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

[heelies]

As when a hunter lays a trap, and the hare, possessing no notion of where it lies, knows it must tread carefully through the long grass, so too does Achilles hold close his distrust for the archer god.

"What is this you are saying, far-seeing Apollo? Then am I to cheat Fate for as long as I remain a guest in this land? I am not so prideful to presume that I might do as no man has ever done before — outrun the long reach of Fate! You yourself are the god of oracles, yet you would ignore such an edict?

"Only if you swear a blood oath shall I believe you — swear that you will not spill my blood on this soil, as you say."

What impudence lashes him to demand such a bond with a deathless god, he cannot name. He is a man divided, at once grateful for what days Fate sees fit to spare him, and miserable for it.

[divasmio]

So little time has passed since Apollo has been mortal. Millennia of repressed empathy had been ripped free and humility had been irrevocably carved into his soul. Apollo had come away from those six months with a newfound drive to be better than the other Olympians, to meet humans at their level and earn their trust. Yet Achilles' very presence has been grating Apollo's nerves since his arrival. Now, the audacity of the man to question this truce ignites his anger.

Something ancient and petty stirs within him. Buried beneath the Apollo who had sobbed over Jason's corpse lies the Apollo who had slain the sons of Niobe. It takes an active effort to hold himself back.

"How unbecoming, Son of Peleus, to so brazenly insult your host. I have opened my realm to you, extended my hospitality, and offered an armistice. Yet you impugn my integrity and make demands?" Apollo's neutral expression darkens. "I don't care if you believe me. Bloodshed brings me neither joy nor satisfaction. Thus, I have decided not to bring our prior conflict to this new land. If you cannot find peace in that, that's your problem, not mine."

[heelies]

As plainly as a bolt of lightning slashing the storm-darkened sky does he see the warning flash in Apollo's eyes, and the son of Peleus sinks to his knees. There is a part of him, wounded in ways that neither medicine nor time can heal, that hoped the archer god might strike him down there where he stood. Strange laws dictate this place called the Horizon, he has heard, but surely the deathless gods cannot be bound as mortals are. Even so, he will not push his impudence further.

"Forgive me, O Lord Apollo. I should not have been so presumptuous — it is not my place to make demands of the gods. This truce is a gift more generous than host has ever bestowed on guest before, and thus I shall accept with gratitude in my heart."

[divasmio]

Apollo wants to stand there and let him grovel. He does remain uncharacteristically silent for a long moment, regarding Achilles coldly, before he finally speaks.

"Arise, Son of Peleus. In the spirit of this feast, to celebrate those who hailed from familiar lands before being brought to this world, I am willing to overlook this transgression. I trust you'll give me no reason to regret this later."