Disclaimer: i dont own pjo
Author's note: There have been a few comments about on the conversation between Leto and Artemis, specifically about the "human" part. What Leto was saying about them being human is not referring to their race. Their race, which you guys have mentioned, are titaness and goddess for Leto and Artemis respectively. The idea of being human refers to the idea of being sentient creatures capable of logic and reason. This ability to make conscious decisions is what differentiates an animal from a human because animals act on instinct. Animals can't choose what specific food to eat. They don't wake up, thinking about eating a sandwich from 7/11, while us as humans can choose to eat waffles or pancakes in the morning. Or skip breakfast entirely, if we so choose.
On to the more "technical" part of "being human". Gods, titans, other primordial beings don't exactly invent new things they are born with powers and abilities or whatever. You can think of it like this. Gods gifted humans fire, or in Greek mythology if you want to be really specific it was Prometheus who gave humans fire. But humans are the ones to innovate on the uses of fire. If you think about philosophical and mathematical thinkers, you'd probably think of Aristotle or Pluto, Socrates, Einstein, all of these are human beings. So the idea of being human originates from us "mortals" with our short lifespans.
If you put the relationship between Artemis and Leto into perspective, the reason why Artemis doesn't question it should be simple. My perspective on their relationship is that their familial bond is as tight as it could be. There is no other person that knows Artemis better than Leto. They are each others best friends if that makes sense. And Artemis, being the filial and attentive daughter she is, subconsciously understands the point Leto is trying to make. If you think about a time where your teacher asked you a question that you had no idea of what the answer is. You have zero idea. But when they start to explain the answer and its steps, suddenly everything makes sense. What is happening to Artemis during that conversation is similar to that feeling.
Hopefully, this clears some things up. I will copy and paste this explanation in that chapter as well.
As for a timeline, just don't even think about it, is all I have to say.
Also, I've never even been to a 7/11 so i dont even know why that analogy was the first thing i thought of...
T-T
"Strange... So strange," Apollo thought out loud, tapping his pen against his desk.
Numerous possibilities ran through his mind as he processed all the information his sister just gave him.
His silence did little to quell the turmoil deep within Artemis, only infect her with a higher level of anxiety, thinking that her worst fears might've come to reality.
The atmosphere was laden with a subtle, tenseness that only Artemis seemed to feel.
She silently waited for Apollo to collect his thoughts. Her expression reverted back to her cold, hard demeanor, which didn't properly express her desperation for some closure.
Only through what Apollo perceived as an intense gaze did he finally say something.
"I thought you were joking when you said that you had intercourse with him," Apollo said with a mix of seriousness and playfulness.
"You are absolutely terrible at this."
"Terrible at what," Apollo asked, feigning innocence.
"Hmph. Whatever. Does it look like I joke around? I am not like you-" Artemis stopped, realizing that she would be insulting Perseus if she finished her sentence.
'She was definitely going to say you males,' Apollo thought to himself. He decided not to point out the slightly contradicting nature of her words, unless he wanted to get beaten up again.
"Of course not. You wouldn't have the sense to humor to make someone laugh."
She glared at him, threatening to beat him up again, which caused him to quickly shut up.
The golden-haired god let out an embarrassed cough.
"Then, onto more serious matters. I have a question."
Artemis looked at him with a silent approval.
"Do you feel any urge to have intercourse, right now?"
Artemis narrowed her eyes as if she was asking 'What kind of question is this?' before a disgusted look appeared on her face. It made Apollo feel like he was tarnishing his own image by asking that kind of question.
"Is that all y- males like you think about?"
"It's for medical reasons. I'm being serious."
It didn't look like Artemis was convinced as the air of suspicion continued to linger.
"Phoebe, I'm being serious."
The look on her face subsided slightly, but there was still an air of suspicion of what he was getting at.
Artemis sighed, "No. I don't have any desire to have intercourse. What's the problem with that?"
"The problem is right there," said Apollo, "You should be under the effects of a curse right now. What mortals call hyper-sexuality, and it should've been an enhanced version of it too."
With little medical knowledge about divine beings, it was no surprise that Artemis had no idea what he was talking about.
"In layman terms, you should be affected by a curse right now. The first time gods have sex, the curse activates. Since the dawn of time, it has consistently activated without fail. The only person who wasn't affected by the curse was Athena because the way she conceives children without intercourse, but you- that isn't applicable."
He seemed to be suggesting something, but Artemis didn't know what.
"Even, I have also experienced it. And there's no way to avoid it, even if you are aware of it. I mean. Unless you wanted to be a virgin your entire life, which I mean-."
Apollo was about to laugh before he remembered who his sister was, resulting in an awkward chuckle.
"Uhhh anyways-"
"So how long was yours?"
Apollo got flustered at the question for a split second. She had barely caught his reaction.
"Why do you want to know?"
"I'm just curious. I wouldn't have asked otherwise."
"I mean... Its not that important." Apollo said.
"Why are you avoiding the question? It should be simple right?"
"I'm not avoiding anything. I'm just saying that it's not that interesting."
At first, Artemis was a little curious, but his strange behavior made her intrigued.
"Say it," she demanded.
Apollo was silent.
"Say. It."
"It was a few..." Apollo said in a low voice that was barely audible.
"A few what?"
"A few years..." Apollo said sheepishly, looking like a young teenage boy about to experience sex for the first time.
"Oh. Wait," Artemis remembered a specific time where Apollo was absent, "Is that why you missed Mother's birthday that year?"
"That!" Apollo said in a unnaturally high pitched voice, "was not my fault."
