#also get the XiYao stuff off of the ending

[admirableadmiranda]

I recently read somewhere here (won't name them) that after the Guanyin Temple confession, Lan Wangji's actions were selfish. That he should have stayed there to comfort his brother who has just lost (and killed) the love of his life instead of f-ing of to screw the love of his life. The person has referenced chapter 110 (111 on some websites) where Lan Wangji says that even comfort from his brother by birth will be in vain.

I hope you will analyse that part. Because I think it is a translation issue. It doesn't sound like something Lan Wangji would say. I would have accepted that person's analysis if their post wasn't so blatantly anti-wangxian?

Well anon, the thing is that the person posting it does have the correct line. It’s not a translation issue.

The issue is their whole interpretation of the situation. Lan Xichen was not in love with Jin Guangyao, he did not kill the love of his life and this person is doing the same rude shit as a lot of people who don’t like Wangxian choosing each other over nebulous ideas of duty.

They are taking a narration line and putting it in Lan Wangji’s mouth from the sound of it, lemme grab it for you. It is from Chapter 111, right after Wei Wuxian reveals that the Guanyin in the temple looks like Jin Guangyao’s mother.

“[Wei Wuxian] turned and glanced back, letting out a rare sigh, “I don’t want to care about any of those nasty things anymore. This is it.”

Lan WangJi nodded and tightened Lil’ Apple’s reins. He continued to walk with it.

Each could only deal with their own troubles. Even if Lan XiChen was his brother by birth, Lan WangJi couldn’t do anything to help him right now. Comfort was useless. It’d all be in vain.”

Bolded line highlighted for necessary emphasis.

It’s just narration there, it’s being treated as a fact - and it is. The things that Lan Xichen needs right now are not things that Lan Wangji can provide him. Lan Xichen needs time and space to grapple with everything that he saw and his own role in all the events that came to pass. What could Lan Wangji do? Lan Xichen is confronting his own guilt both in what he participated in and what he looked aside from, things that brought irreparable harm to a lot of people including his brother and the love of his brother’s life.

How would Lan Wangji staying help anything there? Lan Xichen has just watched them cuddle through a siege, flirt and laugh and tell each other how much they loved each other. It is the one unquestioningly good thing to come out of that night, something that he wanted, for his brother to be happy. That’s the whole crux of his rant at Wei Wuxian, he wants his brother to be happy and he thinks that Wei Wuxian is knowingly toying with his feelings.

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are already planning to elope even before anyone else gets there. They sneak off really quickly and easily. Lan Xichen is not looking for them, he’s busy telling Lan Qiren to shut up and let him think.

Lan Xichen is already filled with guilt and confusion over what’s happened, but also think about how much worse it would feel if he knew his brother set aside his own marriage and honeymoon to come sit with him, sacrificing his own happiness to Lan Xichen again, this time much more knowingly. That wouldn’t make him feel better. That wouldn’t make anyone who has a shred of empathy feel better. It is more likely a comfort to Lan Xichen to know that something good did come out of that terrible night.

They return three months later, when they are settled and choose to come back and then Lan Xichen is ready for that comfort. He wouldn’t have wanted it then. It was too soon and the cost of it would have been too high.

These brothers care about each other and know each other well and they are in their thirties. They are not helpless children any longer. Lan Xichen is not alone and suffering, he returns to his clan with hundreds of people living in it to pick up the ashes at his feet. He has solace in knowing that at least one person is happy and better off despite his actions in the matter. Let him have that.

I hate that stupid trend you reference in your post. I hate the idea that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have to continue sacrificing their lives and everything else to take care of the people around them first.

They have been parted by circumstance, homophobia, war, the aftermath of war and fucking death for twenty years. They have in fact actually gone through worse than most of the rest of the cast and somehow finally found their way back to each other and a happy ending. What more do people want before they are allowed to be selfish for once in their lives?

[luobingmeis]

stuck between the rock and the hard place of i want to follow more people who do stuff for 3zun but i also refuse to touch fandom tags w/ a ten-foot pole

[wangxianficrecs]

Follower Recs

~*~

Hi! For October's WIP rec week, I would like to rec this story. It's primarily Xiyao, but Wangxian is still there and I love the idea of MY being WWX's older brother. @immoralq

Shards of Hope

by Dreaming_Days

T, WIP, 80k, Wangxian & Xiyao

Summary: He had fought his entire life to make his way in the world. Made choices that turned his stomach just to survive. Built a life with blood and sweat and watched it crumble before him. And, in the end, utterly forsaken, Jin Guangyao died. Then, 25 years earlier, Meng Yao woke up.

~*~

Also, if I may, I'd like to rec this story wherein Jin Zixuan is cut off from the family money and left to fend for himself. He is, predictably, very bad it. Cue Wangxian coming in to teach him how to do the adulting. The premise is funny, WWX is always a sweetheart and Jin Zixuan actually reflects on his faults. @immoralq

Reality Checks for the Absurdly Wealthy

by Elpie (Horribibble) (@elpiething)

M, WIP, 9k, Wangxian & Xuanli

Summary: It’s 2 PM on a Tuesday and Jin Zixuan is curled up in the corner of a dingy basement laundry room, tears in his eyes as he struggles to understand why the universe—and this washing machine in particular—hates him. And then the door squeaks open, and Zixuan’s only reaction is to stuff his face into his stupid quarter-zip like a cashmere fleece turtle. “Is someone in here, or is the laundry room haunted again?” A man’s voice calls, and it’s almost jarring how friendly it is. “Again?” Zixuan hiccups. Footsteps on the tile, and then there’s a man frowning down at him with open concern. “Aw, bud. Are you crying? Me too sometimes.” And he pops a squat, right there in front of the sad turtle man, and Zixuan gets a close up of the riot of tattoos on his arms and peeking through the gaping rips in his jeans. “I’m Wei Ying.” - In which Jin Zixuan gets cut off and is quickly adopted by a pair of heavily-tattooed magpies who teach him how to do things like do laundry, ride the bus, and take control of his own stupid life. An ode to friendship and emotional support dipshits.

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for these hard-working authors if you like – or think others might like – these stories.)

[llycaons]

Section Six: Lower your standards

XVI: Just a bit eh: fics that are fine, but that I didn’t like enough to rec in the sections above

XVII: Put on some horse blinders: fics for which I have to list particularly egregious author issues (rape porn, incest)

XVIII: The shame corner for naughty fanfiction: fics with issues within the actual work

XVI. Just a bit eh: fics that are fine, but that I didn’t like enough to rec in the sections above. this isn’t based on quality so much as my personal interest in it. I just find them a bit dull and/or not in-character enough to enjoy as much as the others

An Ache Like This by sofriel

summary: t4t wangxian! fic starts with lwj mourning his mother and follows him through his childhood and young adulthood. it skips through years and arcs and ends at a really tender postcanon get-together scene

work issues: none

author issues: none

love at every s(word f)ight by glitteringmoonlight

summary: a cute little postcanon fic where wwx has secretly developed his core to the point that he can hold his own against lwj, so he sets up a re-creation of their rooftop swordfight. it’s joyful and romantic, but imo a bit bland

work issues: none really, except it’s novel canon so there’s this reference to ‘oh of course I always want to fuck" which. ehh don’t love but it’s not like it ruined the work for me

author issues: emperor/concubine stuff, warprize AU

Gentian Seeds by yuyu_finale

summary: lwj, while traveling post-nightless, stumbles upon his mother’s hometown. it’s sweet; he meets some family. the writing was a bit amateurish tho

work issues: none, but I skimmed the final chapter because I found their wwx annoying so I can’t say for certain

author issues: none

another name for ghosts by seularen

summary: postcanon, a still-estranged jin ling visits wwx at CR, and lwj tries to keep it from being a disaster for everyone involved. I didn’t really like the lwj in this one, because he’s firmly his novel self and I don’t like novel lwj much as a person, but he was well-written and the way the work teased out jl and wwx’s respective issues and traumas was really something. novel canon

work issues: none

author issues: incredibly weird about sex scenes outside of this work. a lot of cnc-adjacent stuff. xiyao also

varied my velocities by fantasiavii

summary: ballet dancer lwj and soccer player wwx. lwj is gnc and works through internalized homophobia exacerbated by other members of the ballet community. emotionally powerful and clearly written out of personal experience, so I both cried and learned a lot about ballet as an art form lwj’s issues here are rather specific to ballet, so he feels somewhat disconnected from his canon character. and wwx isn’t quite ooc, but he’s rather generic and nothing jumps out about him that the reader would recognize as wwx without being told. it read almost as original fiction, and therefore I found the chemistry rather lacking because I didn’t feel like I knew the characters. but it’s a good story nonetheless lwj is a sub in this and it’s actually explored quite thoughtfully and beautifully as an important part of his identity work issues: none author issues: none

back for you by detectorist

summary: I almost didn’t read this because it came off as boring, but I powered through the first section and found a very nice little work and a relationship with some of the most tangible chemistry I’ve found in fic. I also like the lwj and jyl friendship here. short, sweet, and funny

work issues: none

author issues: has written genderbends

You’ve placed all of the smiles in the world in my hands by Must_have_been_the_wind

summary: a very cute work where little a-yuan thinks about how much he loves lwj and his home in CR. fairly simplistic

work issues: none

author issues: none

For a Good Time, Call by ScarlettStorm

summary: honestly I kind of hate this fic and the sequel is in my trash heap but like. here goes. so modern AU wwx has an OnlyFans and lwj (his irl friend who is in love with him) stumbles upon it and immediately, hornily, guiltily subscribes to it, which is exactly as contrived and cringey as it sounds, but it has so many kudos I went “FINE I‘ll read it” and I found a surprisingly funny and easy to read fic grounded in legitimately gripping drama, decent politics (author seems to also be a sex worker), and emotional sincerity. the fashion in this fic is really fun, the interpersonal drama and building tension had me losing my shit, and it has a life and personality all its own. I adore jyl in this one, and jc is extremely funny otherwise the wx itself is empty of true romance and chemistry, the porn (both in-universe and in the fic) is painfully generic, the characters are clearly written by a white person, everyone talks like they were raised in therapy, and the wwx and lwj characterizations are very dull. wq and jc are together, but at least they’re funny about it (wq just constantly criticizes his behavior, which, she should). for a better version of a similar setting, see to dwell inside a body by typefortydeductions. it does have some issues so check the tags, but it’s higher in quality. it also has a full entry in category xviii further down this page reclaimed q slur is used very frequently work issues: while wwx is upset that lwj subscribed without telling him, they still fuck immediately and then only later have a conversation about it, the convo is fairly short and lets lwj off pretty easy. I would have liked to see more of lwj building that trust back up. otherwise there’s no big issues I can point to in this work author issues: somewhat infamous for femme-leaning pansexual yoga pants-wearing nhs, which given that they’re white is really iffy. they’ve also done some really weird things with feminizing wwx (he’s genderfluid and in the second work in this series he says he wants to be a stay-at-home wife??) and they refer to wwx as a f*mboy in the title of another fic, which given that they’re definitely not a trans woman is super shitty. don’t read the rest of this series, it’s absolutely horrible. however, for this work, most of those issues are not present and everyone is treated fairly normally

never love an anchor by tardigradeschool

summary: ah, the classic selkie and fisherman love story. this fic is not super high quality but I found the style and the romance quite lovely, and I was excited to find out what happened. good for a nice time but don’t expect it to have the strongest plot or the most dramatic scenes. ending was a bit weak as well, though sweet

in this fic lwj is kept prisoner by his family away from the sea, suspected of harboring the same mental illness that they thought led his mother to her suicide. they threaten his autonomy throughout the work, and it was quite distressing in some scenes

work issues: none

author issues: xiyao, niyao, 3zun, jl/lsz

XVII. put on some horse blinders: fics written by authors who have also written rape porn or sibling incest. personally I’m pretty good at compartmentalizing. but I know everyone has different tolerance levels so I’m putting them in their own section

I still draw a hard line for authors of adult-child smut or csa porn, so anyone writing that shouldn’t be on any of my pages at all.

*A Lot of Edges Called Perhaps* by hansbekhart

summary: a postcanon getting together work: legitimately one of the best fics I have ever read, and one of my personal favorites. mature and beautifully written and atmospheric and satisfying. they just know each other. their mutual interest in justice is important! I love how neither of them have any patience for the juniors’ overinterest in their relationship - it’s not their business and it’s not a joke. a lovely and satisfying conclusion, close to perfect imo. cql canon

work issues: none, unless you have a problem with reading a whole lot of edging

author issues: it pains me to say this because this fic is so good but the author has written a work tagged ‘noncon somnophilia’ so it’s been kicked down here

*Out of the darkness, into the day by ilip13

summary: a substantial postcanon getting-together work. the way the emotion in this is rendered is stunning, and the characterizations are excellent. realistic as well as appropriately dramatic. I don’t like the beginning so much because it’s really depressing, and they take SO long to get together I was ready to start crying, but the story becomes so joyful and it’s a real pleasure to go from one extreme to the other. it’s right there in the title. cql canon work issues: um their first kiss is a little iffy since one of them is half-asleep but he’s the one who initiates…it didn’t really bother me it was just a bit odd also the notes say things like ‘no spoken consent….their love transcends words’ which is a weird way to phrase it but everything IS consensual they just communicate nonverbally a lot (and consent is verbally explicit in most intimate scenes) author issues: dubcon, cnc, rape fantasy, sex pollen, noncon/noncon somnophilia (in something tagged with ‘noncon dual cultivation’ 🤮)

he comes in colors by ilip13

summary: modern cultivation AU, an lwj-centric work beginning when he lost his mother and following him through the years as he grows up in the still-traditional cloud recesses. it explores his relationship to the rules, his grief, his connection to music, and the powerful synesthesia he shares with his mother. a story about family, identity, maturity, and self-discovery. I like the unique twist on the madam lan situation, and the way that lwj’s musical prodigy was explored.

the characterizations aren’t bad but they’re a little…lackluster? lwj wasn’t as intense and weird as I think of him as. wwx was way more considerate and less mischievous than even in canon, and the romance in here was nice…almost too sweet and low-drama honestly, but I’ll take that over contrived miscommunication any day. lwj is a sub too, and that’s a significant part of the work

work issues: none

author issues: same as above. shame this author is so talented and keeps writing fics that really speak to me because ugh. dubcon, cnc, rape fantasy, sex pollen, noncon/noncon somnophilia

*best laid plans* by ilip13

summary: modern AU wangxian try changing up their roles, to mixed results. great politics about topping/bottoming - this fic said switch RIGHTS. I loved the writing style of this, the romance was so tender and lovely, the drama clipped right along and there was so much communication and maturity. dramatic without being corny or overwrought. love it. either canon but I was feeling cql-verse work issues: none author issues: see above - dubcon, cnc, rape fantasy, sex pollen, ‘noncon dual cultivation’

Let the Crows Fly by eak_a_mouse

summary: sunshot AU where lwj and wwx are taken hostage by the wens after defeating the xuanwu of slaughter, and wwx is coerced into helping the wens develop demonic cultivation techniques. the politics in this are engaging, the characterizations are all excellent, the style and atmosphere were just gripping, the ending was hopeful, and the romance, while understated, was tangibly present in every single scene with them, even if they were apart

firmly cql canon, and I think the author just nailed the atmosphere of the show and the tension of a very young wwx and lwj under duress and trying to keep each other safe

work issues: none

author issues: jc/wwx mpreg smut…also lwj/nmj hookup but they’re both of age at least

