Echoing Our Song

by lalalei

'And I am not alone; I hear the rocks and stones echoing our song...' A series of 100 drabbles/short pieces based on the 'Hadestown100' prompt list, inspired by all versions of Hadestown. Complete!

97. Microphone

Microphone

For the patrons at Hermes' bar, the double-headed microphone was just that, a device to ensure a singer's voice could be heard over their instruments. It was useful both for Orpheus and the myriad other musicians that played, and Hermes himself used it on particularly noisy occasions.

But only Hermes knew its origins as his caduceus. Needing to keep up with the times, he'd swapped its sleep-inducing powers for a way to ensure mortals listened. A symbol of the gods was hidden in plain sight, the double head the only hint of the staff it'd once been.

Orpheus had joked once that depending on the story, the caduceus-turned-microphone could still send mortals to dreamland. Hermes noted that you just needed to tell the story the right way; any story could be made boring or not depending on the teller, and he knew them all, microphone in hand as he spun tales. Most of them, he noted, were tragedies.

As Hermes brought his microphone with him to Hadestown, following Orpheus's journey, he hoped this time he'd tell the tale with a happier ending.