#duo rong

[worldsokayestmagicalgirl]

We're finally back!

So after mediating between the rest of the assailants and their (still alive) client, they're able to sort out that some missing family members the group were looking for didn't actually get kidnapped, but joined their client's service voluntarily. It was uncomfortable and awkward for everyone to come to terms with the fact that the people the group had set a house on fire for had actually not wanted to return home, and Amoré decides that she's too exhausted to pay much attention to these delicate domestic matters.

She takes a seat on a charred chair and nods off for a while, eventually coming to surrounded by Sylphi, Kaa (the tiefling she pawned Sylphi off on earlier), and a purple dragon born girl. Sylphi cheerily introduces the girl as Ko Kiri, a former arsonist in the group of assailants they had just been fighting. Amoré is baffled, though Sylphi is quick to explain Ko Kiri was only involved because she needed the money, and tries to get Amoré to join their sharing circle.

Amoré is reluctant to share anything with anyone, though Sylphi is able to get her to reluctantly admit that her favorite color is gold, which leads to a drawn out argument between her and Ko Kiri about gold's status as a color. Amoré suddenly realizes how young this girl is, though Ko Kiri insists she is an adult by dragon born standards.

Eventually, Sylphi tries to broach the subject of Amoré's fainting spell earlier. While Amoré feels a cold bit of dread in her as Sylphi continues to ask questions, she cannot remember anything specific about what happened past the window breaking in the study. Both Sylphi and Kaa insist that it happened, but Amoré finds herself digging her heels in the more they try to convince her.

Diana eventually breaks up the argument when she returns from dealing with the city guard and Kaa volunteers to see them back to their inn safely. A carriage is called for them and to Amoré's astonishment, Sylphi declares that they're taking Ko Kiri with them despite Amoré's concerns about just taking a known arsonist with them, no questions asked.

She is ultimately outvoted, and it is an awkward and mostly silent ride back to the inn. But Kaa sees them off, and Ko Kiri ends up staying the night in their room, though Amoré makes sure Sylphi know that if they wake up to a room on fire she's blaming her.

As always, Diana : @wolfy1298

Previous / Next

[cappierong]

Today’s session was... interesting

Nothing like making War plans at a fantasy Denny’s ✨

[worldsokayestmagicalgirl]

Hey hey hey…it’s three years later and all I can say is,

The more things change, the more they stay the same✨

lol happy Art Fight babe! I hope you’re having fun 💕

As always, Diana : @wolfy1298

Can’t find anyone willing to be your plus one for the ball? Simply bribe drag your dragon bodyguard to be your date instead

But seriously, these two are the definition of “‘babe’ but platonically” and I love them

[movielosophy]

the legend of shen li | Is he still alive?

[unforth]

For the three sentence fic: wangxian or hualian, setting: in a garden!

Ah, thank you for sending a prompt! I might ultimately do both of these but all my Wangxian ideas were sex pollen so instead...

(Hualian, post-canon, fluff)

(definitely not three sentences. unedited.)

"Open your eyes." Hua Cheng's deep voice rumbled so close to Xie Lian's ear that Xie Lian could feel it as a tremble down his spine. For the barest moment, Xie Lian still didn't obey; his other senses were on high alert and even without vision he recognize how unusual this place - wherever it was - must be, for the smell was strong, beautiful, and achingly familiar. Xie Lian couldn't put his finger on what about it he knew, but in his bones, he knew this scent.

Xie Lian opened his eyes.

A field of pristine white flowers and bright spring-green leaves stretched out before them. The light breeze stirred the blossoms as they turned their faces toward the sun. There was an instant when Xie Lian didn't understand the significance of the field, but then the flowers' rich aroma combined with what he saw, and he gasped.

Once, centuries ago, these flowers had carpeted the fields of Xianle every spring.

Once, centuries ago, a small boy had left a single, picked bloom as a modest offering to the flower-crowned god.

Once...

…but…

He didn't know what these blossoms were called; when he'd been crown prince of Xianle, such a small matter had been beneath his interest. And after Xianle fell, these flowers had fallen with the kingdom: Xie Lian hadn't seen a single one.

This flower had died with Xianle.

"How...?" Twisting in Hua Cheng's arms, Xie Lian turned to see his face, meeting Hua Cheng's smug look what I accomplished, gege expression with one of wonder. "Where...?" Thoughts crowded to the fore in Xie Lian, but he could hardly bare to examine most of them, much less express them. "You should be careful gifting me property," Xie Lian finally managed, trying to keep his tone light. "Aren't you afraid I'll set it on fire again?"

Xianle burned in the spring, flames climbing into the sky, smoke obscuring the stars and moon as they engulfed the city, the farms, the fields and forests.

The lovely floral scent turned rancid as the flowers burned.

Trying to suppress a shudder, Xie Lian forced his expression into a smile despite his instinct to grimace.

"Stop," murmured Hua Cheng. Smile and grimace both were subsumed by confusion that Xie Lian expressed with a head tilt. "If they make you unhappy, you can express that. I don't mind."

"No," Xie Lian exclaimed more forcefully than he meant to. Allowing a tremble to course through him, he shook his head and repeated, "no, that's not it. They're beautiful."

"But...?"

"Why aren't you afraid that I'll set them on fire again?" Xie Lian mumbled.

"Because if it burns, it burns." Hua Cheng shrugged. Xie Lian blinked at him. "And after they've burned, I'll plant them again - again and again, every time. As long as a single bulb remains, the flowers can always be regrown."

"San Lang..."

