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lacey

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I guessed people would call out, and I was right [Feb. 22nd, 2026|06:27 pm]
I didn’t guess that I’d be stuck with the roads closed until at least noon tomorrow.

Well, I’m getting paid every hour I’m here, at least.
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Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 12, part 1 [Feb. 23rd, 2026|11:47 am]
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sid_guardian

[china_shop]
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Zhao Yunlan sprawled on a couch, grinning at his phone. The background shows a purply sky with stars. Text reads "Slo-Mo Rewatch. Guardian - half an episode per week @ sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org."


Hi, and welcome back to the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch. Watch half an episode a week, at your leisure, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!

Here are the previous weeks' rewatch posts.

Episode 12, up to 22:18

Summary
Fourth Uncle drugs Zhu Hong; Guo Changcheng zaps himself unconscious. Wang Zheng is teaching Sang Zan to write (but hasn't shown him how to hold a pen). Zhao Yunlan confronts Shen Wei in his university office, ostensibly about the case but in fact seeking confirmation of Shen Wei's other identity. Tan Xiao breaks into the SID to steal the Hallows but is thwarted by Sang Zan's trap, followed by Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei's arrival. Zhao Yunlan catches the Awl, has visions and falls unconscious (feat. some lovely manhandling by Shen Wei); Da Qing wakes him by being catlike. Lin Jing wants to run some tests on a human; Zhao Yunlan fakes a headache, so Shen Wei volunteers. Shen Wei lies on the evidence bed in his undershirt. Fourth Uncle talks to tied-up!Zhu Hong, only it's actually Guo Changcheng in a skirt and wig. Zhu Hong drugs her uncle. (So much drugging!) Zhu Jiu is angry at Tan Xiao's failure to retrieve the Hallows; he's holding Zheng Yi hostage, promising to cure her. Zhao Yunlan doodles Shen Wei and the Envoy in his notebook. Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi ambush and hypnotise Zhu Hong as she returns from the Snake Village. She fights Chu Shuzhi, and Lin Jing has to sedate her. Zhao Yunlan tells Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi that they can't trust Zhu Jiu.

Image


Quote
Shen Wei: Are you even listening to me?
Zhao Yunlan: I only want to hear you tell the truth.

Detail
Presumably Zhao Yunlan is already wearing protective earplugs when he apprehends Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi on his own.

Questions
Do you have a stand-out favourite scene or quote from the first half of episode 12? How is Zhao Yunlan hoping that the conversation in Shen Wei's office will go? Does Sang Zan have any other booby traps set up around the SID (and how many times has Guo Changcheng set them off)? Did Shen Wei put himself in a trance/stasis during Lin Jing's experiment? Any theories about what happened to Tan Xiao's sister? What's with all the drugging??

Poll #34277 Episide 12, part 1
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2


How many times has Guo Changcheng zapped himself unconscious before?

View Answers

once
0 (0.0%)

a couple of times
0 (0.0%)

truly an alarming number of times
1 (50.0%)

Lin Jing is ~this close~ to confiscating the baton
0 (0.0%)

Chu Shuzhi bought a portable defibrillator to take to training practice
1 (50.0%)

other
0 (0.0%)

Does Shen Wei expect Zhao Yunlan to take him literally when he says, "To be honest, I'm just a normal person who happens to be unlucky"?

View Answers

yes, he's determined to stuff the cat back into the bag
0 (0.0%)

he doesn't *expect*, exactly; but he hopes!
1 (50.0%)

no, he's implicitly asking Zhao Yunlan to play along
1 (50.0%)

other
0 (0.0%)

Why does Shen Wei volunteer to be a test subject?

View Answers

he thinks he can fake a human field of consciousness
1 (50.0%)

he's no longer really hiding his identity; he just doesn't want to admit the truth in so many words
1 (50.0%)

other
0 (0.0%)



Did you see any parallels in these scenes with other parts of the drama? If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation compares, if at all?

(As usual, these are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in. We'd love to hear your thoughts!)

