#I love airplanes so much but I don't know how interested people would be in something like this?

[chronicsheepdevelopment]

So what’s your guys opinion on a game starring different makes of Aircraft?

[tossawary]

I was thinking about Xie Lian being able to snap the Xin Mo sword in half with his bare hands again, and then I thought to myself... "Wait, Xie Lian and Luo Binghe interaction could be really cute, though?"

Like, let's say that Xie Lian, during his time as a wandering trash god, accidentally falls into an interdimensional rift and ends up in the SVSSS world. His luck is bad like that. But while this is weird, sure, it's not that bad! The worlds are pretty similar and he can still make his living! So, Xie Lian wanders along as usual, curiously learning about this new world, picking through trash, occasionally punching demonic beasts to death to rescue awed civilians.

And at some point, Xie Lian runs into a young Luo Binghe while he's living on the streets. Let's say that Xie Lian rolls into town shortly before the death of Binghe's adoptive mother, has a few sweet encounters with this cute and kind child who doesn't have much to spare for a trash collector, and is there to comfort his new young friend when Binghe's adoptive mother passes away. Xie Lian is still there when Binghe gets thrown out onto the streets and he agrees to help the boy travel to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect.

So, Binghe gets to spend a month or two as a trash-collecting god's apprentice! He doesn't know that Xie Lian is a god. He suspects that Xie Lian is just a very powerful rogue cultivator who is living very humbly for some reason. The time isn't entirely pleasant, because life is hard and Binghe is grieving, but Xie Lian understands pain very well and is an excellent companion. He sees Binghe safely to Cang Qiong.

At which point, clingy Binghe does not want to separate from this extremely nice person, but Xie Lian insists on it. He wants Binghe to have a better life. He's worried that his bad luck will somehow spread to this poor boy who reminds him of so many other people he's loved and lost. Xie Lian supervises the confusing entrance exam, while the adult Cang Qiong cultivators desperately try to figure out who this strange person is (Airplane Bro is going "???!!!"), and then leaves wistfully. Binghe will later look back on this particular period of his life very fondly.

Xie Lian can then go in and out of the SVSSS plot as a person pleases! I think it would be very funny if Liu Qingge ended up with an unwilling crush on Xie Lian as well, when they have a spar for some reason and Xie Lian handily SLAMS him into the ground. Xie Lian would probably end up running into Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang somehow, both of whom I think would end up being a little obsessed with him.

I think that the best place to bring Xie Lian and Binghe back together is maybe after Binghe escapes the Endless Abyss. So that Binghe can have a nice cry session on Xie Lian's shoulder. Xie Lian can possibly then introduce Binghe to Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang. Or else generally fumble his way through facilitating Bingqiu actually communicating and being less of a painful mess. Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan) is very confused by this character?! Where did he come from??? Who is he??? He's very nice, though, and Shen Qingqiu is feeling maybe a liiiiittle jealous over Binghe.

(I don't know how to handle the System in this AU, but I do like the idea of the System just... not being able to handle Xie Lian. Xie Lian is a god from a different worldbuild. He kind of just breaks everything.)

(If you want to get a little angsty and ghostly, you could have a plotline in which Xie Lian helps the ghost of Shen Jiu somehow. Qijiu resolution?)

Binghe would probably be open to the idea of getting together with Xie Lian as well as Shen Qingqiu. He has a type! He is full of love! But Xie Lian is definitely not interested and is very good at wiggling away from come-ons, so Binghe respectfully doesn't pursue that passing thought / childhood crush, no matter what Tianlang-Jun is saying about threesomes again.

Binghe ends up using the (tamed? broken?) Xin Mo sword to send Xie Lian (his "gege") back to Xie Lian's own world. (Or Mobei-Jun could maybe do it?) Xie Lian has been gone for years and wants to see how his world is doing. Binghe tearfully promises to visit him regularly and to come get him WHENEVER HE WANTS. Xie Lian pats his head and agrees to stay in touch.

So, then Xie Lian tumbles out back into his own world and into the start of the plot of TGCF. And at any point in the plot of TGCF, he's now able to summon a heavenly demon from another dimension (with a super powerful sword that can move mountains?) who would absolutely be willing to fight all of heaven for him.

Xie Lian generally isn't going to do this, because he doesn't want to involve Binghe in his problems, even though Binghe is CHEWING THE WALLS with the desire to help him in return. However, Xie Lian does really like to go out with Binghe and Shen Qingqiu (and sometimes people like Airplane Bro and Mobei-Jun and Liu Qingge as well) to nice restaurants every other week or so. "So, what's new?" "Oh, I've ascended to heaven again and it's a little troublesome, ha ha. How are you?"

Hua Cheng is... nonplussed. On one hand, he's a little jealous. On the other hand, FINALLY, people can recognize that Xie Lian is the best person in the world. Luo Binghe has GOOD TASTE and is just some well-meaning kid whom Xie Lian likes a lot and who rightly thinks heaven sucks. Hua Cheng is determinedly shaking Luo Binghe's hand and giving him advice from a Ghost King to a future Demon Emperor.

(Tianlang-Jun CANNOT be allowed into Ghost City. He will NOT leave. I think that Hua Cheng is strong enough to throw him out if necessary, but Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang would just keep slipping back in somehow. Permanently banned from the gambling tables no matter what he offers, but Tianlang-Jun is still allowed to hang out at the Ghost City playhouse because he quickly becomes the favorite audience member of all of the ghost actors. He has AWFUL taste. Yin Yu hates this guy.)

(Also, I do think that Xie Lian would not really like the Xin Mo sword at all. E'ming is a beautiful baby boy made from and by Hua Cheng, who is Xie Lian's favorite person in the world who has never done anything wrong ever. Xin Mo is some random blade that destroys Luo Binghe's mental health and turns him into the worst version of himself! Xie Lian could and possibly should snap that possession sword like a twig.)

[lizhly-writes]

staring at my sqh/yqy peak lord fiance ficlet. consider this! sqh is still consorting with demons while this happens because why not. mobei-jun still exists and is fully aware of the whole "haha i'm engaged to my shixiong and everything is so fucking weird" and sqh is muttering about this as he looks through some northern desert stuff.

it's just. come on, yue-shixiong. we're engaged, you don't have to keep chasing after your xiao jiu -- not that sqh minds!!! if you two get along, great, that's everything that great airplane god wanted! but like, it gets really awkward when you run away while you're on a date with lil ole shang qinghua, and then everyone starts feeling very sorry for sqh for having a fiance so obviously in love with another man, which, okay, sqh absolutely took advantage of to get paperwork done at first, but it's starting to get wayyyyy more awkward now --

mbj finds himself in the wonderful position of being able to give sqh dating advice. does mbj date? no. but does he know what dating looks like? hell yeah. it seems a shame that his best spy/advisor/friend(?) doesn't know the answer to this.

"hit him," mbj suggests.

"what," sqh says.

"three times a day."

and then we get into a discussion on demon courting and sqh going "haha that's nice but yqy isn't a demon" and mbj is like "i don't understand why you don't try it, how else are you going to get his attention".

"humans don't court by punching people???"

