#chinese new year classic. let's go

[alkalische]

葉問

[accio-victuuri]

April 2025 CPNs round-up ❤️💛💚

the start of the month was actually quite eventful, celebrating april fools with the best clowns in chinese domestic entertainment. lol. it started with a double fake rumor which was bits of old rumors pieced together. then as usual for this day, fansite team building happens. meaning, fs for specific celebrities will post about other people. so we supported ones that posted about our boys. a good summary of those are here and there is a good number. whether that’s bjyx or them as individual.

that led to bojunyixiao being on top of the hot search list. this is so fitting for april fools! knowing how much we clown! lol. but seriously, it’s so nice to see how active the fandom still is. the whole fandom has been summoned by the photos shared. there is really nothing new — but we all got excited. that’s how great cpfs are! so sorry ( not really ) to our haters cause we are not going away anytime soon. 💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻

okay, now let’s go to the actual cpns we enjoyed this month! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

• there is a repo from a kid yibo worked with for the bananain shoot. he mentioned that wyb does not smile much, but he does when he looks at his wechat. lol. so we gotta clown all the times you can him smiling down while looking at his phone, probably talking to xz.

• the very lucky ones who already got their WM vinyl noticed how the design is written looks like an 8 and 3. that’s them. Bo and Zhan. 🥹🥹🥹🥹 we know how XZ likes to hide things in plain sight when it comes to his art. so this is a classic example.

• this comparison! they are twins! i wish they could have had this kind of hair at the same time.

• croissant in lacoste ad 🥐🥐🥐

• At the time of writing, GG has not been officially announced to be a part of this rumored drama. @rainbowsky made a really good primer for it over here so you can go ahead and look. but it’s basically screaming the same timeline as yibo’s war of faith. lol. so of course, whoever this character is will be wei ruolai’s husband in the yizhan multiverse! i’m looking forward to it! 🙌🏼

• video “proof” in zhuhai race last year where someone mentions zhan ge + the plot thickens that xz was actually there that time

• this went on HS 4/13 for some reason. there may be some context that i missed lol. but tbh, who cares. they are both successful in their own way in the age they are in. there is no “catching up” to do because they are in different tracks. 💛💛💛

i personally get defensive when it comes to their careers and achievements, i hate tying them up in that aspect. or wanting both to have the same exact things. it does not work that way. i believe in supporting what they do and i accept the fact that sometimes one has more than the other in certain aspects and how that’s okay. i could write up a whole thing on this topic and my thoughts on it but i don’t think the fandom is ready that for that conversation. lol.

• WMWM clothing brand x WM album - another example of the universe conspiring to give them some obscure connection.

• THIS. We are so blessed to have them in Magazine Issues that show their long hair ��😍😍

how can you not love them both? talented and beautiful creatures!

• WYB’s May Vogue 2025 issue candies

• there is some buzz around xz being spotted passing by Wuhan and him going home immediately. of course we think it’s because Bobo is in Beijing. So he has to be with him 🤡🤡🤡

• our boys greeting sina for their 25th anniversary 🫶🏼

• On 4/20 xz was spotted attending a concert in Beijing with his parents. the “empty” space there is being filled with WYB by us clowns. lol. we don’t have facts but more of wishful thinking since they are both in Beijing. personally, i think people WYB is there because of how happy XZ is. not saying he cannot be happy without WYB, it’s just that there is something more of it’s related to WYB. 🤡🤡🤡

• revisiting an old rumor of them having a skiing show together

• XZ arrives in Shanghai while WYB is there for a race and the next day WYB goes MIA and can only be seen during practice - finally, a timeline of sorts and cpn interpretation of what happened during the weekend✌🏼 on 0428, both Lele and Dabo were seen by chance and people are saying their staff seem to be on holiday. so maybe that’s because the two lovebirds are chillin at home in Beijing. yes please! or maybe they gave their staff some time off after a busy weekend 😋

• WYB is interested in Vinyl record

• WYB saying an expression that is common in Sichuan/Chongqing

see you next month! 🫶🏼💕

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[rivalsforlife]

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Announced

At the Nintendo Direct today, news I have been tirelessly waiting six years for arrived: The Ace Attorney Investigations games are coming to all modern consoles! This includes Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (now officially known as Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor's Gambit), after THIRTEEN YEARS of being a Japan-exclusive game!

Now everyone gets to experience Debeste Ace Attorney games! ... The Winner Ace Attorney Games!

Key Information

The collection is coming out on September 6, 2024 to the Nintendo Switch, PS4, XBOX One, Windows, and Steam. It will be available in Japanese, English, French, German, Korean, and Traditional and Simplified Chinese, with new voice dubs. Most of the information in this post will be coming from the official website, which you can check out for more details.

The reveal trailer is as follows:

There's lots of information here, so let's break it down:

New Features

Since these were originally Nintendo DS games, there's a massive jump in graphic quality to HD! This includes a new interface for Logic, the court record, and redone full-body sprites. But if you prefer the classic look, the AAI collection will let you swap between the sprite styles:

Similarly to the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and 456 Collection, the AAI Collection includes story mode, dialogue history, a gallery containing concept and special art, and music including orchestral arrangements of the soundtrack.

You can also change the in-game soundtrack to rearranged tracks! This applies to Confrontation - Allegro, Confrontation - Presto, Objection 2009, and Pursuit - Chase Down The Truth (commonly known as Lying Coldly) with and without the intro.

Pre-Order Bonuses

Much like the AAI tracks, AAI2 arranged tracks can play in game, but these are currently restricted to pre-order bonuses (though this might change in the future). This includes Confrontation - Allegro 2011, Confrontation - Presto 2011, Objection 2011, and the intro and non-intro versions of Pursuit - Uncover The Truth (commonly known as Wanting To Find The Truth).

That's all on the English side, but much like the 456 collection, Japan has a physical collector's edition called the Mitsurugi (Edgeworth) Checkmate Set. This includes an arranged mini-album of songs by other composers, and new album art by Tatsuro Iwamoto.

The new songs include "Objections of Different Eras" (seemingly a remix of Objections 2009 and 2011), "Raven that Pursues The Truth" (remix of Kay's theme), "It's Time for Action!" (remix of Gumshoe's theme), "Howling Echoes" (remix of Lang's theme), and "Unveiling the Truth" (remix of the Pursuit songs).

This collection also includes a diorama set:

The set has two backgrounds (the rooftop of the Grand Tower and Edgeworth's office), and has standees of Edgeworth, Kay, Gumshoe, Franziska, Lang, Gregory, and... Verity and Eustace.

Which is a good segue into:

Localization Differences

Since most AA fans will be familiar with the fantastic AAI2 fan translation, the new names will likely be an adjustment for all of us. Characters in AAI (like Kay and Lang) will not have their names changed, just characters that were previously exclusive to AAI2.

Known name changes include:

Yumihiko Ichiyanagi / Sebastian Debeste -> Eustace Winner

Hakari Mikagami / Justine Courtney -> Verity Gavèlle

Tateyuki Shigaraki / Raymond Shields -> Eddie Fender

We also know that Manosuke Naito / Horace Knightley's new last name is Knight, and Gai Tojiro / Ethan Rooke's last name is Rook, which isn't much of a departure from fan translation names. We also know that Mikiko Hayami / Nicole Swift's new last name is Lloyd. I will provide updates on more names when they become available!

Regardless of your feelings on the new names - it's going to be an adjustment for everyone used to the fan translation that has been around ten years now - let's all keep in mind that despite the new names, the characters behind the names will be the same. And personally, as a massive fan of AAI2, I think the adjustment will be worth it if it means that more people get to experience my favorite ace attorney game for themselves.

With this announcement, all canonical ace attorney games have been ported to modern consoles and given an English translation. As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, this announcement is thirteen years in the making for AAI2! This is an unprecedented time for the popularity and accessibility of Ace Attorney.

(All we need now is the Layton crossover...)

Thank you all for joining me in this excitement and I look forward to collecting and sharing more updates as they arrive!

[luvelve]

husband!mingyu who secretly knows that one of your weaknesses is seeing the band of his underwear whenever he stretches. something about seeing CALVIN KLEIN in all bold letters whenever the giant man stretches his limbs. hanging just below his torso, let it be red, black, grey, or just the classic white calvins, it’d be sure to make your stomach flutter.

how else could he have picked up on this not so little obsession of yours when every time his underwear peaks, your cheeks turn a bright pink hue and suddenly you forget what mingyu was talking about just then.

“though we could get 2 vacuums instead, one for upstairs and one for downstairs.” mingyu says after your mind has somehow turned 7 innocent seconds of him stretching into a short calvin klein montage with some flirty doja cat song playing in the background.

“that’d be smarter and easier for us, right?” he adds, fixing the folds of his shirt. you’re now completely unaware that your mouth is hanging slightly open and that your cheeks are now the same color as mingyu’s favorite pink hoodie.

“yeah, uh huh.” you nod your head absentmindedly, now finally shifting your gaze at your husband’s face. this doesn’t go unnoticed by him though.

“okay, so what did i just say, my love?” his tone playful, deciding whether or not he should tell you that he knows why you’re all flushed right now. he turns his body on the couch so he can fully face you.

he scans your face and he recognizes that look on your face. it’s the same flushed look you had when mingyu first kissed you outside your apartment. the same look when he showed up with flowers and your favorite chinese takeout on a random tuesday. the same look when he brought you to his parents’ house and accidentally said he wants to marry you.

after being married to each other for almost 3 years, mingyu finds it endearing that he’s still able to leave you all flustered. whether it be stopping in his tracks to tie your laces, to removing the strand of hair on your face, and even flashing the band of his underwear apparently.

“uh, we’re getting a new vacuum… and we can get those dyson? ones that you’ve been telling me about.” you shoot him a sheepish smile and it takes everything in him to not kiss you right now.

he pauses and flashes you his signature smile. his canines poking out at the side.

“what?” you say, giggling at the giant teddy bear that is smiling at you for a reason unknown to you.

“baby, i know.” he huffs, closing the tiny gap in between the two of you.

“know what?” you reply, raising an eyebrow at him.

being the gentle giant that your husband is, he wants to lay it to you gently so as not to totally embarrass you, but he’s afraid it’s gonna happen either way.

“my love, i know that whenever i stretch, like when i put my hands up like this and my tummy shows? and so does my underwear? baby, i catch you staring.” he trails off after demonstrating to you and he starts giggling and snakes his arms around your waist. your faces are now practically centimeters from each other. there’s only love and adoration in mingyu’s eyes.

“you-what do you? no, i don’t. babe, i don’t even know what you’re talking about.” you bite your lip in attempts to hide the giant smile that’s about to form on your face.

all mingyu can do is laugh and bury his face into the crook of your neck. meanwhile, your insides are burning from the embarrassment that your husband knows your little secret and your cheeks are turning bright red this time around.

“my love, its okay. so what if you find my underwear hot? i mean i find a lot of things about you hot. like when you pump gas into our car. hot. when your hair’s wet and you wrap it in a towel and you take it out from the towel? hot. oh, when you wear my shirts and hoodies. well that’s more of cute, but you get the point. babe, i could go on and on, you know.” he continues to rub circles onto your waist where his hands are resting.

you’re reminded of how loving and gentle your husband is because only he could rub away the embarrassment of finding his briefs hot.

“how long have you known?” you whisper, the bright red stain on your cheeks fading away. holding his chin between your thumb and index finger.

“i don’t know, i guess when we were having lunch this one time at that fancy place near us. that was the first time i caught you. so maybe a month ago?” his gaze is soft with a hint of playfulness.

“well, there goes my secret, i guess.” a pout forms on your face and all mingyu can do is lean in for a kiss. it’s not rushed, it’s the kind that says i love you. you can feel yourself melt into him as he takes one hand from your waist and places it onto your cheek. both of your arms wrap around his neck to pull him even closer than he was before.

“doesn’t mean i’m gonna stop doing it though.” you break away from the kiss momentarily to say to him. you shoot him a naughty look that he’s all too familiar with.

“that’s my girl.” he replies, leaning in for another kiss.

so this was completely self indulgent, and the first thing i’ve written. this was supposed to be like a 200 word blurb MAX but i got carried away :<

anyways, please enjoy <3

[thir10th]

Soft Strands and Sweet Interruptions - October writing challenge day 2

summary: Emily is trying to tell you about her day, but you get distracted tw: a tiny mention to typical show violence at the beginning, no smut, this is so sweet it's literally just tooth rotting fluff a/n: i think i forgot to mention this, but i will be posting on alternate days, so instead of a fic a day, it’s going to be a fic every two days. Here’s the second one!! Happy 3rd of October! 💘

"I'm telling you" Emily stops mid-sentence to swallow a big bite of her spicy noodles before finishing her point "they don't even take it seriously anymore"

The containers lay empty all scattered over the coffee table, you sit with your legs crisscrossed on the couch in front of your girlfriend. After a whole day of work. she called you asking if you could come around, and only five minutes later you were at her door with takeout from her favorite chinese place, and asking what's wrong.

After the third spring roll and some noodles, her rambling had gotten lighter, and she was feeling better already.

"mh- and don't even get me started on today's training!" she says rolling her eyes and taking another bite"

"this young generations of agents think they can just shoot at whatever they want without consequences! They ignore my guiding, It’s like everything I said went in one ear and out the other.”

You nod, letting her vent "Mmhmm, sounds like a classic Prentiss-the-new-agents-trainer day.”

"Oh no! this is temporary, as soon as Morgan's arm is better, they're all his." She scoffs "I've been doing this- what? years? I remember i used to listen to my supervisory agent when i was training"

“I don’t even know how you deal with it.” you try comforting her, resting your hand on her lap, watching her and smiling softly.

Emily throws up her hands, hair falling into her face “I honestly don’t know either. By the end of the day, I just wanted to—” her words trail off as she looks down, clearly still worked up, but before she can continue, you gently reach over and tuck her hair behind her ear, taking her by surprise.

Truth is- you've always loved Emily's hair, more than you care to admit, always glowing, the dark almost black strands always falling over her face now that she's letting her bangs grow out.

She blinks, her expression softening in confusion "What are you doing?"

"Distracting you" you say, smiling as you continue to run your fingers through her hair, gently brushing it back.

Her voice softens as she looks at you “Well, it’s working.” she scoffs in surprise and a bit embarrassed.

Your fingers linger in her hair, and you lean in closer, your thumb brushing her cheek “Good.” You close the distance and kiss her softly, feeling her relax into you.

Emily sighs against your lips, clearly surprised but smiling “Wow, you’ve got great timing.”

You giggle softly, pulling back just a little “I have my moments.”

She grabs your face so softly with her hand, her thumb caressing your cheek. Still smiling, her rant forgotten, she rests her forehead against yours “You’re a very good distraction, you know that?”

You whisper, running your fingers through her hair again “I’ll keep that in mind for the next time you’re this worked up.”

You peck her lips one more time, fast and sweet "it's not worth it my love, they'll learn when they learn, it's not your responsibility, and i don't like to see you so affected by it" you touch her nose with yours, the childish gesture makes her laugh

"and i'll keep distracting you if it means you'll relax this frown a bit" you touch the spot between her eyebrows, and she giggles.

She chuckles softly, eyes closing as she leans into you “I might just start ranting more often if this is the reward.”

You smile, still threading your fingers through her soft, dark hair. “I wouldn’t complain.” Your voice is gentle as you tilt your head, watching the way her expression has softened, the tension from the day finally melting away.

Emily hums, her eyes drifting shut, clearly savoring the feeling of your touch. “You know,” she murmurs, her voice quieter now, “you’re really good at this.”

“At what?” you ask, laughing softly.

“Calming me down. Just being here.” She opens her eyes again, her gaze full of warmth as she looks at you. “I don’t know what I’d do without you sometimes.”

You brush a few more strands of hair away from her face, your fingertips lingering against her skin. “You’d be fine,” you tease, though your heart flutters at her words. “But I’m happy to help, especially when it means I get to play with your hair. You know how much I love it.”

Emily smirks, but there’s a softness in her eyes that tells you how much she appreciates it. “You and my hair, huh? Guess I should let you mess with it more often.”

You grin, pressing another quick kiss to her lips. “I’m holding you to that.”

She laughs before she leans in again, pressing her lips to yours in a slower, sweeter kiss this time. When she pulls back, she tucks her head into the crook of your neck, wrapping her arms around you.

“Thanks for always knowing how to make things better,” she whispers. You feel so grateful to be her safety net, that she feels safe enough with you that she will share this things with you, letting her armor down every once in a while, so she doesn't have to carry it all herself.

You hold her close, your hand still gently running through her hair. “Always,” you promise, feeling her relax completely in your arms.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

There you go! I wanted to start slow for day 2, lmk what you think! Remember any kind of feedback is greatly appreciated

[bengiyo]

Wonderful day in Thailand. but now for the important questions.

Of all the ql thai couples, what couple would be the biggest headache for Namnuea? And why?

Rose💜

See, this is an interesting question. I've been thinking about it for days, and now I just want a follow up show about Wiwa Square tackling all of the new gay weddings. I'd love this as an episodic show where the challenges the classic BL couple is dealing with reflects something going on with Nuea's or his people's lives. Any Thai fans following me, feel free to propose this to your people and make this happen. Just make sure I get to watch it.

The Wedding Plan Wiwa Square Spinoff Show Guests

With that in mind, I'd like to see an episode for the following pairs:

Sarawat and Tine

I just know that Tine is going to be the one they expect to be dramatic as hell, but it's going to be Sarawat freaking out about everything being perfect in a fantastic meltodown. We could have Lom talk to Sarawat and share how the closet affected both of them.

Teh and Oh-aew

Teh wanted to come out at the end of IPYTM, and wanna see the glam these two could pull off. I just know they're going to have an epic fight. This would be a good episode for Lom and Nuea to have a big fight.

Patts and Saengtai

Honestly, I want this episode because I feel like we didn't learn a lot about Patts beyond his relationships with Nara, his grandmother, and Tai. It would be a great chance to delve deeper into his character and see these two trying to communicate properly now that Tai is not holding back. These two also kissed really good, so this would be a good episode for Nuea and Lom to have a steamy moment.

Mork and Tawan

Let's be real: weddings are expensive. Mork's poverty was a huge part of his story in My Ride, and I think it would be really cool to see Wiwa Square work on a small budget for Cheep and Dej, Mork's gay uncles. It would also be an opportunity to talk about wealth and aging while queer.

