#warning: this is long and sad
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royalarchivist Ā· 23 days ago
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SmallFryz: NONONOā€“ Fit, Fit, Fitā€“ Listen, listenā€“ We can talk this out, we can talk this out! šŸ˜Ø
Fit: See, that's the fighting spirit! There we go! Mano a mano!
SmallFryz: Fitā€“ Fit, we're like brothers, man! How could you do this to me?
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"There's no lore on JoeSMP" Maybe not, but there sure is drama! šŸæ
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souenkun Ā· 9 days ago
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"I wish you could see it, too" got a whole new meaning when it's revealed that takashi has all these precious people he could actually enjoy pretty, interesting sceneries with (even if he didn't get to see them together for some instances), while reiko likely had no one to do that after what had happened with souko šŸ’”
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stopper-my-heart Ā· 4 months ago
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Nothing like Heartstopper S2E8 removing some of Taylor Swift's "seven" lyrics just so that the singing can specifically come back in at "Or hide in the closet" while Isaac is processing difficult emotions related to the book he's reading (i.e., Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen).
Did I mention "Or hide in the closet" hits just as the camera focus finishes shifting away from Isaac?
This is fine
#This is not fine#Warning: Long tags ahead (2 topics)#TOPIC 1:#I'm glad Isaac feels safe enough to be reading this book and processing emotions around his friends#That's the positive spin on ā€œhe's quietly dealing with a lot while next to his friends and they're not noticing and he's not sharing" right#The contrast of this with the happy friend-bonding montage time feels purposeful and sad (esp. with lyrics about staying in the closet)#but on the bright side this is in the midst of happy friend-bonding montage time so we also see them having happy bonding times together#- showing the friendship is still strong even if right now Isaac isn't wholly known or fully fitting#Hopefully this is leading to Isaac telling his friends what he's going through in S3 and the friendships adapting to fit him better#TOPIC 2:#Also - don't think it's unintentional that where the camera focus shifts to is Nick with his arms around Charlie and then kissing his head#I think we're being purposefully distracted from Isaac with allo 'cuteness'#Because what the other characters often get swept up in - especially as they all couple up in S2 - is alloromantic/allosexual interactions#And that's frequently what the world prioritises or cares more about too#I think the show is intentionally calling everyone - from the characters to us watching them to the whole world - out#So that hopefully we (general) can all be more aware and do better#[In case you were wondering this N&C/Isaac scene is also right after we see short clips of Elle & Tao and Tara & Darcy cuddling -#which also seems very intentional: Isaac - sandwiched in between views of cuddling couples - alone in more ways than one]#CONCLUSION:#I think everything is working together to highlight the contrast between what N&C and Isaac are respectively experiencing in this moment#Did I mention this is not fine?#It is well done though#heartstopper mini moment#isaac henderson#aroace#aromantic asexual#lgbtqia+#queer#taylor swift#seven
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sysig Ā· 8 months ago
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Wuh oh (Patreon)
Bonus:
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The novel experience of being crushed by a giant rock, a visual metaphor
#Doodles#ISaT#Siffrin#Loop#Yaaaay suffering <3 <3 <3#Lol#Starting with a cute practice Sif to get used to drawing them a bit more they're so cute what the heck#He's so shaped I love that for him and about him#Crisp design very nice#Sif really is the embodiment of ''Ignorance is bliss'' and being so maladjusted about it :'D#His memory issues make the me a sad#Ironically I try not to think about it too hard or else I'll get Really sad lol#Memory is the foundation of individual personhood! It's such a tragedy weh#Him brushing things off by falling back into his issues is just so agh Sif no you deserve better!#Some sillies lol I never know if I should give content warnings for these kinds of jokes - I don't make them often!#Loop's line in the Jello streams is So good I couldn't not lol#Happy Wednesday fr btw lol yes I did do that on purpose#The last one agh the red and like - can we talk about Sif (and Loop's and Odile's) specific portraits where their hands do the spark thing??#I always forget how art can be Whatever and that overlapping/removing lineart to imply shapes and movement and just jfdslafd#It's so cool I love it so much it's very inspiring#The bonus is mostly a joke lol - again while watching the Jello streams Lenti was talking about how much she relates to Sif#And I was privately like ''Haha thank goodness I don't relate to him! Couldn't be me!'' And Then#It's fine lol I'm aware of my overlapping issues - I fall more on the Isa side of ''Sounds fake but okay'' but yeah.....yeahhhh lol#As long as I don't get trapped in a time loop about it! Poor Sif haha
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naamahdarling Ā· 7 days ago
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flowercrowngods Ā· 1 month ago
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making a real post for @rvspecter pls bear with me
anyway harvey hurt fic where after mike is busted and given a second chance at life (or a third, really) and pearson specter litt seizes the chance to instate a pro bono department mike is heading because he wants to get it right this time and harvey will do just about anything to keep him, these two men finally mention this Thing between them and decide to give it a try. and itā€™s good. itā€™s fragile and itā€™s tentative and itā€™s gentle and itā€™s the same as itā€™s always been but with more tenderness, more honesty, more vulnerability (and more sex of course) and itā€™s good. against all odds, itā€™s so good.
