#ask a simple either/or question

[veliseraptor]

Novel Xuexiao or CQL Xuexiao ? Or both ?

a secret third thing: my personal frankencanon mix of both

I'm not being flippant here! genuinely I feel like I do end up kind of mashing together my canons as I please when I'm writing fic, usually tilting one way or another but not necessarily committing to one specific canon unless I really really have to. the great thing about this when it comes to Yi City specifically is that a lot of the actual changes are...pretty minimal, in a core thematic sense? like, the major differences that come up are:

Different first meeting - we don't see the scene from Villainous Friends where they encounter each other at Jinlintai (and the CQL timeline is such that it wouldn't work). Instead they encounter each other after Xue Yang has killed the Chang (and apparently others on his way there, which I guess is a more dramatic difference but since it's never really followed up on...). It's unclear how much Xiao Xingchen is involved later on in the confrontation with Jin Guangshan once Xue Yang starts working with the Jin, but he's not the one initially arguing for his punishment right off the bat.

The impact of the fierce corpse "they're not dead they're just uhhh something else" edit - a-Qing not being a ghost rather than whatever she's supposed to be is the biggest one here, since Song Lan not being technically dead (strictly speaking, look, everyone knows what's going on there) doesn't really impact much.

Don't get the whole of Xue Yang's story, particularly in the way it's split up between the storytelling scene and the confrontation later on. The way that MXTX chooses to reveal information is significant and I think it's relevant that this one comes in two parts; as far as we know in CQL it only comes up when things are really going to pieces.

Less of a sense of the relationship between a-Qing and Xue Yang as something less than totally hostile all the time, which is really not that huge a thing but is important to me.

The Wen and Yin Iron stuff/Xue Chonghai connection.

and while these are all, I guess, significant on a plot level, the thing is that they don't have a huge amount of impact on how I read the characters/overarching themes of the story. to a certain extent the details I choose to go with depend on what specifically I'm talking about, the kind of fic I'm writing, or the context of analysis I'm doing at the time. but when I'm just freewheeling it rotating xuexiao like a rotisserie chicken, I feel like what I tend to end up going with is an unholy mashup that more or less looks like this:

Drop the Wen part of Xue Yang's timeline and the Yin Iron subplot.

Their first meeting is at Jinlintai, but both Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan are there at the Chang massacre. (Only really changes if it's important to me that the characters interacted with the rest of the cast at some point.)

Regardless of whether he tells it or not, the entirety of Xue Yang's backstory remains as it stands in novelverse.

If we're talking post-Xiao Xingchen's death, A-Qing is her semi-fierce-corpse-y self from CQL if I want to bring her back somehow. Otherwise she is a ghost.

It's important to me that Xue Yang personally beheaded Nie Mingjue. I think he deserves that opportunity.

Song Lan kills Xue Yang in Yi City (rather than Su She snatching him away at the last minute), unless for some reason I want Xue Yang to not be definitively dead (i.e. nurture the tiger).

All Yi City characters look like their CQL designs in my head.

but really it's just...it depends? when I'm writing fic it depends on the story I'm trying to tell what I choose to go with on various points of canon, whether I consistently stick to one or the other or borrow from both. the same is true for headcanon nattering. if I'm doing any actual meta/analysis, I try to at least be clear where I'm drawing my evidence from/the textual source for my argument, or focus on one version of the text at a time.

I guess if I had to choose at sword-point or something then I might narrowly go with novel xuexiao, because the novel fills out the story with more detail than CQL did. when I think about the show versions of the characters, it's hard to do that without it being on some level informed by the background information that's on page but didn't make it on screen.

[deoidesign]

Hello! I just discovered your blog and I immediately became captivated by your webcomic, but I'm unsure where to read all of it. I know it's on Webtoons, but I can see it hasn't been updated for a while, and you still post about it.

Are your physical novels just prints of the webcomic? Are they a continuation? Is the story complete? Thanks in advance!

Hi there!

Glad you found me and are enjoying my comic!

