#I'm not used to being percieved so sorry if I'm being. strange

[stargatebarbie]

OBSESSED WITH YOUR NEW PFP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are the first person to comment on him who hasn't immediatly said he looks like he's being fucked

[silentmoths]

hello! i hope you're having a good day, i'm the same anon who requested the touch starved masc reader ^o^ i'm here to request something again if that's alright with you - mmmm maybe a reader who is an EXTREME perfectionist, on the outside they are arrogant, confident, and intelligent but on the inside they constantly worry that if they make one single mistake everybody's opinions on them will change forever? they have a mental breakdown & zhongli walks in >:) masc, fem, gn - its up to you! :D

Hello again friend! Sorry I didn't get to your request sooner! but absolutely!! Ft: Zhongli/ Gn Reader Hurt/Comfort, reader's very bad not good mental health, Zhongli being a very good boy, fluff, smooching

SFW

Today had not been a good day.

Stupid, like you can ever do anything right.

It had been a moment of weakness, a question that you dind’t know how to answer immediately; that wasn’t like you.

what if people thought you were stupid? what if they thought you were an idiot? that everything was a lie? That you weren't this cool, amazing, confident person you claimed to be?

fuck....fuck

How long had it been since you'd felt that familiar tightness in your chest? caught somewhere between an unscratchable itch and drowning. That terrible feeling of impending doom, the lightness in your head and the sting in your eyes? It'd been years since you'd had a panic attack, and over something so insignificant as a simple question no less?

you really were pathetic.

what was the point of all fo this? did you have any idea what your purpose in life actually was? 'fake it till you make it' they always said. Who were they anyway?

"y/n.... y/n!"

You can't even stop the shocked, strangled gasp of surprise when a familiar voice calls your name, hand landing on your shoulder as you whip your head up to blink at the sudden intruder to your panic attack.

"Zhongli- uh- H-Hey what's up? Ya need somethin?" yeah even you could tell he wasn't going to let the shake in your voice slip.

Zhongli's face simply softens as he sits beside you, hand shifting from your shoulder to twine his fingers with your own, it's enough to make the sting in your eyes even worse.

"You do not always have to be perfect you know."

"But...if I'm not then...who am I?" the response comes easily, it really shouldn't, but Zhongli always had this strange way of pulling the truth from you with minimal effort.

"You're you. You're human, everyone makes mistakes, even Rex Lapis has made mistakes."

"Doubt it." you snort, totally missing the slight smirk that tugs briefly on his lips.

"You would be surprised." He chuckles, tugging you close and pressing his lips to the top of your head. "For all the bluster and confidence you exhume, at heart I know you worry so very much about how you're percieved."

You squirm in his grip, being called out like this wasn't exactly on the lift of things you enjoyed, but he doesn't let you go, instead he just continues to press soft, teeth-achingly sweet kisses to your hair and face.

"Everyone has their flaws...Take myself for example, I'm constantly forgetting to bring mora, Childe? he can become too caught up with his own thirst for battle to see more obvious problems...Xiangling? well, she occasionally lacks the forethought that not everyone wishes to eat hillichurl skin or slime condensate."

You pull a face, remembering the last time she'd got you with the damn slime condensate.

"You may not percieve yourself as perfect, but no one else percieves themselves that way either. perfection is difficult to obtain and near impossible to hold onto."

"What about Ningguang? she's perfect all the time." You retort, wiping uselessly at your watering eyes.

"Lady Ningguang is not all she appears to be. From a humble but poor family running a stall at the night market, to now, her largest flaw is her obsession with mora, very seldom does she take a break...hm, sounds like someone else I know." He gives you a rather pointed look, using his free hand to gently wipe away your tears.

Man.. It was so stupid how easily Zhongli's words above all others could sink into your very soul, like a hot drink on a cold day, his words and his tone was always exactly what you needed, even if it isnt what you wanted to hear... So you shift, leaning into his chest and inhaling that warm, comforting scent of his. "I guess."

