saddleclub | this is a god marriage au

this is a god marriage au

[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.]

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[PART of Jusis wants to be offended that Gaius doesn't have any intentions at all, because excuse you Mr. Hot God he's also plenty hot?! He's still stinging from the whole refused sacrifice thing! But also he brought it up and it is actually a relief so all Gaius gets is the most disgruntled look.]

I'm trying to figure out what good are you as a deity?

...Not much, if they felt the need for human sacrifice.

[Look he's actually sad. And kinda guilty, because he knows his own withdrawal is the cause of this.]

I've been gona from the human world for too long. But I'll make sure to send good winds from now on.

How am I supposed to be angry with you if you look so sad?

[Yes he says that aloud. He's drunk!! And those herbs were probably not like, normal either. He's so annoyed! And Gaius seems genuinely nice, too. Somehow that's even more aggravating.]

...What?

[He's so embarrassed! He hasn't met a human like this in... a really really long time.]

It's annoying! I was ready to yell at you and now you're just... Some kind of decent person. You don't even have the decency to be as bad as the stories.

What stories? Have I become a malevolent god in the last few centuries?

You really have been out of touch. What do you even do all day?

Mind my own business. What's been happening out there?

[He will... Explain his understanding of church doctrine, only like, peppered with a lot of annoyance at everything in general, so enjoy that update on how humans are terrified of you Gaius.]

What even is your name? I'm not calling you "Great Wind".

I--

[Oh no. Oh no he really fucked up.]

It's Gaius.

[A NORMAL HUMAN NAME wild.]

I... didn't mean for that to happen.

....

[What a weird name for a god. He doesn't think to offer his own name, actually. Instead;]

Well what on earth did you mean to happen?

I don't-- I wasn't thinking.

[Look the grasslands got set on fire? He could feel it?]

It was... painful. All I could feel was fire and smoke.

[Surprisingly, a destructive war is rough on nature spirits!]

[He wasn't there and he's never seen anything like it so he really has no idea what to think of that.]

How does that work?

[Peak sympathy from the drunk human sacrifice here.]

Like I told you. This place is a reflection of the land in the human world. And I... am the spirit of those lands. When they thrive, I thrive. When they burn...

[You guys basically torched his house and set him on fire. Of course he was loud about it!]

The lands on the other side of the mountains were destroyed so thoroughly that their lord gave his life to stop them from becoming a wasteland. I... hate war. I always have.

[Even when he was human.]

[Well that's more about how it works than he knew before.]

I didn't know that was possible... I... Apologize, if I was insensitive.

[Not he feels a little bad. Just seems like a kind of sucky system to rely on humans.]

So how did you end up the spirit of this land if you weren't just, here?

The same way you ended up here.

[Y e p he knows all about human sacrifice.

Gaius frowns, putting his face in his hands and rubbing his eyes while he tries to banish one ugly memory in favor of another.]

I was born human. My family was part of a caravan of refugees, fleeing a war far south of here. When they reached this place, it was desolate, but we couldn't go any farther. People were sick. Starving.

In desperation, they pleaded with the gods for help, but no one answered. So, as the eldest child of the strongest warrior... I was given up in offering. It was the same place they took you. There wasn't an altar, or anything. I was just bound and left. But they were only trying to survive. I went willingly. And when there was no god here to claim me, I decided I'd protect them myself. So... here I am.

[What.

What??]

That's possible?

[How the fuck do gods work!!! This is unacceptable and weird on an already unacceptable and weird day.]

So you're just another victim who decided to protect everyone anyway?

[He can't... Actually say he doesn't fiercely admire that, in fact. One should have that sort of dedication and love for their people. It's just... He wasn't expecting this?]

I wouldn't call myself a victim... At least, not of any crime my family committed. We were just trying to do what we had to to survive. I can't say I was happy about it at the time, but I wasn't angry, either. Back then it was a lot more common a practice.

[Hmmm... He tilts his head a little, pulling his frankly excessive hair out of the way so he can lean back into the couch more.]

But yes, I did decide to protect them, but I would have been nothing but a ghost if I wasn't lucky. There really was no god here, and barely any spirits. Becoming a wind spirit was a matter of filling a gap, and becoming a god is just from being here first and longest, and having the mentorship of my neighbors. If I didn't exist, that gap would have been filled eventually by someone else, as long as humans were here caring about the land. Even you could fill my seat if that was what you truly desired.

[There's a lot of information to think about there. Honestly, he can admire and respect Gaius for his... Kindness? Gentle dedication to his land and people? Even if he's been neglectful. But he can't say he finds the willing sacrifice thing sits well with him at all.]

You don't have regrets about it?

Not really. Of course I didn't want to die, but I really was able to help them, so it was the right thing for me to do at the time. But... it's not necessary for anyone else to do it.

Why not just tell them to sacrifice a bottle of wine then? Or... I don't know.

You're too nice. They'd just take advantage of they could talk to you any time, I suppose.

[Just. Laughs. This kid is so cute?? It's unfair, honestly.]

Maybe they would. It's a little hard to change a religion, though. If I show up to a sacrifice, it proves it works. If I don't, they think I'm angry and just try harder.

[Sigh!]

So far I've just done my best to take care of those sent to me.

[Don't call him cute he'll bite you.]

Isn't that just taking advantage of you in another way?

They're entitled to take some advantage. That's what I exist for.

What? Just that? Don't you have hobbies?

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