#because nothing ends

[moonjunio]

The email I wrote to Robin Hobb after finishing Assassin's Fate

I was clearing out old drafts from my overflowing gmail and found some correspondence with Robin that included my reactions after finishing the series. I won't include her replies, but here's some excerpts of what I said to her.

"I'm trying to remember which movie this quote is from: "Are there any happy endings?" "No. Because nothing ends."

"Even if you never return to the Realm of the Elderlings (which somehow I doubt) there is plenty of fodder for our imaginations. The surviving characters are fascinating people with feet placed on the trailheads of the rest of their lives, doubtless with many more nexus moments to face - whether or not that ends up being documented."

"This morning I'm enjoying late breakfast with my daughters on their first day of summer vacation, finishing my first reread of Fool's Quest and Assassin's Fate. I've read so many different reactions on the unrestricted chat Facebook page, and I think those who didn't get what they wanted will find more richness, more solace when they come back knowing what to expect. I'm glad you stayed true to your vision." "I hope you are basking a bit. Ending a series is bound to arouse every reaction under the sun from your fanbase. For me, having Fitz/Beloved/Nighteyes become the Wolf of the West was just the perfect resolution. Their circle forever joined at last. They are still alive in my head every day. I also love how much agency Bee seized for herself. Amazing, powerful girl!"

[heph]

A Moment in Time - Dearly Missed

[malinaa]

if i think about the hunger games in peeta's perspective i WILL start sobbing

[starry-bi-sky]

on a completely separate note; shizun luo binghe with a disciple shen yuan who fell into the abyss??? *thinks about LBH canonically stealing SQQ's corpse for 5 years* he'd hallucinate i think. like, like visual and audial hallucinations.

Keeps thinking he's seeing SQQ in the corner of his eyes, or wandering between the trees, amongst a group of disciples. Thinks he hears him calling for him, but its just the wind or another disciple.

Gets Xiu Ya reforged but patently fucking refuses to make a sword mound. Because his disciple Is Not Dead :))) There was No Body. He's Not Dead. And If You keep Insisting That He Is, He's Gonna Skewer You :). He's holding onto Xiu Ya so he can return his most favored disciple's sword when he returns. It's on his hip right next to Zheng Yang where it's supposed to be.

Also this motherfucker?? does not sleep btw. He has the image of SQQ, wide eyed and hysterical and standing at the mouth of the abyss burned into his fucking eyelids. Can't use the dreamscape to escape it either because he keeps trying to save him and either he does and it's an incredibly cruel trick to wake up to, or he doesn't and he gets his heart broken in several different pieces again.

There is no convincing this man that Shen Qingqiu is dead. Absolutely nothing at all. He is buried so deep in denial that moles would be jealous of how deep he is. He keeps making tea for two in the bamboo house only to remember that it's just him. SQQ's fans are hiding everywhere, little reminders of his presence. He goes to wake up SQQ on the mornings he sleeps in-- only to find the room empty.

[skull-bearer]

Chapters: 16/16 Fandom: Dragonlance - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Dalamar the Dark/Raistlin Majere, Raistlin/Others, Raistlin/Scrounger, Raistlin/Other Male Character Characters: Raistlin Majere, Caramon Majere, Horkin (Dragonlance), Scrounger (Dragonlance), Ivor of Langtree (Dragonlance), Dalamar the Dark, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Fistandantilus (Dragonlance), Kitiara uth Matar, Dunbar Mastersmate, Laurana Kanan, Gunthar Ust Wistan Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fistandantilus Fuck Off, Burns, Disfigurement, Disability, Dragonarmies, War of the Lance, Guerilla Warfare, Partisans, Mad Baron's Army, Dragons, Bad Decisions, Brothers, bad relationships, Raistlin's Test, No Beta We Die Like Par-Salian Should Have, Pre-Relationship, Undead, Way too many undead, Slavery, Freedom Fighters Summary:

“Well?” Fistandantilus’ clawed handed spasmed ravenously, groping for the bloodstone pendant around his neck. “Your choice?”   “I might go into that nothingness,’ Raistlin spat, “But then so will you. Go to the Abyss, I will have nothing to do with you.”

