#idk time to time it just hits me that ht is like BIG big now. huge in fact

[hopecel]

Uuuh guys? Hadestown really blew up.

[aquanology]

Speculation for next chapter...I know I'm late guys

Yes, today we will be speculating and while I hope I'm wrong about certain parts, I hope that I'm right on some others. Anyways I think I want to make this short so it doesn't take you three hours to read it or much time for me to write it and edit it, so yeah. hope I'm going the right way as planned, though.

KEEP IN MIND: take this with a grain of salt and this doesn't necessarily have to apply to the next chapter but the next chapters (if it was true ,that is)

1. I think next chapter we will get the long awaited beat up of She Li, or become very close to it, both will make the community happy fcourse. However the beat up won't come so easily, not without a sacrifice, or rather a big drop of angst to our throats, HT and Mgs will have an argument about how Ht should stop being around Mo because of what happened in school and that She Li can hurt HT or do something bad to him just like he did to Mo (and to be honest he has a point)

2. I think She li will take on his chances with He tian and try to...tease him and of course I think he tian will hold back, up until She li hits a red line of sorts (Aka perhaps insulting Hc or Mo, perhaps going as far as threatening just so HT would engage). Now there is something that I am weary of which is She li being himself because what we know about She li is that he doesn't play fair, nor fight fair, so I would assume that he would be cheating. The reason being is because HT would be in a circumstance in which he isn't holding any weapon whilst She li had it planned and got himself a little helper. Of course there is a possibility that She li would use his gang but there is a problem She li always goes too far in his fight, might I say assaults, and HT will be no exception to that rule, though depending on how his "friends"(the ones who beat up Mo) were talking they didn't think it was that normal to beat up someone to that extent. Thus I think he would ask his gang to, that is if these bastards with him weren't actually a part of the gang he is in.

( they were also scared of being reported which is weird for idk, a gang to be scared of him reporting them when they can literally threaten him to shut up, which makes me believe that they are just some delinquents no more or less than that.)

3. I don't really know where She li might start the fight in, since I'm not him, but I am somewhat sure on how secluded it would be from citizens whom might report a fight. So we could rule places like a street or any open place with so many people in it. I think it would be quite ironic if it was somehow in the river bank, but that would beg the question on why he would be there is....uh idk ( I mean there is a possibility that She li would invite HT to a fight and HT would accept it with the given location).

So yeah that was all, although I wanted to make a fourth point, though I thought it was way too much for a speculation and that we should all take it with a large grain of salt, I definitely am late in completing this one (bc I'm lazy) and so i hope the new chapter would be a fun one that doesn't go the way I speculated just now because I don't want He tian and Mo to fight.

[notthatiwilleverwriteit]

So my theory is that after SL hit that guy he said to MGS that he owes him for saving his life. SL even mentioned to HT that MGS owes him so I don't think MGS helped SL cover up the murder. maybe MGS went home after that. and SL called his people and he himself coverd that up. I can't see MGS actually getting involved in covering a murder. don't know if he knows that SL was the one behind the car accident cover up or maybe the guy did die from that. I don't know.

Hello, dear anon!

Hmm, I’m not sure if “murder” is the correct term for this. It didn’t really seem premeditated to me, but I suppose only SL knows the answer to that. Maybe “killing” would be more fitting? Since it doesn’t include intent and it can be the result of self-defense or an accident. But I suppose all of that is somewhat beside the point.

By “involved” I don’t mean that MGS was actively hiding the body or coming up with the cover story with SL. More like...He was involved in the case in general. I don’t know if it’s just how I read it but to me, he almost seemed suspicious of the rumor about the homeless guy dying in a car accident? If he had later on connected the dots and suspected SL had possibly covered up someone’s death, he didn’t tell anyone about what he knew. I don’t believe he was actively involved in it but if there was a cover story, he kind of “helped” it along by being silent.

It’s all very unclear to me. I don’t know if I’m just reading too much into things but the whole “rumored car accident” throws it all off for me. I’m kind of failing to see the point of the “car accident” cover story, tbh. The next day someone would have found a dead homeless guy in an alley. End of story? From where I was looking at the situation, all SL would have had to do was to take the bottle with him. Without that, it would have been a pretty simple case of SL saving MGS and then holding it over him for a long time.

Or had there really been a car accident later on due to the guy’s head trauma and he had died that way? And MGS feels guilty about it all because he thinks it was his fault despite how messed up that logic is? Somehow I’m leaning towards this possibility...I think it would be needlessly complicated otherwise. SL saved MGS, the guy was left knocked out but alive, the boys went on with their days after SL made it clear that MGS owes him big time, and later on MGS heard the guy had died in an accident and was crushed by guilt.

