#i don’t appear able to cultivate it either

[yourheartinyourmouth]

seriously can we talk about how fucked up it is that someone told my husband to divorce me just bc i am disabled and can’t power through incredible misery like NTs apparently can

[shanastoryteller]

happy pride!!! much love!!! can we PLEASE have more zaggy boy? ✨🌺🌿

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Meg is in the middle of torturing several disobedient souls when Thanatos appears at her side. “I must speak with you.”

He outranks her, so she’d have to listen to him regardless, but the urgency in his normally flat tone is enough for a spike of worry to shoot through her. The only one able to pull an emotion from him besides irritation is Zagreus and he hadn’t even had this level of suppressed panic when he’d found out that Zagreus was attempting to escape to the surface. What could be worse than that?

She dismisses the souls and turns to him. “What’s going on?”

“Not here,” he says, and edge of nervousness around him that’s nearly enough to send her into an all out panic. They are alone, the only one able to overhear them is Hades if he’s paying attention and possibly Nyx, but that has never stopped him speaking freely before, or from assisting Zagreus on his escape attempts, something that is far more likely to catch Hades’s attention than the two of them having a conversation. He grabs her wrist, which she thinks is the first time he touched her since they were children. “Come with me.”

She doesn’t resist, letting him guide her through the levels of the underworld and then past them to the surface, which makes her nervous. She is a being of the underworld and unlike Thanatos, has no reason to venture to the surface. She is allowed, only because she’s never bothered before and so Hades has never had a reason to forbid here.

Meg is expecting Thanatos to settle them at the entrance of the underworld, out of reach of Hades’s eyes and ears but close to home.

Instead she finds herself in the middle of an orchard.

“Why are we – what are these?” She steps closer in fascination, the apples growing thick and fat amongst the branches, but not any sort of familiar hue. Instead they gleam silver in the afternoon sun, not like any apple she’s heard of on either mortal land or in Olympus. Strange yellow flowers crowd around the base of each tree, the grass soft and a vibrant green beneath her feet. “How? I thought – aren’t the mortals stuck in winter?”

“There is a god that stands against her,” Thanatos says.

Meg turns disbelieving eyes onto him. “Are they mad? Not even Zeus has been able to persuade Demeter to relinquish her grief. She even destroyed Dionysus’s vines and has driven the nymphs into slumber. When she find them, she’ll kill them, and no one will be able to stop her, just as they’ve been able to put an end to her winter. Who would be that foolish?”

Thanatos stares at her for one beat, then two, and by the third Meg can feel denial and desperation crawling up her throat.

“That’s impossible,” she snaps. “Be realistic. You said he couldn’t even escape under his own power, but you think that he can do this?”

“We are not the Prince’s Court,” he says. “It’s a real place, a piece of the underworld where Zagreus’s followers congregate after their death. Hypnos has been covering for him for years, ever since Zagreus’s first worshiper died and the Prince’s Court appeared on his scroll.” He visibly hesitates, then adds, “It’s beautiful. Even more so than Elysium.”

“No,” Meg says. “That’s impossible.”

“He has a blessed high priestess, and many more holy men and women, and temples, and this is one of the many orchards grown in his name,” he continues. “The call him Prince. They don’t even know his name. He’s – he’s done all this, and they don’t even invoke his name!”

Names hold power. Prince is a title, not a name, and so Zagreus has done all this nameless. Has cultivated a power of his parents but separate from them, building himself into the type of god that gets a throne on the pantheon without using the name his parents gave him.

No one has ever done that. Even Dionysus leaned into his status as his father’s son.

“You’re sure?” she asks. “It could be some other god, using Zagreus as a cover, to keep from attracting Demeter’s ire.”

Thanatos plucks one of the silver apples from the tree and presses it against her mouth.

She bites into it, the sweet flesh bursting against her tongue and the magic making her teeth rattle familiar and also achingly unfamiliar.

Zagreus’s magic causes strength to flood her body, one bite of an apple feeling like a god of Olympus granting her a boon.

She’s going to kill him.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Darlings - ao3

Summary:

“Clarity would not work to fix Chifeng-zun,” Lan Wangji opined.

Nie Huaisang resisted the urge to kick him – Lan Wangji wouldn’t stick his foot in somewhere it wasn’t wanted if he didn’t actually have relevant information – but even Lan Qiren frowned at him.

“You seem remarkably certain about that, Wangji,” he said. “But why not? While it’s not appropriate for every circumstance, it’s an extremely powerful song. I would think that it would be at least worth an attempt.

”Lan Wangji looked distinctly shame-faced, though perhaps only someone who knew him very well would recognize that particular flavor of it.

“I see,” Lan Qiren said. “And what exactly has your brother done that he doesn’t want me to know about?”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m bored,” Nie Huaisang complained, and his brother’s eye twitched. “And don’t say ‘go train’, I’m not in the mood.”

“You’re never in the mood,” his brother said, his voice harsher than it usually was. It was often too harsh these days; the version of his brother that Nie Huaisang liked best, teasing and thoughtful and amused despite himself, seemed to have gotten rarer and rarer in appearance. “That’s the problem.”

“Not the point,” Nie Huaisang said. “The point is more fundamental than that. The Unclean Realm is boring! All these years, we’ve kept to ourselves because of the war – limited visits to friends, only going to places that are safe, that sort of thing. But the war’s over, right? So I should be able to go visit whoever I want.”

His brother grunted. Still unamused, when normally Nie Huaisang’s nonsense arguments amused him more than anything else.

Annoyed, Nie Huaisang changed his original plan, which had been to wheedle out permission for a visit to the Lotus Pier to see poor Jiang Cheng who was all alone now that his sister had married off, and instead said, “I want to go visit Wei-xiong!”

“Absolutely not,” his brother said, unsurprisingly. “He’s an outlaw for a reason, Huaisang. He murdered those Jin sect cultivators without warning, didn’t he? Who’s to say he wouldn’t murder you, too?”

“All sorts of reasons,” Nie Huaisang argued back. “Listen, what if –”

“I said no,” his brother thundered, leaping to his feet and slamming his hands against the desk. “You will listen to me, Huaisang, and if you don’t –”

“Why are you always yelling?” Nie Huaisang shouted back, losing his own temper. He was a Nie as well, after all. “Why do you always take everything so seriously? I was just suggesting –”

“It was a stupid suggestion –”

“Even if it’s stupid, you don’t have to hit things –”

“You wouldn’t be so afraid of me hitting things if you’d actually train the way you’re supposed to –”

“I shouldn’t have to worry about it at all!” Nie Huaisang screamed. “You’re my da-ge! You’re not supposed to act like – like – like Father!”

His brother, who was about to yell back, stopped, stricken.

Equally stricken by what he’d just said, Nie Huaisang stared at him.

“It’s not like Father,” he said, because it couldn’t be. It wasn’t allowed to be. Nie sect leaders died young, yes, everyone knew that, even (especially) him no matter how much he pretended that he didn’t, but – but their father had been older than his brother was now, and he’d been fine right up until the time he’d been murdered. If it hadn’t been for Wen Ruohan, they would’ve had him for another decade or two, easy, and he was nearly as good a cultivator as Nie Mingjue was…though he hadn’t had to fight a war on that sort of scale, either. Nie Mingjue’s cultivation had gotten scarily good the past few years. “It’s – it’s not, right?”

His brother said nothing for a long moment.

Then, at last, he sighed and sat down heavily on his chair with a thump.

“We can go visit the Lan sect,” he said, which wasn’t what Nie Huaisang had wanted at all, but for some reason the thought of arguing any further tasted like ashes in Nie Huaisang’s mouth.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go visit the Lan sect.”

-

The one good thing about visiting the Lan sect, Nie Huaisang thought bitterly, and in fact the only good thing was Lan Xichen.

Lan Xichen was nice and friendly and gentle, indulgent the way a big brother ought to be, always thinking first about Nie Huaisang’s comfort and happiness. He would buy him thoughtful gifts, he would take him out on outings to new parts of the mountain where there were beautiful views, he would sit and paint with him and listen to him very seriously even when he was talking nonsense. He would even avert his eyes if Nie Huaisang brought out one of his own books to read during study time, smiling and blushing a little in a very fetching fashion – Lan Xichen wasn’t the most desirable bachelor of the cultivation world for nothing, his face earned all its accolades fair and square in Nie Huaisang’s opinion – and they had long conversations that covered everything and anything.

Fewer these days, since Lan Xichen was busy with rebuilding and with Jin Guangyao, who apparently needed quite a lot of support even as he managed to talk his sect into providing the Lan sect with support of a more financial nature, but Nie Huaisang had been sure that a nice visit to the Lan sect with no politics behind it would give him the opportunity to finally have Lan Xichen all to himself again.

Except, of course, that Lan Xichen wasn’t there.

“Off to the Jin sect again,” Nie Mingjue grumbled acidly under his voice as they walked up to the center of the Lan sect from the gateway where they’d received the bad news from one of the door guards. “Big surprise.”

Nie Huaisang, in an equally bad mood, agreed wholeheartedly. It wasn’t like he’d come here for the food or anything…but now that they were here, there was nothing for it but to grit their teeth and bear it. They hadn’t sent word in advance of their arrival, like a bunch of barbarians, even though they really should have. But the decision to go had been very spontaneous and in all honesty Nie Huaisang had been a bit worried that his brother would change his mind if they didn’t follow through on the decision right away, so here they were, visiting the Lan sect, and it was on their own heads that the main attraction of the Lan sect was not there to greet them.

Instead, they were going to have to deal with…the rest of them.

Nie Huaisang tormented himself briefly by wondering if they’d be greeted by Lan Qiren, that terrifyingly stern and rule-abiding teacher that even Nie Mingjue was a bit afraid of, or if it would be that menace Lan Wangji, who everyone praised as the upstanding and noble Hanguang-jun, perfect in every way, but who when approached alone was definitely still that horrible little hellion Lan Zhan who when they were children used to bite Nie Huaisang any time he didn’t get his way.

The answer, it turned out, was both.

Actually, the answer turned out to be Lan Qiren loudly scolding Lan Wangji, who to untrained eyes looked obedient and submissive and to those in the know looked completely unrepentant.

Lan Qiren knew it no less than anyone else, of course, which was presumably why he was still scolding him quite so fiercely – so fiercely, in fact, that it was pretty obvious he hadn’t noticed any of the lingering Lan disciples who’d clearly come to give him the heads up that there were visitors. He was currently going hard on the subject of responsibility, whether to the sect and to the self, and not being impulsive, and also how going to dangerous places, especially without telling people first, was completely beyond the pale of impulsive, especially extremely dangerous places like –

“Hey, wait, that’s not fair!” Nie Huaisang exclaimed, affronted. “Why does Lan Zhan get to go to visit the Burial Mounds and I don’t?!”

His brother glared at him even as both Lan Qiren and Lan Wangji twisted their heads to stare at their guests in surprise and unhappiness – Lan Qiren presumably because he’d been caught lecturing his perfect Lan Wangji in front of outsiders, and Lan Wangji presumably because Nie Huaisang had slipped up and called him Lan Zhan again, which he’d been banned from doing ever since Lan Wangji had turned ten and insufferable.

“He did not get to go,” Lan Qiren said, retreating into stiffness as he always did when he was embarrassed, but that just made the expression on Lan Wangji’s face change straight back into mulishness.

“There were no serious threats there,” he said flatly.

Lan Qiren promptly puffed up in rage again. “No serious threats – it’s the Burial Mounds! Even putting aside Wei-gongzi’s presence, the resentful energy in the air alone –”

“What do you mean there weren’t any serious threats?” Nie Mingjue demanded, overriding even his old teacher in a bout of rather uncharacteristic rudeness. “All the reports I’ve gotten is that Wei Wuxian has prepared the mountain as if for a siege, surrounding himself with arrays and corpses. Is that not true?”

Lan Wangji shook his head firmly.

That made even Lan Qiren started frowning. “Similar news had come to Xichen and myself,” he said. “The Jin sect said they sent several envoys seeking peace and were repulsed with violence, did they not? Wangji, are you saying you were able to go there with no difficulty?”

“That is correct, shufu. The greatest difficulty I encountered was Wei Ying forgetting to pay for lunch.”

“Good man,” Nie Huaisang said approvingly. “He always knew how to sponge a meal like the best of them. Did he manage to get you to pay for anyone else, too?”

Lan Wangji hesitated, which meant yes.

“One of the Wens?” Nie Huaisang’s brother asked, and his voice had dropped down to a forbidding register.

Lan Wangji straightened his back. “I will not apologize for associating with a child of two,” he said icily. “Regardless of his surname –”

“A child of two?!” Lan Qiren exclaimed, horrified, and even Nie Mingjue’s seeming ever-present anger broke for a moment, leaving him looking aghast. “In the Burial Mounds?!”

