#LIYAN

[crisisaegyl]

Like Hey Hi what if we were friends or lovers or soulmates for literally thousands of years. What if we grew up and grew strong and grew together. What if we pledged our lives to protect our home together. What if I find my people, the ones I swore to protect, being tortured and I go a little off the rails (for pretty understandable reasons tbh). What if you stand against me in that moment? And you abandon me and help lock me away when you know freedom is something I long for. What if I emerge 8 years later (literally a drop of time in their story) and you've moved on and have surrounded yourself with humans. The Enemy. And they don't deserve to be your friends and they don't deserve to be your enemies. And I don't really want to be your enemy either, but you've chosen a side and so have I, and by god I am Going To Be Your Something. If I cannot be your best friend then I must be your greatest enemy.

What if the success of my plan involves your death, and the acquisition of your inner core, but somehow you always manage to emerge more or less unscathed. What if I corrupt your best friend. What if I do it because he's your best friend. Because I want someone to understand how lonely it is to love you. To be loved by you and then be abandoned. What if every time you pick them over me, there's a part of me screaming "I was your friend too! Where was this undying loyalty when I needed it?" ....and what if you plead with him to spare me. what if you find a way. what If I steal one of your friends from you and I kill another and I hurt you and you still save me. What if you cradle what is left of my soul in your hands and you take me home where it is safe. Where I can grow again. What if you are so unwilling to lose me entirely that you are willing to betray the people that I have hurt in saving me. What if you are ready to wait a hundred years so we can meet again, without blood or fire between us. What if I throw it all away. What if I take that hope and that life and that freedom that I've strived for and I throw it away to save you. Because you need help. Because I can help. Because what is the point? In gathering the strength to live again if you wont be there? What if I give the heart of my power to the man who stands beside you, shoulder to shoulder, where I was for a thousand years? What If I give whatever was left to me afterwards to you, because you've made yourself powerless and I cannot stand it. So I will give you the strength to survive this, and him the strength to protect you, and I will use my last breath to honor the oath that we made, when we were young, and strong, and together. Tell me: If I have been your friend, and your enemy, and your partner, If I have brought you grief, and joy, and devotion, If I have hurt you and been hurt by you, If I have saved you and been saved by you, If I have lived thousands of years by your side and in my death I have given the heart of me to the man you call your soulmate; Tell me: Is enough of you mine that I might rest easy, now?

[niyxxe]

didn't talk about this enough. OKAYYY BOYFRIENDS!

[randomingoftherandomness]

i JUST saw the spicy liyan fic!! this reminds me so much of the yuanyi moreg baby fic from earlier on. could we see liyan baby as well ?? 🥺

He tires far too easily and Li Lun can't help hovering a little more than is necessary. A hand on the small of Zhu Yan's back, a quiet and unwavering presence by his side while he is tucked up against him, sleeping. He does everything he can to be there next to him.

And between them, the swell of his belly is a constant reminder of the why.

They're immortal, ageless beings. There is much mysteries about their existence, much they themselves do not understand. It goes to reason that Li Lun has never thought about fatherhood or even siring a child. Sure, he has had his string of lovers, and so has Zhu Yan, but a child born in the Wilderness had never been on the forefront of his mind.

And so, as with most things in his life, when they discover that their recent coupling under the first full moon of the summer solstice had resulted in Li Lun's seed taking, he's distinctly reminded about why Zhu Yan is the reason for all the best things in his life.

"If you think any louder, I think you might just wake the baby."

Li Lun huffs, half amused and half offended that any child of theirs would be any less than pleased to hear his voice. He has already started amassing a collection of lullabies and stories for their baby to grow with. There's even a corner of their den that he has set aside for their little one.

"Worrying for no reason again?" Zhu Yan laughs, smoothing a hand over his belly. Suddenly, he pauses, eyes going big and round. Grabbing Li Lun by the wrist, he presses his hand over the underside of his belly, excited and grinning from ear to ear.

Li Lun cocks his head, curious but the answer to his unspoken query comes when he feels the push under his palm. A barely there distention that disappears just as quick. Li Lun holds his breath. And there it is again, now a rolling motion that he can track from the base of his palm up to his pointer finger.

