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incarnadinedreams · 3 months

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This isn't really new or anything but the more I reread random passages the more convinced I am that there's something very unique about the way Jiang Cheng reacts to Wen Ning and it's just so interesting!

I'm convinced it's more than just being angry. It's more than just hating him, or blaming him for Jin Zixuan's death or his sister's life. It's more than being a Wen, and it comes long before so many of those tragedies unfold anyway.

There's a sort of urgent, visceral reaction to Wen Ning's presence that just has this different feeling to it than how he reacts to any of the other characters. Even characters he has strong emotional responses to, it's never with the same panic or recklessness. It's not the same as the whole "vengeful wrath, fathomless hatred, or raving ecstasy" situation he's got going on with Wei Wuxian (sexy as that might be).

When it's Wei Wuxian, it's all "...well, well. So you're back?" and "Haven't you got anything to say to me?" Even when he's not being very nice, even when he's throwing teacups and furious at Wei Wuxian, there's still an edge of calmness in the way he lashes out. He's fucking mad but he's had more than a decade to think about this and he's got things to say and he's trying so hard to get a reaction from Wei Wuxian that he just won't give him.

But he can't tolerate having Wen Ning anywhere near him. Much of the time he instantly lashes out, physically, in ways to create space between them. He's mean to Wen Ning, but he doesn't really have much to say to him; he just wants to get away from him.

It really stuck out to me how instinctive and instantaneous and emotional that reaction is when I was reading this passage from chapter 81 (ExR translation since I've got it on hand in digital text form), when Jin Ling returns Zidian and rushes back into the fray during the Second Siege:

When Jiang Cheng was unaware, he stuffed Zidian's ring back into his hand and sprinted toward the crowd, all the way up to the most dangerous area before the mouth of the cave. Jiang Cheng was about to chase after him when he managed to slice a few corpses, staggering. He felt that Sandu was no lighter than hundreds of pounds. Two female corpses threw themselves at him from both directions.

Jiang Cheng cursed. As he lifted his sword again, another pair of hands tore the two corpses into pieces, "Sect Leader..."

Jiang Cheng lost his temper as soon as he heard the voice. He kicked Wen Ning away and cursed, "Get the fuck away from me!"

Obviously that is not very nice and poor Wen Ning didn't deserve a kick for being legitimately helpful there, but the point is that not only does he lash out - the reaction happens even when he's clearly got higher priorities going on in a chaotic situation. Throughout that entire event he reacts in a somewhat more even-keeled way to almost everything except Wen Ning being in his vicinity.

And it's not just after Wen Ning's death, not just after he became Wei Wuxian's greatest weapon, not just after he was forced to kill Jin Zixuan - it's specifically a pattern established from the moment he woke up in the Supervisory Office without a core:

Before he could say anything, those sun robes reflected against Jiang Cheng's eyes. His pupils suddenly shrunk.

Jiang Cheng kicked Wen Ning, toppling over the bowl of medicine. The black liquid all spilled onto Wen Ning. Wei WuXian wanted to take the bowl of medicine. He pulled up Wen Ning as well, who had been shocked speechless. Jiang Cheng roared at him, "What's wrong with you?!"

At this point he doesn't even know how he was rescued, since he was unconscious for all of that, and thinks they're in a Wen trap and likely going to die (or worse). But there's so many echoes of that interaction again, and again, and again between them.

And combined with Wen Ning's remarks during the scene just before this, where he tells Wei Wuxian about the discipline whip injuries and how Jiang Cheng 'should have other injuries as well', the way the narrative is so deliberately ambiguous on what exactly occurred, it all makes me want to crawl up the walls and gnaw on the light fixtures wailing WHAT DID YOU SEE, WEN NING?! WHAT DID YOU SEE?

At a minimum, Jiang Cheng knows that Wen Ning was there at Lotus Pier prior to his capture by the Wen guards, because they'd both seen Wen Ning examining Jiang corpses on the training field before they fled for Meishan.

But everything after that is only implication and subtext and suppositions and speculation, not directly stated in the text. But based on his reaction, you can pry my headcanon from my cold dead hands that that Wen Ning probably witnessed all or much of what happened to Jiang Cheng after he was captured, and Jiang Cheng knows it.

I've also posted before how I think there's an at least nonzero chance that Jiang Cheng was never directly told that Wen Ning wasn't actually there with Wen Chao when they saw him early on, but came later to try to help (because when Wen Ning gives Wei Wuxian that information Jiang Cheng isn't conscious, and nobody tells Jiang Cheng anything. I don't think that headcanon changes much either way, but there is a slight difference, at least emotionally, between 'I helped you while I was there to slaughter your clan and destroy your life' and 'I came when I heard my crazy cousin was slaughtering your clan and tried to help you' and I think it's a juicy thing to add to the pile of misunderstandings they each have of the other's motivations and actions).

