#hence these convos happen often

[storybookprincess]

wanted sibling feedback while glasses shopping & i’m so validated

[thelavendernarwhal]

I received an ask that a person wanted answered anonymously, so:

But I really, truly cannot stop thinking about this one scene in Legacy. It’s around page 351.

“You mean having Dizznee pull some money from your birth fund and then hitting up a shop for a couple of minutes?” Keefe asked. “Yeah, Dex told me all about how not exhausting that was last night, when he checked in to tell me how things went for you two in London, while someone was off doing something with Mr. Forkle…”

So what I’m hearing is sleepy Dex on call with Keefe? Dex telling Keefe that he’s tired? A cute little nightly convo?

Side note, why was Dex tired? Does his ability make him tired? I need more elaboration, Shannon.

This scene is hella interesting to me since you look at it and it immediately seems like a Sokeefe scene, but in the middle, it has this seemingly random shift into talking about a completely different character dynamic. The context this snippet falls into is Keefe trying to cheer up Sophie after she had an argument with Mr Forkle. It all makes sense within of their relationship and dynamic, but this bit of dialogue is communicating something pretty different. It’s pointing out that Keefe and Dex have a close friendship that Sophie isn’t super aware of and that Sophie doesn’t spend a lot of time with/pay attention to Dex. 

Both of these things can be chalked up to the fact the story is from Sophie’s perceptive. The big plot details have to happen or be explained to her or else they won’t make it to the reader. That doesn’t leave a lot of page time for banter, especially for a character like Dex who’s narrative role can mostly be done off stage. Of course, Dex’s character can be used for a lot more than ‘cool gadget guy’ (ie class divides, matchmaking/queer allegories, parallels to many other characters, etc), but that’s a whole different can of worms. Having moments like this that show things happening outside of Sophie helps establish a larger, more lively world. It shows that Sophie isn’t the center of the universe. 

But these little moments can be established with many different characters. There are so many background dynamics and friendships that can be leveraged for this purpose which makes it interesting that specifically Keefe and Dex are highlighted. In fact, these two are highlighted in this way fairly often. Back in book 3, the two of them hit it off quickly and spend more time together outside of a group setting which then translates into many Keefex moments (including getting their team/ship name). Late night calls are probably pretty common. 

But what really gets me about all of this is the casualness and I think it's because few other relationships in this series have that. Even characters that are established to be best friends have a good amount of tension between them (ie Fitz and Keefe, Sophie and Dex, Stina and Marella), but Keefe and Dex don’t have that. There’s a sense of stability and trust. They hang out and talk to each other without a practical reason to do so. Dex feels okay complaining to Keefe about projects and, presumably, feelings of isolation. Especially seen in Unlocked, Keefe trusts Dex to help him and hear some of the ugly things he doesn’t want to say to Sophie. There's definitely a lot of room for cute late night conversation on call, but also for a chill relationship in a sea of high-tension dynamics. 

The length of this thing kind of got away from me but that's my take :) 

(Also, I'm exploring a lot more of the mechanics of technopathy in my own writing, so I think that it's possible that Dex’s experience is something very similar to Keefe’s as the Forbidden Cities has more integrated technology that seemingly ‘speaks’ to Dex. That could be very overwhelming for him, hence why he's tired.)

[3416]

The nylander convo pre covid years was def reaching the pervasiveness, but never quite got as personal the way it has with mitch. like I distinctly remember don cherry (just threw up in my mouth a little bit) continuously going off about nylander which then made everyone else talk about him and it was just an endless cycle. they painted him as aloof and felt that he didn't care about toronto, but they never really got as mean as people have with mitch now. everyone wanted him out of toronto, but they weren't saying he should never play in the nhl again

but honestly the biggest difference was that the things they were saying about willy weren't exactly wrong either. like they would get mad at his lack of production or sloppy defense or careless plays, which like, yeah. that's exactly what was happening. they didn't have to go on and on about it but he wasn't producing like they thought he would and that was that.

And the thing I can't really pinpoint is when and why the nylander hate train stopped. again, I don't think anyone's faults deserve to be pointed out and dissected on a nightly basis, but he hasn't exactly improved exponentially in any of those categories? maybe the caring about toronto bit? but he still makes careless plays and his career point totals are still less than marner/matthews so? what gives?

I don't know why the blame was shifted to mitch, and again, another guy has to take ALL the blame for this teams shortcomings and have his character be questioned every single day. Nothing about it makes sense.

oh yeah and i'm not making light of the types of xenophobia that can be seen when talking about nhlers. there's plenty of it and i'm not even saying willy wasn't a negative talking point bc i'm sure he was. don cherry is an old ass hag whose opinion shouldn't matter at all 50 years after he stopped playing like jfc. but i do think one man's vendetta and constant bitching is different from like.. proper media outlets going out of their way to misinterpret something (or EVERYTHING) a player says time and time again to drum up talk. i just think things on the internet have somehow gotten worse in terms of clickbait so everything feels even more terrible too. someone does always have to be the scapegoat with toronto but i have a hard time buying that a rookie was taking up as much air time as the public punching bag than a now star player who has an obligation and routine to be in the media more often and all of it follows constant playoff failure from the TEAM. even elliott friedman covering the entire LEAGUE having to stop talking about anything to do with mitch hypothetically unless it was actual insider info bc his mentions went nuts is so........ trash.

and lol about the stuff they were saying about willy. it certainly isn't a nice way to say it... calling him lazy and insinuating shit about his work ethic is attacking his character when i don't think that's the way to put it, but i do think those are still problems in his game, you're right! the thing is... willy was not always productive as he has been right now, lol. his game has grown but mostly in just offensive production and that's it. he hasn't put in the work on the less flashy side of things (while mitch has. mitch's offense has always been top tier but he's dedicated time to growing defensively clearly) and i think it's a valid criticism of him and also a lot of hockey fans don't fully know how to evaluate or value skills away from the puck (myself included to some extent too, it's harder). he's great at creating offense solo... he's a great puck carrier and in transition... he's great when he's out there with a loaded up line like the power play (hence why some of his 'clutch' moments come in those situations too). but i also think everyone talking about his ability to pay attention for a full 82 game span being unproven is right, lol. i saw a tweet abt how he does 'just enough' the other day and was a 'load management king' and like. maybe so but imagine if a forward you've agreed to pay 11.5 would do a little more than that and work on consistency, lol. i get why people are a fan of his game, don't get me wrong. it's fun to watch graceful bursts of offense... i just think there's still irresponsibility there. if he were more willing to buy in, we have a better shot at racking up more points during the regular season and putting us in a better position for the playoffs too... wouldn't need some of those moments of saving lol. it's not just about only 'showing up' in the playoffs moments considered big, which i still think is a stupid argument when every game is important and the best playoff run by a current leaf was 22-23 mitch but. idk. i'm kind of glad berube is trying him at center to give the leafs and willy's game some versatility. i hope it comes with growth, the team will be better for it.

the shift in blame is hard to pinpoint for me too, lol. i don't get why beyond like.. willy bulking up... putting up 40 goals? idk what the threshold is for why things changed this time when mitch was our mvp 2 yrs ago with auston hurt. willy going on a run in a contract year was part of it probably, but it's silly of leaf fans to just decide Now is the year it all just doesn't work just bc only 2/4 core guys are signed on and then declare those are the best 2 we've had the the loss of the others is marginal. bc lol and it's pure coincidence that the major contracts line up in tandem like that. we still only saw them all play under 2 coaches that whole time... anyway. i have no clue what's next, lol. i'm excited to see them play in a different system for real, but i think the dumbest people among us need someone to solely blame for why everything up to this point hasn't worked and why getting rid of that 1 person will result in immediate success while refusing to acknowledge luck plays any sort of role year after year. it's not a fun truth but it's a truth... having 3/4 of ur best players dealing with something in some capacity is crazy work by the universe.

