Eros Backwards is Just Sore

Troisième

I'm going to start off this entry by apologising. Apparently I didn't introduce the rest of the Erotes in the last chapter, which has led them to feel "cheated". Hedylogos was the only one who liked my descriptions too, but I'm not redoing the other two's. I'm honest, not a crowd pleaser.

So after the four of us were granted all our wishes and were deemed an official group, we didn't really do much. We meet every spring equinox, usually on March 20th, and occasionally on Feb. 7th to prepare for Valentines Day.  Aphrodite occasionally calls on us to deal with any big projects (such as the onslaught of gay couples after the US finally legalised it) but we usually all keep to ourselves.

Back to my "cheated" brethren. So after the original four of us were established and we're getting worshipped pretty regularly, a few others wanted in on the action.

The first of which was our half-brother Hermaphroditus. He was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, of course, and was very attractive when he was young.  So much so that a nymph called Salmacis put a claim on him. They were so obsessed with each other that she prayed they would never be separated. The gods and their sick sense of humour granted her wish by fusing them into one body. Freaky, right?

Anyway, he rules over hermaphrodites and effeminate men. Not much of a job, really, but he's a really big advocate for it and none of us were going to stop him. He got the prettiest wings, too, they're this beautiful powder blue colour with hints of purple.

I also forgot to mention last time that we all have different coloured wings. I have the standard white, Anteros convinced mother to give him white butterfly wings (the prick), Hedylogos has sky blue wings, and Himeros has pink wings. I have no idea why this is, but that's just how the wings popped out.

The next two to finish up the Erotes are actually my sons Hymenaios and Pothos. Hymenaios was first, and is the child of myself and the muse Clio. She rules over famous things and proclamations, so that combined with love somehow makes a god of marriage. He uses the cream-coloured arrows for this, and has cream wings to match. We get along fairly well, but he is definitely the conservative out of all of us. He and Hermaphroditus don't really get along...

Last to the party was Pothos. He was a result of Dionysus and I's fourth or fifth fling (not every one ends in a kid, thankfully, but sometimes). And I know that sounds really weird after my freak out with Comus in the first entry, but what can I say? Dionysus and I used to be really close. Then he got married, decided to age, and we don't talk anymore.

Pothos is the god of unrequited love, so he uses the black arrows and has dark wings to match. He tends to be pretty happy, considering how he dresses and what he controls. Anteros has a theory that he actually gets a kick out of seeing people rejected, but I think that's a terrible thing to suspect.

I guess I might be biased, though.

Hopefully those three will be happy now. I only really have one story where all seven of us are involved, and I was going to tell it later, but I guess I'll write it out now since that you know them all.

It all started in the 14th century, when the Christians came up with the new holiday to celebrate love- Valentine's Day.

Now during this time there wasn't a lot of peace happening in Europe, with France and England fighting as always. And so when people close to the king started to consider Feb. 14th as a day of love and showing affection, the commoners were all for it. Christians tried to tie it to their multiple Saint Valentines (hence the name) but most people still just consider it a fun holiday.

Now for a while, the day was just there to bring people together. Then in the 18th century a new practice was brought into play- Valentines. People would give each other flowers, chocolates, and these little neat cards that featured hearts, doves, and of course, the Erotes.

At this point a lot of painters had already portrayed us as cherub-like infants, but just as many had portrayed us as winged youths, so we swapped whenever we felt like it. But once these little cards became commonplace, all seven of us seemed to be permanently toddlers.

A horrifying thought, I know. But we weren't even regular toddlers- we still had our wings, our bows, and we still talked. Imagine a two year old with fluffy wings, a weapon to determine your love life, and the vocabulary of a teenager. Now THATS scary.

Thankfully nowadays our cherub versions aren't around much, but we still have occasional hiccups. Usually on Valentine's Day, too- we'll be going about our day and suddenly POOF. Baby form.

Gods are weird man.

So I know this didn't really feature the other guys much, but we don't do enough together to have any good stories. If you guys are interested, I do have stories with each of them individually that I can pull out later. But for now, I'm going to move back to myself, and probably rewrite the story I'm know for- if I feel up to it. Read on and you'll find out. But until then, buh-bye!