If nobody has asked about him yet, Pei Ming 🍌
off the top of your head: notes for characterization? what are the most essential traits of this character to you (personality traits, important connections/dynamics, voice)?
extroversion, charisma, politeness/friendliness (even with people that dislike him or that he dislikes), loyalty to the people he cares about, impulsivity and a dangerous lack of self awareness, emphasis on the dangerous
adjacently—do you think fandom does the above traits justice? why or why not?
I honestly don't see a lot of characterization for him in the fandom beyond Comic Relief or Platonic Third, i wish more stuff would dissect him
for example i think people see him being friendly as him *liking* everyone or thinking that he's friends with everyone, when to me it feels like some of the people he's merely nice to are not necessarily people he likes, if you know what I mean.
And more importantly I feel like the dangerous lack of self awareness is something that could be explored a lot more. The novel makes it pretty clear that he hasn't really grasped boundaries or consent very well, which more than likely has gotten several people hurt that he probably doesnt even know about!
throw this character at any other character of your choice to bounce off each other as outsider pov to each other— regardless of timeline or logistics (crossovers allowed if you're interesting about it). why this combination? what insights would they have on each other?
Easy answer would be Tianlang-Jun bc man would those two get along, they're brothers to me (not just in their easygoing personalities but also the fact that both of them were set up to be antagonists but ended up jus kind of being comic reliefs?)
BUT i'll do you one better: Shang Qinghua. Both easygoing guys who are mostly comic relief and know how to Take It (i.e they are both teased and bullied a lot but they don't take it to heart and aside from momentarily being like hey!! >:( by the next minute they're back to calling you their brother) and even with the people they don't actually like they know how to be cordial with them. I think if the two of them interacted they would quickly devolve into talking shit about people for funsies
how do you think you would react to this character in real life and vice versa? would you prefer be a million miles out of range, be amicable classmates, or fall desperately in love?
man i. could see myself being friends with this guy. He's someone who would make me laugh a lot. Althouuuggh his views on consent would probably put me off and I'd end up ghosting him
ideal flavor of rotating for this character? crack them open and dissect them— do you want them tormented, pining, or being loved + comforted? do you have any specific scenarios you like to think about?
TORMENTED AND PINING oooohhohohh my favorite flavor of pei ming is him tormented by feelings, realizing that he's carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders and that actually he's not that okay and maybe he really really wants some comfort. I neeed him begging on his knees.
weave a web of dynamics through the cast for this character: which dynamics are you most interested in? both canonically and through extrapolation/speculation— which dynamics are the richest to you, and why?
HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH SHI WUDU AND LING WEN - I think he's kind of in love with both of them. They are the two most important people in his life and he would not know what to do without them. I feel like his sanity was hanging by a thread after shi wudu's death and if something had happened to ling wen too there would have been hell to pay. His dynamic with Ling Wen is especially tasty to meeee. He regards her with such fondness and care!! But also teases her so much!!
do you have particular niche takes on this character? defend those takes. (openly controversial takes are permitted, but also: hyper-specific headcanons which you believe in and no one else has considered enough to disagree with yet. pick a hill to die on.)
He. does not like HC or XL
ask game!










