𝒽𝒶𝓁𝒻 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓃, 𝒽𝒶𝓁𝒻 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁

[vampireapologist]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━ ･ . ° ❅ : . ☽ . : ❅ ° . ･ ━━━━━━

𝒜 𝑀𝐼𝒟𝒲𝐼𝒩𝒯𝐸𝑅'𝒮 𝒩𝐼𝒢𝐻𝒯 𝒟𝑅𝐸𝒜𝑀

𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒕 ❅ 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 ❅ 𝒎𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒍

[vampireapologist]

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❝ 𝒥𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒹𝑜𝑒𝓈𝓃'𝓉 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒. ❞

☽ 𝑵𝑨𝑴𝑬𝑺

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ She still remembers her human name in its entirety: Edith Geraldine Decker. How could she forget, when it was so recently the only name she had? Despite her surname being from Hades' fake human persona, she insists that it is still rightfully hers. Her Russian maiden name was always a disaster for others to pronounce. If not getting called Your Highness or another title, most likely in an exasperated tone, she finds she likes to go simply by E. Something about her original name simply doesn't feel right anymore. She doesn't feel right anymore. Though E is loathed to admit it, the epithet of old is calling to her ━ whispering in her ear, begging to bestow her with its presence, to truly Name her. When Hades' first wife returned back Above, she kept the name of her youth: Kore. 𝐿𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝒢𝒾𝓇𝓁. But Persephone. 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝑜𝓈 𝐵𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇. Well, that is a little more interesting . . . The truth is, she is a new goddess. Too new to be infamous among humans. And she doesn't particularly fill the mold of legends they made up about Hades' consorts all those centuries ago. Plus, what is E to make of her husband's untimely death? In a strange twist of fate, his magic and titles all fall to her. So should her name really be Hades now? Stop! It's all too much to worry about.

☽ 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑻𝑺

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋 𝐀𝐆𝐄 ❅ Twenty-Seven
⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐆𝐄 ❅ Stuck at Twenty-Six Forever
⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ 𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐋 ❅ Vita Mir
⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐒 ❅ 8c3d3d & 877c73

☽ 𝑨𝑷𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑵𝑪𝑬

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Edith only wears the finest fabrics and most elegant designs. Although she is interested in the diverse and timeless pieces that other goddesses are wearing, it is very difficult for her to give up parts of her modesty and humanity by adopting them herself. She might manage it in small increments over time, but true 1920s looks dominate her closet still.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ That's getting a bit harder to maintain, however, given the uncontrollable transformation coming upon her. It appears that her feet are quite determined to turn into black hooves { à la the Sevdaliza music video }, and E isn't sure if she can reverse it. Her eye scleras are also known to shine from white to black. It's just with her moods at the moment, but the changes are lasting a bit longer, fading a bit more slowly. Edith's desperate attempts to cling to her mortality only seem to make these traits stronger.

☽ 𝑳𝒀𝑹𝑰𝑪

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ I am flesh, bones. I am skin, soul. I am human. Nothing more than human.
⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ { 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐍 ❅ 𝒮𝑒𝓋𝒹𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓏𝒶 }

☽ 𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑰𝑪𝑨𝑳 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑪𝑰𝑨𝑳𝑻𝑰𝑬𝑺

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Most of E's magic is strange to her, and she is unsure of what her abilities truly are, let alone how to begin controlling them. As of now, she has discovered that she can control the life and death of any plant around her. She is also inherently more aware of what they are in the first place. It is as though they whisper to her with their truths: edible, poisonous, or when they will bloom next. She is sometimes hypnotized by this new gift and can easily get lost in listening.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ She also no longer feels any change in temperature. The hot and the cold do not mean anything to her, which she is thrilled about in regards to fashion. Now E can wear anything she wants all the time and not worry otherwise.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Upon Hades' death, Edith felt his power settle upon her, but she has not been able to access it. With his Helm of Darkness, she too can become invisible, but technically speaking, anyone who puts it on can do the same. And she is now the controller of the Key to Hades, whatever that means. The Scepter bestowed upon her is said to rip chasms to connect the Earth to the afterlife, but she has only managed to smack herself with it a few times. Other gifts may yet still reveal themselves or be discovered. As for now, E does not feel capable of very much.

☽ 𝑺𝑻𝑹𝑬𝑵𝑮𝑻𝑯𝑺

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ If there is anything that Edith can do, it is entertain. She knows how to throw a party. She knows how to carry a conversation. She is divine on the dance floor, and when it comes to flirting, E can quite quite effectively get about anything she wants. Her manipulation towards anyone is very subtle. Being a spoiled only child, she is used to having people give in to what she wants, and now more than ever, E tries to use her wiles to be coddled. She might very well consider it splendid how everyone underestimates her. It does make her a true underdog who can fly under the radar. But let's face it . . . their low expectations of her aren't exactly wrong. At least not yet.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ And though some of the deities would hate to admit it, Edith is useful for one thing: blending into London's mortal world. Though they don't need her services that often, she lived in the cities for years and was so recently human. Her understanding, tips, and advice can be invaluable in certain moments.