"Isn't that life, gege?" Pulling Xie Lian closer, Hua Cheng wrapped his arms around Xie Lian's waist, tucked his chin onto Xie Lian's shoulder, laid a hand flat and steady and supportive on Xie Lian's belly. "Everything burns. It's what we do after the flames have subsided that shows our character."

"By that measure, I've performed pretty dismally," said Xie Lian with an awkward chuckle.

"By that measure, by any measure, you've survived, you've endured, you've rebuilt and rebuilt over and over again," Hua Cheng countered. "And you've always done it alone. You're amazing, gege. And whatever happens, whatever burns next, I swear to you: you'll never have to sift through the ashes alone ever again."

"Oh, San Lang." Xie Lian turned just enough to smear a kiss over Hua Cheng's cheek. "I love you."

"So much, always." Hua Cheng shifted to meet a second kiss with their lips; warmth and comfort and support glowed through Xie Lian.

A breeze stirred the flowers, their rich aroma filling the air.

If it burns, it burns.

The stalks rustled against each other, making a light, pleasing, soothing sound.

What can't San Lang and I rebuild?

Sunshine dazzled over the field, rendering the white blooms incandescent, the green leaves translucent, their shared embrace hot.

As long as he's by my side, what can't we do?

And together, they bloomed.

(send me an ask with a ship and a setting/trope/kink/genre and I'll write a ficlet that will definitely not be only three sentences but will hopefully be under 1k words)

[theballadofmars]

RANKING TGCF CHARACTERS BY HOW LONG I THINK THEY WOULD SURVIVE IN FNAF:

12. QI RONG: dies in night 1 at 12:30 A.M because doesn't listen to Phone Guy's instructions and wanders around the pizzeria. Probably kicked an animatronic because he's bored.

11. LANG QIANQIU: tried to be calm and serene about the situation, but gets anxious and angry and goes fight the animatronics. Leaves the security office and Foxy inmediatly kills him.

10. BEEFLEAF: if they're together they die in night 1 because sqx gets braver at hx's side and is curious, goes to explore and brings hx along. Obviously, they get killed.

9. HE XUAN: they go to the kitchen for a midnight snack at 5:00 A.M and finds Chica there. She kills them.

8. FENG XIN: survives night 1 (he didn't listen to the instructions so is a miracle), but runs out of patience in night 2 and fights the animatronics when they try to enter the office instead of closing the door. He loses.

7. SHI QINGXUAN: if they are alone, they will just panic. They talk to the animatronics and scream. Survives two nights (yeyy!!!), but the third night they're so afraid that they close the door and run out of power.

6. QUAN YIZHEN: doesn't listen to Phone Guy's instructions, falls asleep and somehow survives night 1 and 2 like that. Third night is when he can't sleep because of the noise, fights the animatronics to shut them up and ends up getting killed by the Cupcake.

5. PEI MING: so, this may seem a weird placement, but pm is actually pretty competent in his job. Plus, he makes Chica uncomfortable so he only has to fight three animatronics. But by night 4 he becomes too confident in his surviving skills and forgets to check Foxy as much as he should and dies.

4. FENGQING: they would go together, because is fengqing and they're a dynamic duo. They yell all the time, but also work great together. They die at night 4 because they're in the middle of an argument, forget about the animatronics (it's not the first time this happens) and Golden Freddy kills them because he can't deal with them yelling / making out anymore.

3. MU QING: almost survives 5 nights, but after 4 days of this he gets a bit cocky and he's killed at 5.00 A.M by Golden Freddy.

2. XIE LIAN: ok, listen. Xl is about to die every night, but somehow survives at the last minute. The animatronics are pretty confused about this. He ends the week without problem, but when he goes for his paycheck he is bitten by one of the animatronics and spends the rest of his life paying the hospital debt and dealing with ptsd, which you could argue that is worse than death.

1. LING WEN: she's lw. Job with terrible hours, with lots of multitasking where they don't pay you enough to deal with this shit? That's her territory. Survives 5 nights + the extra night + custom night 20/20 mode.

HONORABLE MENTIONS for characters that didn't make it to the ranking because they're just like that:

-HUA CHENG: he's not trapped with the animatronics, the animatronics are trapped with him. This bitch would survive the first night and come back the next day with a bat made of steel and break every animatronic. Then burns the place down. If this is after xl gets bitten, the animatronics don't survive even a day.

-HUALIAN: they fuck in the security office. The animatronics are uncomfortable and don't approach them.

-SHI WUDU: works one night, then sues the company. He's now the owner of Fazbear Enterteiment. And maybe William's next victim.

-YUSHI HUAN & PEI SU: spent one night there, don't come back because it's not worth it.

-YIN YU: is Phone Guy. He dies at night 4 but special mention anyway because Phone Guy.

-JUN WU: would be the fucking killer. Gets springlocked and makes it everyone's problem.

RANKING SVSSS

RANKING MDZS

[worldsokayestmagicalgirl]

Seriously though I absolutely adore it and screamed a little when I first saw it. I've never been so upset that I can't print a video before so I guess I just gotta settle for staring at it forever 💕 THANK YOU SO MUCH BBY 💕

Latest art fight! Animation is a headache

And in video form!

Characters belong to the amazing @wolfy1298 and @worldsokayestmagicalgirl!!

