#sorry if this doesn't make sense haha

[tilapia-goulash]

I've gotta say, out of all the MXTX novels, MDZS definitely feels the most "different" to me. Is it a bad thing? Not really. Is it just because of my own biased perception (MDZS was the novel I read last)? Maybe. But as I've thought about it more, I've realized the main thing for me that really separates MDZS from the other two novels isn't its more surface level differences (different flavor of ML, more political drama-y, arguably good sex, etc etc) but rather one simple thing: the scale.

TGCF and SVSSS are stories that have larger scales by necessity of the plot. SVSSS not only has its main setting introduced as a book summary, but is also meant to be a parody of an existing genre, so it stands to reason there'd be the odd worldbuilding monologue where Shen Qingqiu curses out Airplane for his bad writing and whatnot. Worldbuilding is the primary tool through which the reality of Proud Immortal Demon Way as a setting (that being that it's a shoddily written but still fully system-expanded porn novel) is communicated to the audience.

TGCF is about a wandering banished god and a ghost king, so of course there's going to be lore about different kingdoms they've gone through and their histories with each other. Of course there's going to be a general picture painted of all three realms of this world and what each is like. Of course some defining points of our leads' character journeys are when one couldn't prevent a whole kingdom from collapsing and the other was rebirthed in a volcano as an unimaginably powerful super being. It's a fantasy novel. It only makes sense.

In contrast, though, MDZS feels incredibly zoomed in. All of the conflicts are between individual people or clans of maybe 50-100. There aren't any threats to the world at large (aside from maybe the criticized aspects of society like mob mentality and whatnot, depending on how you view it) and, hell, we don't even know what the kingdom it takes place in is called! The "world" of MDZS (if it can even be called that, as small as it is) is its own individual entity that isn't really connected to the greater universe around it. There's barely any worldbuilding at all--aside from the clan-sect thing, it's a bog standard cultivation setting, and there's no "wider impact" of any of the events of the story* outside the people the story chooses to focus on, because, simply put, there doesn't need to be.

In that way, it definitely makes sense that MDZS has the biggest impact on a lot of people. A smaller scale and more personal stakes might make the story feel more grounded and easy to connect with than, say, a giant statue kaiju mecha battle. (Absolutely no disrespect to the giant statue kaiju mecha battle from me, though. That shit was great)

Also, slight tangent, but this might be part of the reason there are more "serious" crossover fics (i.e. ones with more developed plots then "hey wouldn't it be fun if these characters interacted") between TGCF and MDZS than anything involving SVSSS. MDZS's lack of real connection to everything outside its story bubble makes it very easy to just drop in as a random thing going on in the background of TGCF, so it's not a big stretch to imagine. Hypothetically, this would also work with dropping MDZS into the world of SVSSS, but the tones of the stories are so wildly different that they feel a bit harder to reconcile.

In the end, though, it is still nice to see that even though MXTX has written three cultivation danmeis by now, there's still noticeable variety in not just the stories themselves, but the lenses through which they're told. It makes me very excited for whenever her fourth novel comes out, because because who knows what she'd do with a whole new setting...

[jade-of-mourning]

sorry sometimes i think about mako and my heart hurts so much. this kid raised himself and his brother on the streets in homelessness and utter poverty from eight through fifteen, promptly after seeing the violent death of his mother and father. he turned to the triple threats because they couldn't survive as a pair of wretched kids without any adult support, and the environment forced him to turn into the exact character that killed his parents in a terrible twist of irony. and after sheer-fucking-luck hits and they aren't homeless anymore, their livelihood wavers on the outcome of what's a literally game to everyone but them; and after things are finally starting to look up and their team is going places and things just might be okay, his gradually stabilizing world unceremoniously expands and everything goes to shit.

and the city that chewed him up and spat him back out, ruined him as a child and took away his ability to stay afloat in a true sense of normalcy as an adult — when it's on the verge of destruction and falling to pieces before his eyes, he gives himself to save it with the full expectation to die. he went from the kid who didn't and couldn't care about anything outside of himself and his brother, to finding redemption for his younger self in his police work despite its injustice against him, to willingly sacrificing himself to a world that had never loved him.

