#gotta love greek mythology insert characters

[seabunnbunn]

I am so so so excited for Hades 2, so I wanted to draw one of my dnd characters in universe as she herself is a champion of the gods and would most likely join the fight against Kronos. Anyways, here she is <3<3<3 (edit: I added the little friendship bracelet things that Artemis, Selene, Hecate, and Melinoe have in the game. I’ve seen a lot of speculation that it has something to do with the moon or with magic or something along those lines, but in any case, I feel like Euanthe probably fits somewhere into the realm of things that have this detail. So excited to see what it actually means rather than just speculation)

[genericpuff]

Hello, I want to say that I enjoy reading Lore Rekindled. I used to try and get into Lore Olympus back when it was starting, because I'm a huge Mythology Nerd, especially when it comes to Greek. But, even though the comic had so much potential, I really hated it. The art style was very inconsistent and messy. Like I see why it was appealing because it was striking and unique for the time on Webtoon, but it strained my eyes because it was hard to tell who was who half the time. The writing was all over the place with so many plot's that were supposedly to exist but were either settled in an anti-climatic way or just never were addressed at all. And the characters... by gosh, they act more like fake celebrities' and cardboard cutouts than their actual counterparts. It's so laughable when people say "I can relate to Persephone" like... the girl doesn't have any set traits, she's just a self-insert with no actual flaws! And the fact LO labels itself as a feminist retelling, while it pits women against each other, labels them as objects for men and vilify them for having justifiable concerns... yeah that is a laugh. And I'm not even gonna touch on the Apollo plot... you know the one. But when I heard about Lore Rekindled from Dazzling Kate on Youtube, I decided to check it out because I figured a fan version could not be any worse than what Rachel herself created. And holy Hades, I can see the un-to god effort and care this comic has! This is the complete opposite of LO: it has consistent character models with stunning backgrounds and art, the plotline makes way more sense and is easy to follow with no unnessearcy subplots, and the characters actually have separate personalities! I know Lore Rekindled is still in it's early stages, but already it has shown more promise and potential than what Rachel has created in the last six years! This is why ghost writers and fanfiction have a special place in my heart, because they care more about the stories than the authors themselves! Seriously, what you are doing is incredible! I really hope you continue with Lore Rekindled and I will be following the story because you have sparked my interest! It takes a special kind of talent to turn something that an individual like myself loathes, into a piece of work that I can find joy and entertainment in.

On that note, because I really love your story so far, I wanted to ask your permission on something. I have a YouTube channel, it's a small one but I do a bunch of things there like voice dubs, reviews, theorizes, and writing advice. So if it is alright with you, would it be okay if I could do a review of your Lore Rekindled Series and maybe potentially do a comic dub of the story as well? I'll be sure to credit you, I just want people to see this story that you worked hard on.

Ahhh I'm so glad you like it! Everything you mentioned about LO's missed or lost potential was exactly why I set out to make Rekindled, so it always brings me so much joy when people tell me it connected with them, means I gotta be doing at least something right LOL Though I've had to adjust Rekindled's update schedule to make room for other projects and priorities in my life, there's still loads left with it that I wanna tackle.

If you wanna do a review or any sort of video content with it, by all means! DazzlingKate's review took me by surprise (in a good way) because I had no idea it was happening until someone linked me to it after it was posted haha It's a little nerve-wracking sometimes to see it breach outside of Tumblr, but so far all the occasions of such have been generally fair game without any issues so I don't see why not! ~ <3

Thank you again, I hope Rekindled continues to entertain you and bring you joy ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡

[tinygumdrops]

what r ur fav tropes!!

Hi there, anon! Omg I had to Google for trope bingos for this ask, but unfortunately after 20 minutes of searching it seems that trope bingos don't have the specific ones I'd love to talk about T-T Anyway, I absolutely love:

Found family or families of choice - I don't really give much importance with blood relations, in stories at least. A character with absentee parents isn't as tragic to me as them not belonging in a loving, supportive group of comrades (for life! ;-;). Honestly, stories where the parents/relatives are dead or fucked off to god knows where and the MC goes on a life-changing adventure with their precious gang? Yup, definitely my jam!

