#(or got frozen like Mei... LOL)

[fatuismooches]

Your brain for Star Rail!Dottore omg...

I always think he would've been like Ruan Mei, only more extreme... he's will be pathless at first but if he's under genius society then he'd follow nous...Meta/game play wise he'd be 5 star Ice Nihility or Erudition DPS who focus on break and freeze team (So his good team would have Ruan mei on it because they're both my fav).

Also, since Star Rail doesn't have designated weapons, creative liberties could be taken, no?? (Ratio did use a chalk and a book as weapons, so there's many possibilities for him. Hmmm, Dottore fighting with syringes, or chainsaw, or surgery knife would be nice lololol

His lightcone could be of like Boothill's but instead it's just the creations his segments on a lab (does he still need segments in this universe?we'll never know) and his splash art would be so cool if it were lab centric since most star rail splash art focuses more on scenery.

His phone case....it would be plain boring black-grey-blue color that probablyhave blood splatter on it...and his expression when looking at phone could've be like welt. His texts would consist of talking about how expensive it is the equipment to do experiments these days, or asking the trailblazer to hear his new experiments or just him complaining. And when he visits the astral express, he'd be curious about Pom-Pom and the machinery of the astral express.

If Dottore were ever be a genius society member and got invited to simulated universe collab he would get his own Occurrence and Curio (There's this one curio in divergent universe, a new endgame mode which was a syringe that cause you to go auto for the rest of the game and i thought it was funny lol) I think Dottore's Occurrence would be "The Wise Doctor" and it would give you options something along the lines : You are approached by a figure, a charming doctor who need a volunteer for his bext experiment "Are you willing to help this doctor's experiment" And the choices are :

1. Give in and help the doctor (Your party lose 50% of their HP and given one blessing of 2 star rarity)

2. Refuse the doctor (You will lose 99% of your HP and gain a negative curio)

His curio will either be his mask or the wise doctor's pinion with effects, including: Whenever you enter a domain (up to 3 domains), you lose 10% of your HP. After the curio is destroyed, you will lose 1 Blessing of 3 star rarity. (I THINK his curios will mostly have negative effects, lol)

This is a different section if he's with fragile!reader:

1. Dottore definitely would make an appearance in their lightcone and splash art, maybe them running in the field of flowers whilst dottore follow close behind??? Or maybe them dancing with dottore...that would be cute...

2. Since there's phones and all I really agree with what you said dottore does not care for his phone!! It's reader who teaches him how to use camera and messaging apps and teases how he's a genius but have a hard time keeping up with phone technologies lol

3. If they're playable, meta wise they will have harmony path, wind or ice...their kit would go well with Dottore maybe increasing weakness break efficiency or atk% (kinda like Ruan Mei lol) I would want to make their kit to focus on frozen enemies only but that would make them niche in meta ?? AND THEIR EIDOLONS....oof I imagine if they still have their sickness here it would be them in their comatose state while looking very troubled (like a nightmare) :( but in this happy universe they're just smilling peacefully!!

4. Would see them as the type to be traveling around the cosmos. They love collecting trinkets and gifts from their visit!! Also, they would be a big fan of Robin, me thinks... dragging Dottore to her concerts or just blasting her song in his lab.

5. They would!! Love!! Pom Pom!!! They would much want to take Pom Pom home.

Overall, they're just happy in this universe living their lives to their where they don't have to suffer :((

I have been having the biggest star rail dottore brain rot ever!!! I hope you don't mind me writing it out here!!

(x) YES. He would definitely be more extreme than Ruan Mei (who is also one of my top favs, her and Reader would be besties because I said so! I'm sure Trailblazer would make some catcakes of you and Dottore, which you happily take off their hands. Dottore is unsure of how to feel with the two things constantly stacked on each other and staring at him...)

I also love how unique HSR weapons are - it could quite literally be ANYTHING. I've always imagined Dottore using syringes, for his skill, he'd switch the size, fluid, and quantity of it for an enhanced attack, the mysterious liquid inside anyone's guess. I'm not sure if he could have segments in HSR, just because he was only able to create the segments thanks to having a very good test subject (Scaramouche) so he would need to somehow have an equally good experimentation partner in this universe. If he did though, it'd be amazing - he'd get so much done by sending his other selves to different planets...

His lightcone would be similar to Natasha's - a doctor helping their patient, except in his case, the "doctor" will be doing the opposite. His blood-red eyes would pair well with the blood stains on his hands. For a soft route, Dottore falling asleep on his desk and Reader placing a blanket over him. For an angsty route, Reader being injured and he has to hold your dying body. (Poor Pom-Pom... they'd hide behind a crew member the whole time, in fear Dottore might snatch them up for some experimenting... Even more, they would NOT be amused with you trying to constantly pet them.) And yes! I feel like besides his negative curios, they would be high risk, high reward - you're going to have to prove yourself to him if you want his help!

If you want to be soft, Reader's lightcone would be them flustered as another pair of hands (Dottore) place a carefully woven flower crown on their head. If you want to be angsty, it would be them sickly laying in a bed as Dottore scrambles to do anything to keep them stable. Reader and Dottore's E6 would be like Hanya's and Xueyi's - they hold hands with each other! Except they would be more intimate with each other, they would bring each other's hands closer to their lips for a small kiss. Or perhaps they would have a hand over each other's hearts.

You steal Dottore's phone often. You have like... a dozen games installed on his phone, and although his phone is always on Do Not Disturb, sometimes he scrolls through and just sees tons of notifications from random apps... he texts you as to what the hell you did with his phone and you just beg him to log on and do your dailies. He leaves you on read.

You would love traveling about too. (Kind of like Himeko - she was unable to fulfill her wishes in HI3 but now she can!!) You bring back so many items that you have to use Dottore's storage rooms to fit them all (he's not amused.) You probably even got a Warp Trotter as a pet somehow... OMG AND YOU'RE SO RIGHT ABOUT ROBIN... you have her playlist blasting during research time and he's just... not amused once again!! Reader falls back dramatically into Dottore's arms once they meet her...

I love the pookies dearly...

[starrygalazy]

It's been a while since I've posted anything big on here BUT I made a concept for Mei's Mythic skin that I am OBSESSED with. The theme I chose is "Holiday Village", and I made Mei a "Towne Baker" skin and a background for it (if you don't wanna see Christmas themed stuff in September yet I suggest keep scrolling lol):

There exists a village where snow falls and golden lights hang year round, a village where the warm hearts of its occupants brighten the frigid nights. The Baker makes her rounds daily, creating a seemingly infinite amount of sweet treats for all her friends. With her special companion by her side, she works endlessly to make and deliver the best desserts and baked goods to all within the village.

Here's the specifics and customizable options too (some of these aren't set in stone yet):

Hair: I was completely obsessed with braids for this, they just fit the holiday vibe too much imo. I also do think her glasses would change but i forgot to draw them so ill just say them here. Her hairstyles are as follows:

Two braids on each side and hair pulled into a ponytail with a bow + full moon glasses

Simple bun wrapped with a braid & bell hairpin (didn't draw the pin bc I only just remembered it) + half rim glasses

Half-up-half-down hairdo with braid pulled back & earmuffs + think rectangle glasses

Shawl:

Fuzzy neck short cloak with strings & cotton balls at the end

Similar to option 1 but instead of fuzzy, it's a bit more refined w/o the strings and has a button clasp in front

Not a shawl at all, but rather a cozy, long scarf

Weapons: These aren't set in stone, especially not the 2nd option (and obviously Snowball counts bc if we can't customize him, imma be so upset)

Gun: Piping bag gun that'll probably change to a more 'gun' style, and Snowball: Muffin Snowball, obviously a baker needs her baked treats!

Gun: I tried incorporating the style of a hand mixer, I like the concept but want to change it. And it's hard to see well, but Snowball: Literal display tray with a glass cover! How that would work with his face, I have no clue, but he'd have a cake or cupcakes inside that you could see.

Colors: Finally we got colors. The only consistent outfit colors for her would be the white fuzz (and maybe her sweater?).

Red for main, light brown for accent (i.e.: Corset & gloves), and brown for hair (so just normal hair here) + gold details for metal

I switched the accent and main colors, so light blue for main, teal for accent, and white for hair. Very much a winter, frozen look. And ignore the "gold", that's meant to be silver.

Dark red main, green (forest green) accents, and black hair with silver metal, fits more with Christmas colors in general.

Finally I'll show you her ice tank, which I think is genius:

It's literally a portable oven with cookies & a giant vat of icing, and an ornament as a charm.

I'll try and draw the actual hair styles or revise the weapons eventually, but this is what I have and I'm very, very proud of it

[matoitech]

if trigger ever makes a promare sequel (i miss galo and lio sm) what would u want out of it?

I GOT RLY BUSY AND TOTALLY FORGOT TO RESPOND TO THIS IM SORRY. god this is a good question tho, i think for me i'd definitely want like a lot MORE focus on character stuff this time! id love more sexy mech fights, more drift compatability stuff w galo and lio and the fact they were literally like mind synced in their mech, PLEASE. and imo id love like a motorcycle race or smth i dunno. 'why' itd be cool. id love a lot more galo and lio, id love a lot more aina (and theyd surely do more with gueira and meis). i just miss them too i want to see them again i think theres so much more they could do w them, so much more worldbuilding too cuz promare didnt focus a lot on that but i think it couldve helped to build up the Fascist Dystopia thing more

i know that trigger is capable of serious and good writing, especially with characters and relationships. they CAN get into the grit of stuff. i wish they would actually have more faith in their ability to do that. while writing wasnt rly a top priority w promare but out of everything galo and lios relationship was always that priority w the movie and it shows that everything else was kind of brushed over, which like, i dont Hate, i GET it and it is very common to point out that promare was definitely the studios obvious first time compressing a series worth of stuff into 1 movie, and i absolutely think focusing on galo and lio since they were literally the main characters and romance and its THEIR movie they carried was the best decision they couldve made when they were cutting around to try and fit everything into 2 hours. and they still cut a little too much from them imo like cutting galo holding lio and them just talking when galo pulled lio from the dragon and aina brought them to the frozen lake that was in the storyboards, and replacing that with the worst animated fight scene in the movie was a bad decision lol. they r the romance they need TALK time

ive talked abt it b4 so i wont get in2 it here its not super relevant but i do think a lot of promare fans were dumb abt things getting brushed over and acted like bcuz things like 'galo being traumatized' wasnt directly stated to their face he actually had no trauma, or whatever, so maybe a little bit more focus on not just keeping everything vague wouldve helped, or could be brought up more in a sequel. even w galo and lios relationship, a huge part of their relationship and dynamic is stuff is in stuff that isnt supplementary exactly its more like a Bonus but like the soundtrack being another whole plot elaborating on their relationship and feelings for each other. again i do think galo and lio being the focus was absolutely a good idea like im not against that at all lol theres a reason ppl remember them the most out of the movie. i want more focus on them now that theyre together and i want more focus on their characters in general- their backstories, their relationships, their traumas since i dont think u can write anything for promare without bringing that into it. like the pre movie experiences AND movie experiences Made the characters esp galo and lio who they r. that stuff IS important for character. and i want this for other side characters too like i want more of ainas stuff, i like her parallels to galo and i want them to keep working on it. first movie was just fucking Going Going Going with the plot and i get why but they skimped out on character relationships but imo they should expand on those in any further content.

i actually wouldnt necessarily need a sequel movie specifically especially bcuz theyd have troubles w both galos va's in japanese and english (galos japanese va was apparently Expensive and as we know billy kametz was the perfect galo va in the english dub and he unfortunately passed away last year) so im not sure how they'd... combat that even in a tv series with less budget or an ova or a video game w voice acting. a manga could work as a good follow up and also not require the extra expenses of animation or have things to deal with w voice actors, tho the director said he wouldnt make one unless it was full color and thats Expensive but also like who gives a fuck imaishi. do it. you spend money on so much bullshit you should make a full color post canon promare manga of your best story. to me :)

ive had a lot of ideas for possible sequels or follow ups over the years and i think whether any more promare was plot based or character based w just slice of life stuff or just focusing on galo and lios relationship, any of it would be rly fun to see. i also think itd be rly likely the promare would come back in some capacity in a sequel lol. they even gave themselves an opening with the promare like taking a piece of lio back to their home dimension/planet. the fires such a huge recognizable part of promare, it would be VERY likely to me that they would bring it back for a post canon story, especially when taking it away was a big source of criticism for the movie (not cuz its Cooler if the fire stays, tho thats true, but also bcuz it just literally doesnt work w the narrative to build up abt how burnish and not burnish ppl cna live peacefully and even be very close, as evidenced by galo and lio, and then just. not do anything w it cuz the run times over so oopsie better just send the aliens back. i could get into this way more but i already have many many times and i dont want to ramble more than i already am lol). but i think trigger burned themselves out a lot on promare bcuz it took so fucking long to make that they werent particularly interested in revisiting it so soon, but since it was SO successful and ppl rly loved it and imo its one of their best properties they absolutely could pick it back up again. however its also like the monkeys paw thing where u want promare to come back but u want it to be GOOD u dont want them to just make it for the sake of making it u want there to be like something they want to do with the characters or story. and the exec staff team have said they told the story they wanted to tell, but i do think they could find interesting ways to bring it back and tell more story. they might be done w galo and lio but im sure not. do it for me <3 ill write you a sequel. anwyay i rambled so much im gonna cut myself off but thank u for asking i could talk so long abt it lol

[thegreenishhues]

Thanks for the tag Ghost and Tiger CC:

📷 What’s set as your phone’s lockscreen?

