Through all of the shadowy corners of me

The midday sun warmed his back and Hades stretched out not unlike a cat might. His tongue lolled and when he'd straightened up again he shook his coat out and looked around. The river had been their starting point for each new area they discovered, following its path through the forest and back towards the mountain range in the distance. Idly he wondered if they should explore other places - maybe @Persephone or @Poseidon would want to join him. Maybe it was close enough for a day trip but Hades wasn't always the best estimation of distance. 

He'd woken early and tried to slip away as quietly as possible when the nightmare has startled him awake. The fact he'd woken up to both his brother and his... Friend who he was too friendly with had calmed him down enough. The run after was the better idea, though. It had burned off his energy and make him think of something else. The more time he spent cutting through the forest the more he found he liked in it. Along the trees bases small herbs and sprouts were beginning to grow which suggested that the forest would have an impressive bounty once spring had truly bloomed. As much as Persephone had talked about plants he assumed she'd like how it was when everything was bright and alive. 

As he rounded another bend of the river he spotted something bright in its depths. Confused, he peered closer and then realized what he was seeing was shiny rocks - little gemstones of some sort. It seemed they had come from a little spring underground, probably connecting to the cavern he and Persephone had found. It would be hard to be certain, though, with how could it was and how impossible to navigate without knowing there was enough air pockets to explore it. 

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Having chosen to settle at least temporarily in the forest, Hermes found a small clearing where a tree had fallen, exposing a large knot of roots at its thick base. The tree had split near its base and had grown with two trunks, both reaching toward the heavens but eventually the tree had died and fallen. But with its boat-like shape, it made for the perfect place for Hermes to begin creating a bed, where he could sleep nestled in the slight split between the trunks and watch the stars. 

It was exposed of course, but he would sort out a solution for that later. He thought he might dig a den in the gap left behind by the roots, so if the weather was bad he could simply slip inside. But on a nice, clear night? He slept above, where he could study the constellations. 

He'd left his new findings to get a drink from the river when he caught a familiar scent. Entwined with it was the scent of Persephone and he thought perhaps another scent he recognized- but he was fairly preoccupied first with the fact he'd managed to find the lord of the Underworld here, in this enchanting forest, on his own. 

And with his eyes on the riches in the river bank, which didn't surprise Hermes, who could see the stones glinting beneath the water's surface. "You've always had an eye for pretty things, sir," He laughed lightly.
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The idea that maybe this river somehow was fed into by the cavern he and Persephone had found was a bit confusing. In his head he would map out the rivers and waterways slowly - it had never been his job to track them after all. The rivers had their own minders, Styx was better at it. He took a moment to get a drink and then moved a bit further up the river. He tried to see what he could, focusing on the dark portion in the water that had his attention. He took a couple steps in, pawing at one of the larger shiny rocks. He had no idea of the names of the gemstones but he hoped that the spot would continue to provide them. He wasn't focused too much on his surroundings and then that voice cut through any thoughts that he'd had. 

He dropped the rock quickly, head shooting back up as he turned around. Confronted with the redhead right in front of him, Hades was shocked that it was the man standing there and another chest unlocked. More memories. Hermes words were probably about the rocks he'd just been trying to claim. His thoughts instead went straight to Persephone and her effortless beauty. "W-what do you mean?" He looked around quickly - he would have been embarrassed if Persephone had been watching him and he hadn't realized it. Dumbly he kicked at one of the little rocks around the edge of the riverbed. "It is beautiful here," He finally settled on, head lifting and looking around the forest. 

"I'm shocked to find you here. Did someone send for you?" He couldn't imagine it - and until right then, Hermes was one of those memories that was entirely forgotten to the King of the Dead.

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 “Nobody needs to send for Hermes — he shows up wherever he is needed.” Declared Poseidon out of the blue, having apparently snuck himself into the conversation effortlessly. He punctuated his sentence by striding up to Hermes and throwing one of his paws on a shoulder, as though it was Poseidon who had summoned the great messenger.
 While he and Hermes hadn't actually gotten the chance to connect, his arrival didn't surprise the brother in the least. Slowly, the pieces were starting to fit together. Mostly, though, he liked pretending that he knew what was going on in front of Hades, who seemed permanently distressed by his inability to remember all the things. He looked at Hades expectantly, like he'd earned a cookie.

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He grinned. Hermes often took others by surprise, being so fleet of foot, and he was the sort who liked to make an entrance. A common sentiment among their kind, and something that he always found entertaining when others did the same to him. He'd no sooner flicked an ear back at the feeling of being approached than he felt one of Poseidon's rangy limbs drape around his shoulders and squeeze him in. He effortlessly tossed his head back in a laugh and shrugged his shoulder against the underside of Poseidon's limb hoping to rib him with his elbow before he whirled out from under his grasp. 

