#and he has long road to becoming a better person if he chooses that road

[accio-victuuri]

XZ’s GQ February issue candies 🍬

now that we all had the time to appreciate the lovely photos and videos from that cover & collab — which is honestly a whole meal on it’s own, now is the time for some sweets. 🫶🏼 nothing too extravagant, a few similarities and clues we have connected only. i think the best candy still is the fact that it’s now confirmed that zz & wyb both have a good relationship with gq. even rocco going as far as choosing xz to start having simultaneous cover releases with other countries. sit tight and wait for all the toxic narratives to be proven wrong. don’t sweat it. the road ahead is long. let’s enjoy life and support the boys! 🫶🏼

One thing i noticed, and was actually surprised about was WYB posting an ad for Super X as early as 8:00 AM. Tho he may post at 8:05, which is rare, he usually does ad posts at 10:00. The 8:05 is mostly done by the brands. We have talked about them trying their best not have work overlap, this is a minor one, but as soon as GQ posted at 9:30 i feel like i know what’s happening. Then it didn’t stop till 12:00 nn. It doesn’t help cause i’m clowning that the short film feature for this cover was assigned Chapter 8. WYB posted at 8, the full short film is 8. What a nice coincidence!

Knowing WYB is not a stranger to doing short films with GQ and their love for movies! It wouldn’t really surprise me now if GG does a full feature about LOCH with them. These two really chose the same publication to do exclusive for their projects 😌😌

the similarity that i love is them in the bathroom and then looking at the mirror. tho wyb’s are scenes from HB, these stills were first seen @ GQ.

there is a story here 👀👀

it’s nice too how GQ used ZZ’s photos and put them in the frames. what a nice touch! since this is essentially his dream 💭

+ peter pan pop up art book on the bed too!

overall, there is really not that much we can clown about when it comes to photos alone. tho what gg is wearing has an interesting story as shared by @rainbowsky here. some may say it’s the stylist and magazine’s choice but we still love seeing the association. In addition, the clothes were inspired by Nicole Kidman’s clothes in a Chanel perfume ad. i love the unconventional wedding dress choice here, it fits them! <3

moving on to the biggest way we can cpn tho is the interview & cover story.

i especially liked the questions, it wasn’t cutesy. it asked what needed to be asked.

here are some of the similarities i found with them and their outlook in life and career. 🤍

First of all, being professional is an unavoidable topic. You can have a non-major background, but you must have excellent professional skills. This is what I want to do, this is who I am. I feel that I am not enough, and i’m too far behind.

I think (improving acting skills) is a cumulative process. You can’t make a big step forward with just one movie. This is difficult for me to happen. So you have to keep filming, but you have to keep filming good films and don't consume yourself.

It’s the intent to be a better actor and the self awareness of not having that “background” people expect them to have. However, they can compensate by being professional. by being the hardest working person in the room. Sometimes I feel like it’s okay for them to praise themselves and not always be this critical, but i guess that’s what make them the best too cause they have high standards for themselves.

At present, I want to be an actor who makes the audience like you. Maybe everyone is not your fan, or even not particularly interested in you, but you know that he has a drama, Do you want to watch it? His dramas are all good. I want to do this. This is my current goal. Is it possible to become the actor I like? This is a rule.

THIS. This!!!!!! I feel like they both have this outlook. They don’t need every single person to be their “fan” but the goal is to become known and liked by the general public. That people are familiar with them as good actors with excellent works. It’s why there is absolutely no need to beat yourself up on who is the better fan. It doesn’t keep the boys up at night. Lol.

There are many. For example, Zhou Xun has always been my favorite actor.

Zhou Xun! Who has worked with WYB in various projects, primarily with Chanel! I hope ZZ gets to work with her too.

I used to take the subway every day. for me there’s nothing I can't do. What do you think I can do? Say hello and leave. It’s just that I don’t want to cause confusion and trouble for everyone or cause a bad reaction.

The two of them have the same intention of not wanting to cause trouble to the people. That means making sure their fans do not cause unnecessary public issues like gathering in certain places.

Everyone has their own boundaries, and some people have no sense of propriety. I stay away from such people, but when the boundaries are broken again and again and the bottom line is touched, I will get very angry.

Chongqing pepper is here! lol. I see them being very patient and understanding cause they know what people expect of celebrities. But they won’t also take things lying down. They will fight if need be.

In principle, I am a very rigid person. If I insist on something and I think it is right, it will be difficult to be convinced. For example, if I want to be an actor, I don’t want to do anything other than being an actor.

I just want to do it well, just try my best right now. Maybe the result is not good, but what should I do? This is all I can do.

Sounds familiar? Especially the part that says I want to do it well? They have the same braincell 🙃

Now let’s look at the cover story. First, i wanna point out the comment of the interviewer about ZZ: “Before meeting, I thought Xiao Zhan would be very cautious about interviews. To my surprise, Xiao Zhan had a rare sense of relaxation, answered all questions, and even had some humor.”

Which is actually a common misconception about XZ or — you know what? he was kind cautious before but as time goes by, he became more relaxed and candid with his answers. It’s still insightful, but not as practiced. In the Q&A, he mentioned that there are things that cannot be said. Setting boundaries like that. Similarly, WYB is the same. We’ve heard stuff saying that he is in a more relaxed state now. I love that for them!

I still sneak out to ride a bicycle, take a walk, and do a CityWalk. Only once, just now in after walking in the alley for 5 minutes, I was recognized. I also sneaked into the cinema to watch a movie. No one will care about you, really. after leaving the Internet, many things will be solved easily. Sometimes the world is right in front of us.

This goes out to everyone that says how can they go out? How are the CPNs of them spending time together be true? Well this is the answer. Sneaked into a cinema to watch a movie? I hope they do that together too ^^

When he goes to different cities, Xiao Zhan will bring the same type of pillows and quilts. "I will bring everything that can help me sleep well." He has also tried aromatherapy lamps, lavender essential oil, and various other products that make him fall asleep when applied on his body.

This is such an easy cpn for us. Remember that time DLS clowned WYB about the aromatherapy candles? HAHAHAHAHAHA!

-END.

[eros-thanatos89]

meta/thoughts on BCS

Oh, man. I've never posted meta, or just thoughts on shows before, but I'm trying to give myself permission to be as cringe as I want and to ramble on the internet about the fictional things that I think way too much about. So here goes, my first meta post!

I just rewatched BCS S5E3 "The Guy For This" (let's be real: mostly for thirsty reasons, because I wanted to see Lalo and Nacho looking pretty in the garage scene with Saul) and Goddamn, it just smacked me in the face and reminded me what a pivotal episode it is in so many ways.

One of the many recurring themes that I love to see explored so well in both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul is the many ways that people deal with (or don't) the consequences of their actions, and this episode is just chock full of that, as well as setting up the first steps down the "bad choice road" or the road ahead for so many characters.

In that garage, Saul really steps into Saul as we know him in Breaking Bad. By taking Lalo's money (even if under duress) he's taking the first step into leaving Jimmy behind and becoming the *criminal lawyer* we all love/love to hate. Jimmy's pattern of avoiding the consequences of his actions or uncomfortable emotions like the guilt over Chuck's disgrace and death is running away: by escaping into his scams, and by literally running away from himself, choosing a new identity--he's not Jimmy anymore; he's Saul, so he doesn't have to lug around Jimmy's baggage. And even though he tries to backtrack from this first step onto the bad choice road leading to him becoming "un amigo del cartel", when he tries to suggest that Lalo find another lawyer, it's too late. As Nacho tells him, "When you're in, you're in."

And Nacho would know! Speaking of running away, Nacho has been trying to evade or escape his problems for so long: first by setting up Tuco to avoid having his side hustle with Pryce discovered, and in this episode, trying to convince his Papa to run away with him to Canada. The scene where Manuel confronts Nacho at his house never fails to break my heart. Nacho is so desperate for Manuel to escape with him to a new, safe life, and Manuel is so adamant that Nacho face up to the consequences of his choices. Which ultimately, he has no choice but to do. He has to confront what he's done and give himself up to save his Papa's life, just like Manuel encouraged him to do so long ago. But by giving up his life rather than turning himself in to the police. It's so damn tragic.

