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#{Minglian Headcanon
arcxnumvitae · 1 month
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While her father, the former emperor, was still alive, almost no one paid any attention to Minglian. Literally. Her father didn't care a whit about the second girl child, not when he had his perfect heir. What use was she beyond marrying off to a distant royal family for political ties one day? The emperor's lack of interest in his daughter thus influenced the rest of the Tengmen court, because what was there to gain in trying to earn the affection of the forgotten princess? Truthfully, many nobles tittered to each other about the embarrassing nature of her pitiful plight-- a princess who theoretically should have everything in the world, left in the corner.
It was only because her older brother took her care into his hands that she had servants, clothes, and her household was kept in order. It was him who would request funds from their father for Minglian's sake and who would see to her servants and the like.
The attitude only changed as Huaxiu grew older and it became clear that the future emperor cared for his sister and wouldn't tolerate any making a mockery of her. Slowly, the court began to acknowledge her more after the passing of the former emperor, though it still rings very hollow to Minglian's ears.
Because of the way the court viewed her, few ever take her seriously in her pursuits, be it her demands to learn swordplay or otherwise. She was often turned away by chuckling guards and captains. It would be easy to tell her brother and have them be made to teach her, but Minglian, already feeling she was enough of a burden on her brother, didn't want to. Besides, how would it look if she ran crying to her brother every time?
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arcxnumvitae · 3 months
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Spicy Royal AU fact too, the Emperor has had numerous lovers in the past. He particularly enjoyed being lavished in gifts and praise and indulging in the pretty thing of the moment that caught his attention. He did end up gaining a reputation for being a playboy because of it, and many said he was similar to his father in that way.
The sleeping around has mostly stopped since taking the throne and becoming essentially the full-time caretaker of his younger sister.
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arcxnumvitae · 4 months
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Ever since they were young, the little prince took it upon himself to make sure that the princess was cared for, despite still being a child himself. He felt that he had to, since his father paid the princess no mind and would have done nothing to see to her care and upkeep. So, Huaxiu learned from an early age how to manage a household, hire and dismiss servants, allocate funds, and the like. The emperor at least never forbade him doing so, mainly because he didn't care.
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arcxnumvitae · 4 months
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Minglian's first language was Mandarin Chinese and she can understand most of the main dialects. From there, she learned English and is currently studying Japanese, Korean, and a few other languages. One thing native Chinese speakers might notice though, is that Minglian speaks oddly in a manner that none would quite be able to place.
That's because she's picked up the older, ancient, spoken dialect that the older dragons around her still use to this day. It's a little humorous for the dragons to watch their youngest speak in such an antiquated way. And a little confusing whenever she incorporates the modern slang that she knows.
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arcxnumvitae · 5 months
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The newly-crowned ruler of the Tengmen empire.
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Her Imperial Highness, the Emperor's younger sister.
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The "prince" of a kingdom recently added to the Tengmen empire.
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The Emperor's council.
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arcxnumvitae · 1 month
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There are nobles Minglian's age in the Tengmen court, but she is not particularly close with any of them. They laughed at her behind her back when she was younger and are nice to her face now only because they want to use her. She can tell their interest in her only goes as far as whatever can be gained by being close to the emperor's beloved younger sister. The most insulting part of it all is that they apparently think she's too stupid and naïve to notice their true feelings towards her through the years. So Minglian is friendly with them, but none of the young nobles are her friends.
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arcxnumvitae · 11 days
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🔥 & -🔥 (Minglian // elmo fire)
@lunarxdaydream || For each ‘ 🔥 ‘ I receive, my muse will admit one thing that turns them on/off || Accepting
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Idle cuddling. Closeness with a SO is already nice, and she's the type to enjoy doing their respective hobbies (for her that'd likely wind up being sketching or drawing something) or whatever in close proximity. To that end, if the idle working and cuddling leads to a stray kiss here or there, and that stray kiss leads to a little more, well, she certainly wouldn't be complaining.
