#the more 'appropriate' spelling would be Dianthe or Diantha. But they just... don't fit her to me 😭

[ancientgreekyuri]

hi hope !! i remember reading ur wonderful writing abt how asterius's feelings for dia developed, but what about theseus and dia ? how did they fall in love with each other, if i can ask ? (@dmclr)

Heehee thank you for the question ^.^ I have a fic in the works about this very thing but it'll definitely take me about a million billion years to finish 💔 I'll try to keep this brief though... knowing me it's gonna be so, so long.

— Some background... Theseus and Dia met when he was about 22 and she was about 20. Theseus at this time had already making a name for himself as a hero and adventurer, and was now trying to gain his father's recognition. His father Aegeus, who at the time was already an older man, did not recognize the sword and sandals he'd intentionally left behind for his son to one day claim. But Medea, Theseus' stepmother, did. If Theseus was recognized by his father, it'd mean her own son, Medus, no longer had claim to the throne!! So she sent Theseus on a test- he was to travel to northern Attica, and slay the Cretan Bull. This bull, created by Poseidon, was rampaging the fields of Marathon... and, coincidentally, this very bull happens to be Asterius' blood-father. That's a story for another time though!

— Dianthus at this time lived in Oenoe, which was very near Marathon. Outside of the bull issue, there was a terrible drought affecting Marathon and it's surrounding territories. Oenoe, however, remained fresh and green... this was a result of Dia's powers as a nymph. Some began to see Dia as a goddess due to this! ...However, the whole situation was very distressing for Dia herself. She hated being put on a pedestal, and she hated even more that she couldn't help the surrounding lands. She felt a lot of guilt and shame about i...

— Cue Theseus coming in 😱 he's there to deal with the bull problem! A beacon of hope! And not only that... he was a very interesting stranger. Theseus at the time was merely the prince of podunk nowhere (a mountain-side village called Troezen), but he was a prince all the same. There was a nobility to him, a strength Dia had never seen before... I wouldn't call it love at first sight per say, but it was certainly fascination at first sight. At first she merely peeked in at him (Theseus did Not enjoy this but she ran off whenever he noticed her 😭), but eventually they actually talked... and Dia realized she had an opportunity. She may not be able to end the drought, but(!) if she aided Theseus in slaying the Cretan Bull, she could at least do something for her community.

— The two of them initially began talking with this in mind... but of course... they began to get a bit distracted... Theseus found himself very interested in Dia. She was unlike anyone he'd met before, and he felt understood by her in a way he'd never felt with anyone else. And Dia loved how Theseus made her feel, how he would always praise her, and his genuine warmth. It was a youthful love between them, but it blossomed all the same... (Dia wasn't Theseus' first kiss, but Theseus was Dia's first kiss!). Eventually, he proposed to her 😱 after he was recognized as Athen's heir, he would return and make her his wife. Dia agreed.

— The day Theseus slew the bull came, and he succeeded with Dia's aid. He ended up riding on it's back all the way to the city of Athens before sacrificing it to the gods (Usually Apollo or Athena depending on the source you read, I haven't decided which I prefer)! And Dia would have waited for him...but a nobleman from the neighboring region of Boeotia expressed interested in Dia, and Theseus himself was sent to Crete's labyrinth soon after being recognized as the son of Aegeus. I haven't figured out what exactly happens with Dia after this point, but Theseus never sees her again while they both live.

— The two of them only meet again in the afterlife! You'd expect something momentous, but... the way it happened is a little silly. Theseus overhearing some of Elysium's other warriors talking about a half-nymph girl with a strangely masculine name who worked within Elysium's newly constructed library... and he was like HAHN!!!!!!! And rushed over almost right away 😭 even though it'd been many, MANY years... that initial connection between them never truly went away. Theseus re-proposed to Dia fairly early on as well 😭 impulsive, sure, but Dia just as impulsively accepted! Though Theseus had some things he wanted to do before holding any type of ceremony, and one of those things was finding Asterius again.

Evil funfact: Theseus abandoned Ariadne on Naxos for a variety of different complicated-yet-selfish reasons... one of the smaller reasons (but a reason nonetheless) is that he was still hung up on Dia.