I Really Do Think That Till Cared For Ivan In A Way That Ivan Just Couldnt See Ya Know?? How To Say This

i really do think that till cared for ivan in a way that ivan just couldnt see ya know?? how to say this

till loves ivan in a way that isnt romantic, isnt selfless, isnt selfish, isnt holy, and isnt sinful. its something so simple and nonchalant that ivan would never never able to see it

till loves ivan in the way he lets him follow. and how he trusts that he will even if he doesnt look back.

i hesitate to call it love, but theres something so simply romantic in that constant expectation of his presence that im not sure what else to call it

tills love for ivan is so wonderfully normal that it can be misconstrued you know?

its like till doesnt give ivan an invitation to his party cause hes like "why would i need to tell him to come, hes gonna be there anyways"

while ivan is like "till doesnt want me there he didnt give me an invitation :( (im going to go anyways)"

and then till is like "ivan is there, glad he got the memo"

and ivan is like "i am an intruder in a place i wasnt and will never be invited to or welcomed"

the tragedy of the commonplace if you will

Personally I prefer to headcanon that demon culture isn't actually more violent when you account for their biology

Demons are naturally strong and tough and so "beatings" and "fighting" are acceptable forms of affection because you're not actually going to hurt the other person. Like it literally doesn't hurt and is just fun for them. In fact it's not violence at all really.

It's like a tickle fight or play wrestling or hair ruffling for humans or when you playfully slap at a person's arm with no real power behind it. So it's less slap and more a caress

No one is getting hurt and it's just flirtatious playing! It's sweet!

Like you can practically bounce demon toddlers down the street like a basketball and they'll just be having fun. But you wouldn't want to actually cause them damage

Causing people damage who aren't your enemies and you don't have a reason to is just uncalled for and mean

And the problem with Moshang is Mobei actually thought he was getting the right strength for a human

Like he's like "ok. Humans are squisher so I have to be gentle but like, Qinghua is a cultivator and they're stronger usually. I mean I've seen him carry a wagon one handed. So if I hit him just this hard then he'll get this is flirting."

Only even pulled Qinghua is much squisher and he doesn't understand a punch to the ribs that bruises but doesn't break a rib is meant to be a playful "oh stop! *giggle*" type slap (because a demon wouldn't even bruise with that. It would be like a light tap)

I want Mobei to be fucking mortified by finding out how badly he got it

They spend half a day after Shang Qinghua's leg heals where they experiment with Mobei hitting something more and more gently until they find one that's safe for Qinghua

The servants and othere at the palace that Qinghua thought hated him then also get a lesson in how gently to hit a human and they are equally mortified because they thought their attempts to welcome Shang Qinghua were being rebuffed but no he's just so squishy.

They are so horrified and concerned that he's treated as if he's made of glass because

1. He makes Mobei happy

2. He has secured all the trade routes and controls the finances

3. People genuinely like him

Everyone is constantly concerned about his comfort in the Northern Palace and he has a lot of guards at all times

If he so much as trips the palace staff go into a panic

Story-idea: Liǔ Qīnggē secretly has demonic ancestry

Liǔ Qīnggē/Shěn Qīngqiū

The Liǔ Clan has a secret that is so well kept that not even all family members know about it. In the early days of the Clan's founding, they had a staggeringly large number of people who had affairs or marriages with high ranked demons and resulting demonic offspring.

The whole family upholds a deeply ingrained creed of valiant righteousness and honor, which makes this ancestry not only baffling, but also hard to suspect for outsiders. By now, the demonic genes are so diluted that it's pretty much undetectable and of no consequence for most. However, a lot of the Liǔ Clan members develop preferences, habits and behaviors that rather closely resembles demon behavior - if one knows what to look for. Every few generations there might be offspring where this is especially distinct.

Liǔ Qīnggē is such a case.

