#howdydowdy

"But oh, how could we do aught but carve our names here, into the posts of the house where our love was finally declared?" shouts the actor currently pretending to be Wei Wuxian.

The real Wei Wuxian snickers into his sleeve while the harangued owner of the house in question still stands behind the actors wielding a broom at his gate and glaring at everyone.

-or-

A fic I wrote for @howdydowdy because we both had crap weeks and sometimes you just need some good wholesome...something.

Hope you enjoy, darling!

- @howdydowdy (sorry oops i posted the ask and then tumblr screwed up the content so here i am reposting it)

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HEYA FRIENDDDD <333 yay welcome to the zhu-yilong-throws-up-blood-and-faints-every-other-episode-as-he-raids-tombs-without-even-a-mask club! gosh he’s so handsome

Mysterious Guy aka Zhang Qiling

So his full name is 张起灵 (Zhang Qiling) - and this isn’t his actual birth name but more like an official moniker that is passed down from one head of the family to the next, so his predecessor was called the same, and his successor would be as well if any. Just on his name alone 起灵 Qiling - this means like someone who buries the dead, who observes the traditional burial rites, to ensure that the dead goes into the ground properly etc. something like that!

Kylin is an East Asian unicorn thing right, and in Chinese it’s called 麒麟 (Qilin, without the g). He has a tattoo of a Kylin on his back as well, but according to Baidu, they say that this English name was coined unofficially, the original novel doesn’t make any mention of this (in reference to his name in a sense) - But as you can tell the pronunciation of both words are almost identical plus he does have the tattoo and it all comes full circle

Poor dude has like kind of a tragic and sad story where his entire family kind of sold him out and left him to suffer but oooof I don't know too much about that yet! 

Wu Xie and Pang Zi Call Him: 

(a) Xiao Ge 小哥 which literally means little brother or bro in a sense, and I think that's cuz he looks so young right XD - This is the name more commonly used for him I think

(b) Men You Ping 闷油瓶 which is a made up nickname for him, separately the character means:

 (boring) + (oil) + (vase/bottle) 

which obviously doesn't make much sense like that, but they use it to encompass Xiao Ge's qualities which are:

(rigid, expressionless, stoic) + (he's so tall and his figure is so straight on the sides that he's like an oil bottle) + (handsome, good-looking like a vase ???) 

Okay I need to explain that vase = 花瓶 hua ping (flower + vase) and we use this to describe people who look good and are just there for decoration to soothe your eyes (sometimes used with a negative connotation = if someone calls you a vase they’re saying that you’re just there for decoration, you look good but you aren’t of much use OUCH) but in Xiao Ge’s case it’s used in a joking manner???

*And on a side note, the official ship name for Wu Xie and Qiling is PingXie based on this particular nickname 

IS XIAO GE IMMORTAL

A lot.

Thank you for the asks! =D

10.Most disliked arc? Why?

I am not sure I know how the story is actually divided/what constitutes an arc but let's try this. There is no arc I straight up dislike, I enjoyed the whole story. Maybe Yi City would count for how bad I cried for it? Or the part with the dancing statue, I seem to remember it was a short part but it still felt dragging. 

11.Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I am so easily swayed, I don't need much to grow attached (like all this mysterious Su She apologism I saw recently on my dash…?). But I will say Wen Chao, thanks to wifiwuxians and his Book Club AU! 

12.Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Chief Shi: I know. I broke it. I needed to speak with you and I knew that it was the fastest way to get you in here.

15)  a song that’s better as a cover 

ALSJKDLFJSL honestly rip me, because there’s very few songs I think are better as covers--I usually think both versions have charm, but hilariously, one of the few covers I do think outmatches the original is....... Wu Qingfeng’s cover of 花田错, you know, the theme song for pfmmpd. orz

LOOK. his version is just?? so!! soft and lovely and emotional and the styling, the lights, everything, I DIE!! I love it so much!! I’m listening to it right now and going ;AAAA; because that’s what I always do when confronted with this song.

but! since we’re on the subject of covers, I will take this moment to plug Moddi’s Unsongs album. It’s an album of english-language covers of banned and censored music from around the world. I wouldn’t say that any of his covers are “better” than the originals, since I think that would be against the very ethos of the album’s production in the first place, but i do absolutely think it’s worth a listen. I was lucky enough to catch him live when he was on tour in London (which is a whole story on its own he’s a very cool dude!! I was introduced to him by a friend on tumblr back in 2014 but anyways that’s a digression), and there’s a lot of power in the music.

anyways, moddi is an artist that I think has a lot of integrity and heart.

Unsongs is on spotify here. you can look at the project page here that has videos and interviews with some of the original artists, and read his explanations of the stories behind each of the songs here.