#i guess ming would be it

[teddybeartoji]

…… domestic mickey selfships……. i am here

ANYWAYYYY may i pls have some crumbs of: 🎬 and misu, ⛈️ and mimpo, 🎇 and jing yuan? 🥺🥺 (i don’t know if you have a selfship with him yet but the question was so perfect for him)…… i love you all. biting you kissing you >:3333

ARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the bug-eye cat is forever such a funny little creature i luv him:33333333333333

🎬 - is there a go to movie that you and your f/o watch on a movie night? do they have a favorite? who picks the movies?

PLEASEEEEEEE MISU THE FILM COUPLEEEE he's the worst . i'm gonna bite his pretentious ass. okay no but he does actually let me pick the movie EVERY time, he will tease and he will make fun of the movie i pick but then he watches it with me anyway:333333333333 (i shouldn't be happy abt this)

we rewatch a lot of things just bc i am a big Rewatcher. again, he does complain about it but he never really refuses me and yeah whataver i might be in love with him. he lets me talk his ears off about stupid movie things and he always stares at me with this fuckass fond gaze i'm going to explode anyway yeah our go-to's are just all of my favourite films<33333333333

i think his favourite movie is something boring. i'm sorry. no i am not. but then again i'm very sure that he only says it's his favourite just to irk me and he secretly enjoys the movies i show him. he does really like horror films, he likes the bloody stuff but they can't be too on the nose they still have to have a really good plot oh my god ari he's so annoying sometimesdgshadghasghdghsagh (i really fucking love him)

⛈️ - what do you do when there's bad storms? is there anything you do to comfort each other? or maybe you like to watch the storms?

HE GETS LIKE EXTRA ANNOYING WHEN IT'S STORMING OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDD he gets very very touchy and he gets trying to pull me onto his lap even though i am still doing Chores. he thinks that every storm is the perfect excuse to cuddle and to just do a movie night. he's a very smooth talker though i don't even notice him prepping the snacks and then he's suddenly got food and drinks and blankets and pillows ready and he's wiggling his eyebrows at me and i am a breath away from punching him bc why is he like this............... but i do want to watch a movie and i want to each the snacks and i do.. want to.. cuddle.. with him........................................

i'm not gonna lie he makes a TON of suggestive jokes too lmao he's very annoying. and every time i punch his chest he just goes 'OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW' and then begs me to kiss it better . .............................

🎇 - do you and your f/o have a favorite holiday to celebrate together? what is it? do you have different holidays you like celebrating?

CHRISTMASSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE ALWAYS WEARS THE CUTEST FUCKING SWEATERS ARI I LOVE HIMM:(((((((( they're always turtlenecks too btw..................... anyway he loves peeling mandarins for me:(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( and i love making him hot chocolate i'm sorry i just realized the difference between this paragraphs and all of the other onesahgdhgsaghdsaghgh jing yuan is my darling husband and suguru and sampo are evil awful guys (who i still very much love)

ANYWAY he loves going christmas tree shopping he loves going on walks he loves watching me do snow angels. he's always so warm and so he ALWAYSSS warms my hands and he does the fixing my scarf thing which makes my knees weak. he makes sure i'm all bundled up and then kisses my foreheadOH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD i'm fine. btw i think he'd really love spending the winters here in estonia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we have a christmas market going on and it's a really cute thing and yeah i think he'd want to visit that and he'd want to buy himself a pair of gloves and he wants to drink the mulled wine. we go ice skating a lot too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he's so fucking good at it btw he looks so graceful i'm in love with him

selfship asks!

[itwoodbeprefect]

there are so many dumb little moments in bad buddy that still get me every time, but clueless episode 3 pat trying to extremely literally push pran in the closet and pran refusing to go still really, really gets me every time

[vegaseatsass]

A few hours after I sent @veliseraptor some Vegas AUs for that meme, another AU hit me which I became obsessed with and thus must now share: My Stand-In AU. Fusion? Whichever!

Pete is the tireless, hard-working, unseen power behind Kinn's action movie empire: his stand-in. The loyal guy who puts his body on the line for Kinn every day but remains invisible and uncredited for it. And that's just the way Pete likes it! Until one day, Kinn's insanely hot cousin cracks a joke about Pete's ass from behind, and this momentary unexpected attention awakens something in Pete and he starts wanting to be seeeeen. Luckily for him, Vegas appears to be... really looking? No, sorry Pete, he is actually obsessed with his cousin who hates him, and having one of his typical obnoxious, needlessly sexual (longingly sexual) comments be received with flustered joy instead of disdainful annoyance has awakened something in him. He never realized there was someone who looked so much like Kinn from behind, but when he's with Pete he can pretend Kinn actually wants him, that the affection of their childhood relationship still exists beneath all the toxicity.

