#XXC: Yeah I know who he is... I kind of been sleeping with him? for the last two years?

[llycaons]

ep38 (1/3): that which resembles a romance but is in fact a horror short film

lsz is eager to help ofc, but wwx doesn't know who he is yet

wwx asking for jl and the jiang bell matters - his connection to his old home and family. and apparently the jiang bells are powerful? they were more described in the book. I actually forgot they were even in the show since they're barely talked about

THERE SHE IS!!!!!!!! I love a-qing, such a strong personality, her own goals and motivations, curious and intelligent and out for herself and brave. it is shitty to pretend to be disabled, but I'm going to blame the author for that instead of a 16 yr old orphan girl living on the streets. it's not like it doesn't backfire on her anyway

also she's so funny. 'why do men dress nice when they're poor, this is an attack on me specifically'

FIRST MEETING!!! that blindfold is alarming but the blood looks a little pale (fake)

ohh I could swoon. saints and heroes don't really exist in this world, it's too complicated and brutal for them to survive. but xxc was as close as anyone else ever got and I think a-qing knew she'd never meet someone as special as him again

not to say he doesn't have flaws - his naivete is disastrous for all of them and he overlooks her concerns out of a patronizing dismisiveness when he should be respecting her instincts, which helped her survive all her life on the streets. also, it's admirable of him to be nonjudgemental but xy just has odious vibes and it's a tragedy he was so charmed by him that he didn't pick up on that. sort of a xxc jgy situation except xy was fully in love with him or whatever approximates love for him and I still think jgy was mostly using lxc to survive. so another dark foil to wx just as songxiao are a lighter (but still tragic) parallel

anyway he thinks a-qing is funny and is clearly endeared by her, and she clearly likes him a lot despite lying to him. their dynamic has so much chemistry and potential for being great family, it's a shame they're not more popular to write about. this is probably one of the only reasons he's had to smile since he and SL parted ways

smart girl! this guys sounds like bad news, so get outta there

ah! curse the hyperdeveloped senses of a cultivator!

unlike the tragedy of wwx, this could literally have all been avoided if not for a single person - there are many ways to rewrite this and just have them never cross paths. of course, that misses out on the richness of this story and the themes at play, not to mention their significance for the wider narrative, so I don't particularly like yi city fix-its before the fact. but they're definitely easy

christ he's bleeding like craxy. what did they do to him. and why didn't they do it better

of course as soon as he sees xxc he's like FUCK

yeah and if xy lets xxc touch his hand he'll know he's missing his pinky

...not that I like to think about them having a relationship but IF they had sex I wonder how he managed that

god this is so kind 😭 why couldn't it have been wwx that xxc found and they just had a nice little family time (they're cousins or something) for a decade or so before wwx was comfortable enough to leave. MAN

a-qing sleeping in that coffin then hopping out is so cute I love her

it's only been a day and already he looks perfectly groomed clean robes clear skin fully hydrated etc. the man knows how to look good I gotta say

and he starts right off by being a piece of shit to a-qing. I think the siblings dynamic can be really funny but lbr in canon he terrorized her and she hated him for it

I thought this was kind of dumb. like even if she was blind anyone would feel a SWORD. and if he learns she's not really blind, what, xxc is disappointed? I suppose it means he's less careful around her. bc she was able to witness a lot of his crimes bc he wasn't as watchful, assuming she couldn't see (and therefore could never understand what was happening? ableist of him)

a-qing: please don't leave me alone with this scary stranger we picked up by the side of the road, he's really aggressive and he's lying about who he is and I think he's dangerous

xxc: oh you silly girl. he'll be leaving soon *immediately starts flirting with him*

actually xy comes at this with a very specific angle. it's almost like he's emulating wwx - he presents himself as someone hardworking, uncomplaining, and good-hearted despite the hardships he's clearly gone through. of course xxc was taken in

haha no big deal! I'll just casually drop this little fact! it's definitely not something I want you to know about me so you can sympathize with me while admiring how blase I am about it! MAN

on the one hand I can see why xxc is being so open-minded and I appreciate his kindness. on the other hand he IS misled by his own feelings and she is also literally right. she gives him good reasons not to trust him and he's like *pats her on the head* we'll be fine

the head-pats are sweet when coming from adults to their kids (or jyl to wwx) but it just feels patronizing here

literally this is blatant flirting. a-qing off to the side going 😭 he has a crush what I am supposed to do now!!