Joining Bai Zhan was a perfect fit for his constant lust for battle and the need to roam the land to search for prey. Bai Zhan was also known for rough treatment of everyone since its founding, so beating up his disciples for training and asserting dominance is seen as perfectly fine. His arrogant, blunt brusqueness is not necessarily liked by all of his fellow peak lords, but easy enough to accept as quirk. Rising to the bait Shěn Qīngqiū threw at him every single time and obsessively seeking sparring sessions with his despised martial sibling was always very troublesome and concerning, though.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after Shěn Qīngqiū had a Qi-deviation that changed him so much that he even saved his rival's life in the Lingxi caves. Everyone with the exception of their sect leader, who always wants to think the best of Shěn Qīngqiū no matter what, is surprised by this. Liǔ Qīnggē is even grateful enough to take on the duty of helping Shěn Qīngqiū to clear his meridians regularly after he got poisoned and they spend time together without devolving into insults and fighting. Everyone thinks, now that the two buried their hatred, all would finally be peaceful.

Liǔ Qīnggē gets weirder instead.

Weird enough for his fellow peak lords to notice and worry, most of all Yuè Qīngyuán and Mu Qingfang. He's dropping monster carcasses on Shěn Qīngqiū's lawn as if he wants to drown him in them! And while the idea behind it is really nice, since these monster's parts are good for cultivation and therefore helpful in general and for the now poisoned Qing Jing peak lord in particular, the way Liu Qingge does it is pretty disturbing. Giving Shen Qingqiu the extracted parts in a qiankun bag or box would be the normal thing to do. It's entirely unhinged to plonk down a whole, gruesomely chopped up, still dripping carcass! Frankly, Mu Qingfang understands why Shěn Qīngqiū was worried whether that was a threat at first (especially with their history).

His insistence on accompanying him on missions and night hunts is noted as commendable concern at first. Sending someone along to make sure the poison isn't acting up is sensible and Yuè Qīngyuán wouldn't have it any other way. The sect leader is glad they get along so well now. But Liǔ Qīnggē gets weirdly aggressive and restless whenever someone else is picked. Until he one day right-out growls like a demonic beast and demands to be on the mission as well. It's a minor, harmless one, too! Poor Shang Qinghua, who was originally assigned, nearly faints and fears he'd be ripped to shreds unless they take him with them. He's assigned automatically after that.

Wei Qingwei checked Liu Qingge for possession and is very sure he's himself. Qi Qingqi and other peak lords checked for curses and also came up negative. It's incredibly tempting to make fun of Liǔ Qīnggē for having a crush on his former rival and resident lecherous scum. But Liǔ Qīnggē's explosive reaction to the teasing is startling and causes more effort to identify hidden curses or well-concealed possessions. Still negative. Their Bai Zhan war god might just be really crazy after all! Maybe they need to have an eye on that...

That he always finds and returns the fans Shěn Qīngqiū leaves behind in his new forgetfulness is noted and seen as rather cute. Until people realize he has memorized each fan the man owns and zeroes in on any he sees lying around like a blood hound who finds wounded prey in his territory. And that he viciously snarls at anyone else who dares to pick them up or offers to return them. It's a lot less cute then.

At that point everyone is worried about this and that he might snap and cause havoc in the brothel. Because, really, he says he's not in love with Shěn Qingqiu. But what else could this be, other than a disturbingly obsessive crush? Luckily, Shěn Qīngqiū stopped visiting the brothels after his last big Qi-deviation. Surprisingly, Liǔ Qīnggē is very adamant about having been wrong about him and these visits, because supposedly Shěn Qīngqiū was there for completely different reasons than sex. He knows better now, he questioned the prostitutes.

As weird as that statement sounds, this very much means he already went there to interrogate the poor prostitutes like a jealous lover after all! At this point, no one is sure it would've ended well if the prostitutes had told him something else.

It's high time they do something! Yuè Qīngyuán is delicately questioning Shěn Qīngqiū whether Liǔ Qīnggē acts in an uncomfortably untoward way around him. It's a huge relief that he apparently doesn't. Yuè Qīngyuán really hopes this stays that way. But it's extremely troubling how oblivious Shěn Qīngqiū is about Liǔ Qīnggē's obvious interest and resulting unhinged behavior. If they didn't know better, thanks to Hong Jing and the various other tests they made by now, one could think Liǔ Qīnggē was replaced by a demon.

