From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

[Keylo]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

Proceeding upwards, the twins find themselves ascending in the darkness past one flight of stairs...perhaps two even, arriving on a landing eventually that perhaps lead to another floor. But..found the rest of the ascending stairway from that point on, barred by an iron chain-linked fence reaching all the way to the ceiling at the next landing, apparently made to impede them from further progress. There appears to be a door at the landing just before...the handle a tad sticky for some reason should one attempt to interact with it, but of course the twins are always free to take the path back...

...Well, if not for the sound of something beginning to ram against the door echoing from below of course. Though given the usual durability of iron doors, perhaps it'll take a while before it gives way?

 

[Pale]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

Up, and up, and up, with no more than the occasional glance over her shoulder to ensure her twin was keeping up, Pollusia almost barrels straight through the next door between her and freedom. Only the faint stickiness of the handle slows her advance, and halfway through the turn needed to open the door.. she pauses, and releases the handle, turning back to her twin.

"...Are we -sure- this is the right way..? As good as something to punch right now would be, I don't particularly want to open this door and find something less pleasant than fresh air and a cool breeze."

Of course, that reminded her of her nudity.. and the -cold- of this underground parking... place. And their conjoined effect on certain parts of her body, and in an abrupt, blushing moment of self-awareness, she folds her arms across her chest to conceal chill-raised nipples.

"W-well..?"

 

[Incubus]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

Castea frowned back. "Of course I'm not sure, we're trapped in someone's idea of a game, being chased by something that represents death and being lead around by biblical references," she replies, crossing her own arms. "But it's either here, or hell. Because last I checked, hell was down unless someone's switched that on us. I don't think either option is going to without its trials. Besides, we started underground, going up makes sense. There's no point blaming me if it's not all perfect, I don't have any control over how thigns work here," she adds.

Don't have any control... was that true? Or had she been able to manipulate events, alter the scenarios slightly...? She pondered it for a moment, an expression of concentration across her face as she bit her lower lip, but nothing came to mind. She shook her head slightly, not a good sign for her mind to be playing tricks on her already.

 

[Pale]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

Brief, flashed smile.

"Not blaming anyone, Siskins. Just making sure I don't go getting us killed because I didn't check with the smart one before taking the obvious course. Here we go, though..!"

With a deep breath, Pollusia squeezes the handle down on the door before them... and opens it, pushing through and filling the doorway, ensuring anything that comes out has to go through her before getting anywhere near Castea. Not that it would have much trouble doing so in her nude, unarmed state.. but it was the thought that counted.

 

[Keylo]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

Having put herself in front of Castea, and taking great care in ensuring that the door swung open, Pollusia finds herself proudly defending her sister from... a unnaturally icy draft of air, enough to send one's body into shivers and chill one to the bone. Though... no signs of any monsters or the like yet as she stands in the door frame, and the air that comes forth from the room following seems to be "normal" as far as chilly parking garage air was concerned.

While standing at the door however, a few more details regarding the room beyond come to light, despite the unwavering darkness within. The first being a sickly sweet smell that wafts out of it, the odor of decay perhaps. Pollusia, standing on the door frame...would find that, similarly to the door handle, it appears to be coated in a sticky substance, not impossibly hard to break away from, but a tad hard to move off of regardless... perhaps a bit akin to tar, or maybe strong glue. Should she take a step further into the room...she'd find that a thin layer of the stuff seemed to be coated upon what would otherwise be an asphalt ground...

 

[Pale]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

Arms fold against the chill, blue eyes narrowing as Pollusia braces herself against the sudden gust of cool air, pebble-dashing skin in goosebumps and shivers. Swallowing down her sudden, hammering heart from a nerveless throat, the blonde twin prepares to step forward.

The smell, though, beats her back half a step, bringing memories of clinics and smiling old folk, of rallies and people gathered for a common cause. Right hand, trembling, lifted before her eyes, watching the shivers that refused to stop, the traitorous muscles her undoing once again.. and with a sharp cry, the stronger, braver twin jumps backward from the door, pushing past Castea to flatten herself against the far wall, eyes screwed shut against the sudden spike of memory.

"C-Cas... don't... m-make me go in there... th-that can't be.. the right way."

 

[Incubus]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

Castea likewise fell back, the combination of the rotting smell and her sister's reaction causing her grasp on courage to slip away. This... this was heaven? No... it can't be..." Backing away from the door, her mind began to churn through what she knew of The Divine Comedy. The first sphere of heaven was the moon, that was easy to remember. It was about... inconsistency and vows. The importance of honouring vows once given... nothing here seemed to match any of that....

So she shifted her thinking. Perhaps this was only purgatory, that would make sense. But even then, the lowest levels of purgatory didn't resonate with what seemed to lie ahead.

The natural order shall be torn asunder...

Was... was it hell? Was down up and up down? But then, the first circle of hell wasn't known for being a terrible place either, it's biggest downside is that it wasn't heaven, but was otherwise home for virtuous non-believers. This wasn't it either.

"Damnit... it doesn't make sense... none of it makes any sense!" Castea cried out, closing her eyes. She just wanted it all to go away.

 

[Pale]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

In a bizarre twist... Pollusia found her own weakness twisted, banished, pushed back into the icy vaults of faded memory, by her sister. As soon as someone else became the one to falter, the one to fall, it was easy to step up to the plate. Because someone had to.

