#heart hurts i just love them so much

[kate-m-art]

Gosh it's late, I shouldn't be up and might change my mind in the morning but brain just won't let it go tonight sjdjfk

I just,, I've been going back and forth about sharing these cause on the one hand I'm very emotional about them right now and happy with how the sketches turned out but on the other ajsjfk I'm Very Emotional About Them right now and harder to put stuff out I'm attached to and feel a little self conscious sharing anything heavy but sjdjkf for now I guess

Putting below the cut because,, well, dealing with grief (and also partial nudity I guess)

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First set I was just rambling about it to Arin a lot but I don't know, haircuts have been getting me emotional this week. Theres a few scenarios in our different stories w emotional or significant haircuts, but Maggie's has been on my mind a lot.

Any pics I've shared with modern au Link and Maggie's family you'd see 5 kids, but they actually had 6. Their second oldest son Aster's twin (think we decided her name was Autumn, before Autumn Link was ever a thing) passed away at only a few days old. The loss was awful for both of them, even harder to navigate while still having a toddler and newborn to take care of. Maggie especially struggled with her body still trying to recover from twins. She'd usually be the one between them both to be able to stay hopeful but,, I kinda think she already had a tendency towards PPD and following months really were some of the darkest moments of the lady's life. Grateful that Link was right there for her the whole time.

And yeah, at the point she's just trying to survive, her princess-length hair isn't manageable anymore. Link's been something of a hobby stylist since his teen years, so he helps her with it. Hurts him too though, not because she isn't beautiful in his eyes, he just knows how much it used to mean to her. For as long as they've known eachother, she wouldn't let him dye or cut it and always took extra special care to keep it healthy and pretty.

It took a long time, and the pain never goes away but the two did manage to find peace eventually and keep going (bigger age gap between Aster and Ivy than any of the other kids though.)

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And I guess haircuts got me thinking about visible changes and lots of feelings about these two aging together. Link doesn't always look like a rockstar, chronic illness leaves him pretty weak and frail at times. And then Maggie, I mean the lady had 6 kids, she doesn't keep the same petite pixie figure she had when they met- softer, stretchmarks and scars but- I mean just get really emotional I guess about how none of it is a turnoff for either of them. Just love each other even more deeply as time goes on. Knowing the story and sacrifice their partner's gone through for every "blemish" just makes them find each other even more beautiful then when they met

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Council of lovefools.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[turtleblogatlast]

[ cw: death mention / strangulation mention / stabbing mention / blood mention / self-sacrifice / codependency mention in tags / ]

I think a lot about how common it is for Raph to be the one to have direct focus put on him when Leo gets into all his near death experiences.

Like, when Leo is thrown off a building, it’s Raph who’s right there jumping after him, not even thinking about the consequences to himself when he does. When Leo almost gets skewered by the Krang, Raph’s right there to take the blow and send Leo to safety without a second thought. When Leo’s being strangled to near death, it’s a Krangified Raph doing the job, doing exactly what Raph would never, ever want to do. When Leo is telling Casey Jr to close the portal, it’s Raph who tries desperately to convince Leo otherwise.

Likewise, Leo is consistently very single minded when Raph gets forcibly separated from them. Both when in the sewers and by the Krang, Leo is dead set on finding Raph first and foremost.

I also think it’s interesting that during each of Leo’s near death experiences, the lightheartedness of his words during them goes directly hand in hand with both how close Raph is to him physically and how much danger Raph is also in in that moment. From a literal “I told you so” as Leo’s falling away from Raph to a soft joke about how “hero moves” are Raph’s style - both of these are on the more morbidly carefree side and both of these notably take Leo farther away from Raph and, in turn, have Raph not in immediate danger.

On the other side of things is the apology from Leo, heedless of the danger he himself is in as he seriously and genuinely speaks to a Krangified Raph face to face. Then there’s Leo’s freezing and desperation as Raph takes a hit meant for him and sends just Leo to safety, leaving Raph himself behind. Both of these involve much closer proximity and Raph being directly harmed - these together make Leo much more vulnerable in his words and actions, something not even the threat of death can make him.

These two care about each other so much, and they’re way too much alike for their own good.

[ladykeyleth]

[phobiacoms]

I just... love them a lot.

[hansmannette]

kiss for you, kiss for me!!! 💋

[doyou000me]

"I realised that the time I thought would last forever had come to an end."

