#he fucking brutalized himself out of love for jc

[asideoftrashplease]

Detangling JC, his motivations, & his feelings on WWX (i)

JC and WWX have a very fraught history, and while WWX’s role as the narrator makes it very clear what his feelings towards JC are, JC’s feelings towards WWX and motivations seem a lot murkier. He goes from treating WWX as a brother, to mounting a siege in a concerted attempt to take his life. His actions and motivations in the aftermath of WWX’s resurrection are also subject to interpretation. This meta provides argument for my interpretation of his feelings and motivations throughout these events.

LOVE AND BROTHERHOOD

It is clear from the outset that JC cared deeply about WWX (I wish I did not have to make a case for this because it should be obvious, but there are some who believe that JC did not love WWX). Although he holds bitterness and resentment towards WWX due to his family situation and their rivalry, he cares about WWX and is protective of him. This shines through especially in times of mortal peril. 

When WWX was trapped in the Xuanwu cave, he travelled without stopping to find people to rescue WWX. The trip should have taken 10 days, but because he drove himself to exhaustion in his desperation to save WWX, he only took 7 days.

When WWX is in danger of being discovered by the Wens after the burning of Lotus Pier, he uses himself as bait to draw them away from WWX despite the risk to his own life, which eventually leads to his capture and the loss of his core.

SO WHERE DID THINGS GO WRONG

Things started to take a turn after the Sunshot Campaign. I believe a few key events caused resentment and confusion to build and grow in JC over time:

WWX’s refusal to carry his sword, which put political pressure on YMJ

His decision to break out the Wen Remnants, without consulting or informing JC, with put more pressure on YMJ

His decision to defect from YMJ, effectively (in JC’s mind) picking the Wens over YMJ and his brotherhood with JC

His actions at Qiongqi Path which killed JZX — while we know from WWX’s POV what happened, JC and JYL have no idea what went down except from the claims of the surviving Jin cultivators

His attack on the 4000 cultivators at the Nightless City, which ultimately cost JYL’s life

It’s evident that JC is increasingly bewildered, angered, and hurt by WWX’s actions. It’s clear that he’s confused, and just CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHY WWX IS ACTING THIS WAY. All the while, resentment is building in him that he has to clean up WWX’s messes, all while WWX’s actions undermine him as a leader and brings up childhood insecurities and jealousies. But his love for WWX drives him to continually stand by WWX and believe in him — even grudgingly, complainingly, and with growing resentment. Even up to the attack at the Nightless City, even after JZX’s death, he still seems to believe in WWX.

This last event, the attack at the Nightless City, seems to be the turning point where he stops believing in WWX, so I want to cover this particular event in more detail:

A “pledge conference” is being attended by QHN, GSL, LLJ, and YMJ. This conference is a ceremonial affair, centered around their pledge to eradicate WWX and the Wen remnants. It begins with them honoring the fallen with a toast, but while the other three sect leaders make the toasts, JC goes through the motions of the toast with visible unhappiness, and then conspicuously says nothing to honor the dead.

I feel this action needs to be understood in the context of the ceremony. They are standing in the Nightless City, where their comrades died in the final battle to take down QSW, a battle which WWX contributed to greatly. They are pouring the wine on the ground where the bodies lie to honor the fallen: “Here we honor our fallen. Rest in peace.” (Uncontroversial) “Now in the name of our fallen, we will eliminate the Wens who killed them — and the Yiling Patriarch!” (Controversial because WWX was brother in arms to these soldiers, and JGS is stirring shit because he wants the Yin Tiger Seal.)

JC knows the controversial bit is coming, so while the other sect leaders one by one say things like “rest in peace” and “may they live on” he dumps the wine on the ground and refuses to say anything. He is the only one, of the four with cups, who does not speak.

When WWX appears, the others all draw their weapons, but JC reaction is different: “JC’s pupils shrunk. Blue veins lined the back of his hand.” From this sentence alone, it may not seem clear what he’s feeling, but based on the rest of his actions in this scene, I would guess that he’s shocked and appalled that WWX would dare to appear before such a large and hostile mob, A MOB THAT IS CURRENTLY PLEDGING TO KILL HIM AND SCATTER HIS ASHES, thus recklessly and what seems like arrogantly endangering his own life.

After an increasingly hostile exchange between WWX and the mob, JGS calls for everyone to set up the battle arrays to seal WWX in, with the intention of killing him there. But when WWX calls up the corpses buried under them to defend himself, it’s stated that all the sects were in disarray, except for YMJ, which seems to indicate that WWX’s corpses were not attacking the YMJ delegation — and the YMJ cultivators were not fighting the corpses either.

This all seems to indicate that despite JZX’s death, despite the fact that JC has NO FUCKING CLUE what the hell happened at Qiongqi Path, despite the fact that he’s no doubt been fed lies and biased reports from the surviving Jin cultivators, and despite the fact that WWX is currently unleashing an undead army on all of them — he still believes that there’s another side of the story. He doesn’t even know WHAT that story is, but he believes in WWX— grudgingly, and with growing disbelief, confusion, and incredulity—  he still believes, BLINDLY, in WWX.

THE TURNING POINT

In the ensuing chaos, JYL is killed, and WWX finally snaps in his grief, unleashing a hellish and completely uncontrolled bloodbath upon the assembled cultivators. It is estimated that this killed three thousand people, severely decimating the cultivation world’s population.

The siege begins after this attack, and we know from the prologue that the siege was headed by JC, and that he was the one behind key tactical maneuvers (designed using his intimate knowledge of WWX’s weaknesses) that allowed them to eventually sack the Burial Mounds. In the aftermath, he was the main person credited by the cultivation world for the defeat of the Yiling Patriarch. When WWX meets JL at Dafan, he corroborates this by revealing, through the narration, that JGS was the second-biggest contributor to the siege — after JC, who was the biggest contributor.

I know that there are other popular interpretations of JC’s motivations here. I will name two:

He participated in the siege only due to political pressure — after what WWX did at the Nightless City, he couldn’t NOT condemn him or the cultivation world would have turned on YMJ too

He participated in the siege hoping to take WWX alive and bring him back home to discipline privately

But I don’t subscribe to either of these interpretations. I believe he FULLY intended to kill WWX. Firstly, if he was only participating in the siege due to political pressure, why contribute so vitally to the siege, why take a leading role and design tactical maneuvers to bring WWX down? He could have just done as he’d done previously, which was to participate perfunctorily in “opposition” against WWX, but contributing as little as possible, or nothing at all.

Secondly, some may argue that he was trying to capture WWX alive. But before this, he had always given the impression of being extremely cautious, to the point of inaction when maybe action would have been better. JC is VERY risk-averse. His characterization before the siege is that he’d rather do nothing than do something even potentially risky. The intention of everyone else was to kill WWX, NOT to capture him. As such, the risk that WWX would be killed in battle is extremely high. Even if by some miracle, he managed to capture WWX alive despite the best efforts of everyone else to murder him, it would be really difficult to stop the other sects from executing him, and getting permission to take him home and keep him under house arrest. It would be a safer bet to try to sabotage the siege from the inside, which is not what he did. In fact, he did the opposite. He was leading the siege viciously and with intent.

So I believe that he fully intended to kill WWX, which means the turning point was JYL’s death. Up to her death, JC still believed in WWX. After her death, however, the very last we see of him is him clutching JYL’s body, completely in shock, having not yet processed her death. I believe his last words to WWX should hint to us what caused the snap from blind faith to blind hatred. These words were: “Didn’t you say you could control it?! Didn’t you say it would be fine?!” To which WWX (who is having 99 fucking breakdowns all at once) finally admits that he was wrong, and that he can’t actually control it.

My belief is that this incident made JC realize that JYL’s death (and JZX’s as well) was largely caused by WWX’s loss of control over his demonic cultivation, and IMPORTANTLY, JC’s inaction re: WWX’s method of cultivation and his seeming descent into violent radicalism. Despite all the warning signs, the growing escalations, the increasingly violent confrontations with increasingly large death tolls— he continued to believe in WWX, even when he could no longer understand or predict WWX’s actions. Everyone told him “you need to reign him in” “he’s going off the rails” “he’s a danger to us all” and JC didn’t take them seriously because he BELIEVED IN and TRUSTED WWX.

And now his sister is dead, his month-old nephew is an orphan, and WWX has massacred three thousand people in a single night, likely including members of YMJ, in a total loss of control and conscience. I think that was the turning point, the crux of the betrayal.

I believed in you. I defended you. I stuck my neck out for you. But you scorned my help. You rejected and discarded me. You betrayed my trust.

You don’t give a shit about me.

You don’t give a shit about anyone else.

I BELIEVED in you, and YOU BETRAYED ME.

—

NOTE: Right now this meta is getting a little long, so I think this is a good place to maybe cut it in thirds? Part II should cover the siege, WWX’s death, and the 13 years in between, and Part III should cover JC’s actions and motivations after WWX’s resurrection. As the next parts have not been written, I can’t link it! But when Part II is done, I will edit the post to include a link below the cut:

[Part 2 is still in progress!]

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

Aug 31st

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1. Just wondering if there is a fic out there where jwy wakes up during the core transfer to realise what is going on and refuses the surgery?

There are quite a few No Core Transfer fics but has anyone read or written something like this? Would love for Jwy to know how much he is loved without wwx ripping himself apart for it

Please and thank you 💝💝💝 @theladypeartree

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2. Hello, thank you for this opportunity! Does anyone know of any fics where the characters look or act unusually young for their age due to cultivation/golden core strength? Like, they are treated as children longer because they have an overall longer life expectancy? Or fics which explore how cultivation affects the life expectancies of cultivators in general? Thank you so much!

🔒the inconstancy of moths by spookykingdomstarlight (T, 9k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Reincarnation, Moth Spirit WWX, Character Death, Angst with a Happy Ending, Pining)

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3. the world needs more canon compliant/divergent sub/bottom lwj. please provide with your favorites, thank you 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

A Narrow Bridge by FrameofMind, Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle) (E, 700k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Getting Together, First Time, Pining while fucking, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Angst with a Happy Ending, CQL Verse, almost everybody lives/almost nobody dies, epistolary-ish, canon-ish side pairings, radishes) I can't recall for sure as it's been a while since I read it, but I think this fic has LWJ bottoming

🔒Blessed is The New Moon by Anonymous (E, 9k, WangXian, Bad Sex, Good Sex, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Porn with Feelings) Nie Huaisang gifts the boys some lube as a joke which leads to a revelation. A fair amount of angst for the premise but HEA.

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4. Currently desperately craving some really really long wangxian! Over 100k please, canon dynamics preferred, and the bit that's hardest to filter for: no extensive positive inclusion of Jiang Cheng. I'm more open to cr!era stuff with him as a secondary character but adult JC particularly I would like mostly off-screen. @strinak

Just go forward like you mean it by tawaen (M, 101k, WangXian, WWX & WN &WQ, WWX & JYL, NHS & WWX, Canon Divergence, WWx does not attend the Wen indoctrination, WWX saves Lotus Pier, Inventor WWX, No Golden Core Transfer, Sect Leader JYL, JC Has No Golden Core, Bad Parents JFM & YZY, Not JC Friendly, but he gets a happier ending than canon so don’t look here for bashing)

Dispersing Clouds by dreamingofcake (E, 283k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Genius WWX, Inventor WWX, Not Jiang Family Friendly, Abusive YZY, Canonical Child Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Eventual Sex, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm (Background Character), Background Character Deaths, child deaths, Canon JC, Good Uncle LQR, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Cultivation Sect Politics, Homophobia, Heteronormativity, Feelings Realization, WWX is Not Oblivious)

🧡 Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 859k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement) Not sure if this one hits the 'no positive JC portrayal' criteria. He's in the early chapters as it starts during CRSA & he does get whacked with a clue-by-four a couple of times so he's sliiiightly less entitled, but he's still a cranky jerk & after the guest disciples leave he barely appears (I also haven't read the last 3 chapters, set during SSC, so no idea on his portrayal in those)

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5. hello! for the next ITMF, fics where WWX adopts XY and shows him what kindness is? Kind of like those YillingWei AUs where XY becomes WWX's disciple (please rec some lesser known ones if you know of any, I feel like I've read all of the popular ones already), thank you!!

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6. I'm in a mood for some good Apocalypse AUs. I like happy endings but since it's apocalypses it might not be feasible so perhaps no brutal endings, if you know what I mean? Like make me cry my eyes out but not from despair/unhopefulness? Also please no Non-Con/Rape, at least not with main pair and not explicit 🙏

The Edge of Night by Hobbsy3 (M, 277k, WangXian, XuanLi, Modern AU, Zombie Apocalypse, Yúnmèng Siblings Dynamics, Accidental Baby Acquisition During a Zombie Apocalypse, Junior Quartet, (except they’re all babies), Angst with a Happy Ending, Minor Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Gore, Ensemble Cast, Worst Zombie Fighting Team Ever, Found Family) Amazing Zombie AU

Darkness Before the Dawn by Selenay (E, 64k, wangxian, Zombie Apocalypse, Modern With Magic, Necromancer WWX, Reunions, toddler A-Yuan, There Was Only One Bed, There are zombies but not graphically horrific zombies, Angst with a Happy Ending, Find a home in the middle of an apocalpyse)

when the sun goes out by travelingneuritis (E, 176k, WangXian, Modern Cultivation, tech cultivation, Necromancy, Angst with a Happy Ending, insecurity around adoption, Dad!WWX, dad!lwj, Grief/Mourning, Mistaken Identity, Mood Whiplash, Body Swap, sex tears!, Falling In Love, Consensual Somnophilia, apocalypse (localized), Smut, unrealistic sexual stamina, Flashbacks, Time Skips, Illustrations) this fic jumps around in time so only part of it is During the Apocalypse, but highly recommend this fic

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7. Wangxian fluff. Pls😭😭😭just them married fluff.😭😭😭😭km traumatized. Pls. Just loads of happiness @honestlyewww

A Lifetime of It (Please, and Thank You) by misscam (M, 5k, WangXian, Wedding, a mix of series and novel, Humor, Fluff, Angst, some naughtiness, Switching)

coop d'état by wolfsan11 (G, 4k, WangXian, Fluff and Humor, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Post-Canon, Chickens, WWX-centric, Post-Canon Modao Zushi Novel, Married WangXian, therapy chickens)

Dear Hanguang-Jun by cavaleira (M, 8k, WangXian, background ZhuiLing, Fluff, Established Relationship, Humor, Post-Canon)

Where the Lonely Ones Go by CSHfic, VSfic (T, 23k, WangXian, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Case Fic, Night Hunts, Fluff, Established Relationship, Mystery, Married Life, Domestic Fluff, Haunting, Kid Fic, Post-Canon, gratuitous use of empathy)

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8. Thank you for this amazing blog!! I am actually ITMF fics where LWJ initially misunderstands WWX and is pretty rude/cruel/hurtful to him which contributes to WWX whump(essentially him being super hurt yet still trying to act as if everything is okay or so). I have read a couple of fics with this trope but I don’t know how to find more so it would really great if you could recommend some fics along these lines. Thank you!!!

Couldn't Scream Couldn't Shout by mermorgie (T, 42k, WangXian, LXC & WWX, LXC & LWJ, LQR & WWX, JZX & WWX, WWX & NHS, LWJ & NHS, WIP, Not for JC stans, Muteness, Sign Language, references to selective mutism, Homophobic JC, canon JC characteristics, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Anxiety Attacks, Pining, LWJ is a Panicked Gay, Supportive Sibling LXC, JZX Tries, LQR Tries, Protective JZX, Scheming NHS, Bisexual JZX, LWJ is Bad at Communicating, WWX Has ADHD, Autistic LWJ, WWX Has a Fear of Dogs, Jiang Family Bashing)

🔒 Warming up (to him) by barisan (T, 9k, LQR & WWX, WangXian, Hypothermia, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Temporary Character Death, Medical Inaccuracies, YZY Abuses WWX, JFM Bashing, pre-wangxian, Good Uncle LQR, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort)

Concord by Deastar (T, 41k, WangXian, Arranged Marriage, Gusu Lan Sect Rules, Depression, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending)

the earthquake in the room by phnelt (E, 39k, WangXian, College/University, Modern: No Powers, Canada, Getting Together, Mentions of lwj/others, background NieLan, background QingMian, inter-faculty romance, strangers to lovers to frenemies to lovers, mostly book characterisation, Background XuanLi)

For you by 10thNoNamePerson (T, 16k, WangXian, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Cloud Recesses Shenanigans, Canon Divergence, No War AU, Teen Wangxian, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Jealous WWX, Soft WangXian, No Sunshot Campaign) they both misunderstand each other but it's lowk Lan Wangji’s fault 😭

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9. Hi! I’m itmf fics where it’s assumed that lan yuan is wei wuxian or lan wangji’s child or both. Thanks

Wei Wuxian, God of Fertility by tired (T, 19k, WangXian, Family Feels, Crack Treated Seriously, Crack, the juniors get REAL drunk, Gossip, POV Multiple, surprisingly not an mpreg fic, Kissing, Self-Esteem Issues, Discussion of Porn and Sex, Post-Canon, SOFT SOFT SOFT, married wangxian, Fluff and Humor, PSA: touching forehead ribbons gets you pregnant)

Lan Yuan's War by BurningTea (G, 196k, LSZ & LWJ, LWJ & LXC, WangXian, LWJ & WQ, WIP, Time Travel, Dad LWJ, Sunshot Campaign, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Rumours, Lots of rumours about LWJ, several people worry about LWJ, CQL Verse, Mental Health Issues, LWJ is very much not okay, Time travel has consequences, Sick LWJ) if the requester doesn't mind WIPs.

sing to the clouds in summer by stiltonbasket (G, 28k, JC & WWX, JC & JL, wangxian, JL & LSZ & LJY & OYZZ, 13k words of JC figuring out that LSZ is his nephew, ft. LXC and NHS the overprotective uncles, and LWJ giving JC death glares, Family Secrets, Reconciliation, Sad JC, Uncle-Nephew Relationship, Eventual Happy Ending, [Podfic] sing to the clouds in summer by read_by_Sophie (Sophie))

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10. Hello! I just finished reading "The Blame Game" and am itmf for any wangxian fics where someone who isn't Lan Zhan or Wei Wuxian time travels and fixes canon. Thank you!

