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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years

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i keep thinking about all the yiling patriarch!jiang cheng aus out there and it got me curious: what wild canon divergences would have to happen for it to be jiang yanli who becomes the yiling matriarch? (she doesn’t use a flute, she just asks politely probably) and what would be the eventual fallout of that?

It was Wei Wuxian’s idea, of course.

Jiang Yanli’s big didi was brilliant and talented beyond measure, as reckless and impertinent in his thoughts as he was in every other way, just as her little didi was earnest and soft-hearted and dutiful, the outlines of the serious man he’d become when he grew up just barely visible underneath the baby fat that still lingered in his cheeks.

It was Wei Wuxian’s idea, but it was Jiang Cheng that made Jiang Yanli decide to use it.

Both of her brothers got invitations to sit in on important sect meetings, as senior disciple and presumptive heir; Wei Wuxian apparently made good contributions during the meetings and forgot about them immediately afterwards, while Jiang Cheng listened intently and then worried for days.

“The Wen sect is becoming more and more of a threat,” Jiang Cheng told her late at night when she was making him something to settle his upset stomach – he was like a little bird, with anxiety enough to put him off his seed. “Mother and Father are fighting over how much they need to react, since technically they haven’t come into Yunmeng…”

“Technically?”

“We never signed agreements with those clans, but we’ve been all but responsible for them anyway.” He put his head down on the table, sighing. “What happens if they come here?”

“A-Xian says they won’t dare.”

“He’s just repeating what Father says. I don’t know. Maybe they don’t dare now, but – what if they do, one day?”

Jiang Yanli took after her father in most aspects, but she was still her mother’s daughter: while she comforted Jiang Cheng and told him not to worry, filled him up with warm soup and hugged him until he smiled again, the thought lingered. What if, indeed. Her brothers would need to fight, of course. Her two babies raising up swords against human beings instead of evil creatures; her mother would use Zidian, of course, and her father had his sword, and she –

Jiang Yanli was not un-self-aware. She was an indifferent cultivator, with below-average skills at the sword – good enough to pass basic muster, but not much more than that. Her talismans were about the same, decent but not inspiring, and she could only produce an average number before she exhausted her spiritual energy. She had a golden core, but it was weak, just like she was weak.

She wouldn’t be able to defend her home. To defend her brothers.

And there was nothing she could do about it –

That was when she remembered Wei Wuxian’s silly little idea, the one that had gotten him in so much trouble at the Cloud Recesses, that he’d told her all about in great detail when he’d returned home: to use resentful energy the way they used spiritual energy.

(“– and then poor Nie Huaisang said it would be helpful to someone like him, who formed his core later; he doesn’t have much spiritual energy, so he gets tired easily, but if it’s not his energy he’s using, he wouldn’t be held back by the limits of his own cultivation –”)

Jiang Yanli pursed her lips in thought.

Wei Wuxian had only sketched out the basic idea, without going forward to think of ways to implement the idea – after all, it was all well and good to say you could find a way to channel tremendous external energy into something usable, but another thing entirely to actually do it. It would be as tricky as catching lightning from the sky and using it as a whip.

In other words, it was time to ask her mother for help.

To say that Yu Ziyuan disapproved would be an understatement, but Jiang Yanli knew her mother well: she waited until the initial rant was completed and then pointed out, quietly, that she didn’t have any other means with which to defend herself – and that would leave her at the non-existent mercy of the Wen sect.

Her mother froze. “…I could give you Zidian,” she finally said, but from the expression on her face, even she knew that that wouldn’t work: Zidian required both a strong golden core and a certain knack, a talent that Jiang Cheng had and Jiang Yanli lacked; there had never been any question between the two of them as to who would inherit Zidian. “Or we could buy more talismans –”

“And when the talismans we buy run out? I can’t replenish them myself. But if we try my way, I won’t have to rely on A-Xian or A-Cheng – a-niang, just think about how I’d feel if they got hurt trying to save me! And all because I don’t have a knack for cultivating!”

Her mother sighed. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll help you figure out how it could work in practice, rather than in theory. But it’s only for emergencies, you understand? What you’re suggesting comes very close to demonic cultivation – if you use human-generated resentful energy, it is demonic cultivation – and using that too much damages the body, affects the temperament.”

“Just for emergencies,” Jiang Yanli promised.

“And don’t tell A-Cheng or Wei Wuxian about it,” her mother insisted. “Can you imagine the trouble those two would get into with something like this?”

Jiang Yanli covered her mouth to try to keep from giggling. “A-Xian would probably restyle himself to match the aesthetic – wearing Demon Cultivating Robes, under Demon Cultivating Hair, that he left in a pile on the Demon Cultivating Bed –”

“From which he rested on the Pillow of Evil, no doubt,” her mother agreed, looking amused despite herself. “And your brother would end up trying to keep a small legion of fierce corpses as pets because he felt too bad about sending them back into the earth after having used them.”

“He’d give them names,” Jiang Yanli said, giggling harder. “Princess, or Buttercup –”

“And he’d hide them very badly in a closet or something, too. Do you remember the nest of juvenile fisher hawks that he hid in the armory? They nearly fell on my head –”

“Of course I remember. You nearly stepped on poor little Cloudpuff.”

“Don’t remind me!”

They had two years to work on it, their own little mother-daughter bonding time – the boys ran away in mock fright at the mere suggestion of girly stuff – and Jiang Yanli felt that she and her mother had never been closer. They could even, for the first time, go on night-hunts together, Jiang Yanli summoning corpses with a crook of her finger and a gentle hum while her mother cut them down with her sword or with Zidian.

It was so much fun that Jiang Yanli almost forgot why they’d started it in the first place.

And then, very suddenly, it all became real.

Jiang Yanli was at Meishan, visiting her grandmother, when the Wen sect attacked, but word spread quickly – the Lotus Pier ravaged, the sect leader and his wife both dead, their children missing…

“We have to hide you at once,” her grandmother said after they’d passed through the first flush of grief, her face still wet with tears. “They’ll be coming here next –”

“You will tell them that I am not here,” Jiang Yanli said, and stood up, wiping her own eyes. “Because I won’t be. I’m going back to the Lotus Pier.”

“A-Li! If you do that, they’ll catch you – have you heard what the Wen sect does to female cultivators –”

“Mother and Father are dead at their hands,” Jiang Yanli said. “They must be avenged.”

“Your brother will do that! That boy, Wei Wuxian, he will –”

“I will not let them bear that burden alone,” Jiang Yanli said. “Keep everyone here safe for me, okay?”

She made it back just in time to see Jiang Cheng, her little A-Cheng, the baby she held in her tiny arms less than a shichen after he’d been born, the one she clothed and fed and cared for all these years, being dragged into the main hall by Wen sect cultivators, his face pale with fear.

Wen Chao was sitting in her father’s chair, playing with the sect’s discipline whip. “I’ve always wondered if this thing was as bad as they say. Let’s try it out on him,” he ordered, grinning lazily. “And then Wen Zhuliu can melt his golden core, and we can try it again – to see if there’s any difference in using it on a cultivator and on a regular person.”

Jiang Cheng didn’t plead for mercy, not even as they forced him down to kneel, even as his shoulders shook under their hands – Jiang Yanli turned her face away, nodded at the young Wen cultivator that had snuck her in this far (Wen Ning, she thought his name was), and raised her hands to do what she had to do.

The Wen sect had been lazy in the immediate aftermath of their victory: they hadn’t bothered to either bury or burn the corpses of her Jiang sect cultivators, her shidi and shimei, her martial aunts and uncles; they’d only tossed them outside into a giant pit to be dealt with later.

