Latest Posts by ar3um - Page 2

ao3 writers. allow me to lend you an au. newtmas and other characters but in the dead poets society universe!!

To understand how everyone feels about shen yuan you have to think of him as a beloved neighbourhood cat. Everyone loves him. If you can get him to sit next to you for a few minutes, you have the right to tell everyone around while they glare at you in jealousy. If he scratches someone, everyone will agree they must have done something wrong to deserve that, because our cat is so sweet and lovely. If you say you don't like him, everyone hates you because what sick fuck doesn't like cute cats?

So you can imagine when someone (binghe) takes the cat that should belong to everyone and decides its going to be HIS own now. The entire neighbourhood would be up in arms. Shen Yuan is EVERYONES cat and they demand he's let back out so they can occasionally get ten seconds to pet it.

But then something terrible happens: the cat decides it likes binghe and wants to stay inside his house. Even when everyone holds the door wide open and tries to lure him out with treats, he ignores it and jumps onto binghes lap. Everyone is devastated. Their cat CHOSE to be with the guy who stole him away from them.

There's nothing they can do other than randomly barge into the cats new home every now and then, pathetically hoping for a bit of his attention while annoying the cats new owner.

That's shen yuan.

"I kept quiet so I could keep you" newt I know that's you

I do love the idea of Shen Jiu being the more stylistically feminine Shen Bro with the more agressive personality while Shen Yuan is stylistically more masc while having that little coquettish personality of his.

Like yeah, Shen Jiu WOULD pop off all ten of his press on nails before immediately knocking your teeth out. (He would get acrylics but then he couldn't pop them off to fight people :/ ) Shen Jiu having bar fights in a mini skirt. He takes his earrings out and hands them to YQY.

Shen Yuan blushing and hiding his face like a delicate maiden while dressed like Adam Sandler.

Okay let me tell you guys about one of my fav bingyuan aus.. bingge having a one sided rivalry with shen yuan

He had to get a scholarship and work his ass off to afford college, had to put on a fake smile and network like crazy.. so naturally when he sees shen yuan, this guy who was born rich and is naturally extroverted, he hates it

Shen Yuan on the other hand, thinks binghe is super cool! He looks like what he'd imagine a stallion protagonist to look like! Not to mention he's athletic, intelligent, beautiful, just perfect in every way!

Binghe is always trying to rile up shen yuan and "expose" him as a terrible person pretending to be good, so their interactions go like this:

Binghe: so you're entering this contest too? Ha, don't waste your time. You know youre leagues behind me

Shen yuan: you're also entering? Great! I can't wait to see you perform :)

Binghe, flustered: FUCK YOU.

Ning yingying is binghes childhood friend and binghe barges into her apartment every other day to rant about this guy.

Binghe: I hate shen yuan!!! Who does he think he is!! Acting all high and mighty !!!

Yingying, who doesn't understand but wants to be supportive of her friend: yeah a-luo, fuck that guy

Binghe: and then even after I rubbed it in his face that I won, he had the audacity to say "I hope I'll get to see you perform next year" can you believe that!?!??!

Yingying: ...?

Shen yuan gets seriously sick before a competition one day and binghe wins by a landslide. He's looking around the whole time, wondering where shen yuan is. He can't make fun of him for coming in second if he isn't here...

Binghe finds out shen yuan was hospitalized and he leaves before they can award him his trophy. Shen yuan wakes up to binghes panicked face saying "how dare you, you didn't come just because you knew I'd win? You were that ashamed of how superior I am to you? You better get better soon or else..!" Shen Yuan is do confused because why does binghe look like he's about to cry? Why is binghe visiting him everyday with healthy boxed lunches "to help him recover quicker" ??

Shen yuan returns to school and he's crowded by classmates asking where he's been/how he's doing. Binghe is off to the side, refusing to come over, but obviously sneaking glances at him. Shen Yuan smiles and waves and binghe looks away but his face is red

Vince: Ok, kids, We’ll be working around the Safe Haven today, so split into groups of two

Thomas: Rock, paper, siccor, winner gets Newt!

Newt:

Thomas and Minho: *doing rock, papaer, siccor*

Based on a true story

Modern AU where Shen Yuan accidentally sugar-daddies everyone.

So for the purposes of this, Shen Yuan's family is basically $10 Bananas levels of cluelessly rich. Shen Yuan has almost never had to look at the prices of anything he wants. He and his siblings all get an allowance from the family's main account, which increases when they reach adulthood, and in the interest of fairness his parents made it all the same size. So Shen Yuan gets the same amount of money for his daily living expenses as his older brothers with their penthouse apartments and vacation homes and private jets, at least from the family account (since he doesn't work, he doesn't actually make as much as them in total because they earn more on top of their allowances).

And the thing is, Shen Yuan genuinely just lives a lot more humbly. He likes people but what would he do with a vacation house? Anything really nice would probably require him to fly to get out there, and he gets sick as hell on planes. Living in the central city is also not great for him, because the air pollution is so bad. Having a whole house to himself would also be ridiculous. So he has a reasonable apartment, in a reasonable area, and he splurges every so often on purchases that make him happy and take-out food that he likes, and of course he pays a cleaning service to come in twice a week. Most people assume he's comfortably middle class and has some tech job he does from home, but he's been getting a lot more than he's been spending in his monthly allowances for years now, and the figures are big.

Enter into this environment author Airplane and his trash novels. Novels, multiple, because in this AU there's no PIDW, and instead after some alternate PIDW prototype got popular in the harem genre, Airplane decided to churn out a series of copy-paste shorter stories rather than recycling the same subplots in one massively long epic.

Shen Yuan of course discovers Airplane's writing and becomes as obsessed with it as ever, except this time he notices that if there are delays between new stories, they seem to clear up faster whenever he throws some cash at the problem. And also that the drops in Airplane's writing quality coincide with times when Shen Yuan was having health issues and not keeping up with his VIP purchases. So, he works out that Airplane's probably doing the writing for the money, and that when Peerless Cucumber isn't paying the most for it, Airplane starts listening to the other buffoons in the comment section more to try and entice them to pay his bills instead.