he's a desperate people pleaser, socially and emotionally stunted for the adult he had to be as a kid, unable to navigate interpersonal relationships easily yet still trying his damned hardest. he's intensely and entirely devoted to the things that matter to him and for so long it was only him, bolin, and ensuring their survival — yet by the end, that devotion has expanded to protecting the rest of the world. he starts out entirely self-reliant and ends in trusting the people he cares about to know their own needs, to be able to take care of themselves, to be okay without him despite having spent so much of his life defined by his role in others' well-being.

just. what the fuck i'm such a big fan of this fictional guy and i'm unashamed about it at this point. also let him cry please (if you won't i'll do it i'll let him cry)

[soapsinthebox]

Some Diana and Felicity designs for Kuro / @librariansrose (... the blog name isn't being tagged for some reason, i apologize for that)

ramble under cut:

-i imagine Diana being a disowened child in this weird void between sister and stranger to David. i thought that would be neat

-She lives on her own in a shelter

-i think of there being alot of discussion about her online, and whether if she really even is the true sister of the inspirational speaker, much to both of the siblings dismay

-I hc that kid arturo actually braided his hair, so felicity did so too to match (something something, the braids being metaphors for the giles parents strict parenting something)

-Doesn't go outside very often, homeschooled and extremely sheltered

-EXTREMELY dependent on arturo due to her low self esteem thanks to their parents.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

if dorian didn't show up, do you think louis would have shot minnie?

I do. I know some people think either he wouldn't have or he would've missed so that's why the writers had him shoot Dorian instead, but mmmmmm no, I don't personally think so. I like to think that if he had taken the shot, his shaky hands would've caused him to shoot her fatally.

Mostly because I'm already so normal about the fact that of the Ericson crew, Marlon and Louis are the only ones with a body count. Well, that we know of, but shown to us in the game, at least. Plus, we know it's Louis' first kill.

Like yeah, Clementine and AJ become part of the crew and they have bigger body counts, and if we're counting indirect kills caused by actions, then Tenn has a count... and I guess everyone has blood on their hands for blowing up the boat... but I'm talking about killed directly with a weapon like....... I lied, I'm not normal about that at all, Louis and Marlon are the ones who have killed someone in Louis' route. I'm also not normal about the fact that Louis kills Dorian and then even as he's clearly in shock, he tries to go with Clementine to get AJ, and then later on when they talk about it, he says it feels like bile but not quite and he's glad he has it in him to do it.... listen, listen, listen... I'm obsessed with that.

Anyway, so if Louis shot Minerva, I think he would've accidentally killed her and can you imagine? He's already enough of a mess after killing the woman who pinned him down and tried to cut his finger off [or succeeded] but he knew Minerva, they were friends before the twins were taken. Even Violet couldn't kill her even though that would've been the smarter thing to do, and we know thanks to meta knowledge that killing her would've saved lives, but Violet couldn't, and I don't think Louis would intentionally either.

Speaking of Violet, if Louis killed Minerva, I hate to think about what that would've done to Vi. I think she might've actually left at that point, like what was planned before it got changed to her being burned. I don't think she would've attacked Louis over it, though, like yeah she attacked Clementine in the cell but Louis? I don't know, but I don't think so just because it's Louis and he'd be a mess about it anyway.

Though if he did kill her, it would be a neat parallel to draw... y'know, because Louis forgave AJ for killing Marlon even though he was pissed and heartbroken, and Violet was annoyed with him the entire time... but could she ever forgive Louis for killing Minerva? Y'know? We already have a similar parallel with AJ shooting Tenn, but still.

If Clementine killed Minerva in that moment, though, then I could see Violet attacking her since in her eyes, Clem proved her right.

