#NOBODY TELLS ME

[evilfloralfoolery]

Daggers and Deception - Part 7

Sooo, even if you haven't read another of the other plotfucker parts, this is the one where everything starts to come to light and shit goes sideways. I didn't even fucking know who or what Indigo was until this part. Also, if you thought he was this even-tempered control freak, BOY HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU lol.

This is the last part of the plotfuckery that I'm going to post. There's plenty more, but I'll summarize that, as there is one very particular snzfucker scene I'm dying to post after this, because fuck it.

_________________________________

“Let me get this straight.”  Grimm leans back against an aging column of wood, arms folded across his chest.  “You’re a demon hunter.”

Indigo nods.  “Yes.”

“Hunting actual demons.”

“Yes,” Indigo repeats. 

“And the thing in my room was a demon.”

Indigo eyes him like he’s the most exasperating fucker on the planet.  “That is what I said.” 

Yeah, this is too much weird shit for him and that’s saying something.  He’s seen men bleed out in the streets, heard the talk of slowly plotted murder with nothing more than a kitchen knife and some jewelry making wire.  Hell, he’s even come across a naked dude running through traffic while high on who the fuck knows what, yelling about how his bullshit is a message from a god.  But this?  This didn’t just take the cake, it took the whole fucking bakery.

“Oh, come on, Indy.”  Grimm rakes a hand through his hair.  “I knew you weren’t a fucking book editor, but this is some bullshit.” 

“I am, in fact, an editor,” Indigo says in such a matter-of-fact way that Grimm rolls his eyes. 

“What, that your daytime job?”  If Grimm’s sarcasm drips any hotter, it will scald a cast iron pan. 

“In a manner of speaking.”  

And the guy just stands there. Just fucking stands there like this is some normal ass conversation about the weather or some shit.  The thing is, Indigo believes it.  Aside from being one of the most lethal snipers in the business, Grimm had a reputation for being a human lie detector.  Indigo definitely thinks he’s telling the truth.  

Which makes all of this shit weirder.

“Honestly, Grimm.  I do not know why this is so difficult for you to grasp.  It is very much like mercenary work.” 

Grimm laughs, the kind of laugh that says “you’re a fucking crazy bitch” without actually having to say it.  “Look, buddy.  I don’t know what you’re smokin’, but–”

A dagger is at his throat before he can blink, another pressed against his rib cage.  “See here, you positively insufferable bastard.” Blue flames ignite along the knife’s edge, the blade pressed against his throat with an icy sizzle. “I haven’t the time for your tedious interrogation or your indiscriminate buffoonery!”  

Indigo’s eyes aren’t just blue, they’re fucking electric fire, bright as a neon sign, glowing like fucking Christmas lights. 

A fine trickle of sweat ebbs down Grimm’s temple, despite the autumn chill. What in the next level circle of hellscape fuckery–?

Indigo's breath is ragged, a heated snarl of sound, abrasive and primal, with no semblance of the man Grimm has seen for the past three days.

“If proof is what you require, then you shall have it!”  Indigo shoves him aside hard enough to make him stumble and sends the daggers hurtling towards the nearest tree where they split into multiple blades, slicing and dicing the shit out of several branches. They rebound in a flash, streaking back towards him, fanning around Grimm's face like a goddamn firing squad, blades less than an inch from his skin.

Shit, shit, shit–

And then, they vanish. Just blink the fuck right out of existence. Indigo’s silvery hair thrashes in a wild breeze, electric azure fire igniting within his palms, racing up his arms and down his sides, suffusing his entire body in a brilliant flash of blue. 

The man is a wild, feral thing, unhinged and goddamn terrifying, his gaze targeting Grimm as one hand raises, a ball of cobalt flame crackling in his palm.

“Do you still think me a liar, Grimm Amadis?  Do you??”  

Indigo’s voice sounds like a chorus of himself, coming from all directions and nowhere at once.  And before Grimm can so much as blink, the fireball blazes right towards him.  

Grimm can’t move, can’t so much as think.  He does the quite possibly the stupidest thing ever and holds up an arm, as if he’s gonna block the thing like a punch, and to his sheer and utter surprise, it bursts into a spray of sparks, raining shards of ice upon his arm and nothing more. 

And now it’s his turn to be fucking furious.

“What the fuck, Solaris??”  He stalks towards the other man, who leaps from his reach like a goddamn cat. “You gonna kill my ass to make a fucking point?”

