conversations.from: system
conversations.value: *She [Persephone] was filled with a sense of wonder, and she reached out with both hands*
  
  *to take hold of the pretty plaything. And the earth, full of roads leading every which way, opened up under her.*
  
  *It happened on the Plain of Nysa. There it was that the Lord who receives many guests made his lunge.*
  
  *He was riding on a chariot drawn by immortal horses. The son of Kronos. The one known by many names.*
  
  *He seized her against her will, put her on his golden chariot,*
  
  *And drove away as she wept. She cried with a piercing voice, calling upon her father [Zeus], the son of Kronos, the highest and the best.*
  
  *But not one of the immortal ones, or of human mortals, heard her voice. Not even the olive trees which bear their splendid harvest.*
  
  *Except for the daughter of Persaios, the one who keeps in mind the vigor of nature.*
  
  *She heard it from her cave. She is Hekatê, with the splendid headband.*
  
  --from the [Homeric Hymn to Demeter](http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/demeter.html)
  
  It happened years ago-- the thing whose name you know but despise to say. You have made your peace, you say when the topic cannot be avoided. You are able to speak of the trauma and its aftermath as a journey: a narrative of how you pieced your life back together, how you rediscovered your voice and your sense of power after power was taken from you.
  
  How you moved on.
  
  That was the goal, right? To move forward. To forget, and to leave behind. 
  
  Even if you know that part of you never left that darkness in the depths of the earth.
  
  You can still feel it, the shard of your old self that you could not retrieve. It does not forget. It does not remain buried. 
  
  Especially when your friend calls you one night, the friend who survived *it*, too. She knows that she has not been whole since, and she asks you if you can perform a soul retrieval. It is a ritual that you have performed before: returning to a place of trauma, gathering what the soul lost, bringing it back to make the wounded spirit whole. But never for this. 
  
  Do you remember the way into the Underworld?
  
  Of course you do.
  
  Do you have the strength to go back to the place where you were broken-- bearing torches-- bringing light?
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Priestess of Hekate: You are a devotee of the Shining One. The Goddess of the Crossroads is not easy to follow, but you feel blessed to do Her work.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Create Your Own: Pick a Strength that would make sense in a psychodrama-- a character trait that you could theoretically take with you into the astral or dream world. Examples of good choices: Wise, Perceptive, Patient, Strong-Willed. Examples of bad choices: Physically Strong, Good at Carpentry, Computer Whiz.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: That's the Only Choice: Sorry, this one's non-negotiable!
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Create Your Own: Same drill-- pick a weakness that would carry over into the spiritual world. Examples of good choices: Insecure, Wrathful, Self-Loathing. Examples of bad choices: Not Conventionally Attractive, Diabetic, Impoverished.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Create Your Own: What has your character's journey been? What does she hope to gain by venturing once more into the symbolic & literal Underworld?
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Albert Douglass Park: A local park named after... someone. Its walking trails are pleasant, its Canadian geese... *usually* mild-mannered.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Sandhya: A friend of yours for the past several years. You know what happened to her a few months ago, but you two haven't talked about it much. You've always gotten the feeling that she wants to forget it ever happened.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: At the Crossroads: After a traumatic experience, a person's spirit might fragment-- she can literally lose a piece of herself. In a soul retrieval, an experienced priestess travels through the astral to retrieve the missing piece of the person's soul and help it reintegrate. 
  
  A demanding task at the best of times. Are you really the right person for this?
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Lady of the Crossroads: "A baying of hounds was heard through the half-light: the goddess was coming, Hecate."-Virgil, *Aeneid* 6.257
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: The Beast: Something lurks in your consciousness. You have always known it is there.
  
  Now it's coming to hunt you down.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: The Torch: The instrument of Hekate Phosphoros.
  
  A light that not even the darkness of the Underworld can blot out.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: The Knife: The instrument of Hekate Kourotrophe. 
  
  A tool that, though it appears cruel, cuts away that which is no longer needed.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: The Key: The instrument of Hekate Kleidophoros.
  
  The key that opens the door to Hades, the Underworld, or-- according to the Orphics-- the cosmos.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Sandhya: The one and only.
  
  Now that it's time for the big event, she's having some trouble calming the expected anxiety and getting into the right mindset. 
  
  To be fair, it's not easy for you, either. 
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: The Daimon Spirit: Sandhya's daimon senses your presence. If you are to gain entry, you must first appease this guardian spirit.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Outer Circle: The City: On the other side of the alley lies a shadowy realm resembling a city, but a city twisted into a nightmarish version of itself. There are distorted analogs of streets, buildings, and passersby, all of them with predatory leers and deep insinuating voices. A single consciousness moves within the the city's many voices, some of them familiar. Everyone who ever blamed Sandhya, or you, or made a rape joke or asked what she was wearing-- they are all here.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Inner Circle: The Beast: .
  
  Hello again.
  
  Remember me?
  
  I remember *you*.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: The Center: The Shard: The piece of Sandhya's spirit that broke off during her trauma-- you've found it.
  
  The shame, guilt, self-blame, all of it, has mutated into a self-protective rage. 
  
  If you are going to integrate this shard with the rest of her, you will need to deal with it.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Lost Sandhya: You've found the piece of Sandhya that was lost: trust and innocence.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: The Wheel Turns: *She changes everything She touches, and*
  *Everything She touches, changes.*
  --Starhawk, *The Spiral Dance*
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Obsevant: You care about what is really going on. You pay attention to your surroundings and the people with you. 
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Evasive: You give vague answers to personal questions. You avoid talking, or even thinking, about things that bother you. 
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Honor you faith: In your personal struggles, your faith has been neglected. You feel disconnected from what you once believe, and you want to find that spiritual clarity you once had. 
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Resilient: You have been through Hell and back, and survived it all.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Self-Sacrificing: You would do just about anything to see others happy, often at the expense of your own personal happiness.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Healing: All you want is to heal the own wounds.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Observant: You pay attention to what's around you. You notice people, places, objects, feelings.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Evasive: You don't like to deal with things. You don't answer direct questions, and you don't share very much about yourself. 
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Reclaim your faith: In your struggles you have lost the connection you one had to your faith. You want to rebuild it and feel that spiritual clarity you once had. 
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Congenial: You get along with most people. You're approachable and nice. People feel comfortable around you. 
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Haunted: Something lingers just outside your awareness. You can ignore it and pretend not to see it, but it never really goes away. 
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Derelict: You have been negligent. 
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: I've been down here before: and I know the way out.