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vidavalor · 10 months ago

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A theory about Aziraphale, Crowley, Mrs. Cheng, and high sensitivity

What's up with Aziraphale sensing love in Tadfield and thinking Maggie might be able to hear Heavenly trumpets and with Mrs. Cheng pausing weirdly at the bookshop door before entering The Ball?

What if bad spelling isn't demonic and sensing love isn't angelic? What if Aziraphale (an angel), Crowley (a demon), and Mrs. Cheng (a human) all actually just have the same ability? What if they are all HSPs-- highly sensitive people?

Aziraphale's ability to sense love is something that has spanned both seasons now and I know some people think this is an angelic thing but there's evidence, imo, that it's not. The show has been putting forth a message that angels, demons, and humans are really not that dissimilar. They have different life spans and abilities but they're all under the same kind of umbrella and none are superior or inferior to the other. They suggest this with the symbolism of labeling all of them all as insects (humans are ants, angels are bees, demons are hornets, flies are Beez's department) and as different kinds of waterfowl. Pat's example magic trick of The Professor's Nightmare-- the rope trick-- during The Blitz, Part 2 is also this as well. You have three different ropes that seem like they're different lengths: the big one (angels), the medium one (demons), and the small one (humans) but if you put them all together under the same light and you pull (like the force of gravity, that Gabriel and Crowley talk about in S2), you see them as all the same length.

The idea then is that angels and demons are just like humans, in terms of their needs and wants, and some don't recognize it because their supernatural abilities inhibit their ability to consider why they might also have human corporations in the first place. All of the angels and demons really need to eat and sleep and to not feel alone. Some of them, like some humans, might be interested in romantic love and/or sex, and some of them, like some humans, might not be. Things the show has coded as "demonic" at times-- like being terrible with language-- they also quietly illustrate as not being fully true. It can't be that all demons are terrible spellers who aren't great with words because Crowley is a demon and a literal poet while Gabriel was the Supreme Archangel of Heaven-- and he once suggested that keeping the status quo would keep things "static and, uh, quo-y." Who is better with words: Lord Beezlebub or Sandalphon? Beez, by a long mile, right? But Michael is also better with language than Hastur. The point is that it doesn't matter if you're an angel or a demon or a human-- some people are good with language and some are better with other things.

So, just some of the demons are bad spellers-- which doesn't actually mean anything. There are plenty of terrible spellers who are very intelligent and who are just better at different things-- which is something that is true of humans as well, right? What if we apply those same ideas to the sensitivity thing?

For one thing, if all angels-- or, even, just a lot of angels-- had a high sensitivity to love like Aziraphale does, the end group scene in S2 should have gone differently. The only angels experiencing or sensing love in the bookshop during the Ineffable Bureaucracy scene are Gabriel (who is the one feeling it) and Aziraphale. Being in the presence of love did nothing for Michael, Uriel, Saraqael or even our sweetheart Muriel (who, to be fair, wisely had their nose in a book in the back of the room the whole time but still probably should have been able to sense something if that's actually an angelic power.) The only angel actually overwhelmed by the love in the room is Aziraphale... which is, mathematically, kind of interesting. Aziraphale is one-sixth of the angels in the bookshop in that moment, which equates out to the roughly 17% percent of the human population estimated to be HSPs, or highly sensitive people, some of whom are also empaths.

If you go back to S1, when Aziraphale and Crowley enter Tadfield and Aziraphale starts experiencing love, he says to Crowley: "I'm astonished that you can't feel it." This comment alone might be suggested to say that the high sensitivity that Aziraphale has is something that isn't an angelic ability. By saying he's surprised that Crowley can't feel it, Aziraphale is saying that he knows that Crowley is sensitive in the same way that Aziraphale is. Crowley, too, is then what humans would probably call a HSP. Crowley balks at the suggestion in S1 but we can see in S2 that it's true when Crowley has his version of being overwhelmed sensing emotion and, in his case in that moment, it was waves of distress. Who else experiences it at the same time as Crowley does? A human. Mrs. Cheng.

Mrs. Cheng is the only other character who gets the heebie jeebies during the arrivals at The Ball. Both she and Crowley actually experience it before the demons come up Whickber Street, around the same time. Crowley attributes it to the demons and his own anxiety over Hell circling closer to the shop while Mrs. Cheng gets pulled into Aziraphale's magic and forgets what she felt at the door. Why did Mrs. Cheng feel something when others who came to the door did not? Because she's a highly-sensitive person.

Aziraphale is an angel, Crowley is a demon and Mrs. Cheng is a human. They are all highly-sensitive people. They all have the same high level of sensitivity.

Maggie shown to be a bad speller? Maybe she's just a human who can't spell, like many humans and demons (and angels) are. Why does Aziraphale think she could hear the Heavenly trumpets sounding the arrival of angels? It could just be because Maggie runs a music shop. Maggie is a musically-sensitive human. Aziraphale thought that might make it possible that, if anyone could hear the trumpets, it might be Maggie. He's not really sure how this all works. Aziraphale thinks that if he can feel love between humans then maybe humans that know music well might be able to hear Heavenly trumpets.

