#Lost in a Crowd

[fullofsunsetwhispers]

Omi: Oh no! I'm lost in a big city again! How can I find my friends? Omi: (comes up with an idea) Omi: Well, It doesn't matter because now I have this map! And reading maps is similar to reading scrolls! And reading scrolls is my tup of coffee! Raimundo: (pushing away the crowd) It's a 'cup of tea', Omi! TEA! Clay, Jermaine and Kimiko coming from the other city alley: Yes, you had in mind 'a cup of tea'. Omi: Hurray! Found you! :D Jack, coming from the opposite direction: Sorry for being late for our 'let's correct cheeseball session'. Let me add something. Ehem. (coughs dramatically and then he becomes slightly irritated) Geez, Omi! I told you this phrase is used when you want to express that you are good at something! It's 'tea', not 'coffee'. Why can't you memorize it, goddamn? It's like talking to a brick wall! everyone looks unimpressed* Kimiko: Are you finished? Jack: .... yeah, I guess? Clay: Alright, that sounds like permission to whoop your butt. Jack: Hey! I'm on vacation, give me a break! Omi: I just wanted to say, I know I said this sentence wrong! I did a mistake on purpose so you can find me more easily! Kimiko: haha that's funny! You're getting better at joking, Omi! Jermaine, finger gunning Omi: You almost had me there, my homie! Jack: Yeah, sure. And I'm the princess, baldy. Clay: Well, you tried! You were close this time! Raimundo: No need to lie, little dude. You'll get better at it one day. Omi: (proceeds to be mad at his friends because they don't believe him)

Later:

Omi: Jack Spicer, are you really a princess or are you pulling my arm?

Jack Spicer, contemplating over what approach should he take with Omi: Of course, I'm a princess of the hidden island on the Atlantic Ocean. My parents bought me one for my birthday! I'm building my palace there so soon I'm moving my evil lair there.

Omi: Oh, that's amazing! Can I come for a visit once the palace is ready?

Jack, flabbergasted: .... Jermaine, why aren't you teaching him how to understand SARCASM?

Jermaine: Then why are you pulling his arm, all the time!?

Jack, angry: I'm pulling his leg, not his arm!

Omi: oh, that's funny. I don't feel anything on my leg. You're lying to us again, Spicer!

Jack, trying to collect himself: Why are you both this way?

Jermaine: I just love messing with you.

Clay, to break off the silence: You better have nice food in your new lair, your highness.

Kimiko: If you want new dresses I can help you with ordering them.

Raimundo, laughing loudly: heh, be sure to install as many locks as possible in your princess castle, because some robbers like me can break in!

Omi: Raimundo! Jack's parents, that is Miss Queen and Mr. King won't be happy with that!

Jack: I hate all of you.

#xiaolin showdown #lost in a crowd #incorrect quotes #omi #omi's failed slang #one time you know you made an error and then others don't believe you. The audacity of some people lol #so omi monks and jermaine were hanging around in tokio or somewhere else and Omi got lost #jack wasn't with them but it turns out he's on vacation with his mom or sth #it's amazing even jack is sensing Omi's about to come up with something that makes no sense for english users #Jack just has to correct him too. That's what homies do #that's so sweet of jack to step in and correct Omi as well. he did that out of pettiness and adoration! #jack spicer #clay bailey #jermaine thompson #jermaine #kimiko tohomiko #raimundo pedrosa #jack's sarcasm backfired at him lol

[necromosss]

i was just trying to make references of these two for future comms and i ended up going full throttle on the design (SOBS)

Extra: them dressing the other one up according to each tastes!!<3

#also THEYRE SO FUNNY SIDE BY SIDE LMAO #boyfie dressed simple so girlfie can dress like she's designed by tetsuya nomura #wildweave #bg3 gale #modern au #bg3 tav #oc: mira #gale x tav #mira got lost in the crowds? gale just need to listen for the sounds of mira's accessories jingle like how a cat owner searches for their c #yeah.

