Macaria: Difference between revisions
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Maci collapsed for the first time when she was five months pregnant with Neo, scaring the absolute hell out of Tory - and herself, once she'd regained consciousness. For she had not ''fainted'', and her appearance slumped upon the ground was not one of someone peacefully asleep. The color had drained from her cheeks, the breath had stopped from her lips, and her heart had silenced from her chest. Maci had become the picture of death, an illusion only broken by the knowledge of her own immortality. Tory had not been able to wake her. In a panic he'd called absolutely anyone in the palace, then Ilythia, Seph. Ilythia confirmed that Neo, kicking happily away within Maci's womb, was perfectly fine. It was Seph who recognized the symptom, recalling that Nyx, when she'd carried the God of Gentle Death (none other than Thanatos himself), had fallen into a similar spell on and off throughout that pregnancy with him and his twin. |
Maci collapsed for the first time when she was five months pregnant with Neo, scaring the absolute hell out of Tory - and herself, once she'd regained consciousness. For she had not ''fainted'', and her appearance slumped upon the ground was not one of someone peacefully asleep. The color had drained from her cheeks, the breath had stopped from her lips, and her heart had silenced from her chest. Maci had become the picture of death, an illusion only broken by the knowledge of her own immortality. Tory had not been able to wake her. In a panic he'd called absolutely anyone in the palace, then Ilythia, Seph. Ilythia confirmed that Neo, kicking happily away within Maci's womb, was perfectly fine. It was Seph who recognized the symptom, recalling that Nyx, when she'd carried the God of Gentle Death (none other than Thanatos himself), had fallen into a similar spell on and off throughout that pregnancy with him and his twin. |
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During a moment when Maci was awake, she and Tory asked Nyx what she knew about this strange effect and what it could mean. With a degree of shock, Nyx shared that throughout her hundreds of pregnancies with hundreds of children over the millennia, this death-like trance had only ever occured during the pregnancies for just two gods: Thanatos, Gentle Death – but also Violent Death [[Ker]], one of Nyx’s |
During a moment when Maci was awake, she and Tory asked Nyx what she knew about this strange effect and what it could mean. With a degree of shock, Nyx shared that throughout her hundreds of pregnancies with hundreds of children over the millennia, this death-like trance had only ever occured during the pregnancies for just two gods: Thanatos, Gentle Death – but also Violent Death [[Ker]], one of Nyx’s firstborn daughters. The symptom was indicative of a special power called the Touch of Death: the extremely rare and exclusive ability to instantly stop the heart of any mortal by mere contact. The only two deities that had ever had this power, in all eternity and existence, ''were'' Thanatos and Ker, and after consulting anxiously with [[the Fates]] their growing hypothesis was confirmed. Baby Neona was going to be a Death goddess. Maci was carrying Thanatos' own replacement. [[File:Neofam.png|thumb|link=https://64.media.tumblr.com/3e706a83240badc147450a8e189d41f4/5c24e846ed33c169-b9/s1280x1920/7d6ae39332094b3f50152021a0e5576f5fe94426.png|Baby Neo and her parents, Tory and Maci.]] |
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Bearing the very child who was now prophesied to take over the divine role of their most hated enemy unlocked a new emotion of smugness mixed with terror, though fully processing this news was delayed by Neo's growing powers in utero ruining Maci's life. They discovered that each time baby Neo was awake, her uncontrollable powers were triggered to knock Maci out completely into this terrifying pseudo-comatose state, over and over. After about a month of this psychological torment, hell for both Maci and Tory, Maci had reached her mental breaking point. She and Tory begged Ilythia to supernaturally accelerate the pregnancy to bring Neo out faster, which she did, thus adjusting Maci’s due date from October to July. The staggering overnight difference in pregnancy stage was a small price to pay in exchange for this pending relief. |
Bearing the very child who was now prophesied to take over the divine role of their most hated enemy unlocked a new emotion of smugness mixed with terror, though fully processing this news was delayed by Neo's growing powers in utero ruining Maci's life. They discovered that each time baby Neo was awake, her uncontrollable powers were triggered to knock Maci out completely into this terrifying pseudo-comatose state, over and over. After about a month of this psychological torment, hell for both Maci and Tory, Maci had reached her mental breaking point. She and Tory begged Ilythia to supernaturally accelerate the pregnancy to bring Neo out faster, which she did, thus adjusting Maci’s due date from October to July. The staggering overnight difference in pregnancy stage was a small price to pay in exchange for this pending relief. |
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<small>[[Macaria#toc|(Return to top)]]</small> |
<small>[[Macaria#toc|(Return to top)]]</small> |
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Neo's kidnapping had been more traumatizing for Maci and Tory than it had been for Neo, who grew up to forget that this had ever happened |
