"Managing alright over there?"
"Some-. I'm seeing things that I haven't seen before."
Kind of like putting on glasses for the first time, huh? I hope OL didn't go
too overboard on the visual acuity options.
"Do you remember what your vision was like when you were a human?"
Whatever Athena did to transform her it wasn't bound to her eyes, though we proved that the petrification effect was by testing it on a sparrow.
Bet that was a sight. Waving an eyeball in the bir's general direction and *klunk*

Heck, she could probably have them preserved and set on wands or something as a defensive weapon.
"I thought that I did. Is this how humans see things?"
"The cybernetic eyes can see a far wider range of colours than human eyes, but by default it just has a slight expansion on the normal visual range so that your brain can cope."
Or, as Cyberpunk puts it, without causing Humanity damage. Imagine going through everyday life with a HUD that scopes out things like names, online handles or physical weaknesses of every person you see, or can automatically sense wi-fi-accessible devices... Those are all options for cyberoptics in '
Cyberpunk 2077'.
"Do they need to be cleaned or maintained?"
"They're designed to be cleaned in the same way as organic eyes. Just blink every so often-. Not like that; I mean naturally. As for repairs, I'd normally say 'no', but given how long gorgons appear to live…"
She did that 'crunch the eyelids tightly' sort of fake blink, didn't she?
Ring, appointment calendar.
Compliance.
"You should be able to contact me by the Themysciran embassy at any time, but I'll make a note to seek you out in fifty years and make sure that they're still working properly."
...Man, what does it
say about him that he can casually make an appointment fifty years out and expect both him and her to be available then?
"Thank you."
Her eyes-. She's sort of trying to look at me with three thousand plus years of instinct telling her not to make eye contact with the helpful human. But since we tested this I just fly directly in front of her and stare into her eyes. Her eyes momentarily widen in shock, then she realises what happened and smiles, bowing her head slightly.
Old habits die hard, after all. Just like the people who met her gaze.
"Can I offer eyes like these to my sisters?"
"To Stheno, certainly. To Medusa… I'm not sure whether she has a material body or not, but I don't think that Lord Hades is going to be moderating her punishment anytime soon. Whatever offence the gods gave her, she took it out on a lot of people."
Plus the fact that her original body's head (or skin, or
something) was used to craft the
Aegis borne by Athena.
"Offering it to Stheno would be difficult as well; she was on Themyscira."
"Um. Did they know that she was there?"
A fair question, given her sometimes villainous appearances in the
comics.
"Princess Diana did; I don't know who else she told. She wanted to live somewhere with people who wouldn't forget to avoid her gaze."
"Bit of a shame that there isn't a simple reversal for it, really. It would be easy enough for me to track down the parts of old and broken statues."
Though I imagine reassembling them would be
tricky if any of them had eroded somewhat.
"I-. No, it doesn't work. Even if you turned them back into flesh they would still be dead. Circe tried that once."
"She undid your petrification spell?"
Ah, so people petrified are
dead-dead, not merely in stasis. It can vary, after all.
"No, she created a spell that did the same thing and then reversed that."
"I'm… Assuming this was some time ago…"
There could have been some
awkward interactions between the effects, yes. Like the timing of returning the soul to the body
before it's fleshy.
"Oh, yes. This was back when Circe had only recently become immortal. She wouldn't have visited us without being sure that she could avoid petrification herself."
"Okay. Did you have any other ideas about getting into Olympus?"
Though I doubt she'd ever had reason to go
visiting.
"I never studied magic in any detail. I can tell you where most of the old paths are-. Or, were. But that's it. It's not like any of the gods like me."
Yeah, that's… Fair. Huh. I wonder-.
Let's hope whatever the Olympians did to split their realm from Earth (and pull Themyscira with it) is easily reversible then.
"ERIS HAS A FAT ARSE!"
Euryale shrinks back. "What?"
Hey, is that anything to be ashamed of? If she's in good shape, that can be a
good thing.
"She's nominally my patron. I haven't actually spoken to her directly for a little while so-."
Splat!
...Seems she's a little put out with you about that.
…
I wipe the custard pie off my face.
Classy. But does that mean she's still hanging around? I mean, the period of Anti-Life
was somewhat chaotic, though not in a
fun way.
"I know that's a classic, but this isn't really the time-."
There's writing on the foil case. I-.
Huh. A special message to him? Go on, then, read it!
The pie is construct-proof.
That would be interesting to study if not for the fact that the construct-proofing means that I can't put it into subspace. Instead, I shake the remains of the pie out and read it.
...It's likely also tricky to take with you via Greedyporting too, then.
"'To: Pavlos. If you're reading this, then you've become too predictable. This is automatic. Try harder. Eris.'"
Okay, and true, but that doesn't actually help me-.
And Batman hears about that and says "And people think
I'm crazy for having various things prepared?"
The pie case isn't construct-proof, so I can put it into subspace and get a wizard to try using it to track her. That's very nearly progress.
"What?"
Which does still rely on getting a wizard skilled enough to mess about with divine-level stuff.
"Eris and I have an irregular relationship. She-."
"She p-p-hah-hah-hah-haha!"
Come on, now. It's not
that funny, is it?
"It's a classic for a reason-. I've still got some on my face, haven't I?" Fabricate a damp flannel and a mirror, wipe… "Right, ah… This has been fun, but the world's in a pretty sorry state at the moment and I need to get back to work. Are you aware of any other Greek mythos persons of interest who might need 'managing' after being exposed to the Anti-Life?"
"How many people do you think I meet in a year?"
It's not like they hook up on social networks. And I'd be a little worried about whether the Gorgon's curse works through
selfies...
"Yes, that's a reasonable point. Anything else I can build for you?"
"No, I'm fine with just the oven's fine. I wouldn't know what to do with modern appliances."
Man, most people wouldn't know
what to do with their day with that quiet a life.
I nod. "Transition in two, one." And we're back at her house.
"Thought… Ah." She looks awkward.
Let me guess, now that she
can look at people without killing them, she wants to actually
do so?
"Do you want me to show your picture to men who might be interested in snake women? I could just give you a computer so you can set up a dating profile."
"Those things are a terrible way to meet people. I'm not saying-. If there was someone you could refer personally?"
She'd certainly get attention from certain circles. Whether she'd
enjoy that attention is another thing...
"No one springs to mind immediately, but I'll ask around. Good day."
I transition upwards, to the edge of the atmosphere. I'm glad I could help her, I really am, but the rest of the world-. And I haven't found anyone who might be causing magic-based trouble in Greece. Ah. Maybe they didn't have a specific individual in mind, and it was just an in-case thing?
How'd he get
onto this line of investigation anyway? Poking around the site of Themyscira on behalf of the Greek government? Honestly, some subquest chains, you lose sight of the
original goal once you're a couple of jobs deep...
Ring, scan the country, and if you don't find anything then I'll just give them an emergency beacon-.
Missus Hall? What's sheshit!
Ah, trouble awaits! Time for some
action!