#in the words of lin

[jittyjames]

i'm scared to talk about them bc every time I talk about fic plans I somehow always end up hating them and never posting bc I feel like I've overhyped them and people are going to think I'm weird and cringe and suck, BUT I'm really excited about whump: the musical and I want to post my fics now but I can't :(((((

[every-momento]

you can go home, but only as a memory

postcard // i had years been from home by emily dickinson // eric hurst // pledging allegiance by noor hindi // letters from home by zarina hasmi // the bedroom by vincent van gogh // breathe by lin manuel miranda // the house that built me by miranda lambert

[wandalives]

i don’t forgive you, but please don’t hold me to it

the mountain goats/succession/phoebe bridgers/richard siken/ethel cain/lin manuel miranda/richard siken/the national/succession/richard siken

[trek-tracks]

DearTheodosiaMeme.Kirk.jpg

[novaae]

fics where the gaang kids have emotional maturity is so fucking ew

like youre telling me that the senior citizens drama that carried the show (lin and tenzin, lin and suyin, bumi tenzin and kya) is all comprised of people who went "ah yes all of us suffer in our unique way and forms, and our issues with each other are a consequence of expectations and a weird childhood" ????

absolutely no sir

i need bumi at age 68 going like "wow tenzin youre so fucking lucky" while tenzin is still reeling with how his childhood being sacrificed was for nothing, and lin, suyin and tenzin being jealous of bumi and kya for stepping out of their family's shadow while bumi and kya literally have their dad's literal followers not know they existed (and they're tenzins ELDER siblings)

all of them are fucking idiots with 0 ounce of emotional maturity (yes, even lin and kya. they can have 0.1 emotional maturity as a treat) and dont understand each other

izumi can watch on with a smoothie in hand while she's like "goddammit iroh leave the UF already my son"

[yuuugay]

friends r good guys have friends

[thirrith]

my dear mutuals who have been following my dream of the red chamber posting - here is a chaidai wip

[lalalaugenbrot]

i'm so proud of myself bc someone in a class yesterday claimed that the word dämlich changed meaning and used to mean something like damenhaft originally — and i didn't correct them!! bc as we all know people ~in the past~ HATED women so of course they changed it to meaning stupid 😤😤 — which of course is untrue both generally and especially in this case... and it's not like i have to be right about everything all the time but i hate misinformation especially when it assumes that everything in the past has always been done with malicious intent, so i have to let at least you know that:

a) dämlich has the same origin as dumm, deriving from something meaning foggy-brained and very originally deriving from meaning dark (hence also Dämmerung)

b) Dame of course derived from lat. domina, lit. meaning Herrin

[vanillaxoshi]

Yoo Look at this!

An official comic from Monsta !

Cahaya so cute here-

This is so adorable and yes the name jokes i love it

[baeshijima]

okay. so. since i have finished the wuthering waves main story currently available (act vi) as well as jiyan's story quest, i can finally have some thoughts about him to do somewhat of an analysis on his character (bear in mind this will still be quite limited since i don't have access to his voicelines/other character voicelines about him, along with his story since i just pulled him today ;w;)

this, uh, will also be long. like. long. you have been warned :'D !! (also slight geshu lin analysis bc parallels and contradictions and raahh)

for the sake of some spoilers for act vi and his story quest, the rest will be utc !!

1) how others see him

okay, so from what we've seen so far, jiyan is initially presented as a reliable and duty-bound character. he's a general, so of course he has to be responsible and be a certain way, especially when in front of his soldiers, who view him as all these characteristics as well as being relatively stoic and work-focused. this is hinted throughout the quests and through npcs, and in his story quest they're also hesitant to ask jiyan to join their team believing he wouldn't take part in such things like the gulpuff relay race, only for wenshu to say otherwise:

it isn't really a surprise that they wouldn't know jiyan has other sides to him; they're his subordinates. it's also typically what he shows them as "general jiyan", rather than just "jiyan" himself. basically just a line between work and personal life, if that makes it clearer.

