#there was a reason WWX’s shidis adored him

[last-in-line-for-hell]

Wei Wuxian’s relationship with Jin Ling is one of my favorite parts of MDZS.

Yeah Jin Ling is reasonably wary, reasonably angry, after all he’s been told time and time again that Wei Wuxian murdered both of his parents in cold blood. But then time passes and the picture that people drew of Wei Wuxian doesn’t quite match up with the real thing.

Here we have a kid who is positively aching for affection, who was raised to be standoffish and even cruel to those around him if it meant getting further ahead, who has no friends but a dog, and yet, we see how much he changes, all for the better, simply by having Wei Wuxian come into his life.

Then Wei Wuxian saves Jin Ling again and again and again. Then Wei Wuxian makes sure to teach him, and listen to him. Then Wei Wuxian speaks to him with unmistakable affection, freely given.

Jin Ling still has his thorns, in the end, but he can’t help but drift to Wei Wuxian’s side, and Wei Wuxian in turn will always keep his arms open, happy to have Jin Ling in his life as more than just a remnant of his beloved shijie’s memory.

[layzeal]

god, i'm just thinking of that audio drama extra where— *gunshots*

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 25, part one

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Holy crap, Episode 25! We’re halfway through! *Cue Bon Jovi*

Hunt Invitation

After taking a nice long break to watch Word of Honor pick lotus pods, Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli return to stressing over the shitshow that is the post-Sunshot cultivation world. Jin Zixuan has come to invite them to the Phoenix Mountain Hunt, with a special invitation from his mother to Jiang Yanli. Jiang Cheng reacts to this in a mature and reasonable manner, while Wei Wuxian...doesn't.

On the surface, Jiang Cheng has matured in recent months; much more than Wei Wuxian, with his secret burdens, has. But it's only on the surface, as we'll see later in the episode, when Jiang Cheng's insecurity will take the reins.

Jin Zixuan is adorably pleased by Jiang Yanli's acceptance of the invitation. Wei Wuxian is less pleased, but sort of tries to suck it up. 

Jin Zixuan kind of undercuts the romance of his errand by asking Wei Wuxian for the Yin tiger amulet as soon as Jiang Yanli is out of earshot. 

As always, Jin Zixuan makes an impression by being the best Jin currently in existence, but the Jins are terrible. JZX is working to advance his dad's ambitions, and as such he is currently Wei Wuxian's enemy.  

(more after the cut)

Opening Ceremonies

There's a bunch of cultivators arranged for the opening ceremony. Later someone will say that this is more than 5 thousand people. Ok, sure.

As I've said before, it's best to think of it like a theatre production and assume the other 4,900 people are offstage or, you know, painted on the backdrop.  

The young lead cultivators from the four main clans are standing together. Nie Huaisang is trying out some new body armor.

The clan leaders are seated up on the stage, along with Jin Furen and Jiang Yanli. Unfortunately Jin Furen doesn't seem to have a personal name that I can discover. Her title Fūrén ( 夫人)  means she's the primary wife of the head of the family, according to this excellent meta. 

So “Madame Jin” is a decent translation...if you're French?  I feel like instead of English subtitles including borrowed words from French (”Marquis” in NIH), Greek (”Water of Lethe” in WOH), and other European languages, we could try borrowing Chinese words instead. Jin Zixuan's mom is titled, not named, Jin Furen. Since we don’t know her actual name, I'll call her that and abbreviate it JFR.

Wei Wuxian's childishness continues at the opening of the hunt, as does Jiang Yanli's encouragement of his childishness. I know she's had a rough couple of years, and it's understandable to want to baby her little brother out of a sense of nostalgia. But it's not good for him, and she shouldn't do it; she should encourage him to be more mature, just as she does with Jiang Cheng.

War Crimes Contest

Jin Guangyao says they're going to have an archery competition, and they're going to liven it up by endangering some prisoners. These prisoners are Wens in Wen cultivator uniforms, meaning they're not the noncombatants that were being hunted down earlier. But they’re still helpless people in chains. 

There are three different reactions when the Wen prisoners are brought out.  All the Jins are pleased, or neutral. All of the Jiangs, including Wei Wuxian, are upset.

