acequeenking (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
acequeenking) wrote2019-06-25 10:18 pm
acequeenking) wrote2019-06-25 10:18 pm
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Kidfic Exchange Letter 2k19
Dear babysitter,
Thank you for writing or drawing for me! I am looking forward to seeing whatever you create!
I consider all prompts as optional, but I added some ideas below in case you might find them helpful. Some are longer than others, but all are things I would love to receive! If none of my prompts work for you or you’d rather just work with a likes list, please feel free to use my general likes as something you can base your fic/art on, and ignore my prompts entirely.
In fact, feel free to be creative and create what you want as long as it doesn’t cross my DNW. I love everything from G-rated gen fic to E-rated smut-bangs, so feel free to go where the spirit moves you. If you are wondering if you can twist prompts/take them in different directions/etc. the answer is always an enthusiastic yes. Whether it be something sad, scary, fun, or just plain weird, as long as it avoids my DNW I am always down to play. As far as the ages of children, I really am not picky! I love gawky teenagers as much as itty bitty babies and just about everything in-between, and if you want to go the route of making the children adults, even, that’s interesting too! I’m mostly into kidfic for the dynamics between generations, so I would love to see a focus on the relationships here!
Finally, I am dreadfully sorry this letter is late, I wound up going through an absolutely crazy couple of weeks and had zero time to write or read. Thank you so much for being patient. <3
Hades/Persephone (Hadestown) & Child(ren) (Adopted)
Given Hades active identification as a father figure for the workers (“My children! My children!”), I can absolutely see him longing for a family. Hadestown keeps the relationships between its version of the characters relatively unspoken, and I’m very curious to find out just exactly what Hades and Persephone had as far as a family. Everyone who ever dies comes to them- do they feel all mortals as their children? Are the worker's characters considered to be his/hers literal children? Given the time frame (30s or post-apocalypse or 30s and yet also post-apocalypse, take your pick, or make it a bit sooner or later, brother, don’t ask where brother don’t ask when), child mortality was still a sizable thing, poverty was high, and children regularly worker in sweatshops, so I Imagine there are a fair amount of child souls going to the underworld – and a fair amount of child orphans/needy children who could use a home and might not mind it being thousands of feet underground. I could absolutely see Hades grabbing a kid in hopes of it softening his wife’s heart or Persephone taking pity on some mortal child and just shoving them into Hades arms and going “Well you said you wanted to have kids 2.5 million years ago so….” and expecting the other person to hit the ground running on this whole parenting thing. Post-canon, I could even see them making the decision together. What would it be like for the kids to grow up with parents like Hades and Seph Would they grow up in the underworld, the surface, Persephone’s momma’s house, or some mix of them? How do they deal with only one of their parents being around at least half the year? Given how much Seph and Hades argue, is this kid going to have a hope of being anything other than neurotic? Whats the underworld like, when you're a prince/princess?
Absent Parent: Persephone leaves half the year. Does their newly adopted child go with her? If so, does this make Hades worse, now that he’s losing not only his wife but his child? Does he try to find ways to supplement not being around – does kid get toys delivered mysteriously every so often? Does he make an effort to go to PTA meetings or show up for daddy/child tea parties? Or does the lid stay underground with Hades and if so, what are the six months without their mother like? Is Hades a colder father without her around? Does having a child occupy him enough that he doesn’t get as desperate for Persephone to come home? How does she handle the separation, with her baby in the ground?
Accidental Baby Acquisition: Somehow a baby is accidentally acquired; perhaps Hades accidentally acquires a small child stowaway hiding in a shipment of new materials for the mine, and admires the child’s moxie enough to ask if they might like to stay, or Persephone finds an orphan asking/needing to go with her, or there’s another (part?) immortal child that’s been found that desperately needs a home and is willing to do anything to find one and they wind up taking the kid? How does the other parent take this sudden new parenthood forced upon them? How does becoming a parent change either of them? Is the kid happy to have found their new home, or horrified that the underworld is as dark and bleak as it's been said to be?
Adopted by a God/Supernatural/Superpowered Being: Hades and Persephone are immortals and if the child they adopt isn’t, I imagine there’s a lot about this baby that’s totally alien to them. God babies seem to grasp things pretty quickly in Greek myth; is that true in this universe and if so, how do Hades and Seph deal with a baby that’s…well, a normal human, and considerably slower by their standards? How do they deal with how slowly it grows – and how soon it might die on them? Are mortal children more delicate? How do deal with the bittersweet tang that this kid can never quite follow in their footsteps? How does the kid grow up knowing their parents are gods, and will inevitably wind up in the underworld?
Adopted Parent teaches Adopted Child skills : Whether the child is mortal or immortal, I figure they gotta learn on mom or dad’s knee. What kind of skills do you learn in death’s halls? Or in springtime’s grip? If the kid is immortal, how do they wind up getting the powers they do – is it genetic, or can it be learned and they have to study? If it’s a mortal child, how do Hades and Seph teach someone basically of another species? (And which is the better teacher?) Does running Hadestown come into it at all? If so, does this introduce conflict into relationships with their parents?
Adopting a child because they remind you of yourself: I can see Persephone, who offers so much nurturing above ground (and arguably to the workers down below), seeing a teenaged runaway and going oh baby I remember when I was a young one like you. (Because running off with Hades absolutely seems to have been some rebellion on her part!) And while I don’t see Hades as quite so softhearted, I think he’s egoistic enough to see a war orphan or hardworking young man who’s underappreciated (abused?) and go oh shit it me subconsciously. How do they bring up possibly adopting this kid? And how do they bring it up to their spouse? Is it a point of contention, or does the spouse fall into place as a fellow parent? How do they adjust to having a kid, especially going from no kid to an older kid?
Custody Arrangements: I can’t see a version of these two were custody issues weren’t a hotly debated issue. Seph leaves, Hades doesn’t, who takes the kid? How do they deal with basically being a single parent for a few months? How does the other parent deal with the absence?
First Time Parent(s): These two have been the rare childfree couple for a long time, whether through their choice or biological issues. So when they somehow find themselves with an adopted child, how do they deal with being first-time parents? Is this pre-Hadestown and if so, how does their relationships nadir change their relationship with their child? If post-Hadestown, how do they deal with the stress of becoming parents? Does it help strengthen their relationship or drive them further apart?
Having a child brings back memories of own childhood: Hades definitely seems to be, as Patrick Page has said, a working-class boy who made good. If you go by Greek myth proper, he’s a kid from an abusive dad who went to war to gain his independence; within just Hadestown it feels like he’s definitely a bit of a nouveau rich man whose eager to show the world how he made it. How does the kid remind him of his childhood, and, given how his childhood was possibly/probably not great, does this change how he acts as a father? (More clinging, more distant? Keeping the cycle of abuse going?) For Persephone, if you go by Greek myth she’s a kid who grew up with a single mom and a deadbeat/distant father and just going by Hadestown alone, seems to have a lot of issues of her own in addition to the stress of her marriage. How does her childhood factor into her becoming a mother? How do her childhood experiences inform her new motherhood: are there bittersweet moments where she realizes some opportunities she had, her adopted child(ren) will not? Are there opportunities her kids will have that her mother could never give her?
Late-in-life Parents assumed to know what they're doing (but don't actually know what they're doing): Everyone assumes between their patching things up at the end of Hadestown and now this new kid, Hades and Seph know what they're doing. They do not know what they’re doing. At all. What’s it like to decide to be a dad at the ripe old age of what, 40-50,000 on the low-end estimate of their ages? Persephone looks young, but she’s just about if not as old as him? And while she looks young, I can see her absolutely befuddled by modern notions of parenting. How do they find a way with this baby? Do they do anything absolutely mind-boggling just because they literally don’t know any better, and what is the reaction from the peanut gallery for this?
Not sure how to be a good parent because of own unhappy childhood: Hades and Seph both have backgrounds where it’s easy to suggest maybe they both have a lot of baggage, and not just in their relationship with one another. They’re both so raw after Hadestown ends, I can see those old issues getting kicked up like so much dust, but whats the fallout when this kid comes into that admittedly loaded situation? How are they as parents with this affecting them? Does it create conflict with one another? Or the child?
Parents disagree about how to raise children: These two seem to have a lot of commonalities, but also a lot, a lot of differences. And given how much they love one another but come from radically different viewpoints, there’s no way there weren’t some blowouts in regards to this adopted child. If pre-canon, does this stress test their relationship even further and lead to even more of a falling out? If post-canon, how do they handle this argument? Have they learned any methods to better handle their disagreements or do they go back to the same spats they had in chant?
Raising child from another culture: I’d love either seeing Hades and Seph struggle with raising a human child, what does it mean to be raising a child of a different species, particularly one that most gods (if perhaps not them) would see as lesser? But I’d equally love to see Hades and Seph wind up with a child from another mythology; perhaps they wind up raising the death gods of other belief systems (Hel/Ereshkigal/etc)? If so, how do they wind up with the child and what are the trials and tribulations of raising a God or Goddess from another culture?
Someone left a baby on my doorstep!: With all the rumors about Hadestown being a land of plenty, even if “those who go/they don’t come back" is also a rumor….given everything that’s going on with the world’s problems, I can see parents leaving their children at the train station to the underworld and welp…What does Hades do when he comes to collect his wife and finds her sitting with like 10-20 kids of various nationalities, ages, genders, telling him to make room at home, daddy, because these boys and girls are their kids now?
Training Child in the Parent's Profession: Specifically I’d love to see a human adopted child when it comes to ruling Hadestown; do they feel conflicted overseeing the human souls just like them tooling away? Or do they repress it, or try to find a way they're different? Does Hades or Seph offer any assurance, or are they oblivious to this conflict of interest? How do the workers deal with someone who basically just like themselves but for the hearts of the overlords?