but then one day, long after hours, donna approaches harvey in his office and her eyes are shining, but itā€™s not a glow harvey is used to ā€” he never wants to get used to donnaā€™s eyes filled with tears so he asks her whatā€™s wrong, but heā€™s not ready for the answer. because she tells him she canā€™t work for him anymore. she tells him sheā€™s leaving him ā€” to work for louis at first, maybe to quit altogether. the fact do the matter is she canā€™t be the Donna to his Harvey anymore because sheā€™s in love with him and she thought she had it under control but she doesnā€™t, okay, she doesnā€™t and it hurts and she wants to be happy for him and mike because theyā€™re so good but all this time sheā€™d never thought that harvey would ever find someone real, and now that he has, well. she canā€™t pretend anymore that it doesnā€™t tear her up inside and she doesnā€™t want to put that on any of them so sheā€™s doing the mature thing and leaving. to heal. to get over him. to come back stronger.
and sheā€™s so, so sorry.
they listen to gordon one last time, they toast to thirteen years one last time ā€” her words, not his, but they drive a knife into his heart nonetheless because harvey doesnā€™t do one last-anything and yet here sits his best friend and asks for one last night together and who is he but to give her everything she wants and more. sheā€™s his donna ā€” still, tonight; one last night. she is.
he doesnā€™t tell mike that night. couldnā€™t, even if he wanted to; because he doesnā€™t have the words. but in the secure hold of mikeā€™s arms, he says ā€œdonna wonā€™t be working for me anymore, starting tomorrow.ā€ and he doesnā€™t mention how that means that donna went to jessica and louis first, he doesnā€™t mention that he was the last to know, he doesnā€™t explain how he wasnā€™t given a chance to fix this ā€” not this time. ā€œdonna quit?ā€ mike asks, and harvey swallows, shakes his head, shrugs. ā€œjust me,ā€ he says. ā€œjust me.ā€ and when mike pulls him closer and holds him tighter and tells him ā€œiā€™m so sorry, harvey,ā€ itā€™s the first iā€™m sorry that night that he believes.
unfortunately, sorry never fixed anything.
especially when soon after, mike finds out just why donna left. and he gets all up in his head about it, he allows himself to spiral because heā€™s so ready to succumb to tunnel vision and obsessing over solutions to problems that arenā€™t his to fix. and so he tells harvey that he canā€™t be the thing that comes between him and donna. theyā€™re soulmates after all, mike canā€™t bear to be the one to sever their bond. harvey doesnā€™t understand. heā€™s the one whoā€™s supposed to lose his mind over having lost his best friend and pretend like everything is okay, what right does mike have to make that about himself, to take it upon himself to fix everything when harveyā€™s the fixer, harvey is the one who solves problems and protects people. but mike wonā€™t hear any of that and tells harvey that he canā€™t do it like this if it means hurting donna because sheā€™s his best friend, too, and he wants to get it right this time. he doesnā€™t want to build this new life on decisions that hurt his people ā€” not again. heā€™s hurt enough people, he canā€™t keep doing it.
harvey wants to ask him why heā€™s always so ready to protect everyone at his expense. isnā€™t this thing between them, their relationship, isnā€™t it meant to stop them from hurting each other? why is it okay to hurt harvey, but not to hurt donna?
he doesnā€™t ask any of that, only tells him that theyā€™re not in high school, and that theyā€™re either doing this or not, but he refuses to base their relationship on whether or not his best friend is okay with seeing him happy or not. ā€œyouā€™re either in this with me, mike, or youā€™re out. that hasnā€™t changed, and it wonā€™t, because donna will get over it and everything will be back to normal before you know it.ā€
ā€œyou donā€™t know that.ā€
ā€œyes i do, because weā€™re grown-ups and we get over things.ā€
famous last words, it turns out, because mike just slowly shakes his head, agonising over this and not thinking, clearly not thinking when he says, ā€œiā€™m sorry, harvey. i canā€™t to this; not like this.ā€
and all he can do is watch mikeā€™s back as he all but runs from him, dragging his heart behind him, through the dirt, uncaring as bits and pieces of it chip off with every step mike takes, with every second that passes and allows the words i canā€™t and iā€™m sorry, harvey echo in the hollow of his chest.
