link between realms

His response was dry as he gave it to Persephone. "Unfortunately." He wouldn't say he enjoyed Poseidon as a brother exactly....but he didn't dislike him either. It was complicated. He couldn't remember why exactly, but, he shifted his blue eyes back to Poseidon's face and there was still confusion written on it "Poseidon doesn't mean anything in his choices, because that takes thought." Hades might have been laughing and teasing but he wasn't quite sure how his brother thought. He had never figured it out. With Poseidon there it made him consider more options - a family he'd forgotten, entirely, or blocked them out. Or Persephone's brilliance blocked everything but her out. There was something about having his brother there that was comforting in a way. It was different, at least, having his brother there and maybe it meant that there was a great deal more to the world that Hades didn't remember. 

Somehow beneath Poseidon's eyes Hades felt all the more aware of how.....different they were. Persephone was all the light and brightness. He was darkness, the cold, alone. It was how it was supposed to be. He felt almost scrutinized, as if his very thoughts were projected in a neon sign for everyone to see. If he touched her too much, if he did anything wrong everyone would know.

"I caught a turkey," He said and gestured back towards where he'd left the fowl. If Poseidon had just shown up here - on the edge of the same lake they'd found each other at - he wondered if it was something about the lake itself. He wasn't uneasy, but, if they'd found themselves here maybe others would show up at the same spot. It only opened more questions, in reality. "If you're hungry, we can eat." It was easier to move those thoughts far away than to process them now. Especially when it came to the oddities of this whole situation. Hades would ponder it later when he was alone and the world was quiet and he didn't need to process it properly. It wasn't going to put forth the ideal sort of life - but vaguely, he recalled meals with his brothers. Brunches. "It's not mandatory." He added after a thought - finding Poseidon's eyes at the sparked memory. 

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Poseidon was close again and this time, Persephone drew away, closer to Hades so that her shoulder pressed lightly into his side as she looked up at his brother. While she wasn't afraid, the little honey wolf was not quite keen on finding herself beneath him again. Though she and Hades had played, had tumbled in the snow beneath the great pines, it had been different. Welcomed. Something she had no issues engaging in. Poseidon hadn't given her a choice and that, more than anything, had put a wall between them, one Persephone was not too sure about breaking down. Her freedom was hers and she wouldn't let anyone take that from her. Not again.

Hades spoke again and she nodded, having been looking forward to the meal in the first place. If Poseidon was hungry, however, the little spring wolf would certainly wait her turn. She had eaten more recently, she was betting, especially if he had simply woken up here like they had.
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 The way she shied away from him felt abnormal. Obviously, she had some kind of an issue with being pounced on, even though he had tried his best to be friendly. Even though he didn't fully understand why she moved away from him, Poseidon tilted his head and pouted his lip, watching her and wondering what had happened to her to make her so... cold.
 He shot a dirty look to Hades, who implied he wasn't capable of thought, and stuck out his tongue rudely. Only when the turkey was mentioned did Poseidon abandon this pose and flip his gaze over to the dead bird on the ground. He hadn't noticed it before, a little preoccupied with being threatened and bowled over by his much taller, much stronger brother. “TURKEY!!!” He declared, launching himself over to the bird and rolling on it.
 “I forgot to bring gravy,” Poseidon mentioned, grabbing the bird while he was rolled onto his back and throwing it ceremoniously above him. This didn't work in the beautiful way he had hoped, as the posture and the weight of the dead animal prevented the throw from being more than five inches away from his face. The result was the bird flopping onto his face before he had time to catch it. He rolled away like nothing had happened and bit into it. “Yoo taek dat sh-ide,” he offered, hoping one of them would help him tear the feathered beast in two.

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The eye roll and that tongue did little to deter Hades as he watched his brother get so excited over the turkey. He chuckled when the bird fell so unceremoniously right back down on Poseidon's face. He exchanged a glance with Persephone to see if she wanted to take up Poseidon's offer before he let out a huff. He shook his coat out before trotting closer to his brother - with the hint of a grin on his face. Despite what he said (and often thought) he did prefer Poseidon to Zeus any and every day of the week. 

He took hold of the bird, lips curled a bit as he shook his head - he wasn't trying to dislodge Poseidon's grip, but, just feeling it out. He gave his brother a nod - he was ready. 

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 Poseidon was absolutely delighted at the glimmer of a smile he could clearly spot in his brother's eyes. They had been through a lot together, and it was nice to finally share a moment with him again after wandering through the desert aimlessly.
 The moment Hades gave the go ahead, Poseidon pulled away, using powerful muscles in his neck and digging his claws into the soft earth to tear at the prize. Sinews stretched. Muscles tore, and the feast was split into two very uneven parts. It was all well and good, though. As Poseidon tumbled backward, still holding on, he shook himself and realized his portion was a sizeable leg and contained some of the innards strewn along his tumbled path. He opened his mouth to drop the portion only to say, “Who got the wishbone?”
 After his joke, he was about to eat before he thought of something and squinted at his brother, eying Persephone. “Did you show your new wife to Zeus yet?” He promptly stuffed his mouth full of turkey, swallowing pieces while he waited for an answer.

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The question of What's a wishbone? died in her throat as Poseidon looked squarely at her while addressing Hades, asking a question that made a flame burn under the fur across her cheeks, eyes widening. “New wi-- I'm not -- We haven't done --” More furious blushing as she looked between them. “Who is Zeus?!” Her question came in a higher octave than normal.
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Hades bore his claws in, shoulders locking as he yanked and countered the force that Poseidon applied to the bird. It was strange - even actions like this jarred his memories more. He could remember bickering and jostling over meals with Poseidon and Zeus. Despite being the oldest, Hades never took that into account when it came to his brothers. He and Poseidon had similar histories, Zeus, he hadn't lived beneath the same father they had. But he didn't want to think about that right then. Instead he focused on the two wolves that were there. When he felt the bird finally give it was in a great mess, this horrid pinata of parts here and there. He surveyed the turkey and gave a bemused smile when his brother asked about the wishbone. "It's here, I win." Hades mused. 