The [Insert Greek/Roman Myth here] trope - One of my favorite books to reread constantly is Mythology by Edith Hamilton. Spotting mythology references in contemporary fiction makes me giggle and geek out aloud. Really takes me back

Super long adventure journeys with subplots that connect to the main theme

Depressing af story, super happy ending

Sentient animals and plants ;-; Plus points if they can talk!

New kid comes to town, unravels the old system and creates progress

Characters that are emotionally intelligent, cheerful and kind despite their grim, twisted past. Sometimes their suppressed emotions will rear its ugly head, but reality is reality and they keep their heads afloat and move tf on.

But I also love characters that are as fake as a two-dollar bill and keep us guessing! And morally grey MCs (that are written very well ofc)

Battle Duos or Trios where they're equally as powerful but not in the same category? I'd love it even more if their abilities are complementary

I'm more of a friends to lovers >>> enemies/rivals to lovers kind of gal, but they both gotta be slow burn romances for me to even consider the romance plot/subplot.

Battle Royale stories/arcs like in HxH and Hunger Games ;-;

Thank you so much for this ask! I had a blast answering this! :D

[humanitysong]

Who is your favorite OC?

man I wrote so many,,, I guess it also depends what you see as an OC? would writing a mythological character be an OC since rpers develop them much further than the legend ever could? what about characters like player characters in MMOs? most of them don't have a backstory & you can go crazy with 'em. so I'll just cheat & take one or two from each category ,,, ( rest under cut bcs haha sorry u made me babble about my OCs & it became a stupidly long ramble ).

purely original oc: gwyn .

looks cute. maybe isn't actually that cute. used to be an army general centuries ago & was known for being pretty good at it. the kind of person who kept losses on his side to a minimum but maximized them for the people he fought. at least that used to be kiinda the idea behind him, I really wanna re-visit that OC & re-write stuff. but I will always have a soft spot for him.

OC based on legends : dinadan & cassandra

dinadan from arthurian legends because my boy deserved soso much better. I really think the poor sod would have done better never becoming a knight even if he was potentially the only voice of reason bcs "uh how about we don't murder each other???" . & ofc cassandra of troy. so I am fairly sure I mentioned it once on this blog but I am a librarian, those "re-telling of myths" books ( think soa etc ) are super popular rn so i read some from time to time to be able to recommend them to readers. none of them have ever nailed cassandra. i dunno why esp women seem to love to write her as incredibly 'bitchy'?? so ya know. sometimes you gotta take matters into your own hands. not to say my portrayal is amazing but legit people write her as if she is?? a bad person for disliking the greeks?? ( ya know the army that kept troy under siege for 10 years & killed pretty much her entire family ?? )

oc based on 'insert your character here' media : amaya

look I'll be real, story wise my wol isn't that great. basic backstory to fit into the world's setting. people have done much more & better with their wols. but if I may toot my own horn ................. their design is at least really nice. I will never have a prettier OC & I think whatever my brain did back then that's when my OC brain peaked. won't ever happen again, sorry.

munday questions ( no longer accepting ) // @reddragon-cowboy .

[grammaticaly-incorrect]

Tony Awards 2019 Thoughts

The Tony Awards are here again which means the return of my little review. Just a reminder that all of this is my opinion as a person who enjoys theatre but doesn’t know everything. Also, you can disagree with me as we all have our own likes and dislikes.

Opening: This didn’t impress me much. Like, we know that Broadway and theatre are live. We don’t need a whole song about how it’s different from TV and movies. Sure you can mention it as Neil Patrick Harris did in his 67th opening but a whole song is a bit much. It had a taste of sucking up to TV and streaming services to it. The Tonys is about celebrating theatre and honoring those who make it happen. Let them have this night. TV has the rest of the year.

Ain’t Too Proud: I’m sure if I was more of a Temptations fan I would have really enjoyed this. Like I grew up listening to one or two songs thanks to my dad but not enough for me to recognize their body of work. Their choreography was super impressive though. I hope those who love the Temptations enjoyed this.

