#link click meta

[euyrdice]

cheng xiaoshi and the loneliness of losing your parents as a child and being left alone. and the loneliness of being shunned by everyone around you your whole life and the loneliness of pushing them away. and the loneliness of living a thousand lives and carrying a strangers’ feelings and fears and loving the people they love only to leave them and their life behind and knowing it was never really yours. and the loneliness of having no one else who fully understands that constant grief.

[lizzieonka]

Unpopular opinion: There is no Link Click “trio.” It’s just the ShiGuang Duo + Qiao Ling

Now, before the Qiao Ling fans come after me, I just want to make it clear that I do not hate Qiao Ling. She’s a queen, and I love her. What I do hate, however, is the writers’ neglect of her character.

Warning: This will contain major Link Click season 1 and 2 spoilers.

Cheng Xiaoshi, Lu Guang, and Qiao Ling have been marketed as the main trio right from the OPs and EDs all the way to the different official artworks and PVs. But despite this, Qiao Ling has never been portrayed like a protagonist in the story itself. Her value has always been tied to some other character, and what’s sadder is that even as a supporting character, she’s still being neglected by the writers.

Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang both have something in themselves that push the story forward. Cheng Xiaoshi’s recklessness in s1 is what gives tension to the dives and what leads to the overarching plot related to Emma. His planning in s2 also keeps the plot going. On the other hand, Lu Guang acts as the voice of reason, grounding the fantasy aspect of the show. His hypocrisy revealed in s2 also reshapes how we view the entire story.

But what about Qiao Ling?

Throughout most of season 1, she’s been kept in the dark about ShiGuang’s powers, which in turn excludes her from a big part of the story. In s1, it was only during the kidnapping arc that we see a bit more about her, but the focus wasn’t on her at all but on some random extra. And at the last episode when she finally gets to be in on the whole eye power thing, Li Tianchen possesses her, overshadowing Qiao Ling entirely and redirecting our attention and interest to him. (Extra: In season 1, between Qiao Ling and Emma, would you dare say Qiao Ling is the protagonist? I bet you won’t.)

Then in s2, despite Qiao Ling’s extra screen time and more involvement in the plot, the neglect of her character is even more palpable. She got possessed by a murderer, nearly killed her friend, and even tried to stab her own brother, but even after all these, we barely get to see how she had to process everything.

It’s really no surprise many people loved this scene:

This, for me, is the one time, the ONE time Qiao Ling is portrayed as a character on equal grounds with Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang. If Link Click were a sports anime, this would be the scene where she discards her role as the female manager over a bunch of male athletes and expresses her desire to become a player as well.

But unfortunately, after this episode, Qiao Ling is once again pushed to the sidelines. She’s a player now, yes, but a player who’s just being pushed along the game. She may take the initiative in some things (like talking to Li Tianxi), but even then, the things she do are all still just to help her friends. You know, like a supporting character. None of what she’s doing is for herself alone. (If any Blue Lock fans are reading this, Qiao Ling has no “ego,” so to speak.)

Qiao Ling has no goals of her own, and this is how the writers failed her.

All the other major characters have their own goals. Heck, even the antagonists are more like protagonists than Qiao Ling.

Cheng Xiaoshi wants to find his parents. And he also just wants to help the people he meets in dives

Lu Guang selfishly broke the rules of time travel just to keep one man alive and will do it again if he must

Li Tianxi betrays her brother and Qian Jin just to find a way home

Li Tianchen approaches ShiGuang and later kidnaps Cheng Xiaoshi because he also wants to go home

And Liu Xiao wants to, I don’t know, change the rules of time and space entirely?

God, writing that last bullet makes me realize that even Liu Xiao, who only showed up in the last episode of season 2, has more weight in the story than Qiao Ling. This is ridiculous.

Seriously, what is Qiao Ling even here for??? Play big sister???

Just market her as a supporting character. It’s fine. She’s still badass.