Time, Time, Time by skeletonofaplant (G, 44k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, LSZ & WWX, JYL & JL & JZX, LJY & LSZ, Time Travel Fix-It, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Identity Porn, Identity Reveal, Angst, Fluff, Junior Quartet Dynamics, Time Travelling Junior Ensemble, Junior Ensemble Shenanigans, Humor) The Juniors time travel (though it ends with the fixing canon merely implied as something that will happen)

Resilience. by Vrishchika (T, 7k, wangxian, time travel, not JC friendly, golden core transfer fix-it) JC time travels in this one, though it's less about him fixing things & more trying to make things how he thinks they should've gone & failing

💖 With Surgical Precision by metisket (T, 20k, WQ & WN, WQ & WWX, WangXian, Time Travel, Families of Choice, sibling bonding through murder) WQ time travel

Back To The River (So Learn To Swim) by kalany (M, 83k, CSSR/JFM/WCZ/YZY, JYL/JZX, WangXian, Fix-it fic, self-reincarnation, going back to try again, autotransmigration, time travel adjacent, Pregnancy, access to appropriate obstetrics care, Childbirth, lots of childbirth, there are so many children, Unplanned Pregnancy, but they are very much wanted, but it's discussed to make sure, Polyamory, Polygamy, survival sex, unwanted pregnancy ending in termination, abortion as victory, this fic has an agenda and it is access to reproductive health care, on-page death of a child, Murder of a Child, But he deserves it, it's XY if that matters, WRH doing WRH things, JGS doing JGS things, calling JGS a rapist, which he is and we're going to use that word in this fic, non-explicit discussion of sexual assault, Sexual Coercion, brief glimpse of sexual assault, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Sexism, most of the people in this fic are coded non-neurotypical, asexual JC, bisexual JFM, bisexual YZY, Bisexual CSSR, bisexual WCZ, falling in love when you don't expect it, does it count as found family when it's your husband​, Sect Heir JYL) is YZY time travel where she fixes everything (or most things) featuring sect heir JYL and eventual YZY/JFM/CSR/WCZ polycule

Never Again by Hauntcats (T, 67k, WWX & WN & WQ, JC & WWX, wangxian, graphic depictions of violence, major character death, Canon Divergence, Angst, Golden Core Transfer Fix-It, Time Travel Fix-It, Not JC Friendly, Dark, BAMF WWX, mentions of abuse, Not Everyone Dies au, XY doesn’t have a happy ending) Another WQ time travel one

Lessons relearned by Iamnotawriter (T, 44k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Not Madam Yu Friendly, Time Travel Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inventor WWX, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, No Golden Core Transfer, YZY Bashing) LQR time travel

And They Lived Happily Ever After… by Morgana_avalon (G, 51k, WangXian, Zhuiling, Time Travel Fix-It, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Canon Universe, Canon Related, set before the ambush happens at Qiongqi Path, Canon Divergence, Bunnies, Good brother JC, Good JZX, CQL Verse)

Lynchpin by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 103k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Time Travel, Fix-It)

❤️ nevermore, nevermore by agloeian (T, 120k, lan sizhui & everyone, wangxian, canon divergence, time travel fix-it, hurt/comfort, fluff, angst w/ happy ending)

Sail Away Sweet Sister by sami (M, 73k, WangXian, YZY/CSSR/MDM Lan, MingLi, Time Travel, EXTREME Canon Divergence, Wide Focus Narrative, Some People Live/Not Everyone Dies, Most Named/Canon Characters Live, Childhood Friends to Lovers, Families of Choice, Parenthood, this work contains a major tonal shift, Fluff, Angst, Underage Sex, not particularly explicit, but not at all ambiguous, PTSD, Only a tiny bit, Unforeseeable consequences, The butterfly effect, Slightly Dark JYL, Asexual Characters, but that’s not really the focus, Canon-Typical Violence)

🔒💖 The blame game by apathyinreverie (T, 13k, wangxian, LXC & LWJ, LSZ & WWX, WWX & WQ, LXC & WWX, canon divergence, time travel fix-it, possessive LWJ, oblivious WWX, fluff, siblings, romance, golden core reveal, golden core fix-it)

Moments of Revelation by meyari (T, 133k, ChengSang, WangXian, XiYao, Canon Divergence, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel Fix-It, Self-Sacrifice, Torture, Chronic Pain, Chronic anxiety, Grief/Mourning, PTSD, Chronic Mental Health Issues, Families of Choice, Original Supporting characters, Unreliable Narrator(s), Demonic Possession) Jiang Cheng goes back to when he lost his core and fixes everything. The author Meyari also has various other character time travel fixes in other fics, Meng Yao and Su She and I think others, but those are even more divergent

Back in time by Liebing23 (T, 32k, WangXian, Time Travel, Alternate Timelines, Fix-It of Sorts, Angst, Family Feels, Good Kid LSZ, LSZ Needs a Hug, Sad JL, JL Needs a Hug) the juniors time travel and fix some stuff!

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11. hi! I love this blog, I've found so many great fics and hidden gems just from scrolling through past ITMF posts! For the next ITMF, are there any fics similar to a paper friend by soft_wanning? just any fics where wwx is lost as a paperman and lwj helps him find his way back to lotus pier and that's how they meet

stray cat strut by ScarlettStorm (E, 54k, WangXian, No War AU, the world's least mysterious casefic, Comedy, Shenanigans, Slow Burn, a disgusting amount of magically necessary forehead smooches, switch rights) Wwx is cat, not paper man, but I found the vibes to be very similar and suuuper cute

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12.

Hi, I’m in the Mood for a Fic in which abusers get severe consequences or the system/traditions are challenged (with great success). If possible, some of the following scenarios:

Wei Wuxian has enough of getting whipped for no valid reason and starts standing up for himself (not just verbally, and especially NOT just talking back while still accepting punishment) but by attacking back or some other form of brutal revenge. 

a modern AU where jiang yanli and/or jiang cheng cut off contact with their parents for their treatment, anything where they put themselves and their brother above their abusive parents

Lan Zhan does not accept his punishment and kills(or at least successfully fights off) any elder that attempts to whip him. 

Lan Zhan or Lan Xichen destroys the wall of rules and makes the sect more friendly for all

someone invents democracy and various sect leaders are voted out - can be crack or serious

anyone going against “that’s how it’s always been” / “that’s how it’s supposed to be” and winning against all opposition, I’m ok with the character being OOC/more powerful than makes sense, 

basically anything where bad people are punished for being bad even if it doesn’t make sense because of their social standing

I will be grateful for any recs, thank you :) @hushtalks

The Wrong Man by Remma3760 (Not Rated, 125k, WangXian, Sect Leader LWJ, Evil JGS, Canon Divergence, Golden Core Reveal) LWJ becomes sect leader & uses his new power to reform the sect's rules & approach to discipline, & the plot is basically The Bad Characters Get Punished

Work of Heart by Witch_Nova221 (T, 17k, WangXian, Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, soft romance, Artist WWX, Musician LWJ, College/University, Modern, Roommates, Friends to Lovers, Family Drama, Emotional Manipulation, Financial Issues, Bad Parent YZY) The Jiangs lose business deals because of their abuse of Wei Wuxian

🔒 Step by step by apathyinreverie (T, 12k, WangXian, Modern AU, JFM and YZY Bashing, not particularly Jiang family friendly, Guilt, Fluff, past angst, Flashbacks, Protective LWJ, Soft WWX, adorable a-yuan, Friendship, Family, Getting Together, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff) The Jiangs lose business deals because of their abuse of Wei Wuxian

Meet you at a different place by tawaen (M, 57k, WQ & WN, WN & MXY & WQ, WQ & WWX & WN, Eventual WangXian, Ghost General WN, Ghost WQ, Canon Divergence, WQ comes back to haunt the cultivation world, Bad idea to kill the one person who didn’t kill anyone, Cultivation World Critical, Not JC Friendly, Wen Remnants Deserve Better, Sīsī Deserves Better, MXY Deserves Better, POV WQ) Wen Qing's ghost gets revenge against those that wronged her family & Wei Wuxian

A Life Without Regrets by naqaashi (M, 146k, WangXian, JFM & WWX, JC & WWX, WRH & WWX, LXC & LWJ, LQR & LWJ, LWJ & NHS, Canon Divergence, Time Travel Fix-It, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Crack Treated Seriously, musical cultivation, Slow Burn, Pining, Rogue Cultivator WWX, Murder Husbands, PTSD, BAMF WWX, Demonic Cultivation, POV WWX, Cultivation Sect Politics, Worldbuilding, No Yīn Iron, Genius WWX, Inventor WWX, Artist WWX, Musician WWX, Night Hunts, Fate & Destiny, Bad Parent JFM & YZY, Golden Core, Cultivation Theory, Sentient Burial Mounds, Father-Son Relationship, Dysfunctional Family, Grief/Mourning, Parent-Child Relationship, Angry WWX, Pining WWX, WWX is Not Okay, No Golden Core Transfer, BAMF LWJ, Pining LWJ, POV LWJ, Angry LWJ, One-Braincell Wangxian, Love Confessions, Idiots in Love, WIP) is a time travel fic where Lan Wangji destroys the wall of disciplines and he & Wei Wuxian change the world for the better.

~*~

13. Hello! I was wondering if you have any good recs with protective/overprotective Lan Zhan who will be dammed if he lets anything happen to Wei Ying ever again?

Also I just wanted to say you’re incredible and I genuinely appreciate all the work you do for us poor Wangxian fans!

🔒 Revenge is a Side Dish Best Served With Tea by merakily (G, 7k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Protective LWJ, Petty LWJ, Fluff and Humor)

💖 Nice work if you can get it by deliciousblizzardshark (M, 11k, wangxian, protective LWJ, genius LWJ, post-canon, fluff & humor, getting together, chief cultivator LWJ)

I Have Arranged to Tie You to Me by xxxMiaHikarixxx (G, 82k, WIP, WangXian, Lan protective team, Time Travel, Past, LWJ oriented, Arranged Marriage, Boys In Love, Soulmates, Fix-It, Jiang siblings, not jiang parents friendly, Soft LWJ, Protective LWJ, Genius WWX)

🔒 As good as by apathyinreverie (T, 6k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Fix-It, Canon Divergence, not a good uncle LQR story, but also not not?, Golden Core Reveal, Kind Of, Golden Core Fix-It, Also kind of, Addiction, Manipulation, not between wangxian, just...War politics, Sunshot Campaign, Not As Dark As The Tags Make It Sound, Possessive LWJ, Protective LWJ, Tired WWX, Genius WWX, Dual Cultivation, LQR is too old for teenage drama, Developing Relationship)

my rivers tilt towards you by perfectlyrose (T, 26k, WangXian, Canon, Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Fairy Tale Elements, dragonji, mentions of, Madam Yu’s A+ Parenting, First Meetings, Romance, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort)

🔒 Heart of hearts series by apathyinreverie (M, 40k, WangXian, Dark LWJ(Ish), Amnesia, WWX gets to be Not Okay after the BM, Hurt WWX, Recovery, Caring, Protective LWJ, Possessive LWJ, some definite manipulation but not everything is as it seems, not nearly as dark as the tags make it sound, Canon Divergence, Golden Core Reveal, Golden Core Transfer Fix-It Kind Of, Domestic WangXian, Fluff, WWX Goes to Gusu, Possessive WWX, WWX happily atticwifing away, Sunshot Campaign, BAMF WWX, BAMF LWJ, ridiculously self-indulgent, Not Cultivation World Friendly)

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14, Hi! I read "By the emperor's decree - sweetlolixo" and am itmf fics where people have the mindset "wangji is a serious child, always has been" "Lan wangji doesn't smile or have fun" and all variations where most everyone even Lan zhan's family are sorta intimidated and kept at arm's length by his blank face and then they see him with Wei Wuxian and get the surprise of their lifetime cuz then he's smiling, joking, not punishing for rule breaking seriously, being just as shameless and working to fluster Wei wuxian more as well as proud to show off all the marks he leaves on his husband. It could be any AU!

By Heart by Meseem (T, 28k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Amnesia, Memory Loss, Canon Divergence, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Angst with a Happy Ending, amnesiac time-traveler lwj, POV LWJ) iirc in one chapter Lan Xichen is surprised by Lan Wangji admitting that he likes Wei Wuxian, and overall a bunch of people get surprised by how much he let's him get away with

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15. Itmf a fic where wwx is abandoned after the battle of nightless city against wen ruohan, causing major canon divergence. Maybe the public turns against him, maybe his death is faked (by himself or others - he did pass out in public and was vulnerable to others for a time), maybe someone tries to 'remove a potential threat before he can become one' after that display of power, maybe he runs away, or is lost on the battlefield w/ disfiguring wounds and amnesia, etc. tldrwarwonbutwwxnogohomewothers

🔒this house is loved by ribena (T, 15k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, WWX lives, Memory Loss, Cottagecore, Developing Relationship, slight angst, introspective and a little rambly, Happy Ending, Feelings)

❤️ The Third Young Master of the Qishan Wen by KouriArashi (T, 139k, wangxian, xiyao, chengqing, romance, angst w/ happy ending, hurt/comfort, politics, revenge, families of choice, pining) This fic is already very canon-divergent (it's an AU where wwx is adopted by the Dafan Wen) but it has pretty much the plot point requested

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16. Hello

I'm in the mood for a WangXian fic that's set in the genre of Dark Academia. I've been reading Grimoire by WithLoweredVoices recently, and really enjoyed it. Do you know of any similar fics? @shenmiao98

Marks of weakness, marks of woe by Song_of_Storms (E, 48k, WangXian, WIP, College/University, Modern with Magic, Dark Academia, Rivals to Lovers, Dark LWJ, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Murder Mystery, Minor Character Death, Familiars, Fencing, Nonbinary NHS, Poison, Aftermath of Poisoning, Tagged Explicit For Later Chapters, LWJ's canonical inability to distinguish between immediate hatred and immediate attraction, furthering the LWJ/JZX/MM friendship agenda, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Intrusive Thoughts) If the requester of 16 doesn't mind a WIP

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17. I read fic Turn Left by kianspo, where Lan Zhan was kidnapped from Gusu sect and grew up outside of it (on the streets and then with Xiao Xingchen on Baoshan Sanren mountain). I’m in the Mood for a Fic with similar topic, where Lan Zhan grew up outside of Gusu Lan, be it in different sect or as rogue cultivator (without Gusu Lan sect rules). I would like to find more fics with this particular trope (not modern au). The plot after it (family reunion, wangxian) doesn't matter as much. Thank you.

no step had trodden black by Stratisphyre (T, 32k, wangxian, LQR & WWX, JYL/JZX, canon divergence, madam lan lives, past rape, golden core reveal, hurt/Comfort, referenced to attempted suicide & suicidal thoughts, canon-typical violence) Lan Wangji grew up as a rogue cultivator with his mom

The Dreams of Youth by sami (E, 86k, wangxian, time travel, fix-it, family, not lan sect friendly, canon typical violence & gore, childhood friends to lovers, hurt/comfort, mothers who live, some people live/not everyone dies) If the requester doesn't mind a time travel story, four-year-old Lan Wangji leaves the Lan sect with his mother

Xiao XingChen's travelling sect Series by The Silverfish (ZephyrAndTheSilverfish) (T, 43k, WangXian, SongXiao, Time Travel, Children, rogue cultivators, Not Canon Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, small town, Murder Mystery, Parental XXC, Cultivation Conference, Bad Parenting, World Travel, Monsters, Bugs & Insects, Sailors, Sea Monsters, Pirate Treasure, Ocean, Flirting, Bad Flirting) Another time-travel one, in which LWJ is raise (well "raised", he has adult memories and maturity) by Xiao Xingchen

Sail Away Sweet Sister by sami (M, 73k, WangXian, YZY/CSSR/MDM Lan, MingLi, Time Travel, EXTREME Canon Divergence, Wide Focus Narrative, Some People Live/Not Everyone Dies, Most Named/Canon Characters Live, Childhood Friends to Lovers, Families of Choice, Parenthood, this work contains a major tonal shift, Fluff, Angst, Underage Sex, not particularly explicit, but not at all ambiguous, PTSD, Only a tiny bit, Unforeseeable consequences, The butterfly effect, Slightly Dark JYL, Asexual Characters, but that’s not really the focus, Canon-Typical Violence) (link in #10) Also Sami's got another time-travel one where LWJ grows up in the Jiang Sect (ljw is not the time-traveler in this one)

~*~

If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

[symphonyofsilence]

Jin Ling & his Xiao Shushu appreciation, 'cause I don't see enough of it.

