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spockandawe · 1 year

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Here's a big project I've been sitting on! All That You Love Will Be Carried Away, by our very own @ceruleancynic! And a box, naturally, building boxes for books continues to bring me immense joy.

What we have here is not just the main fic, or the main series, but also All That You Love (The High Hope Remix) alt pov short fic by byzantienne, and, a detail that I was really excited to include: the initial comment exchange between these two fantastic authors of m the first fic in the series. Did I title that second little book 'all that you meet cute will be carried away' as a silly placeholder? Did I then get super attached and refuse to change it? Uh-

Hell yeah, I refuse to be dignified about any of my favorite hobbies!

But the real secret delight here was that I've been looking for the right opportunity to get weird with boxes. Peller boxes, hinged slipcases, yes, fine, but those are like the box version of my sixfold book adventure. I'm still shooting for some parallel to my fourteenfold book, I'm looking for a way to go completely off the rails. I have some ideas, but it's hard, finding a good large chonk and a small number of equally sized texts, which made a unified and complete set, AND which excited me to work with. That might sound unnecessarily picky, but I swear, there was a good reason for it!

Oh baby. Oh baby.

This worked out so perfectly. I wanted a large book at the center of things. And I wanted two small books oriented in a different direction, placed end to end, at its edge. And I got it! I didn't want to commit too early, and it would have been heartbreaking to fail, but once the big book was together, and the preliminary typesets for the two little books were almost identical? I just HAD to try.

Tumblr is already silencing me and refusing to let me attach as many images as I want, so for this post, let's talk about the main book a little! Cute little quarto bricks are my new FAVORITE favorite thing, as I'm sure you can guess from my archives, and this one was a dream to put together.

It had to be a three-quarter leather binding, naturally. And I was sitting on some gorgeous iridescent maroon paper for endpapers (no photos in this set, it refuses to photograph well, as is the way of pretty iridescent things). I spent some time agonizing over my other material, and whether to use two different marbled patterns, but I went with it in the end. The vibes were distinct enough but the palettes overlapped enough that I really enjoyed the effect. And with the northcott art of marbling fabrics (my beloved) I was able to use lines of symmetry to get some nice fussy cuts for the big book and the little ones. All of the books have leather endbands, matching the spine. And the big book has the big thick faux raised bands I tried out with my last svsss! I don't have enough pictures to show off all the book interiors, but I used this cover plate for the series and main fics within it.

And then, like I showed you above, I put it all together. Marbled paper and silk moire for covering the box, a lot of very tense wrangling of glued-up paper in very small spaces, and, at one point, carefully lowering glue-covered pieces of moire bookcloth down these little pits (walls already covered) using that tab in the front like the world's awkwardest elevator shaft. But the EFFECT!

I'm very, very pleased with myself, and delighted to have delivered this book to its new home. I've been absolutely VIBRATING with a desire to share, so! I can't be contained by tumblr's image limit. Hold on for two seconds (approx.) and I'm going to reblog this post with some wip pictures and more detail about how I worked this thing out and assembled this box and modified my initial design on the fly

#crafts #bookbinding #ceruleancynic #all that you love will be carried away #box making #did i manage to photograph the main book with the foil all reflecting in decent light so it shows up properly?#please dont expect too much of me i get overexcited when i can see the finish line 😂

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lizhly-writes · 1 month

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hi. we're back to svsss again. i read Asymptotical's Many an Ill to Cure yesterday. There was this line that sort of caught in my head:

If this bit of lore was true, then Yue Qingyuan was married to Shang Qinghua of all people, and that was about the only matchup he could think of that was possibly worse than pairing Shen Qingqiu with Liu Qingge.

and my brain.... ran with it. not for very long, because i really don't have a GREAT grasp of these characters and also i should absolutely be doing something else. but here you go.

At the ripe old age of twenty-something, Shang Qinghua had successfully lied and cheated his ass off to become the An Ding Head Disciple. It absolutely didn't mean his troubles were over -- it was still An Ding, and An Ding always meant backbreaking work, no matter how high up you climbed, and haha also there was still the entire fucking plot left. But at least he had a really nice house now! At least people had to pretend to respect him! At least the System wouldn't keep that fucking countdown clock in the corner of his eye about how he had X months to make Head Disciple before it nuked his brain into a crisp!

Overall, things were going about as great as could be expected!

Except for, you know, this... this one little thing.

"What???" Shang Qinghua said, when Shizun had first lobbed it at his head.

The Lord of An Ding Peak looked askance at him. Shang Qinghua cleared his throat and tried again. "Begging this one's pardon, but... but could Shizun repeat that?"

"You'll be engaged to Yue Qingyuan," said the An Ding Peak Lord.

Yeah, that's what Shang Qinghua thought Shizun said.

FUCK!

This was his fault. Like, literally everything was his fault, seeing how he was effectively God, but this was a mistake that he didn't have to make! You could argue about the violence and the papapa, but in the end, he was speed-writing a stallion novel for money so he didn't starve.

But the engagement.

Airplane-Shooting-Towards-The-Sky had been trying to explain exactly why so many young, beautiful, cold cultivators were so eager to get with Bing-ge, even if they seemed to hate literally any other person ever. He'd eventually settled on the idea that in PIDW, even cultivators weren't truly respected as adults until they were married. In other words, marriage was a requirement! A spouse was a job position! Of course Bing-ge's wives would sell out for the best possible candidate, even if they were ambitious power-hungry snakes without a romantic bone in their body! Especially if they were ambitious power-hungry snakes without a romantic bone in their body!

In fact, even the Peak Lords of Cang Qiong did it! They were even married to each other! Even the Sect Leader! Haha, it wasn't so weird after all!

God. It would have been fine if he left it without explanation. It wasn't even like he kept the explanation -- no, he wrote it and forgot about it, just like how he did with half of the shit he wrote sleep-deprived and running on caffeine alone. And now he was stuck with this.

"Do you have any objections?" Shizun said, and then Shang Qinghua had to go noooo, of course not, Yue Qingyuan was a mighty and handsome cultivator who topped the unofficial rankings for most eligible bachelor on Cang Qiong for three years straight! How could this lowly Shang Qinghua possibly have any objections?

It was super lucky that Shen Qingqiu was too busy being engaged with Liu Qingge to murder Shang Qinghua for the affront.

Anyway, that was how Shang Qinghua had ended up here -- alone with Yue Qingyuan, sitting across from each other and drinking tea. There was a plate of delicately shaped cakes sitting between them that Shizun had heavily suggested Shang Qinghua should make. You know, to show off his culinary skills to his... his fiance.

“Shang-shidi," Yue Qingyuan said, turning a cake over in one hand. There was some muffled yelling in the background. Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge were clearly having a great time of their own scheduled courtship meeting session.

"Yue-shixiong," Shang Qinghua said. "Hi."

Yue Qingyuan's smile didn't waver. "These are very good," he said politely.

Of course they were good. Shang Qinghua wouldn't have been able to successfully suck up to Shizun if they weren't good. It had taken a lot of practice! And sabotage! Practice AND sabotage!

"Haha, thanks," Shang Qinghua said.

Faintly, an explosion sounded in the background. Yue Qingyuan's brows furrowed slightly. "Shidi," he said. "Could you perhaps open the door?"

#svsss #shang qinghua #yue qingyuan #my writing

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mxtxfanatic · 8 months

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One thing that I really appreciate about mxtx’s stories is that even though the common people are shown to have an understanding of hierarchy and a healthy skepticism—dare I say, disdain at times—for the elite class at the top of each world’s hierarchy, that doesn’t mean that their every judgment on the subject is right.

Tgcf is a perfect example of this in multiple arcs. The peoples of Xianle and Wuyong know that a person with money can bend the ear of a god, and the nobility of Xianle, specifically, even bar the poor from entering Xie Lian’s temples without first paying an entry fee. Lang Ying leads the Yong’an refugees to rebel because he sees the corruption girding Xianle society. However, these same peoples also believe in the hierarchy they despise for oppressing them. When the beloved princes of the respective kingdoms are unable to save their kingdoms from certain doom because they are unwilling to sacrifice the lives of others, those same citizens turn on them. Worse yet, Xie Lian and Jun Wu were the only gods who were about treating their worshippers equally regardless of status, while the gods who their former followers turned to for help were the very same ones that had watched them suffer, gleefully waiting for them to turn on their gods so that they could poach new worshippers. In the end, the people end up casting aside the gods who defied the heavens in an attempt to save them, in favor of worshipping the gods who wanted them to perish. We see this same level of misapplied understanding on smaller levels too: Mu Qing understanding classism but only taking issue with it when it negatively impacts him, personally; Lang Ying’s descendants devolving into the same kind of wasteful nobles that Lang Ying had deposed; the people in the temple who choose to stab Xie Lian to preserve their own life because “you’re meant to save us.”

Similar things happen in svsss and mdzs. In svsss, humans are reasonably wary of demons (who hunt and eat humans in this story) and look up to cultivators as their protectors, but broadly applying this allowed the corrupt Old Palace Master to weaponize that rightful wariness to harm his innocent targets: Su Xiyan, Tianlang-jun, Luo Binghe, and Shen Qingqiu. Had the common people witnessed a group of adult cultivators chasing a fearful toddler around be so convinced of the “righteousness” of the cultivators they admire? If so, would we, the audience, still look to the crowd as moral? At the same time in mdzs, the common people actually don’t look up to the righteous cultivation clans as inherently good, only a necessary expense—have you the funds—but even that is a weapon. Thirteen years after the first siege, a farming couple discusses how terrifying the power Wei Wuxian wielded was, grateful to the great cultivation clans for having killed him without any understanding that Wei Wuxian was the most upstanding cultivator of his generation.

In all of these examples, though the common people have an accurate understanding of systemic violence and the dangers present in their worlds, they are not always able to accurately apply that understanding on an individual or personal level, especially if their morals do not align with the idea that said violence is an inherent wrong. The common people in tgcf are not rioting against the concept of monarchies and nobility or the elitism of the gods, even as they know they suffer from it. The common people in svsss still shy away from demons, even though they’ve likely been harmed more times by a passing cultivator or rich person than they could even claim to have seen a demon. The common people in mdzs still turn to major cultivation clans for help and consider them to be overall moral people even with their publicly immoral behavior. None of these groups move to challenge the systemic violence despite knowing it exists on a personal level, which is what makes it very poignant when a character in these books does. Why did that person choose to speak up and stand out while most others didn’t? And what message is mxtx teaching us by showing us this character?

Knowledge, an understanding of systems of violence, and hierarchical placement does not make morality. Moral alignment paired with matching actions do. And without the latter, the former can be easily manipulated by bad-faith actors to reinforce the very systems that create the ills of society, regardless of what position one is born into on the social hierarchy.

#mdzs #svsss #tgcf #human metas mxtx

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tears0fsatan · 9 months

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I have something in mind

Can brothers+ Simeon (If you can) react to a smutty fanfic with male mc written by some random succubus?

They're just randomly scrolling on devilgram (or any other platform) and they see this fanfic (if you know what I mean)

Sorry if it's a bit confusing.

