Hey guys!

I'm back.

Happy July!

In this chapter, we go back to Orion. We see what Apollo's up to these days, and Phoebe makes an appearance! Admit it, you forgot she existed.

So anyway, read, enjoy, leave a review, all that good stuff.

Ta!

Well.

That went down like a lead balloon.

Orion had mentally prepared himself for a rejection, of course. But he had genuinely thought that he had a chance. Aphrodite herself was on his side for this one, after all. And all those tiny gestures. The verbal sparring. Had he been misreading all of that?

I've never been interested in these things.

Well, he thought resentfully. At least she let him live.

He was quite deep into the forest now. Some part of him thought it might be wise to go back.

He ignored it.

A twig snapped behind him. He whirled around, relaxing when he saw that it was only a deer. He briefly contemplated killing it, before realizing that he had left his bow back at the campsite, because he had been planning to ask Artemis out, and one did not court someone carrying weapons.

Right.

It was probably for the best that he returned, then.

Mortals much, much, much later would look between Apollo and Dionysus and go "Ah, yes. A dichotomy between the rational and logical and the emotional and instinctual." Much, much, much later, Apollo would look down upon them from the sun chariot he had acquired from Helios and laugh.

To say that he represented the rational mind would be to say that Zeus represented law and order.

Oh wait…

The point was, Apollo wasn't rational. If he were rational, he would look at his current behavior and point out how irrational it was.

But he was, however, something of a party god. Something he did share with Dionysus, even if Dionysus's gatherings were a bit more bloody than what he would have liked. And now, because they were such good buddies, he was sure the other god would let him borrow one of his other powers.

Dionysus liked him. Apollo taught him everything he knew, after all.

Dionysus was a bit of an oddity amongst gods.

He had been born a demigod, and then became a god. While that wasn't unheard of, he had the bad luck to be the subject of a massive controversy as Hestia gave up her throne for him. As such, most of the gods had no idea what to make of him, and avoided him unless he threw one of his parties. Then they were too drunk to care.

He hadn't even wanted the stupid throne.

When mortals gazed upon him, they thought that he was a bit too...raw for an Olympian god. Too emotional. He supposed they had a point.

But he had grown up mortal.

It wasn't that the gods-the full fledged gods who had been born immortal- had less of a capacity for emotion. They just learned very early on that mortals' lives were just that: mortal. No matter how much they cared for one, kept them from harm, eventually they would die and they would be left empty handed again. Some gods like Artemis and Athena tried to get around that, either by making their favored ones immortal or choosing companions who had very, very long lifespans, but those tended to end in tragedy too. As such, the gods rarely put all their devotion into one being. It would only make the heartbreak so much worse.

And they were still in charge of making sure the world turned, after all. Fickle and petty they might be, but even they couldn't let their domains stop functioning because their emotional state had debilitated them.

But Dionysus hadn't been equipped to adopt that mindset. When he felt, he still felt with all the intensity of a mortal. It frightened the other gods. Such emotion had the potential to throw the world off balance, especially in the hands of one so powerful. Perhaps in a few centuries, he would become callous and unfeeling and cynical and disillusioned with godhood, but it still hadn't been that long ago that he was made immortal. He was still mortal at heart.

So he was somewhat surprised when Apollo appeared to him while he was leisurely sipping his wine in a cave in Nysa.

"Sup, Dionysus," the god flashed his blinding white teeth, and Dionysus barely resisted the urge to look away.

"Apollo," he said. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Apollo's grin got even wider, if possible, "Cast your mind back. Hyperborea, ten years ago."

Hyperborea? What did that had to do with-oh.

The crisp autumn afternoon was interrupted by a slew of curses by an intoxicated wine god.

Orion's dark mood did not lift.

He took measures to avoid the goddess of hunting whenever he could. He left the group for solo Hunting trips more and more often. His kills, once a practicality of life, became more aggressive in method.

One day, when he was cleaning up after cooking, a shadow came over him.

"Alright," Phoebe's voice sounded irritated. "What in Hades has been going on with you?"

Phoebe, unlike Zoe, had been outspoken against Artemis's decision to let him join the Hunters. She had, however, come around since then. The two of them had become some sort of vitriolic friends. He found her brashness refreshing. She found his smooth sarcasm a point of entertainment.

It was great.

"I don't believe Hades had anything to do with this," Orion said, just to be difficult.

"So you do admit there's something going on with you, then?" She smirked. Point to Phoebe.

"Perhaps," he allowed. "Perhaps I have yet to forgive you for the pork belly you threw at my head, which I had so painstakingly cooked up for you."

"And nailing me in the stomach with a slab of raw meat wasn't retribution enough?"

"I'm allowed to take pride in my creation."

She huffed a short laugh. "Seriously, though. What's going on? You haven't been the same ever since you came out of Artemis's tent last...month." Her eyes widened. "You didn't."

He winced, "It didn't happen quite like that."

"Yeah?" She was a bit more wary now. "So how did it happen?"

"I...might have had another encounter with Aphrodite, and she...persuaded me to...you know…"

Phoebe muttered something that would have made a sailor blush. "So what are you going to do now?"

"Well, she let me stay. I suppose I'll do that. It wouldn't happen again, if that's what you're worried about."

Phoebe nodded. "See to it that it doesn't."

"And, uh, if you would avoid mentioning that fiasco to anyone…"

"Fine," she huffed. She was about to say something else, but was interrupted by a shout. "Alright, gotta go. Agatha wants to learn how to make a bow."

She stood up and left, leaving Orion with his thoughts.

The conversation hadn't quite lifted him from his mood, but he felt a bit better.

Well, I think that's the longest chapter I've written to date.

How many instances of foreshadowing can you spot?

Dionysus was surprisingly fun to write, though I might have put too much angst in there. This is almost turning into a character study. IDK, what do you guys think? Too much? Not enough? Just right?

Scholars have referred to this apparent dichotomy between Apollo and Dionysus as Apollonian and Dionysian, by the way, as I was forced to learn in high school. Basically, humans operate on a balancing act between controlling one's emotions and referring to rational thought (Apollonian) and letting emotions control them and acting based on impulses (Dionysian). Me being a big Greco-Roman mythology nerd back then, I took one look at the concept and went "Have you met them?"

So yeah. I have a headcanon that Dionysus got to be the way he was in the books because he had cared too much when he was younger, and that ended up burning him again and again.

Anyway, I hope you appreciated my attempt to diss Zeus. As for why Dionysus was introduced...well, remember how he had dominion over insanity? Yep.

For those who thought Orion's relationships with everyone had suddenly became much, much friendlier, I'll admit that I don't think I handled that very well. I'm handwaving it as a timeskip, but yeah. It needs work.

So I think that's it for now. Thanks for reading, and all that. Leave a review!