They were going to regret that.

“Jiejie!” Jiang Cheng cried out when he saw her rushing over to his side: he was bleeding, and badly, from the marks of the whip, but Wen Zhuliu hadn’t had a chance to destroy his core yet, having been distracted by the sight of the Violet Spider risen up from the dead in defiance of all soul-calming rituals.

(Jiang Yanli knew her mother well enough to know that she would forgive the use of her corpse if it resulted in her ripping out Wen Zhuliu’s core with her bare hands, using the elongated nails of a fierce corpse, a fearsome red-clad ghost dressed in purple. They would put her to rest later in the same coffin as her husband.)

“It’s okay, A-Cheng,” Jiang Yanli said, petting his hair. “It’s okay – jiejie’s here. I’ll keep you safe.”

Wen Ning ended up being the little brother of Wen Qing, who he somehow managed to summon – the famous doctor lived up to her reputation and didn’t so much as blink at being escorted into the main room by fierce corpses in order to care for Jiang Cheng’s wounds. Jiang Yanli was pretty sure that she’d seen her deliberately stepping on Wen Chao’s corpse on her way in, too, so she wasn’t worried.

“No one can know that I was involved,” Wen Qing said, finishing up stitching together Jiang Cheng’s chest and resetting his collarbone. He was out cold, and there were medicines that would work as painkillers for when he woke up. “I have to keep my family safe, too.”

“You were never here, this never happened,” Jiang Yanli agreed. “If you ever decide that the Wen sect is a losing proposition, come to me and I’ll remember this favor.”

Wen Qing eyed some of the fierce corpses standing as guards. “I’ll remember that.”

There was some yelling outside, a familiar voice. Jiang Yanli tilted her head to the side and smiled. “That’ll be A-Xian. He can help sneak you out of our borders without anyone the wiser – no one knows the ins and out of the Lotus Pier better than he does.”

She went out and found Wen Ning trying to talk down a wild-eyed Wei Wuxian, who apparently was on familiar terms with him. Not really a surprise: Wei Wuxian was friendly with everybody.

“A-Xian!” she called.

“Shijie?! What are you doing here? Are you okay – are you safe – did you see Jiang Cheng –”

“It’s okay,” she said. “All the bad Wens are dead; Wen Ning and his sister – and their subordinates – are helping us. A-Cheng is injured, but he’ll heal.”

Wei Wuxian sat down abruptly, all the tension in his body replaced by a mixture of relief and the remnants of his despair. “I only went away for a moment to get some food,” he said, and put his head in his hands. “I only looked away for a moment…”

Jiang Yanli sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him. “You did your best, A-Xian. That’s all that can be asked of you.”

“But – Madame Yu said –”

Jiang Yanli could guess what her mother had probably said.

“Of course you need to take care of A-Cheng,” she said, and let him bury his head in her shoulder. “He’s your didi, isn’t he? Just like he’s mine, and you’re mine, too; it’s our responsibility as older siblings to take care of the younger ones. He’s going to need our help a lot more now that he has to be sect leader.”

Wei Wuxian sniffled. “I told him I’d support him when he became sect leader – that we’d be the twin heroes of Yunmeng, just like the twin jades of the Lan sect. I just didn’t think…not so soon! And now there’s barely any Jiang sect left!”

“My little heroes,” Jiang Yanli said, and kissed his forehead. “It’ll be okay. The Wen sect may have attacked the Lotus Pier, but there are plenty of Jiang sect cultivators who weren’t here – we have them, and we can recruit more.”

He nodded, then paused. “Uh, shijie – a question.”

“Yes?”

“The fierce corpses everywhere…”

“We’ll need to lay them to rest after we’re done,” Jiang Yanli said firmly. Her mother had insisted on that: demonic cultivation encouraged bad tendencies, sloppiness, and the only way to deal with that degradation of spirit was with discipline and righteousness. If possible, she should prefer non-human spirits; human corpses could be used, but only to the degree necessary, and then they had to be laid to rest with honor, as they deserved – furthermore, if at all possible, they should only be summoned from those that would have willingly given up their bodies to help the endeavor in question, rather than using tormenting their spirits by using them against their friends and family.

Somehow, Jiang Yanli didn’t think there would be a problem finding victims of the Wen sect to help.

“But how did you do it?” Wei Wuxian wanted to know. “They listen to you –”

“I’m manipulating their resentful energy,” she explained. “Based on the idea you initially had at the Cloud Recesses – what? Don’t look at me like that, didi; I did tell you I thought it was a good idea.”

“But demonic cultivation is bad for you! It affects the temperament, the body, the heart…”

“Mother used to say that my temperament could probably stand to be a bit worse,” Jiang Yanli said, feeling her eyes go hot as tears threatened. She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “Don’t worry, didi. We came up with a bunch of rules to try to make it easier and less harmful to use…I’m not a sword cultivator like you and A-Cheng; it’s not my strength. But I can do this, and I won’t be helpless against the Wen sect.”

Wei Wuxian hugged her, clearly terrified by the thought. “Never mind what I said. It’s a good idea.”

Jiang Yanli smiled. “I know. You’ll help me come up with more ways to use it, right? You and A-Cheng – you always did come up with the craziest things when you were together, even more than you alone.”

“Of course!” There was the Wei Wuxian she knew and loved: forgetting pain – or at least, putting it aside – as soon as he had something concrete to work on. “How do you do it? Music? I’d been thinking of using musical manipulation –”

“Sometimes I hum? Mostly it’s just willpower – sometimes gestures, like saluting. It works better if the resentful spirits feel appreciated.”

Wei Wuxian blinked at her. “Appreciated?”

“Everyone likes to feel appreciated, A-Xian.”

“I suppose so,” he said, then shook his head. “Whatever you say is right, shijie.”

“Of course she’s right,” Jiang Cheng croaked from inside the room – he’d stumbled over to the door, and both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli immediately rushed over to help him back to his bed. “Jiejie’s always right…jiejie, what do we do next?”

“Don’t look at me!” she objected. “You’re sect leader; you decide. I’m just here to support you.”

Jiang Cheng nodded. “We have to fight back against the Wen sect,” he said. His voice was raspy with pain and the remnants of screaming: Wei Wuxian lifted a cup of tea to his lips at once. “The way the Nie sect is…the Lan sect, too; I think Father mentioned that Lan Wangji was doing a lot of travelling. Wei Wuxian, you got close to him when you were at the Xuanwu cave. Can you go find him? Tell him we need his help, and the help of any other sects he can help us recruit.”

Wei Wuxian nodded. “You sure you don’t need me here..?”

“There won’t be a ‘here’ if we don’t get people together, and fast – we killed one of Wen Ruohan’s sons. As soon as I’m better, I’m going to go find people for the Jiang sect, whether cultivators who weren’t here or new ones. And shijie…”

“What can I do?”

Jiang Cheng lifted his finger to point at the corpses, which he hadn’t even questioned. “We need more of those. A lot more of those. An army of them.”

Jiang Yanli frowned. “Where am I supposed to find an army worth of dead people? I was planning on picking up resentful souls of the Wen sect’s victims as we went, but that’ll be incremental, not an army…”

“Actually,” Wei Wuxian said. “I have an idea. Have you ever heard of the Burial Mounds in Yiling…?”

