#lmk xiao lu

[madammonkie]

Sad God and His loyal attendant

[aurieeeeeenyx]

time travel mechanics in link click — intentional inconsistencies? closed loops and parallel timelines (theory)

Back in 2021 or so, I wanted to make a post about the time travel mechanics in Season 1, and how they seemed to be inconsistent in certain episodes. I never ended up making that post, and the idea slowly faded from my mind, but I want to make that post now (armed with all the new information we've received since then) before Bridon/Yingdu arc episode 4 comes out because of the episode preview when Lu Guang says this:

In Season 1, the time travel seems to operate on the principle of a closed loop. This is especially evident in the Doudou arc, when Cheng Xiaoshi sees himself in the past (while he's in Doudou's body) and realizes that he was always there; the "changes" he inflicted weren't really changes, because by the time he dives back from the future his actions in the past have already happened. This is also demonstrated when Xu Shanshan walks into the photo studio and interacts with Cheng Xiaoshi in S1E8, and we later find out that it was in fact Cheng Xiaoshi in Xu Shanshan's body interacting with himself. And again, with the ploy to use Xu Shanshan in order to lure Liu Min/Red Eyes to the photo studio. We also see this closed loop phenomenon happen in Season 2, for example when Cheng Xiaoshi possesses Lu Guang's body to go save himself in the past.

So I've always been a little bothered by the earthquake arc in Season 1. If the dives into the past have already happened, why does Chen Xiao come to the photo studio in the first place? If Cheng Xiaoshi (in Chen Xiao's body) won the basketball game and gave those kind words to Chen Xiao's loved ones, why does Chen Xiao remember otherwise?

I've wondered before what happens to the clients when Cheng Xiaoshi is possessing them—do they just not remember anything? Are they even aware of themselves being possessed? Why is no one concerned about missing memories for hours at a time or not being in control of their own body? Emma sort of skirts around this when she tells Cheng Xiaoshi, "So you were the one who sent that message" in S1E11, implying she's aware it wasn't her who sent it. For the sake of argument, though, I'm going to pass the general non-reaction of the clients to being possessed as a handwavey "the brain justifies it somehow later" thing and ignore it.**

That brings us again to the question: Why does Chen Xiao remember the past differently to the one Cheng Xiaoshi experienced/changed? Maybe the past isn't set in stone after all? Maybe, instead of just being a closed loop, the time travel in Link Click is operating on multiple systems?

In 2021, right after I watched Season 1, I was going to dismiss this as just an error. The writers slipped up and bungled their time travel mechanics a bit, and therefore the earthquake arc is different on accident. But we've learned since then that nothing is unintentional in this show, so why is that arc different from the others? (Also, I want to note, there is that moment in S1E4 where Lu Guang's face does that weird warping thing; coincidence? Maybe, but maybe not...)

My theory is: the time travel abilities that Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang have operate differently.

DISCLAIMER: My knowledge of photography and film is extremely limited, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

There's always been a lot of film imagery in this show—obviously, since the whole premise is based in photography—but as early as the Season 1 OP, "Dive Back In Time," we can see the repeated use of rewinding film rolls as a metaphor for going back in time.

Note also: Lu Guang dropping the photo and it transitioning into a film roll, and Cheng Xiaoshi being tangled up in film rolls and being "inside" the film in the background/trapped in the frame. I'll get to this later.

The thing is, once you record something on film, you can't change it; you can only rewind and play it again. This tracks with the closed loop theory: no real changes can be made, because they have already happened. So how is it possible that "changes are still happening," as Lu Guang says in the YE4 preview? It's likely that Vein (and Liu Xiao and Xia Fei) are involved, but I don't believe that's the root of the issue. And, I don't think it's just the ever-nebulous "butterfly effect," because in YE1 Lu Guang says this:

I used to think that even a flap of a butterfly might cause a hurricane strong enough to ruin the world. I was wrong. The power of time is still far beyond our imagination. The future may not change due to a ripple of the past. Not at all...