"You keep guessing, I already know." Zhongli huffs with satisfaction, pulling you the rest of the way onto his lap. "How about this, I have a few day's off as of today, shall we take a trip, just you and I? We could go and spend a couple of nights in Wangshu in? Get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a bit and clear your mind?"

Hm...that did sound tempting...very tempting indeed.

"In my experience, when ones mental health is on a decline, a few steps back from general life can be quite...rejuvinating. Take Mondstadt's Archon for example, he slept for over a thousand years." "mmh...I could go for a thousand year nap." You admit, nudging your way beneath his chin, yes, this was good, this was better.

"While I don't think that's fesable for you, a good night's rest will certainly help." Zhongli chuckles, leaning down to press a soft kiss to your lips.

"Come, let's go."

[thechangeling]

I've been working on writting Nairne (autistic character) these past few days cause i had ✨inspiration✨

Ok no i literally just have two birds on a wire on loop but jdjd

And i just realized, of all the things I've read on potraying autism correctly I've always had a hard time understanding and showing her black and white thinking so I was doing more research

Turns out i *had* been doing it right all along

With her brother 🥲

Yeah what's funny is I'm always kind of confused when allistic people say that they don't understand the black and white thinking thing. I guess probably because when you're so used to something and you do it so often you don't really understand how people could not understand.

But the best way I can think to explain is by using an example. Take Anya from Buffy the vampire slayer, an autistic coded character who often exhibits black and white thinking.

SPOILERS FOR BTVS SEASON 7 AHEAD!!!!!

Anya was once human but then turned into a vengeance demon after she used magic to turn her cheating boyfriend into a troll. (I'm sorry I realize hearing all of this with zero context is a bit much.) We learn this in a flashback where we see her as a human being and she was percieved as weird and strange by most people. She is very loving and dedicated to her boyfriend at the time but is angry with him because she's worried about him hooking up with another woman he has been showing interest in.

He reassures her and basically says that he isn't interested in the other woman and no other woman could ever compare to Anya. She takes him at his word because at the time she is shown to be trusting and a little niave. But that gets shattered quickly when he betrays her trust and cheats.

As I'm sure you know autistic people take loyalty and trust very seriously and respond very badly to betrayal. So naturally she turns him into a troll and gets visted by the head of the vengeance demons who offers her the job of punishing bad men as a vengeance demon. He tells her, "but if course only those who deserve it." To which Anya replies,

"They all deserve it."

She has decided now that all men are evil and should be punished. And this line of thinking influences her actions through out her entire 1000 or so years of life, both as a demon and when she is turned back into a human and loses her powers.

Idk does that help? It's the best example I could think of.

[gracie-p8-officialblog]

Spilling Tea On Phantom of the Opera 2004

DISCLAIMER: I just want to say from the start that it is not my intention to offendanyone, you're entitled to your opinions and I'm allowed to have mine...

Ok, so, I just watched this movie a few days ago on my laptop and it was pretty much my first time sitting through the movie. I watched a few clips of the movie on YouTube but... Then, I decided to watch the whole movie. And this was my reaction.

Don't get me wrong! There WERE parts I liked but... That was just half of the movie... But overall... Um... It was meh. Ahem. Down to business!

My opinion on Gerard Butler as the Phantom? Um, wow. And not in a good way. I feel like this was a case of a talented performer being grossly miscast as the Phantom. I think this Tumblr post best describes on what I thought of his singing.

"He's supposed to have the voice of an angel, but it sounds like he's been gargling vinegar" ~Quoted by @faded-florals

Don't get me wrong. His voice is quite good for an untrained singer but... The Phantom is one of the biggest musical theatre roles of all time! It's right up there with Jean Valjean. It's really not a role that could go a competent singer, someone who's never sang professionally before but could be good once they've been trained up a bit. The role demands a truly great singer... And he wasn't right for the part.