#mdzs #jiang yanli #madame yu #yu ziyuan #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #wen ning #wen qing #my fic #my fics #yes she just asks nicely #Anonymous

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unforth · 4 years

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List of Differences Between MDZS and CQL/Untamed

I haven’t seen a comprehensive list of differences between the Modao Zushi novel and Chengqingling/The Untamed. Someone in one of my Discord’s asked earlier today, and in reply, myself, Joythea, @floofz, HeadphonesGal, and mustache apologist compiled this list, based on what we remembered. I’ve reproduced that list here with permission of the people involved in the conversation. I’ve tried to include what happens in both the novel AND CQL for each item, but in general, the list was more written as, “here are things that happened in CQL that didn’t happen or happened differently in the novel,” with an eye toward explaining it to someone familiar with the novel but not with the live action adaptation.

Note that this contains...like...all the spoilers. Also, I am not an expert on either the novel or the live action, though I’m better acquainted with the second. As a group we did our best to make sure this was accurate, but I’ve transcribed and expanded it for posting and I can’t promise I haven’t made mistakes. PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG and I will amend it (that’s why I used a read more - so I can make changes without it getting all messed up by reblogs of different versions)!

General Concept/Overarching Differences:

Death, Fierce Corpses, and Puppets: Censorship means that none of the things they hunt in the Untamed are actually dead. Once, they’re even able to explicitly “free” a group of controlled puppets and they revert to being regular people. At times this means certain events are...extremely poorly...explained, such as what happens to Wen Ning, where it’s never explicitly said that he’s dead - it’s instead implied that Wen Ning was on the verge of death and that Wei Wuxian controlled him and was able to save him. However, though it’s never explicit that there are essentially zombies in CQL, it would be difficult to explain events by any other interpretation. Much like with homosexuality, they flirt as close to what the censors will allows as they can and allow a viewer to infer from there.

The Yin Iron: In the novel, there is no Yin Iron. Wen Ruohan’s motivation for his actions is simply more power and is entirely “human.” The Wen don’t do demonic cultivation. Xue Yang doesn’t have a piece of the Yin Iron, and his ancestor didn’t create it (obviously, since it doesn’t exist). In the novel, the “Founder of Demonic Cultivation” is clearly meant to be Wei Wuxian, whereas if the concept of “Modao Zushi” ever came up in the Untamed it would be ambiguous at best who was being referred to, since both Xue Yang’s ancestor and Wen Ruohan could theoretically deserve the title. Since there is no Yin Iron, many of the things ascribed to the Yin Iron obviously don’t happen, nor does it drive the plot in the “past,” nor does it play a part in the death of Xuanwu, nor is it what Wei Wuxian uses to craft the Stygian Tiger Amulet.

While this isn’t explicit, it seems (at least to me) like everyone is a few years older in CQL than they are in the novel. For example, in the novel, the Lectures start when the young cultivators are all 15 - 16 years old. That...doesn’t really fit with how they look in CQL? I personally think they’re more like 17 - 18 in CQL, and then events proceed from there. However, their ages aren’t stated in CQL canon so this is open to interpretation.

Technically, WangXian is subtext in the Untamed, by the slimmest of obfuscations. Seriously, it’s so borderline to being canon that calling it subtext is slightly ridiculous but since it’s never ACTUALLY explicit...I guess that makes it subtext. Also, ya know, there’s porn in the novel.

Characters and Characterizations:

Mo Xuanyu: Mo Xuanyu isn’t gay in the Untamed, unlike in the novel. In the novel, it’s said that Mo Xuanyu falls out of favor with the Jin clan because he’s made inappropriate sexual advances on Jin Guangyao. In the Untamed, the implication is that he made similar advances on Qin Su. In both, it’s also implied these weren’t the real reasons but it’s also never explained what actually did happen. Also, in the novel, he favors wearing thickly caked makeup to obscure his appearance (and subsequently Wei Wuxian does the same) whereas in CQL while makeup is mentioned he’s basically only ever shown or discussed as wearing a mask.

Wei Wuxian/Mo Xuanyu: In the novel, Mo Xuanyu sacrifices himself and Wei Wuxian takes over his body. However, in the Untamed, Wei Wuxian is more...reborn?...whole, in his own appearance (the logistics of this, or if he was ever dead, or where he was if he WAS dead, are never explained). He wears a mask because if he didn’t, everyone would (and ultimately does) recognize him.

Wei Wuxian: In the novel, doing demonic cultivation clearly twists Wei Wuxian and some of his actions are either accidental but still his fault, or intentional. For example, the torture of Wen Chao is intentional and brutal, and the loss of control of Wen Ning at Qiongqi Path is accidental but still his fault - a result of his hubris and poor decisions. In CQL, a second flute is played at Qiongqi pass and also when Wei Wuxian fights the cultivation clans outside the Nightless City - both of the major times when Wei Wuxian ostensibly loses control. Though Wei Wuxian himself thinks it’s his fault, it’s actually not - the person responsible is Su She - and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji eventually learn this. However, CQL does still show Wei Wuxian being changed by the resentment. His temper is more volatile and his trust more limited; for example, he loses his temper with A-Yuan at one point, which doesn’t happen in the novel.

Lan Wangji: differences in Lan Wangji’s characterization are a little harder to quantify but in general in CQL he seems more open/expressive/comfortable in his own skin, and less prone to anger. For example, when he steals Wei Wuxian’s first kiss on Phoenix Mountain in the novel, he loses his temper and destroys an entire grove of trees. This...would not be in character for Lan Wangji in CQL (and of course they don’t kiss in CQL). However, putting it in definitive terms is complicated. For another difference, in the novel, Lan Wangji confronts the cultivation clans to protect Wei Wuxian, and thus is given 33 strikes with the discipline whip. In CQL, his actions are more ambivalent in Wei Wuxian’s defense...certainly, he doesn’t stand against everyone else in a pitch to save Wei Wuxian’s life...but he’s still explicit enough for Lan Qiren, who has him beaten 300 times with a stave. (the end result is still “covered in scars,” just different punishments.)

Jiang Yanli: Jiang Yanli’s role is expanded from the novel. She accompanies her brothers to the Lan clan Lectures, and she carries a sword, implying she’s a cultivator, though she never uses it. The back-and-forth related to her engagement to Jin Zixuan is also expanded. Furthermore, she’s with her brothers when they flee Lotus Pier, and at Wen Qing’s outpost when they are in hiding, for at least part of the time. (but not enough of it to be involved in the Golden Core transfer). The overall result is that she feels much less “fridged” in CQL than she did in the novel (or at least, that’s how it felt to me - obviously, some of these bullet points are subjective to varying extents).

Luo “Mianmian” Qingyang: In the novel, she’s a member of an independent cultivation sect and she’s first introduced during the Wen Clan indoctrination. In the Untamed, she’s a Jin clan disciple and she attends the Lan clan Lectures, and is shown to have a good relationship (friendship, not romantic) with Jin Zixuan. She later renounces her membership in the Jin clan when the clans turn against Wei Wuxian after the end of the Sunshot Campaign.

Wen Ruohan: In the novel, he’s just a badass mo-fo power hungry pain in the ass. In CQL he is a demonic cultivating megalomaniac who uses the Yin Iron to be, like, Comic Book Evil.

Wen Qing and Wen Ning: Unlike in the novel, where Wen Ning is introduced outside of Lotus Pier, and Wen Qing is introduced after Wen Ning needs a place to hide Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian, in the Untamed, Wen Qing and Wen Ning attend the Lan clan Lectures. Wen Qing is there under instructions from Wen Ruohan to seek the Yin Iron; he blackmails her by threatening Wen Ning. Furthermore, Wen Ning is unusually susceptible to spiritual influence as a result of an encounter with the Dafan Mountain Goddess/Fairy statue when he’s a child. The statue kills their parents and starts to drain him, but Wen Qing saves him. She’s not able to heal the damage to him, though, and it’s implied this is part of why it’s possible for Wei Wuxian to raise him using demonic cultivation. Wen Qing in particular has a much greater role in CQL, and she has a romantic subplot with Jiang Cheng. She bears a sword, and she’s also shown to do spellwork and influence people using acupuncture needles.

Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen: In the novel, we first meet them at Yi City, when their story is already tragic. In CQL, they are introduced right after the Lan Lectures, and are therefore older.

Xue Yang: As with Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen, he is introduced earlier in CQL than in the novel. In CQL, he also possesses a piece of the Yin Iron that he manages to keep hidden and a secret despite multiple attempts by different parties to obtain it (it’s hinted at times that he’s in cahoots with Wei Wuxian, but this is just a character smear). His ancestor created the Yin Iron, and he’s known to be an expert on demonic cultivation.

Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao: Meng Yao is introduced much earlier in CQL than he is in the novel, as we see him when the Nie cultivators are welcomed to the Lan lectures (and we’re shown upfront and immediately that Lan Xichen treats him more respectfully than most others do). In the novel, we don’t find out much about the evil things he’s done until Wei Wuxian does Empathy on Nie Mingjue’s head; in CQL, more of that is shown “on screen” as it occurs. For example, he’s shown conspiring with Xue Yang in the Unclean Realm, and right after that is when Nie Mingjue catches him slaughtering another officer (which none of the other characters know about). He also saves Nie Mingjue’s life during that scene, painting him as morally ambiguous and complicated from a very early point. We also “see” as it happens the incident in right after the fall of Nightless City, where Nie Mingjue goes to kill Meng Yao and is prevented by Lan Xichen, and there are more explicit indications that he’s manipulating Jin Guangshan and is involved in the plot to turn everyone against Wei Wuxian.

Ouyang Zizhen: Ouyang Zizhen appears only briefly in the novel, during the Yi City arc. In CQL he has a much expanded role and is a pretty much perpetual fourth to Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, and Lan Jingyi (especially post Yi City). He’s present most of the times they meet, and involved in Jin Ling’s confrontation with Wen Ning, and is present at the Second Siege of the Burial Mounds, where he intervenes with his father on behalf of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. And he’s one of the best beans.

Sequence of Events:

In the novel, when Wei Wuxian awakes at Mo Manor, the Lan clan disciples come and they find an evil left arm that kills and possesses people. In CQL, they find a sword that does the same. This leads to changes throughout the plot in what, exactly, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are searching for. In the novel, they pursue the pieces of Nie Mingjue’s body to various sites. In CQL, they instead are led to the same sequence of places by a sword spirit which turns out to be Baxia.

When Mo Xuanyu raises Wei Wuxian in the novel, Wei Wuxian has three curse scars representing three people that need to die: Madam Mo, Mo Ziyuan, and...one of the servants I think? In CQL, Wei Wuxian has a fourth cut that represents a fourth person he must kill: Jin Guangyao.

Because the risen dead don’t exist in the Untamed, the Dafan Mountain Goddess/Fairy statue incident plays out a little different. For example, Wei Wuxian doesn’t figure out what’s happened by observing graves, he figures it out by seeing “spirit grass.” However, the outcomes are essentially the same from a plot point of view.

In CQL, the extended flashback to the lectures starts right after Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian meet (right after Wen Ning is summoned and then flees). I don’t remember exactly how the timeline/intermingling of narratives from different points in times is structured in the novel but I know it’s different. They spend far longer in the “present” before going to the past, and jump back and forth a bit more too.

In CQL, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have an early bonding period during the lectures (the lectures over all get more attention/time than in the novel) when they are drawn into a cave in the backhills that they enter through the cold spring. Within, there’s a guqin and a bunch of rabbits and the...spiritual embodiment?...of Lan Yi, who is introduced as the first female leader of the Lan Clan, a close friend of Baoshen Sanren, and the creator of the Chord Assassination Technique. Lan Yi acquaints them with the existence of the Yin Iron. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji also engage in a symbolic hand-fasting during this scene. In the show, this is where the bunnies come from; Wei Wuxian doesn’t capture them and bring them as “presents” like he does in the novel.

In CQL, between the Lectures and the Sunshot Campaign, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and Nie Huaisang do some night hunting together. Among other things, during this time they meet Xue Yang, Xiao Xingchen, and Song Lan, when Xue Yang slaughters the Chang clan. This obviously has major implications for the role and age of these characters in CQL versus in the novel, when none of the three are met until Yi City. This time spent night-hunting is also when the flower spirit mini-side plot takes place, but it doesn’t get much screen time and isn’t as prominent as in the novel, nor is the entire “Wei Wuxian woos her where no one else did” thing a feature of the show. Also, they encounter the Dafan Mountain Goddess at this time.

The Wen Clan attacks Cloud Recesses in the novel because of perceived improprieties, and Lan Wangji is injured while trying to protect the library. Lan Xichen disappears, and Clan Leader Lan is killed. In CQL, Clan Leader Lan is already dead at this point and Lan Xichen is in charge of the clan (while it’s never explicit, it’s implied that the age gap between Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji, and between Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang, is greater in the show than it is in the novel). When Wen Xu attacks, they hide in the cave where Lan Yi appeared to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, but the disciples who aren’t members of the Lan specifically can’t enter, so Wen Xu begins to massacre them. To prevent that, Lan Wangji emerges, and that’s when his leg is broken. (Su She is also prominent in this scene in CQL, but he’s not in the novel.)

During the Indoctrinations, in CQL it’s shown that Wei Wuxian is afraid of dogs after Wen Chao locks him in a dungeon room with one. This also serves as bonding time with Wen Ning, who helps Wei Wuxian with medicine that Wen Qing has provided. This scene doesn’t take place in the novel; in the novel Wei Wuxian’s fear of dogs is almost entirely shown through his interactions with Fairy.

Also during the Indoctrinations in CQL, there’s a lot of friction between Wen Chao and Wen Qing because Wen Qing keeps trying to help the prisoners in small ways. In the novel, Wen Qing hasn’t been introduced at this point in the story.

Wei Wuxian’s Death: In the novel, Wei Wuxian retreats to the Burial Mounds, the clans unite against him, storm the Burial Mounds, and kill him - Jiang Cheng gets credit for the kill, but in actuality, Wei Wuxian's own resentment-controlled undead tear him apart when his magic backfires. (see this comment for more info) In the Untamed, after a battle outside the Nightless City, Wei Wuxian realizes how wrong everything has gone, destroys the Stygian Tiger amulet, and throws himself from the mountain. Despite a “tease” that Jiang Cheng stabbed him, it’s later shown that no, Wei Wuxian’s death was suicide despite Lan Wangji trying to save him and Jiang Cheng deciding not to stab him.

Wen Chao’s Death: While it’s implied in CQL that Wei Wuxian has been tormenting Wen Chao, it’s nowhere near as explicit as in the novel. It’s loosely suggested in CQL that perhaps Wen Chao’s condition when Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji find him is the result of fear and self-neglect - basically that Wei Wuxian’s torment is causing Wen Chao to hallucinate frightening things. Instead of, you know, Wei Wuxian’s torment causing him to eat himself.

In the novel, Wei Wuxian is dead for 13 years. In CQL, he’s dead for 16 years.

Wei Wuxian’s resurrection: In the novel, because Wei Wuxian doesn’t look like himself, he doesn’t realize that Lan Wangji has recognized him because he played WangXian, so he engages in multiple behaviors to try to disgust and drive Lan Wangji away (all of which fail, of course, because Lan Wangji knows the truth). In CQL, because Wei Wuxian looks like himself, when he wakes up without his mask in Cloud Recesses he immediately knows that Lan Wangji has recognized him and there’s no further mystery in that regard (except for how Lan Wangji recognized him while he WAS masked, which is the same in both - because of the song). (Lan Xichen also subsequently recognizes him while he’s masked, at an earlier point than he does in the novel unless I’ve badly misremembered. Which is always possible).

