#choosing kindness is a strength

[wm1nqlv]

been rereading tgcf and I wanna talk about it.

Ultimately it is a tale of resilience and perseverance and the strength and power of actively choosing kindness, breaking out of trauma cycles and of course forging your own, third path.

volume 6

SPOILERS

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Just before arc 4 you get this whole xianle trio reunion and hc chase shenanigans. The cave of ten thousand gods is great because finally xie lian knows the truth (or half of it), hua cheng is embarassed, scared and vulnerable but he still won’t just cower in the corner. He takes care of xie lian even if his old friends think he’s nuts and want to protect xl from hc. But they never even listen to what he thinks or wants. (Ofcourse sometimes people don’t recognize it themselves if they’re being harmed.)

Anyways everything’s out in the open and feelings and care get returned, hooray!

Then in the flashback we see the trio again and their dynamic, their positions, the hierarchy between them, even as theyre facing poverty together, Xls leftover naïveté and ignorance and what formed the dynamics of their present.

„Xie Lian had always believed in "forever" —friends would always be friends forever, with no betrayal, no deception, no breaking up. Perhaps there would come a time when they had to part, but it wouldn't be for a reason like "things got too horrible."”

The absolute heartbreak of friendship breakups. And yet even though he truly saw them as friends how could it be when there is such a clear hierarchy between them? Mu Qing had to take care of his own mother along with Xie Lians parents and the three of them. Feng Xin couldn’t even tell him about Jian Lan. He was trying to earn money for them and for her at the same time. And he stayed unwaveringly beside him until he could not recognize xie lian anymore.

In arc 2 we saw who xie lian was 800 years ago and some of what knocked him down. But now we see he’s still a (defeated) crown prince and newly fallen god. He has to adjust to his new life. He’s proud. He’s humbled but still far away from his present day personality.

We see how much more he had to endure. Trauma he had to go through that no one even sees. That time when white no face/bai wuxiang would show himself to him but no one else could see?

He was (left) alone in his suffering, (besides a ghost that he couldn’t even recognize), but how could anyone support him if they did not know or understand what was going on? So with there being no one left to comfort xl beside white no face after everything, xl even feels touched by it in a corner of his heart. But still clearly and continuously sees and rejects him for and fights against the monster he is.

This is where the choosing kindness and overcoming trauma part comes.

To seek out and recover goodness and your own heart.

And how significant one act of kindness can be, how much it can move.

“One person. Just one. Really. Just one person was enough.”

Him choosing to wait for just one person to show and prove their humanity, proving with all his effort white no face still could not simply turn him into a copy, make him turn against his own humanity in the long term.

We also see the contrast of true harmful of obsession and stalking and true but not unseeing love and devotion. The little ghost fire and Wu Ming loving and wishing to protect him without even letting him know who he is.

Removing themselves when xie lian tells him to and yet also having a mind of his own and doing things against what he’s told. (The wall of ghost fires, the flower, the end.)

He sees xl but he doesn’t stop believing in or loving him. And the tragedy is that it is exactly what xl needs in that time but he can’t recognize it because of his trauma.

Is Hua Cheng boring and slightly codependent because of that? Because he is focused so much on Xie Lian? Maybe but I think because he does have so much of his own mind and makes his own decisions, against what xl tells him to or makes him look good, like in the beginning of the volume too, I think he’s interesting and sometimes seeing your loved one go through the worst will just do that with you. (Also he has his very own ideas about heaven and the systems in place and built up ghost city on his own. He doesn’t even agree with or want to follow xls path for himself. But what we also always see is their mutual respect for one another, never trying to change the other or force them.)

Let me know your thoughts if you want!

[queenerdloser]

that mark (very recently!) was so fucking pissed about helena using the wrong name for gemma that he went to immediately do experimental brain surgery as a giant fuck you and then DIDN'T anticipate his innie self getting pissed when he got helly's name wrong really underlines how much mark doesn't think his innie loves helly and also doesn't consider his innie to actually be him at all.

