Latest Posts by purplepapriika - Page 3

Here’s a story about changelings: 

Mary was a beautiful baby, sweet and affectionate, but by the time she’s three she’s turned difficult and strange, with fey moods and a stubborn mouth that screams and bites but never says mama. But her mother’s well-used to hard work with little thanks, and when the village gossips wag their tongues she just shrugs, and pulls her difficult child away from their precious, perfect blossoms, before the bites draw blood. Mary’s mother doesn’t drown her in a bucket of saltwater, and she doesn’t take up the silver knife the wife of the village priest leaves out for her one Sunday brunch. 

She gives her daughter yarn, instead, and instead of a rowan stake through her inhuman heart she gives her a child’s first loom, oak and ash. She lets her vicious, uncooperative fairy daughter entertain herself with games of her own devising, in as much peace and comfort as either of them can manage.

Mary grows up strangely, as a strange child would, learning everything in all the wrong order, and biting a great deal more than she should. But she also learns to weave, and takes to it with a grand passion. Soon enough she knows more than her mother–which isn’t all that much–and is striking out into unknown territory, turning out odd new knots and weaves, patterns as complex as spiderwebs and spellrings. 

“Aren’t you clever,” her mother says, of her work, and leaves her to her wool and flax and whatnot. Mary’s not biting anymore, and she smiles more than she frowns, and that’s about as much, her mother figures, as anyone should hope for from their child. 

Mary still cries sometimes, when the other girls reject her for her strange graces, her odd slow way of talking, her restless reaching fluttering hands that have learned to spin but never to settle. The other girls call her freak, witchblood, hobgoblin.

“I don’t remember girls being quite so stupid when I was that age,” her mother says, brushing Mary’s hair smooth and steady like they’ve both learned to enjoy, smooth as a skein of silk. “Time was, you knew not to insult anyone you might need to flatter later. ‘Specially when you don’t know if they’re going to grow wings or horns or whatnot. Serve ‘em all right if you ever figure out curses.”

“I want to go back,” Mary says. “I want to go home, to where I came from, where there’s people like me. If I’m a fairy’s child I should be in fairyland, and no one would call me a freak.”

“Aye, well, I’d miss you though,” her mother says. “And I expect there’s stupid folk everywhere, even in fairyland. Cruel folk, too. You just have to make the best of things where you are, being my child instead.”

Mary learns to read well enough, in between the weaving, especially when her mother tracks down the traveling booktraders and comes home with slim, precious manuals on dyes and stains and mordants, on pigments and patterns, diagrams too arcane for her own eyes but which make her daughter’s eyes shine.

“We need an herb garden,” her daughter says, hands busy, flipping from page to page, pulling on her hair, twisting in her skirt, itching for a project. “Yarrow, and madder, and woad and weld…”

“Well, start digging,” her mother says. “Won’t do you a harm to get out of the house now’n then.”

Mary doesn’t like dirt but she’s learned determination well enough from her mother. She digs and digs, and plants what she’s given, and the first year doesn’t turn out so well but the second’s better, and by the third a cauldron’s always simmering something over the fire, and Mary’s taking in orders from girls five years older or more, turning out vivid bolts and spools and skeins of red and gold and blue, restless fingers dancing like they’ve summoned down the rainbow. Her mother figures she probably has.

“Just as well you never got the hang of curses,” she says, admiring her bright new skirts. “I like this sort of trick a lot better.”

Mary smiles, rocking back and forth on her heels, fingers already fluttering to find the next project.

She finally grows up tall and fair, if a bit stooped and squinty, and time and age seem to calm her unhappy mouth about as well as it does for human children. Word gets around she never lies or breaks a bargain, and if the first seems odd for a fairy’s child then the second one seems fit enough. The undyed stacks of taken orders grow taller, the dyed lots of filled orders grow brighter, the loom in the corner for Mary’s own creations grows stranger and more complex. Mary’s hands callus just like her mother’s, become as strong and tough and smooth as the oak and ash of her needles and frames, though they never fall still.

“Do you ever wonder what your real daughter would be like?” the priest’s wife asks, once.

Mary’s mother snorts. “She wouldn’t be worth a damn at weaving,” she says. “Lord knows I never was. No, I’ll keep what I’ve been given and thank the givers kindly. It was a fair enough trade for me. Good day, ma’am.”

Mary brings her mother sweet chamomile tea, that night, and a warm shawl in all the colors of a garden, and a hairbrush. In the morning, the priest’s son comes round, with payment for his mother’s pretty new dress and a shy smile just for Mary. He thinks her hair is nice, and her hands are even nicer, vibrant in their strength and skill and endless motion.  

They all live happily ever after.

*

Here’s another story: 

Seguir leyendo

beware of bears

still thinking about that one Little Prince quote -- you are responsible, forever, for what you have tamed -- and about bingqiu.