One I made for fun a bit ago :DD

🍫 Cheese or chocolate? oooo chocolate but I love both!

✨ Do you have any nicknames? Irl yes. online ive been called rose a bit but almost always rosey

🎵 Last song you listened to?

Knotted constellations by Madilyn mei!!

✏️ Have you ever written fanfiction?

Nope but I have thought of doing it a few times props to anyone who does its super cool!!

😏 Are you on discord?

yes!! I have been chatting a bunch on their recently with my moots CC:

 💛 Do you have any piercings?

My ears are pierced if that counts :)

🐰 What do you think says the most about a person?

Hmm I like what Ghost said, also how you treat strangers is a pretty good indicator to me of what someone thinks of themselves/ how they are as a person.

🍪 If you were a cookie, what kind would you be?

Maybe a snickerdoodle? I like snickerdoodles like a better version of a sugar cookie

🐶 Are you more of a dog person or a cat person?

A dog person because I have one but I love cats as well

🎧 Headphones or earbuds?

Earbuds because headphones hurt my ears because of my glasses.

🌼 What’s the last thing you said out loud?

"That's... special" (about my friends Pinterest board lmao)

🙃 What’s a weird fact that you know?

Most people dont give a shit what you do and so you should do what makes you happy. Not so much a weird fact as a thing I think about when Im worried my interests are weird lol.

🦉 Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Night owl! I stay up very late when given the chance

🧸 Favorite place to nap?

Ooo anywhere? middle of a field or on a mountain C:

🏳️‍🌈 Are you a member of the LGBTQIA+ community?

Yep, I am a lil gay goober how loves love c:

�� Describe yourself in three words.

Trying. My. Best.

👖 Jeans or sweatpants?

Jeans but the really big ones that are comfy as heck.

🥤 What’s your go-to Starbucks order?

Hmmmm not a huge starbucks but I like the cakepops and the hot chocolate :D

🧡 A color you can’t stand?

Orange funny enough but like REALLY bright traffic cone orange

💎 What’s your most prized possession?

My necklace from summer camp ig! it has a charm for every year ive gone >:D

☕ Coffee or tea?

Coffee but both are good :)

🦖 Favorite extinct animal?

Lmao what?? How about a dodo bird they seem pretty chill

🌙 How long have you been on tumblr?

Over a year!! my anniversary is in February :D

🌴 Desert island item?

A working phone will cellular data for an emergency call get me off the damn island before I need to worry about surviving

🐸 Describe your aesthetic.

Hmmm Ive been told I dress fairly "granola"?? Basically hiking stuff but Im honestly not sure lol

🔮 What’s your dream job?

Child psychologist or therapist although I do want to stream at some point in my life as well

💙 Relationship status?

Single lol I will date when I meet someone worth dating <3

🌿 Describe your favorite outfit.

Currently O.O just got home and it was pouring so pj pants and a t-shirt

🎤 Is there a song you know all the lyrics to?

Many many of them lyrics stick to me like glue for some reason but an example... let it go from frozen 1 becuase I watched that movie far too much as a kid.

🤎 What color is your hair?

Brown!

💌 Do you talk to yourself?

Yep!

💄 Do you wear makeup?

Some days :D

🌸 Best compliment you ever received?

Oh gosh im not sure lol

💞 @ your favorite blog. oh gosh I dont think I can choose one but all of my mutuals you guys are my favorites >:D

Feel free to join in but im going to tag a few people!!

@sillygh0st @sevenzinha @leemontoast @artistnerd24 /np!!

~ 💖 ASK GAME 💖 ~

📷 What’s set as your phone’s lockscreen?

🍫 Cheese or chocolate?

✨ Do you have any nicknames?

🎵 Last song you listened to?

✏️ Have you ever written fanfiction?

😏 Are you on discord?

 💛 Do you have any piercings?

🐰 What do you think says the most about a person?

🍪 If you were a cookie, what kind would you be?

🐶 Are you more of a dog person or a cat person?

🎧 Headphones or earbuds?

🌼 What’s the last thing you said out loud?

🙃 What’s a weird fact that you know?

🦉 Are you a morning person or a night owl?

🧸 Favorite place to nap?

🏳️‍🌈 Are you a member of the LGBTQIA+ community?

🦋 Describe yourself in three words.

👖 Jeans or sweatpants?

🥤 What’s your go-to Starbucks order?

🧡 A color you can’t stand?

💎 What’s your most prized possession?

☕ Coffee or tea?

🦖 Favorite extinct animal?

🌙 How long have you been on tumblr?

🌴 Desert island item?

🐸 Describe your aesthetic.

🔮 What’s your dream job?

💙 Relationship status?

🌿 Describe your favorite outfit.

🎤 Is there a song you know all the lyrics to?

🤎 What color is your hair?

💌 Do you talk to yourself?

💄 Do you wear makeup?

🌸 Best compliment you ever received?

💞 @ your favorite blog.

Reblogs are appreciated!

[bushmannsrules]

(ooc; love me some Mercy bein’ Medic’s daughter joke headcanons however

what’s ya’lls opinion on Roadhog being Sniper’s son)

[hotarutranslations]

Curry Soup is Delicious

Evening Its Ishida Ayumi

 Tomorrow (24th) airing 1:00~1:30AM Nihon TV “MUSIC BLOOD”

 In the video you can see the app smash,

 We answered, The question from everyone in JO1, “What would you give your neighbor as a Christmas present?” 🎅❤️

 Please check them together!

 For Yamazaki Mei-chan,

 She said it was early, But gave me a birthday present but,

   In the assortment, There are Hokkaido sweets and, There was also a bagged curry soup

 Eating curry soup at the shop is also delicious but,

 This bagged version was totally delicious 🤤❤️

  I haven’t been able to go and eat curry lately, It had been a while since eating curry, It turned on a switch, My desire to eat curry has increased,

 For the first time today,

 I saw curry soup, In the frozen aisle, At 7/11,

 I was drawn to it!

 I ate it!

 It was delicious!

 In between rehearsals, I can go along and eat what I like lol

  Today “Up To Boy” releases

 In 2021, we got to do the 9th and 10th generaton series, Its finally the end--- 😭👏

 Thank you very much to the lots of people who saw it

 The last is a shoot with us 4!

 How we did the shoot, How we dressed, Everyone thinking about that,

 It was like, lets make it feel like its something you don’t wear anywhere else!

 So we shot in menswear, And gothic Lolita!

  I feel like a doll 😳 But then again, I wanted to look like that 😳 lol

  Please by all means, everyone, Get the last of the series, With this fresh 9th and 10th generation 😌🍀

 The first edition of the SP2 version of our new songs, For those that waited, its now on sale 🌷

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eZuFR0Z80E

 This version also has these benefits 🕺 You can watch solo dances from the sides and behind 🕺

 Details are here

 Morning Musume ‘21 “Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari (Morning Musume ’21 Ver.)”

 Its been delivered 😳🎉

 “iTunes Store” “RecoChoku” “mora (HiRes)”

 Its also been decided we will stream, The year end concerts!

 Here

 Lets spend the time together by all means everyone~ ☺️❤️

 See you ayumin ❤

 https://ameblo.jp/morningmusume-10ki/entry-12717255180.html

[asknarashikari]

Part 2 of injured boyfriends: Mei comes to her boys and mentions she just said something really embarrassing in front of the others after seeing Rintaro carry them. Rintaro however, suddenly picks her up...

Lol Mei’s about to get the surprise of her life

Mei slammed the door behind her, then leaned on it as if she were afraid that someone was going to try busting it down after her.

“Mei? You look freaked out, are you okay?” Kento asked, pushing himself up on his elbows to sit up on the cot he was resting on. 

“Mei, did something happen? Is everything alright?” Touma asked in alarm, drawing himself from Rintaro who was bandaging up his wounded arm.

“I- I’m not!” she cried, and threw herself into the Swordsman of Water’s arms who caught her, startled, dropping the medical supplies he was treating Touma with. “I did something outrageous! I’m so sorry!”

“T-There, there, I’m sure it couldn’t have been that bad...” he reassured, patting her back gently.

“I said that I wanted you to carry me to bed and have your way with me in front of Ren and Daishinji-san!” she blurted out, then hid her face in her hands.

“Oh,” the boys said blankly, not expecting that answer at all. They gave each other matching looks of bewilderment, confusion and slight embarrassment.

“I’m so sorry!” Mei apologized again, bowing low. “I don’t know what came over me, I wasn’t thinking straight, but after I saw you guys I just got a little jealous, and I wanted to have a little bit of that too, and I didn’t remember that the other two were still there and I know that you’re not that into stuff like that...”

Mei’s rambling was cut off as she found herself lifted off her feet bridal style, then in a flash tossed onto one of the other cots in the infirmary with Rintaro leaning over her. She gaped at him, frozen in place, suddenly unable to say a single word, and he grinned wickedly at her, as he leaned forward to kiss her, ever so lightly, teasing and playful.

“Well, if that was all you wanted, you could’ve just asked, my love.” Rintaro smirked at her. “And I can assure you, I am very much into that sort of thing.”

Mei squeaked as Rintaro drew away, leaving her on the cot blushing and unable to comprehend what just occurred. “Eh? Eh? Eh...?”

“...Not gonna lie, that was pretty fucking hot,” muttered Kento as he laid back in bed, throwing an arm over his head to hide his flushed face.

“Wouldn’t mind it if it were me to be honest,” Touma admitted, using his hat to cover his own face.

Rintaro grinned and winked at them. “Oh, I’m sure that could be arranged, too.”

[technoskittles]

RULES: answer 20 questions, then tag 20 bloggers you want to get to know better.

Got tagged forever ago by @simplyabsolute and I’m just super busy and forgetful so doing it now lol

1. NAME: Ashleigh

2. NICKNAMES: Most call me Ash but I’ll respond to just about anything lmao

3. ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius

4. HEIGHT: 5′2 (I know I’m short fight me)

5. LANGUAGES: English. Took French for four years but don’t remember anything haha. Know some basic survival Japanese since I spent a month in Japan and trying to sit down and learn more one day

6. NATIONALITY: American

7. FAVOURITE SEASON: Fall. crunch crunch on some leaves mothafucka

8. FAVOURITE FLOWER: I don’t think I have one? I’ve always thought this was kind of a weird question tbh. Lotus flower maybe?

