#jin ling together ;___________________; we three!!!

[winepresswrath]

Could you elaborate on what the yanli-jc wwx conspiracy is?

They are just generally in cahoots re: making sure he's safe and bringing him home, sometimes in defiance of their parents or society or just the likely fact of his death. The first time Wei Wuxian runs away Jiang Cheng wants to follow him because he's worried he'll get hurt. Jiang Fengmian says no, and when Jiang Cheng sneaks out in defiance of his father's wishes with his little rucksack in hand, Yanli is waiting at the gates to support him and tell him to bring Wei Wuxian home safe, implicitly siding with him against their dad in the matter of whether Wei Wuxian might be in real trouble and if so, whether Jiang Cheng's help might be valuable.

The second time is during the sunshot campaign while Wei Wuxian is missing- she comes in when he's brooding over Wei Wuxian's sword and tells him how grown up he is, fusses over him a bit and asks him to bring him back. Jiang Cheng fervently agrees, and looks actively relieved and pleased she's asking this of him- it's blatantly obvious he was going to do it anyway, but her support and faith mean a lot to him which I think is significant because he's usually so worried about failure and he knows Wei Wuxian has been thrown in the burial mounds and is almost certainly dead, but he's not actually frightened he'll fail her, he's just glad they're on the same page. He gets extra support this round because Lan Wangji is also refusing to believe Wei Wuxian is dead and taking joint missions to Yiling with Jiang Cheng and his own turn at sword brooding.

Breaking the pattern, in CQL she was originally going to go with him to talk to Wei Wuxian after he takes the Wens to the burial mounds but he kind of sneaks off without her when he sees her with Zixuan and then doesn't manage to bring Wei Wuxian home to her; she has a sad prophetic dream about it. The conspiracy is broken!

Until! They conspire to bring Yanli to Yiling so Wei Wuxian can see her wedding clothes. I personally think it's implied by the response to Zixuan's request for Wei Wuxian to be allowed at Jin Ling's hundred days ceremony that they were in on that together- either way they're both playing their part, because everyone from the Lan to the JIn know Jiang Cheng would happily take Wei Wuxian back and Yanli misses him. Whether they planned it or just moped really obviously is debatable buy money is on them being in on it together with Zixuan and maybe even Lan Wangji.

And then of course there's Nightless City, where Jiang Cheng notably does not try to get to Wei Wuxian but Yanli does, and then he finds him and loses him all over again so he can have a much more prolonged and less emotionally supportive round of refusing to believe Wei Wuxian is dead.

Bonus Round: The only time Yanli sends Wei Wuxian after Jiang Cheng it's when he's been captured by the Wen because he was already on top of the send Wei Wuxian home safe to Jiejie agenda.

[phoenixkaptain]

My favourite part of MDZS is how cool Wei Wuxian is.

Like, we don’t talk enough about how cool he is. He performs Empathy three times. His ability to use a flute is so powerful, the song doesn’t even have to sound good for it to work. He brought a dead guy back to life (kinda sorta).

But especially, I love how Wei Wuxian treats ghosts and corpses! Wei Wuxian just hangs out with corpses, for FUN!! He scares away low-level corpses just by existing! He hears the voices of the dead to the point that he can’t enter a place too full of resentment without getting a headache from the constant chatter.

I also really like the Extra where Wei Wuxian is just like “Well, the ghost will go away when he’s done screaming. I’m not worried about it.” And he just leaves a screaming ghost at some guy’s house so the ghost can move on peacefully (as peacefully as is possible when one moves on by screaming).

I love all of this so much because Wei Wuxian is constantly saying that people have too high of expectations of him. Xue Yang telling him to put Xiao Xingchen’s soul back together is just one example of this. Someone will tell Wei Wuxian to do something and he’ll be like “How powerful do you think I am?!” And it’s like… Wei Wuxian, you spent six hours hanging onto a cursed sword in the Xuanwu’s mouth, you survived three months in the Burial Mounds and then returned to make it into a semi-livable place, you killed at least a thousand people that one time, and you came back from the dead, just to name a few.

Wei Wuxian is so strong. He’s so cool. He is terrifying. He is unstoppable and unflappable if only because he gets over his embarrassment in about fifteen seconds! He just rolls with it! He rolls with anything that happens! He remains Shocked and Apalled by Lan Zhan’s behaviour for all of five minutes before basically going “lol okay”! He told Lan Zhan that he wanted to sleep with him in front of Lan Xichen, Jin Ling, a handful of Jin disciples, and the literal bad guy of the novel!!!

(I’ll never get over that scene. It is so funny.

WWX: “I need to say something, it can’t wait.”

JGY: “Then just say it right now as you are.” (Referring to the fact that Wei Wuxian has a wire wrapped around his throat that can kill him in seconds)

WWX: “Good point! Lan Zhan, we should’ve fucked.”

This scene is so fucking funny, I will absolutely never get over it)

I love powerful protagonists and honestly, Wei Wuxian is at the top of the list when it comes to overpowered protagonists. The only thing that phases him is dogs, and even then, he himself admits that he can get used to their presence as long as they aren’t barking.

TLDR: Wei Wuxian is so powerful and I totally get why Lan Zhan fell for him.

[korpikorppi]

The Untamed costumes extra:

Waist ornaments

We all know the beautiful, tasseled ornaments the Twin Jades wear hanging from their belts:

So, I thought an extra costume post looking at these and other waist ornaments seen in the Untamed might be called for.

Various kinds of waist ornaments, yaopei, have tradionally been worn with hanfu. The long tasseled jade waist pendants often seen in historical c-drama (and in the Untamed), are the type of yaopei called jinbu that were originally worn to hold down the hanfu skirts; @ziseviolet who runs an amazing blog on hanfu has this excellent post that provides more information.

So, in addition to the esteemed Lan brothers, who else wears a jinbu in the Untamed? Let's start with... him.

Jin Guangshan is wearing what to me looks like the most traditional style of jinbu among those seen in the Untamed. It comprises a carved nefrite jade (hetian jade?) piece that looks like it might be a variation of double dragon head huang (the lower picture is a piece from Han Dynasty era, shamelessly stolen from the net). From the jade are hanging three pendants of various yellow gemstones, perhaps yellow topaz and amber?, each adorned with a golden yellow tassel.

And we have more Jins wearing jinbu. No, not Jin Zixuan, who actually dresses rather modestly to be called a Peacock, but his half-brother.

Chief Cultivator Jin Guangyao wears not one but two identical waist ornaments hanging from his jade-decorated belt. The pieces comprise tassels of the same yellow as Jin Guangshan's, and beads of silver and various gemstones in red (ruby or garnet?), yellow (topaz?) and dark gray (that's a tough one... translucent black jade?), but I have not managed to find a good close-up shot of them. Do you know how many in-focus below-the-waist close-ups the are in the Untamed? Not bloody nearly many enough! Also, a little side note here! I have been watching the Monarch Industry / Rebel Princess, and just noticed that Emperor Ma Zitan wears rather similar double waist ornaments with one of his outfits. So this is probably a specific style of jinbu?

And we have Jin Ling, who wears the Jiang Clarity Bell hanging from his waist (the only one seen to wear it thus in the Untamed).

Jin Ling's waist ornament is quite interesting, because in addition to the small silver bells (two instead of one) it has two carved Bodhi Root beads (one depicting a lotus bud), a carved lotus pendant in what looks like white nephrite jade, and pale yellow double tassels with silver caps; identical to the ornament Jiang Yanli drops onto a stone, breaking the jade pendant, while waiting for news from Lotus Pier after the Wen attack.

So, do all Jiang Clarity Bells have the same construction? Are they all identical? It doesn't seem to be the case: at least the one Jiang Yanli gives to Wei Wuxian in Yiling before her wedding is different, with a different kind of large lotus bead:

So it seems that the waist ornament Jin Ling wears is the one that belonged to his mother, with the broken jade pendant repaired or, perhaps more likely, carved anew at some point before Jiang Yanli's death. If that is the case, Jin Ling has something from both of his parents: his father's sword and his mother's clarity bell. I do not remember if that was mentioned to be the case in the novel?

