So right now I'm "getting into perfume" and I really wanted a pumpkin pie scent for autumn and I found this company called Demetre that sells... bottled scents? They do have pumpkin pie but PLEASE read this review for a TENNIS BALL PERFUME
shrugging one round, brown shoulder, tossing her jet black curls.
“About the man. He’s a decent sort, and loves me dearly. And to stand above the dead, this kingdom, ever growing, it’s more than any girl could dream.”
“But truth be told,” she added, as we wandered through that pale, unending land. “My mother didn’t raise me far from that great mountain, amongst the flowers, so that my father could give me over to his brother, as a substitute for a stolen crown and birthright.”
“So if she weeps and sends me gifts and punishes the world for his great sin, I’d call it justice.”
And here she paused and contemplated a pomegranate.
“After all, who said girls shouldn’t love their mothers?”
Pomegranates (melograni in Italian) are in season. Scholars believe that the fruit was brought to Sicily by both the Phoenicians and the Greeks, not only for food, but also for religious reasons. Pomegranate seeds represent fertility, prosperity, abundance, and generosity. And because of the Persephone myth--when the maiden daughter of the goddess Demeter eats the seeds that Hades, the god of the underworld, fed her, signifying her acceptance of him as her husband--they also represent the cycle of life and death, for as a result of her "agreement," she is condemned to half the year in the underworld with her husband (autumn and winter) and half the year in the upper world with her mother (spring and summer). So, when Persephone goes to the underworld, she brings the seeds with her into the depths of the Earth, and when she returns to the surface with seeds in hand in spring, she brings abundance and life. #melograni #pomagranates #pomagranate #persephone #kore #demetre #demeter #prosepina #divinafeminina #divinefeminine #ancientgreek #grecoantico #archaeology #archeologia #experiencesicily #sicily #sicilia #siciliabedda #italy #italia #smallgrouptours #authenticsicily #sicilians_world #ig_sicily #igerssicilia #instasicilia #gf_italy #siculamenteDoc #sicily_tricolors #ig_visitsicily https://www.instagram.com/p/B3i2lmRlFsz/?igshid=1glqm0c9sxbf1
I just realized something interesting. If Demetre causes winter whenever Persephone leaves for the Underworld, doesn't that also make Demetre sort of the Goddess of Fall & Winter too?
I kinda wanna see that explored a bit.
Like, have her discovering the beauty in all the seasons. The crisp air of fall, full of possibilities & teeming with the spirit of the harvest. Gusty breezes making off with leaves of autumnal hues. The Earth overflowing with ripe & ready produce. A cornicopia of prolific crops for all to see & enjoy.
The cool nights of winter as what looks like tiny stars fall from the heavens to land light as feathers upon her brow. The skies so full of starlight & munificent with the great, glittering, moonlit canvous gifted to them by Astraeus. The perfect time to huddle inside & indulge in the bounty of fall. A perfect time for children to frolick about throwing snow at each other & making merry.
milla drabble based from that post again. this time it’s milla bonding w/ her brother : ) /s
i: broken glass
Being back in this house was pure culture shock. Sure, Milla had been here for different reasons - visiting with Constantine for his ‘business’ and all, but never on her own time. Milla never strayed too far in, never got close to her old room, or to any of the recreational rooms. But there she was, standing in her room, staring at some of the items she had, covered up.
She toyed with her hair, staring at the blanketed piece in the middle of the room. It had to be the only sculpture she had left. Milla recalled having a breakdown from frustration, taking all but one piece and wrecking them. It was a rough day, she remembered being sick of all her talents meaning nothing in the scheme of things. But she kept that single one just for the fact it took so long to perfect. Just a basic disembodied torso, with various geometrical shapes jutting out of it. Symmetry, asymmetry. A sort of reflection of herself, she realized.
The girl swallowed, looking around a bit more. A covered up harp. Covered up boxes. Why was everything covered anyway? She chewed on her lip, getting ready to start pulling the blankets off. Maybe it was to keep dust off? But then again, Demetre still had all of his wife’s things, and he just dusted them off himself. So why-
“Oh, Milla!”
She was taken out of her thoughts by the sound of her brother’s voice. She looked back, then smiled a little. It always felt… Weird, seeing him, but considering he happily let her and Johannes stay while she got herself together, she was sure he was just unsure of how to act. Having her here after… She killed someone he probably saw as a friend.
But considering his attitude and how he took it when she and Jojo told him the story, he seemed to have taken the news… pleasantly. Admitting he stopped working closely with him because he was afraid of how controlling he’d be. Milla felt he was leaving out too much, but Demetre insisted the couple just get themselves together.