Neo's kidnapping had been more traumatizing for Maci and Tory than it had been for Neo, who grew up to forget that this had ever happened during her infancy. For several months after the event, both Maci and Tory struggled to take their eyes off of Neo ''ever'', nor let her out of their arms. Time went on - they did both eventually recover, though the memory of the event, particularly the horrible monologue Maci had heard from Thanatos before Tory had come, the echoes of Thanatos' words, would haunt and effect Maci well beyond the worry of her daughter's safety. ''This is an important fact for much later - particularly in reference to the resurfacing of one specific [[Chalasmos|godling]]...'' |
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So Neo got older and Maci, to her credit, did ''not'' helicopter her despite the brief urge at first to continue to clutch and cling in Neo's early toddlerhood. Tory as the voice of reason at her side helped. Neo was so independent and fearless even as a baby that soon, clearly, it was impossible to even want to smother her down and confine her. Toddler Neo was a bubbly joy, though she liked to stare at people - through people, more like, a piercing gaze that only intensified as she got older. Still, even the looming knowledge of the realm Neo was Fated to inherit did not dampen or alarm Neo's spirits or Maci's spirits... during these early years. With Thanatos now actually gone, Maci and Tory knew that the Fates' plan all along ''would'' come to fruition, and Neo certainly wielded the power they'd known she would, capable of instantly killing ''anything'' remotely mortal - plants, pets, and yes, one day, mortal humans. Sure, the Death Gods preceding her had all turned bad, and Maci didn't ''like'' that Neo's destiny aligned with theirs, but when Maci looked at her sunny little baby, there was no scythe to cower from: just a pair of twinkly violet eyes that matched her own. Maci - ''still having never properly dealt with anything to do with hers and Thanatos' history'' - had already stifled back another layer of trauma that had stacked up from Neo's kidnapping and had "moved on," in her opinion. Knowing that Neo would ''actually'' walk in Thanatos' footsteps would not affect her relationship with her daughter, said Maci firmly to herself. |
So Neo got older and Maci, to her credit, did ''not'' helicopter her despite the brief urge at first to continue to clutch and cling in Neo's early toddlerhood. Tory as the voice of reason at her side helped. Neo was so independent and fearless even as a baby that soon, clearly, it was impossible to even want to smother her down and confine her. Toddler Neo was a bubbly joy, though she liked to stare at people - through people, more like, a piercing gaze that only intensified as she got older. Still, even the looming knowledge of the realm Neo was Fated to inherit did not dampen or alarm Neo's spirits or Maci's spirits... during these early years. With Thanatos now actually gone, Maci and Tory knew that the Fates' plan all along ''would'' come to fruition, and Neo certainly wielded the power they'd known she would, capable of instantly killing ''anything'' remotely mortal - plants, pets, and yes, one day, mortal humans. Sure, the Death Gods preceding her had all turned bad, and Maci didn't ''like'' that Neo's destiny aligned with theirs, but when Maci looked at her sunny little baby, there was no scythe to cower from: just a pair of twinkly violet eyes that matched her own. Maci - ''still having never properly dealt with anything to do with hers and Thanatos' history'' - had already stifled back another layer of trauma that had stacked up from Neo's kidnapping and had "moved on," in her opinion. Knowing that Neo would ''actually'' walk in Thanatos' footsteps would not affect her relationship with her daughter, said Maci firmly to herself. |
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This was the beginning in canon of Maci's carefully teetering tower of stifled, buried, compartmentalized trauma stretching back from many hundreds of years in the past, finally beginning to disintegrate. Neo was elated to have her scythe, something that she recognized intrinsically as a birthright - even as Maci visibly shrank back from it. Maci could barely stand to look at the thing, every fiber of her being screaming in alarm. Logically, within the tiny reasonable part of Maci's brain which often did not get a say in her behavior, Maci knew that the simple symbolic weapon was entirely separate from the daughter she loved and cherished, and so too was the specter of the villain who had tormented her. These three variables had little to do with each other. But Maci was not thinking rationally. She was so distressed ''anyway'' by Chal's rehabilitation project that the presence of Neo's scythe was too much for her to bear. During this time, Maci's psyche crumbled. The collapse had been coming for ''millennia.'' |
This was the beginning in canon of Maci's carefully teetering tower of stifled, buried, compartmentalized trauma stretching back from many hundreds of years in the past, finally beginning to disintegrate. Neo was elated to have her scythe, something that she recognized intrinsically as a birthright - even as Maci visibly shrank back from it. Maci could barely stand to look at the thing, every fiber of her being screaming in alarm. Logically, within the tiny reasonable part of Maci's brain which often did not get a say in her behavior, Maci knew that the simple symbolic weapon was entirely separate from the daughter she loved and cherished, and so too was the specter of the villain who had tormented her. These three variables had little to do with each other. But Maci was not thinking rationally. She was so distressed ''anyway'' by Chal's rehabilitation project that the presence of Neo's scythe was too much for her to bear. During this time, Maci's psyche crumbled. The collapse had been coming for ''millennia.'' |