So yeah, I get why they added the Dorian kill to his route. It adds another compelling element to Louis as a character, but we also need Minerva alive for episode 4; Louis can't kill her, he can't miss, and he's not going to stay with her because we need Violet to stay on the boat and him to be on shore for all routes.

[pac1fythehunger]

i watched this show recently for no good reason at all, then a day later while cooking i had the revelation that “REPENT MOTHERFUCKER" sounds like something mr ‘you-insignificant-fuck’ would say

[linagram]

unrestrained summer fun with the hs gang!!

and also. uh. these guys i guess

(the grill dad (and many other dad types) guide)

[coockie8]

that anon got me wildin like i feel like askin if ray knows hes a bad person is like askin if Zeus knows hes a bad person my guy hes not a person at all to begin with i dont think he cares lmao

Okay no, I'm glad you said that though because literally. It's the exact same concept. Sure, by human moral standards, he's a "bad person", but he's also not human, so human moral standards don't really apply here haha

You are to a Voidling (or any adjacent being really, like a God) what a video game NPC is to developer/modder, and I can guarantee 99.9%, if not all, video game developers/modders, are not thinking about whether or not it's morally right to set that NPC on fire. It's a creation, and they can do whatever they want with it because it's just a creation. That's how a Voidling looks at you.

[donuts4evry1]

Box jellyfish chirp??? 👁👁

AHHHH omg I thought I talked about box jelly chirps enough to annoy people but I guess I don't talk ab it enough???

Anyways, the video evidence is in my pinned post but I'll put it here too just in case

I suppose the word "whistle" is more accurate since it really is the sound of air rushing through the jelly but I honestly prefer using "chirp" because IT'S CUTE!!

I... Actually haven't seen any scientific literature or documentation on it (perhaps it's just something not many scientists think to talk about?), but to be honest I can see how it happens.

Box Jellyfish are the fastest known jellyfish because of their velarium (a flap of tissue on the bell margin that lets water squeeze out faster, maybe sorta like how a pressure washer does), so when oriented properly and washed up recently enough to still have the strength to move... They make that sound, haha!

[alybur635]

I have 2

What would be your top 5 of Naruto's couples that you dislike/hate?

What is your honest opinion of Hinata's Character?

*swings door open* Hi anon, sorry it took a minute but I'm here now!

"What would be your top 5 of Naruto's couples that you dislike/hate?"

1. All the pedo/incest ships ofc (especially nejihina and the sheer amount of people who will ship them is greatly disturbing to me).

2. SasuSaku, I'm sorry but in my mind I don't think Sasuke should've had a kid with everything he went through. This dude has literal trauma filling up his being and he literally leaves at the end of the series feeling he needs to seek out redemption. Shit, I don't think he should've been in a relationship at all with everything he was mentally dealing with. I mean ig in boruto he's stepping up, but it doesn't really negate the fact he was still gone from a good chuck of his kid's and wife's lives. Mans needed therapy before needing a wife.

3. SasuKarin and SasuHina, mans was willing to kill one and the only thing he's ever said to the other is "shut up", there ain't no chemistry in either of those!

4. NejiTen, I...just don't see the appeal there. It's such a popular naruto ship but I do not see the chemistry others claim is there. The way this ship is sometimes portrayed by people as it needing to exist so Tenten isn't single, because a female character being single is that bad? It comes off as them seeing Tenten as an accessory for Neji when that just...isn't it. It isn't that great of a ship to me and it comes off as people sticking them together because it was a man and a woman on the same team, which is kinda boring logic.

5. Any ship with Rasa, Jiraya, or Hiashi because those bitches don't need a partner, they need to either get their shit together or get kicked down stairs.

"What is your honest opinion of Hinata's Character?"

