#only it's him taking control of his own fierce corpse

[mediocretosubpar-soup]

fierce corpse yiling laozhu following jiang cheng from the burial mounds. jiang cheng keeping the fierce corpse of his shixiong in lotus pier. dragging back demonic cultivators to 'interview' on fierce corpse care. demanding suibian back from the jin. demanding wei wuxian's notes.

mo xuanyu calls back wei wuxian. the rumors wei wuxian hears are mostly the same but the flavor is sharper. sect leader jiang is still hunting his shixiong's ghost. even going so far as to challenge the chief cultivator over his belongings.

jiang cheng sneers at him, that he thought wei wuxian would pick something better for a body.

the golden core reveal throws jiang cheng badly (was he delusional all these years?) and he still goes to guanyin temple and gets skewered and gives back the chengqing. and the story play out as it does.

except for when jiang cheng goes home, his fierce corpse has broken containment and gotten its hands on suibian. it waits for him in his room, taking a fake nap on his bed, and when jiang cheng comes in, it tries to drag him into a spar until the blood registers. jiang cheng isn't having that. he knows, he's been deluding himself making a mindless monster act like wei wuxian. thinking that a part of wei wuxian wanted to stay with him after all. what a fool, he was. he should really put an end to this farce. before he can draw sandu the fierce corpse attempts to decapitate himself with suibian which it drew. jiang cheng decides that maybe he shouldn't judge too quickly.

so this is how jiang cheng ends up taking his secret fierce corpse with him, he won't leave his side, he won't give up suibian. he gets him to put on a veil at least. but that still means that he hits the next cultivation conference with a man trailing his every step who's carrying wei wuxian's sword and constantly teasing him. and as much as he tries to hide it, he can't hide how much he likes that.

the cultivation world is largely torn between three reactions; a) what the fuck? what the fuck? b) it's nice that sect leader jiang has relaxed a bit. you know? c) drama!!! the sheer drama!!! of it. they thought jin guangyao's scandalous downfall was good? hahh this is a thousand times better. the front row seats for the first cultivation conference with hanguan-jun/wei wuxian and jiang cheng/SIC in attendance are sold for the price of small cities.

[lactoseintolerentswag]

Rise Characterizations: The Foot Clan

Since I've posted on Cass, I figured it would be useful to post separately on the Foot Clan as a whole.

So the Foot Clan's obvious goal is the resurrect The Shredder.

They have paralleled origins to that of the Hamato Clan, the distinction of which caused by Karai splitting into her own clan.

One of the only mentioned laws of the Foot Clan is: you can only take control by succeeding where those have failed.

This leaves room to interpret that there could be a history of in-fighting or struggle for power within the Foot Clan.

Ranking:

To officially join the Foot Clan, a recruit must attempt an assigned solo mission, and return with success. The more missions a recruit/member go on, the more they are qualified to be raised to a higher ranking.

A foot marking on a face is implied to accompany a higher level of respect. Since Huginn and Muninn haven't raised their rank higher than the equivalent of a 2, we can assume that getting a foot print you must be a rank 3 or higher.

Members:

Foot Lt. offhandedly mentioned they get recruits online in "ninja chat rooms", so it seems they prioritize quantity over quality.

Then there are the origami warriors, who serve as canon fodder. We see the origami warriors as the earliest army of the Foot Clan, but this is ruined with the turtles' involvement. I wonder what determines the value between the origami warriors and the human members.

The Foot Clan is already kind of built on flimsy foundations. Foot Lt. and Foot Brute seem to be the only ones in the know of what's going on (being able to navigate through the Hidden City, use/locate mystic artifacts, and have some knowledge of the Hamato Clan), but even they don't really understand the Shredder's motivations. It makes me question how "human" or disconnected from their humanity they are, especially considering the flaming heads and purple skin.

There is some mentioned donors of the Foot Clan (such as Jocelyn's parents), but after the Shredder was detained in Seasons 2's opening, the members of the Foot Clan kind of jumped ship. This forced Cass to find purpose elsewhere, and Foot Lt. and Brute to retreat to the shadows. When the Shredder returns, it's just the three of them. This might have to do with where they recruit from.

In-fighting and changes between leadership through violence could also lead to muddled history and values. These people aren't bound together by one purpose, just broad destructive chaos.

Names and identities don't be appeared to be valued within the Foot Clan. For the majority of the show Cassandra is referred to as "Foot Recruit", and the only names we're offered with the two leaders are "Foot Lt. and "Foot Brute". This is could be read as a gag, but again Foot Clan history is completely open to interpretation.

Goals:

We've discussed their connection to Shredder's resurrection, but even beyond him what they're really aiming at it world domination and destruction. We see this reflected in Cass with her inherit fierceness, but also how she deals with the fallout of the Foot Clan by raising an army of brownie scouts to take over the world.

And then there's the inherit role of servitude that both Foot Lt. and Brute put themselves under. When Draxum dons the armor they "await" his orders (with the misunderstanding that the Shredder has risen), and when asked what they expect the Shredder to do they simply shrug and say "shred". They live to serve and destroy for a higher power beyond their understanding. A few lines that particularly stuck out to me in the movie was: "Tonight we liberate our masters from their dimensional prison. With this key we shall free them to lay waste to this world and enslave its people."

And finally I'd like to discuss their relationship with the Krang and the key.

Since the events of s2 the Foot Clan appears to have taken residence in an abandoned garden, whether it was the same in which the boys had broken into to smell the corpse flower remains unclear to My findings. Their numbers have grown again for an unknown reason, and they have been collecting parts of the dimensional gate and finally key.

I would also like to mention the inclusion of the boat and dock here. Especially since we were introduced to the Foot Clan through their paper thievery, and the boys had their first win against them on a similar boat that served as a paper hoard.

Moving back to the Krang, they have a similar fundamental misunderstanding of their place in relation to their masters, as they did with their master the shredder. It begs me to ask the question of when exactly and how did Lieutenant and Brute start giving attention to the Krang.

They were never mentioned before during the show, but in the movie Lieutenant does refer to them by name, "We shall follow the Krang as they lead the Foot Clan to glory!" So did this reach for a new master come from desperate research on the Shredder's origins, or was that the end goal when the Shredder was released? The oni that gave Shredder is shown to be a Krang before they were even confirmed, and the armor appears eerily similar to the armor that the three Krang don in the final sequence of the movie.

Then the source of empyrean (the source of mysticsm, yokai, mutants) is shown to come from a kraang corpse. There's so much of the Foot Clan tied to the Krang manipulating Oroku Saki, but a lot of their origins appear to be lost to history.

But again that leaves much to interpretation and wiggle room to poke at!!

[wutheringskies]

The Lans and Nies have no right to check and intrude between whatever is going on between Wei Wuxian, the Wen remnants and the Jins. Yet, they somehow have enough rights to go and witness the deaths of Wen Qing and Wen Ning with their clan disciples. And why were these two being killed? Because Jin Zixuan died by the hands of Wen Ning in an ambush set forth by the Jins upon Wei Wuxian, who was invited to Koi Tower by the Jins! So, it's definitely the Jin's matter, yet now you guys can come!

And what ends up happening? Somehow, Wen Ning who is being supported by Hanguang-jun loses control and ... kills Lans and Nies? Not the Jins! In the Jin palace! In an event orchestrated by the Jins! Death by a fierce corpse that the Jins should have prepared for! A whole ass cultivation sect? And a fierce corpse can go and kill whoever it wants?

But great!

Because you guys didn't ever go and check what the matter at Burial Mounds actually was like, because not your problem! Now, it has become your problem and you're forced to take part in the oath ceremony to go raze the Burial Mounds, and then you know, to defend himself, Wei Wuxian comes! And somehow it's his fault for "slaughtering." As if you guys weren't going along with the flow, not even questioning for a second why the smart Yiling Laozu would kill the people who could have stood up for him? And then what? You guys were present at the Oath Ceremony so more of you ended up dying, and now you have to go and take part in the slaughter of 50 innocent men and women and old people!!

Just because you were in positions of power, yet chose inaction. You got completely played! Naive.

Now, that's not enough yet.

Now, there's only two people who could've saved Nie Mingjue - Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing. But they're both already gone! Perhaps if Lan Wangji wasn't in seclusion, he would've stood up against the slaughter of all those minor clans who "tried to assassinate sect leader Jin"! But he is!

Now, Lan Xichen would rather shrug off both of his sworn brothers showing utmost hostility towards each other and increasing amounts of killing intent as a misunderstanding. He would think, oh he's being so nice and nuanced, understanding how people have to sometimes do bad things to maintain peace :((

Like, Lan Xichen's whole identity is built over avoiding conflict. When it comes to good and evil, there is no third side. How can you preach righteousness if you're not willing to carry the burden of morality? Sympathy doesn't equate to righteousness. Perhaps, if be wasn't a sect leader, he'd be good. But when you're a sect leader, being good isn't enough! Your inaction amounts to hundreds of lives.

Wei Wuxian perhaps has the most blood on his hands yet he values even the life of some useless servant, or some half-dead grandmother. You're all letting entire clans die to maintain a peaceful environment and you're thinking you're being righteous. If you have doubts then check them out!

Why are Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji so fated?

Well, firstly they've seen how "ugly" the other can get. Lan Wangjj knows that Wei Wuxian can turn up the heavens for righteousness, that he'll gladly walk through hell, if he could he would even offer up his own pieces of flesh. Wei Wuxian knows Lan Wangji cannot pretend things are okay when they're not. He is stubborn to no end with what he believes to be right, is willing to bear each and every consequence. He'd rather do what he thinks is right and accept the punishment later, whatever that will be.

In the face of truth, you can't hide, and you can't be prejudiced.

Wei Wuxian was hurt so much by Wen Chao, thrown into the Burial Mounds yet he brought the same surnamed Wens into Burial Mounds willingly to protect them! How can Nie Mingjue simply act on his hatred? In your righteousness to kill all evil, you started killing without exceptions and became the evil himself!

And why does Lan Xichen not have anything to say about Xue Yang? "Er-ge... this is what father wants." But Jin Guangshan is also a sect leader! Lan Xichen is also a sect leader!

I wonder what Lan Xichen said to Wangji after his visit to the Burial Mounds.

"Xiongzhang, there isn't an army but a child, the elderly, the women."

"Wangji. I understand. But Wei-gongzi has really upset the orthodox society now. It is no longer about the Wens. His cultivation is evil, and he holds the Tiger Seal... he even brought back Wen Ning's consciousness... you believe you know him..."

And boom, tell that to Jin Guangyao and three days later, everyone knows about Wen Ning. Props to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji for not holding grudges towards anyone and simply riding off to the sunset and even helping everyone who never tried to understand their true hearts.

Both of them are really blessed.

[veliseraptor]

just thinking about the "xue yang never cared about xiao xingchen he doesn't have real feelings and just thinks of him as a toy" take again and @ameliarating pointed something out to me namely:

Xue Yang broke into peals of laughter. "Wei-qianbei, you're merciless!"

"Fine, laugh. Even if you laugh yourself to death, Xiao Xingchen's soul will still be too broken to put back together. He found you repulsive, yet you still insist on dragging him back so that you can play games with him."

Abruptly, Xue Yang swung from laughter into rage. "Who wants to play games?!"

"Then why did you kneel in front of me and beg me to fix his soul for you?"

Of course, someone as clever as Xue Yang must have been aware that Wei Wuxian was trying to bait him. First, distracting him with anger, and second, provoking him into shouting, Wei Wuxian made it possible for Lan Wangji to deduce his location and strike. But still, Xue Yang couldn't help replying. "Why? Hah! As if you don't know. I want to turn him into a fierce corpse - under my control! Didn't he want to be a pure, virtuous cultivator? Then I'll make him endlessly slaughter people, so he'll never find peace!"

"Ah? You hate him that much? Then why did you kill Chang Ping?"