[gumitoes]

Zee + Spirit/Jade Coin Au

HEHE my design take on the au of me and my friend @minquiec did :3c!!! Also some brainrot ideas i got from the au (mostly angst giggles)

Right side is the actual design that takes place on hb and jia was still around! Yes, i did like 3 versions of her wearing a mask, the hodie and without those both cause i cant resist to make versions of it for the sake of making it as references HAHHSA

AND LEFT SIDE.. lets just say she got an upgrade after something happend :3 (if you havent got the context yet go over to mins page and find the Spirit AU that we worked on :D since i also wanna add some brainrots here after what had happened after the event of jia and hb)

BRAINROTS (mostly angst😻)

▪︎ Ever since Jia had dissapeared comepletely from the spirit world, and hobie returned to the human realm with 0 memory of what happened back— Zee has been the only one who had taken over Jia's casino ever since jia had dissapeared. Often someone nearby would catch Zee staring into the void in a place(havent figure it out what place) where it was the last convo Jia and Zee had the day before jia dissapeared.

▪︎if you noticed!! in mins jia design in the au, she has this small green jade necklace so.. what if the last thing that was left by jia before she dissapeared was the necklace??? And like The day before she went away, Jia gave it to Zee and let them keep it. As in a way to let know Jia trusted Zee to keep this necklace as a way to commemorate the bond they had.

" —C'mon.. you wont do it, right? " their voice slightly shaken and gets quieter as she holds the jade necklace tightly. The girl in the hood looked up to her, the girl in red wearing a helpless smile. Both stood in silence, She finally sighed and said—

" I can't do anything to stop you, can i? " The girl in the hood dejectedly continued.

" im sorry. " The girl in red replied. A distant memory was reminisced as she looked at the jade necklace in her hand.

▪︎back before Zee took over the casino, she owns a store thats located in an alleyway. She usually spends her days there and waits for any customers to come by, and also the time where they first met hb. After They took over the casino, Zee mostly focuses more with the casino and spends her time there to keep everything in check— leaving her shop empty with no one there. Everytime Zee has time to took a stroll and passes by the same alleyway and the shop she enjoyed spend her time napping and reorgenizing the stuff there, she cant help but went there and unlocked the doors to her shop— and reminince the life she had back then.

▪︎the idea came from min, and made me or us realize what we do to ourselves sndnsc... Zee has been the victim of all of this, since the fact shes the only one out of the three that remembered all that happened and deal with it. (Hence hb was revived back in the human realm with no memory of him going to the spirit world and Jia literally traded her soul for hb to live back in the human world and dissapearing.)

▪︎ Zee often wonders if theres a solution to bring them back.

" silly fantasies... that kind of miracle wont be coming anytime soon, huh? "

Okay thats all 😇

[zingaplanet]

What do you think Fedal's personal goodbye was like at Laver Cup? Even in their interviews after Everything on court happened, they seemed so dazed. They're so used to giving answers about their rivalry/friendliness but that was a different level of being exposed.

Hmmm that's difficult hahaha the short answer is I wouldn't know nor would anyone apart from their families I reckon, if you'd ask me to take a guess tho ��

You're spot on about the last part, I feel like both of them have been PR-trained to the dot (especially federer, he's like every sponsor's wet dream? I mean come on) Hence being if you look at the answers they give when being asked about one another it's always along the same line (we respect each other, we have good relationship off court which is super important, we help each other's foundations etc etc). All this time I feel like we infer how close they actually are from the way they act around each other (in laver cup and informal events) rather than from what they say about each other in interviews.

But maybe that's also where they're most honest? I mean laver cup is the most obv one, they interacted much more naturally, comfortably and seemed to not shy away from showcasing how close they actually are when they think ppl's attentions are elsewhere (like when they're backstage or when everyone's watching the match and not the team bench) *ehem stupid stupid boys thinking we're not watching lol*. They're just an awkward mess in interviews tho and roger's usually the saving grace hahaha but I always feel like their interviews seem a bit distant, maybe cause they're just naturally very reserved people and don't really like showcasing their personal lives in public.

Now that being said, I felt like the last interview they did (after the doubles loss) was sooo fascinating. It's kinda the first time I saw them broke off from their media typical answers? Especially Rafa. I think it's a combination of knowing that was the last time and the height of emotions they just witnessed (they literally just cried on international telly in front of like hundred thousands haha) hence not really being in control of what they're fully saying?

Espec. the section on 1:32 where Rafa said "When he's leaving an important part of my life is leaving with him", and Federer just kinda staring out the distance trying not to break down again prob lol. This was such an exposing answer, and one that isn't actually related to their professional relationship at all (just before this he was talking about "sharing very important things in 'our life'" both on but more specifically off court). I was a bit shocked when he said this and thought he might mean smth different because of the language barrier but I checked and he pretty much said the same thing in his spanish interviews as well. That was the first time I felt like I've heard them talking about their personal relationship in a bit more detail beyond the "we get along very well and talk often" media bit.

In terms of personal farewells, I think if they did have anything of the sort it'd probably be way before the laver cup, most likely during that phonecall they had where Roger first told him bout the retirement? I remember him talking in a spanish interview about it, saying it lasted for almost an hour and was a really difficult conversation. They might've had a convo after their final press convo after the ceremony since Rafa was saying he's gonna wait for Roger (presumably before he leaves the next morning).

But I honestly think it wouldn't have been a difficult personal farewell but maybe more just their reflections on their professional careers and rivalry together? Since they themselves said it many times and we have seen proofs until now at least that their personal relationship's not really ending in any way (it seems to have gotten closer even), they're still in weekly contact with each other and it's obvious that they keep in touch and plan to do things together in the future. So I suppose it was mostly just a private reflection on the journey they've been in together if anything and how special their rivalry has been for their careers. Roger did send a really long message to the LC group chat after his farewell tho, thanking everyone and saying last messages to each member of the team, could imagine him doing the same privately for Rafa knowing what a gracious person he is.

Anyhow that's all my take on it hahaha, wdyt?

[ninjago-forever]

Shades' take of the Q Update

Let's get this straight here and now. I flat out hate this update.

I'm pretty well known among the members of the Anything Ninjago Group; I was the mascot, and invited many of the existing members. As such, I've grown to be fairly close with everyone. I have read almost every message exchanged there. It was my home. And now it's gone... Perhaps I better start from the beginning.

I live in an extremely isolated household. I only ever see immediate family members. I am homeschooled. I'm technically not allowed to touch anything more high-tech than a TV remote thanks to my "dad" whom I don't consider my father and will be hence forth referred to as Will. (Mom=JJ). JJ is the one who let's me use her phone when he leaves, but she also uses it to get me to do whatever she wants. My childhood... Has been very difficult. The way I grew up... Put me in a very bad mental state. Because of my isolation, I thought I was the only one who suffered like this. I thought friends were extremely overrated. I... I hurt myself almost daily. I can't remember anything past 5 years ago, and those 5 years... I wish I could forget. 

Except the last one.

I found Q while looking for Ninjago Quizzes. I snuck on here as often as possible to take them. I had no clue people cared about this TV show like I did. As I'm sure most people who are like me do, I found precious little refuge in fiction worlds and characters. Ninjago was and is the love of my life. When I finally got an account, I messaged three people off the bat. Ninja was the first. I found her through her rp quizzes, and had to ask about the shoelaces code on her about (I mean, what are you supposed to do if the person is wearing sandles!?!). Next was Rose is a Fighter. I met her through a link on whatisthis wants old Q back about. Couldn't message him, so I went to her, and met him through her. Soon enough, they all followed me and not long later, Rose invited me to her small Ninjago group.

