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animentality · 9 months ago

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Now I need to know what you think is missing from Wyll, Karlach, and Gale’s character arcs. For Wyll and Karlach, the emotional character moments to not feel as important as they should be. Karlach’s goal of killing Gortash doesn’t doesn’t relate to her current issue with Zariel and Wyll kind of has a flat character arc from hero for Baldur’s gate to hero for the sword coast and then hero for Avernus or back to Baldur’s gate. Gale’s is a bit harder for me to point out the major issue but I think it’s that the consequences of his choices happen off screen after all the conflict.

Thanks for answering so many of my asks!

Yeah no worries, I enjoy thinking about Baldur's Gate, the same way a mental patient dreams of violent neurosis.

Anyway, here's my suggestion.

As it is, right now, it does NOT make sense for Zariel to want Karlach? She literally has armies of pit fiends and orthons for the Blood War. The fuck does she need some random tiefling for? And one who needs an Infernal Engine for a heart just to...barely keep up with real devils?

Why even use an Infernal Engine like that, anyway? You telling me you couldn't use that shit for something way more useful than making some random girl able to fight the devils that you already have at your disposal?

What makes wayyyyy more sense is...let's give Karlach a disability. She has a heart murmur, or some kind of heart abnormality. Let's say that in that day and age, such a thing could kill her.

Now Gortash is a thief. Let's say he STOLE an Infernal Engine, and he's dying to test it out. See how it works. Let's say he wants to test it out on a live subject, because he's a tinkerer. He tells Karlach he can fix her heart. And she's desperate, because she think she might have a heart attack, and die. So she agrees.

But instead of fixing her heart, he replaces it with an Infernal Engine. And she's furious, because, they find out, it's unstable and it has to return to Avernus.

And Gortash, being the prick he is, just shrugs and condemns her to the hells, because he has what he wants. He now knows how the Infernal Engine works. He's "nice" enough to send Karlach to the hells, though. Let's say he might have soooome connect, who can at least direct Karlach to Zariel.

So Zariel, being a little more sympathetic than most, takes Karlach in. Gives her a home. Teaches her how to fight, and recruits her for her cause, mostly out of pity. But then Karlach gets tired of fighting in the Blood War. She betrays Zariel, by running away, and that's when she gets tadpoled.

And it'd be a slap in the face for Zariel, because she took that girl in, when no one else would've! So she's hurt and betrayed, and that's why she's hunting Karlach. She hates traitors.

So that's re-framing Karlach! It makes more sense to me this way, because as it is, Zariel has no reason to want Karlach, OR to hunt for her. And also, Gortash's relationship with Karlach is still preserved, just shifted, to make more sense.

And her ending arc could be...force Gortash to fix her heart, after he's learned enough about Infernal Engines to now know how to do that. And confront Zariel.

Let's say Mizora too, or at least Mizora.

You could have a great boss fight somewhere interesting, maybe go to the hells...whatever.

And her entire character arc could go from "sad golden retriever who gets kicked and then DIES" to:

"I was betrayed by someone I used to care about, who used me for his own benefits. I am 'stronger' now than I was before, but at a cost. I was taken in by someone kind...and then I betrayed them. And now, I'm on the run because of that decision...but I did get dealt a pretty shit hand in life. I must now confront the man who hurt me, and apologize to the woman I then hurt as a result of my past trauma."

At the very least, we could see her evolving. She seems innocent and sweet at first...and then you find out, she did some horrible things during the Blood War. She has PTSD. She's grizzled and disillusioned. And maybe she has a hard time trusting people, after being betrayed AND betraying someone who was kind to her. But with the help of Tav/Durge, she learns to stop running from her trauma. To face her old demons head on. Maybe she even drops her "cheerful" act and becomes colder. But in the end, when she's either killed Gortash and had Zariel fix her engine, OR had Gortash fix her engine, and then confronted Zariel, she could return to her happier self, just more honest this time about how she really feels.

Also, she wouldn't have to fucking die.

She'd have a proper working heart, and can live her life.

Now as for Wyll...

Sighing, because his arc is botched.

In the EA, I know he was originally more sleazy?

He like...was called the "fraud" of the Sword Coast. He was meant to be a more morally gray guy, who seems like a hero, but who actually made a deal with a devil for his powers. I didn't play EA, but from what I understand, you could confront him more for being fake?

I would like it if they'd kept this complexity. Have Wyll be putting on "airs" but also be more willing to hurt innocents in the guise of being a hero?

Have him be a little amoral.

But Tav/Durge can either push him to greater immorality...or end up making him a proper hero in the end. Someone his father could be proud of...or maybe. Confront the damage his father did to him, growing up, maybe trying to make him something he was not.

And basically, becoming a hero, but on his own terms, and rejecting his father's idea of what a hero is.

That could be an interesting thing to do with him. Have Mizora be that evil devil on his shoulder...and Karlach be the good angel, because she would basically be like, well...I don't want Mizora to come after me on behalf of Zariel, so...come on, bud.

As for Gale...

Well.

I don't know.

I haven't played through Gale's arc as much, but from what I understand, his biggest issue is that he doesn't get much of a quest in the end. Just the Sorcerous Sundries stuff, which is whatever. You get to decide if he picks the bad Gale ending, where his ambition destroys him, and he becomes just another asshole god, or if he chooses happiness, and becomes a teacher.

Just give him an actual ending quest. Let him fight either a representation of Mystra or Elminster!

Let him reject both of them.

I honestly hesitate to suggest ways to fix Gale, only because I don't know enough about him. To me, a character choosing happiness over ambition is a pretty solid arc.

I just think the execution at the END could've been better.

Also, not just exclusive to Gale...

one of the biggest issues with BG3 is the fact that they chose to split their time doing the dumb, play as an origin thing, rather than prioritizing letting the whole cast intermingle. They could've developed more chances for Tavs/ Durges to influence the party, together and individually, have their decisions matter throughout the entire story.

Instead, they gave us the backstories, and then we just decide literally in Act 3, are they gonna be good or evil.

You only get to see character development if you are ROMANCING them, which is just, terrible, because it limits you to only seeing one character truly develop. Also, even if you are romancing someone, then it's still not really showing you that development.

Like, for Astarion, right, let's say you're trying to convince him not to be Cazador 2.0...you just choose that.

Let him Ascend, or don't.

But your relationship with him doesn't have THAT much of an effect on him?

It would've been far more interesting if your actions in Act 1 and 2 decide what happens there, and there is NO going back by that point. Oh, you forced him to drink from Araj?

He's going to become Ascended, and you can't stop him.

Oh, you chose to encourage Gale's ambition in Act 1? He's becoming a god, good job.

Your Durge was nasty to everyone, and killed so many innocent people in Act 2?

Everyone should fucking leave your ass then. ESPECIALLY if you become the chosen of Bhaal.

That's my issue with the general character development of Baldur's Gate. It's left entirely to, pick dialogue option 1 or 2.

There's not an actual reason to get a character's approval up unless you want to have a sex scene with them.

There's only ONE thing that'll make characters leave, otherwise, they just smile on and don't care that you just killed Isobel for no reason.

And going back to the romance being used as the linchpin for character development...sure, Astarion must learn to trust you and be honest and stop trying to manipulate you. But you don't actually get to reprimand him for that sort of behavior. To challenge him. To force him to see how he's hurting himself, and others?

Like Astarion is a big asshole!! He's a racist, he's mean to kids, he approves of you being horrible.

But then at the end...he just...is good now?

Because you chose to be good, and he's just going along with you...but that's lazy writing.

You had to SHOW us. You had to make us REALIZE he's getting softer. And not just to you, but to everyone.

It makes no sense to me in the epilogue how Astarion just, is a hero now, for no reason. If you don't romance him, I mean, it defaults him to "hero."

And I just don't get that.

So anyway.

Too long of a post, but....

that's my big issue.

Karlach, Wyll, they get no character arcs, and have no depth. Their endings are unsatisfying and uninteresting.

And...BG3 needed to actually show the characters evolving. But they didn't have time to do that, because they chose instead to just, reveal the trauma of their backstory from Act 1...forget the characters have backstories in Act 2...and then decide if they want to be good or evil in Act 3.

And that's...really...boring. And they feel like cardboard cut outs by that point, and not people.

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3

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can-of-w0rmz · 9 months ago

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Yeah, like, I personally enjoy Dorian Gray as an interesting novel that explores some interesting themes (so I think I keep more of a distance to it than a lot of people who are much more personal about it), but there is no denying that Wilde put a lot of himself in it and while depiction is not always endorsement, there are cases where something questionable at best is definitely framed in a way where it definitely feels like we're not supposed to find it skeevy - the way Sybil, a teenage girl, keeps getting described as simultaneously childlike and attractive is one of the biggest red flags for sure.

And like, honestly, while interesting as a character, this is why I can't be as totally sympathetic to Basil as everyone else is when he spends something like twenty years pining over a guy who already looked and acted like a child when they met and still looks childlike when Basil is in his forties, and that's the character that Wilde said represents how he sees himself.

ASTRONOMICALLY real, and also I 100% get the “depiction is not always endorsement” thing I am 110% an advocate of that I’m extremely passionate about that, but when those fucked up elements are literally embedded in the portrayal and structure of the narrative itself and they’re NEVER explored or delved into as to WHY they’re fucked up (not saying every story has to have some bullshit self-righteous moral lesson or some shit, but if you’re portraying a complicated subject like that, if you find it wrong you have to explain WHY, even through subtext) you know that the guy didn’t really care to properly interrogate what he was writing about, because again. He was a nonce. Anyway you’re so completely correct.

