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[asphdelarch-blog]

pierre-bezukhova:

Persephone: Hermes, tell Hades that he’s an idiot, but I still love him.

Hermes: Gross. Tell him yourself.

Persephone: We’re in a fight.

Hermes: You’re sitting on his lap?

[asphdelarch-blog]

{  roseloved.  }

HAS HE? WHAT A SURPRISE.    Christine looked up at her walking companion — the unlikely friend, the shaped in plaster of paris !   eyes escaping the lonely violinist in the corner  ❪   figure of a ghost  ❫ ;  whose hat was on the floor,  with only a few coins inside. personal experience whispered the truth.   the poor man would spend those alms in either shelter or food — never both.   ❝  is it,  Henry?   ❞  asked with childlike curiosity.   well,  even if a newfound cohort,   he was but a stranger.   she was aware of a loving marriage with great difficulty.   strong as iron,  shining as silver,  if anything   ! knew he was a judge, and possessor of great reaches.   but besides those small facts,  frustratingly,  nothing else.   ❝   it is a haunting melody.  you must enjoy music quite a bit to be familiar with it.   people usually avoid the sadder afflections.   ❞

a step forward;  pockets of the gown were soon empty.   the francs given would definitely allow him a night of comfort.   if only her father had been shown the same courtesy,  kindness,  more often !  Christine breathed in, before hurriedly returning her attention to the ebony figure beside her.  for she couldn’t answer his question but…      ❝   childhood maybe?  I mean,  it is a foreign folk song.  and you never really told me where you came from… ❞ ah, fishing behavior !  more information was requested.

               ❝  —————  GREECE.  ❞   hades surprises himself with the ease of the lie  ( really more a half - truth ! ).   deception had ever been his brothers’ strong suits, not hades’.    ❝  I am from greece.  ❞   he follows the songbird’s charitable lead and tosses a shining coin into the violinist’s hat  ---  unaware that the man could feed a whole family for months on the gold piece with the strange engraving of a winged beast upon it.   not that he would have done otherwise, had he known.   what is one gold piece, to the god of riches ?   such hauntingly lovely music, melodies which can transport hades into other times  &&  other places  ---  to him, they are worth far more than gold.  ❝  oh !   but if you never listen to melancholy songs, you miss the point entirely !  ❞   hades insists, eyes lighting up, the god eager to guide the subject away from his own background.   ❝  my friend william wrote that the purpose of art is to hold a mirror up to nature.   if you only listen to the cheerful tunes, you only ever see half the reflection !   and sometimes it is a comfort to hear a sweetly sad melody and know that someone understands the sadness you carry in your own heart.   perhaps that sounds strange  ...  ❞

[asphdelarch-blog]

{  porticosdaughter.  }  

                  “NOTHING to forgive, honestly.” She knows there’s a DIVIDE nowadays; not everyone in their situation has been able to transition smoothly ( if at all; how many of their kind have already faded away? ). “I’m making my own way, and I’m not ALONE. I consider it a blessing in a way.” Maybe she is adapting better than she thought she was. His offer to help is appreciated; so much so it finally gets a smile out of her. “Can you HELP? Not unless you’ll let me borrow those gates of yours one of these days and let me have a crack at my old job.”

               ❝  GATES ?  ❞   hades repeats, amused.   if she speaks of the gates which open onto his vast underworld kingdom, the lord of the dead himself has not passed through them in some time.   ❝  how do you imagine it would help you ?   there is very little power left in the old places of the earth, and  ---  if I’ve learned one thing, from spending so much time amongst living mortals  ---  it is that nostalgia is dangerous.   the humans are always adapting, always evolving, while we have stood still, tied too tightly to our former, golden age.   that is how they have outpaced us.  ❞  

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{  atlantisking.  }

“   I am…   “     He answers very simply at the question, it’s hard to embellish anything   ——  not that Arthur was one for such unnecessary courtesies  ——  but no matter how much you don’t care for gods, once they appear they are beings of great power and when you stand in front of the King of the Underworld who is calling desperately for his brother, you tend to get a bit nervous about what sort of threat can shake an immortal of his stature.     “   WILL YOU SHARE   then with me what exactly is the   reason   of your haste? If it threatens the people of Atlantis   I WANT TO KNOW.   “

