#dmbj friends

[adorablecrab]

I visited the Xi’an museum on Sunday, and as I was coming down the stairs from one of the cool old buildings I caught.. some oddly familiar movement with the corner of my eye.

I saw someone reaching out and touching the stone wall and SOMETHING about the movement made a ping noise in my brain, and then I caught the very specific dark blue of this person’s sweater and I was turning towards them thinking no fucking way but

The gloves, the little thigh strap bags, the emo wig. I guess no sword because you can’t bring those into the museum. And, a little further away, Wu Xie taking pictures. I just stood there feeling like I’ve had a stroke watching this person lovingly caress the wall.

They sauntered away holding hands before I had the courage to say anything.

[brother-emperors]

@garland-on-thy-brow #get romancedramad romeboys.

(metal gear solid voice) on it boss 🫡

the first and last ones are scene re draws, in order: the live action adaption of sci mystery, the heirs lmao

[bl-bracket]

Poorest Little Meow Meow NOT from a BL: Bonus Round

[Submitted Reasons Under Cut]

Han Juwon: He is a typical kdrama lead in theory, his mom has been taken from him at a young age, his dad sent him far away to private schools and is using him in his political schemes. Han Juwon has mysophobia, not a social bone in his body and a RBF that do not endear him to people at all. He's not above using people and a little tweaking of the law to reach his goals.

Wave:

Ryu Sooyel: look how soppy wet he is. no one respects him. not even himself

Vier:

Kishimoto Ruka:

Katha: Khatha is such a poor little meow meow that he should be allowed to participate.

Lee Dongsik: He has been wrongly accused of killing his twin sister 20 years ago but never really cleared his name (no body, no crime, no convicted murderer) and is still searching for her. People still think he did it and are not afraid to treat him like shit. He's heavily traumatized. And let's say he's not above a little manipulation and crime to find his sister and her murderer

Jiang Zisuan: he spent like half of his life trying to avenge the death of his older sister and then for some reason just cant seem to actually do that before (SPOILER) dying in a random woman‘s arms who he employed because she looks like his sister and imagining that its actually her. she also was kind of in love with him which made this whole situation worse. and he killed so many people on the way except the guy he actually wanted to

Yun Biqui: SPOILER WARNING FOR SERIES: Ten years ago, Yun Biqiu was tricked into betraying the sect leader he idolized, Li Xiangyi. At the behest of a beautiful woman, he poisoned LXY; he only intended to temporarily incapacitate LXY, but the antidote he was promised turned out to be fake. LXY disappeared and was presumed dead, and Biqiu never stopped blaming himself and hoping that LXY would return. EXTREME SPOILER WARNING FOR END OF SERIES: When LXY eventually did return ten years later, Biqiu pretended to be re-beguiled by the beautiful woman in order to sabotage her evil schemes; to convince her of his loyalty, he also pretended to betray LXY again, stabbing him non-fatally and bringing him to her. His sabotaging allowed LXY to escape, though, and helped contribute to the defeat of all the baddies. Despite this, he still believed that he deserved to die for everything he'd done previously; when confronted with his past treachery and presumed current treachery, he did not defend himself, and would have willingly submitted to his own execution. Luckily, LXY arrived in time to reveal the truth of Biqiu's regret and loyalty, and also finally gave Biqiu peace by forgiving him for what he'd done ten years ago. And Biqiu cried 🥺

Master Amin: girlbossed to close to the sun

Shiro: Sleeping with a sleazy, much older politician in order to get information about his missing sister, who isn’t even his sister by blood. Openly gay yakuza and ready to fight about that. Cohabitating with a painfully strait laced and uptight virgin penguin. (A cop. Not a literal penguin.)

