#yi city tag

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Broken Roofs and Fixed Perspectives

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[wifiwuxians]

why would you say something so horrible

i really have great appreciation for the manhua making xue yang tear up exactly one time when his feelings are hurt. you know shitposting is my lifeblood though and i have slowly been trying to work my way back up drawing wise (it's pretty rough!), so i had to dunk on my favorite little princess 💖

[ID: a three panel comic of xue yang and song lan having an encounter. the backgrounds, consisting of a few rooftops and branches, are very roughly drawn, as are the panels. in the first panel, xue yang smugly asks song lan "You following me? Are you in love with me or something?" with a hand on his hip. in the second panel, song lan bitterly responds "No." with the top half of his face in shadow to denote disgust. the third panel is of xue yang bristling in offense, with crazed eyes filling with tears. his hair is puffing up as if he were a ghibli character. xue yang is tan and has red eyes and red tips in his hair. song lan is pale and has blue eyes and blue tips in his hair. /end ID]

[krispycreamsicle]

[ripeteeth]

the tragedy of yi city

[zelkam]

BEFORE AND AFTER COLOURING CHALLENGE

thank you to @haleths for tagging me!! <33 I always love participating in these

oof so how do I even describe my coloring style. or like, I think at this point I kind of developed a style?

I like my darks very dark, for me pure black is the star of the gif. but then I like to make the colors pop, but I still go for making them seem kind of... jewel rich, not super neon-like. like I prefer to have deep red than the reddest shining red. and then also I usually like to go for a bit warmer, earthy tones, with some honorary blue if it compliments the gif or I simply cannot get rid of it.

or well, at least this is how I see it!

I'm gonna tag here @yilinglaozu and @evakant!

[alchemist-shizun]

Yi city boys silly textposts because we need them in these trying times pt. 2

(Part 1)

Welcome back to me being deranged let's start with something sweet, I'll never have enough of this little guy <3

Anyways I saw this tweet and this exact image manifested itself into my brain instantly:

If Xue Yang had mentioned his childhood trauma to Song Lan I imagine it would've gone p much like this, probably in the middle of getting away with doing chores /j

Look at his face he's so sad why would you say that to him SMH/j

The vibe of p much every singular fav character I ever had:

And that is all my friends I hope I find more funny silly stuff soon because literally anything reminds me of them right now ♡ this is a curse and life is a pain

Have a great night !

Little bonus screenshot because I didn't know whether to use this one or another one:

[unfortunatelycake]

OK here's part 2, following on from part 1 & the Ladies' Version...

Winners of part 1 & 2 will be pitted against each other in one final showdown of hypothetical necromancy!

Reblog for bigger sample size, to click more buttons, and show love for precious cinnamon rolls, poor little meow meows, and stinky garbage mans.

[sunshades]

One thing about canto VI is like. I see so many people predicting it'll be about Fighting Evil Wife or Breaking Codependent Toxic Relationship and I just kinda think that would suck? If the major theme isn't grief AND love and the way both are seen as like Kinda Weird/inappropriate in the setting of the city. Then I'll be very sad.

[borderlinenocturnal]

gayest gays in the untamed:

‌wwx/lwj (literally married)

‌lxc/jgy (sworn brothers? you trusted his word even when all evidence stacked up against him? you agreed to die alongside him but he still pushed you to safety? gay)

‌jgy/ss (reaching for each other in your last moments? genuinely caring for each other whilst also being 2 evil lil shits? gay)

‌xy/xxc (oh cool you stopped being evil bc you enjoyed the 3 years you spent living together so much? and then you tried for years to revive him even though everyone told you it was impossible? gayyy)

‌tied with above: xxc/sl (close friends for years? you carved out your eyes for him? totally hetero bros)

‌xy/xxc/sl just make out already ok ok xxc has two hands so stop fighting over his happiness god get over yourself monogamy isn't real

‌lxc/jzx (they literally never interact in the show i just think theyd be cute)

[travalerray]

this kid is absolutely his jiujiu's nephew

[veliseraptor]

What is your favorite thing about the yi city arc?

probably the absolute unremitting miserable tragedy of it all, honestly

I'm serious about that, too! like, for all it breaks me and all I will write endless fix it fic and go "no wei wuxian is wrong actually xue yang does not have to die ☹"...what got me so fixated on this arc to begin with, and what continues to keep me fixated on it, is the inexorable-but-not-necessarily-inevitable downward spiral of it all, and the fact that by the time the narrative arrives on the scene, everything is already over.

like...from the perspective of the main timeline of the story, all the awful things have already happened, and happened a long time ago. xiao xingchen has been dead for years. song lan has been a fierce corpse for years. a-qing has been dead/a fierce corpse for years. xue yang has been running around on a fruitless search for a way to fix xiao xingchen's soul and bring him back...for years. this isn't watching a tragedy in motion, for all that we (the readers/watchers) go back in time and watch the tragedy in motion; this is us watching a tragedy that has already happened.

always already, etc.

like...it's just so sad. and I love that, and specifically I love that there's no clear and obvious moral to the sadness of it all, and that even xue yang's ultimate death is less a triumph than something at least pathetic, and imo written as another tragedy.