Xue Yang sneered. "Why did I kill Chang Ping? Do you need to ask, Yiling Patriarch? Didn't I already tell you? I said I was going to kill the entire Yueyang Chang Clan - I wasn't even going to spare one dog!"

[...] Wei Wuxian said, "You sure came up with a good explanation. Too bad the timing doesn't match up. Someone like you, who can't even let a dirty look go without avenging yourself a thousand times over, someone who strikes so swiftly and ruthlessly - if someone like you really wanted to kill off an entire family, why would they wait so many years to finish? You know perfectly well why you killed Chang Ping."

"Then tell me, what do I know? What do I know perfectly well?!"

He shouted this last sentence.

"You killed them, yes. But why lingchi? Killing someone that way signifies that it was punishment. If you were only getting revenge for yourself, why did you use Shuanghua and not your own Jiangzai? Why did you have to dig out Chang Ping's eyes and make him like Xiao Xingchen?"

Xue Yang shouted himself hoarse. "Bullshit! It's all bullshit! It was revenge - was I supposed to let him die comfortably?"

"Indeed, it was revenge. But whose revenge were you seeking? How ridiculous. If you genuinely wanted revenge, you should have sliced yourself into pieces!" (MDZS, Chapter 42)

so if we're meant to buy that interpretation, then...what is the point of this passage? what is it trying to say? is it just to give Wei Wuxian a means of distracting Xue Yang and making him show himself? then why this means? and why are we taking the line that Xue Yang himself, a famously reliable narrator (?) gives (re: wanting to turn Xiao Xingchen into a fierce corpse and control him) as the truth of the situation, as opposed to Wei Wuxian's own interpretation (where Xue Yang is taking revenge on Xiao Xingchen's behalf, albeit expressed onto a different target)? and what is the point of Xue Yang's reaction after this, where he suddenly goes silent and stops responding, meant to indicate? the fact that Xue Yang gets angrier and angrier at Wei Wuxian for pressing the point?

these are all cues present for a narrative purpose, not "just because," and they're pointing in a direction that indicates that Xue Yang in this scene is lying through his teeth, whether or not he admits that to himself.

furthermore, since inevitably "but adaptation" comes up in these conversations, CQL actually retains this scene in a remarkably intact form:

coming to the conclusion based on this scene alone (not even touching the narrative surrounding the events in the past) that people who claim that "xue yang had no genuine feelings about xiao xingchen whatsoever" is to be taken as truth are not just taking the most boring possible read of this text but also at least a little actively reading against it.

[thatswhatsushesaid]

Why didn't Su She just grab JGY and teleport out of the temple? Was his cultivation level really low? Did he need a recharge??

it's funny you should send me this ask, anon, since it does form the basic premise of a fic I am working on (kind of).

sms's cultivation level and martial arts skills are quite good! before uncovering his identity as the mystery swordsman responsible for absconding with xue yang's body and, presumably, the stygian tiger tally, wwx is impressed by his techniques and capabilities. during the second siege of the burial mounds, sms is the one who leads his moling su disciples in performing the altered song of vanquishing to seal the spiritual energies of everyone else present at the siege--and, once he is found out, he makes use of a teleportation talisman to escape (abandoning his own disciples in the process after tricking them--not a good look, minshan). he's using these talents towards a terrible purpose in this moment, of course, but this speaks to someone who does have a strong cultivation base; his own guqin isn't named in the text, but it is described as a first class spiritual tool comparable to lan wangji's. just because he isn't lan wangji, lan xichen or nie mingjue doesn't mean he isn't a strong cultivator! he's just not a cultivation prodigy.

(though, as an aside, it takes a different kind of gumption and courage to go from being exiled from your sect and branded a coward, to establishing your own sect in mdzs's jianghu.)

so, bearing in mind that he did just exert a considerable amount of that energy during the second burial mounds siege, I do think he was 'running low,' as it were, and didn't have much left in the tank. that said, I do think it's possible that minshan could have made use of a teleportation talisman for both himself and jgy, just because of how much spiritual power he pours into nanping [edit: not nanping!! i forgot that lwj already shattered nanping earlier in the confrontation. so this is a different sword, but i think my point still stands] in his final attack on nmj moments before his death. I am glad that this moment was included in the donghua and very sad it was changed in cql:

(highlighting that short paragraph up top just to indicate the short-sightedness of huaisang's revenge vision quest here. nmj's fierce corpse is a danger to everyone in this confrontation, not just jgy; moments earlier, he'd not only lunged towards both jin ling and jiang cheng, but even towards lan xichen and huaisang himself.)

I love this paragraph; I love that in this moment, minshan's martial prowess and his strong cultivation base get to shine, because he is a character who has gone through the entire novel belittled and mocked and denigrated by everyone around him because of his cowardice, his inconsistent control over his spiritual abilities, and his decades-long grudge against the gusu lan (and lan wangji specifically). all of that remains true, and in this moment, he is incandescent and capable and putting every scrap of remaining power that he has into this attempt to strike down nmj and protect jgy. it's beautifully and vividly written and demonstrates just how unwavering his devotion is to the only person in the text to consistently treat him with respect and dignity.

that said--

the moment of his death unfortunately encapsulates his achilles' heel, both as a character and as a cultivator, imo. minshan's problem isn't that he has a weak spiritual core and weak martial arts: it's that he is impulsive and prone to extremely poor judgment in the heat of the moment (case in point: he curses jin zixun for the unforgivable crime of... wounding his pride. I mean, I too think jzn is a cunt, but like, come on minshan). he pours so much dazzling spiritual power into his sword that it shatters, rendering him defenceless in the face of nmj's attack.

imo this is a pivotal moment in the final confrontation in the guanyin temple where both sms and jgy could have escaped exactly as you suggest, anon. if sms has enough spiritual power remaining to accidentally shatter his sword, he probably has enough spiritual power to activate a teleportation talisman (either while nmj is still staring at the empty coffin or after forcing him back with that initial sword thrust) and escape through it with jgy in tow. but he didn't, because that isn't the judgment call he made in the moment.

[jaimebluesq]

I wish you would write a fic where...

As his brothers condition is going downhill, Nie Huaisang finds an array/ritual to bolster Nie Mingjue's core at the expense of his own.

This was so intriguing! I hope this satisfied you, dear anon, but be warned - I teared up a little writing this, so it may prompt waterworks in the reader.

~ ~ ~

It was spring, and the peonies around Koi Tower were in full bloom, filling the air with the scents and colours of the season. Anyone walking around the gardens should be feeling relaxed and at ease, perhaps even inspired by the beauty around them.

Nie Huaisang was none of that. He walked around the beauty and tried to ignore the emotions churning at his gut.

His brother had been getting worse. This time, instead of simply yelling at him to go to saber practice, Nie Mingjue had grabbed his arm and physically dragged him across the sect in front of every disciple and a pair of visiting merchants that had come to strike a deal on new metal alloys for their weapons. That night, Nie Huaisang had removed his robes before going to bed only to find bruises on his arm shaped in a perfect imprint of his brother’s hand. Deep inside, he knew what this meant, that Da-ge would spiral out of control until he went the same way their father did. If he were a good brother, he would be in the Unclean Realm, spending as much time with his brother as he could before the end.

But Nie Huaisang was a coward, and instead had run off for Lanling where he could cower and ignore reality for a little while longer.

Jin Guangyao was in meetings all afternoon but would meet him for dinner later, and until then, Nie Huaisang had free reign of Koi Tower. He had all of the sect available to him, and yet he could take no pleasure in any of it. He reached into his sleeve for his favourite fan, only to find it missing. He furrowed his brow – had he forgotten it in Jin Guangyao’s room that morning when they’d had breakfast together? Rather than waiting until dinner, Nie Huaisang decided to fetch it immediately.

At least it gave him something tangible to do rather than simply trying to escape from himself.

He found his fan quickly, exactly where he had expected it to be. He grabbed it and turned swiftly to leave, but his long sleeve caught on the corner of a tea service placed carefully on a nearby sideboard. The set went flying, sending pieces scattering and crashing to the floor.

All except for a single spoon that flew toward the tall mirror in the corner, and then vanished.

Ignoring the mess all around him, he stepped over to the mirror and reached out to touch it, only to watch as his finger ‘disappeared’ as well. He put his hand further inside the mirror and wiggled his fingers, and he was able to feel them moving. If he had any sense, he would appreciate that this was some sort of spiritual or magical item that should not be messed with, and he would take his fan, clean up the mess, and leave Jin Guangyao’s rooms.

Instead, he bit his bottom lip and stepped through the mirror.

He was in a lavishly appointed room with treasures on every shelf. San-ge had a treasure room, and he’d never shown Nie Huaisang! He hated being left out of a secret, particularly one that could be so useful. Imagine, having such a secret place to run to if things reached terrible proportions at home. He wandered around, tracing his finger along various items and deducing where each had come from, though there were a handful that were beyond his comprehension.

And then he spotted a familiar sheathed sword. He approached it and reached out with trembling fingers. “Suibian? What is Wei-xiong’s sword doing here? Does Jiang Cheng know?” Sadly, the sword was nothing like a Nie saber and could not answer his inquiry. He noticed a set of shelves beneath the sword with spaces for various papers and texts, and out of curiosity, he pulled out a pile. Some of it was in Wei Wuxian’s handwriting, descriptions of talismans and theories on reanimating fierce corpses with their consciousness intact. He instinctively shuddered at the thought and set those papers down.

But the other papers were in another person’s hand, and after only reading a few words, Nie Huaisang felt a compulsion to continue looking through them all. They were written by the doctor, Wen Qing, and outlined various thoughts and theories regarding the nature of cultivators’ golden cores. She described the process of transferring a core from one person to another in such detail that he could imagine her having performed such a procedure. And then she proposed theories about further ways that one cultivator’s core could work on another. Such as stabilizing unstable cores.

One page carried both her and Wei Wuxian’s handwriting, each contributing to create an array that would allow a cultivator to use their core to stabilize another.

He stuffed the paper in his robes and quickly put away the rest. He returned to Jin Guangyao’s rooms and cleaned the mess he’d made of the tea service. And he waited impatiently until that night to tell San-ge that he would be returning to the Unclean Realm the next day.

For the first time in many, many months, he felt the glow of hope in his chest.

~ ~ ~

For the first time in many, many months, Nie Mingjue woke feeling well-rested and optimistic for the day ahead. Usually he awoke angry or with a headache, as if he’d overindulged in wine the night before even though he hadn’t touched the stuff since the last cultivation conference. But that morning, he awoke feeling really, really good, and even the confusion it caused him did not hinder the glow of health that left him feeling like he could take on the world.

With a smile, he stretched his arms over his head, listening as his shoulder joints popped. Then with a deep breath, he sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed.

What the hell had happened?!

The floor next to his bed had been painted, streaks of white and yellow forming a large, round array that covered most of the room’s floor like a strange sort of rug. And lying unconscious in the middle of it was his brother.

“Huaisang?” There was no answer. “Didi? Wake up!” The only movement was the slight lifting of Nie Huaisang’s chest as he breathed.

Nie Mingjue swallowed around the growing feeling of panic rising up his throat.

He leapt off the bed and reached out for his brother, shaking his shoulder and checking to see if he was injured in some way. But his brother appeared fine, simply unconscious – except for one thing. When Nie Mingjue placed his fingers over his brother’s meridian to check his qi, he felt nothing.

“Huaisang, what happened to you?” he asked, lifting his brother into his arms and cradling his limp body in his lap.

There was a light groan. “Da-ge?”

“I’m here,” he replied, unable to keep the worry from his voice. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I’m just... tired,” Nie Huaisang muttered sleepily.

“No, don’t you dare go back to sleep, not until you tell me what happened.”

Nie Huaisang’s eyes fluttered open and looked up into Nie Mingjue’s face. “I had to make you feel better, Da-ge. It’s okay... I wasn’t using my core anyway.”