9. FAVOURITE SCENT: Oh jeez I have a lot of that. Lavender incense probably though. Tbh, most scents for incense. I really love incense. Maybe I just really like the smell of smokey things

10. FAVOURITE COLOUR: Purple/black

11. FAVOURITE ANIMAL: Red Pandas

12. FAVOURITE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS: Oh get ready y’all I’m about to break this down

-Legend of Korra: Korra, Asami

-Avatar: The Last Airbender: Katara, Toph, Azula, Zuko

-Gravity Rush: Kat, Raven, Yunica, Lisa, Cyanea

-My Hero Academia: Ochako, Bakugou*** (probably my top fave), Deku, Jirou, Tsuyu, Momo, Toga

-Soul Eater: Soul, Maka, Medusa

-Fullmetal Alchemist: UGH SO MANY PEOPLE!! Riza, Roy, Edward, Alphonse, Mei, Greed/Greedling, Lan Fan, Lust, Envy, Olivier

-She-Ra: Adora, Catra, Entrapta, Scorpia, Double Trouble, Mara

-Madoka Magica: Kyoko, Sayaka

-Carmilla: Carmilla, Laura, Mel

-Firefly: KAYLEE, River

-RWBY: YANG MOTHERFUCKING XIAO LONG, Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Neopolitan, Penny Polendina, Nora Valkyrie

-Miraculous Ladybug: Chat Noir

-Overwatch: Tracer, D.Va, Ashe

-Fairy Tail: Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Cana

(I could probably keep going but we’d be here forever)

13. COFFEE, TEA, OR HOT CHOCOLATE: Tea (herbal mostly but I also do like matcha). I can drink coffee but only frozen (anything else tastes awful)

14. AVERAGE SLEEP HOURS: wtf is sleep

15. DOG OR CAT PERSON: Both. But I’m also allergic to cats v.v

16. NUMBER OF BLANKETS YOU SLEEP WITH: Depends on the night. One, two max (because the second one is my heated blanket)

17. DREAM TRIP: Technically I’ve already been, but I’d LOVE to go back to Japan one day and this time take my boyfriend with me. It was such a great experience the last time I went and I loved it so much that I’m just about dying to go back and share everything with him <3

18. BLOG ESTABLISHED: Sometime in 2015 lol I don’t remember exactly when

19. FOLLOWERS: 3628

20: RANDOM FACT: Babies are born without kneecaps.....wait, about me? oh um, I’m a practicing witch even though currently I’m still just a baby

Tagging: anyone else who wants to do this

[lu-vas]

do u got any baptiste tips? hes a lot of fun but i wanna get better at him!

ive been practicing a fuckton of baptiste this year and i finally reached 50 hours on him so im excited to share tips. im just warning that i dont play competitive and really just play quick play or arcade but i still work hard and study up to get gud at him despite that. im not sure what baptiste tips you need specifically but i guess i’ll do a Baptiste 101 with each of his abilities

biotic launcher-healing grenades

all i have to say about his primary healing is that it should be 70-80% of what youre doing during the match. also aim it at the ground instead of directly at players so you have a greater chance of hitting them

biotic launcher- damage

his gun is pretty clunky and hard to get used to but once youre decent at it you can be very effective at doing damage, like zen level effective, so make sure to use it when your team doesnt need healing atm

it’s also hitscan so focus pharahs when you have the chance. you can also wipe tracer out pretty easily and be a problem for her if she’s trying to get into your backline (if ur aim is good enough, but its super hard for me lol). also focusing fire on the enemy supports can be really helpful

regenerative burst

since this ability has a long cooldown, my thing with regen is getting as much Value out of it as you can because it helps a ton with emergency healing

if im not solo healing then i usually don’t use it to only heal myself unless its an Emergency. i’ll usually wait until either others around me need healing too or my 2nd healer takes care of me. im also very cheap with it but you know what, this ability don’t come cheap!

best used during intense team battles when your team is taking a shiton of damage as emergency healing along with your healing grenades. when youre pumping the grenades into them coupled with regen burst it can be super tough for the enemy to kill them 

sometimes i use it to emergency heal the squishies around me who are being difficult to hit due to them jumping up and down from taking fire or whatever it is

in theory its good to use before/during one of your dps is using an ultimate that makes them vulnerable (genji/reaper/pharah/etc). it also wont really save you from most offensive enemy team ultimates

immortality field

this ability is the bane of my existence

obv we know its best behind corners during team fights

obv we also know its super effective against a bunch of enemy ultimates (grav, dragons, dvabomb, deadeye, barrage, pulse bomb, tire, meteor strike, blade, blizzard, gravitic flux, shatter, config tank) so tracking enemy ults is helpful. 

timing is also helpful too, e.g., wait till rip tire/dvabomb gets close so the team cant destroy it before they land, wait till youre taking damage from grav/see if youre gonna take any damage at all, etc

throwing it behind a blading genji forces him to have to do a 180 to destroy it & disorients him

you could argue that it’s not as effective against death blossom and tac visor BUT i have a few tips for them

death blossom: i usually wait for during/after the 2nd “Die” to throw down the field, assuming my team has most of their HP already. this means that the remaining duration of his ult has to be spent killing the field, and your team wont have any deaths and will maintain around a quarter of their health

tac visor: this one’s trickier since soldier takes it down pretty quickly. you can wait till he uses a little bit of it to throw it, you can chuck it behind something, you can use it to give yourself/your teammates a little bit of time to get out, its just super dependent on the situation but can be effective if the situation is read right

torb’s lava destroys it (unless you strategically place the drone next to the lava), emp hacks it, bob targets it when he realizes he cant kill an enemy, too much knockback on winston & roadhog’s ults to place it effectively

super helpful when the enemy team is jumping your bastion, gives him the opportunity to just wipe them

super helpful to save individual teammates from potential oneshot abilities like charge, hook, mei freeze, trying to get through a sniper nest. id say doomfist too but realistically it happens way too fast to react quickly enough to it

during team fights i usually wait to use it when the team is taking too much damage that im not able to out heal

a lot of this ability is 1) management and 2) quick reactions and really the only way to get good at those is to practice him!

amplification matrix

use it to either 1) initiate 2) counter-initiate or 3) during big team fights

it’s a throw away ult in all honesty, don’t be afraid to be liberal about its use because youll get it back in like 2 mins

i find that most baptiste players place it directly in front of them but i find it most effective when placed further up in front of the enemy team instead, it gives more of an opportunity to be used by the rest of your team

yes it can be placed in front of you to allow you to emergency heal during big team fights but i have to move around so much at those times that i dont find me getting use out of it from that? im still trying to figure out how to best use it to amp heals but i havent yet :/

comboing with bastion is pretty fun. comboing with mccree, soldier, roadhog, or bastion when theyre ulting is even more fun

im still learning how to best use this ult too, its whats taking me the longest to figure out about bap’s kit tbh

exo boots

this is such a good ability to give yourself high ground so do just that! just make sure youre not isolating yourself to get shot at. getting high ground allows you to see the playing field clearer, give yourself more access to heal your team, keep yourself safe, and throw down immortality field at key moments to save your team (e.g., your entire team getting earth shattered)

also be careful not to be that guy and get sniped because of it LOL it makes baptiste very slow moving and predictable

once you get a finesse for it, you can use it to dodge, avoid damage, give yourself more access to heal, etc, but its all about practice

if you think youre about to get meteor striked, save yourself by charging them up all the way and jumping after you see the red circle. you’ll still take damage but you’ll maintain like 50 something hp

if you cant get out of blizzard you can delay getting frozen by jumping up all the way. you’ll still fall back down and freeze but it gives mei less time to kill you

its good practice to keep to keep it charged at all times just in case (but i dont even do that LOL its still good practice)

thats all i have for now there’s probably many more good tips about him & maybe some of this isnt even right but its what i learned from playing him since his release :) he’s one of my favorite heroes to play and very very fun. not only that but he’s in the current meta for the first time which is exciting. everyone should pick up baptiste!

[cascadingpearls]

Make a Wish (or Two or Sixteen) Part Two

Okay, here we go! Part two of what I think is going to be a three part fic.

Enjoy!

Part one here

—

“Hello! We’re here!” Bex calls as they enter the house. 

“In the kitchen,” Cece’s reply is slightly muffled. 

Bowie and Bex head towards the kitchen, while Andi lingers looking around at the dining room set up.

Cece put up lanterns Andi made out of lucky red envelopes. There is a large fruit platter including Asian pears, oranges and- to Andi’s surprise dragonfruit! Dragonfruit is hard to find in Midwest. Cece outdid herself. When Andi notices the extra plate settings she puts the pieces together, Aunt Mei must be coming after all. Oh boy, this was going to be a memorable birthday.

When Andi wanders into the kitchen, she sees her parents have put on aprons and are helping Cece. Bex is at the stove tending to some bok choy and Bowie is carving the duck.

Cece smiles warmly and gives Andi a hug. “Happy birthday, Andi!”

Andi sighs into the warm embrace, squeezing her tightly. “Thanks, Cece." 

When pull away, Cece tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, and sighs. "You look beautiful. I can’t believe you’re sixteen! Feels like only yesterday you were in diapers.”

“I know,” Bex moans. “Time flies.”

Andi does her best not to roll her eyes, already having heard this multiple times today. “How can I help?”

Cece maneuvers Andi to a stool at the counter. “You don’t need to do anything. You just sit and relax.” Andi and her mother exchange a look… that has never been Cece’s philosophy. “You know, your birthday falling on the Harvest Moon Festival is very auspicious,” Cece continues as she begins chopping mushrooms. “You were born on the Harvest Moon Festival, and here it is again falling on your birthday! It means you find a love like in the festival folklore.”

Andi looks at Bex again. ’What?’ She mouths. Cece had strict anti-boyfriend/relationship rules. Bex makes a face and shrugs. 

“What’s the folklore?” Bowie asks, ending the nonverbal conversation. 

“Long ago, there were ten suns in the sky. All living things were suffering under the immense heat. So Hou Yi, a skilled archer, climbed atop a mountain and shot down nine of the suns. 

“To reward Hou Yi for saving the planet, the Queen of Heaven gave him a bottle of the elixir of life. 

“Hou Yi was very grateful but could not imagine life without his wife, Chang'e. So he kept the bottle at home for safe keeping. 

“One day, one of Hou Yi’s fellow soldiers, Peng Meng, broke into their home to steal the elixir. To prevent Peng Meng from taking the elixir,  Chang'e drank it herself. Becoming immortal, she floated up into the sky. 

“That night, when Hou Yi returned, his maids recounted the events of the day. Distraught,  Hou Yi took his bow and set off to find Peng Meng and make him pay. But as he walked out of his house, he noticed the moon was full and bright. And he saw a figure on the moon resembling Chang'e.

“It turns out, Chang'e couldn’t stand the thought of being so far from Hou Yi, so she chose to live on the moon, the closest being to earth, to watch over her husband.  And once a month, the lovers are reunited when the moon is the fullest and brightest because of their love for one another." 

"Wow, that’s beautiful, Cece.” Bowie murmurs. Andi nods, it’s been a few years since she heard that story. Now that she’s older she appreciates it more.  She understands the power of love, familial, platonic and romantic… well, kind of the last one.

Cece smiles, “It was my favorite folklore growing up." 

"Is that why you’re so calm, even though Aunt Mei is coming?” Andi asks. 

“Mom, you didn’t tell me Aunt Mei was coming!” Bex was just as surprised as Andi. 

“Because she isn't…” Cece said slowly.  “Andi… did she tell you she was coming?” Andi could see panic in Cece’s face… the serene Cece from moments ago was disappearing, fast. 

“No!” Andi exclaimed. “I saw the extra place settings and assumed…”

The room collectively exhaled in relief. Cece waved her hand, as if she was shooing the tension away.  “Oh no! An old friend of mine is in town visiting her family and I invited them over,” she looked over and Andi with an impish smile.  “And she has a grandson who’s about your age. He’s very good looking…”

“Mom, no! Just because she’s sixteen now doesn’t mean you can play matchmaker!”

Cece tried to look innocent. “I’m not… I’m just saying…” she swatted Bex away from the stovetop and began sauteing the mushrooms. 

“Mom, I’m serious,” Bex warned. 

Cece merely shrugged and continued stirring the mushrooms. 

Bex motioned for Andi to leave the kitchen, so she hopped off the stool and headed for Andi Shack.

Andi caught glimpses of her mother and grandmother talking through the window.  They weren’t yelling, but it looked a little heated.

Andi sighed and pulled out her phone.  

Andi [5:16 PM]: Grandmother’s can be so weird. I swear Cece has done a complete 180 today. She told me about her friend’s cute grandson!

BF ❤ [5:17 PM]: I hear you. I love mine but she’s extremely giddy rn… and I haven’t seen her in a few months but giddy is not a word used to describe her.

Andi [5:17 PM]: Grandmas, amirite?

BF ❤ [5:18 PM]: lol. 😂 I gotta go,  we’re leaving for dinner but see you after?