Either way, it was welcome. Soon her nephew would be over to see her and she could finally explain to him why she couldn’t do so much for him. Jojo could have some time to contact Ichirou. And Milla could figure out how to help the rest of the coven…
Oh, she was lost in thought again…!
“I wanted to see you. What are you doing?” Demetre walked in, bending over slightly to stare at her. The action felt slightly condescending, but she bit back a comment.
“I am just cleaning my room. I have not been here in quite some time,” she said, pulling away one of the blankets. It covered her old bookshelf, but the thing was empty. She was pretty sure if anything, Adrien had taken them for himself. She’d have to ask later. “Why is everything covered?”
“Ah- I wasn’t sure what to do with the things you left behind. So to keep it safe I just had someone cover everything.”
“I do not mind dust. It is only natural.”
“Yes, well, I didn’t want anyone to steal anything.”
“Why would someone be here and steal something? The only valuable thing here is a harp I do not play anymore, anyhow.”
“Oh, Milla, you should though,” Demetre said, immediately shifting the subject. “You could go so far with it. You made such lovely music when you were younger, you know.”
She swallowed, narrowing her eyes. “I did not enjoy it.”
“Really?” Demetre hummed, tilting his head. “Being good at something that other people can benefit from is quite enjoyable, Milla. I thought you of all people would understand that.”
Milla had to ignore it, but that was the exact sort of attitude that made her quit music. And art. And reading for enjoyment. She didn’t really get why he had such a focus on impressing others, but it really took it out of her sometimes. She guessed some people could never change.
“Uhm… So why did you want to see me?”
“Ah, yes! I wanted to…” Demetre swallowed, shutting the door behind him. “I wanted to ask about what happened with Constantine. You only told me bits and pieces of when you killed him, and some of the things he did to you, but…”
Demetre trailed off, watching her shift uncomfortably.
“It is…” She swallowed, stuffing her hands in her pockets. “Difficult. To talk about still. There was a… Curse, he had on us-”
“Yes, he was quite proud of that curse.”
“... What?” Milla frowned, staring. “Y-You knew about it?”
“Well of course I did. I was- I was around when he first learned it.”
… Oh. Okay. Milla nodded, ignoring the rising anxiety in her chest.
“It is hard to talk about outside the estate. I only just recently, about a decade or so ago, got comfortable enough to do it with Jojo, you see.”
It was Demetre’s turn to frown. He nodded, crossing his arms. “That’s another thing. I’m surprised you befriended a dark fey back there.”
“Why are you… surprised?”
“Well- Constantine didn’t like them.” Oh. Well of course he didn’t. “I didn’t expect one to last so long in his coven.”
“He-” She swallowed, biting back a defensive response. “He liked Jojo for his magic. That was all. Jojo stayed so long for his own reasons.”
“Yes, as normal of dark fey,” Demetre muttered. “In all seriousness, you can talk to me about this, Milla. He’s gone. You can speak now. I just… Want to know about what brought you here. What he did to make you do it.”
Milla bit her lip, sitting down on the bed. She needed to find a way to describe it without getting too nervous. Honestly, it was a boiling point that resulted in the worst possible thing imaginable. She wasn’t sure how Demetre would feel, hearing about the details, but… She swallowed, tapping her fingers on the bed. Demetre seemed to understand these kinds of things, so maybe…
She sighed. Okay. It was safe. Constantine… Was gone. Milla had a world of errors to fix on her behalf, but the first step was talking about it. Maybe… Demetre could help. He had his own mess to clean up centuries ago, when he finally came out of his terrifying phase as a ruler, calming his rage.
“Okay.” She nodded, looking around the room. “It… Was sort of something that happened because of several other somethings.”
“A lot of somethings? It… Did take a lot to anger Constantine,” Demetre said, scratching his cheek. “At least, noticeably.”
“He… Was already upset about Sydelle,” she breathed.
“She uhm. She ran away on their wedding day, and he was just… Awful, ever since. A lot more violent with us, more unfair when it came to guidelines. He calmed down after a long time, but several things kept him antsy and paranoid.”
Milla chewed on her lip, staring down. The abridged version still had too much to it. But she wasn’t ready to tell Demetre they’re how she escaped. She remembered how much she had to do to make the wish work, with how picky Jojo’s magic could be. It had to be perfect - she owed Ardghal that much, for his daughter to be in one piece by the time she got there. Demetre didn’t need to know the methods they went to make sure she was okay.
That and did he need to know the one thing that made this happen? Constantine… seeing them. She should have been more aware, but they had locks. But she should have known he’d still find his way in.