*all the depths of us* by northofallmusic (tofsla)

summary: wwx and lwj get together while still solving the mystery postres, a little earlier than in canon. the characterizations and atmosphere are excellent, and I love how the romance and relationship is developed. I am reccing both the main fic and the secondary one. cql canon.

work issues: none

author issues: implied jc/wwx, noncon somnophilia, dubcon, sex pollen, and cnc

*here’s to upright men by isozyme

summary: an incredibly compelling and well-crafted work about nhs, five years after canon, encountering lxc for the first time since guanyin temple. excellent characterizations, darkly humorous, dramatic, and giving us unpredictable and satisfying interactions between characters who really should have had more screentime together. bit sad because jc and wwx haven’t reconciled, but it feels right for them

this is the closest any fic on here will get to sangcheng, and it’s not even really there if you don’t squint. but IF I was into sangcheng, this is the kind of dynamic I could get behind

work issues: none

author issues: jc/wwx smut…also genderbends, xiyao, and niyao but honestly that stuff just seems so trite in comparison

Restraint and Revelation: or, The Necromancer of Yiling by Lirelyn

summary: a story-within-a-story regency AU loosely based off the popularity of gothic romance novels a la northanger abbey. a shallow and vaguely set genre pastiche rather than an actual AU that would place them in regency england (and whitewash them). the writing is impressively austenian, and the emotional journeys the characters canonically go on suit the format beautifully, so everything feels quite well translated. I’ve always fondly headcanoned lwj as being into shlocky romance novels, so this was a treat

work issues: none, which is weird because the tags say ‘3zun if you squint’ but imo there is nothing to imply that jgy was involved with either lxc or mnj. iirc he barely was present in the fic at all so *shrug*

author issues: wwx/lwj/jc and wwx/jc smut 💀 also xxc/sl/xy, niyao, and xiyao. there’s a ton of shit in there just don’t go to their page at all

The Good That Won’t Come Out by raisedbyhyenas

summary: postcanon casefic where lwj and wwx solve a mystery and confront some truths about their past and their relationship. healing, grief, and comfort. I like how much chemistry wwx and lwj have, and lwj is funnier than he is in most fics that claim he’s funny. wwx’s fierce protectiveness and vengeful rage at seeing lwj threatened was nice. novel verse.

work issues: none…it’s sad tho. not for wwx and lwj, but for the victims

author issues: jc/wwx, nhs/jgy, xiyao, genderbends, jl/lsz

*Vagabond by xantissa

summary: postcanon, wwx returns from a year of travels to a mysterious illness plaguing the region. he, lwj, and another investigator work to solve it while he and lwj navigate their feelings. I liked the oc a lot - lwj has a friend! I don’t want to give more detail because the mystery is so compelling and the plot twist was a genuine surprise.

there were a lot of little details that didn’t make sense, but I loved how sweet wwx was with wen ning, and the romance was so satisfying

it’s kind of up to interpretation but there is arguably in-universe homophobia and consent to sex under a false identity

also, one lan has romantic feelings for another one, but based on how it’s treated I really don’t think they’re related

work issues: PM mountain kiss is talked about and it’s not made a big deal of 🙄

author issues: lxc/lwj is the big one, but they’re both of age. also nhs/nzh, niyao, xiyao, 3zun, dubcon

Art in Life by northofallmusic (tofsla)

summary: a three-part introspective series on modern AU wwx reuniting with lwj in france, years after wwx has a breakdown and leaves the classical music scene. atmospheric and satisfying and tender. the chemistry and their dynamic was so natural and lovely. it was gratifying to see an older wwx remark on how much better and calmer he is now, similar to his canon postres peace. I thought it was going to be boring and it wasn’t. no knowledge of art required

work issues: none

author issues: implied jc/wwx, dubcon, sex pollen, noncon somnophilia

*让我留在你身边 // let me stay by your side by howodd5ever

summary: a ‘what if’ scenario for the month in between yi city and the meeting at jinlintai. there’s no big confession, but they do hook up and and it’s really sweet. good sex scenes! they take their time....it’s nice I like it. except a few throwaway lines, the characterizations are really good

work issues: none

author issues: lwj/lxc, 3zun, sl/xxc/xy, dubcon, lsz/ljy

为温暖 // for warmth by howodd5ever

summary: another work in the same series as the above - what if they got together immediately post-sunshot? classic post-war/lost gc angst from wwx, the realization that lwj knows it’s gone, and then they get together. I really like the sex scenes in this series - the work listed above is my favorite but this one might have the best sex scenes

brief mention of wwx’s suicidal ideation/expecting to die after the end of the war in the opening few paragraphs

work issues: none

author issues: same author so I’m grouping them: lwj/lxc, 3zun, sl/xxc/xy, dubcon, lsz/ljy

underneath a starless sky, the wind blows towards the future by ilip13

summary: a dystopian modern urban fantasy take on the yiling laozu. lwj approaches wwx-as-yllz for aid as the gusu lan sect needs more and more help in fending off the tide of resentful energy. matters in the city progress, their relationship develops, and things come to a head as wwx appears to be the one to destroy the city, not save it. a bit corny, and a significant decision lwj makes at the end is quite ooc and thematically inappropriate, but I enjoyed the worldbuilding and the drama in the relationship development. cql characterizations for sure. a solid B+ it says this in the beginning of the work itself, but warning for discussion of non-specific suicide and depression work issues: none author issues: oh, ilip13. dubcon, rape fantasy, cnc, sex pollen

Mostly Figurative Ducks by northofallmusic (tofsla)

summary: a very sweet little fic about wwx and jyl comforting each other throughout the years

work issues: it’s literally too short to even fit anything bad

author issues: insane to write this under the summary of this fic, but this author has written noncon, implied jc/wwx, noncon somnophilia, dubcon, sex pollen, and cnc

XVIII. the shame corner for naughty fanfiction: fics with issues within the actual work. mostly background 3zun, hints of jl/lsz, and some weird gender and/or sex stuff. I put the better ones first and the worst ones after them. still read the author notes and everything but I genuinely think these are good quality besides their issues. funnily enough most of the author issues here are actually less serious than they were in the previous section

*grave goods* by luckymarrow                

summary: a modern AU work exploring mortality and grief, set in NYC. wwx is a mortician and lwj is a lawyer advocating for trafficked women and undocumented immigrants. this was a very realistic and kind look at death from both a professional and personal standpoint in ways that I found very cathartic and personally meaningful. the way lwj’s mother was discussed made me really emotional and his arc regarding her came full circle so beautifully towards the end. and a-yuan was REALLY cute, I think they captured him so well. it has a hopeful finale, but it really puts you through the ringer. it did get a little corny towards the end tho. either canon but more novel in the sex scenes check author notes for warnings pertaining to death and grieving, child death, domestic violence, family death, femicide (though not named as such), and suicide

some of the sex scenes are really hardcore bdsm so just keep that in mind but everything is clearly consensual and safe work issues: one of the sex scenes has a hint of cnc? it's like two lines and like I said above it's all clearly consensual and they check in with each other and all author issues: has written genderbends

*paired wings soaring by typefortydeductions

summary: in this modern british AU, lwj (poetry translator) and wwx (artist) move in with lwj’s aging mother (a poet in exile from china) after she has a fall. the tenderness and heart and romance of this was so beautiful, especially with how it tied into wwx’s art pieces

subtle references to domestic violence/abuse re: mama lan situation. nothing is gratuitous or even spelled out explicitly

work issues: there was a short scene of (consensual-after-the-fact) somnophilia and some…weird things in some of the sex scenes. the bdsm was written better than in most fics, and I did like that they focused more on trust, but some of them still skeeved me out.

lxc is with jgy in this, and he does not turn out to be evil or betray him or anything and it ends with 3zun so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

also when wwx proposed to lwj he went down on both knees because he’s a sub 😭 aneeway

author issues: has written cnc, dubcon, genderbends, A/B/O and 3zun

The Shape of Your Love (is Horny) by Vamillepudding

summary: demon influencer wwx meets and then tries to romance a mortal lwj without knowing much about how humans work, despite having lived on earth for years and watching a lot of demon porn about humans. just really silly and off the wall. they nail lwj being a weirdo and this makes him really compatible with non-human wwx. the way they had instant chemistry and fell right into a relationship was so low-drama and sweet.

based on the title you'd think there are weird sex things going on but it's actually rated just T. nhs is great and there's a ton of really funny lan family moments and jc stuff too.

work issues: unfortunately the other main couple is jgy/lxc

author issues: see above - xiyao

*happy not knowing* by plonk

summary: this bold author dared to ask the question: what if lxc was incredibly stupid? what if he didn’t realize his brother was gay? what if he was offensively, hilariously, absurdly oblivious to the fact that wwx and lwj were together in a romantic and sexual sense? while they all lived together in CR? for years? the result is a very funny multi-POV tale lasting five+ years that at the end reached heights of heteronormative nonsense so extreme that it was genuinely hurtful. but I love that lxc is the butt of every joke and mocked at every turn, presented as foolishly oblivious while everyone else knows the truth. I adore qin su in this, and the rest of the story actually goes quite well for everyone compared to canon, so it’s a lot more lighthearted

wq and jc is a background pair (that lxc is equally oblivious to), but they showed up only once or twice and jc doesn’t abandon her clan to death in this AU so I don’t mind too much

if lxc’s inability to see wx’s relationship as romantic is upsetting instead of humorous to you, this may be a fic to skip. the other characters do see and support wx even when lxc doesn’t

work issues: although not treated as important, the line that established wx were sleeping together stated that their first time was when wwx was drunk. wwx refers to himself once as a wife. there’s a scene of somnophilia (sort of?), which I found very uncomfortable even if it was consensual. it also leans into wx having loud and aggressive sex everywhere in CR, and it’s implied they have sex outside where juniors saw them so 😬

author issues: has written genderbends and A/B/O, along with *gestures to the above*

remember how the morning will arrive by remiges

summary: a three-part series focused on lqr, who postcanon continues to grapple with his history of child sexual abuse at the hands of his older brother. this is an intense work, but not graphic or gratuitous, and it has a hopeful ending. it incorporates an interesting and unique backstory for lqr and madam lan, and the way it handles trauma and evokes emotion is incredibly powerful and cathartic despite lqr's very bleak and painful personal backstory, and lqr shares moments of solidarity with other survivors of sexual abuse. the novel-leaning characterizations were overall quite good

work issues: I really liked the first two parts of this series, but the third one disappointed me. lqr stumbles upon a (non-graphic) cnc roleplay scene with wx and, understandably, loses his shit. it's handled about as well as it could be by the characters, lqr is immediately told that what's happening in consensual, and once he has a few days to process he’s like ‘yeah that’s your business it’s fine,’ which felt like a slap in the face. the finale of this series does wrap up the story in a really satisfying way, I just wish the author hasn't been so faithful to the novel wx dynamics and then go a step further by having their fictional survivor of csa validate rape roleplay too

author issues: cnc

kick at the darkness ‘til it bleeds daylight by AlfAlfAlfAlfAlf, tardigradeschool

summary: *deep breath* canon divergent parent trap AU where a-yuan had a twin brother, and in the confusion of nightless city, wwx and lwj are both injured in ways that lead them to believe the other AND one of the twins is dead. afterwards, they each raise one twin, lwj in CR and wwx as a rogue cultivator hiding his identity, neither realizing the truth. 16 years later, the twins meet on a night hunt, figure out who they are, and switch places to figure out the story and get their parents together.

the style for this fic was super fun, and I thought the humor, characterizations, and relationship writing were just excellent. jyl is alive, and lxc plays a much different role in wx’s relationship; the darker elements juxtapose the lighter ones quite nicely. while the relationships between all of the 'good guys' lacked the drama and tension of canon, flashback-era wx were just devastatingly romantic and tender, and their post-reunion relationship is very sweet.  there’s a surprise f/f ship we see towards the end! the finale gives some quieter characters a chance to shine, though I did find it a bit silly and melodramatic

personally there was way too much kid content compared to wx content, but that's just a preference on my end. if you like the juniors you'll probably enjoy that part more than I did. just see the notes about it, because...

work issues: you know how fucking mad I am that this fic started hinting that jl had a crush on lsz. here they’re closer in age and technically only family friends since wwx isn’t in the picture, but there’s no excuse for ljy to then start crushing on wwx’s kid who switches spots with lsz. like, obvs I still consider it incest but ig in-universe it’s only not incest by the barest of technicalities 🙄

none of the kids actually get together in the fic itself, but it was just SO annoying and gross and then the author had to be like ‘lol they start dating’ in the notes after the last chapter. shut UP!

author issues: see above, but also xiyao, niyao, and 3zun

oh, these are real things by typefortydeductions

summary: the first work of a modern AU where newly-together wwx and lwj deal with wwx’s depersonalization issues and negotiate having sex that ramps up in kinkiness. I really liked all the communication happening and I thought it was a neat translation of wwx’s issues to a non-magical setting

I don’t like the rest of the series as much but here’s a rundown: it follows them as they continue managing their issues, adopt kids, and handle becoming parents. there's some gender stuff that gets weird later bc they really lean into wwx’s breeding kink and make him genderfluid so they call him a wife and mom. the characterizations were...decent.

I do like the maturity, realism, and emotional honesty in the rest of the series. the bdsm scenes can be really intense because they legit do hardcore sadism and masochism, but because they communicate so thoroughly about it, I didn’t dislike it in the way I dislike most bdsm in fic. but I still skimmed a lot of the sex scenes. and overall I don’t like it enough to rec

work issues: for this first fic, really nothing. 

for the rest of the series, lwj is a bit possessive, there’s some emphasis on wwx being skinny/lwj’s big hands, and 3zun is a background couple. xxc/sl/xy is also mentioned as a poly relationship. wwx is not cis in this one (undefined but akin to genderfluid, and occasionally calls himself a girl, wife, and mother) and it gets a little weird? however none of this shows up in the first work.

author issues: same author as above - cnc, dubcon, A/B/O, genderbends

Back to Start || Section Seven 

[xiyao-feels]

☕ If WWX died, LWJ would grieve for the rest of his life and never date again. If LWJ died, WWX would grieve for a couple months/years and move on with someone else.

This is a really interesting question, and I've been thinking about it on and off since I got it. I think I disagree, but possibly not for the reasons you'd expect.

First, though, I do want to disclaim that while obviously I'm going to try and ground this textually, I'm much less familiar with the (non-xiyao-relevant) wang//xian parts than I am with the xiyao-relevant stuff (which granted does include a bunch of wangxian stuff), and in general I've spent much less time thinking about wang//xian.

Okay, with that out of the way...

So, first of all, I definitely agree that LWJ would grieve for the rest of his life and never date again. (Insert standard bitter xiyao rant about how in wangxian this tends to be viewed as romantic whereas obviously what LXC needs to do is move on, right? But I digress.) It's consistent with his canon actions after WWX's death, it's consistent with the parallels to Lan An and his partner and with Mama and Papa Lan, it's consistent with everything we know about his interest in WWX historically, it's consistent with.... basically everything. No argument here.

Looking at the second part, though, I think there's two questions. First, would WWX move on at all? And second: would WWX move on with someone else?