[fificattt]

hiiiii i heard ur asking for drawing requests?? anything to do with qi rong pleaseeeee :3 !!! ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Here’s Qi Rong and Guzi, my favorite father son duo :3

[forestmonturiol]

So yea. I've been at Port Aventura for the last 3 days and I thought... TGCF characters at amusement parks headcanons >:3

- Xie Lian is definitely the type to always lose items in rollercoster. Making him quite sad sometimes. It can go from a necklace to a water bottle he forgot he had in his pocket? I feel like Xie Lian would enjoy all types of attractions. Especially if he's with his friends or partner.

- I feel like Hua Cheng would be the rich friend. Always buying fast pass for the group. Making sure everyone can do what they want (especially Xie Lian). And mostly know all the attractions that could be enjoyable by each of the groups thanks to Yin Yu's help in planning the trip, and being sure of what everyone can or can't do. + he loves thrill rides.

- He Xuan clearly enjoys amusement parks, especially those with country themes... for all types of foods, deserts, and mostly buffet. Despite most of them being low quality. He'll always rant at how expensive most of the food is. He also loves hearing the scream of does doing thrill rides. Looking at them while eating.

- Shi Qingxuan would love amusement parks but especially mixed with other events? Like Christmas or Halloween. To see all the actors, take pictures and have fun. They would take aesthetic pictures of food. Meanwhile, He Xuan eat in the background.

- Feng Xin would always be in a competition with Mu Qing, trying to show he can do more thrill rides than the other. But they would both end up mostly sick. So they would go chill together after. And maybe talk about the goods and bads of the rides... until Xie Lian would appear, and they banter would start again.

- Ling Wen would be the savior when the group would go in amusement parks in other countries. Becoming the personal translator of the group. She would mostly enjoy the time outside. Going to the pretty areas of the amusement parks. And look at parades while drinking coffee.

- Qi Rong would go to the kids' area and do all the attractions with Gu Zi. The duo runs from one side to another. Leaving Lan Qianqiu exhausted after half a day of running after them.

My brain start to die with the exhaustion so I'll stop here an maybe keep going if I have the strength tomorrow- if some of you have other headcanon please share 👀

Bubye uu

[cleverstudentcheesecake]

Oh, the tragedy of siblings in the MXTX verse!

Shi brothers

Nie brothers

Wen siblings

Yunmeng trio

Jin siblings

Liu siblings in the PIDW world

If we consider cousins too in the list, first we have Qi Rong and Xie Lian because their broken relationship is a tragedy to me.

Second duo would be Binghe and Zuzhi Lang as neither of them got a chance to form a real bond with each other.

If we consider Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan as twins or siblings, then we also have the Shen duo too...

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 10, Number 11

Photo of Alan Licht by Stu Lax

One of the oddest, most disturbing developments in recent years is the devaluation of expertise. If a souped up auto complete program can write a screenplay, who needs writers? If scientific guidelines about how to stave off a plague make us angry or confused, who wants them? Anybody can be anything, given enough cash in their pockets, thought, evidence and fact be damned. So, it is somewhat unfashionable that Dusted continues to seek out artists who are good at what they do, whether they are conservatory trained or DIY, steeped in historical tradition or trying something new. Our monthly Dust highlights another batch of them. Bill Meyer, Andrew Forell, Tim Clarke, Jennifer Kelly, Jonathan Shaw, Ian Mathers and Bryon Hayes contributed.

John Butcher / Florian Stoffner / Chris Corsano — The Glass Changes Shape (Relative Pitch)

This autumn, English saxophonist John Butcher celebrated his 70th birthday. For the occasion his fellow musicians donned t-shirts proclaiming, “You can only trust yourself and the first ∞ John Butcher albums.” Yes, he puts out quite a few, and no, I’m not up to date. The completist’s task is even more daunting when one considers just how much music is packed into each of the nine improvisations on this concert recording, his second with guitarist Florian Stoffner and percussionist Chris Corsano. Timbres, volumes and modes of attack change from second to second, living up the album’s title; not even the music’s form I fixed. No one’s resting on laurels here. Corsano plays with rare spaciousness, and Butcher often seems to be playing up the contrasts between his horns’ tonal fluidity and the jagged edges of Stoffner’s contribution. Pardon the paradox, but each track is a subdivision of ∞, and there’s no end to the time you could spend getting profitably lost in one.

Bill Meyer

Cybotron — Parallel Shift (Tresor)

in 2019, legendary Detroit producer Juan Atkins rebooted his 1980s electro project Cybotron with Laurens van Oswald (nephew of Basic Channel founder Moritz) and Tameko Williams (Detroit In Effect). Atkins takes the technological matrices of his hometown’s now largely defunct manufacturing plants and Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn” and twists them through an afro-futurist wormhole. The trio’s latest 12” single “Parallel Shift” sets Atkins’ robotic vocals and lockstep machine beats against melodic synths and warm bass tones. As Atkins insists on a “parallel shift”, smuggled elements of Clintonesque funk and drifting reverie suggest subversion of strictly linear time. The B-side “Earth” is a more straightforward piece of electro with the emphasis on syncopation. The track flickers with sci-fi synths as Atkins posits human rhythms as a form of cosmic consciousness. Volume up and eyes closed, you will be transported.

Andrew Forell

Dean Drouillard — Mirrors and Ghosts (self-released)

This instrumental solo album by Canadian guitarist Dean Drouillard is a series of hazy noir scenes. At its brightest and most melodic, as in “Portland” and “Gorgasuke,” it’s reminiscent of the vivid, playful miniatures of Opsvik & Jennings’s A Dream I Used to Remember. Elsewhere, the album is decidedly more atmospheric and ambient, akin to the widescreen explorations of Daniel Lanois’s Flesh and Machine. The album’s largely introspective nature is no surprise when you learn Drouillard played and recorded all the instruments himself. His guitar playing in particular is evocative and tastefully restrained. At once intimate and widescreen, Mirrors and Ghosts feels both eerily melancholic and gently uplifting.