"you don't appear to be making any progress doing this the human way." and mbj says this super condescendingly, too. like hey, sqh, you're such a loser. you have no game. of course you have no bitches. how can you have bitches if you don't punch people in the face.

well, yeah?? fuck you too, my king! it's not like you've ever had a date, are you not launching a boulder while being precariously balanced on your glass peak (me: i'm paraphrasing bu-ding-talk, check them out)? sqh could totally make progress if he wants to! not that he wants to! who wants to make progress with yqy??

anyway, this gets buried until the next time yqy pays sqq too much attention and sqh had the most resigned fucking look on his face. like come on. this again?

lqg is there. sqh makes incredibly awkward small talk. like haha hey how's your engagement to sqq. good? bad? ahahaha yeah, actually, sqh didn't have to ask, obviously it's bad. look, our fiances are running away with each other. people keep telling sqh that he needs to keep yue-shixiong's attention somehow, but all the advice is weird. in fact this guy last week said that sqh should hit yqy three times a day, not that sqh is going to try that --

"hmm," says lqg. "that's not a bad idea."

sqh is abruptly reminded that he is talking to lqg, a man who probably would be more interested in people if they punched him in the face.

"is that what you're doing with sqq???" says sqh.

the answer is no, of course not, don't be dumb. but like, if sqq WASN'T a poisonous snake of a man and a decent human being, lqg would mayhaps have his interest piqued with a good fight. that's so much better than flowers and haircombs. who wants courting gifts when you can have a good punch in the face.

"hahaha thanks liu-shidi but maybe not i think yue-shixiong could probably kill me if i tried," says sqh and scurries away.

fast-forward a week or two, in which sqh is having a stressful time. maybe it's tax season. maybe it's a shitty night hunt that he has no business being on. either way, yqy is there with him and good god is yqy zoned out.

is yqy actually zoned out? eh, maybe not. perhaps he is actually fully paying attention, but also he takes a look at a stand for fans while sqh is talking to him and sqh is like "shit, is this sqq again?" exasperation turning into anger while sqh is just, super stressed, and he just needs yqy to pay attention to him just this once, and the thought occurs -- well, at least two separate people have told him that he just needs to hit yqy --

all this to say that sqh just fucking decks yqy

[ruified]

i just finished osamu dazai’s entrance exam and it was SO GOOD??????? in no way did the anime do it an ounce of justice

anyways, just like last time, here are some quotes and my thoughts

i love love love the way we get to really explore kunikida and dazai’s dynamic as partners in this light novel, it really helps the reader understand how they work together so well

"I'm impressed, Kunikida. Nothing gets by you, does it? Incredible." His smile is cold, inhuman. "I'm so glad you were my partner."

"What do you want?! Why did you threaten the detective agency?! What was the point of killing the missing people and setting the bomb?! You... You were..."

You were so talented.

I couldn't have asked for a better partner.

they drive me crazy i love them so much </3 in this scene kunikida is questioning dazai and threatening his life on the suspicions of dazai being the azure apostle, it’s the way that even though they had only spent so little time working together that they both felt they were good partners

i love how in the ln it’s actively a mystery for those who don’t know what’s going on, even as someone who watched the anime, dazai being setup was pretty convincing

the speech given at the end of it all by dazai to kunikida on the risks of following one’s ideals also carries a bigger impact than what was provided in the anime, it makes more sense

the way that sasaki is also a genuine love interest of kunikida’s is also so heart wrenching, her last words really just hit hard

here’s something i found so sweet

"Hello, little one. Can you hear me?" Dazai takes over the call.

"We here are airplane experts. There's nothing to worry about anymore. We're going to fix the plane. What's your name, little miss?"

"Ch-Chiyo..."

"Chiyo, everything's going to be okay. Got any snacks with you?"

"Mommy gave me this piece of candy..."

"Candy, huh? I love candy, too. It's so sweet, and it really helps you relax, doesn't it?"

"Dazai—"

"I've got this... Chiyo, first, I want you to really take your time enjoying that piece of candy. After that, I'm going to need you to take that device you're talking into and bring it to the captain's room. Do you know where the captain's room is?" Chiyo nods, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Don't worry. There's nobody screaming in there, and I bet your mommy will be feeling better in no time."

"B-but I... I can't go alone. I can't leave Mommy behind..."

"Your mommy's gonna be just fine. The pilot will make things all better. So I'm going to need you to take that device to their room and give it to them, okay?"

"Well, this is just no good. I'm quite weak, you see. A big guy like yourself would snap me right in two... But I promised Chiyo I would save her."

THE WAY HE TALKS TO THE LITTLE GIRL WARMS MY HEART AND MAKES IT ACHE AT THE SAME TIME HE HANDLES IT SO WELL AND THE WAY HE WANTS TO KEEP HIS PROMISE UEUEUE

I tear the stitches off my hip pocket and pull out a sheet of paper.

"...I always have a spare page with me for emergencies."

I unfold the paper and write with my own blood.

"The Matchless Poet: Release Key!"

here’s kunikida just being cool i love him sm i love my wife

here’s some silly ones

"It's this incredibly rare book called The Complete Suicide. I've been searching all over for it, and I just noticed it on display in the used bookstore back there — Ah! I have to go back and buy it before someone else does."

Nobody asked.

"Tsk... Guess I'll just have to come up with another way to use you as bait. I bet the criminal targets tourists. All right, Kunikida, slip on your rubber boots, throw on your backpack, put on your red-and-green-striped shirt, and start walking the town in your knickerbockers. Make sure to bring a giant camera with you to take pictures of everyone who walks by and say 'eh' at the end of every sentence."

"Like hell I will!"

""Like hell I will, eh!'"

"You call that a strategy? That's a terri-"

"A terrible idea, eh?'"

"Stop guessing what I'm going to say!"

"Hmm? In that case, how about you get naked, put on a top

you like?"

hat, and ride around on a unicycle screaming what kind of girls

"We're not even talking about the same thing anymore!"

all in all i highly suggest you read osamu dazai’s entrance exam i promise it is so worth it <3

[ineffectualdemon]

Hi...if you don't mind, can I ask something from SVSSS? What do you think are Shang Qinghua and Mobei-Jun’s greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic? Sorry if you've answered these questions before.....Thanks.

Sorry for the delay! I first read this half asleep and was waiting to answer when I was more awake and then forgot but I really wanted to answer this

Shang Qinghua's biggest weakness is his self loathing

You get more perspective on that when you know Bingge was a self insert power fantasy and that Shen Qingqiu was meant to be very like Bingge as well.

The dude hates himself because of trauma and doesn't see anyway to change his miserable life partly because deep down he doesn't think he deserves a good one. That's why he's fundamentally unable to change the book on his own.

He hides his self loathing under a mask of not caring and only caring about himself (similar to a certain OG scum villian) because that's the only way he can live with what he did to survive and the people he hurt and his own hurt. By diminishing it

His greatest strength is he is actually extremely loyal. Like Binghe if you pour the slightest kindness on him he blossoms. Even when Mobei Jun was beating him three times a day he also protected him. And let's be fair how much did writing about Mobei save him in his first life? The only thing he created for himself.

The second greatest strength is his adaptability/flexibility. He can adapt and change to new circumstances like lightening (ha!). It served him well as an author who relied on his novel to eat and as Peak Lord of An Ding and surviving Cucumber's affect on the plot

Mobei Jun's biggest weakness by contrast is lack of adaptability. Yes he can adapt quickly in battle by using his shadows but he doesn't bother to learn about human customs until almost too late. He demands and doesn't know what to do when his demands aren't met.bHe is used to getting his way and just stone walls until he gets it. He's spoiled (by airplane) and it shows. He just moves in a metaphorical straight line and makes Shang Qinghua move shit out of his way

His greatest strength however much like Shang Qinghua is his unwavering loyalty. Once he is loyal he is loyal until you betray him. He is utterly devoted to Shang Qinghua and has been for decades. Unwilling to let anything happen to him.