the people of jinzhou, and the midnight rangers especially, all respect him. on top of being the youngest appointed general, he is presented as an "invincible warrior no enemy stood a chance against" (from his story: the reason to fight). he is essentially their light and voice of reason.

though this could be due to the fact jiyan tends to keep his troubles and pain to himself to avoid worrying those around him, and to continue performing what is expected of him as a general.

an example is during act vi, after jiyan confronted the geshu lin's phantom from the retroact rain:

this was also seen at the end of act vi, where i believe it was yuehui who commented on the wounded state of jiyan being worse than the majority, but returning to his duties shortly after and seemingly not resting properly to sufficiently recover. (well, jiyan was a medic, so hopefully he did properly tend to himself and have breaks... glares at him...)

all in all for this segment, jiyan is largely viewed as a powerful general whom the public and his soldiers know they can fall back on without worry, as they have full confidence in his abilities to protect.

2) his nature

another thing is that he is a very meticulous character. this is portrayed through his constant check-ups on the midnight rangers, the people, the area, and also through his habit of being very particular about cleanliness. (this was mentioned in his profile reveal, though i'm not sure if it's talked about anywhere in game.)

despite the responsibilities and consequences he faces, he makes sure everyone is looked after in his own way. i think it says a lot about him, and possibly about his family having a history of being in the line of medicine.

taken from his story: [what's inside his gourd?]

jiyan, however, has a tendency to hide his troubles from those around him, instead placing greater emphasis and priority on the current situation(s) or his comrades.

for instance, barely anyone is aware that the deceased soldiers — people whom he failed to save — haunt his nightmares, further pressured by the burden of his position and the fact every action of his can have even the slightest of consequences.

taken from his story: [the reason to fight]

he is resolute in this regard, fully committing to his beliefs and what he deems to be righteous. even despite the risks of overexertion which may follow, jiyan will still see it through to the end regardless of the outcome.

taken from his story: [the unyielding will]

(also, i would just like to say i'm thankful we do get mentions of ability overuse/overexertion confirmed, along with tacet mark sensitivity to a certain degree, since this could be one of the many triggers for overclocking (basically the loss of control of a resonator through a trigger of sorts), and i just want more lore and stuff on what overclock actually is. hopefully we get to see a character go through it in the future, as bad as it sounds, because it's just so fascinating and interesting and !! okay. back to the analysis. sorry.)

this was explicitly demonstrated during the boss fight in act vi, where jiyan jumped in front of us to take and block the attack sent our way, incidentally knocking him down and causing our "awakening", only to then quickly recover and continue supporting us through crucial moments during the fight, even at the cost of his own well-being (read: the injuries he later sustained that were mentioned by yuehui post act vi).

that doesn't mean he isn't sentimental to those around him. in fact, he is probably one of the most caring and (though can be in quite subtle ways) expressive characters we know of so far. in his own, discreet way, he makes sure everyone is tended to and left without worry no matter how trivial the problem, for that is his duty as their general and fellow comrade.

taken from his story: [silent caretaker]

following that, jiyan takes camaraderie very seriously. this is well-established in his story quest, wherein the basis of it surrounds jiyan's insight about his team, his comrades' sacrifice and honouring the dead.

as well as these lines from his trailer, wherein his resolve to save people was seen as futile from the veteran rangers who already lost hope.

and yet, despite their dissuasion, jiyan continued on doing what he can for his people, and to minimise the losses as much as possible going forward.

at the end of the quest in particular we see him at probably his most vulnerable, where he asks us to plant an emortia for him should he die (i won't let him.); the very same flower he has been planting for each passed soldier for who knows how long.

the whole scene gave us a glimpse of the inner workings of his mind where he is just "jiyan" with no title attached to him. in this scene, he is just a man who wishes for his fellow soldiers to be able to rest at ease knowing a new day will come, and that their sacrifice wasn't in vain.