And then there's Kim. She's always running away from the poverty and instability of her past by so doggedly pursuing success as a lawyer. I love how this episode highlights her increasing dissatisfaction with Mesa Verde and her yearning to pursue more meaningful pro-bono work so she can use the law to help people like the little, powerless girl she used to be. The confrontation between her and Mr. Acker is stellar. Kim has this rare moment of vulnerability, letting down her walls to share a story of her childhood struggles with Mr. Acker in a genuine attempt to connect with him, only to have him scoff at her and accuse her of making it up to manipulate him. You can tell his tirade about her being ultimately a selfish person who tries to comfort herself with acts of charity really rankles her because it goes so strongly against her sense of self and represents everything it seems she's afraid of becoming, and so much of what she resents about Howard: the entitlement, the sense of ease and privilege, the self-congratulatory charity acts (don't get me wrong, I really like Howard, pompous as he can sometimes be, but I think this is how Kim views him). By the end of the episode, when she escalates Saul toying with a beer bottle on the balcony into throwing them into the parking lot, you can already see her pivoting and taking those first steps down the road that ultimately leads to the plot against Howard, which she justifies to herself in the name of using the Sandpiper money to fund her pro-bono work. And then in the end of the series, she both runs away AND atones for her actions by moving to Florida and living a life literally leeched of all color and joy, and is just doing penance by living a muted, mediocre life.

Domingo's arc in this episode is so crucial, too! Lalo and Nacho recruit Saul to feed him the information to undermine Fring, but when he meets Hank and Steve Gomez in prison, it starts him on the road to transforming from Domingo/Ocho Loco to Krazy 8. Ultimately leaving the cartel (I like to think because of the loss of his friend Nacho) and setting himself up as an independent dealer and even snitching on his own cousin, Emilio; which then leads to his collision with Walt and Jesse.

And the scene with Mike in the bar! The way he's barely holding it together as he tries (not very successfully) to drink away the pain and guilt caused by killing Werner just a few episodes before (S4E9) and is so triggered by the postcard that reminds him of their conversation is so powerful. I just love how he encounters the group of guys who try to intimidate and rob him and he defends himself in this episode, but we later see him intentionally return and seek them out in S5E5 "Dedicado a Max" in an act of self-loathing and roundabout self-harm via taking a beating and not even trying to defend himself.

I'm rambling, but these shows make me litcherally mentally unwell with how fantastically nuanced and textured the writing, acting, visual storytelling, music, everything is! I'm just going to be ruminating on all these many facets of accepting consequences, atoning, and/or running away affects these characters and the arc of both shows and the world they inhabit for the next long while....

[qsycomplainsalot]

So I watched Furiosa

Furiosa Road: a Star Wars Story. It wasn't likely to live up to Fury Road, and it didn't. It would have been a tall order. While it was well worth paying to see in theaters, I was still a little disappointed; I'm going to explain why, without spoilers, and then after a very visible cut I'll comment on a few specific things in the movie.

First of all it felt long, but not two hours long so I guess it speaks to its quality. Going through the cast, everyone did a good job, although I wasn't blown away by the on screen chemistry of Anya Taylor-Joy and Tom Burke. More on that later. Chris Hemsworth as the overarching antagonist is this movie's standout performance, in a way that I'm somewhat conflicted about. More on that later too.

Overall it feels as if, after making Fury Road a trim and thrilling movie, the creatives behind it strung together all the piles of amazing ideas they had left on the cutting room floor into another complete movie, but not a very cohesive story with a beginning middle and end with enough connective tissue to captivate an audience. There's no shortage of props, costumes, characters, stunts and just straight up visuals, although the music is not up to the standards set by Fury Road. What's really missing is a tight knit script.

I'd say watch it if you like the franchise, otherwise I'd just wait for it to release on small screens.

My biggest complaint with this movie is that it's split between two relationships, between Hemsworth as Dementus or Tom Burke as Jack with Furiosa, when really with how it's paced it could barely afford one. I am just completely confused by people saying Jack and Furiosa's relationship was the highlight of the movie, it was vague, bland, and Jack died before I could really care about him. All this relationship did was explain how Furiosa became so good at driving a war rig, despite the fact that by this point in the movie she'd fended for herself just fine, presumably using what she'd been taught by the vuvuzela tribe. Likewise Dementus as a character is extremely simple, in a good way, and is the a better representation of time passing in the movie than literal text onscreen telling you it's been fifteen years or some such. It's on the nose, but Chris Hemsworth is acting his heart out and it's always a joy to see him on screen. He's spiraling his way through the movie in a perfect exemple of what Furiosa must avoid becoming. So knowing that, the main plot should be about Furiosa having to lose her way home (the star map tattoo on her arm, which we know she lose by Fury Road) and choose to stay at the Citadel to kill him, setting up a bitter ending where she's gained nothing and is stuck killing more people instead of letting go of revenge and going home. Unfortunately Furiosa: the video game: the movie very much lives in the shadow of its 2015 sequel, and so the plot is split further to set that up. I've talked about how it hurts the pacing and how much screentime the other characters could have gotten, but I think it actually greatly diminished the ending. The end of Furiosa has her catch up to Dementus, bind him and beat him up, asking him to give her her childhood and mother back, only for Dementus to refuse to play along in anyway. He tells her that revenge achieves nothing, that he knows from personal experience and that she can kill him however she wants, that he doesn't particularly care. I don't do it justice it's a pretty good end to his arc this movie. Instead of Furiosa killing him there and then and validating that speech for a cohesive theme to the movie (keeping the hope stuff for Fury Road where it works), the history man voiceover tells us that although the true end of Dementus is disputed, Furiosa told him the truth, that she kept him alive with a peach tree growing out of his dick ?? And then she brings the peach to Immortan's wives in the Citadel, and then the credits are interspersed with shots from Fury Road. I can excuse the impossibility of keeping someone alive while a tree is growing on them for the sake of Mad Max movies very much being wasteland fairy tales, but I think directly linking Furiosa: Road One with Fury Road like that is both pointless and very hamfisted, on top of being a big disappointment when it comes to Dementus' character. Like the guy was clearly fucked up from losing his daughters just kill him and be done with it. Anyway yeah I don't think I'll rewatch this movie nearly as often as I rewatch Fury Road. Shoutout to the Octoboss though, he's the Most Valuable Sidecharacter of this movie.

[g00ngala]

hopefully this is the last long post i will ever have to make about hit disney show the owl house but I am so sick of people posting paragraphs of lukewarm takes on philip's death so. one last rant for the road, i suppose.

belos's death wasn't unsatisfying, nor was it purely physical. first of all, philip is a representation of greater societal problems (which are notably still there, remember, there's people who want to reestablish his order for their own gain). he is a plague and parasite on the world and a demonstration of humanity's worst cruelties, and his pathetic death by boiling rain and stomping as the most true and good character, who does her best to do right by everyone and believes in second chances, in the entire show, looks at him with no emotion in a way that directly parallels the way caleb's ghost looks down upon him, and he claws at her feet in a desperate attempt to use another person's good nature once again to get what he wants, and fails and dies, is INCREDIBLY symbolic.

and TWO. the point ISN'T that philip is an Evil Liar Who Lies and his backstory is being shafted for simple evil, he is an incredibly realistic depiction of how many people are consumed by their fear of what they don't understand and their hatred, let it fester into a desire to harm, and then elaborate lies to not only manipulate others but trick themselves by their own rhetoric so they don't have to feel bad for it

throughout the show philip is paralleled to cult leaders and militaristic dictators, and he is LITERALLY a puritan colonizer. philip is white man ego in its purest form. yes, the awful society is 75% the fault of Just One Guy, but this is a cartoon. he represents every man who has tried to build a world like this, who burns what he doesn't understand and makes up lies to justify it and trick his own guilt into not eating him alive.

people keep bitching that philip didn't truly face his own lies and realize how awful he was before he died, or that he wasn't given any chance to change, but philip has run the fuck out of chances. the point is he will never learn because he chooses not to. philip had to die because he'd rather lie and rot and take everyone down with him than EVER admit he's wrong. he killed his brother because he tricked himself into believing that caleb betrayed him, romanticized the idea of Caleb in his head and delusionally convinced himself that he tried to save him, while his knife hangs over his brother's ghost eternally, symbolizing the shoved down guilt he'll never truly outrun.

he made hunter believe it was his fault that philip repeatedly harmed him, he told the people of the isles after slaughtering them over and over that it's better if he rules them because he is better than them, he eternally victimizes himself over and over because he is an abuser. his lies are not just to others but to himself. he makes himself believe that the ends justify the means, when the ends are nonsensical rhetoric and the means are horrific violence. because philip is a person who may have had the capacity for good, but he chooses to live in his own hatred and rot everything around him, taking advantage of hunger for power and good natured kindness in the same breath, and he chooses to turn away from the mirror every time, to refuse to acknowledge the monster he's become because he's a coward.

the titan said it themself. his motives aren't genuine, not because he's evil for evil's sake but because he'd do anything to continue to live in his own delusion of heroism and perpetual victimhood. philip is someone you can find in the behaviors of dictators and colonists and evangelical christians and run of the mill abusers all throughout history. this doesn't make him a cookie cutter villain, it makes him a REALISTIC villain, or as realistic as you can get in a cartoon on the disney channel. he wants power and he wants admiration and he wants death and suffering to the people he's scared of, and he'd rather kill himself and take everyone down with him than ever face who he is.

not all villains need a redemption arc to be complex. he doesn't love to rub his hands together cartoonishly and watch the world burn, but some people do actually enjoy harming others. but the realism comes from how he lies to himself and others about it.

sometimes someone can be truly evil, not because they were born that way, but because they choose to be, and because they choose to live in denial about it until they're rotting in the ground.

