#(bc a core taken is basically demonic cultivation and not wwx's kind)

[vermillioncrown]

As the F-22 commenter, I feel like I lost my point with said comment. My real interest isn't "haha fighter jet go brrr" so much as it is the complete strangeness of ZYX's life and understanding compared to everyone else. Sense I started reading DBD genre blind, I didn't know that dream/mind reading was a thing, and it fits the plot much better anyway. With that out of the way, I would love to hear more about ZYX's hijinks in the Rouge!zyx AU

it's kinda on me since that's the most obvious 'thing' that distinguishes zyx's modern skillset vs xianxia fantasy. bc lbr, any of us getting yote to the past - doesn't matter what we know because likely we'll only know of it. we don't understand wide-scale implementation of technology in a useful and robust manner (most laypeople).

(bc aerospace is my field, i do get a little grumpus and disillusioned with the excitement. i know the hard work it takes to bring a concept into reality, from the barebones physics to the detailed manufacturing. it's not enough for a single person to prove that they're different or smart or knowledgeable. but let's not bore you with that.)

zyx's weirdness is definitely not as well-hidden (??) as it seems from their pov in dbd. ostensibly, yeah, they can rely on their second life upbringing and patchwork cultural things from their first life, but if anyone takes a longer look past, let's say, the duration of good behavior at the cloud recesses, the cracks really start to show. (eventual hou-shifu and/or zhu yunfeng pov's will go into it)

ah, dream/mind-reading is ... not that common - at least mind-reading as we think of it from western fantasy. the uses in canon are more like permitted possession, another form of communing with spirits. dream-reading is a scum villain thing, and the dream fuckery a la incense burner is via very specific spiritual tools.

either way, you want people to know, huh? know the true depths of gremlin-hood that hide within zyx?

it will come out when it will come out 😎

=

OKAY, a little more on rogue!zyx...

oh fuck, i just realized that the whole golden core/"bssr's mountain" thing is going to go sideways.

no matter where rogue!zyx ends up post-self-expulsion, no one is blind, deaf, or dumb - we have an actual tangible connection to bssr roaming this fucking land right here right now.

(she's lurking near qishan, trying to find the xuanwu cave with no regards to the canon timeline bc time is a construct)

("how fucking bad can the vibes of the cursed sword be??" fucking bad, apparently)

bc of previous map fuckery, i will posit that yiling and the indoctrination camp are linked via a tributary of the yangtze (also linked to lotus pier), so it's just easy to end up in that area. a desperate wwx does bring up the core transfer w wq, and as they come up with the plan -

"we can pretend that bssr -"

"... wait... do we... actually have to pretend?"

(wq is def fighting between two low probability crossroads:

1) do the transfer w a 50% success rate. +: novel medical surgery; personal innovation; she can supervise the process entirely. -: failure means losing two cultivators; irreparable harm will be done to the donor regardless; lying; active action against wrh.

2) actually find bssr through her disciple, also a low success rate. +: responsibility is out of wq's hands; bssr's cultivation is much better; passive action against wrh that can be excused (thus protecting her family). -: no guarantee what bssr will do, what she'll ask for, or if she'll even help. loss of a chance to try something truly novel.)

they try to hedge their bets. wwx (supervised by wn) will go off to search for bssr/rogue!zyx while wq hides the yunmeng siblings in the 'dungeons'. if they don't find rogue!zyx by some deadline, the surgery will happen.

luckily, they find rogue!zyx nearby. unluckily, she doesn't have good news.

"no matter your mother, wei wuxian, you will not be allowed on that mountain. you are not her disciple."

"and you?"

"technically, i cannot go back either. if i were to return, it would be at great cost to myself. it would be me begging for your shidi's cultivation."

she does not ask wwx to beg her. he dares not (just barely) cross that line.

"if you transfer cores -" she casually brings up and wwx lunges at her, eyes wild and hushing her.

"how did you -"

she pushes him off. "ugh. rude." all hands, no composure - how do they expect anything to succeed with such clumsiness? "if you do a core transfer, it will work. however - it's not about the physical success. there is a mental aspect that will rely on your shidi."

as in, now that rogue!zyx knows, she refuses to let them go through with it unless they thoroughly prep jc. studying under someone closest to ascension, there are philosophies crucial to higher levels of cultivation that bssr knows, and that none of these family sect motherfuckers have (and it really shows). how stable can a man's cultivation be, one begotten through deception, insecurity, and lack of introspection and self-understanding? with unhealthy attachment to the material (not money, but power, reputation, etc), rooted in heart-demons?

it's lucky that canon-jc didn't blow himself into smithereens, and invoke heavenly lightning to destroy lotus pier for a second time.

(something something, there's a lot of heavy involvement with rogue!zyx in helping jc regain either a core (if he mentally can accept what it means and get over himself) or regain self-worth without cultivation)

(if going core-route... let's just say being a model cultivator isn't being a 'good person'. that core has to come from somewhere, someone.

as cultivators get closer to godhood, it's easy to see that a lot of a god's cruelty can be attributed to their indifference)

#inquiry #Anonymous #zyx au's #mdzyx #rogue!zyx #on dbd #tldr: rogue!zyx tells them to steal a core from a wen. wzl if they can manage it #'if you choose to participate in this dog-eat-dog world then don't complain if someone bites you back' #rogue!zyx will slap jc and wwx in the face if they take this as a condoning of a blood-thirsty attitude vs all wens #it's about the karma and balance #very important in the cycle of things. wzl takes from others under his choice to support a cruel leader #one cannot expect to be free from consequences. but as people enacting those consequences there must not be an attachment to vengeance #it's rogue!zyx rules-lawyering cultivation to skirt heavenly retribution #(bc a core taken is basically demonic cultivation and not wwx's kind) #there's a lot of cultivation theory in this one. ^this is just a first stab and prob not within alignment of deeper taoist/cultivation stuf #hmm... no there are a lot of 'schools' of cultivation in other media and tropes that have 'power-sucking' and shit and they aren't demonic #aaa there's a fine line