Idk. Despite waiting for a chapter that would finally give me some long-awaited answers, I feel like I’m even more confused about things now.

[casually-inlove]

aah i agree im vry disappointed in this chapter ! like its good like usual, but its kind of a let down after the last 5 chapters... ht rly exposed himself minutes before, and comedy aside, MGS answered him by ignoring him, and then saying "were not friends, were not as close as you think we are". it must have been hurtful for HT, its basically a rejection of recognizing HT vulnerabilities. and its totally In character for MGS to say this, so im not disappointed by it 1/?

i mean HT lay his heart down for Mo to see and theyve known each other for 15 DAYS, its too soon for anybody and especially for Mo who have mistrust problems to respond in the same way ? so running away and deflecting the declaration is cool, i wasnt excepting a "ill never abandon u!!" lol. but then HT being cool with this rejection and having a slapstick comedy just after doesnt feel right. mb show HT swallowing and being disheartened, and then put his usual facade and only then have comedy 2/?

would have been good, bc we would have known "oh ht is actually hurt by MGS reaction but doesnt know how to say it, so he plays it cool and change the subject bc hes still not at ease with being vulnerable". a realistic situation would have been "ht tried to be vulnerable but it was too soon, too much for mo who rejected him, so it confirmed ht biased thinking that showing vulnerabilities is bad and it will prevent ht to be vulnerable in front of someone in the near future". 3/?

i mean it could have been a nice although sad conclusion for this mini-arc, especially since ht have been grieving (?) his mother just this morning. a little step back, and then smth else happen and cause ht to crack completely but then mo is able to respond present and its a step forward. ok im daydreaming but that would have been climatic lol. instead this..ah i dont know i feel cheated, i know its ox' work but still haha ! like when they do an abrupt change of scene after an emotional page 4/

its a trick ox use often and after 300 chapters it feels old n cheap. when u engage in a emotional scene, u cant just do "oops i change my mind!!" and put slapstick comedy or ignore totally what just happened and dont have a progression. u have to stay on this road : u cant put traumatizing backgrounds and mafia affairs and mature problems (kidnapping, mother being threatening into prostitution,etc) n just.. not stick with it and making ur characters not traumatized by it and just 'lol comedy'.

sry im kind of monopolizing ur askbox lol, i guess im kind of frustrated ! it just the last chapters were so good and it was a while since ox use this cheap trick of not going through an emotional scene that i kind of forgot how terrible they were at handling transition between drama and comedy. theyre a good artist all in all (or i wouldnt be this disappointed!!), but they have this failing in their writing an it drives me nuts each time lmao. haa i hope next chapter will be better...5/5

Hell yeah, DEFINITELY, that sums up my thoughts. Also, you don't have to apologize, it was an interesting read and I can tell that you feel strongly about it. While I can’t say that I’m flat-out disappointed, as I wrote in my original post, I’m definitely feeling lukewarm and indifferent about the recent ch.

OX touched upon a few serious matters a couple of chapters before: namely She Li’s fucked up goading and the way it unsettled He Tian -- unsettled in no joking manner as follows from his reaction. Then we get He Tian swearing to beat up anyone who dares bully Mo, and the whole profound monologue from the previous chapter. Just as you say, He Tian truly laid himself bare there. One could argue that He Tian listed the reasons he was enamoured with Mo, or one could argue that he subtly commented on the milieu he grew up in, or one can even read it as He Tian admitting/reflecting on his flaws out loud. There are many ways to construe this scene, each of them is extremely meaningful. Not to mention it took HT visible effort to say these things out loud.

The problem which both you and I noticed is that OX left this mini-arc/mini-subplot unresolved. Instead, they abruptly switched to comedic relief. Much like you, I wasn’t expecting a big reaction from Mo -- no grand verbal declarations at very least. What I expected was a panel (maybe a close up of Mo’s face as I mentioned in my original post) that indicated he actually HEARD what HT told him, that it gave Mo some food for thought. 

As you mention, Mo getting disconcerted and doing the tsun-tsun escape is fairly in character for him. Still, a panel like this would have been very welcome to emphasize his confusion and to justify him not gracing the other boy with an answer, ignoring HT showing his underbelly (which is something that doesn't come easy for him, as we readers know). Okay, sure, OX handled it differently this chapter -- we get Mo silently running away and blurting out the first comeback he could think of. No problem. It works to show that HT’s words had an effect on him, albeit it’s much less pronounced, than, say, the Aquarium scene -- again one would have to wonder why: HT’s “don’t abandon me” is just as strong, if not stronger, than “I’m afraid you’ll forget me”, so it follows that Mo should have been just as affected.

