#it'd be cool to write it all out

[unwashedpotato]

cw: incest/stepcest

the urge for brother x sibling plots is unbearable.

family road trips. forced to share rooms on vacation. getting drunk at college parties and drunkenly mistaking their sibling for their usual make out partner. weekend at home, your sibling has a sleepover with all their friends and big bro has to "supervise" but his eyes are only on you. athletic sibling locker room hook ups. pretending to hate each other but touching your sibling in the middle of dinner. trying to be discreet under the blanket during family movie night.

[struggling-jpg]

Yanqing and Yunli Appreciation Post

Keep Reading cut due to 2.4 spoilers~ (also relatively long-ish post)

These two bounce off each other so well! As a writer, it feels so satisfying to see their characters shine through the quest and the event in the way their interactions highlight them. So I'm gonna use this space to ramble about it!

My previous post pretty much talked about it already, but Yanqing!!! My son!!! I was quite worried that any potential arc for him would be shoved down the road or to the side due to the scale HSR has, but the game's been actually holding up to his ongoing arc. As a result, at least to me, he's come through as one of the best written/developed characters on the Xianzhou so far.

The nature of the length of the updates lets what we get in previous quests settle in for a long while, and considering the mentioned of flow of time in-game, Yanqing's had the time to think and develop as a person. The fact that so many players have had their view and opinion of him finally turn around in this quest is a testament to that. We get to see more facets of him, as in, doing his job and the responsibilities of doing so, and how his insecurities are mentioned in a main quest for all to see. He's constantly referencing others and his past encounters. You can tell that Jing Yuan raised him with his manner and approach to things, which is highlighted by the contrast to Yunli (will get to that soon).

His position as a child soldier has made him mature faster, be quiet even when he's been wronged (filial piety/saving face (aka thank you person on Reddit who makes the banger character Yanqing (and other characters in general) appreciation posts)), take a step back and have to be able to read the room (though, reasonably, he doesn't catch on all the time), and much, much more. The fact that other official content has described him as being more worried about diplomacy and all that. He doesn't have the luxury to be as carefree or brash for someone his age.

There's a lot to unpack there still, even with the development he's had now and that's good! If the Hoyo writing team was wild enough, it'd be cool to see them address the grayness of his role and Jing Yuan's mindset in raising him as he did (We love Dad-Yuan and he loves his son dearly no question, but it'd be so interesting to explore his flaws/mistakes in this perspective!).

Now onto Yunli.

I'm saying straight off the bat, I'm irritated by her!

And that's a good thing!

Her being annoying or bratty or irritating doesn't automatically make her a badly written character! She only would become one if they don't do anything with her, and HSR most probably will, and she should be given the same room to develop in her own arc.

She acts like her age, and she doesn't have the same pressures as Yanqing does. Just like how you can see Jing Yuan in Yanqing, you can see Huaiyan in Yunli, if anything he says is to go by. She's tempremental and outspoken to a fault, and based on the way how quickly Huaiyan relented when she talked back, you can tell that Huaiyan isn't as strict/stern with her to give her a sense of being humble.

I had this thought that she's technically what the general fandom viewed Yanqing as initially, and I'm not saying that as a 100% thing, by the way. But like by some traits and the vibes. She, of course, has a lot more nuance that will be explored at one point or another.

But back on topic, she's a foil. They represent two different approaches and lifestyles and can clearly learn from each other. Her inconsideration of the fact that she's on the Luofu but enforcing Zhuming practices (which I noticed people were upset by, and same; which I imagine is the point), her bluntness to no matter who she's talking to—there's a lot to work with here.

Just like with their swordplay, Yanqing could learn from her mental strength while Yunli can learn from his focused speed and defense. He can learn to regain a more firm grasp of his recently found purpose while she can learn to mature and take in her surroundings and be more thoughtful in that front.

