#so. i want to pit them against each other

[faithsotherhouseofchaos]

It’s okay to get overstimulated||Mick Schumacher x Fem!Autistic reader

Summary —759

Word count

Fluff

A/n this was another request from my old blog that got deleted

Y/N stood at the edge of the pit wall, the roar of engines reverberating through her chest. It was louder than she’d remembered, louder than she thought she could handle. She had spotted the headphones the team provided earlier, but just the thought of their bulky weight pressing against her ears made her skin crawl.

She’d told herself she could power through without her usual earbuds. She’d done it before, right? But as the hours passed, the noise built into a relentless cacophony—the screech of tires, the clatter of tools, the shouts of engineers, all blending into an oppressive wave.

Her chest tightened, the sensation creeping up her throat until she felt like she couldn’t swallow. She pressed her palms hard against her ears, her breath coming in shallow, rapid bursts. It wasn’t enough.

When Mick came into the garage after his stint, drenched in sweat and pulling off his helmet, his first instinct was to look for her. She wasn’t by the pit wall anymore.

���Where’s Y/N?” he asked one of the team members.

“Think she’s by the lockers,” came the reply.

Alarmed, Mick immediately went searching, weaving past busy mechanics and equipment. He found her huddled in the shadowed corner of the garage, her back against the lockers and her knees drawn to her chest. Her fingers were threaded tightly in her hair, pulling slightly as if the sensation could block out the noise. Her entire body trembled, her face scrunched up as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Y/N,” he said softly, crouching down beside her.

She flinched, her head snapping up to meet his gaze. Her eyes were glassy, filled with panic. “Mick—” Her voice cracked, breaking off as a fresh sob escaped her lips.

“I—I forgot my earbuds,” she stammered, her words tumbling over each other. “I thought I could handle it, but it’s too much. It’s all too much—”

Her breathing hitched, turning into gasping hiccups. Mick reached out slowly, his hands hovering in front of her as if asking for permission before touching her. “Hey, hey, I’m here,” he murmured. “You’re safe.”

“I c-can’t—” Her voice broke again, and her hands shot back to her ears, pressing as tightly as she could.

Mick slid closer, gently prying her hands away and cupping them with his own. He shielded her ears with his palms, the warmth of his touch grounding her. “Focus on me,” he said softly. “Just me. Block out everything else.”

Her breathing came in shuddering gasps, her body shaking as she tried to follow his words. He began to breathe deliberately—slow, measured inhales and exhales—and whispered, “Breathe with me. In… and out. Nice and slow.”

It took several long moments, but she began to mimic his rhythm, her gasps gradually evening out. Tears still streaked her face, but the wild panic in her eyes dulled slightly.

“There you go,” Mick murmured, his thumbs brushing gentle circles against her temples. “You’re doing so well.”

She leaned into him, her forehead resting against his chest. The world felt quieter now, not just from his hands over her ears but from the safe bubble his presence always seemed to create.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice trembling.

“For what?” Mick asked, tilting her chin up to meet his eyes.

“For messing up your race,” she said, fresh tears brimming. “I should’ve been more prepared. I didn’t want to bother you—”

“Stop,” Mick interrupted gently but firmly. “You could never bother me. And the race? That’s not more important than you. Ever.”

He pulled her closer for a moment, holding her tightly before reaching into his bag by the lockers. “Here,” he said, pulling out a pair of soft earplugs. “These are better than nothing. Will they work?”

She took them with shaky hands, sliding them in and testing the fit. Her expression softened as the overwhelming noise dulled to a manageable hum.

“Much better,” she murmured, her voice thick with gratitude.

Mick smiled, brushing a strand of hair from her damp forehead. “Good. Next time, we’ll triple-check before we leave, yeah? And if we forget again, I’ll have extras in my bag, my car, and probably every pocket I own.”

That earned a shaky laugh from her, and Mick stood, offering her his hand. “Come on. Let’s find a quieter spot to watch the rest of the race. Just us.”

She took his hand, clinging tightly as he led her out of the garage. No matter the chaos around her, Mick always made her feel like the noise couldn’t touch her.

[writtenmisfits]

Astarion listened quietly as Gale spoke, his eyes intently on the wizard as he laid everything out. In ways, Astarion could see that some of those revelations came as Gale continued, and so he remained silent while the wizard spoke.