The Yi City arc is quite different between the two. Honestly, I skip the most painful parts of the Yi City arc, including the entire flashback sequences, because I knew they’d fuck me up right good without being worth it, so I’m not able to go into depth here, but. Some examples include:

Because in CQL, Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan, and Xue Yang were introduced during the “past” timeline, they’re considerably older than in the novel.

Due to censorship, A-Qing is not a spirit as she is in the novel. Instead, she’s still alive but she’s had her tongue torn out and been blinded by Xue Yang. She ultimately sacrifices her life to help Wei Wuxian et al kill Xue Yang.

In CQL, it’s shown that Xiao Xingchen would leave a sweet on Xue Yang’s pillow every day, and when Xue Yang dies the last gifted sweet falls from his hand.

(if anyone reading this wants to help flesh it out please do chime in because I know it’s incomplete but I Cannot with that bit of the story.)

During the Second Siege of the Burial Mounds, in the novel, after Wei Wuxian paints himself with the lure talismans, he and Lan Wangji are on the verge of being overpowered when the corpses of the Wen clan members that Wei Wuxian saved rise from the blood pool and help protect them. In CQL, the Wen clan members are hung by the Jin clan and left for the birds outside of the Nightless City, so they could never have been in the blood pool, even if such a thing would have made it past censors (which it never would have).

The novel contains pornographic content, including an illicit kiss that Lan Wangji steals from Wei Wuxian during the Phoenix Mountain hunt, and actual sex, with their first time being before the confrontation at Guanyin Temple.

During the Guanyin temple confrontation, in the novel there’s extensive discussion of Jin Guangyao’s childhood in the brothel, including information about his mother and why he spared Sisi as opposed to all the other prostitutes. Further, it’s explicit that the Guanyin temple has been built on the site where that brothel used to stand and that the coffin Jin Guangyao is digging up is meant to contain his mother’s body. The entire temple is dedicated to her. In CQL a lot of this is simply not explained or left ambiguous.

In the novel, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are married and return to Cloud Recesses. In CQL, they travel together for a time, part ways, and then are reunited. Lan Wangji becomes the Chief Cultivator, replacing Jin Guangyao.

...that’s everything we came up with. Alright, everyone, what’d we miss? :D

#mdzs #modaozushi #the untamed #untamed #chenqingling #resource #i don't even know how to tag this #i hope this is helpful and doesn't seem biased #obviously i have my preferences as do we all but I tried to just list what was different #without assigning value to one or the other #because i know i've wished for a list like this a time or two #if folks do suggest changes or additions #i will add them when i'm able #but make no promises of promptness #sorry

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amedetoiles · 4 years

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give me a character meme! wwx please!!

[All gifs made by me. No stealing or reposting, thank you. ♥︎]

★ How I feel about this character

I love wwx so much and he deserves so much!!! My feelings for him can be summed up by my first ever meta in this fandom, this half-crack half-shitpost, and the many many meta tears scattered across all the tags on my page that various people have yelled at me for. I love him. I love him, I love him, I love him. No character has wrecked me as much as this stupid chaotic ass, who is so inherently good and selfishly selfless it fucking hurts. Yet, for all the love and care he gives freely to everyone else, he can’t for the life of him compute any that others have given to him. He tries so hard to be good, to make the right choices even in impossible, horrendous circumstances, and it’s excruciatingly painful watching him realize again and again that even good choices paved with good intentions can cause destruction. He suffers so much because of it. He suffers before we even really meet him. @cangse-sanren wrote “Your parents were bright smears of color and laughter to you, but little more” in this beautiful fic, and I still weep about it daily.

I love how immensely protective he is of both his siblings. He just tries so goddamn hard to be what everyone needs. I could and have and will continue to cry about him every day. How his pathological tendency to repress all things that hurt him, to cover up his pain in humor and obnoxiousness and bravado, and his internalized belief that he is worth much less than everyone else, all converged into the most awful way possible. How despite losing his sect, his siblings, his friends, he was still trying up until the very end. God, what a fantastically complex fucking character. To watch him bloom again after that deluge of rage and grief and insanity 13/16 years later was the most satisfying journey anyone could possibly depict. To know that he has the chance to heal, to recover, to grow with all the different parts of his family he once thought lost forever now back in his reach (yes! even our angry grape!!). Truly amazing.

★ All the people I ship romantically with this character

WangXian!!!! These kids who came out of endless tragedy and trauma to find a love, a trust in each other–theirs is a love story that truly extends across space and time. It warms my heart to watch them rebuild their lives together into something warmer, and brighter, and happier than either of them ever grew up knowing. To watch them shed the psychological trauma on what it means to love and be loved given to them by their terrible parental figures and say, “No. We’re going to be better than that.” I love how they complement one another. How loudly and quietly they love each other. How in the warm security of each other’s embrace, they are each able to work through their own internalized traumas without judgement. Lan Wangji’s uncompromising devotion. Wei Wuxian’s fierce protectiveness. It’s hard to say who else could fit together so perfectly. What a joy it is to watch Wei Wuxian realize that he is no longer alone, that Lan Wangji is and will always be standing beside him. What a joy it is to watch Lan Wangji realize that this is not the dream he’s spent years suffering through, that Wei Ying has returned to him against all odds. What a fucking joy it is to watch them both learn to trust happiness, to trust love, to trust each other. GOD. *wails*

★ My non-romantic OTP for this character

YUNMENG SHUANGJIE. YUNMENG SIBS. YILING SIBS. A-YUAN AND HIS TWO DADS. All the different found families that permeated the story was just breathtakingly beautiful. They all fucking gutted me. It all at once makes Wei Wuxian’s story that much more beautiful and that much more tragic. For a child who lost his parents before he even had time to remember them, who then had to rebuild his family again and again, only to lose them each time in increasingly horrifying ways–it truly fucked me up. Wei Wuxian stood on that cliff in Nightless City, and it was visibly clear that he wanted nothing more than to join all the families he loved and watched die (because of him).

The beauty of his story of course is that for all the tragedy that he is subsumed by, for all the ways that he is wronged and has wronged, there are equal, if not more, number of ways that he is lifted, is healed, is shone a light through all the darkness. In the end, his families return to him. Wen Ning, who lived despite it all, carrying the memory of his sister, the best doctor in the world. His shijie shining through his bratty nephew’s heart of gold. His very own A-Yuan, kept safe and protected all these years by his soulmate, his zhiji. His angry grape of a little brother who can’t say I forgive you but tosses him Chenqing that he’s kept safe all these years and says I trust you. They’re all a little broken, a little worse for wear, but there’s something extraordinarily beautiful about these families who find each other again through the bridges they rebuild towards something better.

★ My unpopular opinion about this character

Oh man, I’ve seen a lot of debate about wwx that I try not to get into (I type this of course as I ready myself to do exactly that). Probably the most unpopular opinion (possibly?) I have is that I don’t personally feel like the addition of a second flautist and expanding Jin Guangyao’s villain-ry in CQL detracted or reduced Wei Wuxian’s complex morality–one of my favorite and best parts to his character. I still think he is very gray. His tragedy is still contingent on his naive idealism and his willful blindness that a person only needs to be righteous and honorable regardless of reputation and politics. This clearly isn’t the case. Not just for him, but for all the characters. You can do everything right and still be punished. You can do everything right and still cause others pain. You can be the most hypocritical, loudmouthed piece of judgmental shit and still remain unpunished and available to share your stupid ass ignorant opinions on matters that have nothing to do with you. (Whoops that got away from me.) Wei Wuxian learns this repeatedly. It’s excellent and heartbreaking.