Tim Clarke

Fievel Is Glauque — Rong Weicknes (Fat Possum)

Though Fievel Is Glauque are technically a duo — songwriters Zach Phillips (Blanche Blanche Blanche) and Ma Clements on keys and vocals, respectively — for new album Rong Weickes they assembled a crack team of six other players. Musicians on drums, bass, electric guitar, woodwinds and brass flesh out a dizzyingly complex and gratifyingly daft soundworld. Think 1970s prog-folk; think Napoleon Murphy Brock–era Frank Zappa; think Julia Holter spiraling down a jazz-fusion black hole. Rong Weicknes is a LOT. Tellingly, many of the album’s most accessible songs, including singles “As Above So Below” and “Love Weapon,” plus the beautiful and relatively calm “Toute Suite,” arrive early in the track list. Opener “Hover” is perhaps the best example of the band’s bonkers “live in triplicate” working method, in which multiple takes are stacked one on top of another, then chiseled down to reach a final mix. It’s chaotic, like multiple candy-colored Escher staircases spiraling off in different directions at once. In this realm of music-making, too much is never enough, and the line between virtuosic brilliance and over-the-top absurdity bends and blurs. Given the chaos is cumulative, listening to the album from front to back tends to result in ear fatigue during the second half, no matter how many brave attempts it takes to tackle it all in one go.

Tim Clarke

Helena Hauff — Multiplying My Absurdities (Tresor)

Hamburg DJ and producer Helena Hauff’s debut EP for Tresor is three tracks of full-on throwback acid trance. Expertly structured over 22 minutes of build, crescendo and release, Hauff combines thumping beats and bass tones with a detached darkwave cool and a healthy smear of analogue soot. Think Roland drum machines & 303 bass, squelching synths, arpeggio runs and all nature of odd grimy ghosts grumbling in the machines. Hauff reaches her apotheosis on “Punks in the Gym”, named for an Australian rock climb known as the hardest in the world (and now closed as an Indigenous Heritage site). It starts hard, with the bass in the red zone and the drums not far behind, and arpeggiated synths screaming like a drill sergeant. The plateaus, when they come, are mere toeholds for the next ascent. It’s a relentless, punishing piece. And when, near the end, Hauff drops everything but the kickdrum, it’s like watching the sun rise at an outdoor rave to, hearing nothing but your beating heart.

Andrew Forell

Rafael Anton Irisarri — Façadisms

Rafael Anton Irisarri creates music with the grandeur of a vast, wasted landscape. He brings his experience as a mastering engineer to bear on all his recordings, rendering them dense and immersive, stacked high with thick waves of guitar and synthesizer tone. Façadisms is no exception and features two highlights. “Control Your Soul’s Desire For Freedom” features searing cello from Julia Kent and angelic vocals by Hannah Elizabeth Cox, and “Forever Ago is Now” features string arrangements from T.R. Jordan, which carry the album’s most anthemic chord progression. Façadisms’ blasted textures are never less than compelling, but these tracks are twin peaks within the record’s glowering sonic geography.

Tim Clarke

Charlotte Jacobs — Atlas (New Amsterdam)

Charlotte Jacobs’s songs are a little shy. They lurk in corners and grow up from cracks. They venture fluidly out of empty space, eddying and cascading through echoing caverns, with just a little glitch beat or a surge of synth tones to ground them. Jacobs is a conservatory Belgian composer and singer here making her first solo album. Her voice comes in breathy flutters, a little like Mirah at her most acoustic and spare, but she hedges that fragile bloom in masses of digital sound. A devotee of Ableton, she makes the synth sound like all kinds of instruments, a quacking oboe in “Celeste,” a ghostly choir in CYTMH.” Records seldom sound simultaneously this bare and this layered. There are many elements in play, but all scrubbed clean and hemmed in by silence.

Jennifer Kelly

Alan Licht — Havens (VDSQ)

With Havens, Alan Licht flips the attack-decay-sustain-release envelope of the guitar on its head, folding notes and chords over each other in waves. He does this with a heft to his tone, so that chord progressions become waterfalls and melodies emerge like vine-like shoots, growing in many directions simultaneously. Licht’s songs mesmerize with repetition, but the tones resonate such that they fold back on themselves, creating entirely new patterns for us to discern. The cover art reflects his steel string sorcery, as a dull-colored house surrounded by twilit swirling clouds emits beams of red, yellow, and orange light from its many orifices. A variety of energy levels and frequencies are represented here, and they reveal themselves in surprising ways. Throughout his career, Licht has straddled the worlds of indie rock and the avant-garde, and Havens tugs at both sides, creating a new universe entirely: one where resonance rules over everything else.

Bryon Hayes

Longobardi + Cecchitelli — Maloviento (LINE)

Italian sound artists Ernesto Longobardi and Demetrio Cecchitelli create minimalist environmental works built from droning sub-oscillations that emerge from a haze of white noise. The four pieces on Maloviento, titled by duration, are arctic. Slow, evocative of shifting ice and wind swirling across bleak landscapes.. 14’24” is frigid amalgam of staticky cracks and sheets of white noise that rise and fall with increasing intensity. The duo intersperses these with sounds of dripping stalactites and pings of some distant beacon signaling into the abyss. It immerses the listener in an alien and alienating environment in which you find yourself clinging to these noises as the only way to get your bearing. 21’18” is slightly kinder. More recognizably human sounds emerge. Breath labored by cold, a trudge of footsteps and a muttering voice culminating in the introduction of a flute. Tentative at first, it gathers strength and warmth before being absorbed into the ice. Riveting stuff.

