his kiss, the riot [introduction]

[comehomewithme]

She's gone.

That was what Orpheus thought, no, what he knew to be true. He had lost Eurydice, again, and it was all his fault -- again. He looked down at the ground, then fell upon it, weeping.

The world was so cruel, he thought. He knew so little of it, but he knew that much to be true. He would never see his love again. He sobbed and sobbed, tears streaking down his face.

"Why...?! Why?!" he cried out, his voice echoing and then getting swallowed by the howling wind.

He pounded the cold ground, as if that action could somehow bring her back. He had finished his song, but now she was gone, and Orpheus felt lost forever.

Eventually, his sobbing subsided, and he slowly rose to his feet. When he blinked back the last of his tears, he was struck by how...different the world looked. In fact, it looked so different that he wasn't sure where exactly he was. He picked up a small pamphlet on a nearby bench and flipped through it. A meeting-place of worlds...unusual. Was this Hermes' doing, somehow?

Orpheus began walking, his lyre strapped to his back. He looked around at various strange-looking people and creatures, all of whom seemed non-threatening, but still very, very odd.

Well, he thought, if you can't beat them, might as well join them.

"Does...does anyone want to hear a song? I've been working on one."

Comments

[desertpowered]

Paul knows loss when he sees it, and it's something he respects. He's familiar enough with losing people he cares about. He gives the stranger a look that he hopes is sympathetic without seeming condescending. He also appreciates music, and in fact part of him is thinking about someone he knew once and may well know again in time. But there's no need to bring up your own traumas in the face of someone else's recent pain.

But the sight of a string instrument softens Paul's heart and prompts him to dig in his pocket for several gold coins. It's tradition to pay a musician, whichever world you come from. Or planet, for that matter. He offers them to the stranger.

"Yes, please. I'd be happy to hear anything you've come up with."

[comehomewithme]

Orpheus offered the young man a weak smile.

"Thank you," he said, and grabbed his lyre from off his back and began to strum its strings. He cleared his throat before beginning his song, and when he sang, it was in a lilting falsetto. It was a song about the king of the Underworld, Lord Hades, and how he came to fall in love with his wife, Persephone.

When he finished, Orpheus looked down, then back up at the young man.

"It's actually...it's finished," he admitted. "I just can't think of anything else to write."

[willoftheblackbird]

A painfully thin man sat on a nearby bench, quietly watching the people pass by and listening to the questions they posed. His project image spell always seemed to bring him here, though he didn't know why.

Orpheus' invitation immediately drew the bard's attention. The Prophet smiled softly. "Yes, please... I would very much like to hear it."

[risenintothevoid]

The Ghost's shell spins a little around the central optic, that glowing "eye" brightening slightly as she's addressed. The small robot bobs in midair near head height, her geometric angled body only slightly larger than would be comfortable to hold in one hand.

"Oh, me?" Her voice, though distorted a little through hidden speakers, is warm and motherly. She shifts a little, gaze sweeping over the clearly distraught young man. "I'd love to hear it," she says kindly, swooping slightly closer.

[lovesneomuna]

The newcomer with the instrument strapped to his back stuck out like a sore thumb. Nimbus spotted them wandering from their high vantage point hovering on their skyboard. Not wanting to startle the man, the ten foot Cloud Strider swept down to ground level about a block away and easily caught up to him on foot. They stuck out like a sore thumb too; not just because of their size. They shone in the sunlight in distinctive metallic silver armor that seemed a part of them.

There was something in the fellow's body language and expression that pulled at Nimbus, but the question quickly distracted them. Grinning with a thumbs up they looked down at the newcomer.

"Hey, I love music! I'd love to hear it!"

[delphicbooksandbaubles]

Aal's ears perk up at the sounds of distress she adjusts her medical duffle's strap and scents the air before she makes a careful bee line toward the area. Around these parts especially it could be near anything.

She smiles softly, when she sees with some relief at least the young looking fella was mobile.

"Oh, Ello are you in need of assistance?" She asks softly but warmly.

Aal smile brightens a wee bit more at the question. "I would love to. " Her tone friendly as she offers a hand to shake.

"Aalish Sinclair at yer service but most folks call me Ash."