OrchisAilsa

Some of the Boston Raiders come out with them after the game - those not too bothered by the ass-kicking they were just delivered - and hours into the night, the only ones still left standing are Marley, Ilya, and Shane (who's there still only because Ilya is, and has been dozing on and off against his shoulder for a little while now).

He wakes right the fuck up, though, when Marley laughs and says something about it being a funny coincidence, the only two people Ilya's been seriously involved with being from Montreal.

"What?" Shane says.

Ilya frowns, equally confused. "What are you talking about, Marley?"

"I mean, there's Hollander," Marley says, gesturing at Shane with his beer bottle, "and before him, there was Jane."

Shane relaxes against Ilya's side again. "Oh."

"Please tell me you are joking," Ilya says. When Marley just blinks at him, he helpfully prompts, "Montreal Jane, Montreal Shane...."

Marley's eyes widen. "No fucking way, man."

Ilya shrugs his free shoulder.

"Okay, but..." Shane watches with fascination as Marley's cheeks go pink. His eyes dart towards Shane, and away again. "You talked about Jane, like. A lot. Got pretty fucking graphic with it. You telling me all that was about Hollander?"

“you care for me a little bit, i do think. but i can’t hang my life on a little bit. you don’t. you don’t love me. i was yours once till death if you’d cared to keep me. but i’m someone else’s now. and he’s mine in a way that shocks you.”

I am reading Tim Curry’s 2025 memoir, Vagabond

and in it, he not only devotes a chapter to Muppet Treasure Island, but also references this very post

so, to recap

no, Tim Curry is absolutely NOT a Muppet; however

𝓗𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝓫𝓲𝓻𝓽𝓱𝓭𝓪𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓦𝓾 𝓧𝓲𝓮!

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖—

𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒚 𝒔𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏.

Excerpt from Yucun Biji: Rural Life Notes 33 | Chn | Eng

我爬到一半的时候，虽然穿着雨衣，身上也全都淋湿了，非常狼狈。我知道自己不会放弃的，但还是感到了一丝绝望。就像是有感应一样，我忽然停了下来，回头望去。 闷油瓶就站在我身后。 我不知道他什么时候来的，但就像以前的一万次那样。

Halfway up the climb, despite wearing a raincoat, I was soaked through and utterly miserable. I knew I wouldn't give up, yet a thread of despair still crept in. As if sensing something, I suddenly stopped and turned around.

Men You Ping was standing right behind me.

I didn't know when he'd come, but it was just like the ten thousand times before.

©Official art by 刘巴布, edited by me (apologies for any translation mistakes (_ _)) | ©Divider by @pixopix and @dollywons

Inspired by @eastofedean 's post

alright, i really should be asleep but i can't stop thinking about this scene so here we go.

i love the interaction between language and space here. xiao hua spends the majority of the confrontation seated, while kang-shu stands up, and so he's being talked down to both physically and through the insults and jabs thrown at him. but his demeanour is calm, poised, he's smiling; nothing he's hearing is anything that xiao hua hasn't been told before, considered, and discarded as below his notice. it all slides off of him. and this confidence, combined with how xiao hua only rises once kang-shu has already admitted defeat, shifts that initial presentation of power. he wasn't being talked down to. rather, he'd turned that seat into his throne simply by sitting there and saying a few words- "the leader of the xie family is still me"- and it becomes a show of strength that xiao hua does not need to stand on the same equal ground as kang-shu in order to force him to cave.

so by the time xiao hua walks up and looks him in the eye, there's no real negotiation. he's just a leopard playing with its food. it's also just beautiful that the final blow isn't dealt with force, it's through a few carefully chosen words in a too-quiet, too-soft, too-dangerous tone, while leaning in too close for comfort. yes, xiao hua is jie yuhua, he's that "opera-singing sissy" you called him, kang-shu. and you just lost to him.

the last expression on xiao hua's face then ends the scene and makes it all: eyes gone dead, stare turned to ice. the final word was said, and the man before him is no longer worth his time or regard. the only thing left is for him to get out of his sight. and into a jail cell.

Is Hayden the biggest competition to him? No, but he's able to keep up with and support Shane on the ice, something not many can do. So yes, he's not the best of the best, but it's worth being acknowledged for.

Hunter is not much older than him and Shane, but he was at one point the one everyone looked when he started his career. He came before them, they had to prove that they had greater skills than him. So it's an acknowledgement of his skills, that he came before them and had to go up against his accomplishments. He's the before that Ilya tries to beat.

Hannibal (2013-2015)