Basically you can portray morally fucked up characters till kingdom come that shits great, but if you’re portraying a character who’s extremely morally fucked up aspects are meant to be relatable and romanticised and sympathetic, that tells you something about the author. If you’re a nonce you’ll have a grand old time with the book. If you’re not, take that shit with the biggest bucketful of salt imaginable.

#asks #oscar wilde #gothic lit #classic literature #gothic literature #classic lit #the picture of dorian gray #the importance of being earnest

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juniperhillpatient · 7 months ago

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Yeah it pisses me off just how people even talk about Ashley, like it’s her fault for even existing, like it’s a crime that she needs someone to take care of her or love her, they honestly sound like an in world npc instead of an audience member who can see the characters fully. Most of these people also talk about it like they’re making some well rounded analysis but it’s just a shallow shit take that miss characterizes everything, even the obvious details they get right they interpret the wrong way, I guess that’s the price to pay for complex characters who have a range of feelings and expressions

Exactly!!!

I think it’s interesting the way even people who are more sympathetic to Ashley still default to seeing her the way the characters within the story view her - as a burden for ever committing the crime of being born. That’s what it comes down to & that’s exactly part of the horror of the game. Of course it’s fantasy & there’s demons & it gets crazy but ultimately - the Graves family feel real because they’re relatable in the darkest ways & THATS good horror. Who hasn’t felt like maybe their parents resent them for being born? Who hasn’t felt like they’re becoming the worst parts of their parents? It’s a horribly sad story about unbreakable cycles of abuse & you just simply cannot analyze it without getting that. (Disclaimer: I have a wonderful family myself but I find stories of messed up families relatable in a human way & just fascinating to delve into).

I’m forever fascinated by characters who never had any chance but to be exactly what they are - who might just be impossible to save because of their actions but they never had any chance to make different choices.

Ashley might not be a good person but what chance did she have to be one? Her mother resented her the moment she realized not all kids are quiet & do as they’re told all the time like Andrew & her brother tried his best but of course he resented her - he was told to always give her whatever she wanted & basically live to raise her because her parents didn’t want to.

I actually liked the essay I was referencing overall & I will share it now (just not from the OP who shared it on Tumblr where I found it lol)

Here it is X. I do like the part especially about how Ashley loves Andrew like a brother, like a friend, & like a parent. That really sums it up, doesn’t it? He is everything to her because she never had anyone else.

Ashley Graves is such a complicated & sad character. She’s so tragic, doomed from the moment she’s born. I can’t for the life of me relate to people who talk about her like she’s a monster, missing the point entirely & like you said talking just like the characters within the game!

Anyway thanks for the ask 🖤

#anon #ashley graves #tcoaal #tcoaal meta #Ashley graves meta

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isa-ghost · 2 years ago

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hey it's the anon who asked what dr*m did,

I decided to do my own research (mainly cause I was curious) but... I can't find much? let me rephrase it - I did find the allegations from 6ish months ago, that he's going to court with one(?) of them, but that's... all? I didn't find the court's verdict, confirmations, or him admitting either... and any post or video I find has both the OP and the comments mostly on his side and believing that it's either not true or true but not grooming, even people who say they're not his fans or don't even like him.

so Im not sure if the confirmation didn't reach youtube or if I'm searching wrong or something?

but honestly while researching I realized that I cant stand him lmao, gotta agree with some comments I read - he made a mistake by showing more of his personality online, looks like any time he can handle a situation wrong/respond wrong he does it

so dunno, guess I didnt find the confirmation but at least now I don't find his old minecraft videos interesting anymore so theres that

Yeah he can't act properly to save his fucking life

Also I think most of the threads on Twitter and stuff that have all the proof he's guilty/etc is probably long buried, unfortunately. You could probably try to ask around saying you're trying to get the whole picture but tbh it's not a huge deal if you can't. You can try searching my blog but Tumblr sucks with that shit. The fact that this and his other controversies have been buried and lost to the void of the internet is typical white boy with a monstrously big platform shit so I'm not surprised. I never heard any details about court (prob for legal reasons) or a conviction either. All I know is there was screenshot proof from the victim that they talked, and Dr*m confirmed the screenshots were real but didn't say anything about other details. But those details literally can't be false if the screenshots & the shit said in them are true.

Anyway, as far as his other bullshit goes:

People found old kkk meme edits on his yt account through the wayback machine. More than once if I'm not mistaken

He has a history of defending himself using the r slur

He cheated "on accident" in a speedrun (the least important thing ever but everyone always brings it up)

He claimed he was going to donate all proceeds during pride month to lgbt+ charities & he'd do charity streams all month but never did

He defended himself about replying to haters, which would send thousands of his toxic stans after the person getting them doxxed/death threats/etc and he refused to address that it was irresponsible of him bc he was too entitled to immaturely clap back at the antis. Even other ccs, like B/itzel called him out about shit related to how he uses his platform irresponsibly & he unfollowed & shaded them like a bitch baby

The whole "accidental" copycat shit with QSMP/USMP and basically softcore stalking Q/uackity online.

His "apologies" for all of the above fucking sucked in multiple ways. And that's just 2021-Now shit I can remember off the top of my head, I lost my Twitter in May last year so now I get my info from people's posts about it on here or links to tweets.

Everyone largely suspects he spontaneously reignited d/smp lore & started the finale to cover up the groomer thing bc he has a history of doing smth "new and cool" every time he causes drama to divert attention and avoid accountability.

He's also suspected of suddenly rewriting the d/smp finale to paint his Irredeemable Abuser Villain Up Until The Last Stream as a sympathetic poor baby out of nowhere and wrote that his victim, c!Tommy apologized to him, which sends a HORRIBLE message about abusive relationships. T/ommy and T/ubbo have both subtly mentioned not liking the finale and that Dr*m had AWFUL communication during the last like 6+ months of the smp.

He also suddenly showed up in T/ubbo's chat lurking while T/ubbo happened to be mentioning he'd do his own research on the grooming situation instead of blindly siding with Dr*m and it was some shit out of a horror movie is2g, he suddenly dmed T/ubbo out of nowhere during it on discord saying they'd talk about it after T/ubbo wasn't streaming. Basically sounds like he was gonna bias T/ubbo about his innocence. Like he hadn't been in chat all stream long but SUDDENLY he was there the second the topic came up. But the d/smp ccs also can't say anything about the situation since it's a legal matter, so a handful of ccs have just stated/implied they don't support him other ways

He only quit MCC bc he threw a tantrum about how he couldn't practice for it but now that MCC island exists, people were getting better than him. He's habitually a sore loser about that kinda shit

He's got that whole weird "is he, isn't he" bullshit going on about him being lgbt. I personally think he's just catering to his stupid d/n/f shippers bc they like to truth their relationship & sexuality all the time and he's never explicitly said he's bi or smth. He's just vaguely been like "yeeeaahhhh I mostly like girls like 99% but maaaayyybeee I like guys idkkkk. 🤪" But he's also done that multiple times so who tf knows. I'm not gonna fully dismiss him & I understand no one including me is entitled to his specific sexuality, but he has garbage credibility on like everything so I'm neutral on the matter and find it hard to believe him

Not directly him related, but his stans went on a long and horrifying witch hunt on Twitter during the kkk ordeal doxxing, death threatening & harassing ENTIRE mcyt subtwts who spoke out against him and called him out on his racism, performative activism, shitty apology, etc. For example, I was part of S/neeg's subtwt and all my mutuals and me had to go private to avoid getting doxxed. It felt like being raided in some dystopian ass horror film. Entire subtwts were going private, panicking, paranoid they'd get outed & stalked & harassed by people just for condemning racism, raising Black voices, etc. It was borderline traumatic to some people, I know people who lost sleep over it bc they were so afraid.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head but the end of 2021 to early 2022 was a fucking nightmare between him being an immature entitled piece of shit and his stans blindly defending him and going out of their way to endanger people who rightfully opposed him.

#dream situation #<- this tag on Tumblr might be really helpful to you actually. a lot of ppl tag posts about current drm drama with it #if you go back far enough you might find threads about the allegations and stuff

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ebbarights · 2 years ago

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alright so people won't be annoyed at me liveblogging a three day old episode with thoughts they have already seen a million times i will compile all my thoughts into one post so you can just skip this

SHIV PREGANTE??? i was 80 percent sure this was happening but i'm still fucking surprised just like with logan's death

the intro sounds soo fucky. like i thought there was something wrong with my speakers but this happening right after logan's death I LOVE IT

hiam abbass in intro we love to see it

i feel like i do have to add (since no one will read this anyway) that the reason it has taken this long for me to watch it is that i really really think watching succession is bad for me. like it kind of counts as self-harming behaviour i think. but yesterday i went on a long walk that really helped and now i feel more equipped for the episode. let's see if it undoes all the progress!!

