Athens Initiation

Athens Initiation
Date 2082-03-09 GM Silas Location Athens, Greece
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Agathon
Shine
Casualties and losses
None
Shine gains initiate grade II and acquires the Adept Centering metapower

Note: While this run occurred on the 9th of March 2082, the actual session was run by Silas on 17th March 2021.

Summary

During the events of Black Site Blue Shine takes some time away from legwork and mission prep to enjoy the people and places of Athens. She visits the Acropolis, a journey that takes on aspects of a pilgrimage given her tradition, and undergoes an almost religious experience.

Background

After a successful raid on the wrong Ares Arms facility, Shine, Lil' Boomer, Sp4rks, Triple Trouble and Boombox spend several days laying low in Athens. While the other's work to establish the location of their true target, Shine takes the time to visit the sights. She feels particularly drawn to the various temples of the Olympian Gods at the Acropolis, and takes a break from shopping for Zenith to visit the site that compels her attention. She dresses in her best bathing suit and sarong, packs a few items into her duffel (including a single round of ammunition) and get's ready for a day out on her own.

The Meet

Shine calls a taxi, and meets a Minotaur cabbie named Agathon. The two hit it off immediately, and after Agathon drops her off at the base of the mountain path leading to the Acropolis, she takes his comm-code and promises to call him when she needs a ride later.

The Run

Shine ascends the mountain path to the Olympian-aspected site. As she rises, so too does the background count. Soon she's in a state of almost euphoric serenity - and she's not alone. A small handful of the site's other visitors are also awakened, and keenly affected by the local BCG. Shine feels a tug at the sarong she wears over her bathing suit, and looks down to find a young cyclops aged about 7 or eight who clearly feels it too. Her assensing confirms the youth is awakened, and after a brief interaction, she sends him enough money via commlink for him to be able to afford an ice-cream, much to his mother's bemusement.

Allowing her vision to drift from true sight, to AR, to the astral, Shine feels herself particularly drawn to the Temple of Athena Nike, dedicated to Athena in her aspect as a Goddess of Victory as well as to the lesser-known Goddess Nike herself. She moves towards the place where the aspect of Athena feels strongest, but is distracted by a sudden thought. Just as she's directing her attention to the spot where Nike's own aspect is stronger. She's moving to leave the offering of the single round of ammunition to Nike instead, when screams and running feet catch her attention.

She finds a man injured upon the ground, and a crowd around him. While she approaches, she feels a sense of serenity settle upon her person. Feeling it too, the crowd between her and the injured man parts silently and willingly at her approach. Always a creature of grace and poise, Shine feels her natural abilities heightened to a most unnatural degree, and almost experiences the sensation of floating which she draws closer to the man. On reaching him, she calms the man's partner with a serene, almost beatific smile, and sets to tending his wounds.

While she does so, the little Cyclopean boy, now smeared from mouth to diaphragm with melted chocolate, asks if she's an angel. Shine shakes her head, and pings his commlink. "No, but if you like, I can be your muse." While local medics escort the man away, she returns her attention to the Temple. Finding herself almost alone, she removes the CrashCart dog tags that bear her real name from around her neck, and deposits them in a crack in the pillar closest to where she feels the presence of Athena herself. On so doing, she feels such an instant lightness of being, of satisfaction and contentment, that she realises she has left her old life behind her forever. She remains there for long moments in respectful silence, before retrieving a small stone chip from the dust at her feet and continuing her tour of the Acropolis complex.

On descending the stairs back to the bottom of the path, she looks back with a smile, and travels onwards into her future.

Aftermath

Shine contacts Agathon and asks to be taken somewhere the locals like to eat, rather than somewhere that charges for over-priced tourist food, and promises to buy him dinner in return. She's introduced to the wonders of Meze, and makes a mental note that she should order some for her team-mates once she's back on the boat. The two then go clubbing, again, finding a snug little local club frequented by tourists, where Shine dances the night away with Agathon. Careful not to wake him, she makes her way back to the boat in the morning and sneakily returns to her cabin just as dawn clears the mountain of the Acropolis behind her, confident, and hopeful, concerning what the future brings.

Rewards

Shine becomes a grade II initiate (at a discount) and acquires the Adept Centering meta-power. She also acquires Agathon as a contact and is left bemused when she discovers a few days later than she can now read and write in ancient Greek.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Shine: Odd to think that one of the most spiritual experiences of my life could also be so disconcerting. The closer I climbed to the Acropolis, the more dream-like my surroundings and thoughts became. I don't think I've ever encountered a background count specifically aligned to my tradition before. It was oddly euphoric, sopophoric and serene all at once. Were it not for feeling my feet and heels against the stones, I might have thought I was floating. Even now I feel strangely different. Lighter almost. As though a burden I hadn't known I had carried had been taken on by another. And all because I left the last link to my old life behind as a sacrifice to the manifestations of the Olympian tradition.

And I speak Greek. When did I learn to speak Ancient Greek?