#just bc someone described a book with a trope doesn't mean that the book only contains that trope

[altschmerzes]

maybe this is...... idk, but i don't understand what's so objectionable about mentioning popular tropes in marketing for a book. seeing a bunch of posts all over the last couple of weeks being like Seeing Someone Describe Their Book As Enemies To Lovers Makes Me Want To Kill Them or whatever - and yes, with that level of direct aggression which, even joking, seems a bit overboard at best - and being like. yeah? and??? who. gives a shit? 

someone wrote a book, they're talking about it in a way maybe they grew up talking about narratives, maybe a way that helps people find what they're interested in. sorry fandom and 'cringe' community related verbiage is polluting the prestigious and classy world of Real BooksTM and Real WritersTM and Real Serious Stories Not That Meaningless Garbage You Dummies On The Internet Throw Around Because You Have No Soul Or Appreciation For Art Or Whatever. 

i don't know what is so enraging about it. everything has tropes in it that's how they ended up tropes. they're a value-neutral narrative tool or phenomenon. i feel like i'm losing my fucking MIND here sometimes. why is it such a hyperbolic violence worthy offence to use language commonly associated with fandom to discuss your published book if that's what it contains. 

 and i don't mean like- the people who are like oh you should read this, it has [rattles off list of diverse character identities and says absolutely nothing about what the book is actually like or about]. that's different. that tells me nothing abt what the book is about, though it does give people who are wanting to read about characters that are like them a piece of valuable information. not the only piece but a piece. this is like. 

why are you so fucking mad and snotty about someone describing their book as 'enemies to lovers.' legitimately who is that harming. not something i'd ever read but that's because i'm allergic to romance, not because describing books using tropes, even tropes common in fanworks, is a fucking cardinal sin or definite hallmark that something is shallow trash. 

[redxblueihateloveyou]

hello! since i haven't read the dmbj novels yet (i've only watched the shows and the rest i know through fandom osmosis like all of us atp lol) i've been wondering. correct me if i'm wrong, but i've seen you mentioning that at one point wu xie actually realizes to some extent that his feelings about xiaoge are romantic and i'm curious about when? is this in the restart novel or did i miss something major in reboot? i got the impression from others that while npss is as close to saying pingxie is canon as you can get without outright saying it, it's still not a thing in the books technically speaking so if that's not the case i'm really curious

Hi!! <3 Haha what do you mean "without outright saying it", what else is there to say? lol

The rest I know through fandom osmosis.. lmao I felt that. Thats how it started for me too, now I fell somewhere too deep in some junkie pit xD

The moment I was talking about is when Wu Xie started having as he mentioned several dreams about Xiaoge taking a role of his husband life partner in some customs, and how pictures of these were "romantic" to him. That was the first time he used this word to describe it and was like "why why did this word appear in my head". Again it doesn't mean that before that in the books there were no hints to that or that he wasn't in love with him for some time already by then, just meaning that it was the first time his brain caught up to his heart and he finally "admitted" it to himself for what it is. (Bc to me in good love stories you can't pinpoint the exact moment someone falls in love, only the exact moment they accept it as a fact and their brain settles about it xD).

If I remember correctly in some extra bit Wu Xie doesn't remember when these dreams started, only that it was somewhere after Xiaoge left for 10 years. All of Wu Xie's romantic thoughts are dark AS FUCK for some reason (well, like we know why.. all considering, but still lol), but the start of it was when he saw in his dream Xiaoge accompaning him to death, which is what Npss sneakily added to Reboot in that "coma sequence" (thats Wu Xie's romance language lmfao).

And also as much as the books are just not that kind of genre, in my personal opinion, I don't see how they can be considered "technically not a thing" xD. Like yeah, it's not any gooey relationship-y scenes, but they still have their romantic tropes moments, that are way too obvious even without that Wu Xie's speech (like the moment he mentioned it isn't any wow-wow moment, I already knew that xD). Like in the Restart part all of his thoughts about Xiaoge just become to say very.. naked. And quite impossible to interpret in any other way. It's just basically a suffering of a man, who thinks that his feelings can't be returned, not just in general, but also bc of who they are and bc he's dying.

Bc like I've said before to me all the books are split into "getting to know each other" part, "why do I feel that. I don't wanna. what is this?" part, "I know, but I'm too angry and sad rn to process this" part and finally Restart, where he already accepted the fact that he's in love with him, just thinks he can't be with him.

In previous books there are still moments for example like when Xiaoge is looking at him for too long and Wu Xie goes like "oh is there smth on my face?" lol you know those kind of things. Where his turtle brain is just still not there and he doesn't see it in a relationship-y way. After 10 years all his thoughts are like "pls stay with me forever, look at me forever, lets get married, have a nice house somewhere" lmao

There are also lots of notes and traditional stuff and etc throughout the books that are explained by fans that I keep gathering (I dig those, bc its hella fascinating to me how they can do super gay when others don't think much of some moments xD). I feel like I've learned like so many chinese (also tibetan too xD) cultural things, that I haven't even during my MDZS craze. This fandom is pretty crazy (in a great way I mean).

Problem with Reboot (I mean the series) is that I'm still not sure I got everything lmao. Like I do not get how, but it keeps resurfacing and I keep reading all these like "oh...OH.. OHHHH" xDDD (and okay this is not that important, but still no matter how obsessively I'm watching, where the fuck am I supposed to see water packaging with my great -6 sight? lmao). And some stuff is just plain hard cause I just can't catch the "word play".

Besides all the covered up scenes stuff and music, about romantic implications... there's things like when Xiao Bai talks about stars and for example, after Wu Xie tells her about missing Xiaoge it's a throwback to the oldest Chinese legend of the lovers separated by a Milky Way, Vega and Altair, who were deeply in love but only allowed to see each other once a year for one night when one of them is on the verge of dying from grief, and in a tandem with Deneb these two stars form an infamous triangle constellation (I mean, I don't think that leaves much stuff for interpretation really xD). And again peanut scene is also not a peanut scene. There's lots of hidden cuteness there, but the "afterlife" scene just hits different for sure lol.

So anyways even without the "romantic" piece, it's too obvious in the books. But I mean if you REALLY REALLY need this word for some proof, it's there in one place. But then also like why. I mean there's a reason in China they're on the same level (actually above from what I've seen) as all of their other great BLs. Like just cause they din't say I love yous with those particular words (they got better ones) or kissed (yeah yeah breath of life doesn't count lol), doesn't mean they're not as canon. I don't think Npss ever actually was like "its that but not quite that" or being any particulary covert about the nature of their relationships. And that fact that he kinda "didn't mean for them to fall in love, it just naturally happened" is to me the reason why their love story is so iconic now lol.

P.S. also I feel like it's pretty easy to get the moment in the books when you just know. Cause they're both the type of ppl who are "relationships don't interest me at all in this world" (like literally full on zero, no thanks) but then suddenly there's a moment when they're very interested in everything with each other lol. And if with Qiling I mean its obvious that with his past and everything its just pretty impossible to gain his trust or respect in general and to make him fall in love as NPSS said only Wu-Xie-Mr-Extraordinary could, and its all understandable. But Wu Xie's part is just so funny to me bc he treats his feelings like "ok what is this bizarre animal"? xDD