and THIS??? I was so shocked the first time I saw this I was like THIS is allowed but wwx and lwj can't hug??? huh??? idk the exact specifications of the censorship but in some ways xy/xxc hits you harder with the gay subtext than any other couple including wx which is so wild to me. and also deeply tragic obviously

I think it helps that the writers have a very solid idea of what this relationship is and exactly how each character felt at every moment of it. meanwhile for wx interactions can be very inconsistent and confusing. anyway GET YOUR HANDS OFF HIM YOU FREAK

so yeah overall super eerie and frightening to see xxc fall so readily in love with someone you KNOW is cruel and sadistic and lying to him and deceiving him. like this could have been a cute second-love kind of deal with a new family in a new city. fresh start. but then again, no it couldn't have

[deathbyoctopi]

Xiao Xingchen realizes from the get go who exactly is the injured person he finds, and still decides to help -with some precautions, of course. 

It takes quite a while, and there’s a lot of mistrust and issues to get past, but we eventually get to a similar degree of canon domesticity -with no secrets, this time! 

I just LOVE how Xue Yang just starts to think of them and their house as his turf, how he even mentally threatens the bug that dared munch on their vegetable garden like the little domesticated thug he’s become...  Gives me wonderful Gokushufudou vibes, it’s just great. 

Certainly one of my favourite XueXiao fics, by @veliseraptor + Rakiah. Thank you so much!!!

[veliseraptor]

having trouble unsticking my brain from being glitchy as hell so...150 words meme time I guess! sometimes you just Gotta.

pretty much all yi city this time, sorry folks. send me up to three numbers and I’ll write 150 words for each number I get, on your mark get set

1. “You tell me, Xingchen. Seems to me people just make up their own rules and it depends on if they’re powerful enough to back it up.”

“Maybe sometimes,” Xiao Xingchen said after a moment. “But that doesn’t make it right.” 

Xue Yang shrugged. “I’m not saying it does,” he said. “I’m just saying it doesn’t matter.” 

“Of course it matters!” Xiao Xingchen’s voice rose. “It always matters. Whatever others do–” 

“There’s your problem, though,” Xue Yang said. “That’s what fucked you over, isn’t it? What others do. You did what you thought was right and good and what did it get you, huh? What the fuck did it get you?” 

Silence. Xue Yang fell back again, forcing his breathing to even out. Xiao Xingchen was very still, almost frozen. 

“I can’t help their actions. Only my own.” His voice was quiet, though, and Xue Yang could hear the thread of uncertainty. 

“And that turned out so well,” Xue Yang said. (the backyard is full of bones)

2. She was having a hard time looking away from the man in black - the corpse, standing there, staring. She tried to pretend he was a statue. Or a normal person just standing very still. Just Xiao-ge’s friend.

“You don’t need to be scared,” Xue Yang said abruptly. “He’s not going to do anything to you. It’s safe. Watch–” and he walked over to the man in black, reached up, and flicked his nose. A-Qing flinched, but the man didn’t. Xue Yang turned to stare in her direction. “See? Harmless.”

“I’m not scared,” a-Qing said. 

“Liar,” Xue Yang said, but he sort of smiled at her, too. A-Qing didn’t smile back and it sort of stuttered and fell off his face. (the people are gone and the place is empty)

3. He heard a groan and immediately turned toward it, quickening his pace. “My friend?” he called, to no immediate answer. 

“Aw, fuck,” he heard, after a few moments, blurry and pained. He adjusted course slightly and closed what he thought was the last of the distance before crouching down and reaching out. It was a little further than he thought, and his fingertips barely brushed fabric before it vanished. “Don’t touch me,” said the stranger, a sudden and unfamiliar edge in his voice, not quite a snarl. 

He drew his hands back, holding them with his palms up. “It’s only me,” he said. “Xiao Xingchen. Do you remember me?” 