Andi [5:18 PM]: Have fun!

BF ❤ [5:19 PM]: You, too!

After a few minutes, her dad pokes his head out the back door and waves her back into the house. When she returns to the kitchen, Cece and Bex are silently putting together platters of food. “Smells good in here,” Andi says quietly.

Cece lets out a chuckle and wipes her hands clean before taking Andi’s hands in her own. “I’m sorry if I made you feel like you were being set up. I’m just very happy to see an old friend, and we were joking about how we finally could become family if our grandkids got together. But I don’t want you to think I’m forcing you to date or like someone.”

Andi nods and gives Cece’s hand a quick squeeze. “I know.”

The doorbell rings and Cece lets out an excited squeal. “She’s here!” She takes her apron off, fluffs her hair and heads for the door.

Andi looks bemusedly at Bex as they follow Cece, “Do I know who this is?”

Bex shrugs, “Maybe? Auntie Ying moved away a long time ago, but she visits every few years. She can be… terrifying… I think you would remember her.” 

Andi thinks for a moment, “I don’t know if I’ve met her. I think I’d remember terrifying…”

Bex smiles, “Well, you get to meet her now!” 

Cece is checking her reflection in the mirror, when they reach the entryway. Cece looks them up and down, nodding in approval before throwing the door open. “Ying!” Cece embraces the woman on the other side.

“Celia!” Auntie Ying replies. As they pull away from hug, Andi gets a good look at Auntie Ying. She’s a little bit taller than Cece, her long dark hair swept up in an elegant bun. “Your home is lovely as always. And your family is here, Bex it’s good to see you again. And you must be here husband, Bowie. I’ve heard a lot about you. And I’m afraid I’m going to ask you a lot of gardening questions.” Auntie Ying shakes Bowies hand before turning to Andi. 

“And Andi, I haven’t seen you since you were a little girl.” She hooks a finger under Andi’s chin, examining her face. “You’re so beautiful. I heard it was your sixteenth birthday. And to fall on the Harvest Moon Festival, very lucky,” she says pulling out a red envelope out of her purse. “Happy birthday.”

Andi smiles, a little awed, and takes the red envelope, “Thank you.” She usually only receives red envelopes for Lunar New Year. Auntie Ying isn’t that scary. 

Auntie Ying continues by introducing her son and daughter in law, David and Christina. Andi can’t help but notice there’s no cute grandson. If he’s as good looking as Cece claims, he probably already is taken. Besides, she has a cute boyfriend.

There’s a light knock at the door, and Auntie Ying moves towards the door. “That must be my grandson, my sunzi,” she says proudly.

Andi’s not sure why her heartbeat quickens when the door opens. The grandson’s face is partially obscured by a tall orchid. He steps inside and moves the orchid. He bows to Cece and hands her the pot. “Nai Nai said you love orchids, and this one smells so fragrant I thought it would be a nice addition to your plants.”

And can’t stop her jaw from dropping. Is he for real? Cece thanks him and murmurs “I told you so,” to her as she walks by to put the orchid in the living room. 

Andi watches as Auntie Ying introduces Bowie and Bex to her grandson. When he turns towards her, he has a big smile on his face and her heart begins to beat even faster. She’s frozen in place as he approaches with his hand held out. “Hi. Nathan.”

She feels a nudge from behind her - Bex probably- and she snaps out of it. She goes to shake his hand, “Andi.” His hand is big and warm, when it covers her own, and she feels her cheeks flush.

“Andi, something tells me we’re going to have a lot of fun tonight,” Nathan says, eyes twinkling.

“Yeah,” she says faintly.  She doesn’t realize they’re still shaking hands until Bowie clears his throat in a very dad like manner making them jump apart.

“Should we join everyone in the living room?” Bowie asks.  Nathan nods. “After you,” Bowie says gesturing towards the room and Nathan heads in first.  

Yes, this was going to be a very interesting evening.

—

@dancerdramatic14 I hope this answers your question!

[glassrunner]

jgfjgjfjd yall wanna hear about my adventures playing ow with my crush??? (gibraltar seems to be our romance map LOL)

back when i actually played mercy, we were duo’ed playing on gibraltar and he was on genji for defense and i was playing mercy. when we got to the high ground right around the first corner, we both used our sit emotes next to each other at the exact same time without communicating or even mentioning the idea beforehand. and we just kinda sat there until the round started, both facing the sunset, and occasionally saying ‘hi’ or ‘thank you.’

another time on gibraltar, i was playing ana and he was again genji. mei used blizzard and because i was an old lady with no movement abilities, i of course got stuck. but my crush jumped into the blizzard, USING HIS DASH, and then deflected directly in front of me so i couldn’t get headshot, even though our other friend on mercy was also stuck in blizzard and we were already down a teammate. he used every single ability to save my ass especially knowing that he would be frozen by blizzard too aaaaaaaaaaaaa

one time on numbani, i got slept as d.va and their pharah was shooting rockets at me. but he decided to BODYBLOCK THE ROCKETS FOR ME, as DOOMFIST ISIJGKSDJKFDK LIKE ISN’T THAT SUPPOSED TO BE MY JOB

then on gibraltar AGAIN, he was playing soldier and i was ana. i slept their reaper, and he ran over to me so we could kill him, but i got frozen afterwards by their mei since i had no cooldowns available. right as she fired the icicle, my crush slammed down his e and ran directly in front of me so he could tank the headshot and keep me alive. i even asked him about it later and he just said “yep” all nonchalantly fjjgkdfjkgjkfjd

[ajoblotofjunk]

Z Nation re-watch: 2x15 The One With the Submarine

Season 2 finale time!

Citizen Z is down to his last battery and telling them to abort the mission while he burns papers.

Ughhhh this bounty hunter guy is gross.

Poor 10k looks so scared when he gets shot. Poor boy.

This is too cute not to share.

"We're not friends." Uh huh.

I have honestly watched this whole scene where Murphy says goodbye to the group like twenty times.

DOC HUGS.

Them exchanging gifts and calling each other 'brother' MELTS MY HEART.

Warren's face when she thinks Murphy is leaving without saying goodbye says basically everything you need to know about whether she actually thinks of him as a friend or not. "Not friends." Girl. Come on.

NOSE TOUCHES.

All is well - OR IS IT. Hee. It's not, of course. It's the Zeros.

The zombie-free island of ZONA. Elon Musk definitely is there. (They don’t say that in the show, I’m just saying.)

The human shields are brutal.

Oh no Auntie's a zombie.

Murphy was sick all the time as a kid, he got everything. Interesting.

Merch: "Any STDs?" Murphy: "The usual."  lol

Noooo not the Z Whacker!

La Reina still trying to get Warren on her team.

I forgot it was Hector who saved Warren!

Vasquez: "Never send a zombie to do a man's job."

Emilio RIvera is SO GOOD in this scene. He's fantastic this whole season but he brings it home with this conversation with Vasquez. Matt Cedeno's face-acting is also stellar. It's a shame they're both gone.

Doc: What do we do now, Chief? Warren: I don't know. I'm not in charge anymore. *Doc and Addy follow her anyway*

What is this necklace 10k is wearing?

Oh Javier. *sniff* His headband is gray here. It is not that color when we see him next, as I recall.

Doc: I hope they don't bleed him dry. I hate to admit it, but I kind of miss Murphy. Hector: Really? I didn't get to know him too well but, uh, he seemed like kind of a dick. (Shorter Hector: Her?)

Doc and Addy are so worried about 10k.

And here comes the China contingent. (It's Warren's new girlfriend SUN MEI! Eeeeeee)

Citizen Z has, it seems, literally frozen in place. Good thing Kaya finds him.

Oh right and baby Lucy who is now toddler Lucy. Her little laugh and "bad zombies" is so cute.

And thus ends season 2!

[itsjustolee]

Overwatch Asks: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,13,16

3. My favourite Offensive Character to play: That’d be Sombra ^^ I play her like a support class lol. I’ve become pretty good at her but my Pharah games usually go better.

4. My favourite Defense Character to play:  Mei :3c Not many heroes that can manipulate the environment like she can. And gotta love that moment when someone’s frozen and you clap them in the head... She also has a slightly bigger health bar and a self healing lil safe place!! Love that icy girl lol

5. My favourite Tank Character to play:  Orisa! She a big cute robot that shields errybody while puttin out lead. Plus she can pull people into pits or off cliffs :D

6. My favourite Support Character to play: aaaaggg, this is a hard one... Mercy used to be my favourite but all her changes and the way I got treated when I played her... She’s not a whole lot of fun, Valkyrie’s great but her res completely trashes gameflow.

Being able to essentially “control the flow of battle” is my no.1 goal as a supp main. She can’t do that no more SO. I’d say Moira and Symmetra are my two favourites. I pick Symmetra literally as often as I can but Moira is a fantastic dps as well as healer. Being able to become incorporeal is also fucking nice for a supp lol...

I’m also a savage Lucio but the way I play him leaves my hand hurting ^^;

7. The most aesthetically pleasing character to play:  tfw you’ve played Mercy for more than 600 hours...Gliding around the battle, weaving thru the chaos while simultaneously healing and amping dmg, sometimes boppin some people on the head... feels ggez 

Symmetra also has a similar feeling but instead it’s mouse1 or watching people melt.

8. One of my least favourite characters to play against:  I hate good Tracers!! Get off my ass woman! Leave my Orisa butt A L O N E

9. My Favourite Map: Eichenwalde! Ancient forest setting! Environmental kills! So many places to hide Sym turrets.

10. My Second Most Played Character: Symmetra. She can carry on defense for one, enhance an attack with barriers or a clutch tele... She can create lil lasers that also act as lil spies/alarms!! pls... Lots of  nasty mouse1 s u c c

13. My Favourite Ultimate:  Junkrat’s is the most fun but Valkyrie is god-mode. Lucio’s barriers have also taken me into some of the most unintelligible brawls and 1v1s lol

16. My preferred support character to have by my side: I love a good mercy

*_* thanks for the asks-!

[abadpoetwithdreams]

Nirvana in Fire Episode 5 Reaction

Aaand I’m back! I had hoped to write this and post it before my two-week vacation ended, but while I did manage to write here and there, I was never able to find enough time to actually get this finished. Whenever I had any downtime at all I ended up falling asleep, because I was so busy all the rest of the time! But thank you for your patience, and I am most delighted to be back to watching and writing about Nirvana in Fire. Apologies in advance for any errors/disjointedness in this recap, as it was written over the course of my travel through three separate Hawaiian islands, Tokyo, and Okinawa, including while on eight different plane flights over three time zones, lol. Jetlagged isn’t even a strong enough word.

So: episode five! The opening theme music starts and let me tell you, guys, it sounds even better than usual because I’ve been away from it for almost two weeks now. It’s like that first sip of coffee in the morning when you need that caffeine hit. Glorious.

The episode opens on the palace steps, where Mei Chang Su is giving his tiny trio of new-minted swordsmen (swordsboys?) a last-minute pep talk. He says Fei Liu has made a very favorable report on them, which I feel is probably a lie, but it makes those skinny, mistreated boys smile proudly and HE’S JUST SO GOOD WITH KIDS, GUYS. I HATE IT.

Chang Su addresses the oldest kid specially, telling him “You are the oldest, you have to look after them.” And then Jing walks up and I cry inside at that deep cut for what is probably not the last time this episode. Chang Su and Jing are wearing matching-coloured grey/white outfits today! It’s very cute and I like it; one more point to the costuming staff on this drama! And then Ni Huang walks up and SHE TOO IS ALL IN GREY/WHITE. My faves have matching outfits! Yay team!