[alice-angel12x]

Wait.. you're telling me Epel and Death have history together?! (Well more like his ancestors-) BUT STILL

Is that why instead of being afraid when he first saw them he was impressed with their fighting abilities??

Now I need more interactions with them OR even better! Epel inviting Death to Harveston because come on! And maybe there is a legend of Death there? As the kind person who helped the small town grow and become what it is today!

Also sorry about all of this, Epel is my favourite character and your writing brings me so much joy so I'm very happy right now! :D

"You're inviting me? To what I may ask?" Y/n asked.

" I only got the news this morning too, granny is so unreasonable," Epel sighed. "There’s an annual festival in the Harveston this weekend."

"Let me take a guess. A festival in Harveston, at this time of Year... Moln Mountain’s Kelkkarotu I believe it's called," Y/n said with a slight uncertainty.

"Y-yeah how did you know?" Epel asked in surprise.

"I have been around for a very long time," Y/n answered simply.

Epel ended up inviting a few other some with great interest others, not so much. Sebek, Jade, and even Idia came along to the trip.

As soon as the cool air of Harveston hit Y/n's cold skin, a wave of memories and nostalgia washed over them. The once small town had become a thriving community.

As Epel explained the geography of the land and it's lands, and apple specialty, he noticed Y/n seemed to be off somewhere in their mind. Y/n looked on with a sense of familiarity.

Jade would question this, but Idia would reason that maybe Y/n would have come across the town before. Maybe a few times.

When Epel offered Y/n an apple fresh from harvest. They learned that Y/n Death does not Eat... Furthermore lacked organs to digest so there is no point in eating.

So Down the road to Epel's house they went. It was a beautiful cabin, fit to stand the cold weather of Harveston. Y/n hurried them don't, to get warm clothes on. Wouldn't want them to catch their death out here. Speaking of which.

"Inside the shed? Are you actually an indoor type?" Idia asked.

"No, I played outside almost every day. Even in harsh rain, I couldn’t stand still. So in those days, I’d prefer to play in the shed which it’s wider and has fewer things than in my room.  I played with the farming tools, and even made treasures and a secret base there," Epel reminisced. "  But there’s one time when I was in the shed and the snow falls down really bad… And the door of the shed was blocked by the piled snow and it couldn’t open."

" You, as a child, alone in that shed? You lack caution as a mere human," Sebek gasped.

"And even if I shouted or banged my hand on the door, nobody noticed. It kept getting colder, and I was getting hungry… it was so bad that time," Epel reminisced.

"Then how did you manage to get out of the shed?" Jade asked. Epel thought for a moment and smiled.

"Well need a bit more context for that story. Which we will find in the center of town," Epel said mysteriously.

"Oh, alright. Hold on to your mystery for now," Jade chuckled

So Epel leads the group to the center of town. to get to the hall and to meet his grandmother Malya.

When Epel and his grandma chatted, the others were completely lost on what they were saying. As the two talk in their native dialect. But Y/n was happy to translate for them.

As the boys choose the fabrics that would be used to make their plushie sled pullers. Grim being Grim got hungry again and wanted more sweet apples.

As he scanned for unattended food and saw a treasure trove of some. At the base of some state were the biggest, ripest, ruby-colored apples he had ever seen. He's never seen such perfect apples.

As Grim made a mad dash towards them, he suddenly slammed face-first into a shovel. Grim hissed and looked up to see an old man glaring down at him.

The old man began to scold the fire cat, catching the attention of the NRC boys, and Epel's grandmother. Y/n apologized on Grim's behalf.

The NRC boys were wondering why he was so angry. So Epel explained the significance of the statue.

"This is the state of Harveston's Founder. When our ancestors were in a hard place, the founder came across them and lead them here. Were they would teach and raise the orphans to survive here," Epel said.

The boys looked up at the Statue. It was of a familiar figure, in one hand they held a lantern above their head. Lighting the path in front of them, while in the other held a baby close to their chest. Behind the founder were three children huddled up close to them. One was looking behind in fear, the middle one simply hugged close, and the last one looked up at the found in awe.

What they noticed was that hand holding the lantern, looked like it was broken long ago.

"Oh, Epel. What happened to the statue's hand?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, did the hand used to hold the lantern? Cause the drilled-in hook looks strange," Idia added.

"Oh, that's was the founder's doing," grandma Malya laughed.

"The founder's...doing?" Sebek asked skeptically.

"Yes, even all these the founder's spirit has always been watching over us. We've noticed their spirit loves taking their lantern and putting it in places to signify their presence," The old man spoke. "And even before that the people of this town pick their best apple from their harvest. And place it at the base to pay respects."

"What a kind spirit," Y/n commented.

"Indeed, you could ask any local here and they would have a story to tell about their encounters. Even Epel, when was trapped in the shed when he was younger," Grandma Malya chuckled.

"Oh yeah, that story. Epel you never finished that story," Grim said.

"Oh yeah. When I was freezing, I suddenly felt this warmth. Not in the hypothermia kind of way, but like there was a small fire nearby. And I remember hearing someone," Epel explained.

"Heard someone?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, they were whispering encouragements and telling me I just needed one more push to open the door. And I did, with one of the tools I managed to free myself," Epel smiled.

"Ah yes, and when we finally found Epel. My son, Epel's father, saw something in the shed," Grandma Malya smiled. "It was the founder's lantern, once again in a place where it wasn't meant to be."

Soon Malya had to go make the sled Plushies, and Y/n opted to help her. While the boys looked up at the statue.

"hey, you know. This founder statute looks a lot like Y/n" the fire cat commented.

Epel's went wide and he looked at the statue to Y/n and repeated 2 more times.

"No...No... It... They can't be right?" Epel gasped.

___________________________________________________________

Part 2? Maybe. well, see.

[whomst-art-thou-whomst-whomst]

Oh No! Here Comes Trouble Character Meta: Guangyan

Your Honor, I have no excuse for any of this. I live by the meta and die by the meta, and the storytelling in this show is so phenomenal…the thing is, there is sooo much to look at in this drama. I’d like to thank @avenuex123 for her video talking about it, because it sold me on trying the show for the first time (she does amazing drama reviews if you haven’t watched her on YouTube yet). I wanted to start out with these characters by exploring Guangyan—to be completely frank, my favorite character—because I think that in a way he experiences the most development in the series; his whole life and worldview change, and he goes from prioritizing his identity as a standoffish and praise-seeking overachiever to being a loyal and empathetic friend to Chuying and soulmate to Yiyong.

(tbh the resemblance between Yiyong and Guangyan and Elphaba and Galinda in Wicked CANNOT be overstated, look at the lyrics from “What is this Feeling?” and “For Good” and tell me that’s not their arc right there)

Ahem.

Let’s explore Guangyan through his various identities in this show.

I want to be clear at the start that although the show is not explicitly written as a BL, I do see queer undertones in his relationship with Yiyong, and that does inform my meta. Regardless of any kinds of undertones, this relationship right here is the best development of the entire series.

The Medical Student

I start here because this is one of the first things that Guangyan introduced himself with, something that he initially thinks makes him better than Yiyong, and in the last scene where he and Guangyan actually talk, it’s the thing that he wants Yiyong’s advice on pursuing. You know how you consult your calligraphy friends for pre-med advice?

