#its been a LOT lately but honestly when is it not??

[welcometoteyvat]

finally typing up my late lantern rite thoughts (very long). overall 100/10 quest I love hu tao

The amount of Xingqiu's brother mentions were insane. Surely we'll see him either as an NPC soon, right? Right? /j Honestly here he sounded pretty competent, nothing like "a simpleton" like Xingqiu's troubles voiceline suggests hmm...

The little model animations were SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. contributed a lot to the experience and made it feel so much more alive. hu tao's expressions especially, but also yun jin's expressions, and Xiangling's "come back, get over here and eat!!!!!1!1!!!" was also really fucking funny. they've been adding these small animations for a while but this event specifically had so many of them and the effort paid off <3

in a similar vein I'm impressed how smooth the animation/model actions were when Xiao put the sigil on us

hu tao lan yan and qiqi fill in the gap fic please

timaeus is kind of silly, also very funny he and ying'er still going strong 2 years later. he's literally learning liyue language for ying'er? genuinely his dedication is impressive. they should make events replayable because how will everyone who missed 3.5 windblume know why timaeus simps for someone a whole country over

we finally know what the fake chinese characters in all those liyue signs represent (kinda ig). I need to look over this part again

if hu tao&/xiangling or hu tao &/yun jin stocks on ao3 don't increase after this I will start biting. MY GIRLS T_T T_TT_T_T_T_T_T_T. bro the farewell section was so tender I enjoyed it greatly. Their relationships with each other got developed on screen.. yun jin and hu tao's banter especially was really cute and really shows us their relationship aside from the hints in their VOs

YUN JIN OPERATIC HILITUNE ON SCREEN. the fanvid of it from bilibili can finally rest, thanks for your service, canon got here 4 years later.

Yun Jin, having practiced the tao dou opera, MUST have known something correct?? or else she wouldn't have asked hu tao so many times to promise to come back, right? She trusts Hu Tao so much :'''' . if Hu Tao says she can handle it, Yun Jin knows there's no stopping her, and she will find a way, but it doesn't stop her from worrying nonetheless :''').

hu tao's death flags during part 2......

my agenda is speaking, but I wish Xingqiu and Hu Tao directly talked during the farewells section. something something chivalry and sacrifice. Hu Tao makes her peace with giving up everything to resolve the Tao Dou issue, but is Xingqiu at peace with losing a friend even tho its selfish of him to want her to stay? he has personal stakes in this please just let them talk a little

I'm really really glad they went through with the death, they showed Hu Tao's emotions, they showed her father and grandfather waving her off. I broke, she looked so tired but satisfied (thinking about her vision story, where she waited so long for her grandfather to never appear vs him visiting her for just a brief moment here)

my other favorite shot is when traveler pulls her out and she looks at them in muted surprise. she just looked so sad and fragile and in need of a hug :(((

the Themes (waves hands wildly). hu tao's father's lingering regrets were his fatal flaw, and so Hu Tao settles her affairs properly and steels herself before going to die. she leaves behind the plum blossom branch just like her grandfather left his hat.. genuinely what the hell. the parallels between her cutscene goodbye and her saying "happy lantern rite" kills me

the epilogue last year with the fontaine tourists was pretty fanservicey, and tbh the epilogue the year before was also somewhat fanservice to me, (liyue gang dinner and zhongli venti teasing) though I liked it better. However I think this epilogue was actually really good— the hanging out and the fluff felt natural, it fit with everything else and wasn't super sudden. Maybe this was because of all the setup that happened (Yun Jin and Xiangling's promises to Hu Tao, Xiao and Yelan's dynamic built up in Perilous Trails and their earlier exchange), so the payoff is good instead of forced. After the trials and danger they got put through, everyone gets a chance to relax, and I appreciate the slice of life after the main plot. also Yun Jin's opera was crazy good considering it was not a cutscene, the animation and camera angles really sold it

I thought the special guest was xiao again, like how LR 3.4 had him dragged to the harbor by Hu Tao.... xiaolan banter was also v good though.

THE ADEPTI. they're still watching over Liyue in their own way :') the affectionate bickering about hu tao's name :''''''''

I barely mentioned lan yan in this... her part was pretty minor ngl, her habit of learning everything about a person to the point of sounding a bit creepy is kind of fun though.

alright. fantastic quest absolutely no notes I got almost everything I ever wanted and I am so glad Hu Tao had such an incredible 2nd story quest. chongyun and shenhe exorcist lantern rite next year?

[kangshxrtie]

Fourteen | Professionals

"Now my tummy hurts, she's in love with her But for what it's worth They'd make beautiful babies" - Tummy Hurts, Reneé Rapp

your videography group was having its last meeting, wrapping up filming and sorting out the final details.