“Of course not!”  Indigo shouts in return from . . . atop the goddamn porch railing?  

Okay, whatever. 

“I cannot harm you, you insurmountable prat!”  

“Coulda fooled me, dagger-stroking firefucker!” 

Indigo hops down from the railing like it’s not an 8 foot drop onto uneven ground and lands a short distance from him, the blue flames licking over every inch of his body flickering out of existence. 

“What . . . did you just call me?”

Grimm blinks, stands up a bit straighter, lifts his chin. “You fucking heard me.” 

Indigo tilts his head. Muffles a snort of laughter into his palm.

But Grimm isn’t fucking laughing.  “Something funny, you blazing asshole?”

“Dagger-stroking firefucker,” Indigo repeats in that posh, proper English voice of his.  “That is quite good.” 

He takes a step forward and Grimm takes one back.  “Stay away from me. I mean it.” 

Indigo huffs a sigh as if Grimm is the most exasperating human on Earth.  “Grimm, I cannot harm you.  Even if I wanted to, even if it were my life or yours, I cannot harm you.” 

Grimm folds his arms again. “I don’t know if you missed it, but you threw a goddamn blue fireball at my head, pal.” 

“I did,” Indigo says.  “And you shattered it.”

He had–?? What the fu–

“Your energy, Grimm.  It shielded you.  Because that is what you are.”  Indigo’s gaze is steady, but tumultuous, his voice softening. “It is your Valor. You are the Shield.” 

Grimm holds up his hands. “Whoa, buddy.  I don’t know what the fuck you think is going on here–”

“Do you not feel it?”  Indigo steps closer and this time, Grimm stands his ground. 

“Feel fucking what?”

Indigo holds out a hand and Grimm stares at it like it’s a baby cobra.  “Your hand, if you please.”

Grimm shakes his head. “No fucking way.” 

Indigo’s voice gentles to something meditative, almost hypnotic. “Please. No harm will come to you. I give you my word.” 

Maybe he some kind of stupid fuck, but something about the weighted sincerity of Indigo’s voice lulls him into a false sense of security.  Or maybe that’s just some magical fuckery or whatever.  Nevertheless, Grimm reaches out, pulls back with a curl of fingers, and then forces himself to offer up his hand just the same.

Indigo’s fingers interlock with his own, their palms coming to rest against one another.

Okay, nothing. Just the strangely cool weight of Indigo’s grasp and–

The ink upon his arms itches, feels as if it burns for a split second, and warms to the same electric hue that suffused Indigo’s entire being not five minutes earlier.

“What in the absolute fuck. . .”  

Indigo’s skin is pale and luminous, an unnatural porcelain glow, an unseen force lifting his hair from his shoulder, the soft waves fanning around his face in a silver halo.  It is as if Grimm is seeing him for the first time and yet, already knows him in a way that words can’t possibly articulate. And from the way Indigo is staring back at him, the feeling is entirely mutual.

And as quickly as the touch is given, it is withdrawn.  By Indigo. 

“Damn it to hell!” he swears.  Shouts.  Shakes his hand like that’s gonna get Grimm’s energy off of him or something. “You mind telling me what the fuck that was?”  Grimm, too, rubs his arms, as if brushing something away.  

A flash of blue fire engulfs the other man, who yells something in–the fuck, was that Latin?– at the sky and storms back towards the aging Victorian house, Grimm hot on his heels.

“Oh no you fucking don’t!”  Grimm takes the stairs two at a time, beating Indigo to the top of the porch.  “You don’t get to do all of . . . that . . . and then just fuck off into the night like nothing happened, pal.  No fucking way.”  

A gun he doesn’t remember packing is suddenly in the waistband of his pants and he draws the thing, but doesn’t aim it. “You’re gonna talk.”  He clicks the safety off with an obvious gesture, a simple visual threat.  “Now.” 

Indigo’s stare is more of a dismissive regard than anything else. “Have you had that weapon this entire time?”

“Huh?” Grimm glares at him.  “Obviously or it wouldn’t be in my pants, asshole.” 

“Then you did not have it.” Indigo doesn’t give the Glock a second glance before pushing past him to open the front door. He glances over his shoulder with an exasperated look.  “Are you coming or no?” 

Like he has a fucking choice.

