#shallow their relationship is

[hibiscuswolverine]

Going to start losing it over the “I still love you even though it’s forbidden romance” in this fanfic I’m re-reading. Look I get that you sometimes want to create a romantic drama or something but GODDAMN DUDE IT HAS BEEN YEARS YOU NEED TO LET VICTORIA VEGA FUCKING GO.

You have a wife, and three kids. She has a husband and three kids who are all grown and started their own families (one of these kids are dead btw)

You BOTH KNEW YOU COULDNT BE TOGETHER BECAUSE OF THE AGE GAP (5 years they met at he was 12 and she was 17 but it’s also fucked bc neverland so don’t really trust this)

If you still loved this woman so damn bad why did even BOTHER to marry the woman you married now?? You the one who stuck by you and knew you since CHILDHOOD. Why did you buy a ring? Why did you plan a wedding her and exchange vows?? Why did you have kids??? Why the fuck is she still married to you, what do you two even see in eachother tbh.

And now you find Victoria’s youngest daughter hot because she looks like her momma (she has her eyes which are brown but it’s funny because his wife also BROWN FUCKING EYES.)

[felsicveins]

Follow up to this

[eddiegettingshot]

when i say that buddie is the only satisfying conclusion for them actually i don't even mean romantically. i mean if those guys aren't going to kiss on screen then they should fully invest in this platonic destruction of the nuclear family thing they have going on. buck and eddie should BOTH end the series 100% single, helping christopher with his college apps, sharing a beer together like always. this will be enough for them. they don't need romance if it's not with each other. they're soulmates. they're partners in life and everything else. i'm fine with them only kissing in my imagination if it comes to that but they're already being written this way and i think we should admit that anyone else is going to get crumbs. so. whichever way it comes. it's buddie forever! that's all

[evilkaeya]

meursault arc is a sitcom actually

[vicktoon]

wednesday is bi on the aroace spectrum meanwhile enid is a lesbian in THEE deepest trenches of comphet imaginable together they are an ATROCIOUSLY confused bundle of baby gay angst

[cnl0400]

Lesson 49-A

... Yeah, It sounds like someone might snap in the next lessons....

(Or at least I hope so. Please Solmare do something, ANYTHING with Raphael I'm begging you)

[cable-salamder]

Really funny to me when people seem to forget about complex emotions when it comes to relationships

Remember bestie You can love someone but hate them and you can hate someone but love them and thousands of other combinations that, surprise surprise, can be really hard to explain and/or articulate

[queernobi]

I usually don't post Feelings about properties I like, but I feel like I'm the only one who thought Blitzø was treated unfairly in Stolas' confession towards him. While Stolas rightfully understands that his arrangement with Blitzø was wrong, and made a good effort to make up for it, his decision to attach all of that to a love confession, and him getting upset when Blitzø calls him out on both that AND his proven disregard for many people beneath him in class status is. While understandable, pretty fucked up.

Not that I think the show itself is unaware of this, I just see far more people empathize with Stolas over Blitzø, and it's so weird for me given I walked away feeling the complete opposite about it. I do feel for Stolas, and recognize Blitzø was perhaps a bit too cruel in his assessment of the situation, but like. As brutal as it is to say, he really wasn't that far off the mark. In a way Stolas' reaction indicates how much more he needs to grow and reflect on how he's been treating Blitzø.

I mean, they both need to do some serious soul-searching on their relationship, but whereas Blitzø needs to learn how to accept love from other people, Stolas needs to learn how to give it, and what love actually is--and it's not a gift and a confession you spring on someone after months of essentially using them for meaningless sex and intimacy (which is exactly what he did, no matter what feelings he may have had for Blitzø).

