There are many things people expect from one called 'God of Blood'. Always, the first thought is the blood of war, the blood of violence, the blood of the weak shed for the goals of the strong. Ares doesn't think of the blood of battle at all. When he thinks of blood, he envisions the many tied knots of blood bonds and bonds forged in the blood of battle. Blood sons and blood daughters, blood brothers and battle sisters, blood oaths and blood vengeance - he watches over them all and keeps close each one of these bonds.
One cannot begrudge his displeasure then when he realises he cannot tell Leto's offspring apart just by looking at them.
It was easier when it was just Artemis. Dark hair curled about her shoulders, a fierce mien whenever Father summons her to the mountain, a scattering of bones and blood shed whenever she was disturbed; the eldest child of Leto was a wild thing, sharp toothed with sharper claws always at the ready. There's whispers of her being a twin, of her other half being made to crawl on their belly as penance for their sin of god-slaying but Ares pays it little mind. What twins look alike among their number? Even dog litters are born distinct with all their unique markings inlaid in their fur. Artemis' twin too would be much more than their sister's mirror image.
Pouring over his list now, he wishes anything about Phoebus Apollo was that simple.
Mirror image did not begin to describe it. The twins were the same height, the same build, had the same colour and texture hair, ate the same raw food and drank the same amount of nectar. There was no difference in how they dressed, no difference in the company they kept, no variance in the weapons they used. There are some days Ares still cannot believe Phoebus will grow into a man and not some nymph with the way his ears have that slender point. He watches them now, sitting together beneath a shady palm and stringing their bows in an uncanny unison and curses because he still cannot tell them apart. What use is his skill in knowing blood when they both have the same damn blood running through their veins? What bond is there to sense when they are tied so tightly together, Ares can scarcely tell brother from sister?
He sighs. Unadorned and completely alone, the only way to know who is who is to speak to them. He'll have to find more ways to tell them apart from a distance. Surely they cannot stay this similar all the rest of their immortal lives.
literature YouTuber started their essay on Capote's swans by pronouncing Proust as prowst and eschew as askew within, literally, two minutes, and I had to assume the rest of the essay was at an equivalent level of insight into the topic so I just gave up and watched something else
"the longest day" is fucking hilarious. the a plot is hiccup and toothless going absolutely through it against a dragon mother ship and her fighter jets while the b plot is the rest of the gang being so mindfuckingly sleep-deprived they couldn't even wash dragons three times their size and said dragons throwing a coup by locking the gang up in a hole. like?
An indulgent piece for today!!!! :') It's no secret the trio's friendship has always had a really special place in my heart, and I've been grateful for the taste of acceptance and contentment it brought me during (and long after) I played the game. To see them find the most caring and complete friendship in each other was truly inspiring.
Here's to all of us finding the people that make us "never long for companionship throughout the rest of our days" <3
He's up to 273 grams! For those who don't know, Cheese and I have struggled with taking on appropriately sized meals up until recently, and he's been a lil underweight for his size and age. This will be our second week on correctly sized rats, so fingers crossed!
I finally caught him in the classic Ball Pancake pose after we did our nightly chores together 💛
"…Do you like snakes?"
The question is innocent, natural. It sprouts up from the well of Ares' mind and passes through his lips like pollen on a careless breeze. Apollo isn't angry at it. He isn't even a bit surprised. It doesn't stop his instinctual flinch, doesn't stop that phantom scent of venom and stale blood from clogging up his nose.
"I'm actually rather afraid of them."
Ares looks up from where he's beating his brush into the marble, his frown more a pout as he glares at Apollo, "I thought you couldn't lie? Everyone knows you're not afraid of snakes." He sniffs, annoyed and testy, bangs his brush against the marble again ruining its sable brush-hairs for good this time, "You don't have to make up nonsense to try and make me feel better."
Apollo very patiently does not bang Ares' head into the marble for destroying one of his most precious paintbrushes. As a child who has not yet partaken in the hunt, he knows not the skill it takes to capture a mink, nor the labour that goes into plucking their hairs, nor the artistry that comes from binding those fine hairs to a suitable piece of etched birch. Instead, he dips his own paintbrush in the setting salve and pointedly paints in large, obvious and even strokes, "It's not nonsense. I do not like snakes."
"But you killed Python." Ares digs into the salve and spills thick globs of it about the floor like a boar at the trough. Apollo graciously notes that next time, he'll endeavour to put old linens down so as to skip the hard work of scraping sealant off his tiles. "You weren't afraid then. You bathed in her blood. You enjoyed it. I felt it."
"Yes," the wet squelch of the salve is as bubbling blood in his ear. He'd shot her full of arrows then flayed her open on their points. Black from head to toe, that's how he'd returned. His hair dark with her venom, his skin soaked in her guts. His smile black with her death. "I suppose I did enjoy it." Apollo puts his paintbrush down, takes a step back to gauge the breadth of work that remains before them. "I do not think I'd enjoy such a thing now."
Ares' eyes are hot on his cheek. He's rolling Apollo's words around in his head, contemplating them with a graveness he rarely lets the others observe. Apollo just wishes his gaze wasn't so probing, so snake-like in its intent. Almost predatory. "You can't change what you were born to be, Phoebus. None of us can."
"On the contrary," he meets Ares' dark stare - viper versus cobra, two snakes in their little circular pot, "I have it on good authority that change is necessary for living."
Snake!Janus except it's actual snake things and he's cold-blooded and doesn't love and sees in Infrared.
Patton cooking them meals and everyone thinks Janus is sick or something cause he only eats every Friday and then sleeps the next two days
They don't let him do laundry because he just lays on the warm clothes, but they do keep the curtains open during the day
He always gives the sides blankets when they're cold or turns on a fan when they're warm without them telling him and it takes them forever to figure out how he knows
Just because he can't love them doesn't mean he doesn't feel safe or comfortable around them and he regrets ever telling them that
CARMEN SANDIEGO OC WEEK DAY 3: RELATIONSHIPS
June 9th
diversity win! the woman torturing you is aroace!
shes hot buff lady with homoerotic tension with a lot of the women she tortures, but this is mostly a result of her being hot and cool and knowing how to leverage her traits to get people to do what she wants them to whilst working. outside of work she's wholly uninterested in romance. she's so real for that
as for friend relationships, she doesn't have a lot of operative friends because, even though she's pretty chill, everyone knows that if they royally fuck up she will not hesitate to do as she is told. she is more of a weapon than in a person in the eyes of most.
she has one younger sibling whom the faculty use as leverage against her to keep her in line.
nobody talk about how she looks like a different person every time i draw her
With Days of Harmony coming up, I imagine the Performance Guide is busy getting the Hall of Harmony ready for a visit from the Rhythm spirits. (More for the Rhythm Guide themself, since they are relatives.) And that includes making sure everything is clean and polished, and still intact. Including the stairway that Stagehand collapses at the top of if you follow them and the Guide around long enough.
Most relatable moment ever, if you ask me. Stairways suck.