I also don’t have much hopes over how she will be in season 3 because of how season 2 ended. Qiao Ling seeing Lu Guang’s memories means her worth in s3 will inevitably be tied to this secret. It’s the s1 ending all over again. At the end of s1, her worth was tied to the mysterious Red Eyes. At the end of s2, it’s tied to Lu Guang.

If the Link Click writers are gonna keep pushing her as a protagonist, then they better start treating her like one!

It’s not enough to just give Qiao Ling a goal, by the way (although it is very important too). She must also become a player who has the power to control how the game goes. If she ends up inheriting Li Tianxi’s powers, as many theories have said, then may the drama around her not be focused on how she may leak Lu Guang’s secret at any time.

I don’t know what she could do with her powers, but I think it would be very interesting if she ends up opposing Lu Guang.

Lu Guang wants to keep Cheng Xiaoshi alive, but...

...he’s no longer alive. The Cheng Xiaoshi we see is just a glimpse of the past...

What if… as Qiao Ling sees more of Lu Guang’s memories, she sees more of the real Cheng Xiaoshi and suddenly… wants to let go… wants to move on?

The fandom have talked a lot about how ShiGuang may react once the secret is out. But what about how Qiao Ling would react to it over time as she realizes those memories weren’t just her overthinking things?

In season 1, she couldn’t bear to face that kid’s father for years, and at the end of s2, she couldn’t bear to confront Lu Guang… In s3, how long can she bear looking at her dead brother?

The chances of her “giving up” Cheng Xiaoshi and returning to the original timeline is slim, though. I’m just giving an example of how she can be more like a protagonist.

Anyways, I’ll end here… I still have so many thoughts, but I can’t figure out how to organize them. This has also been in my drafts for over two weeks and I just want to post it already!

[izartn]

So, about how I see Link Click's Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi relationship:

As it stands in canon? Queerplatonic partners. And it's convenient for the plot that they're like this.

Because of Chinese censorship it can't be explicitly romantic, yes I know it. Let me tell why it's queerplatonic for me. The way these two have intertwined their lives and futures together?!

Owning a business and living together, that hint in ep2 (comparing them to the subtextually older lesbian couple who also came across as queerplatonic bc censure) where Xiaoshi wonders/fears if years down the line he and Lu Guang will separate/break up implying their partnership is for life as far as he's concerned (the parallel can be taken as a subtext romance too but follow me we're talking text), the way they were already going also on vacancies together three years prev in canon, etc...

Without entering on their complimentary powers and the way the dives need both of them if they want security in not screwing the past, and the inmense trust and vulnerability the dives themselves require?

They're not simply best friends either.

Those aren't the actions of normal, totally not queer friends. Cheng Xiaoshi checks out women on the dives, sure, (and men too when the host is feeling it which I love bc they can't address it directly bc censorship and then it comes across as Xiaoshi being super confident in his own relationship to sexuality/gender) but I don't think he would ever date bc Lu Guang is already there, filling that place in his life minus sex and romance but all that same companionship and intensity of feeling.

These two meet in what, the last year/s of High School and then proceeded to latch onto each other with a commitment reserved for romantic partners.

And I know you want to say, "it's the censorship! they'd be romantic and canon if not for the censorship!"

Are you sure? Are you sure the story would work if there were explicit romance in it? (I mean, if they could I'm pretty sure they would have nailed it anyways but allow me my a-spec delusions) Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang feel so much like an already established pair, they work like one, and Link Click is not about them coming together like many other stories. Are you sure this would work as BL?

There's a distinct difference on the way they start the show already like six years at least since they're best friends and three or two since they live together. That's not usually how it goes. I'm talking not just romances but every buddy or nakama anime/show, where the protag has to learn to work with who will be his best friend or rival. These stories usually have the same kind of plot progression as a romance which is why they work so well when you make the subtext text.

But a story where the main romance is already established and we're following a plot that has nothing to do with it? Much more rare, even stranger to find them well done although there are some very good ones and with the friendships instead of romo they're more common. For example, Soul Eater, which is all about the trials of it and how they hace to truly come to understand each other. That's Link Click a bit, but not even then.