"Is that..."

"Yeah!" Zhu Yan chuckles, a happy flush colouring his cheeks a pretty pink. "That's our little one."

Our little one. The words reverberate in Li Lun's skull. Just these words and their syllables is enough to bring a hot stinging to his nose and a prickle to his eyes. Our little one, their little one.

"Oh, you silly old tree..." Zhu Yan sighs, lips curling up in an endeared helplessness. Lifting his hands, he wipes away the stray tears that escape before Li Lun can hold it back in. "Whatever shall I do about you."

Thumb rubbing up against the skin of Zhu Yan's belly, Li Lun quietly thinks there's really nothing Zhu Yan can do. Not when he has made him happy beyond his wildest dreams. He tells him as much, croaking through the wetness in his voice.

Zhu Yan merely laughs, shaking his head before tucking himself back into Li Lun's embrace. "My silly old tree."

[thisdoesnthaveend]

Help Liyan and her 3 sisters

Liyan is only 13 years old and she's taking care of her three sisters. They're without their father and have already been displaced 3 times. Please donate to their gofundme or if you can't donate please share. Every little thing helps. Every dolar adds up.

[hellcatinnc]

Radiant Tale Otome Review

Includes Spoilers and its only based on the base game.

This is my review of all the love interests and ones that should be in the game Radiant Tale. I have been wanting to get this out for months because I burned through it back in July just never did Vilios and still have yet to even though he is hot he didn't keep my attention enough. However when I do I will write a review for him. They are in order until you get to Lian because him and the rest after weren't romancable in the first game I didn't include them in the top guys in this game so as you can see Pascahalia and Zafora were my top boys,

Paschalia

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Oh my god not even 5 minutes into talking to him and I can't see why she doesn't just fall in love with him. Yes he is kind of weird at times with talking to the spirits but after awhile its just cute and grows on you. Like every time I spent time with him I enjoyed every conversation and the sweet things he would say about always being there for you and wanting to be there to protect you. This man honestly surprised me but its such a sweet surprise. Sometimes he is almost as innocent as a child but oh so sweet. Even the first moment he leaned in for what he called his first kiss and said the words I love you even though was supposed to be for stage I felt in that moment he felt what love was just was still unsure since he had never been in it before.

As the story went on it was so easy to fall in love with his character he was so innocent and saw the world so differently it was honestly refreshing to see the child like in him. Then when he almost dies I was in tears it touched me he had never really lived outside of being sick and yet he still felt low of himself that he didn't deserve happiness or love those were the only things that really got on my nerves because here you were seeing this man with such a tender heart for everyone yet the same man didn't want to push to live to inconvenience others he loved and turned down a woman who confessed how she felt because he felt he knew what she needed.

I was happy that he realized his love was so strong in the end and made the right choice to give up everything for his love. I also loved that he was there to cherish and make her happy every day of her life. His surprise wedding made me smile so big this man was more romantic than I imagined for someone who said he knew nothing of love before this day however he was faithful to the words of the vows you learn that early on. He had a lot of demons to fight within himself being afraid he just wasn't good enough and fearing death everyday but once he finally let the walls down he gave her the greatest love in return.

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Zafora

Ok first off this man screams Tsundere the moment you meet him. That being said he is funny at how blunt he can be but I'm sure thats because I sometimes find humor in Tsunderes putting people down well all but the MC. Anyways that being said the way he will stand up for feys when they need help and how dominate he comes off is down right freaking sexy. Just wow this man grows on you so fast and the first moment he goes out of his way to save your life by jumping in the water just wow and damn can I say he looks so sexy wet. That moment when he puts the mcs hair up in a barrette omg that was such an intimate moment I wanted to scream at how sweet he was being and how gentle.

The moment you get to see him so tired he falls asleep at the table oh my so vulnerable. I can't believe how fast I felt myself falling in love with this character and the funny thing is he is the one I thought I would like the least cause I'm afraid of clowns however not this one. The way he gets mad at anybody and everybody if he thinks they have brought harm to you it warms my heart like seriously a man who has shut his heart off til now and you can tell when he loves its fiercely and he will do anything for that person even our wonderful MC.