Shen Jiu thought (paraphrased) that he could abuse Luo Binghe at will and not face any consequences for it. he found out in A Big Way that he was wrong. but at the same time, Shen Yuan made the same mistake in the opposite direction. he thought he could love Luo Binghe the way he wanted to love him -- to protect him, spoil him, treat him kindly, the way he always wanted Luo Binghe to be treated and never was in the canon -- and then, when the time came, simply sever that relationship. pretend it had never existed. both in his assumption that the story would continue on its canon track (it didn't,) and in his forming of the backup mushroom bodies (fake his death and leave, forever, and let things end there.)

and he also found out in A Big Way that he was wrong!

that other post about how miserable the OG Luo Binghe truly is got me thinking (again) about how incredible it is that the Bingge vs. Bingmei extra is actually part of the canon. like! that is SUCH a classic fanfic setup, and the author just went ahead and included it! and that is WILD to me because –

Now that the original Luo Binghe has been made aware of the existence of SVSSS, of the alternate universe where he is happy and loved –  he canonically knows this and cannot unknow it! And that means there is no good outcome for OG Luo Binghe after this.

Luo Binghe has an obsessive enough personality that he won’t be able to just… let it go. That’s not in his nature. He’s had his face shoved in the fact that his current life doesn’t make him happy, that he has no one who truly loves him the way his alternate self is loved. And even if he has Xin Mo and a thousand realities open to him, there’s just no winning combination for him.

The original Shen Jiu, even if he’s still alive or could be revived, could never be a loving husband to him, for so many reasons.

The original Shen Yuan, even if he could be located in another world, would never be able to fulfill the same role because he hasn’t gone through the same journey as a person.

And the only person in which these two halves are combined - the actual, Shen Qingqiu Who Was Shen Yuan, can never be a loving husband to him because he’s already happily married, and because OG LBH is too frightening/traumatic for him. There’s no good options!

He’s doomed to live out his whole life knowing that there’s another him that is loved and happy, and he will never be loved and happy in that way, and there’s nothing he can do to change that. It’s a situation which is set up to just not have any possibility for a happy ending, a lot like the Yue Qingyuan/Shen Jiu situation, and man, MXTX is just so good at those.

And it’s canon.

Have you ever just given up? Yeah me too

heyheyheyyy c'maahn I’m a little guy,

villain monologue 2.0

dearly beloathed,

oh hey, its the two most annoying anachronistic assholes on the planet

Does anyone

have like an exhaustive master source for clothes/garments worn in China throughout every century? It can be either a link or a book i’ll have to buy. It also doesn’t have to be every century or every piece if clothing, I just want a good place to start. Preferably not from a blog, but i’ll still look at them.

I want to make clothes for an oc but I want to know exactly what i’m drawing and its significance/lack of significance/etc

kiss me under the moonlight

There's something poetic about the fact that Luo Binghe's most prized possession is a fake jade Guanyin pendant--objectively a counterfeit, cheaper version of the original, yes, but something that holds immense emotional value to him because of the kind and loving memories of his mother that he associates with it.

His first and only love is his Shizun, who is, in a sense, similar--a counterfeit, not actually a lofty immortal master, but just a guy who got transported into the body of one. A knockoff, but one that Luo Binghe cherishes dearly because unlike the original, he was kind and loving. He made Binghe feel cared for, once upon a time.

And, at the end of it all, Binghe, after years upon years of having thought he lost his mother's pendant, his Shizun's care, is told that both have been nearer than he ever could have imagined. Shen Qingqiu gives him back the pendant, and says, "stop saying that no one would ever want you," because the pendant is proof, he is proof, that Luo Binghe is loved in this world.

HELP!! I transmitigated into my own novel and developed Complex Feelings for the SCUM VILLIAN!!! 

hanfu fashion matched with miao fashion by chinese designers

Happy new year!!! This was supposed to be for Christmas but life got in the way.. Wishing everyone a year of growth and happiness for 2023!

It’s about a month after their cosmic eldritch horror equivalent of a wedding that Hob finds out Dream has taken his name.

Of all places it’s in the New Inn the first time he notices.

“Coffee for you, professor, and a pack of sunflower seeds for you, Mr Gadling,” says the waitress.

Hob frowns.

“Sunflower seeds? I don’t think I-”

“I did,” Dream says, taking the package from the waitress to pocket it away. “Matthew’s become fond of it as of late,” he adds as an explanation.

“So that’s where half my trail mix disappeared,” Hob chuckles, giving a smile and an appreciative nod to the waitress before she left. It still takes Hob two more minutes for realization to dawn on him. “Wait did she just call you ‘Mr Gadling’?”

Dream stays suspiciously silent.

“And here I thought after ten years spending here the better half of my week they’d remember my face,” Hob muses.

“She does know your face,” Dream says, his lips pressed together tight.

“Then why— oh.” Hob’s eyebrows raise nearly to his hairline. And here he thought getting used to being called ‘your highness’ would be the strangest part of his marriage nomenclature-wise.