Beetlejuice: I have been wanting to see and hear more of this since I first heard they were working on a musical. This just made me want to see it even more. It was nice to have the main characters open with one of the most memorable songs from the movie but of course, then we got to the main attraction. Alex Brightman as Beetlejuice is amazing. I need more!

The Cher Show: Gotta admit, I was half paying attention to this performance. Cher isn’t really my thing so I didn’t really care that much. I hope that every who enjoys this show enjoyed their performance. Like I said, it just isn’t my thing.

Choir Boy: I’m happy they included this as a performance. Two years ago I started to wish that the plays got more of a spotlight. It took singing being involved in the play to get a performance but it’s a start. Hopefully there will be more like this in the future.

Cynthia Erivo: Such a sweet song that I never thought would work for the in memoriam segment but it did.

Hadestown: God those vocals are gorgeous. I stumbled onto this show back in college because I am a huge Greek mythology fan and Hades and Persephone are one of my favorites. So mix my love of Greek myth with my love of musicals and I have another musical added onto my list. I wish I could’ve seen more of Hades, Persephone, and Eurydice but it was still a wonderful performance.

Kiss Me Kate: Here was our big dance performance of the night. [Insert High School Musical joke here] It was nice. I just tend to get a bit bored with dance numbers from older musicals. It’s nothing on them. Just my personal preference. It’s how I felt seeing 42nd Street, the performance was great but I was just bored.

Oklahoma!: They certainly had a strong performance. Those vocals.

The Prom: The only thing I’ve heard about this show was its name. But after that performance I need to see more. Another musical to add to my list of shows to explore. And that kiss. Yes!!!!

Tootsie: I wasn’t impressed with the opening number and I was even less impressed with this performance. I just didn’t like it.

Final Thoughts: This year was half and half for me with some parts dragging on a bit too long.  I found a number of new musicals to most likely obsess with. Some that were not good, not bad, just nice (in my opinion). And...Tootsie. I’ve seen people on Tumblr discussing how they can’t stand Be More Chill during the little parody segment (Which while it was nice for them to include made me wonder why they did it considering the show was only nominated for one award) I’m curious if people would have rathered Be More Chill to be nominated than Tootsie. I personally like Be More Chill so I would have liked it but whatever, the awards have been handed out and the show goes on. I’m happy Hadestown won Best Musical and I can’t wait to listen to that, The Prom, and Beetlejuice. But I’ll have to do that tomorrow as I am way too tired.

[secretlystephaniebrown]

R E N A [Asphodel Meadows] :D

YOU’RE PREDICTABLE AND I LOVE YOU

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

okay so Tamora Pierce got me SUPER invested in character description (gotta love that woman.) Then @reedroad basically converted me to writing angst so they’re right up there too! Terry Prachett super influenced how I use humor in my works as well! 

E: If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it be about?

If I was to work more on Asphodel Meadows, I’d probably have to completely ignore season 15 honestly. It would definitely be about Tex struggling to find identity now that the war is over, and struggling with the concept of “home”. And I’d have to come up with a villain and plot, but that’s what I got. 

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

Long Remembered Shadows honestly. XD 

A: How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?

Well so basically I was like “I’ve got this giant thing but I’ve got no name for it” and then certain people named @renaroo and @goodluckdetective were like “well hey, Chorus has a Greek Mythology theme going on...” and I went ooooooh, and spent ages looking into that before deciding on Asphodel Meadows as the name for the fic. The idea was that Chorus, for Tex at first, is an in-between place. It’s as close as she gets to normal. And she hates it. It also sounded really fucking cool. XD

[goth-albino-angel]

1-15 for both of them, muahhahahahahaha!!!

*takes deep breath* *sighs* Why you gotta be like that? Under the cut because… ohmyfgod there’s a lot to know.

identity ask:

1. if someone wanted to really understand you, what would they read, watch, and listen to?

