#officially obsessed

[muuuumin]

OH GOD I'M TOO FAR DEEP WITH BATFAM CONTENT I SAW MY TWO CATS STARING AT ME FROM OUTSIDE MY ROOM AND I ASKED MY SISTER

"Why are the bats just looking at me."

BATS.

B A T S.

THEY ARE CATS!

[thats-how-you-eurovision]

The rush of serotonin I get when I look at my phone now ♡♡♡♡♡♡

[freakylilnutjob]

started a realism drawing of v, i am in to bts for the long haul i fear

[annemariearcher]

"HuA ChEnG StAlkEd XiE LiAn fOr 800 YeArS—"

Hate to burst your bubble, but in order to stalk somebody, you actually have to know where they are.

[orviposition]

joongdok in hanfu can be something so personal

[nokomitsuposting]

bouquet! bouquet for his sweety!

based on these!

[lazycranberrydoodles]

this is how the post-lqq interaction went right

[camriio]

Hualian sketches because they live in my head rent free

[genshin-impact-updates]

Happy Birthday, Kaveh!

"The proposal's finally approved! Hahaha, those 25 revisions weren't in vain!"

[parthenosvenus]

come on, darling let me steal this moment from you now oh, come on, angel come on, come on, darling let's exchange the experience

[toxooz]

i love a man who is the living embodiment of mnt Everest

[arcane-gold]

modern au bbies

[qifreyplushie]

i beg you, eat me up. want me down to my marrow. 💘

[bishy437]

congratulations to moshang for being the most popular pairing of my mxtx charms! 💙 🧡

And congratulations to Coffin!Hualian for being the overall most popular item LOL ❤️🤍

[estrella-etoile]

Hua Cheng's Very Different Loves

There is often a fundamental misunderstanding of Hua Cheng's love for Xie Lian. The biggest of them was Mu Qing and Feng Xin's assumption at seeing the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods.

They see Hua Cheng as obsessive, dangerous. And given the history with Bai Wuxian, yeah, not entirely in the wrong for that assumption.

It's hard to understand that Hua Cheng is one who has truly separated his devotion from his romantic love for Xie Lian. Because devotion/worship of a god and love of a person are different.

At least until now, the devout and obsessive level of worship that Hua Cheng exhibits is the first type. The type of a religious devotee. And that cave, that's what we see. Hua Cheng did not make the sculptures and the paintings for Xie Lian exactly, he didn't do it with a plan to bring Xie Lian there and ask for praise, he did it because Xie Lian was his totem, the very thing that could center him even at times of extreme suffering to pull through. Religious love is not something that expects reciprocation, it's not something that requires anything of the subject of worship except their existence. And the Hua Cheng of the past 800 years poured his obsessive love into this type of love, the love that he does not have any expectations for.

We know that Hua Cheng also felt the other type of love. His sexual awakening was downright traumatic. Seriously, imagine being fourteen, and having to defend your beloved god from sex demons who are forcing you to realize that your devotion to your god has an edge of desire, all while said god is stabbing himself to keep from acting on the extreme discomfort of sexual urges forced on him by those same damn sex demons. No wonder Hua Cheng is so absolutely freaked out and a little disgusted about harboring that type of love for Xie Lian.

When Hua Cheng finally finds Xie Lian again after 800 years, I fundamentally believe that Hua Cheng would have been content with an existence of watching over and protecting his god from the sidelines. His devotion mattering more than that sliver of self-loathing desire that would never be erased.

The story we got to read though, the one that makes TGCF so special is the way that the other love grows between Xie Lian and Hua Cheng. They enjoy each other's company, enjoy teasing and talking, enjoy the little touches that they share. When Hua Cheng talks about his beloved, he speaks of his romantic love and winning over that person. He speaks of it shyly, because he knows it is something that has to be shared and has to grow naturally. It's what makes their love story so very human, because Hua Cheng treated his religious love and his desirous love as completely separate from each other. And the best part? Xie Lian knows this, understands this, has no doubt about this.

It means that the scene in the cave, where both Feng Xin and Mu Qing mistook Hua Cheng's obsessive devotion for obsessive desire, Xie Lian recognizes correctly.

And Xie Lian reciprocates those romantic feelings.

I like to picture those days that Xie Lian wakes up and finds the other side of his bed empty, then wanders to the Thousand Lights Temple to see Hua Cheng there changing the single white flower in his god's hands, then bowing his head and saying a prayer. Xie Lian rolls his eyes, because well, he's right there, but it's Hua Cheng's ritual, and whether they are husbands, whether they had rough and enjoyable sex the night before, Hua Cheng won't slack on his religious love just because he gets to share romantic love with his husband and god.

[victorialovesstiles]

There’s something so subtle about the way Hua Cheng loves Xie Lian.

(Hold on, hear me out...)

In fiction, when we have a character who loves someone as deeply as Hua Cheng loves Xie Lian, we usually see the ugly side of that affection rear it's head eventually.

Adoration turns into obsession (any positive thing can turn ugly in excess). Obsession can drive behaviour that most of us cringe at; one worst case scenario is stalking, but even a best case would be the expectation (or worthiness) of reciprication.

This obsession can also be followed by huge, grandiose actions that leave the object of the affections no room to guess at the other's feelings and intentions.

Hua Cheng doesn't do any of that. His love is akin to worship, or rather, it literally is reverance for a god. No expectation, no indignance - just pure adoration untainted by the usual consequences of human love.

His love is so subtle, in fact, that Xie Lian can't even begin to guess at his intentions. Even going so far as to wonder continuously in the beginning why Hua Cheng spares so much time and kindness for him.

Hua Cheng expects nothing from Xie Lian - he demands nothing from Xie Lian, not even in the way a worshiper might. This type of god-worshiper love is so hard to fit into the mould of a romantic relationship.

Watching it unfold is so beautiful, complex, and fragmented. It's not the innocent love story you would expect, and honestly it's part of the reason why I love their relationship so much.

You rarely see such pure, unadulterated, and selfless love written this perfectly in fiction.