As time went on, I became closer and closer to them. I met new people and invited them to the group much as Rose did with me, hoping they'd come to love it as much as I did. The most active of those people were Lnaax says Q managers should just sleep  and Whitewolf is a Puddle Slime, though they were certainly many others. And ofc I wasn't the only one inviting people. Plus there were those who found it on their own. Anything Ninjago grew to be Quotev's best, biggest, and most active Ninjago group, no lie. It was the top of the list if you searched Ninjago groups. We had over 100 members. We were active every day. We sent several thousand messages a week. Believe me, I read every one. 

I loved almost every moment I had there. We were a tight-knit group, but not inclusive. Compared to other groups, we rarely had drama. Actually, I'd say it only happened once. This was my home. Our home. Our little online haven. A place where so many of us who struggled irl could be with others who would listen, accept them, and fight for them.

This group of people found me at the edge, and walked me away. I'm so much healthier now thanks to them. I'm not 100% yet, I still fight depression and several other things too, but I stopped hurting myself (mostly...). I quit the attempts. I'm learning to open up. I'm starting to understand my feelings. And I know I'm not the only who's better thanks to our group. 

And now I can't have private conversations here. My home is gone. I'm standing in ashes. We've rebuilt our group on Discord, but it's not the same. Not all of us can make it. We can't write stories, take surveys, or make quizzes. We can't share our art. We can't double reply. We can't edit each other's messages. We can't race to the end of the chat. We can't go find a specific page to find a past convo we want to reread. 

What I used to do on one website, now takes 5. And that makes it all the harder for me when Will comes back from work. In fact, JJ only allows me on Q, so now I have to hide from both parents.  The best thing about Q was that it was the perfect combination of fanfictions, quizzes, roleplaying, and OG stories. It let us create and communicate unlike any other website. AO3 is really only good for fanfics: it's next to impossible to make friends, and OG stories don't get much attention. Wattpad? You can't talk like you can here. I know there's roleplaying sites, social media, Discord and whatnot, but Q was all those things mixed up in the perfect way. And anyways, none of those have quizzes and surveys. Now my friends and I are jumping from website to website trying to do what we once did here.

I guess what I'm trying to say is...

Bring back old Quotev.

Please.

Bring back our home.

[melloncollliegirl]

🌷 may questionnaire challenge 🌷

(i did these a while ago but forgot to post it)

1. How did your relationship start? Was it you who did most of the initiating?

i first met her on introduction day but we didn’t talk, then on the first day of classes we were the first one in the class so she initiated a convo with me and some friends

2. How often do you think about them?

too often like a lot A LOT

3. What kind of weather matches their vibes? What about yours?

she’s such a fall person. she just radiates that coziness and her red hair perfectly matches the leaves. i am probably a spring person

4. May the fourth be with you! Do they have a favorite movie franchise? Do you?

i’m not sure if she has a favourite franchise but i know she loves horror movies (like me). i love the hunger games and the scream franchises

5. Do you have a playlist dedicated to them? what are your favorite songs on it?

i do!! my favourite songs on it are 1979 by the smashing pumpkins (one of our favourite bands, hence my username), just like heaven by the cure and first time by hozier

6. What's your go to fantasy/day dream about them?

it varies a lot but really i just dream about spending a day with her, getting to hug her and hold her hand, lay in her lap etc

7. If you had the opportunity, would you go on a date with them? (If they're married/taken, imagine their partner is out of the picture) If so, what would you want to do?

YES no question, i’d wanna do something with movies or music cause it fits us

8. Do you dress up on the days you see them? How so?

i do🫠 i like to put on an outfit i feel very pretty in, that gives off vibes that fully fit me. and i do my makeup a bit better and when i arrive at school i make sure to fix it up. and i wear a lot of jewellery

9. What's your favorite memory with them?

a certain class given by another lecturer but she sat next to me and we joked around

10. Have you ever thought about a future with them?

i’ve day dreamt about it, but i know it’ll obviously never happen

11. Does she give you physical affection?

nope

12. Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate!

Have they ever told you anything about their family? Have you told them about yours?

she doesn’t know anything about mine but i know she has a daughter, a boyfriend and a sister

13. Do any of your classmates have a crush your tc?

no thankfully lol

14. What's something you wished they knew about you without you having to tell them?

my name??? idk😭 my other teachers have talked about me so im hoping she picked something up

15. If your tc was invited to a wedding and asked you to be their plus one, what would you wear, and what would you want to see them in? (Theme of the wedding is up to you, so you can choose your outfits)

i would wear the most beautiful silk dress and i would like to see her in a suit, probably dark blue because that’s her favourite colour and with some nice jewellery

16. Do you have any photos of them? Either those that you've found on their social media or ones you've taken yourself?

i have some i took from the school social media account and i have one postcard that she’s also on which i got from another lecturer. i also have a picture i took in class of her when she was explaining something (she doesn’t mind)

17. Have you ever listened to break up songs/love songs and thought of them?

all the time i love crying ✌🏻

18. What style/haircut/tattoos/facial hair/etc do you think would suit them best?

i love her current hairstyle it fits her so well. she has some tattoos and i love them, id love for her to get more. i know every arm tattoo she has and where they are by memory. my fav is a swallow

19. Which color would you assign the feelings they give you? (Ex: happy → yellow or something bright)

like a beautiful sunset orange!!

20. Which decade would they be best in? How about you? (Based on fashion, technology, art, music, the fun stuff.)

80s/90s for us both! love the music

21. Have you ever run into them in public? (Or tried to?) How did it go?

i haveee once, and it was the best thing ever. i was walking around in the city and i just ran into her. i had been debating going home early but thankfully i didn’t!! i was genuinely freaking out and couldn’t stop smiling lol

22. What pushed you to create your blog?

i’ve been crushing on her for a while and while i’ve been writing about her in my journal, it was nice to communicate with other people going through the same thing, i felt very seen :)

23. If you could know anything about your tc, what would it be?

if she’s into women, like at all 😶

24. How do you think you'd react if they confessed their feelings to you?

i honestly don’t know. i think she would find it strange cuz we aren’t that close but she might find it brave that id tell her?

25. Have you ever done/read/watched/listened to something you may not have been interested in because they like it?

while we listen to a lot of the same bands, she recommended one in an insta page i’d never listened to before. i love especially one song now, but the rest i can’t really get into

26. If your tc was your age, would you date them? Do they have any red flags?

i would even tho i have a massive weakness for older women. also shes the greenest flag ever

27. If your life was a book series/tv series/movie and you had a fan base, would your fans realistically ship you and your tc? (Got this one from TikTok lol because I love the thought)

maaaaybe, it would probably be so obvious i’m into her so i guess

28. What's something that always makes you think of them?

a bunch of music/bands/vinyls, the colour dark blue, swallows, cherry’s

29. Let's chat for a sec! What's something you've been dying to talk about regarding your tc?

our favourite bands!!! we got loads in common and she doesn’t even know

30. Do you flirt with them? If so, how??

i just stare at them trying to look pretty😔

31. What's something you're manifesting happening between you two? (If you don't manifest, what's something you hope happens?)

i’m manifesting getting into her class again in september and for her to remember me:3

[the1975attheirverybest]

Hi Could you explain the joke behind Matty's tweet I want to get it haha

For reference, here it is.

On the surface level, the joke is making a contrast between “Boygenius” and “girlretard” like ‘oh they’re a group of women musicians who called themselves ‘Boygenius ok so what’s the opposite of that? The opposite of boy and the opposite of genius.” Hence the girlretard name that he and George are going to call themselves.

