#WE TORTURE IN EVERY WAY

[minteaspoon]

A Moment of Reprieve

actually happy lucemond hours:)

a/n: this was based off of song of achilles by madeline miller, go check the book out and give it a read - it’s absolutely worth it:)

•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•

Under the Weirwood Tree in the gardens of the Red Keep, there sat two young boys. One of white hair and purple eyes, the other of dark brown locks and dark irises.

The eldest, Aemond, held a book in his right hand, reading in High Valyrian to the younger, Lucerys - all while his left hand caresses his nephew’s head of chocolate.

In the grasp of Lucerys, he toyed with a small and thin horse, listening adeptly to his senior.

He liked listening to his uncle Aemond reading - he had a nice voice. Luke’s smile widens when he sees a servant bringing lemon cakes as ordered by the uncle and nephew duo.

“Uncle Aem! Our lemon cakes are here!” He exclaims, readying to up himself from his laid down position on his uncle’s lap. The brunette feels his shoulders held down, and brought back to rest against the ground.

“Stay, Lucy, the servant will bring the treats over. You don’t have to run and tire your small body,” Aemond jokes, chuckling softly when Luke puffs his cheeks out at the playful quip.

When the servant brings the lemon cakes over, the duo thank them before dismissing them to their chores.

Munching on the sweets, Luke asks, “do you think Mama and Step-grandmother are fighting again?”

Aemond froze, and turns his gaze to his distracted nephew who’s eyes were on the book his uncle had lay down to eat the cakes.

“…Knowing my mother, and with what she’s told me of my half-sister - your mother, I would be surprised if they handled a meeting without even the barest of arguments,” he mumbles loud enough for his nephew to hear.

Lucerys stops mid-bite, before putting his lemon cake back on the tray, wiping remaining crumbs from his fingers while turning to his uncle.

“I guess you have a point…Uncle Aem, do you think we’ll stick together even if our mothers separate us?” This was asked gently and in a whisper, sounding afraid of rejection from the questioner’s source of admiration.

The eldest was silent, before he brings his left hand to pat the younger’s head before it shifts downwards to his cheek. Once there, his thumb makes comforting motions as the brunette further leans into its hold.

“Yes, whatever happens, Lulu, I’ll make sure we stick together, alright? Nothing will separate us, I swear this to the Old and New Gods,” Aemond smiles, as he picks the book back into his grasp.

The duo continue to eat their sweet treats in a comfortable silence, leaning into each other and relishing in the quiet moment of reprieve.

Under the Weirwood Tree, they always found peace together away from the tumultuous life within the Red Keep.

After another minute or so, Luke breaks the silence yet again with a question, this time, one that temporarily stuns Aemond.

“Can you name one hero who was happy?”

Aemond’s face scrunches in confusion, “whatever do you mean?”

“I mean, can you name one hero in our books and lessons who lived and died happily? All at once? Every day and every night, every hour and every minute. They were always happy, and never anything else.”

His uncle’s brows furrowed in thought, as Luke stares at the violet eyes with many thoughts of memories about their Sept’s lessons of past history.

“…I can’t say I have - I’m sorry, Luke.”

Luke shrugs and smiles, “Well, if you can’t name one, then there hasn’t been one both famous AND happy yet, huh?”

“I suppose you can say that.”

Sighing his disappointment loudly, Luke flips onto his back and onto his uncle’s lap yet again. His eyes were closed, and after a few deep breaths, he opens them with a bright smile.

“Alright then, I’ll tell you a secret!”

He scrambles upwards to his knees to the side of his uncle, who’s wide-eyed gaze keeps track of his always moving nephew.

“And what will that be?”

“I’ll be the first!”

Luke brings his soft hands to Aemond’s lightly calloused hands from training, and excitedly shoved their intertwined hands to their chests, leaning into his uncle’s face as his smile widens.

“I’ll be the first hero in history to always be happy! Swear it!”

Aemond’s wide eyes yet again furrows, “why me?”

“Because you’re the reason! Swear it!”

These words were loud yet quiet, as though this claim were so sacred that only Aemond, Luke, the Weirwood Tree and the Old and New Gods were the only ones worthy of hearing it.

And to the boys, it was.

