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Of course! I'm assuming you mean for the ask meme

(link to ask meme)

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)?

Snarky, petty, has a chip on his shoulder, places a lot of importance on his grooming and physical appearance, judgemental, insecure, really funny, absolutely will not pass up an opportunity to be catty

adjacently—do you think fandom does the above traits justice? why or why not?

Some of the traits I do see a lot but others I don't see as much. I don't look at Mu Qing centric fanworks a lot though so idk what people are doing with him there

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?

Okay I'll do a crossover with SVSSS so he can meet Shen Jiu because it would be hate at first sight. Cats hissing and swatting at each other type situation. "This guy sucks and has no excuse for being the way he is and he's probably never experienced a hardship in his life and is acting this way because he's privileged and spoiled" x2. They're looking in a mirror and they don't like what they're seeing. It won't come to blows because Shen Jiu isn't the type for that and Mu Qing isn't going to beat up someone so much weaker than him but they'll make sooo many nasty comments at each other and seethe about it afterwards. I do think they could reach an understanding eventually though

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?

I wouldn't like him, his attitude would piss me off irl. And he wouldn't like me either and would judge me for 500 different reasons probably. I wouldn't want to have to interact with him ever, it would be exhausting

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?

He's not a character that I rotate or think about scenarios for

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?

Honestly I'm probably most interested in what his dynamic with Ling Wen is like because she's my favorite character... they don't seem to like each other but I don't remember if we ever really see them interact much besides in the scene where he sabotages her attempt to get people to help Xie Lian and she calls him out for lurking in the discord server communication array? I'm sure they probably have more interactions but it's been a long time since I read the whole novel rather than just parts of it. I do know he is one of the characters who complains about the Palace of Ling Wen being inefficient, but then again he pretty much never has anything nice to say about anyone

I'm also curious about his dynamic with Jian Lan if he's ever really had one and what their dynamic would be like postcanon if they ended up interacting more. I don't have much in the way of theories about it though

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.)