And here is our schedule -- if you can, please sign up to host a post!
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vital functions [Feb. 22nd, 2026|10:15 pm]
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Reading. Finished The Rose Field (Pullman)!!! I am Making Arrangements for it to Leave My House. Read more... )

ANYWAY. I finished it. It Is Done.

Then read the first few pages of Dead Hand Rule (Gladstone; latest in the Craft Wars) before deciding that actually I need to reread at least the end of Wicked Problems in order to remember what's going on...

Writing. Progress continues both glacial and extant.

Listening. My relisten-while-actually-awake of the first chunk of The Hidden Almanac continues, slowly.

Playing. We have finished an Exploders run on Hard in Inkulinati. I am contemplating, given how smoothly that went, whether I want to have a try at Very Hard...

Cooking. It's not quite "this week's breakfast dal, and a loaf of bread", but it does sort of feel like it was. Partly because for reasons we did not get our usual box of veg on Monday last week, which meant that we were scrabbling around using up Shelf Things and the occasional Supermarket Discount Item...

NO WAIT, I also DID make buckwheat pancakes, and inspired by [personal profile] lnr combined Tinned Pear and Stem Ginger with Vanilla Essence and also Ground Cardamom to go in same. V good. Will repeat.

Eating. My mother acquired for us, as A Special Treat, a variety of Baked Goods from The Fancy Bakery In Eddington: my favourite is still the fig-and-?ricotta, but the blueberry-and-?ricotta is also very good, as is the fougasse. A was extremely pleased with the pain aux raisins. AND my mother made some excellent baba ganoush, eaten with said fougasse.

This week also feat. rainbow bagels (which we got to watch some of the manufacturing process for!) as well as misc other foodstuffs from Shalom Hot Beigels.

A has some coffee and butterscotch cake (leftovers from a test bake!) from Flour Arrangements; alas by the time I got my act together to actually collect Excess Test Cake the apple pie and lemon had both all gone...

Exploring. I got to spend a little time in the City of London Cemetery, which is currently ablaze with (among other things) purple crocuses; we also (on our second attempt) managed to go on A Snowdrop Walk Around Anglesey (with thanks to [personal profile] aldabra for reminding me that it is That Time Of Year still!). Snowdrops excellent. May or may not get around to sharing some photos. (Our first attempt at A Snowdrop Walk Around Anglesey Abbey wound up mutating into a poke around the back of Churchill and Astronomy to peer at bulbs and other plants misc, which was also very enjoyable even if I did once again fail to take A to see the Barbara Hepworth.)

Growing. ... I bought a bag of snowdrops In The Green at Anglesey, to go into the ground around the cherry tree at the allotment? The lemongrass seedlings haven't all died?

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"your body hears everything your mind says" (naomi judd) [Feb. 22nd, 2026|12:58 pm]
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Maybe I could make a handwritten Chinese zine that I record myself reading aloud to a bunch of seeds.

This is gonna be my day. Or I'll take a nap. Still hard to say which way it will go.

Also I can't believe I haven't posted any pictures of Daphne in a year. I just spent an hour looking at photos, so I can't make up for it now short of sharing my entire library. But here's a particularly funny sequence from last spring, when her friends came to the back door looking for her.

Daphne and friends )

Right now everything is covered in snow and ice, except the back patio, so that's nice. I still go out and sit in my rocking chair and look out over where the gardens will be in the spring, and admire the sparkly beauty of a frozen river.

Luckily the dogs love the frozen river, so now the play groups look more like this.

