@softandwigglybones Here's a rough first draft of my Actaeon! I might go back to it, might not. Have pity on me. It goes with this picture!
Violence, mentioned intimacy (nothing graphic), mild gore
It had been an accident, I had never meant any harm. Artemis was a dear friend of mine, the hand that guided my arrow as I hunted the wild beasts surrounding us.
It's easier to condemn a predator, I felt little pity for the wolves I'd slain. I assume those who hear my legend feel the same. They think the gods fickle, angry. I thought differently.
I came across while wandering the forest seeking time to myself. I suppose we have that in common, the forest is a fine place to seek peace. I had no bow, my dogs were at home. All I carried was the shattered remains of my heart.
Love is more fickle than any god, and lust so easily confused. I had been wrong, again. I should have expected as much, while it's fine for a man to take a male consort, a wife was expected. One wouldn't marry another man, so why love one?
Her arrow had pierced my chest before I even realized what I’d seen. I cried apologies as my fingers turned to hooves, pained tears staining my pelt. I shook as I groveled, my head heavy with an antler crown as a bowed to her, my eyes shut tight. I didn't open them until I felt her hand against my head, stroking between my antlers.
“I mistook you for someone else.” She said, but she never did apologize. Even then I kept my eyes shut tight until he raised my head and told me to open them.
She was beautiful as she always was, unashamed of her naked form and unafraid of a beast such as myself. She held my face with all the care I held my dogs, gentle and loving.
“You’ve hurt yourself again, Actaeon.” She told me. I sobbed as I looked up at her, my body changed, but my heart the same.
“You deserve to be wild, to be free. To love without care for what mankind thinks.” She told me. I thought perhaps then she had given me a gift.
“You’ll forget to be human with time.” She promised me. “I cannot give you the love you so crave, but I'll guard you until you find it. I will keep you from Hades, and I will push every arrow that aims towards you away. That I swear to you, my friend.” She smiled at me, and I felt my horns turn to gold.
I watched ages pass from the forest. Men knew of my attractions, time changes and they deemed me a pervert. They must have forgotten what drove them to that conclusion, I suppose that's what twisted me into Artemis’s enemy. I care little, the forest is more of a friend than they ever were.
Artemis, my beautiful goddess, has no control over the domain of love. She told me countless times before that I mustn’t give my body so easily, that they would treat me as a tool. She was right every time.
Animals are not so manipulative, and I still found no connection. I heard them whisper about me, how I hunted them once before, how Artemis favored me. They commented how I never slept, instead staring at the moon in prayer to my friend. I tried, countless times I tried, but every herd would run from me.
I forgot my name. The deer called me Stargazer, that was fine enough. They took note of how I didn't age, of how no matter what beast spotted me they would never kill me. Immortality was not nearly as attractive as humans may find. Generations forgot my history as many, but they never forgot my nature. To them, I was as monstrous as any hydra, some god tainted beast that to speak with may be heresy.
Gods seldom tolerate heresy.
I know not how many years passed, but countless moon phases did. Finally, my prayers were answered.
I found him standing in the middle of a field, staring into the forest. He didn't run when I approached, my head lowered. He didn't leave even when I was no more than a foot away.
“I mean you no harm.” I whispered to him. He did not speak, but he didn't look away either. His black eyes were like the night, staring into mine endlessly. I cried.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” I told him, afraid he would leave. He didn't.
“I.. It’s been so long since anyone would look at me. Even if you don't speak, it means the world to me that you're here.”
He didn't move, even as I hesitantly approached him and rested my head on his back.
I began to visit him each day, my nights spent praising Artemis by running in the field and staring at the moon. The other deer were disturbed, gave me an even wider birth, but I cared not. I finally had a companion.
I named him Idol, because that's how I felt about him. He never moved while I was there, but he would listen as I spoke with him. I told him all about my travels, the places I'd seen in my years. I told him about Artemis, how she visited me in my dreams and walked with me on moonlit nights.
Every so often he would disappear, and I would find him in a new location, smelling of gunpowder. I cried the first time it happened, so relieved to see him ok that I couldn't hold back my tears.
It was many moons before he spoke to me, his tongue twisted. He must have been ashamed.
“I love you.” He told me early one morning as I slept beside him, his voice echoing from the tree line.
“I love you too.” I responded, and I thanked the moon for ten nights straight.
On the tenth, Artemis visited. She held my face like she had so many years before and smiled at me.
“I have to go for a night or so, my huntresses need me. You will be without my protection, so please, be careful.” She warned me. I told her of course, it wasn't the first time she’d left me to my own devices.
Of course, that was the night the hunters came.
He spoke a lot that night.
“Do you want to make love?” He asked me. I stiffened, the hair on my pelt rising.
“Not particularly, no. Is that ok?” I asked him, staring up from the ground below.
He didn't move, he never did. “I love you.” Was his only response, unwavering.
“I love you too… thank you.” I smiled at him, feeling more loved than I ever had. The first gunshot missed us, and I leapt to my feet.
“We must go! Now!” I cried to him, starting to run. I made it to the tree line before I realized he wasn't moving.
I couldn't leave him, of course I couldn't, so I turned around. The next bullet missed me and struck him in the side. He fell to the ground. I grabbed at his leg, trying to pull him along, but he remained still as stone.
There was nothing to do but fight.
The third bullet struck me in the shoulder, but I saw the hunter in the gunfire. I charged him. He shot once, twice more before my antlers penetrated his chest.
My pelt was stained red, my chest heaving as I collapsed beside my lover, resting my head on his shoulder. I knew I would not die, Artemis promised me that, but I would suffer.
Artemis found me some days later, laboring to breathe in a pool of my own blood. It was the first time I'd seen her cry.
“Oh Actaeon, what have you done?” She called as she ran to me. I smiled at her.
“I.. I’m sorry goddess. I couldn't let them take him from me.” I told her. She only sobbed, holding me tightly.
“You foolish, foolish boy.” She cried. “You sacrifice yourself for a ruse. He’s not alive, he’s a target.”
Her words hurt more than the wounds. Much, much more.
“But.. he spoke to me. He said he loved me.”
“He didn't speak, Actaeon. It was man, mimicking your tongue. I'm so, so sorry.”
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