#song lan is going to regret this later

[yinyangcouples]

Mo Dao Zu Shi Top 10 Fanfics - here there be angst

After reading Mo Dao Zu Shi and watching The Untamed, I went down the rabbit hole of fanfic, as one does. People in fan spaces frequently ask for fic recs, so I wanted to make an easy way to share some of my favorites!

To be upfront, my favorite fics follow book canon, not Untamed canon. My favorites are also pretty much all set in the ancient universe with cultivation. I read some modern stuff, etc, but that is definitely not what I gravitate towards. I also love a long fic. So here it is, my top 10.

Birthday Party by Waffles_4_Breakfast - What if Jin Zixun didn't attack Wei Wuxian at Qiongqi Path and waited until the party to attack? I love this fic the most of all that I have read so far. The author does an amazing job of taking the book canon universe and asking "what if?" I felt like the story was incredibly realistic with the canon version of the characters. High on angst. This story is explicit, but has easy to skip scenes.

Love Song In Reverse by timetoboldlygo - When Wei Wuxian wakes up in Mo Xuanu's body, he doesn't know who he is, but he is drawn to a man in white robes. This is, ultimately an amnesia fic, which I have a definite soft spot for. In this fic, there is a very high level of angst, characters processing grief, and quite a lot of my favorite little marshmallow, Lan Sizhui. This one is rated Teen and up.

Memories are easier when shared by marhalf - Sweet and slow fix-it, beginning after WWX death, on the idea that his soul would answer LWJ's call. Getting people together, healing trauma through love, I can't help it! This one brings the angst. Can you tell I have a type? When Lan Wangji plays Inquiry, Wei Wuxian answers. But not in the way that is expected. I love so much about this fic and can't recommend it enough. It is emotional, beautiful, and Wei Wuxian gets to redeem himself to almost all the important people in the cultivation world that matter to him, through shared memories. This one is explicit.

Turn Left by kianspo - Lan Wangji is kidnapped from the Lan Clan when he's still a small child. He retains no memories of his real identity, and only knows himself as a servant at Madam Ji's brothel. When the clients begin to look at him with interest, he finds someone to curse him and take away his true appearance, and with it any chance of ever finding his family. When I say this one is angsty, I do mean it. But it is so, so good. Will Wei Wuxian fall in love with Lan Wangji, when LWJ has a very ugly face? Will LWJ ever find his family, when he is unrecognizable? Mature rating.

Cultivating immortality by KizuKatana - The Lan sect has been putting pressure on Lan Wangji to find a cultivation partner. They don't like the one he chooses. This one is just fun. Ok, so there is canon typical angst. But what a fun ride. I like that there is an absence of homophobia in the world, due to the "cultivation partner universe" that the author has set up. Explicit.

a star called sun by thelastdboy - “Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying had whispered. “Lan Zhan, you will have to protect me. Madam Yu is definitely going to kill me for real this time around,” he had said jokingly, but something about how he said it made Lan Wangji pause. Later, Lan Wangji would regret leaving Wei Ying behind. Another angsty masterpiece. This one features a character working through becoming disabled. Pretty heavy on the grief. There are crows, a Wei clan, and beautiful poetic language. Not Jiang friendly. Uses Untamed canon. Rated Explicit, but IIRC, that is just due to violence and not sexual content. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Concord by Deastar - Lan Wangji hopes, somewhat frivolously, that his betrothed might find him an acceptable companion. Neither he nor Wei Wuxian are able to bear children, so there will be no need to share a marital bed; that should make it easier for the two of them to reach a natural, comfortable equilibrium. Are we surprised that this one is incredibly angsty?? It deals heavily with depression. Canon AU but in an amazing way. It does use Untamed canon (Yin Iron, WWX's "demonic" cultivation harms him, puppets, etc). My biggest complaint though is that I want MORE of it. at 45K words, it's too short. Lol! Rated Teen.

Flowers Blooming by Ilona22 - Wei Ying is orphaned when he is four years old. Unlike in another world, he does not have to wait years to be found by his father’s martial brother. Instead, he is found by a woman looking for a child to love. This one is so incredibly beautiful. At 35K words, it is on the shorter side of what I normally read. But I love seeing what might have been had Wei Ying grown up with love. Not as angsty as my normal fair. Rated Mature.

SanRen by Kyogre - Leaving YunmengJiang in an effort to curb the tensions in the Jiang family, Wei WuXian becomes a rogue cultivator. Another one I really enjoyed. I love the canon divergence of what might happen if Wei Wuxian had struck out on his own before he went to the Cloud Recesses and met Lan Wangji. It has fluff and angst and all the good things. It was written before The Untamed came out and is novel canon! Rated Teen

All will be well when the day is done by abCEE - The one where Yu Ziyuan time traveled but she thought that it was her visions of her alternate life. So I love the absolutely unique take that this one is. Madam Yu is our time traveller and the only thing she "gifts" Wei Ying is not killing him herself when he gets kicked out of the inn after his parents die. Lots of angst and redemption. Not Madam Yu friendly, as you might imagine. Rated teen.

So there you go. That is my top 10 list of favorite Mo Dao Zu Shi fanfics that I've read so far. Writing this makes me want to go back and reread them all, but my to read list is long and ever growing. If you have any favorites in that style, please drop them in the comments!

[shanastoryteller]

happy birthday!! the untamed, wwx in female mxy's body please!!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Xuanyu seems very familiar with Song Lan.

She pulls up a chair right next to him, leaning into his space and demanding he tell her everything. Song Lan seems faintly bewildered by this behavior, but inexplicably starts to tell her the details anyway.

Lan Wangji has always known Song Lan to be a quiet man. It's unusual for him to be this open with anyone, even if he and Xuanyu have met before.

"They're just talking," Xichen says.

He forces himself not to flinch. The last thing he needs is his brother to realize he was so busy staring at his wife and the wandering cultivator that he didn't notice his approach. "Of course."

"You could probably go join them," he continues, that same teasing glint in his eye that he had the morning after he drunkenly slept with Xuanyu.

He deliberately turns away from them. "They can catch up just fine without me."

Xichen is disappointed and Jin Guangyao rolls his eyes and makes no effort to hide it.

He regrets his decision a half hour later when both Song Lan and Xuanyu are missing.

~

"You're very good at talismans," Song Lan says to the young woman who's very different than the teenage girl he met before. She'd been quiet with a look in her eyes that hadn't seemed to match her meekness.

Xiao Xingchen had called him paranoid, but he hadn't had much to say when they'd found out the girl was a demonic cultivator and the ghoul they were fighting was the results of her own botched ritual. She'd at least helped them destroy it.

He'd thought it was mistake to leave her at the Mo's, in that house full of people who hated her. It could only end in death, although who's was to be decided.

Turning her in hadn't been an option to either of them. Even taking into account her cultivation methods, she'd been the least monstrous member of that household.

He hadn't expected her to marry into the Lans, of all people. Her forehead ribbon is hard to miss. He wonders which of the cultivators she managed to seduce and if they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into.

"It's a skill," she says dismissively, letting the cloaking talisman fade as they make their way down the street and away from the inn. "You didn't need much convincing to let me use it."

"I assume you don't want your new family to know of your demonic cultivation," he says, then has to reach out an arm to steady her when she trips. "I don't approve of your choices but if you're going to use your skills to help me find Xiao Xingchen I don't much care what else you do with them."

She looks at him for a moment, mouth hanging open, before closing it and shaking her head. "Huh. Yeah. I don't suppose you have a flute on you? I was going to try to go for the subtle approach, but I guess there's no point."

A flute? Odd, she'd leaned into arrays before. Then again, it's the tool Wei Wuxian used, so maybe there's something to it's effectiveness that she's discovered for herself in the years since he saw her last. "I know where we can get one. Do you really think you can find him?"

"One way or another," she answers, face suddenly grim, and Song Lan swallows.

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

Saving water

Warnings: mildly suggestive bc Lan Zhan has horny thoughts

Inspired by this prompt list

"The water bill just came in today." Wei Ying tells Lan Zhan, his roommate, as they have dinner. "It's so expensive! At this rate, we're going to deplete the planet's resources ourselves!"

"Mn. We could-"

Wei Ying cuts in, a metaphorical lightbulb shining above his head. "We should shower together!"

Lan Zhan barely wills the piece of broccoli he'd be chewing to go down his throat without chocking. "Wei Ying!"

"No, hear me out. This ecology specialist came on the news this morning and said that showers waste water the most, so where possible, people should just do it together!"

Lan Zhan is both flustered, scandalized and intrigued with the idea. He would be a filthy liar if he said he never fantasized about what he could do to Wei Ying in their conveniently large shower - but this is different. For one, Wei Ying doesn't like him like that. Two, it would be downright cruel to have Wei Ying so close, in a small, enclosed space, wet and naked and not be able to do anything. Three, things could become really awkward really fast if he gets hard.

But he can't use these arguments to dissuade Wei Ying from his terrible, wonderful idea, so Lan Zhan decides to focus on his vegetables and hope his ears aren't too red.

"C'mon, Lan Zhan, it's not going to be that bad. You played sports in college, right? Communal showers are a thing that happens, this is exactly like that!"

It is precisely not like that - because Lan Zhan never crushed on his teammates as hard as he does on Wei Ying.

Still, he doesn't say anything beyond a neutral "mn."

"How about this - we try it after dinner and if it doesn't work, we'll think of something else to lower the water bill."

Lan Zhan hates that the prospect of showering with Wei Ying both excites him and fills him with soul-crushing dread.

He agrees before his brain catches up to him.

---

Lan Zhan gets into the shower first. He figures he might as well take a few minutes to mentally prepare for what is about to happen. He is not going to look at Wei Ying below the neck, he is going to keep to his corner of the shower and he is not going to get a boner.

"Ok, I'm coming in, Lan Zhan."

"Mn."

Wei Ying enters the shower in his full naked glory with his hair down, turns around to get under the shower head, and Lan Zhan already breaks two of his rules. Of course he knows Wei Ying is very attractive, a lean body with just enough muscle mass and well-defined, handsome features - but to see all of that without clothes in the way is... hot, to put it bluntly.

Lan Zhan is too far gone to think of any more poetic words to describe how he's going to use this image (Wei Ying naked and under the light spray of the shower) as prime masturbation material for the rest of his life.

But before Wei Ying notices the other's hungry stare, Lan Zhan very respectfully turns his back as well and offers Wei Ying the same degree of privacy - no matter how much he wants to admire the dip and curve of Wei Ying's back and his plump ass, he has to control himself.

If Wei Ying notices his... predicament, he might end up being creeped out or at the very least uncomfortable, and Lan Zhan would hate that. So, he decides he's just going to wash his hair and try to ignore the fact that the person he could die for is naked about a foot away from him and is humming some random song as he washes up.

"Can I turn the heat up a little?" Wei Ying asks, "I usually like the water to be a bit hotter."

Lan Zhan agrees - but he does not expect his back to be hit with hellfire seconds later. He manages to suppress a gasp, and turns his head to a side, slightly judgementally. No wonder their bills are so high.

But he regrets it immediately because now he can see Wei Ying's skin has turned slightly pink and water runs off it so smoothly, droplets falling enticingly down, down, down-

"Can I borrow some of your shampoo? Mine just ran out and I forgot to buy another."

