Nirvana in Fire fic: Matters of the Heart

[nineveh_uk]

Fic: Matters of the Heart by nineveh_uk
Fandom: Nirvana in Fire
Rating: G, CNTW
Chapters: 1
Length: 945 words
Summary: The Emperor is angry that Nihuang has rejected all the suitors in the marriage tournament. Gao Zhan suggests that there might be another reason than clinging to that scandalous old engagement...

Nirvana in Fire fic titles are hard. Meanwhile, my parents (and I, as I am here)are about to hit episode 20. Worst Birthday Ever here we come!

Comments

[azdak]

Hooray! This made for an excellent start to the day. Getting a glimpse, however tiny, of Gao Zhan's interior life is a rare treat, and you capture really well how performative his relationship with the Emperor is. In a way, Gao Zhan is even more of a construct than Mei Changu.

[caulkhead]

Even Mei Changsu gets to turn off the performance occasionally - I'm coming to think that's as important a function of Fei Liu's role as bodyguard as the actual martial arts bits - but Gao Zhan never does.

[nineveh_uk]

It's a brilliant bit of psychology by Lin Chen or his father to give MCS someone to care for in a completely different way.

[azdak]

This is a fantastic insight - I'd been thinking of Fei Liu as an externalisation of the physical prowess Lin Shu has lost, but it's absolutely true that the times he gets to turn off Mei Changsu are when he's interacting with Fei Liu.

[nineveh_uk]

I find that whenever he is on screen now I find myself constantly looking at him to see if I can spot what he is noticing/thinking. He definitely spots Jing's indirect prompting of the Emperor to appoint Cai Quan as Justice. It's nice that after this lifetime of knife-edge performance we see him at the end in what are evidently much less tense circumstances.

[caulkhead]

Um, enjoy? If that's the right word.

[nineveh_uk]

I am sure I shall! Not only the drama, but experiencing the "what the hell???" response of the first time viewer in person rather than remotely :-)

[azdak]

Pleeease let us know what they say!

[caulkhead]

This was me last Friday. I can pm you the sort-of-liveblog I sent nineveh if you like :)

[azdak]

Oh, yes please!!!

[caulkhead]

I can't seem to get mail to work, so I'll take nineveh below as permission to post it here:

I am actually reluctant to watch this, somewhat in the manner I always put off entering the Mines of Moria when I read LOTR, because I know something horrible is about to happen to a character I care about.

And I haven't even seen it yet to know what that is.

Jingrui and Yujin being conspicuously happy and winding each other up is a setup for tearing my heart out later. I can see *that* one coming a mile off.

[MCS arrives] This really is framing him and Xie as gunmen squaring up at opposite ends of Main Street.

Surely, surely MCS is not planning on poisoning everybody at the banquet and then having the antidote available for the ones he doesn't want to die? It would be inelegant.

Unusually persistent gatecrashers rank this alongside one of the Great Socially Awkward Dinnerparties of literature

ON HIS BIRTHDAY. MCS, YOU ABSOLUTE BASTARD.

... oh hell it gets worse

"Oh, yes, that's right, where *is* Fei Liu?" Hah!

ARRGH CLIFFHANGER.

...That was amazing. But will somebody *please* give Jingrui a hug and the era-appropriate equivalent of a stiff whisky?

[azdak]

Thank you! That was both hilarious and deeply nostalgic! I think Mrs Zhou gives Jingrui a hug, doesn't she? When he kneels to ask forgiveness? It's more than the little pats that are all Jingyan ever gets from his mum.

[caulkhead]

Not sure, but Yu Jin does when he catches up with Jingrui outside the city as he's leaving for the South, which was one of those deeply satisfying 'FINALLY!' moments.

[nineveh_uk]

You should!