Spring and Fall
Mother is always so over-protective. Don't get me wrong, I love her but sometimes I just want to slap some sense into her. She always treats me like a child, but honestly, I'm already 125 in age. I know, I know, most gods and goddesses are past the thousand mark, but 125 isn't that young (at least in human years it isn't)! All the goddesses I know, like Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, and even my mother, Demeter, wear nice clothing made of silk, satin and all sorts of rich materials. They are embroidered with swirling patterns and colors, all shapes and sizes, not to mention that they themselves are covered in beads of gold, pearls and all sorts of rare jewels. These gowns embody them well, hanging from their womanly forms in a rather flashy way, while I'm stuck wearing a plain white cotton dress, no- rag is more like it. It falls flat from my shoulders to my feet, taking 110 years off my appearance, not only that but she never lets my hair down. She ties it up and flat onto my head, sort of like a french braid, and on some days a bun- if I'm lucky. She says leaving my hair down is too "mature", but I think she's just afraid I'll make Aphrodite feel like she has competition. Whenever I'm approached by any male god trying to woo me- or just approached in general, she'll refuse all of their gifts and send me off to the gardens to "play" with the Oceanids. I should count myself lucky, because up until five years ago she hadn't even allowed me into Olympus, I was off "enjoying nature" with her in the fields. Yeesh.
But enough about my chastity belt, it's time to let that go and move on to greater matters, matters like the Reunion of the Gods! At the reunion, all the gods get together and, basically, party all night long. From how Aphrodite described them, they were some of the best times of the year. The wine Dionysus presses gets better every time and the tables are filled with rows and rows of all kinds of unimaginably good foods! All the gods and goddesses have their best clothing, jewelry and appearance on, and there always seems to be something to talk about, even after thousands of years. On the other hand, from how mother describes it, it's basically an orgy. In fact, Demeter almost never attends those reunions. Instead she stays in my room with me and plays hair salon - or in my case "find more ways to make Persephone unappealing!" But this year… this year will be different because Zeus, my father, has decided that Demeter has hidden me for long enough and wants me to attend the reunions from now on. Excited!
Though I doubted the fact that I would be able to wear anything other than my typical gown, I was wrong! About an hour before the start of the reunion, Aphrodite showed up at my door and gave a small knock before letting herself in.
"Hello my darling Persephone!" she twirled into the room gracefully and flipped her long blonde hair off her shoulder before looking up and seeing my mother before her. "Oh. I didn't think.. SHE would be here," Aphrodite said glaring at Demeter.
"Oh. Well, I didn't think Ares would go for you, but we can never really predict things in life, now can we?" My mother Replied.
Aphrodite glared at her before calming herself and putting on another one of her trademark smiles. "Obviously not," she said just loudly enough so that Demeter could hear. "Anyways, message from Zeus. He's put me in charge of dressing Persephone, knowing you'd probably dress her as a newborn." She smiled demonically, knowing how much this would hurt my mother.
"Outrageous! I am perfectly capable of dressing my own daughter!" She shouted rather angrily. "Anyhow, you have no proof!"
But just as she finished her sentence Aphrodite reached into her bosom and pulled out a slip of paper, letting it fall to the ground in front of Demeter's feet. She smiled sweetly towards me and walked over to my closet, my mother gaping wide eyed at the paper in the background. Aphrodite flung open the closet door epicly before her happy face sort of.. cringed in disgust. "What IS this?" She spat the words out as she stared disgustedly at the cotton dresses. "No, no. This definitely won't do," she reached down for my hand and pulled me up onto my feet, "darling, come into my room, lets get you something decent to wear." She dragged me out the door and not once did I glance back at my mother, but I could feel her gaze burning at the back of my head.
About forty minutes later, I was a new person. I was wearing a pastel green silk dress that hung down to the floor. It felt like I was was being showered with layers of clouds, the smooth touch of the silk gently kissing my pale skin, giving me a whole new feeling of "heaven". The collar hung low, down to my chest, but not enough to reveal any cleavage. It was carried by pinkie thick strings of silk, wrapping around my shoulders and to the back of the dress which ended about mid-back. Around my neck hung a rather simple necklace with aquamarine and emeralds carved into diamond-like shapes, the string holding it together was made of silver. Aphrodite let my hair down loose, it was slightly wavy and swirled down to my mid-rear. She picked small flowers of all different colors and weaved them throughout my blazing orange hair. I looked wonderful and I felt wonderful and it was probably one of the best moments in my life. The first moment I actually felt… free.
