#the rift ig

[ingapotejtoo]

everyones least favourite mc hc maniac is back and this time i sure as hell am back with Rift Lore >:)

[frozentothetouch]

“it’s like you’re a stranger.”

[muninnhuginn]

just generally musing to myself what makes thematic and plot sense for the link clink ending after reading some other people's takes the past few days. no real conclusions here, just some thoughts tied together with a string.

I've seen arguments that what needs to happen is that Lu Guang needs to accept Cheng Xiaoshi's fate and move on without regrets. This idea that the past has to remain as-is and you have to move on is a thread that the show has played with quite a few times. It's written into the very rules underlying the dives. The most obvious instance being the earthquake arc, where Cheng Xiaoshi was unable to save Chen Xiao's mum, but he *was* able to deliver the messages and thereby help CX gain closure. It's laid out by Lu Guang that it *was* worth it to deliver the words, and Cheng Xiaoshi takes this conclusion with him when he confronts Emma. (Of course, the fact this lesson was given by *Lu Guang* casts a different shade over the whole affair. I don't think it can be entirely discarded, given LG even admits he's going against his own rules, but it reads more like something he's trying and failing to convince himself of.)

So, the past has to stay as it is. We see a few different approaches to this idea in s2 - of people refusing to move on and trying to change the past. Qian Jin wants to force his wife "not to cheat"; he wants to alter her behaviour because she didn't act as he wanted. Li Tianchen wanted to change how *he* acted back then, even if indirectly, because he sees himself as his mother's killer, and thinks this is the point at which his tragedy was locked into place. They both thought their 'tragedies' were down to a single event. It's not that simple.

Lu Guang wants to personally protect Cheng Xiaoshi by controlling all scenarios. Not exactly taking his will, but limiting his choices. There's probably a whole post to be made on how QJ/LTC/LG each approach the agency of the ones they want to protect, but that's not for now.

Anyway, Li Tianchen as the foil to Lu Guang. At the end of s2, he has in theory let go of Li Tianxi but in practice he's just burying himself deeper by following Liu Xiao. Trying to entirely shun the past so he can believe that he still has some element of control. Both LTC and LG are at the extreme ends of clinging on vs letting go and that means the correct answer has to lie somewhere in the middle. Not shunning the past, but accepting it, and using that resolve to move forward.

So, Liu Xiao. We don't have much on him but what we do have is his belief that uncertainties should become certainties. He's deterministic and set explicitly as the counter to Lu Guang, whose own aim is to change events rather than lock them into place. They both want to *control* all aspects, but for differing reasons. In fate vs free will, it makes sense that our protagonist is on the side of free will, but it's interesting that he's presented himself so much as the opposite previously. He and CXS haven't exactly switched places, but to the audience, they've definitely taken on traits of the other.

Liu Xiao's whole spiel about how all options will eventually lead to the same outcomes, with him set *against* Lu Guang, very much seems like it's a setup for a "defeat fate" type plotline though. It's hammered in that there is no escape, no other option. Are we expected to accept this? It doesn't seem so. It's something I'm struggling to reconcile somewhat with the earlier messages about accepting the past, but maybe that's not quite it. Maybe it's about control vs freedom?

Trust fall. Every dive with LG and CXS is an act of mutual trust where they need to act in tandem. Dives go astray when one party acts without the other. For CXS, this is about him acting against LG's instructions (texting Emma's parents, staying in the earthquake dive). For LG, this is about him withholding info because he doesn't trust how CXS will react.

Lu Guang needs to put his trust in CXS before his withholding of information creates an unresolvable rift. He needs to stop trying to control CXS in order to keep him safe. We saw how that spun out for Li Tianchen and Li Tianxi. LG needs to put the choice into Cheng Xiaoshi's hands and let him decide his own fate. It reminds me of how Cheng Xiaoshi laid everything out for Emma and let her decide whether to live. It was only outside interference that prevented her, but she did make the choice to survive. And she did it by remembering those small moments. By accepting that tragedy happens but there are still people that make it worth it.

For LG and CXS, they need to mutually trust each other and that's how they'll find their way through.

[inbetweenhours]

ignoring Geminitays characters being the same acrossed all universes and instead making some of the most horrifying backgrounds for her season 2 character only currently second to the Sheriff whom i have done unspeakable horrors to the history off

[schoolbusgraveyard]

The other night my husband and I were talking about like... How the way these kids get stuck like this is kind of funny. Like there's a weird comedy in "imagine you're on a school field trip or even just on a walk and you pay a lady $5 for a tour of a historic house that's supposedly haunted and she ditches you like. 10min in and then you get sent to hell every night".

