metemmods

Player Information
» Name: Krista
» Age: 42
» Journal:

thedrau
» Contact: AIM: wyrdfae Email: thedrau@gmail.com

Deity Information
» Pantheon: Greek
» Deity: Medusa
» Reference: http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Gorgones.html - Specifically: Hesiod, Theogony 270 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
"Poseidon, he of the dark hair, lay with one of these [Medousa, one of the Gorgones], in a soft meadow and among spring flowers." In reference to the relationship with Poseidon as will be portrayed here.
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/bogan/medusamyth.htm - This has summed up almost every possible description and analysis of Medusa through many ages. It shows the strife quite solidly between her and Athena, though the reasons can differ. The interest between her and Poseidon versus his rape of her in Athena’s temple is adequately vague but all interpretations are portrayed.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/index.htm - The Hesiod in its entirety from which I am basing the relationship between Medusa and Poseidon as consensual attraction between them both.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/medusa-greek-mythology.html - While my research into Medusa leaves me to believe that the modern interpretations of her role as a priestess to Athena is exaggerated at best, I include this link if only to prove that I examined all possibilities of her. I did not find a classical/ancient reference to Medusa being a priestess of Athena, just a rival to her in beauty and suffering for that fact by Athena’s curse. One thing holds firmly through all of the interpretations: Medusa herself never claimed to be as beautiful if not more so than the goddess.
» Divine Family: {mother & father} Mother: Ceto, Father: Phorcys; {spouse} None (lover: Poseidon); {siblings} Sisters: Stheno and Euryale; {children} Pegasus and Chrysaor
» Mythology: Medusa lived on the edge of Night with her parents and sisters, both of whom were immortal. She was not. She knew that the only way she could achieve immortality for herself, to be remembered, would be to make her own mark on history. She came up with a plan, one that worked well for others. She had no idea that not only would her plan succeed but she would gain her immortality for a very different reason.

Her plan was simple: bear the child of a god. The mothers of the demi-gods were respected and cherished. The complication was which god should she pursue. Zeus was popular, but notoriously strange about his impregnations. Hades wasn’t even a thought. Because she had an arrogance that would not settle for anything less than the oldest gods, that left just one and he had an even worse reputation than Zeus. Poseidon. His infamy didn’t matter to her. She knew the risks involved in courting his attention, but was convinced any hurts would be worth it in the end if she got what she wanted.

Attracting his attention was easy. She, herself had a reputation for being one of the most beautiful women alive. All she had to do was flaunt it teasingly just off the shoreline, getting closer from time to time but never letting so much as a toe touch the water until she felt it was time. It worked. One day she stepped into the surf, ankle deep, inviting the sea god with her body. He answered that invitation, and she gave her virginity over to him there on the beach. Now all she had to do was keep him coming back.

She danced a dangerous step, taunting and flirting from the water’s edge until she realized that Poseidon was being stubborn and resistant about returning to her. She put into effect a contingency plan and began to court another god, Apollo, as a replacement, not willing to give up on her plan for a child of the gods. It worked perfectly. Poseidon found her about to make a sacrifice to the sun god and stopped it by taking her again. She welcomed him and his less than gentle attentions, giving just a bit more of herself, in her mind calling it a reward to the sea god. She might have been arrogant, but she was not so stupid to say what she thought to Poseidon or all of her plans would die along with her.

He came to her again and again after that until a kind of relationship formed between them. It was unbalanced in that Medusa came to care for him more than he did for her. To him she was a possession, a cherished one but there it was. Her heart however was beginning to warm and soften for him. That was more dangerous than the temerity of her plans. She knew it, but she wasn’t certain how much she cared.

Finally, she came to discover that all of her plans, all of the bruises and careful dancing around an ego even larger than hers bore the results she sought. She was pregnant. In her exultation she went to a temple of Athena to offer a prayer of gratitude for the strength and bravery that got her this far. She was unaware of the disagreement between the goddess and Poseidon over the naming of a certain city. Poseidon caught her at her prayers, boldly entering Athena’s temple to call her to task. When she questioned why he was so angry with her when she was doing as all mortals were instructed, praying and making offerings she had cause to rejoice even more. He named her his and nothing that belonged to him prayed or made offerings to any god but him.

Elated at this news she did not resist him when he drew her to the floor of the temple, sealing his claim to her there in Athena’s sacred space. As they lay there, spent she was about to tell him her news that she carried his child when an enraged Athena interrupted. But the goddess did not strike Poseidon. She cursed Medusa instead, changing her into a monster with snakes in place of her beautiful hair, sinuous coils instead of her lovely curves. And as for her eyes, anyone who looked into them was turned to stone.

