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ryin-silverfish · 5 months

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Chapter 22: Coarse, rough, and gets everywhere

-After dealing with the Yellow Wind demon, the gang ventured forth in this fine autumn season, only to be blocked by the Flowing Sand River, 800 li wide and full of Weak Water.

"What, exactly, is a Weak Water? Are there like, Strong Water?"

-As the poem suggested, Weak Water(弱水) refers to water that has no buoyancy, and anything that fall in would just sink, even a feather. Record of such strange water appeared first in the Book of Mountain and Sea; it surrounds Mt. Kunlun, the abode of Queen Mother of the West, and Book of Late Han also stated that Weak Water and quicksand could be found near QMoW's dwelling.

-These tales could be inspired by IRL geography, where a lot of the rivers in western China, bc they are flowing through plateaus or deserts, are very shallow in depth and regular boats would just capsize inside. When non-native ppl saw those rivers that couldn't be traversed by boats, they thought the water itself has no buoyancy.

-Also, there was a portion of Gobi Desert the historical Xuanzang crossed, 莫贺延碛, which had the alternate name "Sand River"; in Xuanzang's biography, this was also where he was awoken from his thirst-addled sleep by an unnamed great deity. Much like how this desert deity would later evolve into Sandy, the "Sand River" would also become a literal river in the JTTW story cycle.

-We learn the real reason SWK isn't good at underwater combat: he either needs to use one hand to cast a Water-repelling Spell in order to move freely, or transforms into an aquatic critter, both of which would get in the way of wielding his staff.

-Hmmm, why couldn't he just grow a third arm (sth he's obviously capable of, given his fight with Nezha) and use it to maintain the spell while bashing some aquatic demons' head in? Maybe only 1 concentration spell is allowed at a time, D&D style...

-I feel like we've all wondered what the job of "Curtain-raising General" entails—is he like, literally the guy at the gate who lifted those fancy bead-curtains every time a celestial came through? Well, kinda. Not really.

-"Curtain-raising" is actually an important part of Daoist rituals. Before the sacrificial offerings began, there were curtains covering statues on the altars, and only after it was believed that the gods in question had arrived to court were the curtains lifted(literally or metaphorically), and the priests able to present their prayers to them.

-Here is a video of the "Curtain-raising Charm", performed by Quanzhen Daoists:

youtube

-So Sandy's job is less gate guard, and more of an announcer of JE's court sessions. This is my personal take, but I feel like part of why the punishment for him breaking a cup was so harsh was bc he was an official specialized in court rituals and propriety, so he should've known better than to jeopardize such an important event.

-We also learn the answer to another question many have asked: "Why can't SWK just fly Tripitaka to Vulture Peak on his somersault cloud?" Turns out, a mortal's body was too heavy to be carried on clouds, and though the Yu translation was slightly wonky here, ordinary demons could summon a magical wind for fast-travel and kidnapping, but they were still staying close to the ground and not truly high-up in the air.

(Also, if he could, we wouldn't have a 100 chapter story.)

-Finally, some internal alchemy stuff relating to Sandy from my annotated Chinese edition: during the fight between Pigsy and Sandy, the latter was referred to as the Spatula, 刀圭. The second character, made of 2 characters for "Earth" stacked on top of each other, was later broken into "Two-Earths" in referral to Sandy again.

-In internal alchemy, Earth represents ideation/determination, specifically, that of attaining immortality. When the ideation stills, it is known as "Yin-Earth", and when it stirs, the "Yang-Earth", collectively referred to as "Two-Earths". It functions as the catalyst and meditator between the Spiritual Mind(Wood) and Vital Energy(Metal), which must come together and mingle during cultivation to form the Golden Elixir.

-Thus, Sandy's soon-to-be role as the Only Sane Man and meditator between SWK and Pigsy.

@journeythroughjourneytothewest

#journey to the west #jttw book club #xiyouji #jttw reading group #Youtube

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flamingwell · 1 year

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[Podfic] clipped wings (podfic) I DID IT!!! I GOT BLACKOUT IN GUARDIAN BINGO AND SCORED THE INCREDIBLE LIT LANTERN CINEMAGRAPH!!

(thank you @guardianbingo and the talented @highlynerdy!!)

Here’s all my fills for Guardian Bingo, filled across 2022 and the first part of 2023! Most of it is podfic, but a few fics in there too. Almost all of it is angst and hurt/comfort (especially hurt Shen Wei) mostly has Shen Wei as a central character. Mostly Weilan focused, but some of Shen Wei’s other relationships, too. (I bet you can’t guess my fav character, LOL) Hope you enjoy!

And if you’re interested, you can still join the super low pressure Guardian Bingo by going to @guardianbingo! 1 fill with no length requirement is all that’s required for the Longevity Dial!

[Podfic] what the weave tells you by @elenothar for the��“dark energy” square: Zhao Yunlan can’t fucking believe that he first hears about this from Lao Chu of all people. A Dixingren tradition so important literally everyone knows about it? One relevant to intimate relationships of all kinds, including the kind where two (or more) people have bought a house together, saved the world together, have lots of really astoundingly good sex together? Naturally, Shen Wei has never mentioned it.

[Podfic] this offering (cold read with an audience) by @listening-to-thunder for the “war” square: When they're captured by Dixing rebels looking for Hei Pao Shi, Zhao Yunlan is willing to do anything to keep Shen Wei out of their hands—but Shen Wei is determined to protect Kunlun. And no matter what happens they are all alone and far from safety.

The [Podfic] Ouroborous series by anonymous for the “dragon” bonus prompt and the “Ye Zun”, and “SID” squares, which is a series featuring Tiny Dragons Shen Wei and Ye Zun, before, during, and after the war.

[Podfic] all that you can't leave behind by china_shop for the “black cloaked envoy” square: Zhao Yunlan rushed to catch Shen Wei before he fell.

Clipped Wings (podfic and fanfic versions) by Mo_on_racoon and me for the “alternate universe” and free squares: The strange weights move along Shen Wei's back. Heart hammering in his chest, he reaches backward and cannot swallow a cry of surprise that echoes off his narrow prison. His wings. His wings are back. But Ye Zun is nowhere to be found. Zhao Yunlan isn't here either. And Shen Wei is trapped.

[Podfic] held fast in open hands by Eliza for the “alliance” square: Chu Shuzhi thought he saw the inevitable end of his life sentence in the approaching swirl of Hei Pao Shi’s black cloak. Instead, his shackles fell away and he walked into new bonds made of black ink.

[Podfic] The last thing by @laireshi for the “self-sacrifice” square: Shen Wei will save Zhao Yunlan if it's the last thing he does.

(alone) for the sake of a sincere heart (podfic and fanfic versions) by @crystalinn and me for the “masks” and “forgotten” squares: It is all they have ever wanted—the close, near-effortless intimacy they share, finally allowed to flourish under their earnest, if inexperienced, hands. And yet…

[Podfic] Diverging Paths by spinningthreads for the “experiment” square: In one universe the SID arrives in time to protect a terrified student and her teacher. That universe is not this one.

[Podfic] language without an army by nnozomi for the “what we leave behind” square: Shen Wei struggles with code-switching.

[Podfic] fading echoes by velithya for the “betrayal” square: When he comes to, the man is still there – but Gege isn't.Or, Ye Zun, from the cliff to the fall.

[Podfic] shades of black and red (and blue) by @crystalinn for the “secrets” square: Badly wounded, you seek safety. Your robes, dark as night, hide the evidence; your mask, your pallor. Nothing can hide the trail of dark blood in your wake.

[Podfic] you're one to talk by nnozomi for the “milestone” square: Shen Wei’s tendency to sarcasm gets the better of him, and Zhao Yunlan has a revelation.

[Podfic] the life you save by china_shop for the “time travel” bonus prompt: If Changcheng changed anything—if he stepped on a butterfly, or said the wrong thing to the wrong person—it could bend the course of history and undo their hard-won victory.

[Podfic] a bunch of lonesome heroes by @laireshi for the “meeting again” bonus prompt: Zhao Yunlan loved Shen Wei too much to let him continue like that.

[Podfic] till the last one falls by anonymous for the “star-crossed lovers” bonus prompt: The first arrow is a sun-bright blur. You lean a handspan to the left. Your hood flutters against your right cheek as the arrow passes. The second arrow your blade redirects to shatter on the passage wall. The third tangles in your cloak. A possibly fatal distraction, but one there’s no time to be rid of. They’re here.

[Podfic] what you would give by anonymous for the “trying something new” bonus prompt: You know something has changed before you even open your eyes.

[Podfic] the last cup of tea by @sasamelons for the “supernatural elements” bonus prompt: Years after Shen San's death, Shen Wei sees a familiar ghost in the Underworld.

[Podfic] unbearable by @laireshi for the “short and sweet” bonus prompt: Shen Wei is used to pain.

[Podfic] weld by glymr and yue_ix for the “keep on going” bonus prompt: Zhao Yunlan feels it happen. Past and present and future lock into place; role and responsibilities and duty. He’d already known that he belonged to Shen Wei and Shen Wei belonged to him, heart and mind and body and soul. Apparently, their mingled core energies had been one step ahead. Or: an energy bonding AU, based on goss's gorgeous art Wield

[Podfic] Time, to make you grieve by @laireshi for the “acceptance” bonus prompt: He doesn't remember the warmth of Kunlun's arms around him; can't seem to shake the coldness of millennia clinging to him.

#podfic #fanfic #guardian #guardian bingo #my stuff

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mejomonster · 2 years

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So there's this thing called compressed audio of shows, a thing from the immersion language learning community, and it's basically a shows episode audio condensed to just the dialogue. Which means it's both a nice way to practice listening with nonstop words and no dead time while getting to hear a story you already like, it's also a lil way to kinda 'rewatch' stuff you like almost like an audiodrama in how it feels listening.