Read the Harry Potter Books, every vampire-centric young adult book ever (yes, including the Twilight saga and House of Night and especially Morganville vampires and Vladimir Todd) and the Warrior Cats saga. Watch Strawberry Panic, Kannazuki no Miko, the entirety of Fairy Tail, the first six seasons of NCIS, the entire series of CSI: New York, every Disney movie and both Avatar the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra. Listen to literally everything except Led Zepplin, Billy Joel, David Bowey, Queen, Iggy Azalea and any rap song performed by a man (that’s not me being racist, it’s me being sexist, I hate the voices of male rappers).

2. have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? if so, who?

Yeah, as if I could…

3. list your fandoms and one character from each that you identify with.

From my main fandoms right now… RWBY/Blake Belladonna, Dangan Ronpa/Kyouko Kirigiri, The Good Place/Eleanor Shellstrop, Lucifer/Mazikeen, Fairy Tail/Seilah af, Vocaloid/Luka Megurine, Keijo/Sayaka Miyata, Ava’s Demon/Maggie Lacivi and Disney’s Descendants/Evie (I’m lying; I’m Mal-kin af, but for the sake of this post, we’ll say Evie)

4. do you like your name?  is there another name you think would fit you better?

I adore my name. It’s rather long, but once I discovered a meaning that I liked behind the first two, I loved it even more. It’s a name that definitely suits me if you’ve ever met me in person.

5. do you think of yourself as a human being or a human doing? do you identify yourself by the things you do?

Both. My very being alone has made people happy and given them a purpose to live (I’ve actually been told that; it’s not me being cocky), but I also feel that what I do is very important to furthering how I live as a human. So definitely a little of both.

6. are you religious/spiritual?

Depends on the day.

7. do you care about your ethnicity?

I care about how I’m treated because of both my ethnicity and the way I look (to most people, they don’t match up).

8. what musical artists have you most felt connected to over your lifetime?

Selena. Marie. Gomez. I cannot stress that one enough. Also, Amy Lee, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus at one point, Natasha Bedingfield, Miranda Lambert, Garth Brooks, Destiny’s Child, and, honestly, several others. My existence depends on me listening to music, it’s a form of meditation for me. So, I don’t listen to a song unless I like it and if I like more from that artist then they definitely make my list of good to listen to.

9. are you an artist?

I’m a literary artist and I’m beginning to dabble in visual art. I’m not particularly musically artistic in terms of composing, though. And my performing is… okay.

10. do you have a creed?

Yes.

11. describe your ideal day.

‘Ideal’ as in what I’d like to do would be a productive day of drawing, writing and sleeping with little breaks in between to go get hugs from my friends. ‘ideal’ as in what I usually do would be wake up at an ungodly hour, listen to music while I get food and go about whatever I’m doing, be it class, homework, work or hanging with friends, and end up sleeping around four in the morning.

12. dog person or cat person?

Both, but I do tend to lean towards cats.

13. inside or outdoors?

Both. I was raised to be an outdoors kid, so I do enjoy going for walks or hikes, but I’m also never opposed to lounging inside writing or reading or doing puzzles.

14. are you a musician?

Not in the slightest, unless you count singing and even that is stretching it. I sing for fun, not for performance.

15. five most influential books over your lifetime.

The entire Harry Potter, Twilight, Vampire Academy, House of Night, Morganville Vampire, Goosebumps, 39 Clues, Bunnicula, My Sister the Vampire, Warrior Cats, Charlie Bone, and Vladimir Todd series; Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden as the first ever lesbian novel I had read; Myth-o-Mania: Say Cheese Medusa because it gave me a new perspective of Greek Mythology that made me want to remake the myths myself; The Vampire Book: Encyclopedia of the Undead was what got me into vampires to begin with; Seven Spiders Spinning was a good read before I became a severe arachnophobe.

other ask thing:

1. What is your name and does it mean anything?

Angel. It’s pretty self-explanitory.

2. How long have you known your best friend?

About ten years. Eleven come my birthday this year.

3. What position do you normally sleep in?

I usually sleep on my stomach with my head facing the doorway. I only know this because that’s how I always wake up. I move a lot in my sleep, but I always wake up in that position.

4. Were you a part of any “clique” in high school?

I can honestly say no to this one. I just went wherever I wanted because no one liked me. So, I simply inserted myself wherever I felt like being regardless of whether the people wanted me there.