Talking about Jiang Yanli, she is the only woman in the Untamed seen wearing a jinbu. This takes place during the Phoenix Mountain hunt and when she stays at Jinlintai afterwards, and both her outfit and the jinbu are clearly Jin in style.

The jinbu comprises various silver beads together with a red, a yellow and a dark grey gemstone bead (similar combination as later worn by Jin Guangyao) and what seems to be a flower of some kind (not a peony, though), also in silver. And the Jin-yellow tassel.

Let's get back to the jinbu that the esteemed Lan brothers wear, which are quite distinctive. In addition to the two jade rings, they have some additional beads in silver and gemstones, and a long tassel.

The jade rings in Lan Wangji's jinbu are, I think, the finest white mutton fat hetian nephrite. Zooming in on the left image, it seems that the rings are not smooth, but might actually have carvings on them. If that is the case I'm guessing it could be a cloud motif of some kind, perhaps something similar as on the jade rings in the bottom image (again, found in the net). The additional gemstones seem to be either blue or colourless, perhaps topaz and aquamarine. The tassel is grey, similar to the tassel on Bichen.

Lan Xichen's jinbu has jade rings of what seems like translucent moss-in-snow type of jadeite, similar to the bangle in the bottom right image. Similar to Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen has additional silver as well as blue and clear gemstone beads in his jinbu, including a rather large blue stone above his tassel. It also seems there is a reddish bead, close to the top (seen in the uppermost image). Lan Xichen's tassel is very dark blue, nearly black, a similar shade as also found in Shuoyue's and Liebing's tassels.

In addition to the Twin Jades, Lan Qiren also wears a jinbu, but his is somewhat different from those worn by his nephews: instead of the distinctive two jade rings, Lan Qiren's jinbu has a large, flat medallion of white, carved nephrite jade and a decorative chinese knot. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any clear close-up shots of either one, so I'm not able to say anything more precise about them... If I come across any later, I'll update this.

The additional beads in the Grandmaster's jinbu are quite small, and seem to be rather dark (blue?) in colour, but it is quite impossible to see what stone they might be made of (lapis lazuli might be one option). The tassel of his jinbu is also grey, or perhaps bluish grey.

To end this, I should perhaps point out that even if I've made the assumption that the additional beads would be gemstones, I've understood glass beads were also traditionally used, so coloured glass might also be a feasible option, also in-universe.

But what would I give for a few clear closeups!

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

WangXian go to a bar together because Wei Ying wants his husband to try some more types of alcohol and see if he likes anything other than wine

The bartender is this cute, friendly lady that explains LWJ all sorts of facts and ingredients about the various types of spirits on display and he ends up trying a bit of everything

All is fine and well until it's time to go home and Wei Ying realizes that a bit of this and a sip of that got his Lan Zhan absolutely blackout wasted

So he orders an Uber and tries helping Lan Zhan to his feet.

Except...

"I cannot go home with you, I have a husband."

"I know, I am your husband." Wei Ying laughs. "And we are going home right now."

"Maybe so. But I am very inebriated right now and you might not be who you pretend to be and take advantage of me. So please provide some proof we are married before we go home."

Wei Ying huffs, fond and only a bit frustrated, and lifts one of Lan Zhan's hands, a gold band shining on his ring finger. "Our wedding rings are inscribed with 'I whatever you', a reference to how I confessed to you when I thought you were going to move out from our dorm room and I'd never get to ever tell you how I feel."

Wei Ying drapes Lan Zhan's jacket over his shoulders and zips up his own as he continues. "We married on June 1st because it's the first day of Pride Month and you wanted to make a statement to your uncle. Also the wedding favor we got him was custom-made to be rainbow-themed."

Wei Ying fishes through his wallet to leave a tip to the barmaid. "Then when we came back from our round-the-world honeymoon, I pranked you with a fake pregnancy test but instead of being angry, you used it to tell me our adoption process for A-Yuan had finished and we now keep it in a box with other memories because you wouldn't let me frame it with our family pictures."

Throwing one of Lan Zhan's arms over his shoulder, Wei Ying slowly drags his husband towards the door. "When Jin Ling turned one year old, and we were at the party celebrating you specifically went up to Jiang Cheng, called him a cunt to his face and then pretended to be drunk to avoid a fight even though everyone knew you were sober. Jin Zixuan found this so funny, he almost dropped A-Ling and shijie didn't let him hold the baby anymore for three weeks afterwards."

That gets a little chuckle out of Lan Zhan, even if it throws his balance a bit. Wei Ying supports him still. "We have three bunnies, Potato, Radish and Peony. I named them because your naming track record includes you naming your family heirloom guqin after yourself when you were 7 because you thought it was the coolest name in the world."

The Uber arrives just as the pair make it out of the bar. "That proof enough I'm your husband?" Wei Ying asks, breathing only a bit more heavily with the effort of carrying Lan Zhan.

Through his drunken, hazy mind, Lan Zhan smiles, dopey and full of love. "I love you, Wei Ying. Always."

The horn of the Uber interrupts the romantic moment

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 39 part 2

(Masterpost) (Pinboard)  (whole thing on AO3)    

Warning! Spoilers for all 50 Episodes!

Tumblr's godawful new editor has a hard limit of 30 images in a post, so I'm splitting this episode into 3 posts instead of 2. There's a lot of important gazing in this part of the episode and 30 images isn't going to cut it. (To be fair, the old editor would start to die after about 35 images)

Funeral Time

We start off at A-Qing's funeral. The gang has found a spot right next to the road to bury her, and has managed to pull together an impressive set of funeral accoutrements.

A well-prepared cultivator always travels with apples, oranges, peaches, ceramic bowls, incense sticks, sand for holding the incense sticks, candles, a sanded & finished board for carving names into, and paper money.

It's nice of them to make sure A-Qing has a proper grave with proper offerings. You know who they don't bury properly? Shishu Xiao Fucking Xingchen, that's who. Do better, Wei Wuxian.

Jingyi and Ouyang Zichen ugly-cry while Jin Ling threatens the already-dead Xue Yang with being bitten by his dog, to Wei Wuxian's discomfort.

The three adults on the scene don't cry at the grave or even look distressed, really; after the shit they've been through, they probably don't have a lot of feelings to spare for a stranger, even Wei Wuxian, who feels for everybody.

And Lan Wangji is busy with some important gazing.

Lan Wangji is having feelings; feelings about how it's a lot better to be Lan Wangji than it is to be Song Lan. He looks earnestly and intensely at Wei Wuxian and says "fortunately" or "how fortunate" (幸好, xìnghǎo), and then gazes even more earnestly at him.

(More after the cut!)

Wei Wuxian can be forgiven for not getting what Lan Wangji is saying here, because Lan Wangji isn't actually saying most of it. From WWX's perspective, a fresh grave is probably an unlikely place for a confession of love or anything like it, although by Lan Wangji's standards this is a romantic idyll compared to the various caves where they've had most of their dates.

Wei Wuxian asks him to explain, but the qiankun bag of cock blocking suddenly distracts Lan Wangji, and that's the end of that conversation. They tell everyone to wait while they go back to the coffin house.

Wen Ning watches them go, wondering what the fuck it is going to take for these guys to get together, for fuck's sake.

It's a Sad Sad Situation

Back at the coffin house, Song Lan is dejectedly caressing Xiao Xingchen's coffin.

This scene is poignant but it's also a reminder of what nice hands everybody in this show has.

It's also an opportunity to appreciate the details of Song Lan's costume. All the costumes have such variety in the fabrics, even an all black or black/grey outfit like this has a lot of textural variation.

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian each have something important to return to Song Lan. Wei Wuxian gives him the spirit trapping bag that contains what's left of Xiao Xingchen's consciousness.

Xiao Zhan and Li Bowen each make a valiant attempt to pretend this bag is not empty and about to collapse if they hold it too firmly.

Lan Wangi watches him receiving it, with a deep and painful understanding of Song Lan's feelings in this moment.

