themuseabandonsyou | Deerington IC Inbox

Oh.

[He looks very awkward for a moment, but-- why should he be surprised? Asgardians exist in his world, and some people still worship them as Norse gods, why shouldn't that be true elsewhere? Why shouldn't Orpheus have heard his myths directly from one of the gods?]

Must take a lot of guesswork out of belief, if you've actually met them, huh?

[ Orpheus takes a second to think over what Stefan is saying, before nodding. ]

I think I'd still believe even if I hadn't known a few of them personally? But my world is kind of - different, I guess. Even if you've never run into one of the gods personally, it's hard to avoid noticing their work, moving the sun through the sky or tending to storms and the sea, or keeping the seasons in time. And it's harder still not to notice when they uh, don't do those things.

[ He goes a little distant for a moment, glancing out the window and thinking about the long, long winter he endured and Eurydice... didn't endure. It takes him a moment to shake it off, but when he does he picks up where he left off like nothing happened. ]

But I guess where a lot of the other Sleepers come from, that kind of thing just... goes, by itself. Like clockwork. I guess that would make it harder to know if there was someone responsible for all of it.

That's what it's like in my world.

[He doesn't usually offer many pieces of information about himself or where he's from, too cautious about running into someone else who might surprise him by being from the same place, but this seems a pretty safe revelation. Especially given that.]

You mean-- seasons could just stop working if the god in charge of it took the day off?

[If gods even take time off work.]

Well, sort of? The seasons actually were, um. All wrong, for a really long time back where I came from. But that wasn't because anyone was taking the time off so much as two of the gods were having some trouble with their relationship.

[ And he feels kind of bad getting into it with a stranger, but it is sort of common knowledge back where he comes from. The gods' marital disputes kind of have a way of becoming everyone's business back home, whether they like it or not. ]

Do you know the story of Hades and Persephone?

Uh.

[There's a faint light of recognition in his eyes, and he looks both surprised and a little pleased that he does know what Orpheus is talking about.]

Yeah, I think I read about it when I was a kid. Something to do with pomegranates, right, and the spring?

Yes! Um, [ He pauses a moment, thinking. Normally he tells this story as a song, but Stefan's asked him not to sing around him, so he has to consider how best to put it in words rather than lyrics. ]

A long time ago - long before the gods left their ancestral home on Olympus - the weather was always the same, all year round, and the goddess Demeter oversaw a season of perpetual harvest. The fields were always filled with crops, and the trees laden with fruit, and the goddess's daughter Persephone roamed the ever-blooming wilds.

One day when Lady Persephone was gathering flowers, she came across a man who was so stricken by her grace and beauty that the only thing he could think to do at first was sing. Now, Persephone had many suitors befor, but there was something different about this man, and as they shared the day they each came to feel that they'd always known each other - that they just fit together, like two halves of a whole. So when the man asked her to follow him home, she agreed.

Except, as it turned out, 'home' was the Underworld, for the man was none other than Hades, the Lord of the Dead. But Persephone loved him, and he loved her, and she willingly followed him into the dark, leaving behind the verdure of her mother's world above.

Demeter, though, wasn't pleased to lose her daughter like this. She grieved the union like she was mourning Persephone's death rather than her marriage, and with her grief came the first winter, the first failed harvest, the first famine.

[ He pauses there, figuring he's gone on for a little while and Stefan deserves a chance to react to the story so far. Orpheus watches him carefully, trying to gauge his reaction and whether he should keep going on as he is or try to wrap it up more quickly.]

[Bucky isn't the most talkative individual at any time, but he's totally silent as Orpheus begins his rendition of Hades and Persephone. At first, he expects the other man to just tell him a brief summation of the story, a snapshot in a few words, but it becomes obvious pretty quickly that he's getting a detailed retelling of the tale.

It's... strange. Not just the story itself, which has echoes of familiarity that suggest he's definitely heard it somewhere before. But for the tale being told. He doesn't think anyone has told him a story like this since he was a boy, and he finds that he's utterly enraptured. A stirring in him of excitement, long buried, for someone who used to love hearing stories, reading fantastical tales, and dreaming of the legends they spoke of.

His expression doesn't alter much, a slight softening that suggests he's enjoying the tale, but his eyes are blazing with focus and interest, fixed hard on Orpheus' face. It takes him a moment when the flow of the story pauses to realise that Orpheus is waiting for a reaction, for him to say something.]

Don't stop.

[He probably should be asking questions, or giving his opinion on the characters themselves. Those two little words are inadequate. But he doesn't want to break the spell of the story, the flow of it, by inserting his voice into the proceedings. He just wants to hear what happens.]

[ Orpheus actually smiles a bit at the intensity in Stefan's eyes, glad to see he hasn't lost his touch and gladder still that Stefan seems to be interested in it. It's a longer story, and Orpheus isn't one to abbreviate - especially not the important ones - so it's good that he's enjoying himself. ]

When Hades and Persephone noticed the flood of starved and freezing souls entering the Underworld, they knew what had to be done. Persephone had to return to the surface, or risk the whole world dying. But Hades feared that once she had gone back, that Demeter would never allow her daughter to leave her side again, and Persephone knew that this was more than possible.

So instead of leaving right away, Persephone stopped by a pomegranate tree that had sprouted when she arrived, and plucked one of the fruits from his branches. She split it open, and swallowed six of the seeds, binding her to the underworld - a promise that she'd return, for six months out of every year.

And with that, she walked out of the Underworld, and found her mother, who was so delighted to see her that the winds blew hotter and the sun shone brighter than ever before, bringing us the first summer. Slowly, the world recovered.

But a goddess's promises are binding, and after six months in the wind and sun it was time for her to return to her husband. She bid her mother goodbye and ventured back into the comforting darkness below, and Demeter, knowing that she at least had the assurance that she'd see her daughter again this time, was more even-handed in her grief.

So the world settled into this rhythm, with Demeter celebrating her daughter's return each year with all the blessings of the Earth, and retreating into her sorrow and the cold when Persephone returned to Hades. And for a long time, it worked. Even as Demeter handed over many of her duties to her daughter, the fields and trees remembered their original mistress's love - blooming in the spring to welcome her back and giving one final parting gift in the fall to send her off before withering until her return.

But in the end, it didn't last. Hades, normally patient as the grave, slowly grew to fear and resent his wife's time spent away from him, dreading that she'd return to him each year. The doubt made him possessive, and the worse he got, the more it drove Persephone away, seeking freedom from his ever more crushing embrace. The two of them fought bitterly, but while Hades never stopped loving her, and she never stopped loving him...

[ Orpheus frowns, sighs, and shakes his head. ]

At first he just started coming to the surface each year. To escort her back home personally. But then he started coming earlier and earlier, and letting her go later and later. So the winters lasted longer and longer, and the summers turned short and blazing hot as Persephone and the land around her tried to cram as much living into what time they had as possible.

It had been like that for... about as long as I can remember, when I came here. Probably longer than I've been alive? But Hades and Persephone - they were doing better, I think. He let her go when he was supposed to. It was spring again.

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