It's only on webtoons, and the story is not complete yet! We're 2/3 of the way through right now. It's currently on hiatus, and it's scheduled to come back in about 2 months!

I'll explain why it's been so long if you're curious, but also for my followers who might also be wondering about it under the cut. Sorry, it's pretty much just me complaining haha

I took a month off I took 2 months to get the books printed I took a month to prepare my next comic and I took 2 months to write the rest of the series (I knew the character arcs I wanted, but not the time periods or mysteries!!!) I've been working on actual episodes since then

I had to take some time off because of some pretty extreme burnout due to the sheer amount of work it was to draw over 800 pages and write 6 complete stories in a year and a half... I was getting sick almost weekly due to the overwork, it was really really bad honestly. I was having to work 60+ hours every week just to keep up...

The nature of the comic itself is also difficult... Each of the arcs is a complete, self contained story which can be read (ideally) without context, and my arcs need to be about 10-13 episodes each... And since I have an exact number of episodes to work with, it's even harder.

It takes a ton of planning and a ton of refinement, and working week to week with no breaks I was forced to put out second or even first drafts, so I just wasn't happy with the work I was doing... And to do that for the rest of the series? I wouldn't be proud of the work I did.

Plus... To be entirely honest, webtoon has treated me quite badly IN MY OPINION... They deprioritized me before I launched (I had to beg for more promotion, I'm not exaggerating), they outright denied me the opportunity to even ask for a raise, I don't make any money on fast pass and they pay me less than my partner makes working at trader joes. My first editor left me completely hanging, my second editor (who I loved) was fired... And they told me I wouldn't get a third season before my first season even finished. So it was just repeatedly completely demoralizing.

I'm sorry it has taken so long, it'll have been 10 months by the time I come back. But I realized... I won't get promotion either way. I won't get more episodes either way. I won't get more money either way. So to finish everything, to make it feel good, to make it something I'm proud of, I chose to take longer to make it better.

I am fully aware I will lose a significant amount of my readership for this and it might genuinely affect my career moving forward. But it's what I had to do! So I'm sticking to my guns on it, and I'm confident long term it'll be worth it. It never could have been this good if I didn't take this much time.

[greenerteacups]

Re: your recent response about Draco wearing blue - fashion is not something I tend to pick up on (or understand very well generally), so I’m always curious to hear more about it! Do you have any other fashion thoughts you want to elaborate on? You’ve talked a bit about Draco and Hermione’s fashion, what about Harry or Ron?

Aw, yeah! I'll preface this by saying that the following is a combination of canon and headcanon; some of this is evidenced in the text of the fic, but some of it probably isn't, it's just something that's in my head when describing them.

Harry's pretty small in Lionheart, as a consequence of chronic malnutrition in childhood mixed with a genetic predisposition to it (James is canonically a short king, cf. "Hairy Little Christmas.") That means a lot of his muggle clothes don't fit well, being hand-me-downs from Dudley; in contrast, his school robes, which we know he got tailored at Malkin's, seem to fit normally (i.e., Harry fits better in the magical world, it's his home, it suits him). In general, Harry's fashion is "adequate, but not great," which makes sense; he never had the chance to choose his own clothes growing up, and then he went to boarding school with a uniform, so when would he develop a sense of style? Honestly, it's a relief for him to have one fewer decisions to make.

Like Ron, Harry's uniform isn't super meticulous, but he seems to make an effort. He does his tie and keeps his shirt clean, etc. (which makes sense; Harry cares about belonging here). When we see Harry out of uniform, he's usually wearing baggy t-shirts and jeans, which are the least nice clothes you could give to someone while still expecting them to last; they're also clothes that fit loose and hang long on his body (very late-80's + early 90's).

