moodlemilk

[skullybonez]

Since it's almost halloween I thought of posting this here as well.

Most likely will do another spoopy thingo with these two.

[number1greedlingfan]

Headcanons that are meaningless to everyone but me (or extremely niche inside jokes formed by my friend group)

Hawkeye finds pleasantries, mostly "hello"s and "goodbye"s, pointless and kind of annoying. She'll sometimes engage in them in person but never over the phone. She often hangs up while the other person is mid "bye".

Havoc's "tried and true" opener on dates is that he prefers rainy weather because he, quote, "loves to curl up by the window with a good book and some tea". This is not only a bold-faced lie, but it hasn't helped him get past the first date so it's not any more effective than his other lines.

Fuery pulls more women than Havoc does (not that there was any competition lmao) but he is somehow unaware of this.

Mustang's singular hobby that he does purely for fun is building model ships. His only social interaction is with his coworkers because he does not have any other friends.

Ed thinks Winry is cooped up in her shop all day and all night but that's literally only when he shows up because he DOES IT UNANNOUNCED!! Winry has a thriving social life both in Resembool and Rush Valley. She knows every single person in Resembool and keeps tabs on the neighbors. She's invited to dinners and group outings all the time. People mourned when she moved to RV. Within a month of working at Garfiel's, she'd already met most of the people on the street and she remembers most of their names.

Because of her interests, it's often assumed that Winry is a "not like other girls" type but she is the exact opposite. If you say a single misogynistic thing about other girls' interests (like astrology or pop music) on a first date she is getting up and leaving.

Ling is hypermobile and can bend his hands like this️ ⬇️ as well as do things like back bends and pulling his shoulders out of their sockets. When he was younger he would go up to literally anyone (family members, visiting officials, perfect strangers) and ask if they wanted to see him pull his shoulder out and then not wait for an answer.

Ling's favorite fruit is mango. When he was seven he refused to eat anything but that and had so many that he threw up at a family function. (Mangos were ruined for him for two years.)

Lan Fan does not get sick often but when she does It's Bad and she's taken out for a week or more. When she was younger and delirious with fever, she started distressedly mumbling that she was turning into a cookie. Nothing would convince her otherwise (Fu tried everything). In the end, they had to get Ling to help and he calmed her down in seconds by saying "there are no crumbs so I think you're probably okay".

This is a small one: Lan Fan is on the ace spectrum.

When Mei cooks for other people she makes it as cute as humanly possible. Everything that can have a smiley face or heart on it will. Side note, Al and Mei are 100% a couple that cooks together.

Mei is a little bit fujopilled. You understand.

While he seems shady as hell, Greed's rap sheet is actually pathetically small. The worst crime he's ever committed is, of course, the single instance of kidnapping that we saw on screen.

Greed doesn't understand electricity. He thinks it's powered by electric eels ("eelectricity") and has numerous drawings in his diaries theorizing on the mechanics of these machines. Ex: A generator that has an eel tank with a water wheel inside of it. The drawing is accented with large arrows and question marks and "HOW DOES IT WORK"s. That being said! He's not stupid in all academics. Give this guy some numbers and put it in a financial context and he can calculate anything.

Greed likes the "finer things" but he also has bad taste and sometimes these clash horribly. Is the furniture in his home expensive? Yes. Does any of it match in any conceivable way? Fuck no. Also that nice walnut hutch that cost 1.5K is used solely to display his novelty bong collection.

Heinkel and Darius only became close and discovered the other was gay because of the Camping Trip. So,

[tossawary]

Thinking about the actual living arrangements between Wu Yanzi and Shen Jiu is interesting, because I would think that Wu Yanzi should be more than a little concerned that his new apprentice might decide to turn that bloody sword on him sooner or later.

Putting this below a cut because I'm talking about child abuse here.

You can come up with all sorts of angsty, abusive behavior for Wu Yanzi on the premise that he's afraid of what Shen Jiu might do, simpler examples being things like "he might have made Shen Jiu sleep outside if he was ever taking a room at an inn" and "he might have regularly taken all of Shen Jiu's belongings away because he couldn't 'trust' his disciple with them". More extreme, antagonizing examples being things like "he might have tied Shen Jiu up at night like a dog" or "he might have planted some kind of talismans that prevented Shen Jiu from coming near him or from leaving a small space". He might have even been "matter of fact" about it. Not obviously taking pleasure in a "necessary measure".

I don't think Wu Yanzi treated Shen Jiu like complete shit all the time, I think it probably would have depended on his moods, as it does with many abusers. I just think it's interesting to think about why exactly young Shen Jiu was "terrified to death" of this person. There has to have been a line of "worth putting up with this to learn some cultivation techniques" keeping Shen Jiu from deciding to just risk it and try to kill Wu Yanzi (the line ends up being Yue Qi at the Conference).

It's possible that Wu Yanzi treated Shen Jiu kind of okay most of the time, actually, trusting in his young apprentice's fear without relying on any kind of physical abuse. At the beginning, Wu Yanzi is something of a cultivator and Shen Jiu is not. By forcing Shen Jiu to participate in his foul crimes, he makes it harder for Shen Jiu to leave him, because now Wu Yanzi can threaten to TELL PEOPLE what Shen Jiu has done. And seeing Wu Yanzi kill people in horrific ways such as the Cursed Black Light talismans functions as a very effective threat by itself. "Behave or I'll kill you," is probably all the rope that Wu Yanzi would need to tie Shen Jiu up at night, honestly, stopping his apprentice from killing him in his sleep. Verbal threats and abuse are more than enough, especially when said by an actual murderer.

I think it's interesting to think about the different ways that abuse manifests, and how the different styles of abuse from Qiu Jianluo and Wu Yanzi might have affected Shen Jiu. We don't see a lot of Shen Jiu's life with Wu Yanzi, so we don't know whether or not his behavior was playfully cruel or tersely paranoid or coldly detached. It's easier to draw links between Shen Jiu's abusive treatment of Luo Binghe and Qiu Jianluo's abuse of Shen Jiu.

Anyway, I was thinking about this because I was thinking about more Canon Divergence AUs for Qijiu. Like, what if, after killing Qiu Jianluo, Shen Jiu gets a taste of what his life will be like under Wu Yanzi and throws caution to the wind to murder this guy? He desperately wants to learn cultivation, yes, but he doesn't want another master. Maybe there's some bounty on Wu Yanzi's head and Shen Jiu decides to take it, and hopefully leverage the kill as his legitimate entrance into the cultivation world?

I'm wondering how easy it would be to somehow get Shen Jiu to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect when Yue Qi has been trapped in the Ling Xi caves. I don't think that Shen Jiu would be happy about Yue Qi's imprisonment at all. That could end up being a very dramatic rescue.

[mxtxfanatic]

As someone who has far too much time on their hands I have waded through Ao3 and found some canon-complacent fics that do not assume that Jiang Cheng is a good brother, are not influenced by the untamed, and are hopefully to your tastes!

Our Feelings Remain Unchanged by Karmiya

When Wei Wuxian is resurrected with his original face, any plans to hide in plain sight as 'Mo Xuanyu' are ruined before they can ever begin. He soon runs into old faces, and finds that despite what he feared in his last days, Lan Wangji's feelings for him never changed; whatever they were in the first place.