"My man's got it right," He said, flicking his short tail- and Poseidon had indeed hit the nail on the head. The truth of the matter was that Hermes still had not managed to suss out exactly why he was where he was, but until something smacked him in the face, he was willing to simply let the Fates show him what he was meant to be doing here. He liked it when others acknowledged how efficient he was, too; he'd take what Poseidon had said as a compliment. "But it looks like I've got a bit of spare time here now. What're we doing today?" He asked, moving toward the river's edge. "Looking for something sparkly for a certain someone?" He asked, casting his cheeky gaze to Hades.
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Hades was trying not to be bewildered by the fact that so many people were ending up here and dropping into their lives again. There was of course the question how it happened, and the whole concept of why here and all of those details. But true to form Poseidon showed up just in time to intercept Hades' thoughts before he got too worked up about what was happening. He'd ponder the mysteries of the cosmos later. For now, seeing Poseidon draping himself across Hermes was both a relief in a sense and then just as bewildering. For a moment his eyes closed and it was almost like he pinched the bridge of his nose although he couldn't. He didn't have the anatomy for it. 

Still, he had to crack a smile at both his brother's comment and Hermes quick moves to get out from under Poseidon's grip. Hades managed to keep a pretty straight face when Hermes mentioned rocks for a certain person. "I like them, the shiny rocks." Hades covered as carefully as he could before he nodded towards that darker spot in the river. "Persephone and I found a cavern that runs under the forest, and there's water in it. I wonder if the river feeds into it?" Hades didn't know waterways after all. "What's your take, Poseidon?" He asked, blue eyes shifting to his brother and hoping that the talk of the new territory would be in a good enough distraction.

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 As Hermes leaned into Poseidon's words, the sea brother released his hold on him and bumped him lightly with a hip.
 I like them, the shiny rocks.
 “You would,” he countered. Hades went on, describing the waters that led beneath this ethereal forest. Poseidon tilted his head with renewed interest, having never seen a cavern like what his brother spoke. “Hm,” he started, wandering past Hermes and staring at the area of the water that his brother had motioned toward.
 He had travelled the length of the river, but there were parts of it that disappeared past forest and over hills that he wasn't sure where they drained into. “There must be a waterfall somewhere that leads into the start of those caverns, somewhere we probably can't access,” he said, matter-of-factly. Transformed at once into an expert of water-things, he transitioned just as quickly. “Think there are any mermaids in that cavern??” His green eyes lit up as he wiggled his bum and stared expectantly at Hades, and then Hermes.

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Despite what Hermes thought might've been an attempt to deflect the topic, and claim that the rocks were for himself, it was not at all lost on Hermes that the next word out of Hades' mouth would be Persephone. The copper male smiled, and would have pushed the topic a bit further- keen to see what else Hades had in mind for Persephone, as she was a good friend of his- but he sidelined the topic, effectively doing so by distracting Poseidon. A bit disappointing, Hermes thought; he'd been certain a moment ago that he and Poseidon probably could have teamed up to squeeze as much gossip out of Hades as possible had they both tried. But any mention of waterways, and the King of all things Aqua was easily distracted. 

Still- Hermes liked to see Poseidon light up the way he did. This was a topic close to his heart, something he loved to talk about, and he knew he would get another chance, another day, to pull some information out of Hades. And like Poseidon, he too was easily distracted when something that interested him was mentioned. "Ouuuu, mermaids!" He exclaimed. The same way Hades had been distracted by the shiny rocks, and Poseidon by the flow of the river, Hermes was definitely intrigued by gleaming scales and flashing tails. "Just to be clear- we're talking mermaids though, right? Not sirens?" As far as he was concerned- there was a very big difference between the two.
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^^You would - of course. Hades just grinned, shrugging a shoulder. He'd always had an affinity for them. And if he couldn't make them, then, he'd find them. He listened to Poseidon as he offered his thoughts and Hades tried to visualize it as best as he could in his head. He hadn't explored the mountains at all, and his best ventures into the area hadn't yielded much in return. He scoffed when Poseidon asked if there were mermaids. “Isn't that your area of expertise?” He shot back curiously. He hadn't exactly been looking and if he admitted they'd fallen asleep for hours in the cavern they'd probably laugh. Well. Maybe? He wasn't even sure.