               ❝  I cannot be sure, yet,  ❞   hades returns, frowning at being forced to admit there is something even he, who sees so much, who sees into the very depths of every mortal soul that comes before his throne, does not know.    ❝  but the creatures of my realm grow uneasy, and the waters of the acheron grow cloudy.  it is as though the connection between the world of the living  &&  the world of the dead has been poisoned !   as it began in the rivers of my realm, I had thought to ask poseidon if he could examine them and find a cause.   but if he, too, is missing  ——  the situation is even MORE DIRE than I had imagined.  ❞

[asphdelarch-blog]

{  chaied.  }

( @asphdel )

               ‘GENERALLY, WHEN ONE IS  invited in for tea,’   she remarks, voice stern but eyes merry as she leans over to pour the steaming liquid into the delicate porcelain cup that sits before her guest,   ‘there is some conversation involved, or at least expected …’

     Of course, she is not one to talk – there have been plenty of times when she has proved uncommunicative in this house. She had done her best to tidy up, but with such short notice, there are some aspects of cleanliness she had had to overlook in her preparations. There are a few webs up in the corners because she has not yet had the time to remove their owners to the garden outside, & there are a few dirtied dishes because she has not yet had the time to throw them in a bucket of soapy water …  Other than that, there is the usual clutter of magical paraphernalia.  

     Calcifer roars gently at the fire on the other side of the room, & has of yet neglected to introduce himself. With strangers, he generally prefers a more dramatic introduction – Sophie suspects that he is waiting for the opportune moment, & since she had accidentally poured a few drops of water on him yesterday, she is not going to go out of her way to ruin his fun.

     ‘I suppose this is a strange house,’   she continues, sitting down opposite after her own tea has been poured,   ‘so perhaps there is much that is drawing your eye & taming your tongue.’

               a rare thing, to see a god looking sheepish, but sophie has the good fortune of witnessing exactly that.   ❝  FORGIVE ME,  ❞   hades murmurs, forcing his gaze up from his tea for the first time since he had taken his seat  ---  truly wonderful tea, at that, some of the best he has ever had, though the delicate porcelain feels out of place in his pale, bony hands.   much too lovely, much too fragile to be trusted to the likes of him.   but wasn’t that always the way ?    ❝  it has been some time since I’ve spoken to anyone  ...  living.   I am out of practice, I’m afraid.  ❞   another sip, to fill the awkward space between words, before he adds,   ❝  not that I was ever truly good at it, even when I wasn’t.  ❞   a rueful, self - deprecating smile tugs at pale lips.    ❝  people don’t make a habit of inviting me into their homes.   what sort of things does one say ?   ‘ your home is lovely ‘ ?   ‘ how is your family ‘ ?  ❞   these are sincere questions.   he wants to learn.

the god tenses, then, half - way through a sip of tea, before slowly setting the cup back on the table before him and placing a finger to his lips.   every dark hair on his pale arms stands on end, and his upper lip curls in response to a perceived danger, the lord of the dead prepared to do battle with whatever might threaten him and his new friend.   ❝  sophie  ...  I do not wish to alarm you, but  —————  WE ARE NOT ALONE !   I’ve just sensed a demonic presence, here, in the room with us !   it must be clever  &&  powerful, too, to have concealed itself from me for so long !  ❞

[asphdelarch-blog]

{  sanctamater.  }

  ELECTRICITY IN THE AIR: nature warping and bending itself to accommodate the UNNATURAL; what should not have been, yet what was. She - SHADE, monster; warped as a reflection in a shattered mirror - she, NAMELESS and cold; she, filled with a RAGE that none could SATISFY. Was it not fitting that she create others like her? CHILDREN to follow her, to obey her; something she’d never possessed in life ( DEAD / ALIVE: THIS WASN’T RIGHT ! ); yet another presence entered the arena: not bastard and escort, not girl and scoundrel: but something older, INFINITE, exuding far more power than she.   For a brief moment, her long dead heart SHUDDERED to life; a firm THUD-THUD within chest; a wheeze of air. Amelia. AMELIA. Who was Amelia? Not she, not anyone; not the statues at the tomb nor the coffin which had once held a girl’s corpse. NOT RIGHT, NOT RIGHT, NOT RIGHT: a scream ripped through the air like a BULLET: echoed off the walls of a burning, ruined city.                                                   “You have no dominion here.” 

