whose name meant hindsight

It's a good night. Athletic, even. Very satisfying for all parties.

Hopefully Matt didn't mind that Epimetheus takes up most of the bed when he sleeps.

To make up for hogging the bed, though, Epimetheus offers to spring for a late breakfast when they finally get up and head down to the bar. Which means getting a booth and plenty of eggs, bacon, and toast, and a lot of coffee. Epimetheus is looking pretty pleased with himself -- for this morning's efforts as much as for last night's.

Epimetheus never came back to Prometheus' apartment last night. That's not that odd.

But him sauntering through the door this morning, whistling, in an almost cliche display of insufferable smugness? That kind of is.

"Shit, I thought they'd never go away."

Note to self: aliases.

Epimetheus occasionally goes by Ray Zecher (Zecher is Hebrew for "memory") or Matt Tillman (Tillman is German for "farmer," Matt is Hebrew for "Gift of God," which works well enough for a Titan who gave out all the gifts).

If he's in a mischievous mood, he might go by Adam and one of those surnames.

The folks in Indiana know him as Matt Tillman; he's more likely to use that name if he's in a WASP farming community. Otherwise, I think he just kind of chooses whatever name sounds good to him at the time.

When Zeus the Olympian decided that the Earth, Gaia, needed to be populated, he gave the duty to two of the Titans -- Prometheus and Epimetheus, sons of Iapetos, two of the only Titans who hadn't risen up against Olympus in the Titanomachy. Prometheus created humans; Epimetheus created the multitude of animals. Epimetheus, who didn't have his brother's forethought, proceeded to lavish gifts on his creations, leaving the humans with nothing.

That was the first fight between the brothers.

Prometheus, as everyone knows, went on to steal fire from Olympus for his creations, and Zeus punished him by chaining him to a mountain and sending an eagle to eat his liver every day, for eternity. Not content with just punishing Prometheus, though, Zeus decided to punish his creations by sending evils down to the earth. His tool for that was Pandora, a mortal woman created by the gods with insatiable curiosity.

Pandora was given to Epimetheus as a wife, and lacking forethought, Epimetheus happily accepted the gift from the gods -- and then watched as Pandora released the evils onto humanity.

Not long after, as immortals reckon time, Pandora died.

Long after that, even as immortals reckon time -- and an eternity as brothers do -- Herakles came along and freed Prometheus from his torment.

And Epimetheus dropped out of sight, and more or less stayed that way. He'd messed up enough things for enough people, for family; it was easier to stay out of the way and not deal with it. The gods on Olympus barely noticed he was gone.

Every few millenia, he sees his brothers -- Prometheus more often than Atlas; Menoetius not at all, since he's locked in Tartarus -- but they tend to be brief get-togethers. Family history and tempermant makes it hard for them to stay civil for long. Mostly he wanders around and takes care of his creations (Prometheus accuses him of being greedy and keeping the gifts for the animals, and Epimetheus is quick to point out, every time, that the humans are efficiently destroying the animals in spite of their gifts).

He can talk to animals -- and is much better at talking to animals, or animal-shaped humans, than humans -- and he can't be killed. He can be very persuasive if he has to be, like most gods. His name means "hindsight," and he has a very, very good memory. Oh -- and he always has a ready excuse. Otherwise, he's no more powerful than anyone who's lived for millennia and remembers it all.

He likes whiskey and bowling.

The only reason to pick him out of a crowd is his height. Otherwise, he's inoffensive, quiet (except around his brothers), easily forgotten.

That's just how he likes it.

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