#meraki talk

[petrichormeraki]

the horrors persist but so do i

everyday i wake up and i go “god i’m so tired. i can’t do this anymore.” and then i get up and i continue to do it

[merakiui]

thank you, dylla spade. <3 you are everything and more.

[meraki-yao]

So I found this on Weibo and I couldn't stop laughing. This is incredibly niche but I feel the need to share and explain this to my friends on this side.

So the bottom half is the photos that we initially thought were the royal suitor photos before the movie came out, then realized it was in the texting montage, then confirmed by Matthew that this actually isn't Alex and Henry, it was Taylor and Nick chilling between takes.

NOW, the photo on top is a still from 1987 TV show adaptation of one of the four Chinese Classics: "The Dream of the Red Chamber". That is the main couple reading another classical Chinese novel (yes this is very meta) "Romance of the Western Chamber" together, and I think this book that they're reading is the first romance novel/love story to have the couple be in starkly different social standings yet be together in the end.

This isn't a case of parallel in the same sense as my posts putting firstprince and Rapunzel x Eugene or Simba x Nala or Jack x Rose together and finding similarities. In fact, the couple from Red Chamber is nothing like firstprince or Taylor and Nick, not even remotely close, and their relationship ended in tragedy: spoilers, the girl died of a broken heart and the boy lost the will to live and became a monk.

But the point here is that this pair? This is our culture's Romeo and Juliet, our Pyramus and Thisbe. This scene in particular, this imagery of them reading in the garden together, has the same significance as the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. Like, if you ask a Chinese person for an imagery from classical literature that depicts love, this is the image most people will say.

AND SOMEHOW THIS PHOTO OF TAYLOR AND NICK THAT WE ALL THOUGHT WAS ALEX AND HENRY LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME AS IT

This is the most random connection and it's definitely a stretch but as someone who cried over the ship in the top half at the age of 11 I am so fucking amused by this comparison

[petrichormeraki]

unfortunately strayed a bit too close to the passing iceberg of discourse so i just wanna say. the new velma show sucks for so many reasons but the main one is that it pits our mystery crew against each other. they have always been friends and always will be friends despite their differences and the velma show completely erases that. unforgivable

[petrichormeraki]

@bluejaypirate these are the most beautiful tags thank you 😭

what color do I remind you of... we could make a tag game... reblog w/ the color the person you reblogged from reminds you of

[taegularities]

as the #1 meraki stan and enthusiast (self proclaimed 😭) I LOVE the love meraki is getting man.

so well deserved rid🌟💗 You have done it again. You have won all our hearts 🗣️

the 'self proclaimed' skjaksd i love you sm 😭 i'm honestly so grateful and didn't expect it so ty ty ty 🥺 AHHH AND YOU HAVE MY HEART 5EVER <33333

[deathfavor]

@shackld said: ❛ some people are so good at disappearing that you start to doubt your memories that they were ever there. ❜ DREYA

   Few speak to the contained sinner, and even fewer are able to evoke a response from her. But when Chief speaks to her from outside the containment cell, her head lifts and slightly turns in her direction. It’s near impossible to tell what she might be thinking or feeling between her stoic presentation and the mask the covers her eyes. Her lips part wordlessly, as if she’s searching through her mind to recall what she wishes to say. Perhaps it is to recall the language of humans against the language of the cosmos.

   “  You speak from experience.  “  Her eerie voice echoes in the small room, amplified by the stars that speak through her. Her voice distorts when she speaks, godlike in the way it remains uncontained by normal dynamics and laws. She stands up, slowly walking towards the other side of the glass across from the Chief. In spite of the mask, the slow head tilt she gives is a clear indication of curiosity and interest.

   The silence is deafening for a few seconds.

   “  There is someone you have in mind. Someone who’s presence is important to you, who is significant to you. “  If there wasn't someone like that, a person wouldn't speak in this way, they wouldn’t try to harbor their memories like scraps in the wind. “ But you cannot reach them for whatever reason? So your mind turns on itself in fear of the hollow that such a loss would leave you with.  “  It’s a clinical, scientific murmur of words as she contemplates the scenario under academic scrutiny.

  A thoughtful hum resonates in the air. “  Does it matter?  “ She inquires.  “ Why doubt if the memories were true or not? If those memories bring you joy and happiness or motivation, then is that not enough? If it gives you the strength to push forward, then hold on to them. People hold on to dreams despite knowing for a fact those are fake. Hold on to those memories; real or not they are precious to you. “

[bigassbowlingballhead]

how do we know he had an allergic reaction, bestie? i wanna KNOWWWW

@meraki-yao did a great service while Taylor was in China translating and posting things from some of the Chinese apps, including a great transcription of a live he did on little red book that mentions his allergic reaction

[petrichormeraki]

things to note here;

bdubs sounds like he hasn't slept in days

the ghast noises are made by him

they're actually pretty accurate???

bdubs: pretty soon, the only noises you're gonna hear from me and etho in a recording is just gonna be [long string of ghast noises]

[ivy-diaries]

ivy's boyfriend is pretty cute.. i mean look at him, he's adorable, wanna kiss his cheeks 😩

yea i agree 🥺🥺 and he keeps feeding my delusions too 🫠 but yea im like obsessed at this point

literally ignore the fact that it's 12am

[txt-ruby]

*cracks my knuckles*

oh no mona wait- ruby says she can explain -

[west-tokyo-incidents]

I want to write Mother but I also don't want to break the illusion of mystery for what he is, DOES THAT MAKE SENSE??

