#caught in whirlwind

[wangmiao]

Wang Longzheng as Jiang He & Wang Qianyuan as Wang Liwen in Faces in the Crowd | 暴风 (2023)

[some-pers0n]

I think so much about the tragedy of Arctic and Foeslayer. They were both young, newly adults who were sick and tired of living under the oppressive rule of their mother's. They wanted freedom and peace from it. When Foeslayer and Arctic found each other and found common ground with their desires to escape their lives, they fell in love; both with each other and with the idea of running away from their family. That the other was their way out of their pre-determined life. That they had some control and now's the chance to run.

They weren't thinking and were running off of blind admiration and a dream of no longer being bossed around. They didn't know that their actions would bring forth a war. I think when the initial euphoria of being free wore off and the reality of the situation sunk in is when they realized they weren't so much in love with the other as they were with the concept of escaping their miserable lives.

But, here they are together. Dragons are dying because of their impulsive actions. They have two dragonets they have to raise. Each passing day they can't stand each other more and more. It was doomed to fail. A tragedy in every sense of the word

[mistergreatbones]

Tim thinks the reason Dick is so insistent on always being there whenever the brothers hang out is to keep Damian and Jason from ganging up on him when in reality it’s to keep so Dick can keep the focus on him so Duke and Tim don’t start making small talk and accidentally take over the world as an experiment

[coldshrugs]

the economy of love in close quarters, a learned thing

[mihai-florescu]

I made this a few hours ago before leaving. Target audience...? Well, me!

[petrichorium]

My interpretation of the high cloud polycule is SO insanely messy I’m realizing holy shit

[suddencolds]

Fool Me Twice [4/?]

After more than a month, I'm back with this update which is... not extremely long, but I figured I would post it before I lose confidence :')

Part 4 ft. (the aftermaths of) fake dating, a cold, and an office conversation

You can read part 1 [here]! (No additional context is needed aside from the previous 3 parts.)

—

Work resumes on the 3rd. Yves thinks of all the ways he might thank Vincent for all the trouble—a late New Year’s gift? (But he doesn’t know what Vincent would like, except presumably useful things, but if they’re useful, shouldn’t Vincent have them already?) An invitation to dinner at some nice restaurant? (But what if Vincent sees it as another inconvenient proposition—as more time outside of work which he’ll be obligated to spend with someone he doesn’t even know that well?) A gift card to a nice restaurant? (But would that not come across wrong—presumptuous at best, condescending at worst?)

Normally, Yves would ask Margot—ever the voice of reason—for advice, but it occurs to him, now, that he won’t be able to consult any of his college friends about this if he intends to keep up the lie.

And there’s that, too. If he intends on going to any future events that Margot—or any of his other college friends, at that—will host, he’ll have to tell them that he and Vincent have broken up since (which will only serve to prove Erika’s point that Yves isn’t everything he’s made himself out to be—at least, when it comes to relationships), or think of some sort of way to excuse Vincent’s continued absences.

If one thing’s for sure, it’s that asking any more of Vincent than he’s already asked is entirely out of the question.

Yves drives himself to work on Tuesday morning, gets to his office earlier than most, says hi to Cara and Laurent, and gets to work. It’s easy enough to settle into work again, to a 10am meeting with the team and another couple calls with clients, to all the paperwork and data analysis he’d for himself before the winter holidays.

Vincent usually gets to work early—he’s always there when Yves gets to the office—and stays late. He’s usually at the break room at 10:15, unless he has a meeting of some sort, for his usual morning coffee. He works on the same floor, but his cubicle is far enough away that Yves can’t see him from where he sits. 

Yves doesn’t look for him. Better to catch him in the morning in the break room or at lunch in the company cafeteria, Yves thinks, as to not risk interrupting him in the middle of something important.

But Vincent—despite showing up to a morning conference with the team—is surprisingly absent from the break room at 10:15. And then Yves ends up working with Cara on an upcoming presentation until 1, and when he gets to the cafeteria, Vincent isn’t there, either.

It’s unfortunate timing, or perhaps Vincent is just unusually busy. Yves knows he does a lot of work behind the scenes, from the few times he’s asked him what he was working on and gotten an intimidating list of projects in response. When he passes Vincent’s desk in the early afternoon—more precisely, when he decides to take the long way to the break room—he finds Vincent speaking with Angelie, one of the new hires, their heads ducked together over the harsh glow of Angelie’s laptop screen. He watches as Vincent gestures to something on the screen and says something too quiet to make out from this distance, and Angelie nods, jotting something down onto a notepad she’s holding.