✦ ⊹ ˚˖ warnings... nsfw??, below 16 do not interact u'll be blocked if u do, male!mc, mainly implied dom!mc, mainly implied top!mc, possessive language yeahhhh 🤘🤘🤟, praise, levi has two dicks lol (its canon atp yall source: trust me), implied blowjob lol (levi), lowkey exhibitionism (satan&beel), mention of somno (belphie), mention of body worship lol (simeon)

:¨·.·¨ ♥︎ a.n... wait this is actually pretty cute??? HAHAHA had so many ideas for this thank you hon <3 (lol lets move past the fact that this req is almost a year old and it reminded me of svsss lowkey)

LUCIFER !

he doesn't really remember how things had gotten to this point, one moment he was busy doing his paperwork and the next he was reading this... obscene nonsense on his phone. it was horribly vulgar and terribly inappropriate, not to mention how it invaded his and MCs privacy.

yet for some reason, he couldn't look away.

lucifer was no teenage boy, he had the willpower to move mountains and never felt the urge to masturbate, especially to something as crass as smut of someone he knew personally.

he had no need to read horrible stuff like this since he could easily have the real thing, yet he had to admit, there was something rather enticing about someone's lewd fantasies between him and MC. it annoyed him to no end that someone thought of his MC in such a way but knowing that they knew it was lucifer that was the one making his human feel so good eased his jealousy.

it was comical almost, how the author depicted him fucking MC into the next day when in reality it was the opposite. it was lucifer who was under the mercy of the human, the one who would cry and beg for more, not that anyone outside of the two of them needed to know.

however, there was one commonality between the vulgar post and reality that made his pride flare, no one, not human, angel, or demon, could ever make his little human feel as good as he did. it was interesting to see how accurate yet inaccurate this succubus's fantasy was at the same time and only lucifer would know.

lucifer thought about leaving a comment correcting the author on what a satisfied MC really looked like, on how it was really he himself that trembled under the human's touch, and how MC managed to get the avatar of pride into such a state. yet, knowing that he was the only one who truly knew those little things pleased him greatly, and quickly dismissed the thought. some things were better left unsaid.

MAMMON !

during one of his nightly visits to his favourite casino, mammon couldn’t help but notice how some of the succubi keeping the gambling demons company were whispering amongst each other and giggling to themselves while occasionally throwing glances at him. at first, he thought nothing of it, he was a demon lord after all and the second oldest of all seven avatars of sins on top of being a model, it was no surprise people would recognise him.

throughout the night he caught wind of bits and pieces of the succubi’s whispering and immediately opened his D.D.D. to see exactly what the hell they were muttering about. what he found left him speechless and unable to focus on his bets the entire night, though he tried (and subsequently failed miserably) to not let it show.

there was a flare of anger at the thought of other people thinking of his MC in that way but the fact that they imagined him with MC had a different feeling flaring up in the pit of his stomach. a sense of smugness bubbled up from within, damn right it was him that was fucking MC, as if he would allow anyone else touch his treasure.

mammon's thoughts kept flitting back to the post despite himself, images of scenes the author described coming to haunt him through his bets and they had him shifting in his seat, eager to keep the money rolling in but also desperate to have MCs arms wrapped around him and make the dirty fantasies of a random succubus come to life.

he wanted to feel MCs desperation on his skin, he wanted the humans attention all on him, his eyes focused on the demon and him alone, but most of all, mammon wanted to hear the cascade of praises that the human sang his way, just like how the post had described. he needed all of it.

before he realised, his thoughts were no longer focused on the money he could've been earning and instead on his human. he'd deal with the perverted succubus and his increasing debt another day, what he needed right now was MC.

LEVIATHAN !

now, leviathan was no stranger to fan fiction, especially smut and x readers. he was what one could describe as an expert on internet culture, so how could he not know about something as infamous as fan fiction? they were his guilty pleasure, not that anyone knew.

he was also no stranger to searching MC up online, whether it was on devilgram to see the most recent photos captured of him or fabsnap to replay the videos of him doing a silly challenge with one of his brothers. while he knew that the real living human was merely a few steps away, leviathan wasn't sure if he wanted such a useless and gross otaku breathing down his neck.

so, when he was scrolling through devilgram to see updates on a new anime he was into and accidentally stumbled upon a once in a lifetime goldmine, how could he pass up the opportunity to read it? i mean, to think that some other basement dweller thought of him with MC in such an intimate way... that was pretty fucking awesome, wasn't it?! leviathan was divided between feeling like the luckiest demon in all three realms and feeling like he had tainted something he shouldn't have, as his eyes shakily scanned the blob of text with bated breath.

there were several moments that sent a shudder down his spine, the description of MC taking his cocks oh so sweetly had him running laps in his mind. even after he finished reading the entirety of the post, he had to go back again, as if to burn the text into his memory.

a whine made its way out of the demon's throat when the mental image of the human stroking his cocks with a lazy smirk on his lips and sharp eyes analysing his every move took reign over his thoughts, the image coming back despite how hard he tried to will it away and focus on the post again. his attempts proved futile, thoughts of MC on his knees in front of him with a cock in each hand, movement stopping completely just as he was about to come flashed in his mind with every breath⎯ leviathan couldn't get him out of his head.

hidden beneath the guilt that came with thinking of such lewd acts with MC lay a flare of envy⎯ how dare someone think of the revered human in such a manner? the more he thought about him and the post, the brighter the flare burned, and soon it consumed him, on top of the sinful thoughts of his human.

SATAN !

while waiting for a certain human to join him at the library for their promised tutoring session, satan decided to scroll through his devilgram, chuckling quietly to himself when he comes across a silly video of cats. however, his laughter soon died down when he scrolled onto the next recommended post and saw that it was about his study date and himself.

after a moment of pondering whether he should take the time to read the horny rambling of a random succubus or not, he ultimately decided, fuck it, why not? it was crude and quite poorly written, he noted, but the thought behind the post was made clear; satan took MC to the library under the guise of tutoring him when in reality it had only been a front to fuck the human in public.

a concoction of emotion bubbled underneath his skin and his mind ran rampant, the thought of someone naively believing that satan would be the one who would do something as ballsy as that nearly made him laugh, but he imagined a scenario where the dynamic flipped, and the chuckle died in his throat. various images of MC using him in a place he deemed to be his haven weaselled past his wall of self control and it became the only thing he could think of.

it wasn't something he hadn't thought of, it was just one that he tried not to acknowledge. after all, it was a public setting and satan had the reputation of a demon lord to keep up, he couldn't just do something indecent where lesser beings could see him and MC. yet, in a way, the vulgar musing of some unknown succubus brought an onslaught of unwarranted thoughts about him and the human doing uncouth things in places where someone could randomly stumble upon them that he didn't hate all that much.

the idea of the human covering his mouth with his hand to silence all the obscene noises so people wouldn't discover them had more of an effect on the demon than he thought and he had to stop himself from divulging in his horny daydreams further.

he was pulled out of his dirty fantasies by the sound of a chair scraping against the floor and satan looked up to see that the human had arrived, chest rising and falling faster than it would normally, giving him the idea that he had run to meet him. the demon put on a smile and continued with the date like he never read the post in the first place, but unbeknownst to MC, there were endless plans swirling around in his mind.

ASMODEUS !

there is no demon in devildom who is more active on devilgram and fabsnap than asmodeus, the avatar of lust himself. it was no surprise to find him scrolling through his phone whenever he wasn't checking himself out on the nearest reflective surface. he isn't ashamed to admit he often checks posts tagged with his name, he enjoyed seeing all the compliments random succubi and inccubi showered him in.

though as of late, there was another name he found himself searching up alongside his. there was no one else it could've been besides MC, the human had somehow managed to worm his way into asmodeus's self fulfilled heart, which shocked even asmodeus himself. the demon always read every caption and comment under a post with either his or MCs name in it, especially posts tagged with both of their names. he made sure to never miss a post, regardless of whether they had something good or bad to say (of course the negative ones all got mysteriously bombarded with death threats and soon after were taken down). it was how he found the random musing of one of his fans.

it was scrambled and all over the place, not to mention the number of inaccuracies woven into it, and yet it turned asmodeus on nevertheless. there was one thing they got right; how the demon absolutely adored milking the human dry. the way his spit coated lips would bleed from how hard he bit on them and the way the filthy, degrading names that made asmodeus tremble in all the right ways would tumble past his lips as he rode him, he loved it all.

he fed off of MC's grunts and delirious praises like they were his last lifeline, both in this fan's fantasy and in real life. he never thought that someone could look as beautiful as himself while orgasming but then the human came along and suddenly it was like he had found god again.

the demon found himself getting more and more worked up as he read the text, the detail in the writing of what the two did sent a delightful shiver down his spine, and asmodeus had a sudden urge to stalk the human down and jump his bones. who knew someone's horny rambling could make asmodeus, the avatar of lust, feel this heated? as he skipped off in the direction of MC, thoughts about commissioning the fan kinkier work in the future cycled through his mind.

BEELZEBUB !

the avatar of gluttony wasn't someone who was constantly glued to his D.D.D. like a certain brother of his, if not for communicating with his brothers and MC or using his food sleuthing skills to find new and upcoming food businesses, he hardly even glanced at his phone.

yet somehow, beelzebub found himself unable to take his eyes off of his phone after one particularly tiring fangol practice. while all the other players had finished washing up and changing, the avatar of gluttony was still seated on the bench, unaware of the world around him. the post that had the demon so entranced was one about MC and himself doing sinful things that he only thought asmodeus would indulge in inside the very room beelzebub was situated in at the moment.

a shiver went down his spine and goosebumps broke out all over his skin, both from sweat that clung to his skin and the cool air and the post on devilgram. he was already hungry from not being able to eat during practice, but the description of MCs equally sweaty chest pressed against his back while his hands roamed beelzebubs waist made him feel a different kind of hunger⎯ a different sort of want.

usually his sin felt like a neverending void that he couldn't fill no matter how much he stuffed himself, and he still felt that, but the constant buzzing was somehow not as strong as the ache in his chest and the fire in his lower belly. amidst the heavy racing of his heart and the adrenaline from practice was still pumping through his veins, the post didn't exactly help with his current predicament.

he knew he needed to shower, to go back home and see his family, to stuff his face with all the food he could imagine in hopes of one day being able to silence the ravenous hunger, but after reading the post, he didn't know if he could take a shower without his member getting hard at the thought of MC doing him there too.

to be pressed up against the wall with his hands bracing his weight, the feeling of lips leaving evidence of their activities and lingering on the spot that drew out all sorts of uncharacteristic noises from the demon for a beat too long, the rough yet gentle touch of the human, all the thoughts swirled around in beelzebub's mind and it overpowered his insatiable hunger.

BELPHEGOR !

he had just woken up from the perfect after school nap with nothing to do, MC wasn't around and beelzebub was most likely in the kitchen emptying out the fridge. all homework that needed to be completed was filled out, it wasn't his turn to make dinner and he had already finished all of his chores. with nothing better to do, belphegor slid his phone out from where it was tucked underneath his pillow and scrolled through devilgram with no real goal in mind.

all the posts that flooded his feed were of fellow RAD students he couldn't have been bothered to remember and random promotional shots of RAD from the student council account that he felt the sleepiness creep back into his mind. just as he was about to shut off his phone and continue his nap, a flash of MCs name caught his eye and he scrolled back up to the post.

it was a relatively long post and belphegor mentally groaned, not in the mood to read something so lengthy, but he caught a glimpse of a few rather enticing words along with the human's name thrown in between and he was suddenly filled with an overwhelming urge to read the entire thing.

the way the author had detailed how MC fell victim to late night wood and couldn't sleep it off no matter how many times he tried while cuddling the demon, resulting in him rutting in between belphegor's thighs until the demon stirred awake had him squirming underneath his blanket.

with the help of his sleep addled mind, he could feel the ghost of MCs touch on his skin and he had to suppress the whine that wanted to crawl out of his throat. his eyes continued to skim through the fat chunk of text, swallowing thickly when he read about how the human sucked on his neck to muffle the sound of his own groans, leaving marks in his wake.

belphegor could hardly finish reading the post due to the onslaught of vivid scenarios of MC being all over him and feeling him up in his sleep, to which he felt his half hard dick twitch in his sweats. content with the train of thought his mind was heading in, the demon shut his phone off with the perfect dream to indulge himself in.