His second biggest strength is well he is slow to adapt on his own he does pay attention and listen. He listens to Shang Qinghua tell Binghe that the way to a man's heart is being pathetic. He listens to his rant even as he yells back at the Ascension. He even picked up what Shang Qinghua was muttering to himself. He doesn't always understand or agree with Shang Qinghua but he listens to him.

What I love about their dynamic is the fact that it has the intensity that you would expect of a god and a king who have sworn undying loyalty to each other. But also has idiot to idiot communication AND old married couple vibes

They are intense but they have been together for decades but they were on completely different pages for most of it while also kinda being on the same page. They are the most unhealthy dynamic in the book and the most well adjusted ship in the book. They are such layered contradictions and I love how on the surface it's kinda fucked up because the power imbalance in that Mobei is a powerful demon king and Shang Qinghua is his servant BUT Shang Qinghua is literally this world's creator and made Mobei Jun specially as his ideal man so that kinda flips it

I also like that at the end of the Airplane extras you see Mobei Jun trying to be softer and kinder and give back to Shang Qinghua and you see Shang Qinghua being more confident and happy and asking for things. it shows how their dynamic can improve

They're just so interesting

This was fun :)

[kaibacorpintern]

So true about Kaiba being a moody dramatic Rachmaninoff piano concerto hoe lmao. Would he give Chopin a pass for ballade in g/winter winds you think, or is anyone who writes frilly little etudes automatically disqualified from the playlists on principle?

Oh god so here's my opinion as someone who played classical piano for eight years and interned at a classical music organization for a while: as the adopted son of a rich man who was (according to DM) invested in cultivating some kind of philanthropic/cultured image, Kaiba was probably dragged along to many, many classical music events as a young lad, and sat there in his penguin suit under strict orders not to fall asleep, fold the program into paper airplanes, fidget too much, or let Mokuba fidget too much. What he truly knows about classical music might fill a bucket (the four major eras, the big name composers, some basic music theory) but not a swimming pool.

Like I don't love seeing "rich people" cliches stuck on Kaiba, because his life story is far more complex than that, but I do think this one--"ultrawealthy donor attends a night at the symphony because it's a good look for them, not because they understand the intricacies of Mahler"--might apply here. He IS going to see Yuja Wang play Prokofiev, but he does not know why/how Prokofiev is important, and unless he took a dedicated interest in music (leading to your exquisite insights) he might just slap KAIBA SYMPHONIC HALL atop the arts center, mail over a check for $20mil, and be done with it Gozaburo style.

That being said, this is my answer to your question: I think he pays attention during a performance of Chopin's Tristesse (or, Ravel's Pavane por une infante défunte?) feels one too many feelings, and wants to go crawl into a dirt hole about them afterwards, like a dying animal. But he has to schmooze at the donor's club, so he can't. He is wearing a cummerbund and a bowtie, and now he is twice as miserable.

When he locks himself in his lab later, to burn the midnight oil, he listens to the Chopin again, in private, and discovers new feelings--which are actually just the old feelings, newly remembered.

Also his favorite symphony is Mahler 5. Look me in the eyes and tell me he wouldn't go ballistic for the trumpet solo.

[runwayrunway]

No. 50 - All Nippon Airways Airbus A380 "Flying Honu" Livery

Happy 50th Runway Runway post! I had a bit of a hard time deciding what to do for it - after all, it's a pretty significant number. I already sort of know what I want to do for the 100th post, but I hadn't put much thought into the 50th, and I had to scuttle any plans for something long and interesting after a rather stressful week. Instead I decided to do something both fun and requested!

source: ANA Stories

One (well, three!) of the most beloved special liveries out there, All Nippon Airways' turtle-themed "Flying Honu" Airbus A380. These three friendly giants fly from Japan to Honolulu, delighting anyone lucky enough to see them.

Actually, I love the Flying Honu so much I have one myself.

I would describe myself as a bit of a magpie. I collect useless things, be they historical ephemera, horror movie memorabilia, old books, pretty rocks, or way too many fountain pen inks given I mostly use them to take notes. I even have a bunch of my old teeth in a pillbox. Surprisingly, though, the things my talons have lodged in don't include many model airplanes. I have...a few. I've actually, though serendipity, gotten two more since I started this blog, expanding my collection to a startling five. Maybe seven if you count my Starscream and Brainstorm figures, but I don't think I even remember how to put either of them in their alt modes. The fact is that while they aren't a fortune or anything plane figures are expensive enough that it's a commitment to buy one, and I usually only do when I stumble on a good deal for a model I really want. And one of the few times I've actually decided that I just needed a model of a specific livery was the "Flying Honu" A380. Specifically, the one I have is the airframe registered JA382A, Kai. (She's the 1:500 JC Wings diecast model and is around the size of my hand.)

I just needed to be able to gently tap her nose in person, okay? She can't fit up on the shelf with a lot of my other miscellaneous trinkets so she sits on my desk and sometimes I explain things to her while trying to figure them out, like a coding rubber duck. She makes me happy.

All Nippon Airways (全日本空輸) is a major Japanese airline. In fact, in terms of both fleet size and number of destinations they're bigger than flag carrier JAL. They're consistently described as being among the best airlines in the world for the discerning well-to-do business traveler, and let's just say that's not me, but what I am is a reviewer of airline liveries, and ANA sure has those! In addition to their standard Triton Blue livery they do all sorts of special designs, particularly crossovers with properties like Pokémon and Star Wars. All of these are something I would like to someday feature, but none of them matter at all to me when compared to the Flying Honu, introduced with the A380 fleet in 2019.

A couple of times when I've told people I know about this livery they asked me if 'honu' is Japanese for 'turtle'. That's a reasonable question, but the Japanese word for turtle is 'kame'. 'Honu' is the word for turtle, though - in Hawaiian.

image: ANA

In fact, Honolulu is the A380s' only destination. ANA didn't really want A380s to begin with, but ended up stuck with them while acquiring another airline. The thing about the A380, and the reason it failed commercially and so few were ever built, is that the use-case for a massive plane is pretty limited. It goes as such: you have a passengerbase of people who have to travel from one giant hub that can land an A380 to another frequently enough that you can actually make money on a plane with four entire engines.

Okay, so the use-case is that you're Emirates. ANA might be expensive, but they don't really have the central location or sheer amount of regular business travelers that Dubai does. 'Three' also isn't really that many A380s, which creates a bit of a question of reliability. So instead they fixed the problem in a way that's honestly pretty genius: they made it turtles.

image: ANA

ANA seems to be generally invested in Hawaii, with a fair amount of partnerships with local organizations. A lot of Hawaiian real estate is owned by Japanese companies, and those of Japanese descent are the second-larget ethnic group in Hawaii at 16.7%, so it makes sense that a lot of people would want to travel there. Tokyo to Honolulu is a nice 9-hour flight with no possibility for a stopover of any kind (unless they invent civilian aircraft carriers for A380s), so it's the perfect route for precisely three really huge planes.

images: ANA

They can fit 520 passengers across four classes on one flight, seated across both decks of the massive planes. There is also a section of seats which convert to couches, marketed for families. Those who fly this route get to enjoy rainbow lighting and the ability to buy a duty-free 1:500 model of the plane (not the same model I have, though, I'm pretty sure) or a set of Flying Honu plushes.

Ra looks like she's plotting something. Lani looks like she's never had a single thought in her life.

And they do make money off this, because people absolutely love these planes. People have apparently had their weddings on these planes, and I would too! They make ten weekly flights right now, but in December that will be increasing to fourteen weekly, or two daily.

Okay, so, the actual liveries.

