#lxc and xie lian should talk.

[skalidris]

I think one of the things I'd like most about an lxc pov would be the flip to a different kind of unreliable narrator. He is full of love and kindness and chances, but also its constantly at war with his desire to follow the teachings and rectify them with those urges when they don't gel. Reading someone jgy from lxc's perspective and getting gut punched even harder at the temple..... Oooh sweet tragedy

augh yeah... he's shaping himself and the rules against some ideal of love and kindness and chances for sure and that doesn't work well in the first place and then there's Everything That Happens

i'm not sure where i think the rectification, or maybe reconciliation, of those complicated things really happens--like, if he puts that need to make them gel on himself, on others, on some abstract fact, or... idk. that'd be one thing i'd be interested in seeing. my gut says he's not actually resolving those contradictions, and on purpose, but idk!!

..i'm also, personally, fond of lxc as a confident person ^^ i think there's a particular ... arrogance? (i don't know if that's an appropriate word here) to him that would make him an interesting comparison to wwx for sure

[pumpkinpaix]

Hi, pumpkinpaix....don't know if you remember, but I've asked before of your top 5 fav mxtx characters, and you've answered them. If you don't mind me asking, can I ask you, why you like those characters? Sorry, if I ask you similar question again......

hey, no problem!! :D I like talking about my favorite fictional people haha. since 15 characters is a bit much, I’m gonna just take a sample of the top four out of the 15. :)

1. Lan Xichen

I think most everyone following me at this point knows that I am always on my lxc defense thesis bullshit, but: look. i’m defensive of him! I love him! and I think that he occupies a really tragic and important place in the narrative. I remember I said before somewhere that I think there are three characters that are portrayed to be paragons of virtue/goodness within mdzs and all three were met with tragedy: jiang yanli, xiao xingchen, and lan xichen, but that the tragedy isn’t meant to show that kindness only meets with tragedy, or that kindness is always naive, or that kindness is stupid--I think it’s meant to show that kindness is not always rewarded because life is not a fair game. however! that doesn’t mean that kindness is useless! again, just--kindness is not always rewarded, but its absence devastates. that’s something we see again and again: if only people had been kinder to jin guangyao or xue yang or whatever etc etc. perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out the way they did. I think that’s a something the narrative says pretty explicitly. what could these people have been if they had been afforded a fair shot? what could these people have been if others had acted more like jiang yanli, or xiao xingchen, or lan xichen?

anyways, I also find that lan xichen is often held to incredibly bizarre standards that don’t plague jiang yanli or xiao xingchen, and it feels telling in some way about how we (speaking from an american?? perspective i think) think about and treat the concept of compassion. that being compassionate is stupid and foolish and idealistic and exasperating. that being jaded and bitter is somehow a mark of intelligence and worldliness. I care very much that lan xichen isn’t that -- that he’s an incredible cultivator, warrior, sect heir, that he’s respected by everyone! but that even in all of that, he chooses to continue acting kindly.

this isn’t well-worded, but like. you get the idea. also: he is Big Relate, what with his intense eldest daughter syndrome, conflict resolution strategies, and the way he struggles with and makes his moral decisions. in his position, I would have made pretty much all the same choices in mdzs as he did for very difficult and upsetting reasons. i just. lov him ok.

2. Xie Lian

tbh, just take a look at this post aslkdjf. my love for xie lian is adjacent to my love for lxc, with the added bonus of: xie lian is capable of immense, terrible cruelty as well. if lan xichen is about the need for kindness in the face of an imperfect world, then I think xie lian is about the sheer cost of it. what does it take to be kind when you want to be cruel? when you have every reason to be cruel? when you have the means to do great harm? ugh. 