I really like this author in general! All their fics are good but this is my favorite of them. It is not remaining in line with cannon because oh boy Wei Wuxian having the same face changes things starting with the fact that Sizhui recognizes him...

The Shade of Old Trees by Kryal

“We rest in the shade of trees our ancestors planted.” They called the man in the ice Yiling Laozu, after a folk hero associated with the town in the foothills of the mountains where he was found. No one expected him to be alive!

I believe you will appreciate this authors long footnotes. Also the historical details and world building is fascinating. They clearly put a lot of research into this.

this world (what I make of it) by glitteringmoonlight

The war had consequences. Once, a fully realized Avatar referred to one who had mastered all the elements and could go into the Avatar State. Now, that has changed. No one could master fire when there was no one to teach it, and people feared the abilities of a firebender too much to allow anyone, even the Avatar, to learn too much of it. Now, an Avatar was simply said to be fully realized when their instructors decided they had learnt enough.   In which Lan Sizhui is the Avatar, but he cannot firebend, nor can he waterbend very well. That changes when his travels take him to Yiling.

The best avatar fusion fic I've read. No mentions of jc so far and Wei Wuxian currently remains a mysterious figure who is for sure not a bloodbender and definitely isn't in hiding.

A look back at the past (it's never like they lie) by Imnobody122

Jin Ling had always wanted to know his parents so when he heard rumors about a ghost forcing people to relive their earliest childhood memories he jumped at the chance. Things did not go according to plan. Instead he's stuck watching the childhood memories of Lan Sizhui and Jin Ling is forced to confront the truth the Sects lied about. The Yiling Laozu should not be good with children!

It's harder to get more canon complainant than when you are literally quoting the text. Don't worry the author makes no excuses for Jiang Cheng and this fic tears apart the rumors surrounding Wei Wuxian.

Return to Sender by Theasaurus_with_no_words

On yet another gray and eerie morning in the Burial Mounds, Wei Wuxian wakes up with his golden core back. It turns out he lost something else in the process. (Aka: Wei Wuxian's feelings towards certain people get erased. It changes things. Is it a curse, or a blessing in disguise? And can Wei Wuxian trust himself, his choices and his priorities, after losing a defining part of who he is?)

Wei Wuxian regains his golden core and loses his loyalty due to Jiang Cheng's ingratitude. This is not a bad trade.

I hope you like them and it is kind of depressing that this list only has five entries but oh well.

Some more mdzs fic recs if anyone is interested!

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LBGTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 3, Wave 1, Poll 10

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included. 

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Hunter-The Owl House

Qualifications:

He's bisexual, and also has SO MUCH autism vibes. Also trauma. Lots of trauma.

Propaganda:

He's so cool. Just like genuinely.

Zhou Zishu-Word of Honor / Shan He Ling

Qualifications:

He might not count but I wanted to submit just in case. So in order to leave an assassination organization, he has to basically give himself a terminal condition that slowly destroys him over time, killing him after 3 years. So his ability/power is severely limited which is a big hindrance because he only has the strength to fight for a short while before his condition flares up. And over the course of the show he also looses some of his senses. He looses his sense of taste and smell and his ability to feel pain is significantly lost. The reason why it might not count is that they figure out how to cure him at the very end, but he spends the vast majority of the show suffering from this condition.

Propaganda:

He and his soulmate/husband are iconic. War criminal duo. They're both mass murderers who want to settle down with a nice domestic life with their adopted son. He's also got amazing gender. The show also has some interesting things to say about chronic/terminal illness

[horsegirlwarcrimes]

Alright, you have answered me again (SY gets two daemons sounds extremely interesting! The "what the fuck happened to Shen Qingqiu" Peak Lord meeting in this AU is going to have some shit to talk about, huh!) so now I'm moving on to the next in my list of WIPs I'm really super curious about - Scooby Gang Juniors? Juniors fics are so fun what shenanigans are they getting into?

auw im literally dead u r so kind ( ;´ - `;)♡

scooby gang juniors, actual title some 'Never Love An Anchor' lyrics bc thats the theme song of this fic, is actually the first longfic i ever started writing! it has also been a WIP for mmm. four years or so. i started writing it right after watching the untamed for the first time in 2019 lmao, but never finished it because at that point id never written ANYTHING as long as it was gearing up to be (the outline is 20k). i hope to finally finish it and post it some time soon, probs after WINR and the ZZL&YQY fics are done. its probs some of my fav writing ive ever done but never shared with anyone haha

summary: Wei Wuxian may have drafted a ritual for willingly bringing someone back from the dead somewhere in his madness in the caves of the Burial Mounds, but if he did it was never found. In the absence of a convenient literal ghost from the past to help exact his revenge, Nie Huaisang turns to the next best thing: his old friend's son.

Meanwhile, Lan Sizhui finds a man buried deep underground with soft, familiar eyes.

[Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, Jin Ling, Ouyang Zizhen, and Wen Ning go on a life changing field trip, dodge their worried parents, and dig up some corpses, in approximately that order.]

“When I realized how deeply affected by the Yiling Patriarch Hanguang-Jun was, I began to realize where this slip in righteousness had come from. You see, while I and the rest of the cultivation world believed that Lan Wangji had been in secluded cultivation for three years to move to a new level in his cultivation, or because he had been wounded fighting the Yiling Patriarch, the truth is much the opposite. Hanguang-Jun was in seclusion as punishment, for siding with the Yiling Patriarch at the Siege of the Burial Mounds. All along, these famed enemies had secretly been allied.”  Jin Guangyao shook his head, expression deeply sympathetic even as the cultivators of the room began to turn to Hanguang-Jun. Hands went to swords, only remaining undrawn due to the thick tension in the room that had yet to break. Hanguang-Jun stood immovable through it all, flawless as jade and cold as ice.  “I believe the Yiling Patriarch must have altered his mind, and had been using his demonic arts to corrupt him as far back as the Sunshot campaign. Now, with the feared patriarch dead, it seems this would no longer be such an issue. But Wei Wuxian left one final plan even after his death, a fail-safe to bring ruin to the cultivation world once again even when he was long gone, and he entrusted that plan to Hanguang-Jun before his death.”  At last, his eyes met Sizhui’s again. Sizhui’s mouth tasted electric, the buzz of the room crashing into him in waves even as it narrowed just to himself, his uncle at his back, his father, and the man before him. He inhaled through his nose and straightened, perfect Lan posture and the ribbon on his forehead proudly on display. He narrowed his eyes back at Jin Guanyao and did not drop his gaze. Jin Guangyao smiled, a flicker of amusement, before he regained his expression of earnest concern to address the crowd.  “I found proof in the records of the Wen work camps, and writings recovered from the Nightless City. You see, Lan Sizhui, ward of Hanguang-Jun and First Disciple of Gusu Lan, was neither a war orphan nor a poorly concealed bastard, but instead a child smuggled out of the Burial Mounds before the siege.”  Jin Guangyao swept a sleeve over Sizhui’s group.  “Honored cultivators, I stand before you to reveal the surviving heir of the Qishan Wen Sect. Called Lan Sizhui but born Wen Yuan, the son of Wen Xu and his first concubine. Cousin of the Ghost General, and former ward of the Yiling Patriarch, already beginning the work of reviving the Wen and overwhelming the righteous sects with demonic cultivators.”  In the chaos, only one voice cut so bitingly through the noise. Calm and cold and sure, Sizhui latched onto it with all his heart. Anything to avoid looking behind him, at the friends he had lied to.  “So you admit it.” Said Hanguang-Jun, unmoving from his spot amidst the Lan. Jin Guangyao blinked wide eyes at him.  “I’m sorry?”  Hanguang-Jun stepped forward. Even with his name being almost literally dragged through the mud, cultivators still parted around him with automatic deference.  “You admit you knew children were being tortured, in your work camps.” 