Peerless Cucumber leaves a comment on one of Airplane's latest stories that kicks off the two of them actually chatting, and Shen Yuan eventually gets to the point of offering to fund all Airplane's writing, in exchange for Airplane not doing his crap sellout stuff to appeal to other readers anymore. Airplane thinks he's joking or maybe mocking him. Shen Yuan asks how much it would cost. Airplane fires off a ridiculous number. Shen Yuan doesn't even blink and wires him the first payment. Then he gets annoyed because Airplane leaves him on read for a while, but that's because Airplane is staring at his account balance in shock.

Of course, it's Airplane who starts referring to Peerless Cucumber as his sugar daddy. Shen Yuan is just like "based on your sex scenes I don't think anyone would pay you for that" and Airplane's all "but you WOULD pay for my sex scenes ^_~" and Shen Yuan's like "technically I am actually paying you not to write that shit" and so on. Usual banter. The quality of Airplane's writing improves dramatically, a lot of his readership drops off but he does get new readers and gradually builds up an even bigger fanbase than before, and so on, it all goes pretty well. He eventually writes a few things that take off to the point of getting physical publications and international translations. Technically Airplane no longer needs Shen Yuan to pay all of his bills by that point but he's not going to tell Shen Yuan that! The contract's still good as long as he keeps writing!

Then one of Airplane's online acquaintances runs into some financial trouble and asks for help.

Liu Mingyan used to beta read for Airplane back when he wrote fanfiction (she was like thirteen, Airplane was unaware because internet and hey free beta), and it seems her family has hit a rough patch. She wants tips on how to go pro, but Airplane explains that it was extremely difficult and he mostly lucked out by finding a single wealthy backer. Mingyan wonders if the same guy would be interested in her writing, Airplane sadly thinks not because Mingyan exclusively writes kinky danmei erotica and Peerless Cucumber seems pretty firmly in the closet still and also generally prefers plotty and world-building heavy stuff.

But like, Airplane has definitely gotten a vibe off of Cucumber-bro, and Mingyan's gorgeous older brother does video streams of himself doing cool martial arts and swordsmanship stuff. So he asks her permission and when she gives it, he recommends Liu Qingge's videos to Shen Yuan, being sure to mention that the guy in question can't really afford to keep up with his hobbies and oh what a shame it would be if he had to stop making art like that.

Haha, Airplane, you're not subtle.

Even so, Shen Yuan watches the videos and immediately agrees that Liu Qingge is beauty in motion, and that it would be criminal to deprive the world of more videos of his sword. Swordsmanship! That is the, the art of, martial arts! Definitely. He clicks the donate button, reasoning out that he'll just send a donation about the size of his usual monthly payments to Airplane and call it his good deed for the day.

Liu Qingge is very confused by this new follower from nowhere who suddenly dumped a little over a month's rent into his account. One thing leads to another, with Mingyan and Airplane conspiring to try and get Shen Yuan as a permanent patron, and then Liu Qingge being let in on it. Except that Airplane keeps referring to Shen Yuan as his sugar daddy, and well... it's not like Liu Qingge doesn't ever get 'those' kinds of comments on his videos. At first he's embarrassed, then offended, then mortified that his own younger sister is apparently setting him up to make premium private videos for what he assumes is some old pervert who is going to want him to do untoward things.

However, their options are pretty bleak at the moment, and Liu Qingge worries that if he doesn't do this then Mingyan might. She even mentions something to the effect of having planned to offer herself, and only didn't because she wasn't this "sugar daddy" guy's type!

Teeth clenched, Liu Qingge asks Airplane stiltedly for advice on how to... appeal, to this wealthy benefactor.

In the end though it's not nearly as bad as Liu Qingge feared. He winds up doing more videos in costumes and cosplay, which ought to have been an untenable expense, but Peerless Cucumber always ends up covering the cost of whatever he invests in plus extra. Sometimes he sends Liu Qingge stuff with a request to wear it, but so far it's just been like, badass warrior-themed or historical costumes. Nothing overtly pervy. He does some LARPing, he makes enough to start doing horseback archery again, convinces some of his good-looking peers from various clubs to spar with him, and ultimately the most risque videos he ends up doing are the ones where he demonstrates how to put on certain kinds of gear. He still locks those ones behind paid subscribers only, mostly because he feels like he's doing something illicit now, even if he used to show more skin on his older videos any time he took his shirt off.

Peerless Cucumber doesn't leave creepy comments, either. In fact he seems genuinely nice and supportive, it's hard not to like him, and so even once his situation levels out Liu Qingge decides there's not really much need to stop making videos for him. (He maybe even gets a little giddy thrill over... well, sometimes he finds it all a bit... just when he thinks about Peerless Cucumber watching him demonstrate his physical prowess and finding that alone worth... ANYWAY--)

So that goes on for a while, before Yue Qi enters the scene.

Yue Qi is the childhood friend of one of Shen Yuan's older brothers (Shen bros!) and Shen Jiu owes him a big favor for something that he won't talk about. At least he won't talk to Shen Yuan about it. But Yue Qi is also not the type to ask for help, and Shen Jiu is very bad at offering it, so when Shen Jiu gets word that Yue Qi is having some difficulties making ends meet, he tells Shen Yuan to act as the middle man. Go offer Qi-ge money, he knows you're nice he'll just accept it, and then Shen Jiu will pay the actual bill.

Well it turns out that Yue Qi doesn't just accept it, of course he sees right through it, and gently but firmly tells Shen Yuan that he's not interested in burdening Shen Jiu further than he already has. Etc, etc, stoic stiff upper lips and no proper communication all around. Shen Yuan panics because it's not working and he's also genuinely worried about Yue Qi by now, so he tries to figure out how to make it compelling and basically blurts that, well, see, the thing is that sometimes he pays men to entertain him. You know. To like. Do things, for him. So. He could also pay Yue Qi? To do something for him?

Yue Qi gets the wrong idea entirely, and at first is like, oh, no, A'Yuan, you shouldn't be paying people for that! These things should just happen organically! But Shen Yuan is very adamant that he believes in compensating people for what they do for him, it's not like he can't afford to, and it gets awkward but Yue Qi is like well he does have health problems. It's perhaps difficult for him to meet people. So then he starts worrying about Shen Yuan and all these strange men he's apparently paying for "entertainment". Does his brother know about this?