How formal, Yves thinks. It isn’t long ago that he was in her shoes, new and intimidated by the formality of the workplace, asking Vincent for help and tabling everything he thought might be of note.

He doesn’t think much of it—only that of course Vincent is busy; Angelie is right to think that Vincent has the kind of expertise that will really be useful to her, and the patience to walk her through it with a level of thoroughness Yves is frequently impressed by, or else she’s just gotten very lucky.

The afternoon passes quickly enough. All of a sudden, it’s 5, which is around the time when Yves usually leaves, and he still hasn’t spoken a word to Vincent all day.

Against better judgment, he takes his briefcase with him, heads toward the sector of the building that Vincent works in. Tells himself it’s just on the way to the back door exit. Tells himself a short exchange wouldn’t hurt—would it really be so wrong to invite Vincent out to dinner, or at the very least, to offer him the thank you he so unquestionably deserves?

He half expects Vincent to be gone already, considering that he’s probably been here since 7:30. But when he gets there, Vincent is at his desk, as usual, cross-checking several documents he’s printed out.

“Hard at work, as always,” Yves says, stopping just short of his cubicle.

“Yves,” Vincent says, though he doesn’t offer any further note of acknowledgment. He looks tired, Yves realizes, from the slight tension to his posture, the way he blinks hard behind his glasses, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. But of course he’s tired—he’s been here for almost ten hours already.

Yves waits for him to finish what he’s doing—to look away from the monitor screen, even just for a moment—but he doesn’t.

“Are you planning to stay much later?” Yves asks, at last, though he gets the feeling that he should leave.

“Most likely,” Vincent says. “Is there something you need me to look over?”

“No,” Yves says. “But I was wondering—”

“I’m very busy today,” Vincent cuts him off, paging through one of the documents that’s laid out over his desk. “So if it’s not work related, now’s not a good time.”

It’s then that Yves realizes—Vincent must think he’s about to drag him into another one of his fake-relationship arrangements. 

“I don’t need anything from you,” Yves says, faltering. “I’m just—it’s getting late, and you’ve been here all day.”

“Yes,” Vincent says. “Like I said, I’m very busy.” He pauses to highlight a line of numbers, scribble something into the margins. How he can concentrate on his work and the conversation simultaneously, Yves doesn’t know. “If you have work for me, feel free to leave it on my desk, I’ll get to it tonight. Otherwise, I’d appreciate it if we had this conversation later.”

“Noted,” Yves says. He tables the dinner conversation for later, sets his briefcase down on the floor so that it leans up against the wall. “Let me help.”

Vincent frowns, his eyebrows furrowing. “It would take longer for me to explain this to you.”

“You don’t need to explain anything,” Yves says. “I can look over the documents myself.” He takes a step closer, peers down at the papers strewn across Vincent’s desk—earnings reports and expense reports, mostly, and a couple marketing proposals.

Vincent reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “That would require you to know the context.”

“I’ve dealt with a hundred of these in my life. I promise you I know what I’m doing.”

“Then you’ll have to spend more time telling me your findings,” Vincent says. “Better to not split up the work at all.”

“It would still be faster than going through them yourself.” 

“Hardly.”

Perhaps Vincent doesn’t trust Yves to get things done to the standard that he expects, then. Yves thinks he’s worked here long enough to consider himself decently qualified, but they haven’t worked together closely on anything since Yves’s first couple months at Evertech, and so he doesn’t fault Vincent for being wary.

Still, Yves thinks he can be useful here. And maybe there is something selfish to it, too—to wanting to be as useful to Vincent as Vincent had been to him, to wanting to prove that he is capable of helping in the first place, of offering something of value—but even aside from that, he’s worried that if he doesn’t step in, Vincent might be here all night. It doesn’t seem like much of an impossibility, considering who he’s talking to.

“You’ve been here for hours,” Yves tries. “It’s only our first day back.” He looks around—perhaps there’s someone else here that could help, someone who’s worked here longer than Yves, who Vincent trusts. “You don’t have to let me help. But at least hand some of it off to someone you actually trust, or tell Charlene that she’s given you too much work this week, or both.”

“It’s no more work than usual,” Vincent says, with a sigh.