____________________

[luvrhyune]

i have a big fear of being plagiarised, i have an even bigger fear of being plagiarised and not knowing about it😕

[milesofstars]

dick grayson in fanon: sweet silly older brother, pretty but stupid, favourite child, happy robin, basically batman 2.0 but a nice person, his brothers are more skilled and could outpace him but they love him anyways, goody-two-shoes, good relationship with batman, responsible eldest child, mentally stable and supportive

dick grayson in canon:

became robin so he wouldnt commit first degree murder

like all of his appearances young justice season 1 are about how hes a maniac and a genius

leader and strategist of the teen titans

actually Murdered the joker

considered an equal by the worlds most dangerous and deadly mercenary

was literally fired by batman and only really continued working w him because of jason and babs

managed to keep up with angsty new-to-the-job batman

has had so many arguments with bruce its a miracle he hasnt cut him off forever (hes tried though)

can take down the entire teen titans if he wanted despite being the only one of them with no superpowers/abilities

was the definition of angsty teenager

inherits his insane paranoia from bruce

a thread away from breaking the no-kill rule, give him a rest

hes literally feral guys i mean cmon

[madlori]

My ankle journey

I am sharing this with all you good people on the dash because I am so fucking mad it took so long for me to learn it and if I can spare one (1) person the agony it will be worth it.

So for like...oh, 8 or 9 months, I've been struggling with pain/inflammation/tendinitis in my left Achilles tendon. I don't know what caused it. It just started up (welcome to middle age, this shit happens). It wasn't severe enough to be debilitating, but it was annoying and limiting. It was also intermittent, in that some days it would be very painful and other days hardly at all. The kind of shoe I was wearing affected it a lot.

Now, I have bone spurs on both heels (it's just a thing that happens as you get older sometimes). I'm also aware that heel pain is usually the result of tight calf muscles that pull and irritate the tendon. I tried stretching that calf muscle. You know the stretch, this bitch right here:

I did it all the time. I also iced the ankle after walking for awhile, hoping to avoid inflammation. Results were...unsatisfying.

I went to:

A chiropractor

A podiatrist

A physical therapist

A bodywork coach

They all gave me some variation on the "strengthen your calf muscle, stretch your calf muscle" advice. I continued doing this without results.

I was getting frustrated, and a little afraid that this was just my life now. Finally, I thought...maybe some targeted massage might help. I asked for rec on a local FB site and was pointed to a woman who specializes in therapeutic massage including cupping, etc.

I went to her a week ago.

She spent over half our first session working on my left lower leg. Within about 10 minutes of making my eyes water, she uttered the sentence I did not know I had been waiting to hear:

"Oh, it's your soleus."

Excuse me, what?

"It's your soleus that's the culprit. It's all tied up and stiff." She started digging into it and I felt literal sparks run up my leg as she released adhesions and got the muscle moving a little. When she finally put the leg down, it felt like it was on fire with all the blood rushing into it.

She said, "You'll need to stretch your soleus. It'll clear up, but it'll take a bit of time - tendons take ages to heal."

But I HAVE been stretching.

"No, you haven't. The usual straight-leg calf stretch only stretches the gastrocnemius, that's the big belly muscle in your calf. That's not your problem. That stretch doesn't stretch the soleus. Don't worry, I'll show you how to stretch it."

My mind is spinning.

So here are the muscles in question:

The gastroc (as the pros call it) just attaches down the back but the soleus runs underneath it from the knee around the side to the heel. The lower part above the ankle is where it typically gets tight and forms adhesions.

To stretch it, you do the same calf thing where you put your foot back and press your heel to the ground, but you have to do it with your KNEE BENT:

The bent knee keeps the gastroc from engaging. It's one of those selfish muscles (like traps) - if you give it an inch, it'll just take over and prevent other muscles from working or stretching. There are other ways to stretch the soleus but this is the easiest and you can literally do it anywhere. I've been doing it while standing and waiting for things (the elevator to come, the toast to toast). You just put the heel back and bend the knee. It's kind of like curtseying.

The minute I did this stretch, I could FEEL where it was pulling on my tendon. I knew that THIS had been the problem.

The massage therapist also told me to stop icing my heel. She said icing is for an acute injury, but a more chronic aggravation needs heat, to increase blood flow for healing. She recommended elevation with heat every day (I've been doing it in bed during "phone before bed" time).

I have been doing the soleus stretch at least half a dozen times a day for almost a week, and the ankle is at least 70% better. It is still a little tight and tender, but the improvement is significant. I think a few more weeks will have it feeling normal.