No of course Shen Jiu doesn't know! He'd hate it, and Shen Yuan doesn't want to hear about how he's doing everything wrong with his life again!

Then Shen Yuan mentions that his prior house cleaning service up and quit on him (they didn't), and if Yue Qi would like to earn fair compensation he could just come over sometimes to help instead, and Shen Yuan would pay him just to tidy up and hang out for a few hours! Which Yue Qi thinks is a fantastic idea, actually, even if Shen Yuan is only doing this because of his brother, this will give Yue Qi a chance to keep an eye on him and his so-called entertainers. Even if he sort of... ends up also being one?

Shen Yuan keeps everything above board, though his apartment always seems perfectly clean and he overpays way too much (Shen Jiu is still footing this bill after all), and Yue Qi starts to think maybe he actually is being paid for intimacy. Of a sort that they're maybe still working up to? Shen Yuan usually has a very thin face after all. He's kind of got two minds about this prospect. On the one hand, he's got his situationship with Shen Jiu, so dating his brother would be absurd. But on the other hand, it's not actually dating, and he does like Shen Yuan, and maybe if they can be good company for each other then Yue Qi won't feel so depressed and Shen Yuan won't need to hire strange men so often.

Meanwhile it's come to Shen Yuan's attention, perhaps through an offhand comment he read online somewhere, that people who are struggling financially often also struggle to "treat themselves". Because even when they have enough money to be comfortable there's often the looming specter of deprivation, and etc, so he figures he should start buying some of his dependents more treats and things. Since they might not buy them for themselves? And also he's enjoying doing this but shhh no he isn't, it's a huge hassle, he's only doing it out of basic moral decency, etc.

So like, Airplane starts getting little things that he'd put on some public wish lists, clearly sent by Peerless Cucumber. And he tells Mingyan to make a list for Liu Qingge too, and sure enough, Liu Qingge (bewildered, slightly flustered) tries to figure out what he's supposed to do with an album from a band he likes and some high-end leather polish. Ultimately settles on playing the music and wearing his nicest leather in his next video. Yue Qi starts arriving at Shen Yuan's place to be plied with his favorite coffees and to have scented candles awkwardly foisted onto him (Shen Yuan does not know what Yue Qi likes in gifts) (he buys these presents himself they're not out of Shen Jiu's pocket).

So finally Shen Yuan's parents start to notice that he's been spending a lot more than usual, and start to worry that he's either been taken in by a scam artist or is secretly dating a gold digger or has developed a drug addiction or something. But asking things directly like normal people is basically illegal in the Shen family, so they decide to hire a private investigator.

Enter Luo Binghe, a young man of humble background who is struggling to make ends meet after the untimely death of his adoptive mother, and is using his P.I. job and his online cooking videos to help pay his way through school (scholarship student). Usually his cases are more like, cyberstalking someone to find out if they're cheating on their spouse, or helping someone planning a lawsuit accumulate evidence on their corrupt employer, or other things like that. When he gets the Shen Yuan case, the idea that the Shen family's son is paying for "company" is well within his list of probable answers.

Though this one is a little... peculiar?

Mostly because Binghe can't find evidence of Shen Yuan actually getting what he would, presumably, be paying for. At first Luo Binghe just goes through the online paper trails, using the info that the Shen parents give him to figure out that Shen Yuan is paying Airplane and Swordmaster Liu (*cough*) what seem to be exorbitant prices just for trashy fiction and cosplay videos. He assumes this is a cover, that someone's actually delivering drugs or going over for "private meetings" or at least actually sending dirty videos as well, but even when he pays for Liu Qingge's VIP access it's just tutorials and such. Neither of these guys are even on any of the sites that are more lenient towards hosting explicit content. Luo Binghe's aware that kinks aren't always obviously sexual, but people don't usually pay through the nose for the kind of content they can easily find for free all over the place, either.

He digs a little more but keeps coming up empty on evidence to clarify which of the many vices the Shen family's son is actually indulging in. Which is a problem because that's the information they're paying him to find out. Plus his curiosity kind of piques as he reads Shen Yuan's seemingly quite invested comments on Airplane's writing and Liu Qingge's videos, looking to see if there's any kind of clandestine code or pattern. But near as he can tell, whatever else Shen Yuan might be getting out of these arrangements, he does genuinely like the stories and videos too? Well. Sometimes. Sometimes he's actually scathingly vitriolic towards Airplane's writing.

Luo Binghe decides that surveilling Shen Yuan himself is probably the way to go. That gets more complicated in court cases, but since the Shen parents just wants to know what's going on and aren't planning on prosecuting their son for anything, it doesn't matter as much if Luo Binghe gets information in sneaky or underhanded ways.

So, Binghe uses the account he created to access Liu Qingge's videos to chat with Shen Yuan a few times, and then recommends his own cooking channel. Shen Yuan doesn't seem too interested in cooking, so Luo Binghe makes sure to include a video that has an image of himself in his recommendation, and then films a few new videos of himself cooking with his shirtsleeves rolled up to three quarters and a few more buttons than usual unbuttoned, adopting a more flirty persona than he typically does for his shows. He takes his cues from some of Liu Qingge's more popular videos for how to be enticing bait.

It takes a few videos, but eventually Shen Yuan comments. Luo Binghe latches onto the chance to start talking to him, playing up a persona of a vulnerable young man with little means who is trying hard to make it through school, etc, and sure enough Shen Yuan seems interested. Well, most predatory people like vulnerable targets, don't they?

However... Shen Yuan just sends him a chunk of money.

Luo Binghe is confused.

Isn't he supposed to ask for something or create some kind of expectation of repayment first? But, maybe this is his approach to handling new targets. Maybe he's just trying to lull Binghe into a false sense of complacency, before he starts indicating what he wants from all of this. Luo Binghe makes sure to move the money Shen Yuan sends him into a separate account, so that if the Shen parents get angry about it then he can return it as a gesture of good faith.

But Shen Yuan just keeps sending supportive comments and donations. Eventually he leaves a comment that alludes to how badly he'd like to taste Binghe's cooking, and Binghe is like finally, but when he implies that they could perhaps meet in person and Luo Binghe could thank him for his support by making him something, Shen Yuan backs off.

