tossawary

[tossawary]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[tossawary]

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

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

Delightful.

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

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

[tossawary]

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

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

Delightful.

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

#tossawary cosplay #tossawary mdzs

[tossawary]

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

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

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

[tossawary]

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

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

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

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

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

[tossawary]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[tossawary]

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

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

[tossawary]

Chapter 4: Understanding

Notes:

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

#tossawary svsss #tossawary updates #qijiu reunion divergence au

[tossawary]

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

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

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

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

~

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

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

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

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

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

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

[tossawary]

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

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

#tossawary updates #qijiu reunion divergence au

[tossawary]

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

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

Summary:

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

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

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

~

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

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

Summary:

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

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

[tossawary]

Chapter 3: Conference

This chapter is around 5,500 words long. Enjoy! ❤

#tossawary svsss #tossawary updates #qijiu reunion divergence au

[tossawary]

I personally have a relatively low tolerance for secret identity and other secrecy shenanigans in media. Like, sure, when it's good, it's good stuff, but otherwise it's more often than not just not my thing.

Which is why one of my favorite Canon Divergence AUs for any show reliant on this trope is to pull a "Fuck it, their secret identity gets revealed in Episode 2 now and the characters just have to deal with it". I think that's a great type of fanfiction.

It moves the secret from something causing strain in a personal relationship to something that a pair of characters now potentially have to cooperate to maintain, and I love seeing a couple's teamwork. Show me that these people are drift compatible! Or else working on completely different wavelengths and tripping over each other, but trying anyway!

On the other hand, a reveal can also cause a personal relationship to blow up immediately, which allows for interesting relationship repair later on, or perhaps the characters devolving into active enemies temporarily or even permanently. Which is deliciously fun.

An early reveal in a story dependent on secrets throws the entire plot into disarray, and there's great potential for the dominos to fall in interesting ways. Butterfly effect. For want of a nail. I love that stuff.

#tossawary fandom

[tossawary]

I thought I was completing my cosplay for this year within a reasonable time frame despite some unrelated hand-stabbing setbacks; I was doing something light in order to focus on helping someone else with their cosplay and the complicated props involved. I was on track! And then a different loved one texted me that they actually want to do cosplay for the first time and now I'm trading baked goods for sewing machine lessons. This is a slippery slope and I have no choice but to fling myself down it headfirst.

#tossawary cosplay #tossawary fandom

[tossawary]

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

Summary:

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

#tossawary svsss #tossawary updates #bingqiu #shen yuan #luo binghe #untitled mxtx remix project #mxtx remix #mxtx remix 2024

[tossawary]

Creators are now revealed for works in the MXTX Remix 2024 collection!

Check out the full collection here.

Thanks to all our participants, we hope you enjoyed remixing!

See you next year.

#mxtx remix #fan events #tossawary svsss #tossaway updates #untitled mxtx remix project #mxtx remix 2024

[tossawary]

Every year I know it's really spring when I open a window to enjoy some fresh air and this action immediately summons at least one landscaping truck full of guys armed with the Loudest Leafblowers And Lawnmowers In The World and two construction companies competing for the title of Slowest Home Renovations In The Whole Fucking City.

#this is a joke no one can do it slower than the construction on government contracts