               ❝  I have dominion wherever there is DEATH,  ❞   there is no petulance, no anger in his tone  ---  it is a statement of fact, only, the truth of it etched so deeply into the bones of the universe that no one who hears it could dare contest it.   ❝  and you bring death with you wherever you go.  ❞   earth - brown gaze, keenest in the pitch - dark of night, notices a flicker of  ...  something  ...  cross her face at the sound of her name.   it is an expression which sits in the murky space between recognition  &&  fear.   THE UNCANNY.   wasn’t that the name freud had tried to bestow upon that terrifying, in - between realm ?   it is a space in which the  ( once )  lady amelia comstock now herself exists :   at once living and dead ;  at once beautiful and horrific.   is it any wonder that the spectre before him lashes out, leaves in her wake a trail of destruction ?    ❝  —————  not amelia, then,  ❞   he murmurs, softly, so softly, as one trying to coax a wild animal out of hiding.    ❝  by what name shall I call you ?  ❞

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               hades  ---  no !   HENRY ALDRIC now, for that was the name he had chosen to wear in his new life in the world of mortals  ---  stands before the war memorial, earth - brown gaze taking in each name, so carefully etched into the stone.   navy seals, all.   he recognizes them, every one, remembers the unique swirl of colour he had read upon their souls when they came before his throne.   but that life is behind him now, and as if to remind hades of this, he is torn violently out of his reverie by the cheerful chirping coming from the sleek little rectangle in his jacket pocket.   

a mobile.   that’s what persephone  ---  POPPY !  ---  had called it.   she’d tried to teach him how to use it, too  ...  tried, being the operative word.   he scowls at the phone, just as he would at a foe with whom he is about to do battle, cursing under his breath as he presses button after button on the brightly - coloured screen to no avail.   at last, he turns, desperate, to the stranger standing next to him, who is also paying his respects.   ❝   —————  you wouldn’t happen to know how to use one of these dreadful things, would you ?  ❞

º ・ﾟ 💀   ʼ   ♚ ◝        @dechaagny​

[asphdelarch-blog]

{  deathreflected.  }

                     ❝       NOTHING  I do is in her name .     ❞      each word he pronounces with utter gravity .      ❝      my heart is far too  blackened  , yet you suggest I’d willingly pollute  hers  too .   no .      ❞      a dark chuckle , as three corpse - fingers tap nervously on the rung of his cup , a distant look alighting the flickering orbs which reflect the very distance he maintains ,   must maintain  , to separate himself from the life he’s taken .      ❝      her light is so strong  my sins cannot pollute it .    she knows .   THAT  is my regret !    that she’s seen .   &&   I would kill even so , to keep from draining her life away with that knowledge .    now isn't  that  a paradox ?     ❞      aspiring to win her heart was  FUTILITY  , but threatening a god was perhaps even more so .   therefore the truth was begrudgingly admitted to the other , that which any mortal man would  never be granted .

               ❝  I think I understand,  ❞   hades murmurs, gaze the colour of frozen earth downcast.    ❝  I denied my feelings for my dread queen for an age, so fearful was I of poisoning a creature of life  &&  light with darkness, decay  —————  it seemed impossible that she should want any part in it.   she belongs in the sunlight, surrounded by love, laughter, soft green grass, blooming flowers and birdsong.   all I have to offer is smoke and ice.  ❞   at last, he forces himself to meet the spectre’s gaze once more, peering up at erik through dark lashes.   ❝  she sings your music, erik.   THE MUSIC OF THE NIGHT.   isn’t that what you call it ?   would she not need at least the smallest of blackened spots upon her own heart to be able to bring it to life as she does ?  ❞   

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                night descends upon the quaint, water - side town, and it is only then, under cover of darkness, that HADES, lord of the dead, steps out into the moonlight.   it is the most his earth - brown eyes, so used to the dimness of the underworld, can bear.   there has been a funeral in town today, and his feet, as though answering to a mind of their own, carry him over to stand before the fresh mound of earth, the newly - placed headstone.   ❝  a friend of yours ?  ❞   his voice, when he addresses the woman standing half - hidden in the shadows of the cemetery trees, is soft, raspy from disuse. 