His voice felt too strainy, growly and rock-ish for the Phantom. I didn't like how Joel Schumacher bought into the whole "sexy Phantom" thing and cast a hunky heart-throb, who was nowhere near disfigured enough. It's meant to be a gothic thriller novel with a small romantic subplot, not a B-grade vampire romance movie!

As for Emmy Rossum as Miss Christine Daae... it's true, her voice is good. She should know though, should she wish to excel, she has MUCH still to learn (Heeeeehee. Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

Emmy's Christine had little-to-no character growth and personality but I don't think it reflects her as an actress, but reflects more on the director and casting director because of how young she was (but more on that later)

Not only that, her Christine was SIGNIFICANTLY dumbed down and oversexualized. I mean, the entire point of the story is that Christine grows strong enough to overcome the trauma of an abusive relationship and make sure that her abuser never hurts anyone ever again but still shows the Phantom compassion and sympathy. I mean, her story arc is her becoming strong-willed enough to overcome the Phantom's pull/spell/enchantment/hypnosis or whatever you percieve it as on her! And don't get me started on her costumes because of the SEVERE lack of modesty.

The chemistry was a little flat because she was underage and her two male love interests were both in their 30s (which totally isn't HER fault, of course, but the directors could easily have cast someone else older)

Her voice, too, strikes me as being much too young and undeveloped. She has a very pretty, sweet-sounding quality to her singing but she doesn't sound rich and operatic enough to be a convincing Christine. Rebecca Caine and Amy Manford do the best job of singing the way I think Christine ought to sound- a maturing opera voice! Though POTO is NOT an opera (you wouldn't believe how many people actually think it is...), it does revolve around opera, and Christine is an opera singer, not a pop star.

And now onto... Everyone's favourite vicomte!!!!!!

C'mon people, put your bottles down. It is a truth universally acknowledged (or at least in the wee Raoul Defense Squad Circle) that Raoul is one of the greatest and most underrated boyfriends to ever exist in musical theatre and it's almost impossible to hate him because of how relatable he is.

Ladies, puh-leeze. He's much more relatable than you admit and face it, we all have a little bit of Raoul in us. Failure to see things staring us in the face, saying or doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, having a 'see it to believe it' attitude when we have little-to-no evidence on something... yeah, don't pretend you don't see a trend. Raoul is relatable whether we want him to be or not.

My thoughts on Patrick Wilson as Raoul, he was one of the few redeeming qualities of this not so great movie. Yeah, the swordfight and Tarzan leaps were a little too much but can you blame him?! And though I feel like that foppish wig made him look more like a magic elf prince than a vicomte, he couldn't control that!

His Raoul was so gentle and caring! Yeah, his acting was a bit stiff but at least his voice wasn't a chore to listen to, it has this warm, tender, comforting quality to it which suits Raoul. I really loved the way he sang "Don't throw away your life for my sake" and "I fought so hard to free you" in the Final Lair (😭😭😭) It feels like Raoul is genuinely apologising to Christine.

I know, I know... The Hadley Fraser fans are approaching with menacing expressions as we speak but let me clarify. I still think Hadley is amazing but... His Raoul kinda felt a little too shouty for me and his Raoul was closer to the LND-canon than POTO-canon (not his fault though).

Miranda Richardson (aka. Rita Skeeter) as Madame Giry is kind of weird. I mean, I know Madame Giry's supposed to be a little Strange and Mysterious. But this Mme. wasn't really Strange or Mysterious at all, or even slightly Spooky at all. She was just kind of an oddball. Popping up in random places to give warnings about the Phantom and looking at people as if she were questioning their life choices or something. As for her daughter... well, Jennifer Ellison's Meg was so-so. She's got a sweet-sounding voice and that added scene where she looked for Christine in the lair was a nice touch... But... Her Meg was kinda forgettable and uninteresting. Meg is supposed to prance around shrieking that the Phantom of the Opera is here, not whisper it in a blase manner that you half expect to be followed up with, "by the way, what's for lunch?" Not to mention, she rivaled Christine as far as low-necked costumes went.

