#(wai lin is always such a delight to draw for me honestly)

[tomorrowneverreleases]

Day 151 of waiting for Bond26 news

[ID in alt text]

Gel pen + highlighter

[theuntamednarrator]

Hi. I've always been curious. I didn't read the mdzs novel, just the drama adaptation, so i do not know how the ah-cheng/xichen pairing came to be. I asked someone this before but idk if they answered, and about a year to this fandom, i still don't understand how it started. I love the ship tho. 10/10 on-board of it. But the live action mostly just showed JGY and Xichen's interaction. Or maybe I just missed the hints? I just want to know the history. Thank you in advance if you'll answer.❤️

Anon I will always happily answer any questions about this show! However I must confess that I, like yourself, am a CQL only fan.

That said, honestly if there is one thing I've learnt about fandom in my decade and a half playing about in it it is that people can (and will, and do) try out any and all pairings to see what works, with very limited exceptions (you dont, for example, really see fics breaking up WangXian because, well, canon gave us something pretty much perfect why would we mess with that?). That's one of my favourite things about being in fandom. I do think sometimes all it takes for a ship to become The Fanon Ship™️ for particular side characters is for that one author/artist to write/draw something that grabs the rest of us so hard and wrings such a delighted collective squee! out of us we collectively kind of agree to forget it's not canon?

Now, why XiCheng in particular? Well, from what I know of novel/donghua timelines JC stayed behind at Cloud Recesses after WWX got booted for punching JZX. From what I gather a lot of fics that start the relationship early put it here; one young Sect Leader taking a future Sect Leader under his wing, which turns into something more.

The time skip period generally features a lot of LXC helping JC through the rebuilding post the deaths of JYL and WWX as one of the closest Sect Leaders geographically but also someone JC knows and trusts. The flip side is JC helping LXC deal with LWJ's punishment and isolation.

Post-canon fics tend to play on their parallels and shared grief, the 'I know what it's like to lose a beloved sibling (NMJ/JYL) because of the actions of another beloved sibling (JGY/WWX) and to be responsible for their (JGY/WWX) death. Basically, XiCheng is an interesting dynamic to play with for lots of reasons. Narrative wise both have pretty bad parental examples of love, become sect leaders too young, have their secta burnt down and their beloved brothers go missing. Personality wise there's a bit of opposites attract; JC would do well with someone who was gentle and unrelentingly kind and LXC could do with someone who will get angry on his behalf. Who doesn't love it when the grumpy character is soft for the sunshine character, and the sunshine character only? Heck maybe people just think those are two jawlines that deserve each other?

But I have also seen XiCheng described as a bit of an exercise in "pair the spares" which, uh, I honestly don't get at all because, uh, everyone apart from WangXian is kind of a spare? Discounting XuanLi and the CQL-only almost (but never really) ChengQing there's no canonical romantic relationships to be seen amongst the main protaganists' generation we're not calling JGY/QS a romatic relationship because on this blog we're living in our MianMian and QS ran away together and live as cultivation partners far far away from Jin Lin Tai happy bubble which, again, give the fandom a sandbox ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Personally, I see just as much NieLan and SangCheng as I do XiCheng, and you're right that XiYao has some strong in-text support and is pretty popular (perhaps more so with CQL fans? Lingering public hand touches anybody?). Heck I've even read and thoroughly enjoyed some really good fics with MingXiCheng and ChengYu. I've seen (aged up) XiYu. NingCheng, SangYu, and SangYao aren't super rare, 3zun is everywhere. I've even seen cute ChengYao hcs about them being the most awkward co-parents to ever co-parent one bratty jin heir.

Leaving ALL of that (which is admittedly a lot) aside my own top peronal hc for JC is that he's somewhere on the aro/ace spectrum with a sex-postive leaning because I am invested way too heavily in dad!cheng with two dozen adopted and biological children and only he knows which are which leave me alone.

I just realised I didn't really properly address the point you made about XiYao having more textual support in CQL. Oops, sorry! I guess I would tend to agree. As to why there isn't then more XiYao than XiCheng? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Might be that the XiYao crowd is torn between NieYao, NieLan, 3zun, and XiYao? Might be that people don't want to ship JGY with LXC because they think he doesn't "deserve" to get what he wants? Might just be that the novel/donghua didn't give XiYao that much chemistry and the CQL fandom haven't had time to tip the scales? Short answer, I just don't know.

Did that in any way answer your question anon? I have no idea! Probably not? I apparently have more feelings about the fleets sailing these waters than I thought I did. But hopefully it helped somewhat? If anyone else has anything more concrete please chime in!

[sunnysidewrites]

Here's your chance to spread some love! Tag ten mutuals and tell us why you love them, then send to 10 people on your dash! 💘

omg omg omg ok i suddenly have 573974793 people i want to spread love to but in reality only like 4 talk 2 me dlkjfsjd 

@kpopsinarios the first thing that struck me about her was that her persona on here was really quite similar to mine n how shes such such a sweetheart a lottttttttt more than me n i luv her sm!!! i cant believe im blessed to be her wifey!!! she instantly makes me feel better when i see a notif with her name on it!! an amazing writer on top of being an amazing person who im really quite envious of being an actual angel (she looks like one too!!!) jeonghan is shaking in his boots!!! never fails to brighten my day!

