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They'd filled his belly and dried him off and debated for a long time what to do with him, but he wouldn't go with Cupid and they couldn't just hand him off to someone else and so he was here. With her.

Bragi flicked the tip of her tail, dragging it across the floor in long, sweeping motions for him to chase. She watched him scamper after it on large, unwieldy paws just beginning to grasp coordination and pounce, the bite of his needle sharp puppy teeth largely hindered by the fur there. There was a distant rumble outside. An ear flicked as she turned her head toward the mouth of the den and counted the seconds between the first flash of lightning and subsequent crack of thunder.

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✷

He was full, fat, and happy. He couldn't remember the last time he was all three of those things at once. He couldn't remember a lot of things, actually. But he could remember how to pounce! And kill! And he was killing Bragi's tail so good.

He looked up at her, grinning through a mouthful of fur, but she wasn't even paying attention to him! How was she supposed to know how much of an amazing hunter he was? She was just looking outside, and his gaze followed her, before a really loud sound filled his ears.

He flinched, dropping her tail, and flattened himself to the soft, dry, not wet ground. He remembered that he didn't like that.

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A flicker of movement had her turning back to the kid, as he flinched away from the sound. It's okay, she reassured, without even really thinking about it. It's just thunder. It can't hurt you.

He looked at her, seemingly unconvinced, and only cowered further back into the darkness of the den. She was reminded, once again, of how similar he was to her at the beginning. Was he...?

No. Bragi killed that thought before it could form any further. If you sleep, the storm will pass faster, she tried as she laid her head down.

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✷

He was still young, and didn't yet understand much, but the infantile disdain towards naptime was as innate as it was immediate.

His face contorted into a look of visceral disgust as he whipped his head back and forth, any fear toward the storm outside suddenly forgotten. He thrashed Bragi's tail, dropped it, did some laps around the den, and flung himself forward in a bid to cram into the little space between her back and the wall.

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Bragi sighed. Deeply. A little, niggling part of her brain thought about how — just a handful of hours ago — she'd been ready to close her eyes and never open them again. To let herself sink into the abyss and let whatever or whoever was controlling this body when she wasn't around take over for good, so she didn't have to worry about the gods or memories or whether or not she actually belonged here or even wanted to, or if her family was lying when they said they loved her.

She lifted her head again. If I tell you a story will you go to sleep?

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✷

His head popped up from behind her back immediately and fixed her with his wide-eyed gaze.

He couldn't remember any stories... but he thought he liked them? It made him feel warm inside, like the food in his stomach and the comfy nest beneath him and the lilting sound of her voice made him warm inside.

So yes.

He liked them.

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She watched his little head shoot up over her shoulder and looked into his eyes, wide and shining, and patted the spot in front of her with a paw. Come on, then, and lay down right here.

Kids were easy, at least. Easily distracted and easily entertained, if not easily looked after. Cupid would really do a better job than her in that department — or every department — but he had enough on his plate.

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✷

Lay down! Okay, yes, he could do that. He tried to jump over her, but forgot that he had sandwiched himself between her and the wall and ended up having claw and flail and scramble his way out of the situation he put himself in. Clamoring over her side, he found a nice spot at her belly and made several tight circles before he dropped down with his head resting on his paws. He turned his gaze to Bragi, his eyes wide and shining with anticipation.

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He was surprisingly heavy for such a little thing, his paws somehow managing to find all the soft, sensitive and tender bits of her body on his way down. Bragi grit her teeth and waited until he was dizzy and comfortable, those big, bright blue turned up toward her without a care in the world.

Okay. She'd admit it, that was kinda cute as hell.

She breathed a heavy, pensive sigh and thought about what kind of story she should tell him. A fairytale? She didn't really know all that many, her memories fuzzy and pressure pulsating behind her eyes when she tried to recall one. She could make one up, but she had never been a creative writing kind of gal. The only stories she really knew by heart were...

Closing her eyes briefly, she opened them and turned her attention to the kid. There are stories we tell of gods; mythical, divine, powerful beings that reside far, far away where mere mortals like you and I cannot reach, she explained, wondering briefly if this was all a little too complication for a little to kid to understand, but ultimately deciding that it was fine. The point wasn't really to get him to understand, and he'd probably forget it all by the morning, anyway.

There are many gods, across many different pantheons and religions. There are the Greek and Roman gods, who live on Mount Olympus, and the Norse gods, who live in Asgard. Zeus rules over the Greeks as their king, the head of the twelve Olympians. In Roman mythology, he's known as Jupiter. The twelve Olympians are the most main and most famous deities in the Greek pantheon, though there are many more minor gods besides. They consist of Zeus, God of the sky, thunder, and lightning, and his wife Hera, Goddess of marriage, woman, childbirth, and family.

There's Zeus' brother, Poseidon, God of the sea, storms, earthquakes, and horses. They have another brother in Hades, king of the underworld and God of the dead, but he's not included in the twelve Olympians because he doesn't live on Olympus with them. Their sister, Demeter is the Goddess of nature, agriculture, and fertility, and the seasons. Then there's Zeus' kids: Aphrodite, Goddess of love and beauty, Ares, God of war, Hephaestus, God of blacksmiths, Athena, Goddess of wisdom and battle, Artemis and Apollo, the twins, Goddess of the moon and God of the sun, Hermes, the messenger, God of travel and thieves who guides dead souls to the underworld, and sometimes Hestia, Goddess of the hearth, but mostly Dionysus, God of wine.

In Norse mythology, their ruler is Odin, the All-Father, and his wife Frigg. Other widely known gods include Freya, Goddess of love, beauty and fertility, Thor, God of thunder and wielder of the magic hammer Mjölnir, Loki, the trickster God, Tyr, the God of war, and Heimdall, who stands guard at the Bifrost.

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✷

For the most part, he was doing a very good job of sitting quiet and attentive and not retaining a word of what Bragi was saying.

But he liked the noises she was making, and some of the names sounded fun to say. Soos, he echoed, eyes wide in wonderment. 'Dite, he murmured to himself as she rattled on. 'Thena. 'Powwo. He liked that one. 'Paaaawwo. Ah. Pah. Woah.

He giggled.