tossawary

[tossawary]

Chapter 5: Disciples

Notes:

This chapter is around 7,000 words long. Lots of original characters and original sects to fill out the world in this one. Enjoy! ❤️

#tossawary svsss #tossawary updates #qijiu reunion divergence au

[tossawary]

When writing both original fiction and fanfiction, it's my personal preference and style to remind people who characters are in the narration when I feel it might be needed. It's especially handy when bringing OCs into a fanfiction. Example: "The person calling out to them was [Character's Name Here], the baker they had met earlier that morning." This quirk of narration often reads to me as the POV character internally reminding themselves who someone is.

Sometimes, a character is quite bad with names or wasn't given one, which is where it's handy to refer to this other character by a fixed epithet. Example: "The person calling out to them was the square-faced man from yesterday, who had given them those bad directions." OR: "The person calling out to them was the mayor's daughter." This reads to me as though the POV character is distinguishing people by a particular feature or remembers them by their relationship to someone else, which is a common way to remember people, until their own name becomes more fixed in your mind.

I also think it's important to keep an epithet / title the same across a scene. Epithets are best used, in my opinion, when that particular feature or quality is actually relevant. It's a little weird for a POV character to suddenly think of their own husband as "the tall man" unless his height is suddenly important in some way, and it might confuse the audience into thinking another person is in the room. If a character doesn't have a name, then "the square-faced man" or "the mayor's daughter" effectively becomes their name, and it's confusing to have a character's name change too much with every other paragraph. (It would be fine to also refer to "the mayor's daughter" as "the girl" or "the young woman" as long as there aren't any other nameless girls speaking in the scene.) Keeping the same title allows it to blend in in the same way that the word "said" does, rather than break up the flow of a scene.

Not every person or character is bad with names and remembering people, of course, or is inclined to give them funny little internal titles. There are people who are very good at names. There are tricks to use to get yourself to memorize names as you're introduced to someone. Narrative styles are going to be different by author and by the current POV character. (Sometimes, you might want the audience to be confused and disoriented!)

In fact, thinking about how different characters think about each other is one of my favorite starting places for crafting a perspective voice. A single character might be referred to in the narration as "His Majesty" by one character, "my husband" by another character, "the king" by a third character, "the usurper" by a fourth character, and "Dad" by a fifth. The name that a character calls someone else by will often say a lot about their relationship and their opinion of that other person. If the prince appears to think of his father as "the king" rather than "Father", that implies something about their relationship.

But back to introducing character names, you as an author, in my experience as a writer and reader, generally can't rely on the audience to easily recall very minor character names unless they're very distinct or the character was introduced in a particularly memorable way. Like, if you introduce a character as the protagonist's best friend, Mary, and immediately start refering to her as Mary because it's followed by a conversation between the protagonist and Mary, that's fair! It's reasonable to expect the audience to just learn Mary's name here! But then if Mary disappears after Chapter 1 and doesn't show up again until Chapter 10, I think it's reasonable to subtly reintroduce her to the audience again. Example: "It was Mary smiling at me from the doorway, and I jumped up to hug my best friend immediately."

Like, there's no one way that you have to refer to characters and introduce them and reintroduce them, of course. Characters have different levels of importance and sometimes we don't really need to know who they are. Sometimes, an author wants an audience to feel grounded, to recognize people, and sometimes they want their audience to feel lost and scared. It's all situational. Style is a thing.

But because it's all situational, this is something I like thinking about and I think it's something worth studying when you're reading original fiction. It's interesting to pay attention to how characters enter and exit scenes in different forms of media, and how the narrator introduces them and how other characters greet them aloud. (Shakespeare comes to mind as a neat thing to look at, to see how theatre does it. Comic books and films and visual media will do it differently to a text-only story.) The audience doesn't have the background that you, the author, carry around in your head all of the time, and you often need to give them a helping hand in keeping your cast of characters straight. Even in fanfiction, without including OCs, not everyone in the audience has the whole canonical cast perfectively memorized, and not every character in any given cast actually knows every other character! It's not just OCs who need introductions, whether those introductions happen subtly or a character enters the story with a bang.

Kind of another side note:

One of my favorite character introductions comes from the book "The Princess Bride", in which Princess Buttercup is kidnapped by three men who are referred to only as "the Spaniard", "the Turk", and "the Sicilian". You don't know their names for quite some time. Buttercup doesn't know these people.