After finishing his story I'm so in love with this man like seriously he is shy when it comes to telling someone he loves them and will come up with cute excuses to get near that person. Even his Tsundere part of him seeping through at times but his end scene where he says word for word "I will use you as much as I please" like seriously that could be taken so many ways... for gods sake Zafora my heart can't take much more. He is so much of the kinda guy I like anyways tsundere as well as a big shy and bashful around a woman he loves but also romantic in things he does and says this man has topped my list. This man is my sweet sweet Zaffy!

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Vilio

He is sexy but oh does he not always come off the smartest however I feel like before he is put in the category of being a himbo that I feel like his age plays a big apart at only 17 he is upbeat and naïve more than anything and doesn't really know the ways of the world that doesn't make him stupid just makes him closed off and needing to learn. However just in the time you see him with the group you see him grow and become more well rounded. I have yet to get through his story so I will do a separate review when I do because he really is a slow burn for me so stay tuned for the review.

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Radie

I honestly was a bit annoyed at first by one he sounds so squeaky and then to find out he had been hiding that he could change from you I felt he was betraying the home he had. Well until he explained if he had told her sooner she would have been like 12 yrs old then I made sense. However the first cute moment they have and he blushes I was in awe with how adorable he is. Then his comment that she shouldn't be scared of him in human form because they had already lived like husband and wife up until then. I feel like was a slip of his tongue as was hers the moment she admitted how handsome he was.

On his route he annoyed me fast with his bullshit parent act. I mean he treated her like a little kid for so damn long and it was more annoying when she confessed her love and he kept acting like nope not true you can't your not grown up enough. Yet he threw a fit when Liyan was almost gonna kiss her. Of course I love my sweet Liyan but I know this story was about Radie. That being said when her parents were brought back and he decided to walk away from her since he felt she didn't need him anymore pissed me off even more. Its like all these years her love meant nothing at that point all because he didn't feel he was worthy of her in that way. You find out he is a doll but yet it never changed he cared so that was just an excuse like my sweet Zaffy and Vilio tell him at one point. He chooses to do a stupid move to lose his memories and walks around with a blank mind.

Its funny thought this Radie I liked more for awhile because as he remembered her little by little he took what he knew about the old Radie only wanting her as family and connected with the way he started to feel about her. He is the reason all the feelings came to the surface and he realized he was in love with her for more than family. Its funny after everything though and he got all of the memories back it took her confronting him on all those feelings because he was a coward about saying anything. When he finally did it ended so sweet with them kissing and him confessing everything. I liked Radie by the end of it all and it was a good story just think he pissed me off as much as he did the Mc with all the hot and cold I'm just glad it ended with him understanding he could lose her if he didn't lock that shit in as Liyan liked to say to him "Do it before your a old geezer and die".

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Ion

He has a pretty sad backstory but all in all he is very loyal to the people he loves. He loves to cook and show his connections with people through it. He has learned to be able to make people smile doin always mean he needs to do it violently. He is a very in depth character that makes you feel strongly for him. However when you actually start his romantic route I found he was left dull and boring through most of it. There was more fighting and killing in this route and it just took me forever to get through it and I know I skipped alot of it because it was easier than just falling asleep while trying to play.

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Liyan

The moment I saw this man I was sold like seriously he is so damn sexy, I swear its the purple hair I have a thing for. However he is flirty too which I love and I can't understand how the MC has not dated this man before now what the hell is wrong with her. Not even 5 minutes of his sweet words and I was his...

The role he had in Radie's story urked me he almost kissed her!!! like my heart dropped and then they blew it off matter of fact she blew it off. Its like are you kidding me his lips were right there anyone else would have just let him kiss you or met his lips one sighs... my heart can't take much more of not having Liyan to myself.

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Jinnia

Isn't romance in this one stay tuned for my review in Fanfare.

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Avi

his guy even though he is a bad guy he is hot. I wouldn't mind having a romanceable option for him however when he is in Ion's route so much it becomes a bit boring.