5. Who was your favorite teacher in high school and why?

Without fail, always the History and English teachers. English teachers taught me how to form proper sentences while the history teachers debunked White America every chance they got.

6. Do you wish to travel a lot?

I honestly don’t want to leave the States, but I do want to see other places. I’m just not fond of the idea of settling down somewhere unfamiliar.

7. Did you participate in any sports while in school?

I answered this one here.

8. Show a sample of your handwriting:

It’s pretty freaking bad, but if you insist…

9. Have you ever given blood?

Yes and it hurt like a bitch because they put the fucking needle in crooked. I’m never doing it again. Whoever got my blood is a lucky sonofabitch.

10. Do you like the way that you grew up?

No, but I also wouldn’t change it. If I hadn’t had such a… diverse upbringing, I wouldn’t be the amazing person I am today and, while there are several million things I wish hadn’t happened, I’m also happy they did.

11. Do you like your siblings? Why or why not?

I have a half-sister, a half-brother and a step-brother. They’re all okay. A bit of a handful, but not too bad.

12. How did you meet your best friend and why did you become friends?

I was much more open and expressive at age ten, so I made friends with everyone. One of those everyone simply stuck with me for 10+ years.

13. Name one movie that made you cry.

Off the top of my head, I think… Croods made me cry.

14. Do you prefer to read poetry, write poetry, or neither?

I answered that here.

15. Things about someone that you find attractive?

Intelligence, their hair, their scent, and cuddly hugs.