Except the more Pete starts to show himself to Vegas, and connect to Vegas and see him in ways Kinn hasn't in as long as he can remember, the more Vegas inadvertently grows attached to Pete for who he is. But will he be able to communicate that to Pete once Pete finds out their relationship was originally All About Kinn? What about after he chains Pete up in his family's safehouse to keep him from breaking up with him/"choosing Kinn"?? And will this all resolve in a very psychological threeway with Kinn once he finds out his sneaky manipulative sexy little cousin has seduced his stand-in out of his service? STAY TUNED ON MY STAND-IN: LA FORTE!

[technitango]

my hot take is that i needed ming to be even worse this episode actually

[fortune-maiden]

*blink* is this… confirmation that Pei Ming didn’t help Ling Wen with her schemes?

[reaperkaneki]

did some wiki/goog searches out of curiosity and finally figured out what dialect of chinese my family speaks (yeah i know, the feeling of growing up thinking that certain words are khmer only to realize as a teen/adult that uh. yeah no thats chinese :/)

[silveryair]

Thinking about how ling wen had *gestures* all that happen to her and her two best friends are respectively the most transphobic and misogynistic men in heaven

[katvazamo]

i feel like im beating a dead horse so dont have to reblog just wanna get this off my chest i just realized that the watcher streaming service was the same price as a netflix account here . netflix has such a variety of content ranging from different languages and genres . the watcher streaming service was like if netflix only kept their originals (strange things,oitnb) and removed everything else. that comparison really puts things into perspective

[jolselin]

yeah i agree that mlc feels a little unbalanced because we're getting so much li ming that it feels like jim is fading into the background but the thing is... fourth at 17 is simply already a better actor than earth so i can't even be that dissatisfied with it

[denimbex1986]

'...“It’s fun playing bad, but actually he’s not,” the actor says, smiling as he reflects on his character, Crowley. “He’s a villain with a heart. The amount of really evil things he does are vanishingly small.”

...As it always has, “Good Omens” dissects the view of good and evil as absolutes, showing viewers that they are not as separate as we were led to believe growing up. Aziraphale and Crowley’s long-standing union is proof of this. The show also urges people to look at what defines our own humanity. For Tennant — who opted to wear a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Leave trans kids alone you absolute freaks” during a photocall for Season 2 — these themes are more important now than ever before.

“In this society that we’re currently living in, where polarization seems ever more present, fierce and difficult to navigate. Negotiation feels like a dirty word at times,” he says, earnestly. “This is a show about negotiation. Two extremes finding common ground and making their world a better place through it. Making life easier, kinder and better. If that’s the sort of super objective of the show, then I can’t think of anything more timely, relevant or apt for the rather fractious times we’re living in.”

“Good Omens” is back by popular demand for another season. How does it feel?

It’s lovely. Whenever you send something out into the world, you never quite know how it will land. Especially with this, because it was this beloved book that existed, and that creates an extra tension that you might break some dreams. But it really exploded. I guess we were helped by the fact that we had Neil Gaiman with us, so you couldn’t really quibble too much with the decisions that were being made. The reception was, and continues to be, overwhelming.

Now that you’re no longer bound by the original material that people did, perhaps, feel a sense of ownership over, does the new content for Season 2 come with a sense of freedom for you? This is uncharted territory, of sorts.

That’s an interesting point. I didn’t know the book when I got the script. It was only after that I discovered the worlds of passion that this book had incited. Because I came to it that way, perhaps it was easier. I found liberation from that, to an extent. For me, it was always a character that existed in a script. At first, I didn’t have that extra baggage of expectation, but I acquired it in the run-up to Season 1 being released… the sense that suddenly we were carrying a ming vase across a minefield.

In Season 2, we still have Neil and we also have some of the ideas that he and Terry had discussed. During the filming of the first one, Neil would drop little hints about the notions they had for a prospective sequel, the title of which would have been “668: The Neighbour of the Beast,” which is a pretty solid gag to base a book around. Indeed there were elements like Gabriel and the Angels, who don’t feature in the book, that were going to feature in a sequel. They were brought forward into Season 1. So, even in the new episodes, we’re not entirely leaving behind the Terry Pratchett-ness of it all.

