#This Vertical Life

[uwhe-arts]

calm down . . . | uwhe-arts

[isjasz]

[Day 165]

This time there is none

[mumblesplash]

part 2!!!! [read part one here]

transcript below the cut arranged into stanzas to help show where the rhymes are:

“that’s why they brought gem in? as a failsafe?” as a pawn. we were told to point her at whoever we need gone

“gem won’t hurt her allies. …yet.” the curse she carries will it’s had its eye on her since she lost the other eye she was specially selected for her hunting skill it’s quite the high honor. “wow. how generous.” we try

think about it: why does almost no one fight the curse? “given how fast scott killed skizz last season, i can guess.” [“any pain you spare your friends, you’ll have to suffer worse”?] it’s designed to shut down higher reasoning with stress

[allthingseurope]

Helsinki, Finland (by Tapio)

[expressions-of-nature]

by Michael Worden

[stainedglass-sketchbook]

CHILDREN OF BHAAL

I adore the vibe of redeemed durge your sister killed your mind and took your place - it was the greatest gift she ever gave you

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

This is the start of something new

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[whetstonefires]

Underrated element of where Jiang Cheng is re: wwx after everything is that they always had a sort of dual relationship. Two different relationship premises, superimposed on one another.

There's the one where they grew up together, as close as brothers, beating each other up and complaining and being one another's closest companions, sharing a bedroom as kids and eating at the same family dinner table, actively encouraged by Jiang Fengmian to interact as equals.

And then there's the one where Wei Wuxian was in service to Jiang Cheng's family. Not as a servant--Jiang Fengmian absolutely refused to do that, even if he couldn't adopt him. But as a disciple of Jiang Cheng's father and recipient of his charity, as Jiang Cheng's future right hand and most trusted subordinate.

It's a vertical relationship, intimate in its own way but with very strict expectations about what obligations flow in what directions; they are not identical and reciprocal as between friends and equals.

(It's my opinion that Jiang Fengmian's core deal was a deep-seated discontent with the hierarchies he was at the top of, without access to any way to actually deconstruct them or even coherently articulate his opposition. Wei Changze was his dear friend, and no one thinks that's a good enough reason for him to treat Wei Changze's son like his own, because Wei Changze was also his servant, and you can't make that circle square. That's not a way you're allowed to love.)

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian were like brothers; Wei Wuxian served Jiang Cheng.

The personal relationship was always the most important one. To them, in their hearts. But it was the other one that was real, that had weight in the world.

And it's important to understand that neither can be held up as more factual than the other, even though they conflict. Both relationships existed, and had power.

So then when Jiang Cheng chose to hate Wei Wuxian and articulate his grudge against him, he chose to do it in the language of fealty. Because as far as he knew, his case there was secure, watertight, and it wouldn't expose him emotionally or politically.

And those are the terms in which he's been condemning him all this time: for abandoning the Sect, for ingratitude, for lack of loyalty.

For fuckups, too, and poor judgment, but some of that now turns out to have been justified and some of it was mostly the fault of enemies behaving badly, or even Jiang Cheng himself allowing himself to be pushed into making unworthy choices.

And it was all for his sake.

The thing, the thing in my opinion, about what Wei Wuxian did, about the core transfer and his silent self-destruction around keeping it secret, is that that is a hideous thing to have done between two people who love each other, as an act of love. Beautiful, but awful. As the man who was like a brother to him, Jiang Cheng has a great deal of standing to object to it.

But as an act of vassalage, it's basically perfect.

If Wei Wuxian were only what he formally was to Jiang Cheng, if he is interpreted through a lens of fealty and obligation, he did exactly what he should have done, and went beyond what duty actually required. And went to his death silently, allowing himself to be judged, taking all the burden on himself rather than let harm come to his lord.

