Notices by Soph (they/them) (soph_sol@federatedfandom.net), page 2

when I google for podcasts with trans hosts, all the lists I get are of podcasts about trans topics (that, yes, have trans hosts). what if I want to hear trans people talk about their other obsessions!

kill james bond spoiled me!

@lookitmychicken OH NO. I have no answers for you but much sympathy!

#TGCFReadAlong

chapter summary for ch 26:

guoshi confronts the xianle trio about what happened in the ceremony, and mu qing explains how he did pass the message on about the change of plans. the trio return to xie lian's palace and have some conversation about his dirtied outfit and about martial arts, then one of his coral pearl earrings is discovered to be missing. mu qing gets offended at an implication that he may have stolen it, and xie lian tells feng xin about how he first met mu qing after something else precious had gone missing. the trio visit the royal family and discover how reckless qi rong is with his carriage, and his behaviour to "punish" the child who interrupted the ceremony. xie lian saves the child and feng xin injures qi rong in the efforts to stop him. the king and queen are upset about what happened, for a variety of reasons.

I'm finally getting back to the #TGCFReadAlong omg! I last posted my thoughts about a chapter in.......early November orz

WELL here we go on chapter 26! I'm only 7 chapters behind! good thing I've been writing little chapter summaries for each previous chapter so I could remind myself where I am.

#TGCFReadAlong ch 26

every time I come across the other three deputy state preceptors now, after being reminded in my personal reread about how they're all just puppets created by the head state preceptor to playact his dead friends, it's so....stark to me, how much the three of them have no presence or character on the page. they're all nothings, just shadows to back up guoshi. (mnq u are fucked up!!!)

#TGCFReadAlong ch 26

more evidence of xie lian's arrogance back in this era of his life! he "was usually friendly and rarely put on airs" - which means sometimes he wasn't friendly and sometimes he did put on airs! and he definitely acts like he is automatically deserving of being listened to at all times. I love him but he's definitely a young man who grew up smothered in privilege and doesn't recognize it (yet). He's upset about how mu qing was treated by his shixiong, but he doesn't understand at all why mu qing would react the way he did!

#TGCFReadAlong ch 26

the whole business with mu qing being turned away at the door by his disdainful shixiong and going to the window to share the message, and leaving with only the vaguest confirmation his message has been received and approved of, is not /ideal/ messenger behaviour, but also, mu qing is a teenager who has spent most of his life being shunned by other people for not being "good enough" so like. it's a very understandable thing to do. I'm pretty sure that when I was his age I would have done the same thing tbh!

#TGCFReadAlong ch 26

goddddddd the state preceptors all dislike mu qing, which encourages all the trainees to dislike mu qing and treat him poorly, which is all defended by the idea that mu qing is just objectively not very likeable!! wow I hate everyone in the Royal Holy Temple. mu qing is definitely prickly and difficult and reactive but he is a TEENAGER and the state preceptors are ADULTS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR HIM.

and then guoshi is relieved when xie lian wants them all to drop the topic and stop arguing, because guoshi doesn't want to admit that any of the fault might lie with him for being distracted by playing cards. GUOSHI HOW ARE YOU SO TERRIBLE.

#TGCFReadAlong ch 26

I love how MUCH xie lian loves martial arts, always has and always will! he is an enormous nerd about martial arts and loves it so sincerely and wholeheartedly. he feels about martial arts how I feel about birds! I love this for him, with huge fondness.

#TGCFReadAlong ch 26

I love how the young child xie lian saved left visibly grubby handprints on xie lian's exquisite pure white robe; the first instance of many of hua cheng being thought to dirty xie lian and interfere with his rightful purity. hua cheng is constantly getting his grubby hands all over dianxia, but xie lian welcomes it, both then and now!

(of course, there's also the other side, which is that the young xie lian didn't have to launder his own clothing, when the dirtying is literal! and mu qing is responsible for washing it. justice for mu qing!)

#TGCFReadAlong ch 26

"The people of Xianle believed [...] The forms of the gods were inexhaustibly changing and naturally unbound by gender restrictions, shifting male or female as they willed." TRANS XIE LIAN.

#TGCFReadAlong ch 26

the description of the ~not large~ envoy of personal possessions xie lian takes up the mountain with him when he goes to start training with guoshi, and then the care package his mom sends after him.......... boy oh boy.

the xianle royals were profligate and extravagant in completely unnecessary ways and honestly it's just a surprise their dynasty didn't fall earlier.

#TGCFReadAlong ch 26

feng xin is SO oblivious about how his words could be taken to be insulting, and mu qing is SO used to being insulted by everyone that he can find insults in anything said in his presence, and xie lian is SO unprepared for handling emotional conflicts in any useful way! 😭

#TGCFReadAlong ch 26

one has to do some piecing together about the situation with mu qing and the gold foil. my understanding is that mu qing found the gold foil by accident, then was unable to decide whether to give it back or to keep it so that he could send money to his impoverished mother, but then the search went out for the gold foil before he could decide what to do.

poor kid! put in such a difficult situation. I don't blame him for his temptation. but feng xin is incapable of seeing it as anything but a binary morality lesson. this is stealing, therefore mu qing did badly and deserved punishment and should be mistrusted.

also: feng xin doesn't like people who overthink things. well. feng xin sure isn't in danger of ever overthinking anything himself lol

xie lian meanwhile I think agrees with feng xin on principle except is also Kindhearted and Magnanimous as a ruler and feels sorry for mu qing so agrees to not say anything. (except then he DOES tell feng xin....so........)

#TGCFReadAlong ch 26

I think I saw someone else mention this earlier, but xie lian's speech about how feng xin and mu qing are like two jades he couldn't leave behind in the dust, when so many other people are just rocks, and he had to give a precious jade the opportunity to shine - that's not a speech that the current xie lian would ever give, I don't think. He absolutely still thinks that both feng xin and mu qing have value, but current xie lian sees value in everyone! he wouldn't just dismiss the majority of ordinary people as being just rocks.

@lirazel I'm with your sister on this one!

OKAY I have created the non-shipping bingo card!!! I managed to get it down to an 8 x 8 square 😅 look I didn't want to split it into multiple cards because sometimes to capture a character you Need to be able to invoke the interception of multiple squares!

here is the card! I'll put the alt text in following toots so it's easy to copy if you want to use the card yourself

please respond with characters you want me to do this bingo with!!!! I'd love to play bingo here!

@yesterdaychild jgy/su she?

additions to the list:

- one-sided devotion
- we've known each other for so long, we might as well be friends
- we survived a dangerous and harrowing situation together
- Kate Beaton's Nemesis Comic
- our best friends are dating each other and we keep ending up the 3rd/4th wheel
- big sibling rivalry energy
- person who submitted a paper & review two
- you are the cryptid that keeps appearing when I’m working the night shift and no one believes my stories about the messed-up things I’ve seen you do
- reluctantly working together even though we don't like each other because we'd like working with anyone else even less
- It's Complicated (TM)
- make each other better
- make each other worse
- the definition of married (platonic)
- will die together in a heart shaped pool of blood
- they should kill each other
- they WILL make it romantic/sexual no matter what
- u remind me of me and I hate it
- ur the only one of these clowns I respect, I guess