[hadescabin]

TW// GROOMING, MANIPULATION breaking down tigerheartstar and dovewing and why i think its awful ik I said that I dont really like warrior cats anymore but recently i've been thinking about some stuff regarding the series and its fandom and there's one thing that's been particularly bothering me. dovewing and tigerheart. it's just crazy to see the shift of support for tigerdove considering early 2010s warriors fandom seemed mixed on them. now there seems to be this equivocal support for them, probably because most of the fandom's exposure to the couple has been the recent books which frames them as man who loves his wife x burnt out prophecy kid who will do anything for her malewife. which theres nothing wrong with that dynamic, i think it's cute, but people really seem to forget about how tigerheart straight up groomed and treated dovewing awfully throughout oots and even in tigerheart's shadow. it seems to be a forgotten fact that tigerheart was a full grown warrior by the time he was pursuing dovepaw, who was a newly made apprentice. for perspective, this was a 6-7 moon teenager with someone almost the age of her mentor (a little younger). people try to use the excuse "oh but they're cats" and "the age gap isnt that bad" but even the recent books acknowledge with frostpaw and splashtail, that a warrior and apprentice dating is WEIRD. tbf oots was released in the early 2000s, but the fact that canonically speaking the age gap is seen as a teenager and adult relationship gives me the ick. it really puzzles me to see people get on ships like dustfern and bramblesquirrel (both of which i hate btw) for their age gaps but come up with every excuse in the books to defend tigerdove. its not even just the age gap too, again, their relationship has consisted of tigerheart manipulating and grooming dovepaw to do what he wants. in the first two books (esp the second book of oots) dovepaw is presented as someone who got attached to the cats from the journey and doesnt necessarily understand why they must act like they shouldnt exist anymore due to the borders. this is something that tigerheart LEARNS and actively takes advantage of when dovepaw questions why hes at their borders (tldr its dark forest stuff). he shifts the topic and then goes on about the journey and how he felt that they almost became friends, and that if they were in the same clan things would be easier. this may not seem like a big deal, but this goes on for the rest of their interactions whenever tiger needs to pressure her to do something she doesnt want (meeting up, trusting him, etc.) He realizes that the subject of different borders resonates with her and uses it to his advantage whenever he wants something out of her. This can especially be seen in the next book, “Night Whispers”, which kickstarted their relationship. Dovepaw accidentally ran into ShadowClan territory while hunting, and Tigerheart happens to find her there. Once again, he gives her a speech about borders being meaningless, before asking her to meet up with him before the ShadowClan patrol catches them. There’s also other examples in later books where he coerces her into meeting up or trusting him since “that’s what friends are for” or even later in that book, where he manipulates her into using Ivypaw as a captive for herbs. 

When you take this into account, plus him as a full grown warrior, starting a romantic relationship with a barely apprenticed Dovepaw who is shown as having a childish/ immature perception on romance/mates (such as her argument with Ivypaw and claiming that she should “find her own mate”), Tigerdove feels very much like grooming to me. According to the dictionary definition grooming is, “the action of attempting to form a relationship with a child or young person, with the intention of sexually assaulting them”. Of course, in this case, since it’s a young adult book, it’s to form a romantic relationship, which could also be another goal of grooming. Groomers tend to display manipulative behaviors towards the victims in order to coerce them into trusting them more. Whether that be through compliments, gifts, trying to resonate with them or make them feel special. They tend to try to get them to keep and “share” secrets, which is another tactic they utilize both to isolate the victim and to get them to feel more comfortable. 

A lot of behaviors that Tigerheart displays towards Dovepaw falls under this, including the examples I mentioned. There are a couple of other comments that he makes which come off as creepy such as Dovepaw “being his favorite sister”, which as I established, is something a groomer would say in order to make the victim feel as though they’re special and garner their trust. Which is especially the case when you note that he makes that comment in reference to Dovepaw asking about his ties to Ivypaw, which he actively lies about, and quickly reassures her that there’s nothing going on. 