The Nies and the Lans, what we see of them, are a little shocked, but not obviously upset. Based on those reactions, it seems like this is a maneuver that in-world is considered shocking and cruel, but not necessarily unethical or immoral.  Shocking, cruel displays of power are pretty normal in this world; remember when Wen Chao lit a Lan cultivator on fire just to say hello, and nobody complained? 

This whole scenario, of course, has been designed to provoke Wei Wuxian. One major goal of this event, and the whole reason for wanting Wei Wuxian to come,  is to get the Yin Tiger amulet.  Making him lose his shit in front of 100 5000 cultivators is a good step toward compelling him to hand the amulet over.  

We see Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli both signaling Wei Wuxian to keep it together, and he takes a step back and tries to chill.  

Meanwhile, Jin Zixuan seems annoyed by all this, and goes to take a shot at it, making it clear from his demeanor that this is easy and JGY is making a show of nothing. 

He hovers in the air and makes a perfect shot, pleasing most of the crowd and impressing Jiang Yanli. 

Then his cousin Jin Zixun taunts the crowd, challenging anyone to do better.  This presents a bit of a problem for Wei Wuxian. For the sake of the Wen prisoners, Wei Wuxian should just take this taunting and let the contest end, if no-one else is willing to take a shot. But for the sake of the Jiang Clan’s status, and his continued control of the Yin Tiger amulet, he needs to put the Jins in their place.  

Every Day is Blindfold Day

This moral dilemma is resolved with an abrupt tonal shift, where the humanitarian concerns of all parties seem to vanish. Wei Wuxian flirts embarrassingly with Lan Wangji and then goes as far over the top in besting Jin Zixuan as it's possible to go.

The flirting hits differently, incidentally, when you edit Jiang Cheng's annoyed reaction out of it: 

Lan Wangji doesn't seem embarrassed by Wei Wuxian's request, despite it happening in front of 100 5000 of their fellow cultivators. He looks Wei Wuxian straight in the eye for longer than necessary before turning away; it’s not exactly stern disapproval. We’ll get very used to this look, in Wei Wuxian’s second life. 

Fortunately, Wei Wuxian carries a blindfold with him wherever he goes, (gifset here), and he is such a good cultivator he can hit 5 parallel targets simultaneously without even holding his bow straight or tightening the string.

(OP fixed the angle of the bow for this gif, which is why everyone is standing on a hill in the background).

Everyone is pleased by this shot except Jins Guangyao and Zixun; even the Jin cultivators are clapping, and Madame Jin is presumably this happy any time Jin Guangyao’s plans go wrong.

With that they start the hunt. Jin Zixun challenges Wei Wuxian to do the whole hunt blindfolded. Wei Wuxian agrees, but the censorship committee said no, apparently, so we don’t get to see that.

Flute Hunting

We do get to see Wei Wuxian luring monsters into his nets by being too sexy for his robe, too sexy for his robe, and playing the flute.  

We also get to see Jiang cultivators looking puzzled while random monster roars happen in the woods around them. We do not get to see any monsters, which is probably just as well.

Jiang Cheng is annoyed and concerned, muttering "I told you not to overdo it" which means he didn't, you know, tell Wei Wuxian NOT to do this, just not to do it quite so well. Jiang Cheng knows what Wei Wuxian’s abilities are and he is making use of him, as he should, but he doesn’t have the courage of his convictions. 

Tree Confession

Wei Wuxian sees Lan Wangji and starts to say hi, but then he has a desaturated flashback to Lan Xichen telling him to back off, so he stops himself.  But then Lan Wangji comes over to talk to him.

Lan Wangji starts off talking to him about his latest anti-resentment musical discoveries, and Wei Wuxian pushes back, even calling him Lan Wangji, but gently.  Wei Wuxian asks "who am I to you?" and Lan Wangji turns the question right back at him, then waits a looooooong time, eyes downcast, while Wei Wuxian thinks of a serious answer.

Wei Wuxian says "I used to treat you as my zhījǐ" --which, as we’ve discussed before, is variously translated soulmate, confidant, intimate friend--with a strong meaning of "the person who truly knows me." Lan Wangji says "I still am." Coming from Lan Wangji, who NEVER says how he feels about Wei Wuxian or about anything, really, this sounds a lot like a confession of love. 