weā€™re grown-ups. we get over things. well, tough fucking luck.
and this is how harvey loses the two most important people in his life in the matter of a week. before he knows it, heā€™s alone, left to fend for himself and hollowed out. his walls are broken down, deconstructed piece by piece by carefully, gentle hands to reveal whatā€™s underneath ā€” only for the hands to retreat, letting in the icy cold and accepting whatā€™s inside to wither and die.
thereā€™s a reason harvey specter makes his own luck; the universe isnā€™t very forthcoming otherwise. a fact that is proven when he finds a stranger outside his building when all he wants is to curl up and breathe through the cracks of his broken hearts that have pierced his lungs, they must have, surely they must have, because he canā€™t breathe. and he doesnā€™t learn how to breathe again when the woman ā€” a kid, really, merely twenty-five ā€” reveals that sheā€™s his half sister. because it turns out the reason lily specter was so ready to up and leave all those years ago; the reason she didnā€™t fight for her family and instead blamed it all on harvey, was because she was pregnant. and she lied about it ā€” for twenty-six years.
amelia selene specter is the little sister harvey has always wished for ā€” but cancer is a curse that rests on the specter family, and while marcus got lucky twice, selene isnā€™t. she didnā€™t have the money for medical resources, and itā€™s eating harvey alive that he didnā€™t know, that there was no way for him to help her and that thereā€™s no way now.
but there is. because selene has two kids, seven and four, and she needs his help because they canā€™t get lost in the system, they canā€™t live with total strangers or be separated because the system doesnā€™t actually care about children, they only care about not feeling guilty. and she wonā€™t ask lily. these two angels must be kept from her at all costs because she ruined two families already, she wonā€™t ruin this one.
and harvey is obsessed with the thought of more family, he needs to take care of and be there for someone and heā€™s ready to take on the world to protect his niece and nephew ā€” but heā€™s not warm, heā€™s not available, heā€™s not even at home most of the time, nor is his place suitable for kids.
he agrees to take them in and find a solution though. he promises selene that heā€™ll be there for them. heā€™ll always be there. and when he gets to meet them ā€” a few days before his sister dies way too young, way too alive for something like death to not rip him apart entirely ā€” he gets attached instantly and vows to himself and to selene that nothing will happen to them as long as heā€™s there.
even though harvey just lost his family ā€” the one he chose, the one he was born into, and the one he never got to meet. even though harveyā€™s entire world was deconstructed with no one around to put it back together. even though he doesnā€™t know how, because evidently he got it wrong every single time, harvey gets to build a new family with these kids. and though it tears him up inside, it heals something inside him too ā€” and sometimes they balance each other out, and he can breathe again for just a little while as he reads to charlotte because sheā€™s feisty and afraid of nightmares and not listening when he says sheā€™ll be tired in the morning because ā€œiā€™m tired in the morning anyway, but now i wanna readā€ and he trades her going to bed for a bedtime story, and she falls asleep with her face pressed into his side.
itā€™s so frail, though, so fragile, this little family, and he knows what itā€™s like when everything breaks. he knows what itā€™s like to lose oneā€™s family ā€” over and over and over again. and heā€™s terrified that heā€™s building himself back up the wrong way. heā€™s terrified because thereā€™s no one keeping him together but both his hands are occupied holding these children that cry for their mama.
heā€™s terrified because heā€™s not supposed to be doing this alone. but everyone else has made their choice and he, as always, is just there to bear the consequences and try to turn it into a win.
one day, he will. he has to. and one day, heā€™s not alone anymore.