[cabeswaterdrowned]

book recs? My fav books are trc, aftg, soc, shadowhunters/riordanverse etc and the likes (so basically the most basic literature taste known to man) thanks!

well I enjoy all of those and trc is my fav series so will give you a couple of my main fantasy recs along those lines or not dissimilar and throw in one of my fav thrillers which is very gay and explores dark themes for aftg adjacent rep, and then another suspense book i love. I sort of went with books i could draw some type of lines of comparison to at least one of the books you mentioned.

•The Diviners series by Libba Bray — this is my go to ya fantasy rec these days, it’s historical urban fantasy with some horror and mystery elements. It’s set in 1920’s New York, book one opens focusing mainly on Evie and a specific case of a ghost serial killer but introduces other chars, after the first book it becomes more about an ensemble cast of Diviners who have different supernatural powers and their dynamics, also the main antagonist is bigotry and hate which I’m aware is a concept that can be done poorly in fantasy and I won’t pretend every beat of it is flawless but it is my favorite example of a fantasy series take on that concept that I’ve read. More importantly stunning character work I especially adore the female chars among the diviners Evie Theta and Ling, Ling is one of the most special characters ever and these books should be worth reading because of her INTP canon ace lesbian with autistic swag realness alone. 

I definitely would recommend it to TID/TLH fans for the historical setting and atmosphere as well as some of the playing with man vs machine + to TRC/TDT fans for the characterization and also the second book is largely about Henry and Ling learning about their dream powers and developing a friendship through this and also Ling has a narrative foil in dreamspace she’s gay with just think some of those idea would resonate with trcers + to SoC fans for the ensemble dynamics. 

•The Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray

This is one I used to describe to people as The Gangsey all girls au set in Victorian London and that’s not fully accurate but it works enough to be a pitch, but basically it’s about this group of four girls who go to a boarding school together and discover a sort of parallel world where they can bee free and realize their ambitions detached from society, but in the real world they’ve awakened horrors they must deal with too. I need to reread this one but it was deeply formative, if you love messy complicated female friendship dynamics and paranormal/mystical plots that are just creepy enough this is for you. Also my favorite character in it is a gay blonde mean girl character who is ambitious and wants autonomy above all else but does also love her friends fiercely Felicity Worthington you will always be famous <3 if you enjoy Jessamine Lovelace and Grace Blackthorn from TSC she has strong parallels to both those chars imo and is better written/handled arc wise. But I will tell you that the other wlw char in the book who is her love interest dies there is byg, just so you no one gets mad at me for that. But still very worth the read imo. 

•The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor

this series is a mix of urban fantasy and high fantasy, the first book is set mainly in Prague but large parts of the other books take place in a fantasy world called Eretz so there is a fun parallel worlds element. But it’s about Karou who is one of theee protagonists of the 2010s yet got paid dust justice for my girl, and she’s an art student in Prague who was raised by a family of monsters (chimeara), her surrogate father is Brimstone and he has a business of selling wishes for teeth that Karou sometimes helps with but is frustrated that she isn’t allowed to know why or what they’re for. Karou’s dynamics with the chimearas and with her best friends Zuzana who is also a wonderful character and inspo for my letterboxd url rabidfairy09, are really lovely and the prose is so beautiful… but the story really takes off when the love interest Akiva is introduced I won’t go into details about that because spoilers, but they have one of my absolute favorite romances in the genre that does subvert and play with those paranormal forbidden star crossed romance tropes in ways I think are quite fascinating. Books 2 and 3 are more complicated to describe there is an essential conflict between chimeras or devils vs angels in this world so there’s your modern tsc connection, and very lyrical prose although I find Lainis even lusher and more elegant than trc prose. 

• Sawkill Girls by Clara Legrand 

Ya horror book that I remember reading over the summer in high school and I think it’s a good summer read tonally, part of the plot is one of those stranded on an island survival stories but it’s less intense than like Yellowjackets (no cannibalism), I don’t actually have much to sell about the plot I just enjoyed the vibes and also there are lesbians one of whom is an ambitious driven abuse survivor who had an arc I remember really liking.

•Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie Mclemore I actually really love all the books by her I’ve read but I think this is a great one to start with. Basically there are multiple generations of women who are all witches living together (300 fox way vibes), and Estella has several cousins and she and them are all in love with the same woman who is the daughter of the man who owns the estate, and there’s a thing where boys and this family keep disappearing and then one of them shows up and resulting drama. The main romance is m/f but like all the female chars being bi, it is a good romance from my memory but the main event is the familial dynamics, the main character Estella’s arc around dealing with her internalized self hatred and a lot of anti colonial themes those anti colonial themes and themes of multigenerational trauma are very relevant in all the Mclemore I’ve read so yes, very much would read her starting with this book. Also very gorgeous prose as is in all her magical realism stuff. 

•this one is already quite popular on tumblr so you may have read it but The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black, if you enjoy the cutthroat gang in SoC and that high fantasy world I think you would enjoy it I also get some Zoya vibes as well as Kaz vibes from Jude the main heroine. Won’t bother with detailed description because again, very popular books. 

•Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire

basically a series of portal fantasies or fairytales for adults, they are all novellas and it’s an ongoing series following several different chars not all of whom appear in each book. But I enjoy them and I think if you like Riordanverse this is like an adult fantasy take on similar concepts in a way, even though it’s not directly mythology based.

•The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

This is the other tumblr popular series on the list and has a good amount of overlap with trc/aftg/soc fans so will only give the brief pitch that it’s adult sci fantasy and about lesbian necromancers in space. You will be very confused at least some of the time but it is worth it, trust me. 

•Black Iris by Leah Raeder 

new adult psychological thriller with a sapphic romance that slaps so hard. Delaney Keatings is one of my favorite unreliable narrators and also just an A+ character, there’s not a lot I can say about the actual plot because a lot of it is psychological but will give one other plot hint: vigilantes. Definitely look up trigger warnings before reading this there’s a lot about homophobia and also references to sexual violence, drug use a lot more it’s very in line with Aftg in terms of like, grittiness in that regard. Do highly recommend. 

•Dare Me by Megan Abbott 

like with Mclemore I love this author in general and would recommend everything I’ve read by her but this was my first book of hers so it’s a good introduction, and also a lot of it is about girls on a cheer team having homoerotic psychosexual dynamics as well as the murder, so it’s also in line with aftg thematically in that way. gay sports media. 

There are a lot of others but I don’t want to make this list ridiculously long so… here are some recs <3 thank you so much anon for letting me ramble and I hope you like them!

[freewilllife]

First Greeting - Meeting between Xie Lian and Mu Qing

Commentary:

This is the first time Xie Lian and Mu Qing interact after 800 years

Mu Qing knows it is Xie Lian and Xie Lian has no clue who the other person is.