[princemick]

DANIEL // Drive to Survive Season 6 Episode 2

#pretty boy lost ina crowd #f1 #dts #drive to survive #daniel ricciardo #rbr.dan #kyle.gif #f1edit #dtsedit #danielricciardoedit

[theemployees]

Is Hueso around in the competition area?

Jack: Yes...he's just being held hostage by numerous Leos..

Ash: We have failed to rescue him but its FINE-

Peony: But we’re not worried, we tied a balloon to him earlier so we don't lose him!

@tmntaucompetition

#rottmnt #tmnt au competition #rottmnt au #the employees rottmnt #the rotm employees #rottmnt oc #somebody please save him #we lost him last year in a crowd of skeletons something about a “sans undertale” #it’s either this or the child leash #employees compete #ask rotm employees

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

so im listening to the potd audio commentary and jodie's talking about covid restrictions and filming flux and how the restrictions were more intense at the start of filming (was that end of 2020/start of 2021?) and she says "by the time we finished, we could hug" and damn they took that opportunity didnt they

#itS OnLY BeEn A dAy FoR tHe DOcToR wHY dOeS ShE hUg YaZ LikE ThAt #well maybe sometimes you havent been able to hug your friends for six months because of a pandemic have you thought about that dfhkgjhkjgh #i make myself guilty of this too tho i forget about covid all the time #or not forget im the only one in my town still wearing a fucking mask but like #i find it hard to factor in here #bc i dont know when they filmed + theres no covid in dwniverse #or you know. this part of it #but like you dont SEE anyone wearing masks and idk #in like quarantaine times you'd get these visceral reactions to crowd shots on tv right? #but personally ive lost that #i dont go into public places without a mask but everybody else does so like the visual of crowds has become nrmal again #dont think theres crowds in doctor who but like #it doesnt Register so viscerally if people are stnading close to each other #at least to me

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Jingles a little bell in front of you to convince you to do tasks.

[First] Prev <--> Next

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #jin ling #wei wuxian #lan jingyi #lan sizhui #A-qing #Not tagging XXC its too mean #Season 2 is underway! This episode has so much going on but it's a great season start #I adore how the juniors bicker in the opening scene....especially jin ling #I know there's more to him wanting to help out than just the jingle jangle of the clarity bell but also #from the outside it really does look like wwx jingled a little bell in front of him and made him go from 'not helping' to 'fine I'll help' #I also have failed to capitalize on the fact little jin ling has a bell on him. It has meaning and emotional weight. However. #JC really said: 'this little boy keeps getting underfoot and lost in crowds. I'll put a bell on him'. #Its stated that *all* the yunmeng jiang disciples had a clarity bell. Which is 1) funny to think they all wander off at times 2) owwww #Also extra 'Owww' the audio drama adds with this scene is the weight on how wwx never got to give baby JL the bell he carved as a gift #That little bell can hold so much significance to so many aspects of these character's lives. #'Clarity' as an adjective here is also pulling some fun weight. JL slowly coming to truly see myx/wwx as someone more than the rumours #have made him out to be. Teen discovers that you should make your own decisions about someone! Good for him! #JL is a great character and I like him more than my silly little comic design implies.

[beanghostprincess]

just came home from a concert and i can't stop thinking about the straw hats going to one and luffy getting lost and zoro following him but getting distracted too and- oh, that's- that's literally a canon scene. that happens in the show. oh.

#that episode is so fanfic #like wdym stupid bf 1 gets lost and stupid bf 2 goes to look for him and gets lost too #the fact that he's looking for luffy in a crowd full of drunk people partying is the most homoerotic thing actually #average modern zolu au #one piece #roronoa zoro #monkey d luffy #zolu

[hitwiththetmnt]

Michelangelo : have you seen her? She’s only a few centimetres big, she is a soft shell turtle and she’s only five months old

(He took his, eyes off of her for only a minute, and she disappeared)

I think she’s in good hands ☆

#luckily small dragon knows the smell of sweets very well #the others are absolutely clueless but leave it to Ruben to find another lil bean lost in the crowd #and whats better then helping someone? getting a lil treat while you work♡ #my art #tmnt spitfire #ask box #ask answers #tmnt #rottmnt

[thisisallthehattersfault]

I’ve decided for my Wei Clan AU that everyone in WWX’s family has been blessed with 1) a soulmate and 2) the ability to immediately identify that soulmate as soon as they lay eyes on them for the first time, ensuring that they know who their destined other is.