So, I assume that Lan Wangji is probably mainly feeling grateful that he has all of Wei Wuxian (well, minus his old body, which doesn't really matter to LWJ) returned to him. But I also can't help thinking about what the Lan Wangji of ~10 years ago would have given to have a scrap of Wei Wuxian's soul that he could carry with him. I wonder if Lan Wangji is thinking about that too.

Song Lan tells them, by writing in the dirt with his sword, that he plans to travel the world to fight evil in company with what's left of Xiao Xingchen. Essentially returning to the life journey that they shared, all those years ago. Lan Wangji responds by presenting Xiao Xingchen's sword to him.

Song Lan hits the road with both swords on his back, while Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji watch him go.

We don't hear Lan Wangji's thoughts, but his expression is, I think, a reflection of the grief he carried for so many years.

We do hear Wei Wuxian's thoughts, wondering if Song Lan and Xiao Xichen will ever meet again.

I'm not sure how reincarnation works when one of you has part of his soul trapped in a bag and one of you is a possibly-immortal walking corpse, but maybe they'll manage to be reborn together in spite of all that.

When WWX and LWJ are done contemplating how shitty the world can be, they reboot by having an intense gaze at each other.

Then it's back to mystery solving.

Wei Wuxian smacks the lid off of Xiao Xingchen's coffin....which is now empty?

Maybe they buried him between this scene and the last one. Without using his coffin. *shrug*

Lan Wangji lets the sword spirit out of the bag, and watches it sink through the open coffin and down underneath it. He shoves the coffin out of the way and finds another underneath it. Bunk coffins!

This one is covered with magic shit, which Wei Wuxian uncovers so we can see the heap of talismans on top of it.

Hand enthusiasts, this really is the episode for you.

Lan Wangji, who never does anything halfway, splits the lid in half with Bichen rather than, like, opening the lid in some normal way.

The sword spirit turns into Baxia, which is a big clue that the headless corpse in the coffin is Nie Mingjue.

Note that in traditional Chinese death...stuff, it's important to have a complete corpse, so separating a corpse into parts and keeping its head in your linen closet is a big fuckyou to the dead person in question.

Side note: Wei Wuxian continues to sense resentful energy directly, in his new body; once you open the doors of perception there is no going back, I guess.

Lan Wangji still seems to depend on his eyeballs and the presence of black smoke to tell him what's up, despite probably being pretty familiar with the feel of it, by now.

Additional side note since I can fit one more image into this post before Tumblr stops me: Lan Wangji continues to be impossibly pretty.

Continued in part 3!

Soundtrack: Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word by Elton John

[muninnhuginn]

Season Two Link Click Thoughts

I've put this below a cut because it gets long, but these are just my assorted thoughts on s2 in general. It's going to be waaaay more opinions than my usual speculationy kinda deal and contains spoilers for all of season two.

I hit character limit on my bullet points so I think that's my cue to leave it at that even though I have more thoughts honestly. I didn't even know that was a thing.

Pacing. I think pretty much everyone can agree that the pacing was... dubious. This series could have easily been shorter or had different meaningful content rather than repeated footage reuse for flashing back and overly extended fight scenes (episode 7? I think it was, was particularly egregious about this). I get there's presumably a fanbase for fight scenes and I won't contest that they were really nicely choreographed, but sometimes it felt like you'd take a break from actual events to spend ten minutes on a fight scene that didn't really... further anything else? I do enjoy recontextualisation and I recognise that that does require reusing some aspects of footage rather than entirely reanimating scenes when there's no need to, but at the same time, this is a series that is lowkey set up for binging. Flashing back so frequently when it's a series specifically engineered to make you binge it (hi constant cliffhangers) seems an odd recipe. I almost wonder how much of this was for production reasons, though maybe I'm overreaching here.

Linked to this is the overuse of cliffhangers. Season 1 had some cliffhangers, yeah, but it at least had breaks between arcs and more importantly, didn't repeatedly move the chronology of scenes purely to service an artificial cliffhanger.

Art and animation was mostly very nice. There were two episodes that did suffer art-wise (episodes three and eleven) with various off-model faces, but for the most part it was all pretty solid and I don't have any complaints about the animation. My favourite part of the art is still the almost rainbow outlines you get around objects. It made scenes like the Lu Guang speedboat one look gorgeous with the lights and colour on the water.

Mystery. Okay, so for all my qualms I genuinely think the mystery aspects were almost perfect. There were a couple of places I feel they somewhat 'cheated' but otherwise (the twin with the photo in the hospital doorway looking like tianxi in a close up shot. and then cxs/wj acting possessed in ep 6 but having their eyes appear normal at first and only having them changed the next episode. I'm fine with false negatives on the eyes when the audience isn't yet cued in on a possession, but in this case it looked like they were possessed up until the eyes showed otherwise)? Everything made total sense and tied together by the end. Even going into episode 12 we had a couple of gaps in scenes in Chen Bin and Liu Lan's death that I think it would be incredibly easy to overlook considering we "knew" what happened in them, but the hints were there in both cases that there was more to it and those hints paid off. Even Liu Xiao's identity worked just fine without the hat guy visual. All the hints were there about a younger favoured brother of the Liu family, Li Tianchen's new friend being a rich "Master Liu", him being abroad studying but stated as "soon to return" (which he then did). There are so many threads and they all tied together by the end such that even if I didn't always agree with the delivery, I do think this season is worthy of being called an excellent mystery.

Characters. So, okay, we introduced a whole host of new characters this time which was a choice. This sorta worked sorta didn't. The arcs of Qian Jin and the twins all tied together thematically and episode 9 was pretty explicit drawing the parallels together. However, we had characters like Qiao Ling not getting much new material at all despite a hopeful start with her scene about "wanting to be trusted".

Unfortunate implications (my head automatically goes to TV Tropes with this :V). Mainly surrounding the use of female characters as devices to propel the male characters. LTX is the most obvious instance (I shouldn't have to explain why), but Wang Juan was also treated as though she would be important and then largely shunted off to apply more pressure to XL; Liu Min's mum taking the hysterical role. On their own they may not be too bad, but I guess it's that it's combined with the stuff around Emma from s1 where the big 'twist' in the finale is killing her once there's a hope spot, and also added to how the mother in the Doudou episode is the one who's reverted to a younger age, whilst the dad is exhausted. Just a whole load of stuff that individually on their own don't necessarily mean anything but when put together forms a pattern I'm not super comfortable with? I do get the impression that show is well-meaning in terms of this stuff (QJ and LF especially point that way) but feel like it still fell down in a few places and could have done better with these aspects.

Lu Guang going back to save CXS confirmed. Admittedly I am incredibly biased to this type of plot, but I'm so glad they confirmed it. We haven't been given many specifics around when he went back from/to and I imagine we'll get more next season so I'm holding off judgement on all that for now (the paradox implications have me a bit worried but until we know more about the mechanics I can't judge). That said, I really liked the scene where it was comfirmed (the darkened shot of Lu Guang covered in blood my beloved) and am thinking that Qiao Ling having knowledge of Lu Guang's memories will mean she has to play a bigger role next season. There's no point in giving her that knowledge if it won't go somewhere. Relatedly, it seems like dying does pass on the powers and that's how we got LTX->QL and CXS->LG. It doesn't seem like Qiao Ling fully realises though if she has got Tianxi's powers (and it's been two months), but I suppose it's not exactly something you *would* realise if you didn't know what you were looking for or had previous experience with these powers.

I do genuinely think that this season was a case where the new characters were written around the existing ideas of the story and the themes which means they're interesting to analyse but I didn't feel like moments hit anywhere near as emotionally as season one? I think the parts where season two was able to approach season one's level of emotion were mainly around the twin's backstories. Meanwhile Qian Jin and Xiao Li's whole deal is interesting in theory but in practice I didn't have much reason to care for Xiao Li. Suffering to make the audience empathise only really "works" if there's more beyond that.