Therefore this first impression is pretty important...as it shows how Xie Lian perceived the other person before every feeling for that person could cloud his perception.

What is interesting is that the voice is described as "softly"...which literally the way Xie Lian described Mu Qing´s way of speaking later as a servant.

It is further described as a very comfortable voice...Xie Lian explained further that it sounded soft, gently and decorous. So most likely the way Xie Lian would expect a god to speak here.

However Xie Lian listens more closely and thinks: this is actually cool and indifferent...

Now Xie Lian considered it "malicious in intent"

Remember...Xie Lian did not know this person and he may have been oversensitive, since he knows that many won´t have that great of an opinion of him..but still we can conclude: He is right.

Mu Qing was hiding here some aggression

Mu Qing attacked:

So Mu Qing did not let his chance pass and addressed Xie Lian directly...making it impossible for Xie Lian to "lie low".

However Xie Lian was further happy, that there is somebody who is willing to talk with him!

Mu Qing wished a confrontation

Commentary

This was truly an attack as the other person must know, how much damage his ascension has caused.

Furthermore Xie Lian felt like the other person actually showed 0 respect for him...it is further emphasized due to the other heavenly officials also admitting that they would have felt uncomfortable if they had been addressed like this.

Xie Lian tried to flee, but Mu Qing didn´t let him get away.

What I consider interesting...You can read Mu Qing´s sentence in two ways:

Mu Qing indicated more or less that Xie Lian had more luck than him...simply because it is Xie Lian

or you can read it as: Since it is Your Highness, a prince, he had more luck in life than a commoner, than him.

And I am pretty positive..it is that hidden jab.

and that relates to the things he said Xie Lian at the end, when they have their little chat. Since he told him there, he always believed that he had just more luck than him and was not that much better than him in martial arts...

Ling Wen seemed to have felt sorry for Xie Lian and informed him, why the person was angry.

I guess Xie Lian was relieved, since he thought that he knew why this person was so malicious to him...He apologized.

The other person however didn´t seem to accept his apology

Mu Qing must have enjoyed it, that he could now refuse this apology as Xie Lian once did. He surely did remember that he had been driven out by his former master.

And now, when this person most likely experienced a certain high, did Xie Lian strike...without knowing...

Imagine...you thought you have finally given your former employer a little taste of humiliation (we later learn, that he thought that Xie Lian had intentionally tried to harm him)...and the other party didn´t even recognize you! What a disgrace! What a shame! Ouch..and that hurt...to be totally forgotten...

In the dongua...we can see Mu Qing´s shadow flinch greatly...and I guess this must have been the shock of an earth-quake for him.

Imagine further...Xie Lian let everybody know in the communication array...that he hadn´t recognized Mu Qing. Ouch.

There was however interest on Xie Lian´s part:

But it also interesting to note, that this does say something about Xie Lian. He - at least - made perfectly clear, that he knew that his former retainer became a god...and based on the information we have here, he also kept himself informed how well he fared.

This further actually emphasizes this point...as I don´t think, Xie Lian has ever met Mu Qing as a god...but 5-6 centuries ago...would not be before his ascension, as Mu Qing was a mortal and would have been dead by then...that means...Xie Lian noted that he visited the temples of both of his former retainers, even when he did not admit it.

Xie Lian further told Ling Wen and the reader, that Mu Qing did not talk like that with him previously.

Further proof that Mu Qing was quite shocked himself, as he did not know how to react anymore.

Well...then we get some wrong and right information about the relationship between these two characters that will be later corrected during the series.

After that Xie Lian wanted to further pretend...nothing happened...

Since Feng Xin arrived, that strangely did solve the issue...As suddenly Mu Qing knew how to speak again...to make things more akward for Xie Lian.

Feng Xin did not need an introduction...just by "Heh" he was able to recognize...this was Mu Qing.

Sadly for Mu Qing...Xie Lian recognized him - instantly...so it is not hard...Feng Xin did not exactly change the way he swore...

It is made clear that Feng Xin and Xie Lian used to be nearer than Xie Lian was with Mu Qing...which is true and untrue at the same time.

For Xie Lian they are both akward...But we do know beforehand...that this is true, yet untrue, as Mu Qing is more disliked than Feng Xin.

Neither of his former two retainers wish to actually conclude or part ways...It is Xie Lian - like in the past - who cut the communication off...

Mu Qing gave him a final jab...Of course he did not think that was a coincidence...

So...from Mu Qing´s perspective...Xie Lian had taken revenge on him...

Xie Lian pretended that this did not affect him - which is of course a blatant lie...It was ashameful and akward meeting the two.

And Xie Lian is happy to flee the situation...However...there is a next round the next day...

When Ling Wen tried to find help for Xie Lian...

Mu Qing was interested in Xie Lian - a clear sign

The people - Xie Lian and Ling Wen - finally recognized that Mu Qing was a little bit too often in the communication array. Ling Wen also mentioned that it seemed to be not a common occurence, but only happened "these days".

So it is pretty sure to say: Mu Qing didn´t hide his interest in Xie Lian pretty well.

And unfortunately...Mu Qing had prevented Xie Lien from getting help

We can also clearly see that Xie Lian was annoyed at Mu Qing´s behaviour...as his thought was surely not friendly.

[w0lfinsheepscl0thing]

Rating Song Spotify Picks for 1899 Characters (1/2)

I shuffled my liked songs (the most vast playlist I have), then analyzed them to see how well the lyrics or overall vibe matches the character. Here's how it went!

Maura - Cigarette Daydreams (Cage The Elephant)

Strong start! I think this actually isn’t far off from Maura, and the theme of loss can tie back to Elliot, relating to Elliot’s condition slowly getting worse, but Muara’s struggle because of it going up alongside it. The themes of there being a physical closeness but emotional detachment make me think of Maura’s possible relationship with Daniel throughout all of it. There are definitely some takeaways, but I think I’ll give this a solid 7/10!

Daniel - House Of The Rising Sun (The Animals’ version)

Now, Daniel doesn’t waste his life away in the House of the Rising Sun which is widely understood to be a brothel, but if you really try, you can make the house out to represent the simulation. It doesn’t directly relate back to him, but you cannnnn see it as wasting time in a perfect world instead of facing the reality of 2099 (if that really is reality…). I’ll go with 4/10.

Eyk - You Get Me So High (The Neighborhood)

I can see this relating back to Sara, because I like to believe that she and Eyk deeply loved each other before she passed, regardless of Maura’s later connection. However, this song is about the high and intoxicating part of being with someone who understands you and it being taken away, I don’t think that’s exactly what they had. The latter part, though, can resemble their connection being broken when Eyk’s work gets in the way, and I think that’s worth something. 5/10.

Ángel - Please Please Please (Sabrina Carpenter)

I think out of anyone on this list, this applies to Ramiro, not Ángel. The overall tone doesn’t match (I’d be more convinced if it was the acoustic version), but the idea of ‘keep yourself together’ makes me think of Ángel having to keep his head down and Ramiro enforcing that. But this just isn’t it; I save so many songs that encapsulate Ángel, and this just doesn’t do it for me! 3/10!

Ramiro - The Killing Moon (Echo & the Bunnymen)

This is an amazing pick! While the song encapsulates the show with its core theme being the meaning of life, the verse reminds me of Ramiro with Ángel, depicting some being taking the protagonist by force. In my head, this makes me think of an early reluctance to love and Ángel cutting to the chase. I could be reading into this too much, with this song and the others, but I’ll give this a 7/10 for effort!

