justicereigns | New Yurk Stock Exchange [Video Post]

I don't know what to make of this place. It's got moments of dead quiet and then-- [Cut off by a sudden stampede. Bears and bulls go running by and Smoker just dodges out of the way and climbs onto some high rocks and lets the laptop camera take it in. And then there's more of the stampede with men in business suits carrying briefcases and running desperately out of breath chasing the bulls and bears.] This is completely nuts... shit wait for it. [And then they all come running back again in the other direction they originally came from, the businessman running away from the rampaging bulls and bears.]

[Waits for the dust to settle and sighs.] So I guess the bulls are supposed to be on the stock exchange? In exchange for money or bears I don't know. But apparently something happened and it's all gone to hell. And anytime I lasso those men in suits away from their herd they just babble about needing to chase the bears and bulls and "dollar signs." I have no freaking clue what a dollar is supposed to be. Unless they use sand dollars for currency? I guess I could go dig some up to try to bribe one of them for information.

This is ridiculous. If this is supposed to be a punishment Sengoku, you made your goddamn point. Can I have a real assignment? They don't even have a boss to talk to. Tch. Who the hell wears a tux to deal with bulls? Stupid...

[Walks off back to shore and in the background the stampede starts up again.]

Oh Tsuzuki. Happy Birthday. Is the color okay?

[[ooc: reminder to Smoker's crew to check out the MM_SS crew post so you know what islands we're at. And SUPER EXTRA IMPORTANT REMINDER OF THE 7 SINS PLOT!]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And when does the training end?

Well you can stop going to camp whenever you want to. But I think most people stop going when they're around eighteen. If they survive that long.

Survive...?

Yeah. Being a demigod is a hard life. A lot die before they reach eighteen. Very few people thought I'd make it to sixteen.

What happens?

Huh. Why not?

Monster attacks, stuff like that. The world is a dangerous place for demigods.

It's complicated. There was a prophecy. That if a demigod child of one of the big three gods (Zeus, God of the Sky; Poseidon, God of the Sea [my father]; and Hades, God of the Underworld) would make a decision that would either save or destroy Olympus (the home of the gods, and a symbol of their power). About fifty years before I was born, the big three made a pact not to have any more demigod children, to prevent the prophecy from coming true. But then there's me. A lot of the gods wanted to just kill me before I turned sixteen, so the prophecy would remain unfulfilled. Or just hoped that a monster or something would do the job for them.

... Okay, but the prophecy is that you would either save them or destroy them. Wouldn't attempting to kill you make it more likely that you'd want to destroy them?

They wouldn't attempt. They would just. Do it. I met with them at Olympus and they basically had a vote right in front of me over whether or not they wanted to just kill me.

That sounds idiotic. If your job was to save them, killing you would have spelled their downfall.

No, it could have gone either way. I could have saved them or caused their downfall. Some of them thought it was better to just keep the prophecy from coming true at all.

Tch, unless your lack of existence only meant they'd all inevitably die without you there to save them.

I take it they decided to keep you in any case?

Gods don't die. They're immortal.

Yeah. They voted. A majority decided to let me live.

So they were willing to kill you over a city?

The city represents Western Civilization as we know it. If the city was destroyed it would be the end of life as we know it.

... I see.

Tch. I still don't see what a prophecy has to do with it. They're purposely cryptic so they can cover their ass either way.

The gods don't make the prophecies. The Oracle does, and she's mortal.

Look...this was the prophecy.

A half-blood of the eldest gods,

shall reach sixteen against the odds,

And see the world in endless sleep,

The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap,

A single choice shall end his days,

Olympus to preserve or raze.

....

So you're destined to die when you make the decision or did it predict you coming here?

I wasn't the "hero" in the prophecy. But the choice was mine.

I see.

And that was only one of the prophecies. Every quest has its own prophecy.

Every quest?

Yeah. When you have to go on a quest you go and talk to the Oracle and she gives you a prophecy.

A prophecy related to yourself? Because if they didn't know that prophecy before you went there, then why did they make the pact not to have any more demigod children?