Link Click juggling a budding romance between Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi with all the other stuff is going on?? Messier for sure. I don't know if people would have liked it as much or if the donghua would have been as well done.

As it is, Link Click has the exact level of emotional connection between our protags it needs to have incredibly high stakes emotionally and at the same time not need a detour by romantic scenes/fanservice that would derail the plot or the other charas importance. That it happens to be pretty queer anyways in a platonic way?

Nice for the aroace-spec folks watching the show xD

Btw, I'm pretty sure in season 3 we're going to get more of Lu Guang's PoV, the origins of their powers and the past between him and Xiaoshi. It'll probably dig more into the aspect of "testing their bond and coming stronger bc of it" which is were the romantic subtext usually comes through...

—unless you're very very good at writing like Arakawa in FMA, who nailed the brotherly relationship without tipping into incest subtext which I've seen more than a few writers fumble. or the latest D&D film for the platonic childrearing and partnership for a no familial example between a man and a woman also very very difficult to get right for writers dunno why—

... but until then, for now I'm incredibly satisfied by the canon.

The other read of course it that they're already a couple since well before the start of season 1, and to mentally edit what we saw in canon with that lens (it wouldn't be very difficult honestly) but reading only the text? Queerplatonic partners!

There also how Xiaoshi and Lu Guang don't have that anxiety/insecurity of their bond that makes it so easy to read the want for something, like a romance for shipping purposes. Despite the disagreements on the Dives or the trials of season 2 or Lu Guang keeping secret Cheng Xiaoshi future/past death they read very steady which is fun. I love some good established relationship, you can go to deeper places when the base is already secure and the risk is higher for the characters. Plus I love domesticity! Yes, I do my angsty/Gothic leanings notwithstanding. Don't you know you need a home for the Gothic to be effective?

[imaginarylungfish]

link click season 2 thoughts

so, i started watching Link Click on monday and, within the week, just finished watching the last episode of season 2. and wow, what an amazing donghua! i honestly had no idea what i was getting myself into when chose to turn on this show after work that night. but damn, what a wild ride!

alright, now for my thoughts on the big questions season 2 left us with. namely, i think CXS was supposed to die (ie. died in the main timeline) during the stabbing incident in s1e12/s2e1.

this is what we see in s2e1 after LG was stabbed:

during these "flashback" scenes, LG thinks, "i'm sorry, everything is going to be different now." the viewers don't know about LG diving back at this point in the season, so these "flashback" scenes and those words don't' have much context. however, with the knowledge we now have about LG diving back to try to save CXS, these things have much more meaning.

why would we see CXS' blood on LG's hand, see LG looking at CXS in his arms, or hear LG think things are different now unless LG changed this specific part of the past so he got stabbed instead of CXS?

in s2e12, we see these "flashback" scenes again* (through what QL sees as LG's memories through XiXi's perspective), with added details:

*while QL is thinking "how is that possible? did he [LG] actually see CXS die?"

while the camera focuses on LG's bloodied hand, we now see CXS lying in the background (presumedly dead). and if we notice what LG and CXS are wearing in these "flashback" scenes...

it's the same as what they were wearing during the stabbing incident in s1e12/s2e1:

plus, LG is wearing the same thing in the scene where he decides to break his own rule and dive back to save CXS:

that means LG is wearing the same thing in the stabbing incident, "flashback" scene, and dive scene. so, connecting the dots, it seems like CXS was originally supposed to die during the stabbing incident. and immediately after the stabbing incident (with CXS' blood still on his clothing), LG dove back in time to try to save CXS.

and why could LG even dive back to try to save CXS when that's not his original power? i think it's because a person's power is transferred to the person touching them when they die (as seen in XiXi's transfer of power to QL when XiXi dies):

before moving on, i want to address that, at first, i thought CXS might have died (in the main timeline) after the gunshot wound in s2e12 and LG dove back immediately after that. but LG is wearing something different during the gun scene than the dive scene:

therefore, LG seems to have dove back after the stabbing incident. but where did he dive back to? he says he is going "back to the beginning" in the dive scene. but we aren't really given any clues to when that is. all i understand is that LG somehow dove back to a certain time before the stabbing incident, so that he was stabbed instead of CXS (therefore saving that timeline's CXS from dying).

