#does lbh ever have a good ending

[gammafish]

so you're telling me I watched 20 EPs of the Iris kdrama for it to end like this?

[optimisticmosquito]

heavenly demon SY au, with a teaspoon of familial cumplane and a pinch of shenliushen.

Some decade before the tianxi era TLJ has a one night stand with a male demon who gets pregnant. Surprise! it's airplane who wanted a taste of that doomed heavenly pillar. He's older than MBJ in this au and hasn't had the chance to meet young MBJ yet. MBJ has enough on his plate without some random older demon howering around him. SQH is many things a creep he is not, thank you very much.

So instead he gets pregnant by TLJ, has a cry session, wonders if he's going to birth the protagonist, cries some more over all the death flags he has raised for himself, and then just accepts his fate. TLJ doesn't care much about this little surprise, it was just a one night stand after all. However, his advisors have been nagging him about getting hitched and producing heirs, so he sees his chance to finally getting rid of one problem by throwing the other one at it. Very clever indeed!

SQH becomes TLJs first concubine. SQH does not become empress, but until TLJ marries further, he's as good as one. So SQH (with babybump proudly on display) starts fixing up TLJs court, all administrative tasks, and generally making it run smoother than it has for generations. TLJ is happy as can be, finally he can leave his empire for months on end to follow his true calling, reading and watching every human romance story that has ever been produced!

SQH gives birth to a healthy baby boy. But before he can think of naming him LBH, the System interrupts and has him name it SY instead (weird cause neither him nor TLJ is named Shen). SQH figures this is either another transmigrator or the system has plans involving this child. Which, dude, hands off his spawn! Not cool.

SY grows up as the apparent heir to the entire demon realm. Which is awesome! He can pretty much do anything he wants whenever he wants. But also, what about LBH? He isn't meant to be the demon emperor, that's his future didis job! Fuck, he is going to have to fight LBH for the throne isn't he? He's so dead.

It doesn't help that his mother (second father? He's not going to think too long on the logistics behind his birth) is strange even for demonic standards. For a demon he is increadibly skittish, always avoiding conflict like the plague. And he constantly walks around muttering to himself, stoping the moment anyone comes within hearing distance. Although, SY has to admit he's a pretty good parent all things considered. He always makes sure SY has everything he needs and puts away at least one day a week just for the two of them.

SY does find out who SQH is when he one day hears him mumble about the plot and LBH. SY interrogates him and finds out he's another transmigrator. That explains a lot! SQH is happy to learn his child is another transmigrator and not a puppet for the system to push its agenda. So happy in fact he spills he's actually the author of this world, which sends SY through the five stages of grief before circling back to anger. What do you mean that lousy hack author is his mother!?!? Someone end his misery, this should count as child abuse!

He has half of the mind to run away and never be seen again but SQH begs him to stay. He's only in this position bc SY exists and if SY runs away he might get kicked out or pressured into having another child. SY despite it all still on some level sees SQH as his parent and reluctantly agrees to stay and continue on his path as heir. He hasn't met TLJ that often and he knows TLJ wouldn't do anything to stop the rest of his court if they decided to kick SQH out.

So life continues until news arrive about TLJ being burried under a mountain. SQH tells SY that SXY is LBHs mother and probably imprisoned in HHP at that moment. They decide the best course of action would be to kidnap SXY and bring her to the demon realm. SQH should have enough control over the empire even with TLJ gone. Especially with SYs help as the de facto heir and a heavenly demon in his own right.

SY for his part is also fully on board with this plan. He can help raise the protagonist and give him the childhood he deserves? Count him in! It would also help to be on good terms with LBH if he ever decides to take over the demon realm. SY would gladly help him take the throne!

However, before they can set any plan in motion the system assigns them a mission to keep the demon realm from falling into chaos. Moments later the court splinters as factions start fighting each other over power, and the empire dives into unrest and civil war. At the end SY comes out on top and is crowned as the new emperor.

They are too late to do anything as the coldest day of the year has already passed. When they try and send people out to find the newborn LBH they are met by HHP cultivators searching for SXY and end up in multiple skirmishes. In the end SY pulls the demons back over the border when the sects, thinking SY is out to revenge his father, starts threatening with another war.

SY is beyond himself, now how will he escape the protagonists wrath!? SQH deals with the setback the only way he knows, by burying himself in the administrative work. The following years SY spends stabilizing the realm with SQHs help (it's mostly SQH), and starts travelling around to see what the world has to offer. He soon gets a reputation of taking after his father.

SQH all the while continues to run the realm by himself again (nothing new there) and meets the future king of the Northern desert, Mobei-jun. Mobei-jun of course immediately takes interest in the MILF of the demon realm. Half the time he acts like a frightened rodent, the other half he rules the demons with an iron fist, what demon wouldn't be besotted! (SY is well aware most of the realm seems to have the hots for his mother. He tries not to think about it.)

MBJ starts trying to court SQH in typical demonic fashion. H e tries to fight SQH, sends gifts in the form of treasures and kills, and gives over power of the northern desert to SQH. SQH is used to this type of treatment. Most demons seems to want to hit him for some reason? He just writes off the gifts as taxes. And isn't it only natural for demons to push all the work on those that are weaker. MBJ has his work cut out for him.

Meanwhile SY starts travelling the human realm in search of his lost little brother. He's hoping to at least find him before LBH joins CQM. He should be able to at least stop that much of the abuse LBH is meant to experience. And he does find him! At the steps of CQM 10 years after his disappearance. Shit.

SY doesn't dare get too close yet. His disguise isn't good enough to test the scrutiny of cultivators, so going up to LBH right now would be suicide. He decides to come back later, after getting an artifact that would let him hide every trace of his demonic presence. He has no plan on ending up like TLJ. Poor Binghe will just have to survive the tea scene and the first weeek on QJP. SY will make it up to you later! Promise!

SY only shortly returns to the palace to see MBJ is still trying his best to woo mother airplane (without success!). He goes back to the sect and walks directly up to QJP to find LBH, and is instead directed to the bamboo hut. There he's questioned about his intentions, and decides to speak the truth (well most of it). His little brother went missing years ago and now SY believes him to be on this very peak! He has returned to bring LBH back home.

SJ of course hates LBH for the similarities he has to himself, but who would have guessed he also was abandoned by his older brother? Fate is truly laughing him in the face! This won't make SJ hate LBH less, but he has no plan on just giving him over to this stranger who took too long to return for his didi (just like qi-ge). So SJ claims he isn't willing to give up a disciple just like that. Hoping SY will show his true colors and abandon the little beast once and for all. When SY instead doubles down on wanting to take LBH with him, SJ decide to test how far this determination will take him (prove you are not like qi-ge).

Which leaves SY to stay on QJP as a guest while being continuously tested by SJ. And with time they slowly befriend each other and spend time just to share a cup of tea and talk literature (if SJ slowly starts trusting SY with things he's never told anyone else then that's his business).

At some point SY successfully catches a moment with LBH where he introduces himself as LBHs elder brother from their father's side. He offers to take LBH with him and leave that moment, but after LBH has digesting these new revelations (he has a brother!), declines. His adoptive mother wanted him to be a righteous cultivator, so a cultivator he'll become!

SY, already unable to deny this little bun anything, just has to accept he'll have to spend some time on QJP. Maybe he'll be able to persuade LBH to join him once SJ decides he has passed all tests. It's not too bad, SY has complete access to the library and oh boy is there a lot of things he never learned about the human realm before.

At the same time he meets the rarely seen bai zhan peak lord. LQG immediately thinks something is fishy with this QJP guest, but he's not sure what exactly (his war god senses are tingling). So to SJs great annoyance he starts showing up more often, trying to figure SY out. He even invites SY on a few monster hunts to see if he slips up, but to no avail (there are a few close calls). The more time they spend together the more he finds he enjoys talking about beasts with SY (he'll take it to the grave how his stomach flutters when SY teases him). SY even succeeds in getting LQG to teach LBH some swordforms once in a while.

When SYs identity as the demon emperor is finally revealed, it's a surprise to all three of them.

(Once SY is finally able to return to the demon realm for a visit it's to MBJ introducing himself as SYs new stepdad)

[sunderwight]

Reverse transmigration bingqiu except instead of Bingge turning up in Shen Yuan's world, it's white lotus disciple Binghe who does.

Shen Yuan, currently in his last year of high school, finds him and thinks he's a troubled homeless kid who has latched onto a character from a web novel as an intense form of escapism. He's initially just going to hand him over to some authorities of some kind but the kid seems so lost and scared, instead he ends up deciding to personally use his family's connections to help him or at least find his actual family or something (of course, doesn't turn anything up).

Baby Binghe is brand new to Qing Jing peak in the timeline he left from, so he doesn't have any idea of cultivating. With his demon blood still locked, he's a normal kid. But he's smart! He figures out basic appliances and picks up other modern facilities pretty quickly, wins over SY's family, and eagerly decides to keep living with him when SY moves out for the first time. SY's almost feeling bad because he definitely got the better end of this deal. His family manages to enroll LBH in school and they get him a bunch of lessons on things he seems interested in, and even so this kid still finds time to do a better job cooking and cleaning than SY, whose schedule is less packed.

A couple years pass. SY is beginning to accept that this is a permanent situation. So is LBH, who is kind of sad that he won't be able to fulfill his mother's dream of him becoming a cultivator, but actually really likes living in the magic shiny future with Shen Yuan and wouldn't change it now even if he could. SY is looking at long-term things for organizing Luo Binghe's further education, travel, etc. He's come out of his shell, is more active in the world and with his family because he needs to make sure his young ward gets proper socialization! (SY's family think LBH is the best thing that ever happened to him, and don't point out that they're actually only a few years apart in age; except Shen Meimei, who is the same age as LBH.) Meanwhile Luo Binghe's life plan is veering towards "housewife" aspirations, but he's still too shy to mention that to the object of his crush. It's okay though, he's got time! He'll get older and then figure out how best to approach the situation! (And in the meanwhile run off anyone else who tries to date his future husband...)

Of course, that's when it turns out that the system sent him here as an emergency measure to get him out of the way while it resolved a major issue with the actual setting. When the issues are repaired, it yanks LBH back. He finds himself returned to the exact same moment he left, in the same physical state, the years he spent living with Shen Yuan seemingly erased.

Going back to Qing Jing Peak after all that is difficult. No, worse, it's almost completely intolerable. Luo Binghe has been treated right and had a good life and now it's just gone. He has no idea how to get back.

But, that's why he has to stay. Because if there is a way to get back, then his best shot at figuring it out is learning how to cultivate, and devouring every single book in Qing Jing Peak's library, and then every other sect's library if need be. It is possible to move between worlds! He knows, because he did it! He just needs to find the way to do it again, permanently. So he stays and he deals with Shen Qingqiu's cruelty and the bullying of his sect mates, but he doesn't hold out any hope for them to improve. Instead he tries his best to hold his own ground, uses things he learned from Shen Yuan's world to steal whatever advantages he can, and pushes his way through any obstacles or competition.

He hates Shen Qingqiu, though. Especially because he has the surname Shen. Shen Yuan's family was good to him, so it seems like a cruel joke of fate that his shizun is so dead set against him. Something that could have been a comfort is instead a bitter twist of the knife.

But then a couple of years into this, Shen Qingqiu... changes?

After suffering a qi deviation, he stops beating Luo Binghe at the slightest provocation. He stops beating any of his students, in fact. He gives Binghe medicine, actually starts teaching classes, rescues Luo Binghe from a malicious skin-stealing demon, takes the blow of an incurable poison to save him from another demon, even gives him the side room of his own house to stay in. The bullying ends and the atmosphere on Qing Jing Peak changes, like night and day. Somehow he goes from being Shen Qingqiu's most hated student to being his clear favorite, even doted on disciple.

Luo Binghe is not going to fall in love with this new reformed Shen Qingqiu, though. He isn't! His heart is not so fickle that he will just fall in love with anyone who is kind to him! His love for Shen Yuan, that was real. And Shen Yuan would tell him that even though Shen Qingqiu seems to have changed, Luo Binghe shouldn't just forget about the past, because what if Shen Qingqiu returns to that behavior? It might not happen, but if it does then Luo Binghe must react accordingly.

But it's difficult, sometimes. This new Shizun, he's... he's really... sometimes he seems just like...

But Luo Binghe won't fall in love with him!

No matter what, he won't stay. He has to figure out how to move between worlds, and get back to Shen Yuan. Who he REALLY loves. Not Shen Qingqiu. He is in love with Shen Yuan and he is not falling in love with Shen Qingqiu.

