#❮ anonymous ❯ / ꕤ couldn't quite see their faces right .

[calledkore]

@anonymous: if you could give @dieangelo​ advice what would it be?

What could she possibly say to Hades' son that hadn't already been said? It wasn't as if advice from her was likely to stick -- not as much as the same words from his father would.

"...Rest. Oh, child, it is far past the time to simply lay your weary bones to rest. The world will not fall apart without you there to shoulder its burdens. Come home. Stay a while... Let us take care of you. Trust us to carry that weight for you."

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[calledkore]

@anonymous: if you could give @appleyed​ advice what would it be?

"Deep breaths, baby girl. Ain't nothing you can't do if you just put your mind to it. I'd tell her..." Lips purse in thought briefly, trying to find her phrasing. "You've got so much more life to live... and it ain't your place to go 'round with one foot in the grave. Enjoy the sunshine on your skin for as long as you can. And when you can't carry on, when all of it is too heavy on your shoulders... call on me, sunflower. You just need t' call, and I'm there."

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[calledkore]

@anonymous: do you consider Adonis one of your kids?

Softer, now, a smile that touches over the Goddess' expression. "Of course. I raised that little thing as if he was my own."

Myths may twist over time, bending the truths into what people wanted to believe. Turning maternal love into something perverse. Persephone knew what the tales said, knew the lies that people whispered behind her. "No matter what anyone says, Adonis was my son, above all."

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[calledkore]

@anonymous: What is your fondest memory of your husband?

She knows, but she's talked about it enough and it's practically a myth in and of itself, by now. With a low hum, Persephone tries to think of something else -- something more than that moment she fell so in love with her man.

"Got lots of good memories of Hades... but one that comes to mind?" She lifts her left hand, revealing the thin, gold band that sits around her finger. "Day he gave me this. Long after we'd been married, mind -- oh, Hades, he meant well. Wanted to give me some ornate thing, wanted my ring to be fitting of a Queen. Had grand plans for it, too... but I told him, didn't want nothing so fancy. Couldn't stand to wear anything heavy, and I wanted something that wouldn't get ruined by my work in the fields. Got him to relent, eventually, and he made me this..."

Fingers twist at the simple band thoughtfully, "Forged it himself. Looks plain, at first glance, but there's an inscription along in inside... As for what it says? Well... that'll stay between him and I for now."

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[calledkore]

  @anonymous: Do you want* to have children?

"Never something I thought much of, truthfully." There's a wistful look on the Queen's expression, something not quite sad even as the smile on her lips was not entirely convincing. Was it her own failings as goddess that had never produced a child, or her husband's relationship with the dead? Whichever or whatever it was, they had long since accepted that they had enough children to look after.

"We got all of Hades to look after, anyway. Who'd ever have the time?"

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[calledkore]

@anonymous: Love comes in accepting the good and the bad. What are some of Hades bad traits that might irk you a little?

Persephone chuckles. Sounding like Aphrodite over there, talking about what loves takes. Of course, anyone who'd been married as long as she was knew there were always gonna be things about your partner that irked you, though those things were often more... swept under the rug. Airing them out like this felt a bit silly.

"Mm... Sometimes, Hades worries bit too much about trying to make sure I'm happy. Know that sounds like a silly thing to complain 'bout, but... it's a lot, when it feels like you're the only thing holding something together. He ain't never meant to, but it put a lot of pressure to always be... smiling, always be happy."

She's still learning how to allow herself to be down, when she down below. How to do it without sending Hades into a panic. After a moment, she tacks on, "That, and feeding Cerberus table scraps."

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[calledkore]

@anonymous: Did you fall in love with anyone else before Hades?

"Don't know if I'd say love now..." A moment to think back to a time before, to when she was Kore, living with her mother in that little farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Wasn't like she saw a whole lot of people, not really -- kept under Demeter's thumb as she was. But there were a few, now and then. Mortal boys working out in the fields. Nymphs who played in the river out back.

"Back then, I'm sure the girl I was would've said yes. In that silly, girlish way, I fell in love often. But no, I wasn't ever in love with anyone before him. Or since."

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[calledkore]

@anonymous: What made you fall in love with Hades?

"Oh, now, that's some ancient history..." A soft breath of laughter, the goddess resigning herself to a seat as she thinks back, all those years ago. She knows exactly what it was -- that exact moment when her heart opened to the King of Shades. There's a smile toying across her lips as she hums out an old song, a wordless melody that she will never forget.

La, la la la, la la la...

"Never saw a man like him before... Never saw another God like him before. And there he was, this man... lookin' at me like I was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Standing there... all the way at the back of mama's garden. Holding his hat in his hands so tightly, thought the poor thing was gonna tear it in half -- and he couldn't say a word for so long."

Her face seems younger, when she tells this story -- with that sweet smile on her lips, with that distant look to her eyes. As if she had stepped back in time and was back there, standing in the sun and staring back at Hades for the first time.