She breathed, trying to calm her jitters. It would have been easier talking about this if Jojo were here. He could tell when her jitters were getting bad, when to jump in and take it from there. Was that on purpose? Did Demetre think she’d be lying if he were there? … No, why was she doubting him so much?
Deep breaths.
“He… also did not appreciate that I was slowly losing trust. I could not work with someone so willing to hurt me the way he did, I…” She closed her eyes tightly, gripping the edge of the bed. “I know he was your friend, but he… He would make me do disgusting things, either for his needs or others. Just to entertain himself. He was controlling and violent and I could not do that to myself, especially when he showed attraction to a child.”
“That was your breaking point? Did he even plan to…” Demetre paused. “Did he have any intention of even sleeping with her?”
Milla had to hide her shock at him actually asking that.
“Demetre… Of course he did. He always did. Once he felt she knew enough, he was doing that to her.”
Demetre just seemed put off. Not disgusted. He just nodded, eyebrows furrowed.
“Constantine was dangerous. He was going to kill us all. He was a danger to this country’s state of affairs and he was a danger to the lives of several people that did not deserve it.”
“So what did you do, then?” He asked, staring at her. “Did you plot a murder? Go look for him in the dead of night to stab him?” Why did he sound so accusatory? So… Angry? It didn’t show in his face, but she could feel it in his tone.
“I told you. He saw me and Johannes. Within the next few days, Jojo was missing and there was enough for me to realize he was not gone by his own choice.” She swallowed, trying to steel herself. Just say it and get it out of your head. “I… Wasted no time, I looked for them both. I knew I did something and he was hurting me in a new way. I found them in his study. He had Jojo…”
She flinched, takingi an even breath. Demetre didn’t seemed fazed.
“H-He was trying to torture him to death. I’ve been on the other end of his whip. He was going t-to kill him. I can’t. Bear. To think of him in that state again. I interrupted him and we got into a fight. He tried to attack me and I…” She ran her hand through her hair, eyes glancing at the rapier sitting in the corner. “I stabbed him. He tried to take me with him and I stabbed him again. And again. Until he wasn’t trying to get his hands around my neck.”
A long silence stretched between them. Milla calmed herself, glad she was at least able to get the most vague words out. Demetre didn’t need the entire story. Not when she wasn’t sure if she could trust him. She should, but she was more afraid he hated her for killing his friend. They were clearly still tight knit, so maybe Demetre just didn’t know.
He took a deep breath, coming over to sit by her. Milla wasn’t sure what he was going to do at first, not until he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.
“I am so sorry you had to do that,” he said. “You did… The right thing, doing that for someone else. You don’t have to worry about taking care of the coven anymore. You can just rest now and focus on you.”
“That… Would be nice,” she said, trying to calm her nerves from the sudden, unwarranted touch. “But I want to help the rest of the coven. We all suffered together, and it… Is partially my fault for never doing this earlier.”
“That isn’t your fault. And they aren’t your responsibility.”
She didn’t want to fight him, but Milla shook her head, trying to ignore her budding agitation. “It is my responsibility. He hurt so many people and I stood by as his right hand. I need to help. I want to help.”
Demetre had no words. Just held tighter in silence. Milla was surprised he didn’t try to fight it. Most of the time he looked to get the last word in these kinds of discussions, but Milla was thankful for him relenting on the matter.
She relaxed, closing her eyes. Hoping it would be over for now. She didn’t want to talk about this anymore. She just wanted to clean her old room and maybe share some of her old childhood things (if any remained…) with Jojo. But Demetre spoke again, snapping her from her thoughts.
“In all honesty, I should have been the one to kill him.”
“Oh, Demetre,” she started to speak up, but he cut her off.
“I planned all this time and just never did.” He sighed, squeezing her. “I just let him do all that when I could have stopped it. I just wanted to get out of this casualty free.”
Milla sat there, listening to his words.
She blinked, confused.
“... What do you mean, you let him do all that?”
“Oh,” Demetre hummed, shrugging. “I… Always sort of knew. I saw him still. I knew what that bastard was up to, but I thought I could outsmart him and-”
“You knew.” Milla was staring straight ahead. “You knew?”
Demetre paused. He must have been finding a way to say it.
“I… Yes. I spent this whole time trying to figure out how to take care of it, without killing him.”
“So you let this happen.”
She wasn’t sure how she was saying this. The tears were beginning to burn her eyes.
“I… Did not let it happen,” he said. “I just… Saw. I knew he was doing this, but I wasn’t letting it happen. I just didn’t know what to do, Milla. When I found out he wasn’t letting you visit, or that he was kidnapping more people and-”
“You… Let him keep me there?”