“And yet, you’re planning on staying late.”

Vincent looks up at him, at last, his expression unreadable. “I’m capable of doing my own job, Yves.” His voice is curt, almost snappish. “I really don’t have time to argue with you right now.”

Yves wants to say, of course I know that. Vincent is nothing if not qualified—Yves has never doubted that for a moment. He wants to say, I want to help you regardless.

But that would only be presumptuous. He doesn’t know Vincent that well. Besides, it’s really none of his business—they’re coworkers, not friends. Vincent knows what’s best for himself. The best thing Yves can do right now is to stay out of his way.

“Okay,” Yves says, a little defeated. “Good luck on your work. Make sure you get some sleep.”

There’s no response to that—no acknowledgement that Vincent has heard him at all, even though it’s quiet enough in the room that he must have. Yves turns to get his briefcase. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Vincent jerk forward suddenly, his shoulders tensing with a near-silent—

“HhH’Gkt-!”

Yves bites back a reflexive bless you. It’s just one sneeze. It doesn’t have to mean anything. But Vincent sniffles, pressing his knuckles up to the underside of his nose, to stifle another—

“HhH’NgkT-!”His breath hitches again, his eyebrows drawing together as he jerks forward again, with a quiet but painfully forceful, “Hh… hEH’NGXt!”, crushed into his fist.

He sniffles again, reaching across the desk to snag a tissue from the tissue box that, Yves realizes with a jolt, is usually not present on his desk. He sighs quietly—the sort of tired, drawn out exhale that leaves no question about how tired he is—and reaches up with a hand to gingerly massage his temples. The slight grimace that follows is almost certainly indicative of a headache. 

Yves considers asking Vincent how he’s feeling for all of two seconds before he remembers the almost-hostility with which he was just faced. Perhaps it would be better if he pretends to not have heard. Briefcase in hand, he quickens his pace, ducks out of the exit, and heads down the stairs. 

Vincent spent his New Year’s Eve with him, at a party surrounded by strangers—even though Vincent dislikes parties and probably dislikes strangers—he’d put up an immaculate act, played along even through Yves’s slight intoxication, and driven him home—and in turn, Yves has repaid him by... 

God. Yves shouldn’t have asked to kiss him. The guilt settles heavy in his stomach.

Yves really, really owes him.

He heads down several flights of stairs and ducks outside to the parking garage. It’s even colder today than it had been on New Year’s—perhaps indicative of a colder winter to come—and though the parking garage is sealed off, when he’d looked out from the office windows upstairs, it had been starting to snow.

The cafeteria at their workplace is closed for dinner, and it’s a half hour drive home from here through rush hour traffic—maybe a little longer in the snow, and longer still if he stops to get something to eat.

He’s in the process of unlocking the car, setting his briefcase at his feet, and inserting the keys into the ignition when the idea occurs to him.

It’s an irrational idea, probably.

[Part 5]

[thedeadthree]

what is lineage, if not a silver thread of pride and guilt?

PRINCESS ELAENAERA OF HOUSE TARGARYEN

(x)

[resonabilis-echo]

.

[bottom-slut-unionizer]

Being a pup with ODD is weird bc if people ask me to do something rudely or I don't like what they're asking my brain immediately goes "fuck no, they can't tell me what to do".

UNLESS the person says "be a good dog" or "be my good boy" in which case my brain will do everything in its power to be a good puppy

[faggotwilliamwisp]

They’re in LOOOOOOOOVEEEEEE (me Abt the character I control and the character I decided to have him date)

[wangmiao]

Yin Zheng in 暴风 | Faces in the Crowd (2023)

[lo-sulci]

tagged by @itshighjuniper to share 5 songs i've been listening to recently!! thank you juni ^u^ i am not including songs that are on the playlist that plays at my work (which I have been listening to ad nauseam but not by choice) or songs from the OSTs of stuff, just because those would probably dominate the list (that said, some of the OSTs I've been listening to lately: Across the Spider-Verse, Revue Starlight, Gatchaman Crowds, fanmade g witch covers). anyways!!