At all.

[anqelbean]

SHIZUN LBH AND DISCIPLE SY??? PLEASE TELL US MORE I'M FERAL

I, too, am feral over these two nonnie, so I shall continue cause you asked so nicely <3

So, the PIDW of this universe follows the immortal lord Luo Binghe, Peak Lord of Qing Jing Peak, Demon Emperor on the side (shhhhh, that part's a secret).

Binghe is (seemingly) righteous and noble, but in truth he's always 1 step away from destroying Cang Qiong Mountain. His thread of hope for humanity is about to snap, which is not at all helped by Xin Mo, who has almost taken his mind over completely.

Enter Shen Yuan, transmigrator extraordinaire, disciple of Qing Jing Peak. The person that's supposed to expose Luo Binghe's demonic heritage to the world and kickstart the conquering of the Human Realm by the Demon Emperor, leading to Shen Yuan's eventually becoming a human stick.

Well, he doesn't want to die like that! Who would! So thigh hugging it is!

Thankfully the System in this world isn't as strict as in canon, so he does have one way of saving himself: if Shen Jiu had become Head Disciple, he would not have wanted to expose Luo Binghe.

He tries his darned best to get close to Luo Binghe, although clumsily. He always ends up walking into things when he's around 'cause he was gawking at him. Which, he reasons, is a perfectly normal thing for a disciple to do! To admire his Shizun! Especially since his Shizun was THE protagonist!

Luo Binghe doesn't know what to think of him at first. Clumsy, starry-eyed, always with his nose in the books like he's trying to memorise all the characters, not just its contents, talented enough, but lacking in experience, perfect recipe for disaster. He needs to keep an eye on him if he doesn't want to deal with a dead disciple.

But. It's strange. No one's ever looked at him like that. He knows his disciples admire him, but all of them are so terrified of him they don't dare to get close, lest they end up doing more chores as punishment. But, this Shen Yuan. It's like. Like he's not scared? Like Luo Binghe is...someone worthy of hero-worship. He can't even admit it to himself, but he cannot help but preen under his clumsy disciple's adoring gaze.

Then, a candle accidentally falls in Shen Yuan's dorm, and there's no room for him left. All his roommates went to their friends' rooms, but Shen Yuan didn't have any close friends on the peak! Where should he go???

Luo Binghe…feels he needs to play the good Shizun. It's just an act, of course. He doesn't actually care for the boy. He needs to play the cool, distant immortal, kind enough to take in a stray. He has Shen Yuan move into his side room, BUT only temporarily.

And so it begins.

Luo Binghe finds himself enjoying having someone to cook for again. He himself doesn't need to eat, so he only really does it when trying to woo a demoness into his bed. But with Shen Yuan, it's different. He hasn't cooked for someone just for them to satiate their hunger since his mother. It almost feels…intimate. Seeing Shen Yuan not eat his food so much as inhale it, hearing the sincere praise from the child's mouth… It's all too much.

It doesn't help that the boy is actually quite shameless. Taking off all his layers except one the moment he's home, even his pants! He is just prancing around with all his skin for the world to see! It makes him want to scold him, to take his layers and dress him back up himself just so he doesn't have the image of those long, long legs of Shen Yuan's stuck in his mind. So he does, “Disciple Shen should be more mindful of his appearance,” he says, desperately trying to ignore Shen Yuan's pretty red face as he stammers 'shizun' while Luo Binghe ties his robes, “Anyone could walk in, it's indecent.” And incredibly distracting, he doesn't say.

Few months pass, Luo Binghe realises one thing: this boy is the only person worthy of respect on his entire peak. If something were to happen to him, he would raze the entire mountain to the ground, himself included.

He tries everything just to touch the boy. He fixes his robes, put his hands on his shoulders, picks him up during nighthunts when things get intense, and if he touches him a little more than necessary while correcting his sword forms, well, no one notices.

For once, something has moved his cold, dead heart and Luo Binghe is a hungry soul, bleeding for more, unwilling to let go of this new tiny light he's found, wishing to devour and devour, till no one else can steal it from him, like everything else good in his miserable, lonely life.

Visual representation of this au

[sun-and-moon-mushroom]

AU where, at some point after Bingge gets thrown into the Abyss, SJ decides he’s had enough of the murder accusations and having to listen to teenage attempts to play music and wrote poetry, and decides to fuck off. He tells YQY he’s going into ‘seclusion’ for his cultivation and proceeds to change his clothes, hairstyle, and wear something that covers his face as he starts travelling around as a wandering cultivator under his original name (if asked if he’s related to that Shen, he just tells the truth — he’s an orphan who never knew his family). This eliminates at least 60% of his stress and anxiety since he’s actually able to relax without worrying about insults or keeping his reputation as a cold and elegant immortal master intact.

Time goes on, and eventually Bingge comes back. Hearing that SQQ is away, he figures he’ll just use the time to focus on gathering power and collecting evidence before he can take his revenge. Along the way, he ends up in a small town, where he ends up going to a brothel because Xin Mo is being annoying and he left his wives at home. He steps in the door and — is that Shen Qingqiu???

SJ doesn’t recognise this handsome stranger who’s uncommonly polite to prostitutes. It’s been years since he saw LBH and he was an underfed teenager then, no taller than him. Even the name wouldn’t jog his memory since it’s not like he ever used the little beast’s name outside of the occasional bit of paperwork. So, he invites him over for tea and they talk.

LBH is immediately convinced that this cannot be SQQ because he’s actually being nice to him. He invited him to sit down and have tea! He’s asking for his opinion on the music! He’s smiling! LBH is pretty sure SQQ would rather drop dead than smile at anyone, let alone him! He goes into conspiracy mode: is this a long lost relative? amnesia?? an alternate universe counterpart??? possession????

SJ now has to deal with this strange cultivator following him around, always ‘coincidentally’ visiting the same towns he does and offering to help him on night hunts… because LBH is too curious about this not-Shen-Qingqiu to leave him alone. Eventually, SJ decides the best way to get rid of this stranger is to become disliked by him, something he’s got plenty of experience with. Of course, his entire life story (who’s going to connect it to the Qing Jing peak lord anyway? and it feels surprisingly good to actually tell someone) is the perfect choice.

This has the opposite of the intended effect, as now they’re bonding over their mutually awful childhoods. SJ complains about how at least LBH had a mother, LBH points out that maybe it’s better to never have someone than loose them, and SJ brings up Yue Qi. LBH says he was abandoned in the Demon Realm, because the Endless Abyss is a bit unrealistic for an ordinary cultivator to escape, SQQ points out that he would probably have preferred the Demon Realm to the sect he ended up in, and LBH has to agree. LBH talks about his shitty master and SJ can’t help but compare him to Qiu Jianluo.

Bingge is Bingge, so of course this ends up with them in bed together. In a moment of passion, LBH accidentally calls him Shizun… and SJ realises, and immediately goes into crisis.

[jumpinginmuddypuddles]

Ok hear me out because why does the great gatsby and scum villain go so well together? I watched the broadway production (amazing btw) and was listening to the soundtrack. If you know, I got to ‘only tea’ and was like why is this the most LBH thing i have ever heard?

Therefore an au was produced. It’s not strictly accurate to TGG purely because the book itself is kind of lame and boring and i do not support f*tzgerald 

So, gatsby is clearly luo binghe, and daisy is shen yuan. Luo binghe went to war five years ago (aligns with both books, ha) and when he got back to his sweetheart, he realised he’s married to some rich guy. Probably for this it would be like yue qingyuan or something, sorry king. As a result luo binghe dedicates his life to getting super rich (even by backwater means) and buying the house across the lake from yue qingyuan and shen yuan like a siren call. 

Originally i thought shang qinghua would make a good nick, writer and all, but i also like the idea of liu mingyan as nick, getting dragged into the mix because her brother knows shen yuan quite well and luo binghe needs her to arrange a little get together for them. If you’re following musical canon, i also think sha hualing would make a good jordan, so we get some background mingling as a treat

Anyway so sha hualing introduces liu mingyan to luo binghe after she’s living in his cottage trying to make it writing novels. Luo binghe asks her to arrange a meeting between him and Shen Yuan (shen yuan thinks he died in the war and had to marry for security) and they have an affair obviously.

Since yue qingyuan is tom, i think it would be interesting if the person he was cheating on shen yuan with is shen jiu. Maybe shen jiu is the brother yue qingyuan originally wanted to marry but because of some unfortunate circumstance he ended up with the ‘wrong one’. We’re making yue qingyuan way less abusive in this au compared with canon to TGG. he’s a cheater. We don’t need to add abuser on top of that. He’s probably just neglectful. Shen yuan is defo aware of the affair with his brother and since it was a marriage of convenience i doubt he gaf. 

Anyway there’s a bingyuan affair, i’d also change the ending because I don't want shen jiu to die. I like the confrontation in the musical the most (made to last is the best song on the soundtrack imo) so i’d include where they all fight and luo binghe and shen yuan leave. Only shen yuan doesn’t HIT HIS BROTHER with luo binghe’s car.

And without ‘myrtle’s death, there’s no risk of an avenging ‘george’ (i think would be qiu haitang) to shoot luo binghe. Everyone would divorce and get with their appropriate s/o with a happy ending where no body dies and Luo Binghe quits the black market.

Liu Mingyan writes her book, Yue Qingyuan marries the right brother, a lot of parties and a lot of drinking and roaring 20s. The end. 

[afsosville]

Shen Jiu, if he was actually a competent shizun

My HC for how Shen Jiu is like with kids without trauma/healed trauma and shit: Honestly with a person like Shen Jiu, I can only see his interactions with kids going one of two ways, him being so very fond of them, and ofc, how he's like in canon. Ok look, in the third book under Shen Jiu's character description, it said that Shen Jiu definitely had more reasons to relate to Luo Binghe than to hate him yet he still chose violence for some fucked up reason. So yes, I for one headcanon that when he's in a better place mentally, he would choose to be doting and fiercely protective. We've seen that he's capable of being like that with Ning Yingying (and Qiu Haitang), and it's not outwardly obvious, but we can see it with the way she behaves around Shen Yuan when she thinks that's still Shen Jiu. She definitely acts like a spoiled younger sister/daughter who looks up to her guardian and shows a great amount of trust in him. So just imagine if that was extended to all of his disciples.

No coz if he was spared enough kindness for him to actually want to do better, he would choose the first option and emphasize with LBH instead BECAUSE smn gave HIM a chance and emphasized with HIM. LBH and SJ are parallels, and so whatever happens to SJ, it would be reflected onto LBH.

I am dead. I am so dead. I'm bleeding out so fast and goddammit it HURTS- SJ and LBH's whole story hurts sm.

Anyways-

I kinda like to imagine that when Shen Jiu's heart settles on the fact that maybe, just maybe, bleeding on ppl who didn't cut him and taking his hurt out on LBH is a no good very bad idea, he's going to end up over compensating for his whole fucking childhood and the way he projects on him is completely flipped.

"I'm going to treat you the way I wanted to be treated and ur going to feel loved and safe do you hear me?!?"

"Yes shizun (*＾v＾*)"

Here's the thing, he may be fond of his disciples, but he is still shit at taking care of them. He was robbed of his own childhood, so he doesn't know what normal kids act like in the first place. And he has no idea what the typical stages of development are and he would totally underestimate how dumb kids who didn't grow up like him would be. So yeah, shit at babysitting but loves them anyhow, for the same reason he would hate them in canon. (They remind him too much of himself). Idk, him being bad with kids regardless of trauma is so funny to me.

That moment when it clicks for him that he may not hate them after all: "oh gods these brats actually like…me? Me? Fuck what the hell do I do?! This is why no one should trust me with kids Aghhhhh!! Still think they're brats tho :( but they're my brats >:) "

He'd be like Shifu from Kung Fu Panda as a shizun. He's strict, harsh as hell and shows no mercy when training, coz becoming a cultivator/martial artist is fucking hard and requires alot of discipline anyway. So he really is doing his best to make sure his disciples come out on top. Shen Jiu is a prideful person by nature, it's just that his disciples are his pride. He's always there for them when they need him, and he will make sure that none of his disciples will ever have to go through anything he has. He wants to be the reliable adult that his disciples seek out. (He will never let it be known that he seeks his disciples' approval and validation as much as they seek his.)