Hades/Persephone (Hadestown) & both's Child(ren)
I feel like Hades and Persephone in this musical are characters who are notably child-free, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s because they’re certainly old enough at this point that all their children have flown the proverbial underground coop, or if Hades and Seph have never had children (either due to choice or sheer medical incompatibility). So naturally, and perhaps obviously, I want to know what happens when you throw a baby bomb into a situation as volatile as these two have. If pre-canon, how do they divide up time with the kid? One of the parents would have to be part-time, since Seph has to go up north for the seasons, and Hades has to run the underworld. Who takes the kids? Where are those kids during Hadestown? Does their parent’s marriage’s decline affect them? If set post-Hadestown: how do these two react to finding out holy shit, we are gonna be parents? Do they both want the child? Are there side-effects of carrying their child that make it difficult for them to carry this baby to term? Do they decide to go through despite the risks – and if they do, why? Does this make their delicate marriage more delicate, or does it make them stronger?
Absent Parent: Persephone leaves half the year. Does their baby/child go with her? If so, does this make Hades worse, now that he’s losing not only his wife but his child? Does he try to find ways to supplement not being around for spring/summer – does kid get toys delivered mysteriously every so often? Does he make an effort to go to visit, to go to PTA meetings or show up for daddy/child tea parties? Or does the infant/child stay underground with Hades and, if so, what are the six months without their mother like? Is Hades a colder father without her around? Does having a child occupy him enough that he doesn’t get as desperate for Persephone to come home? Does Persephone feel any different now when she’s away from Hades and the baby?
Accidental pregnancy after thinking to be unable to get pregnant/ Unexpected Parenthood: Persephone and Hades quietly came to accept that a baby was never going to be in their cards and perhaps that’s part of why things got so bad between them – maybe Hades decided to get some humans to bring some life to the underworld in lieu of children and everything spiraled from there? I would love to see what happens if, post-Hadestown, these two do wind up getting pregnant — and not at all being equipped for what this means for them, their relationship, their home, their custody arrangement, etc. How do they suddenly deal with their lives being turned upside down? Is the baby a help in their newly reformed relationship, or a hindrance?
Characters Are Stranded/Far From Civilization When Pregnant Parent Goes Into Labor: Hades and Seph are mostly on their lonesome in the underworld, with only sometimes visits from Hermes to help spark up the godly conversation. (Plenty of dead people, of course; but not really on the same level.) They don’t have a lot of hospitals/medical support if something goes wrong, and naturally, I want to see how they’d react when Seph goes into labor early, and only has Hades (and a bunch of dead people) to really help her give birth. Is Hades a good birth partner, or is he so stressed he’s useless? Does Hermes arrive in time to be/get any help? How does Persephone take giving birth in the underworld (or another far away location)?
Custody Arrangements: For this couple more than any other I ship it feels like custody arrangements would be a) absolutely necessary (one parent seemingly has to go part-time) and b) absolutely hard fought over, because I can’t see either of them wanting to be the one who misses out on six months with their baby. How do they find a compromise? Does this make their relationship tenser than it was? How does the person with the child the longer period help the kid adjust to the other parent not being there? Do they ever visit?
Emotional Pregnancy: I can’t imagine, given how obviously complicated these two are, and given how few children they have, and how many raw emotions got stirred up during the Orpheus/Eurydice thing, that these two would not basically Be a Wreck the second they found out they were expecting a baby. I think Hades would be someone who would freak out over what is essentially an uncontrollable event that his contribution to is done before he even quite realizes its done, and Persephone would have to give up her booze and suddenly adjust to her life not quite being so much about her as it was (which is not to say that I think she is selfish, but there’s somewhat of an adjustment from being “the most important people in my life are my mother and my husband, two grown-ass adults who should be able to take care of themselves” to “I am carrying the most important person in my life, in my body, and am responsible for them”) and becoming a mother after thousands of years. SO basically I’d love some fussy worrying between these two – maybe an argument over the children? Maybe just some stressful cuddles? I just want to see them stressing — and perhaps that stress exposing the cracks in their relationship.
First Time Parent(s): Hades and Seph are both people who have lived, literally, millennia — and suddenly are people who have a very small, very new, very reliant-on-them baby. How on earth do they deal with this? Are they the last gods to have a child? Do they know what they’re doing? Do they have anything prepared for a baby, or are they flying by the seat of their pants? Does one hit the ground running on this whole parenthood thing faster than the other?
Impregnation: I would love to see a couple who took so long to get back to their normal after centuries of dysfunction, deciding to take the next step and deciding that they will bring a new life into the world. What process does this entail, among gods? Is it the same as ours, or something different? Is Hades’ position as God of the Dead a roadblock? Does Persephone’s six-month sojourn upstairs make any attempt bittersweet, knowing that Hades will miss a good deal of the pregnancy? How do they decide to make the decision to start trying to children? How do they cope with it once it takes (or they think it does)?
Late-in-life Parents assumed to know what they're doing (but don't actually know what they're doing): Similar to first time parents, I would love to see what happens when you’re older parents (especially Hades!) who everyone who sees and assumes that they just know what they’re doing. But then, of course, they don’t. This tiny alien is suddenly squalling in their bedroom, and pregnancy itself is quite strange experience, and neither of them has ever really put a lot of thought into this until its happened but it happened and they’re both stubborn to admit they don’t know what they’re doing. Do people assume some of their general parental cluelessness is just because they never had one, or that it is, in fact, something that people assume is just some parenting secret because, surely, at their ages, they have this down? Do mortal reactions to their child-rearing differ from non-mortals?
Miscarriage Scare: Look, Hades is the god of the dead and certainly he and Seph are used to dealing with death in just about every circumstance — which is why I think Miscarriage would be a Particular Hell for him and her. He’s certainly collected a lot of women/children who have died on the birthing bed, and I imagine the thought of a child dying before he even got to hold them would be hell itself for, well, the master of hell. If they do get to the point where they have a miscarriage (or come close to having one) — how do they handle it? Does Hades power over the dead give him an awful awareness of what is coming? Is his powerful enough to stop it? Is she, as someone who controls the new life of the world above, about to stop this in any way? If the pregnancy does end, how do they deal? If it doesn’t, how do they move forward?
Parent Dealing with Child Who is Very Different From Themselves: Hades and Seph have this coming inevitably, I think, because their powers are so very different that any child who takes after one child will, almost by necessity, be a bit more distant to the other. How do they sort that? If it’s Persephone who is the odd parent out, what’s it like to see Hades’ love for buildings and machines come forth in someone new? If it’s Hades, how does he feel about his only child taking after his wife instead — when she, herself, holds similar powers to her mother? Is the parent who isn’t similar jealous of the one that is? Or do they try to make an effort to find a way to become closer to the kid, even if it feels a bit strange?
Parenting - Child gains powers and must be taught by parent to control them: Given how mom and dad’s powers are both Big, Important powers like oh, Life and Death, I can’t imagine them “coming in” for the kid can be anything less than a terrifying experience. How do Gods in the Hadestown universe come into their powers? How do Hades and Persephone react to their child’s powers? Do they favor one parent over the other — and if so, does that lead to friction in the family? Does one feel jealous that the other has a special bond over sharing powers that they can’t share, or are they relieved that the child has gotten the other parent’s powers — or somewhat bittersweet? If they get a combination of powers from both parents, how do mom and dad deal with that, and what sort of consequences might the child wind up with from this combination?
Parents disagree about how to raise children: I would love to see how Hades and Seph handle figuring out how exactly to raise their child. It's clear from how they feel about the workers that their ideas for the underworld are very different, and their “pity” for other beings is quite different — how would this conflict rear its head when they have children? How early on would these arguments begin, and how bad would it get? Would they be able to find a way to agree, or would the poor child grow up with two very confusing sets of rules?
Pregnancy - arguments about raising unborn child: Given how delicate the relationship between these two is, and how frequently they are by necessity apart — how do they feel about their child? Do their ideas clash? What is the reason for their argument? How do they manage to get through it — if they do? Do they learn any lessons that serve them for when the baby comes, or is this just one earthquake among many for these two?
Pregnancy - Difficult / Dangerous: Persephone gets pregnant, and her husband is alarmed by how it goes. What makes this pregnancy more difficult than most? Is there any way Hades can assist her? Is the pregnancy sustainable? Do they both even want the child? What sort of problems present in a godly pregnancy? How does Hadestown take the sudden vulnerability of the main boss and his wife, who are obviously distracted by this pregnancy? Does Hades feel guilty for having knocked her up? Does she hate him for doing this to her? Or are they both deeply into this pregnancy, and afraid for what might happen?
Pregnancy - Pregnancy by Supernatural Being has Side Effects: I’m fascinated by the idea of a non-human pregnancy, especially with Greek gods who are close enough to humanity that they can, in fact, reproduce with humans. Is their reproductive method similar to ours, or way different? What does a pregnancy look like, with a god? What sort of side effects are there, especially when you’re breeding with another god — and in this case, one of those gods is death?
Surprise Late in Life Pregnancy: Hades and Seph privately both came to the decision long ago that they probably wouldn’t get pregnant — and suddenly, far older than just about any mother or father has ever been, she’s pregnant. How does Seph take this? How does Hades take this? Do they want this child? If so, how do they deal with becoming pregnant thousands of years past their marriage? Does this make their marriage strained —more so? Does their age make the prospect of a child easier — or harder?
Training Child in the Parent's Profession: I would love to see a focus on the kid’s role in the underworld, since surely they would have some role there. How their children might take Hadestown, if it exists at the point when your story is taking place; do they feel conflicted overseeing the human souls tooling away? Do they find it as unpleasant as their mother? Would they resent being trapped downstairs while their mother basks in the sun – and if so, would their resentment be the same or different than their father’s resentment? If the child takes more after their mother, does Hades feel rejected at being left to his own measures downstairs while his child and wife work above?