With confidence she doesn't feel, the blonde takes command of the situation, crossing the narrow hallway in one long stride to take her twin by the shoulders, stopping her in her tracks.

"Castea. We'll get through this, I promise. Just.. hold tight to me, and we'll be just fine."

On impulse, more than anything else, the blue-eyed blonde's hands shift from shoulders to chin.. and tilt Castea's head up for a brief, fierce kiss, that's most definitely -not- aimed for her cheek.

"...To quote an old film.. that was for luck. Now, let's go."

With a final glance at the foul-smelling door, Pollusia sets off down the stairs, intending to pass the iron door, and book by entirely.. and continue all the way down. Bringing her sister with her, naturally.

 

[Incubus]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

Castea gives a muffled gasp, then all but swoons in her sister's arms as memories and feelings of intense passion come flooding back to her and as the initial shock passes, she returns the kiss hungrily, needily, desperate to let her Pollusia know her shared feelings.

Biting her lip as Poll pulled back, Castea made slight motions to cover herself once more, suddenly she was very aware she was naked again. Still as Poll motioned for them to move off, she got her head together and followed along behind. She'd follow Pollusia to hell if necessary, afterall.

Still, as they passed the book once more, she called out to stop. "It's pretty dark, maybe we should take this candle," she called out, eyeing the golden candle holder and giving a quick glance around for anything that might suggest taking it was in fact, a bad plan. She also gave the book another glance over, to see if there was some way to perhaps open it, she was running from memory and if there was a way to check the source itself...

 

[Keylo]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

The iron door that had lead to the stairwell to begin with seems to hold strong against whatever was trying to get past it, the sounds of pounding continuing to resound within the enclosed space, accompanied by what seemed to be heavy "breathing" from beyond... All the more reason to not linger of course.

Investigating the golden candle holder as best could be done, Castea doesn't find anything that might advise against taking it with her...well, asides from the fact that the candle radiated a bluish light rather than what was typical. The book on the other hand, as before was waxed shut still, and refused to lay itself bare still. Perhaps with a proper tool to remove its seal, the book could be opened at a future time...but at the present it seemed impossible. Then again...nothing was exactly stopping the book from being moved from where it was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One flight of stairs...two...three...

The stairs leading down thus far seemed to wind downwards incessantly, as the twins find themselves descending deeper and deeper within the complex, the temperature seeming to drop with each flight of stairs they traversed...enough to numb the skin perhaps, even if only slightly. After an unknown duration of travel however, the pounding of the iron door long out of earshot, the twins would come a strange sight. An door made mostly of stone, dimly illuminated by two blue candles in nearby alcoves, with a faintly glowing message engraved upon it:

που είναι ο Θεός

...Greek really, to Pollusia and Castea. More accurately,the message inscribed on the door seemed to read:

"Who is God?"

 

[Pale]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

Whether through guilt, or a simple failure in observation, Pollusia mistakes her sister's sharp response for shock, then repulsion, pulling away before Castea can make the full extent of her feelings known, and quickly hurrying away down the stairwell to conceal her blush.

It's only just faded as Castea calls her back at the central landing, as the blue-eyed blonde turns.. and jumps, wincing at another crash against the door.

"The candle.. why would we...? Oh! Light! Yes, take it..and..."

Fingertips eased under the edge of the book, hefting it.

"I suppose I can hit things with this, if nothing else. Now, before that thing gets through to us!"

Rushing ahead, of course, book hefted at every darkened turn of stairs.. until they finally reach a doorway. Pollusia gets there first.. and her brow scrunches up.

"Of what to be the god..? Any ideas, Cas..?"

 

[Incubus]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

Castea just shrugs. "Might be a reference to Limbo, the first circle of hell was a place for those who were virtuous but didn't follow the true faith. Their punishment really only extended to "it isn't heaven", it was a fairly nice place really. Very different to the rest of hell. And supposedly many ancient Greeks there, because nothing says "Can't get into heaven" like dying before Christianity existed," she explains with a hint of satire, perhaps a joke to try and calm her twisted nerves.

"Or it could be that down is up and up is down, who knows?" she added, trying to speak in a lighter tone than she felt. "Might as well try the handle..."

 

[Pale]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

Looking again, Pollusia blushes as something clicks.

"Or... it could be 'Who is God?'..... I guess. And that sounds just like Christianity in my book.. go to Hell for anything. Even eating shellfish. I -like- shellfish..!"

And, Castea distracts her as a pop culture reference arrives in her head instead of the more academic things at hand.

"What... you mean, like that Pirates film..? Just call me Jack, I suppose. Handle it is..!"

Boldly, she closes the short distance between herself and the door.. and, if she can, opens it.

((I have a feeling this is going to be a Speak Friend and Enter door.. not so simple as a handle. But if there is one, open Sesame!))

 

[Keylo]

Re: From Hades to Olympus(Castea and Pollusia)

As Pollusia might expect of the typical stone door however, there would be no door handle by which to operate so as to gain access to the chamber within, nor pushbar or the likes to open it otherwise. Instead as she as approaches it, the glowing message warps...distorts, and reforms into a new one. Once again in Greek, but easily understandable enough.

[Font="Book Antiqua]"In a normal world, I am represented as a brilliant point of light circled by nine, or three circle merging on one. Yet in a world such as this, who am I that assumes such a role? Kneel before my glory and know your place."[/font]