Here's Kai in full-size! The light in my room make her look way cooler toned in the photographs, but in real life she's this color. It's frequently described as 'green' or 'emerald green', but I think it's definitely turquoise and would go so far as to call it blue. Whatever the case, it's meant to represent the color of the sea near Hawaii. Kai is also distinct from the others because of her eyes, which are closed as she smiles from ear to ear. That's why she's my favorite - she just looks so happy!

...a bit weirder looking from upfront, but look how even the ventral fairing is painted! That's part of the flippers where they curl around, tucked into the shell. Unlike the Transocean Air Jinbei Jets, the cockpit windows blend in with the 'scales' of the Flying Honu, looking rather natural.

'Ra' is a beautiful orange, meant to represent the Hawaiian sunset. She has a bit of a peach undertone if you look closely, but her details are done in an extremely vivid reddish orange. Her distinguishing feature are those gigantic eyelashes, similar to Sakura Jinbei's. The actual mouth shape on all three planes appears to be the same, but I find that the eyes still give them distinct 'personalities'. Ra has always looked very thoughtful to me.

Just look at her in flight! I've never understood why people call the 747 stately or graceful, and same for the A380 - double-decker planes are just inherently goofy-looking, and that's great, but ANA managed to make one look pretty elegant. I think it's because turtles are already regarded as large and slow creatures, so fitting like for like just makes it seem as natural for this absolutely gigantic aircraft to be flying as it is for a turtle to swim.

Finally, Lani, the turtle everyone agrees to be blue, represents the Hawaiian sky during its brightest color in daylight. If you look closely, you can see her blue 'eyeshadow', which I've always thought made her look relaxed.

This picture gives a good angle of my only real critique of the Flying Honu, which is that the shells and heads don't entirely look aligned, as if the head is in the process of being retracted. That said, I think that's just a fact of working with the shape of an airplane. There's just no more space below to fit any more shell.

Rather than being just one turtle, though, each "Flying Honu" has two fully rendered baby turtles following behind their 'mother'.

I think this is adorable, and beyond that it solves a crucial problem - the tail. Turtles do have those, but not in a way that maps onto a standard empennage. Instead, ANA makes the smart choice to end the shell at a certain point and add these two extra turtles make-way-for-ducklings-ing their way across the fuselage for more visual interest, leaving the tail empty for an ANA logo without making it jarring. This is a huge improvement over the Jinbei Jets, which again serve as a point of comparison as the other major Japanese marine life planes. (Amakusa Airlines is way smaller and thus not going to get caught up in this.)

I mean, it's hard to find too much to say about these that isn't just "oh my gosh, look at them". The Flying Honu are vividly colored, with clever shapes used to make them immediately recognizable as turtles. I smile every time I see one, including the little one on my desk!

And in case you weren't already delighted, there's two extra bonus turtles!

I think it's pretty obvious I'm giving these an A+. Come on, just...just look at them. The fact that ANA bothered to make three distinct ones with their own names and faces is just icing on the cake for me, but I do love that they did.

I can't believe I didn't find a way to fit this in earlier into the post, but I really love turtles. If you have an aquarium near you, and that aquarium has turtles, I really recommend stopping by to see them. My local New England Aquarium has had Myrtle for more than 50 years. As they describe her, 'the 550-lb Queen of the Giant Ocean Tank is large, in charge, and ready to receive your adoration'.

True to form, although a lot larger and dealing in a different type of fluid dynamics, the Flying Honu jets get plenty of my adoration too.

[joys-of-everyday]

The two SQQs: SY and SJ

Completely different people? The same person? Reincarnations of one another? Foils?

Aiyah, don't you love it when there's enough content to get juicy analysis but just enough ambiguity for wild theories? There's a surprisingly large spread of onions opinions on this topic which is fun to read though.

It has been pointed out by a number of people that SY and SJ are very different from each other (some interesting bits of analysis: 1, 2, funny: 3). Equally noted are their similarities (nice post here 4), and others have picked out things which hint in that direction, such as the fact SY seemingly isn't possessing the body, and has SJ's memories in his brain (5). Of course the system could very much be operating on different terms to the rest of the world, but it's consideration worthy because a subtroupe of the 'reincarnate into the villain' troupe is 'the transmigrater was actually the same person all along'. Even without going into the nitty gritties of how transmigration works, they are connected by their shared body and name - here's a great post on how SQQ describes his own feelings through og!SQQ (6).

Now then *cackles* *rubs hands*

The Lack of Self

SJ is a former slave who does everything in his power to survive and excel. SY is fairly well-off and has a dangerous lack of self-preservation.

SJ is ambitious without end. SY is a wastes his life on webnovels.

SJ is acerbic and stand-offish. SY is softer and friendlier.

They are different people!

An onion opinion I see a lot are 'they're obviously different people so they can't be reincarnations of one another'. Firstly, like bro, do you know how reincarnation works? If I reincarnate into a slug, don't try to tell me that the slug and I have the same personality. Jokes aside, this naturally begs the question: 'what constitutes our soul?', or adjacent: 'what within us is permeant?'.

Some would argue nothing. (And this is a highly radical statement if you think about it.) This is subtle (I won't pretend to understand it fully), but for example what does it mean to be 'selfless'. To do selfless acts? To be compelled to do selfless acts? But what compels me to do selfless acts? An innate 'selflessness' within me? If right now I can decide to stop doing selfless acts, that means I am no longer 'selfless'. So that innate 'selflessness' isn't in fact permanent, so can it really be something I own? On the contrary, if I can't just decide to stop the compulsion to be 'selfless', can that compulsion really be called 'me', since I am not in control of it?

Even without going so far, it's clear that our experiences have a deep impact on who we are. Take Bingge and Bingmei. They are different people, yet they are the same. Their divergence started at age twelve. Now at age twelve, a human is still rather squishy. Some studies suggest (the Best Source is Wikipedia Obviously) that human personality shows most active development between the ages of 20-40 (note Bingge was in the Abyss between ages 17-22).

Fundamental characteristics vs outcomes

Okay, 'they could be the same and still different' isn't particularly useful, but something that could be argued with SJ and SY is that they have the same personality seeds, expressed differently. 4 does this (see above), adding a few points.

Acerbic. Neither SJ nor SY are really people people. SJ’s love language seems to be blatantly insulting people (poor YQY). SY’s interactions with PIDW and Airplane bro need not be explained (they’re hilarious) (and also, SY was an internet troll). But SJ’s acerbic attitude pushes people away from him when he needs them most, while SY’s snarky wit is a joke to whoever has the honour of witnessing it. SJ is perceived as a violent and hateful person (‘I’ll kill you’ he says to at least two people he ends up saving the lives of – Shi Wu and LQG). SY, having grown up in a much less violent society and having much less violent ways of expressing this stinginess (calling for the castration of a fictional character vs. saying you want you co-worker dead), is perceived as far more lovable.

Difficulties with communication. Both SJ and SY are infamously bad at expressing themselves. This gets both of them in trouble. But SY’s difficulties in communication primarily arise around his feelings and his sexuality. He doesn’t have the same distrust of others as SJ, arising in SJ from his many childhood traumas. So while SY manages to create a disaster with LBH, he manages to maintain amicable (if hilariously frustrated) relationships with everyone around him. SJ? A lot of his difficulties with communication come from his strained relationship with his past. He is unable to admit weakness. He cannot ask for help. Ruins everything.

Empathy, but in a funny way. SJ is a funny one. He goes out of his way to save people with no gain on his behalf on several occasions and yet he continuously tries to tell you he’s evil. Then there’s SQQ, who justifies letting a bunch of teenagers die by being like ‘oh they’re book characters’ but then clearly feels uncomfortable about it as soon as it starts to happen. Both of them have this weird way of internally dismissing the fact that they do – in fact – care about people. The stark difference between them is that SJ is much more comfortable with murder and violence, although that’s very much explainable by his background.

