Athena's Interlude
former iterations
I mentioned this in the notes of the fic, but I've been wanting to write an Epic: The Musical fic focussing on Athena and Ares' sibling dynamic for a while. Before I came up with the current idea, I had partially started a different fic.
This is what I had written:
Ares is a god with many sides.
He thrives in war—craves it even. Almost nothing can beat the sound of war cries, the clash of swords, the smell of bloodshed, the swell in his chest as a victory is won.
He loves his girlfriend. Aphrodite keeps him on his feet with her dry sense of humour, her endless stories of the lives of mortals that she plays with. She always has a new jar of those nice smelling creams that she insists on rubbing on him to make his skin soft. He’ll only ever admit to her that he actually likes it.
He takes great pleasure in annoying Athena. It was much easier when they were young. All he’d had to do was stand too close to her, and she’d draw out her spear. Now, he tells one dick joke, and all she does is roll her eyes, nose flaring. It’s not nearly as satisfying.
It’s fun to get Athena riled up, to get her to lose the stony composure she carries around now. She always thinks she’s better—brain over brawn. As though she forgets that she also has godly strength that benefits her.
It didn't end up going too far, as I couldn't think of a good enough conflict to have, and I didn't want the entire fic to be just inside Ares' head.
But, anyway, onto the fic I actually posted:
"Selfish and prideful and vain"
In the past, [Athena] would have never allowed anyone to see her like this. Bloodied and weak, vision cloudy, hair singed. She would have holed herself up in her palace until she made a full recovery—able to take on the world once again.
[Athena's] armour was off, but she might as well have been naked. Just when was the last time someone had seen her without armour on?
I really wanted to get across the "old" Athena--the one Odysseus called "selfish and prideful and vain" in "My Goodbye." She couldn't show any weakness, and she had to always look strong to an outsider's perspective.
Instead, this "new" Athena allows Apollo in to care for her.
Hephaestus lingered a second longer. “I could make you an eyepatch"...
Athena hesitated. She could picture it—something to match her armour and conceal the lightning-shaped scar there. But another part of her, the newer part of her, asked why. Why hide the scar? Why should she pretend it wasn’t there? That she wasn’t changed?...
Slowly, she shook her head. “Thank you for the offer, but I’ll be fine.”
Again, more character development. Odysseus had called her vain, and perhaps the older version of herself would have taken up Hephaestus' offer. Instead, she decides to not cover her scar up.
Furthermore, the last sentence is a callback to the song "We'll Be Fine."
“What are you doing?” [Athena] questioned, turning to Aphrodite, struggling to keep her tone light. “If this is about earlier, I admit, using quick thought on you perhaps wasn’t the best idea—”
Again, no longer prideful. She's apologizing for the "trick" (at least in Ares' books) she used in "God Games."
Athena both hated and begrudgingly respected him for it. Usually, Ares was using all his force and willpower in these fights. Ares was holding himself back, and yet Athena was still struggling.
Of course, pridefulness doesn't go away easily. Athena has changed, although it's not as though her pride is gone completly.
Here, she struggles with the notion that she is still losing despite Ares not using his full force. It bruises her ego, and it shows that character development takes time.
Apollo's section
Apollo was the easiest for Athena to convince during "God Games," and so he’s also the most openly caring about her.
[Athena] gave [Apollo] a short nod. “Thank you. For everything.”
Athena says "thank you" to each of the gods that visit her, again signalling how she's changed. She is willing to accept help, and she understands when Apollo is trying to comfort her and doesn't take it the wrong way.
Hephaestus' section
I imagine Hephaestus to be an "actions speak louder than words" kind of guy. He doesn't offer her much comfort in what he tells her--in fact he implies Telemachus may need all the help he can get. However, he shows that he does care in the way of creating the spear in the first place.
He does offer her advice, although not on Odysseus or Telemachus, but on living with her new disability.
And, again, she thanks Hephaestus when he gives her the spear for Telemachus.