Unconventional Parenting Decisions: Given how their time is so split, I can’t imagine that they don’t have a fair share of unconventional parenting decisions. What sort of decisions are these? Are they things that other gods might not understand, but mortals might? Or vice versa? How does their family take it? What sort of unusual family structure might the child grow up with, and how would that change them?
Hermes & Orpheus (Hadestown) (Hermes raising Orpheus)
Hermes seems to have taken a more and more active hand in raising Orpheus as the musical has been developed; in the early versions, he was an onlooker merely seeing the story, but by Broadway, it’s explicit that he’s been all but adopted by Hermes. How did this happen? Why did Hermes choose to adopt/take in Orpheus, and how much of Orpheus’ naivete is on Hermes’ shoulders? That’s always a fascinating dichotomy to me – Hermes seems very street smart, while Orpheus is quite naïve. Did Hermes keep news of the outside world from him? Or does he try to teach Orpheus the way of the world, only to have it fall on death ears?
Adopted by a God/Supernatural/Superpowered Being: I would love to see what its like for Hermes to decide to basically adopt Orpheus. How old was he? Why did Hermes do this – he says Orpheus’ mom was a friend of his, but was he really okay with her basically abandoning the child as “you know how those muses are” (prone to leaving)? How did Orpheus take this absence? Did he know Hermes well or was Hermes a surprising new addition to his life? How do they adjust to one another?
Adopted Parent consoles Adopted Child: I just…want something post-canon for these two, regardless of whether you interpret the ending as a closed loop that begins or whether Orpheus has to live out his mortal life (at what point the story may repeat again). How does Hermes try to help Orpheus? How does Orpheus react to losing Eurydice? Does Hermes try to change things for the young lovers? How does he feel about seeing the same story again, and again, and again? If canon goes on for a while, how does Hermes guide a bereft Orpheus? How do they react to Hades and Seph, after losing Eurydice?
Adopted Parent teaches Adopted Child skills: I feel like Hermes having a little demi (or full?) god on his hands would lead to him trying to teach the kid how to navigate life. How would this go down? Are Orpheus’ gifts somewhat different from Hermes’, or similar — and how did this affect their showing? Did Hermes teach Orpheus how to play his “lyre”? What does Hermes think of Orpheus’ naiveté and how does he deal with it?
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Hades/Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore) & Persephone's Child(ren)
I love how there are these weird side-stories late in Greek myth where Persephone winds up popping up with children — who are, in general, not Hades’ children, but Zeus’. Generally, and unfortunately, these stories are mostly stories of rape – and while I don’t mind if you keep that context here, I’d prefer not to see a focus on the traumatic event so much as how they deal with what happens after. (If you would rather write a, er, friendlier, version, where they either have an open marriage or they had some “help” from a family member to get past an inability to have children in the admittedly limited methods of ancient Greek help, or an entirely different idea — all good! Just so long as they are not Hades’ blood children.) If Hades is sterile, I’d love to see how he takes this — or how Persephone feels about it. Is Hades the children’s father even if he is not their sperm donor? Or does he keep a distance from them? How has it affected their marriage — or their relationships with the child?
Adopted Parent teaches Adopted Child skills: I would love to see Hades trying to teach Persephone’s children skills, but is it easy for him? Not only because the children’s skills sets are different from his own, but also because this is not his biological child, and their powers may come from his wife or their father — and how does he deal with this? And how does Persephone deal with him making this attempt? Does she wish he wouldn’t? Or is she glad of it? How does the kid learn — does he help, or does he only hinder?
Child Figuring Out That One of Their Parent's Isn't Their Bio Parent: I can imagine if you only see your father for six months out of a year in a very dark area, you might take a while to notice that maybe, maybe your dad doesn’t quite look like you. If Hades and Seph don’t tell the child that Hades isn’t their birth father, how do they react when they find out? Are they hurt? Relieved? Is it Hades who helps them get through this, or their mother, or both?
Everyone believes that Character A is secretly the parent of Character B's children‚ but they aren't: Given how close everyone is related in Greek mythology, I can see their child looking similar enough to Persephone and Hades that someone would believe the child was his. How does Hades feel about this deception? How does she feel? Do they go along with it and pass the child off as his, or is he more honest regarding the child’s origins? Does this affect the child’s standing either way, since being Hades son or daughter would mean being in line to inherit his throne (though of course, presumably, he could adopt)?
Not sure how to be a good parent because of own unhappy childhood: Both Hades and Seph have some potentially seriously bad trauma in their past, and given the potentially traumatic source of this birth, I can imagine their backgrounds being even more strained and less prepared for parenthood. How do they navigate that? How do they come to grips with their pastas — and does history repeat with them, or do they find ways to break the cycle?
Parenting - Child gains powers and must be taught by parent to control them: I would love ot see this for Hades and his adopted son or daughter just as much as for Persephone and her child: what sort of powers would they have, and how would Hades and Seph cope if the powers they wind up inheriting come from the biological father, and not Seph or Hades? How do they handle that conversation, and how do they help the child to become more successful in managing their powers?
Reassuring step-child that they are just as loved as their new half-sibling: I would love to see something where Hades and Seph either adopt one of her children pre-marriage or outside of marriage, and suddenly that kid’s life is turned upside down where her mother is expecting a second biological child. How does Hades justify in all his rules and regulations, assuring this child of their place in his family and in his kingdom? How does the child react? How does Persephone react?
Hades/Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore) & Child(ren)
I’m always fascinated about Hades and Persephone having children, because in most of mythology, they never do, and in the few stories we do have with their children, they’re very weird little snippets we get just tiny teasers of. There’s so much potential lost history or just plain possibilities in roads-not-taken here, and given how typical of the time (a woman is yanked from her mom’s home to her husband’s without uh, a lot of heads-up regarding this) yet timeless (a woman and her new husband navigate a rather complicated family situation, including the need for the woman to work outside of the married home!) this story often is, I’m fascinated by all the takes of these stories where they add children to this mix. Would they make modern decisions or ancient ones? Just how difficult is it to grow up caught between life and death?
Absent Parent: Persephone leaves half the year. How on earth do these two sort that out when children get added to the mix? In Ancient Greece, children were expected to remain with the father in cases of divorce/abandonment by the mother – is that would this would be considered? Or does Hades want them to go with their mother so they have some sense of the world above? If they remain in the underworld, do they resent having to do so? Or do they prefer it, and perhaps find the upper world a scary and confusing (and bright!) place? If they follow their mother, how does the rest of their family react to their arrival? How do they find their place as the child of the underworld – and the upper world, as well?
Accidental pregnancy after thinking to be unable to get pregnant: I think in a lot of settings it is assumed that due to Hades’ powers, he is sterile. I can see Persephone and Hades quietly coming to accept that a baby was never going to be in their cards after year after year passes and – no baby. Now, for the Ancient Greeks, not having a child was a sign of a “bad” marriage (grounds for divorce) – children were not really considered optional, and while I imagine gods are above some things, both would be, in their own way, affected from having a quite sterile marriage, but eventually may make their peace with it. However, then Persephone gets pregnant and – what happens? Are they at all equipped for what this means for them, their relationship, their home, their custody arrangement, etc? How do they suddenly deal with their lives being turned upside down? Does this change how others see them?
Characters Are Stranded/Far From Civilization When Pregnant Parent Goes Into Labor: Hades and Seph have some help in the underworld with the other gods living down there (Hekate, Charon, Nyx, Erebus, Thanatos, Hypnos, etc.) but it seems like quite a remote area and, notably, the only goddess who comes close to being a “doctorly” sort is Hekate. Most of the midwives characters (Eileithyia, Artemis) are upstairs so – what happens if Persephone goes into labor down below? They don’t have a lot of medical support if something goes wrong, and naturally, I want to see how they’d react when Seph goes into labor down there. Is Hades a good birth partner, or is he so stressed he’s useless? Does Hermes arrive in time to be/get any help? How does Persephone take giving birth in the underworld (or another far away location)?
Emotional Pregnancy: Given how messy their situation is at various points (I mean, she’s either a kidnapping victim or a girl who’s being forced to choose between her lover and her mother at the start, then after the seasons breakdown thing she is a girl who is perennially torn between two very different places and spaces), I can’t imagine that this particularly pregnancy does anything less than unleash a FLOOD of new emotions. How does Persephone feel with a bit of the lord of death kicking in her belly? IS she alright with this, or is she not? How does Hades feel about it? What sort of duties do they have to raise an heir for a throne they will never likely get to sit in?
Hidden pregnancy: I’d love to see a story about Persephone’s feelings about her pregnancy and her marriage. I can see Persephone, post-pomegranate, suddenly discovering she’s pregnant and feeling torn about telling anyone. On one hand, it will obviously make her mother feel grief, and I can see Demeter just being desperate to try to go back to the status quo with her daughter for the time she has her and Persephone being rather worried about admittedly blowing up that whole delicate, newly won status quo. And then there’s Hades who – regardless of her feelings, is still someone who either tricked her with the pomegranate seeds or someone who she knows she isn’t supposed to see for six months – and may well know that he would rush up to her side to see her if he knew, and well, the last thing she wants to do is wind up in front of her dad for another judgment, so she just keeps quiet about it. The problem is, of course, that pregnancies grow – how successful is she in hiding this? What is Hades or Demeter’s reaction when they see either a very, very pregnant wife/daughter, or a wife/daughter with a child of her own the next spring?