- PRESSURE BOMB 2!!!! by Jhariah: have been listening to a LOT of jhariah lately, super super cool style and I always always always love narrative albums. this song in particular just makes my brain happy and also, like, vibrate aggressively. it's nice!!!! other favorites include ENTER: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR OWN DEATH (the opening track off the album A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR OWN DEATH), Promises, Needed A Change of Pace, and Flight of the Crows

- Riptide by the Scary Jokes: been a fan of the scary jokes for a whiiiile now, and this has been one of the songs from their newest album that i've been listening to the most (other two favorites from the album probably being Forever In You and Rage). Burn, Pygmalion!!! is still an all timer to me tbh (MEANWHILE ON THE ROOF JEANNIE CONSIDERS THE VASTNESS OF THE COUNTRYSIDE THE DARKNESS OF THE MOUNTAINS-) but I am also enjoying RB and bonus points the cassette looks SICK AS HELL

- Love Me Dead by Ludo: introduced to by way of a podcast and thoroughly wormed its way deep into my brain along with Tick Tick Boom by The Hives, Electric Version by The New Pronographers, and Picture, Picture by Harvey Danger. anywhays, god DAMN that chorus kicks ass. also, the video is pretty fun!!

- Venus Ambassador by Bryan Scary: song that I actually found ages ago and only recently checked out the rest of the album for- it's really good!! i think there's a narrative going on here even if I havent quite figured it out in its entirety but in the meantime gosh the music is good and the vibes are exquisite. other favorites off Flight of the Knife include La Madame on the Moon, Mama Waits, and Son of Stab

- A Better Place, A Better Time by Streetlight Manifesto: Streetlight Manifesto singlehandedly made my opinion of ska as a genre do a 180. one day while cleaning/organizing stuff in my room I decided to listen to, like, almost if not all of their discography, and this one was my favorite. made me cry the first time I listened to it!! anyways, my personal recommendation is to do what I did and listen to the entire Streetlight Manifesto discography just fuxking do it

anyways, tagging @theclairewitch @plaintivemeow @lvnarsapphic @sg-x00-airgetlam @destructix (absolutely no pressure tho yall lol) and, like, anyone who sees this and wants an excuse to do one of these!!

[simmonsized]

Tell us more weird stuff you/your partner have said to eachother please???

LOL god we've been together for SO long that's so hard. i just went through our twitters i'm sorry it got out of hand i know no one else will think it's funny but i don't care at this point i'm like crying LOL

the one time i said "if i started walking around like this would you still love me" and he said yes without turning around to look and then when he did i was standing on the bed on all fours and he died laughing

that time i got my wordle on the second try because tony, next to me, said "shart wasn't in the dictionary :/"

when we were watching sing 2 and i said "i'm not a furry but i would FUCK that old lion" and tony, baffled, said, "you said that about the wolf too???" and i said "AND???" which made him laugh so hard he cried

that time i told tony his facial hair looked like shaggy and he ran to the bathroom and i could hear the beard trimmer through the door

that time tony asked if i wanted to cosplay klaus with him and when i asked if he wanted me to be the teacher he said (through tears) "i want you to be Klaus,,"

tony, to me: everything i've learned about your friends has been against my will

that time he came into the living room with a mountain of fishsticks on a plate and when i asked he had no idea how many there were so i took them away while i counted and he just kept crying, "don't count my fishsticks! don't count my fishsticks!!!!"

tony, out loud to me, in the car: do you not hold your breath when you get in the car so the windows don't fog up????

that time that tony didn't believe that the "what did the farmer say when he lost his tractor (where's my tractor)" joke was real and he legit thought i made it up to be shitty until we were watching some streamer and he told the joke and tony screamed

that time tony whispered "we can't date because there's an age gap..............." in my ear (we are one year apart)

that time we were watching the zombie episode of gravity falls and tony got really jealous of grunkle stan

tony, pointing to a stick: at first i thought that stick on the ground was a really big worm

that time tony saw a deer and said "why is that dog's neck so long"

"somehow getting back into homstuck is less bad [than getting back into supernatural]" - tony, circa 2018

when i told tony "sorry tony, i didn't mean to make both of us seem straight," and he said "it's okay it happens"

That time they were out of little packaged cherry pies and tony texted me like "there's a frozen marie callenders pie but you have to cook it" and i was like lmfao ya bring it home, thinking surely he would not, and he did???

"Nico Yazawa is my Bro Strider" - Tony, 11:02 am, 2/28/2018

These whole ass screenshots:

[ck12]

yk sometimes i think too hard about how special the tk relationship is and i cry

[r0bee]

Rip Rachel Amber and Chloe Price you would've loved Thumbelina