SIMEON !

all he was looking for was a new recipe and yet somehow, he found himself entranced with the filthy, sinful words. simeon was by no means the perfect angel, he had done his fair share of dirty deeds in his time but nothing quite enough to make him fall like his former brothers.

temptation was, naturally, an angel's worst enemy and simeon was known to flout the rules every now and then, and this was of no exception. the words on his D.D.D. were familiar yet strewn in a way that was foreign to the angel. it wasn't as though he was completely ignorant of such activities, but his status as an angel certainly meant that he had limited understanding of it outside of reproduction purposes.

so when this post suddenly showed up on his feed, as an author himself, how could he pass up the opportunity to read such a miracle?

the writer described MC in such a way that left simeon feeling flustered, with how this written version of him became so pliable, like putty in the human's hands. he didn't consider himself submissive, but rather something in between. however, there was something about MC praising him for doing well that made the angel think corrupting himself for the human wasn't all too bad of an idea.

he particularly enjoyed the way the writer entailed that MC was gentle and didn't limit himself when it came to praises while he caressed simeon's body, worshipping his body like it deserved. the angel could practically hear the breathy whisper of his name on the tip of the human's tongue, could see the satisfaction on his face whenever simeon couldn't hold back a noise from how good the human was making him feel.

well, as long as he didn't actually act out what was written, he wasn't breaking any rules, now was he? then, it wouldn't hurt to indulge in a few more similar works, right?

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tossawary · 10 months

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Rules: Share the first line of ten of your most recent fanfics and then tag ten people. Don't have ten? Not to worry, just share what you have. Tagged by @otakuchan449.

I did all of my fics, which are unsurprisingly all SVSSS, because I was curious as to the patterns. I usually like to name the POV character and illustrate their style of narration in the first paragraph, which is generally humorous, so people know quickly whether or not they're going to vibe with my style. I also like starting in the middle of a situation / inciting incident if possible, so we can hit the ground walking briskly if not running, and get to the good stuff.

23. Shang Houhua - someday unfortunately to be known as Shang Qinghua, once unfortunately known in another life as Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky - came back to himself abruptly. (if words could make wishes - WIP MBJ Time Travel AU from SQH POV)

22. If the System was to be trusted, which it generally was when it came to making Shang Qinghua’s life worse for no good reason, then today was the day! (Stepping Up - 90k Canon Divergence AU, An Ding Disciple LBH)

21. Shen Yuan was conscious when he was reborn, though he didn’t know what was happening at the time, because all he knew at first was pain and golden dust. (Sit With Your Soul - 61k SQQ & SY Daemon Fusion AU)

20. Shang Houhua was thirteen going on, uh, fourteen plus a whole other life that sometimes felt more like a dream than something that had actually happened. (hey, share the weight a little - 70k Canon Divergence AU, YQY/SQH)

19. “Shifu? Forgive the interruption, but there’s a woman here to see you?” (love to the ones I've never met - 83k Fic Companion, Dimension Travel)

18. Jiahui just needs to check that her restaurant hasn’t burned down. (forgiveness for whose sake? - 48k Fic Companion and Epilogue)

17. Luo Binghe knows he isn’t supposed to be doing what he’s doing, but given that he has no other way of getting answers, he does it anyway. (you had me at hello - 5k Non-Canon Fic Extra)

16. “My king, don’t touch that-!” (A Child Once - 101k Canon Divergence AU, Deaged SQH)

15. The world was dark, woven from a black so infinite that it looked flat, and it was full of light. (Catch a Falling Star - 122k Bingliushen Stardust AU)

14. Shang Qinghua woke up having a bad day - forget going through puberty twice, because in this transmigrator’s opinion, having to experience a new round of “first day of school” bullshit year after year was worse - and speed-walking through the Cloud Recesses wasn’t helping him get through it any faster. (Nothing to Me, Nothing to You - 60k Moshang MDZS AU)

13. Mobei-Jun’s search for Shang Qinghua had taken him to many strange places. (dreams that had never come true - 14k MBJ Time Travel AU)

12. It would be a lie to say that Shang Qinghua wasn’t too sure what had happened. (every haircut I've ever had has been a bad haircut - 5k Moshang Hurt/Comfort)

11. The situation was bad. (Babe in the Woods - 19k Canon Divergence AU, MBJ has a baby brother)

10. Shen Qingqiu was perfectly capable of piloting his own ship, but that day, like many others, found Liu Qingge leaning against a column by the hangar entrance, waiting for Shen Qingqiu as he prepared to leave Qing Jing Peak Temple. (this point of pale light - 18k Liushen Star Wars AU)

9. Liu Mingyan was the model of a refined and accomplished cultivator. (but that's fine because I like a hot mess - 3k Mingling Getting Together)

8. Shen Qingqiu had made use of many excuses over the years to avoid the presence of the man who was now his own sect leader, some of which had even been good. (the ability to remain sober and gracious - 4k Canon Divergence AU, Qijiu Xuan Su sword reveal)

7. Shang Qinghua’s head hurt and his eyes were watering and he was beginning, just maybe, to think that creating an experimental stimulant because he missed the non-organic goodness of energy drinks with an unreasonable passion had been a bad idea. (anxiety and caffeine are having a cockfight in my brain - 2k Moshang Hurt/Comfort)

6. The library’s front door flew open so violently that it could be heard even at Shen Yuan’s desk nearer to the back of the main hall, which sat in front of the way to the computer rooms. (Absolutely Ineffable - 10k Good Omens Fusion AU)

5. Once there was a summer in which upon arriving home from university, Shen Yuan was immediately told that he was being sent away to the heart of the country to stay with his distant uncle, whether he liked it or not. (The Red Cabinet - 7k Narnia Fusion AU)

4. It took… Shang Qinghua… a while to figure out that demons actually had horns in this realized version of his sellout stallion web-novel. (Horns - 11k MBJ has sexy horns AU)

3. So, apparently, a portal burning with demonic energy had opened up over Qing Jing Peak and another Shang Qinghua had fallen out of it, and the wound in the sky had unfortunately closed again pretty much immediately. (ever wonder if the person in the puddle is real - 7k Non-Canon Fic Extra, SQH meets AU SQH)

2. So, Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky, the dearly despised and fervently favorited author of Proud Immortal Demon Way, died in a vaguely humiliating fashion… and then he transmigrated. (it must follow, as the night the day - 26k Moshang Role Reversal AU, Demon SQH and Cultivator MBJ)

1. Shang Qinghua has not been having a stellar transmigration experience. (pride is not the word I'm looking for - 400k Canon Divergence AU, LBH's Mother Lives)

This serves as a pretty good round-up of all my currently posted fics! There are far too many in my WIP folders to begin including everything in there.

I've been a little out of touch with reading fanfiction lately, so please, if you wish, take this post as an opportunity to participate in this game and tag me in it! I highly recommend taking a moment to revisit and admire your own fan works! Look at all that cool stuff you did! If you only have WIPs, then I don't mind if you use WIPs. Sometimes our pieces of writing are full, intensely detailed paintings that take years to complete and sometimes they're just rough sketches we do to warmup or have creative fun when we have the time, and sharing both is nice.

And if you don't have your own fan works to pull from, then I'd still love to see a list of opening lines from some of your favorite fics by other people. Any fandom you like! Give me those fic recs! Give me the opening lines of your favorite published novels if there's one you've been itching to gush about.

#tossawary ao3 #tossawary svsss #ask tossawary

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danmei-confessions · 3 months

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I honestly haven't been in the SVSSS fandom for very long but the way that some SJ fans talk about the character disturbs me, especially when they try to downplay his abusive actions or deny them. I've had disgruntled fans come onto posts I've made regarding the character's (canonical) abusive traits, claiming that I'm attacking them or just hate the character (which is not true, SJ as both victim and abuser is just an important part of his character, and it makes me really uncomfortable when vocal sections of the fandom say that SJ actually didn't abuse LBH, or that it wasn't that bad, because any abuse is "that bad" and the "it wasn't that bad compared to other things" argument gets used to discount survivors irl).

From my experience in fandom, I hadn't seen anything to the contrary so far-- SJ fans I've argued with on my posts like to demonize LBH and even characters like YQY and SY to extreme degrees, or to claim that I'm a LBH/LBG apologist because I point out that he was abused by SJ so his desire for revenge is justified... even though I never claimed that LBG was right for what he did and yes-- LBG's actions were worse than SJ's! Just as SJ's were worse than QJL's-- if we are looking at sheer scale of the actions and their affects, nothing to do with quality or morality of a person or whatever. Even writing off everything SJ did before coming to CQM because of being under duress, he still viciously abused LBH for around 5-7 years, while QJL only abused SJ for 3 years, so like it or not, there was more abuse for a longer period of time in that situation. The dilemmas of the legal and/or moral 'rightness' of either situation could be argued over forever, but the scale of SJ's abuses was larger than the scale of QJL's abuses. And of course, LBG's abuses was honestly much larger than either of theirs-- but that's laid out in his character anyway, he goes to exponential extremes.

Honestly, I haven't seen anyone say that LBG was justified in what he did and that was never what I tried to argue, because tbh I thought it was common knowledge that he was a terrible person. But people seem to misinterpret me and think that's what I'm saying anyway-- that because SJ was an abuser, he deserved what LBG did to him, and anyone who likes him is terrible as well. Which is never what I said, but what always seemed to be what people thought I was saying...

And now that I've seen things like that discord message, you know what, I get it. I understand why SJ fans have such a knee-jerk reaction to people pointing out his abusive actions, because honestly if this is the kind of shit that people give you guys for daring to like a character that just happens to be problematic, or heavens forbid liking that character and relating to him because you know what? So do I, there's a reason he's popular, he has a compelling story and he's very understandable in the way that he is!

Like on one hand, it makes me personally very uncomfortable to see people say that SJ wasn't abusive, or that he wasn't that bad, and blaming LBH for being abused. Just like it would make me uncomfortable to say any of that about SJ irt QJL/WYZ. But on the other hand, if the only way you were allowed to like a character without being harassed and attacked and having accusations thrown at you was if the character wasn't actually problematic, no wonder you don't want to hear that kind of analysis and it feels like a personal attack!

Anyway, what I want to say to the fandom as a whole is, please don't make assumptions about people and attack them for liking or relating to a character-- any character. You have no idea why they like or relate to a character, and honestly it's absolutely disgusting to make accusations and attacks on people for something like this. And for SJ fans, I'm genuinely sorry if what was meant to be character analysis posts on canonical traits of the character, as well as a reminder that victim-blaming and abuse apologism and denial are pretty not cool, was read as an attack and calling the fans bad people for it. I get you guys have had it rough and the fandom hasn't treated you well-- but also, please try to curb knee-jerk reactions, not everyone is out to get you. If you just don't like thinking about SJ's abusive traits, or prefer to write the character OOC or with different motives, then just say that. Pointing out canon is not the same as an attack. From looking at the debates on this blog, it seems like a lot of people are reading attacks into statements where there aren't meant to be any.

Not everyone who points of SJ's abuse hates the character or his fans-- some people just like to analyze the text, or find it uncomfortable when it seems like people are victim-blaming because of their own life experiences. But also, not everyone who doesn't want to focus on SJ's abusive traits and prefers to focus on other aspects of the character is excusing abuse or anything like that-- sometimes it's just not relevant to the story being told.

The answer isn't to claim your fav was never abusive when he was. the answer is for people to not pass judgment on other fans because of what they want to write about or what characters they like, and not to read attacks into statements where they're not meant. It's no one's place to pass judgement on someone else whose life you know nothing about from behind a screen-- and it's also not good to lash out at others because you've been hurt in the past.

Fandom, please stop forgetting that other fans are actual real people with real lives, real stories, and real trauma that you don't know about. There is never a reason to send hate, abuse, and death threats to anyone, no matter how much you disagree with them.