Chapter 16: Epilogue Sometimes, we can all have our happy endings

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

MDZS x Brazil (1985)

(Yes. Real movie dialogue)

[ladymegana]

Got a new tattoo today! I have a lot of *thoughts* about it. Partially the above. Partially my beloved The Last Unicorn quote, "There are no happy endings because nothing ends." But it's MORE than just that moment in TLU. It's the whole damn scene.

Here's the best clip I can find:

PRINCE LIR: Unicorn, mermaid, sorceress, no name you would give her would surprise or frighten me. I love whom I love.

SCHMENDRICK: Well, that's a very nice sentiment. But when I change her back into her true self-

PRINCE LIR: I love whom I love.

LADY AMALTHEA: (comes from the front of the party.) I heard what you said. I will go no further.

SCHMENDRICK: There's no choice. We have to go on.

LADY AMALTHEA: (to Lír) Don't let him change me. The Red Bull has no care for human beings. We may walk out past him and get away.

SCHMENDRICK: If we do that, all the unicorns in the world will remain prisoner forever except one, and she will grow old and die.

LADY AMALTHEA: (to Lír) Everything dies. I want to die when you die. I'm no unicorn, no magical creature! I'm human, and I love you. Don't let him! Lír, I will not love you when I am a unicorn.

PRINCE LIR: Amalthea, don't.

SCHMENDRICK: Then let the quest end here. I don't think I could change her back even if you wished it. Marry the prince and live happily ever after.

LADY AMALTHEA: Yes. That is my wish.

PRINCE LIR: No. Lady, I am a hero, and heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned. Unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story. (They walk ahead.)

MOLLY GRUE (to Schmendrick): But what if there isn't a happy ending at all?

SCHMENDRICK: There are no happy endings, because nothing ends.

MOLLY GRUE: Schmendrick, let her stay the way she is. Let her be.

SCHMENDRICK: That's not in the story. Lír knows that, and so does she.

MOLLY GRUE: You don't care! You don't care what happens to her, or to the others, just so you become a real magician at last. You don't care!

SCHMENDRICK: I wish I didn't! I wish to God I didn't care about anything but my magic! But I do! I do.

[axoqiii]

another p5r art dump hiiiiieii 😢😢😢

[densewentz]

rookanis players: why isnt Lucanis' romance more passionate, more physical!! Why is he so subdued and quiet!! You barely even kiss!! Lucanis, fresh out of a year in a demonic torture pit, having just had one of his two remaining family members taken from him just as he's freed, almost losing Treviso to the elvhen gods which are a) apparently real and b) that he's apparently now responsible for killling and who, oh yeah, also is always literally on the brink of exhaustion because he can't sleep or his spite demon goes around causing mischief and sniffing people: rook, mi vida, please give me a break

[fuckmeyer]

the choice between Edward & Jacob is not a question of which relationship is healthier or which partner is best suitable for Bella. neither is correct. neither is best. neither produces a happy ending for Bella. at the end of the day this is still a vampire novel. any choice Bella could make would yield, at best, a bittersweet happily ever after.

if she chooses Edward, she gets the terrifying Breaking Dawn ending: a girl who rejected her call to grow up has hung her love & her eternity on an emotionally stunted partner who hates himself marginally less than he loves her. she's a teen mom with a kid she never wanted who perpetuates the generational trauma passed down from her parents. by keeping this child, the Cullens have set the stage for an uprising/cold war against the Volturi who are likely to take revenge in order to maintain power. Bella is living in a tenuous "dream come true" wrapped in a nightmare & doesn't realize it.

