ride the waves

— @Poseidon

^^He'd napped a little too early and woken up with a sharp start, gasping and near choking on the memory of jaws and snapping at him. He'd been so young and his father so cruel. He had moved away from Persephone and Poseidon both, seeking the river and it's cool depths to try and calm himself down. Everything in him buckled when these nightmares happened and he could almost see himself - tiny and young, not understanding the threat he could possibly pose to a TItan. Hades was grateful when he'd closed the distance and gotten a drink, going so far as to submerge his head for a moment into the chill of the water. When he pulled back he was vaguely aware of eyes on him, one ear cocked back. “You didn't have to follow me.” There was no rough edge to his voice - just a dull sort of resignation. Clearly no matter how far away they were from their lives he'd never escape what had happened to him.

They had walked the forest and laid their trails for almost a month. Finding its mysteries and settling down - it still seemed odd to the King of the Underworld to have so much life around him. It suited Persephone more, though, and he wasn't going to deny her things that made her happy. Idly he wondered how his brother felt about the prospects of staying but it seemed like the waters themselves - naturally flowing, unkept and wild. It suited them. ^^
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 When Hades stirred, so too did his younger brother. He frequently felt rather empty whenever @Persephone or Hades would leave him to canoodle on their own. Not that he wanted to be part of their gross sugar bombs, but there were holes in his heart, and it wasn't clear what was supposed to fill them. Naturally, when his brother was bothered by anything, Poseidon was sensitive to it. He knew something about the torment that plagued his sleepless nights.
 You didn't have to follow me.
 “Nope!” He agreed, and promptly sidled up beside Hades. There was a lengthy moment of silence between them. Instead, it was only the exchange of warmth between their bodies that Poseidon allowed to comfort his brother. Then, he took in a long breath. “Atropos was here, you know,” he said. “She said something you should probably know about.”

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^^Beyond his exasperation Hades smiled. Regardless of any annoyances he found with his brothers he knew they'd be there for one another through thick and thin. They'd never fought against each other when push came to shove, and Hades did love them. He bumped his shoulder against his brother's and let the silence swallow them both up, satisfied in the moment to be together alone. He'd rather let Poseidon - who knew his fears intimately - have the burden of supporting him rather than Persephone at that point.

He regarded Poseidon for a moment, blue eyes blinking a bit in confusion before he'd strung Poseidon's words together properly. “Atropos?” He repeated, shocked by the fact that a Fate was here. “Her sisters linger too then, no doubt.” Because one never went without the others, not unlike the three Kings. “What did she say?” Maybe she knew why they'd all woken up in these forms, their old lives far beyond them.^^
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 Poseidon had always loved his brothers. He never said it, of course, because it would never need to be said. Things like what Hades was dealing with, at least surface level, Poseidon just knew because he had been through it many times himself. Poseidon had long been a giver, and even though he readily made jokes at Hades' expense, he never meant ill will toward him.
 “No doubt,” he parroted. He almost hoped the sisters were present. They were cute from what he remembered, but then, Old Atropos had also been a little cute and she definitely, definitely was not.
 “Well...” he started. “I don't remember what Atropos was like before, but I remember she wasn't like... that. I don't know why. @Atropos changed somehow.” He tried to think of the 'real' Atropos. He couldn't, though. He couldn't remember ever interacting with her, and he couldn't remember what she had been like. “Right um, Pers...” Poseidon had to wrack his brain to recall what she had said. Eventually though, it clicked. “Dread Queen. She called her the 'Dread Queen'. And.. I..”
 Pause. Pause. Think, think.
 “Hades, do you really trust her?”

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^^The silence rippled between them but Hades didn't find it uncomfortable. Right then he wanted it to be that way - the comfort was what he was seeking. He let out a soft sigh and turned to face his brother so that they could have a legitimate discussion. “What do you mean? Did she actually give you a straight answer?” Hades asked with a chuckle. He knew better. He never got a straightforward answer from any of them. “I don't think I was particularly the favorite of any of theirs - Clotho likes me the most of the three, I think.” It was hard to tell with them.