I’ve also decided that, while this ability is inherent, you have to kind of know what you’re looking for or you could miss it. It’s something that the Wei know to expect and therefor are prepared for when it happens.

Mostly because I think it’s funny if WWX finds out JFM kidnapped him and meets his family sometime after the Guest Lectures, and when they tell him about the soulmate thing he goes “oh that sounds nice I wonder when that’ll happen to me”

Then later that night he has a dream-memory about meeting LWJ on the wall, beautiful and pale and radiant in the moonlight, and how it sort of felt like WWX got tunnel vision the second he saw him, and how all his instincts were suddenly clambering for this boy’s attention at any cost

And he bolts upright in bed in a cold sweat like IS THAT WHAT THAT WAS and then needs to be stopped from flying to Gusu in the middle of the night to propose to the second Jade

#MDZS #The Untamed #Wangxian #Wei Wuxian #Lan Wangji #WWX's parents also met at the guest lectures #but Changze knew what to expect and figured out what he was feeling immediately #but since every sect heir was already competing for Cangse Sanren's attention #he figured if he tried to woo her right then he'd just be lost in the crowd #naturally it knocked him on his ass when the lectures ended #and she marched right up to him to demand his hand in marriage

[gelphiegifs]

"And he's been thinking! Which really worries me..."

#gelphie #galinda upland #glinda upland #elphaba thropp #wicked #wicked musical #kendra kassebaum #eden espinosa #s: train station #the crowd absolutely lost it with the :P lmaooo fiyero was looking around so much bc he was waiting for people to stop cheering sldkfsd

[120percents]

sanji about zoro, episode 982

thinking about how when zoro wakes up in chapter 1052, the first thing he thinks about is indeed…

so he has his sake (while sanji watches him with a suspiciously fond look)

and then, in the face of wondering why he’s clean (and thus making him remember the time he’s been gone), he thinks about his conversation with sanji

and only then does he grab his swords to go reunite with sanji and proclaim the totally normal thought that He Came Back From Hell For Him

so in line with zoro’s rule of threes:

3 ‘s’s… sake, swords and sanji

#zosan #this is not that serious i simply watched the episode and zoro’s beaming face was so big and even tho sanji looked mildly annoyed i thought #hmmm you were looking mighty fond in 1052 watching him drink tho… #a very some things always remain constant type thing and that puts them at ease in this chaotic world they live in #also sorry zoro waking up from hell and immediately remembering his promise to sanji and immediately fighting will forever be crazy to me #again with the constants thing like it reminds me of them bickering in thriller bark because they were both spooked lmfao #and also idk guys maybe they missed eo like… #also never getting over sanji sneaking a den den mushi on zoro that’s some cute shit #in line with zoro always getting lost… funny how zoro can sniff out sake so well… and can find the direction to it… #funny how sanji is the cook… and smells like sake… meaning despite everything zoro can always find his way to sanji- GUNSHOT. crowd boos #anyways #again. not serious. i’m just deranged over these two they are SO! #talk to me about zosan PLEASE #one piece #zorosan #sanzo #sanzoro #zoro #sanji

[fullofsunsetwhispers]

Raimundo: Dang it, we lost Clay and Dojo! I'll fly to the highest building and- Kimiko: don't worry. I might know how to make them find us. Omi: Really? How? Kimiko, yelling at the top of her lungs: Look! That man has just opened his barbecue stand! And he gives off his hot dogs... FOR FREE!!! Dojo, almost immediately landing on a random lady's head: WHERE? Clay right behind him, charging at the crowd: INCOMING! poor people jump out of the cowboy's way Raimundo: Calm down or no food for you! Clay: he he, sorry we got a little bit carried away~ Omi: Good. Because there is no hot dog man. Clay and Dojo: :( Kimiko, trying to cheer them up: I'm so sorry big guy, little dragon guy! I'll buy you some hot dogs later! Dojo: (sigh) Thanks. Clay, now happy: Much appreciated!

