#glitter50000

I really like it! Except I'm also incredibly picky about it.

You see, the thing I like about their relationship, both canonically and shippily, is the fact that for most of canon they really do not like each other? They do not like each other in book 2 (Feng Xin is a bit of a classist jerk, Mu Qing is hilariously amoral), they REALLY do not like each other in book 4 (lets add incredible stress to their incompatible personalities!). And then they both leave Xie Lian and ascend and. Now they have the weight of all that between them.

And then Xie Lian comes back and against their better judgment they end up friends--

-- and I think an enemies-to-lovers trajectory would be great for them! Especially if it was, like, the slowest most tentative burn.

...except most of the fandom wants it to be pigtail pulling and they ~actually liked each other all along~ and.

I was rewatching the download and saw how Cluebert is the angel on the tree lol

Oooh but he would be such a controlling and smug bottom in bed, especially at first. Like I bet anyone who wants to get him to beg would have to work him up all night just to get there (and he would probably like that too - the constant dedication and persistence and proof that he matters and the rush of trusting someone just enough to eventually fall over that edge - although at first it is always always terrifying and that is part of why it takes so long)

And he would 100% love being worshiped like that in bed especially when it comes to praise I think because every single way he views his body is through the lens of his monsterhood and his otherness and his history with touch, which makes him crave it on a personal absolution level, but every single way he views others and their use of his body is through the lens of his own superiority and how much they desire it, and so he would demand worship and think they were so very lucky to have him in their bed because how could they not covet him in such a way? not to mention the ways he internalizes both of these viewpoints as a means of emotional self defense

Okay, so, you know that bit in book 2 where Xie Lian uses the logic "the desire for sex and desire for violence are basically the same thing, so you can swap one for the other! [stabs himself]"?

I know some people read that as a statement on like, the general worldbuilding? The Xie Lian is making an objectively true statement that in this world sex and violence are interchangeable. (Source: I thought this on my first read!)

SWING LOW, LORD*, I WANT YOU TO HEAR IT!!!!!!

no don’t get me into this conversation because I 100% agree with you and also I think he would make a really good service top and I think way too much about what this man prefers in bed.

yes! you can't go two feet in this fandom without seeing hate for one character or another. like that's my guy! leave him alone :(

no but half of the malina fics out there are just darklina fics with a bunch of hate. like why 😭😭 the cross-tagging is unreal. I get writing a rant fic or whatever, there's plenty of anti darkling fics to choose from. but don't put it all in the malina tag! it's already so hard to sift through

also yes I am a big fan of the malina bestieism inherent in the darklina relationship. we need more darklina fics where mal and alina still have a good relationship (although we all know malarklina is the best ending to that scenario 😔)

I've actually read some really good darklina fics where mal ends up remaining really good friends with alina and they're just so perfect and honestly kind of cathartic. there's one where aleksander makes mal an oprichniki bodygard to alina, which is my favorite mal in the lp concept. and there's another - which is one of my all time faves - that is super alina-centric, and has darklina as a power couple where alina has definitely turned the power dynamic on its head. and she creates really good personal relationships and alliances with a lot of the characters. she gets super duper tight with mal and also with the crows, and ends up building a whole network of support. it's awesome.