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mira-blue · 11 months

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i am stepping up to defend abigail roberts marston with my whole heart because i am SO tired of people saying that she was 'the second rat' the whole time. abigail didn't even want to desperately leave the gang until after hosea was shot, and yet she didn't even do that. if she was a rat she could have so easily taken jack and slipped away once things fell apart, seeking protection from the pinkertons - a truly traitorous abigail would have had NO reason to stick around. also, you're telling me abigail roberts marston - the same abigail who begged arthur to look for john on those snowy mountains at the start of it all, the same abigail who broke down in tears when she thought she lost him for good, the same abigail who never quite gave up on him, and the same abigail who died three years after john did because his loss was the straw that broke the camel's back - you're telling me that abigail would have gone ahead and purposely put him in the slightest bit of danger by telling the pinkertons about ANYTHING he was involved in? you're telling me she told them about the saint denis bank robbery, let them take him into a fort of a prison, then - once again - have to beg to have him saved? WHAT. not to mention the fact that though there were gang members she did not get along with, there were also many she did love and care about that weren't john that she never would have dreamed of harming. in short, leave abigail ALONE!!!!

#this has been in my drafts for a while but i am Putting it out here #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 #red dead redemption #rdr #abigail roberts marston #don't even get me started on the 'jack isn't john's son!!!' bullshit either #ppl just love to make a woman Evil #like obv abi is flawed and even i thought she was being too harsh on john in the epilogue (bc literally what choice did he have)#but i will NOT let her be slandered anymore.#and NEITHER WOULD JOHN MARSTON BTW!!!!!#mirambles

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geneticcatalyst · 9 months

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as promised, an exploration of my one pet problem in fandom, or: misinterpretation of jby's first death (ft. zzs)

heres the thing. i occasionally see people reference what seems to be a misconception of the (english translation) text in qi ye. both the fact that its a translation and the metaphorical phrasing make it pretty clear to see why they got the wrong idea, but i firmly believe its still the wrong idea. i am by no means calling the people who got this mixed up dumb or bad, i am simply leaning over their shoulders going 'wait no bestie pls read that again pls read that one more time!!' because this is one of my favorite books and this thing is a key piece of one of my favorite things about it.

i said i was gonna pull screenshots for this post but i think it will be a little while before i get to another reread and i can't ctrl+f the google doc so im just gonna whip this out from memory. if anyone does have this particular passage on hand feel free to pop it in here. the rest of the context/explanations are just from my cursory research, im not chinese or a historian.

cards on the table. the only thing i love more than unhinged gay romances is unhinged platonic soul mates. its catnip to me. i go feral every goddamn time. and i havent stopped losing my mind about zhou zishu and jing beiyuan since that first qi ye scene. what do those guys have going on? not even sure they know but it's A Lot. ive got like 18 other unpublished drafts trying to work that out slash losing my fucking mind at the lengths they go to about each other. that relationship is at the center of both novels even if the spotlight isnt on it. so I admit that my readings are colored a bit by how much i like that they like each other!

which is why im shocked baffled and, ok, lightly salted, to see a few people make the claim that zishu (personally) tortured/killed beiyuan in his first life.

so what the text says is that after helian yi stopped trusting beiyuan (after su qingluan's accidental death), he was basically put to death. but even the emperor has to have a half decent reason to execute someone. the text describes these reasons- ten of them- as zhou zishu's masterpieces. it also refers to them as great shames to beiyuan's standing. what's happening is that helian yi has zishu frame beiyuan for treason or other betrayals against the emperor/the country. it isn't specific as to what, but it doesn't really matter, because its all fake and zishu is really good at his job. so yes, it is fair to say that zishu is the INSTRUMENT of beiyuan's death, but he didn't kill him, he just laid the groundwork.

the text goes on to another slightly confusing line where it says something to the effect of that when each of these accusations were read out in court, each line drew blood from jing beiyuan. that's a metaphor! it's just saying that his reputation was torn apart and ultimately his fate is sealed, despite the phrasing there are no literal injuries happening.

also, i may not have the timeline perfect on this part, but in zishu's introduction in the beginning of the novel, the narration tells us outright that while zishu is partially responsible for beiyuan's death, he was like. cool about it. in what seems to be the first and only time he ever steps out of line or goes against helian yi's command (!), after setting all this up but- if im remembering right- before the news actually breaks in court the next day, zishu warns beiyuan. now this admittedly doesnt do a whole lot because the only other possible option (cut and run) isn't a very good one, but it's the only thing zishu can do. he doesnt have to, but he does it anyway (!). of course beiyuan doesnt even consider doing this, he's stubborn and heartbroken, but he really seems to 1. appreciate the risk zishu took here to try to give him a chance and 2. not hold the whole set up against zishu or take that bit personally.

so what actually happened at the end of beiyuan's first life? he was sent the 3 zhang of white silk. the text does explicitly say this once, but if you're not familiar with the practice it may not click. receiving the white silk from the emperor is what happens when you're too high ranking to execute like a commoner but you've fallen from grace and are being politely asked to hang yourself in order to clear your name. and of course beiyuan, stubborn and heartbroken, does. yes, it's a forced suicide, but it isn't a murder.

anyway, its in that secret conversation, where zishu secretly meets with beiyuan seemingly to try to convince him to save himself and beiyuan outright refuses, that beiyuan promises that if theres a next life (ha), they'll get drunk together. and of course against all odds, there is and they do.

