#<- prev so true

[tempestuousserenity]

@glamgothhobbit

actually no, we're not "dating". we're bound together for infinity. like the stars. so, fuck you, actually.

[ingravinoveritas]

I recently had an Anon send in a link to this video, which is an interview Michael and David did for the BBC when GO 2 came out in 2023.

This was already one of the most memorable GO 2 interviews (in my opinion), but a special thanks to the Anon for pointing out one little moment that I somehow did not previously catch, which is David's face when they are about to take a picture with Ali Plumb and he puts his arm behind Michael:

I've written previously on my blog about little moments where both Michael and David have gotten visibly jealous over the other receiving attention from someone else, and so that was what immediately came to mind seeing this. In particular, the time that Chris Hemsworth went to put an arm around David when they were on the Graham Norton Show and then stopped when he saw Michael's face:

I love that in both cases, it's this small thing of being aware of where "your" person is, and who is around them. With Hemsworth, Michael doesn't even move, and yet we can still feel that feeling and that conscious effort coming from him.

But with David, I don't know that he even realizes what he is doing, to where it's not an active choice, but rather something he just does without thinking. He instinctively watches who comes near Michael and whether they're touching him(!), in a way that just feels...special, somehow. Like if it were another co-star or friend, he would not be paying that close attention...and yet here, he does. Because it's Michael. And I just really, really love that.

So thank you, Anon, for bringing this to my attention. It's so interesting how there are so many instances of David being much more open (and definitely more touchy-feely with Michael) and "loud" on the GO 2 press tour than the one for S1. But this is a wonderful reminder that the quiet moments can be just as compelling and powerful...

[filialdisciple]

—a tangcheong reincarnation ficlet set during the shaolin tournament arc 👍

»—————————–✄

Part 1 2 3

baek cheon didn't think much of the loud commotion being made in the audience stands as a large family entered the arena.

"huh? what's all that noise over there?" yoon jong voiced out.

the rest of the mount hua disciples turned their heads in the direction yoon jong was pointing at and they watched as people unabashedly stared at the person in the center of the group.

"you missing a cousin or something, samae?" one of the disciples joked.

the man in question looked closer to a tang than he did his own family members who walked beside him. whereas their hair were varying shades of light brown, his was dark and closer to tang soso's own color.

tang soso frowned, narrowing her eyes as she tried to peer at his features which were slightly too far to distinguish properly.

"I don't recall having any cousins in shaolin..." she mutters as yu iseol also tilted her head in question.

the man's gaze sweeped lazily across the arena. even from afar, baek cheon could tell that the man's gaze was contemptuous.

he didn't need to use his qi to enhance his eyesight to know that the gaze that was thrown towards the sect leaders' stand was absolutely scathing.

jo gul scratched his cheek. "he must be the rumored son of the zheng merchant family. see the crest on his robes?"

"what do you know of him?" baek cheon asked. he doesn't really understand why but a part of him felt like he had to be on-guard towards the strange man.

"not much," jo gul winced, "just that he's a bit older than us and that he...mildly poisoned one of the daughters of another family in sichuan."

"..."

they all turned towards tang soso.

"are you sure he's not part-tang or something?" yoon jong asked.

their conversation is abruptly interrupted by loud shouts cheering for shaolin.

the disciples of mount hua shared resolute nods as they began marching forward, letting the praises pouring out from the audience straighten their spines and walk more resolutely.

chung myung seamlessly slipped back into their fold, the money pouches he brought with him noticably emptier than when he had arrived.

it felt as if the cheers for them rang louder than those for shaolin. it was a very ovewhelming feeling and all of them could feel the pressure on their shoulders.

once again, they watch the reliable back of their sajil as chung myung finally sets foot on the stage, gazing up.

the current head of the zheng family was not influenced by the excitement that seemed to radiate from his fellow tournament-goers. rather, his eyes were locked on the face of his elder brother who he had never seen look as emotional as he did now.

there was disbelief on his face. he wore a strange expression which wavered between hope and doubt. unfathomable emotions swam in his eyes.

"ge, is everything alright?" he worriedly asked. "if you wish to leave, we don't have to—"

"no." zheng bo cut him off. "we're staying."

he shared concerned looks with his other siblings, but they silently agreed to let it be.

their eldest brother had always been distant, but he was never unkind to them.

they could never understand where the weight zheng bo seemed to always carry on his shoulders came from, but he never lashed at them.

they had never known zheng bo to be anything other than melancholic, so seeing the way the beginnings of a lively spark enter his eyes...

it was as if they were watching him transform into someone else for a moment.

