#midnight epiphanies from being royally screwed by the 754329 things i have due this week

[lenglengflames]

god i just remembered that butterflies are symbolic of rebirth, and a pair of butterflies flying together symbolises love. (in chinese culture)

but i also just learnt that butterflies are symbolic of the arrival of your soulmate. and that white butterflies symbolises that someone is watching over you from the heavens. and that sometimes, butterflies were once thought to be lost souls.

hua cheng's sliver butterflies. (sliver is basically shiny white.)

he first appears as a lone butterfly before xie lian during the ghostgroom arc.

his 'rebirth' as a powerful calamity. (are ghost fires lost souls?)

him watching over xie lian as hong-er, wuming, etc, over eight centuries.

in the legend of the butterfly lovers (from which im pretty sure the pair of butterflies flying together symbolising love originated from), liang shanbo and zhu yingtai are reunited due to a wedding procession. (sounds romantic, but i promise you its not. zhu yingtai refuses to be wed to some other guy and as she stops by liang shanbo's grave - long story - to pay respects, the grave suddenly opens and she throws herself in. their spirits then turn into butterflies)

hualian are also reunited through a wedding procession.