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i’m about to go make it official on his old blog, but shen has now been moved here, too `~` with a shiny new URL, to boot

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so! i’ve moved the majority of my blogs over to the hub, but i haven’t yet created shen’s New Blog. the biggest reason for that being that i want to change my URL! but i can’t think of anything off the top of my head yet thinking emoji

i’ve been flechxtte for some time now, and. idk, i just kinda want to change it

however! i have moved baby!shen’s blog-- i decided to go ahead and keep separate blogs for adult and child shen. so if you’re at all interested in interacting with his child verse, feel free to follow that blog `~`

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so, i think this is the one (1) blog i haven’t brought this up on yet, but i’m in the beginning stages of Moving all of my blogs to a hub. the idea of all my RP blogs being in one location has been very tempting for a while now, and i’m finally just going to bite the bullet and Do It lmao

the ones that are side blogs are simple to just transfer over, but for main blogs like shen here, they’ll have to be remade (as far as i’m aware, anyway). so i’m not sure when i’ll get around to that, bc i’ve got. a Number of those hhh

anyway, i just wanted everyone to know this is what’s going on. i hope this results in me being more active across all my muses `v`

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cause i carried on like the wayward son and now through and through i have come undone and now i am but just the wayward man what with my bloodshot eyes and my shaky hands

oh. oh no

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grave digger // matt maeson

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i found myself thinking about shen today for some reason (’for some reason’ it’s bc i was listening to that in too deep song again lmao)

anyway

there’s a line in the song that goes like ‘release me, let me start all over and bury it away’ and i just. started thinking, idk

bc i once answered an ask about what shen would do differently if he was allowed to go back in time, and at the time, at his level of development then, i answered that he’d probably be more thorough in his. uh. Killing orz he’d try his plan all over again, but this time Knowing where all the cracks are, so he could be more efficient

but now, with some small developments-- and i do mean small, just the beginnings of epiphanies about his actions and where he’s ended up and whose Fault that is lmao-- now, i’m not sure what he’d Do were he granted the ability to Start Over thinking emoji

bc as much as he’s beginning to Realize or accept that he’s brought all his misery onto himself, i’m not sure he’d ever completely accept that it goes as far down as his very thought processes, what he believes about himself and other people, even strangers. i’m not sure that’s something he’ll ever be totally willing to change, and bc of that, he might feel there was little point in Starting All Over again if he’s still just going to be his parents’ disappointment, or their burden

it’s a pervasive sense of hopelessness, and i must admit i’m not sure if he’d ever get past that

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What would you say is your favorite part about Shen?

tbh, it’s kinda hard for me to say thinking emoji shen is an interesting character in that a lot of his tropes and character traits are ones that i would find either irritating or just overdone if it weren’t for the specific mixture he seems to have been written with, and how they interact off each other, aha

for instance, i like that he can have his funny moments where he’s caught off-guard and vulnerable, and yet still remains a credible, intimidating threat to the end (i used to joke early on in my time in the fandom that shen was a good villain bc he could literally trip over his own feet and fall off a platform, soon after being body-slammed by the goofy protagonist, and still pose a believable threat like it hadn’t even happened fjkd;a in fact, quite a few people have mentioned they didn’t even notice and/or think about the fact he fell lmao)

he’s a very cruel, ambitious character who is inevitably shown to have a ‘morality pet’, and yet that person still doesn’t succeed (in the span of the movie, anyway) in discouraging him from his path, even when it seems for a brief second like he wants to let her. he understands that what he’s doing is Wrong and evil, and yet exhibits no remorse for his actions when prodded, clinging instead to his old resentment and justifications even he knows are BS lmao

i like that he’s lying wholeheartedly to himself to make himself feel better about it all, and it’s still not quite enough bc what he really needs is to Stop fjfk;da

that said! he does also fall into a couple of my favorite tropes of all time, which include the villainous breakdown, falling over the despair event horizon, and in general miserable villains who honestly bring all of their misery upon themselves, whether they realize or admit to it or not, and who are Too Far Gone to find any kind of peace outside of death orz

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‘ everything’s my fault when you just look at the facts and information! ’

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‘and i hope when you think of me years down the line, you can’t find one good thing to say’ as a line is filled with Exactly the right amount of vindictive, resentful energy so as to 100% be something shen would definitely say............

only to get silently offended when they agree with him

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📺 your full honest opinion on Wolf.

Ask Shen’s Shadow | Accepting

“I’m not quite renowned for my honesty.” In the beginning, he sounds normal, haughty and irritable and wholly like himself. But it doesn’t last long. There’s something peculiar in his face, and his next words are inherently off. 

“Am I?” A rippling tremor goes through Shen’s smile, like a muscle twitch under the skin, and he’s forced to lower his head, fixing his wide-eyed gaze on the sharp metal encasing his scarred feet. “Oh, but you know otherwise. I’ve never tempered my words with you, have I? You’ve been privy to every passing, trivial criticism I’ve ever had of you, right from the beginning, and I’ll not start holding back now. Are you a masochist, by chance? To keep coming back like this for a tongue lashing, well. One can’t be faulted for wondering... Or do you perhaps fancy yourself a martyr for staying by my side, enduring my abuse and cruelty? Well, let us stamp out that comforting notion right now.” 