#danmei confessions #svsss #discourse #salty pickle jar #shen jiu

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anarchytaken · 11 months

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Nezuko!Reader x SVSSS Part 3

Shen Jiu did not like anyone in the palace.

Or would it be correct to say that he was wary of everyone and bit anyone who tried to touch him and you. Understandable since you were his caretaker/parent. But still, the moment Luo Binghe went up to you to hug you, the child literally climbed into your arms and snarled at the Emperor of the Demon Realm. He even bit after the finger that was a hair's breadth from your being, which would’ve been chopped off if the half demon hadn’t pulled away in time. You had given Shen Jiu a thorough scolding when the two of you were alone.

Though it did not soured the protagonist’s happiness as he smiled at you with joy and brought you to a room with a bed and a closet full of clothes. Actual clothes. You could almost cry. A room connected to the one you’re in was a bathroom with soaps, incense, and a tub. You took A-Jiu to the bath and removed your fur pelts from your bodies before going in the tub full of hot water. Shen Jiu sighed as you scrubbed and rinsed his hair and body, making sure to be thorough in the process.

After you both were washed, you went back to the bedroom to put on clothes. When you peered through the robes of different colours, a certain blue and white robe and pants caught your eye before you chose it as your outfit for the day. Sadly, when you peered through the clothes for a pair of Shen Jiu’s size, there was none. The child just had to make due with your fur pelts for now. You’ll have to ask Luo Binghe or Mobei Jun to make clothes for your kid.

Shen Jiu took the liberty to brush your hair, grabbing the hair brush from the vanity and tugging you to sit down on the chair. Despite being a child, Shen Jiu was not bad with a brush, taking care of any knots or tangles that were in your hair. You glancing down at your locks, you noticed that it fades from black to a certain colour when going down. Shen Jiu called your by your family title — or the title that he decided for you when he was old enough to speak — to announce that he was done.

You had taken a look in the mirror and was satisfied and quite proud of how you look. Just like everyone in this novel, you were quite attractive. A pretty person if you were being honest. Though, you can’t really compare with Luo Binghe or Mobei Jun if compared with males; nor can you compare with Sha Hualing when it comes to females.

Oh, well.

You were summoned to Luo Binghe’s office.

You left Shen Jiu with a reminder not to cause trouble, putting full faith that the child would not do something stupid. Which would’ve been a very bad idea but you’re betting your money that Shen Jiu is the original Shen Qingqiu reincarnated and has his memories.

A demoness had accompanied you to show you the way, letting you marvel at the magnificence of the building’s interior and design. You weren’t planning to be an architect when you were in the modern world but even you could say that this was a craft of grandeur and wealth.

Though, that doesn’t distract you from the lustful glances the demoness gave you. The moments where you look forward, the demoness would avert her eyes to the front, as if she wasn’t eye-banging you. Though, you ignored her gaze as you noticed you neared double doors with eye-catching carvings. When you neared, you caught voices of two people inside it: one was the familiar deep voice of Luo Binghe and another was not as deep but was stern sounding with a kind lilt to it.

Shen Yuan was your lucky guess,

When approaching, the demoness gave a knock and announced your presence. The voices quieted before a loud enough ‘Enter’ sounded. The doors opened and revealed what seemed to be Luo Binghe’s office; he's seated at a desk that’s filled to the brim with papers and reports. Beside him standing is the infamous Shen Qingqiu, who looks at you with surprise and intrigue but he hides it behind his fan. Jade green eyes peer at you as you enter, glancing at both of them. Luo Binghe beams at you as he stood up and made his way towards you to give you his hug that was denied by your adopted kid.

As you wrapped your arms around him, you felt him sag in relief and contentment before he pulled away with a smile. “I want you to meet my husband,” he then looked at the older man. “This is Shen Qingqiu, my shizun.”

Shen Qingqiu makes his way towards the two of you and smiles, “It is a pleasure to meet the one who took care of my husband during his time in the Abyss.”

You huffed through your nose as you bowed 90 degrees, startling them. “It is an honor to meet the Empress of the Demon Realm.”

“You do not need to do that—!” You heard Shen Qingqiu exclaim, sounding flustered.

A hand pulled you up from your pose and faced you with Luo Binghe—who towers you by inches. “You don’t need to do that,” Luo Binghe said.

You tilted your head at them, “Oh, okay.”

Getting the go, you walked a bit closer to Shen Qingqiu and examined him, ignoring his nervousness when he stepped back. The voice that called your name went quiet to your ears as you picked at a stray lock that fell from the Qing Jing peak lord’s style and brushed it behind his ears, you examined his sharp yet soft eyes to his pale skin to his dark hair that had brownish highlights.

“Pretty,” you said as you raised a hand to pat the peak lord’s head. You then glanced at Luo Binghe and smiled. “Luo Binghe, you got yourself a pretty husband.”

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan internally: AAAAH! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!? DID I JUST PASSED A PARENT’S TEST!? THAT WAS NERVE-WRACKING! AND WHAT’S WITH THEIR WHOLE APPEARANCE!? THEY’RE TOO PRETTY! CURSE YOU AIRPLANE FOR MAKING UNFAIRLY ATTRACTIVE CHARACTERS!

<<Previous. Next>>

#gender neutral reader #nezuko reader #demon slayer #reader has abilities like nezuko #svsss fic #scum villian self saving system #luo binghe #shen yuan #shen qingqiu #shen jiu

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joys-of-everyday · 9 months

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MXTX's women part 2

Let's do ✨discourse™✨part 2

This is a follow up to this post where the only conclusions I came to were vibes based... mainly because my opinions here are generally vibes based (except svsss - I am pretty firm on my view of svsss, but that's a separate post). I think there are strong arguments either way, and tbh I have nothing against vibes based conclusions, but for fun, I'm going to take a position and argue for it.

disclaimer: 1) this post is not my opinion. 2) nonetheless, this post is entirely unironic. I think these are compelling arguments.

Position 1: MDZS and TGCF are sexist.

To recap, I posed (dramatically, in bold face) that the most important question to ask are: What is the intent? How is that intent received? This can be summed up as: What is the message you take away?

Obviously, you can fight me here, but I'll expand. Firstly, the question doesn't fundamentally come down to what the work contains, even though this is important. Every statement on the lines of 'x is sexist because it contains y' has a counterexample. Is the Handmaid's Tale sexist because it contains men in power and women treated as objects? Well op, this is a dumb example, you might say, and you would be right. The message of the Handmaid's Tale is clearly different from, say, MDZS and everything it contains is a support of that message - that a woman's reproductive freedom is her right. And I would go, ah ha, yes. Intent. (You can still disagree with me lol. This came out of a conversation literally a week ago.)

But also note, the author's actual intent is secondary. It's a useful framing to understand what the message is, but due to e.g. unconscious bias, or internalised sexism, the message gained by the reader/audience can be entirely independent of the intent of the author. For example, (one of my all time favourite c-dramas) the Secret of the Three Kingdoms I think is trying to be empowering for women, has lots of cool female characters, but the ultimate message can be summarised as 'men plough, women weave'... which is :/

Another subtlety to point out is that trends and popular tropes/archetypes tell a very different story when looked at overall. 'Woman in the refrigerator' and 'bury your gays' isn't a problem about individual works (although it often is mixed into other problems), but it's prevalence and dominance spreads harmful messages. A work which is great on it's own can actually be contributing to a wider problem, thus making it a problem.

MDZS: Women as accessory

It's not that difficult to argue that MDZS has an exceptional cast of women. I have no intention of arguing that MDZS's women aren't well developed, because enough people have come up with compelling counterarguments and they aren't hard to find. I think MDZS's portrayal of sexism is both exceptionally nuanced and not something you see much of. I love the way MDZS uses and breaks down tropes. I would argue (have argued) that the way MXTX puts sexism into her works is (at least partly) very much deliberate, and not with the intent of being sexist.

But remember, death of the author: author's original intentions don't matter in the face of what can be read from the text.

Notable in MDZS is 1) the lack of female characters who aren't defined by their relation to a major male character 2) women in the refrigerator.

1) Jiang Yanli is Wei Wuxian's older sister. Yu Ziyuan is Wei Wuxian's adopted mother. Wang Lingjiao is Wen Chao's girlfriend. Madam Jin, Meng Shi, Qin Su. Now, there are notable exceptions. Wen Qing is Wen Ning's sister, but her character is substantial even without that. Luo Qingyang (mianmian). Sisi (arguably). But there are overwhelmingly more male characters, and perhaps more importantly, hardly any male characters defined by their relation to a female character. There are a few. Madam Mo and her husband. Jin Zixuan as Jiang Yanli's husband (arguably). This isn't an exhaustive list but you get the idea.

2) Well, firstly, most of them die. Yu Ziyuan ends up in an unhappy marriage and dies as her sect burns down. Jiang Yanli loses a husband and then sacrifices herself for her brother. Wang Lingjiao gets offed by Wei Wuxian. Qin Su is killed by her husband. Mo Xuanyu's mother and Madam Jin just die of 'heartbreak' for what? Plot convenience? More egregiously, all of these deaths are there to either a) plot reasons or b) to add to the development of a male character. This is precisely the 'women in the refrigerator' trope, but multiplied a million times.

The only female character who got her happy ending was Mianmian... who lives a simple life with her family in the middle of nowhere. And it's great that in being brave and pursuing the right thing, she found happiness for herself, but this being the only example is um...

Well, the message feels suspiciously like women exist only for men. Men are the protagonists of their stories. Women are accessories. Sounds pretty sus. Maybe this is all due to the sexism of the world, but the message is then that the only way for women to succeed is to leave the system altogether, which is a nuanced thing but not true and somewhat unhelpful as a message.

Now, arguably, MXTX is leaning into tropes in order to be critical of them. Her female characters are full of tropes, and subversions of tropes - they could act as a critique of female characters in BL (in the way the female characters in SVSSS are critique of female characters in harem). There are a few pointers to this - Mianmian standing up to sexism, or the depth and nuance of Yu Ziyuan finding power+influence through her marriage of Jiang Fengmian. But the point stands is that isn't the message most people take away, because of the way MDZS is framed. MDZS just works as a xianxia action/romance. It isn't a parody (or at least, you don't need to read it as one to follow it). It isn't explicitly critical of how the women end up, nor is the narrative centered around the experiences of women. It is very easy to take away the surface level messages, which I think many people end up doing.

Whatever MXTX intended to say with her female characters, arguably MDZS already adds to an existing problem in how media portrays women. Media plays a huge role in how we see ourselves and other people, and unideal representation of women can lead to unconscious biases and stereotypes which are harmful. This being the case, one could argue that any media that fails to either fix the issue or address the issue sufficiently is problematic. On this vein, MDZS falls short.

TGCF: women as secondary

While TGCF improves on the front of women in power doing well, and more explicitly calling out the sexism of the world, it fails at a different front: the lack of women within the core plot.

The structure of TGCF is very different to MDZS, in that it contains a lot of what I would call 'side quests'. This is not a bad thing (this is sort of the whole point of things like (old) Star Trek or Doctor Who). But the core story of TGCF is (arguably) 1) Xie Lian's two ascensions and in between 2) Meeting Hua Cheng at various points 3) Tonglu mountain. And within this core story, there isn't a single female character necessary for the plot.

Ling Wen, Xuan Ji, Banyue, Shi Qingxuan, Yushi Huang... are all exceptional female (and non-binary) characters in their own right, but the story doesn't require them. They could be swapped out quite easily with other characters, unlike e.g. main pair, Feng Xin, Mu Qing, Jun Wu... (Note this isn't about how often they appear, or how developed they are. Lang Ying (the old one) doesn't appear a lot, but is essential to the plot.) (Yushi Huang and Ling Wen are kind of required, but equally for like... quest and item giving purposes which is not really the same.)

