A short drabble about Aphrodite, and the trap that she is caught in.
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Masquerade
Aphrodite, goddess of love, desire, and beauty is known for her startling beauty and numerous affairs with gods and mortals. She is viewed as a sex symbol, lusted after by the majority of the Olympian gods. It is a strange, ironic, and perhaps even cruel twist of fate that someone so giddy and enthusiastic about love should never experience what is known as 'true love'. But it is true- she has never truly loved someone, only appreciated what they could do for her; the closest she came to loving someone was Adonis, whom she indirectly created.
However, it would seem ridiculous that the goddess of desire has never loved someone enough to desire them for anything more than looks, so she puts on a masquerade that she does.
But if she has not loved before, can she really be the goddess of love? How can you physically embody something if you've never experienced it? It seems to be almost inconceivable that she has never loved someone romantically before. For example, how could Ares be the god of war without being in wars? But despite the impossibility, it is true. She has never loved before, only lusted. Anyways, do immortals really understand their realms of influence?
Dionysus doesn't understand exactly how madness works. Poseidon does not know where every animal in the sea is. Kronos cannot comprehend the mechanisms of time. So why should Aphrodite understand love? Even though you are an immortal, an ancient and powerful being, it is hard to understand a wild, irrational, controllable force. How can you understand a force that pushes all logic and reason to the side, can survive eons and produces walls that weather all kinds of storms? You cannot.
However, it would seem preposterous that the goddess of love does not understand love, so she puts on a masquerade that she does.
Even though Aphrodite can only lust, many have fallen in love with her or lusted after her. Since no mortals and few immortals can see through her masquerade, they desire her beauty. Some think that she is just insecure, and they think she judges everyone by their beauty and appearance, not by who they actually are. Others think she just would like to act out her part as a sex symbol, because she is melodramatic and likes the attention. But this is not the truth.
At times, she sees her beauty as a curse, a cruel burden bestowed upon her by fate. It was her beauty that caused animosity between the Olympian gods, which cause her to be married to Hephaestus, the least desirable of the gods. Sometimes, she wishes she was normal, looked average, and ruled over something other than love. Too many expectations and burdens are heaped upon her; everyone expects the goddess of love to be inhumanely beautiful and to have fallen in love too many times to count. She views her beauty as a curse, but just as Apollo has the job of driving the sun, she has the job of looking beautiful.
However, it would be seem ludicrous that the goddess of beauty does not judge herself for her beauty, so she puts on a masquerade that she does.
She longs to shed the masquerade, stop dancing an elaborate, delicate dance, but if they saw past her outward appearance, past her feigned shallowness, she fears that they would see the true her. She fears they would see a mangled, horrible spirit, crushed by the weight of the burdens she carries with her every day.
She continues her masquerade. But even an infinite amount of time cannot change Aphrodite to be the person she appears to be. She is confined by the intensity of her fear, trapped in a pit so deep, no one in Olympus, the Earth, the Underworld, or even the universe can build her a ladder long enough, or stairs high enough to help her escape this pit. But she cannot ask for help. She continues her masquerade.
Thanks to 'bookluva98' for giving me the idea to make this into a one-shot series! I didn't like this particular one-shot one that much. I'm also creating an outline for a multi-chaptered story so I might not update this that often (bi-weekly maybe?). Also, sorry for changing the title and summary so often-I can't really decide on one thing. Please review, as it helps me improve my writing. Flames are okay, although I would prefer CC.