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[not-so-secretfangirl]

Is it me... is it me or they reused Impey Barbicane's design, changed the color pallet and called it Liyan?

[dearmyloveleys]

RE: the absolute fascination (and adoration) I have with the symbolism of Zhu Yan's and Li Lun's weapons, how it reveals their respective characterisations and the discussion of humanity

There are so many aspects that I love about FoF but I still believe how the show represents LiYan's relationship + worldview through their weapons is one of the best uses of visual storytelling and literary/visual devices I have seen in recent years. (long text ahead!)

A Gift and A Curse

Where did their complications start? The exchange of gifts. Why do we gift another presents? For affection. It's so ironically simple, free of malice and at its basis so, so human. For a demon like Li Lun who claims to not understand humans, he reciprocates the moment of kindness Zhu Yan shows him - the rattle to make him happy, and him giving Zhu Yan the umbrella to shelter him from rain.

There is something so beautifully ironic about two great demons eventually using ordinary, human household objects as their weapons. And items given to each other at that. When they first receive them, both the umbrella and rattle are just simple objects with no meaning attached to it, except for the goodwill of friendship. There is no inherent ill-intention and it is pure. Yet.

Li Lun ultimately only understands reciprocation, and not truly the innate kindness and affection which Zhu Yan demonstrates. Zhu Yan gave Li Lun the rattle to have him understand why he finds humans wonderful: Can any of our demonic powers have the ability to make someone happy just like this rattle does for a child? Li Lun gives Zhu Yan the umbrella because Zhu Yan gave him the rattle and made him happy. Li Lun understands the action, and does not grapple with its underlying intentions. He consistently struggles with this throughout the story, especially when actions do not match up with the speaker's reasonings.

Dissonance in character is an extremely human trait, and the understanding of this is where Zhu Yan and Li Lun’s stories and similarities diverge. Zhu Yan on one hand, understands the complexity of humans and is at terms with it. Li Lun on the other hand, never understands the ability to be complex and paints humanity black. Their gifts are still turned into weapons that will eternally curse them of their once-there closeness, because of each other and their inability to reconcile their ideologies. How they use the umbrella and rattle from here on, represents their differences in their views of humanity.

Double Edged

When watching any fantasy/wuxia/xianxia cdrama, everyone who is written as a fighter usually has an offensive weapon used and made for injuring and killing. But not when it comes to Zhu Yan and Li Lun - they are two individuals who will certainly be masters in weaponry if they wielded a sword or blade. But they don’t.

In the Wilderness, from what we see, none of the demons use weapons. Even Cheng Huang uses an hourglass. Both Li Lun and Zhu Yan do not own any weapons before gifting each other the rattle and umbrella, and these aren’t even supposed to be used as weapons. There is such an underlying innocence to demons that instead of choosing a blade to take as a weapon, they choose these essentially harmless items instead. Though, this innocence ends here. The concept of weapons is a human creation. The concept of making an item specifically just to harm others is an especially human conception. By adopting the identity of weapons onto their gifts, the multifaceted nature of weaponry and thereby humanity seeps into their characters. Weaponry is both ironically and ironically human, and their weapons represent both sides of human nature that Zhu Yan and Li Lun believe in.

A weapon is only causes harm in one's hands if you make command it to. Do you protect or do you do harm with it? I find it so telling and intriguing that Zhu Yan and Li Lun run off in either directions with the purposes of a weapon. Zhuyan has always been fascinated by the human world versus Lilun having apathetic views of the human world, and they reflect this in how they use their weapons.

Zhu Yan uses his umbrella to always shield his team, protect and deflect harm, while the harm he inflicts on others comes from his innate spiritual energy (one word spells). He protects this simple umbrella and preserves its goodness, indirectly making sure to not sully the goodness of humanity. Instead, he chooses to use himself as the offensive weapon. On the other hand, Li Lun turns his rattle into an offensive weapon, changing its tip into a dagger. Before it is destroyed, all his attacks are summoned from strikes against the rattle. He doesn’t care, and humanity is trash, therefore he treats this object of innocence with irreverence and violence.

