"I couldn't do without Pluto, so I'm glad you included him," she says, with certainty. "I think it's the purview of gods to be a little cruel sometimes, though."

She thinks about the gods here in the city, and wonders if they're like that, too. Probably. Power does that to anyone, and...if a deity is what she believes it is, it doesn't have the same kind of emotions that others here on the beach do. A god should be a being more of spirit than flesh.

"What would you recommend for placement? With the tattoo. I didn't know if I wanted it in the middle of my back or up a bit higher, because my hair would cover it."