#they only know sacrifice

[respectthepetty]

Predictions for the best (Blue) Boys:

I'm so excited to get what I believe will be Lapis Lads (two Blue Boys) in the next portion of Perfect 10 Liners.

I think Faifa will be the lighter Blue Boy.

And Wine will be the darker Blue Boy.

But the reason I'm so excited isn't just because of the color, but because of what the color potentially says about the boys' relationship.

Faifa is used to dealing with darkness due to his brother being a Black Brooder.

Yotha gets upset because Faifa always sees the good in everything.

But Faifa is bothered that his brother only sees the worst.

And because of that, it comes across that Faifa is on the opposite side of Yotha, but he is actually a balancer, standing between two extremes.

Blue Boys are known for being stable, so the most stable point of any structure should be the middle. It's the center of gravity where the weight is evenly distributed. Therefore, Faifa is usually in the middle.

Blue Boys are also known for their relaxing, calming, and passive nature, so they tend to be the peacemakers.

And they are quick to step in when there is conflict, so Faifa was the one to convince Gun and his friends that Yotha wasn't a serial killer, he was the one to try to make peace in his family, and he was the one to take Gun home after the fight.

But the problem with being in the middle of two extremes is the middle is just really space between the noise that only serves the purpose of helping stabilize the two opposite sides.

Therefore, when things are going well or there is no longer a need for balance or peace talks, they, themselves, are no longer needed.

The middle is ignored.

Literally.

Faifa has made several comments about being ignored and forgotten because even his peer mentor ditched him in the very beginning. Hell, his mom forgot he was allergic to milk!

But it's been played up for laughs, which would be funny until we remember Faifa's backstory.

Faifa was chosen by his mom to be the peacemaker in their family. She took him in the custody battle because she knew he'd want to visit his brothers and dad since he wants to make everyone happy, which meant she'd also get to see her other sons. But once she had more kids, she sent Faifa back to his dad.

Now Faifa wants to please everyone because he has learned that if he isn't "of use" then he is expendable, which is why he was quick to sacrifice himself and switch rooms with Gun even though he was very excited to room with his brother, and even though Gun and Kong only originally wanted to be his friend because they wanted to use him for his money. Basically, he gives everything, yet gets nothing in return.

Faifa sacrifices himself all of the time to make sure others are okay without getting anything back. In fact, Faifa almost passed out because he gave his water to someone else, but, luckily, Wine was there to rescue him . . . from himself.

If Wine is a darker blue, he'll share qualities with Black Brooders, and we have already been shown some: Wine has a long-term plan regarding his schooling for undisclosed reasons, so he is also a bit guarded and secretive, which comes from his darker side. He barely gave Faifa his name after meeting him a few times even though Faifa already knew his name after the first meeting. But he also has the potential to be protective and possessive.

And nobody needs more protection than Faifa. The first time Faifa met Wine, he gave Wine his sticker so Wine could complete his reward card, and each time they have met since, Wine sees that Faifa is too kind for his own good. He actually lectures him about the water incident, and how he needs to take care of himself instead of worrying about others.

Faifa, the boy who is terrified of being forgotten, attaches himself to Wine because Yotha, who is Wine's peer mentor, is too busy caring about Gun to pay attention to Wine. He doesn't want Wine to be ignored, but I think Wine is going to quickly see how Faifa wants to care about everyone and will not want to burden him more, but will also get upset that Faifa doesn't take care of himself.

Because after Faifa accidentally crushed Wine's drink, he bought a new shirt for Wine, socks, FOUR new drinks of various sweetness levels, wet wipes, dry wipes, and he would've gotten Wine shoes too but he didn't know his size. Yet Wine wanted none of it. He didn't want to be a burden, and he had already forgiven Faifa, so he didn't need anything but Faifa's word.

Faifa's been giving his entire life, so now he has met someone who doesn't want anything he is offering. Not his money. Not his food. Not his tutoring. Faifa has been the middle his whole life, but now it's time for him to be the extreme: Faifa is too open. Wine is too guarded. Faifa is too sociable. Wine is too anti-social. Faifa is too happy. Wine is too sad.

But in truth they are two sides of the same blue coin. Neither wants to burden anyone, so Faifa gives everything while Wine takes nothing. Faifa is so scared nobody will love him that he tries to make everyone like him, and Wine is probably so afraid nobody will ever really want him, so he never opens up.