Another interesting note is that where we are with Yanqing currently is in the middle of his arc, we've had the time to see him take a long route of struggle to get to this point, exacerbated by irl players views of him. He's in the middle of his growth and we've had since 1.0 to get to know him. But with Yunli, she was introduced very recently, so we're technically at the "beginning" of her character arc. In a way, Yunli now highlights how far Yanqing has come and changed, and in a way Yanqing now is a potential show for the arc that Yunli can have (not being the exact same as him of course).

I think the idea with these two is that they develop to be more balanced. Balance is such an important thing, especially in Chinese culture (Daoism (Yin-Yang), etc.), and 2.4 has shown how much potential they have to make for amazing character arcs.

It's cool that while they have such similar base traits, they're so different from each other. Calling Yunli a female Yanqing or Yanqing a male Yunli is simply outright incorrect. Their backgrounds, upbringings, ideals, swordstyles, perspectives, and positions in life are so distinct. I'm looking forward to their futures!

[confused-stars]

Alhaitham and Neuvillette could hang out i think

it would be entirely silent hangouts but they'd both go home feeling like they had a pleasant time

[aethersea]

Hello! I am really enjoying your Thistle the Show analysis posts, there are some really interesting ideas in that show! (and also from a goncharov-ing a story perspective they are so much fun to read)

eyy I'm so glad! I love that show, I love the heavy atmosphere and the overwrought symbolism and the 'power of the land' magic that's never fully explained and the tragedy of it all, god this show is so good at tragedy for something that does technically earn a happy ending. if KILLING OFF YOUR EPONYMOUS PROTAGONIST can count as a happy ending, god, I never recovered, even if he did come back to life afterward that still just MURDERED me.

it's so thematically satisfying is the thing T.T he dies and I'm just sitting there like....the themes......we're breaking the cycles of trauma and vengeance.......

[wiltking]

finished Pack of Lies (spinoff sequel for Big Bad Wolf) and i thought it was okay, but just that. would not recommend it over the main story, even though it was a real treat to read more about Eli. he's a delight and it was worth it for him alone but i could not muster any interest in the love interest, Julien, which is shocking considering he's a 40's something double divorced man supposedly on a mission blinded by all consuming grief. i say supposedly because he didn't really give much... of anything. even when it was his POV he was just kind of... there. i wasn't convinced of his grief and felt that his personality was kind of non existent. and not even in the 'too consumed by loss and sadness to be a person' kind of way. it is also very hard for me to care about movie star type characters, but even then, there just wasn't much to work with.

the mystery itself was also just okay. i liked the setting and seeing the clues navigated by civilians, and bringing cryptids into the mix was a fun touch, but the whole thing about Julien's brother felt clunky. i can't say i was ever bored though, really, aside from the lore recap stuff in the beginning (but to be fair i don't think most people read all 5 main books in less than 2 weeks before jumping straight to this one) and i think overall my main disappointment remains with Julien himself. i'm still interested in seeing where else this spinoff goes though, despite book 2 apparently being very delayed. or anything else this author writes in the future, really.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent ones of these even though they all look the same lol.. forcing myself to document progress..

[violetsareblue-selfships]

good morning!! <3

[thegempage]

eeeuuuuggghhh i'm gonna bitch in the tags a bit bcus this isn't like. serious enough to put more effort into it than that but i also don't want it to sit in my brain.

[phoenixcatch7]

Okay do I make a) my Percy Jackson reincarnates into dc, or b) my loz link goes to camp half blood au.

[l-cereta]

in a bad mood for multiple unrelated reasons :thumbsup:

[smile-files]

this is kinda silly but i think the most exhilarating part of writing an essay is when you're messing around with the outline and you finally figure out exactly what you want your essay to be about. that moment when you know what you're talking about and you want to say it! it's so exciting!!

