There's just something about the captain that makes me think about all of the different lgbtqia+ people throughout history that never got their happy endings. All the people who couldn't live openly, or freely be themselves (today too of course). And it makes me really sad:(

I think it's because of just how "normal" he seems, he's literally just some boring old guy (affectionate). We see him do regular things (as regular as you can get when you're a ghost), he just seems so real. He wasn't exceptionate, he didn't really have a very grand life or love story. He seems like someone that probably could've existed, which is amazing character wise and also just really sad that so many people here in the real world haven't or won't ever get their happy ending in their lifetime.

The problem is they both make sense.

John lacks any agency, and as his abilities start "failing" he loses more of what little he has. The only things he can do is perceive the world through Arthur's eyes and talk to him in his head. That's it. He has no material effect on the world around them. He is solely 100% reliant on Arthur for his continued existence and influence on the world. He can't ignore Arthur whatsoever (unlike Arthur who can ignore John easy peasy) he can't Do anything but talk and observe (and also experience the deaths of people Arthur touches but ultimately that does nothing). Of course he is going to be distrustful of other people and possessive over Arthur.

Arthur feels like suddenly he can't rely on this very reliable thing that has been keeping him alive this whole time. It would shake anyone up. Especially with the shit they have to deal with? If he can't rely on directions he will be sliced to ribbons or shot without a chance of fighting back. They may as well be dead already. And for all of John's lack of agency, it's Arthur who has to actually deal with the consequences. He's the one who's getting wounded and torn to bits and has to fight all that. Plus it's HIS body. If someone's existence relies on your body, you have the right to refuse, bodily autonomy is a human right.

The problem is they've gone through this cycle before (cycle of learning and forgetting and learning that they are One Unit and need to work Together vs The Problems and forgetting) but never has it shaken Arthur so much. Even when they've argued before he would still listen to John's directions. But now? Everything is in question (as is probably the intent behind John's "failing" abilities.) They DO need other people to help and they DO need to be careful and include John. They cannot truly trust someone else while keeping John a secret or without his input. Arthur has the most control over the situation and the onus is on him to make the compromises. Yeah it's his body but 1) countless times he promised to John that they were in this together and 2) at this point separating them would be so traumatic that they may as well be One.

All of this is to say, curious that Arthur is so willing to tell Oscar about literally everything EXCEPT John. What happens if he does? What if there's someone else to assert for John in a way Arthur can't ignore so easily? Would that legitimize the shared ownership of Arthur's body? What does it mean for John to gain agency by the loss of Arthur's autonomy?

Ignore if you don’t want to read about me being stupid once again

real talk: lxl should continue to explore romance fantasy concepts in their songs. it’s clearly working for them~

just a bite of your sweet neck.

u thought it was gonna be a introduction post? HA

me too

full thing under cut idk

HEY GUYS I NEED YOUR HELP!!

ok so first off WE GOT INTO THE FINALIST ROUND FOR AWE'S FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE CHALLENGE!!!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

we're in the running to win $100,000 to help us make digital objects into a realty for everyone. this is a huge deal. I am in a daze writing this and literally cannot articulate how major this is

we need people to watch our announcement video on Twitter multiple times to help more people see it! the twitter algorithm boosts things based on watch time, so just opening the link and letting the video run a couple times will be a HUGE help 🙏

VIDEO LINK IS HERE

Figmin XR will never have a subscription based cost model, and ALL of the things shown above are FREE to download within the app right now.

when this technology becomes as ubiquitous as smartphones (and it WILL, possibly even sooner than we think), this is the future we want people to be able to look forward to... and the first step of getting to that future is proving that it's one people actually want.

the “good luck liking this character because all people get out of their arc is the surrounding satosugu” club

shoko

riko

yuta

some old-ish @daszombes fanart from before spring break!!! was jamming to the razzmatazz IDKHBTFM album in school after watching a stream of his the evening before :]!! this is fanart of that steam haha. att might perhaps be das’ favorite il character but who knows

but!! first time drawing deeper still in a year(wow) and first time drawing att ever💔. but!! enjoy the sillies, i loved drawing them :]. had to look up deeper still on google during school so thats on my history now

ft. chonny jash💥💥

the thing about xiao hua in the lost tomb 2 is that i would argue he's the most ruthless of all the live-action versions (at least so far). he's the one dealing with the ugly underbelly of what it means to be head of the xies, the one onscreen telling the rest of his family to fuck off or die because he won't walk away or go down without a fight. he moves quickly and cleanly and he kills people without blinking if the situation is severe enough to warrant it.

