#MERCY IS PAIN.............

[justaz]

lol arthur realizes with the other knights after watching merlin flirt and being hit with a wave of deja vu: holy shit you asked me out

merlin and the rest of the knights around a campfire after leaving a village bc lancelot and leon somehow started a brawl in the tavern: ???

arthur points at merlin: after valiant! you asked me to buy you a drink! you were asking me out!

merlin is busy cooking dinner and confused out of his fucking mind: what???…..valiant….oh the knight with the snakes.

gwaine who was slightly tipsy now stone cold sober and sitting up straight against a tree: wait. explain. what do you mean merlin asked you out??

arthur snaps his fingers as he recalls the memory: i apologized for sacking you and you said that if i bought you a drink we’d be even.

merlin now remembering how he had stumbled into camelot, picked a fight with a pigheaded bully which quickly turned homoerotic and flirtatious, and continued their teasing-flirting for days before merlin shot his shot and asked the prince out only to be rejected: oh yeah, i forgot i did that…..wait, you mean you didnt realize what i was asking?

arthur: no?? we argued everyday, how was i supposed to realize you were asking me out??

merlin now abandoning the dinner and staring across the camp at arthur while the rest of the knights watch their back and forth like a game of tennis: to you we were arguing, to me that was very much flirting. i thought you were flirting back so i decided to ask you. then you rejected me

arthur, mentally beating his past self up for fucking up their chance: i didn’t reject you!!! i just didn’t realize what you were asking me. how was i meant to? we fought every chance we got

leon, nudging elyan, glee and excitement riling through him: its happening!!! its finally happening!!! seven long, grueling years is finally paying off!!!

merlin, realizing the misunderstanding and acknowledging the fact that he wasn’t rejected, his flirtations just weren’t noticed - realizing he still has a chance: oh…oh i see. arthur, my dear, our fights were extremely flirtatious. need i remind you of what you said? “do you know how to walk on your knees? would you like me to teach you?” or “i could take you apart with one blow”

arthur, mental capabilities at an all time low: m…my dear….?????????

merlin grinning devilishly as he realizes that his flirtatious persona he had hidden away after falling head over heels for arthur can make a come back: that is what i called you. should i call you something else? say…mine?

percival gags in elyan’s ear: cheesy

elyan hides a laugh: at least they’re finally getting somewhere. better than the hopeless pining

arthur, flushed from head to toe: ah uh no um im uh

merlin thoroughly enjoying himself: oh come now, your majesty. use your words.

[fluffylord]

TWELFTH DOCTOR I THE ZYGON INVERSION

[zillychu]

Consider this: ghosts are actually exactly what the Fentons think they are.

They're snapshots of a longing so strong, unfinished business so deep it reaches out beyond life. Lingers just a bit longer. And if it happens to meet a dense cloud of ectoplasm (invisible to the naked eye, but omnipresent even in the mortal realm), it coalesces. The ectoplasm fits into the shape of it. Which, when the desire is strong enough, it's got a rough idea of its self-image. This tends to mean a more humanoid figure, though it's more often warped in some way–a self-reflection, skewed by said desire. The warping varies on the dead soul’s perception of themselves, the intensity of their desire, how much time passed after death, and how much ectoplasm was present.

In short… no matter how “normal" a ghost looks or acts, it really, truly isn't human. It's animated ectoplasm with a single goal: an obsession. Nothing else. They're more akin to plants than animals, following a single drive with no emotion. They react to stimuli, recognize threats (including other ghosts), and can even imitate human speech and mannerisms to obtain fulfillment of their obsession.

Not “evil" by any stretch, but they're entirely driven by instinct. A tree doesn't pause to consider the rocks it breaks with its roots. A cordyceps doesn't torture its host for fun, or kill with malice. It just does. It follows code in its DNA to survive and multiply–And ghosts just follow the code in its ectoplasm to fulfill its obsession. The more powerful a ghost, the better it's able to overcome obstacles preventing this–whether through brute force, or manipulation. This power is always directly proportional to the amount of ectoplasm present at the time of formation, and how much time passed since death.