MARCIAAAAAAAAAA MY LONGEST YEAH BOI EVER

this really is the season of hugs

'i'm sure it'll crush me eventually' 'pre-grieved' relatable repression king

my one wish for when the show is over is that someone makes a greg-less cut. just remove all of the scenes where greg's there

first sympathetic karl moment

the HEAVY swedish accent oskar has i love it

willa absolutely slaying that dress and marcia. queen on queen violence

krank real

'i have been worried that this was gonna happen for ages' real. whenever anything bad happens i have already anticipated it and so my emotions never feel real in the moment? like i've practiced them already so often that it's hard to feel something u know

kind of weird to say and probably gonna bite me in the ass later but it really seems like kendall is the most well-adjusted of all of them

'he's a bit racist' interesting use of present tense there roman. sure you've pre-grieved enough

kendall's second name is logan officially confirmed huh

frank openly laughing at greg i loooove it roman fully saying he hates him i am so here for this

is it real motif showing up yet again

i actually can't bear this frank kendall dialogue

did frank say 'he left you' or did he say 'he loved you'

roman just immediately leaving when tom shows up. same

i never would've guessed that shiv would blame herself. honey being on the plane didn't kill him. but it makes so much sense that she feels left behind and alone

i still want to know about how shiv and tom met and what that difficult time was

like i fully believe tom loves shiv and that he means what he says when he tries to comfort her. but with the background of his one ally being dead there's just no way that shiv can believe a word he says, and it's gotta be at least one motivating factor for him

DOG WITHOUT IT'S PERSON roman take a look at that mirror and see what you might find in there

clogged toilet -> bodily fluids motif really all the motifs making a comeback this episode

why is shiv like half a head taller than roman her heels aren't that high

STEWYYYYYYYYYYY

KERRYYYYYYYYYYYY

greg stop talking about being distasteful you fully asked for a job while logan was in a coma

i love roman being nice to kerry maybe i'm naive but i can't see an ulterior motive for that? unless he wants to be like logan oh my god please don't please no

romtom real (also i just accidentally typed rimtom. accidentally? guess we'll never know)

stewy lore his dad is 95 and is 'normal' enough to just randomly sue his neighbour

KENSTEWY REAL

haunted house motif real

i love willa's mom

roman's joking about growing old sharing a bed with his siblings like charlie and the chocolate factory but i'm serious i want that. in my life. both for them and for me and my friends

roman yet again being the only one who thinks about connor. at all

helping old ladies cross the street somebody kill me

roman admitting he betrayed them just so he can get a shot at ceo. well at least he told them himself?

here's the thing i kind of think kendall's right about shiv not really working but. god emotionally i will kill him for you shiv. cutting her out again?????

'i'm not trying to fuck anyone' ace king

shivshivshivshivshivshiv

GREG I LOATHE HIM

SHIVSHIVSHIVSHIVSHIV

connor's mom?????

jesus kendall. i knew he would do this but jesus.

once again the end titles music is so fucking amazing.

#succession s4 #this is THE episode for all the motifs and all the crackships

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wimples-sr · 1 month ago

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i dont remember if i made this post already but i guess it is interesting to think abt if i think arcades quest portrays arcades decisions too sympathetically. i think thats a fair critique given the seriousness of how explicitly fascist the enclave are but i guess i just never got the sense that the quest was shying away from rhat? all the dialogue from the enclave members and from arcade himself felt drawn from the base understanding that it was fucking insane that arcade wants to do this and that you should feel some type of way about him wanting to go marching out to the battlefield in his fascist fathers armor. his dialogue explicitly tying that ending to the games larger thesis of "people who try to recreate the past are doomed to failure and to ushering in the worst of humanity" + all of the remnants being very detailed in how tied in to their fascism they still are (everyone making realistic, flimsy excuses for their actions but repugnantly unflinching from what theyve done, contrasted with arcades naive apologism for them because thats his Auntie) convinced me that the writing wasnt trying to convince me that i should believe or forgive these people. the argument is that theres no reason to ever portray fascists in a sympathetic, humanizing light, but i think this isnt so much sympathetic as it is detailed and full bodied in the service of detailed critique and observation of how fascism could look in real people - a sort of practicing how to act and think with principle when not dealing with a caricature. though i doubt most artists would like their art being called practice for anything. i dont super love the tone of the independent ending where he goes out in his dads armor, i do think thats a step too far in sympathizing with arcade, but i did find the discussion of the enclave as a cultural heritage and how that relates to arcades sense of culturally based maturity fascinating. again i dont think the writing is EXTOLLING the circumstances of arcade receiving this insane enclave culture of militarism and weird adulthood granted via martial violence bc he was five when the enclave blew up and was isolated via everyone in the mojave wants the enclave dead so thats unfortunately just the culture he grew up in. like thats a crazy situation to imagine but yeah thats interesting. so whats this ultimately idealistic guy whos choice of lifes purpose was to join the fucking followers of the apocalypse telling himself to solve the cognitive dissonance of wanting to be the kinda guy who says fuck fascists go independence from the state, any state, while also knowing his adopted family who seem to have raised him compassionately and lovingly are really evil people who did really evil things. and thats where all of arcades dialogue makes sense to me bc it certainly doesnt align with any of his character i saw outside the quest. the arcade who was complaining abt caesar and fullstop leaves whenever u help the legion is NOT making excuses for legionnaires who "tried their best to subvert their orders when they could..." like he is for cannibal johnson. like yeahh the writing could have gone harder on castigating arcade for his choices but the writing style feels like it really did want that to speak for itself as much as possible, save with the arcade endings. WE as readers should probably be louder about how fucking insane it is that arcade is so willing to resuscitate the dregs of a fascist organization for his goals, as noble as he thinks those goals may be, but i think im mostly satisfied with how the writing itself handled things. i can see how the culture aspects come off weird if youre not taking it as the sociological understanding of culture being any set of social norms within a group of any size (e.g. Everything has culture, your fucking college dorm has A Culture, one specific street of a neighborhood can have A Culture)

I REACHED THW PARAGRAPH LIMIT????? anyway with that definition of culture in mind no we dont have to take the culture of your local panera as seriously as, for instance, the chicano culture movement in the 60s but thats mostly because racism is a thing. and also why terms like multiculturalism and the like are fading out of academic use and critiqued broadly because everyone has a fucking culture thats just our burden as a social species its just that some cultures are valued more than others because of racism. and other isms. and its more useful to point to specific isms than it is to celebrate a nebulous concept like multiculturalism thats more confortable to handle than the idea of specific racial ethnic pride for bipoc. so like. arcades weird embrace ur heritage thing is i think only sympathetic insofar as the fictional circumstances theyve shoved him in mean he just got dealt a bad hand in terms of cultural heritage and the quest is abt what the fuck hes gonna decide to do abt it. is he gonna be a shithead and wear the powerarmor or is he gonna do the brave scary normal thing and renounce ties to family and inheritance and do something new. the writing to me suggests they know arcades being a shithead when he chooses the former but they wanted to write it out to just examine him scuttling around

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echoesofadream · 2 months ago

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i finished the book! overall a good book, though kind of felt a lot like YA which i don't remember from the original trilogy, although i was a lot younger when i read them (i might reread them)

references to the trilogy I can't decide if I find it kinda cheap or like nicely tied together with the og books how interconnected this book is with the trilogy... a lot of it feels quite US-american, marvel kind of "callback currency" (there was a video about something like this but I don't remember what they referred it as, but basically like references to previous stuff, callbacks when the audience is expected to recognize something or someone). Kind of like Tigris though I loved her being Snow's cousin. Did we really need for all the songs Katniss sings and knows to be written by Snow's ex? Did the hunger games need to have been created partly by Snow's father? Did Snow really need a backstory to why he specifically hates mockingjays? Really? I wouldn't have minded if this was a story about some random people maybe further back in time, that had been the ones who made these songs, but now it feels kind of fake, forced, and I don't know about it.

snow I find it interesting how other people that the reader finds sympathetic (Sejanus and his mother, Tigris, Lucy Gray etc.) all confide in Snow and trust him, believing him to be a good person. When reading his thoughts and getting to see his true self, it made me wonder why they felt that way about him. I especially wonder why Lucy Gray trusted him so much. Yes he saved her life and showed her kindness, but he openly supports the capitol and is pretty much the same as everyone else except when it comes to concern about her only. He is clearly very manipulative and can make people like him. Casca sees through him and Doctor Gaul seems to be able to see him for his true colors as well. But he even dislikes many of his friends and none of them see it.

This isn't really a villain origin story. Snow grows up with the war (which was very interesting to read about) and decides power and control and oppression is the solution to peace and stability. I find he does become worse towards the end, reaching new levels of evil, but it's there from the beginning. He does have emotions, but there is a level of detachment throughout the whole book where he focuses on himself and his own comfort and opportunities more than anything else. But yeah he does get worse, like he is upset after killing the boy in the arena, but is practically completely unfazed after killing Mayfair. He even thinks to himself like "maybe it's easier the second time?" with that detached thinking of his.