Really fucking specific but idgaf. My social teacher brought chocolate bars to class and gave them out one time. After a few moments she asked if everyone was enjoying themselves. After she heard us agree she went on a lesson about slave labour and the production of goods in underdeveloped countries. Shen Jiu. Would do this. Because he’s a madman.

And Binghe. He would still end up a little unhinged. Like sure being under a master that abuses you will fuck you up one way but if you had a guardian who will start genocides and watch cities burn for you… It does things.

Shen Jiu is morally ambiguous as fuck and that rubs off onto his disciples. He is still a terrible role model, but his kids wouldn't trade him for the world:)

Would be the type that gives 5 yr olds knives for birthdays, bc he had a shit ton of them hidden away on his person when he was that age and knew how to use them when he was on the streets.

“What? It's an appropriate gift! The kid needs to have smt to protect herself! Yeah I know she didn’t grow up on the streets so what? No need to rub it in. Ok fine! I’ll teach her then just shut up. Let’s go Yan-er, some people just don’t appreciate the value of giving practical gifts WAIT PUT THAT DOWN-”

Is this lowkey self indulgent? Yes. Do I particularly care? No. I just want my favourite blorbos to be happy, is that too much to ask for? My Roman Empire is that SJ probably could've been a crazy good shizun if he had a chance to heal. If you've read The Hidden Flower, then you know exactly what I mean.

I already made a post with all of the soft BingJiu fics ik. I could literally make another one rn where they're just chilling platonically, or even as an adoptive family bc I have no chill like that and read all the SJ fics there is to read.

It's already summer and all I have going for me is my job rn and I am sooooo close to going through all nearly 400 pages under the SJ tag coz I simply can.

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

birthday countdown 2024, day 1: post-clash snippet

we are officially one day out from birthday! 🎉 it seems fitting to offer up a snippet related to my first one piece fic, clash of the four emperors—though, yes, that does mean i’ve written an epilogue to an epilogue here. what can i say, people in the comments on things to do in sabaody seemed interested in the further adventures of semi-retired shuggy, so i thought i’d try to indulge them! (and myself, lbh.) so, today i have for you some real grade a buggy pov sap, but you should be expecting that if you’ve read the above fics:

Shanks kept giving Buggy rings that didn’t meet his standards. It was always done apologetically—“Sorry, Buggy, I know this one isn’t nearly flashy enough,” or “I know, I know, it doesn’t have any diamonds…”—but he still did it!  Wasting Buggy’s time with subpar product! Eventually—once he’d been given enough almost perfect rings for every finger, with two more spare—Buggy got fed up. “If you want something done right…” he grumbled, and on the next island wealthy enough to warrant a full jeweler’s workshop, he bartered and bargained his way into getting access to a workbench, normally set aside for apprentice work.  It was easy enough to do, when he promised the owner first dibs on the scraps.

(600 words below the cut)

Shanks kept giving Buggy rings that didn’t meet his standards.

It was always done apologetically—“Sorry, Buggy, I know this one isn’t nearly flashy enough,” or “I know, I know, it doesn’t have any diamonds…”—but he still did it!  Wasting Buggy’s time with subpar product!

Eventually—once he’d been given enough almost perfect rings for every finger, with two more spare—Buggy got fed up.

“If you want something done right…” he grumbled, and on the next island wealthy enough to warrant a full jeweler’s workshop, he bartered and bargained his way into getting access to a workbench, normally set aside for apprentice work.  It was easy enough to do, when he promised the owner first dibs on the scraps.  Combining material from a dozen rings into one masterpiece of the form took an age, but Shanks didn’t question it when Buggy insisted they linger on this island a week longer than planned, then two.

When they hit the third week of postponing their travels, though, and Buggy was returning to Shanks most nights with a storm cloud brewing overhead, Shanks became a little concerned.

“I’m not telling you to stop, if you’re having fun,” he told Buggy, “but if you’re just fiddling with little details to draw things out… maybe it’s time to call it done, and move on?  To another project or another island, I don’t really care which.”

Buggy resented being told what to do, however nicely… but of course, Shanks was right.  The precise angle of the position of the accent diamonds didn’t really matter as much as the amount of time he’d spent on it would suggest, and before he sold the leftover metal and gemstones to the jeweler there was one more project he wanted to tackle.

And so, the three week delay became four, but Buggy was smiling and humming industriously to himself whenever he returned to Shanks, so Shanks had no complaints.

At the end of the month, Buggy presented Shanks with the fruits of his labor, and Shanks had nothing but good things to say.  He made all the right impressed sounds at the craftsmanship of the ring, complimented the way it sparkled in any lighting, admired how nice it looked on Buggy’s hand.  Shanks always knew the right words to say, in moments that weren’t all that important.

Then Buggy pulled out his second project, and Shanks was gratifyingly speechless.

“I went with a flush setting, so the ring shouldn’t ever snag on your clothes, and the stones won’t pop out if you get all noble and interfere in bar fights like you used to,” Buggy explained.  “And since you don’t care half as much as me about treasure, I kept the design minimal, as boring as I think that looks. Just the two stones, and an engraving on the inside.”

Shanks immediately stopped staring at the stones—a ruby and a sapphire, side by side, obviously—to tilt the ring so he could read the engraving.  Buggy flushed—it had been a spur of the moment decision, and an uncharacteristically sappy one at that, but he was pretty sure Shanks would like it.

Shanks let out a soft, wondering laugh.  “You really can’t just say what you’re thinking, can you?” he said, a hint of tears in his eyes.

Ha! Buggy, triumphant, said, “You like it, then?”

“I love it.  I love you.”  Shanks kissed him softly, tenderly, in a way Buggy was surprised to find left him breathless. (Or maybe that was more to do with the words he’d just said, ones Buggy had thought them too old and worn-down for.) He held out the ring—silently asking Buggy to put it on him, he realized.  “Please, please marry me?”

Buggy slid the ring on his hand, smirking.  “Stupid.  Didn’t I just ask you?”

[envyenvys]

svsss | one-shot | T | 2.5k | ao3

sequel to this

HE TRANSMIGRATED 🥒

#general

passionate ranting

transmigration is real and yet somehow the biggest impact it’s had on my life is that I’m now lowkey terrified of crossing the street

homoerotic undertones

are you good?

passionate ranting

no!!! what if I get fucking isekaid on my way to work!!!

homoerotic undertones

then you won’t have to work anymore..?

lmfao what kinda question

dick jokes

what’s going on?

homoerotic undertones

pash’s afraid of getting isekaid

passionate ranting

it’s a perfectly legitimate fear!!!

what if I end up in pidw and have to watch pc & lbh sucking face all the time??

homoerotic undertones

wait you’ve got a point hold on

should I be worried abt getting transmigrated? bc now I’m worried

dick jokes

there’s no way it’s common enough to be an actual issue

you’re more likely to just straight up die

homoerotic undertones

comforting

passionate ranting

forgot that was an option for a sec

why did that actually help. genuinely not even stressed anymore, thanks dj

dick jokes

that’s what I’m here for

homoerotic undertones

speechless.

passionate ranting

gonna go get groceries now that I’m not stressed out of my mind ✌️ ttyl

homoerotic undertones

ttyl…………

dick jokes

you were putting off groceries bc of this??

┌ dick jokes you’re more likely to just strai…

binghe obsession

of course, there’s always the possibility that everyone who dies gets transmigrated somewhere, and we only know about pc and airplane because they came back

homoerotic undertones

what the fuck

dick jokes

I think you just reinvented the concept of heaven

homoerotic undertones

I NEED you to stop talking right now

binghe obsession

no bc that would be a lot of people all going to the same place

also, hm

I was going to try to argue it doesn’t count as isekai/transmigration/etc but the more I think about it the more it does…

homoerotic undertones

please I’m begging you

dick jokes

this is why we need to stop doubting me

it’s all “dj that’s ridiculous” until I’m proven right 10 minutes later

homoerotic undertones

can you maybe stop speaking the most cursed things into existence then??

dick jokes

no

homoerotic undertones

then I will continue to doubt you

┌ homoerotic undertones can you maybe stop sp…

binghe obsession

and which one of us started the whole transmigration theory in the first place?

homoerotic undertones

I SAID I WAS SORRY

dick jokes

it’s fine they’ll just be coming back as a cockroach in the next life

or I guess ming fan, based on how this is going

homoerotic undertones

do you hate me be honest

binghe obsession

@ passionate ranting hurry up we just got the opportunity to make the funniest poll ever

homoerotic undertones

HEY??

dick jokes

LMAO

#photos

passionate ranting

just found my future wife

[candid photo of an elegantly dressed person with long, dark hair studiously examining a crate of watermelons.]

homoerotic undertones

oh hey you’re back

binghe obsession

here we go again

passionate ranting

this is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, if she smiled at me I’d ascend on the spot

homoerotic undertones

so does that mean you’re gonna actually try talking to this one or what

dick jokes

why tf is there a photo of pc in here and why is lbh not with him I’m scared

wait

passionate ranting

a photo of WHO

dick jokes

no fucking way

homoerotic undertones

oh my god

binghe obsession

HA

passionate ranting

no no no THIS CANT BE HAPPENING

dick jokes

LMFAOOOOO

📌 [binghe obsession pinned a message to this channel. See all pinned messages.]

passionate ranting

NOOOOOOOOO

DJ TAKE IT BACK

DJ ❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️

dick jokes

[screenshot of a half-completed portrait of two people in elaborate xianxia style hanfu. One of them is clearly Luo Binghe, the other looks identical to the person in the previous photo.]

I mean I could but I would be lying

[binghe obsession sent a voice memo.]

[Transcription: 12 seconds of loud, breathless laughter.]

passionate ranting

do you hate me be honest!!!

homoerotic undertones

I just used that one like 5 min ago

passionate ranting

FUCK

this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me

ykw. fuck it

dick jokes

?

homoerotic undertones

fuck what

dick jokes

pash?

homoerotic undertones

@ passionate ranting fuck what???

binghe obsession

we’ll find out eventually

homoerotic undertones

that’s what I’m afraid of

HE TRANSMIGRATED 🥒

#general

passionate ranting

@ dick jokes guess who just learned your government name

dick jokes

what the fuck

how????

passionate ranting

😇.

binghe obsession

you’re a little too chipper for someone who just got terminally humiliated a little over an hour ago

what are you up to

passionate ranting

who says I’m up to anything? rude

dick jokes

oh you’re definitely up to smth

passionate ranting

aren’t you late for work

dick jokes

shit

wait how did you know that

binghe obsession

you told us yesterday

dick jokes

ah

binghe obsession

dumbass

dick jokes

thanks

okay I’m off. don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone

binghe obsession

you know they will

passionate ranting

“they”

glass houses, bestie

you’ve been one of us for way too long to pretend you’re the only normal one here

#shit_happens

homoerotic undertones

guess whose apartment just got flooded ✌️

binghe obsession

the emoji is a choice

homoerotic undertones

I’m channeling pash

thought the laidback optimistic attitude would help combat the stress of the situation but honestly it’s not doing much!

passionate ranting

can confirm, it doesn’t actually help <3

also what the hell!!

aren’t you on the third floor??

homoerotic undertones

you’d think I’d be safe from water damage up here but no. some idiot on the floor above me lit their apartment on fire and decided the best way to make it not on fire anymore was by dumping gallons of water all over everything

and wouldn’t you know it! the floors and ceilings in this building are not!! watertight!!!

so now all my shit is ruined and I don’t have an apartment anymore 👍

passionate ranting

what the fuck

??????

homoerotic undertones

I’m having such a good time right now 👍👍👍

binghe obsession

I’ll see if I can clear out some space for you here

the couch sucks, but it should be fine until you find a new place

passionate ranting

I’d have you stay with me but my apartment is female-only :(

wait B don’t you have that nightmare roommate…

binghe obsession

ugh don’t remind me

homoerotic undertones

honestly I’ll take it

nightmare roommate is better than any of my other options atm

passionate ranting

low bar

is there anything you need to replace? I can bring you a few things on my way back from work tomorrow

homoerotic undertones

you guys are gonna make me cry wtf. thank you

I’m still making a list but I’ll lyk

dick jokes

holy shit under are you okay??

dw abt B’s shitty roommate, you can stay with me

homoerotic undertones

??

passionate ranting

aren’t you sharing a 1b with your own shitty roommate?

dick jokes

no they’re moving out

lbh wants me to do more portraits of him and pc, I think it’s some kind of kink thing idk I didn’t ask

binghe obsession

yeah I wouldn’t

dick jokes

anyway I was thinking of moving somewhere nicer since I have the money for it now & if under needs a new place too we might as well just find one together

you might have to stay with B for a few days but my roommate’s almost done packing, they should be gone by the end of the week

homoerotic undertones

what the fuck

passionate ranting

and when were you planning on telling us this???

dick jokes

idk it just never came up

I was planning on visiting a few places tomorrow if you’re free?

homoerotic undertones

I. yeah. yeah, okay

fuck it, why not. let’s move in together

dick jokes

cool, I’ll dm you the details

okay gotta go my break is over

passionate ranting

this is so

binghe obsession

lmk if you still need my couch. lmfao

DMs between pash (passionate ranting) and shizunshusband

pash

I’d like to apologize again for the incident at the grocery store

your husband is objectively beautiful but I wasn’t trying to flirt with him I promise, I just recognized him and wanted to say hi

also I’m a lesbian

shizunshusband

So you’ve said. Repeatedly.

pash

I’ll say it as many times as I need to, sir!

shizunshusband

Once is enough.

pash

okay

shizunshusband

You said you recognized shizun. From where? This lord was under the impression his husband looked different when he lived in this world.

pash

oh uh

there’s sort of two parts to that

so like, I don’t know what he looked like before, but I’m friends with the artist doing your portrait so I know what he looks like now

but I used to follow him online before he transmigrated, so I kind of know him? we talked a few times but we weren’t exactly friends or anything

shizunshusband

I see.