3. Yin Yu

god, how do I start with yin yu? yin yu really exemplifies, to me, how intensely complicated your feelings towards something or someone can be. I think that his deep hatred for quan yizhen is just as real as his very deep love for him, and that the existence of both at the same time is a constant torment. for me, someone who struggles A Lot with holding complicated feelings towards people (my brain DESPERATELY wants to put things in a “good” or “bad” box and when something is complicated it tends to self-destruct), i really loved seeing that kind of... intense conflict? in a character. because there’s no part that ever says he’s ACTUALLY just resentful or he’s ACTUALLY just loving. no part of his emotional turmoil is a untrue, but so what? so i resent him, so what? why should I choose to act on that emotion rather than another? idk. it’s a choice. and yin yu makes it. ugh. god i love him.

4. Gongyi Xiao

he is Simply Best Boy. [spoilers for SV] I think what I really like about gongyi xiao is that he’s.... like, quite simple in his motivations? he's just like. a Good Guy. he’s talented! in any other situation, he would be the protagonist of his own story. he’s not bitter about losing, he’s diligent, hardworking, kind. he’s disappointed if he fucks up, but he also tries his best. idk he’s just like! he’s just sweet. I like that a lot. and i also, in a weird way, really like his death. it’s so inconsequential. why was he killed? because he was there. because it was convenient. a boy talented enough to be a protagonist in his own right, but his story ends offscreen, without drama, without fanfare, and for so little reason. that’s a different kind of tragedy. you know that bit in the adventure zone?? not all exits are equal? sometimes, it just happens. idk. it really got to me, to learn that gongyi xiao died for no reason, alone, unaware, unexpectedly, and then to never hear of him again. gah.

[shieldherostuffs]

Adding to the Lan Naofumi AU

Maybe like, to try and like, clear WWX's name, Naofumi goes back to that world alone a few times.

He knows his er-gege(LWJ) loves WWX, and that WWX possibly reciprocates those feelings. So, Naofumi tries talking to his sect to explain that the Wens are all innocents; the weak, the disabled, the elder, and a child. The elders refuse to listen, Shufu(LQR) shuts down his pleadings, but, a few people silently start speculating after two of their Young Masters said the same thing. Other believe the LXC is the only one of the Young Masters who hasn't yet been deceived by WWX.

Naofumi sneaks in to see LWJ who's been sentenced to seclusion, despite his own and asks to take LWJ with him to the other world. LWJ desperately wants to go, but Naofumi conditions that he'll only take LWJ with him if he actually communicates and talks with WWX this time.

Naofumi explains that WWX thinks LWJ hates him and wants to take him back to punish him, which LWJ denies, but Naofumi explains that WWX doesn't know that. Naofumi agrees and knows how hard communication and words are for both of them, and wants to help, but WWX needs to know, and LWJ needs to be clear with his words.

LWJ agrees, and when the next wave comes around, Naofumi takes his er-gege with him to his village in Melromarc.

---

TheRuFumi happens, and they're almost as shameless as WangXian. But, compared to his Snow Prince er-gege, Naofumi is a blushing soft mess, because he can't deny it, since lying has been disciplined out of him from birth.

Back in Rock Valley Village, Filo and Melty and the other kids in the village have a hell of a time playing with A-Yuan.

Naofumi also takes inspiration from Clouds Recesses and his world when building up his village, making many visitors marvel at the beautiful buildings.

Little NSFW: The Lans are insatiable. This includes Naofumi + Stamina from the Shield = L'Arc and Therese who're very sore with countless love marks in the morning.

Everyone should be incredibly happy for silencing talismans and spells, or no one would be able to sleep until sunrise, because Naofumi has too much-repressed energy and WangXian still does their Everyday Is Everyday.

Also, L'Arc and WWX have no problem speaking loudly about their love for their husbands and how insatiable they are, much to the dismay of everyone around them, while Therese silently drinks tea with Naofumi and LWJ a distance away.

-----

Also, this, @bluelovestoship:

Yes, he absolutely has, and Xie Lian made the excuse of them only Sharing Spiritual Energy despite them both having an abundance of it. Hualian are still in the honeymoon phase after hundreds of years AND taking in a child.

Naofumi spent the next week staying with Auntie Rain Master.

I have been reading so many Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation and Heaven Official's Blessing fanfics lately, I just keep getting ideas for any sort of Shield Hero crossovers.

Would anyone be interested in hearing about them?