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lodessaTitle: The Hunt
Fandom: Mythology (Greek)
Characters/Pairings: Apollo/Artemis, Artemis/Orion
Word Count: 1,144
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
prozacpark, whom I promised this to ages ago. Thank you to aphrodite_mine who talked me through this when I was having a hard time with it.
Summary: The Orion myth from Apollo's perspective.
Born in exile, they were different from the other ten.
Apollo had seen more than the rest. His curse of rebuffed love, so legendarily cruel, was a tiny fraction of what he endured daily. When he was but new he rebelled against the tide, turning fate on it's head only to have destiny whip around and crack back into place leaving only pain for his hard work. Yet he still balked at restraint, yearning to tear apart and take what he wanted.
Artemis had no such conflict. Carefree and wild, she did as she pleased when she pleased and how. She forgot things in an instant that never left him. Haughty and proud, she bounded over obstacles that stopped the rest of the word flat in their tracks.
It was she whom he chased when poor Daphne despaired. It was she whom he struck out at through the Trojan princess.
They had been born as one, but so they did not remain. He remembers the moment. Facing that great king, he'd swallowed knowledge and she'd disavowed its taste. That was there it began. It was there it would end.
Apollo knew things. Blessed and cursed, he knew more than the rest, but he did not know everything.
He did not see Orion coming but, once he was there, Apollo knew the rest. He saw it clearly as if he was there himself. He saw Artemis forsworn, and yet unchanged. He knew that the refusal was just another of his sister's whims, another barb in his side. He wanted to strike. He wanted to show her that he was not just another toy, that she was bound to him too deeply for such games of cruelty. But he couldn't interfere with what he knew would come.
The heavy weight of knowledge was his.
Ever changing, he found her lounging by the deep pools, where water nymphs sang with utter abandon. Spying him they dove deep, slipping away as if in flight. He was not meant for the water and earth. He knew this, but their retreat made him long to chase and to catch. He might have, had she not been there.
Lithe and slender, she seemed as always to be daring him.
The word brother on her lips provoked unreasonable fury within him. It meant none of the rights and all of the restrictions. Other sisters listened to their brothers, respected them. Artemis did neither. To her he was little more than a joke, and a bad one at that. He could feel the ire rising, the desire to overwhelm and subdue. He wondered if she knew.
He was a god of eloquence, but around her, his equal and opposite, words failed him. He wanted to plead with her. He wanted to command. He did neither.
"Shall I play your little game of prophecy, then?" She laughed, first to speak, "You are going to tell me that I ought to stay away from Orion, that you'd seen the future and he will cause some sort of dreary doom and destruction, right?"
"Do you think I enjoy being the bearer of bad news always, sweet sister?" Apollo bit his tongue, praying for her not to run off just yet.
"I think, perhaps, that you enjoy suffering and persecution." Her tone was mocking as always.
"I enjoy your company, when you care to grace me with it."
"Perhaps if you were less of a downer I might wish to spend more time with you."
Apollo, as always resiting the predatory impulse and tried to think rationally. After all, he was a god of enlightenment.
"If you find my presence so repugnant, then I will leave." He acquiesced, without grace, "Make no mistake though. Orion will cause you harm. I'm seen your tears in this matter in the stars and I know how much you hate crying."
He walked away slowly, hoping to be called back. She let him go, however. He could hear her laughter mixed with that of the nymphs as he retreated out of sight. It echoed in his dreams. They were, as always, of her. Perhaps he ought to hang Morpheus up for his complicity, but he knew that this was as he wished it to be, for the pain of longing was better than absence all together. The night seemed longer than ever before, but, when he rose, he knew instinctively what must be done.
He saw the fateful slopes; he heard the anguished cry. He walked as if in a trance. His smile was too easy and his heart too heavy.
He found her on a mountain top, shooting the wildlife for her own amusement. Her step was light and he let his match it.
"Good day, sister. I have come to make amends for my dreary visit yesterday. Today I promise to be pleasant and only in pursuit of the best sport." He almost believed himself that he was merry.
She rewarded him with a small smile, "If you prove to be otherwise, I will shoot you myself." She told him, sounding as though she might enjoy the latter option more.
She ran and he followed. It seemed like he had been chasing her forever, never gaining on her but never falling behind. The crunch of leaves in the forest and dappled light through the trees. Grabbing her hand he turned her towards a tiny figure in the distance.
"The greatest prey in the woods, and I have found it for you. Will you hit it, dear sister, or shall I have to get it for you." He teased her knowing it would make her determined to succeed. Otherwise, she might think a moment and discover his treachery.
She shot and and then racing forward to discover her success, he saw her falter as comprehension dawned in her face. It was followed by the tears he had prophesied and she had dismissed. Not soft and supple in grief but sharp and venomous, she clawed him like a wild cat, screaming like a banshee and he was run off.