Remember that Jin Ling avoided LWJ like plague 'cause he was scared of him shitless, to the point that when WWX fake called Hanguang-Jun he ran without even looking back literally seconds after WWX pulled the same trick on him with JC 'cause he didn't want to risk looking back just in case it was actually HGJ, but he stood against Hanguang-Jun AND sect leader Lan when he thought they were invading his Xiao Shushu's room? Only Jiggy's own intervention made him back down.

& IDK maybe the reason Jin Ling was there at that time was that it was the family section. But since Fairy wasn't with him, maybe he was visiting his uncle. & I find it hard to imagine, like, say, WWX visiting Jiang Fengmian or Lan Sizhui visiting Zewu-Jun or the Lan brothers visiting Lan Qiren in the middle of the night in their private chambers unless something very important has happened. I think according to the standards of their time, they must have been very close for this visit to happen.

Running to Xiao Shushu 'cause JiuJiu is angry with him & adorably hiding behind him 'cause Xiao Shushu spoils him.

Defending Xiao Shushu and having a firm belief that whatever he says is for Jin Ling's own good even in the face of his cool uncle after the rush of winning a fight against a group of his all-time bullies.

Still using the affectionate term "Xiao Shushu"even when confronting him about why would he kill his father, begging him to "say something". Give him anything to make it a little bit less painful.

Jiggy wanting to comfort Jin Ling even when he's crying because he just realized that Jiggy has killed his father.

Jin Ling looking so hurt when Jiggy says that JGS didn't let him hold Jin Ling as though he can't imagine a world in which his uncle is not allowed to hold him. Not being allowed to hold JL being a notable part of JGY's villain origin story.

Jiggy pushing Jin Ling out of danger.

Jin Ling screaming for Jiggy to run even after Jiggy took him hostage. And all the other shit.

(It's worth mentioning that in the books, Jiggy doesn't push JL out of danger and JL still screams for him to run, and he still calls him uncle instead of Sect Leader as he does in the show. It's also worth mentioning that the show made some stunning choices in the Guaniyn temple scene regardimg JGY & JL. As half of the things I'm saying about that scene here only happened in the show.)

Jiggy looking so worried as Wen Ning goes towards JL even though he himself has lost an arm and is bleeding to death. And only looking relieved when Wen Ning holds the blade.

Jin Ling being scarred for life here. Oh my poor, poor baby.

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.

Jin Ling's shoulders shivered. He shut his eyes and covered his ears, too afraid to keep watching and listening.

And my favorite scene that emotionally crushed me: Jin Ling remembering when his uncle gave him little Fairy & mourning his uncle & becoming the hero of the nation who finally told Sect Leader Yao to kindly go fuck himself. 'Cause he told him that his uncle was not worth his tears. Jin Ling thinking that they wouldn't dare to tell him such bullshits if his uncle were still alive. Baby Jin Ling feeling so comfortable around the sect leader and the Chief Cultivator that he could break things beside his feet and scream at him, and his uncle just understanding that he needs to leave him alone at that moment, his Xiao Shushu being the only one who could comfort him and make him happy at that point, his Xiao Shushu giving him his spiritual dog & one of his rare actual, geniune smiles that was so warm & kind that Jin Ling remembers to that day, this happy memory being the one that Jin Ling remembers Jiggy with after all the things he learnt in the span of two days. Him acknowledging that Jiggy's love for him was geniune and real & still choosing to continiue to love his uncle despite everything. Him learning that he can't really resent JGY, WWX or WN 'cause though they gave him reasons for that, they also gave him reasons against that. They gave him reasons to love them. And why choose hate when you can...not choose that. Him breaking a cycle of hate that few of the adults of the story did not drown in. And it must mostly be Jiang Yanli's legacy, but it also proves that Jiang Cheng & Jin Guangyao, despite their own numerous issues did something right raising such a child. He feels so secure in their love. And he's right in that feeling.

[fubuwu]

The way they are making shit up just to justify insulting us for having jc as our favorite 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Difference is, when we criticise wwx, it's never done out of hate for the character and his fans. Neither do we go directly to wngxn posts to shit on the main ship.

All our criticisms are fair because wwx did make mistakes. He is morally gray. A morally upright person would not raise the dead out, knowingly tear their souls out of rhe reincarnation cycle and brutally torture people in the name of vengeance.

As valid as he was for all that, it doesn't make him morally pure. Remember, lwj himself was horrified by what wwx had done initially and what he was becoming.

Those are valid criticisms of a character, as opposed to the made up, over exaggerated fanon bs you all make about jc.

You all want jc fans to be the problematic bullies so bad when it's not us jumping on people's fanfics, appreciation posts and hcs, and dragging people's name through the mud, is it? *glances towards the more recent Twitter drama*

Also, there is just so much wrong with all these takes op made, which makes it so clear to me that they only read the book from wwx's pov....

Implying jc spat on wq and wn's help when he did try to speak up for them in the conference.... Implying that he never loved wwx unconditionally despite willingly putting his life on the line for him numerous times.... Fuck out of here!

[grewlikefancyflowers]

“Wwx kills and tortures” the only ppl he ever tortured was WC WZL and WLJ because why tf would he waste his time torturing random soldiers he gives no fucks about it isn’t practical nor fun or interesting lol he had every right to torture those 3 bc of what they did to him other than that WWX is just like any other soldier during that war, the fact that he was stronger and could defeat more people in less time and with less effort than the rest doesn’t make him immoral it makes him the only reason everyone else came out alive and won the war. Idk who tf came out with the head canon of WWX enjoying torture when literally the three antagonists are the ones who love torture and are portrayed as trash to emphasize the fact that WWX is the opposite of them 🙄

MDZS is a setting where violence as revenge is pretty standard, even condoned, as long as it's proportional. WWX’s actions themselves aren’t necessarily presented as wrong. And I can’t believe I have to say this but this doesn’t mean I am personally cool with torture askjfsdkj some personal/modern standards cannot be applied to a setting that is so far removed from our own.

Here is a neat little quote from XXC - '“Chang CiAn broke one of your fingers in the past. If you sought revenge, you could’ve simply broken one of his fingers as well. If you really took the matter to heart, you could’ve broken two, or even all ten! Even if you had cut off an entire arm of his, things wouldn’t have been like this. Why did you have to kill his entire clan? Don’t tell me that a single finger of yours was equal to more than fifty human lives!”' (Ch.41)

Reminder that XXC is presented as a standard good & noble character. He’s not m*rally gr*y.

WC, etc, had massacred the entirety of LP, including little kids, and thrown WWX into BM, not only leaving him to die but keeping his soul trapped there as well. What WWX did wasn’t disproportionate to what was done to him.

As for WWX’s handling of the Wen armies in the SSC, I think some people would argue that his method of raising the dead to kill their own families is a form of torture, which is a take I guess I don’t necessarily disagree with ?? But I wouldn’t say this method was impractical, I think it has the very useful effect of making WWX’s opponents unwilling to fight back against the corpses of their own family or sect members. It’s brutal and efficient!

Even though what WWX did to them wasn’t necessarily undeserved, and it was undeniably very cool and sexy of him; WWX himself doesn’t feel too great about it. It is referred to* as ‘almost cruel ways of venting his anger’# (Ch.75). And of course, there’s that quote that this fandom seems to take as complete condemnation from WWX that everything he did in his past life was wrong 🙄 - ‘Even when he, himself, thought about it afterward, he felt that he had done a bit too much.’ (Ch.66)

I’ve spoken about this before in this post here - even though WWX is a little meow meow that did nothing wrong, his actions in what he did to WC, WLJ and others during the SSC aren't things that I think we as readers are necessarily supposed to support. Actually ig this is similar to how I think of JZX's death - obviously we're not supposed to support it, but it isn't an objective wrong either.

Something that all the antagonists in MDZS seem to share is this issue of taking their grievances too far, stewing in their own resentment - JGY, XY, JC, even that guy from the Gatecrashing extra. WWX doesn’t go down this path, while ultimately I’d say he doesn’t cross over that line, he does toe pretty close to it.

-

*Actually, I’m rethinking this point. I did consider this to be WWX condemning his own actions as cruel and, more importantly, a way of venting his own grievances, but the full quote is

'In the past, it wasn’t that he couldn’t tell how most of the Wen Sect’s people here were all somewhat scared of him.

They had all heard of the ruthless reputation he had during the Sunshot Campaign, the almost cruel ways of venting his anger that so many talked about. They had seen with their own eyes how he used corpses to kill others as well. In the first few days, Granny Wen’s legs began to shake whenever she saw him. Wen Yuan always hid behind her too. They only started to approach him after some time had passed.'

The references to WWX being ruthless and cruel are framed as other people's words. Whereas what the Wen remnants had seen with their own eyes is described very neutrally. After actually spending some time with WWX, they realise he's not scary at all. So... does WWX think of what he did as cruel, and are we supposed to really think the same? Maybe not.

[plan-d-to-i]

So.. I just got done reading the novel and I have some questions. For one how come WWX himself never publicly outed JC for his lies, really. It would have saved him the trouble is it because there is some sort barrier due to his low status. Two, After I read the novel my faith in people really decreased not to sound like a Debbie downer but the fact that everyone easily believed in the lies told from the sects got me so heated like WHAT?! In fact, the lack of acknowledgement to WWX when he played a huge part in the war and then condemned him for Demonic Cultivation even though he saved them was really telling of their character. I actually wouldn't have minded the mc going the villain route but obviously that not the theme or moral of the story. Lol, Really loved the ending was realistic when JC and WWX parted ways.

To me JC was a really good character. He wasn't the big bad but he played the childhood friend antagonist quite well. He did so much damage to the people around him that I genuinely laughed when he was blacklisted from marriage prospects.

However, he sucked so much as a person that I inwardly cringed sometimes from the shitty things he said. I hoped that his ending would be brutal 😔 but, I liked how it turned out. His mother and him were such petty bitches lol 😂, I can't. They keep spouting the same tragic backstory as if they're lives were from soap opera. I really wished though other than LWJ and WWX for someone to actually look this man in the eye and tell it how it is that he is nothing without our main protag coddles him.

Also, the sects got to much power. There isn't really a structural government. Idk shit about politics but damn I guess you can do whatever the fuck you want if you are blessed with the riches. I automatically hated Rich people after I read the novel 🤣

Ah congrats on finishing the novel! ✺◟( • ω • )◞✺

Haha your takeaways are very similar to mine. When ppl complain about WWX at the Nightless City Pledge Conference for ex, I'm just like: WWX should've ended more careers ･:*:･ﾟ’☆. If you can't stand the heat then stay out of the kitchen pledge conference where you're pregaming and hyping each other up before going to attack a really really powerful guy to kill him and the people he's protecting. Or maybe don't shoot an arrow into his chest while he's actually still talking trying to explain himself. That average archer dude and his brother w the shitty sword skills really just came to fuck everything up for everyone involved.

It does feel like we were ROBBED of the catharsis of seeing jc forcefully ejected from the world of the living... It makes sense that he didn't. I get why it happened logically. I get that ppl born w a silver spoon up their @33 rarely get what they deserve but STILL 😪. WWX and Wen Ning are too flipping good. This is also why I still enjoy JGY as a character. jiang cheng decided to mouth off to him in the Guanyin temple and JGY was like: you picked the wrong place, the wrong time and the wrong bitch, and dropped every truth bomb on him at once. bliss. To say nothing of how Wen Ning- kind, timid, Wen Ning delivered this absolute banger in chapter 89:

Sect Leader Jiang----you, you’re such a headstrong person, forever comparing with others, but know that you could never compare to Young Master Wei!” [🖕]

Now, I was thinking about your initial question "why didn't WWX publicly out jc for his lies" and it made me realize jc lied quite a bit didn't he? He lied to WWX about how they could stage the defection and then called him the enemy of the entire cultivation world behind his back. He lied to the cultivation world about WWX declaring himself its enemy. He clearly told some lies to Jin Ling, since Jin Ling believes WWX ordered Wen Ning to kill his father and mother: Jin Ling: "And what else I’ll never forget is that he ordered Wen Ning to kill my father and mother!”. jiang cheng reiterates that in front of Jin Ling in the Guanyin temple :

"But all those years, I was never enough next to you. Their love, their dedication, even their life! The lives of my father, mother, older sister, and even Jin ZiXuan! Because of you, all that’s left now is an orphaned Jin Ling!”

With a terrible shudder, Jin Ling’s shoulders slumped. His expression waned as well. (Chapter 102)

jc clearly just dragging Jin Ling into his argument as another weapon to use against WWX giving zero fucks about how it's affecting Jin Ling. So anyway , I think for WWX to try to clarify any of it earlier no one would have believed him so it would have been pointless. By the end the truth does come out. Of his core and the Wens from the blood pool helping everyone. Wen Ning is now running around with the Lan Juniors night hunting. Jin Ling likes WWX and defends him against jc repeatedly and realizes jc is the problem. So yeah... it all comes in due time. Lastly. I thought it's so funny that you bring this up:

I automatically hated Rich people after I read the novel 🤣

I had this scene bookmarked for how hilarious it was. WWX Relatable king:

This young master had a vermillion mark between his eyebrows. His features were delicate and pretty, yet also harsh and unkind, and he was very young, around Lan Sizhui’s age. He was still half a child, but held a longbow in his hand and wore a quiver of arrows on his back, as well as a long sword which shined with golden light and glittered with gemstones. The embroidery on his clothes was as exquisite as any, uniting into a white peony over his chest, the golden threads slim glimmers in the night.

Wei Wuxian sighed and muttered, “Rich people…”

The boy was surely some young master from the Lanling Jin Clan. That clan alone used the white peony as its emblem, suggesting that their own beauty was comparable to the flower’s. The white peony was also the king of flowers, and thus through it, the Lanling Jin Clan also subtly advertised that it, too, was the king of cultivators. The vermillion mark on their foreheads represented “enlightenment and ideals illuminating the world.”

The young master had originally nocked an arrow on his bow, itching to shoot, but upon seeing that the spirit-binding nets contained only people, he was sorely disappointed. He whipped around suddenly, irritation written across his face. “Every single time it’s you idiots. There are over 400 spirit-binding nets hanging around this mountain and none of them have caught anything, but already you people have ruined nearly twenty of them!”

Wei Wuxian’s thoughts continued to be, “Rich people!” (Chapter 7)

[robininthelabyrinth]

What would happen if Jiang Cheng found A-Yuan hiding in the tree stump at the Siege of the Burial Mounds and decided he's going to take in this toddler Wei Wuxian's was raising and raise him, in the memory of what WWX promised to be for JC?

sequel to this aka Delight in Misery (ao3)

--

“Sizhui?!” Jiang Cheng roared as he stormed into Lan Wangji’s room. “You named him Sizhui?”

Lan Wangji had already long ago become inured to Jiang Cheng’s huffing and puffing. Anyway, Jiang Cheng had medicine in his hands when he stormed in, which meant that he wasn’t bothered enough by it to come yell at him outside the usual time - and that meant that whatever it was, it was no big deal.

Accordingly, Lan Wangji didn’t give the yelling any more thought than it required, opting instead to turn onto his stomach in silent invitation.

Sure enough, Jiang Cheng came over to sit on the bed, grumbling the entire time he undid the bandages on Lan Wangji’s back and starting to spread the soothing balm onto the slowly healing wounds.

“I can’t believe you picked ‘Sizhui’ as a courtesy name for A-Yuan,” Jiang Cheng said, sounding thoroughly disgusted and more than a little disgruntled as well. His hands, however, were as gentle as his voice was harsh. “Sizhui. Was carving ‘Lan Wangji loves Wei Wuxian’ into the woodwork too subtle for you?”

Being face down made it easier for Lan Wangji to hide the way his lips twitched.