"hyung...?" zheng bo murmured as he practically threw himself over the railing to get a closer look.

luckily, their youngest sibling, about the same age as the youngest second class disciple of mount hua, managed to pull their eldest brother back by the robe.

"zheng bo, what's gotten into you?" their mother worriedly clutched at him.

a string of incomprehensible muttering escaped zheng bo's lips. "...a descendant? no, he—a wife? no, as if..."

questioning stares were thrown their way from other audience members, but they were quickly distracted by the start of the deciding battle between the two finalists.

it was a battle that no one could have ever expected.

it felt too one-sided and the zheng family, as with the rest of the spectators, found themselves at a complete loss over the practically one-sided battle between shaolin's hye yeon and mount hua's chung myung.

there was heavy and glooming feeling charging the atmosphere. the previous racuous and excited cheers turned into silent feelings of apprehension and confusion.

“this is nothing compared to what mount hua has been through.”

zheng bo let out a pained, heartaching noise.

"ge," the second zheng son started, still lost. "do you know what he's talking about?"

it seemed to him that chung myung was talking about something beyond the prior slow decline of their sect.

zheng bo seemed to be too overcome with his own emotions to answer.

they all turned back their heads to the stage and were graced with the sight of a soft curve of a blade that arched beautifully, tearing apart all the golden winds thrown towards its weilder's way by hye yeon.

"beautiful..." someone in the audience behind them mumbled.

and it truly was a mesmerizing sight to see.

and it became all the more so when plum blossoms pink, an unstoppable multitude, bloomed from chung myung's sword.

tang bo crumpled where he had was standing.

happiness, guilt, and, most of all, /relief/ wrapped themselves around his heart—his heart which, for the longest time, for over three decades, had been hollowed and emptied out of any possible feelings.

"you're here too."

tang bo didn't have to be alone anymore.

[gremlin-pattie]

@aanalytic

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[<==PREV PAGES] [NEXT PAGE==>(not out yet.wait a year.or maybe more.imagine.]

saw alot of comments on prev pages; saying 'i HATE that mean teacher! im gonna FIGHT HIM!!' & i LOVE the energy!! it WOULD be nice. to have that catharsis. but the story of young tidestrider is Not one of catharsis. it is a story of being so small and so special and sucking so bad.

[meamiki]

vtuber loop !!!

[reverse entry au? the reverse isekai part of it? tangentially related to this post here, and also the last part of this post too]

[allthecastlesonclouds]

ID: An infographic with a tan background and navy Serif-type font. it is titled How to Politely Say "Sorry, I'm Not Doing That For Free". The rest of the infographic is split into four boxes, labelled 01 through 04.

01 reads: "Thanks so much for considering me! Please see here for a link to the services and price packages that I offer. Let me know if you have any questions!" The words "price packages" is lightly highlighted.

02 reads: "This sounds like a great opportunity, thank you for thinking of me! Are you able to confirm that this a paid opportunity?" The words "paid opportunity" are lightly highlighted.

03 reads: "I appreciate you thinking of me for this opportunity. Unfortunately, I'm unable to take on any unpaid projects at the moment but I will circle back if that changes." The words "unpaid project" are lightly highlighted.

04 reads: "Thanks for reaching out! I typically charge a flat fee for this kind of advice so I'm unable to answer this via DM's but I'll drop a link below where you can book a consultation with me!" The words "book a consultation" are lightly highlighted. /End ID

[daylighteclipsed]

While Aerith is looking for Zack in Cloud and subconsciously, I think, expecting Cloud to respond to her like Zack, I do think that Tifa also, initially, has her own false expectations about Cloud. Not in the sense that she’s subconsciously expecting him to act like someone else — Tifa is never not looking for Cloud in Cloud. But in the sense that it seems like, initially, Tifa’s subconsciously expecting Cloud to act like he’s a closer friend to her than he is.

Tifa’s hurt at the start of Rebirth when it seems like Cloud’s choosing not to tell her where he’s been for the past five years. She’s hurt by his distrust and doubt that she’s real, and she tells him that maybe she shouldn’t have been so glad to have him back — a callback to Remake when she tells him she’s really glad to have him back the first time Cloud starts dropping his facade (“losing that hard edge”) and shows that he remembers the promise he made to her as kids. Tifa keeps trying to reconnect with Cloud by trying to jog his memory, but it doesn’t work that well. This arguably comes to a head in the Under Junon inn. Tifa and Cloud have a chance to talk privately again and apologize for their words before. But then Tifa brings up Emilio and, regardless of whether you have Cloud answer that he remembers Emilio or not, she launches into a story about seeing Emilio again. And you can hear her growing excited as she speaks, almost like she forgets Cloud was not friends with Emilio, was not friends with her friends growing up, until she notices that Cloud is standing there awkwardly and she realizes… She does not have the old friend in Cloud that she thought she did.