Lu Guang-Li Tianchen parallels make me sad. There are plenty of similarities in how they treat CXS and LTX respectively but I keep thinking of how their final choice in s2 is to either commit to preserving the past (Lu Guang with CXS) or to let go of the past (Li Tianchen with LTX and his mum). And how typically, clinging to the past is seen as a bad thing and letting it go a good thing. But in this case it's almost the opposite? I'm not saying it's healthy for Lu Guang to deny Cheng Xiaoshi's death, but I do think the story will eventually align behind him on this choice. And I think that Li Tianchen leaving the past behind in this case is more about trying to forget his trauma and in the process just digging himself deeper, deliberately choosing to forget the very person he fought to protect.

General s3 spec (keeping it brief). Li Tianchen confirmed that he obtained Liu Min's phone for Liu Xiao and it has info on it Liu Xiao needs but we still don't know what's on it beyond Qian Jin's comment about "family secrets". In terms of Liu Xiao himself, he didn't get much airtime but what he did have he made count. He mentioned about wanting to make "uncertainties into certainties" and the idea that there are "parallel lines". This pretty much sets him up against Lu Guang in terms of aim and seems to suggest our understanding of time travel mechanics is about to get a serious update next season. Also, the new "paranormal section of the police force" seems incredibly pointed. I don't really want it to get a huge focus honestly but with the way the scope has widened each season I don't think I'll get my wish.

[spaceangst]

the ultimate link click meta theory

contrary to what narrative exposition has given us so far, this story starts with qiao ling and the photo studio. it's awfully nice of her dad to rent the studio out to cheng xiaoshi under the condition that he run the studio while he waits for his parents to return, but (and this is me assuming based on what we've been told so far) it's a little weird that her dad doesn't just. take cheng xiaoshi in? it's my understanding that cheng xiaoshi lives alone either in the photo studio or his parents' home and qiao ling checks up on him as best as she can.

which is, admittedly, off? why agree to give a kid a 10,000 debt under the condition that the debt can be paid off by running a photo studio of all things?

we don't know when cheng xiaoshi's ability was first triggered but if we assume that trauma is the trigger, like it appears to be with li tianxi, there are 2 possibilities:

1. cheng xiaoshi's parents leaving is the trauma that triggers his ability. specifically, that moment where he's panicking about the earthquake with qiao ling.

2. there's something else that's traumatizing that happened between the events of him meeting lu guang and his parents leaving that triggered his ability.

either way, something traumatic would've triggered this ability and while qiao ling doesn't directly know what it is, her dad has possibly sent her to monitor the photo studio for some reason. she's likely unaware in the scheme that i'm projecting:

her dad and these other scientists are all in on this scientific experiment to test these abilities and see what can be done. cheng xiaoshi's parents' disappearance could have even been a part of this experiment with them being involved as scientists as well.

this would definitely explain the kid from the water fountain who li tianchen is kinda just in awe of - it's cheng xiaoshi. the speaking mannerisms sound a lot like adult cheng xiaoshi and on top of that, the outfit is definitely cheng xiaoshi coded. the impulsive nature of diving into a fountain for a ball? cheng xiaoshi. lu guang's reaction to li tianchen telling this story definitely has me thinking that if there's anything i've gotten right so far, it's this.

it makes me wonder if the siblings got out of the experiment/found out the truth and sought out qiao jin to exact their revenge on cheng xiaoshi for "choosing" to stay in the experiment. it's also possible that qiao jin got them out himself for his own agenda and vendetta against the police force and this whole thing with lu guang and cheng xiaoshi is just to get them on his side (even forcefully) if it means that he can get what he wants.

(no but seriously, how were cheng xiaoshi's parents not even reported missing? it feels more important than just parental trauma that shapes his identity - it's definitely a part of the plot.)

as for where lu guang plays into all this:

i see the time travel theory. but i also think it involves all three of them - qiao ling as the one who either 1. rewinded time without any recollection of the future (only lu guang and the li siblings remember what's to come) or 2. sent lu guang back to the past to fix things that went really wrong in the future

considering their abilities and how well established they are, i'm almost against anyone with previously introduced abilities from developing more advanced abilities for the plot - and it would definitely explain why the siblings target lu guang and qiao ling.

this sets up the following:

the original timeline that we haven't seen: lu guang and cheng xiaoshi become friends and they play basketball together occasionally, but they're not as close as they are in the timeline that we see. they go their separate ways and remain acquaintances in college, but not as close friends. he walks by the photo studio after just saying hi, but doesn't stop to help paint. cheng xiaoshi runs the photo studio alone and tries to go into the pictures himself after he accidentally does it once. qiao ling finds out later when he gets himself involved in a Much more serious case. at a college reunion or sometime briefly in the future, lu guang comes across a photo and when he looks through what happened, it's catastrophic in more ways than one. it involves cheng xiaoshi's death (which triggers qiao ling's time travel ability) and he likely sees himself there too, trying to help qiao ling before disappearing. aka, he sees himself time traveling.

the present timeline that we see: he changes it all by staying to help paint. hence the emphasis on lu guang being a lucky coincidence in their lives. and he's actively working to prevent that tragedy and prevent cheng xiaoshi's death from happening. this would mean that qiao ling never unlocks her time travel ability, but it would lock in this present as reality.

(the orv of it all, truly. lu guang regressing to see cheng xiaoshi again and qiao ling rewriting their reality just to save cheng xiaoshi.)

there's my long winded take on it! i'd love to hear what other people think (and feel free to send me all the link click and orv asks bc i'm mentally just stuck between both of those rn) but i hope this made some sense!

[straw-beret]

what's up with the pacman machine in the link click opening?

well friends, I'm about to cobble together some information that is so irrelevant to the main plot!!

(also: i came up with this theory prior to episode 11 coming out, but when it did, it only really solidified it for me).

more under the cut :) and spoilers for the most recent episode of link click (episode 11 season 2)

if you know me from my most recent link click post, you'll know i am unnaturally obsessed with the claw machines of the season 2 opening.

But wait, what's that third machine in the middle? The yellow-ish one that's sort of dimly lit?

it's a fucking pacman arcade machine.

a pacman arcade machine that doesn't appear in the show itself.

being me, i had to go on the most unnecessary deep dive into what the hell the relevancy of this pacman machine could be. it's jammed between two of the claw machines in the intro but mysteriously absent in the episode itself. and while i don't have an explanation for THAT (if anyone has an idea, pls lmk!!), i do have some info on the game.

when you start up a game of pacman, this is the general visual you're going to get:

In my opinion, the most important thing to note is the colours of the ghosts. Notice we've got three in that box: blue, pink, and orange. And outside we have red. Do these colours happen to remind you of anything— or rather, anyone?

that's right. the link clickers are the ghosts in Pacman.

All jokes aside, I do think there's at least a bit of merit in this observation. Because red— i.e. qiao ling, is isolated from the power users.

(pink could be either of the Li twins, for convenience's sake i'm just going to assume it's Tianxi for one bit of speculation i'll explain later).

Why isolate one of the three original mains from the other two, and instead have a new character take her place?

Because, as I speculated before in my claw machine theory, qiao ling is not safe!!! in both the claw machines and Pacman, the symbol/motif associated with Qiao Ling has been positioned on the outside of the box.

Now, a character being in the box doesn't guarantee safety, you'll know this especially if you've seen the most recent ep (s2e11) and the trailer for ep12. However, it does provide something of a line of defence— i.e. the box is sort of a symbol for the fact that CXS, LG and LTX are power users.

Qiao Ling was the very first person to get possessed by red eyes, she is the most 'vulnerable' of the OG 3 in that sense. aside from her martial arts realness, she can't defend herself on a supernatural level. she no way of teleporting out of a fight like CXS or seeing into the future to predict her opponent's moves like LG could.

qiao ling, as a normie, is isolated from the power users and thus more at risk to being harmed by the enemy. For the ghosts, it's Pacman, and for the link clickers, it's this motherfucker:

crustlord of the century Qian Jin.

I think pacman is supposed to symbolise him on account of 1. the yellow eyes and 2. the fact that he's out to get basically every single one of the ghosts:

QL

CXS

LG

LTX

Hence why this theory works a lot better with LTX as the pink ghost instead of LTC— Tianxi betrayed QJ, and the one thing he hates most is betrayal.

