themaidenhair

[themaidenhair]

Wherein both FL and 2nd FL lose interest in the 2nd ML, their first love

If you think about it, the story of Love Between Fairy and Devil could be summed up as “local man sets the world on fire with his passion for gardening.”

[themaidenhair]

Fairy with high ambitions to become a palace maid accidentally becomes moon Queen

If you think about it, the story of Love Between Fairy and Devil could be summed up as “local man sets the world on fire with his passion for gardening.”

[themaidenhair]

How about "House plant evokes unfathomable passions in an emotionless man with a tragic childhood and a thing for napes" 😅

If you think about it, the story of Love Between Fairy and Devil could be summed up as “local man sets the world on fire with his passion for gardening.”

[themaidenhair]

Can we all agree that Love between Fairy and Devil has the most beautiful and wholesome ending of all time 🥲🥲🥲

[themaidenhair]

Love like the Galaxy Ep 34

I'm confused with the subtitles - did NN and LBY get engaged or did they get married??

[themaidenhair]

Love like the Galaxy Ep 27-28 thoughts

NN has had enough of LBY's ways, she's not happy about her lifestyle being upended without notice - uh uh but what's interesting is - subconsciously she's trying to figure out if she likes LBY enough to put with all of the power imbalance - this is striking because one of her main reasons for saying yes to Yao was her notion about being equals and leading a life as such.

By the end of the episode she figures her liking him can't compensate for all the "oppression" she'll be subjected to.

I love how steadfast LBY is. He's upset but then realizes he can't give her up. Good for him, his one and only choice of partner happens to be a very rational woman, and one willing to take risks.

And I love how LBY lights up like a 100watt bulb whenever NN's around. He's so precious when he's not out avenging.

[themaidenhair]

@dangermousie @silentlurkingbluey regarding NN's realization about power and influence and her quest for equality - I just got reminded of a quote from this movie called Anna and the King where the king remarks that Anna considers herself not just equal of a man but equal of a king.

NN's lack of understanding of hierarchy makes for the same case - that she wants to be considered as equal of LBY - be recognised like him for her own merits and all. And she's always up for taking challenges - I think LBY would be a very interesting one even though she's not excited about the prospects at the moment.

@silentlurkingbluey interesting point about childhood starvation! Makes so much sense! Love the post BTW

Thoughts ep 25-26

- there is something incredibly sweet about LBY going around telling people (his mum, his uncle’s subordinate) that he’s getting married. 

- LY’s wedding party was such a mess but LBY’s extreme protection of SS, rules of social conduct be damned, is kind of impressive. It was satisfying to watch him shut those awful girls up; trashman even better.

- LBY drinking from SS’s cup had my teenage self squeeing… 

- SS being hypersensitive to the imbalance of power between them is rational, and something he’s having a hard time to understand because he has never been as powerless (not since being lost at war with his mother); but also because he is 100% secure in his forever love for her, which ‘evens the score’. Unfortunately for him, SS does not believe in forever anything and sees human relationships in general and romantic ones in particular as an exchange, in this instance security/protection being exchanged for freedom.

- it’s bad that they’re arguing already, but it is also good in that at least they are talking about things openly. he is bossy by nature, she hates being bossed around so they do need to figure it out.

- when she said that he asked for her hand in marriage without reason I think he was both surprised and hurt (I agree w her dad that she tends to use words to lash out when challenged or uncomfortable, even when she does not mean it).

- one sees the subtle effects of childhood starvation coming up in SS’s relationship to food as an adult (her liking Yao has a lot to do with him feeding her; then there’s the always having backup food in pockets and eating when stressed, picking up food from the floor to not waste it…)

- the machinations of the Ling family and deluded princess are as irritating as they are predictable. Was satisfying for LBY to just declare his family useless/irrelevant and getting the emperor to act as elder for the full proceedings

- lord ruyang (love him!) and SS’s interactions are fun (she looked so cheerful when hearing someone wants to mess up with the marriage, poor LBY would be in tears if he saw it)

-LBY’s minions are hilarious, and so are NN’s brothers

- LBY really likes the ‘i have a personal army so i’ll make a big entrance’ approach to wooing, but he’s again getting between NN and food so minus points. but the shamelessly (what else is new) inviting himself to their family table was cute. that was one cringeworthy meal but you do have to give him credit for trying (not that SS appreciates it at the moment)

- looking forward to the moment when she finally explodes at him. given the look she gave him after the i added some bodyguards to your door episode she’s very close to

- i find it all so realistic that their relationship status change is far from meaning a done deal but rather the beginning of a lot of effort needed to get themselves on the same page and to make it work.