Confession: I get Guangyan’s whole attitude at the start of the show. I hate it but I get it. Because I’ve been that overachiever kid (right down to the clothes, swear to god) and it’s really tempting, especially if you are younger, insecure, and/or starting out somewhere, to define yourself by and remind everyone about your most successful identity, regardless of whether it’s something you care about. Anyone who’s worn a mask of their own accomplishments knows that it’s a double edged sword—it traps you in an image, a state of being, in the minds of others.

And that is why I LOVE Guangyan’s developing interest in Forensic Medicine near the end of the show�� because this is something he didn’t just choose to look good or respectable or worthy of praise, this is a really long road (just looking at the years of school required in my country), this is something he’s choosing because it can help make a difference, it can help with investigations Yiyong and Chuying work on.

The Boy Next Door

Yes, this is where my queer meta begins and doesn’t end. Apologies to Chuying, she doesn’t get much mention in this post but she will get her own whole post soon.

So.

Guangyan’s relationship with Yiyong literally changes the course of his life. He is such a different person by the end of the series—granted, he’s still fussy and the pastel tsundere of the pre-meds, but he has actual friends, he is honest about what he’s feeling, he has dreams for the future, and he’s kinder, rather than just nice. I need season 2 for many reasons, one of which is that I need Guangyan trying to become a supernatural CSI.

But this “bully” turned neighbor turned friend had that effect on him. Yiyong never told him to change, but Guangyan changed himself through his interactions with Yiyong. He’s becoming someone who wants to help people in a career that won’t be as automatically praised as a doctor. Find yourself someone who challenges your ideas and makes you reevaluate your ego while still believing you’re smart and good at things.

Ah yes, the Simping for A Hooligan Smile.

But importantly, this very quick bit right near the end of the show, when Guangyan pays his respects to Yiyong’s father and grandfather and shows them one of Yiyong’s comics he has saved on his phone, which even Yiyong’s mother giggles over as looking stupid…and there’s the drawing he snuck away that Yiyong did earlier in the series, as his phone cover…and with that bit there’s this:

Give me one heterosexual explanation for that. ONE.

But like I said, in the bigger picture it’s about the growth that is really key to seeing what Yiyong and Guangyan have changed about each other.

The reluctant frenemy ally…

becomes this:

I love the idea that Guangyan is around Yiyong’s house so much now that he is this comfortable just chilling, and I love that he’s mirroring Yiyong completely here—he could be in a chair, he could be sitting propped against the wall, but he’s chosen to lie down next to Yiyong like they’re still sharing a bed.

The Denial Expert

The show handles it sooo well—it never outright says, “Guangyan has so bought into this serious student-image that he refuses to let himself have things he really wants,” but we see evidence of it in every single episode. Actions: he won’t get a taxi when he needs one, he won’t admit to Yiyong that he’s a fan, he refuses the big bedroom bc he claims his father needs it for remote work. Possessions: he loves the amusement park toy that Yiyong won for him and attaches it to his bag, he thinks the doll is cute, he even hides his sneakily acquired Yiyong comics. Taste: he is the only one to love the cupcake made by the evil baker, and it’s only when he’s supposedly “following the kidnapping suspect” during the amusement park date with Yiyong that he eagerly order a parfait for himself and debates getting himself ice cream. You know, to blend in.

Local Housecat Wastes Time and Money in Company of Exasperated Puppy

It’s the little things—getting a bandana hand-made for him, tagging along with Yiyong to the cemetery (he so didn’t need the walking stick, you just know it was for the adventurous aesthetic), even him slowly taking more of the blanket to share as he grows more comfortable with Yiyong sharing his bed—all these things that show his growth in these episodes.

Pu Yiyong’s Comics Fan

GOSH ITS ALMOST LIKE COMICS ARE A METAPHOR OR SOMETHING

(Sorry)

Anyway. It’s just so important that Guangyan is the only person to really see Yiyong as an artist. Like most things Yiyong cares about, he doesn’t talk much about this passion of his; in the scene where they are writing their career plans in school, we see Yiyong is hesitant to write “cartoonist.” But he loves it, it’s something he’s put time and effort into building. And Guangyan is quite literally the only person who likes—loves—his art. Even his friends only support his website to be supportive. Anyway, I’m hoping in season 2 (which has to happen please please please) Yiyong finally finds out about his fan.

[finisnihil]

daz is back at it again with another jingluo au bc THEY WONT FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE

so hear me out, a Dangerously Yours (the radio show AND MORE SPECIFICALLY THE MASQUERADE EP) jingluo au with jing yuan as rudolph and luocha as catherine (katherine???? i lwk dont know how to spell her name)

it was honestly difficult for me to choose who was who (i had a lot of thoughts of jing yuan as catherine) but ultimately decided on him as rudolph because of personality and also their roles. i also think luocha as catherine would be a better fit because of the ending

BUT I WANT TO HEAR WHAT U THINK :3

OH MY GOD HI DAZ, YES YES I AGREE.

Jingluo is truly like little parasites that burrow in you and refuse to budge.

ANYWAYS YES DANGEROUSLY YOURS I definitely agree. Catherine as Luocha is the best fit I believe. Catherine approaches Rudolph first, she's the one who lures him into the game of wits, akin to how Luocha lures Jing Yuan into their own metaphorical chess game by drawing his attention enough to get him invested. When they take too long, both of them are eventually pushed to ignite the final confrontation so to speak, forcing the other player to abandon their passive role of observing them to become more active.

I also do believe that between the two of them, Luocha would have more difficulty firing the gun in that moment. Jing Yuan would struggle but he's fired the gun before, he's the one who read Dan Feng's sentencing after all, he's practiced. Luocha on the other hand is somebody who would struggle to let go, his entire character is being unable to let go.

Luocha cannot let go of life because the dead will return and Yaoshi will not let him. He has bad memories of his home world but he can't let go of his clothes from there, wearing them to remind himself of the road he must travel. He carts around the coffin because he cannot let go of a deal he made. He risks being exposed too soon to heal Xueyi because he can't let go that she's hurt. As Jingliu says, there's a hole where his heart is and he exhausts himself trying to fill it. If Jing Yuan became something that fills that hole, Luocha wouldn't be able to let him go. Rudolph is there to test Catherine, and she says it herself, Rudolph is dearer than her country. Jing Yuan wouldn't need to be tested, he's already pulled that trigger enough times to prove himself. Luocha, however, would grapple with duty over happiness, having to take on the burden of that hole in his heart again to do what he needs to do. It fits with the canon too, if Luocha truly seeks a greater alliance with the Xianzhou, he has to be ready to uphold that above himself.

Jing Yuan also fits as Rudolph especially well. He plays into the game already having an idea of what's going on and still gets blindsided by Luocha's moves. Rudolph wasn't sure if Catherine could shoot him in that moment and Jing Yuan couldn't see Luocha's true intentions until it was too late. Jing Yuan would also let Luocha go, the way Rudolph did Catherine. Jing Yuan let Blade go, he let Dan Heng go, and he lets Baiheng go every time he visits Bailu. He let Igor go knowing he would never see him again, that Igor had a life and a destiny he could be part of but not dictate. He let Jingliu go when he made the decision to kill her and release her from the Mara. In the way that Luocha cannot let go, Jing Yuan cannot bear to hold on. Even if he ends up alone again, he can't bring himself to chain anyone to his person in such a way.

In regards to his relationship with Luocha, it could end up a bit dysfunctional because of this. In the same way an animal used to captivity can't take care of itself in the wild, Luocha wouldn't take being freed for his own good after finally finding fulfillment very well. Jing Yuan would release him in a bid to prioritize his happiness/health and Luocha would die outside the safety of the fence, still looking for the hand that feeds him. To Rudolph, it was better to let Catherine think he never loved her when to Catherine, not knowing he was always on her side would be a greater pain. Jing Yuan and Luocha would be much the same. They're a bit unhealthy in that way but it adds to their charm.

Anyways, of course they would fit the episode literally titled "Masquerade". They're both donning masks/personas and engaging in a dance without truly being vulnerable enough to know the other fully. When the masks do come off, the dance is over, and one of them falls off the music box to be freed of the song.

[nofomogirl]

Ineffable Beaurocracy vs. Ineffable Husbands

Season 2 ended with two things very few had expected:

Gabriel and Beelzebub are now a happy couple.

Aziraphale and Crowley aren't (neither happy nor a couple).

As we're all processing, it's inevitable that comparisons sprout left and right, and more and more often I hear voices pointing out how ridiculously quick and easy the romance between Gabriel and Beelzebub was, as well as questions why exactly Aziraphale and Crowley couldn't be the same. Especially Aziraphale, since the fandom likes to blame him in particular for not being in a happy established relationship with Crowley.