It was curious that they'd even mentioned Persephone at all. He didn't know what they intended with her, but, what Poseidon said wasn't anything like what he'd expected. “Dread Queen?” He repeated, tasting it on his tongue. He didn't dislike it - and the question of trusting her was just strange to him. “Why shouldn't I?” Hades asked him quickly. He was curious about why that would even be something Poseidon could worry about. “You don't?” Hades assumed - given the way that question sounded. That was what he didn't trust.^^
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 Poseidon frowned. He didn't want to put Hades in a bad mood, but at the same time, Hades was always in a bad mood and this was just a thing that might maybe help with context. He wasn't sure, but a fucking Fate told him a thing, and now he was concerned.
 "Did she actually give you a straight answer?"
 “No, they don't do that,” he answered.
 More questions came, and Poseidon became progressively uncomfortable without answering. The honest answer was he didn't know whether to trust her because he really didn't know her very well. She on the outside seemed like your typical peachy keen flower nymph, but what he was starting to hear was a lot more than that, enough that he was feeling worried. Partially... well maybe all because Hades was so fucking attached to her. They were basically already married? Without saying it?
 “I dunno,” he said. “She is a peach but.. I worry she is manipulating you. I just... there's gotta be more to this sweetpea stuff. I don't know. It doesn't feel right.” he said, and he prepared for the defensive response by stiffening.

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^^ Even the most calm seas grew choppy and the waves could be beautiful and serene or they could rage and drag you under. This? This felt like being broken on jagged rocks, hit with wave after wave. Hades didn't break eye contact from his brother but there was a coldness to his gaze. Hades couldn't help it. He shut his emotions down so often but on the heels of another nightmare he couldn't just put that wall up. It didn't work. “Manipulating me?” He repeated and his face was full of confusion. He didn't have a way to put it into words properly.

Hades drew in a breath and when it came out again it was in a heavy breath. “I don't know what there is to manipulate. I - we - can't do a damn thing here. What benefit is there to me?” Even in his realm what in the world could he be manipulated into? “Have you tried to get out of these forms? I'm stuck. I can't do anything, Poseidon.” At the core of it he placed that fault with himself - he was worth nothing so what did it help her to be anything less than sincere?^^
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^^Hades recognized the moment as something serious. He rarely heard his name from Poseidon's lips, but, he would have listened even if he hadn't. Shockingly, he'd always found his middle brother to be the most emotionally aware of any of them. Zeus didn't care most of the time and Hades....well. He isolated and didn't like to allow himself to be vulnerable. He listened - let Poseidon say everything he needed to. He would respect him, brother to brother, king to king that way. “She hasn't shown me a reason to be wary of her. You know I appreciate your honesty. I always do.” He never wanted to see a time that they weren't being honest with one another.

Poseidon's sudden outburst surprised him. His eyes widened and any tension snapped like a rubber band that had finally stretched to far and then broken. “A....a horse - that's what you remember?” He couldn't help laughing then, after the stress of the evening that had already taken a toll on him and this was something different. It was a good break from before. “I....I remember being tall. Crisp suits.....” He trailed off for a moment, shock on his face. “I had the longest nose.”^^
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 Persephone was forgotten in the moment that Poseidon remembered being a horse. He didn't know why he was a horse. He sort of recalled his horseness, and being doted on by women. The women at first were wolves, which seemed strange. Then, he remembered they were human women which was even fucking weirder. He remembered being fed rich grain and touched tenderly.
 “Well,” Poseidon was not apt to recall his stuffy brother-related memories that he really didn't even understand himself, even as Hades laughed. A moment of silence later and his brother's strange bureaucratic tendencies broke through as person-like behaviour. He talked about suits. And a long nose. Poseidon took a step back and inspected Hades' nose for a moment. It did seem.. large. “Bad news brother.”
 “Your nose is still shit,” he suggested.
 “But suits? Seriously? I remember... so... m. I... much..”
 A long pause followed.
 “I just remember your place being like dark and shitty and just sad, man? You know?” Poseidon begged. “Don't make this place uh... that.”

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^^The tension had ebbed and it was easier to listen to Poseidon and sort what he'd already said. Dread Queen was quite a title. It would have suited him before, surely, the wrath of the God of the Dead aside the Dread Queen? He'd have to assume that maybe this was a complex test. When Poseidon drew back from him and focused on his nose it twitched, Hades snorting a puff of air out. “Oh, C'mon, surely it's not that bad.” It wasn't as noticeable - at least he didn't think so.

The silence rippled between them and Poseidon called hims home sad. That was peculiar to him. “You just didn't see it the same way I did.” He hadn't been sad. Lonely, yes. But not sad. “How can something be sad when there's so much life around us?” He asked and nodding towards the trees. “Everything here....it feels full of promise. It's...It isn't cold, nothing but the dead and endless work.” He didn't begrudge Poseidon and if their roles had been reversed Hades didn't know if he wouldn't see his brother in his shoes. Poseidon had always been more mischievous, he'd - ironically- had more spirit from the start. “Once I was told I had too much sorrow in my blood.” Metis had said that. Before.....before the war. “My work is just...it's the dead. How much life can you expect, Poseidon? It's not like here. Here will be better. I want it to be different, like the best of all our realms. We could make that happen.”