(Yes, Lu Guang is a notoriously unreliable narrator, but I've decided to trust him on this one. Not to mention, butterfly effect shouldn't exist in a closed loop system.)

I've seen lots of excellent analyses illustrating the discrepancies this season, from the very first scene of YE1 (different furniture positioning, cracks in photo frame glass, bloodstains, presence of curtain, etc) to the changing positions of clothing, buildings, time of day, food, and so on in YE2 (go check out hyperfaexation's excellent YouTube video on their Shattered Memories theory for more details). The fandom is constantly theorizing about how many timelines there are. But while we've been asking ourselves how many timelines exist (five, ten, more?), we forgot to stop and ask: why do they exist?

The existence of multiple timelines doesn't fit into Season 1's time travel premise. In Season 1, it was always Cheng Xiaoshi that we were watching. Whereas Cheng Xiaoshi could be said to live "in" the film when he dives, perhaps Lu Guang is cutting the roll short at the point which he dives back to and splicing a new roll onto it. This could explain the scene from "Dive Back In Time" that I referenced earlier, with Lu Guang outside the film and Cheng Xiaoshi in it. It's not exactly that Lu Guang is diving back in time; it's more like he's diving out of time, into a parallel timeline and leaving this one behind. Maybe this season, we'll get to see more complicated time travel mechanics that result from the intersection of different powers. (And, while we're at it, maybe we can get an answer to why Cheng Xiaoshi has golden eyes for a few frames in YE1 when they're running away, because seriously what's up with that?)

**Another explanation for the non-reaction to the clients' possession could be the interaction of different timelines, but I'm not really sure how this would pan out so I'm not going to elaborate too much.

What does this have to do with the earthquake arc? Why would Lu Guang have a (slightly) different power than Cheng Xiaoshi, if he inherited it from Cheng Xiaoshi as we are led to believe? What happens to the discarded film, the abandoned timelines, when Lu Guang casts them away? Can Cheng Xiaoshi ever be saved? I don't have answers to any of these questions, and maybe I'm overthinking (ha) all of this and it really is just a writing inconsistency after all, but I want to believe Link Click's writers know what they're doing with this and all we can do is wait for the reveal.

[hahawasabi]

How would ur dragon oc react if they met my oc Riley (Ao chang’s reincarnation) and he doesn’t remember anything from his past life btw

Riley xiaolong Ao Chang

Hai Wang (on barely any sleep at ALL): He is not my problem anymore, i've been babysitting him for days and he just reminds me of Jiao all over again. As immature as I seem at the moment, I am very tired and am not in the mood to talk about XiaoLong, if you want to ask about his well-being, ask Lu Jiao.

meanwhile them:

(im so sorry, i gave up on drawing azure and Lujiao, i am so tired today)

[majodump]

Happy beutiful birthday to you @madammonkie <3<3<3<3

[madammonkie]

Imagining As Nezha's Attendant she would be tending and looking out for him overall nursing him to health

Guys in S4 Nezha gets beat within like an inch of his life and presumably one of MK’s team helped patch him up after, but who looks out for Nezha up in heaven? MK has a whole village essentially looking out for him, but when the monkie squad can’t be up there, who makes sure Nezha is okay?? :’(((((

[madamrabbit]

Jiang Xiao Lu, 17 years old..

Is one hell of a picky eater

[kiraisrika]

Hehe dsmp reference ft. Jiang xiao lu by @madammonkie / @madamrabbit and loto by @majodump

[xiaosenthusiast]

22. we didn’t work out

“god i cant believe im actually doing this.”

you parked in the parking lot and turned your car off.

