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CALLIOPE: In order to progress, we are once again going to rewind. I can assure you that it is only a few brief lines that we must look back upon before the story can continue, but they are lines that bear repeating. The time, after all, has finally come.

Welcome, dear listeners, to Forged Bonds.

You likely recall where our last chapter of our story left off, but in case you don’t we shall reverse the clock to jog your memory.

HERA: I’m coming, Sephie! You know you don’t have to– Oh.

DEMETER: Hello, Hera. It’s time we talk, don’t you think?

HERA: What are you doing here?

DEMETER: Is that any way to greet an old friend?

POSEIDON: Demeter where did you– Oh for fuck sake. You were told specifically to wait for Hades–

HERA: It’s fine, Poseidon. She’s right, after all, I did want to talk to her.

POSEIDON: You… did? Because Zeus was under the impression– (pause) Of course he was wrong. He didn’t even need to get me involved in this, did he. Gods, I should’ve listened to Hades when he said I didn’t need to be involved–

HERA: In Hades’ defense, I was beginning to have second thoughts. But now that she’s here, I suppose I’ll have to move forward with the part of me that wanted to talk to Demeter. Are you staying, Poseidon?

DEMETER: Do you really think we need a chaperone for a civil conversation?

HERA: I think we do if we want things to stay civil. 

POSEIDON: I’m happy to stay if that makes you more comfortable, Hera.

DEMETER: And if I’m uncomfortable with it? 

POSEIDON: I really don’t care about that.

DEMETER: And you wonder why no one likes you.

HERA: I like him just fine, actually. Thank you for staying, Si. It means a lot. 

POSEIDON: (a little flustered) Just doing my job.

HERA: So it seems that we were both looking to talk to each other. If you had answer Sephie’s calls, or Hades’ calls, or my calls–

DEMETER: And let you scream at me over the phone like I’m some kind of villain? Absolutely not.

HERA: We were trying to facilitate a conversation like this. Which you would know if–

POSEIDON: Maybe you should focus on what you actually want to talk about? Instead of just yelling at each other about how you both wanted to talk?

HERA: …You’re right, Si, you’re right. See, this is why we need you here; you’ll make sure that this conversation actually happens. I did want to talk to you, Demeter. I wanted to understand why you decided that this was the choice you wanted to make. Why in the name of the stars themselves would you want to be with Zeus? Because from where I’m standing and from what I know, you chose this for yourself. You chose to be with a man that you knew lied and cheated and made my life hell. If you were really my friend, if you really cared about me at any point in our lives, why would you choose him?

DEMETER: Would it really make a difference if I chose him or if he chose me?

HERA: You know it would. You know it would! Gods, Deme, I know what it’s like better than anyone else to be chosen by Zeus and feel like you can’t escape it. If that’s what’s happening to you, I would want to help you. Is that what happened? Are you trapped like I was? Like I am?

DEMETER: Why did you leave him?

HERA: Does the cheating and heartbreak not count as a good enough reason? How about his hatred for my daughter? The fact that he threw her off a mountain and would barely let me help her, is that a good enough reason for you? Or let’s move to his most recent fuck up– having an orgy in our bed, with you in attendance, and then forcing my friends to get married over it? And then deciding that the orgy with you wasn’t enough, he wanted to keep fucking around because he seems incapable of finding out. Are these not reasons to leave him? Do you really think I should’ve stayed?

DEMETER: Those feel like small things to give up in the name of gaining power.

HERA: This is all a power play to you?

CALLIOPE: The speed at which Hera advanced on Demeter cannot be overstated, but it still wasn’t quite fast enough that Poseidon couldn’t pull her back.

POSEIDON: Hera, please, don’t hit her. Not yet, at least; she probably has more things she can tell you if she’s not unconscious.

DEMETER: Perhaps having the guard dog here was a good move after all.