Shizun was well known in his past life, then.

pash

yeah he was pretty popular, especially in the

um

you know about proud immortal demon way… right?

shizunshusband

Yes, this lord is aware.

pash

thank god lol

anyway yeah everyone in the pidw fandom knows who he is

I used his analysis to get the details right in my fanfics a few times

shizunshusband

What are “fanfics”?

HE TRANSMIGRATED 🥒

#good_news

passionate ranting

finally got commissioned again!!! things are looking up

binghe obsession

now all you need is a girlfriend

passionate ranting

fuck off

homoerotic undertones

congrats pash!!

passionate ranting

ty!!

this is gonna be my magnum opus, I can feel it

homoerotic undertones

what was the comm for anyway?

passionate ranting

it’s a secret ��

homoerotic undertones

yk normally I wouldn’t think anything of it but the timing is suspicious

what are you up to

passionate ranting

you’re the third person to ask me that wtf

god forbid women do anything

binghe obsession

you walked right into that one

homoerotic undertones

forget I asked

Texts between Shen Yuan and Shang Li

Shen Yuan

why does binghe know what fanfic is

answer me

Shang Li

I don’t know!!! it wasn’t me this time I swear!!!

Shen Yuan

who tf else would he be talking to!!!!

Shang Li

idk!!!

the artist maybe??

Shen Yuan

no the artist is terrified of him, they don’t talk

Shang Li

and you’re just fine with that

Shen Yuan

I’m not gonna force binghe to interact with people who don’t like him!

they’re doing just fine. if something goes wrong I’ll intervene

Shang Li

…

wait didn’t you run into one of the artist’s friends earlier

Shen Yuan

we haven’t been talking to her either, though?

she tried to give me her discord username but binghe took it. thankfully she didn’t try to add me on weibo

Shang Li

hmm

HE TRANSMIGRATED 🥒

#general

binghe obsession

so how’s the apartment hunt going. lmfao

homoerotic undertones

it’s going great, actually!

we’ve already narrowed it down to a few places, the process has been surprisingly smooth

binghe obsession

oh I’m sure

dick jokes

don’t listen to them, under’s just easy to please

homoerotic undertones

it’s not like we need a lot of space!!

2bs with a nice view are super easy to find when you have an unlimited budget

dick jokes

and a dishwasher

there’s no reason either of us has to live that way anymore

homoerotic undertones

and a dishwasher, right

you’re so good to me <3

binghe obsession

do you two hear yourselves

homoerotic undertones

?

DMs between dj (dick jokes) and eatingtangyuan (binghe obsession)

dj

do NOT fucking blow this for me

eatingtangyuan

LMFAO

HE TRANSMIGRATED 🥒

#general

→  a wild airplane shooting towards the sky appeared.

homoerotic undertones

DJ WHAT THE FUCK

dick jokes

IT WASNT ME

binghe obsession

who else could it possibly have been

passionate ranting

no they’re right. it was me

I trust you’ll keep your end of the bargain, mr plane

airplane shooting towards the sky

ya ofc, this is fucking hilarious

you know ning yingying isn’t gonna fuck you though right

passionate ranting

that’s what they said about pc, but look at him now

┌ passionate ranting would you read the peerles…

airplane shooting towards the sky

hey can you make this again real quick

for no particular reason

passionate ranting

yeah for sure hold on a sec ✌️

[passionate ranting created a poll.]

would you read the peerless cucumber transmigration romance?

☐ yes I need to know how his brain works [20%]

☐ fuck no he’d be insufferable [80%]

5 votes • 23h left

passionate ranting

wow

homoerotic undertones

brutal

dick jokes

no I get it

┌ passionate ranting that’s what they said a…

binghe obsession

hey quick question. what did you mean by this

not to ruin the vibe or anything

passionate ranting

dw this is less isekai and more portal fantasy

the only truck running me over is airplane’s giant ass husband

in like a neutral non-sexual way. he’s very tall and intimidating and the whole demon thing is hard to wrap my head around

airplane shooting towards the sky

nice save

passionate ranting

why does this keep happening to me

Texts between Shen Yuan and Shang Li

Shang Li

yk if you think about it you’re technically the protagonist of a villainess transmigration novel

Shen Yuan

there are easier ways to die, but if you insist

Shang Li

haha!! just kidding!!

also do you think nyy likes pathetic women or is she more into the buff & capable type

Shen Yuan

?

yingying’s straight

Shang Li

bro

parallel lines by pashwritesfic

傲仙魔途 | Proud Immortal Demon Way - Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky

Rated E

Luo Binghe/Shen Qingqiu

Tags: slow burn, enemies to lovers, horror elements, hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending, qi deviation, airplane shooting towards the sky’s plot devices

Summary:

“Now, little beast,” Shizun snapped, flicking his fan out to cover the bottom of his face.

Luo Binghe stopped hesitating and prepared the tea. The last time he did this, his attempt was so poor that Shizun dumped the whole cup over his head rather than be forced to drink it. He’d practiced since then, sneaking into the kitchens at night so he would never be humiliated like that again.

The tea he served his shizun this time was fragrant, perfectly steeped. As Shizun brought the cup to his lips, Luo Binghe braced himself for his reaction. He expected dismissive words, a cruel sneer, even to be right back where he started with scalding tea dripping onto his robes.

He didn’t expect Shizun to smile.

Or: there’s something wrong with Shen Qingqiu, and Luo Binghe is the only one who’s noticed.

HE TRANSMIGRATED 🥒

#general

passionate ranting

just posted my new fic ✨

[link]

homoerotic undertones

your comm was for lbh/sqq?

you really found your niche huh

passionate ranting

I mean, I guess you could say that lol

homoerotic undertones

?

airplane shooting towards the sky

oh hey congrats!

wait what is this

passionate ranting

thanks bestie!! don’t worry about it

do you think this technically counts as rpf now

airplane shooting towards the sky

please don’t ask me that

———

Notes: the “li” I’ve chosen for sqh’s birth name is 栗 meaning “chestnut” or “cold”, I figured it could sound like a (hopefully) normal name while also referencing lbh being sort of a self insert

[endlessburningdarkness]

Hey Speaking as a gay man who has had sex with women and thoroughly didnt enjoy it and didnt want to do it but fully consented anyway so I dont consider it S/A, I consider my experiences to be fairly comparable to shen yuans with binghes and also would like to point out that shen yuan is clearly shown to enjoy the sex in the dream extra and in the resentment of chunshan extra binghe says "As for this disciple, he never could have forced you like this. If Shizun merely furrowed his brow, this disciple wouldn’t have been able to continue. How could | let Shizun sob like this yet still not stop? The depiction here is a bit unrealistic" and Shen qingqiu agrees with this. I agree the maigu ridge scene was very unconsensual for both parties involved but after that I dont think it can be called sexual assault

I don't think your experience as a gay man is comparable to Shen Yuan's first of all and its really vey disingenuous of you to ignore all the other factors that go into Shen Yuan's decisions. Namely that LUO BINGHE NEARLY DESTROYED THE WHOLE WORLD!!

LBH threatens to destroy the wold and Shen Yuan's love and acquiescence to sex is because he thinks he has to do it, or LBH will go right back to fucking destroying the world.

Did your partner also threaten to kill people if she didn't get her way? Was she also an all-powerful demon who could hold you down and force you to take it? Was your ass also bleeding? I get trying to find yourself in a story but please don't pretend this is anything like your situation. Were your friends and family also being threatened with you know? DEATH??

Do you see how your situation is not comparable?

Also! Shen Yuan does not enjoy it! He thinks its the worst thing ever, it's painful, it's terrible. And the really awful part is that he asks LBH not to make him bleed and then when that happens anyway, he asks him to slow down, and LBH fucking speeds up instead!! It is not comparable to you possibly having an uncomfortable time with consensual sex, because you were not being penetrated until you bled nor where you under the possible world-ending pressure Shen Yuan is under.

Question for you, if your partner had pegged you until you bled and then carried on when you asked to slow down, would you consider it sexual assault then? Because that's the specific thing I'm calling sexual assault. I have a feeling you would feel differently about that.

Just because LBH says he would stop doesn't mean he will! In fact, when Shen Yuan asks to slow down, he doesn't fucking listen!! Shen Yuan does more than furrow his brow, he actually says, the words slow down. and LBH literally doesn't listen to him. He is lying to you and Shen Yuan and for some reason you believe the character that is shown to be manipulative and deceptive? Do you believe his fake crying too? LBHs words don't match his actions, and actions speak louder than words imo

Ok, so let me find the quotes:

Shen Yuan literally, mentally calls for help. That's not what you do when your consenting and enjoying the act for god's sake. Again he is not speaking to the reader, those are his actual thoughts.

He decided to conceded. To concede as in to stop resisting, bc he doesn't fucking want it. And it says one more time, because he doesn't want there to be a next time, bc, again clearly implying he doesn't fucking want it. If he was really into this, why would he have that thought? Who has consensual, amazing kinky sex with their horny husband and thinks, man I'm never doing this again?

And once again LBH doesn't fucking listen to him when he's begging for him to slow down. Like if this was actually negotiated beforehand, it would be one thing. BUT THEY DO NOT NEGOTIATE! and guess what? un-negotiated rape kink, is well, rape. The only thing that makes it not rape is the negotiation. Which as you know, does not fucking happen!

Good for you if you don't think this is sexual assault. I'm glad you don't feel SA'd but goddamn the situation is really not comparable, and just because you had that experience doesn't mean you have the authority on what is and isn't sexual assault. The wedding night scene reads like sexual assault to me and many others and our interpretation is perfectly valid. You don't get to interpret the text for us, I'm afraid. And you most certainly don't get to dictate what is and isn't sexual assault because of your personal experience.

Consent needs to be ongoing and genuinely free. Shen Yuan does not feel genuinely free, he's constantly feeling like it's his job and his duty. The whole world was nearly destroyed after he rejected LBH. He's under all this immense pressure to make it work and convince LBH he loves him. He's scarred of bleeding out the arse and he even asks LBH to slow down! He isn't pretending to be scared, those are his actual thoughts and feelings in the scene. He talks himself into thinking it's okay, but that doesn't mean it is. And it doesn't mean he wasn't assaulted. You can't retroactively consent either, so him being okay with it later doesn't make it magically okay and fully freely consensual in that moment.

Him physically enjoying the act doesn't make it magically consensual either, that's a goddamn rape myth. Just like it's a rape myth that people can't retract consent at any time, or that sexual assault is only when someone is fighting off the attacker. Just because he didn't fight, doesn't mean he really wanted it. Like, seriously, it's so sad that I have to explain this in 2024. A lack of resistance is not consent!

Please educate yourself on rape myths and abuse dynamics, because Shen Yuan literally acts like a battered spouse in the morning, he fawns, a common response in victims the next morning, calling LBH his husband in an attempt to appease him. again just because Shen Yuan isn't calling it assault and is telling himself it's all okay (the EXACT SAME THING HE DOES AT MAIGU RIDGE) doesn't mean it is.