Andrew Forell

Man/Woman/Chainsaw — Eazy Peazy (Fat Possum)

Young London sextet Man/Woman/Chainsaw emerged from the scene that includes bands like Black Midi and Black Country, New Road with whom they share a similar omnivorous musical DNA. Vocalists, bassist Vera Leppanen and guitarist Billy Ward have been playing together since they were 14. Now approaching 20, and joined by contemporaries Emmie-Mae Avery on keys, violinist, Clio Harwood violin, Ben Holmes on guitar and drummer Lola Waterworth, M/W/C play punk infused theatrical rock, not quite as knotty as their near contemporaries, but fully embracing the chaotic energy of musicians pushing themselves to fit all their ideas into songs that dance delicate and furious. The acutely observed kitchen sink dramas of “The Boss” and “Sports Day” burst from the speakers, withering in word, and balanced by Harwood’s sawing violin and Avery’s delicate keys. Leppanen a powerhouse on the former, Ward all snarling self-deprecation on the latter. In contrast “Grow A Tongue In Time” is almost dainty with its curlicue of violin, bass, and keys tempered by Leppanen’s rasp that speaks of a desperate frustration echoed in the washes of cymbals that swarm towards the end. A band with space to grow and one to watch out for.

Andrew Forell

The Modern Folk — Primitive Future III (Practice)

This expansive collection spans 20 songs and nearly as many years for the folk centric but ambi-curious guitarist Joshua Moss (who, full disclosure, recently started writing for Dusted). His music here takes many forms, from the blues rock chug of “Shiver Shaker,” which could pass for an alternate universe outtake from Jon Spencer’s Heavy Trash to the cosmic twang of “Hippy Sandwich,” running closer to Ripley Johnson’s Rose City Band or the Heavy Lidders or whatever Matt Valentine is doing this week. There’s room, too, for lucid, radiant blues-folk picking, twined with bowing in “Braided Channels” or abetted in shimmery gossamer by Jen Powers on dulcimer on “You’ll Have That,” or left to strike out unadorned on luminous (and aptly titled) “Subdued.” Some artists try something different to prove they can. Moss lets the change grow out of old roots, supple, green and lovely. One other item of note: all proceeds are earmarked for hurricane relief.

Jennifer Kelly

Paprika — S/T (Iron Lung)

Paprika had already released the excellent, caustic Let’s Kill Punk LP this year, so this new EP is an unexpected November surprise. Are you thankful? It’s pungent and nasty stuff — Paprika sounds like the grittiest elements of NYC punk rawk, c 1976, partying with the hepped-up hardcore of Government Issue or Dirty Rotten EP-period DRI. If that sounds like fun, it sort of is, if you can listen past the nihilistic sentiments expressed in tunes like “Catatonic Pisser” and “Wasting Time.” This reviewer especially likes the self-lacerating qualities of “Supply Chain Wallet,” which explores the ways in which even filthy, greasy punks have a variety of fashion sense, implicating them in capital’s machinery. The band is more direct: “I’m chained to my wallet / Don’t you fuckers know? / Money is dirt.” Word.

Jonathan Shaw

Rock Candy — Swimming In (Carbon)

Rock Candy is Krysi Battalene (Mountain Movers, Headroom) and Emily Robb. Both are guitarists of just renown who, if they decided to open up an optical shop, would specialize in third-eyewear. Together, they refrain from six-string calisthenics in order to focus on nuanced expressions of motion. “Swimming In” is all about drift, albeit with enough surface tension for a stuttering guitar figure to loom over the undulating organ-scape. “Across A Mirage” sets slide vs. reverb, each fighting for footage on a mechanical Clydesdale beat. The cost of vinyl being what it is, some folks might question the point of picking up singles. This year, Rock Candy is the angle that dispels such faithless notions.

Bill Meyer

Sif — Aegis of the Hollowed King (self released)

If you were going to make solo instrumental doom metal about video games, Dark Souls is certainly one of the few that feels like it actually fits. What makes the second LP from New Orleans-based Sif work as well as it does, though, is how much Aegis of the Hollowed King engages with what’s actually compelling about the FromSoftware series beyond any surface level trappings of swords, monsters and boss fights. Here focusing on what even they admit is an “understandably maligned masterpiece,” Dark Souls II, these four tracks don’t try to overwrite the game’s fantastic actual soundtrack (by Motoi Sakuraba and Yuka Kitamura). Instead they invoke how much of the experience of painstakingly making your way across Drangleic is suffused with melancholy horror (yes, occasionally leavened with moments of brutally-won success). That atmosphere has been translated into a doom metal idiom, but that just means even the most elegiac elements here continue to crush.

Ian Mathers

Sulida — Utos (Clean Feed)

The phrase “good old-fashioned free jazz” could be applied to this Norwegian trio’s album, no disrespect intended and none dealt. Marthe Lea’s gruff tenor sax balances the unbridled emotion and considered poise of Ayler and Tchicai, and Jon Rune Strøm and Dag Erik Knedal Anderson negotiate points of structure vs. flow in ways that would do Hopkins and McCall proud. There are also moments that bring to mind Don Cherry if he had given full allegiance to the Swedish woods instead of the world. And yet, the character of each musician shines through, so that this music feels alive rather than merely reanimated. Ready to rumble by unfailingly lyrical, Utos is a friend in unfriendly times.