Cloud and Tifa were close when they were very little, but that was a very long time ago. They didn’t hang out as adolescents. Cloud is willing to listen to Tifa’s story because he cares about her — and this is another callback to that same scene in Remake I mentioned before when Cloud first loses his facade; he says if Tifa wants to talk, he’s listening — but he has no personal investment in this story about Emilio. And it’s like Tifa realizes then that she’s got their connection wrong… She’s been trying to jog Cloud’s memory to rekindle a close friendship that never exactly existed. She’s been expecting Cloud to act like her close friend when they were never really that close to begin with — or at least, they haven’t been that close since they were 7-8 years old. That’s not fair to him.

Noticeably, Tifa lets this expectation go, which enables Cloud and Tifa to bond and reconnect organically (and much more successfully) instead. They grow very close when they’re not expected to already be close. And idk I think it’s interesting.

[avalencias]

been rereading a fav fanfic as one does and was hit with a wave of like…..sadness? and anger, bc ofc fanfic is fanfic and to the extent it mentions rl and laws and the way we as society treat each other in the now is largely dependent on the fandom and author but also this fanfic (published in 2015 but taking place in 2035) offhandedly mentioned that the supreme court outlawed solitary confinement as cruel and unusual punishment in 2020, which seems so completely far away from where scotus both actually existed in 2020 (pre ACB sure but also pre Justice Jackson) and where it exists today (where scotus in a single week rendered well over half a million people as “illegal” and stripping them of status/protextion by bowing to the administration and allowing TPS and CHNV parole stays to expire), that the thought of THAT court and especially THIS court declaring that solitary confinement, which has already been declared akin to torture in the international law context, as cruel and unusual punishment…is unthinkable. I feel so far from hope sometimes

I know, pick your piece and fight like hell for it, you can’t try to do everything at once (or however mariame kaba reminds us), but god. sometimes the reminder that we have flown so far to the right that even those gains we thought were so close not just 10 years ago are well out of reach…hurts. did you all know that ice uses solitary confinement in detention centers as their form of “protection” because they simply HAVE to detain people? if your client says they’re scared of gang members specifically targeting them in detention (and that is the actual literal focus of their claim), instead of releasing you ice says ok fine I guess we can’t let you get jumped in here so instead we’ll lock you in a tiny cell for 20 out of 24 hours and let you out late at night, make sure your interactions with others is kept to a minimum, all for your safety. or punishment. if you decide you’d rather be deported rather than be subject to this, well, that’s just an added bonus.

[starleska]

brain is still so scrambled from watching The Legend of Ruby Sunday and Empire of Death in cinemas yesterday but...all i can say is. that felt too easy. far too easy. are we willing to bet that Ruby's story is not entirely over, and when she returns in the next season we will be unearthing that? or am i coping?

[condorclown]

@luna-rigain

A fictional guy should only be made blonde to signify that there's something wrong with him

[filialdisciple]

dumb rotmhs fanfic idea: one hundred years after his death, tang bo reincarnates as the son of a wealthy merchant family in shaolin.

—basically, a tangcheong reincarnation ficlet set during the shaolin tournament arc 👍

»—————————–✄

Part 1 2 3

the zheng family was the leader of a wealthy merchant guild in shaolin. while they were not on the same level as the hwang, they were still influential enough for rumors to run amok.

And rumors always circled their eldest son.

zheng bo was as much of an enigma to his family as he was to those within their village. he had always been a quiet child but, one day, something happened that /changed/ the then five-year old.

the zheng family's son cried tears upon tears. he was absolutely inconsolable. his small body shook, overcome with emotions so heavy that his entire body was painfully heaving.

and when he woke up, eyes bloodshot and distant, it was as if the childhood spark in his eyes disappeared along with his tears the previous night.

off-handedly, his father noted the history book that was dropped haphazardly on the floor. several of its pages were scrunched up terribly.

the zheng partiarch mistook it as his son's desire to learn martial arts, but quickly learned the opposite as his son glared at the instructor with so much vitriol it was poisonous.

no matter how many instructors he sent his son's way, he all turned them back—uncaring whether they were decades-long martial artists, instructors of renowned ones, or teachers from the shaolin sect itself. if anything the latter worsened zheng bo's mood to the nth degree.

ashamedly and with deep regret, both the zheng patriarch and matriarch had to give up on their son as they realized the teaching him how to inherit their merchant guild was a futile endeavor. zheng bo would rather stay cooped up in his room in complete silence.

the zheng family had three more children after their eldest yet none of their births affected the dark veil of mourning that shadowed their eldest brother.