You only learn the Spaniard's name when the Sicilian leaves him at the top of a cliff, tasking him the Spaniard fighting and killing "the Man in Black" who is pursuing their kidnapping. When the Spaniard is about to fight someone to the death, the book pauses to tell you that his name is Inigo Montoya, and then there is an ENTIRE CHAPTER dedicated to Inigo Montoya's long and tragic backstory, in which you learn about his decades-long quest to find the six-fingered man who murdered his father. And then the book abruptly dumps you the audience back out onto that cliff, where Inigo (no longer just "the Spaniard" and no longer just some random kidnapping thug) is about to fight for his life.

I think it's a terribly fun piece of whiplash that suits the comedic style of the book really well. (The book is a little different to the movie and there are things about it that I don't like, the movie gets across a level of a sincerity and love through the acting that the book misses in places, but there are lots of really funny elements to the book that the movie sadly couldn't cover.) The transformation from "the Spaniard" into "Inigo Montoya" is really neat to me.

#tossawary fandom #tossawary reading #long post #tossawary tpb

[tossawary]

Finally watching "Mob Psycho 100" properly to appreciate the animation. Teru's shift to "be a better person" is incredibly funny to me, because he's still a 13-14yo former(?) school gang leader apparently living without any adult supervision, who's also apparently been beating up the superpowered people regularly trying to kidnap him for years. So, his efforts to "help" Mob (get Ritsu back from Claw) (and befriend? him) are like:

Teru: (casually matter-of-fact) "Mob, I think we're going to have to waterboard this guy."

Mob: (in the softest voice you've ever heard in your life) "Oh. Okay."

#tossawary mp100 #tossawary watching #teruki hanazawa #shigeo kageyama #spoilers #violence #torture

[tossawary]

I think one of the keys to non-canon and rarepair relationships for me in fanfiction is that you have to respect the relationships that are already there. Not like in a "you have to do the canon relationships and then break them up first" way, because you can definitely make it so that the canon relationship in question never happened OR was never romantic or sexual if you want. But in a basic characterization issue kind of way.

For example, when I wrote a Shang Qinghua / Yue Qingyuan fic, I was looking at the ways to make that work given the Qijiu and Moshang situations. And I ended up making it so that Qijiu either never had or never fully developed any romantic or sexual feelings in this AU, but they're still inseparable as friends / brothers / platonic soulmates of a kind. You CAN'T write a Yue Qingyuan who doesn't care about Shen Jiu. It's just not on the table in terms of characterization.

(I mean, you could, I suppose, but then it's a case of, "Who the fuck even is this guy anymore? You undid his whole backstory and now he's a completely different person." I do think you can write interesting AU stories focused on character development in which Yue Qingyuan learns to move on after post-canon or in which perhaps Shen Jiu's treatment of Luo Binghe becomes an actual breaking point for their relationship, but even if things somehow get REAL BAD between him and Shen Jiu, I don't really think Yue Qingyuan will ever be able to stop caring completely.)

Likewise, I made it so that Moshang never fell into the master-servant situationship, and ended up as cooperative enemies / distant allies of sorts. But Shang Qinghua still thinks Mobei-Jun is sexy. That's his ideal guy! Airplane Bro still being a little weird about his favorite character is not really negotiable to me, even if he's in love with someone else. He has eyes! He can still look at other men disrespectfully! He just doesn't act on his attraction.

Like, you can totally just sidestep any romantic / sexual feelings and make it so they never existed, in order to pursue your pairing of choice. But you cannot easily deny, in my opinion, the basic fact of a character caring on a basic level about someone important to them. I think it gives weird "you're only allowed to care about your romantic partner / no friends allowed" vibes to just completely cut off all other relationships. There's not a hard line between "love-triangle-fixing polyamory" and "completely isolated from even friendships because maintaining friendships with exes is cheating somehow monogamy" as options here.

#tossawary svsss #hey share the weight #tossawary fandom

[tossawary]

I was thinking about Xie Lian being able to snap the Xin Mo sword in half with his bare hands again, and then I thought to myself... "Wait, Xie Lian and Luo Binghe interaction could be really cute, though?"