(i really need to finish that fucking essay sldkfslkdjfs)

yi city isn't a morality play, it's just a story about a group of miserable people hurtling toward a destruction that it's already too late to stop. there's no saving the day, no fixing the problem, no resurrecting the dead. in the end, all that's left is a man ripped out of the cycle of reincarnation, two shattered souls, and (in the novel) a villain who doesn't even grant the potential catharsis of dying on page.

it breaks my fucking heart and I'm obsessed with it. honestly rearranged my brain on some fundamental level.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

You're mine now, old man.

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[wifiwuxians]

happy mid-autumn festival!!! i hope it's a day of good fortune and reunion for everyone! i yearn for the day in which i am able to eat a mooncake.

much to my chagrin this drawing appears very different on desktop and on mobile but oh well. i think i'll take a crack at writing an ID for this one, just because there are a few characters! including xunyang 83 everyone else is offscreen lol but they're there i promise

[ID: a scene depicting a moonlit picnic to mark the start of mid-autumn festival, featuring several characters from MDZS, as well as two of the artist's own characters from a fic titled Dawn Chorus. in the bottom left corner sit Wen Zhuliu, Wang Lingjiao, Mo Xuanyu and Wen Chao. they are conversing pleasantly. the bottom right corner hosts Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng, Jin Zixuan and Jin Ling, alongside a puppy version of Fairy. Jiang Yanli has brought her famous soup, as well as some spring rolls. Jin Ling is lying down and holding a lantern as his mother strokes his back. Jin Zixuan has a loving arm around his wife's torso. behind them, Jiang Cheng is attempting to wrangle Fairy and keep her from eating their food. above and to the left sit the Dawn Chorus characters Wen Xun and the fic-specific version of Xue Yang, who has his arm around him as he laughs. they've brought wine. in Xue Yang's lap sits an infant, Hexie, who is reaching out to a fruit gleefully offered to them by Standard Edition Xue Yang, who is sitting a bit ahead with A-Qing, Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan, who smile at the scene while drinking tea and eating. they've brought a platter of crab. to the right of them sit Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, who are happily holding Lan Sizhui between them. their snack is watermelon. behind them, just arriving, are Mianmian, who is carrying her daughter in her arms, and her husband, who is carrying their lantern and food. behind them is Wen Qing, who is calling out to Wen Ning, who is rushing up to her with a smile and a box in his hands. the corner of a blanket in the top left and the top of someone's head in the bottom right suggest there are more people at the gathering. a few white flowers bloom on the grass everyone sits on, predominantly around Wen Xun. every picnic blanket has mooncakes, and most characters brought lanterns. many other lanterns are seen floating by and up into the sky, towards the full moon. the atmosphere is friendly and lighthearted. /end ID]

[krispycreamsicle]

We're strangers who met by chance.

[ripeteeth]

there is no other version of this story // xiao xingchen in yi city

[fincalinde]

JGY! (getting in ahead of the crowd)

Ah, but of course. I have only had 3 asks for this meme so I can only assume people are sick of my whinging, so it's not like you beat the rush.

a song that reminds me of them

I'm trying to think of songs that I haven't already strip mined for fic titles and not coming up with much. So maybe this can just be a recommendation for PHILDEL, who is one of my favourite artists. A lot of her work has serious Xiyao vibes, and off the top of my head the one that might be the most JGY on his own is Glorious.

There's a place I go A place I always stand alone And need no witness to my throne Here I say my piece And have no need to be believed The bridge I built will carry me Beyond the creatures of your sea

and

Here I win my day I make my kill upon the grave And need no hero to be saved Here the light still shines Despite the odds and all the time Despite the gods and their design

—like, omg

what they smell like

He's obviously fastidious because he can't ever afford not to be, but I'd probably stage it like this:

Before his mother dies - can never get rid of the cheap sickly smell of the brothel incenses.

After his mother dies - not around much if any incense and must be as respectable as possible, smells of clean cloth and silk and whatever hair oil he can afford. He is very careful about hair oil, he absolutely must not appear to be cheap or tacky.

When he's serving the Nie - similar to the above, probably keeps making little adjustments every time he's bullied about something in a fruitless attempt to mitigate all the judgement and make himself respectable.

When he's serving the Jin - see above but so much worse.