Nie Mingjue didn’t understand the array painted onto the floor, but he didn’t have to in order to realize just what his brother was implying. He clutched his brother harder in his arms, ignoring the press of Nie Huaisang’s nose into his neck even as his own tears began to spill over onto his brother’s braided hair.

“How could you have done something so stupid?” he hissed. “I’m supposed to protect you.”

“You can’t protect me if you’re dead like Baba,” his brother replied weakly.

He sniffed and closed his eyes. Whatever Nie Huaisang had done was done, but he would be damned if he wasted the second chance his brother had given him. And though his brother had now denied himself the long life of a cultivator, at least he might now live longer than most Nie.

And Nie Mingjue would protect every day of that life for as long as he lived.

[inamindfarfaraway]

I love that it’s King more overtly than Luz the Collector has a special connection with, because of how much more they serve as a foil for King. They’re a foil for Luz too, but like:

King wanted power and control, but has learned (ironically as he’s discovered his nature as a Titan) that more important than that for its/his own sake is family and friends, having good connections with good people in your life and helping others. He’s grown up a lot - learned empathy, humility, selflessness and better emotional management. The Collector is an ancient, almighty, omnipotent being able to warp reality effortlessly. Because of this he’s never faced any challenges that have motivated them to change and remain stagnant in eternal selfish, careless immaturity, never sparing a thought to anyone else and treating everything as a game.

King wanted subjects who feared and worshipped him, armies to command, devotees to perform acts in his name. The Collector has a whole civilization built around worship of him and the destruction of his apparent enemies or prey the Titans, and inspires terror in the people of the Boiling Isles.

King longed to be a god, but got the life of a fairly ordinary kid, initially to his annoyance and insecurity. He tried to project a fierce, intimidating image and coveted positions of authority and symbols of status like crowns, was desperate to be taken seriously. Since the start of the show he embraces his childhood and ‘humanity’, wanting to be treated like an equal and no higher, treasuring his stuffed animals and small joys like simplistic puns and cuddles from a big sister - even in the face of actually being the young of a species revered like gods whose dead bodies are potent enough to spontaneously create life on continental scales and whose blood can open holes between dimensions. The Collector truly is a god and his level of power commands respect entirely in itself, but he has no grandeur or weight in his disposition and behaviour. They’re a child in mind and bearing alike, from when he’s petulant and demanding to ranting and sulking in bitter rage to his glee and excitement about new games and fast-formed, hot-burning affection toward his ‘friends’. They shun formality and take barely anything seriously, wearing a child’s playsuit.

King’s character has been and continues to be heavily shaped by a deep sense of loneliness and abandonment. He was born and started developing his personality completely alone except a seemingly non-sentient artificial guardian; vaguely remembers his father being present when he was incubating, but entering the world with no family; then after Eda took him in had no friends that we know of until Luz came along and his social skills were accordingly poor. Now he’s forced to reckon with being the last of his species and walking on his dead father’s decomposing corpse every day, mourning his people, their culture and the life he might have had with them. Between that and the species in question being Titans, his experience is fundamentally impossible for anyone else to relate to. And he leaned this through the merciless betrayal of a people he thought he belonged to! He’s consistently been afraid of his loved ones leaving him and this manifests as attention-seeking and clinginess, often literally holding onto people. The Collector is the only known member of his species to have ever existed. They feel total emotional detachment to all other life, but as harmful as they’re willing to be to others, it’s clear they’ve been hurting immensely themselves. He despises his lonely prison and will do anything to be free of it; so isolated is he there, he can’t even touch people. Thousands of years of that existence would break anyone’s sanity, but especially a child’s to whom attachments are a crucial part of development. It’s no wonder he constantly needs attention and, fun and games the sole medium of interaction and connection they understand, loyal ‘playmates’ to keep him happy and stimulated. They like King have a habit of invading people’s personal space and literally (or telekinetically) holding onto them, e.g. pulling King toward them at the end of “King’s Tide”. Betrayal, abandonment and loneliness are the worst feelings in the world for both the Collector and King, and ones they know all too well.

Finally, the kids have each had a single important relationship both prior to and during the show with a magically powerful adult: Eda and Belos. Eda rescued King from his isolation before she even realized he was of her intelligence, let alone a Titan many would kill to get ahold of, just out of the kindness of her heart, and raised him with love and dedication. She created a false narrative that he was more important in the greater scheme of things than she had reason to believe he was, but he was always indispensably important to her. When it became evident the lie wasn’t helping her son, she revealed the truth, took full responsibility and apologized for it. Eda respects him and puts his needs ahead of her own and he officially recognizes her as his mother. Belos meanwhile promised to free the Collector from his isolation to exploit his knowledge and magic and refused to follow through. He always understood how important the Collector was in the greater scheme of things, but created the false narrative that they were more important to him than they actually were. He revealed the truth when it became convenient for himself and disposed of him with no sympathy or remorse. When they held him accountable, in his shameless selfishness he outright denied having betrayed them. And although the Collector’s childlike psychology and lack of any love or discipline in his life mean he desperately needs a parental figure, Belos kept their relationship a business partnership and never felt anything toward him; so they, upon realizing his treachery and heartlessness, had no hesitation to blithely murder him.

The Collector is essentially what King would be with his pre-show personality and all his potential Titan power; and, equally importantly, no healthy relationships and a toxic relationship instead of healthy, loving family bonds and friendships!

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

Paternal instincts

Content warnings: violence! A lot of it! There is torture in this and it is detailed!

It has been something like 2 hours since Wei Ying entered that room and he has yet to come out. There is the occasional scream resounding from inside, even with all the silencing talismans guarding the door, but nothing else seems to escape the stone chamber.

Lan Wangji is tired of waiting. He's had enough of staying in front of doors and hoping they will finally open.

He breaks the sigil Wei Ying has placed on the door and walks in.

The first thing he feels is the enormous amount of resentful energy. He even sees it, serpents of dark smoke climbing the walls and pooling on the floor. There is a chair in the middle of the room, and one of the suspects for their current predicament is strapped to it with deity-binding threads and thin ropes of resentment. Lan Wangji can see the man's wrists bleeding, the resentment eating at his flesh. He is halfway covered in the smoky manifestation of resentful energy that Wei Ying has conjured, like he's being swallowed by it.

Wei Ying doesn't comment on Lan Wangji's presence. Instead, he snaps his fingers once and the man screams so loud it makes Lan Wangji's ears hurt.

"I don't mind breaking even more of your bones, you know? I'm not even halfway through. And I haven't even reached the fun ones yet either."

The man doesn't say anything, wailing for a few more seconds before he seems to become used to the pain. Wei Ying looks at him with the same admiration one has for a particularly stubborn cockroach.

"I will ask you again. Where is my son?"

"I don't know." The man responds, mouth curling a sickening, bloody smile. "I didn't even know you have a son."

And he laughs.

Lan Wangji grips his sword.

Wei Ying grabs Chenqing momentarily, but settles it at his hip again.

"Wen Ning."

He emerges from a distant corner of the room. He looks... terrifying, even more so than usual. This isn't Wei Ying's doing. This is Wen Ning's own anger that Lan Wangji can feel, and Wen Ning is the only one in control of it.

"Rip his arms off. Start pulling from the shoulders."

The man pales, the smile falling off his face to be replaced with abject terror the moment he feels the Ghist General's grip on his shoulderblades.

And he pulls. Once.

There is a crack, then a maddening scream.

Wei Ying nods towards Wen Ning and he stops.

"Where is my son?"

"I told you, I know of no son of yours!"

Wei Ying sighs. "How long will you keep that up? After I have your limbs torn off, I'll torture you until you turn into a fierce corpse. The more you resist, the angrier I get."

Wen Ning pulls at the man's arms again and his bones crack again. Wei Ying waves a hand and a few tendrils of resentment lock his jaw shut.

"I'm growing really tired of you. You won't tell me anything useful, this is a waste of time."

Wei Ying signals Wen Ning to let go of the man again and the resentful energy retracts.

"Kill me then!" The man screams, followed by hysterical laughter. "Or is the Yiling Patriarch not what he is rumored to be anymore?!"

Wei Ying's eyes shine red and the energy in the room responds to it, enveloping the man up to his neck in dark smoke.

Wei Ying's voice comes out level and dark. "I am way worse than anything you could even fucking imagine. And trust me when I say I'd love to take you apart organ by organ." He takes Chenqing out of his sash, "But I don't have time for that. Tell me where my son is, or I will ask your fucking corpse."

"Your son, huh? I know of no son, except a Wen bastard I caught a few days ago."

Lan Wangji wants to slice the man's head clean off.

The resentful energy responds to the sentiment and it crushes the man's body so tightly, he almost looks like he'll explode.

"Don't fucking talk about my son like that, you worthless piece of shit. Do you really want to die that fucking badly?!"

"So what if I do?! If you kill me, you won't ever find him! That Wen dog should have been killed in the Burial Mounds like the rest of the pests! Like you!"

Lan Wangji's sword pierces through the air, landing one breath away from the man's neck. "Watch your words."

"The honorable Hanguang-Jun! Defending Wen blood! And the heretic that sided with them! You bring shame to your sect-"

The resentful energy crushes him again, several sickening sounds of bone crushing echoing through the room.

"Lan Zhan, this idiot's not saying anything."

"I can see."

"I guess he's just some worthless pawn. I should kill him."

"Let Wen Ning do it. We will find A-Yuan ourselves."

At the mention of the Ghost General, some of the man's cockiness disappears. "Why not kill me yourselves?!"

"You aren't worth getting our hands dirty for." Lan Wangji answers, bored, turning towards the door. "Wei Ying, let's go."

But as the man feels Wen Ning's cold grip around his throat, watching as the other two turn their backs, all resolve in him melts away.

"I will tell you! I will tell you everything! Don't leave me with this monster! I'll really talk, I promise!"

Wei Ying bursts out laughing. "Weren't you so brave just a minute ago? Saying how both me and all the Wens should have died? Wen Ning is one of them too, or have you forgotten?"

"No, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, let me tell you where the child is! I will take you there myself!"

"How so? You have no legs anymore." Wei Ying laughs, again.

"I will crawl! Please hear me out, don't let the Ghost General kill me!"

Wen Ning's hands loosen from the man's neck but do not disappear completely. They stay a constant reminder of what could happen to him if he lies or if he insults anyone again.

He tells them everything: how a small clan affiliated with the scattered Moling Su sect found out about Lan Sizhui's identity and how they ordered him to have the boy killed in exchange for a large sum of money and a place as a cultivator. How he agreed and took the boy to a secret cave in the woods and was going to kill him but he had wanted to drink something first because he could never kill sober. And how that was the way the Lan search party led by Lan Jingyi spotted him and brought him there for interrogation.

"Took you long enough." Wei Ying finally exclaims, satisfied, spinning Chengqing in one of his hands. "If A-Yuan isn't where you said he should be, you know what will happen to you."

"He is, I swear on my life!"

"Your life is worthless." Lan Wangji replies as he and Wei Ying left the torture room and lock the door behind them.

"I will still kill him." Wei Ying says, as he steps onto Bichen alongside Lan Wangji. He receives a nod as a reply before they take off.

--

A-Yuan was exactly where the assassin had indicated, asleep as he'd been given a strong narcotic potion. It was a bit adorable, finding him snoring softly inside the little cave, largely intact save from a few cuts and bruises.

He had to sleep off the drug, so all his two parents could do was carry him to his room in the Cloud Recesses and have Lan Jingyi (who had become a mess of tears and thankfulness upon seeing his friend was alive) play him calming melodies until he woke up.

---

"Let me do it." Lan Wangji tells Wei Ying as they return to the torture chamber.

Wei Ying lifts a curious eyebrow. "Since when do you kill people?"

"This is an exception. A-Yuan could have died."

"I know. But you don't need to do this. It wasn't your fault."

"It's not self-punishment. It is revenge."