Like, let's say that Xie Lian, during his time as a wandering trash god, accidentally falls into an interdimensional rift and ends up in the SVSSS world. His luck is bad like that. But while this is weird, sure, it's not that bad! The worlds are pretty similar and he can still make his living! So, Xie Lian wanders along as usual, curiously learning about this new world, picking through trash, occasionally punching demonic beasts to death to rescue awed civilians.

And at some point, Xie Lian runs into a young Luo Binghe while he's living on the streets. Let's say that Xie Lian rolls into town shortly before the death of Binghe's adoptive mother, has a few sweet encounters with this cute and kind child who doesn't have much to spare for a trash collector, and is there to comfort his new young friend when Binghe's adoptive mother passes away. Xie Lian is still there when Binghe gets thrown out onto the streets and he agrees to help the boy travel to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect.

So, Binghe gets to spend a month or two as a trash-collecting god's apprentice! He doesn't know that Xie Lian is a god. He suspects that Xie Lian is just a very powerful rogue cultivator who is living very humbly for some reason. The time isn't entirely pleasant, because life is hard and Binghe is grieving, but Xie Lian understands pain very well and is an excellent companion. He sees Binghe safely to Cang Qiong.

At which point, clingy Binghe does not want to separate from this extremely nice person, but Xie Lian insists on it. He wants Binghe to have a better life. He's worried that his bad luck will somehow spread to this poor boy who reminds him of so many other people he's loved and lost. Xie Lian supervises the confusing entrance exam, while the adult Cang Qiong cultivators desperately try to figure out who this strange person is (Airplane Bro is going "???!!!"), and then leaves wistfully. Binghe will later look back on this particular period of his life very fondly.

Xie Lian can then go in and out of the SVSSS plot as a person pleases! I think it would be very funny if Liu Qingge ended up with an unwilling crush on Xie Lian as well, when they have a spar for some reason and Xie Lian handily SLAMS him into the ground. Xie Lian would probably end up running into Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang somehow, both of whom I think would end up being a little obsessed with him.

I think that the best place to bring Xie Lian and Binghe back together is maybe after Binghe escapes the Endless Abyss. So that Binghe can have a nice cry session on Xie Lian's shoulder. Xie Lian can possibly then introduce Binghe to Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang. Or else generally fumble his way through facilitating Bingqiu actually communicating and being less of a painful mess. Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan) is very confused by this character?! Where did he come from??? Who is he??? He's very nice, though, and Shen Qingqiu is feeling maybe a liiiiittle jealous over Binghe.

(I don't know how to handle the System in this AU, but I do like the idea of the System just... not being able to handle Xie Lian. Xie Lian is a god from a different worldbuild. He kind of just breaks everything.)

(If you want to get a little angsty and ghostly, you could have a plotline in which Xie Lian helps the ghost of Shen Jiu somehow. Qijiu resolution?)

Binghe would probably be open to the idea of getting together with Xie Lian as well as Shen Qingqiu. He has a type! He is full of love! But Xie Lian is definitely not interested and is very good at wiggling away from come-ons, so Binghe respectfully doesn't pursue that passing thought / childhood crush, no matter what Tianlang-Jun is saying about threesomes again.

Binghe ends up using the (tamed? broken?) Xin Mo sword to send Xie Lian (his "gege") back to Xie Lian's own world. (Or Mobei-Jun could maybe do it?) Xie Lian has been gone for years and wants to see how his world is doing. Binghe tearfully promises to visit him regularly and to come get him WHENEVER HE WANTS. Xie Lian pats his head and agrees to stay in touch.

So, then Xie Lian tumbles out back into his own world and into the start of the plot of TGCF. And at any point in the plot of TGCF, he's now able to summon a heavenly demon from another dimension (with a super powerful sword that can move mountains?) who would absolutely be willing to fight all of heaven for him.

Xie Lian generally isn't going to do this, because he doesn't want to involve Binghe in his problems, even though Binghe is CHEWING THE WALLS with the desire to help him in return. However, Xie Lian does really like to go out with Binghe and Shen Qingqiu (and sometimes people like Airplane Bro and Mobei-Jun and Liu Qingge as well) to nice restaurants every other week or so. "So, what's new?" "Oh, I've ascended to heaven again and it's a little troublesome, ha ha. How are you?"