Though, there still is Li Lun’s favourite question: Is it better to be a demon or human? He chooses human. Which at the very least, is interesting.

Who You Wish To Be

The thematic concern of LiYan's relationship is very much defined by this question they often pose or have been asked by others: Is being a human or a demon better?

On an even deeper level, the juxtaposition between Li Lun's use of the rattle and what he says, being a human is better, is even more encompassing of his character — driven, conflicted obsession. The same way he keeps trying to break Zhuo Yichen and Zhuyan, but manages to maintain somehow civil and emotional conversations with them, his treatment of his rattle but the fact he thinks being human is better, and his one-time statement “maybe the human world is interesting after all” are contradictory. He is never at peace with himself and cannot accept things the way they are. He is very much a child, misguided and believing that things are one-dimensional (all humans are bad, Zhuyan how could you hurt me for them) while things in reality are complex. Even his best intentions, from his line “I, Li Lun, will never run away from things (…)” is innocently one dimensional. He will never be the human he wants to be until he comes to terms with this. And most importantly, it's not even about being human. It's never about titles or names, it's about who he wants to be. Li Lun once again is fixated on surface levels that he doesn't grasp the depth of reality.

"Whether one is a human or demon, it's only a matter of titles. Just be whoever you want to be." - Zhu Yan, Ep 26.

Zhu Yan is the stellar opposite of Li Lun. He doesn’t sully Li Lun’s gift to him and uses it the way Lilun initially gave it to him for: to protect. And his answer to the Demon or Human question as written above is telling of his character, compared to Li Lun's set-in-stone answer. But despite everything, what makes everything so tragic is what started it in the first place: affection. One keeps that affection as a weapon to spread the same to others, while the other keeps and weaponises that affection to regain it all back.

Just like how he uses his rattle to relentlessly pursue revenge, Li Lun is so insistent on what should have been, that he doesn't see what can be, and it curses him. Zhu Yan sees the possibilities of everything, wants to protect the good, and it curses him. Perhaps its this inevitability of their separation and also the sliver of hope that they can reconcile, trapped in their shared respective curses, that troubles them deep down.

-

Their weapons symbolise both their ideologies, and serve as physical reminders of their intertwined past. Regardless of how they use their weapons, they use a reminder of the other as defense and offense against the world. A diverged path still has met once before. The sharpest blade is still one crafted from the torment of memory.

On Visual Story-Telling

The use of these unusual objects in c-drama land as weapons is such a stroke of genius on the production team and writers' part. It gives so much more flavour and uniqueness to these characters instead of the usual sword or spear. Such small, precise, details with large implications on characterisation.

[shell-senji]

Seriously, though, where is his route?

Just started playing Radiant Tale and why is it always the hot non-romanceable side characters that catch my eye 😭

[lostinadrama]

𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐦 (2024)

[offrozenmemoirs]

Discord shenanigans: the "house zarin seems to have a disturbing trend of using flayleaf to knock people out" edition

[sunny-artblogging]

toddler drawing practice ft @luwupercal‘s liyan

[zenkori]

Bonus sketch of a watermelon-loving Shi Liyan of Jenova!

(watermelon not included, while quantities last)

@suri-chi and I had the pleasure of Shi Liyan stopping by The Cozy Lil' Art Studio as our first guest to sketch on-stage as we test things out and iron out our process for future events, and what a fine first model she is!!

Not only was she a very kind and friendly model, but a very pleasant person to chat with overall as she shared her love of books and cute things and blueberries and watermelon.

Now, I usually don't draw full-body sketches, but my lines had a mind of their own tonight as she chatted away with Suri and I while maintaining her pose, and I'm blown away by the result; it was an absolute blast to draw her!

Thank you Shi Liyan for being our muse this evening!!

[sexysilverstrider]

LIYAN

[killer-dream]

fun fact: liyane is completely oblivious to the fact that three of his fucking friends want to date him. he just thinks ivory, europa, and uriel are just really nice to him bc they go through some tough shit together.

liyane also... doesn't really think of himself as deserving of love bc if he was, he wouldn't come up w/plans that get other wolves killed instead of his friends. he'd be a good person and come up with plans to get everyone back home safely.