What then, does this mean for Danny? Danny, who's previously come to the conclusion that he's only half-ghost, which surely explains how he retained his mind? His independent thoughts and emotions?

What does this mean for Phantom, who experienced an entire world’s worth of ectoplasm condensed as a singularity, at the exact time of his death? Whose strength only grows and begins to exceed every limit they previously thought possible?

If a ghost was as strong as him… could it mimic a human perfectly? Down to a molecular level?

Could it, in its desire to fill an obsession… trick its own fake mind into thinking it was still human? Or half-ghost?

[eccentricmya]

The Valar's mistake did not lie in seeing a possibility of good in Melkor. Rather, their mistake lay in not seeing the equal possibility of him remaining evil.

[mooneggtarts]

Hope. The holdest to hold onto

This is the last one I swear ajdbsj love me some symbolisms mmmm good stuff

[rotgospels]

Victoria MacKenzie, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain

[evasive-anon]

Jason was having a pretty OK time with the league of assassins, sure getting dunked in a lazarus pit sucked and Bruce turned out to be a scumbag who didn't care about him, but at least he isn't dead. He even liked most of the new skills he was learning there so on the whole being with the league seemed like a pretty good deal to him until Talia woke him up in the middle of the night and left him alone with two child assassins.

Or, a demon twins AU where when Talia realizes her father intends to have her boys fight to the death takes action first by deciding to take all her kids and leave the league. Talia either dies or is separated from them in the initial escape and now Jason just has a bag of supplies and a letter from Talia explaining the plan to get to Gotham. Jason has to get himself and two 7 year olds out of the Himalayas, across a desert, and over 12k miles to Gotham. Only now the league members hunting them down want them dead or worse and Jason isn't too confident that B will accept them given their kill counts.

Featuring:

Good Mom Talia. she loves her kids. Did she teach them to kill? Sure, but that's an important life skill.

Single Teen Mom Jason. He's the oldest and in charge but he also will not answer any questions about The Plan™ given he isn't committed to Talia's but also doesn't have a set alternative. Oscillates between looking forward to just dumping his new little brothers with Bruce so they'll be his problem and thinking of just moving somewhere random in the US and keeping them based entirely on how cute vs annoying they are at that time. Didn't realize how much he relied on Talia to help him with things until she is gone. He's really trying his best but he wasn't all that emotionally stable before this so hang in there.

Angry Smol Dami. He's still drinking the LoS punch and really dislikes that he is now considered a traitor. Can't stand that Jason won't answer any of his very relevant questions. Is actually very scared but will not show it. Misses his mom. Didn't even know he had siblings until his mom yoinked him out of bed that night and brought him to Jason and Danny and started all this. Physically the stronger twin. Thinks Danny is dragging them down in fights and also may blame him a bit because clearly his mother only did all this to spare him.

Danny, reincarnated with limited access to his memories and powers. Has been trying to keep his powers a secret. Talia knew about them but never told anyone but she may have hinted at it in her letter to Jason. Not the strongest physically but very good at stealth and social interactions. Didn't know he had and older brother or twin before Jason woke him up at Talia's instruction that night. Thinks Damian is mean and has faith Jason knows what he's doing even if that is very much untrue.

[krispdreemurr]

the fact that chara's last attack is basically just a child's idea of the biggest number ever kind of breaks my heart a bit.

[fallenumbra]

i feel like this is just the constant vibe of mercy and moira in ow2

[canon-gabriel-quotes]

Transcript:

Hahaha oh my god you're so supporty~

Audio source

[rin-solo]

Has this been done before?

Troy Saga:

Zeus, pointing at the infant: I think we're gonna have to kill this one, Odysseus.

Odysseus: Aww, man...

Thunder Saga:

Zeus, pointing at his crew: I think we're gonna have to kill these guys, Odysseus.

Odysseus: Aww man...

