#mourning friendship

[look-a-diversion]

not to get personal to a bunch of strangers on the getting-personal-to-a-bunch-of-strangers platform, but mourning a friendship you chose to end is a really odd, specific kind of grief.

that thing you saw that made you think of them, who will you share it with?

that thing sitting on your desk that you hadn't gotten around to mailing to them, what will you do with it now?

that trick or skill they taught you, that resource they shared with you, that song they played you that you still like-- they're still part of your life, but now sometimes you feel sad and angry when they come up and wonder if you have a right to them anymore.

your friend isn’t dead. somewhere, they are alive and experiencing all the joys you would have celebrated with them and the pain you would have tried to support them through. they're having a day somewhere and you're not going to ask them how it's going. you're not going to talk about it. you're not going to laugh at those inside jokes you had with only them ever again. you'll never talk to them again. you could, but you can't. you could, but you won't.

it's for the best. you wouldn't have made the choice you did if you didn't sincerely believe that. but still, this strange grief for the living.

where do you put it?

[the-royal-blue-network]

Casualty

Grief, or deep sorrow, is usually reserved for the dead; but in Maya Wallace’s case, no one has died. Instead, she is mourning the loss of a friendship. For years, Maya, her partner Rex, and their friend Roger were thick as thieves; the three amigos. But when Roger began dating Megan, Roger became unrecognizable, and though Rex and Maya tried to hold onto their friend, in the end, Roger was a lost cause. It took months of crying, watching shitty rom-coms, and lots of ice cream for Maya and Rex to process the loss of their friend. But they did it, they went through it, and made it to the other side. But months later, when Maya comes across a photo of Roger, on a very important day of his life, Maya comes to learn that grief isn't a linear process. But what does that mean? What’s in this photo? And why would it have the power to send Maya back through the entire grieving process again?

CLICK THE TITLE, AND FIND OUT TODAY!

[dapper-lil-arts]

It's never too late to love, it's never too late to live.

[louisferrignojr]

i don't know if i have the energy to write this into a full fic but i want to write something from tommy's pov and i got this idea that could work as a prequel to the fix it fic i already wrote but basically

chimney shows up at his house with a six pack and tommy opens the door and wordlessly steps aside to let him in

of course chimney is there because he heard about the break up and he wants to offer tommy a shoulder to cry on because he knows tommy is hurting just as much as buck is, and buck has his sister and his best friend and his makeshift father figure, but tommy doesn't really have any close friends; a lot of surface-level friendships with the people he hangs out with, and he's good with his coworkers but harbor station isn't like the 118. he also knows it's only been a few days and the wound is still so fresh, and when tommy doesn't show signs of opening up, chimney does.

he wasn't going to share the news of the pregnancy, they aren't telling people yet because it's too soon, and he didn't think it was a good time to flaunt his joy so to speak, but it works as a segue to a conversation about his relationship with maddie, everything they've been through - tommy doesn't know the half of it, because while they've seen each other a lot more often in the past six months, they haven't had a chance to hang out one-on-one and dig deep. he tells tommy about all of it, from the beginning, how they met and how they started dating, the first surprise pregnancy, the separation, the engagement, all of it. and everything he's learned these past few years, all the ways he's grown as a person since tommy's transfer.

and he tells tommy about the buckleys of it all, how maddie is the one who runs and buck is the one who gets left behind. he sees the way tommy's expression shifts when he hears that, and he says, "yeah, you fucked up big time, buddy." because it's the truth, and because tommy hurt his brother, after all, and chimney's always going to have his back.

and finally tommy cracks and admits how much he's been struggling, second guessing himself, part of him knowing it was self-sabotage and part of him justifying the decision with all the logical reasons it was the right thing to do, but he never thought about how it would have affected evan, and now he's beating himself up over it, because he'd been selfish and impulsive and cowardly, and he wishes he could have stayed and talked it through instead of running.

in the end chimney tells him it's not too late, and he deserves a second chance, and he bets anything buck is willing to give him that. tommy replays their conversation in his mind the next day as he's driving to evan's loft to pick up his things. end scene.

[wangxianficrecs]

sweet decadence by breathrou

sweet decadence

by breaththrou

M, WIP, 15k, Wangxian

Summary: Lan Xichen breathed in sharply, a crazed laugh escaping him. He lifted his gaze to meet his eyes, a look of despair etched onto the hard lines of his face. "My brother... my brother has always been our mother's child. For that, he could not live. He is gone. I could not find him, and I could not have brought him home. I can only hope now that Wangji is at rest," he said quietly, the wind whipping the greying locks of his hair around his face. Wei Wuxian stared at him, horrified. Lan Xichen looked away as fresh tears rolled down his cheeks. "I have only ever wished happiness for my brother, but I fear I have instead brought him death." Kay's comments: Oh, this story really has me on a tight hold and I can't wait to see what happens! It's starting out with Lan Wangji not returning to Gusu after he saved A-Yuan (and his sister, who also lived in the Burial Mounds!!) and instead seeking shelter at Luo Qingyang's place. We also got more of him being defiant and seeking out his mother more often back when she was still alive. The Lan Xichen POV to finding his brother gone in chapter two was also *chef's kiss* Excerpt: It was a normal day for Lan Xichen. Of course, as normal as a day can be when one’s brother gets whipped within an inch of his life and remains completely immobile. If normal could be defined as being consumed by your worries, then Lan Xichen’s day was absolutely normal. It was not as if Lan Xichen’s childhood was not defined by being a mediator between his brother and his uncle, between his brother and the elders. Surely, this push and pull would remain for the rest of their lives. Lan Xichen sighed. He sat himself on the side of his bed and nimbly pulled his hair out of his sleeping braid. The same braid he tied for his brother every morning. As Lan Xichen got dressed for the day, putting on all six pristine layers of his robes, he stopped at his desk. These days, he found himself almost crushed with the amount of work he had to do. Shufu, at the very least, decided to take on the work that Wangji could no longer do. Lan Xichen knew Shufu cared for and loved Wangji, but sometimes, even he himself found it hard to believe.