Aemond was brought out of his thoughts by his nephew.

“Swear it,” whispered his beloved.

Hesitantly, he whispers back, much quieter than his nephew; “I swear it.”

Luke leans his forehead against Aemond’s, and both let out shaky breaths held in after the silence that followed their vows.

There, under the Weirwood Tree in the garden of the Red Keep, sat two lovestruck young boys, uncaring of the rest of the world, and relishing in a moment of reprieve from the hectic life of the court.

There they shared kisses and embraces.

There they shared sweet words and sweet treats.

There they comforted the other when troubles arose.

There they would sit and make up when they fight.

And there, a lone man - filled with a burning regret and a strong yearning of a past once forgotten and now remembered - kneels, as the rest of his world burns into nothing but ashes and sulfur, of fire and blood, of the raging ocean and thunderous storms in what once was a place of comfort, safety and love.

•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•

a/n: ….Never said it was gonna end sweet:) Just that it was gonna be a happy moment for lucemond, never said I wasn’t gonna make it end with me tearing y’all’s hearts out:)

a/n ps: @sleeplessdreamer123 IM NOT SORRY, THIS IS REVENGE FOR ALL THOSE TIMES YOU MADE ME SAD WITH YOUR LUCEMOND CONTENT

[aquickstart]

ok sure i'll talk about farleigh start. i'll talk about his tragedy of never being enough as it were and then having to deal with fucking oliver. sure. disclaimer: it's about class (and race) and the horrible reality of the rich. the horrible reality of living as farleigh.

another disclaimer: i'm white! and poc definitely pick up on everything i'm talking about here as it is, and better. i was and am specifically interested in farleigh vs. oliver but it's impossible to examine without considering race. definitely let me know if anything abt this sucks!

farleigh and oliver are similar. it's annoying because every intruder that is not himself is annoying, partly because felix's attention swaying from farleigh is dangerous; there is always a threat of being discarded, even if no precedent existed. the potential is terrifying.

but you'd think he's seen this before, every summer (if venetia is telling the truth) or at least often enough to learn to recognize it fast, so he should know this will pass. part of it is i think still the deep anxiety, and i think he hated every boy that was there before, and it is sort of routine.

but definitely a huge factor in farleigh's annoyance is the fact that he's a biracial (black for cattons, that's all they see) man in a white rich household. he's alert and exhausted all the time. of course he's angry at oliver, regardless of whether he's the first to crash at saltburn for the summer or the fifty-first.

but the important thing is this.

farleigh is very jealous of and angry and pissed at oliver because farleigh sees all the similarities between them. outsider, in financial trouble, whatever it is, in need of cattons; and yet oliver is preferred. and farleigh seems to be the only one to really consider it. felix does not pick up on the hint when farleigh brings up the birthday party vs. his mother. felix's clumsy "different or... anything like that" is as much about race as it is about class, of course. the "we've done all that we can" bit is felix absolving himself of guilt because surely they had, surely the mysterious collective cattons that he's not really part of had tried all they could do. to him, farleigh is different from oliver, because farleigh has been helped. felix is rich and white and twofold uncomfortable with farleigh, even if he's nice about it, even if he genuinely enjoys his company; he doesn't look too close at farleigh because he feels too guilty to come too close. and farleigh can't do anything about it. he can't nice himself into it. the fucking tragedy of him is that he's never enough in the world of the ultra-rich white, even if (especially because!) he's born into it.

farleigh is very pissed at oliver because farleigh also sees all the differences between them. you know who can be nice poor white enough to fit in? fucking oliver. felix says "just be yourself, they'll love you" when oliver first moves in. farleigh was also probably told the same thing, and felix also probably believed that farleigh could just be himself, but even if the cattons were magically not racist at all (impossible), it wouldn't make a difference to farleigh. he would still self-censor, keep in check, be in dangerous waters (because racism is not just about the individual, but about the system). we see that he'd won himself leeway by years of trial and error by the way he speaks to the family, but it's still within the boundaries of acceptable, built by the cattons. he's part of them because they allow it, and farleigh is very, very aware.

the annoying thing is oliver can be himself. like, truly, genuinely, he can just be. and farleigh can't help but envy that.