This tactic of manipulation, where he either makes her feel special, or even love bombs and dissuade her from standing up for herself, doesn’t stop when she’s an apprentice. It continues when she’s a warrior, and is constantly used throughout OOTS and “Tigerheart’s Shadow”. At one point in the series, Dovewing and Tigerheart get into an argument about Dawnpelt wrongfully accusing Jayfeather of murder. When Tigerheart defends his sister, Dovewing stands up for Jayfeather, which prompts Tigerheart to try and manipulate her out of the conversation. He jumps straight to talking about how much he loved and missed her, and guilts her by asking why they had to argue like this, and why they couldn’t just “meet like before”. As for Tigerheart's Shadow, he actively goes against what she wants (to raise her kits outside the clan) and actively pressures and guilts her into coming back, before she finally relents. He doesn't care about what SHE wants, it's always about him. Whether it be secretly meeting up, or in The Last Hope, he tries to pressure her to date him again (which she FINALLY refuses and scolds him for thinking about his own needs when they're right before a final battle. as she should). It's especially upsetting in the newest book that tigerheart seems to be the only think at the center of her character. when she argues with ivypool, it's less about the two sister's interpersonal conflicts and more about her and tigerheart's relationship. which...feels like a lot of missed potential to me? i want them to argue, i want dovewing to stand up to herself against ivypool, but why does the entire conflict have to revolve around him? why can't dovewing have her own thoughts and feelings without it tying back to her awful husband?

[nightfal1n]

(wake up to thunder noise at 5am, thinking) (It's Shinomiyas+Narumi thought)

Isao becoming the monster to ensure the later generation's survival is how Kikoru lose her daddy and how Narumi finds his father figure

[puhpandas]

I change how I feel about Gregory and Tony's relationship ten thousand times a day

[unlikelyjapan]

Finales for Michael + Claire

Yo - someone has already broken down that the last/second-last images in each season finale were basically the same, right?

At any rate, I'm going do it again, because my tiny brain only mashed these two things together today. Apologies for the lack of stills.

We have flashback Mikey looking at Carmen reverently in sunlight-sepia hues at the close of season 1, then a big smile, hot on the heels of Carmy genuinely connecting with everyone at family meal - it lets Mikey's belief in his brother linger over the finale, a sense of continuation and partial closure.

The quixotic part of Radiohead's Letdown blasts us off to the credits. IMO, it was one of the most hopeful and tenderhearted moments in TV history.

In the season 2 finale we have flashback Claire, sepia-hued with her coy smile immediately cutting to a dejected Carmy in the walk-in as the welder creates "fireworks" akin to what we see behind them in Pop. There's a sense of continuation, but no closure - it just tells the audience to settle in for more regression in S3, just as we thought we were out of the woods with that experiment.

Michael Stipe walks us out with "Go it alone and haul it along" before it cuts to Syd, proud and abandoned, the song progressing into the credits.

I always felt like that last, longing look from Claire was the biggest crotch-kick from the Storer universe - it felt like an erasure of all the progress and connecting-of-dots that Carmy was working out throughout the latter half of the season, and I guess that's the material point of it all.

Maybe we have to watch this man chase familial myths and phantoms for another season, to the detriment of The Bear, his happiness, his earnest relationship with Syd, and everyone else around him. I'm not sure if he'll actually try to repair things with Claire in a fit of desperation/self-doubt, but it seems like she'll haunt him through his inevitable breakdown at a minimum.

I'm curious about how the writers engineer this without the audience feeling perpetually flogged. I also wonder how they will manage to empower Syd until Carmy starts putting shit together again.

I wish I had more endearing sydcarmy parallels to offer here tonight, but this was eating at me and now someone in the fandom needs to talk me off a ledge.