Things eventually progress to the point where Luo Binghe, who is a totally normal person treating this like a totally normal job still thank you very much, is basically camping out in the bushes in front of Shen Yuan's apartment building. At some point he conscripts the aid of his weird cousin (finding his birth family was how he got into this business initially), and then almost immediately regrets it because Shen Yuan helps get Zhuzhi Lang a job doing landscaping for his building.

Why would he want Zhuzhi Lang close but not Binghe? Binghe is much handsomer! He'd make an excellent target for seduction! >:(

Anyway eventually Yue Qi catches Luo Binghe lurking around like a creeper and is like, finally, I have caught one of these suspicious men, whilst Binghe is like oh so he does have a lover, well this guy sucks and is clearly not good enough for him, and they both try and chase one another off and Shen Yuan comes home to a heated passive-aggressive-politeness war being waged in front of his apartment. Eventually he realizes the misunderstanding and calls everyone together (zoom conference? in-person meet-up?) to clarify that he is not paying any of them for "special favors", that was just Airplane being deranged about his sense of humor, and then he has no idea what to do when the prevailing response seems to be disappointment.

Headcanon that Shen Yuan was hotter than Shen Qingqiu, actually.

Like yeah SQQ being a cultivator gave him a boost to enough attributes + being in a stallion novel where everyone is either unrealistic hot or dog's butt ugly got the Shen Qingqiu body extra points, and he wasn't bad looking to begin with. Plus not being ill is vastly more important to the new Shen Qingqiu than those extra hotness points (Without a Cure notwithstanding). But part of the reason why he's kind of like, meh, at least I'm not hideous or anything, is because Shen Yuan's original body was a knock out.

I also like him as chronically ill, and, as many people know, beauty standards and sustained suffering are not as incompatible as they should be. Shen Yuan was conventionally attractive in part because conventional beauty standards seem to want everyone slowly dying all the time. But even setting that aside, the man had flawless bone structure, an appealing figure, captivating eyes, and the kind of voice that stopped people in their tracks.

All of which was a contributing factor to his antisocial lifestyle, actually. Despite the fact that Shen Yuan does enjoy company and requires a certain baseline of social enrichment for his enclosure, his internalized homophobia and closeting did not play well with overtures from interested parties (regardless of gender). The only way to minimize the odds of him being asked out on dates was to essentially become a shut-in, especially since even Shen Yuan can only make so many excuses before he himself starts to notice that he's going to a lot of effort to avoid specifically that avenue of socialization. Far better to just remove himself from any risk of it, and then vocally lament that oh no he's just too much of a nerd to get anywhere with women!

Anyway this largely doesn't matter much outside of sheer comedy potential for any situation where SY gets his old body/life back. Like imagine a reveal scenario where the System is going to transport them back to their old lives.

Shang Qinghua: well bro I guess this is gonna be the ultimate test of love, right?

Shen Yuan: what do you mean?

Shang Qinghua: our husbands are gonna see what we looked like back before we were glorious cultivators! they're going to have to track us down in our mundane, kinda shitty pre-transmigration lives! it's gonna be at least a little embarrassing, right?

Shen Yuan: *gets his old body back*

Shang Qinghua, normal human with average looks: ...

Shen Yuan, exemplary 11/10: ?

Shang Qinghua: what. the fuck?? bro what the fuck why are you hot???

Shen Yuan: don't make it weird

Shang Qinghua: make it weird??? why were you sitting at home reading my shitty novel when you could have been out there building your own harem???

Shen Yuan: stop exaggerating

Shang Qinghua: oh my god you've always been like this. this is it, isn't it? it wasn't even brain damage from the transmigration or something--

Shen Yuan: hey

Shang Qinghua: --you've just always been completely unaware, haven't you? every time I wrote a beautiful woman who didn't know her own appeal you'd be jumping down my throat--

Shen Yuan: because that's a stupid trope--!

Shang Qinghua: --JUMPING DOWN MY THROAT EXACTLY LIKE THAT but this whole time THIS WHOLE TIME it wasn't even a glow-up issue, you've just been that, personified, yourself--

Shen Yuan: look I know I'm not ugly but I'm not I'm hardly that good-looking

Shang Qinghua: YOU ARE NEVER ALLOWED TO CRITICIZE THAT TROPE AGAIN! oh my god. how many broken hearts did you leave behind when you died?!

Shen Yuan: none, I wasn't even seeing anyone--

Shang Qinghua: yeah full offense but I am nottt taking your word for that. I bet you had a harem you didn't know about in this lifetime too. I bet you had a fan club, like an anime prince

Shen Yuan: *mumbling*

Shang Qinghua: what was that?

Shen Yuan: I said... only in high school...

Shang Qinghua: oh my god

Shen Yuan: it wasn't a big deal!

Shang Qinghua: *frantically trying to see if he can find any trace of it on the internet now*

It really is unfortunate that shen yuan being an unreliable narrator often makes people misunderstand his character. "Shen Yuan was lazy and stole shen jiu's cultivation." In truth, Shen jiu's cultivation was extremely unstable and he was far behind all the other peak lords.

It was shen yuan who entered the caves right after unlocking the ooc function and cultivated in seclusion for several months.

In short:

SQQ: Disciple Shen Yuan is weak, useless and is in no way related to this master

SQQ: *catches 14yo SY cursing and kicking cowering SQH behind the woodshed*

SQQ: This master has never been more proud and also, he birthed A-Yuan out of his own body

I've talked about it before but we need more beast keeping peak shen yuan au where he is as terrifying as he is sweet.

I want him to take a bunch of juniors on a night hunt and see a little fluffy animal and go "listen up, that's an invasive species! Whenever we see these we have to do this-" and then he traumatizes them by reducing it to a bloody mess.

He sees a hungry cub whining helplessly and goes oh poor thing I'll find you some food... then he returns covered in gore and drops dripping raw meat in front of it. He looks at his fellow disciples and says "what? It's carnivorous."

Older disciples LOVE watching new students follow shen yuan around like lovestruck ducklings when they first join the peak... then they go on a mission together and come back shaking going "what the fuck was that." It's a rite of passage

im being so serious when i ask this, but, how has dick's characterization become so opposing to his actual character? like how in the world did this pervasive and frankly invasive depiction of him become so popular? where in the world did people get these scraps of personality that they've frankensteined together to create this fucking weirdo that shakes his ass for criminals and is the biggest attention seeker? for decades we have had pretty consistent source material that continually establishes that dick is quite serious and a leader, and also someone that cares deeply for people and has the skill set and willpower to do literally anything for them. how has this fanon characterization that's quickly becoming canon happen to him?

