#and this touches close to home

[mobius-m-mobius]

- James Wright, A Blessing

@lokiusweek 2025 - Day 3: Longing (insp)

[fairsweetlonging]

have been in a qijiu/qiyuan mood lately, and i was thinking about an au where shen yuan, upon transmigrating, actually loses his memories. he wakes up and has no idea who he is, where he is, who the man at his bedside is. not a clue. the only thing he has is his muscle memory, his sharp recognition senses (he's experiencing a lot of déjà-vu), and blurry fractions of memories that he can't quite make out.

thing is, the memories of both shen yuan and shen jiu aren't actually gone, they start to intermingle, to mix up, a little sister in princess pajamas beside an older brother wearing dirty rags, a bright screen that displays mountain peaks and glittering caves. he's kind and generous the way someone who has never had to worry about food or money is, but he gets vicious and defensive when someone gets too close. sometimes he says cruel things and doesn't even understand why himself.

neither identity fits anymore, both names right and wrong at the same time. it's just... shen qingqiu.

and while everyone else might adjust to this just fine, yue qingyuan does not. because that is shen jiu, but it isn't, but it has to be, but not always. he gets flashes of his childhood friend when shen qingqiu gets viciously defensive over nothing, when he scowls and scoffs and rolls his eyes when he thinks people can't see, but then he smiles, and laughs, and tilts his head in a way that is completely foreign. he likes beasts. shen jiu never liked beasts. but he loves tanghulu, like shen jiu. sweet sugary things. the first time xiao jiu cuddles up into his hug, he cries.

the way he sometimes clings to yue qingyuan when he has a bad day can't be him, but then he says "qi-ge" exactly like shen jiu would and damn near snarls at anyone who gets too close, and he's aggressively possessive the way he was when they were kids. but then he pulls away and apologizes, like shen jiu would never do.

and he never demands anything, scrubbed clean from roughness and filth and selfish want, will act perfect and smiling and pleasant, never burdensome. like he's completely forgotten where he came from, what he was. like the pampered nobleman's son who could afford to be kind. the only time his old self comes fully back up is when he feels threatened or scared or angry, like a trauma response that kicks in to protect himself. and then yue qingyuan starts to wonder if maybe it is. maybe the shen jiu he knows was only ever fear and self-preservation, and the one he is now is a shen jiu without the chains and shackles and scars.

yue qingyuan doesn't know if he's happy for him, if it's for better or for worse. he does know that he feels protective and responsible for this new version xiao jiu has become.

meanwhile shen qingqiu, even when he regains enough of his memories to realize he was once a different person, doesn't know who he is anymore. both, maybe. or neither. he feels bad for taking away yue qingyuan's friend, but in his heart he can't help but think qi-ge is his brother, and no one else's. when he manages the peak he feels like he's taking credit for another's accomplishments, but he remembers suffering for it, he remembers what it took to get there.

[shiremwa]

horror movie night with jacob!!!! ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!

[nervouslittlewreck]

Mickey 17 covering all current political, cultural and societal issues instead of simply being "a fun clone film starring Robert Pattinson" did surprise me but then again I really should've known better since it is a film by Bong Joon-ho who we all should bow to, really

[vultursvolans]

(click on image for better quality)

Her room was a portrait of his longing. Books left askew. Pages crumpled in haste. Clothes forgotten in his rush to reach her. At long last, the scribe had no need for ink or quill. For in the warmth of her hands, he was reconciled with something words could never capture.

Commission by @/Puri24A on twt. Do not save or repost.

[arsenicflame]

(im only on chapter 5, don't tell me if it follows through or not)

[hmsdoodlin]

(115)

Lift the dirt and cover me

Lay at my side

Until I’m finally sleeping

Until I’m finally sleeping

Until I’m finally sleeping

Until I’m finally sleeping

[reflectingiridescent]

jfc could you imagine a polycule-themed ep in a Leverage where Nate was still alive?

[aifasdoesthings]

I think this addition is very interesting!! There are lots of ways to refer to people from the USA, which brings the question: why do we not use anything other than the term "American"? Why anything else sounds wrong or forced? Mostly the issue lies on two things: (1) how "economic" they are linguistically wise, and (2) the opposition systems languages are built in.