See-eiw and Cake

The benefit of these two being friends to lovers is that their families saw how close they were the whole time. Despite the unfortunate PSA at the end of My Only 12%, this would be a great episode to focus on families around weddings. We'd get to see Cake's mom stepping in to fill the mom role for See-eiw, and this could be an opportunity for Lom's mom to reenter the fold.

Yang and Phumjai

We need a good episode for hijinks. The Love in Translation cast would be perfect for this. Yang is also Chinese, so we could focus on some cross-cultural traditions.

Charn and Tinn

I'm sorry, I just want Nawin to meet Neua. It also means Silvy could cameo. This would be an excellent episode for the side characters to take center again because they decide to keep Nuea away from Charn or something.

Phun and Noh

I just want White and Captain to get back together every few years and reprise these characters for little check ins. This episode would be a good time to talk about long-term relationships and their challenges with guys who are just a few years older than Neua and Lom.

Khai and Third

Speaking of White showing up in BL! I'd like to see Third struggling with his perfect wedding plans. This would be a great time to reflect on how weddings have been presented in media, and they could spin that either way by either leaning into the tropes or actively subverting them. That would be in line with the ToL goals.

Pluem and Kevin

These two had fantastic chemistry in Ghost Host, Ghost House. This could be a good episode to reflect on how weddings feel when some of our loved ones didn't get to live to see the day. I think this could be a really touching reflection on grief softened by how comfortable these two always manage to look with each other.

Pharm and Dean

I honestly don't think these two would have a lot of problems within themselves for the wedding itself. For this episode, we could really focus on wedding logistics. We could have something go really wrong with a caterer at the last minute and have Pharm step in to save his own wedding while Dean uses his connections to fix other things blowing up around them. This could be a good episode about Nuea and Lom having problems maintaining a good work-life balance.

Cairo and Gavreel

We need to do an international episode, and I'd like to see a crossover with The IdeaFirst Company in some way. Gav and Cai have been separated multiple times. I like the idea of them finally getting to marry at a destination wedding.

Shin Ki Tae and Lee Wan

I just wanna see these two again. This would be another international episode, and we could get back into some of the unresolved abandonment issues Shin Ki Tae is happening, and we could have a cross-cultural dialogue about making things right.

Im Han Tae and Han Ba Ram

Another international episode. They could use this episode to talk about the ongoing challenges of being a public figure and a star if these two are successful.

This was a lot of fun to think about! I really want this show now.

[harlequin-eldritchkin]

HAMMER HARLEEN AND THE FISTS OF CLOWNING (FREE FACIAL RECONSTRUCTION)

I have been looking for what martial arts Harley Quinn may have learned as she is seen going toe-to-toe with the likes of Catwoman, Nightwing, Batgirl, Lord Death Man, and Batman, to name a few. All that comes up is her backround in gymnastics and learning from the Bat Family, and her aggression and fearless approach of being a wild card. She is a scrapper, but Batman and Nightwing are too skilled to be beaten by a simple scrapper. So, what is her fighting secret?

Source: Pinterest. If you know the artist, please let me know and I will credit their work.

What I am about to present is not canon, and I do my best to stick to canon because this is about Harley Quinn and how she is presented in popular culture and not my fantasies, but martial arts was my first love ♡. I have spent over 30 years training and studying various forms of martial arts from books to learning under local masters, so I have more than a basic understanding of the Fist.

Source: Harley's hammer from a keychain I bought.

First, we all know she had a backround in gymnastics and was a criminal psychologist that worked in Gotham, where crime is the rule and not the exception. With that, before she was the Maiden of Mischief, she was just Dr. Harleen Quinzel, so it would be logical that she took self defense classes. She also grew up in New York and is Jewish, so Krav Maga, an Israeli self-defense art inspired by Israeli military hand-to-hand combat, would make the most sense. Krav Maga is also one of the more popular and efficacious self defense systems in the United States.

Krav Maga uses open hand strikes, clinches, knees, elbows, weapons disarms, and evasion tactics. They also teach eye gouging, throat and groin strikes, as well as grappling defense. Being a military art, it is based on survival and not for sport or beauty like prize fighting or traditional martial arts.

Source: Harley VS. Apokolips

Although she was a gymnast, gymnastics does not teach fighting, but there are martial arts that combine gymnastics and fighting, the most famous being Wushu and Shaolin Kung Fu. There is an ancient kung fu method called Yi Jin Jing, or Muscle Tendon Change Classic, which is influenced by Yoga and combines a mix of flexibility and strength exercises.

Shaolin Kung Fu combines acrobatics, gymnastics, iron body, animal forms, weapons forms, meditation, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. I wouldn't go as far as saying she trained in China, but New York has a large martial arts community and its own Shaolin Temple, so it is a possibility.

Source: Google. Young Sifu Shi Yan Ming training in Shaolin Temple. He runs the New York branch of Shaolin.

Another style that involves acrobatics and kung fu, which is one of my favorite styles, is Drunken Boxing.

It isn't a single style. It is taught to intermediate to advanced students once they have mastered the basics of their style. It has a mix of tumbling, jumping, spinning, flipping, and deceptive tactics and techniques based on the movements of a drunkard.

Sources: Jackie Chan, Drunken Master 2, Gordon Liu, Shaolin Drunken Monk.

Finally, we have her weapons. Her most notable being her bat and (oversized) mallot.

Source: Harley Quinn Animated Series

The Irish have a stick fighting style called "bataireacht" which uses a shillelagh, a hard wood (blackthorn) stick with a natural nob as a handle that is good for hooking and smashing, such as smashing a skull.

Source: irelandjournal.typepad.com

Of course, swinging a bat at someone is a very effective way to end almost any fight.

Source: Harley Screws Up the DCU

[rainbowsky]

Elle Thailand - GG's looks for Weibo Night

(source)

Straight from the runway! Revealing details of Xiao Zhan's special tailored look at Weibo Night 2023

The awards ceremony of the year in China, Weibo Night 2023, has ended. This event was an event that gathered many Chinese celebrities. both senior actors Actors who have worked this year Including many rising stars The same goes for actor Xiao Zhan, who also appeared at the event. Which he comes with 2 very special looks. L therefore did not miss the opportunity to unpack the details of his outstanding looks for fans to see. Let me tell you that each look is special and also reinforces the young man's popularity as a global brand ambassador. This person really is!

Custom Made Gucci

For the first look on the red carpet at the awards ceremony. The global ambassador for Gucci wore a custom outfit created by the brand's new creative director, Sabato De Sarno. The look was a classic black suit. Embellished with sparkling crystals inspired by the Menswear Fall/Winter 2024 collection that just ended at Milan Fashion Week. Complete with sparkling accessories from Boucheron, who is also the brand's global ambassador. Which with this brilliance also makes the hashtag 'Xiao Zhan twinkling' is trending at number one in the hot search on Weibo while the awards ceremony is going on. Gucci Menswear Fall/Winter 2024 / imaxtree

The One and Only Zenith ICONS

For the second look, he chose to wear a white swallow pattern suit from Balmain and completed the look with a 1971 Zenith ICONS watch, the same model that astronaut Walter Schirra first owned. Not only that The watch that Xiao Zhan wears in this look is the first and only watch currently available in China. It can be said that it is a special look and truly worthy of being a famous actor in the land of dragons.

In addition to the outstanding look that must be looked at He also created an impressive moment by winning the important award of the event, Outstanding Actor, together with two talented senior actors, Ma Li and Lei Jia Yin. Because of this, Xiao Zhan avoided being in the middle to respect the senior actors. But it turned out that the two senior actors wanted him to be in the middle. As a result, there was a very cute moment on stage that everyone was concerned with. But in the end, he had to be in the middle and be the first to say the thank you speech. And after this incident happened This moment immediately became viral in the Chinese online world. Because everyone admired this young man's cuteness and also admired his politeness. Seeing this, it is no wonder why he has become a favorite of fans all over the world because Xiao Zhan is truly handsome and cute.

Patnakan A - 15 January 2023

[aishangotome]

Main Story Chapter 13 Card: Osborn - The 400 Blows* (四百击) | Light and Night 光與夜之戀

<The 400 Blows> is a reference to a classic French film that follows along a boy who faces one difficult situation after another. He is surrounded by inconsiderate adults and has neglectful parents, then gets into trouble with the law and authority figures while in pursuit of a better life. 

CW: Insinuation of sexual abuse, hints of suicidal ideation and attempts, child abuse.

Episode 3

♡———♡

14 Years Ago. Early Spring.

It was at that moment that I finally understood what it meant to be abandoned.

Growing up, I was always a step behind others in many things. Like losing my first tooth. Because it happened six months later than most kids, I once thought that wobbly tooth would stay in my mouth forever.

One night, I dreamt that I had become Old Man Chen from South Street. For as long as I could remember, he had been sitting on the street begging. He had a set of yellowed, crooked teeth, and whenever he opened his mouth, a foul smell of traditional Chinese medicine would waft out, causing children to throw rocks at him.

I never did that. Firstly, because I felt sorry for him, and secondly, whenever we reached South Street, my parents would always take a detour. Old Man Chen's sleeve hung empty beneath his shoulder. People said he had lost his arm in a car accident. I suddenly remembered them saying that before that, Old Man Chen used to be a butcher at the market.

Old Man Chen's life before he became a "monster" must have been impressive, but it was as fleeting as a passing rain shower. In the blink of an eye, his family had all left him. Gradually, he became a fixture on the street, like an old tree rooted in place. More often than not, he appeared in adults' admonishments to their children.

I quickly woke up. That dream was terrifyingly real, and for a long time afterwards, I was afraid to see Old Man Chen.

Until I became him. Or rather, my family also left me in the blink of an eye.

I don't know if it was fate playing a cruel joke on me, or if he had subtly hinted at my destined path long ago, but at that time, I didn't understand.

I remember that spring arrived late that year. Even in March, the wind was still bitterly cold. When my mother opened the door, ants were diligently carrying away the rock sugar I had crushed. Her tears, which had been flowing incessantly since my father's passing, finally stopped—she had been crying about the unprecedented betrayal she had suffered—but on that day, she unexpectedly smiled. She gently picked me up and said she was taking me somewhere.

She didn't say a word the entire way, not until we were standing in the shadow of a towering mansion. She told me that from now on, I would live here, that this would be better for me than staying with her. And that she would be leaving for a while. As she said these things, she looked heartbroken, yet also relieved.

Before I could respond, she turned and left, her steps resolute, without another glance back at me.

To leave, I thought, according to the dictionary, it means to part with a person or a place.

A tall, thin man led me into the mansion. He looked at me with disdain and said that this was my new home. He addressed me as "Young Master." I think it was at that moment that I truly understood what it meant to be abandoned.

I couldn't bear to dwell on the true meaning of it, so I desperately tried to run away. My mother couldn't have gone far, I thought. If I ran fast enough, I could catch up to her. But the man stopped me. I begged them to let me go, but no one listened. This place was huge. I searched for an exit, running in circles countless times until I was exhausted.

I crouched in a corner, crying and crying until I had no more tears left. Many people passed by, and they all covered their noses, just like I did when I saw Old Man Chen. Panic welled up inside me, and I lifted my arm, sniffing it anxiously, but I couldn't smell anything.

But those disgusted looks followed me for many years. It was then that I suddenly wondered if maybe Old Man Chen didn't actually have a bad smell, if we had all misjudged him. Fear started to creep in. The living room seemed to grow larger and larger, while I shrank, until I was as small as a grain of rice. I was terrified that one day, I would become the Old Man Chen of this place.

This fear made it feel like time had stopped, until I saw that boy. He didn't seem much older than me, but his eyes held a weariness that surpassed anyone I had ever met. "Want some water?" he asked.

I followed him into a room. I was thirsty and drank several cups. He didn't say anything, just sat beside me. The lights were off, the only illumination coming from the TV screen, where an old cartoon I had never seen before was playing.

A drought ravaged the land. The villainous Dragon King refused to release any rain and ordered his yaksha to kidnap children from the shore. The protagonist, Nezha, bravely fought back, using his magic ring to kill the yaksha, then slaying the Dragon King's son, who came to the yaksha's aid.

The boy with the fire-tipped spear soared through the sky above the sea. Gradually, the spear transformed, turning into a gleaming butcher knife. I saw Old Man Chen wielding that knife, his eyes blazing. He glared and swung the blade at those who had harmed him, blood dripping from its edge.

The magical sash stirred the vast East Sea, and I couldn't help but mimic his movements. Watching him overcome every obstacle, refusing to back down, even when he cut off his own flesh to repay his parents, my hair stood on end. I was filled with rage, yet I also felt a sense of exhilaration, something profound and sacred surging within me.

I couldn't describe it then, but I vaguely felt that it was "hatred." I heard it say, I want to be like him. I have to be like him.

The cartoon ended, and the room fell silent. The boy lowered his head, the parts of a mechanical watch clinking in his hands. He seemed to have long grown accustomed to this silence. I knew I could never be like that. "Thank you for the water," I said loudly, "I'm leaving."

The boy finished assembling the last part and looked down at something. "You can't leave," he said.

Following his gaze, I saw the watch loosely wrapped around my wrist. It was the only sound in the room now.

His eyes seemed to yearn for that watch. So I asked him if he wanted it, but he shook his head, his expression unreadable, like an adult's.

Suddenly, I saw a glimpse of my father in him.

I took the watch apart and removed the movement. He accepted it, his serious expression making me feel like it was a heart that had just been ripped from my own chest.

The previously silent watch face started to move, and the one that had been moving fell silent.

He studied it for a moment, then stood up and opened a door. I eagerly ran towards the light, glancing back at him. Why did I feel like he was envious, and a little bit hopeful? I couldn't help but ask, "Are you coming too?" But he simply shook his head and quickly closed the door, as if his momentary lapse had been a sin.

I must have been mistaken. Why would he envy me? My father had suddenly passed away, and my mother had silently sent me away. What was there to envy? But I desperately wanted to go home. Good or bad, I just wanted to be with her, like before.

But what greeted me was an empty, grey shell. All the furniture was gone. The house felt like hell. I tried to lure my old friends back with rock sugar, but it sat untouched on the windowsill. The red marriage certificate was still in the drawer, a futile testament to a past that no longer existed.

Anger and sorrow overwhelmed me. It took me a long time to recover, to finally accept that she really didn't want me anymore.

That was the true meaning of "leaving." It meant "no longer wanted."

I saw Old Man Chen again, beckoning me, making space beside him. He grinned, his teeth falling out one by one. I touched my bleeding mouth, my head spinning. I looked down at my palm and saw a baby tooth.

The only friend I had in the world was also gone.

I wandered off in a daze. Strangely, I didn't feel particularly sad. I couldn't even cry. I just didn't know what to do anymore. As I walked, I thought, I don't know anyone in this world anymore. If I disappear, no one will even notice.

The sky was dark. Without realizing it, I arrived at South Street.

Two people were crowding the spot where Old Man Chen usually sat. As I approached, I saw that they were holding him down, stealing the coins from his bowl.

I don't remember what went through my mind at that moment. The only thought I had was that as long as Old Man Chen lived, I lived. If he died, then I was truly dead.

I transformed into a small stone by the roadside and, with all my might, rushed towards them.

The wind howled, the swirling leaves forming a green ribbon that wrapped around me. I remembered that boy with the sword, and for a fleeting moment, I felt like I was standing at the shore, the waves crashing against me, and I raised my head and shouted, I return my body to you!

I desperately looked forward to the moment of release. At least it would prove that in the end, before the world could abandon me, I had severed ties with it first.

-

10 Years Ago. Midsummer.

One day, he'll abandon me too.

It had been four years since Ye Chuan and I started living together.

A mother and son recently moved into our neighborhood, and the whispers about me started up again. They said I was an orphan, a bastard no one wanted; they said my parents abandoned me because I was an unruly child.

I never paid attention to those disdainful and malicious looks, they couldn't hurt me. I knew it was them who were in the wrong, not me. But still, before going to bed, I would always find myself dwelling on those words, thinking about those people, then hating myself for doing so.

Didn't I already decide to sever all ties with them? I would think, to have nothing to do with them anymore? But why did I still dream about them? Was it because those years we spent together were happy? I thought that even strangers, hearing my story, would condemn them as failures, unfit to be parents. In short, their leaving was a blessing, and if one day news came of their misfortune, it would be well-deserved. I shouldn't miss them.

So whenever I dreamt of them, I would wake up filled with self-loathing, hating myself for being so conflicted. I couldn't talk to anyone about it, because morally, I was supposed to hate them. I found myself becoming more and more withdrawn, increasingly lonely. I wanted to find a place where I could completely hide, or a place where I wouldn't be afraid to expose everything. One day, I would leave this place and find that haven of freedom.

So when Ye Chuan asked me to call him "Dad," I stubbornly refused, continuing to address him by his name.

Subconsciously, I had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before he abandoned me too. There was no need to force myself to please him out of fear of being discarded, and I also understood that if I didn't, he would never love me. I repeatedly told him that if he changed his mind one day, he should just kick me out. I didn't want to come home from school and find an empty house.

For those four years, I waited every day for that day to come—until I entered middle school.

I never let Ye Chuan interfere in any school matters, and he diligently played the role of an invisible guardian. Even if I caused a huge mess, he wouldn't show up. It was an indescribable kind of freedom. The more they scolded me for being an unruly, parentless child, the happier I felt. It was as if I was finally free from the constraints of this world.

Whenever I sat on the school wall, watching the transition from dusk to night, that urge from years ago, that desire to wander the streets with nowhere to go, to end it all, would come back to me. But I had overcome it.

And it was there that I heard a piano melody. It was hurried and chaotic, and listening to it for too long brought a suffocating feeling.

I couldn't help but walk towards it. It was coming from the school's music room. The door was slightly ajar. I peered inside. Even after all these years, I can still clearly recall that scene. From where I stood, I had a clear view of the open piano, the principal sitting on the bench, and the girl in the school uniform in his lap.

The music reached a crescendo, providing cover for the girl's muffled sobs. Suddenly, I remembered the whispers I had overheard in class that morning—"the music room game"—the boys always covered their mouths when they said those words, their smiles lewd. I finally understood. So this was the music room game.

My throat tightened, and I quickly went outside, the urge to retch rising within me. Even though it had been a long time since I last thought of Old Man Chen, I was suddenly transported back to that night. He had become a corpse, his face covered in festering frostbite. Those two people had said that he was already dead when they arrived, that he had frozen to death.