TBH I actually don't dislike Hinata as a character, I think she's had some good moments to shine but because she is a woman in naruto she never got more than that (thanks again Kishimoto). Now a better explanation: I don't think Hinata is a bad character at all, but I think her development became heavily stagnant when shippuden rolled about. I think her writing and character were better in OG Naruto because yea while she did pin after Naruto, she was still her. She still had noticeable potential and a personality that helped her character to be noticed by viewers/readers. She had a steady character development that was at least noticeable, but for whatever reason we almost completely lose this in Shippuden. Now this isn't to say she didn't grow stronger as a character, because through her newer jutsu, war arc, and The Last, we can see her gaining strength isn't the issue. But her character really doesn't seem to develop as it did in OG Naruto, if anything it almost gets a bit worse? It's almost like her pinning for Naruto and a depiction of her simply existing as Naruto's potential love interest gets shoved in readers faces, almost overshadowing her other characteristics. Again, I am not saying she is a bad character at all, but the trauma we saw with her genin years and the development she had is never really pushed more, never really expanded in a way that helps to showcase the Hinata she could've been. Also the love thing is an obvious fumble on Kishi's end because we all know mans can't write female characters or love to save his life (unless you're minato and kushina which in that case was just luck)

[feroluce]

smth smth yingfeng paralleling farcille

(magically inclined long lived partner tries to defy death by bringing their short lived partner back to life/have immortality but they come out Wrong(tm) instead)

just. the parallels <3

RIGHT? Like oh my god I love the idea of it: a mortal and immortal character falling in love, and the immortal one doing something horribly taboo for them to be together forever. But maybe they fuck something up, or maybe it's just their punishment for playing god, but their now-immortal lover Comes Back Wrong.

I'm actually not caught up on dunmeshi (I get the gist of farcille from socmed, though) but I really like an Inuyasha/Kikiyo flavor to it- Mortal lover is full of rage and hatred, immortal one can't not love them, and then they romantically and dramatically die together murder-suicide style and drag each other to hell. You know, the good shit. ☆

It is one of my ideal dynamics for a bad end pairing. And I do like necromancy shenanigans with a happier/good end, like farcille style too! Just...I don't like either situation for yingyue.

I don't think there's anything wrong with playing with them that way as long as you don't pass it off as canon, like I say all of this with no judgment. But I'm picky and I like to follow canon more closely so I can't really see them in that kind of scenario haha.

It's just! Yingxing's whole deal is that he's a haughty, spiteful, arrogant asshole of a man whose life mission is to be such a damn good craftsman that he can tell all the Xianzhou Natives who looked down on him to suck his short life species dick and flip them the bird. Him being made immortal takes all the fun out of it for me and kinda removes a central part of his character. I LOVE him being petty and full of himself. He should do it more!

And I am so so dearly enamored with the relationship between him and Baiheng. I can't write her out of the whole equation, especially considering she and Yingxing both Came Back Wrong from this incident, and she was the actual intended target.

Like. He loved her. Yingxing loved her. Baiheng was so, so important to him. She's referred to as "the beloved" in Blade's character stories. He called her his bosom friend. He handmade a jade flask just for her.

Not a weapon,

not something she needed,

not something he was doing to show off,

just a flask.

Something pretty, and just for her, something that she would like and use everyday. Not a need, but a want. He did it simply because he wanted to give her a present.

She was the first person to really encourage and believe in him. She helped him come out of his shell (so all that arrogance is her fault BSMZJMS). That animated short where they went up in her star skiff together and she called him cute fucking killed me. They make me chew concrete.

And she was really important to Dan Feng too! He wouldn't have tried to bring her back, otherwise! She died saving him. And he knew what he was doing when he chose to try to bring her back as a Vidyadhara. He had to have. There's no way he couldn't have known that his life was forfeit after this. They don't let you get away with purposely breaking one of the Ten Unpardonable Sins like that.

And he chose to do it anyway. He still chose her life over his own. Dan Feng loved her, too.

He and Yingxing both worked together to try to bring her back because she was someone neither of them could bear to lose.

So if anything, I feel like yingyue is more like larcille bringing back their beloved Falin haha

But no matter who is romantically involved with who, like. It's the love between all three of them that's important.

