#which is why someday im gonna write a book with mostly women so people have no choice but to think about them

[mqfx]

unfortunately my most prominent jyl thoughts start with the soup. & im no expert on ancient chinese kitchens, but given that lotus root & pork soup is something that simmers for hours, i think that as much as the soup is an act of service & a tried and true "we dont have to talk about it" comfort tactic, its also... a great excuse to duck away from everything going on. the kitchen being the safe space, so to speak! and overall jyl seems more avoidant than confrontational? i havent read mdzs for the details in years can you tell but i think theres a good chance under the right circumstances she could have become jfm 2: shijie edition, in which she can read emotional cues fairly well and she doesn't want anyone to be unhappy, but how proactive she might be about resolving a situation is entirely based on how secure she feels. im not forgetting her valiant defence of wwx "i take insults against him seriously" moment! but theres a difference between an eroding stagnant unhappiness & a situation that is more clear cut. im just not confident about how she would raise jin ling in the whole (waves hand) jin situation if she had not been collateral damage. is this making sense 😭

this is all true but let me make clear that my problem with how the fandom conceptualizes jiang yanli is NOT the soup. I'm not mad about the soup and in fact since it's one of basically three things that we even know about her at all, it stands to reason that when we think about her we're Gonna Have To Mention the Soup.

and one can (if one cares enough about her, which I'm sure you do anon) draw reasonable conclusions about her character based on this thing that she does. after all, everything is (supposed to be) important in a given text. I don't disagree with anything you said. she is a careful, conflict-avoidant person due to her tumultuous childhood with abusive/neglectful parents; despite this, she possesses strong morals and protective instincts. I don't think she would've been bad at raising jin ling because unlike her parents, she and her husband actually loved each other and communicate instead of willfully misunderstanding each other then bottling it all up (if she had married someone she didn't love, then yeah she might've been jfm 2. either way we'll never know because guess fucking what mxtx did)

my ISSUE, which fandom can barely acknowledge let alone address, is that "soup" has become a convenient shorthand to refer to her, but it's not a quality. it's a thing that is associated with her, not her personality. this isn't fair! "avoidant" is a trait, "comforting" is a trait, "kind" is a trait, "average" is a trait, soup's not a fucking trait! and some of that is just the general fandom trend of flattening characters in fanon, but the fact that she's a woman and therefore not paid as much attention compared to the ~Complexities~ of the men doesn't help

and I get that sometimes it's not that serious, sometimes it's for Joaks, but why is it that even when joking people can come up with all sorts of qualities for the men but when it's her it's just that she cooks soup? and in more serious discussions, why is her sole purpose apparently to be emotional support or tragic motivation for her brothers? (because mxtx herself wrote her that way!)

why did mxtx not delve into her reactions or point of view (mdzs is the only one of her novels with switching pov, so she could have)? or even just written more scenes with her? (CQL notably gave the women more scenes. the book is abysmal on this regard.....and in others)

tl;dr mxtx did a shit job of developing her character and that of the other women, and fandom makes this problem worse by not giving a shit. the feedback loop continues. your ask and my answer combined are already more words and effort than mxtx spent on writing her

[reds-revenge]

im feeling evil so ALL THE LOCATION ASKS

>:( probably Josie anon, do you know how many times I gotta switch pages now? I’m kidding you’re cool mobile just sucks.

*deep breath* here we go

Amsterdam: yeah, I think so. I’ve always been the weird one, usually in a nice way but I’m still the weird one. I kinda sound like a robot when I’m tired, or trying to accomplish something, and I guess that’s not how all people think?? Anyway.

Athens: ahaha I’m not a perfectionist, I’m the PLATONIC IDEAL OF A PERFECTIONIST. Listen okay I will sink as much time as I need to get it perfect, that’s happening less with the depression bc I just can’t get it up to my standard, I’m trying to make this a Growing Opportunity and learn to set Attainable Goals, but it usually ends with me panicking instead. Ah well

Belgrade: my mother had a loooong list of names and my dad tried to mock them all, they only kept ones that you couldn’t really make weird nicknames for, one of my friends took that as a challenge and called me Kira the Mirra (like mirror) for a year, it was interesting

mom called my kiramodo dragon bc of some noise I made when I was a baby. I thought my name was baby for a while bc they called me Baby Kira my Deara. Then I decided I wasn’t a baby and dubbed myself Kira my Deara the Kid.