POSEIDON: This is not for your benefit. If it were up to me, I’d let her knock you flat on your ass. But I know that’s not what she needs right now; keep it that way, or you’ll be hitting the floor pretty hard, Demeter.

HERA: What power do I have, Demeter?

DEMETER: You’re the queen of the gods.

HERA: And what good has that done me? What power do you really think comes with that other than pain? Is my list of hurt not long enough? You’ve officially tacked on ‘being betrayed by a dear friend in the name of power’ to that list.

DEMETER: Well you betrayed me when you let my daughter marry this dead bastard you refer to as a brother. I trusted that you would be the one to step in and stop her from making a mistake, but you didn’t. You just let her run off with him, get married to him, blessed their marriage like it was something worth a blessing. You took my daughter from me, same as Hades did. 

HERA: Your daughter fell in love. She came to me crying, saying that you were trying to hold her captive in the mortal realm to keep her from marrying Hades. It is my duty as a goddess of marriage to bless unions that are consensual and true, both things Hades and Sephie’s marriage is. Just because you couldn’t control Sephie the way you wanted doesn’t mean that it was my fault. Or Hades’ fault. Or Sephie’s fault! She was just a woman in love and her mother was trying to take that from her. Was trying to keep them apart or force Zeus to only let her see Hades for a short period of the year. I am not the villain in that story, Demeter, that’s you. 

DEMETER: (pivoting hardcore) Have you considered that maybe you didn’t know Zeus? That you didn’t see him as he deserves to be seen? 

HERA: I have been married to him for centuries, Demeter. There is no one in this world who knows Zeus better than me. I have loved him, I have hated him, I have seen him for all of his good and bad. You see him as a way to power. Take it then. See what good being a ‘queen’ does when your husband is bringing people into your bed when you’re not looking and treating you like you don’t exist. You’re fun until he’s bored. And once he’s bored, you’ll be back here, asking me for help.

DEMETER: And if he really, truly loves me? If we are happy together?

HERA: I wish that for you, Demeter. I wish that for you more than anything else. I’m going to feel so bad when you come back here crying because he was just using you. And when that day comes, I’ll still help you. I will still make sure you get back on your feet and get to move on. Because unlike you I remember how to be a good friend and will remember even after all of this blows up in your face. 

DEMETER: (feigning control over the situation) Then I guess we have nothing else to say to each other. I’m going to go find my daughter, since it’s clear that there needs to be a conversation there as well. If you realize the error of your ways, you know how to find me.

CALLIOPE: Demeter attempted to leave the room with an air of dignity and grace, however Poseidon decided that tripping her was only fair given the fact that he stopped Hera from punching her. He paused for a moment, looking over to Hera.

POSEIDON: I’m sorry that he did all of that to you. I… If I had known–

HERA: You couldn’t have done anything, Si. Hades was only just able to do something, and that’s because he helped to clean up Zeus’s mess with the wedding. Because only Zeus could be stupid enough to be seen kissing someone who is not his wife at the wedding he orchestrated to avoid people talking about his cheating. (pause) Plus I know Hades; he wouldn’t have told you because he wouldn’t want you to worry yourself with things outside of your control. Zeus wouldn’t tell you because he’s a dick. And he thinks that if you don’t hear about his misdeeds from him, you won’t believe them because he’s your ‘cool older brother’. 

POSEIDON: Still, I should’ve asked. I should’ve been more involved with you, with Hades… I know that I’m not as close to all of you– physically as well as emotionally– but I just… I’m trying to be better. About reaching out to people here. Hades, mostly, and Persephone by proxy but uh… Maybe, if you’d like, I can reach out to you too? 

HERA: I’d like that, Si. (pause) You should probably go after Demeter, though. Who knows what trouble she can get into unsupervised in the Underworld. 

POSEIDON: Right! Yeah, I should… You have a door to Olympus, right? 

HERA: Right!

POSEIDON: I could talk to Hades and Circe, see if she can add a dial so you could come down to the water?

HERA: That sounds wonderful. It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen the ocean; Zeus was never a big fan. 