Ling Yi - A Different Age (Current Joys)

I’ve said it five times and I’ll say it again: I can see the vision, and I believe it can go back to Ling Yi and her mother. She wants to leave their harbor and see more things, which eventually leads her to make big mistakes. Yuk Je, and her eyes, cannot understand this like she can because she has lived a safe life as a prostitute to provide for the two of them; Yuk Je bottles herself, Ling Yi does not. But by the end of episode three, Ling Yi starts to want to change, sort of going back to “And I wish I could change, but I’ll probably just stay the same”. 6/10 for effort.

Yuk Je - Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles)

It was bound to give me a Beatles song at some point with my music taste! But I do not see the vision. You could argue that Yuk Je is one of the many lonely people, surrounded by people but only remembered by her daughter, but I believe that’s as close as the story of this song and that of hers collide. Great song, though! 3/10 because I have a Beatles bias.

Jérôme - The Bug Collector (Haley Heynderickx)

Yeah, I don’t think so. The story in this song shows someone trying to make their partner feel safe while also teaching them to enjoy the world, and nothing comes to mind relating Jérôme or others in his journey. I’ll give this a 1/10 because I can’t find anything that may relate to him.

Clémence - Advice (Alex G)

Interesting! I would say it could resemble Clémence confronting Lucien, but the narrator truly cares about the person receiving the Advice, and the rest speaks for itself. I feel like I’m missing something, but other than that, 2/10!

Lucien - Stress Relief (late night drive home)

I don’t think it’s impossible to associate this song with Lucien, but I can’t. I’ll cut to the chase: 1/10.

I think I was hoping for shocking responses, but this bunch isn’t too bad! Cigarette Daydreams rightfully earned first place for this half of my list of characters, and we’ll see what arises next shuffle!

[burninface]

🍾Weekly Tag Wednesday Friday🎉

FINALLY, after overtime work for three days straight, I can leave work on time and have time to finish all the interesting tag games 😇 it's a 3 in 1 post so:

first thaaaanks for tagging me ling @lingy910y , Al🧊 @spookygingerr, dean @transsexual-dandelions , deanna @deedala , sarah @atthedugouts 💖

name: face

age: it’s year of loong🐉 and 🐉 is my animal sign

location: bed

what is your dj name? well… hddnd, pronounce upside-down puppy

if you were a genre of music, what would it be? Fusion, a little bit of this, a little bit of that

what would you title your biography? Random Dream Generator

what are the first three things you'd do if you were invisible? It sounds boring and nerdy😴: 1)test out the how invisible I am, will all my metabolic substances also be invisible. 2)test what will happen if I intake some drink or food, or use skincare. 3)find out how would I look like in mirror/camera/photos

what subject do you wish was taught in every school? adulting classes and death education, maybe sex education and mental health too.

when was the last time you tried something for the first time and what was it? I tried osmanthus cheese ice cream today (I just picked out the box from my trash bin to check the English title lol), it tastes… meh😌

what is the most underrated city you have ever visited? I don't know? I never check much negative comments about a city before I go there...?

what day in your life would you like to relive? If I can relive it as my recent self, then maybe the day I birthed. if I can only relive it as my past self, then none of them.

if you could eliminate one thing from your daily routine, what would it be and why? Picking up my hair all around my home😩

how long would you last in a zombie apocalypse? Depends, if it’s bite-you-and-you-die kind of zombie, about a week I guess (with all my skill learnt from zombie games lol). If it’s bite-you-and-you-become-zombie kind, at first day I’ll be bitten (out of curious) and I’ll try my best to write down how it felt like to become a zombie.

what would be the most surprising scientific discovery imaginable? I’m actually living in my dream and my dreams are my real lives neuron regeneration/ braindance (physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts recording technic in cyberpunk2077, but ethically it may won’t be achieved)

if you could have any view out your office window, what would you choose? As far as it’s natural scenery, I’m ok with it

🎊pinterest tag game🎊

thank you Al, deanna, nosho @creepkinginc , julia @blue-disco-lights , tee @mickeym4ndy for tagging me💕

rules: search up fashion, pantone, mood, and food on pinterest and then save the first picture that comes up.

that outfit looks like smth I'll be interested in enough to try out in the shop but then never choose to buy. and that pantone pic is just…… so me. and I got the same mood pic with tee! the last one, not a fan of green onion😬

🍦positivity tag game🍟

thank you Al🧊, ling and keely @thepupperino for tagging me do this💝

rules: list 3 things you’re excited about for today.

1 after overtime work for three days straight, I finally can leave work on time! 2 I finally left work on time! 3 I LEFT WORK ON TIME!

Ok, just kidding 😗

1 after overtime work for three days straight, I finally can leave work on time! 2 ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree released today! 3 Adam Lambert has a new song cvnty released on today too!

No tagging anyone since I'm late but just go ahead if you want to do any of these games!

[lgbtlunaverse]

In an echo of sorts on my "I want post canon wwx to have complicated feelings on jgy" post, though in a different way, I would love to see post-canon Jiang Cheng having some seriously complex feelings to unpack about Wen Ning and Sizhui.

Like. The entire cultivation world has to answer for what happened to the Wen Remnants, there is not one person singularly responsible (though things would have been so much easier if we got rid of jin guangshan earlier. alas.) But of all those people in either siege Jiang Cheng is the only one who actually met them before on the burial mounds, at peace. And while the siege was happening he was very much not thinking about the overall ethics, mostly busy with the fact that his brother in law and sister were dead. And after Wei Wuxian's death I have to imagine not much "productively working through feelings surrounding wwx" of any kind was done.

But now he's back. And with it all the other shit that got repressed.

And cql canon very handily present an opportunity for the complicated feelings with the chengqing and all but even in novel canon uh... Wei Wuxian's back. And Wen Ning is back. And Lan Sizhui is the toddler that Jiang Cheng met and thought was dead for 13 years, a death he would have personally been involved in. And he's his nephew's friend. And also the teenager who's been fascilating extremely tilted and antagonistic conversations between him and Lan Wangji for years now. That kid. You could have killed that kid. You almost did.

And Wen Ning strongly dislikes him now, in a way that is deeply painful and interesting for both of them, but any of Sizhui's and Jiang Cheng's interactions have had no reaosn to be anything but polite and cordial. Pretty sure Jiang Cheng as of the end of the story doesn't even KNOW Sizhui is a Wen but a-yuan and wen ning aren't gonna seperate anytime soon and jin ling will know which means eventually he'll probably find out and... I don't know, you look at a kid your nephew's age and realize he is one of a handful of people still alive who knows what your sister's soup tasted like, and that you've personally helped murder his family. Not to even mention him being wangji's ward and wangxian considering him family meaning that... if you look at it from a certain angle (and accepted several truths about wei wuxian and who you are to each other that you are not willing to admit) that's your other nephew.

(And again in cql-verse that's the little cousin and brother of the woman you wanted to marry at one point so haha that's cool another family you never had and lost anyway have fun thinking about that!)