The thing about Wei Wuxian is that for all that he has imposter syndrome, for all that he is unable to see that he is a person worthy of the love he receives, he is still not only extremely confident in his own abilities and in his beliefs of what is right and what is wrong, but also that he is the person who can decide that line between justice and evil. An arrogant assumption, and one that causes not only him but the people he strives to protect a significant amount of pain. This wasn’t lost in CQL. While the plot technically does absolve him of all of his crimes on a surface level, it’s clearly not as simple for Wei Wuxian himself. In the Ancestral Hall, Wei Wuxian stares at the names of Jiang Fengmian, Madam Yu, and Jiang Yanli, whose lives are heavily felt on his shoulders, and he tells Lan Wangji, “After all, the Stygian Tiger Seal was created by me. Whether Jin Guangyao was there or not, that fact can’t be changed.” The show despite its censorship still asks the audience to evaluate his actions and the role he played, both willing and unwillingly, in the deaths of so many people.

It is also shown clearly that the cultivation world only stops trying to kill him because there was now another target, another scapegoat to blame. This is something that Wei Wuxian knows and expresses on multiple occasions on the show. For all that the show may have change things, I don’t think it’s necessarily correct or fair to say that it completely washed away the nuance that was present in the novel. The overarching conflicts and questions are still there. What is moral and what isn’t, what is justified and what isn’t, who is at fault for unforeseen consequences and who isn’t, and the role of external factors and circumstances in all of this. As someone who watched the drama first, I didn’t feel that the complexity of all the characters and their decisions was lost at all in comparison to the novel I later read. The show was honestly superb and still the best version for me overall. (Please don’t send pitchforks.) I have so much more to say about this, and Jin Guangyao still being a great nuanced character foil, but alas, this is already too long.

Other things: Wei Wuxian is a good brother actually, and he knows Jiang Cheng very well. He tried his best under the worst possible circumstances, and it was a great big shit show. I hate discussions where people try to hold one brother more responsible than the other. They both very nobly (and very recklessly) sacrificed a great deal for each other, and they both, frankly, fucked up. They’re Twin Idiots, and I’ll love and drag them both equally dammit! With that in mind, Wei Wuxian’s happy ending isn’t just him joining GusuLan sect, novel be fucking damned (yes, I said it!). His home can be in Gusu and Yunmeng. *SLAMS FISTS* Let 👏 Wei 👏 Wuxian 👏 go 👏 home 👏. (Talking to you, my grape guy. Jin Ling is going to show up in Lotus Pier one day with his da-jiu, and you’re just going to have to deal with it.)

★ One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

WEI WUXIAN PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HUG YOUR DIDI. Jiang Cheng has been waiting 16+ years for your hug, and he damn well deserves one, especially since he gave you such a great octopus hug, all limbs and burrowed scrunchy faces. Like, I know, I know, you were distraught, and traumatized, half-beaten to death after three days of intense surgery, then reaped by ten thousand undead souls calling for revenge, but guess who told your favorite (only) angry grape little brother that in the next life, let’s be brothers again okay? GUESS WHO IS LIVING HIS NEXT LIFE??????? Bruh. Chop chop. Hop fucking to it.

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maximumsuckage · 6 years

Text

In the Beginning: Part 7

Part of @archangelgabriellives‘s collab

Last time on In the Beginning: “Everything was just perfect for him, until he met another deity. Kali.” (@callmemisshorizon 2018)

Word Count: 1937

Pairings: Gabriel/Kali

Warnings: nothing worse than reminders of awkward teenage days

Previous Parts: Masterlist, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

The blade was designed to mimic an angel blade, brought back by a Viking trader from one of his expeditions. It had exchanged hands a few times in the interim- the metal had been touched by souls in India, then Jerusalem, then Constantinople, before taking a straight shot northwards. If he closed his eyes and focused, he could follow the path, reading each soul that had left fingerprints on the blade in the past three years since its forging.

It had been offered up to him in sacrifice- the trader who had bought it had returned home only to find that his wife had died in childbirth and the baby was stricken with fever. It was a valuable weapon- the metal could only be found in India, and traveling there was a harrowing journey- but the man had declared that he would give up that and everything else if it meant his child would get better.

Gabriel had taken him at his word. The man, once so consumed with worldly possessions that he would leave his pregnant wife on a rumor of wealth, lost everything. His ship, safe in harbor, was wrecked in a freak storm that didn’t even touch the other boats. His servants abandoned him, carrying off his gold and expensive fabrics and jewelry. His large house, envy of all his neighbors, went up in flames.

Loki demanded sacrifice, after all. That was the pagan way.

The virus that had stricken the babe’s lungs vanished. She chortled at her father’s face, reaching up to tug on his hair, red as her own. She would grow up strong and healthy, never touched by sickness or injury.

And as soon as Gabriel had doled out the justice, he forgot the tiny family. He had only eyes for the weapon, because it had his name on it:

Saint Gabriel the Archangel.

That really wasn’t fair. He was doing a great job on Earth, and now some Christian was trying to drag him out of hiding by making pretty weapons with his name? He tossed it aside; it hit the stony ground with a clatter. “I bet you can collect the full set,” he grumbled, spreading his invisible wings. “Let’s get Michael and Raphael too- yay! Collectible weapons! Next they’ll be selling cards with our kill stats on them.” He pumped his wings against the air to launch himself into the ether between dimensions.

A second later, he set down near a forge in India.

He hadn’t realized how accustomed to the winter weather he’d became. Landing in India was like stepping into a sauna; immediately he began to shed layers, vanishing them one by one back to his home on the shore of the North Sea. Only when he was barefoot, wearing just his tunic and light pants, did he turn towards the man making the archangel-inspired weapons.

“Alright,” he called out, walking into the wide open door of the forge (and certainly not bothering to knock). It was like walking into a wall of heat, somehow even hotter than the tropical sun. “What’s this I hear about making archangel blades?”

The smith turned around, confused by the sudden entrance.

Gabriel opened his mouth to give him a good talking to- probably call it blasphemy, or something along those lines. It would be just enough to scare him into stopping his work, or at least, not putting Gabriel’s abandoned name and title everywhere. But he was distracted by a sudden presence outside, and he turned.

His breath caught.

Gabriel had seen beauty. He had seen the vastness of the cosmos, the galaxies that swirled in eternal dance. He had seen continents rise from the ocean, had seen the birth of plants and animals and birds and fish. He had seen angels and archangels, seraphs and cherubs, powers and dominions.

But in an instant, he forgot all of those. Behind him, the smith fell prostrate, but Gabriel only stepped forward as though in a daze, to stand in the yard and face her.

On the surface, she was no more than a pretty southern girl. Her patterned dress was cheerful and bright against the deep tan of her skin. She stood lightly on her toes, as though ready to dance, but she stood with the straight, strong posture of a queen.

In his angelic vision though, Gabriel saw a flash of the truth.

Eyes burning with mischief and chaos. Midnight blue skin freckled with stars. Fangs glinting between plump, slightly parted lips. Four arms- the hidden two were playing with a lotus flower. A sword hung at her hip, clinking against a skirt of bones. She was a monster. An absolutely stunning monster.

(But wasn’t he also a monster? His true form burnt people to dust, after all).

“Oh, uh, hi,” he said, and cursed himself, face flushing hot (it was probably just the heat of the forge behind him).

