#and wasn’t told to just get over it

[winnie-the-monster]

You ever think about how in one way or another Hope has been grieving her whole life. And then get even more disgusted(and in my case just the tiniest bit murderous)at how she was treated in legacies when it came to her grief. Bc I do all the time. If they weren’t dismissive of it and how she feels, they were acting as if there was some type of time limit on grief. Like Hope has been grieving the loss of her loved ones since she was seven. She deserved to be treated better than that, and not have people tell her “it’s called grieving, Hope, you should try it sometime” or “this is good, this is letting go.”

[likealittleheartbeat]

I try to generally be constructive and engaged with the show I love on here, so on this day, I’ll just say that one of the most thematically important aspects for me from the original ATLA is Aang’s emotional core of real shame for running away when he was hurt by the monk’s decision to send him away. People who feel the kind of deep-seated shame that Aang feels from this decision can understand how that kind of all-encompassing shame is not built around a simple failure or a lie they tell themselves; it’s constructed from real misbehaviors and transgressions of their own sense of ethics—lashing out, telling lies, attempting to hurt others intentionally—that then have consequences (abuses, abandonments, or deaths) which seem to far exceed their expectations or even basic logic.

The combination of the misbehavior with exaggerated existential punishments (along with a lack of support and amend-making in the immediate wake of the events) is what transforms a sense of guilt (I fucked up) into shame (I am a forever fuck-up). Then shame, that sense of being a secret monster ‘no matter what I do or how good everyone thinks I am,’ invites all the avoidance strategies (Aang puts on big smiles, makes lots of jokes, constantly tries to make everyone happy, hops from town to town without building deeper connections). One doesn’t want to acknowledge one’s true feelings or let others in to see those feelings and experiences because it’s too painful to face the grief at the same time that you have to look at yourself for being responsible—even when you recognize it wasn’t totally your fault. It’s just that if you had just been good, less emotional, less human, then maybe the world wouldn’t be so messed up. Of course, in a zen view of things, the world will always be messed up in the same way it will always be beautiful. These are constant facts that always coexist in balance, and this is the truth that Aang learns and that undergirds the whole series.

So I always loved that Aang ran away. It was his sin and his salvation. And it becomes this constant tension for the series—he gets hurt in Bato of the Water Tribe and starts to run away from Katara and Sokka, he runs away to the Guru in the Crossroads of Destiny and his best friend is attacked, he and the gaang retreat after the Day of the Black Sun failure, he runs away to meditation in Sozin’s Comet when everyone wants him preparing for war. Aang’s reluctance to be a hero and the attachments and petulance for which he gets criticized are what metamorphasize to become his most noble attributes. They allow him to empathize with others shame and, ultimately, wield the kind of compassion that can deconstruct the power and perfectionism of imperialism.

So yes, Aang ran away from his temple 100 years ago. It wasn’t the mentally healthy choice. It wasn’t the ethical choice. It wasn’t the wise choice. It was human and emotional and shameful and real. Aang is a better character for it. ATLA is a better show because of it. And we are better people when we understand these kind of tragic emotional experiences that people are trying so hard to grow through.

[zeb-z]

talking entirely character wise. do you think today was a bit of a wake up call for bad. do you think he heard red screaming out of their minds begging for toxic gas and thought about how they’ve lost their minds just a little bit. do you think that when he was given an immediate no when he asked where the red egg was to help them defend he understood how deep of a rift he created. do you think as he sat there silent while the rest of red cheered at killing the egg statue, he wondered if he could have pushed them a little too far. do you think that maybe, just maybe, with the red sun beating down on him in that desert, the gas mask team cheering and dancing, he felt for a single moment the consequences of his actions? that maybe, if he hadn’t started out so hostile with extreme tactics, if he hadn’t been so bloodthirsty and ruthless, if he had had just a little bit of hesitation, that his own attempts at diplomacy would have gone over better? that the rest of the teams would have listened? that red would have trusted his judgement on the egg statues, or at the very least respected him enough to honor an agreement? do you think he realizes that burning his bridges may have fucked him over?