I am...blown away by this. This massage therapist was able to pinpoint an issue in only a few minutes that eluded all the other professionals I saw. I can't wait to go back to her and have her solve all my other problems, tbh.

[teddybeartoji]

you kiss the back of toji's hand one day very casually before intertwining your fingers with his and the man just kind of shuts down . bc what the hell did you just do????? kissed his hand?? you kissed his hand????? that's.. what?????? isn't he supposed to be kissing yours?????? and the fact that you're now just acting like nothing happened has him staring at you with widened eyes and slightly furrowed brows. you turn back to check on him because you realize that he's not following you anymore and just laugh lightheartedly when you see the faint blush on his cheeks and his burning ears. brining his hand to your mouth again, you press another kiss to his knuckles with a teasing smile glued to your lips and that makes him snap out of his daze. he tries to brush you off with a quiet click of his tongue but you know he liked it. you know he loved it.

[skltart]

siri, play animal by aurora

[bdaemonis]

Made this instead of paying attention to class. Cuz I had a vision

Original post under cut

[am-a-disappointment]

BREAKING NEWS interview with the vampire's season 2 episode 'don't be afraid, Start the tape" gets a 49 minute long standing ovation from Me, alone in my room watching it for the 100th time

[cozylittleartblog]

Columbo and the Knight (1984)

put me in the universe where Columbo ran through the 1980s and had a crossover episode with Knight Rider. I think they deserved it, and I am not just saying that because they're my two favorite Old Shows. @telebeast wrote a little fanfic blurb about it and I HAD to visualize it into a comic (which is also the longest comic I have finished thus far at five pages...), so writing credit goes to them.

Autism W!

[bruciemilf]

I like the thought of Battinson speaking like a My Chemical Romance song , but also, I think it’d be so unique and so cool and genius and groundbreaking if he spoke like Duchess from Aristocats.

Just him with little Dick? Asking him to PRETTY PLEASE let him kidnap the creepy but cute little kid next door.

“Oh, no, my darling, that’s just awfully rude. You have to ask the little baby first.”

[mccromy]

Disciple Shen Yuan au.

As it's been established before, Shen Jiu is an incredibly traumatized man, who took that cycle of abuse and made it a snowball turned avalanche of abuse.

He made up survival rules that served him well as a child on the streets, but only isolated him as a Peak Lord. He's paranoid, hateful and erratic. He's well aware that he's a bad man, he sees himself as the scorpion asking a frog for a ride, and he can't see that he does not sting because such is his nature, he stings because he believes with such certainty he knows the frog will drown him. And even if he went mad and decided to be good, he wouldn't even know where to start.

We learn by example, and we're well aware of the examples to follow available for him.

On that note, now that he's Peak Lord, he recreates his own trauma as the abuser. It gives him a sense of power, and it makes things fair, because if he couldn't have a kind master, then why should they (his disciples). It would be unjust, to let them have what he didn't, it wouldn't make sense, because now that he's at the top he sees how easy it could be to not do things. He doesn't need to whip these children, to make them kneel under the sun for ours on end. But he does anyways, he doesn't derive amusement from it, but if Qiu Jianluo could just not pay attention to him when he had the choice and did anyway, why would he give his disciples the reprieve he didn't have?

And he knows what is done to cruel masters. He knows that if given the chance, those cowering pathetic creatures will turn on him.

He won't let them.

In the end, he does not regard any of them as his students. And when Luo Binghe arrives, Shen Qingqiu ends up behaving as a less predatory Qiu Jianluo; he places Luo Binghe in the role of Xiao Jiu and Ning Yingying as Qiu Haitang. And, in the back of his mind he feels he can understand Qiu Jianluo for the first time (he's wrong, the monster Qiu Jianluo was and the monster Shen Jiu became are not the same. But Shen Qingqiu always thought he understood people very well, never realizing that what he read on everybody's faces were his own thoughts reflected back at him.) because he just can't not pay attention to that boy. Because Xiao Jiu had not a moment's rest under Qiu Jianluo so why should Luo Binghe ever find relief under Shen Qingqiu? If Xiao Jiu was a thing to be used, then isn't he so kind to make of Luo Binghe a beast instead?

Shen Yuan arrives, perhaps before Luo Binghe does, but it doesn't matter. Shen Qingqiu takes this boy in after being urged by Yue Qingyuan for his lack of showing up at the disciple entrance trial.

