the blue parrot

宁为玉碎；不为瓦全

an overused proverb still used by the song family even today, it loosely means “rather die with glory than live in disgrace.” the songs are an old and prestigious witch family who hail from shanghai, china. the seemingly perfect family who has it all - money, power and connections. they have a lineage of diviners that are rumoured to have served royalty in the past, and diviners still remain a main characteristic of the family.

as of this past century, the songs have immigrated to the west, and the main branch now resides in vancouver, canada. while they used to take pride in themselves for marrying only elite or talented individuals - well. they can’t really maintain that ‘holier than thou’ mentality and remain exclusive with the current societal climate nowadays. they’re actually quite well known for funding orphanages - although not entirely out of goodwill. it’s mostly to comb through for potential talent that can be adopted into their family. those rumoured to have seer abilities tend to be extremely coveted by the songs, who have an obsession with divination and chronomagic.

song ruqin is the current patriarch of the family the eldest of two sons, with a wife and a son. unlike the typically pretentious branch members, the patriarch of the family is surprisingly very chipper and friendly, with his wife as a cold beauty who seemingly leads the family in his stead. but surprise, surprise, he’s the one with the outside connections and seeker of opportunities that could benefit himself in the future.

some things to note about the family dynamic:

some of the most extra people ever come from the songs. due to their wealth, opulence is quite a common thing they indulge in. legit always the ones who overdress for parties or buying the most expensive wine at a restaurant like it’s nothing. if you want to out do them in classes? over their dead body. [insert overused proverb here]

note that their family holds the council position overseeing security and defense. according to the rumour mill, it’s the song family members who know a thing or two about finding legal loopholes so as to avoid the above point. :))

to the outside world, they’re about as harmless as a den of poisonous snakes. meaning, please approach with caution. the kids are trained on manners and social etiquette from young ages, on top of self-defense magic lessons.

they put a lot of pressure on how to act out in public, because any dumb shit someone pulls reflects on the family too. [insert overused proverb here x2]

family reunions are always a big shitshow of “who can passive aggressively flaunt the best?” parents are always trying to boast who has the better child or talking politics. meanwhile the children are hogging the alcohol waiting for the night to be over. obviously just the ones of legal drinking age, duh.

the kids are typically emotionally constipated, up to no good and Need A Break - all in that order. there’s a silent alliance amongst them about never snitching if any of them mysteriously disappear for a few days, (“they’re probably just studying with some friends? idk”) or come home having an odd aura to them (“auntie yang, it’s just *cologne*. what do you even know about weed to say that?”)

most of them know how to talk their way out of anything. they typically grow up being very careful with their words especially if you ever want to get away with anything in this family.

(art credit goes to aaron sims btw!)

this is a wanted ad for stefan song, from vancouver, canada. coming from an old and elite family of witches, it’s only natural that he grew up with peers who were already aware of their own magical heritages - whether because of their own families, or discovering by their own means. they eventually all met attending the same university in vancouver. they don’t necessarily have to be from vancouver - they could’ve been exchange students, or moved to vancouver, most reasons should work!

they’re not necessarily friends. hence, the quotation marks around the word. not with the way they’ve all grown up - some way or another, not in the best circumstances. therefore, no matter how much they’ll seek one another’s advice and aid… they’re not friends. they insist they aren’t. there’s no obligation to make polite smiles, make small talk or maintain pretenses. the four of them are just allies, of sorts.

each one of them has different connections in the world that can be considered advantageous to have on one’s side. and for stefan who is inheriting a position of power that relies greatly on status and how he’s regarded by the rest of the community… well, he’ll need all the help he can get.

even if the favours that come with it are a little unpleasant.

(basically this is a quartet comprising only of hbic vibes who are always constantly clashing, stan assholes who are willing to backstab for one another PEACE.)

a bit more info about the individual characters will be listed down below! if you’re interested, you can message me on tumblr or wait for the discord server link on the 30th.

(art credit goes to nattlesua btw!)

this is a wanted ad for jiang jiehua, who hails from wuyuan, china. by extension, these characters share that hometown with him, as they’re from distant branches of the family that jiehua never had a chance to meet growing up. (although, he never really met many people outside of the main family house anyway but that’s a story for another time.)  they’d know him more infamously as the “demon child” of the jiangs, who the elders have taken to gossiping furiously about since his return to lead the family. all that’s really known by the younger children of the clan at this point was that jiehua had been the child of the late clan leader. he was responsible for eliminating the line of succession for clan head, for reasons that went explained.

but isn’t he already the first in line? did he feel threatened?

questions like these went unanswered. yet now that these four have decided to venture out of their village to attend the institute (after a lot of warnings from their parents), maybe they’ll get a chance to get to know the "demon child” the elders talk so horribly about.

although, their penchant for getting into trouble might make sneaking around a little hard. jiehua doesn’t seem to have noticed them until now... or is he just pretending not to notice?

a bit more info about the individual characters will be listed down below! if you’re interested, you can message me on tumblr or wait for the discord server link on the 30th. fcs are not mandatory, by the way. i just used their fcs from the drama.

— bae youngjae, the strength.

— song xuefan, the judgement.

— jiang jiehua, the hanged man.