[pitzer]

I love this person

“Occasionally I’ll have a beer after work and break out the sketchbook. But I had wanted to be this great painter. I wanted to do these grand things: big, huge oil paintings. But those days of painting all the time were such a roller coaster. There were these periods of extreme depression, followed by manic states of trying to put myself out there. I couldn’t do it anymore. I mainly felt sorry for my dad. I know it was rough for him. My mom hadn’t wanted me to go to art school. She wanted me to do something more practical, but my dad said: ‘No. This is what he wants to do, and I want to support his dream.’ And then I abandoned it. That was the first time I had to deal with real failure. A lot of times when you’re an artist, it’s your job, it’s your lifestyle, it’s your entire fucking identity. It wasn’t like I failed to do a thing. It was like: I failed to be something, you know? It was a failure to live up to what I thought was my destiny. But then on the other side of that, there was this figuring out that there was nothing wrong with me the entire time. I didn’t need to be something else to have meaningful friendships, or a good relationship. I didn’t need to be something else to be loved and cared about. After work tonight I’m going to meet up with a person who’s in love with me, and I can’t wait. And that person met me long after I gave up on being a full-time artist. They met me when I wasn’t even a chef yet. I was a piss-poor, part-time line cook. But even then, they decided I was worth it. So you know, there’s something there. There’s something there that’s enough.”

[meximango]

Day 14 - Telling - Luvon + Cahsi - G -make up day

Summary: Luvon tries to develop a way to cross water on foot. --

“Alright, I’ve followed you to the nearest large body of water, so get ready to explain what we’re doing here.” They’re actually not quite at the lake yet, but she’d been extremely patient and avoided asking questions per Luvon’s request until they were at least at Camp Bronze Lake’s aetheryte. It wouldn’t be long before they could walk along the water’s edge. Luvon appreciated her willingness to cooperate and accompany him at a moment’s notice, though he chose her to begin with since she’d seemed bored (his other adventuring friends all seemed to be in the middle of things, while Cahsi was taking a much-needed break but also beginning to go stir crazy. Any excuse to leave the house seemed good enough to her). Also, she was friends with a few scions who could benefit from this research. She had an interest in aetherical manipulation and spellworks, so she could also be a valuable source of feedback as well. 

Now he just had to test this out. He’d run through it theoretically numerous times, at least, but hadn’t dredged up the courage to try on his own. Not on a large scale, at any rate. Trying it out with a small wash basin didn’t count, if you asked him, as it was important to have a runway for this experiment. The rest of the Ironworks crew were far too busy with their commissions and projects to bother any of them with this, either. There also was an understanding, with Cahsi–that their irrational fears may feel silly, but that they wouldn’t judge one another for them. Poking a bit of fun was ok, but never too far. Ever since he comforted Cahsi and helped her through an ordeal facing down a red chocobo, she returned the favor by purposely taking routes that went around large bodies of water whenever possible, if they were adventuring together. It’s not that he couldn’t swim. Luvon used to find it fun and was quite good at it, even. Growing up, he’d often dived deep and swam with the eyeless fish in the pools near his village. After leaving home, he discovered that the lakes, seas, and oceans away from the cave had dangers lurking in them, and all it took was one near-death drowning experience for him to develop a debilitating fear of large, deep, bodies of water. Or perhaps the fear lied in drowning. Even if he knew it was safe, even with all the power available to him, his defensive skills and the heroic deeds under his belt–he’d still find himself hyperventilating if he had to cross a deep body of water unexpectedly. It didn’t stop him from going on adventures, but it could be problematic. Eitherys was covered in so much water, after all, and aetherytes, land mounts, or airships were not always an option for arriving at a destination. 

He’d mentally prepared himself in the weeks leading up to this, so he was not likely to get cold feet and run away screaming from this. Even so, his steps still felt heavier as he knew they were leading to the very large and very deep and imposing lake that could swallow him up and drown him in a few short minutes. The lost city of Nym was lurking under its depths, for the twelve’s sake! He was a little sweaty, if he was being honest, and breathing became a concentrated effort. 

But! He was going to do this. With Cahsi here, he’d face his fear. In the name of research! Cahsi, by far the best choice. She also had the gift of water breathing from her travels to the east, so if some great beast somehow grabbed him, she could dive in and fight it with two swishes of her tail with no problem at all. It would be fine. Yes. His other friends would likely have been understanding as well, but they didn’t understand the depth (ha!) of his fear, and Luvon’s nerves were too frayed as they were about this endeavor to handle too much teasing or misunderstanding. He would have backed out. A hand was suddenly on his shoulder, stopping him. He’d been so caught up on his thoughts, it seemed they’d gotten to their destination even quicker than he expected. 