"have you two practiced for the kissing scene yet?" chaewon asked, her tone casual but curious.

"no, we're just gonna wing it when we film," you replied without much thought.

"are you sure that's gonna work?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

you shrugged. "i mean, we were chosen as the actors for a reason. we're professionals."

"i'll trust y'all," chaewon said, though she didn't seem entirely convinced.

she quickly moved on, checking in with everyone else about their respective duties.

once the meeting wrapped up, you wasted no time trying to get out of there. you had barely texted yunjin since that day, and she knew something was up. the constant voicemails asking why you were ignoring her made that obvious.

luckily, her rule about not speaking to you in public still applied. if she really needed to know that bad, she'd break it.

you speed-walked to your car as soon as you were out of the building. the moment your phone connected, two messages came in at the same time. the first one made you want to turn your phone off entirely, but the other? that one you needed to reply to.

huh yunjin (01) are u going home? can i come to u?

nien are u gone already? i wanna hang out y/n NO NOT YET where are u nien i'm standing at my car rn y/n u want me to come to u?

nien u can we can come back & pick up ur car l8r y/n OKAY heading over now

you shut off your car, taking your keys with you as you made your way across the parking lot to nien's car. on the way, you passed chaewon and yunjin walking together. without missing a beat, you made a big show of hugging nien once you reached her, and of course, she played along perfectly.

as you walked around to the passenger side, you caught yunjin's eyes. she was staring at you in disbelief while chaewon looked at her, utterly confused.

nien started the car, handing you her phone so you could pick the music. yunjin could never.

"hitting them would be double points," you muttered, eyeing nien's backup camera.

"i don't need my intrusive thoughts voiced out loud like this," she said, shaking her head.

"maybe it's a sign," you joked.

"damn, they moved too fast," nien sighed, finally able to back out.

once you two were out of the parking lot, you let yourself relax, only to immediately get another text from the one person you didn't wanna hear from.

huh yunjin (01) so u can leave w nien but can't tmb? y/n y/l/n she texted me to hang out first huh yunjin (01) so she's more important than ur actual gf now mayb u 2 are playing ur roles a lil too well y/n y/l/n weren't u leaving w chaewon anyways 🤔

huh yunjin (01) i was js giving her a ride home i was gonna go to urs right afterwards y/n y/l/n js hang out w chaewon huh yunjin (01) ur acting weird y/n y/l/n i gotta go hanging out w nien yk huh yunjin (01) we're gonna hv to talk abt this

"was it yunjin?" nien asked, noticing how annoyed you looked while typing.

"yeah, she's mad i left with you instead of hanging out with her," you replied, sighing.

"aww, you chose me over her? i feel special," nien teased.

"well, i would've chosen literally anyone over yunjin right now," you admitted.

"i can turn around and take you back, then," nien said, nodding toward the direction you came from. "go hang out with your other hoes."

"wait, no," you protested. "i wanna hang out with my favorite."

"i'm your favorite?" nien glanced at you for a second before turning back to the road.

"yeah. my favorite hoe," you finished with a grin.

"as long as i'm your favorite in something," she muttered.

"okay, you can't say it like that—now i feel bad," you said, frowning.

"i'm just speaking my truth," nien shrugged.

"honestly, though... you've been my favorite person lately," you admitted.

"yet you still won't date me," she sighed dramatically.

"stop joking, you don't actually wanna date me," you said, shaking your head.

"i'm serious," nien said, voice softer. "i'm literally just waiting for you."

you stared at her for a moment before shaking your head again. "i'm gonna pretend you didn't say that, and we're just gonna be good friends for the rest of the day."

"whatever you want, y/n," nien said with a small smile.

you rolled your eyes at nien's little smile, shaking your head as you turned your attention back to the music playing through the speakers.

"where are we even going?" you asked, realizing you never actually planned anything.

"hmm... dunno, i just wanted to steal you away," nien said, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel. "but now that i have you, i guess we should figure something out."

"you kidnapped me without a destination?" you teased.

"excuse me, but you willingly got in here," nien pointed out.

"no proof of that," you shot back without missing a beat.

"i have witnesses and text messages," she countered, glancing at you with a smirk.

"yeah? well, they're not here," you said smugly, folding your arms.

nien rolled her eyes. "okay, luckily i don't wanna talk to my witnesses."

you chuckled before tilting your head. "so, what exactly are we doing now?"

"well, since we already ate, we could get dessert," she suggested.

"that works," you agreed with a nod.

nien pulled into the parking lot of a small ice cream shop, the neon sign glowing softly in the evening light. she parked and turned off the engine before glancing at you.

