When All is Said

[Electra]

Just a little more... a little more... why couldn't I have gotten a teeny bit of super strength, anyway? With a grunt and a gasp, Stesha finished moving her bookcase the last six inches to its new home in the corner of her living room. With a couple of new tenants moving in, she needed to free up some extra space around the apartment. Moira hadn't told her exactly where she was going, just that she needed someone to take care of her plants. Stesha wasn't one to turn down a friend, or a plant, in need, so she'd said sure. Now she had to go and get them... but first, space had to be cleared.

It took another twenty minutes of pushing and gasping and some very mild cursing, but eventually, she had sufficient space in the garden area by her front window for the visitors. Stesha had planned to take her car to go pick them up, not wanting to be too dependent on her powers in the daytime, but she was already exhausted and running late. The last thing she wanted to do was fight traffic. Closing her fingers around the leaf of a cheery diffenbachia, she willed herself across town, right into Moira's living room. She hoped nobody was naked.

[Moira Morley]

Moira felt silly, like she was going to a costume party. Only this costume party would last a whole year. She wondered what she would learn there. She was given no curriculum. Could it be just one long frat/sorc party? What does a godling need to learn? Wound she have to wear this toga the whole time? At least the circlet and sandals were cool looking.

Still semi-wet from showering, Moira dried off and walked into the living room. She looked at the giant piece of white silk with equal parts happiness and fear. Picking it up she slowly wrapped it around her body once. It as almost like she felt like the fabric was sizing her up! Was it magical? She didn't have time to think about it, Stesha had arrived.

"Hello," Moira greeted Stesha with a curtsey and a smile as she held the fabric around her body, "Lovely timing you have. Would you like to learn how to tie a toga?"

[Electra]

Stesha blinked. "We have to stop meeting like this," she blurted out, smiling crookedly. "But I guess so... are you going to a party?" She picked up the trailing edge of the long, long fabric, startling a little at the way it seemed to cling to her fingers for a moment as though examining her before going limp. "I should've called before I came, but I was running late. You need me to watch your plants for awhile?"

[Moira Morley]

Moira chuckled happily, "If we stopped meeting like this, it wouldn't be fun would it?" She was going to miss Stesha the most. She knew she made the sweet girl blush, but it was so fun.

"First you wrap it around like so," Moira modeled what she had already done. She thought about making her blush, but she actually wanted to teach as much as this fabric did. "Wrap it around twice. Take the remaining part and tie it into a belt Then use the belt to tie around your waist. Then around your neck. Then tie it off like a tie. Finally, use the rest for tying around your back. Tada!" Wow, this fabric was really accomodating. Almost as it took instructions and showed her where her curves were while she was dressing. The silk was loose but snug against her body.

"Well, that's the thing," Moira shrugged, "I don't know if this is going to be a party or it could be a time of hard knocks."

[Electra]

"What do you mean?" Stesha asked, walking around to look at the way the toga fit. It certainly looked a lot better than most of the getups she'd seen at toga-themed parties, but part of that had to be the person underneath. "Are you actually going to be going on a mission... are the Knights going on a time-traveling mission?" she asked, her eyes wide. "Is that why you're all dressed up?" Derrick hadn't mentioned anything, but she didn't think all the Knights went on every mission. Surely he'd have said something if he'd be going away long enough for plant-watering to be necessary.

[Moira Morley]

"No," Moira said with a bit of uncertainty, "But they know I'm going to to be gone for an indeterminate amount of time." She looked around a bit nervously, as if someone was watching her. Even though she wouldn't know if Adrian Eldrich was around the corner to smack her down, it was reflexive (even though this would be the first time). "There's something I have to tell you. Remember all those times I jokingly said I was a goddess?" Her voice turned more confident echo-y as she began to shine with a pearly glow. "Well, now you must know! I am the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite! All will kneel before me and worship!" She cut off the booming voice with a snicker, though the echo and glow still stayed, "Nah, you don't have to kneel. I just wanted to do that."

[Electra]

Stesha's eyes went big as she took a step or two back at the glow and the voice. It seemed to take her a second or two to shake it off, even after Moira turned down the volume. "Wait, you mean seriously? Like, literally a Greek goddess?" Sometimes it was very hard to tell when people, especially superheroes, were taking a self-deprecating poke at themselves or when they were being serious. On the other hand, Divine certainly looked every inch the part, wearing the toga and glowing like a goddess.

[Moira Morley]

Moira nodded slowly, "Well, the correct term is 'Hellenistic deity', but Greek goddess sounds so much more fun." She picked up a box made of cedar off of the couch. It had a small etching in Greek that she couldn't read but i Opening it she found a circlet made of pure silver and a pair of white silk sandals to match the toga. She happily bounded over to Stesha to show her, "Neat, huh?"