Poseidon did nothing to stop this. Medusa went mad from heartbreak, retreating into the mountains and the solitude of the caves where she grew a reputation she had never planned for. She became renown for being a challenge, something to be hunted. Soon her caves became littered with the frozen stone statues of would be heroes who sought to kill her.

But Athena wasn’t finished with her vengeance for her temple being desecrated, and arranged for Perseus to have the ability, cunning and weapons to kill Medusa, taking her head. She also told him to harvest the blood from Medusa’s body with specific instructions since the blood from each side of the gorgon could be used in different ways. The blood from her left side remained a terrible poison while the right side could heal anything including death. The samples of Medusa’s blood were then given to Asclepius, Apollo’s healer of a son, for his own uses.

It was only after her death at Perseus’ hand that the achievement Medusa had schemed and worked so hard for was realized. From the blood that fell from her severed head came not just one child but two: the winged horse Pegasus and Chrysaor, the hero of the golden sword. As for her immortality through history, she would always be remembered for the monster Athena made of her.

Character Information
» Played By: Hilary Rhoda
» Journal:

solid_gaze
» Current Name: Madeline Fletcher
» Birthdate: 03/15/1983
» Height: 5’8”
» Distinguishing Marks: Ears pierced once. Tattoo of a snake on her right hip, gotten when she graduated college: http://www.tattooforaweek.com/images/black-tribal-snake-temporary-tattoo.jpg
» Family: {mother & father} Mother: Janice Fletcher, Father: Mark Fletcher; {marital status/spouse} Single/NA; {siblings} Younger Brother: Brian, age: 21; {children} none; {pets} Various venomous snakes.
» Occupation: Herpetologist at the Central Park Zoo. She cares for and milks the venomous reptiles.
» Currently Residing In: New York City
» Ability: Medusa/Madeline has an affinity for reptiles in general, snakes in particular. Even the most aggressive specimen is passive in her hands, if not affectionate. This comes in handy with her position as a herpetologist at the Central Park Zoo where it is her task to milk the venomous reptiles, catalog the species, toxicity content and shipment to anti-venom manufacturers. She cannot control them. Does not speak their language. They just really like her.

Her gaze can be steady and intense, possibly disturbing. Looking into her eyes for any length of time past a few heartbeats can be downright mesmerizing. She cannot influence you in this slight hypnotic state, but she can hold you still with her gaze. Touching you or jarring you can pull you out of it.

» History: Madeline Fletcher was born on the Ides of March, 1983 in an upscale suburbs in Connecticut. She was a quiet if precocious child until her brother was born six years later. Then she became the ultimate older sister. While she never did anything downright cruel there were plenty of noogies, wedgies and embarrassments in front of cute girls their entire childhood. Honestly, some might say their family was pretty typical and boring for an upper middle class anglo-saxon family. Until you scratched beneath the surface, that is.

Madeline always had this habit of staring at people and things she didn’t like or who angered her. Her mother dismissed it whenever it was called disturbing as something her daughter learned that bothered people. Ignore it and she will stop, was the offered advice. She was mistaken. Madeline had indeed learned that staring so flat out and blatantly disturbed people but the more uncomfortable it made her subject the more pleased and satisfied she became. She particularly liked using this on her brother and his friends when they would take over the game room and she wanted it.

The other upsetting habit she developed at an early age that her mother could not dismiss was Madeline’s attraction to reptiles in general and snakes in specific. At the age of four she found a little green grass snake in their backyard and frightened her mother to tears when it was found in her crib with her while she was sound asleep later that night. She had smuggled it within her clothing and placed it in her bed at the first opportunity then clung to it with her small fist, her thumb in her mouth which was how her mother found her when she checked on her. Much to her mother’s dismay this affection for the slithery set only grew as Madeline got older.

By the time she graduated high school she had more than a handful of specimens to call her own. Her parents would not allow her to obtain an exotic pet license that would allow her to own venomous snakes. Those would have to wait until she was well into college where she studied biology with an emphasis on herpetology. Her professors in the science marveled at how easily it came to her, how focused she was and praised her work. Her other classes that had nothing to do with it, those requirement credits she gave as much attention as they deserved, barely passing them with as much disdain as she could aim at them. It was what kept her from being in the top percentage of her graduating class and almost kept her from continuing her education. If not for the intercession of a professor who had taken more of an interest in her calves than her work with snakes she might not have gotten her doctorate.

That was another aspect of herself that Madeline learned early on, much to her brother’s discomfort. She was and always had been gorgeous. Worse, she learned how to use it to get her way, seducing more than one of her brother’s friends when she needed something from them. The problem for most of the men in Madeline’s life was that didn’t exactly put out. She preferred to lure them in, make suggestions but never any promises then drop them as soon as she got what she wanted. This carried her through high school and college including that professor who took her on as an academic assistant while she finished her doctorate, but he never did manage to get more than a glimpse of those calves he admired and that from a distance. But the suggested promise of them kept him hooked.

