e-milieeee

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Ao Bing's father and aunty. His father is Ao Guang敖广, Longwang of the East Sea, and his aunty is Ao Run敖闰, Longwang of the West Sea. (lóngwang龙王 means sovereign of lóng龙)

Scholars used to use the word loong but its pronunciation is significantly different from the Chinese character "龙". Long is better but still not the same. The aunthentic pronunciation is more like [lɔ:ueng] and it's pinyin is lóng.

Translators use the word dragon merely to facilitate better understanding, but the Chinese "龙" and the Western "dragon" are vastly different, fundamentally distinct, much like two creatures that aren't in the same dimension.

The Chinese 龙lóng is a sacred mythical creature; they are considered holy beings, existing in a dimension above that of mortals. They hold the responsibility of controlling the wind, lightning, thunder, clouds and rain, regulating the weather, and blessing the abundance of crops. The copulation of 龙lóng with nine other creatures gave birth to various divine beasts, each bearing some characteristics of the 龙lóng, but the true 龙lóng is regarded as the purest and most noble of all.

In China, many people claim to have seen lóng, with plenty of folk records both before and after the founding of the People's Republic. In the internet era, there are also many videos of lóng. One of the most famous is footage taken by a college student on her dormitory balcony on a cloudy day, where a lóng appears in the thunderclouds and then turn its head to gaze the girl. Another notable incident is the CCTV live broadcast of the Gaoyou Lake lóng water spout event (interestingly, CCTV later edited the live footage, changing the scene of a real lóng spiraling and disappearing in a flash to show three ridiculous birds that didn’t follow the rules of perspective). These videos can be found on Bilibili if you want to check them out. I think the dormitory and Gaoyou Lake videos are real like they're truely lóng (the dorm one is especially striking because it looks exactly like the watery ink long on ancient Chinese paintings, with an extraordinary and otherworldly vibe, exuding an overwhelming sense of oppression). Other real videos show that lóng can fly at incredibly high speeds, like lightning. Folk culture says lóng can switch between physical and ethereal forms at will, which is why they can move so fast. There are also many fake videos to get clicks online, so one gets to use their own judgment. It’s widely believed that lóng appeared as early as the creation of the world, and they made a pact with the ancestors of Chinese people and have been protecting the 'Celestial Realm and Divine Land of Huaxia'华夏神州 ever since. In the unique Chinese twelve shengxiao生肖 culture, lóng is the only mythical creature—the other eleven are common animals. Some scholars think that when shengxiao was created, many people had actually seen lóng and accepted that they're real, which is why it became one of the twelve shengxiao.

[e-milieeee]

Ok Nezha 2 Spoilers - one incredible scene.

A city of people was completely levelled in this movie but that's so big scale and apocalyptic that my reaction was total disbelief, before tentative and incredulous acceptance, taking it as a significant plot point full of angst and turmoil for the main character.

However. The much smaller scale personal betrayal, the underhanded scheming that pit family and martial family members against each other, was one thing I found totally, seriously, sickeningly twisted mid-movie.

I am talking about the scene where the audience - unbeknownst to our heros Ao Bing and Nezha - find out who Ao Bing just destroyed in the second trial. The buildup of this scene was so incredible, because all the pointers showing who the tutor demon at the waterfall really was, were there in plain sight. His pointed ears. His long face. His straight back. His school of disciples. And most importantly - his electricity. His lightning based attacks. Earlier in the movie it's revealed Shengong Bao is very, very far from a family back home, his brother bringing news about the success of his father's school.

The tutor is Shengong Bao's father.

Even though he's aged, he's a formidable fighter himself. He's even more adept at lightning magic than perhaps Shengong Bao is! Shengong Bao uses a whip to harness lightning magic, but Mr Shen Zhengdao is just...breathing it out, eyes leaking lightning M. Bison style...he's shooting it out of his bare hands--

But of course, he's pitted against this young annoying over-powered upstart of an ice-style boy. Ao Bing, pretending to be Nezha. And for Ao Bing, there are INCREDIBLE stakes to this fight. The tutor is the second trial, he must defeat him - because his soul will DIE without a body, because the entire Chentang Guan is being held RANSOM by his own father the Eastern Dragon King, because Nezha's parents are locked in STALEMATE with the dragons...the stakes are monumental for Ao Bing. So of course he uses everything's he's got, wit and magic and fury and all, countering all the absolute feats of astonishment Shen Zhengdao is throwing at him.