Wei Ying is too stunned to reply. The darkness in his husband's eyes is almost terrifying - and coming from him, the Yiling Patriarch, that has to mean something.

"Are you coming?"

Lan Wangji disappears behind the room's doors before he receives an answer.

Wei Ying places a powerful silencing talisman to the door and follows suit.

By the time Lan Wangji is done, heaving with the effort and obviously satisfied with his work, there is nothing left of the man that dared hurt their son. Only a puddle of blood and the odd fragment of bone. Bichen has done a fantastic job, the blade shining red as it rests against the now empty wooden chair.

At least the cleanup will be minimal.

[weiying-lanzhan-fics]

With Surgical Precision by metisket

What a beautiful story told through WQ’s sarcastic, loving, and angry viewpoint. A wonderful journey indeed! ❤️

Quotes:

And so it comes to pass. Wen Chao and all of his guards are dead minutes after they leave Qishan Wen—Wen Qing takes care to make it look like fierce corpses did it. It’s so easy to kill people who don’t suspect you, it’s a little off-putting. A-Ning looks downright guilty. He’s such a good person. A good person who is going to live to be old this time, no matter what it takes.

There are only, say, five people in existence who could possibly mourn the loss of Wen Chao in any case, and three of them are already dead. Of course, pointing that out would only make A-Ning even more unhappy. He’s far too kind for the cultivation world.

Wen Qing did at least make the deaths painless. All of her executions so far have been relatively painless. As far as she’s concerned, none of this has been revenge—it’s been surgery.

————

“‘Can you transfer my golden core to somebody else, Wen Qing?’” she mocks, widening her eyes innocently. “‘I definitely have my undead army completely under control, Wen Qing.’ ‘I’m fine, Wen Qing, coughing blood like this is normal!’ Get used to it, Lan Wangji. He’s a ridiculous disaster, but he already thinks you’re wonderful, so you’re never going to be rid of him.”

And that was absolutely the correct thing to say, because seeing Lan Wangji flustered and embarrassed is common enough near Wei Wuxian, but seeing Wei Wuxian blush bright red is a once in a lifetime gift.

“I do not think he’s wonderful,” Wei Wuxian blusters unconvincingly.

T, 20k

Summary:

If Wen Qing had realized sooner that she wasn’t in the afterlife or hallucinating, but had actually traveled back in time, she’d have done things differently. There’d have been less murder, for one thing.

[ibijau]

Blue Orchids pt3 (end) / On AO3

Nie Huaisang had already looked sickly and frail while playing the host to everyone invited to the conference, something Lan Xichen had found unbearable. He would have thought it impossible to ache more over that situation. He was proven wrong when he went at last the confront Nie Huaisang as planned. There simply were no words for the emotion that submerged him when the door to Nie Huaisang's private quarter opened, and the man himself appeared in front of him. He must have thought it was only a disciple of his disturbing him at that late hour, and so he had answered without manners, wearing only his night clothes, his hair half untied.

Underdressed as he was, Lan Xichen couldn't miss the fact that Nie Huaisang appeared to have lost considerable weight, something his elaborate outfits during the day had hidden. He must have also worn makeup of some sort before, because the circles under his eyes were now much darker, his skin much greyer, giving him the look of a fierce corpse rather than that of a living man.

Jiang Cheng might have been generous in giving Nie Huaisang even a year left.

Lan Xichen, who had carefully prepared what to say on his way there, who had made sure to take every medication possible so he would be able to say it without revealing his secret, suddenly found himself at a loss for words, his chest hurting not only because of flower roots, but out of ordinary pity as well.

Nie Huaisang, looking more tired with every passing moment, leaned against the side of the doorway with affected nonchalance and sighed.

“Whatever you want to talk about, can’t it wait until tomorrow? I’ve had a long day.”

“I’m sorry to be bothering Nie zongzhu so late,” Lan Xichen managed to say once he got his emotions under control. “But I don’t think this should wait, no.”

Hearing his title made Nie Huaisang wince, and in turn Lan Xichen wondered if perhaps he shouldn’t have just used the other man’s name. He’d never called him anything but ‘Huaisang’ in private, and this since the first time they’d met, at Nie Huaisang’s own insistence. But it would have felt wrong to still act so casually when his every action had lost him any right to Nie Huaisang’s affection, to his respect even.

“I’m really tired, though,” Nie Huaisang protested, just a touch of his old whine in his voice. Perhaps it was sincere, or just something he knew usually worked on Lan Xichen. “I want to sleep. I don’t think it’s the right time for a conversation.”

“It is because you are so tired that I want to speak with you,” Lan Xichen replied. “You’ve become quite sick, haven’t you?”

Nie Huaisang laughed weakly at that understatement, then quickly turned around to hide when that laughter turned into another round of vicious coughing. Without thinking Lan Xichen stepped closer to rub his back, hoping to comfort him as he’d done countless times over the years, but Nie Huaisang shoved him away with what little strength he still had.

“I don’t… don’t need… keep your… pity!” he managed to spit between coughs, one hand pressed over his mouth as he stumbled back inside the room in search of the box where he’d spilled his flowers all day. 

He fell to his knees before he could reach it, breathless and shaking, but Lan Xichen had rushed after him and was able to hand it to him.

“Don’t look,” Nie Huaisang ordered, his voice muffled by the flowers in his mouth and the two hands now pressed hard against his lips. “Just go away!”

Even if this hadn’t been the man he loved, Lan Xichen could not have left alone someone in such a dire state. He refused to  leave, but at least turned around so he wouldn’t see the pale blue flowers Nie Huaisang had to be vomiting into that box. It went on for longer than Lan Xichen would have wished even upon an enemy, Nie Huaisang coughing himself raw and then wheezing for air in turns, his body never giving him a moment of rest.

Forget a year, Nie Huaisang would be lucky if he survived another month.

But at last his coughing subsided, his breathing became easier, and Nie Huaisang was able to close his little box, though his entire body still trembled too much for him to get up again.

“I’m tired,” Nie Huaisang whispered weakly, holding the closed box against his chest. “I have nothing to say you might want to hear. Go away and let me be.”

For a brief moment Lan Xichen was tempted to do as he was told and leave. Seeing Nie Huaisang in so much pain was unbearable, especially knowing that he’d go through worse once Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji joined them. But without going through that pain there could be no chance of healing for Nie Huaisang. Lan Xichen remained, and even came to kneel next to Nie Huaisang, taking out a small bottle from his sleeve and handing it to the other man.

“I have brought you something,” Lan Xichen said, to which Nie Huaisang answered with a disbelieving grunt, clutching his box of flowers tighter against his chest as if fearing Lan Xichen might try to take it by force. “You’ve always said that the pills from Gusu were the most efficient against your flowers, “Lan Xichen insisted, trying to not be hurt by this new proof of Nie Huaisang’s distrust. “I have some here with me, and if you allow me, I’ll have more sent your way when I get home.”

Nie Huaisang glanced at the bottle, and sneered. It was a rather poor gift, the bottle already half empty because it was the one Lan Xichen had brought for his personal use. Lan Xichen couldn’t help feeling guilty that he hadn’t thought to bring more. But he hadn’t expected Nie Huaisang’s health to have degraded so much, and wouldn’t have dared to presume such a gesture would be welcome even if he’d thought of it. He was only offering now because he couldn’t bear to watch Nie Huaisang in such pain and not try to help.

“Even now, you have to be nice, uh?” Nie Huaisang muttered, making no movement to take the bottle. “I can’t imagine what it must cost you to be so considerate, when you hate me this much.”

“I don’t hate you,” Lan Xichen replied as he put down the bottle on the floor, in front of Nie Huaisang. “I never could.”

“Hm. I guess I’m not even worth your hatred,” Nie Huaisang said, coughing slightly. “But forgiveness and pity might be even worse to bear than hatred. I don’t have the strength to put up with your kindness tonight. Go away.”

“I cannot leave you until you feel better,” Lan Xichen protested.

“If you did that, you’d never leave my side at all,” Nie Huaisang sneered, only to be seized by another fit of coughing.

This time Lan Xichen didn’t need to be asked to look away. At the mere thought of never leaving Nie Huaisang, his own lungs turned against him, and he had to fight flowers of his own. This time though, Nie Huaisang calmed down more quickly, and even managed to get back on his feet while Lan Xichen was still struggling to breathe.

“Poor Er-ge,” Nie Huaisang whispered, hesitating a moment before putting one hand on Lan Xichen’s back to rub it in the same way Lan Xichen had done for him countless times. “Do you really have time to worry about me when you’re like this? The day must have been hard for you too. Go sleep. We can talk some other time. I’m not as sick as I look, I swear, so there’s no hurry. I’m definitely going to make it until the end of this conference, we can talk then if you still want to.”

“I’ll be surprised if you make it to the end of the night,” Jiang Cheng barked from the door, startling both of them. “You look like shit.”

As soon as he realised they had company, Nie Huaisang removed his hand from Lan Xichen's back and stepped away before he turned to glare at the newcomers. As planned, Jiang Cheng had brought with him Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian. The first looked rather more cross than he usually did, while the second seemed a little more amused than the situation really called for. They both appeared more relaxed than Lan Xichen could ever imagine being if it were his lover who was about to be confessed to, and he wondered if Jiang Cheng had really explained the situation, or if he’d merely said whatever he thought would work to trick them into helping Nie Huaisang.

"I wasn't aware I’d have so many visitors or I’d have dressed a little better,” Nie Huaisang said dryly, gesturing at his night clothes, hanging awkwardly on his too thin body. “I’m going to have to ask everyone to take a turn, whatever it is you want to blame on me this time. Lan zongzhu was here first, so I think I’ll hear him first. The rest of you can go queue outside.”

“No, we’re all here for the same reason,” Jiang Cheng said. “Consider this an intervention. You’ve been acting stupid about your health long enough, so we’re here to make sure you act like an adult for once and confess your feelings.”

Nie Huaisang laughed, and crossed his arms on his chest.

“That’s rich coming from you,” he snickered. "Jiang zongzhu, haven't you been sick longer than me? And yet now that you could cure yourself, have you done it? Deal with your own problems, and I’ll deal with mine as I please."

At the accusation Jiang Cheng went pale, and although Lan Xichen wouldn’t have sworn on it, he thought Jiang Cheng’s eyes briefly darted to Wei Wuxian before he glared at Nie Huaisang, who seemed unbothered. For his part Wei Wuxian appeared sincerely shocked, as if he truly had no idea that Jiang Cheng had become infected by the disease. He immediately started fussing over his former shidi in a manner half teasing and half serious, asking when it had happened and who might have caught Jiang Cheng’s eye that way. 

“Why should I tell you about my personal problems?” Jiang Cheng barked at him. “Are we friends? Are you my right hand man anymore?” Wei Wuxian winced, but said nothing. “I thought so,” Jiang Cheng went on. “So don’t let Nie zongzhu distract you. This isn’t about me, it’s about him, and what he has to say to you, Wei Wuxian.”

“What?” exclaimed Nie Huaisang, worriedly looking at Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, and Lan Xichen in turn, only to find everyone except Jiang Cheng just as confused as he was. “What do I have to say to him?”

“You know exactly what,” Jiang Cheng insisted. “Just get it over with already.”

“But I don’t know!” Nie Huaisang protested, nervously feeling his sleeve in search of a fan. Being only in his night clothes, he found no fan to hide with, and settled for twisting his hands instead. “I really don’t know! I have nothing to say to Wei gongzi!”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes, and looked to Lan Xichen for support, but none was offered to him, Lan Xichen too shocked by this misunderstanding to know what to say.

“Come on, bringing him back from the dead?” Jiang Cheng said, barely containing his anger. “Making sure he found that undead Wen dog of his as soon as he ran into trouble? You used to be more subtle than that, Nie Huaisang. It’s obvious you’re in love with him. Just say it already, and get to work accepting it so I don’t have to deal with another major power change in less than a year.”