Lan Zhan hands it to him quickly and does not think of how pretty his collarbones would look with bitemarks all over. He does not.

He's starting to grow lightheaded, and he doesn't know if it's from the steamy shower, the hot water or his raging erection - but it doesn't matter. All he knows is that he has to wait until Wei Ying is done and leaves, he'll handle everything else after that.

But fate has decided to taunt Lan Zhan today because suddenly he feels Wei Ying pressing against his back as he reaches for his bottle of hair conditioner - and Lan Zhan feels like he's going to die.

"Why didn't you ask?" He finds his voice.

"You seemed... lost in thought, I didn't want to disturb you..."

He sure was lost in thought. In many thoughts, none of them decent.

With great difficulty, he finds it within himself to finish washing up, but is deliberately slow with it, trying to buy time.

Eventually, Wei Ying slides the shower door open, and envelops himself in a towel. Lan Zhan thinks himself saved, but Wei Ying turns his head a little and smiles.

"Your self control is admirable, Lan Zhan, but you're a terrible liar." A wink. "Oh and I'll take that-" a slight glance down, "-as a compliment."

He turns to leave, but he finds himself pulled back into the shower and pinned to one of its walls. His laughter is silenced with a kiss, his towel pulled off him swiftly and the shower door slides closed.

Their water bill is going to be terrible next month.

[veliseraptor]

🐬📚🍇😬 (you don't have to do all four if you don't want! They just all sounded interesting!)

for 🐬:

“About…” A-Qing trailed off. He could sense her trying to find a tactful way to put it, and wished she wouldn’t. About the fact that my going blind just got a good deal closer?

for 📚:

“Didn’t you?” he said. Jin Guangyao wondered how many people looked at the dirty, scrawny exterior and dismissed Xue Yang out of hand. He wondered how many of those who did regretted it later.

for 🍇:

He set it aside instead, the skin on the back of his neck still prickling. What had the man’s plan been? Some poison that would steal away Jiang Cheng’s will and force him to abide by his?

for 😬:

Xue Yang’s shoulders drew up and he flinched; very slightly, but the motion was still there. It didn’t please Song Lan as it had before, just annoyed him more. He took a deep, unnecessary breath to rein in his temper and tried to make a peace offering.

[make me write ✍🏻]

[theuntamedaus]

Hi hello I am once again back on my bullshit™.

I have had an idea for what I will call Music Band AU. I do not have a plot (yet), my brain isyelling "Scott Pilgrim" likeits life depended on it, but I do NOT want that, I have something a bit different in mind.

So.

I have, as clear as day, the Lans as being classical musicians/traditional musicians and also composers. They play traditional chinese instruments like the xiao, the erhu, the qin, etc along with some western musical instruments like the clarinet, the piano, the strings. I do not have any idea who plays what, I will figure it out later.

Nie Mingjue is the owner of an indie music studio and he publishes mostly metal kind of genre.

He is also the owner of a Nightwish-like Metal band whose vocalist Meng Yao abandoned everything to follow his father Jin Guangshan's Big Brands Studio.

Something he will eventually regret, but ATM we are not there yet.

Anyway.

Enter the Jiangs - beloved and beloathed. JFM and YZY are one of those who are like "yeahmy child is so gifted and talented, let's ruin their life forever by forcing them in the music industry". You know. Like Michael Jackson's parents, or Britney Spears' parents, that turned out oh-so-well.

In fact.

Yanli is a beloved pop idol à la Blackpink and Jiang Cheng is trying but his voice is not made for pop - he does try pop-punk but yet again, too rough, or high, or low, and he's never good enough, for JFM's standards.

And also there is "adopted son" Wei Ying who is doing just GREAT and BRILLIANT job at being the pop idol whom Lan Wangji, dragged out of his shell by Nie Huaisang, bc LXC and NMJ are besties, is absolutely head over heels, so what use is JC in JFM's eyes?

Needless to say, there is a lot bickering, fighting, yelling.

*uh, I have just had a flashback to my experience, no I will not elaborate*

Anyway. And it's after the last sunday lunch gone wrong that JC just leaves before even touching his food and goes in the city. He is thinking a lot, maybe he is thinking of leaving the family, the business, or maybe he wants to start his own label, how much it would cost anyway?

And he finds himself looking at some microphones in a music shop - unaffiliated with the Lans, the owner is probably Mr. Yao or Mr. Ouyang.

THe owner is like, I can see you are pointing big puppy eyes at those mics, do you want to try them?

And JC, full of the whole "you are a failure,you will never be enough" says "Sure, I can try..."

And he sings like a rock kind of song, and y'all know that I am a Jiang "Angel Voice" Cheng truther.

NMJ happens to be in the shop because he needs a new amplificator or something and hears JC.

And he is in awe.

Who is this amazing singer and why has he not heard about him ever. That's the one I want for my band, he is perfect. And he introduces himself and JC is like "you liked that?!"

"Why yes it was perfect, come to my studio, meet my band give it a try".

And it takes a bit of convincing, Huaisang chips in, but JC discovers that his voice is perfect for Metal and joins NMJ's band.

Are his parents happy? Nope and they voice their disappointment, which just prompts JC to just pack his things and go.

Yanli and Wei Ying try their best to mellow things, they don't want JC to go, but JC is fed up.

He goes to NMJ's studio, explains the situation and NMJ and NMJ is like "New Family Member Acquired".

You can read this as MingCheng if you wish, I kind of like the paiting, but only if it's @felinesomnambulist or @bloody-bee-tea (sorry for the tags, you both do write amazing MingCheng fics).

I will probably come back on this because I am enjoying the idea, but I will elaborate once I have kicked my brain around a little.

[songxiaolin]

untamed fall fest

day 20: spice

rating: general word count: 1,257

On the counter sat the eggplant, long and purple and foreign. Lin Ming stared it down as if she expected it to jump at her or run away. Her mouth was pulled into a deep frown. In her hand, she held a knife with a sharp blade and worn, chipped wooden handle. The fingers of her other hand drummed against the tile counter as she thought.

“You look as if you’re going to stab it, not cut it.”

Lin Ming paused, knife still in hand, and looked over at Song Lan. To most people, his expression would be unreadable or even cold but she knew better. There was a softness in his eyes and to the slight curve of his mouth.  

I am. We’re having stabbed eggplant, she signed. 

“Lin Ming.”

A grin was her answer to the gentle rebuke, crooked, as she turned back to the eggplant. She held it carefully and began to slice it lengthwise, trying to keep the pieces even. Pushing away the scraps, she gathered up the eggplant and turned. Her face almost met Song Lan’s chest and she jerked to a stop.

“Am I in your way?” he asked.

She nodded, hands full.

“Sorry.”

He stepped out of her way and she nudged his side lightly with her elbow as she passed. Lin Ming dumped the eggplant pieces into the bowl of now room temperature water. She poked a few pieces, making sure they were submerged before turning back to the wok.

It took her a moment to find the bottle of oil and the thought crossed her mind that it needed to organized better, if only for Xiao Xingchen’s sake. She picked it up and shook it, listening to the liquid slosh inside. Taking a step back, she felt her shoulder bump against something firm. Lin Ming looked up.

“I thought I had moved out the way,” said Song Lan, hands on her shoulders to steady her.

Her mouth quivered slightly as she tried not to smile.

Yes, she signed with one hand. And then you moved back in the way.

“I’ll be more careful,” he said.  

As she moved past him, she touched his cheek affectionately, a smile on her face.

She poured some of the oil into the wok, heat and the nutty smell of the sesame rising, and then poured some more in, just to be safe. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Song Lan leaned against the counter. Right in front of the ginger and garlic she had set aside. She sighed, stepping up to him.

“Oh.” He looked down. “I’m sorry. What do you need?”

Ginger and garlic.

Song Lan reached behind him and handed her both, nose wrinkling slightly.

“How much ginger are you going to add?” The concern was clear in his voice.

Her eyebrows shot up, mouth open in a wide smile.

I think that depends, she signed.

“…Lin Ming,” he said as he backed up, trying to find a spot in the small kitchen where he wouldn’t be in the way. “I said I was sorry.”

Still smiling, she dumped the ingredients in, listening to the sizzle and pop. For a moment, she stood, going over the steps of the recipe in her head. Already she was fuzzy on the details. Behind her, Song Lan leaned over her shoulder, one hand resting lightly on her back.

It was comforting and gentle and when she turned to retrieve the bowl of water where the eggplant was soaking, it meant he was in her way again.

A slow look of realization crossed his face.

“-- oh no.”

Every time, I’m adding more peppers, she signed.

His shoulders slumped.

“You wouldn’t,” he said.

She put a hand on his waist and moved him out of her way, picking up the bowl and grinning.

Would you drain this? she mouthed the words.

“Of course,” he said, the nod he gave as he moved to complete his task solemn, serious.

Lin Ming’s face softened as she watched him before grabbing the jars of soy sauce, black vinegar, and bean paste, adding enough of each to create the base of the yu xiang sauce. By the time she had mixed it well with the long wooden spoon, Song Lan returned with the eggplant, his nose wrinkling even more as the aroma hit him.

“That smells spicy.” A beat. “Is this good?”

He held out the bowl to her and she examined it, giving him a short nod of approval before taking it to the counter and searching for the bag of cornstarch. Song Lan followed after her. When the first shelf she looked over yielded nothing, she turned around towards the cabinet and collided with Song Lan. He caught her by the arms.

“I promise I’m not doing this on purpose,” he said. There was a look of embarrassment mixed with amusement on his face, the situation so ridiculous that even he couldn’t help but find the humor in it.

Giving an exaggerated sigh, she signed, I know. Chop the green onions, there in the basket.

“I can do that.” He rubbed her arms in apology. “And I will stay out of the way.”

One of her eyebrow’s quirked upwards as if she didn’t quite believe him and then returned to the task at hand. When the cornstarch was found, she lightly coated the eggplant with it. That on purpose and the cornstarch that clung to her clothing and hands on accident.

She wiped her hands on the towel that hung on a hook, considered doing the same for her clothing and decided against it. Her eyes narrowed. There was an ingredient she was missing. Scanning the kitchen, she saw the jar of chopped and pickled peppers she had set aside earlier and then forgotten about. Carefully, she moved to grab it, keeping an eye on Song Lan the entire time. Just in case.

“Are you adding all of that?”

The words sounded so dejected that Lin Ming froze like a rabbit that had been spotted by a hawk. Song Lan had paused in middle of chopping, knife poised over the remaining green onions, looking at the jar in her hand with trepidation. She had been about to dump the entire contents into the wok. The look on her face became sheepish and she shook her head.

No, I won’t add it all. Just a little, she signed.

He smiled at her.

“Thank you, Lin Ming.”

True to her word, she only shook a bit of the pickled peppers out, mixing it into the sauce that was now a dark, close to black, reddish-brown. He brought over the green onion, dumping it in as she continued to mix. It looked right. Only one step left. She tilted her head, looking past Song Lan, to where the eggplant sat. This time, she squeezed past him, not bothering to move him out of the way. It seemed to be a fruitless task. The corner of his mouth twitched.