Berlin: well for that I’d have to KNOW what I what. I can usually do whatever, but I would really like is absolute certainty about things like do I exist, am I hurting people by existing, etc. and that’s just not something we get in this life. It’s :) so :) fun :) :) :)

Bratislava: it doesn’t have a firm genre, there’s a lot of oddly philosophical themes for something that’s mostly sci fi/ comedy, but there’s also bildungsroman elements bc life amiright, and what’s science besides a mystery?

The protagonist is Done™ with everyone including herself, there’s cephalopods.

Brussels: I’m not fluent in all the languages I borrow from but yeah I do this a lot, I’m a language nerd. I did it more often when I was younger and still liked learning Latin.

Bucharest: NOT ON PURPOSE OKAY, WE’D KNOWN EACH OTHER SINCE WE WERE FIVE SO ALMOST TEN YEARS AT THE TIME, I THOUGHT OF HIM AS MY BROTHER, WHY THE FUCK IS HE WRITING EMO STORIES ABOUT KISSING ME WE WERE S I B L I N G S.

I don’t think of him as family anymore but not bc of the ~*drama*~, I learned some Things and grew Wise. (Well, wisER)

Budapest: maybe, I was five, my love was unrequited. We ended up being friends bc in such a small class whatcha gonna do? We didn’t talk about that fiasco for ten years, turns out that whole declaring my love to the class thing was pretty awkward for him. Whoops.

Copenhagen: outside of old, distant relatives, no. I haven’t actually kissed someone romantically before at all, and I don’t have a desire to. I’m not saying I wouldn’t ever someday, I just haven’t sought that kinda thing out.

Dublin: between being a minor and being an obsessive rule follower, that hasn’t happened. I doubt I ever will, losing even the slightest bit of control over myself terrifies me

Helsinki: now this is interesting. I’m guessing this is referring to romantic love, but it doesn’t SAY that.

Look, I wanna be a scientist. Like really really wanna be a scientist, always have, always will. This sounds cliche but I feel like I was made for the sciences, I really do.

but I gotta go with love. Not romantic necessarily, just in general. And this isn’t a “well I’d better choose the Virtuous thing.” Like, I feel made for science, but science doesn’t mean anything if you’re not using it for something. Neither does art for that matter. Idk, but without love–for my family, my friends, for squids, for God–i just don’t see the point of this whole life thing. So yeah, I’m going with love

Kiev: YES AND FRANKLY I’D CHOOSE THE KNIFE EVERY TIME. I’m not gonna tell you EVERYTHING EVER THAT WAS SAID TO ME bc that would take way too long but yes, yes I have even when they weren’t trying to be knife words

Lisbon: I’m honestly not sure, like I like Hamilton’s America but I hate Trump’s, also I’m really drawn to the British isles and honestly France and Polynesia and India and Russia are all cool, so like I don’t feel like I belong but I might not belong anywhere if that makes sense? Idk tbh

Ljubljana: not really, I sound like my mother over the phone and if you look at baby pictures without the hair showing Greta and I get mixed up (not by family by friends) I have kind of distinctive hair, so.

London: Google says this is thinking vs feeling basically so I gotta go sense (thinking)

Luxembourg: I REGRET EVERYTHING and I often regret things deeply, like really stupid things bc of ~*damaging theology*~ but now mostly because ~*Ocd*~ (I think idk I guess maybe knocking that board over really will send me to hell, I’ve been spinning over this for YEARS)

Madrid: ALL THE TALENTS but maybe speaking fluent French, juggling, and playing guitar if you want some specifics

Moscow: No. I mean when else would I do all the thinking? Not during the day when I’m half asleep, surely.

