So, one of the most interesting things that's come from my recent exercises in writing the Olympians as young deities is all of the very fun and somewhat painful conversations that come from the young deities acquiring and consequently settling into their domains.
Apollo and Artemis especially have been really fascinating under the microscope. They start off identically, with extremely similar interests and similar domains over the hunt and wilderness. They spend their days under the stars and foraging for fruit and dancing and singing in the fields, two rustic god-children exploring and learning together. Then Apollo goes off on his own to slay Python.
Now, a lot of things change when Apollo kills Python. That is the act which transforms the bow from a tool of survival and sport to an instrument of murder, bloodshed and ultimately war. It is Apollo's first act of wrath which separates him from Artemis - both spiritually because she has not yet shed blood herself as a goddess and physically because it leads to his exile. Most importantly however, the slaying of Python is the act that grants Apollo his knowledge.
If violence is what first separates Apollo from Artemis then it is knowledge which keeps them apart.
This can refer to a lot of things; that Artemis continued to be at home with the wild beasts of the forests and mountains while Apollo grew to prefer the domesticated sheep and cattle, that Artemis continued to avoid mortals while Apollo grew to know their ways and endeavoured to teach them more. The point that has been the most interesting to me however has been Artemis, who remains free of slaughter, and thus remains pure and Apollo, who becomes acutely and entirely too aware of it, and thus must be constantly purified.
Apollo's infatuation with medicine specifically is the place where this becomes most apparent. When he leaves for his exile to travel as a mortal, without nectar or ambrosia, without power, Apollo is without the privileges of the divine for the very first time. He sweats, he smells, he grows weary when he travels, he grows hungry and thirsty. He experiences fatigue and nausea, the fever of sickness, the chill of infection, the delirium of poison. The blood Apollo shed does not only make him impure spiritually, it strips him of the purity of his birth and station. Likewise, medicine is not a divine practice. What use do the unkillable immortals have for something as finicky as medicine when they have nectar and ambrosia? Apollo however, knows of the pains of the flesh and the suffering of the mortal coil. He pursues medicine in all its horrors and difficulties because of the knowledge he gained with blood.
Artemis then, cannot understand the medical Apollo. When her brother returns possessed by this spectre of ill-gained knowledge, she does not recognise him. Who is this boy who scores the deer and studies the shape of their intestines before he cooks them? What good is there in rescuing a chick with a broken wing? The Apollo-of-the-Wild in her memories would have done the correct thing and left the thing for dead - let the forest take what is its due. Who is this Apollo whose hands are always stained to the wrist in the blood and gore of the living? What is his fascination with the mechanics of mortal bodies? Artemis does not know and Apollo does not tell her.
That has, by far, been my favourite effect of the whole Python watershed moment to explore recently.
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DC x DP Prompt *4*
Jason had been a little better recently. He had the pit better under control, even though it reared his head from time to time. But it was easier to talk with the bats... his family.
But B's staring was making his skin crawl. The big bad bat was staring him down for over ten minutes.
"What?!", his tone was harsher than he intended, but that wouldn't make him back down. The silence carried on for a few beats, before his fahter batman finally graced him with an answer.
"I spoke with Constantin... a while ago", it almost sounded like he wanted to talk emotions. Which could just mean something bad.
It took some moments before B continued. The emotional talk theory sounded more and more likely.
"There could be a way to help with the pit madness." - Bruce lifted his hand to stop any Protest from Jason - "I just want you to consider it. We won't do anything without your permission. It wouldn't even work without it. The entity is strong, but it is confirmed that it isn't a danger, as long as we treat this the right way", if he didn't know the old man any better, he would have thought that he was just as businesslike as always. But his jaw was clenched, his fingers kept twitching ever so slightly. His father Bruce was nervous.
And that was enough to reign the pit in, that kept whispering how they still didn't accept him. But that didn't mean he liked this idea.
So his answer was nothing more than a non committed grunt, before he swung on the back of his bike. The old man would be alright to wait for a bit.
.
.
.
It took months before Jason brought the conversation back up. The pit had been a bitch to reign in the last few weeks and today he felt at least somewhat like himself again.
They spoke just a little bit about what would need to happen, but Jason felt like his time was running thin. He didn't care all to much about the details at the moment.
Constantin was ordered to the cave and the summoning was prepared. No blood or sacrifice was needed, which made this magic bullshit at least a bit more tolerable.
Beside the Batman, Constantin and Red Hood was also Nightwing there. He didn't want any of his other siblings by his side. Not when he felt so easy to irritate.
The Magician began the ritual and in the circle formed a whirlpool of lazurus water. If Dick hadn't been standing behind him, he would have bolted.
But after just a few seconds emerged a white headed boy out of the pool. The portal closed and left a confused, floating boy behind.
But before Constantin or Batman could say a word, the green (Lazarus green!) eyes landed on him. The being gasped and flyed directly to him.
.
.
.
Danny had been minding his own business, free from rouges and king work for once. His finals stood right around the corner and he took the time off to learn.
But of course he had to be summoned in the only normal time he had. But since the energy felt familiar, he was to 90% sure that it should be sad trenchcoat man. So it should be important... hopefully.
As soon has he looked around he saw John and the Batman! But there was an energy that pulled his attention.
His eyes widened. This poor... Revenant? Halfa?? He wasn't sure, but! He was one of his people and it looked bad. And he seemed to be around his age, what made it so much worse.
Danny zoomed over to him, to have a better look. And that just made it worse.
"That looks bad... who did this to you?", he whisperd with a horrified glance at the chest of the other boy.
His core was slowly poisoned by his own ectoplasm and seemed like there was not much time left.
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i realized i don't always have to use blog this for art..
so last night i had a dream where all the "godlike" aus, fanon or canon, were all created in a white void. the ones i could see were life, reaper, ink, error, dream, and nightmare. my dream was from the pov of error, but he didn't have his strings.
the dream started with them appearing in what looked like the anti-void, confused. none of the other aus were created yet, but us creators had made these gods to start the balance that would eventually form the aus. most of the ones there were excited at the idea, but error wasn't. he didn't know why he was there and what was happening, but as he watched from a few feet away he heard a voice calling to him from somewhere in the void. curious, he followed it.
after only a little bit of walking he met a figure, idk who it was, and they were the source of the voice. they told him that they could help him find his place among the other gods if they made a deal with him and, after a little bit of convincing, he agreed.
almost immediately some weird symbol was burned into his forehead and the sides of his eyes where his tear tracks would go, they kinda reminded me of a circuit board? or some kind of celtic symbol?? idk. he was on the ground in pain when the other gods found him. ink tried to figure out what was happening but error wouldn't respond, the voice in his head was so much louder now and he just wanted it to stop.
my dream ended with error touching the marks near his eyes and the strings came out of them and he, and all the other gods, were horrified.
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