Well a site had some chinese drama condensed audio and I downloaded ice fantasy, figuring I would like listening to it for practice

And fucking wow did my absolute love for Ying kongshi come back AND HIT ME LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN

And HOW KA SUO IS SUCH A GOOD BROTHER, THEIR DYNAMIC IS SO AKIN TO WHAT YE ZUN AND SHEN WEI MIGHTVE BEEN LIKE HAD THEY GOTTEN A LONGER HAPPY CHILDHOOD TOGETHER, YING KONGSHI WANTS TO PROTECT HIS BROTHER, KA SUO HAS TO PROTECT HIM CAUSE HES THE UNLIKED WIFES NOT DESTINED TO BE KING KID, KA SUO DOESNT WANT TO BE KING HE ADMITS IT TO HIS DIDI AND OH YING KONGSHI WANTS TO HELP HIM SO MUCH

Little YING KONGSHI WHO CANT DO ICE MAGIC

And LI LUO!!!! HOW I MISSED LI LUO!! MY MORTAL KUNLUN ESQUE BADASS GUARDIAN PROTECTING THE WORLD, PROTECTING PRINCE KA SUO, TEACHING HIM LIFE STUFF AS HE SWOONS LIKE WHO THE HELL WOULDNT

THE FIRE PRINCESS, MY BELOVED GIRL. HOW MUCH SHE WANTS TO BE GOOD ENOUGH, TO HELP, TO PROVE SHE CAN. HOW MUCH SHE CARES FOR HER FAMILY DESPITE HOW ROUGH THEY ACT AND HOW MUCH THEY EXPECT

Oh and kongshis mom is the hottest hottie (the pink haired girl from Karamazov Tomorrow) I love her acting on screen, especially as the morally grey to evil unlike wife she is in Ice Fantasy. And fire king is a jerk but... hes also pretty fine, I kinda get it. I get why she ended up getting a little crush

And I haven't even got to the other main characters again yet!

And anyway I heard Ice Fantasy dialogue again and was immediately reminded how much 1 its absolutely pure wish fulfillment for me as far as the political families magical fantasy mixed with mortal reality Dramatics stories I eat up (and that fill much of my own original stories ToT) along with the Key tropes I love most in romance, especially over the top Big Journey Big Stakes Mortals/Immortals Enemy Sides stories. And it also manages to keep me eager for the next episode and more story, which is so hard for me in some cdramas and doubly so in xianxia where I either hate it (a lot of popular ones) or bore easily (the legends had great actors but I couldn't click enough, same with love and destiny) and only once in a great while do I love it to pieces (Love And Redemption, Canglanjue). Ice Fantasy is one of the ones I love to pieces. Not cause it's perfect (whereas the other 2 I really do think are at Minimum 90% phenomenal), but more personally just cause Ice Fantasy hits every angle I personally want a fun dense fantasy story to do.

It has interesting distinct settings that look clearly different from any other fantasy western or Chinese I've seen before (while also being clearly inspired by various influences), while by 2022 standards it looks a bit cheap, it's costume and set designers clearly had a distinct identity they envisioned and succeeded at making it. (In fact canglanjue's costuming and set choices remind me of Ice Fantasy with a mix of western elf fantasy styles with horns and wood and vines and less heavenly/demon/mortal traditional setups but clj is more subtle so it still is partly clearly similar to the traditional xianxia heavenly/demon costuming and sets, just unique within that subset). Ice Fantasy goes fun with it, white haired Ice Immortals, red firey haired Fire Immortals, mermaids with blue streaks, mortals with purple highlights cause he liked purple (it's fantasy so why not let them have fantastical hair!). Ice Fantasy goes why not give armor so fantastical it reminds me of Valkyries armor, of crystal fairy wings and icicles. It has a mortal city of people with dream powers, a lush foliage city with mortal healers, it may not have the budget to look so perfected but it is so distinct and i absolutely love when stories KNOW what they want to be.

It's own fantasy setup ALSO knows what it wants to be, and it's not that heaven/demons/mortal realm set up. It has remnants of that format with Fire Immortals dressed in some ways like dixingren in Guardian, demons in Love and Redemption (and Eternal Love and the list goes on). But like my preferred xianxia, the Fire Immortal kingdom is ultimately just another country in the story, with characters given room to care about and understand. I don't see a soft side of Fire king but he's portrayed honestly a lot like the also Quite Fucking Cruel Ice King. I see the Fire princess and once we see her pov she is going through a LOT that parallels Ka Suo's duties, burdens, fears. (She's also paralleling Ying Kongshi as she isn't in line for the throne the way her brother is, isn't seen as a choice for leadership even when she's trying so hard and IS competent and would be the choice if things were fair). We see her pov and we get moments they aren't just black/white villains (oh unlike say Eternal Love -.-). It's not perfect, cause I'd say Ice Fantasy doesn't have perfect writing (though the character arcs are consistent and I enjoy deeply which is all I give a shit about lol if that were bad I couldn't watch). It meanders into various subplots like a role play between friends or a webnovel going for bulk or an anime filling up many seasons. But they're fun arcs I wanted to see ToT! They're indulgent but I'm happy to be indulged in this particular case. It's definitely a drama that could've been tighter and maybe cut some subplots and sharpened the overall cohesive long plot into something more well arced and structured in pacing. But despite the scattered nature of many short plots forming into a big plot (mm sort of how I write ToT) it does keep itself fast paced so the pacing itself isn't slow (again I only can watch cdramas with good pacing lol). It's just gonna be a Ranma 1/2 or Inuyasha viewing experience plot wise rather than a tight quick paced Death Note one.

And God does it fit so many goddamn tropes I enjoy. Brothers who just want to help each other but complicated family politics make it a battle uphill. Characters who's lives make their desires impossible (I've been there and like seeing those arcs gotten through), political intrigue (I eat it up it's no joke a bulk of my own original writing lol), campy costumes (I personally eat up costume designs like this I'd rather see the spirit of intent than expensive stuff with no Identity unique to itself), dominant women (Li Luo and Fire Princess and Sword Girls my beloved), sweet in love himbos (hi most of the men heros), snarky bitches who are honestly kinda hot (Fire Princess, her bro, and her dad for sure, Kongshi later on), manipulative desperate people and if you hand me an empress/queen pulling the strings to destroy in desperation I am in awe (kongshis mom and the Empress in Secret of the Three Kingdoms both delivered this and oh shocker BOTH are some of my fave shows), Li Luo is my IDEAL heroine romantic lead (she's a Guardian she's a bodyguard she's street smart she's chivalrous and brave and kind and friendly, but she also holds her duty seriously amd recognizes the painful reality of a mortal so close to an Immortal and she in so many ways includes similar things I love about Zhao Yunlan and in a fantasy setting her particular model is SO rare cdrama girl leads but exactly the kind I love - I imagine YouFei I'll one day like for this, and again Secret of the Three Kingdoms gave me widow assassin princess with similar traits in some regards, that show gave me A ton of the girl character types I most crave in historical shows), Ma Tianyu (who's acting I love irrationally) plays an earnest sweetie who wants to help his loved ones and turns into a manipulative lashing out twist of himself (like Ye Zun going bonkers world ending) as a result of that desperation and its a joy to watch (love that explosion - literally he explodes Fire and his bro finds him like if shen wei found ye zun blowing out of the pillar and eating ppl on the way out, but Ka Suo is way more close to Kongshi so he takes his side and helps cover the damage). Again my girl from Tomorrow plays a main grey morality character pushing the political drama along, and I am always hype when I get her acting. It's like... Ice Fantasy gives me the kind of self indulgent fantasy fantastical plethora of stuff i like the way I imagine sailor moon does for someone. It's just thank you thank you I am so thrilled when I finish it I have a sequel! (Which indulges yet ANOTHER thing I eat up, fantasy in mundane modern reality! Incidentally also the bulk of stuff I write).

So yeah obviously. I'm desperately wanting to rewatch Ice Fantasy and finish it now ;-;

#rant #ice fantasy #I MISS IT BUT ITS 62 EPS AND IDK WHEN IM GONNA FIT IT IN #BUT I LOVE IT OKAY ITS. ITS JUST THE KIND OF STUFF I LOVE

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dreams-of-cerulean · 1 year

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A9. Does your OC make a lot of excuses? For themselves? Others? B14. Do they have people they are genuinely honest with about themselves? C5. Do your OC’s morals and rules of common decency go out the window when it comes to those they don’t like, or when it’s inconvenient? Aka, are their morals situational? G6. Do they have any favorite childhood memories? L1. How have your characters changed since you created them?

(( This got really long. Everything's under the cut. ))

A9. Does your OC make a lot of excuses? For themselves? Others?

Levant rarely makes excuses when it comes to herself. If it's her fault, it's her fault. And no amount of denial or excuses is going to change that. To make excuses would mean she's being a coward - and she's no coward.

For others though, Levant is willing to look over a lot of other people's shortcomings to the point of making excuses for them. Part of it is her loneliness - she's always felt that no one truly knows her aside from a few people - three particular people happen to be the ones that those excuses are for.

Sasha's nearly killed her on one occasion - after the disastrous trip into Kunlun's Treasure Grotto, and she's never told the other girl that. Just chalked it up to her being drunk and emotional and left it be. It's not like she doesn't get into some life-threatening situation every couple months anyway.

Lenore would probably be considered neglectful as a mother, to the point where Levant had switched to using Big Sis / Elder Sis without fully realizing she's made that transition. She's seen what motherly figures should be like, and Lenore's not it. Then again, Lenore has never claimed to be a mother, just someone who understands Levant very well - and what she needs to grow as a person.

Chi is the main person she's been making excuses for in her head, even as the evidence becomes crushingly obvious as to whose existence is likely causing a lot of problems in this world. However, what can she do?