Back in S1, we see in a couple of scenes that Adam has what Crowley calls "an automatic defense thing-y" that keeps him from being found-- and seen, to an extent. A shield of sorts keeps Anathema from reading Adam's aura, showing that such a thing is in place and intact. Because Adam is the antichrist, his power overrides the other demons shy of Satan, so the presumption could be made that those of us who think that the reason why it's when they cross into Tadfield that Aziraphale begins to feel overwhelmed by love is because Adam's shield overrode Crowley's own "automatic defense thing-y" are correct because, let's be real, Crowley with his sunglasses and his Bentley has never met a defense thing-y he's never given a whirl. It fails when they cross the Tadfield line and Aziraphale is then feeling Crowley's love for him.

This is also why Aziraphale is overwhelmed by it again at Tadfield Manor. At the moment that he has to stop walking, Crowley is looking up at the place and, inevitably, remembering dropping the antichrist baby off there eleven years earlier and how he was supposed to be with Aziraphale that night instead. He's thinking about his own love for Aziraphale and Aziraphale senses it and has to stop walking for a moment, overwhelmed. Adam does love Tadfield but Aziraphale is not sensing his love for his hometown. Adam wouldn't remember being born in a religious hospital that has now become a corporate bonding retreat and wouldn't feel an overwhelming love for the place that he's probably never actually been inside since he left it as a baby. Aziraphale is sensing Crowley, who has probably had an automatic defense thing-y up for most of the time for millennia because, otherwise, Aziraphale would be in a constant state of near-faint.

Maggie may or may not be more than we think she is. She might wind up yet being some kind of supernatural being but she also might just be a human who is a bad speller and can't hear Heavenly trumpets. Mrs. Cheng may or may not be a mysterious figure with more going on than we think but she also might just be a highly-sensitive human who helps to illustrate a commonality between angels, demons and humans by having the same ability to deeply sense emotion that Crowley and Aziraphale do.

#ineffable husbands #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #good omens 2 #good omens meta #aziracrow #good omens s2 #good omens theory #mrs cheng #maggie good omens

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zvaigzdelasas · 10 months ago

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China’s economy is currently on the operating table, hunched over by surgeons, chest cavity splayed open, hooked up to a cardiopulmonary machine, surrounded by nurses staring at monitors flashing vital signs. It all looks rather grim.

This surgery, however, is not an emergency bypass. That would be too easy. China has had many of those already – stimulus packages, grand infrastructure projects and many rounds of directed lending.

Every two decades or so, going all the way back to the founding of the PRC in 1949, the surgeons get ambitious. These guys are mad scientists attempting a comic book trope – to create the ultimate superhero.

They want to inject super serum, replace skeletal calcium with adamantium and dose the patient with gamma rays, giving China the powers of shazams out the wazoo.[...]

In the lamented “pre-reform” era, China’s mad scientists engineered spectacular growth by increasing investment from a prewar 6% of GDP to 20% in the first Five-Year Plan, covering 1952-1957. This led industrial output to register a compound annual growth rate.

The Great Leap Forward accelerated this growth to 66% in 1958 and 39% in 1959 before crashing and burning in 1961 when mismanagement of communal farms and “backyard blast furnaces” caught up with the mad scientists.

Course correction starting in 1962 recovered all lost ground by 1965. According to economist Cheng Chu-Yuan, China’s GDP growth averaged 11% between 1952 and 1966, the eve of the Cultural Revolution. (T. C. Liu of Cornell and K. C. Yeh of the Rand Corporation have a lower estimate: 8%.)

More importantly, China built a full kit of infrastructure, machinery and equipment capable of driving future industrialization.[...]

Many analysts have a tabula rasa understanding of China’s reform era, as if there had been no economy before Deng Xiaoping. In reality, China’s industrialization started right after the formation of the PRC with some of the fastest growth recorded in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Even during the “low growth” Cultural Revolution, resources directed towards public health (for example, barefoot doctors) and primary education doubled life expectancy and quadrupled adult literacy by 1980 from pre-PRC levels.

The mad scientists are now at it again. They have about twenty years of new data not just on China but from the rest of the world. When Zhu Rongji was head surgeon, history had ended and markets reigned supreme. This time around, the surgeons are correcting for market irrationality and negative externalities. The next twenty years is again being determined on the operating table.

Three years ago, the surgeons pried open China’s chest cavity with the three red lines credit limits, instantly seizing the speculation driven property sector. Since then, they ripped out unnecessary organs like education companies, clamped the Ant Financial artery and eviscerated the video game industry. All of this has caused spasms in vital signs from lackluster growth to rising youth unemployment. Wondering whether China will or will not stimulate the economy next quarter or next year is missing the forest from the trees. For the next few years, China’s economy will still be under the knife and whatever adjustments will merely be anesthesiologists and technicians nominally dialing the drugs up and down and adjusting the heart-lung machine to maintain vital signs.

What are these mad scientists trying to achieve? We believe President Xi Jinping’s 2020 target of doubling China’s GDP by 2035 stands. That is an average growth rate of 4.7% for 15 years. But beyond just a numerical target, it is important to figure out what superpowers China is trying to acquire. And just as importantly, what Kryptonite factors China is attempting to inoculate itself against.