Which, if I go with these two ideas together, really drives home what a bespoke and specific nightmare the way the Golden Core reveal played out - not only the substance of the reveal, but the fact it was Wen Ning who revealed it.

He was already furious that they were even there at Lotus Pier, particularly Wen Ning. But the way it all happens it feels like it's not just echoes of the amplified emotions of the confrontation with Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian in the Ancestral Hall, it's not just Wen Ning being a Wen, or even Jin Zixuan's death, the way the narration calls out. It feels like there are deeper layers to it.

I also feel a bit stupid for not noticing before this probably extremely obvious to literally everyone else who isn't a dumbass like me parallel of Wen Ning getting a gruesome scorching whip mark across his chest at Lotus Pier in the course of saving Wei Wuxian (more or less, sort of - we know as readers Jiang Cheng was intentionally trying not to hurt them with Zidian, but I don't think Wen Ning knew that when he jumped in).

Jiang Cheng looked to find that the uninvited guest was Wen Ning. Immediately, he raged, "Who let you inside Lotus Pier?! How dare you!"

He could manage to tolerate others, but definitely not Wen Ning, the Wen-dog who put his hand through Jin ZiXuan's heart and ended both his sister's happiness and her life. Just a look, and he felt the urge to kill him right there. How dare he step foot on the earth of Lotus Pier—he really was looking for his death!

Because of the two lives and many other reasons, Wen Ning had always felt guilty, and so he'd always been somewhat scared of Jiang Cheng, consciously avoiding him all the time. Right now, however, he blocked Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi as he faced him, taking the hard lash. A gruesome scorch climbed across his chest, but still he didn't flinch.

I don't know that it actually means anything but it's making me FEEL THINGS incoherently at this specific moment, so. Also I find it legitimately sad that Wen Ning has to live with guilt over things that happened when he was controlled by someone else, though the scene before the Ancestral Hall when Jin Ling starts crying on the boat is probably a better example of that. Anyway.

It's just there's so, so many layers to how uniquely horrible it is for Jiang Cheng that he not only finds out about the Golden Core transfer this way, but also that Wen Ning, specifically, directly witnessed this life-shatteringly huge deception and sacrifice too - while Jiang Cheng was unconscious, no less.

And, well, we know how everything got capped off in that scene...

Obviously the shock of the information was going to get a huge reaction no matter what, no matter who or how he found out. Even without the Wen Ning element, it already hits every one of his deepest weaknesses and insecurities and fears.

But to come from the guy who'd witnessed his family being slaughtered, who'd witnessed who-knows-what humiliations heaped on him (who also happens to be the same fucking guy that Wei Wuxian thought it was worth leaving Yunmeng Jiang for, breaking his promise for...), the guy he blames for his sister's tragic fate (whether that blame is misplaced or not), the guy he exhibits a panic response towards even decades later, and goddamn.

There are just so many layers to this perfect little nightmare reveal on so many different levels aren't there?

There's just SO much meaty stuff for these two to dig into post-canon and all we get is an extra with a 'oh yeah sometimes Jiang Cheng yells on night hunts and Wen Ning is there' about it?!

I should probably just shut up and go read some Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning focused fics or something (whether romantic or platonic that's probably an area I really haven't explored enough vs. the amount of sheer interesting hints and material the novel gives to work with! If by some miracle anyone made it to the end of this beast feel free to drop any recs that explore them, especially that 'what did Wen Ning see?!' aspect of the whole situation because that is the current little brain worm haunting me right now).

#thinking too much about jiang cheng yet again #and wen ning too #the brainrot is back in full force #warning: this is unnecessarily long and I'm not entirely sure I have a point other than gnawing on feelings over these two #and either I'm stupidly reading too much into things or this is all super obvious and I'm dumb for pointing it out #the unbearable self-consciousness that comes with rambling about characters in books I guess

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spidertams · 1 year

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Thinking about Ed a lot once again... have a doodle for now

#he rotates in my brain like a rotisserie chicken. he comes back full force to my brain every two weeks #edward elric #fullmetal alchemist #fma #fmab #hagane no renkinjutsushi

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beean-s · 11 months

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sketchy comic because diakko are soulmates and u can't convince me otherwise

bonus:

#little witch academia #lwa #diakko #dianakko #diana cavendish #atsuko kagari #akko kagari #art tag #STARTING A NEW ART TAG #good lord these 2 live in my brain rent free rn. my fixation of 6 years coming back in full force #i miss them so much

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krokusplays · 21 days

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Gentle reminder that Boothill is a cyborg, not a robot. We know that his head is still human, so he has a functioning brain and maybe even partly a spine. The base for a nervous system is right there. It makes no sense to assume he cannot feel his body at all.