as a side note, oliver is obviously jealous of farleigh in the beginning as well, because regardless of the reality of farleigh's situation, he was born into it, and hence, at least in oliver's mind, has his position solidified. oliver's whole thing is unquenchable thirst and hunger for whatever and everything the cattons have (including themselves!). he wishes to have been a catton from birth. to oliver, at first, there's nothing farleigh can really do to lose it. and until he figures out the cattons completely, he can't help but envy that.

but i think farleigh senses something different about oliver early on. at least on the level of the text, we have "you're almost passing [for] a real, human boy", which is so important because farleigh is the first to point out oliver's weirdness. the next to do so is venetia in the bath scene calling him a freak, but it's too late. farleigh is too early.

and i like to think he clocks oliver too early because he sees the jagged edges that he recognizes in himself. i think that one other thing that farleigh envies is oliver's freedom to let go. freedom to let go is very similar to freedom to be, but not quite the same.

to be is about perception: farleigh knows he cannot fall out of line, but would like to, and oliver does not have to worry about it at all (i mean, he does, because oliver also performs for felix, but farleigh doesn't know that).

to let go is about the self: farleigh is too scared to even want what oliver eventually does, to even consider the possibility. oliver can let himself want. oliver can let himself act. oliver just can do things and want things. i'm not sure farleigh can.

and so in this scene, when oliver's wants and actions have landed him nowhere with farleigh, felix, venetia, the cattons, of course farleigh gloats. he can let himself do that, because if the cattons are slowly discarding him, farleigh can allow himself this one small victory. he's relieved because despite the dangerous similarities, oliver is, thankfully, not really the same as farleigh, right?

but like. this movie is a love letter to all things gothic. oliver is a white man. he prevails. the brief performance that oliver put on did eventually end up more effective than farleigh's lifetime of constraint. my heart fucking breaks for him to be honest.

the issue that remains is the fact of farleigh's survival. i like to think that oliver came to respect him. oliver is smart, but farleigh is clever. he picks up on everything oliver does (to refer back to the karaoke scene, farleigh immediately retaliates in the cleverest way, in the moment), and he's the only one to do so consistently (venetia, again, for example, comes close, but too late; oliver doesn't like that, there's nothing to work with). hence, stay with me for a little longer, the paradox: farleigh survives because he was never enough for the cattons, but he is very worthy of oliver's attention. in his own freaky way, oliver wants him. look at that.

so. farleigh. farleigh might come back. he always comes back. and i think oliver wants to try harder next time.

[asterdust]

what sort of crack did they put on phumpeem

[autisticrosewilson]

So do you guys actually think that Jason's entire story, relationship to the others, and philosophy amounts to him being a rebellious teen who wants his dad's attention? Like are you 100% serious? I thought you were joking about that but too many of you are saying it with your whole chest.

And what the fuck is this "Bruce antagonizing Jason is fanon!" Shit I've been seeing? You guys are aware that a parent can love their kid and still be a shit parent right? I know you guys don't want to fathom the thought that maybe your blorbo might also occasionally have to face responsibility for consistently endangering children but let's not start being delusional now.

Bruce does love his kids, that doesn't mean that he hasn't hurt them. And I'd also argue that for the most part he feels in the right for it, and he's said multiple times that he believes it's for their own good, so you can't even argue that he's sorry about it. It's okay for you guys to admit that your PERSONAL INTERPRETATION of the character wouldn't do that but don't sit here and pretend that it's not a facet of the source.

[yohanmoon]

POV: Jang Jae-kyung/Kang Yo-han are hunting you down

You (probably):

[moldy-flowers]

The interesting experience of being pro Sasuke, anti konoha, pro tobirama, anti Naruto ending, pro Sasusaku, anti Itachi, pro Sakura, anti SasuNaru, pro Tobirama×Izuna, anti Madara, pro karin, anti Orochimaru, pro Uchiha and anti Hashirama. And also as much as I hate the guy danzo was kind of hot when he was younger...

[mishkakagehishka]

"We're old moms, we can't wait to stop breastfeeding so we can get [very excited, shrill even] botooooox!!!"

We are never making it out of the patriarchy.