“Loki the Trickster.” The goddess’s hips swayed with each graceful step as she approached him. “What a surprise, finding another chaos god here.” She paused, and gestured around at the jungle. “A bit far south for an Asgardian, aren’t we?”

Gabriel forced his eyes to remain on her face, to not wander lower. Her human form was lovely, and her true form was toned and athletic, the skin raised here and there with scars from past battles. “Yeah, no, I mean- Just checking out this guy’s swords. Um- I found one. Up north. Back home, you know, so I wanted to figure it out- So, you got a name?”

You stupid idiot! He felt his blush deepen and he tried to focus on her thick black braid- there was nothing exciting about hair, right? It was just sleek and long with not a single strand out of place, and okay, maybe he liked good hair; was that so wrong? Seriously, what was wrong with him?

But the goddess only chuckled. “Kali the Destroyer. I’m sure you’ve heard of me?”

He gasped out loud- or more likely, choked on air. Kali the Destroyer? He had heard stories about her- vague rumors about a creature so powerful that she could stomp out the sea, who destroyed evil with a zest that terrified even her own pantheon. She was good, technically, but she was gleeful in her destruction. She had consumed demons and punished sinners and fought in battles that would have made Mars himself tremble.

And dear gods, she was beautiful.

“Yeah, uh, once or twice,” he choked out, gaze shifting down from her face. That was a mistake- now he was looking at her breathtakingly long legs, deep midnight blue skin dappled with sunlight shining through the trees surrounding the yard. Her feet were bare and muddy.

“Mmhmm.” Though it wasn’t even a word, it was the smuggest noise Gabriel had ever heard. He was struck dumb, and she knew it as she began to pace around him, like a lioness surveying an antelope. “Why are you here, Loki?”

Her forearm brushed Gabriel’s as she passed him. It sent a tingle down his skin, unlike anything he had ever felt in Heaven. He shivered, but not, he realized, in discomfort. He wanted to feel it again.

“Was this man giving you trouble?” She nodded at the smith, who was still laying with his face pressed into the dirty ground. He whimpered at being included in the conversation.

Gabriel had to lick his dry lips to talk. “No, no, nothing like that- just checking out his work, is all. Um…” He felt prickly all over. It was too hot here, and Kali was close- too close. He could sense her power, rolling around the clearing. It was near tangible- even the fire in the fire in the forge sprang higher, crackling in the quiet.

“Was his work satisfactory?” Kali picked up a blade from the outside display and tested the sharpness with her finger- a droplet of red appeared against the midnight blue of her skin. She licked it off, glancing over at Gabriel quizzically. Her tongue was blood red.

He swallowed hard. “Yeah, it was fine,” he said, voice coming out just a bit too high pitched to be natural.

“Pity. I was hoping for a kill.” She set the sword back and stepped towards the door. Gabriel wrenched his eyes upwards- in the humidity, her dress clung to every curve. He took a deep breath to try and compose himself.

“Although,” she mused, standing in the doorway and watching the smith breathe, “Before I caught wind of you, I found a man beating on his wife and son. Blood might still flow today.” She half turned, studying Gabriel with an unfathomable expression. “How would you deal with such a thing up north?”

He was being tested- he didn’t know what she wanted to hear, but he wanted to impress her. Needed to impress her. She still looked more amused than anything, like he was a curiosity giving her a modicum of entertainment. Gabriel’s muscles clenched uncomfortably at the thought of her growing bored and moving on.

“I would destroy him slowly,” Gabriel said. He swallowed hard, considering how he would do it. His mouth felt too dry to speak. “First, I would give his wife and child the money and means to run away. Then I would bring a plague of locusts on his fields.”

Kali nodded, crossing her arms as she listened. The lotus flower twirled between two fingers.

Gabriel tried not to think about his sweating palms and continued. He spoke slowly, carefully trying to think out the hypothetical course of action. “Once the harvest fails, I would turn his neighbors against him, one by one, so that nobody will allow him over for dinner in the wintertime. And then, when he goes out to chop wood, he’ll realize that the rats chewed a hole in his boots. So he’ll get frostbite and trip when the wolves go after him.”

He froze, considering. Kali raised an eyebrow.

“Wait- no.” He shook his head. “A lynx instead. She’ll play with him while he tries to run away. But the axe will have stuck in the tree he was trying to cut, so he won’t have any weapons. And then maybe he falls into an ice river and hallucinates his wife…”

Kali’s lips were quirked up in a smile. “You’re a sweetie,” she said with a little chuckle. “Going through all that trouble. Good work ethic.”

Gabriel blinked. “Work ethic?”

“To be frank, I would just stab him.” Kali reached out and patted his arm. “But your idea is good too, Loki.”

His breath hitched when she touched him- he hid it in an awkward cough. Somewhere outside the little forge, a hunting horn sounded, and Kali straightened. “Ah, my people. I’m off. Get out of here, Loki. Winter Viking god like you will pass out in this summer weather.” Stepping out into the yard, she smiled at the sun. “You have to enjoy these good days before the monsoons roll in. I’ll see you around, I’m sure.”

When she stepped past him, one of her true-form arms reached out and tucked the lotus flower into his pocket. Then she vanished like she had never been.

Gabriel pulled the flower out of his pocket with shaking fingers and sniffed. It smelled like ash and smoke.

“Oh brother,” the smith said, finally getting the nerve to lift his head off the ground. “Don’t fall for her, man. She’s crazy.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Gabriel murmured, smoothing his thumb over one of the petals.

Special thanks to @scrollingkingfisher for the grammar check

Author List: 1. @revwinchester 2.@ttttrickster 3.@phantomwarrior12 4.@anxiety-fuel 5. @sugar-high-viking 6.@callmemisshorizon 7.@maximumsuckage (meeee) 8.@tricksterxangel 9.@archangelgabriellives 10.@nobodys-baby-now 11.@thewhiterabbit42 12.@warlockwriter 13.@lastsavinggrace 14.@archangelsanonymous 15.@archangelashiah 16.@archangel-with-a-shotgun

#Gabriel's past writing challenge #gabriel #supernatural #canon compliant #fanfiction #my writing #Kali #gabriel/kali #spn fanfic #I definitely missed reblogging a bunch of these #but I couldn't remember which I'd reblogged or not #school man #and bad app lmao #but they're all heckin awesome #and I've read the whole thing like twice now #so go read the previous chapters

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wearelxgion · 2 years

Note

For Martin: 🍟 FRIES, 💐 BOUQUET, 🙉 HEAR-NO-EVIL, ✏️ PENCIL, ⚙️ GEAR💚 GREEN HEART

𝐎𝐂 𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐉𝐈 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐒!

🍟 FRIES - do they order food often? or they prefer to cook their own food?

{Martin has not quite learned how to cook many things, he is still a little careful in the kitchen, but if he finds something that really spark his interest, then he will prefer to cook himself. But until he learns some more confidence in that whole thing, he does order food more often.

And then he feels bad because as a doctor he should tell people not to eat junk food and then he does. But he also orders real meals, if he finds something that seems interesting.

But his goal is to teach himself more cooking. He wants to cook his own meals, all of then.}

💐 BOUQUET - create a bouqet for them! what do those flowers mean? are any of the flowers their particular favourite?

{Hmm...I think most of my flower meaning knowledge comes from Victorian era so by those standards he would have a bouquet of

Belladonna(Silence, and yes he knows it is poisonous, but technically so is he to humanity) Bluebell(Humility) Red Columbine(Anxious, trembling) Hyssop(Sacrifice) Lily-Of-The-Valley(Sweetness/Humility, again a poisonous one too) Lotus(Purity, Rebirth) Snapdragon(Deception).