“Oh, woe is us,” Nie Huaisang said, delighted by this turn of events, which proved to be far more entertaining than what he thought was in store for him on a visit to the Cloud Recesses. “Clearly we’ll all have to go to see for ourselves, right? Right?”

-

When they got to the Burial Mounds, a lot of things happened in extremely rapid succession.

First, Nie Huaisang’s brother acted like even more of a beast than usual, getting irritated by the defensive arrays and deciding to just smash them open with his saber and march up the hill instead of listening to Lan Qiren’s perfectly reasonable suggestion of just knocking and seeing what would happen.

Second, the Wen sect’s camp on the Burial Mounds, and Wei Wuxian’s ‘fortress’, turned out to be a lot less fearsome than the rumors had advertised, with even the sign on the big cave that read ‘Demon-Slaughtering Cave’ being written in a jaunty and cheerful manner as if it were advertising a wine shop – and the sign was crooked, too. This was a matter of great displeasure to just about everyone, although Nie Huaisang suspected he was the only one disappointed in not finding anything more interesting rather than being upset about how they’d been misled about the dangers involved. Said dangers seemed to be limited to a bunch of elderly folk puttering about in a radish field, Wen Ning the Ghost General who would have probably been a lot scarier if he hadn’t consented to being buried in said radish field by the previously mentioned child of two and had gotten in so deep that he couldn’t easily wiggle out, and a shocked-looking Wei-Wuxian himself who looked as if he’d just been woken up out of an afternoon nap and who had come to yell at the intruders to go away.

Third, there had been an awful lot of yelling, mostly on the part of Wei Wuxian and, of course, Nie Mingjue, who was being awfully shouty even for him. Matters had very quickly deteriorated at that point no matter how much the Lans present (and Nie Huaisang) tried to calm the situation, with Nie Mingjue pulling out Baxia and Wei Wuxian responding by pulling out the Tiger Seal. It probably would have escalated still further – even Wen Ning had managed to crawl out of the dirt by this point, and he was hanging around ominously with white in his eyes – except that when Nie Mingjue stepped forward and lifted up his saber to actually strike his host, an overreaction of such massive extent that even Nie Huaisang couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it was actually happening, Wen Qing had come out of the cave, taken one look at what was going on, and shouted, “He’s having a qi deviation!”

Fourth, Nie Mingjue was definitely having a qi deviation.

Fifth, Nie Huaisang immediately had a panic attack in response to his brother showing symptoms of qi deviation, because qi deviations were what killed Nie sect leaders and Nie Huaisang remembered what they had done to his father in those horrible last few months of his life following his murder.

Sixth, Nie Mingjue’s concern over Nie Huaisang’s panic attack apparently managed to bring him back to himself enough that he apparently willed down the qi deviation, which, according to Wen Qing, was –

“Completely fucking impossible.”

“…Wen Qing, you just swore,” Wei Wuxian said, sounding dazed. “You never swear.”

“Oh, I swear all right,” she said, though her blush suggested she did not, in fact, make a habit of swearing even in the most extreme of circumstances. Not really a surprise, given that she’d been raised as a proper young lady. “At least I do when I encountered the utterly impossible. Advanced surgery that’s never been tried before? Risky, but within the realm of expectation. Reversing a qi deviation out of sheer brotherly worry? That’s just – just – it’s just weird!”

“Can we stop talking about how weird it is and focus on making my da-ge get better?!” Nie Huaisang demanded, clutching his brother’s sleeve. The second Nie Mingjue had put down Baxia and turned to focus on calming Nie Huaisang down, Wen Qing had gotten him in the back of the neck with four needles and he was now completely unconscious, which was probably for the best, really, but which was causing Nie Huaisang no end of distress.

“Nie Huaisang is correct,” Lan Qiren said crisply, and stepped forward towards Nie Mingjue, waving some sort of fancy array into existence that immediately got Wen Qing’s attention.

“That’s way more advanced than the usual diagnostic array,” she said, sounding affronted and also fascinated. “Wait – is that actually measuring the amount of spiritual energy in a given meridian? I thought everyone said that was impossible to track!”

“It’s a matter of resonance,” Lan Qiren said, with a slight melt to his usual frostiness towards all people surnamed Wen – quite justifiable in Nie Huaisang’s mind, given what had happened to the Cloud Recesses. Even Nie Huaisang, who considered himself an amiable and forgiving sort of person, wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the people who helped Wen Ruohan kill his father and, later, lots of his friends and also very nearly his brother. “A number of my sect members specialize in the medical arts, and they invented it while serving as battlefield medics. It’s not actually tracking the spiritual energy directly, which is in fact impossible, but rather tracking the effect of the movement of spiritual energy as it reacts.”

“Reacts to what? Oh, wait, is that what that low droning sound is for? I thought it was a side effect of putting in too much spiritual energy, as it is with most arrays. But instead you’ve actually harnessed the excess sound using your musical cultivation –”

“Can! We! Focus! On! Fixing! My! Da-ge?!” Nie Huaisang interjected. Loudly.

That got them to shut up and focus for a while. Lan Qiren had been the general leading the Lan sect’s forces and managing the back end for most of the war, so he had a lot of personal experience in playing battlefield medic, and Wen Qing herself had of course been well known for her medical skill even before everything had gone down, so the two of them put their heads together over Nie Mingjue and started up a very technical conversation that no one else understood.

In the meantime, the rest of them – Nie Huaisang, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, and Wen Ning – just looked at each other.

“Wei-gongzi, are we just going to stand here while they work?” Wen Ning asked Wei Wuxian in an undertone, ignoring (or maybe not understanding) the suddenly hostile tilt of Lan Wangji’s eyebrows.

“Yes we are,” Nie Huaisang said loudly, then glared at Wen Ning. “Anyway, aren’t you her brother? Don’t you know anything about medicine yourself?”

Wen Ning looked taken aback. “Uh,” he said. “Not – not that much? I was only ever her assistant –”

“Then what are you waiting for?!” Nie Huaisang demanded, and jabbed a finger towards where they were working. “Go assist!”

Wen Ning tried to look at Wei Wuxian for permission, but Nie Huaisang hissed at him until he picked up his heels and trotted guiltily over to inquire if there was anything he could do, then promptly got recruited to run errands – which showed he clearly had been needed, and therefore should have been there doing that in the first place.

“Hey, Nie-xiong, have you ever seen those animal traders that come from the far south?” Wei Wuxian asked. “The ones that sometimes have those long ferret-badgers, you know the ones, they always hiss at large creatures and they can fight snakes –”

“…the mongoose?”

“Yeah, the mongoose!” Wei Wuxian nodded, then grinned toothily at him. “Has anyone ever told you, Nie-xiong, that you sometimes resemble a mongoose?”

“This is definitely the first time, Wei-xiong,” Nie Huaisang said. “Definitely the first time.”

“Maybe that should be your nickname! You’re the only one who doesn’t have one, right? I’m the Yiling Patriarch, Lan Zhan here’s Hanguang-jun – you can be the Stubborn Mongoose!”

Lan Wangji’s eye twitched. Why he was getting irritated over Nie Huaisang getting a stupid nickname, Nie Huaisang had no idea, since he was pretty sure Lan Wangji didn’t want to be called ‘Stubborn Mongoose’ himself when he already had a perfectly good title.

Maybe he was just jealous of Nie Huaisang getting Wei Wuxian’s attention. Well, if so, Nie Huaisang was more than willing to throw it right back onto him.

“No thanks, Wei-xiong,” he said, and smiled (somewhat toothily) right back at him. “I’ve had a dislike for animal-related nicknames ever since I was a child – you see, I went over to visit the Lan sect a few times and their precious ‘little Rabbit Bun’ bit me.”

He tilted his head pointedly in Lan Wangji’s direction.

Lan Wangji gave Nie Huaisang a death glare.

Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, looked as if his entire life had been improved by at least six degrees. “Lan Zhan?” he gasped. “Your childhood nickname was Little Rabbit Bun? That’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard! You must have been so cute!”

Lan Wangji glanced at him, his ears going red, and then glanced back at Nie Huaisang, who gave him a smug You owe me expression before saying, very virtuously, “Wei-xiong, don’t be silly. Wouldn’t you agree that our Hanguang-jun is still very cute?”

“No, he’s not cute, he’s handsome!” Wei Wuxian objected. “You can’t be ‘cute’ when you’re as dashing and bold as Lan Zhan is –”

“Being handsome doesn’t mean you can’t be cute at the same time! Haven’t you seen him when he’s smiling?”

Wei Wuxian looked stricken. “He smiles? You’ve seen him smile, Nie-xiong? Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan, that’s not fair! You have to smile for me, I have to see it – you can’t smile at Nie Huaisang and not at me, okay, that’s just wrong, I’m the one who wanted to be your friend –”

Nie Huaisang bared his teeth at Lan Wangji – see I’m still better at managing people than you! – and Lan Wangji gave him a half-hearted glare back, too distracted by the way Wei Wuxian was tugging at his sleeve to really put any real heat into it. Or maybe he really did like Wei Wuxian bugging him all the time, who knew?

(Actually, the last time Nie Huaisang had seen Lan Wangji smile, they’d both been at least a decade younger, but he wasn’t about to let facts get in the way of a good taunt.)

The entire thing probably would have continued in that vein for a while, only then Lan Qiren and Wen Qing suddenly got up and that got Nie Huaisang’s attention entirely; he promptly forgot about what the two idiots he was waiting alongside were doing and rushed over.

“Is he all right?” he asked anxiously. “Can you make him better?”

“It will be difficult,” Lan Qiren said, and Wen Qing nodded.

“His meridians are in a bad state,” she said. “His situation was severely aggravated on account of the sheer amount of resentful energy in the Burial Mounds, and then driven into complete crisis when Wei-gongzi unveiled the Tiger Seal, but he was already doing quite poorly. You must have noticed his temper getting worse, less patience, more irrationality…”

Nie Huaisang didn’t want to hear about that. “We’re surnamed Nie, that’s not too weird,” he said shortly. “Anyway, can you fix it?”

“We’ve stabilized him for now,” Lan Qiren said. “There’s no immediate danger.”

Nie Huaisang exhaled. That was – not ideal, but still something. Better something than nothing.

“There are a number of techniques that can be applied to try to correct the deviation,” Wen Qing said. “Including surgery to straight his meridians out again, which I can do. But that’s a one-time fix, and he’s in a state of deterioration; even if I fixed him up, he’d only continue to spiral again, and all the fixes for that take a lot more time and effort and continuous supervision. If it were just me, I’d say there wasn’t anything we could do short of cutting off his access to his golden core for a while – and that’s incredibly dangerous in its own right – but Teacher Lan here says that the Lan sect has some extremely powerful music spells that might be able to do something.”

Lan Qiren nodded. “There is one in particular,” he said. “The Song of Clarity –”

“Clarity would not work to fix Chifeng-zun,” Lan Wangji opined.

Nie Huaisang resisted the urge to kick him – Lan Wangji wouldn’t stick his foot in somewhere it wasn’t wanted if he didn’t actually have relevant information – but even Lan Qiren frowned at him.

“You seem remarkably certain about that, Wangji,” he said. “But why not? While it’s not appropriate for every circumstance, it’s an extremely powerful song. I would think that it would be at least worth an attempt.”

Lan Wangji looked distinctly shame-faced, though perhaps only someone who knew him very well would recognize that particular flavor of it.

“I see,” Lan Qiren said, visibly resisting the urge to sigh and offer Lan Wangji a conciliatory candy the way he had when Lan Wangji had been young enough to still think that all problems could be fixed by biting. Possibly it was just Nie Huaisang that recognized that very particular expression, having seen it the most often out of all available non-Lan sect members – he’d been Lan Wangji’s favorite target, after all. “And what exactly has your brother done that he doesn’t want me to know about?”

“How did he know?” Wei Wuxian whispered to Wen Ning in an undertone barely louder than a breath, though not quite enough to escape being overheard by Nie Huaisang, who standing right next to them. “Did Lan Zhan even change expressions just now? Is there some secret sign language involved?”

Clearly Nie Huaisang needed to give Wei Wuxian a crash course in ‘understanding Lan Wangji body language’, Nie Huaisang decided – beneficently, of course. It definitely wasn’t so that Wei Wuxian could more effectively annoy Lan Wangji to death, no, absolutely not.

(Anyway, Lan Wangji seemed like he enjoyed being annoyed to death by Wei Wuxian, so maybe it really was beneficent after all.)