PS: can someone explain to me what that supposed joke was about? i don’t get in which way what he said could be construed as funny. Some wordplay? or was it just lost in translation? i get that the delivery was not working because of LBY but i cannot imagine anyone making that story sound funny.

PPS: anyone who happily tolerates Cheng furen’s mortifying behavior can only be madly in love. the cringe factor was off the scales but as long as someone says he and SS make a good couple they get a free pass to anything in LBY’s book.

PPPS: LBY has always been my favorite character in this but these episodes showing him as clueless and bumbling, also giddy about the idea of spending his life with NN was the most endearing version of him yet.

PPPPS: about the meal again: LBY is so often alone… that was probably the closest he got to having a regular family meal in 20y. and with his number one favorite person at the table (NN) to boot! no wonder that he shines like a 200W bulb.

P^5S: when LY interrupts the trash-talk between LBY and trashman by interjecting an “In any case, CSS is the greatest!”, i found it very revealing that trashman replied by a ‘shut up’, while LBY said ‘Of course she is!’ When it comes to SS vs ego, he keeps making the right choice. And that is the millionth reason why trashman can never get the (or really any) girl.

P^6S: I am a little puzzled by SSs feelings towards LBY at the moment. Pre-engagement he has been nothing but nice to her and i would have said that their relationship, although not (consciously) romantic on her end, was pretty good. Post-engagement she is on the one side mad at him for his family showing disrespect, on the other super keen on breaking the engagement and back to systematically suspecting his motives. I get why she’d be mad at his attempt at controlling her eating, that was uncalled for even if he tried to use it as a starting point of conversation rather than plain managing her. I even get why the main take home from his way of protecting her at the party would be wow if you have power you can get away with all sorts of crazy shit whereas my family and I can only suffer through the indignity. But i am unsure what she most resents him for: for the inequality in power? forcing her hand? or for not doing a better job at reassuring her that he wants her for her and that he’ll not try to change her? time will tell

[themaidenhair]

I was worried for nothing lol

LBY wooing game is 🔥🔥🔥

"When I was a child - I always came here to watch the myriad of twinkling lights dazzling brightly like the stars. Among these bright lights, it would be nice if I could have a bright light, that's truly mine. Look at the brightest star in my eyes... That's you."

[themaidenhair]

Love like the Galaxy Ep 25-26 thoughts:

My poor NN - she hits realization upon realization about power and influence and her own lack of them. She's right about everything - how her future husband will be controlling (which is already happening even though I can well understand LBY's good intentions) - her quickly diminishing independence.

Oh gosh! How will she fall in love with him like this! She'll resent him, be cold to him (which is already happening) and push him away.

The agony of waiting for more episodes! 😣😣😣

[themaidenhair]

Love like the Galaxy Ep. 24 thoughts:

NN yet again makes the practical choice - she agrees to marry LBY not because she's in love with him (I don't think she is, yet) but because that's the right choice given the circumstances (wanting to save her family from the emperor's wrath).

What she does know for sure is LBY is a dependable guy and would ALWAYS stand up for her - he has proven that time and again. Moreover, he defends her when her own mother (I can't even-) publicly humiliates her (has that woman ever said a kind word to NN??).

Would NN choice LBY over Yao if both proposed at the same time and were available? Would be interesting how she'll rationalize one over the other.

[themaidenhair]

I can't

- stop laughing

- wait

- stop gushing

General Ling for the win, y'all!

[themaidenhair]

Can't wait for Ep 22 - although I'm still at Ep 16!

[themaidenhair]

When the YouTube algorithm knows exactly what you need:

[themaidenhair]

@dangermousie​ - Anon tree here - the AMA section has a word limit - so had to create a tumblr account lol. 

