liveyourlife99

[liveyourlife99]

Fire in the Blood

link to AO3 AUTHOR: Jo Lasalle M, 20716 words, 1/1

RELATIONSHIPS: Lan Wangji / Wei Wuxian BLURB: casefic; wwx’s letters stop, lwj finds him in a cave 

SUMMARY:

Wei Ying is traveling, and he gets busy. Lan Wangji knows that sometimes, Wei Ying forgets things.

first time, post-canon, angst with a happy ending, hurt/comfort themes

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[liveyourlife99]

[liveyourlife99]

[liveyourlife99]

[liveyourlife99]

I think it’s easy to forget that Wei Wuxian is strongly villain-coded. We see the story from his perspective, we know his reasons and justifications, if you’re watching CQL and paying attention you can figure out the core transfer before the reveal. We know that Wen Qing and Wen Ning are good guys. We know that the Burial Mounds gang is a bunch of tired uncle/aunts trying to grow some stupid radishes, a four year old, and the Disaster Bi Gang (none of whom have swords, even!) We know that Wei Wuxian has his heart in the right place, that he feels an incredibly strong debt to the Wen Siblings and by extension their remaining family, that he has no golden core and has no choice but to forsake the sword and cultivate the demonic path, that he defects from the Jiang sect in a fake fight with his brother so that the Jiang sect won’t suffer the consequences of his actions, even though they have Secret Soup later.

But if you’re not us, the audience? If you’re, for example, Sect Leader Yao?

Hey did you all hear about how Wei Wuxian got kicked out of the Cloud Recesses for violently lashing out at the Jin sect heir?

Hey did you all see how he doesn’t carry his sword any more and claims it’s because he’s so badass that he doesn’t need it? And he has that Stygian tiger seal, so maybe it’s not bullshit? Can you even fight against that with a sword?

What kind of power does this guy even have? He’s a teenager! He drinks all the time and he’s moody and surly and holy shit did you hear what he did at that Wen outpost? He tortured all of them to death! Ugly stuff, man. Gruesome way to go. Maybe even worse than what Wen Ruohan did, at least a hot poker doesn’t make you claw your own eyes out.

Oh shit, he just stormed into this banquet and just SAID “if I want to kill someone who can stop me” and he still has that tiger seal I think we should be worried???

He just busted a bunch of Wen cultivators out of prison! And then he ran off to the Burial Mounds??? And his sect leader didn’t even know anything about it? Is he going rogue? Is he starting an uprising? This demonic cultivation stuff really seems to be corrupting him!

Oh man he got kicked out of the Jiang sect? You mean even the man he grew up with, who he was raised with practically as a brother, can’t control him any more? Did you hear about his fierce corpse? They call him the Ghost General! He’s unstoppable! What are we going to do if he comes for us?

He could be building a whole army in there, Sect Leader Jin said so! Who knows what kind of sick, twisted stuff he’s getting up to! Don’t forget all that horrible shit in the Sunshot Campaign, remember when he was raising the Wens’ own dead to turn against them? He could do that to us! He’s working with the Wens now, even! He’s gone totally crazy!

We can’t let some outlaw have all this power. It’s putting the safety of all of us at risk. What if it’s just another Wen Ruohan waiting to happen? (especially applicable if you’re thinking he’s using Yin iron as in CQL!) If we let him consolidate his power too much, then he’ll be unstoppable!

HOLY SHIT he murdered the Jin sect heir and his cousin with his fierce corpse! That’s the man his former shijie married! The one he punched in the Cloud Recesses, remember when the Lans kicked him out because he was so unruly and disrespectful? Yeah! It was probably revenge! Have we done anything to him? Oh gods what if we’re next???

A major point of MDZS/CQL is how important reputation is, and how that affects everything. Wei Wuxian’s reputation is straight-up villainous. We, the audience, know that he’s trying his best, that he’s a traumatized teenager with a shitload of emotional baggage trying to do the right thing and repay a colossal debt, that he’s made choices that he now has to try and live with, etc. But to the rest of the world this guy has fucking lost it, he’s gone off the deep end and he has an incredibly powerful weapon and a mode of cultivation that seems to corrupt you and turn you into a monster, and frankly, they’re not wrong! It does affect his temperament and he does end up killing a lot of people and he is out of control!

MDZS/CQL is interesting precisely because we’re getting an entire Villain Apology Story. A long time ago I read a post by someone on here saying they find Jiang Cheng challenging to write about because he’s the protagonist of a different story, and he really is. He’s the guy whose former shixiong turns into a villain in pursuit of power, the Obi-Wan to WWX’s Anakin, the one who sees how incredible power corrupts and is obligated to fight against it. Having to fight against a former ally who was seduced by “the dark side” (in this case, demonic cultivation) is a story that gets told over and over, but always condemning the one who went to the dark side. He’s the blackened protagonist, the aren’t you tired of being nice, don’t you want to go ape shit power fantasy, where we as the audience can justify his actions because we know he did it to save his brother, his sister, the Wen remnants he owes a debt to. He isolates himself from the people who love him to protect them, he refuses Lan Wangji’s help because he’s convinced he just wants to lock him up and stop him from using demonic cultivation because he’s a righteous upstanding Lan (totally unaware of LWJ’s intense crush, obviously). He jokes about it but he knows he’s being painted as the villain, and he’s in denial about how much that will affect him, because after all… he’s the Yiling Laozu, and he knows his power. But so does everyone else, and they’re rightfully terrified!