China wants America’s Silicon Valley, but regulated; Japan’s car companies, but electrified; Germany’s Mittelstand, but scalable; and Korea’s chaebol conglomerates, but without political capture. It wants to lead the world in science and technology, but without cram schools. A thriving economy, but with common prosperity. Industry, without air pollution. Digital lifestyle, without gaming addiction. Material plenty, without hedonism. Modernity, without its ills. This is, of course, a wish-list and unrealistically ambitious. But these mad scientists sure as hell are going to try. They’ve developed a taste for it.

In college, early into the semester, we went through a ritual called course exchange. Students gathered in an auditorium to swap classes after sampling lectures for three weeks – satisfaction was not guaranteed. The strategy passed down to underclassmen applied to both course exchange and significant others: “Add before you drop.”

China is undergoing – but perhaps botching – the same process with a more party-esque slogan, “Establish the new before abolishing the old.”

The surgeons have been on a tear gutting the old. The big kahuna is, of course, the property sector. But right behind are platform monopolies, private education, financial services and video games. The new has been playing catch-up, with 5G equipment, electric vehicles, photovoltaics and wind turbines being leading examples.

From all appearances, the Industrial Party is in ascendance and China will double down on climbing the manufacturing value chain. The Industrial Party is a political identity that believes industry, science and technology should determine China’s future. Adherents believe that China’s strength lie in the technical skills of her population and thus favor hard-science, high-tech industries as opposed to services and business model innovations.

Therefore, Chinese politicians, whatever their predisposition, must find a way to create space for this next generation of scientists and technicians to develop themselves. They cannot be confined to a production line at a Foxconn plant. Maintaining social stability means finding a use for future scientists and technicians, which means pursuing industrialization. Is there any other way? The key variable for determining the course of China’s future development is thus the massive number of talented technical and scientific workers.

If mistakes were made, it would have been in sequencing and in faith – dropping before adding is a poor strategy in both love and course exchange. China’s mad scientists may have been too confident that electric vehicles and renewable energy would be followed quickly by semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and commercial aircraft.

Perhaps they have reason to be confident. Planning for this surgery has been in the works since 2015 with the Made in China 2025 project. China has been steadily eroding imports of high value added intermediary goods like batteries, precision parts and electrical components, flipping trade with South Korea from deficit to surplus.[...]

China never properly transitioned from its Soviet era Material Product System (MPS) of national accounts to the United Nation’s System of National Accounts (UNSNA) standard, leaving out much of services from reported GDP.

We calculate that China accounts for 22-24% of global GDP and 20-23% of global consumption. We also calculate that household consumption is 50-55% of China’s GDP, in line with global averages. China should easily be able to grow at 4.7% through 2035 with only a modest increase in consumption’s GDP share (5 percentage points over 10 years) without upsetting global economic balances.

In the reform period prior to Xi, everything was sacrificed at the altar of economic growth. In the new era, growth has been walked down from 9.6% in 2011 to an average of 4.7% in the Covid years (2020-2023) as an increasing litany of issues were given precedence. Debt however, soared over this time from 175% of GDP to over 300%. What exactly did all that debt buy?

When Xi assumed leadership of China, he declared that inequality could not be allowed to increase further. Inequality is perhaps the major Kryptonite factor of the American economy which China wasted no time in matching as the economy roared with market reforms.

While still problematic, inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, has steadily fallen since 2010 largely as a result of massive investment in urbanization, pushing people into cities and pushing cities up the tiering ladder.[...]

China also poured resources into stamping out last-mile poverty. While most poverty alleviation in China was through economic growth, recalcitrant extremely poverty could only be eradicated by concentrated marshaling of resources, from relocating entire villages to weekly visits by social workers.[...]

Since peaking in 2012, air pollution in Beijing has been cut by over 60%, with Shanghai falling over 50%. China, which used to dominate the list of most polluted cities, now only claims one spot in the top 20. None of this came cheap, from installing scrubbers in smoke stacks to increasing renewables to moving heavy industry to strict emissions regulations for cars.[...]

Before Hu Jintao handed the reins to Xi, Hu warned delegates to the 18th Party Congress in 2012 that “[corruption] could prove fatal to the party… and [cause] the fall of the state.” The popular opinion in the West is that Xi ended China’s highly successful reform era because of an ideological bent. This is off the mark. Xi was brought in to clean house as the wheels were coming off from excesses of the reform era.

Throughout Xi’s decade in office, there has been no letup in his anti-corruption campaign. In 2022, a record 638,000 officials were punished for corruption. While there haven’t been any large scale ideological appeals to the public, it’s a different story within the 98-million-member party.

During this time, free market capitalism and liberal democracies also faced their own existential tests. Success or failure going forward will depend on whether liberal institutions remain intact in the West and whether party discipline can be maintained in China. What the PRC has had since 1949 is a governing party with the political autonomy to play mad scientist. [...]

Of course we live in the real world, not a comic-book world. The question in the real world has always been whether the economy can be engineered by mad scientists from the top down or is it best left to the invisible hand of the market? [...]

The standard economic opinion – against all evidence – is that China was economically stagnant before Deng’s market reforms. The thinking on this for the American economys is undergoing a transformation in egghead land – just how has neoliberal economics benefitted the American people over the past few decades?

