Could be that he wasn't at the party because Dalia wasn't there (the fucking simp) and elected instead to stay at home and grind his levels in Eternum (only for him to lose it all by stepping in that bloody landmine at the beginning of this update).
And iirc Dalia said back at the trenches after he blew up sky high, that if he continued dying as often as he did, he wasn't going to reach level 10 like that. And if for some reason, he does appear at the Big Hunt event then he'll die just as fast (and perhaps in an even gruesome manner if such event has some devious traps, hunters or beasts deployed).
Me to Calypso: I know I've theorized for a while that one of your roles in the story is to basically act as Orion's "hound" (since a good hunter needs a good hunting hound and all that)...so you acting like one (i.e. sensing where Orion is and watching over him, going over to Orion's location in Blackridge like a good hound) is definitely not helping your case.
Might be a compulsion she can't control. Calypso does like and enjoy power and being a haughty princess attracted to a few taboos as the last of her kind must really be messing with her.
I mean she can act as a princess and still be a "hound." Being either one doesn't cancel the other, IMO.
It's more that it's a show of her... Standards?... Curiosity?... She's more or less breaking down. Whether that's from the connection with Orion as shown at the gas station, or something else, I really don't know.
Unless Orion turns into an orc while they're in a warcraft server or something, she better fucking not.
Well...
Anyway just to be clear I'm not saying she's being the way she is because of some sort of compulsion to be Orion's "hound." Rather, I'm saying that that's what I think is going to be her "role" given the many references Cari has been constantly throwing throughout the story regarding Orion (default name) and his mythological counterpart (i.e. the "coincidental" number of the LIs corresponding to the Pleiades, Orion's weird obsession back in Ogygia in hoping that Calypso was a ranged weapon that hunters usually favor (crossbow), Orion's body recently growing "larger" (in the myths Orion is basically a giant), Nova referencing Orion the Hunter when she saw his costume in 0.5, "The Huntsman" being one of the nickname/title choices this update).
The only direct connection they have with each other in the myths is that they're characters in Homer's "The Odyssey," with Caly being a nymph who lived in the island Ogygia and was a "love interest*" for the hero Odysseus/Ulysses, and Orion the Hunter being encountered (or more accurately, seen) by Odysseus/Ulysses during his trip in the underworld.
But wasn't there a myth where Orion was put into the stars for his deeds? That's usually a big thing about Greek/Roman myths where heroes go into the stars which helps us connect to Andromeda and such. That might help with the metaphysical aspects/ supernatural aspects we're seeing now.
There are many variations of the myth regarding Orion (even his placement in the stars had variants: some say he died due to a scorpion's sting and placed in the stars as a reminder for everyone of his folly, some say he was struck down by Artemis and was placed in the heavens, some say his relentless pursuit of the Pleiades sisters forced Zeus to put them in the stars and he followed suit).
All this Orion talk is just making me more hyped for 0.8 than 0.7 tbh. Have a feeling that "The Big Hunt" is going to be his "Butcher of Blaviken" moment (in that it's going to be the event that will be associated with his name/title even once everything is all said and done). 'Course I could be wrong, but still...