POSEIDON: No, no he wasn’t. (pause) But Demeter.

HERA: Yes, Demeter. 

POSEIDON: I should go.

HERA: You probably should. But I’ll have Hades give me your number, okay?

POSEIDON: That sounds perfect. 

CALLIOPE: How does one describe the softness of a smile? I could leave the description there and you would start to have an idea, but you wouldn’t get the full picture, would you? The smile on Poseidon’s face was fond and nervous, gracing his lips like a helicopter seed twirling down from a maple tree. Hera’s smile, on the other hand, was a feather floating in the breeze: soft, delicate, and hopeful. So very hopeful.

But enough about smiles and the hopes they may hold, we all know you’re here to see another argument. And with Demeter storming off, you know exactly where it will unfold.

HADES: In coming.

PERSEPHONE: Oh joy.

DEMETER: Persephone.

PERSEPHONE: Demeter. 

DEMETER: Is that any way to greet your mother? It was quite a trek for me to get here, sprout, you could at least show me some respect.

POSEIDON: Gods above do you ever stay where you’re fucking supposed to?

PERSEPHONE: It’s alright, Si. Actually, you and Hades should go.

HADES: We should?

PERSEPHONE: Yeah, um. Unfortunately this is a conversation I need to have with my mother. Alone. (softly) I’ll be alright, my love. I promise.

HADES: Very well then. Si, why don’t we go make some food. I’m sure everyone will need something to eat after all of this.

POSEIDON: Okay but I’m petting Cerberus on the way. It’s been a while and I wanna say hi and you can’t stop me.

(footsteps)

DEMETER: You look so serious my little sprout–

PERSEPHONE: Don’t. (deep breath) You don’t get to do that to me.

DEMETER: Do what?

PERSEPHONE: Are you kidding me? Don’t come in here and call me ‘sprout’ like nothing has changed. That’s what I’m talking about. Like you didn’t try to force me away from the man and life I love. You don’t get to come in here and pretend you don’t know that you’re hurting me, that you don’t know what you’ve done has hurt me already. You don’t get to pretend that you don’t know about all of the damages you’ve caused me. I tried, mama. I tried so godsdamn hard and you never responded. I tried to call you, to reach you, to send you letters– you didn’t answer. You never answered me and every single time you’d make any sort of appearance at all you would tell people how your daughter abandoned you. Like it was my fault, like I’m the bad guy. You would tell them that you begged me to come home and I wouldn’t listen like some stupid, rebellious teenager. You would tell them that Hades kidnapped me and was forcing me to marry him– like I have no godsdamn autonomy, mother. You’d send pleading letters, begging for communication and when I’d try it’s like you never wanted to hear from me in the first place. It was all because I wasn’t your little sprout anymore, I was a weed growing larger than you could ever hope to harvest. I was becoming more than you could deal with and you tried to punish me for it instead of letting me be with the man that I love. The man who actually loves me. And now you’re coming in here, after fucking Zeus for who even knows how godsdamn long at this point, trying to play the victim. You’re kidding me. That’s pathetic. You’re trying to act like things haven’t changed, like you didn’t break everything within your godsdamn power to break. 

DEMETER: He was going to destroy you. Destroy your radiance and light with the stink of death that permeates off of him at every turn. He was going to take the spring and crush it beneath his foot, taking everything from me in the process.

PERSEPHONE: And yet I’m still here. The spring still comes, the world still turns, and I am still just as bright as I was back then. Arguably more, because now? Now I am loved. For so long, so long, I thought what we had was actual love. I thought you loved me the way a mother is supposed to love their daughter, but you didn’t.

DEMETER: Persephone–

PERSEPHONE: You just wanted someone you could control. I see that now. Someone you could craft in your image to be a perfect duplicate of you. But when I started to become my own person, that was too much, wasn’t it? When I made choices that you didn’t like? Immediately. You stopped loving me.

