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Artemis was not a particular fan of men. Shock of all shocks. Maybe all that feeling was passed on to her brother, bisexual disaster that he was. Her brother was positive he got the better part of the deal, but Artemis was doubtful.
Anyways, today marked another Artemis victory, even if it did involve some interaction with mortal men. Despite Apollo's persistent claim that he deserved it because of the fact that the mission was named after him, Artemis came out on top. Because it was her heavenly body they were stomping around on, so she got the right to have a chat with them.
She could see the craft now. Misshapen top, the bottom covered in ostentatious gold foil… it was almost offensive enough to provoke her to action, but she probably wouldn't be able to manage much. After all, she could feel some of the aura of that particular Levantine try-hard, probably the result of one of the men in the craft taking communion.
(The angel kicking around in the Diocese of Orlando had decided not to show up, apparently, but he of the four-letter name still protected his own. He was even worse a few centuries back…)
After a considerable wait, they finally trundled out of their little tin can in those heavy suits. One of them crept down the lander, said a few words:
"This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind…"
And he flubbed it. Remarkable. (And of course, it was mankind, not humankind, but the fool was already stumbling over his words as is…) The mortals really were sending their best and brightest up, weren't they? She gave them a few minutes to screw around- it would make Minerva happy- before she approached.
The second one noticed her first, pointing and shouting into his little radio. "Neil!"
"What is it, Buzz-" he fell silent as well when he saw her. The lack of a spacesuit was probably the reason- plus the total lack of other humans on the moon.
"Who are-"
"Diana." She answered cooly. "Goddess of hunters, children, and the Moon." She took a long look at the first man and sighed. She couldn't bring herself to get too offended, not after what he had been through. "I'm sorry about your daughter, Armstrong."
Neil reeled as if he had been struck. Aldrin was stunned, and asked a stuttering question after a few moments: "Why are you here?"
"The successors to Rome have come to visit my heavenly body. Why wouldn't I care?"
"Successors to Rome?"
"A senate, your classical stylings, your mode of thought…. You're quite Roman. There are fewer things more Roman than a bloated empire with republican trappings, I would think."
"The Roman goddess." He clarified.
"Yes. Unless you would like to propose a scientific explanation for my arrival here, my survival in vacuum, and our discussion despite my lack of a radio?"
It sunk in. Truly sunk in, the awareness that he stood before something greater than him. Watching them tremble a bit was nice- it was good to be feared again, to be revered- but she felt a certain pressure. Unfortunately, she couldn't just let Aldrin squirm indefinitely.
"And before you collapse into a crisis of faith, yours is there too, Aldrin. Thank him that I didn't knock your tin can out of the sky."
It felt like a concession, a loss, but the last thing she needed to do now was spark an inter-pantheon conflict with him. Zeus still had a chip on his shoulder about the Maccabees, and that was back when Greece loomed over Israel terribly. Now, in this age? Not a pleasant thought.
After a few moments, Armstrong spoke again. "And my daughter…?"
Poor man. "Where you go, she'll be," Diana answered gently. The purity of parental love was one of those great factors that made humans worth it in the end, she thought, but that was probably the childbirth goddess in her talking.
Aldrin spoke again. "Your whole pantheon is out there?"
"Most of them, yes. Your scientist, von Braun, is a grandson of Hephaestus, I believe." She knew, actually, because the god of the forge positively glowed with pride for his descendant... now that the rockets were pointed at space and not the Allies.
"There are demigods wandering around?"
"Yes," Diana replied. "You do not see them, but they are there- not too far a leap, I would imagine?"
"How did you keep it secret?"
"We are gods," Diana remarked. "We may not have a capital G, but we can keep our affairs in order. Your tapes will show no record of me- it took a troublesome amount of effort just to make myself known to you properly." Because of a certain jealous someone, ahem...
"And now what do you…?"
"What a goddess does is no business of yours." She answered.
(She was going to wander the surface for a bit. It was no moon-chariot, but it was beautiful. Hunting game in this low-gravity environment would pose a unique challenge…)
The Olympians visited occasionally, when mortals reached certain thresholds, brought fame to their names, whatever. Nietzsche had been visited by Apollo and Dionysus both, which sounded like hell, but... would it be worse compared to meeting Ares on Mars? Her half brother would probably find some perverse joy in making the crew all break out into a fight or something.