I feel as though the AI patterns of the Pacman ghosts sort of align with this too:

"Each of the four ghosts has their own unique artificial intelligence (A.I.), or "personality": Blinky (Red) gives direct chase to Pac-Man; Pinky (pink) and Inky (blue) try to position themselves in front of Pac-Man, usually by cornering him; and Clyde (orange) will switch between chasing Pac-Man and fleeing from him"

"Each ghost's name gives a hint to its strategy for tracking down Pac-Man: Blinky always chases Pac-Man, Pinky tries to get ahead of him, Inky uses a more complicated strategy to zero in on him, and Clyde alternates between chasing him and running away."

^^ those two quotes are from the Pacman wikipedia page, a robust source indeed. in the first quote I put the colours of the ghosts in bold and by their proper names for reference.

If we assume Pacman is QJ and Red ghost is QL, and we remember how she bitch slapped QJ in episode 3 season 2:

I'd say that at the very least the AI behaviour + QL's actions are somewhat correlated. And i'd say that the AI behaviour of the other ghosts lines up with their respective characters, LG being strategic and CXS being a bit more chaotic in his approach. As for Xixi, well, we kind of haven't seen enough of her to say.

but "via," i hear you say, "Li Tianxi got fucking murk'd in episode 11, AND she's the one with red eyes! why isn't she the red ghost, and not qiao ling?"

I see you and I hear you. Both QL and LTX have associations with both red and pink, and in fact upon first coming up with this theory i thought LTX was the red ghost as well. But considering the placement of the Pacman machine (between the claw machines+around the rabbits, see my previous post for details on the stuffed rabbits and their relevancy) as well as official art and in-show costuming, I figured that it made more narrative sense (and theory sense) for QL to be the red ghost. Plus she's just more heavily associated with red than either of the Li twins, who are costumed in more light pastels

for reference, I put TC both in and out of drag above^^ and in his xixi cosplay, he wears almost entirely pink.

back to the theory. Qiao Ling's ghost is on the outside; and the stuffed rabbits that I'm almost positive symbolise her are piled on the outside of the claw machines. Surely this isn't a coincidence, right?

this all comes back to my theory that Qiao Ling, as the outsider of the group, the only one without powers, and the last to be informed of all the supernatural happenings, is going to meet a certain fate either by the end of s2 or around the start of s3. And I think the show has tried to set it up from the start.

Although Qiao Ling didn't become incredibly plot significant until I'd say about halfway through S1, we saw a few glimpses of her that were framed to highlight her vulnerability. Off the top of my head, I can definitely think of the horror-movie esque way s1e3 opened, where a strange man, later revealed to be Chen Xiao, approaches her from behind after appearing in a dark alley. Plus there is of course, her possession by LTC in s1e11. So from the get-go, she is framed as the odd one out of the main 3, and the most at risk.

then we get to the intro of s2, with the stuffed rabbits and the pacman machine, and it starts to come together, as stupid as that may sound. the writers are foreshadowing that something is gonna happen to Qiao Ling, and given the way everything connects, I'm of the opinion it could be death, or possibly grave injury.

that's all i've really got to say! curious as to what others might think of this, because it's all founded on the colours of a fckin Pacman game lol.

_

having seen the e12 trailer for s2 and qiao ling looking like she was gaining a power, I wonder how the finale is going to play out and if it will fit with the visuals and symbolism in the intro. oh well, we'll see!

also good LORD these posts take a long time to make!! let me know what you think, and also if you've got any clue as to why the Pacman machine appears in the intro but not the episode. Maybe IP reasons, although i don't see why they'd end up including it at all in the intro if copyright or IP was a concern. anyways, that's all!

[add1ctedt0you]

It seems to me that a lot of people confuse having anger issue with be irrational. These are two different things. You can have anger issue and not be irrational, you can be irrational and not have anger issue. I say that because jc has evidently anger issue, but he is not irrational! Jc is a very cautious and practical man, who doesn't do things if not sure of success.

Although he was quite unhappy, as the leader of a sect, there was much to consider. He couldn't be as impulsive as that brat Jin Ling. Ever since the decline of the Nie Clan of Qinghe, of the current three great clans, the Jin Clan of Lanling and the Lan Clan of Gusu had always been close due to the strong personal friendship shared by their clan leaders. Jiang Cheng ruled the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng alone, so it could have been said that he was in a state of isolation. Hanguang-jun - Lan WangJi - was a distinguished cultivator of great prestige. In addition, his elder brother Zewu-jun - Lan Xichen - was the Clan leader of the Lan Clan of Gusu, as the two brothers had always gotten along well. Overall, it was best if Jiang Cheng kept things peaceful instead of giving in to his violent urges.

[...]

Jiang Cheng loathed being at a disadvantage in a fight, so useless victory was absolutely certain, attacking Lan WangJi was not within the realm of consideration.

Chapter 3

jc is pissed because lwj casts a silencing spell on jl, and he has every right as a present guardian! ("You, Lan! What's the meaning of this? It's not up to you to discipline Jin Ling. Release the spell!"). In addition, lwj has destroyed the over four hundred nets jc sites for jl. And for all this time lwj doesn't explain himself to jc, letting that his Juniors speak for him.

So in this scene :

Lwj casts a silencing spell on jl, jc's kid

Lwj destroys four hundred nets that jc brought

Lwj doesn't acknowledge jc's presence, letting his Juniors speak for him ( something disprectful for an isolated clan leader)

Lwj is pretty much pushing all jc's buttons. And what does jc? He weights his options and, after understanding that he is in disadvantage, that in the line there is more than himself ( "Jiang Cheng ruled the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng alone, so it could have been said that he was in a state of isolation. [...] Overall, it was best if Jiang Cheng kept things peaceful instead of giving in to his violent urges" ) , he swallows his pride and rage and he goes on, because it's the most rational thing to do as clan leader. Because as a guardian he would have fought lwj on the spot ("When Jiang Cheng saw that Jin Ling's lips were now glued together, unable to part, anger clouded his face and all previous forced civility went out the window." ) , but as clan leader he has responsibilities.

But if it's not enough, there's another passage where we can understand in my opinion that jc in general is a rational person.

Jiang Cheng had known the YiLing Patriarch often appeared together with the Ghost General to wreak havoc, and he already suspected that Wen Ning was nearby. On hearing Jin Ling's story, he believed it 60 percent. After Wei WuXian's reaction, he believed another 20 percent. On top of that, he was engulfed with rage whenever he heard Wen Ning's name, his anger surging to his head, so he had no sense left in him to doubt.

Chapter 6

This man literally is weighting his options in percentage! And he decides his next move driven 80 percent by rationality and 20 percent by rage.

In general, jc takes a lot of low blows that he doesn't allow to control his actions.

Wei WuXian then added "Actually, I should have let you fight while I stood and spectated. Thst way, Jiang-shushu might not have had to come. But it can't be helped - I couldn't resist!"

Jiang Cheng humphed and said softly "You wish."

Wei WuXian had said what he said offhandedly, but inwardly, Jiang Cheng felt complicated. He knew down that it wasn't a lie. Jiang Fengmian had never once rushed to another clan within a day over any of Jiang Cheng's own affairs, whether they be good or bad, major or minor.

Never

Chapter 4

Wwx says to jc face that his own father neglects him, that jc isn't important enough for jfm to rush to another clan within one day over, and jc takes it because he knows that wwx has no malice and that it's the truth. Nicer people would have snapped but he just makes a miserable face knowing rationally that it's true.

Almost all of jc's choices are driven by rationality (he makes also mistakes! It's only human. I would also add that he hasn't the whole picture for like, the majority of the plot, but still).

There are only three moments where jc lets his emotions take control over him:

After the fall of Lotus Pier

After his sister dies

After knowing that his brother sacrifices himself for him

Moments where sane people with emotional support and no trauma would lose their shit! And jc isn't that kind of person!

Really, Jc was like twenty when his siblings died, leaving him alone with an orphaned nephew and a sect which was destroyed 3 years ago in a war. But, nonetheless : "no matter which clan you chose to offend, you shouldn't offend the Jiang clan. No matter which person you chose to offend, you shouldn't offend Jiang Cheng".