“But I’m not in love with Wei Wuxian!” Nie Huaisang exclaimed, before turning to Lan Xichen with an intense expression of distress. “I’m not! I swear I’m not!”

“Of course not,” Lan Xichen replied, and immediately Nie Huaisang calmed down somewhat. “Jiang zongzhu made some good points, yet he came to a very different conclusion than I did when I considered the situation. But I supposed he saw less than me, and so did not realise which one of the two you are in love with.”

Nie Huaisang frowned in renewed confusion. “What that’s supposed to… Wangji?” He gasped, visibly outraged. “You think I’m in love with Wangji? You seriously think I would…”

A violent fit of coughing interrupted him, but that did not stop him from scowling at everyone in the room, as if they had insulted him greatly by daring to guess at the truth. Between anger and exhaustion, it didn’t take long for his cough to grow too intense to be hidden. Without any other choice Nie Huaisang tried to reach the box he’d left on the flower to get rid of the flowers in his throat.

Seeing a chance to force him to be honest, Lan Xichen grabbed both of Nie Huaisang’s wrists before he could reach his box, and pulled his hands away from his mouth. Nie Huaisang tried to fight Lan Xichen’s grasp on him with all the energy of despair, even attempting to kick him so he could break free and hide himself, but in his state he simply didn’t have the strength. In spite of his effort the flowers couldn’t be contained long and just as had happened at the temple, pale blue orchids started raining down from Nie Huaisang’s lips. 

“It’s fine, Huaisang,” Lan Xichen whispered to him as soothingly as he could, while Nie Huaisang tried to clench his teeth and glared at him amidst heavy tears, spit and petals staining his chin. “You just have to say it, and you’ll feel better after, like always. I know it hurts, and I hate that you have to go through that, but I’d hate it even more if I had to lose you. Just say the words, Huaisang, and everything will be fine again. Wangji will listen and give his answer. Won’t you, Wangji?”

In spite of his obvious perplexity at being dragged into this, Lan Wangji slowly nodded. Lan Xichen couldn’t help feeling grateful to his brother. Poor Lan Wangji had been forced to endure more than his share of unwanted confessions over the years, and though he’d never refused to help those who needed to hear his rejection to start healing, he’d always found it tedious and awkward. Having to bear with it once again, and for the sake of a man for whom he had little regard, couldn’t have been pleasant.

“See, Wangji is ready to listen,” Lan Xichen resumed, still holding Nie Huaisang’s wrists so he couldn’t try to run from the room without confessing his secret. “Just say it, and it’ll be over.”

“I’m not… not in love with Wangji!” Nie Huaisang gasped between coughs. “I’ve never… I don’t… I don’t love him! Why would I… I don’t even like him!”

“Huaisang, please don’t be stubborn,” Lan Xichen pleaded while fighting the flowers in his own chest, already making their way up his throat.. “I cannot lose you. Please don’t make me lose you. No matter how much it hurts, please just be honest. I cannot… if you die…”

“I am honest! I don’t love him!”

“Blue orchids, Huaisang,” Lan Xichen hissed, starting to lose his breath. “I understand you have a low opinion of me, but surely even you can’t think I’m that stupid. There’s no one else these flowers could be for.”

“Yes there is!” Nie Huaisang cried out. “The flowers are for you, you idiot!”

Stunned by those words, Lan Xichen finally let go of Nie Huaisang’s wrists, his strength suddenly failing him. Nie Huaisang, realising what he’d said, pressed both hands to his mouth, his sickly face quickly turning red.

“Huaisang, don’t mock me,” Lan Xichen whispered. “Even with everything I’ve done, everything I failed to do… I don’t think I deserve that level of cruelty.”

“What cruelty?” Nie Huaisang hissed, spitting new flowers. “I am in love with you! You wanted me to tell the truth, even though I was trying to spare you, well there it is! Now that you know, is it really so revolting to you?”

Lan Xichen opened his mouth to explain he did not find it revolting, but merely impossible when he had given Nie Huaisang so many reasons to despise him. But assaulted by emotions too strong, his body fully betrayed him. A powerful coughing fit seized him, just as devastating as the one he had suffered months before during the calming ceremony for Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao, forcing him to press both hands to his mouth, unwilling to have his secret revealed when he couldn’t believe that Nie Huaisang meant what he’d said.

In a moment Lan Xichen was struggling to breathe. He might well have stumbled and fallen if Lan Wangji, realising this coughing fit was stronger than usual, had not hurried at his side to hold and support him. 

“I can imagine how disgusted you must be,” Nie Huaisang went on, wiping pale petals that clung to his lips as he looked at Lan Xichen with sincere sorrow. “I wouldn’t have bothered to hide it so long otherwise. How pathetic for poor, dumb, useless little Huaisang to be in love with his perfect Er-ge, right?"

He laughed weakly, and swallowed a cough. 

"Even before Da-ge was murdered, I knew I couldn’t confess," Nie Huaisang said. "It would have made everything awkward for everyone and we couldn’t have that, could we? You were Da-ge’s only friend, I couldn’t do that to him!" He cried out, spitting more flowers. "And then he died, and you… I almost confessed back then, before I knew how Da-ge had died. I just wanted it over with. I wanted to be able to move on from all that, so we could be friends and I wouldn’t feel like I was taking advantage whenever I begged for help. But just when I was finally ready to tell you, I realised San-ge had killed Da-ge and… I couldn’t confess to you anymore, could I? You’d have told San-ge because the two of you had a thing, and I really couldn’t afford to make him angry by saying I loved his lover, could I?”

Between the flowers spilling from his lips and the heavy tears that had started falling on his cheeks, Nie Huaisang was unbearably pathetic. In spite of the intense coughing wrecking his own body, Lan Xichen couldn't resist wanting to go to him, aching to comfort him. He couldn’t even take a step without nearly falling. His legs couldn’t support him when he was barely breathing, and Lan Xichen ended up leaning even harder against his brother’s side.

“Nie-xiong, jealousy’s an ugly thing,” Wei Wuxian quietly remarked, coming to stand at his husband’s side. “Is that why you made him kill Jin Guangyao, then? Because Zewu-Jun loved him rather than you? Even for you that’s pretty low.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be that way,” Nie Huaisang snapped at him. “If anything, it’s your fault if it happened like that, Wei Wuxian! I wanted Da-ge to have a chance to get back at the man who killed him, but no, you had to pacify him before he could get his revenge! And then neither you nor Jiang zongzhu had the guts to live up to your reputation and murder him yourselves, either. What was I supposed to do? Let him live, knowing he’d find a way to escape sooner or later? He had to die that night, and Er-ge was… he was… there was no one else…”

Nie Huaisang trailed off as his eyes fell again on Lan Xichen.

“If I’d had any other choice, I wouldn’t have done this to you, Zewu-Jun,” he said, new tears staining his cheeks. “But you were my only option, and I had to… I owed it to Da-ge. Revenge for him had to come first, I had to do it, I had to make sure San-ge died. Even knowing it would destroy you, I had to do it. But if it makes you feel better, now it’s destroying me too,” he added with a joyless laughter. “Hearing you start coughing that night, and again at the calming ceremony… knowing how much it had to hurt you, knowing you were going to die of love for him by my fault… It was more than I could bear. No pills or medicine are enough to contain the sickness anymore for me. I guess in a way, you’re avenging San-ge. Congratulations.”

At the idea that it was his fault if Nie Huaisang was so unwell, that it was his own behaviour that had rendered him so resigned to die, the last of Lan Xichen’s strength abandoned him. He collapsed on the floor so quickly that Lan Wangji could not stop him from falling to his knees, and started vomiting cluster after cluster of small white flowers. He heard the others’ surprised reaction at the sight but could not see their expressions, his vision blurred with tears of pain and humiliation.

“But… but it should be peonies,” Nie Huaisang mumbled. “Why… why are they…”

Without waiting for an answer that Lan Xichen was in no state to give him, Nie Huaisang knelt down in front of Lan Xichen and carefully picked up one cluster of flowers, inspecting it carefully, as if looking closely enough might reveal that they weren’t mulberries after all.

“Er-ge, I don’t understand,” Nie Huaisang said, wiping away some of Lan Xichen’s tears with his free hand. “Why aren’t they peonies?”

“Because we’re both idiots,” Lan Xichen coughed, the onslaught of flowers slowing as soon as Nie Huaisang touched him. “I was so sure it was Wangji. I thought you had to hate me.”

It seemed impossible for Nie Huaisang not to hate him, considering everything that had passed between them. But then again, judging by what he had just said, Nie Huaisang apparently considered it just as impossible that Lan Xichen might not despise him, so at least they’d made the same mistake.

Without really paying attention, Lan Xichen heard Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, and Lan Wangji whisper between them, trying to find out if any of them had guessed at the truth. But Nie Huaisang remained silent, merely kneeling next to Lan Xichen whose last few tears he was drying with the hem of his sleeve, as if too stunned to do anything else. Lan Xichen could not blame him. Words felt inappropriate, unable to carry the whole depth of emotion he was feeling. 

Instead of trying to speak, Lan Xichen waited for his breath to return to normal and pulled Nie Huaisang into a tight hug, the way he’d wanted to do since the first moment he’d laid eyes on him that morning and found him looking so terribly sick. Nie Huaisang gasped in surprise, but lost no time in returning that hug, clinging to Lan Xichen as if his life depended on it. It felt right, in a way so few things had felt right in those last few months. It felt like coming home. Somewhere nearby, Jiang Cheng said something about leaving them to deal with this, and three sets of footsteps left the room, careful to close the door behind them, but Lan Xichen barely noticed. Nothing mattered except the familiar weight of Nie Huaisang in his arms, exactly the same as it had always been whenever he’d had to comfort the other man, and yet different in a way no words could ever describe.

"Er-ge, are those flowers really for me?" Nie Huaisang asked after a while, laying his head more heavily against Lan Xichen's shoulder.

"They are. I love you,” Lan Xichen said, amazed at how easy it was to say it now. “I never noticed until it was almost too late, but I love you." 

"I love you too," Nie Huaisang whispered, sounding almost scared. Then, after a moment, he added: "I have no idea what we’re supposed to do now. No one else ever liked me back before." 

"Their loss," Lan Xichen fiercely retorted, tightening his hold on Nie Huaisang, as if he might protect him from the effect of a lifetime of rejections. "If I’m honest, I don’t really know either. I suppose what we do now is… well, first of all, we both need some sleep  I think," he said, causing Nie Huaisang to chuckle weakly, and just that made Lan Xichen’s heart sing in relief. If Nie Huaisang could laugh without coughing, things were really getting better. "Then we will go through the rest of this conference like normal. When it is over, I’d like to stay in the Unclean Realm a little, so we can talk about what we want. I know our positions won’t make it easy, I know there will have to be compromises, but I don’t care. As long as I have you in my life, for as long as I can have you… I don’t care about anything else."

"I guess we do have time now," Nie Huaisang said, some tension starting to melt out of his body, causing him to lean even more on Lan Xichen who privately thought that this was exactly the way they were meant to be. Nie Huaisang belonged in his arms, and he wondered how he had never noticed it before. "I thought I was running out of it. It's odd to think I won't die just yet."

It was odd indeed, and Lan Xichen couldn’t deny he too had been trying to get used to the idea of his own inevitable death since the moment he’d realised he was in love with Nie Huaisang. He’d never allowed himself to consider the possibility that Nie Huaisang might let him confess, at once to proud to beg for a chance to save his life, and too unwilling to give Nie Huaisang more reason to despise him. Being granted this second chance was nothing short of a miracle. It was almost too good to be true, in fact, and Lan Xichen could feel that the flowers in his lungs hadn’t started withering yet, perhaps precisely because he couldn’t quite believe that Nie Huaisang loved him back. It would take some time for it to sink in, but they had that time now.

It would take however long was necessary but they would heal together, and find a way to be happy.

