"Hearing the last part, Jiang Cheng remembered the past three months of rushing about and working day and night. He felt somewhere moved, but quickly put on a harsh face"

Do you think Wei wuxian listens to weezer?

I don't know...I don't know...I really don't know.....

By the time the tx winter storm had hit I had already been steadily spiraling down the mdzs hole and I was not about to stop. Like all the power was out and I was using my remaining laptop battery life to keep reading mdzs. When my laptop battery died during the afternoon of the first day as I was reading the chapter where lan wangji asks wei wuxian to go back to gusu with him for the first time, I was literally like this

.

Both about the story and the circumstances. Because what else could I be like. You all understand. Anyways, very big impact on my mood and memory, the whole ordeal.

Now it's freezing again and while it's not as bad (awesome), school districts and some businesses are shutting down for a couple days and it's having me Heavily reminisce intro mdzs times. That being said, you'll probably see a good resurgence of mdzs content on my blog bc I've already finally started watching the third season of the donghua as I can apparently never escape the hold mdzs has on my soul

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

Character: Draco Malfoy (HP) Why I love them: I don't. I love the version of him I frankensteined together from fics I read/wrote as an undiagnosed autistic preteen who wished I knew how to be meaner, and was hopelessly demisexually gay for a brunette with glasses.

Character: Uzumaki Naruto (Naruto) Why I love them: Emotionally neglected ADHD powerhouse who thinks "what do 600 hot girls look like? Me with titties and pigtails 600 times obviously" followed by "what do 600 hot boys look like? All my male friends with bedroom eyes OBVIOUSLY" and somehow hasn't figured out he's into dudes and is probably genderfluid. The Haku and Zabuza arc came SO close to "child soldier figures out that making children into soldiers is bad, actually, and resolves to create a better society where fewer people needlessly suffer" but then I think the author got old and forgot his own trajectory in favor of endless spectacle creep and, idk, something about the moon crushing Konoha or whatever. I lost interest in the story, but not the BOY. Also his relentless fixation with that dark haired cool guy he kissed one time makes every other character feel awkward, and I relate to that.

Character: Urameshi Yusuke (Yu Yu Hakusho) Why I love them: LOVE me a guy who even HEAVEN writes off as an irredeemable asshole surprising everyone with an act of selflessness. Love me an asshole who dedicates his life to love and friendship. Yusuke's narrative is basically "Obviously all yokai are evil. Wait, some aren't (some of my best friends are yokai)? Wait, most aren't (I actually really enjoy the yokai world/community)? Wait, I'M a yokai? (THAT'S why I am the way I am, and actually that's not evil it's just different)??? So there's evil humans AND evil yokai but neither are inherently bad, MOST are just regular people on both sides, and both are worth protecting" and anyway this is a neurodivergent and queer allegory to me, which slaps severely.

Character: Shi Qingxuan (Heaven Official's Blessing) Why I love them: Gender

Character: Luke Fon Fabre (Tales of the Abyss) Why I love them: Nobody's doing character growth like this little shit. An icon. It takes like 30 hours of gameplay for him to become likable and when he does it's somehow genuinely worth it.

Character: Changheng (Love Between Fairy and Devil) Why I love them: (I'm picking only one character per story, which is the only reason Xiao Lanhua and Dongfang Qingcang aren't also on this list.) You're telling me the God of War's narrative is a "tragic princess, betrothed since childhood, can't escape her family's expectations, constantly has to put everyone else above herself, until finally she snaps" story blended with "man who has been forced to live in war, falls for the first person who acknowledges that he, too, needs protection, ultimately rejects the violence he's been forced to endure and enact in favor of pursuing peace" and I'm what? NOT supposed to go insane? Also his nose freckle gives me heart palpitations.

Character: Logan Echolls (Veronica Mars, specifically season 1) Why I love them: What an excellent example of a badly coping shithead jerk fuckup boy who would be SO soft in any context where he's not under constant threat. Something about his mouth-breathing under duress compels me.