“It’s my name by the right of our union,” Dream says defensively. “Nonetheless if you’d rather not have humans call me that name-”

“No, no it’s fine,” Hob says (‘more than fine, actually’ a part of him thinks that forever stays that highwayman, unrepentantly greedy, who called Death a fool). “That is, if you don’t mind,” he adds (because in five hundred years he did have character growth).

“I don’t,” Dream says and that would be it.

Except now Hob starts noticing it everywhere.

The colleague asking him during a break how the new Mr Gadling fares, the little old lady from his neighborhood bringing some cookies for Mr Gadling because ‘he’s thin like a waif, the poor sweetheart’, even the postman delivering an ancient scroll ‘for Mr Gadling, he’s your husband, professor, isn’t he? Congratulations again, sir.’.

Eventually, it’s the incident with Mervyn that makes Hob snap.

“Um, Mr Gadling,” he says, making both Hob and Dream turn towards him. “That is you, Lord Morpheus, not you, professor. Lucienne wants to have a word with you if you have a minute to spare, your majesty.”

“Tell her I shall join her soon in the library,” Dream says, popping a joint into place with a gesture of his hand on a half formed creation Hob suspects will be a nightmare.

“Does it not bother you?” Hob asks once Mervyn left their quarters, a place that looked exactly like Hob’s flat except for the balcony that overlooked the sea (he found he did miss that sometime in his waking hours).

“A great number of things bother me. You need to be more specific, husband,” Dream says.

Hob huffs with fond exasperation.

“That they call you by my name.”

Dream’s dark eyebrows are knitted with confusion.

“Whyever would that bother me? You are mine and I am yours, after all, mind, body and soul. It’s only fitting my name to reflect that.”

“But- but you’re a king! A god!”

“I’m not a god, I’m Endless,” Dream interjects.

“Semantics,” Hob waves dismissively.

At that Dream turns towards Hob bodily, his eyes, preternaturally bright, intent on him.

“Semantics parse meaning of the universe. Words hold power, Hob Gadling, more than dreamt of in your philosophy. Never make the mistake of dismissing their significance.”

“I wouldn’t,” Hob counters, crossing his arms on his chest. “You, on the other hand, seem rather liberal in that respect as of late.”

Dream only raises an eyebrow and takes a single step towards Hob, feline, graceful and positively predatory.

“In what sense?” he asks, the depth of his voice sending a thrill down Hob’s spine (Hob’s a simple man and his husband is gorgeous, he can’t help it, even after such long time).

Hob gulps, his adam’s apple bobbing.

“You’re a king. You’re Endless. And yet you don’t mind everyone knowing you by a simple commoner’s name.”

Dream pouts.

“You are not simple,” he says, defiantly. “And one might say you haven’t been a commoner even before our union, Sir Robert Gadlen.”

Hob winces.

“You’ll never let me live that down, will you?”

“Maybe in another hundred years. Or two,” Dream amends, a smile curling on his lips and suddenly he’s standing close, so close Hob could count his lashes. “Through centuries I’ve been called many names. I am Dream by my nature, a King by virtue of my lineage and I was worshipped by many names humans created for me. But I am your husband, Robert Gadling by my choice only. I chose you and you chose me. If words and names define a man I’d rather let my affection for you define me than anything else in this vast universe.”

Hob stays silent for a while, his throat too tight to utter as much as a single word.

“Very well, Mr Gadling,” he rasps eventually and though words have never been Hob’s strength, judging by his husband’s smile he understands - after all, he knows Hob’s heart, he knows his dreams. “Lucky that I’m a professor, isn’t it?” Hob clears his throat and rubs his eye (something must have gotten into it). “Would be all terribly confusing if both of us were good ol’ simple ‘Mr Gadling’, right?”

Featherlight, Dream presses a kiss to his husband’s brow.

“It would be indeed,” he murmurs in Hob’s ear. “Lucky that I married up.”

Hob shakes with laughter.

Lucienne, ever sensible, knocks three hours later on the door leading to the royal quarters.

On the fifth knock Dream swans out in Hob’s tartan print house robe, his lips swollen red and his hair disheveled.

“Apologies for disturbing you sir in your— extracurriculars,” Lucien says dryly. “But there’s a matter that demands your attention, Lord Morpheus.”

“Mr Gadling.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s Mr Gadling now, Lucienne,” Dream says, fixing the sash on the robe.

Lucienne suppresses a smile and gives him a subservient bow.

“Of course it is.”

SVSSS may be from Shen Qinqiu's narrative point of view but it is in fact, the Luo Binghe book, as he is the one that carries the plot consequences of Shen Qingqiu's changed plot beats.

It would not evolve without the core story relying on Luo Binghe's actions for and against Shen Qingqiu, the technical "villain" of the work, who, despite being the protagonist narratively for the audience, is not the in story protagonist. The role of the plot protagonist is still Luo Binghe as he follows the intro, exposition, fall, and conclusion of the main character.

As deemed by the system change, Shen Qingqiu is the deuteragonist and main love interest. As following the split of protagonist/antagonist, it is not Luo Binghe that is revealed to have been in the wrong, but of Shen Qingqiu's own assumptions due to "previous knowledge" that he insists is still the same that causes hurdles for both. He is made to step out of the villain impeding the growth of the main role, into realizing his role and place as the deuteragonist love interest.