if my theory is correct, this means the LG we see in the gun scene is the LG who has already dove back to try to save CXS. so, when LG screams in agony and immediately attacks QJ in a frenzied rage upon seeing CXS get shot, it's not only because he thought CXS was fatally wounded but because LG thought he lost CXS again.

and i think this LG assumes CXS will die. why? because during the dive scene, LG says "i know that death is an unchangeable point" (yet he resolves to try to save CXS anyway). therefore, LG recognizes CXS will eventually die, and he recognizes he's just prolonging the inevitable (by prolonging CXS' life). LG just doesn't know when CXS will die (which, again, is why LG was so distraught seeing CXS get shot).

so now at the end of s2e12 we see CXS alive. this CXS is the one that LG saved from the main timeline (because in the main timeline, CXS is dead from the stabbing incident).

but is LG just constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop? for CXS to eventually die because death is not something they (or anyone else) can change? maybe we will get the answers to some of these questions in season 3. in the meantime, feel free to speculate with me!

[iridescentscarecrow]

link click s2 ep 12 spoilers but

i'm thinking about the earthquake arc in s1 again:

lu guang tells cxs that him changing things "could cause the disappearance of the life we have now." he also tells him this is impossible.

i've seen many people conclude that this isn't a lie at all. that's what's chilling about it. lu guang puts cxs in a jar and makes him avoid making any changes to the timeline, even the ones that cxs desperately feels and wants, just so that lu guang can keep his tenuous grasp over the reality he's concocted for them, the one where he knows the position of every single piece and can thus control.

the earthquake arc is based with context because it's rooted in lu guang's Massive Fucking Lies.

i hate him. you can see the very real desperation underlying his manipulation. you can consider the implications of that one dialogue he has about the nature of coming to terms with grief.

he's such a massive hypocrite! cxs treasures each life he jumps into, he projects into and empathises with them. lu guang tells him to detach from this, to stick to the rules, but he would ruin the world if it meant keeping his "important friend" safe. it's giving Severe god complex and tbh this is something cxs actively contributes to. remember him begging lu guang to allow him to save "my mom"? or in the trunk of liu min's car, begging desperately for the absent lu guang's directions? the fight post the earthquake and then them hugging almost immediately, that awful early hint of codependency, of mutual entrapment?

[spaceangst]

link click abilities explained: triggers

cheng xiaoshi, lu guang and li tianxi both unlocked these abilities through some traumatic event as the trigger. cheng xiaoshi's parents just up and disappeared and we don't know much about why. lu guang's entire past is a mystery. tianxi is really the key to figuring this all out. when cheng xiaoshi dives into the photo, it's immediately clear that the connection is... off. in more ways than one. lu guang and cheng xiaoshi lose their connections with each other a LOT. it's almost like the photo itself is flickering to prevent them from figuring too much out - like there's something they can't see there.

more on that later.

at the end of the episode, cheng xiaoshi sees through tianxi's mom's pov. tianxi's beyond traumatized, even if you don't believe her sob story, we saw the past through the picture. it's understandable that such an event would be traumatizing but the mom's death makes no sense - she protected her kids no matter what.

but.

if tianxi had already flickered into her mom (the only other person in the picture with herself) and swung the hammer - she would have killed her dad. and then distraught and also incredibly confused, she would have tried to fix it. but her brother already had a head injury and i doubt she would have realized what was happening. in that trauma, what if she meant to end her own life, but since she was in her mother's body, she ended it herself?

the only thing holding me back from committing to this idea fully is tianchen - and cheng xiaoshi.

tianchen meets a little boy who helps him get something out of the fountain - cheng xiaoshi. despite seeing through tianchen, cheng xiaoshi cannot see the little boy; and when he speaks, the kid doesn't sound like a kid but an adult? moreso, we never see the kid's face. i want to call this an almost orv fourth wall protection type buff on their abilities that prevents cheng xiaoshi from witnessing himself in their dives.