Daphne and snow )
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FIC: in the darkness with you (Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan) [Mature] [Feb. 22nd, 2026|08:18 pm]
Image
sid_guardian

[trobadora]
[Tags|, ]

Title: in the darkness with you
Word count: 4,233
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Pairing: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Rating: Mature
Content tags: Blind Zhao Yunlan, First time, Hand-Feeding, Finger-Sucking, Clothed Sex, Zhao Yunlan's oral fixation, Episode Related, Episode 21, Missing Scene, Blindness Arc

Summary:

Zhao Yunlan woke to the smell of citrus, sweet and strong in the air. Without fully turning his face out of the pillow, he slitted open a sleep-heavy eye - to complete, unchanged darkness. Reality came crashing down like a landslide. Right: still blind.
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My latest Guardian fanworks [Feb. 22nd, 2026|07:18 pm]
Image
sid_guardian

[facethestrange]
[Tags|, , , , ]

[personal profile] candyheartsex had creator reveals, so here's another portion of fanworks. :D Weilan drawing and 2 fics, a Chuguo fic, and a (non-Candy-Hearts) Zhubai drabble. :)

Underneath by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Undressing, undergarments, Kneeling, Mild Sexual Content, no sex just touching and vibes, Black-Cloaked Envoy | Hei Pao Shi (Guardian), Long-Haired Shen Wei (Guardian), Fanart, Drawing
Summary: Zhao Yunlan discovers what's under the Envoy's robes.

meet me where the hours bend (I'll do it again) (524 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Episode: e008 Zhao Yunlan Fails at Impressing Shen Wei, Canon Compliant, Pining Shen Wei (Guardian), Caretaking, Hurt/Comfort, Stomach Ache, Sick Zhao Yunlan, Memories, Tenderness
Summary: Zhao Yunlan whimpers in his sleep, and Shen Wei doesn't do anything.

The Envoy and the Cat (549 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Da Qing & Shen Wei & Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Da Qing (Guardian), Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Tree Climbing, friendly teasing, Da Qing Being a Cat in Human Form
Summary: "Really? Really, Damn Cat? You had to get the Black-Cloaked Envoy of all people to help you down from a tree?"

It Takes a Village (369 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian - priest
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng
Characters: Chu Shuzhi, Guo Changcheng, Xiaomi the Dog (Guardian), Special Investigation Division | SID Ensemble (Guardian)
Additional Tags: Fluff, Dogs, Domestic, Established Relationship, Post-Canon, Minor Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Team as Family
Summary: "Who will feed Xiaomi when we're away?" Guo Changcheng asks, and Chu Shuzhi blinks.

"Everyone?"

See Nothing (100 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018) RPF, Chinese Actor RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong
Characters: Bai Yu (Actor), Zhu Yilong, Li Yan (Actor)
Additional Tags: Beard Burn, Innuendo, Silly, Light-Hearted, No Homophobia, POV Outsider, Drabble
Summary: "Hey, what happened to your chin?"
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40 Days of Drabbles > Updated [Feb. 22nd, 2026|12:57 pm]
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Image

Inspired by [community profile] adventdrabbles, I will be posting daily prompts at [community profile] 40daysofdrabbles from Ash Wednesday to Easter, prompts will mostly be winter/spring themed things.

Any fandom (minus RPF/Reality TV), pairing or rating is allowed. Feel free to combine with other challenges! Minimum word count is 100 words, but no maximum.

Our first five prompts are now up! Feel free to start writing or follow us incase a prompt jumps out at you!

Or want to suggest prompts? Have questions?



So check out [community profile] 40daysofdrabbles!!



The original purpose [community profile] 40daysofdrabbles is just to write 40 drabbles about whatever you want to focus on, or ask your friends for prompts/ships/fandoms - this is open year-round although it originally started as a personal challenge ages ago for Lent. This still applies if you want to combine the two events.



Check out the profile page for more information!
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Zzz [Feb. 22nd, 2026|12:00 am]

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https://www.oglaf.com/zzz/

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Stranger Things: Roll To Charm Person, by harriet_vane [Feb. 22nd, 2026|09:51 am]
Image
fancake

[runpunkrun]
[Tags|, , , , , ]

Fandom: Stranger Things
Pairings/Characters: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Rating: Explicit
Length: 59,047 words
Content Notes: Bullying and homophobia.
Creator Link: [archiveofourown.org profile] harriet_vane
Theme: Inept in Love, Pretend Couple, Friends to Lovers, Canon LGBTQ+ Characters

Summary: Will needs a date to his mom's wedding. Mike volunteers.