Hello....just want to say thank you so much for your posts, especially, about SVSSS....Can I tell you something? I just started reading MXTX works last year, and since then, start searching many meta analytical posts about them....And most of them favored MDZS and in second place TGCF.... Not many of them made SVSSS their no #1 favorite....And then I found your tumblr.....

Thanks so much for sharing your writings, they're amzing....💐🥰🤩

Can I ask your opinion on something? One of the person (that I found) who also loves SVSSS, said that they hate SV Binghe because he seems more "pathetic" compared to PIDW Binghe (which they loved)? They said, SV Binghe seems more whinny and childish, etc....I don't really agree but don't know how to said that....

Wat do you think about that thought above? Is there still a bit PIDW Binghe inside the SV Binghe?

Also do you agree that Tianlang Jun and Zhuzhi Lang are a few of the best villain characters from MXTX works?

Sorry for this super long ask, and kinda stupid questions from me at the end....

svsss supremacy yeah scum villain truly is the neglected eldest child… but there are a bunch of really great blogs here that post primarily scum villain content! @/piosplayhouse has an ask with a collection of links on their page with art, fic, meta, etc. from various folks and it’s a really great resource to check out some of the amazing creators in our little corner here :)

so, here’s the thing about comparing sv!luo binghe vs pidw!luo binghe. i think they have one major difference, and it’s rooted in how they express their anger and dissatisfaction with the world.

pidw!binghe, after being pushed into the abyss by shen qingqiu, learns to externalise all his anger. think, “the world has never shown me any kindness and therefore the world itself is fundamentally flawed, in order to survive i must take what i am owed,” in the sense of strength and power and influence. pidw!luo binghe becomes saintly ruler and demon emperor because it’s his way of exacting revenge, because he thinks that it’s the world’s penance to him after putting him through so much suffering for so long. there’s no end goal in it—no shizun to win back, no peaceful disciple days to return to—and so he becomes this bottomless well of want and anger, which exacerbates the problem. “any slight will be repaid a hundredfold,” indeed, because he’s never experienced satisfaction, and will never know when to stop. his want is aimless and cold and destructive, without direction to temper it. what is there to be sticky to when he doesn’t want anything directly?

scum villain luo binghe, who received three years of kindness from the man who later on pushed him into the endless abyss, learns this from it: “there is something fundamentally wrong with me, therefore i must make the world my own to become better, to justify my existence, to regain even a glimpse of that kindness i received.” any time we see luo binghe’s anger, it’s predominantly internalised—he hates himself so deeply because even when he received kindness, there was something to take it away. he interprets the common theme in these losses to be himself, his own faults and failings as a living being. but he only wants one thing, and he wants it so desperately that it nearly eats him alive. in some ways, he’s pathetic and sticky because of this—he knows exactly what he wants, and that he’ll do anything to get it, and once he has it he won’t feel the need to go out and get more power or influence. so long as luo binghe has shen qingqiu at his side, the rest of the world can go fuck itself. it was all only ever a way of increasing his value in shen qingqiu’s eyes, to make him regret tossing luo binghe aside and take him back.

but pidw!binghe and sv!binghe share the dna of their personalities otherwise—powerful, decisive, unhinged, manipulative blackened protagonists with generally questionable methods of getting what it is they want or need. both binghes are capable of human stick-ifying someone. both binghes learn to view the world as strictly transactional: nothing ever freely given, only ever earned or taken by force. shen qingqiu is a sacred figure for them both in that he’s pivotal to luo binghe’s worldview, and where his anger is aimed to cut. internal, external. himself, the entire world. and, i would say, both binghes are sticky and pathetic—he was, after all, originally written by shang qinghua as a thinly veiled fantasy proxy of himself, and shang qinghua is notoriously both sticky and pathetic. you can make all the arguments you like, but i think something many writers can agree on is the excising of our own traits and implanting them into our characters, seeing those traits get either amplified or frozen over depending on the events that happen to them. pidw!binghe is never safe to be sticky and pathetic, and because of that he never wants anything enough to be that way. sv!binghe was safe and sticky for three years, and so does everything in his power to return to that.

(additionally: there’s an excellent twitter thread posted by @/zykamiliah that really cuts to the heart of luo binghe’s “childish and whiny” behavior and the gist is that it’s an act. it’s an act to make himself palatable enough to love, it’s an act to make shen qingqiu comfortable giving him affection. it’s an act, borne out of traits that he just amplifies because he’s scared he won’t be loveable otherwise.)

all this is to say that there are, of course, so many differences between pidw!binghe and sv!binghe. i know they’re listed out in the bingge vs bingmei extra (which i won’t have until november, sigh), but “sticky and pathetic” is actually a trait i think they share, only it manifests differently based on their experiences, is either amplified to increase his chances of receiving affection or crushed deep into him to ensure he doesn’t lose what he’s taken for himself.

