humu humu

From his eyes, to his toes, Clark wasn't normal. He wasn't a person, even. So when Clark heard about sexualities from Pete, holding hands with Lana as they watched the soccer team from the bleachers, Clark looked at their clasped hands, and heaved a sigh of relief.

Here, at least, he could be normal. Here, at least, he could be an average person.

Years and years and years later, after he'd stopped feeling quite so defensive about it, after he'd learnt that it was just as normal as any other thing, he watched an asshole dressed like a Bat disappear into the dark after a growling at him to get out of his city, and all he could do was throw his head back and let himself have one swear.

I've always thought that I would rather die than go back to being young and powerless. "What would I give to go back to being young? Absolutely nothing. God forbid."

But the other day I passed by a primary school that somewhat resembled my old one, and I was struck with a sense of deep longing for the first time.

I think that I miss my childhood very much. It might not have been an especially trouble-free one, and I didn't get many things, but it was a great childhood. I had enough.

Liu Yao is practically engineered to strike directly at that feeling of sudden sorrow. It's a story obsessed with looking back at a place that no longer exists except in memory, and wondering whether you can ever really go home again.

I love it far, far more than I thought I would (can't believe I've picked it up and dropped it several times in three years, which just goes to show, it's really all about timing).

Anyway, sometimes you finish a book and you're hit by this mania. This need to go back to the beginning and start over, to see them as they were when they were young. To pore over every highlighted line. Weeping over every word, happy or unhappy. I love Changgu so much, and the world they live in.