Aphrodite and Ares' section
Much like how they fought together--at least in Neal Illustrator’s version--they show up together in this section.
Also, I really wanted that scene of Aphrodite dressing Athena in her armour. I know Athena could have materialized it on her body (as she does at the end of the fic), but there was something nice and intimate about it that I really wanted to keep.
Athena stared at the two of them, but neither one said anything. Finally, she asked, “Can I help you?”
“It’s Tuesday,” Ares grunted out, gaze sliding in Athena’s direction.
Of course. She rolled her eyes and gestured to herself. Icily, she said, “I’m in no condition to spar with you.”
Athena was expecting him to taunt her—call her a coward and say she was only refusing because she was afraid of losing—but, instead, he said, “I’ll go easy on you.” His voice was shockingly genuine.
In this section, I think we get the most explicit sibling relationship of the fic. Siblings have a weird way of showing they care, and they often don't want to be percieved as doing so in the first place.
Ares does miss Athena, and worries for her, but he can't very well say it without ruining his persona. So, instead, he decides asking if she wants to spar with him is the best option--it's their version of spending time with one another.
For his part, Ares didn’t gloat about [winning], merely offered her a hand like she’d done in the arena.
Siblings usually know where the line is. Siblings may make fun of and neg each other, but they're usually aware of not going too far. Ares knows Athena is struggling internally and that this is a touchy subject, so he leaves it alone and stays quiet.
[Ares'] mouth was stretched into a wide grin, and he bounced on the balls of his feet, which was so unlike Ares that [Athena] interpreted him genuinely when he said, “Nice try. That was good.”
This may seem out of character--Ares genuinely complimenting Athena--but I like to believe that Ares puts on a persona when dealing with Athena; he does care about her, although their sibling rivalry usually takes precedence.
In this case, he's been restless and wanting to spar with her so much so that, when he actually gets to do so after a while, he can't help the absolute glee in his voice and the excitement showing through his gestures.
Ares’ face hardened. “You beat Zeus fair and square. He gave you the requirements to win; you fulfilled them. There was no funny business, no tricks. A decisive victory. You won. He lost.”
Ares is the god of war, and Athena is the goddess of strategic war. He respects that she won Zeus' game straight-on with no loopholes, which is how he believes Athena usually wins (hence the "Really Athena? These old tricks?" in "God Games").
While this is what Ares tell Athena as to why he wants to help her, I feel as though there is also a part of him that wants Athena to grow stronger so they can spar again as they did before.
Hera's section
I struggled the most with writing Hera’s section, as I contemplated why she would care about Athena. I eventually settled on Hera respecting the fact that Athena herself was being loyal to Odysseus (and Telemachus) by fighting for them.
While Zeus isn’t loyal, Hera still prefers those who are, and Athena hadn't shown herself to be particularly dedicated to one person until recently.
However, I also wondered if I should have given the loyalty motivation to Hephaestus, since his argument in "God Games" was based around that.
Hera continued when Athena didn’t say anything. “Zeus is a good husband.”
It was clear that nothing Athena could say would sway Hera’s feelings towards her husband. Hera loved Zeus. Whether he reciprocated those feelings was unknown. For Hera’s sake, Athena hoped he did.
I really wanted to highlight the complex relationship of Hera and Zeus here. Zeus constantly cheats on Hera, and Hera never does, yet she still loves him.
[Athena] couldn’t sleep.
An allusion to "My Goodbye": “What's a title that a goddess could lend if I'll never sleep at night?” and "We'll Be Fine": “Maybe, if I helped you reach your goal; life could be that bright. I could sleep at night.”
“Get your mortal hero home; keep his son safe. I’ll do what I can to help if the suitors try anything against Penelope. I am, afterall, also the goddess of women.”
Notice here how Hera doesn’t use Odysseus’ or Telemachus’ names, but does use Penelope’s. She does care about Odysseus and Telemachus (she is also the goddess of family), but I think Hera may see herself in Penelope and cares for her more.