Most people don't realize they've been sexually assaulted in the moment, especially if its by someone they love and care for. Because that's really hard to admit in that moment. They tell themselves it's okay and not a problem. They even do things for the abuser. Like this person, who made breakfast for their rapist the morning after. It can take months/years to realize they've been abused assaulted.

I get that you want to pretend that bingqiu is wholesome and healthy but the text literally doesn't support that. Their whole relationship is built on the lie that Shen Yuan is Shen Qingqiu, and he feels pressure to make Binghe happy so LBH won't fucking end the world! It is not healthy and that is FINE!! You can still enjoy it! You can still like it!

Just don't try to tell me it isn't what it is.

Don't be disingenuous about it either! Like if what happened to Shen Yuan actually happened to you, as in you were bleeding out the arse and your partner—DID NOT STOP, REFUSED TO SLOW DOWN—and none of that was negotiated, I'm fairly fucking sure you would count that as sexual assault.

And before you say it's fantasy, yeah exactly, it's not real, ergo not comparable to your situation. Because Shen Yuan is not a gay man having consensual sex with a woman with no other complicating factors. Not even close.

I really hope you will educate yourself on this topic. Consent, free and genuine, not coerced or pressured, needs to be ongoing throughout the sexual encounter. Shen Yuan's perspective really reads like he's just enduring it for LBH's sake, and I know you can see that reading because if you really thought they were all wholesome, you would not pressed about me pointing it out. You would just laugh at me and move on. The defensiveness you've demonstrated in trying to convince me the clearly implied sexual assault isn't sexual assault just tells me you are not secure in your belief that it's consensual.

That you had to bring your own personal experience as a defence just proves it even more, because the text clearly doesn't try to assure us it was all super wholesome like you are lol.

I hope you're in a better place now, with regards to your experience. Toodles.

[peachshadows]

Ok, ok, you want SVS rip-off asks? I gotchu, boo.

1) Since Wukong and Liu’er now share a living space (the palace), is there ever going to be a “and there was one bed” scenario that normalizes them both to snuggling? (Liu’er: platonically, ofc. It’s only natural that the main character is so good with cuddling. Wukong: *dying*)

2) Does this AU ever get its Meng Mo (the Dream Demon?) I always thought it was fascinating how SQQ ended up guiding LBH through his bad memories. Or mayhaps Wukong gets stuck in the scroll by accident and Liu’er fishes him out and they bond? (And Wukong falls even more in love?)

3) Please tell me that one (or more) of the harem members end up writing and publishing fanfic about Shadowpeach. Please tell me that there are published works about the Hero and the Warrior. It would be so FUNNY.

4) Any plans or storylines for how Wukong gets his hands on his staff? Did he get it with the help of Liu’er? Was it a gift? Was it found by accident?

1. I'm sad to report but Wukong is actually sleeping in a spare room beside Macaque's room so unfortunately we won't have the "there's only one bed" situation. Maybe I'll add one in the future if I can think of a way to add it

2. I'll be real with you Meng Mo is so irrelevant to me that I forgot he had a whole thing with Binghe so honestly I probs won't add a version of him in the story but you mentioning the scroll is actually interesting! I'll think I'll add that to the story cuz that sounds interesting like I can totally see Wukong getting stuck in the scroll and Macaque being the only one able to get him out like a dashing knight ready to save his prince

3. LET ME TELL YOU THEY HAVE A WHOLE CLUB ABOUT SHADOWPEACH. Like all of the harem members are giggling and kicking their feet at the thought of shadowpeach getting together so I'm deffo gonna be doing an extra about them once I ever finish the main story. (Like c'mon the idea they publish shadowpeach fanfiction is way too good of an idea. Imagine shadowpeach REACTING to the fanfiction)

4. The staff is actually in mount huaguo already! Wukong just has to do a whole crowning ceremony and he can actually take his staff from it's mound. Nothing that grand or insane but I have already thought of a conflict regarding the staff hehe

[trenchcoat-full-of-recs]

Favourite fics of 2023

Now that the year is over, I figured I'd cast my eye back over the previous year to see what were my favourite fics I discovered that year. Notably, they may not have been published last year--just the ones that I read during that time period.

I have absolutely no idea what they will be, so I'm curious to dive into my bookmarks...

MDZS/CQL

Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark -- oooh, apparently it was last year that I consumed this. It's a behemoth of a story at over 700k words; it's a slowly sprawling tale, and I read and reread it during the same year. And it's been one of the rare WIPs that I have been following faithfully. It's an AU in which WWX and LWJ, early on during the Gusu lectures, have the extra-canonical chapters' dreams about each other (that's to say, the ravishing in the library and the peaceful domesticity) and this triggers them realizing their feelings, which in turn changes rather a lot of things. This sounds underwhelming, but the fic really is very good and rather epic in scope! I have appreciated how it depicts WWX--intensely intelligent, precocious, but in need of guidance; and he and LWJ are darling together. I only hope it keeps being this good for the next 700k words or however much it takes!

You'll See Me Again by anon -- oh man, I loved this one. It's sadly a short-ish WIP (12k> words), but the concept is brilliant: it's NHS, who's time-travelled back and is determined to fix everything by getting WWX as his younger brother, and it's told from NMJ's baffled point of view. It's very good! I just wish it were longer.

Mourning Dove by jaemyun - a WIP featuring a dark LWJ who's very fed up with the hypocrisy of the cultivation world. Hasn't updated in a while, though...

SVSSS

This was the year I read SVSSS! Boy, did I ever love it. This naturally unlocked a new fandom for me, so here are some of my favourite fics:

A Transmigrator and a Time Traveler Walk Into the Bamboo House by VeryCharismaticDragon - this is super lovely! This is Binghe who time-travels from after SQQ's self-destruction to the start of the story. And he's determined to change things, even as he's trying to understand them. The whole thing is great.

The More You Don't Know by Neery - this is sweet and angsty in just the right way. Binghe is convinced SQQ only loves him because he doesn't realize he's a demon, and does his best to hide. (There's also a canon divergence in there.)

The Peace Between Divine Pec- ah-hm sorry - uh…Peaks by AceOfDivineChlorophyll - I need to catch up with the latest chapters of this, but I have it bookmarked as "absolutely love it, mega oblivious SQQ thinks he's LBH's advisor and not realizing that he's effectively the empress (something everyone around him sees) and of course not realizing also that he's super in love with LBH."

Particular by thehoyden - a very sweet SQQ/LBH a/b/o!

The King's Avatar

This is also the year when I consumed this canon!

Born of Fire (We Shall Not Fall) by TheDefenestrator - I loved this fic so much. So much. It's my favourite take on omegaverse I've ever seen in any fic, ever. It's got a super lovely Ye Xiu/Han Wenqing slowburn and Ye Xiu joining Tyranny, but it's also set in this universe which brings this omegaverse context into everything and makes it extra delicious. It's so well done. I just hope it updates one day.

here in search of your glory by Synoshian - I also adored this long slowburn long slowburn Ye Xiu/Han Wenqing WIP where Ye Xiu joins Tyranny.

Bond/Q

a bloodless coup by Ark - scorchingly hot, great characterisations, very well done.

There's a lot more fics that I read and enjoyed last year, but these were in my bookmarks as absolute faves, so I figure it's fair enough to end it here!

[ghostclowning]

anyway this post exists just to let out some things(and also for me to archive things) bc my brain been rotting(help) for quite some time (svsss au long post)

an AU where zzl survives(jk lmao as we all know, he never died<3) but bc of severe wounds he lost some power...tlj's power also was not enough to disguise him as human well enough, but they found a solution - to keep him in a compact "energy-efficient" smaller form. Yes, the obligatory "my demon turned into a child" arc.

But tlj also sees this as a great opportunity to give zzl a new start bc he himself wants to just chill and absolutely doesn't need a second in command for that(besides, he's still young, why waste his life away near this rotting old man? get a life, boy). And so he hands the baby-lang to sqq, cause, naturally, who even would make a better shizun.

Sqq really hesitates but zzl seems to be in despair. as if he doesn't quite understand why his uncle is so eager on giving him away. and he just looks so cute and pettable. and sqq gives in. it's ok if it's just a kid right???sure lbh will get jealous anyway but at least sqq can slap him with a fan for being unreasonable.

His house is now infested with snakes but hey, at least all the other beasts and pests keep away now. His new disciple is...awful with swords(why would he ever learn to hold one when he could turn into a giant snake?? I wouldn't), but is quite helpful around the house(when lbh isn't looking). And has money.

He also looks human most of time when he's not using his demonic powers. When he does, some of his snake traits or demon mark begin to show up, but he and sqq are thoroughly trying to keep his true identity a secret. Sqq actually feels a little bitter about being his "shizun" bc, frankly spoken, it's more like zzl could teach him a thing or two, like some demonic tricks. So sqq just sticks to trying to teach him sword mastery so it would be believable that it's just his disciple.

Over time i even made some concept sketches bc i am so normal about this(his hairstyle was given to him by sqq who once got a little carried away and forgot that zzl is not actually a child...still, if master shen did this, then this is good). Sqq called him Zhu-er and oddly enough, no one suspected a thing...perhaps bc to everyone else he was just a secret character<#

anyway they're having a blast and silly little time(non romantic and never will be)(i just find it wholesome)<-delusional

If you actually read this till the end, I'm impressed(and thank you)

[thegoldenavenger]

About... 7k of reverse tropes "nursing home" au inspired by the bingliu server as always. Minor warnings for themes of mortality, elder abuse, controlling behavior, cults (???), and uh less than canon typical violence. Mostly it's funny I hope. Not betad and an outline fic.

LBH volunteers at the nursing home in homage to his adoptive mother who was a nurse there. He's seen as a sweet boy, dedicated and hard working. He is 100% the "statistic that caregivers exert undue influence unto their charge in order to be included as a beneficiary in their will is an error. Luo Binghe who gets included in over three digits of wills and inheritance clauses is an outlier adn should not have been counted."

Mostly bc the folks he volunteers for genuinely like him, but also bc after his mom died, only being in some random grandmother's will helped him survive and start going to college so now he games the system by being sweet and maybe a little manipulative.

Shen Qingqiu is an older gentleman who has been in and out of hospitals and is now recovering in the assisted living center (or something idk). Shen Qingqiu is rich and aloof looking, can be extremely acerbic so a lot of the nurses avoid him when they can. His family, if he has any, do not visit.

Luo Binghe has time and holes in his schedule so he starts feeling out how receptive sqq is. His other target is the old palace master, who is also very rich and old, but less acerbic. Lbh has already started on OPM and he's very friendly but he also has like a billion grandkids who lbh low key has to compete with. OPM seems to favor lbh anyway, but lbh doesn't see any harm in befriending someone a little lonelier just in case.

LQG only meets sqq by mistake. Maybe he's looking for somewhere to house one of his relatives, or maybe he's tagging along to visit a friend's relative. Maybe he has to do volunteer hours for a course he's taking. Whatever it is, he and sqq come into contact. Sqq finds out lqg is [doing something badly that sqq has experience in. Like, idk getting a relatively low grade in literature] sqq immediately picks on this bc he is a terrible gremlin who likes being mean. Lqg, not really beholden to etiquette or respect for old people, fires back.

They get in a very, retroactively, embarrassing verbal spar. Sqq is very haughty and clever, teases out what parts lqg is struggling most with, gives backhanded advice, and mostly enjoys winding lqg up.

Lqg, for his part, is never really challenged in this specific way ever. A) He respects the older people actually in his life bc they deserve it (hmm do they haha) so he just like. Nods when they scold him. B) He usually excels at what he does so he doesn't get chastised often. C) when he doesn't excel he's eager for pointers which are given to him bc he is a martial prodigy everyone wants to nurture except for D) when he's underperforming in the soft arts. He isn't stupid, but no one expects him to be good at poetry or reading, so when he struggles with dyslexia or too literal thinking no one really bothers to help him. So this is like amazing for him.

LBH walks in on the tail-end of the fight, is APALLED, and physically escorts lqg off the premises. Literally picks him up and yeets him out the door. (It's a double KO for lqg who wanders off dazedly) LBH has been trying to get sqq to open up for like weeks now, and he didn't know sqq cared so much for that particular topic, which LBH knows a lot about. So LBH tries to engage with sqq that way. Sqq is perhaps a little more receptive but still taciturn and kind of mean about it.

LBH's endless well of patience finally runs dry, he calls sqq a mean old man, and sqq finally laughs at him. Lbh storms off, upset he got upset and ruined his image and chances of getting into sqq's inheritance probably. The staff and other residents are furious at sqq bc NOONE has ever made lbh upset before, how dare he singe their precious cinnamon roll of a white lotus binghe.

