#Don't break it pls | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

samberrybay · 5 months

Text

This part in 32 chp always felt kind of odd to me and this is the reason why:

The coward wolf boy, Lock. Until Choi Han found him, Lock had been hiding as the chief had told him. The Lock at that point is very much a coward, a weakling, and kind of slow. In simple terms, Lock easily took the position of the character that readers found to be extremely frustrating.

This has bothered me since I first read the novel, and to this day, even after several rereads, it still haunts me.

Cale simply isn't the type of a person to actually call a kid, no matter how they behave, to be "frustrating".

(When the text said "readers" it's damn well obvious of Cale being the one to think so.)

Pondering for some time I can roughly guess why the wording was so unexpected for his character.

At the time of the assassination/kindaping in the village, Lock was only thirteen years old. He also hasn't had his first berserk transformation yet. Therefore it is not surprising that Lock's uncle hid him and told not to go out, saying that everything was fine and he should continue to hide.

Now let's look at the situation realistically.

Lock (in tcf) jumps out of his hiding to protect his younger siblings. The adrenaline and inner Blue Wolf Tribe's instincts to protect turned on his berserk transportation one year beforehand, however if not Rosalyn and Choi Han, who came earlier than in the actual novel, i don't think it would help much.

Lock would possibly be able to kill a few people or at least seriously injure them, but CMON. They killed an ENTIRE village full of berserk Blue Wolf's and with almost-Wolf King (Lock's uncle). Do you really believe that a thirteen years old boy jumping into his first berserk transformation would be able to fight properly against strong organization that had holy water or some sort of holy artefact on their hands?

Again, if not for Choi Han's and Rosalyn's arrival... it would have definitely ended pretty bad.

In TBOAH Lock for some reason didn't jump out. Different circumstances, wrong wroted part in the novel, idk, but the fact is stated: Lock stayed hidden. He also most likely survived only because of Choi Han's help. Just with much worse scenario where he was left alone from the whole village.

And it wasn't Lock's fault yet again. He was a child. No matter if a Beastman one or not, the boy was just an innocent, naive and weak child.

So why would Cale, Kim Rok Soo at the time, find him frustrating? Extremely so even!

The answer is much easier if you think about it.

Because it wasn't Kim Rok Soo blaming a kid for being weak and cowardly in a fearful situation, it was a man who saw his own past that he hated so much.

A coward, a weakling and kind of slow.

For Rok Soo, who blamed himself for half of his life for the deaths of team one members, Lock was like a salt for still open, but ignored wounds.

KRS greatly disliked and maybe even envied Lock for a bit. The boy got a new family, he got friends and some sort of guidance from them even after facing so much despair.

While he was all alone, trying to understand what to do on his own.

It sure is irritating for Rok Soo.

Yet Team Leader Kim Rok Soo was probably unable to fully hate Lock for his weakness, because while the latter was still a kid, the same forgiveness can't be used on him. At least in his own head.

So with conflicting feelings Cale settled on "Extremely frustrating" description.

#overall it is actually just my sleepy thoughts #KRS's self-hatred is so strong it is kind of amazing but mostly heart breaking #this man holds too much trauma #and with each novel update i fear that we still don't know all of it #i love Lock's and Cale's relationship so this is why i was really questioning this part #pls cry with me because of this realization #tcf #trash of the count's family #lcf #lout of the count’s family #cale henituse #tcf cale #lcf cale #tcf lock #lcf lark #tcf novel #lcf novel #kim rok soo

401 notes · View notes

madootles · 1 year

Photo

v excited for show!!!

#percy jackson #annabeth percy #I've been rereading pjo again #I used zero refs for this so pls don't come after me for any inaccuracy #this started bc I have a super hard time pinning down percy's look and then suddenly annabeth appeared bc I fucking love her #percy jackson and the olympians #fan art #sorry percy's hair is not blonde bc recently I have been drawing WAYYYY too much blonde hair and I'm sick of it #least fave color hair to render 1000000%#heroes of olympus #rick riordan ily #I struggled with this at first but I took a couple hours' break and then it was coming together woo woo #photoshop

606 notes · View notes

3moonfree · 24 days

Text

can we party later on? (he said yes, yes, yes.)

infinite darkness leon...save me infinite darkness leon. he was so tom cruise james dean daydream look in your eye in this show iykwim!!

he's just national anthem. he's so national anthem demo #1. dilf leon is so born to die album and I KNOW IT'S CLICHE AND BASIC I SWEAR I DID SO MUCH RESEARCH AFTER ID just trust me. pls....

only reason shen may said no to dinner is cause her situationship with me was complicated! capcom i hate u for taking her away from us.

