#mads box

[fairsweetlonging]

truth serum / system reveal au where shen qingqiu gets hit with an uncloaking spell that reveals the system in the reflection of his eyes every time it pops up.

during one of his missions, in the treasure hoard of some dragon-like creature, he finds a golden, oval shaped hand mirror, its gaudy style more victorian based than anything (airplane you hack!), that doesn't seem to do anything when he looks into it. but when he does, it reveals the system's screen in his eyes.

he doesn't notice this, of course, because he can't see it, and the system, surprisingly, stays quiet.

the peak lords think he's cursed.

maybe mu qingfang is the first to notice, during the mandatory post mission check-up, when shen qingqiu is scrolling through his most recently accumulated points and mu qingfang can see the strange vividly-blue lines reflected in his pupils. it's gone when shen qingqiu blinks, like it was nothing but a trick of the light.

it comes out when yue qingyuan is visiting and, just as he's done laying out the plans for a new mission, shen qingqiu's eyes glaze over and a bright blue box takes over the whole of his iris. shen qingqiu goes quiet; the thing in his eyes moves, shifts, pulses for a second, like static worms crawling all over his pupils. then he blinks, and it's gone, and shen qingqiu accepts the mission that yue qingyuan was almost sure he would decline.

maybe there is an intervention, when the peak lords corner shen qingqiu at qian cao peak and try to figure out what's wrong, subjecting him to all kinds of treatments and curse-finding spells that turn up empty, they can't find anything.

of course, the silencing threat is still very much up and running. at first shen qingqiu was kind of confused by the whole ordeal, but when the peak lords start describing a "strange blue box", he realizes, with sickening suddenty, that they're describing the system. and he can't say anything.

this only makes everything worse, because their fellow peak lord now keeps evading every question and acts like he doesn't understand. liu qingge points right at his face and asks, "that blue box, what is it?" and shen qingqiu laughs nervously and starts talking about how bright the weather is and surely it's the sky and nothing to worry about!

even worse, during the intervention the system thought it was a good idea to start talking to him, so now even the peak lords who hadn't seen it and who might have been persuaded by light tricks and reflections, get a first row view that no, that definitely isn't a trick of the light.

they try to do the whole thing of "are you in danger, blink twice" but shen qingqiu can't even do that because it's still a direct admittance!

maybe eventually he starts saying vague confirmations that don't actually confirm anything, like "this master hears what you're saying", or maybe he goes with a classic "this master can neither confirm nor deny that." but the system starts warning him for that too and eventually he stops saying anything, which worries the others more.

luckily mu qingfang catches on that every time they ask a direct question about the box or shen qingqiu says anything vaguely confirming, it appears. it doesn't appear when they ask about curses or demons, so it must not see that as a threat.

for a little extra angst: maybe the peak lords keep pressuring him for answers, and at some point shen qingqiu gets fed up and snaps out something like, "why don't you understand that i'm not allowed to answer that!" the system counts this as a direct admittance, threatening it's existence. so it punishes. shen qingqiu has a qi deviation so bad it lasts two weeks and takes two people every day to cleanse his meridians. the system doesn't appear in that time. it doesn't appear for a long while after that, either. the peak lords stop asking, mainly because shen qingqiu will instantly leave the room if they do. they don't stop searching for a cure, though.

shang qinghua returns from a business trip and catches on the second someone mentions a blue box and forced silencing.

[slicklitsilos]

“Hannibal is a sadistic psychopath who cuts organs out of his victims while they’re still alive to eat them later”

Okay, yeah, and he also cries at the opera so….

[raggedydocs]

It makes me so mad how excited I was for Belinda. To see a companion who didn't buy into the hype and the mystique that often surrounds The Doctor, who didn't see him as this infallible hero but as this flawed and potentially dangerous man, who never fell in line or at his feet but stood in front and asserted herself as an equal, who isn't in the TARDIS by choice and has a life of her own as a single woman in a high-pressured job that she still wants to get back to despite the time travel and the adventure, because she too gets to save lives every day even back on Earth and she doesn't need a Time Lord to do that - it was so incredibly refreshing.

And the issue is, while Belinda continued to call the shots for at least the first five episodes of the series, they dropped the ball with her characterisation as early as the second episode. For her to be so critical of The Doctor at the end of episode one, and so immediately perceptive of his ability to endanger those around him for the sake of his own pursuit of adventure, and yet for her to already abandon that notion and trust him entirely by the end of the next episode, to the extent that by the end of the series she is completely unfazed when on several occasions her instincts were proven to be correct, is not only a massive change in characterisation, but also a colossal waste of such a compelling premise.