Get rid of the one person who's supported her no matter what?

No. A hundred times no.

And so she ignores the elephant in the room for the sake of her sanity, even knowing that the more she does so, the more screwed up this world will likely become.

She's not sure what she'd do if there ever comes a time where she has to choose between this world and Chi.

B14. Do they have people they are genuinely honest with about themselves?

Ironically, the people she's most honest and upfront with are total strangers. She doesn't care about their opinion, and thus she acts in accordance with her mercurial, often aggressive nature. Sato's also in this category ironically enough, but that's because she doesn't feel like she needs to pretend in front of Sato - she already feels like the other girl has a very good grasp of her from the start, and Sato actually likes the way she is - which isn't too surprising how Sato just likes to watch the world burn.

Tumblr folk are probably who she fronts more with. To her, the people on Tumblr are her peers, some even her seniors, when compared to her similar-aged acquaintances in school. They're all well versed with the supernatural, and...well she likes them. So she tries to put up her best side, though she sometimes slips given how much she likes to exposit.

She probably puts up the biggest front with Chi, and she knows Chi knows that. But she feels like she has to set a good example for her as "her boss" in this two-person gang of theirs. Makes sure Chi knows what's right from wrong - if you're going to steal from people, you should take from people who could afford to lose it - or just practical life things - like not eating from the garbage can when there's actual food available - just leave it as compost to grow better food.

C5. Do your OC’s morals and rules of common decency go out the window when it comes to those they don’t like, or when it’s inconvenient? Aka, are their morals situational?

Levant has never been particularly lawful, though what she does follow, she is strict about. Particularly her version of the Golden Rule. "Those who are kind to her, she'll repay it double. Those who are cruel to her, she'll repay it tenfold."

Given that people she doesn't like are usually those who are unkind to her in the first place, there's rarely an instance where her morals are incongruent. As for her disproportionate retribution, that's also built in to her version of the Golden Rule too.

G6. Do they have any favorite childhood memories?

She has a couple of the orphanage.

Lenore teaching her the basics of Parkour and how they regularly goaded each other into greater and greater heights.

Lenore teaching her Wing Chun after her "adoption" under the excuse of "you are going to get yourself killed with all the trouble you raise."

The times where Chi and her took up chore duty after the matron got too old and found it too exhausting to do it herself. And the looks of admiration she got - that no amount of fighting would ever get her - from the other kids.

The trouble Chi and her got into when it came to pranking others, her mostly doing the pranking and Chi playing looking out.

None of her favorite memories included the Dream.

L1. How have your characters changed since you created them?

Ohhh boy. I'll just limit it to the sisters. Because Euridice and Mirielle have quite a bit of history, Euri especially.

Chi hasn't really changed from the beginning, which really is as intended. She's always supposed to be the monolith, reflecting her nature as Malkuth / Lilith - a reflection of the physical world. Even if everything else changes, she will still be here, waiting and watching. I guess one change is that she draws far less now than before, but that may be more because of my lack of time than anything else ahah.

Levant of this blog is pretty much the sequel of the Levant of lastcompact. She's changed significantly, not just in age but also in demeanor. She used to be a lot more asocial for one, mostly seeing others in how she could use or how she'll get rewarded by them - a Dreamer's / Gamer's mindset. She's improved significantly on that front after being kicked out from the Dream and realizing how badly she's been treating people.

Her sisters, Tumblr and the Nameless Cult are probably the best things that happened to her - though she doesn't consciously realize it, knowing that there's someone who would miss her has curbed quite a bit of her reckless nature more than she realizes. The Levant of lastcompact had recently lost what was pretty much her adoptive mother that year, and though she doesn't remember the events of lastcompact (yet), it had made her reluctant to get close to others, though her friends and acquaintances have managed to bring her out of her shell.

#the precipice || ooc #longpost //#headcanon::levant #ask game ;;#anon ;;

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daemonduality · 2 years

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Entry 38:

A continuation of the prior entry.

So Maia was in the pendulum and let herself be known by her chilling presence. She seemed more substantial in the stone cairn - I could see her outline clearly, and she seemed interested in entering deeper in the cairn.

We eventually reached some sort of central fountain. I recognize the chinese characters because that’s where I lived back in my home world, but I didn’t recognize these - I guess they were old characters, probably before the modern symbols. I took a rubbing of the tablet in the central fountain before we suddenly got beamed back to what they call Mount Kunlun.

I don’t get why it’s called a Mountain. It’s clearly a giant valley. When I asked them, I think the people I asked got really insulted. I didn’t push it further.

Anyway Maia seems to understand these etchings instinctively. Some sort of ghost cultivation? She's fascinated by the rubbing I took and has been studying. Well, I guess it’s better than her watching television all day.

...What’s strange though is that I feel like the teleportation shouldn’t have happened - or at least not that soon. Maybe I’m just imagining things and taking the whole Occult Girl thing to the next level, but I have this nagging feeling that I’m missing time.

Anyway, I think I’ve caught the entries up for the most part. And I’m fairly sure I’m safe. I don’t think the group that kidnapped me came back from the grotto.

Good riddance.

#online;; public

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rigelmejo · 1 year

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11/17/2022

So. I was doing this thing from September to October where I read stuff WITHIN my reading level, or a bit ‘lower’ but with new words, or a bit ‘higher’ but with a click dictionary. Partly intensively, partly extensively. Read like 400k characters in 2 months. Then... as I sort of expected... my ability to focus shifted.

I read 3 english books since then (this november) but no more chinese. I watched Flower of Evil, I’m half done with 2 more shows. I wrote 10k words of fanfic (but alas... I have not actually managed to focus on writing again). I’d guess I’m currently in a “read physical books/watch TV” focus mood. And that’ll be shifting into “play video games” and MAYBE one of the prior activities (read or shows) if I’m lucky. But I already feel like playing games again so. Only a matter of time. (And eventually, when that hits, the desire to study Japanese will ramp up again... cause the instant I hear Japanese in Yakuza I’ll want to know how to understand more again).

Also an aside... I STILL really want to just listen through a FULL glossika course, or listen-reading method through a whole audiodrama with subs... just to test out the study methods fully. But alas... still I cannot manage to focus long enough to do either ToT. When I start playing video games again I probably WILL listen to japanese glossika again... but so much is review versus new, idk if I’ll progress through it much. But it will be a good refresher I guess.

Anyway. So the reason I felt like making the post. Right. To say 1. I have not studied for almost a month lol. 2. The only REALLY big ‘study’ activity I feel like doing... and might actually do. Well, its not practical. Its not easy. Which is exactly why there’s a 50% chance I’ll actually do it. As I’m in a ‘reading physical books’ mood, reading my print version of Guardian YET AGAIN is appealing to me. First, because a lot of my stuff is in boxes but not those 2 volumes. Second, because I’ve read 100 pages of it before and followed the plot a year ago, and my reading skill has improved by BOUNDS in the last 2 months, so like... at least I know I already COULD read it so its only a matter now of How Fast can I read now (compared to the very slow 5 minutes a page a year ago) and how many details I’ll grasp (which can only be an improvement from last time). I’m motivated by the fact the books are still easy to get to, and I know they’ve got additional scenes the translations don’t have (since I believe the translation Seven Seas is printing is based on the webnovel version, since Yuka’s doing it and Yuka’s translation when I saw it last was totally the webnovel... no Kunlun prologue, no added scenes in the first chapters like in my print version etc). So unless Seven Seas knows enough to care about the differences, or yuka feels like translating the print edition chapters and combining them (which given how Seven Seas demands quick turnarounds I can see the desire to not crunch time to desperately add those), I’m guessing the official english translation print of Guardian will NOT have a lot of scenes in my print chinese edition (though dan do i hope the english translation at least includes the Shen San extra). Also! If you fee like buying the Chinese Print Edition, for these extra scenes (Kunlun Intro, additions to some scenes in particular chapters like changing Guo Changcheng’s introduction into SID into a mesh of the webnovel and show version with him seeing ghosts with no feet but not fainting until he sees Zhu Hong’s tail - whereas in the original webnovel version Zhu Hong is out that day, Shen San extra, etc), I recommend buying the print simplified chinese cover that’s in browns with a mountain on the cover. Here is book 1 and here’s book 2, in the upper right corner of the page you can click and change the language of the site to english, the site ships internationally. These versions are also on ebay and aliexpress. My favorite cover Guardian editions are the traditional chinese versions with shen wei and zhao yunlan on the covers, with internal gold/white covers. But that version is just a traditional chinese text of the webnovel, missing some extras. The brown mountains cover simplified chinese version is one with the extras and additions. (also for those curious, here’s the japanese translation volume 1 print edition for sale, and Seven Seas english Guardian volume 1 print edition for preorder). Upon checking Seven Seas Danmei, looks like there’s 2 other translations besides yuka listed, so maybe the translators will have enough time to add some of the additional content from the books (again I hope at least the Shen San extra).

My point is. If I do read my print chinese edition, I will get some scenes I might not be able to read later in english anyway. And what I don’t understand perfect, will surely get clarified when the english edition comes out, and of course I’m getting the english edition ToT. So of the chinese reading I COULD do, if I managed to get myself to read and practice soon, its 50% likely going to be Guardian. Even though I know that’s 30% harder (at Least) compared to a lot of other stuff I could pick. (Oddly I also have all my dmbj volumes out and easily accessible to read right now, however... for some reason reading them in print is WAY harder to me than reading online, even when I’m reading extensively online. I think maybe the dmbj print volumes got edited a bit for more nice writing, which in npss case maybe made it actually higher reading level a little lol? That, or I’m just getting thrown by print font versus digital online font which is certainly possible... watch... I say ‘oh I probably won’t read dmbj’ then I might read yuncun biji tomorrow, who knows. I think a demotivator with dmbj ALSO is it is so easy to read digitally cause if I do run into an unknown word and look it up I learn FAST and difficulty lowers FAST, whereas when I read on paper a lot of ‘easy’ haggling and tomb words confuse me and just guessing them is a lot slower than a quick click-translation clarification once... whereas with priest’s writing its going to be HARD no matter how I read it, so reading it on paper versus digitally doesn’t feel like much of a difference in terms of ‘difficulty either way.’)