In a Q&A exchange at a conference in Malaysia, Eric Li, the barbed-tongued venture capitalist, was asked, “Do you think top-down directives are sustainable in the long run?” To which he replied, “It’s the only thing that’s sustainable.… That’s why America is failing today.” After World War II, Li said, the Americans “lost the ability to do top-down design.”

Dec 2023

#quite the colorful rhetorical device but lots of good data here

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faithwithaflaw · 11 months ago

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Just thinking about the fact that Xie lian won't even hurt an ant and had actually never hit Qi rong in his entire life(he has lived for 800 years btw) but the moment Qi rong called Hua Cheng blind in one eye, Xie lian snapped. Qi rong definitely did not expect that slap atall😭😂 and me? first time I read the book I didn't expect it either but did it make me happy?😂

Like go Xie lian! In this life you dont get a medal for being too good pls. Beat the werey up! as you should.

#xie lian #hua cheng #hualian #tgcf #mxtx tgcf #tgcf donghua #danmei

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sidecharactersdomatter · 3 months ago

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Thoughts I had during TGCF S2 Ep 11

The last two reactions took a while, since I was doing a lot of sketching and writing a one shot after listing to the latest Epic livestream on Ytube now let’s get to it!

-Innocent children outside of the palace were spared from the Banquet’s massacre

-It’s the same elderly man from Ep 9!

-You know this Ep’s gonna be awesome once the animation’s upped it’s ante

-The CGI background effect!

-It’s the outer wall of Ba Sing se from ATLA Book 2 Earth, (subtle worldbuilding spoilers from The Scrap Immortal and the Avatar)

-Barren land outside of the wall…

-Hua Cheng’s wraith butterfly

-*takes a really deep inhale* HAAAAAAAH! It’s the same butterfly from 5 Eps earlier who landed on Xie Lian’s palm as the others swarmed towards FX and MQ! *Gasps again* He must’ve landed on XL’s hand because of the length he went to locate him in Yong’An’s area. So if he failed to find him, the butterfly was exhausted, and since he was tired, he rested on Xie Lian’s hand

(I had to slip this in)

-Through the eyes of a butterfly

-It’s a tunnel!

-It’s the secret tunnel from ATLA Book 2

-Lang Qianqiu and Mengyou!

-He’s staked Fang Xin into his tomb

-The reason Qianqiu never removed Fang Xin’s mask is because he never knew who he was behind it all is life…

-What was that coffin cover made out of?!

-Back to Yong’An to finish grieving and keeping the kingdom in tact

-Getting staked in a stone coffin is a whole lot worse than being trapped in a Iceberg for a century

-The blood is spreading like vines and branches

-How long was he in that coffin???

-I can see why people in the fandom wrote fics about his recovery from the Yong’An crypt.

-Another intense and long cold opening

-“SAD CHILD!!!” still got chills from the last episode

-Damn

-“NO! It’s my fault! Everything is my fault and I’ve only made it worse!” There’s that raw emotion

-Still want dessert after the delivery last episode. Great! Now I’m craving egg custard tarts and red bean buns, dim sum dessert!!!

-Hua Cheng took accountability for his actions

-He sat down next to him!

-“You did good” that’s exactly what I need to hear right now

-There’s always a cost

-Howard is still eating it up in the next ep!!!

-Comfort him!

-History’s still repeating to this day…

-Lian Cheng Ci’s playing again!

-It was no one’s fault!

-He finally removed his mask!

-XL had a chance to end An Le right there

-Thank you HC!

-No XL you’re not a worthless insect, I actually see you as more of an adorable rodent and so does Hua Cheng

-He destroyed the weeping statue!

-It took him that long to stop his breakdown???

-“As you wish” has James Cheek read the Princess Bride?

-Ghosts and Humans are fleeing the mountains

-And Qi Rong’s goons easily folded under Hua Cheng’s thumb

-Did anybody else hear Broadway from Gargoyles in the large purple goon? Kictor and Stitch said he sounded like Patrick Star

-Let’s just say Hua Cheng always does his homework right

-Aww the animation when Xie Lian caught up to the Crimson Rain

-Hong Jue once more!!! YEAH!!!

-They’re outside the mountain!

-His small laugh!

-“Idolizing someone for afar is understandable, but once you get close, when you really get to know them, that perfect image of them you made will shatter. When that happens it just hurts.” That is a really good and inspirational quote

-“For some the mere existence of a certain person in this world is hope.” Another great quote!

-“San Lang, who are you?” He said it so softly!!!

-“Don’t tease!” Oh yes he will~!

-He’s starting to realize!!!

-Whoever did this season’s soundtrack really deserves a raise

-They got cut off!

-Hi Qingxuan

-She’s so slay

-Hi Feng Xin

-Just imagine a montage of Qingxuan and FX trying to role the right number to XL’s location

-The way he summoned his arrow!

-It’s a standoff!!

-XL’s facepalm!

-HC just tugged his sleeve again!

-What’s she doing?

-Are they acting?

-The eye contact!

-He’s talking about Ming Yi

-You got that right on the rescuing, he carried XL off in style!

-Literally how you send an email and update in the online message board

-“She gets it” that means they’ve bonded

-QX gets close and FX moves like 6 feet back

-She knows his weakness

-And FX’s frantically waving his hand

-The snap!

