Some things in Chapter 63 of Mo Dao Zu Shi (ExR translation) that caught my eye for cute reasons:
Wei WuXian suddenly murmured, “… Lan Zhan.”
He reached out and grabbed one of Lan WangJi’s sleeves. Lan WangJi had always been beside him. He immediately bent down and whispered, “I am here.”
Wei WuXian hadn’t woken up yet. His eyes were still tightly shut, yet his hand didn’t let go either. He seemed to be dreaming, muttering, “… Don’t… Don’t be angry…”
Lan WangJi seemed somewhat surprised. His voice was gentle, “I am not angry.”
Wei WuXian, “… Oh.”
Hearing this, as though he finally felt assured, his fingers loosened.
I don’t know about you but I can’t think of a better scene to be greeted with when starting a new chapter. This is great. I’m in my happy place right now.
Wei WuXian, “How long have I been resting for?”
Only having ensured that his injuries were indeed fine did Lan WangJi finally let him go, “Four days.”
Jin Ling’s sword stabbed right through. The wound hadn’t been shallow at all. How it healed within four days without even leaving a scar behind meant that high level medicine of the GusuLan Sect had to have been necessary.
Hahaha. Remember how Jiang Cheng stabbed Wei Wuxian in the same spot before and the only medical care he had access to was Wen Qing and her genius as a doctor. Not to doubt her skills but they were in poverty and living on a mountain corpses—the medicine and tools she would have had access to and been able to afford were extremely limited. It’s kind of amazing that she was able to keep Wei Wuxian alive at all in such circumstances.
Seeing that right after he woke up he began to speak nonsense again, Lan WangJi shook his head and turned away. Wei WuXian thought that he was going to leave. He hurried, “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan! Don’t go. I was talking nonsense, my fault, but don’t ignore me.”
Lan WangJi, “Even you are scared of others ignoring you?”
Wei WuXian, “I am, I am.”
He hadn’t experienced the feeling of having somebody at his side when he had gotten hurt and woke up for a long time.
They’re so cute. Wei Wuxian just enjoying being taken care of and wanting Lan Wangji with him.
It’s okay Wei Wuxian. We already know you do badly with Lan Wangji ignoring you lol. Whenever Wei Wuxian upped his antics towards Lan Wangji while he was studying in the Cloud Recesses it was because Lan Wangji wasn’t paying enough attention to him lol. *fondly* He’s such a brat.
Lan XiChen, “You believe in him?”
Lan WangJi, “I do.”
He answered without any hesitation. Wei WuXian felt his chest warm up. Lan XiChen continued, “What about Jin GuangYao?”
Lan WangJi, “Not to be believed.”
Lan XiChen chuckled, “WangJi, then how do you judge whether someone should be believed or not?”
Wei Wuxian feeling warm at Lan Wangji’s trust in him- !!! My heart.
And I’m not super invested in Lan Xichen as a character (sorry Lan Xichen fans) but that last line of Lan Xichen’s does strike me as him questioning Lan Wangji’s judgment, and finding it unreliable. And then he follows that with:
He [Lan Xichen] looked at Wei WuXian, “You trust Young Master Wei, while I trust Jin GuangYao. The fact that Brother’s head is in his hands, neither of us have seen it with our own eyes. We only believe in what another person says based on how much we know about them.”
“You think that you know about Wei WuXian, so you trust him; I think that I know about Jin GuangYao, so I trust him as well. You believe in your judgement, then am I not allowed to believe in my judgement?”
And I do believe Lan Xichen is trying to be fair here. And it does seem if not a fair compromise then at least a fair reasoning and yet, after that other line, it does seem to imply that Lan Xichen thinks his judgement is the right one here and that he’s already, at least internally, decided the most likely outcome. It kind of feels like he’s just humoring his brother here without believing it will lead to anything.
And Lan Xichen isn’t doing anything wrong here really but it does kind of make me wonder a bit about how much Lan Xichen has truly respected his brother’s choices and decisions in the past—which kind of culminates in Guanyin Temple where he throws all the blame for Lan Wangji’s actions at Wei Wuxian’s feet. Even though in reality, while Wei Wuxian might have been in the center of Lan Wangji’s decisions, he himself really did very little to influence Lan Wangji’s choice to help him beyond just… being himself.
Like Wei Wuxian definitely didn’t try to convince or manipulate Lan Wangji into helping him at any point.
Wei WuXian stared for quite a while at the tightly-packed characters. His eyes felt somewhat tired. He still had a few books left, so he decided to look at them sometime afterward. Lan WangJi had already finished the stack that he was responsible for. In silence, he took over the books that Wei WuXian left and continued to flip through. Lan XiChen lifted his eyes. Watching the scene, he seemed to stop himself from saying something.