#xiaolin showdown #lost in a crowd #incorrect quotes #kimiko saved the day! #kimiko tohomiko #clay bailey #dojo kanojo cho #clay and dojo brotp #inspired by heylinloser's post #these bad boys can eat so many hot dogs/brq they don't even know when to stop #omi #raimundo pedrosa

[generallemarc]

The following is something that hardly any "pro-Palestine" agitator is capable of

*Ahem*

Israel has done alot of objectively wrong things over the course of its history with Palestine, and that didn't magically go away in the past decade. It is a thoroughly paranoid state, and no matter how much that paranoia is justified by the existence of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran it's no excuse for violating the civil rights of detainees, even if they're provably guilty of whatever crimes they've been accused of. Israel's air strikes in the current war have been too zealous, and there must be a certain point at which it would actually be less harmful in terms of civilian casualties to just send in the IDF on foot, and because of how utterly outmatched Hamas will be against professional soldiers, I feel as though that risk to the IDF ought to be taken for the sake of the innocent civilians who might be saved by it. Hamas isn't going to protect them by virtue of it being filled with genocidal monsters, and thus although it's unfair the onus is on Israel to do the job that the force that governs Gaza refuses to, or at least to try to.

See all of that? That was me being able to perceive and acknowledge reality even when it makes my side look bad. Because I see this war as a war, not a justification to start wishing death on millions. I see these civilians who've died for no reason as just that, instead of deserving of their fate for the crime of being born in the wrong country/to a family of the wrong faith or ethnicity. And I have the most basic of moral sensibilities to be able to look with that sight at all sides of a situation, and not just the ones that it's convenient to look at. But one thing I haven't seen is very many "pro-Palestine" people being able to admit to the observable reality of things like hostage taking, use of human shield tactics, and the fact that Hamas's charter brings up the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion as if it were true. It's really sad that the last one has had to become my armor-piercing round, or rather sad that that's armor-piercing to their arguments and "Hamas are actively trying to commit genocide" isn't. But I guess that's just what it means to be a "progressive" these days.

#some of these tags will sound batshit #i'm using them to draw in the pro-hamas crowd #I can't make them acknowledge reality but I can at least make them have to strain harder to deny it #israel #hamas #gaza strip #palestine #free gaza #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #palestinians #israel hamas war #israel hamas conflict #gaza war #israel palestine conflict #I have seen a bare handful of pro-palestine people able to acknowledge reality when it comes to Hamas #but they're no longer the majority #or if they are then they've completely lost the narrative to the louder and more well-connected minority

[quickhacked]

Mikhail and Vitali were inseparable; when they weren’t studying or getting into fights, they would hang out at Mikhail’s place to smoke and get drunk on cheap rum and vodka, to then pass out in each other’s arms and sleep most of the next day away. They promised each other— no matter what would happen— they would never leave each other’s side. Yet after starting university and college respectively, they did not see each other for a little over six years, leaving them both heartbroken and wondering what went wrong.

by lucas expedidor // catch me if you can; eden // clementine von radics, from 'courtney love prays to oregon' // sam sax, cruising: a broken tiara // 'ceramic home' by heavensghost; quote from john murillo // 'something's changed' by laiikastears // i don't want to watch the world end with someone else; clinton kane // fortesa latifi, from 'the truth about grief' // audre lorde, the evening news // frank o'hara, biotherm (for bill berkson) // heading home; ruben // 'preface to a dream' by alessandra casini // tokyo; caroline kole // langston hughes, poem // haruki murakami, norwegian wood // julie buntin, marlena // by lute // by aleksandr popov // anyway; noah kahan // christa wolf, cassandra: a novel and four essays