Ron, on the other hand, doesn't have any qualms about belonging in the magical world; he was born to it. This manifests as a laziness with his robes. He doesn't bother with his tie as much, if at all, and when he does it's not the right knot (Draco points it out in Book 3); since he's the brother of not one but two Head Boys, we have to assume that's deliberate, or that at some extent his lack of attention is a deliberate manifestation of something. Ron is youngest boy, he has self-esteem issues, and the way this manifests is by Ron never asking for anything and then getting sour when nothing goes his way. He doesn't try, so he can't feel bad when he fails. Besides which, when Ron does try to dress nice, it backfires; it's either an uncomfortable costume, like in "Operation Prewett," or it's a horrible hand-me-down, e.g. the Yule Ball outfit. Contrast him with the other Weasley boys, many of whom — especially the three oldest — have their own cultivated aesthetics, because they all know who they are. Ron is figuring that out, and it manifests in stylistically messy ways.

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

Hey no pressure if you don't remember off the top of your head but was there a Bigfoot episode of The X Files?

the closest they came iirc was The Jersey Devil in season 1 and Detour in season 5. a lot of the "stereotypical" folkloric stuff kind of got subverted, i.e. the episode that makes you assume vampires actually isn't, etc. one of the only ones in the first couple seasons that I remember that the assumption is played totally straight is the werewolf episode in season 1 or 2.

[thattiredsock]

Just saw a post written entirely in spanish with the BIGGEST "I just wrote this thing in english and put it thru google translate" vibe and I CAN NOT for the life of me figure out if its intentional or not

[kakusu-shipping]

Hi, I would like to understand why do you ship Mario and Luigi? You don't have to answer if it's not comfortable for you. 🙂

This soooooo immediately reads as a bait question, but I'm trusting you here anon I'm trusting you asked this in genuine good faith which I don't know why you would but if you want to know;

The short answer is Because I Want To and I Like Them. Plain and simple, there doesn't have to be a deeper reason. Sometimes we just ship things because we want to. Understood? Okay cool.

A slightly longer answer would be because they're the kind of Ship Dynamic that brings me the most comfort. I love a ship where they are each other's other half, they understand eachother and support eachother and just get eachother in ways no other person ever could. Loving eachother, being together is all they've ever known, they can't imagine a world where they're not together, side by side.

Platonic or Romantic aside, Mario and Luigi are a perfect pair, that's their entire thing. Mario is Reckless and Headstrong, Luigi is Calculating and Sturdy. Mario charges forward, Luigi holds the line. Mario picks mushrooms out of his spaghetti, and Luigi eats them. They fill in the gaps the other leaves, they compliment and communicate and trust one another undoubtedly.

I love a love like that. Of course it's you. It was always going to be you. It could never be anyone but you. I am not me without you, and you are not you without me. They are eachother's everything

They are a bonded pair, do not separate.

[tamaharu]

to meee :3 akechi and sumire arent exactly friends throughout january, (they only get really close several years later) but as a side effect of neither having anything better to do and the two constantly haunting kichijoji i think they inevitably fall together more often than not. ren takes sumire out for darts and shes weirdly better than she was last time (sidebar but the fact that sumire and akechi both mimic your throws but sumire sucks shit at darts too much for it to do any good is so cute) and shes like oh yeah akechi-san has been teaching me. oh wow i got a forty! unaware of the way she just blew rens mind.

[hyperionshipping]

Couple ask game: 2 and 9 for you and Kayne?

What are your pet names for each other?

Tricks: Pet names for...? For HIM? I don't- I don't call anyone a pet name. I don't have time.

Kayne: Avoiding the question? Oh, how typical! Well, I'll answer then. "Demon. That thing. Love." [He winks]

Tricks: You've called me none of those.

Kayne: That you've heard!

---

What was your first impressions of each other?

Tricks: Th--

Kayne: Oh! Oh, oh, oh! It was a sneaky little thing. I almost didn't notice it. You blend right in don't you? It was blocking MY view. Aren't we just made for each other?

Tricks: [It glares at Kayne] My first impressions of him were... They- I thought that- [It pauses, thinking of what words to say.]

Kayne: I knew Tricks liked me from the start. I mean, why spend so often thinking about me if you DON'T, hmm? [He laughs]

Tricks: You're like a schoolboy! Tease, tease, tease. You know, Arthur and John are in a tight situation. Don't you have to pay attention to them? I think something's wrong with dear old John, Kayne. Didn't you do something?