At first, he had been disturbed at the notion that his grief for Wei Wuxian’s loss – an endless well of despair, an injury that would never heal – might in some ways be balanced with instances of joy, and yet, in time, he had slowly come to accept it. After all, Wei Wuxian himself had never remembered pain for more than a moment; he would not have wanted Lan Wangji to deny himself the pleasures of A-Yuan’s cheerful presence, the peace of being surrounded by Wei Wuxian’s belongings, the amusement of Jiang Cheng’s sarcastic commentary that was so thoroughly ungracious it could only be laughed at.  

The adjustment had not been easy. Lan Wangji was broken in both body and heart, lingering too longer in regrets of the past, while Jiang Cheng had walked a fine line on the verge of true madness, periods of calm interrupted suddenly by grief so intense it manifested as hysterical anger and furious lashing out, his own servants trembling to see it - it was only when Jin Ling had ended up with them, a safe haven for him in his younger years while Lanling Jin sorted out its own internal issues, that Jiang Cheng had started to calm down. His nights were still full of nightmares, brutal soul-shattering screaming ones that Lan Wangji suspected matched his own, but there were now entire days in which the man who kept him company (because apparently “seclusion” wasn’t considered a real word in Yunmeng Jiang, and “alone” was translated to mean “with me”) was a serious, earnest sect leader with a penchant for snide quips rather than the  devastated wreckage of a human being he had met upon the Burial Mounds.

They had not been particularly close, before, and their personalities weren’t exactly compatible. And yet, to his surprise, Lan Wangji found that he didn’t miss the serenity of the Cloud Recesses as much as he thought he would, but rather appreciated the noise and clamor that Jiang Cheng brought into his life.

“ – like two drops of water, both of you,” Jiang Cheng was saying. “Sizhui and Rulan! These are people’s names! They’ll have to bear them their entire lives! Do you think when they’re adults they’re going to enjoy telling people, ‘oh, yes, well, you see, the people who named us had absolutely no sense of dignity or proportion, so –’”

“How is A-Ling?” Lan Wangji asked, feeling his ears go red. He had known about Jin Ling’s courtesy name since long ago, but he hadn’t known until Jiang Cheng had told him that the name had been bestowed by Wei Wuxian, or that Wei Wuxian had praised his sect and maybe even him in the naming – it sometimes made him wonder if his feelings, which he’d long believed to be unrequited, might not have been so hopeless after all.

That didn’t mean he wanted to talk about said feelings with Jiang Cheng, though.

Luckily, Jiang Cheng’s attention was very easy to divert when it came to his precious nephew. “Good! His teeth are finally coming out properly, so we won’t have to deal with all that wailing and gnawing anymore – I thought we’d have to lose A-Yuan’s fingers to all that biting before it ever happened –”

“I thought you told him to stop.”

“Of course I did. Did he listen? No. He just looked sad and obedient whenever I looked at him, and snuck his fingers into the crib whenever I didn’t – I should’ve gotten you to give him the order. He actually listens to you.”

Lan Wangji hummed in response, listening as Jiang Cheng continued in his usual manner to update him about the development of the children they were raising – teething for Jin Ling, Lan Yuan’s rapidly swelling waistline (he was almost recognizable as a child again instead of the pile of bones he’d been after he’d recovered from his fever) and the need to start him on physical conditioning soon, the investment of time and effort that all three of them were putting into trying to convince Jin Ling that his first word should be ‘jiujiu’ – and then, from there, about developments at the Lotus Pier more generally.

At first, Lan Wangji had thought there was a purpose to these updates, that he was meant to give some sort of advice as payment for taking up food and resources, but after a while he realized that Jiang Cheng just wanted someone to listen to him.

He didn’t seem to have anyone else that would.

“– finally finished the full set of docks, so maybe the fishermen will stop beating my ears in about it,” Jiang Cheng was saying. “And yes, damn you, your idea about opening up hotels was both very popular and very profitable – just goes to show that your Lan sect’s reputation for being above it all isn’t in any way justified, you lot make money better than the Jin sect…your brother came by again.”

Lan Wangji tensed.  

“Stop that! Your back’s bad enough without adding knots to it.” Jiang Cheng pressed down on one of them purposefully: it hurt for a moment, and then released, and Lan Wangji involuntarily relaxed as the relief spread through him. Jiang Cheng either had a very good teacher in massage or a natural-born talent for it; Lan Wangji hadn’t yet figured out how to ask which it was. “He’s still looking for you, that’s all, and it’s starting to take a bit of a toll on him; he looks like he hasn’t slept in a while. I’m starting to almost feel bad about it.”

It was very classic Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji had found, to orchestrate a punishment for someone and feel bad about it almost immediately thereafter. It was no wonder A-Yuan had him so thoroughly wrapped around his little finger.

“You can tell him, if you want,” Lan Wangji said reluctantly. Telling would mean seeing, and while he missed his brother very much, he was still very angry over everything that had happened. “I do not want the Lotus Pier to suffer for having harbored me.”

“Stop being so damned self-sacrificing,” Jiang Cheng said, and Lan Wangji wasn’t looking but he could hear him rolling his eyes. “I don’t care how much you enjoy it; I for one can’t stand it. Anyway, if my Jiang Sect can’t hold our heads up against another sect’s anger, we don’t deserve to be called a Great Sect. It’s like I told you: the moment he actually admits that you’re missing, rather than being all ambiguous and vague about it, I’ll tell him.”

Lan Wangji was secretly glad, even though he knew it was petty of him.

The thought of how frantic Lan Xichen must be after all these months, the idea of him not sleeping, of him travelling to all the sects to ask again and again if they’d seen him…the thought of it hurt, he didn’t deny it. But it didn’t hurt as much as finding out that Wei Wuxian had died with no one by his side – as finding out that his brother, who knew what Wei Wuxian meant to him, had known and deliberately omitted to tell him.

Just as Jiang Cheng was deliberately omitting to tell Lan Xichen the truth now.

“The sect would lose face,” he finally said, offering up an explanation for his brother’s actions, both then and now.

“Yeah, well, fuck your sect,” Jiang Cheng said. “I picked my sect over my family, too, and where did that leave me? Now it’s all I have left.”

His hands stilled for a moment.

“…except you and kids, I guess,” he said, sounding especially bitter about it in the sort of way that Lan Wangji had learned indicated that Jiang Cheng was having an attack of feelings and not particularly enjoying the experience. “You’re not that annoying.”

That was practically stating that Jiang Cheng would die without them.

“Mn,” Lan Wangji said, and after a moment Jiang Cheng continued rubbing in the salve. There was even a brief moment of silence, probably Jiang Cheng being thankful that Lan Wangji didn’t call him out on those feelings. Normally, Lan Wangji would just enjoy it, but… “You could have children of your own.”

Jiang Cheng choked, his hand slipping as he nearly fell over. “What?”

“Children,” Lan Wangji said. “You could marry.”

Not that marriage was a requirement for children, as Jin Guangshan continuously seemed to demonstrate – according to some of the gossip Jiang Cheng had recently reported, he’d recently brought another bastard son home.

“I’m trying, aren’t I?” Jiang Cheng asked, indignant. “I’ve gone on three matchmaking dates –”

Lan Wangji was well aware. He had been the one to whom Jiang Cheng had exaggeratedly complained after each one of those disastrous dates.

“Deliberate sabotage,” he said, because even without having left the four walls around him in months he could figure that much out. “Why?”

Jiang Cheng hesitated, then snorted. “Well, let’s hope not everyone’s as perceptive as you. It’s the agreement I made with the Jin sect to allow me to raise Jin Ling – no other children.”

Somehow, Lan Wangji hadn’t expected that. 

He swallowed, his throat suddenly tight. He knew, of course, that there was nothing Jiang Cheng wouldn’t do for his last living blood relative, even risk having his Jiang sect turned into nothing more than an inheritance to be gobbled up by the Jin sect, but he hadn’t realized – that the Jin sect would take advantage of the grief and trauma that Jiang Cheng suffered, the same grief and trauma that he himself suffered from every day…

It made him taste bile.

“Though you’ve nearly screwed that up, you know,” Jiang Cheng said, sounding suddenly amused. “Back’s done, by the way.”

Lan Wangji sat up and turned his head to look at Jiang Cheng. “How?”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. “Well, given your injuries, I’m the one out there teaching Lan Yuan all the basics, aren’t I? The Jiang sect hasn’t started accepting disciples that young yet, so he stands out. Everyone’s starting to say that he’s mine.”

“His surname is Lan.”

“And Wei Wuxian’s was Wei; that never stopped people from talking, did it?” Jiang Cheng scowled a little at the reminder he’d just given himself; as Lan Wangji had found out these past few months, Jiang Cheng was a master of the self-inflicted injury. “The latest I’ve heard is that I fell in love with some lady from the Lan sect who left her child with me when she died – honestly, it’s a bit sad that they can’t think of anything more interesting. Why would I be stupid enough to make the same mistakes as my father?”

Lan Wangji frowned. Jiang Cheng’s voice was shading near to actual pain, rather than his usual bark without a bite – he had let slip enough about his childhood for Lan Wangji to have figured out that the old jokes about the Jiang sect leader’s favoritism for Wei Wuxian were not jokes at all.

More like an old wound ripped open so many times that it would never heal.

It was no surprise, then, that it hurt him to be cast in the same role.

“You could always tell them that the lady still lives,” he said mildly, pretending his words weren’t hurting himself this time. Maybe Jiang Cheng had a point when he said that Lan Wangji enjoyed self-sacrifice. “Only that she’s ill, or in confinement, and cannot be seen.”

“Not a chance! Like I’d ever do something like that,” Jiang Cheng said, and Lan Wangji very briefly loved him for his immediate rejection of the idea. “Besides, if I say that, what do I do when you do come out of here and claim him? Everyone will think we’ve been sleeping together.”

Lan Wangji politely didn’t mention the occasional night that Jiang Cheng spent huddling by his side, wild-eyed, until the nightmares went away, or the way Jiang Cheng would occasionally lend a hand with certain physiological reactions that Lan Wangji could not bear to deal with himself, turning what might have been a trigger for self-hatred and near suicidal despair into a process as mundane as the baths he still needed help taking; neither of those were what was meant.

“No one would fear that you would have children if they thought you cut your sleeve,” he pointed out, not sure why he was pushing the issue. Even if people did say that, it was only rumors, after all, and temporary ones: when Lan Wangji could walk again, even the most pointed would swiftly fade in favor of ones that slandered Lan Wangji’s reputation instead.

“I’m still hoping to get married eventually,” Jiang Cheng said. “Just – after Jin Ling is an adult. Once he’s sect leader, he can release me from the promise I made. No harm done, assuming I don’t die first.”

Lan Wangji nodded. It made sense, though for some reason he felt some dissatisfaction.

“Though,” Jiang Cheng continued, looking thoughtful, “it might not be that bad an idea to spread some rumors. If I never commented on it, people would never know for sure if it was true or just slander by some dissatisfied female cultivator after one of my horrible matchmaking meetings.”

“It would still affect your reputation.”

“Like I care,” Jiang Cheng scoffed. “Let them talk! If anyone is stupid enough to think that the contents of my bed have any impact on my abilities, I still have Zidian to show them the error of their ways. And I will, too; don’t think I won’t!”

Lan Wangji abruptly felt lighter inside. Of course Jiang Cheng wouldn’t care; he hardly ever cared about anything other than his sect and the children – and anyway, just because Lan Wangji had never told Jiang Cheng directly how he felt about Wei Wuxian didn’t mean that he hadn’t guessed. He had given Lan Wangji Wei Wuxian’s bedroom, after all. “I would never be so foolish.”

Jiang Cheng huffed and tossed his head, then turned to say something that he promptly forgot in favor of gaping at him. “Hanguang-jun, what are you doing with your mouth?”

Lan Wangji allowed his smile to widen. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Stop it! It’s creepy! Go back to being humorless and dull this instant!”

“No.”

“This is my sect and you’re my guest; you have to do what I say.”

“No.”

“You’re worse than A-Yuan,” Jiang Cheng complained. “At least he pretends to listen. I’ll have to raise Jin Ling to be properly obedient.”

For some reason, Lan Wangji didn’t think he would have much luck with that.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 11 first part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Goodness)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Okay! This episode is a real slice of healthy family dynamics, not triggering in any way. [Uh if this is your first Restless Rewatch: that is sarcasm, dear readers]

Goodbye to You, Goodbye to Everything We Knew

Nie Huaisang asks why Meng Yao has to leave and Meng Yao says "I killed a guy without permission, so your brother fired me." 

Ha ha ha ha no he doesn't. But he does give Nie Huaisang a sweet, sad smile; he seems touched by NHS's distress. 

Meng Yao carefully removes Nie Huaisang's hands from his shoulders and bows to him, wordlessly signaling the change in their relationship from intimate friends to formal strangers, while Nie Huaisang looks crushed. 

They will return to intimate friendship in the future, but falsely. Meng Yao believes that truly loving a person can include destroying their family and using them as an instrument in your murder plots as long as you don't directly harm them.  Nie Huaisang eventually learns to use people just as brutally, but he doesn't lie to himself about what he's doing. This farewell may be the last harmless moment between these friends. 

Jiang Cheng is distressed by what's going on, while Wei Wuxian crosses his arms and watches, fully in Sherlock Holmes mode, instead of his more usual concerned-for-my-friend mode. This may signal mistrust of Meng Yao, who refused his initial attempt at friendship, and not in a sexy, slice-your-face-off way.  Or it may mean that he's reserving judgement on a complicated family situation. He maintains his uncharacteristic reserve through the entire encounter. 

(more behind the cut!)

Nie Huaisang runs in and asks his brother WTF happened. Nie Mingjue says "he killed my subordinate without permission, when he knows perfectly well power must flow from the ruler; it's like he didn't even read that Foucault book I gave him."

Ha ha ha actually he just yells at his brother, as if NHS doesn’t have his own relationship with Meng Yao after being wonder twink powers with him for probably a couple of years now. NHS has to sit and process his loss and confusion in silence.

As a younger sibling who would make friends with my older siblings' girlfriends and then lose those friends if they broke up, for reasons having nothing to do with why I liked their girlfriends, I super feel Nie Huaisang's pain here.

OTOH, older siblings are entitled to have break ups and not explain themselves to anyone besides their lover because that's the nature of intimacy. The moral is, uhh...don't have a family curse that makes you unreasonably angry. 

Jiang Cheng steps up to advocate for Meng Yao, because Meng Yao is injured, and because Jiang Cheng is actually a born leader who knows better than to throw away a useful subordinate. For example, even when Wei Wuxian is at his drunkest and most defiant, Jiang Cheng tries to reform him, not kick him out, only drawing the line at having unpopular zombie friends.

Wei Wuxian continues to keep his mouth shut, waiting for Nie Mingjue to calm down, and speaking only about the tactical situation. He clearly knows there's more to this story but he's pretty good at keeping his head down in a family ruckus, and we're about to learn why.

Yunmeng Town

The Yunmeng bros go home to Lotus Pier, where they are greeted in town with bows, smiles, and free stuff.

We've mostly been seeing them in their roles within the cultivation community, where Jiang Cheng is grumpy and anxious, and Wei Wuxian is sassy and iconoclastic. Here among common people, they are both charming, friendly, and polite, like the imaginary good kind of gentry.

They hear the news from a local lotus seller that the small clans are coming to the Jiang Clan for shelter, but that otherwise everything's ok, which doesn't sound like everything is ok at all. He gives Wei Wuxian a giant bag of lotuses for his sister to make soup from.

Home to Lotus Pier

All the disciples practicing in the courtyard at Lotus Pier are excited to see them, and one girl goes running to tell Jiang Yanli. Thanks to the admittedly beautiful design of Lotus Pier, she is running for a long time.

A long, long time. Getting around on all these insane walkways must be a real drag if you're not the flying sort of cultivator.

Discipline and Punish

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian immediately go and kneel while they wait for their official punishment. Jiang Cheng is kinda worried about the punishment and Wei Wuxian is like, I'm good at being punished, just let me do it. 

Much later, and for a really long fucking time

He also tries to get Jiang Cheng to stop being mad, even giving him skritches while he says they should be brothers after they die.

Which they will, as it happens, although Jiang Cheng after the Wen torture is only mostly golden-core dead, while WWX dies for real.

When Jiang Fengmian shows up Jiang Cheng starts to explain that they were with Lan Wangji, but Wei Wuxian hushes him; he is still keeping the secret of the Yin Iron. Although he's keeping it in exactly the manner that a teenager keeps their weed stash secret: immediately tell literally every teen friend about it, but keep it extra secret from everybody's parents. 

Happy Families Are All Alike

Now we get to meet Yu Ziyuan, who is generally styled Madame Yu but who I'm going to call by her name just as if she was a male character. More on that concept in a minute. She rolls up looking, smelling, feeling like a million yuan, with her two murder bitches in tow.

Her marriage is an unhappy one, and her husband does his best to avoid her and avoid conflict, lying to the kids that she's tired and then sending her away later with the same line about being tired, which is a particularly gendered kind of gaslighting. She is obviously not tired, other than being tired of Jiang Fengmian's shit.