[Electra]

"It's beautiful," Stesha agreed, taking a few steps forward to look into the box. "But if you already knew who you are, why do you have to leave now? Do you actually have to go and live in Greece and do... whatever hellenistic deities do?" Her face fell. "Are you ever going to be able to come back? You know I'll take care of your plants, but I thought you were only going on vacation!" she exclaimed, her voice wobbling a little.

[Moira Morley]

Moira closed the box and sat it down. She looked to Stesha with somewhat of a smile of indecision, "Honey, I'm going way farther than Greece. Believe me, if I didn't have to do this I wouldn't. This is a rite of passage so to speak. They're going to teach me everyhing there is to know about being a 'Hellenistic deity'." She took Stesha gently into a hug and almost cooed as she talked, "Don't worry, I'll be back. I couldn't live without my mortal family. Angel, the Knights, Ace." She smiled and looked at Stesha, "Definitely you."

[Electra]

Stesha hugged her back. "I think you're doing just fine the way you are," she told Moira staunchly. "Why do you need more training in anything? You're already on the Knights of Freedom, and you can handle practically anything or anyone." She lifted her head and looked up at Moira, momentarily distracted as her words percolated. "I didn't even know you knew Ace," she admitted. "It really is a small world. And you should be here!'

[Moira Morley]

"I really wish I had a say in this," Moira , "but it comes all once in our life whether we like it or not." Picking up the box she walked over to the couch, beckoning Stesha. She slipped on one of the sandals and the straps tied themselves up her calf. "Huh, maybe I should have done the goddess thing earlier," she grinned as she thought alloud. Twirling the silver circlet around her finger she felt it's weight, "It's only a matter of time before I am taken away."

[Electra]

"They shouldn't just be able to take you away because they want to!" Stesha replied indignantly. "This is a free country, mostly, and there are laws even for supers. And you have so many friends who would help you! If you don't want to go, I'm sure they will help you. I would help you, but I don't know what I could do except hide you in a plant until they stopped looking, and that probably wouldn't help very much." She sighed. "Do you think it's going to be very bad?"

[Moira Morley]

"Unfortunately they can and they will," Moira sighed then smiled, "this is my family though, they won't do anything to hurt me." She stood up as the pearly glow got stronger and the echo got deeper, "Maybe when I come back I'll have my own worshippers and something to look after." She meant for that statement to sound sarcastic, but it sounded nice to her, "Moira, Defender of Love!" She was shocked and a little bit em to hear it comeout in such a way, Smiling half-heartedly, "Guess I gotta work on controlling that voice."

[Electra]

Stesha looked unconvinced. "If you want to go, I'll tell you good luck and that I hope you have a nice time. But I'm serious. Maybe your family calls themselves gods, but they're almost like metahumans too. They're not invincible or unstoppable. I don't know any hero in Freedom City who wouldn't do anything they could to try and stop you being kidnapped to someplace you don't want to go. You shouldn't just accept it like this if it's not what you want!"

[Moira Morley]

Moira reached out for Stesha's hand and held it for a second before embacinging her. Not as a lover or a friend, but as a life partner. "You're right," she said trembling as she held on to her. The echo made the voice sound a bit distorted and trippy. "I don't even know what they're going to do to me there. It could be hell on wheels or it could be total bliss. I either would be trapped there or never want to come back. I try to envision it as one bi toga party, but then again when have those types of places ever been only fun and games?" Her grip tightened, but not painfully so. Even at a whisper het confident voice was great and terrible, "I will realize my place in my family. None will challenge my authority. You will stand beside me, or will you not?"

[Electra]

Stesha stood on tiptoe to murmur into Moira's ear, still holding on tight. "I'm always on your side, you know that," she reassured her friend. Or what was mostly her friend, but also something different and strange and a little frightening. "Let me call Ace, or Taylor," she implored softly. "They'll know what to do and how to help. It isn't fair that you should have to do this and not even know what you're getting into. If your family wants to be a part of your life, they can't treat you like this!"

[Moira Morley]

"Do what you must," Moira nodded as she let Stesha go. "I am a fair and merciful. You shall be an oracle unto me. While I am gone, You will recieve revelations from beyond the veil." The pearly glow began to resemble a fire that absorbed her. Under the 'flames', Stesha heard a voice familiar to her, "Don't give up, please?"

[Electra]

"Moira, wait!" Stesha reached out into the painlessly burning flames, but she couldn't reach, as though Moira were growing more distant without moving at all. Instinctively she lashed out with her powers as well, sending skinny branches whipping out of the bonsai trees and racing through the air towards the pillar of light. Their aim was true, they wrapped into a round snare right where Moira should have been, but Moira just kept getting fainter, till it was hard to see her at all. "I'll get help!" Stesha promised. "We'll find you, just hang on!"

[Moira Morley]

Moira tried to tell her friend goodbye, but it was too late as the flames swallwed her up. She how found herself in a marble hall looking at other people in togas. Unlike what she thought the greeted her happily. "Good day, Edone. Welcome back to Olympus." She felt natural in her surroundings as if she had lived here forever. She was ready. Subconciously, her mortal side wept.