I grabbed his empty sleeve, like holding onto two ropes, and dragged him towards the hospital entrance. Thankfully, it wasn't far. As I left, I couldn't help but look back. Two drag marks trailed on the ground from beneath Old Man Chen's shoulders, like his missing arm, or two black ribbons. And as I watched, those ribbons seemed to rise and wrap tightly around the principal's neck, so tightly that they turned red, then dripped onto the ground.

I told the teacher about it, but he just looked at me with an unsettlingly calm expression and said it was just tutoring. It wasn't until I had been standing in the office for an entire day that I suddenly realized this place was rotten to the core.

You guys can rot, but I'll never back down, I thought.

That night, I made up my mind. I grabbed the wooden toy gun Ye Chuan had made for me and took out all the wooden pellets inside. It was surprisingly heavy, almost like a real gun.

I climbed over the school wall. Gripping the gun in my hand, I walked faster and faster. Waves crashed against the windows, and I felt like I was about to become a traitor, using my own flesh and blood to extract the dragon's tendons, to set things right, to separate right from wrong, before finally ending it all.

"Don't move!" I yelled, raising the gun, my other hand pointing towards his desk. "Write down all your crimes."

He believed the threat of the gun and agreed without any resistance. Fear made him seem weak, and I suddenly had the illusion that maybe he was just confused, that he would repent and change his ways. I hesitantly lowered the gun, and blood gushed from the back of my hand. It had been a premeditated attack, and behind the blade, I saw a satisfied smirk.

I was paying the price for my soft-heartedness. Pinned to the ground, I couldn't help but feel a surge of bitter amusement. While the other person only wanted to kill me, I was still sincerely considering the possibility of forgiveness.

My back ached from being stepped on, but the pain sharpened my senses. If there was one regret, it was this: I wouldn't kill myself. I would raise my sword again and defeat him.

-

10 Years Ago. Late Autumn.

If I had another chance, I definitely wouldn't bring a wooden gun.

Ye Chuan: Osborn!

Ye Chuan: How's your hand? Does it hurt? What did the doctor say? Oh my, how did it get so badly injured...?

Ye Chuan: Who bullied you? Tell me, was it that classmate again? Last time, his father promised me he would discipline his kid, but he's bullying you again, isn't he?

Ye Chuan: This is going too far! I'm going to settle the score with him tonight.

Osborn: ...There's no need. Why are you here?

Ye Chuan: You're still being stubborn with me, huh? There's blood seeping through the bandages!

Ye Chuan: Don't worry about the money. I just went to the bank. We'll get whatever treatment is necessary. We can't let it cause any lasting problems, especially if it affects your ability to eat or write.

Ye Chuan: Come on, let's go find the doctor.

Osborn: I said there's no need. Didn't I tell you not to get involved in anything at school?

Ye Chuan: I promised not to interfere in your school affairs, but now you're injured. You're my... Anyway, I have to take care of you!

-

School Staff: Principal, Osborn's guardian is here.

Principal Xu: You're Osborn's guardian?

Ye Chuan: I am, I am... Hello.

Ye Chuan: You must be Principal Xu. I rushed over as soon as you called to tell me about the incident with Osborn.

Ye Chuan: The injury on my child's hand is quite serious. He must have been bullied by his classmates. There are a few troublemakers in his class who always pick on him. The school needs to thoroughly investigate this and not wrongly accuse our child!

Ye Chuan: It takes two to tango. You can't always blame our child for these things!

School Staff: Sir, you might not be fully aware of the situation. We called you in today because this isn't simply a matter of a disagreement between classmates.

School Staff: Student Osborn brought a homemade weapon to school and intentionally injured someone in the principal's office.

Ye Chuan: Teacher, Principal Xu, although this child might seem impulsive, he's actually very kind. He wouldn't even hurt an ant, he definitely wouldn't intentionally injure anyone!

School Staff: Please, take a look at this weapon.

Ye Chuan: This... this gun, it's mine, it has nothing to do with him! I didn't hide it properly. I left it on the table. It's my fault, my fault!

Ye Chuan: And it's made of wood! It can't really hurt anyone!

Ye Chuan: Osborn, what happened? Why did you take this to school?

Ye Chuan: Tell me! If you don't tell me, how can I defend you?

Osborn: I was just going to punish a bad person.

Osborn: It was him, he did indecent things to the girls—

Ye Chuan: What did you say?!

School Staff: Even now, he's still making things up, showing no remorse. How do you expect the school to handle a child like this?

School Staff: It's fortunate it was just a wooden gun today. If the principal had been seriously injured, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

School Staff: This matter has gone beyond the scope of our school's jurisdiction. The school board has decided to send student Osborn to juvenile detention. Whether he can return to school afterwards is still up for debate.

Ye Chuan: Juvenile detention?!

Ye Chuan: There must be some misunderstanding! The school needs to investigate this thoroughly! You can't wrongly accuse a good child!

Ye Chuan: He wouldn't lie. I know my child best. Shouldn't we at least listen to his side of the story?

School Staff: Are you saying that our esteemed school is bullying a student?

School Staff: Firstly, our school is one of the top schools in the city. No school would groundlessly slander a student.

School Staff: This is the medical report from the hospital, and Principal Xu's arm is injured. Are you saying we fabricated all this?

Principal Xu: Xiao Liu, Osborn's guardian is just worried about his child.

Ye Chuan: That's not what I meant... Principal Xu, I apologize, I sincerely apologize.

Ye Chuan: This is for the medical expenses. If it's not enough, I'll find a way to get more. Please, you must accept it.

Principal Xu: There's no need for compensation. As an educator, I also bear responsibility for this incident. It truly pains me.

Principal Xu: A school should be a place for teaching and guidance, but we teachers aren't omnipotent. When faced with situations we can't handle, we have to send students to more suitable institutions for discipline.

Principal Xu: The school board has already made its decision on this matter.

Principal Xu: This is for the student's own good, as well as for the sake of the parents and society. I hope you understand.

Ye Chuan: Principal Xu, if he goes to juvenile detention, his life will be ruined!

Ye Chuan: I beg you, please have mercy, give him another chance. I'll make sure to discipline him when we get home!

Ye Chuan: You little brat, come here!

Ye Chuan: Principal Xu, Osborn knows he was wrong. Please give him another chance.

Osborn: I did nothing wrong. Why should I apologize?

Ye Chuan: You— Principal Xu, please excuse his stubbornness.

Ye Chuan: Osborn, just say you're sorry, okay?

Osborn: Apologize? Fine.

Osborn: I was wrong. If I had another chance, I definitely wouldn't bring a wooden gun.

Ye Chuan: Shut up!

Principal Xu: You see? He still shows no remorse. Perhaps receiving disciplinary action will be beneficial for him.

Ye Chuan: Principal, I beg you—

Ye Chuan: It's my fault, it's all my fault. I'm Osborn's father, and I failed to raise him properly. I'll apologize on his behalf. I'm sorry.

Osborn: Ye Chuan!

Osborn: ...Why are you kneeling before this kind of person?

Ye Chuan: Principal Xu, I—

Principal Xu: There's no need for further discussion. As a parent, you needn't worry too much. Many children undergo a complete transformation after spending time there. This might be good for Osborn.

Principal Xu: I have a meeting to attend. I'll take my leave now.

Ye Chuan: Why do you refuse to apologize? If you had just apologized, you might not have to go to juvenile detention! Do you even know what kind of place that is?!

Ye Chuan: There must be another way to prevent this... I'll think of something...

Osborn: So you don't believe me either, do you?

Ye Chuan: Osborn... you little brat...

-

9 Years Ago. End of Spring.

Why did you come to get me?

Guard: You're free to go.

Osborn: I know.

Ye Chuan: Osborn! I'm here!

Osborn: ...Ye Chuan?

Ye Chuan: What's with that expression? Don't you recognize me anymore?

Osborn: Why are you here?

Ye Chuan: To take you home, of course.

Ye Chuan: What are you waiting for? Give me your things, I'll carry them. And why aren't you wearing warmer clothes in this weather?

Ye Chuan: Here, put this on, don't catch a cold.

Osborn: I'm fine, I can—

Ye Chuan: Just give them to me! You never used to be so polite with me.

Ye Chuan: Let me get a good look at you. You've gotten taller, your hair's longer... but why are you so thin?

Ye Chuan: I've been watching the news about juvenile detention centers. They said they don't feed you properly and that there are people who beat you up. Are you hurt?

Osborn: No.

Ye Chuan: I'm worried, let me see.

Osborn: I'm really fine. They couldn't beat me.

Ye Chuan: You little...

Ye Chuan: It's still early. How about we go get a good meal? There's a new lamb restaurant that opened in the south of the city, I'm sure you'll love it.

Ye Chuan: And you need a haircut, your hair's getting in your eyes. We'll get you some new clothes in a few days too, and some new shoes...

Ye Chuan: Why aren't you saying anything? Getting all deep and mysterious now, huh?

Osborn: You haven't stopped talking, what am I supposed to say?

Ye Chuan: Right, right.

Ye Chuan & Osborn: You—

Ye Chuan: You go first.

Osborn: Why did you come to get me?

Ye Chuan: Didn't you already ask that?

Ye Chuan: We got a new computer at home. You've always wanted one, right? Come back and teach me how to use it. I've been wanting to play those card games, and Minesweeper, for ages.

Osborn: You don't even know how to play Minesweeper?

Ye Chuan: Who said I don't? I've played a few times at Old Wang's next door. But I keep hitting the mines, every time! It's weird.

Osborn: That's because you're bad at it.

Ye Chuan: You little brat! That's because you won't teach me, making me lose face in front of Old Wang.

Ye Chuan: So we have a deal, right?

Osborn: What did you want to tell me?

Ye Chuan: Brat... I'm sorry.

Osborn: Why are you apologizing?

Ye Chuan: Before... I wronged you. I didn't even try to understand what happened, I just forced you to apologize to them.

Ye Chuan: I thought I was doing it for your own good, guiding you down the right path. I... I wasn't a good father.

Osborn: ......

Ye Chuan: You— you won't forbid me from saying "father," right?

Osborn: Even if I did, you'd still say it.

Ye Chuan: True.

Osborn: But don't mention it next time.

Ye Chuan: Okay, okay. It feels awkward for me anyway. Let's just be brothers.

Ye Chuan: Before coming here, I was so afraid you wouldn't come back with me.

Ye Chuan: I'm relieved now.

Ye Chuan: Hey, you know what? That girl you saved transferred schools. Before she left, she came to see you, asked me to thank you.

Ye Chuan: That's when I realized... I have such an amazing son— I mean, brother.

Ye Chuan: It's all about empathy now, isn't it? And I was thinking, if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't have done any better than you.

Osborn: You're just realizing that now?

Ye Chuan: You brat, not modest at all.

Ye Chuan: It might be too late now, but I still want to tell you, I always believed you.

Osborn: Then why did you make me apologize?

Ye Chuan: Maybe I was being selfish.

Ye Chuan: Selfishly thinking that only by apologizing could we end the matter and prevent you from suffering in juvenile detention. I didn't consider your feelings at all.

Ye Chuan: And I didn't think that if I had supported you, maybe if things had blown up, those people wouldn't be able to do those bad things anymore.

Ye Chuan: I have to learn from you in that regard.

Osborn: Okay, that's enough. I'm not used to you saying so many nice things.

Ye Chuan: Are you tired from walking? We should have taken a taxi.

Osborn: I'm fine, it's not that far.

Osborn: Did you walk here too?

Ye Chuan: I arrived last night. Got the time wrong, thought it was in the evening.

Osborn: You didn't sleep at all?

Ye Chuan: Sleep? How could I sleep? I was too excited about taking you home today.

Osborn: Don't you find it embarrassing? Me being in juvenile detention. Isn't that usually considered shameful?

Ye Chuan: Don't be ridiculous!

Osborn: Ow! Be gentle!

Ye Chuan: It's supposed to hurt! Embarrassing? What I said before was clearly wasted on you.

Ye Chuan: We're almost home. I bought you a new set of bedding. It's super comfy.

Osborn: Aren't we going to the lamb restaurant in the south of the city?

Ye Chuan: Not today. We're eating at home tonight.

Osborn: Why are you being so stingy?

Ye Chuan: How am I being stingy? I even have chicken soup simmering on the stove. Oh, my memory! We'll definitely go to the lamb restaurant tomorrow...

-

8 Years Ago. Early Summer.

It had been a while since Osborn left juvenile detention, but he never forgot that man.

He stood across the street, watching the endless stream of people coming and going through the school gates.

Nothing about this school had changed. The teachers still turned a blind eye, Principal Xu still strutted around smugly, and none of the students dared to challenge the school's authority.

The "music room game" continued. Osborn clenched his fists, struggling to suppress the destructive urges surging within him.

Evil intertwined with power couldn't be defeated by justice alone. He had learned that lesson the hard way.

His phone suddenly buzzed.

SMS: Brother Xiao, I took care of that thing you asked me to do. I smashed all the windows at Principal Xu's house. He's on his way back now.

Osborn put away his phone and immediately climbed over the school wall, heading towards the music room to install the hidden camera he had prepared.

After finishing that task, he entered the teaching building and waited in a blind spot in the corridor for the witness who had betrayed him last time.

The moment their eyes met, panic flashed across the witness's face, and he turned to run. Osborn grabbed him by the collar and forcefully dragged him into a nearby storage room.

Osborn: Why did you lie?!

Boy: I didn't! I really didn't see anything! I would never slander Principal Xu!

He was still making excuses, his fear-contorted face a ridiculous sight. Osborn couldn't help but land a few punches.

Osborn: You deserve this.

He let go, and the boy crumpled to the dusty ground before scrambling away in fear.

Having settled that, Osborn hid in a secluded corner, waiting for Principal Xu, who had gone home to deal with the trouble he had caused, to return.

The faint sound of students reciting lessons drifted from afar, as if from another world.

Dusk gradually fell, and Osborn waited until a girl and Principal Xu entered the music room, then waited until darkness enveloped the sky.

In the darkness, the doors lining the hallway looked like cold, upright tombstones.

Osborn imagined blood trickling from those tombstones. Drip, drip.

He listened to the faint sobs, his fists clenched tightly.

-

Not long after, a video appeared on the computers of the school board members. A girl's trembling back was facing the camera, while Principal Xu's lewd behavior was on full display.

Osborn read the news in the local paper about Principal Xu's dismissal. He closed the newspaper and let out a long breath.

Looking up, he saw a clear, cloudless sky.

However, just a few weeks later, Principal Xu reappeared at the school. It turned out that he had only resigned superficially, and after the incident blew over, he returned to the school to take on another important position.

Staring at the blurry photo on his old phone's screen, Osborn felt a surge of nausea, as if seeing a bloodstained tombstone once more. Intense rage consumed him, overwhelming his reason.

He grabbed a wooden stick and waited for the principal on a small path in the school parking lot.

Principal Xu: You... Osborn? What do you want? Here for revenge?

The repulsive man shed his pretense of kindness, his eyes filled with disdain and mockery.

Principal Xu: Don't you remember how your father begged me? Or did you not spend enough time in juvenile detention—

The tightly wound tension within Osborn snapped. The whoosh of the wooden stick cut through the man's smug voice, replaced by a cry of pain.

Osborn: Scum like you don't deserve to mention his name.

Principal Xu: I shouldn't have let you off the hook last time!

The enraged man swung at Osborn's wrist. A child's strength was no match for an adult's. Osborn cried out in pain, but he still didn't summon his flames.

His reason told him that this man, despite his wickedness, was still just an ordinary human. Having lost his weapon, Osborn completely abandoned all defense, using all his strength to kick the principal repeatedly.

The man's face contorted in pain, and Osborn was also covered in bruises, barely able to stand, yet he laughed.

Osborn: You deserve this.

Security guards, alerted by the commotion, rushed over and subdued him once more. This time, he didn't see Ye Chuan.

-

The long three months became another cycle, and Osborn found himself back in that juvenile detention center.

But when he reached the end of those three months, he realized that he wasn't going to be released this time.

Osborn: Where are you taking me?

No one answered him. The windowless van transported Osborn to an unfamiliar place.

He looked up at the sign hanging above the entrance.

Osborn: Yuda Academy.

The name wasn't unfamiliar. He had once seen their advertisement in a newspaper Ye Chuan subscribed to – "We accept troubled youth. We'll return an obedient child to you."

Suddenly, understanding dawned on him.

Ye Chuan had abandoned him after all.

Just like everyone else who had been in his life.

Well, this is fine too, he thought silently.

From now on, I can do whatever I want. No one can stop me anymore.

-

As a new student, Osborn was assigned to the last row in the classroom. The room was eerily quiet, the high walls blocking out all sunlight. There were moments when Osborn felt like everyone else here was already dead.

But this quiet was soon shattered.

Teacher: You still can't memorize such a simple thing? How can you be so stupid?!

Teacher: Scum like you are a waste of resources, not even as good as a sewer rat!

The insults escalated, and the girl in the front row lowered her head, her body trembling, but she didn't dare say a word.

Osborn frowned, pushing his desk back as he stood up.

Osborn: She just made a few mistakes reciting it, do you have to be so harsh?

The classroom fell silent for a moment, and Osborn saw fear in the eyes of his classmates. The teacher's face twisted with rage, and he stormed over, slapping Osborn hard across the face.

Osborn stumbled, and before he could react, he was kicked to the ground, a torrent of blows raining down on him.

Teacher: Who said you could speak?! Don't you know anything about respecting your teachers?

Osborn clutched his stomach, the metallic tang of blood filling his mouth, his body aching.

It wasn't until he was curled up on the floor, his back bent in pain, unable to move, that the teacher finally stopped.

Teacher: Do you know you were wrong now?

Osborn: I did nothing wrong.

The moment he spoke, he was pulled up by his hair, his eyes meeting a chilling smile.

Teacher: It seems I need to teach you the rules here.

Osborn was dragged by several tall teachers into a dark room. Two iron beds lined the walls, their sheets stained with a dark red that wouldn't wash out.

He was forcefully pushed onto one of the beds, and electrodes were attached to his head and chest. When the current was turned on, Osborn's uncontrolled screams filled the room.

The electric shocks were like needles, piercing his brain. The intense pain made his mind go blank for a moment.

Teacher: Are you wrong now?

Osborn: I-I did nothing wrong...

Teacher: Again.

Half an hour later, he was dumped in the washroom like a ragdoll. The icy water rose to his chest, slowly stealing his body heat.

There was no light, no sound in the darkness.