but he's also the version of xiao hua who smiles the most and genuinely means it. whether it's at his men who've stayed by his side, or at wu xie who he beams at from the first time they're onscreen together and never stops looking out for him, or at zhai xingyao, the brother who he's kept safe enough to have his back. he's got all the gravity of the burdens he's had to carry his entire life, but he still finds enjoyment in the simplest ritual of sitting in his courtyard watching opera performances on his laptop. xiao hua has restraint and control and he can click his emotions on and off like a light switch if he must, though with the emotions he's willing to share, he's so easy with making them known.

adding onto this, there's a passage from book canon that i feel is crucial to understanding xiao hua's character, and it's from volume 7 (from wu xie's pov):

“Are you a good person or one of the bad ones?” I asked.

“What do you think?” He looked at me and sighed. “Do you think a good man, upon hearing that his childhood playmate’s life and death was uncertain, would still ignore it and finish his own business first?

(...) "Do you know how many times I did such things before? I often wondered if I didn’t listen to my grandfather and went back immediately, would those people still be alive?” He also smiled. “You can’t have friends once you think like that, because you know you can’t go back and save them. If you became friends with someone and this happened, then you’d be sad. So to prevent that and be able to abandon others with ease, I decided I couldn’t be friends with anyone. It sounds a bit melodramatic, doesn’t it?”

I didn’t know how to answer him, so I just chuckled a few times.

“But these were my thoughts when I was a child.” He said. “Now that I’m older, I’ve figured a few things out.” He sighed and raised the wine bottle and motioned to me, “So, Little Master Three. With me here, you have to take care of yourself.”

(quoted from the Merebear translation)

although tlt2 xiao hua is younger than he is in this section of the books (this exchange takes place while him and wu xie are at mount siguniang, or the last arc of ultimate note), he's a xiao hua who's already been through the change his book counterpart describes in the passage. he's made it forward in reckoning with what he does in his life, and he doesn't consider himself a saint by any means for it, but he's found what happiness he can still make room for and save despite all that. i'm glad that tlt2 gave us a xiao hua who looks like he's gone through that realization, and let him shine in who he is after coming out the other side, not only in his own sideplot but also in his interactions with the other main characters.

one of my favourite moments in tlt2 is from the last battle against the jade(?) warrior, when one of xiao hua's men dies (i'm so sorry i can't remember his name) and he's angry. how xiao hua wields his anger is typically cold, calculated, he only lets a hint of it show because the self-control is more terrifying to watch than full displeasure. this time he's fully expressing genuine rage, and i think it's the most unrestrained we ever see xiao hua with it in any adaptation. one of his people died, someone he cared about and wasn't afraid to show it, and so whoever is responsible is going to lose his life next. and it's beautiful.

tl;dr i adore how tlt2 xiao hua is characterized and how that characterization drew on his book journey, even though this adaptation introduces him at a slightly younger age. hats off to everyone involved

Having so many thoughts about both of their reactions

art vs artist ⁉️

" Losing battle of loss "

4.2 has officially destroyed my brain in terms of lore. Farewell, everyone, I shall join my fellow mad scholars in Aaru Village, because WHAT ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH.

If you picture someone wearing a tinfoil hat screaming incoherently while wildly gesturing and waving their arms about, you can get a pretty accurate depiction of my mental state.

Featuring: me rambling in the tags. Careful for spoilers if you choose to read them - I don't go into detail but still.

I keep thinking about loml from The tortured poets department and I just want to know what it means!!

Love of my life

Loss of my lover

Loss of my life

Light of my life

Love or my life

Last of my letters

Lie of my life

Last of my lessons

Last of my lines

Luck of my life

Lament? Lust? Litany? Line-break?

Mimesis (as fundamental to human experience, a practice that precedes language but is suppressed or distorted by society)

What if she starts with Love, moves to lie, then to loss and finally to light? Ooor what if it starts with love and ends up with loss?