And, from the beginning one thing is clear.

Shen Yuan despises Shen Qingqiu.

Every new disciple that reaches his peak seems eager, nervous, desperate to show Shen Qingqiu how good they are. They look at him with awe and tentative hope, as if Shen Qingqiu would ever play their game. As if he'd ever give them what they feel entitled to but do not deserve.

Shen Yuan looks at him like he knows exactly what kind of master Shen Qingqiu is, like he knows exactly what Shen Qingqiu is thinking of, well aware of what the future entails for him.

And as they perform the tea ceremony, Shen Qingqiu looks at this boy and finally understands why Wu Yanzi saw a mistreated slave and decided he was too funny to let go.

Shen Qingqiu takes Shen Yuan as his disciple. He drinks what's clearly a tea brewed to offend, and for the first time on his tenure as a Peak Lord, drinks with the intent to become a teacher.

But we learn by example. The previous Qing Jing Peak Lord might've been his Shizun in name, but in his pathetic life Shen Jiu only ever recognized one teacher.

And Wu Yanzi loved to play games.

Shen Qingqiu smiles kindly, a hint of amusement showing in his eyes. The child looks at him as if he's gone insane, and Shen Qingqiu tilts his head as if he finds it so endearing.

"Excellently brewed, Shen Yuan, this master formally accepts you as his disciple. From now on this one is your Shizun, and you'll refer to him as such. Your Shixiongs and Shijies will become your family, and Qing Jing your home." Shen Yuan has grown pale, defiance turned into fear. But such is not the face of a boy scared as he wanders in the dark, uncertain of what's ahead. That's the face of someone who knows exactly what kind of animal lurks in the shadows from the way its teeth glint under meager moonlight. His mouth's become a tight line, breathing controlled to not hitch. He looks grim, not afraid. He was not expecting this, but knows how to play along. Shen Qingqiu inclines his head in a shallow bow. "Welcome, Disciple Shen, to my Qing Jing Peak."

The boy unclenches his jaw and answers drily, "this one thanks Shizun."

Shen Yuan's voice is flat, like Shen Jiu's when greeted Wu Yanzi. Shen Qingqiu grinned just as Wu Yanzi did.

Shen Qingqiu forgets something though,

He's not Qiu Jianluo, and he's not Wu Yanzi. And he might've been right in another life, with Luo Binghe and a self fulfilling prophecy of cruel masters dying at the hands of ungrateful wretched boys.

But he doesn't know Shen Yuan is not tied to a narrative, that he can recognize a self fulfilling prophecy from a mile away and turn tail the opposite way.

He forgets Shen Yuan is not Shen Jiu.

What Shen Yuan is, is freaking out, shouting "WHATTHEFUCK WHAT. WHAT. THE. FUCK??????" inside his head.

He smells a fucking rat. And he's NOT buying whatever you're selling Shen Qingqiu!!! Ptoo ptoo!! He's going to compare whatever manual you give him with other disciple's!!! from ANOTHER Peaks!!! SYSTEM?? SYSTEM ARE YOU GLITCHING??? IS HE GLITCHING??

[Host may rest in peace knowing Scum Villain Shen Qingqiu is acting perfectly in character ^w^]

(What do you mean rest in peace, are you telling me to R.I.P?? Is he going to kill me??? This is not the two bit scumbag I was promised??? What the FUCK you mean perfectly in character???)

[He is large, he contains multitudes.]

(Is he thinking about killing me or not???)

[This System cannot answer that.]

(Throw me a bone.)

[... Scum Villain Shen Qingqiu will behave differently towards his victim depending on said victim's profile.]

(VICTIM???)

[Whoops uwu. This System meant to say disciple! Every student has different needs! A good teacher knows how to adapt!]

And thus begins Shen Yuan's life at Qing Jing Peak.

Shen Qingqiu does give Shen Yuan a fake manual. Shen Yuan compares it to every manual he can get his hands on, and goes AHA! At the utter bullshit inside the book Shen Qingqiu gave him. End ups stealing one of Qian Cao, glues the cover of a Qing Jing peak manual on it. Glues the Quan Cao manual's cover on the Qing Jing manual lose pages. Takes the fake manual to Shen Qingqiu with the intent to confront him with a gotcha! Shen Qingqiu makes worried sounds. Oh, how could this happen, how dangerous! Is disciple Shen hurt? And burns the manual in front of Shen Yuan's aghast face, effectively getting rid of all evidence. Then apologizes and, smirking, hands him a new manual.