[cloudninetonine]

*passes on by awkwardly and tiredly, downs yet another coffee thermos like a shot then salutes* Hi, just passing on by to wish you a nice insert time of day here and existence, and to deliver some more Seraph/Fia stuff while I'm coherent again (definitely going to compile all my headcanons and theories on him later on in my blog, but that's reserved for when I feel less like existence is jail and unfortunately I'm on life sentence without bail xP):

So, to clarify on the Cú Chulainn thing, a bit of irish myth/lore for ye, Cú Chulainn basically had this really volatile rage mode called The Riastrad, which is symbolically basically all the worst aspects of a warrior aka the opposite of chivalry, the violence, the brutality etc, and could basically decimate anyone on his path while remaining fully coherent (plus there was a lot of shapeshifting going down, blame the mix of giant/godly/fae blood on him), and he was also unfairly durable, given it took someone breaking his vows on not eating dog meat, technically a prophecy AND the curse of The Morrigan aka Death herself to fully down him, and even STILL before going down the man used his own entrails to tie himself to a rock and someone only had the courage to approach once a raven landed on his shoulders to confirm he was dead and then his corpse slashed the guys arm off.

I'm not kidding here, his corpse.

What I'm getting at is that I kind of headcanon he was probably ridiculously durable like that due to a mix of Zonai/Gerudo upbringing and his own magic, maybe he could go in a minor berserk stage like a downgrade from what the Fierce Deity as a mask did to Time? Again, as a downgrade, not nearly as strong but still fairly terrifying because he probably won't stop until his target is dead. He had to have survived after his original arm was cut off to get the one in TOTK because his was likely corrupted somehow, and something tells me that unless Zelda can suddenly regrow limbs that it was waaaay out of Una's depth of expertise. Also adding to the Vessel theory I can totally see him suddenly switching with Wild in a backseat kind of situation if he's unconscious and going into that mode to defend him, though it probably takes a lot to snap him out of it and to allow control to slip back to Wild, or it's his magic doing most of the piloting, following the motions of when it was whole but mostly acting on instinct (I'll get to that).

Plus I find it personally funny that maybe the reason Wild breaks weapons so much is probably a mix of Twilight having Ganon's Triforce of Power and it somehow got passed down and just because Fia ALSO had a problem with breaking weapons until he finally got his Zonai magic under control, Wild breaks so many because he doesn't know he's a Zonai and thay he should probably train for that, also he's probably the reason Wild can genetically survive half the shenanigans he gets into and he more or less encourages him and Calamity to go feral as long as they're smart about it, to Twilight's ire hence the custody battles, it's like watching a grandfather and a parent arguing about the best method to raise a kid since Seraph/Fia is closer in the timeline to Wild than Twilight or Warriors if you want to go meta are (also, funnily enough sharing food was a big thing in courting back then, so that one ask about Wild asking Player to marry him after they shared bread? Would have had him laughing so hard. Like "Welp, guess some things don't change, atta boy!", Again, he's just super proud of his descendants wherever he is specially in the fic I'm writ- whoops).

When I meant a Pure Vessel Situation I also meant one nother thing though possession or something similar is most definitely on the table and I adore the connotations it has, you know Hollow Knight? Uh, spoilers for basically the final fight of the game, but there's this one scene... Basically the main enemy you fight is your sibling, and they have served as a 'hero'/'sacrificial vessel' to contain a great evil deity and is corrupted by a disease coming from that deity (hm, sounds familiar), and to either contain it again or kill it you basically have to kill your elder brother, you think he's a mindless animal or that he was lost to the corruption at first, but then he starts stabbing himself repeatedly and hesitating through the fight and that's when it hits the player that they're basically contributing on an assisted suicide because they're aware and don't want to hurt anyone so they help you whoever they can to kill them.

We don't ever know what happened to Seraph/Fia's body. I'll most likely be wrong since I doubt it will be canon, but imagine that, after pouring all his magic into his artificial arm to help Una seal Ganon's body and the Malice at first, is because he's been corrupted by Malice and it's also a Pure/Sealed Vessel Situation? Like he's still down there and alive because of the Malice keeping his body going, fighting back and doing whatever he can to hold it back and the reason the second Calamity happened was because his control slipped? Either his spirit could be separated and hanging around the Chain/Wild (bonus points if only Player and Fi can tell he's there and there's a collective and silent freak out), or he could still be basically trapped in his own body and the Chain happens onto him and they basically have to help kill him or free him, either way works. It has great angst potential I think.

Or Player was just unlucky and got dropped near him while corrupted and has no clue what to do as he does his best to not hurt them until the Chain gets there, bonus points if he had a guide and the only reason he hasn't tried ripping Player to shreds is because they remind him of them, or his spirit is there and guiding them away from his corrupted shell of a body, I think the Link's that we don't see in the games probably would have gotten physical guides? Or iterations that served the same purpose? Idk, just a sleep deprived theory. Maybe they help him out with that or they find a way to keep him from immediately attacking anyone idk.

And that's all for now, this is getting long and I plan on passing out for some more hours XD, hopefully my rambles don't bother you much and you are having a nice existence!

-A Very Awkward Summertime Musician.

YAY MORE SERAPH/FIA STUFF

Okay, so, if you all know me you know I love hearing about mythology (Irish specifically because of Irish fam!) so thank you for introducing me to this absolute unit he sounds absolutely terrifying I love it. The idea of Seraph being built like that would be so interesting/terrifying (and if we're leaning towards my depiction) he would be the most feared gladiator of them all- the one everyone wants to see fail just because they want to.

That kind of strength would be terrifying on Wild, as we already know his feral ways being infused with that kind of resistance is a scary thought.

Trigger warning for talks of suicide! When it comes to his death I pictured it with his sacrificing himself? Not to the malice but, dealing with loose ends for his future reincarnation before eventually ending his life to continue on the cycle because he knew what he did wouldn't keep the Demise at bay for long and his next incarnation needed to be ready as he wasn't capable anymore? Idk, it's pretty morbid but that's what I think!

Twilight fighting as Wild's mentor is a funny one tho, like, it starts civil until Seraph just throws a punch and now they're just limbs on the floor- Wild thinks it's hilarious however Time thinks quite the opposite.

("So, you accept?" "Accept what?" "The marriage proposal." "Bro what-" Let's just say Player is speechless without being speechless)

Also just know, it doesn't matter if it's the ghost of the previous hero or not, if Player sees a ghost they're tossing stuff, it's just instinct.

[themissmott]

I’m hoping this makes somewhat sense? I made it in like 20 minutes so might be a little OC

Glutton.

It could have been a dream, an exact replica. Down from the creaking floorboards, the strain of breath, and a rapid yet dulling heartbeat. It wasn't unfamiliar, not in the sense that he has never done this before. His legs straddled the chest of a man, eyes bloodshot, face blotchy and purple as he clawed, digging his fingers into Nacho's forearms. legs scrambling against the wood in fast streaks, hoping to cleaver off his assailant. His own last show of strength to show that he could live, that he could stand one more day in this loveless world. How could death touch you, even as you stood face to face?

His body often felt unreal, cold, and untouched in these moments. As if a corpse was in his place, puppeteering him through the final grand play of a person's life. The spur of warmth was only through his fiery hands as they burned. A fierce yet controlled fire that burned him whole, chalking off pieces of himself.

And to the fears of a younger nacho, that side of humanity has faded into rotten hands, aching deep down in the heart of the first man he killed.

But, it was different now. In a deja vu sense, as if he has been here. In this murder, in this seemingly insignificant moment of his life, he feels rawer and felt than he has in years. Years under the scope of the cartel, always one breath away from death, he feels alive, as if resuscitated into existence. Into the cold hallway, with a man withering under his hot hands, already buried in the ground.

He feels more explored and worn through than meaningless nights of sex and drugs. Burned down to his bones, til he was bleached and spongy.

Lalo watches from the side. Arms and legs crossed as he watched, observed as Nacho felt and succumbed. And in a twisted view, saw through Nachos' eyes, as if possessing him, wrapping his cold hands around Nachos. Suffocating the man together in a strange symbiosis. Linking together in a way that only they knew. Veins and arteries intertwine into one single pump of blood.

It was always there, that dream. That nauseating fantasy stuck in his gums and teeth. An understanding in two men who ate the other. They were overstimulated messes of flesh, pulling into each other. Taking, always taking.

A retelling of greed and gluttony.

[gorteaus]

What’s interesting to me about Youpi and Pitou’s development, or more specifically, the existence of Rage Incarnate and Doctor Blythe is the shared commonality, in that they remain the only two royal guards with hatsus that change over the course of the chimera ant arc.

I think it’s important to point out here that Pitou and Youpi don’t just “level up” their battle capabilities; they specifically continue to cultivate and evolve nen abilities that at their basest level, would have proven to be useless to the king.

Menthuthuyoupi is forced to acknowledge that his senseless, uncontrolled explosions are ineffective in matters of defending Meruem, whilst Pitou’s Doctor Blythe once stood as an ability created with an extremely limited function in mind- repairing the corpses of the “toys” Pitou had broken. However, both turn out to be far more flexible than their initial purpose at the end of the arc, and this ranges from everything from actual offensive capability to healing and support.

Doctor Blythe’s evolution is personally compelling to me, because unlike Rage Incarnate, the process for its growth happens over the span of the arc, and we even see it continue to do so roughly until the moment of Pitou’s death. Its advancement proceeds in the wake of Pitou repurposing it from preserving and repairing corpses to being able to heal and yes, that in itself is a great deal of change, but it never quite stops there.

The first time we see Pitou ever utilize Doctor Blythe in a medical context, Meruem has just torn his arm off, and the process for re-attaching a single limb goes over the course of a couple hours, give or take.

And the next time Doctor Blythe is put to work in an urgent situation? 

Pitou is able to tend to all of Komugi’s fatal, life-threatening injuries in just under an hour.

Doctor Blythe appears and is only applied seriously a handful of times throughout the arc, with the time between each operation becoming shorter. So we know from this standpoint, that Pitou’s ability was continuing to develop and improve in subtler ways. Of course, we see Youpi begin to do this, too, though there isn’t much to say regarding Rage Incarnate because his progression from start to finish is explosive and a great deal faster than Pitou’s own. It’s worth mentioning these developments don't exist in a vacuum however- Youpi first begins to lay the foundation for Rage Incarnate’s creation as a result of his determination to control the indiscriminate destruction of his ability in order to eliminate all threat to his king. The manga spells it out blatantly for us.

In the same vein, the debut to Blythe’s healing abilities begin with Pitou quite literally applying the ability first to Meruem’s severed arm, and then using it to tend to Komugi upon his request during the invasion.

An important aspect of each respective scenario that stands out to me is that both Pitou and Youpi work to use their nen to the benefit of their king, actively setting aside their own ideologies in order to work for him rather than against him. Pitou complies with Meruem’s desire to keep Komugi safe, and Youpi’s endeavor is a little more straightforward and simple in the goal of eliminating the threat posed by the invasion, but it works nonetheless because not only is it an earnest desire that comes with no strings attached, it once more fits into what we know to be his version of what it means to serve Meruem.

Whereas anytime Pouf utilizes his abilities, his goals conflict with the king’s as a character fiercely driven by his own sense of “right” and “wrong.” From start to finish, he remains the only royal guard unable to even have done so much as reevaluate his own initial ideology or despite being very conscious of the fact that his own goals for Meruem’s life clashes with the other’s desires as an individual.

I find it worth breaching for reasons relevant to this post however, that Pouf's antagonism isn’t just characterized solely by his fanatical ideal, but his fear of the growing dynamic he senses within Meruem and the others (of which he actively takes steps to revert). So sure, the existence of Doctor Blythe and Rage Incarnate speaks to the incredible growth and the potential that the royal guard has always possessed. It also highlights the idea that they are, objectively, at their best whilst devoting themselves selflessly to the king they love.