Facing all of their gazes, Lan Wangji squared his shoulders. “Xiongzhang has been concerned regarding Chifeng-zun’s health,” he said. “Particularly in regard to his family’s tendency towards qi deviations, which xiongzhang fears may be aggravated by Chifeng-zun’s powerful cultivation and the ravages of war. He has been playing him Clarity as a course of treatment.”

“As a course of treatment?” Lan Qiren asked, looking startled, and – oops. Had Lan Xichen not told his uncle about what he was doing? Sneaky sneaky! Yet more proof that Lan Xichen was obviously the finest and most superior of all Lans. “Impossible. A few times at full strength, perhaps…”

Lan Wangji was shaking his head in denial.

“It’s impossible,” Lan Qiren insisted. “As an actual course of treatment, he would need to play for him at least once every fortnight – every week, if possible. Xichen is sect leader now. He simply doesn’t have the time or the freedom to depart from the Cloud Recesses on such a regular basis.”

“Brother said a course of treatment,” Lan Wangj insisted back, stubborn as a mule.

“I would have noticed if your brother were slipping away every half-month, Wangji!”

“Anyway, it’s impossible for another reason,” Wen Qing put in. “If Chifeng-zun were getting regular treatment to help clear his meridians, we would have noticed that when we examined him in depth just now, and he definitely hasn’t been.”

“No, that’s wrong,” Nie Huaisang said, and now they were all looking at him, great. “I mean, he is getting regular treatment, and has been for the last few months. And, uh, sorry, Teacher Lan, it is the Song of Clarity. Only it’s not er-ge playing it for him – as you said, he’s way too busy to come to the Unclean Realm as often as that – but rather san-ge who’s doing the playing. Er-ge taught him how to do it…”

Judging by the color that Lan Qiren’s face just turned, Lan Xichen probably shouldn’t have done that, either. Nie Huaisang mentally apologized to Lan Xichen for the horrible scolding he was going to get when Lan Qiren got ahold of him again, but he figured Lan Xichen would forgive him – it was for Nie Mingjue’s health, after all! The people treating him had to know everything, after all, or else they wouldn’t be able to take proper care of him.

“Well, that’s still bizarre,” Wen Qing said. “Either your sect’s song-spell isn’t nearly as powerful as you think it is, Teacher Lan, which seems unlikely, or else whatever-his-name is playing it completely wrong. Judging from the evidence, Chifeng-zun’s state has deteriorated the past few months, not improved.”

She frowned.

“Actually, now that I think about it…” she said, trailing off, and turned to poke at the diagnostic array still hovering over Nie Mingjue’s body. “Teacher Lan, look here, at the lower levels – think of it as a way of mapping the evidence of what happened over time, the way stone does when it’s being worn away, like by a riverbed. His spiritual veins are strong, and then the deterioration is very slow, then faster but still not fast, and then, here, it suddenly starts going very fast all at once…”

“A few months ago,” Lan Qiren said, studying the array. “Yes, you’re right, that’s when the severe downturn began.”

“Hey, Nie-xiong,” Wei Wuxian said, sounding artificially light-hearted – extremely artificial, actually, and maybe Nie Huaisang wouldn’t have noticed except that he’d said the exact same words earlier when he was actually being light-hearted and the contrast between the two couldn’t be clearer. “When did you say Lianfang-zun started playing the Song of Clarity for your brother?”

“A few months ago…no, no, you’ve got it all wrong!” Nie Huaisang said quickly, realizing what Wei Wuxian was implying. “San-ge has been playing it for him for over half a year! He was getting better!”

Lan Wangji cleared his throat.

They all look at him.

“There is the matter of the Jin sect,” he said. “And their proposal regarding the position of Chief Cultivator.”

“Chief Cultivator?” Wei Wuxian asked, looking amused. “What’s that? How can there be a chief? We’re all different sects, aren’t we…? Well, excluding rogue cultivators like me, I guess.”

“That is how it has always been, yes,” Lan Qiren said. “However, in the interest of preventing another Wen sect and another Sunshot Campaign, the Jin sect has proposed creating a position of Chief Cultivator, which would act as an arbiter for the cultivation world – solving problems, settling disputes, that sort of thing.”

“My brother thinks the idea’s complete trash,” Nie Huaisang volunteered. “He says that we didn’t go to all that trouble to make sure Wen Ruohan couldn’t make himself the lord over all of us using his armies just to let Ji– uh, to let Sect Leader Jin do it using his money.”

“Has he said this publicly?” Wei Qing asked, and Nie Huaisang gave her a strange look for a moment.

Then it occurred to him that she probably didn’t know his brother that well, or even his reputation, so he clarified, “Yes, of course. My brother isn’t the sort of person who says one thing in private and another in public. He’s very straightforward.”

“That’s not what I was getting at,” she said. “It was more…when did he say it in public? I don’t suppose – a few months ago?”

“Well, yes, it was – I mean –” Nie Huaisang hesitated.

“I get what you’re saying,” Wei Wuxian said, and his face was hard, back in the lines that had been cut into it during the Sunshot Campaign. “Nie-xiong, would you say that that whole argument happened right around – or maybe right before – the time your da-ge stopped getting better whenever your san-ge came to play for him, and started getting worse much faster?”

“Lianfang-zun,” Wen Ning murmured. “Jin Guangyao.”

“But – but – they’re sworn brothers!” Nie Huaisang exclaimed. “He wouldn’t!”

“Wouldn’t he?” Lan Qiren asked. He looked older, suddenly, and tired. “Are you sure?”

Nie Huaisang wanted to say yes, he really did, he really really did –

But he couldn’t.

-

“You know, when I said I was bored and that the Unclean Realm was boring, I really was trying to use it as an excuse to go somewhere else,” Nie Huaisang said. “Ideally the Lotus Pier, which has both good food and good shopping and Jiang Cheng, who is pretty funny sometimes – usually not on purpose – but I was willing to settle for the Cloud Recesses because then I’d get to see er-ge. But either way, I hadn’t intended for the end result to be to liven up the Unclean Realm. Or at least, you know, not quite so much, you know?”

“You’re getting exactly what you deserve, you noxious little brat,” his brother said. He was still lying in bed, although he had a desk on his lap that contained all his work. He looked a lot better now that he’d had the immediate intervention surgery Wen Qing had done to straight his meridians out and after both Lan Qiren and Lan Wangji had played him the Song of Clarity – the real Song of Clarity, not whatever messed up version Jin Guangyao must have been using on him – a half-dozen times over the course of as many days. He was even smiling again. “Don’t pretend like you aren’t enjoying it.”

Nie Huaisang was loving it. His home had never been so rowdy, not for as long as he could remember it, and it was already a pretty rowdy place to begin with – but anything got more rowdy when you threw in Wen Qing, who was there to supervise the aftereffects of the surgery, Wen Ning, who was there to assist her, Wei Wuxian, who was there to watch over the still-somewhat-unstable Wen Ning, the rest of the remaining Wen sect, who couldn’t be left on their own and undefended, and of course also Lan Qiren and Lan Wangji in all their grumpy majesty.

And it was going to stay that way.

Well, Lan Qiren, at least, was planning on returning back to the Cloud Recesses, since they were very firmly in the process of rebuilding and he was concerned that Lan Xichen couldn’t do the rest of the work without him, but Lan Wangji was being assigned to the Unclean Realm on a semi-permanent basis since both Wen Qing and Lan Qiren had agreed that Nie Mingjue needed to continue with a daily regimen of Clarity for at least a month, then shift over to three times a week, then two, then weekly, and eventually twice-monthly and monthly before finally, hopefully, tapering off for good. Lan Qiren planned to come back to visit on a regular basis to supervise the musical aspects, and Wen Qing wanted to remain on hand in the event of another crisis – and to study the medical implications of musical cultivation, which was apparently an area she’d completely neglected in her previous studies on account of the Wen sect not teaching much in the way of music.

And if Wen Qing was staying, then obviously Wei Wuxian was going to have to stay as well, a fact that very obviously delighted Lan Wangji to no end. The two of them were completely unbearable when together in a way that made Nie Huaisang pretend to gag and Lan Qiren start heaving long sighs and grumbling about not wanting to deal with matchmakers – which Nie Huaisang hadn’t gotten at first until he suddenly did, at which point he started pretend-gagging even more, just for the principle of the thing.

Possibly Nie Huaisang was also occasionally going and dropping a lit torch into a fire-starting array any time they were showing signs of getting boring, like how just that morning he’d oh-so-casually reminded Wei Wuxian that Lan Wangji used to like to bite people and how everyone used to say it was the way he showed affection, knowing that it would make the ever-competitive (though not as competitive as Jiang Cheng) Wei Wuxian start bugging Lan Wangji about whether or not he would have bitten him –

Nie Huaisang had hope that all that teasing would eventually make it through Lan Wangji’s otherwise impenetrable Lan sect reserve and he’d finally just drag Wei Wuxian into a bedroom and give him the biting he was asking for, but only time would tell.

“I admit to nothing,” Nie Huaisang said righteously, and hopped into the bed to curl up next to Nie Mingjue like he hadn’t since he was much younger. “You like it too. Don’t you?”

“I don’t like the political headache that comes with it,” Nie Mingjue pretended to grumble. “Not to mention that we’re now suffering an undoubtedly permanent infestation of those surnamed Wen – ugh.”

That complaint was probably genuine, Nie Huaisang reflected, since his brother had had to suffer the original Wen sect a lot more than Nie Huaisang ever had, but saving Nie Mingjue’s life meant they owed Wen Qing a life-debt. To pay it off, his brother, good and righteous person that he was, had officially buried his sect’s blood feud with hers, making them equal again, and now they had no grounds to be pissy with them or kick them out. The rest of the Nie sect loved their sect leader enough to begrudgingly forgive them as well, at least provisionally, but provisionally went an awful long way with the Nie sect. Unlike the Lan sect, they didn’t have a rule against bearing grudges, though they did it very well, thank you. It was just that they didn’t have the temperaments to do it more than once or twice in a lifetime, and the rest of the time they tended to forget about their wrongs pretty quickly and move on towards making friends.

All that, of course, meant that the Wen sect now had two places in the cultivation world that they could live – the rest of the cultivation world wasn’t exactly as incentivized to forgive them, obviously – and since the Burial Mounds were in fact pretty terrible, it was no surprise that they were much happier in the Unclean Realm.

“You can distract yourself by watching the Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian circus, like I do,” Nie Huaisang comforted his brother. “It’s really funny. And soon we’ll be able to host a wedding, won’t that be fun? And it won’t even have to be one for either you or me!”

“…that does sound fun,” Nie Mingjue allowed. “Everyone would enjoy that, and it’d be good for commerce, all the things you’d need for that – the Lan sect is still mostly investing in rebuilding, but I can’t imagine they’d allow their Second Jade to be married in anything less than the best.”

“I’ll paint them a nice couple set of fans as a wedding gift,” Nie Huaisang decided. “And you can make them a pair of supplemental spiritual weapons to match – you haven’t done that in ages, da-ge, and it used to be the thing you loved the most.”

Nie Mingjue looked seriously tempted, or at least he did to someone who knew him as well as Nie Huaisang did. His brother wasn’t actually an ascetic, the way Jin Guangyao had once or twice joked in a not-quite-joking tone he was; he just had different vices and hobbies than most men. No wine, women, or song for Nie Huaisang’s quixotic big brother, no – he liked steel, and forging, and sometimes dancing when he thought he could get away with it without losing face. Also those stupid overly complicated puzzles that Nie Huaisang needed to hunt up more of for him.

“I don’t know,” Nie Mingjue said, still hesitating. “My health –”

“I’ll get you cleared by Wen Qing,” Nie Huaisang assured him. “I’m sure she’ll say it’s good for you to engage in your hobbies more often, since you’ve been so bored without training Baxia so often.”

“I need to start doing that, too.”

“Ah, but you can only do that under supervision of doctors, and only in limited quantities until your qi improves. You need to fill your day with something that isn’t work, da-ge – doctor’s orders!”

Lan Qiren’s orders, to be more accurate. He’d been shoved into the role of sect leader, too, though he’d been older than Nie Mingjue was when it’d happened; he was now rigid to the point of unyielding on insisting that Nie Mingjue not allow himself to be swallowed up by it any more than he already had.

Anyway, his brother had already been very pointedly avoiding anything to do with sect business outside the sect, and in specific in relation to the Jin sect, and Jin Guangyao, which Nie Huaisang fully understood and supported. His brother might be tough on the outside, but he had a soft heart, and Jin Guangyao’s actions had broken it – it was better for Nie Mingjue’s health that he not think about it, at least for now.

Nie Huaisang had instead taken responsibility for external affairs into his own hands for the time being.