Kayne: Oh! I was only helping. I mean, he needed it! Another stomach wound. It was real nasty. [Kayne shivers. From the look on Tricks' face, its disgusted. As though it knows Kayne is enjoying the memory far too much.] Poor John, without his light. Why, it's a story for the ages darling! You know this!

Tricks: ....Right. I'm done here. I have to go.

[braisedhoney]

Quick question cap! For your Stanley and Narrator, what animals do you think would represent them best ^w^?

i've never really thought about it so 'scuse me while i take this chill question waaaaay too seriously (way more than i thought i would.)

uhhh... y'know what, i think narry would be a peacock. might be basic as a metaphor so he could be another kind of showy bird, but i do like the idea that he's all about showmanship and impressions and aesthetics bc he's a perfectionist at heart. he's prideful and loud and wants to make his opinions known, but ultimately he's also deeply insecure abt the idea of people NOT liking him or his game. and peacocks aren't showy for themselves, y'know, but it is in their nature to strive to be impressive. even if it is to their detriment sometimes.

stanley is difficult bc he doesn't really have a personality. totally subjective based on whoever it is that's characterizing him, right? so he could be anything depending on how you think he feels: if he's a mischievous little shit who defies the narrator of his own will bc he thinks it's funny and enjoys the different ways things can end or change, or if he does it out of a desperate desire to reclaim some part of power in his life despite being trapped in what's essentially an endless loop where he either dies or fades to black. does he take it all in stride? is he just a reflection of narry himself...? or of the player who puppeteers him? are he and the player in cahoots or is it another layer of control he doesn't know he doesn't have?

anyway twitter had a thing where stanley was a ferret and i like that a lot as a concept so. ferrets are cool. maybe he's a ferret.

also could be an argument for narrator being a cat. like. he does spend his happiest moments staring at and chasing after the lights in the zending room. also he's a prat but we all love him anyway even though he would totally sweep things off your desk to annoy you.

[brofightiscancelled]

what is it that drives people to create the most gorgeous and elaborate art of anime muppets. i want to dissect an osomatsu-san fan's brain but that would involve me actually having to smoke cigarrettes (watch the damn anime) and probably develop lung cancer (enjoy it)

same sauce as my little pony:friendship is magic getting popular

[factorialsotherfandoms]

From @cubitodragon

I know nothing about xcom but I do love hearing all the au babble SO: how did the morning crew form in this timeline? Are animal hybrids a thing or is it more a unit/call sign reference? What brought the various teams into contact with one another? What order did egg children show up in their lives? (Do bad and forever still have dumb arguments about politics during not!date dinners?)

Hihi! Okay so I'm running with XCOM2 specifically, which is a turn based strategy game where you run a group of resistance members who live on an alien spaceship they stole, and fight against aliens who invaded earth ~20 years prior, recruiting people, making contact with other resistance cells, gathering proof of crimes against humanity, etc. For sake of the AU making sense I cut this time down to like ~10 years ago. There's the very basic premise.

Okay so question one! So we actually have a couple of answers here. The simplest is that there's a shift pattern for who is on comms and checking the airship is going the right way (and also shift sleeping as there's like 10 beds for the entire group), and they have the morning shift. Very basic. HOWEVER, at the start of the missions, Tazercraft are missing. Tubbo also doesn't go out on active combat duty, being Chief Engineer. Tazercraft used to have that job but, well, there's a reason they're both missing and the Chief Engineer no longer goes on combat missions... Tubbo was about 14 when Mike found him blowing up a Federation base via rewiring their electrics, and took him back with them. Pac and Mike took him as their joint apprentice, and he got forced into their job when they vanished. Fit and Philza both showed up a bit later. Fit and Philza knew each other before the invasion, but were split pretty soon after it began, each ending up being heavily involved in different resistance cells which later folded into the main one. Philza knew Tubbo as a kid, though lost contact a bit before the war. Fit and Phil have actually been on the ship a couple of years when shit kicks off for plot, just not quite as long as Tubbo. It's a little funny - if you need one of the five the place you need to look is the engineering quarters. At the start it's Phil dragging Fit to check up on Tubbo, once Tazercraft are back (because of course they will be eventually), it's Fit dragging Phil there on vague excuses of getting gear fixed to make puppy eyes at his crush. Either way, if its one of the five of them you need, you check engineering first. Philza's the least likely to be there, Tubbo is most likely, but even if its Tubbo sleeping in a cupboard someone will be there and will know where the others are. Forming wise... Well they just kinda stumbled together. I think you can piece it together from the above?