Turns out, the meaner lbh gets, the more crotchety old sqq actaully likes him.  He sees right through lbh's sheep act, is pretty wary that lbh is cozy-ing up to him bc he's about to die and his money and estate might as well go somewhere, and also hates that lbh just lies down and lets anyone walk all over him to seem mild and tender. He's a human person, not a chicken nugget, sqq thinks he should grow a spine and take what he wants and also stop hanging out with literal Cult Leader OPM.

Lqg mulls over sqq's advice, such as it is, applies it, and does a little better then expected. Everyone is shocked and congratulates him (as if the miniscule amount he's improved deserves that) and then tells him to relax and not over exert himself in areas he's not suited towards / doesn't need in life. He is increasingly upset with the people he has around him and goes back to the assisted living center, figures out that they really dont let just anyone walk in and starts a commotion at the front desk.

He can't even say he's there to visit sqq bc he doesn't know his name and saying he wants to visit "the shameless, underhanded, mean old man in green" was probably not the best way to get a visitor's badge...

Lbh is helping sqq take a walk around the center for exercise, sqq bitching the whole time, so they come across lqg making a fuss. Lbh squares up to Remove The Problem, but sqq elbows him out of the way and power walks over to lqg like he wasn't just complaining of a bum hip three seconds ago. He stops half way and switches smoothly into Refined Older Gentleman Strolling mode, with his hands primly behind his back.

LBH is so mad, and also curious so he just watches.

When LQG finally clocks that sqq is approaching he points a very rude finger at him and says "that guy! I'm visiting him!" To the receptionist.

Everyone shuts up, even sqq pauses. He wanted to get in a fight again (lbh has loosened up a tad and will verbally spar with him but he doesn't lose his temper and the sparring is more complicated and maybe a bit more bitter than the uncomplicated win sqq is assured he'd get over lqg) (yes. This man is mad he can't bully lbh more effectively, he's an awful dude ajakskdkdldl) but he wasn't expecting lqg to come back for him. He thought lqg might be here for whatever reason he was here last time.

The receptionist glances at sqq, like... "him? Really?" And sqq sniffs and imperiously waves his hand. "It took you long enough" he says "hurry up and check him in" he orders the receptionist who thinks very hard about calling security before deciding sqq deserves whatever mess he's getting into and hands lqg a visitor badge.

Lbh awkwardly follows them, unwilling to leave them alone when he JUST got sqq to regularly (yell) talk to him. For some reason, sqq's verbal acidity and berating is... well, lbh likes it more than OPM's friendly smiles and incessant little gifts. Like hell he's gonna let some random guy piggy back off his hard work.

Lqg doesn't waste time. He slams his [idk. Test. Essay? Reading report????] Down in front if sqq and crosses his arms.

Sqq stares at it and then at lqg. Lbh sneaks a glance too and makes a face. Sqq says "It was clear at first glance that you were an idiot but I did not know it ran this deep." He reluctantly picks up the paper and flips through, with a face like he's watching a train wreck.

Lqg growls, tense. He hasn't sat down and his hands are white knuckled against the table between them. He leans over sqq almost threatengly, steely gaze watching sqq's every minute change. "Is it hopeless, then?" 

Sqq's expression twitches as he keeps going through, line by line. He recognizes a lot of the mistakes LQG has made, diagnosis him with dyslexia almost immediately, frowns bc he can see the underlying structure lqg is going for but can't execute.

Lbh comes around sqq's side and reads over his shoulder. He's sure sqq is going to throw the papers back in lqg's face, which will serve him right. The paper header catches his attention. Maybe it's the teacher's name, or even lqg's name that he recognizes, but he puts two and two together, realizes lqg would be a Very Beneficial Friend to make, and decides when SQQ throws him out lbh will pick up the pieces. LQG is sure to have richer more influential friends that lbh can use... this will be perfect. He can't stay loitering around this place forever, at some point he has to grow up and be successful and honor his mother's efforts to raise him up...

"It's terrible." Sqq finally says, his voice heavy.

Lqg, who has been told to give up trying by everyone around him and has stubbornly insisted on trying to push through, actually slumps down in his seat. If this random old man thinks it's not worth it, if even he, who doesn't know lqg at all, thinks he's too stupid to improve, maybe he really should stop trying.

LBH cannot help his smug smile. Trust in sqq to tear down anyone's walls, now lbh can just follow after lqg, discarded papers in hand, and offer to go over them with him. It's bad but not hopeless, and anyways, lbh is a great ghostwriter. Lqg looks like a dumb athlete, so even if lbh can't improve his brain he can still improve his grades—

"Whoever tutors you needs to be fired," sqq interrupts lbh's fantasy, and takes a red pen out of his pocket. (He carries it around to correct typos in the books people leave lying around. He also writes scathing reviews on newspapers, magazines, charts that nurses accidentally leave unattended. He's a terror. It is policy to confiscated pens from him.) He starts marking the paper up, saturating it in red.

He actually pinches lqg's ear to pull him closer, pointing at a section to ask for clarification. Lqg halting gives it, sqq expands on it, lqg looks confused and extremely out of his depth.

"Make yourself useful and get my notebook!" Sqq orders lbh, waving his hand in lbh's face.

Lbh grimaces but runs to sqq's bedroom and gets the notebook (he hasn't completely fallen out of his white lotus persona just yet). When he hands it to sqq, sqq pulls lqg in for the Lecture of All Time. Lqg goes from looking wary and confused to determined, all furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips.

Lbh stands around and then wanders off to make snacks, determined to insert himself into this (he wants to be useful so badly! He wants someone to expend that much effort on him!! Isn't sqq supposed to be mean? And yeah, he's yelling at lqg and hitting him with his pen or his notebook to make sure he's paying attention, but sqq is supposed to be making him cry! Not helping him!!!) when he comes back he sets a plate of light finger foods down by sqq's elbow.

Sqq's hand automatically reaches for one and eats it. He pauses his whole lecture to chew. Lbh is unaccountably nervous for sqq's reaction. Sqq's reaction is rather a non reaction. He doesn't comment on lbh's food. But he eats more of it when he continues lecturing lqg and when lqg fails to come up with an answer he points his pen at lbh instead.

Lbh immediately replies, answering perfectly (of course) and sqq nods decisively, awarding him a point. Lbh grins, and lqg hisses "show off" decidedly not under his breath. Lbh responds in kind and the two start in on each other, lqg itching to do something he's confident in and lbh riding high on the one (two!! In sqq's book not taking the moment to spit vitriol is practically praise!) Bit of affirmation sqq had bestowed

Sqq gets tired of them yammering and kicks them both out, telling lqg to stop by again if he's up for getting his brain wrung out like sponge.

Lbh has never been kicked out before so he doesn't really know what to do and ends up wandering after lqg. So what, his plan to comfort lqg kind of... never got off the water, and also the guy keeps shooting wary glances at him, lbh will just annoy him into letting him around lqg's friends and connections. Also, seeing lqg riled up is really making lbh's chest glow. There's no reason to split ways now.

Lqg finds suggestions written in bold all throughout his papers. "Request materials reprinted / displayed in different font" "get a line reader" one note is just a web address. His watch buzzes, and it's time to go to the gym.

Lbh is STILL following him, so lqg tells him to buzz off. Lbh, who isn't blind and can see the gym bag lqg is holding says he is also going to the gym. Lqg points out lbh's lack of gym bag and gym clothes. Lbh says it's lqg's fault for getting him kicked out of his volunteer job early.

Lgq maybe feels a little bad about that so he lets lbh tag along after him. He has to make a stop at his apartment instead of going straight to the gym like he wanted to, in order to throw some spare clothes at lbh, and then they both go to the gym where lqg gets to vent [gestures to all of it]. He's actually feeling pretty damn good! He's got things kind of worked out! Sqq is mean, but he's forcing things into lqg's head that no one has bothered to do before. Lqg isn't like... going to pursue the arts or anything, his family has his future lined up for him already and he isn't particularly interested in the arts. It's just that he wants to prove, if only to himself, that he isn't Just a dumb strong guy.

Meanwhile, lbh's jaw is on the ground. How high can lqg kick? How flexible is he????? How much can he dead lift????????? That's more than lbh weighs!

Lbh is strong but not especially trained. So like, yeah he can throw lqg over his shoulder when the guy is distracted but he's suddenly hyper aware that he might not be able to if lqg was actually fighting him.

He asks for a spar and he learns Very Quickly that, yes, that was indeed an exception... lbh holds his own surprisingly well for someone who isn't trained, lqg is very reluctantly impressed. Lbh ends up flat on his back gripping a Sports Drink(tm) for dear life reconsidering all his plans

So this is how it goes: lqg visits sqq three times a week for the most violent cram school imaginable. Lbh volunteers daily still, spends less time with OPM and more time nagging sqq and following after lqg's gym visits. Sqq is surprisingly content beating knowledge into such a meat head kid, and smug that lbh is dropping more and more of his goody two-shoe act in favor of getting into fights with lqg and debates with sqq.

Lbh enjoys figuring out what snack foods both sqq and lqg will eat; They are both surprisingly picky over food. Sqq likes things that are clean, light, delicate. Lqg eats things that are protein heavy,  clean, and healthy. It's more of a challenge than lbh thought it would be, and a little frustrating when he finds something that one of them likes but the other won't eat.

(Lbh spends an inordinate amount of time on some tanghulu and tea cakes to go along with a high quality tea... sqq practically inhales his portion, praising lbh's tea with more genuine words than he usually does. Lqg makes a face and tells lbh he doesn't eat that much sugar, but they look very nice. The face he makes is sort of resigned)

Lqg keeps improving in his classes. Enough so that one classmates (Mu Qingfang) asks him if he wants to go on a field research trip with him. It's mostly a camping trip, Mqf would deal with all the fiddly bits, but it seems like something lqg would like, mqf says offhandedly.

Lqg mulls it over, brings it up to sqq and lbh the next time he sees them. Sqq is interested in mqf's topic of research and sort of encourages him to go just so sqq can also get in on it. (Lbh watches like 80 year old sqq try and teach lqg how to use the video call function on lqg's drastically unsexy phone)

Lqg goes on the trip.

Sqq and lbh both adjust fairly badly to not seeing lqg like they're used to.  Sqq is surprisingly lonely and takes it out lbh.  Lbh relishes sqq interacting with him more but misses lqg anyways. Without lqg's tutoring lbh goes back to his regular volunteering routine, which means he's back to spoon-feeding OPM

Opm has Not been Happy about lbh spending less time with him. Opm is like, a literal Cult Leader and has been trying to snare lbh for himself this whole time. At first, sqq's abrasiveness seemed perfect, like he'd drive lbh deeper into opm's clutches, but somehow that did not work out. With the addition of lqg helping bridge that gap, lbh seems to be getting further away

Opm pulls some strings, has his dear grand daughter (LPM) start flirting with lbh, and GYX try and take up sqq's time. He also makes a few calls bc he recognizes lqg's family name at least.

It all comes to a head very suddenly.

LQG's family find out he's spending a lot of time is SQQ's care, ducking out on his other responsibilities (he has just rescheduled his time... lqg would never disrespect his family by ditching his other classes and what have yous, but it's all the same to them) that he went on mqf's  camping trip without consulting them, potentially putting himself at risk for injury or sickness or whatever. They're pissed.

Lqg tries arguing that he's literally just getting tutored for his grades and he should be supported for that. He's trying to balance his mind and body, and they should respect that. Instead he gets told that he's undermining their plans for him, being disobedient and willful when he should be grateful he has the chance and privilege to be training for his martial dreams (blah blah blah)

He's thoroughly dressed down and forbidden from visiting the home

Lqg gets increasingly angry and has no idea why he's being punished, because he hasn't dropped any skill he has, and is only trying to improve himself. Honestly, it's starting to feel more and more like committing to the nebulous martial arts / professional athlete career his family is grooming him for is increasingly like stepping into a gilded cage. He enjoys honing his body and competing and it is absolutely killing him that he's getting so torn up about it now.

Literally his only respite is hiding in his baby sister's room and reading stories to her. She loves when he reads to her and she thinks her brother is the smartest person in the whole world.

Unfortunately for sqq and lbh, lqg seems like he drops off the face of the planet. He just stops making video calls with sqq (phone is confiscated) he doesn't show up to his next scheduled cram session (grounded) he just disappears. Sqq idly thinks that he broke him and ran him off.