Hua Cheng is... nonplussed. On one hand, he's a little jealous. On the other hand, FINALLY, people can recognize that Xie Lian is the best person in the world. Luo Binghe has GOOD TASTE and is just some well-meaning kid whom Xie Lian likes a lot and who rightly thinks heaven sucks. Hua Cheng is determinedly shaking Luo Binghe's hand and giving him advice from a Ghost King to a future Demon Emperor.

(Tianlang-Jun CANNOT be allowed into Ghost City. He will NOT leave. I think that Hua Cheng is strong enough to throw him out if necessary, but Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang would just keep slipping back in somehow. Permanently banned from the gambling tables no matter what he offers, but Tianlang-Jun is still allowed to hang out at the Ghost City playhouse because he quickly becomes the favorite audience member of all of the ghost actors. He has AWFUL taste. Yin Yu hates them.)

(Also, I do think that Xie Lian would not really like the Xin Mo sword at all. E'ming is a beautiful baby boy made from and by Hua Cheng, who is Xie Lian's favorite person in the world who has never done anything wrong ever. Xin Mo is some random blade that destroys Luo Binghe's mental health and turns him into the worst version of himself! Xie Lian could and possibly should snap that possession sword like a twig.)

#tossawary svsss #tossawary tgcf #xie lian #luo binghe #fic ideas #xie lian and luo binghe au #long post

[tossawary]

Thinking about Wei Wuxian's first meeting with Jin Ling again and how fucking funny and delightful it is. Like, let's put the "WWX, you probably could have EASILY guessed this was your nephew if you had spent just thirty seconds thinking about this person's identity" aside completely for a moment. Let's just pretend here that Jin Ling isn't even his nephew. Not a factor.

Wei Wuxian is still in the body of MO XUANYU, who was kicked out of the Jin Sect in disgrace and resorted to sacrificial rituals to commit murder. He KNOWS this. He KNOWS that Mo Xuanyu and the Jin Sect have a bad history and that the Jin Sect considers him an utter embarrassment that they want nowhere near them, and that powerful people will enforce these things with violence. He WILL be recognized (Jin Ling recognizes his crazy uncle Mo Xuanyu immediately) and any actions he takes here will probably be noticed and reported on. Publicly starting shit as Mo Xuanyu especially may cause the Jin Sect to angrily hunt him down later.

So, like, it makes sense to be cautious! The Jin Sect were his enemies in his last life, too, and even if Mo Xuanyu had ZERO relation to the Jin Sect whatsoever and was a complete stranger to them, Wei Wuxian should want to stay out of their way lest they somehow learn that the Yiling Patriarch is back. It's very reasonable to assume that the Jin Sect would raise a new killing mob against him immediately. Wei Wuxian doesn't really know the current political landscape at all, and so it would be smart to stand back, observe the hunt for a little bit, and avoid interacting with the Jin Sect at least for a little while.

All it would take is Wei Wuxian standing back while this fuss with the hundreds of spiritual nets accidentally catching other cultivators happens. He could just hide behind a tree, let Jin Ling and his entourage go by him, and try to find some other way to get the poor people down. All it would take is Wei Wuxian NOT calling out a Jin Sect cultivator for being a "spoiled rich brat".

And he fails that "test". Immediately.

#tossawary mdzs #wei wuxian #jin ling #mo xuanyu

[tossawary]

I think about "Scum Villain" AUs occasionally, as in "Fan Transmigrates Into The Villain Role" AUs for fandoms that are not SVSSS. I think they're fun because you get a lot of the same joys as "self-insert / OC" fanfiction, plus the other characters being baffled as a villain struggles to turn the entire plot around or escape it.

And I just realized that one of the funniest characters for an AU like this might be Starscream from "Transformers". Any "Transformers" continuity, really.

Some random fan who is genuinely a nice person transmigrates into a TF universe and into the robot body of fucking Starscream. STARSCREAM. Alternatively, if you don't actually want to do transmigration, you could just have a Cybertronian original character (or a canon Cybertronian character) somehow accidentally uploaded / installed into Starscream's body.

Either way, some hapless rando is stuck as one of THE scum villains of all time: Starscream.

And all of the other Decepticons are wondering what the FUCK is going on, because it seems like Starscream is kind of... nice now? Did he take damage from getting punched too hard? People aren't really motivated to do anything about this "good clone" situation because they all kind of like this Starstream more. Megatron can't decide whether or not this friendliness is some new kind of assassination plot, because it's not, but also it looks like it's WAY MORE successful than usual.