At this point—for the first question, I honestly, honestly don't know. I really don't. On the one hand he didn't cope great with JYL's death! On the other hand the circumstances there were rather extreme, and honestly, while he clearly still cares about people from his previous life, and still grieves for JYL, in the present timeline he does mostly seem to have moved on. In general he's a moving on kind of guy? It's part of who he is; it's part of why the (Wang//xian) happy ending that we get actually works as a happy ending for them, despite, narratively speaking, kind of requiring the complete destruction of his previous life.

On the other hand the idea that he would move on like that *really* doesn't fit with the kind of story this is. And then there's this:

He thought about it some more. Wen Ning didn’t know where he was going, but he didn’t know either, did he? In the beginning, when he was with Lan WangJi, he never thought about this problem at all. He took it as granted that they’d continue like this without change. But after tonight, maybe he and Lan WangJi wouldn’t go back to how they were ever again. Without Lan WangJi, it seemed as if it wasn’t too impossible for him to roam the world on his own.

But a voice in Wei WuXian’s heart told him with clarity, No, you can’t.

The words he said back on Koi Tower really proved to be true. The current Wei WuXian couldn’t do without Lan WangJi.

(ER, ch 97)

This definitely suggests that he couldn't at least move on easily. It could also definitely be read as suggesting he can't move on at all…on the other hand, "the present WWX" could be contrasted with a hypothetical future WWX, and not just the WWX from before. (This is one of those times when I really wish I could read Chinese.)

So I'm really not sure. (Though I do think it would definitely take longer than a couple of months if he did.)

But let's look at the second question. Consider the case where he does move on. Would he move on *with someone else*?

I really don't think so, because I think it would be really hard to find someone else who WWX would actually be interested in having a relationship with.

We see him interested in LWJ from the very beginning. I don't think he's in love with LWJ in his first life, but he's absolutely interested in him. He continually teases LWJ and pokes at him and tries to get a reaction. We see him call out to LWJ when LWJ is looking at him and the other students after LQR's first lesson (ch 14), teases him wildly in the library over the course of multiple days (ch 15), teases him on the hunt they all go on to Biling Lake (ch 16, 17), teases him coming back from Caiyi Town with wine (ch 18), teases him in the Cold Springs (ch 18), teases him with the rabbits (ch 18), remembers him after on a hot day at Lotus Pier (ch 125), is drawn to him and teases him again despite failing to recognize him at first at the archery contest (ch 45), is drawn to him during their time as Wen hostages (ch 51-55), teases him at the Phoenix Mountain Hunt (ch 69) and when LWJ is at Lotus Pier (unbeknownst to WWX presumably to visit him) (ch 71). He enjoys spending time with him, I think the meal in ch 74 is a good reference here. We just don't see him react this way to anyone else! And while it's kind of funny to imagine he has a dozen such relationships and the one with LWJ is just the one we're looking at in the flashbacks, I don't think that's actually textually supported.

We might ask, why is he drawn to LWJ like this? And this isn't a full theory of WWX's initial attraction to LWJ and it's not meant to be, but I do think he likes getting a rise out of someone with LWJ's personality; he appreciates LWJ's competence; and he appreciates LWJ's beauty.

He repeatedly comments on LWJ's good looks (as does the narrative, lol). I'm not going to quote them all but this passage cracks me up (ER, ch 14):

Before this, Wei WuXian never had the chance to carefully examine the front of his face. Now that he had a look at it, he started to think random thoughts, He looks quite nice indeed. Yet, if only those girls could come and see him with their own eyes. Looking as bitter as if everyone had offended him or his parents died, it wouldn’t matter no matter how nice his face looks.

(ER, ch 14)

See also ch 13 ('Wei WuXian emphasized, “Very pretty.”'), ch 14 ("After a thought, he realized that Lan WangJi did look pretty"), ch 17 ('Wei WuXian smugly tossed the toquat in his hand, and suddenly pointed at him, “Sisters, do you think that he looks handsome?”'), ch 45 ("Along with that overly-pretty face of Lan WangJi’s, now that they met again, Wei WuXian’s eyes had momentarily been blinded by his looks"), 65 ("He was so beautiful that it seemed unreal. Caught by the moment, Wei WuXian was somehow entranced"), ch 92 ('Wei WuXian laughed, “I can’t compare to him. He’s much more handsome than I am."'), ch 125 ('Wei WuXian thought about it for a moment, “Maybe just a bit more handsome than me.”'), and many more.

His interest in and appreciation of LWJ's competence is likewise well-established—see ch 13 (“Lan Zhan’s skills were quite good.”), ch 38 ('Wei WuXian touched his chin, “Hmm. He’s good. Of course. He’s really good. He’s the best.” As he talked, he couldn’t help but break into a smile.'), ch 48 ("Hearing Nie MingJue praise Lan WangJi’s level of cultivation, Wei WuXian felt a strange surge of happiness"), ch 109 ("Wei WuXian gaped in astonishment. He’d long since known that Lan WangJi had shocking arm strength, but this… was a bit too shocking!"), ch 115 (*"HanGuang-Jun, your moves are pretty fast, huh?*"), ch 122 (“That’s why I said you were incredible. The couple of times from over a decade ago were the only instances when I fought you with the YunmengJiang Sect’s swordplay, weren’t they? Recalling them after listening for such a short while—isn’t that incredible?”), and many more.

As to his desire to make LWJ react, again this isn't a comprehensive survey and isn't meant to be, but see ch 15 ('Satisfaction was plastered all over Wei WuXian’s face, “Good thing that I helped him achieve this ‘first’. You all saw it, didn’t you? The self-restraint and etiquette that Second Young Master Lan was praised so strongly for were all weak and useless against me.”'), ch 55 ("Wei WuXian, *Absolutely nothing works on him. He’s not at all as interesting as how he was a few days ago, face as dark as the bottom of a pan, speaking with actual tone, even biting others when he was mad. But one shouldn’t hope to see such a Lan Zhan so easily. I probably wouldn’t be able to see it again until the end of my life.*"), ch 115 ('Wei WuXian was immediately overjoyed, speaking on purpose, “Could it be that when Lan Er-gege was young, he didn’t pay attention to reading and writing because I was the only thing he could think about?”'), ch 122 ("As he spoke, he pushed the candle toward Lan WangJi, wanting to see if his earlobes were red."), and many others, plus I think it's clearly part of their sex life.

Now again this isn't a complete theory of Wangxian, but even limiting ourselves to these three traits—LWJ is unusual in any one of them! It's genuinely hard to find someone has LWJ's type of personality (but who reacts so beautifully to WWX), or someone who's as competent as he is, or someone who's as beautiful as he is, never mind all these three traits in one person.

On top of this, however, while this is part of why he's attracted to LWJ, I think part of the reason he *actually falls for* LWJ is that LWJ always has his back. This is less amenable to long-list-of-obvious-quoting than the earlier points, but consider these three excerpts:

Fleeing Carp Tower after confronting JGY goes sideways (ER, ch 50):

After the “mnn”, he added, “I am here.”

Hearing the words, something that Wei WuXian had never felt before sprouted within his heart. It was like sorrow. His chest hurt a bit, but also felt a bit warm.

He could still remember how, back in Jiangling, Lan WangJi came all the way to assist him, yet he didn’t appreciate the kindness at all. With all kinds of disputes, the two of them often parted with disapproval.

But what he hadn’t expected was that when everyone feared him and flattered him, Lan WangJi scolded him right in his face; when everyone spurned him and loathed him, Lan WangJi stood by his side.

Letting himself fall from a tree when they're going around Lotus Pier (ER, ch 87):

All of a sudden, an abnormally strong impulse surged into Wei WuXian’s mind.

He wanted to fall down again, just like back then.

A voice inside of him said, If he catches me, I’ll…

At this point where he thought ‘I’ll’, Wei WuXian let go. Seeing that he fell out of the tree without any warning, Lan WangJi’s eyes immediately widened. He shot forward just in time to catch Wei WuXian, or one might say, be caught by Wei WuXian.

[...]

He wasn’t scared of falling. All these years, he’d fallen many times. But falling on the ground still hurt, after all. If someone was there to catch him, it’d be more than wonderful.

And crucially this moment after LXC has explained that LWJ is in love with WWX (ER, ch 99):

At first, he did those shameful, theatrical things in order to make Lan WangJi feel disgust and throw him out of the Cloud Recesses so that they wouldn’t meet each other again, going their separate ways. Lan WangJi wouldn’t have failed to see what his real attitude was. But even when this was the case… he still chose to keep him by his side, refusing to give Jiang Cheng the chance to approach and make things difficult for him. He answered all questions, granted all requests, indulged him and forgave him again and again. Even when faced with Wei WuXian’s myriad of almost cruel teasing, he was still able to hold himself from crossing the line.

Again, while I'm certainly not saying this is the only reason, I do think it's fairly clear that part of why WWX falls for LWJ is that LWJ will always, always, have his back, always, always, be "on his side", no matter what.

And like, this makes sense! It's quite romantic, and I think this is in part a reaction to having lost basically everyone else, including especially Jiang Cheng/his place in the Jiang.* But the problem here is... how can I put this... even in his day-to-day life WWX is fairly unrestrained, and then sometimes he does things like run off and fight to save the Wen. The latter is admirable, and the former can at least sometimes be charming, but it's not really consistent with being committed to other responsibilities. Even the former can cause some difficulties—think of how he blows off JC about fighting with Jin Zixuan and such, for example, or how he goes about the Phoenix Mountain Hunt, and as to the latter... JC didn't expel him from the Jiang clan and fake a fight with him for fun, you know? He had the entire rest of the Jiang clan he's responsible for. It's not that he doesn't love WWX, and deeply, but he's not willing to put WWX over the rest of his clan. (I realize the Wen are also involved here but just focusing on WWX for now.) But LWJ is willing to put WWX over his clan! Absolutely willing! As LXC's speech reveals! He's willing to back up WWX through everything. And this is true in big ways but it's also true in small ways—ignoring the way he's treating LWJ's bunnies (ch 65), helping him steal lotus pods that belong to someone else (ch 90), basically saying it doesn't matter if WWX abides by the rules (ch 114), feeding him soup he loves at the banquet instead of the Lan stuff (ch 115), backing him up when he lies to some kids about how counting works (ch 126).

I realize this description might make it seem kind of unbalanced, but I'm focusing on what WWX gets out of the relationship here, not what LWJ does. (And he clearly does get a lot out of it!) But even so "be on my side no matter what" is a pretty tall order if you're someone who has other responsibilities—and pretty much everyone in this setting does, either to their superior or as a superior to their subordinates. (LWJ does too, it's just that LWJ mostly has responsibilities that he can carry out while going around with WWX, and they both know that if it comes down to it he'd pick WWX over those responsibilities.) And it's especially a tall order when the person who needs that is, frankly, a chaos gremlin with a very individual sense of morality who'd ended up with an alliance of clans devoted to taking him down before…and who could at least theoretically end up in that same kind of trouble again.

So: would WWX move on? I don't know. But would he move on with someone else? I really doubt it, because LWJ is compatible with him in specific ways that would be enormously difficult to find again.

* I recognize he does still have WN but a) WN does actually have the higher priority of LSZ and b) he pretty clearly doesn't think of WN in this way

[littlesmartart]

Leverage AU thoughts

okay so I wanted to keep the worldbuilding for the AU in that specific photoset relatively short for the sake of how the post worked, but I've seen a lot of questions in the tags so here is some more information for you all, under the cut because it got LONG:

MORALITY: okay so I called this the "(sort of) Leverage AU" because it basically flips the Leverage concept of "criminals work together with one non-criminal for the greater good" into "one criminal persuades a bunch of non-criminals that law =/= morality and that sometimes to make sure the bad guys get justice you have to work around legality". Obviously some people are easier to persuade than others (Huaisang has always been pretty ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about the law, but before he joins the team he insists all of his crimes have been Theoretical, and besides, pirating movies isn't real crime, da-ge, god), and some of them are a little troubled by it but have their own reasons for joining (Mingjue has a LOT of issues with it, but joins to protect Huaisang for That One Job, and then stays with the insistence that a. they don't kill anyone, b. they don't involve anyone who doesn't super deserve it, and c. that their goal is always to get evidence so the mark can be convicted and the mark is always handed over to the appropriate authorities at the end of the job. he has a little more moral flexibility than canon Mingjue because of his Complicated Past He Wants To Atone For, but he still has an incredibly strong internal moral code that he absolutely will not violate. Jiang Cheng cares more about the law in principle, rather than personally, and as soon as he sees that they can get Justice that the law can't, he's sold). Xichen has the hardest time of it; he jumps into the first job without protest because Meng Yao asks (and Meng Yao never ever asks for anything, so it... it must be important, right? And Jin Guangshan definitely deserves it). After that he has a lot of internal struggling going on, and he's usually the one in the team trying to steer them towards legal means, and going through the "correct" channels. He probably has a breakdown about it at the end of a season and spends the next season Travelling To Find Himself. He winds up coming back to the team when, on one of his travels, he watches a family he's staying with lose everything after being targeted by a conman, but because of a dirty police chief the evidence is destroyed. They refuse to take his money when he tries to help, and he realises that they only way to get them justice... is to call in the team. That's not to say he is 100% cool with everything from then on, and he definitely draws the line at certain criminal acts (stealing for the fun of it he is not okay with, for example, and he gives a Hard No on the suggestion of trying White Rabbit) but for the most part he accepts the concept of what they do as being for the greater good.

GRIFTER XICHEN: yeah it's ridiculous and implausible but hear me out... that just makes it better. Because this man is terrible at improv and can only lie when he's in character (you see that means it's not lying then, it's just ACTING) and doesn't drink and absolutely will not seduce a mark past the level of general flirting... and yet he's somehow a wildly successful grifter??? How??? I'll tell you how: he's so fucking handsome and kind and charming and cultured that pretty much everyone who meets him just... melts a little bit and, with some coaxing, gives him whatever he needs. IT'S LIKE A FREAKIN SUPERPOWER and it's absolutely ridiculous. With the added bonus that he's juuust famous enough that the average person might kind of think he looks familiar, which means he's very good at coming across like he totally belongs wherever he's seen. Of course he works here, he's been here for months... don't you recognise him?

NO WOMEN ON THE TEAM: look, in Meng Yao's defence, when he put together this team he thought it would only be for one job, he wasn't trying to future-proof it! But yes, it can sometimes be an issue if they don't have time to plan ahead, and he and Huaisang - as the most stereotypically feminine members of the team, and by far the best liars - will usually take on any female roles they need if they're in a pinch and can't call in outside help, although all of them are ready to take on roles of different genders if need be (female roles are actually the only way to persuade Huaisang to grift, and he has an extensive shoe collection for such roles that he likes to expand by billing to the company account... Meng Yao is deeply unimpressed by this).