Lbh is a little suspicious. The man he spars with wouldn't run from anything! He'd definitely tell them to their face when he was done. Probably. Unless lbh scared him off some how? Maybe lqg got tired of lbh stalking him (dropping in on him at the gym, figuring out where his classes were so he can stop by and walk to the assisted living place together, etc) all the time? Maybe... lqg found out lbh was trying to use him to social climb? (Lbh mostly stopped planning to do that the moment lqg laid him flat at the gym but!!! Maybe lqg picked up on something anyway)

Meanwhile, lbh keeps having to fend off LPM, sqq is getting a little annoyed with GYX, and lqg is not sure how he's grounded when he is a whole ass adult... sure he doesn't actually have a job bc he has literally never needed one in his life, but he shouldn't Have to sit quietly and listen to a lecture that boils down to "You're whole life is planned out for you, don't even worry your pretty little head about it."

The OPM is getting anxious bc even without lqg, sqq and lbh seem to be commiserating together. He's in the middle of another Grande Plan to separate the two when they get in a shouting match in the middle of the rec room.  It blew up so quickly no one really got an earful except gyx who was nearby and respectful declines to share, but LBH storms out determined and angry.

OPM is very pleased bc surely that young man will be running to opm now, for comfort and guidance! And opm can guide him straight into his cult's clutches!

Lbh does Not run into OPM's open arms.

He cools off and the next day is back to following behind sqq like a lamb, reflexively making enough finger sandwiches for three and then making sad eyes until sqq eats one more. So OPM plays his cards.

A dapper young man in a suit and a young woman dressed just as nicely show up one day and just, check sqq out of the home.

LBH shows up as the young man is pressing sqq into a wheel chair to cart him off. The woman is holding sqq's coat and is smiling at him, obviously happy to see sqq. Sqq is very Not Happy.

He keeps trying to get out of the chair, keeps telling them to go away and leave him alone, etc etc.

Lbh interrupts them inserting himself in between them and sqq in the chair, creating space. He demands to know who they are and what they're doing, but approaches it cautiously and from the angle that he is oh so concerned with sqq. 

They introduce themselves and Qiu Haitang and Qiu Jianluo (obviously ahsjdk) who are sqq's only living relatives and they've been looking for their grand uncle for months now after he disappeared from his estate. They are oh so glad he's been well taken care of but it's time for him to come home and have the best care money can buy!

Sqq shakes his fist and accuses them of just wanting his inheritance. QHT is offended by the idea, obviously just misses sqq and worried about him, but lbh sees QJL's calculating gaze before qjl waves off sqq's accusation and says sqq must be going stir crazy cooped up in this little home

Lbh can't really do anything to stop sqq from leaving, but he gives his business card to qjl and has to just stand there and watch sqq get dragged away.

OPM edges up to lbh like "look! I am old and in need of attention!" And lbh reluctantly and kind of mechanically goes through his volunteer checklist now that sqq is gone.  Opm takes his chances and tries edging closer to lbh, taking advantage of his obvious poor state.

Meanwhile lqg is starting to chafe under his new restrictions.  He usually likes his routine but it turns out not having any choices really saps the enjoyment out of everything. He takes to bothering his little sister more and more often, growing much closer to her as he isolates himself from the rest of his family. He is just so tired of everyone telling him how great at this one thing in his life he is. Like there's no other choices for him.

It's not like he wants to abandon the life plan his family has laid out for him; he doesn't want to be a scholar, or a scientist, or a poet. He just doesn't like the one dimension everyone has cast on him. He is so, so close to believing he's only good for the one thing and nothing else matters and he really doesn't want to fall into that mindset.

He misses how hard sqq pushed him, and how teasing lbh is. They're both good for him, he thinks. He's known no one else like them in his entire life. Elders are meant to be respected and listened to, and peers, if he had any, were for him to defeat.. he was never encouraged to talk back or think quickly enough to parry one of sqq's spearing little snipes, and has never been allowed to take pride in something as simple as a clever turn of phrase. And no one can keep up with him, so having LBH repeatedly dog his footsteps, improving leaps and bounds just to match him is exhilarating and he misses it.

He thinks about skipping out on leg day to make a visit.

OPM is definitely taking advantage of lbh's sudden unstable headspace. Unfortunately for lbh, he never really processed the grief of his mother passing. He kind of has been low key retraumatising himself by getting old people to love him enough to include him in their wills and then Die on him, but it's totally fine because he has SUCH a tight hold on his emotions that these deaths don't really affect him. Really! There's nothing triggering about being repeatedly left behind. :)

And now he's formed genuine bonds with lqg and sqq against all expectations and they've both left him! And he can't do anything about sqq bc sqq isn't his family or legally bound to him in anyway that he could stake a claim against blood ties, even if he suspects qjl at least of ill intent. And lqg just abandoned both lbh and sqq, so. So.

Opm kind of takes the opportunity to feed into these paranoias and pent up emotions, definitely trying to get lbh to associate opm with some kind of stability. Lbh even goes with opm on a home visit to [Huan Hua Palace analogue] where he's very briefly tempted to join an actual Cult so his problems go away

Luckily someone says something—maybe omp says something a little too reveling, or lpm let's something go that she's not supposed to, or gyx (who genuinely grew to like sqq for some inexplicable reason) gives lbh a stealth hint—and lbh realises that maybe he can't do anything about sqq (yet) but he can definitely track down and wring answers from lqg.

Lbh runs to the gym lqg frequents. Lqg is not there, so lbh tracks him down. (Boy has Stalker in his blood unfortunately)

He finally runs into lqg at a different fancy training gym lbh has to sneak inside of.  He confronts lqg, who seems surprised but not upset to see him. Mostly confused bc lbh is so upset. (His family didn't know? About lbh? So he's not grounded from lbh or even sqq specifically, just the assisted living place.)

Lbh comes off hot, demanding a lot of answers from lqg, who honestly tries to give them, but lbh really isn't in a great headspace and lqg isn't either so it turns into a graceless fight pretty quickly. Lbh is not dressed for a spar, but they tumble across the mats anyways. Lqg doesn't hold back and neither does lbh, who has been learning startlingly fast from lqg so they both end up in terrible condition.

Lqg is finding it kind of cathartic, bc lbh isn't caring about pulling punches or making sure lqg is in top form, and he sure as hell isnt above baiting him with words either.

Lbh is just finding it very nice to actually let lose and not act like a starry eyed little lamb to keep everyone on his good side. Obviously, lqg doesn't like him as much as he thought or he wouldn't have left so it's fine to let everything go

They kind of beat each other into the ground and they're both lying down staring at the ceiling, catching their breath, when lqg finally manages to explain his phone got confiscated and he hasn't been allowed to visit and he bombed that test he was supposed to take, but he did grab a copy of mqf's essay for sqq

And then lbh just bursts into tears

Lqg is frozen, completely unsure of what he said that caused that reaction.

Haltingly, lbh explains that after lqg stopped showing up, sqq's grand niece and nephew took him away probably to get their grubby little hands on his estate or whatever (as if they even care about his extensive historical scroll collections!) and that he's pretty sure he's halfway to joining a Cult even and everything sucks now!!!

Lqg sits up and like. Pats. Awkwardly at lbh's shoulder.

Apparently, since lbh visited Huan Hua Palace he recognized some faces that have been low key following him around and bumping into him all coincidental like. Like. The cult-recrution is very serious and lbh is kind of just realizing it now and freaking out more.

Lqg grabs a first aid kit, tenderly helps clean lbh up, drags him to a store to buy some decent clothes that aren't covered in sweat and blood, and then beings him home.

Can't let him go back to an apartment that's being stalked probably.

He introduces lbh to his family as a novice with potential, and lbh's manners are impeccable so they take a liking to him pretty quickly, even if they are a bit stoic about it. Lqg makes up some acceptable excuse to have lbh have dinner and stay over so they can talk more seriously about everything going on. (Lbh noticed that lqg's dinner is different than the rest of the family's)

Liu mingyan is also there, and adorable, and she likes lbh because he makes her brother frown less.

Anyways, lqg leads lbh to a guest room and then sneaks in from like a side window idk, and starts dissecting lbh's rambling again, this time with focus. He comes to the conclusion that there's two major problems here. One, opm's weird obsession with lbh and that Cult. Lbh can just stop volunteering at the center, but since people already know where he lives and have been low key stalking him that is not the only step they'd have to take.

Second, sqq's nefarious relatives trying to take advantage of him probably. They'd have to ascertain that they really are taking advantage and it's not just sqq protesting too much.

Out of the two, lqg decides the whole. Cult thing. Is more important right now. Sqq's relatives probably aren't planning on, like. Killing him early.

(He spares a moment to lament how weird his life has gotten)

Anyways defeating opm just amounts to getting evidence of tax fraud from the cult, which lqg recruits his acquaintance from school for (that's sqh. Sqh is having his own whole side adventure involving mbj, lgj, madam meiyin, wqw dealing with inheritance rights and accounting. He is not having fun.) which at least results in mbj princess carrying sqh away from lqg and lbh when sqh throws them all the paperwork for proof of money mishandling.

Opm goes to jail, the Cult is dismantled, lbh and lqg aren't even involved so risk of retaliation is very low.

During this lbh gets to come to terms a little more with his unresolved grief and the mortality of those he loves. He has several conversations with lqg about it, in oblique and acute ways. Lqg is straightforward, and hasn't encountered death as much as lbh, so his opinion is mostly that things happen when they happen. You can't avoid it, you just have to avoid having regrets. Which in turn makes him seriously reconsider just going along with his family's plans for him.  Yeah he was fine with it, but he'd been incredibly lonely and unfulfilled. He thought all he needed was improving himself, but with how close he is now with lbh, he realises  that he was seriously close to never having a friend other than his little sister.

He decides to take his own advice and not let others dictate his life.

This causes a fight with his family, of course, a huge blow out. Lqg insists that he's capable of doing the things he wants to do and handle his own schedule. His family cuts him off as like, a lesson in self sufficiency. If he doesn't appreciate them and their guidance then he can go it alone. They obviously think he'll come crawling back when he realises he has to work or something.

He can't afford his apartment (his family owns it but they tell him to fork up rent or figure it out)

Lbh graciously offers his apartment.

There's a mini arc where lqg adjusts to peasanthood. Lbh helps him get a job, lqg struggles to balance that AND training AND school, but he's always been a hard worker so he figures it out. Lbh insists on doing all the cooking when lqg reveals he knows how to make like three meals, and they don't even taste good. (They're calorie efficient and high protein)

Lbh goes back to volunteering bc that's... kind of a huge chunk of his time. It's his hobby. But he spends a lot more time with lqg which helps him regulate his emotions and stuff surrounding. You know. Dying.

Anyways, it's thanks to this that they get a lead on sqq! An older gentleman tries checking in at the visitor center and lbh would ignore him but he overhears sqq's name and comes wandering over.

"I just wanted to visit shen qingqiu. If possible."

"Oh, he's been checked out by his family for a few weeks now."

The man turns away, dejected, and lbh pounces on him, offering to escort him out of the building. Lbh asks him how the man knows sqq, why he wanted to visit, etc etc.

The man's name is Yue qingyuan. He was a childhood friend of sqq's. They were separated and he's been trying to get back in contact. He doesn't want any regrets. Lbh has a very nice and long conversation with the man, and they exchange numbers.

Lbh is excited to tell lqg the news and they both end up calling yqy to set up a coffee date later on.

They tell yqy about the qius and he corroborates their ill feelings and that sqq was never really close with the qiu branch of the family. Yqy knows where sqq's estate is and the qiu's family home, so he and lqg and lbh decide to make a visit.

Sqq, predictably, is pissed at yqy. (Do we get sqq and yqy's backstory here? No. Sqq herds yqq to a private room to yell and cry at him. That's for them. Idk if it's very obvious but sqq here is a mix of shen yuan and shen jiu so hes terrible but like in different ways)

Lqg and lbh awkwardly kind of stand around while that reunion is happening when they over hear qjl's conversation over phone with someone. They decide, you know, fuck it, might as well eaves drop. QJL definitely says something super suspicious and incriminating.

They go back to interrupt sqq and yqy when it becomes clear qjl is headed in sqq's direction. They give sqq the heads up, sqq admonishes them both but is CLEARLY touched  that they both were concerned about him and came after him. 

Qjl's plan is to get sqq ruled unfit and appoint qjl or qht as the trustee or whatever which means the qius will basically have all the access to sqq's money and estate before he even dies.