It's almost like there is no female person in Xie Lian's life who is essential to his personhood. And the message might inadvertently be that women are part of side quests - they aren't necessary.

This is, in part, a Xie Lian problem. The narration is tied closely to Xie Lian's pov (but isn't third person limited, interestingly), and we get delights like this:

Aside from the fact that Xuan Ji went mad whenever she ran into Pei Ming, she was otherwise much more detail-oriented and cautious than Qi Rong - she was a woman, after all.

(btw, be exceptionally suspicious of statements like 'women are more detail-oriented and cautious'. They are often wrong, or with heavy caveats.)

This is not on it's own a bad thing - e.g. compare with Shen Qingqiu's narration in SVSSS. But it is arguably a bad thing if you pair it with the fact that Xie Lian is 1) presented as much more likable than Shen Qingqiu 2) is not as obviously bias. He comes across as a trustable character, and so we are less likely to question his biases... so we run into the same problem as in MDZS: we aren't led to question the surface level messages, so the message we take away is an unhelpful one.

I feel like the way around this is (somewhat paradoxically) to reintroduce female characters whose lives (from narrator pov) revolve around the protagonist. (e.g. get in an Jiang Yanli) (The 800 year time skip means they either need to 1) become gods, 2) become ghosts 3) die, all of which have their own potential problems but that's for the author to figure out :p) Making Xie Lian less sexist would be slightly unrealistic but not at all out of character. Having Xie Lian's biases explicitly called out and this be a big thing is another way to go. Or both.

To conclude

Both points fall down to something along these lines: although both MDZS and TGCF make attempts at commentary on the struggles of women, because this narrative is not at the forefront of the story they inadvertently give across only half the message, which is worse than no message at all. 'There are tropes within the genre which treat women badly and this is bad' becomes 'women are like what these tropes say they are like'. 'Women aren't given opportunities so end up worse off' becomes 'women end up worse off'.

Maybe something in between MDZS to TGCF would be an improvement, but also, if the focus on male characters meant these narratives were difficult to execute within a reasonable word count, it might have been better to just skip sexism altogether. (sci fi is usually where this is attempted seriously, but fantasy definitely has scope for imagining better societies.) (This is all much easier said than done btw. Part of a fan's job is to stand on the sidelines and complain, right? 😂)

#mxtx #mxtx meta #mdzs #tgcf

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definitelynotaminion · 1 year

Note

For the wip askbox game, do you have anything in svsss?

I actually do!

I was writing a for a soulmate prompt, but didn't finish before the challenge deadline. @ladyteldra convinced me to ship Shen Jiu/Shang Qinghua, and I named the ship Scumplane (playing off of Cumplane) because I'm hilarious.

Hear me out, nonny: the dynamic is "✈️you wanna kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid 😏"/🎋"I want to kill you with my bare hands actually"😠

In this universe, a soulmate's kiss is an instant cure to most curses and sex pollen (incredibly relevant to the setting), so Shen Jiu is like "do I want to kiss you, no, is it better than FUCKING literally ANY of these fools, absolutely, come here" and that's so valid of him. Additionally I think ✈️ "I know all your secrets and I'm fond of you anyway" would turn SJ's brain inside out.

"Someone bring me Shen Qinghua at once."

"But, Shizun," Ning Yingying started, hesitantly.

"Did I stutter?" He fixed her with his coldest expression and she only lasted a few seconds before giving in.

"At once, Shizun." She demurred, and left him his dignity. He could hear her barking out orders to her shidìmèi as the door closed behind her.

It left Shen Qingqiu in the room alone. He poured a glass of water with shaking hands and forced himself to sip it in slow, measured amounts. His neck was red and feverish, leading down to his flushed chest, but it was the only physical tell of his condition. Layers and layers of robes hid the rest, immaculate as always-- as his position and integrity demanded.

It felt like hours before Shang Qinghua arrived, though of course it could not have been. He arrived flushed and out of breath, as though he'd ran. His face was uncharacteristically serious. Shen QQ caught his eyes lingering on the pink in the man's cheeks, the determined set of his mouth.

He forcibly looked away. Unfortunately, he did eventually have to return his gaze to his savior.

Equally unfortunate, he was able to see the moment Shang Qinghua realized what kind of situation this was. Urgent, yes, but not an emergency.

And no one was dying.

The rare seriousness faded from the man's features. He began to smile. His eyes sparkled, for fuck's sake.

Shen Jiu hated him with every fibre of his being. His jaw locked with the force of it, nostrils flaring. Asking for help was the bane of his existence and he went out of his way to ensure it happened as infrequently as possible. Scarcity did not make those few occasions any more bearable.

His normal method ("be as abrasive as possible until the invader of his space departed") did not work when he needed something from them, and couldn't even blackmail or or manipulate them into providing it-- preferably, of course, leaving them under the impression it had been their idea all along.

He avoided being indebted to anyone.

Shang Qinghua read the reluctance to force the words out on his face and apparently realized that the request would not come. That was almost worse.

"So, I heard you need something." The man said, leading and casual. Shen Jiu closed his eyes and counted, very slowly, to ten.

"I will string your intestines up on the rainbow bridge like festival lights." He hissed. Well, so much for restraint.

Infuriatingly, Shang Qinghua looked delighted.

"Gay Christmas," He said, which of course made no sense whatsoever. Then:

"Well, you could, but then you'd have to come up with an alternate solution to... your problem." His eyes flicked lower to the skin hidden by Shen Jiu's robes, and Shen Jiu's eyes narrowed.

He resisted the urge to cover himself, knowing damned well there were no physical indications of his "problem." His hands clenched on the edge of the low table to resist the urge to reach out.

"I'd rather jump off the bridge myself." He said acerbically. “As you well know."

“I do know that.” Shang Qinghua agreed. He stepped further into the room, adjusting his topmost robe. It was in the light blue of An Ding, embroidered and lined with silver to match his next layer. Shen Jiu had to forcibly move his eyes up from the man’s pulse.

Not for the first time, he found himself wishing he could spit venom. He drew himself more upright, straightening his spine, and used his most derisive tone to compensate for the lack.

“And yet,” He spoke, glaring acidically, “You still--”

Qinghua leaned down and kissed him.

The words died on his tongue, swallowed by heat. It swept through him in a wave, chasing the fever of the pollen. Shen Jiu made a small sound into it. Qinghua’s fingers hovered over his cheek, a guiding touch more featherlight than true contact, and for all his boldness he’d caught Shen Jiu’s mouth up in it chastely, sweetly.

It was enough to have Shen Jiu shake apart.

There was a terrible power in someone completely unafraid, of or for you. Qinghua pulled back slowly, brushing his thumb butterfly soft over Shen Jiu’s cheekbone where the red was already fading from his rushing blood.

“All better?” Qinghua asked, from scant inches away. His lips barely moved, the words an intimate murmur. The air between them was warm-- but not hot.

Shen Jiu closed his eyes in self defense and pretended it was to do a very thorough inspection of his own qi.

“Sufficient.” He said, quietly. “The pollen has run its course.”

#my stuff #scumplane

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llostwriter · 6 months

Text

系统错误 | SVSSS Fanfic

CHAPTER 4

【ǫᴜᴇsᴛ ᴀᴄǫᴜɪʀᴇᴅ: ғɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪssɪɴɢ ᴋɪᴅ ᴏғ ᴀ ɪɴɴᴏᴄᴇɴᴛ ᴇʟᴅᴇʀʟʏ ᴄʜɪʟᴅ. ᴜsᴇʀ sᴇʟᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ 'ʏᴇs'. ɪғ ᴍɪssɪᴏɴ ɪs sᴜᴄᴄᴇssғᴜʟ, ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ sʜᴀʟʟ ʀᴇᴄɪᴇᴠᴇᴅ ᴀ ʙᴏɴᴜs ᴏғ 𝟸𝟶𝟶 ᴘᴏɪɴᴛs】

Xuan Ji seeps onto the green tea that was offered by the old woman. The elderly woman guided them to a tiny store and offered to buy them drinks and food in exchange for their assistance. Just two cups of green tea were ordered by Xuan Ji: one for himself and one for Xiyin. She supposed the actual Xuan Ji would also act in such manner. Knowing that the villagers are already impoverished enough, she also doesn't want the elderly woman to spend any more money. She looked down her long sleeves, making sure to pull the golden hairpin further inside to keep it from falling.

"Where was the last time you saw your son?" Xuan Ji inquired in an effort to learn more about it.

"I'm not sure..." Xuan Ji raising an eyebrow as she carefully listened to the elderly woman’s statement. "How are you not sure, about your own son?" she asked.

"He's always a reckless young man, he never listens to me, he goes wherever he want without telling me anything"

Yes, so the man was killed by his own stupidity. That will most likely also be waiting for Xuan Ji in the event that she is unable to alter her destiny. "Don't worry ma'am, I and Jiejie will find your son!" A startling voice surprised Xuan Ji, it was Xiyin.

Isn't it premature to commit to such promise? Her son might have passed away already, for all we know! Don't make any such promises—especially ones you can't keep—because it's difficult to bring someone back to life!

"If that is the case, I will no longer disturb you two young girls. This old woman shall take her leave," the woman got up from her chair and walked out of the restaurant, leaving Xuan Ji and Xiyin alone with their thoughts. "So Xuan jiejie, what are you deciding for us to do?" Xiyin said, gazing at Xuan in anticipation of a response. If nothing else, at least she knows when to take business seriously.

【+𝟸𝟶 ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ ᴏɴ ᴜsᴇʀ's 'ᴀᴛᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴛ ᴘʀᴏғᴇssɪᴏɴᴀʟ'】

Xuan was annoyed by the notification that showed up in front of her since she could see the system was making fun of her without much thought—not that she isn't intelligent.

She honestly has no idea where to go after she leaves the restaurant. On the left, Xiyin is standing as usual next to her. Ma'am, even though I'm grateful you trust me to keep you safe, I don't think I could do the same for myself! You are usually by my side, so if a beast attacked one of us, it would probably hit both of us!

"YOU SON OF A BITC-"

Xuan and Xiyin are alerted when they hear a loud cry that seems to have come from a dark alleyway across the street. Oh no, Xuan has seen too many scary movies to be naive enough to believe that entering would not yield any positive results. "Should we checked it out?" Xiyin innocently pointed her index finger in the direction of the location and questioned.

It was unnecessary since a larger, stronger man pushed a well-known little child out of the alleyway. That boy was the same one who had run into Xuan Ji earlier. The boy had two other men standing beside him. The younger lad is lifted off the ground by the larger male who grips his collar firmly. A gorgeous blue floral pattern on a small pouch bag with a white tassel dropped from the boy's pocket.

"Xuan Jiejie, isn't that the same exact pocket that usually hanged around your waist robe?"

Because Xuan Ji had just recently "reincarnated" into this body, the pouch bag was absent from its original location. If Xiyin hadn't just now informed her, Xuan Ji wouldn't even be aware that she held the pouch bag. Now it was clear that the youngster had intentionally run into Xuan Ji and taken the pouch bag without her knowing. Since she had never even realized she had a pouch bag on her until now, Xuan felt a little ashamed.

The bigger man picked up the pouch bag after noticing the dropped object and threw the small lad to the ground. "Look, it wasn't even that difficult! If you would have been a good boy and hand over your pouch bag, it would had probably saved you some punches”, The larger male grinned as he eagerly opened the pouch bag in the hopes of finding some precious items, only to be disappointed at the sight of simply herbs.