#harvey specter#mike ross#donna paulsen#marvey#suits#suits usa#suits tv#listen uhhh sorry this got so long??? i take no responsibility that this ran away from me you are warned now this is what happens when#you get me started on a story idea hdhdhd#of course mike realises what heā€™s done and how STUPID he was about it all and he runs back to harvey attempting to fix it all#not at all expecting the two children in the condo#and when harvey tells him everything and mike realises the damage heā€™s done and the pain heā€™s caused he doesnā€™t know if he can fix it#if he can make it right. if he even deserves another chance at this because shit harvey iā€™m so sorry. i didnā€™t know. god iā€™m such an idiot#knowing donna was hurting it made me panic but realising that you were hurting even more justā€¦ god. you didnā€™t deserve that. iā€™m so sorry. ā€˜#and harvey gives him a sad smile because heā€™s known all along that mike was in his head about it and that he was being stupid and self-#sacrificial. only that he didnā€™t just sacrifice himself but harvey too. and he had hoped GOD had he hoped that mike would come back to him.#ā€˜can i come in? iā€™d understand if you never wanna see me again thoughā€™ mike asks and harvey opens the door with a shrug. ā€˜course you can.ā€™#and mike tells him he loves him. and harvey tells him about charlie and elias. and mike tells him he loves him. and harvey tells him about#selene. and mike tells him he loves him. and harvey looks up and wraps his arms around mike because he doesnā€™t want to hear it but he does#not want to let go of him either. never wants to let him go again. they cry a little bit about it. but itā€™s okay because mike wipes his#tears away and harvey lets him before resting their foreheads together. ā€˜donā€™t leave againā€™ he tells him. ā€˜i wonā€™tā€™ mike promises.#and he doesnā€™t. and their family gets a bit more fragile then but also stronger for it. somehow it makes sense.
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unordinary-diary Ā· 6 months ago
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Blyke in Season 3.
This is my prediction. With the way Season 2 ended, I think theyā€™ll find Blyke months later looking something like this.
Shit happens to people in prison. Terrence was murdered in his cell, Rein was worried about being killed by other inmates, hell, Blykeā€™s already pretty banged up in the finale and heā€™s been there for 2.5 seconds. Not to mention that the Authorities seem to have no problem torturing kids *COUgh* Keon.
Perhaps itā€™s a bit pessimistic, but the storyā€™s been getting a lot darker lately. I doubt Blykeā€™s getting out of prison without a little extra trauma at least.
Latest Chapter as of Prediction: Side Story ā€” Triple Threat (1)
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vaguely-concerned Ā· 3 months ago
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just going about my day idly contemplating how some of the ways hawke can interact with a romanced anders are not at all unlike how they interact with leandra (and a bit of carver too, especially with a purple hawke), and then thought about my hawke in the timeline where he romances anders and was hit straight in the face with 'was he ever actually in love, or was he just desperately trying to renegotiate with his mother's ghost in any way he could' and now i need to lie down. this is the power of dragon age 2
#'you don't know my mother' haunting me through the years#dragon age#dragon age 2#hawke#On second thought let's not go to Kirkwall; it is a silly place#there are of course as many ways to do/read that relationship as there are players to interact with it haha and all valid!#but my personal version of handers is sooo fucked up and bad times for everyone involved and I love it haha.#this is a relationship neither of them should have been in and that made everything worse and everyone unhappy in the end#locked tomb levels of the horrors of love. i ship it but in the way that I want to make it sadder and more gutwrenching each time#to be clear this is a very mutual two-way kind of fucked up but I think varric in his loyalty and love would downplay hawke's side of it#for huge swathes of their relationship anders is not in a mental place to be a good partner and the emotional blackmail is Not Okay#(but it's just like how mother used to make it! hawke's soul cries sadly as it reaches for it hungrily)#which is in some ways fair enough no one could accuse him of not warning you ahead of time fjskda#but hawke is messy about it in a way only available to a covert people pleaser who has never had a millisecond of therapy#with some added stuff that my hawke is always acespec in some form and when he gets together with anders...#is the sex something he doesn't particularly care to have or not have but it 'makes anders happy'/he longs to feel wanted *and* needed#and also a way he gets out of ever being *actually* vulnerable (which I think he'd had to be with varric for example if he Went There )#'you want the hawke who's in your head so badly and I kind of wish I were that hawke too. so let's be collaborateurs with that fantasy'#(and then maybe if I do it right every time you'll finally be happy hawke says in his heart looking at this leandra-anders phantom form)#(and echoing stuff in varric's relationship to hawke but I think the important distinction there is that varric -- is a craftsman haha#he KNOWS when he's lying/making up a story he KNOWS the difference between what is and what he wishes the world was#(I think there's some deep longing there to not know; for it to blend together or have the power to change things. but he always knows)#which ironically leaves him in a better position to actually see and understand hawke the person#even as he is creating hawke the literary figure. almost to protect him in some ways? god da2 is so full of STUFF!!! I adore it)#and of course anders gets so disillusioned with hawke's inertia and lack of action (you all but married this man anders!