[Longwood House, Saint Helena] Home of The Little Corporal

Beriadan
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[Longwood House, Saint Helena] Home of The Little Corporal Oct 21, 2024 20:17:08 GMT

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Post by Beriadan on Oct 21, 2024 20:17:08 GMT

"A monster, is it? You speak harshly of us both, Djinn. I feel we have differing opinions on such matters, but conflict is, after all, the name of the game with me."

Ares gave him a twisted grin, though his eyes were hard and cold. Then Aladdin asked the question. He was silent, staring into the painted eyes of Napoleon Boneparte, a quiet frown contorting his brow.

"Once," he said after a while, "I wished to be other things. Things of a less destructive nature, that enriched mortal hearts and souls. Love, or hope, or beauty. But we speak of times long ago. Zeus made clear that he saw me for no other role than that of War. You may not believe anything else other than my love for war, but ny Fate was twisted the day he imposed this mantle on my shoulders."

Ares sighed, shrugging with exaggerated effect.

"They wanted this to be my role. Forced the helmet onto my head when they disliked my motion to defend our home from the ancient enemies. I could have been something else. Now I am just war."

Ares looked back at Aladdin, his eyes like flint as he stared at the Djinn.

"So, no. I wish for no other title than that of the God of War. Now, all my heart yearns for is conflict, and violence, and tides of blood. Yet Diana, Princess of Themyscira, showed me how to temper that. I wanted to return from a break from long centuries of war, and perhaps hoped humanity would see be different. That gods and immortal beings would view me as more than my title."

He signed again, smiling sadly, softly, turning away from Aladdin to stare at nothing in particular.

"I guess that was a fool's hope. War is war, at the end of the day. Hated, feared and despised. Vilified, for all the good it does. Oh well, such is life as a God."

Ares gave another exaggerated shrug, turning to Aladdin with a smile on his face. His usual expression, eyes not so intense now as they had been a moment before.

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DornKoon
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[Longwood House, Saint Helena] Home of The Little Corporal Oct 21, 2024 20:54:10 GMT

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Post by DornKoon on Oct 21, 2024 20:54:10 GMT

Aladdin took everything in, and as Ares talked, he could tell their lives were not so different, even if Ares had taken a very different path and did not feel much regret about it. If anything, it was spite, anger, and dislike.

"Looks like we both are outcasts of existence," The djinn said, "Monsters are the word the world would use for us, and as a collective consciousness, monsters are what we became. It reminds me of a poem by a man named John Clare. He grew up suffering the effects of malnutrition and was never more than five feet in height. He felt a connection for the undesired elements of the world, the monsters and broken things." Aladdin made a pause before he continued:

"I am! yet what I am none cares or knows,
My friends forsake me like a memory lost;
I am the self-consumer of my woes,
They rise and vanish in oblivious host,
Like shades in love and death's oblivion lost;
And yet I am! and live with shadows tost"

He walked around a table, voice clear, and yet it did not seem like any of the visitors to the mansion paid any attention to either of them at this point, like they were there, but not, at least in their minds.

"Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life nor joys,
But the vast shipwreck of my life's esteems;
And e'en the dearest--that I loved the best--
Are strange--nay, rather stranger than the rest."

Aladdin let the poem's words ring out into the chamber.

"I long for scenes where man has never trod;
A place where woman never smil'd or wept;
There to abide with my creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept:
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie;
The grass below--above the vaulted sky."

As he finished, Aladdin watched Ares for his reaction.

Last Edit: Oct 21, 2024 21:03:00 GMT by DornKoon

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Beriadan
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[Longwood House, Saint Helena] Home of The Little Corporal Oct 21, 2024 21:49:24 GMT

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Post by Beriadan on Oct 21, 2024 21:49:24 GMT

Ares closed his eyes as the words washed over him. He noticeably became less tense than before, rocking on his heels with a growing smile on his face. When Aladdin finished, he released a long breath, as if he had been holding it in for an eternity.

"Beautiful. It is often easy to forget that mortals can craft art from mere words. The plights of man and gods are often so closely entwined."

He opened his eyes, watching Aladdin with a serene gaze of a man who has found something in an ocean of nothing. He bowed his head gracefully.

"I think I know my purpose, and understand what I must - no what I want to do. Thank you, Aladdin. This meeting, fated or not, has opened my eyes. Perhaps I will see you again, on the battlefield. One side, or the other."

Ares grinned, reaching out a hand to shake. Whatever their differing opinions, he felt like he had needed this frank chat with another soul so similar, and yet so different.

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DornKoon
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[Longwood House, Saint Helena] Home of The Little Corporal Oct 22, 2024 8:46:18 GMT

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Post by DornKoon on Oct 22, 2024 8:46:18 GMT

"Yes, they can be very insightful sometimes," Aladdin agreed, "I think it's the finality of their existence that inspires them to make such words of art, something entities like us could never hope to understand. After all, when you have eternity, how can one fully understand the fleetness of mortality."

He accepted the hand again before nodding.

"Glad to hear it, as long as its what you want." Aladdin nodded, adjusting his shirt. "Well, I had best be off. I can't stick around in the past forever; I must move forward. See you around, Lord Ares." He turned and began to walk away but stopped. "Oh yes, I ran into Harmonia; it was outside Paris sometime after the Second World War. She was looking for you, so you might want to check in with her at some point." Aladdin continued walking as his form dissolved into the air, vanishing. His last words lingering. "Does seem your children still hold you in high regard."

Last Edit: Oct 22, 2024 8:46:30 GMT by DornKoon

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Beriadan
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[Longwood House, Saint Helena] Home of The Little Corporal Oct 22, 2024 11:33:56 GMT

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Post by Beriadan on Oct 22, 2024 11:33:56 GMT

Ares watched the Djinn slowly vanish, giving him one final, silent nod. Then he was alone. Slowly, he turned, heading out of the house and towards the airport. It was a long way to America... but he knew he had work to do.

"My children, is it? Seems like it has been a long time... but I feel it may be longer still. I have work to do."

[End thread]

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