The problem is the way an emotionally charged moment quickly fizzled out into comedy. As you said, Mo blurting out “we are not friends, we are not familiar enough, so I don’t care what you think (of me)!” SHOULD have hit HT harder. Just minutes before we had HT being genuinely disturbed by the idea of someone looking to intentionally hurt Mo, seeking physical comfort, being disquieted by the idea of getting abandoned and losing someone he likes, confessing that he admires the other boy -- yet when Mo utters yet another curt rejection of sorts, we are not shown HT’s reaction, which, logically, should have been there. 

And all of that emotional build-up is cheapened by an accidental dick slap comedy. 

Indeed, showing HT being hurt (disquieted? deflated?) and then putting on a cool guy mask, and ONLY then switching to a slapstick humour would have been more appropriate. It wouldn’t have taken a big or an overly dramatic scene either -- just, IDK, show HT’s eyes widening, or his throat clicking, or his posture slumping, anything to indicate that Mo’s words affected him -- that the whole thing mattered to him. Otherwise, it leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth: “so Imma confess to the person I like and swear to protect them and beg them to put up with me -- oh! forget anything serious that I said, Imma touch some dick now”. While I don't have an issue with comedy coming into focus again, I do wish it hadn't been this abrupt. Had there been a better transition between these scenes, there wouldn't be this "lol jk" vibe that I’m getting.

So yeah, I, too, feel a little cheated. OX certainly has an issue with drama-comedy transitions, which are sort of hit-and-miss for me. Sometimes they work well to alleviate the grave mood, other times they appear to be out of place. The recent chapter is the latter case. Dangling a possibility of climatic resolution for the subplot and then intentionally subverting it just doesn’t work in favour of the plot here. It cheapened the emotional part and made the comedy feel much less fun for me. Of course, no one says that writing is an easy task. Plenty of mangakas, for instance, work with writers to strengthen their script and plots, so it’s challenging when a single person is responsible for both drawing and planning the story. OX is undoubtedly doing a tremendous job. Still, I wish they wouldn’t stick to using the old trick this monastically because it's becoming a trite writing device and works against them on occasion. It’s totally fine to keep the comic light-hearted yet it’s not good to ignore the needed dramatic development.

[sholtaglia]

About crackships (too many words)

I've seen some posts about crackships but I wasn't familiar with this term. So, I looked it up in the dictionary and found out that... I also have some XD And I don't have anybody to discuss it with so I’ll just leave it here. Just thoughts.

1) Zhan Zheng Xi and Mo Guan Shan. Idk why, seriously. It's just... Zhan Zheng Xi is so forgiving. I cannot forget his words about Guan Shan being not a bad guy actually though he hit him with a stone and placed his life at risk. Also I like an "opposites attract" thing. So, calm, collected and sometimes even phlegmatic Zhan Zheng Xi and short-tempered Mo Guan Shan... there is something in it that interests me. I think they could become really good friends during Jian Yi’s absence. And if there wasn't He Tian, perhaps, they could become more then friends. Though there is a big problem. They are BOTH rather non-initiative when it comes to a relationship. So idk who would initiate the first kiss/time and in what circumstances XD The only thing that comes to mind is them being a bit drunk when it happens.

2) She Li and Mo Guan Shan. Oh, my. I had really big hopes on She Li when he just appeared in the story. His first appearance gave birth to a whole bunch of thoughts in my head. Theories. Theories were everywhere!

I assumed that he could be an old friend of Guan Shan, with whom he had some sort of conflict/their paths just diverged, shit happens/he went abroad to study etc., and therefore they weren't in contact for some time and didn't become as close as they used to be when She Li returned.

I thought that maybe he saw that kiss with He Tian. And that triggered him somehow. In a negative way. "Someone dared to touch something that used to be mine and I don't like it". So, interest based on pure egocentrism at first. Childish jealousy. And... a love triangle.

I know, it's such a cliche XD But what can I do, I like this shit. I even have several headcanons and ideas (promts?) about them being a couple.

Alas, in manhua he just framed Mo :'c He didn't care about him at all and I lost hope.

However, after the incident in a restaurant I thought that He Tian's family could be responsible for the past events. And if Mo Guan Shan finds out about it... who knows in what way he'll react to it? There could be a really painful breakup. And in some AU where She Li is still a bitch, but to a lesser extent, he could try to take HT's place. Yeah, it would be hardly possible for him to rebuild Mo's trust, but I like difficulties x) And I believe he could earn some redemption in certain circumstances.