[halfyearsqueen]

something about rhaenyra and motherhood, something about the fact she’s the first of the targaryens we know of who’s death at the hands of a dragon she’s explicitly torn apart and eaten. that she died with her surviving child watching who goes onto be known as the dragonbane – the fact sunfyre showed no interest in her at first until they cut her breast. the fact aegon had to be torn from her arms and was made to watch

[adrift-in-thyme]

Note to self: never again let it slip to an irl person that I write whump

[kaidabakugou]

the new girl at one of my favorite bakeries called me pretty this morning and it literally melted all my stress away 🥺

[fefairys]

just my thoughts but if you are in a monogamous relationship and often wish you could be in a more open relationship, you should communicate that to your partner. and if your partner makes you feel afraid to communicate that (not you being afraid out of anxiety, but them specifically saying things that make you afraid to say how you truly feel about stuff) then they are not being a good a partner. it might be a hard conversation but communication is the number one thing necessary for a good relationship.

if your justification is “well it’s useless because they would say no anyway” -> you won’t know until you communicate

and

if you feel at all restricted by monogamy, maybe it is not for you, and it may be hard to have to leave your partner if they’re not comfortable with an open relationship, but i don’t think you should sacrifice your happiness for someone else, no matter how much you love them. your feelings and desires matter. your life should not revolve around keeping your partner happy even if it means sacrificing your own happiness and freedoms.

[screechingkroh]

Did a whiteboard with my friend. The little blue lad is Zuzu, she’s a snow leopard kiddo teehee

Giant bird dragon is Ina. They practically adopted Zuzu and watch over them HAHAHA. I love them so much they hold my heart 😭😭

(Bonus drawing by my friend teehee)

[autopsytableromance]

Trying so hard to not just fucking hate my comms class but my professor is making it real hard

[acebytaemin]

the fucking shitshow i experienced today…

[sassmill]

Thinking back to the parking lot conversation I had with my coworker after I fully broke down and told her everything that has been going on at home and how I feel so fucking trapped because I can’t afford to leave and she compared it to intimate partner violence and it just. Sank in in a way that it hadn’t before. Like when my therapist told me to imagine if somebody treated the girl I babysit the way I was treated, would I think that was something to brush off or would I immediately report it? Just. Having somebody force you to view your struggles from another perspective is so powerful.

[permanentreverie]

.

[bloodywonder1846]

Sweeney Todd has the major advantage of having a landlady that’s madly in love with him.

I first went down this rabbit hole of thought a few years ago. My updated version is that Nellie doesn’t make him pay rent. She just doesn’t care. She already wants him to live with her, so why make him pay?

Back when I first thought of this tho, my joke was that they’re both extremely broke, so she maybe tries to get him to pay rent a little bit, but he’s got, like, no money, so he’s just like, “Sorry, can’t.” And she just lets it slide, ‘cause what is she gonna do, evict the love of her life?

He gets away with this all the time.

The other joke I made is that he very easily could use this whole thing to his advantage. Not in a “toying with her feelings” way, just in a “my landlady’s in love with me, what’s she gonna do” way. One day, he just buys her flowers and is like, “Do you except barters?” And of course she accepts because she loves flowers and she loves him, and even if it was to get out of paying rent, she thinks it’s sweet, and they both know deep down that she was never going to make him pay anyway.

[vampiremansionpoolboy-moved]

going insane over the fact that happiness and care and concern and love is underneath every interaction between newt and hermann in pacific rim

[jrwiyuri]

Guys I’m emotionally devastated by suckening ep 4 is anyone out here? Can anybody hear me?

[blueheartedwolf]

I wish I could find a doctor that wants to find out what’s actually wrong with me instead of recommending prescriptions to address the symptoms. I’m so tired of being recommended ibuprofen for debilitating pain. Tired of relaying my medical history to a new doctor and getting the same furrowed brow and shrugging shoulders I get every time. Tired of having so-called medical professionals ask why I need a cane if I’m able to walk down their clinic hallway without it. When will someone fucking help me?