OTHER CHARACTERS: when Meng Yao started this, he worked very very hard to keep his siblings and the rest of his family out of it, to keep them all away from any fallout in case it went wrong (and also to stop any pesky Moral Issues from getting in the way). When that was over and they started taking regular cases, he relaxed the rule a little - Mianmian will sometimes step in to help if she can be sold on how bad the person is they're taking down, Zonghui can be relied upon if they need extra muscle, and Wen Qing is their go-to Ask No Questions doctor. Wei Wuxian frequently gets roped in to consult, as, if you give him six packs of hot chips, ten cans of monster, twelve hours, and a laptop, he can become a specialist in almost anything. Jiang Cheng was very very resistant towards the idea of his brother being allowed in the team, even just as a consultant, but the MOMENT Wei Wuxian was given any access to Shenanigans there was no fucking stopping him. In the later jobs Qin Su accidentally gets pulled into one of the cons and turns out to be a WAY better grifter than anyone could have imagined, so she winds up on the "ally call list". Meng Yao is both perturbed and proud, but absolutely draws the line at teenage Mo Xuanyu being allowed to help.

PAIRINGS: flipping the "two parents + three kids" dynamic in Leverage, this AU has 3zun and Sangcheng - so "three gege + two didi". Xiyao have a One That Got Away sort of past, and Xichen joins the team SPECIFICALLY because Meng Yao expresses emotional vulnerability by asking for help fOr OnCe In HiS fUcKiNg LiFe. Nielan dated when they were teens, and are happy to be reunited, but Mingjue refuses to rekindle a romantic relationship until Xiyao sort their shit out because it's obvious to anyone with eyes how hung up on Meng Yao Xichen is. Nieyao have a certain amount of "I'll work with you towards a common cause but that doesn't mean I have to like you" vibe, but veeery slooowlyyy wind up bonding over doing stuff they're not proud of for something they were so sure was a worthy cause at the time, but now they just feel jaded and used (there's a lot of arguments along the lines of "oh, so my corporate espionage is worse than what you did in spec ops... because the military says that what you did was legal. RIGHT. OKAY. SURE."). After several years of will-they-won't-they struggle, 3zun do get together, and everyone is very relieved. As for Sangcheng... it starts off as Huaisang just flirting kind of obnoxiously with Jiang Cheng, who rolls his eyes and snarks back, and then naturally Huaisang winds up catching feelings and is like [meme voice] Haha, I'm In Danger! He is unwilling to act on his feelings because he doesn't believe that Jiang Cheng likes him that way, and continues to believe that right up until the day Jiang Cheng snaps, and grabs him and kisses him, and is like "if I didn't actually like you flirting with me I would have punched you in the face years ago" and Huaisang is like "huh. Yeah that's probably true."

[boxoftheskyking]

First off I LOVE YOUR RESPONSE TO THE DRUNK AT 4AM BAKERY POST that was hilarious also I am a sucker for identity reveals ie "so you're a popstar apparently well that would be nice to know before we slept together" but wangxian

Ps: do you accept xiyao and/or what other cql/mdzs ships are like your jam thanks your the best ily

Thank you friend! This is what came to mind and it's way too long. I sort of just keep writing the same shit over and over but hey.

---

"Huh." It's not his most eloquent response, but it captures the various layers he's feeling at the moment.

Lan Zhan looks profoundly guilty. "I'm sorry. Again, I am so sorry. I shouldn't have lied—"

Wei Ying holds up a finger. "No, no, I'm processing. You be quiet and let me process."

"Right. Yes. Of course."

"Huh."

Lan Zhan clenches his jaw. "I wouldn't have—"

Wei Ying raises his finger up higher. "Lan Zhan. I never thought I'd have to reprimand you for interrupting."

Lan Zhan sits back, cowed, and holds on to his teacup. It's a very nice teacup—minimalist but a good weight. Good quality. Rich people stuff. This whole apartment is rich people stuff, which suddenly makes a lot of sense.

"On the one hand," Wei Ying starts. "It's kind of adorable that the Twin Jades are actually brothers."

"I—"

"No! Shush. I still think the mask thing is a weird gimmick. But I guess you save on makeup artists."

Lan Zhan looks like he wants to reply, but he behaves.

"On another hand, I get the sneaking around. I'm a little relieved, to be honest. I genuinely thought you were married."

"Wei Ying!" Lan Zhan gasps, scandalized.

"What? It made sense."

"You would sleep with a married man for four months?" He sounds just as judgy as Wen Qing did when she asked him that just last week. He shrugs and doesn't say what he said to her then ("I don't know, man. The dick, it's good.")

"I'm glad you're not married. For the record."

"Are you—?"

"No, I'm not married, don't be ridiculous. I don't have the attention span for long-term deception."

"I'm glad." Lan Zhan smiles that tiny, sweet little smile that makes Wei Ying wants to smash plates in the street. "That's why I had to tell you. The magazine, they were asking me if I was bringing anyone to the awards show, and I had to say No but all I was thinking was I did want to bring someone, and I wanted it to be you, and—"

Wei Ying holds up his finger again. "Eh."

Lan Zhan shuts up.

Wei Ying taps his front teeth with this fingernail, thinking. "On another hand. You've put me in a tricky position, Lan Zhan."

"I know, and I—"

"Eh!"

Lan Zhan hunches over his teacup like a little kid.

"This is an odd position. Lan Zhan." Wei Ying sighs. "I don't listen to your music, Lan Zhan."

That makes him straighten up. "What?"

Wei Ying shrugs again. "I don't really like it."

"You don't."

"Eh, no, not really. It's not my thing."

"What is your thing?"

"See," he waves his finger around like a grandma. "This is what comes of sneaking around. You've never seen me working, you've never been in my car, you've never seen me dancing while I cook, you have no idea what kind of music I like."

"So what do you like?"

"I dunno. Indie stuff. Punk. I don't really like pop."

Lan Zhan frowns. "You like ABBA."

"I'm bisexual, I have to like ABBA. It's in the handbook."

"What don't you like about it?"

"About your stuff?"

"Yes."

"Let's not do this, Lan Zhan."

"Tell me."

Wei Ying leans his chin on his folded arms. "It's too saccharine for me."

"Saccharine?"

"It lacks a, you know. An edge."

Lan Zhan stares at him.

"It's like, I dunno, it sounds too focus-grouped."

Lan Zhan looks out the window, over the park. "Huh."

"Sorry."

"It is focus-grouped."

"Yeah, I figured. Do you still want to have sex with me?"

"Do you..." Lan Zhan trails off, drawing a spiral on the side of his cup with one finger. "Do you like my voice, at least?"

"I don't know. I couldn't say. I don't know which one you are."

"I'm— Hang on."

Wei Ying realizes his mistake at the same moment. "Oh no."

"So there's one of us that you don't like?"

"Hey! Wanna have sex? Right now?"

"Uh-uh, tell me."

"I could really go for some—"

"Lan Huan sings higher. I sing lower. Which one do you not like?"

Wei Ying yanks his shirt over his head. "Look, a shiny thing!"

"No. Tell me." Lan Zhan scoots his chair closer and leans in, way too intense.

"Nope." Wei Ying hops away from the table and makes a dash for the couch, struggling out of his jeans. "Not doing it! Come have sex instead."

"The last album was edgy." Lan Zhan is very near pouting.

Wei Ying pauses, one foot still stuck in his trousers, and wiggles his hand. "Ehhhhh."

"Wei Ying!"

"Hey, I found the living room lube!"

Lan Zhan stands up from the table. "So that means you heard it. If you don't think it's edgy."

"Lan Zhan, I'm going to stick some stuff up my butt now."

"So you do listen to it."

"Don't you want to come over here and stick stuff—"

"What wasn't edgy? I thought it was edgy. My manager said it was—"

"It's gonna be weird stuff, Lan Zhan, come on."

Lan Zhan considers him for a long moment, and Wei Ying can see him waver. "This conversation isn't over."

Wei Ying pumps his fist in the air. "Yes!"

Lan Zhan prowls over to him and snags the lube from the table. "I mean it, we're talking about this later."

"That's what you think." Wei Ying grins up at him, in a shit-eating sort of way. Lan Zhan sticks his thumb in Wei Ying's mouth.

"How weird are we talking?"

the end

[lhaewiel]

So.

Previously on my "The Untamed/MDZS Ice Skating AU".

Unfortunately for y'all I have not finished talking about it. as always, a big thank you to @galaxy-darkmoon for giving me rope, and also @the-nonchalance-blogs for giving me the idea in the first place.

We left things at the double divorce JFM/YZY and JGS/Madam Jin.

At this point in time the other players step in. I will start with the WangXian and continue on with the SangCheng part.

I will do the XiYao drama in the next post cos this is already way too long and I need to think.

Anyway, enjoy. Under the cut

THE WANGXIAN DRAMA

Now, WWX is still competing and training under freshly divorced JFM as a solo - and possibly the star of the Jiang rink. A lot of people and journalists have a lot of things to say about the Choices™(C) made by JFM, but WWX's skills and prowess and several silver and gold medals on his rack, plus several trophies won jot all of that down.

Enter the Lans. The Lans are an extremely traditionalist family of ice skaters, who only skate with classical/traditional music and that has become through the years their trademark.

LQR, the coach and also LXC and LWJ's uncle, after the untimely disappearance of the parents, and the two brothers have trained a lot - LXC is already in the seniors category, whilst LWJ is still in the juniors category.

It's time for regional championship and WWX is also competing.

And it's clichè, but it is love at first ina bauer and toe loop for both WWX and LWJ. They both score first and whilst JFM and LQR are already down to throw hands for the gold medal, WWX blurts out a "why don't we share? we are both really good, so why don't we share the podium." This all whilst being the usual feral gremlin. LWJ is like, "no, it's not in the rules", but LXC is like "uncle, that's a really good suggestion" and LQR is at an inch from losing it, JFM deals the final blow like "you heard WWX, come on! let's praise them both!" and LQR concedes.

JC has seen the thing and he is at the "this might as well happen" point and just leaves the rink where he was watching WWX without a word. I will come back on this in just a moment.

LQR anyway invites WWX at the Gusu rink to train, stuff that happens once every blue moon, and JFM is like "yes, that is my son" "Uncle Jiang I am not your son" "Details, just go." "Ok, let me say goodbye to people."

And by "people" he means JC and Yanli, who were there to watch him compete.

Yanli congratulates him and says that JC is outside.

WWX goes to JC, who has had A Day™ and is just like "congrats, if it had been me at your place my father would have preferred to give up the position rather than have me share the podium" "Aw you know he doesn't mean that. I know you are as good as me and one day he will see that." "well, good luck then, I have stopped competing, say that to Father™"

More drama.

More misunderstanding.

JC goes back home, packs up and rents a flat near the Nie rink. He takes the position as ice skating teacher for kids over there and tries finding some sort of peace, whilst still aching over the above mentioned drama.

WWX goes to Gusu with the ache of having lost a brother completely and yes, being close to LWJ does make him feel better, but he still misses greatly his family.

Anyway the national championships approach and eventually WWX and LWJ change into a pair, become an item and end up skating into the sunset over wangxian.mp3, break several rules, get disqualified and then LQR and JFM, pressed by LXC, make an appeal and get the commission to accept them.

WWX and LWJ skating off into the sunset inspired by this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpp5XKiQqBE

THE SANGCHENG DRAMA

I said that JC stops competing, goes away from YZY's rink, rents a flat and goes teaching ice skating to kids at the Nie rink.

Now, the Nie have a team of hockey players. NMJ is the coach, NZH is the captain and NHS should technically be on the team as well, but he'd rather pull out paper and pencil and sketch out the things that interest him the most, birds most notably. NHS has an extensive collection of fans as well.

NMJ is fuming bc NHS has the capability and the potential to be the perfect ice hockey player, but he'd rather just NOT participate in that. NMJ has unfortunately a chronical illness and knows he can't be forever there, he would LOVE for his brother to inherit the team, but he has not said anything about his chronical illness to NHS thinking that if he did maybe NHS would feel too much pressured. He does not know that NHS knows about the chronical illness and is the one making sure that NMJ takes his medications.

In any case, when JC starts teaching, NHS is fascinated. He watches JC gracefully glide on the ice and be generally the Ice Price Of His Dreams, If Not For The Aggressiveness, but considering that also NMJ Tends To Be That Way Too, NHS assumes that there is some turmoil going on and makes it his mission to uncover All Of That™.

THat and also NHS really enjoys drawing JC gliding gracefully on the ice - too bad JC discovers this and also NMJ is VERY perceptive, but NOT subtle at all, so when NMJ says "HUAISANG COME AND PLAY!" "One sec bro, I have to finish something" "STOP LOOKING AT THE TEACHER'S ASS AND COME HERE NOW OR I WILL BURN YOUR FANS." "... Thank you bro for destroying any chance I had."

Awkwardness ensues.

JC is unfortunately very direct and does not beat around the bush. NHS confesses. JC is in a mystic crisis bc "OMG someone likes ME, the CRANKIEST and ANGRIEST man on earth." NHS takes a step back and notes, in his 35 steps plan on how to court and conquer JC that he needs to make him understand that "the greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return".

It takes NHS to step in to win a game, whilst NMJ is in the hospital bc the chronic illness is too much to bear, JC taking NHS to the hospital to see NMJ alive and slightly better, NMJ's blessing to NHS and JC and NHS throwing himself onto JC after NMJ is asleep bc THE PRESSURE, THE WORRY, THE CONCERN, and JC says that he will be there and NHS wanted to be the conquering one, but he ends up conquered by the heart of gold of JC.

JC reveals all about his family and NHS convinces him to reconcile, if not with his parents, with WWX and Yanli. Things work out bc HS is great at mediating and JC is genuinely touched by him.

WWX and Yanli tell JC to go for it, bc it is clear that there is some sort of sentiment, thus forcing JC to sort himself out.

JC sorts his feelings out and declares his love to NHS by performing a choreography on "Nature Boy" by David Bowie.

See you next time with the XiYao and Xuanli part.

[afriendofhanguangjun]

BRI’S BIG LIST OF 3ZUN FIC RECS

a few people on twitter expressed some interest in my 3zun rec list so here are some of my faves! this isn’t separated by ship but by the kind of fic. there are some i didn’t rec because i can’t rec them in good conscience even though i like them. YEAH

THEY WIN I PROMISE (or: happy ending fics)

there is just one thing i need by MonocerosRex. modern au, rated G, 11k! primarily nieyao, but it’s 3zun. nieyao go on a cross-country road trip to pick up lan xichen from the airport. it is SO FUN, i laughed SO MUCH. the nieyao dynamic is DELIGHTFUL

just one kiss (for our fake date) by thefaceofno. 4k, rated T, modern au! xiyao. jgy brings his friend lan xichen as his fake boyfriend for a family gala. somewhere along the line, he forgets to mention the word “fake” to xichen. the misunderstandings are really fun and cute! 

you seem, secretly, to love everything by jelendra. 11k, modern au, M, 3zun but the focus is on a nieyao get together. it’s part of a big series but tbh i havent read the rest of the series. but THIS ONE is that lan xichen is dating jgy and nmj separately and wants them to date each other! meng yao feels really weird about this. 

Synced by theherocomplex. T, 23k, nielan, space au! nmj and lxc become partners to explore a little satellite planet. featuring fun mental bonds and AMAZING wordbuilding. the atmosphere is so quiet here. i love the vibes

soaring, carried aloft on the wind by skadiseven. E, 68k, nielan, au! lan xichen is forced into an arranged marriage with “”””warlord”””” nie mingjue and finds out that there is more than he had initially assumed about the people who are invading his kingdom. AMAZING prose, the worldbuilding is so fun, the fic itself is so soft and sweet. if you want to be sold on nielan this fic sure will sell you! 

holding off the rust by me! :3c 3zun, 3k, T, modern au. jgy THINKS he’s cheating on nmj and lxc with each other. he is wrong. it’s a good time! 