(part of me wonders if lu guang is also tianchen but he has no memories of being tianchen from that traumatic brain injury - hair can turn white from extreme stress too and the ages and sudden connection between these 2 in high school would be explained)

i'm guessing we'll have to wait and see for their backstories to unfold (i've only got one other theory until then and it's even wilder and incorporates qiao ling into it but. idk if anyone wants to read all that lol i'll definitely share if anyone's interested though) but until then, i do believe cheng xiaoshi, at the very least, witnessed li tianxi unlock her powers for the first time when she stepped into her mom by looking at the picture. the rest is up to shiguang to confirm or deny, of course.

[teruki-inoue21]

Where the beginning lies…

Guys, I figured this out!

What if the “beginning” Lu Guang is talking about is actually the overseas trip that he and Cheng Xiaoshi went on? Like, it’s hinted thru a bunch of stuff (including the S2 ED, slight retcons in S1, and whatnot!) that or duo got their powers from that trip. Also, director Li Haoling has confirmed (pretty much?) that the overseas trip is important for the plot going forward. So….

All I’m saying is that - look forward to the overseas trip plot line guys! It’s gonna be a hell lotta fun , if u know what I mean…

[saelterlude]

I'm probably overthinking but I've been thinking of the powers in Link Click as a see-possess pair since that's how it seems to work between Lu Guang-Cheng Xiaoshi and Li Tianxi-Li Tianchen but at the same time what if it's not.

One of the reasons Lu Guang is strict on the rules is that (according to him) if Cheng Xiaoshi change a major node then he might return to a different 'present' to where he came from. But that doesn't make sense since we know CXS changed Chen Xiao's past. Not just by winning the basketball game (A node LG was very wary about) but also by talking with the captain, his crush, and mother.

This isn't like the previous two missions where the information was gathered in the past but only shared in the present. This was actively changing the past by saying CX's regrets out loud. Things won't change for the village, people still die, but winning the game and saying what he does meant that CX shouldn't have any regrets that makes him approach QL to solve them. Realistically CXS would have return to a 'present' where CX never gave them the job simply because he doesn't have those regrets.

Instead CXS returns to the same present he came from. And the changes CXS did? They only become dreams for CX. That's how he described them in his letter to the captain.

"I've been dreaming recently about the tournament with Long Yang. As your substitute, scoring three pointers and dunks." Exactly as Cheng Xiaoshi did.

So why did Cheng Xiaoshi return to this 'present' meanwhile we have Lu Guang who somehow shifted into a different 'present' where CXS didn't die. And we know he's actually in a different 'present' and not actively possessing his own body for years because both CXS and LTC have possessed him. Two people can't possess the same person at the same time, one of them will get kicked out. We've seen that twice.

In both of these CXS was possessing LTX and LG and both time was kicked the moment LTC possess them.

So we know Lu Guang is no longer 'diving' but has actively 'shifted' his present. So what's the difference between CXS's dive as CX and LG's dive? Easy, CXS was connected to 'present' LG while LG dived alone.

So in tandem, instead of being a see-possess pair, it's more of a anchor line-diver pair (an analogy the show itself uses). I don't know a lot about diving so this might be wrong but I've snorkeled a few times. And when you're snorkeling in rough waves, the boat you came from would typically throw a line out so you can hold on and follow it back to the correct boat (and not yknow drift away and enter a stranger's boat). I assume an anchor line does something similar to divers, follow it and you'll find your boat on the surface.

So Cheng Xiaoshi dived, swim around in the water, make some waves, probably splash CX a bit, and followed Lu Guang back to his present. Meanwhile Lu Guang dived, swim around in the water, make some waves, and instead of returning to boat 1 he boards boat 2, a new timeline where Cheng Xiaoshi is alive.

For Li Tianxi and Li Tianchen, I guess it's more of a "Hey, you're already in the water surrounded by boats but lemme guide you to the boat you're supposed to drive." or something.