"What the hell is this?!" The man apparently did not like what he saw because he threw all the herbs onto the ground and then stumped on them with his foot, reducing them into ashes and rubbish. He then tossed the pouch bag away. "You must think this is funny right?!" The youngster yelped in pain when the stranger grabbed hold of his hair.

"Stop this instant!" The man and his lackeys were alarmed by that voice. Xuan looked at Xiyin with an expression of skepticism, as if she were doubting Xiyin's sanity. In addition to the fact that Xiyin's attempt to assist Xuan is unlikely to be successful, both Xuan and Xiyin are likely to become involved in the conflict. Worst of all, the current Xuan Ji is completely untrained in battle, and Xuan has little faith that Xiyin will know how to defend herself. Why couldn't Xiyin see the situation and decide it would be best to remain silent? Xuan now regrets not leaving with Xiyin right away.

Goddammit, even though it's definitely not on purpose, Xiyin really enjoys making issues for Xuan. May the Lord have pity and spare her from assigned to a trouble-attracter!

The man let go of the younger youngster and said, "Look at what we have here," before approaching the two women. One of the lackeys grabbed the small boy's wrist and stopped any attempts at running away when he made an attempt to do so. "You shouldn't treat a little boy in that way. He still has a bright future in front of him”. Where did Xiyin get the bravery, Xuan wasn't sure. The comment was ignored by the buffer man as he licked his lips, drawing an unpleasant response from Xuan. The man tried to grab hold of Xiyin, but Xuan stopped him by twisting his wrist, causing him to grunt in agony. The man stared at Xuan as he withdrew his hand. Xuan looked down at the wrist the man had been twisted by. Muscle memory, perhaps?

"Xuan jiejie look out!"

The man hoisted Xuan off the ground while tightly grabbing her throat. Her nails left scratches on his arm. “What on earth are you moron waiting for? Grab the other female as well!" The boss, who appeared to be the leader, roared at his henchmen who flinched and quickly obliged.

#the scum villain's self saving system #female reader #shen jiu #shen qingqiu #luo binghe #proud immortal demon way #pidw #svsss x reader #svsss fanfiction #The Scum Villain’s Self Saving System X Reader

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drag0nalias0 · 2 months

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i hope someones thought of this before, but:

Svsss × Wof

I can think of a few characters that i think would be certain dragons (note: its been a while since i read wof, i dont think ive read the latest book to come out, and im just remembering the dragons abilities off memory)

Shen qingqiu - Leafwing (bc hes green & hes leaf trick)

Binghe - nightwing (i think all the heavenly demons would be nightwings, mainly bc of now nightwings wee portrayed and the fact that its mentioned that all 3 heavely demons wear black) actually im coming back as im wring sqhs and says nighwing skywing hybrid maybe (this would make sxy a skywing. )

Mobei-jun - icewing (no explantion needed. I think ge was the first one i though of when i came up with this a few minuets ago)

Shang qinghua - sandwing (idk. Paralell to mbj ig. Also maybe a pun with him being a traitor and sw having scorpian tails. Idk why but to me it works quute well) (either sandwing or seawing) (yeah seawing works quite well as their only ability is to breathe underwater. And to light up to communicate underwater. In a secret language) (could be a hybrid of the two) sandwing/seawing

Tianlang-jun - nightwing (i think a way to explain the blood parasites would for them to be an animus curse(or well blessing ig) )

Zhuzhi lang - nightwing×rainwing hybrid (i originally was gonna say leafwing instead of rw but then i remembered that rw are serpentine and have venom)

Lpm&opm - hivewings (the huahuan lady and her dad. Just thought of this one as i was thinking about what other characters would work. This just works for some reason)

Su xiyan - skywing (im not really sure tbh. Skywing is just the one i thought of)

Sha hualing - ? (Idk skywing, hivewing or sandwing are my only guesses)

Yue qingyuan - mudwing (i was thinking about the other dragons sepcies when i realised that yqy fits being a mw quite well. Also in a tragic way! Cuz of the whole bigwing thing)

Ning yingying - silkwing (?maybe. im running out of ideas. Sw also works with lmy so...)

Liu mingyan - silkwing (this works well)

Gongyi xiao - hivewing×skywing (due to him looking similar/giving of the same vibes a binghe i think he would be half whatever half binghe is)

Liu qingge - silkwing (same as lmy)

List of wof dragons:

Continent 1- Sandwing, Icewing, Nightwing, Skywing, Rainwing, Seawing, Mudwing

Continent 2- Leafwing, Hivewing, Silkwing

I dont think im missing any dragon species out.

I dont think there would be any prohetic nightwings out of the main cast. If there were then i doubt any of the story would happen

Oh god this would mean that lqg would be a silkwing

They could be flamesilk silkwings (basically a silkwing that can produce silk thats on fire. I think. Its been a while)

Idk what would divide the humans (now dragons and the demons (also now dragons) in this au. You could say that its a couple of the species (nightwings, icewing, and whatever the other dragons are) vs the other species but it doesnt really work. So maybe its just two factions fighting each other, similar to the sandwing sucession.

Just realised that jade mountain exists. Which has a variety of dragon species. So maybe the cang qiong sect takes its place.

Maybe zzl rainwing side is from a clan of rainwings that were cursed with animus magic to explain his snake form?

Anyway that all i can think of rn

#Svsss #wings of fire #headcanon #Au #svsss au #scum villain self saving system #Wof #wof au #I genuinely hope someones done this before

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xthunderbolt · 2 years

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Right, while I try to answer all the questions you asked for, here you are 😂: 1, 4, 7, 8, 11, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 30. Many loves to you, Thunder ❤️

I hope you're having fuuun~ 😂

1. First anime you ever watched.

Pokemon.

4. Least favourite anime character.

This is a bit hard. On one side I choose Yui from Diabolik Lovers. I don't think I'll ever see a character as stupid and annoying as her.

But then I remember how annoying the characters from bungou stray dogs anime were and I STILL cringe. I could finish Diabolik Lovers - also because there were times when Yui's idiocy reached heights so high that it became funny to watch.

But I COULD NOT finish bsd because of that amount of annoyance dazai gave me - that man; I wanted to kill that man! And the amount of times I've had atsushi's ass shoved in my face...

7. Anime you're currently watching.

Oh man. I've been trying FOR DAYS to watch svsss (that's a novel I recommend) BUT I JUST CAN'T WITH THAT ANIMATION THAT'S WORST THAN A GAME FROM THE 90s 😭😭

Like look at this WHAT. IS. THIS.

8. Anime character you're most like.

It wasn't until I started writing him that I realized how much I relate to Kuro. And hell, it's hard. I really don't know when I'll have that fic out at this rate 💀

11. Anime you didn't expect to like but did.

Rising of the Shield Hero. And if you're like me - someone whose isekai ain't really the cup of tea, I recommend it. It's really... not like the others. And the character actually has to learn to use the things from that world, has to learn to become strong and doesn't just have the magical power of the main character.

Another thing I loved about it it's that it showed the difference between poor people and rich people. It showed the discrimination and mockery, how much effort you have to put to prove yourself and how much shit you have to swallow when you're accused of things you didn't do, just because of status.

15. Anime you never get sick of watching.

TOKYO GHOUL. Kaneki's voice is also a bonus

17. Biggest anime crush.

Can't choose one. We're in an extremely huge polycule. 🤚 But there's some I like as much as I did the first time I saw them, compared to others that I barely remember the names of.

MIKA MOTHERFUCKERS

AND GAREKI

19. Favorite anime ships.

I have too many so imma just mention my current and biggest obsessions dndkdkdk.

Aside from the servamp ones yall already know there's in no particular order with gifs that practically summaries them:

Hualian (tian guan ci fu)

Mikayuu (owari no seraph)

Bingqiu (scum villain's self saving system)

20. Least favourite anime ships.

They're ships I don't pay attention to so idk jrjfkd.

21. Anime that made you cry, when

TO YOUR ETERNITY. I WISH I COULD ERASE IT FROM MY BRAIN I SWEAR NO ANIME MADE ME CRY AS MUCH AS THIS LITTLE SHIT-

It hurt so much that I've been having the manga bookmarked for a month bUT I'M SCARED TO READ IT.

22. Age you started watching anime/ person who introduced you to it.

So the thing is that I've watched pokemon when I was 4, though I didn't even know what an anime was back then. Then Naruto appeared on tv when I was like 9, though I didn't pay any mind to it because I didn't like the summary they showed.

Then I had a sleepover with my childhood best friend and she made me watch it with her and nothing was the same anymore for me.

30. One anime conclusion you would change.

No idea. I usually move on spectacularly fast 😂

#thunderask

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spockandawe · 3 years

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Hi....If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite MXTX characters (top 5 from each novel)? And why? I'm sorry if you've answered this question before.

It’s absolutely no problem at all!! I don’t think I’ve been asked this before, but hey, I also have zero object permanence, so it keeps things fresh and new. And it’s interesting to see how my answers change over time! Lemme see, I think I’m going to go in reverse order, because I feel like then I’ll be doing the worst agonizing up front.

TGCF

Fifth favorite: YIN. YU. I know that he’s a minor character and him even making it onto the list is pretty solid performance, but I do feel guilty that he isn’t higher than this. He came out of nowhere in my first reading and punched me in the stomach with emotions. I find his sections so hard to read, and I was DEVASTATED when he died and BEYOND stoked to find out he was still alive in the extras. His story hurts so much! I am weak against characters who have relatively modest goals and still see them snatched away (see also: my next entry) and have to struggle on. I wish wish wish I had a way to see more of how he made his peace with things after being thrown out of heaven, and the nature of the (distant) relationship with Hua Cheng and what happens with Quan Yizhen now that he died in his arms, and still came back anyways, my god!

Fourth favorite: He Xuannnnnn. I have a hard time articulating particulars, but. I love him a lot. I love a character with a grudge, with a deep, painful grudge, where the grudge is hurting him almost as much as it’s hurting the people around him, and setting the grudge aside would also hurt, and then what has any of this been for-- I've used this metaphor for other characters, but I don’t care if I’m overusing it, because I love it. He feels like a character caught in a thorn bush, where simply being there... hurts, but trying to escape or move in any ways is going to hurt worse, and there’s no path forward that doesn’t involve pain. And like... I don’t love the way he hurt Shi Qingxuan (who didn’t quite make this list adfasgdafsd I’M SORRY) but I wouldn’t have liked to see him swallow back down all that pain and set aside everything that happened to his family and fiancee either! I’m always, always soft for characters who have no good path forward and who grit their teeth and set out anyways.

Third favorite: MU QING!!!!!!!!!! I have done... extensive screaming about him. And I love him veryvery much. I can already tell that this list is going to have a lot of mean boys on it, and like... no regrets. Especially since this is one of my FAVORITE flavors, an unapologetic mean boy who is rarely (but sometimes!) soft for the people around him, and who regularly tries to do decently by people, but who consistently gets shat upon and misunderstood and accused of acting in bad faith. I screamed when he and Xie Lian finally got to talk their friendship out in the book. I also screamed when I realized how immediately after Xie Lian’s return he started looking out for him again, and how sincerely, despite his horrible attitude about it. I still want to write more fic for him so badly. I love him so much.

Second favorite: Xie Lian! What a good boy! The best boy! He’s so sweet and gentle, but also the best fightboy this world has ever seen, and also so gently snarky with the people he loves! I just... really love me some traumatized characters who have trouble recognizing that they can be Loved, and I’m not going to write this whole essay right now, but I think in some ways, he’s the most... passive about his romance, out of all the leads? Shen Qingqiu is aggressively oblivious, but Xie Lian kind of gently shrugs off the idea that he might be Hua Cheng’s special someone, until he finally gets hit with the cluestick. I generally shy away from the idea of a character “earning” love, but he’s maybe the mxtx character who moves me most with ‘you deserve to be loved’

Most favorite: Hua Cheng. HUA CHENG. Oh my god, gotta love this boy. Gotta love this devotion. I love a mean boy who is soft for one person, and he EMBODIES it. I mean, I love Shen Jiu, but he barely manages to do the soft thing at all, while Hua Cheng is over here like ‘if I could only be the stone beneath your feet--’ It’s hard to talk about him separately from Xie Lian, because they’re a unit in my head more than just about any other characters on this list are. I don’t want to get this list to get out of control, so I’m not going to scream for too long, but... I could just watch him go forever. I want to write him forever, and that’s a huge aspect of what draws me to some characters.