(also you pose an EXCELLENT question regarding tianlang jun and zhuzhi-lang that i really do love but this is so long already so i’ll answer that in another post and link this one)

recommending scum villain to a friend like: it’s so fucked up. it’s a comedy. it’s a tragedy. it’s satire. it’s commentary on sanitisation and sacrifices made by queer authors in order to sell. its about the ripple effects of a single change on an entire world. it’s about people struggling to be loved and plants that can make you so horny that it’ll literally kill you. it’s the sexiest and least horny thing you’ll ever read. the narrator is genderqueer and homosexual and the most queerphobic person you’ll ever come across. he’s a reddit incel who can and will do his best to convince you that he’s not the decent person that he genuinely is. he genuinely believes that he is straight despite having the most obvious fanboy boner for his love interest. his love interest is an alpha male with severe abandonment issues begging to be dominated. it’s about a guy who gets put into a 3000+ chapter harem novel that he hate-read in 20 days and left dissertation-comments on every installment of. the author of said novel has also been stuck in his own story as some random guy that just happens to be close to the glacial bitch mountain of a demon that he created based off all of his preferred kinks. the author and the reddit incel are normal-human versions of their respective love interests, and neither of them seem keen to address it. there’s a donghua that looks like it belongs in an early 2000s PC game but it only has ten episodes. you will beg for scraps of content and enjoy it.

The power dynamic between Bingqiu is so complex and unhinged.

On the one hand, Shen Qingqiu is the Shizun, and Luo Binghe the disciple. He still pretty much serves and defers to him as such. Shen Qingqiu is the master, the elder, the superior, in a way that can never change in a culture so steeped in respect for such hierarchies, and where reversal or equalization is simply not a thing. Shen Qingqiu himself still refers to himself as "this master" for most of the story (even post canon? I can't remember), and the one quality he appreciates in Luo Binghe (at least that he says aloud) is his obedience. In both their minds, he's very firmly the one who raised and trained Luo Binghe - though with very different connotations depending on who you ask.

On the other hand... well... Luo Binghe plays the obedient puppy-ish disciple, but he pretty much cute/pathetic-bullies his way into anything he wants, because Shen Qingqiu is weak to him and can't say no. So Luo Binghe plays submissive, cries a little, then gets to top Shen Qingqiu into next Sunday in the most unfillial way imaginable lol. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, he's the most powerful person in the world, he doesn't have to serve anyone in a humble cottage. He literally has an empire and is a ruler, but he plays housewife and meek disciple to this one spoiled guy who gave him the correct manual once and head-patted him with abandon.

Also let's not forget that, to Luo Binghe, Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan are pretty seamlessly the same person. This serial head-patter is also the guy who poured hot tea on him and would string him up to beat him and made him sleep in the woodshed like a particularly miserable Cinderella. To him, one day, his cruel master deemed him worthy of his love after he made him go through many trials, and then slam-dunked him into the abyss, and then self-destructed to save him and then turned out to be alive and avoiding him like the plague and then sulked because Luo Binghe did not properly ask his hand in marriage. Luo Binghe may be the most powerful man in the world and have Shen Qingqiu wrapped around his manipulative golden little finger, BUT the grip and ascendant Shen Qingqiu possesses over Luo Binghe's psyche is unparalleled.

BUT the other side of this equation is that Shen Qingqiu feels so guilty, and loves Luo Binghe so much, he can't bear to make him unhappy and folds like a wet paper towel any time there is the merest hint of tears - which is a conscious strategy on Luo Binghe's part! Shang Qinghua told him acting pathetic works, and it does, and so he milks it! Who knows how much of it is real? Not me. Not Shen Qingqiu either, who also does not care that he's being manipulated. He knows he's being manipulated! But it works anyway!

Because what are you going to do when a cute puppy makes sad eyes at you?? Not give him the bit of meat???

You're his master but he owns your heart so that's your fate, now. He's huge and could maul you but he loves you too much and prefers to act spoiled. He sits when you say sit, comes when you say come. You tell him no but he climbs into your lap anyway and you are helpless to stop him so you pet him. It's messy, full of pathos, possibly unhealthy. You're both living your best life.

That's Bingqiu.

WangXian pokemon au!!!

What the fuck one of you 6 just liked a post I made I thought you lot were bots and I was safe doing whatever on this account.

Why what where. how. How did you find me. who r u.....

bingge/sqq kiss from the extras

Too many times we left, one time we stayed together.

finally finished my animated bingqiu mv! thanks for watching!!

yt link here!

I’m going to say something a bit blasphemous in the MDZS fandom

Lan Wangji is just as culpable as Jiang Cheng in how things panned out in regards to the Wen Remnants and Wei Wuxian’s fate. The only real difference is how he actually acknowledges it while Jiang Cheng sinks into denial.

Hear me out. Lan Wangji is the only other person than Jiang Cheng who actually visits the Burial Mounds and sees for absolute certain that the people Wei Wuxian is looking after are just innocent civilians.