In any case, I really hope OX will reveal his true potential, bc I can't see what purpose in the story he has for now (except for sneaking around with devilish smile and scaring Jian Yi, lol).

3) He Cheng and Mo Guan Shan. Well, what to say here? I like age and size difference, that's all. And I read once a Russian tianshan fanfic where He Cheng wasn't pleased with their relationship and had a conversation with Mo in a car where he tried to give him money so that he would leave HT alone and GS lost his temper and there was a (hot. for me) struggle between them and I understood that I'd like to read an AU fic about them. Without HT being truly interested in Mo, because otherwise it would be really painfull for him to realise that his brother stole a lover from him. Took him away, just like that puppy.  

4) Finally, I'm really into polyamory XD Though I don't think that HT would tolerate somebody else's presence near Mo.  

P.S. Sorry for my English :'D

And I still have a strange feeling that I misunderstood the meaning of the term. “Crackship” means a ship that is hardly to happen? If I’m mistaken, correct me please. 

And if you are interested in getting any promts I’d be happy to share my ideas :D

[tobyjamessharp]

I just recently had a friend come out as trans, and I myself am gay, so LGBT rights are very important to me, but it's been kind of, idk, hard, seeing them as a different person. I've known them for so long, and it's hard to see them as a different gender. I keep slipping and calling them by their birth name, and I feel so bad, but they are very understanding and I support them so much like it's not even funny. I know as they continue their transition it'll get easier (pt 1)

I’m gonna readmore my response cause I might ramble a bit!!

First off, let your friend know I’m really proud of them forcoming out! As you know as well, it’s a terrifying experience so getting thatout in the open is a big step that took a lot of courage.

And as far as struggling to see them as another person? Youreally don’t have to if that makes any sense? Your friend is still the sameperson they always have been, in or out of the closet. Now they just get tostart being vocal about something they’ve known for probably a very long time.

Journey of me coming to the realization I was trans was a prettybumpy one tbh. Growing up as a little kid I think I always knew? But my parentsnever pressured me into anything too “girly” and I didn’t really even know whatbeing transgender was so I didn’t talk too much about it. Apparently when I waslittle I got mad at my mom because I had told her I wanted a penis and she waslike “well bud you’re never gonna be able to grow one” like not being mean JUSTBEING FACTUAL RIGHT. AND BABY TOBY GOT REALLY MAD AT MY OWN BODY BECAUSE “WHYCAN’T I GROW ONE”  So in hindsight myparents were like “yeah there were signs as a child” but yeah.

Shit rly started getting not fun around 13-14? So awkwardtween teen time it sucked I hated it. And it was the stupidest way this thoughteven popped into my mind but it’s how it happened and like. You know thosemoments you can remember soooo clearly?? This is one of them like I could walkyou to the exact fucking spot this happened and be like here it is. I was inforever 21 with my siblings and like I hated every piece of clothing supposedlymeant for me and I remember looking over and the mens section and being like. Enviousof all the guys and thinking wow I would look and feel so much more comfortableIf I could dress like them. And then suddenly that thought hit me of “well areyou a boy?”  

And I was like fuck idk. I had never really consciously identifiedwith girls so I was just kinda floating. I kinda brushed that thought off andwas like meh that was just a random thought I probably will never question likethat again.

Let’s fast forward literally 4 years and not a day went bywhere I didn’t spend every waking moment stressing over that question. I wasafraid to say anything to my parents initially cause I thought they’d justbrush me off, but once I had  beenthinking about it for 4 years I figured there had to be some grain of truth tothis question that literally kept me up at night and sobbing in my room cause Ididn’t know. I talked to my parents and initially told them I thought I wasmaybe genderfluid because I was honestly terrified to fully admit I was transgenderbecause from everything I saw in mainstream media and news it was all justabout suffering and sadness and blah blah blah. I thought after “coming out” asnonbinary would make me feel better but my family still called me she/her andno one outside my family knew because I was playing college soccer on the womensteam at my school and I didn’t even want to cross that bridge. Again, thoughtit would get better, but depression was still horrible and I would literallysob in my dorm room nearly every night because I didn’t know what to do. So itwas my 18th bday when I came out as nonbinary to my parents, and itwas my 19th birthday when I had finally admitted to myself and myparents I was transgender and a male. The plan from there was to get me intothe therapy for gender dysphoria and depression because I needed it and I was afucking tERROR to be around because I was mad and depressed and taking it outon people and yiKES. But then also to go back to school and just play pretendagain for a year, finish my sophomore year of college soccer and then leave theteam after season, finish spring semester, and then take a year off totransition. Even with having to go back and pretend again, I felt better withtherapy and with having come out as a male to my family. Obvs rn I’m in theyear off stage of that plan and hopefully will be returning to a college campussoon :0