I understand the bitterness and frustration but do people honestly think that Gabriel had the same obstacles to overcome, the same sacrifices to make, the same risks to take?

I like Gabriel as a character and I'm happy he found love but please, let's not forget what kind of a person he is - selfish, self-important, entitled, privileged and inconsiderate. Falling in love doesn't remove these traits. It doesn't magically reform him. It might have been a start, a first step on a road to becoming a decent person but that growth will probably never happen if he just ran and locked himself in a happy bubble with Beelzebub.

Yes, he's happy now. Yes, he's out of the picture and not a threat anymore. Doesn't mean he's a nice guy all of a sudden.

Gabriel could choose Beelzebub because he never questions his actions. He believes that whatever he does is inherently right. It doesn't even matter if not long ago he condemned someone for doing the same thing.

Gabriel could choose Beelzebub because he never cared about the consequences of his actions. He never stopped to think about what kind of pain and misery he will cause others. We were shown it plenty of times.

Gabriel could choose Beelzebub not because he was ready to sacrifice so much for them but exactly because he's incapable of making sacrifices. Whatever makes him happy is his priority because he cannot see how anything could be possibly more important. He's an angel, therefore he is inherently good, therefore good things make him happy, therefore whatever makes him happy is inherently good, and the happier he is, the better it must be.

Gabriel could choose Beelzebub because he doesn't care about Earth, about Creation, about God's Plan, and about Heaven. You might try to argue that he did, especially the latter ones. But I think there's a reason why his persona was modeled after an obnoxious CEO rather than a fundamentalist of any kind. Because he is not a believer, he is a guy who was put in charge and has only the shallowest possible knowledge of what his company actually does, the barest of the bare minimums, and never actually tried its products himself. Gabriel had been always just going through the motions, putting in minimal effort, and covering it with a smile and pep. In a way, it's actually sad because he never knew anything else. He was put in a job and told to do it, so he kept doing it until he found something he actually cared about.

Gabriel could choose Beelzebub for the very same reasons he was ready to start Armageddon, and Aziraphale didn't choose Crowley for the very same reasons he stood against Heaven to save the Earth and humanity.

Aziraphale couldn't choose Crowley the same way Gabriel chose Beelzebub, because Azirapahle is the exact opposite of Gabriel.

So before you write that Crowley deserves someone who would love him like Gabriel, ask yourself seriously if you think Crowley could love a person like Gabriel. Because we know he doesn't. He hates Gabriel and loves Aziraphale and there's a good reason why.

[thespectralvision]

I typed up a little thing on Facebook, where I'm trying to be more open about my struggles and less internal, and I wanted to share it here too, since this is my space to be my weird little robot loving self:

It doesn’t take long for most people to realize I’m a Marvel fan. Usually that comes with a follow up question- who is your favorite character? I love watching the reactions; it’s clear people expect me to say Spider-Man or Iron Man or one of the other, more ‘popular,’ heroes. My favorite reaction when I said it was Vision was a comment made of “That’s a bold choice.”

The Vision certainly isn’t the most popular Avenger, it’s true. I’ve talked with artists at conventions who don’t bother bringing prints of him because they just don’t sell and space is limited. I see the comments on conventions where Mr. Bettany is a guest saying “Is Vision the best you can do?”. It sucks seeing that, and upsets me because every character is important to someone. Yes he’s not the most exciting or action packed hero. He’s kind of silly looking. He’s a thinker more than a fighter. And he’s been treated pretty badly in writing since the late 80’s and forgotten until very recently.

Trying to explain why he’s my favorite would take me days. Even choosing my favorite comic run/issue is hard. I would argue that Tom King’s series The Vision from 2015-16 is my favorite series of all time. I’ve read it over and over, and while it’s contested by some as being out of character I think it’s one of her few times Vision (and more importantly his trauma) has really been explored. I’ll talk about that run in another post maybe. I’m also very fond of some one off issues, like Avengers Spotlight 40 from 1990, where (White) Vision finally seeks help for everything he’s struggling with.

The comic I always reread on really bad days though, the one that really explains what Vision has become for me, is Avengers: No Road Home 10, the finale of the run. When I met Paul Bettany I mentioned this story to him - I don’t know if he’s read it or not, but he was kind enough to listen. In the run the godess Nyx wants to engulf the world in darkness, silencing everything. As someone who fights depression and has for a long time she feels almost symbolic of that. Quiet, calm, darkness and the end of light. She plans on doing this by finding The House of Ideas and destroying it, and at that point the run becomes somewhat metaphorical. Vision is the only Avenger able to follow her in before she closes the door, and ends up in the house - another dimension made of stories, where he faces Nyx alone. Now some context for the run - it begins with Vision, broken beyond repair and almost seeking death, believing he will finally be human if he can find a true death. Wanda and Monica and the others are very upset by this, trying to stop their friend and help him understand that death is not what makes us human (It is Vision after all, who always strives for something he can never truly be, while endlessly embodying the best of humanity despite that). He followed Nyx in because he wanted to die…And then we get this panel.

I won’t spoil much more, it’s a personal favorite run and I highly recommend it, but Vision eventually finds, and then becomes the light that defeats the darkness…using the power of stories, and memories, of his friends. And that’s what he became for me. I think about his stories, and the stories I want to tell about him to fight my own inner darkness. I paint images of him in bright colors and focus on the lights because it makes me feel better. He’s powered by the sun in the comics, and even in the MCU often symbolized with light through hologram like effects and the glowing Mind Stone. WandaVision made it clear he was the bright spot in Wanda’s life too. That’s just who and what Vision is in the Marvel-verses. One issue used the phrase "You were meant to be a Vision of mankind's brightest future" to describe him. And that’s one of the many reasons he’s my favorite. That’s what super hero stories are for I think, inspiring us and showing these silly spandex clad heroes against impossible odds to inspire us to fight the seemingly impossible things in our lives too.

I really love thinking about and writing these sorts of things. I tried blogging about comics and Vision for awhile but people didn’t seem interested. I think I’m going start doing it again for me, because much like my art it makes me happy sharing this silly Synthezoid with the world. Thank you Marvel, I never expected I would be so emotional about a red robot man but here we are.

[tadpolebrains]

Heyy it's me again! Can I ask for another headcanon? I love your writing SOOO MUCH

So, in my Astarion romance play through the possible answer "maybe you need a friend rather than a lover" hit me and I was wondering, what about Astarion with a Tav who slowly becomes his best friend, making him realize that friendship exists? I dunno how to explain it better, just Astarion and Tav being BFF!

Thank you in advance, hope you're doing ok and drinking enough water <3

Hello again! :D

TYSM dhdhdh <33. And this did just make me go grab water so yup drinking well. That line you’re talking about- I really wish there was some way to choose it in game and then maybe after defeating Cazador get together once he’s in a more stable mindset. But welp, we take what we can get

Anywho, let’s do this

Tav & Astarion Besties

• Tav starts doing little things on the road for him, and it drives Astarion crazy at first as he tries to repay each and every little deed so he never falls in their debt

• They make sure he has some dead animal to feed on at night if they aren’t comfortable with offering their neck themself. They offer to fix his hair since he can’t see himself in the mirror. They just… want to hang out with him. And that confuses him to no end, because surely they’re expecting something in return

• So he tries flirting. Seducing. But they just chuckle at his advances or jokingly flirt back in a way that makes him question if they’re being serious or not

• Suffice to say, he’s baffled in the beginning

• After a bit of his advances clearly falling short, Astarion is at a loss. Because he doesn’t know what he can offer them if not for his body. Doesn’t understand what they want from him

• Then the Araj encounter happens, and they back him up. Support his autonomy. And… Astarion starts to realize that maybe they don’t want something from him

• Maybe, after all these years, he’s found someone good. And he can’t tell if he hates that or is relieved

• Still, he clarifies with them, and when they say that he truly just needs a friend, and they want to be that friend… he needs time to adjust

• He still reverts to teasing or lightly flirting, but over time chuckles with them at a corny line or bad pun he’s made. He finds it liberating, to joke about something he’d relied on for so long. To be allowed to find it cheesy

• They help him get used it saying ‘no.’ Start by just asking absurd things of him to get him to scoff and incredulously turn them down. The word feels less foreign on his tongue after a while

• Astarion would get in the habit of saying ‘no’ before doing something anyway. He likes how the words sounds. Tav asks him to pick up something they dropped? “No, darling, get it yourself” as he proceeds to grab it for them regardless.