Anyway, Ni Huang notices Chang Su looking rather fondly at them (oh yeah, and her baby brother is there too) and asks him why he’s smiling. She’s so perceptive. He explains that it has become fashionable around the capitol to “appear sluggish”, but that Jing, Ni Huang, and baby brother to Ni Huang (I REALLY NEED TO REMEMBER HIS NAME IT HAS BEEN TWO WEEKS) stand with good, strong, firm posture, and that this pleases him. Ni Huang’s flattered little smile when he says this is so pretty. She answers that of course: the three of them are warriors who live military lives. If they stood sluggishly, that would be wrong, and would show they are not fit to defend their country! (I like how their good posture, linked with their firm identities as military leaders who are totally severed from the posture and therefore lifestyle of court political life, further ties Ni Huang and Jing together as a team for Good, here. People in court present themselves in whatever way serves them best, following fashion both in thought and in behavior. Ni Huang and Jing–and Ni Huang’s brother, for that matter–present themselves plainly as they are. Their honesty must be refreshing to Mei Chang Su even aside from how he must also feel at this evidence that these people Lin Shu loved have remained good people. And even though this part of Jing’s personality makes him a pain to work with, lol. It probably also makes him even more homesick, so to speak, for a past that can’t come back. They are the same people he loved–but he can’t be the same person they loved back. (NOTE: In my first watch, at this point I was only guessing Jing and Shu had been close before. So far it had been only hinted at. Since I have now watched up to episode 17 though prior to pausing to write these recaps, I can say that it has since been HELLA confirmed.)

Baby brother, whose name is Mu Qing (thanks for the name drop, Ni Huang), is adorably proud at being included in this military group, and then he spoils the moment by threatening Chang Su that if the boys lose to Baili Qi he will punish him, lol. Ni Huang sharply checks her brother, but he looks only chastened, not at all repentant. He’s the best. He should also spend less time around Jing because I feel like they could be bad influences on each other when it comes to lack of tact and subtlety.

We leave this group of perfect people on the steps (with Mei Chang Su still looking entirely too happy to be with them, PUT AWAY YOUR HEART-EYES LIN SHU) to go visit some of the worst people, namely the emperor and his two bratty, battling sons. The wonderful Commander Meng is there too, telling the emperor that he fought the slave boys and they impressed him. He even says they managed to trap him for a while, which gives him hope that they will be able to beat Baili Qi. I am fairly certain this is just Meng lying and saying whatever Lin Shu told him to say, because there’s no way those kids should be good enough to trap him. I’m even wondering if he’s embellishing the lie he was told to tell, because claiming the children impressed him is one thing but saying they actually got the clear upper hand over him for a bit smacks strongly of over-embellishment, ahahaha. Anyway, regardless of if it’s the truth or not, it pleases the emperor and the Crown Prince, noticing this, quickly hops on the optimism train, reiterating how good it will be for the boys to defeat Baili Qi and thereby make him ineligible to challenge Ni Huang. Prince Yu is of course then obligated to take the negative approach so that he can undercut his brother, pointing out that if Baili Qi is out, no one else among the finalists has a chance of defeating Ni Huang, so this whole rigamarole of a tournament will basically mean nothing, and the emperor’s generosity in arranging it will also mean nothing. (This constant back and forth quibbling between the princes so easily could have become wearisome, because it happens a lot, but I actually love it every time mainly because these two actors–especially whoever plays Prince Yu–play these scenes SO well. It’s hugely entertaining, and that’s mainly on how they deliver their lines and react to each other. I’ve commented on this before, but hey, kudos to them again.)

The emperor sours somewhat at that, and then even further when Yu tries to smoothly transition to saying that, since Ni Huang is such a mighty warrior, isn’t it okay if her husband isn’t? Isn’t it better that her husband be a good person from a good family–someone like, oh, I don’t know, the candidate from one of Yu’s supporting families? The Crown Prince hastily calls him out, but Yu then calls HIM out too by saying oh, so I suppose the man YOU support is better than mine, is that it? The situation begins to devolve into a really pathetic verbal slapfest, and the emperor literally tells them to shut up in the English subtitles, which made me giggle.

Meanwhile, Mei Chang Su has made the always dangerous decision to call Ni Huang over for a private conversation. He warns her that there are people in the palace who want to use devious means to MAKE her get married. Ni Huang is taken aback, as well she should be; she’s a warrior, and not used to having to deal with this sort of underhandedness (and more than that, probably isn’t used to being treated like a woman who needs to be careful of this sort of thing). He warns her more specifically to be careful to refuse or at least be wary of anything edible or drinkable that is offered to her while she’s in the palace. She makes a bad habit of not taking maids with her, he chides her; such a habit is dangerous.

Instead of being suitably repentant, Ni Huang (glorious, clever creature that she is) fires back with: “How do you know I never take maids with me?” OH SNAP YOU DONE MESSED UP NOW LIN SHU. Judging by the look of frozen horror on his face, Mei Chang Su does not have an answer to this prepared, and yet again, award one point to Ni Huang. What a queen.

Su is saved from having to fumble for an answer that would satisfy Ni Huang (when we all know there is no such thing) by Team Good Boys, aka Jing Rui and Yu Jin, who barrel in with their usual good-humored energy to interrupt the conversation. Yu Jin starts scolding Chang Su for sneaking out of his house without telling them (which is hilarious to picture and I am sorry I didn’t get to see it), but he’s quickly accosted by Mu Qing, who furiously says don’t you see Mister Su is busy talking??? To my sister???? ALONE?????

Does he ship it? Ohhhh I so think he does. And instantly, so does Yu Jin, who instead of leaving the couple in peace leans in eagerly to watch, bahaha. Aaaand now Mei Chang Su is left looking like he feels doubly like a deer in headlights, but Ni Huang also looks flustered, so he’s safe at least from her probing for the moment.

Thankfully, he is saved yet again by the announcement that the Emperor has arrived on the scene. We cut to everyone gathered in the palace as before, and the Emperor asks Chang Su if the boys are ready. They are, Chang Su replies. The Emperor, satisfied, orders the fight to begin, and Chang Su in response turns to his trio of padawans and with the tiniest encouraging smile he motions them to attack.

They step forward. Ni Huang tells Chang Su point blank that the boys cannot win and that she knows this, so whatever other trick he has planned he had better get on with it. Su, with one of the cockiest smiles I’ve seen from him yet, the scamp, tells her to just watch and relax. The boys take an opening stance, and Baili Qi gives them the most wonderfully unimpressed look, and Ni Huang does not look at all relaxed. But then–the fight begins!

This next scene is fun to watch, but not so fun to write about. Basically: the three boys spin and jump and fly around the combat ring with ease, and by far my favourite bit is when they stack up to imitate the height and reach of a single tall opponent and then break apart into their separate tiny forms when Baili Qi tries to hit them. It just looked great. The fight is ridiculous and glorious and is made all the better by all the cuts to Chang Su, who has resumed his favourite pasttime of Pretending To Be More Interested In Food. He doesn’t have to troll for his plans to work; he CHOOSES to troll, and for that I love him very much.

Baili Qi is at first bored, then bemused, then angered by the tactics of the three children he is fighting. The kids manage to cut off some of his luscious wig–I mean, some of his hair, which makes him even madder and makes Mu Qing actually bolt to his feet in the audience, ahaha. Even Jing looks surprised and impressed, and Ni Huang no longer looks worried, just very intent. The emperor is DELIGHTED.

Finally the boys finish off Baili Qi with a chop to the neck, courtesy of Ting Sheng himself. Baili Qi drops, Yu Jin cheers, Jing looks actually sort of happy????!!? and Ni Huang isn’t even watching the boys any more. She’s watching Mei Chang Su. Uh oh.

Mei Chang Su is also not watching the fight. He’s eating.

The Emperor cannot contain his gleeful laughter at this win over Northern Yan, and Prince Yu looks absolutely thrilled, too. Finally Chang Su deigns to notice that his ploy has defeated the mighty Baili Qi, and he stands to assure the delegates from Northern Yan that Baili Qi has not been seriously harmed; “we would not hurt a guest,” he says with just the right hint of smarm.

He then tells the boys to bow to the still cackling Emperor, and gives Ni Huang a Look. She correctly recognizes her cue, and jumps up to suggest that the Emperor reward the children with their freedom, since as slaves they cannot have any use for any more material reward. She and Su argue back and forth a bit about who gets custody of the boys (not even married and fighting over the children, these two) and their clever ploy works; the emperor is so amused by their bickering and in such a good mood that he easily agrees to free the children, and says that Su and Ni Huang will have to settle for themselves who gets them. HOW CLEVER OUR LIN SHU IS. He looked nervous for the actual moment when the emperor paused before giving verdict, but everything worked as planned after all because Shu is just that brilliant. (And just look at Jing’s faaaaaace.)

Yu tries to win Chang Su’s favour by leaping up to say that Mei Chang Su deserves a reward, too. Jing immediately goes back to looking disgusted. So much for his fleeting moment of sort-of-happiness. Also I just realize now that he’s been made to sit next to Prince Yu, which he must haaaaaaate.

Crown Prince of course cannot stand to be outdone, so he jumps up and chides his rival for implying that the Emperor WASN’T going to reward Mei Chang Su, and suggests the granting of an honorable title. The Emperor is still too cheered by Baili Qi’s humiliation to be angered by his sons’ fighting like he was earlier, and he merrily inquires about how Baili Qi is doing. The Northern Yan representative hastens to say that regardless of the defeat today, Baili Qi is still eligible to fight Ni Huang, but some lord of the court openly laughs at the claim, saying how can he possibly hope to fight Ni Huang when he could not even defeat a few untrained slave children?? Just look at Mu Qing in this scene, by the way, he is practically bursting with glee. This actor really goes above and beyond in charming the heck out of all scenes he’s in, whether or not he’s the focus of them. There’s quite a few excellent background faces/reactions he’s done that I’ve enjoyed a lot. Right now he’s swaying like he’s on the verge of dancing with happiness, he’s so cute.

The end result of Mei Chang Su’s victory is that the Emperor successfully uses Baili Qi’s defeat as an excuse to disqualify him from vying further for Ni Huang’s hand, and Northern Yan is unhappily but successfully trapped into withdrawing. Chang Su himself even gets a congratulations from the Emperor, and then the party breaks up and we see Su, Ni Huang, Mu, and the three former-slave boys going down the palace steps outside. Ni Huang pointedly tells her brother to take the boys to her carriage and wait for her, and he quickly takes the hint and bustles off. Jing Rui, who was standing at the foot of the steps presumably waiting for Su, is not so quick to take a hint. Yu Jin, aka the world’s second most fervent Ni Huang/Mei Chang Su shipper, however, latches on fast and he hurries Jing Rui away, with many a knowing grin, leaving our shouldabeen lovers alone.

Ni Huang isn’t here to talk romance, though. She wants to know why Baili Qi lost, since she is an expert in martial arts and still maintains the boys’ weird sword formations should not have been enough to defeat him. Ah, Chang Su says, the answer to that is simple enough: Baili Qi is a member of the East Yangtze Alliance.

AHA!! I had a suspicion something like this might be going on. Something I really liked about this reveal is that it shows Baili Qi is not the big dumb brute that the show had been portraying him as up to this point–a stereotype that seemed uncharacteristically flat in contrast to all the other characters in this show. He is a great fighter, sure, but he must also be clever enough for Shu to trust him to pull off this ploy convincingly with the ENTIRE court watching him like a hawk. And seemingly he succeeded in fooling everyone, because no one but Ni Huang and maybe Jing suspected that Baili Qi was more than meets the eye. Also, this further reminds us that Ni Huang and Jing are well disciplined and trained and intelligent, and are much more capable than the soft-postured powers currently reigning in the court, who were fooled by Lin Shu’s ploy. These politicians, it seems, do not really understand war. ALSO also, Shu seemingly counted on the court’s softness to blind it to his martial arts farce, and trusted Jing and Ni Huang to be silent about it (he respects them enough not to be surprised by Ni Huang’s questioning), and that’s exactly what happened. Because Lin Shu is awesome and he always predicts things correctly. Riiiiight? *winks knowingly at second half of this ep*

Mei Chang Su explains that he planted Baili Qi in the contest because he was confident Baili Qi could eliminate any candidate that was too strong/that Ni Huang disliked before contriving to eliminate himself, too, thus keeping her safe from any undesirable marriages. I’m guessing Baili Qi also took out anyone Su himself didn’t like; Su so clearly still has feelings for Ni Huang (and how couldn’t he? Just look at her!) and I’m certain there was a certain amount of selfishness mixed in with his desire to, as he puts it, earn a favour from Ni Huang and her powerful family. He doesn’t want her getting married any more than she does! He wants to make sure she can beat up anyone who challenges her! But besides that he’s also managed to impress the Emperor and the feuding princes, AND he now has Jing owe him a favour, too. Well, I’m guessing he more wants to view it as he has earned Jing’s trust, but I’m gonna say Jing will see it more like now he owes Mei Chang Su one. We shall see.