He does feel a level of guilt after Sejanus is executed, but does not seem particularly sad or affected overall. It's "sweet" how he thinks that Strabo Plinth will come and save Sejanus as a result of his jabberjay but does he really actually believe that himself? It's also nice that he means to send Strabo a letter that Sejanus is in trouble, though he is too late. At the end though, he feels no remorse. his return to the Capitol shows that clearly. Basically being adopted by Sejanus' parents, replacing Sejanus as their son and taking over their money, is like, peak psychopath behavior. (is that offensive? does it help if i have psychopathic tendencies and low empathy sometimes myself and related to Snow on several accounts...but like don't cancel me or do i don't care. no one's going to read this anyway lol)

trust I really liked the scene in the forest by the lake with Lucy Gray and how quickly his love for her turns to distrust. I liked how that scene paints how quickly the world becomes the arena and their relationship into the games. One seed of distrust and suddenly he reevaluates her entire person and their relationship, and it doesn't take long after that for him to try to kill her. I like how this scene takes the reader on that journey of that shifting the view of her, making us distrust her (I mean arguably distrust isn't the right word since we are probably not sympathetic with Snow, and we are on her side, but we wonder if the things he's thinking could be true to some extent, at least about finding out the truth about him and turning against him) the book kind of comes to a head during this scene and and I think it is very well executed (and thankfully this cringeworthy romance pays off). At the end, he indeed kills the last of his humanity and goodness in him, his father's compass staying intact as his relic of his mother's powder is destroyed. Becoming Snow instead of Coriolanus. I suppose Snow was correct that Lucy Gray realized that he was the reason for Sejanus' death? She clearly did mean for that snake to bite him, but then it turns out it wasn't even poisonous, making this moment ambiguous. She does run towards the shed, but was it really to go inside to shoot him? I guess we'll never know. I haven't read anyone else's interpretation or theories about this book yet so maybe i'll find find I missed something or other.

tigris love love love

i have more thoughts that i may or may not expand on we'll see

thoughts on songbird of ballad and snakes...

sejanus The way he admits he actually contemplated suicide, and then what ends up killing him is going (back) to the districts... damn! More than that, the way they joke about how Snow keeps saving him, helping him several times and saving his life in the arena. But then in the district, he is the reason for his death. Similar to the way Snow keeps fooling everyone, including Sejanus, until the very last arc where he reveals his true colors (and this time, does not save him). I watched the movie first (bad decision obviously which I knew) and I think they did a good job with Sejanus. It's funny how the film gave off the vibe that Snow rather liked him while in the movie his constant inner monologue is how much he dislikes him, so I was surprised reading the book (which I'm not yet done with, I'm at the peacekeeper part).

the games A thing that kind of, i don't know peeved me is the fact that they need to try to get the people interested in the games. The games being clearly inspired by the gladiators in ancient Rome and we have seen many times throughout history how people like to watch violence and executions. I really like the portrayal of the Capitol in original trilogy, though there is a of course difference because that is in the future and superfluous and decadent rather than war-torn and much poorer. I'm not saying it's unrealistic because the aim is clearly to be realistic. I think there is a good enough job at showing how the people in the Capitol dehumanizes the people in the districts. I feel like there is a problem in this book between wanting to portray the humanity of the people in the Capitol, as people who suffered in the war too, while also being the same people that hates/feel superior to the people from the districts. The solution to this problem by Collins is to make the people not interested in the games and that they think it's brutal and rather would not watch – which yes, that's a natural reaction I think, but I don't think it was the best or most believable solution to this problem. One crazy madwoman instead is the one who decided to hold the games and eventually the people were like you know what this is cool we like it. I really rather they'd portray this more as a human phenomena.

more to come...

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #its amazing the things i'll do to avoid writing even though i want to write so badly<3

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altocat · 2 years ago

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People who don't like Crisis Core solely because of its more sympathetic portrayal of Seph--like I GET it 100% because it's a great villain and I definitely relate to the need for preservation.

BUT idk CC Sephiroth is just so much more infinitely interesting to me. Like, yeah I definitely get the mindset of "They took this credible threat and turned him into a sad woobie moaning and groaning about his friends", but honestly I think there was a lot of respect and subtlety done to his portrayal overall. The idea of Seph always being bad and scary and violent just kinda...bores me. As do most pure-evil villains tbh. I feel like Crisis Core really added a layer of personality and nuance to WHY he reacts the way he does and shows that there WAS a human there. A human with a level of decency who probably could have flourished in better surroundings.

I obv don't think what he did at Nibelheim is okay--he's too far gone after that. And I don't really think he can be redeemed unless they pull some time travel AU shenanigans. But sometimes it's really interesting to explore the idea of villains once being vulnerable with positive attributes.

I think CC is too...out there to really feel cliché either so it's not like your typical tropey humdrum "woe is me, they didn't love me so I'm evil now". Seph puts up with a LOT before he snaps. He doesn't even lash out until he finds out about key things that he has a genuine right to be angry or distressed over. And when he does snap, it's used as a symbolic foil for both Zack and Cloud, challenging the idea of heroism and the general themes of Crisis Core as a whole.

Seph was already well tainted before Nibelheim. He no doubt did horrible things during the war that probably shouldn't be forgiven. But I do think he was also a victim of Shinra, fate, and repeated abandonment/emotional abuse, at least until he chose to do what he did after leaving the library.

Anyway, layered villains are interesting. Because all monsters start out human. And exploring the intrinsic connections that shape them into who they are is fun to explore.

#Sephiroth #Crisis Core #crisis core reunion #ff7 #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #sephcanons #Jenova #Nibelheim Incident #My thoughts

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raifenlf · 3 years ago

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Why Loki’s Sylvie Is A Mary Sue

So I am firmly in the camp that Sylvie on the Loki series was/is a Mary Sue. The last episode made me feel better and like maybe the show was doing a thing where they were faking you out that she was a Mary Sue only to show she was actually sort of a bad guy and I liked that. But all the recent interviews make me think the show wants to go back to her being a Mary Sue.

But I feel like when I call her out for being a Mary Sue people tell me what are you talking about, she’s not a Mary Sue, bad things happen to her, etc. But that doesn’t actually make her not a Mary Sue.

Also, before we start, I know some people find Mary Sue sexist. But I personally use the term for guys and girls. I don’t use the term to belittle women. I use the term to criticize a poorly written character.

And I know Mary Sue is often used to describe fanfic characters. But to me, this series is kind of like a fanfic because the writers took a character who had been in canon MCU material for ten years and then created characters around that character. So, I kind of review it like I would a fanfic. It’s very different than if the writers had created a brand new show with all of their own new characters.

Anyway, if you are not totally familiar with the Mary Sue term, then check this out:

I know the term Mary Sue probably means different things to different people. But I have always used these guidelines when I write my own fanfic to make sure my characters never come off as a Mary Sue.

This article really gives you a full scale of what a Mary Sue is. If you start reading it, you’ll immediately see why Sylvie is. But I’m going to take out the parts that most fit Sylvie just to highlight why I believe she is a Mary Sue. I apologize for this being so long.

Mary Sue Character Traits

Personality

Erm... what personality? The typical Mary Sue doesn't have one per se, because she isn't meant to be a character; rather, she's an entity by which the author makes cool stuff happen.

I feel like that is Sylvie in a nutshell. She doesn’t have a personality. I feel like even though she ate screentime, I still don’t really know her at all. The writers love to say she’s badass. That’s not a personality.

Sometimes when I am writing stories for fun and creating new characters, I like to take surveys as my fictional characters. Like the kind of surveys you’d see in a magazine, like personality types, what’s your dating style, etc. I figure if I don’t know what my character would do in any of those situations, then I need to keep working on my character. And if I was trying to fill out a survey pretending I was Sylvie I would have no idea what to answer because she doesn’t have a personality. She’s just “cool”.

What little personality a Mary Sue has isn't as important as how other characters react to it. No matter how shy or socially awkward Mary Sue is supposed to be, other characters will be inexplicably drawn to her

This is so Sylvie. Loki falls in love with her...why, exactly? He falls in love with her in the big Nexus event moment...why? Because she had a tough childhood? Mobius spends like two seconds with her in a car and goes from hating her to saying she’s his favorite Loki. For. No. Particular. Reason.

She's extremely persuasive; everyone finds her opinions to be better than their own

She enchants Hunter B-15 and then immediately Hunter B-15 makes it her whole entire life mission to back Sylvie up.

And occasionally she'll be a complete asshole...This can manifest itself in several ways...The author wants to write a badass but doesn't know how. This leads to a character who mistreats everyone around her and is never called out on her abrasive, casually abusive behavior.

Sylvie talked down to Loki and treated him like garbage for all of episode three, but it was never portrayed as a bad thing and we never got any impression Sylvie later felt bad for the way she treated Loki

The author doesn't know how to hold back the character, meaning that she will succeed at practically everything. This means that when she encounters rules or authority figures who would otherwise prevent her from doing what she wants to do, she rolls right through them (and they praise her for her "boldness" in defying regulations). If a bad guy is violent and aggressive, she can beat him by being more violent and aggressive (with all that entails). It's impossible for her to go overboard because she's protected by Protagonist-Centered Morality.

Sylvie is shown as a kid to immediately be able to grab a Tempad and run away. And she can kick ass way better than Loki, for no known reason. She is always able to fight back against the TVA when they attack her. And she can kill lots of innocent TVA agents but it’s okay because TVA bad, Sylvie good.

Skills

She will always be superior to the canon characters, regardless of what canon has established they can do or whether it makes any sense.

Whose skill was needed to defeat Alioth? Sylvie’s. Of course. Sylvie needed to teach Loki her skills in order for him to succeed (!). And again, she is literally called the superior Loki.

Relatedly, there's no effort to her skills. She never actually trains or learns anything to become more powerful; she just wins the Super Power Lottery, or is a freakish natural learner, or is just Inexplicably Awesome

We’re told Sylvie literally taught herself magic. She literally taught herself to enchant people. That. Makes. No. Sense. Like, I have so many questions. Like, why would it even occur to her to teach herself that? And how???????????? This is really lazy writing.

Canon Character Relationships

Mary Sue is often designed to hook up with another character, often as a form of Wish Fulfillment. This isn't that bad in and of itself (okay, it is kinda weird), but Mary Sue accomplishes this without any sense of realism. She just grabs her lover's attention straight away, and their relationship will never face any obstacles or tension; it's true love from the start and nothing else. The biggest giveaway is if the love interest is explicitly the author's favorite character, and she essentially "cures" him of all the angst that ails him (at the expense of his characterization).

Yeah, so...this one should be pretty obvious to anyone who watched the show. Loki literally falls in love with Sylvie immediately, and then he suddenly turns from “villain” to “hero” just because of loving her. And this was definitely at the expense of his characterization. And Loki just knows he falls in love with her. There’s not even any moments of hmm what do I feel for this person? It’s just true love, immediately.