[hunxi-after-hours]

Hi hunxi! In your post the other day about The Way Spring Arrives, you said in the tags that you’d put it on a list of required reading for people interested in danmei. I’m curious, is there anything else you’d recommend for people who want to learn more about the culture/context surrounding danmei? Thanks!!

oh goodness, I suppose I did say that somewhat flippantly but I do want to take a moment and reiterate that I am not qualified in the slightest to make a list of required reading, nor do I think that required reading is a thing that should necessarily exist, since we should all read whatever we'd like in our own free time; there is no moral directive on what someone should or should not read, we're all just here to have a good time!!

but! for those so inclined, I... don't think I have so much a reading list as a series of reading thought exercises?

first of all, some academic articles that I found deeply worthwhile:

Jin Feng's 2009 paper: “Addicted to Beauty: Consuming and Producing Web-based Chinese ‘Danmei’ Fiction at Jinjiang”

Tian Xiaofei's 2015 paper: “Slashing Three Kingdoms: A Case Study in Fan Production on the Chinese Web.”

Xi Tian's 2020 paper: “Homosexualizing Boys Love in China: Reflexivity, Genre Transformation, and Cultural Interaction”

Xi Tian's 2021 paper: “More than Conformity or Resistance: Chinese “Boys’ Love” Fandom in the Age of Internet Censorship”

Yang Ling & Xu Yanrui's 2017 paper: “The love that dare not speak its name: The fate of Chinese danmei communities in the 2014 anti-porn campaign”

Yang Ling & Xu Yanrui's 2013 paper, “Forbidden love: incest, generational conflict, and the erotics of power in Chinese BL fiction”

The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories ed. Yu Chen and Regina Kanyu Wang. I've already gushed about this elsewhere, so I shall leave this be for now

this is by no means a comprehensive list, merely the ones that have really stuck with me for various reasons. I compile a table of contents of my research booklets here, and @dulharpa has been kind enough to share their immense resources here

I'd like to stop short of compiling a list of danmei novels for people to read because folks have different genre and narrative tastes than I do. instead, I think what might be more interesting and customizable would be a kind of reading challenge, paired with thought exercises:

read works by three (or more!) danmei authors

what recurring themes, character traits, narrative tropes, or cultural aspects to you observe across works by different authors? what differences do you notice? do you think these similarities/differences are hallmarks of the genre, coincidental stylistic choices, authorial interests, or wider cultural trends? how do different authors address certain issues, or avoid them altogether? how do these choices affect the content and style of the text, as well as your perception of and/or response to these texts?

read two different danmei novels by the same author (if you can wrangle it, try to read novels in different genres)

what recurring themes, character traits, narrative tropes, or thematic commonalities do you observe across an author’s works? how do the different narrative or genre contexts of each novel affect characters and themes in each work? do you observe changes in an author’s perspective, views, or opinions on common themes and/or social issues from novel to novel?

read a danmei novel that is not wuxia, xianxia, or xuanhuan

how do aspects of worldbuilding differ across genres? what new aspects of culture, character, or language do you observe in a different genre setting? how much character or worldbuilding do you think is attributable to genre convention, and how much isn’t? what do you think readers find attractive about wuxia/xianxia/xuanhuan settings? what do you think readers find attractive about other genres?

read a danmei novel set in modern day China

how do the emotional and narrative stakes of novels change depending on time period? what were you surprised by? what similarities or resonances did you recognize between the text and your own life? how does the fabric of the setting in this novel differ from novels set in other time periods and settings? in what ways do class and power factor into character conflicts and relationships? how do these differ from the way class and power are addressed in historical novels? what is the role of tradition and history in this novel? do you find the text more realistic because it’s set in modern day? why or why not? how important do you think “realism” is to the text and the readers? why might this be? how important is “realism” to your reading experience? why might this be?

read a webnovel that was not serialized on JJWXC

there are many other Chinese internet literature platforms, such as 长佩文学 and 奇点文学网. explore one (or more!) of these literature platforms and note any observations about differences, similarities, or things you’re surprised by. how does this inform your understanding of the larger scope of Chinese web literature? in what ways are literature and genre organized differently from what you’re familiar with? compare and contrast your experience reading a non-JJWXC novel with a JJWXC novel. what was the same? what was different? do you think these similarities/differences are influenced by the different audiences of these websites or larger societal trends in media and culture, or something else entirely?

read a webnovel by a danmei author that is not danmei (i.e. 言情 / heterosexual romance, 无CP / no romance)

what similarities do you observe between this novel and a danmei novel written by the same author? what differences do you observe? how do narrative reflections of gender and character dynamics differ? what other themes, issues, or narrative aspects do you notice coming to the forefront when the focus has shifted away from male/male romance? what were you surprised by? what weren’t you surprised by? has your perception of the author’s views on gender/gender dynamics changed? if so, how? if not, why do you think this is?

read a danmei novel with 2+ adaptations into other forms of media (e.g. audiodrama, donghua, manhua, live action)

what do you think about this novel generates wider media attention and interest? how do the characters and narrative change from text to adaptation? why do you think this happened? how did the popularization via adaptation affect the original text, if at all? how did you come to discover this text, and how many platforms did it have to jump to get to you? why do you think this text received attention on the platform you first heard of it? in what ways beyond the content of the text itself did this novel draw wider attention?

read a danmei novel with no adaptations in other forms of media

why do you think this novel hasn’t been chosen for adaptation yet? in what ways would this novel be challenging to adapt? what medium do you think this novel would be best suited for? how would an adaptation of this novel change your perspective and experience of this text? what would you hope to see in an adaptation of this novel?

read a traditionally published work of Chinese speculative fiction

how does a traditionally published work of Chinese fiction differ stylistically and narratively from the web literature you’ve read? what does the wider field of Chinese speculative fiction look like? how do the imaginations and concerns of Chinese authors manifest in their worldbuilding, setting, characters, themes, and conflicts? how do subgenres of Chinese speculative fiction resemble and differ from genres you’re more familiar with? what did you like about this work? what puts you off about this work? did this work raise any questions or themes that you haven’t thought about before? what aspects of the novel seem rooted in contemporary Chinese society, and which themes seem more universal? if reading in translation, did you identify any moments where context was lost between languages? were there footnotes in the translation, and if so, how did they affect your reading experience? if not, did you ever wish there were footnotes? what kind of additional context did you wish you had? how do you think the translation influenced your reading experience? how high-profile is this work of Chinese speculative fiction, and why do you think this is?

read a novel written by a Chinese diaspora author

how do characters, themes, settings, and worldbuilding differ from the perspective of a diaspora writer? what aspects feel the same? how does translation on linguistic, cultural, or metafictional levels factor into the text? what is the role of tradition and reception in the narrative? what other influences can you spot in the text? what Chinese work would you put this text in conversation with, and why? how are different cultures portrayed in diaspora works vs. non-diaspora works? based on this text, have cultural values shifted in diasporic reception? what is the relationship presented in the text between identity and nationhood, tradition and ownership?

okay I had way too much fun coming up with those discussion questions, but I genuinely do think that these are interesting thought and reading experiments to pursue! I think there’s a lot you can learn about danmei, internet literature, and the wider cultural context of these phenomena simply by taking some time to sit back and reflect on these texts, or observing Chinese fandom interactions (there can of course be a language barrier in doing so, but I’ve learned so much from 弹幕 culture and I heartily encourage other people to do so).