Almost done, she signed after she dumped the eggplant in, coating it with oil and sauce, mixing it as she watched it cook. When it looked close to done, she lifted the spoon and tasted the sauce.

“Is it good?” asked Song Lan.

Lifting herself up on her the tips of her toes, she kissed him, the mix of ginger and pepper cut with the saltiness of the soy sauce. He brushed a bit of cornstarch off her chin.

“A little spicy, but I don’t mind.”

[gloriousmonsters]

comprehensive list of every MDZS character that has made a ‘are we in a relationship/is this gay??’ post in an au where everything is the same except reddit exists and people use modern terminology when it’s funny

obviously, wei wuxian. ‘i’ve been playing gay chicken with this guy and sleeping in the same bed as him and he’s really quiet but he hasn’t been telling me to quit it like he used to and also he looks at me strangely sometimes and buys me drinks and we actually wound up having sex the other night--’ responses tend: ‘you’ve had sex how many times? yeah, that’s not technically a bromance’

lan xichen makes one while on the road with meng yao, lovingly detailing how they’ve been doing chores together and meng yao thoughtlessly called him a ‘good boy’ while doing laundry and it made him blush really hard, omg, and he wants to believe something might be there but meng yao is just so smart and talented and the situation’s difficult so he doesn’t want to presume even though meng yao keeps touching his hands while teaching him to mend clothes and seems to have a special smile just for him, etc etc. responses: people going ‘op just go for it’ and a bunch of people just calling him a sub

xiao xingchen and song lan make posts at the same time about their amazing friend that they share a common dream with and we kind of casually hold hands sometimes and call each other endearments but like, platonically? i think? reponses: ‘oh my fucking god *posts screenshot of the other one’s post*’. they wind up having a good laugh over it and making an update post about how they’re together now

years later xiao xingchen makes a post about how he’s been cohabiting with this guy who keeps on making jokes to make him laugh and teasing him by calling them ‘married’ and like, they are living together and sort of raising a teenager, well mostly she’s raising herself, but anyway - he thinks he’s getting signals but he’s had some trouble with relationships ending messily before, and he doesn’t want to presume something and make his friend uncomfortable, what they have is so precious... responses: a-qing’s burner account saying the guy is sus, don’t go for it. xue yang’s burner saying ‘he’s 100% into you. jump his bones’

jin guangyao makes a post asking ‘if a guy you really like and sort of had a summer romance with asks you to be sworn brothers, but like... also sworn brothers with your ex, what does it mean?’ and deletes the post after accumulating a bunch of responses demanding more info

jiang cheng demands to know that if you’re best friends with someone and they’re sort of your adopted brother but definitely your sect brother and they PROMISED with their OWN MOUTH to stay by your side and then they dump you to go off and cohabit with ANOTHER MAN and a bunch of refugees but that bit’s not important, that’s like, a breach of contract, right? because you’re in a relationship, right? responses: a number of people directing him to r/AITA. ‘op is this even a romantic relationship or is it a bro thing’ jc replies saying IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT IT IS and deletes, but not before screenshots are everywhere

xue yang makes a post about how he was like, sort of faking being into this guy for lulz but now he’s kind of caught feelings and the flirting-to-make-the-other-guy-uncomfortable has escalated to morning kisses and the dude keeps leaving candy on his pillow and like... do you guys think he’s just playing along with the joke, or is it serious? responses: ‘oh my fucking god op’ ‘yeah you’re dating. you’re like 75% married’ and a-qing’s burner account telling him he’s reading too much into it

su she makes a post detailing how he’s had a crush on his boss who’s also his friend for a while and so he doesn’t want to let his hopes make him assume anything but his boss is extremely touchy-feely with him sometimes and asks him to work late alone together on... projects, it’s not important what, and maybe he gets playfully called a ‘work boyfriend’ a lot and his boss goes out of his way to compliment him sometimes, etc... Multiple responses point out he’s listed like 80 kinds of HR violations. su she replies it doesn’t matter. responses assert that yeah, it kind of does, also did you mention your boss already has a boyfriend? red flag op. sms gets pissed at nobody addressing his actual question and deletes the post

jin guangyao makes a post asking how many times you have to ‘jokingly’ call someone your boyfriend and spend late nights working on projects while finding excuses to touch before you acknowledge maybe something is going on. he gets a few OH MY GOD IT’S YOU... MR HR VIOLATIONS responses before swiftly deleting

wen ning has attempted to write a post several times throughout his life and undeath and always chickened out and deleted what he wrote at the last moment. he finally just makes a post about regrets and wishing you’d asked things outright and shared your feelings on r/offmychest or something. it’s very moving and gets shared a lot. wwx absolutely sees it and comments ‘man the dude in this story must be an asshole to not realize op’s feelings’ with 0 self awareness. for my own happiness this absolutely is the start to an endgame ningxian postcanon au

lan wangji makes an account post guanyin temple to ask ‘if a man tells me ‘I like you, I love you, I whatever you, I want to fuck you every day’, does that mean we’re in a relationship?’ he ignores every response except the first person to just say ‘yep’, replies ‘thank you’ to that person and then never returns to xianxia reddit

[robininthelabyrinth]

For a prompt, what if Wen Xu arrives to burn down the Cloud Recesses while everyone is studying there

Home Alone - ao3

“All right,” Wei Wuxian said, when Lan Qiren announced that the Cloud Recesses would be imminently under attack by Wen Xu and the Wen sect armies, the calm in his monotone voice belied by the wrinkle of concern in his forehead. “We’re going to make that bastard wish he’d never been born, right?”

He was speaking lightly, as he always did, trying to make those around him feel more comfortable, braver, less afraid – his was the language of confidence and arrogance, of never backing down, and he didn’t know how else to speak.

He didn’t mean anything in particular by it, or at least not more than he usually did.

He wasn’t expecting Lan Qiren to look at him and say, “If you have any ideas, now is the time to contribute them.”

-

“So what exactly do you do again?” Wei Wuxian asked, following the older Lan sect disciple around – at least, the man was dressed like a Lan sect disciple, and with a forehead ribbon suggesting that he shared blood with the main clan, too, but Wei Wuxian wasn’t so sure he really was one.

“I blow stuff up, usually,” Lan Yueheng said cheerfully.

That was why Wei Wuxian had doubts.

The man was practically skipping. There was no way he was a Lan.

“Shishu is an alchemist,” Lan Wangji said. His hands were folded behind his back, as always, and he looked tense as might be expected, what with an imminent attack on his home by a colossal army intent on ravaging and destroying everything in its path – but the way he looked at Lan Yueheng was unaccountably fond, as if he were someone he was close to. Wei Wuxian hadn’t known there was anyone other than Lan Qiren or Lan Xichen that Lan Wangji was close to. He was oddly jealous. “Not always successfully.”

“Hey, at blowing things up, I am the most successful!” Lan Yueheng grinned. A moment later, though, the grin faded, and he looked anxious. “Wangji, are you sure you won’t go with your brother?”

“Brother will protect the sect books,” Lan Wangji said solemnly. “I will stay here to defend the sect and the guest disciples.”

Wei Wuxian appreciated that, being one of said guest disciples.

Anyway, it made sense. Lan Qiren had seriously considered trying to send them away with Lan Xichen, saying that their lives were more important than some extra books – other Lan elders hadn’t necessarily agreed, judging by their expressions – but regretfully concluded that adding more people to Lan Xichen’s escape route would do nothing but reveal its existence, dooming all of them.

So they’d split up: Lan Xichen, heading out virtually alone with the most precious Lan sect books, and all the rest of them here to try to resist as much as they could – even Lan Wangji.

Lan Yueheng didn’t try to argue with Lan Wangji, only sighed, sounding as though he’d expected nothing less from him and had only felt the need to make a token protest before accepting it as inevitable. It seemed he really was close to Lan Wangji.

Yeah, Wei Wuxian was definitely jealous.

“All right, then,” Lan Yueheng said, shaking his head and resuming his cheer. “Blowing things up in self-defense plan it is! You’re both talented in music, right?”

“What does music have to do with explosions?” Wei Wuxian asked.

-

The answer, apparently, was a lot – at least when you were an experimental alchemist in a musically inclined sect and you’d developed a way to trigger explosions via certain combinations of musical notes.

-

“So, did you know that Teacher Lan was scary?” Wei Wuxian asked Jiang Cheng, who’d finally returned from helping get all the elderly and children and civilians to evacuate – and refusing to join them, of course, even though he was entitled to go in order to preserve his life, being the heir of a sect and all that, completely typical Jiang Cheng – and was now pacing around, eager for a fight.

“Just because he punished you a few times doesn’t make him scary,” Jiang Cheng said.

“No, it doesn’t,” Wei Wuxian agreed. “You know what does make him scary? Playing music that makes his opponents try to cut their own necks.”

“…what?”

“Apparently he gets really upset when you mess with his students,” Wei Wuxian said wisely.

Unlike Jiang Cheng, he’d had time to adjust to the concept of Lan Qiren being terrifying: they were on the fifth wave of scouts, and this set wasn’t doing any better than the first four, not even when they’d realized it would be better if they stopped their ears with wax before approaching.

That’d only made Lan Qiren shift tactics – and songs.

Some of which had an even wider area of impact.

“Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng said, looking at him suspiciously. “What did you do?”

“I convinced Teacher Lan that guerrilla warfare that destroyed as much of the enemy as possible would be more effective than just trying to defend the sect’s territory, since that was clearly a lost cause,” Wei Wuxian said promptly. “He agreed, but said that he could only do so much since he wasn’t a very good sword fighter. And then I asked him if he knew anything else that could be used as an attack and he said ‘no’ and then he said ‘well, I suppose’ and then he listed off a few things that – according to him – aren’t meant to be used in warfare but, and this is a direct quote, ‘could be put to a destructive use if one so wished it’.”

“And we now ‘so wish it’?”

“Yup. Oh, and watch out for anything that has a Lan sect cloud with a three-looped circle carved into the side of it, and I do mean anything– those explode.”

“Of course they do.”

“Hey! For once it has nothing to do with me!”

-

“I thought you said he said he was bad at swordfighting,” Jiang Cheng said suspiciously.

Wei Wuxian held out his hands helplessly in a ‘don’t look at me’ gesture, trying to defend himself from a sharp and pointy elbow to the side while also not pulling his eyes away from the ongoing battlefield for even a single moment.

“Shufu considers himself to be of average skill at the sword,” Lan Wangji said in the peaceable tone of someone who had been taught the basics of swordfighting by the person in question. The basics of really awesome swordfighting. “His real strength is in music, as you’ve seen.”

“I get that, really, I do, his music is terrifying,” Wei Wuxian said, and meant it completely. Between the two, he’d rather go up against Lan Qiren with a sword, where he’d at least be able to make a decent showing of himself before getting chopped to bits by the man’s fluid and almost seemingly delicate style that was nevertheless highly effective at skewering Wen sect disciples left and right; it would be better than with music, where he might as well just cut his own throat or strangle himself with guqin strings now to save Lan Qiren’s fingers the trouble. “But Jiang Cheng’s still right, okay – why in the world does he consider that to be ‘average’? Who is he comparing himself to?”

Lan Wangji considered the question for a long moment, then finally said: “A statistical outlier.”