• Friendly insults and banter. Astarion would enjoy having someone to fire back and forth insults with without it meaning anything.

• Gossip. You just know that once they’re close enough, Astarion would enjoy leaning over to whisper little gossipy comments into someone’s ear. “Oh, gods. The man two seats to our right has the hair of a straw broom. We best stay away, lest he shed on us.”

• Inside jokes. Astarion has always relished in causing a bit of havoc and confusion, so making Tav randomly burst out laughing by making a comment in the middle of camp that no one else understands is highly entertaining for him. Especially if they couldn’t possibly explain why it’s so damn funny

• Just… having a person to sit in silence with sometimes. Especially at night, if he’s had a nightmare. He doesn’t want pity. He just needs to lay eyes on another living being for a while. Tav has woken up multiple times to him watching them sleep.

• Eventually, getting used to small points of physical contact. High fives. Fist bumps. Astarion doesn’t understand the point of such gestures, but still has to stifle a smile whenever Tav bugs him into giving them a high five.

• Talking him out of ascension. Tav being living proof that there’s more to people than wanting to use him for his body or affections. Proof that he can have a life surrounded by close friends, and that he can be a good friend

• They’d still visit his grave together. It’s something he needs another person there for, since he doesn’t even know how he’ll react to seeing it after so long.

• Astarion sewing up patches in Tav’s clothing. Or fussing over their hair. Using the excuse of “we’ll be seen in public together, and I cannot be seen with someone who looks like they’ve crawled out of a sewer. Your appearance is part of my public image.”

• Tav running after him when the sun begins to burn him again. Sitting with him until the sun goes down, knowing him well enough not to mutter any reassurances that may be taken as pitying. Sitting there in silent solidarity and offering a hand for him to hold should he want it.

• If they don’t end up near each other, writing letters and visiting often. Always bringing random little trinkets that he’d complain about taking up space or being a pain to carry around, but keeps protectively

• Joining him to search for a cure to his vampirism later down the line.

[blackjackkent]

Alllllll righty, it's been a WHOLE WEEK since I was able to do any writing about Rakha's ongoing Terrible Time In The Shadow-Cursed Lands, and I have been missing my poor fucked-up girl.

How're you holding up, Rakha?

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Quick recap (for my own benefit as much as anyone else's) - Rakha has reached Moonrise and it's been kind of a clusterfuck. We did save Minthara (and surprisingly enough, Rakha actually seems to like her, much to Lae'zel's chagrin), but everything else has been sort of awful.

Wulbren, who Rakha rescued on Barcus's behalf, has turned out to be a complete toolbag,

The beast wants Rakha to destroy Isobel, and being denied that, rose up in Rakha's brain and murdered a cat in cold blood for no reason,

and most importantly:

Everyone in Moonrise Towers seems to know her, including Ketheric himself, who mocked her as a "mad dog."

Disciple Z'rell seems even less pleased to see her, and there's a strange tension to their interactions that Rakha doesn't understand.

The only one who seems pleased at the reunion is the terrifying illithid meat in the walls.

On the bright side, she can get Wyll smooches now. ^_^

We did a quick check-in at Last Light, but Rakha wants to get on the road again as soon as possible. She can almost smell Isobel's presence, and she knows that if they stay too long, it's likely she will lose control again. Her current plan is to follow the orders from Z'rell to go find Balthazar, and in so doing, find the Nightsong relic that is providing Ketheric's immortality.

But she doesn't know where that is, so that means an aimless wander through the darkness of the Shadow-Cursed Lands; she hates walking around in that corrupted magic, but it's still better than salivating over the murder of Isobel, the one person keeping it at bay.

(Translation: I want her to catch the other sidequests in this area, so we're not going straight to the Sharran mausoleum.)

One of the nice things about the party system in BG3 is that not only can I say that Rakha sent Wyll up to make a report to Isobel in her place, rather than face her directly, but I can actually do it:

"You did well to help those people escape Ketheric. Every soul saved is a blessing, and you're raining them upon us."

"I saw Ketheric at Moonrise Towers. He was presiding over a trial."

"Almost laughable, that he sees himself fit to judge anyone. Did you learn anything about how we might defeat him?"

"I think I know the source of his invulnerability - a relic called the Nightsong."

"That's incredible news. I won't ask for specifics as to how you uncovered that... but I'm grateful you've done whatever it takes. I can't believe there's an end in sight... thank you."

In Rakha's particular worldstate, this definitely reads like someone has informed Isobel of Rakha's tendency towards wanton violence and she is making a point of looking the other way. XD

Also "end in sight" feels like it's putting it a bit strongly at this stage of the game - but Wyll doesn't object. Far be it from him to take away anyone's hope in this place.

He also has the chance to ask her a few questions about herself, her history, and the shadow curse, and she basically evades and lies aggressively through her teeth through the whole conversation. Obviously, I know this but Wyll doesn't - but on some level, I think he probably picks up on some of the clues that she's not being entirely truthful. After all, he has a long history himself of evading questions about exactly what happened with Mizora and his pact.

"Moon and shadow, light and dark," Isobel says, when he asks her about the curse and about Shar and Selune's conflict. "Divine sisters ever at war. And this place has become one more battlefield. Sometimes life forces us to choose sides. Luckily... sometimes the choice is obvious."

Yes. Wyll can understand that.

[corellianhounds]

I don’t want to have to write all the context and justification for the idea I have right now so I’ll just put this on the WIP stack (story of my life), but consider a Temporal Chalice storyline à la TAZ Balance. An artifact so powerful it holds command over time itself, confronting the cupbearer with their deepest fears, desires, flaws, and mistakes, and the ability to act on a crucial moment in the trajectory of their life, whether they realized it was crucial or not.

The chalice lies before them on a raised pedestal. The offer can only be accepted by one of them, and it comes with two caveats: All of time, from the moment they choose to change and after, will be altered.

And secondly: After they change fate, all of their present memories will be gone. History will be rewritten, and they will never be able to tell in which ways it changes or stays the same.

The Mandalorian is shown a fork in the road. A young family in red is suspended in time: to their right is the city street leading to an underground cellar, for the moment empty. To the left, the street continues, and beyond it he spies a previously unseen underground shelter reinforced with cinder blocks and steel. He is being offered the chance to save his parents’ lives.

“… If my own parents don’t die, somebody else will,” Din says quietly. “I know what it’s like to lose them. I can’t wish that on the loved ones of somebody else.”

Boba Fett is shown the back of a Jedi approaching his father from behind in the arena stands. He is ten years old, and he has a gun in his hands.

“… My father was not a perfect man,” Boba said, his voice carefully devoid of emotion. “My path to this point in life would have been harsh either way. I don’t need a second lifetime of hardship to remember.”

“Disgraced magistrate Greef Karga” echoes at the back of his mind as he watches the scene unfold from a third person point of view. He is given the chance to exonerate himself of what he did before being stripped of his title and run offworld before arriving on Nevarro. He has time to escape and absolve himself of any wrongdoing.

There’s a long moment of consideration before Karga speaks, the veteran showman smile nowhere to be found. “I wouldn’t have become a better man if I hadn’t been caught,” he says grimly. “I would have continued doing what I did because I got away with it. The only reason I changed is because I was held accountable.”

Luke sees Dagobah, and an X-Wing. There are two figures outlined in the gloom, one corporeal and small, the other ethereal and old. If he chooses not to go to Cloud City and stays to finish his training, he will have the strength and knowledge needed to end the war sooner, potentially saving untold thousands of lives at the cost of those dear to him.

“… I don’t think I could make the choice any differently, even knowing what I do now,” Luke says softly. “My masters were training me to have the strength to kill my father. I don’t think I would have had the mercy to spare him long enough for him to redeem himself, and I would have lost what little time I did have with him.”

But what about those who may not be able to accept the present as it is? The ones who would have the knowledge and opportunity to right the wrongs of the galaxy and save innocent lives? To undo past mistakes?

Cobb Vanth is fifteen and has just arrived in the next settlement to pick up supplies. If he immediately returns to the orphanage his mother runs instead of staying the night, as he once did, he’ll be able to put out the fire and save a dozen young lives, and his mother won’t be forced to live with the survivor’s guilt for the following week before she ultimately makes the choice that will leave him an orphan too.