But also simply put, Pouf’s fear and resistance to change is quite literally replicated in stagnation of his own abilities during the palace invasion while the other royal guards around him evolve when confronted with situations that present adversity.

[aline-the-cat]

Sanctuary

Wei Ying was 6 years old when he entered the Burial Mounds and it adopted him. By that time he had been fighting dogs for scraps for a year and a half, and it was one of the same beasts that drove him to the outskirts of Yiling, we kept wondering out of curiosity and hope that he might find a place to stay, a place where he could be safe, a place where he could belong.

He found it

.-.-.-.-.

Meng Yao was 13 years old when he and his mother arrived at Yiling, his father had tossed him down the stairs of Koi Tower, and after an incident in the brothel they couldn't stay in Yunping, they had no idea where to go, but Sisi helped them

"The rumors say the Yiling Laozu can help," She told them as she put all her own savings in young Meng Yao's hands "that he can fulfill any wishes for the right price"

Meng Yao didn't believe that, but they had no place to go and in any case, Yiling was far enough of Lanling and Yuping so he worked and worked until he and his mother were able to afford the trip. He kept working along the way, hoping to be able to afford whatever price was needed to ensure his and his mother's safety

When they reached the base of the mountains, of the Burial Mounds, they found a little shrine, they had discussed that one of them hide in case things went wrong, but in the end, neither he nor Meng Shi wanted to leave the other, they only had each other now

So they walked and reach the shrine, there was an unnatural amount of dark fog, resentment the other cultivators they meet on their way called it. Meng Yao noted the very second they stopped being alone, he tensed and his mother bowed next to him, pressuring him to do the same

"Yiling Laozu, we, humble servants come to you to ask for your protection" his mother's voice was firm even if a bit rough from the new disease that was starting to take root in her lungs

It did not pass a full minute until a small figure stepped out of the shadows, if he wasn't an expert in keeping his emotions in check, Meng Yao would've gaped. In front of him was a child, one a few years younger than he himself

"What sort of protection do you seek?" He asked them with a childish voice

Meng Yao was 13 years old when he and his mother went looking for safety.

They found it

.-.-.-.-.

Xue Yang was 5 years old when he was tossed into the Burial Mounds, the man had tricked him to give a letter that only resulted in him getting beat up, after, the same man tried to get rid of him, he would've succeeded and possibly hurt him badly, but then, the kid made a scene

"YOU ARE A BAD MAN!!!" the child yelled, making everyone turn to look at them, the cultivator, Chang Ci'An flushed embarrassed, even if the kid was a street rat, it was still a small one, it started to look very bad for him "BAD MEN LIKE YOU WILL BE PUNISHED!! YILING LAOZU WILL COME FOR YOU!!" the brat screamed one of the most common threats he heard in the alleys. It had been roughly two years since people started whispering about the shadow demon that roamed the Burial Mounds and controlled the fierce corpses that tried to get into the town

The cultivator flushed bright red, both from embarrassment and also from the secret fear he felt, for he too had listened to the rumors and stories

"You want to meet Yiling Laozu? Then so be it!" he grabbed young Xue Yang from his collar and mounting his sword he flew as fast as he could until he was over the mass grave. For a moment he paused, feeling the doubt creeping in, it would be easy to just toss the kid in Yiling, where he couldn't bother him anymore, but then the kid started to spit out insult after insult, making the rage reach its peak "Tell the Yiling Laozu I send my regards" he sneered as the let go

Xue Yang had a moment of pure fear as he fell, then, the darkness engulfed him

Xue Yang wakes to the kind face of a woman, she reassures them that he is alive, that he is safe. He is inside a shack, inside there're also two young men, one looking at him with slightly apprehension and the other with open curiosity

"Welcome to the Burial Mounds" the curious one chirps, he has silver eyes and a sunshine-like smile

Xue Yang was 5 years old when he was tossed into the Burial Mounds. Once, he hoped to find a family

He found it

-.-.-.-.-.

Wen Qing was 17 years old when she arrived at the Burial Mounds to ask for help

She was from a branch of the Qishan Wen Sect, her family resides in Dafan Mountain, a few years ago, her uncle, Wen Ruohan had killed her parents because they refused to make poison for him. Since then, Wen Ruohan took her and her little brother under his wing, threatening her compliance with the safety of her brother and extended family.

Wen Ning was barely 10 years old when they started to listen the rumors, the ones about a shadow roaming Yiling, then, a demon who fulfilled wishes; then, about people starting to willingly enter the Burial Mounds. Wen Ning turn 13 years old when his older sister decided to take them there

When Wen Qing turned 17 and her brother turned 13, she had a vision. Nothing dramatic or prophetic, she just saw her uncle's actions, and, logically followed them until she reached her conclusion: War.

At some point, not too far, the sects would go to war against Qishan Wen, and whoever won would take over her family. Wen Ruohan had them already under his thumb, he could send them to fight at his own whim, without caring if they live or die; the other sects could decide all Wens were guilty and torture them or kill them. Either way, they lose. Wen Qing didn't want that future for her family. So, taking advantage of a night hunt she goes to Yiling.

The entrance of the Burial Mounds doesn't look as grand as Wen Qing would've imagined; there's a rundown shrine with offerings, a dark fog surrounds the area, she represses the shiver the resentment gives her. After a few minutes, a figure emerges from the darkness, Wen Qing tenses, even if the young man looks barely older than her brother, anyone who manages to live inside a mass grave is considered as dangerous according to her

"Yiling Laozu" she says as she bows as low as her dignity allows her "This lowly healer come to you seeking for your help"

"How may this Yiling Laozu be of service?" the kid gives a tentative bow

"I seek refuge for me and my family"

In the end, it takes six months to move the Dafan Wen to Yiling.

Wen Qing is 17 years old and Wen Ning is 13 years old when they entered the Burial Mounds looking for protection

They found it

.-.-.-.-.

Mo Xuanyu was 5 years old when his mother brought him to the Burial Mounds

His mother was the second young mistress in the Mo Clan, she was 15 years old when Jin Guangshan approach her. The "romance" last roughly two years until she got pregnant; the young Mo girl truly thought that Sect Leader Jin would come for her, for his son at least, but her dreams were crushed by Madam Jin, who she stumbles upon during one night-hunt she was having with Madam Yu. By then, Madam Jin had the ability to accurately recognize her husband's bastards, which was what happened with young Xuanyu when he was playing in the town

The Madam didn't chase her out of the village, but she might as well have when she almost laughed at the promises Guangshan had made to the young girl in front of the Mo manor. After the cultivators left, her older sister Mo furen, kicked her out of the house, calling her a disgrace for the Clan

The pair of mother and child then walked and walked, looking for someplace to stay, somewhere warm and dry... but there weren't many places like that that wouldn't try something more perverse with a young, beautiful, desperate mother. During the travels, the young mistress heard the tale of the Yiling Laozu, the demon who fulfilled wishes and took strays under his wing, there were talks and rumors about a new Yiling Wei sect, but nothing concrete, the only things that were consistent were that the Yiling Laozu could fulfill wishes for a price and that the Burial Mounds now was a place for the ones who didn't have a place to go. So young Mo Ning took her child and made her way to Yiling

The mother and the child were hovering in the outskirts of Yiling, near the shrine where offerings and hunt requests were placed. She was unsure of what to do next, the dark fog was very intimidating; her nerves were such that she didn't notice the young man walking towards them

"Hello" the polite man saluted her, she flinched and hastily bowed to him "Are you perhaps looking for the Yiling Laozu?" he gave them a smile that looked friendly enough, at least his dimples made it look friendly

"Yes gongzi" she bowed as low as she is used to as the daughter of a servant, her child clumsy follows her. She didn't see the wary look the man gives to her son, also recognizing the Jin genes "We hoped to ask for a place to stay, at least until my son is older and can provide for himself... I am the daughter of a servant so I can pay our stay with work!" she hurried to add

The young man contemplated for a second before he moved to raise her from her bow

"It's alright guniang" he reassured her "Come on, follow me" he instructed as he started to walk towards the dark fog

Mo Ning took her son's hand tightly and did as instructed

Mo Xuanyu was 5 years old when his mother brought them both to the Burial Mounds in search of a new home

They found it

-.-.-.-.-.

Meng Yao is 19 years old, Xue Yang 10 years old, Wen Qing 20 years old, Wen Ning 16 years old, and Mo Xuanyu 7 years old when a letter arrives to the relative new Yiling Wei Sect about the start of the Sunshot Campaign

Wei Ying, courtesy name Wuxian, master of demonic cultivation, Yiling Laozu and Sect Leader of Yiling Wei, is 17 years old when he closes the wards surrounding the Burial Mounds and goes to war

Next

[veliseraptor]

What are your thoughts on the awakening of Song Lan's spiritual consciousness after everything fell apart in Yi City? The when and the why's and the how's of it reaching that point, rather than just basic, unconscious fierce corpsey-ness of all the other "puppets" (Wen Ning excepted, naturally.)

oooh yes this is an interesting one.

I mean, I definitely think that...that one was a project that Xue Yang worked on for a while, though for my own personal reasons (that I'm into the idea) I tend to favor it being something he does figure out relatively early. (He does, after all, have the benefit of having previously studied the other conscious fierce corpse in the world.)

Which I would think is the answer as far as the how: taking what he knows about Wen Ning and reverse engineering it. We know Xue Yang does that with the Yin Tiger Seal (at least half-successfully), because Xue Yang (as is very important to me) is kind of a genius in his own right, actually, so he is capable of doing that.

as far as the why...I'm inclined to think there's two reasons, there:

Reason #1: It's potentially relevant to Xiao Xingchen resurrecting. I think at least part of the motivation to solving that particular problem and making a conscious fierce corpse a la Wen Ning is about the way that it is a potential route to getting back a version of Xiao Xingchen who is both (a) not just an ordinary, boring fierce corpse with pretty low functionality and no consciousness and (b) controllable if need be. If he can do it with Song Lan then as soon as he figures out how to fix Xiao Xingchen's soul and put it back in his body then he can do it with Xiao Xingchen! and, I think, would be hoping to fine tune and tinker with it so that there's a medium between "entirely independent" and "consciousness muted by nails" (a thing that seems to be Xue Yang's invention, and that Wei Wuxian specifically notes he has been improving between the time he put them in Wen Ning and the time he puts them in Song Lan - so the process of refining them and how they work has been a live concern and area of work in the interim.

So: the risk of having a potentially less controllable and more dangerous fierce corpse (because conscious fierce corpses do seem to be more powerful and dangerous than ordinary ones) is worthwhile because Xue Yang is using Song Lan as an experimental subject to perfect techniques he might later use on Xiao Xingchen.

Reason #2: Because the possibility is there, Xue Yang likes a challenge/project, and he wants to know if he can.

Like...yes, Xue Yang is absolutely fixated on his resurrection project, but I don't think that precludes the possibility that he might latch onto another challenge partially as a way of distracting himself when the resurrection project is going nowhere and he's starting to be in danger of despair. In that situation, he can turn to the other project, which is going considerably better, and then he can feel good about himself and very smart and like he is a capable demonic cultivator, tyvm, and absolutely he will figure out a way to pull off his other challenge, it's just taking a little more time.

He's also useful! having a powerful fierce corpse around (and again, fierce corpses with consciousness seem to be more powerful) who is answerable only to you is just...a helpful thing to have, both in terms of protection/killing anyone who gets too close or just generally needs killing, and in terms of, most likely, using him to do menial tasks Xue Yang doesn't feel like doing because he's busy, okay.

Finally: now he has company. Xue Yang using Song Lan as his rubber duck when he needs to bounce some ideas around. Or at least, you know, someone to talk to, even if he can't talk back.

I'm inclined to think it's a little bit of both.

[vrishchikawrites]

Post-post-post cannon Wangxian being completely in love in the cloud recessess as teenagers who time travelled back to their own 16-17 year old bodies on accident.

