here is to the future

Ethereal.

That was the word she used to describe the forest, to summarize it succinctly.

Early in the morning, when the first few rays of sunlight pierced through from the east, the fog seemed to be at its thickest. The way it seemed to wrap through the forest and foliage in thick tendrils pulled at her. They could have nearly guided her along had they wanted to, as if they could play some enchanting tune to lead her astray at a moment’s notice.

Frost coated everything still, glittering and glistening where sunlight rested on it. She took particular notice of this because it clung to her as well, not that she needed any aid in blending in against damp evergreens and their snowy coverage. Winter was truly her season, even if now it was growing less and less powerful in its hold by the day. Soon only the mountains would retain its trace.

Here, in the depths of the needled wildwood, she moved like a pale wraith.

Until she did no longer—through a half-lidded gaze and a blank expression, something suddenly gave her pause. A scent on the wind, something familiar, but what? Or who? An appraising note escaped her as she tested the wind, turning into the gentle chill of a breeze.

+2 Discovery Points

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The forest greeted her with dappled sunshine, holding a certain beauty that the young girl marveled at as she traipsed through the evergreens. More and more, snow fell away to reveal the lush green of the forest, something she both delighted at and dreaded, the ever looming threat of Mother appearing at any time sitting in the back of her head. With Spring here, surely it was only a matter of time. With each passing day, Persephone grew bolder, more confident, and she liked to think that if Mother did appear, she'd stand up to her. Refuse to go with her, refuse to be caged again.

The little Spring wolf didn't realize immediately that she wasn't alone, the wolf's fur blending in so elegantly with the spotted sunlight that fell over the still-white forest floor. She was almost close enough to run into her when she did finally take notice, pausing midstep in surprise and curiosity. “Hi,” She blurted out suddenly, blinking owlishly at the female.

+1 Discovery Points

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As though from nowhere, someone materialized from thin air. Only not in truth; Styx simply had not noticed her until she had very nearly come crashing into her. Her own steps halted just enough to sidestep to avoid a collision that did not come and for a moment, the narrowing of her gaze may have suggested something far more nefarious crossing her empty mind.

But there was nothing of the sort there.

Instead as her expression softened, she regarded the girl before her almost confused. There was something familiar about her, something that Styx could not place… whether it was her face or simply the motley of common scents between them mingling with crisp pine she neither bothered to investigate nor ascertain their origin.

“Hello,” she answered, “did I startle you?”

Her words were soft, gentle; she knew this one to be a delicate thing at first glance.
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“Kinda?” And yet, no. The wolf with the shadowy dappling across her shoulders hadn't startled her. Persephone just hadn't been paying attention to where she was going, so in her mind, it wasn't the other wolf's fault in the least. “Actually, no. I just wasn't looking ahead of me, I guess.” There was something... different... ethereal, almost, about the wolf in front of her. She couldn't quite place a paw on it, but the thought was whisked away in the wake of her wondering at this wolf's appearance. Did she live here too? Like that woman up towards the northern side of the forest?

“I'm Persephone,” She offered her name gently, smiling. “Do you live here, or are you new here too?”
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“Persephone,” she hummed softly, “what a lovely name.”

Befitting of their pantheon that grew here, though Styx hardly had a hand in it. As fates or gods or whatever it was that they deigned themselves to be, they would always be drawn together inexplicably. Whatever part this girl played in it she could not say, but there was something in the commonality of scents on her coat that suggested otherwise.

But to answer her question: “I have existed here a long time. This realm, other realms, it matters not. Is this your first time awakening? All this strange and new… and yet not?” The thin smile returned to her features, her gaze honing in on the soft features of her counterpart.
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She could have listened to this woman talk for hours. There was something about the way she spoke, her cadence, her riddles that drew the girl in like a moth to a warm flame. So enraptured was she that the questions asked of her were not immediately registered, not until Persephone noticed the way the woman looked at her expectantly. “Oh! My first... awakening, you said?” The question was odd but it also... made sense, if you squinted and tilted your head to the side a little bit.

“Uh... My second, I guess. I remember being with my Mother before this.” She frowned for a moment, ears flicking back against her skull before righting themselves again. “What about you?”
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Her second? That may have explained the disorientation. Though truth be told, every time was a disorienting experience. To take the culmination of one’s life experiences and condense them in a matter of moments, to compartmentalize them; there would always be fragments. Even Styx had moments where she remembered those little snippets, like flashes of electricity on a summer night’s sky. Like a distant storm set on the horizon out to sea, so close, and yet… so very, very far away.

“I do not keep track,” she admitted with a roll of her silvery shoulders.

She had never bothered—what would be, would be, and there was little she could do to change that course. She would live this life too until she could not and then? Well, she would be off to the next great adventure, wherever it took her. The cast would always change, as would their wardrobe, but the plot would remain the same.

“You will grow accustomed to this,” she went on. “The first few times are always jarring. Some might even say they are nightmarish.” A thin smile akin to a smirk spread across her features, something registering finally. This girl had been with Hades—truly misery loved company—among others. Faint recollections here and there, but Styx could not place names to scent so easily as she could with those more associated with her.

But it meant at least one other familiar face would be among the rotating cast.
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Awe.

That's all there was.

