#scum villain's self-saving system

[yutaan]

Papercraft commission of Yue Qingyuan with some bleeding heart flowers! I enjoyed his wistful, slightly sad little smile and his delicate hold on the flowers... I also enjoyed his BEAUTIFUL GLORIOUS EYEBROWS!

[dyed-indigo]

so @wyyvoren's dtiys huh. here's my take!

[verycharismaticdragon]

Since not everyone can be Luo Binghe (the meme, the legend)...

please vote for Hua Cheng in @the-ghost-bracket!

EDIT2: next round has begun, so the link above now directs there! And Hua Cheng is also currently in a competition for the title of the best leader.

[shrimpchipsss]

cucumber bro "gets forcefemmed"

[dataframe]

small doodle page between classes to figure out how i'd like to draw them!

[sunderwight]

SVSSS fic where Shen Yuan transmigrates into SQQ's disciple days, and accidentally ends up saving Tianlang Jun and preventing Su Xiyan's death by exposing the whole Huan Hua Palace debacle before it can blow up (he didn't even realize this was part of Luo Binghe's origin story at first, since it's not like Airplane ever went into any great details about it. He thought he was just one-upping a rival sect and exposing some sketchy behavior towards the female disciples!)

So, while the system docks him a truly staggering number of points and blaring alarms into his head, SY kind of misses Tianlang Jun telling him that as thanks for his heroic intervention and to solidify the alliance between the human and demon realms, he can marry their firstborn, who TLJ is certain will be a beautiful daughter who will look just like him! SY sort of distractedly prevaricates and TLJ gets the wrong (right) idea and then suggests he could also marry his son, if the brave young cultivator's preferences are more that way, and SY (still distracted) just sort of answers on autopilot that this would be fine, right, TLJ's son, he's sure to be an excellent person who will make his parents proud, and Tianlang Jun is just like "that's settled then! our child will repay our debt to you in twenty years time!" and heads off into the sunset with Su Xiyan.

Shen Yuan is kind of like "well good luck to them I guess?" because it's not like he can un-fuck the hero's tragic backstory at this point. At least he hasn't been killed by the system yet? Although he's getting a lot of notifications about a "genre shift" to compensate, which is worrying...

Anyway. Arranged Marriage AU, anyone?

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Luo Binghe- Scum Villain's Self-Saving System/Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Wei Wuxian- Mo Dao Zu Shi/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

[irrealisms]

svsss and sexual violence pt. 1: shen yuan's realization of himself as a target

it's been a while (read: two months) since my last Big Meta so it's time for another one! this one is about my reading of svsss as in large part About sexual violence but it's gonna be in multiple parts; this one is about 1k, with a lot of quotes from canon, and is focused on Shen Yuan realizing that he has been put in a position where he is a target for sexual violence.

standard disclaimer at the beginning: i am not saying that this is the Only thing svsss is about, or that other readings are invalid; i am not intending to character-bash most of the characters here (while i will freely admit to thinking e.g. old palace master or qiu jianluo are pretty one-dimensionally shitty, lots--probably most--of the characters in this series who i mention as perpetrating SA are characters who do have depths & who i in fact like a lot! despite this meta, or perhaps because of it, my second-favorite character is luo binghe, and i am in fact a bingqiu shipper!); and, obviously, huge fucking CW for sexual abuse and adjacent topics.

(also: shoutout to @rooses40stepskincareroutine for motivating me to actually write all this out haha)

TABLE OF CONTENTS pt 1: shen yuan's realization of himself as a target (you are here) pt 2: gender and homophobia pt 3: non-bingqiu sexual violence pt 4: shen qingqiu's body pt 5: we live in a society

When we first meet Shen Yuan, he's oblivious to the idea of himself as a sexual object. He's attracted to others and at times has to deliberately be respectful and not stare, but he never considers the possibility that others might be attracted to him--much less that men would be attracted to him, and certainly not that he would be a target of sexual violence due to this desire. I could get quotes/proof on this but honestly I think this is pretty uncontroversial.

The first point at which this becomes interesting to me in the context of sexual violence is when Luo Binghe returns from the abyss. here's how the choking scene goes:

“During the day, Shizun was so intimate and gentle with Gongyi Xiao, and this evening you lit a lantern, waiting for Liu-shishu until late into the night. What sincere affection. Why, then, are you so distant when it comes to this disciple?” [...] Under the streaming moonlight, Luo Binghe looked even more peerlessly beautiful, as if his silhouette had been carved from ice and jade. He pressed very close, and he spoke with slow deliberation. “After so many years of separation, we meet amidst golden wind and jade dew, yet Shizun incessantly calls someone else’s name. That truly saddens this disciple a little.”

Luo Binghe is jealous of Shen Qingqiu talking about other people, so he "pressed very close" and starts choking Shen Qingqiu out. This is not explicitly sexual--yet--but it has some overtones. And I don't think this is accidentally sexually charged-- bingqiu is in fact our primary ship, which we are supposed to be reading as sexually charged! It becomes more and more explicit that Luo Binghe is jealous of SQQ's relationships with others not just in general but also on a specifically romantic/sexual level! And later in the same scene we get this line:

Luo Binghe looked at him, then said pityingly, “Shizun, that would require someone to believe you.”

