Poll: Shen Wei's composure (drama)

[china_shop]

Poll #33203 Shen Wei's composure

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15

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When the drunk guy in the Dixing bar says, “[Zhao Yunlan] is dead! He has been killed by my huge fist," why doesn't Shen Wei react?

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Shen Wei has a lie detector power
6 (42.9%)

no one else is acting as if a murder's taken place
7 (50.0%)

Shen Wei would be able to sense if Zhao Yunlan were dead
8 (57.1%)

Shen Wei would be able to bring Zhao Yunlan back from the dead
2 (14.3%)

drunk guy is infamous in Dixing for boasting about killing people for real or imagined offences, every other day
5 (35.7%)

other (please specify in comments)
1 (7.1%)

The real purpose of Shen Wei's sleeve garters is

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they keep his shirt cuffs safely clear of the inkstone when he's writing
5 (35.7%)

they're purely a fashion statement
7 (50.0%)

when he’s in Envoy mode, he wears them as hair ties, and he just keeps them around his biceps the rest of the time so he won’t lose them
3 (21.4%)

they restrain his tentacles and/or other alien appendages
2 (14.3%)

other (please specify in comments)
2 (14.3%)

Thanks to trobadora for help with the poll options in question 1.

Comments

[lunarriviera]

So I'm gonna be the only person in the world who thinks this, but the sleeve garters serve a psychological purpose. Just like the flawlessly tailored three-piece suits with the jackets that fit like a glove, the unnecessary vest, and the trousers that are painted on. Just like the glasses he doesn't need and the unassuming haircut (that probably cost a month's salary to look that artless) and the prim little smile that fools exactly no one (or anyway stopped fooling Zhao Yunlan pretty early on). If Shen Wei weren't literally held together by a thousand tiny artifices, he's afraid he would fly apart into a galaxy-sized being made of nothing but overpowering lust and rage.

He wouldn't of course; he's come a long way, over the millennia (and has never been anything like his drama twin anyway). But the fear is always there. If you drop one thing—if you skip, say, for example, the sleeve garters one day—then how do you know you won't start putting other things down, maybe just for a second, because you're getting awfully tired, and then what if you don't pick them back up again? As a scientist, Shen Wei should know that the slippery slope is a logical fallacy. But he generally thinks the rules are different when it comes to him.

(Honestly don't ever stop to consider the sheer level of conceit the little ghost king/黑袍使 has. He really believes the world would end if he were to be anything less than flawless. Men would rather pretend they're a god than go to therapy.)

—The ass chain tho? None of this accounts for that; the ass chain is just slutty.

[china_shop]

You're not the only person! The sleeve-garter question is recycled from an old poll, and there were plenty of people there who agreed with you, iirc. To me, it seems a rather novel-derived reading (by which I mean, I personally don't see that tendency in drama!Shen Wei when I approach the drama as a thing unto itself), but given how closely the drama adaptation follows the novel in certain ways, it's not unreasonable to assume that subtext is in the drama, too. Thanks so much for adding it to the discussion (and expressing it so beautifully)!

ETA: I was going to say that by episode 20, Shen Wei is already wearing looser, less fitting clothes, but checking sakana17's clothes reference, I think that's mostly in ep 20? He goes back to fitted clothes (complete with sleeve garters) for a long time after that. :D

—The ass chain tho? None of this accounts for that; the ass chain is just slutty.

Hee!

[facethestrange]

"sakana17's clothes reference"

Daaaang, how did I literally never know that this was a thing! I've just been making my own references when I need something for a drawing. :D And I'll still end up doing that whenever I need more angles, but this is so useful, at least as a starting point!

[china_shop]

It's brilliant, isn't it? And fascinating for watching their styles shift throughout the show. :D

[trobadora]

This fandom has so many great resources! :D

[facethestrange]

I am always just so in awe of this fandom, what else is new. :D ♡♡♡ (Is there maybe a list of resources somewhere beyond this post? Because the clothes reference wasn't there. :))

[trobadora]

I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting, but there's this, which does have the clothes reference. I just linked it on the other post, for findability.

