randomly got hit with lu shang/yun chuan brainworms so strong that i nearly lost the ability to do anything productive for multiple days so i started compiling a list of their parallels and they just keep getting more and more specific to the point that it goes from "aww they have so much in common" to "oh...they have so much in common…"
huge mystical animal companion that just follows them around all the time that no one questions
wrongfully imprisoned in their youth due to systemic flaws within tangton’s justice system
mentor figure/role model to a young child that they ended up being coworkers with ten years down the line
former student of theirs died violently in their arms (and it was bi tao's fault both times??)
evil homoerotic ex-situationship with black and white hair who framed them for the indirect deaths of multiple people and over the course of ten years carefully orchestrated a death trap specifically engineered to air out dark hidden secrets by forcing them to come back to the site of some of the most traumatic events in their lives because of an entirely invented rivalry that never even actually existed
and probably more that i’m forgetting but like if i had a nickel…