#what might this planet's version of mint and rats be

[steal-this-idea]

I love how I created a world whose arrangement of continents could have totally allowed for a Centauri-Xon situation but opted to only give the world a single sentient (suspiciously human-looking) species

My loss, I suppose

Though I doubt that continent's animal and plant inhabitants managed to escape tragedy...

[gunnerpalace]

Chen Guo x Ye Xiu Headcanons

(The manhua version of Chen Guo has the superior haircut, honestly.)

Some Possible Ship Contractions: CG/YX / YX/CG / YXCG / CGYX / GuoXiu / XiuGuo Some Possible Ship Nicknames: Coals in the Dark / One Winter's Night / Happy Ever After

I wrote this up with the copious help and input of @synoshian​ (Lies)!

I find Ye Xiu and Chen Guo interesting because that have a sort of tsundere thing going on with their sparks of annoyance—almost all of that comes from Chen Guo's end, because Ye Xiu is normally cool as a cucumber, but it's still there. Ye Xiu seems to be the person who most reliably pisses Chen Guo off, while at the same time never making her terminally angry or upset—meanwhile, he still inspires her to dare to dream and achieve. I've long felt that ships are kinda like planets in terms of how they work in that they need continuing sparks of interest to keep them hot and active; I feel these two definitely have that. (Chen Guo being flustered with and annoyed by Ye Xiu is rather cute too, as is the gradual fall of one of her idols into being a mere mortal.)

Even so, there's a certain respect between them. Although their "specialties" are very different (Ye Xiu’s skill at Glory, and Chen Guo’s skill at business and generally being an adult), they acknowledge each other as being good at what they do, if mostly tacitly. Chen Guo is also one of the relatively few people who really matches Ye Xiu in terms of having a love for Glory—as he put it to Sun Xiang in Chapter 1, she likes the game, and "treat[s] everything as glory and not boasting." The way in which she does so is different, but equally passionate.

There's also kind of an interesting... not necessarily tension, but dynamic, with Ye Xiu having a romantic life partner with whom he shares everything but the field of battle (since Ye Xiu's combat partner is always going to be Su Mucheng). This is especially neat (and sort of offset) since Chen Guo is herself a Su Mucheng fangirl (and they become best friends).

Likewise, there are some interesting expansion possibilities for how their ship evolves. After Ye Xiu eventually retires because of age, he can stay on as coach for Happy while Chen Guo stays as manager, or the two of them can diversify into other matters, or both. (Given Ye Xiu said to Ye Qiu that “This is why my dream will end at an early age. When that time comes, I’ll naturally come back because that place will forever be my home. And at my age, there’s still time for me to make a turn around at life,” it might be imagined he’s at least entertained ideas of moving away from the scene, if not leaving it entirely.)

As to their dynamics, they're complimentary. Although (at the start) Ye Xiu is 25, and Chen Guo is 27, she often acts younger than him because of how spirited she is, whereas he comes across as more mature in interpersonal matters. Conversely, she's far more adept at actually being a responsible adult than he is, given his monomaniacal focus on Glory. They have a certain comedic element to them.

You can imagine, in no particular order:

Chen Guo making dinner reservations somewhere that's upscale but not ridiculously fancy, and not minding that Ye Xiu doesn't dress up much even if she herself has. She'd get mad at anyone who called him out on it, but then would also finally get mad at him for not caring about it.

Ye Xiu taunting someone with something like "Wow, you really like to harp on about my shamelessness, don't you? Are you perhaps my girlfriend in disguise?" Everyone is confused, and Chen Guo has something else to be angry about.

Ye Xiu makes an obscure comment about her to the chat on QQ, like:

"Do you guys at Tyranny need a new manager? My girlfriend has the market cornered on being tyrannical."

Su Mucheng is instantly like, "I'm gonna tell Guo Guo."

"Mucheng, no," Ye Xiu says.

And she replies, "I'm gonna!"

"MUCHENG," Ye Xiu continues.