[difeisheng]

*taps mic* hello can we talk about these two

[technicolouredmonochrome]

i am making my way through dmbj (started with ultimate note because of zeng shunxi, now working my way through providence) and like. it bothers me. that these experienced tomb raiders are constantly. touching things. with their bare hands. ripping their shirts off. walking around with their skin exposed in the jungle when there are s n a k e s and blood leeching insects. and they wear fingerless gloves. and they just breathe in all willy nilly whenever they enter a tomb.

wear a mask my guys! put some proper gloves on! cover yourself from neck to ankle to keep the bugs out! don't touch that clearly toxic bowl of waste that has been stagnant and rotting in this enclosed tomb for decades!!!!

but if everyone made healthy choices xiao ge wouldn't get the chance to romantically catch wuxie whenever he passes out. and there would be a severe lack of cradling each other while blood spurts from their mouths.

but for god's sake someone please buy these boys some headlamps. watching them touch everything and then touch their torchlight and then USE THEIR MOUTHS TO HOLD THE TORCH AS THEY DIG THROUGH A CORPSE is unspeakably infuriating to me

[silver-grasp]

Why is the prev generation in DMBJ such a mess oh my god. Sanshu's first trip to the South Sea King's tomb being basically completely derailed by romantic infighting... stupid fucking plotline! don't care for it! I am imagining Wu Xie listening to all this thinking "damn straight people are crazy how is there this much drama"

[whumperer-86]

Restart: The Grave in the Abyss 2022

Exhausted and injured ,,, best friend concern for him and checking him out

[biggest-whump-fan]

the way he collapses on his shoulder & the way he catches him jus- HELP 😩

Restart: The Grave in the Abyss ( Chinese movie 2022)

[onmyo-jin]

iron triangle in egyptology class

[Fun fact that I want to explain to Lyx, who has not seen any dmbj except the heihua movie: none of these guys are archaeologists or historians of any kind; the only one with a degree (as far as we know) is Wu Xie, who studied architecture. I imagine these are evening classes they're taking as a hobby, finding out more things about different tombs around the world... that's what AUs are for, aren't they?]

"-- AND they're teaching us to translate using Budge! Of all people! The man's been dead for near a century and wrong for even longer, why can't they write something more decent!!" Wu Xie exclaimed, waving an old book around in a way that couldn't possibly be good for the spine.

"Sshhh Tianzhen, they'll kick us out of the library if you keep going like that," Pangzi hissed, though a quick look around told them their section of the library was deserted. Some pulling and prodding later, and Wu Xie finally sat back down in his seat--

-- only to jump right back up and start ranting again: "That's where the adverbial sedjem-en-ef with a cleft subject should go! Aargh, can't they get anything right??"

"Tianzhen! You're the one who chose the optional language course, you did this to yourself."

"I knoww..." Wu Xie flopped down in his chair, and slumped forward face first onto his notes. "That's why its so terrible."

A sigh that seemed to come from his very toes fluttered across his notes, and Pangzi turned to his own book-- just history for him, thanks, no ridiculous language juggling for Pang-ye. History, and some shiny treasures to look at. A man should know his own strengths.

"Xiaoge~," Wu Xie seemed determined not to focus on his work. Pangzi rolled his eyes at his book. "Xiaoge, what are you reading?"

Silently Xiaoge slid his book over to Wu Xie, who looked at it, and then remained quiet for a very long time.

"I studied architecture in Germany before, but this German... I can barely read it! How old is this book?"

Xiaoge answered without looking at the publication date on the first page: "1971."

"'71?? Hasn't someone taken the time to print a new version of this??" Wu Xie exclaimed again, and was hushed again by Pangzi. At least this time he sat down without urging.

"Whose brilliant idea was this again?"

Xiaoge shook his head in response.

"But why?" Wu Xie sounded plaintive. Clearly he was starting to regret his own idea of 'fun evening classes'

"They were very thorough, so no one wants to rewrite it," Xiaoge said, and Wu Xie's head connected with the desk with a loud thud.

~

Send me an ask with a pairing and an AU and I'll write you a ficlet!

[pangzi]

I also think Hei Xiazi should carve Pangzi a beaded bracelet. He spends days maybe even weeks working on it. Choosing the right kind of wood and getting the beads just right. Maybe a few of them have some really intricate details carved into them as well. When Pangzi asks where he found such a bracelet, compliments the incredible craftsmanship, mentions how it must’ve cost a fortune. Hei Xiazi just shrugs it off, says he found it at some old man’s shop for cheap in some small village.