It’s great to see yourself and Michael Sheen reunited on screen as these characters. Fans will have also watched you pair up for Season 3 of “Staged.” You’re quite the dynamic duo. What do you think is the magic ingredient that makes the two of you such a good match?

It’s a slightly alchemical thing. We knew each other in passing before, but not well. We were in a film together [“Bright Young Things,” 1993] but we’d never shared a scene. It was a bit of a roll of the dice when we turned up at the read-through for “Good Omens.” I think a lot comes from the writing, as we were both given some pretty juicy material to work with. Those characters are beloved for a reason because there’s something magical about them and the way they complete each other. Also, I think we’re quite similar actors in the way we like to work and how we bounce off each other.

Does the shorthand and trust the two of you have built up now enable you to take more risks on-screen?

Yes, probably. I suppose the more you know someone, the more you trust someone. You don’t have to worry about how an idea might be received and you can help each other out with a more honest opinion than might be the case if you were, you know, dancing around each other’s nervous egos. Enjoying being in someone’s orbit and company is a positive experience. It makes going to work feel pleasant, productive, and creative. The more creative you can be, the better the work is. I don’t think it’s necessarily a given that an off-screen relationship will feed into an on-screen one in a positive or negative way. You can play some very intimate moments with someone you barely know. Acting is a peculiar little contract, in that respect. But it’s disproportionately pleasurable going to work when it’s with a mate.

Fans have long discussed the nature of Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship. In Season 2, we see several of the characters debate whether the two are an item, prompting them to look at their union and decipher what it is. How would you describe their relationship?

They are utterly co-dependent. There’s no one else having the experience that they are having and they’ve only got each other to empathize with. It’s a very specific set of circumstances they’ve been dealt. In this season, we see them way back at the creation of everything. They’ve known each other a long time and they’ve had to rely on each other more and more. They can’t really exist one without the other and are bound together through eternity. Crowley and Aziraphale definitely come at the relationship with different perspectives, in terms of what they’re willing to admit to the relationship being. I don’t think we can entirely interpret it in human terms, I think that’s fair to say.

Yet fans are trying to do just that. Do you view it as beyond romantic or any other labels, in the sense that it’s an eternal force?

It’s lovely [that fans discuss it] but you think, be careful what you wish for. If you’re willing for a relationship to go in a certain way or for characters to end up in some sort of utopian future, then the story is over. Remember what happened to “Moonlighting,” that’s all I’m saying! [Laughs]

Your father-in-law, Peter Davison, and your son, Ty Tennant, play biblical father-and-son duo Job and Ennon in Episode 2. In a Tumblr Q&A, Neil Gaiman said that he didn’t know who Ty’s family was when he cast him. When did you become aware that Ty had auditioned?

I don’t know how that happened. I do a bunch of self-tapes with Ty, but I don’t think I did this one with him because I was out of town filming “Good Omens.” He certainly wasn’t cast before we started shooting. There were two moments during filming where Neil bowled up to me and said, “Guess, who we’ve cast?” Ty definitely auditioned and, as I understand it, they would tell me, he was the best. I certainly imagine he could only possibly have been the best person for the job. He is really good in it, so I don’t doubt that’s true. And then my father-in-law showed up, as well, which was another delicious treat. In the same episode and the same family! It was pretty weird. I have worked with both of them on other projects, but never altogether.

There’s a “Doctor Who” cameo, of sorts, in Episode 5, when Aziraphale uses a rare annual about the series as a bartering tool. In reality, you’ll be reprising your Time Lord role on screen later this year in three special episodes to mark the 60th anniversary. Did you always feel you’d return to “Doctor Who” at some point?

There’s a precedent for people who have been in the series to return for a multi-doctor show, which is lovely. I did it myself for the 50th anniversary in 2013, and I had a wonderful time with Matt [Smith]. Then, to have John Hurt with us, as well, was a little treat. But I certainly would never have imagined that I’d be back in “Doctor Who” full-time, as it were, and sort of back doing the same job I did all those years ago. It was like being given this delightful, surprise present. Russell T Davies was back as showrunner, Catherine Tate [former on-screen companion] was back, and it was sort of like the last decade and a half hadn’t happened.