#i'm not newgen pls i've been in this fandom for like a year #he is the lana man ever #leon kennedy infinite darkness #leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #lana del rey moodboard #resident evil #leon kennedy x reader #am i just assigning songs to leon now??#i don't care he's so yummy #need him to break my back #3moonfree #📷 avalon's moodboards #the dilfiest dilf to ever dilf #avalon’s ovulation week

94 notes · View notes

muninnhuginn · 24 days

Text

In Defence of Qiao Ling

I've been musing on several threads relating to Qiao Ling in the last few weeks and have seen a few posts going around that have pushed me to actually try and put all my Qiao Ling thoughts into words and in one place.

Despite the title, I don't fully agree with the show's handling of Qiao Ling, but I do think she has been provided with a clear ongoing arc and so that's what I'm going to be focusing on here.

This got quite long so most of it is under the cut, but shout-out to @lizzieonka and @oceaniche for their previous posts on Qiao Ling, which definitely ended up inspiring some parts of this.

So, let's start with: what do we actually know about Qiao Ling?

Qiao Ling's Background

She's first introduced as the "landlady", for all it quickly becomes apparent that her relationship with Cheng Xiaoshi isn't quite that simple. Her family "took Cheng Xiaoshi in" but there's always been some distance and that's reinforced by the whole "rent" deal. (The fact that Cheng Xiaoshi is still adamant his parents will return likely also factors in to this.) Still, Qiao Ling herself clearly sees Cheng Xiaoshi as her younger brother and is willing to stake her claim on him as family to near-strangers (we've seen it both when she met Lu Guang and Li Tianxi).

Qiao Ling's social life is clearly contrasted with that of Cheng Xiaoshi. Where Cheng Xiaoshi's first "proper" friend was Lu Guang, Qiao Ling has her own circle of friends and is fairly sociable in general (she literally found a client by befriending a stranger when she came to learn martial arts). Xu Shanshan, for instance, is very much Qiao Ling's friend despite hanging out with the collective group at uni. Qiao Ling also spoke of Cheng Xiaoshi's childhood as something that happened to him specifically, implying that she herself was spared the bullying (which makes sense considering the fact that she wasn't the one with missing parents) and so had a more "normal" upbringing. Whether she spoke up back then or stayed quiet isn't fully clarified (not speaking up against adults is one thing but what about classmates?), but Cheng Xiaoshi doesn't seem to hold it against her either way.

Nowadays, Qiao Ling's role in managing the photo shop's side-business has her interacting directly with most clients. She's the most customer-facing of the three, relaying information between clients and shiguang. This is despite her not actually knowing the full details behind shiguang's diving process until season two, which in retrospect makes it more impressive. Qiao Ling taking on the managerial role (and what is also implied to be social media advertising) also has the (unintended?) effect of obscuring shiguang's roles in the business from the public, as it's Qiao Ling who earns the nickname of "witch". It took until Xiao Li saw Cheng Xiaoshi in the CCTV footage during the Doudou case for anyone to see through this.

Key Character Moments

In terms of Qiao Ling's key moments, we have four main ones.

In Doudou arc, Qiao Ling admits she saw Doudou being taken three years ago;

In season two, at the hospital, Qiao Ling asks for some trust and to not be shut out anymore;

Qiao Ling bonding with Li Tianxi and using their shared aspects to bring her out of her shell so she would help the investigation;

The revelation that Qiao Ling did, in fact, receive some form of Lu Guang's memories from Tianxi and her dismissal of their implications.

The main thread behind all of these scenes is that they are about information and what you choose to do with it.

My thoughts are two-fold here. First, how these scenes connect with Qiao Ling's arc specifically, and secondly, how they connect with the broader themes of the series.