I'm not going to say she's the worst mother ever, because parenthood in a feudal society entails a wide range of skills, many of which she has in abundance. She starts off with a relatively tender greeting to Jiang Cheng, tuning up his always-amazing sartorial style, which is exactly like her own. They are all ready for the mommy & me fashion show.

That said, she dishes out hellacious verbal abuse to everyone in her family. She targets each one in turn, making Wei Wuxian the focus of most of her ire, but without ever directly speaking to him. He is not, in her view, part of her family. 

The Stages of Family Dinner

1. Try to fix it and defuse the situation

2. Yeah no

3. Just keep your head down and be glad it’s not your turn in the hot seat

This family meal hammers home how much Wei Wuxian is not, actually, part of the family. Jiang Fengmian adopted him into the clan, and told A-Cheng and A-Yi to treat him as a sibling, but he didn't give him the Jiang name, and he didn't get his wife's approval. He also doesn’t expect him to dress like any other clan member, apparently. 

Compare this to how Lan Wangji, actual good parent, fully integrates his own adopted son into his clan and family, starting with giving him the Lan surname.  

The hits just keep coming as she goes after Jiang Cheng for being less gifted than Wei Wuxian, Yanli for performing labor for Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Fengmian for possibly begetting Wei Wuxian.

On first watching this scene I took her question "Is this how you raise someone else's son?" to mean that she thought Jiang Fengmian was being too nice to a kid who was actually an outsider, taking resources away from the real kids. But on rewatching, it's pretty clear that she's saying his favoring Wei Wuxian is evidence that Wei Wuxian is NOT someone else's son; that he's Jiang Fengmian's bastard. 

Jiang Fengmian doesn't say a thing to this, or to her mentioning WWX’s mother. This shit is why WWX is running around in the world desperate for any crumb of info he can get about his Mom; he hears about her all the goddamn time at home, but only as insults to her character.  

A Bitch is Not Wrong

Here's the thing, though; a lot of what Yu Ziyuan says is correct. 

Jiang Fengmian should be a lot more concerned about the danger to the children, and should not leave it up to the kids to decide who's going to bear that danger.

Yanli does a lot of food=love, which is ok in the right doses, but causes her to pretty extremely lose face during the whole "soup for Jin Zixuan" debacle. And her doting on Wei Wuxian is...kinda excessive. I mean, yeah, she’s more like a mom than a sister to him, but still. Running out onto an active battlefield to look for him, frex, will be a skosh too much. 

I have a dictionary too, mom

Jiang Cheng, as the future clan leader, shouldn't let his attachments affect his decision making, and should let Wei Wuxian, who's the superior cultivator, fend for himself more often. We love Jiang Cheng for those moments where he puts himself in harm's way to protect his loved ones, but it's not a good strategy. He constantly yells at Wei Wuxian for the exact same thing he does all the time himself; he just limits who he does it for.

After she roasts the shit out of everyone for these failings, she leaves, and everyone sits around being miserable and not talking about what just happened. 

Not to be gender studies-y on main but: the awful things she says to her children are really not very different from the things that Jiang Cheng says to Jin Ling, although her targeting is more adept. JC also says a lot of mean things to WWX when he’s angry. When a man says cruel or insulting things, it's often presented as real love hidden under a rough exterior. When a woman does it, she's a monster.

If you enjoy this sort of interaction you should definitely have a look at Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and the plays of Eugene O'Neill.

Road Runner

Oh thank god, moving on

Lan Wangji is headed back to Cloud Recesses, and gets ambushed by the roadside with the most ridiculous trap this side of Wile E. Coyote.

Wen Chao thinks the "rug over a hole" trap is a good idea for someone who can literally fly.

Lan Wangji doesn't faff about with sword riding, he just fucking goes up in the air and stays there until he is good goddamn ready to come down. A hole in the sidewalk is really not going to be a problem for him. 

Wen Zhuliu does get in one kick before Lan Wanji yeets backwards away from him, in a moment that's scarier on rewatching, now that I know what Wen Zhuliu is capable of.

Wen Chao talks some smack to Lan Wangji, hilariously complaining about "your patronizing tone" to a man who has literally never spoken a word to him, IIRC, and certainly isn't speaking now. Maybe it's a mistranslation and should be "attitude," or maybe Wen Chao is just that dumb.

Apparently Wei Wuxian made a stack of talismans for Lan Wangji to take on the road with him. This talisman is a twin to the one Lan Wangji brings out way, way later in Yunping, when Wei Wuxian says "you even have kept it until now." Missing scene alert! What else did he make for him?

In Yunping this talisman is used to distract some random harmless street bullies. Here it is used against a seven-man murder squad.

This works.

Assault on Cloud Recesses

Forgettable disciple #1, Su She, comes rushing in to tell Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen that Cloud Recesses is under attack.

I'm pretty sure these dudes already know it, because they are meditating extra hard with a buttload of incense, and Lan Qiren is about to cough up some blood. So I think they're trying to hold the ward, rather than just, like, chilling while their disciples get stabbed.

Cloud Recesses is super on fire, you guys; it's going to totally burn to the ground; look at that conflagration, oh the humanity, etc.

Lan Qiren Rises to the Occasion

Ok, I like to rag on Failmaster Qiren and he is definitely an authoritarian dick a whole lot of the time, but in this scene he is fucking amazing.

He starts off worrying about Lan Wangji, not just out of affection but out of strategic planning, probably in equal parts. All three of these Lans take their clan responsibilities extremely seriously.

Then he calmly assesses the situation while imperturbable Lan Xichen freaks the fuck out. 

Lan Xichen is right to be alarmed, because he knows his uncle, he knows one of them is likely to die, and he knows that Lan Qiren will choose to take the hit.

I love, love, love Lan Qiren's physicality here; how centered and assured he is, as he holds his nephew steady and explains what is required of both of them.

Lan Xichen knows Lan Qiren is right. He is utterly fucking devastated, and all he can do to show his love...

...is to obey. 

This whole scene just. kills me.

Su She and forgettable disciple #2 are in the room for this whole conversation, and they join Lan Xichen in this deep bow. Note: I will be reminding everyone of this fact in Part 2.

Whew. This episode is a LOT. Part 2 Coming Soon!

Writing Prompt: What other goodies did Wei Wuxian put in Lan Wangji's care package before Lan Wangji hit the road without saying goodbye?

Soundtrack: 1. Michelle Branch, Goodbye to You 2. Ludacris, Stand Up

[crossdressingdeath]

I can’t believe so many people missed the point of WWX and JC going their separate ways. It’s not just saying they don’t like it, they just think the author tricked them as if MXTX didn’t consistently show WWX getting more and more tired of JC’s attitude as the novel went on.

Guanyin Temple JC finally takes things too far with the things he said and WWX needs to tell him enough while hiding behind LWJ. Even JC himself realized how unfair he was being when he says even now he expected WWX to comfort him. JC himself realized how stupid he was being and it’s why he finally let WWX go and never told him about distracting the Wen’s. JC, even on a small level, realized he just guilts WWX and forces him to stay.

The kindest thing JC ever did for WWX at the end of the novel was letting WWX go without any comments and finally accepting they have their own lives to live. Which is huge considering the day before he literally kept preventing WWX from leaving the ancestor hall just to insult him and try forcing a fight out of him and even pushed WWX to minor Qi Deviation at the same time.

Can they reconcile one day? Maybe. But by the end of the novel and as we see post canon, it won’t happen for a long time and no one is forcing the issue of them not being in each others lives right now. Not even Jin Ling cares. Just because people don’t like it doesn’t mean it came out of no where and it’s ignoring the only step JC has taken to do something right by WWX.

Yeah. There’s an increasingly strong sense throughout the present day arc that WWX is just getting more and more done with JC’s shit every time they see each other; you can really feel how the time away from JC and with someone who treats him kindly and with genuine love and affection is showing him that JC doesn’t treat him well and that he does deserve better than JC gives him. And of course there’s other things, like the difference between LWJ’s treatment of the juniors under his authority and JC’s treatment of JL. It’s like... one of the most obvious markers of how much WWX has changed and come into his own since his childhood is that while he never approved of JC’s dickishness the things he found amusing and cute and maybe a little unpleasant at worst as a kid growing up in Lotus Pier he finds deeply annoying at best as a grown man facing his childhood playmate who hasn’t grown at all from those days. Which makes sense for multiple reasons; it’s WWX growing and realizing he doesn’t have to put up with JC’s shit, and it’s also a grown man seeing his childhood friend behaving exactly how he did when they were children and realizing in the way a child wouldn’t how pointless and cruel and childish that behaviour is and always was.

The lack of reconciliation is I think a mark of how different they’ve become. They were always different, but WWX has grown as a person. JC hasn’t. Take the scene where WWX says, almost fondly, “You haven’t changed a bit”; he’s not happy with JC’s behaviour, but this is the brother he remembers and he’s glad to see him. Then JC whirls around, says “I’ll show you who hasn’t changed”, and sics WWX’s worst fear on him for no reason. This isn’t all that far into the present day arc and WWX has yet to grow that much, but you can see even then how WWX is changing and growing and JC hasn’t and isn’t. And when WWX takes JC’s lack of change as a minor disappointment perhaps but also almost a relief the same way NHS’s apparent lack of change is JC flips out, turns around and accuses the man who was dead of not changing while he was dead and then attacks him. And of course that builds with every interaction they have, and every flashback shows us more evidence that these two are incompatible as people and that reconciliation would actually be a bad thing. Particularly for WWX, but they could never make each other happy. They’re just... too different and want mutually exclusive things from each other and from life. If you look at all the scenes with WWX and JC, really look at them without using the lens of “Aw Yunmeng bros so great”, you see two children raised together and told to be close from a young age who take opposite lessons from their experience and opposite paths in life and in the end can’t go back to that childhood. Even as early as the Xuanwu arc you can see it starting; WWX wants to step in and help, he sees it as their duty. JC actively stops him and would’ve forced WWX to be a bystander to MM’s brutal murder-by-monster if JZX and LWJ hadn’t stepped in. Nothing really comes of it at the time (except for JC’s temper tantrum later), but it’s a clear sign of the coming split in their beliefs with the Wen remnants; the split that turns out to be irreconcilable. 

There’s also things like the comparison to the Twin Jades with the “Twin Heroes” (or “Twin Prides” if you prefer, I have no idea which is a more accurate translation if in fact either of them are more correct) thing. The “Twin Jades” moniker is something the people gave to LXC and LWJ, because their relationship was so clearly as close as twins. And they’re beautiful and charming (...well, LXC is) and their public image is one of them being incredibly close brothers. The Twin Heroes moniker is something WWX invokes, using the example of another set of brothers who are known for being close. It’s not something that’s actually used, it’s something WWX makes up to bring JC down from his temper tantrum and that never really comes up again until JC uses it to guilt him later. Really think about that scene. WWX creates parallels to other, more loving and more successful (for lack of a better term) brothers, rather than focus on how loving he and JC are. “If Gusu has its Twin Jades, Yunmeng will have its Twin Heroes”, “we’ll be just like our fathers”... I don’t know, maybe it’s just me? But it feels kind of like WWX is... grasping at straws a bit. He says he’ll be loyal, but it feels less like a “we’re brothers and we love each other” and more like “look, we’ll be like these people who love each other!”

So... yeah, MXTX actually spends a lot of time on foreshadowing that Yunmeng bros are not a relationship that will survive the test of time. The biggest surprise in the Guanyin temple where they finally officially go their separate ways (I say officially because let’s face it, the two of them pretty much went their separate ways the day JC declared WWX a traitor to all the sects for not being down with genocide) is that JC does realize that he’s being incredibly unfair to WWX and lets him go without trying to guilt him over JC’s sacrifice, and even that was a good and satisfying point for his story to end on. This was a natural and well set up place for that relationship to end up, and like... people can dislike it all they want, but saying MXTX somehow “tricked” them or fucked up the story just because she disliked JC (which I’ve always found to be a generally stupid argument to level at authors anyway because as an (aspiring) author let me tell you if I hate a character enough to sabotage my own story to fuck them over I rewrite or remove the character) is an embarrassingly lazy analysis of the novel (and even calling it an analysis is a stretch but I can’t think of a better word off the top of my head) at best and at worst is an insult to MXTX and the novel she worked so hard to create.

[killerandhealerqueen]

Hey!

How about a "Santa tell me" xicheng AU ?

Like e.g. The year before LXC started sth. With JGY and was ready to tell him he loved him after a x-mas office party but during that party it was revealed that JGY just used him to get a higher position or sth.

And this year... coming closer to JC of all people ... is just hard. He KNOWS that JC is nothing like JGY, his brutally honest nature making sure of that, but he still has trouble letting himself believe in them ? ( this all but like not in a rebound way but in a "the chapter before is closed but I'm still too scared of opening the next one)

Idk how he realises that but it somehow ends with him accepting that they might not work out but it won't be cause JC would betray him but bc they simply don't work together and that JC is worth at least a try.

Ofc if you don't celebrate x-mas or hate it you don't have to! But if that's the case I'd love it, if you'd publish this anyway so someone else could write it? Hope you have a nice holiday and stay safe!

Oh Anon, I couldn’t give away this prompt, it’s just too good!  I literally dropped everything to write this, so I hope I did this prompt justice!

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for Lan Xichen who was sending himself into a panic attack.  Now, Lan Xichen was normally a calm, cool, and collected person, but when it came to relationships, he knew absolutely fuck-all and it made him an absolute mess.  See, he thought he knew love, but that thought turned around and slapped him in the face.  Last year, Lan Xichen was seeing a man by the name of Jin Guangyao and every time he was with him, Lan Xichen was on Cloud 9.  Lan Xichen loved Jin Guangyao but they had never said it to each other because saying “I Love You” was something that he never really said growing up and Jin Guangyao had a troubled past so he didn’t really say it either.  However, they had been seeing each other long enough that Lan Xichen felt comfortable and confident enough to admit it to him at their company Christmas party.  Yet, when the day of the Christmas party came and Lan Xichen was going to confess, he overheard Jin Guangyao speaking with some of the higher ups.

~*~*~*~*~

“Thank you for this position, Mr. Wang” Jin Guangyao thanked.  Lan Xichen, who was eavesdropping nearby, frowned.

‘Position?  What position?  Meng Yao didn’t tell me anything about him getting a new position’ he thought to himself.  

“Now, we mustn’t tell Lan Xichen about this.  He’ll be heartbroken” Jin Guangyao instructed, making Lan Xichen’s eyes widen before he peeked around the corner to see Jin Guangyao and the president of the company, Mr. Wang, standing before each other.  Mr. Wang raised an eyebrow.

“You still care about the man?  Even though you used him to get this position?” he asked.  Lan Xichen’s eyes widened even farther and he quickly covered his mouth to keep from crying out in shock and horror.  Jin Guangyao looked at him before he scoffed.

“Of course I don’t care about him.  He was just a steppingstone for me, nothing more.  He’s such a push over; I don’t know how he didn’t see my intentions” he sneered.  Lan Xichen shut his eyes and took a deep breath before he turned and walked away.  He wanted to confront Jin Guangyao; yell at him, scream and demand to know if the past few years they spent together was really for nothing, but he held his tongue.  He was a Lan and Lan’s did not lose their composure.

~*~*~*~*~

Now that was last year and Jin Guangyao left the company to move to the headquarters where the other higher ups worked.  This year, in Lan Xichen’s department, was a new employee by the name of Jiang Cheng.  He was introduced by Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng’s older brother and Lan Xichen’s little brother’s, Lan Wangji, boyfriend.  The minute Lan Xichen laid eyes on Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen thought he felt something stirring within him.  He watched Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian playfully bicker and he couldn’t keep a smile from gracing his face before he stepped forward and introduced himself.  When he and Jiang Cheng shook hands, Lan Xichen felt a spark but he quickly schooled his expression to keep himself looking professional.  Unfortunately, Wei Wuxian was perceptive as hell and he saw Lan Xichen’s eyes widen slightly, but to Lan Xichen’s benefit, he said nothing and just smiled at the two before he turned and headed out.  Lan Xichen then took it upon himself to show Jiang Cheng around the place and acclimate him to the work environment.  After that, every time he saw Jiang Cheng, he would get butterflies in his stomach when he watched the young man take charge of the other employees and show them how it’s supposed to be done.  Whenever Jiang Cheng saw him, Lan Xichen would always flash him a smile and a thumbs up, making Jiang Cheng smirk and nod before he turned back to taking charge.  A few times, whenever Lan Xichen was working relentlessly without taking any breaks, Jiang Cheng would come over to his office and knock on his window before poking his head in to ask if he wanted to grab a quick lunch or snack.  Most times Lan Xichen would agree and they would head to the cafeteria to grab lunch but sometimes if a project was close to its deadline, Lan Xichen would refuse and ask for a raincheck.  Jiang Cheng would always nod and walk away, making Lan Xichen think that he was alone again, only to return with either a cup of tea or a bowl of his sister’s homemade lotus root and meat stew.  Lan Xichen always appreciated whenever Jiang Cheng gave him some of his sister’s soup because it made him feel as if Jiang Cheng cared about him.  