For a moment, Osborn felt like a lifeless corpse.

He saw a white light, a vision of the amusement park from long ago. The warm sunlight, the cheerful atmosphere...

When food was brought in, Osborn shook his head, refusing to eat.

But in the next instant, his jaw was forced open, and the disgusting liquid food was poured down his throat.

Here, he didn't deserve the right to say "no."

-

The day he was released from confinement, the bright sunlight was blinding, blurring his vision.

He walked past the sports field, where a class was being scolded by their teacher. They hung their heads like soulless puppets, their fear and obedience reminiscent of slaves.

Every morning, everyone was forced to loudly "reflect" and "repent" for their mistakes, with sincerity and a smile.

His roommate, Ji Xi, who had been here for six months, was called up before him.

Ji Xi: I was wrong. I shouldn't have been deceived into joining that online club.

Ji Xi: I shouldn't have thought about ending my own life. Life is a gift from my parents.

Ji Xi: I'm useless. I've failed to live up to my parents' and society's expectations.

Ji Xi: If it weren't for this academy, I would never have realized my mistakes.

Ji Xi: I'm grateful for the teachers' guidance. I'll study hard and repay my parents.

When it was Osborn's turn, he numbly looked at the recording camera.

Why did Ye Chuan send me here? he wondered, Because he still had hope for me, or because he was completely disappointed? Why didn't he just abandon me directly?

Is this the kind of person he wants me to become?

But he couldn't see Ye Chuan, couldn't find the answers.

-

Only late at night, lying alone in bed, did he feel a brief respite. He would often dream of falling from a tall building, his body as light as a feather.

After waking up, he would climb to the edge of the roof and look at the indelible rust-red stain on the concrete below, a silent accusation.

All I have to do is jump, and I can escape it all.

Would anyone grieve for me? Would anyone care if I died? He wondered listlessly.

Osborn: The person who cares most would probably be that Principal Xu.

Osborn gave a self-deprecating chuckle, but the thought made him step back from the edge.

He had to stay alive until those people were punished.

After the daily brainwashing "lessons," there were also demanding chores. That night, when Osborn wearily returned to his room, he found Ji Xi cutting his wrist with a broken toothbrush handle.

There were several marks on his wrist, some just oozing blood, others deep and gaping.

Osborn watched Ji Xi's twisted expression, a strange mix of laughter and tears, with an almost detached indifference. But when he raised his hand to cut again, Osborn snatched the bloody toothbrush handle away.

Ji Xi: What are you doing? Give it back!

Osborn: Calm down.

Ji Xi: Are you going to report me to the teachers?

Osborn: No.

Ji Xi: Then why are you saving me?

His eyes were bloodshot, his voice filled with anger as he questioned Osborn. But Osborn knew he was just scared.

Afraid of continuing to live here, afraid of facing the outside world, afraid of living, and afraid that no one would truly save him.

Osborn: You still want to live.

Hearing his words, Ji Xi covered his face with his hands, tears seeping through his fingers.

Ji Xi: I don't know... Is it more painful to die, or to keep living?

Osborn: I don't know either.

Perhaps humans were born to swing on the pendulum of pain, surrounded by walls with no escape in sight.

Osborn turned away, and a blue flame ignited in his palm, incinerating the broken toothbrush and its bloodstains.

Ji Xi stared at him in shock, then finally swallowed with difficulty, his voice returning.

Ji Xi: What... what was that?

Osborn glanced at him coldly and sat back down on his bed, not bothering to answer.

Ji Xi hesitated, then pulled down his collar, revealing a gruesome scar on his chest.

Ji Xi: I can exchange my biggest secret with you.

Ji Xi: I joined... a club online.

Ji Xi: We all agreed on a time and place... to help each other... end our lives.

He seemed unable to continue, and Osborn understood. They must have lost their nerve, and that was how Ji Xi ended up here, sent to the academy.

Osborn looked at Ji Xi. He knew this was the only thing he could offer. After a moment's hesitation, he finally spoke.

Osborn: That was my ability. I can control fire.

Ji Xi: Ability? Is it... magic? Could you always do that?

Osborn: Yes.

Ji Xi: Then why don't you use it to escape? They would be scared if they saw it.

Osborn: Scare them, and then I can leave?

Osborn: No way. They'll just become crueler.

Osborn leaned against his bed, watching Ji Xi's dejected expression. They had exchanged their deepest secrets. From this moment on, they were co-conspirators.

-

Late that night, Ji Xi led Osborn to a remote corner of the academy.

The walls were covered in moss and mildew. Ji Xi stepped on the rusty wire mesh and pushed a ceiling tile aside, revealing a forgotten ventilation shaft.

Ji Xi: An upperclassman showed me this place. No one else knows about it.

Osborn followed him into the duct. It led to a small, attic-like space. The narrow walls were covered in dust, but the floor was surprisingly clean, as if it was regularly swept.

A large window faced the silent night sky, where a crescent moon hung, casting its gentle, yet indifferent, light upon them.

Ji Xi: Whenever I feel suffocated, I come here to look at the sky.

Ji Xi: If I ever see a blue moon, it means I'll be lucky.

Ji Xi sat on the floor, gazing at the moon with a hopeful expression.

Osborn: Why?

Ji Xi: Because the upperclassman who showed me this place was taken home by his parents the day after seeing a blue moon. That's what he told me before he left.

Ji Xi: So I'll definitely wait for it.

Ji Xi: My parents must still love me, right? They're just... just disappointed in me for now.

Tears glistened in Ji Xi's eyes. Osborn looked at him, an inexplicable sadness in his heart. He suddenly remembered a book he read a long time ago, a book that mentioned two moons in the sky.

Osborn: Is there really such a thing as a blue moon?

Ji Xi: I've never seen one either, but I believe there must be.

Ji Xi: We'll see it.

Just then, the entrance panel shifted slightly.

Osborn: Someone's coming.

Osborn immediately shielded Ji Xi, and they both stared warily at the entrance.

A young man crawled in. He looked to be in his late twenties and wore a blue lab coat.

Osborn didn't recognize him. And unlike the usual violent teachers, this man seemed gentle and scholarly.

The man looked at them, his expression not angry or accusatory, simply surprised.

Young Man: Are you students at the academy?

Osborn didn't answer, simply asking in return:

Osborn: Are you a teacher here?

Young Man: No, I work in the laboratory.

There was a separate building on the other side of the sports field. It was called the "laboratory," but none of the students knew what kind of experiments were conducted there, nor had they ever seen the people who worked there.

Young Man: I was just passing by and noticed that this ceiling panel looked a bit strange, so I came up to check.

Young Man: What are you two doing hiding here?

He still didn't receive an answer. Seeing the wary look in Osborn's eyes, the young man smiled.

Young Man: I'm not a bad guy... Forget it, wait here for a moment.

He went back through the entrance, then quickly returned, carrying a bag. He opened it, revealing some packaged food and drinks.

Young Man: I was going to have this for a late-night snack. Want some?

He opened two packages of bread and offered them. It was plain bread with no enticing aroma, yet Osborn could hear himself swallowing.

Osborn: You really work in the laboratory?

Zhou Weicheng: Of course. My name is Zhou Weicheng. I'm a researcher on the "Eclipse Project."

Zhou Weicheng: You probably don't know how incredible this project is. In the future, it will definitely change the world!

He spoke with pride, but Osborn scoffed.

Osborn: What kind of groundbreaking research could possibly be conducted in this kind of place?

Zhou Weicheng: This kind of place? Do you have a problem with the academy?

Zhou Weicheng: The laboratory is just affiliated with the academy.

Zhou Weicheng: But I know the person in charge here. If you have any complaints, I can pass them along.

Osborn eyed Zhou Weicheng cautiously. He didn't seem to be lying.

Osborn: You really don't know anything?

He told Zhou Weicheng everything that had happened at the academy, his expression growing more and more shocked.

Zhou Weicheng: They really did that to you?!

Ji Xi, beside him, pulled up his sleeve, revealing his arm covered in red welts from being beaten with a ruler. Some were already scarred, while others were still swollen and red.

Zhou Weicheng: I never knew about this...

Zhou Weicheng: I'll go talk to the person in charge of the academy and find out what's going on!

Osborn knew there wasn't much hope, but perhaps it was the genuine indignation in the young man's eyes, or perhaps it was because he had nothing else to hold onto, but he decided to trust Zhou Weicheng for now.

The three of them sat by the window under the crescent moon, sharing the stale, cold bread.

-

The next day, Zhou Weicheng returned. He said he had already spoken to the person in charge, who claimed that the abuse must have been the teachers acting on their own accord, and that they would investigate thoroughly.

The third day, the investigation was still ongoing. The fourth day, the fifth... Zhou Weicheng came every day, waiting with them.

In the end, they couldn't even say for sure what they were waiting for. A miracle? Or to finally give up? It seemed fate was reminding them in this way that, for most of life, our efforts are futile.

Zhou Weicheng: Have you thought about what you want to do in the future?

Zhou Weicheng: Like me, for example. I want to become a great scientist, to contribute to the progress of the world.

Ji Xi: I want to go home.

Ji Xi: And after I get back, I'm going to disband that club, then go pay my respects to the friend who passed away.

Ji Xi: I heard he has a younger brother. I'll help take care of him.

Zhou Weicheng: What about you, Osborn?

Osborn: I want to be a villain.

Osborn gazed intently at the moon, a fire burning in his eyes.

Osborn: I want to personally witness all those evildoers receive the punishment they deserve.

Zhou Weicheng: Then why don't you become a police officer, upholding justice?

Osborn: Good people are restricted by many things, but villains aren't.

Osborn: If I could, I wouldn't want kindness or compassion at all. They'll only destroy me.

Zhou Weicheng: You can't think like that. Good will always triumph over evil.

Zhou Weicheng: The investigation results will be out in a few days. You'll all be able to go home soon.

His eyes seemed to shine in the moonlight, and Osborn saw something that might be called "hope" in them.

A sudden urge to reciprocate that hope welled up within Osborn.

Osborn: Dr. Zhou, what kind of research did you say you were doing?

Zhou Weicheng: Separating the human body from the soul. Why?

Osborn: Can you... do me a favor?

That night, Ji Xi went back first. He didn't know what Osborn and Zhou Weicheng were planning, but he had a feeling that something miraculous was about to happen.

Of course, miracles weren't always beautiful. They could also be ugly or painful. This kind of miracle wasn't about wishes or anything good, it was just about survival.

After that day, he felt like Osborn had changed, but he couldn't quite say how.

The labor at the academy intensified, and Ji Xi's health deteriorated, even leading to him collapsing several times. After repeated punishments, he was practically bedridden.

Osborn felt anxious. But just then, they suddenly received good news.

Teacher: Ji Xi, your parents are coming to take you home tonight.

Ji Xi: Cough, cough Really?! That's great!

Ji Xi struggled to sit up in his iron bed, his eyes wide with disbelief and joy.

After the teacher left, he leaned weakly against the headboard and gave Osborn a childlike smile of contentment.

Ji Xi: I finally saw the blue moon...

Ji Xi: Osborn, we'll definitely see each other again outside.

Osborn: Yeah. When I get out, I'll come find you.

-

Ji Xi left the academy that night. Osborn didn't get to see his parents, only watched his receding figure as he was helped away, a nagging unease growing within him.

And just like that, both Zhou Weicheng and Ji Xi disappeared from his life.

Life at the academy seemed to drag on endlessly. It was a muggy day, and the teachers were even more irritable than usual.

That night, the pain from the punishments made it impossible for Osborn to sleep. He tossed and turned, and his hand brushed against a small piece of paper hidden in the folds of the blanket. A line of text was written on it: "I'll be waiting for you at the old place."

The handwriting was familiar. It was Zhou Weicheng. He had been gone for so long, why was he suddenly back?

At midnight, Osborn got up and went to their secret hideout under the moonlit window.

He found Zhou Weicheng there. After all this time, he had become emaciated. He sat on the floor, staring blankly out the window, his eyes vacant, a completely different person.

Osborn: What happened to you?

Zhou Weicheng: Osborn! Thank goodness, you're still alive! I thought you were also...

Zhou Weicheng: Only I was unaware. This place truly is a living hell!

Zhou Weicheng grabbed Osborn's hand tightly, his words tumbling out incoherently, tears streaming down his face.

Zhou Weicheng: I've inadvertently caused the deaths of so many people... You have to run, get out of here...

Osborn frowned, a sense of foreboding washing over him.

Osborn: What happened?

Zhou Weicheng: I discovered... You... The students here, you're all test subjects for the Eclipse Project.

Zhou Weicheng: The food you eat, the teachers' punishments... it's all part of their plan to filter and modify you!

Zhou Weicheng: Those who fail the modifications are eliminated!

Osborn: Wh-what do you mean...

Zhou Weicheng: I saw Ji Xi in the laboratory. He's been disposed of!

Disposed of? Did that mean... dead?

Osborn's fists clenched tightly.

He remembered Ji Xi's joyful expression before leaving, their promise to meet again outside.

Zhou Weicheng: I've already disrupted their equipment. You have to take this chance to escape. This is our last chance!

Osborn: You think I'll believe you again?

Zhou Weicheng: I'm telling the truth! They're planning to dispose of most of the inferior test subjects and transfer the rest.

Zhou Weicheng: You have to leave now!

Test subjects. In his eyes, was Ji Xi's death simply a failed experiment?

Osborn: You bastard!

An overwhelming wave of anger and sadness, like a spark, ignited his blood after a long period of suppression. Osborn threw a punch, hitting Zhou Weicheng squarely in the face.

Blood trickled from Zhou Weicheng's lips, his eyes red-rimmed, his expression a mixture of pain and despair.

Zhou Weicheng: It's all my fault. I know an apology isn't enough. I'll try my best to atone for it.

Zhou Weicheng: I can't destroy this place, but at least... I can help you escape.

Osborn threw another punch.

Osborn: What about Ji Xi? What about the other students?

Just then, a piercing alarm suddenly blared, quickly followed by a cacophony of shouts and footsteps.

Osborn glared at Zhou Weicheng, ready to strike again, but this time, his wrist was caught.

Zhou Weicheng looked utterly defeated, but his eyes held a sincere and profound sadness, and a desperate plea.

Zhou Weicheng: Just go. I have to get the other five people I rescued from the laboratory out of here.

After a tense standoff, Osborn finally stopped.

The entire academy's power system had been disabled, and everyone was busy dealing with the emergency. Amidst the chaos, no one noticed a lone figure escaping.

Osborn followed the route Zhou Weicheng pointed out, using his fire to melt through the rusty wire mesh and escape the prison that had tormented him.

He ran with all his might, towards his long-awaited freedom.

He didn't stop until he was far away, surrounded by the quiet stillness of the wilderness, where only the wind could be heard. He turned to look back at the academy.

And in the sky behind him, a blue moon hung.

-

6 Years Ago. Early Autumn.

Early in the morning, everyone on the road to the hospital was in a hurry.

Xiao Yi pulled his collar up further, blocking the chilly autumn wind. Among the crowd, he spotted a familiar figure.

Osborn: Dr. He.

The elderly doctor, walking ahead of him, turned around and greeted him with a smile.

Their lives had changed drastically since Ye Chuan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

If it weren't for Dr. He helping them find a specialist and occasionally waiving some of their medical expenses, their lives would be even more difficult.

-

When Osborn returned home after collecting their medication, Ye Chuan was in the kitchen, washing dishes. He would sometimes help with chores when he was feeling well.

Osborn stood at the doorway, watching him. Ye Chuan's movements were slow. He would wash the same bowl over and over before finally realizing it was already clean.

He spent a long time washing the few dishes left from breakfast. Ye Chuan dried his hands, then turned around and saw Osborn. A smile spread across his face.

Ye Chuan: Brat, why are you standing there so quietly? Is it a school holiday today?

Osborn: Yeah. School sports day, we get half a day off.

Ye Chuan: I'm sure you won first place in several events, right? I'll make some chicken soup tonight to replenish your energy.

He picked up an empty bowl, then suddenly paused, turning it upside down and shaking it.

Ye Chuan: Strange, where did the ginger I just put in go?

He looked at Osborn with a confused expression, and Osborn was suddenly reminded of himself as a child, seeking help.

Osborn: The weather's nice outside. Want to go for a walk?

Ye Chuan thought for a moment, then took off his apron, hung it on the door, and nodded.

It had been a long time since he had been willing to go out. He mostly just stayed at home, sitting on that old, sunken sofa all day long.

In his mind, Osborn was still that little boy wandering the streets. He always worried that when he came home, Osborn wouldn't be there.

The weather outside was lovely, the sky clear and vast. Ye Chuan seemed more energetic too.

Ye Chuan: Where are we going?

On the bus, Ye Chuan curiously pressed his face against the window, gazing at the scenery, as if something was calling to him.

If it weren't for his grey hair, his actions and expressions would have been childlike.

Osborn: We're going to the park. Don't you enjoy watching people play chess there?

Osborn straightened Ye Chuan's collar. Now, it felt like their roles had completely reversed. He had become the parent, and Ye Chuan, the child.

-

Ye Chuan used to love bringing him to this park too.

He would stand behind a few old men playing chess, happily offering unsolicited advice, seemingly no different from before.

Watching Ye Chuan like this, Osborn was reminded of the time when he first escaped from the academy.

He had initially assumed that Ye Chuan was the one who sent him to that hellhole.

But when he knocked on the door, filled with resentment and a flicker of hope, he was met with an unfamiliar gaze.

Ye Chuan: Who are you? You look familiar...

It was like a bucket of ice water, extinguishing his hope.

That afternoon, Osborn packed all his belongings into a small backpack, just as he had arrived.

The small greyhound toy on the bedside table was clean and tidy. It seemed to be looking at Osborn with pity, a sight that stung.

With nowhere to go, Osborn could only seek temporary refuge at the cheapest internet café he could find.

He wandered the streets during the day and slept in the stuffy internet café at night, the line between reality and illusion blurring.

A few nights later, Osborn, who was sleeping unsteadily at a computer desk, was woken by a commotion. He opened his eyes, his mind still trapped in the abyss of a falling dream.

Boy at the Next Computer: Hurry up and leave, the cops are here! Don't get caught!

The "neighbor" beside him gave him a kind warning, and Osborn, his reaction delayed, finally snapped out of it, just as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

His mind still foggy, he reached for his backpack, but his wrist was suddenly grabbed.