Becoming Prom King in Ten Easy Steps: A Guide by Jin Guangyao by me. 3zun, 40k, modern au, T. jgy wants to become prom king and schemes his way to the top. along the way he gets some boyfriends. this is a teen comedy movie in fic form. 

Nevermore to Leave also by me! nieyao, 17k, canonverse, rated T. meng yao’s first 100 days as the vice general of the nie sect. he learns how to be safe and the nie bros eagerly adopt him. lots of family content! 

FOR A GOOD OL’ CRY (bittersweet fics!!!)

to exist, in reaction by autoclaves. 6k, modern au, T, nielan with past xiyao. lan xichen learns to handle his grief of losing the husband he thought he knew thanks to the help of a plant shop, two cats, and the cute man who keeps coming into his shop. this made me tear up ;u;

tell me what I already know by daughterson. M, 9k, modern au, nielan with past xiyao. the entire series is AMAZING but this is the flagship fic and its honestly one of my favorites. lan xichen cheats on his husband nmj with one of the students at his university. he learns to deal with the fallout. it is heartbreaking and amazing and AAAGH JUST. AAGH!!!! LAN XICHEN AH LAN XICHEN!!!

to hoard promises that could sniff out the lie by Mayarene Rose. 3zun, 50k, T, pacrim au. please. my god. if you’re gonna read any fic on the list, read this one. i don’t know shit about pacific rim and i loved this. it cycles between their povs and it is AMAZING. it GETS the 3zun dynamic so well. im choked up thinking about it. the epitome of “they’re in love and it wasn’t enough.” 

favor by venndaai. T, 30k, focus is xiyao but 3zun is important too, hunger games au. WIP!!! this makes me SO emotional. meng yao volunteers in nie huaisang’s place and meets lan xichen in the games. im miserable over this. the prose is gorgeous and i don’t know where it’s going but i am delighted to see where! 

MY LOVE IS THE KILLING KIND (BAD END FICS)

the ruins left inside of you by aroceu. M, 26k, canon divergent au. 3zun, focus on nieyao. technically a jennifers body au. this is one of my favorite 3zun fics of ALLLLLL time. its a GREAT character study of nmj and how a demon whose power you absorbed for your own and an evil spirit that you let corrupt your soul arent all that different in the end, huh!!! the ending is so tasty. my god. i love this one.

Cry a river, call it rain by rheawrites. 2.6k, E, modern au. jgy kidnaps xichen. that’s it. that’s the fic. i love it

qinghe triptych by bloodletter. E, 3 part series, canonverse mostly nieyao but part three is sangyao and mosang. 40k total. a three-part examination on the qinghe trio and a three-part breaking of my heart. each fic is gutting and beautifully written and UGHHHHHH I DONT HAVE THE WORDS I JUST WANNA WAILLLLLL

there is the way the air feels by nenyanaryavilya. 9k, xiyao, modern au. E jgy visits lan xichen in his big lonely manhattan apartment. some FUCKED UP xiyao vibes that i love a lot, thanks. 

The Mountain Stood So Large by esperra. 16k, M, canonverse. very 3zun.  two weeks before nmj’s death, lxc and jgy take him on a night hunt. what follows is some light horror, a lot of hallucinations, and a character study on what it feels like to be unable to trust your own mind. 

Obligation by ilgaksu. 53k, rated M, 3zun at different points. canonverse. WIP. ON HIATUS a CUTTING jgy pov fic. non-linear timeline, but cuts across different points of canon. jgy is just a fucked up little man and it’s delightful to read. the prose is UTTERLY beautiful.

GETTIN DOWN WITH 3P (you can extrapolate what that means for urself)

Past Tense, Present Perfect by nonplussed. canonverse, around sunshot...? kind of a fix it fic. 6k, E. 3zun. 3zun get down to some fun roleplay and learn how to communicate with each other along the way! there’s a lot of fun identity stuff with this one. i am a sucker for dom jgy

softly by isozyme. E, 3.5k, canonverse. nieyao. jgy breaks nmj’s d*** for fun and profit. they’re so in love. that doesn’t make anything better. the vibes are terrible and i love it so much

études (in a minor key) by bigspoonnoya. E, 9k, modern au, xiyao with past (?) nieyao. jgy shows up on a repressed lan xichen’s doorstep one night saying that nmj broke up with him. lxc tries to comfort him and then he Comforts him ;) jgy is an absolute piece of shit here. i love it. the ending is GUT WRENCHING. part 3 of the series is also good!

half cloak & half dagger by fahye. 13k, E, canonverse. jgy and lxc are happily married but sometimes a gremlin has to scheme his way into a good bang, yknow???? its SO funny and the jgy pov is SO good

the notes on an old mistake by esperra. 26k, series. mostly nieyao but it turns into xiyao and 3zun. nmj and jgy are exes who end up sleeping together again... and again... and again..... if you love bad decisions you’ll love this series. jgy gets together with lan xichen and then ropes nmj into a terribly negotiated polycule.

ok thats all of them that i am brave enough to rec haha

[paradife-loft]

sms/jgy for the ship meme? (alt: also interested in thoughts on xueyao if you'd rather)

Mmm, boy, ok!

Suyao: so, unfortunately I think I have to go with “don’t ship” for this one...

1. Why don’t you ship it?

Gah, I feel like I don’t know how to answer this in a way that doesn’t make me sound hypocritical, but a decent part of it is that superior/subordinate ships mostly vary for me on a scale of “eh not my thing” to “nope nope nope squick”. I’m really not into (a majority of)* power differentials, and I feel like the way I read SMS buying into the class structure of their society, just tilts things in that direction for me. (Relatedly, I think “I’m happy or satisfied to die for your benefit” is likewise a not ship thing for me. Depending on the context. Idk, it’s complicated.)

2. What would’ve made you like it?

I mean frankly, I think if I were more emotionally invested in SMS (as opposed to intellectually invested in the part he plays in the story thematically), I’d be better able to pull out aspects of the ship I like despite having others I’m ehh about. And that’s partially down to framing, and what kind of time he & Moling Su get onscreen since he’s a minor character, and the way I personally end up reacting to like. Characters visibly being not as good at something as another person is, and also visibly/publicly upset/jealous/angry about it. So just - yeah, a different focus in a story that gives more of his POV in the manner of being his own multifaceted protagonist, can really help there? And/or, for that matter, a more hyperpersonal, erotic spin on the dynamic, for that matter :P Sometimes I’m shallow.

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

Yeah! I think there’s absolutely a lot to be said about the importance that each of them has to the other, and the way they function as partners in trying to be seen more respectably by a society stacked against them? I’m absolutely interested in what must have transpired in the early stages of their relationship becoming what we see by the end of canon, where SMS is so clearly trusted with these dirty, distasteful parts of JGY’s life that he doesn’t willingly let anyone else into, certainly not if he cares about their opinion of him and, y’know, wants to keep them alive.

Also, the parallels of JGY & SMS’s first meeting at Jinlintai, with the Xiyao interaction in CQL ep 4? Extremely good and crunchy.

-

Xueyao under the cut for length and alsooooo nsfw XD

1. What made you ship it?

Poooooorn :P Like, this is not a ship that I consider as “canon” for any worldstate I write in or ramble about as a general rule, but in ~pornland~ where characters get to fuck far more people and in far more contexts than I consider strictly likely in reality? Yes. Yes yes yes. I believe the instantiation of my shipping this had to do with a conversation with @veliseraptor where I ended up having Peak Gremlin Brain and saying something about how they should fuck on the murder table next to NMJ’s dead body?

Basically I just think they have a really hot push-and-pull relationship, and a-Yao deserves a whole lot of fucked up under-negotiated kink in hypothetical iterations of his life, ok XD

2. What are your favourite things about the ship?

See “fucked up under-negotiated kink” above :P Like, I am here for Xue Yang being the wonderful, hilarious, boundary-crossing id machine that he is, and for JGY getting pushed thoroughly out of his comfort zone into things he... enjoys?? for some definitions of the word “enjoy”? but is not really okay about in any capacity and would never in a million years end up doing in a more SSC/RACK way with er-ge.

And the material underpinning that, which relates to why I enjoy them in that context and think they work well in this sort of fantasy-based reality fork, is how they do seem to have this semi-playful dynamic once they’re in their own walled-off space, of a bit more indulgence than usual, and knowing each other differently than everyone else around them? Like, the walls JGY has to keep up are quite different from the ones he normally engages; and then I think there’s something appealing (at least for a little while) for Xue Yang of being in a rich family’s pocket, and having access to that level of material security-to-the-point-of-frivolity that he can just fuck with and never seriously have to worry about overstepping. It’s a very good circumstantial friendship that pokes at the edges of each of their vulnerabilities in society, and because of that allows a lot of really hot pushing at those vulnerabilities in a way they can’t elsewhere.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on this ship?

Mmmmm, shruuuugggg??? I have no idea, honestly. I guess on one hand, I’ve seen stuff that posits them knowing each other when they were younger / what if?, and that’s really not something I have any interest in? But idk if that’s popular, necessarily. Oh, I also see them both as very switchy with each other. And for that matter my general opinions on JGY Having Hella Sex And Touch Hangups also apply, as usual. But again, not sure if those are “unpopular” so much as “I vaguely remember seeing material that did the opposite at one point, and I disagreed with it” /shrug

[hamaon]

JGY or WWX?

I feel like a fair disclaimer to give before getting to Wei Wuxian is that I watched the Untamed despite, not because of, wangxian! I originally checked out the beginning of the animated series because someone I followed was getting into it, but I already had an inkling that the main romantic relationship in this romance wouldn’t be my cup of tea. The Untamed followed, more than half a year later, really only because I had hit the gorgeous soundtrack on youtube.

How I feel about this character Part of the reason I presumed I wouldn’t be into wangxian was because neither of the main players really spoke to me, and on this account I am happy to have been proven wrong! When I finished the show, Wei Wuxian was probably my favorite character. There's something very satisfying about a surface-level heroic main character hitting his absolute lowest points and starting to be actively harmful to himself and others. “This is all I’ve ever wanted for the class clown type of character”, I think I said at some point. Let it all burn.

I go back and forth on whether I find the flightier parts of his personality charming or annoying, but it’s a spectrum. The Untamed version is my favorite, character-wise.

All the people I ship romantically with this character Nie Huaisang, in the sense that, what with their roles in the plot, it would be fascinating to see how things would play out if this was the main romance, instead. Especially because romance would not be Nie Huaisang’s priority. What would the relationship trajectory even be, teenage sweethearts, ending with a definitive breakup by the finale? I've never sat down with the idea long enough to do anything with it, but sometimes it comes back to me. The main reason I'm into it is because hey, it's the main character & the main driving force behind the story! this is an intellectual puzzle to work out!, but they also had nice, easy chemistry when they were young and seemed to enjoy each other's company, which was something that was... not present in the actual main ship as far as I could see, and apparently my only kink is obvious mutual interest and stability in a relationship. I don't think they really had romantic/sexual chemistry in particular, but hey.

Wen Ning. I just think ningxian is cute. Also has lots of potential for difficult and uncomfortable exploration re: consent and autonomy.

But I think at the end of the day, the only relationship he has that just by the actual shape of it would be something I'd be interested in seeing turn into a romantic and/or sexual relationship is with Wen Qing, which, uh. Yeah. The fond push-and-pull, the two leaders, it’s good stuff. Just a physical relationship during their hunkering together time would be fun, too.

My non-romantic OTP for this character Jiang Cheng. I remember originally being pretty peeved about the fact that the romance (censored or not) is treated as the main focus when the Yunmeng duo is, to me, the real heart of the story. Let Lan Wangji be a supporting character.

I'm not sure if I really want a reconciliation between them, personally, but I want to note that it’s not because I think it would be fundamentally impossible, or because one or both of the characters is genuinely better off without the other. I think it would be very good for them if they managed some sort of genuine healing together!

I don’t want a reconciliation because thinking about their complete and total failure to communicate and consequently never making up makes me experience genuine agony in a very satisfying way. I have in the past gone into people's tags for the two of them and managed to work myself into a sobbing mess within five minutes. It is extremely cathartic.

My unpopular opinion about this character That time when he walks into a Jin party and starts throwing threats 3-2-1, part of me is going “fuck yeah” and part of me is looking at all the collateral damage servants trying to stay out of the way in the background, who never asked to be terrorized by this very powerful man. It’s not something that makes me dislike the character in any way or form, as stated before if anything it just makes him more interesting to me, I just don’t think that it was an uncomplicatedly ‘cool’ moment.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon The man should be actually responsible for his own misdeeds. I’ve heard people say that this was a censorship thing, but I have no sources on that.

And A-Yao gets to go under a read more.

How I feel about this character Continuing down the nostalgia lane, my initial reactions were “this man smiles very deliberately” and, towards the end, “man, fuck the gentry, you should get to win”.

I, hm. It feels sometimes like there are two kinds of opinions that fans have, and I don’t connect with either of them! There’s the “this character is an unrepentant asshole and I’m proud of that, you don’t need to make up sympathetic motivations for villains” which, while I agree that he can justify a lot to himself, just doesn’t ring true to me. I think that many of his actions were either forced by the circumstances, or understandable, or sympathetic and made with decent intentions, or not particularly bad compared to shit that other characters and their society as a whole gets to.

Obviously there are all these breakdowns about the specific acts of altruism that he does that in-universe are rare from someone that high up in power, and those are great, but even without all of that, he was a stable, peaceful, competent ruler who wasn’t doing any large-scale nasty shit after a series of complete nightmares on the throne, and upsetting that long-standing balance should bring about repercussions for several social classes that does more harm than anything he was individually doing at any point.

As for the other take, there’s the “oh no he’s so small and so cute and should be pampered so much” which I don’t... get, emotionally, and additionally it is reaaal hard for me to see the character as someone who either wants or would even particularly enjoy being the one being taken care of. Usually my response is-

There’s that part during Nie Mingjue’s capture in Empathy where he’s just, running the whole show? Like, on one hand it is very important that he’s probably the weakest person in the room, and might lose in a direct confrontation against even the random soldiers standing to the sides, and if he plays his cards wrong or even sub-optimally one of the two big strong cultivators in his vicinity is going to pulverize him, and also aware of all of this at all times and living in low-key terror. But also -- he pulled it off.

If I’m working myself toward some emotional response with “A-Yao small” it doesn’t end with “someone should hold him 🥺” but with “and doesn’t that just make it all the sweeter that he sat on that throne”. (I have two kinks, and the other one is power reversal.)

All the people I ship romantically with this character Only Lan Xichen, really, but there are some tentative side paths to take!

Qin Su, in that the initial attraction would be fun to explore, and then it becomes less about the relationship dynamic and more about the underlying horror.

Nie Huaisang, in a not-particularly-serious, one-sided, never-happened-and-now-it-never-will kind of way. The ideal would be Jin Guangyao thinking of Nie Huaisang as a tiring but cute little brother figure (he doesn't have those, all of his family relationships sans mom take a weird turn at some point! this one sure is about to!), while Nie Huaisang has a lil crush, and then it goes all the way to hell. ...And I know that I set “won’t happen” as a precondition, but I guess if there was a character who keeps the (fierce or not) corpse of the late Chief Cultivator close in an effort to feel alive post-canon, Nie Huaisang is the one I’d want for that role.