But that’s not the real joke. That’s the joke that most people are mad at him for. Cuz he used “retard” casually. Lots of people consider it a slur because it was/ is often a term used to degrade and derogatorily describe neurodivergent people for not having brains that are neurologically functioning the way that neurotypicals do. For instance, *I* was called that by teachers because I have pretty bad ADHD (fun fact, I failed high school. Twice.) which made it difficult for me to focus in class or do the in-class exercises on time like the rest of my classmates. Of course the stigma comes a long with pretty horrific consequences like the history of mistreatment of people who are deemed “retarded.” De-humanizing them, isolating them, subjecting them to cruel medical experiments, etc. (just to clarify “neurodivergent” isn’t just ADHD applied to folks, but that’s a more common example. Autistic folks and most “brain disorders” that stem from ones neurons being wired differently, therefore causing one to function differently in ways that are deemed aberrant by social normatively, are included under the “neurodivergent” category).

This is why the term “retarded” is considered socially unacceptable now. It has violent and discriminatory connotations often enacted by so-called “normal” folks upon people who don’t fit the mold.

So, when people saw the term in Matty’s ostensible joke, they got angry. Because, in those peoples eyes, he’s using the term casually and carelessly by using it as an antonym for “genius” in the same way that “girl” is the antonym for “boy.” (It’s actually not cuz that’s not how gender works and yet we seem to be totally chill about it as a society but that’s a different convo)

But Matty isn’t using it using it in the same way that he’s using “girl.” 1. Because the joke itself is aware of it being offensive (that’s why Lucy stopped talking to him in the joke). But for many, many, many, other reasons. Off the top of my head here are a few:

1. Boygenius have talked about how the name of their group is based on how previous supergroups like theirs, often the ones consisting of male musicians, get glorified and celebrated for their individualistic style and their specialness which is regarded as genius, whereas women artists never get that treatment. So, their name is intended to signal the intention behind forming the group. Which is to make space for themselves as women, and as queer women especially, and to occupy that role and to find confidence in saying that women artists, queer artists, deserve to be seen as valid, extraordinary, celebrated for writing and singing about their experiences as legit experiences just the same way that men feel so boldly comfortable doing. (That’s why their album is called ‘the record’ and same with their film, and why they dress that way etc etc) SO by making the joke that he does Matty is making fun of presumptuous entitled men.

2. He’s also making the joke that men’s “specialness” equals genius now because patriarchy regards the straight white male as the average norm. Whereas “retarded” shows that we privilege only certain types of specialness. Like if these “geniuses” where taking too long to do their in class math exercise their reachers would’ve called their moms like “your kid is retarded.” But they just happened to be really good at music.

3. The joke is designed to stir shit up because it’s self-aware, posted online, written causally, with the intention of upsetting people. But you’ll only be upset if you don’t get it. And you can only not get the joke if you focus on the word “retard” and not on the context, meaning, intention, who’s saying it (Matty; a person with ADHD, past addiction, anxiety etc), why it’s being said, and so on and so forth. Meaning, if you read it and don’t get it, you’re literally being made fun of by the joke itself. Like you’re proving it right. Proving that the problem with woke culture and online outrage is that we have become sooo hung up on labels (hence his use or a label in the joke, btw) and individual words and shit that we have turned into extreme literalists. We take every word individual and cannibalize and brutalize meaning. That’s not how language works ffs.

4. He is using a dispute over labels to highlight the hollowness of labels.

5. He’s commenting on peoples mistaken perception of him as an evil troll by getting people to react to him as if he’s an evil troll.

Also this is setting up whatever the duck SATVB plans to do. So, yeah.

Anyway hope this helps.

[thepragmaticwarlock]

I know some people are staunch Osiris lovers and I keep seeing posts about how stupid ppl are for getting annoyed at Osiris and not seeing that his bad attitude are forms of grief and urgency.

Like yes I understood why Bungie wrote him the way they did- I get that it’s supposed to be a manifestation of his grief and feelings of losing his light.

I also feel like they also used his character to try and add urgency into the campaign which overall imo there was no sense of urgency. Despite what we saw in the opening cutscene the story felt like a meandering romp through a new and fun city. Not exactly the last ditch effort to stop the Witness in his tracks. Osiris definitely tried to make us feel that and it obviously didn’t click with a lot of people.

I also don’t think it’s Osiris yelling and being an ass that specifically annoyed a lot of people. I was legitimately getting angry at Osiris and his treatment of our Guardian. Frankly on a personal level idc what someone is going through I don’t want to be talked to that way - most people don’t. So when a rpg game has a character talking to the player like that is often feels personal because of the nature of rpgs. Hence why his behavior annoyed so many players. There’s also a major lack of resolution between Osiris and our Guardian. Osiris gets resolution with Nimbus where the two understand each other better by the end but our Guardian doesn’t get that. Often in Destiny when NPCs treat each other poorly there is some resolution to it or acknowledgement of it in the story - eg Crow and Saladin, Caitl and Zavala. When characters interact there is usually a resolution to conflicts between them.

As a player character we don’t get that. Which is why is feels extremely off putting to have Osiris kinda being a raging dick for most of the DLC to transitioning to our patient, wise mentor in our training montage. When he wasn’t acting like that just a few missions before. And then he gets some great scenes with Nimbus and him delving deeper into their grief. And of course that gives us as the player context to his behavior BUT it doesn’t resolve his treatment of our Guardian and his behavior towards them on a character to character based interaction. Part of this is of course Bungies dislike of assigning any emotion, consequence, character arc to our Guardian. So things don’t really happen to the Guardian, things more happen around the Guardian and the Guardian is simply there. But that’s an entire other issue that at least in this DLC Bungie put some work towards fleshing the Guardian out besides empty void that you run around killing things as and dress up. (at least we got voice lines)

So ya of course many players are annoyed at Osiris. People irl that act like that can be grating and frustrating to interact with esp in stressful high stake situations. Bringing a character like that into the realm of fiction doesn’t mean people will automatically be able to ignore his flaws and understand he’s just going through extreme grief. Coupled with any form of resolution between him and our guardian. I personally found Osiris annoying af in this DLC. I get why - and I think he did need to be written like that BUT I also would have a very different opinion if we even got a convo between Ghost and Osiris where he not necessarily apologizes but at least directly addresses his grief to the Guardian. (Which I’m sure there were some throw away voicelines where this does happen but nothing memorable). I also am still going to be annoyed at Osiris even though I understand why he was the way he was during this DLC. Like it’s okay to dislike a character.

[chryso-poeia]

Being human is simple if you strip away the inhuman systems, the bureacracy, the trauma that the programmed, wounded and misled perpetuate. (Hence kindness or protecting one’s energy). Being human happens without your conscious participation, you could not beat your own heart, digest your food etc. Hence ”human being” and not ”human doing”. Your body orients you, not the programming. Ground yourself, become present, it’s all here right now, the wonder of it. If you really pay attention.

People are either motivated by an avoidance of pain or a seeking of pleasure. Pain is fear, without pain, no pleasure. Without your palm, no dorsum. Everything exists in a complementary relationship to everything else. Night follows day. Everything is a derivative of fear or love. But it all leads back to love, in the end. Spiritually, this is transcendence of duality.

So i believe that, that which causes life to thrive, or a flower to bloom: is love, which is acceptance, which is compassion, which is nourishment, it allows. So i will be kind and playful in my eternal love, nothing else worked. The mind is designed to be as convincing as possible, hence it reaffirms our sense of reality. But there is something called as healthy functioning and coping, not meant as judgement but rather compassion. This can clear your mind.

Here’s a few of the most effective grounding exercises for a traumatized nervous system, that i’ve found:

• 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Exercise.

• Progressive muscle relaxation.

• Breath awareness (esp in highly emotional situations): Allow the breath simply arise, don’t try to control it, just let your attention ride on it, become breathed, like a tree.

• EFT.

Misc:

• Follow your excitement in every situation.

