#neither of them survive

[heartbeats-exe]

Jiang Cheng is the picture of “I knew from the moment I met you that I’d spend a lifetime forgiving you.”

Like—start with the dogs. The only gift his father ever gave him, and Jiang Cheng gave them away. Why? Because Wei Wuxian was scared of them. That’s it. No resistance. No conflict. Just: oh, you’re afraid? They’re gone.

That is the blueprint. That is the foundational dynamic. That is the relationship.

His father resents him, prefers his shixiong. His mother tears him down for not being his shixiong. His sister, bless her, loves both of them—but it’s Wei Wuxian who gets the hand on the shoulder, the soft words, the shared wine. And yet. Jiang Cheng never once chooses bitterness over devotion.

He loves him. That’s the tragedy. That’s the rot. Because he never stops.

Wei Wuxian gets dragged into the Burial Mounds and comes back fundamentally altered, and Jiang Cheng still believes in him. Still gives him room to return. Still duels him instead of executing him outright, still spares him even when the sect is watching. Still tells Jin Ling to be kind to him. Still keeps Chenqing in perfect condition, like a grave he refuses to let crumble. Even when Wei Wuxian’s choices leave him hollowed out. Even when all he has left is silence. He still carries him.

And the thing is—Jiang Cheng’s sacrifices are quiet. He never says them. But we know. We know that when he was captured by the Wens, he let himself be caught. On purpose. Because if he didn’t distract them, Wei Wuxian would’ve died.

We know that when Wei Wuxian said, “I can fix this,” Jiang Cheng believed him with his whole heart. And when Wei Wuxian smiled that soft, golden smile, and said “Don’t worry,” Jiang Cheng didn’t. Because when your entire world is falling apart, and your brilliant, impossible shixiong tells you he has a plan—you believe him. That’s what love is.

And when he disappeared? When he died?

Jiang Cheng never believed it.

He said there was no proof. But it always read like something else to me. Like: “I’d know if he was gone. I’d feel it. He’s part of me. I would know.”

This man spent years believing he murdered the person he loved most in the world. And he still couldn’t bring himself to throw the flute away.

Tell me that’s not love. Tell me that’s not the worst kind. The kind that doesn’t die even when it should.

[justaz]

balinor giving merlin the ambrosius sigil and merlin carrying it around with him for years. merlin and arthur sitting around a campfire, both believing fullheartedly that they’ll be dead by morning bc like hell are they going to allow the other to sacrifice themself to close the veil. arthur giving merlin the du bois sigil as a parting gift and ensuring that merlin will be taken care of after his death. merlin biting the bullet and handing over the ambrosius family sigil in exchange. luckily, arthur doesn’t recognize the ambrosius sigil for what it is - a dragonlord lineage. BUT now he thinks merlin has noble blood and is wondering when tf he figured that out, if he ever met his father, and why he never told arthur.

[valerieofavonlea]

Can we talk about how everlark's suicide pact extends through the entire series?

Not intentionally or even consciously, but they very much have a whole "if you die, I'll die too" thing going on the entire time.

[cloudkind-deactivated]

aka Dave Strider fumbles the bag horrendously

[starry-bi-sky]

writing about Bruce's speculations in chapter 5 of WTNS was the best part of his POV hands down. It meant I got to force everyone to listen to me infodump about my in-world lore and in some cases character studies, and they couldn't do anything but listen because it was vital to the chapter.

Danny isn't gonna go on an in-depth internal monologue about blood blossoms because he already knows what they are and what they do. So unless prompted, he's not gonna explain them in detail. He's also not gonna go into detail about what Vlad does or what his motivations are because he already knows Vlad and has a pretty good grasp on why he does shit. (although the blood blossoms did absolutely throw him for a loop)

BRUCE meanwhile doesn't know any of this stuff. So he's got to research Vlad and Blood Blossoms and all this stuff and then form his own conclusions and theories from that. It also makes an extra challenge for myself because i have to remember not to meta and keep in mind that he doesn't have the same knowledge on ghost stuff as Danny, and thus everything he knows is from a limited lens.

It's great, it's fantastic, it's my enrichment. Coming up with conclusions for Bruce to come to with the info he's got on hand is delightful. It's like im playing logic puzzles.

[gunsatthaphan]

so anyway pray for Kant and Style, nothing wrong with them, their bfs just look like this 🤌🏻🔥😮‍💨🫦

[missescalientee]

@fluffykitty149 cuz I forgot to open my asks but still wanted to answer your question!!

Lief Anders of the Explorer Au also known as "The Anders who lived." Due to the fact that his other self dies heroically while protecting Jade and Lief during trollstice (the same one that took Branch's grandma)

This version of Anders gets to grow old and as he does his vocal chords get worse so he chooses to primarily use sign unless he really can't.