Things changed after finished her PhD and was recruited to the Central Park Zoo’s Herpetology Department in New York City. It wasn’t her dream job but it came with enough status and prestige in the field she couldn’t turn it down. She would head up the venomous snake milking and study laboratory which meant she wouldn’t have to give demonstrations to an annoying public, would possess autonomy for her research and work, have contacts within the specialty field with the venomous reptiles and be surrounded with her little lovelies.

Her work became her ritual instead of routine, her focus never wavering which was why when a snake she was very familiar with bit her one day after being milked she was more than a little surprised. As were her supervisors. Protocol meant she had to go home while the incident was documented and investigated. That was when the dreams began and the realization of who she really was: Medusa! Once favored by Poseidon, cursed by Athena, killed by Perseus. Mother of Pegasus and Chrysaor. And she was not happy in the slightest with how she remembered her life ending up.

» Personality: Madeline is one of those rare people who are truly comfortable in their own skin. She tends to be quiet, reserved and focused, especially when it comes to her work. She always seems to have some thought or another that makes her smile in a way that makes most men want to know what she’s thinking about. Some have accused her of doing that on purpose. She is most certainly aware of her beauty, but rolls her eyes at most compliments and flat out ignores invitations. That isn’t to say that she’s a prude. Far from it, but any casual flings are just that and on her terms.

She’s been asked repeatedly why a woman who looks like her is in a lab surrounded by bad tempered and dangerous reptiles instead of on a catwalk or a photoshoot in Nice. Her answer has been an irritated shrug and a disdainful “I like snakes”. The times that the inappropriate jokes about phallic symbols come out she’s patiently waited for the opportunity to teach the individual the error of their ways either by socially damaging them or getting them fired. She doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.

» Other Notes: Her sexual preference is straight, but she will enjoy teasing anyone after her memories are awakened, especially if it will get her something. English is her primary language, but she speaks enough Latin from studying biology.

» Sample Journal: One of my Vipera Ursinii bit me after milking a week ago. Her toxicity was diminished at the time so after keeping an eye on the location of the bite and not seeing venom streaks projecting from the punctures I didn’t worry about it.

Then followed night after night of dreams. Dreams that seemed all too real. ALL too real! Real enough to get me curious enough to browse the web. Imagine my surprise!

So tell me, lovelies. Where might one find Athena, Poseidon and Perseus?

» Sample Log:Characters: Medusa
Date/Time: May 1st/ 3pm
Location: Reptile observation lab/Central Park Zoo
Rating: PG
Warnings: Cussing maybe, snakes
Summary: Ouch!....whu-?

A day like any other since she had started working for the reptile lab at Central Park Zoo, Madeline was sorting her venomous snakes for the day’s milking. As always she was working alone with her choice in music playing through the iPod speakers on the shelf far enough from the work table so it couldn’t become a problem for those times when an agitated snake leaped from its container. It has happened.

She always chose soothing music with a gentle rhythm when it was a harvesting day. The snakes reacted to it. There was something to say for those far eastern snake charmers with their drums and their pipes. A lot of it was the motion but she was currently writing a thesis on the effects of music on reptiles for a publication.

At the moment Siouxsie and the Banshees’ cover of Trust In Me was playing as she lifted the lid to the container holding one of her female Vipera Ursinii, meadow viper. This one came from the mountains of Greece. She was proud of her since the poor thing had come to the zoo as a rescue and almost hadn’t lived. It did however mean that the snake was more temperamental, more prone to striking than some of her others so Madeline was wearing her thick gardening gloves to handle her.

It turned out that they weren’t enough in the end. The snake had seemed to be accepting of being handled today. Madeline carefully removed her then went through the process of harvesting the venom as gently and humanely as possible.

The mellowness of the whole milking was possibly what led to what happened next. Madeline would be the first to admit when she had lowered her guard for just as she was replacing the snake into her container and had released her hold behind the snake’s head, the viper whipped around and sank her fangs into Madeline’s arm behind her wrist where the gloves didn’t reach.

She quickly but carefully wrangled the snake into the container and secured the lid before tearing her gloves off to see to arm. The bite location was rinsed thoroughly as she held pressure against the veins behind the bite in an attempt to stem the flow of whatever venom might have remained in the snake’s sacks.

Protocol for the zoo came next with her summoning her supervisor, paperwork to be filled out later to document the incident, a mandatory anti-venom shot to be safe then she was sent home for the day while the administration would review the incident. She was assured she would not lose her job as she had been the best herpetologist they have had with the venomous reptiles in a long while, but the red tape of everything that had to happen for the zoo’s insurance would require that she remain on administrative leave for a few days at least.

That night was when the dreams began.

NAVIGATION