#a calm discussion

[hyohaehyuk]

chuuloid: "and lest- and louis- and jacob and i" what the hell sure

Lucyddreams: sam talks about what he expects for loustat on S3

Video: Autumn Brown - Terrorized and Therapized with Sam Reid

[hyxsn]

not to stir up anything but like.

why dont people like it when people call lu guang selfish or a hypocrite? like i get that being selfish or being a hypocrite isnt his entire personality, but it's flaws. flaws that rarely appear in characters. and its very realistic. because we are humans, and we are all selfish and hypocritical in our own way.

most shows or movies have their characters be selfless and willing to sacrifice anything to save the world. i believe that lu guang is almost the same— he wants to help people and he understands others emotions. however, assuming that changing the timeline hurts innocent people (like how emma dies and smth smth), its clear that hes willing to sacrifice some things for cheng xiaoshi. actually, he jumped through timelines to save cheng xiaoshi!! which is possibly dangerous!! i havent mentioned the fact that he told cheng xiaoshi to not mess up with the past even tho he does it himself.. and yk what? THATS OK!! i love this selfish idiot. i will ruffle his hair. i will kiss his forehead. i love him. i love characters with flaws.

hes not 100% wrong, but also not 100% right. and thats ok. me likey. patpat.

[unordinary-diary]

So I have a question about Arlo’s powers that you might have the answer to

Do you know what the bleeding is all about? Like when he starts coughing up blood after his barrier breaks. Does he just like straight up start bleeding internally or something?

Anyway I love this blog sm you are giving me the unO content I crave

Ah, thank you! Yes, I absolutely have the answer. In fact, I’m going to take this opportunity to make a post that was already floating in my head.

Arlo and Recoil Damage

First, to answer your question in a literal sense, yes. It’s definitely internal bleeding. Specifically, damage to his lungs.

It’s also not at all unprecedented for a person to be wounded like this. Every person with a conjuring type ability takes damage when their conjures are damaged.

(Rein in ch. 16)

(Cecile attacking Arlo, ch. 109)

The difference with Arlo, is that his damage happens below the skin. Here’s where it gets juicy.

Symbolism

Arlo’s ability is very symbolic, possibly the most so of anyone in the series. His nigh unbreakable barrier he puts around himself represents his metaphorical walls, and how he keeps everyone at a distance. His passive makes him invulnerable— he gets punched in the face, clawed at, stabbed at, etc, and doesn’t even blink. The only way to hurt Arlo is to break through his barrier. And when his walls are broken down, there’s a wound in his chest. It’s not literal enough to be his heart that bleeds, but it’s very close.

There’s also something that’s been kicking around in my head for awhile—

“You’re the strongest one out of all of us here right now. You can try to brush this whole thing off... but to the rest of us, it’s still scary. If even you can’t protect yourself, what can the rest of us do?” — Remi, Ep. 61.

I remembered the line being “When people as strong as you show fear, it scares the rest of us.” However, that must have come from a different scene and I won’t track it down.

It’s plain and simple: High tiers have been taught their whole lives to bottle things up.

This is also seen reflected in Seraphina—

(ep. 20) Granted, the circumstances here are very different, but it’s a similar idea. High tiers showing emotions scares people.

So they bottle them up...

… until they explode.

(Ep. 106)

The judgment Arlo and Seraphina face is very similar. Seraphina rejects these expectations before the story starts, but Arlo has yet to do so. He is very much like the Seraphina we see in flashbacks.

All of this is to say: it is significant that his barrier wounds are internal. The little bit of blood we can see is mainly there so the audience knows he’s injured— but otherwise? Barrier cracks aren’t an injury that people can really see. Recoil damage is typically reflected as scratches, so his internal wounds are both unique, and symbolic of the way he hides his feelings.

[momentomori24]

Horrible thought I just had (and by "just" I mean on Wednesday lol) but maybe the reason Wolfgang is always so agreeable and passive, and continues to remain composed and soft-spoken even when clearly annoyed/frustrated with or scolding someone rather than get expressively angry, is because lashing out and potentially hurting someone by doing so reminds him too much of what his dad used to do 🙃

[the-dormant-ocean]

Qiao Ling: Lu Guang! Did you break the timeline?! Lu Guang: Yes. Qiao Ling: WHY? Lu Guang: Cheng Xiaoshi was gone and he was 85% of my impulse control. Also, life is meaningless without him.

[average-mako-enjoyer]

Imagine making a completely false narrative, ignoring the history of the game industry, and making assumptions based on the single early animation test just to... idk, feel like you're playing correctly?

Let's ignore all the years of development that went into these games. The work of writers, lead voice actors, artists and designers. Very first animation test is the only thing that is important.