• Think about who you are without all your negative convictions. Instead of thinking that you chose think a thought, observe the feeling is triggers in your body. Feel the fear/anxiety and just breathe deeply. Don’t engage in the mind conversation, just breathe deeply. If you start engaging in the convo again, gently back to the breath. Remember: your mind is convincing for a reason, because a lot of thoughts: require your participation to survive. It can help to repeat:

”This negative response is how my body-mind has been programmed to think it must respond. Because it replays the past, i choose to learn from the past and accept myself, in order to move on. I choose to invite love. So i choose to believe that i don’t have to respond that way. Divine, i don’t know how it’s possible but with your infinite intelligence, all things are possible.”

Spiritual Practice:

• Aum chanting, 16-108 rounds.

• Hare Krishna chanting.

• Tibetan Tummo Yoga. (Very physically intense, somatic effect).

• ”Breath Of Fire” Pranyama, breating exercise (CAUTION: Please research how to do this one correctly, faulty practice can damage your lungs. Hence it’s also therefore incredibly potent.)

• Hoponopono.

Natural Processes:

• Full body crying. (Crying is a mechanism that releases tensions and trauma from the body).

• Ruthlessly honest journaling. Write down everything that has ever happened to you. (ChatGPT can be a wonderful tool here, just temper the amount of detail you provide)

• Exercise, 30min at a minimum, daily walk. Preferably in nature.

-

Above all, whatever we resist, persists. So things like journaling can often be the most cathartic and effective practice, each time. The idea is that if it is not expressed, it is harbored within. But once expressed, it becomes external. At which point, one can notice how there is a separation of ’what happened’ and ’who i am’.

chronic fatigue from mental illness and neurodivergency isn't something you can just will your way out of. your nervous system is part of your body. your brain is an organ. the fatigue is real. you're not lazy. so be kinder to yourself. be gentler with your bodymind.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

No because Aoyama is a really REALLY uh quirky? I won’t get into it much but iirc he’s half French or something so they really played into the “oui oui fromage” type stereotype with his personality SHEGSHS

Im crying the bro zone LMAOOO honestly the Karasu sibling dynamic felt soo natural to me so good job LMAO I get what you mean! Like sometimes the sibling dynamic feels a little off if it’s too like….lovey dovey for lack of a better term?? Esp compared to what most sibling dynamics are even stereotyped to be like LOL

Otoya a real one fr >>>> really an undercover wingman like bro did not even grab a shirt or pants just walked out like ok bro the rest is up to you

LMAOO omg Karasu change up?? I bet the theme would be FIRE honestly that’s me with like any wallpaper/background/pfp I switch relatively often because I get bored HAHA

LMAOOO everything comes back to Karasu he’s everywhere…it’s ok time to lock in!! No more Karasu from now on /j ok but WAITTT if you made a long series you KNOW I’ll read it the second it comes out!! I’m ngl I got second lead syndrome too reading hollyhock with Karasu HSHSKAHSKA I’m curious would it be a completely diff au/verse or a hollyhock branch?

Also pause…don’t be shy post the smaus LMAOO dw we share the same mind I can put together the context pieces

- Karasu anon

PLSSS the way i’m in france rn…maybe that’s what secretly influenced me DHDJSKSM in my mind bfb aoyama is a very square looking dude?? idk how to put it but in my mind he has a square face, short brown hair, probably not super tall but kinda wide in a muscly way 🤔 he’s def athletic but very much so gives background character energy 😔 like he INVENTED being an npc 😭😭😭 the closest i can think of for a character that resembles him is imagining what young kusakabe from jjk might look like?? idk

siblings in media either say bro and sis way too often for it to feel natural (my brother and i do call each other bro but it’s in a buddy way not a “brother please bring me my water” “okay sister” way ykwim), are way too openly affectionate, or are horribly toxic there is hardly ever any in between 😩 i wanted it to be obvious that yayoi teases tabito a ton and maybe sometimes too much but at the end of the day she’s got his back and does care abt him (and vice versa ofc!!)

okay idk if it’s funnier to think that he knew y/n was coming so he thought he should change into smth better before she got there so he could go out but she caught him at a bad time so he just to roll as he was OR if he knew she was coming and that he’d have to leave but he just thought to himself “nah wtvr this is my fit tn the world can live with it” honestly both are in character because he’s such a dumbass (affectionate)

EEK IT MAY HAVE TO HAPPEN there’s just not any panels or arts of him that scream header to me though especially not following my current theme’s layout…ig i would have to do smth similar to my nagi theme from the beginning of the summer if i did!! we will see hehe

KARASU IS INESCAPABLE FR he’s just so perfect 🥹 i think it would probably be a completely different verse!! the plot and ending i have planned for hollyhock is very dependent on y/n loving otoya specifically so now i just associate the whole sengoku period vibe with eita…also historical au’s are harder for me to put out because the writing time gets doubled due to the necessity of research!! hence why i can’t work on hollyhock on the plane 😵‍💫 i’m not quite sure what au i would go for…i’ll have to do a deep dive and listen to some audios/watch some edits to see what inspires me!!

LMAOAOAO okay be prepared for crack they’re so stupid but i’ll give a little context for the verse so yk what’s going on!! also the queen of miraverse ocs makes an appearance in them 🤩 i’ll only post the bllk ones i’ve made because those are the most recent/relevant to our convos but trust i have many

[andnowwedance]

I stopped reading halfway through because dont come into my inbox lecturing me. I stay out of this 99.9% of the time, a look at my blog will confirm that. that one blog just happened to cross my path today and i had just enough time to point out that nonsense i didnt go looking for for shit///

Same anon who sent the ask, ignore my prior reply regarding you not reading my entire post. I was being snarky because I thought you were knee deep in his fandom and asking why everything was the way it was. I understand now you haven’t been aware of many things regarding the fandom and that’s my bad. I assumed you knew the team pr and team real crap as you were in a convo with the main pr blogs who cause drama and are labeled as delusional. I was just tired of everything going back and forth.

My ask was mainly a psa to his overall fandom as well as me venting, but it was mainly to his fandom and anyone in the team pr vs team real crap because I stupidly assumed many CE fans were on your page.

I apologize.

You had a comment stating that you were trying to understand and I call myself answering your question but with sarcasm towards his fandom. I thought you’d find the humor in it, but I suck at voicing my emotions and sarcasm.

I’m over everything but I’m sorry if I came off as attacking you. That wasn’t my intention. I was in his fandom and it just got to be too much, so again I’m sorry especially if you just ended up in the middle of stuff today all from one simple ask.

I sincerely thought you knew what’s been going on and we’re one of the other blogs arguing back and forth, but regardless I should have communicated better and read the room, again I apologize.

I do stand by avoiding all fandoms so they won’t stress you out but I think I foolishly accidentally did that.

So sorry again, you’re definitely right to avoid his fans. 😅🫣

Have a wonderful weekend!

Oh ive been in this fandom for years as I stated in some of my other replies this morning. Ive VERY aware of all of it. I appreciate the apology for being snarky though. Injust want to make it clear that i DO NOT make argue with these people. Ive done a very good job at culling them out of my internet experience. Its just that loving hadnt posted in a long time and when she does its just gift and pics so she didnt get removed during the culling and when i came across her little post i just had to point out that she was making the point she thought she was making. I have this issue where i struggle to let things pass by without comment, hence the massive culling, and strangely its often about little side things and not even the main issue. Like i would never arguing with her about weather not its fake, people’s mind are made up on that and im certainly not going to change them. My point was that the article she was presenting to demonstrate that Hollywood has lots of fake relationships wasnt actually about fake relationships it was about fake marriage ceremonies for (relatively) real couples. Thats all i was trying to point out.