(1) Wikipedia does a good job explaining this, so I'll attach the explanation here:

Basically, when we speak, we search for the most simple verbalization that's able to convey what we want to say in the clearest way. Almost always, we have to sacrifice one to get the other. If I use, say, "Usonian," instead of "people from the US," I'm getting a shorter, easier verbalization, but most people will not understand what I mean because let's be honest, it's a rare term in comparison to the widely-used term "American." I'll probably have to explain why I'm using that term, and probably risk getting called ugly things in the process because it's interpretable as (a) me being uncooperative in communication, and/or (b) me trying to distance myself from the other person. Either way, negative feelings are involved, just like in the "Usamerican" case. The difference probably is in the fact the later is more similar to a particular Spanish verbalization that makes it more familiar and less "mean" to foreign speakers with this first language.

Which takes me to (2), which is: forgive me if I'm quoting the wrong book, it's been a while since I last took Phonetics and Phonology, but in the study carried out by David Brazil in his book "The communicative value of intonation in English" (1985) [A/N: I searched for the book everywhere without luck, it's very interesting if you want a good Linguistics read!!] he proposes that, when making a word prominent (by phonological accentuation of a syllable), you're placing that word in contrast. It could be between two or more choices, like, e.g: "I want CHOcolate" (in the context of having to choose among ice cream flavors); or directly between that term and everything that is "not that term." Taking the previous as an example, the speaker chooses "chocolate" and contrasts it with not having chosen "not chocolate" (i.e., anything that is not chocolate).

So having said this, if I choose anything other than "American"—for the sake of the example I'll say "Usamerican"—I'm unwillingly creating an odd, unwanted distinction between "American" and "Usamerican" as in "Usamerican" ≠ "American". Same happens with "Usonian," even with "Yankee," which a lot of Americans consider a rude word when it's not referring to New Yorkers. So.

[A/N: Mr. Brazil's study isn't oriented towards word acceptance, it's oriented towards the use of the systems of intonation to achieve our communicational ends, to convey choices, etc. I hope I'm not making bad use of his excellent teachings.]

The point of this is not that I'd sound unpatriotic, it's that I'd cause confusion with my words, or even rejection, if I were to use any of these terms. It is happening with "Usamerican" already, of course. But the difference has to do with how terms from other languages start to permeate English, especially on the internet, because it's a two-way phenomenon (referring to what I said in my other, previous reblog to this same post).

In the end, it's a matter of clarity, simplicity and the complexity of opposition systems that are very difficult to break into. And very much one of the complex problems this globalized world with a huge focus on the anglosphere has, that we don't often stop to consider.

And remember: it's not that we "speak wrong", it's that we were forced to speak a language that's not ours to not fall behind and we do our best to make it ours too. Cheers.

[Thank you OP again for bearing with me fdhdhf]

usamerican is a stupid term why does this site use it so often

[insufferablemod]

thinking about john n davesprite n dave what happens when he finds out its not just a bird dave thing but a dave thing..... the idea hes built up of The Real Dave comes crashing down

like things were def made worse by being stuck together for 3 years with noone else n all of the extra issues davesprite has On top of all the normal dave bs but like, fuuuckkkkkkk

[kingscanyon]

SPIDER-MAN 2 (5/?)

[hooked-on-elvis]

ELVIS' WAY TO BE THERE FOR LISA AFTER DIVORCING HER MOM This is an excerpt from Lisa Marie's book. If you haven't read it yet, please don't read this. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I needed to share this beautiful feeling of Lisa's regarding her father because... well... you'll see. 🥹🩷

"Twenty minutes before my dad was due to walk onstage in Las Vegas my mom told him 'I'm leaving' and he still had to go out and perform. I was four when they split up but I remained so close with my dad. I knew how much I was adored. How much he loved me. I knew that he knew that I hated, hated, hated leaving him; hated, hated, hated going to my mother's new home in Los Angeles. Loathed it. He got a house there to be closer to me. When I was in L.A. he'd call all hours of the night to talk to me or just to leave a message on my phone." Excerpt "From Here To The Great Unknown" by Lisa Marie Presley (co-written by Riley Keough).

[teddybeartoji]

killing my father he's irking me so badly

[telekitnetic-art]

(Said with a great deal of affection) Rodimus prime you are like a bug to me…

[pucellerie]

my most inhuman trait is i'm honestly not affected by the beauty of nature & whenever i'm in the countryside or sightseeing natural monuments i've never been able to feel any kind of serenity i'm always like... That's nice honey... 😊 in truth i'd always rather be somewhere where bodegas are no more than 10min away on foot & if i have to spend more than 3 days away from the city i start experiencing heidi levels of homesickness

[dreamlogic]

E has dubbed this spring the "season of pain" and she's. not wrong.