And there's the type: resources tag, but that has 87 posts in it and takes a while to go through. *g*

[facethestrange]

Oh yay, thank you! ♡♡♡ Yeah, other than the tag itself, which is as glorious and amazing as it is gigantic. :D :D

[lunarriviera]

ah yes—and thanks to that older poll, i finally found the fic i dimly remembered! it's this one by wildestranger…? (whom i do not know, but they also wrote one of my very favorite mo du fics). the salient passage:

Zhao Yunlan has spent a lot of time observing Shen Wei, and speculating on what he might like.

Shen Wei covers his body with layers of tightly fitted clothes. His sleeve-garters, although delightful in hinting at the muscles underneath the layers, do not serve any practical purpose since all of Shen Wei’s shirts are tailored to his size and shape. They do, however, provide a slight sensation of pressure on his flesh.

Zhao Yunlan also knows that whenever he has put his hands on Shen Wei—a hand on his shoulder, on his arm, helping him up or pulling him away from danger—Shen Wei does not move away; he stays still and breathes it in. Zhao Yunlan is shameless about touching people for both personal and professional reasons, and he hasn’t stopped pulling Shen Wei close since the day they met, but unlike most people Shen Wei never pulls away. Zhao Yunlan’s hands are easily possessive, they move more quickly than his brain or his feelings, but Shen Wei’s response—always, always to stand his ground, to stare him down in challenge, to withstand the pressure of Zhao Yunlan’s touch—tells him that he has been reading Zhao Yunlan’s fingers as well as his face, and that despite the vehemently cold exterior his body wants to be made to feel.

[facethestrange]

Seconding this fic rec 100%! ♡

[facethestrange]

Ooooh, I'm listening. What a gorgeous comment, it reads like a story in itself. ♡♡♡ I see all of this so much for novel Shen Wei (not really for drama Shen Wei personally, just because his backstory is so different), but damn, I LOVE novel Shen Wei and I'll be thinking about this a lot now. This is SO GOOD.

"If Shen Wei weren't literally held together by a thousand tiny artifices, he's afraid he would fly apart into a galaxy-sized being made of nothing but overpowering lust and rage."

"But he generally thinks the rules are different when it comes to him."

SO GOOD.

[lunarriviera]

i guess i do defer to novel shen wei more these days, having drunk too deeply of the priest elixir, so that's fair! (either way tho the guy is a mess lmao)

[tinypinkmouse]

I was going to say something along these lines about the sleeve garters, but far less eloquently. So thank you for putting it into words.

[tinypinkmouse]

Oh, maybe it goes together with this, maybe not. But I like to think that the sleeve garters are a sensory thing too, along with the other tight clothes. He can literally feel them holding him together, and it's maybe a little bit reassuring.

[facethestrange]

"He can literally feel them holding him together, and it's maybe a little bit reassuring."

Ahhh, this is beautiful??

Everyone in this thread is saying beautiful things about Shen Wei and giving me feels. ♡♡♡

[tinypinkmouse]

Thanks! <3

[lunarriviera]

i agree and i also am pretty sure i read this in someone's amazing fic…possibly by pru? but i'm not sure anymore. in the fic, zhao yunlan figures this out, and offers him a substitute of tight holding, psychologically and physically (and kinkily). but i can't remember who wrote it anymore, i'm the worst—

[tinypinkmouse]

Now that you mention it that sounds vaguely familiar, but at this point I almost never remember where I might have seen a particular idea. I do remember having several discussions about the sleeve garters, but with who and where, I have no idea.

[trobadora]

If Shen Wei weren't literally held together by a thousand tiny artifices, he's afraid he would fly apart into a galaxy-sized being made of nothing but overpowering lust and rage.

That is such a perfect encapsulation of novel!Shen Wei's self-image!