[ilgaksu]

i'm finally in enough of a bad mood today to take it out on something by breaking my long-held promise never to write fandom meta on disability again so HEY LET'S GO.

so, go read this post first (spoilers for fullmetal alchemist, but the thesis of the post is that respect for bodily autonomy is a sign of love, even when in most modern media it's disregarded as a sign of it, especially in medical contexts. it's so eloquently and beautifully put that it's a great jumping off point.)

okay, so: did anybody else get given this kind of dilemma in early critical thinking studies at school? the example we got given is this: your wife is dying and needs a medical treatment to save her life, but the medical treatment directly contravenes her lifelong religious or spiritual beliefs. should you do it?

honestly, i think a lot about how the husband in those articles and examples is framed as some kind of unspeakable monster if he upholds her beliefs and lets her life be lived in continuous honour of those beliefs, knowing she will die in alignment with them but that she will die. he's always a monster if he does that, or backwards, or unscientific, or uncaring - as opposed to, depending on how you frame it, and you can frame it so many ways, the one person in that room truly on his wife's side, and having to make the worst decision anyone can make. and how the only compassionate thing is to have no judgement and instead pray like hell that you're never personally standing there by someone's hospital bed having to make the kind of decision like that, with a time limit on life and death, and having to war with your own wants over the explicit known desires of the person you love.

and the medical staff are trained to save someone's life at all costs. that is their remit. but what about yours?

what if it's life and death, but they're conscious? what if the person is entirely cognisant, and conscious, and able to make their own medical decisions, and is, despite their medical situation, currently able to physically live alone without support? what if they aren't, but medical autonomy and human dignity is based not on the necessities of physical support, but in the inviolable right to self-determine your own medical decisions for as long as you can? and how often are those necessities perceived as demands? what if we show, often, more respect for the dead and their burial wishes than for their final medical wishes when alive? what if we have to acknowledge that us doing that is out of love and fear and more love? that we're the person standing at that hospital bed, and we prayed like hell but it happened to us and to someone we love anyway, and now we're having to choose but what we actually want is more time and we'd do anything on our end to ensure it?

why is it easier, in that moment, to empathise with the person standing at the end of the hospital bed, and not the person in it? is it because we're far more likely, statistically, to be the former and be able to communicate our feelings on it after the event, compared to the person in it, who may pass away? is it because we're a society so afraid of death that we're afraid to meaningfully debate on what it means to die on our own terms?

what if the person shuts you down and refuses to engage on the topic, beyond being very clear about what they want? what if it's no longer up for discussion, but you have, you believe, options left that they aren't seeing or agreeing to? what if you know they won't consent to it if you ask honestly and ahead of time? do you then have the right to show up and demand it of them? do you have the right of intervention, if you know it's a decision they've already made, because you feel the decision is wrong? do you have the right to tell other people their private medical information without their consent to gain that help? do you have a right to any of it? do you have the right to override someone's autonomy like that?

what if you are their partner? what choice is you showing up for them, and what choice is you just bargaining for more time, at any cost? even if it feels like they aren't even showing up for themselves anymore?

anyway heihua movie is solely about a tentacle monster in a cave, nothing else to see here

[eirenical]

From DMBJ, Volume 1, ch. 37, merebear's translation

In which Xiaoge is so upset that Wu Xie paid attention to a girl for a hot second that he had to go lay down in bed and pout about it for a while.

These two have NEVER had any chill about each other and I just love that for them. 😊

[brother-emperors]

do you post your fics anywhere? :O love your takes

I have a sort of informal writing blog @trebonivs (ngl I’m probably going to change that url at some point), but I’m not really into posting a lot of the (specifically historical fiction) prose I write because it takes way too long to edit 😔

[fixaidea]

I wonder how the two Iron Triangles would get along, but of one thing I'm certain:

Wu Xie would take one (1) look at Wu Zetian, ping her for a woman who could and would gleefully step on him, and immediately start working on a friendship bracelet.

[difeisheng]

let the record show that the concept for this was thought up by @ilgaksu, i'm just the one who had free time

[nemainofthewater]

Best character surnamed: Shao

Come and vote for the best characters with the same surname!*

What does best mean? It's up to you! Whether you love them, are intrigued by their characters, love to hate them, or they're your '2 second blorbos whose personality you made up wholesale', these are all reasons for you to vote for your favs!

*note, the surnames are not exactly the same in all the cases, as often there will be a different character. I am, however, grouping them all together otherwise things got more complicated.

Propaganda is very welcome! If I’ve forgotten anyone, let me know in the notes.

This is part of a larger series of ‘best character with X surname’ polls’. The overview with ongoing polls, winners, and future polls can be found here