Here's the thing

Shen Qingqiu is weird about pretty men and Liu Qingge in particular

And I think it's linked to his own issues with his Shen Yuan identity

Shen Yuan is described by Shen Qingqiu repeatedly as "a useless pretty boy"

And that's very telling. The only positive quality he gives himself as Shen Yuan is his looks as a 'pretty boy' and while he's pleased with his looks as Shen Qingqiu as a good looking man there is also a sense imo that he's glad he's "Lofty Immortal" handsome but not outstandingly beautiful compared to his peers or Luo Binghe

His looks give off "Scholar" and therefore intelligence as well as being good looking.

Shen Qingqiu is good looking but not too good looking if you understand

And that's why I think Liu Qingge was such a shock

Because Liu Qingge is "pretty"

He's outstandingly beautiful

But it's not commented on anywhere in the books. And Shen Qingqiu gets thrown by that specifically. The fact that the War God is known for something other then his looks, for his prowess and skills. Makes Shen Qingqiu kinda angry

Now this is me reading too much into it and is almost certainly a headcanon

But I can imagine a 3rd son who is very pretty being treated like his accomplishments don't matter because he was pretty

That his looks were the first things people said about him and maybe the only thing people praised him for

No it didn't matter that he didn't get top grade on that test. He still has his looks doesn't he?

It probably wasn't even done maliciously

But I can see it wearing down his self worth and sense of self

So Liu Qingge being so beautiful and it not even being commented on in canon must have been infuriating both because that didn't happen irl to him and because it would have been nice to have a character who was beautiful but acknowledged first as a fighter

For definite headcanon: Shen Yuan is actively more beautiful and pretty then Shen Qingqiu

The Bank Robbery (Sparrow Edition)

A quartet of people, two guys, and two gals, walk down a sidewalk towards a bank. One of the guys holds open the door for his friends as they all enter--

--and the lead guy promptly gets his nose bashed in by the butt of a shotgun!

The girls scream as several armed bank robbers grab them and pull them inside.

"Get on the goddamn ground!" one of the robbers yells.

〃く⁠コ⁠:⁠彡₊ ˚ ⊹〃く⁠コ⁠:⁠彡₊ ˚ ⊹

The bank is under siege. Various bank employees and customers are huddled on the floor of the bank as armed men walk around, patrolling the floor with AK-47s in hand. One particular robber is in the process of losing his shit as he talks with a hostage negotiator on the phone.

"I don't give a shit! You are out of time! I told you what would happen didn't I? Didn't I tell you?"

He gestures angrily and another robber approaches, pulling a frightened bank teller with him.

"Get him over here. C'mere." he grabs hold of the bank teller and holds him close, turning back to the phone. "I want you to listen real careful." He then holds out the phone to the bank teller, "Tell them your name."

"Craig, Craig Davis."

Taking back the phone, the robber continues.

"You go home tonight, your wife, she asks "how was work", and you tell her, Oh, not bad, got a guy named Craig Davis killed."

Protests sound from the phone,

"No, we're done talking now you're gonna listen."

The bank teller trembles in fear as the robber drops the phone and pulls out his pistol--

"Excuse me, sir?"

All three men turn to find a young girl in a school uniform standing there.

"The hell-"

The lead robber starts before suddenly, the girl raises both her hands, and he and the other robber are raised in the air, dropping their guns in surprise.

That's when all hell breaks loose. One robber finds himself jerked off his feet by a young boy in a similar uniform as the girl and thrown straight up, ricocheting off the ceiling.

A horrible scream rings out as the hostages whip their heads around to see a different robber being dragged head-first into a room by a pair of monstrous green tentacles.

One robber slowly walks backward as his eyes flicker around the room, scared out of his mind he hears a noise from behind him and whips around to see a boy and a girl sitting on the counter. In a panic he raises his gun and shoots at the boy, only to scream out as he feels a piercing pain in his own chest before falling to the floor. From her spot next to the boy, the girl seems to spot another robber trying to run off, opening her mouth she shoots a stream of venom towards him landing on his face and causing the man to go stock still.

In the vault, a group of men run around screaming as they are chased and pecked at by crows. A girl stands at the entrance of the vault next to a floating cube chuckling at the chaos.

The entire room seems to have erupted into chaos in only a few seconds but in the corner, squashed into a group of hostages, there sits a small girl watching the scene not in fear, but in fascination.

Just ahead of her stands one of the last robbers, he looks around frantically trying to find a way out of the bank without being killed by the freaky kids in uniforms. Just a second later he turns around and starts to look at the hostages, trying to find one that may give him at least a chance of getting out of the bank alive. The girl knows she's in trouble the moment the man's panic-stricken eyes lock with hers. At 4'11", she knows she's smaller than the average thirteen-year-old. Her nickname from her dad is Minnie because he says she's as quiet as a mouse and small like one too.

Frantically, the man pushes away the other hostages, reaching out and grabbing her arm tightly before pulling her towards him. She goes easily despite her attempts at protest, and soon enough she is standing near the doors with an arm over her neck, a gun pressed to her head, and the kids in uniforms standing around the two of them, ready to pounce at any moment.

A strange sort of calm washes over her at that moment and she closes her eyes breathing in and out steadying her racing heart as she continues to be dragged backward towards the door. Slowly, out of nowhere, the feeling of the man's arms around her disappears and gasps are heard both from behind her and in front of her.

When the girl opens her eyes again, all she can see is the surprised faces of the other children. Confused, she turns around to look at the robber who seems just as surprised if not even more panicked than before. Raising his gun he aims at her and before anyone can move, he pulls the trigger.

It almost seems like slow motion, the movement of the bullet as it speeds toward her, but what's even weirder is the fact that even though she sees the bullet go straight through her heart, she's still standing here just fine.

Falling onto her knees in relief, she stares at the spot where the bullet went through her, her mind running wild trying to figure out why she isn't dead.