pov alternating, canon divergence, lan wangji leaves the gusu lan sect, rogue cultivator lan wangji, lan wangji is lan sizhui's parent, fatherhood, disability, madam lan backstory, wen qing lives, sentient burial mounds, wie wuxian in wei wuxian's body, families of choice, grief/mourning, lan wangji & luo qingyang friendship, angst

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[sylvia-de-silva]

[lunabug2004]

Sometimes I feel like such a hypocrite because even though I don't agree with most aspects of branded-ship culture for BLs, I would be absolutely heartbroken if OffGun, GeminiFourth, or FirstKhao ever permanently split

[dragonologist-phd]

and since i'm going through all these screenshots, here are some of my favorite mourn watcher rook moments from emmrich's memorial gardens quest:

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[miss-louisa-may]

pete, richie and ruth always go over the top for halloween. richie is into anime and ruth is into theatre- of course they go hard on the costumes! and pete is so down to go along with it

they always have group costumes, planned so far in advanced, of some niche thing no one but them will recognise- it's just tradition at this point

it's really the only time they can express themselves without being bullied, so halloween is like the biggest night of the year for them

but then pete has to face his first halloween without them

and the costume hanging in his closet, from some anime richie made them all watch together, just breaks him

so it just sits there. and he just sits there

even when ted suggests they go out to the cinema's halloween movie screening. even when steph invites him to a halloween party. because they don't get it

they don't understand

halloween night belonged to him and ruth and richie. to pete, it feels like a betrayal to spend the night with anyone else

so pete spends the night locked in his room, flipping through photos of him and his friends- his best friends- over so many years of halloween costumes

and he smiles and he cries and he laughs as he watches him and his friends grow up one year at a time. he watches as their costumes change from generic vampires and witches to characters that no one recognised, but meant something to them. he watches as one thing never changes- how happy they are in each and every photo

and it really hits him...

there won't be anymore smiles. there won't be anymore costumes. there won't be anymore debates over which candy was the best. there won't be anymore "aren't you a bit old to be trick or treating?"

for richie and ruth, there won't be anymore growing up

[what-is-love-babey-dont-hurt-me]

Liking family content is fine and with that out of the way I gotta say. The popular view of the fandom viewing Kirby and Bandana ONLY as kids and often forcing the main four into a nuclear family unit and reducing Kirby especially to a shallow baby stereotype and completely ignoring the beautiful, complex, and nuanced friendship dynamics of the main four that is right there is the greatest tragedy ever.

And the irony of a series that so greatly stresses the importance and significance of platonic relationships just to have it tossed to the side by the fandom gets me.

[starii-void]

something about mei and mk being ‘the hero and the warrior’ except they’re more based

theres been a few instances of mei being upset about not being able to spend as much time with MK (the one i remember more vividly was her in s5 wanting to go on a ‘classic MK and Mei adventure!’ but im p sure there was an instance in s4 too that i cant recall) which lead to some thoughts

ive seen a lot of stuff about them and how mei might end up like macaque, bitter and abandoned by MK, like wukong did. but i just feel like it isnt true. so this is my future theory:

there’d be a build up of more instances like this. mei wants to do stuff with MK, but he prioritizes his hero training/duties. each time, she’s shown subtly being more and more upset until one day she snaps. she confronts him and is visibly upset, yelling at him.

but then, instead of snapping back (like Wukong did) he apologizes. maybe it can parallel the first fight they had in season 1 during the race somehow?

in the end, the two do what Wukong and Macaque couldnt, and make up. MK owns up to his mistake and they both get better. they have their own little adventures together, or something like that

and like that, it shows how they’re different from the Hero and the Warrior. it shows how Wukong and Macaque couldve turned out if theyd just put down their pride and communicated. it shows what they couldve been.

basically i just think they wouldnt turn out like macaque and wukong. ive seen a lot of people theorize that but they arent emotionally constipated enough for that to happen, plus we’ve seen them argue and make up on screen already.

also i think itd just make for some cool opportunities for art and visual parallels

[kommandonuovidiavoli]

Told ya I would do something sad too~

Mourning AU and Phoebe by @artsygirl0315

Anyway, parallels are fun, right??? You help someone feel a little bit better after they lost a dear friend and years later you're the one being comforted by them because you lost your husband...

Ain't life cruelly curious, sometimes?

[writesology]

how grateful i am, to be able to call you mine

[buttclench-ryugazaki]

[blue-thief]

he should have been at the club

[amadelii]

In another world--

That one scene from Pride (tee hee) and Prejudice but its um... Them.

More versions under the cut!

I couldn't decide which frame style I liked so here's a bunch!