My Big Fat Greek Dinner

[divasmio]

Who: The Greek Mythology-adjacent characters!
When: Before the AU event, and then perhaps after as well if we want to reuse this log for the following dinner.
Where: Apollo's Horizon
What: Apollo is hosting a feast for the family that just found each other :)
Warnings: Familial affection? Family drama? Volleyball?

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Weekly Family Dinner

Apollo is determined to make this "healthy and functional family" thing work, and Julia's family dinner idea seemed to be the perfect place to start. Once every week or so, Apollo plans to have the family over for a feast, and perhaps some games and other activities as well!

Apollo is hosting the feast in his Horizon, in a garden within the Sanctuary of Apollo overlooking the Sacred Lake.

A mouthwatering feast is spread across an ornate wooden table. Cuisine from every corner of the world is represented here, all of it hot and fresh.

One dish of note is a platter full of Sally Jackson's Blue Chocolate Chip Cookies, as well as her delicious seven-layer dip. Apollo remembers the flavor quite vividly and was able to replicate it.

There is a volleyball net set up near the lakeshore, as well as some other sports equipment piled up near the stone lions. You know, in case anyone needed ideas for after-dinner activities.

Comments

[inthenameofhades]

Zagreus would love an extra large over the top fruity carnival smoothie-soda. He has never heard of one and would have no idea what it was if he had - but that didn't change the fact that he'd love it.

"Which ones do you like best, then?" He asks. "So I know what I should bring next time."

Maybe he can't improve his relationships through copies amounts of nectar, but that didn't mean he couldn't do so with some other delicious liquid.

[sophos]

She almost says coffee. But it's not like enjoys coffee. Sometimes she just needs a cup. Or three.

"I like smoothies. But those definitely aren't ancient." She pauses, because he probably doesn't know what that is either. "It's a drink you make by pureeing a bunch of different ingredients into one, usually with fruits and a liquid base like milk or yogurt."

What she wouldn't give for a trip to Himbo Juice right about now.

[inthenameofhades]

"Ah, no...I'm not familiar with those either," Zagreus admits. "But it sounds interesting. I might see if anyone back in Solvunn knows how to make one when I'm back."

At this point, he reaches over to the plate of blue chocolate chip cookies. "And while we're on the subject of mortal foods...I do have to ask about these! They're really quite delicious. Especially the brown spots! Do you know what they are called?"

[sophos]

"I've been working on figuring out how to create things here, so maybe one day I can give smoothies a try too. It'd be better in reality though."

A Horizon smoothie doesn't seem like it'll hit the same way as a real one. But he picks up the cookie, and something in Annabeth's chest clenches as she again thinks of Sally, watching it in his hands for a moment too long, distracted. She loves Percy's mom. Sally is probably the best mother figure she's ever had.

"They're chocolate chip cookies; the spots are the chocolate. You're from ancient Greece, right? Chocolate comes from the cacao plant - it's from another continent on the other side of the world from Greece. It'll be at least another two thousand years from your time before Eurasia gets it."

[inthenameofhades]

"Making things here is actually surprisingly easy, once you get the hang of it," Zagreus says. "Just try and remember what it was like, when you first arrived here and creating came naturally."

Although as a daughter of Athena, Zagreus doesn't doubt that Annabeth wouldn't really need his advice. She would certainly have the capability to work it out on her own.

"I'm from the Underworld, not Greece - but that is where the entrance at the Temple of Styx is, yes." He pauses, thinking for a moment, before adding: "I don't know if when I'm from counts as 'ancient', since it's not ancient at all to me, but...I do keep hearing about a place called 'Rome'. As far as I'm aware, it doesn't exist. Does that help?"

[sophos]

"I'm not that worried about figuring it out. I've already started practicing."

She threw herself very eagerly in the first visit, and she's beyond ready to create here - honestly the biggest problem is going to be staying focused enough to keep herself in the meditative state.

"Yeah. You're still ancient for my standards, especially if Rome doesn't exist yet." She has zero qualms about calling him old. Annabeth knows he's a god, but he's been very chill so far, and she currently doesn't feel very respectful towards them, like, as a concept. When he mentions the Underworld, she very much refuses to look down, reaching out for another cookie. "The Trojan war would be roughly three thousand years ago for me."

[inthenameofhades]

Annabeth's in luck, because Zagreus isn't the type to insist on respect. Especially not in the way that the gods of her time do. As far as he's concerned, she hasn't been at all disrespectful so far.

"The Trojan war has happened!" He says, glad to have some reference point that they both understand. "Just before I was born, I believe. But I don't know how long ago that is in years. The passing of time doesn't really mean much in the Underworld."

Which does mean that Zagreus has absolutely no idea how old he is. What is a birthday to an immortal?

[sophos]

She's getting that impression, and it's certainly a good one as far as she's concerned. She doesn't want to revere him, but she'll gladly chat with him. It makes her more inclined to do so in the first place, with no expectations.

Her jaw tightens at his remark over time and the Underworld, thanks to her very recent firsthand experience. She still has no idea how long she was actually there in Tartarus. Time really was a strange blur.

"Well, if Rome doesn't exist yet, you're probably from sometime before the 700s BCE but likely after the 1200s BCE - which still makes it about three thousand years ago for me, give or take a century. The Trojan War is still very well known. The names, the stories - obviously it's been passed down because we're demigods and we still live a semblance of Greek life, but it's known outside our little bubble too."

[inthenameofhades]

"I don't know any of these dates, or what 'bee cee eee' means, but I'll take your word for it that you've dated me accurately!" Zagreus says, cheerful despite the fact that he doesn't entirely understand what Annabeth is talking about.

