no but like. spy x family shows time and again that you need not just the larger picture but also to take into account what's closer to home
[redacted]'s dad pointing out that ostanians aren't monsters, but still slapping his own son and making [redacted] terrified to even consider lying to him.
donovan desmond. regardless of whether his role in government is "in the right", he still prioritises his aims over his family. both damian and demetrius have estranged relationships with him and I don't even know where to start with whatever is going on with melinda.
handler. lost her own family and this forms part of her current motivation towards heading off war. but it's shown that her personal life is in tatters. that she's only living for her job with nothing at home for her anymore. it's unhealthy for her, but the connection with her new dog is a start.
twilight. increasingly at odds between "his mission" and his family. and yet, the whole reason for his mission is to protect the smiles of children. to make it so that they don't have to experience what he did. if he completes his mission and then leaves, he's still inflicting that same heartache onto his family.
at the same time. twilight's mantra that "ignorance is sin" comes from the right place. if tensions are ignored. if people aren't actively leveraging the information they can obtain. that's how war happens.
all the adult characters have experienced war in some capacity and they recognise the pain and suffering it can cause. that's why they work so hard to avert it. but they have to be careful that they don't echo that conflict down onto their own personal lives and younger generations. that they aren't so held back by the spectre of war that they forget to live for themselves.
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hey guys do you wanna hear about my bad idea ahahaha i'm just joking i'm going to tell you whether you like it or not.
anyway! au where jiang fengmian brings back a starving orphan from the streets, and his name is yue qi.
(what happened to wei wuxian? don't worry about it it's fine) (idk maybe he doesn't exist? whatever)
yue qi is strong. yue qi is talented. yue qi tries harder than anyone. yue qi is perfect and you can't even really be irritated at him for it, because he's nice and polite and good-tempered and absolutely everything you could ask for in a da-shixiong.
jiang cheng feels so fucking bad about this. second best even in a whole new au, huh, a-cheng? but it's not your fault. even op protagonist bing-ge couldn't beat yue qi in a fair fight!
nobody knows this, though, so you're just going to have to suffer through the comparisons. it's your mom and your dad and all the little disciples thinking that yue qi is better than you. ooooh, that can't be good for that burgeoning inferiority complex your mom's instilled in you, huh?
but, you know. jiang cheng's going to be sect leader. he's going to need a strong sect. even if his mom fuckin bitches at him for not being as good as yue qi -- yue qingyuan -- then at least he's going to have a strong right hand, right?
HAHAHAHA.
so there are two routes we can go here. for the sake of my early morning ramblings, we're going to go for the more unrealistic one that requires me to jump through more hoops, because i think it's hilarious.
yue qingyuan starts getting more distant as he gets older. going on long nighthunts away from the lotus pier, you know. he stops leading the disciples in morning drills -- or, well, it's less that he stops, and more that he's not around to actually do that.
he's not around a lot.
snide, snide commentary about how yue qingyuan is going to run away to become a rogue cultivator, just like -- (but we don't talk about them). how yue qingyuan's not going to be da-shixiong for much longer. every time yue qingyuan returns to lotus pier, he seems to be more tired, more wound up, more stressed out --
and then everything stops. yue qingyuan comes back one day emotionally catatonic. he doesn't respond properly when people talk to him. unrelatedly (of course it's unrelated), there is some wailing and weeping in the night. some little shidi thinks that somehow a resentful ghost has made it into the pier and alerts da-shixiong about it in the morning.
thankfully, da-shixiong is back to normal in the morning. "i'll take a look," da-shixiong says, and then everybody forgets about it because da-shixiong is back and da-shixiong stops going on those long nighthunts away and everything is fiiiinnnne, don't worry. and if da-shixiong is a bit more brittle after that -- well, you're probably just imagining it.
jiang cheng worries about it. but yue qingyuan never says anything, because that's what yue qingyuan does. he never says annnnnnything to anyone.
of course, there's only so long you can argue with da-shixiong when the plot is coming up. gusu happens. the wens happen.
jiang cheng and yue qingyuan get sent to the wen evil summer camp, or whatever it's called. indoctrination, right?
lectures. drills. meaningless busy work for the sake of beating people down. obedience, and more obedience. there's a wen staring down every class, just waiting for them to slip up. there's one in particular that seems to have it out for yue qingyuan, sharp mouthed and pointy and HAHAHA OKAY, you've probably guessed who this is, haven't you? you're a genre-savvy audience, i bet!
ah, but i'll spell it out anyway, don't worry. for a-cheng, maybe, because jiang cheng can't guess, because yue qingyuan doesn't tell him anything. jiang cheng's out of the loop, on the outside, like he always is with yue qingyuan. don't worry, jiang cheng -- you're not special. he treats you like he treats everyone else.
but ah, that's the problem, isn't it?
jiang cheng stumbles over da-shixiong at night, past curfew, arguing with the wen. or, really, it's not arguing -- the wen is verbally eviscerating him, and yue qingyuan is just letting him. attacks on yue qingyuan's character and talent and everything, and about how yue qi's CLEARLY found a replacement (replacement? what does that mean?) and fine, you think you're so respectable now, of course only a high-bred sect heir is good for you (that jiang-gongzi, do you think he's a better version of me) (is this the version of me you've always wanted?) --
all yue qingyuan says is "i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorry--"
there's got to be one question on your mind, huh, a-cheng? yue qingyuan seems to know this wen. pretty well, it seems -- those insults aren't generic, this seems personal. why? how?
who the hell is wen qingqiu?
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Everyday i think about alternate universe coquette seb with michael who pampers him like theres no tomorrow. Michael would absolutely be head over heels because of how seb looks at him with that flushed cheeks and beautiful blue eyes.
Seb definitely enjoys drowning in michaels attention what more with how the man always have to make a physical contact with him whether it be a simple head pat or a possesive waist grab, everything makes sebastian heart flutters. He dresses up nicely for michael, he puts on a show for him because seb knows michael is tired with all his work and he wanted to be good and help him.
Michael's favourite outfit? Definitely something that accentuates seb's youth especially the fuzzy coats that seb would always wear whenever they go out. Its adorable and he loves it, seb loves it too and oh god michael feels like wanting to carry him to their bedroom and show sebastian how much he loves him. It'll start slow and gentle, michael will always tell seb how perfect he is while slowly pulling and discarding his clothes away. Sebastian would keep a close eye on the man, observing his movement how michael plant trails of kisses on his legs before taking off his shoes, how michael would bury his face on seb's tummy before taking it off and how michael mouths at seb's lace panties, telling him everything about you is so beautiful before ripping it apart knowing well he's going to be spending his money on sebastian again.
Whats there not to love about them?
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