I don't know where I'm going with this. This isn't a speculation on how the show will goes, this is just a mechanical exploration of Link Click's time travel because I love exploring stuff like that.

[just-a-little-kreature]

So I’ve been thinking and as far as I can tell, there are two ways that Lu Guang could have used Cheng Xiaoshi’s ability to save him. The first is that he went back in time using a photograph, saved Cheng Xiaoshi, and then returned to the present.

The second method he could have used was going into the photo and remaining inside of the photo to live his life.

Now, I’ve seen it pointed out that if Lu Guang were to do this, he’d be unable to clap his hands, because if he did, he’d return to the ‘real’ timeline (the one he came from). Here’s why I think that wouldn’t happen:

If Lu Guang did save Cheng Xiaoshi, wouldn’t Cheng Xiaoshi regain his power? And if so, wouldn’t it mean that Lu Guang could no longer use the power to return to the timeline he’d come from? If that is the case, then even if Lu Guang were to clap his hands, he would remain in the ‘photo’ aka new timeline he’s created (I think the other timeline would still exist, though, meaning that in at least one other timeline Cheng Xiaoshi remains dead)(UNLESS his changing the death node somehow destroyed the other timeline, rendering it impossible to return even if he somehow had the power to do so) aaaanyway that’s what I’ve come up with based on the information we have (not that there couldn’t be a secret third option…you never really know with Link Click!)

[always-a-joyful-note]

Enstars sure is an experience. Did I miss anything?

[alien-from-planet-zog]

Just finished watching Yorknew City arc and the Phantom Troupe makes me sick.

The spiders are a group of vicious, unrepentant killers. They killed Kurapika’s whole clan, at one point they almost torture the kids. Truly, they’re terrible people.

And at the same time, they’re so human. They play cards, bicker like siblings, arm wrestle each other for fun, mourn their dead. Right before her death, Pakunoda meows at a stray cat.

They’re a fucked up family. Once upon a time, they were a less fucked up family, one that wasn’t afraid to show care for each other. Until Sarasa was brutally murdered and it all fell apart. They were kids once, but from then on they became closed off, pretending not to care about each other beyond practical necessity because caring too much would inevitably lead to pain. Their cold view of their own lives doesn’t even hold when one of their own is killed—look at what happened with Uvogin. And that’s only one example.

Even Gon comes to recognize their humanity. The first time the kids are captured, he gets mad enough to blow up at Nobunaga.

here it comes…

Gon here is struggling to reconcile his hatred of the spiders (for how they’ve killed Kurapika’s clan) with his observations of the spiders as humans who can grieve their friends.

Compare this to the next time he lashes out at one of the spiders later in the arc—this time yelling at Phinks rather than Nobunaga.

Crucially, this outburst is a response to Phinks and Feitan thinking that Pakunoda and Machi have been manipulated by the chain user. Gon is getting angry on their behalf, which is pretty incredible considering they’ve just kidnapped him for the second time.

After this panel, there’s more. When Phinks accuses Gon of only saying that because he wants to leave, Gon breaks his chains and says “…take back what you just said.” He’s even angrier now, acting personally offended.

This is part of why I love Gon as a character. He has a stunning ability to emphasize with anyone, which clashes with his tendency toward black and white thinking.

Honestly I think this is part of what broke Gon during the chimera ant arc. When Pitou genuinely apologized, he wasn’t able to handle the…cognitive dissonance of it all.

Wow I really went on a tangent. Whoops. Anyway…I just think Gon’s neat.

[euyrdice]

something something the intimacy and grief and bravery and constant heartbreak of living the life of multiple strangers and feeling their feelings so deeply. the one-sidedness of that intimacy. and knowing you can’t do anything, not really, you can’t win this, you can only follow the instructions. and still doing everything you can to save them. and then you’re just you again, but you still remember and know their grief and fears and joys and doubts but you can’t do anything about it and have no where to put the lingering feelings that aren't your own to hold but you hold them anyways and the grief that's uniquely yours and theirs and yours. and you just do it again and again and again.