Nicosia: whenever I’m nervous or exhausted which is most of the time now tbh

Oslo: HAhahahahaha this is hilarious. I’d like absolute 100% certainty that everything is 100% okay, always has been, and always will be. I don’t know what okay even is here but I know that 100% certainty does not exist and also everything probably isn’t okay, and EVEN IF I KNEW THIS I would still be nervous for some hellish reason, I don’t think I’ll ever actually have peace of mind :/

Paris: I mean yeah, but not more afraid than I am of most things. I guess I’m more scared I’d mess it up somehow

Podgorica: HELL YEAH. I mean, I’m curious about death and franklyitwouldntbeterribleifigothitbyasnipertomorrow @ the government, but setting that aside I’ve been raised on stories of people dying, dying for good or evil but for what they believe and I was kinda scared when I was little that I’d chicken out and surrender to the fascist government or whatever but I won’t, I’ll just do the thing, follow the rule same as any other. And even if my beliefs are wrong we’re all gonna die anyway, so

Prague: not really, no. I’ve got a good family, a good church for once, I’m heading to running start next year to study what I want, I don’t really have something to be jealous of.

I mean I’d like my brain to work but I’m not *jealous* of people who’s brains do the thing, I’m happy for them I just would like to be like that too

Reykjavik: A TINY FLOATING ISLAND COUNTRY I COULD PARK WHERE I WANTED I MEAN I DOUBT I’M GONNA MOVE PERMANENTLY OUT OF AMERICA BECAUSE THAT SOUNDS HARD AND MY FAMILY’S HERE BUT I DON’T LIKE ABSOLUTE RULES WHERE I DON’T NEED THEM

Riga: I would take as many selfies as I had to to get one I only kinda hate, I would post that one. (Yeah this is specific but I’m waiting for the technicality police over here, I totally would tho I don’t really care)

Rome: yeah but not romantically. I mean this is gonna sound weird I’m sorry but once in a blue moon I get an overwhelming sense of God and His love for me, that sounds cheesy or fake or something but I’m too tired to not be painfully honest rn

Sarajevo: TO INFINITY AND BEYOND. I wouldn’t do whatever they asked me to, I’m not gonna sign my mind over bc they’re human too and not always right and maybe the stakes are high etc, but if they need something I'ma do the thing at any cost of time, resources, sanity, etc. to myself I’ve got no boundaries here

Skopje: I honestly don’t know?? I’ve been called a lot of sweet things by a lot of sweet people and I remember EVERY SINGLE ONE and honestly I don’t think I could choose one, they’re all sweet in different ways, you know?

Sofia: not in a physical way, women are shockingly treated differently from men in Puritainville, but most people were fine with me in general if I didn’t touch certain buttons. Everyone had different buttons but never said what they were until whoops! It was fun :)

Mental health is also a super fun topic in Puritainville if you were wondering, someone told my mom when I first pulled out of school that I didn’t need a doctor, I just needed a book on Grace, because clearly my theology was why I couldn’t talk and slept fifteen hours a day

Also being Anglican was interesting, I tried explaining the whole icon thing and Lent and via media but it fell on deaf ears

I dunno if this is prejudice related or not but some guy called me a Pharisee when I was seven bc I told him off for making it impossible for me to follow the rules, he was trying to make us scared to teach us about God’s grace, you can imagine how well tiny Kira handled that

wow okay well I guess that’s a yes then

Stockholm: UNFORTUNATELY

In middle school everyone wrote stories about their thinly disguised classmates, and then in ninth grade creepy mcbadideas wrote stories about me saving him from his life basically and then him saving me from depression with a kiss, it was weird

and then Mom has used the whole family for story ideas

Tallinn: I can’t recall a rumour I’ve heard about myself, I’m very open. There were certainly rumors about me being ~*liberal*~ but that was actually true so idk.

I’d like to hear some though, I’m so out there already it’s gotta be entertaining

Tirana: no??? I’m honestly not sure what sexy is but everyone else seems to? Mom swears boys look at me–she’s usually telling me how not to die at a bus stop when this comes up– but I don’t notice anything

Valletta: thankfully no, at least not a big one. The worst I’ve injured myself was when I kinda timed a jump over a brick wall wrong and took out a chunk of my shin.

Vienna: I gave this one A LOT OF THOUGHT but I don’t think there’s like one song that totally captures my life, I definitely identify with songs but there’s not one single song in part because I’m still trying to process my life, you know? Fit things into the correct slots. Until I do that–if that’s even possible–i won’t have just one song. Sorry!!