Qiao Ling's Arc

Doudou

Let's begin with Doudou arc. In this arc, Qiao Ling reveals that she saw the kidnapping of a child several years ago. She hadn't told anyone about this for three years and likely would have continued to have kept it to herself if not for Doudou's father approaching the photo studio. In this arc, there is the following exchange:

Qiao Ling's main regret is that she didn't do something or say something as she saw Doudou being taken away. That her inaction may have ensured that Doudou's kidnapper was able to get away with him. And she specifically says "I didn't even have the courage to step forward and provide any information." (Tangent: Funnily enough, Lu Guang is the "star of courage" in the Star Warriors later in the episode, not Qiao Ling. Qiao Ling is "star of wisdom" who is meant to "light the way". Still fitting, but in a less straightforward way.)

Now, to me, this is clearly setting up an arc, not resolving one. Qiao Ling wouldn't have offered the information if not for the circumstances. And it tells us that for all Qiao Ling has friends and is sociable, she still holds certain cards close to her chest. She doesn't want to confront the past so instead she will hold her guilt tight and not say a word. Though, as this exchange shows, she does want to have that courage. And I'll get onto this later, but this ties in very clearly with the information she later holds regarding Lu Guang.

Hospital confrontation

Throughout this entire scene, even before it becomes a "confrontation" Qiao Ling is clearly feeling guilty. She runs after Cheng Xiaoshi when he tries to leave to help the police so that she can *do something*, make up for it the best she can. Guilt and avoidance are key traits for her and they both manifest here. They're still holding her back.

And, of course, there's her statement to Cheng Xiaoshi: "You're always trying to protect me. I really appreciate it. But what I need more is your trust." Qiao Ling knows what it's like to be locked out of the loop. She didn't know the specifics of diving for months (possibly years?) and it didn't really seem to bother her (or at least she didn't give the impression it bothered her when "Xu Shanshan" asked her about it). But she has her limits. And being locked out when the situation is actively dangerous? That's clearly past those limits.

Li Tianxi

Grouping together the final two scenes, because the first Li Tianxi scene is more a demonstration of character traits as well as digging in those sibling parallels between LTC-LTX and CXS-QL. Anyway, the first scene adds more evidence to the idea that Qiao Ling is more sociable and a people person. That she could could get Li Tianxi to open up by taking a more understanding approach and showing that she gets it to some extent. She's in the same boat.

Which means when we get to the final scene, this is what ties it all together. Qiao Ling has inherited the memories Li Tianxi saw from Lu Guang. She has seen Cheng Xiaoshi's "death". She has information now. But her first instinct is to dismiss it. To avoid it and refuse to confront it because the implications are too much.

But, see, she's been in this situation before with Doudou. She's had information and done nothing with it and regretted. She wanted to have the courage to do better. This is her goal.

And the implications of these memories? Do they mean Cheng Xiaoshi is in danger? Wasn't danger her red line in the sand? Didn't she tell him that "protecting" people and "trusting" them aren't mutually exclusive?

And finally, Lu Guang isn't Li Tianxi, but isn't the scenario here at least somewhat similar? Isn't Qiao Ling in the same boat as him here, wanting to keep Cheng Xiaoshi safe? Hasn't Qiao Ling shown she can connect with people through their shared experiences?

Qiao Ling isn't a confrontational character. She's avoidant. She will wallow in her guilt and not let on until it gets too much. But she wants to do better and isn't this her chance to do something? Say something? To not just be a passive observer and be left with regrets? I don't think it will be immediate by any means, but I think for her arc to conclude properly, she will have to conclude for herself that she needs to be open with the information she has and share it. If she's pushed into it, then it's just Doudou again. But if she chooses to share the information, then that's the pay-off set up back in season one.

Broader Themes in the Show

Broader themes regarding information and withholding of it. We see time and again in this series, that characters withhold information from others.

Liu Xiao and Lu Guang with Li Tianchen and Cheng Xiaoshi respectively, both holding more information than their "partner". Refusing to share it so that they can control them. Their reasons may differ, but the dynamics mirror each other in that respect. Unhealthy dynamic number one.