In love. Wangxian are in love. In love. Just smooph and fluff.

Like they're effortlessly in love. (No matter how much Jiang Cheng yells and ties to control Wei Wuxian, Wei Wuxian casually refuses to hear any of it, as he'd been ignoring Jiang Cheng's homophobia and hate forever by the time they both came back by accident. )

Also wwx doesn't hide his genius and every one around him is like senpai *heart eyes* (honestly he's almost forgotten how to hide his effortless genius.)

(Just FYI, don't have to include this: this Wei Wuxian has long since come to terms with all his war and Sunshot and Shiji related trauma— just FYI.)

I just want to read as much of the smooph, smushy fluff and love you can stomach writing please.

Extra points if you can show them both just effortlessly and absentmindedly flirting.

(You don't have to incude this, but: They just take like a weekend off and go raze the main Wen family to the ground casually— back late with Starbucks— "We were night hunting. What do you mean the Wen family died? So sad. We feel so bad. Don't we feel bad?" " Mm. Feel bad.")

Thank you so much for existing in this fandom. I love your fics. I love you. 💖

Xichen is proud of his brother but he can't deny that he is sometimes concerned for him as well. Wangji is a dedicated and accomplished disciple but he is isolated from his peers. Xichen has friends and confidants but Wangji is simply content to be by himself.

That is concerning, even for a Lan.

He had hopes that incoming disciples would manage to shake him up a little but that hope didn't last long. Year after year, Wangji continued to remain aloof, not expressing any interest in the disciples.

But something has changed this year. Xichen didn't even know what was going on until a few weeks into the introduction of the guest disciples.

He spots them by chance. Young Master Wei is cheerfully waving at a vendor, his smile wide and bright, ensnaring the old woman's entire attention.

Wangji is right by him, Bichen in one hand but the other…

The other is placed on the small of Wei-gongzi's back.

Xichen watches as they move on from the vendor. He sees how Wangji seems to shield Wei-gongzi from the crowd, angling his body slightly to ensure his companion can walk freely.

It is a gesture of protectiveness. It is a gesture of possession.

Xichen studies their body language carefully. Wangji seems content to follow Wei-gongzi around, his expression closed but gentle. There are no frosty glares or pursed lips. His brother, for once, looks entirely relaxed. Everything about him is loose and easy underneath all of his Lan elegance. His shoulders slope gently, his spine isn't as rigid, and his walk is steady.

The First Jade has never seen his brother look so settled.

Wei Wuxian seems happy too, his smile incandescent and lovely. Almost as tall as Wangji, the boy is the very antithesis of his brother. While Wangji is sedate and content, Wei Wuxian is nearly bursting with energy and joy. His silver eyes sparkle in the sunlight and his long hair sways with every movement of his body.

Xichen's heart softens at the glimpse of such open beauty. There's certainly something alluring about Young Master Wei. He seems to suffuse his surroundings with happiness.

There's something in the air around them.

Despite his lively mind wandering from one stall to another, Wei-gongzi always finds his way back to Wangji, looking at him with a hopeful smile and a cheerful comment.

His brother's expression is unfamiliar to him. Wangji looks like his entire world is smiling up at him.

'Is this love?' He wonders to himself as he watches his brother gently pull Wei-gongzi out of a running child's way. He doesn't miss how the touch lingers, fingers curling slightly around the slender wrist before pulling away.

There are many eyes following Wangji and his friend, and all of them have indulgent expressions. The people of Caiyi town have seen Wangji since he was a child. They know him and his nature well enough.

Xichen suspects they're just as happy to see Wangji roaming the markets leisurely as a pretty butterfly flutters around him.

"Is that Lan Wangji?" Nei Mingjue observes, stepping up beside him.

Xichen nods, "And his friend, Wei Wuxian."

"Hm," his friend says, "I've been hearing that name a lot recently. They say the only reason Jin Zuxian beat him in the rankings is because of his looks."

Xichen chuckles at Mingjue's tone, "Ah, Da-ge, you must hate that."

His friend rolls his eyes, taking a sip of his tea. "How do looks matter when you're facing down Fierce Corpses?"

"From what shufu says, Young Master Wei is Wangji's equal in many ways." Shufu had been wary at first, wondering what sort of chaos the son of Cangse Sanren would bring to Cloud Recesses. So far, Wei Wuxian has proven to be a mischievous but brilliant student. "He challenges shufu in class. They end up having loud, angry debates," Xichen chuckles because he knows his uncle, despite all appearances, loves being stimulated, "He mentions the boy often." There's a comment about Wei Wuxian almost every time he has tea with his uncle.

He looks at the two younger master's thoughtfully, "I didn't expect this."

"Are they courting?" Nei Mingjue asks bluntly, "Because your little brother is acting like a husband already."

Xichen stills and looks at the pair again. That is what's off about their body language. They move around each other confidently, not like a young couple in fresh blooms of love.

There are no tentative glances, awkward touches, and hyperawareness. Wangji touches Wei Wuxian like it is his right. Like he is confident that his touch is welcome and desired.

For a moment, he feels a pang of worry. Xichen looks at Wei Wuxian, studying him carefully to see if there's any sign of strain or distress.

He finds nothing. Wei-gongzi responds to every gesture of affection like a flower blooming under the Sun.

"Ah." He realizes, "You think…?"

"Strong bonds form quickly between cultivators with matching potential." Nei Mingjue observes, "It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Your brother looks a little too enamored for this to be a teenage fancy."

Well, isn't this an interesting development?

---

"Your hair looks nice," Nie Huaisang says, hiding a smile behind his fan. Wei-xiong always looks good but there's something particularly radiant about him now. He seems to stand a bit taller, carry himself with a bit more confidence. His gestures seem stronger, somehow carrying more authority than before.

But the hair intrigues him. There's a glittering silver hairpiece in it and the strands of ebony are tied up in a neat style.

Neater than Wei-xiong's usual style. While Huaisang is certain Wei-xiong is perfectly capable of making himself as elegant as the Jades of Lan, he usually doesn't bother.

This was done by someone else's careful, loving, hand.

Jiang Yanli isn't at Cloud Recesses and Jiang Cheng would rather burn his own hands than show even an ounce of love towards his shixiong - something pricks when he thinks about that.

So there's someone else, someone willing to comb Wei-xiong's hair until every strand is glossy and straight, before tying it up with a silver and jade pin that looks expensive.

Wei-xiong is courting- no, he corrects himself, watching his friend wave enthusiastically at Lan Wangji, 'Wei-xiong is being courted.'

Wangji-xiong bows to his brother and walks towards Wei-xiong, his gaze softer than usual. His friend is smiling widely and immediately dissolves into excited chatter. Wangji-xiong doesn't seem bothered, just nodding occasionally and watching with indulgent patience.

There's something entirely lovely about the way Wangji-xiong's eyes remain fixed on Wei Wuxian's face. It is like nothing else is more important to him than Wei-xiong's smile and cheerful voice.

Standing together in the courtyard, both clad in white and glowing under the warm light of the morning sun, they look stunning. Huaisang's romantic heart sighs at the sight.

"What is he doing?" Jiang Wanyin hisses and Huaisang looks at him, startled by his icy tone, "I can't believe he's making a nuisance of himself again!"

"Jiang-gongzi-"

"Wei Wuxian! What are you doing, messing around?"

The loud voice catches almost everyone's attention. Wei-xiong looks over his shoulder and Wangji-xiong's expression turns frosty, all warmth draining from it immediately.

"Aiya, Jiang Cheng," Wei-xiong grins but it doesn't have that sheepish, placating quality that Huaisang had seen before, on those rare occasions he visited Lotus Pier with his da-ge. This grin was full of confidence and almost... dismissal. "Why are you angry now?"

Was that tone... mocking?

Huaisang's lips twitch as Jiang-gongzi swells further with rage, "Wei Wuxian! How can you be so shameless? Imposing yourself on Lan Wangji, always trying to distract him. Think of our sect's reputation for once!"

"Do not speak for me." Wangji-xiong's voice is icy and it cuts Jiang-gongzi's rant short immediately, "Wei Ying is free to seek me out whenever he wishes. No one may stop him."

And that seems to be that. Wei-xiong laughs and Wangji-xiong guides him away gently like he's someone delicate and not the strongest cultivator of their generation.

But, Huaisang muses, even strong people deserve gentleness.

---

"Da-shixiong! Show us that one again," A Jiang disciple demands and Wangji looks up from his work. He has clear sight of the training ground from where he's sitting. Wei Ying is standing in the middle, surrounded by a few Jiang and Lan disciples.

They're all looking at him in adoration.

Wangji feels a flood of amusement and sets his work aside, content to take a small break. It is always a treat to see his husband in his element; teaching people and nurturing young minds. They may be back in their teenage bodies, but their soul is much older.

Wei Ying, with his natural ability to charm juniors and his hard-earned wisdom, is the perfect teacher.

"It is amusing to see you so smitten," Wangji looks up to see his brother smiling at him, "Wei-gongzi must be very special, yes?"

His brother probably aims to fluster him, he is so fond of teasing Wangji. But Wangji had been Wei Ying's husband for more than a decade before an accident sent them back in time. He is no longer flustered or overwhelmed by his feelings. "Very special," He agrees, unable to help glancing back at his beloved, "Very lovely."

Xichen chuckles, "He is indeed lovely." His expression turns sly, "Do I need to speak with Uncle? Betrothal negotiations may be complicated in this case."

Wangji remains unphased, "You may," He says calmly, much to his brother's surprise, "Wei Ying will marry into the Lans. Give no concession to the Jiangs. He is just their Head Disciple, not the part of the family."

"Wangji," His brother breathes, "You're that invested?"

"Un. Will marry Wei Ying. Give him a better life. A life of dignity, freedom, and respect. Free of unnecessary debt that no one should foist on a child."

That is enough for Xichen to understand. His gaze turns solemn and he looks at Wei Ying carefully, "If that is what you wish, brother, you will have it."

---

Wangji feels his heart still when he steps into the library pavilion. He gazes at the scene before him, feeling the stiff formality of his expression melt away.

Wei Ying is beautiful, sitting there and reading peacefully. The evening sunlight envelopes him, giving him an ethereal glow. He traces his husband's features, feeling something akin to desperate love. It has been so since he saw this face and this body. Mo Xuanyu didn't lack beauty and Wei Ying's radiant personality had only added to it.

But this is Wei Ying's true body.

Helplessly drawn, he steps forward. "Xingan."

Wei Ying looks up, startled to hear such an endearment aloud. Immediately, his face is aglow with a pretty blush even as he laughs teasingly, "Lan Zhan! Don't be so bold!"

He walks towards Wei Ying and settles down by him, closer than truly appropriate but this is his husband. "Research?"

Wei Ying smiles, drawing Wangji's attention to his lips. There's no one in the library so Wangji permits himself the touch, reaching forward to gently caress them, "Such beauty." He whispers.

Wei Ying blushes again, "Er-gege," He protests, "Have mercy on my heart."

His fingers slide under Wei Ying's jaw, drawing him in gently. His husband is sweet and compliant as Wangji kisses him, an innocent brush of lips and nothing more. "My Wei Ying." His voice is low, heated in ways Wei Ying recognizes. He watches as those enchanting silver eyes brighten with passion.

His Wei Ying buries his warm face in his neck with a moan of protest, "Mercy, husband. You're so cruel to tease me like this when you can't take me to bed."

It is indeed a challenge to not have their 'everyday' but Wangji can be patient. Xiongzhang is already working on it.

For now, he is content.

They sit like that for a long time, Wei Ying leaning against him, trusting and calm. No one disturbs them and Xichen only stops by once, smiling knowingly in their direction and pointedly ignoring Wangji's restraining hand around Wei Ying's waist, stopping him from pulling away.

They spend the rest of the evening exchanging soft murmurs and softer kisses.

Nothing will stand in their way this time.