[honestsister]

Personally I think not enough Fiddlestan folks take advantage of Stan's Grade A Grumpypants nature. Like you gotta break the hard outer shell if you want the sweet gooey center.

[pizzazzgf]

can u guys stop complaining about the ending and start drawing ghost agatha and death form rio having nasty [BLEEP] [CARCRASH] [CAT MEOWS] [SCREAMING]

[tangerinefluff]

just like in tokyo 2020, japan fails to win their quarterfinals match. oh my heart hurts so much but they gave us a world-class match deserving of their (once) world #2 title. and for yuki who showed up in this match despite his missing numbers in the prelims really shows he is the heart of his team.

[styrof04m]

How do u think Agatha felt everyday when she would look at Nicky and see Rio’s brown eyes and brown hair and toothy smile staring back at her. Agatha who struggles so intensely with vulnerability looking at her little boy everyday and seeing the love of her life reflected in every movement. Watching Nicky as others flock to him whether because of his mischief or because of the sense of wonder he instills with his songs. The same way the coven was so immediately entranced by rio and also repelled. Watching him craft a song so beautiful and innocent and yet so intricately tied to the death of so many. What do u think she felt when every day she watched as people were lulled into a trap of her creation by nothing but his small face and easy words. How many times do u think Rio and Agatha did that same dance before. How do u think she felt day and night surrounded by the greenest trees and the prettiest flowers and the strongest rivers and in the center of it all Nicky. Nicky who is so full of life and yet can’t survive without being surrounded by Death in every sense of the word. How he acquiesces to Agatha so easily despite not understanding why they have to kill witches. Because his mama is asking him to and that’s enough for him just like it always was for Rio. How everyday she looks at him and remembers that he’s going to die, that’s he’s going to leave her soon, always too soon. How she can never have anything more but fleeting moments with the ones that she loves.

And when he dies, the one time Agatha heeds his wishes of tomorrow, encapsulating so fully the cycle of life and death he is once again everything Agatha is not but instead everything Rio is. And just like his mother he’s unable to escape his fate. His true calling which was never with her just like Rio’s duties. How despite how fully they love her and she loves them it’s still not enough.

And after, every time she uses her siphon powers on the fake road sandwiched between Nicky’s song and Rio’s final embrace who do u think she thinks of first. Who do u think hurts more to think about. Who do u think she feels more guilt over. Because while she very loudly blames Rio it’s ultimately a facade in which to hide her own feelings. The guilt of falling in love in the first place, the shame of not being enough, the grief over the way she can never have what she truly wants. How she will never have Nicky again but Rio will never leave her side. How she refuses Rio so intensely and yet Nicky is with Rio always.

And how do u think she feels now, whenever she looks at Rio and all she sees is Nicky’s brown eyes and brown hair and toothy smile staring back at her.

[seagull-scribbles]

I want you to tell ‘em that you love the way that they don’t stick out like sore middle fingers

[Continuation of this]

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

🙏 a moment of silence for all the journalists who’ve had to interview these two together 🙏

[blue-eli]

Ink October day 3: Sophistry

An argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading, especially one devised deliberately to be so.

[chirpsythismorning]

Some of the evidence supporting Mike not being in love with El is brutal. No, but seriously.

In s3, when El's leg is injured, instead of Mike putting his arm around her waist, allowing him to take some of the weight off her injured leg, he puts his arm around her shoulder, basically having the exact opposite affect of taking the weight off of her, instead just adding more weight for her to have to carry.

Now, I’m not coming at Mike here, I’m actually coming at the writers, because this choice here has everything to do with them using this gesture to signal Mike’s lack of feelings for El, even at the expense of realism.

I say this bc any person with common sense, including Finn and everyone around him and Millie filming these shots, would've known it looked unnatural for Mike to be adding more weight onto El as opposed to taking some off of her.

This means that what Mike did here, Finn was directed to do, and therefore it was for a specific reason.

And we know they could have easily made the opposite choice, because they show us Max AND Lucas doing it.

See how putting an arm around El's waist looks so much more natural? Because homegirl is injured and clearly needs help taking weight off her leg to qualm some of the pain she's experiencing there, which is why Max and Lucas are shown here doing it the correct way.