This woman had lived so long, woken up so many times that she simply did not bother to keep count anymore. The gravity of that statement made Persephone's eyes widen, staring at the silver wolf as if she had grown a beautiful second head.

“I...” She blinked, finally, giving her head a small shake. “I will?” Just the notion of such a thing, of this odd sort of rebirth that many times was... Well, to be honest, it seemed far-fetched. Nonsensical. But she knew it wasn't. How else would she have woken alongside the lake, fully grown, some memories but not all? Unless she had some form of amnesia, but that didn't feel like the case here.

“What's your name?” She asked finally, coming back down to earth. “And is there anything you were looking for in particular? In the forest, I mean?”
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Like a wise old woman, her thin smile seemed to grow at the unbridled innocence on display. Styx did not remember if she had ever once been such a way, though it would not have surprised her if she had been. Perhaps she too had once been so full of life that it overwhelmed her, sprang from her like a fountain of youth eternal.

But those days were long behind her; who knew how many untold lifetimes ago.

“I am Styx,” she offered when asked, “and I believe you will. Most do, though I cannot say I have had the fortune of meeting those who have not. I suppose they come and go like the rest of us and who knows where.” She certainly did not, nor fathom what depths took them. Perhaps Hades would have been a better suitor for that answer.

“But there is nothing that I seek from this forest, I simply exist. I suppose this is my home, for now.” Once again, she took its beauty into her lilac gaze, drifting as she was wont to do. The evergreens reached for the sky, stretching, almost, as though their pointed little spearheads of needles could pierce it and the veil that so faintly held them altogether. Her gaze narrowed on them and their frosted tips.

“I feel as though we will have an early spring this year. Do you agree?”

+1 Discovery Points

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Styx. The name jolted a memory from the girl. Mother telling her about what a dark, lifeless place the Underworld was. That Styx cut through it all only to separate the mortal realm and the realm of the dead — Hades' realm. The river trapped lost souls, souls that had no obol, that had no way to pay the King's ferryman.

Mother had told her that she must never go near the river known as Styx, that its waters were evil and dark. That if she touched it, she would be trapped forever.

And yet, looking at the woman, Persephone found herself examining the personified river, surprised that there was nothing stygian or evil about her. In fact, she seemed... Pleasant. Kind, even.

It was the final question that drew the honeyed female from her reverie, blinking slowly as she processed the question. “Yes,” Came her agreeable answer. “A few of us have started settling here. Hades and myself. His brother. You are welcome to stay with us, if you like.” For some inexplicable reason, Persephone somehow knew that she would not have to explain their identities to Styx.
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Her offered only seemed to keep the demure smile plastered to Styx’s face. The ghastly canine did not need reason to stay, though it may have been a bit presumptuous of her to think she didn’t need permission. But she had always existed with a certain set regardless and even now she did not foresee that changing. Whether it was a more central role for her this time or merely lingering in the background as she always did, Styx did not believe this course would change for her.

But something else piqued her interest over the offer.

Her gaze settled once more on the tenderhearted girl.

“Which brother?” A gentle question, but not without its gravity.

She knew Hades had them among other scattered ties, but she wondered how well he would keep their company. They were different from one another, their former existences at times incredibly opposite—or at least it was in her recollection. But these were hazy memories at best, their names lost to her in a whirlpool of other things.

Had their collective pantheon ever existed in cooperation? At times, she thought yes. But it was not without its burdens and tribulations, and she had witnessed trial by fire and ice time and time again. This time would be no different, but the bigger picture in her head was just as fuzzy at a distance was it was in examination of its finer, more intricate details.
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“Poseidon.”

Her answer was automatic, swift. Obviously, Styx knew them — all three of them? — if she was asking a question like that, and she had retained at least some of her memories. These were good things, of course, but Persephone found herself insatiably curious. She wanted to know what Styx knew, though she did not dare pry for such information. It would have been terribly discourteous to Hades and Poseidon, and their younger brother.

“Will you? Stay, I mean. I'd like to learn from you.”
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Poseidon.

She huffed an amused little puff of air—that particular brother she knew was a daft thing, a creature of the sea depths and every bit as wild and unbridled as the oceans that had spat him up. Except that wasn’t the real story and she knew it, but it was her own take on it, her own recollection woven into the very fabric of reality.

Styx could have commented on it but decided not to; there were simply some things that were not hers to speak, secret or not. All would be revealed in time and she wondered if perhaps this place would change him too. Yet the sea, like the river, had its own natural flow and course. Whether it was from shore to shore or wellspring, they would ebb and flow as they naturally would.

“I go where life takes me,” she said to answer, though perhaps it were not an answer at all. “Sometimes I am go where I am needed and sometimes not. If you are to learn from me, then I suspect I will be around when that opportunity comes.” Her head canted, shoulders rolled once in a shrug. Things would be as they would be, forever and always.

“You may walk with me a while if you desire,” she went on, starting forward. “Today I intend to see where this path takes me, be it within this forest or beyond.”
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The answer was cryptic, certainly, but Persephone kind of understood. The invitation given in the next breath, however, was accepted almost immediately, the girl springing forward to fall into step beside the river-woman. She would not go past the forest, not this day, but she would spend her time with Styx, soaking up whatever knowledge she had to offer.

Fade.
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