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 Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:00 pm
Myrtle helped him, swimming with her free hand and legs while trying to prevent any more grabs from the souls. Surprisingly enough they made it to shore without any other problems. Myrtle pushed herself up, coughing up a bit of water and glancing out to the river. It was hard to believe that those souls were once living, breathing people. The very thought made her shiver, biting her lower lip. Letting out a shakey breath, she looked down at her arms, which were covered in scratches that were slowly bleeding. "Zeus's knees. . ." She said under her breath, holding a bit of her skirt to one of the wounds. She looked up at Charon, he seemed unharmed. "Are you alright?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 5:10 pm
 Zeus' knees? he thought. There's a new one."Yeah, I'm fine," Charon responded, shaking water from his hair and looking her scratches over. He was mostly just bruised, himself. "Don't worry, you'll heal fast. You're not flesh anymore, after all."He scanned the river for another moment, giving her a moment to catch her breath before suggesting, "We should probably give the souls here a break. Ready to move on to another river?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 7:59 pm
"Give them a break?" She shook her head and chuckled a bit before standing. "I guess so." She leaned forward a bit and wrung out her own hair, the curly mess weighed down with the water and sticking to her forehead. "Is it usually this difficult to get a coin?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:50 pm
Charon shrugged. "You're the first. I have no idea."He got back in the boat and prepared to push it out back into water. "Come on. I've got another net you can use. We'll head toward the Phlegethon next."The Phlegethon river was closer than the Cocytus, but not the closest to the Acheron. But Charon didn't care about that - the Styx was the closest, and he wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Besides, the Phlegethon didn't have unburied souls so near to it. There was one guy there you had to watch out for, though...
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 5:00 pm
"Alright. Phlegethon it is." Myrtle nodded, standing and brushing herself off before helping him with the boat. "You mean to say I'm the first soul to look for a coin in this way?" She asked, noticing the scratches on her arm had already healed.
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:55 pm
"Yep," Charon said as he pushed them out into open water and steered them toward the mouth of the river. "Usually souls come with coins ready under their tongues. It's a rare event for someone to not be able to pay their way across. The last time it happened was before Hades came up with the new rule. So you're the first."He looked behind them at the waters, just to be sure, then turned back."You can rest for a while now. There shouldn't be anything in the water until we near the next river. No more unburied souls, though."
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Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 7:41 pm
She nodded, resting for a bit before following his gaze to the waters behind them. "Do they not travel this way?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 6:13 pm
"They can't," Charon explained. "They're pulled back to the mortal world because they haven't been properly buried. They can't go too far; eventually they always end up back where they started. But they can't go back to the mortal world, either, because they're dead. Oh, some very special people can, if they have good reasons. That's where you get ghosts from. But most people are just stuck - they're being called by both the living and dead worlds. That's why they lose themselves and become dangerous like you saw."He moved his punting pole to the other side of the boat and steered around a sandbank. "You found that other net that I have up there?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 8:50 pm
"Oh. . ." Myrtle said, nodding as she listened. When he mentioned the other net, that she had forgotten about, she sat up and searched around before holding it up in the air. "Got it." She sat back down and turned to him. "What makes the others special?" She wondered.
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 2:09 pm
"Wait," Charon said. "You mean, what makes the unburied souls special?"
Didn't I just finish explaining that?
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 4:49 pm
Myrtle shook her head. "No, sorry. I mean, those few that can return to the mortal world. What makes them able to? What qualifies as a good reason?" She rephrased.
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Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 5:51 pm
"Oh." Charon thought about that for a while. After a few minutes he said, "Well, those that I know of were ghosts that usually had messages to give to the living. You know, like the murdered kinsmen that returns to tell their descendant who killed them, and to urge them to get vengeance. Or a mother protecting the infant child she left behind, until it's old enough to fend for itself. Or someone who was wronged, and the one who wronged them so dreadfully is still alive and doesn't deserve to be. Those that return to the world of the living are the ones who bear a message or purpose no one still living can fulfill."
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Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:45 am
"Oh. . ." Myrtle said with a nod, thinking about the idea for a while before speaking again. "So they're able to cross back over or do they automatically get sent back to deliver the message? What if the mortal they encounter don't believe them or refuses to see them?" As always, she was filled with questions.
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Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 3:11 pm
"Oh, they're not forced back over," Charon assured her. "They just know - or feel, depends on the intent of the ghost - that they have to, and usually the feeling can be so strong that they'll think they can't rest in peace until they fulfill the purpose. It's like a guilty conscious they have to ease, or something along those lines.
As for the living..." He shrugged. "If they refuse to listen, believe, or see, that's their problem. Some ghosts like them enough, or their message is important enough to them, that they'll keep coming back until the problem is solved. A couple of the nastier ones will start haunting. But if they decide it's a lost cause, they'll go back to their afterlives and leave you to ignore their message and make a mess of things." He looked up from the water at her. "Remember that, in case you're a special one and you feel the need to go back as a ghost and beg for a coin should your fishing prove futile. The special souls with strong purpose, whether for good or evil, have just that - strong purpose. They can't force anyone to listen to them."
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:37 am
She shook her head, dismissing the idea. "No, I don't have anyone to go back to. I was merely curious. . ." She looked towards the water again, watching as the small waves passed by the boat. "But I will keep that in mind."
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