So...Hello. It's me!
You thought you'd never see me again, didn't you?
I hope quarantine is treating you well, even though we all know it probably hasn't. Nonetheless, generic greetings with reference to this pandemic seem obligatory during these difficult times.
See? Second nature at this point.
On with the story, then. Now that school's out, I finally have time.
Warnings: Slight acephobic/arophobic language. Passing comment about bestiality (nothing graphic). Discussion of forced marriages.
Doomed.
Orion is completely, utterly screwed. He was going to have to change his name, leave a false trail, and start a new life in India. He was going to Tartarus with arrows sticking out of sensitive places. He was never going to be welcomed on the surface world ever again.
Aphrodite stood in the middle of the clearing, smiling sweetly at him.
The goddess's features shifted continually, each set becoming more beautiful than the last. For a moment, he glimpsed Merope in her black hair and glass-green eyes. The next, his dead girlfriend Side as her eyes darkened into a piercing brown. Then, the goddess Eos as her hair lightened, her jaw rounded out, and her eyes turned a rosy shade of pink.
He went through quite a phase with the last one. There was quite a story too, not that he'd be inclined to tell it.
Then, to his utter horror, her hair started reddening into a particular shade of auburn and her eyes turned just gray enough to resemble-
Run. Run away now. You might still have a chance-
The goddess of love cleared her throat. He realized he'd been staring.
"My lady Aphrodite," he managed to force out. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
She giggled at him. "Just confirming that the rumors are true, my dear. Artemis has finally found a man."
That sent shivers down his spine. "Artemis-that is- we are-"
She giggled, "Oh dear. Nervous, are we?"
He forced his thoughts to stop dogpiling each other.
"We're just friends. Barely even that." There. Steady.
She squealed. "And still in denial too! Don't worry, every good romance starts at this stage. You'd been happily together in no time!"
Orion wasn't sure that was true. For some disturbing reason, practically every romantic fling the mortals storytellers ever talked about seemed to start with kidnapping of some variety. Friendship seemed extremely optional.
Not that he'd ever say that to her face. He'd very much rather not start feeling sexual urges toward an aardvark, thank you very much.
"I thought she swore off romantic love," Orion said, trying to distract her. It seemed like it would be a sour point for her.
"I know," it seemed to have the intended effect. "I mean, who just swears off love like that? Love is for everyone, except, apparently, for those hopeless cases like Artemis, Hestia, and Athena. What's up with them anyway? And out of these three, Artemis is the worst. Swearing an oath of eternal chastity is not enough for her, oh no. She had to make other girls swear it too. Snatching up my followers. Robbing people of opportunities to find love."
He thought about the girls in the camp. Laughing, joking, stuck in a perpetual state of childhood. "They seem happy enough to me."
"They don't know what they're missing," she corrected.
But that wasn't quite true, either. Orion thought about Agatha, the new recruit who fled her betrothal to a violent brute (word amongst the Hunters was that said man had now joined the rabbit population around the city), because the man offered her father the biggest dowry. How many girls do find love, when their lives were never theirs to begin with? How many people are forced into relationships they never wanted?
"I think they prefer this life," he said. "They find it liberating."
The goddess shrugged, "Pfft. Liberation from love is not liberation. But I'm not here to talk about them." She smiled at him again. "I'm here to talk about you."
...Well. Not talking about me was nice while it lasted.
"Me, Lady Aphrodite?"
"Don't think you can distract me like that," her smile turned teasing. "I'll be keeping an eye on you. I haven't seen an interesting tragic romance in decades!"
"Tragic?" his voice came out a bit squeakier than usual. "No, my lady, there's really no need-"
"You aren't even denying the romance part anymore," she noticed.
"That...was going to be my next sentence."
She huffed. "Tell me, Orion...since you arrived, has Artemis been spending more time with the Hunters?"
He froze. "That...doesn't mean anything. It's natural, as the first male to join the Hunt-"
She giggled, as if to say You're so cute. "Just keep telling yourself that, dear-"
The ground tremored. Then it tremored again.
"Oops," she looked into the woods, presumably the source of the vibrations. "I think that's my cue to leave. See you around, Orion!"
She disappeared in a flutter of rose petals just as a furious Artemis came charging out of the undergrowth.
Artemis looked at the pile of rose petals where Aphrodite had been, then at him. Her silvery eyes bore into his mechanical ones, as if trying to read into his soul. For all he knew, she might have been.
Orion didn't dare break eye contact.
If she ever found out about what he saw in Aphrodite...
At last, her gaze pulled away. "Orion," she said. "There seems to be a rule amongst the Hunters you have yet to be privy to. 'When the love goddess comes, shoot her on sight.'"
Orion couldn't really disagree with that one.
So...yeah. That was a bit heavy.
Regarding ace/aro people in ancient times, my interpretation is that Aphrodite, as a goddess of romantic and sexual love, would utterly fail to influence them, and that would frustrate her to no end. Apollo does mention somewhere in the Trials of Apollo that unlike what mortals think, gods can only influence feelings that already exist (which is probably a good thing, because the implications had it not been the case are...dark). So I'd imagine having an entire demographic of people whom she can't influence would rankle.
India. The Ancient Greeks thought it was the edge of the world, hence why I chose the location. Fun Fact: Alexander the Great stopped at conquering India because one of his generals literally told him that if he went further, he'd fall off the world.
And yeah, I mentioned a few past loves Orion had in this chapter, as per a reviewer's suggestion. Those are taken from various sources regarding Orion (they're not very consistent, but Greek mythology never is).
Forced marriages...that's a loaded topic. Rick Riordan did have some discussion regarding Ancient Greek marriage customs in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, and we have Sam in the Magnus Chase series, who is part of an arranged marriage. These are NOT the same thing! Forced marriages aren't consensual between the two parties, and is a violation of human rights under the UN, while arranged marriages require the consent of both parties. And sure, there are people who'd argue that consent under pressure from families is not consent, but um. You know. While I have done some research regarding this topic while writing this fic, I'm not well informed enough to get into the nuances. Like I said, loaded topic.
And I think that's all the notes I have for now.
I'll see you hopefully soon.