#you should know this about him he's already carrying the whole family and city on his shoulders if you add a gram more he'll collapse!)#and hawke feels so desperately hurt that the promise anders seemed to make that he'd be enough -- that he could fix things for him --#('I'm the one bright light in kirkwall and that apparently doesn't count for shit so I'm just slowly turning to ash for you')#turned out to be untrue. anyway. sad now. imagine them meeting like twenty years on what the fuck could you even say to each other then#(I can't imagine Hawke ever physically hurting anyone he loves so he just tells Anders to leave at the end of DA2. they COULD meet again
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philomisia Ā· 7 months ago
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this is really horrible, i get maybe the website wasnt designed to be a bunch of shitposting 14 yr olds but its rlly shitty to just remove that without notice; people made friends on there, u literally added groups back not long ago too; rp is writing
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sualne Ā· 1 year ago
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Sualne: ofc they know each other, otherwise it'd be too sad
Also Sualne: Makes Ace suffer alone
Btwww it's not a hate comment or anything I just found it very funny, the duality of Sualne āœØļøāœØļøāœØļø
ace IS a very sad character! :'D he says something in his light novel (that i havent read but really need to (law's too)) about how he probably would've killed himself if it hadn't been for sabo and luffy, im forcing him to survive till he can meet luffy in the au, but i have to keep that passive suicidality of his in there! ace even in canon was not doing fine at all!!
the duality of sualne, lol, i havent even started the angst yet.
here a lil ace ive drawn for concepts art and planning reasons:
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matchalovertrait Ā· 1 month ago
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šŸ¦– RAWR!! means 'i love you' in dinosaur šŸ’š keep this dino on his journey and send him to all the blogs you love šŸ’š RAWR!!
JOY!! Thank you, this is so cute!! You guys know I love a good lil nostalgic trip šŸ˜†šŸ¦–šŸ’š
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dneelyam Ā· 6 months ago
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howdoyousleep3 Ā· 2 years ago
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i'd love some positive vibes sent to me and my little fam if you've got some to spare šŸ„ŗ we've been looking for a house for a very long time and we finally found one we love. the market is absolute shit right now and i have yet to feel like a house is for us, and i just love this one šŸ„ŗ maybe i'll get a house for my birfday šŸ’•
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normiewizard Ā· 25 days ago
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craziest thing about. no ok but one of the craziest things about strange confusing childhood sexual trauma is that it's your first time being wanted. and it sort of never feels like anyone wants you again if they aren't willing to take it from you. hey what are you supposed to do with that.
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tathrin Ā· 2 years ago
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Ehehe, hello, I am here to feed the procrastination gremlin! Those prompts all sound fun, but 21 and 28 are speaking to my heart rn.
Maybe 36 to if you feel up for it but it's your writing and you decide how many you wanna do<3
The procrastination gremlin thanks your mightily! Because I tend to Get Too Long when I write thing, I'm going to preemptively separate these out into their own posts and just assume that I'll ramble too much for it to make sense to do them all in one lmao. Also I will definitely do all three because yes more gimleaf yes. This is an ask meme that I will literally always be accepting prompts for (although if somebody sees this in the tag in like a month or so and wants to send one in, maybe include some context so that I know what that random number I just got in my inbox means? lmao). So, prompt taken from this; anyone can feel free to send other numbers in at any time. Literally.
#21....on a place of insecurity.
Gimli stared at his reflection in the round silver mirror, his hands paused even though his braids were still half-undone. "Do you ever wish that we had crossed the Sea sooner?" he asked.
Legolas blinked at him, cocking his head in that familiar birdlike tilt of confusion that Gimli knew so well.
"Sooner?" Legolas repeated. "How could we have come sooner?" A frown furrowed his smooth, beardless face; a temporary crinkling of skin that would never show the faintest wrinkle. "You mean before Aragorn died?"
"You're right," Gimli sighed. He tugged at his braids, their once-bright copper laced so heavily with strands of silver that he sometimes felt like he had just walked out of a snowfall. "We could not have, of course. But...do you ever wish..."
"Leaving sooner would not have spared us the pain of his death," Legolas said quietly. "It would only have meant that we would not have been there for him when it happened; only have meant that we would not have been there for Arwen or their children either. Knowing of his death only from stories brought by later travelers would not have spared us anything, I do not think; knowing of his death without having been there ourselves would, I think, have only made it hurt the worse, my dear."
