nnozomi

・There are these two Chinese words I keep getting confused, leading to sentences like "I printed out some sandwiches for my mom" or "I had a postcard for lunch." I mean, 三明治 and 明信片 are both three-character compounds with 明 in them, and neither one has a Japanese cognate ("sandwich" is phonetic and "postcard" is (絵) 葉書), so I have trouble. (Also kind of wonder if the use of the Japanese reign name in the Chinese "sandwich" word is a bit of deliberate lese-majesté...)

・Y amused me with a really dumb trilingual pun. For some reason, as we were eating dinner, I told him what the Chinese word for "mushroom" was; he looked thoughtful and then said "mushroom mushroom..." in English as he chewed, and I cracked up. (The Chinese word for mushroom is mogu. In Japanese, mogu mogu is onomatopoeia for munching or chewing on something. I told you it was a silly pun, but I have no resistance to these things, and he knows it.)

・A conversation at this week's Guardian watchalong reminded me that I actually have a dusty snippet of fic for the 心x心 ultra-rare-pair I brought up then; for the hell of it, have six sentences or so, with the caveat that I probably will never actually write this because it needs more slow-burn and more worldbuilding than I'm up for in fic just now. Also one half of the rare pair does not actually appear in this bit at all (it's not Li Qian/ZXC, no worries). Context: the night after the SID brings Zhao Yunlan's body back from Dixing, Zhao Xinci, Li Qian, and Guo Ying go out and get very, very drunk.

Li Qian lifts her head, her eyes dry but her face ravaged in a way that makes her look far older than her age. "I didn't have a crush on him," she announces to Zhao Xinci.
"Oh. Uh. Good for you?" Xinci can't even remember the last time he thought about anyone that way. Li Qian herself is delightfully pretty, that terrifying red-lipped snake girl of Yunlan's is undeniably sexy, Guo Ying's nephew's Dixingren boyfriend is a damn fine figure of a man--and just how far has he come to be thinking of Chu Shuzhi as Guo Ying's nephew's boyfriend and not that fucking Dixingren who infiltrated my SID. But the place where Shen Xi was has never really stopped aching, the more because they spent most of her last years on such bad terms, and then there was Zhang Shi and he'd be damned if he gave the bastard any more of his life than he already had--and all right, Zhang Shi's presence meant he was spared the ringing silence that fills his head now, almost enough to make it worth going out and finding someone--

Be safe and well.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

maggie33

Even if you won't write the whole fic I'm glad that you posted this snippet, because it's great. I guess I enjoy reading Zhao Xinci's thoughts about attractiveness of other people? :D And seriously - that last sentence is beautiful and touching.

From:

nnozomi

Oh, thank you! I have a real soft spot for Zhao Xinci and it shows. <3

From:

luzula

When you have explained the pun, I totally find it funny. : )

From:

nnozomi

;) There's something about puns mixing multiple languages which I can't resist.

From:

trobadora

The Chinese word for mushroom is mogu. In Japanese, mogu mogu is onomatopoeia for munching or chewing on something.

Aw, thanks for explaining the pun, it's delightful. :D

Also, that is a very lovely snippet, and ZYC's thoughts about "Guo Ying's nephew's boyfriend" are especially fun.

From:

nnozomi

:) Thank you! (If I ever did write this, I'd enjoy putting in a few scenes of ZXC and CSZ working together...)

From:

trobadora

That would be fun! :D

From:

clevermanka

That pun is DELIGHTFUL.

I actually really like this ship, which is something I never would have considered a year ago. I've been thinking a lot about Zhao Xinci lately, though (he has a not-insignificant role in one of my WIPs) and I've been feeling a little more kindly to him. The latest re-watch of the last few episodes have helped. He really does look like he's changing. It makes me wonder how much of it is internally motivated vs. how he sees the wind blowing and wanting to stay in the good graces of those coming to power.

From:

nnozomi

Thank you! I'm not sure why I am so much in favor of Zhao Xinci, but I really have a soft spot for him. My wishful-thinking (although it might be contradicted here and there by the script) is that he has his own very firm morality, it's just sometimes based on very wrong assumptions or beliefs, and that post-canon, having had some of them forcibly corrected, he's likely to be a force for good. (Also I think post-canon he basically is "those coming to power"? It looks like he, Guo Ying, and Li Qian are pretty much the ones in charge...). Curious to see how your thoughts on him develop further, whether we end up agreeing or not ;)

From:

china_shop

Ha, I love that pun.

In Japanese, mogu mogu is onomatopoeia for munching or chewing on something.

I don't suppose that has anything to do with 먹어 먹어...?

And ahhh, I love your excerpt!! Oh Xinci! (Is the pairing ZXC/ZS? Don't feel you have to answer that, obviously. But if it is, \o/!!!! and also, AWKWARD on so many levels, given when it's set!! ETA: Just extrapolating! Not intending to push for more!)

Edited (i am pre-breakfast, hai) Date: 2021-02-07 08:04 pm (UTC)

From:

nnozomi

I don't suppose that has anything to do with 먹어 먹어...?
oh wow, I never thought of that. Linguistically my instinct is to say no, because they're both respectively indigenous terms rather than the shared Chinese ones, but it does seem like a suspicious coincidence, doesn't it?

and thank you re the excerpt! Sorry to say the pairing is not ZXC/ZS, I leave that one in your capable hands; it's Zhao Xinci/Cheng Xinyan (心x心 if you want to play with their shared character). I would kind of like to write it, but the fic in my head would be a long one interspersing their slow-burn relationship with a detailed account of their work (along with Guo Ying, Li Qian, Cong Bo, the SID etc etc) rebuilding Dragon City after the structural and emotional trauma of the last few episodes, and I'm not up for a project that big right now. (Also it would be tempting but thematically wrong to make it a fix-it fic and get Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan back somehow...). Still fun to think about.

From:

china_shop

it's Zhao Xinci/Cheng Xinyan (心x心 if you want to play with their shared character

Ahhh, there was a clue in there. (I didn't even parse 心 as a character *facepalm* and I'm not used to x as a relationship signifier, either, though I know it's common on tumblr, so I vaguely assumed 心x心 was some kind of obscure emoticon? /doooork)

Also, ha, interesting pairing! Yeah, I can see why you'd need the long slow-burn...

♥

From:

nnozomi

Sorry! 心 is just me amusing myself--I should've put the relationship directly in the post. (Now I'm trying to picture the facial expression that would be represented by 心x心... ;) )
I mean, God knows how this pairing got into my head, but I guess I see it as two independent, competent, lonely people who have both lost close family and see their work as a mission of sorts, especially with regard to Dragon City recovery. (In a way that applies to a lot of the characters post-canon, of course...).
Also looking forward to seeing more pieces of your so-called broken fic come together! <3

From:

china_shop

Ha, no, don't apologise! I'm happy to take responsibility for my own cluelessness. *g*

Also looking forward to seeing more pieces of your so-called broken fic come together! <3

Thanks! <3