Gothic Barrkeeping Hour(s)

[ostro_goth]

Teja merely wants some tea when he approaches the bar this late afternoon; but he doesn't get any. Instead, he gets a small piece of paper cloth on which there is writing:

3 hrs break. You're the lucky patron chosen to tend bar for this interval of time.Teja sighs, and then spots the three rats that serve him, most of the time, standing by the

Comments

[wheatencrown]

Demeter looks at the list and gives a small smile,

"I don't remember the last time I had Atlantean."

[ostro_goth]

"Demeter!" Teja says, nodding his head in greeting. He s pleased to see her.

"Does that mean you wish for some, or does that mean you counsel against it?"

[wheatencrown]

"One small glass I think. You're looking well."

He's not angry at her which is a kindness.

[ostro_goth]

Teja takes the glass that the black rat hands him, finds Atlantean behind the bar, pours it, and puts it down before the goddess.

"I am much relieved," Teja says when that is done. "Clark found me, the day after we spoke, and assured me that Eirene had not been -- touched by impudent hand, as I had feared. Something happened which will be hers to tell or not, but neither that, nor has she been turned into a tree, as Medusa speculated."

[wheatencrown]

Demeter nods and takes a small sip, its a familiar burn though its been a long time she drank Atlantean,

"I'm glad you spoke to him, he's a good man."

[ostro_goth]

"This once, I failed to feel the impulse to poke sense into him with the blunt end of my axe, even," Teja says, "and we spoke even civilly -- but I do not see how he would be good. She loves him, he does not love her, but allows her to suffer further by not taking himself out of her sight. It's not as if he didn't know, as my unhappy friend Witichis and Mataswintha, whom he married only out of painful necessity for the realm, while she truly desired him."

[wheatencrown]

"She would not wish to never see him again and sometimes you can find connections you don't expect. I recently talked to my son in law and was reminded that there was a time we were closer."

Another careful sip, Milliways is strange and Demeter is never sure who she is here.

[ostro_goth]

"She would not wish that," Teja says, "but it might be better for her, as all he will do is hurt her more, and more, while she yearns for that which feeds her growing woes."

Pause.

"You mean, before he took your daughter as his wife?"

Another pause.

"Something about that story always struck me as very odd."

[wheatencrown]

"What?"

There's a small edge to her voice but the Atlantean is helping.

[ostro_goth]

"Why should she not follow her husband?" Teja says. "All women do so when they marry; it is a fact of life. Sons are raised for heritage; daughters are raised for that of other men. Even the bible of the Christians, which I otherwise detest, says something to that effect; and the Greeks that I knew in my time thought so, also. In fact, they passed their women from father or guardian to husband, like chattel, without even asking if they didn't feel so; we would never have dishonoured one of our own women thus. Among us, a woman had rights -- in her own place, as the man had, in his."

[wheatencrown]

She doesn't speak for a long moment, taking a long drink of Atlantean before she answers,

"Zeus didn't tell either of us about the marriage so He took her. I am equal to my brother and will not let those men decide how I live."

[ostro_goth]

"The goddesses are not like the women of your people, then," Teja says, "but the gods are much like the men -- that would sow eternal conflict. Well, some women were like the goddesses of your people, even in my time..."

[wheatencrown]

"Kore created the compromise, it was her choice to spend part of the year with me and partly with her husband. I live apart from most of my family, because we don't need more conflict. There's a kindness to mortals that we lack at times."

[ostro_goth]

"If she wanted the compromise, she would have wanted her husband, also?" Teja says. "It is odd how strong women become, even very young ones, when they truly love."

[wheatencrown]

Demeter takes a long breathe and finishes her Atlantean, "Yes."

[ostro_goth]

"My parents were spared the grief of watching me grow up and grow apart -- they died when I was only ten or eleven!" Teja offers. "Had they had a choice, they would have chosen otherwise, I am certain, even if the course of my life would have upset them, had it still been the same in all other regards."