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Tweak says, "bang bang you shot me down"

Lethe (oblivio) wrote in forgotten_gods,
@ 2010-01-02 11:29:00

Entry tags:

lethe, makaria

Who: Lethe and Makaria
Where: Manhattan Psychiatric Center
When: January 1, early afternoon

Lethe found her own way to Makaria's room. She could, of course, have simply asked - could have approached the woman at reception, sought out "Asphodel"'s case manager and presented some fabricated story about a runaway sister or a lost friend, but on the whole it was far less complicated this way. Nobody noticed her as she made her way through the sterilised corridors (or none of the doctors did, at least; she caught one or two patients staring directly at her as she passed them by). Eyes simply slid past Lethe, looking through her, forgetting her presence almost as soon as they'd registered it.

The Psychiatric Center was a big building, and despite having obtained Makaria's room number from a member of staff (he'd given her a bewildered look when she addressed him, as though seeing her for the first time, and when she left he carried on as though she had never been there at all) Lethe got lost more than a couple of times along the way. But find it she did, at length, and approaching the door she sensed the familiar presence of a fellow chthonian.

She knocked, before turning the handle and peering inside. "Makaria?"

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blesseddeath
2010-01-02 03:31 am UTC (link)

Makaria had been gone for most of the day. She had awoken early, asked for a pass and had gone out in search of flowers. Her father had asked her to collect them and she had obediently complied. Now her room was littered with them, the grayish flowers were overflowing from water pitchers, vases, bottles, a bedpan, an ice tub and a lunch tray where the petals had been laid out to dry.

She too felt the presence of another chthonian within the halls of the hospital as Lethe neared her room. She assumed it was her father though, come for the flowers, or for her. She had told him that he didn't have to come get her, that she didn't want to be a nuisance to him or a burden. That did not keep her face from lighting up with a bright smile when Lethe knocked and opened the door.

"Lethe!" she chirped happily and pounced forward to wrap her arms around the woman before her. "I've missed you." and she had, for even when the goddess herself was away the river continued to flow by her own home, the sound of it against the shores a lullaby to the young woman charged with the care of the blessed dead. "Asphodel here, please." she didn't want to get into trouble.

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oblivio
2010-01-02 11:54 pm UTC (link)

Before Lethe had even the chance to step inside Makaria had leapt at her, pulling her into a warm hug. Chuckling as she returned the embrace, quite against her usual modesty Lethe's face broke into an unreserved smile.

"Asphodel, of course," she nodded as they separated, and added affectionately, "I've missed you too, despoina."

It had been such a long time since last Lethe had seen Hades' child in the flesh, but outwardly at least she seemed little changed. Makaria had always been a slender little thing, fair and youthful to behold - it was little wonder the hospital staff had taken her for a juvenile. And despite what must have been a number of confusing weeks, she looked well. Just as she had said, it seemed the hospital was attending to her needs adequately.

But what caught her eye - they were impossible to miss - were the flowers. "I see you're already living up to that name," she nodded at the blooms, the hint of a grin tugging at her mouth. "How on earth did you manage to get so many flowers?"

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blesseddeath
2010-01-03 03:12 am UTC (link)

It was good to see Lethe smile, good to hear her laugh. Rarely did she hear such as that but the gentle sound reminded her of the river against the shore. It was a relief and it was a reminder of home in a very positive way.

The girl tilted her head slightly and reached up to cup Lethe's jaw, staring up into her face. "You're so beautiful still." she shook her head and smiled, then stepped away and blushed lightly. It was good to hear that she had been missed as well.

The staff was very kind to her, perhaps because of her apparent youth, or because they found her attractive. She had noticed that the prettier inmates were treated better than those who were less kind to look upon. It seemed unfair but that was the way with humanity, the lovely were often more successful in any endeavor. She gestured to the single chair in her room. "Sit, please, stay and talk with me for a little while?" Then she herself padded over to settle on the edge of her bed.

"Oh, they're lovely, aren't they? Father asked me to fetch them. I went down to the flower place and they gave me all they had and then the young man brought by more after I had gone home." She reached out and touched the petals of a nearby plant. "He was very kind, so many people are here. I just wish I got to go out more. I miss home."

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oblivio
2010-01-04 10:58 am UTC (link)

Lethe rarely blushed, but the compliment brought a shyness to her smile and she looked down. There were few in this time and place who saw her - truly saw her, not merely the stranger who melted from the mind the moment once glanced away - and those who did were mad or dying, or both. She didn't get called beautiful these days.