“you’re paying, right?” she asked with a grin.

“you asked me to hang out,” you said, giving her a look. “i think that means you owe me ice cream.”

she sighed dramatically. “fine, but only because you’re my favorite.”

you raised an eyebrow. “your favorite what?”

nien smirked. “wouldn’t you like to know?”

you rolled your eyes but felt the warmth creeping up your neck as you both got out of the car.

as you stood in line, nien nudged you. “what are you getting?”

“i don’t know yet,” you said, scanning the menu. “maybe something classic. you?”

“something that makes me look hot while eating it,” she joked, flipping her hair dramatically.

you laughed. “yeah, good luck with that.”

nien smirked. “what, you don’t think i could pull it off?”

you scoffed. “i think i’d be too busy cringing.”

she gasped, feigning offense. “i’ll have you know, i’m very good at looking attractive while eating ice cream.”

“okay, now i have to see this,” you said, crossing your arms.

“luckily, i’m a professional.,” nien quipped, stepping up to the counter to order.

you shook your head, trying to suppress a smile as you placed your order after her.

a few minutes later, you both sat outside at one of the small tables, ice cream in hand. you took a bite of yours, but your attention flickered to nien when you heard her make a satisfied sound.

you glanced over just in time to see her take a slow, exaggerated lick of her ice cream, her gaze meeting yours with a knowing look.

“okay, stop,” you said, nearly choking on your spoon.

“what?” she asked innocently, licking her ice cream again, just as obnoxiously slow.

“that is not how normal people eat ice cream,” you said, covering your face with one hand.

“well, i never said i was normal,” she teased. “and you asked for this, remember?”

“oh my god,” you groaned, shaking your head.

nien just laughed, taking a normal bite this time. “alright, i’ll behave… for now.”

you shot her a look. “i can’t believe this is what i’ve been missing out by not becoming friends with you all these years.”

“glad we’re here now,” she said with a satisfied grin. you hated how true that was.

you rolled your eyes but couldn’t hide the small smile creeping onto your lips. the two of you sat there for a moment, the warm evening air settling around you as the soft hum of passing cars and distant laughter filled the silence.

nien absentmindedly twirled her spoon between her fingers before looking at you. “so, are you regretting it?”

“regretting what?” you asked, raising an eyebrow.

“letting me steal you away tonight,” she said, tilting her head slightly.

you let out a small laugh, shaking your head. “not really.”

her lips curved into a knowing smile. “see? i’m not so bad.”

“i never said you were,” you admitted, stabbing at your ice cream with your spoon.

nien leaned forward, resting her chin in her hand as she watched you. “you could’ve gone with yunjin.”

you sighed, looking down at your cup. “yeah… i could’ve.”

“but you didn’t.”

you looked up at her, and for once, she wasn’t teasing or smirking. just looking at you—like she was waiting for you to say something you weren’t sure you were ready to admit.

you exhaled, shaking your head lightly before meeting her gaze again. “no… i didn’t.”

she held your stare for a moment longer, then smiled, small, but genuine. “of course you chose me. i’m just better.”

you huffed a quiet laugh, unable to stop yourself from smiling back.

it was the last day of filming; aka, you and nien's final day on the project until it was time to present the video.

you and nien sat off to the side, running over your script one last time while soobin and yeonjun set up the scene. across the room, chaewon and yunjin were directing them on what to do, while keeho and intak adjusted the cameras and perfected the angles.

"you two ready?" soobin asked once everything was in place.

"yeah," nien nodded, climbing onto the bed beside you.

"just remember, act natural. we're not filming a porno, just a kissing scene," yeonjun said.

"i didn't think we were," you shot back, raising an eyebrow.

"just had to make sure you knew," he shrugged.

you and nien laughed before locking in. you two had to focus and get the scene done.

Masterlist ــــــﮩ٨ـ Next

[solei-eclipse]

H. HOLD ON. I DIDN'T REALIZE S40 WAS STARTING BACK UP AGAIN HOLY SHIT

[justgleekout]

Sunday morning sleeping in <3

[xxplastic-cubexx]

hello!! i just want to tell you that your art is so goddamn scrumptious, you are literally feeding my xmen brainrot and I find myself smiling when i see your art come across my feed. I love how you draw charles, pretty privilege and post (lets be fr he's serving every time)

i hope you always have fantastic brainrot and id kiss your blessed hands for giving us the gift of cherik and charles xavier, you are literally an icon

hope you have a great day ahead of you and more!! you deserve it !!

well i'ma absolutely have a wonderful mornin after readin this AWWWW thank you so so much !!!! i haven't been postin xmen long, so it's been really heartwarmin seein the warm reception to my work in the wonderful tags people have been leavin on my posts- and especially gettin to answer the lovely asks y'all've been sendin in (❁´ ▽ `❁) !! im glad people also like my goofy text posts and esp quotes from my brother he really has no right being so funny at the most random times

i hope to be xmen posting a while: ive got at least 60 years worth of stuff to look through and ongoing, so i dont imagine my interest'll wane anytime soon :]] !!