-

“I wish we had aerial attacks we could use against the Wen sect’s swords,” Wei Wuxian said wistfully, and next to him Jiang Cheng nodded with a sight of longing – it was so frustrating seeing more and more Wen sect soldiers arriving in groups, like flocks of birds that started to fill the skies because they couldn’t be so easily shot down. “But if we try anything, they’ll just shield against us.”

“Teacher Lan said we can’t use spiritual energy against them, since we’d lose,” Jiang Cheng said, and as much as they all regretted it, Lan Qiren was probably right: they might be better trained than the Wen sect soldiers, might be better cultivators and stronger in spiritual energy individually, but they were young and immature, and at a serious numerical disadvantage.

It would be far too easy for the flying cultivators to stop their flying just long enough to set up a defensive array, block whatever spiritual attack they sent out, and then keep going to find and stab them before they’d even recovered from the energy expenditure.

“I didn’t mean spiritual energy,” Wei Wuxian grumbled. “I just meant, you know, like the explosives we’ve laid in all over the ground – something like that. If we could attach those to something…”

“I don’t think we have anything that flies anyway,” Lan Yueheng said regretfully.

“You have lanterns, don’t you?” Nie Huaisang said, and everyone turned to look at him. “Fill them with something that explodes when disturbed and send them floating into the air. Better yet, write ‘peace’ on the side of them to make it look like you’re making some sort of meaningful gesture designed to shame them. The Wen sect won’t be able to resist kicking them aside as an insult, and that’ll trigger them.”

They all stared at him.

He shrugged.

“We have a lot of defenses set up against invasion, at home,” he said. “And not always the budget to pay for anything fancy, so we’ve come up with some slightly more unorthodox ideas, too.”

“It’s a really good idea,” Wei Wuxian said, suddenly focused on the hitherto ignored Nie Huaisang. Clearly he’d made a tactical error, thinking of himself as the only person who knew how to get up to tricks. “Do you have any other ideas like that?”

Nie Huaisang smiled.

-

“Teacher Lan, I have an idea,” Wei Wuxian said, inserting himself briefly into the clearing near the Lan sect gate where Lan Qiren was sitting to rest in preparation for the Wen sect’s next attack. “But you’re going to hate it.”

“You may proceed,” Lan Qiren said, not looking up.

“Wait,” Wei Wuxian said, blinking. “Really? You’re not even going to ask what it is? Or why you’d hate it so much?”

“There is no time for that,” Lan Qiren said, and finally spared him a glance. He looked tired. “Things will get worse very soon.”

“But we’re winning!”

“No,” Lan Qiren said, shaking out his fingers – even despite occasionally alternating to using the sword when necessary, he’d played his guqin to the point of drawing blood and breaking nails, and was continuing despite everyone pleading with him to stop and swap out for someone else for a while. He’d said that there was no one else on his level, and he was probably right, but still, surely, just for a little… “We are surviving. Do not mistake the two.”

-

“Okay, so,” Wei Wuxian said, rubbing his hands together. “Resentful energy –”

“No,” Lan Wangji said.

-

“Thanks,” Wei Wuxian said to Jin Zixuan, who’d probably just saved his life by stabbing a Wen sect cultivator in the back right before the man had been able to stop Wei Wuxian from activating another series of explosions. “I guess I owe you one?”

“Don’t mention it,” Jin Zixuan said. “How else can I help?”

“I don’t know,” Wei Wuxian said, scratching his head and thinking about Nie Huaisang as precedent. There wasn’t time for schoolyard rivalries right now. “Do you have anything really unexpected that could be used to hurt people? Be creative – they’re guarded against all the usual defenses, so the weirder the better, anything goes. I won’t judge.”

Jin Zixuan thought about it. “I’m pretty sure I have a drug that puts people to sleep?”

“…why do you have something like that?”

Jin Zixuna grimaced. “My father gave it to me along with another one that he said not to use in excess, though I don’t actually know what that one does because that was about when my mom ran in and started throwing things at him. I can’t throw it away because it was a gift from my father, but I put it as deep into my bags as I could so that I’d never have to see or touch it. Ever.”

Wei Wuxian’s nose wrinkled. He’d never before felt pity for Jin Zixuan, but having to put up with Jin Guangshan on a regular basis was pretty bad – much less owing him filial piety.

No wonder Jin Zixuan was so twitchy all the time.

“Okay, so one sleep drug and one…uh…”

“Enhancement. Presumably. Can we throw it at the other side? Maybe turn it into incense and make smoke-bombs or something?”

“You know what,” Wei Wuxian said. “Why not? If nothing else, it’d be distracting, right?”

-

“This doesn’t feel honorable,” Jiang Cheng said, watching the fun. They’d raided the Lan sect’s medicine cabinets and kitchens for other noxious and irritating substances that might make for good smoke-bombs – Jiang Cheng himself had even located a whole patch of something not unlike poison ivy that had been quickly repurposed for the cause. “Strictly speaking.”

“Honor’s overrated,” Wei Wuxian said. “Making the Wen bastards pay for attacking Lan Zhan’s home is what’s important.”

Lan Wangji didn’t smile, exactly, but Wei Wuxian took his expression as a win regardless.

-

It turned out that music could also make plants grow really fast.

According to Lan Qiren, the spell ruined the plants’ nutritional value and made them basically useless.

Well.

Useless if your goal was eating them, anyway.

(First they could grow under their enemies’ feet and attack them, roots and vines twining around them to strangle them, and then they could be used up in the smoke-bombs – two for the price of one!)

-

“Are you sure about not doing the whole resentful energy thing?”

“Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng said. “No.”

-

“Hey, Wei-xiong, do you have or can you create any more papermen?” Jin Zixuan asked.

“Yes, sure, plenty,” Wei Wuxian said. He’d like to say that he’d known he’d one day need such a skill, and that that was why he’d learned the trick so thoroughly, but that was a complete lie. “Why?”

“Nie-xiong, Jiang-xiong and I are going to use them to make a shadow-play to lure a bunch of Wen sect cultivators into another plant-and-explosives trap.”

“…that’s amazing, Jin-xiong,” Wei Wuxian said, marveling. “How do you even think of that?”

“Even I get into trouble sometimes,” Jin Zixuan said, and was startled into an unexpected smile when Jiang Cheng punched his shoulder approvingly.

-

Wei Wuxian was actually having a pretty good time with it all right up until the main force of the Wen sect decided to ignore all their traps and charge straight towards the classroom they’d fallen back to using as a headquarters, and then suddenly he wasn’t having a good time at all.

“Run,” Lan Qiren said, and put down his guqin, drawing his sword once more.

“But we can fight!” Jiang Cheng argued.

“Run.”

“Shufu –”

“Run.”

They ran.

-

“If you don’t come out, I’m going to make him pay,” Wen Xu called.

His fingers were knotted in Lan Qiren’s hair, pulling their teacher’s head back to show how his face was covered in blood, how it was seeping out through his mouth and nose, how one of his eyes was badly bruised and swollen from having been beaten down by sheer force of numbers.

Lan Qiren had made them pay dearly for their efforts to bring him down –

But there were just so many of them.

“How dare he,” Jiang Cheng hissed. “He was once one of Teacher Lan’s students, too!”

Wei Wuxian was holding Lan Wangji back, but only barely; his fingers were starting to go numb from the sheer effort of it. If Jin Zixuan and Jiang Cheng weren’t there to help him hold him down, Lan Wangji would have already given away their position, rushing out to make some futile gesture in his overwhelming rage. Wei Wuxian was focusing with all his being on how much he had to stop Lan Wangji from doing something like that, because if he wasn’t, if he let himself think about anything else for even a single moment, he’d have also run out there, sword drawn, without so much as a care – he hadn’t realized he’d be so angry over it, so furious, so betrayed and horrified by Wen Xu’s cruelty.

Prior to today, he wouldn’t have said he even liked Lan Qiren!

“My students are not so foolish as to fall for so obvious a scheme as that,” Lan Qiren said, his tone as monotonous as it ever was during his lectures – for the briefest moment, Wei Wuxian felt that he was dreaming, that he had merely dreamt everything that had happened: surely it was still yesterday, with Lan Qiren standing tall, safe and healthy, at the front of the classroom, lecturing about one of the Lan sect rules…which one had it been? Shoulder the weight of morality? Have a strong will and anything can be achieved? Be mighty, and others will die for you?

Do not break faith?

Somehow, despite everything that had happened, Lan Qiren’s eyes curved ever so slightly.

“Present company excluded, of course.”

Wen Xu threw him down to the ground, mouth twisting and teeth gnashing with offended anger.

“Beat him,” he ordered his men. “Make it hurt. I want him screaming – let’s see how his precious students like that. Or maybe it’s just that they don’t care?”

-

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said, eyes red with unshed tears and barely swallowed rage. “Tell me your idea about resentful energy.”

-

“Perhaps,” Lan Qiren said, then paused briefly to cough up some blood. His voice, when he resumed speaking, was hoarse. “Perhaps I should have reviewed your idea more closely when you first proposed it.”

“Possibly,” Wei Wuxian said, offering up some cloth to help wipe away the blood. Lan Wangji was busy bandaging his uncle’s injuries up, while Jiang Cheng, Jin Zixuan, and Nie Huaisang hovered by the door, only barely pretending to be keeping a lookout the way they were supposed to. “In my defense, I didn’t quite expect…that.”

Everyone politely did not ask him to elaborate.

The effects had been…well, it turned out using resentful energy the way Wei Wuxian had thought was possible, to say the least, and also that they’d taken down an awful lot of Wen sect soldiers in their defensive efforts.

“You will all have been affected by the resentful energy you used to summon the corpses,” Lan Qiren said. “Although the method you devised appears to avoid the most immediate consequences, which – let me remind you – include qi deviation and death in some instances, there is always the possibility that it has left traces of resentful energy within your meridians. If it is allowed to build up, it will escalate into a backlash that would rip your body and soul to pieces. There are spells and songs that can help clear your spirits and ease the effects.”

“Nie Huaisang has been playing some of them for us, since he can’t fight,” Lan Wangji said. “Nie sect ones – they’re…uh, not especially calming, more of a cleanse-by-force thing, but they seem to be working.”

Jiang Cheng nodded. “We’ll listen to any others that you’d like, Teacher Lan,” he said, anxious, and the rest of them nodded. “Just say which ones. If there’s any array or anything – or if you want us to write an essay about why using resentful energy is dangerous and wrong –”

Even Wei Wuxian nodded at that – even Nie Huaisang nodded, and he hated essays more than anything.

Lan Qiren huffed lightly. “Now you’re all so obedient.”

They all bowed their heads.

“…you did a good job,” Lan Qiren finally said, and they all looked up to stare at him. “You rescued me and repelled the Wen sect, however temporarily. Even though you used demonic cultivation, which is forbidden, you did not purposefully disturb graves, and you can make recompense to the spirits later. It was well done, and I thank you for it.”

He noticed that they were gaping and frowned at them.

“What have I taught you?” he scolded, and he sounded enough like he normally did that Wei Wuxian had the sudden urge to burst into totally inexplicable tears. “The preservation of human life is the priority, always. Why is this a surprise?”