Bill Meyer

[worldsokayestmagicalgirl]

I miss these idiots 💕 have some nonsense because this meme was made for them

As always, Diana : @wolfy1298

[worldsokayestmagicalgirl]

I love that him being smaller just means... 7 feet tall instead of 8.

What a little guy ✨

I found Ajax’s original design and I had to draw his cannon/final design meeting his old design ✨

Ajax is the campaign’s resident favorite himbo™️ but he was originally supposed to be a slightly younger little shit of a NPC

[a-sea-with-no-shores]

Good news from @yuletidetreasure everybody!

The tagset is up and includes

莲花楼 | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV) (15)

Yun Biqiu (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

Di Feisheng

Fang Duobing

He Xiaofeng

He Xiaohui

Huli Jing (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

Jiao Liqiao

Li Lianhua | Li Xiangyi

Liangyi Xianzi

Princess Zhaoling (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

Qiao Wanmian

Shan Gudao

Shi Shui (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

Wuyan (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

Zhan Yunfei

少年歌行 | The Blood of Youth (Live Action TV) (14)

Baili Dongjun (The Blood of Youth)

Jin Xian (The Blood of Youth)

Lei Wujie (The Blood of Youth)

Sikong Changfeng (The Blood of Youth)

Sikong Qianluo (The Blood of Youth)

Xiao Lingchen (The Blood of Youth)

Ye Ruoyi (The Blood of Youth)

Yin Luoxia (The Blood of Youth)

Ji Xue (The Blood of Youth)

Luo Mingxuan (The Blood of Youth)

Tang Lian (The Blood of Youth)

Xiao Chong | Prince Bai

Xiao Se | Xiao Chuhe

Zang Ming (The Blood of Youth)

成化十四年 | The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty (TV) (8)

Ding Rong

Dong'er (The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty)

Duo Erla

Jia Kui (The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty)

Sui Zhou

Tang Fan

Wang Zhi (The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty)

Wu Yun Bolage

与凤行 | The Legend of Shen Li (TV) (8)

Jin Niangzi (The Legend of Shen Li)

Shang Bei (The Legend of Shen Li)

Shen Li (The Legend of Shen Li)

Shen Muyue (The Legend of Shen Li)

Xing Yun | Xing Zhi (The Legend of Shen Li)

You Lan (The Legend of Shen Li)

Fu Rong (The Legend of Shen Li)

Mo Fang (The Legend of Shen Li)

[danmei-action]

Danmei Gotcha for Gaza: Day 3 Update!

Attention danmei fans! Our fundraiser (link) has reached $470 USD for Palestine as of 8/3/2024 - thank you so much to all the prompters ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

Notice: We've seen several donations that cover much more than the number of prompts requested! While this is great for our fundraisers, prompters can also use the extra money to request two types of "free" prompts; you can either leave "creator's choice" prompts where the creators are free to make whatever they like (specifying a fandom is optional), or donate prompts for fans who are unable to donate at the moment.

For example, if you want to make a $20 USD donation but only want to request a single SFW prompt for $5 USD, you can specify that you want to donate the other $15 as prompts for the rest of the fandom or let 1-3 SFW contributors pick what to create. You can also consider leaving creator's choice prompts for the fandoms listed below, since they have not received any prompts yet:

Brother | Da Ge (大哥)

Pure White Devil (纯白恶魔)

Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire (烈火浇愁)

Itinerant Doctor | Youyi (游医)

Jin Se | 锦瑟

Nan Chan (南禅)

The Submissive Emperor | Jun Wei Xia (君为下)

The Wife is First | Qi Wei Shang (妻为上)

Drink, Drank, Drunk! | (千杯)

Global Examinations | 全球高考

Copper Coins | Tong Qian Kan Shi (铜钱龛世)

I Ship My Rival X Me | (我嗑了对家x我)

More under the cut:

City of Angels | (天使之城)

Legend of Exorcism | Tianbao Fuyao Lu (天宝伏妖录)

Dinghai Fusheng Records (定海浮生录)

Seizing Dreams | Duo Meng (夺梦)

Those Years In Quest Of Honour Mine (当年万里觅封侯)

AWM: PUBG | (AWM [绝地求生])

The #1 Pretty Boy of the Immortal Path (仙道第一小白脸)

First-Class Lawyer | Yi Ji Lushi (一级律师)

Judge | Pànguān (判官)

Wildhood Friends | Zhu Mu Lang Ma (竹木狼马)

Run Wild | Sa Ye (撒野)

Qing Kuang | (轻狂)

Antidote | Jie Yao (解药)

Wait for Me after School | 放学等我

PUBG Online Romance of the Century | (PUBG世纪网恋)

I Can Do It | (我行让我来)

Glory [e-sports] | Rong Guang (荣光[电竞])

My Underachieving Seatmate Doesn’t Need Any Comforting | (学渣同桌不需要安慰)

Game Loading | (游戏加载中)

How Did You Guys Become Boyfriends While Gaming | (你們打個遊戲怎麼就交到男朋友了)

Fake Slackers | 伪装学渣

Beyond the Outline | (这题超纲了) *The Guy Inside Me

They All Say I've Met a Ghost | (他们都说我遇到了鬼)

After Marrying the Evil God | (和邪神結婚後)

After Being Forced to Marry the Evil Star General (被迫嫁给煞星将军后)