Ni Huang, interestingly, seems disappointed that he says he only helped her out because he wanted to get her in his debt, basically; I think he’s slipped up around her enough that she knows that has to be a fib, but also she was hoping there was a more personal reason there. She still can tell who he is on some level, somehow, and his horribly dispassionate logic here disappoints that part of her that wants this man to be her long-lost fiancé. She rallies by pointing out that Meng must have also noticed the flaws in the boys’ formations, since she did, and Su replies that he trusted Meng to be sensible and remain silent about it. Since this farce is working for the benefit of the Emperor, why wouldn’t he? Ni Huang looks VERRRRY calculatingly at Su while he says this. I guess she could be weighing whether this is evidence that Mei Chang Su and Meng are in cahoots, then, which could in turn serve as evidence that Mei Chang Su is actually Lin Shu, but again–we shall have to wait and see.

The reason why we have to wait is because a maid shows up at that moment to interrupt the conversation with an invitation for Ni Huang from the Empress. The Empress, it would seem, wants to treat Ni Huang to some tea and wine inside the palace. UH-OH. Knowing what we know about the plan to drug Ni Huang, this is NOT good. Chang Su keeps quiet, but his whole expression is silently screaming at her: Don’t go. He even shakes his head ever so slightly no at her when she turns to look at him. But Ni Huang knows she cannot really refuse a summons from the Empress, plus she’s an awesome war hero of a woman, bold and intelligent and very, very brave. So she accepts the invitation, and politely takes her leave of Mei Chang Su. He watches as she leaves, and he looks very, very, very worried. We all are, Su.

(Also, I might be wrong, but the actress who plays Ni Huang gives her a bit of a challenging air here as she accepts the summons. I love her expression as she answers the Empress’ maid while looking at Chang Su. She gives the exchange a feeling that Ni Huang is daring Mei Chang Su: you don’t have any personal interest in my safety? Ok then, watch this. Checkmate, strategist.)

Cut to Mei Chang Su slowwwwwly leaving the palace in the company of our favourite Two Good Boys. Yu Jin is curious about why Chang Su let Ni Huang take custody of the ex-slave boys so easily after that display in the palace, but Chang Su distractedly explains that it would be inconvenient of him to take them, since he is only a houseguest himself.

Yu Jin is satisfied by this, but Jing Rui quickly notices that Su is acting worried/distracted/troubled, because he’s so over-attentive to his houseguest/bestie. One-sided bestie, anyway. If he had a Facebook account, he would probably be too shy to ever ask Chang Su for a shared selfie but he’d definitely obsessively tag him as a friend in all his group photos, you know? Yu Jin is the selfie friend. Anyway, Jing Rui asks what’s up. Su tries to say that he’s just tired lately, and Yu Jin agrees that he must be, after teaching those boys to fight the way he did! It was a most impressive display! He, Yu Jin, will have to tell his visiting friend Ting Jie all about it when they play polo together later that day, ho ho what fun!

Chang Su freezes. What was that? Liao Ting Jie? Why, yes! Yu Jin cheerily explains that he arranged yesterday to play polo with this friend later today. And Chang Su instantly switches into as close to a full-blown panic mode as we’ve seen from him so far. It took me a couple seconds to figure out WHY this news freaked him so much, because I’m bad with remembering names. But then it clicked: this Liao Ting Jie is the candidate who the Empress wants to marry Ni Huang. If he arranged to meet Yu Jin for an afternoon of polo playing, however, that means that he didn’t need his afternoon free for any clandestine drugging of and, uh, compromising of the princess. Which means that the Empress is not the one planning to harm Ni Huang today. Which means that it’s the Crown Prince’s mother the Noble Consort who is the one who is plotting. Which means that he, Mei Chang Su, warned Ni Huang against the wrong woman, so she is now at a disadvantage and vulnerable instead of properly forewarned. Yeah, this panic is very justified.

So what does Mei Chang Su do? He leaps into action–by staging a full-blown coughing fit. Amazing. I will admit to cackling at his show here because it reminded me of Elizabeth Swann at the end of the first Pirates of the Caribbean film. Need a distraction fast? INITIATE HEALTH CRISIS. (Except our poor Lin Shu actually IS deathly ill, apparently, so for all we know this is only partially faked, given the shock to his system the realization of Ni Huang’s situation must be. But he’s definitely playing it up at least.)

And this works, because Yu Jin and Jing Rui are pure and precious and care so much about their friend, bless them. The worry on Jing Rui’s face made me sad. They rush over in utmost concern and aw they’re so sweet and good.

Cut to Ni Huang who is politely refusing all the tea and food the Empress is offering her. The Crown Prince’s mother is there too, and oh the SASS of this woman as she brushes her hands clean when she comments that the Empress should KNOW that Ni Huang doesn’t like foods of that sort–it’s killing me. I like the weird sort-of-secret-for-propriety’s-sake-but-really-everyone-knows hatred these two have going on. It’s so poorly masked, and the daggers they make of it to poke each other with are so delicately made.

The Empress invites Ni Huang to stay for dinner, and Ni Huang, mindful of Mei Chang Su’s warning, tries to come up with an excuse that will keep her from attending without offending this powerful woman. Consort Yue to the rescue! Well, NO, NOT REALLY, but that’s what it SEEMS like. She hurriedly tells the Empress the reason Ni Huang cannot attend dinner with her is because she has a prior commitment to meet with the Consort at HER palace to discuss town gossip, because apparently Ni Huang and Yue are from the same area of the kingdom? By framing Ni Huang’s visiting her as an act of charity, basically, Noble Consort Yue makes it impossible for the Empress to forbid it. So Ni Huang makes her escape from the Empress with the Consort and oh nooooooooooo

(Also what really riled me about this is the Consort having the gall to play the “we are both girls from the same place, we have this connection and I want to escape from court politics a moment to have simple fun chatting about our hometown that I miss” thing when really all she wants is to arrange a rape and forced marriage????? WHAT A SNAKE. SHE IS DISGUSTING.)

Back with Chang Su, he’s collapsed and the Good Boys are frantic. Meng comes by and is of course alarmed, and Su secretly signals to him that he wants a private, urgent word while openly asking if Meng would help him recover from the attack by balancing his energy or whatever. Meng quickly invents excuses for the boys to leave–Jing Rui is to get a doctor and Yu Jin is to get water, and they run, still in a panic, to fulfill their tasks, and I’m dyinggg. I still have a bad feeling about how much they love Su considering his ulterior motives about being back in court. They deserve a more honest friend and I think he knows it.

Now we cut back to Noble Consort Yue and Ni Huang alone at the Consort’s residence, as Yue planned, and oh nooooooooOOO. Ni Huang bluntly tells Yue to basically not waste time pretending to want to talk about her hometown and just get to the point. Also, Ni Huang’s skin looks especially flawless in this scene, maybe it’s just the lighting, but wow. The Consort simpers and agrees to get to the point. Did Ni Huang know that there’s some guy named Sima Lei who has been handpicked by the Crown Prince himself as her best possible husband?? He’s smart, martially skilled, has a lot of integrity (HA. HA. HA.) blah blah blah. The Consort also tries to use their shared hometown as leverage, this absolute snake.

Ni Huang neatly sidesteps by assuring Yue that she greatly respects the Crown Prince and when he is Emperor she will serve him 100% faithfully–carefully not committing to obeying him YET. The Consort seems to accept this, and suggests a toast. Next time they meet, she says, they will speak only as friends from the same town and not at all about politics. She apologizes. She then drains her cup and shows the empty vessel to Ni Huang, inviting her to do the same.

(SNAAAAKE.)

Ni Huang looks worried, and we even flashback to Su’s warning, but she’s also pretty well trapped. Plus, she was warned specifically against the Empress, not the Noble Consort. Slowly, she raises her cup to her lips and drinks. I scream at my screen.

Meanwhile, back with Chang Su and Meng, our favourite strategist is spinning up a plot with which to save Ni Huang, which is actually super thrilling to watch. We haven’t really seen his mind actively at work before, mostly just the fruits of his careful plans that were set offscreen. It’s exhilarating seeing him think so fast on his feet with such stakes involved. He confesses to Meng that he made a mistake and thought the Empress was the danger when now he knows it’s Noble Consort Yue, the Crown Prince, and this Sima Lei fellow who are the real danger. He then quickly comes up with a few things he needs done if Ni Huang is to be saved: firstly, Prince Jing is still nearby after that Baili Qi fight, so he needs Meng to alert him and tell him to go to Zhaoren palace (I guess that’s where Yue lives) and retrieve Ni Huang at any cost. Jing is a very accomplished warrior, from what we have been told so far, and is also both Ni Huang’s friend and rigidly moral, so this makes sense. Secondly, Meng needs to alert the Empress. She will be more than willing to intervene if she knows the Consort will suffer for it. Thirdly, Meng must alert Mu Qing, and have him arrest Sima Lei at the palace for trespassing, which omg just might be a death sentence for Sima Lei considering how protective and rash Mu is. Brilliant. Meng assures Chang Su that he will get all this done, and rushes away after helping Chang Su to his feet again. Before he goes, he asks what Su will be doing, in the meantime? Su says he has other matters he needs to attend to. Um, what? Really?? What could possibly be more important than this???? It’s a huge testament to his trust in Meng that he can leave the man in charge of saving Ni Huang like that, but it also feels like yet another example of how dispassionate Lin Shu is forcing himself to be for the sake of his larger goals. He looks verrrry conflicted, but he does continue on his way, leaving the rescue to his friends. Well, Jing isn’t his friend, but you know.

Back to Zhaoren palace! A servant arrives to tell the Consort that her son and his good ol’ buddy Sima Lei have arrived. Oh, how silly of her to forget she had invited them, cries this wicked woman with a smile. Ah, well, Ni Huang will just have to stay to say hello.

Ni Huang IMMEDIATELY makes her excuses and tries to leave. But the poison is taking affect, and she starts having trouble focusing and standing and the Crown Prince shows up with this daft, despicable Sima Lei tagging along (and looking VERY nervous, might I add) and NOPE NOPE VERY BAD. Btw does anyone know if this actor was picked because he looks like a weedier version of Hu Ge because that made me lol. Anyway.

Ni Huang is collapsing, the Noble Consort is pretending to be concerned while also having to silently urge Sima Lei to take the initiative and grab Ni Huang, because he’s an idiot. Ni Huang fights against the poison’s effect and manages to TOSS HIM ACROSS THE ROOM and I CHEERED ughhh I love this woman she’s so great! The Consort looks absolutely horrified by this show of strength, lol, and then screeches for her maids to stop Ni Huang. But Ni Huang is a warrior. Even drugged, she smashes all those girls aside like they’re paper dolls. It’s so good. I hate everyone who put her in this situation, and I’m so proud of how she is fighting her way out of it.

Cut to the Empress doing one better than what Chang Su had asked of Meng and instead of just going herself to intervene she’s taking the old grandmother as welllllll. I am instantly on guard, because ALL scenes with that kindly old woman in them end in abject misery. ALL OF THEM.

Then Jing shows up at the gates of Zhaoren palace and when he is denied entry he just OBLITERATES the guards with an expression of being 1000% done on his face and this might be my favourite moment of the entire episode, oh my goshhhh. I love him so much. I keep saying that about everyone, I know, but I ESPECIALLY love this angry, stubborn, has-no-patience-for-your-nonsense Prince Jing. Wang Kai is SO GOOD in this fight sequence, just watch his expression, it’s priceless.

He fights his way into the courtyard just in time to see Ni Huang struggling out of the door, barely able to stand. The look on his face when he sees her–fury, but also genuine shock, because how dare they!! He instantly flies to her side and when she says they must leave he instantly supports her and off they go. He is THE BEST. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. PLS LIN SHU MAKE HIM EMPEROR.

Before the two can make good their escape, though, they are surrounded by dozens of palace guards, many of whom are carrying crossbows, all of which are aimed at Jing. The trio of villains show up and try to intimidate Jing, with the Crown Prince even scolding him for ABDUCTING THE PRINCESS WTH???????!!???

Jing doesn’t even turn around when he spits out a 100% venomous “You know what you have done” in reply. I don’t even speak Mandarin and I can tell that his delivery on that line was KILLER. The righteous rage just radiates off it, lol.