And then for her character to be reduced not only to being the mother of The Doctor's child, but ultimately completely rewritten so that they were brought together so that she could be Poppy's mother - and choose to leave on that premise also - is so unbelievably insulting and disappointing. Varada is wonderful. Belinda is wonderful. The dynamic between the actors and the characters is one of my favourites in a long time.

Belinda and Varada aren't the only ones who deserve better after this series (I could write entire essays about Ruby and Fifteen), but I really thought we were onto something and while Belinda will always have a place in my heart, I'm just gutted the series and the character ended on this note.

[annabelle--cane]

it's destabilizing my worldview that according to all reports the wicked movie is actually good. what do you mean. big-budget star-studded movie adaptations of hit stage musicals are supposed to be bad. that is the way of the world. I think this is one of the seals of the apocalypse. they need to get back on set and film a version that's bad Right now.

[feyres-divorce-lawyer]

the original winx

costuming of the characters in the adaptation by a multi-billion dollar company

katseye’s halloween costumes

[unstablemolecules]

what if there was a third group who only liked parody content, not the northwest's underground comix style satirical content, they just like the mainstream stuff made for pure entertainment and comedic value

The Great Kills Guild!

[doctor-thedoctor]

the doctor and river song are unironically one of the most tragic love stories in modern media, but they keep getting undermined by writing that would rather go for cheap laughs and badly hidden fetishisations instead of fully leaning into the pathos of time travellers who keep meeting their soulmate in the wrong order

[yourlocalabomination]

Tick Tock, Teddy-Bear.

[crustyfloor]

Ivan's face of (excitement??) when he was getting beat up and was beating up Till because this was likely the most attention he got from him all week is so crazy.. i need to examine this guy under a microscope

[noirecheris3]

civilian steph au I’m rotating in my head

[suchawrathfullamb]

I hate seeing photos like this lol what do you mean they're not actually looking into each other's eyes across the table?

[loverboyplural]

credit if using the bases ♡ no cred needed 4 the userboxes

uses this npd flag ++ our midnight / suspected npd flag

[minotaurapologist]

I thought he was being cute and lounging on the floor but he actually had fucking GI stasis

[m3ch4-ch1m3r4]

!!! WIP !!! Redesigning the Slashfic sprite designs (I drew over the sprites, more like a sprite edit I CANNOT CLAIM I DREW THIS ENTIRELY OR ANYTHING LOL) bc the designs lowkey make me mad 😭 I tried to feature more lore or alter outfits to fit/not make them direct slasher copies of who they’re inspired by,,,, Im tired

Slashfic fans do NOT burn me at the stake brah,, these are j my redesigns/headcanons… tips my hat and leaves

Also yes Jay has a tingy around his wrist, he needs one fo sho

COMPLETED SPRITES WILL BE IN REBLOGS!

[boarloved-art]

OH also, AU I've been thinking about where the Lan are known for being professional ballet dancers/teachers and Lan Sizhui is like Lan Wangji's protégé (/son) of sorts. Meanwhile, Mo Xuanyu is like a self taught ballet dancer that learned everything he knows from trial and error, and online. Cut to Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji's favourite musician (anything but classical) and the guy whose music he used to dance to just for fun, who has been basically dead to the world for thirteen years, putting out a call for two young ballet dancers to help him with his new music video. Lan Sizhui and Mo Xuanyu, who both grew up dancing to his music (Sizhui with his father), offer auditions. Wei Wuxian has always loved the Lan and is honoured to have one in his music video, and he is in love with Xuanyu's raw, emotional dancing. Cue found family and all that, I've just realised how insane this actually sounds

-> be four

-> make au thats specifically catered to kill eli (found family, modern au, mo xuanyu and wwx bestieisms)

-> end ask with 'this sounds insane actually', as if Modern Wangxian In VariousCareers Having Found Family Moments isnt my personal brand of crack ????? never slander urself again smh!

anyway is most of this just my 'wangxian are yves-core' agenda....well yes......however.........

[zombiecowboy65]

Since this seems to be a hot topic I think a lot of the fandom is putting too much stock in Jean being soft and kind. He is soft and kind, that’s true, but he is also still a bitch who can and will get violent. And now is violence always the answer? No. But he is violent. And it’s pretty clear he’s going to learn that he does not always have to react with violence but I also don’t think all his non soft behavior comes from the nest. People can be more than one thing and it really stresses me out that everyone shoves him in one category or the other.