bring your lamplight to my door

vayne, 30s, any pronouns | likes and follows from @vaynglories | sideblog for dramas novels manhwa etc

[nutcasewithaknife]

Qiao Wanmian ending up at the Leader of Sigu Sect is just sooo. She has to carry the title that ultimately crushed the man she loved, that drove them apart. She has to live up to him, but above all, she must never repeat his mistakes. She accepted a long time ago that she could never catch up to him, but now she must be better than he ever was. The world will keep measuring her against him, but the more important question maybe is whether she will ever stop doing the very same thing

[roseblight]

#for better for worse her life is so entangled with li xiangyi's and so defined by li xiangyi's that she can never quite escape it #even when she wants to #she tried to leave him to set him free and he never even got the letter until after everyone thought him dead #he tried to give her closure and let HER move on but she couldn't even do THAT because she recognized him too well not to know him when she #saw him again. and also her new fiance couldn't let him go for either of their sake's #and then when sigumen is resurrected and xiao zijin claims that mantle even THEN she can't get away from the shadow of li xiangyi #because she's so invested in not letting the legacy he left behind the one she's been safeguarding and conserving all this time #go to rot the way xiao zijin would let it #so yeah #she's li xiangyi's living memento mori no matter how much neither of them wished that on her (via eirenical)

[runawaymarbles]

I always feel so cheated in stories when characters are walking around with this Big Guilt and then...you find out that the thing wasn't their fault at all. And not in a "they thought they did it but it turns out they were set up" way, or even a "accepting that just because they did A which caused B which caused C it doesn't mean C was their fault", way but where they finally lay out the sequence of events and it's clear that any thinking person would not connect them. Like, fucking commit!!! The character isn't LESS compelling if they actually did the thing! You can't have the haunted brooding meow meow who is...also completely blameless

[runawaymarbles]

#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#the version of this that pisses me off most is the 'they were mistaken and the bad thing didn't even happen at all and no one died' version#it's such a cop out#bc i do think a character who's wracked with guilt over something that wasn't their fault can be quite compelling#but you need that 'just because they did A which caused B which caused C doesn't mean C was their fault' part of it#character who takes on all the blame when they deserve only some if it heart emoji#character who takes on all the blame when someone else put them in an impossible position and they had functionally no choice heart emoji#even character who thought they deserved all the blame but someone else set them up CAN be fun although often i find it disappointing#but 'actually nothing bad even happened'? boring.#edit: also thinking about it more i DO think clueing the reader in sooner rather than later is better#that's the problem is a lot of storytellers want to save it for a Big Reveal#and it's like man.....that's not a reveal it's a rug pull#have your OTHER characters telling me 'yeah that horrible thing wasn't actually their fault'#even as the character in question is going around like 'i'm a monster'#make it a character trait not a plot twist. y'know? via @storybook-souls

YES

and like done right, "nothing bad even happened" COULD be done really well. Like, Character A thinks they got Character B killed, fucks up their life over it, but Character B was actively hiding from them and there are huge emotional and interpersonal consequences? Good shit. Character A is guilty about Character B, Character B turns out to be alive, Character A is like, yay? Thumbs down emoji.

The biggest one I hate is "Character A thinks they got Character B killed and is very fucked up about it, Character B is not dead but thinks Character A has abandoned them and decides to become a villain about it even though it is really difficult to make us believe it's Character A's fault, even though Character A also thinks it is."

Basically I find performative angst boring I guess.

[echo-bleu]

I wanted an adult!Fang Duobing who's still a wheelchair user. That's it that's the post.

The wheelchair is inspired by but not identical to the one on the show: if the He family can make war tanks, they can figure out push rims and proto-tires. It also has a mechanism at the back that functions as a power assist.

( @jianghushenanigans this may be of interest to you)

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

Is there any being in the universe who doesn't insult Zhao Yuanzhou?

[danukimart]

[recapitulation]

[ID: gifs from the series "Fangs of Fortune." Zhao Yuanzhou is sitting in a coffin, examining the edges thoughtfully. Bai Jiu asks from off screen, "Da Yao. What are you doing?" He looks up at Wen Xiao brightly. "I want to experience the feeling of lying dead. Wen Xiao. Do you want to have a try?" /end ID]

[echo-bleu]

For the writing warm-up: nif + mei changsu + "It's impossible to get rid of me." :D

For this prompt game.

Thank you so much for the prompt, it was really fun to write! I've been blocked for days so this was perfect.

Because it's me, it's more than 500 words and also angsty af, I hope you're prepared.

----

“Why do I even bother with you?” Lin Chen mutters under his breath, counting the faint, irregular heartbeats pulsing under his fingers. “Father said to only open the window for half an incense time twice a day, and have a brazier burning all the time. I specifically ordered the servants. And now you’ve somehow managed to bribe even the most serious of our disciples to keep your window open and you’ve made yourself sick again.”

“Black…mail,” a hoarse whisper corrects him from under the bandages.

“Blackmail the disciple!” Lin Chen repeats. “Even better! I should turn you out and make you descend the mountain by yourself. Never had such an unruly patient. Are you trying to make us get rid of you?”

“It's…impossible—” Painful coughs interrupt the barely understandable hiss— “to get rid of me. Like… a weed.”

Lin Chen snorts. “It would only take a flick of my fingers to pluck you out, in your state.”

“Yet you… won’t do it… will you?”