As I was twirling about in front of the mirror, dazzled by the dress and how fluidly it moved in contrast to cotton, Aphrodite beckoned me over from the bureau.
She looked me up and down. "There! That's more like it. Now not only are you 125, but you also look it!" She smiled, obviously proud of herself. She held out her arm and I put my own around it. "Well... try to make the most of it, and just have fun."
"I'm sure I will," I smiled in return as we set off and out the door. I was ready and feeling better than ever.
The dining hall was huge. When I say huge, I don't mean huge… I mean HUGE. It was probably big enough to fit 50 full sized gods, and when gods were full size, they were big (like REALLY big). There were no walls, just rows of marble columns about ten yards apart each. They seemed rather useless because atop them, there were clouds… but uncle Poseidon said clouds were heavy because they were made of water… Then again he IS the god of the sea (and his ego's a tad too big for it, if you ask me). The floors were checkered with black and white marble in a chess-like pattern, if you looked from afar it all blurred into a dark grey. In the black marble there was the typical white strokes, or cracks, that swirled in patterns around the block. While in the white one, the "cracks" were grey. Hanging from the tops of columns, going from one to another, were long white pieces of satin, used as decoration. Down on the floor and the end of the room was Zeus's giant throne. It was made of white marble, but with golden thunder bolts rising up onto it from the sides. Beside his throne was a smaller one, for Hera, Zeus's wife. Through the middle of the room was a long, once again marble, table. This one had red fabrics draping down and around the plates of food that were placed in perfect coordination. The food was all served in golden platters, bowls and dishes. The forks were made of gold, the spoons were made of gold, the knives were made of gold- heck, even the sforks were made of gold!
I turned my head in surprise as I felt a hand placed on back. It was my father Zeus. He smiled down at me warmly.
"So glad you could make it, I was worried for a minute that Aphrodite couldn't get past your mother. Forgive her.. she's been through quite a bit." He said calmly.
"Like what, menopause?" I retorted, which got a loud thundering laugh from the god flanking my side.
"You've definitely gotten her edginess!" he replied once he'd finished laughing. "On another note, I reasoned that it was time you were brought out to experience the world beyond your bedroom walls-"
"-And the garden," I cut him off, blatantly reminding him of my perimeters.
"Yes of course," he beamed down at me. "But if it were up to me I would have done so 75 years ago! I don't expect you to only join us at the festivals, but also in day to day matters. It's about time you're let out of your cell."
I nodded eagerly up at him and he pat my back. "But for now, let your worries slip aside and enjoy yourself." He handed me a glass half-full on wine. "To your first day out, cheers!"
"Cheers!" I replied enthusiastically clinging my glass against his. But, of course just as I was about to take a sip, mum runs in and sees the glass to my lips and literally flips out. She screams to the point of inaudibility and runs over like a cheetah chasing an antelope. She knocks the glass out of my hand and onto the floor and grabs my face into her palms. I stare at her wide-eyed, unable to think of what else to do. She looks at me closely as if trying to make sure there's no damage done to my face or something and I become cross. Oh so very cross.
"DEMETER!" Zeus yells, but before he can react she falls back, holds her hand to her cheek and stares at me wide eyed.
I'd slapped her.
As I look around, all the other gods have stopped their chatting and after some ten seconds, all attention is on us. Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Hera, Hermes, Hestia, Poseidon and Zeus. Every single pair of eyes are on us, except Aphrodite. Aphrodite is literally rolling on the floor laughing her pretty little head off as Hermes crossly pulls out five drachmas, tossing them down to her and crossing his arms.
I turn around sharply and start storming towards one of the exits - ignoring my mothers calls. As I walk out I can't help but feel like I'm being watched. I glance over to the left and then over to the right, but there was nothing so I shake my head, cover my face in embarrassment and jog out to the gardens below the main hall.
