Entry tags:

hermes, luna olmos, peitho

WHO: Luna & Peitho, then Hermes
WHEN: Monday, April 11th
WHERE: LA / Hermes' apartment
WHAT: Peitho comes home with a gift

Luna had just finished a twelve hour shift washing dishes and serving drunken diners on the night when she first met the goddess.

It was pre-dawn, early birds not even starting to sing, and Luna exited the Denny's redoing up her messy hair. The day was going to be hot when it came; already it was rising. By midday the heat would be pounding off the cement, leaving the whole city drowning in it, but for now it was nice. Coming out of the steamy kitchens the cooler air was everything Luna needed. Her scalp felt itchy with dried sweat.

Luna was unbuttoning her shirt to get to the singlet beneath when she saw her, the dark haired woman sitting up on the brick edge of the tall garden bed with its one sad palm tree leaning over to the left. Under the golden glow of the street light, her gaze was falling on Luna and Luna had to stop walking for a moment, unable to move. She didn't know what to do suddenly, but she wanted to be near to the woman.

And so she approached her, her shirt now abandoned half buttoned. Smoke slipped from between the stranger's red red lips as she watched Luna and it was the most erotic thing Luna had ever seen.

"Can I bum one?" Luna asked.

The woman watched her as she took a slow drag from her cigarette, the end glowing and burning, and when she drew it away from her own lips she placed it between Luna's. Luna shivered and then reached up to take the cigarette. She took a drag and then said, "thanks. I just finished a long shift." And then, because she didn't want to move away, she added, "I'm Luna."

"Ava," the woman asked. "And it's a pleasure, Luna." Her voice voice was like silk, like dark wine, like so many terrible cliche metaphors that were making Luna weak in the knees. Her voice might have been even better than her face. Was that even possible?

(Later, once she was alone again, Luna would realise that while Ava was certainly attractive, she'd often seen more beautiful women. They were in Hollywood - there were so many beautiful wannabe starlets that you got blase to attractive faces. Yet standing in front of Ava, Luna had been sure she'd never seen anything she wanted more.)

Luna smoked her borrowed cigarette down to the filter and then stamped it under her shoe. She looked up again at Ava and wanted to say something to make this moment last, but she was lost for words. She was so rarely lost for words.

"I'm going to take you home, Luna," Ava told her, in that voice that was all smooth confidence. "Would you like that?"

Luna nodded quickly. "Yes," she said. "Yes, I would-" she swallowed and then, because she couldn't hold herself back, she kissed Ava, melting into her.

Ava became the first person in months that Luna had slept with without an exchange of money. She was too tired from her legal job to seek out anything sexual unless she was getting paid for it. She'd lost count over the last year how many men had paid for her sex, but she'd always found it a little pathetic. Who would pay for sex? Oh god, but Ava? Luna would have emptied her bank account just for Ava just to looking at her, keeping touching her.

For the next few weeks she was at Ava's beck and call. Ava would hold her by the hair and say, worship me like a goddess, and Luna kissed every inch of her skin, praising her name like it was her only true religion.

One month after Luna met her, Ava told her to quit her job and come live with her and Luna obliged, happily. She would gladly be a kept woman for Ava. (And although Luna thought she was independent and needed no one, it took so little affection from others for her to become devoted to them.)

Sometimes Ava brought men home and slept with them and Luna was only a little jealous. Sometimes Ava brought men home to watch them fuck Luna, and Luna didn't mind. They were wrapped up together in some fantasy world of their own making, and if Luna was a fucktoy then she was a happy one.

Three months into their strange little life, Ava turned Luna's whole world inside out.

Luna had said, I love you. Ava had looked at her for a long time, long enough that Luna felt a twisting fear of something wrong in her gut, like it was all about to end. But instead Ava reached down, took Luna's chin in hand, and said, then let's kill all the lies.

• • •

In the beginning, Luna sometimes slipped and called the goddess by her old name. Ava had become (ironically) such a prayer on Luna's tongue that Peitho was harder to remember. But she would strive and she would do it well and she would impress the goddess over and over just as she would soon impress her husband.

The 'training' itself was not hard - Peitho had taught her prayers, taught her how to think upon the gods in ways that would strengthen them. Throughout her day as she ran errands for Peitho, she would repeat words under her breath, feeling them and never just mindlessly memorising them. Intent was most important, Peitho had said. Intent would make them stronger. ("Messenger of Zeus, and Maia's son divine," she would whisper in her bedroom as she lit the candles. "Prefect of contests, ruler of mankind, with heart almighty, and a prudent mind.")

Luna had been looking so long for a purpose in her life, and now she had finally found one. She adored Peitho and was ready to adore Hermes just the same. And Peitho, in exchange, praised Luna enough that she felt the sort of completeness she hadn't in years. When Luna admitted to reading tarot cards, and that it was a silly thing, Peitho encouraged her to continue. My husband once taught shepherds to read the future with pebbles. Cards are a much better choice, darling. When Luna asked to borrow money for a certain thing she wanted, Peitho gave her a credit card to keep.

It was almost seven months to the day of meeting Peitho that the two of them arrived in New York City together. Luna had never been there, had never much been anywhere beyond LA or Denver, but it didn't seem that Peitho wanted to waste time to let Luna see the sights. She assumed that she'd have plenty of time to do that now anyway, as Peitho had said this was where they would be staying indefinitely.

Luna had only a few things of importance and those were in the big bag thrown over her shoulder. Peitho asked the driver to bring up her own bag, with her other things all being left behind in her Los Angeles apartment. Peitho seemed to just prefer to buy new things rather than lug anything around.

(On the flight, Luna had asked "does he know that you're bringing someone with you?" and Peitho just laughed brightly, sipping her champagne. "Darling, I haven't even told him I'm coming home yet.")

At the apartment, Peitho unlocked the door and swept inside. Luna followed more quietly, more sedately, and closed the door behind them as Peitho unwrapped the scarf from around her neck and began to unbutton her coat. "Honey, I'm home!" she called out.

Luna lingered by the door, waiting to be told what to do.