#a muse in her feelings

[chloesimaginationthings]

I know Vanessa regret saying this in the FNAF movie,,

[peanutseagle]

human uzi art inspired by my bestie :p

[psychopomp-namine]

this post is about qiao ling. but first, I want to talk about the power rangers of this show.

so. I'm really glad YE2 is putting the triple star warrior mirroring in a more interesting context

because that's clearly the intent and it's not like it doesn't make sense back in S1, but the actual execution of that mirroring seemed shallow at best with just S1 knowledge

(look! qiao ling even bought cake of them in the S2 finale)

I think it's because I couldn't quite place qiao ling's role in this until now. she's the star of wisdom, but she's the one who is the most out of the loop and lacking in knowledge... or so we thought. but with the S2 ending giving her tianxi's ability, and YE2 showing that it's a pattern for her to keep relevant information, then yeah, it's starting to make sense. the triple star warriors really are their character arcs.

star of justice, bringing hope (cheng xiaoshi's kindness being both a strength and a weakness that can either uplift or endanger other people; "even if you don't see hope, it doesn't mean it's not there")

star of courage, conquering fear (lu guang timelooping himself is the most extreme response to fear he has over cheng xiaoshi's death)

star of wisdom, serving knowledge (qiao ling and the burden of knowledge that she keeps from people out of guilt or protection)

and they really do need to overcome all of that to get the good ending.

anyway, I just think it's neat. I thought the triple star warriors mirroring was cute back in S1, but now I love it even more knowing qiao ling's place in all of this. I actually love this trait about her. she is always taking care of other people and has "big sister" vibes. she's the one who actually goes out of her way to find clients for shiguang to help and hearing their clients' troubles, even when she had no idea how their abilities worked. she's the one who truly connected with tianxi and knew how to communicate with her — even better than cheng xiaoshi could, and cheng xiaoshi was the one who actually got to live as tianxi.

it's in her nature to care for others, but it's also her biggest flaw. much like lu guang, in her desire to keep cheng xiaoshi safe in her own way, she hides relevant information from him. and the act of secret keeping causes her to keep doing it out of guilt too — as we've seen in the doudou case. it's a very human trait to have.

it puts the earthquake arc in a new context. a young cheng xiaoshi went to qiao ling, distraught over the possibility that maybe his parents died in the earthquake. young qiao ling, wanting to comfort cheng xiaoshi but also knowing that her parents were advised that it's safer for cheng xiaoshi to not go to bridon, tells him that his parents are probably somewhere "far away" and wasn't caught in the earthquake. this isn't just words for the sake of comfort. she has reason to believe this is actually true.

she's in a tough spot when S3 rolls around, because she should, by then, know about cheng xiaoshi's death, if not possibly everything that happened in bridon (through tianxi's power/memory transfer). unlike lu guang, who is dead set on timelooping himself as a way to fix things, qiao ling is in a precarious spot.

should she honor aunt shao's wish and keep cheng xiaoshi safe, which she also wants? or should she tell cheng xiaoshi information he rightfully should know, thereby allowing him to exercise full agency over his own future, even if that future has the risk of death? and whatever she chooses will affect lu guang too. what is the wise thing to do here?

on that note, others have pointed out how this recontextualizes S1E1 cheng xiaoshi talking about his parents. looking back, it's insane to me that S1E1's opening scene (not the dive rules, the one after the op plays) has cheng xiaoshi saying, "I won't go anywhere until my parents come back. if you drive me away, I'll hang myself here! then your father will never get a new tenant."

(it's looking like whatever he learns in bridon won't carry over to the cheng xiaoshi of S1, but I digress)

he says this, and both lu guang and qiao ling are sitting there calling him a childish idiot, all the while harboring knowledge about his parents that cheng xiaoshi doesn't have. (lu guang also has the extra knowledge of cheng xiaoshi's death and what happened in bridon at this point probably, but this post is not about lu guang)

like... in S1 this could just be seen as a little "haha okay so this is exposition and this is their dynamic" scene but now... man. qiao ling knew all this time, in this scene, where his parents might be. she knew during the earthquake. she knew while they were renovating the shop.

I understand the reasons behind it, and in her eyes it probably was the wise thing to do. but when S3 comes around, should she still keep hiding it, like she did with the doudou case? when she confronts lu guang about his memories, what will she do?

I have hope that she'll bridge the two boys together. we saw how her strength has always been communication and delivering words. she is the person the clients look to. she is the person that gained tianxi's trust and knew how to meet her where she's at. she is the person who knows cheng xiaoshi and lu guang best.

here's hoping that she can overcome her guilt and desire to protect cheng xiaoshi from himself, and become the star of wisdom the show wants her to be

[mesmir-ized]

lisa❣️

[taffywabbit]

a cover of "Panic Station" by Muse, ideally suited for chases through futuristic train platforms full of loop-de-loops and hostile robots!

usually I have a really hard time doing arrangements of existing songs, but I felt unusually motivated to tackle this one and managed to see it thought to completion! (took me a while because I kept spending too much time jamming out to what I already had done instead of working on the next parts lol)

♫ made with OpenMPT! ✎ cover art by me! ► SoundCloud link: https://soundcloud.com/taffywabbit/turmoil-terminus-zone ★ original song (for comparison): https://youtu.be/vk24UKKI4yY?si=RdQkA4BAHoRX1d7P

and here's the full-size cover art, while i'm at it!