“I didn’t let-”
“You let him kidnap all those people?”
“Milla, what part of I didn’t do you not understand?” Demetre sighed. “I tried my best. I tried to figure out what to do, even when Sydelle-”
“Don’t you tell me you knew about Sydelle.”
There was a horrible silence. Milla felt the tears burning more. Streaking down her cheeks. This couldn’t be the truth. Demetre had to just be jamming his foot in his mouth somehow.
“Am I supposed to lie? I thought he didn’t touch her.”
“You thought-! You let-” Milla involuntarily pushed herself out of his hold, standing and staring down at him. “You knew about Sydelle!”
“And I wanted to help! But I thought maybe with you around, and maybe if he wasn’t interested-”
“You just thought I would solve it?!”
“No! Of course not! I just- You are good with children, like Adrien, and-”
“Like when you left for five years and he had to deal with his mother’s death alone?!”
Milla didn’t mean to say it. It had nothing to do with the fight. But tears were staining her face. She was breathing heavily, glaring at her brother. Beside herself with rage, as he kept opening his mouth and saying stupid shit.
“Milla, you have no right-” He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “No right to raise your voice and bring that up.”
“You’re the one who brought him up! You… thought I could handle it?!”
“... At first I just trusted you would be okay because you were so self sufficient growing up. You seemed happier to have a purpose there. Sydelle had to be safe with you. I just didn’t take Cosntantine for an ephebophile…”
“Pedophile.”
“Milla, she was a teenager when he kidnapped her.”
“Pedophile.”
Demetre sighed, looking irritated. But Milla wasn’t having this. She just stared at him in disbelief, humiliated that she was crying like this. How could he do this? How did he just let this happen?! She remembered so clearly - Constantine threatening her when she and him came to congratulate Adrien on his marriage, and Demetre just… Looked away. She thought he was out of it that day, but now it made sense.
He saw. He knew.
He cared more about keeping his friend alive.
“So then your old fling mattered more than people who deserved better lives?”
“Milla-”
“He mattered more than a little girl, whose father still looked for her.”
“You do not know what you’re talking about.”
“He mattered more than your goddamn sister?”
“Milla, you matter to-”
“Stop. Stop it.” Milla backed away, taking deep, livid breaths. “You can’t talk to me like you spilled some milk and you’re offering to replace it. This isn’t just a situation where you can put a bandaid over it and pretend it’s fixed.”
“That’s not what I’m doing, it’s over with, so please-”
“This is far from over. You have no idea the damage you let take root,” Milla spat at him. “I’m. I’m leaving.”
“Wait, Milla-”
“You are not keeping me-”
Demetre already stood up, making use of his height in comparison to her to get to the door and block her way. Milla glared at him, then positioned her hands at the back of her neck. Readying her fingers on the clasp of the necklace she wore that kept her from transforming.
His eyes widened at the gesture - both knew this was something she didn’t just threaten. Milla absolutely hated that form, but if it would get him away from her so she could get out, she’d use it.
“I am serious about this,” she said in a soft tone. “If you try to keep me trapped here like your friend did, I won’t hesitate to cut you down the way I did him.”
Milla wasn’t sure how she did that without wavering.
But somehow, it worked. Demetre stood in silence, staring down at her, shaking with rage. She hadn’t been the subject of his anger in centuries, and it felt just as ugly as it did back then. But he lost the tension in his stance, stepping to the side.
He stayed as quiet as a corpse as Milla shoved past him, marching down the hall, on her way to the most likely place Jojo would be. Demetre’s library, rife with reading material he could research.
Sadly, they weren’t going to be here for long. She would make it up to him somehow. Find him a better library to find information at. Celosia had plenty of places to go. They had plenty of time to do this. But she couldn’t be in this castle any longer.
That feeling of always being not enough was one she had from the first moment she could feel something. Always second best to her brother. Milla wasn’t made to make impressions like him - no, she was there to clean up after him. And he was doing just what their parents wanted.
Well, if Mila was miserable at everything else, then she was going to be miserable at excusing his bullshit.
“Johannes,” she said, once she found him tucked away between the shelves. He looked up at her, a little pleasant smile on face before it faltered into uncertainty.
“Milla?”
“Get your things. We’re getting out of here.”
“What ha-” He paused, seeing Demetre in the doorway, a looming threat that Milla felt no fear towards. His face darkened for a moment as he stood up, closing his book.
a little tear, makes everything unravel that one mistake, inviting the lies // the madness grows, echoing into unknown. hidden away from all preying eyes.