Going forward, Ncuti Gatwa will be taking over as the new Doctor. Have you given him any advice while passing the baton?

Oh God, what a force of nature. I’ve caught a little bit of him at work and it’s pretty exciting. I mean, what advice would you give someone? You can see Ncuti has so much talent and energy. He’s so inspired and charismatic. The thing about something like this is: it’s the peripherals, it’s not the job. It’s the other stuff that comes with it, that I didn’t see coming. It’s a show that has so much focus and enthusiasm on it. It’s not like Ncuti hasn’t been in a massive Netflix series [“Sex Education,”] but “Doctor Who” is on a slightly different level. It’s cross-generational, international, and has so much history, that it feels like it belongs to everyone.

To be at the center of the show is wonderful and humbling, but also a bit overwhelming and terrifying. It doesn’t come without some difficulties, such as the immediate loss of anonymity. It takes a bit of getting used to if that’s not been your life up to that point. I was very lucky that when I joined, Billie Piper [who portrayed on-screen companion, Rose] was still there. She’d lived in a glare of publicity since she was 14, so she was a great guide for how to live life under that kind of scrutiny. I owe a degree of sanity to Billie.

Your characters are revered by a few different fandoms. Sci-fi fandoms are especially passionate and loyal. What is it like being on the end of that? I imagine it’s a lot to hold.

Yes, certainly. Having been a fan of “Doctor Who” since I was a tiny kid, you’re aware of how much it means because you’re aware of how much it meant to you. My now father-in-law [who portrayed Doctor Who in the 80s] is someone I used to draw in comic strips when I was a kid. That’s quite peculiar! It’s a difficult balance because on one end, you have to protect your own space, and there aren’t really any lessons in that. That does take a bit of trial and error, to an extent, and it’s something that you’re sometimes having to do quite publicly. But, it is an honor and a privilege, without a doubt. As you’ve said, it means so much to people and you want to be worthy of that. You have to acknowledge that and be careful with it. Some days that’s tough, if you’re not in the mood.

I know you’re returning to the stage later this year to portray Macbeth. You’ve previously voiced the role for BBC Sounds, but how are you feeling about taking on the character in the theater?

I’m really excited about it. It’s been a while since I’ve done Shakespeare. It’s very thrilling but equally — and this analogy probably doesn’t stretch — it’s like when someone prepares for an Olympic event. It does feel like a bit of a mountain and, yeah, you’re daring to set yourself up against some fairly worthy competition from down the years. That’s both the challenge and the horror of doing these types of things. We’ve got a great director, Max Webster, who recently did “Life of Pi.” He’s full of big ideas. It’s going to be exciting, thrilling, and a little bit scary. I’m just going to take a deep breath.

Before we part ways, let’s discuss the future of “Good Omens.” Gaiman has said that he already has ideas for Season 3, should it happen. If you were to do another season, is there anyone in particular you’d love to work with next time around or anything specific you’d like to see happen for Crowley?

Oh, Neil Gaiman knows exactly where he wants to take it. If you’re working with people like Gaiman, I wouldn’t try to tamper with that creative void. Were he to ask my opinion, that would be a different thing, but I can’t imagine he would. He’s known these characters longer than me and what’s interesting is what he does with them. That’s the bit that I’m desperate to know. I do know where Crowley might end up next, but it would be very wrong if I told you.

[At this point, Tennant picks up a pencil and starts writing on a hotel pad of paper.]

I thought you were going to write it down for me then. Perhaps like a clandestine meeting on a bench in St James’ Park, but instead you’d write the information down and slide it across the table…

I should have done! I was drawing a line, which obviously, psychologically, I was thinking, “Say no more. You’re too tempted to reveal a secret!” It was my subconscious going “Shut the fuck up!”

[vegaseatsass]

Laura and I STRONGLY feel My Stand-In episode 12 should start with Joe waking up in Tong's body. Master said he could leave the cycle of being someone else's stand-in, what better way than this?