He wasn’t necessarily very good at it, he wasn’t good at much, but he was extremely capable of being very annoying and given the Nie sect’s current ascendant position in the cultivation world, that was all he needed to be to keep the Jin sect so busy guessing what he was up to that they’d (hopefully) be too busy to scheme any more.

And if Nie Huaisang had a scheme or two he was planning on trying back on them…well, that was his own business, right? Even if it failed, no one would be too surprised, he was just the stupid and useless second young master of Qinghe, after all.

No one broke his brother’s heart and got away with it. No one!

(Also, being in charge of external affairs meant that Nie Huaisang got to spend quite a bit of time sequestered with Lan Xichen, nominally ‘discussing sect business’, and it was great. They barely did any work at all!)

“All right, all right,” Nie Mingjue said. “You win, as you always do. Don’t you have anything better to do than attach yourself to me like some sort of parasite?”

“Nope! Cleared my entire morning just for this.” Nie Huaisang burrowed in more. “I’m going to steal all your heat away, da-ge, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Huaisang…”

“And later,” Nie Huaisang interrupted, marching all over his brother’s half-hearted protest, “you’re going to tell all the things you haven’t been telling me about our family’s cultivation style, and the saber tombs, and all of that.” His brother went very still. “You’re going to tell me, and then we’re going to figure out what we’re going to do about it together. All right?”

He waited to hear his brother’s response.

Instead, he felt the light touch of his brother’s palm on his hair.

“All right, Huaisang,” his brother said. “That sounds good. I’ll listen to you.”

“As you should,” Nie Huaisang said. “As you always should!”

“I’m not buying you any more fans, and you still need to train your saber.”

“Awww, but da-ge…!”

[extraordinarilyextreme]

Xue-gongzi: Don’t cry anymore. Remember to lay me to rest someplace closer to you, and don’t erect a headstone either; it will look a bit too desolate and lonely. Plant a cedar tree instead, alright? It can stay green for all four seasons, yet will appear a head of white hair when covered with snow. The snow of the back hills will never melt. Bury me beneath the tree. In this way, I will always be able to accompany and brew tea with you in the snow. Xue-tongzi: There won’t be a next year. Have you forgotten? The Burial Snow Heart Sutra that I cultivate with, it will reverse my aging and restore my youthful vigor once every four years. The spring of next year will be the time that I break through the last level. If I break through it, my body and memories will be restored anew. I will forget you; I will forget you entirely. Xue-gongzi: If you forget me, that’s good too. I can’t bear for you to always hold a grudge against me. Xue-tongzi: How could I hold a grudge against you? Xue-gongzi: You will. You will resent me for abandoning you, and for making you live all by yourself in loneliness. Xue-tongzi: You bastard good-for-nothing! Then you can’t die! Xue-gongzi: Didn't we always say that the weather outside is sunny and cloudless for ten thousand li on end?

Xue-gongzi: Is the outside really as good as he claimed? If there is a chance, I would really like to go out to take a look. Xue-tongzi (Adult): Is it that you feel this place is no longer fun, so you wish to leave? Xue-gongzi: This place really is boring, indeed. It’s a world of ice and snow, every day of the year exactly the same. But rest assured. As long as you don’t leave, I won’t leave either. I will always accompany you, so we can be bored together. Xue-tongzi (Adult): That’s more like it.

Xue-gongzi: Such a vast and dazzling place, I seem to see it now. It really is as I dreamed. I’m going to go first and take a look for you.

Xue-tongzi (Adult): Long time no see. Are you well?

[touchlikethesun]

I feel like people are being nit-picky and lumping in any and all criticism because shes been on a pedestal for a while and her fans would seek out people who don’t like her to start fights so this slight downfall (shes a rich white women well versed in crocodile tears she will be fine) is an opportunity for any and all grievances. Like when your friend breaks up with someone and you lump in petty complaints like “they chew too loud” with the legit grievances like “they shouldn’t have yelled at grandma”.

no exactly, i think for a lot of people voicing their opinion about tswift rn, they've been bottling up all of their negative opinions for so long because they thought they'd have to deal with backlash from her fans, so now that it is suddenly publicly acceptable to criticise her, they are taking it as carte blanche to hate on her for every little thing they don't like about her - either legit like her detrimental effect on the environment and paradoxal place in politics (how can she be both sooo progressive and yet at the same time have no obligation to speak on politics? it's an oxymoron) or petty like how she personally annoys some people by being self-centered and unself-aware, the latter being not on the same level as the former camp of criticisms at all.

to be clear tho, i do not feel bad for tswift for the current backlash. i do think there are many different choices she could have made and actions she could have taken to cultivate a healthier fanbase, that would have made it possible for her to avoid the current PR disaster she's in, so as far as i'm concerned this is at least a little bit of her getting her just deserts. i really hope her and her team learn from this moment and start encouraging her to behave like celebrity icons that are secure in their status are supposed to behave. (there are trade offs for celebrity status and being able to gracefully accept criticism - at least publicly - is one of those trade offs, and it's something that will help one maintain longevity. think about the difference in how people view beyonce vs nicki minaj, and what's different about their public image/their fanbases. now think about how tswift actually handles her image and her fans, and tell me who she more resembles.)

but also, as you said, she's a rich and powerful white woman, surrounded and supported by dozens if not hundreds of other rich and powerful white people. she'll be fine, and she'd be fine even if she never appeared in public or released a song ever again.

[theseventhoffrostfall]

I saw your post where you said your pet theory about Judge Holden is that he’s the narrator of Blood Meridian, which I found both very intriguing and fun.

But the more I thought about it, I eventually realized there seems to be two things possibly hindering the legitimacy of the theory, and I wanted to discuss, if you don’t mind. I know you made your post months ago, so I don’t know if you still stand by your theory, but I don’t really have anybody to discuss BM with.

The first potential snag is a simple question: If we want to assume Holden is the narrator, how would he know about where the Kid came from, why he ran away, what he did before they met, etc. when it seems like the Kid never told anyone about those things, and Holden - for all his incredible knowledge - isn’t omniscient. Do we have to assume he DID tell someone like Toadvine or Tobin off-page during their long travels and the judge overheard him? With how guarded emotionally the Kid is, I didn’t think that would happen.

How I came to an answer for it was by considering that maybe at some point the Judge decided to do research on this boy to understand him, to find out WHY he showed “clemency to the heathen”, in the hopes of one day dominating him, and used reasoning to retrace the Kid’s steps, like perhaps starting off with remembering the Kid would have a Tennessean accent and going to TN as a starting point. It’s a stretch, but that’s what I came up with.

The second hiccup regards the narration’s physical descriptions of the Judge throughout the novel, which come off like we’re supposed to view Holden as strange, off-putting, and kind of disgusting-looking. The example that sticks out in my mind is when the gang is at the bathhouse in Chihuahua City and he’s directly compared to a manatee, which has pretty much never been used as a flattering comparison. In contrast, the way Holden acts shows he’s very comfortable in his own skin to the point where he frequently goes naked, with nothing to suggest he deals with any sort of insecurity, or even a self-deprecating nature.

The only justification I can come up with is that he’s like SpongeBob in that one episode where he goes “I’M UGLY AND I’M PROUD!!!”

All in all, I still find your “Holden is the narrator theory” to be fun on a surface level, but for now I wouldn’t personally believe it. Heck, maybe this whole time you never took the theory seriously either and I’ve just been babbling inanely, but even three months after reading BM I still got it lodged in my brain and I gotta let some of my thoughts out.

Yo, sorry for the late answer.

I wouldn't say the theory is something I dwelt a very long time on, so I don't think it's foolproof by any means, but I might be able to address those two points you mentioned.

One, it's possible Holden out of curiosity did walk up the kid's backtrail--he's shown to be obsessive about knowing everything, especially something like a young kid who manages to defy his influence. He's not omniscient, but he also routinely shows that he has knowledge that no one else has and he has no way of knowing, such as the ancient stone-builders he goes on his infamous rant about. Some thirty years pass between the kid escaping him and their reunion, so he'd have plenty of time to follow up through means mundane or (if you buy into the common theories) supernatural. He's a convincing enough authority figure/intellectual that him showing up at the kid's family farm and ascertaining that the current owners' uncle or whatever ran away at fourteen is well within the realm of possibility.

Two, he clearly delights in making people squirm. Usually this takes the form of tearing down their philosophical and theological views, but it occasionally delves into more blunt methods (like his treatment of the native kid he 'rescues'). I don't think it's wholly coincidental that he resembles the Baron Harkonnen of Dune fame, who's stated to have cultivated a disgusting appearance out of perverse glee for being so loathsome. Being an ugly, unnerving figure galivanting around in 'polite' company seems to me to be completely up his alley.

Ultimately, though, my theory's based more on the voice it takes matching his voice more than any other, along with certain quirks of his--he's obsessive about the natural world while holding (or at least espousing) horrifically racist views, and the narration gets extremely purple regarding the landscape and natural world around them (recall a sunrise being described like the arrival of an eldritch god) while unflinchingly referring to Native peoples as 'savages' and dwelling on the squalor of Mexican and some American settlements.

But yeah, it's not something I'm 100% convinced on myself, and certainly not something I'd bicker over defending.

[dkniade]

Sometimes I wonder if Shadows Amidst Snowstorms’ main plot is based on any sort of folklore(s) with shapeshifters in snowstorms. (I really don’t know much about folktales in general. Since shapeshifters are really common in those, please feel free add on with similar stories from other cultures)

The event’s main plot goes: an impersonator has tried to hurt a child, so a team investigates in a snowy mountain but then gets attacked by the snow-based impersonator

My first thought goes to the yuki-onna of Japanese folklore. Looking at Wikipedia, it seems most versions of the story have something to do with a woman appearing when it’s snowing and either taking children or requesting hospitality, which seems quite close to the plot…?

…There’s also the huli jing (狐狸精, fox spirit) of Chinese mythology. They’re foxes that, after cultivating, become yaojing (妖精, apparently often translated as sprites or faeries). (In Chinese mythology basically any animal/plant/object could gain sentience and become a Taoist xian/immortal with a human form if they cultivate enough.)*

That seems similar to the Cryo Whooperflower being able to shift into a human form after being imbued with alchemy… (although Whooperflowers are naturally plant mimics).

-

*For example, in the famous Hong Kong two-part film 《大话西游》 (localized as A Chinese Odyssey, loosely based on Journey to the West), a pair of xian sisters were originally a candlewick before a Buddhist statue.

(I don’t really follow the updates. Are there any Liyue Adepti that were originally a mundane thing like a leaf or a hairpin or something)

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

With how little power the Darkling had in the beginning, how would he have managed to bring the sun summoner to him had she been discovered anywhere else(most probably as a child). I mean the royalty of her place would either have her killed or make a saint out of her or experiment on her or anything but i cannot imagine a scenario of them just handing her over to Ravka (or being ignorant enough that they are able to sneak her out. From the mome she was discovered it would have been an all attention on her scenario). So what was the plan here? War? They would kill her sooner then. Also what if his king didn't allow it like so many questions. Alina's situation was awfully too convenient for him.

I can’t tell if you mean pre canon with “in the beginning” or not, but if we’re just talking about his position and institutional power in S&B, then I suspect it would’ve been an espionage situation. Maybe have a doppelganger tailored to swap them out. Or to conveniently fake her death somehow. I doubt an open trade of any sort could actually happen with how antagonistic their foreign relationships appear to be and considering the immediate Fjerdan assassination attempt in canon when Alina’s discovered. So definitely way trickier, yeah! I don’t think there’s any option but to sneak her out, they’d just have to be very delicate about it. And then she’d probably have to remain in hiding for several years, at least, because Ravka suddenly gaining a sun summoner after another country lost one would be sus af. And depending on how much collateral damage resulted in the extraction effort, and whatever ruler’s temperament, it could straight up be grounds for war well after the fact.

Though I feel like if the Ravkan king doesn’t support above plans, it shouldn’t be too much of an obstacle? First of all the Lantsovs seem to be historically fairly lax rulers— which it seems reasonable to assume is a tendency that the Darkling went out of his way to cultivate. I think he has enough resources and power to just arrange everything without the king knowing. If the king does find out somehow and is pissed, lol maybe it’s time to fast track that coup that he’s been dragging his feet on.

Anyway, agreed that it would be much more complicated! I think it would be interesting if, upon reports of a sun summoner, he faked his own death (a Tuesday for him) and went to sneak her out personally. Probs with a couple trusted but disposable people. I assume Baghra would be holding the fort down at Ravka. Then he came back in several years pretending to be his own son and he’s so conveniently shown up with the sun summoner! So serendipitous!