[mother-of-houseplants-2]

lip, fiona, and frank: refractions, not reflections

writing this because i think people talk a lot about lip and fiona 'turning into' frank as the seasons go on because they inherit his alcoholism, yet that doesn't really capture the exact nature of their character arcs and isn't entirely fair to them as individuals.

i personally think the fact that they inherit his addiction issues make their stories so interesting because alcoholism doesn't manifest in their characters/story arcs the same way it does in frank's. also, the fact that they actually want to recover (and do!) makes them so fundamentally different from him that it's astounding.

not saying that they don't inherit frank's anger, or his cleverness, or etc., but i don't think their inheritance of his alcoholism is a 1-to-1 comparison and that's narratively important!!! (restricting my english major analysis to under the cut).

frank, notably, drinks and does drugs throughout the show because, as he claims, it’s his way of life; getting out of his mind and partying is what makes him happy. it gives him purpose in life. it numbs the pain. he could recover if he wanted to (like in season one), but his sense of self is so tied up with his addiction that doing so would mean killing the version of himself frank likes best. booze was his first love; he’ll never leave it. and he’s passed it on to his children.

lip

i think lip’s alcoholism arc was so poignant and painfully realistic in the show. him talking about how he started drinking at 12 (influenced by frank, it’s easy to presume) to numb the pain of his fucked up life was just heartbreaking, and him getting drunk with frank in season two when he feels aimless and scared and lost after graduating high school was like a punch to the gut. it’s clear that his addiction comes not just from a place of wanting to fit in and being socialized into thinking it’s normal and fine by his father and neighborhood, but also out of a desire for relief.

the first time he gets help, he treats it like a joke. like his father, he doesn’t believe in aa, pokes fun at the 12-step program, rations his chips so he can continue drinking. he’s in denial about his problem, which is chilling to see.

the scene where he’s in the bar downing vodka in the middle of the day and kev confronts him for dropping out of college by saying “that’s where your father sits every day” is so painful. because frank was in college, too, before his crazy relationship and his addictions and self sabotage derailed his life, and lip could go the exact same way.

and lip is still convinced he’s fine. it’s reminiscent of frank’s assertions that he doesn’t have a problem, that he could stop anytime, that everyone’s making a big deal out of nothing. neither he nor lip are fooling anyone.

but what distinguishes lip's addiction from frank's is that lip doesn’t just drink because he likes it and the person it makes him; he starts to not, actually, like the person it makes him. it's just tgat his life is falling apart around him. he’s stressed from college (where he feels he doesn't belong), from helène (who doesn't want him), from youens (who he desperately wants to please). he gets sloshed at parties to let loose and have fun and just forget about everything for once and escape.

the main difference between them is that escapism; lip doesn't necessarily enjoy being drunk, he just does it to feel good, to party, to just let go and leave his shitty life and choices behind. but notably, he isn't satisfied with escapism or empty fun the way frank is; he wants more. he knows he and the people around him deserve more.

the second time he gets help, it’s because his eyes have been opened to his problem. frank, of all people, calls him out. things with sierra go to shit. and he knows he needs help for real this time. it’s not easy; he struggles, is lost in terms of career and education and relationships for a bit, and he relapses sometimes. but he fights it because he doesn’t want to be like his father.

really, frank led lip down the path of addiction in the first place, and not wanting to continue down that path is what makes him want to get better.

fiona

fiona’s shown drinking pretty regularly throughout the show, as well as doing drugs in s4, but her alcoholism doesn’t hit a peak and come to the forefront of her issues until her life goes to complete shit in s9.

her boyfriend betrays her. she loses her job and her apartment complex. her attempts to make money all go down the drain. her dreams are shattered. no one in her family needs her anymore (something she's built her entire identity on, which leaves her completely unmoored). so she goes to the alibi every night and gets hammered because she’s lost and needs to forget. which is all too familiar...

but what’s interesting is that frank actually confronts her about being a “bad drunk.” he expresses again that he enjoys drinking, has fun with it, takes it slow and has a good time, but accuses fiona of not knowing when to stop. this is true. frank’s alcoholism is his way of life, but fiona’s is a cry for help. it is self destructive at its core.

fiona drinks to forget, sure, but she doesn't drink to have fun or feel good or loosen up enough to party; she's still miserable the entire time she's drunk and intentionally goes far enough to black out every night. she's seeking escape, too, but not just from the world; fiona drinks because she's so deep in her own self-loathing she wants to get away from herself. she wants to destroy herself.