[pr0cyon-lotor]

I'm just thinking of an au where SY is the peak lord of the beast taming peak and he has a rivalry with SQQ but due to both of them having more decorum than LQG they aren't on sight drawing swords but like fighting through proxy

Like imagine SY sniping LBH and then SQQ makes it his life purpose of make MF be stronger than that little beast. So MF and LBH have a rivalry because well... their Shizuns say they should

So when LBH ends up having his demon heritage revealed SQQ snidely goes "oh wow my shidi was raising a demon" and they're both at each other's throats about the comment

Idk if LBH should end up actually falling into the abyss but no matter what I want BingFan to happen. So either he doesn't fall in and SQQ discreetly helps SY hide LBH's demonic heritage (he doesn't want this rivalry to end and like I guess SY would be sad or something. barf. emotions 🤢) And the rivalry goes on like normal except Ming Fan is careful to not trigger the seal to break again

Or LBH falls in still but MF tries to pull him up but ends up falling in too. So both SQQ and SY can be disturbed that they were so busy bickering they didn't notice their disciples fall into the abyss

Then they can both bond over that trauma. And like it can be that everyone notices that SY and SQQ aren't trying to kill each other with as much vigor as before and are rather depressed about the whole thing. They could start going to each other to have someone to share the pain with or something and slowly their relationship can become softer

When BingFan finally come out all powerful and stuff, SY immediately starts mother henning and apologizing like a distraught mother.

I just think it's funny to have SY being all like "my poor sons that must've been so scary! :(" while MF and LBH are doing pretty well with y'know ruling the demon realm and all things considered but like they never had this treatment before, so ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

SQQ is telling him that he's being dramatic (he is but like let him be)

[silentheiss]

“Five years?” Shen Qingqiu gasped. “I can’t see my husband for five years, because you can’t write a single fucking page of an adequate plot?”

Shang Qinghua took another step back. He’s been doing it every couple of minutes since he’s burst into Shen Qingqiu’s house, carrying the worst news ever.

“Well, to be completely fair, this particular plot line didn’t make it to the novel!” The hamster of a man squeaked. Shen Qingqiu knew he was making himself look pathetic on purpose. He took great satisfaction in knowing that it wouldn’t help him in the slightest.

“Oh! In such case it’s fine I guess! Your shitty novel didn’t suffer.” Shen Qingqiu snapped his fan open and took a step towards Shang Qinghua. “It’s only a small matter of my marriage, then.”

“Cucumber-bro,” Shang Qinghua pleaded. “I’m so, so sorry, but at least I got here in time, right? What’s five years for immortal cultivators? Painful death would be much worse.”

He was right about that, at least. Painful death that Shen Qingqiu was about to inflict on his ex-best-friend would be horrific.

“I will kill you now.” He said. “Don’t forget to tell me how painful it is.”

Shang Qinghua scrammed. Shen Qingqiu let him, but only because his knees were a little weak and he wasn’t about to embarrass himself by collapsing in the middle of murder attempt.

He took a careful breath and lowered himself on the nearest surface, which turned out to be the floor, but he was at his house and there was no one to witness that. He could sit on the floor all he wanted. Because his husband got himself cursed and wouldn’t be coming back home anytime soon — if at all.

Five years.

Shen Qingqiu sat on the floor of Bamboo House for what must’ve been a long time, because when Liu Qingge barged in it was already dark.

“Shixiong.”

“Liu-shidi.” Shen Qingqiu blinked up at him. “Why are you here?”

“Your disciples worried.”

Ah, Ming Fan and his snitching habits.

“This master is fine.” Shen Qingqiu said. He didn’t try to stand up — his legs have long since gone numb.

“You don’t look fine, do you?”

Liu-shidi, since when are you so talkative?!

Shen Qingqiu frowned and decided not to deign his martial brother with an answer.

“Binghe got cursed.” His mouth said without his consent. “Eternal Heart-Penury Winds. In Lichen Caves. He forgot me and everything connected to me. It’s not for actual eternity, though, if I stay away from him for five years. If I fail, and he sees my face for even a second, then it’s for eternity. How’s that?”

Liu Qingge didn’t say anything. Which, of course he didn’t. What was Shen Qingqiu even thinking, talking to him about it? He knew his Shidi was allergic to feelings of any kind.

It’s just that he wouldn’t see Luo Binghe for five whole years. They’ve been married for four and a half. How was one supposed to react to such a thing?

“I’ll make you some tea.” Liu Qingge muttered and left the room. Shen Qingqiu stayed on the floor, mind just as numb as his body.