Haven't quite decided on hybrids and such. On the one hand, all human is more sensible. On the other hand, hybrids are fun and I'm soft for wingfic and it'd help the eggs settle in... Better. If human society is used to hybrids of some forms. They're a bit... *vague gestures* off.

At the start of everything the egg children have yet to show up at all! I am still in the process of placing them all but currently... Operation Shadow Tomb brings Chayanne and Bobby Operation Rotting Wail brings Pomme and Richarlyson Operation Pungent Father brings Trump Operation Crypt Hand beings Dapper, Ramon, and Leo Operation Dismal Paramore brings JuanaFlippa and Tallulah Operation Haunting Night brings Tilin While those words have no meaning to you, they are in order lol. There are reasons they go this order (mostly who has parents where when, but also some of them due to plot happening in specific places). All of the eggs are safe from death, you will be pleased to know. I also reserve the right to add Hope and/or A1 in, but... Well A1 would take Trump's place, who would instead have to end up with Flippa and Tallulah. Memory would take Tilin's place, who would be dropped back to with Pomme, or even back to Bobby and Chayanne. It's not really to do with their canon ages or aught (okay bar the triplets coming as a three), but yk. It's not actually until Trump/A1 that they actually have any idea what the eggs /are/, beyond slightly odd children. Their parents love them anyway.

Bad and Forever have dumb arguments about literally everything all the time, and when he's injured Bad /will/ use the fact he's one of the squad captains, and therefore writes reports, and Forever is the commander of the operation, and therefore reads reports, to demand Forever bring him snacks/attention while he's injured. It is, unfortunately, a little hard for them to get time and privacy to have not!dates. Living on a single airship with like 40-ish other people once vague background NPCs are accounted for

I've picked out characters I struggle with (Bad, Forever, etc) to have to write a lot of the in-universe documents, and the entire main plot is in-universe documents and then I flesh it out piecemeal like the one fic I did already as takes my fancy. In theory. Not much is written.

[ruinakete]

cannoli - how does your muse express love? how do they act when in love that differs from how they act around others normally?

PASTRY LOVE HEADCANONS ・ not accepting!

hrm hrm hrm ... under the assumption that love, at least for the first question, extends to its platonic and familial forms, then the simple answer would be the phrase from her inspiration tag, "love is pain. pain is punishment". the third part would simply repeat, "and punishment is love".

although I've discussed her view on romantic love in small headcanons, I do not think it would stray too far from her ideals surrounding familial and platonic love. after all, are all forms of love not customary for obligation? is there not something to be given and laid in your partner's hands no matter the bond?

while I highly disagree with the notion that Zephia had any actual love, whether romantic or any, for Sombron, as she debunks this thought when speaking to Griss in Chapter 23, the way she behaves towards him is what she would expect from her partner; obedient, eager to please, and attentive to all she says. since he was the one to find her, centuries ago, she is the one who owes him all she is. servitude is the only expression of love that she believes is genuine.

anyone can say they love you. anyone can perform grand feats of public love. anyone can open their coin pouch and buy a gift in your name. but only a few can, without hesitation, throw themselves at your feet to make you smile.

the only difference between romantic, familial, and platonic love is the degree of affection; and how much you would sacrifice and lose in their name. "love is pain. pain is punishment. and punishment is love." can you really love someone if you are not willing to cut out their heart at the happenstance of betrayal? what of infidelity? failure? pain and punishment will always have a place in Zephia's heart, and, as such, will be equally taught to those she loves.

if you do not commit to the part, then you will be punished. if you do not reciprocate, then you will be hurt. to be loved, and be able to love, is the consent to withstand the inevitable pain that follows any relationship. and because Zephia will only love someone she sees as worthy, first, then her approach calls for their servitude, not the other way around.

love is pain, but that pain is not a two-way street until you tilt the scales of the hierarchy and step out of line.

