Best brat ever.

One thing I feel people miss about lord of the rings is that it’s sort of……….post-apocalyptic?

Like– the world already ended, a long time ago, and the characters are surrounded by the ruins of dead countries. They spend most of their time journeying through places that are either abandoned (Moria) soon to be abandoned (Rivendell/Lorien) or half-destroyed and falling into decay (Rohan/Gondor.) The villains are creatures that Used to be Human; I feel like Lotr’s orcs/ringwraiths have more in common with zombies than they do with DnD-style orcs, because they’re a state that “normal” people enter when they’re corrupted by a supernatural force.

Even the Shire is surrounded by ruins– the ruins of watchtowers, the ruins of the old Northern Kingdom, the ruined city near the Grey Havens. The people around there have an idiom “when the king comes back” that means the same thing as an idiom like “when pigs fly”–  “when a completely ridiculous improbable thing happens.” They’re so used to the disintegrated state of the world that the idea of a central government is fairy-tale-like and bizarre. They have their little mayors and thains; they don’t need anything else.

So yeah! I see people try to “modern-real-world- au” versions of Hobbiton by making it “a peaceful suburb” but to me, a modern au version of Hobbiton would be more like…….

You are a hobbit.

You don’t know much history, but you understand that there were Wars a long time ago that destroyed a great amount of life on earth.

You live in a little hole in the ground. You don’t know that long ago these holes used to be called “bunkers;” you decorate them with flowers.

When you want to say that something won’t happen, you’ll sarcastically say things “lol yeah SURE that will happen! And tomorrow pigs will fly, Parliament will come back into session, there will be a president in the White House, there will be a prime minister making speeches, and diplomats will intercede between all of them! ha! XD”

If you journey even a little outside of your home, you’ll find the ruins of old cities and skyscrapers. There are messages in the ruins that are written in languages you don’t speak. Human beings used to live here; they don’t anymore.

And you’re not supposed to leave the Shire because sometimes you’ll meet the things that used to be human, but aren’t anymore.

wedding reds

Currently haunted by the possibility of a friendly relationship between PIDW Mobei-Jun and PIDW Ning Yingying.

PLEASE ELABORATE. PLEASE.

Mobei-Jun is Luo Binghe's right-hand man and Ning Yingying presumably holds a senior position in the harem, if not the most senior position (I doubt she's his official Empress, but she could be), which means that they've essentially been... I don't know... coworkers(?) for a huge chunk of PIDW. Do they ever have to make small talk with each other? Are they actually friendly? Or has MBJ somehow gone decades without ever talking to NYY?

Luo Binghe, 50+ years into being the Demon Emperor: "Mobei, see to that Ning Yingying gets this message, will you?"
Mobei-Jun: "Which one is Ning Yingying?"
Luo Binghe: "..."
Mobei-Jun: "..."
Luo Binghe: "Are you fucking serious right now?"
Mobei-Jun: "Yes."

Like, it would be hilarious if Mobei-Jun can't be fucked to remember Luo Binghe's wives' names, but that does seem unrealistic. He probably knows the most important ones. So, like, taking that a step further... does he actually have any positive relationships with the likes of Sha Hualing, Liu Mingyan, or Ning Yingying? Ning Yingying is the funniest concept to me because she's, like, the least like him of those three. The most unlikely and therefore the most delightful.

Do they ever have to do any actual ruling together? Politics? Logistics? Can Ning Yingying boss Mobei-Jun around? Do they keep each other updated on important news and harem drama?

Mobei-Jun, walking into NYY's sitting room: "..."
Ning Yingying: "What?"
Mobei-Jun: "..."
Ning Yingying: "He got married AGAIN?!"
Mobei-Jun: "Yes."
Ning Yingying: "It's only been two months."
Mobei-Jun: "And two days."
Ning Yingying, sighing: "I know that you think it's funny when the ladies are trying to tear each other's hair out, but could you do me favor and wait before telling Hualing this time-?"
Sha Hualing, kicking open the door: "Where's the fresh MEAT?"
Mobei-Jun: "..."
Ning Yingying: "..."
Mobei-Jun: "I have already told her."
Sha Hualing: "Wake UP, people! I have a brand new venomous snake to hide in someone's bedchamber and someone else I want to frame for it! Mingyan is traveling again and I'm BORED."
Ning Yingying: "..."
Mobei-Jun: "..."
Ning Yingying: "I told you to stop helping her get snakes."
Sha Hualing: "Like I need his help for that!"
Ning Yingying: "Did he open a portal for you?"
Sha Hualing: "..."
Mobei-Jun: "Yes."
Ning Yingying: "Did she tell you why?"
Mobei-Jun: "..."
Sha Hualing: "Yes."
Ning Yingying, putting her head in her hands: "Mobei, you can't keep doing this just because you think it's 'getting too chummy around here'! Hualing, do you really think I'm just going to let you drop a venomous snake into some poor young woman's bedchamber just because was seduced by my husband? Again?"
Sha Hualing: "He's my husband too!"
Mobei-Jun: "Yes."

PIDW Mobei-Jun & Ning Yingying friendship truly has incredibly potential. A PIDW Mobei-Jun/Ning Yingying rarepair also has intriguing potential for that matter.

something something shen yuan pov

Airplane to the rescue!

A fan for privacy ✨ Cuddle time for Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe ♥️

Pondering a new Bingqiu fic idea 🤔

So the engine of the idea, and this is the part I remember seeing at least once in a fic, is Luo Binghe ending up getting captured and stuck in a dungeon under Cang Qiong while Shen Qingqiu dithers around and has highly conflicted feelings about it. I don't specifically remember how he ended up there or how it resolved, though obviously it didn't last for long.

The plot that I'm imagining would go sort of like this:

Shen Qingqiu doesn't quite manage to self-destruct completely at Hua Yue City (possibly he does, but the System, aka me! kicks him back.) He wakes up at Cang Qiong to find a worried YQY hovering over him. YGY fills him in on what happened after his blowout, which involved Luo Binghe flipping his shit and revealing his demon heritage, and Yue Qingyuan and Liu Qingge managing to overpower him together. Luo Binghe is now stuck under a mountain somewhere in Cang Qiong, much like his dad. Meanwhile most of the charges against Shen Qingqiu have been dropped -- the disciple abuse charge isn't going to stick if the accuser turned out to be a demon, and Luo Binghe claimed responsibility for the sower attack. (The Qiu family massacre is still up in the air, but Huan Hua Palace has lost 2/3rds of its charges and also physical possession of Shen Qingqiu, so Cang Qiong ain't giving him back.)

Shen Qingqiu is completely floored by this turn of events. The protagonist... lost? Lost?? That shouldn't have happened! Literally, fundamentally could not have happened! Except... Yue Qingyuan was always the one cultivator too strong for Luo Binghe to face head-on. And Liu Qingge was always an unknown factor. The two of them working together, maybe... just maybe... it happened.

Shen Qingqiu finds himself at a bit of a loss. He got what he wanted -- protection from Luo Binghe, but -- not like this! He wanted to be safe, but he never wanted Binghe to be locked up, to be trapped, to suffer!

Shen Qingqiu decides he has to do something to help Binghe. He has to go visit him.

In disguise, of course! He's not about to deliver himself up for vengeance on a platter!

So he decides to disguise himself and sneak in... as one of the love interests.

Keep reading

Airplane to the rescue!