(Cunt.)

Said manual is slightly altered, but only midway, so is more difficult to spot it, yet still managing to damage the reader's cultivation at a crucial point.

Shen Yuan uses the pages to make paper planes and, instead of throwing them, he viciously stomps on them.

(Shang Qinghua shudders at the distance and then glances around to see if Mobei-Jun is sneaking a peak through his portals again. Over a decade Shang Qinghua has been at his service and he still randomly opens a little hole in the fabric of space to check Shang Qinghua is not betraying him! If his King keeps this up he just might! Hmph! ((He won't)))

Shen Qingqiu keeps being his acidic self with everybody else, but by playing mind games with Shen Yuan he accidentally places him on the spot of most favored disciple, outshining Ning Yingying, someone who Shen Qingqiu actually likes, because when Shen Qingqiu likes someone he's not sharp and cutting with them, but with Shen Yuan he looks dotting. It's driving poor Shen Yuan up the wall.

Not only nobody believes him, but the apparent favoritism has isolated him from other disciples who, driven by jealousy, try to sabotage him. Shen Qingqiu notices this and it half amuses him, half makes him feel a strange sort of anger he cannot understand.

As a favored disciple, Shen Yuan starts to accompany him in what used to be solo hunts, and in one of every three night hunts Shen Qingqiu sets Shen Yuan up for failure, grave injury, or death if he's been too annoying.

After some time being tossed around like a mouse by his evil cat of a Shizun, Shen Yuan starts to play along. He works himself to the ground to excel in every subject Shen Qingqiu tried to sabotage him in, and aided by his knowledge as a transmigrator, he succeeds. He follows Shen Qingqiu around like a shadow, delighting in the stressed twitch of his eyebrows. Gets too into it and starts playing it up as a good little henchman. He basically goes "good one boss!" To everything Shen Qingqiu says.

"Qi Shimei claims to be uninterested in this Shixiong's affairs, yet she's up to date on every single drop of gossip surrounding him."

And before Qi Qingqi can snap at him, Shen Yuan peaks from behind Shen Qingqiu's back and chirps:

"Qi-Shigu should be too mature to try to attract Shizun's attention with such ploys! She ought to send this disciple a letter and he will make sure to arrange a private meeting for both of you!"

Shen Qingqiu hates it. But he's nothing if not adaptable.

"If Mu-Shidi is done, this master has matters to attend to."

"Shixiong, this one is worried, your constitution has been worsening these past few years and, not only as your doctor, but as a—"

"As a what, Shidi? Sect brother? Friend?" sneers Shen Qingqiu.

"As a mother?" Pipes Shen Yuan, "is Mu-shishu Shizun's mother?"

"Ah, Shizi—?"

"Such nagging can only come from a mother's mouth!"

"Shidi is not this one's mother and should mind his place,"

"Shishu should shave that moustache, too."

Sometimes Shen Qingqiu finds him funny, sometimes he needs to hurt him.

He makes Shen Yuan use his qi to strengthen his hands as he makes him submerge them inside a pot of boiling water, as "training". After a few private training sessions, Shen Yuan starts to succeed in keeping them from burning. Shen Qingqiu surprises him with a pot of boiling oil. Shen Yuan stubbornly complies and succeeds. Hands red and stinging, but the skin remains intact, if tender

Shen Qingqiu is both disappointed, and a little bit relieved. But more than anything, he's angry. Had it been him, at Shen Yuan's age, the oil would've melted the flesh off his bones.

No matter what he throws at Shen Yuan, the boy comes up top, and even if he doesn't, he heals so quickly (he doesn't know about the Qian Cao manual), and it is as if he never failed in the first place.

Shen Qingqiu ends up losing patience and whips him three years into this game. Shen Yuan is fifteen. And as he is lowered down he glances back at Shen Qingqiu from his shoulder and says, pale and shaking, "I win," and throws up.

Shen Qingqiu qi deviates.

Shen Yuan looks at him, as he bleeds and convulses and thinks about letting him die.

He crawls towards him and, with the healing knowledge he's gathered through the years, stops the qi deviation before it turns lethal.

Then he passes out.

Ming Fan finds them and runs for help.

The rumor of the Qing Jing peak lord qi deviating after whipping his beloved disciple out of sheer horror and grief spreads like wildfire. Shen Qingqiu and Shen Yuan avoid each other for a month.