Someone who can't cook. Or to be more specific, someone who can't cook and shows no interest in learning because "it's too hard." The world these days is a wide and wondrous place with all sorts of guides and resources. The person doesn't have to have any innate talent or even be good at it, there's just something about not even wanting to try that she finds bleh.
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arcxnumvitae · 12 days
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1. What does your muse smell like?
A subtly sweet scent almost like a fruit candy! It's her shampoo.
2. What do your muse’s hands feel like?
Soft minus the callouses on her palm from where she's held her sword for practice and drills. It sometimes catches people off guard to feel the roughness on her palms. Minglian isn't self-conscious about it or anything, the callouses are all physical proof of her hard work and practice! Remembering them makes her pretty pleased!
3. What does your muse usually eat in a day?
Whatever her teacher cooks. She keeps insisting he doesn't have to make so many meals for her, but she can tell that he likes to cook for her and also likes sitting down and having a meal together, so she doesn't push it. She's partial to snacking as well whenever she's sketching or drawing and is basically a habitual snacker. Snacks when she's bored. Trendy things too! Like boba, cheese tea, whipped coffee, that jiggly cheesecake, so on. Also cute desserts! She's a big sucker for a super cute dessert.
Unlike some of the other fossils (dragons) Minglian is more likely to eat cuisine other than the not modern Chinese food her teacher is always cooking, she's always looking for new things to try.
4.  Does your muse have a good singing voice?
Yep! Like Huaxiu, she hums or sings idly whenever she's doing a chore or something. She'll also sing to herself under her breath when she's drawing. Like snacking, it's something she does without thinking and when she's a bit understimulated.
5. Does your muse have any bad habits or nervous ticks?
She shifts a lot on her feet when she's nervous. It's also incredibly easy to tell in general from her demeanor whenever she's feeling nervous about something, she's not very good at being discreet about her emotions.
6. What does your muse usually look like/wear?
Certainly less expensive-looking than Huaxiu. I...don't know how to describe it? Cute in a refined way? Minglian's liable to wear longer skirts more than she will pants, but she's not wholly against pants. She almost always has some sort of ribbon, pin, or accessory in her hair, and it's rare she wears it totally loose. Be it pigtails, space buns, a high half-up ponytail, she always has it done in some way.
7. Is your muse affectionate? How much? How so?
Oh absolutely. In contrast to the fossils (dragons) around her, Minglian can naturally be very physically affectionate with friends she considers of a similar age range, i.e. "not an elder." Depending on the situation or person though, she might try to restrain herself a little. It all depends. Overall, she's a very sweet girl.
8. What position does your muse sleep in?
Slightly curled on her right side. Nothing of note about her sleep pattern. Like the other Red Eyes, she doesn't have to sleep, but she chooses to because why not. Sometimes it takes her a minute to get going in the morning though.
9. Could you hear your muse in the hallway from another room?
Eh, yeah? She talks at a normal volume without anything of note. Her voice may raise in pitch slightly if she's excited or agitated in any way, which could make her all the more easier to hear.
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arcxnumvitae · 1 month
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Minglian, like her fellow Red Eyes, will have her own pocket plane dimension house available to her when she's ready to leave Huaxiu's home. Despite that, Minglian will actually opt to find an apartment or somewhere to live among the humans. As someone who's always been more interested in interacting and mingling with the humans than the others, she wouldn't want to live somewhere that feels so divorced from the rest of the world, even if it is fairly easy to visit.
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arcxnumvitae · 1 month
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Fandom Mischaracterizations
@soraeia said: the dragons >:D ❤️
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Jianhuren: Misgendered despite using they/them because of their more "stereotypically" gendered appearances. Only fanart ever drawn is of their masculine form, new people to the fandom are very surprised to learn they have a feminine form at all despite each form getting equal screentime in media. Any trauma and issues related to their histories and actions with their students is ignored in favor of relegating them solely to the wise old mentor archetype. Received some unfortunate characterizations based on Qingshan’s one-sided unrequited crush on them despite them being completely unaware of it and not at all involved.