and seriously, if anyone ends up trying this reading challenge, please let me know how it goes!! I’m still pushing myself to read outside of my comfort zone (a lot of these challenges are ones I’ve posed to myself), and would love to hear if other folks have thoughts on their reading journeys

[contractbound]

more chen/yu vale thoughts, but specifically related to the main world quest series.

my thoughts unrelated to the questline can be found here

978 words

overall, i found the questline interesting, and a welcome addition to what we already knew. the echoes of an offering artifact set painted a compelling but incomplete picture. much of it was expanded on in the questline, along with other things being introduced, allowing for more clear understanding. unsurprisingly, i came out of the questline still harboring questions, but that can only be expected, so i'm not discontent. having this much to chew on is fine enough for me, for now.

one thing these quests established that felt like a breath of fresh air was how they blurred the line between "adep/tus" and "non-adep/tus". in particular, fu/jin's dialogue about how "no one is born an adep/tus, and no one stays an adep/tus forever" stood out to me. i imagine among mortals in-universe, the divide between adep/ti and non-adep/ti can seem clear-cut. some could consider it a divide between species, lifespans, ability, power, and knowledge — what is second nature to one party may be unfathomable to the other. so, i find moments like these interesting when gen/shin blurs the lines between us.

this is a little tangential, but specifically in the case of mortals, adep/ti have been adep/ti for their entire lifespan and more, so from their perspective, we may as well have been adep/ti forever. since the game follows the perspective of a new arrival to tey/vat as well, it's possible for players to develop a similar perspective. adep/ti were adep/ti long before the traveler had arrived, so we may give off the initial impression that we are eternal, and easily identified. there are a good few cases though, where gen/shin states the contrary.

in particular, hearing the perspectives of other adep/ti is invaluable to me, especially from someone like fu/jin. many of us tend to be proud, and at times imposing, but fu/jin isn't like that. she's modest, perhaps even to her detriment. she has the experience and the humbleness required to reflect on existence as an adep/tus in a more raw and honest way. if only she could have a little more confidence in herself and her abilities....

another individual that stood out to me particularly strongly was ling/yuan. it's nothing earth-shattering or profound; i just relate to her, to an extent. it hit close to home how she was more isolated, and couldn't understand the whims and tastes of mortals. there had been a few times where i too thought about what it might be like if everything "reset", so to speak, and humans no longer interfered with the environment. still, there was never any real desire or effort behind those thoughts; it was only idle musings. after all, the lives and desires of mortals were intertwined with mine for most of my life, whether or not i want to accept it.

still, i can also understand being stuck to one's ways. i can understand going about your life thinking certain behaviours are simply your nature, and you have no desire (or perhaps not even the ability) to go against it. it also resonated with me when she had to come to terms with the fact she'd gone against her "nature", and felt compelled to understand more. i hope to hear more of her perspective in the future.

a final thing that stood out to me particularly strongly was chen/yu vale's former god — fu/jin, ling/yuan, and herb/lord's former master. not much information was given, but it was enough to sound suspiciously familiar. how this "unnamed god" was described makes me wonder if she's the same god i served before mor/ax came along. i don't want to go into too much detail, but i'll write down the gist of my thoughts.

for one, fu/jin described this god as having "made many dreams come true". this is probably the single line that gives my suspicions the most substance. it sounds like something that would have been within my former lord's power and jurisdiction, considering they ate dreams in excess during the war. in tey/vat, "dream" is a word that holds a certain weight — i doubt such wording of fu/jin's dialogue was unintentional. there's also the matter of my personal connection to dreams within my canon, but i'll write about that another time.

another thing that sounded familiar to me was fu/jin describing the god as having "gone mad seeking the position of a god who may rule this world, or perhaps seeking survival". while as of now, i personally have no conclusive knowledge of the reasoning behind my former god's motives (and may never attain it), these sentiments fall in line with some possibilities i've thought of.

the morality of the ar/chon war isn't clear-cut. it's been established many times that bloodshed was the only option. whether i forgive or absolve my former god for what they've done is another story entirely, but we cannot assume certain gods are wholly good while others are wholly bad, especially not during a time like the ar/chon war. i had been considering for some time now if perhaps the prospect of power had driven them mad, or if they simply threw morality out the window just to survive. either way, it was affirming to see fu/jin describe my exact thoughts.

thinking back on their powers, and on their affinity for dreams, i've wondered for some time too whether or not their abilities had a more benevolent use. had their spent their whole reign mistreating their subjects, or was there a time where they treated humans' dreams kindly? could the ar/chon war have changed or corrupted them? if fu/jin and i truly do share the same former lord, i suppose my questions are answered. but until either the game's canon or my own memories confirm this, i can only continue to speculate.

regardless, i feel no sympathy for them. whether their temperament was innate or acquired, that doesn't change a thing.

[gizkasparadise]

hi!! i love your taste in dramas and i was wondering if you have any more villain romance recs, specifically cdrama recs? i finished lbfad and tiger & rose already and im currently watching twisted fate of love (and LOVING it hehe)

yay i love villain romances!! gonna include villains and villain-lites! my favorites on this list are goodbye my princess and arthdal chronicles for villain main leads and love and redemption, monarch industry, empress ki, extraordinary you, chicago typewriter, and bridal mask/gaksital for villainy second leads!

cdrama: villain is the main lead

the ultimate villain romance for me is goodbye my princess. the male lead is fucking horrendous but compelling and it's a tragedy from start to finish. don't watch if you want healthy relationships, someone changing for the better through the power of love, or a happy ending. do watch if you're in the mood to just get fucked up and see gorgeous costumes and scenery while doing so (also my favorite cdrama ost!). romance of tiger and rose is kind of a romcom parody of this one, too!

the legends is a nice sort of gender flip-- the female lead is basically a hot shit, overpowered demon and the male lead is a gentle guy trying to do bad all on his own because he's full of heart eyes. there's also a secondary antagonist who has a thing for the female lead, so double villainy!

word of honor. i have not finished this one, but one of the male leads def fits this bill!

the rise of phoenixes. not really a villain ML, exactly, but he's very machiavellian and schemey so if you liked the lead in twisted fate of love, you'd DEFINITELY like him (i need to finish this drama!!!)

...till the end of the moon. which i dont think i recommend, but feel compelled to mention. here's the deal: the middle arc, like eps 19-30ish? fucking perfection! the bookends on either side? dont do nearly as much. the end? i dont know her (literally, i didnt bother with the last ep). idk try it out if you're starving for costume villain love trapped in a masochism tango, but....watch some of the other dramas on this list first

cdrama: villainy second lead and/or main antagonist is in love with the lead

love and redemption and dear god you'll need a stress ball

monarch industry/the rebel princess has shades of this

prince of lan ling

kdrama: villain is the main lead

arthdal chronicles has a male lead having a villainous crush on the female lead (and they are VERY ship baity), as well as the second male and female leads both being villains and in love. i love iiiit, but be warned it ends on a cliffhanger and s2 isnt out yet

cheese in the trap. the male lead is not a great dude. a lot of people dont like this drama, but i love it (aside from a weak last ep)

everyone's just a little bit shitty in bloody heart, to include the male lead

the male lead in little women will have you guessing from start to finish if you're a clown for trusting him or not

who the villain is is kind of a rotating door in the series, but the main male lead in moon lovers: scarlet heart ryeo definitely spends time in anti-hero land

que sera sera and when a man's in love/man in love are older dramas with male leads who are definitely Questionable (the former is described as a bastard in the synopsis and the latter is an ex-gangster trying to go legit but not quite able to shake the gangster tendencies). neither story is a traditional romance, and there's a lot of content warnings to be mindful of (lots of slapping and hitting in the former, cheating in the second [and probably some slapping])

depending on your POV (or the point of the story) the main love interest from empress ki could qualify! and then there's a support character who's a straight up villain that's got a crush

i dont want to tell you anything because spoilers! but there's flavors of this with king in love/the king loves

kdrama: villainy second lead and/or primary antagonist is in love with the lead

extraordinary you

mr. sunshine (more anti-hero than villain, but you'll get that flavor with dong mae aka my most intense SLS ever)

dali and the cocky prince

the princess' man

tale of nokdu

chicago typewriter (more villainous crush than full on love line)

bridal mask/gaksital (the male lead also starts out as a villain in this one!)