It’s so sweet how Lan Wangji just silently lightens this small burden from Wei Wuxian’s shoulders. Wei Wuxian didn’t ask him to—nor would he have since he was simply planning to look through them later. But still Lan Wangji does it just to make life a little easier for Wei Wuxian in this one small moment.
And I find the mention of Lan Xichen’s reaction to this scene interesting. And I’d be interested to hear how others interpret this; but to me it reads like he was going to urge Lan Wangji to stop before he catches himself and decides not to say anything.
Maybe something along the lines of, “Wangji, you don’t have to do that.” ?
Of course I can’t say with complete confidence this is what Lan Xichen would have said, it’s just the impression I personally got.
Their heads pressed close together, and Lan WangJi’s voice was right by his ear, low and magnetic. Wei WuXian’s hand trembled lightly. The book had almost fallen off. He finally steadied himself and forcibly tore his eyes away from Lan WangJi’s long, white fingers.
Wei Wuxian has it so bad lol.
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Gentle hands touch skin
Broken breaths, becoming one
No longer apart
Open eyes, quiet room
Still so far from happiness
Scared, frightened, frozen
Deep breath, bravery
Nightly halls and darkened doors
Careful little steps
Door's quiet whisper
Makes the dream reality
Will you hold me tight?
Let me come inside
Need to hear it one more time
Do not leave this time
No longer hiding
Years of longing over now
Speak the truth tonight
When you grabbed me tight
I was ruined all along
Profound bond, you said
Overwhelming feelings
You rebelled and so will I
Finally I'm free
Hold me, touch me, feel
My reluctance breaks away
Love me, tender, real
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The disgust Mikey feels only lasts for a moment. It makes him feel sick - the taste of his own hypocrisy a sour one.
But at least Mikey is doing this for them. He'll go to whatever lengths are necessary to protect his friends - he hasn't given up on them. He hasn't given in to those whispering voices, that urge to destroy - he's still fighting, right? The darkness hasn't consumed him, he's just... utilizing it. Controlling it. Turning a curse into a strength, as it were - and even if those words feel empty, he knows that they have to be right. Because the friends that he's protecting are still standing beside him today.
But what does Hanma have to protect? All he does is chase thrills and indulge in cruelty - he doesn't have a reason to fight. Mikey is well aware of the type of people he's dealing with... Hanma and Kisaki may think they're using him, but make no mistake - Mikey is the one in control. Because if he wanted to, he could destroy them without even thinking about it.
That's what he tells himself.
"I don't need you acting on your own, either. You're with Toman now, and we don't take betrayal lightly." he knows Hanma won't care about the threat, but he needs a devil that's on his side, not against him.
"...But as long as you remember who you're fighting for... I won't complain."
Whatever darkness Hanma brings - if it's to Toman's benefit, Mikey will accept it all.
@deathfavor ( hanma thread continued! )
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BEHOOOOOOOOOLD!!!
✨Mega Man Ultimate's title screen! ✨
(Check under the cut for the usual Star Insight, a process of how the above sprite piece was drawn as well as concept art!)
Ever since Mega Man Ultimate's inception way back in 2018, a faux title screen for it was very much always in the cards. Since then, however, the concept and story of Ultimate has changed over time, and several years later, I thought it would be a fun little challenge to revisit the idea of spriting a title screen for Mega Man Ultimate, and was quick to set out to work!
Upon prepping my workstation, I knew I had everything I need: image dimensions, a brand-new iteration of the Mega Man Ultimate logo, and a general idea of how I wanted Ultimate's title screen to stand out from all the others (Gradient edges, colored text, etc.)! Though, the one thing I didn't have on hand was perhaps the most important aspect of a Mega Man title screen... the art.
@tondemo-sliceuu and I had been batting ideas back and forth on what would be a fitting visual for Ultimate's title screen, and eventually it was decided that a sprite piece of Mega Man holding his buster while an intimidating silhouette of Synth looms overhead. So, we had the concept, now it was time to draw some hasty concept art!
Yeah, that'll do! Technically, since Ultimate's tumblr reveal back at the end of 2020, this is more than likely many of my followers' very first glimpse of the head honcho of the Synth Legion, the walking artillery Synth himself! I promise that eventually he'll get his own introductory post once I get around to finishing his sprite, though this does make for a menacing teaser.
Now, all that's left is to take that concept art and sprite it out, refining it accordingly!
Similar to drawing Stellar Man's stage select portrait, this particular sprite piece was not only drawn with little to no preliminary sketching beforehand, but also drawn in one sitting! I think this was drawn in anywhere between one and a half to two hours, if memory serves correctly... even if I did just draw it yesterday.
But seeing how well it turned out, I was ecstatic to get to show it off here on tumblr, and am looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks! ✨
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