The way he spoke of Mystra rang painfully familiar to him. Once, so very, very long ago, Cazador had been the man who saved him. He'd once been kind, caring, doting even... and every bit of it an act to ensnare Astarion's loyalty and devotion. Once his Master had become cruel... it had never stopped.

He never thought he'd find kindness and caring from another person ever again. Even he and his siblings were often pitted against each other to cause bitter squabbles and keep them from allying against their Master.

And yet here Gale was. Ever since the journey began, the wizard became an unlikely companion and often times ally. He'd stood up for him with the others on more than one occasion, and unlike most, didn't seem to be so bothered by his vampirism.

Gale cupped his cheek and Astarion's thoughts were completely shattered by that look in the wizard's eyes. Like the vampire was something he not only valued, but cherished. Had he ever thought someone could look at him in such a way, knowing he had the same look on his face for Gale?

He remembered when he'd tried to seduce the wizard in what feels like almost a lifetime ago now. Instead, he'd been met by the obstacle of the orb and then... seduced a little bit himself with the impromptu lesson of the Weave. It had been the first time he'd seen Gale raw and in his element outside of battle, and the feeling was... enticing.

He'd stayed close ever since.

When the wizard finished, telling Astarion how special he was to him, the vampire knew he should say something, but he found himself at a complete loss of words. Not even a quick quip to pierce the silence.

"You... have me utterly speechless, Wizard." The nickname is said with tender fondness as he reaches up his hand to take the one Gale has pressed against his cheek, bringing it down between the two of them as he hold's Gale's hand between his. The bracelet glitters on his wrist and he can't help smiling at that, either.

"Cazador... had been my savior once. Saved me from the Gur thugs. He... built my trust and devotion for a few decades before he showed his true, cruel colors..." Astarion swallowed hard, closing his eyes as he steadied himself before he looked up at Gale. Cazador was still out there, and the thought of him finding Astarion here in the city was ever present, but he didn't want to think about any of that now.

All he wanted to think about was Gale, and the way the wizard looked at him, cared for him, treated him.

"I never thought I'd find kindness and caring again. I never thought someone could be so kind and caring to me... and then you came along. You... my darling Gale... you gave me something I lost two centuries ago. You gave me hope... hope that someone as broken as I am can be a better man... You've shown me what it is to be a better man, Gale, and I will forever be grateful to you for it..."

The mention of Mystra drew a soft chuckle from Gale, his head shaking as if to dispel a memory. How fitting that her name should linger still, a specter of the man he once was. He had prattled on about her incessantly those many weeks ago, an infatuated fool with rose-tinted glasses firmly glued to his face. The heartbreak—the chronic agony of the orb—had driven him to his knees, gazing skyward in blind devotion, begging for forgiveness.

Looking back now, with the clarity of hindsight, he saw himself for what he was: a fool, yes, but a fool in love with something impossible. Someone incapable of love in return.

"If I could choose between being by your side or Mystra's," he began, "I would choose yours. Without doubt, without hesitation."

He paused, a rueful smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he gazed at Astarion. "For years, I gazed upon her face, into her eyes, and saw divinity. But now… now I realise how cold they were. I wasn’t loved by her, Astarion. I was valued, yes, but only as a tool. A means to an end. I…" He trailed off, his voice faltering as a shadow of vulnerability crossed his features.

But if Astarion could bare his soul, then so could he.

"I was a fool in love with the impossible," Gale continued, his words slower now, measured, as though he were uncovering them for the first time. In truth, he was. These were thoughts swirling in his mind since Moonrise, finally voicing them now. "And now, thinking back on it… I don’t know if it was ever truly love. Infatuation, perhaps. Devotion, certainly. The blind, unwavering devotion of a man following his goddess. But with you…"

His voice softened, his gaze steady. "With you, your eyes hold a warmth no goddess could ever manage. Yes, your hands are cold, your heart unbeating, but in your presence, I feel alive. I feel warm in a way I thought I had forgotten."

Gale’s hand slipped from Astarion’s, rising instead to cup his cheek. He held the vampire as if he were holding something precious. To Gale, he was.

"I hope I’m not being too forward here," he murmured, his thumb brushing softly against Astarion’s skin. "But to compare you to Mystra would be an insult to you. There is no comparison. You are so special to me."