Anyway, I could go on (their insanely unreliable internal monologues, their negative self-perception, how they both pretend to be people they aren't...) but the point is that the same personality traits, nurtured in different environments, can produce very different results. On one hand, this is a narrative choice - SY and SJ's parallels are precisely what makes them good foils of each other. But also, these connections are what allows the various reincarnation/SY=SJ with memory loss theories to float. (Then again, different people can have similar personality traits.)

The influence of roles

‘Qingqiu’ is the title of the Qing Jing Peak Lord as much as a name, to SJ as well as SY. So what does it mean to 'be Shen Qingqiu'? (parallel question, I like Doctor Who, what does it mean to 'be the Doctor'?).

Both of them are actors. In their own way, they are acting Shen Qingqiu – the (emotionally constipated) scholar, aloof and restrained. This isn’t like a… bad thing, inherently. We all have different 'faces' for different social situations – people act differently towards say, their boss or teacher, as opposed to their close friends. There's a tendency to view this as 'acting' as opposed to an illusive 'true self'. While there's definitely scales to how authentic you are being (you might feel like you're 'acting' far more around say a coworker as opposed to a close friend), but you could also argue that bundled together, this so-called 'acting' is precisely what makes you you. In acting Shen Qingqiu, both Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu become Shen Qingqiu.

The Influence of Body

Slightly more on the side of metaphysical bs, the body is the bridge between your consciousness and your body. Since we don’t do a lot of body hopping, we don’t often appreciate just how much your body influences your perception of reality and the way reality works around you. (Apparently the bacteria in your gut can influence your moods. Like, isn't that crazy?)

SY is in SQQs body. At least after the Lingxi caves, he is comfortable in that body. He experiences the strengths and limitations of SJ’s physical reality. On a wider scale, he experiences (at least for the first few months) how the people around SJ interact with him. Very literally, he is in SJ’s boots. How could that not rub off on him?

It’s quite interesting that all the peak lords thought ‘oh he lost his memories, that’s why he’s like this’ and just accepted that. Their mannerisms were similar enough for that to be plausible. That might be a sign that they're somehow connected on the level of souls, or it might be something that's written into SJ's body.

(Theory that the mushroom body was 3-4/10 similar to SJ okay bc he used SJ’s blood, but also cuz SY sees himself in the mirror so often that he’s unconsciously accepted it as his own face, the way your internal image of yourself changes as you grow old.)

Same People From Parallel Universes

A sister onion opinion to 'they're different people so they can't be reincarnations of one another' is 'they're different people so they can't be the same person' (I know, the question is funny). Mirror universe in Star Trek anyone? It's the evil twin troupe right?

Conclusion

Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu are pretty different! They also have some interesting similarities. Experiences make you what you are. How much of what you are? ...well that is up for debate.

And of course, for the purposes of writing fanfic, 100% endorse going crazy on the theories. I love Shen siblings. I love SY=SJ for angst purposes. I love SY and SJ ripping each other to shreds. I love SY and SJ making each other better.

[bandydear]

I’ve been reading your tlgbf tlgbl fic, and am absolutely obsessed!! Where did you get the inspirations for dyke Jackie? I love how you’ve written her and her queerness

So, I prescribe to the theory that Jackie had some inclinations about her homosexuality out there in the wild and that's why she's parading around in sweater vests and limp wrists. That the high femme presentation we see in the pilot is more of a gender and social performance than who she is. And, I explored the people pleaser elements that lingered behind in that.

She compliments Nat in the Pilot that she admires how true to herself Natalie is which means that Jackie is not true to herself. She feels the pressure of expectation and lives within that expectation instead of her truth. We are never given a "truth that could crash an airplane" from Jackie. What she says is that she used to sneak downstairs and watch The Color of Night so she could pause it at Bruce Willis's wang.

For research for the fic, I watched Color of Night (the shit I do for art...). Bruce Willis's flaccid dong is there for like, five frames. And, it's not impressive like she claims it to be. You know what that movie actually has a lot of? Naked women and lesbian sex. Jackie's gay.

I know a lot of butch/futch/even high femme dykes who began their journeys presenting heterofemme realness and rejected it when they made their way down the rainbow brick road. Jackie very much gives me those vibes. Like, she has gay energy, but also a very "useless gay man" energy.

I think that finding out "x amount" of her teammates are some kind of queer and that the Very Hetero Sport she's been shielding herself with is uhhhhh Not That is part of what leads her down the path of self-discovery.

She's also shredded. Jackie canonically has an 8-pack and that's interesting because in the 90's, muscle tone was seen as something undesirable for women. (Now, I know that the show is made Now, where the aesthetic ideals are different, but if it's in the text it counts.)

Anyway, this has all been said before in other tumblr posts about Jackie being gay. I'm sure you're asking about why I wrote her as a futch service top instead of say, a femme pillow princess?

It has to do with her character arc. In S1 of Yellowjackets, Jackie's arc is one of nihilism and regression. The only thing that is keeping her alive in this survival situation is her love for Shauna, and when she learns of Shauna's resentment, she loses the will to live. Literally. Dies of a broken heart.

Jackie cannot survive in an environment without love. And, she struggles with survival instincts in general. Which is what makes her a great foil to Nat, who cannot help but survive, and, ironically, dies in S2 of too much love. The moment Nat stopped being cynical and nihilistic she doomed herself.

Two characters in direct opposition cannot exist so therefore they must either kill one or the other other--or change each other to live in harmony. I chose the latter. Jackie softens Nat and Nat hardens Jackie. They meet in the middle. If Jackie becomes hard, and becomes someone who can survive, what does that look like? What's the funniest possible way to get to this point?

Make Jackie the one who builds the shelter. Take this ineffectual, limp wristed twink and show her the way towards self-sufficiency through trades. Her home was broken beyond repair, so she learns how to fix it on her own. The literal is metaphorical and the metaphorical is literal.

So, now that I've explained:

Why Jackie is gay

Why Jackie fixes houses

Now, "why a service top"?

I touch on it in the text, but I don't think she's solely that. I do think that even after coming out, if she was experimenting with people who weren't Shauna she wouldn't allow herself to be physically vulnerable with them. It would cause a panic attack. She has a very Protestant energy and receiving pleasure as a part of sex would probably give her like 5 different mental breaks.

Jackie doesn't enjoy sex with Jeff (oral and hand stuff count as sex) not just because she's gay, but because she's too self-aware of how she's being perceived to enjoy her body.

On the other hand, she is a chronic people pleaser--though Lazy, so I knew she couldn't jump into this with both feet. If Jackie had slept with the girl in chapter 1 it wouldn't have gone well, and it would have been super awkward and unsatisfying for both parties. It's the envy at seeing Nat enjoying herself, and finally being in a safe space to relax a little that allows her to explore sensuality. Still, I don't think she'd let herself be touched in the same way.

If she had, as planned, shared a room with Shauna at Rutgers, I could see her being in a much more comfortable sexual role. Because Shauna was her safe space. But, I could also see her bringing a lot of her own baggage into that situation, and it quickly becoming toxic. I don't think they'd work romantically out of their "platonic" relationship in school, because it had already broken and festered by the Pilot.

Anyway! That's the impetus for Jackie's dykery. I hope that clarified some things. There are other folks out there who have come away with other, valid, and cool conclusions, but these are the ones I came to with my own research and experience. Thanks again for asking!