But Shen Zhengdao is thrown by the sight of the celestials, in a desperate breath he cuts his own arm off to stave from Ao Bing's ice. I only got the reveal of who this man was when the young Shen Xiaobao jets in to protect his Dad. It recontextualises everything in an instance. My stomach flipped.

Ao Bing, without his knowledge, had just fought, injured, and crippled his own master's father. I wanted to scream! Of course he was able to keep up with martial arts with the tutor. They're from the same martial line. For the tutor, he's fighting his own son's disciple. Shen Zhengdao's beloved son...and Shengong Bao's beloved disciple...fighting each other because they don't know what they are -- who they are to each other. Because of this, Shengong Bao's young kid brother is shot...he dies from his injuries. Shen Zhengdao is captured.

That twist was GHOULISH, it was DRAMA it was CARNAGE in this story about parents and their children and their inherited traumas.

And then. AND THEN. What was so sick and twisted is that the evil celestials knew this the entire time - they purposely chose Shen Zhengdao as the second trial to do this awful thing both to Shengong Bao and Ao Bing at once. And the characters don't even have the full knowledge and oversight the audience has of just how fucked up it all was...Shengong Bao misunderstands and thinks Nezha did this. For a hot minute, I was totally convinced Shengong Bao could level Chentang Guan on this news, coupled with his kid brother's death. But what reined it back in for me was his obvious love for Ao Bing...he couldn't have leveled Chentang Guan if it could jeopardise Ao Bing's life...he'd never do that. He would NEVER gamble away Ao Bing's life. After seeing how it actually played out, seeing Shengong Bao still choose to save Nezha's parents thinking Nezha had destroyed his leopard family, from miles and miles away....that really sealed what kind of a person Shengong Bao is. Because miles and miles away, his disciple Ao Bing did the same thing, by jumping in to let the kid brother escape (his own young martial uncle) and stopping the final blow to Shen Zhengdao.

The core theme of the original Nezha story was about filial piety. And this movie extrapolated filial piety out into a web of complicated loyalties, betrayals, and leverage the likes of which made me...so unwell.

[e-milieeee]

this scene was SO funny to me

[e-milieeee]

The four alignments of Tummy Hurt

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Jiang Yanli should have an honorary "Jiang Yanli FUCKS" tag for being the only one of her siblings to not die a virgin

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angy grape Johnson :3

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He's doing. his best.

Inspired by a post by @allpiesforourown

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Little brothers to keep Shijie company (an au where nothing bad ever happens to them 💔)

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birthday wish for jiujiu

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They were supposed to be looking down at something, but everyone on tw*tter said it looks like elphie’s looking at something else, and I can’t disagree………….

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:U he just wants his uncle bilbo to enjoy his creation yknow

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Courting, traditions, and all that silliness it entails

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im right and we all know it

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The road goes ever on and on…

…and Thorin Oakenshield will pass into legend.

[e-milieeee]

The fact that The Hobbit is such a lighthearted family-friendly book, especially when compared to LOTR, actually breaks my heart when you consider that it is Bilbo’s writing. That journey was anything but a fun trip for him. He went through real dangers and horrifying moments. He saw violence for the first time. At the end of it, he lost his love. And he went home traumatized, heartbroken, and forever changed.

Yet when he wrote the story down, he emphasized the more successful and fun parts, and glossed over the depth of his pain and grief when the losses happened (even leaving Fíli and Kíli’s deaths to a throwaway line.)

Because what else could he have done? Nobody else could possibly understand his pain. Bilbo wasn’t like Frodo. He didn’t have a Sam who he shared the experience with and could talk to about it every day afterward, to help him work through writing down the details of the darker parts of the story. And his other friends lived far away and could only visit occasionally.

And the hobbit children were all full of wonder about Elves and dwarves and trolls, so he put the focus on that.

I feel like that was his way of dealing with his trauma.

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i realized i never posted this here, but fanart for chapter 20 of @e-milieeee ‘s The Dark Between Stars, i am so mentally ill over them

[e-milieeee]

if marinette got a 3d printer it would be over for everyone