Marriage To Legitimize Unborn Child: I’d love to see an AU where Hades and Seph were a secretive thing before the whole uh, abduction….thing, and then surprise! Pregnant. While normally that might not be a big deal (Seph herself is a bastard child), Hades is without heirs entirely and suddenly having a bastard child as his heir is…not great, politically. Since him having children is a rare event, he has to marry her to make the child his rightful heir – but does she agree to this abduction idea? If so, why? If not, how does she take this sudden change in their relationship? Is the marriage stressful on her?
Impregnation: I would love to see these two decide they were going to take that next step in their marriage and have children, especially since I think that would happen quite early on in the ancient world. What process does making a child entail, among gods? Is it the same as ours, or something different? Is Hades’ position as God of the Dead a roadblock? Does Persephone’s six months on the surface make any attempt bittersweet, knowing that Hades will miss a good deal of the pregnancy? Given how little technology was available at the time, how long does it take to actually conceive? How do they cope with it once it takes (or they think it does)?
Other parent's turn to be pregnant when planning second child: I feel like one of the fun things about characters who are gods is that their gender/shape is always experimental. We’ve had canonical mpreg before – Zeus and his thigh birth of Dionysus; Zeus and Athena; and, in some sense, Cronus and the 5 Olympians he swallowed – so I’d love to see what might happen when, after Seph gives birth to their first child and they’re gung ho about having a second, she casually mentions she’d prefer Hades to bear it. Does he agree with this? If so, what is being impregnated (or being pregnant!) like for him? How do other people take this plan?
Parenting - Child gains powers and must be taught by parent to control them: Given how mom and dad’s powers are both Big, Important powers like oh, Life and Death, I can’t imagine them “coming in” for the kid can be anything less than a terrifying experience. How does this happen and how many choices do they have in their powers? How do Hades and Persephone react to their child’s new-found powers? Does the child favor one parent over the other — and if so, does that lead to friction in the family? Does one feel jealous that the other has a special bond over sharing powers that they can’t share, or are they relieved that the child has gotten the other parent’s powers — or somewhat bittersweet? If they get a combination of powers from both parents, how do mom and dad deal with that, and what sort of consequences might the child wind up with from this combination?
Pregnancy - Difficult / Dangerous: Persephone gets pregnant, and her husband is alarmed by how it goes. What makes this pregnancy more difficult than most? Is there any way Hades can assist her? Is the pregnancy sustainable? Do they both even want the child? What sort of problems present in a godly pregnancy?
Pregnancy - Pregnancy by Supernatural Being has Side Effects: I’m fascinated by the idea of a non-human pregnancy, especially with Greek gods who are close enough to humanity that they can, in fact, reproduce with humans. Is their reproductive method similar to ours, or way different? What does a pregnancy look like, with a god? What sort of side effects are there, especially when you’re breeding with another god — and in this case, one of those gods is the lord of the dead?
Pregnancy - Third Party Disapproves: I would love to see how either of these two would deal with someone else disapproving of their child. I think Hades, in particular, would take it badly – he is a king of a third of the universe, after all, and would point out that there is nothing about his relationship that is wrong. Who is the person who disapproves, and why? Do either Hades or Seph change their mind, or do they find themselves just having to deal with the naysayer?
Demeter & Hades/Persephone's Child(ren)
I feel like we never get enough material with how Hades and Demeter (and Persephone) felt about the Divide of their time, but I’d especially love to see how Demeter deals with potential grandchildren. (Whether you want to use the Furies, Melinoe, Makaria, Zagreus/Dionysus or a new character- all good!) Demeter never approved of Hades as a suitor for her daughter, and now she has grandchildren with his features and her daughters. Does this feel like a slap in the face? Does this soften her feelings with Hades at long last? Do they have an awkward relationship, and if so, are they trying to fix it? Do the kids come up with Seph every spring, or does Demeter have to go underground to get a glimpse of her grandbabies? Just…logistically and emotionally, how does Demeter make it work?
Complicated family relationship: There’s no angle of this relationship that isn't complicated with Hades and Persephone’s past. How does Demeter take the announcement that her daughter is pregnant/had children with the man who kidnapped her? How does Demeter react to meeting this child/these children – if she decides to? Is Persephone or Hades hesitant to let the kid(s) meet grandma? How does/do the kid(s) feel?
Happy Family: I’d love to see something where despite how complicated her feelings are regarding their father, Demeter loves this/these little grandchildren something fierce. After all, she had a jerk of a dad and she turned out fine, so I can’t imagine she’d begrudge Hades’ kids for who their father is. How do they make it work? Does/do the kid/kids like seeing auntie/grammie Demeter? What sort of things do they do together? Do Hades and/or Seph ever come along get together for family moments?
Mixed Family: Given their elements and massively broken family backgrounds, I feel like any of Demeter’s encounters with her kids is a mixed family. How does she deal with Hades and Persephone’s children, especially if she has her own later children (Despoina/Arion)? How do the kid/kids deal with a family situation where the mom and dad are separated half the year, and then there’s grandma and grandpa on mom’s side – that’s Demeter, who loves their momma but hates their dad, and Zeus who seems to be pretty cold and removed from their whole family? And then on Dad’s side, you’ve got grandma Rhea who doesn’t seem to be much involved the story, and grandpa Cronos who lives by dad but they never see (presumably)? And all the countless aunts and uncles…This kid/these kids have quite a loaded and complicated family tree. How does Demeter help them make sense of it?
Parent Discovers That Their Teenage Child Is Pregnant: Honestly, I’d love to see Demeter and Persephone fic where she comes back from running off with/being abducted by Hades and is pregnant. How does Demeter deal with this, especially if Persephone wants to keep the child? Does she fight her daughter wanting to keep the baby and demand Zeus resolve the situation? Is she furious with Hades, or does she come to soften in regards to him wanting to spend time with his bride? How does Demeter cope with the woman she considers her baby basically having a baby?
Slice of life where the parents are good parents: I just love Demeter and I get tired of her being vilified a lot in Hades/Persephone fics. I expect things between them all to be somewhat hard, but I’d like to think that they do all give it their best to try to perform a nurturing environment when the grandkid(s) come along. I would love to just see One Great Day, where everything, for once, goes right; even if there’s bittersweetness clinging to the edges, even if things are uncertain, just – one nice bit where everyone works well for the kids, to make the fourth generation just a little bit better off than the ones that came before.
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Kassandra/Stentor & child(ren)
I’m really interested in what happens when you have a bittersweet situation that’s as complicated as theirs is: a woman who is half-god yet, also, the mortal daughter of the adopted father of the man. Kassandra's relationship with Stentor seems hopelessly entangled in her relationship with Nicolaus, and from Stentor's perspective, he’s never going to “measure up” to this supposedly biological daughter. Add in a child and I feel like all those family issues will come to a head. How do they navigate that? What’s it like having a child knowing you will likely outlive them? What’s it like knowing your partner and perhaps your child will long outlive you?
Parenting - Child gains powers and must be taught by parent to control them: Kassandra's powers are to some extent genetic and I’d love to see what happens when the child inevitably inherits their mother's powers. Does Stentor feel left behind? Does he feel proud of the kid, or somewhat resentful? How does society deal with Stentor’s child surpassing him in pretty much every way?
Raising a Child in Times of War/Conflict/Danger: Kassandra and Stentor are involved in even crazier shit than the standard Athens/Sparta war and I can see them both kind of reticent to have a child for this reason. When it happens, how do they deal with having a kid in the general madness that is their lives? Do they feel bad their kid never really has a normal life?
Reluctant Parenthood: Kassandra by the end of the game has to know she’ll outlive Stentor for hundreds of thousands of years. And…her kid(s), too. How does she feel about that? Does she leave early, figuring that they won't remember her so it won’t hurt so much? Or does she keep a close eye on her descendants? How does she cope with her relationship with Stentor in either scenario?
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Thank you for writing or drawing for me! I am looking forward to seeing whatever you create!
I consider all prompts as optional, but I added some ideas below in case you might find them helpful. Some are longer than others, but all are things I would love to receive! If none of my prompts work for you or you’d rather just work with a likes list, please feel free to use my general likes as something you can base your fic/art on, and ignore my prompts entirely.
In fact, feel free to be creative and create what you want as long as it doesn’t cross my DNW. I love everything from G-rated gen fic to E-rated smut-bangs, so feel free to go where the spirit moves you. If you are wondering if you can twist prompts/take them in different directions/etc. the answer is always an enthusiastic yes. Whether it be something sad, scary, fun, or just plain weird, as long as it avoids my DNW I am always down to play. As far as the ages of children, I really am not picky! I love gawky teenagers as much as itty bitty babies and just about everything in-between, and if you want to go the route of making the children adults, even, that’s interesting too! I’m mostly into kidfic for the dynamics between generations, so I would love to see a focus on the relationships here!
Finally, I am dreadfully sorry this letter is late, I wound up going through an absolutely crazy couple of weeks and had zero time to write or read. Thank you so much for being patient. <3
- 5 Times/Five Things
- Canon-Divergent AUs e.g. "What if Character A went left instead of right?"
