#adragonrambles

I don't think people understand how living that long would affect someone. And I don't mean in the angsty "All my friends will die so I must have no friends" kind of way.

I mean like Xie Lian from TGCF.

He's wise, he's experienced, he knows of the world and life and death because he's lived it over and over and over again. He's also weird, and a little rude: he's lived too long and will live too long to bother not voicing his opinions when he has them.

His skills are nothing short of legendary. He's honed his own body and martial ability for so long that he's reached the pinnacle of those skills, perfected his art. Every physical fight he has, save for the one against The Emperor himself, is a cakewalk. And yet he doesn't like to fight. Why would he? He knows exactly how that interaction is going to end and he dislikes hurting people. Though his dislike of violence must never be mistaken for an unwillingness to inflict it.

He loves people. Though he struggles to form truly deep and meaningful relationships, he will not hesitate to befriend those around him. He's kind, he's loving, he would never turn someone away if they asked him for help. He doesn't look down on mortals even a little; after all, just because their lifespans are shorter than his doesn't make them any lesser than him.

Perhaps most importantly, he has an indomitable will and unbreakable mind. He has too; for if he didn't, he would have given up a hundred times over, and would by lying in a ditch somewhere, having thrown himself into it some hundred years ago.

You like that Doomed Ship because you enjoy the tension and deep irony of a tragedy, along with the sense of bittersweet melancholy that permeates the very air of any scenes/moments that take place Before it all Went to Shit.

I like that Doomed Ship because I enjoy the mental challenge of attempting to write it out of that doomed state in a way that doesn't completely break the characters or cannon.

And while I find this funny I also want to point out that despite this, she does actually seem able to back up her smack talk. She appears to be the best fighter out of the 3 Disassemblers (she's at the very least a better fighter than V; she had V on the ropes throughout their entire 1 on 1 confrontation, and got taken out of the final battle partially because she was ganged up on and partially because her teammate treats friendly fire like it's a suggestion).

If we're actually paying attention to the fighting style, achievements and general skills each of the Disassemblers show off, we can reasonably say J is the most effective/capable out of the lot.

Though honestly I do I think it's a bit silly to actually try to nail down who the ""best fighter"" is on their team. I'd say they each have their own strengths and are each going to be better suited to specific circumstances. N for example is definitely the strongest; mans threw Uzi into the stratosphere like it was nothing while V got pinned multiple times in her confrontation with Uzi. He seems better suited to fighting in large, open spaces where he can take big heavy swings and really utilize his larger size or attack from long-range (his confrontation with V where he takes the battle into the air and curb stomps her, or episode 7 and 8 where he spends most of the respective battles in the air or landing massive heavy hits.) V meanwhile seems better at close quarters combat in small spaces; she was putting the works on that sentinel in episode 6 and managed to fight her way through the rest, and also seems to generally prefer getting up close and personal (pulling Thad in close, putting N in a sword bind, stalking up to Uzi in Cabin Fever, constantly trying to get close to J instead of taking shots); girl just needs a pair of glasses so she can freaking see and she's very good at hand to hand! (Side note I do find it funny she technically loses most of these fights; in her defence she either couldn't fucking see because she has no glasses and all signs point to her needing them, or had other concerns like protecting Lizzy in Cabin Fever or not wanting to seriously harm N.)

J meanwhile seems pretty well-rounded with a good eye for strategy and team-up attacks (quickly putting her back to Cyn to watch their six when the fog comes in, going for sneak attacks multiple times while Cyn's being her big distracting self, presumably herding V towards the building where Cyn was stalking N and Uzi and forcing her down into a kill zone, immediately stealing Uzi's railgun after Uzi throws it at her).

Something something when the Peak Lords ascend into their position they unlock/gain a dragon form.

Shen Qingqiu(Jiu) is a Green Dragon. He obsessively hides it because appearing as a Chromatic is extremely controversial and he assumes everyone would label him as evil. He's only half correct; Chromatic Peak Lords are not an unheard of thing; it's rare, but it does happen occasionally, and there have even been highly respected Chromatics before. But he's already proven himself to bear all the worst traits associated with his respective Color, so yes he probably would get shamed pretty hard for being Green.)

Anyway something something Shen Yuan transmigrates into Shen Qingqiu having no idea what exactly Shen Jiu actually is because it was never revealed in the original book, which leads to quite the shock during the Demon Invasion wherein he is stabbed by the Without a Cure spikes and is... fine? He's fine, bleeding a little, but like he doesn't feel particularly poisoned? Weird.