3) geshu lin parallels sorry. i couldn't help myself. (i'm not sorry.)

also, i think another aspect i find interesting is the parallel between the current general jiyan, and the former general geshu lin. by this i mean geshu lin in both jiyan's trailer and the beginning-ish of act vi was depicted as someone ruthless in the way he is okay with there being sacrifices if it means they will achieve victory, and essentially sees avoiding that to be cowardly.

meanwhile, jiyan, as we have seen in the section prior, does his utmost to avoid as many casualties as he possibly can. a major part of his character is built around the notion of camaraderie and fighting for what he believes is right, which clashes with geshu lin's own thoughts.

even so, geshu lin notes how they are inherently similar, if not the same in a couple of instances:

jiyan's trailer also had geshu lin say this:

which could have a lot of implications, one of which being that they both want to save everyone and keep the peace of huanglong, yet their principles and how they go about it diverge in spite of their shared wish.

where geshu lin has little reservations (well, at least that we know about from this small snippet) about having to sacrifice his soldiers if it means achieving his end goal, jiyan will plan and plan and plan to do his utmost to reduce the number of casualties as possible while also maintaining efficiency, even if it means he alone has to go to the forefront to clear the way.

tldr: we love jiyan. he is the beloved. the best man who probably needs someone to constantly make sure he is prioritising himself despite his previous medic status. but we love him anyway. 🫶

[aayakashii]

[FALLING DOWN ON MY KNEES] [SCREECHING LIKE A PTERODACTYL] [BANGING POTS AND PANS] [CRYING UNTIL I'M DEHYDRATED] LIN I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO WORDS IM SORRY I CANT TAKE GOOD PHOTOS @kusanagihaku

I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THESE AND I WASN'T EXPECTING THE STICKERS AND THE PHONE STRAP OH MY GOD DLFISJDIDDLSKDJJSNANS !!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so so so much 😭 I'm legit so in love with these and I'm putting them of my bag RIGHT NOW DKJDSJDJDHS

if you ever open a shop, I will buy your whole stock IT'S A PROMISE

IM SO HAPPYYYYY AWWSLDDKWKALDLMSMSMS

[applejongho]

[blindhades]

what if lin manuel miranda met bo burnham

what chaotic monstrosity and linguistic masterpiece could come out of it

[dunmeshistash]

How is lycion pronounce

in japanese his name is リシオン Rishion

So I imagine it would be like lee see on? You can put リシオン on google translate and make it say it out loud with the japanese voice if you're curious

[patpranishome]

Like I said in the previous post, I had spent the entire night binge-watching The Spirealm and by the time I finished it, I could not delay my sleep anymore because I had to go to work the next day. So, I didn’t have time to write my thoughts coherently about this series except for a few snippets of posts here and there. Therefore, I want to use this opportunity to convey my feelings about the show and my thoughts on it. 

First, and foremost, I want to thank every single person that recommended the show. Every single one of you. If not for you hyping the show so much, I would not even touch the show. How horrible is that? Being deprived of a masterpiece which sat in front of you because you refused even to acknowledge its existence.

Second, OH MY GOD THE SHOW IS SO FREAKING GOOD!!! Going into the show, I was not exactly putting much hope into the plot and was just here for the bromance. But, the plot is so good. It had been a while for me to put my whole focus on a show and truly digest the plot of it.  I have never read the book and probably will never read it, but, based on my experience with Chinese bromance shows, sometimes when the setting of the show needs to be changed to adhere to the censorship rules, the plot of the show becomes way too convoluted to the point of incoherence and sometimes downright ridiculous (Guardian, I love you but, you are the worst offender of this). However, this show managed to change the fundamental setting of the story which is supernatural happenings to VR Game almost flawlessly. They set their own rules and managed to stick to them which gave the viewers the ability to understand and follow along while still maintaining the bigger parts of the show. At one point I felt my reason for watching the show changed. If before the romance is the main dish and the plot is salad, now, the plot is the full meal and the romance is the sweet bonus dessert you get free of charge. 