“Hello? Lu? Easy, there. You’re normally as much a chatterbox as me, but you haven’t been responding to any of my amazing quips the last few minutes, and you nearly walked right off the pier. I don’t think we’re here to swim, otherwise we would have gone to Costa del Sol instead, where the water isn’t cold and full of seaweed. Nor do I think you’d willingly come here unless you had something special to share.” Her tone was firm but gentle. She had him. It calmed him enough that he could gather himself together again. Breathe in, then out. “Right! Right. Apologies, Cas. I got distracted with all my thinking.” “Ha! Familiar territory. I know what that’s like all too well.” She gave him an encouraging smile and squeezed his shoulder.

Luvon had his shades on today that Nero had designed for him. They gave him nearly normal eyesight, at least for a few bells. He’d rather be able to see what he was doing here, if anything went awry. “We are here for a demonstration, which I am excited to do, despite what I must look like right now. Just have to shake out these jitters!” He did a few high steps and waved his hands about, hoping that’d get the remaining tremors to stop. He’d always worn his heart on his sleeve and knew his low-level grade of terror was most certainly writ all across his face. 

“You’re not going to…” Cahsi trailed off, gesturing toward him and then pointing toward the lake. The waves were lapping against the pier. There wasn’t much wind today, but it wasn’t completely calm either. This lake was known for swirling currents caused by the ruins underneath, which often made sudden spots of choppy water. “Oh, but I am! Well, preferably not in the lake. Instead, I have developed a way to go on the lake. Hopefully.” Understanding dawned, and Cahsi’s face lit up. “Oh! Just like what Urianger tried! He lasted a few steps, but then he sank like a rock, poor guy. If this works, he’d be delighted to hear! Alphinaud too, I’m sure. You're telling me this is that super secret project you've been working on for moons?” Luvon nodded. “Indeed. I wished to get as far as possible on my own, first. I feared backing out if I spoke to soon. I discussed with Urianger at length about what he tried, but had made no mention of wanting to further his idea, and he seemed to think it impossible to improve the technique to be stable for longer than a few seconds, even on calm waters. However, I have the resources of Garlond Ironworks at my disposal, and as you know, we specialize in freedom through technology. I still practice the arcane, but when you combine the two…” “The possibilities become endless! Oh, I can hardly contain my excitement! I hope for both our sakes this works, because Iwanttoseethissobadly. This is in my area of interest too, so if you need anybody on research duty to tweak things, you’ve found your girl.” “I was hoping for a reaction like that! It is one of the reasons I wanted you here, my friend. To witness this. Maybe we can make a footnote in a history book if the results are satisfactory, hmm?” “I’m thinking a whole chapter, buddy. Alright, so how’s this going to go? Need me to supply any aether? And I assume you want me to spot you?” “Much appreciated, thank you. If you wish to supply the aether, then the honor is yours! I printed runes onto these shoes, so the energy can be channeled directly into that. They should glow a bright blue when full.” Luvon started rifling  in his bag to collect the items needed. “Tough break, having to wear shoes for this,” Cahsi lightly teased.

