Vivian scrolled through the email replies she had received. So far, every one of her old friends had positively answered that they'd be happy to join Project Phoenix so they could regain their youth and relaunch their ballet careers. And with so many learned dancers, it'll be less of a burden to teach the new generation of Animalian dancers.
Speaking of new generation, she could hear her cygnets calling for her. She got up to go check on them. The four hatchlings were a little ungainly when they came out of their eggs and their current blend of human infant and swan cygnets looked a bit awkward. In a few ways, their four children were living versions of the Ugly Duckling from Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale, but their parents loved them just the same.
"Do you have the formula ready?" called Vivian as she looked in her babies' crib.
"Is this formula really necessary?" asked Zeus as he came in with the bottles, "Everyone's been going on about how breastfeeding is so great."
"They're birds, Zeus," said Vivian pointedly, "Partially human birds, yes. But those beaks need to learn how to be flexible. I'd rather them learn to do that with bottles then have them pinching my nipples until they're purple."
"Ah, good point," said Zeus. Thankfully, the cygnets were receptive to taking the formula from the bottles. "They're going to be so beautiful once they've gotten their white feathers," he said.
"I just hope they have parents they could be proud of," said Vivian.
"What's not to be proud about us?" asked Zeus.
"That...dance about Leda?" asked Vivian pointedly.
"You're not still hung up about that, are you?" asked Zeus. That performance at the Meat Market wasn't nearly as embarrassing as Vivian was making it out to be.
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"How you manged to talk me into this, I'll never know," said Vivian, filled with self-disgust.
"You lost the bet fair and square," said Zeus.
"Yes, but I'll never know what possessed me into making that bet in the first place. To think, a ballet dancer of my standing being part of a...a bawdy play," said Vivian. Zeus rolled his eyes a bit. His mate tended to be a be melodramatic at times. Yes, the Grecian robes she was wearing were a lot more gauzy and skintight than what the Greeks might have worn, but it wasn't nearly as scandalous as she thinking it was.
"Vivian, I'm sure there are a lot of ballets based on the stories that are...not family-friendly," said Zeus.
"Well, yes, but this is-" started Vivian.
"It makes you no less to anyone. It's not like we're going to mate in front of the audience. It's just an old Greek story," said Zeus.
"Easy for you to say. You already have the name for it," said Vivian, "I just rather my children not learn their parents were in something this...shameful."
"There are other children who are bound to have parents who have performed here," said Zeus, "I doubt they'll have as much shame telling their kids."
Vivian sighed and said, "Fine, but the mask never comes off." She straightened the feathered mask on her face more securely.
"Of course it won't," said Zeus dryly. There was very little point in pointing out the mask won't do a lot of good as there aren't that many swans to keep Vivian from being recognized.
The Greek plays at the Meat Market were a lot different from the other dances there. For one thing, instead of modern dance music, ancient Greek music of lyre and flute were played. Or at least synthesized versions of them. The performers were more fully-dressed than the dancers, even though the gauziness and tightness of the robes left little to imagination. And the innuendo-heavy dialogue tended to cause just as much laughter as arousal.
The opening of this play 'The Seduction of Leda' stared with Zeus portraying his namesake and soaring among the clouds in Greece in the guise of a swan. While Zeus was capable of flight, there was a lack of open space that mostly kept him grounded. Soon after Zeus started soaring, he met an eagle Animalian. The two of them soon got into a boasting contest of who was the most virile between the two. When the eagle started outmatched by Zeu's legendary machismo, he soon lost his temper and attacked the king of the gods. In the form of a bird, Zeus could not fight back, but he did manage to escape the eagle, only losing a few handfuls of feathers. (The feathers were fake ones put in Zeus's plumage to be pulled out. Pulling out his actual feathers would of course be very painful.)
That was when Leda entered the story. The injured Zeus found the queen basking by a pond and sought shelter from her until the eagle passed by. But as soon as the eagle was gone, Zeus started giving the beautiful queen his full attention. Leda tried to seem disinterested and determined to remain faithful to her king, Tyndareus. But Zeus was persistent and no mortal could resist the lightning god's charms. Before long, the two swans had their wings wrapped each other, kissing with abandon. It was from her two kings that Leda would eventually lay a pair of eggs which would hatch into her children: Helen of Troy the most beautiful woman in the world, Castor and Pollux the famed twins of Gemini, and the lesser-known Clytemnestra would become the wife of Agamemnon. Vivian's over-dramatic acting made the play even funnier than usual, though there was plenty of flirting between her and Zeus.
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"I just don't want to have my children think their mother is a stripper," said Vivian, looking at her cygnets, each named after Leda's children. Though Clytemnestra would be more often called 'Clementine' as her real name was a bit too obscure, old-school, and hard to pronounce.
"You're not. The only time you're close to that is when we're alone," said Zeus, "They'll be more likely to think of you as the headmistress of the ballet school."
Vivian thought it over and said, "You do make sense. How did I ever get to be married to such a wise swan?"
"I think I'm the luckier one here," said Zeus as they twined their necks affectionately.