#Theme: Misunderstanding

[astrologysaysno]

[Hi, Hello, like 8 people wanted more of what I wrote about Strange Omega Qinghua so I guess I'm delivering on that]

[The Prequel]

To Shang Qinghua, scenting is a useless phenomena.

He understands it theoretically. It's the process in which an item is marked with the pheromones of an individual to indicate an underlying social context.

The problem is, he has no idea what it's actually like.

Despite his omega status for his secondary gender, he has never actually participated in the process. Being scent blind, the smell of pheromones is something he is unaffected by, and as something that's so key in the use of social interactions, it forces Shang Qinghua to really be able to understand other cues to give a tell on how things work.

For the major characters, he doesn't need a tell. He has wrote them down with painstaking detail, dedicating chapters and paragraphs and enough words that it would make a novel feel like a drabble in comparison. He can see the twitch in Liu Qingge's hand whenever he wants to hunt, the movement Shen Jiu's fan does when he's pissed, and the way Yue Qingyuan's smile becomes a little more lifeless whenever the Qing Jing Peak Lord passes him silently.

For the characters he didn't write, he sometimes fumble. He can't smell them sometimes when they hide their anger but after years of practice, he can tell when they're mad.

It was what made him advantageous when it came to deals. Though he could never tell when a merchant was happy with the deal or not, he would be unable to be intimidated by scent. The scent of particularly aggressive suppliers who uses their scent to pressure their business partners into agreeing to a more lucrative agreement find trouble with Shang Qinghua, he simply sits casually, as if the room that is heavily intoxicated with the scent of danger was only a figment of your imagination.

But scenting itself is an instinct, an instinct that Qinghua does not have. Sure, he can emit pheromones, but it's a rocky attempt at best, and uncontrollable at worst, with the scent of these pheromones coming out at random with no clear way to start or stop. Scenting is an intentional process that relies on a person's innate ability to imbue an object with the smell of them.

It's not like he can smell it anyway.

It's why, despite his Omega status, he has never shared his scent with other omegas. it would be impossible to properly practice normal omegaverse customs without the capabilities to do so.

In my idea of the Omegaverse, people give and mark their scents to each other regularly to indicate their belonging to a pack, whether it be something such as a family, or an organization like Cang Qiong. Many have tried to gift Shang Qinghua these in the form of pillowcases, robes, or accessories.

But ignorant to his own place in the world and the way people feel about him, he takes this as his role on An Ding to be inadvertently assigned as an outer disciple in charge of the laundry; and being charged with the task of becoming the Peak Lord of An Ding by the system, he swallow his pride to take it in stride, washing vigorously and returning them back to the person in pristine and sterile condition.

This has caused strain and even a punch to the face for Qinghua, with him wrongly assuming it was simply his destiny to be mistreated. Of course he's treated like dirt, ut's probably why he became a traitor in the first place. Time passes, and he slowly gets less and less of these gifts and continues his unprecedented distance to the people of his peak.

Maybe it was why it was so easy for the people in the caravan to throw him to the man who would one day be his demise, a sacrifice for a world that values the people of their pack so highly, that seems to place such a significant weight over protecting their own.

(He hears the whispers that pity him, that suspect him, that makes guesses on why he survived, all of which center around his distance. That the demon had came for Cang Qiong specifically and his detachment gave him an out to lie about his allegiance and pass himself off as a bystander who was just unfortunate enough to be there. He seems pitiful enough, why not let him live.)

Maybe it's also why Mobei-jun has such a hard time trusting him for so long. You would assume from a man that said he would dedicate his entire life to you, that he would give everything to be your servant, he would be unashamed in being part of your pack. That he would show a visible attempt at indicating that. Pride for your pack is important in such a territorial world.

He's grated that his subordinate seemingly refuses to show his loyalty by keeping his scent, that whatever he has marked will be scrubbed into sterility.

(Shang Qinghua was once asked by his fellow disciple what that scent was, and it clicked pretty fast that Mobei-jun was marking his things. He stays up late and scrubs and replaces everything regularly, praying that the system gives him a hand if it wants the plot to stay on course.)