from now on, showtime! features a villainous crush and i wish the backstory eps were their own drama because i loved them

[veliseraptor]

Hii! How are you? Hope the new year is treating you well

Love your Jiang Cheng/Meng Yao/Xue Yang everything, they are all excellent characters (especially JC my beloved)

Wanted to ask why you don't like Nie Mingjue? (Totally genuine btw, I'm mostly indifferent towards him but I like hiw tou do character analysis and am curious?)

Happy new year and take care :D

oh boy, okay. I waffled for a while about responding to this only because I tend to...avoid wading into things that might get me in trouble, and this feels like something that could get me in trouble, because I'm talking about my (negative) feelings on a relatively popular character and that can provoke some pretty intense responses.

but I don't really want to foster that impulse, at least not all the time, and I try to be fair when I talk about these things, so, hey, might as well. under a cut for anyone who doesn't want to read the following (counts) nine paragraphs of rambling about this subject

first off I feel like I should say that it probably seems like I dislike Nie Mingjue because he comes into conflict with Jin Guangyao, and while that isn't not true, characters being in conflict with each other does not preclude me liking both of them. I mean, I would hope that was obvious.

I think the biggest reason me and Nie Mingjue do not vibe is actually - and this occurred to me as I was writing this response - the same reason that I used to dislike Stannis Baratheon back when I was active in the A Song of Ice and Fire fandom. (Not so much anymore, mostly because now I just find him kind of funny. Sorry, Stannis.) Namely: he's inflexible and utterly convinced of his own rightness/righteousness.

One of my least favorite qualities in a person is self-righteousness, and while that can work for me in a character it very much doesn't here, I think because it comes with that inflexibility. Nie Mingjue's sense of morality and order is rigid with very little room for his judgment being affected by circumstance or external context. To him, those considerations are irrelevant at best and viewed as excuses at worst.

I'm someone who is, meanwhile, allergic to universal statements, particularly universal statements of good/bad, evil/righteous, etc. I don't like them, I'm incredibly wary of them, and while, again, me disliking these things irl doesn't necessarily preclude enjoying them in a character, it is going to be at least somewhat of a barrier. I feel like it would be less of one here, honestly, if I didn't feel like fandom often endorses Nie Mingjue's perspective on this, as opposed to acknowledging it for what I think it is actually in the text; I have more I could say on this but I'm already writing an essay so I'll just note that I think the fact that Nie Mingjue's corpse can't distinguish between Jin Ling and Jin Guangyao is thematically important.

I don't need a character's morality to align with mine to like them, obviously. The greater crime is finding a character frustrating or irritating, and that's what this particular quality of Nie Mingjue's does to me.

"But what about Xiao Xingchen," I can hear somebody saying. "Doesn't he have the same rigid perspective?" Yes, arguably; his also breaks horribly over the duration of the story, and that's the part of his arc that I find compelling! I find Xiao Xingchen most interesting when his initial understanding of the world has been irrevocably changed and he has to reckon with the fact that justice is not as simple as he thought it would be.

I also - and I know how this is going to sound, I feel like - do not vibe with characters who really strongly believe in state-supported violence. I don't care if characters kill people - the more the better! murder all you like, my darlings! - but I do care if they're advocating the death penalty from a position of political power/authority. Which is actually not a distinction I'd necessarily realized was important to me, but apparently it is. As far as my fictional taste goes: personal violence is fine. State violence is not. I'm sure there are exceptions here (there usually are) but it is generally true that the more violence comes from a position of authority/power in the sense of "this is structurally supported by some form of government/systematic structure", the more I'm going to feel badly about it and the less kindly I am going to feel toward the character in question.

Nie Mingjue is very, very invested in state-supported violence and very eager to dole it out on a personal basis. We see it with his almost killing Xue Yang while Xue Yang is on trial; we see it with Jin Guangyao, multiple times. "Well, they were guilty!" Yeah, I know, that's not the point. The line Nie Mingjue draws between legitimate/illegitimate violence doesn't work for me.

There's also some other stuff that's more fandom-related around the fanon characterization Nie Mingjue often gets that frustrates me because of the way I feel like it increasingly departs from the text, which has (as usual) more of an impact on my feelings about the original character than it perhaps should. Probably because I feel like it's such a misreading of the point of his character. Everyone in fandom is extrapolating from the character on the page/screen - lord knows I do it. But I do feel like I have a limit that I hit where that extrapolation feels like it's reading against the text and what the text is saying, and/or making them a "type" built on a generalized mold, and that's where my patience really runs out.

anyway this has all been very wordy and probably unnecessarily harsh but...I think some of it was useful for me in terms of thinking out just why, even beyond fandom-related frustrations, Nie Mingjue was never a character I could care about or like.

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 1, Wave 6, Poll 14

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Zhou Zishu-Word of Honor / Shan He Ling

Qualifications:

He might not count but I wanted to submit just in case. So in order to leave an assassination organization, he has to basically give himself a terminal condition that slowly destroys him over time, killing him after 3 years. So his ability/power is severely limited which is a big hindrance because he only has the strength to fight for a short while before his condition flares up. And over the course of the show he also looses some of his senses. He looses his sense of taste and smell and his ability to feel pain is significantly lost. The reason why it might not count is that they figure out how to cure him at the very end, but he spends the vast majority of the show suffering from this condition.

Propaganda:

He and his soulmate/husband are iconic. War criminal duo. They're both mass murderers who want to settle down with a nice domestic life with their adopted son. He's also got amazing gender. The show also has some interesting things to say about chronic/terminal illness

Val Palafox-Venom and Vow

Qualifications:

He is canonically bigender (uses he/she pronouns) and uses a cane due to congenital disability.

Propaganda:

Val is a bigender assassin/princess's handmaiden who's trying to defeat the guy she thinks laid a long sleeping enchantment over both their parents (among other people), so that she can reunite with her father and theoretically come out to him. So Val embarks on this harebrained scheme to outmaneuver this guy via two different identities (Val has a male persona and a female persona that he keeps separate). It's complicated but also very funny to me, given that the other guy thinks Val cast the curse, but doesn't want to hurt him out of trans solidarity. Bonus that she's perfectly good at fighting while using her cane, but has no idea how to dance with it.

Anything Else?:

This is an act of blatant defiance against your wishes for less obscure media, and I do apologize, but I have no regrets here.

Mod note: lol don’t even worry we submitted a few obscure characters ourselves.