Character meme

[extrapenguin]

Via undeadrobins and jo_lasalle – a character meme to send off April!

Give me a character you know I know (if you want), and I’ll tell you:

1. How I feel about this character.
2. All the people I ship romantically with this character.
3. Favourite gen relationship(s) for this character.
4. My unpopular opinion about this character.
5. One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
6. Personal headcanon about this character that you can't convince me is not true.
7. A crack theory about this character that I'm making up just for this meme that is definitely most likely not true.
8. A song or piece of music I associate with this character.

Comments

[undeadrobins]

Chu Shuzhi

[extrapenguin]

How I feel about this character.
I absolutely love the loyalty he exhibits towards the Black-Cloaked Envoy and Zhao Yunlan! Not too keen on the romance with Guo Changcheng, though, so that puts a damper on my feelings towards him.

All the people I ship romantically with this character.
maggie33 mentioned starting a fic shipping him with Ye Huo, so, him! I didn't think of it before, but it's a cool idea.

Favourite gen relationship(s) for this character.
The people to whom he is loyal: Shen Wei, Zhao Yunlan. The compare and contrast folks: Ye Huo, Zhu Jiu. I'd also be really interested in seeing him deal with Ye Zun after discovering that Ye Zun is the Envoy's twin little brother.

My unpopular opinion about this character.
If he discovered that Ye Zun was the Envoy's brother, his repressed caring-for-a-twin energy would go towards Ye Zun, and Ye Zun would suddenly get a second big brother.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
Him discovering that Ye Zun is the Envoy's twin! I think that with his twin-related hangups, that might've pushed things over the edge to an actual reconciliation, since someone else asking questions and listening to Ye Zun rant (and conveying that to Shen Wei, who might be able to make sense of it and would definitely like a way to stop his brother without kabooms).

Personal headcanon about this character that you can't convince me is not true.
He lurks on several doll forums and might even occasionally post on one, on which he as acquired cryptid status for his odd doll rating methods and general intensity.

A crack theory about this character that I'm making up just for this meme that is definitely most likely not true.
He is really into doll dress-up, and changes his doll's outfit daily. Being him, all of the outfits are black and resemble armor or other fighting clothes. At the end of the day, however, he changes the clothes back into the black cloth Envoy tribute outfit.

A song or piece of music I associate with this character.
Stratovarius - Darkest Hours

[trobadora]

Ya Qing?

[extrapenguin]

How I feel about this character.
She is fine, I guess? I don't have that many feelings about her. Useful in casefic, or when the narrative needs her, but I'm not really interested in her for her own sake.

All the people I ship romantically with this character.
Zhu Hong and Ying Chun.

Favourite gen relationship(s) for this character.
In the sense of "I would like to see more of this", her relationships with the rest of the villains: Zhu Jiu and Ye Zun. How she was recruited would be an interesting topic for a fic.

My unpopular opinion about this character.
(Note that I don't recall seeing enough Ya Qing discussion to find out the consensus opinions, but since fandom is very much about shipping...) She is a person of principle. She wouldn't abandon that in favor of romance, or let love lure her to someone who didn't share her cause.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
I actually like her arc, but more Yashou worldbuilding would've been nice.

Personal headcanon about this character that you can't convince me is not true.
Without the invasion thing, Ya Qing would've been a good leader of the Yashou tribes as a whole.

A crack theory about this character that I'm making up just for this meme that is definitely most likely not true.
Ya Qing runs a fitness regimen for her birds: every night, they roost at a different side of the city, so as to train everyone's flying. She also makes sure they all have gym memberships in their human forms.

A song or piece of music I associate with this character.
The nightly serenade of cawing the neighborhood crows get up to.

[trobadora]

How she was recruited would be an interesting topic for a fic.

Yes! We only get a few tantalising hints about how she got to where we find her in canon, and I really would have loved to find out more.

She is a person of principle. She wouldn't abandon that in favor of romance, or let love lure her to someone who didn't share her cause.

Completely agreed! But then I think that about Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan too, which is definitely a minority opinion. *g*

(In Ya Qing's case, I feel like her scenes with Ying Chun support this interpretation.)

Without the invasion thing, Ya Qing would've been a good leader of the Yashou tribes as a whole.

Also agreed! I think we view her very similarly, even if I love her way more than you do. *g*

[extrapenguin]

Completely agreed! But then I think that about Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan too, which is definitely a minority opinion. *g*
I wasn't aware that was the minority opinion? The great romance of theirs is that they share the same principles and their causes align. (Though I guess that with how into shipfic fandom is, such things might be backgrounded in comparison with the sappy romance smoochy bits?)

With Ya Qing, I don't think we have anyone of similar common cause with her, except maybe Zhu Hong post-canon. Ying Chun would need more work politically.

[trobadora]

Maybe I'm wrong? But I got the impression that at least with Shen Wei, plenty of people think he would do anything for Zhao Yunlan, principles and duties be damned.

[extrapenguin]

AFAIK he's sort of like that in the novel, and of course there's the spate of people mistagging their novel fic as drama fic, but I haven't come across anyone claiming that for drama Shen Wei. I guess there'd be some delightful angst and conflict and Shen Wei overexerting himself if Zhao Yunlan's life were in danger and he had to pick between saving him and duties, but otherwise nah.

[starandrea]

Ya Qing runs a fitness regimen for her birds: every night, they roost at a different side of the city, so as to train everyone's flying. She also makes sure they all have gym memberships in their human forms.

I believe it! ♥ Also I love this idea.