He then barks at the guards to move aside and the Crown Prince actually flinches back, ahahaha, but then the Consort tells her son that Jing is too unmanageable and they’ll just have to kill him(?!). THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY.

(Also, Sima Lei is in the background of all this looking increasingly unhappy to be there, like he’s thinking he didn’t sign up for this mess. YES YOU DID YOU FILTH NOW DEAL WITH IT.)

The Crown Prince is worried about killing another prince, as that’s a serious crime, but his mother just says it’s a good thing that the Emperor doesn’t like Jing much, and that’s so infuriating but also so sad, because at this point I can believe the Emperor would be pretty okay with turning a blind eye to someone getting his irritating son out of the way. So the Crown Prince announces to the guards that the situation is Jing broke in to try to assassinate the Noble Consort and Ni Huang, and therefore must die. Jing has a curious reaction to hearing this accusation, I’m not sure what it means–I wonder if he’s remembering the false accusations that killed people he loved years ago? He probably is, but I can’t tell what that makes him feel in this moment. Angrier at the Crown Prince? Angry at himself for blundering into the same fate? Just–upset? Well, he doesn’t have long for whatever that emotion was because the crossbows fire and he leaps into action by CUTTING ALL THE BOLTS RIGHT OUT OF THE AIR GO ON JING GO ON SHOW THEM HOW AWESOME YOU ARE.

But there’s too many, so he whirls his way to the Crown Prince and in a flash has his sword at his horrid brother’s throat, using him as a shield. The squawking sound the Crown Prince makes at this moment made me laugh for about a minute. The Consort screams at Jing about how dare he threaten the CROWN PRINCE’s life????? And Jing replies with the coldest sass I’ve ever heard and THE best line of the entire episode:

It’s normal for me to seize the commander of the army. YEEEEAAAAAAAAHHH

The sniveling Crown Prince asks Jing what he plans, and Jing demands that he and Ni Huang be allowed to leave. The Consort says well what if she doesn’t? Surely Jing won’t DARE to kill the Crown Prince? Jing just presses his threat, totally unfazed, and I love him even more. The Crown Prince starts wailing for his mama to save him and it’s beautiful. I’m relishing this moment so much. And then, in the midst of this madness, the Empress and Grand Empress Dowager finally arrive.

Noble Consort Yue’s expression at this development is hilarious. She sends Sima Lei away, telling him to run out the back door and to pretend he was never there, something he looks only too glad to do. She then quickly tries to bargain with Jing, proposing they both pretend nothing happened. In that way she will not be punished for her attack on Ni Huang, and Jing will not be culpable for his threat against the Crown Prince’s life. Jing’s face is like stone. He drops the Crown Prince after a moment of tense thought and then returns to Ni Huang’s side, where she is practically unconscious on the floor.

In come the Empress and the Grandma Empress (easier to type than her full title, lol). The Noble Consort immediately tries to put her plan of coverup into effect, saying Ni Huang passed out because she got drunk from drinking wine. The Empress is smugly skeptical, saying isn’t Ni Huang a war hero? Why then would she get drunk so easily? (Side note, I am so tickled that she equates being good at soldiering with being good at drinking but where is the lie lol)

The Consort tries to say it’s because Ni Huang is stressed about the marriage tournament???? Ok sure, whatever. Jing meanwhile is just kneeling nearby, cradling Ni Huang and glaring bloody murder. He’s wonderful. Just look at how protectively he’s hugging Ni Huang T_T But he hasn’t spoken up, which surprised me, actually; maybe his sense of self-preservation is actually keeping him quiet???? Not what I expected. I wasn’t really aware of him having any particular feeling of self-preservation, only duty; but perhaps Mei Chang Su’s plan of getting him on the throne and defeating his two hateful brothers has now given him reason for caution?

The Empress’ face is impassive but her glee at the situation comes through anyway. If what the Noble Consort says is true, she says, then why is the courtyard filled with armed guards? The Consort struggles to come up with an answer for that one. Oh, she finally titters, the Crown Prince wanted to show her a fun military exercise. The Empress’ predatory glee does not abate: what could possibly have possessed the Crown Prince and his mother to leave Ni Huang passed out drunk on the ground of their courtyard, which is open to the sky, no less, while they watched a military exercise on a whim??? The Consort’s eyes dart frantically as she tries to think of another lie while her pasted-on smile slowwwwwly wilts and it’s really funny seeing her in such a bind. I hate this character but the actress is really good.

Grandma Empress is both curious and distressed about the “child” lying on the ground (ughhhhh she’s just too sweet for this horrid family and their horrid politics, all she wants is just to have happy (and married lol) grandchildren I’M SO UPSET. And Jing’s face when she walked in, when was the last time the out-of-favor Prince Jing saw his grandma’s face UGH). The Empress tells her it’s ok; Ni Huang is just drunk but she will wake soon. That’s both a threat and a promise to the Noble Consort; they both know Ni Huang knows she was NOT merely drunk, and when she wakes the Consort will be in BIG trouble.

Meanwhile, the fleeing Sima Lei runs smack into the waiting Mu Qing, who yells at him about how dare he attack Ni Huang and then proceeds to order an entire gang of soldiers to beat up the shrieking Sima Lei and this is the best thing ever, it’s everything I ever wanted for this episode. The icing on this cake of violence is that during the flurry of movement as all the soldiers start kicking and whaling on Sima Lei, if you focus on Mu you can see him grimly, deliberately rolling up his massive and magnificent sleeves while he stares menacingly at Sima Lei, and I had to pause the episode because I was laughing so much. PUNCH HIM, MU. PUNCH HIM HARD.

Later, the Emperor–who, remember, has been having a pretty great day up to this point–is called upon by Ni Huang to deliver just punishment upon Noble Consort Yue for her horrendous actions. The Consort tries to sell her lies again, but she’s obviously scared out of her mind, which is so fun to see. Ni Huang is scathing and cold and will have absolutely none of her excuses. The Emperor grows increasingly upset; it has been evident from the first episode that he has a special fondness for Ni Huang, so of course any attack upon her would provoke his fury, but the accused is his favorite concubine, so of course he doesn’t want to believe she committed such a crime. I would feel sorry for him, except I remember what he did to Jingmum so I’m totally okay with him suffering.

Desperate, Yue kneels and begs the Emperor to investigate whether Sima Lei was ever in her palace; she says he was not and her servants will back her. Of course they will, Ni Huang sneers, they are YOUR servants! They have to support whatever you say! No chill Ni Huang is my favourite Ni Huang.

Yue tries to insist her servants would not lie to the Emperor, and then points out that despite the accusations, the Empress did not actually SEE anything criminal happening, nor did she see Sima Lei. Yue even tries to claim that she and her son are the real victims here, as Ni Huang doesn’t like them very much and makes such accusations against them because she supports the Empress. If Ni Huang’s looks could kill, the Consort would have dropped dead right exactly there. Not cowed, Yue continues and asks Ni Huang: if you were attacked in my palace, why are you unhurt? And if I was plotting against you, how in the world did the Empress arrive at exactly the right moment to save you?

Ni Huang bolts to her feet, having had ENOUGH, and shouts yet another great line of this episode: I have fought against hundreds of thousands of enemies in war. And yet none of them are as vicious as this woman in the harem! This moment of her fury bubbling over made me want to cheer. The Noble Consort also jumps up and again tries to play the victim–Ni Huang is picking on her and has no proof!–and for a brief moment Ni Huang looks like she’s going to punch her. I REALLY WANTED HER TO PUNCH HER. Instead, we get something just as good–the announcement of the arrival of Prince Jing.

AND HE TELLS THE TRUTH. He kneels before the Emperor, and reports completely truly on what happened in the courtyard of Zhaoren palace, including the facts that Sima Lei was there and that Jing himself was forced to threaten the Crown Prince’s life to save both his own life and Ni Huang. I am so, so proud of Prince Jing; I KNEW he wouldn’t let me down! I’m also worried about how he’s exposed himself to very severe punishment–easily execution, I’m sure–for the sake of supporting Ni Huang and making sure she gets justice, but there’s no way he’s getting killed this early in the drama. He will be fine. And he’s reaffirmed both how good he is and how bullheaded he is, lol. Where is Mei Chang Su to pull him out of this fire he’s hopped into?? (There actually is a small scene here which shows Chang Su talking with Prince Yu and then Yu hurries away in his fancy palanquin, but I’m not sure what that means. It has to be the important other business Su said he had to take care of earlier in the ep, but is it related to the Ni Huang situation or is it something else? Jing Rui and Yu Jin are also there, and Yu Jin asks whether now that’s taken care of Chang Su would come watch him play polo later? Yu Jin, you’re a dear. Also, how great would a filler polo episode be?????? I know I won’t get it but now I want it.)

The Emperor of course immediately latches onto the whole Jing-took-the-Crown-Prince-hostage thing because he’s awful and biased, but Jing also uses his own “crime” to add credence to Ni Huang’s claims: why would he confess such a thing, and why would the Consort want him to be quiet about it, if it were not true?

The Emperor is FURIOUS. He asks the Noble Consort for the truth, and she–backed into the corner by all these witnesses–stops denying it but also does not confirm, still trying to play the victim who is being bullied by all these others. THEN Meng shows up!! The Emperor grumbles about “oh here comes another one” which made me lol but Meng is here with maybe the most important proof of all: he’s arrested one Sima Lei who was trespassing at Zhaoren palace. DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN.

The Consort looks absolutely thunderstruck: she knows she is DONE. The Emperor has no longer any excuse he can use to believe in her innocence; she is overwhelmingly trapped. After all that talk about posture earlier it’s a fun little detail that she and the Crown Prince are practically cowering as they kneel, hunched low to the floor, while Wang Kai is careful that his supplicant Prince Jing is straight as a board. Kneeling like that looks really painful, btw, I personally can’t kneel like that even on a soft floor due to dance wear and tear, and I hope he has a cushion hidden under those robes or something. I’m wincing every time they show him lolll. Kudos for the commitment, Wang Kai.

The Consort falls apart and starts wailing about how ok, she’s guilty, but her son had nothing to do with it!!! She was acting on her own to try to help him!!!! He has not denied his involvement out of a sense of filial piety that forbids him from accusing his mother!!!!! He’s too good and naive and she worries all the time he will be taken advantage of and that’s why she made this mistake!!!!!! Blah, blah, blah. The Emperor, thankfully, sees through this, and points out her son IS THE CROWN PRINCE. He should be strong enough in character and secure enough in his power not to feel threatened by political games! This point is valid and also feels like a MAJOR blow against the Crown Prince, as it demonstrates he is weaker than a Crown Prince should be. A Crown Prince should be seen as a filial son, yes, but not a mama’s boy! It’s a major error on his mother’s part. But she has also successfully provided an excuse for her son that the Emperor can willfully turn a blind eye to. He rages at her for a while, but not at her son, and then asks for Sima Lei to be brought. Hilariously, Meng says he would have to be carried: Mu broke Sima Lei’s legs. Ni Huang looks pleased. The Emperor considers, then just sort of shrugs it off, which also made me laugh. For a scene with VERY high stakes, there’s a lot of funny bits to leaven the serious stuff.

The Emperor further punishes Sima Lei with exile and loss of title and punishes his father too, which is too bad for his father. Then the Crown Prince crawls forward and starts wailing about please forgive his mother, don’t kill her, he wouldn’t be able to bear it, he will apologize on her behalf, pls dad plssss

(The camera cuts to Jing’s face a few times as he watches this display, but I can’t tell what he’s thinking. It’s interesting that they do keep showing him, though. Is it to drive home to us the viewers the contrast between his silence and the Crown Prince’s groveling? Or is he remembering Prince Qi (who I still don’t really know much about except that he was falsely convicted of some kind of treason and that Lin Shu and Jing both adored him, which is enough to make me on his team of course) and seeing the contrast between Qi and the Crown Prince, not the Crown Prince and himself? Maybe it’s supposed to be both. Anyway, it’s an editing choice that stands out.)

After more anger the Emperor shows a hint of sadness and softening as he lays one hand on his groveling son’s head. Everyone present knows this indicates he will have at least some mercy. He strips Noble Consort Yue of her high status and title and puts her on house arrest–but he does not kill her or banish her outright. What a pity. He then turns his attention to Prince Jing:

Jingyan, do you know what you have done wrong?