He looked up in a daze and, to his surprise, saw Ye Chuan, his collar up, a cap pulled low over his eyes.

Osborn: What are you doing here?

Ye Chuan: I'll explain later, let's go.

Before the police reached the second floor, Ye Chuan had already pulled him out through a hidden back exit.

Osborn was fully awake now. "Thank you," he said, and was about to turn and leave when Ye Chuan grabbed his backpack.

Ye Chuan: Osborn, will you come home with me? I'm worried about you.

Ye Chuan: Before... they said I was sick, that I would sometimes forget things.

Osborn froze, his eyes widening as he looked at Ye Chuan's weary face. He seemed much older than Osborn remembered.

A wave of confusion washed over him. He realized he could no longer recall what Ye Chuan used to look like. It was as if someone had stolen his memories, and stolen time from Ye Chuan.

Osborn: Why did you send me there?

Ye Chuan: I didn't know they would send you away. The detention center said you kept refusing to see me.

Ye Chuan: I thought you heard that I went to beg the school again, so you didn't want to see me.

The answer was far simpler than he had imagined. But after finally obtaining the answer to this question that had been plaguing him, Osborn didn't feel any sense of relief.

His throat tightened, his voice hoarse.

Osborn: What's wrong with you? What illness do you have?

Ye Chuan: It's nothing, it's not serious.

Ye Chuan's gaze darted around evasively. This time, Osborn didn't back down. He dragged him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with an unexpected illness—Alzheimer's.

The doctor explained that there were many possible causes: genetics, other underlying illnesses, and even social and environmental factors.

Osborn had never met his biological family, and Ye Chuan's previous clean bill of health ruled out the second possibility.

Osborn realized that he was the cause.

Ye Chuan's memory began to deteriorate, his cognitive and judgment abilities declining. His mood constantly fluctuated between apathy and agitation, and sometimes, he couldn't even recognize his own home.

Their lives became more and more difficult. Ye Chuan had always done odd jobs, never had a stable career, so he had no social security or savings to speak of.

Ye Chuan: I saw a job posting for a security guard at a residential complex. I could try that.

Back at home, Ye Chuan rambled about the information he had gathered, searching for a presentable outfit for the interview. He didn't seem to realize that he was getting old.

Osborn could only take the suit jacket from his hands and place his medication in front of him.

Osborn: You should take it easy, just rest at home.

Osborn: Take your medicine first.

Ye Chuan: Medicine? What medicine?! I'm not sick!

Ye Chuan suddenly flew into a rage, throwing the clothes hanger to the ground and reaching for a glass on the table.

Osborn was used to this by now. He quickly moved the glass and the medicine out of reach.

Ye Chuan: Who are you? What are you doing in my house?

Osborn: I'm Osborn.

Ye Chuan: No, you're not Osborn. Where is he?

His eyes were unfamiliar and guarded, like a cold blade, silently inflicting wounds.

Osborn: I'm Osborn.

He patiently repeated those words over and over, like a parent teaching a child to speak.

Ye Chuan's condition fluctuated. There were days when Osborn felt exhausted. But when their neighbor suggested sending Ye Chuan to a nursing home, he refused without hesitation.

Osborn: I'm his son, I should take care of him.

At night, lying in bed, Osborn didn't dare sleep too deeply. Even in his dreams, he had to remain alert for any sounds from the next room.

During those moments, it felt like his senses were floating, detached from reality.

Many years later, while sailing at sea, he would often jolt awake just as he was about to fall asleep, suddenly remembering those nights when the world was eerily silent.

One night, Ye Chuan somehow wandered onto the balcony and almost fell. After that, Osborn placed a small bed in his room and they shared the same space.

In his half-awake state, he would hear Ye Chuan tossing and turning, coughing.

Osborn would force his eyes open, making sure he was still safely in bed, before relaxing back into sleep.

During the day, he would ask their neighbor to look after Ye Chuan while he rushed between school, the construction site, and his night job at a nightclub on evenings when Ye Chuan was feeling relatively well.

-

Homeroom Teacher: Osborn! Why are you sleeping again?!

A book landed squarely on Osborn's back. He rubbed his sore spine, realizing that he had dozed off again.

Homeroom Teacher: Several teachers have already reported that you've been sleeping in class! What are you doing all night?!

Facing the teacher's stern expression, Osborn gripped the book and smirked.

Osborn: Your aim needs practice, teach. Watch and learn. Like this.

He effortlessly tossed the book back onto the teacher's desk.

Homeroom Teacher: Get out and stand in the hallway!

Osborn didn't say anything and walked out of the classroom, ignoring the curious and disdainful stares of his classmates.

A few days later, when Osborn arrived at school, he found himself the center of attention. People were whispering and pointing.

As he entered the classroom, the class monitor, who usually disapproved of his behavior, greeted him with unexpected warmth. Osborn noticed a red donation box on the teacher's desk.

Class Monitor: Osborn, we learned about your family situation. Why did you hide such a difficult situation from us?

The class monitor's eyes were red-rimmed as he offered his concern. The homeroom teacher also looked at Osborn with sympathy, pulling him towards the front of the classroom.

Homeroom Teacher: Osborn was adopted by his foster father, who is now seriously ill.

Homeroom Teacher: He's the sole provider for his family.

Homeroom Teacher: He has to take care of his foster father and work part-time after school. His life is very difficult, so we should all help him, shouldn't we?

They applauded enthusiastically, they donated generously. They were moved to tears.

For a moment, Osborn felt like he was back at the academy, confessing his "crimes."

He had nowhere to hide, his pain and struggles laid bare, like a tragic silent film.

That day, Osborn had no idea how he managed to endure until school ended and he returned home. During dinner, he lost his temper with Ye Chuan for the first time.

Osborn: Why are you sick like this?!

He shouted, then saw the confusion in Ye Chuan's eyes. He was holding his chopsticks. He didn't understand, but his aged eyes were filled with sadness and guilt.

Osborn: I'm sorry...

Ye Chuan: I'm sorry...

They both spoke the words simultaneously. Osborn felt a surge of sadness and threw his arms around Ye Chuan.

He desperately needed money, not pity.

-

Osborn held a business card, thinking all night. It was from the man he had stopped from committing suicide at the nightclub, a man who was drowning in debt from gambling.

Osborn knew how to drive. It was a skill that seemed to come naturally to him. At the nightclub, he often helped valet cars or drive drunk customers home to earn some extra cash.

At dawn, he took his altered ID and, following the address on the card, went to a racing club and told them he was willing to participate in their races.

That was how he met Merodach, the owner of the racing club, the one who would later introduce him to the Long Day bounty hunting guild.

Merodach: Racing is gambling with your life. Aren't you afraid, kid?

Osborn: There's nothing to be afraid of.

Merodach: Why do you want to race? At your age, you should be in school.

Osborn: I need money. A lot of money.

Merodach: What if I told you there's another way to earn a lot of money, but it's even more dangerous than racing? Would you do it?

Osborn: Yes.

Osborn and the man looked at each other, their gazes steady. The man stubbed out his cigarette and smiled.

Merodach: Not bad. Take him to sign the agreement.

The "agreement" was a life-or-death contract.

And so, Osborn began his racing career. He was more reckless, more determined, and more terrifying than anyone else.

The wind whipped past him as he sped around the track, brushing against death itself. The wind was so strong it made it hard to breathe, but he felt like this world, which he had struggled against for seventeen years, could no longer defeat him. At least this time, they were evenly matched.

The burden he had carried for so long finally felt lighter. He imagined himself as a dove, or a wave, effortlessly soaring through the sky on the wind.

Everything he had done, from childhood to now, was to escape this place.

The world was a wasteland, but he could venture out, search for a better view, even if it was just a fleeting glimpse.

He even thought that, once he earned enough money, he could buy better medicine, and maybe Ye Chuan would gradually recover. And when that happened, he would take him away from here. The world was vast, there had to be a place for them.

But as if it were some kind of law, fate always offered a taste of sweetness before a sudden downfall. Ye Chuan's condition abruptly worsened.

Osborn resolutely clipped his own wings, tethering himself to this land.

-

Ye Chuan's memory deteriorated further, as if he were trapped in a maze of the past, unable to find his way out. Most of the time, he required constant care.

These days dragged on and on, and the end of their journey seemed to stretch before them with agonizing clarity.

Occasionally, Osborn would look at that annoying class monitor and feel a pang of envy.

One night, Ye Chuan lay sleeping in the bed beside him. Only during these moments was he truly at peace, offering them both a brief respite.

Osborn rubbed his shoulders. Suddenly, a thought arose in his mind: If Ye Chuan were gone, wouldn't it be a release for both of them?

A dim night light illuminated the bedroom. A car passed by outside, its headlights momentarily flooding the room with light.

Osborn abruptly woke from his thoughts, a wave of disgust washing over him. He couldn't believe such a dark thought had crossed his mind.

But the thought took root, growing clearer, like a tempting fruit, beckoning a lost traveler.

He desperately tried to recall the past, the days when he and Ye Chuan had only each other, hoping those memories of warmth could dispel this horrifying notion.

For several days, Osborn's mind was in a haze. While taking Ye Chuan to the market, he turned around and realized that the man who had been following him was gone.

He frantically searched, but there was no sign of Ye Chuan—he was lost, just like that fleeting thought.

In that split second, he felt a sense of relief, but it was quickly replaced by an overwhelming panic.

His breath hitched, as if the world he had been desperately trying to hold together was about to collapse.

Osborn: Ye Chuan! Ye Chuan! Where are you? Ye Chuan!

Osborn pushed through the crowd, frantically searching. He saw the market exit, the dazzling sunlight pouring in. If he walked through that exit, he could finally grasp the freedom he had been chasing for so long, the freedom that had always eluded him.

His steps faltered. He glanced at that brightly lit exit, then turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Finally, he found Ye Chuan.

He was sitting by a fish tank, drenched and miserable, clutching a fish in his hand, refusing to let go.

Osborn's eyes reddened as he walked towards him, crouching beside him like a child finally finding his way home.

Osborn: What are you doing here?

Ye Chuan turned to look at him, seemingly mistaking him for the stall owner, a friendly smile on his face.

Ye Chuan: I want to buy this fish. It's my son's favorite.

Osborn: Okay, let's buy it.

Ye Chuan: Hey, you look familiar...

Ye Chuan suddenly frowned, a confused and troubled expression on his face.

Ye Chuan: You look like my son, but he's not this old...

As he rambled, a faint smile touched Osborn's lips. He reached out and took Ye Chuan's dirty hand in his.

Osborn: ...Dad.

He held on tight. Their clasped hands were like a fragile thread, connecting two unrelated souls.

He finally understood. His yearning for freedom stemmed from a lack of attachments.

And now, he was willing to trade some of that freedom for a different kind.

Osborn: Let's go. Let's go home.

-

PHONE CALL

You (SMS): Osborn, are you there?

Osborn: What's up?

You: Nothing, nothing. I'm surprised you called so directly.

Osborn: Take a look at the time.

You: Hmm... 10:43 p.m.

Osborn: I'm already a bit worried since I can't be with you because of this out-of-town training.

Osborn: And then I get a message from you this late, how can I not be anxious?

You: That's true, but I was actually planning to call you, so this works out perfectly!

Osborn: Yeah, it seems we're becoming more and more in sync.

Osborn: Let me guess, you just got off work?

You: Yep, I'm in a taxi on my way home.

You: I was a bit scared taking a taxi alone, so I wanted to call you.

Osborn: I understand. What's your license plate number? No need to say it, just send it to me.

You: Let me see... Sent!

Osborn: Got it. Are you wearing headphones?

You: Yes, why?

Osborn: Take one out so you can be aware of your surroundings.

You: Oh, right, good point!

Osborn: If I had known you were working overtime, I would have asked Wen Wan to pick you up.

You: It's fine, I didn't want to bother anyone. And besides, chatting with you like this is nice.

You: Even though we're not together, hearing your voice makes it feel like you're here with me.

Osborn: Not for me. Hearing your voice makes me miss you even more. I wish I could see you right now.

You: Hmm... don't tell me you're already thinking about coming back early?

Osborn: Wow, you can read my mind now.

You: Heh heh, no being impulsive, okay? Even if you're the great Osborn, you still need to focus on training.

You: It's not that I don't have faith in your skills, it's just that more practice means more safety on the track.

Osborn: Okay, okay, you're the boss. I wouldn't dare disobey.

You: Well, as long as you understand what I mean.

Osborn: Where are you now?

You: I just got out of the taxi, almost home!

Osborn: That's good. Before you go in, check the delivery shelf by the door.

You: Huh...? Wow, it's a lemon tart! When did you order this?

Osborn: When you first got in the taxi.

Osborn: After eating the lemon tart, you'll definitely have sweet dreams tonight.

-

TEXT MESSAGE

You: Osborn, have you heard of "emo?" Osborn: You mean the rock music genre? Or the slang term? Osborn: If it's the slang, I've heard the guys on the team mention it. Osborn: I think it means feeling down or depressed. You: Wait, "emo" is a rock music genre? Osborn: Looks like I've found a gap in your internet knowledge. Osborn: The slang "emo" seems to have originated from emo rock music. Osborn: But I'm more familiar with the music genre. You: Hmm... Actually, I get emo quite often, especially late at night. Osborn: That's normal. Osborn: Some say that darkness makes it easier to lose control of your emotions, so you're more prone to feeling emo. Osborn: It's nighttime now. Let me guess, is there a certain silly goose feeling emo? You: Yeah... I watched a romance movie this afternoon, and it hit me hard, I guess. I miss you a lot. Osborn (Voice MSG): Right now, open your music player and pick any song that's longer than three minutes. Osborn (Voice MSG): After you finish listening to that song, I promise I'll appear before you.

- TIMELINE POST

Osborn: My favorite band is performing in Guangqi next month.

You: I already know! I even bought tickets. Praise me!

Osborn's Reply: Oh? You're actually faster than me this time. Then you can be "Speedy Cat" for a day.

.

.

.

.

.

Light and Night Masterlist

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[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: I Told Sunset About You (ITSAY) Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, in a long post, I work my way through Nadao Bangkok’s cinematic motherlode: ITSAY. Thanks to everyone for your patience with this post: I did major due diligence with it, with the absolutely TREMENDOUS help of @telomeke, @lurkingshan​, @wen-kexing-apologist​, and @bengiyo​ to ensure I had facts and analysis correct. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to these dear friends for holding me down and offering your sharp eyes.]

To dive into a topic as complicated, as beautiful, as reflective, as impactful as a macro-analysis of I Told Sunset About You is to take on...a lot. As I’ve discussed with @lurkingshan, from a filmmaking perspective, as so many of us who have watched ITSAY know -- it occupies the top spot of Thai BLs by way of pure cinematic quality. (If you follow my late-night liveblogs, you’ll know that this was the first show -- not even Bad Buddy did this to me -- where I needed to stop multitasking, to just sit and watch the episodes. No drama has done that for me in the years since I became a multitasking mom.)

As with 2gether and Still 2gether last week, this watch of ITSAY is a definite milestone on the OGMMTVC list, and I really thank @shortpplfedup, @bengiyo, @wen-kexing-apologist, @lurkingshan, @telomeke, and others in advance for what we’ve talked about in direct conversation regarding ITSAY, its many influential tentacles, and the influences that the show itself may have come from.

I’d like to touch upon a couple of frames to structure this piece, but the caveat here is that by no way will I consider myself an ITSAY expert, because there’s a tremendous fandom that knows much more about the Nadao Bangkok studio, about PP Krit and Billkin Putthipong, about the director and screenwriter, Boss Naruebet, and much more. I will have a substantial postscript to capture loose notes and learnings that didn’t make it into the main analysis. 

Inspired in part by direct conversations with @telomeke and @lurkingshan, I’d like to dive into the following: 

1) From a question that @lurkingshan posed to me: what shows from the start of the OGMMTVC watchlist -- and, more broadly, what art out there -- do I think spoke to ITSAY and its development, 2) The important story of Chinese migration to locations like Phuket, Penang (in Malaysia), and other locations on the Malay Peninsula, and how Chinese and Thai-Malay-Chinese-Peranakan cultures flavored ITSAY’s storytelling, 3) A discussion of internal and external homophobia on Teh’s experience, and how his conversation with Hoon encapsulated our understanding of homophobia, filial piety, and socioeconomic pressures in Teh’s particular life, timeline, and culture,

and more, I’m sure. Let’s boogie.

I warned some folks prior to this review that my thoughts on what may have spoken to ITSAY may turn some people off, so I offer this as a flare to y’all in advance. Acknowledging that episodes three and four of ITSAY were as emotional as anything I had ever seen in Asian BLs, Teh was just such a PERFECTLY written character. (The ITSAY supporting documentary episodes state that the show was in part inspired by Billkin’s and PP’s personal lives, and I know there’s fanon that the show was meant to deeply depict their personal stories with each other. I don’t have primary source material to point to regarding this, so I’ll leave it alone, with the understanding that there are interpretations of the show that read between the lines to bring that lens in. I acknowledge the existence of the theories, but will not dive into that here.)

So, in regards to Teh, as I chatted with @lurkingshan as I was watching the series, I just kept thinking to myself... hello, Fuse. 

CHAOS BOYS! (Fire Boys? No, no, chaos boys, ha.) 

This is where I think my analytical read might get a little controversial with folks, because to compare Make It Right to ITSAY -- from a LOOKS perspective, CERTAINLY from a storyline and narrative structure perspective -- no, it’s not there, not by a long shot.

But when I wonder about what ENERGIES and inspirations opened the door for Boss Narubet to WRITE the way that he wrote, and to DIRECT the way that he directed, Teh’s ENTIRE EMOTIONAL PROCESS AND BREAKDOWNS, his back-and-forth, his hesitations -- I saw chaos, and when I think of chaos, I think of Fuse.

I think of Fuse, and how Fuse was held back, particularly in Make It Right 2, regarding Fuse’s CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ASSUMPTION that he couldn’t break up with his girlfriend, all while being in a nascent give-and-take, back-and-forth relationship with Tee. And how that ASSUMPTION held BACK the full expression of commitment, honesty, and trust that Fuse and Tee ended up having at the end of MIR2. Fuse was being rather unsophisticated while he was struggling with this, and he was bringing Tee along, frustratingly, for that ride.  

