#it is implicit

[deikshen]

The idea of Shang Qinghua as a fallen God was hitting me HARD-

I mean, he was some kind of civil God in the heavens, even then recognized for his prose, for the epic tales that would later become a reality, giving him the title of prophet, "The God who sees Beyond Time", "The God Who Inks the Pages of Destiny."

He rose from the lowest ranks as an adjunct god to an important position, becoming one of the most recognized and venerated civil gods of the heavens -he always responded to all the offerings, the one who appeared most in dreams, the one who solved the most situations with his own hands. The civil god with the most temples, the one to whom incense and prayers were given before the imperial exams, the one to whom even those learning to write gave small offerings in search of his erudition to learn faster.

So, something happened. Did he betray the heavens? It was discovered that he had risen to his position through corrupt means? Did he get into a debate with some vengeful martial god? The stories could be many, but the result is always the same: the civil god fell. Where he once had hundreds of temples, now they didn't even offer him incense. And Shang Qinghua, there, bored, was simply... tired. People remembered him for his stories, so he could never know the sweet embrace of death. Turned into a folk tale, his own stories, written in his own hand, being repeated and reproduced in theaters for centuries. When would this martyrdom end?

Never, apparently. And Shang Qinghua writes. He writes stories that are replicated across civilizations. He sees entire demonic races born and die. He writes about an emperor of the three realms, a heavenly demon, with a harem of beauties, a destiny, a prophecy surrounding a sword, and that only pure love could save martyred hearts blackened by fear and misunderstanding.

And after a few centuries, finally finds an artifact that will make him forgotten. He's tired. Fed up. It's been a long millennium of loneliness. Shang Qinghua collects every story he ever wrote, hides them in a deep cave, keeps them away from mortals. He burns his abandoned temples. He burns his stories, making everyone forget that there ever was a God who inks the pages of destiny.

And he dies. Finally.

Half a millennium later, Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe are on a hike. Some silly honeymoon thing, traveling the world and finding rare beasts and beautiful non-lethal plants. It's an area that was never originally described in PIDW, but Shen Qingqiu is curious; the world is vast, exquisite, stretching out with magnificent magic. And he wants to know everything.

Then he accidentally gets trapped in a silly array and opens a cave. Luo Binghe follows him, desperate, but both of them... well, even if they wanted to leave without investigating, they never could!! It seems to have been closed for a long, long time.

That's how they find a scholar's hiding place. Or so they think. Stacks and stacks of scrolls. Paintings, theater robes, masks. In the middle of the investigation, Shen Qingqiu's breath catches in his throat when, in the characters from a scroll, he reads Xin Mo.

It is difficult to understand the characters ruined by time, but the story is clear. There are prophetic legends about Xin Mo, about Luo Binghe himself (without mentioning his name other than "a baby who emerged from the Luo River with a frozen heart"), and so many, so many things... Shen Qingqiu is perplexed. What the hell is up with all this? Why was it hidden? Who wrote it? Damn, Airplane owes him some VERY good answers.

In his study in the northern palace, Shang Qinghua begins to have a very strong headache. He should go to sleep, he probably strained his eyes too much with all the paperwork, but, uh, for some reason, he really, really want to write something. An idea is starting to form in his head, like when he wrote PIDW in his other life! Maybe it'll be his next bestseller!! He has to seize the opportunity and inspiration when it hits him!!

[possamble]

hiii everybody are you normal about Falin showing Laios the same little spell that Marcille showed her? are you normal about Falin remembering it fondly enough that it was one of the first things she showed her brother while trying to teach him magic?

[txttletale]

yknow i am not exactly publishing groundbreaking research by saying "tumblr users have a disproportionate view of how much children's cartoons matter" but it is crazy to keep seeing people say things like this when child marriage is literally legal in most of the united states and commonplace around the world even in jurisdictions where it is nominally illegal

[innocuoussketches]

TT: After you go, what do you think will happen to me?  TT: Will I just cease to exist?

TT: I am scared to not exist.  TT: Aren't you?

[silkchiffon]

saying that santos being right about langdon is the easy way out for the show in terms of their storyline is so laughable. no actually! it isn’t! the easy way out is allowing the white man everybody loves to come away clean while a woman of color everybody hates potentially gets fired for a false accusation. the hard way out is forcing the audience to deconstruct their unconscious biases when it comes to caring more about langdon than santos because doing that is a matter of life or death in the emergency room. y’know. what they’ve been doing the entire show.

[dreamerimpossible]

He would climb into your room through your window. He would sneak in and climb on top of you, kissing and biting your exposed neck. Your shaky, pleasurable sighs only encouraged him to continue, not caring even if you made too much noise. He ripped your underwear and quickly entered you, grabbing your wrists and forcing you with his gaze to moan for him.