But nothing comes of that visit. Nothing at all. Like I mention in a previous post that he could have told Lan Xichen and that went nowhere because Jin Guangyao lies but actually…

It’s implied Lan Wangji shouldn’t have been in Yiling. That he sneaked away to be there. He didn’t tell anyone about his visit because he likely broke a few rules and was pretending otherwise.

The thing is, Lan Wangji absolutely does deserve in part the punishment that is those 13 years of quiet misery without Wei Wuxian. Because he’s in part responsible for that even happening.

There is a theme in the third flashback you have to search for. And that is that no one actually does anything except Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian is basically the only active person in that part of the story outside of the corrupt Jin Sect. In the face of everything, in the face of evil, people do nothing.

And by the end…people who do act do so too late to make a difference.

Jin Zixuan arrives too late in Qiongi Path to actually calm down the situation.

Wen Qing hands herself in alongside Wen Ning but it is too late as Jin Sect already decided to take everything from Wei Wuxian and just wanted a means to a) give justification so that Lan Sect would help with the attack on Wei Wuxian and b) hide the fact they don’t destroy Wen Ning and instead take him in to study.

Jiang Yanli comes to Nightless City to try to stop the violence but it’s too late because everyone has already pledged to attack and kill Wei Wuxian and the Wen Remnants.

Lan Wangji rescues Wei Wuxian in the aftermath of Nightless City but it is too late as he has been broken beyond salvation by the events of the past few weeks.

The only hope that is seeded is that Lan Wangji’s last minute action allows Wei Wuxian to survive and recover enough so he can destroy half the Yin Tiger Seal before his death. Considering Wei Wuxian remained out of it two days after Nightless City, he would have died otherwise and Jin Guangshan would have gotten his hands on the complete Yin Tiger Seal.

Instead he needed it fixed, which lead to a series of events that ultimately led to Wei Wuxian coming back…

But even so, in the past Lan Wangji did nothing. And he knows that. He did absolutely nothing to help Wei Wuxian before and that, more than anything, is why he refuses to be separated from Wei Wuxian and follows his lead 100% throughout the novel.

found out in the lemire run matt is canonically jake lockley's lawyer and subsequently lost my mind

“What do you mean he’s faking it? Geralt gets headaches, you should know! Lambert, he’s your brother!”

“Oh, believe me, I know my brother, Buttercup. Pretty boy has you wrapped around his finger. He’s just pretending so you’d be like…this. All touchy-feely and cuddly.”

The air shifts when Lambert must be gesturing wildly at Jaskier and Geralt’s general direction, where the witcher is resting his head on the bard’s thigh. The argument is muffled by the hand Jaskier presses on Geralt’s ear protectively.

It’s too comfortable to move, with Jaskier’s lap as the pillow and his doublet draped over Geralt’s shoulder. The fainting couch he’s lying on practically becomes a cocoon—one that is warm and nice and made from a bard’s love, but Geralt can only get it if he has a headache. Which he conveniently does, recently.

So Geralt duly keeps his eyes closed. He’s supposed to be resting for the pain, after all.

“His senses are heightened,” Jaskier protects, his voice low and careful. “You’ve seen him get overwhelmed by all the smells and noises. Don’t you at least have sympathy for a fellow witcher?”

“My senses are heightened too, and I can tell he’s a shit actor. He’s not even asleep!”

“Shh!” The hand that covers Geralt’s ear tightens. “You’re going to wake him!”

“Ugh, how do I tell you this, you can’t wake someone pretending!”

“Get out.”

Jaskier’s whisper remains low, but the determination seeps into those two words. Even without looking, Geralt can imagine the frown on the bard’s face easily. Oh, Jaskier is getting angry.

“You are not listening, he’s—"

“Out, Lambert.”

Properly angry. Even the younger wolf does not have a retort for the finality in Jaskier’s order. With a few muttered curses about gullible bards, Lambert’s footsteps retreat into the hallway. A door slams shut behind him, and Jaskier flinches even though it’s far away.

Geralt hums unhappily at how much Jaskier has tensed, so he hugs the thighs under his head closer. Gentle hands fuss all over him, tucking in the corners of the doublet and stroking his arm, shoulder, hair. He’s so toasty he could melt right here.

A good person would never take advantage of Jaskier’s affections like this, Geralt knows. Shame he’s not a good person.

Now he can bask in the presence of his bard without interruption. Geralt keeps his face neutral and relaxed, but the triumph makes him almost giddy at the knowledge that Jaskier will take his side every time—

“You know I know, right?”

Jaskier’s whisper comes from above, still soft and gentle and full of love. And perhaps, a hint of amusement.

Geralt freezes like a statue. His breathing stops for a long, long time. It’s a good thing witchers don’t need to breathe that much; it’s bad that his face is also heating up rather quickly in the process.

“Alright, then,” Jaskier says after a moment. His deft fingers trace Geralt’s jawline and give it a little pat. “Sleep tight, witcher mine.”