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bros before Ho(oh my god is that Hanguang-Jun?)

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[borgialucrezia]

THE BORGIA SIBLINGS + descriptions by their portrayers "I will not have this family at war with itself."

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Outside of Marvel:

Loki x Komand'r (Blackfire)-The most perfect Marvel!Loki crack ship in existence. Spurned space royals with unhealthy sibling rivalries! Ice and Fire! Alien disabilities. Loathed by their subjects and mistreated by parents. Evil older sister and evil younger brother! Like I kinda want to analyze that a villainous princess is often presented as the older one and that a villainous prince is usually the younger one + the associations of age with gender (I know Loki is genderfluid but that happened until the 2010s and they were merely queer-coded until then).

Loki x Mordred-Usurper bastard (literal) princes keen on patricide. Also, is it me or does Mordred's death in La Morte d'Arthur is very reminiscent of myth!Loki's death in Ragnarok?

Not ship-related because there's too many characters, unless you want to play olympic polyamory. I'd love to see Loki interact with The Doom Patrol or The Umbrella Academy members. I feel they'd be kindred spirits in the whole super fuck-up/destined to lose departments.

With TDP, Loki would probably summon them for some bullshit, and it'd be a weird whacky Grant Morrisonesque adventure. Maybe Willoughby Kipling was fucking around trying to summon Baphomet cus of his massive crush, and ended up contacting Loki who told him of some impending disaster, but he has to remain a living battery. And so Kipling goes off to get TDP on it. It's also interesting that they all have regrets, and many of them were not kind people and are very insecure about themselves. So if Loki manages to get free, it'd be interesting to see how they interact. Maybe they try to convince him that the multiverse will be safe and try to get him out? Maybe he grants them a favor in return? TDP is the best super-hero adjacent show I've ever watched, btw. Highly recommend!

With TUA , they're all "adopted" through unethical means and were pitted against each other from birth, and grew up in a mansion with their very powerful and abusive adoptive alien dad played by Colm Feore (who also played Laufey in T1). Not to mention, a lot of them could pass as Loki variants (Luther is Captain America with some Thor thrown in, Diego's the knife guy with a rivalry to his blonde brother with a dysfunctional relationship to a bottle blonde whose childhood was ruined by a time organization, Allison's power is words, Klaus is a gnc queer disaster often looked down upon, Five is a cranky know-it-all and capable of timefuckery/ends up in fucked up places often, Sparrow!Ben and Luther have that fandom Thor and Loki dynamic in that Sparrow!Ben is constantly doing crimes and Luther bailing him out. Umbrella!Ben on the other hand was afraid of his abilities and died, Viktor was lied to about not being something he wanted to be and is trans while Loki was lied to about being something he wanted to be. Loki taking the role of a protective yet murderous eldritch older brother to the rest of them would be cool. And it'd be funny to have this eldritch guy bearing a very strong resemblance to their alien "adoptive" father show up and he's like "I'm gonna kill him AGAIN". Insert rant about how bad/inconsistent the characterizations and writing for both Loki and TUA characters became as time went on.

MCU:

Loki x Valkyrie is my MCU OTP. They both had to do horrible things they're not proud of to survive around a madman in a lawless place, and they're both foils to Thor. I guess they appeal to me in that they both were forced to learn to deal with the GM. They were in Sakaar long enough for that to happen. The fight scene between these two made me ship them. And I personally think Valkyrie was one of the good things in TR; I just think she's neat. I like that she met Loki outside of Asgard and has been outside of the loop. The dynamic of "Your adoptive dad forced me to fight his wars and then i ended up in a place where time runs differently" is intriguing. I don't know why I ship this with an intensity rivaling my shipping of Zutara D: I knew it'd not be cannon because Marvel are cowards, but I'm upset they are no longer standing next to each other!

Frostshield-A fic made me ship them. I liked that the fic HC'd that Loki was also sickly as a child, but he was vengeful. It showed that they dealt with being perceived as weak in very different ways.

Loki x Nebula-Loki might know her already, and they have a lot in common. They're even both blue! LMAO.

Marvel comics:

Doomki-It's really fun. They're on equal ground just playing chicken with each other. I love the "Aww, you poisoned my food!" thing.