-*Qianqiu has left the chat*

-I know who the minor official is

-Even FX dissed Qi Rong

-It took him that long to realize???

-The family ties are really something, Qingxuan

-That anime spiral on the thumb!

-Hua Cheng roasted Feng Xin

-He is egging him on

-Hua Cheng roasted Heaven again

-Another standoff!

-Aiaigasa! It’s Aiaigasa people!!!

-And Qingxuan casually backs up

-IT’S RAINING WET KETCHUP!!!

-Really weird weather they had tonight

-Now XL giggled!!! It added 3 more years to my lifespan!

-FX looks like he got a bowl of marinara tossed over him

-Qingxuan it’s not a mop!!! It’s a cultivator whisk! It took me a long time to realize it when I bought the first novel

-You two aren’t helping!

-Have you seen HC help fix up your temple?

-He knows him so well!

One more Ep left!

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nuovocparadiso · 4 months ago

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Death of Nintendo (2020).

Dir. Raya Martin / dop: Ante Cheng.

#Death of Nintendo (2020)#Raya Martin #cinematography #asian cinema #cinema without people #my screenshots #Ante Cheng

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siilverwiitch · 4 months ago

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"Look at you both. The moment I say anything bad about you, whoa! Look how mad he gets. Was he blinded by that holy light from your halo? Yooo, I forgot! Isn't he already blind in one eye? HA HA ha ha ha… Before he could finish, Qi Rong's own sight went dark again, and his cheek exploded in agony as he spewed blood from his mouth - he got himself socked again! However, this punch wasn't from Hua Cheng, it was from Xie Lian. Xie Lian's fist was faster than the eye could possibly track, and he said coldly, "Just because I've never hit you before, it doesn't mean I would never hit you." His punch was a brutal one, and it was a long while before Qi Rong could say anything. He lay on the ground like a mangy dog, pounding the ground as he cackled. "Cousin Crown Prince, you hit me! You actually hit me! Heavens, our noble, kind, compassionate, charitable crown prince, who's scared of stepping on even a tiny ant, actually copped an attitude and swung at me! HE'S HITTING PEOPLE! INCREDIBLE! AMAZING!!"

(Heaven Official's Blessing Volume 2, pg. 234)

#heaven official's blessing #tian guan ci fu #tgcf #mxtx tgcf #book quotes #xie lian #hua cheng #san lang

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womansound · 2 years ago

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he hates it. he hates it, and adam wants to sink into the ground and absolutely melt ( human body's, like, some part water, right ? he could do it ! ). "oh my god." he turns away, slapping a palm to his shut eyes as he waves the other hand in anthony's face. "no, don't — no, i don't want to hear it !" if this is what vulnerability feels like, hey — he hates this, actually ! "just throw it in the bin while i'm not looking, please; spare me that." // 🍓 ଘ(੭◌ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡‧₊ @gam3bo1 !

anthony takes a bite of the savoury pancake, letting out a pleased hum as he chews. even though he critiques food for a living, he's an easy person to read—his nose scrunches up when something's too salty, he frowns when something's too bland, and he smiles when something tastes good. and this? well... "so, should i tell you or not?"

(@womansound)

#ant: says seven words #adam: is this real? is this persecution?#gam3bo1 #{ 🎻 } ... 𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫��𝐬 ... adam cheng !

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thegoldenavenger · 7 months ago

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Some LiuJiu sex pollen fic about 3k. Also extremely unresolved tension, hahaha OTL. This was supposed to be about 100% angstier than it turned out but that Did Not Happen. Rating is probably mature but not explicit.

Warnings associated with sex pollen tropes apply, but nothing really happens here. Sqq is non-verbal for the entirety of this, lqg is sometimes a little unobservant and a little too observant, but I don't think there's anything too bad.

Shen Qingqiu gets the lion's share of the burst of pollen. It only hits Liu Qingge incidentally, fast as he is to whirl away from its path. It still sends a burst of liquid heat straight through his core. Shen Qingqiu drops outright, coughing through the fat, fuzzy pollops. Liu Qingge swings Cheng Luan around, cutting through the tattered form of a ghost ant demon.

He has to end the fight quickly, compromised as he is. Shen Qingqiu hadn't been of any real help in the first place but now he's a liability. Liu Qingge grits his teeth and sends a sword glare flinging at another of the ghost ants, this one a big drone of a creature.

He can't meditate to cool his body down so he redirects the heat instead, focusing on the battle thrill. The limber way his limbs follow his commands, the strength in his grip, the coiling of his muscles, the friction of his silk robes against his tense, heated skin. He gasps, flushed and sensitive, and pierces through carapace and ectoplasm. The two other ghost ants abandon the fight.

Liu Qingge heaves breath in, swallowing thickly. He can't pursue them like this, can't leave Shen Qingqiu vulnerable in a field.

He stumbles to Shen Qingqiu, the man's trembling form curled on itself where he'd fallen. The pollen is really hitting him now. When he tries to cycle his qi, it feels like it only spreads faster.

"Shen Qingqiu." His voice is shakier than normal.

A breathy noise comes from Shen Qingqiu's form, his head tilting by degrees the only sign that he is listening at all to Liu Qingge. His inky hair falls around him like a curtain with only the shell of his ear peaking through. It is flushed.