Something that you said to me also really resonated, @bengiyo, in conversation with @lurkingshan, about comparing TeeFuse and TehOh, in that Fuse and Teh weren’t necessarily SPARKLING or GIFTED presences. As you two both pointed out to me: Teh had to work much, much harder than Oh-aew for the talents that Teh achieved, and somehow, chaotically, he managed to lose his grip on those talents and achievements as he gave up his hard-earned opportunities for the sake of the overall-better-off Oh-aew. MESSY, BRO.

Besides MIR/MIR2, there’s somewhere else where I saw chaos. @bengiyo, you pointed out to me that you felt that you saw more of Thai queer cinema in ITSAY than in BL. I don’t think ITSAY *doesn’t* speak to BL and vice versa (I don’t think there’s anyone who thinks that, considering what Nadao Bangkok achieved with this show), but when I think of chaos -- and of the structures of storytelling that allowed us to get such an in-depth experience of Teh -- I also think of 2019′s Dew the Movie, and to a different extent, the before-its-time show in 2019′s He’s Coming To Me. 

ITSAY, Dew, and HCTM have:

a) multiple chaotic leads (including actual ghosts and dudes who see ghosts),  b) overarching cultural backgrounds rooted in extremely specific Asian cultures and/or practices and/or time periods, and c) interplays of emotional revelations vis à vis those specific cultural backgrounds.

 - Fuse introduced to us, way back in 2016 and 2017, an internal holding back of an emotional engagement with Tee that was rooted in internal homophobia by way of his negotiation with what Fuse’s girlfriend expected of him, and what HE expected of HIMSELF regarding HAVING a girlfriend, while falling in love with a young man. 

- Dew featured two young men in chaos, in 1990s rural Thailand, one of whom (Dew) who had previously lived in a different city where, likely, his sexual orientation would not have been met with such dystopic scrutiny as it did in the movie. The movie made clear that Dew wanted a solid relationship with Phop, but with both Dew’s and Phop’s families and cultural expectations holding them back, they both met untimely and unfortunate ends that hammered, in extremes, the perils, in cinema, of being gay and out in an incredibly restrictive and old-fashioned Asian society.

- HCTM featured a young man (Thun) who could see ghosts, along with the ghost that he ends up falling in love with (Med). The revelation of Thun’s being able to see Med is deeply connected to Thun’s Thai-Chinese Buddhist practices, and how his family has engaged with spirituality over the course of his life. While the structure of the show has often been described as having a happy ending, I argue the opposite -- that the ending is left open-ended, as it so often is in some of P’Aof Noppharnach’s shows, with the assumed understanding on behalf of an Asian audience that Med will one day be reborn and will leave Thun’s side (unless he’s reborn into another person that knows Thun) (hello, Until We Meet Again). 

So what do all of these shows/movies -- ITSAY, Make It Right/MIR2, Dew, and HCTM -- have in common?

ITSAY, Dew, and HCTM have the common background of an old-fashioned culture serving as a MAJOR anchor to their stories. Their stories are leveraged by the micro-level, individual-level interplay between their main characters and old-fashioned worlds, complete with old-fashioned notions, assumptions, and expectations. ITSAY, Dew, and HCTM negotiate boundaries with these cultural guardrails, and we see -- Teh at the end of episode 4, Thun on the rooftop in episode 5, Dew talking to his mother -- what those expectations and boundaries have done internally to our dear young men. 

Make It Right’s Fuse, way back in 2016, internalized this slightly differently, without us seeing as deeply the WORLD in which he grew up. The directors and screenwriters New Siwaj and Cheewin Thanamin gave us a guy in school with a girlfriend. FUSE’S world, that we see, is a school world, so apropos for that time of Thai BLs, complete with very heterosexual expectations for a young man WITH a girlfriend. And Fuse struggles with his push-and-pull throughout the two seasons.

What I love about the OGMMTVC project is that by having watched these projects before ITSAY, I can somewhat predict what the journey of chaos, by way of internal revelation, will be for these characters. 

However.

What ITSAY DESTROYED for me, as compared to these dramas and movies, was the high level of acting that Billkin leveraged to get Teh to the emotional levels that he reached. Teh, episode 4, and Thun, episode 5 = handshakes. 

This is where ITSAY’s structure just brings ITSAY to the top of the cinematic list and runs away from everything else. I posted in my liveblogging that the ending of episode 3 blew me away with a subversion of the four-act structure of screenwriting. @bengiyo corrected me to say that it was, instead, a rare example of Thai BLs achieving a successful five-act structure. 

Just -- fuck. 

You combine this UTTERLY FUCKING BRILLIANT STORYTELLING STRUCTURE, NARRATIVE STRUCTURING PAR FUCKING EXCELLENCE, ALONG WITH BILLKIN’S PORTRAYAL OF TEH IN HEAT AND CHAOS, and I’m eating, fam. Five-star Michelin tasting menu-level. 

But before I start that meal, there’s even more that ITSAY did to really hammer in what I’m referencing by way of the anchors of old-fashioned culture to this story, which, clearly, Boss and Nadao Bangkok value, in the show’s indirect commentary on Chinese culture and migration in Thailand, and what it meant for Teh and Oh-aew to grow up in Phuket and prepare to leave for Bangkok. (If you haven’t watched ITSAY, I highly recommend that you plan on watching the supplementary documentary material, because those docs give a ton of insight into the Thai-Malay-Chinese background of the show. As a SE Asian homey, those revelations gave me the wonderful warm and familiar vibes.)

Dear @telomeke (I don’t know what I’d do without you, friend!) helped me to understand, back in my HCTM days, that I inherently know more about Chinese migration, immigration, and culture into Southeast Asia than I previously gave myself credit for as a part-Malaysian, because many of the migratory patterns and cultural assimilations are similar between Thailand and Malaysia. I appreciated that confirmation, and had my inspector’s hat on during my watch and rewatch of ITSAY. 

I’ve spoken with @lurkingshan and @neuroticbookworm about the impact of migration and diasporic existence, in that, I think, oftentimes, immigrants to another country often hold a more conservative view of the cultures they bring with them -- in order to hold onto the tenets of those cultures, and to keep those tenets from getting influenced or maybe even watered down by the new environment in which immigrants are living. (My example to Shan and NBW was that I find that South Asian immigrants are often MORE conservative than my relatives in my homelands -- so as to keep a tight grip on assimilation, or, say, moral/ethical weakening by way of Western culture.)

I think the background of Phuket and EVERYTHING it lent to the show...

- Teh’s mom selling Hokkien mee at a stall storefront and the boys eating it in Teh’s old-fashioned house, - The old-fashioned o-aew dessert shop, selling a Hokkien Chinese dessert, which is often preceded by a shot of the “Phuket Old Town” sign, - Teh’s mom’s traditional Chinese-Peranakan outfits, particularly when she’s celebrating Teh and Hoon’s successes, - The tight streets and alleys,

...all of it, visually and culturally, reminded us that the boys live in a world that was DEEPLY INFLUENCED by the way back when. I posit that Teh’s mom is the encapsulation of this kind of old-fashioned culture, from the architectural style of her Hokkien mee stall, to the clothes she wears, to the heavy decorations and rugs and furniture of her old-fashioned house -- to her old-fashioned notions of filial piety that both her sons will be successful and will help to take care of her as she ages. I posit that this old-fashioned mindset also likely led Teh to believe that Teh’s mom would not accept him for liking men, which I will delve into more in a bit.

I mentioned cultural assimilation earlier: I brought up Penang, Malaysia, earlier, because I’ve spent time in Penang -- and Penang was referenced by Boss in the ITSAY documentaries as being similar to Phuket by way of cultural structure. @telomeke educated me on the tin-trade-influenced links from Phuket to the Malaysian towns of Penang and Kuala Lumpur, all towns that experienced heavy immigration from China and feature the strong presence of Chinese-Malay-Peranakan cultures in their social fabrics. The Peranakan population developed when the first Chinese immigrants to these regions began marrying the local ethnic Thai and Malay residents, creating a brand-new culture, complete with unique foods, clothing, architecture, and much more. 

Having not been to Phuket yet, I believe Boss. As well, I want to note -- very important to me as a part-Malaysian -- that Boss referenced Teh’s nickname as the Malay word for tea. @telomeke​ noted for me this distinction as one that’s notable for how ITSAY differentiates the culture within the show -- again, a culture that’s influenced by Chinese and Malay migratory history -- against the backdrop of Bangkok, where tea is not “teh,” but rather is called “cha,” the Thai word for tea. [The most famous “teh” drink of Malaysia is teh tarik, a sweet, creamy, and strong tea drink that you see everywhere in Malaysia. While o-aew is a distinctly Chinese-style dessert, teh tarik comes from Indian immigrants to Malaysia (and is usually drunk with roti canai, another Indian import to Malaysia)]. 

In other words: we are talking a TREMENDOUS, a TREMENDOUS amount of references to cultural mixing, development, and assimilation here, all INTENTIONALLY placed by Boss Narubet and his screenwriting team -- and all of this serving as a reflection against what Teh and Oh-aew will experience as being “different” in their futures in Bangkok, where this Thai-Chinese-Malay cultural differential will make them different when they get to college. (Not having seen I Promised You The Moon yet, I wonder if IPYTM sets up Teh and Oh-aew as potential country mice, à la Ji Hyun and Joon Pyo in The Eighth Sense.)

One more pertinent note of cultural intermixing by way of the historical Thai-Chinese-Malay linkages. @bengiyo was surprised that I didn’t initially exclaim at the presence of hijab- and songkok-clad Muslim women and men eating at Teh’s mom’s Hokkien mee stall; Teh and Oh-aew’s friend, Phillip, is also shown with his Muslim parents. It’s funny, @bengiyo, as I said to you: because I was watching ITSAY with such a trained eye towards spotting the Thai-Chinese-Malay cultural mixing, seeing Muslims on screen did NOT ring a bell of differentials because -- I expect to see them there, in those kinds of spaces, anyway. (In fact, seeing Muslims on Thai television is rare, which I will get into more in the postscript.)

So we have: MANY CULTURES MIXING OVER MANY GENERATIONS. Migratory patterns intertwining. Indications of physical and emotional movement. And even though, and even DESPITE, these cultures mixing, we ALSO HAVE an OVERARCHING message of old-fashioned customs and ways of living that dominate the lives of the children in the show -- ESPECIALLY Teh. Teh and Oh-aew -- literally, their NAMES reference places ELSEWHERE than Phuket and Thailand. Phuket’s old-fashioned roots. Teh’s mom SELLS a dish that comes from somewhere else (the Hokkien Chinese population mostly hails from Fujian, China, as its origin).  

What happens with migration and immigration? Cultures collide and combine -- social mores and expectations change -- one’s standards of HOW TO LIVE ONE’S LIFE changes. 

Teh and Oh-aew, during the entire series, are facing a moment in time where THEIR lives, THEIR cultures, THEIR micro-interactions WITH THEIR cultures, ARE GOING TO CHANGE, definitively, by way of their burgeoning same-sex relationship. Teh and Oh-aew are already different in Thailand by way of their cultural backgrounds, as I’ve established -- and now, with a potential public revelation of their relationship, will they be even more different. And their families -- especially Teh’s mom, but Oh-aew’s family as well -- are going to collide with the very PRESENT present vis à vis their boys and their love. 

As this happens with migration and immigration, CHANGE WILL HAPPEN vis à vis Teh and Oh-aew’s queer revelations as well. 

Boss focused on the aspects of Phuket that were anchors to the culture that Teh and Oh-aew were raised in -- an immigrant culture, a migrant culture from China, that has had a long hold over many, many towns and societies in Thailand. We didn’t see the modern 7-11s that we know are there in Phuket, serving the tourists of these towns. 

And, just like the physical dystopia of Dew, and even vis à vis the spiritual practices built into He’s Coming To Me, the slice of Old Town Phuket that we SAW as that anchor was a HEAVY PRESENCE in Teh’s life -- it was PERFECTLY matched with the old-fashioned, conservative ANGER and DISAPPOINTMENT that we saw in Teh’s mom in episode 4, when Teh shares that he dropped out of university for Oh-aew. That anchor, to me, was meant to SMASH into, FEED into Teh’s overwhelming emotionality at his queer revelation, and at the revelation that serving his mother via filial piety would be automatically made more difficult, thus maximizing the impact of his internalized homophobia and his fear of recognizing his love and attraction for Oh-aew.

COUPLE THAT with the previous hints -- and then the SMASHING WRECKING BALL -- of the visual depths of Oh-aew’s own realizations earlier in episode 4, his own internally different place, the way he reveals himself to the world vis à vis the fast Instagram post of him wearing the red bra. And how Teh reacts to it. And how it sets off such an unreal chain of emotional unraveling for Teh, the SECOND of that episode, even before he goes to Bangkok to drop out. 

WHOA.

THIS, TO ME WAS FUCKING STUNNING

and very important to me to see as a South/Southeast Asian. WHEW.

And, good lord. How Hoon comes in at the end for Teh. Hoon, the eldest son, the one who has very quietly borne the financial responsibility that his mom, Teh’s mom, too, has placed on Hoon’s shoulders, naturally, through generations of family custom. (Super duper thanks to @lurkingshan for talking me through this in detail with me.)

And Hoon gives his family, his little bro, Teh, comfort. How Hoon says, listen. Mom’s gonna be mad if and when you tell her about Oh-aew and your feelings for me. But guess what? She’s gonna come around. You’re a crybaby, Teh, but I’m here for you.

Hoon knows that Teh’s mom will come around -- because Hoon is also a part of the next generation of change, much like his Thai-Malay-Chinese-Peranakan community before him -- as he brings his Japanese girlfriend home to his mother and brother. (THANK YOU, @wen-kexing-apologist, for pointing this out!)

Teh’s mom, too, will move. She will move from her old-fashioned mindset, to migrate to a new mindset, where she will accept her son. Teh needed to hear that, to know that that movement would be possible.

Just like the movement of the many swirling cultures around Teh and Oh-aew, the hustle of Bangkok before them, nipping at their lives like the ocean to the beach. 

What ITSAY captured for me was a cinematic moment of movement on so many levels. It was a pulsating reflection of change. It was meant and designed to insidiously shock viewers out of complacency. Like a beanstalk climbing from the ground, the movement begot movement to these two young men beginning to address and empty themselves of the homophobia that kept them back, Teh especially. 

GAH, THEIR MOVING PHYSICALITY, IT NEVER STOPPED -- the end of episode 2 on the boat, the end of episode 3 in Teh’s room, GAWD -- Teh’s ABSOLUTE HORMONAL DRUNKENNESS, Oh-aew’s STARE AFTER STARE AFTER STARE, Oh-aew’s SILENT DEVASTATION AT THE END OF EPISODE 3, the way Teh would nod and FLOP his head uncontrollably in desire, the nuzzles, the sniffs, the uncontrolled reaches -- GAH. It gives me the shivers. 

It was a lot.

ITSAY was just -- y’all know it. It was fantastic. While HCTM was before its time, I feel that ITSAY was RIGHT ON TIME. It brought so many elements of this GORGEOUS, HISTORIC, culturally Southeast Asian experience into the intersection of the queer lens, as well as the *migratory* lens of the Southeast Asian region specifically. It showed us, from a micro-perspective, the very tremendous macro-level implications and pressures of filial piety, of internalized homophobia, of the huge socioeconomic expectations that families have on Asian students to succeed in education, and so much more. IT WAS *DEFINITIVELY INTERSECTIONAL*, MORE SO THAN ANY BL BEFORE ITS TIME.

Yet again, for me, just like Bad Buddy, just like Until We Meet Again, I have another show in my arsenal that makes me proud to be an Asian watching these shows -- and in ITSAY, I feel particularly proud that a slice of my own personal culture, as an Malaysian, made it in there, intentionally. I will FOREVER, and ever, be grateful to ITSAY for that.

-------

I’d like to offer this postscript as a means of making some quick points that @telomeke, @bengiyo, @lurkingshan, and @wen-kexing-apologist shared with me as I was writing this review -- and I thank them all deeply for reading drafts of this post before publication. 

1) I was previously unaware of the history and current state of Islamic culture in Thailand until ITSAY and Be My Favorite included women wearing hijabs in their shows. This is an important slice of culture for me to know about, as I’m part-Malaysian, where Islam is the dominant religion. @telomeke shared with me that the majority Muslim population in Thailand is in southern Thailand (although, of course, Muslims live across Thailand), and that there have historically been separatist efforts in those southern provinces that have often led to violence. 

There are many reasons why discrimination of Muslims exist in Thailand, as it does around the world, including references to the separatist efforts in the southern provinces. As well, ethnic Thais can trace their heritage back to various towns and communities within China, thus possibly making northern Thailand, with its proximity to China, potentially more lauded in Thai culture, and contributing even more to a perception that southern Thailand, with its Muslim population, as potentially “less desirable.” (And I want to take a second to note @telomeke​‘s excellent point to me that “Chinese” as a catch-all word is often incomplete, as Han Chinese make up a sizable portion of Thailand’s population, but as we see in ITSAY, the Hokkien Chinese population also flourishes in certain parts of the country, and there are populations of Teochew and Hakka Chinese as well, as there are in Malaysia.)

All of this combined -- the geographic proximities to China, the places where various populations have settled, from the places that various populations of Thais track their heritages, plus global and/or popular misconceptions and stereotypes of “other” communities -- can contribute to discrimination of Muslims in Thailand. Of course, that is not a universal statement, as we do see Muslims beginning to show up in Thai drama art, which is heartening. To me, it strikes me as more realistic for the region to see Muslims on screen, but I don’t know Thailand well enough to say that for sure (that’s my Malaysian-side talking). I really want to thank @telomeke for taking me on SUCH a deep dive with insight into this part of Thai culture that I think is very necessary and fascinating. (Politics in Thailand is quite complicated at the moment, but at this very second, Thailand’s current Parliament speaker, from the Move Forward party, is Thai Muslim, with a Malay Muslim name -- Wan Muhamed Noor Matha. Very cool, but this is going to change soon, as Move Forward will make way for another political party to take control of the government.)

2) If you know me well enough, I cannot leave food well enough alone in our wonderful dramas (exhibit A: Moonlight Chicken and khao man gai, exhibit B: coffee/kopi in The Promise, lol), and I want to make sure that we were all aware back in 2020, and/or make you aware now, that Hokkien mee is a VERY regional dish, with styles unique to each town in which it is famous. @telomeke, I know you feel differently, but Hokkien mee from Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia is my.... it’s my heaven, my soul, my heart, HA!