Vengeance Saga:

Odysseus, pointing at Poseidon: I think we're gonna have to kill stab this one repeatedly.

Zeus, up on Olympus, in the most sarcastic excited voice ever: AWWW MAN 🫶😌🍿

[holy-mother-of-whumpers]

Odysseus should have taken the torch out of Eurylochus' hand and thrown it to some other crew member, saving his life... Since mercy is what doomed him, might as well slip one more little mercy, one little more doom, in there.

No Eurylochus, no mutiny.

...there's no length I wouldn't go, if it was you I'd have to save...

Eurylochus would mutiny anyway, for his role in the narrative his brother's death and for Ody making him complicit in it - killing one of them to save him.

It would also explain why they didn't kill him in the mutiny. Eury couldn't let them, not right after he saved his life.

Odysseus saves his brother (in arms, in law, his brother in all) and as a consequence, he loses them all.

[tornado1992]

If I ever were to make a baby Tais AU I would call it “Soldier boy AU” because

Apparently it also means “gift from God” so, yeah, he is one indeed

[wetfloor-sign09]

LAWD HAVE MERCY ON US JAYDEN

[the-strength-of-the-wolffe]

Looking at “Rising Malevolence” and “Mercy Mission” together, you can see how much Wolffe and Sinker evolve over the course of four seasons. What’s fascinating to me is that their character arcs move in opposite directions.

"Rising Malevolence" brings them face-to-face with death for the first time; they couldn’t be in a worse situation. Of the four survivors, Wolffe is the most vulnerable and the least useful. Nevertheless, he stands fast. His strong spirit enables him to put forth his best conduct: he’s steady, trusting, even good-humored. Sinker is not. His spirit has been depressed for a long time already, so he can’t help succumbing to negativity in the heat of the moment.

The massacre roots a new fear in both of them: fear of loss. It’s their responsibility to keep their men alive, and yet they both failed. What’s to stop it from happening again? They have no control over who survives and who doesn’t, when and where and how their troopers will die, whether it’ll be a few casualties or an entire battalion.

Amidst this fear, both of them are confronted by Plo Koon. A general who vows to share that responsibility with them. Who, through actions and not just words, commits to the kind of leadership that not only values their men’s survival but also their wellbeing.

This is the crossroads where their arcs diverge.

Sinker, against all his instincts, vices, and traumas, decides to trust General Plo. It doesn’t come easily, or all at once, but, as the Jedi continues to make good on his promise, he learns to ease up. Gradually, his spirit heals and grows stronger. By “Mercy Mission,” he’s noticeably more lighthearted, invested, and confident: a man transformed for the better.

Wolffe, however, can’t let go of his fear. It’s proportionally greater than Sinker’s; he has lost, and stands to lose, much more. He does trust General Plo, deeply, but he also harbors the disturbing knowledge that the Jedi isn’t invincible. For all his power, General Plo can still die—and that can’t happen. The 104th would go adrift without him, so he must be protected at all costs. Wolffe takes up this extra burden in secret. He becomes vigilant, overprotective, strained, insular. He won't acknowledge it, but his spirit is staggering under the weight. “Mercy Mission” shows us a glimpse of this transformation: a man who’s bone-weary and so preoccupied with the status of his absent comrades that he has no patience or sympathy for the Aleena.

Maybe it was never in the cards for him, to be healthy and flourishing and secure. Maybe his path would've always led down a darker road than Sinker's despite experiencing the same profound kindness. It's such a shame, for if any clone needed a little hope, it's him. I'm halfway through his story now, the beginning of the end, and he's about to enter the darkest valley of his life.

[child-of-hurin]

Part of what charms and compels me in Jeyne Poole's arc is her reaction to her predicament. All the female POVs in this book are dealing with a lot of gendered violence, and they all deal in different but dignified forms... Jeyne is not a POV character and she is absolutely not dignified lol. She cries and begs, she is utterly helpless. But unlike most women in this book who are utterly helpless, she survives. It's frustrating how fans refuse to celebrate that, simply because there is no glory in it.