His LC implies the existence of an artifical heart and blood even.

Given how flexible his body is it also makes no sense that he's entirely made of metal. More like metal plating on top of a more flexible material. Maybe he has cybernetic muscles(like the cyborgs in the Metal Gear series), which would allow for such flexible movement.

But, he can't turn himself on/off, he has no system that can somehow bluescreen or something similar. He has a brain. Depending on the technology for cyborgs in HSR, he might have a fully functioning nervous system like actual humans have.

Modifications? Definitely. Maybe he can turn on/off his senses altogether even.

The livestream also confirmed that he gets his own modifications and upgrades. So if you wanna go down a certain route, there is no reason to assume he didn't get himself certain body parts at some point that might even be fully functional.

He can also eat and drink normal stuff. He tells Black Swan that she should prepare a bottle of White Oak(I'd assume it's a kind of whiskey) and that he'll raise a glass to her.

Even Screwllum as an android is capable of eating and breaking down normal food.

Now, it is possible that Hoyo does go down a rather robotic route with him after all, but given what we know so far there is no reason to assume Boothill can only feel his face. Especially given what inorganic lifeforms in HSR are already capable of(with Screwllum even saying that there was a time when organic and inorganic lifeforms were hardly distinguishable).

Cyborgs are such a fascinating topic in sci-fi, so breaking Boothill down to being nothing more than a robot, doesn't do him and cyborgs in general justice.

#honkai star rail #hsr #boothill #there's a difference between robots and cyborgs #my obsession with MGS/MGR is coming back full force lol #krokus talks

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majunju · 10 months

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a passing dream

#fgo #dewdles #the obeguda brainrot..... its coming back at full force..... AUGHHHH

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sholmeser · 11 months

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good to see you home in one piece!

#sorry for danganronpa in 2023 ummmmmm i truly have no excuse.#just felt like replaying thh randomly and i do in fact have autism so like. yeah #my 2020 debilitating mental illness for these 2 coming back full force #togami byakuya #byakuya togami #naegi makoto #makoto naegi #naegami #danganronpa trigger happy havoc #danganronpa ultra despair girls #myart #danganronpa

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zeravmeta · 5 months

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the true potential of cross guild is that no matter what, buggy can Only fail upwards. like i genuinely do think that mihawk and crocodile will come to begrudgingly respect buggy for inexplicably revitalizing their dreams and aspirations as actual pirates vs treating everything as business and never trusting anyone, but consider: Cross Guild just keeps expanding after the fact

Gecko Moriah and Perona, after their encounter with the Blackbeard Pirates, salvage what they can of their crew and join up

Doflamingo is broken out of Impel Down alongside Bon Clay in a second prison break scandal and they both decide to join up

Rayleigh, wanting protection for Amazon Lily and for Boa to gain more allies, gets in touch with Buggy after all this time to join his crew ala Jinbe joining Luffy

Neo MADS, in need of resources and manpower after their scuffle with the Big Mom Pirates, contact and eventually conglomerate into Cross Guild, meaning Caesar Clown, Judge and the Vinsmoke siblings all join as well

Vivi meeting up with them alongside Wapol after escaping Mary Geoise and joining them, at least until she can find the Straw Hats

Buggy, through no reason other than being gods favorite chewtoy, straight up having a fully decked out Yonko crew of former warlords, legends and everything in between where no one takes him truly seriously but at the very least respect his authority as Yonko to not kill him. but oh boy do they keep him guessing. the only reason it doesnt fall apart is because they're all united in dunking on this silly little clown that, for the funniest reasons ever, is luckier than the devil himself to not be killed by them

#zerav meme #one piece #Listen to me. theres that theory of cross guild being made up of the broken dreamers panels from rogers execution (the trio + doffy/moria)#But. All the emperors. it would be soooooo fucking funny #buggy having an equal force to luffys straw hat grand fleet AND the marines #unironically i think the Big War thats going to come in the final saga is gonna be Luffy Vs Marines Vs Cross Guild. full on mayhem fighting #everyone is here!!!#cross guild #buggy the clown #sir crocodile #dracule mihawk #EDITORS NOTE I FORGOT TO MENTION. UTA . UTA FOR CROSS GUILD LETS FUCKING GO

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