Vilnius: yeah, why not? If it’s not like a permanent thing bc I have issues with permanency then it’d be cool, if only to get another point of reference for how things are done

Warsaw: i AM a depression lol. I thought two years was about as long as major depressive episodes lasted but I guess not, or maybe I was misdiagnosed idk

Zagreb: I’ve certainly given my TRUST to people I shouldn’t have, I’ve given my FRIENDSHIP to people I shouldn’t have, but I don’t think I’ve ever given someone my heart when I shouldn’t have.

Zurich: not at all. It’s a means to an end, you need it for college and food and stuff, but outside of that I really don’t care. I’ve been trying to figure out how we could restructure society without money and keep it fair and not suppress individuality and keep everyone taken care of it’s an interesting thought experimentTHERE I’M DONE I hope you appreciate that that took me a couple HOURS JOSIE I love you but WOW am I glad that’s over

[cincinnatiburn]

accepted - mason mccarthy

there was only one applicant for mason mccarthy but it was the perfect applicant. so julie, please head over to the checklist for the next steps. excited to have you!!!

out of character information

I’m Julie, I’m from the Middle of the Midwest and reside in CST, I’m 23 and I’ll gladly fork over my Skpe over IM since that’s where I live 90% of the time. Mason’s my first and most-loved Glee muse, with most of the other newest-bies (and the rare Kitty Wilde) also filling my time in my past two-and-some years in the GRPC. I’m excited to see how this plays out! general statistics BASIC NAME: Mason Ichabod McCarthy NICKNAMES: Mase, MaseFace, Mc-C, Em-Squared, Numba-Five, Five of Nine. His twin sister calls him Ich, which is rude and uncalled for, so he calls her Hairy in return. AGE: 26 BIRTHDAY: 12-02-1990 GENDER: Cismale. PRONOUNS: He/Him/His. ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius. MOTHER: Lauren “Lola” Theresa McCarthy, nee O’Brien FATHER: Richard Irving McCarthy PARENTS: Rich and Lola. Typical Irish-Catholics from Boston; loving, loud and too much personality for too little space. His father is a professor of 19th-century literature at Harvard, and his mother is a personal secretary for a legal firm. FAMILY: His paternal grandparents, Theodore and Jane, died before Mason was born, but the whole McCarthy cohort still treks down to visit their graves a halfdozen times a year - their birthdays, deathdays, Christmas and Easter. His maternal grandparents, Stuart and Catherine, live in Florida, and he didn’t see them nearly as frequently growing up. Both his parents also come from big families - he has more aunts and uncles and cousins than he can keep track of, most days. SIBLINGS: In order from oldest to youngest: John Darcy, lawyer, 37; Peter Nathaniel and Andrew Hawthorne, a biographical writer and a veterinarian, identical twins, 33; Madison Harriet, wedding planner, and himself, 27; Elizabeth May and Catherine Emily, high school chemistry teacher and graduate student for Student Affairs, identical twins, 24; Thomas Samuel, 21, unemployed/parental monitor/professional slacker; Joan Sydney, high school student, 17. LIFESTYLE BORN: Boston, Massachusetts. RAISED: Boston, Massachusetts. VEHICLE: 2012 Honda CR-V, which older brother Andrew passed down to him when he traded up. PETS: A Dalmation named Lucky. Mason really liked 101 Dalmations growing up… POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Apathetically liberal. Don’t be a dick. RELIGION: Raised Irish-Catholic, semi-practicing, semi-agnostic, semi-probably-going-to-Hell. BELIEFS: Mason believes that MLK Jr. had it right when he said the arc of the universe trends toward justice. There’s so much bad crap in the world, and he mostly just tries not to add to it. Aside from that, he believes in good music, good people, good books, in that order. Because he can’t not, he believes in God, but in the more vague way - he doesn’t think there’s a right or a wrong way to worship, as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else; God, Buddha, Allah…whatever makes the universe line up, Mason can get behind. MISDEMEANORS: Mason’s got more charm than he knows what to do with, so of all the stupid, minorly illegal things he’s done, all but three incidents never officially made it to his record. Once, when he was 18 and some creepy 45-year-old tried to grab at Madison, which in turn caused Mason to bust out those self-defense moves and dislocate