MDZS

Oh god, I think I lied, I think this book is going to be hardest. Making these choices is AGONIZING.

Fifth favorite: .....Lan Wangji. Oh god, I feel bad about how low he is. But this story is just packed SO full of wonderful characters, and I’m already consumed with guilt over all the characters who aren’t going to make it. I don’t love them less! But my love for characters in this particular story is very evenly distributed. And I think that Wang Yibo’s acting is possibly scoring points with me that the book might not have earned all by itself. Microexpressions and subtle body language add SO MUCH to a character with such flat affect, and I would be drawn to such a closed-off character anyways, but it really helps. And I love, like... the combined subtlety and intensity of his relationships. It’s not that subtle once you know what to look for, and the brother/sworn brother network makes for varying degrees of how much other characters understand of the things he chooses not to explicitly express, and it gives a really interesting character to the way he interacts with the people around him. Also, love me a man with intense separation anxiety.

Fourth favorite: Jiang Yanli? I think it has to be Jiang Yanli, but these rankings are hard. So. I just talked about how much I enjoy the flat affect and closed off nature of Lan Wangji? Well, guess what, I also love it when m’girl is just very GENUINELY AND OPENLY an absolute sweetheart of a person, and I love the contrast between her genuinely kind nature and the uncomfortable pressure that her family’s dynamics put on her to start parenting at a very young age. It’s not necessarily a happy situation, but she adores her brothers so much and they adore her so much! And it’s... a very understated element of the story, but after her parents died, her baby brothers went off to war, and one wreaked havoc as a straightforward commander and one of them disappeared for months and returned as a creepy-ass zombie puppeteer. And she STILL dotes on them like before, despite knowing what they’re capable of. Like, yes, Wei Wuxian just raised an army of corpses and forced a man to eat himself, but I shall still boop him on the nose and feed him Soup. How can I not adore energy like that?

Third favorite: Wei Wuxian, I think. I do adore him a lot. He gives me some of the same vibes that make me ache most with Xie Lian, where he is trying his best, and is struggling to hold on in the face of lots of suffering, and I find it really interesting that when the suffering peaked, Xie Lian was forced go on because he couldn’t die, while Wei Wuxian... expired. That line about ‘he thought that no matter how large the world was, there was still no place for him’ always sticks with me, and hurts me deeply. Xie Lian had most of his personal attachments stripped away, and was left to wander on his own, while Wei Wuxian still had a number of strong connections left, but abruptly exited life. And that informs their respective trauma so interestingly! The way Wei Wuxian bounces between high energy chaos and drained exhaustion is really fascinating to me, and was the thread that held me attached to the book through a very confusing beginning. And I’m still very drawn to how intensely he loves, whether it’s Xiao Zhan’s fantastic acting, or it’s him busting out with how much he wants Lan Wangji in the middle of the Guanyin Temple scene. He’s a fantastic character, honestly, I don’t think such a convoluted book would have held together very well without a protagonist this strong.

Second favorite: Xue Yang :X Look, he’s a good boy and I love him. Who among us hasn’t done a few mass murders that we are completely unrepentant about, but that we would really like to keep hidden from our current boyfriend, actually? Anyways, as always, love me an angry boy who makes terrible decisions for understandable reasons. And I do love a character who is consumed by agonized ragrets (see my next entry), but I DO also love me a character who has no regrets at all and doesn’t even have much interest in trying to justify himself to anyone else around him. Just look at that confidence! Look at him go!!

Most favorite: Jiang... Cheng....... I knew he and Xue Yang were going to be at the top, but those were the only parts of this list that were easy. I mean. Love a self-sabotaging angryboy who is also super super sad and keeps hurting himself in his own confusion. And while I love the romantic thread in all of the mxtx books, the agonized family thread in mdzs is one of my favorite parts, and something that I don’t really see echoed in any of the other stories. I need ten million jc+wwx reconciliations, at LEAST. He’s so sad! And so angry! And I want to see him becoming less of that thing, and for Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian to demonstrate very firmly how much they love him, because they do. I am invested in his happiness in a way that goes far and beyond any of the other non-main characters, haha

SVSSS

Fifth favorite: Tianlang-jun. I think? Oh god, but moshang. THIS IS REALLY HARD, I HATE THIS ;-; But especially since writing my fic, Tianlang-jun has really won me over. And like, he already hurt me good in the novel, just thinking about how he was an innocent young guy, just! Trying to have a girlfriend! And instead got trapped in sensory deprivation, body-rotting-hell for twenty years, when he didn’t do anything wrong!!! He suffered, so much! And I live for his intensely strained relationship with Luo Binghe, because it’s! Perfectly understandable and painful, from both of their perspectives! And he wants to hate humans so badly, but in the end, when he’s told that Su Xiyan never betrayed him, he starts helplessly asking the people around him, ‘really? is it really true?’ and then in the end he loses the only family member he has left who cares about him, and it’s just! Everything is terrible! I have a su xiyan au brewing in my head because I can’t stand it! Someone just give this man a loving partner!!!

Fourth favorite: Shen Qingqiu. But... moshang??? Goddammit. Anyways, this dumbass. I find him so endearing, in his dumbassery. I sometimes get a bit frustrated with Wei Wuxian for being oblivious, and Shen Qingqiu is just asking for me to react the same way, but I... don’t, for the most part? Because he thinks he has good information, and he’s slow to react to a changing playing field, and I still haven’t read another transmigration novel that strikes the same balance of hypercompetence and intense incompetence :ppp It’s a funny book, and he’s a funny character! And I really vibe with him, in most parts of the story, which covers a pretty darn wide emotional spectrum. Plus, the running internal commentary is choice.

Third favorite: Liu Qingge. Look, I’m a woman of simple needs, and sometimes I just need a high-quality fightboy who clearly cares deeply and is absolute garbage at expressing his emotions. I can’t articulate it much better than that. I absolutely howl at the succubus extra, when Shen Qingqiu is talking to Madam Meiyin about his future partner, and Liu Qingge is like ‘oh my god, sHE IS CLEARLY DESCRIBING ME’ and Shen Qingqiu is like ‘haha, liu-shidi, i thought you thought this was stuupidddddddd’. They’re both so dumb. I love them so much. But stupidity plus war god fighting energy has a narrow lead over stupidity and internal commentary track.

Second favorite: SHEN JIU. GOD. I’m still arguing with myself over whether he should go first, but Luo Binghe hurts me consistently through the whole entire story, so I think he wins. Shen Jiu just stabs me in the heart at strategic moments. This is it. My ideal mean boy who is soft for one (1) person, and who BOTH does unconscionable things for terrible reasons (someone just. give him a pile of girls to teach, it will be much more pleasant for everyone involved), and who ALSO gets blamed for things he didn’t do even when he tries to act in good faith. It is the best of all painful worlds. And even at the end, when he has a powerful person who wants desperately to protect him, he still tries his hardest to shove that person away, to keep him safe. I’ve got like four aus where he gets to live. I’m so invested in this character, I love him so much.

Most favorite: Luo Binghe. He was.... made for me............ Like, the overwhelming amounts of childhood angst were baked in by Shang Qinghua, but the in-story pain and suffering is PRECISELY my jam. I love a character with separation anxiety! I love a character with massive anxieties over being unwanted! Over nobody ever, EVER just choosing him! I love a character struggling with the idea that the person he loves most in the world thinks that he’s intrinsically Disgusting! I love the kind of stubborn determination that leads him to preserve a corpse for five years, desperately hoping for a way to revive it, constantly cooking fresh food, in case, in case he someday wakes up. The way Hua Cheng loves is overpowering, but he’s had time to like... learn to be mellow when he needs to be. Luo Binghe doesn’t have a chill bone in his body, and if he’s acting chill, it’s probably because he’s done some mental math and decided that being more clingy right now will probably get him pushed away harder. I love the combination of manipulative tendencies and a very, very genuine fear of rejection and being unwanted. There is nothing I don’t love about Luo Binghe, including his worst decisions. I love him so so much.

#spock replies #long post/#svsss #mdzs #tgcf #thanad-zid

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akatsuki-shin · 3 years

Text

Review: Scum Villain’s Self-saving System (SVSSS)

Notes:

(Very) long post ahead

Contains spoiler

This is my personal review and does not represent the entire audience, you are free to agree or not agree with what I’ve written here

Feel free to reply/send me a message if there are things you want to discuss

Summary:

SVSSS tells the story of Shen Yuan, an avid web novel reader - particularly the stallion genre - who died suddenly from food-related incident after having just finished reading a famous (yet controversial) web-novel "Proud Immortal Demon Way".

Upon his wake, he discovered that he had been transmigrated into the world of that very novel, moreover into the body of the story's most-hated scum villain, Shen Qingqiu.

In his previous life, Shen Yuan had frequently criticized the "Proud Immortal Demon Way" and its author, "Airplane Shooting towards the Sky", for he found the web novel full of wasted potentials. Now having been sent to live in that novel's story, a mysterious system assigned him with a mission to fix the very plot he had been denouncing - and of course, to save himself from the tragic end of the original Shen Qingqiu, who was fated to be mutilated into a human stick by the story's protagonist, Luo Binghe, his own disciple.

STORY: 7/10

I personally have not read a lot of "isekai" stories. However, what makes SVSSS interesting to me, compared to most transmigration stories I've seen in the past, is because the main character was not thrown into a completely strange, unknown world, but rather into the universe of a novel he had been closely following up until the very last second of his life.

And what's more? He does not have complete freedom in modifying the story however he wants, but supervised by a mysterious system that will reward him for correct decisions, and punish him for wrong choices - with being deported to his original world as the ultimate punishment should his points fall below the set limit (a.k.a. he would really lose his life because he is already dead in his original world).

The fact that Shen Yuan, now living as Shen Qingqiu, possessing complete knowledge of the original story, yet still unable to foresee what butterfly effect his actions will cause to the plot and characters is perhaps the most appealing aspect of this novel.

Shen Qingqiu in his previous life was no different than us - a normal, modern young man from the 21st century. His thoughts and opinions on the situation, the way he reacts on certain matters, his internal monologues are all realistic and easily relatable. It feels as if I myself have partly become Shen Qingqiu, as well, looking at how the story progresses from a first person point of view, because if I were to be in his shoes, I would probably react in the exact same way as a modern person thrown into an ancient fantasy world.

Nevertheless, this "omniscient reader" point of view is not without a flaw. Although Shen Qingqiu himself is gradually blending in, accepting his new life in the ancient cultivation world and no longer seeing the other characters as mere "fictional characters", because his mindset is that of a modern man, I find it difficult for myself as the reader to perceive the world of SVSSS as an actual, stand-alone world. Until the very last page of the story, I still feel like I'm looking at a fictional world, feeling detached to the universe and characters because I'm not "living" in it.

Another aspect that I think could've been improved is the romance development between Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe. I have full confidence that post-story Shen Qingqiu loves Luo Binghe with all his heart, but I seriously have no idea when and how he reached that point.

