"In the drawer beside my bed." Elder Thales said, voice raspier than usual. "There should be a tape. Labelled WOR Vol 165."
Hermes raised an eyebrow. "WOR? What's that supposed to stand for?"
"Weather Observation in the Rift." The old man replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Dr. Dione Pleiades-Luxuria kept detailed records. That tape is one of the last ones."
Hermes opened the drawer. It was cluttered with loose papers, pressed flowers, and trinkets of all kinds. But he found the tape soon enough, black and old with a faded white sticker, 'WOR Vol 165' scrawled across in looping cursive.
"You said this is Dr. Dione's?" Hermes asked, brushing dust off the plastic.
"Yes. Aphrodite's mother. She was... curious. Too curious, maybe."
"Why did she stop making them?"
Thales didn't answer. He just gestured to the corner, where an old VHS player sat beneath a thin blanket of cobwebs and time.