choosing Jacob is the true coming-of-age ending that rips the stitches out of a wound that never fully healed. even if we ignore the fact that she ends up with a man who sexually assaulted her (we must bear in mind Jacob's character is influenced by smeyer's racism, but it did happen), they can't have a secure romantic relationship. based on the high imprinting rate of the pack, Jacob will likely find his imprint in his lifetime & will lose himself to the imprintee. he will no longer be her Jacob. he will inevitably abandon her (whether he wants to or not), & she must reconcile with the reality that she will always be inadequate to Jacob's imprint. & say he never manages to escape the vampires? he will presumably not age for a long time, meaning the relationship Bella always feared with Edward (her being an old grandmother while he stays forever young) remains a possibility. this is the story of a girl who slaps a Band Aid on an open wound & calls herself healed while flinching every time she sees the shadow of the knife that cut her.

if she chooses neither (team therapy), her healing requires her to lose or be at least partially disconnected from everyone she cares about. Bella must spend the rest of her life shut out from one world while never fully existing in her human world ever again. she must always keep secrets. she can never go back home. even in the unlikely event that she manages to escape the Volturi, the threat of being hunted by vampires will never leave her. in addition, she must face her worst fears (aging, losing Edward) while always keeping in mind the immortal life that could have been hers, if only.

even the "healthiest" option produces scars that will never quite heal.

Twilight is a horror. Twilight is a vampire novel. Twilight is gothic. Twilight is fiction. neither Edward nor Jacob is a "bad" choice because neither will give Bella her happily ever after. the choice between Edward & Jacob is simply a matter of which horror story you prefer to read.

[waverlyyhaught]

Favorite Marta and Fina Moments - Part 100 Sueños de Libertad

[cubbihue]

Timmy's graduation from Pixies' Academy was a very filled very chaotic day. Peri did his very best to behave! He didn't want to make a fuss on Timmy's big day!!!

But when you get a bunch of green stuff and no soda with your food, that's when you've had enough.

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

Instability: [Next]

[rystiel]

i feel like poolverine easily could’ve been one of those “they’re flirty but it’s mostly unserious” situations, and for most of the movie yeah they were extremely gay, but wade’s been like that with other guys and it was never treated as a serious type of relationship before. they’re willing to die for each other, but even then the romantic aspect of their relationship could be glossed over because it’s a superhero movie, that’s just what they do, and they’re working together to save a whole timeline—it’s not just about them. but then the movie doesn’t end with them saving the day and moving on. i think this’s really the part that sells poolverine as a genuine relationship to me… logan’s leaving, and wade calls for him. he can’t stand to let him go. then he introduces him to his family, and logan stays. he doesn’t really need to stay, but they’ve both decided they’re better off with one another than without

[z-1-wolfe]

And who will you be in your death?

[dykedvonte]

Curly's little blurb on his steam trading card just keeps reminding me he is a much more miserable person than people realize.

We don't get a lot of his thoughts, inner confliction that aren't bogged down by what Jimmy says or does. Even in the The Last One and Then Another, his dialogue is reflective, not the Curly before the crash but the result of everything. Parts of the him he was are there of course, but also disfigured and warped beyond recognition just like he is physically.

Curly really doesn't think much of himself and desires. He clearly chases fleeting moments of happiness. He doesn't really have prospects for himself, assumes in a similar way to Swansea, that if it should make it happy then he is happy. Though, he hasn't reached the point Swansea did to admit it doesn't. He neither sees the glass half full or empty, it's just water, something he needs and he'll take it from any perspective.

He wasn't running from anything but he's never really been going towards something either. He's listless. I've been using the term complacent to describe how he feels about his life and the closest people (really just Jimmy) in it, but now that word feels too neutral, too nice. Happier than Curly really was. There isn't just one word for it, he's unfulfilled, uncertain, uninspired. There are no active problems he faces and that's the issue, why should he be upset?

I believe he really is a person who doesn't know who he is or wants to be. He follows a structure. I don't think he's suicidal, but he clearly doesn't think about what makes him happy. He's numb. I suppose that is a better word than complacent, used to the feeling even if he hates it. It doesn't hurt so why stop it?

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Burning Rotten Bridges

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