[sadaveniren]

I'm the same anon as before and you're so right!!! I don't have a normal 9-5 so my hours are whatever I want so 🤷‍♀️ and just because of that my weeks looks incredible different to the ones of my friends, I will be doing the most random things at the most random times and I Can't imagine what my life would look like if in addition to the time I had access to the same kind of money they have.

I also think some fans don't want to seem crazy and want to feel superior so they shut down headcanons like this one just for the sake of it

Sooooo many fans try to kill fun headcanons just because they don’t want to “give antis ammo” or whatever. It’s like they forget two key things: 1. Fandom is fun 2. Antis are gonna fucking hate us anyway

Like we aren’t going to convince a hateful anti to leave us alone. We sure aren’t going to convince them Harry and Louis are together. We might barely be able to convince them either of them are allies much less part of the LGBT community. So why put any effort into policing ourselves in that manner? Just let us have fun!

I’ve been in this fandom since 2014 and I still have fun every single day. I also have made sure to cultivate an overall positive fandom experience. I have a large group of friends who are all as positive as me and we just share fun headcanons and try to puzzle stuff out in the most low key and low risk to our mental health way possible. I block hate anon pretty liberally. I don’t go looking for anyone who is doing anything I don’t care to engage with. If I see people getting sucked into discourse or spiraling into unhealthy behaviors when it comes to doomsdaying away I go in the OPPOSITE direction of it.

I watched “rad Louies” become a thing because fans were convinced Louis was being sabotaged in 2017 and rolled my eyes and continued on in my lane, writing fic and figuring that everything would be okay and now 5 years out I can pretty confidently say I believe there’s a lot of evidence Louis cut the promo himself on Back to You and his Epic contract because he didn’t like the musical direction he was going in.

I watched fandom tie themselves into knots over and over again with Harry’s stunts and have just shrugged and carried on because it’s not my life and not my job to worry about what Harry is choosing to do with his life.

I learned in May 2015 when fandom tried to “change the narrative about party boy Louis” that we as fans don’t actually have control at all. 1DHQ worked really hard to give us that illusion that we were all powerful and we had control on the marketing decisions etc but guess what? No one TALKED about Briana openly when Louis got papped with her in May. No one shared pap pics on tumblr. And yet we STILL GOT BG. We bitched and moaned and debunked left right and center and yet they CONTINUED ON.

As a fan my only job is to have fun. I have fun by trying to work out timelines and make up cute headcanons. My headcanons aren’t hurting anyone and despite what antis think I really don’t care if I’m right or wrong lol hell I’ll be the first to admit that I get shit wrong a lot. *gestures towards my guess that Louis was doing something May 25th when it turned out to be an error on his poster (which is a whole other issue but whatever) and that Steve Aoki might make an appearance at Louis’ Vegas show (which turned out to be that Louis showed up at HIS show)*

I’m having a blast. If my headcanons get debunked oh well I move on. Fandom is supposed to be fun! Be in it because you enjoy it and you HAVE FUN! If you aren’t having fun maybe… find something else to do?

[rhine-gold-archive]

Visions: Anemo

Another post in the series where I theorize on why people receive a specific vision. Prepare your ehehes, it’s Anemo time. You don’t need to read previous parts to understand this post, but you might find them interesting if you like character analyses.

First part: Cryo and Hydro; part two: Pyro;  part three: Geo

So, what are the unifying traits of Anemo users? And no, “dead friend” does NOT count - first of all, not all of them have it, second, Zhongli has more dead friends than all of Anemo combined. Where are those who share the OsMAnTIUS WInE memory? Dead, demented or turned into a teddy bear, and Zhongli is still Geo, so jot that down.

But the “dead friend” trend is not accidental either, it’s just not so literal. For Anemo users, the world is an ever-changing whirlwind, and all of them have events that represent the uncontrollable upheaval of what they thought was unmovable - most often it’s death of someone close, but sometimes it’s just departure or a radical change of lifestyle. All of them were uprooted, picked up by the wind - and had to learn to ride the current instead of being thrown around by it. 

But that’s not all, Anemo are not just leaves gliding in a storm. The critical part of Anemo is not just adjusting to the wind, but being able to seize the moment and plant the seeds of change that will bloom in future. 

“Seeds of stories, brought by the wind and cultivated by time. Stories brought on the wind will bloom into legends in due time” - Thousand Winds Temple’s sundials.

Anemo and wind are closely tied with Time, or with Istaroth, the goddess of time. Thousand Winds Temple in Mondstadt connects Time with Winds. Specifically, Istaroth was the goddess of a thousand moments. 

“She was the moment. She was every moment. She was the measure of a thousand winds and the sun and the moon. She was every second of joy, every moment of rage, every instant of longing, every minute of obsession. She was every flash of delirium.” - A scribe of Istaroth, as written in Before Sun and Moon.

For Venti, as we know, “before he gained power, he was a "single thread of the thousand winds that roared through the northern lands," and he very often mentions planting seeds of stories. And his whole modus operandi as Barbatos supports it. He doesn’t rule directly, he appears in critical moments of Mondstadt’s history to help to turn the tide and change direction in which the city grows. He wears a face of his friend, because he's planting the Nameless Bard's dream of freedom.

All Anemo have a dream, but it’s a dream that requires gradual growth through time. Jean dreams of perfect Mondstadt’s future, Sucrose wants to create a magical forest paradise she and her friends envisioned when they were little, Xiao dreams of peace and so on. So all of them glide through the storm of life, searching for the perfect moments to plant the seeds of change. Anemo's freedom is an ability to make choices despite what world tells you - and reap the consequences.

Also, most Anemo are connected with art, but specifically with performance art, the one that needs to be seen in the moment and cannot be captured - Xiao with dance, Venti and Kazuha with music, Sayu’s ninja skills are described as a performance art -  “Amongst falling leaves, a silhouette vanishes in a flash, a gentle breeze blows, and a kite suddenly appears on the ground... The incredible scene is comparable to an artistic performance. Thus, whenever there is a festival, Sayu will be invited by various parties to perform her mysterious ninjutsu.”

And so all Anemo have: perception of the world as a whirlwind they learn to ride, a dream of future they wish to grow and ability to seize the moment to plant that dream, even if they are not the central actor bringing the change itself. 

Sayu’s world was upended when her sensei left and she had to learn to act as a ninja by herself. She received her vision when she realized that she can seize the moment and turn it around: “It's not only strong brute force that can overpower everything, the weak have their own way of surviving. It's because you're weak that you can notice those unseen moments that change your fate... The chances of escaping from here are slim, but that's what my ninjutsu is for." Sayu is also literally - and comically - connected with trees, where her dream is literally to grow herself and she thinks that sleeping under trees will make her grow faster. It’s funny, sure, but it also shows her unconscious understanding of trees as a symbol of unity of winds and time in Genshin, a small seed of a story that will grow into a legend in time.

Sucrose is a perfect case study:“ Somewhere in a far-flung corner of Teyvat, there was an undiscovered domain with pretty pink flowers the height of a hundred people, teeny-tiny floating fairies flying over all the place, and beautiful unicorns, the pinnacle of perfection. Sucrose and her two best friends believed that if only they could reach this magical place, they would surely live happily ever after.” Sucrose lost her friends, one left with adventurer parents and never returned and the other suffered tragedy and broke ties with Sucrose, - that was her upheaval that showed her that the world can be changed in an instant. “Sucrose realized: Though she had never had the chance to find the entrance to that wondrous place, she now had the opportunity to be the creator of her own paradise. Thus began her study of bio-alchemy, and she poured all of her curiosity and passion into it.” - this is the dream the seeds of which she is, quite literally, planting.

Xiao’s world was upended several times - first when he was turned into a slave of a vicious god, then he was freed by Morax and became one of guardian yakshas, and then he lost his yaksha friends and was almost lost to corruption himself. He dreams of peace - “He longs for a day to come when he will wear the mask and dance — not to conquer demons, but to the tune of that flute amid a sea of flowers,” but Xiao’s tragedy is that unlike other Anemos, his dream cannot be achieved by planting seeds, it has to be won by destroying the evil corrupting the land, and that corruption is literally endless. The fact that Xiao has to be a fighter is another thing that fuels his self-loathing: like all Anemos, he values creation, beauty and growth, while thinking he’s only good for slaughter and destruction. While I’ve been known to make callout posts @Morax about how he needed to retire Xiao before leaving himself, I do have to admit it probably wouldn’t work straightforwardly. Not because he HAS to keep fighting - millelith canonically has shit under control and Wangshu Inn keeps posting commissions to kill monsters nearby before Xiao sees them, not because they are dangerous - manager calls them “nothing more than an eyesore”, - but because Xiao’s PTSD makes him flip out and destroy things when he notices them. But being guardian is his only purpose in life right now and he’d probably lose the will to live completely if he was deprived of it. He needs to find some positive application for himself before he can retire, and his self-loathing makes this very hard. Zhongli needs to like assign him as a bodyguard to some traveling troupe or smth, where he can be gradually involved in performances in wacky found family shenanigans by the fellow musicians until finally becoming dancer like he always wanted. Hoyo, contact me, we can make an entire anime sitcom out of this.

Jean had few upheavals in her life - first, her family split, and then Varka peaced out and left the city on Jean’s shoulders. “After seeing the Grand Master off, Jean sat by the window and thought to herself: Upon your return, I will show you a kinder, more prosperous, and more peaceful Mondstadt.” - this is her dream, but Jean’s problem is that unlike other Anemos who wait for the perfect moment to plant their dream, Jean feels the need to use EVERY moment to do so - this is why she is a workaholic, she sees the growth of her dream in using every waking second to do good for Mondstadt, no matter how small. Jean is also connected with the Windrise tree, a symbol of Vanessa’s ascension - and another seed of wind grown into legend.

It’s not hard to see Kazuha as a leaf being thrown around by the strong winds - the last offspring of the disgraced noble family who had to turn into a wandering samurai, then had to flee the country after the Vision hunt decree and death of his close friend, then joined a pirate crew, then helped Rebellion to fight Raiden Shogun. “His journey was like the rise and fall of a mountain path — at times, the struggle was all but too much to bear, but there would always be moments when he would touch the clouds.” Kazuha’s understanding of the Moment is impeccable, shown not only in his penchant for haiku, but in his talent of sensing danger and reading nature - “All travelers who outdoors roam need some skill to call their own. For Kazuha, this is his ability to read the sounds of nature.” His dream is a dream of constant movement and unity with the world - “If one's heart is empty, all things in heaven and earth are empty; if one's heart is pure, all things in heaven and earth are pure. With his sword in his hand and his chosen path in his heart, he could go on his way with a song on his lips and with nothing to fear, no matter the perils he may face." This is why he’s a foil to Raiden’s idea of eternity represented in absolute, unchanging stasis, fear of loss and grief, but Ill elaborate on that another time.

Heizou is not released yet, so I want to have some fun and make a prediction - I think as an anemo detective, his “thing” will be the ability to read chaos in a moment - to see all seemingly unconnected elements thrown in the whirlwind and read the path of currents that brought them here, find the logic in seemingly random collection of things.

[bubbleonice]

Matty Healer and new girlfriend:

I took a traditional tarotcard spread for this reading. I must admit, I don’t know who this Gabriella is, and this makes it a little difficult for me to connect to her energy. But let’s give it a try anyways.

Current situation:

8 of pentacles: The Eight of Pentacles is a card of apprenticeship and mastery. When this card appears in a Tarot reading, you are working hard to improve your skills and become a master at what you do. There is a possibility that there will be a lot of things that you need to address. Hard work is essential. loving someone is like cultivating a skill. It requires ever increasing amounts of empathy, compassion, patience and also curiosity and the desire for self-improvement.

It shows that you’re aware that this will require a lot of focus and dedication, but you are ready to put in the hours and pay attention to the details. It is good to be ambitious and career-focused, but it is the personal relationships with family, friends, and others that we love that make life worth living. Make it a point to spend time with your spouse, even when duty calls.

What the future holds?:

Strength reversed: In its shadow form, Strength Reversed can signal that you are prone to explosive behavior, lashing out at others and becoming aggressive. You may act without thinking and end up doing something you regret later. The key is not to repress the raw emotion, but to learn how to channel it so it won’t harm others or yourself. Maybe someone is being toxic or abusive here. You are in a situation where you have limited influence over behaviour. A lack of self-confidence, impatience, or difficulty managing emotions might be causing problems.

What are her feelings at the moment?

Ace of wands reversed: uninspired or unmotivated. At this point of your life, you might not know what you really want to do. short-term passionate love affair, lack of excitement in love. Not very promising is it?

What are his feelings?