The last para of yours here, gave me an insight:  The more HY will insist on this crazy hook-up stuff, the more XQC will become distant from him emotionally and then at some point once the teenage hormones come under HY’s control, he’ll realize the magnitude of his actions and take the Mo Ran trademark route of “Xie-gege, please pay attention to me.” But, I’m so much more invested in XQC now - he’s far more complicated than MX and CWN and in that respect MB set herself a higher goal here. XQC does not love HY, he doesn’t even know what “love” means (apart from the sibling-paternal duty oriented love). He doesn’t know how to process his emotions let alone “feel” them. (except for all the repressed rage that is coming out) I’m looking forward to XQC’s transformation. It will be one hell of a journey! P.S.: Love MB’s humor so much lol - I read a snippet of Ch 64 English translation and lmaoed so hard when XQC rebukes HY’s attempt at trying to make it sound “sexy”: (paraphrased dialogue) HY: I’m going to put it in, now. XQC: STFU, stop broadcasting the progress (and get done with it) XQC is SO done here. lol

Anon tree again, thanks for the snippets of the author’s note - I admire Meatbun a lot - the way she clearly distinguishes the finer nuances of morality, depravity and humanity is quite compelling. XQC’s actions make so much sense now - he thinks of himself as a tool - only giving and never expecting anything in return. Why would a tool need sex drive, right? This poor guy - I want all the wholesome things for him! He needs to learn self compassion - don’t know how we’ll get there tbh.

Yup! I trust Meatbun to get us there, but I know it's gonna be painful.

Your point that a tool doesn't need a sex drive explains everything about sexual stuff vis-a-vis him. His agreeing to HY's objectively ineffective blackmail and having sex with him is in a way same as regular duty sex he had with his ex wife.

In both cases, he did something he did not want to and expected no pleasure in, because he ought. With He Yu, he has no interest but such a minor (!) unpleasantness is worth it to keep XX out of the mess and HY from bothering him enough to create scenes and, once again, drag XX into the mess and create messy emotional environment and all that. But it's the same with his wife! He never loved her - she chased and he gave in probably because it was more efficient - same as with He Yu, notably. But he also never wanted her. It's clear he enjoyed sex with her zero and would have been happy to never do it, but they were married and it was his obligation so he did. What he wants or doesn't want as a human doesn't really matter and what matters is what he thinks he's supposed to do and what is least bother for those he's responsible for.

Because yes, "lie back and think of England" sex with one's spouse is not fully the same as noncon/dubcon with He Yu but it also is - it's the same in nature really - he does not want to have sex with that person at all, and if allowed his wishes (hell, if he processed he had wishes), he wouldn't. But he has sex he does not want with the person he does not want it with because what he wants does not matter and does not even enter into equation. His body is a tool and will do what it ought.

It's pretty fucked up that, as I mentioned some time ago, the thing that bothers him most about the club is not the drugs or the rape but the fact that he actually lost control and enjoyed himself (and not in a "I enjoyed being raped!" but "I enjoyed myself at all!" way) because unpleasantness, any degree of unpleasantness, he has to put up with is familiar and he can process and store away - this particular unpleasantness may be new in nature but it's just one more shade of awful and he's used to that. That does not go against his self-image. But actually losing control and feeling pleasure and passion is very much against his conception of self and so that becomes his nightmare.

It also plays into the fact that XQC puts people in two buckets only - the very small number he feels responsible for and the rest (some of the rest he's indifferent to, some are necessary evils.) But his bodily boundaries don't correlate with what bucket he puts that person in, but merely what he thinks ought to be done vis-a-vis that person. I am not sure if I am expressing it well but think of that homeless man. He did his utmost to save him and he was a total stranger, because that's what you do. Or take He Yu - while He Yu is giddy about how he's closer now with XQC, the irony is, He Yu moved from one bucket to the other even as physically they did something so intimate. He really just exists. For all his many obvious issues, He Yu's attitude is the more expected one - he received a lot of pleasure in bed, he wants more and he's developing (well, in HY's case developing consciously, subconsciously they were always there) feelings for the person who gave him that pleasure. But XQC? Oh, XQC!