Besides, it doesn't really matter to Zagreus exactly when he's from. They could be three hundred or three thousand years apart, and it would all be the same to him.

"I have heard others mention that they come from worlds where people don't believe in the gods at all. It's a bit strange to think, that there's mortals out there who don't think we're real."

[sophos]

"They mean 'before common era' and 'common era'. It's just a phrase used to help with the dating system, you don't have to get bogged down." She's mostly just pleased he's taking her at face value. She loves to be listened to!

It's strange, to be talking to someone from that time. There are probably a lot things Annabeth could ask, but she'll have to think on it. It doesn't seem like he was out of the Underworld very much anyway.

"It's like that at home. Most mortals don't believe in the Greek gods anymore. And there probably are worlds where they might not exist - we're in one right now, after all, aren't we?"

[inthenameofhades]

Zagreus chuckles briefly, short and sharp. "Well I suppose that's one way of measuring time! Just one that doesn't entirely work once you have people from different times." Zagreus was probably never going to refer to his time as 'Before Current Era'. To him, his time was current.

"And see, a world like this makes sense to me - our family have never been here at all, so of course we don't have any followers or people who know about us. It's just the ones that apparently have heard of us, but just...don't think we're real, that seem very strange. I don't really understand how that could happen. Shouldn't mortals realise otherwise once they see the influence of the gods?"

[sophos]

"Not to mention, different cultures create different calendars. It can be hard to be sure of exact dates, especially as we go further back in time." She pauses. "Suffice to say, your time was a long time ago for me. That's all we really need out of it."

There's a lot of potential for her to go off on a tangent here, and she thinks she's being very good about catching herself.

"It's not always seen as god influence. There are scientific reasons for thunderstorms as much as there are reasons Zeus gets pissed. That connection to the godly faded, especially as the culture of ancient Greece evolved and changed too. It's become a mythology rather than a reality."

[inthenameofhades]

"'Scientific reasons'...that's like philosophical reasons, isn't it?"

'Science' might not be a thing yet when Zagreus his from, but he does at least know what 'philosophy' is. And they're similar enough to each other...right?

"So mortals have come up with new explanations, then? And then they just...believe the new reasons, and not the old ones? Is that what happened?"

[sophos]

"No. Philosophy is more theoretical. Science is based on research - facts, data, and hypotheses. In the ancient world, the two were a lot more intertwined, but science explains how the world works around us without a godly influence."

Explaining modern science to an ancient Greek god of the Underworld might be a task too big for one child of Athena, but it doesn't mean she can't pretend otherwise.

"It's not like they're coming up with explanations without reasoning or logic. They discover them via specific studies. There are a lot of other reasons behind the decline of Ancient Greek hegemony, but it might end up depressing you at a party that's apparently supposed to be fun."

[inthenameofhades]

"Ah, so gods aren't facts, are we?" Zagreus says, with a faint grin of amusement. He doesn't look at all offended by the implication. And Zagreus doesn't actually know all that much about philosophy. Or this 'science'. Even if the distinction seems arbitrary to him, well, he knows he doesn't know enough to argue.

"And it's alright, you don't have to explain it all to me. I'm not sure I'd even be able to understand. I suppose it's just...very strange to me. I mean, you'd find it pretty odd if someone told you that where they come from people didn't think mortals were real, wouldn't you?"

[sophos]

She rolls her eyes, but it's not with ill intent. "They're real. You definitely don't have to argue with me on that. But science is separate from gods."

It's been much easier for her to simply accept the reality of the duality of the world that way than to really sit with it. She has other things she'd rather spend the time dissecting.

She hums with his question. "Odd, yes, but given how many different people have been summoned, I don't think I'd say it wasn't possible. It's real for them, isn't it? Even this world has different rules from our own. If we can accept that, it's easier to accept maybe there's a world where mortals aren't real. Things can be odd and true at the same time."

[inthenameofhades]

"It's very obviously possible. It just...takes a bit of getting used to, I suppose.

"Just like getting used to the fact that there's also other versions of our family. That was quite a bit of a surprise. Also very confusing. Will and I's first conversation had us talking in circles around each other. Didn't really know why so Will kept mentioning so many things that didn't fit with what I knew at all. Not until Julia told me about alternate universes."

[sophos]

"I knew this world wasn't my own almost immediately, so once I got over the whole transported across universes thing, it got easier to accept different perspectives and even different versions of the same Earth."

But that could just be the Athena in her. Annabeth pauses. "Earth is the planet we live on."

[inthenameofhades]

"You must be much more adaptable than I am," Zagreus says, with a self-deprecating smile. "Although that's probably to be expected. Mortals seem much more adaptable than gods. Demigods too, I imagine. You're not as resistant to change."

Which from the way he speaks, Zagreus evidently regards as a good thing. He knows how frustratingly difficult it can be to get gods to change. The gods might often place themselves above mortals, but this was one area where mortals had the advantage.

[sophos]

"Well. We can freely cross the boundaries between mortal and the god worlds - I think we're sort of built with adaptability to survive too."

It probably helps on her part being a daughter of Athena too - they're all always thinking, and contemplating the expanse of the universe with semi-frequency isn't exactly out of the realm of possibility for her and her siblings.

"Just... try to keep an open mind while you're here, and maybe it'll get easier for you too."

Shall we wrap up around here?

[inthenameofhades]

"I will," he promises. "Besides, I wouldn't want to miss out on everything the mortal world has to offer. Like delicious blue foods!"

sounds good 🎀

[sophos]

The blue food mention has her smiling, faintly. She doesn't have the heart to tell him right now it's a very specific part of the mortal world, but mostly because maybe she doesn't want to get into Sally Jackson right now either.

"Keep up the enthusiasm and I'm sure you'll do great."