(Heaven's BBS)

[cieled]

From: Ciel Phantomhive (Asteria)
Date: September 7th

I have neglected to announce my presence in this manner and I am perhaps overdue. I am Ciel Phantomhive and I have discovered that I am filling in for the Grecian goddess Asteria. (An ironic choice for reasons he will never tell.) She is the Titan goddess of falling stars and nighttime divinations (such as oneiromancy (by dreams) and astrology (by stars)). She is also the mother of Hekate, goddess of witchcraft.

(He is sitting at a desk, glancing at an open book briefly with his uncovered eye.)

Are there any others who hail from the year 1889?

Comments

[amongthethorns]

I understand. Such things are a welcome comfort in light of strange surrounds and events.

[Alan grins.]That's good. [He tilts his head a hint of amused curiously coloring his next words.] Do you know how to swim?

[cieled]

(He narrows his eyes suspiciously.) ...of course. (No. No, he does not know how to swim. Or, at least, he hasn't needed to put the skill to use despite having almost drowned twice?)

I do not find it enjoyable.

[amongthethorns]

[Don't give him that look. He's not your butler it just amuses him since he knows Ciel is the sickly twin and unlikely to have had much activities as such.]

I never did learn actually. However, while you're afforded the chance and opportunity perhaps you should try it now. You may find it less unpleasant here than back home given advancements.

[cieled]

(Hey he has come a long way since then! Except when his Asthma acts up. Why do cats exist anyway?)

What advancements could have been made? Man has been around water since the beginning. I am sure swimming comes naturally once one tries.

[amongthethorns]

[Cat allergies and asthma you poor soul. Alan doesn't envy this boy a bit. He knows those feelings of waking gasping for breath that comes too short as weak pained puffs, when his chest is far too tight and coughing is bone-jarring. They're not the different.]

They do have flotation devices now. Some pools have a shallower wading area. They have people that can teach you to swim. The cold would have been an issue for me personally at your age, now they make them heated as well.

[cieled]

(He was very protected as a child, which is likely how he survived. As a baby and a small child, Asthma can be especially fatal. He has far less attacks than he used to, but cats definitely do not help.)

You had weak lungs? (He glosses over the rest of what is said. He will need more reason to try swimming. His experience on the Campania has ruined that sensation for him.)

[amongthethorns]

[Alan considers a moment before speaking softly.]

I was very sickly. It wasn't bad when I was young but it progressed.

[And eventually he did what he needed to, died, became a reaper as punishment; got the Thorns. Being dead didn't spare him from illness like he'd wished. He'd laugh at the irony if he was the kind.]

Have. Still have. The Thorns are rather like a lung illness.

[cieled]

(He feels a small amount of empathy, but he is cautious with that emotion. Empathy in the wrong hands could be devastating.)

You cannot escape it. No matter where you go or who you try to be, it hounds your steps.

(Being weak is embarrassing and...inevitable. For humans, at least.)

[amongthethorns]

Well, I was illness free for a time. Contracting the Thorns was a fluke accident and since I passed with the illness I assume it came with me here.

[He smiled faintly.]

Thankfully it's not something that is transmittable. So no one else can catch it.

[cieled]

That is entirely frustrating. If the gods cannot free you of it, who can? (He would be far more bitter than him about it.)

[amongthethorns]

In the interests of being fair to the powers that be I've not asked. [His head tilts to the side and he considers.]

I believe you were aware of what happened the last time some one attempted to free me of it, Earl Phantomhive.

[No bitterness here no anger or blame placing. Just simple facts.]