"Yes," Gimli said, "yes, of course. I did not meanā€”"
He stopped. Legolas had walked up behind him and bent down to look over Gimli's shoulder into the mirror. It should have looked awkward, the sight of Legolas's long spine arced at such an angle, but elves were spindly, lithesome creatures. Wood-elves in particular seemed to be as supple and spritely as saplings, and Gimli had yet to witness Legolas contort himself into a position that strained his pliant bones.
"Gimli," Legolas said, "what is wrong?"
"Nothing," Gimli said. He lowered his eyes and his fingers both, twisting his remaining braids into place as quickly as he could without mussing the pattern of the plaits or dropping strands. He scowled, even though he knew that doing so would only deepen the wrinkles that already lined his eyes. "Nothing is wrong."
Long, smooth fingers pressed gently on his own calloused ones until they stilled. Gimli looked down at the overlap of those long digits across his own, the one set brown and spindly as twigs yet unblemished by time or strife; the other pale as underground mushrooms and gnarled by both time and heavy forge-work.
"Gimli," Legolas said. "Tell me."
Gimli turned his hand so that he could enfold those long brown fingers in his own and gave Legolas's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Nothing is wrong, my love," he said again. "I am only feeling melancholy this morning, it seems. Think no more upon it."
He raised the elf's ageless hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to those smooth knuckles, then released it so that he could continue with his braids.
Legolas did not rise. Instead he dropped lower to fold his arms across the back of Gimli's chair, his bright eyes studying the sight of the dwarf before him in the mirror. Gimli avoided his gaze, focusing instead on the intricate plaits that hung from his chin, but he could feel the weight of Legolas's eyes passing over his face, searching for the answers that Gimli would not give him.
He did not find them.
"Will you not tell me?" Legolas asked at last. His voice was soft, his eyes full of sorrow. "Please?"
Gimli sighed and let the braid in his hands droop loose and unfinished down his chest.
He looked up into the mirror again at last and met Legolas's searching, worried eyes there. He looked at that smooth, beardless, beloved face waiting there behind him; unchanging and unchanged from the day they had first met so long ago and far away in Rivendell.
His eyes flicked sideways to his own reflection, to the wrinkles that time had carved beneath his beard; to the strands of silver that wove through the bright copper braids that hung before him. He reached out and pressed his fingers to the mirror, to the sight of the lines around his eyes, and sighed.
"I would not be so old," Gimli said quietly, "if we had come sooner; that is all. I only wonder if you wish, sometimes, that we had. That is all."
Time did not pass in Aman the way it did in other places; or if it did, then it did not feel as though it did, and it carried no trace of decay with it. Gimli had not aged a day since they had first set foot upon these white shoresā€”but he had aged two hundred and sixty-two years before that.
He was still hale and hearty, for dwarvesā€”especially the dwarves of Durin's lineā€”often lived many years longer than that, and rarely weakened before the very ending of their days came upon them. But he was no spritely youngster of sixty-two, either, moping because his father had deemed him too young to go along on a Quest; nor was he a mature youth of not quite one hundred and forty, boldly striding forward at last upon a Quest of his own, all bright brown eyes and ruddy copper beard.
Gimli was old, now, and he looked it. He could see it every morning when he looked in the mirror to do his braids, or every afternoon when he caught sight of his reflection in the cooling barrels at the forge or in some clear, still pool that held Aman's crystal waters. He could see it, and he knew Legolas could as well; how could he not, when he was surrounded by the contrast of all the smooth, beardless, ageless faces of his people?
"Are you tired?" Legolas asked, and his light voice was a dry croak. Shadows as thick as Mordor's fogs filled his eyes, and Gimli turned from the mirror with a cry and caught Legolas's hands with his own.
"No!" he cried. He knew that Legolas was not asking after Gimli's slumber, or weariness from working the forge; was not asking about anything as simple as a day's ordinary exhaustion. He was asking if Gimli was tired of life; if he was tired of eternity. If he was ready, at long last, to claim the gift of his own mortality.
"Legolas, no," Gimli said, squeezing those spindly fingers so tightly that had they been the frail twigs they seemed they would have snapped beneath the pressure of his gripā€”but elvish flesh was strong, so much stronger than it looked. So were dwarven spirits, and Gimli had no intention of ever growing weary of the world, not so long as Legolas was in it. "I promise," he assured his elf, raising first one hand and then the other to his lips. "Never, Legolas. I am here with you, and I always will be."
