#zhenyi musings

[twistedappletree]

I need a 2000’s mall kid zhuiling/zhenyi AU right now immediately because I just know Lan Sizhui and Jin Ling would be doing normal shit like little food court/arcade dates, browsing shops and putting silly little scarves and hats on each other, listening to music with the same headphones, etc. while Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen would beeline straight to a department store to cause chaos and Lan Jingyi would jump into one of those giant crates holding pillows and get security called on him because he can’t get out

[exorcieyes]

bacunawa’s opinion on your muse (accepting) // @jyargal (Dorje)

"What is he to you.” It’s out of the blue. “Dorje."

Zhenyi has slowed in her dancing, and she peers at him through her fan --- a shadow in the wildflowers, or an omen, maybe, except in the way that he isn’t. "Is this jealousy, Isagani?"  

His mouth opens. Purses. "No."

"Do you think poorly of him?"

“He has… aided me,” Bacunawa says, like he's just reached some invisible middle ground. “And he has cared for you. What I feel is… not aversion.”

The bells on her dress settle. He hears the slow chimes, and then sees: standing there knee-deep in the grass, washed in moonlight, smoke, his steady, imperishable affections. Zhenyi pads down the field barefooted and waves out the incense in her hand. “He speaks fondly of you.’”

"So he tells me.”

Dorje comes to mind. Towering horns. A laugh. ‘My friend.’ There’s a smile in her eyes and he clears his throat. 

“What I want to know,” Bacunawa continues, “is why.”

Zhenyi has put away her fan and bushel of incense, and is now in front of him, a late-night apparition. Curiously, she is pressing little secrets along his elbow. “Because you are a demon.”

“I am his enemy --- and subject to reprisal,” he affirms. “I would not question it.” 

"He is without enemies. Dorje would hurt no one, and he is not you."

No, Bacunawa supposes. He isn’t.

Crickets chirp. She continues drawing the world’s smallest line on his elbow, and all of Bacunawa’s half-formed sentences run away from him. Perhaps he can blame it on the late hour and no other reason, except he’s come to terms that the smell of her hair has the same effect. "He is kind... And loyal. As are you," he confesses, unnaturally. "I am certain there are those who will exploit it."

"But you will not." Her head lifts. She does not ask.  

"No," he tells her, firmly. "I will not."

[no-light-no-sugar-no-spice]

The Cowardice Behind Censorship

After some time here, I have observed there are four general responses to seeing any sort of differing opinion in the comments of any post.

Most users keep scrolling.

Some share their thoughts in a civil manner with evidence to back their clames then MOVE ON

Some, rather than attempt to consider let alone understand another’s perspective resort to petty insults.

Then there are those few insecure cowards who delete/report anything remotely opposing their opinion then disable commenting because they’re afraid potentially being proven wrong and losing power over their following.

I think it’s hilarious that an stating an observation can’t bend someone so far out of shape.

[twistedappletree]

if you enjoy my zhuiling headcanons, just wait until i start dropping my zhenyi headcanons like the one i just found in my phone’s notes about a zhuiling/zhenyi double date where Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui are having a peaceful, quiet picnic with tea and casual conversation while Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen find out they have a shared love for frogs and are somewhere in the distance mucking around in a bog together trying to catch as many frogs as humanly possible

[twistedappletree]

Adding to that morning zhuiling headcanon except modern: Lan Sizhui is definitely the type to shower and get dressed first thing in the morning while Jin Ling wears a blanket around his shoulders like a cape and flies around the house bullshitting for like 30 mins trying to decide what to eat before making coffee (girl breakfast) then going straight back to bed to sip his coffee and watch tiktoks

[exorcieyes]

bacunawa’s opinion on your muse (accepting) // @bellecosebabe  

“She is hungry.”

The casino’s lights flash on his glasses. She sees them blink. “The young woman.” 

"It is control. She will not stop until she has had her fill --- And we do not know when.”

“Neither will she,” Zhenyi says. He has finally slipped his eyes from the tall tower to her, and it’s so curious a thing to never see a cold breath leave his mouth, always so severe except when it’s not; her own best-kept secret. “So young... What has she done to sit so high, and where none can touch her." Everything. Anything. “You know her kind.”

"I am familiar,” he answers at last. “Before, where I am from. And now, here.”

Not just here, but the human realm. Isagani looks out of place; a cutout in the dizzying casino glow and smudging tail lights; a blackhole that light cannot escape. She feels his presence beside her the way a whisper runs down the back of your neck, only it is safe, and he is cold. Absolute zero.

"You do not trust her.”

“I trust she will do what is necessary,” he says, mouth coiling. “For her benefit.”

“Are we not the same.”

She watches. Isagani goes quiet. Looks away. “She would have you do what is… troubling.” Creating curses, he means. Something she would have never done. What she hates. Zhenyi thinks of the young woman, Verin, but from a previous life, an animal on all fours, mangy, crooked-legged and fighting.

“She has lost herself long ago,” she says, then, and Isagani tucks her hair behind her ear. His eyes are black.

“We will not find her.”

They will not try, but she knows Verin won’t, either.