Mr. Anders gets there before Floyd and stays to help both of them, then during the escape Floyd blames himself for not going back for Clay who never makes it out of the tunnels. Branch is just a bit more well adjusted since Floyd came back and he has a stable father figure (no shade to JD or Floyd in the main au they just were also struggling so it hindered their ability to help properly)

Branch is also copying Floyd's bangs a bit and failing XD

The two have a good relationship with Mr. Anders who continues to be the Dad who stepped up as he starts a foster program for young trolls who are in similar situations to Branch.

[melonisopod]

Before and after the traumatic incident.

[sillysoliloquyshits]

At this rate I think the director and the team will exploit Ne Zha's newfound handsomeness to a whole new level for laughs and in Ne Zha 3 we're gonna see this beautiful bitch be vain as hell with every legal right, like idk sometimes combing his hair up and rubbing his cheeks more often and trying manicure even and upping his antics of being cool, and Tai Yi is gonna have to slap Ne Zha more often to snap him out of his antics and slap Ao Bing out of his staring-

[radioactive-yuri]

ultrakill lore enthusiasts (me) when the small machine destroys the very big machine

[sail-not-drift]

I choose to believe that if everyone from the Terra Nova had survived, instead of “Worst Journey in the World” we’d have a series of children’s books starting with “Cherry, Birdie, and Uncle Bill Take a Very Cold Stroll”

[wileycap]

sitting here wondering: which name did Ekko write?

Powder, for the person that could have been? Powder, for the better world he got to glimpse? Powder, for all that they deserved and just didn't get?

Or Jinx, for the person who was. Jinx, for the world he fought for. Jinx, for everything they got but didn't deserve.

[thanes-krios]

What it is about kind male video game companions that male gamers absolutely HATE?

I've seen it happen with Dragon Age's Alistair, Mass Effect's Kaidan, and even lowkey KOTOR's Carth Onasi (emphasis on kind, not necessarily nice, cause dude had a bit of an attitude in the beginnning). Now I'm seeing it with Gale of Waterdeep from Baldur's Gate 3.

Men hate him! Admittedly, many women seem to also hate Gale (Though from what I'm observing, it seems to be because his romance is bugged in a way that doesn't recognize when you've rejected him, so to many it comes off as not taking no for an answer -- but that's the fault of the game, not the character). The other reason I'm seeing from women is that he supposedly doesn't respect boundaries, citing his relationship with Mystra, but... were yall listening to him at all?

1. This goddess took interest in him as a *child* prodigy, became his mentor, and then his lover??? That's sus as hell.

2. It's not like he and Mystra had personal boundaries set specifically for their relationship, and he decided to cross them, it was that Mystra has general magical limitations for magic users in general, and Gale thought he would be an exception because she treated him as special, and because his reasons for pushing his magical limitations were to restore a part of her she'd lost. I've also seen people say he downplays that as a simple mistake made in his youth, but from the actual conversation with him, it's very clear he regrets that so?? I don't get it. (maybe I'm misremembering or missing more of the story, I'm only at the beginning of Act 2)

But this post is a reaction-rant to seeing too many male creators on tiktok hate on Gale so badly it's becoming obnoxious. And their reasons are so weak, yet fuel hatred so strong. They just find him so annoying, and I guess to each their own, but I don't get why, and I don't get why men always seem to find those kinds of emotionally available, kind for the sake of being kind, male characters annoying.

[berensreverie]

Killing Two Birds

[10yearsofdnp]

April 21, 2015: You know, I'm starting to think that maybe they should've stayed in Japan after all--I mean, it's not like they HAVE to do the YouTube thing from London, right? 😂😴🦋

[wannabemylover]

rewatching the first episode of Hannibal and holy shit I forgot how good this is but it's actually insane that Brian fuller set up the ep like this, he introduces will and Hannibal by first briefly showing them at their core, at the darkest, most vile part of them---we get a glimpse behind the curtain---and then its gone, the curtain is snapped shut and we see their masks, their human suits.

Will empathizes with killers because he likes it, and he wants to kill but he refuses to give into the urge because he knows how much he'll like it and he won't be able to stop. So he lives vicariously through other killers, satisfying his own dark urge by feeding it little morsels of secondhand blood lust. Every crime scene he works gives the urge something that satisfies it, not enough for it to grow, but enough for it be sate. Enough that he can ignore it for long enough that he can walk around and be Professor Will Graham who is Weird, Brash, and Non-sociable.

And Hannibal is a cannibal at night and a psychiatrist by morning.