“Oh, do you think that’s because you manipulated me into liking you?” Lin Chen starts to unwind the bandages covering his patient’s left hand. “I’m a healer. I don’t harm my patients, even if they’re intent on harming themselves.”

“No… harm… in fresh air.”

To disprove his point, the patient falls into a coughing fit, each spasm wracking his too-thin frame as he struggles to breathe.

“Even blowing in your face could harm you right now,” Lin Chen sighs. “Guess I’m camping in your room again tonight. So you don’t blackmail someone to open the window again.”

And so he can listen to his patient’s breathing and make sure his heart doesn’t stop overnight. Our of professionalism, of course. His death would be a waste of some truly excellent work.

----

General Mei’s tent is kept warm to the point of discomfort, for those who come in from the freezing outside, but Lin Chen doesn’t bother removing his cloak before he kneels by the bed. With practiced ease, he slips his hand under the furs and finds his patient’s wrist.

The heartbeat is still there. Faint, jumping in fits and starts and sinking every day, but still there.

Mei Changsu’s face is paler than a cadaver’s, but he’s alive. For now.

These past few days, Lin Chen resents every time he’s made to leave. The main army under General Meng’s command just won a major victory, most likely one that will result in a peace treaty, and the injured are tricking in, but all Lin Chen wants is to sit here and feel this pulse.

He doesn’t remove his hand from Mei Changsu’s arm, wrapping it around the frail wrist instead. Mei Changsu’s eyes flutter open, and he looks around in confusion for a moment before settling on Lin Chen.

“What’s the situation?” he asks in a whisper.

A whisper is all he can manage now, in the rare moments when he’s lucid. At the sound, Feiliu sits up from where he curled up at the foot of the bed and looks between them with little interest.

“I don’t care about the situation,” Lin Chen spits out. “And you shouldn’t care about anything but resting.”

“What’s—cough—the situation,” Mei Changsu repeats stubbornly.

Lin Chen shakes his head.

“Victory!” Feiliu shouts, too loud, too bright. “Da-ge said: Victory!”

Mei Changsu’s breath hitches. “Meng-dage won the battle?”

“Ng!”

“Of course he did,” Lin Chen sighs bitterly. “With your battle plans and strategy, elaborated at the cost of your health. How could he do otherwise? What better legacy for General Lin Shu?”

Mei Changsu closes his eyes. “Lin Chen…”

He falls still. In a moment of panic, Lin Chen seeks his pulse again, almost sobbing when he finds the beat.

He’s been keeping the news of the victory from Mei Changsu for five days now, five days of fever and coughing and worsening condition, because he was afraid that Mei Changsu would hear it and decide that his job was done.

“Don’t worry,” Mei Changsu murmurs after a long while. “It’s impossible to get rid of me. I’m like a weed.”

“Changsu, this joke stopped being funny two years ago,” Lin Chen says. He’s glad that his friend’s eyes are closed, and that Feiliu is the only witness to his tears.

Mei Changsu shakes his head with a smile. “Like a weed,” he repeats. “I come back.”

Not from this. Mei Changsu took the last Bingxu pill three weeks ago. There is nothing left to sustain his body now. His death is as inevitable as the sun rising.

“You better,” Lin Chen whispers. “I’ll be waiting.”

[redstonedust]

big fan of when a character is dead and the narrative frames them in a very angelic, soft, gentle manner but then it turns out not only are they still alive (plot twist) but theyre alive in the most gruesome and horrific way. your loving kind mentor who motivates you to fight in their memory came back wrong and theres blood and dirt under their fingernails from clawing they way out of the grave.

[yingui]

情义千秋 在梅岭雪间长留 a thousand autumns of affection buried in meiling’s snow

[yingui]

jingyan’s stupid water buffalo eyes. i know mei changsu has a headache. nirvana in fire

[lady-of-vitreous-sight]

it's important that you imagine the sword saint unmatched under heaven as an older woman with a drinking problem and a shit dating life.

[faun-grove]

he's so weak and helpless :(

[mistressaccost]

you can have random one sided beef with ANYONE! it’s so beautiful. and it doesn’t cost any money!!!!!!

[vensft]

Ties our red string of fate into a lasso and pulls someone else into our relationship

[relelvance]

Does he have "nonbinary vibes" or is he just east asian

[relelvance]

[lakemojave]

Important addition

[saintjosie]

me talking about racism i experience as an asian person and how it’s tied to white supremecy and misogynoir

some white person: ok but you don’t have to flex

[umbrvx]

jhw + kendo (pre-scenarios) requested by @/no_good_skyla [twt] for @orv-gotcha-for-gaza ⚔️

[circumference-pie]

Website idea: Writers of all nationalities give each other advice on how to name OCs from their native culture/language.

For example, a native English speaker can tell you that "Henry Edward" is kinda weird and evokes Tudor kings, and a native Chinese speaker can tell you that, I don't know, "mīmī" sounds cute but means titties.

[supernumerarianism]

Re: Chinese names, there is something cool people should know about, (maybe you already know):

Using this database, you can access the names and biographical information of real people across Chinese historical periods and dynasties. You can go on here and find the names (not just given names but courtesy names and other sorts of honorary aliases, depending on the period) of thousands of real individuals, though it's almost entirely men in the older dynasties. Very few women.

Need a character name for your Tang Dynasty official? Check out the CBDB and find a *literal Tang Dynasty official* to grab a name from!