Scarletfrost-That comic made me ship them even if they didn't end up together cus Marvel are cowards xD

Loki x Lin Lie-Loki was flirty as fuck to him, and I find it funny that they're both black-haired with a green/gold color scheme.

I briefly shipped him with both Hulkling and Wiccan during YA V2 but I don't anymore.

Do you have any crackships featuring Loki?

[mrmeepsmadmind]

SOCIETY KEEPS KILLING ONE OF THEM BCS THEIR FRIENDSHIP WOULD BE INCAPABLE FOR GALAXIES TO HANDLE !!!!!

[fromtheseventhhell]

Another reason that Stansas hate the idea of Arya and Dany being friends (outside of them wanting to demonize Dany) is that they've convinced themselves that Dany and Sansa are the only main female characters, so if a Stark sister is going to have a significant relationship with Dany it has to be Sansa. Arya being constantly downplayed and treated like an accessory to Sansa has generally led to the consensus that her relationship with Dany will be defined by whatever Sansa's relationship (positive or negative) with her is. That's why Arya is always being left out of the "we were robbed of [x] female character friendship" conversations and why theories about Dany/Arya getting along are treated as Sansa hate; Arya, as a character, is seen as secondary to Sansa by a lot of people

[dazzle02]

Fiona and Lip vs Mickey (They did not hate him or treat him unfairly!!)

People love to claim Fiona and Lip were always super unfair to Mickey and I need to get all this out. I said in my last post that I would make this post at some point, and so I'm doing it now because I need to get it out.

I'll start with Lip.

So during the first 3 seasons Lip was the only one who knew about Ian and Mickey. And he was always pretty supportive about it really. At the end of S3 he made one comment to Ian about how the good thing about falling for Mickey was that you could always do better. Was that necessarily nice? No. But I never actually even took it as Lip truly not liking Mickey for Ian. Just as that thing people often do when their friend/sibling goes through a breakup. Trying to make him feel better, and adding in a little trash talk about the person who hurt them. But also, their relationship hadn't exactly been the most healthy. I love Gallavich, but we can all acknowledge that, right? Mickey had beaten Ian up just a couple episodes before that. Also, Lip very rarely got to see them together pre season 4. And when he did, they were pretending there was nothing going on because Mickey didn't know Lip knew. Lip literally saw Mickey walk off to go have sex with Angie while Ian was right there. And sure, he would've likely been told some of the better stuff about their relationship (if it can even be called that in 1-3?) but for the most part he only got to see the bad, and also the bad was what Ian was gonna talk more about because that was when he needed to get things out. So yeah, Lip may have had a little bit of hesitance towards their relationship at that point in time.

And same in early S4 when he asked Ian if it was really a good idea that Mickey was still at the house. That wasn't anything actually against Mickey as a person, that was about the situation and the fact that he knows how much everything hurt Ian.

Also, he knew about Mickey being gay since S1 and Mickey never even suspected he knew anything until S4 when Lip had to hint at it to try and get him to say whether he'd heard from Ian. Lip knew that wasn't something he was supposed to know, and so he only knew it when he and Ian were alone.

In S4 when Lip was looking for Ian, Mickey was the first person he asked after Debbie and Carl. And he didn't push. He just asked if he'd heard from him, the only thing I'd say could be classed as pushing was his "are you really gonna make me spell it out?" about his and Ian's relationship. And even that he quickly backed off from. Then he said he'd let Mickey know what kind of trouble Ian was in once he found out. (And by telling Mandy what was going on, he did...)

Season 5 is where it gets interesting and where I see the most shit about Lip being unfair to Mickey.

We see Lip and Fiona go to Mickey to ask him to try and talk to Ian about going to see a Doctor, they explain the symptoms of Bipolar they're seeing in Ian. They mention Monica to point out that they know what they're talking about. (We also see that Lip is actually amused by Mickey when he's beating that guy up and yelling up to his wife...) And Mickey ignores them. And that must've been SO frustrating and scary for them. But they don't hold it against him, because they understand!

Then we see Mickey go to Lip and ask about the doctor after the debacle with the suitcases. And Lip is visibly worried, but when Mickey tells him things are okay, he believes him. Or he doesn't quite believe him, but he doesn't push. And this is something I often see people think the opposite of. People often seem to believe that Lip will push Mickey over Ian's Bipolar, that he won't let him handle it himself and just insert himself in and not trust Mickey has things handled. And honestly, after this I wouldn't have blamed him if that was true. But it's just NOT.