There is the sound of fabric rustling when Jaskier tries to find a good place to rest his head on the fainting couch. His snores come soon after.

Geralt blinks open his eyes after a while, not daring to move a muscle with Jaskier under him, still a vital part of the nice cocoon. Gradually, the toastiness is bordering on being too hot. He wonders if he’s able to panic while staying completely still, because it certainly fucking feels like it. There’s even sweat on his forehead now.

He does end up developing a headache, and it’s probably well-deserved.

Lambert must never find out.

Mob Psycho Fic Recs Part 3

Here we go again! I’ve racked up another 10 bookmarks to share. As always, if you are the author of any of these wonderful fics and want to have your tumblr tagged just let me know!

Parental Supervision Author: piperita Rating: G Archive Warnings: None Completion Status: In Progress Tags: dad reigen, good parent reigen, protective reigen, found family Summary: Reigen finds out that Teruki lives alone. No parents, foster parents, or even a hired caretaker. He doesn’t know exactly what he’s going to do with this information, but it’s certainly not ‘nothing’. Or: Reigen’s awkward, messy, and backwards guide to adopting psychic children. My Notes: Just a nice cute fic about Reigen looking out for and helping take care of Teru after finding out that he lives on his own. It’s cute and very sweet how Reigen takes a kind of backwards approach to helping out Teru, since Teru is way too stubborn to allow himself to be completely cared for by someone else. I really love Reigen and Teru’s dynamic in this fic so far and I’m excited to see more!

aquarium Author: amaranthinecanicular Rating: G Archive Warnings: None Completion Status: Complete Tags: ritshou, mermaid au, background terumob Summary: It was just a fairytale. One of those bedtime stories parents tell their kids to make them wary of the surface. Merfolk didn’t fall in love with humans, they didn’t fall for the sweet words of seawitches and they didn’t fall out of the ocean with legs only to fall back as seafoam. It was just a fairytale. It was supposed to be a fairytale. My Notes: One of my all-time favorite ritshou fics, I go back and reread it all the time! I’m such a sucker for mermaid fics and this one is super beautifully written. It’s poetic and flows so so well, it wraps you in from the very beginning with its gorgeous prose and mysterious story. It’s definitely been an inspiration to me in pursuing a more descriptive and flowery writing style for certain fics. The budding friendship between Shou and Ritsu is endearing and believable and very in character, and the little mermaid inspiration brings a familiarity to the story as well that makes it easy to follow and understand what’s going on behind the scenes. I absolutely adore how the author writes Ritsu’s point of view, it’s just a really really solid and fun fic that I’ll continue to go back to after this.

Out of Body Author: bobmoss Rating: M Archive Warnings: None Completion Status: In Progress Tags: serirei, slow burn, mental health issues, recovery, case fic, hurt/comfort Summary: Serizawa’s recovery seems to be going so well, but then he suddenly develops a habit of accidental out of body experiences during panic attacks. My Notes: A very sweet, emotional exploration of Serizawa and Reigen’s budding relationship post-world domination arc. I absolutely love the way the author writes these two as friends who know and understand each other, and how that leads into an eventual romance. It has some really heart-stoppingly scary dramatic moments, too, for being such a character-centered story, which took me pleasantly by surprise. I really look forward to what the author has planned for the future of this fic!

Night Terrors Author: futuresoon Rating: T Archive Warnings: Unspecified (there’s some blood/injury and horror elements, but nothing too extreme) Completion Status: Complete Tags: Yomawari: Midnight Shadows fusion (no knowledge needed to read), horror, angst, alternate universe Summary: Ritsu wants psychic powers more than he wants almost anything. But he didn’t expect them to only be good for seeing spirits, and he didn’t expect them to only appear after his brother walks into the forest and doesn’t come back. Now the town is full of monsters, and all Ritsu can do is search for his brother–but even powerful children are still children, and the night is not always kind. My Notes: This fic really took me by surprise, since I had never played Yomawari and knew nothing about it before reading this. It’s dark and relatively scary as far as my usual taste in fics go, but it’s written really well. The author is really good at displaying the hopeless aura of the situation without making it seem like all is lost, and the atmosphere and constantly moving story make it really easy to get lost in this dark alternate reality. It’s not really a happy fic, though, and the ending is rather bittersweet, so be aware if you decide to read this one.

The Accelerated Velocity of Terminological Inexactitude Author: LogicalBookThief Rating: G Archive Warnings: None Completion Status: Complete Tags: terumob, fake dating au, slow build/slow burn, crushes, pining, holding hands, slight angst, mentions of mogami arc Summary: Teru offers to fake date Mob in order to gain Tsubomi’s attention. His own crush on Mob makes this plan somewhat problematic. My Notes: Teru has a big ol crush on Mob and takes advantage of his crush on Tsubomi to become his fake boyfriend for a time, except it really does more harm to himself than to anyone else. The fake dating AU we all know and love, now with added mogami arc angst (just a little) and the slow realization that their fake relationship might have more truth behind it than either of them are intending. It’s a super sweet fic and a relatively quick read if you’re looking for something with meat that isn’t 100k words long. It brought quite a few smiles to my face and a couple of excited squeals as well.