“maybe i shouldn’t go..it’s not too late to turn back now, right?”

too late, you made a mistake by parking right in front of the pizza place.

xiao was waiting outside for you and he noticed your car the second you parked.

he walked over and knocked on your window. “my friend’s already inside you can go ahead, i have to get going.”

you rolled your eyes when he wasn’t looking and got out of your car.

no way. you? rolling your eyes at something xiao said? the world must be ending.

his eyes widened when you stepped out, you looked nice. in the deepest part of his mind he asked himself, ‘why’d she dress so nicely.. she’s only meeting someone.’

he would never admit it, but he was a little jealous. just a tiny little bit. it wasn’t enough to bother him but in the pit of his stomach he knew he was.

“so who am i meeting?”

“what? oh, he’s inside just go ahead and walk in.”

“okay…bye xiao.”

you waved at him and walked into the pizza place.

you looked around and immediately were surprised to see who you were meeting. you walked over to him and he simply looked at you, no shock or anything.

“i thought you were with lu-”

“we didn’t work out.”

“what?! how? why?”

“well…she’s moving to sumeru. i’m moving to mondstadt. she doesn’t want to have a long distance relationship, which honestly is fine with me. so we just decided to end things.”

“it makes sense but i thought you guys would be that one couple…y’know the highschool sweethearts.”

it went quiet for a moment but then a question popped into your brain.

“do you want a long distance relationship?”

he thought about it for a minute and then shrugged.

“i don’t know…i’m not exactly in a rush to get with anyone. but if it happens, it happens. i would be fine with a long distance relationship.”

you nodded at his answer and just smiled at him, then you started talking about lighter subjects and overall had a good time.

—

extra !

you offered to give him a ride, but he politely declined as he had gone in his own car.

honestly, you and albedo had lots to talk about. you were surprised you were able to talk to him so easily. but you were still stuck on whether it not it was okay to pursue him, he was lumine’s ex, after all.

overall you were conflicted, and you knew you had to talk to one person about it.

—

prev | mlist | next

a/n a lot of u knew exactly what xiao’s plan was 😰…it really took away the element of surprise☹️

taglist ! @mikctp @fvrose @kayleigh-reuthlr @xxgenderenvyxx @ferumie @sxiaoul @whats-humanity-lol @skatercashew @kuni-kuzushii @plinkuro @5sos-wdw @sunizome @dollpoetwriting @unknown-kitsxne @me1lif1u0us @yohoo-tehee @g6nyyyu @luvvmeilin @ioverjn @vocalukas @hey-comrade-hold-stil @meisuuu @themusingsofmany @layla240

if ur blog is in bold, that means i cannot tag u due to ur project settings ! if u change ur name lmk :]

[ilynong]

masterlist

find something specific that i’ve written here!

updated 4/17

(ctrl+f to find a specific trainee, genre or au)

zhou yanchen

take care

fluff

post-ep. 5 (?)

got me feeling like

royals au

long(er)

li xikan

my heart

fluff

mentor! reader

view

fluff

boyfriend au

ding zeren

tell me everything

fluff

you visit idol producer

red string

soulmates au

harry potter au

chen linong

coffee

college au/ coffee shop au

high school days

chen linong as that one guy in your advanced science class

hs au

fluff

justin huang

the cute boy from the street market

fluff?

you’re a busker in beijing

did you mean it?

fluff

you zhangjing

see you around

tattoo artist! reader and shy/cute barista! zhengjing

feat. the gramarie boys as your coworkers

qin fen

bf au

miss you

qin fen is filming for i.p. and trying to facetime you; the other trainees keep interfering

fluff

baba

a qin fen dad au 

ling chao

see you there

flower boy! ling chao

high school au

i wanna make you fly 

based off ‘firewalking’

xiao gui

proper cuddling

fluff

boyfriend au

diss

you visit the dorms

fan chengcheng

make you proud

non au

set during first trainee evaluation

mentor! reader

the cutie from gym

the link seems wack rn so pls lmk if it doesnt work

high school au

fluff

i’m here

fluff

incredulous

you meet fan bingbing

undercover

somehow, the trainees at ip don’t know that you and chengcheng are dating,,,

yue yue

wide awake

college au but it’s not relevant to the plot

best friends to lovers

zhu yuntian

lifetime

best friends au w zhu yunyi

zhu yunyi

lifetime

best friends au w zhu yuntian

han mubo

bf au

misunderstanding

enemies to lovers

reader is staff on idol producer

zhu xingjie

talk to you

you’re best friends w xiao gui and have a huge crush on his senior

love between us

xingjie shows you a magic trick

rock paper scissors

waking up w xingjie

fluff

li quanzhe

hospital bed blues

youre stuck in bed at the hospital when your older brother, zeren, brings the yuehua boys around