Bonus points if whoever is stuck in Starscream also has their own Protagonist Favorite (Luo Binghe) character, so now it looks like Starscream is weirdly into some random Autobot. Optimus Prime would be super funny, but I'm also leaning towards Hot Rod (not yet Rodimus Prime), because that would also be incredibly funny.

Also, Starscream has that ghost thing going on, so the transmigrator here (and everyone else) could end up being haunted by an angry Ghost Starscream.

#tossawary transformers #starscream #scum villain au #fic ideas

[tossawary]

Sewing adventures continue with delightful surprises. I was paging through a pattern book in the fabric store, looking for ideas on what garments I might be able to make and modify, and looked through the costume section for fun. Lots of Jane Austen historical dresses and "we legally cannot specifically say this is intended for 'Game of Thrones' cosplay" "medieval" outfits in there, which was to be expected, and then I turned the page and barked out a surprise laugh because there was a photograph of a woman who was VERY CLEARLY cosplaying as Lan Wangji from "The Untamed".

It's not a surprise that cosplayers go to fabric stores and buy patterns. In my ten years of experience or so with this stuff, the stereotypical middle-aged and old ladies who work there will often very happily tell you about their previous encounters with the cosplayers helping to keep them in business. I simply haven't been to a convention since before COVID and had not known that "The Untamed" had become THAT level of popular.

Delightful.

EDIT: Here's the link to the pattern I originally encountered and a link to the cosplayer's own website.

#tossawary cosplay #tossawary mdzs #to delete #reblogged for edit

[tossawary]

Sewing adventures continue with delightful surprises. I was paging through a pattern book in the fabric store, looking for ideas on what garments I might be able to make and modify, and looked through the costume section for fun. Lots of Jane Austen historical dresses and "we legally cannot specifically say this is intended for 'Game of Thrones' cosplay" "medieval" outfits in there, which was to be expected, and then I turned the page and barked out a surprise laugh because there was a photograph of a woman who was VERY CLEARLY cosplaying as Lan Wangji from "The Untamed".

It's not a surprise that cosplayers go to fabric stores and buy patterns. In my ten years of experience or so with this stuff, the stereotypical middle-aged and old ladies who work there will often very happily tell you about their previous encounters with the cosplayers helping to keep them in business. I simply haven't been to a convention since before COVID and had not known that "The Untamed" had become THAT level of popular.

Delightful.

EDIT: Here's the link to the pattern I originally encountered and a link to the cosplayer's own website.

#tossawary cosplay #tossawary mdzs

[tossawary]

MXTX Remix authors are revealed, which means I can finally share the work I did - About time I feed my selfish soul !

I was so stoked when I got Tossawary in the author assignment. Their body of work is iconic and they have so many good fics to choose from. I ended up remixing their Scum Villain daemon AU, Sit With Your Soul, which has some of the craziest, coolest world building I've ever read in a fic. To be honest, I didn't sign up for the remix challenge thinking I was going to end up writing a Shen Jiu-forward fic, but it was just such a fun process and I had a blast the whole way through. So go check it out, and go read Sit With Your Soul if you haven't!!

#thank you again! #goodbye-blue #tossawary svsss #sit with your soul #fic rec

[tossawary]

I'm curious to hear about people's rarepairs, especially the rarer ones, again. Doesn't have to be from a particular fandom. Can be backed only by vibes. Vibes are valid.

My rarer rarepairs for SVSSS are probably Luo Binghe/Gongyi Xiao and PIDW Mobei-Jun/PIDW Ning Yingying.

The former is because I think it would be funny for Binghe to actually get bogged down in the day-to-day running of Huan Hua Palace and he'd need help with that. The Palace Master making Gongyi Xiao effectively Binghe's secretary sounds awkwardly hilarious to me. Also, I think Gongyi "breaking the rules is fine if it's for moral reasons and you don't get caught" + "maybe we should slow down and try to figure this situation out calmly because that doesn't sound right for Master Shen" Xiao would be good for Binghe.

The latter is because, again, I think it's fun to think about who is actually running Bing-Ge's empire. I'm imagining a workplace comedy featuring other key harem members such as Sha Hualing and Liu Mingyan and the Little Palace Mistress more as annoying coworkers. Mobei-Jun is stuck in the incredibly awkward and angsty position of having feelings for another man's wife, and Linguang-Jun is being sooooo petty and mean about it. Also, I think PIDW Ning Yingying deserves a nice divorce or widowing.