And I am pretty much sure that if he was an irrational jerk all the time, he wouldn't have achieved that.

[fortune-maiden]

ace attorney au- for tgcf? or au where Meng Yao shows up at Lanling not on Jin Zixuan's birthday but (somehow) in the period where JZX is off at the Wen indoctrination camp?

I love both of these :D

And funny that you mention a tgcf ace attorney au because @vicucha and I recently came up with a three tumors lawyer au (sorta) so I am obviously keeping that!

Pei Ming is a Defense Attorney. Ling Wen handles all the paperwork/investigation for the firm. Shi Wudu keeps the firm afloat because of course he does. (he hasn't been arrested for murder yet, so it's fine!)

Okay but that part aside, TGCF already kind of plays out a bit like an ace attorney game with Xie Lian solving various cases that slowly come together to create a bigger case.

Pei Ming and the Three Tumors are the rival defense attorneys in this AU because I feel like we haven't really had that yet in AA

Jun Wu is the judge naturally

Mu Qing & Feng Xin are the prosecutor and the detective. MQ is channeling his best Miles Edgeworth energy - he is excited to be able to fight against Xie Lian in court, and definitely not friends with him or anything. Feng Xin exists to make Xie Lian's investigations easier and Mu Qing's harder :)

I just finished reading Ling Wen's revised backstory last night so I have the Hua Cheng's Butterfly Dream spell on the mind as this AU's supernatural gimmick. Hua Cheng is Gege's mysterious assistant who allows him to enter the suspects/witnesses' Mental Scapes and gather various clues

SQX is going to get accused of murder at one point, and this is a trap for Shi Wudu who will never allow his sibling to go to jail (it does not actually matter to him if SQX is guilty). This results in a rivals team up/compete situation as well though because Pei Ming is also not letting his friend's sibling go to jail (plus he refuses to believe SQX is a murderer. He's met SQX), but SQX wants Xie Lian to defend them. This whole case turns into a mess because SWD *will* admit to a murder he didn't commit if it gets SQX off the hook, and will also make the investigation painful for everyone and drive friend and foe alike insane (PM isn't even competing with XL after a point. He's commiserating.) (And naturally the real murderer is He Xuan who wanted SWD to take the fall for it. He's unsuccessful but SWD's not off the hook after this trial because there's obviously a reason HX targeted him. All the crimes come out!)

Incidentally, SQX is being accused of murdering Ming Yi. Who is their best friend. Except something something identity hijinks and plastic surgery. So that's fun :)

[will-this-drama-break-me]

TILL THE END OF THE MOON

He's so beautiful and tragic and she's so beautiful and heroic. This has too work out, right?

As usual, spoiler-free above the cut, spoilers below.

General Rating: 8/10 Fight Choreo: 8/10 Cinematography and CGI: 8.9/10 Acting: 8.9/10 Costume: 8/10 Scene/Setting: 10/10 Heartbreak Meter: 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔/10

It's the end of the world, ok? What's worse than the end? Li Susu is the only one left of her family and sect, and they risk everything to send her back in time to stop the evil and unstoppable Tantai Jin. As much as she hates him for slaughtering everyone and everything she knows and loves, it turns out his past life? Sad. We have no time to feel bad for him- Li SuSu, now in the body of the frankly awful daughter of mortal General Li and wife to Tantai Jin, must figure out how to keep this man from becoming a monster.

Luo Lun Xi (Leo Luo) does a fantastic job as the male lead, showing the complicated feelings of the character and his evolution quite seamlessly. While I can no longer trust Bai Lu bc every drama I watch with her makes me want to snap my own neck by the end, she does a decent job with the character, though she fails to sell us on Bai Lu really falling in love most of the time. We get glimmers and hints, never a sure thing until we are quite deep in the story and it is the bigger gestures of the writing rather than the acting that sells the love between them. Deng Wei, who you may recognize as the angel baby Tushan Jing from Lost You Forever, is...there? But mostly forgettable in this role, unlike in other roles I've seen him in. Chen Du Ling makes a deep impression as through the timelines we get to see her be soft, sweet, cunning, manipulative, and foolishly evil (and her acting SELLS IT.)

This drama was a well-written and entertaining little ride, with its biggest strength lying in the way their romance is developed and maintained. It goes a bit flat in the middle where it feels it has to explain itself a bit too much, but it's wide ride.

So did it break my heart? Of course it did.

Let me be frank- I was upset with the ending. While it made sense, it did not give the emotional payoff I needed for the events we were put through. The writing was strongest when making you feel bad for Tantai Jin and and showing him grow under the warmth of Li Susu's kindness. You want good things for him. The show goes out of its way to tell us that he can be good if given the chance. When he becomes the ruler of his country, he immediately starts stripping away the unfair laws his brother put in place and works toward making the country better. When he has the chance to take revenge on his awful little wife, he remembers the kindness Li Susu showed him (after she took over his evil little wife, but he doesn't learn that til later) and is good to her.

It was hard to sell me on Susu loving him until after they were separated and Susu returned to her timeline. The longing she was shown to feel, the impact he had on her was what really sold it. But I cannot emphasize enough that the writing had to do that, not Bai Lu. She was so...stiff? One note? She had me convinced that this was just a mission for her bc she failed to show me any real emotion or affection for this man.

These characters were not "destined to be together"- they fought long and hard to love each other and in the end, they put the needs of the universe before their love.

NO! I don't want them to.

3 different lifetimes. THREE in which they fall in love and it ends in disaster- only in the final one does it not end in disaster for everyone else. I understand that it needed to happen, hence the masterful writing, but ffs let me have a happy ending.

I am a hopeless romantic, first and foremost, and so if you bill me a romance, I need a romance with a happy ending. Sell it to me as an epic or a tragedy and I'm prepared, but sell me a romance and I'm waiting for them to be happy.

[tavina-writes]

a fic idea I will probably never write because the experience would be SO HARROWING I might as well bury myself first but that I have had since AT LEAST November 2022:

JYL is the only Yunmeng sibling to survive Nightless City. Badly injured, with a whole bunch of physical and mental scars, BUT! Congratulations! Both JC and WWX have died! JYL is the only Jiang who survives.

This means that Yanli has to return to the Yunmeng Jiang. (And also so I can do Yu politics. And also locate some Yu women for Yanli to be friends with. And also flesh out the Yu Matriarch and JYL's maternal aunts and cousins because yes.) 2b) Undecided about how and where Jin Ling is going in this AU because on one hand: I'm pretty sure if Yanli is returning to the Jiang for her three year mourn her husband period she'll want to take Jin Ling with her, but ALSO JGS is in a position of great power here so we have no idea what the situation is here and I haven't decided bc idk how much I want the vibes to just be RANCID and also bc I'm not writing this so idk!)

LWJ, post his 3 year seclusion due to the discipline whip related situation, partially wants leave the Lan/partially Xichen thinks maybe him having a change of pace would be good/partially the Lan Elders Are Meddling Again/partially because Grandma Yu is ALSO meddling, gets an arranged marriage to Yanli set for when Yanli's mourning period is over. LWJ is agreeing to this partly bc of his complicated feelings about WWX.

LWJ brings A-Yuan with him for mental support. Also because has trust issues.

At some point these two scrape together a platonic arranged marriage of necessity so hard it keeps the Jiang from sinking into the lake.

JUST IN TIME for NHS's ten year revenge plot to kick off and congratulations WWX is alive again!

The vibes are extremely fraught and awful because HELLO WEI WUXIAN WOULD YOU LIKE TO RUIN SHIJIE'S MARRIAGE A SECOND TIME AND ALSO CONGRATULATIONS JC IS DEAD STILL. He's fleeing for the hills.

Anyway this is also why I would never write this because 1) I have found a time skip option where LWJ is the most mentally well person in the room and 2) a canon timeline more terrible than what actually happened in canon. :DDDDDD

[truly-morgan]

[OT4, Juniors all getting together]

Junior Quartet | Mo Dao Zu Shi 23-03-2021

[#mdzsjuniors - ot4]

What if Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui started dating post-canon after some nervous pining, keeping their relationship a secret from the other half of the quartet.

