for "mini_nanowrimo" hence no friends lock 17
first of all, i am in love with this. i am irrationally proud so if you hate this one then i don't want to know about it. please and thank you.
second of all, is this a retelling or greek mythology fan fiction? i'd pretty much be happy with either.
regardless, this is the story of Odysseus and Circe and The Sirens. it is a mash-up of a whole much of stories into one coherent one. although i took some liberties. [i actually like the siren sister, evil or not, so i didn't want r their fate to be so easily sealed. fuck you ancient greek, i will rewrite you. i have no shame.]
It was a love affair that lasted for five days. Long enough for Odysseus to tire of Circe's sorcery and tricks. She was as cunning with her magic herbs as she was with blinding his men with food and mulled wine. Still, he took her to bed . . . or was taken to her bed and with a few simple promises, tricks of his own told to him by Hermes (and how did Hermes know such things about Circe in the first place?), his manhood stayed in tact and he was sated hours on end.
The men, his men, restored from their piggish forms by an obviously giddy and satisfied Circe, returned to Odysseus' ship. They took care to keep their displeasure of the witch hidden well, least they be turned back into pigs or into the lions and other woodland creatures she kept around her fortress. The island was a forbidding one, that was certain and true. They longed for the open sea air once more, the women confused them with wanting and hating all at once. It was too much like being at home.
But Odysseus was growing tired of the sea. He was not a youthful fool anymore. He asked Circe for a way home. She gave him the long way, drawn in the sand and dirt with her wand. They quarrelled and she finally confessed she did not want him and his ship taken by the sea wenches. She told him of the Siren Sisters, winged and beautiful but also deadly. They sang men to death over and over, luring them onto treacherous rocks while the men drowned as they literally threw themselves at the beast-women.
Odysseus was amused by the vision conjured and after a little cajoling, Circe gave in with a sigh, as he expected. She gave him a map on parchment and beeswax to plug his men's ears. A length of rope was given to the men to secure Odysseus to the mast when they approached the Sirens.
As the ship neared, he was securely fastened, he heard the bird-women's song. The Siren Song. He called and called to his men below but they were deft by the beeswax and kept their eye's downcast. The women sang, wondrous and eerie melodies. Their voices filled the sky and the heavens above. They hovered near, never touching as he struggled and wept for the song of it all. He screamed for silence and then screamed for them to continue and in the end the ship sailed by, leaving his voice and heart hollow. He ached with wanting and trashed his head, even as he was untied and lowered to the deck.
They had made it through, alive and unharmed and would return home to Ithaca as such.
The Siren Sister sang one more lonely song, one of thier failure. Odysseus, the foolish hero, had defeated them. Their spell as seductresses was only so until someone could sail by without giving in to the siren song. Flying in slow circles, the air went out from their lungs, halting the song and they plunged down into the unforgiving water where they had taken so many lives of young men. It was a fitting fate and yet unfair for such beauty to be taken. The ocean's voice swirled with talk, Gods and Goddess took rare mercy and a plan was effected.
Odysseus's adventurous journey in life was not yet over.