But that was Makaria. She always had been able to find the beauty in what she beheld. Lethe had missed that.

"They are very pretty," she agreed, as she moved toward the proffered chair and sat. "I'm sure your father will be well pleased by them."

She hesitated now, unsure how to say what she meant to express. "I could... we could leave now, you know. If you wanted." Another pause; she looked across at Makaria uncertainly. "I might not have your father's helm, but people... people don't see me. Not really. Their eyes see, but the river-mist clouds their minds. We could walk out. They'd never know you had been a patient here. I could make them forget."

Coming from Lethe that was a big offer indeed; memory was not a think she took lightly.

"But only if that's what you want."

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blesseddeath
2010-01-04 05:48 pm UTC (link)

Makaria smiled when she saw that shy curve of lips that indicated she had somehow touched Lethe. She cared for the river goddess, of course she saw her, niether mad nor dying, perhaps because she was the goddess of blessed death then. Lethe was beautiful though with her marble smooth features and her wide, wise eyes. How could anyone not see it?

"I hope so, it is all I can do for now." she reached and touched one of the petals, petting it gently. There was a time she had slept in the fields of Asphodel as easily as she had slept beside Lethe's own riverbanks. Being surrounded by them was almost, almost like being at home.

"No, that's okay. My father said he will come and get me and he will, if I would not be a burden to him. I told him if he thought I would be to leave me here, I can make my own way." She shrugged slightly, of course the girl wanted her father to come and retrieve her. She looked up to him, worshiped him in a way. "I don't want to be forgotten again, Lethe, please?" she shook her head softly, bit down on her lower lip and frowned slightly. "It hurts to be forgotten. I can feel it, like when your fingers get too cold how the bones themselves ache."

She reached and took Lethe's hands, "..but this offer, it means much to me and I will not forget."

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oblivio
2010-01-05 10:50 am UTC (link)

Lethe nodded quietly. The hospital's staff might not have realised just who their their young patient was, but they knew her face - and perhaps more importantly, they knew her name. And names were important. Names were the anchor, names were the lifeline that kept you from sinking into the void. Your deeds could be forgotten, your temples long since crumbled to dust, but it was only when there was nobody left to speak your name could oblivion swallow you.

True, the people here thought "Makaria" to be a fiction, a product of some poor, muddled girl's delusions. They did not believe. But they remembered, and that meant something. For a god of the fallen pantheons, it could make all the difference.

"I understand," she said, giving Makaria's hand a gentle squeeze. "It hurts all of us, being forgotten."

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blesseddeath
2010-01-05 08:06 pm UTC (link)

Lethe understood, she could see it in her face long before the other goddess spoke and it drew a soft, tender smile to her lips. The humans here did not believe she was Makaria but they now knew her name and they had started to research, to read about the name. It was not much belief, but it was interest and it was being remembered by five or six more people than she had been before coming to the hospital. They would tell their friends and families of a patient who thought herself a death goddess, and their friends and families would skim the internet or a book looking for her name and they would know her too. Tiny threads woven into a tapestry made her place here far more secure, even if they didn't think she was who she claimed to be.

"They will remember you too, more, when they read of my name, for we are connected, you and I, and Father too and Mother. When they look for my name in their books, they will see Lethe, Hades, Persephone, they will see the white island and will read of the heroes who deserve to be remembered. They will know Acheron and Styx, Charon and Thanatos and it may not be much.. but it is a beginning. Here, in this place, is a new beginning for us all."

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oblivio
2010-01-14 01:19 pm UTC (link)

"A new beginning," Lethe echoed, a soft smile touching her lips. It was a nice way of thinking of their situation, and rather a refreshing one: recently-awakened as she was, Makaria had not had the many decades and centuries, as many of her kin had done, to become jaded and disillusioned by the New World. Privately, Lethe hoped she never did.

Then the smile turned into a low chuckle. "Yes, I suppose they will remember me. For everything that they've lost, somehow mortalkind still manages to recall the name of Forgetfulness. Ironic, really."

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blesseddeath
2010-01-14 03:07 pm UTC (link)

Makaria nodded when Lethe repeated what she had said, her own smile blossoming moreso. Why not? There was nothing that could be done when one is sleeping, no life, no fun in things. One could only begin anew when one was awake.

"I don't think so." and she did not because she cared very much for the goddess before her. There were other reasons too though. "They need you, a hope that they will someday forget that which hurts them, an excuse for losing that which was once important."

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