Minnie Driver as Carlotta was spot on! Yes, I know she didn't sing the score but her acting was alright. She was very over-the-top and self-centered, which is great for Carlotta, but I felt her portrayal was a little too childish to be accurate. Carlotta is a successful middle-aged diva who's willing to scream and storm when she doesn't get her way, but she isn't a two-year-old pouting and throwing tantrums. (Yes, there's a difference.)

Ciaran Hinds and Simon Callow played Firmin and Andre, respectively. Their managers kinda felt like twits and nothing more. Also, Firmin's masquerade costume was ridiculous. The stupid kind, not the funny kind. ...Well, okay, it was a little funny.

I'm not going to touch on every song here, but I will say that "Hannibal" was beyond awful (if you thought the costumes in the stage version were a bit risque, you should see the movie ones- no, actually you shouldn't) and that "Think of Me," while very nice, was not particularly memorable. Christine's dress, however (despite its less-than-ideal neckline) was GORGEOUS, even though it looks completely out of place in a musical that supposedly takes place in ancient Alexandria.

"Little Lotte" kinda lost its charm by being spoken instead of sung. And Gerard Butler's voice in "The Mirror" was too rough and raspy for my ears and made me cringe in sympathetic shame. The title song was like a cheesy, campy B-grade horror movie tbh, trying way too hard to be spooky and chilling ("ooh, look, Phantom's Lair! It's DARK and SCARY down here!") and succeeding only in being cringeworthy. Not that I've actually ever seen a bad horror movie- or any horror movie at all, for that matter. Unless you count this one.

Christine's costume, too, annoyed me no end. She was basically wearing a corset and drawers under the dressing gown. *facepalm* The dressing gown is supposed to go OVER your COSTUME to keep it CLEAN, peeps. It's not a BATHROBE. And the amount of eye makeup she had on would terrify a raccoon. Yikes.

Though I liked the random horse because of its nod to the Leroux novel.

"Music of the Night" was so blah-slash-touchy-feely that it made me summarily uncomfortable.

I'd like to be able to say something nice about "I remember/Stranger than you dreamt it" but I have none. One thing that bugged me to no end was how Christine is no longer wearing stockings, like dude, that gives some GROSS implications. Anyways, let's skip to Il Muto!

Oh, but first I should say that "Notes" was rather a flop and that "Prima Donna" is unmemorable and indeed should probably be fast-forwarded as there's a rather unsavory bit involving a crew member showing the audience what he thinks of Carlotta's behaviour.

"Il Muto," I must say, was pretty doggone funny. Carlotta's "Your part is silent. Leetle toad," cracked me up into a bunch of giggling little pieces, and the little vignette of the Phantom tinkering with Carlotta's throat spray made her croaking later on a lot more believable.

Now for "All I Ask Of You", SQUEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! I honestly can't understand how anyone could listen to this song and still maintain that Christine and Raoul don't belong together. He represents everything she needs- stability, protection, a guiding hand and affirmed affection. She represents everything he needs, in turn- someone to show affection to and his childhood friend.

One thing I definitely think could have been left out was the scene in which Erik kills Buquet- we totally did not need to see him being chased, terrified, through the rafters and finally strangled. Gross.

And the Phantom and his rose crouching behind that statue... I think this was supposed to be sad, but there was too much snot mixed with tears for it to be sad. It was, again, gross. So was Gerard Butler's pathetic attempt at the "all that the Phantom asked of you" line. And the lack of a chandelier crash in that scene made the song anticlimactic.

And "Masquerade" was so-so but... The Phantom's entrance is anticlimactic somehow, and his Red Death costume (if indeed it's supposed to even BE the Red Death) is unimpressive. I don't like how Raoul just runs off to desert Christine as soon as things start looking ugly (yes, I realize he was going to get his sword, but still... something could have happened to her while he was gone. Duh, did this guy learn anything from "Little Lotte/The Mirror"? Just sayin)

As for Madame Giry's flashback immediately following, I like how it gives us some of the Phantom's backstory, but it seems really abrupt. You don't even realize until she's done that she was talking to Raoul the whole time- it sounds like she's just randomly reminiscing about Stuff, and if you didn't know the story you might be sitting there thinking, "who is this strange woman again?"

