Hnnnggggggghhhhhh

the embrace 

(from the kiss, gustav klimt)

Suddenly, inspiration struck Shen Qingqiu. He blinked, then pulled Luo Binghe’s face down and kissed him.

(...)

Shen Qingqiu didn’t stop there. After some rustling, he’d already unfastened Luo Binghe’s sash and grabbed his hand, moving it inside his own open collar. He led it along the firm lines of his chest, all the way to his enthusiastically pounding heart.

(...)

However, during his moment of slight hesitation, Shen Qingqiu had flipped them over, pressing Luo Binghe beneath him as he roughly tore open his inner robes.

Luo Binghe’s breathing was a little unsteady as he held Shen Qingqiu’s waist, a faint flush dyeing his cheeks. “Shizun…” he stammered, “what’s gotten into you tonight?”

Shen Qingqiu leaned down and said into his ear, “Tonight, I feel like…I like you a great deal.”

Behold a horny Sqq

Someone needs to tell this man he will hold on like our country in the most dire of times. 🇺🇸 (Source- panel from an in progress storyboard)

- 43rd POTUS George W. Bush

Luo Binghe & Selflessness

There's a great post by @/jayktoralldaylong talking about how all the love interests in MXTX's novels prioritize the safety and well-being of the MCs rather than prioritizing - or even expecting - their love being returned. And image my surprise when the first reply I see is "Except Binghe. That bitch will sleep with your corpse," with others agreeing and calling him the "worst MXTX character" in the tags. I am yet again asking, did we read the same book? Luo Binghe is just as single-mindedly devoted to Shen Qingqiu as any of the others. Evidence of this is found at every turn during the main plot of Scum Villain: the plot during which he was actively possessed by a sentient evil sword. A sword which in a different timeline - a timeline without Shen Yuan - almost single-handedly turned Luo Bingge into a tyrant. He is under this influence for a majority of volumes 2 and 3 (of the Eng. transl.), which is also when he is accused of being "crazy" or "pushy" in regards to Shen Qingqiu.

Since the reply that inspired this post discussed the 5 years in which Shen Qingqiu was dead, that's what I'll address first. When Shen Qingqiu self-destructs, Luo Binghe is caught extremely off guard. It's easy, I think, to forget or disregard just how awful and confusing the entire novel's events have been for Binghe so far. Accepted to Qing Jing and subsequently horrifically abused for 4 years; a sudden, drastic, unexplained change in Shen Qingqiu and a blissful 3 years of peace; pushed into hell and utterly betrayed in an act of what appears to be very out of character hypocrisy. And when he returns (now in possession of the aforementioned sentient evil sword), he stays away from Cang Qiong and becomes a respectable cultivator in his own right, so that maybe, maybe Shen Qingqiu would accept him once again. And then he runs into Shen Qingqiu enjoying the company of someone who looks exactly like him; yet Shen Qingqiu runs from him, acting as though Binghe is the one who is dangerous, who is going to hurt him. Of course, Shen Qingqiu is justified in his fear, based on his own perceptions of the situation. But Luo Binghe does not know this.

Immediately following Shen Qingqiu's destruction is one of the only times we get a firsthand glimpse into Luo Binghe's perspective. This line is from the moments after he catches Shen Qingqiu's body: "Didn't Shizun hate his blood more than anything? Wasn't he unwilling to even be near him, to associate with him at all?" In the following pages is when he learns, for the first time that "Shizun too was...utterly heartbroken" during his time in the Abyss. When the chapter ends, Luo Binghe is still in utter shock, wiping the blood from Shen Qingqiu's face and trying, uselessly, to explain that he was just angry, that he just wanted to make him happy. We don't see the part of the scene where Luo Binghe leaves with the body, but it is not hard to infer that, in his complete state of denial and shock, his mind recently saved from an agonizing deviation, he was unwilling to part from his Shizun.