“Shufu is right,” Lan Wangji said, and there was something of peace and calm in his eyes, the foundation of his world steady and unfaltering – he was almost glowing with it, satisfied and happy, and he was so utterly beautiful in Wei Wuxian’s eyes that it was almost blinding. “We acknowledge Teacher’s words.”

“We acknowledge Teacher’s words,” everyone else quickly agreed.

Lan Qiren shook his head, nodding in appreciation. “What is your next step now?” he asked. “The Wen sect was only repulsed, not defeated. They will not be gone long – they are already regrouping outside our gate, and this time they will be prepared for the effects of your demonic cultivation. In the end, they still have the advantage of numbers.”

“I don’t think we got as far as that in our plan,” Wei Wuxian said, rubbing the back of his head.

His thinking had mostly stopped at get Teacher Lan back and make them pay. He was pretty sure the same was true for Lan Wangji, and probably all the rest of the, too.

“Maybe you didn’t,” Nie Huaisang said with a sniff, and damnit, Wei Wuxian really needed to stop underestimating him just because he was a bad cultivator and a bit empty-headed. “I, on the other hand, sent a message back to my da-ge way back when this first started, and he should be here very soon with an army of his own.”

-

There were those in the Jiang sect that liked to mock the Nie sect as being unduly paranoid, always preparing for war and speaking grimly of its inevitability, always training their disciples and soldiers as if each one of them would need to fight five or ten of the enemy at once.

If Wei Wuxian ever met any of those people ever again, he was going to punch them in the face.

“Just be sure to get your sect ready when you get back,” Nie Mingjue advised them all grimly when it was all done and Wen Xu’s head was stuck on a pike at the entrance to the Cloud Recesses as a warning. The Nie sect’s forces were smaller than the Wen sect’s invasion force, but their people were better trained; even after flying all the way from Qinghe, they’d come down on the remaining invasion force like a hammer. “This isn’t over, not by a long shot.”

“We understand. There is still war to come.”

“Not just war, but uneven and unbalanced war, and not in our favor,” Nie Mingjue said heavily. “Understand that even with this loss, the forces of all the cultivation world put together can’t match up to the armies under Wen Ruohan’s command.”

“Actually,” Lan Qiren said, and gave all of his students a pointed look, probably on account of the fact that they all still owed him the essay they'd promised to write, “I think you’ll find that there’s something more that we can add…”

[plan-d-to-i]

tbh wwx only cares about jc and jyl because he grew up with them. If he didn't, then he wouldn't spare them a second glance.

I agree. I do think in a way WWX's feelings for YanLi were stronger than for jiang cheng- for example if he hadn't grown up with the Jiangs he might still get along with YanLi if let's say his parents visited w JFM. Her personality is not abrasive, and he's an easy going guy so what is there to argue about with her? Unless he suddenly had some strong feelings against soup... But if she hadn't been the only person to show him some warmth and nurturing- she wouldn't have represented that island of affection in his life, imperfect as it may have been yet idealized in his eyes. She would have been just another nice girl who found him charming. I believe even growing up with the Jiangs he would have still grown apart from her eventually because her priorities were marriage, Jin Zixuan, starting a family etc.

As for jiang cheng, he and WWX had nothing in common. They grew apart even growing up together. In the absence of WWX's duty to YunmengJiang and feeling of debt to Jiang Fengmian for taking him in, and forced proximity WWX wouldn't have any reason to put up with jc. He would think jc is an entitled, self absorbed prick and probably perpetually forget his name.

Wei Wuxian naturally admires upright people, like Lan Wangji and XXC. Character is very important to him ( things jc lacks in). These are the type of people he would choose as his friends:

He glanced over at Lan Wangji’s palms and upper back, and indeed, his injuries hadn’t healed—when he said he hadn’t come here to recuperate, he had been telling the truth.

“Lan Zhan, I really admire you,” Wei Wuxian said sincerely. “After I told you that you had to punish yourself too, you actually did it. You didn’t let yourself off at all. I can’t argue against that.”

Lan Wangji closed his eyes again and was silent.

Wei Wuxian spoke once more. “I’m telling the truth. I’ve never seen anyone as upright as you, who says something and means it like you do. I definitely couldn’t act like that. You’re amazing.”

Lan Wangji continued to ignore him.

Once Wei Wuxian no longer felt cold, he began swimming around the cold springs. After swimming for a while, he still couldn’t help but paddle in front of Lan Wangji. “Lan Zhan, did you figure out what I was trying to do earlier?”

“No,” Lan Wangji replied.

“Really, you didn’t know? I was kissing up to you so you’d be my friend.” (Chapter 18)

and

After hearing this long tale, Wei Wuxian quietly sighed and felt his stomach sink with regret. To end up like that due to something that originally had nothing to do with him, that’s seriously…if Xiao Xingchen had been born a few years earlier, or if I had died a few years later, things wouldn’t have turned out like this. If I had been alive, something like this would never have been brushed aside. And I would definitely have become friends with a person of his character! (Chapter 30)

And on observing Song Lan in empathy:

When Ah-qing cocked her head, Song Lan had already walked over. He placed his horsetail whisk on her shoulder and guided her to the side. “There are fewer people on the edge of the road.”

He does deserve to be called an intimate friend of Xiao Xingchen’s, Wei Wuxian thought. Intimate friends have to have similar character and conduct. (Chapter 40)

[madness-maybe-managed]

Deserted Winter Night:

Summary: When SiZhui falls ill, Lan Wangji tells him the story of Sankt Zichen and Sankt XingChen of the Deserted Winter Night, history and legend’s two most tragic Saints.

━──┉┉┅┄┄┈ ✮ ┈┄┄┅┉┉────━

Stories were what cemented SiZhui’s faith in Saints. Tales of the noble Sheng, as they were called in Shu. Stories Lan Wangji told him at night to help him sleep when SiZhui, a young child, was plagued by fevers and the nightmares that accompanied them.

“Sheng Zichen,” Lan Wangji would murmur as the snow fell outside SiZhui’s window. “The silent frost. Sheng XingChen,” he would nod to the moon, allowing its light to spill over his features and onto the bed. “The blind moon.”

“Who were they?” SiZhui whispered, his voice feeble but his mind eager. It didn’t matter that Lan Wangji was a man of a few words to others—for his son, he could tell stories as well as he could play the guqin.

Lan Wangji sighed, looking away from the snow to brush his son’s hair from his forehead and lay a cool cloth to burning skin.

“They are the greatest tragedy of the world.” Lan Wangji answered after a moment. “Sheng Hua Cheng and Sheng Xie Lian, the greatest love story, the Saints of overcoming obstacles and eternity. You remember them?”

SiZhui nodded. Lan Wangji folded his hands. “Sheng Zichen and Sheng XingChen are like them, a pair of Saints, but their story does not have a happy ending. They are the Saints of mourning, of that which is lost to winter. Huāng dōng yè de Zǐchén shèngrén hé XīngChén shèngrén; Sankt Zichen and Sankt XingChen of the Deserted Winter Night.”

“What happened to them?” SiZhui asked, entranced by the name.

“They were once two mighty Etherealki.” Lan Wangji raised his hands, and at his command, snow swept into the room and hovered in a swirl, forming a star before flying back out. “Xiao XingChen was a Tidemaker. Song Zichen was a Squaller.”

“Like you and Grand-Uncle!” SiZhui grinned. “Sheng XingChen was like Uncle Xichen, long ago, right?”

Lan Wangji’s lips turned up slightly, and he fixed the covers. “Right. We looked up to them, your uncle and I. I wanted to be a powerful Etherealnik who could control the snow like Song Zichen. Your uncle admired Xiao XingChen greatly, because he was exactly like the moon. The tides bowed to his will the way subjects bow to a king.”

The word ‘king’ made SiZhui curious. “Which king did they serve?” he asked. “Were they part of the Grisha army?”

Lan Wangji shook his head. “They served no king, fought in no army. They were like the elements the commanded, coming and going to help those in need, who wished to establish a sect based on not blood ties or abilities, but ideals. They were wanderers who did not care about who had power, only who needed theirs. Unfortunately,” he sighed, his light eyes looking regretful, “it would later be what caused their end.”

SiZhui attempted to sit up, eager to listen, but Lan Wangji gently pushed him back down.

“Patience, and I will tell you.”

As SiZhui obediently tucked himself into his covers again, eyes shining with curiosity, Lan Wangji straightened, closing his eyes to think, and then opened them.

“Xiao XingChen was the student of the immortal Baoshan Sanren, and people say he descended from her mountain to travel the world and help those in need. Song Zichen came from a temple, a follower of The Path. Song Zichen and Xiao XingChen travelled together, helping those in need. They asked for no payment and did not walk away from those who were suffering.

“One day, a man came to Xiao XingChen for help. His family had been murdered and he wanted to find the criminal. Xiao XingChen was a kind soul, and eventually he tracked down the killer, an Alkemi named Xue Yang. Xiao XingChen turned him over for trial and execution, but the man suddenly recanted his statement, even though Xiao XingChen had found the culprit. The man refused to explain further, leaving behind Xue Yang and Xiao XingChen. Xue Yang warned Xiao XingChen not to forget him and that they would meet again. Xiao XingChen took no heed of the words and left.”

“So what happened?” SiZhui asked.

Lan Wangji looked back at the window, studying the moonlight as it fell on the snow.

“The temple Song Zichen belonged to was attacked, its inhabitants slaughtered and its floors soaked in blood. Xue Yang had massacred Baixue temple, and within it, he poisoned Song Zichen’s eyes. ‘Tell Xiao XingChen this is a gift from me!’ Xue Yang said to Song Zichen, leaving him for dead. When Xiao XingChen discovered him, Song Zichen was almost gone. Despairing with grief, Song Zichen told Xiao XingChen not to meet with him again.”

“Then?” SiZhui breathed, fascinated.

“Xiao XingChen broke his vow to Immortal Baoshan Sanren, taking Song Zichen to her mountain and begging for him to be healed. Xiao XingChen carved out his own eyes for Song Zichen, then left the mountain. Song Zichen recovered and left as well, but they did not reunite.”

SiZhui frowned, dissatisfied. “Why wouldn’t they reunite? Weren’t they close?”

“They were, but wounds are wounds.” Lan Wangji soaked the cloth again and returned it to SiZhui’s forehead. “Later, Xiao XingChen had been found in a small town called Yi City, living with a young otkazat’sya girl named A-Qing and another young man. Xiao XingChen had been hunting fierce corpses, but what he didn’t know was that the young man whom he had saved from death was really Xue Yang, who kept himself hidden from Xiao XingChen even after he was healed. Xue Yang used corpse powder to poison the villagers and cut out their tongue, tricking Xiao XingChen into killing humans instead of fierce corpses.”

SiZhui’s eyes were wide with shock. “What?” he gaped. “He made him kill people?”

Lan Wangji nodded.

“What happened to Song Zichen?” SiZhui asked.

“He wandered the world searching for Xiao XingChen to apologise for their falling out. When he arrived at Yi City, he confronted Xue Yang, who revealed to him Xiao XingChen’s sacrifice. Stunned by this, Song Zichen was caught off-guard, and Xue Yang poisoned him with corpse powder and cut out his tongue. Alerted by the corpse powder, Xiao XingChen unknowingly drove his sword through Song Zichen’s heart. When Song Zichen was stabbed, the winds stopped and the weather became colder, as if the sky had stopped breathing.”