Also, Christine leaving wherever-it-is at, like, five in the morning to go to who-knows-where, completely oblivious to the fact that the Phantom is driving her. Whaaaaaaaaa? How'd he know she was planning to go for a graveyard stroll? Was he watching her through the mirror again? THAT'S JUST CREEPY.

"Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" was rather mediocre and dulled down the fact that it is a Christine Empowerment™ song. Why, exactly, does Christine's father have the biggest monument in the cemetery? If he were a rich and famous violinist as his crypt seems to suggest, why on earth was his daughter struggling along as a chorus girl taking free music lessons?

The swordfight... Well... I had mixed feelings about it. Sword fights are all well and good, but... The swordfight takes away the element of mysterious danger to the Phantom. Okay, fine, Christine getting Raoul to spare the Phantom's life is a nice touch, I guess, but did it strike no one else that his "now let it be war upon you BOTH" makes absolutely NO sense after that? If she just saved his life, why would he suddenly be all, "thanks, but no thanks, I'M GOING TO MURDER YOUUUUUUUUUU"?

And "Twisted Every Way" was after "Wishing" which made ZERO sense. Plus, I didn't like how they cut most of it because in the musical, it gave Christine a spine!

"Point of No Return"? Hooooooo boy....... There are so many things wrong with this number. Let's just a list a few.

*HOW did no one recognise the Phantom through his "disguise"?! At least in the stage play, it made more sense because of how he was wearing a cloak that obscured most of his body.

*Christine's sleeves falling down over and over again were REALLY annoying.

*It was just too touchy-feely for my taste.

*The fact that Emmy Rossum was a teenager during filming made this scene gross because of the way they oversexualized Christine in this scene.

*Gerard Butler's voice in that scene made me cringe and shake my head in sympathetic shame.

*In the stage play, Christine ran from him, showing her own agenda and resistance to his pull! While in the movie, she didn't resist him!

*Now for the one that took the cake... The disfigurement! Or it would be a disfigurement if it actually made him look, y'know, deformed. Instead, as several people have put it, he looks like he got a bad sunburn or something. It's really rather pathetic. It makes him look more like a drama queen than he already is! Yeah.... I really don't like this movie.

On to... Final Lair!!!!!!!! It was a flop. From Raoul's whining and flailing around and his stringy hair flopping about (shallow complaint, I know, but it's so ugly) to Christine's sappy melodramatic "don't make me choooooooose" faces to the Phantom's prancing around with his ropes and maniacal laughter that somehow wasn't really scary at all... yeah, it was a flop. A major, major flop. And though The Kiss wasn't all that bad, all I could think of was, "She's SIXTEEN! SIX! TEEN! THIS IS CREEPY, DISTURBING AND GROSS!"

Which is why it's so difficult for me to admit that, um, I... cried at the end.

I COULDN'T HELP IT GUYS HE WAS ALL ALONE THERE IN HIS LAKE WITH HIS MONKEY AND HIS SMASHED MIRRORS AND HE WAS CRYING AND IT WAS SAD.

And then that rose on the gravestone? That single red rose? And the look on Old Raoul's face (still Patrick Wilson, by the way, under all that makeup) when he saw it and realized he wasn't the only one visiting Christine's grave? Yup, I lost it again there, too. And I really didn't want to. Because I tend to cry over movies I love, y'know? And I didn't love this movie. At all

Yet I still cried at the end. I'm not really sure why. I think perhaps it had something to do with the way the story still "got" me, deep down inside, despite the lousy casting and less-than-perfect singing and ridiculously unnecessary elements that totally didn't need to be there. It's still a tragically beautiful romance, and even a bad film can't kill that.

In conclusion, I think Mary Poppins can best express what I thought of POTO 2004.

In conclusion, I rate it a 2.7/5