So yeah. Check in next month and see if I read any chinese, or absolutely none.

(In my defense! haha no there is none. Anyway, in my defense! I am doing some japanese review ToT. And I am reading Three Body Problem in english translation right now, which seems unrelated but trust me I’m very into it and the more into it I get the more its going to lead to me listening to the audiobook in chinese later - which is already happening, trying to read bits of it in chinese later, and trying to watch the donghua as soon as that comes out... along with the shows. So in the short term yeah its just english, in the long term its gonna motivate me to study again once I get into the stuff post-books. So like... I’m not doing much study at all... but I did read 400k chinese characters in 2 months, maybe I need a break... maybe its all soaking in... or maybe I’ll try reading again after the break and be real annoyed at myself that I gotta restudy like 500 words lol).

#rant #progress

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cuterocks · 2 years

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Hi!! I got your ask and I'm not replying to it because I want to keep it in my inbox to re-read!! That was the sweetest message ever!! My goal for translating it was exactly so people could love the novel like I do, to share a part of what I love with everyone else. I'm soooo happy you liked it and that you can keep it for yourself!! Did you also read the Shen San extra??

❤️❤️❤️ it was meant to be sweet, i’m so grateful for creators and especially translators because otherwise i would not have found such a gem like guardian!! i’m so happy you’re mentioning the shen san extra, because i can never shut up about it. i read it i think three times? it really stuck with me.

here’s the thing: i loved guardian because it’s the first time i found something that combines ancient myth and sci fi. shen wei is both a creature made by the gods (in the sense that everything that has purpose in his early life is given to him through his interaction with kunlun, and also the way kunlun gives him pieces of himself is reminiscent of A LOT of religious creation myths), but also a creature that makes himself (just as in sci-fi the robot acquires self awareness through learning). both of those ideas are often metaphors for the human condition, so it’s so strange and great that a single character arrives to humanity but also coming from humanity. i really don’t know how to explain it better. and while reading the book i was slowly nursing this idea in my mind, not really knowing what to make of it, until the shen san extra, and especially the detail of what shen san and wei do with the cottage!

because, shen wei puts little bells at the windows in the cottage, he makes a chess board, he makes a garden where he tends flowers. those are all “useless” things. these are not meant to be eaten, they don’t serve a purpose. this means that he grew, at some point after kunlun’s death. BUT he didn’t grow just because of kunlun’s gifts. and why do i say this? because, when shen san goes to live to the cottage by himself, he plants vegetables, yunlan also plants vegetables in the new sid building garden. vegetable gardening is his thing. but shen wei planted flowers. i don’t know if it’s something that got modified in translation, but i think it’s so very good a detail! it’s so important to me, because with a teeny tiny detail you really get the point on which shen wei’s whole character hinges. that he’s been created, yes, but he also made something very meaningful and very “him” with all of kunlun’s gifts.

i don’t know, i’m a long time fan of the sci-fi subgenre where the creature finds itself. but also i love the atmosphere of an ancient past. it’s so good. it’s really such a good book, and it’s a shame that people don’t wanna give it a chance just because it’s a danmei, the drama “is not good” (i think they did a GREAT job, they completely changed the plot but the characters are still SO THEMSELVES!), some chapters are silly, or even because it’s chinese! i think i’ve never found a character so interesting as shen wei, i literally love him. i adore zhao yunlan with all myself. i’m in love with weilan. it’s such a pure and strong and self sacrifing kind of love, without being sappy. UGHHHH i love guardian!!

also, i don’t know if or when because at this time i’m having health problems, but i’m planning on doing something about the shen san extra, like creatively. i’m brewing ideas, i still don’t know what i’m gonna do. i hope to get to work on it during the summer.

again, thank you thank you thank you about your translation and your art!! it’s beautiful, really. sorry for the ramblings, but i’ll never shut up about sci-fi guardian 🤣 have a very nice day!!

#ask

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miss-ingno · 2 years

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12, 19, and 27 for the fanfiction asks? 🥰

12. Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about.

Ohhh, but WHICH ONE JEN. I have too many WIPs lmao

Hmmm... I’m not gonna tell everyone about the one we were chatting about because spoilers; the YOHE retcon is predictable so that’s boring, let’s see.

Arranged Marriage AU: I’ve talked about this one before, but basically Canon AU in which Dixing and Haixing are sovereign neighbours. ZYL has to marry HPS to uphold the peace (and hopefully get some trade clauses in Haixing’s favour). There’s tensions between the two nations, so it’s Captial I Important. Except ZYL is in love with Shen Wei, who he sees rarely and they’re not like, committed or anything, but he’d really like to be? And he doesn’t know SW=HPS so. Cue sadnees, but putting duty before self. Meanwhile, Shen Wei tries his damndest to just tell Zhao Yunlan, but keeps getting cockblocked interrupted just when he gets him alone.

YOHE Rescue via Twinswap: Kunlun wasn’t killed by the rebels because his allegiance to the Alliance wasn’t as obvious. Cue the chieftain trying to woo him to his side by inviting him to negotiations and offering things... to which KL brings a disguised Shen Wei, and then they run into Ye Zun and Operation: Swap the Twins starts.

Casefic in Which Shen Wei Gets Wrongfully Accused: not getting to this anytime soon, I don’t think (not planning it for the Bingo) Haixing’s police shows up and arrests Shen Wei for murder. They have evidence. They don’t know SW=HPS. Shen Wei plays along, knowing he is innocent and assuming that they will realize the same. Meanwhile, Zhao Yunlan & the SID work furiously to figure out the real culprit to exonerate Shen Wei.

19. Do you prefer canon-compliant, AUs, or something in-between?

Depends on the fandom! Generally, if it has fantasy vibes or is set in a historical era, I tend to prefer canon-adjacent stuff (like, not necessarily compliant? but fix-its, canon divergences, what ifs, that kinda thing). On the other hand, if the story is set in a contemporary setting, I utterly love the shit out of AUs (that are not just. modern AUs lmao. Give me the magic gdi!)

For Guardian, I am definitely still most drawn to canon and canon-adjacent stuff, but I've read several good AUs too (@sasamelons Sailor Moon AU or @bird-armadda's Mafia AU) Actually, mafia AUs are definitely a glaring exception for my "non modern AUs" thing, as are spies or assassins or similar stuff lmao. Probably because they don't feel quite usual life?

27. What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received?

I've been lucky enough to receive several very nice comments over my stint as a fic writer 🥰 (including yours on Dark Star, I was re-reading it the other day and squealed again <3)

I keep all of my fave comments saved in my inbox and re-read them when I need a pick-me-up (or go re-read comments on a specific fic because I wanna add another fic in that series or remind myself why I loved writing that trope, etc.)

I appreciate all comments, but the ones that hit me the hardest (in the best way) are the ones that mention their favourite bits, point out a phrase they liked, and/or theorize about what is happening (plotwise or in a characters head). Which. I guess I like someone going meta? regardless if it's about the fic or the canon material that went into the premise. Yeah that tracks.

Questions for Fic Writers

(answer to 6, 7, 33; 8, 9, 29)

#ishipallthings #thank you for sending these!#ask games #the WIP one took me forever to decide on lmao sorry #just hmu #as you can see I went with multiple #because I contain Multitudes *snorts at own joke*#btw I'm willing to ramble more about them if anyone wants to

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cybernaght · 3 years

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Guardian rewatch: Episode 3

First of all, wow. When I decided to post those online, I was expecting that they would be read by two people, both of whom I personally know. It was in equal part surprising and terrifying that so many of you ventured here. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it.

Episode 3 is probably my favourite case. It’s not perfectly strung together, there is little actual investigative work in it, but it’s a beautiful story of boundless love and devotion, which echoes through the relationship between our protagonists

Professor Shen is looking at some materials that are looking suspiciously like research into something supernatural, when Zhang Ruonan makes an appearance at his office, claiming that she is absolutely fine, while clearly being very far away from fine. This is something Shen Wei can certainly relate to, because he is the king of hiding his ailments from others.

Zhu Hong’s one-sided affection for Zhao Yunlan starts to show already in this episode: while he has the cold, she nags him to take care of himself, shoves tissues into his hands, and presses him to drink his meds. It’s easy to imagine even this early on that she will be the woman drunk dialling him one day.

I know this could be seen as straightbaiting, but I honestly thing that the actual purpose it serves in the show is the opposite; I’ll talk more about it when we get there.

Zhao Yunlan spends a lot of this episode in Shen Wei’s office, starting with this scene, in which is obviously flexing. Not only does he sneeze all over the office, he goes to eat Shen Wei’s cake after specifically being told not to eat it. He also takes his opportunity to mix questioning with flirting, as is his usual way. He keeps eye contact while spooning cake into his mouth, as he explains, jovially, that another mysterious death on his campus cannot possibly be a coincidence. And, to be fair, he is not really wrong. We are meant to believe that this is all set in motion by Zhu Jiu, aka the least scary villain in the history of villainy, and an owner of your staple baby goth wig. I will not mention him again until the plot makes it impossible for me not to do so.

Zhang Ruonan comes in, and Zhao Yunlan introduces himself as Shen Wei’s good friend. Which is half-way between a flex and an act of kindness. On one hand, he could have said he was from the police - which would be absolutely true - and risk tarnishing the professor’s good name. On the other hand, he could probably look less pleased with himself. Shen Wei, at the very least, looks neither grateful, nor amused.