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Qingshan: Completely ignores any scrap of ace-coding she has. Headcanons her as everything else under the sun BUT ace. Also her muscles are gone. For some reason included as a villain in the same exact ranks of actual innocent-slaughterers and world-enders. "Love can fix her!"
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Huaxiu: Flattens all of his negative traits for the sole purpose of making him a more ideal partner to “save” them/their ocs/other character in said media they ship Huaxiu with/whoever/etc. Gets mad when said negative traits appear in the canon media. Ignores the trauma-based nuance behind Huaxiu’s preference of masculine partners over the years vs feminine and you bet it will not be engaged with at all in fanon. Fandom is likely too busy focusing on whatever ship wars he’s in. “Love can fix him.” Ignores Minglian. Even worse, treats Minglian as an obstacle in the way of any ships despite the fact that she’s not a romantic interest at all and is Just There.
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Meihui: She loves teasing people so that would be kicked up about 20 notches. Always asking Xiaodan for tips and help with her swordplay despite her being older, more experienced, and way more skilled at it than him. Only ever makes an appearance in fan material to prop up Xiaodan's own strength and skills.
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Xiaodan: Because he has a resting face, not even a resting bitch face but just a resting face, his only fanon portrayal is “angery.” Ramps up his fondness of sweets to his only other defining trait. Sex god daddy…somehow, despite having been an uninterested virgin thus far in the series.
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Minglian: There are no fanon interpretations of Minglian because she is treated solely as Huaxiu’s accessory at best and completely ignored at worst. If she got any, then she’s infantilized out the wazoo. Precious baby can’t do a single thing without her teacher, never says a word against him, and does not act any way of her own volition. Needs to be protected from anything and naïve to the point of being a pushover unable to live and function without assistance. Gets called the dreaded M*** S**
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Zhifeng: Woobifies them into only a doe-eyed, sweet being despite them genuinely and explicitly having a foul personality when they're not playing polite. Wife-ification, ignoring said sour traits and softening them into a stereotypically, traditionally feminine, traditionally "wife" role even though it is wildly ooc and then declares that characterization as canon. Zhifeng: *dresses in gnc ways, actively makes it known they're genderfluid, never uses just masculine pronouns, 'I am not a man'* The fandom: What a handsome pretty-boy, I'm going to only call you "he" and constantly use only masculine-gendered terms like boy and man to refer to you, my beautiful little cis male <3. Also sex doll-ifies them despite any and all sexual aspects of their character being explicitly a survival method and not something they engaged with because they genuinely wanted to. Who cares, they're obsessed with sex now!
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arcxnumvitae · 2 months
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𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐀𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂 ; 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒; repost,  don’t  reblog. Bold what applies, italic what sometimes applies.
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𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. being unable to stop smiling. laughter. bear hugs. happy tears. waving arms around. dancing. contently sighing. eyes twinkling. laugh lines. childlike playfulness. skipping. talking more. affection. cracking more jokes than usual. gesturing more when talking. higher pitched voice. squealing. jumping around. clapping.
𝐒𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. tearing up. self-hugging. one-arm cross. an aching chest. scratchy throat. a runny nose. turning away. deep breaths. quivery smiles. crying. infantile sobbing. hands gripping each other or an object. covering mouth. puffy eyes. eyes appear red. voice breaking. a distant or empty stare. monotone voice. asking for comfort. faking a smile. crumbling. shaking. whimpering. depression. abusing an unhealthy habit. withdrawing from others. big teary eyes. doing something even if it could hurt them.
𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫. furrowed brows. baring teeth. passive-aggressive comments. avoiding eye contact. sarcasm. headache. sore muscles. hiding clenched fists. irritability. jumping to conclusions. raising voice. going silent. demanding immediate action. keeping it all in until exploding. body tensing. making risky decisions. middle finger.
𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫. wanting to flee or hide. what-ifs. images of what-could-be flashing in mind. uncontrollable trembling. rapid breathing. screaming. a skewed sense of time. irritability. keeping silent. denying fear. turning away from the cause . pretending to be brave. nail-biting. lip-biting. scratching skin. a joking tone but a voice that cracks. fainting. insomnia. panic attacks. exhaustion. substance abuse. tics. rushing adrenaline. face draining of colour. hair lifting on the back of the neck. feeling rooted to the spot. making body as small as possible. staring but not seeing. crying. a shrill voice. whispering. gripping something or someone. stuttering. flinching at noises. pleading.
𝐄𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. constantly yawning. blurring words together. dark circles or lines under eyes. mood swings. hallucinations. calling people by the wrong name. dizziness. denying they’re tired. slow blinking. trouble concentrating. stumbling. leaning on a doorframe for support. sluggish movements. falling asleep someplace that isn’t a bed. becoming irritated by the smallest things. “i’m awake, i’m fine.” shaking so bad they spill their drink. fall asleep in their clothes. lay their head on the table because they’re so tired. passing out.
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arcxnumvitae · 2 months
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Another requested by @soraeia! Huaxiu's difficult with romantic relationships precisely because of past events, it's hard for him to trust in the potential of a relationship if it seems like it's becoming serious. Aside from that, he becomes very sweet in a relationship. Loves spoiling, loves being spoiled, he's full on heart eyes whenever he's looking at his partner and will practically be stuck at their hip if he can help it. Once again, I'm laughing at the sexual parts of the chart because Huaxiu was the hoe of the Red Eyes before Minglian came around! He was living the bachelor life to the fullest! Then Minglian came around and single dad-ified him so he doesn't even feel like sleeping around that much anymore.
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arcxnumvitae · 2 months
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The blog's favorite princess! (This is a S.hadowheart reference). As requested by @soraeia. I went with her main verse for this but nothing of her personality or anything changes, just occupation and race and the like. Cooking/eating together is a love language of its own for Minglian thanks to Huaxiu's influence (in the main verse where he isn't talked down on for his housewife tendencies). I don't know, Huaxiu has simply set a good example for her in how she should be treated!
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arcxnumvitae · 2 months
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Zhaohui doesn't know his own birthday. Through the years and the changing of calendar systems, plus having no reason to and no one to celebrate it with, he's forgotten the date. He figures it's lost to time now.
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Jianhuren remembers it and has made it a point to keep track of when it is. It's November 14.
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arcxnumvitae · 5 months
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Though humans, the royal lines of the Tengmen Empire and Kingdom of Zhongyang claim to their royal birthright is through their supposed descendance from dragons. While most would think this was mere posturing from the original heads in order to set themselves apart from the masses, and some nations further away may indeed think that, it's actually true.
Rumors and gossip run abound in conquered nations about Emperor Huaxiu in battle, fangs bared and skin untouchable by weapons where scales lay. Fugitives from Zhongyang to other kingdoms after the annexation recounted stories of scales gifted to those who held their favor by the former king and queen.
Aside from the rumors, their draconic heritage is nothing that can be summoned by will by the royals, it only seems to present itself during times of extreme emotion or mental disruption.
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arcxnumvitae · 3 months
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shxtteredillusions​ asked:  ©© for all the dragons
Send “©” for a muse fact
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Jianhuren, in actuality, is not very good at asking for help. Since they’re so used to being the eldest of the dragons and the one that others come to for help, they developed a habit of keeping any negativity to themselves. Especially after the ordeal with Qingshan, which actually causes them a great amount of pain and distress.
