#illuspeaks

[illuminatedferret]

Honghong-er's fall during the Shangyuan parade being emblematic of the lesson Jun Wu wanted Xie Lian to learn- no one else could have saved him, no one else would have tried, but everyone around Xie Lian tells him that he should have simply let the boy fall and only handled the aftermath. But if the parade would have been ruined either way, why not ruin it trying to save a life?

[illuminatingsceadugenga]

'wu ming loving hours this' 'wu ming was xie lians first love that' i want a fic where xie lian puts together that he was wu ming's beloved post-book 4

[deepfriedhopesanddreams]

Numbuh 3! I have 2 questions!

Who do they most regret meeting? Who are they the most glad to have met? 

Armatoye Crimson

This faz-blaster has a great heart, but sometimes it can be a bit too much for him

He regretted meeting Illuspeak, so much talking and talking and lame magic tricks, and this bot can't go away

But he's really glad to meet Swinger, he really knows what Armatoye Crimson needs

[viewer-of-many]

There's more FNAF sb STAFF bots, so more head botbots

chef bot head

party bot head

Mop bot head

Magician bot head

Server bot head

Construction worker bot head

Nanny bot head

Instructor bot head

Alien bot head

Driver assist bot head

Ramrell(Ramsey and Burrell, last names of two chefs that I feel have similar personalities)

Gameguard(blocks off the activity areas. No pass, no entry)

Lonewash(play on "Lone Wolf", since in the game, the mop bots didn't like it if the player got too close)

illuspeak(only talks about magic tricks, can't actually do any)

Mozo D(play on maître d, mozo is Spanish for waiter, since in the tech demo, the server bots were located in a Mexican restaurant)

Bim-Mep(BIM- Building Information Modeling, and MEP- Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing, two acronyms used in construction)

Carelova(Care and Pavlova, as in Anna Pavlova, a famous ballerina, since the nanny bot kind of looks like Ballora)

Ruledual(explains the rules of Fazer Blast, and has dual purpose since this one bot could be on either team)

Galactiella(galactic and glabella, the space between the eyes[technically between the eyebrows, but close enough], a very important spot for the alien bots)

Tallsteer(drives for those too short to drive themselves)

Lastly, the one that was almost left out: Pantomor(pantomime, since it uses lots of hand gestures, and humor), the comedy bot head!

[illustraice]

katara honestly would’ve been such a hardcore avatar and we’re all missing out by not having her as one

[illustrafire]

[illuminatedferret]

I loooooove E-ming not only because it is a cute murder-saber but because everyone assumes Hua Chebg must have sacrificed a bunch of people in some dark ritual when, no, all he sacrificed was his eye. And I love that message: that the sacrifices you make of yourself will always be more valuable than the sacrifices you demand of others.

[illuminatedferret]

also writing fic is REALLY interesting when trying to balance hua cheng as "respectful and would never impose himself upon xie lian" and "possessive and carnally desires xie lian". like the juxtaposition between respect and desire is basically the cornerstone of hua cheng's character when it comes to hualian. it's not even like a back-and-forth thing, it's like his respect is the dam holding back the flood that is his desire, and whatever hints we see for the first 75% of the novel is basically either overflow or intentional outletting. hua cheng wants xie lian in every way he can, but he refuses to impose himself where or how he's not wanted, which is why he gradually gets more visible about his desires the more xie lian sees and doesnt reject them.

[illuminatedferret]

i'm not a fan of the "hua cheng actually looks monstrous and xie lian just doesnt notice" idea but i DO love the idea that sometimes when xie lian isn't looking he'll warp his form to freak out whoever xie lian is talking to. he always shifts back before xie lian looks back at him, leaving his victims fuming when xie lian oh-so-innocently questions them about their behavior and starts to get mad at the suggestion that hua cheng is anything other than the most beautiful man in all the realms.

jokes on them- xie lian knows exactly what hua cheng is doing. he thinks it's funny. they deserve it for thinking so poorly of his husband, anyway.

[illuminatedferret]

Also, can we talk about how crazy it is that Yushi Huang just lives in the Mortal Realm??? Rule number fucking one of being a god is 'don't interact with mortals', closely followed by 'we built this cool floating realm to live in, Away From Mortals'. Xie Lian gets fucking BANISHED for descending and interfering with his kingdom's unrest. and then we find out Yushi Huang is just chilling in Rain Country??? Hanging with her farmers??? Doing her own thing??? Hunting down ghosts when they kidnap her people??? "Fuck the rules I'm the Rain Master???"