º ・ﾟ 💀   ʼ   ♚ ◝        @adellaenchanted {  sc  }

[asphdelarch-blog]

two fish swim into a concrete wall. one turns to the other and says, "dam!"

those fish really WATER be more careful …

[asphdelarch-blog]

{  originallywritten.  }

      “  his younger sister, yes !  ”  by most accounts, verona is  the opposite of her older twin siblings. while they’ve carved their paths into the criminal lifestyle, she has chosen to live her life more honestly.  for that matter, they try to keep what they do separate from her life, mutual respect and loyalty between siblings. not only that,  the younger hadlock is… infinitely more  cheerier and agreeable than  the  other two. very few individuals made the connection that the twins and her were related so closely.     sometimes, however, paths could not help but cross. 

       “     he  should know better than to  steal  from the  dead.  i  could try to help you.  but,   i   really try  not to  get  involved in what demetrius  does.  ”

               ❝  —————  I suppose I can understand that.  ❞   a grudging concession.   after all, he would not care to be held accountable for the sins of his siblings, either.   the lord of the dead has sins enough of his own to atone for.   his gaze wanders idly around the florist’s shop, the corners of his mouth curving upward, ever so slightly.   ❝  my wife is a florist, as well.   the very best.  ❞   in fact, because of that, flower shops are one of the few places in this unfamiliar mortal world in which the underworld’s king feels comfortable.   ❝  and how is it you imagine you could help  ---  VERONA, was it ? ❞

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{  stygicniron.  }

Nico grins in response to his father’s enthusiasm, taking a step toward the lord of the Underworld before he fully processes what he said. But then realization pulls him up short and his expressions falters slightly. “I–oh, is it a short joke? I really should be getting back to my work.”

               hades' face falls, ever so slightly.   ❝  oh  ...  what are you working on, son ?  ❞   as lord of the dead, there is little that transpires in his realm without his knowing of it, and yet he hasn’t heard of any such pressing business nico might have at hand.   still, amusing jokes are good for relieving the stress of a heavy workload, so the raven - haired god draws himself up, grinning broadly as he delivers it :   ❝ what room may a ghost never enter ?   THE LIVING ROOM !  ❞

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                ❝  miss granger ?  ❞   aldric calls upon the eager student as the rest of her cohort eagerly flees the ghoul studies classroom, having just been dismissed.   ❝  I won’t be returning the assignments until next lecture, but I just wanted to let you know that your essay on ghost rites of passage was exemplary.   sir nicholas throws a wonderful DEATH DAY party, doesn’t he ?  ❞  

º ・ﾟ 💀   ʼ   ♚ ◝        @clvergirl  {  sc  }

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{  pomegrnat.  }

                    ❝  it is not about   power ,  hades !  ❞    persephone   snarls   her words , jaw clenched , gaze hardening.   she is a reasonable queen   ;   but it is the mortals    (  those foolish creatures !  )    who try her patience once again.    ❝  you ,   will be powerful for eternity  ————————  it  is  about  respect !    THEY  NEED  TO  BE  PUNISHED !  ❞

               ❝  and how would you have them punished, darling ?   these mortals, they belong to the realm of the living  —————  for now.   I have no dominion over them.  ❞   he moves in, slowly, wrapping his arms around her waist.   the lord of the dead has a fair bit of experience placating his queen.   ❝  I like that you would defend me so passionately, though.   you are TRULY STUNNING, persephone, when you are taken up by such fury.  ❞

[asphdelarch-blog]

what did the ghost say to the beehive? BOO BEES!

sounds to me like that ghost needs to learn some  …  DEAD - IQUETTE !!!

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               ❝  niece  ...  ❞   hades does his best to be diplomatic, not wishing to offend the GODDESS OF THE HUNT, and his own kin, in denying her request.   ❝  are you certain it is wise to allow your hounds  &&  mine to play together ?   I understand that socialization is an important part of training beasts, but  ---  cerberus is a fair bit larger than your hounds  ...  ❞  

º ・ﾟ 💀   ʼ   ♚ ◝        @moonspurned  {  sc  }

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              st. mungo’s hospital for magical maladies and injuries is a deeply unsettling place, even for a wizard who spends most of his days in the company of ghosts  &&  ghouls.   as a gifted legilimens, henry aldric is so familiar with the power, the intricacies of the human mind that there is little more terrifying than the idea of living inside of a broken one, even for the briefest of moments.  ❝  GILDEROY ?  ❞   he greets the patient in soft, soothing tones, wary of alarming him.   ❝  my name is henry.   the nursing staff, they tell me that lately you’ve been feeling as though you might not be alone in your hospital room ?  ❞  

º ・ﾟ 💀   ʼ   ♚ ◝        @lockhcrts