A little bit after that and all the other peak lords are casting major side-eye at each other over Shen Qingqiu's head as he goes about his merry way utterly oblivious to the fact he just outed himself as a Green, seeing as how that's the only type of dragon that could take a poison attack like that without even needing to meditate it away.

(Side thought maybe it's like... normal to keep one's dragon form private, both for strategical reasons; better if your potential enemies don't know what all they could be facing; and also a dragon form is often seen as reflecting an individuals inner self, though there have been exceptions, and it's understanable to want to keep that private.)

(Cut-off because hooo boy this is long!)

I like to imagine, sometimes, the idea that J actually prefers her new body.

She's taller, sturdier, and so much stronger. She can move like a missile and has incredible maneuverability in the air and on the ground. Her claws are razor sharp and ludicrously strong. She holds absolute dominance over (almost) every environment she's in, an apex predator at the top of her game able to bask in the terror and/or respect that's naturally afforded her.

And she likes that. She likes being powerful, having control, being able to move in ways she could never have imagined as a worker.

And it torments her.

She wasn't meant to be this. She shouldn't like any part of this, she didn't ask for it and shouldn't want it. She ought to yearn for her old body, right? Ought to feel violated and utterly wrong in this new shape. And maybe she does to some degree... Yet she can't help but enjoy the security and sense of power she's been gifted.

Once, she struggled to break a simple chain; even chipped a tooth on it. But now her teeth would glide through it like butter, and even though it's too little too late some part of her can't help but find comfort in the security and power her body grants her.

And listen the absolute most important aspect of these characters is that they WILL. Like, they are fundamentally kind and gentle people, but when push comes to shove they'll take all that potential for incredible violence, and commit incredible violence. No pushovers to be seen here.

Examples of my favorite characters from some of the recent stuff I've watched/read;

Xie Lian from TGCF. A humble scrap collector who cares for the common people and is undeniably one of the kindest people in the book (even if he's not always the nicest). By the end of the book he could also break a mountain in half with his bear hands and fought god multiple times.

Wen Ning from MDZS. He arrives in the book by stalking out of the woods to the sounds of clanking chains and accompanying horror movie music, bitch slaps the current villain out of the existence and then proceeds to spend the rest of the story following the protagonist like a lost puppy while speaking in soft, gentle tones and generally being the most adorable character in the entire story.

N from Murder Drones. Just the goodest of boys who can casually toss someone into the atmosphere and has no time for villain monologues. He cemented himself as one of my all-time favorite characters when he followed through on that "One chance" threat.

Just... MAN they hit every time for me!!

But of course!

The first time he transforms SY nearly breaks his shoulder stumbling into a tree! He finds himself very grateful to the Original Goods for how well he established his preference for being alone during his time as a dragon; everyone gives him a nice wide birth so no one is around he see him stumble through the process of acclimating to a new body of an entirely different plan than his own which also happens to be longer than a school buss 😂

After those first bumbling steps though, he finds himself adjusting with surprising ease! He actually takes to draconic cultivating more easily than normal cultivation; something about it just... Clicks! (He's overjoyed to get to experience being one of the fiercest, most powerful creatures in all of PIDW, and that enthusiasm translates into a natural affinity for being a dragon and practicing that form of cultivation. He accelerates at incredible speed and by the time The Immortal Alliance Conference hits he's grown huge and wields one of the most potent breath weapons of any Green Dragon in history! Mobei Jun is damn lucky Binghe and a bunch of children were nearby or he would have been gassed to death the moment he stepped in front of Shen Qingqiu)

It's a little bit of both; not any cultivator can become a Dragon; you need to be born with the potential for it on top of the ability to cultivate period, and when you reach a certain level you undergo a ritual that causes your spirit to take on a draconic form, and from there the body follows. Now, beyond that, it's important to note that Cang Qiong Mountain is the only sect with members that become dragons; I'm not one hundred percent decided on the lore of it, but I'm thinking that many ages ago an actual dragon places a blessing on the Mountain and assigned a duty to it's keepers; they would be given the ability to assume forms reflecting of parts of it's soul, gaining power and might the likes of which they could never achieve otherwise, but they would in turn be stewards over the surrounding lands and the people therein, assigned to protect and provide for them.

(As a side note, the other sects do have their own things going on, though nothing as intense as the leadership literally transforming into dragons! Huan Hua Palace for example are experts in the art of ruin making/arrays, and their best cultivators can make teleportation formations or other more advanced spellwork!)