That's the secret ingredient that makes the triumph of Falin's rebirth and the horrific tragedy of the Sedition of Imbibitor Lunae so emotional. Because these were things that could not have happened unless they all loved each other.

[hecatesbroom]

I hope you don't mind the influx of GG/Dorothy asks you've gotten because I really love your takes and your fics really touch upon a more vulnerable part of Dorothy that I feel was rarely fully explored but was very much present. I was watching recently an ep where Dorothy says she thought her father didn't like her or love her and Sophia cracked that he always talked her up ... to try and sell her to gypsies. Dorothy says "do you know how much that hurts me when you say things like that?". It's one of those lines that's never really followed up on or given a big moment but it stays with me.

Not at all!! I love hearing from you! <3 (and if you ever feel up to it, feel free to send me a dm as well! I'd love to hear more of your thoughts!)

Thank you so much :') I started writing Golden Girls fics precisely for that reason: Dorothy's vulnerability is left so underexplored in the show, even in the moments that (in my opinion, anyway!) presented the perfect opportunity to delve a little deeper into her feelings. I had to give her a moment to shine haha.

That line is the perfect example of what I'm talking about, actually! They throw in those really poignant lines or moments (or even just looks, at times) that hint at so much going on beneath the surface, but it's never expanded on. The only emotional moments she does get, that are fully followed up on, are those relating to Stan -- and even there I feel like a lot is glossed over (often by Dorothy herself, first and foremost).

I could probably write an essay on this but I'll spare you, but I think Sophia's often treated much the same -- if slightly differently -- in the show! And I mean, considering she raised Dorothy, I'm pretty sure she inadvertently ended up teaching Dorothy that covering up your vulnerability is the only way to deal with it. Sophia covers her feelings with quips and jokes, Dorothy does it through dismissal.

And because both of their methods for covering up are very convenient for a sitcom (I can drag Blanche into this as well, by the way. But I promised not to write an essay) it's *so easy* for the narrative to just. go along with their own dismissal of their feelings. Have Sophia distract from her feelings with a funny joke, and the audience is on the floor. Have Dorothy dismiss her feelings with a Look, and there's another opening for someone else to keep up the pace and move the scene along into lighter territory.

[lfcrobbo]

did i peak with here comes the sun. like will i ever write anything like that again

[imprvdente]

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔?

𝐅𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐓 - the sacrifice

a knife to your back is your first memory– it will also be your last. you cannot help but let things into your heart, such is your nature. time and time again, however, they hurt you and leave you to rot. but your heart remains open, and you continue to let more in. is it kindness, at that point, or is it sacrifice?

𝐅𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 - the final girl

you're very tired, aren't you? thrashing and fighting and trying to survive– it has taken its toll, but that has not stopped you. you'll continue to gnaw and scream and bare teeth until you can free yourself from this mess, even if it means being the last one left. there is rest at the end of this hard battle, i promise you. there is a time when the fight will be over– but fighting is all you know, isn't it?

tagged by @countlessrealities (thank you <3) tagging @uselessdevice (Saros) @collidingxworlds (Abigail) @multipleoccupancy (Edgar) @governmentofficial @historiavn @versin-surfin (Léon) @theresastargirl @dcmur3 @lovepurposed @batteredoptimist (Muriel) @pctioneer @fantasywritten (Strahm)

[astrxealis]

good eve, sending u all hugs ^_^

[smile-files]

i think one of the most fun things about having goody gardens is that it lets me not worry about being fully cohesive... like if i want to wear more comfy, flannely, corduroy-y things? that's worrywart! if i want to wear brighter, happier, more childlike things? that's sunshine lollipop! etc. and also this way i have an excuse to have like... 7 fursonas at once. if i so desired. it's all about self-expression!! whee!!!

[panthera-ephemera]

i think one of the main reason i could watch III with no issue is that it was very disconnected from the previous seasons to me, especially at the start when the season was kinda considered ambiguously canon. but now that this season is fully canon to the rest of the storyline, it just feels kinda weird