his shoulder; once, for public intoxication during his freshman year and once for vandalism. He’s still mad they painted over his graffiti. FELONIES: None. TICKETS AND/OR VIOLATIONS: Mason has the worst luck in the world when it comes to parking meters running out of time. DRUGS: Okay, listen. Mason did the whole party scene, the whole recreational drug scene, the whole waking-up-in-the-hospital-with-eight-siblings-ready-to-kill-him-as-soon-as-they’re-sure-he’s-alive scene. No more, no thank you, not ever. SMOKES: We get it, he vapes. ALCOHOL: Frequently. DIET: Mason still pretty much eats the same way he did when he was 17 - that is, like someone else is gonna beat him to the punch. Given that he’s trying to make ends meet, Mason resorts to cheap and easy over healthy, but he gets enough exercise and has an active enough lifestyle that it doesn’t really show. Life’s too short for bad food or bad sex. interview section “ we know that when you were a young and fresh faced kid, you were the party monster of the scene so tell us what you are like now ” Man, I’m never gonna live that down, am I? I’m older, I’m smarter, I’m now found behind the DJ booth instead of wasted in the bathroom with someone I’m never gonna see again. It’s not a crime to have fun, and I refuse to be buried before I’m dead, but I look back at some of the choices I made back then and just…cringe. I still know what’s happening and I’m not about to buy a sweatervest and move to the suburbs, but that sorta lifestyle isn’t maintainable. At least not without being like, a gazillionaire with no friends. “ we’ve asked everyone and now it’s your turn, sex or romance? ” What kinda question is that? Is this a “which do you want right now” question or a “which would you prefer if you had to only have one for the rest of your life” question? Jeeze, I dunno. I’m great in bed, and I really appreciate people who are the same, but lately…I mean, I dunno. I don’t necessarily believe in soulmates or ‘true love’ or anything like that, but…sometimes it might not be so bad, having someone to come home to, y’know? It might not be so bad, having someone to wine and dine. I dunno. I guess if the right person came along, I’d have both, right? “ rumor has it that you plan to be the biggest dj in cincinnati but in the meantime what are you doing to support yourself? ” Hey, get it right. I plan to be the biggest DJ in the world, but yes, Cinci is the first step, and I’m supporting myself with my art–playing local gigs and mixing tapes for people, getting the name out there, showing people a good time. I do some part-time, fast-cash stuff…oh, wait, that sounds awful. I’m not a hooker. I’m a waiter sometimes, sometimes I go do those like sleep studies at the University, sometimes I do some freelance writing, sometimes I grab my crappy electric keyboard and play streetcorners. We all gotta get by. “ it can’t all be good music and good times, so what’s the hardest part about being an openly gay man for you? ” The hordes of beautiful women who want to date me. …I’m kidding, ish. The hardest part is worrying about discrimination - and, like, the actual discrimination and stereotypes that follow you around when you’re gay and okay about it. So many people want to know about your “coming out trauma” and it’s like, dude, first of all, back off, second off, why do people think being gay automatically equates to something terrible having to have happened to you?? This is just who I am and I love who I love and people want to make such a big deal out of it. “ in order to become the next great dj, what’s the road map for the future looking like for you? ” It’s looking…well, I’d love to say it’s looking easy like Sunday morning, but I wasn’t raised to be a liar, so it’s looking challenging, at best, and like a fool’s dream at worst, but…well, a liar I’m not, and whether or not I’m a fool is still kinda up in the air. The game-plan is to get my name out locally as much as possible, get good social media coverage, get some devoted fans, score a big gig or two…someday I’d like to maybe get some of my own music out there, but I’ll fight anybody who tells me being a DJ isn’t ‘real’ work or isn’t being a ‘real’ artist, because until they’ve sat in the booth, they don’t know a dang thing. Is it bad that aside from having fun and helping other people have fun, my biggest goal is just, like, being self-sustaining? Talk about setting the bar low, I guess, but you gotta start somewhere, right?