And yet? When he comes back, LWJ still wants him, still cares for him, will move heaven and earth to protect him. JC cares about him so much he’s having a Constant Crisis about it. And WWX has not forgotten his shijie or shidi, immediately cares about Jin Ling, and still is the man who really just wanted to be free and grow some goddamn radishes. He accepts that he paid for what he’s done with his death, and just wants to start over.

It just drives me nuts when people pretend like WWX was an angel who did nothing wrong because the whole POINT is that he was a villain-coded gay (well, bi) and the man you had to really watch out for was the polite, thoughtful, soft-spoken one that worked his way up from a tragic backstory. It’s a whole subversion and it’s awesome!

[liveyourlife99]

"Anakin spoke highly of you"

is SO funny to me because I keep imagining Anakin as the 'only complimenting my child in public, never in private' parent, talking to random jedi knights and being like "—and ALSO my padawan is the BEST I know she's 14 but she's the coolest and super good and will probably be the bestest Jedi master EVER"

but also being like "you're okay..... but you could be better" when Ahsoka asks him if she's any good

[liveyourlife99]

yeah I’m posting this here too bc it’s secsee ❤️👄❤️

<cr: vqrrick on IG (mine)>

[liveyourlife99]

Princess Leia: I am a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan!

Darth Vader, hands Princess Leia a comlink: Here’s a comlink. Call someone who cares.

Princess Leia, starts calling Obi-Wan Kenobi: …

Darth Vader pulls comlink back with the Force: Give me that!

[liveyourlife99]

How many chapters have you already written as of now? And what’s the event that you think is gonna shock us readers the most in part 3 (apart from the end of part 2 aka what’s happening now)?

Well, if you must know, Anon... I'm currently writing chapter 307 :'D

I guess there's quite a few things that might take you guys by surprise, tbh. I suppose at this point, though, 'shock' can be a complicated term: what's more shocking, more angst or something that's actually happy? xD

Alright, I guess as far as dark/sad things are concerned... I'd say the shocking stuff is to be found in:

251

258

259

274

276

279

280

Those are the chapters that feature scenes that I think got the most volatile reactions out of me. There's still sad moments pretty much everywhere, tbh, but those were preeeetty heavy for me. Some may not be too much of a surprise for those who have been inspecting both my blog and Gladiator's blog for spoilers, and also not much of a surprise for those who watched the Anniversary project veeeery keenly, but they might surprise a lot of people anyway.

As for the happier surprises, though...

A certain plotline throughout arc #2

261

266 (I think this might be the biggest surprise altogether, the foundations for it are laid down a little earlier, but it's a plot twist I just love and have loved from the moment I first hatched it and I can't wait to see the reactions it'll get xD)

275

282

284

285

290

Oof, so yep, there's a lot of wild stuff in store, and I can only hope you guys will enjoy what's enjoyable, and not hate me too much over what isn't xD I have tried, genuinely, to make Part 3 bearable and readable and not just a constant journey of misery... a few things in more recent content I've written doesn't come off as much of a surprise to me atm, no idea if you guys will feel any differently about it when the time comes xD but the chapter numbers I listed here might just be ones to look out for, or look forward to, as the case may be :'D

[liveyourlife99]

This might be my favourite Chuck edit

[liveyourlife99]

First of all, I want to let you know just how captivating your story is! I did not ship at first. I was skeptical, and I read it because I saw the length as a challenge. And oh my, you changed my world lol. I have come to adore Sokkla in ways I didn’t know existed. Seeing your portrayals and your work has been so emotional. I can go on for hours lol you’re just Amazing. Thank you. But I must know one thing…. Will word reach Sokka that Azula is pregnant before they reunite??

Oh, my heart grows too many sizes when I see messages like these. Thank you very much! I'm really glad you enjoyed the story and that it has brought you to love and appreciate this beautiful ship so much!

As for your question... under the break!

Yes, Sokka will learn about Azula's pregnancy before they meet again. If you want me to be a little bit extra spoilery? He's going to learn about it in chapter 282. He won't get the full context of what's going on, so things aren't going to be completely smooth and easy going forward, but he'll definitely find out the truth soon, before they meet again :)

[liveyourlife99]

This might be my favourite Chuck edit

[liveyourlife99]

Literally one of my favourite avatar edits of the Fire Nation 

Video by Mellan Clear 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRPiZhzTn2g&ab_channel=MellanClear

[liveyourlife99]

This edit >>>>>>>>

[liveyourlife99]

She's so hot ughhh

I pull up in these clothes, look so good ‘Cause I’m in that ho You know all these songs sound good ‘Cause I’m on that ho

I’M THAT GIRL (TEASER)  

[liveyourlife99]

I have some hope for the azula comic because it's focused on her.. hopefully they don't disappoint

[liveyourlife99]

I love this take!

i can't decide between whether i think it was a rare moment of empathy that made vader say “you didn't kill anakin skywalker. i did.” or if he just didn't want obi wan to take the credit for what HE did