[wnbnny]

forbidden fruit - nishimura riki

slytherin!niki x ravenclaw!reader

warnings: hogwarts au, pureblood/muggleborn society, use of slur "mudblood", a lot of angst, betrayal, lots of swearing, fluff, use of third person pov, niki's friends basically being assholes, threats and mentions of death, can get a bit dark at times i guess, idk man idk how to write tws

genre: coming of age, enemies(ok not really but society issues and stuff) to friends to enemies to lovers, hogwarts au

status: coming soon... (taglist open!)

author's note: aaa i'm so excited for this omd >< taglist is open for this fic!

sneak peek...

"you really think i would make friends with a mudblood?" he sneered, upper lip curling up in disgust as you shrank backwards, his friends smirking at your heartbroken expression.

"i-"

"filthy mudblood."

two words snarled at you. two words that broke your fragile glass heart as you crumpled, leaving you heartbroken and hurt. two words that completely destroyed whatever friendship the two of you had managed to build up, leaving only ruin in it's wake.

@capri-cuntz @vixialuvs @enhagvrl @judeduartewannabe @livnmsy @heeseungspookie @ming-h0e @istphanie @soobs-things @kangseulgithegreat @hohohobo @asteria-wood @belowbun @gudkc @hearts4itoshi @saintriots @mora134340 @riksaes @ak-aaa-li @strawberrymilkyum @heart4hees @lovleybahiyyih @yjsunzi @yoonzns @firstclassjaylee @baekxo07 @rk1stars @luminouskalopsia @wonniesverse @starseungs @sleepdeprivedline @soobiary @kpop-fanatic-lover16 

@capri-cuntz @vixialuvs @enhagvrl @judeduartewannabe @livnmsy @heeseungspookie @ming-h0e @istphanie @soobs-things @kangseulgithegreat @hohohobo @asteria-wood @belowbun @gudkc @hearts4itoshi @saintriots @mora134340 @riksaes @ak-aaa-li @strawberrymilkyum @heart4hees @lovleybahiyyih @yjsunzi @yoonzns @firstclassjaylee @baekxo07 @rk1stars @luminouskalopsia @wonniesverse @starseungs @sleepdeprivedline @soobiary @kpop-fanatic-lover16 

(i'm so so sorry if the tags aren't woking, i'm fixing it TT taglist is still open tho!) (some people might get re-tagged multiple times in this but so sorry for the false alarm, i'm just trying to get the tags to work)

[estrella-etoile]

I think that when the heavens are returned to normal, Xie Lian starts a little cultivation temple up there. He figures it's never a bad time to keep up good cultivation practices, to help gods keep true to the path. One of the rules is godly powers stay at the door.

Feng Xin and Quan Yizhen are the first to join him, never missing a single combat session. Feng Xin is still in awe of how outclassed he was during the final showdown, and he wants to get better. Quan Yizhen just loves to fight, and Xie Lian has become his second favorite person. He still loses, but the matches are excitingly close.

Pei Xiu joins next, nearly as soon as his detention as a mortal has been lifted. He's never fought with General Hua, and still can't believe that the man who saved his life is right there and beat the crap out of the Emperor.

Pei Ming wants to know what all the hubbub is about. He's a martial god too, who are these younguns who are forgetting this? He has a lot of fun, but no one misses the frustration on his face that he can't hold a candle to Xie Lian. He vows to train harder (but often gets distracted by beautiful ladies).

Lang Qianqiu was hesitant at first. He is worried his old Master would bear some grudge (and vice versa), but more and more, he finds himself slipping into calling Xie Lian "guoshi", and it doesn't feel so weird on his tongue. In fact, it's starting to feel nice again.

Mu Qing holds off as long as he can. He calls the practice a waste of time, claims that the martial gods are all shirking their duties by participating. Okay fine. He guesses he will participate too. His complaints are met with a patient smile by Xie Lian and a lot of swearwords by Feng Xin. No one allows Mu Qing and Feng Xin to spar, afraid of the damage to the capital, and to being even more in debt to Hua Cheng.

Once in a blue moon, Hua Cheng himself joins! Those are the days that only Quan Yizhen volunteers to spar. No one else dares to join, but everyone hides nearby to watch. Someone boldly asks Hua Cheng why he no longer offers up his own ashes should he lose.

Hua Cheng simply says, "They are in a place that I will not take them from, and I hope that they remain in that place for as long as the world turns."

Xie Lian blushes, and clutches the ring so near his heart.

