i’m afraid of diving into good omens tumblr discourse but i just–i have to say
Aziraphale’s face. it’s. that is the expression of someone who does not want to be kissed, but knows it’s inevitable. though even more subtle than that, it’s the face of someone who does not want the thing to happen not because they don’t want it, but because they do, they really do, and yet it is not the way they wish it would be. Aziraphale knows something here. and he isn’t telling Crowley, nor us. he’s got some kind of higher pressure weighing down on him, forcing him to act against his nature and heart, forcing him to act against Crowley. he backs Crowley into a corner with his talk of joining Metatron in Heaven, and knows it. and that is what he wants, because that’s where he needs Crowley to be–away from him; but he pushes too strong, pushes Crowley to risk it all and end up cornering Aziraphale right back. all Aziraphale wanted, all he needed to do, was protect Crowley by breaking his heart and abandoning him, but you can’t undo 6,000 years of companionship without a miracle. it’s a failure.
whatever the Metatron told or did to Aziraphale that was hidden from us, it terrified him enough to make up a wobbly plan that could keep Crowley safe, if he would just go along with it. Aziraphale may have been strong enough, may have loved Crowley that much, to put his heart on the line and sacrifice himself if it meant Crowley could live on, but he underestimated Crowley’s love for him. underestimated Crowley’s courage and capacity for honesty.
the angel lied and the demon spoke his truth and everything crashed and failed.
and it is painful failure and remorse that i see on Aziraphale’s face.
it’s Please don’t ruin my attempt at saving you and Can’t you see what I’m trying to do and I’m sorry I’m breaking your heart but I have to if I want to keep you and To choose you I have to choose Heaven but I know you’re not seeing it that way and Crowley look at me I’m lying just go along and
Oh no, you believed me entirely too much, what have I done?
with the kiss, Crowley seals his fate as undeniably tied to Aziraphale’s. and Metatron will know.
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have been toying with the idea of an au wherein shen jiu, after burning down the qiu household and running away, comes across xie lian rather than wu yanzi poaching him immediately afterwards:
i'd imagine in this verse he runs away to town rather than immediately being found in the aftermath of what he's done. at this point, shen jiu would be too paranoid to consider reaching out for directions to cang qiong mountain even if he wanted to make it there: what if they knew what he did? or figured it out if he did know? (if he even had the mind to think of these things through his panic)
he doesn't want to end up begging on the streets again, though—too alike his childhood and last time he was in that position, shen jiu ended up with the qius in the first place
so he takes refuge in temples that he comes across, stealing food when he can before moving to a different part of the rather large town he's ended up in so there's no clear pattern of when he shows up at whichever food stall
despite not holding that same respect and unwavering belief in gods (how could he, after everything he's gone through? shouldn't they have stepped in, sometime? what god would let him suffer as he did, separating him from the only person he loved?) he knows better than to try them, and begrudgingly thanks them for the shelter (because this he did appreciate, at the very least, if nothing else)
winter hits hard when it does, and shen jiu, after spending so many years in the qiu household, forgot how the cold seeps into your skin and bones without solid walls to keep out the frigid breeze.