If their family and all it's gifts truly worked to provide rather than just keep the order, wouldn't it mean they'd be able to do the very best?^^
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 Poseidon made a face. His mouth was flat and his eyes were half-lidded and dull, in a full and well "really?" expression. This wasn't "life"! This was creepy ass forest and a whole lot of trees. Wait. Forests were a whole lot of trees. There was that cool cavern that he and Persephone had found and probably already defiled. He made another, unrelated face.
 “If you say so,” he injected mid-paragraph. Hades went on, and the little brother immediately felt sorry for saying anything at all. He didn't think Hades had too much sorrow in his blood, although he was a total stick in the mud. He offered a silly smile, and deflected. “Well,” he started, bumping his brother with his butt. “Not the best.” Poseidon's land would be the best, when... he figured out where that was and who the fuck would even come.

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^^Hades fondly rolled his eyes as Poseidon bumped him, huffing when Poseidon made a joke (what Hades took as a joke) about the lands. “So the three of us, then, each with our own. If we'll be stuck here for awhile then why not?” Hades asked. “Think about it. I know Styx is scouting - Hermes would too for us.” Hades knew it would keep them all safer and while he didn't know how they'd all split off from one another. “If all of us are here Zeus has to be too. Just a matter of where.” Hades wouldn't doubt their brother's thoughts would probably side with being slighted. It was hard for Zeus to not be in constant control and the first consulted. “It would mean you couldn't just relax here all day, though.” He teased.^^
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 “Well that's an idea!” Poseidon answered with excitement. He didn't know exactly what that would even look like. Who would follow him? Who would answer to him? How with the brothers interact and make decisions? Perhaps as they always had — not very well.
 “Zeus is here somewhere. There's no universe he'd miss out on the poon tang.” Poseidon mentioned matter of fact, scrunching his lips together with something between disgust and arousal. And then, Hades asked that he quit being a lazy piece of seaweed.
 “Excuse me, what is it that you think I do all day exactly?!” Poseidon asked defensively, standing straight and puffing out his chest. He did shit all, and Hades probably knew it, but there was that one time he hunted a... squirrel. And that other time with the rat! And... He stared at his brother boldly, challenging like it had been the most serious of accusations.

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^^Hades was relieved to hear Poseidon so enthusiastically taking to the idea. “Maybe around the river? Maybe we split part of the forest to it's edge. Or there's the lake, too,” But he was thinking far ahead and ever on progress and the future. Some habits died hard. Thankfully Poseidon continued on for him and Hades snorted, a chuckle chasing the sound. “Surely. No chance he'd let Hera and Hebe be here and him not. He probably got a little sidetracked though.” Knowing their baby brother as they did, it was only a matter of time. Hades would miss the quiet....

Hades grinned when Poseidon puffed himself up, eyes cast over his brother with unbridled mirth. “Naturally, lying around dreaming about all the seaweed you tangled your dick in.” He said with a smirk. There was a look to his eyes as if he was just begging for Poseidon to be able to prove him wrong. He didn't think it was likely, and still, Hades was feeling a bit more upbeat from the nature their conversation had turned. Unlike with Zeus, he and Poseidon managed to ebb and flow rather than rage and stay angry.^^
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@Hera? @Hebe? What beauties. Amazing beings that his brother Zeus had not bothered to rendezvoused with. Of course, his brother had all of his shit figured out. “He always gets sidetracked,” he offered for a moment in regards to their brother. 
 Poseidon was, as always, quick to react to his idiot of a brother. “Fucking the dead and dying out of a sense of vague compassion isn't exactly beautiful”
 The answer without activity was always of course more appropriate than the real thing but still... this market really was nutty.

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— New one soon plz? thank you for being patient with me and for being so wonderful with Posie at all <3

^^Poseidon wasn't wrong. Not by a long shot. Of the three of them, Zeus always managed to seem to have more dalliances than the other two brothers combined. Hades wasn't envious in the slightest, well, not about that. He envied his brothers every time he saw them and their Queens together. He wanted that too. He wanted a wife, someone worthy of leading his realm at his side. Maybe Persephone could be that woman - but he was curious about the whole...Dread Queen thing. There was a lot still he'd have to figure out.

“Oh C'mon Sei” Hades huffed, reaching one paw out to bat at his brother. “I've never fucked the dead.” That didn't seem like any amount of fun. “How about we chase something down?” He still wasn't ready to try and sleep and the idea of burning his energy out on something like a kill was better in his mind. He waited for his brother's response before he took off. Even if Poseidon didn't join him, Hades wasn't ready yet to try and just sleep.^^
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