It definitely takes the form, visually, of a love confession, as Lan Wangji speaks, then gazes at Wei Wuxian while he waits for a reply.  Wei Wuxian's reply is this:

I don't think Wei Wuxian is oblivious (I'm speaking strictly of CQL, not MZDS, as always with these posts; they are different works). I think he loves Lan Wangji back, and knows it. But Chenqing and everything it represents are between them.

Lan Wangji is quite literally NOT his zhījǐ any more, because he doesn't truly know Wei Wuxian right now. He loves him desperately, but he doesn't know about his core, and hasn't accepted his cultivation method.  So Wei Wuxian answers his confession by showing him Chenqing, effectively declining to accept his still-conditional love.

Snake Measuring

Next we get terrible hetero courtship in the form of Jin Zixuan finding snake discharge on the ground and talking to Jiang Yanli about comparative snake measuring. Seriously: that is the actual conversation that they are having.

Jin Zixuan boasts for a bit, and then awkwardly tries to ask Jiang Yanli on a date. When she turns him down he gets mad, because he's a typical heterosexual dude even though he's secretly a delightful person...very, very secretly. Jiang Yanli, for her part, can't string a fucking sentence together to save her life whenever he's around, so she's not helping their mutual understanding. 

Lan Wangji attempts to hold Wei Wuxian back from beating Jin Zixuan’s ass yet again, but eventually JYL wants to leave, JZX tells her to wait, and WWX intervenes. Why doesn't Jiang Yanli have a maid or Jiang cultivator with her while she's on a date, incidentally? These kids are confused about whether they're doing feudal patriarchy or whether they're doing modern social life.

Jin vs. Jiang

Wei Wuxian jumps in between Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan, which JZX objects to. Jin Zixuan has no fucking business objecting and Wei Wuxian is 100% right, at this point. As soon as WWX shows up JZX should hand her off to her Shidi, bow, and leave her the fuck alone. Instead, he draws his sword on Wei Wuxian, and kind of on Jiang Yanli since she's right behind Wei Wuxian.  Fortunately, Lan Wangji blocks him. 

This instantly blows up into a Jiang-Jin Clan conflict, with Jiang Cheng unfortunately absent since he let his unmarried sister go off in the woods alone with the son of the Cultivaton world's most famous lecher. It looks like it’s a personal conflict, but since Jin Zixuan already told Wei Wuxian directly that Jin Guangshan wants his amulet, any arguments between them are part of a larger power struggle. 

Cousin Jin Zixun comes running up to start shit. Wei Wuxian pretends--I am SURE he's pretending--not to know who he is. The dude hassles Wei Wuxian every time he sees him; Wei Wuxian is a troll, and right now CJXZ is butting in to something that doesn't concern him. Rather than argue, Wei Wuxian insults him by telling him he’s not memorable.

Jin Furen shows up with several maids and cultivator dudes in tow, which is the proper way for a highborn woman to wander around in the woods. She also brings Clan Leader Yao, because if it's Wei Wuxian Blaming Hours, Yao is going to be there.  

I initially found the deep friendship between superhot Yi Zuyuan and dumpy Jin Furen implausible, but then I remembered that my lifelong bestie is a smokin' hot redhead with impeccable fashion sense, while I am a roly-poly nerd.  Friends don’t always match. Also, Jin Furen's actress, Hu Xiaoting, looks like this: 

...so she is actually hot in real life. Not as hot as Zhang Jingtong (who plays Yu Ziyuan) but literally nobody is as hot as Zhang Jingtong. Don't @ me, you know I'm right.

This is a heck of a long scene, so we’ll pick it up in part two! 

Soundtrack: Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi

Writing prompt: Newly-divorced, cold-hearted CEO Yu Ziyuan buys an apartment next door to newly-divorced, warm-hearted pastry chef ...uhh let's call her Jin Dàngāo (蛋糕), sure. She can name her business after herself. 

They discover their daughter & son are in the same college class, and so they meet up over coffee....several times...trying to matchmake their hopeless, hapless kids, while bonding over their own terrible (former) taste in husbands. Who will Cupid strike first, the kids or the moms?

