fandomtownies | Wednesday at the bank

Wednesday at the bank

It's been a slow day at the bank, and Salmoneus is once again doing clerical stuff on his writing machine. He's using it to prepare customer statements, but this time he's actually using the white paper that came with the machine when he bought it.

This paper is different from parchment, the ink seems to hold better on it. It tears much more easily, though, so he's careful as he puts each new sheet in the machine. The balled up papers littering the floor around the desk are proof of his abilities with the new fangled technology.

Needing a break, he steps outside for a moment and straightens the new sign hanging next to the door. It reads:

A Contest: Name the Harpy!
My harpy is very sad cause she doesn't have a name.
Drop your suggestions in the message box,
and if that name is chosen,
you get dinner for two at Deb's Diva Dive!
Help name the Harpy!!

please make sure to leave your
name and address with your entry

Happy with the sign, he nods and heads back inside.

There's a ringing sound, again. This time he knows where it's coming from and he goes over to look at the strange ringing thing. He still has no idea what it is, or how it makes the bell like sound. Watching it for a moment, he shrugs, then goes back to his desk.

The ringing eventually stops.

Salmoneus goes back to his typing.

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Elizabeth passes by the bank, and shrugs as she reads the message.

Shes scribbles "Hathor" on the slip of paper, adding Elizabeth Weir, Room 239/240 to the back, and dropped it in the box.

On her way home from work, Duce catches a familiar word out of the corner of her eye. Turning to look at the sign more carefully, an expression of outraged anger darkens her features. Drawing herself up in riteous fury, she pushes through the doors and looks around for the first available human.

Spotting Salmoneus, she marches over to him and demands, "Where is she?!"

"Um. Hi. Where's who?" Caught with his hands, literally, inside the cash drawer, Salmoneus straightens up, closes it, and looks at the young woman glaring at him. He decides to start the conversation over. "Hi. I'm Salmoneus. And you are..?"

Duce responds tersely, "We are Medusa. The Harpy. Where is she? We haven't scented her, and if you have her in some sort of magical bondage.."

The snakes on her head writhe in agitation. Duce is visibly angry and upset, potentially at the thought of another creature from her era being held captive by a.. mortal?

"Bondage?" Salmoneus gulps. This teenager was Medusa? Ordinarily, he'd be inclined to laugh at her audacity, but Fandom Town wasn't ordinary... and she did have the glasses... and the snakes...

"She's... well, she's a gift from Hades... to watch over my vault. She's not chained or anything, but he's ordered her to stay and guard, and she does." He edges towards the door. "I just fed her. She likes fresh stag." Carefully he opens the door to the back room, holding it to show the girl. "It's a harpy. And I just thought I'd give her a name."

[ooc: this is great and I want to continue but I have to shower and head to work for five hours. Will you be around tonight?]

Duce visably relaxes as Salmoneus speaks, "Oh, one of Hades' girls. That's ok then. She's not a wild Harpy. That would be why we didn't scent her, then."

Peering in at the obviously well fed and well taken care of Harpy - although, for a Harpy, that usually meant it's nails weren't quite as caked with grime and it's smell kept down to a less gagging odour, Duce commented, "It's well that you thought to name her. They get quite testy without names, and then people like Peter. S. Beagle incorporate them in stories as something to be feared." Duce muttered, almost under her breath, "Idiots."

"You're Greek, then? Are you one of Hades' minions? How is the old bastard these days? He never calls, he never writes.."

(ooc: Yup! *hee!* Fun!)

The harpy looks up sharply at the opening of the door. A strip of meat hangs from her mouth. She waits a moment before going back to her meal.

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm a minion," Salmoneus told Duce. He stopped and looked at her. "You know him?" Then he shook his head. "Never mind. Yes, I'm from Greece, from Thrace. And the old ba -- I mean, Hades is fine, or he was the last time I saw him, though he said something about the modern world being a pain." Salmoneus regarded Duce carefully. "So, what do you think I should name her?"

"Thrace?" Duce looks puzzled, "New one on us. Is that one of the smaller islands? Hades and ourself have a long history. He was one of the few people on my side after the thing with Athena. Don't think he likes her much. Can't say we blame him. Glad to hear he's doing well. We were a little hurt he hasn't come to visit, but .. well, really, this place is so nice it makes our teeth hurt, and we can only imagine how he'd feel. That, and the weather changed, which means Persephone's on her yearly trek and he'll be a little.. ah.. preoccupied for the next six months or so."

Regarding the harpy with a fond smile, murmurring, "You should name her something beautiful."

The banker frowned. "I tried that, but I couldn't think of any names. That's why I came up with the contest. There has to be some creative person out there that can come up with something she'd like." He folded his arms. "I figured I'd choose the top six and lay them in front of her. Let her choose -- the first one she eats will be her new name."

Duce nods, still watching the harpy eat with a bemused smile, "Then we offer Alianora." Gesturing into the room, she asks politely, "May we?"

Salmoneus, still kind of in shock from meeting the actual Medusa, gapes at her for a moment. Then he remembers what she is, and moves aside. "Please, be my guest! But be careful. She growls at people who get too close when she's eating."

Duce nods her thanks and moves forward, standing closer to the harpy but not close enough to make it feel she was a threat to it's food. Watching it eat with a pleased smile, she asks in ancient Greek, "Do you speak, in this world?"

A wide-eyed Salmoneus leans against the doorway. He'd missed the sound of his own language.