[boysdontcryboycry]

i don't creelarke much cuz im focused on other things but this sequence of mr clarke actually looking el in the face is veeerrrrry interesting if i do say so myself

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

Charles & Hawkeye

Thank you anon! And thank you to @marley-manson @majorbaby and @charleshawk4077 who also all asked me about this same pairing. Feeling very beloved amongst the CharHawkers this week <3 My friends and allies from a neighboring land to which I venture gladly and often <3

Sidenote I wish that highlight color was blue but I couldn’t figure out how to get a colored highlight tool in any fucking program I know so I had to use the stupid yellow snipping tool highlighter. Life is so fucking hard when you have to have everything be Just Right but also you’re incompetent. But we’ve all seen The Light That Failed so moving on.

So these two are sooooooooooooooooooo

Listen. I’m just gonna say it. Hawkeye/Charles has about as much canonical evidence as Hawkeye/BJ to me. Like there’s more Hawkeye/BJ content/fodder/moments/whatever purely quantitatively because they have more scenes together but in terms of the level of homoeroticism and bonding and tenderness and all that, qualitatively Hawkeye/Charles is on equal footing. You know what I mean? Obviously the dynamic is super different but just in terms of the quality. I mean look at all these tropes. Enemies to friends to lovers. Rivals. Clown and straight man comedy duo. The Round One And The Pointy One. It’s almost too easy.

Sometimes I think that’s why it’s not a personal passion of mine, even though its fantastic potential is obvious to me. It’s kind of the same problem as Donna/Charles. It’s just too easy. It feels like Charles speedruns his character development in these two relationships a bit, compared to the rest of his character arc (as much as he has one lmao). I’ve talked before about how when it comes to fanfiction, I don’t require the whole slowburn play by play for these ships, but in canon the cute moments do sometimes feel, not unearned, but not earned quite enough. Especially since the constrictions of the episodic sitcom format means Charles’ development and Hawkeye’s treatment of him completely regresses whenever the plot necessitates.

In the end it also ties back to my main Charles grievance. Hawkeye (and everyone else by extension) is somehow always treating him both too kindly and too cruelly. It grates on me, you know? Like the yellow highlighter. 

But in spite of all that: excellent duo, obviously. The chemistry is fantastic, every episode centering on their relationship is a total classic, all their moments together are memorable. The fandom really DOES sleep on this one, and it genuinely puzzles me! CharHawk nation rise!! RISE!!!

[whilomm]

hey quick advice to any ppl who do a lotta business over email espec freelancers/creatives who'll have potential new clients emailing them, communications w current clients, etc: if you go on vacation and plan to NOT answer any emails during that time, take five minutes to set up a quick autoresponse to say "I will be out of office for vacation from (date) to (date) and I will not be responding to any emails". l

especially if you're like, in the middle of communicating with a potential client, because going from extremely quick responses to a weeklong radio silence without explaination kinda looks like you know. ghosting them.

[thehardkandy]

not really apropos of much but i do feel like. if one thing taught me to pick up cues. especially the "we secretly think something is wrong with you" cues it is because like. my entire life has never had literally... any sort productive "growing up" conversations with my parents. like oh no one to say "hey maybe time you learn shave" and instead just drop a pack of razors into a stocking without comment.

like it was literally always just. dropping off items. or questions "hey would you like us to pick up [extremely specific item?" asked multiple times over the course of a few days without actual context. and then sometimes i would push back and be like "no i do not think i need that why do you keep asking this" and ti's like "oh no worries! just checking" but then if i say no a second or third time someone will be like "it's because your clothes look like SHIT. you need something new. come on" like ok. can we please have an inbetween setting?