[cent-scratchnsniff]

More sketchy employee profile images. Mostly made to be able to replace the picrew I had in the template I made since I can draw. I did end up just putting it as back and white though but the color is just nice to have. I'm STILL trying to tweak the template since it is very finicky and there is an example of what it looks down below if you're interested. It is a lot. It will happen. I am just not the quickest

There are typos and inconsistencies I missed but in general it should be fine...

[sunsetforestzone]

its like, hard for me to fully understand what my feminine identity is linked to. ive seen a lot of trans guys say that its their way of reclaiming their old self before transitioning, but it's not really that way for me.

my old self (pre-transition) was NOT like this. i wasnt this hyperfem when i was a lesbian girl. in fact i was the fully opposite. i was more of a baby butch/tomboy than anything

but then, transitioning into a man changed the way i felt about femininity. i'm still trying to figure out why but i might've discovered it (sort of)

i didn't just transition into a man. when i discovered im a fully binary trans man, i also discovered im pansexual. meaning: i didnt just transition into a man, i transitioned into a queer man.

and i feel like... a big part of being a queer man is having a unique relationship with both masculinity and femininity. i know there's queer men that are still masculine, but i know that a lot of them are also feminine.

i think that's where my femininity comes from, maybe. transitioning into a queer man makes it so my relationship with being fem suddenly becomes linked to my sexuality and general queerness, not my gender. like i said, i wasnt like this as a girl.

simply put: im masculine because im a man, and im feminine because im queer.

[lesbiancarat]

I'm gonna just post Twitter updates for the time being... I'm still a little burnt out on posting updates but I don't want to completely get out of the habit and Twitter updates are usually the easiest to post

[jupiter--dream]

(cw vent, sorry it's just been A Couple Of Days)

Not really having many irl friends comes at the price of feeling so terribly lonely, I feel like I have no one to talk to because I'm not close to enough people, or maybe I am and I just haven't talked to them in a while and I don't want this to be our first conversation qwq

I'm honestly just. Tired, tbh qwq

[skrunksthatwunk]

eughhh i feel dumb

[devilsskettle]

i feel like i’ve been WAITING for the other shoe to drop wrt people’s opinions about watcher for this very reason. not that i think the reaction is completely not understandable but the greater the parasocial relationship, the greater the fallout as soon as public opinion shifts. you don’t have a relationship with these people they’re just content creators, chill

[acotars]

possibly an unpopular opinion but i feel like sjm’s writing/plotting have gone downhill, which is disappointing bc i enjoyed tog so much. i actually did like the first 4 acotar books and hoeab, but her most recent work feels like she’s trying to do too much with the maasverse and it’s not well thought out (i had so many issues with the larger world plot elements of acosf and the regression on bryce’s character arc in hosab…). it feels like as she’s gotten more and more popular, whoever her current editor is doesn’t do a good job at making her ideas work best for the overall story. i’m disappointed bc the premises have so much potential but haven’t lived up to it to me :/

send me your unpopular opinions and i’ll either let you in or not

[pleasedontcareaboutme]

[wooahaes]

Hiii!! I just wanted to check up on you. How are you feeling? Are you doing ok? I hope you are taking care of yourself and able to enjoy the holiday as much as you can. Thinking of you ❤️

hii lovely

life has kinda quieted down some? which is good and things are going okay when im not frustrated with the rest of my family (feels like im the only one whos rly... being a caretaker at all...) but im just kinda taking it one day at a time rn

ty for checking in <3 i hope u get to spend the holiday happily as well <3

[dreamsy990]

fuck akuroku as a ship btw not only because its pedophilic because thats obviously a huge issue. but also i think we should be able to have platonic relationships with the same amount of devotion as any romance. not everyone who loves each other is in love DEREK.

[thriftdyke]

tagged by @grieving4theliving 9 favorite books! I suck at remembering books I loved in the past so these are just the books I’m used to telling people are my favorite books plus some I’ve read recently plus fav series. (for series I tried to choose my fav from each but the series as a whole can also be represented)

tagging:

@loveyouslay @jordanshenessy @friendofcars @eruditetyro @lesbianjudasiscariot and anybody else who wants to!