[knightofleo]

Angela Orosco Silent Hill 2

[shorthaltsjester]

watching the sdcc panel and i am just very :) about how sweet their answers to “what are some of the micro moments from the game that have stuck with you the most over the years?” are. taliesin saying what the fuck is up with that which was the first like The Party Gets To Know Each Other moments of c3. travis saying asking his wife if he could kiss her in campaign. marisha going way back to the cannonball competition in campaign one. ashley choosing the beauyasha date but also just the silly goat noise matt made. liam adding onto that to compliment matt roleplaying grass so well and then saying his favourite moment was writing a story for laura and reading it to her as caleb for jester. and then matt saying that was his answer, and that his favourite moments of the game are when they find ways to give gifts to each other whether tangible or not. and sam saying his favourite moments have less to do with the story and is more so when he can just. see his friends across the table from him. when marisha perches and when laura and ashley are (badly) drawing dicks and liam saying he loves when sam sneezes and ashley tells him to stop it and just. yeah. they Are an extremely popular online powerhouse, but i’m so happy that they’re also friends building a world together out of gifts to and love for one another.

like i Am so enamoured with the characters and the world of exandria but the moments when you can feel the love that those people have for each other reach out from behind the stained glass of their performances (to steal a metaphor from brennan lee mulligan) are so extremely special and i am endlessly grateful that they decided to share their silly little home game with the world.

[inthehouseoffinwe]

Oh! Oh! Oh! Could I request a sketch?!?!?!

Can I request a bada$$ Finwë? Either at Cuiviénen or Formenos - both are good. I just think he's neat. Which isn't the most popular opinion in the Fëanárion section. (And, I'll admit, it's a rather recent development.)

“So eager for death, oh failed King?”

“Failed? Don’t you know all the best stories begin with an ending?”

Finwë!!! Yes. Join us. I love him so much, he’s so cool. This guy survived Cuivienen when others were being dragged or tricked to their dooms, then successfully led his people to Aman and was chosen as their King. Not to mention was the only one able to stand firm against the overwhelming fear Morgoth and Ungoliant wrought.

He must have some serious skill and resistance. Was probably one of the best fighters in Aman, especially with genuine experience fighting against the Darkness.

So here’s all that embodied in a scene at Formenos just before his death.

Art only allowed for personal use ie. phone/laptop wallpapers.

Do not repost or upload. Reblogs are always appreciated

[xynczachrome]

Cole : Dahlia

[kaurwreck]

Atsushi canonically isn't kind by nature (see Wan ch. 19), but that's okay because you don't have to be motivated by kindness to choose kindness, which is why Atsushi is the narrative's beautiful princess with a disorder anyway.

[kiilttis-art]

c!aimsey stop making me cry challenge

[marshmallowprotection]

Ray After Ending Day 3, Incoming Call: "I love you. I love you…"

[normalbrothershow]

lamb motif this dog motif that... what about sam winchester horse motif...

[stellamancer]

i was listening to shadowbringers and honestly... i think that that starting from when it fades to white and ardbert appears and offers you his axe.... that entire scene is like... probably one of the most amazing video game scenes i have ever witnessed....

[darkfire359]

Just got this art commission from the amazing @haflacky, for my fic With His Bloodstained Hands.

In it, Izzy and Ed have a more intimate relationship pre-canon, and Izzy's role as someone who commits violence in Ed's name is much more explicit. He often gifts Ed with the severed body parts of men who insult or threaten him, even as he eschews traditional affection. So this time, when kraken!Ed wakes Izzy in the middle of the night, he doesn't cut off any of Izzy's appendages... he asks Izzy to do it for him. And Izzy does.

He'll do anything to reignite the fire within Edward... even if it means using himself as kindling.

[ljussangen]

I have decided that I am just going to be positive and strong. Sure, there are always obstacles and negativity in life, but there are also many, many blessings. The trees, the plants, animals, nature, waterfalls, lakes, the sky, the sun, my man and our son, love, smiles, friendly encounters, tasty food to cook and eat, beautiful things to see and touch and smell and hold.

Despite my traumatic past and long history of depression, I am making this choice. I will make it every day as long as I live, even if it is difficult to do so, for letting heartache and trauma and pain and sadness decide for me is not how I want to live. There are so, so many blessings and beautiful things in life. You just have to look for them, and stop letting other things make the choice for you.

[eebie]

played DTI with the boss and i]t was really fun

[crave-mp3]

its so strange and painful and lovely going back to your favorite book as a child and going "ohhh of course this is the story that made me"

[m00ngbin]

JUST FINISHED THE SECOND SEASON OF MP100 AGAIN AND SOMETHING THAT I LOVE IS THAT MOB ISNT ALWAYS JUST NICE ON IMPULSE. HE HAS TO MAKE AN EFFORT. HE *CHOOSES* TO BE KIND