Queen of cups reversed: Reversed, the Queen of Cups denotes a woman or feminine mature person who might be too sensitive, needy, or clingy. She might not have empathy for others because she gets caught up in being selfish. That is what he feels about her. Not a good place to start a romance is it?

Where does she see this relationship going?

Ace of pentacles: A financial fresh start, new possibilities, new employment, new ventures, cash, investments, savings, prosperity, comfy, everything you want or wonder about will come true. Is she a goldgigger? I don’t know. Does he have a lot of money? I don’t know that either. But the cards seem to indicate she is in for the money and material things.

Where does he see this relationship going?

The Emperor: The Emperor is a good omen of monogamy and a long lasting relationship. If you have been experiencing relationship problems they begin to improve and stability will return to the relationship. He seems to want to find stable love, but combined with the Queen of reversed he recieved, I don’t think she is the one. He wants a stable relationship for himself. And he is constantly looking and searching for love.

How I interpet the cards:

I think he is experincing some kind of panic not to be able to find love, so he is constantly looking and trying too hard. She is in for this because she wants something out of it. And I think he is seeing through that already. This is probably a very shortlived relationship.

I hope you enjoy this reading. And please keep in mind that this is done for entertainment purposes only. I use tarotcards and oracle cards actively in my readings, as well as my intuition. Energies come and go, what is relevant for today’s reading might change in a few weeks time. But some aspects will always remain constant and the same. Thank you.❤️

[mellorphic]

Tommy-Centric Fanfiction Recommendations

I’m pretty sure I’ve made a post like this before, probably with some of the same fics, but I can’t find it for the life of me.

First, the classics

Passerine

Completed, 7 chapters, major character death, royalty AU, God AU, SBI-centric, has a prequel and a couple of sequels which I haven’t personally read. Niki, Puffy and Tubbo also make appearances as well as Dream and Sapnap

If you haven’t read passerine you’re either new to the fandom or you live under a rock. Even SAD-ist has read passerine. Even Niki read it.

DO NOT read this without taking a good look at the tags and the warnings. It’s a very, very heavy fic

I don’t really need to say much - it’s a beautiful, tragic masterpiece that I read across two days, but if you tried hard enough you could finish it in one. The characters are simultaneously so different and so similar to their canon ones. It had me sobbing at 2 am and I haven’t recovered but this fic made me feel very seen, despite never having reallly experienced the things the characters went through I found each one relatable and found many quotes applicable to my own life.

It’s hard to pinpoint a favourite part because taking any single bit out of the perfectly sewn together story feels almost like a disservice. But one of my favourite quotes has to be: “Wilbur couldn’t remember it happening, but somewhere along the way of studying warfare and politics, of staring up at the throne that would one day be his, of learning how to be a prince, he’d forgotten how to be a son.” From chapter two.

TommyInnit’s Clinic for Supervillains

Completed, has a prequel and a couple of other bits in the extended universe of it that I haven’t read, 26 chapters, hero/villain/vigilante au, mainly crime boys centric, but features the rest of SBI as well as bench trio and the Dream Team

Warning for derealisation/unreality in one chapter and general warning for violence throughout.

I’ve read a few vigilante aus and I’ve loved each and everyone one of them but this one stood out as it kept me hooked the whole way through, even waiting between updates I still was able to remember what had happened which has been a struggle for me with other vigilante aus for some reason.

It’s a great balance of light-hearted and heaviness that makes it incredibly fun to read. The characters and their morals are so fascinating, as is trademark for any AU like this. Tommy has a lot of internal conflict.

The relationships between each character are really interesting to me so that’s one thing I really like about this fic especially.

“Tommy’s jaw clenched as he thought back to eating McDonald’s on the roof with Siren only a few weeks before. Obviously he couldn’t tell Wilbur about that. It would just raise too many questions.”

Now, my personal favourites

Still Life

Completed, one chapter containing over 30000 words. Tommy centric but features SBI and Niki pretty heavily too. Fundy, Eret, George and Jack also make appearances. Runaway AU set in a small town in the early 80s of America.

Reread this fic last night and it’s really interesting how Meridies is able to cultivate such a rich story in a oneshot. It’s by no means short but it’s also nowhere near as long as anything else on this list. I dunno, it’s the perfect length. It says everything it needed to say.

Once again the characters in this are stunning. The entire town kind of takes Tommy under their wing and it’s a lovely read. It gives me a certain kind of nostalgia for a home I don’t have, and it made me long for that kind of community.

It explores the idea of childhood in a really nice way too. Tommy’s a kid and he gets treated like a kid, which gets on his nerves until it doesn’t. And every now and again the other characters treat him like his age affects his intelligence, and then they realise it doesn’t. But he’s always reminded that he is allowed to act his age. B

This fic tells you nothing and everything about Tommy’s childhood at the same time. The ins and outs of what it’s like aren’t explained but the little he does say explains everything you need to know and even Techno remarks on that. That scene is actually a little jarring because Techno asks Tommy why he doesn’t talk anymore, but since the reader is getting Tommy’s internal monologue it feels like he’s saying more than he is in truth. I love that - you as a person can feel like you’re saying everything you need to say but so much of it never reaches the people around you.

I love the way it explores human attachment and the sacrifices we make for people. The way that leaving a place sounds so easy but it can be the hardest thing in the world.

This is another fic that speaks to me. This Tommy is a kid who’s been bashed for being young and when he stopped acting like a child he couldn’t grow into himself. Now, he’s lost and doesn’t know who he even is.

“Then Techno was saying I can’t do this anymore out loud, and Tommy was struck with the sudden realization that the three of them were caught in a tangled web of their own creation. They were tangled so tightly they could not see which way would loosen the knot and which would pull the knot tighter. Tommy needed one of them to let go.”

Post-Mortal

Completed, 4 chapters. Crime boys centric but also features bee duo very heavily. Tommy’s actually dead in this one. Canon divergence set right before the prison arc.

This fanfic is one of those ones that I’ve only read once but certain parts have stuck with me. Wilbur makes slow progress toward recovery and relearns how to live.

Tommy is in this fic, through flashbacks and a disembodied ghost who is in a much happier place than his canon limbo was. This is probably the least Tommy-centric of the Tommy-centric fics but I’m counting it anyway.

One of my favourite Tommy related parts is from one of the many, many flashbacks. “Tommy held him on the forest floor. That was the most he could have done, and yet his most was not nearly enough to keep Wilbur from shattering.” This is from chapter two.

[we-can-be-heroes]

1, 2, 4, 6? 📚

2) What are 2-5 already published nonfiction books you think you want to read in 2023?

Ok so I’m waiting for this one to arrive and I’m extremely excited :

And my dream is to read this one entirely :

She passed away in 2016 and her writings have not been published in years… I’m a bit of a paper fetishist (especially for people I adore) so of course I want the physical version 😭 but I’m afraid it might be hard to find and most of all very expensive. So either I keep waiting for a miracle either I accept to read the pdf version hehe…!

And finally these two :

These also are two very rare books I plan on finding and buying lol 🥲 ! These were supposed to be a triptych/trilogy but life is hard and making books costs money so unfortunately it didn’t happen. The first volume is about the international post-punk, cold wave, techno-pop, dark folk, gothic rock, electronic, EBM, industrial metal scenes, basically all the related movements that have appeared since the 70’s etc……. And the second volume apparently tackles the….French gothic scene ??? As well as other francophone gothic scenes such as the Swiss, Belgian and Luxembourgish, which I don’t know shit about. As far as I know these are THE MOST COMPLETE publications about the subject written in French !!!!

4) Do you plan to read any genres you haven't read much before?

Hummmm as funny/crazy as it sounds I’ve never read any horror novels lol ! (Except for Carrie when I was a preteen) I watch horror, I read horror mangas, horror comics, even theorical/philosophical stuff about horror in magazines but no horror novels. Reading horror novels sound way scarier than any of the other stuff I listed that contain CLEAR IMAGES 😭 ! But I’m ready and would like to give it a shot. Other than that any good books that contain magical realism ? English Gothic Literature, French romantisme noir. And more theorical/philosophical/scientific stuff about subjects I care about !

6) Do you have any conceptual reading goals?

E.g., I plan to read books on food history.

Yes absolutely, as you can see in the previous book choices & the answer just above, I would like to read more theorical essays about music genres and their historical and political aspects, same goes for genre cinema, and the different themes and recurring patterns found there .

But also more books about cultural studies and critical theory. A few years ago for a long time I was going through a very strong feeling of DÉSIDENTIFICATION (disidentification) which was painful at the time, but also freeing ! [ I am still and constantly going through it tbh but in a very less violent way, the freeing part is starting to kick in hehe !] so, I was saying this word constantly to talk about how I felt and I ended up doing research and learning that this term had already been invented/theorized by someone called José Esteban Muñoz, in his very first book :

It made me very emotional to know that someone had written an entire book around the topic lol and now I really want to read it ! I found myself wrapped in feelings of unbelonging since forever so I’m always very attracted to and interested in what other people may have said or thought about these matters.

I will probably go through these rollercoasters of identification and disidentification my whole entire life but that’s also what makes it exciting and interesting and worth living I guess !

Not being able to categorize and decrypt you easily or at all is something that always enrages aaaaaaaall types of people ! And this is something I absolutely love and hate and find very interesting.

Pissing of and disturbing people by my very existence has always been my little specialty ! At some point I even started cultivating this by trying to scare people (through my art, looks, and unconsciously, probably, some aspects of my personality and life ““choices”” such as isolation) as an attempt to protect myself and free myself from this weight loool ! Which in my experience really isn't always a good idea, and once again is as liberating as it is painful !! For myself and others !!

Partly for all these reasons i have always been very drawn to the idea of “monstrosity” and have identified with monsters in art for as long as I remember so I’m always very happy to come across writings/books about this ! (if any of you have any recommendations btw don’t hesitate 🤍 ! Except for Paul B. preciado’s book that I have already heard about)

Anyway !!! So yeah basically I want to read these 5 books 😂😂😂….The only link I see between them is the idea of community that I have loved and hated and loved and hated and LOVED again 🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄♾️♾️♾️ and that I keep deconstructing and reconstructing perpetually !!!!

Thank you very much for the very interesting questions, loved answering these and sorry if « 2023 book ask » might have turned into « over sharing » ?? I just thought that it was related, and wanted to explain the book choices !

Have a great night !! 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼

[choco-bloop]

So uh, might have written a lil HimeRita :)

This is canon divergence and I'm pretty sure OOC cuz I wrote this before episode 3 came out.

anyway story under the cut :)

The first time Himeno saw Rita was when King Racules called all five kingdoms together to try to unite them against Bugnarok. They had mostly remained quiet throughout the meeting, notably sheathing their caliber to try to prevent Yanma Gust from leaving after he declared he wasn’t joining the alliance. 

During the battle they were silent too, not even making a single comment about Kingohger. And right after the battle, they headed back to Gokkan immediately, not sparing anyone a single glance.

Watching God Papillion fly away, Himeno laughed to herself, ‘What an interesting ruler they are,’

-

“God Kamakiri, do you believe that this will be a good flower for Gokkan’s ruler?” She pointed to one of her hand-cultivated flowers. 

God Kamakiri’s antenna twitched as it tilted its head. Alright. This was going to be a while.

‘Why am I even bothering with them in the first place?

-

Somehow, she found herself in the main palace of Gokkan, chains dangling from the ceiling.

She rolled her eyes again as Rita took out another scroll, reading its contents.

“Are you going to finish anytime soon, because I sure do want to head back to Ishabana,” She shouted, trying to get their attention. Yanma glared at her, to which she stuck her tongue out.

Rita remained quiet, only sparing her a glance once before going back to reading the scrolls. Himeno sighed, this was going to be a long time.

“Again? What’s this slimy tanuki’s deal with the Shugods?” Yanma groaned as that weird Deznarok the whatever guy appeared again. Gira didn’t reply, the same wicked grin plastered on his face again. 

Himeno let out a sigh of frustration, she really couldn’t catch a break these days could she? Why did she decide it would be a good idea to take those two back to Ishabana? 

‘So you would get into trouble so you could go to Gokkan to seek the ‘law’ but also to see Rita,’ A voice in her head reminded her. Right. All this, just to see the mysterious ruler once more.

“Oi princess, are you going to help?” Yanma turned to her, trying to deal with the foot soldiers at the same time. 

“Screw off,” She summoned her OhgerCaliber.

“Wait! Where’s Rita?” Gira asked, sword clashing against another foot soldier. Himeno scanned the room – he was right, the ruler was nowhere to be seen. 

“I’ll go after them,” She offered, rushing off deeper into the palace before either of the two could protest. 

‘Dammit, where are they?’ Himeno hoped she would be able to find her way back out to the main hall, otherwise they’ll have to find some other way to get her into KingOhger in order to utilise God Kamakiri’s powers. 