“You’re a wretch, Zang. A murderer. Your hands are drenched in blood, innocent blood, and it’ll never rinse out, no matter how long you wear the skin of the philanthropist and play the part.”

Shen laughs then, pealing, unrestrained, even going so far as to toss his head back as he does in a rather familiar fashion. But a loud sob cracks unexpectedly into the middle of that laughter, and he appears to freeze, staring up at the ceiling with what amounts to a blank smile.

“And I killed you,” he eventually continues in an almost helpless, broken tone of voice. “Were I anyone else, anything but a murderer and a usurper myself, I’d be hailed as a great protector, a hero with only the most noble of intentions. And they’d all be wrong even then because to kill you, I first had to betray you.”

Another rapid mood shift occurs when Shen’s gaze travels unsteadily from the ceiling to the one who’d asked his opinion on this particularly unpleasant topic in the first place— brows lowering dangerously, an accusatory glint in his narrowed eyes. When he speaks, it’s with a near snarl.

“Why couldn’t you have just done what I told you to..?! Why did you have to say no?! Wh-Why did you have to make me ruin it..? I-I... I ruined it. I ruined everything, but you made me ruin it.” Hissed venomously through his barely open beak, like every word is somehow both invigorating and a chore.

There’s a long moment then, a silence broken only by his staggered breaths, each one laced with his ever-present, worsening wheeze. Gradually, though, the anger in his stance dissipates, leaving him in trickling amounts like a poorly-maintained faucet, so that in the end he resembles something of a forlorn puppet that’s been abandoned on a shelf. 

“I-I don’t want to apologize yet.” A familiar plea, word for word, and just as soft and resentful as the first time he’d spoken it aloud. 

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so honestly in a more general sense i’m always going to love dynamics that involve one character not fully living in reality when it comes to their loved one’s behavior and/or deeds, or struggling to, as i said, reconcile their love or affection for someone who in all honesty doesn’t deserve it

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i was thinking about the song burning house last night and realized. shit. i’m kind of a sucker for the dynamic of villain + good to neutral character that loves them unconditionally and is inordinately loyal to them

bonus points if they have a long history and the villain used to be much sweeter or otherwise more pleasant

bonus bonus points building on top of that for when the loyal one is conflicted and struggling to reconcile their memories of the villain with the current reality

and extra super bonus points for the loyal one eventually sidling up to the despair even horizon when the villain crosses a Line and they’re forced to confront what they’ve been ignoring. whether this results in them betraying the villain and Getting Away or just falling right over the event horizon and giving in doesn’t matter to me bc i love them both

tho if the loyal one both betrays their loved one and falls over the despair event horizon then that’s the Ultimate Gold Standard and i will eat it up like candy rip

like obviously an example of this is the soothsayer and shen, but there’s also a lighter example in natori and the cat king. rosebud and shen have this dynamic going on, too, even tho they lack the long history thinking emoji i’ve even played at an AU version of this kinda relationship between po and mr. ping lmao also my interpretation of otogi had shades of this when it came to his interactions with his father, but not exactly >>

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*   EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE .

bold  whatever  applies  to  your  muse.   italicize  the  things  that  only  somewhat apply / are verse dependent.   REPOST ,   DON’T  REBLOG.

been cheated on  |  been bullied  |  had your heart broken  |  broken someone’s heart  |  told a horrible lie  |  been betrayed  |  been framed / set-up  |  stolen something of value  |  overdosed on drugs  |  been drunk  |  cheated  |  bullied  | been publicly humiliated |   punched someone in the face |  been beaten up |  broken a bone  |  been admitted to a hospital  |  put someone in the hospital |  had a near - death experience  |  been drugged  |  done drugs  |  smoked  |  been arrested |  been homeless  |  been forced to commit a crime  |  died and came back to life  |  kissed someone you weren’t attracted to  |  bled severely  |  killed someone  |  been forced to kill someone  |  had an attempt on your life  |  made an attempt on your own life  |  lost someone | loved someone  |  watched a loved one die  | failed to save / help a loved one  |  felt helpless  |  watched your world die / disappear  |  had your life’s work stolen  /  destroyed    

gone without food for over three days  |  gone without sleep for over three days  |  been tortured / questioned  |  been shot  | been stabbed |  been poisoned  |  been held prisoner  |  been trapped  |  been buried alive  | been held hostage  |  held someone hostage  |  been stuck in a different world / universe / time  |  been abused by someone who should have loved / appreciated / valued you  | had a panic attack  | had night terrors  |  been in a car accident  | lost your job  |  lost a fight  |  had sex with a stranger  |  been divorced  |  been abandoned |  passed out from pain  |  cried yourself to sleep |  spent a whole day in bed  |  hurt yourself  | taken your anger out on yourself  |  taken your anger out on someone you love  |  been used  |  been manipulated  |  felt used  |  manipulated someone else  |  had your memories / mind wiped / stolen or tampered with  |  been taken over by a hostile force  | been terrified  |  played a cruel game on someone  |  been forced to smile  | felt too many things at once | laughed when you felt like crying |  been in denial  |  been denied  | faced your demons

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whispers kinda feeling my multimuse muses now that the conversation turned to one of them lmao so that’s where i’ll be lurking for now thinking emoji maybe try to get more activity going