#a few centuries later

[rin-solo]

This came to me earlier, and now I am utterly obsessed: While it was clear to me that Odysseus stabbing Poseidon wasn't any kind of Vengeance, there was one act of Vengeance after all, even if inadvertent—it was Odysseus disproving Poseidon's "Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves" belief right in front of his very eyes. With him as the subject, even.

Think about it—the fact that Poseidon remained ruthless and insisted on punishing Odysseus was the only reason he got stabbed repeatedly. If Poseidon had been merciful, if he had accepted Odysseus' offer of forgiveness, he would've been fine. His own ruthlessness backfired so hard on him this time that I am sincerely hoping it haunts him forever.

I am actually utterly obsessed with Poseidon thinking back to Odysseus "Maybe you could learn to forgive?" on a daily, no an hourly basis. I cannot and will not lie to you that is unironically my favorite moment in the whole Vengeance saga just because of what it says about both the characters—about Odysseus for offering and Poseidon for declining (and also because Odysseus sings it in Poseidon's own motif which is just absolutely brilliant.) And this makes me love it even more.

Poseidon was going to decline, we all know that. I don't think anyone watching—even Odysseus, probably—expected him to accept. But then I'm picturing him lying there, bleeding into the stone, and, against his will, wondering whether maybe he should have. Maybe if he had, he wouldn't be in pain. Maybe if he had not killed Odysseus' fleet ten years ago, he wouldn't be in pain either. Maybe this one time ruthlessness wasn't mercy upon himself—maybe this time, his one grand belief was wrong. Maybe ... it was always wrong.

Obviously, he would never admit to these thoughts, he would slap himself for having them one second later. But I simply need this self-proclaimed god of ruthlessness to be utterly haunted by that and question whether he made the right choice or no—whether he's even lived by the correct philosophy all his immortal life—and no matter what, be too stubborn to admit he was wrong.

He's trying to pretend like nothing changed, but the thoughts still remain. They pester him. They won't leave him alone. Especially every time someone—anyone—is kind to him for whatever reason, they come crashing back into him and they won't leave.

"What if my own ruthlessness hurt me that time?"

"What if ruthlessness isn't mercy upon ourselves after all?"

"What if I'm wrong?"

"What if I have always been wrong?"

The most dreadful thoughts imaginable to a god as proud and stubborn and old as Poseidon, but they're there now and he can't do anything about them. You all don't understand how much I NEED this god to jolt up in his bed at 3 am after having a dream or nightmare about something related to one of his many ruthless deeds (maybe even sinking Odysseus' fleet) and go "BUT WHAT IF I HAD LEARNED TO FORGIVE?? WHAT IF I STILL COULD??" only to immediately slap himself for it because that's absolutely ridiculous.

He is left to watch this belief shatter before his very eyes as he's clinging to the remains of it desperately, trying to keep it all from crumbling. Not because he genuinely believes he's right anymore, but because he simply cannot imagine ... does not know how to live by any other philosophy.

No matter whether it's objectively correct or not, it's the very thing that defines him. The thing he's known for. He has built his entire image around this, he cannot give it up no matter what ... at least not quickly or without help.

But as much he would seek to deny it, his core belief has now been proven wrong; he has actually lived through an instance where it was wrong, and he can do nothing to erase those memories or conclusions from his mind no matter how much he yearns to go back to simpler times.

And that was the real Vengeance, guys—possibly the biggest, most painful existential crisis of Poseidon's immortal life. I rest my case.

Although before I disappear back into the void I simply must give a shout out to @o3o-lapd-o3o (this came to me during a conversation in one of their comment sections for the glorious Friends In Higher Places AU, which is quite possibly my favorite piece of EPIC fan content that exists ...)

[justaz]

arthur is immortal in the same way merlin is immortal, he can die but he bounces back after a while. merlin putting arthurs body on a boat and sending him out onto the lake but not burning him as he did to lancelot and freya. merlin disappearing off the face of the earth, unable to go back to camelot where every stone is carved with arthur's name, every room holds the faintest echo of his laughter, the shadows cast by the flickering flames of torches match each line and curve of arthur's body which merlin had memorized after years of dressing and undressing him, wandering and lingering hands that were just casual enough to pass off as platonic.

arthur crawling out of the lake the night after the morning merlin put him to rest, dazed, confused, and alive. arthur searches for merlin but can't find him. he's disappeared. gwen rules camelot as queen, she lifts the ban on magic, and rules fairly. arthur is content to leave his kingdom with her as he searches the land for merlin. he visits every place he and merlin every visited but he's nowhere to be found. time passes but arthur only grows more desperate. he's sure he's searched every inch of albion twice. no merlin.

enough time passes, everyone he's known has died and he looks exactly as he did when mordred drove his blade into his abdomen. arthur is forced to admit to himself that enough time has passed that merlin was bound to have died, leaving arthur all alone. immortal merlin is literally like chilling in ireland or some shit. but both immortal idiots are living in the same area and end up just missing each other. literally like end up holding the door to a coffee shop for one another but they don't meet each other's gazes bc they're busy mourning each other

[renonv]

I can't stop thinking about them 😭😭 help

[thestarrysparrow]

............escargo..........