Jiang Cheng, because that family unit is so under-explored in canon, and because out of a handful of favorite characters these two are usually my number one, so watching them interact with each other can be fun just because of that. But in my heart of hearts I want Jiang Cheng to stay forever single by choice, and really I'm just here for platonic family shenanigans with Jin Ling. (I've written some of this, but out of everything it's probably the least likely to ever see the light of day.)

But really only Lan Xichen. When I was watching the early episodes and didn't remember the characters well and in my head these two were only “the disturbingly handsome older brother” and “a bit part soldier (lol) from some other sect” I really imprinted on that goodbye scene, like damn, look at these characters who are friendly with each other and showing obvious interest. It's only the circumstances that are getting in the way! If I were to ever read fic from this show, it would be these two. (This was all a counter-reaction to early wangxian haha.) But increasingly it goes to show that what I'm really into is people having mutual and mutually recognized affection for each other, the negotiated part in the relationship being less about whether it'll happen and more about how to go about it. More romances that start with getting together instead of ending there.

I am laughing at my past self here though, after actually finishing the show my thoughts on xiyao were that it was nice that it was both there and stable (until, you know) and unknowable, whatever the shape of their relationship in private they are aware of it and have made their peace with it, and that's all I need to know, and now I'm sitting here with several WIPs, wondering if this is what finally pushes me to start publishing fanfiction.

My non-romantic OTP for this character Lan Xichen. No, I’m not interested in a non-romantic* read on their relationship, yes, I just want him here, too.

Also, the only other relationships of note here are with Meng Shi, Jin Ling and Qin Su, and using ‘non-romantic OTP’ for any of those feels off to me. Meng Shi and Jin Ling are at too much of an uneven level, Qin Su doesn’t reach OTP levels even if the romantic filter is off. Su Minshan and Xue Yang might be a better fit, but again, OTP level is too high. Early-canon Nie Huaisang... maybe.

*non-sexual is fine. never officially getting together w/mutual acknowledgement is fine.

My unpopular opinion about this character I think I already went off, so. The hat is fine, and the hate sounds performative and weirdly ignorant at times. I don't love the Untamed version, but it’s fine and the ones in other adaptations are fantastic, even. The warm yellow-brown combination looks really nice. More of the characters should wear hats, actually! Which I realize is an opinion influenced by historical Japanese and Korean dramas, which are of a different genre altogether (also not Chinese, but hats in official settings are a constant in all of these cultures). Nevertheless.

I wish it was used only post-timeskip in the Untamed, too, though, for more variety in costuming and to further differentiate the pre- and post-timeskip versions of the character.

...................................and a specific xiyao pet peeve also: I am becoming increasingly wary of the... either super common or I just happen to keep finding these, take where he’s some sort of unwilling/particularly hesitant participant in this relationship. Like I went back to watch parts of episode 4 (to figure out why it was that I was so sure Meng Yao would be swinging a sword around in future episodes and my conclusion is: because everyone else was swinging theirs) and even the initial interactions in the goodbye scene are like-

Meng Yao literally runs up to a guy waaay out of his league like “Hello I am bringing myself Forth because I have the audacity to assume you might Personally Want to Know that I am leaving and here are some pretty personal reasons why (gosh you really are lovely)”

Reactions I’ve seen to this: look at the little dude running away from his emotions

Me: w h a t

And then the natural conclusion here is that Lan Xichen is there to love him (with his dick and/or sunny personality) until he’s forced to accept it [serene face emoji] and it makes me. Not enjoy it much.

Ofc this doesn’t include normal human hesitations one might have about... anything and everything in life, really, but when it’s treated like this automatic character/relationship hurdle I’m just hhhh

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon I'm pretty satisfied with things as they stand? Just like the relationship between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian makes me feel cathartic agony, Jin Guangyao's fate makes me feel cathartic rage. Look at the low-born bastard child go down the stairs of life, one last time!

......Sometimes I have my weak moments and do wish he had gotten away in the end, though.

[drwcn]

I can’t wait for more of your discordance au, I’m a sucker for angsty wangxian! I’m actually really curious about what’s going on with Lan Xichen the whole time he’s gone. Is he recovering for all that time or is there some political plot he needs to take care of? I saw that courtesan Meng Yao tag too which makes me even more intrigued 👀👀👀

Awww you guys >:) Thank you so much for the encouragement. 

Unfortunately, Xichen and Huaisang are not a pair. The hidden agenda of this fic is xiyao (lol sorrah), and I know people tend to feel either YAY or NAY about xiyao so I’ve totally separated the wangixan and xiyao part. You can read one without the other and it wouldn’t make much of a difference at all. At best Meng Yao is mentioned in end of the later wangxian parts once or twice. 

I love Xiyao because I think it’s full of possibilities. Obviously canon!xiyao is tragic and problematic af, but this is an au, so... I do ...what I...want? Meng Yao in this au is his own worst nightmare - a courtesan, and Zewu-jun is the handsome polite gentlemanly amnesiac he saves. 

Below cut are more reasons why Lan Qiren longs for the sweet release of an early qi deviation (arc synopsis of lan xichen & meng yao’s half of the story). 

Lan Xichen’s Arc: where politics turned deadly.

Well, just because Wen Ruohan isn’t a thing doesn’t meant the Yin Irons aren’t a thing. Is there political bullshit waiting to happen? Absolutely. Except our protagonists are proactive this time. 

For months, both Qinghe and Gusu have been getting reports of strange sightings along their Lanling borders. NMJ and LXC have been investigating, and they suspect that JGS may have had something to do with it. Prior to Lan Xichen’s disappearance, he was getting close to finding out the truth. 

What happened was this: 

Xue Yang (who will exist solely in other people’s narration) had killed the Changs and taken a piece of the Yin Iron. Upon capture, XXC and SL (both alive and well and doing their own thing) delivered him to the Chief Cultivator, thinking justice has been served. (Lol. no.). Once JGS got his hands on one of those, he began to plan world domination bad things with it and shit started acting fucky right away, eliciting the suspicion and subsequent investigations of the Lans and Nies. 

Jin Guangshan does wonder how his secrets are being leaked, but he doesn’t get to find out until the end. 

Lan Xichen, on his part, is fairly sure of what’s been causing the appearances of these so called “fierce corpses”. He knows about Lan Yi’s barrier in the Cold Cave, and suspects someone has gotten their hands on a piece of the Yin Iron. Both he and Nie Mingjue suspect Jin Guangshan, and have been quietly collecting proof. 

Jin Guangshan, not about to be defeated so easily, sets up a trap and ambushes Lan Xichen during one of his investigations. LXC was in “plain clothes” as part of the investigation, because it’s dumb to go around investigating dressed as the Sect Leader of Gusu Lan, but during the ambush, Lan Xichen loses Liebing and Shuoyue in the process.  The only thing he has on him is Shuoyue’s sheath when he is found by Meng Yao. 

When Lan Xichen wakes up, he doesn’t remember anything or who he is. He sees a pretty young man who introduces himself as Lianfang. Lan Xichen was wearing blue when he was found, so “Liangfang” calls hims A-Lan. 

Meng Yao’s tragic back story that’s actually tragic:

The bullshit - er, the story - as always, starts with Meng Yao getting kicked down the steps at Jinlintai by his Ho™ of a dad Jin Guangshan. In this universe, Jin Guangshan isn’t just a rich powerful Sect Leader, but also the Chief Cultivator. If anything, he has more reason than ever to make sure Meng Yao isn’t around to besmirch his good name (not that he has any good name to bismirch).

Claiming Meng Yao to be a liar, Jin Guangshan ordered his goons to have Meng Yao “taken care of”, but before that could happen, Madam Jin had come out to see what was the commotion. This was Zixuan’s birthday celebration after all, everything had to be perfect. 

What she saw certainly enraged her, but her husband was about to kill a boy, possibly his own son, spill blood on their son’s day of birth celebration. Such cosmic bad karma she couldn’t possibly accept. “You don’t have to kill him, you absolute buffoon, just make sure he never comes back here!” 

She meant buy his silence with money but Jin Guangshan had a more permanent solution.

Before the day’s out, Meng Yao was sold to a brothel, and was told “that’s where you belong”.  Once, perhaps, he had dreamed about gaining the love of his father, but no longer. Now he simply wants his father ruined and dismembered. 

But first he has to live. 

The madam of the brothel had a keen eye for “good merchandise”, and one good look at young Meng Yao with those big eyes, delicate frame and dimples and she knew she could make big bucks off of him. 

(And before anyone asks how old MY is here, the answer is: young. One of the many reasons why I would personally like to volunteer to stab JGS until it looks like he’s been cursed with the Thousand Holes Curse.) 

The first couple of years were decidedly grim for MY. He was kept away from customers (mercifully), but he was a brutally trained in the art of dance and music. They kept him fed enough to dance but not too much to “ruin his figure”. His instructors quickly found that the youth was a quick study and got up no matter how many times he was trampled on (literally and metaphorically). It was no secret that life was gruesome, but Meng Yao survived. Meng Yao made his debut. Meng Yao became famous.

The establishment where he made his debut renamed him Lianfang - to collect/gather fragrance - and so from then on, he became Lianfang-gongzi. Soon, his art (and other stuff) caught the eye of an obliging patron who purchased him from the madam. 

The patron, by all accounts, was a brute of man who had more appreciation for the liquor in his cup than the arts, but he was a cultivator, wealthy enough, connected to many other cultivator gentry familiues, and most importantly, led a subsidiary clan of the Chief Cultivator. As his prized courtesan and dancer, Meng Yao served at his whim, entertained at his parties and made happy his friends, all of whom were practicing cultivators or at the very least connected to the cultivation realm. 

Our evil gremlin would not be our evil gremlin if he didn’t make the best of every situation. Meng Yao quickly discovered that not only was he particularly talented at getting people to divulge information to him, but that men were significantly uninhibited after sex and alcohol. Armed with a sweet face, an eidetic memory, and a hate inside him that longed to see Jin Guangshan severed limp by limp, he began his revenge plot. 

(Here, I took inspiration from Nirvana in Fire’s character Princess Xuanji of the fallen Hua kingdom who was sold into servitude but established Hong’xiu’zhao, a spy network of girls/women who either worked as courtesans or secondary spouses of noblemen. Her goal was to create chaos and dissension within the royal court and government, like mites eating away at a large tree from within.) 

Meng Yao amassed an enormous amount of intels on gentry families and evidences of the many underhanded conducts of the Chief Cultivator himself. He did this through his own work and through the other women working in his network, all of whom have been wrongfully aggrieved in some way. He promised them that one day he would help them to freedom. 

For five years he’s been collecting secrets of gentry families, and had been stirring discord for three, weakening their cohesiveness, and using their growing animosity to weaken Jin Guangshan’s control on his subordinates. Naturally, Meng Yao heard about Xue Yang and the Yin Iron. It was also him who had been drawing attention to it for the other major sects. 

Meng Yao doesn’t know Lan Xichen is the Sect Master of Gusu Lan, but he has no interest in hurting a man from nowhere. “You can stay here with me until you are better. After that, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to be on your way.”

Physically Lan Xichen recovered quickly, but when it was clear his memories wouldn’t be coming back, Meng Yao allowed him to stay. 

The rest, as they say, is history. 

~

Meng Yao has been Lianfang, been the famed courtesan, for longer than he cares to remember. He’s been had, used, and passed around by so many men that their faces are just blurried sillouettes in his memory. And yet, he’s never felt for a moment that he belonged to any of them, not even his patron, who possessed his contract and could resell him back to a lesser establishment and ruin him in a heartbeat. 

But when A-Lan held him in his eyes, warm and dark like a summer’s night, without judgement or expectations, only gentle sweetness and a fond regard, Meng Yao could almost pretend he was just A-Yao, the name whispered reverently by those soft lips. The hand that held his moved to stroke his cheek, almost shy, and Meng Yao realized with a fearful pang that if this man from nowhere with nothing were to ask, Meng Yao could most definitely become his. 

The thought scared him more than he was willing to admit. 

~

The message delivered by the pigeon was clear. Meng Yao crumbled the slip of paper in his hand, then set it aflame in the candlelight. 

The man who’s been living with him for the past four months, who he knew as A-Lan, who he trusted enough to take to bed, was the Sect Master of Gusu Lan: Lan Huan, Lan Xichen.

Zewu-jun.  

Everyone, even a non-cultivator such as himself, has heard of Gusu’s Wei Wuxian, Lan Xichen’s young widower, left alone after not even six months of marriage. 

But if even he wasn’t married, Lan Xichen could never accept him as he was, no matter now much his personal desire wanted him. 

His hands shook. He balled them into fists. 

Meng Yao should’ve known... he should’ve known it was too good to be true. 

No matter, he told himself. This too, is an opportunity, perhaps the only one I will ever have. I will use it to destroy Jin Guangshan once and for all. 

~

Lan Xichen made his way to the window, and gazed out into the courtyard where A-Yao was reading under the willow tree. 

You should go home, a voice inside him said. Go home to relief Wangji of his burden, to release Wuxian from his mourning. Go back to the seat of Sect Master and the responsibilities waiting for you. 

One more day, another voice fought back. Just one more day. 

He doesn’t leave for another month. 

[xiyao-feels]

I'm so confused. can jgy reincarnate or be resurrected? I know fanfic can take liberties but I've read conflicting things. plus the untamed didn't show his body or explain anything and I believe the novel says something else entirely? 😔🥺😕

So "can JGY reincarnate or be resurrected" is not a question I can really properly answer. My understanding is that the answer is yes if he's not stuck in the coffin (and a friend of mine has read a bunch of Chinese fic, albeit through Google translate, where stuff like that does in fact happen), but I'm not confident I'd know it if the answer were no! So I'm afraid I can't really help you there, I'm sorry. This is normally where I'd link you stuff from people who know more than I do but while I know I've seen stuff on the subject apparently I didn't save it, and I couldn't find anything relevant searching, either. That'll teach me not to save my links...

But I can show you what happened to JGY in MDZS, and then contrast with CQL! Let's go.

So, end of ch. 108, JGY pushes LXC away from the coffin and NMJ (not, note, out of the temple, which isn't crumbling!) and then NMJ immediately drags him into the coffin and kills him:

Yet, just as the hand was an instant from grasping Lan XiChen’s neck, Jin GuangYao used the only hand he had left to strike Lan XiChen’s chest, pushing Lan XiChen away.

He, himself, on the other hand, was dragged into the coffin by Nie MingJue, then held up like holding a puppet. The scene was beyond frightening. Jin GuangYao used his one hand to peel away at Nie MingJue’s steel-like palm. He struggled ceaselessly from the pain, hair tangled, as heavy malice shot from his eyes. He cursed with all the energy he had left, “Fuck you, Nie MingJue! You think I’m really scared of you?! I…”

With much difficulty, he coughed up some blood. Everyone present heard a crack that was abnormally clear and brutal.

A whimper of a last breath left Jin GuangYao’s throat.

There's a last short couple of sentences about JL's reaction, and then at the beginning of 109 you immediately have:

Lan XiChen staggered a few steps back from the push. He hadn’t realized what happened yet. Meanwhile, Lan WangJi struck the back of the fair-featured Guanyin statue at the center of the temple. The statue vibrated as it flew towards the coffin. Nie MingJue was still inspecting the corpse in his hand, the head had already dipped. As the heavy statue hit him, he fell right back where he’d been.