So basically he would make it a mix of many things, and hope some parts of them don’t kill the others.}

🙉 HEAR-NO-EVIL - what is the worse thing your oc could hear from someone?

{That his attempts to help is useless. Martin broke away from what he was part of to be able to help, he learned to save people because of his desire to help. His whole being is all about wanting to help. So being told all of his efforts are useless, that he did nothing to help?

It would shatter his very being in some way.}

✏️ PENCIL - is there a particular quote / lyric that you associate with them?

{ “I’m down on my knees, and I need you to be my god. Be my help, be a savior who can Unbreak the broken Unsay these reckless words Find hope in the hopeless Pull me out the train wreck.”

Train Wreck by James Arthur}

⚙️ GEAR - what are your ocs thoughts on science & art? which do they give more importance to? how much value do they place on each?

{He is amazed by both in all honesty. To see what humanity has created, in both science and art, it will never be something that does not leave him with his jaw on the floor.

The doctor part of him wants to say that science is the most amazing thing, since it can help save people. But deep down he loves art more. The expression of emotions, every motion in the art, no matter what kind it is. It leaves a feeling of emotion behind for him. A part of the human who made it, their soul. An imprint.}

💚 GREEN HEART - what things make your oc feel comforted? hugs, kisses, food?

{Oh lord, Martin feeling comforted. It might be a hard thing to do, considering the amount of anxiety he has in him, but if someone gave him a hug, there is a big chance he would just freeze and then melt. Small physical contact things would work well on him.

A hug, a hand over his, a hand on his arm. He gets overwhelmed very easily, but that someone actually is there for him brings comfort. And if they know what he is, it brings even more. That someones actually dares to stay around him, to be close to him.}

#There Is Nothing Grim About This Reaper {Martin Musings}#Thank you for the ask!

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mihanada · 6 years

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Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Liveblog(back to masterpost)

Yesss! Now we’re getting to the good parts.

Chapter 7: Arrogance (Part 2)

Aw, how cute Wei Wuxian is. The eviler, the better! It’s still funny how he, the protag, gets all excited over animating corpses.

Ok, Jin Ling! He was so obnoxious on my first read-through, but I grew fond of him he second time around. In a very, very obvious way, he is just a kid trying to grow up as fast as he can and it’s actually quite...sad, how he feels this desperate need to excel as fast as humanly possible and prove himself.

Now is a good time to state that I love the different sects and how distinct they all are from each other in cultivation styles, fashion styles, philosophy, etc. It’s really impossible to mistaken one for the other.

Although, the fact that the LanlingJin Sect’s outfit is gold and actually manages to glisten at night is hilarious. So, the LanlingJin’s colors are gold and white (for the peony), the GusuLan’s seems to be white for the most part, and the YunmengJiang’s is purple (though...I think this isn’t mentioned until a while later). If they ever mentioned what the QingheNie’s was, I missed it lol.

Man, is Jin Ling a brat, though. Almost have to pity Jiang Cheng for babysitting him the entire beginning of the novel. Actually, I do pity him. xD First he had Wei Wuxian for a brother, and now he has Jin Ling as a nephew. The people in his life are destined to cause him massive headaches for one reason or another.

Oh, but the donkey of course was the mvp of this scene (lol no not Lan Wangji). I love how this thing just has a mind of its own and is implied to understand human speech, because it freaking charges right for Jin Ling because he’s being mean to the girl who gave them the apple. xD

lol so. Jin Ling’s reactions to and disgust towards Mo Xuanyu are interesting in hindsight, since the reader is just as in the dark about what happened as Wei Wuxian. And what is even more interesting is that Jin Ling starts to almost warm up to him after a few encounters (Jin Ling is totally a tsundere ok). A lot of things trigger him to flip back and forth between hate, disgust, and grudging respect/acknowledgement but it’s interesting.

Also, Jin Guangshan is a dick. Let’s just throw that out there now.

also lol Wei Wuxian thinking that he should at least defend Mo Xuanyu even if they guy’s technically long gone. But then he throws out that jibe at Jin Ling. I do have to say, on the third go-around, Jin Ling is a tough kid even if he is a total brat. I do admit, I laughed when Wei Wuxian stuck a ghost on his back though. xD I mean, he had it coming eventually with that attitude.

JIANG CHENG.

Ok. I didn’t have any reason to like him at first, but after the first set of flashbacks to when him and Wei Wuxian studied at the Cloud Recesses, I came to like him. And pity younger him.

The whole situation with him and Wei Wuxian is complicated as hell and I probably still don’t know all of it despite looking up spoilers, but his constant shouting at people (or just Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian) just. Fun. Very fun. I seem to have a liking for the dramatic characters who overreact at everything and overreact like, 10x the amount a normal person would.

Like, damn. KILL and FEED TO THE DOGS anyone who cultivates the wrong path. ok...you can make an argument for that though it’s still a bit extreme (you...don’t have to feed them to the dogs gosh). And later, when he hits Wei Wuxian with the whip but STILL wants to drag the ‘innocent’ Mo Xuanyu back to Lotus Pier to interrogate. like, you definitely need to calm down, Jiang Cheng. He literally drags back every person who MIGHT be Wei Wuxian returned from the dead despite the fact that his whip is perfect for picking out possessed people. and it’s implied that he doesn’t exactly let them go. ever.

Aanyways. That hasn’t happened yet.

You know what has happened?

Lan Wangji is heeere!

Ok, so. I read this part 3 times after getting to the part when Wei Wuxian was trying to guess how Lan Wangji recognized him and could not figure it out for the life of me. I’ll mention my guesses at the end of this arc. I did actually find out through reading spoilers, but I won’t talk about it publicly on the blog until that time comes in the novel.

Though. It’s pretty funny that their first real interaction after 13 years of one party being dead is Wei Wuxian crashing into his feet.

can. can I make a ‘head over heels’ joke here. can I.

So. Was there a reason Wei Wuxian had to brush shoulders with him. And glance at him inconspicuously. I am side-eyeing you, Wei Wuxian. Especially because you then go on to describe in loving detail a guy you have known for years. You. Already. Know what he looks like. Maybe a musing of whether he changed after 13 years or not would be normal but.

and this is only the beginning! :D

It’s so much fun rereading this novel and picking out the moments like these- watching Wei Wuxian slowly, slowly (very slowly haha) realize how he really feels towards Lan Wangji. and seeing through Lan Wangji’s every action with the knowledge that he’s liked Wei Wuxian for years and years.

At first, I just thought he was waxing poetic because it was the writer’s prerogative to spend more time describing the main love interest/secondary main character, but. And similarly, I didn’t realize the weight of everything Wei Wuxian observes of Lan Wangji’s actions until the second read-through.

Then there are lines like this wonderful one:

“...nothing could help the bitter facial expression that made him look as though his wife had passed away.”

xD yeah I didn’t realize the importance of that until later.

I mean. yeah.

Wei Wuxian apparently considers Jiang Cheng “exceptionally handsome” but haha sorry Lan Wangji still wins in his eyes.

On another note, I have trouble seeing Jiang Cheng as a handsome pretty-boy type. xD maybe it’s his personality clashing with his looks?

lol but Lan Wangji just going around and destroying all the nets before this confrontation is somehow. Interesting. Funny? Just how long did that take even with his magic-y sword?

Jiang Cheng is being extra...extra again though. xD like, really, you actually set the equivalent of 400 expensive mouse-traps and intimidated everyone else just so Jin Ling could prove himself as a cultivator. that’s kinda extreme.

but, well, he really does love his nephew. it’s nice in a very...obnoxious sort of way haha.

phew, end of the chapter!

(quotes from ExR’s translations)

← back・onward →

#gdc aka the liveblog of TEARS

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