I'll be talking more later about what svsss has to say about sexual violence being allowed and supported by society but right now I just want to really emphatically gesture at the above quote.

And then in their next interaction, in the water prison, the system (we will be talking more about the system's role in all of this later) progresses the scene by causing LBH to physically tear SQQ's robes, and we get this section:

That doesn’t mean you should tear my clothes! Shen Qingqiu clutched the remaining fabric tightly and indignantly said, “What are you doing?! Is this your only method of humiliating others?” “It was clearly Shizun who humiliated me first!” 【 Satisfaction points +50. 】 You can add points for that too?! Gross! Why does this feel so sick?!

But notably--even though Shen Qingqiu notices feeling sick and gross and humiliated about having his clothes ripped off--Shen Qingqiu, even here, does not yet recognize any threat of sexual abuse! Gongyi Xiao sees him and instantly assumes that Shen Qingqiu's been raped by Luo Binghe--the torn clothes, the panicked desire to get out and away from Luo Binghe--but Shen Qingqiu has no idea that this is the assumption being made; Shen Qingqiu is, in his narration, still primarily afraid of more physical threats from LBH, a la PIDW; he's trying to figure out why LBH isn't as good at getting wives as in PIDW, and a couple chapters later he's worrying that LBH is asexual. He's been flagged by the narrative (diegetically, even!) as a target of sexual violence--but he hasn't realized this yet.

this doesn't change for a while; while I have things to say about LBH and LQG fighting over SQQ's corpse under this framework, they're not relevant to my current point. SQQ becomes aware of his role as a sexual object when LBH sexually assaults him in the dream world--it's a kiss, so it's something that SQQ is unable to dismiss as a more platonic form of violence:

Shen Qingqiu’s worldview repeatedly collapsed and re-formed, collapsed and re-formed, cycling infinitely at the speed of light.

Suddenly, Shen Qingqiu is being made very, very aware that he is a target of sexual desire, and that people who desire him can force sexual violence on him. He tries to kick and push at Luo Binghe to get out of the kiss--he's described as "struggling with all his might"--but Luo Binghe, who is stronger than Shen Qingqiu and able to overpower him “even though their builds were similar”, keeps him trapped in the kiss. Shortly afterwards, we get this section, which is perhaps the most important section in the whole book for my reading of Shen Qingqiu's arc, which is SQQ interacting with ZZL:

That touch trailed downward until it was at Shen Qingqiu’s chest and abdomen. For some reason, the places he touched felt a bit better. Shen Qingqiu sucked in a breath, and he couldn’t help but say, “Eh, my friend, where…are you touching?” Even a few hours ago, he genuinely wouldn’t have cared where others (especially those of the same sex) touched him. They could touch wherever they liked, please go ahead. But ever since Luo Binghe had opened a series of gates to a new world for him, Shen Qingqiu’s worldview, which had been set for the past twenty-plus years, had suffered a heavy blow. From now on, he needed to look at this world with a new gaze and more sensitive attitude. Especially on the issue of befriending those of the same sex!

for twenty-plus years, shen qingqiu hadn't thought of himself as someone who could be sexually desired by men; for twenty-plus years, shen qingqiu hadn't thought of himself as someone who sexual violence can happen to. and for shen qingqiu, these realizations are the same. suddenly, he's looking at the world differently: he worries about (and imo is afraid of) being touched places where he is normally clothed, even touch that feels good. and specifically--he is touched in a way that he would have previously assumed was nonsexual due to being same-sex and he is no longer comfortable assuming that. which ties heavily into my later post in the series about gender & homophobia & how this interacts with his experiences here! but we'll tie this post up for now.

[elanorpam]

Qiu Jianluo would have never described himself as a tragic hero, but he cannot help but feel like the star of some kind of play.

Fandom: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù Characters: Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu, Yue Qingyuan, Qiū Jiǎnluó, Shang Qinghua, Original Cang Qiong Mountain Sect Peak Lord Characters, Qiū Hǎitáng Additional Tags: POV Outsider, Time Travel Fix-It, Shěn Jiǔ | Original Shěn Qīngqiū Gets a Happy Ending

[ifidogaysomyself]

me and my friend were talking abt this and didnt arrive at an answer so im turning to tumblr because its funny so worst guys ever fight

jun wu propaganda: devised a supervillain ass scheme just to mentally shatter a teenager for saying live laugh love to his face (because he hates things that remind him of himself)

shen jiu propaganda: have u fucking seen his disciples. none of them turned out well. he kept throwing hands with a 12 year old (because he hates things that remind him of himself)

[kukuandkookie]

Finally found some energy to draw something...for the first time this entire new year akfgdsjgf (happy belated new year!).

But yeah, drew this to make me feel better! Wish I had a LBH to take care of me while I'm sick too 😔

[dyed-indigo]

idk what this post is just take these

[verycharismaticdragon]

okay so since nobody else jumped to make this, here we go

(there's a 'see results' option for those who did read svsss at the end of the poll btw!)

(also i ask humbly to reblog if this poll caught your fancy. because most of my followers are from danmei fandoms and likely have read svsss)

[shrimpchipsss]

the professors shen should never have been forced to share an office

wasn't professor shen the senior being associate professor shen the junior's PhD advisor enough?

[littleartbot]

pumpkin spice~ 🎃