and she's in denial about it, too! she doesn’t realize she has a true problem until she almost gets robbed or potentially hurt by some guys at patsy’s. she doesn’t seek help until lip kicks her out - which is a whole other issue - and it’s then that she realizes she needs help.

but unlike lip, who has support in his recovery from his family and friends, fiona’s alone. her family isn’t understanding; they give up on her in the name of “tough love.” she’s on her own. but she does it.

and it makes her realize she doesn’t have to stick around and feel useless and sad. it's not the person she has to be, not anymore. getting sober made her realize her potential - and what she needed to do to reach it. it made her realize she could leave. getting sober made her free.

in conclusion

it's perfectly fair to say fiona and lip inherit some of frank's qualities due to their abuse/neglect/parentification/etc at his hands, as well as their poor coping mechanisms for their shitshow of a life. but their relationship with alcohol - and recovery - are fundamentally different.

ultimately, the fact that they choose recovery at all is the biggest indicator of their difference from him. because frank only ever recovers for money or for a dare; never for the things that matter, like his health or his children. fiona and lip, however, care about their family and friends and don't want to hurt them. they want to be better individuals. they want to learn how.

their desire to do good, when compared to frank's utter disregard for the world around him, is truly at the crux of their identities and makes them, honestly, leagues better than their father.

[appendectomy]

I jest about loumand failmarriage but I do actually really appreciate that amc iwtv gave them some genuinely sweet and romantic scenes that make you understand why they were drawn to eachother. lesser shows wouldve treated this pairing as an obstacle to loustat and made it shallow and demonised armand especially bc of this, not giving him or louis an ounce of compelling history to make sure the audience never strays from the loustat 'endgame'. instead, the iwtv writers treated both parties in that relationship with nuance and used it as an opportunity to expand upon their characters which I really really appreciate. they let you find substance and interest in all the relationships in the show, not just the ones that are intended to be the 'final' pairings.

[0utreblanc]

i can't believe this moron implied i was an unsupportive misogynist because i made a light jab about her fake nails after i had to open her meal for her because her disgusting claws were preventing her from doing anything.

i helped this woman through a deep depressive episode, held her up for the almost three years we worked together, picked her up more times than i can count, helped her get job interview after job interview, supported her through thick and thin, got her her current, extremely comfortable job, help rebuild her wrecked self esteem over and over again, have been the lubricant to every social interaction she's had since starting here to help her regain her footing, have put my professional credibility on the line for her...

But I'm not very "girliepop" and a bitch for not supporting wholeheartedly degrading femininity rituals. cool. im done for good here.

[artheresy]

My dynamic for Dan Feng & Yingxing

Hi hello, I said I would finally post this after long debating over if I show it here first or in my fic first, but fuck it. That’s a long ways away and I need to rant about them because they take up too much space in my brain.

So this post, isn’t me claiming that this is the canon dynamic between Dan Feng and Yingxing or that this is the only right one or whatever. This is purely my own view of what I think their dynamic would be based upon how I see their individual characters with the little bits and crumbs we’ve been given so far in HSR. I can’t go over every single aspect of them here because I just purely can’t think of every single thing so this is primarily going to be talking about the fundamental key parts of my interpretation of their dynamic! If that makes sense, I’ll hop right in

Be warned, this is pretty fucking long, I think so much about them it actually hurts me physically, like it’s painful. This is me just letting my autism run while talking about two of my favorites, so be cautious… sorry in advance if some areas turn into tangents, again I think about them so much its actually too much I think about them too much

AGAIN, THIS IS MY VIEW OF THEM!! Based on the characterization we have so far which isn’t a whole bunch, this is my interpretation of their relationship based on how I view the bits of characterization we have and what we know about them

—

Okay so one of the biggest and most fundamental parts that influences how I view their dynamic and the course of their relationship is looking at how exactly and why exactly I think they became close. Jingliu in her companion quest says:

I think this statement she makes “to see someone so arrogant get along with someone so proud” is actually the foundation of why they get close and their dynamic works rather than an obstacle that they somehow overcome. Specifically, I think that it was Yingxing’s arrogance (partially genuine and partially a habit born for the sake of his own survival) that allowed the two of them to get close. When we see lines from Yingxing via Dan Heng’s memories or via the Mirage Echo, though he uses Dan Feng’s proper title, he seems to talk rather casually to him. Even in a tense situation as secretly being in Scalegorge Waterscape for research would seem, Yingxing still is very lighthearted and in some languages, even laughs a little as he banters with Dan Feng. I have my own headcanons for why he has this casualness to him, but either way it’s a genuine part of him and a part of his canon characterization. I think that casualness, a product of his confidence/arrogance and maybe a little of his obliviousness as well, allows for them to get close. It evens the playing field, Yingxing sees Dan Feng as his equal, as a person, as Dan Feng rather than as his position of Imbibitor Lunae High Elder of the Vidyadhara. I could speculate all day whether or not other people had treated him similarly before and he shot it down (there’s a lot of the actual evolution of the dynamic that I will write I swear), but I think there was something very unique in that casualness that Dan Feng might not have experienced before, not from anyone else, not from the other members of the HCQ he had met before. Perhaps even Yingxing’s background would play a part in how shocked by his behavior DF is. Either way, it is that casualness, that equalness unlike he had ever experienced before, mixed with all of Yingxing’s other characteristics such as his cheeky nature that manages to quickly break down Dan Feng’s walls and make him feel compelled to grow closer to YX. Whether their first meeting was via Baiheng and Jingliu or a chance encounter before they eventually join the HCQ, Dan Feng is coming away from that shell shocked by the sheer audacity of this short life species, feelings he first interprets as offense before he realizes he’s actually amused/interest in him, and Yingxing walking away like “Huh? That was the High Elder I guess. Seems nice, a bit stiff tho!” There is no worship of Dan Feng from his side for any reason, not for his skills, not for his position, not even as an unattainable ethereal beauty situation. He views him as just another person, an equal, and no part of him views DF in this cocky “he’s not unattainable bc I already have him” kind of way because…

—

Another fundamental in my personal interpretation of their relationship is that Yingxing doesn’t truly seek anything from Dan Feng nor does he ever necessarily try to pursue him. And all of this isn’t in an insecure “We’d never work” kind of product of overthinking way of choosing not to pursue him. Rather, it’s primarily because Yingxing doesn’t feel the need to. He doesn’t need his romantic feelinhs to be satisfied or fulfilled especially with the difference in their lifespans. As long as he can be by his side and stay close with him until his time comes to an end, Yingxing is truly perfectly content with that. A lot of this additionally stems from a certain place. That being that after he gets to know Dan Feng better and learns of the sheer pressure he endures due to his position, the choices he feels he’s forced into, the level of restriction, even with all of the influence Dan Feng still has, he doesn’t want to be an added source of pressuring or discomfort. To sum it up, Yingxing leaves the ball in Dan Feng’s court so he can act as he sees fit when he feels like it. There’s an added layer to this also of Yingxing not wanting to ruin the current state of their dynamic (a topic I’ll get into more). In the end, this is just yet another part of Yingxing that utterly pulls Dan Feng in. He is very used to being distrusting of others and refusing to get close to many people, primarily out of wariness of the potential ulterior motives people may have when befriending him. Contrastly, Yingxing doesn’t expect or even want anything from Dan Feng even the closer they get. Dan Feng can see that, and it makes him trust in Yingxing. Makes him trust to the point that he feels comfortable enough to make attempts pursuing Yingxing himself rather than meeting at a stalemate, refusing to go after a man Dan Feng knows won’t chase him as to not risk pressuring him and bc he’s fine with how things are. That isn’t to say though that Yingxing won’t respond to any attempts Dan Feng makes first though, because he absolutely will. Well… that is if he can recognize any attempts from Dan Feng at all because he can be rather oblivious in the face of people making advances at him-