A veil that no one could ever seem to lift.

other families often asked after him, most in hopes of marrying off their daughters, but the zheng matriarch stiffly laughed them off.

they had tried once to set a play date with another merchant family's daughter, but it ended up with her in tears and vomiting with an upset stomach. the same occured with the next and third ones.

they catch zheng bo slip a vial with an unknown substance back into his sleeve and understood the lengths he would go to avoid such a thing from happening again.

many years go by and their second son inherited their family's merchant guild, much to the confusion of many.

it stirred up interest in zheng bo. rumors went around about his inability to perform his duties as the eldest son; some said that he was actually a bastard which was why he was overlooked.

former servants and workers from the zheng family whispered about the eldest son's madness and how his mania could not be cured by even the best of doctors and healers.

but as with all rumors and public interest, it died down when no new information sprung forth.

zheng bo was simply a crazy son who was better kept within the walls of the zheng estate than be let out for fear of what his madness would lead him to do.

when the shaolin tournament began with warriors and fighters from the ten great sects and other notable families, the zheng patriarch tried to urge zheng bo to attend and simply watch the battles with the rest of the family.

zheng bo scoffed at him.

their second son placed a comforting hand on his father's shoulders and suggested that they just let him be, "the winner has already been decided. i'm sure eldest brother would end up bored."

but the world had a funny sense of irony.

mount hua was the competition's dark horse. they were nigh unstoppable, flicking away their opponent's swords with absolute ease and twisiting around them as if they were falling petals themselves. it was an unexpected but amazing start to the competition.

as the finals approached, discussion about the upcoming fight between mount hua's divine dragon and shaolin's hye yeon run rampant outside of shaolin's walls. inside the zheng estate, no one could stop talking about the unexpected showing from what should have been a fallen sect.

tang bo, by chance, overheard the praises heeped on mount hua's divine dragon who had beaten everyone he had faced undeniably and soundly.

a part of him felt guilty that he had been too overwhelmed by his own grief and pain to even step out and check on his family and hyung's sect—especially after what he had learned about the aftermath of the battle against the demonic sect one hundred year ago.

so felt a strong wave of relief at the knowledge that mount hua had regained its footing somehow and that it was doing well enough to receive awed praise.

he felt imensely grateful towards whoever this divine dragon was because he seemed to the center of mount hua's revival.

tang bo idly wondered if chung myung was berating him in the afterlife. he asked him to take care of tang bo's family, but couldn't offer the same for his sect, he imagined that the other man would just exaggeratedly roll his eyes and tell him to start doing better then, you bastard.

and so tang bo, for the first time in a decade, knowingly chose to leave his room and approach his second-life father first.

thirty years was a long enough period to mourn, even if his heart still aches with regret.

but tang bo supposed supporting mount hua's divine dragon in the finals was a start.

[cilantroodon]

[ID: Several photos of a toad sitting on someone's palm and on the ground in the woods. End ID.]

I mean no disrespect to prior toads OK? But this lady has to be the cutest toad I've seen all summer. Looked and felt like a little ball of dough. VERY CUTE FACE! Tiny, unimpressive hops & no reaction to being lifted for pictures. Moved her off the trail and she just sat there. Amazing specimen & perfect in every way. I'll remember her forever

[leshommesdesade]

LES HOMMES DE SADE

Instagram @les_hommesdesade

[facethemuses]

I apologise if this is a strange thing to come in to your account with. But I think there’s a corner of Batman fans who think that Batman being in the justice league makes him “silly” because they can’t bubble him off as a dark noir crime fighter if he’s working with other superheroes. Does this make sense?

it does! like how people hate robin bc they think he makes batman "silly" and "unserious"

[darkhoneybrowneyes]

The 3 pillars of male hotness:

"in pain" - ai di (he might cut out someone's tongue if anyone ever calls him pathetic)

"pathetic" - kenta (I want him to be happy so badly)

"loser" - prapai (self-explantory)

"pathetic" is almost the hottest thing a man can be, second only to "in pain"