Character: Kyo (Fruits Basket) Why I love them: Badly coping under duress, the entire system is stacked against him, anger management issues and the snatched waist of a 90's manga twink. What can I say, a feral cat finding stability and love gets me every time.

Character: Xue Yang (MDZS) Why I love them: Irredeemable asshole feral cat ass man, coping badly at all times with all things but holding it together with a winning personality (gratuitous violence and bad jokes). Falls SO hard for the first person to show him love and kindness, becomes SO soft when not under threat for the first time ever, and then fucks up SO badly he ruins his whole fucking life. Spends more time trying to get back what he lost than he actually HAD what he lost. He's irredeemable. He's irredeemable. He makes apple rabbits for A Qing because she's sad. He's irredeemable. He doesn't pull a weapon on Xingchen even when Xingchen has already stabbed him and he's renowned for violence and revenge. He's irredeemable. I starting writing a post in his defense and hit the character limit halfway through my 'notes to flesh out later' bullet pointed list. He's irredeemable?? Xiao Xingchen could, though, is all I'm saying. The deeper you look into his actions the more humanity there is to find. I'm rotating every single thing about him in my mind like a rotisserie chicken.

Character: Chu Wanning (ERHA) Why I love them: He's hopelessly demisexually gay for literally just one guy. His story is gratuitously tragic but with a happy ending. Autistic Yearning incarnate. He's a burnt out husk of a blushing virgin, and the horniest person alive. Would readily die for his convictions, but won't ask for help. Prettiest wife anyone could ever wish for, with a strong masculine jaw. Total knockout gorgeous with body dysmorphia. Hyper competent with zero emotional intelligence. Widely respected and beloved with intense self loathing. He's never not masking. He's an atticked wife, he's a bossy husband, he's a piece of wood. He's 45. He's 6. He's 20. He's 32. He is catnip for me.

midday tuesday

sort of getting a handle on the volume of work i have to do. ough. writing this tuesdaypost while i wait for the initial step of a simulation to finish running so i can see if what i'm doing is correct.

listening: listening to haken's fauna album again because i'm seeing them live soon (!!)

next listening (against my better judgement because you can probably figure out where i live based on it): local bar had some bands this past weekend, i missed the first group (dopplepopolis) unfortunately because i am chronically late to things that don't have consequences but allegedly they did a holst mars cover ?? which sounds fascinating and i'm so mad i missed it. the second group was alright (the lunar diamonds), pretty good stage presence and they clearly had a lot of fun but their original songs were a little forgettable to me, their cover of psycho killer WAS a banger. i'm very sad they don't have that put up on spotify. but the third group (please her). oohhhh baby. i fell a little bit in love with the lead singer, not gonna lie! i went and listened to their spotify and while some of it really doesn't hit the same as the live performance it's still very fun. she had a spray bottle full of water and was periodically spritzing the audience. at the very end she was like "welcome to church, you may be seated" and had us all sit/crouch on the floor to listen to her announcements about the band over a groovy backing track. their bassist is INSANELY good too. mans be slappin that thang. they listed their genre as "scorpion core" which i still do not understand but god bless 'em.

anyways. they have one album out right now (bandcamp / spotify) and it's worth giving a listen. favorite track: 12 @ the Party, followed closely by Fellas!. i will probably buy it next bandcamp friday.

the lunar diamonds only have one track up on spotify but it is one of their originals that i found toe-tappy: Treads

i'll have to give the band i missed a chance but it will likely not hit the same as if it were live. c'est la vie

finally, haven't finished the release radar for this week yet, but i do really love ethan bortnick. the way he meshes classical-inspired piano with the alt beats is just so fun. hide n seek

reading: next mdzs book came in from the library! truly nothing like the rush of getting the notification "your book is ready to take out" before the estimated date :3 so i'm a little ways into volume 2 now, we're in yi city, xue yang is soooo much more obviously desperate to get xiao xingchen fixed in the book than in the show. loser (affectionate)

watching: next verse same as the first. dungeonmeshi and kill la kill with boyf. the kelpie animations were really fun and also the kraken !! good shit. there are other posts that have explained this better but i love the way trigger is animating the backgrounds. as for klk, we're on ep15 now! i have forgotten sooo much of this show, nui harime showed up and i was like oh SHIT i forgot about her !! entirely!!! so it's been a really fun rewatch.