Seeming to break out of his reverie, the tallest boy walks up to the cowering man and picks him up without breaking a sweat, the boy then throws him across the room, screams breaking out throughout the bank once again as the man's body ricochets off the wall.

Staring down at her chest with wide eyes, the girl almost doesn't realize when a pair of sneakers appear in her line of sight. Looking up at the person, she recognizes him as the one who summoned tentacles out of his stomach, she looks at him blankly when he extends a hand out towards her.

"You okay?" he asks, his voice not seeming very concerned at all, honestly he seemed kind of excited.

Breathing in, she slowly brings her hand up, letting out a breath of relief as she registers the feeling of his hand under hers. Grabbing onto his hand and letting him pull her up, she looks at him with a shaky smile, "I think so." Smiling back at her he lightly squeezes her hand in his.

"I'm Ben, Ben Hargreeves."

"Y/N L/N, nice to meet you."

The other Sparrows, after letting the hostages go, approach the two and introduce themselves to the new girl. Unbeknownst to everyone there the girl would become much more important to them than they could ever imagine.

In the future Y/N L/N is the Sparrow's closest friend, and their one and only future sister-in-law. For now, though, the children are just excited with the knowledge that they are making a new friend.

Is there a difference between the Garu of jetix series and love’s recipe?

Oh absolutely Nony!! TLDR: Jetix!Garu and LR!Garu and fundamentally different. The portrayal of pucca and garu’s relationship is one of the key factors in Garu’s characterization. 

Jetix emphasizes the physical humor of the chase, and as a result, heightens the bad qualities of the two. Pucca is more obsessive, which drives  Garu to become cold towards her and the villagers. He values his honor to a selfish degree and his fixation on being the best ninja makes him estranged to the village. He’s sassy, prideful, moody (like watch the episode y’all, he’s just a bomb waiting to go off holy-), and surprisingly, outspoken. He’s a lot more expressive, which I do miss when I watch LR. 

LR is more endearing, there’s a childish innocence to the chase. Pucca is more considerate of Garu’s boundaries and Garu is more receptive to Pucca’s affections. Garu in this version is polite, reserved, poised, gentlemanly, boyish, and regards his honor with dignity instead of pride. 

so for the long version: Jetix!Garu is so selfish. Like… he’s fixated on his honor and duty as a ninja that he comes across as cold, rude and uncaring towards the villagers, especially pucca. Jetix!Garu is completely uninterested in pucca and truly just wants to be left alone. Even if it comes at the expense of others, like in Feud Fight, Garu values being kept to himself. It kinda makes me wonder how he became friends with ching and abyo in the first place. 

  Garu never seems to do good for the sake of doing good, or because he cares for the village. He’s always motivated to go on a laborious quest because it will give him great “honor”, and it doesn’t help that this great honor is so vague and elusive in the show. uhhh winning the valley ping pong competition will bring honor! Dragging a wet noodle around the world will bring honor! Buying a moon night light inside a volcano can only be done by a great warrior because…. the story needs a serious try-hard character for Pucca to outshine and bounce off of. That’s the real oof in Garu’s character. His genuine efforts at greatness are constantly undermined by outside forces ( he takes Tobe way too seriously… like. Garu. He’s hopelessly incompetent, chill.)  and especially Pucca. It makes his motivation seem desperate to the audience and harder to sympathize with. Speaking of pucca….

   Jetix!Garu really doesn’t like Pucca. Not as a friend, and especially not as a crush. When she pursues him, his face is either red in embarrassment,  blue-tinted in anxiousness, or he violently struggles against her hugs, yet the supporting characters treat this cat and mouse chase as endearing. It shocks me when I rewatch my favorite episodes; I end up feeling so sorry for Garu and a bit creeped out how normalized pucca’s obsession is. I get frustrated that Pucca is never aware of Garu’s discomfort, and everyone enables her by assuring that Garu is just shy! He’ll come around one day. Maybe. I mean, there are a few bones the writers throw us here and there, but Garu’s reciprocation is just too inconsistent to validate. 

I think the worst their depiction has ever gotten is the intro to Season 1x19 “Oh the Bells!” Garu visibly shakes, his eyes shrink, he sweats in disgust after Pucca kisses him and leaves. Abyo literally says right after, “How can you let her do that to you?”Like bruh. This is not the relationship 8 yr old me should have been rooting for. 

Anyways, Garu’s more extreme reactions to Pucca’s antics are a direct consequence of their cat and mouse chase being depicted as humorous instead of endearing, as the original flash shorts intended. buuuuut Love’s Recipe thankfully decided to go back to the flash’s roots and bring out the best in the chase. 

I commented on LR’s dynamic when things get pushed too far, and I’m so happy that Pucca is now just a young girl filled with infatuation and innocent young love that she just wants to express it all in the open, and poor Garu is so overwhelmed but never too exasperated. He willingly hangs out with Pucca, he values his time with her and knows he doesn’t need to protect her because she can take care of herself. The strongest Garu ever reacts at pucca’s antics are small sighs or nervous sweat and blush. 

Garu is incredibly polite and poised towards everyone. I thought it smart that Garu’s residency in the outskirts of Sooga forest made him knowledgable about the fauna, and as a result gave him a reason to stay close to the village; He’s the produce runner for the Village’s most esteemed restaurant. It’s a humble yet important job. Garu wants to be a warrior because he truly wants to be good (maybe also because he wants to live up to his lost heritage?? the season finale kinda touched on that?? LR writers give us the forbidden Garu family lore) and his importance in the village validates his need for honor. He just wants to uphold the image everyone has of him and deliver justice. 

 Fittingly, Garu finds Tobe out of place and obnoxious bc he doesn’t fit in w/ his priorities. Tobe doesn’t threaten Garu’s way of life, he’s just some random laky Don-King restaurant’s manager hired. Garu never wants to deal with him and never takes him seriously, he realizes how weak of a rival Tobe is. I’m gonna miss the super serious and over the top clash Jetix! Garu and Tobe had, ngl. It made for great banter on Jetix’s end. Garu can still be pretty sassy towards him, and others. I appreciate the writers left that in. 