Here’s some linkies to get you educated. And also! Oh-aew prefers his Hokkien mee with rice vermicelli noodles, instead of the usual, thicker egg noodles. You know what I like to do if I see that a stall has the two styles of noodles available: I like to get them mixed together. Hokkien mee, Hokkien prawn mee noodle soup, curry laksa -- I like the best of both worlds of noodles in my bowl. YUM.

Phuket Hokkien mee KL Hokkien mee Penang Hokkien mee (this one is the prawn noodle soup, not the fried noodles -- omfg so good) Singapore Hokkien mee (note the lighter color -- and the m’fing mix of thick and thin noodles, hell yeah!)

(If you made it this far in the ITSAY review, I have an easter egg for you. Guess what the Malay name is for rice vermicelli noodles? Bee hoon or mee hoon. 

Hoon and Teh, two Malay names: thin noodles and tea. What Teh’s mom serves at her stall, and what Teh and Oh-aew represent, symbolically, by names and their noodle preferences, as a pairing. AND! @telomeke​ gave me one more easter egg! Teh O is a popular way to order tea in Malaysia and Singapore. It’s black tea with sugar, no milk. Another pairing reference. ITSAY never stopped with all the layered references!)

[WHEW! What a ride. Thanks to all y’all who held me down during my losing-it liveblogging of ITSAY. More to come when I get to Last Twilight in Phuket and I Promised You The Moon.

Next week, I’ll release my review of YYY into the wild -- listen, honestly. Yes, chaos, confusion, all of it. But I am not writing this show totally off. There was definitely stuff in it to chew on. And: POPPY RATCHAPONG. And Pee Peerawich. The acting was actually stacked on this show. There’s stuff! More soon.

And I also finished Manner of Death, so that review will drop in two weeks. I LOVE MAXTUL. UNABASHEDLY. Yes, I know I’m years late, yes, I know Tul is retired, sobs. Let me live my 2021 dreams! These guys are so good together, and MoD was fuckin’ great.

I have so much good stuff on the way: I’m fully in my ATOTS rewatch, and I’ve added 55:15 Never Too Late, very specifically its BL storyline. I may not give 55:15 a full review because I’ll fast-watch the rest of it, but: Khao, come to me, boo-boo! I have an INSANE August ahead of me as I’ll be moving in a month (GAH), but hopefully this schedule won’t fall back too much.

Status of the listy! Hit me up if you have feedback!

1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 2) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 3) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 4) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 5) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 6) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 7) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 8) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 9) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 10) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 11) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 12) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 13) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 14) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (not a BL or an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 15) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 16) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) 17) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 18) I Told Sunset About You (2020)  19) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review coming) 20) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) (review coming) 21) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 22) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (watching) 23) Lovely Writer (2021) 24) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) 25) I Promised You the Moon (2021) 26) Not Me (2021-2022) 27) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 28) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) 29) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 30) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 31) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 32) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist 33) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 34) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 35) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 36) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 37) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults)]

[sheepytina]

So people are talking about the artwork in Metal Slug games again

There's been a few posts going around talking about how weird the Metal Slug characters look in the mobile games, particularly female characters like Eri and especially fan favourite Fio.

This conversation comes up again every so often, but it's been reignited on Tumblr again this week with three new Metal Slug games coming onto the scene:

The recent re-reveal of the indie title Metal Slug Tactics from Dotemu, which was originally announced in 2021, during Summer Game Fest 2024,

The June 2024 Nintendo Direct shadow-drop of a revamped version of the former mobile game Metal Slug Attack as Metal Slug Attack Reloaded, and

The impending global launch of the Chinese mobile game Metal Slug: Awakening from Tencent Games next month (July 2024), which originally released in China and SEA in 2023.

Remember these three names, because this is what this post is going to primarily centre around.

However there's one version of this type of post going around that just posts artwork from Metal Slug 3 and MS: Awakening and doesn't adequately explain what the artwork actually comes from and why it looks the way it does, resulting in the confusion and bewilderment of many people who are less familiar with the Metal Slug series.

And so I decided I really need to throw my hat into the ring and see if I can dissect this and bring some actual facts to the conversation.

Look, it's not great. Basically, the stuff people are saying is indeed mostly true, but there's a lot of half-truths and even a few straight up lies being mixed into it. Such as how what the original Metal Slug games looked like is actually more complicated than people think, for starters.

Furthermore, one of the three games I mentioned actually looks really good, and oddly it seems to be the one with the least attention on it right now.

Now, because I'm me, this blog post ended up really long, long enough to have chapter markers, so please bear with me and stick around to the end if you can. — And if you don't care about the historical context, I'm happy for you just to look at the pictures too.

Part 1: The original NEOGEO Metal Slug games

So the main point of this conversation is that the classic Metal Slug games let the characters look weird and cartoony. That's a big part of Metal Slug's core identity, and this is lost in the recent mobile games.

(Of course I had to get a real CRT photo in here at some point.)

To define "classic Metal Slug" you can assume most people are referring Metal Slug 1 through to 3, i.e. the ones that SNK created before their bankruptcy in the year 2000. And most of all, that iconic character select screen from Metal Slug 2, X and 3.

As you can see, there's definitely a shift that took place here.

But hold on, Fio also looks pretty different on the arcade flyers, especially in her original debut in Metal Slug 2. So it's not exactly as clear cut at the cherrypicked images would suggest, but all the same there is still a distinct, extremely late '90s style to everything.

Metal Slug 4 and 5 also released for the NEOGEO system and are similarly loved by many, but were developed in the 2000s under the newly formed Playmore, aka SNK Playmore. I definitely agree with this sentiment that the "original identity" of Metal Slug was strongest in the early titles, and the artwork is the most noticeable reflection of that.

However, although it has little bearing on the conversation, I think it's important to clarify that this change to a contemporary anime style actually began in the early 2000s during the Playmore era of SNK. Like would happen with other SNK game series like The King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown, things got weird for Metal Slug once SNK was reborn as Playmore, eventually becoming SNK Playmore.

Still, all the mainline Metal Slug games through to Metal Slug 7 and Metal Slug XX are still considered classics by fans. The problem for a lot of fans would be SNK's push into new markets such as pachislot and mobile gaming.

Which brings us to…

Part 2: The Metal Slug smart device games, and the Chinese mobile game market

Mobile games would prove a highly lucrative market for SNK Playmore, with hundreds of titles published for Japanese phones during the '00s. A few of these also made their way to more conventional J2ME devices in China. Eventually the mobile gaming market would move to smartphones, with SNK bringing games such as Metal Slug Defense and Metal Slug Attack to market in the 2010s.

This is the first mention of China in this post and it won't be the last. SNK's arcade titles had traditionally been extremely popular in the Chinese market, and with the mobile game market rapidly growing and a hunger for bigger games from beloved SNK series, a lot of interest had grown for SNK titles in this market.

This would result in a huge investment from Chinese companies, with a new joint venture acquiring a 81% stake in the company in 2016, leading SNK Playmore to announce a new shift in their strategy, and with that came a rebrand, once again to simply SNK.

This new identity signified a new era for SNK. This newly reignited SNK would move away from non-videogame markets such as pachislot, and focus more on console games and character licensing. This is the SNK that gave us The King of Fighters XIV and a new Samurai Shodown game.

But this is also the SNK that really doubled down on the Chinese and South-east Asian mobile markets.

This is where this conversation stems from. Games such as the tower defence mobile game Metal Slug Attack and many other mobile games in series such as The King of Fighters would be massive money-makers for SNK. Even the new Samurai Shodown game on consoles/PC would centre Chinese audiences with its first DLC crossover characters pulling from Ubisoft's For Honor and Tencent's Honor of Kings.

But when it comes to centering the tastes of the mobile game market, the big one that bugs people is Metal Slug: Awakening, a mobile game developed and published under license by Tencent Games, which entered beta testing in 2021 and released in China and South-east Asia in 2023.

Now this game actually doesn't have all that much to do with SNK besides the license. However it would be disingenuous of me to say that means it's insignificant to the series. We didn't get to this point out of nowhere out of all. Plus this game is set for a global release in 2024, so this game is for all of us to enjoy.

Although, is it really for all of us? The game certainly seems to plays like a real Metal Slug game, retaining the series' famous run 'n gun gameplay, which is more than you can say for most Metal Slug mobile games. But it certainly doesn't look like a Metal Slug game. The in-game graphics are a strange 3D interpretation of the original pixel art, and all the game's promotional artwork and splash screens look like this. Fio in particular straight up looks like a different character in these pictures.

It's not great. I'm not about to try and defend this. It's just that I really need to stress that it's really not a game targeted towards us.

To make matters more confusing for a lot of people not super plugged-into Metal Slug is that it's not even the only Metal Slug game in the news recently. Metal Slug Tactics had been missing in action since 2021, and all of a sudden it gets re-revealed by Dotemu in June 2024 but overshadowed by many other announcements during the Summer Game Fest period.

But also, SNK themselves would, during the June 2024 Nintendo Direct, reveal and immediately shadow-drop a revamped offline version of the Metal Slug Attack game called Metal Slug Attack Reloaded.

I actually saw a lot of people confused by this. People who remembered the initial 2021 reveal of Metal Slug Tactics and thought this was the same game. It might seem obvious to some of us, but if this is you, then I assure you, it's not the same game.

Although SNK seems to be downplaying this for some reason, Metal Slug Attack is a pretty old mobile game that went defunct last year, and this is a revamped version of it for consoles and PC that can be played offline without microtransactions. (An increasing trend I want to see more of!) The game is still very much a mobile game to its core though and you can tell.

But, look, don't worry, there's hope for us yet, in the form of a new game that many western Metal Slug fans have been excited for for many years. I've already mentioned it, it's…

Part 3: Metal Slug Tactics, a new tactical Metal Slug game from Dotemu and French developer Leikir Studio

I'm going to preface this section with a clarification of my stance on this. As a strategy game this doesn't exactly scream classic Metal Slug. However, a few people have been lumping this in with the mobile games and I think that's pretty unfair.

For starters, this game is oozing with personality and really looks like it's developed by people who truly understand Metal Slug.

Second, the artwork in this game is clearly a very different beast from what can be seen in Metal Slug: Awakening.

Obviously this isn't the same as the funny looking characters you remember from the in-game graphics of the NEOGEO titles. I still however feel like this captures the spirit of these beloved characters better than any of the mobile games have. This is definitely along the lines of Sonic Mania or TMNT: Shredder's Revenge in terms of attention to detail, and that's especially reflected by how the actual game looks and moves in action.

This is really my true agenda if I'm perfectly honest. Please don't sleep on this game. Even if you don't like tactics games, this is the one you want to keep an eye on if you want a true return to form for Metal Slug.

[jellyshark-png]

MK1xF1 AU – by Shark :3

alright alright it is FINALLY HERE but before we get started in this big ass post, just a few silly disclaimers !!

expect some MAJOR inaccuracies (this is mostly for my diehard f1 fans hello :3),, i am by no means an expert, in fact i got into f1 VERY recently so pls bare with me

lets understand that, from a physique standpoint, tomas and kuai WOULD NOT REALISTICALLY BE IN F1– however we choose to ignore that for the sake of the brainrot teehee

not every character will be included, so pls don't get mad at me if your fav is not in this AU– its a working AU and these are all coming off the top of my head

anyways, enjoy me yapping!

just a few definitions to understand the positions and other terms i'll be using throughout this post :'D

Team Principal – basically owns the team, kind of self explanatory HAHA Race Engineer – these are the people that speak to the drivers while they're racing! now, realistically speaking, every driver gets their own race engineer, but in this case i haven't done that bc,,, well there's only so many characters :') Pit Lead – another self explanatory position, but this is the lead/manager of the pit crew! (is this an actual position ?? idk but we're going with it) Formula Series – so Formula 1 isn't the only race in the series, there's also F2 and F3– these are the races you basically go through before you get into F1! there's other races in the series, but these are the ones i'll focus on. Drive to Survive/DTS – this is a netflix series revolving around F1 and i will say its the most dramatic depiction of the sport + all the fake hate between racers shown ?? and using clips and such out of context ?? yeah you get the picture.

F1 TEAMS

MERCEDES-AMG PETRONAS F1 TEAM

Team Principal : Hanzo Hasashi (i know it says mk1 but shhhh) Race Engineers : Bihan Pit Lead : Syzoth Racers : Kuai Liang and Tomas Vrbada

Mercedes comes up as a long time rival to Oracle Red Bull Racing and Ferrari Scuderia– expecially with such a close bond between the brothers. Bihan started off as the team's strategist before his farther stepped down as race engineer, thus banding the baton to Bihan and making him the youngest race engineer on the grid. Tomas and Kuai are steady but strongly defensive racers, Tomas joining in a bit later in the game starting as a rookie reserve driver for Mercedes in the first half of the previous seasons. Now they fight on together in the world of F1 side by side as a strong unit.

extra! - i remember reading someone's headcanon abt kuai liang being taiwanese,,, so im gonna say bihan and kuai liang are half chinese half taiwanese (chinese dad, taiwanese mom), and so in this case, kuai liang would represent the taiwanese flag while tomas ofc represents the czech republic flag!

FERRARI SCUDERIA F1 TEAM

Team Principal : Jackson "Jax" Briggs Racers : Johnny Cage and Kenshi Takahashi

Before Oracle Red Bull Racing's renaissance in the new generation of F!, Ferrari Scuderia was at the top of their game for years and years. With Johnny and Kenshi being in the sport much longer than the newcomers, it's no denying that they are the winning classics of every race season– many looking forward to their assertion in the races. Johnny drives more aggressively, though with a lighter bounce in his step, a bit of bantering almost while he's racing wheel to wheel. Kenshi, on the other hand, is smooth and sly in the way he overtakes every racer, always sidling just behind a racer's line. Although they've raced for much longer, they still hold true as being one of the big three amongst Mercedes and Red Bull Racing.

extra! - 100000% johnny and kenshi do not work well at first when they become team mates, and people honestly would've preferred them as rivals in opposing teams– but over time they'd put aside their differences and slowly find out that they actually work really well together, despite their opposites in driving style and personality.

ORACLE RED BULL RACING F1 TEAM

Team Principal : Geras Race Engineer : Liu Kang Racers : Raiden and Kung Lao

Oracle Red Bull Racing saw its first golden age with now race engineer Liu Kang, setting the standard for F1 in his time and winning world championship after world championship, dominating each race until his retirement as a racer. Today, Raiden now follows in his footsteps, and alongside him his childhood best friend, Kung Lao. Starting out, they weren't actually in the same team– opting to race against each other in opposing teams to keep their rivalry alive once joining F1. Over time, and after many second driver switches, Kung Lao finally joins Raiden in Oracle Red Bull Racing, making them THE golden boys of this generation's Red Bull racing team– an absolute killer duo to fight against long standing Mercedes and Ferrari.

extra! - irl, red bull is NOTORIOUS for constantly switching out second drivers, and so kung lao would get a lot of flack– and his first year in red bull would not be as great until around the second half of the season :'))

TIMELINE

here, i'll be explaining the timeline of each of the racers' moves throughout the teams– this is going from 2020-2024 (and to preface, whenever i do talk abt mk1xf1 stuff, assume its all taking place in 2024 unless told otherwise). im gonna pray all of this makes sense HAHA

*also there's usually two drivers per team ofc, but i cannot be bothered to do any placeholder drivers for each team, so the second driver can be up to your interpretation!

2020

kuai and kenshi in aston martin (have been since 2019 as well, maybe 2018 i havent fully decided)

johnny has been in RB toro rosso for a year since 2019 (technically speaking its called visa cashapp rb now but like,,,, you guys that name is so awful LMAO)

raiden and tomas enter into their first year in F1 in williams

kung lao enters his first year in haas

TEAMS Aston Martin : kuai liang and kenshi takahashi RB Toro Rosso : johnny cage Haas : kung lao Williams : raiden and tomas vrbada

2021

kuai and kenshi stay in aston martin

johnny stays in toro rosso, and tomas makes the move to toro rosso

raiden moves to mclaren

kung lao stays in haas

TEAMS Aston Martin : kuai liang and kenshi takahashi RB Toro Rosso : johnny cage and tomas vrbada Mclaren : raiden Haas : kung lao

2022

kuai makes the move to oracle red bull racing (BY THIS TIME liu kang is actually still racing, and retires by the end of the 2022 season)

kenshi makes the move to williams, alongside kung lao

tomas and johnny stay in toro rosso

raiden stays in mclaren

TEAMS Oracle RB : kuai liang and liu kang Williams : kenshi takahashi and kung lao RB Toro Rosso : johnny cage and tomas vrbada Mclaren : raiden

2023

raiden moves to oracle RB after liu kang retires, kuai stays in oracle RB

kenshi stays in williams

kung lao moves to RB toro rosso to replace johnny, tomas stays in RB toro rosso

johnny goes to mercedes

TEAMS Oracle RB : kuai liang and raiden RB Toro Rosso : kung lao and tomas vrbada Williams : kenshi takahashi Mercedes : johnny cage

mid 2023 – 2024 (current)

johnny signs into ferrari in the middle of the '23 season

kuai liang signs into mercedes in the middle of the '23 season

kung lao signs into oracle RB, raiden stays in the same team

kenshi then signs into ferrari by the end of the '23 season

tomas signs into mercedes for the '24 season

TEAMS Oracle RB : raiden and kung lao Ferrari Scuderia : johnny cage and kenshi takahashi Mercedes : kuai liang and tomas vrbada

Misc. Stuff :D

this is where it gets super fun bc now i yap EVEN MORE abt the extra shit in this AU

the ages✨ bc i assume everyones curious abt this perhaps HAHA and this is in conjunction with being in the current year 2024 and these are all ranges bc,,,, im indecisive and dont know what age to actually make them

liu kang and geras : late 30s, very early 40s (maybe like,,, 37-41 ??)

