[@Jbcool]
	Apollo's dear half-brother welcomed the god of music with free verse and open arms, and Apollo rewarded beloved Hermes in kind with a similar shedding of exuberant tears. Within even Apollo's mortal presentation were the eyes so glistering with rapturous starlight and the mind so romping with rekindled vim. Through the felicity and reminiscence which inundated a heart he long thought crippled and stone, Apollo brought himself to reply in like manner with a quotation most revering of his kin:

	[color=ffecd0][b]"In his hands he held his lovely golden wand with which he can lull men’s eyelids or wake them from sleep: and with this wand he called the ghosts and led them, and they followed him gibbering. Like bats that flit about and gibber in the depths of an eerie cave, after one falls from the hanging cluster where they cling to the rock and one another, so they went gibbering behind Hermes the Helper, down the dank way. Past Ocean’s stream, and the White Rock, past the Gates of the Sun and the place of dreams, they soon reached the meadows of asphodel where the ghosts abide, the phantoms of men whose work is done."[/b][/color]

	He guffawed in awe of himself and of reality, and Apollo nearly had to claw into Hermes's skin to keep from falling head over heels in their filial love. If it were remotely necessary, he would slap himself over and over to verify that what was happening in his very presence was more than a dream. Of course, if it were a dream, Apollo would rather to never wake from it and to be as deep in respite as Hypnos. Soft, soft, Apollo saw through Hermes's little costume to see the same, rascally youth whom he had always known, and Apollo's memory stirred once more as he breathed in the scent of his half-sibling and drank in his presence. Though the rest of the family were likely not far behind, Hermes, Leto, and Artemis were the only family that Apollo ever needed or would ever want.

	Apollo released the messenger god from his hands, and they rested firmly then on Hermes's shoulders. Hermes retained the same influence as he always had, and Apollo could feel that power emanating from his half-brother's body just in the touch. Indeed, Phoebus Apollo felt weaker in Hermes's company now, but he allowed that feeling to overcome him and indulged in the moment. His eyes looked up and down Hermes and saw both a wisened man who had persisted through the ages and an empowered youth whose vitality did not wear or fade. An organic, radiant smile crossed Apollo's lips, and he told Hermes in a voice just above a breath, [color=ffecd0][b]"To cross paths once more and traverse the knit path of fate again brings me delight. It has led me here, but the destination did not matter to me as much as the one I met there."[/b][/color] The musician released his beloved partner-in-crime. [color=ffecd0][b]"I don't know yet what call sounded that brought me here, but I'm grateful for it."[/b][/color]