the thing about the idea that some people might think that zishu killed beiyuan is that after that nothing between them makes sense. even if it was at helian yi's request, i just cant see that not permanently damaging the friendship, i don't think beiyuan could immediately pick back up being best friends in the seventh life with that memory in the way. why would zishu go out of his way to warn beiyuan one day if he was perfectly capable and fine with killing him the next? why would beiyuan not only be happy to meet zishu again in the seventh life but also go out of his way trying to save zishu's? none of their other interactions really make sense if you believe there was a murder done there. idk. it clouds the whole throughline of the story which is that they have a bond!

i think maybe people think it is in character due to the other ruthless murders, and they're not wholly wrong, but that's the kicker for me. zishu will murder all kinds of innocents no questions asked, but he's suddenly trying to give an out to his coworker and drinking buddy? hello? thats insane, and that's the point.

furthermore, if you think maybe it would make sense for helian yi to have beiyuan violently killed (since it keeps fucking happening later), i actually have to become helian yi's lawyer for a moment here and say that that doesnt make sense either. helian yi is sitting on a throne gained by shadowy means but he's the Good Guy Ruler and that reputation is important. hes not a cruel person and he may have become paranoid but he still has a shared history with beiyuan. plus, even the emperor has to abide by a certain amount of decorum when he wants to have people killed, especially when that person is also a high ranking member of court. beiyuan's status is basically second only to the royal bloodline, he's essentially the prev emperor's godson, as well as a previously close confidante of helian yi himself. the white silk was regarded as a privileged, dignified means of offing someone. helian yi is perfectly within social acceptability to do this to beiyuan with the pretext of beiyuan's disgrace. but it would be pushing the boundaries for the good and just emperor to suddenly have one of his top advisors and members of high nobility brutally killed like a common criminal. he could probably do it, but it would reflect on him and his reputation too. he could do it in secret, but would have to cover up the disappearance of a prominent court figure. it just makes sense to use the white silk as the neatest, most acceptable legal justice channel here. maintain emotional detachment, be polite, everybody's honor gets honored and such.

so that's the ted talk. theres even some beautiful fanart on here of white-haired first life beiyuan holding the white silk! he wasn't tortured or outright executed, and he chose to obey rather than escape or fight the false claims of treason even though his friend tried to give him the only out he could manage. to interpret things differently really skews the character motivations and plot for everyone- beiyuan, zishu, helian yi- in a way that warps the story out of believability, imho.

#gently and lovingly nailing my opinions to the fandom's front door <3 #minor qi ye spoilers obv #i think i spent upwards of 3 hours on this draft so believe me this is 10 percent salt and 90 percent love #i wouldnt call this a common misconception either but every time i do see it i have to go walk around the room #i love to think about first life and i love to think about murderbros so. inbox open #qi ye #and thank u to my enablers u know who you are!!#qy meta

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technicalthinker · 11 months

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tony gilroy please make cassian andor bi in season 2 challenge i have five whole dollars i can bribe you with just make cassian andor bi in season 2 of hit-show andor tony gilroy can you hear me i have a request about cassian andor and wonder if you can make him bi in-

#andor #cassian andor #star wars blogging #idk why but it just is IT to me #i dont even mean he has to get together with anyone specifically i just #gimme the bi vibes #i feel like they wont bc theyve dodged the opportunity so far and it is obv theyre fighting censors with their current gays b u t #found this in my drafts i still stand by it #i stand BI it hehe #cassian just has chemistry with EVERYONE and it has to be acknowledged #we cant pretend he's straight for much longer #TONY GILROY YOU'RE MY ONLY HO-

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wheresmulder · 9 months

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Greta watched Carson

✨️FORGET TO RUN✨️

and then immediately after the game said (IN FRONT OF ✨️THE WHOLE TEAM✨️ WHO ALSO WATCHED CARSON FORGET TO RUN) she rly said "Shaw should be coach"

ok gay ass 🙄

#this has been in my drafts since December and i literally dont know why #a league of their own #gretson #carson shaw #greta gill #pls be advised THIS IS A JOKE OBVS CARSON SHOULD BE COACH FOREVER OK THANK YOU SO MUCH

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sagau-my-beloved · 1 year

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Imagine albedo gets impatient and teleports reader to teyvat whilst venti is in jail.

Cue a rescue op to save venti (who has already escaped)

You know, reader and Albedo teaming up to undermine the legal system with a heist where Venti is the target prize was not something I thought I'd be thinking about

But honest, I'm here for it, Albedo would make a great heist partner and there's no debating that, man would have everything you could ever need or want in a bag that's way too small to carry it all, now getting his fluffy hair under a mask might prove to be more of a challenge than the actual rescue

I don't actually think I've ever seen a heist movie so idk all the tropes that go along with it but I like to imagine there's a lot of unintended explosions along with comedic banter

I've got the perfect ending scene in mind where you've both checked all the jail cells and are whisper arguing over what to do next, let me set the scene

Creator: "Did they transfer him already? I swear."

Albedo: "Maybe there's a secret room we don't know about? There could be an underground section..."

Creator: "Well how the hell are we going to break that 'more trouble than he's worth' bard out of a 'may or may not exist' room? Huh??"

Venti: "Have you guys tried finding a layout of the building, I think I saw one in the main office."

Creator: "Finally a good fucking idea, thank you Venti—"

Creator: "...Wait—"

#genshin impact #sagau #genshin x reader #venti x reader #yandere genshin au #yandere genshin x reader #genshin venti #brainrot #this was also in my drafts #obv #funny tho #i wish i knew more tropes i could apply here but sadly I'm just not very movie educated

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