Apollo walked slowly away from Orion's corpse, the beautiful features of the dead man's face making the scratches less bitter and the songbirds more lovely. Artemis would forget this violation, would fly forward free, and Orion would have no time to practice his witchcraft and destruction. Apollo could wait though. Soon she'd forget and the game would begin anew. If she wanted to run then he would chase, as he always had. He could out hunt the huntress. He could set a trap; he merely had to resist the fury within him. He knew her for a liar now and sooner or later we would creep under the mask and force her to reveal the truth to him.
They were different from the others, but she was not so separate from him.
Fandom: Mythology (Greek)
Characters/Pairings: Apollo/Artemis, Artemis/Orion
Word Count: 1,144
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Written for
prozacpark, whom I promised this to ages ago. Thank you to aphrodite_mine who talked me through this when I was having a hard time with it.Summary: The Orion myth from Apollo's perspective.
Born in exile, they were different from the other ten.
Apollo had seen more than the rest. His curse of rebuffed love, so legendarily cruel, was a tiny fraction of what he endured daily. When he was but new he rebelled against the tide, turning fate on it's head only to have destiny whip around and crack back into place leaving only pain for his hard work. Yet he still balked at restraint, yearning to tear apart and take what he wanted.
Artemis had no such conflict. Carefree and wild, she did as she pleased when she pleased and how. She forgot things in an instant that never left him. Haughty and proud, she bounded over obstacles that stopped the rest of the word flat in their tracks.
It was she whom he chased when poor Daphne despaired. It was she whom he struck out at through the Trojan princess.
They had been born as one, but so they did not remain. He remembers the moment. Facing that great king, he'd swallowed knowledge and she'd disavowed its taste. That was there it began. It was there it would end.
Apollo knew things. Blessed and cursed, he knew more than the rest, but he did not know everything.
He did not see Orion coming but, once he was there, Apollo knew the rest. He saw it clearly as if he was there himself. He saw Artemis forsworn, and yet unchanged. He knew that the refusal was just another of his sister's whims, another barb in his side. He wanted to strike. He wanted to show her that he was not just another toy, that she was bound to him too deeply for such games of cruelty. But he couldn't interfere with what he knew would come.
The heavy weight of knowledge was his.
Ever changing, he found her lounging by the deep pools, where water nymphs sang with utter abandon. Spying him they dove deep, slipping away as if in flight. He was not meant for the water and earth. He knew this, but their retreat made him long to chase and to catch. He might have, had she not been there.
Lithe and slender, she seemed as always to be daring him.
The word brother on her lips provoked unreasonable fury within him. It meant none of the rights and all of the restrictions. Other sisters listened to their brothers, respected them. Artemis did neither. To her he was little more than a joke, and a bad one at that. He could feel the ire rising, the desire to overwhelm and subdue. He wondered if she knew.
He was a god of eloquence, but around her, his equal and opposite, words failed him. He wanted to plead with her. He wanted to command. He did neither.
"Shall I play your little game of prophecy, then?" She laughed, first to speak, "You are going to tell me that I ought to stay away from Orion, that you'd seen the future and he will cause some sort of dreary doom and destruction, right?"
"Do you think I enjoy being the bearer of bad news always, sweet sister?" Apollo bit his tongue, praying for her not to run off just yet.
"I think, perhaps, that you enjoy suffering and persecution." Her tone was mocking as always.
"I enjoy your company, when you care to grace me with it."
"Perhaps if you were less of a downer I might wish to spend more time with you."
Apollo, as always resiting the predatory impulse and tried to think rationally. After all, he was a god of enlightenment.
"If you find my presence so repugnant, then I will leave." He acquiesced, without grace, "Make no mistake though. Orion will cause you harm. I'm seen your tears in this matter in the stars and I know how much you hate crying."
He walked away slowly, hoping to be called back. She let him go, however. He could hear her laughter mixed with that of the nymphs as he retreated out of sight. It echoed in his dreams. They were, as always, of her. Perhaps he ought to hang Morpheus up for his complicity, but he knew that this was as he wished it to be, for the pain of longing was better than absence all together. The night seemed longer than ever before, but, when he rose, he knew instinctively what must be done.
He saw the fateful slopes; he heard the anguished cry. He walked as if in a trance. His smile was too easy and his heart too heavy.
He found her on a mountain top, shooting the wildlife for her own amusement. Her step was light and he let his match it.
"Good day, sister. I have come to make amends for my dreary visit yesterday. Today I promise to be pleasant and only in pursuit of the best sport." He almost believed himself that he was merry.
She rewarded him with a small smile, "If you prove to be otherwise, I will shoot you myself." She told him, sounding as though she might enjoy the latter option more.