Zhao Yunlan asks her if she new the victim and she looks incredibly shifty as she flees. He is right to think that something is up, and he correctly assumes trauma, rather than guilt. We can now start to see that he is very very good at reading people. It must be equal parts thrilling and disconcerting for him to have met something who he decisively cannot read. Shen Wei vouches for the woman, partly, surely, because his Hei Pao Shi sense is tingling, letting him know that someone is eavesdropping.

Despite feeling uneasy, Shen Wei still offers Guo Changcheng, who is left to collect various paperwork from his desk, a little smile. He has a reason to like Xiao Guo, of course: he was the one to see the young man’s kindness and understanding, and he is already growing protective of him, way before he will start seeing members of the special unit as his people. This reminds me of how many months later, he will subtly, but decisively stop a barrage of verbal abuse against Xiao Guo by dropping a pair of chopsticks.

Zhao Yunlan is taking Xiao Guo with him on the case rather than anyone else, partly, supposedly, because of Guo Changcheng’s familial connections. The young man looks more sure of himself, asking correct questions, dutifully records answers. He also tries to look after his Chief by asking him to go home and rest. He does phrase it badly, but Zhao Yunlan has a thing against his own health and well-being, so he reacts extra poorly.

Soon after, Zhao Yunlan’s at Shen Wei’s office yet again, as Shen Wei tries his best to ignore him, in the hope that he… well, maybe not goes away, but does not ask him anything that will require him lying. Instead, Zhao Yunlan is asking Shen Wei why he is bad at reading people, which is a very strange thing to ask. Shen Wei answers his question with a question, “Will seeing through people really lessen the hurt and disappointment?” Adding, “Many tragedies were destined from the beginning”. He looks well.. like this as he says it.

This is loaded. On first glance, it’s a pretty good set-up to the way this story will unfold, as a tragedy of two individuals who let their devotion to each other nearly ruin each other’s life. A fragile human and a dangerous powered Undergroundian: what else is that, but a tragedy, waiting to happen? But this story - this one right in front of us - will not end tragically, at least not for the two people it enters around. It could do so, but it will not. Maybe, this truly is the first hint that this entire narrative, so carefully set up from the very first time Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei meet, is destined to be a tragedy. Moreover, that it must be one, for some cosmic reason.

(… I apologise while I go have a little cry in the corner. Damn you, Guardian, why do you make me hurt so much?)

Da Qing inexplicably morphs from black cat to a human in white t-shirt while doing night shadowing, and promptly falls asleep on patrol. Why is he being sent to stake anyone out? He is least suitable for it. He is literally a cat. He sleeps 16 hours a day.

Surprisingly, when pressed, Zhang Ruonan comes clean very easily, revealing that she was a victim of the three students she failed (two of which are already dead and one one standing right next to them), who lured her out at night, which left her vulnerable to be attacked. Zhao Yunlan listens to this story, and instead of… oh I don’t know, perhaps asking her the identity of the third student, leaves to go find that out for himself. It is heavily implied that he does it on purpose, which is definitely not okay.

Moreover, he goes and... asks Shen Wei. This makes me suspect that he’s not really thinking with his head at this point. As he does so, he is brandishing a letter opener.

Shen Wei is looking even less impressed with him than he did during their last few conversations.

Zhao Yunlan is a little bit flippant when it comes to students’ lives this episode. And yes, they have done something really quite horrible to another human being, but that's not a very good excuse to let the last of them just die. As it happens, the situation Yunlan created - perhaps on purpose - did lure out Zhao Ruonan’s murder girlfriend, but it also cost a student his life. Which is far from ideal, but is somehow never even mentioned. Instead of being aghast, he sits on the table as he goes into full interrogation mode. (As he will continue to do a lot. Sometimes he crouches on tables instead. There is no further point here, apart from: I like this character quirk. It’s a nice character quirk.)

He brings some of his team in at this point, and asks Zhu Hong to continue interrogation. It would be a nice gesture is he did not interject two questions in.

“How do you regard your relationship with Wang Yike?”

“We are family.”

They are definitely, decisively not going for sisterly bond here. Which is kind of incredible. This is one of the moments the amorphous being that show is looks at the censors, wiggles its battered low budget eyebrows at them, and then proceeds to flip them off. Well done, Guardian.

Wang Yike calls Zhang Ruonan, saying there is one more victim she needs to take care of, and Lin Jing traces the call back to campus. Zhao Yunlan, who did not even bat an eyelid at a dead student earlier, now looks decisively worried

“Oh no. Professor Shen.”

The only reason Shen Wei is attacked is jealousy. Wang Yike does not know this of course, but trying to kill him is a bad move, because a) he has long ago given his heart away, and is definitely not interested; b) this is probably the only thing she could do to make the man on the case very very upset; c) Shen Wei’s immune to her powers.

“Someone like you will never understand what she means to me!” Wang Yike shouts eventually. “As long as I can protect her, my life has worth!” And, even as Wang Yike has no way of knowing it, these are the words that ultimately save both her and her loved one. Because Shen Wei does in fact understand what Zhang Ruonan means to her. His own endless and ultimately self-destructive devotion is his main driving force.

Shen Wei pretends to be hurt, again, which earns him a half-hug from the object of his devotion. If Zhao Yunlan does notice that Shen Wei should really come out of this attack grey haired and dead, and not just mildly inconvenienced, he chooses not to say anything.

Worried about her murder girlfriend, Zhang Ruonan rushes in and accidentally touches her. Zhao Yunlan Freaks The Hell Out. Shen Wei does, too, but in his own, reserved, way. They are both emotionally invested in those two people, although for very different reasons: Shen Wei is acutely feeling resonance of his own past in their story, and Zhao Yunlan, I think, wants to fix it, he wants to be able to make it better. Instead, Shen Wei fixes it for him, turning the tide on this tragedy, and giving it a happy ending. He heals Zhang Ruonan right in front of the officers of SID, albeit with much subtlety. (“Have someone saved her right under our noses?” Zhu Hong will snort the very same evening, and she will be 100% correct.)

Shen Wei also lets Wang Yike go despite the undeniable fact that she did kill three people. Here, he is looking at the picture of this human/Undergroundian couple, surviving despite all odds, and touches his only reminder that Kunlun really was in his life.

He then burns the picture as the only evidence that Wang Yike was not punished by him for her crimes.

In the end, Guo Chengcheng is making first of his many diary notes about the events, recounting a conversation between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan we had not witnessed, in which Shen Wei mentioned a relationship based on devotion that can last a thousand years, and Zhao Yunlan called such a relationship “guarding”. Finally, Guo Changcheng hopes that he can become a guardian of all.

And this is making me think that this absolutely should be a set-up for him becoming a wick of the guardian lantern, as per every single other decision that was made prior to the last two episodes. Right? This is a perfect foreshadowing, and mentioning it here, so early in the show would not make any sense if it were a deliberate subversion. So, was Guo Changcheng meant to become the wick after all before... what, some rewrites happened? What made the final episode be what it was in the end?

(This is a genuine question by that way, if anyone has any insight on the matter.)

The episode would end here, if this was a western show, with a familiar monster of the week structure, but it does not. At least, the way it ends is reminiscent of a cliffhanger, with Zhao Yunlan catching Shen Wei in a middle of a crime scene, and looking betrayed.

Next episode: Lynchian Nightmare, aka people without faces.

PS.

I did not have a seamless way to stick this in anywhere but... Shen Wei’s technological ineptness at the max: he does not know how to use a Polaroid camera. Help him, he is so lost.

——

Second point of housekeeping to say a few things:

I don’t think I will be consistent with certain things being transliterated versus translated. I am more likely to use Hei Pao Shi rather than Black Cloak Envoy (because the later reminds me of Tuxedo Mask, which makes me inwardly giggle every time) but at the same time I am also more likely to use Underground/Undergroundian rather than Dixing/Dixingren. I am more likely to use Xiao rather than Little, but have called Chu Old rather than Lao before. I hope that’s not grating, but do tell me if it is

My recaps are Shen Wei-heavy. I have no real explanation for this, apart from.. I like Shen Wei.

I realise that there will definitely be things here that are head canon and speculation rather than flat observations; this show is a work of fiction and a work of art, which cannot be interpreted objectively. If you have alternate takes on anything I write in the future, let me know!

#guardian #shen wei #zhan yunlan #recap #rewatch #I still don't know how to tag

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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years

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Shen Wei Serving Lewks Part 8

(Masterpost)

Shen Wei wears a lot of cosplay looks in Guardian! Ostensibly some of them are actually different characters but...whatever.

Look 36: Black Robe Envoy

Black Robe Envoy is always a hit at the Dragon City DixCon. This robe is very nicely constructed, with gauzey curtain things on the back and a hood that keeps its shape well.

The mask is...something he got in the paper-mache department at Michaels and painted with craft paints. He seems proud of it.

The mask does actually make him look different, unlike, say, Wei Wuxian’s mask which anybody can recognize him under. This mask has those cheek parts that change the overall shape of his face.

Look 37: Gold Mask Bro

Gold Mask bro is a look that is similarly hampered by the craft-store aesthetic, but gaudier.

Combined with the scenery-chewing villain thing, I’m always pretty eager to get this guy off of the screen.

Look 38: Hot Bro

Once the gold mask comes off, on the other hand, Shen Wei as Ye Zun is stunning with long grey hair. I mean, goddamn.

(More behind the cut!)

OP understands why Da Qing makes ridiculous cat paw gestures while dreaming about Ye Zun because this look is a scorcher.

OP makes ridiculous cat paw gestures

The Princess Leia gown needs some help, though. This thing has a cowl neck so stiff you could bake a cake in it and there is a curtain sewn onto one half of the chest. It’s confusing. The belt is nice, I guess.

