Shen Yuan is, of course, a sweetheart of a cat that is totally, entirely, wasted on that acerbic Peak Lord who named him.
That is, of course, until a demon attack on the sect includes the use of True Heart Vial Rose and shows exactly what Shen Yuan is thinking.
Which happens to be rampant and increasingly creative expletives as he hisses, batting fiercely at the downed demon.
"Fuck your mother!" the cat yeowls, scratching at the demon's eyes. "You dogshit, peh! Curse your family! Your ancestors and descendants should feel shame having you in their bloodline!"
He quickly changes gears as he runs over to Shen Qingqiu, rubbing against his legs. "Jiu-ge, Jiu-ge~ That thing is filthy! Hurry and salt this wretched corpse lest it spreads some sort of miasma!"
Shen Qingqiu is, of course, more than a little pleased to do exactly that.
Shen Yuan, it seems, is utterly unaware of the fact his thoughts are understood. It doesn't help that he doesn't actually understand much of human speech (yet), so even if he's understood, he can't do the same for them. And that means he's very honest about whatever he thinks at all times.
"Is this supposed to be a gift? It's crude. It's bloody. It's exactly the kind of thing that dogfight Bai Zhan Peak would consider a prized possession. Its liver should be impeccable for qi restoration, and its bones, once in a fine powder, can help heal meridians. It's a good gift. Jiu-ge should take it." It's that commentary over the large corpse sitting outside the bamboo house that A) helps Shen Qingqiu realize it's not a threat and B) realize who it came from.
Also, apparently the cat has some sort of instinctual knowledge of beasts like itself. How curious.
"Going out of their way to misunderstand. Hmmh. Don't mind them, Jiu-ge. They aren't worth the effort. A waste of space and breath, they are."
The Peak Lord can't help a little laugh as he agrees, watching the cultivators accosting him turned red in the face at being dismissed by a cat.
"Aiyah, what am I going to do with you..." He purrs softly as he helps Shen Qingqiu calm from another, increasingly infrequent qi deviation. "You can't keep getting hurt like this. If you can't stop, I guess this Yuan will have to watch over you for as long as I live."
If Shen Qingqiu starts looking into how to help a cat become a spiritual beast after that, well, that's no one else's business.
"Jiu-ge cultivated demonically first. Of course cultivating the spiritual way only will cause an imbalance! Qi is qi, none is good or evil on principle, just like people and demons. Jiu-ge should keep using demonic cultivation to balance his energies! Fuck Wu Yanzi, there's tons of demonic cultivators better than even those from 'righteous' sects!"
If Shen Qingqiu begins improving in leaps and bounds, well, that's also his own business.
By the time Luo Binghe arrives, Shen Qingqiu is much more settled in himself and doesn't bother spiting Liu Qingge by taking a promising, fluffy-looking child on the day to pick new disciples. Though, Shen Yuan starts trailing over to Bai Zhan to go stare at the child, and in turn, Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge end up spending more time around each other...gross.
"Aaa Jiu-ge, don't be so shy. You clearly brought that Thousand Silver Teardrop Tea to help Qingge-ge through his bottleneck. Why act like this, ah? You're so hopeless. I suppose this cat will have to keep you company forever. Haaah."
Well, there are times he mildly wished A'Yuan would shut up. But his thoughts do end up getting the other peak lords to relax more around him.
Liu Qingge, having heard the cat's thoughts time after time, starts talking to Shen Qingqiu and treating him better. Repulsive. Do it more.
--
Anyway, I just thought this would be cute.
doom yourself before the narrative does
One hour in:
Two hours in:
Three hours in:
Four hours in:
Five hours in:
Six hours in:
Seven hours in:
Bonus:
This is one of my favorite scenes (it's my favorite arc) and I was wondering about the different ways the term "other people" could be interpreted
Edit: interpretations of YJH's line in a reblog (found here)
When I first watched Puppet History, a show where Shane Madej sat behind a curtain hurling thinly veiled insults at Ryan Bergara via a hand shoved up a furry blue ballsack's ass while entertainingly delivering honestly interesting lessons on historical events, I did not expect to roll into Season 5 and be kicked in the crotch with the fact that they Magnus Archived me into a lore-filled horror ride that can only be described as "The Muppets Do Black Mirror."
"i like your tattoos" theyd look better on your bedroom floor
Look I am like Georgie in episode 99, screaming at Jon to talk to people, to not cut himself off, to share his troubles, to stay
But honestly? I suddenly began thinking from Jon's point of view. His assistant and friend died on his watch, he found out there is a ritual that is supposed to end the world, he is trying to figure out how to prevent it.
At the same time he's been framed for murder, hunted by multiple parties, burned, dropped at terminal velocity, taken into the woods to be executed, find out he's trapped in his job and trapped others along with him, find out he's slowly turning inhuman and possibly dangerous and constantly around a person who he knows is out to hunt him and will kill him when she gets the chance.
Meanwhile he sees everyone else he cares about are fine while away from him. Disgruntled, depressed, angry. But fine. And he puts two and two together and decides it's because he's away from them and doing it all on his own. And then he also hears that his ex also had a supernatural encounter in her past and feels it's related to all of it. Then the danger reaches her doorstep and proceeds to blow out her lights.
Not saying he made the right choices but I can definitely understand this point of view. Only he's hurt. Everyone else is fine, not great but fine. And that's a price he's willing to pay.
Lucas and Erica's parents compliment Steve's cooking and he gets very excited. Steve teaches Lucas how to get better at basketball. Erica's mother teaches Steve how to braid black hair and he's just naturally good at it. So he now does Erica's hair at sleepovers and when her mom has to rush to go to work. Lucas uses sports terms to explain D&D and now Steve actually understands it. Steddie and Lumax hanging out with each other. Mostly Eddie and Max watching Steve and Lucas play ball. Just thinking about Steve and the Sinclairs.