When Hermes clarified it was mermaids and not sirens Hades nodded quickly. “Absolutely didn't hear any singing at all.” He confirmed. But what would they sing to him, a King, with his Queen right there? A sudden bashfulness crossed his face and he tried not to look embarrassed. He'd have to eventually have that talk, too. “ARe you planning on exploring more, Hermes?” It was a fair assumption if he hadn't been on a direct task for someone.^^
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 “Oh no, definitely not sirens,” Poseidon shook his head in long, sweeping motions, confirming his thoughts and ignoring Hades' jab. But as his brother went on, Poseidon hopped into the swallow part of the river. The water came up past his wrists, and he wandered farther in, judging the current as it wove around his legs. He looked downstream and took a few paces forward, leaving Hades and Hermes to their devices for a moment.
 As he moved in, the current picked up a bit. He decided to plunge his head under despite the chilly waters. He was no fish, but it was remarkable how much he could spot when he opened his eyes underwater. Shiny little stones gleamed from the bottom of the river. He grinned, releasing bubbles by accident.
 Turning around underwater back toward Hades and Hermes, he swam up from below and made sure to keep his breath held tight. Pulling himself back onto the bank, he wandered toward Hades, and shook off a pile of water onto him.

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Hermes noticed, but didn't watch directly, as Poseidon slid into the water. Knowing the guy, he wasn't terribly surprised to see him take to the water, and while he was significantly more graceful of a swimmer than the majority of the wolves that Hermes knew, he'd seen him swim plenty before and wasn't distracted by him. The only thing that did catch Hermes' keen eye was a slight glimmer of mischief that he thought he caught in his friend's gaze before he dipped his muzzle and disappeared below the surface of the water. Perhaps a droll tweak to the corners of his lips. Hades spoke to him- so while he kept Poseidon in the back of his mind, he thought best to reply to- and distract- the dark lord of the underworld for a moment or two. 

"Eh, I'm not too sure yet." He replied, and began to mosey along the shore a bit, meandering as he turned over one stone and then another as though looking for more of those shiny rocks. He was, actually, simply biding his time, and hoping that Hades might keep turned toward him. "Probably, though- I am a sort of here-there-and-everywhere kind of guy, y'know. Sort of what I do best. As for delivering messages-" He said, and cut off abruptly. 

Poseidon had pulled himself from the water- and as he did, Hermes side-stepped away on nimble, pale feet. A shower of water was flung out of Poseidon's pelt, dousing the entire area within several feet of him with moisture. Hermes laughed. "Not all Gods and wolves communicate as well as the two of you do, so I suppose I'll have to keep my job as messenger for quite some time yet!"
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^^Like Styx, Hades never had the expectation to lock Hermes down. What he preferred, however, was that they all stuck together since this was all different and strange to them and no one seemed to know what was happening. “You'll always be welcome here, Hermes.” He said with a thoughtful hum. “Even if you spend most of your time wandering, it's good to have a base.” It unfortunately hadn't been in his thought plan to pay much attention to hs brother, assuming Poseidon was doing what he was apt to do.

In a way, Hades wasn't wrong, and his brother's particular brand of chaotic mischief was rained down on him when Poseidon sidled up to him and shook his coat out. “Poseidon!” He sputtered, one paw up and pushing his brother back into the water. He laughed then, shaking his coat off and making sure he didn't look like too much of a mess.^^
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He is skippable at this point

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Well, clearly he had interrupted. He grinned something stupid as his brother shoved him back into the water.
 It was easy to wander away from the pair while in the water. The river was shallow and pleasant. It was easy to find his footing within its current. Like a woman, it was ready to embrace him and love him as he was.
 It was no accident that Poseidon had always been at home in the water. He had been destined for it. Even in this pitiful form, as @Atropos might have seen it, he was doing well. He was well fed. His brother and not-wife had started securing a home for themselves. Things were good. He didn't know exactly where he fit with any of it, but it was good enough to make him feel like sticking around for the time being. Well, really he felt like he had to stay in case Persephone turned into a complete monster and dumped him or worse, but that was just paranoia.
 But the water knew him. It was as though he had been in the same waters before, for it carried him the same way. His body was different and he could feel it. He couldn't breathe under it (which he had learned the first time he tried), and things were tighter and more pressured.
 Poseidon rose for air, ignoring his companions for the moment and swimming further downstream.

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^^Hades didn't mind having Hermes as a free agent as ever. Whatever they were doing here, in this form, they were doing well to stick together as best as they could. So when the trio parted it was with the promise they'd meet again in a few days - giving the King more time to scout the area as well as see how his would-be-Queen felt about everything.^^
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