Stargate Atlantis S05E06 ↳ RFW's Favorite Stargate Whump Moments

its a bit weird even for him

it's easy to read the situation between li tongguang, ruyi, and yuanzhou as a love triangle on a superficial level, but looking even one step further, it's clear that there's no triangle about it. li tongguang is obsessed with ren xin; ning yuanzhou is devoted to ren ruyi. ltg's obsession is fervent and all consuming, but it's not devotion. like ruyi herself notes, his feelings to her are on the basis of her as a mother figure in his life, as a replacement for what he never received from his mother. is there an element of romantic/sexual love/desire to it? maybe. more likely he's deluded himself into thinking that, because the truth is, it's doubtful that ltg even understands what love is (platonic, filial, familial, romantic, all of the above, etc), because he has no basis for understanding. ruyi's teachings and actions towards him are the closest thing he has to hold up as an example. what he wants is ren xin, is a replica of the master he had. he doesn't want ruyi, because he doesn't actually care about ruyi. therefore, he doesn't care if she's sad, angry, mad; he just can't bear her 'abandoning' him. we saw this way back when she first meet and left him, both at thirteen and seventeen. although he distrusts her first, she saves his life and cares for him in the way no one else has, hence her first being raised on a platform in his mind. when she leaves for good, ending their master-disciple relationship/training, even though it's for official business and she's not abandoning him, in his mind that's exactly what it is. so now that she's in his life again, he won't let her leave again. he was powerless before, a child with no proper name, but now he's a recognized member of the imperial family, a man who can meet her as 'equals' (even when that's far from the truth). as a child, he could only cling to her legs and beg her, but now he has the power to keep her by his side. it's telling that when he finally gets confirmation of her identity, it's not ning yuanzhou he seeks to harm (even though he detests him and their relationship), but yang ying. yang ying is ruyi's new disciple, and as ltg doesn't know she's a woman, he only sees her as his direct replacement.

ning yuanzhou, on the other hand, is devoted to ruyi. he wants to build a new life and future with her, instead of slotting her into a spot in the life he already has. he's someone who accompanies her on walks and makes her midnight snacks, who holds her when she needs to be held and lets her go when she needs to do things on her own. when she speaks her mind, he listens, even when it makes him discontent/it's not what he wanted/wants to hear. he sees her unabashedly as his equal, and though he acknowledges her skills and abilities, or points out her naivety, he never does it to belittle her; to him, she is his peer, deserving of the highest honor and respect. he trusts her to have his back, and she has come to trust him to have her. he did what she might have thought no man would ever do: he proved himself reliable, so she came to rely on him. yuanzhou gives her freedom and autonomy as both ren ruyi and ren xin. of course they run into problems, but they both learn and grow from them, as individuals and as a couple. yuanzhou's belief in her is unwavering, but adaptable, whereas ltg's is unwavering, but frozen in time, disallowing for any new information to be presented. yuanzhou works with ruyi to accept the changes thrown her way; he seeks the core behind her actions in order to better understand her. li tongguang cannot accept the changes in ruyi's character, because they run contrary to the master he has on a pedestal in his mind.

what li tongguang wants is to return to the past, but yuanzhou offers ruyi the promise of a future, even one that might never come to fruition. there's no triangle about it.

cleo etho divorce to besties arc, their new roommate who burned down his previous bases (mcesher stairs and egg) and bdubs who keeps coming over unprompted and wants an extra bedroom for himself is possibly my new fav alliance/team up in any life series ever

"Everything you went through was meaningless." [St Voyager S3 E7: 'Sacred Ground']

kim not so subtly asking chay to write him a love song

yuann........eating fruit in the corner unbothered...i am deceased

watching the first ep of cherry magic now these guys are both such cringe fail idiots im obsessed

just finished eternal punishment worst day of my life actually

10x4 charlie work is erotic

shut up this is so cute 😭

anyways sorry for critical role blogging on main but i'm actually working my way through cr2 right now (fell off around episode 60 back when it was airing due to Lack Of Time but my job rn is pretty mindless and largely unsupervised so i have time) and every single member of the m9 has immediately stolen my heart once again

IT'S TIME

you know what is peak adhd for me? the fact that i have watched nearly 2 full seasons of Grimm in the last 7 days but have been on s5 of SGA for MONTHS, and started it over a year ago

" f o r e v e r m o r e "

for my wife 💘

three months condensed into twenty minutes 🌕✨️

stream:

in the midst of it all tonight gals bought a second patchbay to give my setup a little more wiggle room and i'm paying the ultimate price (redesigning my signal flow and rewiring my studio) but i'm making headway...