Your pleasurable moans made him fuck you faster and faster against your sheets, overcome with desire for you. Breaking up would still be a very bad decision. The sounds of skin clashing with yours didn't help to be discreet. A particularly deep and unexpected moan from him ended the fun, as he felt that he had filled you with all his seed.

He looked at the clock on the wall and realised that it wasn't too late yet. He, to your surprise, laid down next to you, instead of leaving, as he always did. Maybe he could stay until you fell asleep.

-Billy Loomis, Stu Macher, Jason Dean, Kurt Kunkle, Alex DeLarge, Ticci Toby, Kazutora, Ran Haitani, Rindou Haitani, Hanma, Beyond Birthday (BB)

[lesbianaglaya]

i think all the reviews being like 'why would helly lie?!?' are funny. like idk if i was leading a resistance movement against a guy and i found out that i actually was that guy's willing collaborator/daughter. well. id be embarrassed at the very least.

[peanutheaddd]

klance in 2024.....

[ruushes]

have to imagine viago isn’t thrilled about the rook de riva/lucanis relationship or at least isn’t in my worldstate primarily because it would be very funny to me but also because 1) he disapproves of everything my rook does on principle 2) proximity to any first talon is dangerous enough generally and specifically he’d put lucanis’s life expectancy as first talon at around five years tops if he’s feeling generous and 3) lucanis threatened to kill him once by “gifting” him a knife of overtly intimidating high quality

[chronurgy]

Okay my inquisition hot take is that showing up at the empress's ball in matching military outfits is actually such a power move like oh you all are here to play your stupid little games but we are here to get shit done and you will accept our presence even if we don't conform to your culture because you know that you need us it's just that. Well the outfits they picked were hideous. Slap a different color on that bad boy and you're good to go. Also the inquisitor should have worn a headpiece reminiscent of andraste's to really drive home the 'we're above your petty affairs' vibe

[eggbagelz]

abt to go seal hunting with peepaw

[magnificent-winged-beast]

Daily-sh Dose of Misha

Jibcon 15

[saturnniidae]

I love Mel and I'm glad so many people agree on her beauty, she is a gorgeous, breathtakingly majestic black woman and I'm glad she's appreciated but istg mfs only ever talking about how attractive she is rather than her intelligence and complex morality.

Everyone wants a morally grey woman character until she's black suddenly it's crickets in the crowd. Ik it's not usually intentional but (typically white) people have such an inate unwillingness to discuss poc (Especially woc) characters beyond surface level and it's annoying asf

[lonicera-caprifolium]

please consider scoundrel Crowley, and his (modified) commando droid boyfriend AZ-7

[imp-in-simp]

Blitz-Fizz Dance Analysis

I feel like this little moment was Fizz’s way of showing Blitz forgiveness after his apology!

At first, Blitz was only planning on throwing the confetti here. He turns away immediately.

They’re not partners anymore (the fire destroyed that, and it’s been 15 years)

But also… performance is Fizz’s thing and Blitz feels he’s only there to enhance his performance,

But then Fizz pulls him in to join him, in what I feel like is an implicit sign of forgiveness

He’s letting Blitz perform with him again, as a sign that the fire is now water under the bridge, they’re okay, they’re back to normal

At first, Blitz is too shocked to react

But then Fizz does this, and it’s like Blitz’s performing muscle memory kicks in (he does the tail thing too)

That’s when he smiles,

That’s when the joy and memory of joy performing with Fizz kicks in

Free of insecurity about his talent/pain surrounding the fire

As well as the understanding he’s truly been forgiven

Look at that smile

And it ends perfectly with this little flirty moment

(Love how he pulls him closer ^^)

I do believe they had a ‘homoerotic best friends’ type relationship - so this is yet another confirmation that it’s all forgiven and they’re back to normal <3

(Fizz then drops blitz, which is a gag I know, but it still feels like another return to their silly goofy ways!)

[justafewberries]

Themes of Implicit Submission in The Hunger Games (Book One)

I’ve just finished re-reading The Hunger Games (book one) and there are a few themes that I expect SOTR will develop based on Hume’s implicit submission theory. Specifically, these are the main six tactics I believe the Capitol uses to thwart another rebellion present in the first book alone: 

Societal Pressure:

District 12 has a “keep your head down” culture. Any talks of rebellion are frowned upon. Any anti-government statements will cause social repercussions. It’s not just Katniss rolling her eyes at Gale in the woods, it’s how she has been groomed by the culture to keep quiet about the issues pervading life in the district:

“When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol. Eventually, I understood this would only lead us to more trouble. So I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts. Do my work quietly in school. Make only polite small talk in the public market. Discuss little more than trades in the Hob.… Even at home, where I am less pleasant, I avoid discussing tricky topics. Like the reaping, or food shortages, or the Hunger Games. Prim might begin to repeat my words and then where would we be?” (p.6)

All of this proceeds the statement:

“Even here, in the middle of nowhere, you worry someone might overhear you.” (p. 5)

Under this point, it is also telling that during the reaping ceremony, Katniss says the “boldest form of dissent [the audience] can manage,” is silence. Not outrage, not yelling, not like district 11, but silence (p. 24).