"I have an idea," says Mike.

Ice cubes form in Will's stomach. "How dangerous is it? Like, should I call Dustin to talk you down, or should I call Nancy to be ready to drive us to the hospital?"

"No," says Mike, "you can't tell anyone or it won't work."

"Or what won't work?" Will asks. It's like picking up a rock you know a spider will be under.

Mike gets up and closes Will's door. Hopper doesn't make them keep it open but sometimes Will does anyway, because every now and then lying around alone with Mike on his bed just makes his chest ache too much. If the door is open he can tell himself You can't do anything right now, someone will see.

Mike leans back against the door. His eyes are lit up with that special maniacal gleam that the Wheelers get right before they do something insane, like when Nancy says, "Then we have to go kill Vecna ourselves," or whatever. "Take me to the wedding," says Mike.

"Yeah," says Will slowly, "you'll be at the wedding. Obviously."

"As your date."

Reccer's Notes: They've fixed Hawkins' Upside Down problem (though this predates the final season), and it's the kids' senior year, and Will is worried his mom is worried about him, so Mike hatches a plan to be Will's (fake) date to Joyce and Hopper's wedding because of course he does. That means we've got Will pretending to pretend he's into Mike and Mike playing gay chicken against himself and...losing? winning? both?? Neither of them is doing a great job (or any job) communicating, but their fake relationship thrives and does what all the best fake relationships do, becomes real. A sweet friends-to-lovers romance with just the right amount of agonizing feelings.

Fanwork Link: Roll To Charm Person
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Rain Challenge: Hercule Poirot: Fanfic: Well, it is Raining! [Feb. 22nd, 2026|05:25 pm]
Image
fan_flashworks

[smallhobbit]
Title: Well, it is Raining!
Fandom: Hercule Poirot
Rating: G
Length: 348 words
Summary: Hastings comes in very wet; Poirot does not approve.

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Pressure (2026) [Feb. 22nd, 2026|11:21 am]
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( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )
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Education survey [Feb. 22nd, 2026|10:31 am]
( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )
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If I am reading this correctly [Feb. 22nd, 2026|10:48 am]
[Tags|, ]

Orson finds Trump's approach to Greenland unacceptable and would like the President to keep focus on core American missions, like trade wars and ethnically cleansing Minnesota.
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[Feb. 18th, 2026|10:32 am]
So, you got my opinion on Heated Rivalry, but I gotta say, I will never not read fanfics structured like ongoing internet sagas.

Also, gotta love the one dude, BostonSportsBro69, who posts in both /r/relationship_advice and /r/hockey going around in /r/hockey saying "Uh, no, it's just normal sportsbro rival stuff, you're all reading way too much into this" when because he absolutely knows better. (I don't think he's supposed to be one of Ilya's teammates, just a fan.)

***************


Links )
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Hard Hat Mack (1983) [Feb. 22nd, 2026|09:54 am]
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This early PC platformer is of no small historical interest, as it was the first game released by everybody's favorite totally uncontroversial and non-resented game publishing company, Electronic Arts. Like most of their titles then and now, it wasn't developed in-house; Michael Abbott and Matthew Alexander get the design and programming credit for this one.

grid of construction scaffolding with gaps and chains hanging down to climb

But you don't need to me to tell you the illustrious history of EA (or, as it was briefly called at its inception, "Amazin' Software"—and I can't tell you how disappointed I am that we don't live in the timeline where they kept that name). I guess you also don't technically need me to tell you about this ridiculous game and my memories of playing it while being unable to identify most of the characters and objects it contains, but I'm going to go ahead anyway.

