#almond rambles

[almonddirge]

Whenever Mu Qing swears in canon it’s always “What the fuck? What the actual fuck?” followed by Xie Lian saying he’s caught Feng Xin’s language.

There could be other reasons of course but I like to think now that Mu Qing spent so much time with Feng Xin while both of them were looking after Xie Lian that he actually started using Feng Xin’s phrasing. Like how in real life, if you hang around someone long enough you’ll steal each other’s language quirks and even be able to speak completely in sync.

I like to imagine them both rubbing off on each other. Feng Xin starts being seen rolling his eyes, followed by a horrified look as he Realizes. Feng Xin responding to Mu Qing’s goading with sarcasm and no swearing and Mu Qing has to take a moment.

“Finally stopped cussing up a storm at everything? How mature of you, Nan Yang.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Feng Xin retorts, face going red.

Neither of them talk about the fact they’ve picked up these habits from each other. They’re both aware, but don’t want to be the one to say it first. The one to admit how close they’ve become.

[walnutcookie]

Hi there!!! my name is almond/rodger. this is my silly multifandom side blog where i post art/reblog stuff/ramble about things i like :]

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[almonddirge]

You are the upright young master of a very conservative clan. Against their wishes, and your own, you have fallen for a rowdy boy your age who causes nothing but trouble. Regardless of your feelings on your own homosexuality, you seethe to yourself over why it had to be him in particular.

One day, he brings you rabbits to keep as pets. They start fucking in front of you. To your horror, that they are both male. Your name is Lan Wangji, and you might be beginning to think the gods are out to get you.

[almonddirge]

Jingrenheng is another one of those ships that I don’t feel particularly strongly about but like looking at through the perspective of other characters.

Imagine Jing Yuan’s like “meet my new partners” and the light dies from Yanqing’s eyes as he asks why Jing Yuan has forsaken him

[almonddirge]

Raaaahh the whole Sam/Firefly thing is making people so stupid!! “I thought Sam was badass until I found out he was a weak pathetic little anime girl!”

Y’all. Do you think him being Firefly just. Retconned everything he did that made you love him. Or is there another reason you hate Firefly.

[almonddirge]

I love how MXTX plays with perception vs reality of characters. Wei Wuxian is introduced on page not through narration but first through hearsay. People can’t even agree on what the truth is about him, and we don’t learn the full story until well into MDZS.

There are many examples across all three novels but I love how she wrote it for Mu Qing specifically.

Not only are there things like him canonically haunting the dreams of people who make ugly statues of him and him literally pretending to be his own subordinate to avoid facing Xie Lian as himself, but also the rumors. Much like Wei Wuxian, there’s a lot of murk around what he actually has or hasn’t done. Unlike Wei Wuxian, though, it’s never fully cleared up. (At least, to the best of my memory.)

We see that Hua Cheng resents Mu Qing for kicking him out of the army, but we never see why. Was it for Hua Cheng’s good? Was it resentment?

Did Mu Qing kill Jian Lan? He says he didn’t, but no everyone believes him. I don’t know. We aren’t meant to know everything about Mu Qing. It makes him all the more fascinating to me.

There are things that are cleared up about him, like him not being Cuocuo’s father and him no stealing the red pearl earring, but I find it more fascinating when we just don’t know.

[almonddirge]

Wait— while rereading TGCF novel 1 I came across something I didn’t remember. When Xie Lian is talking about why he didn’t recognize Mu Qing, he says he hasn’t seen Mu Qing for “five or six centuries”. I forget if this is referenced anywhere else in the series but Mu Qing visited Xie Lian for a time when he was living among mortals.

It’s also said Feng Xin spends a lot of time in the mortal world so he probably checked in too. Maybe he visited more recently and that’s why Xie Lian recognizes him immediately. Just something I thought was cool.

[almonddirge]

In TGCF book 1, on Mount Yujun, the bridal party is attacked. This is where Nan Feng and Fu Yao first see Ruoye. Xie Lian then commands them to get the soldiers away from the sedan so he can meet the “ghost groom” alone. Nan Feng hesitates. Fu Yao says he’ll be fine seeing as he has Ruoye and runs off. However, even as Xie Lian commands him to leave, Nan Feng struggles to do so.

Is anyone else feeling like this is very familiar? Well, it’s kinda how things happened 800 years ago. Mu Qing was quick to leave, but Feng Xin struggled to. I feel like I’m gonna see that a lot going forward. Mu Qing doesn’t have to be told twice to get out, usually not even once, while Feng Xin tries to stick it out. Feng Xin is very loyal, and I could see him thinking back to his abandonment of Xie Lian and the regrets he had every time he’s asked to go.

[almonddirge]

Luo Binghe is the protagonist of Proud Immortal Demon Way. Shen Qingqiu is the protagonist of Scum Villain. However, the one the books revolve around is kind of Shang Qinghua.

Shang Qinghua wrote a book he wasn’t entirely proud of to make ends meet. He changed from the path he really wanted to write for reader retention. He certainly has potential to be better, but he has bills to pay. There’s so much he wants to do but just can’t. Then, he dies and is sent to his own novel. A world based on his original ideas, not the ones he was forced to write.

