SideQuest @side-quest-and-rant - Tumblr Blog

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The 4yo I'm babysitting has the spacial awareness of a fucking potato

I have to tell her to look forward every fucking two seconds

Look, ik kids had to learn but holy shit

No way in hell I'm gonna have my own if that's one of the possible results

#babysitting #I'm gonna fuckin explode #ppl with kids have so much patience I could never

WELP

Just got traumatized by an egg

I knew of the possibility to encounter a fertilized one but never experienced it

UP UNTIL FUCKING NOW

Kinda shaky still

LIKE BRUH I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND FOR A SOLID MINUTE WHAT I WAS SEEING 😭😭😭😭😭

#eggs #egg disaster #IMMA FUCKING SICK #how tf do i tag this #has this happened to anyone before?

Was playing a game on a tablet and got a LaDs ad

Thought it'll be an OG3

Nope!

That's my doctor man

Now that's what I call personalized

#love and deepspace #Zayne #li shen

inksandpensblog

I feel like Apothecary Diaries is exemplary proof that writing quality depends not on which tropes are used, but on how they're used. The yeast of that story ferments on one of the most maligned and frustrating tropes in existence, and yet it's executed so well that the bread is delicious with a nice firm crust.

MaoMao and Jinshi are both intelligent in a lot of ways, including deductive reasoning. So one might expect their repeated misunderstandings or continued blindness toward certain revelations to feel contrived. But they never do, in part because of how brilliantly their characterization was established.

From the first installment, Maomao ponders how "knowing too much" could get her into trouble.

At first her main concern is her own literacy. The ability to read is not a skill most young women of her station possess, and would doubtlessly draw attention. Attention threatens her ability to lay low and wait out her service contract. So she keeps this skill hidden.

And indeed, her concerns are validated by the narrative, because she catches the attention of Jinshi and Gyokuyou—two of the highest authority figures of the rear palace—immediately upon employing her literacy in her effort to warn the concubines of the poisonous effects of the makeup.

This instantly alters the course of her life, a consequence that at first seems positive; after all, personal attendant to a concubine is certainly several steps above the average palace launderess. But these elevated steps bring more attention onto her, and it isn't long at all before the emperor himself is ordering her to perform medical miracles.

Knowledge is power. And as Maomao explains to Jinshi: it's not always about what someone will do with power; it's about what they can do.

So Maomao uses the powerlessness of her station as a shield, and hides behind it by pretending not to know things.

And the way she does this is interesting, in part because she is so good at deduction. Often it comes down to her simply choosing not to pursue a line of thinking, forcefully redirecting her attention elsewhere the moment she realizes that certain lines may connect to form a bigger picture than someone of her station should see.

Maomao is an apothecary. Effectively, throughout the story, she's an herbalist, pharmacist, chemist, physician, dietician, and forensic detective.

At the same time, her primary survival mechanism is avoidance. And this is established very early in her characterization, even before her actual titular passion.

When Maomao, solver of mysterious deaths, worker of medical miracles, foiler of assassination plots, repeatedly fails to connect the increasingly-obvious dots pointing to Jinshi's true identity, it doesn't feel contrived at all; because by the time those dots begin to come to light, the story has already established that it's firmly in-character for Maomao to simply refuse to pick up the pencil if she already knows what picture those dots will form. As long as she doesn't draw those connections herself, she can remain safe in denial.

And that's how Apothecary Diaries turned one of my least-favorite tropes into one of the most compelling parts of its story.

allthingswhumpyandangsty

“you cannot ship these two fictional characters because—” actually I can because they are not real people. they are just toys I play with. you cannot apply real-world morality to fiction or how strangers play with their imaginary toys in their imaginary sandboxes.

you can, however, curate your own internet experience by minding your own business, muting/blocking/scrolling past what upsets you but does not hurt anyone in real life in any way, shape or form.

allthingswhumpyandangsty

“ship whatever you want except xyz. there is a limit” so you miss the entire point of what I just said 👌🏻

there is, in fact, no limit. I may be uncomfortable with it, I may even find it unpleasant/disturbing, but my personal feelings are not rules that can be applied to other people, and they absolutely do not justify shaming or harassing other people.

magicalcrime

They are barbies in the dreamhouse. If you don't like what I put out, block me. It's never personal to me if you're not on board.

CELESTIAL YEARN? OH YEAH I SEE

Haven't been listening to Secret Times in a long while and now have a lot of those saved up, and i completely forgot that these are sometimes SPICY

Like hello?? I grabbed my tablet, put on a Celestial Yearn (Xavier) and was doing my shit Everything was normal and then i hear rough kissin?? I mean, yeah, sure guys, go ahead AND THEN SQUELCHING????? OH CELESTIAL BODY OF MINE WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT

My flabbers were GASTED I thought it'll be A SILLY ONE NOT SPICY I'M CRYING

I'm pretty sure there was a "save a horse, ride a cowboy" type shit going on AND THE PERCENTAGE FUCKING KILLED ME "We won't end it here. Is that okay?" BROTHA OH SO U WERE HUNGRY AFTER ALL