“Yeah, I remember you,” said the stranger, but it sounded angry, hostile, and Xiao Xingchen drew back further, something tickling at the edge of his mind like a memory just out of reach. (Bedrest)

4. “So,” he said, and then realized he didn’t really know what to say next. Xue Yang watched him with a look of wide-eyed innocence that said he knew Xiao Xingchen was struggling and wasn’t going to help him. A spark of annoyance had Xiao Xingchen pressing his lips together.

“So what do you do when you’re not…”

“Getting scraped off the road by nice boys?” Xue Yang said with a crooked smile, and Xiao Xingchen’s face heated up a little.

“I assume that’s not how you spend most of your time.”

“Not usually, no,” Xue Yang said. “Maybe I should try it more often, though.” (Redux)

5. Xue Yang laid out his sleeping mat and stretched out on the floor. He pulled out Xiao Xingchen’s soul, cupping it in his hands, then rolled to his back and put it on his chest.

“What would you say if you were here?” he asked. “You’d probably talk about how sad it was, or something. You’d want to try to lay everything to rest. Fix the whole Burial Mounds all by yourself. That sound about right, Daozhang?” He toyed with one of the tassels, listening to the wind outside.

“We could do that, if you came back,” Xue Yang said. “I mean, I don’t really want to and I don’t think there’d be any point but if you said you wanted to I’d be fine with giving it a go.” 

Nothing. The wind howled through the dead trees and Xue Yang caught, just at the edge of hearing, the sound of someone screaming. He cocked his head to listen better, but there were no words in it. It sounded like pain, though. The nasty kind that made you stop thinking about anything but wanting it to stop.

It melted away. (a symphony for the departed)

6. “Lianfang-zun doesn’t get rid of useful things, and I guess he thinks you’ll be useful. Makes sense to me. You’re supposed to be the best doctor in the world, right? Other than Baoshan Sanren, I guess, and who knows if the stories about her are true.” 

“How am I supposed to be useful?” Wen Qing asked.

“Beats me. If I were you I’d think of something, though. What do you know about what Yiling Laozu did to your brother?” 

Wen Qing’s heart stuttered. A-Ning, she almost said, what do you know about what’s happened to a-Ning, tell me-

She said nothing. Xue Yang’s mouth twisted a little.

“You’re not very chatty, are you,” he said, sounding genuinely disappointed. (fall apart, destroy, release)

7. “Go rest,” she said quietly. “You clearly need it. But I expect to see you in four days to report on your recovery.” Xue Yang started to make a face, and she added, “there might be something sweet for you.”

Xue Yang brightened, smile firming up briefly before it vanished in yet another yawn. “Okay, okay,” he said. “Whatever you say, jiejie.” He blinked sleepily, and then said abruptly, “I’d miss you too. If anyone did anything to you I’d string them up with their own guts.”

It was probably a bad sign that she was touched rather than unnerved. (this world is gonna break your heart)

8. Xiao Xingchen didn’t eat dinner. 

He didn’t even open his eyes to look at it. Ignored it, and Xue Yang, like he wasn’t there at all and it itched at him, sent his temper sour, and very briefly he almost said I guess I should’ve just let you die then but it didn’t make it as far as his throat before he choked on it. 

No. Things might be bad right now but dead was...if Xiao Xingchen’d killed himself it would’ve been really hard to bring him back, it’d take forever and there was always a chance it wouldn’t work. It probably would’ve, because Xue Yang was a fucking genius but still wasn’t worth the risk. 

It was so quiet. Xiao Xingchen wasn’t talking and Xue Yang wasn’t talking to him either because he’d just get pissed off again if he did, and he hadn’t realized how much he’d gotten used to the dumb brat’s noise until it wasn’t there anymore. (xxc survives and it isn’t fine)

9. I am not a dead thing, Song Lan said tightly, though questions were boiling up more quickly than he could ask them. Xue Yang glanced at him, brief and scathing.

“Yeah, you are,” he said. “Did you forget that part where you’re dead, Zichen? Cause I can think of a few ways to remind you if you need it.” 

I’m not a thing, Song Lan amended. Xue Yang snorted.

“Sure,” he said. “If you want. But a corpse is just a piece of meat in the end. You’re just smarter than most.” 

Song Lan’s left hand tightened around Fuxue’s scabbard. He wished it was around Xue Yang’s throat. (Walking Far From Home)