"Funny man, you know what he finally said to me? Please, have pity on my heart. Ain't the kind of thing a girl forgets." She chuckles a bit, shaking her head. "My man, he never had much of a way with words... not when it came to speaking honestly. But something 'bout the way he said it. Something to the look in his eyes when he did... Child, I fell in love with him before I knew what hit me."

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[calledkore]

@anonymous: Did you want to sleep with Orpheus?

"Orpheus?" There's a sharp quality to Persephone's voice, caught between strangled surprise and a cackling laugh. Now, they had to be playing, didn't they? Orpheus, really... Oh, she knew he was a sweet boy. She'd go so far as to say the poor thing was one of her champions. Surely, she loved him -- the way that a God loved someone who called on them, the way a Queen may love her subjects.

"Don't be silly. Ain't never felt nothin' like that, not for him."

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[calledkore]

@anonymous: 😶 + how do you really feel about your mother?

Oh, mother mine... That was not quite so black and white, though Persephone doubted if any family really was.

"I love my mama, I do. But damn if she ain't drive me crazy -- held me so tight, felt more like a vice than a mother's hug. I know it came from love... but it's been years, and she still acts like I'm gonna wake up one day and leave Hades. I think she hates that I... love him more than I did her."

Send 😶 + a really uncomfortable question and my muse has to answer it

[calledkore]

@anonymous: 😶 + how do you feel about Hades cheating on you?

"Tch. Find me the woman who ain't gonna be mad 'bout their man wanderin'..."

Persephone waves a hand, somewhat annoyed with the very premise of the question, but answering nonetheless. Wasn't as if she had many secrets left to hide, now, did she? "Hades and I, we have our spats. Spent some time apart -- don't much count as cheating when you're separated. Not gonna say it never bothered me. Not gonna say Maria ain't lingerin' in the back of my mind."

Send 😶 + a really uncomfortable question and my muse has to answer it

[calledkore]

@anonymous: 😶 + do you actually care about Hades children?

And there it is again -- that question that she had asked herself many times when she first learned of her husband's children. She hadn't needed to care, back then, back when they were out of sight, out of mind, kept protected and safe and locked far, far away from her.

It had been easier not to care when she didn't see them, so much harder not to fall in love with his children when they were there. A part of her life. She had never considered herself to be motherly, had never really had any good examples in her youth to look up to.

But she was trying, oh, she was trying. "'course I do. They're my babies too."

Send 😶 + a really uncomfortable question and my muse has to answer it

[calledkore]

@anonymous: Do you think your mom actually loves you? Or does she love the idea of you, considering she can't control you?

"Mama loves me. Of course she loves me."

Did it annoy her mother, that she couldn't control Kore any longer? Persephone had to think that it did. Had to assume that it had been hard on her, going from just the two of them against the world to losing her daughter for half the year. But Demeter showed her irritation more openly than her affections. It was easier to notice the storms than the sunshine. "She loves Kore more than Persephone, I think... but she still loves me. Even now, after everything."

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[calledkore]

@anonymous: Do you think Hades slept with Eurydice?

Ask her that night, that moment. Ask her when his eyes met hers with such venom and fire burning within them, standing atop the stairs that lead into his office as the little songbird fluttered past him. Ask her when the doors shut her out, and the answer would have come without hesitation.

Time has made her wiser, however. Wise enough to recognize that Hades wanted to hurt her because he was hurting -- not to irreparably destroy their marriage. That would have been a step too far, and the King was wise enough to know what his Queen would never forgive.

"No. I don't believe he did."

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[calledkore]

@anonymous: Is there anyone else since you married Hades that you've ever felt like you wanted to kiss, or do more with? Or did he win your heart completely, when he did so?

"Well, sure." Nonchalance in her answer and body language, a one-shouldered shrug punctuating the thought. "Don't get me wrong, Hades has my heart -- ain't no one else I could imagine spending my life with. But that doesn't mean I never see a person on my travels and think 'bout them. And I'm sure Hades is the same."

Still, it was a far cry from cheating on her lover. That kind of thing, she would never have been able to do. Even at their worst, she had remained faithful to her husband.

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[calledkore]

@anonymous: What about Eurydice? How did you feel about her going after your man?

"Let me make one thing clear, brother -- ain't that poor little sparrow's fault that she got swept up by Hades." Persephone knew better than most how her man was with his words -- knew that he could twist anything to make it sound like the sweetest thing you'd ever heard. And when you were cold, and hungry, and weighed down by your troubles... well, wasn't hard to see why she fell.

Wasn't to say she wasn't hurt by all of that, but that had been the point, hadn't it? Thinking back to that moment, to that pointed eye contact as he swept the poor, shivering thing into his office and slammed the door.

None of that was Eurydice's fault. Just a poor little mouse in a snake's den.

"That poor girl lost more than she could have ever thought for Hades' little act of cruelty. Don't have it in me to hold it against her."

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