#tossawary svsss #fic ideas #bingxiao #moyingying #bingxiao enemies to partners fic #pidw ning yingying #pidw mobei jun #gongyi #gongyi xiao #luo #luo binghe

[tossawary]

Thinking about the actual living arrangements between Wu Yanzi and Shen Jiu is interesting, because I would think that Wu Yanzi should be more than a little concerned that his new apprentice might decide to turn that bloody sword on him sooner or later.

Putting this below a cut because I'm talking about child abuse here.

You can come up with all sorts of angsty, abusive behavior for Wu Yanzi on the premise that he's afraid of what Shen Jiu might do, simpler examples being things like "he might have made Shen Jiu sleep outside if he was ever taking a room at an inn" and "he might have regularly taken all of Shen Jiu's belongings away because he couldn't 'trust' his disciple with them". More extreme, antagonizing examples being things like "he might have tied Shen Jiu up at night like a dog" or "he might have planted some kind of talismans that prevented Shen Jiu from coming near him or from leaving a small space". He might have even been "matter of fact" about it. Not obviously taking pleasure in a "necessary measure".

I don't think Wu Yanzi treated Shen Jiu like complete shit all the time, I think it probably would have depended on his moods, as it does with many abusers. I just think it's interesting to think about why exactly young Shen Jiu was "terrified to death" of this person. There has to have been a line of "worth putting up with this to learn some cultivation techniques" keeping Shen Jiu from deciding to just risk it and try to kill Wu Yanzi (the line ends up being Yue Qi at the Conference).

It's possible that Wu Yanzi treated Shen Jiu kind of okay most of the time, actually, trusting in his young apprentice's fear without relying on any kind of physical abuse. At the beginning, Wu Yanzi is something of a cultivator and Shen Jiu is not. By forcing Shen Jiu to participate in his foul crimes, he makes it harder for Shen Jiu to leave him, because now Wu Yanzi can threaten to TELL PEOPLE what Shen Jiu has done. And seeing Wu Yanzi kill people in horrific ways such as the Cursed Black Light talismans functions as a very effective threat by itself. "Behave or I'll kill you," is probably all the rope that Wu Yanzi would need to tie Shen Jiu up at night, honestly, stopping his apprentice from killing him in his sleep. Verbal threats and abuse are more than enough, especially when said by an actual murderer.

I think it's interesting to think about the different ways that abuse manifests, and how the different styles of abuse from Qiu Jianluo and Wu Yanzi might have affected Shen Jiu. We don't see a lot of Shen Jiu's life with Wu Yanzi, so we don't know whether or not his behavior was playfully cruel or tersely paranoid or coldly detached. It's easier to draw links between Shen Jiu's abusive treatment of Luo Binghe and Qiu Jianluo's abuse of Shen Jiu.

Anyway, I was thinking about this because I was thinking about more Canon Divergence AUs for Qijiu. Like, what if, after killing Qiu Jianluo, Shen Jiu gets a taste of what his life will be like under Wu Yanzi and throws caution to the wind to murder this guy? He desperately wants to learn cultivation, yes, but he doesn't want another master. Maybe there's some bounty on Wu Yanzi's head and Shen Jiu decides to take it, and hopefully leverage the kill as his legitimate entrance into the cultivation world?

I'm wondering how easy it would be to somehow get Shen Jiu to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect when Yue Qi has been trapped in the Ling Xi caves. I don't think that Shen Jiu would be happy about Yue Qi's imprisonment at all. That could end up being a very dramatic rescue.

#tossawary svsss #fic ideas #wu yanzi #shen jiu #yue qingyuan

[tossawary]

Love the number of characters in SVSSS who can be described as "definitely single but also not actually available".

#tossawary svsss #this is about almost everyone but the original inspiration for the thought was: #yue qingyuan

[tossawary]

Chapter 4: Understanding

Notes:

This chapter is around 5,500 words long and remixes parts of the Qijiu extras again. Warning yet again for some more discussions of canon-typical violence, behavior, and also a brief allusion to suicidal thoughts.