~*~*~*~*~

Now, in his apartment, Lan Xichen was pacing back and forth, shaking his head.  

‘Was I reading too far into things?’ he wondered to himself, thinking about all the times he and Jiang Cheng spent lunch together, smiled at each other, and walked home with each other.  

‘He was probably just being nice’ he mused as he continued to pace around, running a hand through his hair.  Besides thinking that he was reading too much into his and Jiang Cheng’s actions, he was also surprised at himself how quickly he had fallen for Jiang Cheng; he hadn’t even fallen for Jin Guangyao this fast.  And of course, he wasn’t using Jiang Cheng as a rebound because that was just cruel and he couldn’t do that to Jiang Cheng.  

‘But…I do like him…don’t I?’ he wondered, pausing.  It didn’t even take him two seconds before he smacked himself in the head; of course he liked Jiang Cheng.  If he didn’t like him, he wouldn’t be pacing around his apartment like a fucking idiot.  

‘I need to calm down…maybe some music will help’ he mused as he walked over to his radio and turned it on.  As soon as he turned it on, “Santa Tell Me” began to play, making him glare at his radio.

“That’s not funny” he grumbled, pointing to the radio before he walked over to his window and looked out it.  Snow was gently falling from the sky, making Lan Xichen smile before he took a deep breath and nodded.

“You know…if I confess to him…the worst he can say is no.  He also might transfer out of my department, but I brought that upon myself, that wasn’t his fault.  He also might not like guys and that’s also not his fault.  But you don’t ask, you don’t get.  So…let’s at least try” he declared before he turned and headed into his bedroom, quickly changing out of his pajamas into a simple black turtleneck, black jeans, and black boots.  After changing, Lan Xichen grabbed his keys, his phone, and his wallet before he walked over to the door and grabbed his black trench coat and gloves.

“Oh, I hope I don’t regret this…” he murmured before he opened the door and walked out.

~*~*~*~*~

After he left his apartment, Lan Xichen headed over to Jiang Cheng’s apartment, which wasn’t too far from his.  The only reason why he knew where Jiang Cheng lived was because they had walked home with each other so many times before.  When he reached Jiang Cheng’s house, he looked up at the building before he sighed and walked up to the front door, ringing the doorbell.  A few seconds later, Wei Wuxian opened the door.

“Oh, Zewu-Jun.  What a surprise.  What are you doing here?” he asked.  Lan Xichen blinked, not sure how to answer, when Wei Wuxian smiled.

“You wanna talk to A-Cheng, right?” he asked.  Lan Xichen blinked again before he nodded.  Wei Wuxian winked.

“I gotchu” he replied before he turned and looked back into the house.

“A-Cheng!  Someone’s at the door for you!” he called out before he turned and smiled at Lan Xichen.  Lan Xichen smiled nervously, just as Jiang Cheng arrived at the door.

“Who—oh, Mr. Lan.  It’s you” he greeted.  Wei Wuxian looked between Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen before he grinned mischievously and gave Jiang Cheng a shove, causing him to stumble out into the cold and into Lan Xichen’s arms.

“Oops” Wei Wuxian teased before he shut the door.  Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen’s eyes widened before Jiang Cheng spun around and glared at the door.

“WEI WUXIAN!” he shouted.  He then huffed before he turned to look back at Lan Xichen.

“Is there something I can help you with Mr. Lan?” he asked.  Lan Xichen opened his mouth to reply when a harsh breeze blew through, causing Jiang Cheng to shiver.  Lan Xichen’s eyes widened and without even thinking, removed his coat and wrapped it around Jiang Cheng’s shoulders.

“There.  So you don’t get cold” he declared.  Jiang Cheng looked at him in shock before he buried himself in Lan Xichen’s coat, since it was so warm.  

“Better?” Lan Xichen asked, smiling.  Jiang Cheng nodded before he looked at Lan Xichen.

“What about you?” he asked.  Lan Xichen waved his hand.

“I’ll be fine” he assured before he cleared his throat.

“Um, Wanyin, I have a question to ask of you” he stated.  Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow.

“What is it?” he asked.  Lan Xichen took a deep breath before he looked at Jiang Cheng.

“Last year, I was in love with a man who I thought loved me too.  However, I found out that he had just used me to get a higher position in the company” he started.  Jiang Cheng looked at him with wide, horrified eyes.

“What?!  Who…why would they do such a thing?!  And to you of all people!!” he exclaimed.  Lan Xichen smiled sadly.

“Your thoughts were my exact thoughts when I found out and I decided to swear off of love, because how could I trust anyone after something like that?  But then, this year, you came along and…changed all that” he admitted.  Jiang Cheng blinked.

“What?” he whispered.  Lan Xichen smiled.

“You…you opened up my heart and made me feel as if love was possible again.  Now, I know that our personalities are very different but…” he continued when Jiang Cheng held up a hand.

“Mr. Lan…are you trying to confess to me?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.  Lan Xichen smiled weakly.

“I’m doing a pretty bad job of it, aren’t I?” he asked before letting out a shuddering breath.

“You don’t have to reciprocate my feelings, but I at least want you to know how I feel.  If you want to leave the company or file for sexual harassment, I completely understand.  I just…I needed to get it off my chest” he explained.  Jiang Cheng frowned.

“Why the hell would I leave the company?  Do you really think that I don’t like you?  Or that everything I’ve been doing with you was just for show?” he asked.  Lan Xichen blinked before he looked at Jiang Cheng in shock.

“Wait, you actually like me?!” he exclaimed.  Jiang Cheng smiled.

“Mr. Lan, I don’t like a lot of people.  If I take time out of my day to spend time with someone, that means I like them.  And I like you.  A lot.  I’m sorry that person hurt you like that…if you let me know who it is…I can go break their nose for you?” he offered.  Lan Xichen laughed before he shook his head.

“No, it’s alright.  Thank you though” he replied, just as the bells in the nearby church began to toll.  Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen looked over before they looked at one another.

“I guess…it’s Christmas” Lan Xichen murmured.  Jiang Cheng hummed.

“I guess so” he agreed before he leaned forward and pecked Lan Xichen on the nose.  Lan Xichen looked at him in shock as Jiang Cheng smiled.

“Wanna come inside?  You’re probably freezing and we were just about to make hot chocolate.  And besides, nobody should spend Christmas alone” he declared.  Lan Xichen smiled and nodded, following after Jiang Cheng, who was thankfully not locked out by Wei Wuxian.  As they headed inside, Lan Xichen looked up into the starry night and smiled.

“Thank you” he whispered.

“Mr. Lan?” a voice called out, making Lan Xichen look away from the stars and look at Jiang Cheng, who was standing in his doorway, smiling fondly as he stood drowning in Lan Xichen’s coat.

“Are you coming?” he asked.  Lan Xichen smiled and nodded.

“I am.  And please, call me Huan” he instructed.  Jiang Cheng grinned.

“Huan” he agreed.  Lan Xichen smiled as he headed inside, walking past Jiang Cheng as Jiang Cheng looked up at the starry night, a small smile on his face.

“You did good, Santa” he whispered before he shut and locked the door, heading to join Lan Xichen and his family for hot chocolate and laughter.  Oh what a Merry Christmas indeed.

[veilofher]

MDZS Meta: Why did Lan WangJi live on?

Guys. Guys.

Lan WangJi. Loves. Wei WuXian.

Period.

If you’ve read Mo Dao Zu Shi / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, then you know this is a hard fact.

Like attack his own family just to try and protect him for a bit longer and bear 33 scars on his back for it kind of love.

Like break the very rules he so strictly upholds, and stash his favorite alcohol- Emperor’s Smile in his house kind of love.

Like adopt a baby he loved kind of love (which if any of you know, taking responsibility of babies aren’t exactly the easiest thing to do, we’re talking a minimum of 16 years here guys).

So that got me thinking, if LWJ loved WWX so very very much, so much so that one of the very first descriptions of him, as said so eloquently by WWX, was “nothing could help the bitter facial expression that made him look as though his wife had passed away“, then why did he not just take his own life? Or at the very least become as nonfunctional a person as his father who was mourning his wife.

Because can you blame the man? The love of his life, who was probably the best person he knew, okay no probably about it, had been viciously villianized for his strength and then brutally murdered for his choices- choices that LWJ himself agreed with.

I mean just look at the family history of the Lans, those bloody suckers just feel too damn much.

And God knows the Lan sect wouldn’t have stopped him. Be grudged him? Yes. Hated on WWX more than they already were? Definitely. Used him as an example of how not to love? That’s a given. But stop him? I don’t think so. I mean just look at what they did with his father- Qingheng Jun. They left the man alone, to do whatever the fuck he wanted, in the name of love. And they let LWJ, who was so heavily injured that he needed three years to recover, just leave and go to the Burial Mounds merely three months after said injury. They did not even try to stop him or follow after him to make sure he was alright. They just let him do as he wanted, now that his punishment was complete.

Side note: The Lans really do allow a lot in the name of love, don’t they?

So yes, LWJ could’ve very easily ended his life, and not suffered through the next thirteen years of grief, which in his case was kind of tripled, because not only did the love of his life die, the world just blindly hated on said love, and everyone also kind of thought his soul was destroyed. Actually fuck triple grief, make it x100 fold.

But did he do that?

No.

What did he do?

He followed the principle he shared with WWX, one that WWX died to uphold- always be there for others regardless of the fame it brings / always be where the chaos is. And this is something they both have done all their lives, think LWJ protecting Mian Mian despite having a broken leg, and WWX protecting the Wen sect remnants despite the infamy if brought him.

This man, who cherished every part of WWX that he had left behind, so desperately, how could he just take his own life when WWX himself hadn’t?

I mean think of the absolutely pain and horror of the last couple of years of WWX’s life- he was one of the best cultivators of his generation who lost his core days after he lost his sect and his father-figure, then was stabbed by his own sword and thrown into hell on earth, aka The Burial Mounds, then was thrusted into a war when he was barely out of his teens, where he was reduced to a weapon by his own brother (and you cannot say anything to make me think otherwise. Jiang Cheng had the front seat view to his brother’s misery, and he did nothing. LWJ, who barely interacted with the man knew that his spiritual powers were somehow impaired, but JC, who lived with him, had zero clue? Bro do you even see your brother?), and then just when the dust was settling, and he could finally begin to psychologically heal, he took the Wen sect remnants under his wing, for which he was villainized by the entire world and it’s mother, and pretty much everything went downhill from there.

And despite all that, not once does WWX think of committing suicide. After Qionqi Path and Jin ZiXuan, he would’ve surrendered himself, I think, had he been able to secure the Wen remnants’ safety. And then after the Nightless City Massacre, and Jiang YanLi’s death, he still doesn’t kill himself, as most people in his situation probably would do, because imagine the fucking guilt of having murdered the very sister you loved more than anything. Instead he finds a way to destroy the Stygian Tiger Seal, and dies from a backlash.

LWJ was one of the few people who saw and perhaps the only one who understood WWX even in the midst of his madness. So how could he, knowing all that, just kill himself? What was his pain of losing one loved one compared to the pain of WWX’s, who had lost pretty much everyone?

So instead what does Lan WangJi do?

He lets go of the wordly affairs, and just leaves. He can’t leave his sect, because his brother and uncle and A-Yuan are still there, but he doesn’t even stay really. He’s just on the road, going from place to place, and protecting people. And teaching kids, so that they don’t end up as close minded as his and his previous generation were.

He’s doing the only thing he could do-

Live on and protect Wei WuXian’s values.

[trensu]

Episode 32: The One where the Moonlit Rooftop BETRAYS Us

Remember how the last episode brutally tore the heart right out of our collective chest?

Well get ready to dial that pain up to ELEVEN BC THIS TIME AROUND THEY RIP THE HEART RIGHT OUT OF US AND THEN CRUSHES IT BENEATH THEIR HEEL

And i can’t even skip most of it!! Bc it is crucially important to know what state of mind our beloved sunshine boy is in for everything to make sense!! 

Especially for what’s going to happen in the next episode!

So we HAVE TO SUFFER. THERE’S NO WAY AROUND IT.

We start our episode at the super fun jin ancestral hall in lanling where jyl is mourning the death of her husband!!

Enjoy this bc this is literally the least painful moment in the entire episode!!!

My precious sunshine boy is lurking behind a pillar, guilt-ridden and alone

He can’t get any nearer bc of the guilt

But he can’t stay away bc that’s his sister, his most precious person

Too bad madam jin spots him

AND THEN JYL SEES HIM AND STARTS CRYING

WWX’S FACE HERE, OH GOD, I CAN’T EVEN DESCRIBE IT

STRICKEN? HEARTBROKEN? DESPAIRING?? WHATEVER IT IS, IT MAKES ME WANNA CRY

So he flees, he can’t face his sister, not when he’s the reason she’s grieving

We’re in the middle of a forest again! It’s even less fun than the last time we were in the forest!

MY DARLING WWX IS HALLUCINATING

HE’S HALLUCINATING HIS SISTER

HE’S SO DESPERATE FOR ANY SCRAP OF KINDNESS OR AFFECTION HERE. 

HE’S SO ALONE.

THE RESENTFUL ENERGY IS TAUNTING HIM “LET US OUT, LET US HELP YOU. YOU CAN ONLY RELY ON US”

HE’S SCREAMING BACK AT THEM, “GET LOST, GET LOST, LEAVE ME ALONE”

IT’S AWFUL. I WANNA DIE.

Now we’re at Qishan, listening to a bunch of cultivators gossip

Again.

The Wens’ bodies are hanging from rafters, all out on display in the open

Because slaughtering them wasn’t horrifying enough, they had to humiliate them after death too. Fucking jin clan.

Wwx appears behind the group and scares the shit out of them (GOOD)

He calmly pulls out his demon flute and starts playing

Within three notes he’s got the entire group of gossips pinned to the ground. Then he played a little extra just for kicks.

THAT’S MY BOY, SHOW ‘EM WHO’S BOSS

Now he’s like, why’d y’all stop talking? Weren’t you saying how you were gonna stop me?

And some idiot rando is like, you think you’re hot shit bully us weaklings?? You should go fight the clan leaders at their big celebration.

Wwx starts to choke him out bc he’s annoying him but wwx gives us this epic line

“Every injustice has its perpetrator.”

And he ditches those basic bitches to hunt down the guys that killed his people

Now we’re watching all this pompous sect leaders celebrating the murder of innocent lives, but we’re not gonna get into it bc they piss me off and nobody needs to pay attention to jgs’s speeches ever

Although i will mention that lxc and jc both look very conflicted at the events that are going down

HANGUANG JUN!!!

We’re back with the basic bitches and lwj appears!!

Lwj: where is wei ying?

Of course his first words in the episode are about wei ying. 

And they’re all aw, you just missed him bro, he left about an hour ago 

Lwj: where did he go?

And they’re like, Nightless City to hang out with the sect leaders!

Lwj’s face here is just, Worry and Dread. 

We’re back with the sect leaders. Jgs is talking again

Thankfully, wwx interrupts him with his mental breakdown!!

AND HE INTERRUPTS BY SHOWING UP ON A MOONLIT ROOFTOP

MOONLIT ROOFTOP, HOW COULD YOU??

YOU WERE SO KIND TO US BEFORE!! WE TRUSTED YOU!! WE LOVED YOU!!!

WHAT DID WE DO WRONG?? HOW COULD YOU BETRAY US THIS WAY??

Jgs: what are you doing here?

Wwx: why can’t i be here? don’t you guys want me here? I’m saving you the effort of hunting me down!

Then there’s a lot of back and forth with rando cultivators throwing accusations at him and wwx making Valid Points left and right

As we all know, Valid Points don’t make a smidge of difference against the incredibly stupid and obstinate. 

We won’t get into too much detail here bc it honestly doesn’t even matter what they’re saying, but there are a couple cool lines that i wanted to include

Somebody says something about him having a grudge against Jin Zixun a year ago

Wwx: Little characters like him i forget in 3 days, much less a year.

Which, like, LOL bc he’s right, jz was an insignificant little worm except worms are good for soil so he’s MORE insignificant than a little worm (i’m sorry worms, i shouldn’t have insulted you that way!!)

Later somebody says something about how they had admired wwx before but now they hate him

Wwx: Both your hatred and admiration is so cheap!

WE DO GET A COOL SCENE HERE THO

Some basic bitch shoots him with an arrow and it hits him right in the chest

Wwx barely even flinches

He tears that arrow right back out and covers it with resentful energy

Then LITERALLY THROWS IT BACK AT THE GUY WHO SHOT HIM AND PIERCES HIS CHEST

IT WAS AWESOME

And then he gives us another cool line.