When he's serving the Wen - very careful at first but begins to adjust to having some form of power and resource that protects him from direct abuse. Spends enough time with WRH that he smells like the same incenses WRH prefers, and his scented hair oil and the like is carefully chosen to be consistent with whatever is fashionable amongst the Wen and approved of by WRH.

When he's legitimised - see above but dialled up. He has to walk a fine line between being the same as the other Jin without coming across as vulgarly ambitious. In fic a time or two I've mentioned that he smells of olibanum incense, which I chose as something that would have been imported at great expense and seemed characteristic of the Jin. He needs to demonstrate his status and his wealth, but that said: I guarantee you that it's a typical fragrance that's used all over Golden Carp Tower, and not a scent that's considered a signature central Jin family fragrance. He wouldn't be so bold.

When he's chief cultivator - sticking with what he was doing before. He can never stop being careful.

Secret bonus scent: sandalwood because he spends so much time around LXC.

an otp

oh well let me think of course it's Xiyao. I don't think the text supports a reading where they're lovers, but I think it does support a reading where their intimate friendship includes romantic feelings and the potential for a romantic and presumably also sexual relationship. LXC is the only person who gets on the MS tier of the JGY harm pyramid. JGY is the only person who sees LXC's needs and attempts to meet them. Their relationship is a true meeting of the minds, and the secrets between them are either mutually agreed and healthy or the result of horrific external circumstances. I think I've summed it up before.

a notp

I already mentioned how repellent I find Nieyao in my NMJ response.

Honestly though, JGY with anyone but LXC is a no from me. I think his relationship with QS is sweet and tragic, but it's telling that he never once talks about loving her for who she is and how they are together. He insists he loved her and the forcefulness of that assertion makes it clear he's being sincere, but the emphasis is all on how he's grateful for the fact that she never made his background an issue. It reads to me like he loves how sweet and kind she is and how brave and loyal, but even that is not enough for a healthy and successful relationship. I'm not going to get into the incest thing as that would be a whole other post.

Based on this, I think if he didn't need a wife for social and political purposes he'd have been equally as happy to have her as a supportive friend and political ally. She is canonically not that bright, and he needs an intellectual equal for true partnership—and that's not even getting into the importance of him needing a partner who's capable of grappling with moral relativism.

favorite platonic/familial relationships

This might make @thatswhatsushesaid happy—I really like JGY's relationship with NHS before he's forced to take out NMJ and it all goes to hell. JGY deserves a didi he can dote on. NHS probably does not deserve another doting gege, but I'll allow it anyway.

I also love JGY and JL. The flashback to JGY giving JL Fairy is one of my favourite scenes, not just because it shows that JGY genuinely loves and cares for JL, but because it shows that JGY's unique background and struggles have equipped him to provide JL with comfort and support that no one else could offer.

I always assumed Jin Chan and his little mob of thugs have parents who are a political threat to JGY within the Jin, or how else would they have the guts to harass the heir who will one day rule over them? So there's a lot of layers here for JGY, who has to navigate a delicate political situation while trying to do what he can for JL. I just think it's a beautiful moment where JGY cannot do what I'm sure he wants to do and deal directly with the source of the abuse, and so he does what he can. He knows better than anyone else that sometimes you can't make the abuse stop; but it still matters if you can help someone bear it a little bit better.

a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with

I mean, how much time do you have? I have no patience for the ubiquitous bratty power bottom JGY bossing around 'service top' (vomit) LXC, and I also have no patience for the I think less ubiquitous now but still worth mentioning sadist dom JGY who fantasises about cutting lines into LXC. Those are probably the most common base types I've seen around, but the list, it goes on. I could write another few thousand words joylessly debunking what seems to get people off on AO3, but I really do spill enough ink already on highlighting how inconsistent these portrayals are with the JGY we see in canon.

I'm not saying every single word I personally write is blessed by the angels and incontrovertibly in line with the translated text of the novel, and obviously we are all here at the end of the day to have fun. But it does baffle me that this is so inescapable, because if you want those sorts of dynamics then there are so many other pairings out there to choose from.

the position they sleep in

This probably varies but he must be an extremely light sleeper and probably never sleeps with his back to the door.

a crossover au i’d love to see them in

Can I bring up my ATLA AU yet again ... yes, I am shameless. Or how about the theoretical X-Men AU I raised in the last post? The trouble is that this would have to be a setting where being a mutant is desirable and he has a weak mutation that he exploits to the maximum and perhaps later is able to strengthen.

my favorite outfit they’ve ever worn

Since THAI COVER JGY was already taken, I'll pivot and say I really love what he's wearing in his official artwork. Look at this man! He is elegant and wealthy and powerful and classy and a skilled diplomat and administrator and yet there remains an air of danger about him. Precise! Deadly! Polite! sorry i think i got possessed by lan xichen there for a moment