[never-rxne]

at this point if the sevika fandom dies i'm dying with it

[skrrtscree]

the ghost of you 🤍🪻

[grimeowkin]

We could just kiss like real people do

[emilyjroach]

faithfull forever (tribute to marianne)

[ghost-bxrd]

Y’know sometimes I’ll get a painful/rude comment on a fic and it makes me sad for all of two minutes until I make myself look at all the positive feedback and remember that there’s equally, if not more, people who enjoyed reading it 💚💚💚💚

[yoohyeon]

Gyeongree’s First EP ‘Eternal bloom’ Concept photos 1&2 + Track list

2024.08.21 - Do not repost

[cripplepunkbarbarian]

I am so glad that the kid spectrals have such normal and caring spirits who will definitely not physically endanger and/or cruelly betray them in the midst of their lives already being destroyed by cults, monsters, and interpersonal drama. It’s so cool and nice 👍

[berrihyo]

youre worth more than what you give btw

[yourenumber1]

It’s her. She’s my addiction

💋

[never-rxne]

Headcanon: AU! Sevika (ep.7 S2) is Powder's auntie and she stepped up after AU!Vi died in hextech explosion and Silco & Vander worked on their relationship (so it didn't happened instantly and took some time)

They bond over their mechanics knowledge and Sevika tried to "redirect" AU!Powder from building bombs to fixing stuff.

After they got closer Powder started talking about art/science and Sevika taught her how to play in cards (without gambling cuz Vander & Silco would've been furious)

THIS IS SO VERY CANON TO ME!!!!

breaking my heart because au!Sevika was even at the innovator's competition :(( i just know she played a role in powder's upbringing

i need to write more for au Sevika oh my god i just know she'd be so sweet 🥲 idk why but i always hc'd she'd be an engineer or a contractor in the alternate universe. she'd still be passionate about the politics of zaun and be very informed about piltover/zaun relations but if there is no direct conflict i can't see her taking an active role in political affairs, she always seemed to prefer being in the backdrop fixing things

[hopeforchanges]

I'm actually marveling at your portrayal of Palpatine. Sure, in the new sith obi-wan au, but in every iteration I've read from you, it doesn't even compare to anything else I've read, I just can see and hear Palpy so clearly when you write him. It's disgusting how i character he is every time. I need like ... a tutorial? :D Pls??

haha, thank you :) yeah, ngl Palpatine IS the toughest character to get right and I will die on this hill; he is absolutely more difficult to write than Obi-Wan.

The tutorial consists of knowing how a groomer operates, essentially. Sure, you have the traits of psychopathy and sociopathy, the blatant narcissism, the delusions of being better than everyone, but if you want my two cents, (obviously you do when you sent this ask lol) the real core of his villainy is his grooming behavior. Sociopathy and psychopathy do not necessarily lead to evil, many diagnosed people lead fulfilling lives that do not cause them or others any destruction. Sociopathy and psychopathy are NOT inherently evil.

Grooming is evil by nature. And groomers absolutely follow a rulebook.

Step one: Targeting a vulnerable person. (Groomers have a radar for people who are in a vulnerable position - orphaned kids, traumatized people, homeless people, etc., could be anything.)

Step two: Gaining trust. (the victims of grooming call this 'kindness' - much like Anakin does on many occasions - when in reality, it's rehearsed empathy. It's a performance. They're nice to you, bring you gifts, take care of your most basic needs - food, shelter, companionship to make you feel like there's somebody in this world who actually gives a shit about you.

Step three: Isolating the target from their loved ones. If you are completely alone, that's a win for them, obviously. But because they more often than not target minors, there's someone taking care of them, at least one person who goes: this guy/gal has rancid vibes, I don't want you to hang out with them anymore. The groomer convinces the victim that their caretaker has nefarious motivations/goals (projecting much) and that if the victim calls the authority, they will be the one who's actually in trouble, not the groomer.

Step four: Slowly exposing the target to sexual stuff. This could be anything, really, it could start by just showing the victim porn without rhyme or reason to instructing them to perform some mild sexual acts. In Palpatine's case, this manifests as exposing the target to the power of the dark side and encouraging them to use it. However, do I think that Palpatine was entirely uninterested in Anakin in a sexual way? My feelings on this vary - sometimes I do see it and sometimes I don't. I see the constant unnecessary touching and constantly invading Anakin's personal space and I'm like: I need to perform exorcism on myself until I don't remember ever seeing this ever again. Then I see the intent behind and I think - hm, perhaps this is purely a slaver's touch asserting dominance over his property. Like I said, my feelings on this are unclear. Let's just say it's really fucking gross either way, which is something we can all agree on.

Step five: The actual sex. Again, in Palpatine's case, this manifests as revealing himself for who he is (abuser) and taking Anakin (the abused) down with him.

TLDR; you have to have the process of grooming at the forefront of your mind to write Palpatine well - even if in different aus his victim does not need to always be Anakin.

boy i did not mean for this shit to be this long lmao i hope this helps clarify not just how to effectively write Palpy but also for my girls and boys who may stumble upon a groomer irl.

Please be safe out there and talk to whoever you can to help you if you encounter a groomer.