he quickly falls ill with nothing to protect him from the elements but his threadbare clothing, and when he grows ill, he becomes slow. shen jiu nearly gets caught stealing, running away before he can be dragged to a town guard for his offence, but earning himself a nasty wound to his leg as he retreated
sickness + the cold + the wound leave him weak and wanting: missing qi-ge, reminiscing on nights where they'd curl up together for warmth, still cold but not alone, the two of them steady against the storm that raged on ahead of them
fever-ridden and teetering close to death, shen jiu wanders into a temple late at night and sinks to his knees, falling to his side, heart-rate slowing. in his delirium, he misses the figure taking shelter from the storm in the corner, watching him
shen jiu wakes up (he doesn't expect to), warm while he hears the wind whistle. he's still in that temple from earlier, but it's considerably... cozier. a small fire warms the inside and his clothes aren't as damp against his cold skin. his fever's broken, too—he doesn't know how long it's been, but he's glad he didn't die: never realized that he wanted to live until he was close to forfeiting his right to
here is where he meets his accidental saviour: xie lian stood over a slowly bubbling pot of stew that smells heavenly to shen jiu—he'd eat just about anything at this point, starved
his immediate distrust of xie lian stops him from being truly excited about his appearance
their relationship is veryyy shaky at the very beginning: shen jiu refuses to trust him and xie lian refuses to abandon this strange child he found on the verge of death
(there's a strange sort of bond built up when you nurse someone back to life, dragging them away from the brink of death and xie lian isn't interested, but he's curious about this kid who stumbled into his temple at the dead of night on a midnight in winter)
shen jiu's torn between distrust and this desire for company he didn't know he possessed; after being alone with no one but the qiu household [before he went on his massacre] he didn't realized how much he wanted to share space with someone who wasn't actively hurting him until he was afforded the opportunity to experience non-violent company with xie lian
his distrust slowly declines when he finds out that xie lian is a cultivator. despite being arguably too old to learn cultivation to the fullest extent he could have if he started a few years earlier, he still desperately wants to learn
xie lian, perceptive as ever, slowly starts teaching him bits and pieces of the basics, teaches him to meditate, takes care to keep his distance when it looks like shen jiu's getting overwhelmed
shen jiu can't help but get attached. he hates it
shen jiu decides to test xie lian before resigning himself to this
he was snappy, impatient, and argued with xie lian, when he came over, one day, waiting for some form of punishment to come, bristling like a spooked cat.
nothing came of his experiment but a slight frown from xie lian, which made shen jiu feel almost bad—xie lian almost reminded him of qi-ge, which made him feel doubly bad because he desperately wants to find him
shen jiu came to xie lian the next day with a pastry [that he stole] as an apology. and a request:
"teach me how to cultivate so i can be a disciple at the cang qiong sect"
xie lian agrees easily enough: he's been around shen jiu to see that despite the late start, he has potential to be great [especially untouched by wu yanzi and his twisted form of cultivation]
shen jiu throws himself into his studies, working himself to the bone
xie lian is concerned by this and after trying to soften the load of his work doesn't make shen jiu slow down, he becomes stern: warns him against trying to chase too much frivolously
this leads to a breakdown of sorts—where shen jiu gets angry, dismissive, before becoming upset. the average emotional depth of a teenager but, like, 4 times worse because of the circumstances
xie lian coaxes the story out of shen jiu here; qi-ge [the first time he's mentioned aloud by name], the qiu household [only the barest of details. shen jiu refuses to dwell], and the night shen jiu made qi-ge leave, as well as qi-ge's promise to come back
shen jiu finishes by telling xie lian he needs to make it back to qi-ge, needs to see if he's still alive, he's been selfish for sticking around as long
shen jiu tells xie lian that he needs to figure out as much as he can, as fast as he can, so he can leave and make his way to cang qiong mountain with some sort of base knowledge to make it in. and that he's not sorry for pushing himself because he doesn't have time
xie lian is quiet for a while
puts a comforting hand on shen jiu's shoulder and tells him he understands; he knows someone who would do anything to make it back to the one they loved, understands the pain that comes when time and distance separates the two
however, xie lian tells him, he can't let shen jiu push himself. he'll only stunt his progress by hurting himself rather than speed things up
shen jiu is ready to argue again before xie lian offers to make the trip with him
shen jiu doesn't believe it at first—who would bother with helping him for this long if they weren't getting anything out of it? he already found this hard to believe, let alone the fact that xie lian would drop everything to travel with him for weeks on end
xie lian doesn't shake in his resolve, though. shen jiu figures out he's being serious and wants to argue, but he's just—relieved
so many people have stood as roadblocks on his path back to qi-ge; xie lian might be the first person actively trying to help them
it almost reignites hope in him; someone other than him believes in them. someone other than shen jiu thinks they'll make it back to each other and succeed in reuniting. xie lian's faith in him is like a gust of wind beneath his wings
he agrees to their road trip
[xie lian makes sure to tell his beloved he'll be away for a while]
[shen jiu doesn't notice that xie lian buys steamed buns off the same stranger in nearly every town they stop by for a night of rest in the following few weeks]
[xie lian notices, years later, when shen qingqiu doesn't recognize him upon their first meeting in decades. shen yuan doesn't know xie lian, but xie lian knows this isn't shen jiu, anymore]
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I’ve started watching History 4 again after you spoke about it (you didn’t recommend I just read between the lines, mixed it all up and decided for myself that I would rewatch)
And I FORGOT Charles Tu breaks the 4th wall and looks at camera or reacts to camera in all his sexual panic awakenings.