I unfollowed her now fyi so that shouldn’t be happening again

[waglifeornolife]

The anons on that barbieharvey blog are disgusting. Making up things that never happened, claiming Ben is a cheat and a horrible person based on nothing, saying that Ben moved on too quickly because he had a fling with a girl five months after breaking up with Cartia but saying it’s ok that she was bragging about all the guys she’d slept with over summer (which it is! i just don’t get the double standard), claiming that he gets injured because he drinks too much (we don’t know how often he drinks or how much and i don’t think alcohol effects your hamstring but go off i guess), and the classic “he uses his mental health as an excuse” when he has never ONCE done that and only spoke about his mental health to encourage others to get help.

i’ll message her and ask her to shut the convo because the last one is actually sickening.

do you guys see how easy it is to get caught up in whatever anons are saying, it’s honestly difficult. Ben’s fans and haters are the worst for it, hence why he’s banned on here for the most part 🫶🏼

[fluoresecent-adolescent]

My AIESEC experience

It’s a wrap! 

My whole 6 weeks experience in Vietnam has been amazing. Vietnam was initially not my first choice. I applied for Vietnam as my application from Taiwan didn’t give me any response. As a consequent, my manager encouraged me to choose Vietnam due to their quick response. I had a pleasant interview session with the Opportunity Manager for the project I applied, hence having a great impression on Vietnamese. It’s more like a casual conversation to achieve understanding and expectation in Vietnam whether I’m able to adapt the local life, we also chatted about my country, the convo held around 1 hour. I got accepted for the interview on the same day (I think everyone who applies will get accepted though)

I have never intended to go Vietnam, it was never in my bucket list. I know completely nothing about Vietnam except hectic traffic, Vietnamese cuisine, conical hats and history. My head was full with doubts and uncertainties when I made my decision for it. Besides that, I had to pay for Aiesec Fee to the local chapter in my uni which I don’t really know what was it for, they say it’s for facilitation fee but the ones who facilitates are volunteers too, they aren’t even paid for their job. I was anxious the few days before arriving to Vietnam. We had to pay IPS-incoming preparation seminar (a seminar where pay the local AIESEC facilitators in Vietnam) fee too when we reach Vietnam. VISA I had to apply for a visa too as I will be in Vietnam for more than 30 days. It’s my very first time applying visa, actually a visa is not necessary if I’m doing border run where the money spent on visa is equivalent/cheaper for a trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It came to my realization that most of the interns didn’t apply for visa too, they did a border run to Cambodia. I was so dumb that I thought that the payment to apply visa online is just enough. The online payment is just for the visa form. I had to pay $25 again when I arrive Vietnam. Lmaoooo the online payment for a form of 3 papers is such a scam. :P 

But of course, there will be risk of not applying visa as well. Sometimes things can happen unexpectedly like you are not allowed to leave your volunteering place or such.

OPS(Outgoing Preparation Seminar) & IPS(Incoming Preparation Seminar) There were lots of talks on becoming world citizen?- kinda pointless sometimes but I think it helps manages fear for people who are afraid of the unknown. We had lots of bonding activities in my campus for the OPS.

IPS was great! I really enjoyed the bonding session with the local Vietnamese and people all around the world coming Vietnam for volunteering. Blind spots Initially, I only wanted to volunteer locally. I didn’t know I signed up for the Global Volunteer where I get to volunteer abroad. I did ask my local chapter whether I’m capable enough to teach children even when I don’t have a teaching qualification. They say they will facilitate me. 

I didn’t really get a teaching training during my internship, but I did ask for suggestions on how to teach. (It’s actually volunteering but everyone say as internship I don’t even know why either). I guess not everyone comes with the same aim, I personally think interns in my place including me didn’t do a great job to empower the kids to learn English. Most of them were reluctant to learn English even till the last day I talked with them, they rely too much on Google translate during our conversation. I tried my best to learn Vietnamese, hence they only want me to speak Vietnamese not English :( Yeeks. 

I enjoyed my stay in the province, although it’s isolated from the city where everyone gets to hang out together quite often. I didn’t get my cert and departure support wasn’t that pleasant. heh Experience & Vietnam It’s literally amazing, it was truly an eye-opening experience for me. The only barrier was the language as it’s really hard to communicate in English in non-touristy area. I was well fed, I’m obese right now, it’s really wrong because Vietnamese are all so skinny, probably they are really hardworking? Vietnamese, especially women, are the most diligent persons ever. The sisters in my workplace just keeps working, I really wished that let me help them more. Everyone here is friendly, despite the language barrier, they will just hold your hands and guide you along.

I talked with the kids about their big dreams and future. Every country is beautiful in its own way, I think politics are what making people’s life worse. On the other hand, I can’t believe that education is not free in Vietnam, some kids are illiterate because they are special kids?? Those kids were not dumb at all to me. They can’t even read their own mother tongue. I wish someone out there can help them to achieve their dreams because everyone deserves education, it’s freakin 21st century y’all.

[movedtodykedvonte]

Sunrise and Moon Headcanons

These solstitial losers live in my head rent free

The definite newest animatronic to join the line up and probably the last one thought up for the Pizzaplex. The daycare was a last minute idea and they need someone or thing to mange it.

At first they thought of two robots that would work with the light censors. They created two separate A.I. early in development expecting no bumps

In the end it was too expensive to have both so they jammed them into the only body created (Sunrises) and modified it to fit both Night and Day themes

Originally they looked a lot more like the AR designs, less washed out and more definite eyes rather than the pale off white ones Sunrise has or Moon’s fully red ones.

However, being with small kids all the time meant cosmetic repairs happened very often and were costly, so they ultimately simplified

Kids didn’t have a huge issue with them before this

Saw a design that had Sunrise’s spike ray things turn into stars when they went into Moon mode and I like that too much to unsee it.

Sunrise was programmed to be more energetic and protective as they’d be the one really chasing after kids all day, hence the constant movement to keep kids entertained

This also means Sunrise cannot easily calm down and leads to them becoming anxious super fucking easy, which freaks out kids as they get loud and sporadic in a bad way

Moon was originally programmed as a doting sleepyhead with a little bit of sass. Soft spoken instead of raspy and would round up kids to the nap area

The sass meant they got agitated easily but in a more “tsk tsk, no candy for you way” not a “I will hunt you for sport hee hee” way. Something happened that suddenly made them change almost overnight

They are both terrified about messes cause they get scolded by Staff if the daycare isn’t essentially perfect  and worry it will get them scrapped

Are aware of each other but can’t necessary communicate directly. Only one A.I is active at a time otherwise it’d fry their circuits

Them  shifting is not painless as they have sharp moving parts that don’t stop moving just because they are being tucked behind the face mask thing and we know the bots feel pain (Do you hear how they scream)

Has never officially met the other animatronics as they are usually in their green rooms after the show when Moon’s on patrol and Sunrise rarely has left the Daycare

Very lonely as between the kids, the little convos they have with parents during pick up and drop off and maintenance (which they can’t really talk during) they don’t interact with people much

Says words like “golly” or “gosh” or “whoopsie-doodle” unironically

That little stage they have is like their green room and it’s covered in the drawings and crafts the kids make and you’d be surprised how messy it is for a neat freak like them.

If they have a rest mode they don’t use it like, at all

Linked to my Monty headcanon, they’ve only met him and think they are BFFs cause he’s the only one that makes an effort to get into the play area

I love them and hope they get all the glitter glue they want.

[potteresque-ire]

Commentary ~ Little Red Little Green Episode 18, “Fruits & Found Family”

Link to original post in Chinese, posted 2021/05/23. Link to official English translation.

(Disclaimer / Notes + Commentary under the cut!) (TW: possible eating disorder)

Disclaimer / Notes:

While the posts by Little Red Little Green (LRLG) are among my most favourite candies, I’d like to remind everyone that they are fake rumours, and should be read and enjoyed as such. ie, all CPN below!