- Darkfic, including bad-guys-win and character death
- Epistolary/Found Documents Fic
- In-World (fiction or nonfiction) articles/stories
- First time(s)/ Last Time(s)
- Hurt/ Comfort
- Metafiction/ Interactive Fiction
- Past Third, Present Third, Second or First Person Perspective(s)
- Third Person Narration/ "Different Points of View" (e.g. Char A observes Char B & Char C)
- Arranged Marriage
- Bad guys win / Villian Victorious
- Body horror
- Came Back Wrong/resurrection tropes
- Changing Sides
- Characters who say "I love you" in their actions without actually saying/being able to say "I Love you" in their words
- Complicated Relationships
- Conflicted Loyalties
- Desperate kisses and embraces
- Domestic scenes
- Doomed relationships
- Dystopias
- Eldrich/Eerie things
- Experienced/Inexperienced partnerships
- Fake Marriage/dating
- Fluff/moments of happiness
- Forbidden/Star-Crossed Relationships
- Gender fluidity/experimentation
- Generational Divide/complications in may/december relationships
- Ghosts or other spooky/supernatural occurrences
- Gods being inhuman/unusual
- Grey Morality
- Hurt/Comfort in pretty much any form
- Irreconcilable differences leading to conflict between lovers (but not an absense of love)
- Jealousy
- Lovers caught on opposite sides of a conflict
- Loyalty Kink
- Lust/UST/Pining
- Mindfuckery - the more twisted the better
- Mission/Case fic
- Misunderstandings
- Myths/legends/cultural traditions
- Non-Canon exploration of Character's Gender
- Non-Penatrative sex
- Non-verbal communication and quiet intimacy
- Outsider POV
- Penatrative Sex
- Phyrric victories
- Physical recovery from injury
- Playing with danger, eg a character being able to hurt another but not doing so (despite them both knowing they could);I also love this being subverted (e.g. known bad-ass A has to be rescued by not-so-badass B)
- Politics
- Possessiveness
- Power differences
- Powerplay
- Pregnancy, including alien/unusual pregnancy
- Protectiveness
- Redemption being complicated and not easy
- Rule 63/Genderswapping from M to F for one or more requested characters
- Relationships bringing out the worst in one another
- Shows of trust and intimacy
- Snippets of long-term relationships at different points in the relationship
- Trapped in a snowstorm/eathquake/etc
- Trust kink
- Unhappy and/or complicated endings
- Unhealthy Relationships and/or Codependency
- Unreliable narrator
- World-building
- Aftercare
- Anal sex
- Bathing
- Body worship
- BDSM
- Blowjob(s)
- Breathplay/Chokeplay
- Cunnilingus
- Dubcon
- First Time/Losing Virginity
- fail!sex or humorous sex
- Fem-Dom
- M!Dom
- Pegging
- Porn with plot/porn as a character exploration
- PiV sex
- Pregnancy/Impregnation kink
- Quickies/Sex in Public Places/Situations
- Ritual(istic) Sex
- Rough sex
- Sex Pollen
- Sex on tables/desks/chairs/other furniture
- Switching/Reversal of top/bottom dynamic
- Shows of total trust
- Size kink
- Slow and tender sex
- Tending to another's scars/cuts/etc
- Voyeurism
- xeno or other kinds of "unusual" sexual organs (I am up for anything here:tentacles, burrs, cloaca, whatever)
- Atmospheric glimpses of a scene
- Costume Redesigns (especially for characters who are clotheshorses)
- Cuddles, kisses, and other displays of affection
- Family/couples/friends portraits or snapshots
- Limited pallets (black and white, two toned, etc)
- Unusual viewpoints (e.g. not seeing someone head-on/three-quarters)
- Views that tell a story by what they hide as much as what they reveal - eg, a smut scene illustrated by two characters' hands and nothing else)
- A/B/O
- Aged-Up/Aged-Down characters (setting stories in the future/past is fine, just please don't make A magically the same age as/closer in age to B)
- Extremely Underage Characters in Sexual Situations
- Infidelity
- Non-Con (Dub-con, even Extreme Dubcon is fine, I just want some sense of consent!)
- Scat/Urine/Vomitplay
Likes:
+Genre/Narrative Likes:
+ Favorite Kinks and Tropes:
+ Smut-Specific Likes:
+ Art-Specific Likes:
+ Do Not Want:
Prompts:
Hadestown - Mitchell
Hades/Persephone (Hadestown) & Child(ren) (Adopted)
Given Hades active identification as a father figure for the workers (“My children! My children!”), I can absolutely see him longing for a family. Hadestown keeps the relationships between its version of the characters relatively unspoken, and I’m very curious to find out just exactly what Hades and Persephone had as far as a family. Everyone who ever dies comes to them- do they feel all mortals as their children? Are the worker's characters considered to be his/hers literal children? Given the time frame (30s or post-apocalypse or 30s and yet also post-apocalypse, take your pick, or make it a bit sooner or later, brother, don’t ask where brother don’t ask when), child mortality was still a sizable thing, poverty was high, and children regularly worker in sweatshops, so I Imagine there are a fair amount of child souls going to the underworld – and a fair amount of child orphans/needy children who could use a home and might not mind it being thousands of feet underground. I could absolutely see Hades grabbing a kid in hopes of it softening his wife’s heart or Persephone taking pity on some mortal child and just shoving them into Hades arms and going “Well you said you wanted to have kids 2.5 million years ago so….” and expecting the other person to hit the ground running on this whole parenting thing. Post-canon, I could even see them making the decision together. What would it be like for the kids to grow up with parents like Hades and Seph Would they grow up in the underworld, the surface, Persephone’s momma’s house, or some mix of them? How do they deal with only one of their parents being around at least half the year? Given how much Seph and Hades argue, is this kid going to have a hope of being anything other than neurotic? Whats the underworld like, when you're a prince/princess?
Absent Parent: Persephone leaves half the year. Does their newly adopted child go with her? If so, does this make Hades worse, now that he’s losing not only his wife but his child? Does he try to find ways to supplement not being around – does kid get toys delivered mysteriously every so often? Does he make an effort to go to PTA meetings or show up for daddy/child tea parties? Or does the lid stay underground with Hades and if so, what are the six months without their mother like? Is Hades a colder father without her around? Does having a child occupy him enough that he doesn’t get as desperate for Persephone to come home? How does she handle the separation, with her baby in the ground?
Accidental Baby Acquisition: Somehow a baby is accidentally acquired; perhaps Hades accidentally acquires a small child stowaway hiding in a shipment of new materials for the mine, and admires the child’s moxie enough to ask if they might like to stay, or Persephone finds an orphan asking/needing to go with her, or there’s another (part?) immortal child that’s been found that desperately needs a home and is willing to do anything to find one and they wind up taking the kid? How does the other parent take this sudden new parenthood forced upon them? How does becoming a parent change either of them? Is the kid happy to have found their new home, or horrified that the underworld is as dark and bleak as it's been said to be?
Adopted by a God/Supernatural/Superpowered Being: Hades and Persephone are immortals and if the child they adopt isn’t, I imagine there’s a lot about this baby that’s totally alien to them. God babies seem to grasp things pretty quickly in Greek myth; is that true in this universe and if so, how do Hades and Seph deal with a baby that’s…well, a normal human, and considerably slower by their standards? How do they deal with how slowly it grows – and how soon it might die on them? Are mortal children more delicate? How do deal with the bittersweet tang that this kid can never quite follow in their footsteps? How does the kid grow up knowing their parents are gods, and will inevitably wind up in the underworld?
Adopted Parent teaches Adopted Child skills : Whether the child is mortal or immortal, I figure they gotta learn on mom or dad’s knee. What kind of skills do you learn in death’s halls? Or in springtime’s grip? If the kid is immortal, how do they wind up getting the powers they do – is it genetic, or can it be learned and they have to study? If it’s a mortal child, how do Hades and Seph teach someone basically of another species? (And which is the better teacher?) Does running Hadestown come into it at all? If so, does this introduce conflict into relationships with their parents?
Adopting a child because they remind you of yourself: I can see Persephone, who offers so much nurturing above ground (and arguably to the workers down below), seeing a teenaged runaway and going oh baby I remember when I was a young one like you. (Because running off with Hades absolutely seems to have been some rebellion on her part!) And while I don’t see Hades as quite so softhearted, I think he’s egoistic enough to see a war orphan or hardworking young man who’s underappreciated (abused?) and go oh shit it me subconsciously. How do they bring up possibly adopting this kid? And how do they bring it up to their spouse? Is it a point of contention, or does the spouse fall into place as a fellow parent? How do they adjust to having a kid, especially going from no kid to an older kid?
Custody Arrangements: I can’t see a version of these two were custody issues weren’t a hotly debated issue. Seph leaves, Hades doesn’t, who takes the kid? How do they deal with basically being a single parent for a few months? How does the other parent deal with the absence?
First Time Parent(s): These two have been the rare childfree couple for a long time, whether through their choice or biological issues. So when they somehow find themselves with an adopted child, how do they deal with being first-time parents? Is this pre-Hadestown and if so, how does their relationships nadir change their relationship with their child? If post-Hadestown, how do they deal with the stress of becoming parents? Does it help strengthen their relationship or drive them further apart?
Having a child brings back memories of own childhood: Hades definitely seems to be, as Patrick Page has said, a working-class boy who made good. If you go by Greek myth proper, he’s a kid from an abusive dad who went to war to gain his independence; within just Hadestown it feels like he’s definitely a bit of a nouveau rich man whose eager to show the world how he made it. How does the kid remind him of his childhood, and, given how his childhood was possibly/probably not great, does this change how he acts as a father? (More clinging, more distant? Keeping the cycle of abuse going?) For Persephone, if you go by Greek myth she’s a kid who grew up with a single mom and a deadbeat/distant father and just going by Hadestown alone, seems to have a lot of issues of her own in addition to the stress of her marriage. How does her childhood factor into her becoming a mother? How do her childhood experiences inform her new motherhood: are there bittersweet moments where she realizes some opportunities she had, her adopted child(ren) will not? Are there opportunities her kids will have that her mother could never give her?
Late-in-life Parents assumed to know what they're doing (but don't actually know what they're doing): Everyone assumes between their patching things up at the end of Hadestown and now this new kid, Hades and Seph know what they're doing. They do not know what they’re doing. At all. What’s it like to decide to be a dad at the ripe old age of what, 40-50,000 on the low-end estimate of their ages? Persephone looks young, but she’s just about if not as old as him? And while she looks young, I can see her absolutely befuddled by modern notions of parenting. How do they find a way with this baby? Do they do anything absolutely mind-boggling just because they literally don’t know any better, and what is the reaction from the peanut gallery for this?