Masks

Important question: Why did both Ye Zun and Shen Wei buy the same paper mache mask? I mean, they chose different craft paints but both masks clearly came out of the same mold. Ye Zun started wearing his mask specifically to avoid looking like Shen Wei, back when Shen Wei had a different mask.

So did Shen Wei deliberately copy his brother’s mask just to fuck with him? Because that is some next-level sibling trolling right there.

Look 39: Downtown Ye Zun

Then there’s the time Ye Zun decided to cosplay as Shen Wei. It...doesn’t go well. This look fits so poorly that I refuse to post a full view of it, because Shen Wei would be embarrassed if he knew his brother was making him look like that.

This entire outfit/disguise is terrible, and fits worse than Swamp Coat 1.0. Ye Zun even knows it’s terrible because he points it out to Zhao Yunlan and asks if it looks good, as if Shen Wei ever needed to ask a thing like that.

He does his best to make up for it by serving memorable facial expressions.. Thank you, Ye Zun.

Look 40: P.I.M.P.

This completely impractical getup, OTOH, fits like a dream. I am slightly obsessed with how good Shen Wei’s Ye Zun’s his feet and ankles look in this outfit, when I normally am grumpy about baggy ankles. But these trousers are so nicely fitted that the crumpled ankle looks like a statement instead of an accident. With the frock coat and the walking stick he looks long and leggy, and if Shen Wei isn’t covered in grass stains the second he takes off his terrible cosplay hair and mask, Zhao Yunlan isn’t the man I thought he was.

Hair Lewks

Other characters also get in on the cosplay, with Da Qing looking much less ridiculous than he does in his modern-day clothes and hair. Zhao Yunlan wins Most Beautiful Hair, with metal beads and those side-bangs that frame boys’ faces so nicely. (His post-shacking-up hair also wins most beautiful hair in the modern era).

Baby Envoy’s braids (see Look 41) make him a close second, and Hot Bro’s grey hair is a close third, but the weird locks that the Zhu Yilong brothers grow out of the sides of their faces are distracting. I get that they aren’t exactly human and that there are certain artistic conventions at play but...this is not how sideburns work.

Other Cosplayers

Other cosplayers include Tea-Party Princess, Crow Bitch, and Snake Uncle who is Never a Snake.

And here’s Old Chu cosplaying as..as...ok fine this isn’t cosplay, it’s just Old Chu flexing, sweating, and bleeding.

I like what I like, ok?

Look 41: Baby Envoy

The last look in this post series is Young Black Robe Envoy from the time-traveling Kunlun bit. When the mask is off, this is one of my favorite Shen Wei looks, because he is so young and vulnerable, and the robe has a nice edge detail and stamped metal accents that aren’t part of his later look.

This would be a pretty good mage-in-light-armor getup in whichever RPG Shen Wei would play if he understood technology. He would play DA:Inquisition and he would be an elf and he would romance Dorian OP always romances Cullen it’s a bit of a problem

The mask is ugly craft-store nonsense, but makes a nice contrast to his sweet bare face when Zhao Yunlan yanks it off.

Now I’m going to take a dive into into this scene, because we’ve run out of Shen Wei Lewks (*sob*), and this scene is lovely. And there really can’t be too many gifs of WeiLan eye-fucking each other Shen Wei sucking a lollipop.

In one conversation, Shen Wei falls permanently in love with Zhao Yunlan, and you can see that Zhao Yunlan really is as wonderful as Shen Wei thinks he is. He's kind and encouraging; he's confidently romantic, and he gives Shen Wei a name that has a LOT of thought behind it.

Being as hot as a fresh pancake doesn’t hurt, either.

The high point of this interaction is probably the most sexual moment of the show, In which Zhao Yunlan teaches his true love to suck on a lollipop. The moment’s sexual energy is only partly because it suggests other activities.

I mean...it’s definitely suggestive.

But let’s look at what is literally, not metaphorically, happening in this moment. This is the beginning of their present-day sexual connection (within the bounds of Chinese TV, yes, yes. Het couples don’t bone on-camera in C-dramas either, so let’s assume off-camera boning when the story supports it. These two have been coded as lovers since the closing moments of Episode 14).

Zhao Yunlan puts sweetness into the mouth of this young, stressed out, serious man. Then he unabashedly, delightedly, watches Shen Wei having this new sensory experience while he *explains it* to him.

Imagine the dopamine hit Shen Wei is experiencing here. He’s got a mouthful of sugar and he’s got Zhao Yunlan projecting waves of cheerful, undemanding lust at him while dropping bars about life and sensuality.

With a single lollipop, Zhao Yunlan uses his short time with Young Shen Wei to teach him the concept of pleasure. And takes his heart in return.

One Last Lewk

Ass Chain Congee is love.

Thanks so much for joining me on this ride! Next I’m leaping off of the cliff of good sense into a full rewatch of The Untamed. If that sounds like fun to you, please come on along to my Episode 01 post, over here.

#guardian #zhen hun #shen wei #zhu yilong #weilan #readers thanks so much for the encouragement #ilu you are the best #canary3d-original #bai yu #jiang mingyang #zhao yunlan #guardian spoilers #shen wei serving lewks #my gifs #my stills #guardian meta

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izanyas · 3 years

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ur posts got me to reread guardian, and it really is my favourite of priests works as well.. except maybe liu yao but we'll see, translation isn't done yet. and there's no liu yao adaption with actors with that much chemistry, that turns ghosts into aliens! i love shen wei and zhao yunlan so much, theyre incredibly complex characters and their relationship is so sweet and realistic feeling. also, the fact yunlan feels like a real bi dude! like he's living his life... being bi... love that 4 him

MY FRIEND... YOU ARE RIGHT... i haven’t read liu yao yet but i’ve heard very good things about it, i’ve got a couple f/f things to read first but then i think i’ll give it a try!

johnny bai and zhu yilong truly have so much chemistry together it’s insane... like i think the guardian drama is ridiculous and very badly done (ik they had budget issues) but STILL all the weilan scenes were so touching and emotional, it’s amazing. and you’re right, their characters in the novel are so deep, i love the very fucked-up aspect of them as well (yunlan having bad life hygiene, being a bit of a selfish asshole and misogynist / shen wei being very controlling and obsessive and creepy yet startlingly innocent in many ways)...

you’re absolutely right, they feel very human and realistic in all their very passionate, sometimes obsessive love, in this devotion... shen wei clinging so hard to this millenia-old past with kunlun who was the world to him, to the point of breaking apart fate in order to force him to reincarnate... but yunlan isn’t quite kunlun and never will be and shen wei learns to fall in love with him all over again :( the same way that yunlan falls in love with shen wei, the present shen wei, and after learning of this past has to consider how shen wei lied to him and take time to forgive and understand him.

HE REALLY IS SUCH A REALISTIC BI GUY even in how he understands this about himself! the scene of him coming out to his mom, begging her not to be mean to shen wei, saying he’s “ready to go completely gay for him”, like this is how many people irl also view those things... labels take a step back from behavior and action, yunlan likes men and women and admits it freely, but right now he loves a man and since this is all that matters to him and he will never change then he is gay now, bc this is how it’s perceived, and he doesn’t care. i love also how he thinks of himself as kind of a creep or freak for it all, not even in a self-depreciating way, just bc that’s how society views it and he doesn’t care to prove anyone wrong. if they call him a creep for sleeping men, then he is a creep for sleeping with men. if they call him gay for currently loving a man, being in a relationship with a man, despite being attracted to women as well, then he is gay. who cares! this is how being gay, or queer, or bisexual works for many men (and people in general) around the world. not everyone has knowledge about exactitude of labels or cares to learn that bisexuality is different from homosexuality. many people understand that differently about themselves and others... and this is also why, as a lesbian myself, i am not bothered at all by women calling themselves “bi lesbians” or anything of the kind.

all of this is what makes yunlan so very realistic and relatable in my eyes. and in the same way, shen wei, who isn’t human at all and has never been and never will care about integrating fully with humans, doesn’t label himself as anything. he is in love with kunlun, with yunlan, he doesn’t see himself or yunlan as “men” but rather as “beings” (not even “people” in the sense that humanity gives the word). any shame or hesitation he feels at yunlan’s pda is not for himself, but rather because he awkwardly understands that yunlan may be looked at in disapproval for it... or simply because he is still the same flustered ghost king who ran away for fifty years after kunlun kissed his forehead. looking for the soulfire kunlun lost, bringing it back to him as an offering in the hope that kunlun will give him this again: a kiss. something he had never known before and didn’t even know how to name.

#weilan #zhen hun #loriache #answered

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xiaoshengnu · 2 years

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ten miles of peach blossom part-way (ep1-14) review

🆁🅰🆃🅸🅽🅶 🅾🆄🆃 🅾🅵 🆃🅴🅽 + 🅰 🅻🅸🅻' 🅴🆇🅿🅻🅰🅽🅰🆃🅸🅾🅽

acting - 5 - the acting so far has been good but not astounding, however everyone here are all very renowned actresses and actors, so I will have faith in them to show something more idk… developed? later on down the line- after all it is just the early days.

plot - 5 - the plot is also quite good and I have been kept somewhat interested as the story flows and there are interesting points though I do sometimes get bored at what’s happening. but either way, it’s not painful to to watch.

characters - 5 - to be very honest, I haven’t emotionally attached to any of the characters so far, they're all a bit meh for me. there aren’t character arcs that I particularly like or think particularly clever, but still, its early days. I do like my queen bai qian, I think she’s a really cool character, though I think her current arc as susu is a little bit bland and could have been a little bit better.

ye hua however, is a little bit... ehh... slimy? like that one scene where he backs a rather shy or maybe uncomfortable looking susu into a wall had me going, oh pleas noo - and as cute as it was of to him to want her to sleep on the same bed as him... like maybe he could have asked for idk, you know, a little something called ✨consent ✨? and plus he’s a 70 000 year old god and susu is a mortal woman who knows as much as a 20 year old- it just feels like he’s taking advantage of her. I know that this is an old drama but ye hua still needs to do a lot of convincing for me to like him more- just being brutally honest.

production quality - 7 - in terms of this being an old drama, the cgi and special effects aren’t too bad, so it wasn’t something that constantly peeved me. the costumes are also very very pretty, I loved bai qian’s styling during the time she was the fox queen and before she became susu. the costumes also have a slightly more haute couture spin on them, especially xuannu’s costumes which are honestly chefs kiss- the ghost princess’ outfits are just as stunning too.

