#Part one.

[epistrefei]

ένα (ONE.)

The family is one of nature's masterpieces.

The quote manifests itself within the blank space of Artemis' mind. The emptiness was not an accident: these last days have been taxing. It was within her belief that every immortal being out there had some degree of family problems. Any divine, cursed, or otherwise bound to this Earth for an unnatural amount of time being always had some terribly hidden baggage (see here: a mountain strapped to their back) concerning their relatives.

Parents were popular. Artemis could support that. Siblings, too. Artemis doubly supported that.

Apollon was everything that she was not: creative, idealistic, personable… At times, it was difficult to believe that they were birthed from the same womb. Unfortunately for Artemis, it was incontestable; she had delivered him directly after her own world-coming. Older by mere seconds, and Artemis remembered the smile that her mother had given when the twins stood before her.

Her brother was fair-haired and tan, always looking like he had come back from the beach. A radiant smile befell him, and it was suiting: someone tied to the sun needed to be bright. Beyond that, Apollon was fair, warm, and courteous. Many days he played the lyre while Artemis sat nearby and re-strung her bow. Many nights they went shooting together, and she could swear that their arrows flew side-by-side.

Much like the sun, Apollon could be hot. His temper was famous for a time. When he endeavored to serve his version of justice, Artemis often tailed just behind him. She endlessly supported her brother; he was her kin, her blood, her closest ally and best friend. Why wouldn't she aid him in whatever way that she could? An older sister should be a protector and a mentor, her presence a comforting and supportive strength to have. Family was invaluable. Their pantheon, their entire existence, was based on that notion.

Apollon was fascinated with humans.

It was common for her brother to disappear to the mortal plane for ages at a time. He loved every minute of it; the humans were so artistic, they craved to put the feelings they could not describe into any medium that they had. They played music, and danced, and wrote, and sang and painted and on and on and on… these were the tales Apollon relayed to Artemis, for she remained distant and held humanity at an arms' length.

She was wary of their conquering nature and their urges to fill any space that they had. Artemis acknowledged and respected the Hunt, the sound of bare feet on soft grass as they carried bows and spears and knives. Animals sought prey in their own world; humans were not an exception. But they harbored vices unlike any other species, ones like gluttony, for the Hunt was acceptable when practiced within the balance of survival. To hunt an animal to extinction--oh, how Artemis still grieved for the red gazelle, the Yallara, the Mauritian giant skink… Humans were a plague on their lands, the Earth's most dangerous predator. Humans had to be contained, or so thought the Goddess of the Hunt.

Others disagreed, particularly ones with domains more dependent on their worshippers. Aphrodite and Ares, for instance, thrived on the creation and breakdown of relationships. What would they be without marriage and war? Diminished, certainly, but not rendered useless. They were Olympians, though, and none of them were too keen on relinquishing any shred of their power, not with a source so lucrative at hand.

Artemis knew this, had known it, and yet it had still come as a surprise when Apollon had announced his collusion with Ares. They planned to create a war unlike any other war in their history, they said. A war to end Mankind as they knew it, to raze the ground of all living beings and start anew. The Gods had fallen into obscurity, into weakness, and humans with their technology only worsened it. They no longer gave thanks to the deities that allowed them to exist.

For this, they had to pay, said Apollon. Ares stood back, but Artemis knew him to be whispering in her brother's ear, planting ideas of malice and death. It was unlike Apollon to take a drastic stance such as this. What had happened to the man she had known? Where had the love for their ingenuity gone?

Artemis had not looked beyond the darkness of her earthbound forests for sometime. To leave Olympus was a mistake. She had not held fast at Apollon's side as she had all those centuries ago. For this, her brother had fallen from grace. He had been corrupted and manipulated against his own better judgement.

It was on her shoulders to correct what had been done--if not for Apollon, but for humankind, for if her brethren elected to follow in Apollon and Ares' footsteps, there would be no salvation.

[starridge]

puppet hour was brutal

[loathsome-sickness]

"people show their true colours in life threatening situations" no, they show you what they act like when they're mortally terrified, an emotion notorious for literally turning your entire brain off to the point where people who go into those situations as a profession need to be literally trained on how to not have that happen

[darlingofdots]

my parents are on holiday in their mobile home

they're expected back this upcoming weekend

I just spent ten days in my childhood home to keep an eye on things

I have hidden 100 small yellow ducks all over the house

I am very excited for my parents to be back

[jjian1002]

Chilchuck the struggling girl dad🥳

[skipppppy]

Congrats?

[martyrbat]

hate when a batman artist isn't committed to bruce's lame bat schtick... give that man a bat insignia on the bottom of his boots rn

[haroldhighballjordan]

sometimes I randomly think about the time a girl posted in this girls only Facebook group I’m in telling everyone how she broke up with her boyfriend and he lied saying that he lost the spare key she gave him, only to then break into her apartment when she wasn’t home and steal the cat they’d adopted while they were together, but then he denied having done this and she didn’t really have proof that he took the cat since he wouldn’t let her come into his place and look for it. And then another girl saw this post and knew her ex-boyfriend, and she was like “girl. I used to hook up with your mans back in xxxx and I still have his number. If you want, I’ll hit him up and get him to invite me back to his place and see if your cat’s there.” And the OP was like “bet.”

