Visual Inspiration2025-05-23 #VisualInspiration prompt:
What do you want to do on your birthday?
Use this image as inspiration to write a very short story based on it.
GuitarsophistWhose the party for?
Some new god. One of those Americans. He hasn't shown up yet. He's having a military parade. That's like a triumph for you Roman gods.
An American! What's he called?
My English is not so good. I think I heard "Trumpet," but that can't be right. That's some kind of horn.
What are his teachings?
Never back down, never apologize, always fight, take revenge on your enemies.
Is he a war god? That sounds like Ares or Huitzilopochtli.
No, he's some kind of a business god. That's what Americans are into these days. Forget about honor and sacrifice. Forget about humility and duty. Forget about love. It's all about the deal. If you're not making money, you're a sucker.
Does he take care of the poor?
No, they're suckers as far as he's concerned. No money, no respect.
Do people pray to him?
Yes, but he doesn't listen unless they have money and give him some of it. He's a con artist.
Sounds like my kind of guy!
Yes, Loki, he's your kind of trickster, except that your kind of con always has some poetry in it. Like when you hired a man to build a strong wall around Asgard and promised him Freyja, the sun, and the moon if he finished it in eighteen months. When it looked like he was going to finish on time because of his special horse, you turned into a very attractive mare and seduced his horse away. This American god is not as subtle as that. He would just let the guy finish and then refuse to pay him.
That would indeed be dishonorable! Even for me!
Why did we invite him to a birthday party?
Actually, we are not fans of this god. We thought that if he saw Artemis, the virgin huntress, he would chase after her. That would not end well for him. But he is still at his military parade.
@jredlund if you put it that way I'm finding it hard to find a difference between a real God and an imposter. Maybe there's none? 🤔
@VisualInspiration Have you read Neil Gaiman's _American Gods_? In that book a god becomes a god when people believe in him or her, the more people, the stronger the god. Most foreign gods are weak in America because they have few believers, but the Norse gods are stronger now because they are part of the Marvel Creative Universe. I think the concept is that a god is a focus for social energy and desire. Anyway, that is the way I was thinking when I wrote this. The image itself was pantheistic and pagan, so any story written about it would also be so.
@jredlund not read the book nor watched the series but your micro story conveyed the idea perfectly. Good job.