In terms of sets and the drama’s overall vibe, the producers did attempt to try to incorporate traditional taoist fashion and settings, like the rocky caves of the kunlun disciples and the heavenly emperor’s gold sun crown and eyebrows.

overall average : 5.5

#ten miles of peach blossoms #yang mi #mark chao #ten miles of peach blossoms reviews #三生三世十里桃花 #eternal love #bai qian #ye hua #dilireba #review

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mejomonster · 9 months

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Unrelated but one show where I absolutely Was invested in all the straight romance was Ice Fantasy! Maybe one day I'd give Pillow Book a try, like I gave Eternal Love a try (with mixed results), and Till The End of The Moon definitely invested me a bit. But its Ice Fantasy for me above all others as far as the guy/girl xianxia romances go. (And no we are not counting Love and Redemption cause that's a queer relationship, and not counting Love Between Fairy and Devil because while I Do love it... it's mostly just the main couple for me, like how Eternal Love was mostly the side couple for me).

Ice Fantasy just absolutely fulfilled my ideal tropes when it came to so many characters (and I can get picky) and so many romances. It didn't even matter i had no queer lens ships (although that is a past time of mine lol: to look at cdramas and optimistically read everything as queer as I possibly can.... in my defense Eternal Love is fairly explicitly actually queer with a gay uncle and 2 bi demons, and Love and Redemption is Really Queer, so).

Ice Fantasy has:

Wang Duo playing an absolute delight of a himbo who is engaged to a girl he doesn't like for political reasons his dad set up, and falls for the girls cutthroat talented sword wielding sister. Said sister is cold and only wants her sister happy, a genuine triangle ensues where really everyone just wants everyone to be happy. Wang Duo is a fucking delight as this sweetie.

The lead love interest prince from Jade Palace Lock Heart plays Ka Suo, prince of the Ice Kingdom and son to a very fucked up father. He falls for the Guardian of the boundary between his immortal Ice Kingdom realm and the human one, and the Guardian is basically Zhao Yunlan-Kunlun in woman form. She's badass, and forward, heroic, she saves him, she teaches him the wonders of being human, she doesn't want to ruin his life and just wants to help him be a good future King, and she's mortal. The kind of Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan fluff and angst ensues, and it's a delight there is a girl as raunchy and kickass as Zhao Yunlan on the scene. Their first drinking scene together is beyond cute, she's one of my favorite characters in the show.

We've got my man Ma Tianyou as the younger brother to Ka Suo, Ying Kong Shi. He is a sweet younger brother who just wants to help his brother too. And his brother wants to not be like their absolute horror of a dad, does not love the awful burden of that bullshit and impending war and not getting to be with his mortal love, and living through that war starting (with his dad making his little brother the scapegoat) so. Ying Kong Shi has his work cut out for him trying to help Ka Suo. Along the way, Ying Kong Shi becomes "mortal" for a while, gets kidnapped by the Fire Kingdom Princess (which his country is at war with) and becomes her slave. She becomes intensely enamoured with him and honestly he becomes her best friend. The dynamic of that portion alone is SO fucking funny, intense, sad, cute, sexy, complicated, you name it. He eventually betrays her, as he must, to return to his kingdom. From then on they're on opposite sides, but with a soft spot for their former friend. Possibly my favorite ship on the show.

Not a romantic relationship, but the relationship with Ka Suo and Ying Kong Shi is also SO much what Shen Wei and Ye Zun could be in a longer story, especially when Ying Kong Shi goes supernova and burns a bunch of people alive, which is absolutely the kind of brothers fucked over by life dynamic I eat up.

Ying Kong Shis mom is a mermaid concubine who is played by the absolute babe who starred with the pink hair in the kdrama Tomorrow. She's shady af in this show, betraying and plotting and using others. But considering her ex was the Fire King, asshole extraordinare, and her husband is the Ice King absolute jerk of a motherfucker? I kind of get it. And her actress makes any scene she's in utterly compelling, you love to hate her character. All her relationships are utterly fucked up, and boy were they compelling to me.

You have mermaid princess girl who genuinely just wants a normal fairytale relationship, which is actually what society would like her to have in this kind of world. She wants to marry Ka Suo, be loved, and be happy. Ka Suo however does NOT want to be dragged into political immortal marriage, he's in love with his human Guardian Li Luo. So as you can imagine, shit hits the fan in a major way for our mermaid princess. And I love a messy time so.

There's a Mortal (with powers) princess with an eagle man (yao? I'm not clear it's been a while since watching) as her loyal servant/second in command. Who absolutely loves her like a knight loves their queen. As far as traditional romances go, I'm a sap for a man who's in awe of his woman and trying to help her (The Secret of the Three Kingdoms reallyyyy appeals to me with the Empress as puppetmaster and fake Emperor as her tool tbh as a premise, or the Olivia Wang and Wang Duos characters in Yin Yang Master is another good example of this). They're a very cute side couple and it's pretty much impossible for me not to root for them.

The entire family dynamics within the Ice Kingdom and Fire Kingdom is also exactly my kind of thing. In the fire Kingdom, the fire princess deals with sexism (interesting choice in a xianxia to delve into) despite being the best leader for her family and country and genuinely loving both, her brother who's in a way in her shadow for being less good and in his father's egotistical shadow, and her father who's a piece of shit (a la Eternal Love's demon king) but unlike demon/Heavenly traditional xianxia? The ice king is equally absolute shit and just as guilty, for once. So I guess all powerful leaders are all shit huh. Good thing the next generation is a bit more caring (also! If you like progressive advancement anime style stories, this show very much follows that kind of pacing and arc). The ice Kingdom features an older brother with the world on his shoulders, a half brother who's also half (something likely enemy to ice nation I tell you that) something else and absolutely his dad's and their country's punching bag and scapegoat (they full on try to kill Kong Shi as a kid), his brothers mom is evil and up to her own shit, his own mom isn't the ideal ally to Ka Suo either, and his dad? His dad might as well be singlehandedly ruining Ka Suos life, trying to kill his brother, and getting the nation into a war. Phenomenal. I love the mess that is the political plot what can I say.

Anyway. As if that's all not enough? Ice Fantasy season 2 is set in the modern world but still with xianxia magic, which if you know me is the kind of thing I absolutely love. (See: Rattan, Guardian, Fairyland Lovers).

#ice fantasy #rant

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dai-ou-sama · 4 years

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meimeng fic (pt 1)

post-canon, featuring mei hanxue coming over to sisheng peak to have a sleepover with mengmeng, and flirting (kind of).

no title yet,, just something i’ve been writing,, it’s supposed to be a 2 part fic on ao3 and this is literally the first quarter of part 1,,,,,,, but like idk when i’m going to finish writing this and I DON’T WANT TO DROP IT so i’ll put it up here as i finish it section by section hhhhh ENJOY?

“I’m sleeping with you tonight. We’re having a sleepover.” Mei Hanxue boldly declared, standing outside the door to Xue Meng’s room in his glorious, splendid silk sleeping-robes, with a gigantic bag of – what seemed like – everything he owned in his arms.

Xue Meng, too, was dressed in silk sleeping-robes, though his were a simple white rather than the embroidered, resplendent mess that was Mei Hanxue’s.

Xue Meng stared at him speechlessly. “No.”

Mei Hanxue smiled kindly and the beauty of his face was enhanced by the soft, orange glow of the fire-lamp hanging above him. “Why not? We’ve already slept together when we were children anyway, it’s like we’re reliving the good old days!”

Xue Meng’s face crumpled and he fumed, “What do you mean ‘why not’? The past is the past, and now is now. As if I’d let someone as immoral as you even come close to my sleeping quarters now - who knows what you’d do at night?! In fact, I must’ve been mad to actually have slept in the same room as you when we were kids. I really put myself in danger!”

Mei Hanxue was completely unbothered by Xue Meng’s rant. “Don’t be so paranoid, Sect Leader Xue. What in the world could I possibly do to a character as grand as you?”

Xue Meng’s frown deepened. “Who knows! If it’s you, fucking anything is possible! And don’t call me ‘sect leader’!”

Mei Hanxue’s eyebrows rose and he selectively ignored Xue Meng’s words. “Oh my, Sect Leader Xue, what dirty things are you thinking about?”

Xue Meng’s expression changed and he sputtered, “I– What– Who said–”

But Mei Hanxue’s eyes were glittering now and he cut him off mercilessly, efficiently seizing the opportunity to taunt Xue Meng, “It couldn’t be… Were you thinking of me laying my hands on you? I simply wanted to relive some old memories and play around like we were kids again, but Sect Leader Xue, were you imagining–”

“–You! Obviously not! Stop putting words in my mouth, are you crazy?! Who said I thought about– about anything!” Xue Meng shouted loudly to cut Mei Hanxue off.

Xue Meng had been the one to bring up these matters in the first place, but it was just in his nature to be loud and unreasonable like that, so Mei Hanxue let it slide. Xue Meng’s face was slightly red now and he looked very much like an agitated bird that had puffed its feathers up. Mei Hanxue was faintly delighted by the sight, but he hid his smile.

“Well then, since there’s no doubt in my decency anymore, there’s nothing to fear, is there? I’ll be sleeping here tonight.” With that, Mei Hanxue easily brushed past Xue Meng and stepped into his room, shamelessly setting his things down onto the tea table in the center of the large space.

