i was thinking my little thoughts while falling asleep last night, and a concept occurred to me: what if binghe learned about the system not from shen qingqiu, but from shang qinghua
look, he likes shang qinghua alright. he's pretty disinterested in p much anyone who isn't shen qingqiu, but on the list of People Luo Binghe Tolerates, shang qinghua is relatively high. he gave him advice on wooing sqq, after all, and sqq likes his company, so binghe tolerates his shang-shishu
but the thing is, shang qinghua is a spy. has been for decades. binghe knows this. really, everyone knows this at this point, which isn't a great look for a spy, but still. and since shang qinghua is a spy for mobei-jun, who is a subordinate for luo binghe, then technically shang qinghua is also working for him, but you don't get to the position of demon emperor without a healthy amount of suspicion for everyone in your court
so he decides to test shang qinghua a little bit. nothing major, just a little poking around in his dreams. he starts out with a subtle touch, just sifting through his memories. most of it is what he expected. he sees his time on an ding as a disciple and then later as peak lord, he sees him working for mobei-jun. he sees mobei-jun in some compromising situations, which he files away for later, and then sees him in an entirely different flavor of compromising situations, and binghe immediately decides to act like he never saw that
then he decides to take a more direct approach and starts nudging the dreams in other directions, to see how he might react to certain scenarios, test his loyalty. he expects shang qinghua to act cowardly, or bluff his way through a situaton, maybe even draw his sword if pushed far enough
what he doesn't expect is for shang qinghua to frown at the changes luo binghe made and go "I didn't write it like this"
what
binghe is so bewildered by that response that he loses his grip on the dream for a second, and before he knows it, shang qinghua has spun the dream scenario back into the way the scene originally played out. he steps back and looks satisfied. "there we go," he says. "that's how it went. you know, if I'd known I'd be dealing with this scene myself, I would've written it differently"
what the hell does that mean?
fascinated, luo binghe continues to test him. most of the time, when he toys with someone's dream, they're completely unaware of the changes. shang qinghua, despite not seeming aware that he's lucid dreaming, seems very aware of how each scene should go. except for, strangely, many of the scenes that binghe himself was in. binghe pulls up one from his disciple days, one of the times he remembered shang qinghua coming to qing jing on some errand. he hadn't even changed anything yet, had just let the dream version of his younger self launch himself at shizun in a tacklehug, but shang qinghua tsks and takes the reins from him before he can make any edits. "sorry bing-ge, but that was just way too out of character," shang qinghua says. the dream copy of luo binghe's younger self is sent further away, watching the peak lords with a sullen gaze. he's skinnier than binghe remembers being at this age, and one of his eyes is swollen with a purple bruise. that doesn't make any sense, luo binghe thinks. he hadn't been beaten on qing jing peak for years at this point.
the shen qingqiu beside shang qinghua in the dream stands with his back straight as a ruler, and when his gaze lands on luo binghe, he sneers behind his fan. shang qinghua sighs. "cucumber-bro really wasn't as good of an actor as he thought he was. he's way too soft to ever seem like the original goods."
alarmed, luo binghe dispels the dream and steps out of it entirely. sure, he knows shen qingqiu's personality changed almost overnight when he had that qi deviation. everyone knew that. he avoided questioning it much, unwilling to look a gift horse in the mouth when it meant having a shizun that cared for him
but shang qinghua. shang qinghua seems to know something more about shen qingqiu's personality change. something he's not sharing. luo binghe didn't like the idea that one of his subordinates could be hiding something as vital as this from him
well, this had been a test of his spy's loyalties, hadn't it? perhaps he should make a visit to an ding. he had some questions.
542 notes
·
View notes
Publishing has always been a fucking nightmare, but now it’s a layer of hell. It’s not enough that writers be good at what they do. Writers have to maintain an active social media presence and cultivate a following. Be available.
They have to be conventionally attractive enough to look good enough to see on a screen, aesthetically pleasing, kind, funny, up-to-date on trends, socially aware but not so controversial that they turn off a brand from California from slapping their discount code on a video promoting a book.
They have to do all of this with no media training, with little help from the companies that are supposed to be doing this for them.
Of course, a lot of this isn't possible for say, the 40-something mother of two who teaches English at a school and writes on the side. She’s boxed out of an already complex industry that already has enough walls.
On some level, I think authors have always marketed themselves a little, but we’ve reached such a crazy point where we’re demanding the author become the influencer. Accessibility in publishing has narrowed from an inch to a sliver. And that inch was hard enough to get in as is.
762 notes
·
View notes
At the start of each Animorphs book, before the first chapter begins, there is a page. On it is a simple acknowledgement. Two names. The first name is Michael - Katherine Applegate's husband and co-writer on the series. The second name is that of a boy. This name belongs to their son. Or, should I say, belonged to their son. Because they don't have a son anymore. They have a daughter. Every time I pick up an Animorphs book, I can't help but linger on this page as I quite literally hold her deadname in my hands. It's a peculiarly beautiful feeling. Peculiar because the context behind that name makes it seem all the more personal. I feel like I've violated her privacy simply by knowing it, even though it's openly out there for anyone to read. But beautiful because dammit, doesn't this represent this series's relationship with the queer community so well? Animorphs is often regarded as a queer (and especially trans) narrative, despite the fact that such subtext was completely unintentional. Applegate did not write Animorphs to be queer media, but she's embraced the fact that it has became so in the hands of the fans. How perfectly fitting is it, then, that she unknowingly dedicated the entire series to a trans woman?
323 notes
·
View notes
What I wouldn't do to wrap Airplane-bro (SQH) like a burrito, give him a hot steaming bowl of noodles and a crushing hug (╥﹏╥) (either from me or by throwing this man into Mobei-Jun's tits), especially most fanfiction versions of this guy!
Bro has been running the logistics peak, having to dance to the whims of the system, been thirsting over a dude who he has become terrified of BC of the hitting and foreseen death flags, all while being the best bro he can stand to be for Cucumber-bro (SQQ) to ensure their only alternative survival back-ups
I'm wondering how good his cultivation is to not immediately burnout by the end of the novels, given he had probably lived so high strung
Bro's more brave than me for all he gets called a coward in fanfiction
207 notes
·
View notes
Author au
Danny writes a third book dealing with the trauma caused by The Ultimate Enemy but instead of Dan being from the future, he introduces the character Felix who is a Dan stand in, Felix had run away after he accidentally hurt Tammy (Ellie stand in) and left her in a coma in the ICU (stand in for her destabilizing) Their parents don't know it was Felix who lost control of their mutant powers and hurt their daughter, they think Felix was kidnapped by a random mutant. Felix returns to town to confront his parents but ends up becoming the enemy when he sees they haven't changed view wise. Things come to a head when Felix blows up the lab killing the family and making Neil watch. This book also introduces Father Time a mutant with the ability to rewind and temporarily stop time. He confronts Felix and takes him on as his apprentice after Neil beats the crap outta him in a feral rage and he realizes the horror of what he did. The book also officially introduces Cassandra (Jazz stand in) and develops her more
I forgot about this AU for sooo long. Time to answer this ask now, I guess. Also I didn’t tag this AU so I had to scroll for a while to find it haha
The Justice League looking at his new book and they’re theorizing on how this correlates to his real life. Who is this Felix guy, really? And Danny refuses to tell them because 1) it’s just a tad too personal to share, and 2) because it’s funny to see them trying to wrap their heads around it. Someone would figure it out eventually though, I’m sure of it.
293 notes
·
View notes