"Shen Qingqiu, stand!" Liu Qingge puts his hand on Shen Qingqiu's shoulders, ostensibly to shake it. Shen Qingqiu is warm even through his seven layers of silk. He doesn't get to linger with the curve of Shen Qingqiu under his palm because the man flips over in a wild spray of limbs. His hair whips around his face as he kicks himself backwards and away from Liu Qingge.

His face is pink and sweaty, his dark ice eyes hazy under the pollen's influence.

Liu Qingge's throat clicks as he swallows and his hand burns.

Shen Qingqiu curses, his fists tightening. Lying like this, leaning on his elbows, he looks bullied. His lips are red and shiny, puffy almost. Liu Qingge blinks hard. Shen Qingqiu's chest rises and falls with enough force to flutter the fine lapels of his diaphanous outer layer.

Liu Qingge clenches his jaw and quickly closes the distance between him and Shen Qingqiu, whose awkward backwards crawling is laughably useless against Liu Qingge's long legs. He grips a fistful of Shen Qingqiu's robes and yanks him up. He sways dangerously, almost comically swooning into Liu Qingge's chest. His strong, thin scholar's hands brace against Liu Qingge's belt.

He can feel them tense and relax against him.

Shen Qingqiu makes a distressed noise, half whine choked with growl, but with the distance closed he doesn't seem able to pull himself away. Liu Qingge can hardly force himself to open his jaw for words, it seems that for once words are beyond Shen Qingqiu at all.

His arms move almost without his permission, locking around Shen Qingqiu, tucking him in closer. The solid length of Shen Qingqiu's body is a line of heat against him and his muscles tense in the effort to not squeeze him tighter. Another discontented noise escapes Shen Qingqiu's mouth even as the man tilts his face into Liu Qingge's chest.

"I—" Cheng Luan sheathes itself, and the sound of it sliding into its scabbard makes them both groan. There is no way that Liu Qingge can focus enough to fly. They should seek shelter but if they do...

Shen Qingqiu's hand has wormed its way into Liu Qingge's outer robe, absently flexing. Even through the layers of fabric still separating them he can feel the shape of Shen Qingqiu's nails. He doesn't even have to imagine their sting; Shen Qingqiu has scratched him in their spars before.

It's a reminder that neither of them will be happy if they fully succumb to the pollen, and if they sequester themselves they will succumb. Even now, Shen Qingqiu is pressing in closer, Liu Qingge can hear him snuffle along his lapels. He's still shaking like a leaf caught in wind underneath Liu Qingge's hands.

Liu Qingge grits his teeth and pushes Shen Qingqiu away.

His whole body aches, bereft of Shen Qingwiu's warmth and weight. The whine he voices is involuntary and embarrassing, but at least matched by Shen Qingqiu who's viper hands have locked themselves into Liu Qingge's robe.

"Let go. We need to get to Qian Cao."

Shen Qingqiu's face looks conflicted and dazed, eyes dewy, eyesbrows furrowed in a sharp angle, his thin lips curled almost in a snarl. Liu Qingge tries pulling him along but he stumbles and winds his way cat-like back into Liu Qingge's space, tripping them both up.

"Stop—Shen Qingqiu, get ahold of yourself!" It's hippocritical of him to say this, of course, his own hands locked around Shen Qingqiu's wrist, his own heart beating double time, the center line of his body yearning towards the shape of Shen Qingqiu. Shen Qingqiu snakes his arms around Liu Qingge's waist, refusing to be budged or dislodged again.

He's mean about it, is the thing. His fingers grip through Liu Qingge's robes to dig bruises with how hard he clings. He uses his sharp chin to jab into the meat of Liu Qingge's shoulder when he tries to unlatch Shen Qingqiu's arm. He stomps on Liu Qingge's instep when his knee shifts the wrong way. It's like fighting, like any of the ambushes Shen Qingqiu pulls on him, but somehow more disorienting. He isn't even sure if Shen Qingqiu is fighting to stay closer or not; keeping his iron grip on Liu Qingge's clothes but kicking at his feet in turns of spitefulness.

Withought conscious thought Liu Qingge's hand slips from its hold on Shen Qingqiu's shoulder and slides down to the small of his back. And it is small under Liu Qingge's hand. Shen Qingqiu's hands become sharp, clawing into him like little dagger points. The pricks of pain send a shudder through him and he closes his eyes but that makes it worse.

He's overly conscious of how small the amount of space is between them, of Shen Qingqiu's knee next to his, of the strong arms around him, of the hot and humid breath Shen Qingqiu gasps against his robes. He has never faltered a single day in his life but his knees feel weak.

Shen Qingqiu's own knee shifts against Liu Qingge's, he is only aware it because it moves away from him leaving a cold space. Then Shen Qingqiu steps forward, doing something clever with the angle of his feet between Liu Qingge's, and suddenly Liu Qingge is on his back and Shen Qingqiu is straddling him.

Liu Qingge really should know by now to not let his guard down around Shen Qingqiu.

Shen Qingqiu looks smug, even with his lip curled to show his teeth in warning.

