How does Calypso's island go down in the omega Odysseus au?
How'd I know someone else would ask about this LMAO
so I've imagined Calypso in a couple of different scenarios but here's the 3 I like to ponder the most:
One, gods can change their shape to take on any appearance/secondary gender, though they do have a preferred way of presenting. I'd imagine Calypso would present herself as an alpha when Odysseus first washes up on her isle. She'd be like "omg my husband's finally here! Hm but he's an omega... well that's no problem I guess I'll be the alpha teehee :)"
And she'll do all her typical Calypso things while also trying to court Odysseus through her scent (she smells of warm wood, amber, and lily petals on the water), healing his injuries, cooking, and doing everything else to "provide" for him. When Odysseus continues to refuse her advances, she becomes more physically needy and aggressive. She won't hit him no, but she'll cling to him, force him to eat and bathe with her, force him to let her dress his body, will rub her scent all over him and his clothes, and basically make it impossible for Odysseus to ignore her presence on his body.
Calypso gets so excited for his first heat on her island, but is stunned to find that Odysseus becomes anxious and physically aggressive while in heat. He did spend 10 years at war without his true alpha; his body has learned to take his massive hormonal upswing and turn it into aggression rather than what little Calypso knows of meek, demure omegas. She can barely get close to Odysseus, even when he's empty handed, because he'll claw, kick, and bite until she leaves his space.
Calypso feels terribly hurt and upset by such a stark rejection, but she rationalizes it in her mind as, "Oh, this poor omega! He's been so badly hurt by the outside world that he no longer knows when he's safe. He can no longer recognize love or someone who wants to love him!"
So she'll wait. She will wait until the heat where Odysseus does eventually break and the slick runs down his thighs as he begs for her touch. It'll happen any day now, just you wait, Odysseus...
Alternatively,
I kinda really like the idea of Odysseus waking up on Ogygia and being relieved to come across a fellow omega for once. Omega Calypso would be ecstatic to have someone to share her habits and instincts with, including "platonic" scent sharing. Odysseus isn't immediately on guard like in canon in this instance, so as he recovers from his old injuries, he lets Calypso caress him and comb his hair. Maybe he'll even lean into her touch a little bit. After all, to him, this is nothing more than a kindly omega helping him recover.
The fact that Calypso invites him into her bed is a bit strange, but nest-sharing among omegas is quite common. (Though under most circumstances, the omegas would know each other quite well in order to share the same sleeping space.) Odysseus thinks Calypso is just being extremely generous. He doesn't want to offend his host, so he rests in her bed alongside her, and damn, if it's not the best sleep he's gotten in years. Even if he wakes to Calypso cradling him against her as if they're mates...
To Calypso, the fact that they're both omegas is no obstacle. They can share their heats together and oh! wouldn't it be the dream for their cycles to sync up?
They could keep each other company forever and ever. They don't need a stinky, bossy alpha to bother them; they could live in peace here as mated omegas to each other. Calypso can't stop dreaming about the shared nest they'll build together. Or the way they'll spend every night cuddling before bed, purring to each other the way only omegas could.
When Odysseus gets wise to her plans, he tries to gently reject Calypso, saying he's still mated to his wife at home and that he's not interested in anyone else. Does she listen? Of course not. From there, it's basically the same as canon where Ody can't escape Ogygia and is constantly "comforted" by Calypso.
And lastly, the idea that I've lowkey been kinda wanting to turn into a standalone fic (tw for assault/abuse):
Omega Odysseus washes up on alpha Calypso's shore... and she forces herself upon him. And that's how Nausithous & Nausinous came to be.
Odysseus blames himself for being so weak. He was caught up in the throes of his heat and in mental anguish from having lost his final few men. He was at his lowest point both physically and mentally, and let another alpha take him to bed. He betrayed his Penelope, his wife, his alpha. He betrayed his son Telemachus, who he still longed to know.
Odysseus cannot help but hate Calypso and resent his "illegitimate" children. He doesn't even view them as children, for as they grew inside of him, he found them to be more like parasites thrust upon him by Calypso. They robbed him of his strength throughout his pregnancy, forcing him to depend on his captor for sustenance, care, and shelter.
Odysseus then falls into a deep, persistent postpartum depression that's coupled with his preexisting guilt/shame from losing all his men + his intense longing for home.
The twins grow up hearing stories from their sire about how she found their dam on her isle one day, that Odysseus was sent to her by the gods to give her a family. For the most part, the boys grow up thinking that their dam is similar to the ocean.
Odysseus is sometimes silent and still. He won't speak for days on end, will hardly eat, and might not leave his bed. On the rare occasion, he may let them cuddle against his side or weave flowers into his hair, but he won't reciprocate or thank them.
At other times, their dam becomes a raging tempest. He'll cry and wail, lashing out at their poor sire when she comes close to comfort him. He'll throw plates or stones or whatever's nearest and will scream at their children to not come any closer. He's brought Nausithous and Nausinous to tears more than once, for they do not understand why they are not loved.
Meanwhile, Odysseus thinks he's going mad. Originally, he tried to keep track of the days spent on Ogygia. But weeks turned to months, and then the twins came, and then months turned into years, and now he has no idea how long it's been. All he knows is that the boys are growing up.
(In my mind, since the twins were born on Ogygia, they're immortal beings like Calypso despite having a technically mortal father. And since they're not actually human, they grow up a lot faster than human kids would. In the span of only 7 years, they go from babies to young adults.)
Odysseus would obviously not take this well. Since the boys are the only real marker to judge the passage of time, he thinks he's spent a lifetime on Ogygia already. He becomes possessed by what might've happened to Penelope and Telemachus in such a long time. Odysseus hadn't returned home in, what, a minimum of 30 years?
They must surely hate him, if they even remember him at all. But even then, Odysseus cannot help but long for his old home on Ithaca and what he used to know. He just needs closure. Even if he were to find Penelope and learn that she's moved on, he just needs to know.
I think by the time the twins are closer to adults, they can start to see the cracks forming in their parents' relationship. They wonder why Odysseus flinches from Calypso's voice or touch despite him being the "abuser"/negligent parent. They hear him waking up screaming from nightmares- sometimes he wails about monsters, other times its names they don't recognize, but more often than not, they wake to hear their dam crying about someone named Penelope. They witness him begging the gods for salvation, only to be met with silence.
By the time Hermes arrives, Odysseus nearly faints from relief when he learns it's only been seven years instead of like, 18-20+. Still not great, but way better than what he thought was happening.
Idk how exactly I'd go from here. I would kind of like to imagine that while Calypso is mad and upset that her omega is leaving her, their children actually encourage Ody to leave because they can see so clearly now that he's not happy here and never has been.
To amp up the angst though, I've also considered Odysseus recovering somewhat from his postpartum depression and not necessarily treating Nausithous & Nausinous as his kids, but more so his proteges. Either consciously or unconsciously, he develops a relationship similar to the one he had with Athena where, since he doesn't have anything else to do, he trains his sons to fight. He also teaches them riddles and how to read/write poetry, in order to sharpen their minds. Calypso mistakes it as Odysseus finally settling into his life with her at last, but in Odysseus' mind, this is sort of his redemption for dropping that infant from the wall of Troy/all his other mistakes. He took one innocent life, and lost many more, but he can at least do what he can to salvage and nurture the products of his unwilling pregnancy.
He still hopes that someday, he'll leave and never have to return to this wretched island and his captor. But he doesn't want to leave his children defenseless with their monster of a sire. It's not an easy situation to be in, but Odysseus is only doing the best that he can.
(There's also the added twist of both Nausithous and Nausinous wanting to go with him when he can finally leave...)