☽ 𝑾𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑵𝑬𝑺𝑺𝑬𝑺

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Nearly everything about Edith is a weakness. She trusts too easily. She has no knowledge of the immortal world and can be a bit shallow with her understanding of the mortal one. Sure, she can blend in flawlessly among the upper echelon of London, but knowing anything about business or geography or any other "male" subjects? Totally beneath her. E firmly believes in the inequality of the sexes. She cannot defend herself physically or with magic. She practically personifies the Deadly Sin of Sloth in the way she lavishly wants to rest about. It is a miracle that anything can get done and only a matter of time before she is destroyed. Whether that means literally like Hades or through her finally casting off the terrible and useless person she was on Earth, well, it is still impossible to tell. But it seems a bit too optimistic to dream that she will ever be anything but hopeless.

☽ 𝑾𝑬𝑨𝑷𝑶𝑵𝑺 𝑶𝑭 𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑰𝑪𝑬

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Above all else, Edith values the weapon of being a true lady. She does not want to raise a finger to do anything. With a bat of her eyelashes and a flash of her wrist, she is keen on getting others to do all the work for her. Of course, with an assassin taking out her dear husband, she might have to change her aversion to fighting . . . but she is not anywhere near that desire right now. A proper woman of her stature using a weapon would break the very fabric of the universe! { Probably. }

☽ 𝑷𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑻𝒀

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ E would take it as a compliment if anyone were to call her posh, fragile, or simple. Why are those bad things? Women are supposed to need saving, and it would be a shame to waste their beauty on anything but gorgeous arm candy. Her conservative views make many gods and all the goddesses scoff, and they can practically smell her naïvité from a kilometer away. Edith is heavily in denial that she is more than the flawless image of a lady that society demands of its women. Until very recently, she would never have even pondered at the idea of wanting more from her own life. She is also quite stubborn when it comes to having her desires met, and although naturally intelligent, it was never fostered for much besides how to set the perfect table or dance the waltz. Edith is inherently prudent and practical but with a secret and uncontrollable streak of jealousy. Though quite careless in her viewpoints, she is loyal to those she loves. But not that many are willing to stick around to become one of those, given how self-indulgent and absurd she can be right now.

☽ 𝑫𝑨𝑰𝑳𝒀 𝑳𝑰𝑭𝑬

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Edith is very grateful for the Solstice and call to arms. She hates being in the Underworld. Hades was known to almost never leave, but she plans on almost never being there. In fact, setting up in London again sounds exactly like she needs. E might connect with some of her own friends and try to go back to her normal, mortal life. She tries to play it off as just keeping up a good appearance, although plenty of the gods see through her charade. Can she really juggle a mortal and immortal life for very long? Especially when too many questions about her husband and America come up. And, oh yeah . . . those glowing black eyes every time she doesn't get her way.

☽ 𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑫

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Until two years ago, Edith was under the impression that her Russian father fell passionately in love with her Italian mother. But her maternal lineage actually traces back to Afghanistan. Her grandparents fled from the Second Anglo-Afghan War, only to settle on the isle of Venice. Fearing being sent back, they adopted local customs as much as possible and instructed their children on how to blend in. The Nuristani clan, now called Nuraghetti, had been quite well-off back in Kabul, and their wealth was able to create correct papers from midair, afford a nice house along the canal, and hush any suspicions. For three decades, it worked seamlessly. Even one of their daughters marrying an equally rich Russian businessman did not air the family secret. Two years ago, however, Afghanistan received its independence in a third campaign. A letter from a distant relative found its way to one Edith Pshenichnikova's posh London desk. Her mother was no Italian after all. They wanted Edith to come home.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ How could this happen? Edith was always a simple girl. Her stunning, graceful, and startlingly conservative mother taught her everything she ever needed to know. With a parasol always balanced gracefully in her fingers, Edith never so much as freckled under the evil, piercing sun. She was porcelain, both inside and out. Rebelling from the strict gender rules of her society? Preposterous. Exploring the world? Out of the question for such a refined lady! And her parents desperately tried to shelter her from the Great War. According to her innocent little bubble, nothing was really going on in the world, but, of course, politics in Italy were problematic at best.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Edith knew there was a war; she just never realized the scale and scope of it. Her mother moved with her to England's quiet and remote countryside so she could attend a high-end finishing school. Although she was told that her father was staying behind to run the business, the truth was that he was taking up arms in the draft. With his funds, he was high up immediately, but even though he avoided the front lines, it was a dangerous time that they completely hid from their daughter. For their own safety, the ladies remained outside London until the war was over. Over those formative years, Edith became only more polished and refined. When other girls broke the rules, she merely scoffed at their insolence. They would never find proper husbands with such horrendous manners.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ But if her family had lied about something so monumental as where they are from, had they also lied about other things? Would she, too, fail to find a husband due to the skeletons haunting her closet? Edith had lived her whole life tirelessly conforming to all social obligations and striving to be flawless. And why? So she could do absolutely nothing for the rest of it, of course! Edith loved how little was expected of women in her class. All she wanted to do was sit around and paint in the glow of her gorgeous, floor-to-ceiling windows or entertain some other wives in the parlor while the men concerned themselves with real business. How joyous, to be thought of as so delicate that everyone would do everything else for you! This letter might compromise all of that, so she ripped it to pieces and turned to the only case that mattered: picking one of her many suitors.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ There was something . . . unspeakably wonderful about him. Henry Decker. He was everything she had dreamed of since she was a little girl, almost as if he knew all the details of her silly games and fantasies. His American accent charmed her immediately. Although Edith had never considered leaving Europe before, perhaps this was even better. None of her family's secrets would follow her all the way across the Atlantic.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Only Henry Decker never took Edith back to the United States, and his family secrets were much more sinister than anything she could have dreamed of. After their elaborate and lavish wedding in Venice, he brought her to his real home: the Underworld. Edith was only vaguely aware of the Greek myths of old. Why would she learn about heathens when she could be learning about her good Christian duties? But apparently, Hades had somehow convinced the humans that his kidnapped wife had stayed behind, despite Kore almost immediately scorning him and returning Above. Ever since her departure, he had been searching for his one true love . . . for Edith. Of course, he had been using that line for thousands of years, to every girl he brought down to replace the previous with. But what she didn't know . . . well, it probably would hurt her when she started to decay like all the rest. Still, though, he would just keep trying . . .