[seabunnbunn]

~~~~~EUANTHE DUMP!!!!~~~~~

Here is some more Euanthe stuff I made a little bit ago. She has been on my mind as of late and all I wanna do is draw her morreeeee. However, *sigh* I have finals I have to do, so for now this must suffice. Most of her tattoos are Magic Tattoos from TCoE, but recently she got a new fun homebrew tattoo I found online called the Tattoo of the Peregrine which basically lets her sprout big ole wings. She is a druid, so she can wildshape, but her wings help in situations when I don’t really want to use up a wild shape just to use her crazy perception to scout out an area. This particular tattoo was given to her by Athena at a level up (I forgot which level but we are lvl 17 now, and it was pretty recent, so it may have been 17 idk) so I figured it’d be fun to use owl wings for the reference, plus I feel like of all of the owls, barn owls are the most Artemis coded, seeing as she is the champion of Artemis.

Omg her first full body piece I made!! This one for sure is a throwback. I was still exploring her character and trying to fit as much of it into her design as possible. I’ve got a soft spot for this piece even through she has changed a bit since then. I still imagine her armor like this, maybe a bit more leather here and there and some more fancy stuff since they’ve leveled up quite a bit since this piece was made but similar vibes. I don’t usually draw her in full armor just because I like drawing her tattoos so much, but here she is. Oh and how could I forget about Argos!! He is her oldest friend and the best boy in all the ancient greek world. She carved him out of marble she found in her woods one day a very long time ago. Before the campaign started, he would sit on a plinth at one side of the the forest Euanthe was tasked with caring for and greet travelers when they arrived at its borders. These particular woods can be quite disorienting, and many a traveller have gotten swallowed up entirely by its charms, so Euanthe and Argos existed there as guides as much as they were protectors.

This one dates itself… The character on the right is Hybris, champion of Dionysus, so this format was quite fitting lmao. This was following some events in campaign in which Hybris may or may not have accidentally made a child go blind and become a seer and almost get arrested and by proxy almost made the rest of the party get arrested… but its ok because he fixed it by starting a rager that got the entire city of Athens to get drunk and completely forget about it all… ah the memories…

Ah yes, the Albion arc…

Basically, we were in a place that was guarded by a special kind of magic which meant that we couldn’t contact our gods and they couldn’t see us (hence the lunar eclipse). Euanthe in particular, since she is basically just a living amphora, doesn’t sleep, so she spends most nights meditating in temples of Artemis with the other huntresses. This arc was particularly hard for her. Her relationship with Artemis is complicated. She knows that Artemis created her for a reason, but she doesn’t know what that reason is, and she worries that her love for Artemis has grown outside of the bounds it was meant to.

I do really like this piece, but it’s very unpolished and I would like to revisit it soon to finish it up and maybe add a few things.

Then there is this onneeee… soo basically, I love this character so much that I may or may not have brought her into a Curse of Strahd campaign. But it’s ok i swear because she’s different in CoS I swear. Several hundred years have passed since the events of her original campaign, and she has grown quite jaded since the fall of the Greek Pantheon. In the original campaign, she’s pretty bubbly and optimistic, so its a pretty fun character development to play with.

Anyway… I love her and miss her and just wanted to post these as I reminisce…

[seabunnbunn]

Lil Euanthe blender moment. None of this is canon, I just thought the symbolism would be fun to play with.

After the final horns ceased their call and the din of battle calmed, Artemis looked across the bloodied field before her. Searching. The huntresses that remained were calling their hounds and collecting themselves before starting the endless job of counting. The battle had not been fair, they were overwhelmed and they had known it, but they had pulled through. Thanks to a certain terracotta soldier, Athena had been found, caught up, and brought to the battle just in time to turn the tides. It was this terracotta soldier Artemis was searching for. Her finest creation, her most trusted huntress, and second only to her brother, her closest and oldest friend. She and Euanthe had been separated when Atlas threw down his pillar and split the valley in two. The battle had been hard for Artemis, it had been hard for Apollo, hells it had been hard for Athena. So few of her huntresses remained that she feared the worst.

In the distance, she saw Apollo in his chariot surveying from above. He made hasty circles in the sky, yelling down to huntresses, issuing search orders for people who would never be found. He started another loop around the field, but something must have caught his attention. He yanked hard on the reins and his carriage jolted to a stop as he stared at the ground below him in what she could only assume to be shock, although she was a bit too far to tell. She could tell, however, when his attention snapped to her and he came soaring towards her, cutting the sky in two with an arcing ray of sunlight.

“Aphrodite, Dionysus, and Hades have their champions accounted for, do you have eyes on Euanthe, cousin?” Hermes appeared beside Artemis, holding a scroll with hundreds, thousands of names, mostly crossed off. Her eyes were glued to her brother’s chariot as it drew closer, trying in vain to discern his expression, trying to figure out what had shaken him so thoroughly.

“Have you seen her?” she asked.

“Well, no, that’s why I’m asking you-”

The chariot landed not so gracefully maybe 20 meters in front of where Artemis stood, she had already started to close the distance before her cousin had the chance to finish his sentence. Apollo lept off and met her halfway.

“Artemis, come quick. I lost sight of her when Atlas- I couldn’t- I didn’t know what had happened I-” He was out of breath and panicking. She seldom ever saw him like this.