#cp2077 #edit:mikhail #edit:vitali #nuclearocs #nuclearedits #happy birthday to my two boys :^) yes they share the same birthday what about it. it's essential to their whole. thing #whatever it is. they're like soulmates but also they are NOT dating. i need you to understand that. because it makes everything funnier #you guys remember when i first introduced them here and people thought they were together. good times honestly #but yeah no vitali is officially dating vincent and mikhail is just their eternal third wheel. their relationship can't be defined #they also reunite of course but i LOVE emphasizing their grief. they didn't know they'd ever see each other again #and they've known each other since around age 12. imagine spending almost every day with someone who CHOSE you #and then suddenly not seeing them or talking to them for YEARS. what do you do with that grief. that pain #sure they've found each other back but what do you do with that. where do you put it. it makes me insane!!! #they both were so lonely in their own way. vitali getting lost in vices and crowds but ending up all by himself at the end of the day #and mikhail drowning himself in studying and pushing himself far over his limits just to distract himself from the hole in his chest #night city in my head is much more massive than what it feels like in game. like yeah it feels big but not. BIG big #and i think mikhail and vitali's story and them losing contact while only a district apart really emphasizes how like #how HUGE this city is not only in terms of actual land it covers but also just. how overwhelming it is. how it can swallow you whole #anyway if you've read all of this hi. wanna make out

[bidokja]

I was joking a while back that the actor they have playing KDJ for the orv movie was too handsome for him and a friend who's read orv was like "KDJ is actually secretly attractive!!" And I just felt my soul leave my body right then

SIGHS...

Okay. Buckle in. I'm gonna finally actually address and explain and theorize about this whole...thing.

I'm not gonna cite any exact chapters cause it's like 11:30 and I've got an 8 hour drive in the morning but I'll at least make an approximate reference to where certain things are mentioned. Also, this post is just my personal interpretation for a good bit of it, but it's an interpretation I feel very solid about, so do with that what you will. Moving on to the meat of things:

There is one (1) instance in the web novel that I know of which describes specific features of Kim Dokja (especially ones other people notice). This takes place when members of KimCom are trying to make Kim Dokja presentable to give his speech at the Industrial Complex (after it's been plopped down on Earth). This is when they start really paying attention and focusing on Kim Dokja's appearance since they're putting makeup on him; I still don't think they can interpret his whole face, but they can accurately pick out and retain more features than usual. If I remember correctly they reference him having long eyelashes, smooth skin, and soft hair. These features can be viewed as (stereotypically) attractive.

Certain parts of the fandom have taken this scene and run with it at a very surface level, without realizing (or without acknowledging at the very least) that this scene is not about how Kim Dokja looks. This is, in part, due to not realizing or acknowledging why Kim Dokja's face is "censored" in the first place, and what that censoring actually means. I think it's also possible that some people are assuming the censorship works like a physical phenomena rather than an altered perception.

I'll address that last point first. The censorship of Kim Dokja's features is not something as simple as a physical phenomena. It's not a bar or scribble or mosaic over his face. If that were true it'd be very obvious to anyone looking at him that his face is hidden. But his face is not hidden to people. They can look at him and see a face. If they concentrate on his eyes, they can see where he's looking. They know when he's frowning or grinning. They see a face loud and clear. But what face are they seeing? Because it's not really his, whatever they're seeing.

No one quite agrees on what he really looks like. And if they try and think about what he looks like, they can't recall. Or if they do, it's vague, or different each time. We notice these little details throughout the series. Basically, Kim Dokja's face is cognitively obscured. Something - likely the Fourth Wall, though I can't recall if this is ever stated outright - is interfering with everyone's ability to perceive him properly. This culminated in him feeling off to others; and since they don't even realize this is happening, they surmise that he is "ugly."