[accio-victuuri]

yibo’s btf co-star zhai yujia posted on his weibo and shared stories from filming :

caption:

This is the first scene we filmed with Yibo in the movie #长空之王# . Arrived here at three o'clock in the morning that day, the sky was full of stars and beautiful. Although the altitude is 3,000 meters, Yibo still integrates into our test flight team with full emotions and energy, and cooperates with the shooting over and over again.

In the past 100 days, I have been filled with emotions. Time flies, I wrote some memories, the style of writing is average, but they are all my feelings, please bear with me.

Finally, I want to say: "Wang Yibo deserves to be loved by so many people!”

actual post:

I remember this photo was taken by teacher @摄影机 Rita. That day we drove from the urban area to the suburbs at an altitude of 3000 meters at three o'clock in the morning. It was around 4 o'clock when we got there, because there was no light pollution, the sky was full of stars, Very romantic. Yibo had read the script with us at the time, and we met each other. but this day is the first time we were playing against each other.

I remember the plot at that time was "Handsome Gao", "Jia Shengli" and "Lei Yu" and I, Four of us in a car, we don't know where we're going, but we didn't expect to go to Martyrs cemetery. It is a test of our mentality. That scene broke my inherent perception of him.

First of all, I am a dance fan of Yibo. I like dancing very much, Yibo’s locking dance is very good, so I appreciate Yibo's talent, but I always thought that Yibo may be a bit introverted and slow to warm up. But this scene overturned my imagination of his energy. When we acted together in the car for more than ten hours, he never left. He has driven a car, and has been cooperating with our performances one by one (the day we filmed. He have more than 50 takes, and he will always be in a state of full energy. ) We played our favorite songs through bluetooth, together at an altitude of more than 3000 meters. Fang sang along with the roaring vehicles. I still remember that picture, it is so beautiful.

At that moment, my impression of him changed, because I could feel that after learning the role, He wanted to integrate with us quickly. Including when he got into the tent. He has his own vehicle that can provide him with rest, but in order to let us brothers become more harmonious, Yibo took the initiative to move a chair into our tent. For more than 100 days, we had lunch together (I ate a lot of Yibo's chicken breast, meat and beef, thank you so much) Singing together, in the tent together, chatting about scripts, talking about airplanes, playing games, and becoming real friends. At that moment, I felt that Yibo was a very sincere and serious person. He was very unobtrusive and very humble while we were eating.

When we met the test pilot, the light of admiration and awe in his eyes was not fake. At that moment, my greatest feeling was that Yibo is someone who had great respect for people who are talented and responsible.

How time flies, I remember that at this time last year we were still in Tongchuan eating hot pot together, chatting about airplanes, and overcoming various difficulties at work.

I hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with Yibo in the future. I want to learn locking from him!

PS: I want to add that Yibo is a highly motivated person. He's interested in a lot of things and he will work very hard to study them. He's determined to do things well! I remember he especially downloaded a flight stimulation game just to know more about aircraft. He would play the game every day to experience flight and understand it.

What he did inspired and encouraged me. I was positively affected working with such an excellent person.

Well, I’ve talked so much so let me sum it up:

Yibo deserves to be loved by so many people.

link to the actual post

[otakween]

Digimon Frontier - Episode 35

Another hype episode! With all this stuff going down, it kinda feels like we should be on episode 45, not 35. Is there a bonus big bad after Cherubimon? Probably...knowing Digimon.

We got two new digivolutions plus new digivices in this! (For some reason, the new digivices were the most exciting part for me lol. I guess cuz it was unexpected).

Notes:

A very aesthetic episode. Lots of prisms and pastels. The Cherubimon vs. Ophanimon fight was very exciting and cinematic. I was glad to see Ophanimon didn't go down as easily as Seraphimon. Plus she gave the kids a huge boost before her defeat.

Lol poor Goatmon. A bit on the nose to sacrifice a goat, isn't it? The kids didn't react much, but I guess there was no time for that. (Also, Ophanimon gets to be resurrected as a digiegg but not Goatmon, what gives?)

The whole "light and dark powers don't work in this room" was interesting. Frontier has more focus on environments/elements than other seasons it seems (even though a lot of the enviroments have been really boring lol). It did make me question things a bit though. Like don't some of the other spirits just summon their powers out of nowhere? I guess Chackmon doesn't need a water source for his powers because he's made of snow? IDK about Blitzmon though -shrug-

I was a little surprised how easily Takuya and Koji knocked Cherubimon out of his crystal room. Oh well, gotta move the plot along.

Poor Fairymon trying to break crystal with her butt and failing lol how embarrassing...

The way Cherubimon easily fell for Ophanimon's trick and let her use her "love" powers on him...I guess he does love her? That was the impression I got from that scene.

Cherubimon's voice when he was his old self for a second sounded really strange and distorted. I'm not sure if they were combining his deeper voice and his higher voice or if his other version just has a weird voice lol.

If Ophanimon told me to "combine all the spirits into one" I would assume that means to give all the spirits to one person or merge people together (ala jogress) not...one dude gets half of the groups' spirits and another dude gets the other half. That part was kinda weirdly written. Also, how did Izumi, Junpei, Koichi and Tomoki decide who to give their spirits to? Guessing that was just spur of the moment and random. -shrug- When I read the episode name I thought Takuya and Koji would be combining in some way, so that's kind of disappointing.

I have to look up these new digimon online because they whip around and throw all these animation effects over them and it's hard to make out their designs! (Though I assume we'll get a better look later). They're both kinda chaotic and seem really hard to animate lol. KaiserGreymon seems a bit more traditional and gives me WarGreymon vibes. MagnaGarurumon is almost avant garde with how asymmetrical he is. I think that's why I like his design better, it's more out there. I'm especially entertained by the fact that he appears to be part airplane lol. What is this, Strike Witches?

(He looks a little wonkier in the concept art than in the show...I always though "magna" had something to do with fire, but I just it just means "big/great" in Latin. Guess I was thinking of "magma" lol)

[bethanydelleman]

Northanger Abbey Readthrough, Ch 6

Look, I know Isabella is a snake, but she's hilarious! And Catherine is the perfect straight man to her constant hyperbole. Also, the narrator is so freaking snarky in this novel, is given as a specimen of their very warm attachment, and of the delicacy, discretion, originality of thought, and literary taste which marked the reasonableness of that attachment. Delicacy? From Isabella Thorpe? lol

Also, if five minutes = 10 ages... are ages 30 seconds long? Or are we to assume she's referring to the imagined time of 30 minutes, making an age... 3 minutes long. Either way, I love it. Isabella is such a type that you still meet with today. Just constant exaggeration but so transparent. Thrown into agonies! Waiting ages!

So interesting thing to ponder, has Isabella actually read Udolpho?

“Are you, indeed? How delightful! Oh! I would not tell you what is behind the black veil for the world! Are not you wild to know?”

This has two interpretations, one is that Isabella is very willing to spoil the novel for Catherine, the other is that she hasn't read it so therefore she actually can't, for the world, spoil the novel. The fact that Isabella got her list of horrid novels from a friend (Miss Andrews) is another clue. She may just be reading novels to flatter Catherine.

And then we have this famous line:

There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves; it is not my nature. My attachments are always excessively strong.

Bullshit.

For example, this little story of Isabella's about not dancing with Captain Hunt until he allows Miss Andrew to be beautiful? Isabella drops Catherine like a hot potato later when she has a chance to dance with James, even though she promised to stay with her friend.

Miss Andrews also has extremely vacillating qualities within a few paragraphs:

a Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the sweetest creatures in the world... I think her as beautiful as an angel... you have so much animation, which is exactly what Miss Andrews wants, for I must confess there is something amazingly insipid about her

(Also, Miss Thorpe says men don't admire Miss Andrews but is later worried that James will like Miss Andrews more than her... keep your stories straight Isabella!)