Fuck?! What kind of fucking logic was that? Xue Meng stared at the blond-haired man in his stupid, flashy silk robes, looking left and right around his room, saying in appreciation, “Wah, Sect Leader Xue, your room has really gotten an upgrade now that you’ve become a Sect Leader now, huh. What luxury. Even my room is only half the size of yours – hm, although it is a little bit empty and dull.”

Xue Meng felt his eye twitch in annoyance. He contemplated throwing the teapot at his face in retaliation, and the urge only grew stronger when Mei Hanxue had noticed him still standing frozen at the doorway and asked gently, “Are you going to stand there all night, Sect Leader Xue? No offence, but you look a little stupid.”

Wow, Xue Meng almost threw the entire table at the man who still had a crystal droplet still hanging at his forehead despite his sleeping clothes. In his mind he spitefully (pettily) thought, ‘You look stupid with that crystal in your hair still!’

However, Xue Meng was indeed a sect leader now, and he’d gone through hours and hours of Elder Xuan Ji and Elder Tan Lang’s nagging – really, enough for him to wonder if he could really endure another second more of this etiquette training before he went mad with frustration – so he restrained his anger and simply slammed the heavy wooden door shut.

“Stop calling me ‘sect leader’,” Xue Meng said gloomily, “Why are you even here? To suddenly have an urge to have a– a fucking sleepover – have you gone mad?”

Mei Hanxue and a handful of Taxue Palace disciples had arrived at Sisheng Peak a few days ago with a letter from Palace Master Mingyue Gelou. The letter had explained that the Palace Master had heard that Sisheng peak was starting to do some reconstruction in the towns around Sisheng Peak and felt that she wanted to help as well, so she sent a few disciples over together to assist in their endeavours. Surprisingly, Mei Hanxue had been amongst this group of disciples too.

Mei Hanxue and the disciples would stay for as long as they were needed – until the towns were fully repaired, or at least, until all the ordinary civilians had a proper roof over their heads and they could resume their normal ways of living before the war between the two worlds had broken out. It was a completely no strings attached offer of aid and Xue Meng had been extremely touched by Palace Master Mingyue Gelou’s sincerity and generosity. What he didn’t understand, though, was why someone as reputed as Mei Hanxue – as much as Xue Meng resented the idea of admitting this – was here to help with such menial tasks as well.

While Mei Hanxue and Mei HanXue had come over to visit Sisheng peak rather often ever since he’d become the sect leader and having their presence around him had become quite normal, however, they usually didn’t stay long and would leave after they finished up their matters, or after a dinner together with Xue Meng.

At first, Xue Meng had thought that maybe Mei Hanxue was just here for courtesy sake and would only stay for a while to supervise his disciples before returning to Mount Kunlun. However, not only had Mei Hanxue actually stayed and gone with the lower disciples to help with the renovations, he’d also been obediently helping Xue Meng with some administrative sect matters. All in all, he’d been very helpful in the time he’d spent here, and Xue Meng had been simultaneously pleasantly surprised, annoyed, and suspicious.

He had no idea what this frivolous pretty-boy was scheming now, or if he was even doing so. But the past few days had been completely unproblematic, and Xue Meng had almost started to believe that Mei Hanxue was really here to just help out of the kindness of his heart. He’d even started to feel a little sorry for his earlier suspicions – though he would never say a word of it aloud, and thank god for that because just as he had started to feel so, Mei Hanxue had barged into his room and demanded they have a sleepover. Xue Meng really wanted to spit on any of the previous guilt he’d felt just before.

In front of him, Mei Hanxue turned to face him. He paused for a moment, and something flickered dimly in his eyes, but it vanished before Xue Meng had noticed it. Mei Hanxue smiled brightly. “After staying at Sisheng Peak these past few days, I was reminded of the time we’d slept together as kids. Then I realised it’s actually been a while since we last sat around and had a good chat, so I decided to come over tonight and reminisce with you!”

As Mei Hanxue said this, he nimbly untied his monstrosity of a bag and, to Xue Meng’s horror, pulled out a five-tiered tiffin carrier from it’s midst. A few pieces of his luxurious robes were accidentally pulled out along with it and they slid to the floor, already creating a mess in the few minutes he’d arrived. The tiffin carrier itself was a beautiful, polished black, and there were elegant gold engravings all around it – it was almost as extravagant as the dozens of pastries and desserts that were contained inside.

Xue Meng was rendered speechless once more. “You– …Mei Hanxue, that could feed six people at least. Are you actually stupid?”

Mei Hanxue shrugged and sat down, already picking one of the pastries up to eat. “Not as stupid as you.”

Xue Meng threw a teacup at him in rage. Mei Hanxue dodged.

Somehow, Mei Hanxue, with his careful words and honey-soaked voice, had managed to coax Xue Meng into sitting down and eating with him. Although Xue Meng was still grumpy at first, he soon relaxed once more. Firstly, because the snacks really were quite delicious – not that Xue Meng would admit that – and secondly, because Mei Hanxue was a master at flattery – not that Xue Meng was aware of it.

Before the little peacock had even realised, hours of chatting (bickering) and snacking had already passed, and by the time Xue Meng yawned, he was in a much more agreeable mood than he’d been in when Mei Hanxue had first arrived.

Mei Hanxue watched him quietly with his face resting against his palm. Then he smiled and said, “Sect Leader Xue, it’s getting late. We should probably rest soon.”

Xue Meng humphed and stood up, heading straight for the bed. “Don’t call me ‘sect leader’.” Behind him, Mei Hanxue laughed a little and responded with an appeasing ‘alright, alright’, then went about the room putting out the candle lamps.

Because Mei Hanxue had managed to spend the last few hours plying Xue Meng with good food and an ample amount of less-than-subtle praise about all the wonderful things Sect Leader Xue had been doing nowadays, Xue Meng didn’t kick up a fuss when Mei Hanxue slipped under the covers beside him.

For a moment, it seemed as if Xue Meng had already fallen asleep, then his eyes fluttered open and he turned to glare at Mei Hanxue warily. “Mei Hanxue… I’ll say this again: you better not try anything funny – otherwise, I’ll actually murder you.”

Mei Hanxue simply returned his glare with an unbothered curl of his lips. Something gentler was hidden in his gaze, but it was too dark for Xue Meng to notice it. The sheets shifted, then Mei Hanxue reached out and flicked Xue Meng across the forehead. “I’m not going to, Mengmeng. Now get your head out of the gutter and go to sleep.”

Xue Meng bristled and made to push himself up. The words ‘you fucker’ were already halfway out of his mouth, but then, Mei Hanxue started… snoring?

Xue Meng paused, then rolled his eyes and scoffed, “Hey.” He reached out and jabbed Mei Hanxue’s cheek with a finger. “You dog, stop pretending.”

Mei Hanxue remained motionless, his face the perfect picture of tranquility and ease. The only sound in the room was his peaceful snoring, sounding oddly elegant. Xue Meng continued to jab his cheek, pinch it, pull at it; at one point, he even shoved a finger up Mei Hanxue’s nose. In response, Mei Hanxue only frowned a little, and unconsciously swiped his hand away, but he remained asleep.

Minutes passed like that, and Xue Meng eventually gave up with a frown, the rest of his annoyance already washed away by his disbelief and confusion. He muttered to himself, “He actually fell asleep…? Is that even possible?” Then with a final, incredulous glance at the sleeping figure beside him, he scratched his head, turned and settled back beneath the blankets.

Xue Meng hadn’t realised just how tired he’d been. He fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. Eventually, at some point through the night, he’d turned in his sleep and ended up facing Mei Hanxue.

Unsurprisingly, Mei Hanxue hadn’t actually fallen asleep. Xue Meng was just a little dumb and Mei Hanxue was just very committed to his act.

“I can’t believe you actually dared stick your finger up my nose, Ziming. How rude.” Mei Hanxue said quietly, his hand coming up to stroke Xue Meng’s cheek. His touch was featherlight, the lightest brush of his fingers. “What an idiot,” Mei Hanxue laughed to himself silently, then he flicked Xue Meng’s nose, causing the sleeping man to scrunch his nose a little and swipe his hand away, quite similar to the way Mei Hanxue had pretended to do earlier.

For a while, Mei Hanxue just watched the sleeping figure in front of him. Xue Meng’s features were softened by both sleep and moonlight, making him look much younger now that he was just breathing. It was only now that he was lulled by sleep, that his face looked peaceful; that it was free of worries and anxieties. Mei Hanxue felt some of the tightness that had been in his chest since he’d first seen him when he first arrived ease.

Mei Hanxue took in the paleness of his face, the inky shadows that stained the delicate skin beneath his eyes, telling of the exhaustion that now plagued his entire being. His thumb continued to stroke over Xue Meng’s cheek, perhaps in an unconscious attempt to provide him with some comfort.

The newly inducted sect leader. The foolish peacock. The darling of the heavens that nobody could care for. Dared to care for. Thought of caring for. Arrogant, and radiant, and too far out of anyone’s reach to be properly comforted. Mei Hanxue caressed his sleeping face with gentle hands, quietly hoping it would ease some of the pain that now marred the deepest part of his being. To take away some of the hurt that was hidden out of sight to everyone else who only spared him a passing glance.

‘It’ll be okay,’ Mei Hanxue said with the touch of his fingers against Xue Meng’s skin, with his gaze. ‘I’m here now, Ziming. It’ll be okay.’

oook that’s all for now; hope you enjoyed this very unedited meimeng crumb

#2ha #erha #husky and his white cat shizun #meimeng #mei hanxue #xue meng #mei hanxue x xue meng #I LOVE THEM SO MUCH I REALLY WISH MEIMENG WAS CANON #my writing ew

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