Persephone seemed marginally happier after that.
"No faith in your father's attractiveness?"
Honestly, I'd be more worried about other Olympians poking their noses in and tainting the couple's opinions. If only by accident, in some cases.
"Mother clearly saw him as a threat for a reason. It was unfair, but affairs of the heart aren't obliged to be fair. They have nothing in common and no political reason to be together."
"How about you?"
At least this time, perhaps they'll get a chance to actually interact properly.
He glances at me, frowning. "Me? I'm not five years old. I can cope perfectly well with my parents separating."
"No, I mean, from the sounds of it you have a modern view of marriage."
Well, he does have a job in the modern world as a hunting safari guide, amongst other things. Not a stretch to figure he'd be well acquainted with modern cultural things, more than some of his fellows.
"I am modern. For virtually all purposes I'm a modern… A human with a few magical abilities."
"An unageing human with a few magical abilities. I've seen agelessness impair peoples' ability to learn new things."
Paging Vandal Savage...
Probably a case of change blindness, in a
cultural sense. It's probably a case of 'Does knowing this thing make my life easier and more comfortable? I suppose I'll
try it...'
"Fortunate for me. And whether I prefer the modern version of marriage depends on what you mean. Marriage should be a publically stated commitment, not something you abandon when it becomes inconvenient or when the initial.. shine comes off the relationship. A marriage entered into by two people because they share life-goals can be a perfectly good marriage."
"But..?"
Sadly, the concept of 'Til Death do us Part' has been depreciated these days, with people already suffering from an abundance of short-term entertainments and a shortening of attention spans.
"There's no 'but' to it. Father let his emotions cloud his reason. He should have known that just driving up in his chariot and picking Mother up wasn't the right thing to do. It was Zeus, for Gaea's sake! There's a gap between 'sticking to your promises' and 'living a total fantasy'! If anything, I should-."
He stops, staring at me.
Unfortunately, he took it for granted that Zeus would give the task all due diligence. Guess that's what
happens when you rely on Old Sparky.
"No."
"What?"
"No." he shakes his head. "You aren't that cunning."
...To be fair, no, he's not cunning... Unless he really
wants to be.
"If you could give me a little more..?"
"For a moment, I remembered your claim that Eris didn't cause the Trojan War, she just brought the pettiness of everyone else to the surface. And it occurred to me that I could interpret what you've done here in a similar light."
Well, in that case, all she
did was toss the senior goddesses an apple with an
easily misunderstood label. She had to know what sort of arguments that might spark.
Which is probably
why she did it, the incorrigible shit-stirrer.
"Oh-" I shake my head. "-no. I don't think like that."
"I realised. But when Father fails, you'll have been able to do what even Demeter couldn't do: ending their façade of a marriage."
...Let's not go attributing low cunning to something that could easily have been a happy accident.
"No problem with Macaria being made regent?"
"No. Out of the three of us, she's the one with a connection to the dead. And she wants to be part of this new pantheon that Hephaestaean is drawing together."
And that answers the question of who's in charge while Hades and Persephone are taking this little vacation from themselves.
"Have you met your new God of War?"
"No, I've been too busy bracing myself for whatever explosion you would create. Did Kratos break a clinch long enough to accept?"
It's an admirable idea, but sometimes, the big boom comes from the
last direction you'd be expecting it.
"No, you got Týr."
"Your suggestion?"
...Not in any official sense, no...
"I did suggest it as a half-joke to Diana a couple of years ago, but he volunteered without any direct contact with me."
"Convenient."
What, you think he was watching Earth and just happened to hear his name spoken in the same breath as the Olympians, and went 'Huh, that's actually damned clever.'
"Are you familiar with virtue ethics?"
"Of course I'm familiar with virtue ethics. I come from the society that invented the concept."
And he's not
exaggerating.
"Virtue guards against bad luck. Not completely, but to a significant degree. If you put flour in a sieve and shake, fine grains rain through while larger parts are broken up or trapped. Likewise, any system that can't survive a little chaos probably wasn't that good anyway."
"You think chaos is a virtue, guarding against bad systems?"
Sometimes, things
need a shake-up, to prevent them from
calcifying. Why do you think Eris is in such a
good mood these last few days?
"The philosophers John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor argued against censorship on the grounds that even if an opinion was utterly vile, it was still worth having the opinion aired so that people could remind themselves that it was vile and practice the counter-arguments with a real example. My point is that it's always worth having someone test things, even if they're wrong. Because… If a man prodding a fence with his foot can knock it over then it probably wasn't going to withstand an actual storm. And if this many fences are falling over, they're probably overdue for a kicking."
And a calcified order, like the Olympians, was
well overdue for such a kick in the delicates.
"Have fun with that. We've finally got enough judges trained up that I can afford to go back to Africa, so it's not going to be my problem."
"You sure?"
I mean, Africa is probably
safer than anywhere in OL's vicinity at this point.
"You tell me."
I take a look at his desire network and… Yes, he's pretty much done with this whole situation. That's a shame, but I understand where he's coming from. His role in the whole thing was supporting Hades and if his sister would rather do it…
In other words, his
field of fucks is barren... And now he's taking the opportunity to 'Nope' his way
out?
"I see that you are. Thank you for helping out for as long as you have."
I hold out my right hand. He bows his head slightly with a smile as he takes it.
At least they're parting as friends.
"I'll be happy to go back to hippos. You don't have anything… Else planned for our pantheon, do you?"
"Planned?"
Bah, OL does his
best work off the cuff.
He steps back into the woods, slowly fading from view.
"Nice safe hippos and lions…"
At least with
them, he can see the trouble coming...
I shake my head, sight Menalippe and transition over to her.
"So."
She looks me over cautiously. "What news?"
Well, he hasn't killed, deposed or otherwise maimed any other gods...
Today.
"Hephaestaean has his pantheon more or less together, final negotiations pending. Macaria is temporarily taking over Erebos while her parents use the waters of the Lethe to either save or finally destroy their marriage. And I still don't know where John Constantine is."
She frowns. "Who?"
At least he's
remembered this time.
"He's a magician… You've never met, but he disappeared and I've been looking for him..?"
She nods. "And you are not an easy man to hide from. Please explain what you mean by 'use the waters of the Lethe'."
Yeah, anyone able to hide from
him has to be
very good at what they do.
"Temporarily regress to the point where they first met and see if they can form a relationship without Zeus and Demeter sticking their oars in. Other than Hades maybe ending up single, it should affect anyone here."
"Thank the gods for small mercies."
Oh, the gods are thanking each other that he's finally fucking off, don't you worry...
I don't draw attention to her unfortunate phrasing.
"And I'll try to avoid upending Themysciran religious practice again for at least a decade. Thank you for your forbearance."
I give it a
week.
To quote Sarge from the Starcraft II teaser
trailer: "Hell, it's about time!"