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| ⚫ | With the elation of receiving her scythe and thus, intrinsically, unlocking within herself the first stages of her future Death Goddess role, Neo didn't even notice Maci's reaction right away - not really. At 10, Neo knew that the god who had preceded her was a villain who'd hurt her parents and family, and she'd even seen the aftermath of Thanatos' last attack before his death some years before. Even at this young age, Neo was intelligent and perceptive, and so she did immediately and obviously know that her mother wasn't going to like the gift Ker had given her. Still, Neo was immediately attached, that Fated piece of her soul connecting immediately, and so at first, she didn't realize how severely Maci had cowered away... not just from the scythe, but from Neo herself, a recoiling that Maci was barely conscious of. |
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====''Maci gets therapy''==== |
====''Maci gets therapy''==== |
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<small>[[Macaria#toc|(Return to top)]]</small> |
<small>[[Macaria#toc|(Return to top)]]</small> |
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| ⚫ | Maci's interactions with Chal during this very time period are detailed moreso within Chal's section here on Maci's page, but suffice to say she was already handling herself poorly on a daily basis, while meanwhile Neo was beginning to happily train under the weapon-master god [[Enyalios]] to learn how to properly wield her scythe. Maci shut down completely. Though she'd known the Fated role Neo was destined to fulfill since before she was born, now the mere sight of her own daughter proudly wielding a duplicate of the very weapon that had caused Maci so much harm brought back anger, distress, and anxiety that she'd thought she'd already dealt with long ago. In truth, Maci had always been in denial of the fact that she had ''never'' actually dealt with ''any'' of the aftermath from Thanatos' hold on her, breezing past the trauma she'd endured to "deal with later," with that "later" being a time she never intended to reach. |
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Reeling from this tidal wave, grappling already with the concurrent situation going on with Chal's presence, Maci's relationship with Neo suddenly became laced with a tension that had not been there before. This tension persisted from the time Neo was 10 until she was almost 14 years old. The logical sliver of Maci's brain was no match for the overwhelming cascade of triggered anxiety that consumed her, and against any better judgements Maci found herself trying to quietly avoid Neo whenever possible. Neo had never been particularly clingy and was now occupying her time with Enya's weapon training, so she happened to remain oblivious of her mom's sudden distance until she was about 11 years old and realized all at once how badly Maci cowered whenever Neo tried to share the details of how she'd spent her day. |
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| ⚫ | With the elation of receiving her scythe and thus, intrinsically, unlocking within herself the first stages of her future Death Goddess role, Neo didn't even notice Maci's reaction right away - not really. At 10, Neo knew that the god who had preceded her was a villain who'd hurt her parents and family, and she'd even seen the aftermath of Thanatos' last attack before his death some years before. Even at this young age, Neo was intelligent and perceptive, and so she did immediately and obviously know that her mother wasn't going to like the gift Ker had given her. Still, Neo was immediately attached, that Fated piece of her soul connecting immediately, and so at first, she didn't realize how severely Maci had cowered away... not just from the scythe, but from Neo herself. |
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| ⚫ | Maci's interactions with Chal during this very time period are detailed moreso within Chal's section here on Maci's page, but suffice to say she was handling herself poorly on a daily basis, while meanwhile Neo was beginning to happily train under the weapon-master god [[Enyalios]]. Maci shut down completely. Though she'd known the Fated role Neo was destined to fulfill since before she was born, now the mere sight of her own daughter proudly wielding a duplicate of the very weapon that had caused Maci so much harm brought back anger, distress, and anxiety that she'd thought she'd already dealt with long ago. In truth, Maci had always been in denial of the fact that she had ''never'' actually dealt with ''any'' of the aftermath from Thanatos' hold on her, breezing past the trauma she'd endured to "deal with later," with that "later" being a time she never intended to reach. |
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Reeling from this tidal wave, grappling already with the concurrent situation going on regarding Chal's presence, Maci's relationship with Neo suddenly became laced with a tension that had not been there before. This tension persisted from the time Neo was 10 until she was almost 14 years old. |
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==Raz== |
==Raz== |
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