June 30, 2023 - Troy back alleys, near the end of the loop
Askalaphos, I think, is wearing a Totenpass.
I'm screaming inside when I see the red string around her neck. The necklaces the dead wear with instructions for the underworld. To help them remember after they have passed through the Lethe.
When Polydorus is given his, it marks him for death. But in this world, perhaps all members of the religion wear it, because death could strike at any time?
And she kisses it as she begins her transformation. She has accepted that she may die on her quest for flight?
...I get a closer look. It's not a Totenpass, no gold leaf or tablet. It's a little figure sculpted from clay, a familiar shape with pressed-in eyes and pointy ears. A tiny, crude owl, like the ones in Laocoön's studio.
Up on the ledge, silhouetted against the sign, she curls herself up, and then a taloned hand begins to reach. At who, at what? At me. I'm right underneath, craning my neck up, fixed on her because who can look away when it's Fania fuckin Grigoriou doing what she does best, just a woman fully turning into an owl on a Friday night. Her eyes are crazed, desperate, and so round, somehow more round than they should be, not quite human.
After a few moments her gaze shifts minutely, and I'm not the target anymore. Still she reaches down, and it's Apollo come to inspect his blessing. He sees her and he reaches up in return - and then, when their fingers are mere inches apart, he crumples to the ground.
She stretches further helplessly, but it's no use. His power is out. He's given all he can give, the rest is up to her.
But she is gonna fly. Even if only for a moment.