Someone calls him vicious for shooting the guy who shot him before and he says “you’re already branding me as someone who uses wicked tricks, you can’t be counting on my mercy to let it go, right?”

It’s basically a whole ‘you want a bad guy? I’LL SHOW YOU A BAD GUY’ moment. Which looks cool, right, but is also super upsetting bc THIS IS MY PRECIOUS SUNSHINE BOY

MY PRECIOUS SUNSHINE BOY WHO ONLY EVER WANTED TO PROTECT THE WEAK AND DEFENSELESS

Now there’s a battle breaking out! Between the cultivators and the resentful spirits wwx summons 

WWX LOOKS SICK AF PLAYING HIS DEMON FLUTE AND SUMMONING SPIRITS, LIKE ALWAYS.

But we don’t care about this battle.

This battle doesn’t matter. Even if it does look pretty cool.

Because all the important stuff happens on rooftops, as we already know.

And on the rooftop WE SUDDENLY HAVE LWJ SHOW UP WITH HIS GUQIN

HE’S PLAYING MAGIC MUSIC.

HE’S FACING DOWN WWX.

Wwx: lan zhan, you’re here. You should have known i’d be immune to the Song of Clarity

Lwj whooshes his guqin away.

Wwx: lan zhan, i knew one day we were gonna have a real fight.

anD WWX STARTS PLAYING HIS DEMON FLUTE AGAINST LWJ

LWJ DRAWS BICHEN AND STARTS DIVING SWORD FIRST TOWARDS WWX

AND EVERYTHING HURTS

WWX SLAMS HIM BACK WITH RESENTFUL ENERGY BUT LWJ PUSHES RIGHT BACK

Lwj: wei ying, stop it!

Wwx doesn’t respond. In fact, he’s kept his eyes closed and unresponsive since he started playing his flute, PROBABLY BC HE CAN’T BEAR TO WATCH HIMSELF ATTACK HIS SOULMATE

I ALSO CAN’T BEAR TO WATCH HIM ATTACK HIS SOULMATE BUT HERE I AM WATCHING BC APPARENTLY I ENJOY SUFFERING

Lwj: wei ying, stop it now!

Wwx: lan zhan, do you think i have any other choice now?

Lwj: the situation has changed!

Wwx: what?

Lwj: trust me. It’s not that simple.

Wwx: what do you mean?

But before we can get any answers or clues or anything useful, we get interrupted by jyl’s voice crying “a-xian!”

And thus begins the world’s WORST, MOST PAINFUL GAME OF MARCO POLO EVER

Because jyl is on the battlefield, still in her mourning robes. And she’s calling for her brothers. 

Both jc and wwx hear her and instantly start looking for her

Wwx ditches the rooftop (and lwj with it), gives up his high ground and dives into the battlefield to look for his sister

He gets attacked by some cultivators and we hear the strum of a guqin

Lwj followed him! And defended him against attacks, BC THAT’S WHAT HE DOES FOR HIS SOULMATE. THAT’S HIS WHOLE THING.

Lwj: wei ying, your flute!

What he means is, keep playing, i’ll protect you from attacks while you get to your sister

And wwx starts playing again, bc EVEN AFTER he and lwj fought one another with all they had, he still trusts lwj

Jyl, jc, and wwx all take turns calling each other’s names. MY YUNMENG SIBS ARE TRYING TO REUNITE

Meanwhile we see lwj flitting about the edges of the screen blocking attacks left and right, and keeping wwx safe

SUDDENLY, we hear the sound of a second flute pierce the air! And the puppets get more vicious. WWX IS NO LONGER IN CONTROL

Btw, apparently, we the audience are the only ones who can hear this second flute BC NOBODY ON-SCREEN SEEMS TO QUESTION THE FLUTE MUSIC PLAYING EVEN WHEN WWX VERY OBVIOUSLY DOESN’T HAVE THE FLUTE AT HIS MOUTH TO PLAY IT

IT’S SO FRUSTRATING. I THOUGHT THESE CULTIVATORS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SOMEWHAT INTELLIGENT BUT NOTHING THEY’VE DONE EVER SHOWS THIS

And oh fuck, once the second flute takes over the puppets we get the SAD BACKGROUND MUSIC FROM “THE ONES WHERE WE GROSS SOB FOREVER”

FUCK

I CAN’T 

I’VE BEEN FUCKING PAVLOV’D TO INSTANT TEARS AT THIS MUSIC, DAMN IT ALL.

NOOOO, NONONONONO I’M NOT READY, I’M NOT READY, I’M NOT READY

The yunmeng sibs are still crying out for each other as this Sad Music plays aND I JUST CAN’T.

They finally set eyes on one another, only to see a puppet come up behind jyl

Jc is begging wwx to stop the puppet bc he thinks wwx is still in control

Wwx is so desperate here that he doesn’t even use his flute, he just starts SCREAMING at the puppet to stop, “GO AWAY, DON’T TOUCH HER”

And lwj sees this all happening! He follows wwx’s line of sight and sees that jyl is about to get cut down by a puppet

LWJ SEES THIS AND IMMEDIATELY TRIES TO GO TO HER AID

BC HE KNOWS JYL IS WWX’S PRECIOUS PERSON. TO PROTECT HER IS TO PROTECT WWX’S HEART

Also i like to think that lwj and jyl bonded over their love for wwx way back in “the one where jyl captains the ship” so he’d want to protect his friend anyway

But he gets intercepted by two other puppets who attack him and keep him stalled far away from jyl and wwx 

FUCK

WHY

GOD DAMN IT

The puppet cuts down jyl from behind

AND IT FUCKING HURTS ME IN THE DEEPEST PART MY SOUL

And wwx is in a state of shock bc HIS SISTER, HIS BELOVED SISTER IS HURT, HIS SISTER IS HURT

Wwx makes a mad dash towards her

But Lwj intercepts him and says “wei ying, stop your puppets! Stop them!”

Wwx doesn’t listen to him. He flings lwj’s arm away and keeps running

Wwx finally makes it to where jyl fell, where she’s now being cradled in jc’s arms

Wwx reaches for her but jc shoves him away

Jc: you said you could control them, you said there was no problem

He’s not even really yelling here, but his voice is all cracked, hoarse, and pained

Wwx: it’s not me, i don’t know! i didn’t make them kill people, why can’t i control them? I lost control of them!

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING

I’M HURTING SO MUCH RIGHT NOW

I’M SICK OF CRYING, SHOW, I’M SICK OF IT. PLEASE STOP. WHY MUST YOU HURT ME

Jyl is still alive!

Jyl: a-xian, xianxian

She reaches and puts her hand on the side of his face

Jyl: you ran so fast, i didn’t have enough time to look at you and talk to you

AND I’M FUCKING SOBBING BC SHE SOUNDS SO WEAK AND WWX HAS TEARS STREAMING DOWN HIS FACE AND EVERYTHING FUCKING HURTS

Jyl: i wanted to tell you--

But she doesn’t get to finish that sentence bc she sees someone aiming for wwx’s back and she shoves him out of the way to protect him

She gets a sword to the chest

And the rando cultivator holding the sword is all it’s not my fault, i was aiming for you, wwx this is your fault!

FUCK YOU RANDO CULTIVATOR FUCK YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL

Wwx starts to choke him out, which is good bc i wanted to do that myself too

And jc is sobbing, rocking his sister’s body

AND THIS IS WHERE THE EPISODE ENDS

WHAT

THE 

FUCK

NO, I CNA’T, I CAN’T, I’M HURTING SO MUCH, COME BACK AND MAKE IT BETTER GOD DAMN IT

I HAVE NO MORE TISSUES!! TISSUES ARE CURRENTLY A HOT COMMODITY, I CAN’T JUST GO OUT AND BUY MORE

FUCK, JUST LEAVE ME HERE TO DIE. I CNA’T ANYMORE.

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[briapia95]

I read all of the arranged marriage AU and it's Chef's kiss. Because I'm a terrible person, I imagined the rest as Ultimate Bad End AU™ wherein LWJ loses his core and becomes Yiling Patriarch, dies in the Burial Mounds after LXC dies at Qiongqi way and WWX stays miserable and in cloud recesses because he thinks he ruins everything he touches and he doesn't wanna fuck things up for JC and Yanli

Omg that’s brutal and I love it xD. I imagine that the original AU while angsty, it won’t be as brutal (I think), but just for the lols let’s imagine that. I have this named in my docs as “the super bad ending lol noooope” just so you know;

[Here for the original AU]

LWJ is a powerful cultivator but there’s so much he can do anything against Wen Zhuliu (WZL?) when they’re at one of Dusk Creek Mountain’s many caves. He does not see it coming, one moment they’re trying to get away from the Xuanwu of Slaughter, Wen disciples trying and failing to climb back the way they’ve all come from and the next moment WWX is pushing himself in between Luo Qingyang and that wicked brand Wang Lingjiao (WLJ?) had used to threaten them since this excuse of a night-hunt began.

WLJ burns WWX, as in canon, but this time seeing this LWJ  furiously attacks the other Wen cultivators, WLJ realizing shit, I shouldn’t have done that, starts panicking and screaming; causing more mayhem in the midst of the current chaos that’s happening. This gives an opening for the other disciples from the different sects to fight against the Wen cultivators, using their corpses to distract the Xuanwu for a while many of them are able to climb out of the cave.

Meanwhile, WC tries to shut WLJ up, her clinging to him and making it impossible to escape, but then LWJ is coming after him too, that’s when WZL comes in between them. Too fast, too driven to protect his master for LWJ wrath. WWX somewhat near realizes, screaming “Lan Zhan!” in warning and desperation, but it’s too late now, he’s too far away, the second master of Gusu Lan has now gotten his golden core shattered.

The pain is not as terrible as the sudden cold that sinks into his bones. Making him almost lose his consciousness right there and then. He does not notice WC & company fled, WWX enraged and confused, manages to come to LWJ’s aid but because of plot reasons -don’t ask me- they still find themselves trapped inside the cave with a wild Xuanwu that while appeased, is still a threat to them. (the same happens here, JC & co. go get help now with the added bonus of not being pursued by the Wen)

WWX’s guilt starts to simmer, “if you had not come to my aid you’d still have your core intact, Lan Zhan, why would you do something like that?”, he whispers, tears streaming down his cheeks and onto LWJ’s cheeks, LWJ face pressed against WWX chest as he softly streaks his hair while his other arm keeps their bodies together.

“Is it not apparent?” LWJ asks, words strained from the effort that takes not to lose consciousness.

WWX trembles, throat thigh, tears still not stopping, “You are a stupid, stupid, man, Lan Zhan. Has nobody ever told you that? A stupid, noble, too good man” he finishes as the presses their lips together for the first time. LWJ kisses back, he has dreamed about this moment for months now and it’s everything he ever hoped for, his only regret that it has happened in the worst circumstances imaginable.

Flash forward to the rescue, they can’t really kill the Xuanwu of Slaughter but its hunger is quelled enough for it to not come when they get them out. JC is there and so is LXC and enough disciples to form a small army (Both Yunmeng Jiang and Gusu Lan sect forces intact and ready for action since the attract on Lanling Jin)

The state of LWJ’s core is kept secret since only WWX and WC & co know, everyone else too distracted fleeing the cave to notice.

Plot happens and the war starts, WWX being the former Yunmeng Jiang head disciple and married to the second young master of Gusu Lan goes to war too. (Also, hello there guilt, we love some self-sacrificing WWX that has not been able to cope much with the knowledge that his husband was defending him, therefore, in his mind, him being the reason he lost his core, even if LWJ has told him repeatedly that no it’s not his fault).

So as the war drags on, his husband not coming back and in a desperate attempt to help him and some convenient plot sprinkled in the way, LWJ finds himself at burial mounds, flash forward to three months later and ta-da! Yiling Patriarch! LWJ.

Let’s say the first supervisory office he goes to is the Yiling one, he meets WQ, and remembers how fondly WWX spoke about WN that time they met at the Qishan Wen discussion conference, so he does not kill the elders and healers, a-yuan’s mother probably in early pregnancy. But since this is a nope AU he does kill the rest of the cultivators, (probably a-yuan’s father amongst them), ordering WQ and what’s left of her people to try to leave somewhere far away or to renounce the Wen name or something. Then WC & co meet the same end as the novel canon.

So, the sunshot campaign is won thanks to LWJ, JGS is dead and JZX is sect leader, engaged once again to JYL and JGY being his right-hand man or something. LWJ is now cultivating resentful energy (probably in a more moderated way) and WWX still in love but now feeling more guilty than before, since now his husband is walking the path he used to abhor. 

There’s tension between LQR and LWJ because of the heretic path and all that, it becomes worse since LQR makes it clear that he thinks LWJ’s decision to help WWX all the way back in the cave was foolish. WWX pours himself into researching a way of cultivating a golden core again, he sneaks into the forbidden section of the Library pavilion but is found by someone (Su She?) and then heavily punished by LQR.

This leads to a big argument between LQR and LWJ, WWX intervenes, they get punished, LQR rasping out when is finished “This is your fault, know that my nephew who I have raised as my own is now walking this path because of your insolence and arrogance. His pain is your doing.” Guess what, it’s super effective, more guilt piling onto WWX. But at the same time that’s when LWJ snaps, he takes WWX and leaves for Yiling, he’ll create a home for them where nobody will reproach his method of cultivation, where the hollowness of WWX’s eyes disappears into the brightness he fell in love with.

They find WQ’s group at the bottom of the burial mounds hiding. After LWJ’s attack, the cultivation world believed all the Wen at Yiling died. Together they form a settlement at BM. And they’re happy for a while, LWJ limits the use of resentful energy, WWX researching with the input of WQ and all the nice and soft interactions between them and the Wen remnants.

That is until they’re invited to JL’s 100th-day celebration, the ambush, both JZX and LXC appear here, but something goes wrong, LWJ loses control of his powers when he tries to use the STS, and just when the people brought for the ambush are about to shoot him LXC steps in the way. The arrows were poisoned, and struck vital points, he dies bleeding out in LWJ’s arms.

It’s all a blur, next thing he knows he’s kneeling inside the demon slaughtering cave, WWX speaking softly to him, almost in a pleading way, holding him and petting his head, “come back to me” “it wasn’t your fault” “I love you” “don’t leave me,” LWJ breaks down again, the death of his brother a pain too hard to bear.

The siege happens (Lead by Gusu Lan and Qinghe Nie) and LWJ, still too distraught for any clear thinking, uses the STS once more. Not without making WQ use her needles on WWX to make sure WWX and, say, A-yuan are out of harm's way. There’s a goodbye and one last kiss. He tries to hide them but he’s not fast enough and WWX catches LWJ being struck by LQR’s sword, the pain in the elder’s eyes apparent even if he’s trying to hide it in righteous fury.

JC finds them, WWX now free from the needles is holding a-yuan as if his life depends on it, he tries but he can’t help his brother. WWX married into Gusu Lan and he’s now being taken as a temporary prisoner by LQR, the older man still takes pity on A-yuan, so he brings him back promising no harm will be done to him.  

WWX heart is in shatters, everything, the downfall of his husband, the death of his brother in law, the mental breakdown that took away his Lan Zhan even before LQR did, everything was his fault. If he had not married Lan Zhan, if he hadn’t told uncle Jiang that he was more than fine with marrying LWJ, everything would’ve been fine, Lan Zhan would be alive, the Wen probably too.

Months later JC is at Cloud Recesses, demanding WWX to be brought back to LP, but he refuses, he refuses to taint something else, better to be a prisoner there than a free man endangering the lives of people he loves.

Thirteen years pass and there’s a distress flare signal shot from Mo village. There’s no second thought, WWX will be dead before something bad happens to a-yuan.

I was not able to make it a tragic tragic AU (of an AU), so here’s a hopeful ending at the last moment xD Also! Thank you so much for reading the original AU, it makes me so glad you enjoyed it c:  

[gofancyninjaworld]

OAV 2 Review: Fishing with the old boys

This was an excellent story that ties into many other developing themes in OPM.  Sorry, that means it’s going to be a bit long.  

Ah, and heroes are officially made of adamantium.

Story

It’s set a week after the catastrophic destruction of City A by the aliens (may there be an afterlife for Boros to be tormented forever in) with Atomic Samurai and Bang trying to fish in a lake. It quickly focuses on a key concern that both men have: they’re getting older and in the light of the ever-increasing threat monsters pose, who is going to take up the mantle?

They get to talking about their disciples with Bang asking after Iain’s health.  We cut to Iaian practising (after one week?!!!!! Yup, adamantium) his one-handed iai in a bamboo grove. Here we see the effect of JC Staff animators merely being worked hard as opposed to worked to death: they can start to bring life and care for the telling detail.  Not only is it beautiful, but there’s that moment when he starts to sheath his sword as he used to, realises, flips the sword and then completes the motion.  Perfect!  It’s things like this that are the strength of animation rather than manga or words!

There’s an interesting flip side to this that I’ll go more into in the meta. When Atomic praises the attributes that Iaian has that he is so proud of, it brings to mind the things that Bang loved in Garou and how bereft he felt when Garou turned on him. 