Li Tianchen and Li Tianxi, never addressing what Li Tianchen is doing with their powers. It allows Li Tianchen to pretend to himself that he is protecting Li Tianxi and carrying out justice. Li Tianxi is heavily implied in her telling of their backstory to know more than she lets on with regards to Li Tianchen's actions. But the refusal of both siblings to broach the topic eventually leads to Li Tianchen going where Li Tianxi cannot follow in his pursuit of vengeance and puts Li Tianxi in the very danger Li Tianchen wanted to avoid. Unhealthy dynamic number two. (There are more than this but I'm just sticking to these to keep this from getting any longer)

To go back to the hospital confrontation, when Qiao Ling says: "You're always trying to protect me. I really appreciate it. But what I need more is your trust." When she says this? It's a direct hit against the idea that protection should involve keeping people out. And in this case, Cheng Xiaoshi does start to let her in. They do manage to have healthy communication here now that Qiao Ling has been let in on the dives and is allowed to do something to help. She doesn't want to be passive.

She knows what it's like to be locked out, to be "protected" without having her own agency respected. But now, as of end of season two, she's on the other side. She has the information and Cheng Xiaoshi is locked out.

When Qiao Ling was assigned as the "Star of Wisdom, to light the way" in the Doudou arc, that's because it's her role in the show overall. Lu Guang certainly isn't going to push forward with healthy communication; he's too committed to his path for that. Cheng Xiaoshi meanwhile doesn't have the information needed to even start a confrontation. Qiao Ling is the only one in the position to lead the way with her knowledge. To provide the route to healthy communication once more.

She is the catalyst.

#ikik catalysts speed up reactions (not cause them) and are used up in the process so pls don't take this metaphor literally #link click #shiguang daili ren #shiguang daili ren spoilers #also my bolding is so eclectic but I tried to just go for the parts that were most important to what I was trying to say #also sorry im too lazy to make this more screenshotty so it's just full on words without many images to break it up #hopefully the formatting helps a tad but yeah sorry

66 notes · View notes

tittyinfinity · 7 months

Text

Stop treating disabled people like we don't know what we're doing.

Stop treating disabled people like it's our fault we're disabled because you think we "haven't tried anything."

Believe disabled people when we tell you we've tried something and it didn't work.

Stop giving us unsolicited advice in the first place. It's rude as fuck to assume that we haven't tried the most basic solutions, like physical therapy and heating pads.

Stop assuming how we feel based off of how we look. We are not exaggerating our symptoms when we show them. We are not faking our symptoms when we mask them.

No one goes out of their way for years straight to see multiple doctors and somehow scam them into believing they have fake health issues so that we can "give up on life" and be constantly broke.

(I want to preface this next paragraph to say that I know that some statements aren't about disabled people and are said to help others – but the wording of certain things hurts disabled people whether you like it or not – because people don't believe us when we say we're disabled and they think we are helpless addicts)

Stop treating us like we're "victims" that "need help" if we don't want to give up our means to function. Someone taking pain medication daily or smoking weed daily so that they can function is not a sign that they need help getting off of the drugs. And drugs don't affect everyone the same way! Just because a drug fucks YOU up doesn't mean that we're constantly fucked up all the time.

There are some forms of pain and symptoms that can literally only be treated with drugs and you're gonna have to get over it.

Not being able to take a tolerance break isn't a sign that the medication is ruining our lives, either. Even if we are addicted to our medication. NOT BEING IN EXCRUCIATING PAIN IS ADDICTING AND QUITE FRANKLY, EVERYONE IS ADDICTED TO NOT BEING IN PAIN. THAT'S WHY YOU KEEP TYLENOL AND IBUPROFEN IN YOUR HOUSE. We just happen to have pain that can not be cured by regular means. It is safer to take a couple of pain pills a day than it is to be taking the max dose of tylenol and ibuprofen all day – which DOES NOT EVEN TOUCH OUR PAIN.

This is not to invalidate the fact that you can get addicted to drugs for any reason. But again, anything you say about addiction does affect disabled people. And yes, other disabled people can very much spread ableist ideas.

My final point (for now) –

Just fucking listen to us.

#.bdo #pls reblog this #disability #chronic pain #this is not to say the op of the addiction post is wrong #but the wording of it saying ''you need to seek out help'' if you cant take a tolerance break #IS EXACTLY WHAT DISABLED PEOPLE ON PAIN MEDICATION ARE TOLD CONSTANTLY #so please don't say that shit

124 notes · View notes