Alternatively, for Jasmine, it's like. "$5 is fair right. The one is definitely gonna get unending trauma death or a coma but the others should be fine. Yeah asking for $5 each is fine. Ohhh they're all getting dragged into it. Well..." and then getting a little treat after like you didn't just damn at least one of those kids to a nightly hell

[wren-kitchens]

all that matters (p2)

inspired by @fire-to-embers ‘s reblog of my last rancher duo ficlet (I forgot to give it a title lol-)

I thought it was such an amazing idea, I just had to do it

the moment jimmy opened his eyes and found himself back in the mesa, he knew he had to find tango again.

he’s spent two days holed up in his house, only leaving to feed the animals, researching ways to travel across worlds. eventually, he found a way to use the portal technology to travel across worlds— thanks to the local archeologist, pixlriffs.

he’d been studying portals for a little while as a hobby (a hobby??) and apparently heard about jimmy’s research and decided to help.

so now jimmy has most of the materials he thinks he needs. he doesn’t know where it’s going to open— he just knows it’ll be where tango is. he has the blackstone, the diamonds, the soil for the soul fire, but he’s missing the final thing: a skulk catalyst.

no way is he going into the deep dark— him dying wouldn’t do anyone any good— so he travels to the man he has heard is the collector of the server. surely he’d have one.

“i’m sorry, you want a what?” scott says, hands on hips and looking slightly distastefully at jimmy’s clothes (which he hasn’t changed out of since his reappearance in the mesa).

“look, I know.” jimmy pleads. “but I really need one. I don’t know who else to go to.”

“why would you need something like that?” scott asks. “are you making a farm or something? ‘cause in that case you should talk to pixl about that-“

“no, it’s not a farm.” jimmy says. how is he gonna explain this? “it’s.. a portal. but not to another dimension. to another world.”

scott blinks. “you lost me.”

jimmy exhales, hoping the memory barriers between worlds aren’t as strong as they seem. “i’m looking for tango.” he says.

for a moment, he thinks scott doesn’t remember. then his face shifts from a blank expression to one of understanding. “oh. you mean-“

“yes.” jimmy cuts him off, not wanting to hear it. “yes and I need the catalyst to finish the portal. do you have one?”

“i can get one.” scott says. “for a price. what do you have?”

jimmy knew this was coming, so he pulls out the bundle of all his remaining diamonds. the ones for the portal are at his base. “all of these.” he says, watching the look of surprise and greed flash in scott’s eyes. “for one catalyst. and I need it soon.”

“done.” scott reaches for the diamonds, but jimmy pulls them away.

“after you get me it.” he says.

scott shoots him a scowl. “fine. give me a day.”

“a day?” jimmy exclaims.

“well i’d prefer not to be killed by the warden.” scott says. “i’ll set off now, how ‘bout that?”

“deal.” jimmy says resentfully.

he gets back onto his horse as scott gets his armour sorted and rides back to tumble town. he could use the extra time to make the portal, he supposes.

—-

tango is frantic. he cannot find any way to bypass the boundaries of the world. doc is too busy with his farms to pay any attention to him, and he can’t even get to ren, what with his new bodyguard bdubs.

he’s been trying to find something, anything that might get him through the borders of their world, when he stumbles across the Entity.

of course: grian would know. how had he not thought of that before? he created the life games, and the Entity, he knows this kind of stuff.

he grabs his elytra and flies as fast as he can to grian’s base.

“grian!” he yells as he lands. “grian where are-“ he cuts himself off with a scream, as when he steps into grian’s base, a chorus of ear-piercing shrieks go off. shriekers.

“yes!” grian laughs, punching the air. “that’s two for two!”

“oh god, what even is that?” tango asks, hand on his chest.

“oh, like, fifteen shriekers and a skulk sensor.” grian says, not moving from where he stands. “I got impulse so good with that the other day.”

“jesus.” tango breathes. “I can sympathise with him. can we talk outside? that is terrifying.”

grian grins. “sure.” he walks over to the door, setting off the shriekers again.

tango groans, clapping his hands over his ears and following softly behind until they’re out of range. “you’re incredibly annoying.”

“yes.” grian nods. “so what did you want?”

“okay, this is gonna sound weird.” tango says. “but do you know a place where you could.. I don’t know, travel to different worlds?”

grian stares at him for a second, and tango thinks he’s confused until he says, “dude I literally have one under my house.”

“you what?!” tango exclaims.

“why do you think my base can float?” grian says. he extends his wings and walks off the bridge. “c’mon!” he calls, flying down.

tango follows, gliding down after him. they come to a stop in front of a massive hole. it’s surrounded by a rock formation that is oddly familiar.

