Vehra ★

Many steps behind them he could make out Odysseus who was having a conversation with a young man.

"Polites, that guy looks like a much younger version of you." Eurylochus snorted, pointing towards the two of them. "Oh please. You're saying that as if we're old. But you are right... Say Eurylochus- have you seen those men before?"

Eurylochus could merely shake his head. "I only saw the witch, and a few nymphs inside her castle."

🏹

"Polites, I want to introduce you to Darien. He's -what did you call it- the personal trainer of the prince, my son Telemachus, and he's also ✨your son✨"

Next to a very smug seeming Odysseus stood a boy who was about half a head taller than the captain. The dark curls, the hazel eyes and the freckles were unmistakably Polites genes, but what really gave it away were the dimples that formed when the young brunette started smiling.

"Oh. Wow."

Polites was unable to say another word, he never described himself as emotional but the way his lips began to quiver and his eyes gilled with tears spoke for itself.

Soon enough the two brunettes were hugging each other tightly not seeming to let go anytime soon.

"I'm so sorry about those years I missed. So so sorry. You're about 18 now aren't you?"

While the reunited father and son continued their conversation and make their way onto the ship, Eurylochus could make out another person walking out of the woods and right towards them.

Out of pure muscle memory the two men almost drew their swords, but they hesitated when they realized that the person looked just like all the other young men that joined them prior.

The same age, the same clothes, the same tired look. The only crucial difference was that the person was wearing polished golden armor, and was... seemingly a young girl.

The two older men stood and watched in silence as the girl stopped shortly before the ship, turned around, took her golden helmet off and kneeled down.

Kneeled as if she was praying to a god.

As if she was grateful.

She stayed like that for a good amount of time before standing up again, brushing sand from her knees and walking onto the ship with confidence.

"D'you think that was their captain?"

Eurylochus voice was low as the two of them, too, made their way toward their ship—though not without scanning the area for any remaining men.

"Seems like it. But why was she kneeling down like that? It seemed... well suspicious is the wrong word but that behavior was definitely not normal."

Eurylochus just shrugged before scanning the ship for the mysterious soldier.

"We could try to gain her trust and then ask her?"

His captain just nodded before waving him off and walking towards Polites who was standing near the mast with his son.

"Sounds good. I'll leave it to you."

🏹

It was soon found out that it's so much harder to do than they had originally thought.

Because that girl didn't talk to anyone.

During the day she disappeared below deck and only came out when the sun began to set.

During the night she helped keeping the ship stabilized, on guard duty to keep watch for any sign of bad weather or ill-meaning gods.

Other crewmembers of hers looked alarmed whenever Odysseus, Eurylochus or Polites asked a question about her. And even Darien wasn't big of a help, they could have the most private and emotional conversation with him but as soon as they asked he became quiet.

If they haven't seen her talking with Darien, they would've assumed she didn't talk at all- but that wasn't the case.

It was shortly before they reached the gateway to the Underworld, when Eurylochus was able to talk to her.

In that particular night the knots, which secured a significant part of the sail, got loose and he took a good amount of time and care to retie them.

Once he was done he saw her. Leaning on the rail, eyes on the ocean, sword tightly secured on her back.

It was only then, Eurylochus could make out the design of the baldric on her back.

༺𓆩ѕєϲοи∂ ѕτяοиgєѕτ οƒ ѕαмє𓆪༻

"Why do you refer to your sword as the second-strongest? Why not The strongest?"

He leaned onto the rail next to her, but unlike her he was facing the ship.

"Because my fathers' sword was the strongest of Same. And until I'm not fully convinced of his death he'll always be stronger than me."

Her voice was different than Eurylochus had expected. He thought it would be deep, husky and bored maybe.

But never honeyed, bubbly and warm. It reminded him so much of Ctimene voice.

"Your father?"

It was only then, when the girl took her gaze away from the ocean and looked eyes with him.

so, some design notes out of the way : her outfit is a skinsuit, meaning it is a singular layer of clothing that is skin tight. it is a bit cocky of her to dismiss armor, but to be entirely fair, both her and hadrian are so drowned in ego that practicality has long since died within them. she doesn’t do much fighting these days anyway, and even when she does, she is fiercely confident that her opponents won’t lay a hand on her! with her building and fighting prowess combined, what could go wrong? … besides, the material is likely enchanted to some degree with things like mending, protection IV, etc. she does take great care of it and the tightness helps her fight more brutally, since she’s more able to twist her body around in any which way she wants to without restrictions or weight.

+ note : she also binds her breasts in some manner. usually most who do ( in the world of mcsm ) use strips of cloth, but mevia has likely crafted a real world equivalent of a binder, and has selfishly refused to make more. as one does.

as for overall character notes … where does one begin? mevia is easily one of my favorite old builders, and though i can’t quite place why, i suppose it can be somewhat traced to her thirst for blood and combat. she’s almost like if a party girl decided to start murdering people? i imagine her humble beginnings as a rather insecure time for her — she, despite all her talent and skill, is always subservient to hadrian and is almost desperate for his approval when they lose, so being a bit anxious and always a bit aware of how she’s being perceived feels apt for her. harper and cassie were likely more forward than she was then, a bit louder on purpose rather than mevia’s accidental loudness … she was not shy, but she was obviously standing on awkward legs for a good long while until things begun to change for her, and by extension, everyone else. her love for gore and glory likely brought her out of her shell a bit more and shed some of those wincing movements she once had — likely realizing, belatedly, she actually loved having an audience so long as she performed well, and would lean into this as the years went on. developed showmanship and adorned multiple facets of it : mevia, the gladiator / mevia, the announcer / mevia, the ‘old builder’.

still. she is a bit … prone to hysteria, or at least that’s how hadrian would describe it. sometimes her voice shrills and shrieks from fear and it’s grating to everyone around her, alas — and when she’s in the throes of something, it is very much a blubbering tangent that spins round and round. hadrian thinks she is very ‘womanly’ that way, and yes, he does mean that in the meanest way possible! but she isn’t as stubborn as harper and she isn’t as crazy as cassie, so she ‘passes’ to hadrian and otto … by no means is mevia a pick-me ( despite hadrian’s inflated view of her vs other women ) but she feels no kinship with other girls, and enjoys her position amongst men and men based approval. an exception she enjoys being, not a rule.

mevia is also a bisexual milf who does not know she is bisexual and is rather resistant to the idea of being one. she experiences comphet perhaps? i do think it’d be funny if one of her previous pets was emily ( pets = human partners to the old builders ), whom presented in a more masculine way at the time before deciding to trans her gender, much to the utmost fury and ‘disgust’ of mevia … who then dropped her like a hot potato … and maybe even removed her from the gladiator ring in retaliation. i imagine managing the gladiators is her gig? i doubt hadrian would bother outside of ordering them around, so all the management and the likes would fall to mevia, whose unofficial title is ‘head gladiator’. she likely only chooses her pets from that specific ring, since everyone else would either be dirty respawns or eventual dirty respawns to her. ew. anyway, she is not necessarily the most complex character there is, because she is so content with the endless churn of power and blood she’s now seated on top of ; leaving no room for morality struggles or second guessing when this is the new and beloved normal for her. it’s hard to say if her old self would be appalled by any of this either given the power chaser she was even then. it just isn’t so simple for her. every year since then has been a pleasurable blur ( ahem ahem, massive hedonist! ) and mevia has no desire to go back to the past, and severs each and every tie she once had to it upon presented opportunity. although she might, at times, miss cassie rose … whom i like to imagine she once had a close relationship with.