Transition wise I’ve been on HRT for a while now. I think Ijust passed 7 months earlier this week so that’s great. The HRT I use is acompound cream which works surprisingly well lmao.  I apply it twice a day and it’s really nicecause I don’t have to deal with the big mood swings and highs and lows thatusually come from weekly/monthly injections since those are one big dose atonce and you’re great for a while and then crash. And since at the time ofstarting HRT my depression was rly rly shitty my doctor thought this was a muchhealthier option for my mental health lmao. My voice is waaaay deeper than it everhas been which is great.  I’ve become avery hairy human being everywhere BUT my face which is gARBage (my dadapparently didn’t have to shave until he was 27 so I think I will be the sametha NKS DAD) And then things are growing down below which that’s a little tmibut it’s the truth so. Overall, my transition so far has been pretty smooth.And my mom and I are looking into a top surgeon in my city that apparently isincredible which is a feat in itself because im from texas which yikes.

And then with friends reaction to my coming out? It was alot better than I could’ve hoped. Again, I’m from texas so I didn’t have highhopes for a lot of being to be understanding, but the amount of support andlove I got from people I was sure would drop me like that was incredible.

From my point of view, I don’t think many of my closefriends from high school had a very hard time adjusting with pronouns or me beingtrans at all. Almost all of them just kinda told me like “this makes a lot ofsense, but you’re just you and I love you no matter what.” Also all my theatrefriends laughed because I had always wanted to play guy roles and when I wascast in them they were my best performances so everyone was like WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN. College friends were a littledifferent because they’d only known me for 2 years as opposed to since like 6thgrade so people were supportive but I really only talk to one person fromcollege still who she’s like my best friend so yeah.

Honestly the biggest adjustment I think was actually myname? Which I lowkey actually fought my mom and family over changing my namebecause my birth name was a traditionally “boy” name.  Like idc I’ll just say it, my birth name wasCarson, which yes. Sounds like a male name. And that was the issue my parents had? That I already had a boy soundingname so why would I change it? They thought I was just doing it cause everytrans person does which. Inaccurate but ok. Not every trans person is the samebut I digress. What I eventually made them understand is that like yEAH cool itsounds like a boy name to you but mentally for me it is forever equated withbasically 20 years of being thought of and referred to as a girl so hey maybeit makes me uncomfortable to be called that crazy r  I g  ht.  Obvs we worked through that because Iam now working on getting my name changed to Toby, but that was really thebiggest thing people had a hard time with in my experience.

Again, it was hard because it’s basically having to relearn atrained response to something, but you don’t know how happy my best friend fromcollege was when she was able to tell me she was talking about me to herparents and she didn’t even have to think twice about saying toby.

As far as pronouns and birth names go,  I personally accepted that people were goingto mess up. I couldn’t expect people to get it right 100% of the time right offthe bat because it was basically just instinct to say  she/her or use my birth name. I knew they didn’tmean any harm by it and just gently corrected them each time. As long assomeone is making an effort and genuinely doesn’t want to hurt me byaccidentally misgendering me, I have no issues.

Obviously I can’t speak for your friend, but what did annoyme was when people would freak out and apologize over and over after theymessed up. So when people immediately went into a big speech about how they’retrying so hard and it’s so difficult for them and yadah yadah. Which I canunderstand. My therapist has helped me and my family with a lot because she’shelped us realize it isn’t just me transitioning, it’s my entire familytransitioning in their own way with me. One is admittedly much harder than theother lmao but still. It is a change for those around me, but acting like it’ssuch a big burden on other’s shoulders to have to try and change use ofpronouns or names is kinda a kick in the gut to the person transitioning. Bestadvice I have for you on that front is to just keep trying and if you do messup, (which you will. It’s just human nature. My mom still calls me by my birthname on occasion because she just forgets and she has 20 years of instinct workingagainst her) be genuine and apologize, try to be the one to correct yourselfinstead of your friend doing so, and don’t blow it up into a huge thing. Again,I can’t speak for your friend, but I usually just wanted the conversation tocontinue like normal afterwards, not deal with someone giving me 60 differentexcuses about messing up.

I hope this helped somehow?? I rambled  a lot lmAO…

But yeaH!! Please tell ur friend I’m really proud of them,and give them all the support and love you can because it’s one of the bestthings you can give them