His robes drape around them like petals of a flower, the bulk of them only exaggerating the small, hesitant twitches of Shen Qingqiu's hips. It looks involuntary, like he isn't even aware of it. The golden puffs of pollen cling to Shen Qingqiu's skin and hair, catching light from the moon. They glint where they're caught in Shen Qingqiu's eyelashes. Liu Qingge swallows and Shen Qingqiu's eyes follow the bob of his throat.

Liu Qingge bucks his hip up, curling his body like a shrimp and pushing at Shen Qingqiu's knee. He hears a gasp above him, which he tries to ignore. He also tries to ignore the heat under Shen Qingqiu's robes and between his thighs. In increments, Liu Qingge wiggles from underneath Shen Qingqiu and they tussle on the ground for a few more inelegant moments.

Shen Qingqiu scrambles at him in increasingly disorganized and clumsy attempts. The elegant Qing Jing fighting forms fall away in favor of something more base and frantic. It's the same frenetic fighting Shen Qingqiu falls into when sparring inevitably tips towards Liu Qingge's favor: the tricks and low blows Liu Qingge hates the most.

Liu Qingge tries to catch Shen Qingqiu's hands and gets bitten for his troubles, tries to stop Shen Qingqiu's kicking legs from brushing too close against him and gets a line of scratches down his arm. Shen Qingqiu is still panting, muscles quivering, face heated and pink and coated with a soft sheen of sweat that his cultivation should be able to take care of, but if Liu Qingge forces himself to stop focusing on these small, intimate details and take in the whole of Shen Qingqiu...

He's scared.

Liu Qingge has managed to flip them for more leverage and is bearing his weight down on Shen Qingqiu to get him to stop wiggling. He's half between Shen Qingqiu's legs without even noticing, his blood heated and intent on winning. Like this is just any fight between them.

He throws himself backwards and away, something black twisting in his gut.

Both of them lie there, under the moonlight, breathing hard.

The heat still churns in Liu Qingge's body, and he's sure in Shen Qingqiu's as well. Shen Qingqiu shedding extra pollen onto him probably did not help. He really needs to get them both to Qian Cao, even if Shen Qingqiu would abandon him if their positions were switched.

Liu Qingge hadn't even noticed climbing half on top of him. It had been instinct and muscle memory. If Liu Qingge were more compromised... Shen Qingqiu might even be right to leave him behind.

Lucky, then, that Liu Qingge isn't more affected. Shen Qingqiu has started those small, distressed vocalizations. Not quite whining, but adjacent. Liu Qingge can feel it too, the cool night air against his skin where Shen Qingqiu's body had been is almost painful. Shen Qingqiu does not have the coordination to walk, Liu Qingge doesn't have the coordination to fly.

"Hey!" Liu Qingge sits up. "Shen Qingqiu! Come here."

Shen Qingqiu has curled in on himself again, almost looking small. Frail.

"Can you—" the words are getting harder to force out of his mouth. He just wants to growl.

Shen Qingqiu does not come here, so Liu Qingge crawls over to him. Shen Qingqiu tenses as he draws nearer. When the man uncurls enough to glare at him Liu Qingge stops. He wants to go closer, to just pick him up and be done with it. He can still run, it'll just be uncomfortable. Doubly so with Shen Qingqiu struggling.

Instead he makes sure Shen Qingqiu is watching and then turns his back on him.

Quiet, and then Shen Qingqiu makes a curious noise that sounds almost exactly like the haughty little hums he hides behind his fans when Liu Qingge does something stupid but amusing. It does not help Liu Qingge keep still. His training makes him reluctant to put his back towards Shen Qingqiu, the heat coiling in him doubly wants him to turn and face Shen Qingqiu's flushed face.

The crunch of dirt as Shen Qingqiu moves makes goosebumps spread across Liu Qingge's shoulders. He can feel Shen Qingqiu's gaze like a physical weight.

It doesn't, unfortunately, make the heat subside. It seems to magnify it, even, knowing Shen Qingqiu's calculating eyes are on him. That he is being sized up, weighed and tallied. He squares his shoulders under that attention, tries to keep his breathing even.

His can hear his own pulse heavy in his ears.

Finally Shen Qingqiu approaches, Liu Qingge can feel the heat of his body. It seems he'd stood to come closer, standing behind Liu Qingge's kneeling form. Liu Qingge's mouth feels incredibly wet and he swallows again, and again, as Shen Qingqiu just hovers behind him.

When touch comes, it's with Shen Qingqiu's fingers combing through Liu Qingge's gathered hair. It makes him jump, half expecting Shen Qingqiu to pull or yank. Instead he just runs his fingers through it. It is almost as if Liu Qingge's hair has developed feeling, each soft pass of Shen Qingqiu's fingers sending a tingle through his scalp.

Shen Qingqiu sinks to his knees behind Liu Qingge, pressed close enough Liu Qingge can feel every hot, tense line of him through their clothes. It's like descending into a hot spring, the warmth of Shen Qingqiu's body enveloping Liu Qingge's sending a shudder coursing through him.

Shen Qingqiu hooks his chin over Liu Qingge's shoulder, his nose pressing against Liu Qingge's cheek. He rubs cat-like against Liu Qingge, a lilting hum almost a question against Liu Qingge's skin. His arms come around him, and with that a pressing weight as Shen Qingqiu leans into him.