So this woman hit up homie dog, asked him out for drinks, went home with him, slept with him, and then woke up in the middle of the night and TOOK THE CAT. Like she had only said that she would confirm if the cat was there but then she took it upon herself to steal this woman’s cat back. Like she full on Trojan horsed this man and then hit up homegirl like “I got the goods. Where you wanna meet.” And then the two of them posted a photo of them together with the cat to the group.

And I just think women supporting women is so beautiful.

[hinamie]

10 years later

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Hey now, Let her cook!

[bixels]

Baffled.

[inkskinned]

because sometimes there are invisible tests and invisible rules and you're just supposed to ... know the rule. someone you thought of as a friend asks you for book recommendations, so you give her a list of like 30 books, each with a brief blurb and why you like it. later, you find out she screenshotted the list and send it out to a group chat with the note: what an absolute freak can you believe this. you saw the responses: emojis where people are rolling over laughing. too much and obsessive and actually kind of creepy in the comments. you thought you'd been doing the right thing. she'd asked, right? an invisible rule: this is what happens when you get too excited.

you aren't supposed to laugh at your own jokes, so you don't, but then you're too serious. you're not supposed to be too loud, but then people say you're too quiet. you aren't supposed to get passionate about things, but then you're shy, boring. you aren't supposed to talk too much, but then people are mad when you're not good at replying.

you fold yourself into a prettier paper crane. since you never know what is "selfish" and what is "charity," you give yourself over, fully. you'd rather be empty and over-generous - you'd rather eat your own boundaries than have even one person believe that you're mean. since you don't know what the thing is that will make them hate you, you simply scrub yourself clean of any form of roughness. if you are perfect and smiling and funny, they can love you. if you are always there for them and never admit what's happening and never mention your past and never make them uncomfortable - you can make up for it. you can earn it.

don't fuck up. they're all testing you, always. they're tolerating you. whatever secret club happened, over a summer somewhere - during some activity you didn't get to attend - everyone else just... figured it out. like they got some kind of award or examination that allowed them to know how-to-be-normal. how to fit. and for the rest of your life, you've been playing catch-up. you've been trying to prove that - haha! you get it! that the joke they're telling, the people they are, the manual they got- yeah, you've totally read it.

if you can just divide yourself in two - the lovable one, and the one that is you - you can do this. you can walk the line. they can laugh and accept you. if you are always-balanced, never burdensome, a delight to have in class, champagne and glittering and never gawky or florescent or god-forbid cringe: you can get away with it.

you stare at your therapist, whom you can make jokes with, and who laughs at your jokes, because you are so fucking good at people-pleasing. you smile at her, and she asks you how you're doing, and you automatically say i'm good, thanks, how are you? while the answer swims somewhere in your little lizard brain:

how long have you been doing this now? mastering the art of your body and mind like you're piloting a puppet. has it worked? what do you mean that all you feel is... just exhausted. pick yourself up, the tightrope has no net. after all, you're cheating, somehow, but nobody seems to know you actually flunked the test. it's working!

aren't you happy yet?

[haveihitanerve]

I love how people are like Jason Todd was a demon child and all the other robins were angels compared to him like lmao robin!Jason was a fucking delight what do you mean

Dick showed up at the manor with a blue stuffed animal elephant and the rage of 100 men and the only thing thats changed is that the elephant is grey now

Tim showed up with blackmail on the fucking Batman and bullied him into accepting him as robin

Damian popped up on the doorstep holding a fucking katanna

Meanwhile robin!jason was jumping from building to building squealing robin magic! and would spontaneously hug Batman. he loved reading shakepeare knowledge and literally screamed golly jee willickers as the highest curse word in his vocabulary.

Robin!Jason was a goddamned fucking delight and all the other ones were the little demon children lmaooo

[kimdokjas]

though the movie might be cancelled, yuri on ice will live forever in our hearts. thank you yoi fandom, it's been real ♡

[mooneln0ne]

Mini thing i thought of

[ink-the-artist]

Video game I saw in a dream. It was in this low poly style like an older video game. You play as this character I think was meant to be a lamb, or maybe a weird mix of a lamb a mouse and a rabbit, (while not really looking like any of those things) and you’re running away from a wolf. Your objective is to last as long as possible before the wolf catches and eats you.

The house you’re running in is endless and bizarrely put together like most building interiors in dreams are (like the infinite toilet dream dimension on Reddit lol) the layout of the house is pretty detailed, you can stop and hide in places like closets or bins while the wolf looks for you, you can go up and down stairs and into rooms etc.

You never actually know where the wolf is or how close it is to you until it appears in your line of sight, it makes no noise and the game gives you no way of knowing where it is, and it’s pretty unpredictable it doesnt move at a consistent pace. When the wolf catches you there’s an animation showing it eating your character