Next, also related to the plot, is how the show team managed to make the show feel alive and lived in. They make every single speaking character in the show feel like a human. Sure, some of them are downright despicable ( looking at you, Yan Shihe, may you rot in hell) but, they still feel human, even the non-human also felt human. Which leads to the woman in this series.

Quoting the wise word of Le Sserafim, “All the girls are girling girling, all the girls are girling girling, all the girly girls.” I. Love. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. The only time I cried in this show apart from Ruan Nanzhu scenes is Tan Zaozao’s death. From the first time she appeared in the show, I was already half in love with her. Sure, she might not be the brightest in the head but, she is so lovable that I understand how even Ruan Nanzhu is willing to break his principle to save her. I had to stop watching the show for a moment when her video ended because I was just plain sobbing (And I have to stop talking about her right now because man, do I have so many things to say about her). And she is only one example of a female character that I like in the show. Yeah, you read that right, one of the many female characters which was kind of a luxury in this type of show. And many of them are likeable and have so much depth even though they are just NPC. This show even makes me like Zuozi/Sako, the girl that scared the shit out of me every time she appeared on the screen (That moment when the three lady ghosts just chilling and vibing with each other at the final episode is one of the highlights of the show for me).

The set design in the show is *Chef’s kiss*. I was so used to weird CGI sets that the practical set in this show is such a fresh breath to me. Every single door has a distinctive vibe that is very different from one other. The combination of amazing set design, good lighting and clever camera angle really help you to be immersed in the story told in each door. The overall vibe of the show is really something that I cannot quite express in words because it was very specific, but, if I do have to try, the show gave me the dark sky after rain kind of vibe. Like, you know, the rain has stopped but, the sky is still dark, promising more rain to come. That kind of a vibe but, not quite. I am truly vibing the vibe because the show, at least for me, is always carrying this melancholic vibe even during its funny moments.

Lastly, Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi. Man, it has been a while since a pairing hit me hard like this. The last time this happened was my namesake, and they still reign supreme. But, RNZ and LQS brought with them this understanding and acceptance that was so intimate and private. There was no doubt that they loved each other. I mean, LQS spent fifty years of his life just to recreate the world where RNZ existed so they could be together. RNZ bet his life away if it meant LQS could live happily and safely. The actors brought this character to life so well that they understood the assignment clearly and made sure the sub in the subtext was silent. Bro, Xia Zhi Guang’s Nanzhu is so magnetic, charismatic, and intense that every time he is on the screen, he just takes my breath away. Huang JunJie, for me at first, was just okay but, slowly he grew on me with this casual way he acted like he was Lin Qiu Shi. He did small things, but those small things shaped the character well. The scene where he was trying to break down the door to save Ruan Nanzhu. Phe👏No👏Me👏Nal👏. And his smile is so cute. Anytime these two were in the same room alone, it felt hard to breathe even though they were doing nothing, just looking at each other. Their love for each other was never uttered, but it was never silent. 

And because of that, I would probably never read the book, well, at least for now. Even before the show, horror genre books had never been my favourite. So, the interest in reading the book before the show is already all-time low. I was satisfied with how the show ended and I wanted to preserve that feeling as long as I could. This is because I knew that I would start comparing the book and the show, and then, I would be left with what if which would affect my feelings for the show. I also love the portrayal of Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi in the show, and I am aware that there is a difference between the characters in the show and the book. As of now, I just do not have the capability to separate the book and the show as two different stories which was, for me, probably the best way to enjoy both of the two worlds. 

I have no idea if it was recency bias or what, but, I would put it at the top of my favourite BL series of all time. I may get hate for this but, I truly would put it even above The Untamed, a series that endeared me greatly. The Spirealm left me with this lingering feeling that I cannot understand and the urge to rewatch it again. I am not even a rewatch person. I am sorry for this long ass post. I thought I would be able to express my thoughts clearly after a bit of time, alas, I am still greatly affected by the show to the extent I just felt the need to shout out this feeling into the world.