She slammed the doors of another room open, only to see a foot soldier sneaking up on Rita, who was busy sorting something out. 

“Watch out!” She rushed forward as the spear left the hand of the soldier, crashing into Rita. The impact sent the two of them flying onto the floor, Himeno on top of Rita. Himeno looked at them, mask now off their face. Why did their lips look so kissable? 

“You do realise that we are still under attack right?” Rita’s voice dragged her out of her thoughts. 

“Well maybe next time around don’t be so engrossed in sorting your stupid scrolls. You’re lucky that I’m transformed, otherwise I wouldn’t be so happy if my outfit got ruined,” She shot back, dusting off her armour. 

Rita remained quiet, only taking out their OhgerCaliber to prepare to transform, having already pulled up their mask. Himeno took the chance to destroy the foot soldier, throwing her caliber at its head. 

-

“Don’t you wish to first return to Ishabana? After all, you were complaining about me taking a long time,” Rita asked, looking at her. Yanma had left with Gira, bringing him back to N’kosopa. Himeno stopped petting God Kamakiri to turn towards them. Finally, they noticed.

She produced the flower she had picked out from the ones she had grown, “For you,” 

Rita warily received the gift, observing every petal of the flower, “I grew it in my personal gardens at Ishabana,” 

“I don’t need it,” They claimed, tossing the flower to the side. 

“The least you could do was to give it back to me!” 

“You said that that flower is for me, which means that I have every right to do whatever I want with the flower after I receive it. Flowers and plants cannot survive long here in Gokkan due to the climate. And since it had already been cut off from the main plant, I don’t think it will last that much longer either way,” They calmly stated, expression remaining unchanging.

“Whatever you say,” Himeno turned around to face God Kamakiri, “Let’s go,” 

The moment she was inside God Kamakiri, hidden from their eyes, she buried her face in her hands, why was she feeling this way towards Rita? The ruler of a kingdom of neutrality. They rarely showed emotions during meetings, so who was to say they would even understand the concept of love? 

“God Kamakiri please lend me your assistance in this,” She mumbled.

-

Himeno landed in Toufu, lamenting that she would have to walk so much. 

‘Jeez, why couldn’t Kaguragi have set a meeting point that the Shugods could’ve flown to?’ She groaned internally.

“Over there!” Gira’s voice could be heard shouting above the small crowd that had gathered around her. Right, time to hide her disgust.

Himeno carefully made her way over to the duo, making sure as little of her dress as possible got stained from the muddy grounds.

“Let’s go, Kaguragi is waiting for the three of you,” Another voice said. Himeno looked around, seeing Rita walking ahead. 

“And what are you doing here?” She asked, watching them lead the way.

“Kaguragi sent me a message. He said that since the three of you are already going to be here, I might as well be here too,” 

Himeno gave them a look of disbelief. Why out of all times did it have to be the day after she attempted to give them a flower? 

“He also added that I’ll be there acting as a mediator in this situation so I will not be taking either side in this meeting,” They added. 

‘Good, because if you were on my side, I don’t think I’ll be able to take it,’

The meeting with Kaguragi went surprisingly well. Aside from one or two times when someone unsheathed their OhgerCaliber as a threat, resulting in Rita having to take theirs out in order to stop a fight from breaking out.

Not only that but they managed to quite quickly get rid of the threat this time around so there was that. 

But she wondered why she found herself trying out some of Toufu’s food. Gira, Yanma and Kaguragi had gone off, leaving her with Rita, again. 

“Not going to try any of the food?” they asked.

“Not interested, so why should I even care? If Gira wasn’t so interested in making us all his comrades I would’ve left the moment I got the chance to,” Rita only spared her a glance before looking at the distant silhouettes of the other three.

“You do realise you don’t need to accept his offer right?” They pointed out.

‘Because I want to stay near you,’ she said silently.

“Actually, did Gira even ask you to become his comrade?” She asked, shifting the conversation away from herself. 

“I told him only while we are fighting against Bugnarok will we be considered comrades. All other times, including political situations, I will not be taking any sides,” They replied calmly.

“Staying true to your kingdom’s speciality aren’t you?” She laughed. Rita looked at her again, letting a small chuckle slip out. So cute. 

-

Himeno twirled again, slicing through any foot soldiers with ease. Deznarok had unleashed another attack, this time splitting the five of them up into two groups. And of course fate decided that she would be with Rita.

She ducked as a purple arrow shot past her, hitting one of the larger foot soldiers in the head. 

“Nice work,” Rita turned slightly to nod at her before suddenly shoving her out of the way. Himeno stumbled back, only able to watch as a foot soldier rammed its spear into Rita, sending them flying into a nearby building. 

Himeno charged forward with her sickle, getting rid of as many as she could before rushing towards Rita. They had de-transformed as blood slowly flowed out of their stomach wound. Himeno summoned God Kamakiri, transporting both of them inside.

“What are you doing?” Rita asked, barely able to spare her a glance, their mask was down again.

“Covering up your wounds before you die to them,” She replied, rummaging through the medical supplies she kept on God Kamakiri.

“They don’t hurt, I’ll be fine,” They continued. Himeno momentarily stopped her search to glare at them.

“No. You are not going anywhere until they are bandaged up. And don’t even think about trying to exit God Kamakiri,” She turned to face them, what she needed in her hands. 

“Just stay still for a few minutes, I’ll patch up the wound,” She carefully cut away the fabric around their wound, giving her more space to work with.

“Are you sure you can do it?” 

“Please don’t forget that Ishabana is also the kingdom of medicine. If there’s anyone who can patch up wounds, it’s going to be me,” She reminded through gritted teeth, trying to keep her focus on the wound. Rita remained quiet throughout the procedure but Himeno could tell they were trying to hide the pain.

“There we go, your wound should heal in a few days so do avoid getting hit in that area. You were quite lucky it wasn’t a deep wound,” Himeno smiled as she tied the last bandage around Rita’s stomach. 

“...Thanks,” They mumbled, eyesight not meeting hers.

“Rita! Himeno! Where are either of you? We need you down here!” Kaguragi’s voice could be heard from both of their King’s hotlines.

“Sorry, slight medical emergency here because someone took a hit to the stomach and was bleeding.” She gripped hers tightly, speaking as closely as she could to the microphone.

“Can Rita still fight?” 

“Yes.”

“As long as they don’t do anything else stupid,” 

Himeno let out the breath she was holding, that painful fight was finally over. She looked at everyone; they were all exhausted and could only hope that the fights to come won’t be as taxing as this one.

“Let’s just hope they don’t pull the same shit again next time around,” Yanma groaned, stretching his arms.

“Then we should all head back to our kingdoms to recuperate should we not? The more time we spend here, the less time we have to heal for our next battle,” Rita pointed out, taking out their OhgerCaliber to summon God Papillion. 

“You are not going anywhere,” She yanked their mask, pulling them back. 

They turned to face her, a face (or quarter of a face to be exact) of confusion, “Didn’t you say I needed a few days to recover?” 

“Not in Gokkan. The cold will make it take even longer for your wound to heal and may get it infected,” She explained, taking out her own OhgerCaliber. “So, you are coming with me to Ishabana,” 

A giggle came from Gira, most likely laughing about the hilarity of their situation. Himeno glared at him, he didn’t stop. 

“What’s your problem?” 

“So you’re basically kidnapping them. Are you going to do the same to Kaguragi?” He joked.

“Don’t drag me into this!” 

“You and Yanma had a completely different reason!” She defended herself. “I’m trying to make sure someone here doesn't die from their own injury!” 

The trip back to Ishabana was awkward. Neither of them muttered a word until they got out of God Kamakiri. 

“Your majesty, are they staying over for the night?” Sebastian asked, gesturing to Rita behind her. 

“A few nights until their wound is recovered,” 

“But you don’t have a–” She didn’t bother listening to what he had to say before dragging Rita by the arm to her room.

“So you’ll be staying here while you recover,” She smiled, showing them her spacious room. 

“Isn’t this your room?” 

“What about it?” 

“There’s one bed,” So that was what Sebastian was trying to tell her.

“I’ll deal with it later, just rest for now,”

Somehow, just somehow, she found a way.

“You sure are an interesting Queen, Himeno Ran,” Rita commented, using her full name. 

“Why’s that Rita Kanisuka?” She shot back from her couch. 

“Most of your comments are about yourself, you build yourself on being self-centered. But here you are letting me use your bed instead,” They explained.

“Oh, so you want to share the bed with me?” She teased, getting up from her position. 

Rita went silent for a few moments, trying to process what she just said, “It’s not that,” their voice lowered down, “It’s more like that it sounds hypocritical of you to be acting this way,”

“What if I told you I have my reasons for acting this way?” Himeno slowly began to approach them. 

“I would not be surprised. After all, it is quite common for many to hide their true intentions behind a fake personality. Although the tendency is to use a more positive and trustable personality than one that is more likely to incite distrust,” They explained, “But then again, Gira. So it can go either way,” 

“And you don’t think you hide behind a fake personality?” She asked. 

“In order to stay neutral, I must stay true to myself and my Kingdom. I cannot let other motivations or ideas distract me.” 

“Did I ever mention that you are such an interesting ruler to me?”

“Not that I can remember,” 

“Well there. I think you are an interesting ruler,” Himeno smiled. The two of them were almost face to face. “Do you want to know why I’m like this right now?” 

Rita looked away for a moment, most likely considering the pros and cons of each option, “Yes.” 

“Alright so one more question. How comfortable are you with physical contact?” She checked. As much as Himeno wanted to give Rita the answer they were looking for, their boundaries were important. 

“Relatively alright,” They responded. 

“The face too right?” Rita looked at her with confusion before slowly nodding their head. 

“Pull down your mask,” She commanded, hopping onto the bed. Himeno’s heart was racing, she was so close to Rita now. 

Rita slowly obliged, pulling down their mask. She looked at their face for the third time now, those damn kissable lips now in front of her eyes. With her right hand on the head rest, she dived, letting their lips meet.

Rita’s lips were sweet and cold, surprising for the former given that Gokkan was the last place one would grow plants in. 

Himeno quickly pulled away, trying to not make the situation even more awkward than it already was, “Satisfied?”

Rita stared back at her, a small blush present on their face.

“Is this why you gave me a flower at Gokkan?” They asked. It was weird seeing their lips actually moving instead of just hearing their voice from underneath their mask.

“Yes.” Himeno replied, slowly getting off the bed to go to the couch. She had gotten her feelings off her chest at the very least. 

“Don’t go,” Rita mumbled, arm reaching out to grab hers. That stopped Himeno in her tracks, dragging her back slightly.

She turned her head to look at them, “Why?”

“I enjoyed that,” They admitted. “As much as I don’t want to let this affect me, I don’t know if I’ll be able to not think about that,”

Himeno let out a tiny gasp, unable to process what she just heard. Carefully, she got back into her bed, fingers now intertwined with Rita’s. Using her remaining hand, she brushed away the hair covering their other eye.

“You look prettier with both eyes showing, you know?” She smirked as she kissed their forehead. They didn’t reply, only playing with her hair, a small smile on their face. 

Himeno let her arm wrap around their core, as if she was trying to protect their wound from further harm. Quickly, the exhaustion from the battle set in, no longer being held back by her adrenaline.

She felt her eyelids slowly shut as Rita pulled her closer, embracing her warm body. Before sleep consumed her she heard them mumble an “I love you,” 

“I love you too,”

[introvertpanda21]

MDZS Story Plot Rant

This is an rant for an story idea that I needed to get out of my head so I can focus on finishing some assignments for school. I don’t know why but, I have this thing where my brain just imagine an whole damn storyline which make me lose focus... And I already have the attention span of a turtle..

Here we go, the base of the story involves the junior trio minus Sizhui (There a reason for that) were sent to the past right when the Wens were about to launch an attack on Lotus Pier. Well, they aren’t exactly juniors since they are much older like in their twenties or mid-twenties but, I’m going to just call them the junior trio.

Okay, back to the story they suddenly show up in the middle of Yumeng and see the Wens army coming that they hurry and head to Lotus Pier to warn the Jiangs. The Jiangs along with the juniors don’t even have time to question anything about each other since they are trying to escape alive. Luckily the junior manage to do some quick thinking and Madam Yu is able to survive. (She and her husband deserve some redemption.) 

Don’t fully have a idea how the juniors were sent to the past but my brain decided that it got to do with some god or goddess using their power or ability to sent them to the past at the cost of the god or goddess getting punished by the heavens. (My brain is weird...) But, in my brain they only find out later in the story plot when the god or goddess shows up. Anyways the reason that the god or goddess sent them to the past was that the history was bound to repeat itself.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Buckle up, because my brain comes up with weird story plot. 