Being in the garden calmed me. There were rows and rows of roses, all different shades or red, purple, pink, even blue and gold! Each rose had a different smell, the purple ones smelled of grapes, the red ones smelled of apples and the pink ones smelled of… steak? No wait, Pomegranate. I strolled over to the blue flowers and buried my nose into one of them, smiling brightly. It smelt, oddly, of winter. As I sniffed the flower, my nose grew rather chilly, and it sent shivers down my spine. It smelled fresh and new, like a beginning. I drew in one last breath and slowly opened my eyes, and as I did so, they were met with another ice blue pair. I stared at them intently for what seemed like an hour. They were a beautiful crystal blue, with some hints of grey and.. is that purple? They were barely open, just reveling half of his irises, which were met by what seem like bushes of long black eyelashes. My eyes traveled up and my gaze was met by a mess of curly black hair, rather childish if you ask me, but kind of... cute or adorable. His (I'm guessing it's a he) skin was a very pale white, with a very slight tint of blue to it, probably just the lighting. I looked farther down to his mouth, it was it was thin and taut, but not unattractive. It was also a slightly darker shade of blue, that of his skin.
"Do they please you?" A deep voice called out. I wouldn't have understood it was his voice if I wasn't staring so intently at his mouth, seeing that it barely moved. Lucky, right? Not. I just looked back up at his eyes, rather enchanted until I was finally interrupted by a laugh, coming from the pale god in front of me. I shook my head and took a step backwards, feeling the blush creep up my face.
"Uhm, yes! Actually, t-these flowers are.. uh quite incredible," I stuttered, and looked down at my feet. Great, now I look stupid.
He chuckled warmly and stood up to full height. He was quite tall for a god in human form, about six foot five, maybe six? Either way, he towered above me for I was about five foot seven. At first glance he was a rather intimidating man, but once you looked at him for a while, he had a quite charming appearance. I looked for the first time at his nose, it was the typical greek nose, pointed slightly down, straight and pointed. As his whole face came together, he looked much older than he had before, about 42 in human years? His head was covered in a large mess of curly black hair, but the blackest black I'd ever seen, a void black? His hair slightly covered his eyes, and would completely completely cover his ears if he hadn't had pointed ones, but he did and they were poking out of his mop-like hair. He was a tall and lean man, but he wasn't flimsy, he looked tough enough to take on Zeus or maybe Hades, the lord of the underworld! I laughed at the thought, Zeus had told me that his elder brother never came up above unless it was of urgent business only. This man's clothing was all black. He wore the typical toga, like Zeus and Poseidon, but in black. This was strange because usually the gods wear white.. maybe he decided to change the "trend"?
He took a step closer to me and stretched out his arm from under his cape, reaching out for my hand. In my left hand I held one of the blue roses, so I have him my right. He brought it up to his lips and kissed it.
"What is your name? I haven't seen you in Olympus before.." he said slowly, and knowingly.
"Persephone, the daughter of Demeter," I addressed him formally. "And Zeus." I finished.
He slowly stood up straight. "Persephone… Never heard it." He did not seem alarmed at all from the fact that I was Zeus's daughter.
"Persephone!" I heard Aphrodite call in a sing-song voice, "Aren't you ever going to come back~?"
I jerked my head in her direction, she was flanked by someone, it looked like Hephaestus, her husband, from afar. "I'm coming!" I yelled back.
I looked back at the handsome stranger and smiled, though he seemed rather irritated. "..Can I see you again?" I dared to ask. I couldn't help myself, I had to.
"Only if you want to," he touched the rose in my hand and it turned a pure black. "I'll come for you." He finished before sending me off.
I ran over to Aphrodite- she obviously had a few glasses of wine. The party was back on and everyone was having fun.
"There you are dear! I was worried about you. Demeter left after that scene you caused, good girl! Standing up to your mother-" her gaze wandered down to the black rose in my hand. "Where'd you get that- hic?" She caressed it gently.
"A… uhm, stranger, I didn't even get his name," I admitted to her.
"Sweetie, that's no stranger…" She giggled, "I wonder what face Demeter will put on when I tell her that her precious Persephone is being courted by Hades - Lord of the Underworld!"