#he can never be truly happy can he

[extraorminary]

Okay but have you ever sat down to contemplate the possibility of Orm ever thinking—no matter how fleeting the thought—that he was partly to blame for Atlanna’s unhappiness? 

I have reasons for this. Hear me out. I’m going to focus on comics!Orm here.

This is a man who grew up witnessing horrifying fights between his parents. He had to watch his mother, who was most likely the only person to ever show him any sort of affection, get beaten by the extremely abusive man she was forced to marry (and then get beaten himself in turn). He grew up with the knowledge that he had a brother, whom he idolized and loved deeply, on the surface world, and you can’t convince me it took long for him to realize his mother had been forced to leave her surface family in order to fulfill her duty to her kingdom—to marry a cruel man she didn’t love in order to have Orm, the heir Atlantis needed.

And it doesn’t matter if Atlanna never did anything that even remotely implied she felt any sort of negative emotion towards him. Pretty sure it was the opposite: if anything, I’d say she doted on him quite a bit. Because even if she wasn’t always the best of mothers in the comics, I have no doubt she loved her son. In fact, nobody can tell me Orm wasn’t a complete mama’s boy as a child. But look me in the eyes and tell me that teenage Orm, left to be a king with no living family left in the entire ocean, never had even the vaguest feelings of shame and guilt at the sudden reminiscence of his mother, badly hurt after a rough encounter with Orvax, glancing at him and forcing a smile with her face bruised and the most exhausted look in her eyes. Tell me that, despite the memory of his mother’s warm embrace and her gentle whispers of how much she loved him and how special he was to her, there wasn’t a small voice in the back of his mind suggesting that every time Atlanna looked at him, she was forced to recall all the times she ever suffered at the hands of Orvax—that she was forced to see Orvax every single time her eyes fell upon him.

Tell me he didn’t grow to believe, and accept as pure fact, that in his mother’s heart he was always second-best. He was his mother’s biggest treasure, sure, but deep down he was convinced that Arthur had claimed ownership over the biggest part of her heart. I’m sure Atlanna would have told him, entirely honest, the complete opposite time and time again every time she mentioned his brother, but it’s also not hard to picture Orm having trouble accepting her words after hours spent ruminating. In his logical mind, it was simple enough: Arthur was the child her heart wanted, born out of love in a union of sweet passion with the love of her life, while Orm was the child her body was forced to have, out of duty and obligation to Atlantis, in a deeply unhappy marriage she’d had no choice in.

And I’m not saying it troubled him. Not always, at least. I’m sure it was difficult to come to terms with it at first; he was probably deeply hurt the first time his brain created the idea during his adolescence. However, with time Orm would have gone from viewing things emotionally to analyzing everything rationally. It is the only way for an Atlantean king to withstand the pressures of the crown without going mad, after all. As a teenager, the idea that he had a role in ruining his mother’s life was an insecurity. As a fully grown adult, it was merely one of the many ugly realities of life. His mother’s torment had begun with the monster she married, and it culminated with the child that finished tying her to Atlantis. And Orm had no choice but to learn how to adapt, to ignore the ache in his chest every time the thought popped up, because otherwise it would have broken him.

And in the end, it all played perfectly into his father’s plans: he wanted to raise a king who would not be affected by something as ridiculous as emotions, and finally he was successful.

[emby-m]

What has four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at night?

(an exploration of andreas over the course of 25 years, plus quotes)

[canisalbus]

IDK if I'm phrasing this correctly, but in my brain, Vasco is, like, the personification (caninification?) of an afternoon chilling on a back porch swing.

.

[worstloki]

My issue with Thor not ‘realizing’ why Loki was acting off in Avengers 1 isn’t that Thor didn’t recognise Loki was acting unlike himself—Thor did note that—or that Thor didn’t figure out what was wrong—he did try asking—it’s more along the lines of Thor giving up, and that he accepted Loki was bad now within two days while knowing something was off when Thor himself behaved just as bad for much longer before without any specific compromising event.

[meredithbeckham]

i will meet you on another planet if the plans change

be on your own way, daughter.

[iangallagherisadeadman]

post-s11 Tami definitely gets tired of Lip and leaves him.

yes, I do like them as a couple, I think it is an interesting dynamic and that Tami is good for him honestly, even though they lived completely different lives and crash so many times because of it throughout the last seasons.

fact is Lip won't ever change and will keep making the same kind of mistakes and she will get fed up with it eventually. they'll go different ways, maybe keep a somewhat friendly relationship, and she will get a new partner and Lip will have a Sean kind of relationship with Fred: that kid is the most important thing in his whole life and he's constantly hunted by the fear of drinking again and hurting Fred.

[theokusgallery]

The problem with my art right now is that 1) the little drawing time I have goes to @daily-basil ; 2) I have phases, and am currently deeply unmotivated ; and 3) when I do draw what this blog is currently about (Arsenic) I draw him in a gay way (because I love him deeply) and not like the unhinged person he actually is. I'm sorry I'm so soft about him right now. Yes I want Sunny and him to tear each other apart but they also need to love each other so so so much first

[cozykdramakat]

bbs were not meant to play palace politics, they were meant to flirt over baduk, be cute, and live happily okay

[littlegalerion]

I JUST SAW GAMEPLAY PROVING GALE WILL STILL LOVE THE PC IF THEY BECOME A MIND FLAYER AND EVEN STILL PROPOSE.