Wei WuXian leaped over and stepped onto the Guanyin’s chest. The coffin lid had broken already. They could only use the Guanyin statue as a lid to seal away Nie MingJue and his rampage. Down below, Nie MingJue struck the statue again and again in attempt to break free, while Wei WuXian also shook again and again, reeling so much he was almost thrown off.

And then LWJ lifts the coffin up, seals it with seven quqin strings and lets it fall again to the ground.

Then for the rest of chapter 109 and the beginning of 110, LXC and then WWX ask NHS some questions, after which:

After a while of silence, Wei WuXian spoke, “Let’s stop standing around for nothing. Get a few people to go find assistance. Save a few to stand by here and watch the thing. The coffin and the guqin strings won’t be able to seal ChiFeng-Zun for long.”

As though to verify his judgement, loud noises echoed within the coffin again, along with a nameless fury. Nie HuaiSang shivered. Wei WuXian glanced at him, “You see? You have to switch to a firmer coffin right now, dig a deep ditch, and bury it once more. You won’t be able to open it in at least a hundred years. If you do, it’s guaranteed it’ll continue to haunt, resulting in endless consequences…”

Right after this, the crowd comes pouring in. Some of them do indeed work on strengthening the seal; we're also told that it requires careful handling (which is why it's a few of the sect leaders who volunteer to handle it), and WWX anticipates the near future of the coffin:

Soon, this coffin would be sealed within a larger, firmer coffin. It’d be secured with seventy-two mahogany nails and buried deep underground, sealed under some mountain with stone tablets of warning.

Then we see some sect leaders carrying it outside the temple, and later LQR watches it be hauled onto a cart.

The next we hear of it is in overheard rumour in ch 113, three months later:

Someone switched the subject, “Enough, enough. Why talk about these things? Eat up, eat up No matter how powerful that Jin GuangYao used to be, right now he could be stuck in a coffin brawling with Nie MingJue.”

“I don’t think so. They loathe each other to the core, after all. I bet his bones have already been torn apart by Nie MingJue.”

“Indeed! I went to the sealing ceremony. The resentful energy in that coffin was so strong that no life grew within five hundred feet of it. I’m doubting it, really—could the coffin really seal them for a hundred years?”

Overheard rumour is not the most reliable of things, especially in MDZS—for example, I would not be surprised if it wasn't really five hundred feet. But it gives any sense, and certainly—as WWX indicated above—the coffin is /meant/ to seal them for a hundred years. (Though I have my doubts on this actually working; see here.)

Now let's look at CQL:

After JGY breaks the seal on the coffin, the blood drops onto the Tiger Seal, and resentful energy emerges and the temple starts to crumple; pretty much everyone but wangxian and xiyao flee the temple. LXC lifts his hand to push JGY away, but can't bring himself to do it; JGY asks him to stay and die with him, and he agrees. JGY then pushed him away to save his life, and wangxian catch him and LWJ brings him out of the temple to make sure he actually leaves insead of e.g. running right back in to die with JGY. WWX stays and watches a little; we see JGY turn and confront the resentful energy: "Nie Mingjue. Do you think I will be afraid of you?" The temple continues to collapse, WWX flees, and JGY runs towards the coffin.

(I'm having a hard time with the blocking on this one, I watched it a few times and it looks like they are a) immediately over the coffin when JGY bleeds on it and then immediately after they're...not? Despite not moving??? But the above is what I think is supposed to be going on.)

They're then sitting around in the courtyard outside. They seem to have been sitting around for a while even before WWX's wound heals (not a feature in MDZS, because in MDZS MXY's revenge didn't include JGY); it seems likely that JGY died before that, I think, but that's at least an end point. After this the cultivators rush into the courtyard. Now we finally get people going into the temple again, but there doesn't seem to be any sign or mention of sealing. I thought I remembered mention if a ceremony of some sort, but I can't find it in the rest of the episode and a friend doesn't remember it at all so I think it's pretty likely I was just misremembering/crossing it with MDZS.

But basically: in MDZS, they seal them together /immediately/ after JGY dies, and they proceed very quickly to a stronger, more permanent seal. In CQL, there's no sign of any of this at all! It seems quite plausible that they're not buried together, never mind sealed together. And regardless, it couldn't have happened nearly as immediately; JGY's spirit could have time to flee the coop.

It's also worth remembering that in MDZS when they seal the coffin at the end, it's to immediately deal with /fierce corpse NMJ/, who otherwise would be an extremely powerful, extraordinarily dangerous fierce corpse, made even worse—as WWX notes in ch 107—by having killed JGY.* In CQL it looks like the problem is more the Tiger Seal, I think? And it's not like they need to immediately seal it into the coffin which JGY is also in? It's not even clear that JGY's body actually ends up in the coffin, from what I can see. As far as I can tell there's not really any reason to believe they're buried together. If I had to guess (though I didn't rewatch all relevant scenes, or even all the temple scenes, and I could easily be missing something) I'd say NMJ might be going back to Honourable Burial Nie Land, and JGY's corpse....

Hmmm. That's kind of interesting, come to think of it. If it hasn't mysteriously vanished I'm not sure what would happen to it; I'm inclined to say it wouldn't be treated well except LXC is right there and he might like. Stab someone, honestly. If it /has/ mysteriously vanished—I just might change my mind about CQL LXC killing himself.** In Which a Twin Jade obsessively searches the world for their loved one because there's the possibility they might not be dead, huh.

*"After he killed Jin GuangYao, his killing intent would definitely become stronger, and he’d be more difficult to subdue!"

**I don't think this is the impression CQL as a whole is trying to give us, to be clear, it's just what I think happened.

[possiblydistasteful]

xiyao for the ship meme :D and if you feel like doing another, i'm curious about chengxian

Xiyao well YEAH uh am VERY into it. SPOILERS BELOW for anyone still halfway through the show.  

1. What made you ship it?

I think their first meeting in cql had me raising eyebrows but it wasn’t until later when the extent of jgy’s crimes were coming to light that I was like OH... oh YES this is for me. The finale cemented it for me though, I have a friend whose main ship THING ends up being murder suicide and I guess that rubbed off on me lol. 

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

It’s the tragedy luvs. Cql re-arranging the story so it’s told in order kind of messes with some of the mystery elements and jgy’s villainy reveal being near the end I think does a disservice to his character BUT having the coffin town arc right near the end makes the parallels between xue yang/xiao xingchen and jin guangyao/lan xichen’s relationships that much more apparent. The desperation to be understood vs incompatible moral frameworks compounded by class issues is PEAK tragedy. I’m also not finished the novel so my feelings on them are almost entirely based on cql canon but holy shit that scene at the end where jgy sort of cruelly throws out “Die with me” and Lan Xichen pauses and then closes his eyes and just ACCEPTS IT? It’s the “I can’t live without you but I can’t live with the things you’ve done” that does it for me. I swear I used to be such an angst fan as a teenager but in my early 20s I tended to gravitate more towards friends to lovers.... this show has brought all my passion for misery back lol. I could say 10000 other things here but I think I’ve covered the basics and everything else I could say would just be me expanding on everything I’ve already said. 

(Okay one more thing... Lan Xichen haunted and desperately begging NHS for the truth... did JGY move against him?? And he seems so torn because if JGY never cared about him and was willing to try and kill him then he wouldn’t have to feel guilty for killing him. ON THE OTHER HAND that would mean that JGY didn’t love him and that their relationship was a lie, or if he did love him, his goals were more important than his feelings for LXC and watching him try and DEAL with the consequences of either is DELICIOUS)

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I’m on desktop so I can’t insert a grimace emoji but... yeah I have a LOT of unpopular opinions about this ship. This is NOT a dunk on anyone who likes this ship differently than I do, and I want to be clear I respect everyone’s unique interpretations. 

That being said: one thing I have seen a lot is ‘Lan Xichen was the only person to understand and accept Jin Guangyao/Meng Yao’ and I don’t think that was the case. For one, LXC only ever saw what JGY wanted him to, so his understanding of JGY was based on half truths and omissions. I absolutely think that he loved him, and that JGY allowed him to see some of what he was, but until the ending, LXC never got a complete picture and when he finally did, he rejected him. LXC was unable to accept that the things JGY did were ‘necessary evils’ and he was horrified by what he saw. In contrast, both Su Minshan and Xue Yang not only knew all of JGY, but actively accepted and worked with him.  My only other major unpopular opinion is that I don’t really ship 3zun, or at least the way I ship it is a lot more antagonistic than most art and fic I see depicting it because given the timeline of the relationships I just can’t see there being much time were 2/3rds of the trio were not trying to kill each other (which is totally hot imho but not really what I see much of when I see 3zun).  AGAIN, I am absolutely not throwing shade or trying to bum anyone out. Please keep doing your thing and having fun!! Chengxian. Oh Absolutely yes 100%. Onesided? Mutual? A mix of both? Yes please. 

1. What made you ship it?

Honestly I think it was the same moment for me as it was for you, the scenes in the Guanyin temple. But building up to that... the scenes where Jiang Cheng finds out that his golden core is actually Wei Wuxian’s and it just BREAKS him.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

This ship has everything: childhood friends to enemies to lovers, attempted murder, betrayal, possessiveness, incest undertones without even being related. I love the whole “We made a promise during simpler times that we’d always be there for each other but now everything is so much more complicated and I’m angry about it but instead of being angry at the situation I can do nothing about, I will direct my anger at YOU” and there is a LOT that can be said about like... how JC sees WWX as a ‘safe’ person to lash out against because WWX does love and care for him and I think he knows that it won’t make WWX hate him. And that’s not even TOUCHING on the “You were supposed to be a loyal servant to me like your father was to my father” angle. OR the what does brotherhood even mean in this circumstance especially considering how we were raised together OR the jealousy because my dad was nicer to you angle. 

Oh also like I KNOOOOW that WWX’s first kiss is technically canonically with LWJ during that night hunt BUT ummm canon is a liar sometimes because COME ON there is absolutely no way WWX wasn’t getting into trouble sneaking off to make out with the other disciples in the broom closet. Anyways with that in mind there is no way that wwx wasn’t jc’s first kiss like COME ON. 14 year old JC embarrassed he’s never kissed a girl before, WWX like “lol it’s easy I’ll show you how” I mean SERIOUSLY PLEASE. And then JC held on to that for the next decade+.  OH ALSO don’t get me started on the “I’m so mad about everything that went down I’m going to torture and kill anyone who might be you or might be a follower of yours.” It’s the pinnacle of fucked up romantic jealousy and aggression and I love to see it. (I would also very much like to see a post-canon fic where WWX is like “lol that sounds hot, you wanna do it, minus the murder bit?” and JC’s brain shatters into 1000 horny pieces.) 

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

My unpopular opinion is that there is not enough of it tbh (also idk if it’s unpopular or not but I imagine it would be... would love to see the pseudo-incest angle leaned into a little more. I wouldn’t even consider myself an incest shipper but it just WORKS for this ship). 

SORRY TO MY DASH FOR THE LONG POST, I have a LOT of feelings about stuff whoops. 

[butterflydm]

The Untamed Rewatch (ep 4)

Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode

aka Rules, Rules, Rules

things that stood out this rewatch under the read more (spoilers for entire series; mostly drama only as I haven't read the novel translation yet and only know what I've seen bouncing around online):

We start off with Wei Wuxian running off so as not to miss the greeting ceremony (the 'salute' I think it was called in the tencent translation). We get a lot of sort of subtle (well, until we get to the Wens) introductions to character and relationship interactions and also to the general atmosphere of Gusu. They have… a lot of rules. Some people really thrive on rules and structure and some people, well, don't. The trouble with WWX and the The Rules is that he already has his own moral center in place that conflicts with the rules. He grew up under a very different set of rules and — from what some of the characters says — he was in a complicated situation of being both privileged and favored while at the same time reminded that he was considered not on the same level as Jiang Cheng. Regardless, very different type of rules than the ones in place at Gusu.

Our introduction to Nie Huaisang and Meng Yao is actually fairly sad in retrospect, in that it contains some narrative irony — first of all, that they came together (because Meng Yao is working as the 'vice envoy' for the Nie clan, I believe it says?). And they're just both so young here and things could have gone so differently. Nie Huaisang is also introduced breaking the rules by bringing in his little bird. 

I absolutely did NOT figure out that Nie Huaisang was the fan guy from episode one in my first viewing, btw. I think I didn't realize it until we were way back into the present timeline. I have a ton of love for him, though, which I touched on in my very first post — he's smart and a good liar who knows his own strengths and weaknesses. He had an incredibly weak hand of cards at the start of his revenge play and so it took him time but he figured out how to get justice for his brother even against the person who was, literally, in the strongest position in the cultivation world. Five stars, very impressed. 

As much as I love Nie Huiasang, I also genuinely love Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao. He's interesting and complicated and we see enough of what hurt him that I do understand why he behaves the way he does (as I understand it, it's even more morally grey in the novel, which I'm looking forward to seeing when I read the translation). I certainly don't blame any of his victims for taking revenge against him, but wow, what a fascinating person. 

I think it's the last flashback we get of him, after Jin Guangshan had him thrown off the tower steps, where we see him in obvious pain but still forcing himself to stand up, smile, and bow towards the person who just had him hurt… I think of that moment every time I see him now, honestly. And he is just such a person of extremes and powerful emotions and yet his mask is always on so tightly that we only ever get glimpses of what he's really feeling underneath it. While WWX can appear lawless to people like Lan Qiren but actually does have a strong sense of right and wrong (whether or not he always lives up to it, he tries), JGY genuinely is willing to throw any and all moral rules away in an attempt to protect and advance himself. So he mirrors and contrasts against both of the leading men.

Of course, this is also the beginning of something I found myself tragically shipping over the course of The Untamed. Ah, XiYao. Meng Yao does some terrible things over the course of the story. For someone who comes across as self-effacing, he actually has a fierce ability to hold grudges and extract revenge for slights against him. 

But his introduction here is very sympathetic, as we hear some students gossiping about him (quieted by Lan Qiren) and then see Lan Xichen step forward to publicly praise him in an attempt to lessen the impact of the gossip. There's some significant eye contact and subtle touching and I am weak. And we know that Meng Yao does latch onto Lan Xichen here in a way that he does with literally no other character, in that this is the one person he isn't willing to sacrifice for his own reputation and life. It's not a hugely healthy relationship, on both sides, but it is very interesting.

The whole Wen incursion here is, I believe, a drama-only thing? As I understand it, a large part of what the drama does is try to set things up early to give the central characters more time to know each other (and, also, More Romance with literally everyone which, as a romance fan, I do not object to). So, we're introduced to the Wens bullying their way into the lessons (though I'm not sure we see Wen Qing actually attend a single lesson? I will keep an eye out; I actually don't remember how many lessons we end up seeing) in the middle of the ceremony. They use this scene both to show Wen Chao's behavior but also to set up his dislike of Wei Wuxian early because WWX is, of course, the person who stands against Wen Chao directly and challenges him. This is the first chance that Jin Zixuan would have to notice that WWX is Just Like That in general, rather than being like that specifically with him, but it's a distracting enough moment that I will not blame him for probably not noticing.