By the way, I have read that Sir Charles Grandison was Austen's favourite novel. I have yet to read it.

Also, this is the best description of Mr. Tilney that we will get, past, "almost handsome": a brown skin, with dark eyes, and rather dark hair. We also can guess from Miss Thorpe's description of James and her swearing that Catherine and James look similar (which would be logical), that Catherine is pale with light eyes.

Isabella drops another strong hint about liking James, which of course flies right over Catherine's head.

(this is the airplane of comments going over Catherine's head)

And then Isabella gets distracted by two young men, whom she cannot help but follow, denying that she is doing so all the way.

So human of Catherine to want to keep talking about her biggest interest at the moment: Catherine, in some amazement, complied, and after remaining a few moments silent, was on the point of reverting to what interested her at that time rather more than anything else in the world, Laurentina’s skeleton

[tossawary]

When writing fanfiction, there are a lot of unknowns surrounding Mobei-Jun that I answer based on what I think is compelling, funny, and/or contrasts well against SQH | Airplane Bro. (Sometimes, based on what contrasts interestingly and/or hilariously against Luo Binghe or Shen Qingqiu.) The choices I make for MBJ also depend on what suits that particular story.

An interesting question: "What kind of literature does Mobei-Jun like?" He's Airplane Bro's Ideal Man / Dream Guy! It's fun to think about what Mobei-Jun's relationship might be to fiction.

One choice that I've pulled a few times now is having Mobei-Jun be functionally illiterate, mostly because I think that situation is an interesting / amusing contrast to the guy who technically wrote the world into existence. Airplane Bro was cranking out thousands of words per day to eat, selling out his honest passion for literature, and Mobei-Jun can't / doesn't read.

There are lots of different potential reasons for this! Maybe Mobei-Jun is dyslexic. Maybe he desperately needs reading glasses and doesn't realize it. (Yes, maybe half of his glaring is just squinting.) Maybe his education was really bad because his family tried to murder him too many times. Maybe he just doesn't have any interest in fiction or in reading as a hobby in general, because paper / writing is rare in the Demon Realm for a variety of reasons and he's been busy building more relevant skills.

(Airplane Bro is shocked and offended, yes, but mostly because Mobei-Jun somehow successfully hid being unable to read from him for two or more decades. All of those "you read it" and "you write it" orders suddenly make so much sense.)

Another direction for "Mobei-Jun's relationship to media" that I've been enjoying lately as a premise is that Mobei-Jun is the sort of person who would have genuinely enjoyed "Proud Immortal Demon Way". But, like, in a weird way. Like, maybe Mobei-Jun isn't there for the women or the power fantasy, but he's fascinated by the cage of dissatisfaction, misery, and cruelty that the protagonist is building around himself using empty pleasures and merciless vengeance. Mobei-Jun is there for the tragedy. Everyone else in the comments section would think that he's a weirdo for different reasons, including Airplane Bro, but Mobei-Jun is (by accident) operating on a level where he sees the vision.

Alternate direction on "Mobei-Jun would like PIDW, actually": maybe he would like it because he actually loves trashy drama and stupid catfights. He's there for the comedy. He grew up in an environment where his father stole his uncle's wife and his own uncle tried to kill him multiple times, after all. In PIDW itself, right-hand man Mobei-Jun somehow successfully suffered years upon years of Luo Binghe's harem nonsense, and maybe Mobei-Jun was having the time of his life watching Sha Hualing start shit in the harem, actually!

Maybe in a Modern AU, Airplane Bro would try to sound intelligent and cultured by talking to his rich boss / boyfriend about classy literature, only to find out that Mobei-Jun basically only watches reality television competitions where people are constantly trying to tear each other's hair out for money. If people aren't screaming in each other's faces over a spilled glass of wine, throwing plates at each other over a stolen boyfriend or a ruined wedding, or backstabbing each other via wardrobe sabotage to get ahead, then Mobei-Jun is bored. Fighting matches or extremely dangerous sports are also fine, though, sure. (Airplane Bro doesn't like any of this stuff. He's a fantasy novel guy. He has no idea how to react to this.)

Another funny direction for "Mobei-Jun's relationship to media" is that maybe "Proud Immortal Demon Way" wouldn't actually be weird ENOUGH for Mobei-Jun's tastes. Maybe Mobei-Jun would be like that guy who claims "if I can guess the twist, then it's not suspense - suspense is when I don't know what's going to happen next, period" and reads long-running, amateur, foreign, abstract web-novels that he has to put through an online translator himself. Maybe in a Modern AU with this opinion, Mobei-Jun loyally watches telenovelas and Bollywood soap operas. Airplane Bro comes into the room and says, "Wow, not even any subtitles? You can understand what they're saying?" and Mobei-Jun says sincerely, "No. You have to figure out what's happening without them. This is the intended viewing experience."

[hayateart]

Moshang plot bunny

I have this plot bunny, which can become either a comic or a fic but I don't know yet. It just won't leave me alone but it's still vary vague so I cannot start working on it.

It's basically a hurt/comfort, angsty story, title 'Nobody Likes Shang Qinghua. And that's okay!' Except, obviously it's not.

People only interact with SQH when they want something but they tend to avoid him as a person. LBH, his 'son', simply cannot stand him, mainly due to SQH relationship with his husband. Airplane considers Cucumber-bro as his best friend though he knows perfectly well that it's not the same for Cucumber. He is just a servant to Mobei Jun, while Mobei Jun is his entire world. Etc. You get the idea.

Except that's not entirely true. This is all only SQH's point of view. For so long he had to deal with people who didn't care much about him - his parents and half-siblings, his new parents and new siblings, martial and otherwise. Himself - he is perfectly aware of all his flaws and shortcomings. He knows he is a coward, and a sell-out, he talks too much and is too clingy. He is just deeply unpleasant person to associate with, so obviously, nobody would actually like him.

But people do like him. Sure, LBH finds him annoying and is kinda jealous, but he also loves how his husband loosens up around Qinghua. Nobody understands Shen Yuan like he does. He is also Mobei Jun's entire world - he would not be alive without Shang Qinghua, much less become a king.

There are different instances that only confirm what SQH thinks he knows is the truth until he finally gets seriously hurt. In his own words "At least it was him who took the hit and none of the truly important characters of the story. Because, who is he, really? LBH is the protagonist, SQQ/SY is the love interest and the secondary protagonist at this point. MBJ is important best friend, confidant and advisor. And who is SQH in terms of the great plot? Still but a canon fodder. And that's okay!"

SQH has this talk with SQQ and SQQ could not be more horrified. How could he not notice that SQH puts so little value on his own life and well-being? That begs an intervention!

Generally, it's all about character's self-worth issues and other characters making sure that one feels appreciated by the end.

Problem is, I really can't iron out any details. I caught a cold during my holiday and I can't do much except lie in bed and complain. Also, I run out of tissues a while ago and I'm now using toilet paper, but that's beside the point. I am afraid I won't feel good enough to start working on it before I have to go back to work when my days off run out. After that, I tend to work 6 days [64 hours, to pay all the bills] with 2 days of break [when I'm tired] so any artistic endeavors turn out very slowly.

I understand SQH for writing PIDW the way he did. If it paid my bills, I would absolutely write shitty papapa in hopes of getting at least part of my stories out. Instead, I work a job I can barely stand. Which is almost the same. [I think a lot of us like SQH so much because we can really relate to him. I know I can.]

I will write that fic/draw that comic though. I want to get my feelings out. Just wait for me.