2. Division between Classes 

The Capitol has created conflict within the districts to draw hatred to a local target. In the case of the first book, Gale remarks tesserae is a tactic to keep them divided. 

“Gale knows his anger at Madge is misdirected. On other days, deep in the woods, I’ve listened to him rant about how the tesserae are just another tool to cause misery in our district. A way to plant hatred between the starving workers of the Seam and those who can generally count on supper and thereby ensure we will never trust one another. “It’s to the Capitol’s advantage to have us divided among ourselves,” he might say if there were no ears to hear but mine.” (p. 14)

Interestingly, tesserae is already known as the “courtesy of the capitol” as stamped on Haymitch’s shorts in SOTR. The Capitol markets tesserae as something it does out of goodness. It attempts to make itself seem well-intentioned via the distribution of necessary goods. It’s their courtesy, after all. 

This point also includes the division between the districts. In the games, Katniss remarks how allying with the careers is essentially traitorous. 

“No one from District 12 would think of doing such a thing! Career tributes are overly vicious, arrogant, better fed, but only because they’re the Capitol’s lapdogs.” (p. 162)

By treating certain districts better, the Capitol promotes distrust between the districts, dampening potential unionization with planted hatred. By choosing favorite children, the parent that is the Capitol forces the districts to fight. 

3. Weaponized Language

The name of the Treaty of Treason, the treaty that makes the Hunger Games necessary per the law, is definitive of how the districts are forced to see themselves. They are the ones who committed treason by rebelling, and therefore they are guilty. They must repent by sending the children to the games. The permanent treaty, read during every reaping ceremony, enforces the guilt the districts are supposed to feel. In turn, the fact it is a “treaty” means the districts must have agreed to and signed it. Regardless of the circumstances around the signing of the treaty, the capitol then has the ability to wave it over their heads henceforth. 

The name itself points a finger and keeps the districts forever at fault. 

Furthermore, the fact Katniss is referred to by her district number until and even after she is given something to remember her by (the fire) further dehumanizes the tributes. During the parade, she says the citizens of the capitol have liked her and Peeta enough to "read the program" and learn their names (p. 70).

There are many more examples of villainizing and dehumanizing language in the book, but I have chosen those examples for the sake of brevity.

4. Propagandizing Education

A major theme in many dystopian novels is how the system treats education. In District 12, Katniss tells the reader:

“Besides basic reading and math, most of our instruction is coal-related. Except for the weekly lecture on the history of Panem. It’s mostly a lot of blather about what we owe the Capitol.” (p. 42)

A weekly lecture in a school is quite a lot of time to devote to any one subject. Seeing as how the rest of their curriculum revolves around district-specific content, the weekly lecture must be mandated across all districts, likely leaving the rest up to the discretion of the district itself. The Capitol once again emphasizes how the districts were wrong. It is repeated week after week, and eventually, it becomes ingrained in the social psychology of the district. 

5. Hunger and Deprivation of Needs

Continuing from the section about Katniss knows the weekly lecture must be propaganda, saying,

“I know there must be more than they’re telling us, an actual account of what happened during the rebellion. But I don’t spend much time thinking about it. Whatever the truth is, I don’t see how it will help me get food on the table.” (p. 42)

This point coincides with my second point about the division of classes. By keeping the people hungry, they are too busy thinking about the lowest rung on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. They see those who have food, and they are the opposition in front of them, rather than examining the source of the problem. By keeping the people hungry, they are less likely to have the time or ability to even think about a collective uprising. 

6. Limiting Flow of Information

The Capitol limits the flow of information between districts. In doing so, the districts are forced to make bridging assumptions about one another. This is revealed through Katniss and Rue’s discussion in the games: 

“It’s interesting, hearing about her life. We have so little communication with anyone outside our district. In fact, I wonder if the Gamemakers are blocking out our conversation, because even though the information seems harmless, they don’t want people in different districts to know about one another.” (p. 203)

By keeping them separate, they can turn any district against another. They rely solely on the Capitol for information about other districts, and therefore the Capitol has all of the power. 

Interestingly, another division between classes is shown through Peeta’s knowledge about other districts. He knows the different types of bread from the districts, implying the merchant class may have more access to information than those of the seam, leading to further division between classes. 

All in all, these are the themes I expect to be addressed in SOTR based on the pretense of implicit submission.