During the five years of Shen Qingqiu's absence, Luo Binghe kept his body in as perfect a state as possible. As we see in the Deep Dream extra, Luo Binghe brings Mu Qingfang (who he seems to respect, however minimally) to Huan Hua Pavilion some time after the events of Hua Yue City (which we know because Mu Qingfang expects Shen Qingqiu's body to "have long since festered and decayed"). We, as Shen Qingqiu, then get a glimpse into what Luo Binghe does with the body: he cooks countless meals that will go uneaten, and he transfers qi to prevent that decay. Skin to skin contact is the most direct way to transfer qi, as supported in many other scenes, including the flashback scene in this same extra. This type of qi transfer can also be carried out while sleeping, as evidenced in the Bing-mei vs. Bing-ge extra, providing a regulated stream of spiritual energy for an entire night. As Mu Qingfang said earlier, this uses up "an enormous amount of spiritual power" and is only enough to keep his body protected "for a single day" without reversing everything. Luo Binghe is immensely powerful, but even protagonists are not built to drain themselves every night for 5 years, while also fighting off Xin Mo, running Huan Hua, controlling the demon realm, and NOT giving up on everything. When Shen Qingqiu is thought to be dead in the minutes after Maigu Ridge, Luo Binge "almost tried to follow" him. And yet, when he believed there was even a chance he might return, he held on "for almost two thousand more of these days and nights."

The only other time we see Luo Binghe's interactions with the corpse is when Shen Qingqiu, undiscovered in the plant body, witnesses Liu Qingge's infiltration. In this, it is said that "Luo Binghe was unwilling to harm the corpse, so he could only release it." It's worth mentioning that, if Liu Qingge had managed to take the body back to Cang Qiong - or, what sequence is initiated when he does - it will be given burial rights, it will decay, and Shen Qingqiu will never again have a possibility of inhabiting it. Luo Binghe cannot let this happen; it's not merely about possession or attachment. And yet, he would sooner allow this possibility that allowing even the potential of harm to come to him.

When all is said and done, after Luo Binghe has been broken out of Xin Mo's control and Shen Qingqiu does not die - the first thing he does is return him to Cang Qiong Mountain. When Shen Qingqiu suggests that they leave, together, Luo Binghe is "dumbfounded." He fully expected to be left, for Shen Qingqiu to be unwilling. He would have done anything for Shen Qingqiu and expected nothing in return.

At his core, even under influence and in emotional turmoil, Luo Binghe's love is unfalteringly selfless. There are so many examples of this, both in the main plot and in the post-canon extras, but I think this post is long enough already. Suffice it to say that nothing is more important that Shen Qingqiu to Luo Binghe - least of all himself.

You do have to wonder a bit what binghe's psyche is like in the ass wine chapter where he reads that people assumed he defiled sqq's dead body when in actuality he was treating it in a way so gentle and respectful that you can tell it was mourning deeply rooted in his trauma regarding his mother's death and failure to bring her the smallest semblance of comfort in her final moments

I’ve never written it in the way I’m thinking of, but I think my favorite period setting Darcy/Elizabeth AU concept is just “the strange and largely unexplained speculation about a Darcy/Elizabeth match never happens, or at least never gets to Lady Catherine, and thus she doesn’t inadvertently give Darcy hope, so the period of emotional turmoil and intense pining goes on considerably longer than in canon, but everything up to that point is the same and they do end up happily together. Eventually.”

My dream scenario is low on plot drama and high on emotional intensity—years and years ago, I wrote a version that took this as the basic premise but was extremely high on plot drama, but that’s not what I really want. I want them thrown together socially through Jane and Bingley and (especially) the Gardiners and just having very ordinary social interactions that are underpinned by raw yearning that both find frustrating and “I am being ridiculous, I know, but—” and, like, searing UST when they have perfectly appropriate physical contact.

(bonus if hands)

(extra bonus if gloved hands)

In my ideal scenario, this doesn’t give them quite enough hope to make themselves immediately obvious but it’s enough not to give up hope altogether, so there’s just this exquisitely agonizing several months before everything gets inevitably resolved.

brb adjusting to the new reality where crowley says "you don't dance" to aziraphale and not "we don't dance"

When I tell you I think about this scene daily 

These worshipping hands belong only to me :)

also i forgot to mention that i did a full run of the fade sequence in broken circle for the first time in years and it's not actually as bad as i remembered!! i'll take that over the deep roads any day

.

I think some of the most nonsensical people in fandom are those who woobify wwx and say his actions are entirely justified by his trauma and then turn around and call binghe a horrible person who doesn't deserve love like...

i want to buy a house. even if it's a tiny thing, being able to OWN it and decorate freely and make modifications would be so fucking nice