[crossdressingdeath]

The thing that kills me with all those "JC doesn't mean it! It's just that he can't communicate with people he cares about!" arguments is that... LWJ did that too. As a teen he didn't know how to express his emotions and called WWX boring a bunch and generally acted annoyed with him, but HE CHANGED THAT. Because he realized that it hurt him. But JC changed NOTHING in DECADES of story time because he meets absolutely nobody halfway, and his stans apparentely don't get that it's a bad thing

Yes! LWJ realises after WWX’s death that not being able to communicate his wishes and feelings hurt people he cares about, so he tries to improve on that; he doesn’t do a perfect job, but he’s improved enough that he does make it clear to WWX that no, he does not hate him and in fact wants to help him. Meanwhile... if JC really didn’t mean the things he said he should’ve been horrified at what his words led to. I mean, him declaring WWX a traitor was pretty much the biggest factor in WWX’s destruction, not counting the various accidental murders. The biggest factor that was a deliberate decision on the part of the person who did it, let’s say. Do not try to tell me it was something he said on impulse, he tells literally everyone that WWX is a traitor and he’s a grown man and sect leader, either that was a deliberate choice or he should not be allowed anywhere near any position of power. Not to mention that it for sure played a major part in setting up the situations that ended in people dying. But he clearly isn’t horrified; he actively takes credit for WWX’s death and uses that to improve his reputation! And he doesn’t stop saying horrible things having realised how badly that can fuck over the people around him, in fact if anything he gets worse; telling a fucking teenager to beat an enemy that no one knows anything about and JC himself wouldn’t stand a chance against at that age (and quite possibly even as a grown man) by himself and that if he can’t do this pretty much impossible feat he can never come home, anyone? 

And of course, at the end of the day... JC isn’t a child. He’s a grown-ass man in his mid-thirties during the present day arc, and even in the first flashback arc he’s fifteen, which is in fact old enough to know how to be a halfway decent person. I swear, JC stans talk about him like he’s an infant who hasn’t learned what basic human decency is yet! He shows less awareness of the fact that other people’s feelings matter than fucking A-Yuan does! There is a difference between “fucking up a lot of social situations because you’re bad at people” and “being so actively cruel that you may as well be playing an RPG and be picking all the mean options just to see what happens for all the consideration you’re showing other people”, and shit like threatening to break a child’s legs or kick him out of his home for not being what you want him to be or attacking your brother with his literal worst fear because you’re mad at him for him not being cool with genocide (and your sister dying to prevent the exact thing you did immediately after she died to prevent it) falls very firmly in the latter category. Like... “he doesn’t know how to communicate with people” works for someone like JL, who’s cruel because he’s young and hasn’t had any friends before and was never taught how to deal with peers (and learns better when he does start making friends and regularly interacting with peers who aren’t massive dicks), or for someone like LWJ, who’s stiff and distant because he’s never been close to anyone outside his family (more specifically his brother who learned how to read him (good) and never actually helped him learn how to interact with other people and make friends (less good)) and never had any friends his own age before WWX showed up (and again learns better when his lack of social skills has serious consequences and he realises that he has to get better at communicating to avoid hurting anyone else). JC spent his childhood surrounded by people his own age, his social peers in the wider cultivation world and his shidis (shidi? I just realised I don’t actually know what the plural is) within his own sect, and that’s without considering that his closest companion was WWX, who is so damn good at people that he’s the fourth most eligible bachelor in the sects despite having zero actual rank when everyone else we know of on that list is either in line to run a sect or already running a sect. There is no excuse for JC to be as downright cruel as he is; he’s no more sheltered than the rest of his (infinitely kinder) peers, his siblings (the people he spends pretty much all his time with) are both kind and friendly people, he’s constantly surrounded by people his own age who he interacts with all the time... The only negative example he has in his life is YZY. One person among everyone in his life teaching him cruelty with his beloved sister who he adores pretty much above all others showing the opposite and his father for sure teaching him fucking diplomacy because that’s his job, and he goes for cruelty every time. Just. can we please stop acting like a grown ass man being incapable of showing basic decency to a single fucking person in his life is normal and okay and not a really good reason for everyone in his life to eventually give up on him? This world has enough of that as it is, let’s not add to it.