Legolas's smile trembled, but it was a smile. Gimli counted it as a victory, and pulled the elf up out of his crouch and into Gimli's lap. He had too much leg to fit on such a short chair, of course, but the two of them were used to that problem; it was no effort at all to fall into the long habits that had his ankles curling sideways under the chair, his elvish flexibility making easy work of the awkward position.
"Then what troubles you?" Legolas asked. He snaked his long arms around Gimli's shoulders and leaned his beardless cheek down to rest upon Gimli's head. "My love, please. Tell me."
"I am old, Legolas," Gimli said. He unwrapped one hand from the elf's slender waist to press his fingers to the cobweb of wrinkles beside his eyes. "You can see it plainly on my face. Old, as no one else in Aman ever will be."
"Bilbo is old," said Legolas.
Gimli rolled his eyes. "Yes, all right," he said. "And Sam, too. But aside from them, everyone else here is an elfā€”"
"Or a maia," Legolas interrupted. "Or one of the Valar. Orā€”"
"My point," Gimli cut him off loudly, "is that age is writ across my face in ways that elvish faces do not age. I am only sorry, my dear, that I can do nothing to erase those lines, these streaks of silver; only sorry that you cannot spend eternity beside a dwarf in his prime of life, but must instead contend with these wearisome wrinkles."
Legolas drew away far enough that he could gape down at Gimli. "Wearisome?" he repeated. "Sorry? Gimli!"
"I know, I know," Gimli soothed, "it is a little enough thing, I suppose, and I am not ungrateful; I am only sorry for your sake, my dearā€”"
"Sorry!" Legolas said again. "Gimli, you everlasting fool of a dwarf! Is this what you've been fretting over all this time?
"...Yes?"
"Gimli!" Legolas squawked. "Oh, my beloved idiot! I feared you were growing tired of forever, and were going to have to leave me! Instead you've just been pouting over how handsome you are?"
"Handsome!" Gimli exclaimed. "Legolas, enough. I am sorry beyond words that I made you worry, but that is no call to mock meā€”"
"I do not mock," Legolas said. His lilting voice for once was as firm as stones. "I adore every inch of you, Gimli. Yes, even the wrinkles; yes, even the silver in your beard!" He shook his head, scowling down at his dwarf. "Perhaps especially the silver in your beard, for it gleams like mithril in the moonlight, even as the ancient lights of lost Trees are said to still gleam in the locks of the Lady Galadriel, oh Lockbearer!"
Gimli sputtered, heat rising fast in his cheeks. He tried to push the elf away, but Legolas tightened his grip upon his shoulders and refused to be budged from Gimli's knees.
"And your wrinkles," he continued in a softer voice, "are the signs that our years together have etched upon your face, even as your clever hands carve beauty into simple metal and plain rocks. How could I help but love them, when they trace our story out upon your face for all to see?" Legolas leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to the sparkle of crows-feet that framed first one eye and then the other, then traced the deep tracks that lines Gimli's mouth and nose beneath his beard. Finally he raised Gimli's hand and pressed a long kiss to those ruddy, wrinkled fingers.
"Legolas, I...I feel I've been a fool," Gimli murmured. He found himself once again unable to meet Legolas's eyes, this time because of the blush that darkened his cheeks with a blaze of hot mortification.
"You have been," Legolas agreed, "but fortunately I knew you for a fool long before I knew you for anything else, my love, and so I am not bothered overmuch."
A watery laugh spilled from Gimli's lips, and he could not help but smile. "And you are as irritating and irreverent as ever," he retorted.
"Of course I am," Legolas agreed, and hopped up off Gimli's lap and the low chair upon which he sat and grinned down at his dwarf with a twinkling smile. "Some things do not change with the passage of timeā€”but even though my face does not show it, I have very much been changed by knowing you, my dear Gimli, and I would not trade a second of it in exchange for a single lifted wrinkle or silvered hair."
"Well," Gimli said, "I am glad to hear it, and sorry now that I did not voice my concerns sooner."
"So am I!" said Legolas. "But I cannot hold it against you when I did not voice mine either, although in my case it was because I feared to pressure you into extending your time in life beyond your own comfort for my sake alone."
Gimli stood and took his elf's hands in his and held them tight. "Forever is only barely enough time to spend at your side, Legolas," he said, "but as it is all the time the world will give us, I will take it; but I will accept not a second less than that, and would not see that time shortened for any reason even if it was only for your own comfort, and not my own. I can think of no greater purpose for one's life than to bring comfort to one whom I so love."
Legolas beamed down at him, his pale eyes bright with unshed tears. "Well!" he said. "That is all sorted, then!"