Luvon gave a weary sigh. “I know! Life is difficult,” He whined. “I went through so many blueprints and models in attempts to avoid them, but they’re the point of contact with water, so the designs got more and more complex the more I fought it, and–well, I suppose I will survive. I’d rather wear them than an entire uncomfortable suit.” Finding what he was looking for, Luvon pulled out some rather interesting looking footwear out of his pack. “Not gonna lie, they’re not the most fashionable. But hey, that can be the last step before putting these babies on the market,” Cahsi joked optimistically. “They look kind of like…Flippers? No, not quite. Froggy or lizardy feet? What am I looking at.” Luvon stifled a laugh behind his hand. “They’re inspired by nature! They do require some athletic ability from the user, but it’s a start. Erenville was a helpful source of knowledge for this. I asked if he knew of any creatures or plants that did well on the surface of the water, and then I made a list of least to most feasible. Did you know there is a type of scalekin that can run across the water with its special feet?” Cahsi wracked her brain, trying to think if she’d seen anything like that, but she’d fought so many things by now, and monsters in the water tended to jump out at her or dive underneath, not run along its surface. She shook her head no, intrigued to hear more, and set a reminder to hit up Erenville sometime and learn about the oddities he’d encountered as a gleaner. What other world mysteries was she missing out on with his encyclopedic knowledge? “It’s quite interesting! Its back toes have special fringes of skin that can unfurl and increase the surface area that is hitting the water. With enough speed and force applied as continuous slaps across the water, they are able to run on top of the surface so they may attack food sources or escape predators. The distance limit is likely dependent on more than just their stamina, but it isn’t well-researched. There is a lot of physics involved–transverse force, the question of if the scalekin’s movements act more as a piston or a spring, the surface tension of the water, not to mention gravitational force and mass…” He trailed off as he finished getting the shoes on. “Anyroad! I can give you the equations later if you’d like to study the math, but I calibrated these based on my own weight. These scalekin are smaller and lighter than a standard lalafell, let alone other races, but I do not believe it is significant enough to make this impossible for even a roegadyn or hrothgar, at least if the magic implementation formula is correct. The scalekin are wind-aspected creatures, which I imagine helps them greatly in their endeavors.” “So these runes incorporate wind aether, I assume? What about gravity magic?” “Right on the ticket! By incorporating a mixture of anti-gravity and wind magic, the user can then propel forward with their own force, given enough speed and as long as everything is adjusted for their individual limits. Otherwise, I believe the person would end up floating in place for a moment before falling. Certain water conditions may affect the shoes as well, for example salinity, viscosity, density if the water is concentrated with certain particulates so as to drastically change that–but I think this freshwater lake is a good place to start!” Luvon stood up again and clapped his hands. He jogged in place to warm up and test the fit. Everything seemed secure. “Now, would you mind summoning your amaro and flying above me for this test? If it gets too dicey, I would most appreciate your trusty steed picking me up by the arms with his claws.” 

“Aye aye, cap’n!” Cahsi saluted. She whistled for Pidgeon and hopped aboard his back, settling into a light hover a few yalms ahead of his trajectory. “The path is clear. Ready when you are!” The Amaro’s wings flapping lightly disturbed the water’s surface, so Luvon motioned for Cahsi to go higher. After obliging, the waters were as calm as they were going to be. The goal was to do an arc. The lake was far too large to attempt to traverse the entirety of its width on a trial run. He would move forward and then test turning and run back toward shore again. Altogether, the goal was to travel a distance of twenty fulms before sinking. He had his thumb over the start button on an odometer he’d attached to his wrist to measure that. It doubled as a speedometer so he could track a minimum requirement for velocity while he was at it. Luvon anticipated that the shoes might stop working once the depth got too shallow, since the water meeting shore caused frothy waves, but he wouldn’t know until he tried.

Here goes nothing.