[toskarin]

the thing about real robot stories that come off as being about hope against all odds is that, in the context of real robot as military fiction, as is true of most military fiction, that often means you're picking up undertones of Something Else

[steddieunderdogfics]

these unspoken things by runraerun

@runraerun

Rating: General Audiences

8,570 words, 3/3 chapters

Archive Warning:

Tags: Amnesia, Amnesiac Steve Harrington, Concussed Steve Harrington, Brain Damage, Steve Harrington Whump, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Misunderstandings, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Eddie Munson Lives, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Future Fic, steve harrington pov, Steve Harrington-centric, Memory Loss, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Jim "Chief" Hopper, Protective Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington Has Head Trauma, Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart, Gay Eddie Munson, POV Eddie Munson, Everybody Lives, Platonic Soulmates Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Love Confessions, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Whump, First Kiss, Human Diaster Eddie Munson, now with art!

Summary:

Steve wakes up in the hospital with a headache, a haircut, and a boyfriend. He doesn’t remember how he got any of them. Or, the tried and true amnesia trope—but make it Steddie.

Thanks for the rec!

This rec is a part of Theme Weekend. The theme this weekend is Love Confessions.

Know a fic that deserves extra love? Submit through our asks or the submission box!

[javussyannihilator]

anyway. javert is a good person with pretty average morals for his time period, who tried his best and worked his ass off despite the odds stacked against him from literal birth, all while never receiving a shred of affection or compassion and struggling to be the one halfway decent person surrounded by the flip and corrupt. and he cared so little for his own life that his idea of punishing himself for his mistakes was to end it, in a death so tragic hugo took it from his own daughter’s demise. there is nothing evil or amoral about javert; he’s honestly just a guy doing his best in a system designed to make everyone fail, and he doesn’t even realize it until it’s far too late.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Ohhhhhh!!

The Shannon saying to Eddie at the lake she thought he was someone else and Buck confusing who he has feelings for and ending up dating Tommy parallel!!!

[dentpx]

My one thing with Ena is I am PETRIFIED it will be killed by the same thing that has killed every indie internet thing that has gotten popular, which is a fandom’s desire for “lore” cannibalizing the media as people obsessively strip it of all meaning by trying to connect all the dots.

Ena presents this amazing insane world that doesn’t make sense at all but you get a sense of the internal logic that somehow governs it. It’s a very very tricky line Joel G walks and I’m amazed he’s able to do it. Dream BBQ, because it’s a game, lets you tug at the thread a little bit but doesn’t let you unravel the mystery, which is neat. Praying they continue to maintain that balance.

[anartificialsatellite]

Twice now over the last ~year where completely inconsequential posts where people miss the point of Labyrinth entirely have gotten me worked up enough that I remember what it's like to be worked up about something that's not serious and not terrifying and I gotta tell ya, it's invigorating.

Why is it always Labyrinth tho

[starflungwaddledee]

Hey, Star! I have a submission for the Starstruck Starganza! What would you do if you saw Whitolor?

Personally, I think it'd be funny if Starstruck could playfully tease him, & Whitolor would act like he doesn't like it, but actually does lel.

(BTW, Hope you're having a great day!^^💚)

he doesn't even like sweets that much anyway... she can have it, this is fine....... 💦

[faux-stars]

Hi I was gonna comment on your fic but got shy and came back here but i'm just curious; how are you gonna account for the reveal that JW is BWX without the whole Tonglu arc? ARE you gonna rewrite the Tonglu arc? Pls don't take this as a criticism im just super curious bc the fic says 23/30 so idk how it'd be possible haha

omg no this is fine, you're totally fine <3 The short answer is... I'm not! I'm not gonna try and rewrite the baddie reveal.

The long answer is: MXTX gave so much attention on the build up, investigation, and grand reveal of Who did What that I don't feel a need to focus on that at all. This isn't a rewrite! It's a theme study.

Fic here for anyone curious: HERE'S THE FIC <3

More explanation below! (TW talk of religious trauma)

What I AM interested in exploring is all the questions that are a lot harder for Xie Lian to find an answer for because they're answers that he needs to find by processing the pain and isolation and loneliness (and repressed homosexuality) he's ignored and shrugged off his entire life.

I think I laid the biggest question out in Arc 2: "What am I being punished for?" (or something like that, i don't remember the exact wording.)

I made a lot of connections with religious trauma reading this series, and I wanted to explore that. The idea that guilt is forcefed to us by people we looked up to -- preachers, teachers, parents, mentors. The idea that at any moment, our humanity can be stripped from us for any reason those elders see fit -- our identity, our mistakes, our desires, our circumstances, or simply just /because./ Religious institutions ingrain that guilt into us as we grow so that when we're grown, they don't have to do the work anymore. We punish ourselves and give in to God's will all because we believe we deserve it, whether it's because we've sinned or because we are just inherently sinful. I see a lot of that in XL and JW's relationship, even though it's probably not the intention.