And end episode! Argh! I so want Jing’s reply to be a snide “nothing, I’m perfect,” but that would definitely get him killed so maybe not. It’s true, though.

[not-all-shemlen]

jonk!! mei!!!! zen!!!!!!! phrarahrah!!!!!

Junkrat1. The skin I have them inToasted! I have some legendary skins but honestly Toasted fits him the most lets be REAL

2. My fav skin of theirsToasted. I also really like his summer games skin, Cricket, and Hayseed/Scarecrow!!

3. Their highlight introI LOVE THEM ALL but i got the Riptire one because of his little jump at the end

4. Fav emote to useI LOVE Can’t Deal, but my alltime fave emote is Lounging!! Theres no team-building like doing the sit emote all together and spamming voicelines, right? Also I like to lay around on the payload to give my teammates laughs

5. Fav voice lineLiterally ALL of them. I like to create conversations with other teammates’ voice lines. I have Have A Nice Day!, It’s The Little Things, Happy Birthday! all equipped i forgot which other one i have lmao

6. How often to I use this characterHe was my starter main, but i’m now exploring other characters. He is still my go-to whenever D.VA or Healing doesn’t work out and my teams shit anyways.

7. What I hope to see from them in the futureUMMMMMMMMM LORE. Anything other than Roadhog and Junkrat are Criminals but we will Never Really Adress Anything Else Because Theyre Just Scrapper Criminals for Comic Relief.Mei1. The skin I have them inSnow Plum! It’s the prettiest one I have.2. My fav skin of theirsI really loved the Lunar New Year ones, they were so pretty but I don’t have them :((( And the Bee keeper skin!!!!! So cute !!! AND THE YETI HUNTER SKINS !!!!!!! SHIT SHE’S SO CUTE3. Their highlight introI don’t have any besides Heroic lmao4. Fav emote to useI don’t play her often enough to actually know most of her emotes... I think I have a few but .... haha...... im terrible as Mei I never really play .......5. Fav voice lineI used to really like A-MEI-zing but it’s gotten so annoying lmao6. How often to I use this characterOnly in Mystery Heroes and other Arcade modes lmao7. What I hope to see from them in the futureI’m not sure.... but she’s cute and the animatic was very nice!Zenyatta(OH BOY I REALLY DON’T .... CARE..... FOR ZENYATTA MUCH..... just a heads up, sorry)1. The skin I have them inI have the Lunar New Year skin because he has a nice face2. My fav skin of theirsI fucking LOVE the Nutcracker one3. Their highlight introI think I just equipped Random, but I really like the one where he’s upside down4. Fav emote to useTHE ONE WITH THE applause and the fist bump for sure !!!5. Fav voice lineI will not. Juggle.6. How often to I use this characterWhenever I don’t have a choice in Mystery Heroes lol7. What I hope to see from them in the futureI would really like to learn more about him so maybe I can come to care more about him and his assasinated brother and the Shambali and his past with Genji.Pharah1. The skin I have them inANUBIS2. My fav skin of theirsAnubis and the one where she’s frozen, also the one where she’s possessed, BUT ALSO the Raindancer skin like GOD I love that one. But I really love all Pharah Skins so much. Her design is so good I love it.3. Their highlight introI have Barrage, which is my fave, but Slam Dunk and Touchdown are also So Good, god I love her4. Fav emote to useI WISH I HAD THE AIR GUITAR ONE. But I only have Heroic, Cheer and the one where she sits down. Which is my fave to use with ANY character.5. Fav voice lineI WOULDVE CHOSEN “Play Nice Play Pharah” if the voice actress had pronounced it the American way, “Fair-ah” which was the point of the whole joke and it was completely missed WHICH IS A SHAME..... but not really a problem..... So uhhh idk I don’t have a specific fave of hers actually....6. How often to I use this characterShe’s my fave offense hero. I don’t play offense much but when I do, its Pharah!7. What I hope to see from them in the futureBetter voice lines, more of her native american dad, for Blizzard to acknowledge her Actual Sexuality, which is Lesbian.Clearly. More endearing interaction between her and her Mom. More lore about her and her mom. FOR JESSE TO BE LIKE A BIG BROTHER TO HER. p l e a s e.

[kwamiwayzz]

citttrrruuuussssss

I don’t see enough of the meta when it comes to citrus so I decided to ask myself these questions after copying and pasting them from another blog cause why not >.> 

And I may be low key still trying to ignore my responsibilities

–

Main ship <3 Yuzu x Mei (i dont even think they have an actual ship name) 

I’m gonna cut it at a certain point cause I realized how much I was rambling 

• When or if I started shipping it:

Ah...surprisingly I didn’t start shipping these two until a few months ago. I’ve been following the manga since the day it came out and I’ve always liked them but I never actively “shipped” them or anything. Even though I went all “YeSSSSS” when they started dating in chapter 16, I was still just more of a casual fan.

There are a few reasons I can think of to why I was drawn into shipping them (finally...) was that I somewhat got back into yuri over the summer after watching a clip from Fate Kaleid.......*cough* anyway...and started going back on dynasty-scans to see what kinds of new yuris have been made huehuehue. Long story short I shortly got back into MadoHomu and Yuzu x Mei, and saw the latter ship as the “less angsty” version and went on from there 

The other reason I got super into them was that the latest few chapters, and remembering chapter 24, was that I really started to notice how Mei became less cold and closed-off from Yuzu. And seeing her blush and be all nervous around her was just..... <3 <3 <3~~~~~~

Oh and this one comic by smxmuffinpeddling made me laugh (and still makes me laugh) so it spiraled from there. They are a blessing to Citrus. 

• My thoughts:

I tend to gravitate towards ships that have that dark/light dynamic. I’m cliche and I have a weakness for ships that have the aloof dark haired girl who’s usually looked up to or very popular fall in love with the ditzy, but kind and optimistic light haired girl and vice versa (see: Chikane/Himeko, MadoHomu, Diakko {to an extent}) Not exactly opposites attract, but I found their interactions funny when they initially hated each other and whenever I read the manga in retrospect in my head I’m all, “honey you two have no idea” 

i like ships where i can see a little of myself in both characters 

• What makes me happy about them:

I understand that the pseudo-incest thing can turn some people off from the pairing but in this story I feel like it’s justified enough that pretty much the whole fandom is cool with it. Yuzu and Mei didn’t grow up together nor are they blood related, but taking the “they’re not related by blood” justification out of the way while the kiss that Mei stole from Yuzu is what led to Yuzu developing feelings for her step-sister, Yuzu already started showing some sort of attraction in chapter 1 when Mei hugged her to just to get her cellphone. So, kiss or no kiss, Yuzu probably would’ve developed a crush on Mei regardless. As for Mei, the step-sister thing forced the seemingly-opposite girls to interact and it’s what led to Yuzu finding out all these things about Mei and help her with her issues. So, I think the fact that Yuzu would go great lengths for her is what would lead her to falling for her.

I really like how Yuzu doesn’t give up on Mei despite Mei always having to push her step-sister away. As much as I love Yuzu and do relate with her on a spiritual level, I do relate with Mei a lot (despite some friends saying I’m more like Yuzu lol). Anyone else who would try to get close with Mei would either get tired of her for being so closed-off and eventually just give up on her. I like the fact that Yuzu does see a lot of the good in Mei that she can’t see in herself. The whole dynamic of the closed-off, pessimistic, sometimes brooding person with the open, optimistic, never-gives-up person is a common dynamic I’ve seen everywhere and I happen to be one of those people that really do like it (at least if done right to an extent or I relate on a certain level) and also reminds me of sasuke and naruto despite never shipping that *cough* but anyway...

Plus, I remember smxmuffinpeddling mentioning this in the tags of one of their fics, but I really do like how both of them put in a lot of work to make their relationship work. Yeah, sure it seemed like Yuzu was doing all the work in the beginning, but as soon as Mei began to open up and trust Yuzu more, she does try to put in genuine effort in maintaining their relationship (using Yuzu’s notebook as a perfect date template, when she talked with Yuzu in chapter 24 that their relationship has nothing to do with other people’s opinions, asked Harumi for advice on how to start a conversation with Yuzu in the vol. 7 extra, being open to Yuzu’s offer of the one kiss a day thing, and i wish to see many more things~)

• What makes me sad about them:

Need I explain...

*Sigh* as much I love these two, I just want them to interact more with words. Like have more casual conversations. It could be the mundane things or about any problems or issues they could be having. I live for healthy communication, and I feel like Yuzu and Mei are still working up to that.

• Things done in art/fic that annoys me:

So...finding actual fan content of these two, let alone for Citrus in general is like treading through the Sahara fucking Desert 

I haven’t really found anything concrete in art/fic that annoy me...yet but the most I’ll say is making both of them unreasonably OOC. This fandom is pretty small despite citrus apparently being a super popular yuri manga (I really didn’t know that until recently) so OOCness isn’t too much of a problem. I used to be heavily into the Frozen fandom so of course when you have a larger fandom you’re going to have a crap ton of fan interpretations and lots of AUs that either don’t fit or drive the characters being written about to be OOC.

• Things I look for in art/fic:

Lots of fluff cause we don’t get enough of it in the manga TT_TT 

If it’s just them talking or having a date or something mundane that allows them to get to know each other more then sign me the fuck up. I like seeing fics that go into Mei’s perspective and I’m also a huge fan of content that really showcases the support they have for one another because feels~

In fact here’s some fics I’ve read that show some of this stuff I’ve mentioned: 

citrus schtuffs by angel0wonder (literally anything written by smx/angel0wonder bless them)

 Citrus - A Compilation by mikotyzini

The Adventures of Mei and Yuzu by mikotyzini 

Citrus: Fantasies by epitomeodisaster (i literally don’t remember if i read this one but so far it has what i mentioned earlier)

Sweet and Sour by Cynical-Banshee (words cannot describe how much I love the writing style and characterization of Mei and Yuzu in this fic, it has almost everything I’m looking for that the manga doesn’t have enough of...and chapter 5...*dies*) 

that’s all i can think of for now, but despite low numbers of content most of the stuff ive come across so far is pretty good 

• Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

For Yuzu, I wanna say Harumin only because they’re best friends and she’s always got Yuzu’s back and stuff and I know some people in the fandom already highkey ship them...however (yeah I’m gonna be one of those people ^^;), in the story I feel like it would be a bit cheap having Harumi secretly have feelings/fall for her best friend because while I was used to the yuri cliches when I first read the manga, I personally feel like the story is already far in Yuzu and Mei’s relationship that adding more unnecessary third party drama would kinda be tiresome to me. That’s not saying I’m not open to it. If Saburouta does something new or different with the whole “best friend is in love with main protagonist” cliche that I’ve seen in other yuri like Strawberry Panic, then I wouldn’t mind reading it. 

For Mei...this is gonna sound like a weird answer, but I’d probably go with Matsuri. Part of the reason just being that they do kinda share some similarities together (being alone most of their life, sometimes clinging to the one person they feel like they can trust a.k.a Yuzu), but I’m also bad at explaining shit so I’ll probably just leave it at that :P 

• My happily ever after for them:

THEY HAVE A KID (i think i came up with a concept for them having a son in my head but i never drew it...yet) 

and they live in a cozy apartment together. Mei being self-conscious about her parenting skills and Yuzu always reassuring her that she’ll be fine and she’ll support her in everything she’s having trouble with if Mei has no fucking clue how to show love and affection to a child, let alone her own. The girl already took awhile trying open up and show her love to Yuzu, so this would be a challenge lol 

Yuzu trying to reassure their kid that while his mother is pretty stubborn and has a hard time expressing her feelings, she loves them both very much <3~

• What is their favorite non-sexual activity?: 

TALKING/COMMUNICATION (wait that’s my favourite lol) 

I’m assuming that once they’re deep in their relationship, just sitting down and talking about the mundane things whether it’s about their day or ranting about whatever, would be something they would find relaxing. In the end, they’re still learning more about each other (and I fucking love that) 

oh and trying new things with each other. Yuzu would be the one dragging Mei to try out something they’ve never done before (I can’t think of any right now), Mei would probably be super competitive when it comes to getting the skill down in whatever they’re doing but of course Yuzu would tell her she doesn’t need to get so worked up and should just let loose and have fun