Jianhuren is not a good cook at all. Not for lack of skill or patience but they tend to space out or get distracted whenever doing so, coupled with the fact that they don’t ever have to cook often to begin with, leads to it being better if they do food prep or cleanup instead. Many a time has something accidentally caught on fire at the oven with Jianhuren right there in the same room
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It was Qingshan who introduced Huaxiu to spicier food, she took him out to eat one day and, deciding to mess with her stuffy little student, decided to order the spiciest dish on the menu for him. Needless to say she was surprised when he loved it. 
She can make simple dishes but is by no means extremely skilled, mainly because she didn’t have any interest in cultivating her culinary skill. Also, she was the one mainly putting out the fires in Jianhuren’s kitchen.
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Despite all of his talk about how he no longer associates himself with the red eyes anymore and is only willing really to bother with Jianhuren at all, Zhaohui still unintentionally finds himself slipping into that “Us/Them” mentality that the other red eyes are prone to. That is, he tends to default to still considering the red eyes like comrades and others as, well, outsiders to their affairs.
Due to the curse placed on him by the gods for his betrayal, his pain tolerance is astronomically high. And once the curse is removed? Not many wounds would faze him or cause him pause at all.
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Huaxiu is by no means a lightweight and can hold his liquor extremely well. One of his favorite pastimes when he was younger was to go to lavish tea houses, listen to the entertainment, order food and wine, and dazzle others with his looks, tolerance, and clearly wealthy disposition. Basically, he was a rich boy who liked indulging himself (maybe it was a byproduct of the years spent training under Qingshan where he lived more simply)
In his library, Huaxiu has countless ancient books and documents that are old enough to be in a museum. Among those, hidden away, are a few certain “books” he obtained when he was younger before he even met Jiao. As time went and he grew older he considered throwing them away, but by that point they were old enough to be considered historical artifacts, and so they remained, although hidden away inside thicker and boring texts so that no one would ever find them. He forgets they’re even there most of the time but would definitely die from embarrassment if anyone ever found them.
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In the few instances she’s encountered him, and of course in the future, Meihui calls Huaxiu “gege” but really she doesn’t have to. They’re extremely close in age by dragon standards, with her being 2,000 and Huaxiu 2,500, so he’s not nearly older enough for her to call him that. It’s just a testament to her teasing personality and her messing a bit with how he tends to act.
Meihui and Xiaodan visit Jianhuren for New Years not only because of their fond feelings for the elder of course, but also because even with Qingshan there before, Jianhuren’s other pupil was always noticeably absent and didn’t often come by to visit. They didn’t want Jianhuren to get lonely.
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Not every dragon in existence was created by the Dragon God like how all of the red eyes were made by him, Meihui for example wasn’t. But Xiaodan was and it was the Dragon God himself who put the seal on his powers during the time he was searching for Jianhuren. Due to this connection, he’s a little bit more familiar with the deity than any “normal” dragons.
He doesn’t look it at all but he actually has a soft spot for kids! He just doesn’t know how to act around them but he finds them very cute. Of note is in the future when Xianzi comes around, anytime Meihui shows up to help train her guess who just so happens to be there with her? Don’t point it out though or he’ll get huffy.
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It may not look it but Vasilios ends up having a hefty influence on Minglian just like Huaxiu. Namely, from him teaching her and showing her how he builds things started a love for creation for her. Afterwards, Minglian will find herself interested in drawing, painting, and playing instruments and shows a talent in all of it too. 
Her favorite flower is the lotus. Not because of her name (Lian 莲 means lotus) but because she became enamored with the lotus flowers that grew in the lake at Huaxiu’s estate.
Bonus third: While at first Huaxiu just handled both of their laundry, eventually after their emotions being returned Minglian asked to be in charge of her own stuff. Huaxiu was a bit confused but agreed, not realizing that it was because the embarrassment and realization hit her all of a sudden that he was handling all of her clothes, underthings included. Huaxiu doesn’t know the reason but if he did he still wouldn’t get it because he was the one who picked out and bought them in the first place, and thus has already seen them.
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