Xie Lian's life spirals out of control after he has sex with Hua Cheng for the same reason he's lived a lonely life of poverty and misfortune: because, whether he admits it or not, he feels like he deserves the punishment. And the moment he begins to question that idea, the moment he starts disagreeing with that, the forces that want him to believe it start to fight back.

This fic focuses on Xie Lian realizing that he doesn't deserve to suffer, that he deserves joy, and that his guilt was forced upon him (no matter how much he denies that). I wanted to focus on the catharsis of him seeking out justice for himself, finding peace with his pleasure, and learning to allow himself to live despite the fact that he is flawed.

That's something that obviously becomes true in the novels, but I wanted to play in that space more than MXTX did.

I really hope the conclusion of this fic is fun, thrilling, and satisfying nonetheless!

[steddieunderdogfics]

no one can tell us we're wrong by sincere_lies

@kiiika

Rating: Explicit

11,419 words, 1/1 chapters

Archive Warning: No Warnings

Tags: Past Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Misunderstandings, Eddie Munson Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington Has a Crush on Eddie Munson, Idiots in Love, stoncy is past but also a little present, Shotgunning, Blow Jobs, Anal Fingering, Everybody Lives, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Gay Eddie Munson

Summary:

“Do you like guys Jonathan?” Steve asks in almost contemplative way, but Eddie feels his heart stop for a moment as he physically takes a step back to not be in danger of being seen. “Never really thought about it too much. Why?” “I think I do, like guys I mean. Don’t get me wrong, girls are great; boobies right? But sometimes I will look at someone and go...huh, guys.” Steve finishes his revelation and finally brings the blunt to his lips, Eddie feels like he is drowning. “Hmm. Hit.” Is all that Jonathan answers before turning his face to look back at Steve. Eddie continues to stare as Steve goes ahead and brings his hand to hold the back of Jonathan's neck and breath the smoke inside the waiting open mouth. They look at each other for a moment when it is done and Eddie feels like he shouldn’t be surprised by what follows, not really, but he is. Steve Harrington and Jonathan Byers are kissing. Eddie, as loath as he is to admit it, always seems to fall for the straightest guys possible. So it isn’t a surprise really, when he finds himself in deep for Steve. The surprise is that, apparently, Harrington isn’t as straight as he seems.

Thanks for the rec!

This rec is a part of Theme Weekend. The theme this weekend is Love Confessions.

Know a fic that deserves extra love? Submit through our asks or the submission box!

[niaerinisms]

People mad that Nia’s ‘evil version’ was just her being mildly snarky and angry did not grow up in religious households

[xaeyrnofnbe]

i rarely ship them myself but i always am super amused by the concept of ships that are like. adjacent to the popular one. like when there's a really obvious choice of who a character should/could be with, but nope! they should date the person standing next to the obvious choice. like that's so fucking funny to me.

i could probably think of other examples of this but this is specifically about sastiel bc i see the pairing around sometimes. i don't even ship it i just think it's really hilarious to think about castiel having this incredible profound bond with dean winchester that changes him as a person time and time again. but is he dating him? nope. dean's brother who he talks to sometimes

[oldwitchsleep]

happy iwtv on netflix day to all those who celebrate newbies you better not ruin this for us

[jayvik-ao3]

Mother Tongue

by nightlilly

Rated T, 5.2k words, complete

Tags: Explicit Language, Suggestive Themes, Getting Together, Misunderstandings, First Kiss

Summary:

Viktor knows how to speak Zaunite. Jayce also knows how to speak Zaunite. Viktor does not know that Jayce knows how to speak Zaunite.

[leviiackrman]

I don’t wanna be that person starting drama.. but if you start sharing posts of ocs that are scarily close to mine, I will block you.

[aftgficrec]

keeping my fingers crossed (maybe you'll take the long way home) by Talls

https://archiveofourown.org/works/47776711

this was written so well with such a crack-y premise. i adore the writing and interpretation.

also Kevin is a talking donkey

Who could resist Kevin the talking donkey?

The fandom clearly agrees with you, we’ve had a submission for this previously (find it here). - S

keeping my fingers crossed (maybe you’ll take the long way home) by Talls [Rated T, 22089 words, complete, 2023]

In which Andrew is very concerned about his swamp, Neil is a prince with a secret, and Kevin is a talking donkey

or

In which two lonely souls realize that they are not quite as monstrous as they previously believed, and Kevin is a talking donkey

tw: violence, tw: blood