Seshat: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Architecture (book_mistress) wrote in deities_dot_com, @ 2014-12-11 15:43:00 |
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Entry tags: | ~seshat, ~styx |
Taking Another Stab At It (tag: Styx)
Seshat had never been one to mourn missed opportunities; if something did not work out as hoped or planned, the best way to deal with it was to learn from the experience and move on. The only time she'd ever been persistent in the face of discouragement had been when she'd pursued Djeheuty. There had not been much early encouragement for that, but she'd wanted him in a way that she'd never wanted anything before, so she became determined. But usually, she was just as happy to chalk it up to a life lesson and carry on with her life.
So she was a bit at a loss as to why it bothered her so much that Styx had not liked her. That was probably a bit of an understatement considering the goddess in question was Hate, but dislike was a general enough term that Seshat felt it applicable in a broad sense. Still, it had not been the insult of autistic gerbil that stuck with the Egyptian, but the feeling that she'd left the other goddess upset. She finally decided that the unsettled feeling was due to her husband's relationship with Styx's son: Seshat did not want to be the reason that something Thoth enjoyed was soured.
After due consideration, Seshat decided the only course of action would be to become friends with the Greek goddess. However, given how their first meeting had gone, it was obvious that she was going to need some help in that regard. She turned to something that had never, ever let her down: knowledge. Seshat tracked down, read, and subsequently memorized a long list of books on the topic of making friends, ranging from the classic How To Win Friends and Influence People to the more contemporary Friendships Don't Just Happen!. She read books on how children formed social bonds, books on how to help autistic children make friends, and books on how girlfriends interacted. Though she was a bit skeptical about the collection of essays by Candace Bushnell that spawned a popular television series and some subsequent movies. Briefly, she considered watching said television show, but decided that was probably not necessary.
The next problem, she realized once she'd prepared herself for the bonds of sorority, would be how to approach Styx. She did not know the goddess well enough to predict when or where her next outing might be, and she didn't want to put Kratos in an uncomfortable position by asking him. After all, if this did not work as she hoped-- and not all experiments were successful-- then she'd have used him to upset his mother. That would be very unfair, she decided. Obviously, Seshat would have to go to Styx, which meant getting into the Greek Underworld, a place that was notoriously difficult to find.
After doing some reading, however, it seemed that the trick would not be getting in, but getting back out. There were several well-known locations that heroes had used to enter the place, but all of them had encountered great difficulty and frequently failure when they'd attempted an exit. That would not do at all for her purposes, so Seshat dug deeper in her research. The solution, she concluded, would be to avoid any and all denizens of Hades' realm, both entering and departing. That would take very careful planning, and Seshat was an exceptional planner.
So she came up with a strategy, made a checklist to keep herself on task, then turned to the final step in her plan to make friends. There was one last book that she'd purchased in her efforts to learn about relationships: Tate's Bake Shop: Baking For Friends. She chose several recipes to make, and actually quite enjoyed the process. Baking, after all, was chemistry. When she was finished with the recipe for the Chocolate-Blood Orange Marble Cake, she dusted it with confectioners sugar and plated it carefully in a cake carrier and set off on her adventure.
The cake nearly didn't make the trip. It had been more harrowing than she'd anticipated, and all but one thing was ticked off on her checklist, she'd lost the top of the cake carrier, but the baked good itself was still on the plate with only a minor dent on one side. Still, she'd avoided being seen, and had managed to retain one shoe and most of her skirt. So if her hair was a bit of a mess, it all balanced out to a successful undertaking in her mental tally book.
Seshat raised her hand and knocked on the dark door, then adjusted the strap of the backpack in which she had packed tools for the excursion. She would simply ask if she could compose herself once Styx let her in. Providing, of course, that Styx was at home. Seshat did have a contingency plan for that possibility, but she was hoping for success. If only for a chance to make herself presentable again.