If I didn’t make sense y’all are free to drag me bc my dudes it is 3 am my time I am only functioning on 1 braincell rn. goodnight 

[ The constellation 'Demon King of Salvation' is looking at you ]

Nie Huaisang is such a character. He can faint on command. The character guide in the novel describes him as a dandy and lists his weapons as saber (ostensibly) and crying (actually). He stalked a canary for several days and then sneaked it into class. He collects porn and shares it with his friends. He's in a sword wizard society and his clan in particular is known for their blades but he never once has a fight scene. His characteristic accessory is a paper fan. He failed summer camp twice. He formed a Golden Core nearly a decade later than everyone else his age. When his brother was killed he set in motion a several years long revenge scheme that involved both careful planning and insane improv. He built a reputation on not knowing anything. He threw himself on his brother's killer weeping and saying "if you don't help me I'm killing myself in front or you." Truly who is doing it like him

The full comic is finally over!!! Thank you for following it ~

Hello Anon!

In general, it’s a little hard for me to find Jun Wu’s care sincere despite his claims since he was clearly more taken with the idea of Xie Lian rather than who he truly was as a person 😬

In Xie Lian, Jun Wu believed he found a kindred spirit, someone so much like his younger self, which sparked his desire to have Xie Lian as his heir while he positioned himself as a mentor there to guide him, both as Emperor Jun Wu and White No-Face. As Jun Wu, he does successfully obtain Xie Lian’s utmost respect and a willingness to be led by him, but that doesn’t mean much since his divine alter ego’s perfection is hollow. He wants someone to love him and never leave even when confronted with his worst side, hence why he mostly tries to “recruit” him in the form of his destructive alter ego White No-Face. 

I mainly see Jun Wu’s feelings as a self-centered obsession driven by his own loneliness. He longs to connect with Xie Lian because he believes him to be the only one who can empathize with the pain he’s been repressing all this time. He so desperately clings onto the hopes he has projected onto Xie Lian that he’s willing to endure 800 years of trying and failing to get him on his side. 

But of course, the big issue is that empathy is a two-way street and Jun Wu utterly fails on his side. He who has been traumatized by his past became a hardened manipulator who values control above all. Things like trust, honesty and communication, everything needed to form a healthy bond, have long been thrown into the pits of Mount Tonglu. 

As expected of Xie Lian’s shadow archetype and Hua Cheng’s foil, White No-Face instead seeks to groom Xie Lian into the image he has of him by worsening his despair while making himself out to be the only one who understands him. He tries to deliberately instill within Xie Lian a sense of dependence. Ultimately, it’s all gaslighting designed to make the “happy” friendship in his head come true. Jun Wu wants to be fully accepted but the abandonment of his former best friends + not receiving any help when he most needed it left him unable to trust or open up to anyone, so he can only rely on power and control, which naturally fails to get him what he most desires. 

Jun Wu was once a tragic victim who fell into the abyss due to circumstances beyond his control. He can’t bear to ever experience that again…That’s why he decided to go from victim of fate to enforcer of fate by becoming the Emperor that created the current dynasty of Heaven by  force and deliberately shaped the course of Xie Lian’s life. In being Emperor, he represents “heaven’s will” and that power is what lets him control other people’s lives as the one who can impose “fates” onto them.

That now brings me to examine the theme of fate and the father-son dynamic that factor significantly into Xie Lian and Jun Wu’s relationship… 

Keep reading

the gangs all together! finally finished the mxtx go for it set 💜✨

he won

bonus:

Okay, I take back my original “how I wanted TUA to end” that I made a week ago and instead I want this:

The siblings realise the world keeps ending because they’re all in the same timeline. So in order to distribute the marigold, and save the end of the world, they all have to sacrifice being a family and never see each other again.

It ends with each sibling one by one (Lila and deigo come as a pair, I don’t make the rules) as they board the subway, each to their very own timeline in which the other family members don’t exist.

It’s heartbreaking, and for a family that were split and torn at the beginning of the series, the choice being made for them is even more heartbreaking because they’re a family now more than ever. But as they board the subway, we see a montage of them all in their HAPPY timelines, the beats of “I think we’re alone now” start playing and we realise, while the Hargreeves siblings finally have their happy ending, they are in fact, alone now. Cut to black. Cue BTS images.

An attempt to salvage S4, for your delectation. S4E1

Okay, I think I'm ready. This is so long that I'll have to post it episode by episode. [FYI this isn't written Fic or script style so much as a play-by-play]

This is I'm sure an imperfect fix but I do think this would have been better especially if used as a base to work on - if anyone does want to, please feel free!

Rules I gave myself: Keep the 6 episode formula. The characters have to start Ep 1 in the same state (jobs, accommodation etc) they do in the show. Use as much as is salvageable from S4 to make the base of this cake.

I will say that I think one easy fix the show should have done was to keep the long-running theme of using flashbacks at the beginning of each ep to flesh out the story; so I've done that off the bat. Every character has a beginning flashback, but they all include Ben or Jennifer to a degree (because this is his season) and Diego and Lila have to share because there isn't enough room soz y'all.

EPISODE 1:

Starts with Viktor's Flashback: Over a series of 2 years him having a terrible time at family reunions where Diego and Lila are squabbling, Luther is being harrangued. He's working as a bar tender and they keep showing up at his bar; Klaus gets carted off by them to rehab there for being stoned, he has to kick Five out for being too drunk and disorderly. Viktor starts looking for a bar elsewhere, sees the one in Canada and moves there. Shows him chatting up the ladies, being unable to connect to them on a deeper level. In the background of all these scenes we see the Rise and Fall of Ben on the bar's TV. - he's an up and comer, he's in the big leagues! He's one of the wealthiest people in the world! He's committed tax fraud and being taken to jail!

Viktor in present time is being asked about going to Gracie's B day party, and torn about it, by Luther.

Luther is at his work.

Diego is lazily delivering packages, one of them with a symbol of an inside out umbrella on it, he is seen to pocket.

Lila is stressing over the kids party bits and another parent mentions seeing her at book club tonight.

Ben is getting out of prison, he's told by the guards that no one's due to come for him despite him arguing that someone should be, and that his parole officer demands someone be responsible for him. Ben is shown resigned picking up the phone.