[shvdwscng]

while  aurora's  talents  lied  in  her  social  skills,  her  commander's  lied  in  what  the  silent  ones,  but  ones  that  the  emissary  would  never  dare  to  underestimate.  it  had  become  a  habit  since  she  joined  the  inner  circle  to  reach  for  this  commander  whenever  she  needed  an  extra  pair  of  eyes  and  ears  searching.  if  something  needed  to  be  done  in  hush  manner,  it  was  entirely  something  yanyan  could  do  effortlessly.

"not  doomed,  my  dear  commander,  you  protect  us  while  i  go  schmooze  with  our  guests."  it  wasn't  a  jest,  the  commander  had  sharp  instincts  and  aurora  couldn't  think  anyone  better,  outside  of  their  high  lord  to  have  watching  their  back.  "you  ensure  they  are  up  to  no  funny  business  while  our  high  lord  is  hosting  them  so  generously."

"you  should  have  heard  the  complaint's  i've  dealt  with  it.  is  the  dusk  court,  what  do  they  expect?"  it  was  baffling  truly,  only  that  aurora  learned  to  ignore  those  complaints.  they  would  never  quite  appreciate  dusk's  unique  beauty.  "you  could  always  inquire  of  their  courts,  what  information  we  have  is  mostly  outdated  now.  it  doesn't  encompass  what  we  can  learn  from  our  guests  directly."

"interesting  as  you?  i'm  not  certain  that's  possible."  a  cheeky  smile  on  her  lips  before  she  continues,  "the  commander  of  the  day  court  seems  amiable,  the  most  inclined  to  speak  as  well  from  my  experience."  it  had  been  a  brief  conversation  between  them,  but  the  man  was  like  her,  charming  and  speaks  with  ease,  more  importantly,  well  mannered.  a  laugh  fell  from  the  younger  fae,  "dawn's  commanders  as  well."

YANYAN'S lips stretched into an amused smile, but the young emissary was not wrong - she had a natural charisma & drew the fae like moths to a flame, a gift Liu Yan had never received. She had had her own brand of charisma, but it was more on the quiet, introspective side & so only the select few fae who shared her character traits ( or the complete opposites ) sought her out to befriend her.

"A blessing for all of us, because if it was up to me to get the court connected, we'd all be doomed." she quietly laughed.

"Well, point me to the nearest commander & I shall... try to come up with something to say that doesn't revolve around the weather." Yaner snorted. She hated small talk, but she as more than aware one could not make any friends or allies without suffering through quite a few times of mind numbing, brain freezing & IQ dropping small talk.

"Have you met any interesting commanders? Apart from me, of course." she teased.

[hellcatinnc]

The Meeting Of Sexy Liyan - My Heart Dropped! (Radiant Tale)

Damn He Is Beautiful!

I just started Radiant Tale last night and already in love with the artwork and all. However even though I'm happy with the love choices I found myself drawn fast to Liyan. Like seriously this man is so into the MC and yes it says in his description he doesn't know how he really feels about her but come on isn't that a sign we need a route for him. I know there is a fan disk coming out only in japan this year and I can only hope if nothing else he is a love interest in it. However I'm just curious if I'm missing something. I don't need the whole game ruined but is he love interest EVER? I know the original game has been out awhile I just want to make sure they haven't dropped him or something. Like whats the point for Aksys to even write about him on their site as a character if we can't romance him.

I swear I have a thing for guys with purple hair it just shows but he is also super flirty and being some of my favorite characters are just that I feel like we need that. I mean we have your tsundere in the game I saw that a mile away then you have the other characters and none of them are flirty so its like where is my flirty guy?.... oh there he is.... unromanceable Liyan! Exasperating! What I don't get is I have seen pictures over the net when looking him up seem a bit romantic with the MC so I'm so confused. Guess it comes down I just want to know if he is ever or is a romance interest or is my heart forever going to be torn by this beautiful man.

Like how do I forget seeing this?