Moving on to the other point about what the censorship means: To be blunt, the censorship of his face is an allegory for his disconnect from the "story" (aka: real life, and the real people at his side). The lifting - however slight - of this censorship represents him becoming more and more a part of the "story" (aka: less disconnected from the life he is living and the people at his side). The censorship's existence and lifting can represent other things - like dissociation or depersonalization or, if you want to get really meta, the fact that he is all of our faces at once - but that's how I'd sum up the main premise of it. (The Fourth Wall is a larger part of the dissociation allegory, but that's for another post).

So you see, them noticing his individual features isn't about the features. It's not about the features! It doesn't matter at all which features got listed. Because they could describe any features whatsoever and it would not change the entire point of the scene. Because the point isn't what he looks like. The point is that they can truly and clearly see these features. For the first time. They are seeing parts of him for the first time. Re-read that sentence multiple times, literally and metaphorically. What does it mean to see someone as they are?

This is an extremely significant turning point dressed up as a dress-up scene.

---

P.S. / Additionally, I'm of the opinion that Kim Dokja is not handsome, and he is not ugly. He is not pretty, and he is not ghastly. Not attractive, nor unattractive. Kim Dokja isn't any of these things. More importantly, Kim Dokja can't be any of these things. The entire point of Kim Dokja is that you cannot pick him out of a crowd; he is the crowd. He's a reader. He's the reader. Why does he need to be handsome? Why must he be pretty? Why is him being attractive necessary or relevant? He doesn't, he doesn't, it's not. He is someone deeply deeply loved and irreplaceable to those around him, and someone who cannot even begin to recognize or accept that unless it's through a love letter masquerading as a story he can read. He is the crowd, a reader, the reader. He's you, he's me. He's every single one of us.

#orv #orv analysis #orv meta #orv spoilers #mine #ask #there's also the meta that he is described with these (stereotypically) pretty features as they are about to try and 'sell' him to a crowd #which feels to me like a very pointed way to convey how 'beauty' is commodified. how audiences like 'attractive' characters more #note: made some edits to add in a couple of sentences my brain forgot in the moment so make sure u reblogged those if u do #tag edits for further commentary that isnt strictly relevant to the point i was making: #do i think that this face censorship was executed as well as it could have been? nah. #not that it was like. done Badly. it's followed through to a certain point. its established enough for me to make this post at least. #but i do think it is the one thing in the web novel that SS didn't capitalize on. #like. they still stuck the landing but it was not as picture perfect of an execution as the rest of the metaphorical stuff in orv #also. this (not the face censorship specifically but the 'hes just some guy' point of it all) is one of the big reasons i think that- #-visual adaptions of orv can never quite work. they can do the best that they can with that medium but a lot of nuance is lost- #-simply by virtue of it being a visual medium #i personally think the only way a visual medium could work would be one where they commit to the power move of not showing kdj's face #(until a certain point (of view) that is) #his face is always facing away or out of frame or hidden by someone or something else in the way #commit to the fucking allegory or simply perish

[triaelf9]

sees a post that's like "LOOK, LOOK AT ME I HAVE TERRIBLE MEDIA LITERACY LOOOOK AHAHA ISN'T THAT FUNNY"

Checks bio

"I'm 21"

Ah, yes. You're in the age group to have been hit by the resurgence of purity culture. I'm so sorry.

#nuance is lost on them #9 times out of 10 it's this #I'm so crushed that a whole generation of queer younglings got poisoned #all you have to do is be mature enough to look at a piece of media and say “this isn't my jam” #and not be like IT'S BAD B/C THIS IS PRoBlEmATIC REP or whatevs #maybe something didn't speak to you #but it's okay #if the non queer crowd can have garbage reality TV and shitty dramas #we can have garbage too #just don't watch it if you don't like it #There are a few things out there right now that I can look at and say“eh” #I see what it's doing and that's great for it #but it's not up my alley #and I move on and create what I want to see out there #my tags are longer than my post LOL #to be clear this is not scorn #this is genuine disappointment and sadness