playing: ran dnd saturday and played dnd on monday! saturday dnd defeated the mdzs dancing fairy :b at some point i will probably design something that involves finding a haunted arm pointing in a direction to reuinite its body a la nie mingjue but we've got some very strong anti-undead characters in this party so that may not go over very well. monday dnd involved getting hunted by a spooky fey hyena and getting robbed by a goblin group. something something goblin microaggressions. still fun even though i was VERY sleepy by the end of it.

making: pottery that i FORGOT TO PHOTOGRAPH ... i was like "i'll take pics at open studio saturday" and then the kiln was running so, on one hand, yayyyy kiln! on the other, no pics for this tuesdaypost. so. more pics next week. i did make some hopefully-teacups for my bf, depending on how severe the shrinkage is, but these are the smallest items i've been able to make (0.5lb clay) and it's sooo much harder than i thought it would be. pics with ruler for shrinkage measuring purposes

you might catch in the first photo that the top cup has noticeably thicker walls than the others ... don't worry about it ......

eating: coconut fish and tomato bake thing that i added too much lime to by accident but still tasty... sheet pan tofu and brussel sprouts!!!! so this is an elite one, adding to the arsenal. literally just halve the sprouts and cube the tofu, drizzle w olive oil and salt and peppy, roast at 450 til its. done. whenever. while that's roasting make rice. the sauce is 1:1 ratio of tahini to hoisin sauce with minced garlic to taste. it is To Die For and SO easy. last night roommate made turkey meatballs with couscous and even though the couscous burned just a little bit it was still yummy!

misc: turns out ... if your body wants ~9 hours of sleep a night but you make it live off of 7 for weeks on end ....... eventually you will get sick LOL. probably partly alcohol ibs stuff but still. sunday was a total wash for me and i went to bed at 10pm and felt normal monday morning. so. i need to just be going to bed earlier (pain). work this week not as terrible at least. i am doing my shit that i need to be doing and it's going okay! which is good because i'm calling it an early week kinda for that concert hehe. oh valentines day! boyf got me a little leatherman multitool keychain and it's so cute and i love it, and i got him a bird scope phone holder so he can take bird photos easier!!!

Hey there! So I was curious, what are your current top favorite shows/books/games at the moment, and do you have any recommendations for ones that you think others might enjoy and should check out?

so right now i am a year deep into a fullmetal alchemist brotherhood/manga special interest, which means that the characters from that and especially my two rare pair ships (olizumi and rizalust) have had me in a stranglehold.

being that you're already an fma person i will not try to sell you on it but if you ever wanna check out my fics please do ehehe, i recommend starting with "with or without" !

i am also watching dungeon meshi, just finished arcane, and have been. you know. also watching one piece,

which honestly is so so good, i'm on 117 and try to make a little progress every day

books wise i'm reading both the manga of fma and the mdzs series so just things i watched the adaptation of first, but also Slowly Slowly making my way through dungeon meshi, which, i only read when i'm with my partner, so i've also kind of fallen behind on the show cuz i stopped where i stopped in the book, haha.

game wise i am 2/3 done with pentiment and keep meaning to go back! almost done with portal 2 which i play with my sister on the weekends and i also stream baldurs gate 3 with my friends on tuesdays which i have also been going through so so slowly due to the only playing once a week thing.

other recommendation wise i am legally obligated to pitch tenchi universe, which you can no longer watch legally on any streaming platform but if you want a google drive link, dm me, it is the world's silliest little show and so goddamn sweet !

older hyperfixation wise i would say you can never go wrong with dark (netflix) if you like time travel even a little bit, alta mar (but only the first two seasons) for murder mysteries, and. god do you ever feel like your brain stops working. i guess yuru camp for another really sweet anime!!

also also, the whole Dropout content thing is like. my whole life so dimension20, make some noise, game changer, etc -- top tier comedy, top tier dnd!!

currents.10

selections from my week in media [5-11 mar 2023]

We’re into the double digits. How is it March already?