After Crossdressing and Provoking Long AoTian (女装招惹龙傲天后)

The Demon Venerable’s Wistful Desire | (魔尊他念念不忘)

After Crossing Through Ten Worlds, I Failed To Run Away | 穿越十个世界后我跑路失败了

Swallowing the Seas | Tun Hai (吞海)

Breaking Through the Clouds | Po Yun (破云)

Your Distance | Nĭ Dè Jù Lí (你的距离)

Is the Gentleman Feeling Alright? | jun you ji fou (君有疾否)

Encountering a Snake | Yu She (遇蛇)

You Boys Play Games Very Well | (你们男生打游戏好厉害哦~)

Waiting For You Online | (就等你上线了)

I’m Completely Clueless About Sockpuppet Accounts Being Unmasked [E-sports] | (被扒了马甲我一无所知[电竞])

That One Rich Fan of Mine | (我的那個有錢粉絲)

I Just Want To Be In A Relationship | (我就想谈个恋爱)

Heart has Ling Xi | (心有凌熙)

After Getting Gayified, I Swore Off Parody Mashups | (被gay后再也不敢鬼畜了)

Reborn with an Old Enemy on the Day of our Marriage | (和宿敌结婚当天一起重生了)

Transmigrated into the prince regent's beloved runaway wife | (穿成攝政王的侍愛逃妻)

After transmigrating into the book, I picked up the protagonist-shou | (穿书后我捡到了主角受)

Cold Sands | 漠上寒沙

I Know I'm About to Lose You | 我知道我快失去你了

Fanservice Paradox | 营业悖论

Fantasy Farm | Huanxiang Nongchang (不离)

The Emperor's strategy | (帝王攻略)

The Missing Piece | (貌合神离)

I'm using the interstellar live broadcast to raise cubs | (我在星际直播养崽)

Not in Vain | (不枉)

You use a gun, I use a bow (你们用枪我用弓[电竞])

I’m A Male Mom in a Nightmare Game |

I Like Your Pheromones | (我喜欢你的信息素)

Transmigrating Into The Heartthrob’s Cannon Fodder Childhood Friend | (穿成万人迷的炮灰竹马)

Pixiu Restaurant, No Way Out (貔貅饭馆，只进不出)

Mist [Unlimited] | 薄雾［无限］

[imsosocold]

Crack Theory To Celebrate Season 3: Min is the Missing Quarter to Time’s Clock. Or in other words, why I believe Liu Min has a superpower of his own:

Specifically, I think Liu Min is partially prophetic, specifically having the ability to see potential futures within his dreams in addition to being able to at the very least sense timeline ‘resets’ in some way. Whether he can only see his own future or also other people’s futures is unclear. Same with whether he can only see the futures of his current self or if he has the ability to see the futures of other versions of himself from different timelines. I’m going to continue on with the idea that the latter option for both cases are true along with the notion he (and really everyone) doesn’t have a good grasp and understanding on this ability.

This idea was sparked from the line Liu Min’s father said while blabbering on badmouthing him sometime I-don’t-remember- in season 2: “if only he had half the power his brother had!” (I’ve also seen the line translated as ‘if only he had half the ability of his brother’ which still carries the same potential hint/clue/messaging in my opinion, it just makes Liu Jung look less personally knowledgeable and comfortable regarding the brothers’ powers which would fit what we’ve seen from his character.)  Now, that’s a very interesting statement for Liu Jung to have said, especially with how little screen time any of the Lius get and how little information we get on them during that time. Most notably know so little about Min, even less than Liu Xiao in some senses. He’s clearly a driving force similar to his brother but his motivations, nevermind his memories, we aren’t even close to being privy to. The word choice used is clearly selective and pointed but also ambiguous. Why specifically state ‘half the power?’ Instead of ‘any of the power?’  With how much the series loves foreshadowing I can’t help but find this not only intentional but telling. It implies Liu Min has some sort of power but nothing satisfactory or notable enough to actually be considered ‘powerful.’ 

Now, we’ve focused on powers centered around going back to the past with Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi in season one. We’ve focused on powers that alter one’s present conditions and abilities with Li Tianchen and Li Tianxi in season two. I believe season three will explore powers involving the future, specifically those that allow their holders to witness how the future changes.  Liu Xiao is implied to have the power to see the futures of all timelines and how they’re altered/can be altered. It would make sense for Min to have a weaker, more limited version of this power.  (We could also  perhaps potentially eventually see powers that even that defy any sort of these categories regarding time and space.) Important  character duos in Link Click tend to have complimentary powers such as Cheng Xiaoshi & Lu Guang and Li Tianchen &  Li Tiaxni. I believe Liu Min and Liu Xiao also follow this pattern. ( I think Xia Fei and his sister will fall into this category as well. I also think Xia Fei and Vein, while their powers won’t be directly similar, will have powers that support each other greatly.) In addition, siblings, and overall the concept of  siblinghood, plays a rather notable role in the Link Click series. The amount of sibling pairs are notable and the characters who specifically don’t have blood siblings are noteworthy as well.  Again, it’s still unknown the extent of Liu Xiao’s and Liu Min’s connection and relationship. I wouldn’t be surprised if either Liu Min took Liu Xiao into the Liu family (like I’ve seen theorized) or inversely Liu Xiao took Liu Min into the Liu family as a parallel to Qi Rong and Cheng Xiaoshi. (Perhaps the duo met in Brighdon lol. I could definitely see Liu Min as being racially English and becoming ethnically Chinese over time.) Regardless of the weeds, Min having his own matching set of powers to his brother would make the Liu siblings be paralleling lines to each other. 