Like, obviously Jiang Cheng was harmed by the part where Jin Zixuan got manslaughtered and Jiang Yanli walked into the line of fire in situations where Wei Wuxian was resorting to violence and probably shouldn't have, but those are one step removed from the core issue. In terms of Wei Wuxian's intentional choices around Jiang Cheng himself, at the times he was feeling betrayed and abandoned Wei Wuxian was in fact being impossibly, poetically loyal, an absolute cliche about it.

But only in terms of the hierarchical form of their relationship.

Which means that even though Jiang Cheng has a lot of reasons to still be mad at Wei Wuxian, his actual complaints that he's centered for thirteen years are basically wiped out by the revelation of Wei Wuxian's sacrifice.

Wei Wuxian was in fact doing the tragic hero loyal vassal thing, which very much includes being misunderstood and slandered by the world. (Chenqing as a name choice absolutely references this expectation, and the idea that Jiang Cheng specifically will never understand that Wei Wuxian was trying to help him first and foremost all along; he is not subtle.)

The debts Jiang Cheng has been spitefully calling in and considering defaulted were already long paid.

So if at this point Jiang Cheng keeps pursuing that same line of rhetorical attack, now that he knows, he'll be putting himself morally in the wrong, and he knows it. But if he pivots to something else, he'll both be signalling the shape of that secret to the entire world and looking like a prize idiot.

Which is already how he feels.

To actually address the remaining grievances between them, which are considerable, would require releasing those safe, open grudges to Wei Wuxian's face and then reclaiming him as a loved one. Which is, one could fairly say, more than anyone could expect.

Which is why Wei Wuxian told him he didn't have to.

Which leaves Jiang Cheng at something of an impasse.

[every-thing-is-copacetic]

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧༺♡༻✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Piercing on your lip, it's perfect. Never seen another girl this perfect.

[ehlihr]

i have never empathized with someone more than when i was selling our couch on fb marketplace and i sold it to some 1st year kid and her mom and they came to pick it up and i thought that our double doors would have no problem opening but the bottom latch on one of the two had literally rusted shut and would not budge bc we had not opened it in maybe like six years of living in that house and we tried the couch a couple ways and i was like okay its fine lemme try to unscrew it and use some wd40 sorry for the inconvenience and they were like its okay so i tried that and it didnt work and i was like okay well lets try the couch vertically and the mom was like no let ME try and she takes the hammer and screw driver and just starts going at my door and i didnt want to be rude bc you are buying my couch but lady if you damage our door its on You and her daughter was like. doing the public begging you do with your parents when theyre pushy and embarrassing in public (this would repeat itself a week later when someone buying another piece of furniture whacked our car parked outside bc they were hustling carrying it to their car and refused my help and that guys daughter looked horrified) and eventually i convinced her to stop hammering at my door bc no matter what i said for like twenty minutes she kept going and i was trying to come up with polite excuses like oh maybe youll break the screwdriver and she was like no its not gonna break and like idk how do you not have the self awareness to realize that when your daughter and the stranger whose front door you’re trying to demolish are begging you to stop that you should maybe stop. anyway we tried the couch vertically and it worked. not worth the money but worth the experience for sure.

[hashtagartistlife]

odd little comic that’s been in the drafts for a while

[qc-wiggles]

HELLO, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION TO ME. ('cause I am short)

Is Jon canonically short or is it just very widespread headcanon?

the inspector calls him a 'scrawny little tit' in mag185, so make of that what you will. another point to consider is the route of his ventures out into greater society (easier to pick up and kidnap, throw into boots of cars, threaten with a slit throat, et cetera). i've seen some earlyish (s2-3?) fanart where he's taller than martin though

he's short to me. my little prada purse chihuahua man.

[dizquized]

FOR YOUR OWN SANITY, do not look in the tags, dont do it. its not worth it. a demon possessed me or something, i dont know.

[mattodore]

they're the 🐺 and 🐇 emojis

[s-m0keys]

Giraffe Pair at Sunset. By -  Robert Goodell

[sillyfairygarden]

getting lost in the rendering sauce again