She will be related to a canon character in some way. This (marginally) helps explain such phenomena as her being a Copy Cat Sue and other characters accepting her so easily.

Sylvie is a Loki variant. They use this to help explain why Loki is drawn to her and why their falling in love immediately “makes sense”.

Most characters give her more heed than they normally would. The good guys never stop praising her

Seriously, it was so over the top and OOC for Loki to gush over her. He literally tells her she’s amazing. They don’t even make it subtle.

Characters' previously established personalities change in reaction to her. Proud, arrogant gimps suddenly acknowledge her superiority in everything. Reckless youths will listen to all her advice. Responsible leaders will defer to her instead. Villains will obsess with her to the detriment of all else. Extremely competent characters will become stumbling buffoons who require her help to do anything. Sweet, mild-mannered characters whom the author doesn't like turn evil and insult her. They all become unnaturally focused on her in some way.

Again, Loki’s whole personality changed in reaction to her. He became a buffoon who needed her help to enchant the Alioth because of course he couldn’t do anything without her! Hunter B-15 goes from doing whatever the TVA said to fighting the TVA just because of Sylvie.

Story Elements

Mary Sue is without exception a single-person Spotlight-Stealing Squad. The entire story hinges on her existence; if you removed her, there would be no story.

Sylvie undoubtedly drove the whole story this season. It all became about HER meeting the TVA heads because of HER trauma. Loki’s life was only saved at the beginning because the TVA was trying to capture HER. And SHE was the one who started the whole multiverse (!).

Mary Sue is The Chosen One, even if the setting already has one. There are many ways she can accomplish this: she can be a Sailor Earth type who "shares" the position with the canon hero; she may be vaguely "destined to help the destined one fulfill their destiny" (i.e. do all the work except the final blow so that the prophecy is still technically correct); or the canon hero may be revealed to be a Fake Ultimate Hero all along. Being the Chosen One doesn't necessarily involve her being a God-Mode Sue, especially as authors become aware of the phenomenon and try to avoid it, but it does make her critically important to the world and allows her to continue stealing the spotlight without the "god mode" label.

HWR wanted Sylvie to come with Loki in the end, like she was chosen all along right alongside Loki. Like one of the most important characters in the entire MCU is now this character who we only met a few episodes ago.

Most Sues have an unusually Dark and Troubled Past. It's often used to create a Sympathetic Sue, but any type of Sue can have one

They tell us, over and over, how hard Sylvie’s life was because she was kidnapped by the TVA in order to create sympathy for her.

She almost never does anything wrong. In the rare instance that she does, it's usually; (a) a way for the author to disclaim her being a Mary Sue by introducing a single imperfection (that has no bearing on anything anyway), and (b) designed to show her smarts by making her feel instant remorse, and she'll be Easily Forgiven anyway:

So this one hopefully will not come true, as a lot can change between now and when the show is taped. But if the show goes on the way the behind the scenes team is talking, Sylvie immediately felt remorse for betraying Loki, and Loki has already forgiven her and is desperately looking for her. Ugh.

Alternatively, she is more than capable of doing something wrong, be it in general moral terms or something that goes against whatever code she abides by, and she maybe even frequently does so, but don't expect the other characters or the narrative to ever acknowledge or comment on it in any real capacity. If the other characters do call her out, expect them to be treated like they're the problem for daring to criticize her at all.

Mobius calls her out for killing people, but Sylvie immediately says he’s a bad person and then Mobius agrees, because, of course.

She will often suffer from Special Snowflake Syndrome; i.e., she has a trait or backstory that sets her apart from her group or race.

She is the only female Loki, thus making her the special one among all the Lokis in episode five.

Presentation

In visual media, the camera just can't stop staring at her.

The camera would follow her in fight scenes rather than Loki.

Mary Sue Tropes

Okay, so there are specific Mary Sue tropes that Sylvie is. One of those is Copy Cat Sue, which I think was referenced before.

Copy Cat Sue

A lot of fanfic writers...start to write something because of their passion for this character, but they find something about the character that doesn't mesh well. Maybe they're the wrong gender or are otherwise not close enough to the author's expectations...In any case, rather than put them through the Possession Sue process, they just get a Clone-O-Matic™ and out pops a Copy Cat Sue...the character might be intended as a replacement for the canon character, but without whatever icky traits the author hates. They'll then rob the spotlight, prove the canon character to be unworthy of his/her position, and either relegate the character to obsolescence or, perhaps, even remove them entirely.

Sylvie is basically a clone of Loki, she is a variant. But she absolutely robbed the spotlight of Loki’s, and they literally call her the superior Loki. I mean, they are literally not even being subtle about this. And there was a feeling by myself (and a lot of other viewers) that Sylvie might ultimately replace Loki in the MCU.

Black Hole Sue

Much like a black hole, this is a Mary Sue who "sucks in" the plot and characters to her. Characters will behave outside their personalities, logic will be defied, and rules will be broken for her sake.

Sylvie really does suck up all the plot and Loki definitely behaves outside of his personality just to fit the Sylvie show.

Jerk Sue

A Mary Sue who is mean or maybe even cruel, but are still treated as an ideal person.

Once again, Sylvie is basically a jerk all of episode three, but you’ve got Loki falling over himself to call her amazing in just the next episode.

Relationship Sue

A Mary Sue who exists to be the perfect mate for a specific character...this character has everything in the plot conspiring to enforce this One True Pairing...in Fanfiction, they are the perfect beloved of a canon character.

They literally have Mobius speculate that Loki falling in love with Sylvie is so extraordinary that it causes an entire Nexus event, that’s how huge this One True Pairing is (!). And Sylvie is the love interest of Loki, the only character who had been around before the beginning of the series

TLDR: Sylvie has all the tropes of a classic Mary Sue character. So calling Sylvie a Mary Sue isn’t being sexist or just randomly hating on the character. If you use common Mary Sue characteristics to examine the character, she just has too many of these characteristics to ignore.

#loki negativity #antisylvie #loki critical #loki criticism #antisylkie

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happyocelot · 2 years ago

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This is for MoonPheonix’s prompt of Team 8 finding out about Asuma and Kurenai dating for the Team 8 prompt requests I’m doing.

@bornonthebreakofdawn, don’t worry, I’ve gotten your request too. I’ll definitely get to it! :)

Asuma liked to think that he was a chill, level-headed, down-to-earth sensei. He didn't go extremely overboard like Guy and his godawful green jumpsuits and constant yammering about youth, and he didn't give off an air of absolute unconcern like Kakashi. If someone told him to show up at 9 am, he'd actually show up at 9 am, not 11:47 am, and he would not be reading Icha Icha Paradise.

He had great power and he knew it – one didn't become a Guardian Ninja for nothing, but he didn't subject genin to inhuman tests of physical endurance, nor did he impose his own teamwork-related exercises onto them (not that he even needed to with an Ino-Shika-Cho team).

He was that normal sensei. He pushed his students to work and endure, but he also understood that they were, you know, twelve. He used to be one of them. He got it.

This was why he liked to think that he had a good rep amongst the recent Academy graduates.

This was also why he found Kurenai's team to be so weird.

"Asuma-sensei," his...friend's...student said one day, cornering him outside Yamanaka Flower Shop with a bouquet in his hands. Kiba, he thought it was.

Asuma waited patiently. Kiba took a deep breath as though he were steeling himself up to avert a disaster.

"I...I don't think you should date Kurenai-sensei."

The child's nin-ken barked in agreement.

Asuma took a slow drag of his cigarette and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think I'm dating her?"

Kiba stared skeptically at the bouquet in Asuma's hands, with a deadpan expression that practically screamed, Well, duh.

Asuma's face warmed.

...Was he that obvious?

"Anyway," Kiba blithely went on like Asuma hadn't said anything. "You shouldn't date her. It's for the best. Trust me."

"...Kid, I'm not going to hurt her."

"Oh, I'm not worried about that. I know you can't hurt her. She's way cooler than you are."

Asuma's face paled as just as rapidly as it had warmed. His stomach plummeted to his knees, grew legs, and then jumped off a cliff.

"It's just..." Fear flickered across Kiba's face. "You know she's a genjutsu specialist, right?"

"Yeah?" He tried to keep his tone even despite his runaway stomach.

Kiba met his eyes in dead seriousness. Asuma would have laughed if he weren't fighting back tears of misery. He thought he had a good rep with these kids.

"Run. Run while you can. It's for your own good, sensei. Trust me."

***

It didn't stop with Kiba.

One morning, as he was doing warm-ups with his Fire Release, a little beetle landed on his outstretched chakra blade, and then a somber, gloomy voice filled his ear.

"Asuma-sensei," said his...friend's...student.

Aburame Shino, he believed. The kid who had blown someone's arms off in the Chuunin Exams.

...Yeah. Kurenai's team was strange.

"It would be in your best interests not to have any relationship with Kurenai-sensei." Shino's voice may have been gloomy, like he was watching a funeral, but it was also kind and sympathetic, like Shino was watching his funeral, and Asuma repressed a deep, deep shudder. "Why? Because she is a genjutsu specialist. She may do you harm."

...What was with these kids?

"...Kid, she isn't going to hurt me," Asuma protested, and the oddest sense of deja vu flooded his mind.

His Fire sash fluttered plaintively in the breeze. For heaven's sake. He was a former Guardian Ninja. He had a massive bounty on his head. He was the Hokage's son and a talented jounin in his own right.

Why did he not have a good rep with these kids?

Shino stared at him like a palmist foretelling Asuma's early demise.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

***

Once bitten, twice shy. And two times bitten, third time shy. Asuma didn't think anyone could blame him when his friend's student approached him one day, carrying a healing salve.