There’s a long arena with targets lined up at one end. Her sister, laughing, stands tall and confident in front of the back wall, hands on her hips with an apple balanced on her head. She is alive, and the girl not yet called Fennec Shand stands at the opposite end, her crossbow still pointed low as she squares her feet. She isn’t yet the marksman she’ll become, and she has the chance to avoid the biggest mistake of her life.

Cara Dune sees an office she’s never been in before, a high-rise view of Coruscant from the windows. There is a covey of New Republic officers poring over data showing the plot to frame and kill her entire crew for the crime they didn’t commit, and the evidence to frame her for it when she runs.

Ahsoka sees herself as a child, looking up at a young Jedi Knight with a scar bisecting one eyebrow. She knows this scene, has had it etched upon her memory for decades. She could decline his offer and divert her life’s course entirely.

Leia is shown the first time she ever met Vader at age fourteen. She is standing beside the man who raised her as his own, the two of them across from the figure in black. Captain Antilles is next to her and he has a gun in his holster.

Grogu, a child, is given perhaps the most difficult choice of all: The ability to prove Palpatine’s treachery to his masters and prevent Order 66 from happening at all, perhaps preventing the entire war. The tradeoff is that he will grow up in the temple, and he will never meet the man who would become the Mandalorian.

Han Solo is shown the future. His hand is on the door. Leia and Ben are behind him.

[melt-into-the-night]

I haven’t put in my two cents about Kelly Monaco yet so I’ll do it now I guess lol.

I love the character of Sam. I started watching not long after she first entered the canvas and I was a fan straight away. I loved her ride or die love of Jason and how bad ass and resourceful she was when they were in fight or flight mode. I loved JaSam. I loved her villain era when they broke up the first time, and I loved the relationship Lucky and Sam formed and how it went from a toxic rebound to make their previous significant others squirm to a real loving relationship where we got to see them bring the best out of each other, and I love that it was really the first road to a much more independent Sam. As much as I loved Jason and Sam, the first time round she really had no life outside of him. So it was nice to see her becoming a PI, finding a friendship with Maxie, and building her relationships with Alexis, Kristina and Molly and really becoming a family unit, and that her and Jason reunited only when all of that was established. It was a refreshing new take on their relationship and my favorite version of it. And when Jason died the first time, I liked when she found loved with Patrick, I liked her chemistry with Billy Miller’s Jason, though not gonna lie, it got weird when other Jason came back, he became Drew with Jason’s memories still in tact and she stayed with him for a while only to go back to Jason again. And of course when they broke them up again, and the show put her with Dante, I loved their potential and thought she has good chemistry with Dante too.

All of that said, I think there are two elephants in the room that people aren’t talking about enough. The first being that something changed in Kelly the second Billy Miller got let go from the show, it’s like her heart wasn’t in it anymore. The fiery bad ass personality that we seen in Sam up until then was no longer shining through, even when they put JaSam back together. It just wasn’t the same. People can and have speculated that she sabotaged the JaSam relationship, maybe had no interest in working with Steve because she blamed Billy’s firing on Steve wanting his role back. Whether it’s true or not doesn’t really matter cause at the end of the day, any viewer could see she didn’t seem all that invested any more after he left. Maybe Billy passing away a few years later factored in as well. Who knows.

The second elephant in the room is that the writing for Sam when the show bothers to even write for her has been absolutely abysmal as well. The bizarre wishy/washy way they treat her interactions with Jason since he came back has been giving me whiplash. And just generally speaking, they really stripped away all the things that made Sam, Sam. Her fearlessness, her ride or die attitude for her significant other, the passion for her work as a PI, having her be a mom that doesn’t trust or teach her kids to be prepared for anything instead of the cool mom she could have been that teaches her kids survival skills in a crisis and to be resourceful and to pay attention to their surroundings and trusting that they will grow up to be just fine no matter what kind of life they choose to live…like watching Sam has become a train wreck with what appears to be no desire to fix it.

I can’t even justify them keeping her on at this point, even if the petitions work it’s not like the writing will get any better, and with Kelly barely giving anything to the show in the last decade, I also can’t see her even wanting to come back knowing the people in charge don’t want her there. If anything the writing would just get worse out of spite.

[mochiswifey]

FINE LINE

Kanji Mochizuki CHAPTERS

Mature Themes

"What are you doing today?" Kanji asked me as he sat down on my bed. I roll my eyes mentally as I put my hair into a ponytail.

None of your motherfucking business, I wanted to say. But I'm trying to be a better person.

"Get your fucking dirty ass out of my goddamn room." Well, I didn't mean to say that. I looked back and he had a very well startled face. He didn't look offended he just looked surprised. I started laughing and his face softened.

"I'm just joking. I'm so sorry." I apologize as I finish tying my hair. I adjust the ribbon before walking towards my full body mirror twirling around liking how pretty I look.

"You look pretty." He says and I'm not gonna lie. It surprised me.

"Arigatou, Kanji-kun."

"So, where are you going?" From the mirror, I see him standing up from the bed and walking towards me. I look back at him and see him smiling.

What the fuck?

"Do you wanna go out together?" He asks.

"Fuck no."

"Eh?" His smile faded. I chuckled before walking toward my night stand, I took my phone and wallet checking to make sure I have enough money.

"I'm going out with my Senpai. She's picking me up."

"What time are you coming back? Maybe we could dine somewhere? Peninsula Hotel-"

"I'm sure you'd find someone who can accompany you. How about Kazuko? She's your second favorite wasn't she?" He knew that I was aware of Rina's existence but he didn't know the extend of my knowledge about his affairs.

Rina, Kazuko, and finally Meika. His favorites.

"I'll dine with you someday. I'll even cook for us since I'm on a diet."

"Diet? Your body is thin enough."

Well, an eating disorder doesn't think so.

"I'm getting late. I'll see you when I see you." I bid my farewell before hurrying out of our shared penthouse. After the incident he's been trying to repent for every bullshit he has done.

Cheating, neglect, for trying to kill me, and lastly for choosing his mistress over me when he needed to save one of us.

I shake my head trying to clear my thoughts as I enter the elevator. There's no use to overthink.

Life is unfunny when you become serious.

"What's up?" My senpai Jess greets me. I tell her I'm fine before entering her car.

We met through my part time job and bonded over our broken family. She doesn't know I'm affiliated with Kanji and I'd like to keep it that way.

"How are you doing? And, also it's a little late but happy birthday!" I almost teared up. I forgot about my own birthday.

"Thank you!" I say before leaning to hug her.

We went around Tokyo. Since we're broke we mostly window shopped and we didn't dare to go inside any luxury brands. Around 1pm we got hungry and decided to settle and eat Indian Curry.

I felt uneasy and eyes watching over us. I didn't want to scare Jess so I said nothing. She was supposed to drop me off by my own apartment but I can't afford to let Kanji know where I live out of our shared penthouse. At least, for a little bit longer.

We said goodbye and I intentionally used one of the dangerous roads. I knew he'd be furious because not even a minute after walking in one of the tunnels his scent hit me and not long after I was pinned against the wall. His hands pushed my shoulders against the concrete walls of the tunnel.

The way my spine was pushed against them hurts but it's better than trying to do sit-ups.

He was breathing heavily as he looked down upon me. I didn't dare look up for a few moments but knew I had to because if I didn't he won't speak and we won't go anywhere other than to stand here like idiots.

"Are you stupid? Walking dress like that? In a tunnel like this? At this fucking time." He yells and I almost chuckle. I debated whether to plaster a startled oh gosh! I didn't expect you'd be here! Type of face.

"Almost no one uses this road! What-"

"Don't be angry. Being angry is tiring." I tell him and placed my hands on his chest trying to push him away.

"How can't I? You decline my offer, you don't tell your friend you have a husband, and you walk around Tokyo like you don't have people trying to harm you."

I would've already been in my house showering if he hadn't followed me and Jess. I noticed him when we were goofing around inside an accessory store. We were taking photos in the mirror. And he photobombs us from across the store.

"I wanna go home. I'm tired." He sighed before letting me go. I didn't argue when he said he'd take us home.

"楽しかった？Did you have fun?" He asked me after I put my seatbelt on. I simply nodded and leaned back.

"よかった. That's good." He smiled at me before he started driving.

"普通の会話ってこれ？Is normal conversation this?" I asked him out of nowhere.

”急に何？What out of sudden? 普通の会話じゃない会話って何？What's a not normal conversation?" He threw the question back at me amusement written all over his dumbass face.

I don't think he understands my question.

What I meant to ask is, is this the type of normal convo married people have? Asking questions like "Did you have fun?" After you go out with your friends?