@kakaotaeks​ elENA!!!! MY SOULMATE HOLY CRAP it honestly scares me how similar we are!!! i know u have my back as much as i have urs and im so lucky to have someone like u!!! one of the best people to fangirl with and she just g e t s it!!! we’ve both been busy lately and haven’t been talking as much but just know that im only a message away n i miss talking to u!!! we help each other out with fics and i don’t know where that flower boy!jeonghan au would be if it weren’t for her LOL ily sm bby!!!! her writing can screw me up it’s sO GOOD I DONT UNDERSTAND

@justkpopjokes​ IM PRETTY SURE LIN WAS MY FIRST MUTUAL HERE AND IM ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO KNOW A RAP MEME GODDESS!!!! she’s one of the sweetest people ever but it’s quite overlooked bc she tries to cheer u up with memes LOL but no one gives her enough credit of her sweetness and generosity!!! shes multitalented at everything, from drawing to rapping! i cant relate!!! i love her to bits she’s so sweet and funny!! i live for her raps and her overall voice she is such a queen who needs to rise!!

 @mansaeboysbe​ i’ve only talked to admin bee so far!! she’s insanely sweet and kind and so lovable!!! any person would be incredibly lucky to have her in their lives. the way she describes members is pretty much something you would want your partner to say about you and i just cant fathom how cute she is!! she does her absolute best to comfort you and the things she says still make me soft to this moment im typing this!!! not to mention her writing is beautiful and im upset their blog doesn’t get enough recognition as it should!!! we have so many names like the soonyoung support squad, brent, etc etc and i love them all and i love this lil bean!!!

@chanispumpkin​ this poppin b deserves to be hyped up all the time she is!!!! so amazing and sweet!!!! when we first talked i was like she’s gonna drop me faster than a hot potato but she’s still here for some reason!!! a strong fighting warrior who i give all my props to!! also the things we say about groups??? so relatable i love our convos she’s always a delight talking to i luv you bb and i know you will be able to find someone who will accept you for who you are, flaws and all! you are well loved and deserve to see that for yourself!!!

@soongyuz​ my heart swells every time i think about priya she is one of the sweetest people ever and she’s just added on to the list of people who make me soft 25/8 :’)))) babe don’t think that you’re bothering me or anyone when something is bothering you bc i am more than willing to listen and be there for you!!! SHE’S SO CUTE IT ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY HURTS MY HEART :’((( im so overwhelmed bc i have never received this amount of love until i made this blog and these sweet people just come in like a wrecking ball and she’s one of them!!! im crying, my heart is crying, my soul is crying, the sun is crying i love her so much

@hoshbrownie​ she is so so much more than she gives herself credit for!!! an amazing person and deserves the world!!!! its difficult to communicate bc of the major time differences but we’ve worked through it somehow!! also a relatable person and really sweet!!! every time we talk its always Wild bc there’s always some weird thing happening LOL and baby im not going anywhere dont think ill leave u GUYS IF ANYTHING THATS MY LINE!! im DEATHLY worried you guys are gonna leave me its one of my worst fears :((( but dont think for a second i will be leaving u bc im not going anywhere!!!

@fluffilyangsty​ a timeless beaut!!! im still shaking how im mutuals with libi but i’m rolling with it!! getting to know her has been v v interesting and her passion for music is the same passion i want to have for everything. she’s a woman with a goal and will get there! i love it and i love her!!! one of the best writers and this community knows it!! im eyeing my fics and i feel ashamed LOL she never ceases to amaze me both as a person and as a writer!!! beautiful inside and out!!!

@17rxn​ shai omg my heart :’))) so so sweet talking to her gives me warm feelings! most of our interactions have been about ranting about idols, her love for sungyoon, and me trying to introduce her to more kings!!! she’s so amazing and friendly i absolutely love talking to this lil bean!!! i dont even remember which fic of hers was my first but all i know is boy am i glad to have found her blog when i did!!! her writing is fantastic and the writer is just as lovely!!! she’s so cute and i love her!!!

@parkjmini​ I WAS SO SHOOK WHEN U MENTIONED ME SO I WILL DO THE SAME FOR U BBY!!! joyce is such a great and funny person i love talking to her!!! when i found out she was a fellow writer i was like heLLO ME 2 WOW!!!! im so proud of her milestone of reaching 1k+ followers bc she sure deserves all of them and much more!!! also those selfies? damn girl im shook meanwhile i look 5!!! i also know her irl and shes just as lovely as she is on here!!! 

OK IM SCREAMING BC I HAVE AT LEAST 5 MORE PPL I WANTED TO ADD BUT ITS ONLY TO 10 SO IM SORRY I STILL LOVE U IF I DIDNT TAG YOU! all of these said people and the ones who i didn’t mention are all special to me, so don’t think of anything about the numbering! this is in no particular order!!! thank you for being amazing sweet people who I’ve been blessed to get to know!!! 💞💞💓💓