"Your sensei hasn't injured me," he said instinctively, when Hyuuga Hinata gave him a bow and tried to shove her medicinal cream into his hands. "You don't have to worry."

Hinata blinked her big white eyes at him quizzically.

"I know that, Asuma-sensei. Kurenai-sensei is a great person. She doesn't hurt people for no reason." Her voice was kind, just like Shino's was, but also a little disbelieving, like she was explaining to Asuma that two plus two equals four.

These kids had a real talent for making Asuma look like a bozo.

"I just thought," Hinata said in a hesitant voice, "since you're a former Guardian Ninja, you might fight a lot of powerful enemies, so you might like some first-aid."

These kids had a real talent for making Asuma look like a bozo.

"Wow...uh, thanks," he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "It's just that your teammates tried to warn me a while back that Kurenai-sensei would...hurt me. Because she's a genjutsu specialist."

Hinata covered a smile with her hand.

"That's nothing to worry about, Asuma-sensei. Kurenai-sensei was just giving them rough training for coming late to practice one day. Intensive genjutsu resistance training. They were exhausted. And terrified."

"What kind of training was this?" he asked cautiously, when Hinata started giggling.

"She made Kiba-kun and Shino-kun believe that their underwear and sunglasses were mutating."

Understanding finally flashed in his mind like lightning. So this was why he didn't have a good rep with these kids.

...Perhaps he needed to terrify his students too. He could ask his friend Kurenai for pointers.

#team 8 #asukure #hyuuga hinata #aburame shino #inuzuka kiba #naruto #prompts

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likeshipsonthesea · 4 years ago

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mianmian gets to the lan sect lectures, discovers very quickly that every one of her peers has decided to use this time to figure out how quickly they can get into bed with someone of the opposite sex, and decides almost immediately that she has to pick a suitably unattainable guy to have a crush on.

the thing is, mianmian is lanling jin’s head disciple. she is capable, intelligent, and very very gay. the last of these things she isn’t exactly keen on telling people yet for a variety of reasons up to and including jin zixuan will be so awkward and stubbornly supportive about it and she doesn’t know how to deal with that yet

so when her friends giggle over the other young masters and finally turn to mianmian-- who’s trying to memorize at least some of the fifty-thousand rules before their quiz tomorrow--and they ask her, “who do you like, mianmian?” she says the name that she carefully picked out of a handful of options.

“lan-er-gongzi,” she says, without looking up from her textbook, and she assumes that will be the end of it.

lan wangji is both incredibly attractive and unrelentingly resistant to all attempts to flirt with him. she, like half the other female cultivators, can moon over him (or pretend to moon over him) all they want and nothing will come of it. it’s perfect. she’s a genius. the worst she’ll have to do now is pretend to be infatuated with him when her friends start gossiping. it’s fool proof.

spoiler: it’s not

it’s not, no, because her friends are horrible and immediately start gossiping about it to everyone, and usually mianmian wouldn’t care but then jin zixuan finds out. jin zixuan, whose marriage complex is being brought to center stage with the forced proximity to his bride-to-be. jin zixuan, who for some reason decided he has to live his stolen crush-addled youth vicariously through his only real friend that isn’t related to him. jin zixuan, who for some godforsaken reason takes it upon himself to contrive situations for mianmian and lan wangji to be alone together incessantly.

it unfortunately takes mianmian longer than she would like to figure out what’s happening. she’d give herself a break for it-- she was being responsible and studying, thank you very much-- but she doesn’t have much sympathy for her own stupidity seeing as she’s currently locked in a section of the lan library with the second jade of lan

and suddenly, suddenly she’s just so fucking tired. of studying, yeah, the tests here are brutal and there’s no one to bribe to make sure she doesn’t lose points on stupid things, but also tired of lying to the people she loves and tired of training this hard and being an amazing cultivator only for people to care more about her eventual marriage-- to a man of all things!-- and also, let’s be real here, she’s been in lectures with beautiful capable intelligent women for like months and she’s losing her gay ass mind

and so maybe, possibly, as she’s locked in a library with a clearly confused and annoyed second jade of lan she kind of, momentarily, loses it and rants all of this at his steadily widening eyes

at the end of it, she realizes with no small amount of panic that she’s just confessed not only her attraction to women but the fact that she’s been letting wen qing’s ears of all things distract her from her studies. if anything, she’s sure lan wangji will fault her for inattention

but the second jade of lan, after a drawn-out moment filled only with mianmian’s labored breathing and rising panic, simply says, “i understand.”

mianmian stops. she squints. she tilts her head. she squints some more. lan wangji’s ears go pink and just like that she realizes -- “you’re a cut-sleeve.”

lan wangji’s ears go even pinker. he doesn’t nod, or agree, or outwardly react in any way, but mianmian is a capable, intelligent cultivator, and she’s sure of it.

mianmian sighs with a relief she didn’t know she could feel. “thank the gods.”

lan wangji doesn’t seem to know what to make of this response, or mianmian’s increasingly frequent trips to the library following their conversation, or mianmian’s staunch determination to befriend the guy, but that’s alright. mianmian is old hat at befriending awkward sect heirs by this point.

it’s not like lan wangji expressed any desire for her friendship, but the prospect of not being the only one with absolutely no interest in the straight shenanigans happening at gusu lan summer camp is enough to let mianmian ignore his obvious confusion. lan wangji is a great listener and only sometimes blushes when mianmian waxes poetic about the beautiful women she’s forced to surround herself with every day

“no but you don’t understand,” mianmian insists, alone in the library with lan wangji, “jiang-guniang asked me to help her with a sword form. i put my hands on her waist. i said something idiotic bc she was so pretty and right there and then she laughed. lan wangji. i’m in love.”

“yesterday you were in love with wen-guniang,” lan wangji says as he impassively turns a page in his book. “has this changed?”

“no, i’m in love with both of them. all of them. lan wangji. they’re all so pretty all the time. it’s horrible.”

lan wangji presses his lips into a firmer line, which mianmian’s come to understand means he’s repressing a smile. “i’m sorry to hear it brings luo-guniang such trouble.”

mianmian groans, fairly undignified, but that’s a lost cause with lan wangji at this point anyway. “i swear, if jin zixuan says one more bad thing about her i’m going to punch him and marry her myself.”

lan wangji says, “mn,” which mianmian takes to mean that he supports her in this line of thinking, which she finds both quite sweet and ridiculously funny.

grinning, she teases, “lan-er-gongzi, if i do end up marrying jiang-guniang, will you bear witness to our elopement?”

lan wangji’s lips press again, this time in the way that means he’s repressing a frown. “jiang-guniang’s brothers wouldn’t allow for an elopement,” he says.

mianmian huffs. “as if yunmeng or lanling will deign to host our wedding.”

lan wangji appears to ponder this for a moment before he says, “gusu will host it,” and it’s at that moment that mianmian realizes she’s actually gone and fucking befriended the second jade of lan.

what is her life.

of course, it’s not long after that that she goes to find jin zixuan and explain that she can’t make their weekly sparring match today because she has plans with lan wangji (jiang yanli tenderly brushed some of mianmian’s hair away from her forehead while they were working on sword forms and if mianmian doesn’t tell someone about it she’s literally going to explode) and she’s trying to be as polite as possible only for jin zixuan to scoff and pout (”i don’t pout”) and say, “i never took you for one of those women who throw themselves so wantonly at a man”

it’s only for having been friends with this absolutely horrible communicator for most of her life that she doesn’t immediately punch him in the face. “what did you just say to me,” she demands, but jin zixuan just sets his jaw and looks away, flushing down his neck in the way his mother describes as unbecoming and--

and mianmian suddenly realizes that her ridiculous best friend is jealous of lan wangji.

(in a friend way, of course, he’s like her brother, the one time his mother implied that he ought not get too close to women in case it jeopardizes his betrothal to jiang yanli, he insisted he didn’t have any female friends repeatedly as his mother delicately danced around outright saying mianmian’s name until finally she broke and jin zixuan was basically like huh?? mianmian doesn’t count?? she made me eat dirt like six times when we were kids)

the sheer ridiculousness of jin zixuan, to set her up with a guy and then get jealous when she spends all her time with him

and fuck her, but she loves her stupid awkward ridiculous sect heir best friend and she doesn’t want him to think she’s gone and left him for someone else (gods know jin zixuan’s loyalty complex rivals his marriage one (on second thought the two might be connected)) and so, after making a few quick decisions, mianmian grabs her stupid best friend by the wrist and pulls him to the library

he protests all the way there, but he’s been letting her drag him wherever she wants since they were five and it isn’t as if he’s going to break the pattern now. she drags him to the library and sits him down across a startled lan wangji and then finally breaks and gushes about jiang-guniang’s fingertips brushing her forehead and doesn’t look at jin zixuan once the whole time

lan wangji, on the other hand, sends jin zixuan frequent glances, as if worried on mianmian’s behalf, which is super sweet and also how the fuck did mianmian get two awkward sect heirs to care about her platonically wtf. she spares a thought for her poor auntie, who would’ve loved to have a sect heir care about her niece in much less platonic ways.

at the end of mianmian’s rant, jin zixuan is blinking quite a lot. “you like women?” he asks. he’s always been a bit slow on the uptake. mianmian nods. “you like jiang-guniang?”

mianmian shrugs. “more or less. she’s just really pretty and i’m dying about it. it’s fine.”

lan wangji says, “mn,” sympathetically and jin zixuan continues to gape.

mianmian winces. “you’re not going to be weird about this, are you?”