SiZhui’s mouth fell open, his eyes twice their size. This was not a children’s tale anymore, but he needed to know what happened. “And then?” He tugged on Lan Wangji’s sleeve.

“Song Zichen became a fierce corpse. A-Qing, having seen the ordeal, tried to convince Xiao XingChen to leave, but before she succeeded, Xue Yang arrived. Xiao XingChen confronted him, stabbing Xue Yang in the gut, but before he could kill him, Xue Yang revealed that Xiao XingChen had killed the villagers and Song Zichen. Distraught, Xiao XingChen took his own life. People say that at that moment, the seas churned as if in agony, and the moonlight seemed to spill as if weeping, while Yi City was covered in shadows.”

“What happened to Xue Yang?” SiZhui asked.

“He remained in Yi City for several years, until finally, he was killed by Song Zichen, who had managed to break free of the control Xue Yang had put him under, and regained control of his summoning powers. Legends say he became a Shadow Summoner after reawakening. Xiao XingChen’s soul was contained in a pouch, so Song Zichen swore to travel the world and exorcise evil with him, hoping that he would return. And if he did, he would tell Xiao XingChen that he was not at fault.”

Lan Wangji looked out the window at the nighttime scenery.

“Song Zichen, the distant snow and bitter frost, silent grief. Xiao XingChen, the bright moon and gentle breeze, blind justice. Sheng Zichen, patron saint of those seeking a reprieve. Sheng XingChen, patron saint of those who wish to help. Together, saints of mourning. Huāng dōng yè de Zǐchén shèngrén hé XīngChén shèngrén; Sankt Zichen and Sankt XingChen of the Deserted Winter Night.”

SiZhui looked out the window at the night sky, admiring the moonlight coating the fresh snow, the way the frost danced in the breeze.

“When you are wandering, pray to Sankt Zichen and Sankt XingChen,” Lan Wangji said gently. “The moon is blind, so we may find what we seek. The frost is silent, so we may hear what lies around us. For those who wish to help others in this world, A-Yuan, there will always be a reprieve. In the shadows of the winter night, A-Yuan, you will never be alone. Do you understand?”

SiZhui nodded, smiling. “I understand, Father.”

Lan Wangji smiled and smoothed over the covers. “Sleep, now. I will see you in the morning.”

SiZhui’s dreams that night were filled with swirling snow and frost, of bright moonlight and breeze, the way oceans and wind danced together. Shadows covered his mind as two swords flew in sync, perfectly complementing one another.

‘Shuang Hua and Fu Xue uphold righteousness

Stay hidden in a melancholic dream

The knocking of the bamboo sounds like crying, my life is in vain

Leaving behind a lonely city with nowhere to go’

[thearvariblues]

The Bestest of Ideas

Inspired by this gorgeous SongXue fanart. It’s an “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help it” situation again, okay?!

*

Song Lan blinks stupidly when the book he was holding only a few seconds ago disappears without a single word of warning. He lifts his eyes only to see it being slammed shut and thrown somewhere towards the edge of the bed.

A second later, a telltale thud announces the fact that it probably missed its intended resting spot and tumbled to the floor.

“Oops,” Xue Yang grins and quickly climbs into the lying Song Lan’s lap to prevent his boyfriend from getting up.

“I was reading that,” Song Lan says.

“I’m aware,” Xue Yang nods. “And I’ll let you go right back to it in a moment.”

“You could have at least let me finish a page.”

“Oh, no, no, no, Zichen, we don’t play that game anymore,” Xue Yang announces resolutely. “You always say let me finish a page, and then I wake up three hours later and you’ve finished the whole fucking book and my plan’s all ruined. Nope, I gotta do it quick. Like when you wanna rip off the band-aid.”

“All right, then,” Song Lan sighs in an overdramatically resigned way. “What do you want?”

“Is this how you talk to the love of your life, you fucker?”

“What the fuck do you want, my honey butter biscuit?”

“Honey butter… Oh, Zichen, you’re such an idiot,” Xue Yang laughs.

“Xue Yang…” Song Lan says in a tone that’s clearly intended to remind Xue Yang of the fact that the only reason Xue Yang is still sitting in his lap is because Song Lan is currently allowing it.

“All right, all right. Zichen, babe,” Xue Yang snorts. “I’ve got the bestest of ideas.”

“I’m all ears, my sweet little dumpling.”

Xue Yang winks, reaches into the pocket of his sweatpants and pulls out a tiny object that makes Song Lan’s eyebrows lift very slightly up.

“I realized you’d look simply gorgeous in red, babe,” Xue Yang murmurs, opening the lipstick to reveal its color to Song Lan. He leans forward and rests his elbow on Song Lan’s chest, the lipstick hovering just an inch above his lips. “Will you let me?”

It’s clear that Song Lan is trying very hard to seem unaffected by this, bored, even, but there’s a horny glint in his eyes that gives away just how into this he is.

“All right,” he murmurs, gently stroking Xue Yang’s forearm with his hand.

“Awesome,” Xue Yang grins, lowering the lipstick to Song Lan’s lips. “You’re gonna look so pretty, Zichen, so pretty…”

Song Lan’s eyes are fixed on Xue Yang, filled with excitement and lust and love.

“You always say yes to all my stupid shit,” Xue Yang smirks. “You’d let me do anything to you, wouldn’t you. I love that. Love you, Zichen. Fuck. You look gorgeous. Stunning. My pretty, pretty Zichen. Hang on, I need to take a pic, I’m so gonna jerk off to this every chance I get…”

Xue Yang tries to get up, but then Song Lan is grabbing him and flipping them around and kissing him like a man starving, yanking Xue Yang’s hair tie off to bury his fingers in Xue Yang’s hair, and when he pulls away, oh dear, his lipstick is a fucking mess, and probably all over Xue Yang’s face…

“You’re even more beautiful like this,” Xue Yang murmurs, running his thumb across Song Lan’s lips and his cheek, smearing the lipstick even more. “Fuck. Zichen.”

“I’m gonna ruin you, Xue Yang,” Song Lan whispers. “Turn you into a moaning, trembling, sobbing mess.”

“Oh, please. Zichen. Please.”

Song Lan’s red, red, red lips latch onto the side of Xue Yang’s neck, right below his ear, making him moan.

“By the way,” Song Lan murmurs, his breath hot against Xue Yang’s earlobe. “Don’t think I don’t know this was your plan all along. You’re gonna regret this, Xue Yang.”

Xue Yang chuckles.

“Promises, promises…”

*

By the time Song Lan is done with him, Xue Yang is a moaning, trembling, sobbing mess, unable to move or even think.

“I still don’t regret it, though,” he murmurs as Song Lan gently kisses his shoulder.

“Oh?” Song Lan replies, chuckling. “How about this, my dear little honey bunny. I changed the bed sheets this morning. Your turn.”

“No. You can’t do that to me. You know I hate doing it!” Xue Yang groans.

“Should have thought about that before, darling,” Song Lan, the cruel, cruel man, snorts and smacks Xue Yang’s ass. “But I’ll tell you what. I’ll grab my book, and then we can cuddle until I finish a chapter. Then we’ll take a shower. And if you’re nice, maybe I’ll help you with the bed sheets.”

“Two chapters.”

“All right, then. Two chapters.”

“Mhm,” Xue Yang purrs when Song Lan gets up to get the poor discarded book. “You know what, Zichen? You’d look really pretty with pink lipstick, too.”

“I see we need to update our list of kinks. Again.”

“Don’t say you didn’t enjoy it.”

“Oh, just wait until you see yourself in a mirror, A-Yang,” Song Lan says, lies back down and lifts his arm so Xue Yang can snuggle up to him.

“Wait until you see yourself,” Xue Yang laughs, closing his eyes. “Maybe you could make it three chapters?”

“Two. And then we can cuddle until it’s time for dinner.”

“Works for me. Wake me up when you’re done?”

“Sure. Sweet dreams, darling.”

Xue Yang smiles when he feels Song Lan’s gentle lips against his forehead.

“Love you, Zichen.”

“Love you too,” Song Lan whispers. “And A-Yang? You really have the bestest ideas.”

[admirableadmiranda]

I have no interest in the SongXiao part of the fandom but I'm curious about something...are people crying about consent here too? Or it's just a Jiang Cheng thing?

I also do not really cross to this side, but from what I've heard it sort of happens, but not really. Mostly the SongXiao side has to deal with the rare XueXiao fan who wants to bash Song Lan for saying something cruel and later regretting it.

It mostly pops up on the Jiang Cheng side because it's very hard to defend his actions unless you come up with a lot of nonsense to explain how terrible everything that happened to him is and how he never did anything wrong. Which as we all know is a load of bullcrap.

Jiang Cheng stans if you want to stop by and argue with me about medical consent on the golden core transfer, I'm just going to cite 72 hour holds to get people medical treatment without need of consent in situations where the person involved is clearly suicidal and not capable of making rational decisions. Even the law today would not place the blame on Wei Wuxian for trying to keep Jiang Cheng alive through a decision almost no one could make.

[spockandawe]

Hmm. What if. An mdzs au (definitely the book, not the show) where timelines diverge when a small, angry street kid with a missing finger and a desire to watch the world burn makes his way over to the burial mounds, because fuck it, he’s going to learn from the yiling laozu or die trying.

I have put no consideration into this whatsoever, and I know coherent timelines are the hardest part of involving Xue Yang in anything, but I think that if Xue Yang is like, a preteen, the other parts of the timeline may still fit into place? Honestly, I don’t really care if they don’t, I’m just also too lazy to check this very long book for the specific empathy flashback with the details of Xue Yang’s jinlintai cameo. If he has to be a few years younger than canon allows, it’s all good, baybee, cql fucked the timeline so I wouldn’t have to!

But anyways, consider a young Xue Yang, who’s not really old enough to be making his way in the world as a rogue pseudo-semi-cultivator, but is old enough to survive the attempt and learn more cultivation as he goes. And he doesn’t have family or money to back him up (not that those would have made an impact on Wei Wuxian), but I think he’s aware that he has extremely grand ambitions for someone in his position, and is very cheerfully willing to take risks to achieve them, even knowing that his odds of success are low and his odds of dying are high.

I’m thinking that he reaches Yiling, however he gets there. He sees the knockoff Yiling Laozu apprentices (and is Full of scorn), he sees the wards Wei Wuxian has raised around the Burial Mounds, and he’s not all that trained and is mostly self-taught, but has just enough raw talent that he manages to bust in through the wards himself.