And so, why can't Mike do the same? Why are the writers making a point to show Mike being incapable of simply taking some weight off of El, instead doing the exact opposite?

I don't think it's as deep as Mike not being able to do something intimate, and that's bc, again we see Max and Lucas doing it.

I honestly think what they're trying to convey with this choice here, is that Mike thinks he's helping El, when he is in fact doing the opposite despite his best efforts. The implications of that and how that sort of aligns with their romantic relationship and what it leads to at the end of s3, going into s4, is pretty spot on.

I do think Mike thinks he's doing the right thing by being with El instead of voicing any doubts at the end of s3, because he is under the assumption that she is in love with him. I do think he believes he is indebted to her and that this is the least he can do after everything they've been through together, which has mostly been riddled with romantic pressures and so continuing that instead of disputing it seems like the only option anyways. Not to mention, he does care for her deeply, so it's not hard to imagine that he's a teenage boy confusing deep care for love (he literally tells us this is his problem when he can only say care and not love to El's face... but that's a whole other conversation).

Still, when it's all said and done, Mike's not actually doing El any favors by being with her romantically, if that is not what he truly wants.

Because that's the sad truth about all of this, which is that you would never want someone to be with you just because you want them. If you knew that they truly couldn't have those feelings for you, you'd want to know, right? You don't deserve someone just because you have deep feelings for them. And I think there's so many layers to this idea, bc many people are capable of not giving Byler a chance bc they truly believe Mike could never return Will's feelings. Will also feels this way atp, so though it hurts, he rips the band aid off, because he would never want Mike to be with him just out of pity or something. No one would want that. And so it all really comes down to who Mike truly loves romantically and wants to be with. And the right thing to do, even if it hurts someone, is to be honest, because being with them just bc you think that will make them happy is never going to be enough if you aren't truly feeling it, or worse, feel it for someone else.

We see how Mike's inability to be honest with El at the end of s3, leads to a season of Mike feeling deeply insecure and undeserving of the love El has to offer him, and even though he does try, he always comes up short. Despite Mike putting up this front that they are the perfect couple, the details are telling us something is off. And it gives him away.

Another example that I think is very similar to this loaded gesture from Mike to El in s3, is the scene in s4 when they hug in the airport.

Common sense ppl, picture this: You're reuniting with your long distance girlfriend. Then suddenly, she runs up to you, with her arms wide open, and instead of opening your arms wide to embrace her properly, you take the bouquet of flowers you brought her as a gift, and shove them against your chest just as she approaches to hug you, effectively squishing the present you got for her (a pretty delicate present at that) for no reason other than to... what exactly?

Like?? El isn't even squishing the present Mike, she's trying to hug you, dude! Your gf is trying to hug you properly and you threw the gift you got for her in between you so you could throw in a careful! x3??

Again, this has less to do with Mike's thoughts and reasoning behind this gesture in a literal sense, and more to do with the simple fact that this is a narrative choice! Mike is not a real person! There are real people sitting down and writing this and actors are having to do multiple takes to act it out. What feels natural for a situation is going to be what is often chosen 9 times out of 10, because of realism and wanting the audience to see stuff happening that is believable. That 1 time though, when it's not being done the way it would usually be, is usually because there's a specific reason for it.!

So the question really is, not why is Mike doing this, but why are the writers having Mike do this, and what message are they trying to convey about Mike's feelings based on his behavior, in these moments where he's just not capable of committing to El genuinely, one way or another?

[sophaeros]

Q: If, like Kiss did, The Strokes released simultaneous solo albums, what would they be like? Julian: “I’d like to collaborate on them, but they probably wouldn’t let me near them. Fab’s would be kinda gothic, a lot of classical-type instrumentation – like low-pitched choirs in the background, keyboards, and his voice would have a lot of reverb on it. Albert would have the most Strokes-style solo record, with lots of funny disjointed riffs, and the theme would be love and relationships. Nick would have a Motley Crew-meets-Blur record with high-pitched [imitates Bruce Dickenson yowl] ‘Waaaaaah’ vocals. Nikolai would have an indie, chilled out, [laughs] bass-driven album.”

— the strokes for q magazine, april 2002 / wr. danny eccleston (x)

fab: knots - machinegum (2019)

albert: caught by my shadow - ahj (2015)

nick: walls - crx (2016)

nikolai: burnin_up - summer moon (2023)