Not sure how to be a good parent because of own unhappy childhood: Hades and Seph both have backgrounds where it’s easy to suggest maybe they both have a lot of baggage, and not just in their relationship with one another. They’re both so raw after Hadestown ends, I can see those old issues getting kicked up like so much dust, but whats the fallout when this kid comes into that admittedly loaded situation? How are they as parents with this affecting them? Does it create conflict with one another? Or the child?
Parents disagree about how to raise children: These two seem to have a lot of commonalities, but also a lot, a lot of differences. And given how much they love one another but come from radically different viewpoints, there’s no way there weren’t some blowouts in regards to this adopted child. If pre-canon, does this stress test their relationship even further and lead to even more of a falling out? If post-canon, how do they handle this argument? Have they learned any methods to better handle their disagreements or do they go back to the same spats they had in chant?
Raising child from another culture: I’d love either seeing Hades and Seph struggle with raising a human child, what does it mean to be raising a child of a different species, particularly one that most gods (if perhaps not them) would see as lesser? But I’d equally love to see Hades and Seph wind up with a child from another mythology; perhaps they wind up raising the death gods of other belief systems (Hel/Ereshkigal/etc)? If so, how do they wind up with the child and what are the trials and tribulations of raising a God or Goddess from another culture?
Someone left a baby on my doorstep!: With all the rumors about Hadestown being a land of plenty, even if “those who go/they don’t come back" is also a rumor….given everything that’s going on with the world’s problems, I can see parents leaving their children at the train station to the underworld and welp…What does Hades do when he comes to collect his wife and finds her sitting with like 10-20 kids of various nationalities, ages, genders, telling him to make room at home, daddy, because these boys and girls are their kids now?
Training Child in the Parent's Profession: Specifically I’d love to see a human adopted child when it comes to ruling Hadestown; do they feel conflicted overseeing the human souls just like them tooling away? Or do they repress it, or try to find a way they're different? Does Hades or Seph offer any assurance, or are they oblivious to this conflict of interest? How do the workers deal with someone who basically just like themselves but for the hearts of the overlords?
Hades/Persephone (Hadestown) & both's Child(ren)
I feel like Hades and Persephone in this musical are characters who are notably child-free, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s because they’re certainly old enough at this point that all their children have flown the proverbial underground coop, or if Hades and Seph have never had children (either due to choice or sheer medical incompatibility). So naturally, and perhaps obviously, I want to know what happens when you throw a baby bomb into a situation as volatile as these two have. If pre-canon, how do they divide up time with the kid? One of the parents would have to be part-time, since Seph has to go up north for the seasons, and Hades has to run the underworld. Who takes the kids? Where are those kids during Hadestown? Does their parent’s marriage’s decline affect them? If set post-Hadestown: how do these two react to finding out holy shit, we are gonna be parents? Do they both want the child? Are there side-effects of carrying their child that make it difficult for them to carry this baby to term? Do they decide to go through despite the risks – and if they do, why? Does this make their delicate marriage more delicate, or does it make them stronger?
Absent Parent: Persephone leaves half the year. Does their baby/child go with her? If so, does this make Hades worse, now that he’s losing not only his wife but his child? Does he try to find ways to supplement not being around for spring/summer – does kid get toys delivered mysteriously every so often? Does he make an effort to go to visit, to go to PTA meetings or show up for daddy/child tea parties? Or does the infant/child stay underground with Hades and, if so, what are the six months without their mother like? Is Hades a colder father without her around? Does having a child occupy him enough that he doesn’t get as desperate for Persephone to come home? Does Persephone feel any different now when she’s away from Hades and the baby?
Accidental pregnancy after thinking to be unable to get pregnant/ Unexpected Parenthood: Persephone and Hades quietly came to accept that a baby was never going to be in their cards and perhaps that’s part of why things got so bad between them – maybe Hades decided to get some humans to bring some life to the underworld in lieu of children and everything spiraled from there? I would love to see what happens if, post-Hadestown, these two do wind up getting pregnant — and not at all being equipped for what this means for them, their relationship, their home, their custody arrangement, etc. How do they suddenly deal with their lives being turned upside down? Is the baby a help in their newly reformed relationship, or a hindrance?
Characters Are Stranded/Far From Civilization When Pregnant Parent Goes Into Labor: Hades and Seph are mostly on their lonesome in the underworld, with only sometimes visits from Hermes to help spark up the godly conversation. (Plenty of dead people, of course; but not really on the same level.) They don’t have a lot of hospitals/medical support if something goes wrong, and naturally, I want to see how they’d react when Seph goes into labor early, and only has Hades (and a bunch of dead people) to really help her give birth. Is Hades a good birth partner, or is he so stressed he’s useless? Does Hermes arrive in time to be/get any help? How does Persephone take giving birth in the underworld (or another far away location)?
Custody Arrangements: For this couple more than any other I ship it feels like custody arrangements would be a) absolutely necessary (one parent seemingly has to go part-time) and b) absolutely hard fought over, because I can’t see either of them wanting to be the one who misses out on six months with their baby. How do they find a compromise? Does this make their relationship tenser than it was? How does the person with the child the longer period help the kid adjust to the other parent not being there? Do they ever visit?
Emotional Pregnancy: I can’t imagine, given how obviously complicated these two are, and given how few children they have, and how many raw emotions got stirred up during the Orpheus/Eurydice thing, that these two would not basically Be a Wreck the second they found out they were expecting a baby. I think Hades would be someone who would freak out over what is essentially an uncontrollable event that his contribution to is done before he even quite realizes its done, and Persephone would have to give up her booze and suddenly adjust to her life not quite being so much about her as it was (which is not to say that I think she is selfish, but there’s somewhat of an adjustment from being “the most important people in my life are my mother and my husband, two grown-ass adults who should be able to take care of themselves” to “I am carrying the most important person in my life, in my body, and am responsible for them”) and becoming a mother after thousands of years. SO basically I’d love some fussy worrying between these two – maybe an argument over the children? Maybe just some stressful cuddles? I just want to see them stressing — and perhaps that stress exposing the cracks in their relationship.
First Time Parent(s): Hades and Seph are both people who have lived, literally, millennia — and suddenly are people who have a very small, very new, very reliant-on-them baby. How on earth do they deal with this? Are they the last gods to have a child? Do they know what they’re doing? Do they have anything prepared for a baby, or are they flying by the seat of their pants? Does one hit the ground running on this whole parenthood thing faster than the other?
Impregnation: I would love to see a couple who took so long to get back to their normal after centuries of dysfunction, deciding to take the next step and deciding that they will bring a new life into the world. What process does this entail, among gods? Is it the same as ours, or something different? Is Hades’ position as God of the Dead a roadblock? Does Persephone’s six-month sojourn upstairs make any attempt bittersweet, knowing that Hades will miss a good deal of the pregnancy? How do they decide to make the decision to start trying to children? How do they cope with it once it takes (or they think it does)?
Late-in-life Parents assumed to know what they're doing (but don't actually know what they're doing): Similar to first time parents, I would love to see what happens when you’re older parents (especially Hades!) who everyone who sees and assumes that they just know what they’re doing. But then, of course, they don’t. This tiny alien is suddenly squalling in their bedroom, and pregnancy itself is quite strange experience, and neither of them has ever really put a lot of thought into this until its happened but it happened and they’re both stubborn to admit they don’t know what they’re doing. Do people assume some of their general parental cluelessness is just because they never had one, or that it is, in fact, something that people assume is just some parenting secret because, surely, at their ages, they have this down? Do mortal reactions to their child-rearing differ from non-mortals?
Miscarriage Scare: Look, Hades is the god of the dead and certainly he and Seph are used to dealing with death in just about every circumstance — which is why I think Miscarriage would be a Particular Hell for him and her. He’s certainly collected a lot of women/children who have died on the birthing bed, and I imagine the thought of a child dying before he even got to hold them would be hell itself for, well, the master of hell. If they do get to the point where they have a miscarriage (or come close to having one) — how do they handle it? Does Hades power over the dead give him an awful awareness of what is coming? Is his powerful enough to stop it? Is she, as someone who controls the new life of the world above, about to stop this in any way? If the pregnancy does end, how do they deal? If it doesn’t, how do they move forward?
Parent Dealing with Child Who is Very Different From Themselves: Hades and Seph have this coming inevitably, I think, because their powers are so very different that any child who takes after one child will, almost by necessity, be a bit more distant to the other. How do they sort that? If it’s Persephone who is the odd parent out, what’s it like to see Hades’ love for buildings and machines come forth in someone new? If it’s Hades, how does he feel about his only child taking after his wife instead — when she, herself, holds similar powers to her mother? Is the parent who isn’t similar jealous of the one that is? Or do they try to make an effort to find a way to become closer to the kid, even if it feels a bit strange?
Parenting - Child gains powers and must be taught by parent to control them: Given how mom and dad’s powers are both Big, Important powers like oh, Life and Death, I can’t imagine them “coming in” for the kid can be anything less than a terrifying experience. How do Gods in the Hadestown universe come into their powers? How do Hades and Persephone react to their child’s powers? Do they favor one parent over the other — and if so, does that lead to friction in the family? Does one feel jealous that the other has a special bond over sharing powers that they can’t share, or are they relieved that the child has gotten the other parent’s powers — or somewhat bittersweet? If they get a combination of powers from both parents, how do mom and dad deal with that, and what sort of consequences might the child wind up with from this combination?
Parents disagree about how to raise children: I would love to see how Hades and Seph handle figuring out how exactly to raise their child. It's clear from how they feel about the workers that their ideas for the underworld are very different, and their “pity” for other beings is quite different — how would this conflict rear its head when they have children? How early on would these arguments begin, and how bad would it get? Would they be able to find a way to agree, or would the poor child grow up with two very confusing sets of rules?