“it’s down here.” grian gestures towards the pit. “it can get kind of.. weird down there.” he warns. “stuff’s been..” he shakes his head. “it’s just weird. cool, but weird.”

tango isn’t sure if he wants to know what grian means— or if he wants to go down there at all — but it’s his only way of reaching jimmy.

“okay.” tango says after a moment.

grian looks at him, a slight frown on his face. “I think i know what this is about.”

a surge of panic rushes through tango. will grian let him go through with this? is this even allowed in the life games?

“please, i’ve gotta-“ tango starts, but grian waves his pleas away.

“i’m not gonna stop you.” he says, giving tango a grin. “i know you two got close in the games.” the way he says it makes tango’s face flush.

“yeah, well.” tango says, embarrassed. “I just- I don’t know what i’m gonna do if this doesn’t work.”

“I can help you.” grian offers. “i’ve been trying to figure out this kind of thing for a little while, and I think I know parts of how it works.”

tango starts to say something, when a loud noise cuts him off from the pit.

grian peers down. “we should check that out.” he says.

they fly down there. it’s a massive cavern, mostly lit up, with an enormous purple crack in one of the walls. it keeps shifting colours, one second blue, another pink, but overall it’s akin to enderman eyes.

“that’s.. odd.” grian is staring at the rift. “it only does this when something’s being..” his eyes widen. “oh.”

“‘oh’?” tango turns on him. “what do you mean ‘oh’?! what’s it doing?!”

grian’s eyes are fixed on something in the rift. tango follows his gaze and sees a dark blob in the mixing mass of purple.

“grian,” tango repeats, staring at the blob. it looks like it’s getting closer, and as it does, it becomes more clear. it’s a figure— a human figure. “what is it doing.”

“it only does this..” grian says slowly. “when it’s transporting something. or.. someone.”

just as the figure breaks the surface of the rift, both of their communicators buzz in unison.

<solidaritygaming joined the game>

tango doesn’t know who moves first. they both run to each other, crashing together in a messy hug. there’s water on tango’s face, and he doesn’t know if he’s crying, if jimmy is or if it’s both of them, but it doesn’t matter. it doesn’t matter because jimmy is here, and he isn’t leaving any time soon.

they don’t know how long passes. it could be seconds, it could be hours that they’re in the embrace. they don’t care.

tango’s face is in jimmy’s hair (is it longer?) breathing him in.

“i’ve missed you so much.” tango says.

jimmy doesn’t say anything, but holds him closer.

“i’m not going anywhere.” tango mutters into jimmy’s hair. “not again.”

“oh, god.” jimmy’s voice is hoarse. “tango.” the way jimmy says it, it’s a complete sentence. just him.

“i’m right here.” tango says. “right here.”

jimmy pulls away after a moment, taking tango in. he looks different— his hair shoulder length now, and dressed like a cowboy. there’s something that looks like skulk smeared on his face, and there’s a couple of cuts and bruises on his arms, but he looks positively ecstatic.

“you- you look different.” jimmy traces a hand down tango’s face. he might melt.

“so do you.” tango smiles. “always knew you’d be a cowboy.”

“were you inspired by the rancher?” jimmy says, fingering the skulk in his hair.

“were you?” tango chuckles.

“well, how’d you think I made the portal here?” he grins. “our local archeologist helped me out a bit. scott got the skulk though.”

“scott?” tango asks. “he doesn’t seem like the kind to go searching in the deep dark.”

“well, I payed him the rest of my diamonds.” jimmy says, but he’s not focusing on his words. a smile slips onto his lips. “I almost forgot how beautiful you are.”

tango feels his face flush. “can I kiss you yet?” he says. “I really wanna kiss you.”

jimmy laughs. “now why would I ever say no to that?”

tango leans towards him and their lips meet. jimmy pulls tango closer, running a hand through his hair, the other on his waist. tango is holding jimmy’s face in his hands. he smiles into the kiss when he feels jimmy’s wings around him, soft as ever (if slightly unkempt).

they’d later thank grian profusely for having the rift so open, and tango would explore the world jimmy came from. they’d get doc to set up inter-world communication, and the life game players would be incredibly surprised to find joel standing at 11” tall, scott in his colourful attire and lizzie as.. whatever she was.

later, there would be frequent correspondence between the two worlds, with raw material exports from hermitcraft and odd ‘magic’ items from the empires. (no one would know if these items were magic for sure, but they seemed to work as advertised and were interesting to run tests on.)

but that is for later. for the time being, tango and jimmy are back together and that is all that matters for them.