jin zixuan shakes his head quickly. “no, no-- of course not, i--you know that i--you’re my best friend, i don’t care--what does it matter to me, who you want to--to touch your hair.”

it’s probably the most awkward sentence he’s said to her in years, but possibly more articulate than she’d been expecting. it makes her tear up regardless and she punches him in the shoulder to hide it, and that’s basically how the three of them start hanging out in the library nearly every day after lecture.

sometimes they go to the sparring ground, bc who’s better sparring practice than the second jade of lan? and sometimes (once or twice) mianmian manages to convince lan wangji to join her and jin zixuan for lunch in caiyi town when they don’t have lecture, but mostly they meet in a secluded part of the library where mianmian can rant about how pretty all the women at lectures are, jin zixuan can turn pink whenever she mentions jiang-guniang, and lan wangji can “mn” and nod sympathetically at all the right parts

and mianmian thinks that’s going to be the end of it, they’re just going to be friends now and everything else will move on as usual, bc by some ridiculous trick of fate lan wangji and jin zixuan seem to like each other. which makes sense in hindsight bc they’re both awkward sect heirs who care about cultivation and people a lot even if they’re not great at showing it

(and he’d never say it but mianmian thinks jin zixuan’s easy acceptance of her liking women is probably the first time lan wangji’s ever seen someone accept that kind of thing before (maybe, possibly, other than his brother, lan xichen seems really cool, even if he does smile kind of intensely at mianmian whenever he happens upon her hanging out with his little brother.))

so they’re friends, they’re unexpected friends, and sometimes lan wangji even makes jokes in that dry deadpan way of his and sometimes jin zixuan doesn’t completely trip over his own words and manages to act like a normal human being and mianmian gets two idiots to care about and a perfect place to vent her womanly frustrations, and she thinks that’s the end of it and then wei wuxian accosts her after lectures one day

“do you like lan zhan?” he asks accusingly, eyes narrowed to slits. “what am i even asking, of course you like lan zhan, but do you like-like him?”

mianmian thinks sadly to herself that she’s much too into women to be dealing with all these men’s emotional problems. “lan wangji is my friend,” she says, carefully sidestepping wei wuxian, who continues to squint at her suspiciously. really, he’d been amusing when he flirted with her, but this? this is just ridiculous.

“does he know that?” wei wuxian asks. “because if he doesn’t, that’s just leading him on, and it’s really not nice to--”

“lan wangji knows we’re friends,” she says, trying to enunciate to get her point across clearly. “you can ask him, if you don’t believe me.”

wei wuxian squints a moment longer before he turns and flounces off. mianmian thinks this is the end of it until she’s accosted again after dinner with, “he said you were friends!”

for some reason, wei wuxian seems even more troubled by this than earlier. mianmian tries to suppress her eyeroll. “i told you he would?”

“but how,” wei wuxian says, suddenly whining. “i’ve been trying to be his friend for months and he refuses to acknowledge me.”

oh, mianmian realizes with a quickly dawning horror. she and lan wangji are not the only cut-sleeves at cloud recesses this summer. (she has suspicions, of course, but no confirmations on any of the others, but this. wow.)

she also realizes, decides really, that she has enough repressed sect heirs in her life and she cannot deal with wei wuxian’s cut-sleeve crisis or his evidently large attachment to lan wangji right now. she turns decisively and walks the fuck away. not her problem.

the lectures end eventually, of course, and mianmian and jin zixuan return to lanling with a horde of golden robed disciples, freshly deflowered and not all together more learned. it’s what, she thinks grimly, their sect leader would want.

the first few weeks go by and she realizes that she’s missed unloading about her frequent and fast falling-in-loves. jin zixuan just doesn’t sympathize right, bless him, and so mianmian takes to writing letters. she sends two without receiving a reply and just starts to write the third when a letter with the gusu symbol is delivered to her room.

she’s almost expecting to find a single mn written on the page-- she would’ve been delighted with just that, actually, the sheer hilarity of such a thing-- but instead she finds several pages filled with lan wangji’s perfect calligraphy.

it’s more than he’s ever spoken out loud, but it seems that propriety dictated that he return mianmian’s extensive letter with one of his own and he’s done so admirably. he responds to the events mianmian detailed in her letters-- most succinctly summarized as, woman are gorgeous and i’m dying-- and then writes about his own life in cloud recesses. apparently, he went on a little night hunt with wei wuxian and also nie huaisang and jiang cheng were involved? seriously, mianmian misses out on all the fun.

he’s also apparently taken in some rabbits, which mianmian immediately decides she needs to see. lan wangji, sitting prim and proper, with a bunch of rabbits in his lap? amazing. wei wuxian would die on sight, she’s sure of it.

he also ends his letter with a warning about qishan wen that has mianmian frowning. she takes it to jin zixuan who reads the paragraph and frowns. “i’ll talk to my father about it,” he says, which she can tell by his hunched shoulders he doesn’t expect to do much.

“talk to your father’s general too,” she suggests, because that man at least thinks with his head and not his dick.

jin zixuan nods but doesn’t hand back the letter. he skims it instead with a barely concealed surprise at lan wangji’s previously hidden expansive vocabulary. mianmian snorts and grabs the letter back. “you can write to him yourself, you know.”

jin zixuan flushes down his neck. “i know!” he insists and then turns and runs away because he’s a coward. mianmian shakes her head, smiling. what an idiot.

still, another week goes by and a letter arrives from gusu and, when mianmian takes it, assuming it’s for her, she finds it addressed to jin zixuan in lan wangji’s impeccable calligraphy and she grins to herself like an idiot. look at jin zixuan, making friends

(she suddenly understands why lan xichen gave her all those intense smiles during the lan lectures)

they go on in this way, writing letters to lan wangji from lanling. sometimes mianmian steals jin zixuan’s letters before he sends them so she can squeeze in some ranting in the post script without wasting a whole second thing of paper, and lan wangji replies dutifully, more verbose than he ever was in person, and it’s nice okay, like. she and jin zixuan have been best friends since they were kids but neither of them has ever been any good at listening and lan wangji is just so honest and earnest in everything, like they didn’t realize that people outside of lanling were actually not always plotting your downfall??? who woulda thunk

and then of course the wens go and ruin everything. they go to the wen lectures bc jin guangshan doesn’t want to “anger our trading partner” like the guy isn’t obviously going to burn carp tower to the ground the first chance he gets, and mostly mianmian and jin zixuan are just vaguely annoyed and put out about it

then lan wangji shows up with a broken leg and a burned sect and they are ready to murder some dudes

after years of breaking in and out of carp tower she and jin zixuan are old hats at this breaking and entering stuff and they manage to sneak into lan wangji’s guest quarters and tend to his wounds, ignoring all his silent glares and ranting furiously about how they’re going to murder wen chao by making him choke on his own dick (mianmian) and how they’re going to war with the wen sect even if he has to threaten his father with acknowledging all of his bastards as proper siblings in public to do it (jin zixuan)

lan wangji just says “mn” and makes various muted, distressed expressions, but mianmian thinks he’s touched.

“are your brother and uncle alright?” she asks, when she’s set his broken leg and forced pain medication down his throat.

“brother escaped with our sacred texts,” lan wangji says. “uncle is... unwell.”

mianmian knows lan wangji hates touch but the way he says it, with this horrible little frown, emoting more than she’s ever seen him, his barely suppressed anger and grief literally making his hands shake into fists, mianmian can’t help it, she hugs him. “we’ll make them pay,” she swears into his shoulder, ruining the lines of his robes with how she clutches at them. “i promise you.”

jin zixuan awkwardly pats lan wangji’s shoulder, which is a lot for him and mianmian spares a moment to be proud of his growth.

unfortunately, wen chao seems to delight in torturing lan wangji on his injured leg and lan wangji refuses to show weakness, which both impresses mianmian and pisses her the fuck off. she approaches wen qing (and her still gorgeous ears, sigh) and asks her to tend to lan wangji, since she’s like actually a doctor. wen qing does bc she’s beautiful, intelligent, and kind and mianmian spends most of that night sighing deeply as she relates this to a significantly drugged lan wangji

the cave of the xuanwu goes about the same as you’d expect. wei wuxian saving her from getting her face branded off is pretty rad of him, though he could’ve just like knocked the brand away instead of throwing himself in front of it but whatever, you do you boo. when lan wangji gets left behind the two of them don’t even have to wait for jiang cheng to grumble and ask for their help, they’re already on their way to carp tower for an army, thank you very much

when they rescue wei wuxian and lan wangji and lan wangji immediately turns to walk back to cloud recesses on a broken leg mianmian says, “fuck no, that’s not happening, you’re getting medical attention and then someone will fly you back home, okay, wtf wangji, sit down.”

and lan wangji is a stubborn bitch so obvs he’s like no but he’s also severely starved, dehydrated, and injured, so it’s not like he can just shake off mianmian holding him down and this goes on long enough for wei wuxian to wake up and see mianmian touching lan wangji, and something in his poor little brain just like breaks and he demands says, “lan zhan, come back to lotus pier with us.”

his argument, as he explains it, is that lotus pier is closer (it’s not; they’re just as close to carp tower as lotus pier) and that it’s closer to gusu for when lan wangji has to return home (it’s not; same deal) but then jiang cheng starts yelling, possibly in support possibly not mianmian’s not sure, and jin zixuan starts getting awkward, probably about the whole golden army behind him bc he’s a nerd and hates being overdressed at functions (this is basically the same thing), and mianmian looks at lan wangji and she sees--

something. she isn’t sure what exactly, but lan wangji looks at wei wuxian as he argues with his brother and he presses his lips into a thin line in the way that means he wants to smile and mianmian thinks, oh. maybe wei wuxian isn’t completely unrequited in his lan wangji obsession.