- sp*ilers for Chains of Heart -

[listening]

Circle full album/Onew - sublime - I had a pain flare several days of this week and his album was very soothing to listen to.

ATEEZ - And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I started to familiarize myself with the group this week; I enjoy the high energy of their music - it’s fun to blast in the car

[reading]

Middlewest by Skottie Young and Jorge Corona - YA fantasy/sci-fi graphic novel

sweet chaos by @eachandeverydimension - MDZS au-canon div - Betrothed by their families, LWJ and WWX spend the year before the Cloud Recesses lectures getting to know each other and falling in love. It is very sweet and chock full of daily life details.

[watching]

All the Liquors - Watched the first four eps that have been released and wish I’d waited to binge the whole thing. I can’t get a handle on whether it’s supposed to be a romcom or not. The last scene of ep 4 in particular was a bit uncomfortable to watch because we have no idea why Ki Hoon doesn’t drink.

Chains of Heart - The dimples deceived! Din was not the guy in the cabin. Whew. So I’m back to assuming that Peter is Din w/miracle plastic surgery. I will also accept that he is a secret bodyguard send by Din to protect the man he can never see again for some convoluted reason. This week we finally got some backstory that explains things. However, considering that most of the series is still ahead of us, I have to wonder what else we don’t know. But at least now we are at the normal stage of ‘knowing just enough to not be frustrated’ instead of ‘not knowing anything and totally confused what does it all mean.’ FSM save Ken’s poor neck.

Lockwood & Co - Quit after ep 4. Still trying to figure out why it didn’t click because it looked great. Possibly because there is zero world-building setup and not enough explained along the way to make up for it. Possibly because teenagers-in-peril and that’s the in-universe norm. Possibly because none of the three leads drew me in enough to keep watching despite the first two things. The genre is absolutely my wheelhouse, so I’m disappointed. I may try reading the books instead.

Moonlight Chicken - I knew I’d love it and I wasn’t wrong. More thoughts here.

previous Currents posts

Getting to Know You - Ask Game

Tagged by @twilightarc-gm. Thanks for the tag ❤️

Answer these questions and then tag nine people you want to get to know better.

1. Three ships: Xicheng (MDZS), Moshang (SVSSS) and Fengqing (TGCF)

2. First ship: Percabeth (PJO)!

3. Last song listened: Sugar by Maroon 5 in the taxi to the airport

4. Last movie watched: The new Puss in Boots movie! A cinematic masterpiece \o/

5. Currently watching: Just finished the xxxHolic anime! (Mars, if you're reading this, I'm so sorry QAQ I got too impatient and watched it by myself forgib meeee)

6. Currently reading: Book 5 of TGCF... still orz

7. Currently consuming: air??

8. Currently craving: Sushi. God, I'd kill for some avocado sushi rn

Tagging (no pressure though!): @roseclaw @marsdiogenes @tate-lin @syolen @tinywriterfairy @dragongirlg-fics @panickypansexual @valiantbarnes @schwamb

🌈 for the fic writer asks!

