WHO: Demeter & Hades WHEN: Ancient Greece WHERE: Northern Thessaly WHAT: A brother and sister and a spring day meeting
As an Olympian goddess and second eldest of the children of Kronos, Demeter had a home and a throne on the mountain of Olympus. But despite that she spent much of her time in the farmhouse she had had in the view of the mountain, a place where things could grow more freely than her divine home. (She had servants and loyal followers to tend the fields and to do the work - she was still a goddess even if she longed for the rich earth and not the sky.)
There were other reasons she sometimes preferred the earth to the heavens: Kore was eight and though Demeter and Zeus had been on good terms when she had been conceived (the two of them consummating the act as intertwined serpents) those years had somewhat soured their relationship. Although Demeter considered him to still be her King - and her loyalty to him was unquestioning - she no longer considered them to be friends nor even really to be siblings.
But two other brothers she had, and though they both had dramatic moods she held nothing against them.
She walked through the fields, the wheat here tall enough to brush at her hips as she moved and the wind calling softly through it. But it wasn't to the wind that she listened, but to something behind her: an approach.
Demeter turned and then smiled warmly at her visitor, just like the sun above. "Greetings, Hades."
As things went, Hades kept himself from his siblings. As the eldest son, he felt he'd been tricked out of his rightful inheritance by being given the dark Underworld and the dead kept him busy enough. All of his siblings seemed to bicker amongst themselves, and he was free to do as he liked. And the Underworld wasn't terribly bad once he'd gotten used to it.
He still liked the world above, and every so often he would take a walk to clear his head and escape the wailing of the dead. He'd found the field easily enough and he held a fondness for seeing the rich earth give up it's bounty.
It reminded him of the hidden bounties of the earth, something he was newly discovering about his realm and finding rather fascinating.
When he'd seen his sister he'd changed his path and walked to her, not trying to hide his presence. He guessed he'd wandered into her domain and he'd learned his manners. He stopped as she addressed him and bowed his head, "Demeter. I seem to have stumbled onto your fields. My apologies and a request to walk on them."
Hades was a big fan of etiquette and would demand similar if anyone came into his realm, and politeness hadn't hurt anyone before.
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[info]thesmophoros 2010-11-22 11:19 am UTC (link) DeleteFreezeScreenTrack This Select "You are ever welcome in my fields, Lord Hades," Demeter told him, with a regal inclination of her own head. She approached him through the wheat, the gentle breeze tossing stands of dark hair across her face.
"Tell me, brother, how long has it been?" As a God time was not what it was for mortals. Everything swept away so quickly, years to decades to centuries. It was hard to keep track by such things. "Too long, of that I am sure."
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[info]unseenone 2010-11-22 11:34 am UTC (link) DeleteFreezeScreenTrack This Select A tiny smile toyed over his features, but Hades had less and less reason to smile nowadays. He awaited her, letting her come to him. "My thanks sister."
He shrugged, "long. I've seen several generations pass through my gates since we last spoke. I keep my distance and few enjoy visiting. Unless they want something." He set a hand in his cloak and withdrew a few of the gemstones he'd been collecting. "But I've discovered something rather unique about my realm."
He gave what he considered a smirk, "best brother doesn't find out, I'd think. Now how do you fair?"
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[info]thesmophoros 2010-11-22 12:33 pm UTC (link) DeleteFreezeScreenTrack This Select Generations and generations and it all felt only like so many days to her. These mortals were born and died so quickly.
"They're beautiful, brother," Demeter said, admiring the gems in the sunlight. Such wonders from such darkness. But Demeter had always known the secrets that the earth held. She was not a denizen of the underworld herself, but she had always been somewhat chthonic, knowing well that burying oneself in the earth was an acceptable beginning.
"I fair well," Demeter told him, turning so that they could walk together side by side. "Much has happened since we last saw each other. I have had children, some who had grown and left, but others..." she looked out across the field to where she could see a little girl running with a group of nymphs. She smiled brightly and pointed to her. "But one who is still young enough to cling to my skirts."
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[info]unseenone 2010-11-22 12:56 pm UTC (link) DeleteFreezeScreenTrack This Select He knew the truth of that too clearly. Some passed to the Elysian fields, others not and he watched impassively.
"I knew I would find admiration with you." He'd always felt Demeter understood him. They were alike, yet different. And she was one of the few who hadn't come to his gates, banging on them to get something returned to them.
He easily walked by her side, careful not to ruin her harvest. He narrowed his eyes to the distant figure but then looked to his sister, "I am glad you fair well and that your children fair well." Hades wasn't particularly fond of children, but then the Underworld wasn't too spectacular of a realm to pass on. "Anything of interest that I've missed?"
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[info]thesmophoros 2010-11-23 07:47 am UTC (link) DeleteFreezeScreenTrack This Select Demeter would never come to his gates to demand something returned. At least, that was what she truly believed. It would seem no time at all would pass before that would change forever, their relationship broken from this comfortable friendship they now held.
While Demeter was Life, Hades was Death, and Demeter understood almost better than anyone that it was a perfect and delicate balance they held between them. All that lived must die, and all that died must once have lived. She would ask for nothing returned to life out of its time, just as Hades took nothing from the kingdom of life that the Fates had no decreed.
"Little of interest has passed," Demeter admitted to him. "The world remains golden and green under my affections and up there-" she looked to the mountian. "-there are arguments and battles still."
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[info]unseenone 2010-11-23 08:08 am UTC (link) DeleteFreezeScreenTrack This Select He glanced up at the mountain and sighed, "good I'm not missing a thing." He only came up there if he was called, which was never, and had enough headaches. "Even though their arguments spill over into my realm." He'd seen one to many dead pass his gates that had gotten involved in his sibling's arguments.
He held true to the belief his brother hadn't a clue how to properly rule and was acting too much the spoiled prince. But he could only complain. There was little he could change.
There was very little else to discuss, Hades was never one for idle talk and he enjoyed silence. He didn't find a great deal of it.