I don’t want to try sorting out the exact details of how he convinces Wei Wuxian to let him stay, because this idea popped into my head like, legitimately thirty seconds before I started writing the post. But I don’t think it would hurt the Wens to have another pair of helping hands, I think Wei Wuxian is weak against children in general (especially children who are trying to learn a thing), and I think he’s also weak against a street kid struggling on his own in the world (and Xue Yang is smart enough to lean into the look-pitiful-to-gain-sympathy-points angle)

Additional point one: Wen Qing can look at his hand and his health in general, and I think Xue Yang could benefit a LOT from having a big sister in his life

Additional point two: Xue Yang would think that Wen Ning is the coolest thing, and it would benefit me emotionally if he sees Wen Ning as his super cool older brother and not as a fascinating science project he wants to copy on Song Lan later ;u;

Exact events would vary based on when Xue Yang made his arrival (before or after Wen Ning wakes up? before or after Lan Wangji visits Yiling? etc), and I would have to consider that carefully because I do want canon to diverge, and Xue Yang dying with the Wens would be so fucking tragic (kind of in a fascinating way? we the readers know that it prevents future atrocities, but here, he’s a different person than the one who committed those atrocities, and it’s like giving him a family only to have it yanked away (so, canon), but this is a tangent because I have to emphasize I have not plotted out anything)

I don’t know how I would want canon to diverge is part of the trouble. But like... one of my first details on the book that really, really got me good is the way that Wei Wuxian is superficially cheerful but is also poised on the edge of having a really rough time early in the book. After he casually tells Jin Ling ‘lmao, what, you didn’t have parents to teach you manners?’ he goes off on his own to have Regrets. What really starts pulling him out of his funk is when the kids need protection and education. And he thrives! Even when he’s roleplaying Mo Xuanyu, he’s in his element as an experienced cultivator helping guide the juniors to a solution so that they learn for themselves, but also ready to be a safety net so they don’t die in the process!

A-Yuan plays a little bit of this role for him in the Burial Mounds, but like... he’s a toddler, and is both too young to be taught at the level and depth that Wei Wuxian adores, and is yes an adorable sweet kid, but also exhausting and demanding in the way that all small children are. You can’t just put away a toddler and lay face-down on the floor for a week, even if you want to. Yes there are other people around to help, but everyone is working really, really hard just to survive in the Burial Mounds.

So. Give Wei Wuxian a preteen! Give him a kid who is saying ‘take me as your apprentice, gege, i’m gonna keep studying demonic cultivation whether you help me or not uwu’ and let Wei Wuxian convince himself that okay, stupid adults are free to do stupid shit and he isn’t responsible for them, but maybe he ought to keep an eye on this kid to make sure he doesn’t accidentally die trying to learn Wei Wuxian’s methods. Xue Yang is smart, quick, and demanding, but also capable of independence. It’s ideal. Give Wei Wuxian a kid to teach, give me them passionately arguing about theory, give me Xue Yang reading all of Wei Wuxian’s manuscripts, and forcing Wei Wuxian to engage a little more with the world around him instead of sinking down into himself. Give me Xue Yang still young enough that he can be convinced to trust the idea of a family. Give me Lan Wangji accompanying Wei Wuxian back to the burial mounds and Xue Yang trying to be all ‘hey, you’d better step off if you know what’s good for you’ and being ‘!!! >:O’ when he finds out Wei Wuxian let this stranger hold A-Yuan and it being the cutest thing ever. It would be so good for my heart, but my god, am i unequipped to write it.

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

The life we had (won't be ours again)

Based off one lyric from a Three Days Grace song

Warnings: explicit and detailed suicidial ideation and an almost suicide attempt! (But it has a happy ending!)

He had thought about it, once. It was a dark time in his life - the darkest, the loneliest, the most painful, when everything inside and out hurt nearly to the point of insanity.

It was two weeks after the death of the Yiling Patriarch was announced. Celebrations were still taking place. People were still rejoicing the death of a man they villified for no reason other than cheap propaganda and political machinations. A man that did not deserve to die. A man that Lan Wangji loved.

Near his seclusion house, there was a cliff, so steep you could not see the bottom of it, always shrouded in thick mist. It looked like a soft pillow, white and dense. Wangji liked staring at it, imagining what it would be like to fall. Whether he would die by the time he made it down or if he'd hit the ground first and then die a slow and agonizing death after.

But one day, after the doctor came to tend to the wounds on his marred back yet again, Wangji decided he had enough. He had enough of pain, bloody bandages, insomnia, tears, regrets, questions, loneliness. He had enough of everything.

He stumbled out of his house, right towards the cliff, intent to jump off. After all, people who are suffering and cannot be cured must be put out of their misery.

He was two steps away from falling before he heard somebody emerge from nearby bushes. There shouldn't have been anybody around. Wangji had never seen the old man that showed up ever before in his life.

"You shouldn't do what you came here to do." The man speaks, his voice warm, fatherly. "You may feel lost right now, but it won't be death where you find your purpose again."

Wangji felt.. angry? Frustrated? Who was this man? Why did he just have to show up?!

"I was like you, once. I lost the love of my life and everything we built together in a blink of an eye. It was sudden and unexpected and too much. And I didn't think there was any point to living anymore... so I came here to end it."

The old man closed his eyes for a second, breathing in the fresh air. "But then I realized that, if I died, the life in which I met my beloved would end too. That I'd never get to meet her for the first time again. That I'd never get to experience our first date or our wedding or the way she laughed anymore. That all the memories of her that I carried would be gone too."

A sad smile. "Don't you have anyone you want to live on in your memories?"

Wangji never saw that man again. He vanished before Wangji could even thank him or ask him his name.

But his words hung in the air like the very mist Wangji had been so ready to join minutes before.

He did have somebody whose memory he had to keep alive. He did want to remember everything about that person, even the things that now hurt.

He went to the Burial Mounds that very day. Had he been any later, A-Yuan would have been gone.

Now there was more than only a memory of Wei Ying for Lan Wangji to love.

And he did.

--

"Lan Zhan? Are you alright? You've been staring at that cliff for a while. Is there something wrong? I for one don't see anything there, it's just mist."

"Mn. It is nothing. Let's go home."

He almost thinks he sees the old man emerge from the bushes, smiling.

I never got to say it. Thank you.

[veliseraptor]

Hi, Lise...Thanks a lot for your fanfics (especially about XueXiao)...I just read a theory.....The theory says if Wei Wuxian's parents survived, he might have turned like Xiao Xingchen. If Wei Wuxian was never found by Jiang family, he might have turned out like Xue Yang and if he was found by an unkind sect leader he might have ended like Jin Guangyao.....Do you agree with this? Thoughts, please?

so!!! I feel like this is one of those things where I block someone in the tag roughly every other week about it (not you, anon, thanks for giving me the opportunity to ramble) so I might regret posting this because it might be wank bait, but ah well here goes.

I'm going to focus on the latter half of your ask rather than the former (Wei Wuxian turning out like Xiao Xingchen), because the answer to that one is just a straight "no" and that's boring to talk about.

First off: with Jin Guangyao I think it's important to note, also, that it's not as simple as "he was found by an unkind sect leader" - there's a lot of other baggage there that is behind [gestures] everything he does. But leaving that aside and just taking this as a "did Wei Wuxian only escape turning out much worse because he got lucky" as the core premise, because that's how I read it, more or less.

I don't think it's as simple or direct as "if x then y" when it comes to Wei Wuxian and what he would or wouldn't have done, how he would or wouldn't turn out. For instance: what guarantee is there that, if he grew up on the street, he would manage to cultivate a golden core at all? or would he invent demonic cultivation younger as a substitute? how would that look different than when he does it later? Given that he wasn't a bastard son, he fundamentally could not experience the precise sting of humiliation and shame that Jin Guangyao does (over and over again) - and that humiliation and shame is so very formative for Jin Guangyao.

But I will say this: MXTX fucking loves parallels and foils. They are everywhere, across her work, in every novel I've read of hers so far. Mirrors everywhere. Once you start looking for those motifs, they're fucking everywhere. In MDZS/CQL alone the obvious ones are the ones given here (Xue Yang/Wei Wuxian, Jin Guangyao/Wei Wuxian), but scratch a little and there's others (Lan Xichen & Jin Guangyao/Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji/Song Lan, Wei Wuxian/Xiao Xingchen...I could go on).

Another theme that MXTX seems to really like is about the difference kindness and compassion can make in shaping a person's behavior. I think SVSSS is most transparent about this (the difference between a Luo Binghe who grew up solely on violence and abuse and a Luo Binghe who grew up with someone who was kind to him), but I think you see it across works. MXTX is just...as far as I can tell, not interested in villainy qua villainy. Again and again, the people who do the most awful things in her work have what people would dismissively call a tragic backstory and I don't think that's incidental at all. Suffering breeds suffering.

I might go into this more later (I probably will) but to my eye, when the protagonists "triumph" over an antagonist in MXTX novels, more often than not it's a bittersweet victory at best, and often it's...not sweet at all. It's just sad. There's not really, at least from my perspective, as much of an ethos of punishment as I see in many other works I've read (or as I see in tumblr fandom reactions to the source text). The evil is defeated and no one is really happy about it. (Apex of this, I'd say, is Jun Wu and Xie Lian's confrontation at the very end of TGCF. Could say more on that; I don't think I will. At least not now.)

But I've strayed from the original question you were asking, though I suppose my answer is probably evident by now. I think there is an undercurrent of there but for the grace of God, as it were, in Wei Wuxian's foils, but I also think it's not just about him. I think it's about the underlying themes of the way people are chewed up and spit out by society itself, and how that shapes them, and how cruelty creates its own enemy. I think about Wen Chao and the appalling punishment Wei Wuxian visits on him, and lay it beside what Xue Yang does (off screen) to the Chang Clan, and I think it's a difference of degree rather than kind.

Part of the reason Wei Wuxian is fascinating is because in almost any other story he would be a villain. In his first life, that's his arc! It's a classic fall from grace, culminating in his final break - and it's only his death that averts it. And it is, honestly, the kind of death that would come to a villain: that is, killed by his own destructive power. CQL blunts the edges of this in a lot of ways (for instance, the carnage before the second flautist gets involved at Nightless City is...a little visually underwhelming), but I'd argue that it's still there.

Ultimately there's a lot of villain is in the eye of the beholder going on in MDZS/CQL, I would argue, and I think the mirroring and paralleling between Wei Wuxian and Xue Yang/Jin Guangyao is less meant to illustrate the ways in which Wei Wuxian Is Fundamentally Better and a Good Person Who Would Never Be Like That but more to show the difference a little kindness can make, and the destruction cruelty causes.

I'm not actually sure this made any sense! But I wrote all this anyway, so I'm going to go ahead and hit post anyway, and scurry back into my den to do the work I should've been doing instead of writing this response.

[wangxianficrecs]

Follower Recs

~*~

Hello Mojo, hope you're doing well and that you had a good break! I wanted to signal boost the MDZS May Diaspora event collection on AO3, and point out my favorite fic from there: 归心似箭 | Longing to Go Home by dragongirlG! It's both tender and bittersweet and it features such mature writing. The author got some hate for it when it initially got posted so I wanted to counter that and give it some love instead! [Who would do such a thing?!  @dragongirlg-fics I’m sorry that happened to you, and here, have *so many hugs!* I’ll try to do a thing just for the diaspora event, but meanwhile, I’ll just treat this as a follower rec.]

归心似箭 | Longing to Go Home

by dragongirlG (M, 8k, wangxian)

Summary:  The destruction of the Yin Tiger Seal does not kill Wei Wuxian; it ages him instead. He takes shelter in a cave expecting to die, but instead he lives, slowly learning to embrace life with each new day.

Thirteen years later, a young man with a Lan forehead ribbon stumbles into the cave. His name is Lan Sizhui.