Thank you for the ask! :D

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

Oh yeah... this one, They Say Time Heals Everything, but I'm Still Waiting. It's a fic I wrote for the MDZS Mixtape exchange the other year, not my original assignment (that had been the WangSang fic I did for a prompt by mars, a real joy to write) but a pinch-hit I picked up since my first was done so quickly. The pairing was WangXian - not the reason it was so hard, but didn't help (I'm not exactly known for writing them much, and then mostly in the background) - and the song choice wasn't a bad one, but... the lyrics kept wanting to go in a direction that I did NOT want to go in, leaned toward an interpretation of canon events I definitely do not subscribe to, and I kept overthinking it and worrying that the giftee was going to be expecting something and I'd be giving them something altogether different and they would be so disappointed, and I hated the idea of disappointing them. I did the best I could and sent it to a beta, and the beta indicated many places it needed work, so that was more work. The biggest irony - the last scene was something I did completely in self-indulgence (post-canon one braincell trio + lwj reunion), and when the giftee responded, that was the bit they liked most. Ugh! If I'd just stopped overthinking things and just went with my guts from the beginning and tried to have fun with it, it would have gone so much easier. But it felt like such a chore, and probably the fic of mine I re-read the least tbh, if only for the sense memories of frustration involved in it.

Just for shits and giggles: Greetings!

Any pronouns will do I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️

Y'all can call me Mars on here (⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠)✧｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+*♪

Demiromantic & Omnisexual

Old enough to read and write in cursive

ENTP - this means I'm a menace. Oddly enough, the social anxiety is very very very strong in This One ✌️

Chinese american 🇭🇰 mixed race

I'm back to my BSD era (permanently) 🥰

♡♡♡♡♡ Lawrence Oleander (BTD2), Nakahara Chuuya (BSD), Nikolai Gogol (BSD), Jason Todd (DC Batfam), Childe (Genshin), Milo Greer (Redacted ASMR), NMJ & NHS (MDZS), SQQ (SVSSS), Shigaraki (BNHA), Alphonse & Seth (Yuurivoice: Bittersweet), Charlie (Yuurivoice) ♡♡♡♡♡

BSD is consuming my soul again, do not send help. I am in love with the characters ✨

Dyslexia should not be spelled the way it is, basically a crime, really, believe me, I'm dyslexic.

MDZS, TGCF, & SVSSS have become a prominent interest 🥰 help me please

EPIC: The Musical has taken over my life again

Please ask me about my world/language building and my poetry!

Watching others take the responsibility onto their shoulder no matter what, insist on bearing all of the negative consequences, unable to be stopped at all- the feeling was the utmost detestable!

“Excellent,” Huaisang says, downing his champagne before reaching into his pocket. “Here’s my card. I hope to hear from you soon.” He smiles and tries not to read into how Lan Xichen’s fingers grazes his as he takes the business card from him.

“I look forward to it.” Lan Xichen’s eyes never leave his as he tucks the card into the breast pocket of his perfectly tailored suit.

— When the world is cold (I will feel a glow) by @marsdiogenes​​

my piece for the xisang discord swap!! Mars’s fic (feat. museum curator nhs and wealthy donor lxc) is AMAZING and i had so much fun collaborating <3

aaand bonus doodle~

lemme just say Wang Haoxuan did a Great job playing Xue Yang because he just... seems like he has the potential to actually be human? As opposed to Novel XY, who is.... ProblematicTM

[PRE-ORDER]  MDZS x Qing Cang - 2022 New Year's Merch

Deadline:  Mar 18, 2022 @ 9 PM EST

How to order

If you have never joined one of my group orders before, please read the Guide + FAQ and register before signing up!

To order, please go to the Order Site, select the ‘Pre-Orders’ category and browse for the item you’d like to order.

How would you lure someone into reading MXTX's novels beyond the usual "the main CP is this and that"? Cos for example, every time someone tells me to read MDZS, they mostly just say Wangxian is married and have a child and leave it at that, which isn't encouraging at all??? Sorry to bother you with this question. I love reading your responses though!

Hi there anon!~

I think pitching MXTX novels as purely "couple is so-and-so" is also a bit of a disservice, too! One of my favorite things about many danmei novels is indeed that they are very plot-heavy and contain lots of thought-provoking concepts. For the sake of this answer, I will limit it to MDZS since you gave that as an example.

For me, the most interesting thing about MDZS is not necessarily that "Wangxian are married and have a son" but the actual struggles that both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji endure in order to get to a point where they can be happy together. It takes one of them dying and coming back, plus the shattering of social complacency that occurs during the present timeline of the novel. And even then, that's not even really the main focus of the novel, it's more like a product of everything else that happens. Their history is also long and marred with anger, confusion, heartbreak, and understanding.