DEMETER: Persephone–

PERSEPHONE: You trapped me away where no one would know me, no one would see me, no one would love me, so all I would know is the twisted thing you defined as love.

DEMETER: (sharply) Persephone that’s enough! (pause) I did what any mother would’ve done. I made sure you were safe, and warm, and fed. I tried to keep men from preying on you, from trying to take your joy and your innocence and your warmth. But somehow Hades slipped through the cracks and made you believe that was love. That the darkness of the Underworld could ever be love for a goddess of spring, and nature, and life. You’re still here, Persephone, but are you still alive? Are you still living the way you were meant to be, still breathing in the open air and feeling the sun on your skin and the grass beneath your feet? All I ever wanted was to preserve that for you. To keep you where you belonged. 

PERSEPHONE: But you were wrong. I didn’t belong up there, with no friends and an endless sky trapping me down? Absolutely not. I belonged here– the place I chose to call home– with a husband and a dog and access to Olympus, access to friends. You were so lonely that you isolated me too. And you couldn’t handle it once I realized that I didn’t want to be isolated anymore. Your love was stifling, Demeter. It was a trap. Hades… He loves me freely, without conditions, always and no matter what. Something that you could never do, you are incapable of. Gods, you can’t even apologize for hurting me, can you? You don’t even think you hurt me at all.

DEMETER: I was trying to do what was best for you.

PERSEPHONE: I think it’s best that you leave.

DEMETER: Sprout–

PERSEPHONE: Leave, Demeter. I won’t ask again. 

CALLIOPE: Demeter, despite everything you may know about her, did as she was told. She stopped briefly to look back at her daughter, but Persephone did not turn to meet her gaze. As soon as the footsteps faded, Persephone ran into the kitchen, throwing herself into Hades’ arms.

HADES: Oh, darling… It’s alright, my love. I promise it’ll be alright. 

PERSEPHONE: She doesn’t even realize she’s wrong.

HADES: And she might not ever realize it. That doesn’t mean that she was right. No one here is discounting how much she hurt you, right Si?

POSEIDON: I don’t know much about Demeter, but I do know she’s a bit of a bitch.

HADES: Poseidon.

PERSEPHONE: (giggling) No, no Si… he’s right. She is a bitch, that’s just a fact. She’s a bitch and I shouldn’t care what she thinks– I don’t care what she thinks. Seeing her…  always throws me off, and I’m not sure it’ll ever stop, but… It’s okay. I’m okay. And she’s a bitch (giggling)

POSEIDON: She really is. You should’ve heard the things she was saying to Hera… I stopped Hera from punching her out but kind of regret it now to be honest with you.

HADES: It’s probably for the best that you didn’t let Hera punch her. (pause) Even if she is a bitch.

PERSEPHONE: (giggling) I knew you agreed with me.

HADES: Just because I try to be more… Diplomatic about Demeter doesn’t mean I like her. Gods know she doesn’t like me, I hardly feel the need to be pleasant with her. (pause) Si, do you mind–

POSEIDON: Take care of your wife, Hades. I’m sure she could use some comfort after talking with Demeter. Think about what I said, though. I’ll see you again soon, right?

HADES: Definitely soon. It’s been a while since Sephie has been to the beach, I’m sure she’d love a trip out that way.

POSEIDON: Looking forward to it.

(footsteps)

PERSEPHONE: What do you need to think about?

HADES: Poseidon asked if I can get Circe to add a setting to Hera’s door to get her to the water. 

PERSEPHONE: Oh?

HADES: Oh indeed. But that’s a project for later. Come on, my love, we can take these nachos and eat them in bed. I don’t want to let you out of my arms if I don’t have to.

CALLIOPE: And that, dear listeners, is where we shall close our story for the day. There is hope to garner and healing to be done which can hardly take place with an audience. And worry not, this is not the last you will see of Demeter. As for what she has up her sleeves, well, those are stories for another time. Until next time, and as always, thank you for listening.