"Hehe... RIP," she counters.

(Or he mocks the fact that she's perennially a noob at Glory and not even at a good level of in-game skill, despite constantly encountering Gods, All-Stars, and pros.)

Soon enough, everyone reaches the conclusion that Ye Xiu is hella whipped and fears nothing but his girlfriend.

Su Mucheng leaves transcriptions of conversations she's overheard in the group chat.

Chen Guo often rats out weird or embarrassing things Ye Xiu has done to Su Mucheng and Tang Rou to get back at him, but does so strategically.

Even though Chen Guo is only two years older than Ye Xiu, he's constantly acting like she's a cougar. (I think the term for this is jiědì liàn, 姐弟恋?)

"You tempted my young and pure self... how do you feel about that, hm?" Ye Xiu questions.

"WHAT 'YOUNG AND PURE'?!" Chen Guo roars.

"I wandered into this internet cafe alone and adrift, only to be seduced by this wily woman."

"YOU SEDUCED ME!"

"She used me to deliver drinks, you know!" he continues, ignoring her. "She kept me in her house and fed me, I was practically a live-in slave."

"I PAID YOU A SALARY! (And I still do, asshole!!!)"

They probably seduced each other.

I sort of imagine them falling into each other’s company very early on, in her residence at Happy Internet Cafe. Chen Guo runs into Ye Xiu after he’s gotten out of the shower one day, and he occasionally walks in on her in her underwear. Relatively quickly they kind of settle into not caring what the other sees and it’s not rare for them to be eating or catching a bit of TV in their sleeping clothes or whatever. That combined with the little acts of kindness means one night, Ye Xiu’s covering Chen Guo with a blanket on the couch, and she grasps his wrist and looks at him in that way, and one thing leads to another.

They’re rather even in amorousness in bed; they’ll take roles sometimes, but they’re fluid about who leads and who follows.

Ye Xiu likes to please, though, and Chen Guo in turn isn’t selfish either.

Neither of them are really sappy with the other outside of pillow talk or certain private moments, so their flirting is usually just this (passive-)aggressive mess.

They mostly emotionally communicate with little touches and eye contact, and rather easily transition between them depending on their distance from one another.

They’re often touching each other’s hands if they’re not using them for anything, even if they’re not actually holding hands. Chen Guo remains fascinated by Ye Xiu’s hands, and he rather likes hers too.

Their Chen Guo's swats have a wide variety of tones, from being rebukes to being playful, and when nobody's watching Ye Xiu will sometimes lightly slap or pat her butt, earning a twinkling glare or criticism mouthed around a subtle smile.

Anytime something really big goes down, they absolutely do the equivalent of the Leonidas and Gorgo look exchange just before the "THIS. IS. SPARTA!" scene.

If they got together while still at Happy Internet Cafe, the other staff find they miss their antics at mealtimes.

Ye Xiu goes home to face the music after retiring, with Chen Guo in tow, and his parents see this beauty and are just confused. It turns out he's a CCP Princeling or the son of a PLA general officer or whatever, and she's confused too. Finally they're just like:

"Thank you for taking care of our foolish, wayward son!"

Chen Guo immediately panics and thinks, Shit, shit, shit, I'm the one who helped him be wayward!

Meanwhile, Ye Xiu is just like, "She owns her own business, you know!"

Chen Guo has to physically restrain herself from slapping him upside the head.

Ye Xiu leaves PC maintenance and repair to Chen Guo and always gets kind of lost at anything more complex than updating drivers. She rapidly comes to adopt a “don’t mess with anything” policy.

Chen Guo does her best to get Ye Xiu to quit smoking through both carrot and stick methods.

Until she manages to succeed, she will absolutely shove mints in his mouth before kissing him, even if he wasn’t immediately smoking previously.

Ye Xiu’s not really overtly sweet, but he remembers important dates and does more than go through the motions.

Anyway, I’ll leave this off here! If anyone wants to add on their own, feel free!