"Indeed it is," Gimli agreed. He knew that the smile spreading behind his beard was the sort of soft, misty-eyed grin that Peregrin Took had always labeled "absurdly sappy," but he could not help himself; he felt as though he was fairly brimming-over with love, and he could not contain himself from letting it show upon his face, erstwhile sappiness be damned.
"In that case," Legolas said, his damp gaze dancing suddenly with dry mischief, "let me get you out of that tunic and into our bed and I will find all your other wrinkles and properly express my love for them, too."
Gimli decided he could finish his braids later.
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fayeandknight Ā· 1 year ago
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Personal post in which I am processing old trauma.
It's weird how you can clearly recall an experience but have no emotional response/true comprehension of it until many years later.
My relationship with my ex fiance happened during my first three years of college, if you don't count the stalking and harassment that went on for several years after. I'm in my 30s now, that was a long time ago.
It took me a few years after breaking up for the last time to realize that the relationship wasn't just "really shitty" but had in fact been extremely abusive. To this day when I think of him I think of screaming and crying, breaking glass, blood, absolute terror, and the inability to breathe.
Over the years I've been processing the truth of things he'd normalized/minimized/gaslit me on and trying to give myself grace for the long term effects it's had on me. And for a while I thought I'd acknowledged all of it. But recently (last year or two) it's hit me like a sack of bricks that he tried to murder me. I don't mean going too far in a fit of anger, I mean he planned out and followed through on a deliberate plan to kill me that I survived by sheer luck.
That day has always been a cold, stop motion memory since it happened. I can recall it in a series of snapshots, each clean and neat and utterly detached from each other.
He tells me we'll have the house to ourselves.
He's drawn me a bath in the big Jacuzzi tub with rose petals in the water.
I undress and get in.
He is sitting on the side of the bathtub.
He is cupping my face for a kiss and whispers something about Ophelia.
My head is underwater.
I am flailing and grabbing at his hands, the side of the bathtub. Water is going everywhere but I can't get out from underneath his hands.
I can't breathe. My lungs are burning. I am beyond terrified. This is the inevitable end. This is how I die.
His hands are off me and I am able to get my head above water.
He is taking keys off the counter and handing them through the cracked open door.
I am soaking wet and holding my clothes against me in a bundle that mostly covers me.
I shove past the person on the other side of the door and run barefoot back to my dorm.
He gaslit me hard about this that it never happened. I didn't even get a chance to bring it up. He just showed up the next day to take me on a date (which he very rarely did) and complained about how outside of sex we never had one on one time because there were always people in the house. I was still in shock I think and don't really remember what happened in between my running out of his house and him showing up at my dorm apartment. I do remember being in the living room of his house after the date and having a very public fight that he pulled out of nowhere.
For a long time that memory has been something I shied away from even thinking about. It was a cold spot in my brain that gave me mental frost bite.
And then when I did acknowledge it, it was framed as 'I almost died' in my mind. But the more I think about it, the more clear that this was a planned murder becomes.
We were in college and he lived in a busy frat house/known party house with four other guys. He either dedicated significant time to tracking people's coming and going to find a long enough window of time to drown me and dispose of my body. Not a small feat considering the near constant foot traffic in the house. Or he engineered having that house be empty.
The tub, which wasn't normally used due to being disgustingly dirty, had been spotlessly cleaned.
He never got undressed or into the tub with me. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt with shorts and angled his legs away from the tub.
He referenced Ophelia, who dies via drowning. I was a theatre major at the time.
He very much intended to murder me by downing me in that bathtub.
The only reason I survived is because someone forgot their keys on the bathroom counter and had to come back for them. That's it.
It's so wild to me how long it's taken my brain to feel, I don't know safe??? enough, to really put the severity and full implications together. I didn't repress the memory, just avoided it. And I'm not even shocked that he tried to kill me, more that he tried to murder me - though I'm not sure how much sense that distinction would make to anyone else.
Seeing romantic gestures between couples makes me feel cold and frightened and grief stricken. And for a long time I attributed that to my most significant/serious relationship being an epic shit show and a half. But I'm starting to realize that it's also because one of the few romantic gestures I've received was actually part of the plan to murder me. So I'm trying to be gentle with myself when I experience those feelings.
I'm not some bitter shrew who hates seeing happy couples. I am experiencing the fallout feelings of an extremely traumatic and very nearly fatal event.
Anyway I'm not really expecting for anyone to have read this whole mess. But if you did, here's a picture of Forte snuggling me from this morning as thanks for sitting with me for a bit.
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