More surprising, though, was the reaction of the Harpy, who stopped eating and cocked her head at the female in front of her. A trilling sound echoed from her throat; not really speech, it still seemed to convey some sort of message. Salmoneus couldn't understand it, and he wondered, almost hoped, that this young woman could.

Nodding, Duce responds to the harpy, "That makes sense. As much fun as it is to mock the humans, if Hades sent you here as a favor to Don Salmoneus, it's probably better if the customers can't understand what you're saying. They take offense very easily, even if what you have to say *is* absolutely true."

Her face moves as though she's giving the harpy a cursory once-over, and she seems to relax even more at the obvious well-being of the other creature. Giving Salmoneus a look of almost admiration - after all, there weren't many people who would bother taking such good care of a creature notorious for being utterly foul in almost every way imagineable - she asks the harpy, "Is there anything you require, or any service we can provide for you?"

Another trill came from the Harpy's throat, and this time it was accompanied by her pushing piece of stag meat away from her.

Salmoneus nodded. "I think even I understood that one. All Hades ever sends for her is stag, and I'll bet she's getting tired of it. I thought of getting something else, but I wasn't sure what, or where to get it."

[ooc: what DO you feed a harpy, anyway? *g*]

Duce frowns thoughtfully, and lost in thought, forgets to switch back to English, "The meat's too clean. She'll need more grit if she's to stay healthy. She'd also like lamb or goat, something a little more gamey. There's an Arabic butcher in town who could probably supply that. She'd also like to hunt. That's not really safe in town, but we could take her into the woods."

The last is half-murmurred to herself.

(ooc: They're described both as hunters and carrion eaters who will eat stuff no matter how dead. They're also filthy, disgusting, foul mouthed critters who hate humans. I rather like them. *g* Don't know how they work in Xena/Herc canon, though.)

Salmoneus smiles and answers her in ancient Greek. "If you could tell me where that butcher is, that would help. Also, anytime you'd like to take her to the woods, feel free to let me know. I couldn't go, cause if she's not here, I'd have to be here to watch over the vault." He looks thoughtful and switches back to English. "Unless... well, maybe I could get Tex to watch... hmm...."

[ooc: no wonder she loved the zombies! heh. they didn't do much with them in Xena. Just had them attack Xena as she was trying to sneak into Hades palace. I'm trying to get a capture of one for an occasional Harpy post -- probably after she's been named.]</small

Reverting to English without really thinking about it, Duce answers, "He's over on RandomNPCShop street. If you let him know in advance, he could probably get you the meat with the skin and bones left intact."

Turning to face Salmoneus again, she inquires, "Tex? The... lady with the armory, new in town? Big shiny armour?"

[ooc: Yup! They're fun mythical critters.]

"Yes, that's her." Salmoneus grinned. "You know, when she first walked in, I thought she was Hades. They have the same color armour, and she's so tall . . ." He chuckled at himself. "But she's an okay person, from what I saw. I even kind of like her."

He moved back toward the door, wanting to watch for customers. "What do you do here in town? Do you have a job, or do you go to the school?"

Duce nods thoughtfully, "We saw her in the pub once. She seemed .. interesting." Smiling ruefully, "Hades and his overcompensation. He *must* be taller than every other male in the room, or he's just not happy."

Giving the harpy a nod, she heads back for the door to allow Salmoneus to get on with his business. She answers, "Both, actually. We're a student and we also work here in town, with Red. We do henna for him." She makes a face, "Have you seen what some of the crap people have been trying to pass off as henna work? UGH! The souls of a thousand harem slaves are positively spinning."

"How did you come to be here?" She sounds curious, "We didn't think there was anyone from .. back home.. here."

Salmoneus turns red and looks away. "Uh. Yeah, that. Well," he holds the door for her to go through, then closes it behind them and walks over to the counter.

"I run this place for Hades. He, um, asked me to." He looks at her, hoping she'll buy it, then throws up his hands. "All right, all right. He's angry with me and put me here as punishment, okay?" Shoulders drooping, he leans against the counter. "He's not a forgiving sort, you know?"

(ooc: gmail never sent me a notify! Sorries!)

Duce gave the man an odd look when he mentioned Hades' 'request', but the expression cleared when he owned up. "This place seems to be where the Greek pantheon choose to exile people for punishment. We were happily dead until Hera stuffed us back in a body and sent us here. Hades is obviously no more forgiving, although we've always gotten along with him ok. But really, we ask you, being a teenager again? Was that fair? No." She sighs, "At least we had time to adapt to the culture shock."

Thinking of something, she pauses to regard Salmoneus again, asking, "How are you adapting? This.. has to be a pretty significant change."

"Well." Salmoneus has to think about that. "How does one adapt? You just -- do what has to be done." He leans thoughtfully on one elbow. "I think the biggest thing is that there so much that's new. I can get used to ball point pens." He lifted one, then pointed to the machine with the letters on the keys. "And I like my new writing machine. But even with the crash course Hades gave me, there's still a lot to get used to."

He raised his arms in a helpless gesture. "He tells me this miker-ave thing will help save cooking time. But all it does is blow up my eggs or make my bread like rubber -- which is a fascinating invention in itself." Salmoneus shook his head. "And there's so many new types of people. My first customer was some kind of canine! He held the pen in his teeth and left fang marks on it." Looking up at her he held up a hand. "I'm not complaining. It's been fun, except for the zombies. I'm just saying -" He stopped. "It's very, very new."

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Wednesday at the bank

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