Pregnancy - arguments about raising unborn child: Given how delicate the relationship between these two is, and how frequently they are by necessity apart — how do they feel about their child? Do their ideas clash? What is the reason for their argument? How do they manage to get through it — if they do? Do they learn any lessons that serve them for when the baby comes, or is this just one earthquake among many for these two?
Pregnancy - Difficult / Dangerous: Persephone gets pregnant, and her husband is alarmed by how it goes. What makes this pregnancy more difficult than most? Is there any way Hades can assist her? Is the pregnancy sustainable? Do they both even want the child? What sort of problems present in a godly pregnancy? How does Hadestown take the sudden vulnerability of the main boss and his wife, who are obviously distracted by this pregnancy? Does Hades feel guilty for having knocked her up? Does she hate him for doing this to her? Or are they both deeply into this pregnancy, and afraid for what might happen?
Pregnancy - Pregnancy by Supernatural Being has Side Effects: I’m fascinated by the idea of a non-human pregnancy, especially with Greek gods who are close enough to humanity that they can, in fact, reproduce with humans. Is their reproductive method similar to ours, or way different? What does a pregnancy look like, with a god? What sort of side effects are there, especially when you’re breeding with another god — and in this case, one of those gods is death?
Surprise Late in Life Pregnancy: Hades and Seph privately both came to the decision long ago that they probably wouldn’t get pregnant — and suddenly, far older than just about any mother or father has ever been, she’s pregnant. How does Seph take this? How does Hades take this? Do they want this child? If so, how do they deal with becoming pregnant thousands of years past their marriage? Does this make their marriage strained —more so? Does their age make the prospect of a child easier — or harder?
Training Child in the Parent's Profession: I would love to see a focus on the kid’s role in the underworld, since surely they would have some role there. How their children might take Hadestown, if it exists at the point when your story is taking place; do they feel conflicted overseeing the human souls tooling away? Do they find it as unpleasant as their mother? Would they resent being trapped downstairs while their mother basks in the sun – and if so, would their resentment be the same or different than their father’s resentment? If the child takes more after their mother, does Hades feel rejected at being left to his own measures downstairs while his child and wife work above?
Unconventional Parenting Decisions: Given how their time is so split, I can’t imagine that they don’t have a fair share of unconventional parenting decisions. What sort of decisions are these? Are they things that other gods might not understand, but mortals might? Or vice versa? How does their family take it? What sort of unusual family structure might the child grow up with, and how would that change them?
Hermes & Orpheus (Hadestown) (Hermes raising Orpheus)
Hermes seems to have taken a more and more active hand in raising Orpheus as the musical has been developed; in the early versions, he was an onlooker merely seeing the story, but by Broadway, it’s explicit that he’s been all but adopted by Hermes. How did this happen? Why did Hermes choose to adopt/take in Orpheus, and how much of Orpheus’ naivete is on Hermes’ shoulders? That’s always a fascinating dichotomy to me – Hermes seems very street smart, while Orpheus is quite naïve. Did Hermes keep news of the outside world from him? Or does he try to teach Orpheus the way of the world, only to have it fall on death ears?
Adopted by a God/Supernatural/Superpowered Being: I would love to see what its like for Hermes to decide to basically adopt Orpheus. How old was he? Why did Hermes do this – he says Orpheus’ mom was a friend of his, but was he really okay with her basically abandoning the child as “you know how those muses are” (prone to leaving)? How did Orpheus take this absence? Did he know Hermes well or was Hermes a surprising new addition to his life? How do they adjust to one another?
Adopted Parent consoles Adopted Child: I just…want something post-canon for these two, regardless of whether you interpret the ending as a closed loop that begins or whether Orpheus has to live out his mortal life (at what point the story may repeat again). How does Hermes try to help Orpheus? How does Orpheus react to losing Eurydice? Does Hermes try to change things for the young lovers? How does he feel about seeing the same story again, and again, and again? If canon goes on for a while, how does Hermes guide a bereft Orpheus? How do they react to Hades and Seph, after losing Eurydice?
Adopted Parent teaches Adopted Child skills: I feel like Hermes having a little demi (or full?) god on his hands would lead to him trying to teach the kid how to navigate life. How would this go down? Are Orpheus’ gifts somewhat different from Hermes’, or similar — and how did this affect their showing? Did Hermes teach Orpheus how to play his “lyre”? What does Hermes think of Orpheus’ naiveté and how does he deal with it?
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Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Hades/Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore) & Persephone's Child(ren)
I love how there are these weird side-stories late in Greek myth where Persephone winds up popping up with children — who are, in general, not Hades’ children, but Zeus’. Generally, and unfortunately, these stories are mostly stories of rape – and while I don’t mind if you keep that context here, I’d prefer not to see a focus on the traumatic event so much as how they deal with what happens after. (If you would rather write a, er, friendlier, version, where they either have an open marriage or they had some “help” from a family member to get past an inability to have children in the admittedly limited methods of ancient Greek help, or an entirely different idea — all good! Just so long as they are not Hades’ blood children.) If Hades is sterile, I’d love to see how he takes this — or how Persephone feels about it. Is Hades the children’s father even if he is not their sperm donor? Or does he keep a distance from them? How has it affected their marriage — or their relationships with the child?
Adopted Parent teaches Adopted Child skills: I would love to see Hades trying to teach Persephone’s children skills, but is it easy for him? Not only because the children’s skills sets are different from his own, but also because this is not his biological child, and their powers may come from his wife or their father — and how does he deal with this? And how does Persephone deal with him making this attempt? Does she wish he wouldn’t? Or is she glad of it? How does the kid learn — does he help, or does he only hinder?
Child Figuring Out That One of Their Parent's Isn't Their Bio Parent: I can imagine if you only see your father for six months out of a year in a very dark area, you might take a while to notice that maybe, maybe your dad doesn’t quite look like you. If Hades and Seph don’t tell the child that Hades isn’t their birth father, how do they react when they find out? Are they hurt? Relieved? Is it Hades who helps them get through this, or their mother, or both?
Everyone believes that Character A is secretly the parent of Character B's children‚ but they aren't: Given how close everyone is related in Greek mythology, I can see their child looking similar enough to Persephone and Hades that someone would believe the child was his. How does Hades feel about this deception? How does she feel? Do they go along with it and pass the child off as his, or is he more honest regarding the child’s origins? Does this affect the child’s standing either way, since being Hades son or daughter would mean being in line to inherit his throne (though of course, presumably, he could adopt)?
Not sure how to be a good parent because of own unhappy childhood: Both Hades and Seph have some potentially seriously bad trauma in their past, and given the potentially traumatic source of this birth, I can imagine their backgrounds being even more strained and less prepared for parenthood. How do they navigate that? How do they come to grips with their pastas — and does history repeat with them, or do they find ways to break the cycle?
Parenting - Child gains powers and must be taught by parent to control them: I would love ot see this for Hades and his adopted son or daughter just as much as for Persephone and her child: what sort of powers would they have, and how would Hades and Seph cope if the powers they wind up inheriting come from the biological father, and not Seph or Hades? How do they handle that conversation, and how do they help the child to become more successful in managing their powers?
Reassuring step-child that they are just as loved as their new half-sibling: I would love to see something where Hades and Seph either adopt one of her children pre-marriage or outside of marriage, and suddenly that kid’s life is turned upside down where her mother is expecting a second biological child. How does Hades justify in all his rules and regulations, assuring this child of their place in his family and in his kingdom? How does the child react? How does Persephone react?
Hades/Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore) & Child(ren)
I’m always fascinated about Hades and Persephone having children, because in most of mythology, they never do, and in the few stories we do have with their children, they’re very weird little snippets we get just tiny teasers of. There’s so much potential lost history or just plain possibilities in roads-not-taken here, and given how typical of the time (a woman is yanked from her mom’s home to her husband’s without uh, a lot of heads-up regarding this) yet timeless (a woman and her new husband navigate a rather complicated family situation, including the need for the woman to work outside of the married home!) this story often is, I’m fascinated by all the takes of these stories where they add children to this mix. Would they make modern decisions or ancient ones? Just how difficult is it to grow up caught between life and death?
Absent Parent: Persephone leaves half the year. How on earth do these two sort that out when children get added to the mix? In Ancient Greece, children were expected to remain with the father in cases of divorce/abandonment by the mother – is that would this would be considered? Or does Hades want them to go with their mother so they have some sense of the world above? If they remain in the underworld, do they resent having to do so? Or do they prefer it, and perhaps find the upper world a scary and confusing (and bright!) place? If they follow their mother, how does the rest of their family react to their arrival? How do they find their place as the child of the underworld – and the upper world, as well?
Accidental pregnancy after thinking to be unable to get pregnant: I think in a lot of settings it is assumed that due to Hades’ powers, he is sterile. I can see Persephone and Hades quietly coming to accept that a baby was never going to be in their cards after year after year passes and – no baby. Now, for the Ancient Greeks, not having a child was a sign of a “bad” marriage (grounds for divorce) – children were not really considered optional, and while I imagine gods are above some things, both would be, in their own way, affected from having a quite sterile marriage, but eventually may make their peace with it. However, then Persephone gets pregnant and – what happens? Are they at all equipped for what this means for them, their relationship, their home, their custody arrangement, etc? How do they suddenly deal with their lives being turned upside down? Does this change how others see them?