And because they are both intelligent and hues of blue, this will cause the most issues. Wine won't know Faifa likes him because Faifa likes everyone, and Faifa won't think Wine likes him because Wine barely likes anyone. And neither one of them will want to burden the other one with their feelings since they doubt anyone will love them, so they will simply pine from a distance.

So I'm hoping that I am getting two extremes (of blueness) who will be knocked off-balance, which will require them to find the balance between each other, and that these two smart boys do the dumbest shit once they incorrectly believe they are in an unrequited love story.

Basically, I want to see the best (blue) boys at their worst.

[rithion]

He who is reborn through pain, again and again // Body euphoria

[sunderwight]

Bingqiu AU where Luo Binghe's the chosen village sacrifice to the evil deity who lives up the mountain.

Normally the village sends maidens, but they've more or less run out of expendable girls of the right age and, ahem, "virtues". So of course Luo Binghe's early life bad luck kicks in. In the wake of his mother's death there's no one to really care about what happens to him, he's fairly pretty, and the village leaders decide that if they dress him up like a girl the teenaged homeless kid should pass well enough. And hey, y'know, he's probably got a hard life ahead for him anyway -- dying in a brothel of some venereal disease or on the streets of exposure or starvation. At least as a sacrifice, everyone else gets to benefit from his loss! And the kid will get added to a shrine and be remembered as a hero! If anything, he should be happy about this!

Binghe is not happy about this.

But he's also a skinny underfed nobody who is easily overpowered, dressed up like a bride, and tied to a post. So. Not much he can do but wait for the evil deity to come and do whatever horrible thing he's gonna do to him.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan is pretty sure he's been isekai'd into the over-powered hero of some kind of supernatural adventure story? He's not totally sure because he doesn't recognize the setting, but the signs are there. He's got a shrine-like base of operations (though it seems to have become corrupted/ruined, probably he has to restore it somehow), he has a very resilient and handsome new body with spiritual energy of some kind flowing through him, and a very clearly magical sword. Plus lots of neat starter powers! Though it feels like he has other abilities that have been blocked somehow? Probably he has to level up in order to access them.

When he treks out of his "base" and finds what seems to be a distressed maiden, he takes it for his beginner hero mission. The girl claims that she's been doomed to be sacrificed to an evil god. That sounds a little above Shen Yuan's pay grade for dealing with, so he unties her and decides that they had better just get out of the whole region altogether. He already packed up anything useful from his base, anticipating he might get caught up in an adventure once he left, so they follow the river away from the settlement until they reach another one.

While they travel, Luo Binghe tells Shen Yuan about the cursed deity, Shen Qingqiu, who was cast out of the heavens for slaughtering one of his brethren and has apparently being do-who-knows what to maidens from the local village in exchange for his "protection" ever since. Sounds like a real asshole! And also mid-level boss type bad guy at least. Shen Yuan hopes he doesn't have to fight him, but he probably will.

Thank goodness he found Binghe, though! Clearly the helpful little sister type! He's definitely going to require her assistance if he's going to figure out how to navigate this world and level up his skills enough to take on a god.

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

Novice sewing pattern: Cut out shapes. Line up the little triangles on the edges. Stitch edges together. We've also included step-by-step assembly instructions with illustrations.

Novice knitting pattern: yOU MUSt uNDerstANd thE SECret cOdE CO67 (73, 87, 93) BO44 (63, 76, 90) 28 (32, 34) slip first pw repeat 7x K to end *kl (pl) 42 * until 13" (13, 13, 15) join new at 30 pl for 17 rows ssk 27 k2tog mattress lengthwise BO and sacrifice a goat to the knitting gods. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WANT "INSTRUCTIONS," I JUST GAVE THEM TO YOU

[morika]

the oracle inside screams. she begs to return home. to ala mhigo.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Behold, a Bunny!

(for @alliechickfic on twitter)

[slymanner]

hurt my heart why dontcha.