Okay, so in the future like a couple of years after the truth was found out about Jin Guangyao, it appear peaceful on the outside but on the inside the cultivation world is still unstable. Since LanlingJin clan reputation is stain with the revelation of what happen with the Wens and all the dirty laundry of the previous sect leaders. Like they are still rich and powerful but many small sects find the Jins to be unworthy of being so powerful. (Honestly don’t fully have an idea on sect politics) Basically greedy and selfish cultivators jealous and wanting more power for themselves. (cough Jin Guangshan cough) 

Anyway, the juniors have become adults and are trying to navigate a world full of political intrigue among clans. They also become sworn brothers after a few years of knowing each, unaware of the trouble that was coming their way. As they were growing up they had been trying not to repeat the mistakes of the past generation along with healing from generation trauma... which they don’t exactly achieve... either one... 

Honestly I feel bad my brain decided to give these children their own set of generation trauma. 

Back to the point, Jin Ling had to handle being sect leader at such a young age and has to deal with corrupt officials and not getting the proper respect as sect leader. Also, dealing with the whispers of insults about his family name and all the sins his uncle and grandfather committed. Through all that Jin Ling has been trying to fix all damage his clan has cause. Which isn’t exactly easy since they all associated him to being like his uncle. (The poor boy also experience way to many people trying to murder him in his early years as sect leader, that he’s a little paranoid) Luckily he has his uncles to support him, and my brain decided this needed some Zhuling. So, Jin Ling and Sizhui had developed feelings for a while and are sort of dating but have to keep it as a secret or shit hits the fan. 

Oh funny thing, my brain decide to make the decision of making Jingyi the biological son of Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng. Don’t know how but something along the line of them sharing the same ying and yang that somehow made Jiang Cheng have Jingyi. (Sometime I question my brain decisions...) In my story, they ended sleep together around the time that the sunshot campaign was over or maybe after Wei Wuxian death. I don’t know but, in my story scenarios they had developed feelings for each other but kind got off the wrong start. Consume by alcohol or need for comfort brought them together but due to misunderstanding made them go their separate ways. My brain haven’t fully thought out the whole thing.

Poor Jingyi though, since Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng weren’t exactly perfect parents. When Jiang Cheng found out he was pregnant, he and Xichen decided to let Jingyi grow up in Gusu. And growing up Jingyi barely had any contact with his parents. Only being giving gifts on his birthday and brief visits by the sect leaders on those days. Even Jingyi always had to properly speak to them that he never called them his dads as a child. Not only that but he had to listen to the whispers of calling him a bastard son of two sect leaders who did not love each other. But, growing up he was more outgoing and behave differently that no one associated him with the two sect leaders given the different personality. He also grew distant with them and made excuses when they tried to talk to him. In my storyline, Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen do love their son but don’t really know how to express it unlike how they do with their nephews. (I imagine that their past selves feeling really guilty at seeing Jingyi acting cold towards them.) 

Anyways, Jingyi does feel some envy at Jing ling but bottle those emotions to the side seeing how Jin Ling had suffer through a lot. Jin Ling had confronted Jingyi about being cousins but, Jingyi would say they are but Jiang Cheng basically left him in Gusu so he is just Lan Jingyi, an disciple of Gusu clan. My brain decided that their relationship is sort of like Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian. They feel this bond of family but, at the same time Jingyi had to deal with the occasion jabs of Jing ling greatness as sect leader and the attention he gets. While, Jingyi had to listen to subtle insults of the elders on his legitimate right as sect heir and how he was abandon by his fathers as one wallow in grief while the other attend to his nephew. And in a way growing up he becomes really attached to Lan Zhan and Sizhui who are basically like family to him. 

Zizhen also has to deal with the pressure of his father about getting ready to become sect leader in a few more years. He finds out that his father was involve in the encampment of the Wens and the extreme treatment that occur there. He tried to confront his old man, who denied and tried to say that the Wens deserve it. Later on, Zizhen’s mother gets brutally murder as retaliation from far-distant relatives of the murdered Wens that managed to somehow survived or had left the Wen sect before the war. Or from people wanting to avenge the atrocities that Zizhen’s father committed. Since that man was not completely innocent since he support Jin Guangshan. (Oh his past self is going to suffer from so much guilt for causing his son so much pain) Anyways Zizhen’s father basically wallows in guilt over his wife death and Zizhen force to become sect leader. He becomes the second youngest sect leader after Jin Ling. 

So, Zizhen is fill with rage at his mother’s brutal death that he take revenge which ends in a brutal manner. And has to deal with the amount of acts his father committed after the war. Now, Zizhen’s hands are cover in blood that Zizhen basically abandon the one of the things that brought him happiness which was writing. And he feels that he had done nothing but repeat the same actions that his ancestors had done. Oh, and he becomes more cold towards others in order to get them to respect him and can barely stand staying in the same room with his father. 

Sizhui has to deal with learning about his Wen heritage and the heavy burden on being one of the last survivor. I imagine he deals with guilt and has to listen to the whispers related to the Wens. But, still manage to smile through the whole ordeal. (I guess he’s the one who trauma happen mostly in his childhood.) He does have to deal with the expectations of being Lan Zhan’s adopted son and prodigy.

Anyways, the juniors had their own burdens throughout the years but were still sworn brothers until a tragedy occur a few years before they were sent to the past. 

Haven’t fully thought it out but, I imagine that it involve a siege or a coup or maybe like an attempt at war again. Personally I feel like the clans probably never learn since they always fear each other or don’t like when one clan starts to grow more stronger. 

But, during this event Sizhui ends up dying. (I swear I love my child, but it was necessary for my storyline) One of the scenario, is Jin Ling being responsible for the death of Sizhui, like he accidently ends up killing him because he corrupt by resentment energy or something. The potential angst for this since it remind me of what happen to Yanli. (similar parallel between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian..) But, Jin Ling doesn’t died and has to live with the guilt. And Jingyi grows to hate Jin Ling and tries to fight him before he face punishment by the Lan elders for attacking a sect leader. While, the Lan elders are upset over the death of Sizhui, they aren’t willing to ruin relationship with the Jins and cause another fight. 

A scenario of mine, is that Jingyi has to endure the disciple whips like Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan object to the punishment but, Jingyi tells him that it is necessary since the Lan elders would place blame on Wei Wuxian over Sizhui’s death.(The Lan Elders are petty a-holes) Given that resentment energy was involve, Jingyi doesn’t want Wei Wuxian to suffer anymore after losing his son once again. I imagine he kowtow to lan zhan and beg him to let him do this as Lan Zhan, Sizhui, and Wei Wuxian had treated him with kindness. 

He ends up getting like he get fifteen strikes on his back since he fought a sect leader but also refuses to acknowledge his mistake. Further enrage the Lan elders, who wanted a more stronger punishment but Lan Zhan refuses. After the last strike, he ends up in the clinic as he’s getting treated.

Lan Xichen temporarily left seclusion after hearing what happen to his nephew and son. However, Jingyi refuses to acknowledge him as a concern parent and only as sect leader. Xichen would remain from a distance and would leave the clinic to visit his brother and his brother-in-law. 

Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan would visit Jingyi at the clinic, causing Jingyi to hug Wei Wuxian as he beg for forgiveness for Sizhui’s death. 

Even through tears Wei Wuxian comfort Jingyi and tell him it wasn’t his fault. However, scold him for accepting such a punishment. 

Another scenario is Jin Ling grieving over the death of his lover and the guilt that he isolate himself for a few days. That even his uncle was unable to visit him, until Zizhen forcefully manage to enter and see Jin Ling. Even through his grief of losing his sworn brother, Zizhen had to knock some sense into Jin Ling given the political instability among the clans. Jin Ling knowing Zizhen is right, force himself to return back to his position and try to fix the politically instability among the clans. 

Haven’t though more on the storyline but, I imagine the god or goddess decided to sent the juniors back in time with some sort of requirement in hopes that the past generation realized the trauma they past down to the future generation. They would have to deal with the war and at the same time tried to connect with the juniors and bond with them in order for them to heal their souls. While, the juniors deal with changing the past to ensure that no one dies. 

Another thought involving this storyline was that in the end, the juniors from the future would disappear since the past has change so much. And it this sort of bittersweet but happy ending since the Juniors from the future would disappear from the timeline but at the same time they have some comfort knowing that they would not have to experience any of the suffering and they will always become sworn brothers in this new timeline. Along with helping ensure everyone could be happy in this new timeline. I imagine in one of my scenario that before they disappear, the people of the past see this vision of like Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen, Wei Wuxian, Lan Zhan, Wen Ning and Sizhui waiting for the juniors. And like Sizhui is waving at them with his gentle smile as the juniors rush towards him. And then it changes to them when they were still teenagers and had big smiles before they disappear completely. 

[alyjojo]

Love Reading 🤩 - April 2023 - Cancer

Singles:

Overall energy: The Magician

How you will meet: The Hierophant

How they will treat you: Judgement

Long-term Potential: 4 Swords

Oracle: Cultivate inner Buddhy (beauty)

You meet this person when they are either married or committed to someone else. You’re coming up as Queen of Wands, which can appear just as “the lover” or mistress, and they’re coming up as Queen of Pentacles, the ruler of the home, children, finances, etc, or you’re a same sex couple and they have something/one else they’re tied to. They move very slowly towards you, are very cautious, but they are attracted to you and you make them feel good, boost their ego, give them that “spark” they could feel they’re missing with whoever else they’re involved with. But deep down, they’re not really thinking about choosing you, being with you, they treat you as a beautiful amusement or a toy to play with. They could breadcrumb you just enough to keep you…stalking them, living in your head, which messages have you doing. Eventually you’re going to realize that they’re not going to change this dynamic, and you’ll get tired of their games, because you need to heal. While the Queen of Wands is beautiful, daring & exciting, full of sex appeal, she doesn’t have that long lasting practicality and “domesticity” of a long lasting connection, like a Queen of Pentacles, but only when she’s in the position of “the mistress” like she is here. That’s why your Oracle card says to cultivate inner beauty, not what’s on the outside. Someone can think you’re hot and use you, but still not value you, which hurts. You’re better than this. Cut this person off and remember who you are so you can find what you deserve 🧡

Messages -

Their side:

- Kind 😊

- Irresponsible

Your side:

- STALKER 👀

- Beautiful Voice

Signs you may be dealing with:

Virgo, Leo, Taurus & Scorpio

Couples:

Overall energy: The High Priestess

Current: King of Pentacles & 7 Pentacles rev

Challenge: 5 Pentacles

How they feel about you: The Hierophant rev

How you feel about them: 10 Wands

Outcome: Page of Swords

Wow this person definitely has a Taurus placement, the whole row of initial cards are their energy. Don’t take the “needs counseling” card offensively, that’s just showing you’re hurting over this person, or something traumatic, and they may have really messed with your head, though that could be something to help you heal, if you’re willing/able. You were probably married to them, or at least deeply committed. You could have children, there’s something keeping you together or interacting with each other. This person has given up, walked away, and there has been silence between you about whether or not there’s another person. I don’t see any other people hanging around, and Ace of Swords shows they’re telling the truth about this. Maybe they’ve tried to say this before and you’re upset, naturally, wondering why they’re leaving the connection…must be someone else they’re doing this for. I don’t see that 🙏

The challenge is the pain having disconnected, you two may be considering divorce or a break-up. Money plays into this as much as feelings do, there are debts, bills, things that you have jointly that are difficult to deal with when you’re on your own and/or hurting. They see you as not committed to them, or maybe anything at all, like you’re a huge playboy/girl and they’re just waiting for you to do more of this sort of behavior. You are heavily burdened by having to work with them and communicate, or you need them to work ON their communication. There could be a lot of silent treatments between you and everyone just sits in assuming land, assuming things. By the end of the month, there will be communication about working together and what you want from them. Whether that’s a new start, which is likely, not not necessarily reconciliation, whether you have to keep it friendly for kids involved, you want peaceful and decent interactions no matter how this turns out. Both of your oracles show you wanting to be kind to each other. I don’t see reconciliation specifically, but communicating your desires with each other is a start, you need to know where each other stand on this issue to make a decision.

Messages -

Their side:

- I’ve moved on.

- Considerate

Your side:

- Needs counseling

- I look at your pictures…A LOT

Oracles -

Busy Transcending Bullshit 🌈

Their side: If you plant seeds of caring and kindness, before you know it you’ll have a garden.

Your side: Sometimes a smile or a kind word can be stronger than any medicine.

Signs you may be dealing with:

Taurus 💯 Gemini, Pisces & Virgo