[seaweedstarshine]

RIP Krakoa 🌹 I can’t lie I’ve been kinda behind since midway through Fall of X I’m gonna catch up before my first SDCC this summer but I hear Vulcan didn’t see much action anyway. Anyway my hand slipped and I found myself looking into the eyes of my canonically psychotic son the best Summers brother who’s never done anything wrong in his entire life, (he’s done lotsa wrong things but I love him more for it)

[triptychofvoids]

you know that one post that's like "autistic people are legally allowed to kill 1 person"? That's medic. But he gets infinite because I said so.

-☎ anon, macking they cheese.

YIPPEE!! i agree. he should be allowed to do whatever he wants i think and that includes killing people for enrichment

[allamericanb-tch]

no girl taylor isn’t blocking you from the chart maybe your music just isn’t as good and you aren’t as popular?

[scribblingface]

I went into bg3 fully ready to have a good time and have done so despite many ways in which the game is not good and have not worried too much over various dramas about patch changes but my chill streak has finally ended and I am wailing gnashing my teeth etc. about patch 7 (the supposedly final one with story/content changes) not adding companion reactivity for any of the durge content in act 2

[pop-punklouis]

-

[bunnihearted]

5 million male chicks per year are brutally murdered right after birth bc they're "worthless" to the egg industry yet im supposed to believe that humans arent inherently evil lmao shut the fuck up

[thranduel]

bg3 is getting popular and the fandom is getting bigger so i’m just gonna say this now lol

i’m already waiting for the astarion hate to begin just because he’s a popular character and the internet always gets mad when someone gets popular lol :/ “he’s so overrated!!!!”, “he’s not even that good”, “he’s horrible and mean”, blah blah blah. he’s a well-written and very complex fictional character with an incredibly talented voice actor that most of us have been excited to see in the full game for the past 3 years. people are allowed to like him. he’s popular for many reasons, not just “wow handsome vampire”. his character tropes are also very popular in fiction and people tend to get drawn to characters like him because they’re interesting, have deep backstories and we want to see redemption arcs. enemies to friends + enemies to lovers are also some of the most well-loved tropes. characters being loved and popular is NOT a bad thing and i don’t know why people get so bitter about it. and fyi this isn’t about people who simply don’t like him for their own reasons, i understand why he might not be everyone’s cup of tea and that’s totally valid, it’s more about people who only randomly started to hate him just because he’s popular

it kinda reminds me of when the internet turned on eddie munson from stranger things. i still can’t get over how everyone immediately switched up on him and hopped on the hate bandwagon just because he became popular. and then it became “trendy” to hate him. people who previously liked him when volume 1 came out totally changed and then started picking out every tiny little flaw just to hate on him. i used to see edits of him everywhere and then it turned into calling him cringe and making fun of anyone who liked him. even cosplayers got hated on and bullied for… having fun? like yeah you might find some things cringe but the way the entire internet bullied these people and enjoyed laughing at them was SO weird to me

again, it’s totally fine for people to dislike certain characters and have their own opinions. but ONLY hating on them just because they’re popular and then trying to guilt trip/make people feel like idiots for liking them is so weird

[iamanartichoke]

I made the mistake of scrolling the dash last night, hoping to re-engage my Loki fandom feels, only to be reminded of why I've more or less quit this fandom - which, for the record, is bc I don't know if it's purity culture or "woke" culture or just "for the love of god, I'm begging you to touch grass" culture, but I'd like to engage with my blorbo without running into posts spouting takes like "saying Loki has small, slender hands is a feminization kink (and therefore bad)." Like?? I think there's something inherently anti-genderfluidity(?) to assume that men can't have small, slender hands or that having small, slender hands is automatically a feminine trait, and also Loki does have small, slender hands, and also even if it is being written as some kind of a kink, so what? Why are we kink-shaming?

I mean, I don't know, it just seems like there are more and more and more things that are being shamed, or criticized, based on an arbitrary sense of morality that undermines fiction as a creative, explorative form of art and it's just beyond exhausting - and fucking obnoxious - at this point.

[disengaged]

wrote a 6 page acid-fueled letter to my ex about how i’m still in love with him and probably always will be, blah blah blah . his reaction ?? asking if i want to go on a trip to montreal to get tattoos together