It’d also tie up a bunch of loose ends and close all the boxes that have been opened.  

Like when Xiao Li questions Liu Min about what he did to Emma, one of the few times we get to directly hear Liu Min talk for himself and specifically when he’s in a vulnerable position and not around someone he has to keep up a mask around, he starts rambling on about how he thought Emma was a zombie. It’s definitely an odd moment with no clear follow up and I don’t think it was simply to portray Liu Min as unstable (which was already obvious lol.) I believe that Liu Min had mixed up memories and had gotten his timelines confused. He remembered so vividly killing Emma he believed it was something he had done in the timeline he was currently living in. So when he saw her somehow alive he freaked out. Being around, talking to, even harming her right then with his bare hands didn’t clarify any confusion for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if all that, or even just her presence alone, triggered more alternate memories within him distressing him further. The reason he attempted to strangle her, even with no murderous intent in particular if we believe Liu Min’s claims, is him attempting to replicate what he assumed was a direct past event. An existential instinct almost. 

And it explains why Min’s phone is wanted so badly by everyone in his family, Liu Xiao included.  With how online Min was when he was alive, I think he kept information related to his powers on it.  Perhaps notes on what was meant to happen in the future and in what ways he may have changed it. Less likely but still a possibility, perhaps Kyoka Izumi style Min needed his phone in some way in order for his powers to be activated. His powers, or at least traces of it, could even directly remain in his phone in some way even after his death. 

Plus  it’s not a power Liu Min can really have control over, nevermind wield, so that’s why he still has to rely on Li Tianchen to help him with his murders. 

Now, this may seem like an odd pivot but this is relevant to this theory hatching, I promise.

I think no one song is written SOLELY for (a)  specific character(s). Yes, even the labelled ‘character songs.’  I think all of the songs can apply to (an)other(s)whether the past, present, or future versions of them.  (Even for said claimed character songs, for what version of said character at what time do those songs apply to?) I also think songs are often divided between multiple characters but aren’t always listed or even indicated as such.  Some songs may currently be incomplete in understanding because we haven’t been introduced to a character / that part of that character yet. The core tenet I hold onto as a writer and reader is that metaphors can work in multiple ways and have multiple uses. Similarly, songs can have multiple subjects and many underlying applications and meanings. Keep In Mind IN SERIES was used in the final episode of the first season as a sort of tribute recap and primarily centered around Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi.(An exploration of the art that’s used to represent the song outside of the series can be its whole own separate post.) But I also think it could as easily apply to the Liu siblings as well. 

All the exacts of why I think this can be explored another time, for this post I want to focus on this specific set of lines that previously had really confused me:

 “Awakened every night

Surrounded by the devils

I saw the shadows taking my life.” 

Again, very specific word voice with ‘devils’ and ‘shadows.’ The closest that anyone has used such pointed, occult and mythological  based word choice is Liu Min . This also ties to the potential motive Liu Min could have for his crimes. I believe he saw his victims, or those who could potentially be mistaken to be his victims, harming him or someone he cared about in some way. Instead of trying to brainstorm different ways to potentially prevent such a future from happening or even just considering the events may be related to a whole other timeline that has nothing to do with the current him, he instead, in a twisted attempt to ensure that there isn’t even a possibility such a thing could ever happen, decided to take out anyone he considers involved with what he saw/who he thinks could ever do such a thing against him and/or that person.  (Or maybe over time the term  ‘threat’ evolved over time from ‘something life threatening’ to ‘anything that could cause any sort of harm however minor’, even applying to people he’s never seen before.)   

 In addition, parallels can definitely be drawn between those two specific duos especially in regards to the concept of ‘soul brothers’, a term that was formed in LONDON. There’s also a semi-popular theory I ‘ve seen where  Xiao Liu is believed to be the future version and/or alternate universe version of Cheng Xiaoshi but not one of them has mentioned how that would affect people like Li Tianchen or Liu Min. So even darker mini theory within this theory.  Imagine if Liu Min thinks he’s seeing a future related to him when it’s in fact someone else’s, making all his actions and crimes pretty much personally pointless in the end.  Specifically Liu Min viewing Lu Guang’s future within that initial timeline and mistaking Cheng Xiaoshi as his (current) brother. Thus sending him spiraling down a crime spree. Considering Liu Min was possessed the entire time during his encounters with Cheng Xiaoshi with Li Tianchen really being the one interacting with the latter, it would really add to the almost mournful look Min gives Cheng Xiaoshi as he’s dragged out of the photo studio to the cop car.  It also makes his confusion over hearing Cheng Xiaoshi scream when in his trunk so much funnier because Liu Min would be going “tf is that my brother in the trunk?” But just in a general sense Liu Min’s crimes being a twisted attempt to try to save his brother from ‘ any potential threats’ would  make him a very interesting mirror to Lu Guang. It also makes Liu Xiao’s appearing apathy over his brother’s death that much crueler because Liu Min, despite the resentment that’s likely there towards his brother due to the mistreatment by the family, still does everything he can to look out for him.  While Liu Xiao would likely consider such a practice pointless and not worth it. ( He may have tried in the past though, nee hee!)

Is this theory very dependent on dubious translations? Yes. Is this theory also primarily reliant on patterns that my mind simply may be making up? Yes. Can most of this ‘evidence’  be chalked up to correlations? Yes. Is this likely just me wanting Min to have more importance and depth? Yes.

Anyway I made this when I was really sleep deprived and high