"Mhm, sure," she muttered with a judgmental look on her face.
"I'm going to hold this against you forever, you know that?" Artemis said.
"Yeah, I realize." Apollo sounded resigned to his fate.
"How long does it usually last for?"
If Apollo's curse was a few years then she was guessing that the normal curse would usually last for a year or two?
"The average god is like- two to four weeks."
"Oh. I see- Wait. Weeks?"
"Yeah. Even Aphrodite's was around a month, give or take."
"Oh. So that's what you mean by enhanced."
"Yep. Depending on the divinity, the curse is either stronger or weaker. And since our father is Zeus, it's naturally going to be stronger."
"But, in my case. It was given to me by Selene? So, it would make sense?
"That divinity is different from your innate divinity. Your innate divinity is still from father."
"Innate divinity?"
Artemis never heard the term before.
From what she understood, divinity was directly proportional on the power of belief. The stronger the belief, the strong the divinity.
She never delved into the specifics of divinity and where it came from.
"Innate divinity as it suggests, come from inside. It is the divinity you are born with. More specifically, it is a gods potential. Say the number of believers and amount of faith for two different gods are the same. However, one god will have a stronger raw divinity, which would be the god with the higher potential. If they were to fight, of course, the one with the stronger raw divinity won't necessarily win because it also depends on combat experience, weapons, etc, etc, but yeah. That's the basic gist of it."
Artemis was silent for a second and said, "So it's talent."
"Talent?"
"Mortals are born with specific talents making them better at some things and worse than others. So that would make divinity is similar to talent in that sense?"
"I mean, if you look at it that way, I guess."
Artemis said, "Then why you did you over complicate it. Completely unnecessary."
"... Whatever."
"Anyways, can I check if you really lost your virginity?"
"Are you serious?" She said in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"And how are you going to do that?"
Artemis eyed him suspiciously.
Raising his hands in the air like he was surrendering, he said, "Relax. I'm not going to touch you. I could've checked whenever I wanted to. I'm just asking because its more of a consentual thing than anything."
"Fine."
Her vigilance still remained, watching for any sudden movements.
Slowly lowering his hands, his divinity gathered in his eyes while he looked down in the area of her abdomen.
"Are you sure you lost your purity?"
Artemis was about to berate him when she saw that he was being completely serious.
"What do you mean by that. Of course, I- Huh?"
Why were her barriers there?
She remembered that she broke them herself.
The clear sound of glass shattering was clear in her mind like it happened yesterday.
Perseus took off his shirt and-
He held her-
Then, they-
"!"
She was slapped with a wave of dizziness, causing her to stumble backwards a few steps.
"Artemis? What's wrong?" Apollo got up with a worried look on his face.
"I- I'm okay. I just need to sit down."
The goddess sat down on the chair next to Perseus's bed while massaging her forehead.
"Water?" Apollo offered, then he realized what he said.
Oops.
He said that out of habit, maybe he subconsciously thought that Artemis was a patient.
He didn't know.
What surprised him though was that Artemis actually said, "Sure."
Handing her the cup, he wondered why she agreed.
Naturally, food and drink were unnecessary for gods. They only served to satisfy the tastebuds and nothing more.
He had a slight inkling that this might be important in some way.
Although, he could be reading too much into it and it could've been nothing.
Like a dehydrated person, she downed the cup in a single gulp.
If he didn't know better, it looked like she was actually thirsty, which was strange for a god.
Wait, why was he over thinking this?
He was trying to rationalize the actions of a god, which would be like asking a mortal to prove the Earth was flat.
It would be physically impossible.
Apollo inwardly sighed.
He knew that Artemis wasn't lying that she had intercourse, but her body begged to differ.
Artemis wasn't lying, so what was the issue?
He didn't say it out loud, but her hymen was intact, which he sensed earlier with his divinity. That should be impossible if she meant what she said.
Then, something that Artemis had said earlier came to mind.
'It might be strange, but I've been sleeping like a mortal recently. It's actually quite pleasant.'
Gods can't really choose to sleep because they don't replenish energy the same way mortals do.
Mortals can get mentally and physically exhausted while gods can only get mentally exhausted.
For a god to fall asleep, some external factors had to happen. One of which included the god of sleep.
It was only a minor god for something that only mortals and animals do. So, there was never a real reason for Apollo to pay attention to him, but that god needed to be involved somehow.
What was his name?
It was...
It started with an H.
H?
Hip.
Hep-
Hippo-
Heppo?
No, that wasn't it.
It was Hip- something.
Either way, he probably had to ask Father about it.
Turning to look at Artemis, her focus was on the unconscious male, "Perseus".
His brows were furrowed like he was having a bad dream while Artemis was uncharacteristically tender, caressing his cheek, soothing him like a baby.
She didn't care that Apollo was watching.
Of all people, his sister would've been the last person he'd imagine being in love.
Not that he wouldn't want her to be happy, but.
It was like he was seeing a completely different person.
There were no indications or prelude to signify something of this importance.
To make his sister of all people to fall in love in the blink of an eye should've been impossible.
Father anointing a guardian to Artemis, and a male at that?
Something was off.
Very off.
If Apollo knew anything about Zeus he would've never let this guy, or any guy for that matter, anywhere close to his daughter.
So knowing that Zeus knew about this was deeply unsettling.
There was something wrong, but the answers eluded him.
No warnings.
No prophecies.
Possession.
Isle of the Watchers...
Never heard of it before.
It seemed that he would be busy soon as per usual.