"何でもない。It's nothing."

"まだ時間早いからどっか行く？It's still early, do you wanna go somewhere?" He asked me but he was already taking a turn away from our penthouse.

"Can you please drive us around Tokyo Rainbow Bridge?" He probably didn't expect my request.

"I don't mind." He was more than happy.

"You're from Kawasaki right?" I asked him and he nods. These is the questions you ask on the first or second date not years after your marriage.

"There are few places that I like. Legoland, Universal Studio Japan, the Rainbow Bridge, ummm the shopping outlet at Gotemba, beaches, and Chinatown. How about you?"

"I like my first ever gang's hideout." I try to show interest by reacting like the hostesses from the clubs he goes to.

"みさきがさぁお気に入りな場所二人で行きたい。Your favorite places, I want us two to go there together." He tells me as his left hand lands on my knee. I jump and tried to hid my discomfort by looking out of the window.

We enter the highway and he starts to rub his hand in a circular motion.

"時間あったら行こうね。When there's time let's go." When girls say that in Japan it means they don't like you.

His hand moved up to my thigh. No. This is not happening. I took his hand and held it tightly between my hands. He didn't look at me and kept his eyes on the road but I knew he noticed my actions.

I'm stuck between not wanting to offend him but I'll choose my comfortability over his ego.

"ごめん、寒かったから。Sorry, I was cold." It's fucking summer.

"言い訳がヘボ。Your excuses are lame." I called him out and he burst out laughing.

"It's not that lame."

"It is! Your hands are cold? Think of a better one."

"Is it bad if I admit I want to touch you?" My cheek heats up. I know I shouldn't be feeling like this. Not with him or any other men in our world. But it's unlike him to say something and sounds like he really meant it.

"Shut up." I let go of his hand and he placed it right back on my knee.

"いい景色。What a nice view." I say complimenting the lights of the big buildings seen from the Rainbow Bridge.

"俺？ありがとう。Me? Thank you."

”お前じゃないよ. Not you."

We laughed together and I wondered how much till I faced heart ache again. I give it a good 2 days.

[guildtree]

Laurel is an ex-Vanguard mercenary who stole a Priory artifact and jumped into the Mists in search of arcane power. She found it, but not in the way she expected; the centaur Ventari now haunts her mind, encouraging her to do horrible things like meditate, connect with nature, and resolve conflicts peacefully. Laurel despises these new healing powers, as they make her general pattern of “fight everything in her way” rather complicated. She’d better figure them out quick though, because her year-long disappearance into the Mists has made her the target of both a Priory retrieval team and her old mercenary company.

Laurel prefers blunt weapons: maces, hammers, and especially staves. She’s strong enough to put a lot of damage behind them, and her fighting style is best described as quick, fierce, and brutal. She’s never had any sort of magical ability before, and she has no intention of changing her old ways, much to Ventari’s dismay. He’s rusted out her mace and wrapped her staff in vines, but he can’t quite manage to keep her from hitting people with the thorns just yet. He does, however, utterly refuse to help her with anything violent, so she’s on her own when it comes to offense.

Laurel is stubborn, acerbic, suspicious, and surprisingly clever when she wants to be. Her main problem is that she doesn’t trust anyone, which leads her to double-cross others before, in her mind, they will inevitably double-cross her. She puts no stock in love or blood ties, and even less in formal contracts; to her, the only thing she can rely on is power. To be fair, she’s had few people worthy of her trust. She’s been betrayed multiple times – or at least, she thinks she has.

The worst betrayal came during her time in the Vanguard. Young and naïve, Laurel voluntarily joined a mission assigned by a captain that she trusted with her whole heart, only to find out too late that she'd signed up for a suicide mission. She alone survived by sheer luck and playing dead, but not before a charr soldier tore open her back from hip to opposite shoulder blade, leaving her with extensive scars.

While they’ve long healed, the scars still hinder her at times. While short bursts of mobility are fine, walking or even standing for too long unaided puts pressure on her spine and results in pain (shockingly, this does not improve her attitude). While Laurel generally chooses not to tell anyone about her condition, secretly her staff serves as a mobility aid as well as her chief weapon. Ventari has offered to help with pain mitigation as well, encouraging Laurel to make better use of his healing abilities for that purpose. Laurel isn’t quite sure if she trusts his advice yet, but maybe a little testing couldn’t hurt?

Obviously, this little disaster of a revenant has a long road ahead. Maybe she’ll wind up a proper healer eventually, if she can manage to avoid the many dangers and less-charitable Legends that would love to prey on her. I have new Legends and new mortal friends ready for her (some of whom have their own in-game models and stories), a general backstory, and the bones of an adventure. I might even write it down someday :P

TL,DR: Local angry mercenary must learn to become a better person with help from her friends and the voices in her head.

[blowflyfag]

WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION MAGAZINE :  JANUARY 1996

Remember the Name… and You Will… GOLDUST 

By Vince Russo 

If you’ve ever been to the corner of Hollywood and Vine, you know exactly what I’m talking about. As darkness blankets the sky and the warm glow of the moon filters the earth below, they all crawl out from under the marble stars. Who they are, or WHAT they are, I have no idea! Hollywood’s children–I guess. Green hair, purple hair, HIGH, STIFF hair, kabuki makeup, black lipstick and pierced EVERYTHING! They claim to be the “real” stars of Hollywood. Not the fictitious celluloid legends that are born and eventually die on the big screen, but the living, breathing souls who inhabit that sacred boulevards of Tinseltown. They’re the unknown stars of the street that literally “live to be seen.”

Goldust. Hollywood. In his mind, he is unquestionably the greatest star that the world has ever known. He has seen all the “so-called” legends come and go, but none–NONE–even come close to the glamor, the glitz, the grace of… SSSSSSSSSSSSS, GOLDUST. Fact or Fiction? You have to make the call yourself–but not until this editor throws his two movie stubs in! 

Will Goldust be successful in bringing his legend to the World Wrestling Federation, or will he simply be a box-office bust? That is the question that both moviegoers and Federation fans across the country are asking. However, in order to come up with the ending of this movie, you first need to see–AND UNDERSTAND–all of the scenes that precede it. 

Act 1–In the opening, you must first understand that Goldust is indeed a MAN. Not a man wanting to be his Aunt Edna, but a real, true, bona fide MAN! Based strictly on his appearance, many of you reading this column have called him many things–from a Liberace wannabe (who chooses to have long, golden hair rather than the stiff, hairsprayed pompadour look) to the president of the “To Wrong-Fu, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar, Fan Club!” Do you understand what it is that I’m trying to say? I mean, I’m saying it in the nicest way that I know how! Goldust is neither of those things. He IS a MAN! A 100 percent male Caucasian! 

Act 2–So then, if he is a man, then what type of man is he? Good question. I like to explain it by saying that Goldust simply has a SEVERE case of “Hollywood on the Brain.” If you understand that, then you will have a much better hold on his outrageous personality. Granted, on the surface it appears that he may be a few stars short of Hollywood Boulevard, but according to him, not only does he have it all together but that star-studded street isn’t even big enough to carry his precious star! So, now if you understand the first two acts–MAN with HOLLYWOOD ON BRAIN–we should be able to go on. If not, go back and study the lines! 

Act 3–OK, so now we know he is a MAN with HOLLYWOOD ON BRAIN–BUT the mystery remains: Can he wrestle? Well, based on his In Your House premiere where he slew the “villain” Marty Jannetty and his “Battle of the Legends” match where he edited out Savio Vega, I would have to say that I give his wrestling ability rave reviews! The MAN with HOLLYWOOD ON BRAIN can PERFORM! Don’t be fooled by the golden locks, Mr. DeMille. Once Goldust rips off that bleached blond hairpiece, he becomes a ruthless, vicious actor–or wrestler. He’s menacing, evil–what every big-screen bad guy WANTS to be! He punishes his opponents in much the same way that Siskel and Ebert punish B-rated films! He literally TAKES NO PRISONERS. In my opinion, the Survivor Series will be no different. Bam Bam Bigelow may simply serve as just one of the “projects” on the 14K road that leads to the inevitable Goldust BLOCKBUSTER!

Conclusion–I’m one who hates to give away endings, but in this case I will. In the opinion of this editor, Goldust will soon be wearing yet even more gold! He may not have yet reached “leading man” status here in the World Wrestling Federation, but the Intercontinental Championship may be only a few scenes away. 

Lights, camera, action–remember the name–AND YOU WILL–GOLDUST!