this is a god marriage au

[saddleclub]

[Once upon a time ritual sacrifice was how you appeased the gods, offering up a bride to the deities to seek fortune, a good harvest, protection.... It's been a few hundred years since such practices were common, and the virgins raised for the purpose of marrying a god were just no longer a thing.

Thus, when terrible freak tornadoes ravaged the land for months, and the village priests brought up the whole sacrifice thing, it was hard to decide who to sacrifice. While a virgin pure of heart and body and mind was generally called for. no one was really raised in the prescribed ways these days, so it was between who among the young, healthy and beautiful was considered most suitable.

Jusis was, for some reason, selected. He was, if not the full son of the lord of the region, his bastard, and while such lineage might be insulting to a god, he was also pure of body and beautiful and no one else really wanted to give up their children, while Jusis's father was happy enough to have the boasting honor of his son's marriage to a god.

If Jusis's brother were around and not traveling the whole thing might have gone differently, but Rufus was away on some diplomatic meeting with another tribe and so the whole matter was settled and sealed without any of Jusis's input on it. No one asked what he thought of the whole affair. No one bothered to see if he wanted to be a god's bride while they fitted him in ritual garments and bathed him in scented oils and generally made him his most radiantly beautiful before marching him to the windy cliffside caverns that opened to a view of the valley and the full moon's light.

No one asked him if he was okay with being tied gently to an altar while a priest intoned ancient scripts summoning the god of winds, beseeching his benevolence, offering this youth blah blah blah blah blah.

Of course he offered the opinion no one asked for, loudly, at first, and also while they were bathing and dressing and fussing over and marching him along but no one listened. It wasn't that no one cared, but no one who cared had the power to stop this, and so by the time he was laying on cold, uncomfortable stone, a little woozy with whatever ceremonial drink they'd forced into him on an empty stomach, some mix of herbs and alcohol, meant to purify, he'd given up voicing his opinions.

Anyway it wasn't like a god was actually going to show up. They'd just stand around looking silly for a while, while his limbs grew stiff and cold on the stone and then they'd all go home, probably.]

Comments

[saddleclub]

[Before Jusis can say anything else, or maybe while he's caught staring at a flustered Gaius, the kind of... Terrified priest is interjecting before Jusis's mouth gets everyone a smiting.]

Oh Great Wind, if our sacrifice displeases you, we will take his life in penance for the impertinence of such an inferior offering.

[Which shakes Jusis out of his stunned silence.]

You'll what?

[winderlust]

...

[Oh, blast it. Why are humans like this? Gaius knows that arguing with them will just undermine their belief in him as a god, which would be fine except he knows from experience and the experiences of other deities tends to result in more sacrifices, and more violent ones, as they try to rid themselves of the "false" god and bring back the "real" one.

So as much as he wants to sigh and tell them this is stupid, he instead gives a sharp but graceful gesture to cut the priest off.]

Enough. You've proven your faith. Leave, and don't return for a hundred years unless you wish to see a much greater catastrophe.

[A hundred years seems like a good bet. They'll probably forget about it by then, but it won't seem like such a big chunk of time that he's full of lies.

Just let him get this poor kid out of here!]

[saddleclub]

[It does work, the priest says a lot of praise the wind and all that, the villagers also bow and offer praise and are all in a general hurry to get the hell away.

Jusis is just uncomfortable and cold and slightly drugged and drunk and pissed off and tied to a stone slab. Not that anyone seems to care?]

I suppose you're into well-endowed women or something? For the record I don't want to be here any more than you apparently want me but I'll have you know I won't have some puffed up... breeze looking down at me.

[winderlust]

...A breeze?

[That's so... silly. This is all so silly it makes Gaius laugh at the absurdity of it. It's been hundreds of years since he had to rescue a human from their own silly ideas, but never in the thousands of years before that had he ever met one so... bold.]

I promise, I'm not looking down at you. Except physically, I guess, but we can fix that.

[He doesn't reach over -- he doesnt need to. At Gaius' will the wind itself, coloured by more of those glowing motes, twists to untie the knots holding Jusis down. It then gently tugs him up to sitting, hovering around him all light and warm and soft as the smile on Gaius' face.]

I'm sorry to have insulted you. I'd almost forgotten how stubborn humans can be about their rituals.

[saddleclub]

[This is all exceedingly magical and enchanting and all that, but not nearly as enchanting as Gaius's smile or laugh. Jusis stares, realizes he's staring, gets annoyed to have been staring, and rubs at his wrists instead.] I told them it was stupid but did anyone listen to me? Anyway, I didn't expect an actual god to show up. I'm not sure I believed you existed until just now. I don't know why they did. I suppose that'll make everyone so much more insufferable about worship. [It's not like he hates the idea of gods or doesn't believe or anything, he just wasn't sure. And the whole human sacrifice bit always struck him as very un-divine.] Which will be all your fault, by the way.

[winderlust]

I didn't ask them to send you.

[Jusis has a right to be angry, so Gaius won't question it. He does however look a bit baffled.]

Why did they decide to go back to that nonsense anyway?

[saddleclub]

I didn't ask to be sent! I was minding my own business when they got this nonsense into their skulls. [He feels slightly woozy, eyeing the divine breezes and their dancing colors warily because if he watches Gaius any longer he's going to die.] Some winds ravage a few crops and houses and now everyone's in an uproar about displeased gods. I thought you'd at least know that, or are you really just a breeze?