She ran and he followed. It seemed like he had been chasing her forever, never gaining on her but never falling behind. The crunch of leaves in the forest and dappled light through the trees. Grabbing her hand he turned her towards a tiny figure in the distance.
"The greatest prey in the woods, and I have found it for you. Will you hit it, dear sister, or shall I have to get it for you." He teased her knowing it would make her determined to succeed. Otherwise, she might think a moment and discover his treachery.
She shot and and then racing forward to discover her success, he saw her falter as comprehension dawned in her face. It was followed by the tears he had prophesied and she had dismissed. Not soft and supple in grief but sharp and venomous, she clawed him like a wild cat, screaming like a banshee and he was run off.
Apollo walked slowly away from Orion's corpse, the beautiful features of the dead man's face making the scratches less bitter and the songbirds more lovely. Artemis would forget this violation, would fly forward free, and Orion would have no time to practice his witchcraft and destruction. Apollo could wait though. Soon she'd forget and the game would begin anew. If she wanted to run then he would chase, as he always had. He could out hunt the huntress. He could set a trap; he merely had to resist the fury within him. He knew her for a liar now and sooner or later we would creep under the mask and force her to reveal the truth to him.
They were different from the others, but she was not so separate from him.
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 08:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 09:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 10:31 pm (UTC)This is lovely and awesome. I like the layers of subtext you've created here, and how their relationship works on different levels. Love all the myth references and the complex relationship between these two. I like that they're both, in a way, still in exile and exist outside of the Olympian world of gods almost; Apollo in his conflicts and Artemis in choosing to live in the forests.
It was she whom he chased when poor Daphne despaired. It was she whom he struck out at through the Trojan princess.
I love this part, especially. My supersecret theory is that all of his love interests are just Artemis stand-ins in one way or another, and Daphne and Cassandra are especially Artemisian.
I love the mutual cruelty of their relationship, which I must admit is one of the things I love most about them. There's love here, yes, but there's so much else going on that that has to take a backseat, and I like how it's their darker emotions that rule over them often when it comes to interacting with each other, and you've captured that perfectly here.
I love your take on this myth -- Artemis' seeming indifference, Apollo's passion, and Orion's eventual insignificance in the scheme of things is all wonderfully portrayed here.
Apollo could wait though. Soon she'd forget and the game would begin anew.
And this? Yes. They keep struggling against each other in myths, but this is so very true. They do have an eternity to work things out, and while they keep pushing each other away and pushing each other's buttons, there's always hope. And...I like that Apollo gets that here and is willing to be drastic because no matter how angry she is, their bond is deeper than this. There's a lovely feeling of eternality to that ending that works perfectly.
Thank you so much for writing this!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 10:38 pm (UTC)I'm so glad you liked this and picked up on all these things I was trying to get across.
I wasn't sure about the ending originally, because I felt it should be more angst filled, but I'm glad my impulse paid off and the idea of how insignificant any one incident becomes in the context of immortality worked for you.
Writing this made me kind of want to write the mirror story, because, as you picked up, Artemis is feigning the indifference.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 11:05 pm (UTC)Aww. You wrote me OTP mythfic! The least I could do was try to convey my utter squee at discovering a link to this in my mailbox this morning. And then the squee over reading it three times in a row. ;)
Writing this made me kind of want to write the mirror story.
Heh. I've been wanting to write the mirror story to my own Artemis/Apollo fic since I finished it, but it's harder for me to get inside his head than hers, apparently.
And, please write the mirror story? The Apollo POV is perfect here, but I also really, really want to see this story from Artemis' side.
I wasn't sure about the ending originally, because I felt it should be more angst filled, but I'm glad my impulse paid off and the idea of how insignificant any one incident becomes in the context of immortality worked for you.
The ending is perfect, and the amount of angst works for me. For me, it kind of actually recalls the earlier part of the fic where he's thinking about how things slide off of her mind easily but he holds on to them. This would be the one time where it's the opposite: It'll be easier for him to let this one go than for her. And this is totally why you should write the Artemis POV because you can cover all the spare angst in that one. ;)
Artemis is feigning the indifference.
Of course she is. ;) Why else would she go around killing/cursing half his girlfriends?
no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 11:09 pm (UTC)Now I am not sure how exactly I would write her.
YES. That was exactly the idea with the ending.
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Date: 2008-11-09 04:33 pm (UTC)I just love everything about this fic. :)
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Date: 2008-11-09 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-09 05:12 pm (UTC)*laughs* I know exactly what you mean! I write Greek Myth too, though my Artemis is not nearly as aloof as yours.
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Date: 2008-11-09 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-09 06:09 pm (UTC)I would retell this myth (Orion/Artemis) quite differently.
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Date: 2008-11-09 06:25 pm (UTC)I'd be very interested to see your version though (Multiple interpretations for the win!)
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Date: 2008-11-09 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-09 07:01 pm (UTC)