Shen Qingqiu presses into his back, down on his shoulders, against his face. Liu Qingge wants to fold over, to give himself more room maybe. Maybe to feel Shen Qingqiu follow. If Liu Qingge bent a little, maybe if he rested his weight on his elbows, Shen Qingqiu could cover him like a blanket, the sheet of his hair could fall over Liu Qingge's shoulder, blocking him in.

The thought makes his ribs ache in a deeply unfamiliar way.

Shen Qingqiu presses more of his weight into Liu Qingge, shuffles his knees closer, rubs his hands against Liu Qingge's chest. It pushes a strangled noise from him, chased by a self satisfied hum from Shen Qingqiu. Liu Qingge bows by a degree, back curving against Shen Qingqiu's firm chest. Shen Qingqiu does follow, leaning more of his weight against the plane of Liu Qingge's back than on his knees.

Liu Qingge slides his hands backwards to Shen Qingqiu's waist. Shen Qingqiu doesn't protest so Liu Qinnge follows the dip of his waist down to his narrow hips then further to the outside of his thighs. Shen Qingqiu tilts the box of his pelvis into Liu Qingge's back, his muscles flexing as if to encourage Liu Qingge's wandering hands.

Liu Qingge feels almost dizzy, his face is hot and his core is twitching with his own restraint. He lets his fingers grip tight and Shen Qingqiu moans into his ear, soft and sweet. He reaches further back, cupping Shen Qingqiu's thighs, pulling him firmly against himself. It makes another breathy noise escape Shen Qingqiu's lips and Liu Qingge feels on fire. He is sure his face is incandescent in the night.

He waits until Shen Qingqiu moves his hips in a little abortive thrust, enough to unbalance his stance, and then he moves in one big rush: grip on Shen Qingqiu's thighs pulling his legs around him as he curls forward to force Shen Qingqiu's weight higher onto his back. Then he stands, Shen Qingqiu left clinging.

He does it so quickly Shen Qingqiu can't react except for reflexive tensing until Liu Qingge is already standing, finding his balance while carrying another body. Liu Qingge waits for Shen Qingqiu's response, prepared to wrestle his limbs if he starts struggling again.

Shen Qingqiu is a line of tension, having locked up at the sudden movement. Liu Qingge clears his throat. Wets his tongue and manages to croak "Fine" with enough inflection it could be read as a question.

Shen Qingqiu takes a deliberate breath, deep enough it rocks Liu Qingge. Then he relaxes in Liu Qingge's hold. He does pull at Liu Qingge's hair, one sharp tug that has Liu Qingge barking Hey reflexively, that he assumes is meant to scold him. With nothing more violent coming forth, Liu Qingge takes it as acquiescence and bounces a little to settle Shen Qingqiu’s weight better.

That makes Shen Qingqiu hiss. Shen Qingqiu's arms flex where they grip, and he pants against Liu Qingge's ear. Liu Qingge gamely ignores the damp puffs of air and his own burning face to start walking in the direction of the sect.

Though this position seems to work best for both of them—Liu Qingge isn't looming over anyone, they are headed towards the sect, the pollen's effect is mitigated by the press of their bodies together—Liu Qingge had failed to take into account the actual logistics. Each step he takes rocks Shen Qingqiu into him.

Shen Qingqiu's thighs flex around his waist in time to his steps like Shen Qingqiu is riding him and Shen Qingqiu has buried his face into Liu Qingge's collar hiding his small gasps. Liu Qingge's foot catches a dip in the ground and he skids through the next step, jolting Shen Qingqiu against him. Shen Qingqiu whines, reedy and wanting, before he bites sharply at Liu Qingge's shoulder, ruthlessly muffling the noise. The burst of unexpected pain makes Liu Qingge stumble, his groin twitching hard.

"Shen Qingqiu!" Liu Qingge hisses, stilling himself. Sweat has gathered at his hairline, his lip, he can feel it drip down his neck. Shen Qingqiu's open mouth is hot and wet and sharp, his arms are heavy and clinging. The layers of silk that slide between Shen Qingqiu's length and the curve of Liu Qingge's spine are damp.

His teeth pulling back from the bite is almost as bad as getting bitten, the pain blooms under Liu Qingge's skin like a budding flower, and the cool air stings at the teethmarks Shen Qingqiu left. Did he draw blood? The thought briefly makes Liu Qingge's eyes unfocused.

Shen Qingqiu bucks his hips forward, too intentional to mistake for anything but a rider spurring their mount. He tugs at Liu Qingge's bang, telling him forwards. The flare of heat catches him by surprise, and Liu Qingge starts walking. Shen Qingqiu shifts against his back, his chin settling in the bruise he'd left. Liu Qingge can feel the smug radiate off of him.

It's a long walk back to Cang Qiong.

#kamaeteWRITES #svsss #liu qingge #shen jiu #shen qingqiu #they were supposed to be a lot more uh angry and scared of each other #lqg ignoring the pollen so hard was supposed to push him into a qi deviation when they got to qian cao #sqq was supposed to be a lot more feral cat; scratching and biting in a notnsexy way #that did NOT happen!!!!#sqq chose to process this as reluctantly amused #and lqg is just [discovers something about himself!] [discovers something about himself!] [discovers—]

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