Then we really get into it. Episode 5 happens. Ian hasn't come home and Mickey goes to find him and learns he left the club with some other guy and he's pissed. But he can't get to Ian, so he goes after Lip. (Just like in 1x03...) He and his brothers invite Lip to join them in their shooting stolen guns at a window thing, then try and leave him to take the fall. They literally could've destroyed his entire life. And look, Lip was an adult and made the choice to join them. But at the end of the day, Mickey was angry at Ian and tried to take that out on Lip. AND IT IS NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN! Lip never holds it against him. He could've. Maybe even should've. But he doesn't.

Because the very next episode is when Ian has taken Yevgeny and Lip goes to the Milkovich house with Fiona and is totally fine with both Mickey and Iggy and it's like nothing happened. And the car scenes!

Mickey apologises because he realises that he should've listened to Fiona and Lip when they told him that Ian needed help. And Lip responds that yes, he should've. Because he should have. Then proceeds to let him know it can get worse. But then the second car scene, once they have Ian. Lip tells Mickey that he did his best. That he knows he tried, and that that's more than most people would do. With no prompting. Literally the episode before this, Mickey and his brothers had tried to set him up for a crime they'd committed and didn't apologise or anything, and yet Lip is so quick to assure him he did okay. Despite the fact that he likely does have some anger at the fact that he didn't listen to them from the start.

Then when he and Fiona are going to pick Ian up from the hospital, he says he thought Mickey would be there. Lip can see how much Mickey loves Ian. He was surprised he wasn't there.

That deleted scene from after Ian didn't go to Mexico with Mickey next. "People say "You always went a little loco when Mickey was around." THAT LINE WASN'T ANYTHING ABOUT IAN'S BIPOLAR OR THE WAY MICKEY HANDLED IT! It was a "I know how in love with Mickey you are and how much you'd do to be with him." That wasn't a criticism of Mickey. And Lip saying he doesn't think he should've gone wasn't either. It was just that he didn't wanna lose his brother, and that he also knew it likely wouldn't be good for his health. (Which I talked about in my last post...)

In Season 10 when Ian tells Lip he thinks Mickey killed Paula, Lip's response is that of course he should lie to the police and say that Mickey was there all night.

Lip literally tells Ian he thinks he should marry Mickey the next episode, but only when he's ready. That first he needs to figure out why he doesn't want to at that moment. And he was right. Ian was so clearly going through something at that point in time, struggling with his feelings of worthiness and about his Bipolar and legally binding Mickey to that for the rest of his life.

And then along with everyone else Lip does everything in his power to make the wedding happen. Which, yes the wedding is also his brother's. But you don't go that far to make sure your brother gets to marry someone you don't approve of or like.

In S11 there's the "family only" moment, but I get what Lip meant there. It wasn't that he didn't consider Mickey to be family, it was that he felt the conversation should only be the Gallagher siblings. This was their childhood home, it was a discussion between them. He also told Tami to back off. The "What so Mickey's family but Tami isn't" thing also didn't come off as a criticism of Mickey being family to me, more as a "Tami is the mother of my child, marriage isn't the only way to become family." But I get that might just be me.

And they butt heads a lot, I get that. But at the end of the day, Lip does approve of Mickey. I'd even go as far as to say he likes and cares about him.

Now onto Fiona.

Let's start with the fact that she had no idea anything was even going on between them until suddenly Mickey was living in their house. And she never really said anything about it. Just had a little confusion about it.

The real starting point is when she realised Ian was Bipolar. People claim she did a bad job at explaining it to Mickey and made it sound like something that could never be stabilised in any way and that the only answer was hospitalisation. But like, she was terrified too. Her little brother who she loves is in a depressive episode and she's just realised he's likely Bipolar and the only experience she has of it is her mother. Monica. She was absolutely terrified because the last experience she had with Monica at that point in time was her slitting her wrists in the kitchen. Her entire childhood was totally chaotic because Monica wasn't taking her meds. (Plus everything with Frank, and I'll always say he's far worse!! But this isn't about him...) She has never experienced someone actually being able to live a good life with bipolar where they're not just hurting everyone around them. And of course she was getting frustrated, because even though logically she would've understood that Mickey just doesn't know anything about Bipolar, it likely felt like he was invalidating her trauma. ("Depressed? We all get fucking depressed." "He's depressed we'll cheer him up." "I'll hide the knives until he perks up.") Not only would that feel like he was just saying "it can't be that bad, you're overreacting and I can fix this." but also some of these things are likely things she'd thought or said about Monica when she was younger. Trying to cheer her up when she's depressed, trying to downplay it a bit to help herself deal. But she knows from experience that's not how it works. And she's terrified because now it's her little brother.