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ It was all too much for her soft soul to bear. Hades, foolishly, had a type. This new blushing bride was no different. Not that it mattered. Hades liked his wives docile and dependent on him. Edith was more akin to a bird in a cage than anything else, as gilded as it may have been. She wanted for nothing as his Queen. Months of torment that came from having her entire understanding of God, the universe, the afterlife, and her own purpose nearly destroyed her. But she had to admit the pampering and having servants at her constant beck and call certainly helped. The handsome husband who catered to her every whim was the fantasy she had always wanted. And now she would even be young and beautiful forever. Perhaps, just perhaps, this was not so terrible as it had once seemed. Maybe she could have stayed like that forever. Or at least until the darkness of her state began to destroy the light in her soul, just as it did to all the other innocent girls that Hades had dragged down before her. As she was still certainly not privy to that dirty detail, her composure returned, and the situation grew on her.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Edith nearly came around, but it was too late. The Summer Coven knew where to strike, and her King Hades was no more. Just like that, everything changed again.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Thanatos broke the news to the queen. The soft, pathetic, and practically-still-mortal queen. Hades has been murdered. The whites of Edith's eyes flashed black, and no one knows what happened next. Thanatos says it was the grief over-taking her. She disappeared for five days. Perhaps, they all mused, she truly loved the useless Underworld god after all. If only it were that simple. Another goddess found her, naked and shaking uncontrollably, in the mortal streets of London. While E claims to have no memory of anything that went down over that span of time, that is not entirely true. Something changed in her the moment Hades died. She felt it in her soul before being told what happened. She may no longer be human, but for the very first time, E knows what it feels like to be truly alive. Yet Thanatos remembers what she did. He has not told anyone that she smiled as soon as he told her everything. Why was her reaction to smile? In all of his millennia, he had never been so haunted.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ Edith is back now, acting as if nothing has changed at all. She plays her part of 𝒢𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒲𝒾𝒹𝑜𝓌 quite well. After all, she cannot shake off the lifetime of bad habits and problematic views that made her who she is. Her conservative, lazy nature is fighting against the revolution taking place in her heart. And, though she does not dare to admit it, E is beginning to question some things. Are women truly capable of more than being proper housewives and mothers? Do they deserve not only equality . . . but true power? The very thought still makes her nauseous; however, her own experiences coupled with the stunning deities renouncing any and all traditional gender roles are making her question everything she was otherwise raised to believe. Of course, E is a bit too stubborn to admit a possibility like that just yet.

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ She might be able to pretend that she is the same innocent and delicate flower that does not belong in the icy tendrils of winter because no one knows her well enough to suspect otherwise. Except it is certain that these uncontrollable changes will not go unnoticed for long. It is impossible to keep anything under wraps when surrounded by such dark, brilliant, and timeless beings. E is barely a speck of dust compared to her new { rather reluctant } allies. Is being a pretty wife and socialite the only thing she wants from life? It might appear that way still, but it's not exactly true anymore . . . And if her immortality does not destroy her like it has the other queens, then perhaps she was never light and innocent at all.

☽ 𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑰𝑵𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑴𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ The true giant form of Cerberus was much too terrifying for Edith, but as a shapeshifter, he takes on a form in her presence that soothes her instead. So don't underestimate that three-headed, fluffy white kitten resting in her arms. Its bite is much worse than its . . . meow.