I have my own preferences of how I read Wei Wuxian, for example, that I think differs from other people's. Same for how I like to interpret Wangxian. In an effort not to rock the boat, I'll just say that I think Wangxian is a very compelling and interesting couple because they both put in work to make it work. I like thinking of how they are just very fundamentally different people, but do well together because they choose to.

But again, I think MXTX made a point also in not focusing too much on their relationship itself, but rather the plot and how/why it develops the way it does. She had something she wanted to say with this work, as she does with each one of her works. MDZS is first and foremost a murder-mystery with the background of a war story. It's about the dangers of mob mentality, how fast the crowd will turn against you if you step out of line. It's about how rocking the boat has far-reaching consequences, and how society often wants the easiest and cheapest way to morality. It's about how the pressure to be perfect will shatter someone, yet the cracks may not show until it's too late. How oppression can make both heroes, and monsters -- and that sometimes, that distinction is simply a matter of who is telling the story.

(I also want to note that there's also the one theme that MXTX seems to really favor, and is present in all 3 of her works: having one person on your side can be enough.)

These are all incredible concepts that I think are really worth reading the novel for. Not to mention, they are eternally relevant conversations to have. MDZS is a novel painted in gray, and deserves thoughtful consideration of such. (Of course, it can also just be a lot of fun!) Even how you view the main character is absolutely dependent on what perspective you want to see him through. This itself is really interesting and unique.

The way the novel ends, with a lot let unsaid -- intentionally so -- is bittersweet yet satisfying. Fascinating in the sense that yeah, not everyone gets a happy ending, but in a way that genuinely makes sense. (But if you're worried, fear not, Wangxian do end up married and with a son, after all lol!)

Ultimately, these are adult novels, meant for an adult audience -- and created as much for the purposes of having fun, as they are to be discussed and analyzed through a scholarly lens. So I definitely share your frustration in being pitched a novel purely on the couple, because YEAH I do care a lot about the couple (see: how I devote at least 80% of my brain power to thinking about Hualian kissing), but I also do want a story that is satisfying in more than just one way. I.e., is stratifying in both terms of its main couple's relationship AND a fleshed-out plot line with lots of themes to analyze, because I like having fun in both of those ways!

I think even when we pitch other MXTX novels (or danmei novels in general), it's helpful to do it the same way. To focus on what makes the novel great in its entirety, not just a small, reductive portion of it. Especially when it’s very clear that the author has so many things they’re trying to say with the work. However, I'll end this here because this answer is getting so long lol! I hope this helped you out, anon, and maybe even sold you a little more on MDZS haha! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ

Hi again......Thank you for answering my ask......if you don't mind me asking (again), can I ask, who are your favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series (can be canon or non-canon)? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....

Hi! Oooh, romantic relationships.

In no particular order, here are the canon ones:

WangXian from MDZS, Galavant/Isabella from Galavant, Ban/Elaine + Diane/King from Seven Deadly Sins, Sokka/Suki from Avatar the Last Airbender, Zen/Shirayuki from Snow White with the Red Hair, MoShang from Scum Villain Self Saving System, Renji/Rukia from Bleach, Maeda/Misaki from Mars Red

Aaaaand the noncanon ones:

ChengXian + ZhanChengXian + Xue Yang/Jiang Cheng + TOO MANY TO LIST from MDZS, Zuku/Katara from Avatar the Last Airbender, Zen/Obi/Shirayuki from Avatar the Last Airbender, KunikiDazai from Bungo Stray Dogs, CumPlane from Scum Villain Self Saving System, Howzer/Diane from Seven Deadly Sins, Childe/Diluc + Jean/Diluc + Kaeya/Diluc + Diluc/Rosaria + Childe/Lumine + TOO MANY from Genshin Impact

I'm a raging multishipper though, and honestly, I'll read most ships as long as it's well-written.