gods falling in love with humans is a common fiction trope, probably because Greek myth had such an impact on Western culture, but imagine a god answering little prayers from some kid like “i hope there’s something to eat tonight” or “make my guardian happy so they don’t hurt me” and they just. keep. coming and eventually this god realizes that the little things aren’t actually fixing the big problem, and even if they smite this guardian (which they’re really tempted to do at this point) that’s leaving this kid to fend for themselves and then what?? and so eventually they just manifest, to the kid’s surprise, and are like ‘hi i’m your parent now’
except they’re a god, and based on a lot of pantheons’ track records they probably haven’t observed much good parenting, so they’re just like ??? and fumbling their way through it, hijinks probably ensue, and as they start to get their footing they realize ‘oh hey there are LOTS of kids in shitty situations, and I *am* a god, I can be in loads of places at once, that’s how the others keep having 12 kids after all…’
and basically they end up as the divine version of batman while the rest of the pantheon wonders why they can’t just have a bunch of demigods like normal people
there may be a story like this already, but I enjoyed thinking of this one
In the old days, Artemis would have deposited the kids at a remote temple, let the priestesses take care of them, no problem. That’s not really an option anymore, though. She could leave them, but it’s a *little girl* who just *helped her mother through childbirth* while being *hunted*. Artemis generally preferred not to admit she had a heart, but it had been touched enough that she’d eased the mother through labor and healed her even though no one prayed to her. And that would have been that, except that when she turned her attention casually that way again, the mother was dead and the girl and the baby were hiding in the bushes, about to be found.
Before she even thought about it, Artemis turned the pursuit into deer and scooped up the girl and baby in her arms.
And then she had no idea what to do with them. No temples. Olympus was out of the question. She could just leave them – but – whatever situation brought them to this was still there, and she couldn’t turn *everyone* involved into deer. Not without someone complaining, anyway.
Well, she couldn’t stand around indefinitely in the woods with them, either. She took them to an old hunting lodge in a remote forest in Anatolia. With an impatient gesture, she cleared all the dirt and debris out of the main room. Then she cleared out all the sharp things – mortals were so fragile. Then she set girl and baby down on the most intact-looking couch. “You’re safe now,” she announced.
The girl stared at her, wide-eyed. “Are – are you an angel?”
“*No*.” But explaining she was a goddess might not go over well… “You may call me… Cynthia.” That was a tame enough name, wasn’t it? “What’s your name?”
“Mama calls me Marimari!” the girl said, then her eyes widened and filled with tears. “Mama…”
Artemis was terrible at comfort. Give someone a gentle death, that was easy, but words? She awkwardly patted Marimari’s shoulder. “It’s… very sad, to lose your mother.” Inspiration struck. “You should name the baby after her.”
“Mama already named him,” the girl objected. “And I can’t call him Mama.”
A boy, of course, because this wasn’t complicated enough. “Well, whatever you please. I’m going to go get some food and water.” She looked at the baby. “And a nursing goat.” Back at the girl, who was crying. “And… a puppy. Would you like a puppy?”
She was a protector of children. She knew how this went.
Everything was under control.
(“He does *not* think he’s a dog!” she snapped at her brother some months later. “He just likes to play with them. I brought you here to fix the teething thing, are you the god of medicine or not?”
Marimari tugged at her coat. “Aunt Cynthia, your brother’s really pretty,” she whispered.
“She’s six years old, don’t even think of it,” Artemis snapped immediately, then looked down at Marimari. “Stay away from men, sweetheart, there’s nothing there but heartbreak.”
“Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh, sis?”
“Fine. Stay away from men related to your Aunt Cynthia.”)
Just another WordPress site