Imagine completely ignoring the whole point of this genre: every Shepard, just like every Warden, Hawke, Inquisitor, and Rook is canon. Their gender, their pre-game history, their romance, everything is canon!

Imagine trying to rationalize your own sexism by saying that the only reason your fantasy isn't reality is because it was 2007 and female protagonists are only for female players??? Yeah, let's ignore all the classic games from the same era with female protagonists. Let's ignore the fact that men can play as women, women can play as men, and non-binary people exist.

Imagine feeling the need to even talk about this shit.

Imagine so many people agreeing with you.

The stupidity of it all makes me so fucking sad.

[elexuscal]

i am just imagining the future discourse that comes from the culture clash between all the different relations of humans vs. dragons.

like okay. the classical British/European mode is pretty much universally disparaged and disregarded at this point, and For Good Reason. like you've still god the far right groups that believe that Dragons are Inferior Beasts but they're the same as any extremist racist idealogy.

a lot spicier is debates around whether it's good to have a "captain" relationship with your dragon. lots of "can it be reclaimed" conversations.

flip that stuff on the head with the Inca and any similar cultures that had some mode of "the humans belong to the dragons". imagine the entire Crucible of Gold subplot where Laurence and co wrestle with whether or not it's slavery, with all the relevant nuances, but also Twitter exists.

and then there's the Tswana. where dragons are not just culturally humans, but culturally Literally Specific Reincarnated Humans. i don't even want to imagine what debates on that topic look like.

[buddyhollyscurls]

atp i feel like the ONLY way Yor is gonna NOT fight Loid when things get too deep for her is if/when they figure out their true identities so they can go on a mission together and she can beat the crap outta someone else as a way to relieve her nerves so here's how i imagine they're finally gonna get together:

Yor is gonna figure out he's twilight first but by this point i feel she's already realizing her feelings for him or is starting to given her jealous tendencies so she won't let him know she knows. but then he finds out her identity and ofc is shocked and he's also like do i tell her i know? do i break up the family? so as he's considering this he's thinking about his relationship with yor and how didn't he see the Signs but he's like come to think of it, they were there. And he's just imagining their time together and how she is with Anya and it hits him holy shit. i want to be with her frfr

so they go out on a mission (i feel at this point they gotta have a target in common like come on now) run into each other and he just blurts out YOR?! and she's like LOID??!! and he's like YOU KNOW?? and she's like well .... so ofc they have to have the BIG talk and she's about to go off as her usual but this time Loid really wants to have this talk and by now knows exactly what is about to happen so when her face starts getting red from blushing he puts the target in front of him like a shield and is like Yor I have something - punch - i want to say - punch punch kick

[thedeafprophet]

mom: just making sure you're up

me, sitting here in my suit jacket with my document of notes up, anxiously awaiting Meeting: i just might be

[itspileofgoodthings]

the most flattering comparisons made about me of all time (mostly looks based; a little bit vibes based) are:

1) that I look like Nancy Wheeler

2) that I look like young Helena Bonham Carter in A Room With a View

3) that I look like the girl in this painting

4) that I look British Theater Actress Ellaline Terriss

[puck-luck]

I would like to create content that you guys enjoy, but I will not do that at the expense of myself. If that makes me seem intolerable and close-minded and hoity-toity, then that's whatever.

Enjoy the content you want to enjoy.

I will not be glorifying abuse or assault on my blog. It is not the content that I believe you all deserve. You deserve to read about someone who complements you and respects you, ESPECIALLY in a dom/sub environment since those can toe the line between a vanilla/"normal" relationship and something that can go too far.

[shehatescoffee]

~ im about to get deep so scroll if you dont wanna see me all emotional ~

genuinely so thankful for everyone who reads my fics. i have always had a love for writing, but i abandoned it for a while because i told myself i'd never do anything with it, that it wasn't a realistic career path. but the encouragement from readers i've gotten since coming back to fandom spaces has been so astronomically unexpected and meaningful to me.

writing is such a genuine pleasure for me, so i would probably write even if 0 people read or liked my fics, but i dont think a lot of readers realize how big an impact their interactions can have on the author. i've been giggling and smiling all day today because people are being so kind to me and about my writing, and it's just amazing.

anyway, all this to say i love you all and i cant wait to post more fics for you :) and to encourage anyone who's shy about interacting with their fave fics to just do it!! i promise you'll make someone's day :)

[deargravity]

akashi is actually not as good at everything as people like / want to believe but let me not get into that today

[gl1tchr]

I love mentioning unions at work and watching every manager turn into a glassy-eyed robot and start spouting off taught union-busting bullet points like corporate zombies. truly fascinating

[cryptosexologist]

actually loved this chapter. felt it could’ve been a bit more drawn out pacing-wise but i wouldn’t change shit wrt how things wrapped up

[velvetjune]

the chapter songs in Alan Wake 2,, flawless