#time:summer

[yourladyoftheupsidedown]

I know Orpheus caught me crying more than once, particularly as a child, and I have a feeling he asked Hermes why, because I never would have told him; I didn’t want to worry him, he was a child and didn’t need to know I was chasing after a love long gone.

[yourladyoftheupsidedown]

When I was still singing Orpheus to sleep, I'd usually end up crying by the time he fell asleep; Hermes caught me on the regular, either as I was leaving his room, or because I'd be wiping my eyes when I made my way down to the bar. He'd pour me a drink and offer to talk about it, but I never would, though I really should have. I do appreciate that he never tried to force the issue though, but I knew he knew, even when I wouldn't say anything.

[yourladyoftheupsidedown]

Orpheus had been working on his song all winter, so I hadn't even known he even remembered what I sang to him as a baby; he didn't sing it around me in the time I was there — not that he was hiding it from me, but I was only there for a couple of weeks at most, so we hadn't really gotten the time to sit down for him to show me what he was working on.

[yourladyoftheupsidedown]

Sometimes, I’d break into the liquor cabinet after Hermes had closed the bar; he was never angry at me for it when he found me slumped over the bar with a mostly empty bottle in my hand.

He’d wake me up to take me to bed — usually needing to try (and often fail) to wrestle the bottle from my hand before I downed the rest. He was a good brother.

[yourladyoftheupsidedown]

I used to sing the same tune as the one he sang to Hades and I to Orpheus as a baby to get him to settle and sleep; I stopped in favour of reading to him when he got a bit older for that, which is why Hermes was shocked he knew it.

[yourladyoftheupsidedown]

When Orpheus was still a child, I tired to stay sober in spring and summer — I wasn’t always successful, but I did try to.

As he got older and things with Hades got worse and worse, I was drunk around him more often. I’m not proud of it, but I was trying to do the right thing by him, I just struggled to handle my life without it. I do think a drunk aunt is better than a dead one, but I don’t know if he would agree.