An added part to all of this is that Yingxing with the way he acts, both in general and in this specific regard, ends up being part of what helps influence and encourage Dan Feng to do more to take what he wants, actually follow his desires in certain aspects rather than keeping up his stiff outer image and denying himself of everything for that sake of his position. The HCQ in general all have influence helping Dan Feng open up more like this, seizing things instead of either waiting for things on a platter or never having them. However, Yingxing's bold nature is definitely the strongest factor as he ends up helping Dan Feng learn to identify what he wants for himself. Whether that want is something as complex as moving forward in a relationship when not only has Dan Feng had very little experience with close connections to others, but also is so accustomed to the stillness of long life, or something as simple as taking breaks and time to himself to live and breathe and experience life moving around him. It's through Yingxing (and the rest of the HCQ) that Dan Feng learns to be more selfish. It's through all of their care and kindness and love that Dan Feng learns that he too is not merely a pillar to stand tall for his people. That he is a person with needs and wants, and it is perfectly fine to be selfish and prioritize yourself at times.

—

So that previous section got into a little bit of Dan Feng’s trust in Yingxing, but what about Yingxing’s side of things? What about his trust in Dan Feng? I dunno what it is about him, but I feel like Dan Feng is the kind of person who can hear some of the deepest confessions and see the barest parts of the heart of someone he cares about and not treat them any differently like as if they are fragile y’know. Like Dan Feng is the person who Yingxing, out of all the HCQ, can truly confide in because he knows he won’t be seen different or treated in a drastically different way. Ultimately, Jingliu isn’t someone he feels he can go to for super emotional things which she likely herself knows she wouldn’t be able to help much with, Jing Yuan and him have a very light hearted joking dynamic that makes changing the tone and breaking the mood for a deep heart to heart much harder so he doesn’t often do it, and Baiheng… well, deep down Baiheng still sees Yingxing as that disheartened little boy, who had lost everything and was being told that there’s nothing he could do about it given his lifespan, that he couldn’t avenge what he had lost. If Yingxing were to tell her how he honestly truly feels about everything in his life, the traumas he still hadn’t overcome or the thoughts that plague him every day, he knows she would end up fretting over him, mother hen style. Being overly cautious as if his mind is made of glass, and as much as he loves her, he hates the idea of her changing how she treats him because of just how much she cares for him in turn.

(It’s a trait I see Baiheng having as to it being an obstacle in her other relationships like with Yingxing but works well in her relationship with Jingliu, caring for her and treating her softly, not underestimating her, in a way that others are too afraid to treat the unwavering, ice cold Sword champion! Matching DF and YX’s whole situation with his arrogance and casualness)

In the end, Yingxing feels like Dan Feng is the only one he can truly trust with the deepest corners of his heart and mind without worrying of Dan Feng either judging him or suddenly treating him like a fragile piece of porcelain. Even if he were to take note of something Yingxing told him and do something in response perhaps to ease his worries or heart ache, it would never be something out of pity or thinking Yingxing to be unable to take care of himself. Because ultimately, that’s where this all stems for Yingxing. He has lived so much of his life underestimated, whether having his skills and abilities questioned for being a short life species or sometimes intentionally sometimes unintentionally having his ability to take care of himself questioned like he needs a caretaker. Something that again is partially due to again to being a short life species. What Yingxing likes about Dan Feng is from the moment he met him, he doesn’t feel as if he is being questioned or underestimated. Dan Feng makes him feel as if he is truly seen as an equal, even with their distinct difference in power. It’s a treatment from Dan Feng that serves as a response to Yingxing’s own treatment of Dan Feng, his casualness to the other man making it clear he sees him as an equal as well.