But she agrees to let Mickey take care of him. She can see how much this means to him, that he's determined and that he's not going to let her get him to a doctor. (Even though legally she could've as he was still underage and she was his legal guardian...)

And people also seem to think that the Gallaghers just abandoned Ian with the Milkoviches while he was depressed and didn't help out or anything, but the scene of her and Ian going for that run together doesn't feel that way at all to me. I've always felt they'd go to see him whenever they could and do what they could to help out. But at the end of the day, he was at the Milkovich house and they couldn't just be there at all times. (Just another criticism I see a lot that I hate...)

As I said in Lip's section, they go to see Mickey to talk to him about getting Ian to see a Doctor, and he refuses.

At the end of the episode when Ian shows up to their pool party Fiona immediately asks where Mickey is. Which means that she not only either extended the invite to Mickey to come too, or just assumed he would, but also cared enough to ask after him when he didn't show.

In episode 2, Mandy asks Mickey if they should call Fiona when Ian's planning to go kill a bunch of homophobes. (This unintentional foreshadowing to Gay Jesus though...) Mickey immediately says no because she'll take him to a Shrink. Again, I get that's scary, but that was what he needed.

Mickey finally calls her when Ian takes Yevgeny and she immediately goes over there and calls Lip too. She also doesn't lay any blame at Mickey's feet. There's no getting annoyed that he didn't listen to them when they warned him. Just need to find Ian.

She smiles when Mickey calls himself Ian's boyfriend in the next episode when they're going to visit him. She's comforting towards him when Ian leaves after the visit by assuring him that he's just sedated and adjusting to meds and that it'll be okay. But doesn't push. Then later tells Gus that she thinks it was really hard for Mickey.

Here's the part where she gets the most criticism though. "I thought Mickey would be here." "I didn't." THIS WAS NOT ANYTHING AGAINST MICKEY! She had seen how hard the visit was for him. She saw his reaction and how freaked out he was. This wasn't her saying "I didn't think he'd come because he doesn't actually care about Ian and he's the worst!" No! It was her saying "I didn't think he'd come because I saw how much it hurt him seeing him like that and haven't heard from him since." Also, she wasn't wrong. He wasn't there. Like, we know why. He was struggling with everything and that is understandable. But why is Fiona just so awful for believing something that turned out to be true?

Then of course Mickey came back and all was good. And Fiona wasn't surprised by that. She never held it against him that he wasn't there to pick Ian up. There was no animosity. He offered to help her out with Carl's Court outfit stuff, she just asked if he could use an iron and then they walked off together to go do that and possibly talk or whatever.

Then Mickey was still just walking about the house like it was his own after Ian was arrested. This was totally normal to Fiona. There was no question whether Mickey would be going with them to see Ian in Military Prison. When they got back she was fine with leaving him with Debbie and Liam as if it was totally normal.

And I spoke about her line in S7 about how Mickey would set a match to Ian's life in my last post. But I'll say it again here. It wasn't about Mickey as a person or his relationship with Ian. It was about the fact that Mickey was literally a fugitive. He'd just escaped Prison and was a fugitive. Ian could not have been in a relationship with him at that time without destroying his entire life. Without losing his job. Without losing his family due to the fact that he would also now be a fugitive and wouldn't be able to have contact with them. Going with Mickey would cost him everything. She was right. He would've set a match to Ian's life. And he kinda did. To me it was never about her thinking Mickey was bad for Ian. She knew how much they love each other and she saw how good for each other they could be. But at that point in time, they couldn't have had a good relationship. The circumstances were too bad. She didn't want that life for Ian. Constantly looking over his shoulder because the Police were looking for him, always on the run, never able to really see his family.

