"Kore's Lullaby" (Jonah & Lily, M)

[Skylacticon]

Hi~ 🩶 I want to say that this would be somewhere along the timeline before these two officially got together, sometime after the 'Shared Space' chapter. It’s kind of a direct reference to this line from ‘Accompaniment’: 

“…and even in spaces that didn’t have much business making him feel as sneezy as they did - such as a few studios on campus.”

(Also, I apologize for any inaccuracies in my references to Greek mythology - I've loved the tales since I was a kid, but if there's any glaring errors just bear with me and the kooks in this story also trying to comprehend it. )

-

🕐🕝🕔

 

 

Their studio slot time was almost up, and yet Jonah didn’t seem anywhere close to finishing. He paced slowly around the dim space with the acoustic guitar hung over his lanky frame, his lips forming soft verses that didn’t seem to be adding up in the way he wanted them to. The way he played guitar was kind of interesting to Lily. He wasn’t one to only stick to basic chords, more often finding ones that just worked with his long, nimble fingers; sparking admiration and a bit of jealousy from her.

 

“It still feels quite dark,” he sighed, leaning over the desk to view the audio project on the monitor. He clicked on something to get the playhead to jump back to the very beginning.

 

“…What’s your intention?” Lily asked, leaning forward in her chair. She gazed up at Jonah, who was absentmindedly biting his thumb nail.

 

“Um,” he breathed, still staring at the screen. He coughed lightly and turned away, lifting the sleeve of his umber corduroy jacket to dab at tired eyes. He pivoted back, his expression still thoughtful. He began to explain again, his body turning to face her. “Like it is supposed to be sad, because of how her daughter is suddenly away a lot of the time, but,” he sighed, slightly turning again as he looked at the monitor. “It’s like I want it to be sweeter, because it’s not just about that.”

 

“Because Demeter is happy to see that she’s happy.”

 

“…Yeah.”

 

Lily had a joke brewing, but now didn’t seem like the time. “…Can I just hear your first verse again?”

 

Jonah cleared his throat and sniffed, moving the audio software window so he could easily view the lyric document. He could’ve just read it out loud to her, but his fingers began plucking again, as he stood and nervously righted his shoulders. Softly, he began to sing.

 

"She sits holding out her hand / Too tired to stand /

In her eyes, she holds a promise that they want to believe / It’s greener than green"

 

“And that’s the statue of Demeter? By herself?”

 

“Yup,” Jonah breathed out. He would toss over the occasional glance, as if prompting Lily to speak. Her silence wasn’t dismissive of this, rather handling the disbelief that he’d trust her to help him create better music.

 

“Keep going.”

 

Jonah’s eyes flickered downward as his hands found their position, and came back up to read the words.

 

“Turning like the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice /

There among the famous steps ascended all for love”

 

Woah. Lily’s gaze moved downward.

 

“The ghostly feeling of her hand / Rough and numb from love gone cold /

She sees the world begin to wake / And so defrosts her icy soul”

 

The word 'soul' had a bit of a fancy run to it. Jonah paused there, as if that’s where the pothole was located. Lily tilted her head.

 

“…When Demeter gets to see her. When winter's over," she guessed.

 

“Yup.”

 

“So, Jonah,” Lily began, as Jonah’s long fingers began forming spidery chords on the fretboard again. “At what point does Persephone leave the Underworld?”

 

Jonah frowned. Lily wanted to crawl under the desk. Because she loved this almost bluesy, somber version of the song, and yes, the combination of guitar, bass and hard, reverb-y percussion emitted dark vibes - but it was so good in the telling of this tale. She didn’t exactly know how to make something so heartbreaking become soft, like trying to turn Russian Roulette into a nursery rhyme. ‘How do I make it less spooky?’ I don’t know, hun. Maybe lessen the amount of echoey, rhythmic, banging effects, so it doesn’t feel like I’m being chased in the woods and being followed down into hell? But this piece was so him. She could tell he was enjoying it, and adding sweetness for sweetness' sake didn’t entirely seem to uphold the creative integrity.

 

Jonah sniffled again, liquidly. He raised a curled index finger to rub his nose, which twinged fussily. Lily watched quietly, feeling a softness tug at her heart as Jonah rubbed his nose harder, with stubborn force. It had begun to develop a rosy hue.

 

“You okay?” she asked gently.

 

“Ah, yeah, *snrff!*” Jonah blinked, and snuffled again. “It’s just sometimes, they don’t do the best job of…” Jonah’s eyes glanced up at the computer screen, as if a new idea had just finished downloading. He straightened, and scrolled down through the page of lyrics. His next breath was unusually-paced - with a new sense of focus, as his hands returned to the guitar. He’d almost forgotten he was in the middle of a sentence. “-of cleaning in here, so sometimes I just… *ahem!* I just begin to suffer,” he gave a soft laugh and peeked over with a sad grin.

