[VAN] - The First Daughter of Ithaca (Closed)

[Zeitgeist]

Premise: Circe beguiles, seduces and manipulates Merope, daughter of Odysseus who seeks knowledge of her father's whereabouts.
Orientation: Lesbian
Tone/Flavor: Erotic with the times and feel of Ancient Greece in mind.
Setting: Circe's small island, forest, beach, mansion or palace.

Character/Players
Merope - Zamdrist
Circe - ??

Summary
Merope, daughter of Odysseus, grows impatient for her father's return and takes sail in hopes of finding him. She is caught up in a storm and washes ashore on Circe's island of Aeaea, nearly drown. Circe, bitter still with Odysseus's departure finds all sorts of mischief to be had with his daughter. She decides to delay and keep the girl close as a lover, with the idea she could use her to secure Odysseus's return.

What follows is mostly my creation and I've taken some literary license with what is known, or known as myth. So while Odysseus did in fact have a daughter, with a different name and after his return from Troy, I've tweaked what is known to fit my story. This story is assumed to take place after Odysseus's arrival and departure from Circe's island, and before his return to Ithaca.

Plot
Merope will set sail from Ithaca unbeknownst to her mother or brother. Things will quickly get out of hand as a storm blows her off course. She will wash up on the shores of Aeaea nearly drown. She will be found by some manner and Circe made aware of the girl's presence. Mereope will tell her story to Circe, and in hopes of assistance or information curry her favor. Circe will then begin to manipulate the girl. This could be done in any number of ways, using lies, magic, seduction and any combination of those things.


Merope



The only daughter of Odysseus, she is nineteen, a year prior to her father's return from Troy, Homer's Iliad and the events accounted in his Odyssey. She only knows of her father from her mother, Penelope. Her older sibling and brother Telemachus too knows little of his father and the two grow up knowing only of his legend and of his feats in Troy by word of mouth. Not believing her father dead she decides she'll sail out herself to find him or word of his whereabouts or fate. While idealistic and naive, she does learn as much about sailing from her brother and others as she can, learning how to handle a sailboat herself. She would also be likely motivated by her uneventful life in Ithaca, sparse with suitable suitors, and having something of her father's sense of adventure in her. I think her interactions with Circe would be borne of curiosity as well as a desire to find her father, hoping to curry the favor of Circe for assistance. While Merope wouldn't necessarily be lesbian, she could rather easily fall under the enchantress's charms, both magical and otherwise, and I don't think it would be unreasonable to imagine she could be curious. Additionally she would likely do almost anything if it meant she could find her father's whereabouts. While she is likely quite naive, I wouldn't say she's witless however. Were she to figure out that she is being used or delayed, she would seek out other options and move on, charmed or not by Circe, if possible.


Circe



An enchantress and daughter of Helios the sun god and Perse, an Oceanid, she would have many motivations. Beyond her penchant for turning men into domesticated animals, she would likely jump at the opportunity to manipulate and cause mischief for Odysseus by keeping his daughter close. It wouldn't be unreasonable to think either that seducing the daughter wouldn't go to this cause. She's a very sexual creature and would likely be just as ready to take a woman to bed as a man. Especially the daughter of Odysseus. Beyond that, her character is pretty much wide open. She is meddlesome, and while not demonstratively evil she is certainly no champion of good. She would be driven more so by her own wants and selfish desires and go to any length to attain them.

Circe's island, while not large would have a number of attributes. Myth says she has a mansion of sorts on the island. This could easily be a small palace too, feel free to be creative. The island would be forested with animals, both normal and magical ones transformed from men by Circe. There would also be a beach surrounding the island, but beyond that its up in the air. While there may be seaside cliffs I don't envision mountains or many hills.

Divine Intervention
As with all Greek myths divine intervention is quite possible if not likely. It could manifest itself as thickening the plot, and also could be used as a mechanism to move the story along, even to bring it to a conclusion. The Greek gods often competed with each other through mortals, manipulating events. If divine intervention is taken, it should be met with an equally opposing force of aid or mischief so as to balance things. Many are mentioned in the Odyssey, and likely culprits are Poseidon, Hades, Athena and Hermes.