He was nodding to Persephone - letting her take her pick of what to eat. Right up until Poseidon asked about his new wife. "I didn't - I've never had a wife, and we're not, she isn't --" Hades sputtered just the same way that Persephone was, completely unprepared for that line of questioning. The sharp rise of her tone when it asked about Zeus just made him shudder. "My even worse brother. The baby brat." He said, avoiding both their gazes because he wasn't interested in seeing the look he could feel on Poseidon's face.

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 Apparently marriage was a sensitive subject to these two googly-eyed, size-handicapped weirdos. Poseidon just kept eating as the two of them stumbled over words and things, declaring indeed that they were not married (yet) and cluing in the lewd brother that they hadn't even fooled around. Well, colour him surprised.
 Poseidon kept eating, showing no expression change from the casual interest he held. Even when Hades insulted him indirectly by manner of Zeus comparison, he just kept eating, watching the way they reacted to one another like he was invested very deeply in a soap opera. He paused before answering, mouth still full, “Oh he'th not thso bahd.” Zeus definitely, absolutely, 100% was so bad, at least in the light Hades was talking about, but Hades never appreciated the good bits. He swallowed. “He throws the best parties.” At least he thought he did. What did those parties even look like? He couldn't remember. It didn't matter.

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Another brother. Face still warm, Persephone looked between the two of them, words not quite working as properly as she wanted them to. She wanted to explain, to brush the comment off, but at the same time...

“I’m going to take a walk around the lake,” She said suddenly, taking a step back before turning and trotting away from them. She needed space, needed to think, and did not need Hades’ brother throwing out wild accusations. Even if she did kind of maybe wish it were true.

__Seph exits!__
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Hades barely settled before Persephone took off. He watched her and then cut his eyes back to Poseidon. "Do.....do you remember everything?" He could have been confused about Persephone leaving but it was a lot to be suddenly in the company of two wolves who knew each other already. He started to eat, but he took his time - saving the choice parts for Persephone. "I can't remember much. Before seeing you I hadn't a clue about you. Or Zeus." And still the rest was strange and foggy. It wasn't something that he could put to words and he just....he didn't like the feeling at all. 

He sat back, confusion still on his face as he looked at his brother. "It's like...the more I push the w-w-worse it is." He took a long breath and tried to calm himself down. There was no use in being so riled up that he was stuttering again. He'd figure it out later. For now he just needed to focus on what he had and that was now Persephone and Poseidon. 

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 The sandy girl made a quick exit, which Poseidon thought little of. He shrugged as he slurped down a piece of fatty meat from one of the best bits of the thigh. For a moment, when Hades looked at him, he wondered if his brother would be upset that he'd made his not-wife leave. Apparently, his curiosity won over any semblance of anger he might have held.
 It was clear then that Hades really didn't remember anything. Poseidon wondered why the universe had decided to grant him feelings that felt like memories over his brother. To be honest, he didn't remember much either. He thought for a moment about lying and pretending that he remembered everything, but that was something he just wouldn't do. “Not really,” came the truth. “I remember the sea, and the essence of both you and Zeus. That's pretty much it.” He couldn't really explain what he meant by "essence." It was just... Once Hades had confirmed who he was, it seemed obviously true.
 As Hades stuttered, Poseidon replied calmly. “Well you gotta quit trying to hold onto it,” described the normally dense brother. “It's like a beautiful woman. You can't just squeeze her really hard and hope that something's gonna happen; you gotta just roll with the waves as they come,” he explained. He continued eating casually.

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Roll with the waves. Hades drew in a breath and let it out again, slow, measured. Trying to follow his brother's lead. It was rare that he did so, eyes closing for a moment as he just....just tried to let it go. "She and I woke up in the same area - no ideas what was happening." Hades explained. He ate a bit more before he looked back up at his brother. "And all I knew....was that I was alone mostly. I remember being lonely. And feared. Not being trusted because of what I did." What he did - death. Running the whole business. He didn't kill - he had people that brought souls. But the whole.....the judging thing, the business of it. It didn't give him the best of reputations. 

"And I remember Kronos." He remembered being ripped apart. He refused to deal with that right now - not when he was trying to just focus on what he could control and clearly remember. His gaze shifted from the bird up to his brother. "Are you going to stay around here? We've kind of taken to the forest there." Was he avoiding the conversation he'd just started? Yes. On second thought ht really didn't want to deal with thoughts of their parents. Kronos made him angry and Rhea just made him sad. He just missed her. 

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 Alone.
 Poseidon remembered, too.
 He remembered the cold, cruel warmth. He remembered the feeling between life and death. He remembered being trapped.
 For Hades, it had been different. For Hades, being consumed had broken him irreversibly in a way that Poseidon had always understood partially but had never been able to grasp. He had never really tried, only wishing to support his big brother's recovery. Trying to shoulder the weight of it was impossible — the sea wolf had never been built for it.
 There was more, too. There had been goodness and pleasure in his life from before. It was just a feeling. It was a thread of existence that he didn't dare try to cling to. He knew that if he tried, it would escape the same way that Hades had described. So he drifted. Hades changed the subject, though Poseidon had remained strangely quiet as he listened.
 “Oh,” he said, “Obviously I'm coming with you.” It was a declaration that didn't have a room for a "no." He looked at Hades, half-grinning as he swallowed the remainder of his portion. “I mean how else will you survive Zeus?”

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