such comic timing I don’t think we give him enough credit for. I’ve counted 6 and I’m on ep 4
In the second episode, when he touched Mu Ren's "Teng Teng" and started questioning his entire life and basically asking the audience for help?
I still laugh at that entire sequence in the bathroom because it's fucking gold!
Mu Ren was PISSED, but Li Cheng was having a whole ass crisis because he felt The Feels™ when he touched Mu Ren and the entire time Mu Ren was steady yelling at him about text messages and photos.
Then, when they got home, he was super casual about telling Mu Ren that he lied and told Mei Fang that he was in love with Mu Ren and has been taking pictures of all his favorite parts of Mu Ren like his chest, his butt, and his eyes. No biggie!
Pendejo! HE'S SO STUPID! I LOVE HIM!
But like you wrote, Charles Tu lands the comedic bits. He genuinely feels like a himbo. He was doing so many dumb things, but I couldn't be upset because he was so much fun! Which made the serious parts even better. Even with an alpaca staring over his shoulder.
Because Li Cheng joked so much, the second he got serious, I took him seriously.
Now let me go watch that bathroom scene again.
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One of the most irritating momentum-killing faux-concerns from people when it comes to conflict is the hand-wringing about “if we (you) ___ then people will be hurt/die/etc” as a reason to not engage in meaningful resistance use violence as a tool.
‘If there is a revolution people will die’, ‘if we riot people will get hurt,’ ‘if you resist you will get hurt’ ‘if you fight back, people will die.’
People are already dying, people are already being hurt. I understand the fear of injury in the face of chaos but I need you to understand the horror of brutality carried out calmly.
‘Everything Was Peaceful Until The Uprising’ is a wild disconnect from reality.
Evictions are violence. Arrests are violent. Cops brutalizing people is violence. Poverty is violence. Nazi speeches are violent. Apartheid is violence. Worker abuse is violence. Medical debt is violence.
Oppression is violence.
Little revolutionary acts are resistance too, but pitting pious symbolic gestures or communal aid as being opposite violent response to oppression is disingenuous.
Slave revolts were not the beginning of the violence, Stonewall was not the beginning of the violence, the Haitian Revolution was not the beginning of the violence. The Al-Aqsa Flood was not the beginning of the violence.
Acts of solidarity are survival. Acts of solidarity are coalition building. In some ways it can be liberating. But it is not total liberation.
I will help my immediate circle, I will expand my circle, I will build solidarity with those around me and those far from me, but without a fight, we do not see freedom.
“If you form a blockade so that paddywagon can’t leave, the cops will beat you.”
If I move, the cops will drive away.
There is always risk! If one person blocks a wagon it may be fruitless but symbolic. If a few block the wagon it may buy time for an escape from the back or just be a gesture of solidarity. If many people block the wagon, it can’t fucking leave.
If no one blocks it, business continues as usual, and “order” is restored, and the gears of incarceration grind on unhindered.
How peaceful.
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