Then, after some time, jl ends up asking lsz if he really loves him, because of the way he looks at ljy he has this something in his eyes. After some nervous turning around the subject, lsz finally admits he does /also/ love ljy, the same way he does jl. but lsz doesn't dare tell him, because he's sure ljy doesn't feel the same.

jl ends up telling him he doesn't mind sharing if it make him happier. Especially since it is clear ljy is also pining for lsz, but had noticed their little "secret" relationship and didn't dare step in. Turns out lsz is happily surprised and gets himself a second boyfriend, jl and ljy slowly develop their own brand of love.

So they now start this new poly couple, rather happy with how thing seems to work. But now that they are often only the three of them most of the time, they feel like they are missing someone all the time.

Then they realise that maybe, they didn't see oyzz as just a friend. They also feel a bit guilty for having left him so much to the side as they were trying to make this whole new thing work. lsz is the one to come up to oyzz to talk about it to him, as the two others didn't know how to bring it up to him. 

oyzz doesn't really know what to answer to this, as he never really thought about it in the past. He /does/ have a little something for lsz tho "now that he's thinking about it", but doesn't know if he should join them. He does, and things turn out even better than before. 

They are back to being the juniors quartet, but this time as lovers, even though most obviously don't know. Some days a more difficult, sometimes communication is hard, but they would rather not give it up for anything in the world, they absolutely like it the way it is. 

I also wonder how the parents would all react.

I'd see jc going "Really jl, /another/ boyfriend? I suppose at least this time he's not a plan, shouldn't be too troublesome". Yet he doesn't try to break them off anyway, as he would rather see his nephew happy than sad because he tried to break them off.

wn is over the moon that lsz is surrounded by so many people who love him that much. Although even this sweet cinnamon bun has warned one time that they shouldn't dare to break his heart. All three hurriedly agreed. 

lwj would be the silently supportive dad, ready to listen and give advice despite easy relationships not being his department. All he can wish for is for none of them to suddenly disappear on him for 13 years.

wwx isn't sure at first how come baby a-yuan is collecting this many boyfriends, but is just as supportive, ready to help them out. He's the dad ready to bring up the most embarrassing thing simply because he's trying his best to help his son out. If he can make sure lsz is not as lost as he was, then it would be this already won. 

I cannot tell what oyzz dad would say, but if he were to not be supportive of his son, oyzz is made quickly aware that he already has a new family ready to support him whatever happens with him (my hurt/comfort ass don't like oyzz dad, so it would probably not be a good react) but oyzz is better off with all these other cultivators ready to support him than him anyway.

They lived happily ever after and we forget that jl is the jll sect leader (am not thinking angst tonight okay, shoo shoo).

Original

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

First meet

@gwyndal thank you for your adorable prompt! I loved writing this!

The prompt: Wangxian meeting LXC's and his spouse's firstborn

Wei Wuxian walks anxiously through the jingshi, drawing imaginary circles all over the place with his steps. His hands are folded behind his back, but his fingers still wring against each other, betraying his nerves.

Lan Wangji would try to comfort him if he wasn't restless himself. He's been sifting through the same book for the past two or three hours, unable to focus.

"Why's it taking so long?!" Wei Wuxian bursts, tired of the silence and his own thoughts spiralling. "I wonder, did something happen? I know Ming Xiang's pregnancy has been difficult, but... it's been over 10 hours, why haven't we received any news?"

"I've asked the doctor to let me know when something happens, good or bad. No news should be good news."

"Except it's not! Do you know how many things can go wrong in childbirth?! It's terrible, she could even die!"

"Wei Ying, I don't think that is the case. We would have been told."

Wei Wuxian sighs, frustrated. "I just want to know or nephew or niece is okay... This is nerve-wracking!"

"It is, but we shouldn't be so-"

There's a knock at the jingshi's door and Lan Wangji springs to his feet, nearly knocking himself over as he runs to open up. A disciple that can only be described as happily distraught manages a half bow and hurriedly says, "Come quickly, lady Ming has given birth to twin boys!"

Lan Wangji nearly knocks the disciple over as he runs out the door, and it happens again when Wei Wuxian follows. They all but fly their way towards the lanshi, and only when do they arrive at the door reality hits them.

They're uncles now! They're going to meet their niece or nephew now!

But they can't just barge in - this is an intimate moment, perhaps Lan Xichen and his wife want to spend it together without outside interference. Perhaps they should wait to be called in or -

The door opens to reveal Lan Xichen beaming, a smile so bright it nearly lights up the night. "Come on in, A-Xiang was just about to send me after you."

Suddenly, both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian feel incredibly small as they walk in. The lanshi looks the same as always, yet it feels different - it feels different with Ming Xiang's soft voice humming a lullaby as she lays in the bed, two bundles of embroidered blankets in her arms.

There are bags under her eyes and her updo is more mess than hair - but she looks so softly, so lovingly to the little ones she's holding that she appears otherworldly, a goddess among mortals, the primordial image of Mother.

Wei Wuxian's eyes tear up, but it is Lan Wangji that cries first, two rivulets of tears falling symmetrically down his face at the image. A step behind them, Lan Xichen himself struggles to hide his tears.

Ming Xiang smiles, tired, proud, relieved, motherly. "Looks like you'll both get your very own nephew."

Wei Wuxian laughs, wetly, as he approaches the bed and tentatively sits on the edge. He sees his own mother holding him, he sees Jiang Yanli holding Jin Ling, he sees A-Yuan's mother holding him - he sees all mothers there, in the image of Ming Xiang, and there is a knot in his throat that refuses to dissipate.

He looks at the two babes, snuggled in their expensive furs and silks, so small and vulnerable, so very precious, so long waited on.

Lan Wangji joins his husband's side and Lan Xichen stands at the foot of the bed, looking on at his family, now whole. He hasn't even realized, until today, he has been missing something.

Two little somethings.

"Would you like to hold them?" Ming Xiang asks, her voice barely above a whisper.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji nod all too eagerly, and Lan Xichen takes the cue to help his wife hand over the two little boys.

She makes a relieved sound. "They're so heavy... Those pregnancy cravings fed them well!"

Lan Xichen watches as the two hold his sons like they are gold incarnate, their touches delicate and fearful. He shares a look with his wife, a discreet smile between them, until-

"He's moving!" Lan Wangji exclaims, overwhelmed and uncharacteristic, eyes wide as the baby in his arms opens his eyes and lifts a tiny hand towards him.

"Of course, he's moving." Wei Wuxian replies, gently rocking the other one. "Babies tend to do that."

Lan Wangji smiles, warm, his fingers gently adjusting the blankets around the little boy. "Mn."

The baby seems to be analyzing Lan Wangji, blue eyes scanning over his face before his little nose scrunches as if in disapproval, and he closes his eyes to sleep again. Wei Wuxian's heart leaps at the adorable sight and he knows he wants this for himself too, for both of them.

He turns to look at the baby he's holding himself, sleeping soundly, and can't help running a finger over his plump cheeks. He knows he'd die - again, over and over - if his little nephews asked, he'd turn the world upside down and sideways for them. He'll be the uncle he never got to be for Jin Ling, he'll be the uncle he wished he had himself when he was younger.

And so, on that cold winter day, Lan Yichen and Lan Haoyu were born, the future Twin Jades, the pride and joy of their parents and uncles, the hope for a future as bright as their father's sword and as beautiful as their mother's smile.

(And as spoiled as Hanguang-Jun and the Yiling Patriarch could get away with.)

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 35 part two

(Masterpost) (Pinboard) (whole thing on AO3) 

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Perfect Date, Continued

Lan Wangji begins his day pondering an ancient philosophical question: If your crush happens to sleep over on your first date, whether in your bed or just crashing on the couch, and he doesn’t leave in the morning, are you still on your first date? Or is it your second date? He would ask Lan Xichen but the one time he asked Lan Xichen “is there a Lan rule book for dating,” Lan Xichen said “there are no set rules in this world” and wandered off to go fuck his ex’s ex. 