The English translation linked above is the only one authorised by the Fake Rumour House; therefore, please treat all content below as a very casual, very *unofficial* convo between fellow turtle friends! ❤️💛💚

With Chinese being a highly region-specific language, my reactions to it is necessarily filtered through my background, which is, admittedly, somewhat removed from Gg’s, Dd’s and LRLG’s. However, it is not uncommon for even c-turtles (and several times, LRLG themselves) to be lost with what they read / heard due to regional differences ~ which reflects the reality of communicating in the Sinosphere. In fact, the regionality of the dialects used by different “characters” in LRLG’s dialogues is among the most critical elements that make these posts so authentic-sounding, and so difficult to replicate. A fun activity of following LRLG is to watch c-turtles patch their regional knowledge together, from local slangs to food choices, to make sense of what’s going on. 

Okay, with that all said *phew* ... onto the commentary! “p. X” refers to the panel number in the official English translation (there are 7 total in the Twitter post). 

p1. “Fairy”

Likely referring to the similarity between Gg’s current role for 玉骨遥 (The Longest Promise) and LWJ. Dd was praising Gg for being “fairy-like”; Chinese “fairies” (仙) have a certain style especially in visual media, similar to ... LWJ’s ~ otherworldly, white robes that billow in the wind, peaceful to the point of distant, scholarly, delicate. In between the lines, Gg likely said he was simply playing LWJ (hence, the ”act another me” in the translation), which Dd protested... and said Gg was simply playing himself. Whether that means DD IS NOT LWJ!!!!! 😡😡😡 or something else, we’ll know what we get to watch the show!

p1-p2. “Heat”

Yes about the Chang’e 嫦娥 reference!! Despite Houyi 后羿 shooting down 9/10 suns and saving the day, his wife is, indeed, more famous (and therefore the star, the more powerful one), because she’s frequently featured in Mid-Autumn festival art, along with her pet rabbit 玉兔 (”Jade Rabbit”),:

(Chang’e with her bunny, traditional Chinese painting. Source.)

Below is Gg’s rendition of Chang’e / Jade Bunny pair ~ Chang’e being the superman in the drawing while Jade Bunny is crouching on the planet!! 

Guess of the missing convo from Gg’s side: Gg had wanted to bring something to Hengdian (where the filming of The Longest Promise was taking place) to cool himself down, and Dd had said it wasn’t necessarily. Hence Dd’s “My bad my bad” and the promise to send that something to Gg.

The loveliest line in this segment for me—and for many c-turtles— is the one about white hair. Turning grey a common, but very old-fashioned way of expressing worry and poor Dd, who hasn’t even turned 24, is claiming he was turning white because he got so worried every time Gg complained about the heat (Aww). 

Turning grey with worry isn’t limited to romantic situations — it may happen to doting parents with wayward children, for example, or to ancient patriots over their crumbling kingdom. However, it’s also one of the more (very!) dramatic ways to communicate tragic love in Chinese fiction before Western influence allows “love”, as a term / word / character, to be used explicitly in writing romance. 

Here’s a little example, a little diversion that may be of interest. Those who are familiar with the Wuxia classic Return of the Condor Heroes 神雕俠侶 by Jin Yong 金庸, whether it’s the book or its numerous visual adaptations, may remember how the hero, Yang Guo 楊過, went white at his temples overnight after his Shifu and lover, Xiao Long Nv (小龍女), didn’t show up at the cliff at the end of his 16-year wait for her.  

Set photo from a TV adaption of Return of the Condor Heroes, 1995. Turtles may find the actress playing the perenially white-wearing, calm-to-the point-of-aloof Xiao Long Nv, Carmen Li 李若彤, familiar ~ she also played Lan Yi in The Untamed. 

The 16-year wait, the invitation to Carmen to play Lan Zhan’s ancestor (when the two shared similarities in aesthetics and personality), were two of the three references from Return of the Condor Heroes I picked up from The Untamed (the last one was more specific—WWX mentioned Yang Guo’s master 獨孤求敗). This tribute is unconfirmed, but MXTX did say before that Jin Yong’s works were her inspiration. I also read a (small) discussion on whether LWJ’s hair carried a few pieces of white in the final episode, or if the lighter strands in it were a trick of the sunlight. (Here’s a screenshot of the approximate place to look!!) 

While I lean towards the latter (the sunlight), turning white with worry, with love, is a tradition in Chinese storytelling. Here’s a little something I’ve noticed too, on this note ~ both in the actual interviews and in these fake rumours, Dd’s word choices, the way he conveys emotions are sometimes surprisingly traditional. It can be because of his background (which would require a study of how Luo Yang people and Koreans talk); it can be because the traditional way of talking allows for fewer words to be said, fewer things to have to be explicitly explained (example: LWJ), but the effect is that Dd has supplied the most romantic lines in LRLG’s posts because of that ~ romantic because it harks back to the rhythm, the themes of old poetry, of ancient stories that, as were true everywhere in the world, were about love. 

Okay, back to the rumour (and hoping Dd won’t look like Bad Wig Yang Guo in a few more summers!) ....

The line after the one about white hair ... the way I understand the original Chinese sentence is “Heat is The Reason”: ie, anything Dd wants Gg to do and Gg disagrees, Gg would use heat as The Reason (R) to not do it. This anything may be eating, for example, which also has a strong possibility as conventional Chinese wisdom says that heat causes people to lose appetite. Dd’s worry would therefore be: Gg refusing to eat because he claims it’s too hot to do so.

“Corny joke” ~ the Chinese for this is, literally, “cold 冷 joke 笑話”, which becomes a pun as the gzry (team members)’s joke was about the (cold) winter and black hair. So... Dd threw a corny joke to combat a corny joke :D .

p3. “Apple”

The first half I also had to rely on c-turtles to help me interpret what it meant! Regional dialects aside, LRLG has captured dls’s very quick wit, the way his ideas freely hop from one concept to the next and this hopping carries traditional + popular cultural references that I know only a fraction of, not being a local after all. 

I’ve read an additional interpretation of this segment: “big fruit” 大果兒 (as in dls: “Those are all big fruits, all big fruits”) is a Northern Chinese, traditional slang for women—dls might have connected that with the previous line in the convo about being Guowang, as explained in the translation, and “big and juicy” + “touch to feel” being suggestive phrases. Then, given the rare usage of the big fruit = women slang, dls expressed surprise that Dd understood what he meant, went on to say he expected Gg to know it (implying Gg could’ve taught Dd the meaning) ... 

Which led to the entertaining part of this segment. Dd was like “You guys (= Gg + dls) talked?” Dls appeared to have thought of the scenario customarily inviting this question (scenario: someone on the verge of catching their spouse cheating) and began playacting that scenario, started to stammer ... as if he had just been got caught trying to chat up someone’s spouse  ~  ”I-I-I....how to say it ...”. Dd caught on dls’s playacting and went along, continued with the “accusation”: “You’re stammering”. Dls then noted that Dd’s accusation was scary and Dd smiled, ending the playact ~ so, ah, readers, never mess with Dd’s spouse!! Dd gets scary!! 

(BTW: ”nijia na kouzi” 你家那口子 was explained in the translation for a reason ~ It’s a warm, friendly term for a dear friend’s spouse. 😊)

p4. Lychees

Lychees. Has everyone tried them? It’s important not to over-eat them though...

In which the “Feeding Gg” saga continues! This segment is one of those that are wonderful for fic writers who wish to capture Gg and Dd in words. Gg, like many brought up in traditional families, has trouble saying “no” outright, which is often considered rude. As such, he resorted to delay tactics, something he had also done with the fried noodles in The Makeup Room BTS. 

In the BTS, his delay tactics had been to argue that Dd hadn’t eaten his box of noodles and therefore, he couldn’t start (~2:35 mark)—as proper manners indeed dictated. In this dialogue, his delay tactics was to say he’d eat the lychees later, that the lychees would make him too full for the proper meal (rice). 