After receiving a very concerned and insistent shovel talk from his sect leader, Liǔ Qīnggē vents his frustration about this unwarranted warning to his sister. Who questions him on the behavior that led to it. And promptly facepalms really hard. Then points out to her dear, beloved idiot-brother that his ancestry is making him act like a stupid demon in heat.

Oh.

Oh...

Now that he realized what's going on and how he behaved, he begrudgingly realizes that he likely was interested before too. Fighting someone until they submit is a part of demon courtship after all. To his shame and regret, he just never connected the dots before.

But now that he does, his behavior actually gets better. He stops being aggressive towards his martial siblings. Or rather, it returns to how things were before. As long as they don't poke him. And he declares his feelings to Shěn Qīngqiū and, after hearing that he doesn't believe him, gives him traditionally accepted courting gifts beside the monster carcasses. He may have inherited a lot of the odd, demonic leftover traits from his ancestors and the resulting urge to impress his love interest in certain ways, but he knows how to properly woo someone the normal human way. Time to do that as well!

It gets increasingly harder not to snarl at Shěn Qīngqiū's favorite, spoiled disciple, though. The kid is much too close and impertinent for his tastes around his beloved. He's actually despicably happy when the kid (supposedly) dies during the Immortal Alliance Conference. He luckily manages to successfully hide this, though.

He takes Shěn Qīngqiū on many hunting trips and missions to cheer him up. They get together about two years after the Alliance Conference.

In hindsight, Liǔ Qīnggē wonders whether the courtship could've maybe progressed faster had he realized earlier that Shěn Qīngqiū was 100% convinced Liǔ Qīnggē wasn't into men.

My favourite little shit

Supper time, kiddo!

Crow!Wei Wuxian adopts street urchin!Shen Yuan. Things go downhill.

its entirely unethical that there are no monster hunter/svsss crossovers. the system manager messes up and just shunts shen yuan to a holding world while trying to sort shit out, and SY just wakes up in the middle of the darj snowfields (mh:s) as a wyverian and gets taken in by hakum village. SY would go batshit insane for the whole taming monsters and keeping the balance thing, especially once he meets the hunters guild research people, and just goes 'yes, thats what i want to do' and then he proceeds to become a hunter/scholar and travel around all of the known world and into the new world.

he'd have two different sets of armor/weapons/gear of different purposes, one for all out hunting and another for quick quiet movements for field research.

some monster friends he has are a Najarala, Lagiacrus, Nerscylla, Tobi-Kadachi, Paolumu, and Beotodus (going off of MH:stories with having 6 party members total).

he just starts exploring the hoarfrost reach (23 years post system fuck up) when the system fixes the problem but then it looks at the replacement soul it chose and is just like 'oh. oh no. he's competent now. fuck.' but it cant go back on it cause of its user policy and so its forced to take This Guy and put him into the new situation, and unfortunately for the system all of SY's soul bound stuff goes with him, which means his wyverian body and his monster familiars.

the system CAN however make all of his familiars be deaged into eggs.

eventually the beast peak lord picks him off the street like a wet rag because this weird feral kid refuses to give her the eggs that he's hoarding, but shes never seen these eggs before and she really wants to study them, so she just forcibly adopts the 'kid.' he's not a kid, hes just a wyverian, who can get really really old even without cultivation, so he's like the human equivalent of a 16-year-old when he's actually around 44.

anyways, liu qingge is absolutely whipped for his weird shixiong who is both older and younger than him, who can delicately flip over a massive Earth Boaring Slime Muskrat with his spear, and who can smash a Tiger Footed Armadillo Dragon in the face with a massive hammer that shatters its skull, and who is so excited to sit down in a small roadside teahouse and rant about trophic cascade, and Liu Qingge has no idea what that is but Shen Qingre (clear restlessness/zeal) is extremely pretty when he's passionate.