Allison's work is running over and she has to call Klaus

Klaus takes Claire to her destination very cautiously

Five is at his work in CIA, staring at blueprints of the country, bitching to his boss about not being given access to blow through a wall to look at the hidden network of stations he's uncovered. Bitches to his assistant about how a few years ago this wouldn't have been an issue - assistant refers to the fact that a few years ago he was lucky to have been given this opportunity before he nearly drank himself out of his doctorate.

Luther comes to pick Ben up, he's pleased. Ben is pissed and seems edgy. They discuss in the car how Luther wasn't Ben's first choice, Luther asks who that would be, Klaus? Ben angry and claims that no, he has a girlfriend, she should have been there,  doesn't know where she is. Luther sympathises, saying he's been there, he'll help Ben look surely it was just a misunderstanding. Ben asks in a slightly scathing, though less than normal way, whether he's still looking for Sloane. Luther wishes he could hope still that she's out there, but it's fainter by the day. Ben and he share a small moment, that it's nice he's not the only one who remembers his family.

Gracie's party, much is the same

Viktor turns up late, is confronted by a blonde woman (Abigail) Abigail gives him the box of cross-timeline paraphernalia plus marigold jar. Says they're needed to save both his brother Ben and Jennifer, that they need to save the world. Leaves while Viktor is asking who Jennifer is.

Viktor goes into the party (it's wrapping up) shows the marigolds and they set up a meeting for later (the kids are still there)- there is frustration about commitments getting in the way and mixed excitement and dread.

They go separate ways, Lila is shown going to her 'book club' meeting where they talk about the Cleanse and the umbrella effect, it's Abigail, though Lila doesn't know who she is.

Diego after waving Lila off is seen pulling out the package he'd pocketed with the umbrella on it in his study full of papers and files, he goes to open it, tries to do a trick with a letter opener and it falls from his fingers, frustratedly he tosses the package as his in laws call for him to come help with something.

Five has gone down into the subway, he's staring at the wall, clenches his fists.

Allison, Klaus and Claire go home. It's quiet between Klaus and Allison. They have a stilted conversation about how they clearly don't want to have their powers back, and Allison asks for help prepping for the audition, Klaus jokes that at least acing those would have been easier with powers, she jokes back that with their powers she wouldn't have need to feel guilty killing his immortal ass for being a jerk.

Ben is with Viktor and Luther at Luther's place demanding what the woman said to Viktor who says he'd rather wait for the others but then admits about saving Jennifer and him, Luther asks who Jennifer is and guesses his 'prison girlfriend'. Viktor is a bit suspicious.

The others turn up, they go through the box properly.

Five and Lila notice items of interest in the box - subway map, umbrella inside out printed on things, items from other timelines, and both notice that Diego has much less subtly shown recognition and pocketed an umbrella item too. The two share a glance but both shrug as neither knows what's going on. Klaus finds and takes the dog tags.

Ben is on edge and demanding they get out and find Jennifer, that they take the marigolds, the others all agree they don't want their powers, though a few of them give some assurances to help Ben find Jennifer.

Ben pockets the marigolds and spikes everyone when they do a toast to another odd thing happening around their family before they all leave. (Viktor stays the night begrudgingly with Ben and Luther.)

HOW UA SHOULD HAVE ENDED

Hard cut to Klaus talking to the girl on the bicycle

Klaus: “Did we save the world or screw it up again?”

Bicycle God: “You were never the problem”

She holds up an action figure of Reginald and crushes it in her bare hands. Marigold lights emerge from it. Golden light envelops everything

Hard cut to Klaus waking up in bed. He is wearing pajamas covered in marigolds.Street noise can be heard from outside.

(From offscreen) “You okay, Hon?”

Klaus looks over and Dave is cooking breakfast in their flat

Klaus: “Yeah, just had a weird dream.”

Looks out the window and sees an empty lot where the Hargreeves mansion should be.

Klaus: “Wasn’t there a building there?”

(Naïve Melody by the Talking Heads begins to play over a montage)

Diego and Lila Are wrangling their kids into the camper van. One of the kids gives Lila a picture of her family in a field of bunch of orange flowers (marigolds)

Luther is stripping and the obsessed lady in the crowd is Sloan. He has a marigold in his mouth. He takes it out and gives it to her.

Viktor is playing the violin with Harlon. Sissy is setting the table. She sets a bouquet of marigold into a center vase.

Allison is gardening while Clare and Ray play in the yard. She is planting Marigolds.

Five is teaching at some university. An older woman comes in. “Dolores” he says as she kisses him.

Jennifer serves Ben at the dinner. Closeup on her pouring coffee. He has a Durango flower tattoo that says “Jennifer” and she had a marigold tattoo that says “Ben”

Cut back to Klaus staring out the Window

Dave: No, been an empty lot as long as I can remember

Klaus, smiles: Yeah, I don’t know why I thought that

Camera Zooms out from the window as music continues

Reginald, voiceover: And that is how our unlikely heroes manage to create one timeline where everything was fine.

BTS footage plays with the final credits 

you guys ever think about the fact that charlie and neil probably barely talked in the summer. that they were best friends but neil, or both of them, were just so busy over the summer that they barely talked. that charlie, or both of them, were so worried on the first day of school every year that they weren’t going to be close anymore because they hadn’t talked. and then they get to welton and it’s like no time has passed because they’re not best friends. they’re brothers.

charlie 'i thought we could tell each other everything.' dalton

neil 'what would you have changed?' perry

how do i move on when we were inseparable for so many years?

happiness in dps (sobbing profusely)

I noticed something in dps

in film class last year they taught us that when shooting dialogue you show connections by putting the back of someone in the shot or smth i don’t really remember BUT

in the “I’m trapped” scene when Neil is telling Mr Keating about how his dad won’t let him act it shows Mr K, therefore showing that Neil feels like Mr Keating really understands

but right after Me Keating says that Neil should tell his father it no longer shows them together in the shot because Neil feels alone again, because he realizes that Mr K doesn’t fully understand his plight

so now I’m crying

thank you for coming to my Ted talk

Will’s attraction to Hannibal is a crazy thing.

Imagine being manipulated and framed for crimes you’ve never committed, and then being manipulated again by someone and still feeling a soulmate in them.

Imagine fantasising about killing someone you don’t know how to live without.

Imagine running away as far as you can but knowing that you’re gonna crawl back.

Like… If I was him I’d rather had my encephalitis back.