[lizzieonka]

I just noticed something...

During the times Cheng Xiaoshi lost connection with Lu Guang, “Li Tianxi” had been touching Li Tianchen.

The first time:

The connection only returned after Li Tianchen let go of “Li Tianxi.”

The second time:

Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang establish their connection via touching hands upon entering a photo. If Cheng Xiaoshi touches Li Tianchen (who probably also has an ability) during that time, I guess that would nullify his connection with Lu Guang and instead establish a new connection with Li Tianchen.

[izartn]

Btw the 12 hours limit on Cheng Xiaoshi power always gave me a feeling of "if you stay past the 12 hour limit you'll be trapped in the past" from the panic it caused in both CXS and LG whenever he neared the limit.

Just the vibe I get from it. It's not just Lu Guang being unable to see beyond the 12 hours, it's that the link would break and Cheng Xiaoshi would maybe (as far as he and we know) (Lu Guang does know for sure, I bet that's how he stayed on the past/our timeline) get forever lost in another body in another time which is, in all honestly, horror fuel and nightmare inducing.

[imaginarylungfish]

li tanchen and the transfer-of-power-upon-death theory

if we stick with the transfer-of-power-upon-death theory, i wonder if Li Tanchen knew about this phenomenon? immediately after the stabbing incident when Li Tanchen (while possessing QL's body) figures out CXS' power, he says, "talk about a convenient power, i think i might take it."

does this mean he knew? that he wanted to literally kill CXS and take his power? i'm not so sure. because if he knew about this phenomenon, wouldn't he have immediately killed CXS while touching him the moment he kidnapped CXS and Officer Wang?

[iridescentscarecrow]

really only posting this for myself on here but (link click season 2 spoilers, vague csm part one references):

i think what draws me to li tianchen is that she's fundamentally a reze looking for her protagonist. i'm thinking about how she defines the game, the trust she attempts to build with cxs. the fucking intonations: "you too" when she's talking about her powers, "isnt he your most important friend" during That scene underground. because she's also... commenting on herself in a fashion. i think so much about the scene where she controls cxs's body in order to promise her that he'll never betray her. because this blurring of self is so intrinsic to how she conducts herself.

but ltc also has Family Horror (esp re: qian jin's reiteration of her father) coded into her. made for me a blorbie. she's also very denji coded in the Parenthood fashion but inverted because she claims that agency (rezecore). she doesn't insert into people and empathise/project towards/into their realities like tianxi or cxs do; she doesn't remark on the qian jin (deliberate) reiteration despite being fully aware of the truth about his wife from the very start. her blurring of self is reflected inward, she's insulated from her circumstances normally. i think everyday of the interrogation scene, how her pretending To Be her sister is also in part her Claiming the empathy ltx feels as her own (but also a lens [the only lens] that tells that she is in fact aware of the horror inflicted onto ltx) Unlike the fairytale where her whimpers are ignored...

like she Centers herself around ltx in every flashback during the scene, as she pretends to be her. remember the dead birds from the fairytale? the ones tianxi doesn't eat? ltc sharing her food with tianxi in the photo while her parents chide her to eat fully instead. them older in the car, her saying 'it's time for dinner' before putting ltx to sleep and killing through her. the sharing of food, simultaneously identity... it's more than a little transgender too if you think about it.

the "save my good brother" handed to lg (tianxi's photograph. she's again assuming her identity!) in a process of self erasure (why are *we* in this hell? but she's personified herself in a way that Suits hell!) the fucking blurring identities. the suicide metaphor with the possession comes back here too. the falling (the first death on the roof, the intro, all of her murders fundamentally acts of suicide, in the end the giving of the photo too in order to kill her Self.)

and Touch. the qian jin liu xiao thing with the gloves and absence of gloves/her power activating through touch, the way she touches cxs & makes him the centerpiece of her play (despite cxs paralleling ltx) alongside the torture of her Real Mirror (lg being ltc's parallel)...

shes such a freak (cradles her lovingly).