 

“Oh,” Lily breathed. She sighed inwardly, watching his tired eyes get glazed over, as he locked back into his work.

 

In one corner of the room, there were some old velvet curtains pushed back. Their texture looked elegant, but they must have been collecting dust for a long time.

 

Jonah sniffled again, thickly. But he just kept playing, the same gently plucked chord progression with certain notes being altered. The sequence of notes alone really did seem to tell a story, forming like a humble point of view being explained, increasing in intensity, then receding again.

 

“Well, maybe-“ Or maybe he did know. “What if I just… made it like a collection of memories? For like, each spring-summer period for Demeter."

 

Lily paused for a second, taking in this new idea. To her, it sounded like a whole new song. “That sounds like it could work. Yeah, you could find a lot of sweetness between the two of them. Just focus on their interactions and the good parts of it. Like a loving but awkward family reunion, except... Your mom is the goddess of harvest and you just moved... to the land of the dead, and became queen," Lily finished, a rather stark summary.

 

“Yeah. Exactly…” Jonah breathed, zoned in on the monitor screen. Lily looked up at him with vague concern. Jonah proceeded to pluck out the first two chords of the song, over and over as he kept thinking. He stopped abruptly with a harsh sniffle, muting the strings with his fingers. His right hand was rising to his face. There was a slight pause, as if he wasn’t sure if he was going to sneeze.

 

A few more seconds passed.

 

Lily’s gaze eventually averted, as he kept looking over the lyrics and project. Then-

 

“*hsnnNRFF!!* Oh, my god…” he let out a soft, pained sigh, lifting a palm to wipe his eyes again.

 

Lily glanced up. Jonah kept sniffling hard, and rubbing vigorously at a quite red, irritated nose. His eyes were squeezed shut, his brow furrowing. He stopped and sucked in another damp sniffle - then let out a breathy exhale.

 

“…Sorry, pardon. I’m juhhst kind of… *snnrff!* itchy, *sddrFF!*”

 

Jonah got up and paced a little at the other side of the room, the guitar still hanging in front of him. One hand was digging into his pants pocket, the other rubbing fiercely at his poor nose. When Lily glanced back at him again, his tall figure was hunching slightly. His long fingers held a light blue handkerchief to his face. His shoulders seemed to ease as he pressed it to his itchy nose, and gave a gentle blow.

 

“You okay?” she offered again, acknowledging his tired form.

 

Jonah paused, still standing at the other end of the room. One of his hands came down self-consciously to hold the neck of the guitar.

 

“*snf!* Ugh, yeah,” he responded softly. He lowered the handkerchief and sniffed, his serious expression slightly more relaxed. His right hand came down to hold the cable connected to his guitar gently out of the way as he sat by the computer again. “I’m so grateful for guitar cables,” he said softly, casually. “Save the world from this madness… *sddrff!*” he sighed with tired melodrama, raking his fingers back through his dark, gnarly hair.

 

The machines can’t hear us, the thought occurred to Lily. Not many who would listen to Jonah’s finished, immaculately produced original melody would imagine him as he was now, the way she saw him. Certainly not in the exact way - with the occasional sneezing fits that he’d push past and wade through, and the way his work consumed him; causing him to occasionally become overly inspired. Maybe ‘overly’ was a strong word. But- at least, in a way that drove him to create constantly despite discomfort and outer disbelief.

 

“hHUH’dt’EEISSSCHHIUHHhh-!!!” he sneezed, finally. It was a loud, unrestrained event of relief, that wouldn’t be present on the record. It was muddled along the seconds spent making sure the song was well-arranged and clear.

 

"...Bless you," Lily chimed gently.

 

"Thank you, *snff!*"

 

In the name of expressing oneself as they wished - the song inspired by the Greek myth would be carefully edited and played back countless times to ensure its quality. No hint of strain could be found among the tenderly sung lyrics, the description of a goddess mother and her child separating on opposite sides of the river Styx. If the gentle scratch in his unique voice could be suspect to any struggle, it was the only marker - but the scratchiness only gave another layer of ache, which quite honestly seemed to work with the song’s themes.

 

A copy of the final draft of the song, titled ‘Kore’s Lullaby’, lived in Lily’s iCloud storage as a wav file, which she'd listen to from time to time. It was easy on the ears - storytelling in a dream-like, liminal form. Listening most times for the imagery of the tale. She'd recall the back of Jonah’s umber corduroy jacket tightening and rustling as he’d pace restlessly around the studio, wearing his guitar. And on occasion, she'd cautiously revisit the moments in which his mossy brown eyes would find her - prompting her, as if believing she'd understand the themes of the ancient myth, in any semblance to the way he did. Or perhaps it had just been for the music or lyrics. With things leaning precariously on either notion, she began mind less and less about running overtime.

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Skylacticon