In the first half of the story, upon having accepted his new life as Shen Qingqiu, his feeling towards Luo Binghe is more like fondness and endearment. Perhaps he does like the character Luo Binghe, and considering that he, along with the rest of the web novel's readers, hated the original Shen Qingqiu to the core, of course he wants to treat Luo Binghe and the other characters better (otherwise, how could he save himself from that nightmarish fate as a human stick).

Later on, he learns of his mistake, how he could've made better decisions, and tried to understand Luo Binghe better, redeeming himself. Perhaps his love towards Luo Binghe began to grow along this path, but I honestly don't see it being told to me, as the reader. All of a sudden he is willing enough to "offer" himself to calm the maddened Luo Binghe. He's been proclaiming himself as a straight man all this time and never once did I see him agreeing with himself that he is going to accept his feelings for Luo Binghe. When I read this later part, I feel like I've just jumped over a huge chunk of development. Because up until that point, Shen Qingqiu still only gives me the feeling of a teacher who adores and cares for a special disciple of his.

All in all, if I were to summarized the plot, I think SVSSS is an interesting, curious story. The fact that Shen Qingqiu was tasked to fix the original novel's flaws makes me want to continue reading for as long as I can. What change is he going to make? What effect will be caused and what chain of events will follow? Furthermore, if you're looking for comedy, then you've come to the right place. With an internet-literate modern man experiencing living in an ancient, fantasy novel, Shen Qingqiu's reactions will never be boring to see. Even the banters and exchanges between characters are so realistic to the point that it is almost possible to imagine them visually.

Also, BingQiu is cute, I take no criticism.

CHARACTERS: 6/10

The distribution of that overall score of "6" is actually as follows:

3 --> Shen Qingqiu

1 --> Shen Jiu

1 --> Luo Binghe + Yue Qingyuan

0.5 --> Liu Qingge

0.5 --> Everybody else

Notice that in the previous section, I barely talk about any other character than Shen Qingqiu? It's not just because he is the main character, but because the other characters are seriously that un-interesting. In fact, I regret to say that personally, I think the characters are this novel's weakest point.

Or to be more precise, the characters' depth.

Shen Qingqiu by himself is a great character. He is calm, logical, knows when and where to put his "omniscient reader" knowledge to good use. He is effortlessly hilarious even if he himself doesn't realize it, but at the same time, despite the mountain of curses he often uses, he is still a good person at heart. I think he is the sole reason that the story could remain interesting until the very end.

But sometimes he is a bit too ideal, almost always having the correct solution and/or countermeasure to every situation even if the plot has changed massively from the original web novel that he knows. Especially when it turns out that he has discovered a way to revive himself after self-destructing at Huayue City, it makes his initially heartbreaking sacrifice less......touching. Because it feels as if he's been scheming this to be freed from the current ordeal, maybe to escape the system, as well.

Furthermore, no matter how much of an expert he was of the "Proud Immortal Demon Way" universe, he still just passed away and was transmigrated into a foreign world. Although the system initially banned him from being OOC, other than some panicky internal monologue, there was almost no trace of him looking distraught when being faced with the unthinkable situation.

Plus, Shen Yuan was different from Airplane Shooting towards the Sky who, even if he were to return to his original world, would have nobody waiting for him. The description of his family was pretty clear. Not only he comes from a well-off household, his family seems to be quite a happy and harmonious one (especially how he used to dote on his younger sister). How come there is not one single moment when he thinks about the family he has left behind and simply carries on with his new life as if nothing happened?

Now Luo Binghe, the second main lead and the one paired with Shen Qingqiu.

Before he fell into the Eternal Abyss, his character actually seems pretty solid. But post-darkening, I don't know why I can't get a good grasp of his character.

The "clingy, crybaby boyfriend" aspect is pretty clear, no complaint there (although the moments of his crying feels too comical for me). Other than that, I don't really feel the "powerful Demon Lord" vibe from him.

Yes, there are descriptions of how powerful he is, how frightening he can be. But it's just not solid enough for me. I understand that he is supposed to be a character with unstable mental, but there are simply not enough part where he is shown to be a proper, powerful Demon Lord because he keeps breaking down each and every single time. The "glass heart maiden" aspect isn't bad, but when it's used in an overly comical way, the character simply loses the charm he's supposed to have.

Even Yue Qingyuan, who's only a minor character, had such a strong charm that slaps you with the biggest plot twist in the whole story when it was revealed (to us, the readers) who he actually is.

Ironically, the original Luo Binghe (Bing-ge) was able to present the character's true image and complexity even if he only appear in less than 10% of the entire story.

And even more ironically, the original Shen Qingqiu a.k.a. Shen Jiu, is probably the most complex character to have ever existed in there (and he only appears in, what, a couple of extra chapters).

(You know what? If MXTX just goes with the original Luo Binghe x Shen Qingqiu, including all of their complexity, I think the development, conflict, and resolution could've been more deep and complex - but yeah, it ain't gonna be "Scum Villain's Self Saving System)

Liu Qingge is okay and actually quite lovable. It's just that I feel it's too easy for him to appear anytime, anywhere there is a problem, as if he's some easy way out.

Other than those I've mentioned above, I literally don't have anything to comment on the other characters because... I don't even know if there's anything to comment. They really come and go just like that and leave no big impression on me.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS: 6/10

This here is basically just some technical things that were a bit unfortunate, because if only they were improved, the story could've been better.

1. The story is clearly written from Shen Qingqiu's point of view, but it will suddenly switch to Luo Binghe's inner thoughts every now and then, making it inconsistent.

2. Description of time and environment. Sometimes it's really difficult to tell in what kind of place the scene is happening, whether it was day or night, whether the characters still remain in the same place or have move elsewhere. Transition when switching locations is also not described enough.

3. As much as I love the story, I feel like it's progressing too fast without any significant crisis. It just ends like that with no massive ordeal or mystery to be solved. I think this is related to Shen Qingqiu's "omniscient reader" point of view because it makes me feel like "hmm yeah, it's just another part of the story, they're going to go through this just fine"

Still, I understand that this is MXTX's first novel. In fact, most of the aforementioned issues (including the characters) have undergone immense improvement in her second novel (MDZS), so I don't think I have anything to worry about.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.3/10

It's worth to read, really. If you just want to enjoy a cool, funny, and cute "isekai" story, I can definitely recommend this. But don't expect some deep philosophical shit, because half of this novel is made of shitpost (I shit you not).

Moral of the story though?

See how market demand kills content creators' freedom and creativity.

Airplane Shooting towards the Sky, the author of the controversial stallion "Proud Immortal Demon Way" literally told Shen Qingqiu at the final chapter of the main story:

He's actually written deep, aesthetic stories before, but they were all unpopular. Only when he wrote this harem novel full of fan-service - disregarding plot depth, plot holes, cheap characterizations - did he finally gain popularity and was able to obtain sufficient income to feed himself.

He was grateful to Shen Qingqiu for "messing" up the plot of his novel, changing it into how it is now, because it allows everything he originally wanted to write - but couldn't - to come true.

In previous chapters, he also said that he actually wanted to make the original Shen Qingqiu into a three-dimensional, more complex characters, but the netizens didn't appreciate it and were complaining instead. Hence he was forced to make the original Shen Qingqiu into a plain old scum villain with no redeeming quality at all - even though in his original script, this character has a complex background that causes his current known personality.

Shen Qingqiu and Shang Qinghua might be talking about it in their usual, funny bantering, but who dares to say that this isn't an issue being faced by almost all content creators in the whole world?

How many content creators have been forced to sacrifice the creativity value and quality of their work in order to satisfy the taste of majority?

How many content creators have been made to revise their works by editors in order to fit into a certain agenda or market trend?

Unless you're a massively popular creator or a powerful individual, chances are you will never have the chance to create a content you truly want to make for a living.

In any case, there may be other authors who are better than MXTX in this world, but I love her works because despite the fictional content, the comedy, the silliness, etc, there are still at least one aspect that reflects the situation of the real, current world, and when you realize it, the realization can be quite a slap to the face like "hey, wait a minute, she's right you know?" See less

#Scum Villains Self Saving System #SVSSS #BingQiu #Shen Qingqiu #Luo Binghe #Review #Danmei #Mo Xiang Tong Xiu #MXTX

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hamliet · 3 years

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What are your thoughts on homophobia in fantasy settings? As a queer person, I find it sort of crap when it's a huge thing in high fantasy settings (especially those written by cishet authors) for the sake of "realism" (even though there are dragons and stuff). However, recently I've been wondering if it can have its value, if the said fantasy setting is meant to have a terrible system, could this expand upon that idea? (1)

Furthermore, if a queer author explored this idea, could it potentially be a way for them to write about similar experiences to their own, but with a different context? As a whole I would trust a queer author more with this concept (because they have experienced homophobia themselves, and know how to handle a controversial trope with tact), but what are your thoughts?

Hi! Soooo... as a cis woman who's only been interested in men thus far in my life, I am really not the best person to answer this--everything I say should be taken with a massive dose of salt! But I do think it's an important question you've brought up, and one people need to think about. So... I'll kind of work through my thoughts, and anyone should feel free to chime in.

I agree with pretty much all you say. "More realistic" is not a justification. Any triggering aspect, like all aspects of a story, should be framed well and matter for the story. If it's just homophobia everywhere because "that's realistic" then that's just gratuitous. That's not a good enough reason to include traumatic stuff. I'm by no means an advocate for softening traumatic material in stories, but I do think it damn well better have a purpose and be important for the story rather than just "because."

However, if it ties in thematically then that's an entirely different scenario wherein it may very well not be for every LGBTQ+ person ever, but it might meet some needs. For example I think the portrayals of homophobia in MDZS and SVSSS work for the stories, even though it isn't technically realistic because ancient China was not so much homophobic (in my understanding). It highlights the themes of the story, which are about defying society, and is relevant in that both stories were written in modern-day China, where aspects of modern day media are absolutely homophobic. It's also true that many society fictional worlds, even fantasy ones, are created to reflect our own in some ways... I'd just ask why that's a particular part that is reflected (again: it should matter and be dealt with, or else... just maybe don't).

I absolutely agree with you when you say "if a queer author explored this idea, could it potentially be a way for them to write about similar experiences to their own, but with a different context?" I think that's often the case. Writing is often a way to process identity struggles, including with sexuality and gender. I know for example that the showrunner of Netflix's She-Ra has said it was about processing their sexuality and gender.

I also agree with you that I'd trust a queer writer more with this kind of story. Although, because we live in a world where people sometimes suck and where we're constantly figuring things out (see the last paragraph), it's also true a writer may not even know why certain elements keep showing up in their work and then have an "oooooooooh" moment... also, I think it's worth keeping in mind writers may not be out or want to be out (especially if they live in highly homophobic societies). For example, MXTX has never said anything about her sexuality, and people should be cautious with making such assumptions.

This is where I'd say my personal opinion is that it would make sense that a reader would be wary of a writer who does not identify as such, but as long as a reader isn't hating on the writer or making assumptions, that's part of what comes with people being able to pick and choose what they want to read. Writers/creators should be able to give as much or as little information as they want, and readers will then pick and choose what they want, and that's how it works.

As I am writing this, I keep thinking of a recent-ish real-life event that showed how people making said assumptions about identity under the guise of justice can go terribly wrong. I'd suggest--with caution--looking up Isabel Fall, and what happened to her, though please be forewarned it is a heartbreaking and brutal story to read. Essentially a trans writer wrote a story exploring transphobia through a metaphor and as a way of coming to terms with her own identity; the outrage over her lack of provided information about her identity--even from other queer writers--led to her returning to the closet and saying that she never wants to come out nor wants to write again. A trans writer profiled her story (anonymously, as Isabel isn't her name and she has no interest in being public), so it was really respectfully written.

#ask hamliet #homophobia #transphobia tw #tw #trigger warning #writing #the important questions #without simple answers

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