[orangepanic]

1 3 15 and 17 for the fandom ask?

List three positive things about your fandom.

It's the only fandom I've ever been in and it's still the most interesting. It's a huge credit to Avatar and the fandom both that we're still chewing on these characters 15 years later, but there's so much there and so much love for them.

The largely accepted mostly rejection of the comics in fandom. Fans knew when characters were OOC, even in official content, and have largely stood up and said hey, wait a minute. While plenty of people still incorporate the comics into their canon (especially fans of ships that only came together in the comics) by and large it's accepted to say "I don't include the comics."

The Avatar rare pair community in particular is a delightful barrel of wonderful freaks with galaxy-brained shipping tendencies. The creativity and kindness here is stunning. It really feels like, though small and often shipping wildly different things, we have each other's backs.

3. A headcanon you weren't sure about that you have come to like.

That General Iroh II would be a bad Firelord. It's hard for a character I personally love to be bad at something so fundamental, but the more I got to know him the more comfortable I became with this conclusion. He for the most part already knew this. But Iroh is Prince Harry, not Prince William, and with his foreign wife and desire to see the world and seemingly barest regard for the rules I can't see him as the captain of Fire Nation tradition. He wants to be hanging off an airplane, not sitting on a throne, and it would be cruel to both him and his country to put him there.

15. The character that always makes you smile.

The Boulder. I don't think I need to explain that.

17. The thing in canon you love that everyone else also loves.

How Aaang goes absolutely feral when Appa is captured. Let that baby pacifist go on a murder spree. He might not kill Ozai, who perpetuated a war that killed thousands, but if you touch one hair on Appa's fluffy head you are DEAD. It's both fun, validating (because let's be honest we'd all kill for Appa), and a great insight into Aang's character and how nothing is ever simple, even at twelve.

From this Love Your Fandom ask game

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #49

I told you that I'd have amazing pictures for you today. So I'm going to show them to you! Maybe you'll think they're amazing, too! Or maybe you won't; after all, you've got that fancy wing of yours, so sights like these are probably not all that unusual for you.

...With all three of you having only one wing, how is it that you manage to fly in anything but circles, anyway? All of y'all are defying physics like it's no big deal, and yet you somehow have the audacity to act like y'all are monsters and that your wings are bad things??? Do you have ANY IDEA what I would give to have an extra warm, soft, fluffy, feathery limb to hug people with??? I swear to goodness, even if I never hear the word "monster" out of any of y'all's faces ever again, it'll STILL be too soon.

...Anyway. Did you know that my husband can fly an airplane? Check it out!

Ever since his brother, Daniel, died, my husband has been doing his best to honor Daniel's memory; I'll tell you more about that in some other letter, maybe. Daniel was one of the finest human beings I've ever had the privilege of meeting, and those of my house still feel his absence keenly.

To honor Daniel, once my husband has enough confidence and his own plane to pilot, he and I are going to fly all the way to the West Coast of the United States, all the way from the East Coast, where we live. He'll be the one piloting the plane, of course. I'll be around for emotional support, and to make sure that he does things like eat and sleep and hydrate properly. I'll also take pictures along the way; I don't know when this trip will be, so it's important that I get the practice now!

Of course, given that airplanes are crazy expensive, it'll probably be a very long time before we can make this trip. And that's okay too! It'll just mean I'll have that much more practice by the time we get to that point!

In any case, here are some of the photos I took, and an explanation of why I took them!

This is a salad!! I took this picture because this is what I ate for breakfast this morning! It's VERY IMPORTANT to eat a balanced meal before going up in the airplane, even as a passenger! High altitudes can do weird things to bodies, so you gotta make sure your body has the resources to handle any weirdness! I threw together some mixed greens, carrots, onions, green and yellow bell peppers, and tomatoes together, and topped it with steamed salmon (I'll show you how to make that soon!), crushed Fritos (these make GREAT alternative croutons!), and ranch dressing!

This weird circle in the middle of this random field caught my eye as we were toodling around in the sky:

My cellphone camera doesn't capture it as well as my eyes do, but I liked the way the shadows danced around the hills, so I took another picture:

I don't really know why, but I thought the arrangement of the road and the houses was very cute in the snow. I also liked the little river and all the little frozen ponds:

In this one, I was struck by the gentle curve of the railroad tracks as they cut through the landscape:

The shadows left behind by the trees was very visually interesting!! I loved the contrast on the snow! So I snapped another picture:

An arrangement of houses and winding roads. I thought it was cute:

...And then we landed at some very tiny airport! Here:

After we landed, we put the plane in a spot where it wouldn't be in the way:

There were black chickens wandering around the airport!! They were so feathery and cute!! But I couldn't make my cellphone get a good picture of them. I'm sorry about that. But I did get this picture of a puddle that formed from melting snow dripping from a metal roof!! I couldn't make my cellphone capture the depth of the puddle, but I was able to capture the water clarity. It was a VERY good puddle, and I wish it wasn't a bad time of year to jump in it!!

I also took a couple pictures of water freezing as it dripped along a metal fence; I thought the crisscrossing pattern was very cool!

We took off again shortly after landing.

We wanted to go to a specific other grass-runway airport, but when we got there, it was covered in snow, so we had to just turn around and go back home. The return trip from this airport to the one we started at was a bit longer for this reason, and I got lots more pictures as a result!

I liked the way this river cut through the landscape:

I found a pond that looks like a duck's footprint!!

A winding river, a bunch of shadows cast by the rolling hills, the evergreen trees, and the distant mountains on the horizon:

The transition between warmer areas and colder areas. You can tell where it's a bit colder, because there's still snow in those spots:

Rolling hills, and snow arranged in squares:

I found a weird wrinkly hill! And beyond it is a river!

I thought the structure of the highway was interesting to consider. It also crosses over a river:

A field with darker bands of vegetation that flow in a river-like pattern:

I thought that this was a nice, diverse mix of snowy and non-snowy ground. There's a quarry in there, too, and I thought that was an interesting shape:

Shadows cast by the hills. These became more pronounced as the sun sank lower in the sky:

...I just really liked how this looked for some reason:

Funky river is funky!! And I liked the way the sun sparkled on the trees in the lower left corner:

Shadows cast by rolling hills, sunlight sparkling on the tips of trees, and an X made of snow, where the power line crosses some kind of trail.

This is where the trains go! It's a big train junction! I was able to get a picture of the colorful train cars, too!

...And then we landed!

By the time we got the plane put away, the sun was setting. I managed to snag this picture:

My husband made a bunch of friends at this airport because he is helpful, friendly, and kind. We ended up staying for longer than anticipated because of conversation with other friendly folks. As part of that, I met a wonderful doggo named Huckleberry! We became friends very quickly!

...And that is the end of today's adventure! I am back home, safe and warm, which is very good because it's very cold outside right now, as it should be!

I don't know how you fill your days over at the Edge of Creation. But I hope very much that you get to see a lot of beautiful things, and interact with a lot of wholesome, loving individuals. I hope that you can find spaces in which you can be safe and warm. I hope there's no shortage of things for you to delight your senses with, be it a tasty snack of some kind, or a bit of music, or some soft, warm blanket to fall asleep under, nice things to smell, and nice things to see. I know your life has been difficult and cruel and unfair to you. But I still hope that you can find reasons to be glad that you were born.

...Please stay safe out there, okay? Remember that you're loved and wanted and needed. You are a good thing, so make kind and good choices.

I will keep writing to you every day until you can know in your bones that you are a good thing. So please keep your eyes and ears open for whatever my brain comes up with tomorrow, okay?

Your friend, Lumine