[winderlust]

I haven't done anything to sway the weather in quite some time.

[He could, but honestly he's just been enjoying not being contacted by humans.]

Maybe I should pay more attention.

[saddleclub]

How irresponsible are you?

[He sighs and settles his feet on the ground.]

Maybe they just do these nonsense rituals to get the attention of flighty gods--

[He tries to stand upright and sways, finds he can't, actually, as he starts to tip over.]

[winderlust]

[Good thing the wind is there to hold him up huh?]

I do wish they'd find a less violent ritual. I'd respond to any summons with intent.

[Sigh!! He's not even trying to look godly and regal now that it's only Jusis. They'll be living together anyway. He's just running a hand through his long, wild hair, and drawing up that bright vortex of light again.]

Are you ready to head home?

[saddleclub]

[His is drunk and drugged and addled and there appears to be a wind holding him. This has been a strange day and he's staring at a god that is a gorgeous, gorgeous man who is also a wind and is?? Is...??? Wait are they married now?]

Home...?

[winderlust]

I'd love to send you back but I have a feeling they'd go and kill you. So unless you want me to leave you here, I'll take you back with me and you can enjoy the realm of gods all you want.

[Just. Come with the hot wind guy, Jusis.]

[saddleclub]

[Oh right. Gaius's home, not his own. He feels dizzy and annoyed.]

Fine. I'll go with you for now if you want me that much.

[Still annoyed about being NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!]

[winderlust]

Thank you.

[He could force Jusis to come along but that's no fun for anyone. ...He'll still have to have the wind push Jusis through the portal but that's just because he's drunk.

Once they're through, though, they'll land in the courtyard of a beautiful palace. It's all natural stone and wood, a delicate collection of towers climbing up the side of a cliff face not unlike the one they just came from. The wind blows through the spires, gentle and pleasant, and out across a lush grassland fed by quiet streams and peppered with groves of trees both green and in flower, whose petals fly around in the breeze.

It's very pretty, very fantastical, and very wind-themed. It also looks a lot like an exaggerated version of the home Jusis grew up in.]

Here we are.

[saddleclub]

[It's breathtaking. Jusis isn't so drunk he can't be taken aback by how beautiful it is. In a good way, but also in an unsettling way.]

Oh.

[It's all he can say coherently about the beauty, the gentleness, and the odd familiarity of this place.

It matches this wind god though.]

No wonder you don't bother with humans.

[Why would you, when you live in such a serene place.]

[winderlust]

Well, yes, but... You were right that I've been irresponsible. This place can only look so beautiful because the land below is cared for. It's humans who determine that, so I owe you just as much as you think you owe me.

[Scarred and stripped human lands can't have a heavenly realm like this. Gaius loves his home, so he shouldn't have run from it no matter how badly the last encounter may have gone. He ought to take extra care with this human to make up for it.]

[saddleclub]

What kind of stupid rule is that?

[What's the point of being a god if you need humans to make things nice? The more Jusis learns the stupider this whole system sounds! And sacrifices were stupid from the start.]

[winderlust]

[Just. Laughing so much.]

It is pretty stupid, isn't it? But that's the balance of things. It has been for as long as I can remember.

[saddleclub]

[Gaius has the nicest laugh he has ever heard in his LIFE how is this supposed to be some vengeful capricious god, exactly?]

What, there was a time before you can remember?

[Is that even how gods work.]

[winderlust]

Of course.

[Gosh how much knowledge has been lost to time, for humans? And how much was never known? It's hard for Gaius to remember what he did or didn't know for the brief time he was human.]

Most spirits didn't come into being with the world.

[saddleclub]

What? Then how? What makes you so special, then?

[winderlust]

Luck? [Hahaha a joke that's only funny to Gaius.] Or rather, being in the right place at the right time, with the right disposition, in my case. But for some they're born just like any human. [Pats Jusis lightly on the back.] Come on. If you want to talk about all this, we should get you some water and a place to sit down.

[saddleclub]

[???]

Fine.

[Lead the way!! That helpful wind better still be helping or he'll fall on his face on the way.]

[winderlust]

[The helpful wind is very helpful. They go inside, and it's bright and airy and natural and beautiful in there too. There are spirits going to and fro, some quite human-like, some animal-like, and some just strange or formless. They're all cheerful though -- nothing ominous, nothing sinister. This seems to be a lively, happy place, without a hint of malice. They go through an entrance hall and quickly find a comfortable sitting room, in which Jusis is deposited in a cushy, comfortable chair full of fluffy pillows, and Gaius sinks onto an equally comfy sofa. A human-sized bird in a cute servant's outfit comes in, and Gaius asks her very nicely to get them some water. She takes off -- the interaction has no tension in it. Gaius talks to the other spirits like friends, and they're just as friendly back.] There. Now, what else do you want to know? You've been taken away from your home, so the least I can do is be honest with you, and make you comfortable.

[saddleclub]

[Right. Apparently this is his life now? Watching a human-sized bird in a servant's outfit fetch water.

All if it is a lot. A lot for someone sober let alone a drunk and drugged and cranky unwilling sacrifice. He lounges in the stupid comfortable chair and glowers at Gaius like pretty much.... Probably no human has glowered at him since he himself was human.]

Just for the record I didn't agree to any of this so don't think I'm marrying you. You even rejected me. You better not expect anything.