Lunamor

Jenny didn’t notice the skepticism. Edgar seemed to be at least considering what she had proposed. ”I can try, at least. Make up for what I did, even if it’s a failed attempt. I can’t just give up and not even consider helping my mom. She deserves it. She’s the best person I know.” She looked back towards the pavilion. ”Please don’t tell the others. They might want to kick me from the quest.” She turned to Edgar. ”I promise that the Bolt will remain my priority. I am not going to let anything else take precedence over that. You won’t need to worry about me.”

After a moment, Jenny stopped crying. She wiped away her tears and was glad that they couldn’t be seen against her black sleeve. Having Edgar’s arm around her shoulder felt nice. It reminded her that she wasn’t alone. She looked at him with flames of determination in her eyes. ”I think I can fix it. We’re going to the underworld on our quest. We can rescue her. I can ask my dad to release her, at least. He loves her and it was an accident. He might listen.” He won’t listen to you, Jenny. He didn’t listen to you before, why would he now?

He… he was sorry? Edgar felt bad for her? That was unexpected. She had killed someone. Not just someone, her own mother. Shouldn’t he have yelled at her? At least admonished her? She’d been expecting that. She’d been prepared for that. Jenny didn’t know how to react. “Thank you.” Jenny’s voice was filled with relief. She wanted to tell him how she could fix it, but that could wait. In that moment, she just cried. Someone knew what she had done and liked her anyways. The secret had been weighing on her for so long. It didn’t hurt any less now that she’d spoken aloud, but it still helped to not face it alone.

She nodded, relieved. He probably wasn’t lying. Edgar didn’t lie. ”When I was little, I had a cat. His name was Johnathan. He was real mangy and had been in so many cat fights it was a wonder there were still parts of his ears left.” Jenny smiled softly at the memory. ”He’d been by my side since I was born- he was older than I was, actually. He was my only real friend. Him and…” Say it. ”Him and my mom.” Her expression saddened and she stared at the ground. ”One day, he died. He was very old. I tried to fix him. I figured my necromancy could do that. I tried and tried, but nothing worked. Eventually, I called out to my dad. Asked him to help me. He refused. Hades said that it was just Johnathan’s time. He got a skeleton to drag him beneath the ground so I’d quit trying. It made me angry. My mom…” Her voice choked up, tears returning. ”She tried to comfort me. I lashed out. I screamed at her, at dad, at everything, and opened a chasm. My mom fell in.” She wiped her eyes with a sleeve, the tears coming faster. ”She didn’t survive. The pit was too deep. I wasn’t-“ She cut off, her voice shaking. ”I wasn’t able to find her, couldn’t even bury her…”

He turned away from her. Did he not want to listen? Could he just not stand the sight of her? She wouldn’t blame him. She hated herself for what she’d done, too. ”Please listen. I need to tell someone this, and I don’t know anyone else to tell. It’s ok if you hate me, though.” Every word she spoke was earnestly sincere.

He hates you, Jenny. No, no, he was just confused. That wasn’t anger. Edgar wouldn’t hate her, would he? She stumbled back a few steps anyways, trying to shove down her fear at his reaction. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Maybe this was a mistake. No, this was her fixing a mistake. It just wasn’t going well.

“Not my fault, not my fault, not my fault…” She had been angry, she had been young, it wasn’t- Liar. Despite how often she ignored it, the voice was right. Anger wasn’t an excuse. Being young wasn’t an excuse. She didn’t have an excuse. Her next words were barely audible. ”It was my fault.” Something in her finally sighed in relief. A fog of hatred was lifted. Thank you, Jenny. You can still fix this. All of the noise in Jenny’s head disappeared and was replaced by a beautiful idea. Hope. She could fix it. But she needed help. She had to tell someone. Had to admit it. She looked at Edgar. Would he hate her? He probably would. It would be worth it. She could save her. ”I’m a murderer, Edgar.” Jenny sheathed her dagger, trying to appear non-threatening.

“Maybe? I don’t think it was something he did…” Remember. The little girl opened a chasm. The kind woman, she- she- Jenny’s eyes began to go glassy, but she fought it off. Remember. The kind woman fell in. She never climbed back out. The little girl waited for her to come back. Waited and waited and waited and waited and waited. ”It was an accident.” Her voice was a whisper. Tears began to pool in her widened eyes.

BICs are longer, I think.

I haven’t held one, but I assume they aren’t super tiny.

A little one indeed!

It’s a lighter. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zippo

“I…” Jenny stopped once they had left the pavilion. ”I think there’s something wrong. Maybe… maybe I’m sad about my cat, Jane? She- she was stolen as a kitten…” She shook her head. ”No, that’s not right…”

Jenny stared at the dagger in her hand for a little too long. ”Fine.” She stood up and started walking away, posture stiff. @The Clarinetist

The sun has to wear sunglasses when Chuck Norris looks at it.

I heard a very funny joke today: What the difference between a hippo and a Zippo?

With each scraping noise, Jenny’s discomfort grew. It was grating enough that it seemed to be the only thing that was filling the emptiness. She didn’t like that at all. It felt like her brain was being scraped against a whetstone too. Shutting her eyes, she took deep breaths, trying to calm down. Scrape, scrape, scrape. Jenny looked at Roy, her eyes cold. ”Stop.” @Weaver of Lights @The Clarinetist

Jenny nodded silently. She was hungry. She should eat. She took a few bites of her scrambled eggs. They didn’t taste like anything, despite the copious amounts of ketchup she had added to them earlier. After a few more moments, her eyes turned back to normal. It took longer this time. The others discussing their tiredness went from indistinct noises to words. Jenny didn’t have any energy either. She wasn’t tired, though. Just empty. Was she missing something?

She smiled. It didn’t reach her eyes. ”I hope so.” ”Hi Harold! I slept well. Being incredibly tired helps with that.” She laughed, but it was an odd laugh. Like one you’d hear from an actor who was tired of redoing a scene where their character chuckles. @RoyalBeeMage

“He’s nice, I think. At least to me. He visited sometimes when I was younger. He…” Jenny paused. She knew lots about him, didn’t she? Quit lying to yourself, Jenny. Remember. Remember what you did. Her eyes glazed over. “He brought me my cat, James. He was a very mean animal, but I loved him anyways. I think he secretly loved me too.” She sighed. ”He ran away after a few years. I like to think he’s still somewhere out there, hissing at everyone he sees.”

“It’s just the going on this quest wrong.” She looked down at her dagger and smiled softly. She ran her thumb along the edge of the blade. ”Its name is Sword. My dad gave it to me when I was little. It was a bit too big for me. Despite him insisting otherwise, I couldn’t be convinced it wasn’t a sword, and refused to call it anything else. The name stuck.” Your dad didn’t give that to you, Jenny.

Jenny didn’t trust him in the slightest, so she watched Roy from the corner of her eye. The guy had literally said he would kill them if he could. She tried to eat, but was nervous. The reality of their quest was weighing on her again. It was a lot of pressure and she hardly felt prepared. In an attempt to settle her nerves, she took out her celestial bronze dagger and started fiddling with it. @Weaver of Lights

Jenny sighed. ”I suppose so. We need to start planning for the quest, figure out what we are going to do.” She was less than thrilled about it, although she did like the other demigods aside from Roy. She reluctantly walked over to his table and sat down. @Ravenclawjedi42 @Part Of The Narrative @The Cowardly One @Scars of Hathsin @.....