Atomic changes the subject to something that I again will be going more into in the meta: heroes.  And how weak the majority are.  They single out the Hero Association’s points-based system for especial censure, both being of the opinion that it encourages heroes to focus on the minutiae of progressing at the expense of truly being heroic.   Fair enough!  It’s something the story will be addressing and it’s interesting to see their perspective, but what they say next is much less fair -- mocking heroes who wear costumes.  

We cut to one such costume-wearer, Chain Toad, on the shores of the lake where he’s tracked a monster.  He’s accompanied by Mumen Rider.  Together, they unwisely decide that they have to try tackle the monster themselves so as not to disturb the fishermen on the lake.  Mumen Rider is particularly motivated to try more because he’s seen what the Class S heroes can do.  

Their valiant attempts to subdue the salamander monster are beautifully, beautifully animated.  Hard to pick a single moment I liked, but if I’ve got to make a still, let it be of Chain Toad throwing his chain, sending his chain past the monster, who thinks it’s dodged, only to send it looping back to snare it. 

Once things get too hot for our valiant heroes (Mumen’s underwater battle has to be one of the best sequences this season), the two fishermen finally see fit to intervene. Atomic hands Bang his rod and citing the need for strength as well as guts, casually cuts the monster up, freeing Chain Toad in the process. 

Then they carry on fishing.  As you do. 

Meta

Before I get into the meta proper, a point of order.

WAIT A COTTON-PICKING SECOND!  JC STAFF KNOWS HOW TO USE SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC APPROPRIATELY?  SINCE WHEN?  WHY WASN’T THIS ON SHOW IN THE MAIN SEASON?!!!!   Sorry, the shoddy, hastily-slapped together effects and disjoint music took so much away from the season it was painful. I’m still salty about it! 

Ah, that’s better.  We continue. 

1. Time waits for no man, and neither do monsters. 

A theme that we see come up more than once in OPM. It’s one that is particularly heavy on Bang’s mind -- this isn’t the first time we’ve seen him worry about it.  No matter how strong he and his fellow heroes are, they are indeed growing older, and against a threat that isn’t getting better, where the heroes who are strong enough to share and eventually going to take over their burden will come from is a real issue. It really sets into context the fight with Centichoro, when Bang simply wouldn’t countenance the prospect of Genos self sacrificing -- Bomb explains that his youth is needed for the future.  

2. Will. Skill. Strength. Pick all three.

FUCKING FINALLY someone criticises Mumen Rider.  It’s been long overdue.  Even as Atomic praises his guts and willingness to do his utmost, he points out the absolute need for strength.  Mumen wants to do great things, but to this very day has not invested meaningfully in even trying to be physically stronger.  I love Mumen, but the dude has to change if he wants his dreams to become reality. The skill and dedication Chain Toad and Mumen Rider showed in attacking the monster so as to keep it from disturbing the fishermen they mistook for ordinary civilians was utterly admirable, but without the strength to see that will through, it was futile. You can’t launch a rocket from a canoe, no matter how much you will it otherwise. 

Ultimately, if a hero is serious about being a hero, they have to worship and chase after strength like a fanatic after their idea of God: there are too many vicious monsters for a hero to be less than the very strongest they can be.  Anything less is a betrayal of both the people the hero fails to protect and of the principles the hero is trying to live by.   OPM is just too brutal a world for good intentions to survive without solid backing.

 3. Games Games Everywhere

One-Punch Man is only partially a parody.  At times it is a satire, and in the instance of the points-based system the Hero Association uses to manage its heroes, it is a sharp one on the subject of gamification.   While treating non-games as games has been around since the 19th century, the 2010s is when it really took off, round about when ONE started writing OPM.  SInce then, it’s only become more pervasive: you can set objectives, quests, and get rewards for just about anything.  Eating, sleeping, completing in-work induction, delivering packages, you name it, someone has gamified it. It delivers regular little hits of gratification, bigger hits when you rank up, and rivalry when there’s a leaderboard.  It also means that failures can be individualised -- it’s your fault if you’re struggling rather than the system as a whole.  The way the Hero Association has implemented it, it’s a straight up gaming system.  It means that the Hero Association can leave heroes to motivate and push themselves without actively knowing too much about them.The distortions that Bang and Atomic discuss are the same that Saitama identifies.  Rookie crushing, refusing promotions if they mean more responsibility and less recognition, factions, chicanery, showboating to try to gain points through popularity, discouraged and crushingly lonely heroes  -- we’ve seen Swim, Glasses and Saitama -- all are to be expected.   Their idea of how to manage heroes is looking for people with qualities such as honour and dedication and nurturing them is much more hands on -- and represents longer-term thinking.

But before we go praising their sagacity, the episode casts an unforgiving eye on their own shortcomings.

4. The Tyranny of ‘Fit’

Precisely because it is so hands-off, the HA makes no direct judgement on what a hero should be like, leaving it up to the observed results to be the proof of the pudding, so to speak.  This has meant that some real mavericks and oddballs are legitimately heroes in good standing.  We see that the old boys have a much narrower definition of what a good hero can be like.  A ‘good’ hero can’t wear a costume in their eyes.  We can see that’s grossly unfair to those who do: Chain Toad’s heroism has nothing to do with his wearing one. But the problem with their  is more pernicious than judging heroes by their dress sense. Implementing their ideas would formalise a system whereby it would be all but impossible for an up and coming hero to get anywhere without belonging to a school or at least having a sponsor able to vouch for them.   

What’s wrong with that? The thing that’s really noteworthy is that the people that Atomic and Bang champion (and not merely teach or support) are also the people who most remind them of themselves. It contributes to Bang feeling personally rejected by Garou. It goes beyond teacher-student relationships: in the main season we come to learn that Kuseno sees much of himself in Genos.  It goes beyond the page: it’s why many fans wish that Glasses would be Saitama’s disciple and feel he should be his ‘true’ heir.  It’s an uncomfortable truth  that much of what is called ‘fit’ is more familiarity than suitability. And this is particularly relevant because no one, not one of the masters praising Saitama would ever, ever have given him the time of the day had they met him before he became strong.  He doesn’t fit. And neither do a lot of other good heroes.  It’s perhaps most fitting that the ultimate misfit, Saitama, has the most blatantly misfitting disciple... :D

It’s almost like how best to recognise, support and nuture heroes isn’t a simple problem with a singular answer!    

I suppose I’d better wrap up

As you can tell from the length of this review, I’ve really enjoyed this episode.  Two old boys pondering the future, their fears and their hopes and along the way being both entertaining and deeply thought-provoking. 

I suspect that OAV 2 is going to be the best of the lot, but I live in hope of being wrong! 

[frizzyanya]

The Untamed Episode 27, My Commentary!

Spoilers below!

THIS PARASOL THOUGH.

STILL THE BEST THING EVER.

I absolutely can’t. The camera just went to a wide view and they’re in the darkness, and everything is pretty much dark, except LWJ who is lit up like there’s a spotlight on him, like a heavenly angel.

LWJ is so stoic all the time, I can’t tell his feelings/thoughts. Is he conflicted? I genuinely don’t know.

“LZ, if I finally have to fight with them, I would prefer to fight with you. If I am doomed to death, at least I could be killed by you, that would be worth it.” WWX WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM.

LWJ looks…..sad? Idk. I think “sad” for him = eyes downcast, though I can’t really read his emotions otherwise. Anyway, he’s turning away and declining WWX’s invite.

Okay NOW he looks sad. He looks so...lost. Heartbroken.

OH MY GOD HE’S CRYING, MY BABY.

He’s dropping the parasol to look up to the sky and get soaked by the rain I ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT. The parasol falling to the ground was A LOT. I’m just feeling a lot of things.

…

Wait did I miss something? How did the Wen Clan survivors and WWX end up back in Demon Land? I guess it wasn’t as far away or difficult to access as is sometimes implied?

WHY IS WN ON THE OLD LADY’S BACK.

WWX, YOU SHOULD BE THE ONE HELPING HER.

Chivalry is dead, I tell ya.

Back with The Alliance, 

JC has to apologize for WWX. JGS is willing to forgive, but the smaller clan leaders aren’t. 

I’d pay good money to know what is going on in LWJ’s head. He has this intense look on his face. 

JGS is hella rude. “I shouldn’t say this to you, but…” and proceeds to scold him in front of the large crowd.

They’re all being so rude! They’re all belittling JC!

OH SHIT.

LWJ just talked back to JGS. 

Maybe WWX really did rub off on him more that I gave him credit for…

A random lady (Luo) speaking up for WWX too! This is interesting…..

She’s seceding from her clan over this! WOAH.

LWJ straight up leaving the room without a word. Go find her and join her?

JGS trying to goad LWJ into hating WWX. BRUTAL.

Okay so LWJ and LL met and talked together with no explanation. The drama.

Lan Clan Leader be like, LWJ you are a disappointment and you’re going to cause me to have a heart attack and die.

JZX approaching JYL. Still don’t like him. And then she comes outside and he’s like….uhhh….I was just taking a walk, bye now. ….Seriously, fuck that guy. 

I know he’s just shy and bad at talking to girls, but…….I can’t stand him.

(Though of all the characters on this show, he’s like the least offensive, really.)

……..a lot just happened and I’m feeling a lot of things. 

Okay, so JZX genuinely doesn’t want her to go after WWX because he’s afraid for her, and he’s like I will protect you always, stay here and stay safe with me. 

You know what? I’m coming around to him. 

JC would probably give up everything for her if he could, but he CAN’T. This dude actually could protect her. So…….I *could* ship it. I’m not there yet. But maybe someday…..

JC watching like…. “WITH ALL THIS ROMANTIC ATMOSPHERE, DISASTER’S IN THE AIR…...OUR TRIO’S DOWN TO ONE.”

Lololololol WWX could sense JYL’s love for JZX changing. Hahahaha

WQ approaching WWX and he’s got the softest smile on his face. <3 Literally going to lose it over what amounts to a pointless crack ship. Greeeaaaat.

She went to snatch the food out of his hand playfully and is looking at him with these coy eyes HOW IS THIS NOT CANON, AT LEAST TEMPORARILY.

WQ’s love for WN is literally the sweetest thing. I melt everytime.

WWX playing with the toy with the little toddler kid hugging his leg. And like I have negative zero maternal feelings….I have never in my life for a single second wanted kids….but that was giving me some swoons.

Not looking for spoilers, but do I assume that this little kid Yuan is the one that WWX/LWJ eventually keep?

Wait no….that’s like 16 years from now? So nevermind. 

I’m spoiled exactly an inconvenient amount. I should stop watching YT compilation vids! But I literally cannot resist. They call to me. You know that overused YT comment “I’m a simple woman, I see ______, I click.”? Insert WYB and XZ, and that’s me. 

“I will plant you as a turnip!” “I’m not a turnip!” “Then we will plant a child and lots of children will grow.” “Will they look like me, or turnips?”

I’m going to fall apart from the sighing and swooning and the overload of precious. I don’t even like children! But this is Way. Too. Much.

JC at WWX’s new hideout is so sad. He’s trying to distance himself emotionally, but you can see the internal struggle all over his face. (He’s like the exact opposite of LWJ. I can’t get over how unreadable he is.)

Poor WWX.

Oof. JC and WWX are standing by WN, and talking about what happened to him. They’re not being particularly nice, and allegedly he can hear and understand them. Not a good move, I’m thinking.

[girlwholikessports]

The Degrassi Reunion We All Knew We Wanted

Just days after I posted my last blog about how fire Drake’s new album is going to be (Scorpion, buy it June 29th), he was almost murdered by Pusha T. Pusha T had never once crossed my mind before this beef, but I did used to love to do the ‘Grindin’ beat on the lunch table in my middle school days. 

It’s been weeks since the diss track, and literal radio silence from Drake. Kind of a 180 when his last rap battle got him a Grammy nomination. But I’m coming from a place where my former ‘celebrity crush’ murdered minimum 3 people and then hung himself in jail, so Drake would have to do A LOT more to get me off #TeamDrake. 

Many people rumored to have ‘called off’ the beef, which doesn't make sense to me. Something tells me Drake is working in the studio to add another track to the album that’s going to set the world on fire, but we have a few weeks for that. In the meantime, Drake did the one thing that will make us all forget about his secret porn star baby. He gave us a Degrassi reunion.

Degrassi means a lot to me personally and is unequivocally a top 5 best show of all time. I spent about 12 hours per day every single day in high school watching Degrassi marathons. I’d stay up until 4am crying on the couch tying to find out if Paige Michalchuk would finally get justice for the dickhead Dean that raped her. It was 13 Reason Why in a less PC time, set in Canada. The slogan for the show was literally, “Degrassi: It Goes There”, and boy did it. 

So when I woke up this morning to a new Drake music video featuring a full Degrassi: The Next Generation reunion, I was emotional. We know Jimmy’s rap career finally took off but was he still in the wheelchair? What has Paige been up to since burning her college dorm down and finding out her boyfriend had HIV? Is Craig still struggling with his coke addiction? Was Manny still a skank? I couldn’t wait to find out.

Let’s see a full breakdown of what your favorite Panthers are up to...

Spinner: Look at Spinner now, ears still big AF. Spinner and Jimmy had a great friendship, but it certainly had its speed bumps since Spinner was partially responsible for Drake being shot and eventually ending up in a wheelchair. Where we leave off in this video, Spinner and Jimmy have fully reconciled and are buying some fresh suits for the class reunion. Their freestyle rap on Degrassi was the original diss track, and Drake may want to rewatch this for some inspiration.

Paige: Paige Michalchuk is the OG HBIC of Degrassi. Kind of mentally unstable, Paige wasn’t the one to fuck with. She was raped (fuck you Dean), performed in the popular girl band PMS, got high before a college interview, and even turned lesbian for a while. Don’t forget the mental breakdown and boyfriend with HIV. After all she’s been through, it’s a miracle that Paige looks this hot now, but did you expect anything different?

Craig: Craig.Fucking.Manning. Craig was one of my first loves. This hair and that emo personality was exactly what I was looking for in 2005. His his award winning performance of “What I Know” by band Downtown Sasquatch was in heavy rotation on my iPod. Craig was the most lovable bipolar kid around. Last we saw Craig he was touring with his successful band and potentially had a very serious coke problem. Current day Craig Manning looks exactly how JC Chasez should look. Good work Craig, still got me hot and bothered.

Emma and Manny: Everyone’s favorite kinda slutty BFF’s were the hottest girls at Degrassi in 2004 and they are still running the table in 2018. Emma was by far the standout hottest cameo in this video, with only some minor cosmetic surgery. Lucky for Manny, Snapchat wasn’t around in the early 2000′s. 

Ashley: This is the outfit you chose for the reunion Ash? You’re supposed to be Drake’s first love. Their relationship was ultimately destroyed when Drake couldn’t get it up and they struggled to keep their sex life alive post-wheelchair.

Rick: Everyone’s least favorite bad boy. The internet has been abuzz with chatter about Jimmy being out of his wheelchair. Maybe he received intense physical therapy and was able to walk again we don’t know. Regardless, Rick had some BALLS to show up to this reunion. This was probably the only school shooting in Canada in the past 20 years. Rick deserves to be jailed and honestly the school should be ashamed they didn’t see this coming earlier. People forget the time he shoved his plus size model girlfriend (looking smokin hot in this video BTW) and put her in a coma after she hit her head on a rock. You better run from that OVO squad Rick. 

Ellie: Ellie was the redhead goth girl, best friends with the token gay kid Marco. She struggled with self-harm and alcoholic parents, but was always pretty chill. I’ve watched this video approximately 400 times and I’ve noticed that Ellie and Jimmy are a liiiiiiitle close. Shoot your shot girl. You’d make a great step-mom.

The rest don’t need a full shoutout but we got to see Marco, Toby, Hazel, Terri, Liberty, and a few others I don’t recognize because I stopped watching. Including one super hot mixed

Notably absent: J.T (although he was murdered RIP), Sean, Alex (Paige’s lesbian lover), Jay.

While we’re at it here are some of my favorite storylines from the show. 

- In an effort to seem more cool while her parents are out of town, Ashley takes ecstasy and embarrasses herself in front of all her friends.

- Emma gets invited to a party at “The Ravine” where she gets a bracelet indicating she must give some random guy head in a van.She promptly contracts gonorrhea.

 - High school president Liberty (ironic) gets pregnant by J.T. because the “condom slipped off”. J.T gets heavily into stealing oxycodone from his job and selling it to drug dealers. He is the actual plug. With the stress of his impending fatherhood, J.T. accidentally takes too many pills. Miraculously he survives but Liberty puts the baby up for adoption. After falling in love with a teen mom from  a rival school (enter Nina Dobrev), J.T. is brutally stabbed by a student for pretty much no reason. WARNING: This is still super fucked up.

 THANK YOU DRAKE, ALL IS FORGIVEN