solving counting sheep prompt thing: three and joe trying to work on some project together
Three squints critically at a post in the ground.
“Your measurement is off,” it says.
“Why, thank you. Your eyesight is far greater than mine, so I very much appreciate you correcting the marks I’m using to decide how big and close the moon is getting!” Joe smiles at Three. Back when Three had first met her, Joe had smiled big quite often. These days, even that goofy, meant-to-be-a-gesture smile is drawn and exhausted. Joe is not designed to run on minimal sleep the way Three is; Joe is hardly the only Hermit staying up until the middle of the night these days.
Blocks rise around them.
Three has better vision than Joe. Blocks rise everywhere.
“I still think we should try Mumbo’s missile again. Or we should try a bigger missile.”
“I am afraid that didn’t work the first time!” Joe says, finishing their sign adjustments.
“That’s stupid,” Three says.
“That’s just how it is. Besides, big problems like that are for big problem havers! We’re out here, collecting data for the people who might actually be able to do something about it.” Joe pauses, shrugs. “I mean, if they exist. They probably don’t.”
“I could torture a Watcher into fixing it,” Three says glibly.
“No, you said that wouldn’t work,” Joe says. “Also, that’s morally questionable.”
Three does not fidget. It trains its eyes on the threat it can do nothing about. It lets out a trill that, for most mortals, is terrifying.
Nothing happens.
“I can make everyone leave,” Three says, quieter this time. “With better plans than—”
“The season’s hardly over. Iskall hasn’t given me my badge yet. I’m not leaving until I get that,” Joe says.
“That is a stupid plan. Don’t be stupid,” Three says.
“Are you leaving?”
“Not until Mumbo does. Especially not until—Pearl should know better. She did not leave last time. She was—was sad. She should know that—I won’t leave until she does,” Three says, halting as it trips over emotions it doesn’t understand.
“Then let’s not have this argument again.”
“Will comply,” Three grumbles.
“Besides, this new moon data is fascinating. Why, at this rate—oh no! I might not even finish my castle! I think I’m going to go work on the walls again, just in case,” Joe says.
“Affirmative,” Three says.
“See you around! If you happen to See any solutions with those big eyes of yours”—and here Joe winks, incredibly unsubtly—“please, by all means, let us all know!”
He leaves.
Three looks at a line of signs across the ground, scattered markers of how small the problem was a month ago. It’s grown so big so fast, and Three has still yet to figure out how to neutralize it.
No one has any orders to stay. No one has any reason to. Three doesn’t understand why they’re still staying.
Three won’t leave alone.
Three, Three doesn’t want—
It would be sad if Zedaph’s sheep experiment had to end early. It should not be buried under moon rocks and rubble. It should be remembered.
That’s all.
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Im so sorry but I just cannot understand people that read the entirety of scum villain and then say they don't like binghe. He's awful, toxic, overbearing, ect. Like?? Yes, but also no??? Did you not read the book? Or even looked past the unreliable narration?
Like, I get it, you're reading it in the moment and sqq is a super fun and imaginative narrator, he easily traps you in the same mindset that he has. Trapping you in the world of genres, tropes, character archetypes, what makes a story a story. So it's easy to get clouded like sqq and just scratch your head and try to figure out what type of character archtype luo binghe will turn out to be. If he's not the stallion protagonist harem master anymore, than what is he? So you read book 2 and the start of book 3 and you think, "oh! If he's not gonna be the toxic male power fantasy anymore, than he's gonna be the toxic male love interest fantasy you see in BL!"
You know the ones. They're incredibly sexy, incredibly tall, needs an incredibly in depth course on the meaning of consent and boundaries, and the narrative never punishes them for doing weird and out of line shit, but actively romanticize it. Which fits binghe in some respects, but not all of them, same as the stallion protag box. So I can understand you and sqq's apprehension throughout the story. Waiting for the hat to drop already. Is binghe a cute wholesome wife or a possessive bloodthirsty demon lord?
But then you and shen qingqiu are supposed to learn the lesson near the end that binghe is a person!! With thoughts and feelings and grievances he wants addressed!!! That ultimately he is in the exact middle of the harem master protag to toxic yaoi male lead scale, but also not on the scale at all!!!
Because, ultimately, he is just a guy that desperately wants to be loved! To be wanted! That's it! And shen qingqiu realizes this and takes this complicated emotional wreck of a man and promises him that love and companionship. Shedding the notions of following some sort of thought out narrative and live out their happy ending. Because scum villain's story does end up happy. Messy, but happy. Shen Qingqiu is not suffering. He does not regret choosing Luo Binghe. They are both happy and in love and they both deserve each other. So like, what more do you want?
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