And that? Well that is perhaps the most important part of the dynamic. In canon, they both have struggles with how they are seen and treated by others based on preconceived notions about their status. Dan Feng being in a way dehumanized as he is put up on a pedestal for being an incarnation of Imbibitor Lunae, for being the High Elder of the Vidyadhara, a position that he wants to escape because of the sheer loss of identity just a role brings. Yingxing being underestimated from the moment he stepped onto the Xianzhou because he wasn’t a long life species to the point that the other celestial masters on the Zhuming borderline bullied him into doubting himself, thinking a lot about his own death, and as a young boy (not even a teen yet), literally saying “Maybe I’ll never live to see the day my parents are avenged.” In my view of them, for them to truly be as close as they are established in canon, I think that from the start of their dynamic they make it very clear they see the other as a genuine and true equal in a way that other people haven’t or perhaps, can’t fully.

—

I said this before my in Aurizzm Yingxing post, but yeah, I don’t think Dan Feng or Yingxing would have come into a romantic relationship with each other with any experience at all. I know Dan Feng with no experience is a very accepted idea, and I agree with it very much given his isolated position and his proud attitude and that 100% plays into my view of their dynamic. I also however, firmly believe Yingxing came in without any romantic relationship experience too. The difference here ends up being in how inexperienced each of them are. Yingxing has had a lot more friendship experience, and he’s experienced crushes before which is how he can identify his own romantic feelings better than Dan Feng. But he’s never actually been in any relationship. He’s never had the time, he’s got his own goals in mind while being painfully aware he’s on a time limit, and let’s be real like I said before, This Man is married to his Forge. Meanwhile, Dan Feng truly hasn’t had any friendships prior to the HCQ. Knowing him and her too, I firmly believe Dan Feng and Jingliu’s relationship for example, was for maybe a few decades, maybe a literal century, just them sparring without words from time to time. So Dan Feng not only going in with no friendship experience, but I think that man also is having to recognize some new emotions and feelings he’s never experienced nor can put words to. So Dan Feng’s disaster comes in being painful aware of the presence and intensity of his own feelings… he just doesn’t have the words nor experience to recognize exactly what those feelings are. It’s an absolute disaster on all fronts, somebody pray for the HCQ who unfortunately have to experience all of this.

There’s an added layer I want to go more into looking back at the first part of why their relationship works and the thing I said about the Baiheng trait. As we saw with Jingliu admitting to her feelings towards his attitude as a child, she wasn’t… she wasn’t really a fan so to say of his arrogance. And given y’know, what we see of the people of the Luofu, I don’t doubt many people have similar reactions. Part of Yingxing’s limited experience comes not only from his own decision to not pursue anything, I think part of it comes from being for whatever reason feeling distaste for him. Whether it’s their own prejudices against Outworlders, or his bold attitude and lack of formality that makes any interest they had in him end up flying away. Which ugh, makes it even more special that this attitude of his, born out of necessity for his own survival on the Xianzhou and for his ability to move forward in his craftsmanship after all he went through, which has pushed so many people away, ends up being the exact thing that allows him to get close to Dan Feng. IT’s UGGGHHH Sorry, but I just need to scream. I NEED TO SCREAM ABOUT THEM OKAY?? THEY TAKE UP TOO MUCH SPACE IN MY BRAIN, I CAN’T HAVE A SINGLE MOMENT OF REST BECAUSE OF THEM

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Again, this is my view of them and their dynamic based upon what we have been given in game so far, the crumbs of characterization we have. God I hope we get more. This isn’t me saying this view of them is canon or anything, this is just how I view them. This is the dynamic and thoughts that have grown like mold in my head from thinking about them WAY too much.

I have so much more I could talk about, certain specific things or things that don’t even immediately come to mind right now. If you want to ask more about how I view them or have some topic or aspect of them in mind, please hit me up. Either send something to my inbox or bust your way into my dms to talk about them. I love them so much. They mean the world to me.

And honestly? I could just make two whole separate posts also just about how I specifically characterize each of them, but I think I need to let my brain rest a bit.

And don’t think about this dynamic specifically in reference to how it could reflect on their current selves because you might just end up hurting yourself like I have. GOD I HATE THEM