[clairedaring]

if you're hoping for joe 2.0 to get his 'revenge' in the second half of the series...

warning: mild novel spoilers (but also not really because i'm just discussing things that have been shown in the trailer)

i really think you should either drop the series or give up the hopes of a satisfying makjang revenge storyline in my stand-in instead of setting yourself up for disappointment. because that simply isn't the story that my stand-in is trying to tell.

so what is my stand-in about really?

well, for me i think its a romance tragicomedy drama about an idiotic scum male lead losing the person he loves most because of his own arrogance and refusal to listen to his heart and the series of unfortunate events that happened consequently for our protagonist who was living a peaceful and quiet life as a stunt actor before the scum male lead entered his life.

joe 2.0 and his approach to life

i've mentioned it twice now that one of my favorite traits of joe/zhou xiang is that kindness in his strength where even if he can be choose to be mean or cruel, he simply doesn't because he has such a soft heart and he's weak to see others in pain (joe is my fellow enfp people pleaser okay) (⁠っ⁠˘̩⁠╭⁠╮⁠˘̩⁠)⁠っ which is why even in his 2.0 life, you won't get to see joe turning 180 degree and going around to hurt everyone who's ever hurt him like it's some makjang kdrama.

and while that seems like it could be fun, i think the reason why i loved professional body double (my stand-in novel) so much in the first place is because that very distinction between joe and other rebirth/second chance at life protagonists that you often see in revenge kdramas/cdramas/thai lakorns.

logically, if my stand-in was a 24-episode one31 lakorn/thai soap opera, joe would be full of hatred and burning rage after his rebirth and started his intricated revenge plot while still falling in love with ming whom he should hate the most.

and yet he isn't (or at least it seems to me so far).

if you read the lyrics 'Die For You' - the opening ost of my stand-in, i think you can have a good guess of what the second half of the story will be like.

Even running away to death can't help. If my heart had chosen to stop at you I'll have to surrender with the confusion I feel. To come back to the same old place. Even if I have to die, disappear and then be reborn But the love is still buried deep inside, even if it's been shattered into pieces Even if my life ends, I can't stop my heart from calling out to you Because this whole body, life, spirit It is yours only, for all eternity.

and even from the trailer of my stand-in, you can tell that joe 2.0 has a lot of internal conflicting feelings about whether he could trust ming again after the betrayal he faced in his 1.0 life. and i feel like essentially the journey of ming proving to joe 2.0 that he really does love joe is very much the central plot in the second half part of the story.

so i'd like to take this part to note how well the series has done to adapt the novel so far. i think a good adapted change they've made is this early realization of feelings for ming in the joe 1.0 timeline. i do think the novel made him realized his feelings a little bit later but my stand-in did well to show within ep.3 what happiness could have looked like for joe 1.0 and ming and i think it rationalizes a bit more more for why joe 2.0 would still have feelings for ming 'buried deep inside' even when he's been badly hurt the first time around. and reading the story i've always found it interesting that they took this route to focus on the re-entangled complex relationship between mingjoe rather than going for a joe-centric revenge makjang plot (i swear if this was your typical thai lakorn, joe would seduce ming while planning to take down his whole family or something).

of course, that's not to dismiss that there's a lot of character growth for joe in the second half of the story, especially in his building of self-confidence, self-worth, the ability to put himself first and the fight for his own happiness above all. but like i've mentioned above, his growth journey is not at the expense of a drastic personality change in regards to the kind hearted joe we saw in his 1.0 life. instead, we get kind hearted joe 2.0 who quickly adapts to his new life and attempts to start anew while conflicted feelings resurface for him as he is pulled back into the relationships he once had.

all in all, my stand-in is still at the heart of it, a love story. perhaps, a dark romance as my friend @dragonsandphoenix would call it, but a romance nonetheless. i think that is what also makes professional body double such a compelling read too, because the progression in the feelings and complex emotions of these characters are so tightly written that it's convincing enough for me (maybe not for others though) to believe that yan ming xiu has/will always love zhou xiang (to the point ymx would probably eliminate anyone else who dared to steal zx from him). obsessive love? yes. do they both need therapy? probably. yet i still believe in their happy ending? of course.

final note/disclaimer: then again, this is just my PERSONAL opinions based on the novel and up til 3 episodes of my stand-in (which seems to be very faithful to the novel so far), who knows maybe they can anger novel fans and adapt it completely differently later on (something i sure hope they don't but we'll seeeee) ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