They didn't have many interactions, but a lot of them were during a time where both were terrified for Ian and wanted to handle it in different ways. Both came from places of love. But Fiona's also came from a place of experience, while Mickey's came from a place of inexperience.

[deus-ex-mona]

sena 🤝 yujiro

older siblings (who see themselves as unreliable) who look out for and love their (relatively aloof) younger siblings unconditionally

[hello-eeveev]

Okay okay I’ve seen some takes regarding Orym on twitter (specifically about his relationship to Laudna) that I feel the need to refute but I have a lot of thoughts and also I don’t want to get into fights so hi tumblr! rant below the cut 😊

(tl;dr I think the bell’s hells are doing the best they can in a series of complicated situations, but people are expecting a kind of inter-party conflict to come from it that doesn’t line up with the text and I don’t get it, so I guess I must become Orym’s #1 defender, feat. a defense of the c3e63 decision, Ludinus Da’leth hate, and big big feelings about Keyleth and Vax)

Take: Orym is uncomfortable with Laudna’s weirdness/creepiness, as evidenced by him always bringing it up and trying to hide and obscure her undead presence.

My opinion: Laudna loves the fact that she’s creepy. She revels in it. Orym/Liam pointing it out in narration is part flavor text, part acknowledging an important aspect of Laudna. It’s like how he always makes sure everyone knows that Orym is Small. Not to mention, Marisha brings it up in her narration as much as Liam does.

During Laudna’s resurrection ritual, Orym says, “I don’t know what Bell’s Hells will be without your darkness, Laudna. Or your light.” He values both sides of her!

Regarding Orym’s disguises for Laudna (i.e. dressing her in white in bassuras, adding flowers to her hair to give her more color in hearthdell), again I don’t think this is a sign of Orym’s discomfort with her. Remember, Orym is a bodyguard. His job is to protect others, protect the group. Yes, several members of Bell’s Hells will draw eyes, but notably, Laudna—being undead-ish, with the Unsettling Presence feature and a canonically scary physical appearance—might strike fear into others. And fear makes people more willing to resort to violence than, say, being surprised by the presence of a robot or a faun. It’s not about making her palatable, it’s about keeping all of them safe. It’s bodyguard behavior.

Also, Orym only does this when they are actively avoiding drawing attention to themselves, and as far as I know, Laudna has only had a problem with it once.

Take: Laudna looked to Ashton and Orym for what to do during the scuffle with Bor’Dor, and Orym encouraged her to let Delilah back in, all because he’s hell-bent on revenge and thinks he can use Delilah’s power to get it. He actively disregarded Laudna’s well-being to further his own goals.

My opinion: No, she wasn’t looking to them for what to do. Marisha said it herself: Laudna was barely present. She couldn’t even hear Deni$e suggest keeping Bor’Dor alive; what makes you think she’s going to see a singular nod from Orym 15 feet away? She had already done Hunger of the Shadow, was already cloaked in the “purple-ish glowing hue that hasn’t been seen in a while,” and Matt had mentioned the heartbeat long before Liam ever said anything. Laudna had already let Delilah back in before Orym nodded and before she killed Bor’Dor. It was a horrible situation all around, but Orym did not convince Laudna to let Delilah back in for his own purposes. It is not his fault that Laudna embraced Delilah’s power or that Bor’Dor died. Laudna made her choice, as heartbreaking and conflicting as it may be, so let her live with it.

And for the record, I think they were justified in killing Bor’Dor. He attacked them with a pretty powerful spell (he did Vitriolic Sphere at its baseline 4th level, which is the second highest level spell he had) and nearly killed Prism in the process. Yes, Bor’Dor did a bit of waffling back and forth between “I’m gonna kill you!” and “just let me die,” but him being a pathetic mess is nothing new. He still tried to kill them all. If they let him live, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t try it again.

I don’t know how to impress this upon people who haven’t already gotten it from just watching the show, but the Ruby Vanguard is a bad group. Ludinus Da’leth is a bad person. He may have convinced some members that his goals are noble, but they aren’t. He is misleading people for his own gain, because guess what? The concept of free will exists even with the existence of the gods! People are allowed to worship them or not, and the gods aren’t smiting people down for refusing to worship them (otherwise Keyleth would be long dead, y’all. she said out loud to the champion of the raven queen that they should use her power while it benefitted them and then find a loophole to get Vax out of her service. and she is so valid for that. 15/10 would do the same).