[merakiui]

the urge to make azul's birthday fic unrequited love............. temptation is strong, but my resistance is stronger. i will give tako only the happiest of birthday fics (but first he must experience the dreadful thing that is loving someone and feeling like he's running out of time).

[meraki-yao]

Some people say Nick posts about mary & george when there is something about Taylor because he wants to show that he has real jobs and shift the focus to real projects god, they're so evil

Jesus Christ, fuck them. They're stirring drama for drama's sake. That's their FUCKING JOB. M&G is literally 2 weeks, 14 days away, why wouldn't Nick post about M&G? Like they didn't choose for these dates to collide, it just did.

So yeah you're right, those people are fucking evil who can't leave a good thing alone.

But honestly, I'm amused by this "argument"/"criticism", and I'll tell you why (warning: discussion of real-person shipping under the cut, please don't read if you're uncomfortable with the subject)

Also warning, I ended up with a short-essay, because I'm me lmao

As I mentioned before, for rwrb I'm mostly active here; but I also look at the posts and opinions of the Chinese rwrb fandom (i don't post there though, I don't have nor want to have Chinese social media accounts)

and the thing about shipping culture in China is that RP shipping is almost DEFAULT (and I can write a whole dissertation on this phenomenon if anyone wants to read it) like, if you ship a pair in a show/movie unless the actor/actress is publicly in a long term MARRIAGE, not just relationship, MARRIAGE FOR LIKE AT LEAST FIVE YEARS, the audience will automatically ship the actors too. So much so that this is part of THE MARKETING STRATEGY of all locally-produced streaming shows

Also, when I say ship, I don't mean "aww that's cute they're cute together", I mean tin hatters. I mean they genuinely try to find snips and bits in photos that might serve as proof that they're together. We call it 嗑（磕）糖 ke tang (Eating/Drugged by Candy), because in Chinese weddings candy (called 喜糖 Xi Tang "happiness"-"candy") is given to guests, and because it's sweet. The "evidence" is called "candy", and the act of looking and finding "candies" is called "eating candies".

all this to say, nearly all rwrb fans in China ship Taylor and Nick together, and they're genuinely convinced that they're together. I've seen my fair share of "candy"/"evidence" and they keep coming. (some of those i genuinely think they're trying too hard but there are really some that I see and go "...damn.")

now finally back to this ask. Nick posting when Taylor has an event, what the people mentioned in the ask is bitching about, IS CONSIDERED A CANDY. EVERYBODY IS GIGGLING AND GRINNING OVER THE FACT THAT NICK AND TAYLOR POPPED OUT TOGETHER IN THE PAST COUPLE OF EVENTS LIKE THE GQ, THE ACADEMY GALA, MILAN AND TODAY. IT'S LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM.

a last little tidbit from me and my opinion on the whole shipping thing for now: personally I don't entirely agree with the default real-person shipping, it has proven to be problematic in the past and honestly I hate how monetized it is, but 1, it's such an "everybody in the country does it" thing that I... would be lying if I said I'm not influenced by that mindset at all, 2, I know where this mindset came from and it has stuff to do with the societal pressure of young adults in the country and rebellion against traditional concepts of marriage and stuff. It's a sociology phenomenon, and when I look at it as an outsider, I find it kind of fascinating.

As for my opinion on the boy's relationship, I don't...care? I know they have a good relationship and that's all I want for them. As for what type of relationship they have, I don't really mind/care, and I don't think we should look too much into that. That's their relationship for them to define and them to publicize if they want to. I know for a fact, that they are great friends. Are they more than friends? That's unfalsifiable, and that's no one's business but their own. So that's my stance.

But I had to choose one extreme fan's reaction, rps is a much less harmful thing than the sheer amount of hate and deliberate drama-stirring I've seen. So there.

[petrichormeraki]

i got a little drunk with my friends last night and this is what i apparently drew

(Dom belongs to @mushroomminded!)

[petrichormeraki]

Also got tragic hero lol

This was fun! (Leaving it open to anyone who wants to try)

pov: you’re in a horror movie

1. create your own look here

2. find out what role you are here

It was kinda hard to get the image to vibe how I wanted but I think it turned out okay. Thanks for tagging me @antisociallilbrat ^-^ Zero pressure tagging: @itspvg​ @tekentumorman​ @itsfreakingbats​ @anything-thats-rock-and-roll​ @lowpolycas​ & anyone else that wants to