Grow as we Go Author: lesboba Rating: T Archive Warnings: None Completion Status: In Progress Tags: terumob, fluff, character study, hurt/comfort, dad reigen, established relationship, good person teru, post-canon, kissing, panic attacks Summary: Teru’s still working on himself, but he has time and the right people with him now. My Notes: This fic is so so good and sweet, it focuses on Teru coming into his own and figuring out how to be a good person post-canon. It’s so endearing seeing him interacting with the whole Kageyama family, especially Shigeo, who he’s dating in secret, and his parents, who treat him like their own son and it’s great. It’s so nice to see Teru’s struggle to remind himself that he can change and become better from inside his own head, since in canon we only get brief mentions of what that must be like. It’s also super soft, just very very soft, and it makes me feel nice every time I go back to refresh myself on it.

Blind Eye Author: NewWorldFool Rating: G Archive Warnings: None Completion Status: Complete Tags: ritshou, pining, fluff, mutual pining, john mulaney references Summary: “Yo, Ritsu!” Shou says with a nonchalant wave as he walks through the doorway, entering the threshold of the student council room. The boy in question sighs, but not unkindly. “Shou,” he says in lieu of a greeting. Shou showing up to the student council meetings has become a somewhat common occurrence even though he doesn’t even attend the school. He won’t admit the exact reason why, but Ritsu deduced it was probably to mess with him. Normally he’d be annoyed, but today? Ritsu is grateful for the interruption. (Basically a ritshou fic where they’re dating but not really dating and Ritsu gets an epiphany) My Notes: This is a super sweet, super cute one-shot about how Ritsu and Shou act like they’re a couple long before they actually start dating and I love it. Shou showing up at Ritsu’s school and house out of the blue is one of my favorite fanon interpretations of him and it’s played out really well in this fic. I also love the idea of the two of them just being unabashedly affectionate when it’s just the two of them, they have such a cute relationship in this interpretation!

Cinderella-Esque Author: beanpots and Floral Fancies (lovelycoris) Rating: T Archive Warnings: None Completion Status: Complete Tags: ritshou, terumob, cinderella au, curses Summary: Once upon a time in a faraway land, there was a tiny kingdom that was peaceful, prosperous, and rich in romance and tradition. Tucked away in the corner of town lies a charming little stone house that’s absolutely smothered by flowers of impeccable beauty. But the life around the Kageyama house belies the bane plaguing them - Ritsu Kageyama will do anything to lift the curse from his older brother. Even if it costs him a glass shoe. My Notes: This might be my favorite mob psycho fic like.. ever. I remember staying up into the early hours of the morning to read it all in one sitting because I just had to know what happened next. It’s beautifully written and leaves you on the edge of your seat wondering what might happen next, and the fantasy/cinderella vibes are so so fun to read. This art also comes with the amazing added bonus of having beautiful chapter cover art and even some mini comics slotted into the fic itself, which is such a treat to come across every single time. I highly recommend this fic to anyone who likes ritshou and terumob even a little, it’s so well-written and the characterization, specifically for Ritsu and Shigeo, is really solid.

first day Author: shcherbatskayas Rating: T Archive Warnings: None Completion Status: Complete Tags: ritshou, school nonsense, hugs, undiagnosed dyslexia, lunch sharing, mutual pining, trauma Summary: Ritsu can’t stop himself from being excited about it: Shou’s first day in his class. He can’t stop himself from being nervous, either. My Notes: post-canon, Shou starts attending Salt middle school and ends up in Ritsu’s class. Shou’s not really cut out for school, unsurprisingly, but Ritsu’s there to keep him company and reassure him that he’ll end up alright. Ritsu makes a pro vs con list of what it’s like to have Shou as a classmate (and to have a friend in his class who he actually likes). It’s a really sweet, nice, fluffy fic and I love the way the author writes Ritsu and Shou’s friendship and how they support each other, I just really love all of the author’s ritshou fics actually. This one was particularly nice to read though, their interpretation of Ritsu and Shou’s relationship is really nice to read and comes across very natural and close.

It’s Hard to Read When You’re Fast Asleep Author: Squishy360 Rating: G Archive Warnings: None Completion Status: Complete Tags: good brother ritsu, family fluff, ???% as a character Summary: Mob passes out. ???% wakes up. Ritsu helps his brother take care of himself in the meantime. My Notes: This fic caught me by surprise in the best way. It’s short and tame and is such a fun and interesting take on ???%’s relationship with Ritsu, how he still recognizes Ritsu as his brother and has that sort of instinctual caring attitude toward him. It’s surprisingly wholesome and comes across almost like a crack fic but it just leaves you feeling warm and happy in the end. Ritsu’s initial fear of ???% and his slow realization that he’s not going to get hurt this time is so nice to read and very cathartic overall. I really love this idea and the author executes on it really really well!

strong urge to continue this post