It’s an authors dream, really. Watch the world you created be fleshed out before your very eyes. Talk to the characters you created. Watch the scenery you conjured yourself. This whole place is built on what you created, your own vision.

It’s very important that it’s also based on his original ideas, not what he actually wrote. Also important is that after a month of being repeatedly given the option to leave the world of Proud Immortal Demon Way, Shang Qinghua can’t bear to return home. He’s made a home in his own writing. He even decides at the end to be an author again in this world. It’s about the power and joy of creation, and doing what you truly want to without worrying too much about outside influence.

I also think it’s very important Peerless Cucumber of all readers was the one who was transmigrated. When we see him talk in the forums, he likes a lot of aspects like Luo Binghe and the monsters, and the fact he likes part of it is why he’s the biggest critic. It could be great, but isn’t.

What we see him criticize are the very things Airplane-bro himself didn’t like writing: the “low-IQ villains”. Airplane wanted to write complex villains, but his fans didn’t want to read that. Cucumber wanted to read complex villains, but that was what Airplane had to offer.

If the protagonist of Scum Villain were to be someone who blindly loved it thoroughly hated PIDW, I think it would be a significantly worse story. It’s because on some level Shen Qingqiu shared Shang Qinghua’s ideas of what Proud Immortal Demon Way should be that he’s the best reader that could possibly have transmigrated.

[almonddirge]

Actually I’ve been thinking about Beefleaf again and I feel like I have a somewhat different perspective to one I see a lot. Mostly I see people jokingly in denial of the Black Water arc and pretending they’re still besties in heaven.

I have a confession: I thought they were cute the whole time BUT the Black Water arc is what really made me fall in love with them.

When I was in middle school, I found out one of my friends was born in the same hospital as me a mere 59 minutes before me. I was flabbergasted. I thought it was the coolest coincidence in the world and it made me feel so much closer to her.

My point is: under better circumstances, Beefleaf could’ve been friends because of their birth. Can you imagine meeting someone born at the exact same time as you who has the same given name? I’d feel like it’s fate to run into them.

But, of course, that’s not how it went. Their fates were switched, and He Xuan lost everything. No matter how close they were, He Xuan couldn’t look at Shi Qingxuan and not see what he could’ve had. The very thing that could have brought them together tore them apart.

The tragedy of Beefleaf is what drew me to it. I would’ve shipped it either way but the gut punch is what made me love them. The Black Water arc was my favorite arc in all of TGCF. I personally wouldn’t pretend it never happened for the world.

[almonddirge]

Okay now that I’ve had a moment to think about it Bedtime Story plays off of something that’s been in the game since the beginning. Dain refers to there being the Five Sinners, one of them being one we met during the Caribert quest.

All the way since 1.0, Kaeya’s had a voiceline about Khaenri’ah saying, “The sinners are all that’s left, and they’re not worth mentioning.”

What do you mean. These are the same sinners, right? What about the immortals like Dain, or the hilichurls? Why don’t they count? Kaeya’s in his 20s, right? What exactly does he know about these legends from 500 years ago? Was he alive back then, just frozen like a reverse Inteyvat? What does he think of Albedo, his coworker who happens to be the offspring of a sinner?

Tell me more about Kaeya PLEASE HOYO. Just tell me how he was born if nothing else.

[almonddirge]

Xie Lian asking about Shi Qingxuan’s broken limbs and Shi Qingxuan is so quick to say it wasn’t He Xuan. After everything he still won’t let anyone think bad of his best friend. What if that was the last straw for me, huh???!!!??

[almonddirge]

Neuvillette’s thing with water is actually so validating. To this day I refuse to drink tap water unless it’s at a restaurant. It tastes so bad you don’t even know. Tap water using a filter is passable. Every water bottle company makes a different flavor too. I try to tell people this and they respond the way characters do to Neuvillette: “It’s all water, isn’t it?”

The difference between us is that I just cannot drink water without flavoring lmao.

[almonddirge]

Furina, being put on trial and her worst fears coming true. Her people suspect her of not truly being the Hydro Archon, which she knows will lead to the end of them all. She has to keep pretending she knows more and can do more than in truth. Yet, the worst possibility is coming to pass. She wasn’t a good enough actor and everyone will pay the price.

Neuvillette, putting Furina on trial despite not wanting to. He wants to trust her and believe that she really has a plan, but the Poisson incident took things too far. She has to answer for so much, no matter how much he doesn’t want to do this. He doesn’t know why she’s acting the way she is, and by the time he finds out, there’s nothing he can do.

[almonddirge]

I love how whenever you get an insight into Luo Binghe’s mind there’s no doubt he’s developing a massive crush on Shen Qingqiu while the latter sees being treated identically to the former’s love interests as like some sort of error with his transmigration

[almonddirge]

Shoutout to people who write Jian Lan into Fengqing fics in a way that is Normal. Yes Feng Xin was in love with her and his love had nothing to do with Mu Qing. Yes he wants to help her with Cuocuo but he can still move on and be with Mu Qing