⭐️⭐️⭐️ holding out my hands very unprompted for sqx and mq headcanons
( @riwrite / HEADCANON SYMPOSIUM. )
walks directly toward you at a completely normal pace and with a completely normal expression.
1. They haven't had a legitimate fight ( whether or not Mu Qing would agree with that statement is... actually not beside the point but you get what I'm saying ). Disagreements? Absolutely. The occasional spat? Definitely. Misunderstandings? Plenty. But nothing that's driven caused a rupture in their tenuous, slow-developing, sort-of-but-not-entirely-one-sided platonic messuationship. Shi Qingxuan not being the type to hold a petty grudge, much less against someone she considers a friend, and having much thicker skin than she's often given credit for lends itself well to preventing a clash from escalating beyond its usual threshold between them.
However. However. That doesn't mean there isn't capacity for them to have an actual fight. It's bound to happen. Eventually she's going to cross a boundary that Mu Qing is not going to tolerate, or Mu Qing is going to say something that hits a sore spot that aggravates Shi Qingxuan beyond a day or two of brooding. Likely a combination of both. And I think this needs to happen in order for their friendshuationship to fully break barrier of entry. Trial by fire. Pedal to the metal. Hrrrnghh the metamorphosis is beginning oh god it hurts. And so on etc.
( Bonus: When this does happen, we both know it will be Shi Qingxuan making the first move to offer apologies and amends first. Which I'm sure Mu Qing will not have a peculiar or puzzling reaction to. Whyever would he. )
2. Speaking of anger! Bouncing off one of our conversations about these two ( you know the one. smiles. ), the more I think about it, the more sense it makes that Shi Qingxuan's eventual post-canon Knock-Down Crash-Out Extravaganza is going to happen when it's just her and Mu Qing. I don't think she could fly off the rails like that around anyone else within the T.GCF cast except Mu Qing for a few reasons. His blunt, matter-of-fact reaction without anything but objective recognition it was fucked up. The fact he's entirely removed from that series of awful events. That, because he had no previous awareness or personal stake in it all, any judgments he makes or voices on her outburst are much more likely to be about how she's acting in the present than the past. She doesn't have any reason to believe he'll try to soothe, rationalize, sympathize, or otherwise walk her back from her anger. He's never done that before. Why would he start now? Which isn't a bad thing. At all. She's not aware of it, but she needs that just as much as she needs comfort and understanding and willingness to grieve with her. There's nobody else she's going to get that with.
3. Okay, time for something less heavy! I know these two swap the juciest gossip with each other, in canon verse and modern verse. It is never a good sign when they're standing any closer to each other than Mu Qing typically allows for because it means someone is getting verbally flayed open and whoever the unlucky bastard is can probably physically feel it happening. Granted, Shi Qingxuan is someone who hears gossip more than she participates in it ( in the traditional sense; she is ALWAYS up for an argument if she hears something she thinks is baseless and stupid ). But everyone's got their vices, and Shi Qingxuan isn't known for having unwavering self-control. So when she hears something real nasty or wants to get a dig in, she's making a beeline for Mu Qing.
4. Not a headcanon I just can't stop thinking about Shi Qingxuan, who hasn't had to tend to an injury without using spiritual power ever since ascending, going 'Is this okay?:( Does it hurt?:( Am I doing it right?:(' trying her best to patch up Mu Qing and Mu Qing lying through his gritted teeth 'Yes it's fine.' even though she is doing it quite possibly the worst anyone's ever done it before. And you know what that is? Growth!
Bear with me on how sparse and all over the place this is since it's a stark-naked-eyes-still-shut-baby-bird of a thought, but! I don't think it's too far fetched that Mu Qing and Black Tempest have crossed paths before.
Unlike her fellow Ghost Kings, her territory isn't a singular, self-contained space. It expands, contracts, moves around through provinces and the jianghu like a beast stalking through tall grass. Her territories are places, yes, but in a more nomadic sense. The permanently established ones are either closely-kept secrets or so removed from the popular perception of her that few would recognize them as part of Black Tempest's domain.
With how often Shi Qingxuan moves around in this verse paired with the fact Mu Qing is a martial god, and martial gods tend to be more active in the mortal realm, it's really only a matter of time before they would run into each other. And, well, you know how aggressive she can get with Heavenly Officials if she thinks they ( as in the whole lot ) are starting to get a little too comfortable with coming and going through her territories.
But a full blown confrontation isn't necessarily inevitable if they were to cross paths. As aggressive as she can choose to be, she also likes to have her fun. It's just as likely she'd do a little ragebaiting for funsies. In other words: temporarily haunt his ass ( not his literal ass, ew ).