Things during the face-off that stood out to me in particular:

    I think they do a good job characterizing Wen Chao as a realistic bully — when he has power, he abuses it, but when he's powerless later on, we see him being petulant and pitiful (and still demanding). He's a bully in part because he knows he can get away with it because of his father's power.

    Lan Wangji wants to Fight but looks to his brother and listens when his brother indicates that he should refrain. Young Lan Wangji is just Ready To Fight at all times, but he's also very obedient to his elder brother.

    In contrast to this and not for the last time, Wei Wuxian jumps in to verbally spar against someone without ever looking at Jiang Wanyin to get permission. Though WWX's relationship with Jiang Wanyin is complicated in ways that Lan Wangji's isn't with his own brother. Lan Xichen is both sect leader and the eldest, while WWX is, I think, older than Jiang Wanyin (he's definitely the 'elder disciple'). But it does hint that their plan for the future, where WWX was Jiang Cheng's second in command, was never going to work long-term. Their personalities and their established relationship both work against that plan. WWX is a natural leader; we see him take point and take command over and over in the course of the series. When he believes he sees the right thing to do, he just does it. He doesn't ask permission first. When the Wens draw swords, WWX is the first one to draw in return and the others who do follow his lead, including Jiang Wanyin. And WWX does, I think, instinctively think of Jiang Cheng as his 'little brother' that ultimately he needs to protect for that reason, which is a different kind of protection that you would do for your leader.

One of the Jiang disciples who draws a sword is a woman. We don't get as many female disciples/cultivators as we do men but they are there and there are some important ones. Though none that I can think of in the present timeline, as opposed to the past one, apart from briefly seeing MianMian again. I will keep a look out when we get back to the present.

    Meng Yao shields Nie Huaisang similarly to how Jiang Cheng shields Jiang Yanli (though Meng Yao doesn't have a sword). It really must have been devastating for Nie Huaisang to realize that Jin Guangyao killed his brother, because Nie Huaisang did have reasons to trust him and believe he was 'like family' in a similar way to how Wei Wuxian was family to the Jiang clan.

    Wen Qing seems more like she's holding Wen Ning back than she's shielding him. It's interesting. It might be part of her playing cool in front of Wen Chao. Not certain. We haven't gotten to see Wen Ning's personality much so far, except that he's relatively timid.

    They make a point of showing us how impressed Meng Yao is with Lan Xichen playing to diffuse the situation and disarm everyone.

I love this dynamic. We only really get it for a short time, considering, but Nie Huaisang's open admiration of WWX does set up some positive ulterior motives for him wanting to bring back WWX specifically to help him get revenge on his brother. Not just that he believes WWX to be the most capable but also that, though he might never have said it openly, but perhaps he believes that WWX deserved a second chance at life. And poor long-suffering Jiang Wanyin, who knows — just knows! — that having an admirer probably means WWX will get into even more trouble than he would have otherwise.

And, you know, that's probably true.

Meng Yao is literally just waiting around for Lan Xichen to get out of his meeting with Lan Qiren so that he can say goodbye to him specifically (the meeting had a lot of plot stuff, but some good characterization in showing that Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren are wary about Wen clan's intentions but determined to hold to their own standards and ideals anyway).  

So, this tiny tiny smile of Meng Yao's that we see him have right before he heads over to say goodbye to Lan Xichen is probably about a thousand times more sincere than all the big dimpled smiles we get later. No one is looking at him yet, he's just smiling because he's glad he has a chance to say goodbye to this one specific person who publicly singled him out as worthy despite what the gossiping people were saying. I think that it happened in public actually meant a great deal to Meng Yao? WWX is kind to him later on, in the Unclean Realm, but that's in private and it doesn't seem to have the same kind of emotional impact. Meng Yao's reputation means so much to him, so LXC openly stating Meng Yao's worth in front of the entire group of students and Lan Qiren is something that not only affects him personally but something that can positively affect his reputation as well, which means it affects him personally even more than it would otherwise.

At the end of this conversation, Meng Yao bows deeply to Lan Xichen and Lan Xichen doesn't only stop him from doing it, but directly calls them peers. And it's hard for Meng Yao to leave! Once he turns away from Lan Xichen, we can see in his face that it's difficult. And, of course, there's the lingering touch that comes for my life. The Lan brothers and their silent heartbreaks, I swear.

(why am I like this, honestly? This is like me getting into Steven Universe because I saw Garnet's "Stronger Than You" and then ending up having my heart repeatedly ripped in two by the tragedy of Pearl and Rose; and, like, I adore Rupphire. But sometimes my heart just wants a tragedy between two people who just didn't quite know the right ways to love each other, I guess!)

So! (and this is just rampant speculation that I will never get answers on because, again, I believe none of this is in the novel but) I wonder how long Meng Yao was originally planning on staying? Because Lan Xichen is surprised he's leaving so soon, and he'd had a seat right behind Nie Huaisang at the greeting ceremeny, so it seems like him leaving immediately was more prompted by his realization that even in the Cloud Recesses, he wasn't going to be able to escape the whispers about his parentage. In the drama, they mostly likely just wanted to introduce him to the audience and to Lan Xichen, but he didn't fit into the other plans they had for this section of the story, so they had him head off, but internal to the character and not taking the behind the scenes stuff into account, it seems like he was planning on staying longer, initially.

WWX and Nie Huaisang's scene together is adorable, and it's super-cute to see them having such innocent fun times. It does contrast strongly against WWX's scene right after with Wen Qing. He plays the fool with her, but it is obvious play-acting and not true light-heartedness the way it was with Nie Huaisang moments earlier. So we get to see two sides of WWX there, the genuine playfulness and the pretend playfulness as he tries to figure out what Wen Qing is doing. There's a lot of subtle things going on with the facial acting that makes it clear when he's being genuine and when he's playing pretend that I enjoy.

Now it's the night of that same day, and Jiang Yanli has made soup for her brothers. I'm trying to remember if we ever actually see Jiang Yanli eat, because I know she doesn't eat anything here (theory: she eats while she's cooking and thus is full when it comes time to actually sit down for the meal? my mom does that sometimes when she's done a lot of cooking). I'm going to keep an eye on that because I'm genuinely curious. Jiang Cheng is stressing out over WWX, again, because it's pretty much his self-appointed job tbh. Jiang Yanli just wants him to chill and accept that WWX is WWX. 

Another thing Jiang Cheng says here is something that resonates through his storyline with WWX: when will WWX take Yunmeng's Jiang clan into consideration? That's the tension line between WWX and Jiang Cheng for large parts of their flashback plotline together — Jiang Cheng wants WWX to be devoted to Jiang clan, but WWX keeps considering other things to be just as important. Because WWX doesn't ever treat Jiang clan as unimportant but he doesn't always treat it as the most important. And, to Jiang Cheng, it is absolutely the most important thing. Which makes perfect sense for him to feel, as he's the heir, so he has to consider the future of the clan and weigh it against the risks of acting. We see Lan Xichen do the same — he has to think about the politics, the optics of the situation. And that's something that WWX rarely thinks about ahead of time or, if he does, it's to scorn the idea that the optics should matter.

When Jiang Yanli points out that WWX's behavior actually fits their clan history and motto, this takes us to another puzzle piece of that tension — Jiang Cheng's jealousy. Here, it's not so bad. It comes and goes, depending on the situation. But WWX is naturally talented and also lives up to the clan's motto effortlessly, so again it's very understandable that Jiang Cheng feel jealous, honestly. Not always pretty, but understandable.

We do some time skipping, as everyone attends class (I do not see Wen Qing anywhere in the class when I look, so she's not trying all that hard at the 'undercover' part of her undercover spying — or maybe she changed into white robes too and that's why I can't spot her) and WWX is a brat and the class clown. Almost everyone but Lan Wangji and Jin Zixuan seem amused by him. Lan Wangji is definitely way more annoyed by WWX at this point than anything else, because it looks to him like WWX isn't willing to take things seriously. And I'm pretty sure Jin Zixuan thinks that WWX as just as arrogant as WWX thinks that JZX is, which is kinda funny.

We also get the first appearance of one of WWX's cute lil papermen. They're so adorable, as is the little 'nodding off to sleep' thing he does with them. Luckily, Lan Qiren snaps him out of it before Lan Wangji crumples the paperman, because I think from what they say later on, that was actually kinda dangerous if he'd still been inside it.

Lan Qiren, after catching WWX out on not paying attention in class, quizzes him. WWX is able to answer all his straight-forward questions easily and is obviously proud of himself, so Lan Qiren gives him a more challenging one, a question that deals with the practicalities of actually being a cultivator and making the choices that they need to make in these cases of literal life and death. And so we get our first mentions in the flashback of using resentful energy/demonic cultivation. Again, laying the groundwork for later, but doing it while also showing us character and relationship dynamics, which I like. Lan Qiren is really pissed off at WWX's suggestion to use resentful energy, to the point of throwing something at him (there's probably a rule against that) and kicking him out of class for the day.

Lan Wangji, of course, is the student who provides the model-perfect answer of what is correct according to 'proper' cultivation. What I really like about this section is that when Wei Wuxian challenges the idea of the proper method of cultivation, Lan Wangji actually interrupts his uncle so that he can answer Wei Wuxian back (I don't think he noticed that he was interrupting his uncle; he just really really had to correct Wei Wuxian; it was Vitally Important). Wei Wuxian, though, directs his response back to Lan Qiren. I do feel for Lan Qiren here. You get the impression that a student has never kept arguing back to him for so long and he gets so flustered over it (and over what Wei Wuxian is actually saying too, of course).

One of the things that does make WWX's behavior different than, say, Jin Guangyao is that WWX doesn't keep his methods a secret. He doesn't try to hide the 'how' of what he's doing, even when he knows everyone will disdain him for it. He owns it, essentially, which he what he says to Lan Wangji way in the future during the episode where Lan Wangji is drunk — he made his choices and he will live with the consequences and it's no one else's responsibility.

I do understand, from what I've read, that WWX is softened a bit in the drama — some things that are his responsibility in the novel aren't his fault here — but we see here that he was already aware of and willing to go down this road of cultivating resentful energy so in that, at least, the intention is there from the start. And Lan Qiren points out that there's the essential problem that Wei Wuxian doesn't know how to actually keep the resentful energies from causing collateral damage, and WWX doesn't have an answer for that.

And then, of course, WWX does not actually go to the library to copy the rules, as Lan Qiren ordered, but goes off to the forbidden back area with the lakes and waterfalls instead. So, you know, good call on sending Wangji to go babysit him tbh.

But it means that WWX gets to meet Wen Ning!

It's a super-cute meeting where WWX sees Wen Ning's great archery skills and compliments him, and then tells Wen Ning to think of them as equals. Wen Ning is apparently younger than everyone else, because he's too young to be a student at the lessons. I think the rest of them are supposed to be fifteen? That's what I've seen floating around online, but I'm not sure they ever say it on-screen. And WWX is a little embarrassed to say he was kicked out by the teacher, which is interesting.

And I guess we do get evidence here that Wen Qing is not attending class, because WWX is only not in class right now because he was kicked out.

The next scene is a 'cliffhanger' that gets reprised in the opening of episode 5, so I'll talk about then. This one is already really long (I say, as if it's likely they'll get shorter, lol).

Next time: Lan Zhan and Wei Ying get some private time in the library together!

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[tatselk]

The Untamed (陈情令) Review: Ep 23

!!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!!

Previous episode review: 1 and 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17, 18,19, 20, 21, 22. 

Oh shit, so the Yintie and the Yinhufu are two different things.  Somehow, I always thought that they were the same thing but that the live-action changed the name for some reason. Oh well, gonna use the pinyin from now on to differentiate them. 

Even though it happened completely off-screen, I loved how quickly LWJ was implied to have run up all those steps to catch the fainting WWX. :D

Another thing I really liked was the parallels of WWX leaning against LWJ in one scene and NMJ leaning against LXC in the very next scene. :) 

Oh shit X2, the NMJ and MY/JGY relationship is really acrimonious here. Maybe it is just me, but somehow it feels even more acrimonious than it canonically was. Like I actually winced and leaned backward in my seat when it looked like NMJ was going to run MY/JGY through with his sabre and LXC had to step in. So it makes it kinda bizarre since NMJ, LXC and MY/JGY still randomly became sworn brothers soon afterwards in the live-action...

Can I just say how my heart nearly stopped when I first heard LXC call MY/JGY "A-Yao"? And when MY/JGY kept holding onto LXC's sleeves/ robes?! Things sure have escalated quickly on the XiYao front. Of course, I already know this is all going to end badly but in the meantime, I'm just gonna ship XiYao as hard as I can. :):):)

Why... does it feel like JYL was trying to bring LWJ and WWX together when she kept mentioning LWJ after WWX woke up? Not to mention how she (conveniently) left them alone to apparently go look after the injured. Hahaha. 

I can hardly believe how slimy JGS is here. JGS basically didn't participate at all in bringing down WRH/Nightless City and now he rushed over just to deal with the Yintie and the Wen sect remnants??? Plus, within just what looked like a few days (based on how WWX KO-ed for 3 days), JGS did a 180 and went from refusing to recognise MY/JGY as his son to not only recognising MY/JGY as his son but also giving him a new name and deputising him to do stuff AND calling him "A-Yao"?! (OK, I might be a bit biased here because to me, it only sounds right when LXC calls MY/JGY "A-Yao" lol). Anyways, the sheer hypocrisy of it all was truly astounding. -_-"

OMG NMJ, make up your mind already. Don’t be swayed by LXC’s sad/disappointed face! Hahaha. Like one moment NMJ was all, “Xichen, you are too soft-hearted about the Wen sect remnants. What if they catch us offguard and attack us?” And then RIGHT AFTER THAT (and a moment of silence), NMJ was like, “Uhh, maybe what Xichen said makes sense too. We should let these defenceless people off.”

It is just hilarious to me how MY/JGY suddenly had his infamous (tall) hat on so soon after the fall of Nightless City. Seems to imply that MY/JGY had his hat stashed away all along and was just waiting for a chance to wear it OR he somehow had his hat made within the couple of days in which he was dealing with the Wen sect remnants. XD

OH SHIT X3. The foreshadowing in the scene whereby WWX and LWJ were on the cliff and discussing (cougharguingaboutcough) the dangers of using the Yinhufu etc.was just-!

What was really well-done in the scene whereby everyone greeted one another at the banquet was how it showed all the simmering tensions. Like the way NMJ was still (very) skeptical about MY/JGY and the awkwardness between WWX and LWJ. And, of course, the way WWX basically rolled his eyes at JGS’s attempt at consoling JC. 

God, do the Jins not understand NMJ’s character at all?! Or were they just trying to piss him off/test him? Did they really expect NMJ to sit at WRH’s throne during the banquet???

Heh, the live-action team just HAD to add that shot of LXC and JGY drinking with each other AND following it up with LWJ going out to look for WWX, didn’t they?

JGS, are you actually TRYING to make things awkward at the banquet or what? Why did you have to bring up the (broken off) engagement between JZX and JYL in front of everyone?! Why do you feel the need to assert your will and get your own way like that??? 

Overall: 10/10. Seamless blend of canon and non-canon elements of the Sunshot Campaign arc of the story. And this is DESPITE the fact that I was extremely annoyed by JGS throughout this episode.