#FOR TEN YEARS

[themusicsweetly]

Caitriona + Sam reminiscing about their first days on Outlander

[wiggly-round-worm]

If you ever thought bipper was relatable guess what

[backjustforberena]

"horrendous every time it's brought up"

"uttered privately and across the vast expanse of the throne room many times"

"must smile and ignore it"

"risks perceptions of treason and possible death"

"day after day after day"

[dollopheadedmerlin]

Listen, I get Merwaine, I really do

But for me, it is strictly unrequited

Like Merlin, by the time Gwaine becomes a knight, has such tunnel vision for his king (ship, friendship, destiny, whichever version you like) that he wouldn't even bat an eye at Gwaine's advances. Especially since he knows that Gwaine is more loyal to him than to Arthur.

Oddly enough, I think he would be more likely to court someone like Lancelot, because he knows that, for Lancelot, the king and queen come first.

I don't think Merlin could bare to be with someone who didn't see Arthur as more valuable than him.

Because he is so overwhelmed by the need to see Arthur to fruition, that all other value of his life has been sapped away. He equates Arthur with Albion. His life, hell his comfort, is all that Merlin wants for, because if his destiny shan't have revolved around this one man, then the past handful of years was full of suffering and sacrifice for no reason. He has to commit to the idea that Arthur is the answer, and that he will come around to magic without getting hurt, because he's hurt so much already, and Merlin finds himself incapable to harming him, even to further the prosperity of Albion.

Because he's had the chance before! To hurt Arthur! To let him fester in the guilt or the betrayal in order to reach the conclusion that magic isn't the enemy. But Merlin stops him every time because he cannot bear to harm his king. So he lies about Ygraine's ghost. He hesitates to accuse Agravaine. But he just cannot do it. He can't stand for Arthur's pain, even for the sake of the whole kingdom.

At some point along the way, Albion became Arthur. Merlin's goal changed from 'bring magic back' to 'keep Arthur safe, no matter the cost'. And that's why he says to kill Mordred. He cannot see a future in which Arthur returns magic to the land but his destined killer still walks free. He just can't.

So no, he doesn't return Gwaine's affection. He couldn't. Not when he doesn't see how much more valuable Arthur is than anything else that breathes.

[veloursdor]

day 45 of the hiatus and i miss him

[wrdn-tabris]

not to hate on sabr ezra idc abt the ship one way or another but like its so fucking dumb to be like 'omg siblings dont hug like that' if ur brother was missing for 10+ years and you thought he was dead you wouldnt hug him with everything you have? you wouldnt want to let go???

[mybirthstoneisemerald]

Kazuki went to drink with a girl to show off his married life.

[the-uk-is-jk]

The odyssey

i love stories where its just one guy’s really bad day

[beguilingcorpse]

i am glad queer representation has drastically improved in my lifetime. because now i can say that i dislike a gay book and not feel like i’m invalidating stonewall

[woodsteingirl]

starting a collection. pierre talking to natasha in war and peace

[kensatou]

meanwhile notes put up by the guy hired by my dad to help with foreign guests at his little ryokan in rural japan (“my english is not perfect,” said the guy earnestly. “but i think i can always get the meaning across.” “great,” said my dad. “that’s all that matters.”):

[yellowgnomeboots]

I agree with the overall point, summarised in the reblog, but they first need to learn how to teach it without instilling a deep and lasting shame in those of us who suck at handwriting.

On one hand I understand not teaching cursive in school anymore, because it actually is slower than regular handwriting and almost everything is typed on a keyboard now anyways.

On the other hand, so much of our (even recent!) history was written in cursive, and having a whole generation of kids who can't read letters written by their grandparents, momentos saved by their great-grandparents, or even photo albums from theur immediate family seems like a dangerously quick way to detach us from previous generations.

And on the third, related but slightly malformed hand, I feel bad that yet another form of small, everyday art that brings joy in the middle of mundane tasks, which celebrates personality and individual style and self-expression, is about to fade into obscurity because it wasn't efficient enough for today's world to put up with.

Like... if we continue to whittle away the small arts out of every day life, what's going to be left except stark, ruthless pragmatism?

Maybe writing a grocery list is less mundane when you get to feel elegant for a moment. Maybe you're a little more proud of what you write when you see it flow together like a painting

[youwerelikeanangel]

happy 10th birthday to one the most iconic songs of this century so far

[triviallytrue]

Can't tell you how frequently I encounter posts on here for people with entirely opposite issues to me

[fishproblem]

being a god is so hard like I fully understand why they've all abandoned us. yesterday i changed the water in my nano tank and the weather there is pretty much always 80°F and sunny but the replacement water was cool and it had been a couple weeks so it replicated a rainfall after a drought and so then my little civilization of ember tetras all thought it was Time To Fuck but my stocking somehow skews aggressively male so this morning I turned on the sun to see they all had raggedy little tails after beating the shit out of each other over the One Woman on Earth.

[salt-baby]

yes, doctors suck, but also "the medical ethics and patient interaction training doctors receive reinforces ableism" and "the hyper competitive medical school application process roots out the poor, the disabled, and those who would diversify the field" and "anti-establishment sentiment gets applications rejected and promotions requests denied, weeding out the doctors on our side" and "the gruesome nature of the job and the complete lack of mental health support for medical practitioners breeds apathy towards patients" and "insurance companies often define treatment solely on a cost-analysis basis" and "doctors take on such overwhelming student loan debt they have no choice but to pursue high paying jobs at the expense of their morals" are all also true

none of this absolves doctors of the truly horrendous things they say and do to patients, but it's important to acknowledge that rather than every doctor being coincidentally a bad person, there is something specific about this field and career path that gives rise to such high prevalence of ableist attitudes

and I WILL elaborate happily