Just Great [Open]

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

Cassie can tell you lots of details about the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Firstly, it is sometimes called the Olympieion, and secondly, there were two of them. The bigger of the two was in Athens, and the second was in Agrigento, though that one was never finished. Today they are both in ruins, but Cassie has seen enough plans and artistic interpretations and digital renderings to know what they’re supposed to look like.

Stacy has the one from Athens. Cassie had smiled when she approached it; unlike the modern reinvisions of it, in plain alabaster stone, this one has been painted in garish colours, as it was supposed to be. It was historically accurate, and a history nerd like her appreciated that.

But what she doesn’t appreciate is how dead it is inside. She is powerless without a boon from Zeus or Ares, and in a place like this, it is most definitely not her idea of fun to be without. With so much on her mind, and so much she still had to think about, Cassie figures having her abilities certainly would be one less thing to worry about, not to mention extremely useful.

Unfortunately, it’s quite apparent that neither Greek god is here to give her a boost. She hasn't seen Ares watching her since she got here. That, if nothing else, confirms they're far away from where they're supposed to be.

She scowls and sits down on the front steps.

Great. Just great.

Comments

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"I'm a bit of a history buff," she says, plopping down next to her on a step. She unclasps a sheathe from her back, containing some sort of sickle, and lays it down next to her, sprawling out on the steps, relaxed. "More war history than anything--my dad's in the army, and he was crazy about military history--but history in general. Before my life went all whacked, I was hoping to go to college to become a history professor or something."

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

"Ahh, neat. My mom is the curator of Gateway City Museum, and an archaeologist, so I grew up on history, too. More political and cultural history, but I'm not completely lost on war history. War practically defines history, anyway."

Cassie smiles.

"Greek history's my favourite, though. Yours?"

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"Middle Eastern, Indian. Cradle of civiliation stuff. Like Norse a bit, though. Vikings are hella interesting," she says. "Horrible people, I can tell you that from experience, almost, but interesting. I think I liked 'em more before I met people like 'em."

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

"Met people like them?" Cassie's intrigued. She shifts, lifting her head a bit. "Just your everyday thugs with a Viking twist, or...?"

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"Nah, kinda real Vikings, but kinda not. Me and my friend Irene sort of got zapped to this alternate version of Earth, called Erthe. No 'A,' 'E' at the end. Sort of like if ancient cultures were still almost there and just way more ancient, and if there was magic and steam tech and all that. But there were Vikings. Barbarian raiders. All kinds of stuff that's long gone back home," Leela explains with a flighty gesture of her hand. "That's where I was before I got grabbed here."

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

"I would say it sounds like fun to explore, but given their history, probably best left to the textbooks." Cassie suggests. "Sounds like an interesting world, though."

She pauses.

"If you don't mind me asking, how long has it been since this place grabbed you?"

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

She wrinkles her nose.

"The days get all fuzzy." She goes on. "That's actually kinda suspicious when you think about it. I'd say a month or two. Maybe more, maybe less. Hard to track time when there's no clocks and no rising and setting of the sun. It rises and sets in the city, but seems to do it faster than it does on Earth, so you can't time it by that."

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

"I read about something like that once. Some people volunteered to be stuck in an apartment for a month, with all the windows cemented off so there was no natural light, and no clocks. By the end of the month, their inner clocks were so shot they misjudged the lengths of days by almost half."

She's tempted to start a tally or something, but how would she possibly know when to tick it off, under these circumstances?

"It's like we're a science experiment."

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"If we had anything to gamble with, I'd get a pool going. There's science experiment, slaves, trapped by an out of control insane AI, trapped by evil gods that want us to do stuff, weird space anomalies, forcibly recruited into war, or aliens want to eat us."

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

"You know, none of those sound particularly appealing, but if I had the choice, I'd hope it was aliens trying to eat us; that way we at least could stand a chance of fighting our way out. But given the slop they're feeding us? I don't imagine we're being fattened up for a buffet."

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"Hey, that's some high calorie, high protein stuff, as far as I can tell. I've been doing workouts in the Holodeck and everything, without burning out."

Fuck calling it Sensoriums. They're holodecks. That's what they are.

"Nasty, but nourishing. I'm still placing good odds on alien cannibalism. Although I guess it's not cannibalism if they're eating us and not each other."

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

"As long as they're not gearing us up for a cross-universe fight club," Cassie suggests. "That would get pretty nasty, pretty fast."

But given all the different kinds of people here, Cassie figures it could be cannibalism for someone.

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"That'd be pretty dumb if they thought we'd fight each other instead of just kicking their sorry asses."

Leela grins a wicked grin.

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

Cassie can't help but smile.

"Hey, they don't necessarily go by Earth logic."

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"I'm thinkin' they're not going by Any-world logic."

Leela holds out her hand. "Name's Leela, by the way. Leela Bricker. I don't think I caught your name at the meeting."

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

Cassie takes it, and shakes.

"It was kind of a crazy day. I'm Cassie Sandsmark. Nice to meet you, Leela."

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"So what's your deal?" she asks. Everyone's got a deal. "...Nice lariat, by the way. You a cowgirl or just good at choking people?"

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

"I do the superhero thing, or at least I did, before I got here. Hard to do it without powers."

She laughs. "Thanks. Uh, let's go with the choking thing."

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"Can you fight without 'em?" Leela asks curiously.

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

"I'm not totally defenseless, because I was trained by the Amazons, but it wouldn't be the same," Cassie admits.

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"Holy snap, what, like actual Amazons?"

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

She nods. "Yeah."

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"Like, real, honest to god--er, gods, Amazons?" She sounds so damn excited. "Holy crap, wait, I saw you with Superboy, so y'all are from the same world, right? And you trained with Amazons, and got a lasso--you're like some kinda mini, blonde Wonder Woman."

[halfgoddess.livejournal.com]

In all honesty, there's no sense in denying it, and even if she could, "Cassie Sandsmark" isn't exactly a secret identity these days.

She's a bit surprised by the enthusiasm, but she sits up a bit straighter and smiles.

"Same world, yeah, but I'm Wonder Girl. Wonder Woman's protégé."

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"Woooow." She scratches her head. "This is so weird, that whole 'stuff you've read or seen on TV is real somewhere,' but it's pretty damn cool at the same time. She kick a lot of butt?"

A pause.

"Can she kick Batman's butt?"

Another pause.

"Does Batman have a cute butt? I always kinda wondered. Cape's always in the way. The future Batman that's here, he's got a nice one."