hanzo hasashi and jax briggs : early 40s perhaps

kuai liang and johnny cage : late 20s, early 30s (so kuai around 27-29 and johnny 29-32)

kenshi takahashi and bihan : early 30s (maybe a year older than johnny ? like if johnny is perhaps 30 then kenshi would be 31– then bihan is liiike idk 32-33)

kung lao, raiden, and tomas vrbada : early-mid 20s

the rookie trio !!! lets get into it :333

raiden, kung lao, and tomas all entered into F3 around the same time! they moved up in the series and all entered F1 the same time as well (for my F1 fans, think of them as lando, george and alex)

as ages go, raiden is the oldest, then tomas, then kung lao being the youngest of the three :3 and for laughs– tomas 10000% holds it over lao's head that hes older than him (probably only by a few months too HAHA)

this isn't specific to the rookies, but theres a "twitch quartet" (twitch streaming btw) in the irl world of F1 (lando, george, alex and charles), and so in this AU, the twitch quartet would be the rookies + johnny cage bc i think that dynamic is absolutely hilarious HAHA

these three would be considered the new era of F1, whereas kuai, johnny and kenshi are considered the older bunch teehee

liu kang as a racer oooohhhh AUUUUGHFDK

liu kang would've been absolutely ICONIC during his time, think sebastian vettel– that's his kind of notoriety

so when he announced his retirement, it would've absolutely devastated the F1 community, even if you weren't a liu kang or red bull fan, it would still hit you where it hurts

he'd truly set the bar standard for what an F1 driver should be like idc idc

but when he announced his return as a race engineer for the oracle RB team, everyone cheered :3

the controversial era that is 2023-2024 + the hit netflix series Drive to Survive

i know for an absolute FACT that when kuai and tomas signed into mercedes there was a lot and i mean A LOOOOTTT of speculation and hate for them bc of the familial ties

and perhaps a similar issue with johnny joining ferrari bc i headcanon him to have some italian roots (so people would speculate that he had someone in the inside idfk LMAO)

but this would be CAAAANDY for the show Drive to Survive bro it would be HAVOC

speaking of DTS– once kung lao signed into Oracle RB, they 100000% villainized him and even made it seem as though he wanted to take raiden's spotlight as the first driver (which is not the case holy hell HAHA)

but with that, a lot of fans that came from DTS despised kung lao, and probably still do– they just refuse to see that they're literally childhood friends LMAO

some dynamics stuff and jumping between eras and whatnot bro this is getting way too long HAHA

at the beginnings of his F1 career, tomas would be EXTREMELY tense and even tone down his playful personality to come off as more "serious" and professional– but when he joins RB toro rosso with johnny, he aaaaabsolutely helps him out of his shell and proves to him that you don't have to be so serious in the sport. it would just be a lot of pressure on tomas' part to prove himself, esp with being in kuai's shadow :')

and in a similar note, when kung lao joins williams with kenshi, he kinda learns a bit of humility from kenshi and brings down his rowdiness, actually hone it to be a better driver in the long run. AUGHGHKDFJ dude kenshi and johnny as mentors heals my soul idc

kuai and kenshi in aston martin would have been KIIIILLLEERRR they would've put aston martin as actual competitors in the constructor's championship LIIKEKEK so iconic + they'd be the heartbreakers of their time with the two being at their prime and much younger UGH

LAST THING I PROMISE this is just a bunch of extra tidbits if you care to read– and if you've actually made it this far uhhh,,,, congratulations BAHAH

kenshi has sensitive eyes, so he has his helmet visor specifically tinted for that + does wear shades inside and ykw its a godsend the Ferrari is sponsored by Raybans HAHA

to tie to that, johnny just has AT LEAST two extra pairs of glasses on him, and he says its for himself but really its just in case kenshi somehow forgets his own shades somewhere or his own pair broke (ya gotta love them)

raiden and lao's rivalry is IIINNNSSAAANNEEE haters can hate all they want, but their on track fights are so incredible to watch and people think its a miracle that they're still as close as ever

ALSO BRO madam bo would have 10000000% funded their karting career SHES THEIR NUMBER ONE SUPPORTER IDC WHAT ANYONE SAYS !!!!!!! she sponsors them too, is always in whatever commercials they do and theyre your typical cheesy but memorable asian commercials

random but with raiden and kung lao both being chinese, they both represent the chinese flag, and so did liu kang !!! you'd catch them all in cantonese– though unfortunately cannot speak much with kuai since he speaks mandarin HAHA

during their time in williams, lao and kenshi definitely taught each other their own language just a bit, but lao definitely learned most of the "bad" words in japanese LMAOF

johnny italian yes (cmon just look at his nose) ??? and he's fluent case closed– but also its funny to see his onboard videos of him gesturing to other drivers when he's angry

bihan has the same notoriety as toto wolff– he's the one mf everyone simps for and ISN'T AN F1 DRIVER

this has already gone for a long time LMAOKSJDFH but if you have any other questions or would like me to make some comparisons of the actual drivers vs. the characters, my ask box is open !!! anyways thank you for reading this LOOOOONNNGGGG post and i hope to make more mk1xf1 content :'))))

[llycaons]

okay let me organize. this will probably take me to next year but I do want to prioritize what was already on my list

already up there, no matter the quality:

sorceror to the crown

when fox is a thousand

a taste of gold and iron (if I ever get around to it...)

sistersong - need to give this one a shot

snow crash

tress of the emerald sea - my baby brother LOVES this one I must not disappoint new:

anna karenina - my mom likes this one and I'm excited for the drama and writing

don quixote - a parody, I think

the count of monte cristo - I saw the movie! definitely on the list

the bluest eye - I was unable to keep reading this one when I initially started it but I really love morrison's other works so I'm bringing it back now

the metamorphosis - on the list but not available as an audiobook so it could be a while

things fall apart - definitely a priority, but not available as an audiobook

dracula - available but im saving it for halloween. the structure intrigues me. I tried doing the dracula daily but got bored

frankenstein - on the list!

gods of jade and shadow - not considered a classic but I still want to read it, don't want it to be left behind now that I'm in another bout of book-reading

giovvani's room - 14 weeks wait :(

journey to the west - I think I know enough to be able to follow it but maybe an annotated copy would be better

epic of gilgamesh - release an audio version 🥺🥺🥺 pleaseeee

one hundred years of solitude - I do want to read this but I think I will need help

crime and punishment - I tried to read this one when I started college but it was DENSE. lower priority

moby dick - I have friends into this one!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - this looks extremely well-researched and I'm pretty intrigued by the language that's referenced, the one that women use to communicate with each other

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan - I like Tan's work, and this one is new to me

The Book of Chuang Tzu - so this is a chinese classic, written in the 4th century. goodrreads claims 'Where the Tao Te Ching is distant and proverbial in style, the Chuang Tze buzzes with life and with insights, often with considerable humour behind them." and if that's true I would love to read it

The Activist's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for a Modern Revolution - I have no way to know how good this book is but the concept definitely interests me. it reminds me of an article about taoism's relationship to anarchism I read years ago. the summary makes me a little nervous tho

I've already read all of austen and the brontes I've wanted to, I read les mis, no interest in little women, I hate oscar wilde on a personal level, I struggle a lot with surrealism so I'm sticking to more conventional structures, I don't have a lot of interest in white 20th-century americana, I consider ishiguro's books to be modern classics with beautiful writing but they make me too sad, hmm why the fuck is call be by your name on this list...I'm interested in Taoism in novels but I haven't found a lot that offer that besides the danmei I've already read (ha) but it sounds like it will be a definite theme in JTTW. another reason to get an annotated copy. all the books I'm finding look like they're written by white academics anyway. I mean there's THE Tao Te Ching but I definitely need that one annotated and I think it would be difficult for me to focus on since it sounds a little dry.

I do want to get into historical texts like jttw it's just a question of how much I'd understand which is why an annotated physical copy is probably the way to go with something like that. like I saw an excerpt of the tale of genji and I was completely lost

[victoriousscarf]

Was tagged by @katajainen

How many works do you have on AO3?

302

What's your total AO3 word count?

5,012,937

Some of these were co-written but still when I went to check for this and found I'd finally passed the 5 million mark I was super psyched. I'd been approaching it for a while lol.

Your Top 5 stories by kudos

the forest is dark and deep and i've seen you here before

Its Not the End of the World (But It Might as Well be the End of Your World): This one will forever crack me up because I literally thought 2 other people were going to get a chuckle out of it when I wrote it. Still gets weekly kudos 10 years later (Wait *record scratch* ten years??? Yeah I started posting in 2015. Did not see that coming/had not processed that)

My Downfall is Rooted in Your Desperate Need

Looks Can be Deceiving, Even if You're on the Right Track (Technically it's Two Sides of the Coin but that's a co-written one so I'm going with my next down one)

I Won't Move the Heaven's for You and You'll Pretend to Forget Me

Okay I do love the fact that it's like "the forest is dark and deep is an outlier and should not have been counted" because everything else is DCU.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try! It's rough in my inbox right now so I've started just opening up stories and replying to all the comments on them straight on to try and tame the inbox down. You might be two years late but I'm getting there.

Honestly, sometimes people tell me I don't have to and I'm like "No, I'm gonna--eventually" not because I feel like I must, but because I like to! Author's talk about their love of comments all the time, but it's the love of the conversation, and sometimes having that back and forth reveals new and fun things about your story too. I love comments and replying, I just, sometimes get to a point where it's "you either get a reply or an update" and then I do that too many times in a row and the inbox becomes ungovernable.

Do you write crossovers?

I used to. I'll still enjoy a good fusion au, but I rarely straight up cross over characters anymore. They're fun thought experiments though, trying to figure out how different worlds would collide.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. What kind? I don't know, whatever kind serves the plot. I'm not a PWP writer, let's put it that way. It's more "if this fits the purpose of the story or emotional arc, I'll write it." Very rarely do I just because... though that happens randomly sometimes.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes. In both the straight up plagiarism way and in the someone reposted my fic to wattpad and said their friend (with a totally different name) wrote it.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Though some of them seem to have disappeared off ao3 over the years which is too bad. But I remember some were Chinese and some were Russian. A few podfics too! And let me tell you, nothing is better than that feeling, but also hearing someone read my own words does send me immediately scurrying to hide under my bed.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Hmmm idk. @meddalarksen? Have I ever co-written a fic before?

(The answer is yes).

What's your all time favorite ship?

Uhhhh... depends on the day but an evergreen classic is Spock/McCoy

What's a WIP that you want to finish but probably never will?

Hold My Hand Under the Rust and the Dust will probably never get finished. Unless I figure out how to do something totally different with it than I originally planned.

What are your writing strengths?

Logistics, according to multiple people. Smut for the aces. Making people cry.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Staying on task.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet, but want to?

I never have written a single Legends of Tomorrow fic, despite talking about multiple ones.

What's your favorite fic that you've written?

That's a pretty impossible question lolol.

At the moment? The fic I'm incredibly proud of: to gain, to lose

The fic that gave me something no other fic has/I have probably reread the most: Only Break What's Yours

The fic that taught me I could do it: Find the Sun in the Corners of Shadows

The fic that fundamentally changed me as a person: the forest is dark and deep and i've seen you here before

[delightfullrecipes]

Making Magic with Yesterday's Chicken: Budget-Friendly Brilliance in Your Fridge

Ever stood in front of your open refrigerator, staring at that half-eaten rotisserie chicken and wondering what to do with it? You're not alone! That plastic container of picked-over poultry isn't sad leftovers—it's actually kitchen gold waiting to be discovered.

Why Leftover Rotisserie Chicken Recipes Are Your Wallet's BFF

Let's talk numbers for a sec: Americans waste nearly 40% of their store-bought rotisserie chickens. That's literally BILLIONS of dollars of perfectly good protein tossed in the trash every year! In this economy? I don't think so.

Leftover rotisserie chicken recipes are the secret weapon of savvy home cooks everywhere. Not only do they help you stretch your grocery budget (hello, three meals from one $7 chicken!), but they also save precious time during hectic weeknights when you just CAN'T with cooking from scratch.

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Ready to transform your leftovers into something amazing? Click here for our full collection of drool-worthy leftover rotisserie chicken recipes: Delightful Recipes

The Quality Ingredient Secret Nobody Talks About

Here's the tea: not all rotisserie chickens are created equal, and this MATTERS when you're working with leftover rotisserie chicken recipes.

Why? Because:

The quality of your starting chicken affects everything about your finished dish

Free-range and organic options typically have better flavor and texture

The seasoning blend on your original chicken will infuse your new creations

Properly stored leftovers (pro tip: don't leave it in that plastic container from the store!) maintain way better moisture

Think about it like this: your leftover chicken transformation is only going to be as good as what you start with. That beautifully seasoned skin might not be crispy anymore, but it can add INCREDIBLE flavor to whatever you're making next.

Solving the #1 Leftover Chicken Problem: The Dreaded Dryness

The Science-y Stuff Behind Perfect Texture

Let's be real—the absolute WORST thing about reheated chicken is when it turns into sad, dry, rubbery disappointment. Nobody wants that.

So what's actually happening? When chicken cools after cooking, the protein fibers contract and squeeze out moisture. Then when you reheat it? Those already tight fibers can lose even MORE moisture if you're not careful.

The secret that professional chefs know is that you need to use methods that either add moisture back in or prevent further moisture loss. This might mean:

Introducing liquid elements to your dish

Using gentle reheating methods

Incorporating the chicken into sauces or broths

Adding healthy fats that improve mouthfeel

It's literally kitchen science, and once you understand it, your leftover rotisserie chicken recipes will NEVER be dry again.

Want to learn the pro techniques that make leftover chicken taste better than fresh? Check out our complete guide here: Chicken Revival Secrets

The Global History of Leftover Chicken Magic

How Thrifty Cooks Around the World Changed Food Forever

Here's something fascinating: some of the world's most beloved dishes actually started as creative solutions to leftovers!

In Mexico, tinga poblana—that amazing shredded chicken in chipotle sauce—often began as a way to revive yesterday's roast chicken. Chinese fried rice frequently evolved as a clever way to use both leftover rice AND meat, creating something entirely new and delicious.

Even American classics like chicken pot pie have historical roots as frugal dishes designed to stretch leftover poultry into another full meal by combining it with vegetables in a pastry crust.

These traditions show us that leftover rotisserie chicken recipes aren't just about convenience—they're part of a beautiful global history of resourceful cooking that spans cultures and generations. There's something deeply meaningful about continuing these traditions of transforming humble ingredients into something special.

Creating Your Own Leftover Legacy

When you get good at transforming that supermarket rotisserie chicken into multiple meals, you're not just saving money—you're joining a long tradition of clever home cooks who turn ordinary ingredients into extraordinary meals.

This approach to cooking:

Drastically reduces your weekly food budget

Cuts down on kitchen waste

Teaches valuable cooking skills

Connects you to global culinary traditions

Makes weeknight dinners WAY less stressful

The best leftover rotisserie chicken recipes don't just feed your body—they nourish your soul with their comfort, simplicity, and ability to bring people together around the table again and again.

Ready to start your own tradition of creative leftover magic? Find your new favorite recipes here: Budget-Friendly Chicken Magic

Your Next Kitchen Adventure Awaits

That forgotten chicken in your fridge is literally BURSTING with potential. With the right techniques, quality ingredients, and a dash of creativity, it can become tonight's Instagram-worthy dinner that nobody would ever guess started as leftovers.

Whether you're trying to save money, reduce waste, or just enjoy the satisfaction of creating something new from something old, these versatile recipes deserve a permanent place in your cooking rotation.

Give your leftovers the second life they deserve, and discover the joy of cooking that spans cultures, generations, and kitchen styles—one delicious bite at a time!

[thelogicalghost]

okay someone needs to fucking explain Fallout worldbuilding to me

OKAY SO

I'm a writer and my friends and I get maybe a little obsessed with worldbuilding. Like, famously had a three hour heated argument over theoretical Chinese empirical expansion, obsessed. So I tend to think a lot about worldbuilding when I interact with fiction.

I never played the Fallout games as a kid, I know, sue me, but there was cultural osmosis cause I'm still a video game nerd who hangs out with other video game nerds. So I understood that Fallout takes place in a post-nuclear-MAD world with a 50's aesthetic. You get some scifi elements but it's all that old "classic" scifi stuff like robot butlers.

I assumed, therefore, that the Fallout series takes place in an alternate universe where the Cold War went hot. At the most, maybe it was, like 1975? And the people who designed the Vault stuff were just Old and liked The Good Old Days.

So I was watching the new TV show with my husband when he says, casually, that in Fallout, the nuclear apocalypse happened in 2070.

2070!?!?!?!?!?!?????????

According to the Fallout universe, technology just ... went in a different direction after the Space Race, with little to no improvement in communications (so no cable TV or fax machines or internet) but had other big developments, like putting a colony on the Moon, and a lot of biomedical research, and robots with varying levels of AI.

This is absolutely bonkers.

But imo what's worse is the idea that culture either completely stagnated for over a century, or we hit a period of regression/nostalgia so hard it was virtually indistinguishable from that earlier time.

I'm sorry, but Fallout writers, what the actual fuck?!?

Let me list some of the immediately problems I see with this:

If you're saying all the scientists on earth focused entirely on robotics and medical technology, that STILL. DOES NOT. COVER. 120 YEARS. OF DEVELOPMENT. Especially in a modern fictional context!!!

Technological advancements drive cultural change, which drives technology. Even if we didn't get smartphones, there were changes, and even the most heavily nostalgic conservatives are not going to be the same now as they were 120 years ago. They might be worse, but still, they're going to be different.

Not to mention the culture that built the Vaults is one that's been living in a state of perpetual Cold War for multiple generations. They may be nostalgic for post-WWII picket fences, but that wistfulness is going to feel incredibly different than the relentless optimism that's at the core of the 1950's aesthetic.

This is also absolutely the wrong time period to pick if you're arbitrarily going to decide modern communication methods were never invented. The Cold War was a critical factor in the need for improved security of classified communication, as well as the quality and accessibility of propaganda. IMO a USA that never left the Cold War would have building-sized TV screen billboard ads before the personal home computer.

(funny enough the boom for chemical and biochemical science was already over at this point. There's a saying that WWI was the Chemists' War, and WWII was the Physicists' War, and that's very reflective of where innovators were looking, where funding was going, and thus, what technologies were being developed.)

The weirdest thing about all of this to me is that this is so atypical of all the genres Fallout is leaning on. The 1940's scifi aesthetic at the core of this concept is optimistic exactly because it came before the existential dread of the Cold War; it was that dread, in part, that punctured the post-war dream. Steampunk settings sometimes leap forward a century or two without technological advancement, but the cultural setting of Victorian England is very different and it's plausible that if ideas of the era like "aether" had been proven true, technology would have developed very differently. Then newer genres like Cyberpunk, the ones that came during and after the Cold War, almost always demonstrate how cultures have influenced each other, because the authors of the developing scifi genre had started to realize the future would be shaped by more than just ray guns and spaceships.

So yeah, it absolutely boggles my mind that this is a choice the Fallout writers made and have stuck to faithfully.