you! Help me out, will ya?” she called to someone, with little regard for the fact that she was supposed to be working in the kitchen and they probably had somewhere more important to be as well. “It’s so hot out. I could use a nice cold dip in the water. I bet you could too. Let’s go to the thermae or whatever. Pleeeease?”