deernet | [003] video | un: lyreplayer

[ It's early November when Orpheus posts to the network again, this time sitting cross-legged on the floor of his bedroom with his guitar in his lap and the Omni propped up in front of him. The camera catches him leaning back after having set it to broadcast, and he waves as the recording starts. ]

Hi, everyone! I'm Orpheus, and, I thought of something that might be nice for us to do together? I know we're all busy building new lives here, but I don't think that means we have to forget the places we came from completely, or leave those memories behind. Unless you want to? That's fair too.

[ He pauses briefly, looking thoughtful and a little solemn as he considers that, before shaking his head and getting himself back on track.]

But! In my experience a big part of any place a person calls home is the stories that people tell there and the songs they sing, and it seems like it might be nice to share those with each other, as a way of giving each other a glimpse into where we came from, and of preserving them for the future. It can be anything you want to tell us about, whether it's a piece of history or a legend or a song or even a nursery rhyme you like. You don't have to share anything if you don't want to, of course, but I'd really love to hear anything and everything people are willing to add.

[ OOC: This is a mingle post! Please feel free to comment on other peoples' additions and otherwise tag around. ]

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[ Orpheus nods. ]

It's a bit of a long story? There's - I have a song for that, too, if you want it. Or I can just try to sum it up. Do you know who Hades and Persephone are?

[He shakes his head before remembering the man can only hear him, not see.]

I don't know of them.

...I wouldn't mind the song.

[ Orpheus picks up his guitar again, and begins to sing. ]

"King of shadows
King of shades
Hades was king of the Underworld
But he fell in love with a beautiful lady
Who walked up above in her mother's green field
He fell in love with Persephone
Who was gathering flowers in the light of the sun
And he took her home to become his queen
Where the sun never shone
On anyone

The lady loved him and the kingdom they shared
But without her above, not one flower would grow
So King Hades agreed that for half of each year
She would stay with him there in his world down below
But the other half, she could walk in the sun
And the sun, in turn, burned twice as bright
Which is where the seasons come from
And with them, the cycle
Of the seed and the sickle
And the lives of the people
And the birds in their flight

La, la la la la la la
La, la la la la la la

King of silver
King of gold
And everything glittering
Under the ground

Hades is king
Of oil and coal
And the riches that flow
Where those rivers are found
But for half of the year with Persephone gone
His loneliness moves in him crude and black
He thinks of his wife in the arms of the sun
And jealousy fuels him and feeds him and fills him
With doubt that she'll never come
Dread that she'll never come
Doubt that his lover
Will ever come back

So he ventures early into the burning sun
Earlier and earlier every year
And asks that his lover
Demands that Persephone
Return to his home
And every year she stays longer
And winter sinks its frigid teeth
Into spring and fall
The planting is hurried
The harvest fails
And soon all is covered in a blanket of snow

La, la la la la la la
La, la la la la la la"

[It's not a style of melody he's familiar with, but Orpheus is clearly skilled. Lucius listens attentively. It's a few moments before he comments.]

...So it was because of selfishness.

You could call it that. [ says Orpheus, albeit hesitantly. He's not wrong, but Orpheus has always been the sympathetic type, sometimes excessively so. ] He thought he was losing the most important person to him in the world. That's the kind of fear that can drive someone to do almost anything. He caused... a lot of suffering, but in a way I almost understand it? Almost.

[When it's put that way, Lucius can almost understand it too. If he thought he was going to lose his mother, he'd do just about anything too. But there's a difference between fighting for someone and holding them captive. A world of difference.]

But the way he reacted to that fear, that's still selfish.

[Lucius is, admittedly, particularly inclined to quickly despise a man who sounds like he's imprisoning a woman.]

It was. It hurt her and it hurt everyone else. I just...

[ He sighs. ]

I can't bring myself to be as upset with him as maybe I should be.

[ For what little it matters, here, and for better or worse. ]

[Can't relate.

But it does bring back to mind an earlier part of the conversation.]

...You said things were getting better. How does the story end?

That's, um. [ Orpheus pauses, trailing off for a moment. How much does he want to talk about his own involvement? Eurydice's? He doesn't like to lie, or even to hide things, but it's not wholly his story to tell.

He decides on a middle ground. ]

I went to the Underworld, at the end of a long winter with no end in sight. And reminded them of what they used to have. I... lost things, along the way, but Lord Hades let Lady Persephone go, and when I got back to the world of men, it was spring.

[ His voice is tight, trying to keep even. This is as much as he's willing to tell, at least for now. ]

[There is clearly much more to it than that. Lucius can hear the tightness in Orpheus's voice, the pause before the mention of loss. There's a sore spot here. And grief.

...He won't press it.

And ending a long winter-] That's amazing.

Thanks. I really shouldn't take credit, though. I had a lot of help.

[ Who knows how any of that would've gone, if Hermes hadn't bent the rules to tell him how to make it there safely? If the dead hadn't answered his cries, when he'd nearly given up? If Lady Persephone hadn't vouched for him? If Eurydice hadn't shown him why Lord Hades was so afraid? ]

It'll take a long time for the world to heal, even with Lady Persephone coming back when she's supposed to. I'm sort of sad I won't be there to see it? But, I'm sure it'll work out. And it's better for me, being here.

["Better for me, being here." It's not something Lucius wants to admit for himself. The idea is too close to a betrayal of his mother.

(But it probably is. There is so much more he can do and be here.)

Maybe that's why he decides not to pry into the comment.]

I hope it does.

[003] video | un: lyreplayer

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