riverview | Now, your Patroclus here was only mostly dead

Entry tags:

✖ the covenant: chase collins

Now, your Patroclus here was only mostly dead

[Patroclus stares at the camera intensely for a moment, checking to see if the device is working. When he realizes it must be, he leans back. And takes a breath He’s gone over what to say many times over.]

Ah, I am Patroclus. I have only recently arrived.

[Not as confident as he hoped to sound but not as bad as he feared.]

I do not know if any of you are from my world, but I understand that I am from a time in the past for many of you. Have any of you heard of Troy? I would like to know if the Greeks conquered it and--

[He braces himself. This isn’t a question he wants to ask. He knows what the general answer will be-- the prophecy always foretold Achilles’s death. But he needs to know how it happened and if his fame was worth the price.]

If you have heard of Achilles, what became of him?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh yeah. His heel's famous.

[ Helpful, Chase. ]

Edited 2017-12-17 14:13 (UTC)

[Patroclus is certain there's a joke he's missing and only slightly less certain it's at his expense. People never change, do they?]

His... heel?

Yeah. I mean literally: his heel. It's a whole thing now.

[ It's been ages since Chase has read the Iliad (or, more likely, an abridged version he probably picked up as a kid), so he doesn't... really remember much beyond the basics.

Which includes... Wait. ]

So was he... a friend of yours?

How is it a "thing?"

[His Achilles's mom was a different kind of overprotective crazy. That part of the legend never happened.]

He-- was a friend, yes.

[ the voice that comes across is quite young but serious enough. ]

I don't remember who won the Trojan war... but Achilles died.

[ Stan remembers the story being read to him when he was younger and he never had much mind for a lot of it but he remembered being sad when Achilles died. It's one of the few details he remembered aside from the horse and all. ]

You were really there? I thought it was just a story...

[ Then he realized that if this person is really from then and knew Achilles...He imagines someone told him Richie died just like he had... ]

I'm sorry.

[Patroclus takes a few moments to respond, both from needing to gather himself after hearing "Achilles died," which makes it all seem so final, and because he's still getting the hang of this network.]

It is all right. I knew he would before the war ended. Yes, I was there. It was not just a story to me, but I'm glad they tell of it. Achilles did not want to be forgotten.

[There's a touch of bitterness beneath that friendly tone..]

[ It's a weird thing to talk to someone that is apparently from so long ago. It's hard to wrap his brain around but still, he can't imagine this is very nice to hear even if it's expected. ]

There's a lot of people that aren't forgotten. We have to learn it in school. I haven't yet but my dad liked old stories like that... I'm sorry I don't remember a lot of details. It's been a long time since he read it to me.

And I'm really sorry about your friend even if you expected it.

You learn it in school? That is--

[Wonderful isn't really the word he's going for.]

That's what we hoped for.

Thank you. I am curious, do you know how old his story is?

[ Stan has to stop and think about it. ]

I think a really long time ago. Maybe even a thousand years or more. I don't remember exactly.

[ omgods, it's patroclus. patroclus from the stories. and not only that, but he's asking about achilles. his two heroes. okay, he has to remain calm. breathe in, breathe out. ]

Um, hi. I'm Nico and I'm a Greek. [ if the dark, shaggy curls and high cheekbones don't give that away. ] Or, I should say, I'm a Greek demigod. I can tell you for certain that Achilles isn't here. He's been, um, guarding the river Styx.

[Patroclus is clearly relieved to see Nico, even if he's the bearer of bad news. Another Greek. Thank, well there are multiple gods to thank. Then again, they owe him a lot for Achilles's death and their other prophecies. Maybe he'll skip the "thank you" sacrifice.]

How did he die?

[He realizes shortly later that a greeting should have accompanied that, but it's now been too long to correct that mistake.]

[ nico doesn't mind. he's still inwardly freaking out because patroclus. ]

Well... an arrow shot by Paris, basically.

[ He generally uses text but he's so surprised and mildly suspicious that he ends up going with video. He probably looks a little wide-eyed. ]

Um, hi. I could probably tell you what happened, I had to— [ read most of it. That's kind of weird to say. ] Well, the Greeks did conquer it in kind of a... [ gruesome and terrible way? but Patroclus was a Greek so maybe not the best thing to say. ] clever way.

Odysseus had a plan to sneak in through the walls by hiding inside a hollow, wooden horse. It worked and, uh, they sort of killed everyone. Mostly everyone.

[ A pause. ] Do you really want to hear about Achilles?

[Patroclus is sure there was much more to it than that to get the Trojans to take in a wooden horse, especially if the plan was Odysseus's.]

A worthy achievement for such cunning.

[Somehow, that doesn't sound like praise.]

It is not a matter of wanting to hear. I need to know.

[ Adam seems mildly concerned about something. He distinctly remembers Achilles' reaction to hearing Patroclus died in the Iliad, surely Patroclus would be upset to hear about Achilles. But judging from his other responses, he seems fairly calm. ]

There are some different stories about what happened. There's the heel one, which most people know, but that doesn't fit with other legends. [ He waves it off. ]

Basically, after his rampage, he was trying to get into Troy and... Paris shot him with an arrow. Some sources say it was guided by Apollo and some say it was poisoned. Either way, it worked.

[This still feels like a strange dream. He died. Hector killed him. He lived. Healers from the future resurrected him. It wasn't the gods or Achilles dragging him out of the underworld. This is the future and another world.

He doesn't react when Adam explains, aside from parting his lips.

Rampage. Shot by Paris, aided by poison or the same god who'd stripped Patroclus of his armor.

Rampage?]

What did he do?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Now, your Patroclus here was only mostly dead

video; un: bewitchy (lmk if anything he says it out of line wrt fourth walling!)

video; un: patroclus (fourth wall away)

no subject

no subject

audio, s.uris

audio, un: patroclus

no subject

no subject

no subject

video; un: ghostking

video; un: patroclus

no subject

@a.parrish; video

video; un: patroclus

no subject

no subject