~*~

Hi Momjo!!! I recently read the most *adorable* fic, and I loved it so much that it dragged me out of seclusion (read: social anxiety cave) to rec it. It's called 'Covered in Bees' by ScarlettStorm in which the Cloud Recesses is an apiary, and Wei Wuxian has suddenly found himself host to a swarm of bees. ~ @akyra-talanoa

Covered in Bees

by ScarlettStorm (T, 8k, wangxian)

Summary: “Cloud Reccesses Apiary,” says a toneless, deep masculine voice, with zero question in it. Wei Ying doesn’t care, because whoever possesses that voice is probably going to come save him from bees like a fucking hero while wearing like, a suit of armor. That’s what you wear to catch bees, right?

“I have like, so many bees outside my front door right now,” he says, mouth running out ahead of him before he can even begin to think about reining it in. “It’s like a sandstorm of bees out there. There are so many bees. I got out of my car and there were just bees and I don’t want these bees. Do you want these bees? Please tell me you will come get these bees. I can’t leave my house and I have enough food for maybe a week but then I’m gonna have to learn how to cook dry beans and no one wants that, especially not me.” Wei Ying runs out of air, takes a breath, and belatedly adds, “My name is Wei Ying. Hi.”

Or: The beekeeping AU that no one asked for.

~*~

Hi, you are a bless to this fandom. Your blog feels like a library, so thoroughly arranged and always within hand reach. [Thank you, wow!]  Recently, I was going through Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn is a Wēn tag and came across a fanfic, it has 3 chapters till now and is so intriguing that i thought to recommend it to you. I don't know if I can recommend or if you have already checked the story, The legendary Phoenix and his Dragon by Devipriya. I am in love with this story. I hope you will enjoy it too, do check it out

The legendary Phoenix and his Dragon

by Devipriya (T, 7k, wangxian)

Summary:  Wen Wuxian, the essence of who he is, he is a naughty child, a prankster, an enchanting dizi player, a graceful dancer, an irresistible lover, a truly valiant warrior, a ruthless vanquisher of his foes, a man who left a broken heart in every home, an astute statesman and kingmaker, a thorough gentleman, a righteous individual of the highest order, and the most colorful incarnation.

He has been seen, perceived, understood and experienced in many different ways by different people. Different people saw different facets of who he is. For some, he is God. For some, he is a crook. For some, he is a lover. For some, he is a fighter. He is so many things.

But the phoenix, seen from the eyes of time was just a playful man. A man who plays with his awareness, with his imagination, with his memory, with his life, with his death. An individual who does not just dance with somebody. He dances with life. He dances with his enemy, He dances with the one he loves, He dances even at the moment of his death.

To taste an essence of who is Wen Wuxian, be with me in the journey of exploration, NO! playful exploration of life of a playful man.

~*~

Hi! Thanks for running this blog, it's helped me find so many fics. For your next follower recs post, I wanted to rec "This love like a flood, a fire, a fear" by natcat5. Its summary is vague (which I suspect is why it isn't better known) but it is a beautiful retelling of canon from LWJ's POV with slight canon divergence. I love the author's characterization of him and the prose is gorgeous. It is easily my favorite fic in the entire fandom, and I don't say that lightly. ~ @nyanja14

This love like a flood, a fire, a fear

by natcat5 (M, 57k, wangxian, lan wangji & lan xichen)

Summary:  “I will love you as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence, and as justice loves to sit and watch everything go wrong.”   - Lemony Snicket

~*~

i came to this ask to rec this baseball one called "Waiting for Spring" by thievinghippo on ao3. It somehow made me care about baseball soooo 'nough said ~ @scifikimmi

Waiting for Spring

by thievinghippo (E, 131, wangxian)

Summary:  “It is a well-known fact across the major leagues that one does not smack Lan Wangji’s ass.”

Wei Wuxian rolls his eyes. Everyone smacks everyone’s ass in baseball. It’s how the game is played. Lan Wangji does not get to be exempt from this most sacred of baseball traditions.

Wei Wuxian will make sure of that.

Or, a Major League Baseball AU

~*~

hi mojo! i wanted to rec Something Good by boxoftheskyking (a loose sound of music/canon divergence au) and also MDZS: The Golden Engine by iffervescent (immortal wangxian modern au where they gotta solve a mystery and save china, featuring jiang cheng/lan xichen)

Something Good

by boxoftheskyking (T, 43k, wangxian)

Summary:  "That Wei Wuxian, you know he used to be such a promising cultivator. Head Disciple of the Jiang Clan, can you believe it? You see, juniors, the punishment for traveling the path of demonic cultivation. No golden core, not so much as a whisper of spiritual power."

As a punishment for real and imagined crimes, Wei Wuxian is sentenced to work at Cloud Recesses as the lowest of servants. When a surprising reassignment lands him with eleven children to care for, everything changes again.

A Sound of Music AU

MDZS: The Golden Engine

by iffervescent (E, 82k, wangxian, xicheng)

Summary:  In the modern era, immortals Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian return to Gusu. New evil and old friends + new friends and old evils.

~*~

Hi Mojo! First of all let me just tell you that you are amazing and this blog is like a gift from the gods! Bless you and your endless patience and hard work. [Oh, thank you so much!]  I know that you have just accepted follower recs and I have missed miserably but I still wanted to write and bring attention to a writer by the pseudo Xiao_Hua on ao3, I think they are quite good and I just recently found the account with so much content. If you do have the time to check them out, I'd rec catfish, my fox or the red ribbon.

The Red Ribbon

by Xiao_Hua (M, 21k, wangxian, TGCF crossover)

Summary:  Wei WuXian died but not before saving HanGuang-Jun and A-Yuan, leaving so much more behind than just his ribbon.

My Fox

by Xiao_Hua (E, 13k, wangxian)

Summary:  Once he headed to YiLing that all changed for him. His priorities have been mingled with and ordered in complete disarray even without him noticing as he was left heavily influenced by a creature.

Or one where Lan WangJi is a dragon-spirit and he finds his mate in the form of a fox.

Catfish

by Xiao_Hua (E, 15k, wangxian)

Summary:  Wei WuXian has a common sense that believes it has a nine-to-five job while Lan WangJi finds that incredibly hot.

Or one where two catfish realise that neither of them truly catfished.

~*~

Hi Mojo i'm recommending this amazing fic it is called song of joys and regrets. it's a time travel AU it's amazing. And your Blog is a Godsend Thank you! [Aw, you’re so sweet!]  ~ @highgoddess

Song of Joy and Regrets

by HelloKitten (not rated, 59k, wangxian, WIP)

Summary:  The Archery competition at Qishan this year has hit a snag. As the Sects face the wrongs perpetrated by their future selves, Wei Wuxian finds himself adopted by half of the cultivation world who are determined to save him from himself.

Baby Wangxian suffers. Adult Wangxian's job here is done.

"I'm starting to see a pattern to all his plans..." "Do they all involve him being bait?" "Yes" came deadpanned responses.

~*~

Here’s a 2021 Reverse Big Bang entry, in time for Father’s Day; [Oops, my bad, sorry!]  Under a Blanket of Black Wings, by ChaoticAndrogynous (#31398395); LWJ, recuperating from the 33 lashes, tells A-Yuan a series of fairytales about a heroic monster and the brave little boy he befriended. Vampire! WWX (in the framing story as well as the story-within-the-story); happy ending.

Under a Blanket of Black Wings

by ChaoticAndrogynous (T, 19k, wangxian)

Summary:  Lan Wangji tells A-Yuan a bedtime story about a beautiful monster and the brave little boy who was his friend. Thirteen years later, the monster returns.

~*~

Hello Mojo! Have you read ‘Key Differences’ by Pupeez4eva? Its a MDZS!WWX meets CQL!WWX and its really good! [It’s on my list!]

Key Differences

by pupeez4eva (T, 6k, wangxian)

Summary:  “I don’t understand,” Wei Wuxian said, while his alternate self continued to stare at him with almost a look of hurt in his eyes. There was longing in there too, which Wei Wuxian would have easily recognised if he paid enough attention. “How could you not get together, after everything. What even went on in the Guanyin Temple if you didn’t confess?”

“The Guanyin Temple,” Wei Ying repeated incredulously. “You’re asking me if I confessed at — honestly, a lot went on that day. It was a life and death situation. There was no confessing.”

Wei Wuxian stared at him, appalled.

(Wherein Wei Wuxian ends up meeting an alternate version of himself who, much to his horror, never married Lan Wangji. Obviously he has to do something to fix this).

~*~

Hey Mojo i would recommend this fanfic if you already haven’t, it’s called “ take me back to a time “ by DizziDreams. It’s sooooo good

take me back to a time

by DizziDreams (T, 144k, wangxian, 3zun)

Summary:  Wei Ying has a lot on his plate right now.

It’s finals week -- which isn’t so bad. He’s never had to study much to do well in classes. But that just means that things are that much more tense with Jiang Cheng, who, as far as Wei Ying can tell, only takes study breaks long enough to glare at Wei Ying where he sits on the couch playing video games.

It’s not studies that have Wei Ying stressed out. It’s everything else. It’s the recruitment for the research trial he’s coordinating. It’s jiejie and her impending marriage to His Royal Douchebag Jin Zixuan. It’s the volunteer work at the palliative care facility. It’s Wen Ning’s worsening condition. It’s Wen Qing working herself thin to care for her brother and Wen Yuan. It’s the way Wen Yuan never seems to have enough food.

So, yeah. There’s enough on Wei Ying’s plate already, meaning it’s not entirely welcome when he comes home and finds a man standing in his bedroom. A man in extravagant white robes, a ribbon tied around his forehead, long hair gathered into a topknot, fist clutching a sword at his side, who asks him, “Where am I?”

~*~

Idk if this has already been rec’d (I’ve been off the grid for a while now), but there’s this absolutely incredible fic called Restitution by an anon on ao3 people should definitely check out!

this one?

on restitution

by Anonymous (M, 78k, wangxian, jin ling & wei wuxian, lan sizhui & wei wuxian, WIP)

Summary:  When Wei Wuxian regains consciousness, he is in a bed. A real, proper bed, not the slab he called a bed in his cave in the Burial Mounds.

Jiang Cheng is glowering above him.

Wei Wuxian doesn't die during the siege of the Burial Mounds. Rather, he is captured in secret and confined at Lotus Pier. Things change accordingly.

~*~

Hi momjo! I feel like every time I come to your blog there's twenty more new and amazing fics for me to read. Thank you for everything you do for this fandom!  [Thank you, sweetie!  And yes, I think there ARE 20 new fics every day out there in the fandom.  It’s amazing!] Today I come bearing my own rec to you. I've recently read this and it's IMO one of the best fics out there. It's called Lapsteel by carriecmoney and it's a modern stormchaser AU featuring country songs and coming home. ~ @manaika-chan​

Lapsteel

by carriecmoney (T, 42k, wangxian)

Summary:  Now and then, I think about you now and then...

It's been thirteen years since Wei Ying ran for the prairies, leaving behind a family in shambles and a secret on the Pacific wind. What happens when the storm he swirled catches up to him?

Modern AU with country music star Lan Zhan, stormchaser Wei Ying, and shared crossroads.

~*~