In Hard Hat Mack you play as a construction worker. I did understand that much. In the first level you have to collect pieces of a beam and use them to fill in the gaps, and then grab a wandering jackhammer to hammer them into place. This is where my understanding of the game began to break down; I thought the jackhammer was a tornado. )

Hard Hat Mack is... well, it sure is a game. You can find it on abandonware sites, but I couldn't really get it to run well on any version or emulator I tried. The DOS version (which I had as a kid) runs too fast in DOSBox by default, but when I reduced the clock speed I found that it lagged badly when multiple objects were moving, which made the second level pretty much unplayable. We probably shouldn't hold our breaths for EA to offer a re-release, and maybe that's for the best.
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Dance the Eagle to Sleep by Marge Piercy [Feb. 22nd, 2026|09:33 am]
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Image

Can America's well-financed, highly-experienced, heavily-armed war machine hope to prevail against a numerically insignificant, poorly-armed, American teen movement?

Dance the Eagle to Sleep by Marge Piercy
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Bletchley Park [Feb. 22nd, 2026|02:01 pm]
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Last weekend, we stayed in a Landmark Trust property a mere half-hour journey to Bletchley Park. We were surprised by nice weather on the Saturday, so we made the trip. Below is an assortment of photos from the selection of buildings we managed to visit over the course of five hours. I don’t think we saw more than a third of it, so we’ll definitely take advantage of the year-long entry that the steep admission price gets you to see the rest.

20260214_134646

The dingy basement has had a lick of paint and yet somehow doggedly retains its character.

20260214_121855

Listening stations.

20260214_115052

Keiki does some Morse code-breaking.

20260214_122017

Humuhumu does some Enigma encoding.

20260214_132228

A surprisingly dry and sunny day after all the rain we’ve been having.

20260214_132718

Daffodils were not quite ready.

20260214_133341

The Mansion seemed like it was a bit of all right.

20260214_134604

Not so sure the Intelligence Factory needs this.

20260214_135244

20260214_140003

Humuhumu and I spent quite a while on this interactive exhibit, plotting the locations of various maritime assets and enemies.

20260214_135239

20260214_140029

Many of the personal testimonials in the exhibition mention how boring and repetitive some of the intelligence work was.

20260214_140504

You can see why they resorted to putting frogs in the pneumatic tube system to liven up the day.

The Park is beautifully maintained and the interactive exhibits are well designed and engaging - I’d say from the age of about 10 on up - so well worth a visit. I restrained myself to one book in the gift shop (The Walls Have Ears by Helen Fry) but could easily have brought home a stack.
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Education privilege [Feb. 22nd, 2026|12:04 pm]
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[Current Mood |Image cynical]

I want to talk about the education privilege meme that's been doing the rounds. On the one hand I love old-school memes that encourage lots of cool people on my d-roll to talk about their experiences growing up. But at the same time, I'm kind of frowning at this particular iteration.

thinky thoughts )

Anyway, hopefully this is an adequate substitute for the meme and you don't need me to tell you in detail how absurdly precocious I was in reading and maths.
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Double Challenge: War of the Worlds (1988-90): Fanfic: Fallen In Battle [Feb. 22nd, 2026|10:43 am]
Image
fan_flashworks

[badly_knitted]
[Current Mood |Image tired]
[Current Location |]


Title: Fallen In Battle
Fandom: War of the Worlds (1988-90)
Author: [personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Harrison Blackwood, Paul Ironhorse.
Rating: PG
Setting: Seasons 2, Episode 1.
Summary: An alien clone of Colonel Ironhorse wreaks havoc on the Blackwood Project.
Word Count: 200
Content Notes: Nada.
Written For: Challenge 507: Amnesty 84, using Challenge 15: Double.
Disclaimer: I don’t own War of the Worlds, or the characters. They belong to their creators.




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Good Omens Bingo Card [Feb. 22nd, 2026|06:43 pm]
[Tags|]

I've not gone down a particularly deep rabbit hole with season 3. it may be unexpected, it may be exactly what we're all imagining it to be. Who knows, variables, etc... Glad I have finally gotten to this with a mere 80 days to spare! Some of these I believe more than others, but an entire 24 spaces to fill is... formidable. *g* These may be subject to change with future data/spoilers/Sheen blabs... <3 

I've also made a blank version of this layout if it is anyone's cup of tea.
(font credit is 'awakening' by Brittney Murphy designs)

Image
(click to embiggen)
 

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