curiously_cora | (no subject)

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aphrodite

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Coraline was completely unimpressed with Luke. Coraline wasn't completely naive, she knew that people had sex but all the people she knew that had sex were in relationships. Loving, happy relationships. Everyone told Coraline that if she wanted to have sex that she had to love that person very much and be very old and stuff. But Luke was using it like a- like a handshake. And that was wrong, Aphrodite was a Lady. She was a Goddess! And she had to be treated right! So Coraline was going to make sure Luke treated her right even if it meant he never, ever talked to her again.

"Aphrodite? Um, Miss Aphrodite?" Coraline called out scrunching her face up before knocking on her door. Coraline covered her ears just in case Luke was there before dropping them away. "Um, hello? Aphrodite? I'm here to talk to you. If you don't mind."

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"Because," Aphrodite says, still laughing, "you apparently don't understand just who it is you're talking to here." She's amused for now, giving Coraline the benefit of the doubt because of her youth, but that could change in the blink of an eye, if Coraline isn't very careful with what she says from here on out. "Believe me, I have no complaints whatsoever about the way Luke treats me. Do you really think I'd stand for it if I did?"

"Of course I do, you're Aphrodite you're brilliant but you're hardly well, um, modern." Coraline said before adding. "And Luke is very good at lying so he might have told you that's what modern girls do and stuff but it's not. We still like dates and things like that and you should have them. Luke should take you on a date properly."

Coraline made a face and then scrunched her nose up. "Maybe you wouldn't. But- don't you want to go on a date with Luke? He's really nice when he isn't being Luke."

"Coraline," Aphrodite says, and she's still smiling, but her voice takes on a warning tone. "Modern has nothing to do with it. I'm the expert on love, and that's eternal. Luke hasn't lied to me about anything or convinced me of anything, okay? It's not possible to lie to me when it comes to this stuff."

Aphrodite takes a breath. She knows Coraline is a stubborn teenager, but good grief. "No, I don't want to go on a date with Luke, sweet pea. I know he's nice. I like him when he's nice and I even like him when he's...being Luke. But we just don't have that kind of relationship."

"Well, why not?" Coraline asked curiously. "You like him and he likes you and you do um, stuff so why don't you go out on dates?"

"Because we're not dating," she explains patiently, still managing that much, at least. "It's like I said before, not everyone wants the same things. Luke and I don't want that kind of relationship. Neither of us is looking for something serious."

"How do you know unless you try? I mean, you could really, really want to date him and not know or he could really, really want to date you and neither of you would know because you never tried to date each other." Coraline said seriously. "So, you should date or you know go out on one date. Please, pretty please?"

"Coraline," Aphrodite warns again, but this time with more emphasis on the warning and less on being amused. "Listen to me. I know you mean well, and I'm glad Luke is your friend, but you need to stop. I've already explained way more about my actions than I normally would to a mortal, especially one your age, because I like you, but you're about to go too far."

"Um, are you going to smite me if I go too far?" Coraline asked, considering how far was too far. Smiting could possibly be okay if it was for Luke but if she was going to tell like Bill on her then Luke was on his own. "I just- I want him to be happy. I want you to be happy too. I don't see why people can't just... hold hands and do things properly like in the movies."

Aphrodite gives Coraline an 'oh, puh-leeze' look. "You need to brush up on your Greek pantheon, sweet pea, I don't smite people," she says, and then sighs.

"Because life isn't like the movies. And there is no one 'proper' way to do things," she says, putting air quotes around the word 'proper'. "Love and everything that goes with it is way more complicated than that."

"You could smite people, you could smite them with like Bad Love or like stuff I don't know. The Greek stuff is Percy's cup of tea," Coraline said making a face as she tried to explain what she meant. Coraline listened to Aphrodite curiously before giving her a hopeful look, followed by her patented Puppy Eyes. "But if love is complicated and stuff then maybe one day you might love him and want to date him? Because it's complicated, right?"

"Oooooooookay," Aphrodite says, drawing the word out. "Remember what I said just now about going too far? You really, really might want to quit while you're ahead here. I mean it."

"Okay," Coraline replied biting her lip as if she was desperate to ask just once more. Coraline brushed a hand through her hair, still not quite understanding the whole sex thing but well, grown ups were weird. She just hoped Johnny didn't have ideas, she was quite happy with hand holding and kissing and hugging. "So you don't want- okay, I won't ask. But if you change your mind or you want to talk about Luke to someone you know you can tell me just not the gross stuff."

"I'll keep that in mind," Aphrodite says, even though there is totally no way that is ever going to happen. If Aphrodite's ever going to talk to anybody about this stuff, and it's not very likely, it'll be Gabby.

"And hey, if you ever have questions about anything else, about love or sex or whatever you want to know, just ask and I'll totally talk to you about it, okay?" she adds. "Just not this. My love life is off limits."

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