We had a PC, a dozen or so NPCs, and an entire arc last campaign—and then a whole 4-part series!—that dealt with wizard hubris and its unfortunate consequences. Ludinus was one of those NPCs! What makes you think that Mr. “let’s steal a holy artifact and instigate a war” “should try friends sometime” “Essek looks forward to never seeing his face again” “Trent Ikithon can keep abusing children it’s not my problem” Da’leth suddenly has people’s best interests in mind?

He and the Ruby Vanguard need to be stopped, and Orym, being a person whose driving motivation is “to protect,” is willing to do what needs to be done, even when it sucks.

Take: ooohoohoo Orym’s alignment might be shifting! We need Dorian to get him back on track!

My opinion: No? To both these statements? Firstly, Orym’s alignment isn’t shifting, at least I don’t think so. I’m not an expert on D&D alignments (I think they should be more descriptive than prescriptive/ultimately they matter less than character choices, arcs, and narratives), but I would guess that fighting to maintain the balance of nature and to stop those that would harm others for their own gain is still pretty in line with neutral good? I could maybe see an argument for that being more lawful good, but it didn’t seem like those people were talking about a shift along the horizontal axis.

Secondly, I think Dorian would do the exact same thing Orym is doing. Was that not the whole draw of the Spider Queen’s crown during ExU Prime? Power to protect and save his friends? So I don’t think Dorian would see anything wrong with how Orym is acting, much less take him to task over it.

Take: Look! Orym told Keyleth about Imogen’s mom and said “I don’t care” when Imogen complained! Bad! Mean! Selfish!

My opinion: idk that felt more like Liam being a brat to Laura than anything else.

Like, yes Liam/Orym had his own goals in that convo which were unexpected and uncomfortable, but I don’t think he was wrong to point that out. The moment Keyleth swore to take down Liliana, you could feel everyone in Bell’s Hells get really tense, and I am certain that Keyleth, who has 20 wisdom and ~30 years of experience leading her people and politicking, clocked that instantly. And Orym would have clocked that immediately, and in an effort to make sure that their group had the confidence of a very powerful druid and world leader, decided that full transparency was the way to go.

And I don’t know, this is largely speculation, but Keyleth having that information might mean that she will make sure Imogen doesn’t have to be the one to take down Liliana? Or it might make her more sympathetic and willing to show some mercy to her?

Leaning more fully into speculation bc this relies mostly on inference and assumption: while I do think that Keyleth deserves to know what’s going on with Vax, withholding that information at this juncture might have been another tactical decision from Orym. We don’t know how Keyleth has mourned over the last 30 years, but we know that she’s been angry and we know that losing Vax was and is devastating. I feel like finding out that the love of your life (“forever and ever and ever and always” “I’ll never get over you”) is suffering extreme torment such that the followers of his god are in a period of mourning, basically implying that you’ve lost him all over again, that potentially the one reassurance that you would see him again has been ripped from you, etc., etc. would cause anyone to break down on a good day. Add on the fact that Keyleth is gravely, gravely injured, and you’re basically asking for her to be completely out of commission, because 1) holy moly talk about new trauma, old trauma, grief, longing, guilt, etc. bro I’m an emotional wreck just thinking about Vax and I’m not the one living through it, and 2) that would be a lot of stress on her already extremely stressed body, the consequences of which could be very bad.

It’s a tough decision to make, and while I’m not sure I 100% agree with Orym’s, I think it’s a defensible position.

Anyway thanks for reading this far, I hope you enjoyed my analysis. Again, I don’t want to fight or get into arguments, but I’m down for some brief discussions! Emphasis on brief because I can fall into a rabbit hole very easily, which means this will be the only thing I can think of and I have other things I want to do, shadowgast to write, fearnechetney to draw, and this post already took several hours over two days to write after weeks of mental build up.

[most-fuckable-ff14-lady]

ROUND 1 MOST FUCKABLE FFXIV LADY

[ayyponine]

Same venue. Same-ish crowd. Opposing seasons. Contrasting vibes.

[lillotte17]

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[borgialucrezia]

The Borgia brothers + staring at each other "You loved him once. You must love him again."