With a quick prayer to whichever god wished to listen at the time, Luvon ran down the full length of the pier, gaining speed as he went. The quicker the better seemed a safe bet, plus that meant he could get away from his impending doom sooner! As fear coursed through his veins over what he was doing, a lot of his senses were muddled. Luvon vaguely heard the slap of the shoes hitting water and the mechanism on the back ‘toes’ activating. It almost felt like he was running on top of gelatin? Was it supposed to be like that? Was Cahsi shouting something or was that just general excitement or was that coming from his own throat? He hadn’t immediately sunk, that’s for sure. His legs made the movements of at least three long strides, and he couldn’t help but want to start turning and get away from the deep, away from the unknown, away, back to safety, back to shore–but something seemed off. He was attempting to run forward, but his balance was way off–perhaps too much thrust with the air crystal substrate? Before he could register much more than a rush of blood to his head as the water appeared to be getting closer to his head, he was rising through the air. Cahsi must have caught him, then. Phew!As his own memories were untrustworthy, he had to ask Cahsi what had happened once they were safely back on shore. “Alright, so that was a really good first try!” she started out with to try to cheer him up. He had forgotten to stop the recording on the odometer, so that reading was useless. “You made it further than Urianger had with his own water walking spell, so this is already looking more promising than that. I am not sure if the arm flailing really worked in your favor? Maybe stick to your normal running motions next time. It didn’t really look like you were falling outright, nor really running, not after the first few steps, more like–bouncing? If that makes sense? You kept getting higher and higher, and then I think you tipped over on your landing. But hey! We caught you before you got soaked!”  She held out a hand for him to high-five. Luvon, who’d been petting Pigeon’s soft feathers without realizing it, reached out with his other hand to finish the gesture. “So the calibrations are off, but it started out okay?” “Exactly! I’d love to look over your notes and paperwork and dig into this myself. I don’t think you’re too far off. We can workshop and test it again when you’re ready. What do you say? Ready for the long haul?” 

Luvon smiled warmly, closing his eyes and knocking his head back against the amaro, who nuzzled the top of his head. He was still afraid, and maybe he always would be, but this was a great first step to not only overcoming the worst of his fear, but developing something for those in the group who weren’t able to swim. This could be important for a lot of people and change some lives for the better. How could Luvon ever say no to that? Especially when he was the one who dragged Cahsi out here in the first place.

“I would love that. Thank you for sticking with me on this, truly. It really means a lot to me, and I can already hear the gears running in both our heads. I think this has a chance of being something great!” His heart swelled with hope.

“I couldn’t agree more. Now, baby steps. That may be enough for the moment. How about we take a snack break, and then we can see how you’re feeling and if you want to run some more tests today or hit the drawing board?”

“That sounds great! I packed things I knew you’d like. Did you sniff them out already?”

“You betcha! I wasn’t even hungry until you opened up your bag, then the delightful smell of sweet and spicy squid jerky hit me, and I was just waiting for a chance to pounce on that and any other delectables you have hiding in there.”

Luvon laughed as he fended off Cahsi from trying to sneak food early. He had to set out all the picnic supplies first! Trial one: partial success. Trial two? Time would tell. He looked forward to figuring this out, not by himself, but with a trusted friend. 

[hyperfixation-tangentopia]

You ever realize you can do literally anything you want creatively

[likeimsittinginanairportbar]

how hard would it be to find someone who will like take the stories i give them about my life and then turn it into a beautiful song i could sing? because i'm no writer and i've tried but it just never turns out how i want it but i love to sing and i would love to get to tell these stories through music.

[unforth]

Gentle reminder that very little fandom labor is automated, because I think people forget that a lot.

That blog with a tagging system you love? A person curates those tags by hand.

That rec blog with a great organization scheme and pretty graphics? Someone designed and implemented that organization scheme and made those graphics.

That network that posts a cool variety of stuff? People track down all that variety and queue it by hand, and other people made all the individual pieces.

That post with umpteen links to helpful resources, and information about them? Someone gathered those links, researched the sources, wrote up the information about them.

That graphic about fandom statistics? Someone compiled those statistics, analyzed them, organized them, figured out a useful way to convey the information to others, and made the post.

That event that you think looks neat? Someone wrote the rules, created the blogs and Discords, designed the graphics, did their best to promo the event so it'd succeed.

None of this was done automatically. None of it just appears whole out of the internet ether.

I think everyone realizes that fic writing and fanart creation are work, and at least some folks have got it through their heads that gif creation and graphics and moodboards take effort, and meta is usually respected for the effort that goes into it, at least as far as I've seen, but I feel like a lot of people don't really get how much labor goes into curation, too.

If people are creating resources, curating content, organizing the creations of others, gathering information, and doing other fandom activities that aren't necessarily the direct action of creation, they're doing a lot of fandom labor, and it's often largely unrecognized.

Celebrate fan work!

To folks doing this kind of labor: I see you, and I thank you. You are the backbones of our fandoms and I love you.