& when you understand the world

Dionysus has never been very good at keeping track of the date, for a variety of reasons. Apollo, on the other hand, has never had this problem. When you’re the god of the Sun, keeping track of days is a second nature, even, as it turns out, when you find yourself in a different universe and no longer are in charge of making the sun go. So as the days draw closer and closer to Saturnalia, the two of them plan a little party. Just a small one, with their more immediate “family” - Mercutio, Étienne, and Aleksander. Dionysus decides it is Apollo’s job to explain to Aleksander A: what Saturnalia is, B: who Saturn is, and C: why they’re celebrating a holiday intended for their grandfather who ate their aunts and uncles. Dionysus takes care of the decor, food, events, and – well, basically everything else for the party.

The weather is cooling off some, but it’s still not “cold” yet, which is honestly fine by him. He prefers to spend his Decembers in places that aren’t particularly cold, so it does feel like a normal Saturnalia for him, as far as he’s concerned. He decorates his and Étienne’s apartment with a bunch of the traditional greenery and candles. Big garlands and wreaths everywhere. And he makes sure they have plenty of games and other activities loosely planned. Apollo, having the ability to magic whatever food into existence, is in charge of dinner. Dionysus, of course, handles the drinks.

He also coaxes the mansion into providing them with some rock candy. Because he thinks that’s funny.

By the time they’re actually eating dinner, all reclined on little piles of cushions, Dionysus is already buzzed enough to give a toast to his grandfather. “We thank you for time, we thank you for the harvest, but most importantly, we thank you for not being here!”

Gosh, what an absolute disaster that would be, if he were here. Not that Dionysus has ever met him. Maybe he’s perfectly lovely, when not eating babies. He does have a pretty fun festival, anyway.

Dionysus has a small gift of a couple taper candles tied together with big, golden ribbons to give to them each. A pretty standard Saturnalia gift, if perhaps a bit useless given they live in a house with electricity and lightbulbs.

All in all, it’s a lovely evening, he thinks. Just getting to spend a few hours with some of the people he and Apollo are closest to, drinking, eating good food, and having a good time.

Spring is a very important time of year when you are a nature deity tied to a plant, and it has been a painfully long winter. But now the weather is warmer, there's no snow on the ground, the sun is shining (in more ways than one, you could say, since his big brother is now here as well), and in general things are looking up.

Dionysus made up his mind a long time ago that he would start up a vineyard as soon as the weather was more cooperative, and he has spent the past few days getting things set up. He found a nice spot of land for it, got everything prepared, and now he can be found wearing overalls rolled up at the bottom to just above his ankles, a tshirt, and a large sun hat¹, walking around the area bringing up some vines from the ground, winding them around some trellises he has made. They're just going through bud burst, he has called them into being as if they are a few years old but just starting to wake up for the season. He could have grown them completely from scratch, but he's impatient and would like an actual harvest this year, and what's the point of having magic if you're not going to use it from time to time?

He also has made room for a smaller garden at the far edge of his little area, where he has planted some various vegetables that he just likes growing for the hell of it. Those he does have to do the slow way, unfortunately.


1. He has his usual vine leaves wrapped around the hat, of course, do you think he would go without? They're his signature.