growing up in lanling, she knows how to use information to her advantage, so she immediately says, “young masters wei and jiang, what a great idea. lanling’s disciples would be pleased to accompany you and second young master lan to lotus pier to ensure everyone’s safe arrival.”

everyone splutters, indignant, confused, awkward (jiang cheng, wei wuxian, and jin zixuan, respectively) but lan wangji narrows his eyes at mianmian and doesn’t try to convince her to let him walk to gusu again, so she counts it as a win.

sect leader jiang and his wife seem surprised and annoyed, respectively, to be taking in so many guests, but sect leader jiang merely smiles pleasantly and directs them to some guest quarters and mianmian and wei wuxian ask, simultaneously, for doctors to tend to lan wangji and wei wuxian makes a face at her and mianmian sighs to herself that she really is too gay to be in the middle of his thing with lan wangji.

turns out, walking a lot and fighting a cannibalistic turtle on a broken leg doesn’t do wonders for healing. lan wangji is also the worst patient ever, he keeps trying to sneak out and get up even though word came from his brother that he’s safe and alright and that cloud recesses is starting to rebuild after qinghe nie and lanling jin came to its aid and pushed out the wen

but with the combined efforts of mianmian, jin zixuan, and wei wuxian (and even jiang yanli at one point, bc who could say no to her soup??) they manage to get lan wangji to just rest for a fucking second, really which results in the jin disciples and lan wangji staying in lotus pier for longer than anyone could’ve expected

mianmian spends most of her time (when she isn’t forcing lan wangji to just fucking stay in bed) working with the jiang disciples, practicing archery, sword forms, and mooning after all the beautiful women here.

(”lan wangji, i know she’s scary, but have you seen madam yu? she could whip me with zidian and i’d thank her” “luo-guniang, please don’t ask madam yu to whip you” OR “lan wangji, i’m almost positive madam yu’s maids are a thing, do you think they’d let me join them just like once” “luo-guniang, could you please pass me my sword?” “why” “i’d like to put myself out of this misery” OR “she made me soup. lan wangji. lan wangji, i know you’re not sleeping, wake up, you have to listen to me, this soup”)

they end up staying so long that when wang lingjiao shows up threatening a child about a kite while sect leader jiang is away, she has a lot more to deal with than madam yu. since none of this had been a “sanctioned visit” no one actually knew that there was nearly an entire troop of jin disciples staying at lotus pier, so when the wens attack they are sorely unprepared for what they’re going to face.

(and ofc lan wangji breaks out of bed heroically and keeps madam yu from whipping wei wuxian, which means they aren’t down one of their most powerful fighters and mianmian has to suffer through the moon eyes they’re making at one another in the middle of a battle no less, she knew wei wuxian had no shame but she’d been hoping lan wangji would have some)

after the wen attack (and defeat) on lotus pier and the jin’s inarguable part in it, the war starts in earnest. lan wangji, after his long rest, heals fine and goes back to gusu to help rebuild his sect and plan for war, and mianmian and jin zixuan return to carp tower to plan as well, ignoring jin guangshan and focusing instead on his general to ensure lanling supplies necessary aid in the war effort

and war is always shitty, of course, and mianmian hates watching her sect family die on the battlefield, hates waiting for updates after every battle to see who’s still alive, hates the politics and jin guangshan trying to wheedle his way out of fighting when there’s fucking lives on the line

(and she could never know, how much easier it is, with yunmeng jiang at its full strength, with one of the brightest minds of their generation there to plot and help, with two of the best fighters not out searching for someone and instead focused on the front)

they reach nightless city after months of fighting and mianmian is ready to just fucking stab wen ruohan herself when they’re suddenly trapped. blocked in on all sides by puppets, their fallen soldiers rising again to turn on them, and it--it looks like they’re gonna die.

“this sucks,” she says to lan wangji, stifling her fear and choking it down. “i never even got to kiss a girl.”

lan wangji just says “mn.”

jin zixuan, beside them, says, “i was an idiot about jiang-guniang.”

lan wangji just says, “mn.”

then wei wuxian pulls out a fucking flute and a-- floating piece of metal? the army of puppets and corpses stops advancing, held in place by-- music, apparently? and wen ruohan emerges from his lair, black energy falling off him in waves, wei wuxian the idiot flies forward to meet him, gets wen ruohan’s hand around his throat for his trouble.

lan wangji yells, “wei ying!” and mianmian thinks, really not fair that lan wangji is gonna get a boyfriend before i get a girlfriend

and then wen ruohan gets stabbed by jin zixuan’s half brother of all people. wen ruohan, along with his puppets and wei wuxian, fall to the ground. lan wangji rushes forward to catch wei wuxian, mianmian runs after him, finds herself in company with jin zixuan and jiang cheng. when they get there, wei wuxian is barely conscious but he’s-- he’s fucking grinning up at lan wangji from the cradle of lan wangji’s arms

“lan zhan,” he says, “you caught me.”

lan wangji nods, says, “mn,” which is basically his equivalent of i’ll always catch you, wei ying.

“really,” mianmian says aloud, “it’s so unfair.”

the aftermath of the war is more annoying than the war itself, what with all the politics and in-fighting and jin guangshan trying to be the biggest dick there ever was. jin guangshan tries to name himself chief cultivator in wen ruohan’s stead but nie mingjue suggests jiang fengmian instead and the lan sect backs him. jin guangshan tries to demonize the wens but at wei wuxian’s loud rebuttal and sect leader jiang’s backing (which is then backed by both gusu lan and qinghe nie) he’s once again shouted down. and then jin guangshan tries to propose to jiang-guniang for his son and the poor woman just seems so awkward and her father doesn’t seem to know what to say and--

mianmian elbows jin zixuan whose eyes widen ridiculously but, after another, harder hit, he suddenly stands. all eyes go to him, which mianmian knows he hates, but he bows to his father, then jiang yanli, and says, “jiang-guniang, forgive my father’s impertinence. this is not the time or place to be making such an offer, but he--” jin zixuan winces visibly. “--he knows of my feelings and wishes to make his foolish son happy. please, do not feel the need to respond.”

then he promptly sits down, flushing down to his neck, and mianmian shares a disbelieving glance with lan wangji from across the horrible nightless city palace room.

she’d really only meant for him to suggest jiang yanli answer privately, at a later time, but wow, jin zixuan really went for it. also no way jin guangshan knows his son has fallen in love with jiang yanli, so nice save face there. maybe he has been paying attention in all of their etiquette and political espionage classes.

jiang yanli flushes way prettier than jin zixuan and nods politely, stands and bows and thanks the jin clan for being considerate in this time of turmoil, perhaps they can discuss this matter at a later date (jin zixuan looks like he nearly faints at this, and mianmian feels vindicated in all her forlorn ranting. overreacting her ass)

when everything has been settled, wen qing has been appointed the new sect leader of qishan wen with promises to return land to those who lost it and pay reparations to the hurt civilians, as well as have the yin iron destroyed for good. during the final ceremony where all the sects have tea and pledge to be loyal to one another (until the next great war, of course) mianmian leans close to lan wangji and sighs, “her ears look even lovelier with her hair tied back by her new sect leader hairpiece.”

lan wangji says “mn” because he’s a cut sleeve in love with wei wuxian and has nothing even closely resembling taste.

mianmian, on her own, decides to make them both happy. before the jin clan departs from nightless city, she goes up to wei wuxian and asks for a moment of his time. wei wuxian seems confused but follows and, once they’re alone, he says, “mianmian, are you about to get me into bed, because i must tell you that i am a respectable young cultivator and you’ll need to marry me before--”

mianmian gives him her best unimpressed look (she’s had much practice with it, thank you jin zixuan) and cuts him off with, “i like women.”

wei wuxian’s eyes go wide. “but you and lan zhan--”

she cuts him off again before he can say something so stupid she has to stop talking to him to refrain from breaking all laws of propriety. “look,” she says, “you’re friends with wen qing. now that she’s sect leader, your brother can’t go after her. i, on the other hand, very much can. if you promise to figure out a way for me and her to get close, i’ll tell you a secret you’ll like very much.”

wei wuxian seems hesitant for all of half a second before he breaks. “tell me.”

“do you promise?”

wei wuxian raises three fingers. “promise.”

“on your sister’s life?”

begrudgingly, wei wuxian nods.

“on her soup?”

“just get on with it!”

mianmian smirks, pushes onto her tiptoes, and whispers the secret into wei wuxian’s ear. with that, she returns to the pavilion where all the sects mingle as they wait to depart, wei wuxian trailing behind her in a daze, his mouth hanging open.

lan wangji, who had been watching since mianmian asked wei wuxian for a moment to talk, frowns nearly imperceptibly. mianmian grins at him and his frown grows.

ah, whatever. she walks over to him, unbothered by the quickly growing alarm in his eyes. once next to him, she turns around to see wei wuxian staring unabashedly. her smile only widens.

“you’re going to thank me for this,” she says.

wei wuxian shakes himself, his eyes focusing, and immediately starts walking towards them.

lan wangji, voice flat but wavering, asks, “luo-guniang, what did you do?”

mianmian laughs, says, “i get to give a speech at your wedding,” and walks away just as wei wuxian reaches them.

(she does, actually, give a speech at their wedding. she may or may not be drunk during it, jin zixuan gets embarrassed for her, and she starts tearing up and has to hide it in the shoulder of her wife’s lovely well-tailored robes. it’s alright, though, wen qing doesn’t mind)

EDIT: now on AO3 with a real fic version from lwj’s pov!

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