Either way, Lan Wangji is pretty sure it’s important to show an in interest in your date’s hobbies. Wei Wuxian’s favorite hobby is desecrating burial places, so Lan Wangji takes him back to the Nie tomb to see what sort of fun they can have there. 

This time their stroll through the woods isn’t spoiled by any irritating dogs or nephews. 

Dig

When they arrive, they find Nie Huaisang directing a team of dudes to close up the wall where they previously rescued Jin Ling. 

It’s good that these guys aren’t using any mortar, since Lan Wangji wants to fuck up this wall with his sword. 

He strikes the wall and it collapses towards him, not away, because he’s been watching Three-Body and has decided physics isn’t real. 

(More after the cut!)

Inside the wall are these three objects, put there by a props crew that has decided anatomy isn’t real. Nie Huaisang isn’t too happy about the digging, and Wei Wuxian puts an arm around him in a friendly manner to console him.  

Lan Wangji notices this and immediately summons Wei Wuxian to his side, handing him Bichen and telling him to dig, in a totally hot unnecessary display of possessive dominance. 

Velociraptor mode unlocked

Wei Wuxian’s not complaining, mind you.  

Wise Production Decisions

While Wei Wuxian examines these ostensibly human skeletons to determine how their bones are able to stay assembled without any connective tissue, let’s take a moment to contemplate one of the major changes between Mo Dao Zu Shi, the book, and Chen Qing Ling, the show. 

In the novel, donghua, and manga, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian road-trip together not in pursuit of a sword spirit, but to collect chunks of Nie Mingjue’s dismembered corpse. Eventually it’s all put together again for the big showdown in the temple. 

I read an interview a while back--sorry, can’t source it at the moment--where the producer of CQL said that the reason for the change wasn’t because of censorship or the difficulty of painting swirly stuff to hide NMJ’s junk, it was because they tried various ways to do the body-part thing and “we couldn’t find a way to make it beautiful.” Considering these skeletons, and the demon hand from episode one, and the animatronic dog, let’s all thank our lucky stars that the Department of Questionable Practical Effects was not tasked with creating a walking-dead Nie Mingjue. 

Sabermetrics

Having sufficiently fondled the skeletons, Wei Wuxian wants to move on to fondling the Nie sabers, and so he asks Nie Huaisang to let them open all the sarcophagi. Nie Huaisang wants to say no, but Lan Wangji, who is in charge of this date, bows at him until he has to say yes. 

Lan Wangji’s status and reputation are so strong that Nie Huaisang can’t make a saving throw against this request, even though he’s a clan leader and Lan Wangji isn’t.

This is why it’s extra-romantic that Lan Wangji later risks his reputation in front of everybody for Wei Wuxian’s sake. 

After opening all of the coffins up they determine that there is one saber missing. Gosh, which saber might that be? It doesn’t come to Nie Huaisang or Wei Wuxian’s mind, but Lan Wangji intones “Baxia,” and Wei Wuxian helpfully reminds us that Baxia was Nie Mingjue’s sword.  

Lan Wangji might not be a people person, but he remembers every sword he’s ever met, much in the way I imagine Wang Yibo remembers every dog he’s ever met.

Qi Deviation

Nie Huaisang tells them about Nie Mingjue’s literally explosive qi deviation, in which he bled from his face and from several squibs stuck to his chest, followed by more exploding squibs that just produced smoke without any extra bleeding.  

To explain a bit, in the most lay of layperson’s terms, your qi is the energy in your body, which circulates through your meridians and, through cultivation and/or traditional medicine practices, can be directed and improved. Qi that is out of balance is bad, and can cause illness and squib explosions.

Or possibly he’s just gassy

As Nie Huaisang tells it, this just up and happened, but he actually knows why and how it happened, and who did it.

Second Date

After that cheery little outing, Lan Wangji figures that by now they’re definitely on their second date, so he takes Wei Wuxian into town for dinner.

As they enter downtown Qinghe, Wei Wuxian briefly touches his arm, causing Lan Wangji to immediately clock that he’s hiding an injury/curse.  

So busted. 

Wei Wuxian attempts to distract Lan Wangji  from his questions by making provocative curse-measuring gestures, and then offering to strip so Lan Wangji can check him it out. 

This is where Wei Wuxian discovers that he can’t beat Lan Wangji at gay chicken any more. 

Next, Wei Wuxian does this adorable walking-backwards thing, which is impractical but lets him look at Lan Wangji while he’s talking. He is just as smitten as Lan Wangji is, although he’s clearly got no idea what to do about it. 

They talk over some of the details of their detective work, and then Wei Wuxian tries, once again, to get Lan Wangji to tell him how he recognized him. Once again, he’s unsuccessful, as Lan Wangji tells him it’s “getting late” and heads to an inn, despite the clear daylight all over the place.

Memory Care

He’s chosen a place for dinner that they went to together, way back when they were young, because he’s heard that going to familiar places is is a good way to help your loved one who is struggling with memory impairment. 

They ignore their food in favor of pounding liquor (WWX) and tea (LWJ), while they openly eavesdrop on the conversation at the next table. 

The conversation at the next table is all about the exact thing that happened the last time they were at this inn, which leads to Lan Wangji filling Wei Wuxian in on the (apparent) fates of Xue Yang, Song Lan, and Xiao Xingchen. 

By the time he remembers that trauma-dumping is best saved for a third or fourth date, he’s already telling Wei Wuxian about how the last survivor of the Chang Clan was found dead of lingchi, and that the cuts were made by Xiao Xingchen’s sword.

Realizing he’s made a tactical error in eviscerating Wei Wuxian’s happy memory of his sect uncle, Lan Wangji has to find a way to rescue this date from the cliff it’s heading over kind of like the cliff Wei Wuxian previously headed over. So he grabs Wei Wuxian’s drink and knocks it back all in one go. 

This delights Wei Wuxian, so the evening is back on track. 

[findyourrp]

Hi, I’m 21+ I’m looking for adults (18+) to roleplay The Unatmed/MDZS, Word of Honor/faraway wanderers, Legend of Yunze, or Heaven Official’s Blessing with me. ❤️

The Untamed

I’ve finished the live action, and right now I’ve really been craving to write Xiyao (Lan Xichen x Jin Guangyao). I have more experience writing Yao but I can do either. I’d love to explore their relationship, and I’m also open to smut, but I don’t want that to distract from the plot. I love wangxian too, and can play either but I would like xiyao to be in it too. I also love side ships, both mxm and fxf. Some of my other ships And Xiao x Xue, I prefer to be Xiao.

Word of Honor

I mainly ship wenzhou (Lao Wen x Ah Xu) and would like to write them out. I can be either character. I also enjoy a few side ships, like Du Pusa x Qiao Luohan (aka tomboy) and I can play either, or Gu Xiang x Cao Weining, I can play either but please keep in mind they would be exclusively be a side ship as I prefer lgbt ships to be the main focus. I’d mainly like a Lao Wen, Ah Xu, and Cheng Ling family dynamic roleplay. Maybe when they’re in the four seasons manor. I like fluff mixed with angst, if you have any ideas I’d be happy to discuss too.

Legend of Yunze

I could be either character. A-Ze, Jiang Zhaoyun, I can take any role. For this we can jump around the timeline from historical to modern, we can jump around the different eras as well.

Heaven Official’s Blessing

Im mainly interested in Hualian and can be either character, and I don’t really have a whole lot of ideas, this is the only one I haven’t finished, only three books in. I like family dynamics, and I also love adding in the characters to cross over with, especially MDZS.

We can talk about which timeline we would want and what we would want the plot to be. I also have an antagonist oc we can bring in to add more drama in, but if you don’t vibe with ocs I don’t force anyone to write with them.

***Every character that involves smut must be 18+, and I only roleplay with adults.***

I rp on discord, I’m active, l'm literate, and could write a lot if needed. Though I can also work with semi, I just don’t like anything extremely short since idk how to reply to that. We can work on the plot we want and expand the world together. I'm only interested in writing Igbt romance. If you’re interested just leave a note, thanks.

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