What does Luo Binghe think of all this?

At first, he admired Shen Yuan, favored disciple as he was. Then he envied him, for he was the only one Shen Qingqiu never hurt.

Then he felt ashamed, for Shen Yuan was kind and worked so, so hard, he deserved to be favored. Luo Binghe saw how the others treated him, and that only made him admire him more. Shen Yuan rose above his circumstances even when others attempted to bring him down.

Shen Yuan cross referenced an older Qing Jing disciple's manual with a Qiong Ding and a An Ding peak one, and his own Qian Cao manual, and wrote Luo Binghe a personalized manual (he also learned Shen Qingqiu kept faulty manuals around?? And sometimes gave them away?? WHY???? ((Shen Jiu confiscated them during his tenure as head disciple and never got rid of them. He did give one away accidentally, but Luo Binghe's and Shen Yuan's he gave on purpose)). Luo Binghe cries and hugs his kind, beautiful Shixiong. His cultivation improves immensely after that.

Shen Qingqiu notices this, notices the new manual and Shen Yuan's, who's become his Head Disciple, handwriting. He summons Shen Yuan to the bamboo house and berates him.

At first, Shen Yuan believes Shen Qingqiu is shouting at him (he lost his patience!! Shen Yuan 2, Shizun 0!) for not letting him kill Luo Binghe. Then he thinks it's actually for defying his authority.

Then, it dawns on him.

Shen Yuan had told him Luo Binghe had enough talent to surpass him and he shouldn't stifle it. Shen Qingqiu hissed an incredulous: "Then how will you fight him off when he turns on you?!"

Shen Qingqiu was going purple on the face over the thought of Shen Yuan giving Luo Binghe the tools to eventually hurt him

At first, Shen Yuan had been offended on Luo Binghe's behalf. Then, because was Shen Qingqiu trying to sow discord between them or something?

Then he remembered that in PIDW Shen Qingqiu gave Luo Binghe a faulty manual too, that he poured tea on him after Luo Binghe earnestly told him about his mother. Remembered how when he first began his good one boss! routine, Shen Qingqiu tensed imperceptibly when Shen Yuan trailed after him. How he's come to know this man, the way his eyes glint when he is satisfied and how his hands shake when there's a qi deviation incoming. How his lips twist when displeased, and how his breathing hitches when he is in danger. He's come to know his paranoia. He's learnt to recognize the way this man wears fear and realizes that that's what he's seeing now.

Shen Qingqiu is scared.

And when Shen Yuan looks back to what he knows of his Shizun, the things he's done in this life and the other. Many behaviors who seemed erratic and unpredictable, suddenly make sense when framed by fear.

And now he realizes that Shen Qingqiu is not only afraid of Luo Binghe, but he is also afraid of Shen Yuan.

But more than that, he's afraid for Shen Yuan.

Suddenly this game they play is not so fun anymore.

It never should've been.

(It might've never been, but Shen Yuan can be just as blind as his Shizun when he doesn't want to face the cruel reality he was reborn in.)

[diamond-vic]

I love Brackenpaw in the graphic novel so much oh my god. He’s so polite and he only speaks in normal (by normal, I mean not-all-caps lettering you’d see in day to day) lettering. It’s probably to contrast him with how excitable and loud Cinderpaw is, but since Every Single Other Character always talks in all caps it just makes him seem like such a polite quiet little guy.. I adore him so much

[thunderglade]

i got csp 🔥

[muisley]

some silly mgs doodles otacon is so babygirly

[theabigailthorn]

British producers be like: THEM: "We love this! Let us put our heads together and get back to you early next week!" SIX MONTHS LATER UNPAID INTERN FOR THAT COMPANY: "Everyone you spoke to has been sacked, we hate you fuck off."

American producers be like:

THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON YOU'VE EVER MET: Hey kiddo do you wanna meet The Rock? Do you wanna meet Margot Robbie? Do you want to fuck my wife? I can't give you a job but gosh darn it you've got moxxy, let me put you in touch with Doug Bigcheese, the biggest producer in Hollywood! DOUG BIGCHEESE, EMAILING YOU BACK WITHIN 20 MINUTES: Hey kiddo, that guy said you're awesome! Lemme ask round town and in the meantime you can live in my house borrow my car and by the way have you met my wife?!

[sems-diarie]

death is insane. wdym i’ll never see my grandmother again