In the distance, she heard one of her huntresses scream. She turned to Apollo and ran for the chariot, Hermes had already lept aboard and the second Apollo got his hands on the reins, they were in the sky. She had to hold on to keep herself from shooting off the back and plumetting to the battle-torn land below. She searched for the source of the cry and saw a group of five or six huddled in a small circle. The chariot crashed to the ground not far from where the group of huntresses had gathered. Artemis lept off the side and ran. The small crowd parted as she rushed in, revealing a woman, shattering a crumbling, as she struggled to raise herself from the ground. The huntress by her side tried to help her stay still, but stood and backed away when she noticed Artemis standing before her.

The scene stopped Artemis in her tracks as Euanthe raised her terracotta head to meet her gaze.

“I think we were a- we were a tad in over our heads in that one, my lady.” Euanthe said with a grimace as she tried to sit up. Artemis dropped her bow and went to her, propping her on her lap, careful not to crack her anymore than she already was. She had seen Euanthe after particularly bad battles before. Sometimes losing a finger, sometimes so much as an arm or leg. It would take her several days to make a new one to the right size and to repaint her tattoos, but she had always recovered, it had never been this bad. Holding her here, she could see now that her legs were completely shattered, they just barely clung to their shape, but each time either of them moved, or a gust of wind blew past, more of her crumbled away. An overturned boulder lay beside them, skid marks marred the ground leading up to where she had found Euanthe, the spot of impact not far from where they sat.

“You know, I didn’t even see it coming. I was distracted by big guy over there, but don’t worry he didn- he didn’t stand a chance.” She said, jutting her chin at a mass of a soldier hulked over on his side, Euanthe’s spear jutted out of his core. Artemis held her as bits of clay from her arm crumbled into her hands, she looked to her brother.

“Do something.” She said, barely above a whisper, but he was standing there, mouth slightly agape, arms to his side, looking at the boulder. He gave her a slight shake of the head and looked back at Euanthe. Beside him, Hermes was on his knees, muttering something under his breath. Artemis looked back to Euanthe.

“Well aren’t we glad that you were here, who knows what he could have done. He could have easily taken out a hundred of our own but you stopped-”

“I wasn’t supposed to last this long, was I? I fear I’ve outrun my course.” Euanthe breathed as a bit of her ear crumbled to the ground below, reunited with the orange cracked earth beneath her. “Artemis, would that you answer a question of mine. It has been burning me as of late.” Artemis nodded, holding back the moonlit tears that threatened to pool in her eyes. “You must answer honestly, you owe it to me. When you made me, how long was I supposed to last?”

She couldn’t help it as a silver tear landed on Euanthe’s forehead, darkening the small splotch of clay. In her periphery, she saw her brother turn away as he wiped similar tears from his face. Artemis searched her face for any hint as to what she should say next. Finding nothing but the slightest his of desperation and curiosity, she decided on the truth.

“We didn’t know.”

“How long?” She pushed, her expression betraying nothing but earnesty.

“In our wildest dreams, not three days.” At this Euanthe let out a short laugh. There was a slight *crack* and one of her legs settled at an awkward angle next to her, rolling over slightly.

“And how many came before me?” She asked.

“Hundreds.” This time, she did not even try to stop the tears now falling from her eyes. She had tried her best to keep her voice level, however. It was true, they had tried hundreds of times before Euanthe to craft something like her, but the others lacked something that the twins had never been able to put their finger on.

“Hundreds…” Euanthe breathed. “And- how many shall come after.” What was once earnesty had defected to sadness.

The tears stopped, Artemis went rigid as the weight of this question struck her.

“None.” She said. And she meant it, there would never again be anything like Euanthe. It would have been impossible for them to make another with as much love and compassion as she had, even if they wanted to. But they had been with eachother for the last several hundred if not thousand years, there would be no reforging of a bond like that.

She let out a small huff and looked away for a moment. “How dare you”

“I-”

“How dare you torment me so.” she returned her gaze to Artemis, “Like the moon to the waves you push me out to sea, except I am the one to come clawing back to shore. There is your push, and my pull, and I am growing weak. I don’t know how much longer I will last, but I know when the end comes, I will greet it with open arms, for it will deliver me from this pain of pains.” She too now had silver tears streaking down her cheeks. With each word she spoke, a piece of her was lost to the ground beneath her. “I have long wondered what sits beneath my flesh, but I know surely now there must be something akin to a heart, for I feel it. I feel it cracking in ways my limbs will never know. There is not enough gold in the world to bridge the gap you’ve carved. You are the one who will have to live with that, not I. So make your peace, but do not aim it at me. One more strike and I will surely shatter completely.”

“I love you.”

“You don’t.”

“I do.”

The valley was silent. Where there weren’t bodies or weapons, where shields and chariots did not suffocate the earth, there was tall, green grass. Thyme and sage bushes sprouted out of the ground. They were in full bloom, a storm had passed not three days ago, the world drank it in. It was a lovely spring day.

“No, my lady, you do not. You are just a god. Cursed to love your creations, only to realize they love you back. Only to realize that you have passed on a little bit of that love, and that that is too much. It’s too much to lose, and you will lose it.”

What was left of the terracotta soldier was a gruesome sight indeed. As she lay there, her head cradled by the goddess, she dreamt. She dreamt of fairer days. She dreamt of a boatride down a starry river, of greener pastures, and of the moon.

“I love you all the same.” said the moon.