[witchering10123]

hakoda: you need to stay here and protect your sister

13 year old sokka, whose only point of reference for "protecting his sister" is literally his mother sacrificing herself in katara's place: ok 😃

[tubbytarchia]

I don't know what this is all I know is that LimL Joel makes me really emotional

[fox-guardian]

[ID: A digital illustration of Celia and Alice from The Magnus Protocol clinging to each other on the ground in front of a large glowing hole. The hole emits a refracted rainbow light behind them, Alice is crying and holding Celia tightly as she clings to her back. Celia's face is in her shoulder, one eye visible and staring out, horrified. Below them reads "this wasn't your fault". end ID]

~~~~

relistened to ep 30 and the epilogue while drawing this. oh my god.

[wasyago]

squeaky_toy_sound_effect.mp4

[quirinah]

ummmmmmm guys this dungeons looking a little dark here..........................ummmm..... hello??? guys??

[madbard]

Imagine being so determined to save the world and end death itself that you tear the conceptual foundation of the universe in two and try to convince one of its bloody, broken halves to kill the other in a haunting construct of your own creation.

And instead they force you to narrate as they flirt and make out.

[turtleblogatlast]

[ cw: sacrifice / self sacrifice / slight suicidal themes / death mention / ]

I personally think that Leo took the wrong lessons from the movie. I definitely think he grew to understand the importance of teamwork and making sure he takes others into account so as to not harm them by proxy of whatever scheme he has cooked up, however based on the ending events I’m not quite certain he fully grasped two things.

The first thing is communication. Oh, he can communicate, and he does, when he deems it necessary. When he’s setting up a plan prior to the action. But this is where the second thing comes in.

The second thing I don’t think Leo truly grasped is “it’s not about you.” It’s so unbearably easy to take that the wrong way, especially when taking the rest of the series into account.

What I believe Leo took from this message is not “it’s not just you, everyone matters and can contribute, can help and be helped” but “put the whole of everyone above yourself” which can both be a good lesson…and a fatal one.

And it is fatal, we see as much in the movie.

Even after the big hope speech, when Leo is “fighting” Krang!Raph, he takes a huge risk. Sure, it worked, and Leo managed to get through to Raph through a well deserved apology, but it could have so easily ended in his death and yet he barely even hesitates to go for it.

And then again, to the big scene at the end, where Leo sacrifices himself not only for the sake of his family, but for the whole world.

To him, that’s the message to take from this. That the lives of everyone, of the greater good, matters…more than him. That the risk to himself is worth it if others can be saved.

Leo learned that gambling with his life as the betting chip is always the best move to make in the end.

And to make matters worse…this thinking is what works.

These risks are ultimately what is needed to save the day, so why would Leo look away from it now? Clearly it’s the right move and everything worked out!

Thing is, Leo did grow from the events of the movie. He learned to take things more seriously and be more mature, he learned to value his team’s input and capabilities enough to rely on them more, and he learned to be less self-centered and realize the turmoil others were going through (especially if that turmoil is a result of his actions.)

But still, he’s grown to accept the gamble of his life as a viable answer to their problems.

Personally, with how Leo has been shown to toy around with the idea of “it’s better me than them” I think this goes beyond sacrifice in the name of love or even sacrifice in the name of responsibility, and pushes over into sacrifice in the name of worth.

[clockwork-stars]

Imagine loving your wife so much that after 12 years without seeing her, you would still sacrifice the whole word in the hope to be able to see her again, and you do

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

There is a brutal contrast in how Megatron and Optimus's stories end. Optimus nobly surrenders his spark, along with the Matrix of Leadership, having been sent off by his dear and trusted friends after giving them a fond farewell. He has accomplished his life's greatest goal; now he is able to rest. He dies willingly, at peace, bringing hope and giving life to the next generation by restoring the Allspark.

Megatron had already been killed, and was told that he can never join that very Allspark. Having been enslaved, and only released because of Optimus's actions, he is now reanimated, inhabiting his own corpse. His only remaining ally, who has constantly betrayed him, does not understand him. He flies off, alone, having lost all his forces and failed in his mission, and realizing that his life's greatest purpose was misguided. He is left, we can only assume, to live a hellish and hopeless life--a shell, consumed by the past.

And he did not tell Optimus goodbye. He knows that Optimus will leave him behind, will obtain the heaven he can never enter. He gives him the parting gift of his repentance, to acknowledge this. But in his refusal to say farewell, there is an echo of his own wretched endurance. He does not get to rest. Megatron will remain, eternally alone--eternally waiting for a reunion that will never come.