#tossawary svsss #tossawary updates #qijiu reunion divergence au

[tossawary]

Oh, terrible fun thought: what if the previous Qiong Ding Peak actually approved of Shen Jiu? Like, oh, this kid is driven and ruthless, why can't Yue Qingyuan be more like that and less soft-hearted?

Because I think Shen Jiu would hold this kind of approval over Yue Qi's head, not knowing what the Qiong Ding Peak Lord did to his head disciple. "Ha, you abandoned me for this cushy life and your own teacher likes ME more than you." If Shen Jiu had heard what Yue Qingyuan confessed to Shen Yuan at Mai Gu Ridge, I think he would have torn the previous Qiong Ding Peak Lord's throat out with his teeth.

MAYBE Yue Qi's imprisonment in the Ling Xi Caves actually saved his life and the previous Qiong Ding Peak Lord was a really nice person who tried his best in a terrible situation. That's totally possible. We just don't know. It's possible that Yue Qi's cultivation system was so messed up that destroying it and rebuilding was the only known option to save this kid's life. But a year of solitary confinement seems... incredibly cruel to me. Was that really necessary? It does sound as though he was at least visited, but it's unclear by who or how often.

But in any interpretation / AU where the Qiong Ding Peak Lord just sucks as a person, him actually LIKING Shen Jiu would be particularly painful. Ouch.

~

Relevant quote from Volume 3 of SVSSS (I cannot remember the chapter or the page numbers):

But Yue Qingyuan’s next words would shake Shen Qingqiu to the core. “I’m truly…sorry.” Even his voice trembled. “Even though I wanted to return as soon as possible, even though I wanted to come get you immediately…I made a mess of things instead. You were right. In the end, I’m an impulsive person…

“After that, Shizun destroyed all the tendons, bones, and meridians in my body, then shut me inside the Ling Xi Caves for more than a year. My entirety was broken down, to be rebuilt anew.

“I screamed, I yelled, but it was no use. For an entire year, inside that pitch-black cave, no matter how crazed I became, how hysterical, no one listened closely to what I said, no one let me out…

“I pushed myself as hard as I could, but by the time I returned, Qiu Manor had already been destroyed for some time…”

#tossawary svsss #qijiu #yue qingyuan #shen jiu #shen qingqiu #qiong ding peak lord #fic ideas #violence

[tossawary]

I don't know when I'll be posting the next chapter of "Some Unknown Corner" (Qijiu Canon Divergence AU), unfortunately. I'm trying to be a little loose and relaxed about this, and this end of week is kind of busy for me. Sometime this weekend at the latest, again, I think, which miiiiight mean that I won't update on the Monday.

(I'll take a break if I need to, I just like trying to keep something of a schedule and trying to keep everyone updated helps me settle my mental calendar. I know the feeling of hopefully refreshing a page all day.)

#tossawary updates #qijiu reunion divergence au

[tossawary]

Reblogging this again because I enjoyed this one! I love the dramatic irony of Shen Yuan not knowing what PIDW is or that Luo Binghe is the protagonist.

Also, here's a link to the fic that originally inspired it! "learning joy" is a prequel for "sweet as honey".

Summary:

Shen Qingqiu opened his arms, but Binghe didn’t run to him. Instead, he hesitantly took a single step forward. “Teacher, I have a question for you.”

“Of course, Binghe,” Shen Qingqiu said. “Anything.” Binghe was such a diligent student.

“I’m,” Binghe began. He seemed to lack his usual confidence lately. “Teacher, what if I wasn’t dead?”

~

Shen Qingqiu’s very normal, very dead disciple Luo Binghe has been visiting him in his dreams. And there’s been a surge in demonic activity. And all of his disciples think he’s losing it. He’s coping.

MXTX Remix 2024 fics have been revealed! I wrote about Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe getting to know each other and learning to live together in a No System AU, as a prequel to a cool ghostly Bingqiu fic called "sweet as honey" (linked in the Author's Notes). Enjoy! ❤️

Summary:

Shen Yuan wakes up as Shen Qingqiu without having read Proud Immortal Demon Way and without a Transmigration System to guide him. He has no goals, no tasks, and no quests. He and Luo Binghe manage to find each other anyway, as master and apprentice, and teach each other to find joy in this strange world.

#tossawary svsss #tshirt #untitled mxtx remix project #mxtx remix #mxtx remix 2024 #fic recs #shen yuan #luo binghe #bingqiu