[blipblepbloop]

the way im seeing so much hate for agatha all along's finale like....you guys just didn't get it like i did omg. i have a couple things i wouldve done differently (i really expected agatha to be dead dead at the end and get to go see nicky, but upon actually thinking about it i like this better because her story most definitely isn't finished yet and i don't think it was ever supposed to be within this show (plus we're not burying our gays!!! yay!!)) but overall i liked it. i also feel like apparently i was the only one who never thought we would get a happy agatha and rio ending? it always felt like their story was leaning more towards them having to learn to let go of each other. idk i just don't think it was bad enough to warrant the amount of hate im seeing

[fictionadventurer]

I'm only about a quarter of the way through A Bachelor's Comedy, but it's already proving worthwhile just for the running joke where a misunderstanding has caused the village to think their new young vicar has a cartoonishly humongous appetite, but no one tells him about it, so he has no clue why everyone is giving him enormous servings of food.

[one-in-a-million-fishsticks]

Leon Belmont would be the Great Uncle Ford to Mathias/Dracula's Grunkle Stan if those two had been given the opportunity to raise their families together at the same time.

-------

Leon: "Now remember kids, we must always follow the rules and strive to create good in the world. Listen to your elders, and wield your weapons with honor."

Mathias/Dracula: "Gather round everyone, today I shall be coaching you on the finer points of tax evasion and offensive alchemy. If you ever hear someone else say something that sounds wrong, then it probably is, so do be sure to correct them. Best case scenario, they're so mad about being corrected that they become sloppy and create an opening for you to strike them down."

[worstloki]

Loki surveilling the skyline of New York from the top of Stark Tower and clocking that his favorite paired set of buildings are gone. sad

[camellcat]

thinking about angel!Liam just absolutely fucking decking demon!Theo

Liam is, at first, completely horrified, right? like, oh, dear heavens, he just punched someone! that's not very holy of him! ...but also, Theo is a demon... surely he's just... acting within his angelic duties... to thwart demon wiles... yeah...?

and Theo cannot decide whether to laugh his ass off because he just got an angel to punch someone or start panicking that maybe he's pushed Liam too far and he'll be discoperated or smth. which ofc he won't be bc Liam (as much as he loath to admit it) does not hate Theo, but they are not at the stage in which Theo is certain of that!!

but once Theo gets him back it (dreadfully, in Liam's opinion, and cruelly giddily in Theo's) becomes a Thing.

[meggydolaon]

something that bugs me about Frieren is that the adventure of the Hero Party to slay the Demon King famously took 10 years... what about the return trip....?

[noxcorvid]

Idea I’ve had since forever: if you subscribe to the lore that the sun and stars are holes punched in the fabric of nirn and it’s all light from aetherius, the realm from which magic flows, would hitting the sun with blood cursed arrows from the Dawnguard dlc affect magic on Tamriel somehow, if not outright nullify it?

[ndostairlyrium]

WIP Wednesday, but it's a Thursday

I was tagged by the awesome @greypetrel ✨thank you so much!! ;u;

Finally, I can draw something unrelated to Art Fight lmao that's so relieving!!

Left: Two potatoes being very pink <3 I'm taking my time with this one because I want to achieve a certain effect but I need to study a couple of things rendering-wise before putting more stuff on paper <<

Right: A wild Luca appears! In the form of rough sketches. I'm torn between two options (we're going for nobiliar / high status costumes), but I do really want to draw a toga so... um... I'll ponder for a moment before finalizing a sketch

Tagging: @herearedragons @dreadfutures @underneathestars & whoever wants to share their stuff <3

[worth-this-and-more]

a random question about the silver wall

[spoilers for legendborn and bloodmarked, read at your own caution ;)]

so on the wall its like centuries and centuries of bloodlines written right?? and its gonna keep continuing??

so what happens when they run out of space on the current wall?? like do they just construct like 5 inches of space at the bottom to continue engraving it or it just magically rises in height as the names are engraved??

15 centuries worth of data, how big is that wall tho?? like the gemstones are so big, and the whole names and years would also take up a nice space, how much space would it take for 15 centuries of bloodlines?? like it cant continue going upwards forever or its gonna yk pop out of the building floors, so does it grow . . . downwards??

i shouldn't be allowed this much of free time why am I so obsessed with stupid stuff like this im gonna keep overthinking nvm

[batsplat]

they'll always be my three guys

[auntieoneandauntietwo]

Seeing as the big high point of Dragonflight is the relationship between Lessa and Mardra, it’s a bit of a shame that the conflict in Dragonquest doesn’t actually center around the collapse of that relationship

[needlesandnilbogs]

there is something very character-like whenever I braid a tiny little bit of hair over one ear so I just have a little tendril braid thing and then it gets to fall free of my larger braid and it tends to curl and it makes me feel pretty