Sqq tries to outmaneuver him by preemptively disowning the qius from his heritance, but things do get tied up legally speaking. QJL and QHT say that sqq is unfit and old and obviously being taken advantage of by one of his caregivers from when he was recovering from a hospital visit. (They still have lbh's card and try to slander him Liberally)

Lbh does have to face and acknowledge his manipulative ways, at least in private to lqg and sqq and yqy. Sqq laughs, saying he KNEW lbh wasn't the sheep he pretended to be. That's fine, sqq likes wolves better anyways.

Lqg, after all their conversations about lbh coming to terms with his grief and trauma kind of assumes it's a little more nuanced than trying to just dig gold out of old people. Like, it was more of a coping mechanism where lbh was receiving tangible rewards for being in someone's life, assuring that even if he kept being left behind he was being rewarded as well?

Yqy decides that at the very least lbh cares genuinely for sqq so the rest doesn't matter, but his track record is maybe not the best to be involved with advocating for sqq Not Being manipulated and also probably shouldn't be in the lime light anyhow as he might get in trouble if any of his uh inheritances are questioned

Lqg on the other hand, is like. Best boy. Tutored by sqq, obviously hanging a genuine mentor/student relationship that can be backed with his grades improving (if sqq can still tutor someone he probably still mentally competant) with a wealthy family of his own, there's very little reason for anyone to suspect lqg of manipulating anyone in any capacity. (Him being cut off isn't like, a formal thing at all. And it's doubtful his family would make a fuss about it if it would harm their reputation as well, but it never comes up)

So LQG goes head to head with QJL about sqq's capacity for self governance. qjl is charming and clever, but lqg is earnest and captivating. Lqg definitely puts to use some of the rhetoric sqq tried beating into his head and is fairly pleased when he comes off as articulate and well spoken instead of awkward.

lqg and lbh eventually convince qht that qjl is not seeing sqq's best interests and she takes their side and qjl's quest to get his hands on sqq's money is squashed.

Sqq decides he wants to travel, hires lbh as an attendant, mostly so he has someone else to yell at besides yqy who insists on following sqq around like a duckling. Sqq hates ducklings more than lambs.  (The trip is for yqy to make various contact with his connections and businesses now that he's found sqq.)

It's lqg's family that begs lqg to stop being so self sufficient and independent. They say they'll give him a bigger allowance, a bigger apartment. He can have cheat days for his diet as long as it's within certain limits! Lmy misses him!

Lqg figures he's made his point and sort of goes back to the family. He still keeps living in lbh's apartment bc someone needs to feed lbh's stupid birds and pay the rent and what not, but he mostly eases back into his previous routine.

Lbh and sqq give him shit about it, like he's backsliding, but what is he supposed to do? There's only so much time he can spend listening to sqq lecture with the time difference, and with lbh gone there's not really anything to do but train like normal.

It's only when lmy comes crying to him bc she's feeling so pressured that lqg realises that probably things aren't ever going to change. His family won't stop pressuring him or trying to control his life and it won't stop with him. He doesn't want lmy to grow up feeling like she can only be good at what their family wants from her.

So he tells his family in no uncertain terms that he is going on a vacation. And he's taking lmy. When he comes back, he won't stand for them pigeon holing mingyan like they did him, and if they want him to keep being such a successful Liu child, and not disown them all outright, then they better get comfortable with lmy chosing her own path.

He ends up calling yqy, who arranges for lqg and lmy to join them in a layover surprising lbh and sqq.

(Sqh and mbj are babysitting lbh's birds and apartment)

Lmy delights sqq, who starts early in teaching her the joys of literature and teasing her big brother.

Lbh is also ecstatic, he really missed lqg. Lqg explains to them the ultimatum he gave regarding lmy, and lbh is displeased lqg is basically bargaining his own future for lmy's.  Lqg shrugs it off, he does enjoy his projected career and he's good at it. It's really enough for him if he family stops meddling in the rest of his life. He's pleased to choose who and what he gets to spend his free time on, and it's doubly worth it if that means lmy gets to be who she wants to be right out of the gate.

Lbh reluctantly agrees with him.

Anyways, they spend like two months traveling around having a great time on sqq and yqy's dime.

Yqy introduces lqg and lbh to a BUNCH of acquaintances, a large amount of which are established coaches and martial artists who take a liking to lqg and lbh.

Sqq spends so much time writing, probably memoirs or something.

Lmy is adorable and starts her own journals AND insists lqg start teach her some moves.

Lbh picks up so many recipes. Since lqg is on vacation that means lbh gets to feed him whatever he wants!!! It turns out, lqg just hasn't tried a lot of things and actually enjoys most of lbh makes. (Lbh is going to riot if lqg goes back on a diet.)

They make a cute family.

So, sqq is free, lbh is a little more grown, and lqg isn't just putting one foot in front of the other any more.

There's still some conflict in their lives... lqg's family is hard to work with but he sticks to his guns. It's a little embarrassing when lmy decides she wants to follow in lqg's footsteps and he wants to give her the freedom to do that but also wouldn't she rather do literally anything else. (She would. She would also like to write). Lbh gets very over protective of sqq and yqy bc they are getting older and more delicate, which ruffles sqq's feathers so much he threatens to write lbh out of the will!

Lbh is like "I'm in the will?"

And sqq is like, "don't be stupid, I paid you on our vacation as a caregiver, that disqualifies you from being a beneficiary."

Lqg is in sqq's will. Sqq figures lbh will marry him anyways at some point (lbh is a hopeless romantic) so it's basically the same thing.

(Yqy did NOT know sqq didn't put lbh in his will. He put lqg in his too! So he wouldn't feel left out!!! And he wouldnt feel pressured to rely on his family forever! Now he's got to get it rewritten for binghe!!!! )

I'm not going to write about sqq and yqy dying I'll cry. So it ends there. Happily.

[elspethdixon]

Okay I’ve thought about this for another five minutes and now I want the MDZS/SVSSS crossover where WWX still invents his own unique ghost cultivation path, but where Madame Yu does traditional demonic cultivation because she’s a literal demon from the Abyss (the Violet Spider because she’s an actual spider demon, maybe). She fell in love with a human cultivator and entrapped him into marriage against his will and is now going to make her dissatisfaction with the human realm all Jiang Cheng’s problem.

Everyone is sure that Wei Wuxian was making all those heretical suggestions in class at Cloud Recesses because the Jiang sect are literally in bed with demons. The Jiang heir is even half-demon! And since both JC and WWX lack LBH’s magic stallion-novel protagonist halo, it means they’re both subject to extra scrutiny. JC had better be the most conventional righteous cultivator ever to overcome the suspicion caused by having demon blood and a demon mom and WWX and his “but what if?” questions aren’t helping!

This situation only heightens JC’s issues about his father favoring WWX, of course. Of course his father wishes he had a non-demonic heir. Madame Yu’s talk about how Jiang Cheng isn’t good enough for Jiang Fengmian sounds even more plausible when there’s an actual objective reason for it.

The Jiang sect leader being married to a demon/potential demonic influence in the Jiang sect is the excuse the Wens use to go after them. Jiang Cheng’s core built up by years of righteous cultivation is crushed, but luckily for him, his demon heritage means there’s another way for him to form a core.

Wei Wuxian doesn’t need to make his dramatic sacrifice, though he still does all the research hoping that he can prevent Jiang Cheng from having to resort to the demonic path. But this time around, Wen Qing isn’t willing to do the transfer, because Jiang Cheng’s half-demon body might not even accept a fully human core - his body might just consume it demon-style and then he’d be doing demonic cultivation anyway and WWX would have made the sacrifice for nothing.

Wei Wuxian still ends up captured by the Wens, gets his core crushed, and the whole burial mound + cultivating with resentful energy to survive series of events happens just like in canon. Except this time Jiang Cheng doesn’t have Wei Wuxian’s golden core. He has his own core, reformed and regrown one defeated enemy at a time, and with each battle in the Sunshot Campaign he grows more powerful.

When Wei Wuxian returns from the burial mounds, he knows what his brother has been doing as soon as he sees him, and there’s no reason not to tell Jiang Cheng and Yanli all about it. Instead of demonic cultivation driving WWX and JC apart, they bond. They’ve both taken the “wrong” path to survive, even though their paths, both called “demonic cultivation,” are very different at base, they’re equally unacceptable and tainted in the eyes of the cultivation world and there’s no reason for Wei Wuxian to separate himself from the Jiang sect. He and his ghost general become the Lotus Demon’s left and right hands.

Shijie has always been very empathetic, and her demonic heritage means she’s sensitive to resentful energy, too (said heritage is why Jin Zixun originally rejected her). She was never able to properly cultivate the righteous human way, her demon traits were too strong, and forming a core the demonic way wasn’t allowed, but for a demon it’s never too late to start - WWX has his first necromancer apprentice.

Lotus Pier will never be accepted among the other sects again, but it doesn’t matter. The Demonic Sect Leader and his necromancer siblings are unstoppable.

[choicesmc]

A few questions for Sawtooth and Channing: What are their favourite things about each other?

And what are things they dislike about each other?

And how do they deal with conflict?

oooh!! Thank you!!

What are their favourite things about each other?

Sawtooth really admires how much Channing looks out for the pack. Like he’d never say it, but Sawtooth knows Channing drives himself near insane trying to be perfect for his pack. He takes his role as their Alpha incredibly seriously (and lbh he’s probably a tad more serious than the avg alpha, y’know?) Yeah, Sawtooth acknowledges that Channing can get incredibly set in his ways and, yeah, he can be an ass about tradition and takes on too much responsibility than he should but it’s all from a truly caring place. As much as Channing is frustrating, Sawtooth can be at least a little assured that it’s for a good, though misguided, reason.

Also, Channing has a really pretty face.

Channing loves Sawtooth’s unabashed stubbornness. It’s not necessarily that Sawtooth doesn’t give in easy (which he doesn’t). It’s more of an insistence on being themself, regardless of whoever or whatever is around them. You can’t intimidate him into hiding away parts of themself. His emotions are plain on his face and they rarely ever try to hide what they’re feeling. Channing sees himself in contrast to that: where Sawtooth is purely themself, Channing is so used to putting in a façade of a cool, undisturbed guy that at times Sawtooth seems to feel for the both of them. (<- i have more to say but this’ll suffice for now)

also sawtooth’s body is lean and toned and they’re always showing it off (not intentionally though, it drives Channing mad at times) <3

And what are things they dislike about each other?

OOH

okay

Sawtooth cannot stand how much Channing appoints himself leader. Yeah, yeah he’s the Alpha and whatever but, by gods, is it grating when Channing just. Decides stuff for the both of them because he can. For example, the first premium outfit in Alpha where Channing picks it out for MC does not fly with Sawtooth. It makes them intentionally act out almost as a matter of principle. I explain this a little better in [this] post

for Channing, im not sure if there’s anything in specific that he dislikes but something that does get to him is Sawtooth’s lack of affection. Channing is a huge romantic —he’s really Prince Charming once he’s dating someone and Sawtooth. Just. Isn’t. Like, Sawtooth does kisses and will hold his hand and cuddle but they don’t bring flowers or wait up after classes for him or plan special dates as surprises. It gets to Channing at times —especially if they haven’t fucked recently. But Channing doesn’t want to admit that because ‘cool, stoic alpha’ amirite?

And how do they deal with conflict?

Excellent question. As this couple is well versed in conflict, they do have a couple strategies:

Don’t get the rest of the pack involved. Since Channing is their Alpha, getting the rest of the wolves to pick a side can end up making Sawtooth feel alienated since most members will side with Channing.

Spend a couple hours apart. When they’re both seeing red, neither of them are thinking straight so if this fight is serious it’s better tackled when they’ve had a bit to calm down. If it’s not serious, they’ll probably make up once the couple of hours is over.

Alternatively, if the mood’s hot and heavy, fucking it out might actually be helpful. It’s a useful way to channel how they’re feeling and sometimes they’re more honest when Sawtooth’s fucking Channing silly.

Don’t avoid fights. (not that they needed to be told that tbh) if you e got a problem, it’s better to have a million tiny fights than one blowout-maybe-we’ll-break-up fight.

Corollary to 4, never ever suggest breaking up or taking a break mid fight. Like not even as a joke. Channing takes it seriously regardless and honestly, it’s a touchy subject for him.

thank you thank you for sending these in <3 as reward here’s a sawtooth picrew <3

made with [sushicore]