Characters Are Stranded/Far From Civilization When Pregnant Parent Goes Into Labor: Hades and Seph have some help in the underworld with the other gods living down there (Hekate, Charon, Nyx, Erebus, Thanatos, Hypnos, etc.) but it seems like quite a remote area and, notably, the only goddess who comes close to being a “doctorly” sort is Hekate. Most of the midwives characters (Eileithyia, Artemis) are upstairs so – what happens if Persephone goes into labor down below? They don’t have a lot of medical support if something goes wrong, and naturally, I want to see how they’d react when Seph goes into labor down there. Is Hades a good birth partner, or is he so stressed he’s useless? Does Hermes arrive in time to be/get any help? How does Persephone take giving birth in the underworld (or another far away location)?
Emotional Pregnancy: Given how messy their situation is at various points (I mean, she’s either a kidnapping victim or a girl who’s being forced to choose between her lover and her mother at the start, then after the seasons breakdown thing she is a girl who is perennially torn between two very different places and spaces), I can’t imagine that this particularly pregnancy does anything less than unleash a FLOOD of new emotions. How does Persephone feel with a bit of the lord of death kicking in her belly? IS she alright with this, or is she not? How does Hades feel about it? What sort of duties do they have to raise an heir for a throne they will never likely get to sit in?
Hidden pregnancy: I’d love to see a story about Persephone’s feelings about her pregnancy and her marriage. I can see Persephone, post-pomegranate, suddenly discovering she’s pregnant and feeling torn about telling anyone. On one hand, it will obviously make her mother feel grief, and I can see Demeter just being desperate to try to go back to the status quo with her daughter for the time she has her and Persephone being rather worried about admittedly blowing up that whole delicate, newly won status quo. And then there’s Hades who – regardless of her feelings, is still someone who either tricked her with the pomegranate seeds or someone who she knows she isn’t supposed to see for six months – and may well know that he would rush up to her side to see her if he knew, and well, the last thing she wants to do is wind up in front of her dad for another judgment, so she just keeps quiet about it. The problem is, of course, that pregnancies grow – how successful is she in hiding this? What is Hades or Demeter’s reaction when they see either a very, very pregnant wife/daughter, or a wife/daughter with a child of her own the next spring?
Marriage To Legitimize Unborn Child: I’d love to see an AU where Hades and Seph were a secretive thing before the whole uh, abduction….thing, and then surprise! Pregnant. While normally that might not be a big deal (Seph herself is a bastard child), Hades is without heirs entirely and suddenly having a bastard child as his heir is…not great, politically. Since him having children is a rare event, he has to marry her to make the child his rightful heir – but does she agree to this abduction idea? If so, why? If not, how does she take this sudden change in their relationship? Is the marriage stressful on her?
Impregnation: I would love to see these two decide they were going to take that next step in their marriage and have children, especially since I think that would happen quite early on in the ancient world. What process does making a child entail, among gods? Is it the same as ours, or something different? Is Hades’ position as God of the Dead a roadblock? Does Persephone’s six months on the surface make any attempt bittersweet, knowing that Hades will miss a good deal of the pregnancy? Given how little technology was available at the time, how long does it take to actually conceive? How do they cope with it once it takes (or they think it does)?
Other parent's turn to be pregnant when planning second child: I feel like one of the fun things about characters who are gods is that their gender/shape is always experimental. We’ve had canonical mpreg before – Zeus and his thigh birth of Dionysus; Zeus and Athena; and, in some sense, Cronus and the 5 Olympians he swallowed – so I’d love to see what might happen when, after Seph gives birth to their first child and they’re gung ho about having a second, she casually mentions she’d prefer Hades to bear it. Does he agree with this? If so, what is being impregnated (or being pregnant!) like for him? How do other people take this plan?
Parenting - Child gains powers and must be taught by parent to control them: Given how mom and dad’s powers are both Big, Important powers like oh, Life and Death, I can’t imagine them “coming in” for the kid can be anything less than a terrifying experience. How does this happen and how many choices do they have in their powers? How do Hades and Persephone react to their child’s new-found powers? Does the child favor one parent over the other — and if so, does that lead to friction in the family? Does one feel jealous that the other has a special bond over sharing powers that they can’t share, or are they relieved that the child has gotten the other parent’s powers — or somewhat bittersweet? If they get a combination of powers from both parents, how do mom and dad deal with that, and what sort of consequences might the child wind up with from this combination?
Pregnancy - Difficult / Dangerous: Persephone gets pregnant, and her husband is alarmed by how it goes. What makes this pregnancy more difficult than most? Is there any way Hades can assist her? Is the pregnancy sustainable? Do they both even want the child? What sort of problems present in a godly pregnancy?
Pregnancy - Pregnancy by Supernatural Being has Side Effects: I’m fascinated by the idea of a non-human pregnancy, especially with Greek gods who are close enough to humanity that they can, in fact, reproduce with humans. Is their reproductive method similar to ours, or way different? What does a pregnancy look like, with a god? What sort of side effects are there, especially when you’re breeding with another god — and in this case, one of those gods is the lord of the dead?
Pregnancy - Third Party Disapproves: I would love to see how either of these two would deal with someone else disapproving of their child. I think Hades, in particular, would take it badly – he is a king of a third of the universe, after all, and would point out that there is nothing about his relationship that is wrong. Who is the person who disapproves, and why? Do either Hades or Seph change their mind, or do they find themselves just having to deal with the naysayer?
Demeter & Hades/Persephone's Child(ren)
I feel like we never get enough material with how Hades and Demeter (and Persephone) felt about the Divide of their time, but I’d especially love to see how Demeter deals with potential grandchildren. (Whether you want to use the Furies, Melinoe, Makaria, Zagreus/Dionysus or a new character- all good!) Demeter never approved of Hades as a suitor for her daughter, and now she has grandchildren with his features and her daughters. Does this feel like a slap in the face? Does this soften her feelings with Hades at long last? Do they have an awkward relationship, and if so, are they trying to fix it? Do the kids come up with Seph every spring, or does Demeter have to go underground to get a glimpse of her grandbabies? Just…logistically and emotionally, how does Demeter make it work?
Complicated family relationship: There’s no angle of this relationship that isn't complicated with Hades and Persephone’s past. How does Demeter take the announcement that her daughter is pregnant/had children with the man who kidnapped her? How does Demeter react to meeting this child/these children – if she decides to? Is Persephone or Hades hesitant to let the kid(s) meet grandma? How does/do the kid(s) feel?
Happy Family: I’d love to see something where despite how complicated her feelings are regarding their father, Demeter loves this/these little grandchildren something fierce. After all, she had a jerk of a dad and she turned out fine, so I can’t imagine she’d begrudge Hades’ kids for who their father is. How do they make it work? Does/do the kid/kids like seeing auntie/grammie Demeter? What sort of things do they do together? Do Hades and/or Seph ever come along get together for family moments?
Mixed Family: Given their elements and massively broken family backgrounds, I feel like any of Demeter’s encounters with her kids is a mixed family. How does she deal with Hades and Persephone’s children, especially if she has her own later children (Despoina/Arion)? How do the kid/kids deal with a family situation where the mom and dad are separated half the year, and then there’s grandma and grandpa on mom’s side – that’s Demeter, who loves their momma but hates their dad, and Zeus who seems to be pretty cold and removed from their whole family? And then on Dad’s side, you’ve got grandma Rhea who doesn’t seem to be much involved the story, and grandpa Cronos who lives by dad but they never see (presumably)? And all the countless aunts and uncles…This kid/these kids have quite a loaded and complicated family tree. How does Demeter help them make sense of it?
Parent Discovers That Their Teenage Child Is Pregnant: Honestly, I’d love to see Demeter and Persephone fic where she comes back from running off with/being abducted by Hades and is pregnant. How does Demeter deal with this, especially if Persephone wants to keep the child? Does she fight her daughter wanting to keep the baby and demand Zeus resolve the situation? Is she furious with Hades, or does she come to soften in regards to him wanting to spend time with his bride? How does Demeter cope with the woman she considers her baby basically having a baby?
Slice of life where the parents are good parents: I just love Demeter and I get tired of her being vilified a lot in Hades/Persephone fics. I expect things between them all to be somewhat hard, but I’d like to think that they do all give it their best to try to perform a nurturing environment when the grandkid(s) come along. I would love to just see One Great Day, where everything, for once, goes right; even if there’s bittersweetness clinging to the edges, even if things are uncertain, just – one nice bit where everyone works well for the kids, to make the fourth generation just a little bit better off than the ones that came before.
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Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Kassandra/Stentor & child(ren)
I’m really interested in what happens when you have a bittersweet situation that’s as complicated as theirs is: a woman who is half-god yet, also, the mortal daughter of the adopted father of the man. Kassandra's relationship with Stentor seems hopelessly entangled in her relationship with Nicolaus, and from Stentor's perspective, he’s never going to “measure up” to this supposedly biological daughter. Add in a child and I feel like all those family issues will come to a head. How do they navigate that? What’s it like having a child knowing you will likely outlive them? What’s it like knowing your partner and perhaps your child will long outlive you?
Parenting - Child gains powers and must be taught by parent to control them: Kassandra's powers are to some extent genetic and I’d love to see what happens when the child inevitably inherits their mother's powers. Does Stentor feel left behind? Does he feel proud of the kid, or somewhat resentful? How does society deal with Stentor’s child surpassing him in pretty much every way?
Raising a Child in Times of War/Conflict/Danger: Kassandra and Stentor are involved in even crazier shit than the standard Athens/Sparta war and I can see them both kind of reticent to have a child for this reason. When it happens, how do they deal with having a kid in the general madness that is their lives? Do they feel bad their kid never really has a normal life?
Reluctant Parenthood: Kassandra by the end of the game has to know she’ll outlive Stentor for hundreds of thousands of years. And…her kid(s), too. How does she feel about that? Does she leave early, figuring that they won't remember her so it won’t hurt so much? Or does she keep a close eye on her descendants? How does she cope with her relationship with Stentor in either scenario?
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