[aliendragondreaming]

this may or may not be a little bit of a vent whoopsie lol

[tizedhypno]

I don't know if anyone have said anything about this / or not so I just wanna say it million times

But my brother pointed this out:

So the reason the hermits can't go through the rift is because the rift in empires isn't a portal at the moment, so even if the hermits could go through it they would just be inside in glass.

I love that my brother pointed this out to me sm

[kirkwallsquad]

justice: there's tears in the veil, here let me alter your weapons for a bit so that you can close them me, a player of dragon age inquisition: OH WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT

[riftwalker-limbro]

doing it doing it

[arandomocto]

went way in over my head and eventually abandoned this around last year, but i figured its still kinda nice

[hellguarded-moved]

//  I’M BANGING MY POTS AND PANS TOGETHER because i’m watching a playthrough of gow:ragnarök and it’s at the part where u fight nídhögg and i!!  love seeing her do her little rift tricks it is SUCH an ig mood

[snowshinobi]

Absolutely dying over Zeka dropping to near-zero health and getting killed by none other than BARON NASHER HIMSELF, WORMBOY EXTRAORDINAIRE

[arg-ent-um]

I’m kinda throwing stuff at the wall here but I think the rift plot False and Gem are having might be the world trying to right the fact that they exist in two worlds at once…. I want to see more rift interactions from the other hermits but outside of Grian, the rift isn’t really that big of a deal….

False’s interaction with the rift+grumbot was, err, interesting. She panicked about it and now I don’t trust grumbot. There’s a lot of foreshadowing I feel…

Gem heard voices from the other side; I think it was empires! gem but I don’t know… the ‘This can’t be happening’ line she finishes the episode with worries me.

Either way, I’m curious where this is going.

[hotmess-exe]

ugghghghg i like need to talk to a fellow first gen african american about the weird nebulous space we tend to occupy/exist in as black americanssss pleaseeee i have so much ANGST ABOUT IT TODAYYYY

i'm just realizing that growing up, this regular tendency that generational(?) black americans had of othering me as African as an insult or in contexts where it wasn't immediately relevant... i think i internalized that shit in a very fucking weird way.

i think i internalized this idea of myself as Not African American/Not Black and that self-perception ended up blinding me to a lot of anti-black racism i DID experience when i was a kid. which in turn allowed me to dismiss and deny anti-black racism that was happening to others around me — you follow me? does this make sense? we were so Different from each other that obviously we are not experiencing the same prejudices. black people react this way to something, but i'm african -- so obviously, it doesn't apply to me and i will react differently.

way too much more under the cut

which is SO depressing bc there was also the psychological/emotional dichotomy of getting to be Not African in the sense that i'm one of The Americans in my family. hell, i'm The American. i lived 'back home' for 6 years and yet still get acknowledged as la americana when i enter a room.

and there's the whole other subject of the way african adults further instill this otherness in their own anti-black ways ok — unfortunately none of us get to claim total innocence or enlightenment here.

i was thinking back on some things that a black ex-friend of mine used to say to me that were just fucking... microaggressions lol. they were xenophobic, they were rude, they were assumptive — they were microaggressions. but pointing it out would usually lead to a conversation about my blackness not being her blackness. which is true... but why are we now talking about you?? it would just turn into this chat where i am listening so hard for what i am missing here and how it relates to what i was trying to say or what lane i accidentally crossed into, and end with me like... accepting her bigotry and dropping it! lol like what??

i don't feel like she ever truly gave me the benefit of the doubt that i would understand, even on a basic level, where she was coming from as a black person in america. though i will say she never really gave me the benefit of the doubt as a friend in general either and that was certainly mostly personal. like when i sent her a text, from africa, during the initial police crackdowns on george floyd protesters in NYC, she responded annoyed. said she was sick of people she doesn't talk to much (we were still talking regularly at this point lol) -- mostly white former classmates -- suddenly checking in on her when she's had to worry about the police all her life. and i was just like

um. girl. i'm asking if you're safe because an hour ago NYPD shut down the fucking neighborhood you live near and they've been snatching people up just for passing through. and she works nights.

like. what the actual fuck was this assumption? aside from the personal lack of faith that i gave an actual fuck about a friend i regularly talk to -- for real, what is this implicit comparison to white people who were just then learning about police brutality from the daily show and instagram blackout posts? what?? huh???

[tendercoretroglodyke]

really wanna just go home (to my apartment) but I feel like if i left at 9:45pm when i was supposed to the spend the night, that would escalate the tense silence between my parents and I to "A Thing" status and I just don't. Want that kind of drama in my life. But I also dont want to be here!!