[illuminatedferret]

With the new edits to Xie Lian's request to be banished again rather than fight Lang Qianqiu, I'm really struck by the gravity of Hua Cheng rejecting his ascension again. We conflate being a Heavenly Official with being a god, being a god with being beneath Jun Wu's dominion, but that's really not the case. Ascension and godhood are natural consequences of diligence and cultivation, not something handed out because you impressed the right person. And yet as more people ascend, they fight, they bump elbows, they learn to live among one another, regulating each other and developing a 'status quo' for godhood.

This is the Heavenly Court- not a natural location, but a system constructed to exercise control over gods and godhood. A place just as coveted as it is full of rules and expectations, just as unforgiving as it is illustrious. Yet the violence inherent in the heavens, in Jun Wu's rule, is never truly addressed. And that violence can be boiled down into one simple question:

Do people have the right to say no to godhood?

For all intents and purposes, it seems that few people view ascensions as a bad thing. The only case we have of someone outright rejecting the heavens and doing so on their own terms is Hua Cheng. And as far as we can tell, no one ever follows up with him over this, but we can't forget his unique circumstances: his ghosthood, his place in Mount Tonglu, his soon-to-come power as one of the strongest men in the world, all allow him to pull off this escape and land himself a position where the heavens cannot afford to punish him, even if they want to. But for a more average person, what would happen if they said no?

And if Jun Wu accepts that "no" (if he accepts any no), does it come with no strings attached? What are the odds he allows this mold-breaker to walk out the doors without some sort of condition in place? Let me remind you, godhood is not contingent on his approval- rejecting the heavens doesn't make you stop being a god. Really, isn't rejecting the heavens rejecting him and his rule, more than anything else? He cannot make someone a god, and he cannot truly make them stop being a god, either. It is a privilege of his position (and power) that he can pretend otherwise, and he has to go to extreme lengths (the cursed shackles) to do so.

What ruler wouldn't see it as an act of disrespect that someone wants to leave their court? What ruler would willfully allow someone to leave the heavens and become what is fundamentally a rogue agent? It flies in the face of the purpose of the Heavenly Court. Surely this hypothetical person allowed to leave ends up like Xie Lian: shackled, deprived of at least the ability to hear prayers. At worst, Jun Wu may decide someone who rejects the heavens rejects the cultivation that brought them there as well, and seal their spiritual power too. But with those sorts of caveats, who would choose to leave? And to deprive people of choice is inherently violence.

In one act, Hua Cheng not only rejects the heavens but bucks their yoke, escaping the system of power and control that demands obedience from everyone unto the man on top. This is a far, far more significant and noteworthy act than is addressed. While he clearly cares little for it, Hua Cheng is a god, making him the only god in the world truly removed from Jun Wu's control and influence. He exists outside of the heavens' system, and thus paves the way for a space similarly divorced from the control of the heavens, where people can live without fear of censure or persecution from the people the world insists are their betters.

[illuminatedferret]

Rereading the start of Book 2 is fucking fascinating because 1. how Mu Qing is treated by everyone but Xie Lian boils my blood, but also 2. I cannot believe there are people who think Xie Lian is naive and ignorant of the world after reading what he says and thinks during those first few chapters alone. He is so persistently considerate and sensitive to power imbalances and the abuse of power even before he """stops being naive""".

[illuminatedferret]

Seeing as Hua Cheng was never banished from the heavens, I wonder if he ever had heavenly tribulations. Like did just the act of leaving the heavens strip him of godhood? I doubt it. Once upon a time the heavens didn't even exist- it's man-made. Yushi Huang does fine as a god among mortals. Unless Hua Cheng somehow un-ascended himself, he's still a god. And long-lived, powerful gods face heavenly tribulations.

[illuminatedferret]

With the donghua at qi rong's introduction now i have to be honest I'm a little surprised that after all this time the man hasn't just started twitching whenever he sees the color red. Huh, this random kid wearing tons of red is asking me stupid questions? Who the hell does this guy think he is? Surely he's not that one fucking dude who always wears red and gets his name from how much he loves curbstomping me. This must be some other guy who likes red and also trash-talking me

[illuminatedferret]

[illuminatedferret]

do you ever think about how as a child xie lian would refuse to eat or sleep if one of his gold foil palaces was destroyed and then during his second banishment he spent 800 years watching every home he tried to build be destroyed without fail, but in his year waiting for Hua Cheng to return he chooses unprompted to tear down the house he's built on Mount Taicang into something that better suits the life he wants with Hua Cheng