ft. a heart rate monitor :))))))))

perfect

yuehua trainee! reader

lu dinghao

boom boom

high school au

first date

lu dinghao is actually a flirt pass it on

lin yanjun

flutter

the fuckboy(tm) au

you and yanjun are next door neighbors

protective

ft. fan cheng cheng as your little brother

breathe

fluff

flirt

you’re the ghost on idol producer that yanjun flirted with

huang xinchun

have this moment

you and xinchun try to get some alone time on the busy idol producer set

ft. mama zhengting

wang yilong

celebrity crush

you’re a guest mentor on idol producer and yilong’s crush on you is highkey exposed

zheng ruibin

boyfriend au

accident

you meet ruibin after one of his  musicals

college au

bi wenjun

boyfriend au

plus how the two of you get together

hs au

zuo ye

boyfriend au

adoration

cxk is ur older brother

pre-established relationship

jeffrey

boyfriend au

zhu zhengting

sleepy

fluff

love like that

zhengting likes you, but he’s been too shy to say anything-- until today

aka The High School Party scenario

wang ziyi

boyfriend au

i owe you

ZIyi has the biggest crush on you, and Qin Fen decides that the best way to repay Ziyi for his kind deed is to get the two of you together. 

set in idol producer universe

bu fan

forever and ever

fluff

wrong number

bu fan is your best friend, he accidentally texts you something that definitely wasn’t meant for you

cai xukun

peach

high school au

ft. secret admirer reader

boyfriend au

cling to you

fluff

lin chaoze

no-man

you and chaoze spend time building a snowman

zhou rui

i missed you

zhou rui comes home late to you after his last filming of idol producer

fluff/ domestic shit

get through this

you and zhou rui argue, but it’s alright in the end

[madammonkie]

I'm back with Xiao Lu and Nezha Doodles

this man gives me sense of comfort and dare I say, My comfort character,the first time I actually felt what a comfort character actually meant.

[madammonkie]

The Childhood Friends

Xiao Lu and MK meet Mei a bit later, nevertheless she still part of the group, MK and Mei is closer to age than Xiao Lu, as they went to the same highschool, They Both are 2 years ahead of Xiao Lu, so when Xiao Lu was in 10th Grade They are in the 12th Grade (I have no idea how the western high school works, so I'm using Indonesian Grade system)

MK can be a tad protective with Xiao Lu, like a dotting big Brother, while Mei is the more chillax one,

Xiao Lu look up to Them both especially Mei to the point she copied Her dying her hair green, unfortunately it got out of hand and Xiao Lu is left with ugly green patches, Mei and Mk had to dye it whole to make it look decent until she can grow out of it or re-dyed it to black before the school starts again

Xiao Lu also goes to MK for Comfort, he wasn't as reliable as Mei before he got the staff and trained to be the Monkie Kid. But now as the team got more and more shenanigans with fighting demons, MK always makes sure Xiao Lu stayed away from the fight. Xiao Lu was never included in any of the adventure, For MK fear she got hurt during their dangerous adventures,

he's not that dumb to at least realized that

[madammonkie]

Imagine having your God as your Valentine's

[madammonkie]

I just finished season 6 of MHA

Vigilante Deku gave me ideas and Existential crisis,

so have a Vigilante MK

alsosorryforthetracedxiaoluijustdontknowhowtodrawposes

[madammonkie]

Jiang Xiao Lu's Play List

[madammonkie]

A God and his Loyal Follower

[madammonkie]

Human World visit gone Wrong