[jinstronaut]

doing this cc wrapped has made me realize just how many of my sets are between 100 - 200 notes. like that's my average notes per set (re: jin a day specifically)

and that's wild all things considered lmao

[mikuyuuss]

Not to be sappy and all that, but even though I find it tragic that Jesse will forever have to live under a fake identity for the rest of his life, and how lonely it might be, I also see Mr. Driscoll as a means for him to start anew where he can finally rediscover his true self again.

[burr-ell]

There's something Taliesin said on Talks Machina for episode 105 that really interests me:

It's one of those things where he's a little irritated at some of the other members of the party, is anytime that like, Vax says like, "Well we haven't actually had, y'know, we keep cheating death," and then like, Percy just keeps wanting to keep going, "My whole family was butchered in front of me, you a—I am very cognizant of the realities of this situation! Go fuck yourself!" But y'know, he's polite, so he just sort of goes, "Really. Okay."

There's something about the foil relationship that Percy and Vax have that interests me in part because it's not totally addressed. Percy is the kind of person who is very active about how he handles any given situation; for good or ill, if something needs to be dealt with, he will deal with it and confront the fallout later. Vax...doesn't really do that. Vax ruminates and broods a lot. He internalizes and second-guesses. And to Vax, Percy comes off as reckless and headstrong and arrogant—and sometimes he is, but I think Percy is also just very decisive, and from what I've heard that's a throughline with Taliesin's characters. They make choices, they have beliefs, and they stick to them. Which makes sense when you look at something Taliesin said in his Between the Sheets interview:

Taliesin: Life is long and strange and I keep saying 'yes' to things. Brian: But you seem happy with those choices. Taliesin: They're choices. Choices are a lot better than not choosing. Not choosing just means you're at the whims of circumstance.

Conversely, to Percy, I think Vax can come off like he navel-gazes too much, takes too long to come to a decision, and is far too accepting of things as they are, or as he knows them to be. And sometimes that's true, but Vax is also just someone who wants to consider his options before he makes potentially world-altering decisions and not assume that his judgment is best in all circumstances. In other words, part of the reason Percy and Vax tend to butt heads is because to Vax, Percy moves too quickly, and to Percy, Vax moves too slowly.

And I wonder how that plays into Percy's own grief over Vax after all is said and done. Because for one thing I don't doubt that he might internalize it at least a bit, for Vex and Keyleth's sake. For another though...as angry as Percy is (and probably will never stop being) at the Raven Queen, I imagine some of that anger—as it so often is in grief—might be directed at Vax himself. Why didn't he try to fight harder? Why did he just accept this as the only option? My entire family was butchered in front of me, I know what that loss does to a person, why didn't you try harder to prevent it happening to us?

Why did you let her take you?

Why did you leave?

It's just interesting to me. Because Percy has always been one to use careful wording and trickery to get out of a bad deal or talk his way into a good one, and he often challenges fate (even challenging what his own player intended to be his fate!). Even to the bitter end—his last words to Vax, prior to the wedding, were "I don't accept this". I think there will be a time, as he grieves Vax in his own way, that he's angry and resentful that Vax didn't do the same.

But Vax serves the goddess of fate. He is the fate-touched. He was never going to see fate as something to be challenged, but rather embraced. Whether Percy agrees with him, whether the audience agrees with him, Vax came to see his fate and his choices as one and the same. And I think that's part and parcel of some complicated things that Percy in particular will deal with for a very long time.

[dmclemblems]

people before three hopes: rodrigue doesn’t care about his son

my son

my son

thank you for taking such good care of my son

how fortunate he’s my son all the same I’m glad he has you to look after him

[bruciemilf]

AND there are canons where Bruce is perfectly well-adjusted, has hobbies, hangs out with his friends, loves his family, and is a perfectly normal, sweet guy other than the whole "billionaire and Batman" thing. But Alfred gets all the blame and none of the credit with you "Alfred was a bad parent" people.

But??? I never said?? Alfred was bad???

[meownotgood]

aki trying to win his ex back (in a non-toxic, comfortable way of course.). idk i just love seeing this man break down and apologize, asking for your heart and hand in love once more, asking for a chance and telling you he misses you and your warmth and smell

YES YES YES

aki would try to hold back his feelings for you for as long as he can. he wants to forget about you, he wants to move on, but he just can't. he's still terribly in love with you, no matter how much he tries to convince himself that he isn't. he misses you so badly, no matter how much he tries to distract himself or how much he tries to tell himself he's better without you. he's not. without you, there's a piece of him missing.

his cold behavior towards you leads you to assume he doesn't want to be around you, but that couldn't be further from the truth. and aki makes that clear when he suddenly breaks down one day, taking your hands into his own trembling palms to stop you from leaving. tears well in his eyes, his voice wavers and threatens to break.

"sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything, I just... I can't do this anymore. I can't keep seeing you every day when I... I can't keep trying to act normal, just- god, I love you. I'm still so in love with you, I'm sorry."

"you don't have to say anything right now, but... I want you back. and I'll do anything to be with you again — I took you for granted, I didn't... I didn't realize what I had until it was gone. I'd do anything, I mean, do you want me to quit devil hunting?"

[anistarrose]

inverted murder mystery: "who the fuck killed my archnemesis? i need to thank them personally"