A cute thing about this convo is that rather than pouting and grumbling his only being LWJ’s replacement (as he had hilariously done in the BTS), Dd had, apparently over the last three years, become an expert on countering such delay tactics. He peeled the lychees, which not only removed a major obstacle for eating, but also set a timer as peeled lychees get dry quickly (and Gg, despite being a picky eater, didn’t seem to like to waste food). He said the fruit could make appetiser. He got the help of their team members, who assured Gg that two lychees would be all right.

Gg’s response to the assurance... takes a little time to explain. 

The original Chinese line for “Great, great, you’re so awesome” was 絕了絕了你們絕了。 “絕了”, a popular phrase used by Chinese netizens, was repeated three times.

絕, literally, means the extreme, the absolute, the end. 絕了 means pretty much the same ~ a thing that is 絕了 is standing en pointe at the edge of the cliff that is The Absolute End of a spectrum. It is the Ultimate. It can't be surpassed. It’s unbeatable. 

絕了 is usually used in a positive sense, as in the English translation, with the positive being implied. If I say the LWJ photo above is 絕了, for example, I don’t need to specify that the extreme in 絕 stands on the good end. It’s understood given the audience of this post are mostly turtles (HELLO *waves*). We’re all heart-eyes here. We agree, without saying, that this photo is The Top, The Pinnacle; it can’t be better. 絕了 is higher praise than Excellent; it’s so good that there are no adjectives for it. Its own presence defines How Good It Is. 

But 絕了 doesn’t have to be positive. If my audience is Su She ... he’s likely to take the same “This LWJ photo is 絕了” to mean the Mariana Trench kind of Absolute—the bottom of the bottom, the Unbeatable, Adjective-Defying Worst. 

絕了 allows for that understanding too.

In this scenario, I interpret Gg’s 絕了 as taking the meaning of both extremes (which make it a fantastic phrase choice!): that Gg thought Dd and the team members were being both the Absolute Best (for thinking of Gg, caring for him) AND the Absolute Worst (for going against his wish to not eat!) Gg’s 絕了 also signals defeat; if Dd and his team members were The Absolute ... Whatever, then poor Gg had no choice but to yield to their wishes. I can already imagine his “I can’t believe I lose this way” Look (see: every rock-paper-scissors he lost, which was ... pretty much all of them), mixed with, perhaps, a healthy amount of bunny tooth warning (how dare Dd et al banded up against him)...

Those bunny teeth had to be taken care of, right? And so Dd went on to say lychees being good omen that ensure things would go smoothly for the eater... targeting Gg’s being a, as c-turtles call it, 小迷信 (literally, “Little Superstitious”, a young + adorable + superstitious person). Dd said that to help Gg justify the choice to eat, to make Gg feel better about his defeat. 

(Of note: I had actually never heard of lychees being associated with good luck before, and a quick search online also didn’t yield any result. This could be a relatively rare association Google failed to catch ... or something Dd made up on the fly to make Gg happy.) 

(Lychees have, however, been associated with romance. If Emperor’s Smile 天子笑 was The Love Drink in The Untamed, then what is Concubine’s Smile 妃子笑? Answer: it’s the RL name of a type of lychees, lychees being the fruit very much adored by Yang Yuhuan 楊玉環, the consort of the Emperor Xuanzong (685-762 BCE) of the Tang Dynasty and one of the four most beautiful woman in Chinese history. Since lychees had only been grown in southern China, the emperor had had the fruit couriered, in express mode involving many horses, to the palace up north to please his favourite wife. Lychees had become a symbol of love from that historical tale.)

Did Gg get Dd’s message then, the love and care packaged in those peeled, sweet fruit awaiting his bite? Yes, but not without a little more fight! “Eat eat eat, (I’ll eat) until you go bankrupt” is a literal translation of his final line. Tonally, I can see the following as being an alternative translation: 

“Fine fine fine. I’ll eat, it’s not like I can bankrupt you by eating anyway!”

If it sounded a little sulky, that’s because it did ... a little sulky AND fiery. As expected from our favourite Chongqing Big Pepper 😂😂😂 (Poor Gg).

Dd smiled at that, needless to say. He won!!! He got Gg to eat!! The world shall rejoice!! 

p5. “Showtime”

There’s a show coming up for Dd (the YH concert maybe?), and Gg offered suggestions. 

The sweet point of this segment is about half-way down the conversation, in the piece of paper 📄 Gg gave to Dd (after “This is for you.”). Dd took the paper, noted the many words on it, and started saying 我把我整個靈魂, translated as “I bring my entire soul”.

c-Turtles have, based on these words, hypothesised that Dd was about to read out a quote that Gg had written on the paper, with the list of items Gg thought Dd should take, before Gg stopped him with a call of his name (“WYB”). The quote was included on the translation (”I give you my entire soul...only, a little good, love you.”) I have also talked about the same quote, in more detail, here.

I’m equally stumped on the final line of this segment. (Sorry!!)

p6. “Found Family”

It’s a heartwarming segment. While LRLG had previously noted that the TTXS bros had communicated with Gg, this segment made clear that they care for him like they do for Dd ~ as family.

* dls mailed Gg a lot of fruit for sharing with the film crew. “Family member needs to be impressive” is a rough translation, but this line does defy simple translation because 排面 a highly cultural concept that has much to do with the equally complex, Chinese concept of face (which this article explains... somewhat adequately). The message to take home is that dls cared enough about Gg that he wanted to make sure Gg wouldn’t lose face in front of the film crew; that, by having enough gifts (fruits) for everyone, Gg wouldn’t be viewed as cheap or inadequate or stingy, or whatever adjective that wouldn’t befit his top idol status. Because dls saw Gg as a member of his family. 

* The prescription from hg had been mentioned in a previous LRLG rumour. 方子 is a Chinese medicine prescription, which, unlike Western formulations, is individualised both to the discomfort / ailment and to the “body constitution” of the person who'll take it, the latter deciding the kind of ailments the person is susceptible to, and which ingredients are expected to be more effective. Chinese medicine also places a strong emphasises on long-term conditioning, whether it’s for recovery from a certain condition or for general good health. A good 方子 is therefore a far more complex and personal thing than, say, a scribble of “paracetamol” / “acetaminophen” on a piece of paper. :D

* fg’s gift for Gg (xx) is something for the waist. A brace support, maybe? For example?

My favourite line in this segment is when hg asked what will Gg and Dd do when they reach hg’s age. Given that the last two items (the prescription and xx) were health-related, I interpreted it as hg worrying about Gg and Dd’s health when they grow old... with all the health problems they already have. It’s the kind of thing a worried parent say to their children ~ my mom has said the same thing to me as well. 😢

p6. “The Cat Paw”

Not quite sure what’s happening here ... not sure what the cat paw is. (Sorry!!) But that é in the translation is Dd’s signature laugh (collection here), which is written as 鵝 (”Goose”) in Chinese 😂.

p7. “The Cat Toy”

Dd appeared to be shopping for a cat’s toy (something that can “hook the cat” in the translation, such that the cat can entertain itself and not rely on human companionship as much). Gg had already bought the toy though and sounded quite proud of it, told Dd to return the toy. The implied cat was, of course, Nut (堅果 Jianguo)... which had been repeatedly referred to in LRLG’s posts as Gg’s daughter.

p7. “Cool vs Cute”

Gg is often viewed as cute, and Dd as cool. Did Dd dislike Gg taking cute pictures for public consumption? Were they scheming an exchange of image? :D

And that’s it for this issue! Ooh, this took unexpectedly long ... I apologise for the ridiculous delay between the original post and this commentary! 

(I wrote half of it, then RL struck and I forgot about it.) (I’m hopeless.) (I need a 方子 for poor memory!!)